On to San Francisco

As the weather provided us another weather window, we headed out from Coos Bay, very early in the morning of Aug 23 and started our run to San Francisco…. 48 hours non stop.  Brian, Cam Cleveland, Cam and I are all on rotating watch.  Running non stop is not really a “holiday” …. It is tiring and it is work – but it is a means to an end …. and we have "all the comforts of home" on Sea Level ll .

The seas started out a bit lumpy with 15-20 kn winds and 1-2 m seas at 7-9 seconds our first night,  calming down to 1m seas at 10-12 seconds and 5-10 kn winds after that and for the remainder of the leg …. Much more enjoyable. 

We motored along with dolphins swimming in our bow wake, whales spouting off in the distance.... and at days end,  beautiful sunsets ....

 

 We pulled in under the Golden Gate Bridge on Aug 25^th early in the morning and headed to Sausalito’s Schoonmaker Point Marina.   Coming into San Francisco under the Golden Gate is a very unique experience ….. beautiful bridge ….beautiful city ….

 

 

 A walk along the water from the marina, took us to the Blue and Gold Ferry and over to Pier 39 in San Francisco, where we spent the rest of the day.  We enjoyed a drink at the Buena Vista – known for inventing the Irish Coffee !!

 

 

LOVE these glasses .....

 After a ferry ride back to Sausalito we enjoyed dinner at The Spinnaker’s Restaurant (a long-time, well established  seafood restaurant right on the water!!!)

The next morning, Brian pulled out one of the folding bikes and headed off on a 2-3 hour bike ride to Tiburon.  Our Dahon folding  bikes are proving to be a GREAT addition to the boat !!

Northern Ranger arrived early the next morning after a 5 day non stop run south from Anacortes !!  THAT is a grinder, but they looked none the worse for wear when they arrived !!

 

After a rest and a clean up, the crew of Northern Ranger were ready to join us and head over to San Fransisco on the Blue and Gold … and we spent the balance of the day checking out the city then meeting up with fellow Nordhavn owners, Gerry and Doug Cochrane on ORION for a visit. 

 

We ferried back to Sausalito and the crews of Northern Ranger and Sea Level ll all went to Le Garage for a lovely French dinner  ...

 

 

 

... after which we were off to bed as we were departing for Los Angeles early in the am and (sadly) Brian was departing for Vancouver.  It was hard leaving him on the dock at 5:30am to ferry and BART his way to the airport to head home. 

Its been so GREAT having him with us … he is GOOD CREW (and always good fun) !!!