BEAUTIFUL SANTA BARBARA

We have arrived at Santa Barbara. It has been 3 days since we left Santa Cruz. THREE DAYS out on the ocean! It felt like we were in a washing machine. Pt. Conception and Pt. Arguella can be and were nasty!! While Captain was doing some navigation with the laptop, a big wave spashed over it and that was the end of that. Actually, I have to admit that was my fault. Captain's cell phone got the front of it cracked too. That was his fault. Then it started raining. We got down in the cabin and closed the hatch cover. We have an alarm that goes off when the auto pilot is in trouble. It went off but we just huddled together and stared at the auto pilot. It was just to dangerous to get out there. No sleep all night long cause I figured we would have to abandon ship at any time!
Actually, it's not possible to abandon ship. Where are you going to go? At the time...I had to face the reality of sink or swim?  We had  our storm gear on, life vest, even R.J. had hers on. Captain had our water proof bag that contained our passports, I.Ds and money. I had my pockets full of candy. Did a little repenting.  I was ready to die.  The Ruby Jean stayed afloat though!! She really impressed me.
That was the first night. We finally got threw the storms. I fell asleep and when I woke up, the sun was shining in my face. It was calm and I was one happy First Mate. Captain wasn't as happy as I was.
There was no wind, and we were almost out of gas.
We decided to wait around for the wind to blow. Not much  choice about that either. We were next to an oil rig. I still can't believe how prettily lit up  they are at night. They look like Christmas trees. I took some pictures but they didn't turn out well.   We bobbed around the rig all day, all night and half the day after that. No wind! I was enjoying myself sun bathing and  reading a good book.
 We kept trying to call Bob as he should have been in Santa Barbara by now. Captain decided to use what gas we had to get closer to Santa Barbara. Engine started and we were off!!   After a few miles, my phone rang and it was Bob!! Hey!!  I told him our situation. He told me to call him when we ran out of gas and he would dinghy us some gas. Hey Again!!!
Believe it or not, we made it to the  break water of Santa Barbara!! Gave Bob a call and then we waited.  When we saw him coming in his dinghy, it was one of the best sights I've seen. It still chokes me up to think about it. He and Bart!! Even R.J. was glad to see Bart!  We finally got to the harbor. I think I did kiss the dock when I got off the boat.
After checking in and getting a slip, we got to rest up. I like this place alot. It's such pretty country and a clean harbor. Our auto pilot seems to be done for. Now we have to steer by hand.
A cruising ship came into harbor one day. Well...they can't really get into harbor. They anchor way out where the water is deep and they boat people to shore. That was interesting. A couple of days before the ship arrived, the harbor put up flyers all over to tell us of the arrival of the ship. Lots of people would be coming to shore. I've never seen so many people in one place that don't speak English. People from different countries. One thing I noticed about them...every one likes to party. Also, alot of tall people. The ship stayed two days. Then...just like that, it was gone.
Here are some pictures of the party bus/boat that the tourist party on. They have food, drinks and music. Dancing and all that. First, it's a bus and they drive all over the harbor and parts of the town. Then they drive right into the ocean and motor all over playing music and having a great time. One night while we were walking R.J., the bus drove into the water and broke down. Couldn't get the engine started. They had to call a tow truck to get it out of the water. All that time, people just kept dancing and having a good time.

 

On Thursday, September 8th, we headed for the Channel Islands. What a ride that turned into! I got to steer the boat for about an hour and a half. Then we got to  "windy lane"  and things got wild! It was what they call exellerating. We made it to Smugglers Cove and anchored. One other boat was there. We were getting hammered by the wind. After awhile, lots of boats started coming in. Some people were frantic. Couldn't get their anchors set. One guy lost his dinghy on the way in. People do strange things when they're stressed. It got dark and we all tried to get some sleep but it was ruff all night. The next morning, all was calm and sunny & warm. We did some fishing and sun bathing. Captain ran around in the dinghy, looking for fishing spots. It was sad to see that the kelp beds were all gone. No kelp beds...no fish. We stayed another night. It was rock & roll all night again. Come daylight, everyone was packing up and heading out of there. Us included. Back to Santa Barbara we headed. Stopped at Ventura harbor but decided to go back to Santa Barbara. At least we could spend some more time with Bob.