Oxnard to Ensenada

The trip to Oxnard was a tad mixed, some bad fog in areas (typically in the middle of a load of gas / oil platforms, which e could'nt see at all) and then ...........oooooohhhhhh joy all the B&G and Raymarine systems go down.
Out came the old "handheld" GPS....................luckily the chartplotter was working to some extent, so we could get a fix with the handheld and then put a "waypoint" in on the plotter...........it worked reasonably well.
Eventually we worked our way down to Oxnard and found our way into the Anacapa isle marina.
Ali was there to meet us, unfortunately we coud'nt find the berth to start with, so we meandered around for a while.
Ali very kindly had us over to her house for supper and some friends Steve had met before also joined us......................
Got to say, LA & area not my favourite spot, certaily not as pleasing as San Francisco or Monterey bay.
Loads of jobs to do as usual, the most important to get the B&G and Raymarine working again......................that's vital.
Luckily Ali knew a good marine electronics guy and he turned up a couple of days later.
It took him most ot the day to sort it , a few new parts, but basically he said the two systems were not talking to each other properly...............basically the B&G is an old system and Steve should strip it out.............it could go again at anytime !!!!! Great stuff.............all we need in the Drake passage...........no instruments !!!
True to form, Steve decided to ignore him and the two systems still stand.
They are working at the moment, for how long, who knows !!!

Soon on our way again, we set sail for Ensenada in Mexico, originally Steve's choice to overwinter Novara. His new choice being La Paz.
Sailing between the Catalina and San Clemente islands we were soon back in the swing of it, we even had a bit of wind for a sail................nice change.
Dark soon overcame us and we were approaching San Diego......................well, what a sight, we were about 50 miles offshore, San Diego and districts gave the impression of one long flouescent tube all along the coast.................very weird, i've never seen anyhting like it before........................all the suburbs just merged into one long light source..........very peculiar !!!!
Passing South Coronado island, we are on the run into Ensenada.


A fleeting glimpse of one of the gas paltforms

Pelican on the pontoon in the Anacapa isle marina

San Francisco

9/10
Tel and i are up early and showered, best shirts on.............we're off.
So, we have 2 options, taxi round to the river to catch the ferry, about 3 miles. Or, we can get the dingy out and run down river to Jack London square and catch it from there.
We decide on the taxi.
So, Tel and i meander into the harbourmasters (Brock) office to see if he will call for a taxi for us.
Well, we walked right into a fire storm there. We (well i should clarify............i ...as usual !!!) got a right bollocking for sanding the cabin souls on the pontoon the day before.............dusts and the varnish debris were floating all over the water by our pontoon. And..................and it was'nt even me.............it was Tel !!!
Someone had clearly dobbed us in...................Tel and i reckon it was the boat next to us............ahhhh well.

Anyway, after we / i took the bollocking he was ok and started to call a taxi for us. In the end he said , sod it, i'll take you in the car..........cool dude.
And fair play to Brock, he took us to the ferry terminal , told us the best places to go, ferry times etc etc etc.............good stuff.
We had a 20 minute wait for nthe next ferry to the main ferry terminal in San Francisco, no problem, we just sat in the sun and discussed the day ahead.
Union Square and a trolly bus ride was high on the agenda....also get some postcards for Gemma & Bryn.
The ferry eventually arrives and we all meander on in an orderly fashion.
Get in line & pay the man at the desk for our return tickets $14 if i remember corectly.
We are soon at San Fran and start our tour.
We stop at the Ferry terminal on the Embarcadero looking for a coffee........queue............never seen one like it, stuff that.
Tel finds a bookshop (favourite hobby), in we go, he looks at the books and buys some maps of the city. I find 2 suitable post cards and purchase them. By this time Tel is still looking at maps, i go over and also look at them, particularly to locate Union Sq.
I put my cards down while i look at the maps....................yes you guessed it, of i walked and forgot the cards..........DOH....only realised half an hour later and a mile down the road.........stuff it !!!
We look for a post office, go in the wrong direction for a mile or so, then eventually find one.
Tel gets in the queue for stamps and i find a birthday card for Gemma, write the card and put the address on the front, get in the queue.............my turn arrives, i go to the counter and ask for the cost to post the card to Switzerland, $1.25............fine, i pay up and we go on our way. It is another hour or so before i realise the guy never charged for the card !!! Gawd, lost one set of cards and never paid for the next.................quite unintentionally mind you..................blooming eck i am loosing it !!!
We find Stevenson and start to head towards Union Square.....we pass a Phillz Cafe......got to be good, in we go for a coffee hopefully !!!???
Gordon Bennett, i've never seen so many different types of coffee and tea. All the coffee's were filters.............no machines here like Costa etc etc.
Had to say, it was a great coffee.
Eventually we make Union Square and look for the trolley buses. Brock said go on the one to Mason............well, the queue was a bit long and only a few were let on at a time. It so happened the first one along we could get on was to Hyde.......no problem, they all got to the Fishermans Wharf anyway.
Off we go. No room to stand on the sides, so we had to sit inside. Next to me was a young couple from texas and i think the young lady was a bit claustrophobic.....anyway, someone got off and i was offered a seat, so i gave it to the young lady. Soon they got off and the seat was avaialble again, who was sat there an old woman with no teeth in............wy does it always happen to me ???? She started to chat...................gawd..........she would have won any "Gurning" competeition she decided to enter !!!! ;-)
We arrive at Fishermans wharf, end of the line.
We meander over to the wharfside and look at one of the last remaining ships form WW2 that ran the Atlantic and a submarine.
We end up a bit further down the Embarcadero and find an ice cream stand................briliant..we're in the queue.
A nice picture of a tub of ice cream with chocolate drizzled on it is displayed................"A Hot Chocolate".....sounds great i'll have one of those please.
The lass takes ages and eventually comes back with a drink of HOT CHOCOLATE................?????....................WHAT the FEK ???.....so astounded i pay for it and walk off...................it's boiling hot and i have just been given a hot chocolate drink at an ice cream stall...................these Yanks are nuts !!!!
Next stop a bar on the way back to the ferry and a pint of Anchor Steam beer.............excellent.
Ferry back to the island.
Then a 4 mile walk through Alameda
Back on the boat we prepare to leave for Oxnard.

