Monthly Archives: September 2017

The Monterey Days

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We dropped anchor on September 24 in Monterey. Everyone we know told us we’d love Monterey, but to be honest, I listen to those things with only half an ear. That’s because tastes differ. For instance, many of those people also loved San Fransisco. But I’m not much of a city girl, especially on a boat, and while I was glad to have the opportunity to experience the city from the fairly protected (a term I use very loosely here) anchorage at Aquatic Park, I was more than ready to leave by the time we had our window of opportunity. But I was happy to stay in Monterey for awhile.

On the corner of the commercial pier.

The pace of life is more casual here, we’ve had ‘shorts and t shirts’ weather, and there is more visible sea life here than anyplace I’ve ever been. More than anything, for me this trip is about seeing wildlife. If you’re into seeing whales and sea lions, seals, otters, and sea birds, this is the place to be. Last night, dinghying back from shore, we floated over thousands of beautiful Sea Nettles. We watch otters from the deck of the boat. We watched whales feeding from the observation deck of the aquarium. We’ve seen so many whales this far south that we now refer to the ‘daily whale’. If I ever get complacent about these kinds of things, it will be time to just sell up and go home.

Sea Nettles by the boat.

While in Monterey we took in the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. At 50$ a head, it’s a pricey thing to do, but completely worth it. We spent the entire day there and were doubly glad we went when we realized they had a Baja Peninsula exhibit featuring the land and sea animals of Baja, Mexico. I’ve got to buy that wetsuit so I can do some snorkeling!

There are some difficulties to visiting Monterey by boat but overcoming them is worth it.  The anchorage is completely exposed. In settled weather, it’s terrific. If you get heavy wind and swell from the north, like we are getting ready for, then you will want better cover. We’ve tucked around the corner at Pebble Beach for now but if there is room, the marina would be a good choice, especially for smaller boats.

Feeding time at the kelp forest in the aquarium.

Monterey Harbor is extremely densely crowded with boats. Our friends on S/V Blue from Gig Harbor picked up an end tie slip in the municipal marina for their big Cal 2-46. An end tie slip would be the only slip I’d be comfortable with at this point. There is also Fisherman’s Wharf, which is controlled by the marina. There is not a lot of room on the wharf, but it is centrally located and if you can get on it, would be a good place to be. Unfortunately there was a cruise ship due when we were there, and they clear the wharf 24 hours in advance of a cruise ship. The marina was full, so anchoring was actually our only option, even though it’s also our preferred option. Be prepared for it to be your only option, too.

If you anchor out, you’ll want to find a place to put your dinghy and that’s also a bit of a problem. There is a very rough,small dinghy dock on Fisherman’s Wharf. When we went over to take a look at it, it was already well packed with dinghies. I’m not sure we could have found a place to tie on as the dock is fairly small for a place that sees that much usage. Other than that, there are no public dinghy docks we found. Our best bet was to ask permission to leave our dinghy on K dock the first day. It’s right by the marina office and has public access. Because they were full and could not accommodate us, the harbormaster gave us permission to leave our dinghy there for a couple of hours. I’m not sure they liked it, but they said, ‘OK’, with the understanding that K dock is not a secure location. We do lock both our dinghy and our engine when we leave it. 

Since S/V Blue was in the marina, what worked well was to leave our dinghy at their dock between their bow and the dock. We always found a way to get into the marina to retrieve it, even when they were not with us. There is a dinghy dock inside the marina if you have a friend on the other side of the gate.

As I write this we’ve scooted around the corner to Pebble Beach to avoid the winds and big swell that are going to be happening for the next three days. We’ll have to find a way to get into Monterey before Monday because we have some packages waiting in an Amazon Locker that have to be picked up before then. Meanwhile, Humpback whales are feeding in the shallows close to the rocks, within easy view of our boat. I think it’s time to get the kayak down.

The touristy Fisherman’s Wharf, seen from the lovely seaside trail.

S/V Galapagos out.

