Necessity is in Santa Barbara

Necessity
Eva and Jan Fr. Mack
Sun 7 Nov 2010 15:56
Our position is 34:24:28N 119:41:34W
We paid the price for staying an extra day in Monterey. It cost us good northerlies that would so easily have taken us down to Santa Barbara. As it was, the wind was gone, and the engine was the solution for almost the entire way.
Was it worth it? Absolutely!
It gave us the time to meet up with very interesting (and nice) people on two other cruising boats.
Joe and MaryLou Upton in their Northman 45 (beautiful boat) were headed for Santa Barbara too, but we were invited for wine before they left. They, and particularly Joe, are expert travelers in Alaska. He has in fact written a number of books about Alaska as a once fisherman and as a writer of cruising guides (big ships version). The fact that they have also been to San Blas gave us a lot to talk about.
Later the same night we met up in Necessity with Ken and Sylvia Kondo of Ann Lucia, a Japanese Nauticat 35 that had come across the Pacific earlier this year. The world is small so we did know some of the same cruising people in Japan. They brought a fantastic Japanese meal of sashemi etc. If you want to meet new and interesting people, the cruising scene is a fantastic stage.
Despite the wining and dining we were off early the next morning. We were looking for Blue Whales that are becoming numerous off this coast, but instead we spotted a Great White Shark - the first time we have seen one. This is were they like to hang out. I am not surprised with the amount of life in the water (I am not talking about surfers though accidents do happen). After motoring a day and a night we were in San Miguel Island. The island is part of a sanctuary off the Santa Barbara to Los Angeles coast. The sea is teeming with life including Elephant Seals. The island itself is rather barren. After a quite night it was off to Santa Barbara. I have as yet no idea what the place is like since we have not been ashore yet.
jfm 07.11.10