On the way out of San Francisco we motor around Alcatraz island to watch the "Fleet Weekend" an air show by the Blue Angels a Navy display team like the Red Arrows...............blloming good too !!!!

A stunt plane starts the day

USS Potomac - Ex Rossevelt State yacht

Blue Angels

Busy in the bay........

An old sign on Alcatraz

Golden Gate Bridge

2/10 to 5/10
Slip berth at Anacortes and head for the western mouth of Juan de Fucha Strait.
Gets a bit windy and 30 to 40 Kn winds forecast, so we bail out at Becher Bay for a few hours till it eases.........should be about 24:00.
We eventually settle for a departure at 20:00, in the event it was probably a tad too early, we met some huge waves coming out of the Juan de Fucha straits, overfalls and huge swell causing the swell to run back from shore and cause a large amount of turbulence.
 Eventually we get around Cape Flattery and head south.
San Francisco here we come, can't wait to sail under the Golden Gate bridge.
The run down the coast, past Oregon etc etc, was fairly uneventful.
We had either headwinds or no wind or tide against us nearly the entire way.................gggrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
We were so far of shore, we saw nothing of the Oregon coast, which was a shame.

6/10
We arrive at Drakes Bay late and decide to anchor in the bay overnight. We all agreed, it was better to see the Golden Gate in daylight. We had a good night in Drakes bay..............fair play to Francis !!!

7/10
Off we set for the bridge.....................just brilliant ...........what a blast, just fantastic................we get some brilliant pictures of the Golden Gate as we pass underneath !!! Yyyyyyyyeeehhhhaaaaa
Passing through the bay we pass the island of Alcatraz............phew, no wonder thay were desperate to escape that spot !!! Very dangerous though, tides and sharks to contend with !!!
We pass San Francisco and go under the Bay bridge. (the section to the north of us collapsed in the earthquake of 1989................repair work has totalled $6.4 billion................so we were told.)
We are heading for Alameda island, to a marina called Alameda Marina...............surprisingly !!!! ;-)
We arrive and are put on the hammerhead of B4 pontoon, not a bad spot, directly opposite the large Coast guard berth and headquarters for the San Francisco area.
A quick walk around the area and we find a brewery + pub !!!!! Excellent, a few beers later, we are off for a meal in town.
Beautiful sunset tonight.
8/10
A few jobs done today, one of them shopping. Gordon Bennett..........i've never walked so far, with so much food in my life. Tel and i were whacked when we got back to the boat..............must have been a 4 to 5 mile round trip...............Steve had told us it was just further on down the road past the brewery pub we had been in last night.................yeah right................my a##e !!!!
Parts for the watermaker eventually all arrived today and Steve says he will sort it tomorrow if we fancy a day out in San Fran...................too right we do !!!


San Francisco fishing fleet heading towards us

 Not far now............

Lighthouse on the way towards the bridge

Steve at the helm

Here we go....

 And we are through