We got a late start on Sunday, 6/29/14 for our annual one-week cruise to Santa Cruz Island over the July 4th holiday. We left mid-morning in misty, overcast skies and flat seas, with light wind on the nose, heading to Prisoner's harbor. We powered for about three hours. Bubba took up his usual position next to Charlie at the helm
Just as we were getting ready to round the point on the island, the engine suddenly quit! It was a bit scary as right then the wind decided to kick up, and being on a lee shore we were getting awfully close to the rocks. Fortunately we both kept our heads and calmly raised the sails and tacked away from the island, then set about trying to figure out the problem at sea. Charlie suspected it was a fuel filter so he swapped it out, and managed to get the engine started so that's what we though it was. But at this point the winds had kicked up to 10-12 kts in a favorable direction, so we shut the motor down and sailed into Prisoners, then furled the sails and powered up for anchoring.
But that didn't last! The motor shut down again! We tried a few more times, thinking there was air in the lines so Charlie kept bleeding the lines, and this seemed to keep the motor going long enough to get anchored.
Here we are, safely ensconced against the East wall with only one other boat in the entire harbor.
After all the excitement, Charlie and Bubba were happy to kick back and relax.
The next day (Monday)we figured out the real problem: we just ran out of gas! We ran the starboard tank bone dry. Apparently the starboard fuel gauge is malfunctioning, as it showed the tank to be almost full. Fortunately the port tank was still full, so we just switched to that tank and could continue the trip. Overall we were both pleased with how we reached in an emergency - clear-headed, no panic, just ran through options and solved the problem.
One other slice of bad luck (literally): I managed to slice my middle finger DEEP on my Santuko knife as I was making dinner. OUCH! It bled badly, but I was able to bandage it up.
7/1: We spent two lovely days at Prisonors, and then weighed anchor with two goals in mind: Get LeeAnne inside Painted Cave, then drop anchor at Fry's Harbor. And we succeeded on both accounts.
After misty mornings and sunny afternoons, the weather was again overcast with low, misty clouds hiding the upper bluffs. The seas looked reasonably flat with only a few rollers. So we headed to Painted Cave, carefully marking our points along the way so we wouldn't miss it like last time. And we found it! LeeAnne hopped in the dinghy armed with two bright flashlights and rowed in. It was beautiful, and scary! Next time I'm going in a kayak, because rowing in dinghy means going backwards into the darkest cave you've ever seen, and not being able to see behind you.
Here's what it looks like heading in:
And here's what it looks like once you get inside:
I rowed all the way to the end, where it was pitch dark and punctuated by the echoes of hundreds of barking sea lions on the ledge deep within. The scariest part was when all the sea lions decided to leap off the ledges and plunge into the water around me, creating quite a rocking and rolling effect!
Eventually I rowed back out and after being retrieved by Charlie we set a course for Fry's. Not wanting to bother with the two hooks usually used at Fry's, we hoped it would be empty...and it was! So we dropped one hook right smack dab in the middle, hoping no other boats would show up. We love Fry's harbor -- it's a tiny little indent almost hiddent along the coast, but once you get in there it's very protected and peaceful with a lovely little beach. Eventually one other boat showed up, but they anchored in so close to the beach that we didn't have to worry about swinging into them.
One of the most beautiful parts of Fry's are the gorgeous little sea caves along the walls, which are great for kayaking.
7/2: A few other boats showed up, but anchored well in so we stayed on one hook. We hit the beach at 10:00 am to attempt the "hike" up to Diablo Point. "Hike" is too kind a word -- more like a desperate scramble up crumbly rocks and super-steep loose dirt with scraggly bushes that pull out when you try to keep yourself alive by grabbing them. We did make it to the top and were treated to a spectacular view.
Leaning over the precipice we could see Juliet, snug at anchor.
Unfortunately the way down was way harder, and at one point my feet slipped out and I landed hard on my backside. OUCH! Fortunately I didn't break anything, but it hurt enough that I didn't go diving. Too bad, because the diving at Fry's is usually awesome. Here's a shot of me on the steep "trail", rubbing my butt right after I fell on it.
Post-hike we wandered around the tiny beach, including in a little cave, did some beach-combing for sea glass (FOUND!) and snapped a few shots of Juliet at anchor.
And of course we finished up the afternoon with Charlie and Bubba doing what they love best...
7/3 - we raised anchor at 9:30 am and the sun was already out! Flat seas for the trip to Little Scorpion, to meet up with a few other boats from Channel Islands Yacht Club. Little Scorpion was still pretty empty when we got there, but more boats arrived throughout the day, including an incredibly huge tall ship, which anchored way out. We debated over one hook or two -- one boat near us was on one, others further in were on two. Eventually we decided to drop the stern anchor. We were positioned a bit oddly for Little Scorpion -- bow facint East, into into the prevailing wind -- but this is how the other boats were anchored so we followed suit.
Other boats from CIYC arrived: Magic (Curt & Mary), Blue Mast (Vidar & Marnie), and Bill & Cindy on Maverick. We had a pot-luck dinner on Magic.
The next day, July 4th, I finally got out and did some diving, but I didn't last long underwater -- I'd done a really dumb thing and let the batteries on my strobes go dead, and we couldn't find any replacements (they were in the ONE drawer we didn't check!) so no pics. Plus my butt was still pretty sore. So we just relaxed on the boat and enjoyed the beautiful sunny day.
Later that evening we did a progressive dinner -- appetizers on Magic, dinner on Juliet, and dessert on Blue Mast. Here we all are, enjoying appetizers in Magic's cockpit:
Once the sun set, we decided we wanted SOME kind of fireworks so we began shooting off our old, expired flares! Great way to get rid of the old flares, and see some dazzle in the sky.
7/5 - we mostly powered back to the mainland. We pulled out the main for a while, but there just wasn't enough wind to get us over 2 knots, so back to powering. Seas were so calm they were glassy.
Back in the slip, and another fabulous week on Juliet is over!
