SVBeTrue Welcome to SV Be True 2 and our adventures on the water

Goodbye San Francisco

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

22 Aug - As per our plan, we decided to leave San Francisco today. Although having been amazing to visit, San Francisco had not been an easy place to stay. Every place we had stopped had either been very windy or exposed to enough wave action to make the anchorages less than comfortable. The lack of true shelter had definitely been wearing on us and we looked forward to finding more sheltered, stable anchorages further south.

Heading out at 07:00 to take advantage of the last of the ebb under the gate we were greeted with overcast and grey conditions yet again.

Goodbye San Francisco

The channel through the golden gate was fairly messy, even with the current with us and it was well over an hour before the sea state became more regular. We could then set sail close hauled in 6 - 8 foot swell heading south. Frustratingly within the hour the wind died away and was not strong enough to keep the sails filled so we were back motoring across a fairly significant swell that was throwing us both around the boat and feeling green about the gills as we had spent enough time on land to become unaccustomed to the movement.

A few hours and a couple of tablets of Gravol later, we were able to turn into Half Moon Bay. After navigating the reef at the entrance we pulled into the harbour. After 5 hours with no wind it was again frustrating when the wind suddenly piped up to 15 knots as we dropped the anchor but we managed to make it well set and the anchorage was at least flat calm. Once we had got comfortable the anchor was set we went for a pleasant walk along Half moon bay beach with the sun finally peaking through the clouds

23 Aug - With the plan to head to Monterey bay overnight tonight, and with Half Moon bay promising to be a settled and stable anchorage, l we decided to have a quiet day on the boat today. Around 15:00 we hauled up the anchor and fueled up before heading out. We rounded the south side of the reef protecting the harbour and then headed out to sea. By 19:30 we were well positioned to point our bows at Monterey Bay and, with 10 - 15 knots on our stern, we again poled out the Genoa and settled in as the light faded. With the engine off we noticed just how many whales there were around us. From 20:00 until midnight we were surrounded at all times by whale blows, some coming within a couple of boat lengths of us. In the night, as well as the occasional whiff for 'whale breath' we could see where the whales were by the big patches of phosphorescence left after they had surfaced. Thankfully none cam eclose enough to hit us but there were plenty close enough to let us wish them a good evening as they headed north on their migration!

24 Aug - With relatively calm seas and steady 15 knot winds we made good time through the night and as the dawn broke we were within 10 NM of Monterey. With the morning, the wind died though and we motored into Monterey Bay. Unfortunately there was very low cloud again as we entered which didn't make Monterey seem too impressive (we figured we could have the same view coming into any port in the UK!). We realised that so far on this trip we hadn't made a single landfall in sunny weather which was starting to get a bit galling!

By 10am we had drop the hook in the bay just outside the harbour and then we headed into the town to get our bearings and check things out with the Harbour master and contact our OCC port officers in town. Amelia fro OCC got back to us asking what we needed and we arranged to meet her and her kids at a local park around 4pm.

We were back on the boat by lunchtime and, after a good lunch, we had a nap to catch up on the lost sleep from the night before and then were back on land to meet Amelia, Reef and Tide (10 and 2 years old) at the 'Dennis the Menace' playground. The sun had made its way out by now thankfully and it was feeling a little more like the California we expected.

BeTrue finally looking like she's in California

As we watched the kids play we discussed plans for the next few days. The wind was due to drop to almost nothing until at least Thursday so we had a few days to enjoy here exploring the delights of Monterey and its surroundings. With Amelia heading off with her now tired kids around 17:30 we wondered back into town and found a wonderful little wine bar for a drink and appy's. We were the only patrons in the bar and the barman proved an entertaining and very knowledgeable wine expert who talked us through the delights of California wines, which to buy and where to buy them. We were back at the boat by 19:00 and after our last pre cooked diner (spag bol) we watched a bit of TV and then, after watching a lovely sunset over the bay, headed early to bed.

