We left Santa Cruz this morning and sailed 20+ miles across Monterey Bay to the city of Monterey. The seas were calm and the winds were light. The wind in the sails was peaceful as we passed numerous hump back whales and seals. Monterey Bay is a marine sanctuary with a rich marine food chain. We saw thousands of sea lions barking at us from the shores and breakwaters when we arrived. Little otters were swimming on their back while munching on clam shells while sea gulls were trying to steal the clams.
There are 60 juvenile great white sharks that have made this bay their home. As a result, the sea lions (shark food) have moved to the shores of the bay for protection from these preditors. They sound like thousands of dogs barking. It’s so loud! We are glad we are at the marina down the road. We had reservations at the municipal dock where all the sea lions are hanging out but when we arrived there was 20+ knot winds and we were having a difficult time manuevering into the tight slip they gave us. There were two large fishing boats on either side of the assigned slip and they wanted us to pull in the middle between the two. With the strong winds coming from the side this was becoming very difficult. When plans don’t seem to be working and you find yourself getting stressed, the best solution is to abort your plan. That’s what we did and contacted the Breakwater Cove Marina down the bay and they had a place for us. The wind was howling and they put us on a linear dock so it would be easier to tie up and sent someone out to help us dock. So nice of them! We will be here for about 3 days while we watch the weather. Our next leg is a longer one with an overnight passage to San Simeon so we want to wait for a good weather window since we don’t have crew on this overnight passage.
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