Half Moon Bay, California

We left the beautiful harbor of Drakes Bay at Point Reyes in California. This 36 nautical mile trip would simply be a day passage to Half Moon Bay.  The weather looked terrific.

Dan took the helm as we left Point Reyes.  We were both looking forward to a nice sail.  But the winds were not meant to be.  In fact, there was almost no wind.  I called it "The Pacific Calm".  And so we ran Malo's motor the whole way.  She moved along effortlessly at about 7 knots and there were times we felt her riding the following seas.  

We never left sight of the California Coastline.  We saw many birds enjoying the calm water.  We saw whales from a distance and the most unusual fish we saw several times, was a Sunfish.  It was large, whitish in color and just floated on the top of the water.  Below is a picture of one. (It looks like a giant blob.)

As we approached the traffic separation channels for the entrance to the San Francisco Bay we had to change our course to avoid this large freighter that was being towed by three tugs.

Here we are approaching Pillar Point which marks the entrance for Half Moon Bay and also the famous Maverick Surfing Beach.

Malo landed a nice slip on the dock.  

Our neighbor was a friendly fisherman named Tony. One of the things I love about being on the docks are visiting with the variety of people who either have boats on the docks or live in their boats on the docks.

These are our other neighbors - LOTS of pelicans on the stone breakwater near our dock.

I am longing to get my SUP board out in this beautiful cove.  I still cannot believe I have not gone out supping yet.  It is on tomorrows list!


We enjoyed spending some time with our friends from S/V Slow Motion - Curt and Lynn. They have moved on farther south, but I am sure our paths will cross again as they have already several times.

A couple of times, I headed out on my bike to explore the area and do some grocery shopping for fresh produce.  Much to my delight, I discovered a bike trail right along half moon bay!  A little more navigating on some side streets and it brought me right to a Safeway Grocery Store/CVS/Verizon and more!

Since my shoulder has been acting up again, I decided to get a massage and to my delight I even found a spa that gave me a wonderful massage on my shoulder.  It helped a lot, so I will plan on getting another one before we leave the area. I also decided to stop for a coffee and muffin at this cool beachside coffeeshop.  This is some "taking care of myself time."

While we are at the marina, there are always projects to work on.  One of the things Dan did was sort out the windlass which was not getting a good connection and thus it was not able to pull up the anchor. (I did help with part of it when I returned on my bike ride.)

We had the pleasure of our friends Angie and Mike from S/V Madrone visiting us for lunch and a hike.  We had met them in Newport, Oregon and they recently sailed their boat south and have now moved down to the Bay Area to live on their boat in Sausalito.  Dan and I both enjoy their company and certainly hope our paths will cross again, as they also plan on sailing to Mexico in about a year from now.

This picture was taken in front of this old fishing dock, which at one point actually belonged to Angie's great uncle who was a fisherman in the area.  How cool is that?

After a nice lunch out, we had a terrific hike up Pillar Point Hill overlooking Mavericks - where the large surf happens mostly in the wintertime.  The views were incredible along the ridge of these steep cliffs.

This wonderful day of a visit with friends ended with this fabulous sunset.

We plan on staying a few more days in Half Moon Bay as some heavier winds blow on by.  Our plan is to depart in a few days. That is all folks!