Hanging around Sausalito

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

20 Aug - With all the fun and games of the last few days we decided it was time to chill out a bit today and do a bit more touristing. After a leisurely start to the day we moved off the mooring buoy and up Richardson bay to anchor. Although having easy access to shore and the reassurance of not being on anchor, the mooring had been very rolley with the ferries coming and going regularly during the day. Even at night there had been enough waves to occasionally disturb us and we were hoping that the move to anchor would change this. It certainly helped during the day. Once we had assured ourselves we were well set we headed ashore to the public dock and went for a stroll round town.

The view from our anchorage - not too shabby!

We also visited the 'San Francisco Bay model' - a pre-computer simulation of the Bay that was used by the Corps of Engineers when working out dredging patterns and their effects. The model was pretty impressive covering over 1 1/2 acres with 100's of miles of waterways represented. Following this we headed back to the boat and settled in for a cozy night.

21 Aug - As yesterday, the weather was gloriously sunny with just a light wind to keep the worst of the heat off us. Through the night unfortunately we had discovered that the currents and waves conspired to leave us stern to with a low chop which slammed into the stern all night long - not the most restful effect.

We decided that a walk was in order today (having now recovered from our extended trips through San Francisco), and so took the dinghy ashore again and headed towards the Marin Headlands. A steady climb uphill finally gave us stunning views over the Golden Gate bridge in clear weather.

Looking down on the Golden Gate Bridge this time - See the sailboat - that'll be us tomorrow!

The bridge from Fort Baker

We then followed another route through Fort Baker before having Ice cream in town and the lovely hot sun. Then it was back to the boat for another quiet evening.

Boat Maintenance in exotic location part 001 of a many part series!

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

17 Aug - It was now time to move on from St Francis. Our plans for the day were to head down the bay and go see a baseball game and then head over to an anchorage at 'treasure island'. We were in no rush to leave our plush surroundings though and so in the morning enjoyed the luxuries available to us at the club and did some grocery shopping.

Around midday we pulled off the dock and, as we headed into the bay were met with fairly brisk conditions. These conditions sustained as we headed down to China Cove and so by the time we got there, we had around 20 knots still blowing. The cove gave little protection so instead of dropping the hook as initially planned we just took a tour around the cove and then headed on. It was fun being close enough to hear the crowd cheering and the organ playing.

Going to a ball game; Be True style

Pulling away from the cove we set course for Treasure Island, a man made island with bridges either side still in 15 - 20 knots of wind. On rounding the far side we had a look at the anchorage but it looked very commercial and gave little protection so we decided instead to push on to Sausalito. This meant crossing 'the slot' downwind from the golden gate bridge mid afternoon which we knew would be spicy but thought may be a good test. Close hauled with a reef in the main and just the staysail we hammered across the 5 miles in 20 - 25 knots. Not the most pleasant sail but it was good to prove out the sail configuration worked well. Once round the top of Angel island we were back in familiar waters, around San Francisco Yacht club. We motored through Racoon straight in the afternoon sun, still being blasted by the winds though and then pulled into Richardson Bay to anchor, still with the wind blowing 15 gusting to 25 knots occasionally. We had some trouble finding a good anchoring spot but eventually dropped the hook and had an uncomfortable evening with strong winds persisting until the sun was down. To add to our woes the anchor windlass stopped working altogether. Through the evening we tried to troubleshoot it and changed out the control box (we had a spare) but that didn't fix it so realised we would have to take the windlass off the boat. Not wishing to do that while anchored, we decided to head into the Sausalito yacht club's mooring buoys to troubleshoot the issue

18 Aug - In the morning thankfully the wind had dropped to almost nothing and we woke to a sunny day for once. As we anticipated, the windlass still wasn't working so we had to manually haul up the chain and anchor and then head across to Sausalito Yacht club, picking up a mooring buoy. Through the morning we disassembled the windlass and found our problem - one of the power wires had obviously been arcing on it’s stud (from either bad fitting or some corrosion) and the stud had basically crumbled to nothing.

There' your problem!

