Ft. Bragg - Noya Anchor, Sept 13 - 16, 2009

We left Santa Cruz on Sunday, making a big run north. The winds were slight, altho the swells were fairly good sized (10 feet at times). We had the seas in our favor, since they werre coming from the SW, virtually pushing us home. We made good time.

Dave pushed her all night, passed the San Francisco Bay channel opening and Bodega Bay. Steering has been running smoothly and both engines, too, however the RPM meter for the Starboard engine went out in the night.

Throughout the day we looked for small anchorages between Pt. Reyes and Pt. Cabrillo (Ft. Bragg). There not being much of anything available, we settled on Noya Anchorage. A small bay nestled between a natural rock jetty of the Mendocino Headlands. A beautiful spot to anchor, but left little protection from the movement of the seas. Needless to say, cooking supper was a bit of a challenge!

Dave spent the a.m. in the engine room, working his magic, while I collected bullwhip kelp from the bay. I enjoy being "creative" in the kitchen with wild ingredients. I would use my collection for a stuffed kelp dish at our next stop. By 9 am on the 15th, Dave had rewired the tachometer and had our engines ready to go. We pulled anchor, and heading north once again.

Seas were calm with 1 - 3 foot swells. In the late morning, Dave put me at the helm, so that he could take a much needed break. This lasted about an hour when we hit a fog bank. We found that we had taken aboard a stowaway, a sparrow. She sat at the bow of the boat for several hours. Occassionally she would make an attempt to fly towards land, but would soon circle and make it back to the safety of our boat.

I was at the helm again for several hours in the late afternoon. Most of my time was as we rounded Cape Mendocino. There was a light fog cover, the beautiful thing about fog is that there is no wind, making the seas like glass. In the early evening, Dave regained the helm and ran her all night. We planned to make it to Brookings, OR by morning.

We saw the most beautiful sunrise as we neared the Brookings Harbor. The skies all around were dark and ominous. Swells from the south were pushing us towards our destination. I got to bring the Sea Crest in towards the first bouy of the harbor entrance (good practice for me). The Coast Guard hailed us as we came through the bar. We tied up to the fuel dock and awaited our first Coast Guard inspection which is a common occurence (especially when crossing state lines).

Brookings Harbor was to be home for the next 6 days and proved to be a memorably, enjoyable visit.