So! I wrote this incredibly newsy blog – all I had to do was add pictures – in a few moments.  When I came back it was gone! And, so too, was all the information.  It all went on the page – that disappeared – and out of my brain!  A very unsatisfactory situation for a writer!

For the entire voyage south I have been watching for whales.  After all, we are all headed to Mexico for the winter!  But we had seen only one whale and it was too far away  to get a picture.  The day out of Half Moon Bay was quite different.  We got some serious whale action.  Still pretty far away but I did manage to get a couple great shots.  They were very active, lots of blows and breaching and huge splashes – of course those are hard to catch on camera.  The problem is you need to look with your eyes, as it is hard to track the whales very well through the lens of a camera.  If the ocean is totally flat it’s easier as you can see their wake, but the ocean was not flat, so no joy in that method.  By the time you see the spout or them breaching , getting the camera to the spot, focused, etc…it is pretty tricky.

We are busy-busy, so no time to write a proper blog, but it will come. For now, we are in Oxnard, CA! And that means we made a run for it, coming around Point Conception into Southern California. Yeah!

We started our departure from Half Moon Bay, thinking we would be tied up in Monterey in 6 hours.  Checking the current ocean conditions we decided we could make it “around the corner” to Southern California if we upped the RPM’s and made a run for it.  There is a huge swell that is now beating on the Northwest coast of America.  We saw 44 foot waves in the center of the monstrous event!

By the time we passed around Point Conception at 1015, the place we were at 0900 that morning had 12 foot waves!  No wind, or rain, but huge swells that  we don’t want to do business with.   We are so glad we did!

We were to stop off for an R&R in Santa Barbara, after the long overnight, clean the boat, get some rest,do a cute coffee, and then on to friends in Oxnard.  BUT, the most incredible friends and hosts in the world said our stopping in Santa Barbara was “not negotiable” – so – we didn’t.

And now, here we are staying at our friends’ dock just outside their home. We sure changed their view – to say the least.

Stay tuned for more details to come.

Meanwhile – I’m Home Today in Oxnard, CA