Travels with Kerri On and crew

[ghone]

What a delight! Delta Marine is mild and sunny with no wind. We are tidying the boat after 2 weeks of boater homing and will stay the night. Tomorrow we'll likely go by Korth's pirates lair and on up north. We are looking for wildlife so will prowl the tules. There were 2 Nordic tugs in overnight and happy to have us "baby" tug nearby. Great folks here and dinner at the Point was fabulous last night. Local seafood we went for lunch too. Very nice place over the water. We will need a couple days on the hook to rest up.

[hardee]

George and Carolyn........Enjoy

Harvey
SleepyC

[ghone]

Having some trouble posting photos, my laptop. Will get some up. We are in at Korth's Pirate Lair. Had a slow cruise up from Rio Vista. Lots of egrets, herons and ducks. At sunset last night, about 100 white egrets showed up to roost in a tree in the marina. Not a peep out of them all night! It is sunny, warm and no wind still. Lots of floating vegetation still flowing, the invasive hyacinth mostly. Passed by a large tow boat on the way here yesterday pushing a huge gravel barge. Dredging perhaps. Enjoying the Delta. George and Carolyn.

[Sunbeam]

[ghone]

We spent 2 nights at Korth's. Very nice spot very quiet now it's winter?! Cafe closed Tues and Wed. Great showers nice walks. We left for a meander around Venice Island. Up Potato slough, ran a lot of floating hyacinth reminded me of the arctic ice floes. Easier to negotiate though. Stopped at Herman and Helen's marina. A bit rough on the outside but one of the best burgers ever! Passed a tug and barge dredging along the way. Thanks Bill and El for posting that the deep water is near shore as the dredge arm can only reach so far. Counter intuitive to a deep water BC boy. Run the outside edge just like Powell. We came out the bottom of Venice Island at the Yacht club and met wall to wall weed we worked thru it and got up to the recomended anchorage at mandevill tip park. My Garmin says it was an explosive dump site! Yikes. Instead worked into the gap between the park and marsh and dropped the hook in 12 feet. Fantastic setting. Hundreds of marsh birds about. During the night we had floating weed visit but no problems getting underway in the am. I wanted to visit Frank's tract which is such a funny name for a water area. Steve ( sea spray) and I went thru last year around the edge. I wanted to go strait thru. As it was high tide we did at 5 knots. Saw a lot of 4 ft on the sounder over weed. Went up fishermans cut to Brannen state park where I did a dumb thing. I backed into a slip only realizing when the Yamaha started to shake I was chopping weed! Dumb. Popped out of there to bow in. Great night. Perfect walk and steak on the BBQ. Stars galore! Getting underway in the am, no pee water out of the outboard. Oh yeah backed in chopped it up sucked it in. We turned the boat around so I can reach the outboard better. Off comes the strainer grid. I need pressure. My 1 gallon converted garden sprayer/shower is the ticket. I blow about a gallon of pressurized water in the intake, flush port and exhaust. Flash up and voila! Pee water! Who do I send the invoice too? Let it run to be sure it doesn't choke up then off we go for the run to Delta Marine. We got in just prior to a big rain storm with wind. The only wind all week. Fun time. We'll haul tomorrow and store for a couple days while go see 'frisco. Great weather, friendly Delta folks, great food, easy running, Nice cruise. George and Carolyn.

[BaseCampAnne]

George,

Thanks for making the Delta area "come alive." I had not thought of the vast waterway as somewhere to spend much time and appreciate it more now due to your commentary.

After discovering sea grass in the water line of the diesel last week and having the engine quickly overheat, I have more appreciation now of how an outboard engine is much more accessible and therefore easier and faster to fix, if one knows what to do

Replacing the impeller on the 25' Ranger Tug turned out to be a two person job with access to that area being under the step into the cabin. One of the compromises on a smallish boat with a large engine and a variety of features/equipment...

Please keep the stories and ideas coming

[ghone]

Yesterday after my bow thruster help on the b boat, we decided to stay at the dock another day. Pouring rain off and on and lots of rain. It went away mid afternoon however so we grabbed the dry spot and hauled out. The marina staff kindly let us store the boat a couple of days at $5 day while we ran into the big city. We found the Surf Motel on Lombard st online right in the heart of the Marina district. More food joints than one can count. The cars in the area are really boring compared to when last here in the late 70's. then there were mustangs, Camero's chevelles, custom vans etc. now it's all and I mean ALL BMW, Mercedes, Bentley, Audi and the like. I figured one could still get an apartment here for a $1 mill but unlikely. Lots of people eating at the outside tables, it's a mild mid 60'sF. We may have the only pick up for 5 miles around. Lots of sailing on the bay today, the water is pretty flat and no fog. We'll overnight then head back to Rio Vista for a move further south. Our feelings on the Delta are really positive. The only thing is all the floating weed bugged Carolyn. There is a real problem with the weeds being an invasive species and kind of out of control. The people are friendly, they are way laid back, time moves much slower than in the cities. Those that live here many times are 3rd and 4th generation. The levees that hold back all that water are all important. If there was a breach, much of the area goes under a lot of water. We enjoyed a slow cruise doing close to 70 miles in 9 engine hours just pottering where we wanted. I had a radio call to the 3 mile slough bridge as we were closing in at high tide and it looked like we had clearance ok, but the sign board on the piling was reading off the scale like 15 feet of clearance. No way maybe 9 ft. So I called the tender and he verified 10 plus ft, the sign board is wrong on that side" he says. No worries 8 ft is lots with no radar arch, so under we go. An overall great cruise. Black nights away from towns shows the heavens, calm sunny days meandering past nature, seeing working tugs and scows dredging. Fun time.

