Sadly, our crew have all returned home.  We left Santa Barbara on October 17th for Smuggler's Cove on Santa Cruz Island.  We had a great 4 hour sail on beam reach with the winds reaching around 20+ knots.  Despite the reefed main, we cruised at around 7 knots the entire way.  Georgia easily took the 6' swells which were hitting us on the beam the entire way.

 

Although Sharon has questioned our anchoring skills, the anchor set on the second try and stayed put for two days.  The views and weather were gorgeous, but the anchorage was very rolly.  At times we simply slept since the boat was rocking too much to move around comfortably.  We were unable to go ashore since the land at Smuggler's Cove is private property.

 

 

On October 19th, we awakened at 3:00 am and prepared to leave.  We weighed anchor at 4:00 am and set course for Two Harbors on Santa Catalina Island, a trip of about 60 miles.  The night was beautiful with many shooting stars.  The sea was flat and after day break we were visited by pods of dolphins three different times at times.  The only negative was the lack of wind so we motor sailed for all but one hour.  In Two Harbors, the lady harbormaster instructed us on how to grab the mooring buoys.  On the third pass, we actually got one and are now safely tied to the buoy.