Morro Bay surprises

Anchor Day 1 Morro Bay, CA

Our first night at anchor was filled with sleep disturbances as to whether or not we were still holding and if we had done a sufficient job in the setting of the anchor and if we had enough chain rode out. It was cold! Tim got up several times to check on a strange noise, so a 1-2-3am wake-ups have been normal since getting under way. I got up and retrieved the down comforter that we had bagged for our quarter berth where we sleep under way. The main cabin was 54 degrees in the morning.

The chores for today were to get the dinghy off the boat and go ashore for showers and some shopping. We wanted to get this done early because high winds of 25-35 knots were forecasted for the harbor. As we were getting the dinghy ready of off-load, the lady who kept us from anchoring too shallow, and her husband came over with their dinghy to say good morning on their way into town - Kurt and Katie from Interlude. They left and Harbor Patrol paid us a visit to register us with them, we get to anchor for 5 nights for free in a 30 day window. Once done with them, we realized it was almost noon and we were still in need of getting our showers and going into town and the wind was starting. 

We zip locked our shower items and headed for shore. It was not clear what the shower facilities were like and if they were free or for pay. Turns out they were public showers for pay, 2 minutes per quarter. I anticipated the possibility and loaded all the quarters we had into my pockets. I returned outside to give Tim some quarters. It reminded me of shopping at Harrod’s in London where Tim joked with me that we would have to pay for the use of the bathroom, and sure enough, it was a pound tariff each to use the loo. The restroom was very open, even though the shower was a stall with one hook and no separation from the shower area and dressing. Careful planning was in order! I figured out how to shower and keep my clothing, shoes and bag dry and still get my towel when I was finished. Then there is the challenge of keeping the towel off the floor and getting your feet dry to put back into your shoes! Accomplished! I had a 2 quarter shower (50 cents) and now fresh, dry and dressed to head back to the boat for lunch.

Our return trip was nothing less than a comedy! I wish there was video! The mile ride back in our inflatable dinghy was into the wind and the sea chop was already building. I sat in the front on my bottom with my Helly Hansen weather jacket hood up. Tim was facing the front to drive. As we started, every wave was spraying up and landing Tim strait in the face! As I am watching wave after wave slap him in the face, his sunglasses falling off and water drenching him completely! Where did all the water in the dinghy go? Under the inflatable floor and then drenched my tush. The waves got so big that had I not had my weather jacket on, I would have looked just like Tim. Tim was mad! I talked to him later, I was laughing because what else do you do! It was like a scene from a sailing comedy! We safely arrived back at the boat, I’m soaked from the butt down and Tim is completely soaked. Once back on the boat the winds were high enough for us to feel really cold. We stripped down in the cockpit so we didn’t bring a bunch of salty water into the cabin. The sun came out and the winds were whipping up and we decided we were staying on the boat the rest of the day! We tied up our wet clothing to dry in the sun and winds. We were a little frustrated that we paid money for fresh water showers only to get a salt water shower on the return. Tim and I agreed that we just should have used our shower on the boat.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning up after our previous day’s travels and tidied things up. I practiced my bowline knot and read up on anchoring practices. The wind was huge and we were spinning, bouncing, rocking, and the boat was swinging a lot. The anchor held in 30 knot winds!

Anchor Day 2 Morro Bay, CA
Another cold night, 48 degrees, the cabin warms up fast with the use of the stove and hot coffee. Of course clothing helps with being warm as well. The weather reports said that the winds were to be strong again today, so we decided we needed to get into town for some items on the grocery list. We took the dinghy into town early to beat the winds and hopefully not repeat yesterday’s dinghy ride. We had to walk about a mile to Albertsons to purchase our groceries. We still cannot find a specific button battery for our binoculars for taking fixes at night. We also purchased some wine and chocolate for the Katie and Kurt as a thank you for our appreciation of not anchoring in water that was sand at low tide. On our way back we stopped by Interlude to drop off the wine and chocolate. Katie and Kurt said we needed to come back and help them drink it. They told us to bring our cruising guides so they could mark it up for us. 

