Day 523 continued and 524 The wind finally passes.

After we arrived in Smuggler's Cove on Sunday morning, the winds continued to build until they were in the 40+ knot range. Throughout the afternoon they just kept on coming. At least the swell action was much less being in the lee of the island. The wind howled for the rest of the day.

About 1630, we decided to set a second anchor even though the first was doing just fine. With no idea what the weather was to become other than windy, we felt it better to err on the side of caution. I went forward to drop it overboard as Tracy motored forward to the left of the primary anchor. Over it went and down to the bottom. The wind grabbed hold of us and pushed us back quickly. I set the anchor line and waited for it to set. Suddenly, there was a loud explosion in front of me right at the stem fitting on the point of the bow. The line and snubber that held the primary anchor had broken!!! The wind had created such a force that there was too much strain on the line and even though I had installed a rubber snubber(a long piece of rubber that the line wraps around that acts like a spring)the line snapped. The anchor was set so well that it didn't come out. It made the line break instead!! We quickly pulled out a back up snubber and attached it to the chain. I wanted the strain off the stem fitting(where the chain passes through on the way to the bottom) on the bow. I didn't want it breaking off of Zephyr's bow. Once that was done, I made sure the second anchor was secured and we settled back for a windy night but with less swell action. It was an easier night at anchorage than Saturday night in Prisoner's Anchorage.

The winds died during the night and settled into an easy 14 to 16 knot wind. A piece of cake after the 40+ knots we had been in. It had gotten so windy during Sunday afternoon, that I had stopped the DuoGens propeller from spinning. It was having a stroke trying to keep up with the winds. Better to stop it than break it.

Monday was a pleasant day with lots of sunshine and gentle winds. I pulled up the second anchor and after the line had dried, I marked it with a Magic Marker at 30 feet intervals like the anchor chain is. There's 21 feet of chain and 200 feet of line. The same overall length as the primary anchor chain.

We met with a neighbor boat--Jeff and Fiona--and had a nice chat. They've sailed down from BC and are working their way south the Mexico like us. His wind generator had blown during the big winds of Saturday night. Apparently, the wind was clocked at 71 knots at Anacapa Island(it's just east of Santa Cruz Island). They said they had clocked the wind in Smugglers at over 55 knots. Boats all over the anchorage had been dragging their anchors through the night. Theirs, luckily, had stayed planted in the sandy bottom. We'd watched Jeff scope out the shoreline in his dingy looking for a place to safely pull it ashore. He rowed back to his boat(stopping for a chat) and picked up his girl friend and in they went. They were smart to put on their life jackets as they made their final approach to the shore, the waves caught them and into the water they went. The dingy stayed up right but took on water from the wave. Being an inflatable, it didn't matter getting water in it as it wasn't about to sink. Once the two got ashore, Jeff over turned it and got the water out and pulled it up safely on shore. Off, the two of them went to explore on shore. Wet, but all right. Now getting back out was another matter. The swells had built while they were exploring and it would prove to be much harder getting off the shore than getting on to shore. They tried it several times and finally settled with Jeff at the oars and Fiona swimming out behind the dingy and he helping her on board once they were out safely past the breakers. They stopped by on the way back to their boat. They both have a broad sailing background having already sailed to Hawaii and back. A very nice couple. They saw another Liberty 458 a few days ago heading south.

We read and worked on our tans, quickly becoming slight burns, through the rest of the afternoon and settled in for a nice dinner and some DVD watching.

This morning(Tuesday)about 0700, we heard a helicopter buzzing the anchorage figuring they were taking more pictures of the boats in the anchorage. Little realizing what they were actually here for. Over night, a fishing boat--commercial--dragged his anchor and was ashore pinned to the rocks. We're not sure when he washed up, but as we came out on deck about 0800, he was clearly in distress. The waves just kept on bashing him higher and higher onto the rocks. Low tide was quite a while ago and high tide isn't until after 1100 so he has a few hours to wait. If he doesn't get off the rocks then, he will never recover. Numerous fishing boats and dingys have made their way over to see if they can help but we have seen no activity on board by anyone on the boat. No one on shore either so we're not sure what is going on. No chatter on the radio on either channel 16 nor the Coast Guard channel of 22A. All we know is that this boat is in big trouble if it doesn't get off the rocks soon. He may have a hole in his hull with all the bashing he is taking. He just keeps rocking on the rocks with every swell that breaks on the shore. Vessel Assist showed up about 1000 to try and get him off the rocks. A swimmer went over to the boat from Vessel Assist and tied several lines to the boat at the bow and amidships. They were getting set to pull him off the rocks.

