San Francisco - Week Two

JON - Caught in the act of doing laundry !!!!!

Marni and Pete aboard their boat.

Thursday, October 5^th, 2006

            We headed into Sausalito first thing this morning after breakfast.  We met Pete and Marni on their way to new ports and adventures.  They passed on some magazines and were off to warmer climates they hoped.  I gave them our website address and they gave us their card.  We appreciated their help and enjoyed their company.  I was wishing we had our sailing cards, but a friend (Tanya) said we should wait until we have our name painted on the stern of our boat and have a picture taken to place on the card.  Well, we better get that name painted soon! J Anyways, we wish Marni and Pete all the best.  First on the list was to go to the hardware store we found last night.  We collected screws, and the like necessary to finish off some of the unfinished jobs on the boat.  Next on the list was the Laundromat.  Now this may be a shocker to many so look at the pictures with caution. Jon has been caught folding laundry mothers!!  I think we scared him off though by taking pictures.  He was no where to be found when the second load came out of the dryer.  Back to the dinghy and over to another dock further down the harbour to go to West marine for more boat supplies and then over to Mollie's Grocery store for dinner.  Tacos it would be!  Back to the boat for dinner and then we watched a new episode of Gray's Anatomy!  Jon continues to complain that Wade and I cannot let go of the 21^st century: "We should be reading."  Oh, the novelty of being able to watch TV was fun though!  I missed the new ER. UGH.  Beside, I thought last year was their final season.  What's going on?! I know, I am in San Fran, get over it, right! J

The Blue Angels

Friday, October, 6^th, 2006

            Back to the Aquatic Park we go.  We have an air show to enjoy!  There was shipping traffic in the harbour, but no trouble navigating.  The big cargo ships move way faster than we do and they would be out of our way before I had to worry about a collision.  As we got closer to the Aquatic Park there was more sailing traffic.  I was watching a little speed boat coming my way towing a sailboat and trying to decide which way to go when I started to notice the current.  I did not have much choice, I was moving sideways like I was heading down a river.  I couldn't believe the strength of the current!  I could only turn the wheel to end up going on one side of a yellow marker instead of hitting it.  I was happy once we were tied up in the Aquatic Park.  There is one other boat from Canada anchored here and we are dreaming that maybe they will invite us over saying they have too many lobsters to eat on their own, and that they sure could use our help eating them!  Sure that will happen. J  Hopefully we will get a chance to meet them though.  The air show had a slow start and with a gray sky, with even a bit of a sprinkle, not that great.  The sound the jets made though was incredible.  We can only hope the weather improves.  We paddled in to shore around 5 pm.  I had a phone call to make to wish my father a happy birthday and we needed some more groceries.  We definitely need to get our fridge up a running; these almost daily runs to the grocery store are getting a little tiring.  First I went to the hotel where I had been using the payphone in their lobby: much quieter than the ones on the street.  I was stopped at the door and asked for my room number.  I said, "I wasn't staying at the hotel, I was just coming in to use the phone."  "We don't have a phone in the lobby," the man replied. "Yes, you do," I said, "It's just around the corner."  "Well, we are very busy this weekend with the air show…" "So can I use the phone?" "No."  "Thank-you." And I left.  I can appreciate things being busy and I had even found it a bit odd that I could use the phone in the first place, but I may one day be a customer or tell someone about this hotel.  His reception was not conducive to me sharing wonderful things about the hotel, busy or not.  As we walked around we ended up deciding on going out for dinner.  Just before dinner I was able to find a phone in a corner in Ghirardelli Square.  I thought it might be OK, but the phone was not that great sound wise.  Happy birthdays were made and off we went for dinner.  Just hamburgers, but in a nice pub and we had live music.  They were an Irish band called Shades of Green.  They were good.  I really enjoyed the lead singer's voice.  A quick trip up to Safeway we had steaks in hand for dinner tomorrow night and we headed back to the beach.  Upon stepping on the beach we saw one of our paddles lying there in the sand.  Your worst thoughts are racing through your head.  Our boat was there thankfully, but was full of 12 or so Goth teenagers.  "Sorry, sorry…we found it this way….we just wanted to pretend we were pirates…sorry"  were their words when Jon announced, "wrong boat guys."  We found the other paddle in the sand beside the boat and the boat was filthy with sand.  The rope we had tied the boat to the Warf with was cut.  Our guess was someone had cut the line and taken our boat out for a row.  A little nerve racking.  We cannot afford to replace our $3000 dinghy.  Yes, I wrote the total correct.  The main Walker Bay is $800, the sail kit we have for it is $800 and the inflatable tube that wraps the whole boat for stability costs $1400.  We were glad that the tube had not been slashed.  With the busy weekend here for the Air show we are going to have to be extra careful.  There is nowhere else to take our boat.