As we took the cable off it just fell apart. We knew that this would need a professional to fix it and so by 11:00 we were on foot, investigating the delights of Sausalito looking for an electrical repair shop. We ended up spending the whole day walking the length and breadth of Sausalito investigating some dozen locations but no-one could help us with a tear down and rebuild of the motor. In the chandelries we tried to get hold of a replacement motor but, as ever 'there were none available on the west coast' and we were advised the best (and cheapest) thing to do would be to order one ourselves and get it delivered. This of course has it's own challenges as we have no address! Finally we decided we would get a new motor ordered and sent to one of our OCC contacts further down the cost whilst hanging on to the old motor in the hope of finding an old fashioned repair shop, probably when we get to Mexico. This means we are down to manually hauling the anchor up every time we anchor for now! Luckily the weather had been good all day which was some recompense and, with access to the yacht club, we could at least shower off the grime from the boat repair jobs.

19 Aug - After a somewhat frustrating couple of days we decided it was about time to try and get back to enjoying ourselves. We decided to stay on the mooring bouy for one extra night, do a little admin (mainly getting some clothes washed) refit the broken windlass and then ivestigate Sausalito as tourists. The 'little jobs' took us until lunch time but then we had a relaxing afternoon strolling round town, which is a great little holiday town so close to San Francisco; very much more laid back than the city. As yesterday, the weather was glorious and we had a lovely time relaxing and catching up with ourselves afte what had seemed like a busy few days.

We now have a new plan with us aiming to leave San Francisco on Friday (it's blowing like stink the other side fo the Golden Gate again until then) and doing a short hop down to Half moon bay which should be about 5 hours. From there it is a day sail down to Monterey where we can meet up with our OCC port officer who will hopefully have our windlass motor. They have also offered to host us whilst there and so we may take advantage of their kind offer of a car to do a little exploring before heading down to Ventura and the Channel Islands near Los Angeles.

Touristing in San Francisco

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

15 Aug - Today we said goodbye to the laid back and exclusive enclave of Belvedere Cover and SFYC and moved onto the more vibrant, but apparently even more exclusive St Francis Yacht Club. This club formed when there was a split in the members of the SFYC over where they should be based (after the San Francisco Earthquake trashed their earlier clubhouse) and has grown to be a leading racing club for the US (whilst we were there, there was a national racing regatta going on and the club house is littered with America's cup and other American classic sail racing regalia. The day started, after pulling out from SFYC with a wonderful sail in sunny weather across the bay, scooting past Alcatraz...

and enjoying easy sailing in 12 - 15 knots with a fairly descent backdrop

After dodging a barge and a tanker we made it into the St Francis Yacht club and met the shore staff, Frank and Calypso who were incredibly friendly and made us feel very much at home. Once we were comfortable we went for a walk around the clubhouse which was - wow - nice.

Enjoying the view from the upper deck bar

After we'd sorted out our card so we can order food and drinks we headed into town. It was great to see Be True in yet another glorious setting

Then it was into full touristing mode as we walked around San Francisco getting our bearings. After walking along with waterfront we ended up in the ulitmate tourist trap - Pier 39 we're we both walked around gawking at the amount of touristy tat on offer! We also had to go and see the 'famous sea lions' of pier 39 - they were a hoot - if you want to see and hear them too then here is the live webcam link . Petty we can't share the smell too!

Pier 39 with the city in the background

After soaking up the tourist traps we headed into the city which had some beautiful architecture around north beach (surprisingly and area some way from the coast with no sand!) and then we went to the 'crookedest road in the world' on Lombard avenue - the photo's really don't do it justice

It was then back to the boat for afternoon tea with the dock crew. As we got back we found we had new neighbours - luckily they didn't hang around too long

16 Aug - Another day of toursiting around San Francisco. The day started (for me) with a run to the Golden Gate bridge (along with about half of the rest of the city it seemed!. Although fogged in it is not every day you can run to the viewpoint of such an icon! When we arrived back Jerry, the owner of the behemoth of the yacht in front of us, invited us for a tour of 'the dragon lady' It was certainly an interesting explerinece with themed cabins (the green room, the red room and the gold room!) and lots of fake fur and wipe clean sofas around as well as plenty of disco balls and a mirrored dancefloor! We later found out a little more about Jerry and his business (Jerry's Fearies) - definitely a colourful character and very San Francisco!

