Morro Bay
 |
| Morro Rock |
We arrived in Morro Bay on Monday, October 3rd and anchored in the harbour. Morro Bay is home to the unique Morro Rock which lies at the entrance to the harbour. You have to wonder where it came from because there are no other rocks like it around.
 |
| Morro Bay Waterfront |
Morro Bay is a quaint little town off the main highway and was another spot where we waited for some bad weather to go by. There are lots of coffee shops, gift shops, restaurants, fishing charters and other touristy attractions along the waterfront. We made the usual trips up the hill for groceries, laundry and internet at the library. We seem to pick up another loyalty card at each major grocery chain we shop at on our travels: Albertsons, Fred Myers, Ralph’s etc.
On the night the main storm was to pass through, Mark woke in the night and said we were dragging anchor. It was raining like crazy and windy so we got on our rain gear and went out to have a look. We didn’t seem to be where we thought we should be so decided to reset the anchor but at least we hadn’t hit anything. We reset the anchor and it seemed to be holding ok so we went back to bed. In the morning everything still seemed ok but that night I woke to the gentle thunk as we hit something. There was a mad scramble out of bed only to find ourselves gently up alongside a big fishing charter boat. Thankfully there was no one on board to yell at us. There was a big trimaran that had been anchored near us that was now at a 20 degree angle up on the sand dunes. I could see him out, too, with his flashlight. We pushed off the fishing boat and decided that we should take a mooring ball so that we could stop wondering where we might find ourselves next.
 |
| Misty morning |
In the morning there was a light fog and the trimaran was back in the water. He had re-anchored in the spot we had abandoned and I wished him luck with that. Once we were on the mooring ball it was easier to see how vicious the current was at tide change and how quickly it could shift the sand under your anchor. There was a reason that virtually the whole basin had been filled with mooring balls. We spent the next two days on the mooring and left on Thursday, October 6th.
 |
| Sunset at Morro Bay |
 |
| Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant |
We arrived in Port San Luis that afternoon and anchored in the middle of the mooring field. It was a long dingy ride to the marina and the surf was pounding the shore so we stayed on the boat. I didn’t even take a picture. Along the way we went past the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant, the only nuclear plant in California.
 |
| Production platform off of California coast |
We left early the next morning heading for the Cojo anchorage just around the corner from Point Conception. Just before reaching Point Conception we came upon the first of several offshore production platforms along the California coast. We saw about a dozen of these on our trip. Almost directly across from it was the Vandenberg Air Force Missile Base complete with missile gantries; things we Canadians aren’t used to seeing.
 |
| Vandenberg Air Force Base |
|
|
|
|
As we rounded the point, the wind came up and we had a brisk sail into Cojo anchorage. It doesn’t look like there’s anything at the Cojo anchorage because..... there’s nothing there. It’s just a place to stop for the night. We headed out in the morning and motored to Santa Barbara.
 |
| Point Arguello Lighthouse |
 |
| Cojo Anchorage |
No comments:
Post a Comment