We went back to the boat and stowed things away, had lunch and tidied up. I worked on writing for the blog and then we decided to head over to Interlude about 1530. What a great time we had! Tim recorded our conversations with them because they were so full of great information we didn’t want to miss out. They made all sorts of notes in Charlie’s Charts, our cruising guide. Then we talked a great deal about anchors. They highly suggested getting our new 45 lb Bruce anchor on the line and our chain measured, and getting the autopilot sorted out. They thought we shouldn’t leave Morro Bay until those items were done. It is wonderful to be able to connect with world cruisers that can share their experiences and tips. We are so grateful for the connection. These people have sailed around the world on their 74 foot yacht Interlude, just the two of them. They are very accomplished sailors and as Tim searched the web, he found out they are in the rock star category in the world cruiser crowd. They loved the fact we were sponges for all of their wisdom and we became fast friends. See the blog of their travels.

We stayed late, and realized we had the boat open and our anchor light was not on. We got ourselves back over and closed up for the night. The wind that was predicted did not materialize and for that we were grateful.


Anchor Day 3 Morro Bay, CA
It was a much quieter night last night. On deck for today was working on all the things Kurt and Katie said should be done. Tim realized he made a compass setting change in the chart plotter on the way to Monterey and went in and changed that back and it worked! Today is my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary and they were staying on Monterey. I let them know today would be a good day to hop down and see us. They liked the idea, so they headed out.

Tim’s master plan was that we would weigh anchor, head to a recreational dock where my parents could easily meet us and get on the boat. While at the dock Tim could swap the anchors and get the Bruce on the line. We found the perfect  dock and pulled up and tied up among the 3 restaurants right there at the waterfront. Fortunately, we had a beautiful landing and tie up. People were taking pictures of our boat again and I could tell they were trying to see in our windows to see what the insides looked like. I got the cabins all ship-shape and Tim finished just in time to meet my parents for lunch. My mom just couldn’t wait to see the boat!

After lunch we took them down to the boat and left the dock for a harbor tour. We took them out into the ocean just enough so they could feel what it was like on our boat in the swells. We came back the same recreation dock and dropped them off, said goodbye and sent them on their way. They had a great time! I was fun to be with them on their special day.

The next big chore was to get fuel. The gas dock had been busy every time we tried to go! It was now high tide and that was good. We passed by the dock to scope it out, there was a ladder to climb in order to tie off to fuel, it was not a dock but a pier. The ladder was about 6 feet tall over my head. There were no other places to tie except above us. As we came back around, I was able to step off the boat onto the ladder with stern line in hand, loosely enough that if I didn’t make it in time it wouldn’t pull me off the ladder. I climbed up completing the tie and then Tim tossed up the bowline so I tied the bow. With both ends tied off we were able to position the boat to our best workings. Another big first! We took on about 24 gallons of fuel. We have been running the engine an hour or so each day for hot water and charging the house batteries.

Next we had to go anchor again. We drove around a bit and finally picked our place and dropped the Bruce. As Tim was getting all the chain out, Kurt and Katie came over in their dinghy. They said we had a great set and it looked good. They were there as I backed down hard on the anchor. They invited us to $1 Oysters at Stax. We cleaned up, changed our clothes and went in the dinghy into town. We had a great time. Katie invited us to dinner and a movie on their boat, so we decided to join them for dinner and a movie. We had such a great time in conversation that we didn’t get to the movie. Again, all sorts of information for us to take note of for later application.

Finally, it felt like we had had a cruiser experience. Kurt and Katie said it takes about 2 years to get to the place of down time and relaxation. It’s about getting the boat all dialed in and our routines etc. It's been a very good day indeed. We noticed that it was warmer this evening and decided our down comforter would be too much. Good night all

​Lynette