Skagua n. place where the north wind blows

Waxing and full moons receive a much greater appreciation when I'am aboard a boat in the middle of the night on rolling seas.  From Pfeiffer Cove to San Simeon (next to Hearst Castle), to Morro Bay, to Santa Cruz Island (3 different anchorages), to Catalina Island, to Dana Point, we have had four overnight passages so far.  They are necessary when the journey is known to be longer than one day's worth of daylight.  Last night we sailed from Catalina knowing we would arrive at night (midnight) at Dana Point Anchorage.  Because we know the full moon and the clear channel markers would be on our side, we chose to do the night passage to avoid today's predicted high winds.  Two of the mornings when we we were underway, dolphins came to join our boat and swim along at the bow with our bow wave.  We lay on the front trampoline peering over the edge at them and delighting in their buzzy squeaks, their athletic dives, and their social interactions.  Some of them swam on their sides and peeked up at us. They stayed long enough for us to note identifying marks, and give a few of them names. Names were Adidas, Chip, and Bowhog.

We spent 3 nights anchored in Monterey where we put away more of our piles of provisions, learned some California History by walking around to the old adobes, and spent time with some longtime friends, Kevin and Lauren.  We also, discussed and made more clear our safety protocols, checked our life jackets, etc.

It's almost two weeks past our hoped for departure date.  Yet we are celebrating that we motored out of the Santa Cruz harbor this afternoon and are anchored off of New Brighton State Beach.  It was too late to get to Monterey before dark, so we will continue on in the morning.

In these last months leading up to these last weeks which will lead up to the last few days and minutes of our current time in Santa Cruz,  I'm seeking to be present and thankful for moments with friends and family.  Here are a few I want to not forget.

Along with trimming out the windows for the pilot house, and sanding, Brian, Eddie, Myles, and Graham have been cutting out holes for the new hatches that need to be installed over each berth.  Hatches are important for airflow, light, and safety egress. That's Myles peeking out of the new hatch hole.  Graham chopping some trim, and Brian masked up for sanding.

For some time now, we have had no direct thoroughfare from the newly remodeled pilot house area and forward to the foredeck and forward trampoline.  This last week, Brian and crew got it cut out and trimmed.  Here is our youngest posing with 3 stuffed animals peeking out of her jacket.

What feeds each one of these creatures?  Anchovies.  There are swarms of them in the harbor and in the anchorage.  Especially last week.  In the calm water of the mornings, we could hear the flick flick flick of anchovies hitting the bottom of the top of the water.  It makes concentric circles just like a raindrop would, and sounds exactly like a gentle drizzle.  The sea lions, which don't seem to sleep all at the same time based on their 24 hour a day barking and moaning, make a quick "pff" as they come up for air under and around Skagua. They are hunting the anchovies.  When we hear a long slow"pfffffff" we know it's a humpback outside instead of the lions.  That's when I scurry up the stairs and call Eila out of bed, "There's whales, there's whales!" The whales are doing the same thing as the sea lions.  Slowly, they trace the path of a slow sine wave...gulping on their way up to the top of the water, "pffffffff" at the top, then descending down, then upward for another scoop of wriggling silvery breakfast.  They track back and forth across the anchorage .  I wonder how many thousands of tiny fish they scoop with one bite.  

While Daphne and I took 5 days to celebrate our big birthday out of town with our kids and Mom, Brian stayed back at Skagua and built me a birthday surprise.  As you might imagine, storage on a boat is a high commodity.  I had asked him to build a space for my spices to sit on a ledge near the stove.  Well, he took that request to the next level. I now have ledges on both walls of the galley.  As you can see in the photo, many jars and condiments and spices now fit along the hull.  The other side of the galley (not shown) has a similar amount of storage for silverware, dishsoap, etc.  This significantly frees up space for larger items to occupy the lower cabinets.