 

 

Destination: China Cove, Angel Island

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While we are hunkered down in the Pittsburg Marina for a few days (70$ for 3 nights? Yes, please.) I’ve had some time to integrate all the experiences we’ve had since sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge. Words that come to mind in describing the SF Bay area? Intense. Fast. Bold. Dramatic. Stimulating. Mercurial. Bombarding. Beauty. Energy. Noise. Wind. And finally: Escape. It was the need to escape the constant action and wind of Sausalito’s anchorage that found us running for cover to Angel Island. The word ‘cover’ here is used loosely because really, there are no protected anchorages in the SF Bay area. But our standards were low. We wanted to get away from other boats, and we wanted a land mass between us and the westerlies that scream through the gate regularly. Just one night of peace. We’d put up with ferry wash to get that. You can’t have it all. 

We decided on China Cove on Angel Island, an anchorage that got us out of the worst of the wind and offered opportunities to learn to land our dinghy in surf and go to shore for a nice long walk in nature. By that time, I was seriously in need of nature time with no other people around. In fact, I think we both needed some time alone. We were feeling pretty raw, not so much from the passage but from the constant stimulation we had been exposed to since making landfall.  Cities are like that.

In spite of the rolly anchorage (again, our low standards) our anchor held fast and this was one of our better decisions during this time in San Fransisco. We landed on the beach at China Cove on a Tuesday, a day that the buildings are closed to the public. That meant there were no other people around and we could take our time exploring the area. Perfect!

Overlooking Galapagos from the dedication to the Chinese ancestors. Gifts to the ancestors have been placed at the foot of the monument.

China Cove is so named after the Chinese Immigrants who had to pass through here before being granted permission to land in America.   The Chinese were  ‘excluded’ from easy immigration due to the “Chinese Exclusion Act”. This tragic, infuriating time in our history is marked in the most poignant ways at China Cove. Would that everyone today could go to China Cove and see the displays, opening their hearts and minds to the plight of the immigrant and feel the parallels between that time and now. How little human beings have changed in that 100 years. How carefully we guard what we believe to be ours.

The Asian immigrants, especially the Chinese, were treated as ‘aliens’, a word which is still used to describe anyone who is ‘the other’, who may be different in appearance or culture, or who ‘doesn’t belong’ to the fleeting majority. When we consider other people as ‘alien’ to us, it makes it so much easier to mistreat them. It’s so much easier to just look the other way when we see people as less than human. It’s kind of like using the term ‘collateral damage’ to describe how innocent people are killed in war zones. It’s so much more palatable that way.

Asians were separated from Europeans and given less space to live. This is illustrated easily in the size of the outdoor recreation yard provided. The European yard is about twice the size of the Asian yard. Families were separated with the men having to live separately from wives and children. Many were in the encampment on Angel Island for many months, appealing their case time after time before finally ‘passing’ their interview. It must have been an angel of darkness this island was named after. They lived in barracks, beds stacked one on top of the other. Conditions were squalid. I feel ashamed for the people who were in power during that time, just as I feel ashamed of those in power now who use many of the same words and same psychological ploys to make the populace fearful of immigrants. Considering the fact that unless you are a Native American, you are an immigrant of one kind or another, maybe it’s ourselves we should be fearful of.

As we walked through the area, peeking into the buildings, reading the displays, feeling our way into the experiences of the place, a myriad of emotions swept through me in the quiet of the day. Without other people, without a ‘guide’ to tell me what to know, I am more open to these encounters with history. The resonances of the experiences of humanity that mark a place become more easily felt when the mind is open and quiet and the heart is willing. Despair. Grief. Longing. Fear.  Bitter disappointment. Incredulousness.  Of course. But also laughter and joy. Exultation.  Relief.  Love. Forgiveness. Understanding. We know intellectually that all of these forces of feeling existed for the residents, or I might say, inmates, of China Cove. But to allow the emotions to waft through the body, to acknowledge them and bless them, to ask, ‘Why am I experiencing this emotion on this particular spot?’; this is to experience a place on a different level.

Taking in the wall of dedications to the Chinese ancestors who came to this country against all odds, and successfully created a future for their families.

Timeless good advice!

