2025 Bay and Delta extravaganza: Sign Up

I will be joining you on this cruise by myself. Hopefully, my wife Deborah will be able to meet us in one of the ports.

I will bring green salad and dressing.

Erdem
 
Hello All!

Jim and Kath thanks for signing up for the burgers, buns and condiments. Steve and Carmen we look forward to sampling your macaroni salad. Jim and Cindi thanks for signing up for the chips and dip!

Erdem we are so glad to hear that you will be joining us on this year's voyage and signing up for bringing a green salad.

Unfortunately Michael (Olsurfdog) will not be joining us this year.

We still have room for 3 more boats for this truly unique and fun trip. It is important to let us know ASAP.

We have received two checks so far, so if you have not done so please send your check in now.

John and Laurie
Slack Time
 
So glad to see this cruise continues!! John and Laurie- congratulations 🎉 Makes me wish I still had my boat. Pat and I miss cruising with y’all.
 
Updates:

Bridge Closure:
Steve (SeaSpray) reminded me that the Rio Vista bridge will be closed for the weekend repairs beginning May 9th. This will not affect boating. Those who intend to use that bridge on Saturday to get home will need to work out a route that is best for you. There options including going slightly north to the Real McCoy Ferry which gets over to Hwy 160 allowing options including heading down towards LA (Steve and Carmen). Another option is go west on hwy 12, to I80, hwy 580 to I 5. My favorite option... hang out and enjoy the Delta until Monday :smiled


Wheeler Island Meals:
The present count for number of persons, including the caretakers is now 13 people.
Sunday Dinner supplied and prepared by John and Robbin. Brisket, potatoes and salad.
Monday Breakfast supplied and prepared by John and Laurie. Eggs, meat, muffins, fruit, OJ etc.
Monday Lunch – on your own
Monday Dinner – Potluck
Jim and Kath – Burgers and all the fixings
Steve and Carmen – Macaroni salad
Jim and Cindi – Chips and dip
Steve and Karen – Waldorf Salad and dessert
Erdem – Green salad with dressing
John and Laurie – all fixings for Fish Fry (keep your fingers crossed we catch fish!)
Tuesday Breakfast – leftovers from Monday breakfast
**BYOB – Bring your own beverages for all meals**

Remember to bring your current boat insurance and registration to provide in San Francisco. South Beach Harbor has offered all boaters the ability to send in their boat insurance and registration by email rather than bringing the paperwork in person to their office. Send email to Pallavi Talwar at the email listed below.

South Beach Harbor
Pier 40A, San Francisco, CA 94107
Office: 415.495.4911
Email: pallavi.talwar@sfPort.com
Website: South Beach Harbor | SF Port

Departure from Rio Vista will be at noon on Sunday, May 4th. Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

John and Laurie
Slack Time
 
Thanks for the heads-up John and Steve. You don’t realize how important a bridge is until you have to work around it. I don’t recall taking the 101 all the way, except maybe by car a long time ago, is there a problem with that, seems shorter than working the way back to the I-5.
 
21st Annual Delta and Bay Extravaganza trip synapsis.

The following is a recap of our week long voyage starting in Rio Vista on Sunday, May 4th, 2025.

We had a total of six boats participating this year. Unfortunately two of our scheduled boats, Pounder (Jim and Kathy) and Olsurfdog (Michael) could not go due to unforeseen situations. The weather generally cooperated the entire cruise. We had some adverse tide (Ebb) and pretty big wind for some of our legs which made for a bit of a rough ride from Rio Vista to Wheeler Island.

Everybody enjoyed our stay at Wheeler Island where John and Robbin prepared and hosted a delicious dinner with some of their homegrown beef. The following day everybody who fished caught beautiful Striped Bass. That evening we had a potluck dinner featuring fresh bass (surprise!), hamburgers with all the fixins (thanks Jim and Kathy) and lots of wonderful sides.

Steve and Karen helped with not only some awesome brownies but with some of the nuts and bolts aspects of navigation, weather and tide interpretation. We had an opportunity to meet Jim and Cindi on Morning Star, their Tom Cat. It was great having them join the group and contributing to the voyage. On Tuesday the infamous San Pablo Bay cooperated but we had some rough seas from about Point Pinole to the Marin coast. These conditions undoubtedly contributed to Morning Star’s hydraulic steering issues causing Jim and Cindi to end their cruise with the gang in Sausalito.

We had unpredicted gusts of about 30 knots as we arrived in Sausalito but all boat captains did a superior job of getting their craft docked without mishap. Erdem of Octopus did what I thought was some really great piloting, solo nonetheless. The wind did die down and we had some great clear weather.

On Wednesday, as scheduled, we motored to South Beach Harbor enjoying a quick trip under the Golden Gate Bridge and along the scenic city waterfront. In San Francisco for two days we were guided to a couple of iconic places (Palace Hotel) and China Town, thank you Laurie! I think we really got lucky with many of our choice of dinner venues.

On Friday afternoon we had blessedly flat sea conditions traveling from San Francisco to Benicia. Unfortunately Gremlins struck Dinner Belle II eventually causing both her engines to fail just as we entered the Napa River. Steve, Carmen and Alex (Dora Jean crew) did a great job of assisting Dinner Belle II and side towing her about 6 miles to our destination of Benica that day.

Despite the Gremlins (bad fuel likely) John and Robbin soldiered on to enjoy the rest of the afternoon and evening. We all enjoyed a well-deserved lunch at the Benicia Yacht Club and some nighttime live music in town. The following morning everyone pitched in to assist Dinner Belle II to get loaded on her trailer in a minus tide condition.

The final leg to Rio Vista was uneventful with everybody arriving home safely.

Thank you all for making this 2025 Delta and Bay Extravaganza adventure memorable and so much fun.

John and Laurie
Slack Time… Out
 
It was another great Extravaganza. I would like to add, and I think it reflects the thoughts of all the veterans of this event, John and Laurie have done a tremendous job of taking over the event that Jim Gibson likewise did a fine job for 20 years. The hosts of these events do much more than make the reservations and trip routing, they guide the group and put their heart and soul everyday into making sure we travel safe and enjoy everything each location has to offer. And then there are the daily “adventures” that include weather and the occasional breakdown, those treat the true mettle of the leaders. John and Laurie did an outstanding job of all aspects—and especially for their first time. Congratulations and thanks for a wonderful time and to all that contributed.

Roger, thanks for the advice about the 101 fwy to get home around the 12 closure. I didn’t read your comment until today. I plugged in my trusty Garmin GPS to route me home, and I know I didn’t want to go North and NE through Sacramento and down as another alternate path. The GPS announced right away that the 12 was closed (actually the Rio Vista bridge), so it rerouted me to the quickest way home. We went West on the 12 all the way until it briefly turned into the I-80 South, then took the I-680 Southbound for a long time to the Eastbound I-580 and back to the I-5 South (about the latitude of Modesto). No events occurred on the way home thankfully.
 
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