FIRST LEG TO SAN FRANCISCO

EN ROUTE TO SAN FRANCISCO
We have left San Diego – sent on our way by our good friends Debra & Don as well as our friends from the dock, Lizzie & Scott, Tom & Bonnie, Eric & Carol.
We got through the first night well and early next pm passed Pt Conception. Then the lumpy confused seas started – about 5 hrs later we turned around and went back to Pt Conception for 48 hrs. Our next stop was San Simeon which was just gorgeous and restful. We pumped up the dinghy and off we went ashore. Whilst motoring on the boat, we are soooo cold and are just amazed when we get to anchorages that people are on the beach and some actually swimming!! It is a different climate on the beaches out of the wind.
We next spent 2 days in Monterey which is just about the most friendly place – lovely little town with interesting Mexican architecture – once the capital of California. Thousands of seals line the shore and all available rocks around the harbour. Visited the Aquarium in Cannery Row made famous from John Steinbeck’s book of the same name. In the 1920 – 1946 large numbers of sardines were fished in the bay and surrounding areas and canning factories were built on the edge of the bay to can them bringing in migrants from a lot of European countries.
Next day we motored across Monterey Bay to Santa Cruz where we anchored off the beach with the biggest amusement park along it that I have ever seen.
Next stop San Francisco