Look for our new 2015 Schedule coming out soon.
Martha and her crew had a wonderful few days in the Channel Islands sailing and exploring by land and sea. We left Morro Bay at dawn on September 30th and sailed all day to San Miguel Island. We had building NW winds, 15-25 with swells of 4-6 ft., rounding up into Cuyler’s Cove just before dark. San Miguel is a rugged landscape and it was a gorgeous sunset knowing we had a secure anchorage with winds gusting into the 30s. Because of recently imposed military restrictions, we were not able to go ashore in San Miguel so we left the next morning.
The wind was up and the seas were big as we bore away for Santa Rosa Island. As we rounded into Becher’s Bay the wind was well into the 30 kt range with a steep choppy sea, drenching the boat and smiling crew. Another solid anchorage with winds gusting to almost 40 gave us a comfortable night. It sure is fun to experience how well MARTHA handles all these conditions comfortably. The next day gave us a change of weather to settled, sunny, and dry conditions. This allowed us to relax a bit at Santa Rosa where we hiked and played in the waves and practiced landing small boats in the surf.
Next we headed to the south side of Santa Cruz Island to Coches Prietos Harbor. Here we were protected from the potential Santa Anna wind conditions but did have to deal with a bit of a southerly swell. We hiked and explored with kayaks, small boat and paddle board. The crew had a great time identifying plants, animals and the geology of the Channel Islands.
After 2 nights we sailed around to the north side to Scorpion Bay. Here the Nature Conservancy has an interpretive center and ranger station. Here we learned more about the history of Santa Cruz Island and the efforts that are being made to restore its unique natural habitat.
Our last morning gave us a beautiful sunrise sail off the anchor
and a smooth trip into Channel Islands Harbor where we are currently guests of the Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club, thank you to Dick McNish. We will be here until Thursday, then will be exploring Ventura for a couple days before heading out for our next trip to the Channel Islands. We were also hosted to a grand tour of the Channel Islands Maritime Museum