Day 515 & 516 Over to Santa Cruz Island.

We upped the anchor about 1130 and left Santa Barbara for Santa Cruz Island to be precise. Our permit to land on the Nature Conservancy hadn't come through yet but we just wanted to get out of the rolly Santa Barbara Harbor and get to some place that might be easier at night. Santa Barbara Harbor, at night, looses it wind and so the swells take over and we roll from side to side all night long until the wind comes up in the morning. It makes for a disturbed night sleep.

It has been absolutely beautiful weather till we planned on setting out. Then the fog and grey set in and there has been little Sun ever since. There was very little wind so the engine came back into play and pushed us along nicely. In all, the crossing took about 5 hours and we pulled in about 1630 and dropped the anchor in Prisoner's Cove(34 01.298N 119 41.152W). A trip of just 24 miles. Wind finally cropped up about an hour out of the cove but since we were so close, we just finished motoring in. There were five other boats already at anchor in the cove so we were forced to drop our anchor a little closer than we would have liked but sometimes you have to do that. There were two power boats(including a trawler made in 1918) and three sailboats riding nicely at anchor. We wedged ourselves behind most of them nearer the shore. The newer power boat upped his anchor and took off about 1830 leaving just the five of us for the night. We were in for a quiet night at anchor.

Monday dawned cloudy and overcast and cooler. The 1918 trawler upped his anchor about 0730 and took off. About three hours later, one of the sailboats took off. The Sun kept trying to peak out of the clouds through out most of the day. About 1000, a large motor launch carrying supplies for the park rangers showed up and pulled ashore to drop off a trailer load of stuff. Their launch looked like an old World War II LST with a drop down front. The rangers had been down at the "beach" smoothing out the shore line for them to land. One of the last things I had expected to hear was the sounds of a bull dozer running up and down the beach. The launch came in and a tractor trailer rig backed on to it and pulled off the trailer. The launch then backed away from the shore and sat waiting for the trailer to be returned a few hours later. Once the trailer returned, the launch came back ashore and loaded it and off they went. By lunch time, we launched Puff and stuck on Dragon for a ride over to Pelican Cove about a mile west of Prisoner's Cove. We wanted to see what it looked like before we stopped by to anchor there later. A lovely little cove that was apparently the sight of a hotel back in the 1920s. Concrete steps still lead up from the water to the top of the hillside.

As we were leaving Pelican in the dingy, we saw another sailboat heading for Prisoner's Cove. We wanted to move the anchor to allow for more swing room between the remaining boats so we took off Zephyr. When the new sailboat saw the three of us left in the cove, it turned around and headed back for Pelican Cove for the night. We upped the anchor and positioned ourselves in a better place, farther from the other boats. The Sun came out and it was a lovely afternoon.

We started the generator as we'd used a good bit of amps over the previous night and they needed replacing. The folks on the closest boat(a 36 foot Beneteau)were off in their dingy exploring so we were not disturbing them. A while later, they were ferried back to their boat by another power boat. I'd guess that their engine died while out touring the North side of the island. They quickly put their dingy on board and took off for the mainland. Now we were down to just the two of us. Lots of room in the anchorage. The Sun came and went throughout the rest of the day. We were finally in swim suits sitting in the cockpit enjoying the warmth of the afternoon. Later in the afternoon, another boat came by the pier and picked up about a half dozen campers from the island. Apparently there is a company that sets up campers to visit and stay on the islands and ferries them from one to another. They loaded backpacks and kayaks along with a lot of other gear and a couple of park rangers to boot.

I'd defrosted some steaks for dinner and the barbecue was set to cook them. Add in some green beans cooked in a broth of onions and bacon and a great dinner was set. The clouds came and went through the evening and are back in full force this morning but with luck will burn off later this morning for a nice day. With no phone or internet service, we are forced to rely on AM radio for a weather forecast on the mainland(Santa Barbara area). They are calling for a partly cloudy day so we will see what today brings. We'll be off in the dingy later this morning when the Sun comes out to explore farther east along the coast. The final boat in the anchorage left about an hour ago so we have the place to ourselves.