Once back and showered we headed into town again. We started by hopping on one of the original cable cars for a tour up and down the hills of San Francisco. Alighting at the last stop we found ourselves in a more generic, recognisable city - big skyscrapers and lots of shops. Walking around we found the Palace hotel with it's extravagant Garden Court - we thought about taking afternoon tea but after doing it at the Fairmont Victoria we didn't want to sample second best! Walking on we found ourselves at the South Beach Yacht Club and managed to, unfortunately, confirm that they didn't have any reciprocal moorage available so we have had to rethink our plans for the next few days. Heading back, we rode on the F line streetcars to get back to Fishermans Wharf and then headed over to the Palace of Fine Arts to marvel at the faugh greek temples - the last of the buildings from the 1915 world fair hosted here. Then it was finally back to the boat for some downtime having walked far too far over the last couple of days!

With South Beach Yacht Club now not an option, we are planning on spending next week anchored off in various locations around the bay (Treasure Island, Sausalito and Aquatic Park Cove - part of the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park) As such we won't have as good access to internet(or showers!) so we may not be able to keep the blog as up to date as we have the last few days.

Getting ourselves sorted out at San Francisco Yacht Club

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

13 Aug - Now we had arrived, it was time to start exploring. After an uneventful, if broken nights sleep, we woke with amazing views of the skyline of San Francisco although it was still overcast. First order of the day was to try and organise getting into SanFrancisco Yacht club - we left a message with the harbour master who texted back to us that he was on jury duty but that we could go in - he also provided information on the channel that we had to follow to get in. By 11:00 we were tied up, safe and sound at the club; one of the most prestigious yacht clubs on the west coast. Walking around we finally managed to find the General Manager, Micheal, who welcomed us to the club and discussed with us what we had experienced yesterday (apparently we managed to hit most of the worst hazards around here !). First order of the day was to get the boat cleaned and give her some TLC. We had wanted to do an oil change but, talking with the foreshore staff apparently that is not something that anyone does at the club - they have people do it for them (even the club doesn’t maintain their own engines!!) - it was then that we realised that this may be more of a 'high brow' club even than RVYC!

BeTrue nestled in the rather exclusive community of Belvedere Cove - some ot he properties here put Uplands in Victoria to shame!

Once we had taken care of the boat we decided it was time for us to have a shower, and get into some clean clothes, before heading to the club bar for some food and meet the locals. The first person we met was Michael, the General Manager, and his opening remark was "you clean up well don't you". It was then that we realised that during the day we had been walking around in our scruffs and must have looked like a couple of wild eyed gypsies to this very well healed club. This may have contributed to their initial reserved engagement with us! In the bar we got talking to a great couple who helped orient us to the Bay, what we should do and see and learned a little more about where we were - it appears that SFYC is situated in one of the most affluent neighbourhoods on the bay (Belvedere Cove). It has been a great first stop, allowing us to regroup and get ourselves set up for the next few days.

14 Aug - Having learned our lesson, about getting organised and sorting out reciprocal mooring, with SFYC we decided this morning to spend some time making sure we were on top of the admin needed to secure our spots at the other marinas we wanted to visit. Unfortunately this ended up being a whole morning activity, due to tech glitches and other issues, but we did manage to at least lock in our slot at St Francis Yacht club, across the bay in San Francisco for tomorrow. Once our frustration levels had been reached we decided to go for a walk and see a bit more of Belvedere Cove. I wanted to go up the hill behind us and Heidi suffered up the way too many, long staircases cutting through the homes. The views when we got to the top were astounding and the "Bijou residences' were certainly something to behold.

