November 1 (Sunday), 2015 Arrived in Monterrey Bay, CA

We left Bodega Bay, CA in the early morning.  Once again, the strategy of leaving on a rising tide paid off.  Sona waved farewell from her dock as the fog rolled in thick.  Soon we found ourselves straining to discern the next pair of channel markers in the fog while dodging a crab pot buoy and some logs floating in the water.  It turns out the "floating logs" were seals laying on a submerged sand bar and we were on the wrong side of a channel marker.  We quickly reversed kicking up some sand and mud.  Thankfully we didn't get stuck.  Fog's power to disorient is amazing.  Once we exited the harbor we quickly left the fog behind us and headed south.

This was the most we saw of San Francisco.  Jeff: "There's the Golden Gate bridge."  Anna: "It looks red."  Then all attention was focused on timing our crossing of the busy shipping lane.  The tanker in the photo passed in front of us about 20 minutes later.   Once across, the fog rolled in, dusk fell, and we continued on our way.

Our plan was to go into the Bay of San Francisco and to visit some old friends.  Unfortunately we had to pass, to make up for some lost time and take advantage of a good weather window.  A 6 knot ebb current at the SF bridge removed any second thoughts about heading into SF.

We celebrated Halloween on our passage with Sona's toosie roll candies.

Monterey Bay, CA

Heading into Monterey Bay, our next port of call on the coast of CA, we were greeted by these small dark lumps making lots of clacking sounds.  We looked closer to find they were the famous sea otters of Monterey.

They are content just floating on their backs in the freezing water eating their breakfast. 

We arrived in Monterey 7AM on Sunday.  This hustling and bustling harbor had lots of boat and kayak traffic on the weekends.

A narrow marina entrance with a blind spot, so everyone "honks" before entering or leaving.  When we entered it was busy with all kinds of boats trying to get out to the sea for the last day of the weekend. 

Another view of the marina.  Luminesce in the background.

San Carlos in Monterey is probably the closest church we have walked to so far. 15 mins from the marina.  This is the first church established by the recently canonized St. Junipero Serra.  He is very well known for establishing a total of 13 missions in the state of California from San Francisco to San Diego.

As we go further south, the historic architecture is definitively more of Spanish influence which tells the history of California.  First, the native, Chumas Indian, and Mexican population were occupied by the Spaniards where the missionary efforts began.  Then, the Mexico won its independence from Spain and finally the US government won California along with many other states in the US- Mexican war. 

Nave of the church.

Alter

One of the few Mary statues that has her looking up rather than looking down. 

After church we showered and headed out to see what Monterey has to offer...

Noticed this clever fender cover.

"A beach with real sand!" exclaimed the girls. 

Not a rock or barnacle in sight.

Playing in the waves.  Unfortunately, the beach was closed for the remainder of our stay due to high bacteria counts.

Never looked at a cormarant's feet before but don't they look like one of those toddlers who put their shoe on the wrong foot.  So funny!

These otters also hung out in the marina.   In the marina, they seem to prefer smacking clams against the boat hulls to break them open, instead of using a rock.