1st time anchoring in our boat= Success!

Hiking on Santa Cruz Island

Conor and Lanea at Santa Cruz Island. Moondance is anchored behind us.

 

It took us 2x to set the bow anchor and 3x to set the stern anchor and thankfully Dan offered to help with the driving as I don’t yet have a strong command on maneuvering the boat while anchoring near shallow waters. I’m also thankful I have a strong husband as we do not an electric windlass so he was the one that had to pull the anchor and chain up every time we had to reset it.

Finally we were secure, angled the solar panels to face the warm sun and relaxed a bit. There was no power, cell reception or store, and virtually no people. During the one night and two days we were there we kept company with only two other boats at any given time and we were surrounded by female sea lions (quieter than the males in Monterey), schools of fish, sting rays, and diving pelicans.

These are photos of the anchorage that we took from a hike.

Conor and Dan beach the dinghy and pull it up on shore.

Anchorage at Prisoner’s Harbor

Shot of boat in the anchorage from our hike

Dan teaches us how to play Hearts while on the hook.

Dan schools us at Hearts

 

We took several sites to help us make sure that the anchor was not dragging and we checked every hour that evening. We had purposefully chosen an anchorage that would be sheltered from the west winds (we checked the forecast in Santa Barbara). Every time we went on deck to check the anchor was a special experience. Pelicans were diving for food every five seconds. The fish moving in the water lit up the bioluminescence making it easy for the pelicans to spot their prey. At 5am our stern started to wander. We pulled in just another foot of rode on the stern anchor and stayed put.

This is a video taken the next morning

After our hikes the next day we decided that we were ready for a harbor and a shower! We made dinner at 4pm and prepared for a night passage to Santa Catalina Island 70 miles away.

Leaving SC Island

Leaving Santa Cruz IslandSunsetThe sun sets behind Santa Cruz Island upon our departure

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