View from the top - looking over someones garage

One of the Bijou residences

There were quite a few properties for sale and some had their details in little drop boxes - to get a flavour for these properties this is the link to the current realtor.com page for Belvedere Cove - we particularly liked this one, if anyone would like to stump us the extra $22.4M USD we would need that would be nice!

view of our boat from the top of Belvedere Cove - nice to be able to compare this to Saint Tropez when we get there!

Once we got back to the boat we did a bit more admin and then later in the evening went for a walk round the other way and found some lovely cafes and restaurants over on the 'poor mans side' in Tiburon.

There was a little walkway out to the water and we couldn't resist getting a shot of the golden gate bridge in the evening light

We made it! - San Francisco

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

12 Aug - As I came on watch at 03:00 we were still sailing but by 04:00 the wind had dropped and the sail was just flapping so I rolled in the Genoa and we were back on the engine, motoring slowly towards our next destination. Having checked the tide times, and listened to the weather forecast we realised we would be early to hit slack going into San Francisco so we pulled into Drakes Bay and dropped the hook for a couple of hours. The bay gave us really good protection from the ocean swells which we could see crashing against the rocks on the outer edge of the bay and is probably very beautiful but as ever the cloud was down and we were tired so we weren't that inspired by it!

Drakes Bay - probably amazing in the right weather!

Around 10:00 we pulled up the anchor again and started heading towards San Francisco, 6 hours away. It was a steady, if choppy motor to get there as we had to make the time and the wind wasn't strong enough to keep us moving at the needed speed (we did try sailing but with only 10 knots of wind we couldn't maintain the 5 knots needed to get to the Bay in time. The approach to the Bay is another bar crossing and we elected to go in 'round the side' which took us on a very narrow channel close to some impressive cliffs with big waves breaking against them - we were glad the engine kept working past these.Once through the channel we passed Point Bonita lighthouse and could see the Golden Gate bridge beckoning us.

First sight of the Golden Gate Bridge

The run into and under the bridge was very turbulent but we were passed by a number of locals heading in too so figured again, we must have chosen a good time - I'd hate to see a bad time though as even as we went through there was a lot of churn in the waves.

The City by the Bay

As we went under the bridge, with 15 - 20 knots pushing us (but not brave enough to put up sail!) the clouds revealed the full extent of the towers, a rare occurrence by all accounts and we blasted into the bay overjoyed with having reached our first major destination.

Seeing the top of the towers

Going under the bridge - a rare view

Two very happy sailors!

Alcatraz - waiting to be reopened?

Now all that remained was to find somewhere to stop - we had identified that Sausalito yacht club had a mooring field which wasn't far into the bay but we had had no cell signal all the way down the coast so hadn't been able to arrange anything ahead of time. No problem we thought, we'll give them a call and clear ourselves in now. One problem - no one was answering the phone. In increasing wind (now gusting up to 25 knots) we went for option 2, a mooring field on a Angel island sounded idyllic. We pulled in and snagged a mooring buoy but then saw a big sign on the beach warning of very shallow patches over the mooring field. We checked our depth and watched as we swung around the buoy going to less than two feet under the keel, and we were close on high tide - so that wasn't going to work (there were other buoys but we were already on the furthest out buoy so didn't hold much hope for the rest) So plan C - what about San Francisco yacht club just across the way? We tried to get in touch but they were closed today! - also our chart showed universal depths in their bay of 4 feet or less so without guidance we couldn't risk going in blind. As we headed out we started by going south towards Sausalito again but we had already gone past that bay and it had looked windy so I spotted another cove (Paradise cove) which purported to have good holding - it was about 3 NM away but with thought it looked a fair plan D - We turned the boat around and found we were in a very strong ebb current and could only make 2 - 3 knots headway but having committed to this we thought we would push on - all this with increasing winds now 20 - 30 knots.