The Air show was great!

The crowds were everywhere.  You can see some behind Wade.

I enjoyed the show with our "Spirit of Sam."

Jon took the opportunity to have a little nap.  He said he was in to boats not planes!

Saturday, October, 07.2006

            Sailing life isn't for everybody. J Today for example, blue skies, sunshine sparkling of the water, sailboats all around and music playing in the background.  Happy hour started at 12 pm as we went up on deck, cameras in hand to watch the navy ship parade and air show.  I couldn't believe all of the people everywhere, lining the streets, sitting on stadium seats and walking the beach.  Smoke circled around on either side of the beach where hamburgers and hotdogs were for sale.  A beautiful day!  There are always "those" people though who test your ability to let go of the small things.  We had tied up the night before in a perfect location to see outside the bay and yet not in anyone else's view.  Minutes before the navy ship parade started an American pulled up anchor and positioned his boat right in front of us so he had a better view.  Nice!  I am glad he was able to get some good pictures.  We did too, with his boat in every one of them.  Maybe he would like to trade pictures.  Oh well!  We are finishing the day off with a steak dinner and then a row in to go pick out our turkey for thanksgiving.  We will just make a trip to Safeway and straight back.  We are little nervous about leaving out dinghy on the beach.

Note: We were all to full and tired and never made it in to Safeway.  We just lounged around and read.  The tough life of sailing! J

Jon testing the waters!

Our duck Thanksgiving dinner.  Delicious!

The after effects of Thanksgiving dinner are the same everywhere! Wade had too much stuffing.