About 1100, Vessel Assist finally pulled the Lady Francis off the rocks after several attempts. The way she was wedged into the rocks, as she was pulled by the bow line, she swung around and hit another set of rock just to her port all with a resounding crash we could hear from Zephyr. The lines were checked and Vessel Assist waited for a big swell and pulled again. Slowly the Lady Francis swung around and broke free of the rock and was towed away from the shore. Unfortunately, about 200 yards later she sank. The holes in her hull were just to great. There was just to much water inside and she went down by the stern in about 10 feet of water. Her bow is still bouncing in the swells. Just as Vessel Assist got her loose, the Coast Guard showed up. Too late to be of assistance. We saw a cloth over the bow that was to stop the water from coming on board that way, but I guess there was just to much already below that there was no hope of floating her to freedom. Now will come the salvage boats to haul her on board and take her back to the mainland. It was a sorry sight to see. In time, I think there is a chance that you will see a boat in jeopardy but we never thought we would see it so soon. Currently, Vessel Assist and a small Coast Guard boat are standing by waiting.

A second Vessel Assist showed up after a while and brought air bags to put around the boat and try and get her raised so she could be towed over to Ventura. In went the divers and the bags got inflated and her stern rose off the bottom. Once loose, she was towed around Zephyr's bow until the Vessel Assist boats could tie up to the Coast Guard buoy a bit farther off the coast. Now the diver took 4 more bags into the water and attached them farther on the stern and up she came until it was safe to be towed across the channel. There was no way to pump the water out of the boat as the stern was gone. It had broken off when Vessel Assist had pulled her away from the shore and she had pivoted and slammed back onto the rocks. If they had simply pulled her backwards off the rocks, the stern would have still been attached and she might have stood a chance of being pumped out. Now there was no stern and no chance. She was a total loss.

It took till almost 1900 before they were ready to leave. One of the Coast Guardsmen joined the Vessel Assist crew for the long trip back to Ventura. They were told to maintain a radio check in schedule with the Coast Guard station in Los Angeles every 30 minutes. As they checked in, they were doing 2.2 knots across the channel. With it being about 15 miles, they had a long night ahead of them.

It's sad to see a boat come to its end in such a needless way. A well set anchor would have saved that boat.

Day 522 & 523 Where to begin?

Saturday, day 522 dawned nice and bright with a good bit of wind out of the Northwest and west. Because of the wind, we decided to stay onboard and relax for the day. It was nice to be gently rocked to sleep after the two nights of stationary sleeping at the Santa Barbara Marina. After so long being rocked by the waves--it's been several weeks since we spent any time in a marina--to have the boat and bed suddenly motionless at night was a bit unnerving.

There were three other boats in Prisoner's Anchorage on Friday night and one left at dawn heading northeast. As the day went by, we read and worked on a jigsaw puzzle. It's the first one I have done in years. There never seemed to be the time before. On Saturday, there was for a change. Later in the afternoon, we listened to the VHF radio about what the weather folks think was going to be coming our way. Hey--guess what? Wind and lots of it. Gusts expected into the 40 knot range and swells in the 8 to 10 foot range were on the docket for the North shores of Santa Barbara County. That's us all right. This time, we were prepared to set out a second anchor. Oh, I forgot to tell you that one of the other boats in the anchorage took off for his home port of Ventura late in the afternoon rather than spend a night in what was coming. While the winds were maintaining a nice 15 to 25 knot range, the swells were building to an uncomfortable level causing Zephyr to rock and roll.

