Anticipation

Eureka, California, USA

After several days of very high seas, we may have a short break tomorrow.  With any luck, the entrance bar will be passable and we will be on our way in the morning.

Last week's storm brought on a large ocean swell, effectively closing the entrance bars all along the northern California coast and northward.  Unlike Oregon and Washington states, California cannot put restrictions on their bars; instead, the coast guard just gives a general warning as part of the bar report.  In our case, here in Humboldt bay, the big swells over the last few days peaked yesterday and this morning, with reported 18 to 20 foot breaking seas at the entrance - all vessels stupid enough to attempt the bar must first contact the coast guard to let them know the plan.

Our basic plan, and that of every other boat we can see here in the bay, is to stay put until the conditions improve.  Sometimes it is difficult to believe that the conditions out there can actually be that bad since where we are, inside Humboldt bay, the water is completely flat and the last couple of days the weather has been relatively warm and sunny (only rains at night).  I guess that is why you are supposed to call the coast guard before you venture out into the open ocean.

Tomorrow, the forecast is for much improved conditions.  The swell should have subsided considerably and the winds, for at least 12 hours or so, will be from the NW again.  If this holds true, we intend to make a break for it.  We have to go about 190 miles on this next passage, part of which is rounding the dreaded Cape Mendocino, about 30 miles south of us right now.  Of course, the mild weather will not likely hold for more than a day, so we anticipate that we will have to contend with some strong south winds by nightfall.  We have decided we prefer facing head winds rather than large seas.  Time will tell if we are right about this.

One cool thing here on Woodley island is that this is where the local NOAA weather office is situated and they are very welcoming to stranded sailors looking for some reassurance.  We wandered in and were able to see these guys busy creating the weather.  Apparently it entails creating and studying a mind-boggling variety of graphics, showing wind, waves, pressure, etc.  I don't think I have ever seen so many large flat-screen monitors in use in any one office; every person has at least 5 or 6 surrounding him.  We put in our order for some light seas and NW winds and are now awaiting the results.

Today, we again crossed the scary highway bridge to go into town to do some provisioning.  That done, we are just monitoring the coast guard reports, waiting for that all-important all-clear over the bar.  With any luck, our next post will be from Bodega Bay, probably about 2 days away.

NOTE: As I am writing this, about 3 PM on Tuesday afternoon, the current bar report is still saying 14 to 16 foot with occasional 18 foot "rolling" waves on the bar entrance.  Not really what we are looking for.  If we cannot get out of here tomorrow morning, the next weather window could be a week or more away.

{GMST}40|48.4302|N|124|9.7438|W|Eureka, California|Eureka, California{GEND}
 

The waiting game

Eureka, California, USA

Why, you might ask, are we still in Eureka?

Well, I guess we are just fair-weather cruisers.  If the conditions are not just right, we don't go.  Right now there are a series of low-pressure zones approaching the west coast of North America, one every other day or so.  Although they tend to turn north before they hit us here in northern California, the circulation is still stirring up some big south winds.  We don't like south winds - we want north winds so we can just relax and go with the flow.  The real problem right now is that these storms are also creating some big swells, which persist even after the winds have gone.

Up till now, the biggest seas we have seen have been in the 8 to 10 foot range with 3 or 4 feet of wind-waves on top of that.  That tosses us around plenty.  Now, by the end of this weekend, the forecasts are calling for 20+ foot swells with higher wind-waves as well.  We have little interest in finding out how well we will cope with that.  So here we sit, waiting for a better outlook for at least a 2-day passage.  There is no good spot to pull into for about another 190 miles south once we leave Humboldt harbour.

Looking at the chart conveniently hereto affixed, notice that the small island we are on (Woodley island, near the top of the chart) is quite a distance from the open ocean.  The result is that we cannot see what the actual conditions are out there until we cross the Humboldt bay entrance (nearer the bottom-left of the chart).  And quite often we can see some dense fog between us and that entrance, which does not entice us at all.

Meanwhile, we are enjoying our stay here.  Lots of birds and seals to keep us amused, as well as our DVD collection, and just going for walks when the sun occasionally shines.  Sometimes it seem as if the birds are having some kind of convention in the channel.

Here are some patient gulls lining up for dinner.  They love it when the fishing boats come in and clean out their unused bait.  Not quite so nice when the boat next door to us was doing it though - very noisy and messy.

Downtown Eureka - an impressive paint job on their performing arts building.

{GMST}40|48.4302|N|124|9.7438|W|Eureka, California|Eureka, California{GEND}

Eureka!