Ominous clouds prompting a change in direction

An hour later we finally got to paradise cove and the wind was blasting through it at 25 Knots - well we thought, we’re here and know that our ground tackle is good so lets try it. We dropped the hook along with about 150 feet of chain in 15 feet of water and… we started dragging!!! So up with the chain and onto plan E - Anchor in Richmond bay - the first one we had seen but that I had not liked because of the wind. Another hour later we pulled into thi open and shallow bay, found somewhere with about 6 feet under the keel, dropped the hook with decreasing wind and could finally rest. Finding somewhere to stop had taken almost 4 hours - a very trying time after the excitement of the last few days, but we were finally here, and safe so had a stiff rum to celebrate, had some food and settled down for the night. I was still not that settled with this anchorage though (very exposed) and when the wind got up in the night, ended up going and sleeping in the cockpit so I could keep an eye on the markers to make sure we weren't moving.

Our big lesson form today has been that just getting to a destination is not enough - we need to make sure we always have a good plan of where we are going to stop when we get there!

Heading South again

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

10 Aug - Slack tide at the bar was due around 7 so we were up and away, in lovely weather around 6. As we got towards the bar though the weather closed in and we could see some fairly significant breakers on the north side of the channel. We avoided these thankfully but still ended up in some pretty serious steep waves. As we went through the worst of it the motor boat that we had spoken with last night came through. It was sobering watching them get tossed around like a toy in a kids bath tub and then realising the same was happening to us! Once through the bar the sea state did settle down a bit but it was still very lumpy. As we headed down towards Cap e Mendocino this lumpy erratic sea kept up throwing us about quite a bit. To add to this we ended up with 10 - 15 knots right on the nose meaning no chance of using the sails to help reduce the rock and roll with the waves. The wind, combined with the left over swell from the storm that had passed made for a very uncomfortable time as we rounded the cape which took us until well into late evening. It wasn't until we altered course more southerly that things started calming down a little but by then, I was definitely a bit green around the gills.

11 Aug - After midnight the wind died down to almost nothing and we found ourselves motoring along at night in fog with still some considerable swell to contend with. By early morning through thankfully the swell had settled down a bit and we were still motoring through glass calm seas. Around this time two small birds found us in the fog (we were at least 30 NM off land so they must have been very lost!) one found his way into the cockpit and I spent an eventful half hour trying to help him get out again.

Our feathered stow aways

These two birds kept us company on the boat until we got to land again - even then, after visiting shore, the came back for a little while to say goodbye (or maybe they were just very confused as to where they were (some 100NM on from where we had picked them up!) As we had expected today there was almost no wind so we ended up with the sweet sounds of the engine until mid afternoon when finally some wind filled in from the west and were able to pole out the Genoa and sail downwind for the rest of the day and through the night

Benjy off watch in our sea birth

Storm bound in Eureka

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

03 Aug - 09 Aug AFter making the decision to not head out into the stormy seas, we are now just biding our time until the weather breaks. We are keeping busy with tidying up some of the to do jobs we didn't quite get around to. Heidi is busy completing a set of sewing projects and I am fixing a couple of items on the boat as well as servicing the outboard. The Humboldt yacht club has kindly given us access to their club room in the marina just across from where we are anchored and we are making much use of having a stable floor under our feet for once!

Memorial for those lost at sea - aiming to NOT have our names added to this

09 Aug - Today was an other glorious sunny day in Eureka as we prepared for the next stage of our journey. After a leisurely morning we jumped in the dinghy and headed back down to the NOAA office to make sure there were no major changes to the weather. Having done this (there were no major changes) we went to do some final shopping and mooched around town for a while. Had a lovely lunch at a small bakery and also went back to the chocolate shop for another of their outrageously good hot chocolates. In the evening we pulled back onto the dock to fill up the water and have a final shower. We shared the dock with a 62 foot power boat that was heading north and planning to leave the same time as us tomorrow morning. They told us their scare stories about coming north in the gale force winds and coming round Cpe Mendocino with waves breaking right over their boat!!!

