September 23, 2004
Morro Bay (N 35o 21' W 120o 51')
We had a great night at sea last night, with one exception: Fog. The sun set shortly before we rounded Pt. Sur and it was clear from the layer of mist hanging over the water that we were in for an intense dew fall. Sure enough, as soon as the sun set the deck was soaked and water was dripping from the mainsail. The moon was bright though, so we made the best of motoring south.
Before long, the air could no longer hold the moisture in it and the fog descended on us. Strange that it was at this time that the shooting stars came out, at least that's what Sharon called them. In reality they were dolphins swimming around the boat. The phosphorescence illuminating their bodies streamed off in long trails making them look like large green shooting stars. Except these shooting stars breath at the surface of the ocean periodically. They stayed around the boat for almost an hour!
All too soon the dolphins left us with nothing but a small patch of sea to watch, the rest being covered by fog, our only visibility into the world being the radar screen. This condition persisted all night and all the next day, all the way to Morro Bay, where we made our approach to the entrance by radar, GPS and ear (we slowed periodically to listen for the whistle on the entrance buoy). Thankfully the fog lifted a little after finding the entrance buoy so we able to see a few more buoys inside the channel. We didn't see the famous Morro Rock until we were right underneath it though.
After rafting up at the Morro Bay Yacht Club dock, we went into town to see what kind of trouble we could get into. We found the saltwater taffy shop and proceeded to buy way too much candy. Not the kind of terrorizing sailors of old are known for, but we're happy with it. We plan on eating an early dinner and a lot of candy and going to bed early.
John, Linda and Sharon
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