Sunday, October, 08, 2006

            Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Jon had the big idea today that he was going swimming.  He got out his swimming shorts and got up on deck, lowering the swim grid ladder.  He stepped down, one step at a time until reaching the swim grid that was positioned just under the water and,"Holly, #*@* that is cold!  How do the swimmers do this!" Then the swim was over.  We all spiffied up for a trip to town.  We all enjoyed a shower, dressed and rowed ashore.  With the state of our dinghy full of the Goth teens the night before and the rope cut etc... I was a little apprehensive about leaving our dinghy on the beach.  This time we chose to tie the dinghy on the beach in open view as apposed to around the corner.  All we could do is hope for the best.  We began our walk down the main street down along the water.  Our destination was to go and see the navy ships from yesterday's parade.  We found the majority of people were walking in the opposite direction of us.  There was an Italian parade starting soon in the direction of where we had just come.  When we finally found the boats the line-ups to tour them was ridiculous and we all quickly and unanimously agreed that we did not want to stand in line-ups all day.  We took a few pictures and moved on.  Destination number 2 was to buy a duck in china town for Thanksgiving dinner.  We continued our walk along the water before turning up through an arts and crafts display and through the city.  I felt like I was walking downtown Vancouver with all of the high rises and numerous shiny glassed buildings.  I found myself looking up often and feeling dizzy. China town was found to be just as busy as the water front.  The streets were crowded with people.  We enjoyed bobbing in and out of the walking herd to peer into windows and the various barbeque and seafood options.  Funny enough, at the end of china town is the Italian area of town and we walked right into the parade.  I thought we would miss the parade because as I understood it, the parade was downtown.  A long parade, starting at 12:30 and going to 2:30.  The restaurants had tables lining the streets and people were sitting, drinking their vino and enjoying the scene of each entry of the parade.  We were into mid afternoon by the time we bought our duck and we had been doing a lot of walking, so back to the boat.  We stopped at Safeway on the way to get some cold beers and with an exhale of relief we found out dinghy with no damage.  Back at the boat we sat out on deck with drinks.  I put on by bikini bottom and sat on the swim grid.  A little more daring than Jon, but with the sun on the other side of the boat and water giving me goose bumps that would not go away, I did no more than sit and enjoy the view.  A boat by the name of Wanderlust came in.  They called over and asked where we were from.  They had flown in from Toronto to pick up the boat and were destined for Mexico.  They invited us over later.  We hope to do just that.   I got the duck in the oven with the ribs we bought, started a pot of rice and found the stuffing.  Wade dug out the cranberry sauce and Jon found my dad's blackberry wine.  We were going to have a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner.  With plates overflowing in Thanksgiving tradition we all sat down and rose our glasses to our adventure.  The duck was great!  After dinner, Jon put on a pot of coffee and settled in to a new book.  Wade undid the button on his pants and collapsed on his bunk.  Thanksgiving is the same!  Well, we do miss our family and friends and wish you all the best this Thanksgiving.  Another wonderful day in the sun!

Our first walk through San Leandro near the Marina of course.

Monday, October, 09, 2006

            We were woken early this morning, 3 am to the sound of fog horns.  We are used to fog in Bamfield, but here in San Francisco there is a succession of fog horns all with different intensities and tones.  This is to help the ships find their way I am sure, but sure did not help us have a good nights sleep.  The anchorage here in the Aquatic Park has been much rollier than before as well.  We have some swells coming in rocking the boat often.  Oh, well, getting to keep up my sea legs.  Getting better, I might add!  I can now stand in a shower with pretty good stability.  I even learned that I can actually stand upright.  I am not quite sure why I always felt like I had to be bent over??  We are heading for San Leandro today.  They have a marina with moorage for $10 a night.  We need to bang off a few things on our boat list and Costco and Wal-Mart are near as well, so we can top up on our provisioning.  As week two here in San Francisco is coming to a close I am realizing that our trip to Hawaii is just around the corner.  We are eager to get going.  We all really want the warmth and sun.  Jon and I in our pitiful attempts yesterday, just really want to get into the water. Jon and I rowed over to the boat Wanderlust to say hi.  They were heading out for the Baja, ha, ha.  They are boat number 132 (If I am remembering correctly).  They too are looking forward to a great trip.  Jon and I were able to get in touch with San Leandro Marina and secure a slip for the week.  The cost is $15 though.  They said that this has been their price for two years now.  I said, "Well, your website says $10 and Charlie's Charts for 2005 say $10."  The guys reply was, "Well, that could cause some trouble now."  Whatever.  We need to get our list dwindled down and there is a Costco, a Wal-Mart and a Home Depot all in the same area a couple of miles a way.  Now how to get a sheet of plywood back?!! J We are all getting excited as we talk about the reality that we are heading off for Hawaii in a week (ish).  Don't anybody go and quote me on that! J The trip down was nice.  We were able to see all of the navy ships that had come in for the parade.  We even had a small speedster come out to ward us away.  Too close to the boats I guess and they need to keep up their security.  A gorgeous day in the sun.  Finally getting my colour back again.  San Leandro is a very pretty place.  Palm trees and all kinds of flowering plants.  There are well kept homes, a golf course right across the road and a nature trail all around the bay.  Beautiful.  We will enjoy our week here!  Docking the boat was quite interesting.  The fingers are not that far a part and the slips are just enough room for a boat.  There was some kind of current or something pulling us towards our slip making it very difficult to maneuver.  I attempted first and every time I tried to back up to give myself more room to turn the boat just kept drifting towards the slip side when I wanted to go over to the other side.  Jon gave it a try and went out of the fingers three times to turn around.  We finally lands safely and tied the boat securely.  We went for a walk to check out the area.  We found a grocery store and laundry mat a mile a way as stated in Charlie's Charts.  We bought steaks at $2.99 a lb.  A far cry from Mollie's grocery store prices in Sausalito!  Good steaks too.  We made tacos for dinner as we were inspired by the Mexican restaurant next store and trying to not eat out too much.  We find that we want to go and explore the area though and enjoy the place.  It is hard not to go out!  I met Tony and Sharon on their boat, Mrs. Robinson.  A fun couple.  There are here just here helping Sharon move her mother.  I hope we bump into them again. Interesting falling asleep here. Once again getting used to no movement.  I still don't know which is worse now: stillness or movement.  There is an airport right beside the Marina.  It is just on the other side of the bay.  There are planes decending right infront of the marina all day.  Think of it as another free air show.  Quite the rumble though.