Heading back to the boat for the last time in Eureka

More time in Eureka

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

02 Aug (Sat) - With the weekend ahead of us and not much on our plates, we decided to spend more time around town. With limited internet on the bota we headed to the library and spent some time playing catch up online. As ever,technology proved frustrating - we had a lot of problems with sorting out email and other bits and pieces! We eventually called it quits and headed into town to stroll around.

When we got back to the dinghy about 4pm we found a note inviting us to drinks at the Humboldt yacht club. We were there by around 5:15 and there we met a really great crowd of sailors who were keen to hear of our adventures as well as discusse their own.

03 Aug (Sun) - Today we decided to explore Samoa peninsula and the associated rec. area. After cruising along we finally found somewhere to pull up and, in great sunshine we spent a number of hours walking around the dunes and along the pacific coast. There are miles of empty sandy beaches facing the Pacific swell and, with the sun shining we finally figured we had found California!

Miles and Miles of California Beaches

On the way back we heard some screeching engines and, diverting up a side road found a drag strip with a sunday competition going on. With grins from ear to ear we soaked up this unexpected treat watching the petrol heads in their natural setting.

Looking down the Quarter mile!

Among the competiros they had a 'junior; category - they start at 5 years old around here, with 7 year olds being the first that can compete!

Junior Drag Racing !

After the juniors we had the Semi Pros and wow - don't they make a lot of noise!

This car made 163mph within the first 1/8 mile!

There were also some real classics - but they could also shift too!

04 Aug (Mon) - This was due to be our prep day before heading off so we did some shopping and also found the National Weather Centre office in Eureka. Doug and Zahira invited us in and were only too happy to share their weather models with us for the next few days. Whilst looking at what they were predicting we started seeing some new eather patterns developing. As the day went on we realised that the expected calmer weather was not coming in and instead all the models were now predicting winds starting late Tueasday and building to gale force just where we planned to be!. By late afternoon we realised that leaving tomorrow was not really now an option and so settled in for another few days in Eureka.

Soaking up the culture in Eureka

Sat, 02 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

31 July - After the adventures of the last few days, and with foreccast gales off Cape Mendocino for gales for the next few days, we decided it was time to explore Mendocino a little. We also determined that we could anchor off instead of having to pay for dock space so that was another positive for my (yorkshire) frugality!

Today though our scope was fairly limited to getting the dinghy reinflated and getting ourselves secured on the anchor in the middle of the river, with current reversing every 6 hours. We did manage to walk around the tonw as well and found that the historic old town has been well preserved with some beautiful buildings..

The Carson Mansion - apparently an inspiration for the disney castle - or is it the Munsters?

We also wandered into a gallery owned by the artist (Stock Schleuter) who was a wonderful guy with a great attitude to life.

This was all accomplished by 5pm though and we were back at the boat and able to safely leave hero go an attend an open air free concert downtown. It was wonderful to see the town turn out for hte Rush tribute band, part of the town's summer concert series - a really friendly introduction to the town,

01 Aug - (Our wedding anniversary). Today we decided that we should make sure we had stocked up on essentials as well as visit the Fort Humboldt State Historic Park. Although cloudy when we set off, by the time we had walked there, via the Eureka waterfront trail the sun had come out and we had an interesting time learning about the history of the fort and also about the logging industry that took off here in between the 1850's and 1950's. On the way back we dropped into the Bayshore Mall and were quite shocked at how emptoy it was; there were very few stores and a bit of a ghost town atmosphere. We then went into Walmart and we surprised when we couldn't find any fresh veg or fruit for sale - all just pre-packaged food.

To round out our shopping, we had spied a Costco on the way and so had to drop in there to restock a couple of items that we were getting through in bulk (including alcohol!)

We had heard that there was a Friday Market in the old town later in the day so around 5:30pm we headed in and were really pleasantly surprised to find several blocks humming withe activitiy, live music, entertainment and lots of food trucks. It seemed that most of the town had also turned out and there was a real party atmosphere with Eureka showing off it's eclectic side in the variety of people out dressed in their most flamboyant best

More live music at the Friday Market

Street entertainment a plenty