Refugio Sate Park where we did our Open Water Dives
TNC grants permits to land and hike on the island; which we did! We are still acclimatizing to the warmer temps inland. You leave the boat in a nice breeze and head inland to the feel of the desert! Finally warm weather!! Every direction is a gorgeous vignette of desert hills, cliffs that plunge to the sea or crystal clear water.
Pelican Bay Anchorage
Little Pelican Bay; landing site for exploration
I watch the weather intently as we are pretty darn exposed at these islands. Pelican is on the north side of the island and they started predicting higher winds from that direction. So, we cruised around to the south side and made our way in to Coches Prieta anchorage. Another indentation on the coast where we had reefs, rocks and beach on 3 sides of us. Another fantastically beautiful place. For most of the first day, we had the place to ourselves. We kayaked and paddle boarded to the beach, roamed around and swam a bit (chilly 65 degrees still). Towards evening, we were joined by another sailboat that anchored for the night.
Coches Prieta Anchorage from the cliff above
The forecasts, monitored twice daily, predicted higher and higher winds. Although on the south side of the island, we were still feeling the western swell of the Pacific. Pretty small but the incoming winds would kick that up. When they finally predicted 30 kt winds and gusting to 40 (a gale warning was issued), we said "we're outta here". After 2 nights, we left early in the morning. And, I mean early... It was 2:30am, the swell was increasing and neither of us could sleep. Now that we are accustomed to sailing at night, we just said "let's go now" and ghosted out of the anchorage in the dark.
We pointed southeast towards Marina Del Ray on the mainland. I contacted the Del Ray Yacht Club and asked if they would honor our Roche Harbor Yacht Club with reciprocal moorage. Yep; no problem. Archie, in their office, gave us the dock space and said "it will look like another boat is in the spot but you'll fit". Ok...
Marina Del Ray is HUGE - there must be 1500 boats here. For boaters in Seattle, it looks like 3 or 4 Shilshole's. As we headed down the fairway to our slip, sure enough another boat was there. It was MAIDEN from the newly released movie about the first all female crew in the Whitbread Sailing Race. We had to carefully slip between her and a finger pier to squeeze in to a spot directly in front of the beautiful clubhouse. I tried not to be too distracted while docking but it's super cool to see Maiden.
After tying up, and explaining to Jeff about the boat, we took a look at our new neighbor. She is a sweet ride! Although built in the 80's, Maiden is beautiful and looks super fast. She is touring the world now and raising funds for the skipper's (Tracy Edwards) Girls Education charities. We watched the movie that night and I highly recommend it! From the sailing, perseverance and women's side - it's an incredible story. And, we sure like the words of wisdom from the boat's benefactor, King Hussein "Anything is Possible".
This yacht club is SWANKY! Really beautiful clubhouse, docks and the friendliest folks! It's actually hard for us to get anything done on the boat; we are right on the main dock and everyone has to stop by and chat! From the Commodore, to neighbors to a kinda wacky mechanic who talked for 2 hours; they all want to hear about us and relay their stories and advice for places to visit. Quite welcoming and fun!
We plan to be here until Saturday then head to famous Catalina Island! Thanks to everyone that has sent us advice on where to go and what to do on the island. We will definitely sample the Buffalo Milk!
Love all the pics and, of course, your story. Thanks for taking us all along for the ride.
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