I went forward and got the anchor line ready for deployment while Tracy started the engine and got ready to take us forward in the anchorage until we were in the proper place to deploy it. Normally about 30 degrees to the side of the first anchor that had been deployed earlier. The wind was howling and the seas were getting bigger with each minute that passed. I dropped the anchor over the port(left)side of the boat and we slowly drifted backwards until the anchor set in the bottom sand and rock. The nylon line was stretched out tight in front of Zephyr's bow. She bit in great and took the strain off the other anchor. We were set for the night. The only other boat in the anchorage pulled their dingy on board and checked their anchor setup but never dropped a second. More power to them. Two anchors beat one any time for safety.

I set the anchor drag alarm in the cockpit and set myself up on one of the settee cushions in the main cabin for the night. If an alarm went off, I could be in the cockpit in a few seconds. I set an alarm to wake me up every 45 minutes or so so I could check the anchor and our position. Shadow, one of our furr people, spent the night with me on and off. The rest were huddled in with Tracy in the stern bunk as she tossed and turned through the night.

Several times through the night, I hooked on my life jacket and headed forward on deck to check the anchors and line. I saw no movement at all during the night. Now the "anchor alarm" on Garmin Chartplotter went off early in the morning when it suddenly put us about 5 miles off shore when we were actually still where we had started out. I rebooted the chartplotter and we were right back where we started in the anchorage.

Between 0300 and 0400, the wind slowed suddenly to only about 5 to 6 knots yet the seas didn't lay down. The swell just kept on coming making life on board rough to say the least. At least with the wind, it keeps the bow facing into the waves. With little or no wind, we were all over the place. By 0700, we decided to move around to the Southeast shore of Santa Cruz where at least we would be out of the big swells. Up came the second anchor and then the primary came up and was stowed. Off we went. While the wind in the anchorage had slowed a bit, once we were past the point of the bay, we were suddenly lashed by 40 knot winds and more 8 foot swells. There was no turning back. We headed east doing a zig zag course to keep the wave from rocking Zephyr too badly. Unfortunately, this allowed several waves to crash right into the side and have sea water drench us both. I got the worst of it being closest to one of the openings. Tracy got hers later when she went on deck to put more lashing around the mainsail and a HUGE wave nailed us. She was soaked!!

On we went, slowly making our way east till we passed San Pedro Point and headed south towards Smuggler's Cove(also known as Anacapa Bay). It is supposed to be a good place to drop the anchor since it has great holding. It must as we saw 15 other boats at anchor as we pulled in. It's a big curved bay with lots of room. Luckily, a big fishing boat was just pulling up his anchor and we moved right into the spot he vacated(34 01.104N 119 32.341W)and dropped the anchor. In she bit and we were set again. Now it is still blowing at up to 35 knots, but there are no rolling swells to make life uncomfortable here. So here we sit and here we stay for a while. This is quite reminiscent of our time in Prisoner's Anchorage last week. It's nice and sunny but blowing like stink out there. I think we will set the second anchor later this afternoon before the Sun sets. Then we will see what tomorrow brings. We're living the dream don't you know!

Day 521 Back to Prisoner's Anchorage.

As we had to be out of the Santa Barbara Marina by noon, we rushed about getting jobs done as quickly as we could. Tracy took off for the laundry room while I went to work to change the oil. While we were in Oakland, I bought an oil pump that, working off 12 volt power, would pump out the old oil through the dip stick tube as there is no other way to get it out. I hooked it up to the "start" battery bank being the closest source of power and turned it on. Suddenly, it started spewing the used oil out the hole where it is supposed to go into the reservoir for the used oil. The seal was bad around the hose. There was oil all over the floor and the towels I had beside me. Luckily, I had saved the receipt from West Marine so I walked up to the store at the marina and returned it. For the time, I'll go back to the old way to get the old oil out--a manual pumper instead of a battery powered one. I know it works fine, it just takes longer to get the oil out. After taking the pump back, time had run out to do the oil change. Another day.

Tracy was having problems at the laundry as instead of using coins like most laundries, this one used credit cards. Not the usual credit cards we carry in our wallet, but a special card that has to be "loaded" from your normal credit cards. You put your money in a machine and then pass the card over a reader that "loads" it on the laundry card. Now the amount you can "load" on the card bears no resemblance as to what you need to do you laundry--$1.75 per wash and .75 to dry. That equals $2.50 but you can only load the card in $6.00 increments so you either have too much on the card or not enough to do a load and have to load more. They never balance out, so they get to keep the extra money that you never use off the card. A nice racket for the laundry folks. They make money doing nothing. It's like getting eight hot dogs in a package but the buns only come in a six pack.

