SV Ultegra's Most Excellent Adventure

It has been much longer than intended since our last post as the wifi connections continue to be challenging. The trip from Astoria to Monterey has been one of highlights. We crossed 7 ocean bars since leaving Neah Bay, without incident; we met numerous new and old friends along the way; we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge as we arrived at our destination of San Francisco; we visited Napa and Sonoma wine regions and we had 8 humpback whales cross just in front of our bow to name a few!

In order to meet the tides for the bars along the way we did another 4 night sails, 2 in fog. We had mixed winds, several days of motor sailing and a couple 30 - 35 kts winds with big waves 4 - 6 meters. The auto pilot continued to override in the big seas which was challenging and we had a engine scare when entering Newport Harbour. Dennis notified the Coast Guard that we might be having problems just to let them know and the Coast Guard came out and escorted us all the way to the dock "in case" we needed help, what service! Turned out Dennis was able to address the problem with the help of a local mechanic who happened to be at the dock - Dennis acquired a few grey hairs over that one!

We woke one morning in Eureka, Oregon to an email from one of Dennis's neighbours (Robin and Fiona) from Spruce Harbour, who happened to be in the same marina, what a small world. That was the beginning of connections with friends from Vancouver - we met Lorie and Ian, Paul and his girlfriend Carol, Robin and Fiona again, Colby, Nancy, David, and Dale Gebhard and his crew in San Francisco - always great to see friends from home. Dennis is building a community of friends from all over the world as he moves south, as so many folks are headed to Mexico. No doubt he will see all of them again in his travels.

San Francisco was a fun stop, with time spent at marinas in Sausalito and Berkeley. The marina in Sausalito had us in the company of many beautiful boats, including one of the Rolex Cup boats which was tied up at the dock. This was neat but we also really enjoyed the people on the civic dock in Berkeley as well as their neighbour Berkeley Yacht Club who invited us to tie up for free and to join their year end barbecue. Coming under the Golden Gate Bridge was a spectacular moment for both of us. Dennis has been before but not on his boat. "Sailing on the Dock of the Bay" kept playing in my head. Our visit to the wine regions was a treat. Out of the vineyards we visited we would highly recommend the Cakebread Winery. The wine was fabulous and well out of our price range, but they provide small group tours and we spent 1 1/2 hours with a very knowledgeable and fun lady, learned alot and came away with monogrammed wine glasses.

The various ports along the way offered us interesting sights and experiences, we met 4 other boats from Canada in Newport, Oregon and enjoyed the Rogue Brewery; Coos Bay, Oregon offered a great farmers market and visit to Bandon beach; Ereka, Oregon has a neat old town with beautiful Victorian homes. We had hoped to visit the Redwood Forest by train from Fort Bragg, California but unfortunately the schedule didn't work out. In Moss Landing, California we had a fabulous kayak in their estuary (pictures below) and the highlight of our trip was the Monterey Submarine Canyon, montereybaywhalewatch.com. This underwater canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and is teeming with sealife. We turned off the engine and drifted while 8 humpback whales passed back and forth, once 15 - 20 feet in front of our bow - absolutely breath taking!! (see video). One went right under our boat! The whales were accompanied by rafts of 100 - 200 sea lions, which they seem to have a symbiotic relationship with. The experience was amazing. Monterey has been been a nice stop, including a visit to their impressive aquarium, friendly dock neighbour who gave us fresh tuna and ling cod and a lovely lunch in Carmel. Carmel although pretty is over the top with wealth. It has many art galleries, in one they tried hard to sell us a watercolour for a mere good deal - $5,000.00! The strangest sight we saw was a poodle who's hair had been shaved and dyed to look like a zebra - far too much time on their hands!!!

This is my last post at least for awhile, as tomorrow sadly I fly home to Vancouver. I am very grateful to have shared this time and experience with Dennis and to fulfill one of the many things on my bucket list. I am truly grateful to Dennis and hope to join again in the Sea of Cortes for Christmas.

Dennis's adventure continue with our friend Chris and a friend of his from LA joining him for the leg from Monterey to Ensenada, Dennis will wait in Monterey working on the boat until Chris and Mike meet him in a couple weeks.

Dennis will now be the author of the blog so he can continue to share his adventure with all.