If you are not in the San Fransisco area, follow the links in this post and read about this monument to a darker part of our American history. Look for the parallels to our current climate regarding immigration. Those parallels are not hard to find.  If you are in the San Fransisco Bay area, go to Angel Island. Go to China Cove and visit with the ghosts of the past that live there. You can take a ferry to the island. Allow this place to come to life for you. The buildings are open on Wednesdays. But any day is a good day for wandering through time with a quiet mind and an open heart. 

Fair Weather Sailors

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We’ve been spending this week anchored in San Fransisco’s Aquatic Cove Park. It’s front and center to all the tourist attractions in the area, has a killer night time view,  and I thought it would be a protected anchorage. Laugh. Out. Loud. There is no such thing as a ‘protected’ anchorage in this area, and that’s something we’ve had to become accustomed to. The wind is pretty much constant here, and even though there is a sea wall around this cove, at high tide the water comes over the wall and you still get the wallowing from all the ships passing through. Nevertheless, it’s a great place to jump off from to go see things like the beautiful Victorian houses in the Alamo Park area, the crooked Lombard Street, and yesterday, Chinatown.

We’ve been wondering when we’re going to be leaving the area for points south, a decision that is truly still up for grabs. Only a fortune teller would be able to see into the future far enough to predict that. So I was very relieved to find a Chinese fortune teller in the form of a mechanical Confucius on the street on the main Chinatown drag. For only one simple dollar, Confucius would tell my fortune. I could not resist. I placed the dollar in his machine and his orb began to glow, his mouth began to move. My fortune went something like this:

“When it is obvious that the goal cannot be reached, do not adjust the goal, adjust the action steps. If you wish more wisdom from Confucius kindly relieve yourself of more of your monetary burden.”

Well. Okay then. I was sorely tempted to put another dollar in his tiny machine slot (even though I don’t find the having of money to be distressingly burdensome), but Mike, always the grown up, stayed my hand. Also, he had the cash. But really, I got what I came to Chinatown to get: the answer to our ‘when do we leave’ conundrum. I’ve been kind of itching to get going because I want to be warm and out of the wind. I’ve assumed that meant we needed to get further south. However, we are not going to reach our goal of going further south anytime in the very near future. Clearly we must adjust our action steps.

So that leads me to one way we make our decisions about when and where to go. We have a subscription to Predict Wind and we use that on Mike’s Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet. We’ve been mostly happy overall with Predict Wind’s performance, although it has not been 100% accurate. We have found ourselves in much more wind than predicted. During a particularly nasty night in Sausalito we were awakened in the wee morning hours by winds that were clearly over 30 knots with gusts even higher. As our anchorage neighbor informed us he had put out 300 feet of chain (in a water depth of about 12 feet), we spent the rest of the night with our engine running keeping Galapagos steered away from his boat. I prefer to forget that night. That little weather system was not registered on Predict Wind at all. But the following day, when the winds kicked up strongly again, we could see that action with the software. By that time we’d had enough of Sausalito and moved on. I was beginning to see a pattern there.

Red=Bad

Anyway, we can also use Predict Wind with one of the computers with Open CPN software, which gives us a better picture of where we are in relation to the weather patterns we are seeing on the screen. This software helped us avoid big winds during our passage, and helped us find enough wind to sail in as well.

Lately we haven’t been happy with what it’s showing us for our next passage. It’s predicting winds of 35 knots or better until at least next Thursday. Since it’s also showing us 14 foot swells, we’ve decided we’re not going to leave yet. We’ll have to ‘adjust our steps’.

Do you see all those white caps. Because…wind.

In search of warmer weather, less wind, and more settled water, we’ll adjust our steps by going inland a bit, toward the Sacramento River Delta. We need to do a repair on our headsail furler and also put up some lazy jacks for the mizzen sail. (Lazy Jacks are a system of lines that guide the sail and contain it when you lower the sail. They keep the sail from flopping around dangerously.) We also need to raise our mainsail and get those sail slugs back in the track like they should be. All these tasks are better done in less wind than we have here.

One more day in the windy anchorage next to the city. If you’re in San Fransisco, just skip the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream down by the waterfront and go directly to Salt and Straw. It’s off the tourist path, even better, but the ice cream is AMAZING! Just go.

S/V Galapagos Out.