I took off for a last minute shower and once back, we stowed the last of the equipment and we were off for Santa Cruz Island again. This time, we thought we would anchor in Pelican Bay about a mile west of Prisoner's Anchorage. We'd dingyed over to see it last week. As we approached the island from the north, another boat was already anchored in there. We changed course and headed west for Fry's Harbor a few miles away. Once we got there, we found two boats already at anchor. One inside the cove and the second, a sail boat, just outside the cove. There was no room for any other boats from what we could see. One of our "cruising guides" says that he "has counted at least thirty-five yachts on occasion" in the cove. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how they would fit that many boats into such a small anchorage. It seemed full with just the one inside and the one just outside the cove. We headed east along the coast checking the other coves along the way.

As we passed Pelican Bay, there were now three boats at anchor in the small "bay". The third boat--a sail boat was jockeying it's way about the anchorage trying to figure out where he could anchor without hitting the other boats already there. The other sailboat in the anchorage(first one in the bay) had a bow and stern anchor already set out to hold them securely in place against any kind of swing from a change in the wind. With two anchors out like that, it means that all the other boats that come in must do the same or take the chance of swinging off one anchor line and hitting the boat with two anchors out. They appeared to be right beside each other in the small "bay". It looks more like a "cove" to me than any kind of a "bay" being as small as it is. We decided to just float right on by.

Next stop--Prisoner's Anchorage. There were only two other boats at anchor--both much closer to the wharf than we wanted to be. We put ourselves right on top of where we had anchored earlier and dropped the anchor and powered in reverse to set it nice and tight in the sand and rock bottom. We were back at 34 01.353N 119 41.176W all over again. With it being a Friday when we arrived, we expect the anchorages to get busier today(Saturday). We plan to make our way around the island over this next week to ten days or so. We have a reservation at a marina in Oxnard for the 13 & 14th. They are giving away three days and two night berthing to try and attract people to their new marina. George and Celeste off Nereid are there now taking advantage of the offer. There is a big get together being put on by "Latitudes & Attitudes" magazine at Catalina Island on the 16th and 17th that we plan on attending. We'll see how the time goes.

Day 519 & 520 Errands again.

We settled into the Santa Barbara Marina with no problems and set about cleaning Zephyr.  It's been several weeks since we've been in a marina and so out came the hoses and everything got washed and stowed again to get ready for departure on Friday.

We washed the salt off the forestaysail and got it nice and dried and packed so we can be ready for deployment when needed.  The decks were all washed and all the blocks and roller furling got a good rinse down to get out all the salt that has built up there.  We've had blocks jam due to salt build up so we make sure they get a good rinse as often as we can.

Even though neither of us got much sleep on Tuesday night, it was hard to get to sleep on Wednesday night since Zephyr was tied up to a dock and we are so used to the movement at night that a stationary boat seemed quite strange.  Add in that it was quiet and it took quite a while to relax and get to sleep.  I guess that is what happens when you spend most of the time at anchor instead of in a marina.

We looked in at the local West Marine for some hardware all to no avail.  They have a store right here at the marina that is so under equipped with goods that it is a joke.   You'd think that having having a store right next to a marina with no other chandlery close by would be stocked to the hilt.  Nope, you have to go to another store several miles away to get all the important stuff.  Doesn't make much business sense to us.

Yesterday, we went into town to have lunch at a local restaurant(Lettuce B. Frank) and over to Ralph's for some last minute things that we forgot last trip.  We went out the wharf to see the businesses and took the bus back to the marina.   The city of Santa Barbara runs an electric shuttle bus over much of the town that only costs .25 cents.  It allows people like us to get out and about to spend more money.  Smart folks these Californians.  I spent the rest of the day cooking at the barbecue getting brats and chicken cooked so we will have nice easy meals when out on the water or at anchor.  It make meal preparation much easier if the main part of the meal is already cooked.

