We left Tuesday morning, after spending Monday making certain that we would have everything that we could possibly need, and also having the impeller changed on the Westerbeke. Michael Lord found the two rubber vanes that had broken off, they were lodged in the heat exchanger. So we left Berkeley with a new lease on life, at least for the diesel, and motor sailed out the Golden Gate, and up the Bonita Channel, dropping anchor in Drake's Bay in time to anchor relax for awhile and play cards before sunset.
Okay, I'll admit that kelp flies were a nuisance, but that was the only negative about this entire trip. The kelp flies kept Tom occupied with a swatting routing that got better and better, there was quite a bit of fly carnage. And Lee made a really cool swatter/swisher out of an old splicing tool, some extra line, and a bit of creativity.
We anchored along the north end of Drake's Bay, fairly close to the elephant seals. The wind shifted during the night, swinging us towards the elephant seals priva
te mating beach, and the noise level went from background to foreground. At
one point, I nearly levitated out of the quarter berth, hearing some male elephant seals battling it out for supremacy right near the boat. All in all, their low bellowing is actually quite enchanting, as long it's more than a few feet away. They're at the beginning of their mating season, and the calls either proclaimed extreme maleness, or perhaps they were females screaming for help. The size discrepancy is enormous, males are as much as 8,000 lbs and four times the size of the females.
Our time in Drake's Bay was spent doing boat craft projects, hiking ashore near Chimney Rock in Point Reyes, and putting on makeup (it was our crew outfit, we
had nothing else but gold eyeshadow to proclaim our association to Pearl of Oakland) left behind by a passenger over the weekend....okay, never mind, it seemed like a swell idea at the time....time to get crew t-shirts or hats!
Tom had never seen bioluminescence before, and was fascinated. Lee got off the boat into an inflatable kayak and paddled around in circles, entertaining us with the green streams of light coming off the boat and the paddles.
The Marine Mammal Rescue Center released several juvenile elephant seals and harbor seals while we were there, that was great to watch. The most interesting part was the reaction of the rescue workers, they were quite emotional about letting these rehabilitated marine mammals back into their natural habitat. Of course, being close to other humans meant an immediate wiping off of gold eyeshadow for us....
The best part of the trip was the return home. The wind had begun to fill in from the northwest after several very calm days. We headed directly south to the Farallones, and swung around them counterclockwise before heading west back into San Francisco Bay. I had never seen the islands in sunshine before, Lee and Tom had never seen them at all, and they were spectacular. Tom's advice: stay upwind. They really do stink.
We saw whales, lots and lots of whales. Blue whales, identified by their huge exhale just hanging vertically in the air, grey whales lolling around and playing
in the water, humpbacks....I even had to divert the boat at one point to avoid a collision.The dinghy was trailing behind us the whole way, but we made great speed coming home. The departure from Drake's Bay was at 10 a.m. and we were just turning on the navigation lights as pulled into the Berkeley Marina at about 7 p.m. Drake's Bay to the Farallon Islands and back into Berkeley, all in about 9 hours, not too bad. Okay, I have to admit to a pretty good flood pushing us along as we came into the bay, but still, it was a spectacular day of sailing. Great sailing and great company, a perfect short trip!