Tuesday, October, 10^th, 2006

            We all had a long and good sleep.  We need to get into work mode this morning though as we have many jobs to complete.  The sun is shinning and promises to be a warm and delightful day!  The guys started working on the freezer.  Jon said they needed a sheet of plywood before they could so anything.  We had talked about the logistics of having to get to home depot either walking, bus or taxi, all which didn't help with transporting a sheet of plywood.  We had seen a piece up by a restaurant last night, so I went up and asked the manager if the sheet was available.  By 2:30 pm, I had Jon carrying a sheet of ½ inch plywood back to the boat.  The manager of Horatio said, "To help ourselves." Great!  We now have the plywood.  "But we need 2 x 4's" Jon says.  So, off I went again in search of wood.  I met Ann who told me that the yacht club on the other side of the marina usually had some wood by their dumpster and that they did, but no 2 x 4's.  I then met Mike later in the day as I walked the pier trying to connect to the internet.  I have not been able to get wireless on the boat.  I finally found a spot at the end of the pier.  This is where I met Mike, who told me to talk to Randy and after talking to Randy, I had two 2 x 4's.  Still no freezer done.  However, our mattress has been taken up on deck as we pulled wood out and I get to have the joy of sleeping on the floor.  Yipee! 

Sunset at San Leandro Marina

Wednesday, October, 11, 2006

            In the morning, I was told that we need ¾ X ¾ pieces to build the shelves that were going to happen yesterday.  I met Barb on her boat just across from us and she took me into Costco, Wal-Mart and Home Depot.  So I came back to our boat with wood and provisions for our offshore trip. No meat though because we still don't have a freezer.  With the boat in shambles, the guys decided to work on the mast.  I enjoyed being with another girl if only for a few hours.  Living on board a 42 foot boat with two guys has been trying at times.  To settle everyone's concerns the mast is in great shape.  All has been assessed and prepared for offshore!  I got to work right away to get provisions away and started preparing a steak dinner.  I really find this place beautiful. I was shocked to hear from Barb the high crime rate of the area.  She highly suggested that I do not walk anywhere alone.  I would never have thought.  There are all of these beautiful walkways along the water etc… and what am I going to get the guys to go with me. J We sure are enjoying the hot showers though with heaters in each of the individual stalls!  Heaven. J

SANFRANCISCO - WEEK ONE

We three are having a great time!