I went in search of a shackle to attach the chain to the CQR anchor but of course there were none at the West Marine I wrote about above.  Is we were checking out at another store by the marina, I asked the clerk if there were any other chandlers around.  Nope, but the person behind us in line asked what we were looking for.  When I told her about the shackle, she said she probably had one on her boat and to come on out when it comes back in and she'd give it to us.  She runs one of the supply ships(Alan T) that takes supplies out to the oil wells off shore.  She works for seven day shifts, then seven night shifts and then is off for seven days.  As it turns out, she had no shackle that would fit so she called two of the platforms and is having them look and is meeting me at the dock just after 0800 with them.  Now that's what boating is all about.  Friends are made fast out here.  

Well, we leave in a few hours so I must be off.  More errands to do.  Tracy is off for the laundry and I'm off to get the shackle and get the oil changed and then a shower so I'll be nice and clean for when we set off.  Still no pass from the Nature Conservancy so we still can't go ashore to walk around.  Not sure when it will show up but this means we will have to up the anchor and come back closer to shore to get internet all over again.

More to come.

 

Photos now that we have a strong internet!

Here are some of the pictures we have taken over the past week or so  From Cojo Anchorage just past Point Conception to Prison's Anchorage at Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands.

Our first view of Southern California.  This is Cojo Anchorage just south of Point Conception.  The cruising guides say this is what California looked like 1000 years ago.  Heck, it's just like what we used to sail on in New Mexico!
The cliffs at Cojo Anchorage with rolling surf from Point Conception.
Sundown at Santa Barbara looking west over the marina.
The wharf at Prison's Anchorage.
Seaweed off the wharf at Prisoner's Anchorage.
The "beach" at Prisoner's.  Lots of rocks for the Park Service landing craft that brings supplies for the rangers. 
It must get REALLY muddy at the landing with this many boot cleaners by the wharf.
Now only the Park Service has vehicles(maybe 5) on the island which begs to wonder why they need a speed limit sign.
One of the misshapen trees twisted on the shoreline above the anchorage at Prisoner's.  The winds blew just about all the time.  Not hard for the most part but they do make their presents known.
Looking down on the anchorage from high on the hill overlooking Prisoner's Anchorage.  That's another fishing boat off the point and us at anchor.
Looking east towards Chinese Harbor(around to the right of the picture) and Potato Cove just off the far point.
Looking west past Prisoner's Anchorage towards Pelican Cove just around the point.
The wharf and Zephyr riding at anchor in the bay

Day 517 & 518 Dodged the bullet.

Tuesday dawned with the hint of fog and stayed overcast for some of the morning before the Sun broke through.  With Puff(our dingy) already in the water, we took off for shore to explore the section of Santa Cruz we were allowed on.  With 70% of the island a nature conservancy(seen with a permit) we were left with the last 30% to see.  Still a large area to hike.  

We picked up papers once ashore telling us of where to hike and where not to and set off up the road to see what we could see from the hills(pictures later).  The water was a beautiful shade of blue from on high.  The boat that brings hikers showed up and let off a group to take pictures and see the sights.  We headed back for Zephyr to shut off our Honda generator before taking off for Potato Cove  several miles to the east.  Once back aboard Zephyr, the weather and winds changed in just a matter of minutes from lovely to cloudy and 15-20 knots of wind.  We decided(wisely) to stay right where we were as the wind continued to build through the afternoon.

About 1600, I turned on the VHF radio for a weather update from the National Weather Service and found that a Santa Ana wind was beginning to built over the mainland and was expected to hit the Santa Barbara coast and the islands later that night and through out Wednesday and into Thursday.  Just before this, another sailboat showed up and dropped his anchor.  Actually, he dropped two of them and snugged them into the bottom.  He then took off in a kayak to visit the island.  Hearing that big winds were coming, we dug out our back up anchor(same as our normal anchor)from down in the bilge.  We stored lots of bottles of wine around it(with bubble wrap for protection of course-never waste wine silly)so it took a while to get it out and put together as we stow it in parts for easier storage.

Next, we dug out the spare anchor line in the bow locker as well as the extra chain from beside the engine(where previous owner Bill had stowed it) and started getting ready to take it out in the dingy for deployment.  Only problem was that we couldn't find a shackle that fit over the end of the anchor to attach to chain to.  I finally "jury rigged" an attachment and I was set to take it out and drop it over the side of our dingy.  Tracy handed me each piece of the gear down the stern ladder and fed me the line from the bow so I could attach it to the chain after pulling Puff around to the front.  Once that was done, I took off in Puff and once at the end of the anchor line, dropped it over the side.  Tracy pulled in on the end of the line till the line went firm and we were set.

