We departed Santa Cruz at 3pm and had a nice 5 hour sail to Monterey and tied up to transient moorage at the city dock.

Since it’s a long way to the next harbor, we departed Monterey at 4am and motored into a light southerly wind. The swell and chop were a little bit uncomfortable down below (see Jacintha’s post below) until we cleared a point and headed south-east along the Big Sur coast towards San Simeon. Since landfall was predicted to be around 10pm, we decided to keep going so we could reach Port San Luis at about 4am. The night-time run was comfortable with 5′ rollers hitting us from astern every 6 seconds. About every 5 minutes we’d get a few larger rollers that would boost our speed from 6 knots to 8 knots. Very peaceful but dark with no stars or moon. Karen and I took 3 hour shifts at the helm–she listened to Aretha Franklin and I had Jack Johnson on the cockpit speakers. The buoys and lights guided us into Port San Luis and we grabbed a mooring buoy at 4am. Jacintha woke us up 8am so we got up and called the harbor patrol and found out we were on a private buoy, so we moved to the anchorage area. We planned this extended 3-day stop because my son Brady is arriving into San Luis Obispo Friday evening to begin his freshman year at Cal Poly.

Our anchorage is right off Avila Beach and a free water taxi provides rides to either the marina or the pier off Avila Beach every 2 hours. We spent Thursday ashore near the marina (hot showers!) and Friday at Avila Beach. Brady just arrived via plane to SF, then bus to SLO Friday evening so we will see him on Saturday.

We began “boat-schooling” Jacintha a few days ago. She works on math problems from the Everyday Math workbook provided by Villa Academy, reads a lot (Ivy and Bean), and is keeping a journal. Here are her latest 2 entries in her journal, complete with illustrations:

San Francisco (by Jacintha)–we were at the boat on a dock, then daddy paddle boarded me to a shallow part near the beach, then I jumped into the water. It was cold but I stayed in the water, then I swam toward the beach until my tippy toes could touch sand, then I walked to the beach. Once the water was up to my shin, I bent down to pick up some yucky icky wet sand then I let it slowly drip to my other hand. This was fun because the sand was soooo drippy.

California (by Jacintha)–Bleah! I threw up on my sofa, then I went to the other side of the couch and slept. Zzzzzz. Then I woke up. I wasn’t comfy so I went to my room to change. After that I stood and threw up right on the floor outside my bedroom. At last daddy came inside and looked at me and then came closer to get a better look and stepped in my throwup with bare feet. Yep this was the weirdest day ever. (Jim’s comments–true story, and when I realized what I stepped in, she laughed at me!)

Recent Pictures:

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