Santa Barbara

Wednesday September 28, 2005 LOCATION:Santa Barbara Yacht Harbor GOOGLE EARTH COORDINATES: 34 24.245N,119 41.548W
The anchorage we had in Cojo just around the corner from Conception Point was great. It was a bit rolly as we expected but the there are always the bright side of the story. It had the most beautiful pink,red and rose colored sunset. Oh yes, and the gigantic Team O'Neill surfers catamaran was anchored there. Always fun to see what they are up to. A dinghy continually brought their surfers into and out of their surf spots. Much entertainment for Bruce.
On our way to Santa Barbara we had the most pleasant surprise. Bruce went up to check our heading and found a little bird sitting on the seat. We were a good 3 miles offshore. We grabbed our cameras and audubon books and went to work. As best we could tell it was a long lost little sparrow. She sat a while, fluffed and dried herself and even took a little bread and water from us. She sat on Bruce's arm for a photo op. A second bird arrived but would only fly above us and attempt to coax her away. She joined him for a while and flew about until she was ready for another rest. She eventually got up the strength and/or courage and took leave. We named her Freeride and enjoyed her company.
We are now snuggly tucked into the Santa Barbara Harbor. It is a much more peaceful night sleep in here without the rocking and rolling of our last anchorage. The harbor is set in an amazingly beautiful location surrounded by Sierra Madre mountains, palm trees and beaches. The marina itself is impeccably kept with amazingly nice facilities. I doubt I will ever find as nice of laundry facilities so close again. We walked downtown to a farmer's market last night and hope to take a trolley into to see the Mission and other sights soon. Yesterday was filled with school work and then the whole family grabbed swim suits and brushes and scrubbed every piece on the outside of the boat. In the warm sunshine, this is actually a fun job with all that great kid help. This morning a family with a little girl came over in their dingy to introduce themselves. They are on a boat named Sensei. They will be following the same path as us and are excited to find another boat with kids. They are using a similar school curriculum to our which always adds a bit of moral support. Knowing you are not alone in anything makes it better just by default.
As boating and boat projects go things always take a little longer than expected. Our 10 min. oil change yesterday turned into a hour affair. And I am still not sure what project Bruce was working on before he took leave and ran to a hardware store no doubt. All I can say is something slipped up into the boom or mast where it shouldn't be and getting it out will be an all day affair. The boys and I finished school work in great time and headed for the beach. It is just a short walk down the dock and over the jetty wall to reach it. They donned their new wet suit booties, boogie boards and were in the water for hours. Having seen all this wildlife lately has really inspired them. With their wet suits they are that much more bouyant and love to just float in the water on their backs and pretend they are otters. Or perhaps, dive through a wave as it approaches like a dolphin. Sitting there I realized that this was the stereotypical day we northerners think they must be like here everyday. Sun, sand and surf with no other cares in the world. It did seem amazingly hot there today and we later found out it was an uncharacteristicly high 94 degrees that day. whew.
We may be heading off tomorrow for the Channel Islands. We are paying more to stay here than we like and without a car it is tough to get inland to see as many sights as we would like. We shall see what the water and weather reports say.
until then,
aloha lisa and the boys

Quick reminder for the Google Earth, just click and paste the coordinates exactly as we have them written there above. The google program can be fickle about how the coordinates are entered.