Eureka, California, USA

It took a while, but we suddenly realized that we had been here before.  Just a year ago (check out the November 13th, 2009 entry in this blog) we stayed in Eureka overnight on our driving tour of this coast.  Things sure look different when you approach them from the sea.

Looking across the channel from the boat, we can see the same building that we took pictures of last year, just from a different perspective.  We took a walk over to the town, across a very scary bridge - no provision for pedestrians, and high-speed two-lane traffic - we walked along the guardrail on the very narrow shoulder.  From the town side of the channel, things looked much more familiar and we probably walked much the same route as a year ago, touring the old town district.  This time however, we went a little further in search of the supposed fuel dock at the Englund marine outlet.  We found it, but are a little intimidated by the 12-foot high docks with no-where to tie on.  They assured us it is simpler than it looks.  As it is, we have little choice but to use it as I don't think we have enough left to get us all the way to San Francisco if we have to motor most of the way (which is a distinct possibility based on our previous experience).

Irish imports come from the strangest places.

A note about the marinas on this coast.  They cater mostly to the fishing fleet but always seem happy to see transient cruisers.  The moorage rates seem incredibly cheap to us, which is a nice feature when we don't really have any anchorage choices.  In Oregon, the going rate for a 46' boat has been about $22/day.  Here in Eureka, the rate is only $20/day or $86 per week, including power and very nice facilities.  I'm told that the public marina, closer to the town, is even cheaper (35 cents a foot), but the facilities don't look near a nice.  The disadvantage of the Woodley island marina, where we currently are, is that the only restaurant we can get to, without going over the scary bridge, is the one here at the marina.  The food is good but the prices are a bit higher than we are used to.  Oh well, we may have to actually cook for ourselves again if we stay here very long.

As far as how long we are going to be here, we are not sure.  The current weather pattern is shaping up to give some stronger south winds and bigger seas, which we would just as leave like to avoid.  And at the moorage rates here, we can afford to wait as long as we want.  We are still in no particular hurry to get any where - we always assumed it would take us up to 2 months to get to San Diego.  At this point, we are still on schedule.

A neat statue of a fisherman found at the end of Woodley island.  Right next to the obligatory memorial to the many fishermen lost at sea.

Looks like we have found some low water.

{GMST}40|48.4302|N|124|9.7438|W|Eureka, California|Eureka, California{GEND}



Foggy Passage

Eureka, California, USA

Yesterday, we left the harbour in Crescent City about an hour before first light, around 6 AM, in the hopes that we would be able to cross the Humboldt Bay entrance bar around slack water at 4:30 PM, some 61 miles away.  We were able to keep right on schedule because of the usual complete lack of wind.  If we did not have an engine, we would not be going anywhere.

The day started off clear and cold, with the sun showing up around 7:45 AM.  As the day wore on, the coast began to look a little hazy until, just about 3 hours out of Eureka, the fog set in for good.  For some reason, in spite of the very light winds, the seas got quite lumpy for a while.  There is nothing like being blind, tossed about, and approaching an unknown hazard for raising the anxiety level.  Thank heavens for GPS chartplotters and radar.

As it turns out, the bar was very gentle, just a couple of large swells and we were into Humboldt bay.  As soon as we cleared the bar, the fog immediately vanished, and we had a clear passage up the dredged channel through the bay some 5 miles to arrive at the Woodley island marina in Eureka around 5:15 PM.  We had called ahead to make sure they had a spot for us and were able to pull right into our assigned slip, where we met the night security guard who handled all the paperwork.  As soon as we were settled, the fog moved in again, and is still with us this morning.

Now, we will be off to explore the town.

{GMST}40|48.4302|N|124|9.7438|W|Eureka, California, USA|Eureka, California, USA{GEND}

A quiet day

Crescent City, California, USA

What does one do for excitement in Crescent City?

The usual.  Go for a walk around town.  Visit the local tourist trap; in this case, an aquarium.  Not nearly as nice as the one in Newport but did have the thrill of a shark petting tank, and a pretty well trained sea lion.

This is the land of redwoods.

Does this look like a cruising friendly coast to you?

Still on schedule to leave here tomorrow morning.  Forecasts remain positive.

One note about the weather.  Up until now, it has been darn cold!  I'm not sure just how far we have to go before we find a warmer climate.  And the water temperature of the ocean here is actually about 3 degrees C colder than it is in Nanaimo - just does not seem right.

{GMST}41|44.8593|N|124|11.0235|W|Crescemt City, California|Crescemt City, California{GEND}