enjoying Monterey

On Tuesday morning we left foggy Moss Landing, got fuel, and pretty much did not see much land due to fog till closer into Monterey (we did see a whale). The Monterey Pensinsula Yacht Club will be our host till Friday.  Due to significant ocean swell expected for the weekend, we have decided to stay put here through the weekend.  With a great playground and beach next door, Trader Joe's within walking distance for provisioning, and just a nice town, what else can we ask for?

opa, do you see all my sunglasses?

Bliss at the guest dock of MPYC

bobbing around at anchor

the lovely beach as our  new backyard

any transportation device captures her attention

our backyard

Thanks everyone for your comments, we enjoy reading them when we have accessible wifi! Tod is hooking up our Rogue Wave wifi antenna right now, et voila this post is a result!

A view form our temporary "backyard": at the guest dock of Elkhorn Yacht Club in Moss landing, next to Elkhorn Slough, a marine and bird sanctuary. We had fun kayaking with us three this morning, watching sea otters, seals, sea lions and pelicans.

Sounds appealing right? And it is! But instead of 1 hour of driving by car from Half Moon Bay, we sailors take the tough way of traveling: it took us about 10 hours from raising the anchor at Pillar point, to tying our dock lines  here. Yes, you read that correctly, 60 nautical miles (or about 66 miles), took us that much time. It was motoring all the way along the gorgeous California Coast,Tessa was a fair amount down below with Tod, playing, eating and sleeping, and was excited to go to a new place (this little one just loves exploring). And I was soooo happy with the bimini (sun cover for our cockpit) that Tod designed and made a while ago, safely and happily protected from the sun while being on watch.

So are we sailors a bit crazy to endure some discomfort to get to great places, stay there with our own boat /home and have these backyards?  Sure we are, but as long as we all three enjoy this in safety (and Tessa's well being is our most important guide), we go for it.

In the next day (s?), we will head over to Monterrey, just 2 hours sail from here, where a visit to the aquarium is on our list.

Out the Gate

We left the Corinthian Yacht Club about 8am under perfectly clear skies and a warm breeze from the east... amazing morning weather for the Bay!

Our friends Mika & Karl on Baloo accompanied us out of the Gate -- thanks Mika & Karl!!

what an amazing day!

Sailing in the Bay can be at it's best in October, we had a wonderful sail over to Tiburon, 12-14 knots of wind, perfect blue skies and sunny. And even though Bliss is quite top heavy with all our gear, she sailed nicely as always. It was the right decision to stay one more day in the Bay and enjoy the scenery. But mostly, it allowed us to leave a bit later and have friends stop by to say goodbye and to send us off (thank you all, much appreciated, for the send offs during the last weeks).  Dear Petra and Alice waved goodbye with flags from ashore and Tessa took it all in. Our happy child was extra happy today with seeing several friends, and getting to spend all day with both mama and papa (and the ice cream didn't hurt neither, nor the fact that she saw several ferries up and close).

One last time going by the BYC

And a special treat for us today: we got to nap too, no projects to tackle (although Tod is working with his headlamp outside right now, perfecting Tessa's car seat arrangement).

near Angel Island

Earlier start tomorrow than today, and our friends Mika and Karl will accompany us on their boat out of the gate.

Bliss at the dock of Corinthian Yacht Club