On December 23, we left Half Moon Bay and set sail for Monterey. The journey is about 64 miles, so we knew we needed to get an early start to get to Monterey before sunset. We got up at 4:00 AM, got off the dock at 5:00 AM, and headed out of the marina in the dark. We followed two fishing boats with bright spot lights out through the breakwaters at the mouth of the harbor and into the ocean. Once again, we encountered rolling waves at the entrance to the harbor, and bounced around a bit.
We continued out to three miles off shore. On the way, we experienced a fair amount of roll from a westerly swell on the beam, so we hoisted the mainsail as a stabilizer to reduce the rolling. At the three-mile mark, we headed south. We motor-sailed all the way to Monterey. We had a beautiful journey with calm seas and mild breezes.
On the way, we watched the moon set and the sun rise, and enjoyed an absolutely glorious day – blue sky with patchy clouds and large rolling swells from the west, which settled into almost flat water at we entered Monterey Bay.
We made our way across Monterey Bay and arrived at Monterey Harbor in the late afternoon.
We sailed into the harbor past a breakwater covered with sea lions, and into the marina where we were greeted by several sea otters.
We secured a guest berth at the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club, which is located in the back left hand corner of the marina. On the way to the slip, we bounced on a rock which was not on the chart, scraping the keel! The harbor master said that they had recently dredged the marina, and that perhaps the rock was moved during the dredging.
There was a glorious sunset that night. Our plan was to stay in Monterey until a large storm system due the next day passed through.