[hardee]

Hi George,

Sound like you are having a good time. My old Montgomery 15 is knocking around in that area. "Pelican" with a bright blue shear stripe. Sail # 348.

Your descriptions are making me want to do some exploring there too, (not in the city), but in the Delta. Glad you didn't become a sandwich.

Have a good Thanksgiving.

Harvey
SleepyC

[ghone]

Well, we've been in Monterey/Carmel for 3 days and time to move. We will go hwy 1 down further. We have had a great time in Monterey area. Most of one day spent at the aquarium. Do see it if you have the chance. I like it as the settings are mostly open to the sea and surge is normal for the fish. Also no mammals are kept other than birds, penguins etc and most are saved from distressed zoos elsewhere or injured critters in re hab. Very fascinating place. My favourite was a huge grouper I call Larry, he must weigh 400 pounds! He is cool. They have a small mola or sunfish that is a weird looking thing. He's about 3 feet square and he motors around with a very interesting fin action. Top and bottom dorsals move opposite ways to give forward motion. Exactly like the modern Hobie kayaks with pedals! I wonder if someone at Hobie saw the mola move out and the lightbulb went on. Cannery Row is a great stroll. Lots of old time stores and cannery memorabelia. The beach front is a great place to walk the white sand and watch pelicans surf dive for fish. Surfers were out in nice 5 ft breakers. Carmel is a small, tidy area of old homes and new homes made to look old to fit in. Still no stop lights in town and big box begone. Small stores, lots of eateries and house prices are down a bit. A nice 3 bed 3 bath with a view and remodelled from the 1950's can be had from $3.5 million. Not bad. Really a nice area, Pebble Beach is right there for golfers. We will move on down to Morro Bay today. Having fun! Cheers. George and Carolyn

[Captains Cat]

Great place George! Lived there for three years '67-'70 going to the Navy PG School in Monterey. Lived in a rental home in Carmel Highlands with a view of the ocean for the first year (BC [before children]) and then bought a home in Marina (the other side of what used to be Fort Ord) up toward San Jose for the last two years. Had my first boat there, a 100 year old crab fishing sailboat (wood of course) that I fiberglassed the outside of in the garage and used in the Monterey Marina for the last 9 months or so. That was AC (after child). Not much to do there.

Finished my Thesis 3 months early but didn't tell anyone, just turned in one chapter at a time to my advisor and messed around with the boat the rest of the time.

Travel Safely!

Charlie

[Sunbeam]

[BaseCampAnne]

George, hopefully you two are out of the rain!

The weather is clearing in the San Diego area, although along the water the temps will probably not quite make it to 70 degrees.

There are interesting places to visit in this area if you and Caroline are interested and the weather here is enjoyable

[ghone]

We are in Coronado after a wet and windy run down 101 thru the LA basin. We chatted with the rv park manager at The Dunes about the wisdom of going hwy 1 down the coast and she said it is done, but the folks who do it are stressed a lot. Towing up and around the tight corners is no fun. So we went the inland route on 101. We stayed overnite at San Refugio state park When the big rain storm came ashore. Horizontal rain and 30 knots on the highway. We said enough mid afternoon when I spotted rv's down on the beach. Having now towed The 101 from San Luis Obispo I cannot recommend anyone else doing it! We were denied entry to 4 rv places and 1 state park between Malibu and Newport Beach. Also no street parking allowed to vehicles over 20 ft. From Santa Monica on down. First places I have ever been denied to come in as an rv. Several we phoned were adamant No Boats! I asked the last one we tried how come....."she said they used to allow boats but the guys would go boating then flush the engine in the rv stall". The state park dude said we weren't 'self contained" if we didn't plug in to power and water". What? I said we could but didn't need to. Then he said well they won't really like your truck being that old. It's an 07! Bye Bye LA! The feeling we got was if you weren't coming to go see Mickey and leave, just leave now. We overnited at Marina Del Rey launch ramp thinking we'd launch, but in the morning it was pouring rain still and foggy and cold, so giddy up. We ran on down to Corobado, and it is a different world! We may stay! Gorgeous marina and facilities at the Glorietta Marina. Nicest restrooms and showers we have seen anywhere. Met some locals. All friendly. Great shops and eateries. Quiet and restful. We booked a few days at the marina and just extended it a week. Maybe more. It's dry and warm. Very different than LA. I have seen more smiles here than anywhere. We will do some harbour cruising after chores. We have about 2200 miles on since leaving Nanaimo so there was a lot of extra side trips. We are enjoying the trip immensely after a few wet windy days. Will keep you posted. George and Carolyn

[Sunbeam]

[Sunbeam]