Once back on board, we rechecked the forecast and found that they were now expecting gusts of up to 50 miles per hour by midnight with more scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.  It was going to be a long night.  Oh, I forgot to add in that they were also talking about the tsunami that was due to hit the Santa Barbara coast shortly after 2100.  This was the remnants of the tsunami that hit the Samoa Island chain earlier in the day.  So here we are, in this beautiful harbor with gust of 50 miles per hour expected and the NOAA was throwing in swells of unknown height from a tsunami at the same time.  We were just waiting for the forecast for locusts, plagues, and dust storms to announced.  Wherever we go, strange weather is sure to follow. 

By 2100, the winds were up in the mid 20 knot range but no tsunami swells other than those the wind was creating were felt throughout the rest of the evening.  It was a Y2K event all over again.  We listened on the AM radio as announcers were interviewing folks down on the beach as to what they were expecting.   As it turns out, nothing.  We on the other hand were about to experience a long night in the cockpit.  With the big winds still to come, I turned on a alarm that is built into our Garmin GPS to tell me if Zephyr changes her position.  I can set the distance so simply swinging at anchor won't set it off.  With the alarm set at 100 feet, I settled in for the night.  About 2200, man on the only other boat in the anchorage(the one that dropped two anchors) came on deck to check his position with a flashlight and went below for a good night sleep.  Tracy went below for a restless night of trying to sleep and I stayed in the cockpit just waiting for the alarm to go off.  I poked my head up regularly to see how we were doing and laid back down for a while.  The winds never got about 33 knots.  With two anchors out, we were just fine.  Our primary anchor did most of the work by never slipping one inch.  We have a CQR anchor and she has proven herself to be a champ every time we have used her.

I finally got up at 0630 and watched the sunrise.  According to our GPS, we had traveled over two miles during the night.  It was somewhat cloudy but a beautiful morning knowing that we had come through the night without any harm befalling Zephyr.  I'd hate to loose our home after we have done so much to her.  By 0730, Tracy was up after getting about an  hour of sleep and we stowed Puff back on board.  We'd loaded Dragon(our outboard motor) the night before thinking that Puff might flip if the wind got too big.  Even with no motor to hold her down, Puff came through the night just fine. 

With Puff was back on board, we started raising our second anchor.  I took off our primary anchor off the windlass at the bow and tied it to a cleat to hold Zephyr in place.  We then put the second anchors line on the windlass and started pulling it in.  Zephyr swung in position as tension was put on the line and the second anchor came right on up.  Amazingly, the chain was all tied in knots around the anchor yet it held us in place and kept us from swinging.  I lifted it up over the life lines as Tracy coiled the line and piled up the chain.  Once done, we started the engine and took off after the primary anchor that had done such a great job for us.  With my foot on the switch, up she came and we were off for Ventura to stay at a marina till the Santa Ana winds passed.  

As we got closer, I called one of the marinas in Ventura to make a reservation and was told that the fee for staying there was $1.50 per foot per night.  For us, that puts the fee at $69.00 per night.  By far the most expensive marina we've ever been in.  We changed course for Santa Barbara.  They are only .90 per foot per night.  Lots cheaper.  An extra 11 miles longer, but much cheaper.  It would give us a place to hide out from the up coming Santa Ana winds the National Weather Service was call for.  Hey, guess what?  They never showed up!!!  The big blow was to be here by this evening and it's dead calm out side!!!  Gee, the National Weather Service getting a forecast wrong?  What are the chances of that?  If we had known it was to be nice and calm like this, we would have stayed at Santa Cruz for a while longer.  But hey, now we have a chance to get the laundry done and do some more shopping for supplies and food that we forgot.  A two edged sword.

We'll be here till Friday and then head back to Santa Cruz Island.  With luck, our permit to actually visit the island will be here by then.  It should have been emailed to us a few days ago.  Tonight, we will both catch up on some missed sleep.   Yeah!! 

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.