SV Luna Moth

On September 24th, we left Monterey to head south along the stretch of coast known as Big Sur. If you haven’t gotten to experience the coast here, it’s definitely worth a visit by car as the dramatic cliffs and ocean views are breathtaking. By boat…you probably want to steer clear of the dramatic cliffs and other crunchy bits.

Our next major destination was Morro Bay, a distance of around 115 nautical miles. We decided to break this up with a stop at San Simeon, though this still left us starting with a 90 nm stretch, too long for us to tackle during the short daylight hours. We opted for an overnighter, leaving in the afternoon and arriving just after sunrise.

We had inconsistent wind on the way down and did a mix of motoring and downwind sailing. Lisa tried her hand at fishing, with visions of tuna tacos in her head, but ended up only catching seaweed and kelp. As the evening came on, the air got cold, bring on thoughts of warm weather Southern California sailing. As the sun set we were treated to a most spectacular sunset, making suffering through the cold seem more worthwhile.

As dawn rose we headed into a cove near San Simeon, dodging kelp to drop anchor in the morning fog. It was a peaceful little anchorage with a view of Hearst Castle on the hill. After a quick breakfast, we went to bed to catch up on sleep.

After a day of rest, we did a shorter daytime run to Morro Bay, timing our arrival for slack tide, since we had heard the entrance can be difficult. The sun was out and it was a pleasant sail with several whale sightings. We had good weather, so the infamous Morro Bay entrance wasn’t bad and we made it into the bay pretty easily.

While we intended to spend a week in Morro Bay, we ended up staying for three as a series of gales swept up the coast, making heading further south ill advised. While there we enjoyed walking around town, visiting the yacht club, meeting other cruisers, and occasionally going out for breakfast or a snack.

Morro Bay has a healthy population of sea otters who would often play around Luna Moth. Youngsters would playfully wrestle and mothers would go by with a baby clinging to them as they swam. Along the shore there’s a little “nursery” where they take nap time, and generally be adorable.

The sea lions also had pretty good napping game…though their body odor made them a little less adorable.

While it was difficult to feel like it was time to move on without being able to do so because of the weather, we met a lot of nice people and enjoyed our stay.