For the first leg of our cruise to Mexico, we retraced a route we’d done once before: San Francisco to Monterey, overnight. The first time we did it was with our friend and sometime crew Wes. This time it was just me and Suzana. So we got less sleep, but handled it well and safely.
Leaving San Francisco, we motored out past Mile Rocks, turned left, and put up the sails. Almost immediately, a pod of dolphins joined us and swan alongside the boat for twenty minutes or so. It was as if they were telling us we were on the right course, don’t worry, be happy.
Later, the sun set behind the clouds for a beautiful sunset, another positive omen.
The sea was as calm as we’ve ever seen it, calmer than San Francisco Bay often is, so it was literally smooth sailing all the way to Monterey. Which made it easy to do our first cooking underway (salad and a cheese omelet)*.
We weren’t so lucky with the wind. Initially, there was plenty of it, but from the wrong direction (dead ahead). Later, there wasn’t enough of it from any direction. So we did a bunch of sailing early on, but didn’t actually make much progress toward Monterey, then took down the sails and switched on the engine (which worked flawlessly, by the way).
During the night, the moon rose, between the land and the cloud cover.
And in the morning, the sun also rose, welcoming us to Monterey — we actually arrived about 7:30AM.
We just had brunch at a local eatery, and are now going to catch up on sleep…
* – And speaking of firsts, we used our newly replaced, self-installed macerator. Those of you who know what a macerator is will appreciate this. Those who don’t know are probably happier that way.