Thursday, September, 28^th, 2006

            I awoke this morning to voices at 6 am.  A swimmer if you can believe it!  She was talking to another swimmer about looking for her friend who looked like a marshmallow?  All I could think was the friend must have on a white swimming cap.  I fell back to sleep for another hour and then got up and made coffee.  John and I headed to shore.  I went in search of a phone to call customs to make sure I knew where we were going.  I made the phone call, received an answering machine.  First fifty cents gone.  Tried another number I had, also an answering machine.  Second fifty cents gone.  John suggested calling immigration because they were just up the hill and would save us the two hour bus and train ride to customs if we were able to do all the paperwork there.  I was reluctant to include yet another party in this, but phoned.  I told the lady who answered that we were a crew of four on a sailing vessel from Canada and were anchored in the aquatic park.  She replied with, "What seems to be the problem mam?"  I said, "There is no problem.  In our sailing guide we were informed to call immigration upon arriving in our first port of entry.  When I spoke with a customs officer he said we could fill out all the papers there, but since we were closer to the immigration office maybe we could just come see you."  "What forms do you want to fill out?" she replied.  "Well, I don't know what forms we have to fill out that would be you."  She told me to wait a moment and soon another person came on just as confused.  I was starting to think that the people here really don't know what is going on and that I should just leave well enough alone.  He started to direct me to the airport saying that they handled all ships.  I thanked him and hung up.  John was ready to say forget it all because he only had two days left.  I didn't feel as comfortable with that since we were here longer.  I phoned customs again and long story short just said, "If we don't need a cruising license and you have our passport numbers is there any reason we have to come in?"  He said he could look into it, could I call back in an hour.  I replied, "I am not trying to be pushy but we are using payphones and going through a lot of quarters.  Is it possible for you to find out now?"  He put me on hold, came back and said, "That's fine.  We have your information.  If you choose to go down the coast, you will need to come and see us for a cruising license." Finally!  We headed back to the boat and got Wade and Jon. We stopped at a marine store to get belts for our alternator and saw a sign, "be back at 1:00."  It was now noon.  Next we needed to find a marina, because there didn't seem to be any other anchorages in the area and we could only stay a max of 72 hours where we were.  From more answering machines, to "We are full," we continued our search on foot.  We decided to try pier 39.   We walked past the sea lions.  Quite an attraction.  We joked that they were occupying the guest dock.  Their facial expressions were funny as if they were being stuck up.  When we finally made it to the Harbourmasters office for pier 39, we got to read another sign saying, "Back at 1:30 pm."  What is going on?  So we decided we would walk around pier 39 and check-out the sites.  The place seemed familiar and I finally realized that the area had been used for different movies I have seen.  There is the fortune teller machines that I believe Tom Hanks used in the movie where he was a little kid and wished to be big and ran a toy store or something??  Anyways, kind of cool.  We stopped for a bite to eat.  Nothing all that cheap around.  I got my first soup in a sourdough bowl.  Not bad!  We finally made it back to the harbour master only to be told, "We are dredging and therefore not taking any guest moorages," So we headed back to the marine store to get our belts.  The man there suggested that we check-out Hyde marina.  As we walked by we noticed the slips looked pretty rough and even wandered if staying there would do damage to our boat.  We went in and asked price and availability anyways.  Guess what that had availability but for $76 a night!! We were not too sure where we were going to go, but we were not staying there.  We picked up a few groceries, and I gave Tanya a call. We would have to continue our search for a marina tomorrow.

Friday, September 29^th, 2006

 China Town        

Frog Legs anyone!

  I got up this morning and made eggs and bacon for everyone.  John, Wade and I rowed in to shore afterwards.  Our destination was china town.  However, first we wanted to call one more marina and see if we could get a night or two.  There was only one marina on this side that we had not tried.  I used a payphone and needed operator assistance again.  When the call went through I was listening to an automated service.  I was told to press two if I wanted to make a reservation for guest moorage or to leave a message on the answering machine or to press the pound key for the directory.  I didn't want to take the chance to get an answering machine, so I opted for the directory.  Not getting anything there I pressed the star key as instructed to take me back to the menu.  After a pause I was listening to an automated voice say that I have exited the system, goodbye.  There goes another 50 cents!  On second call, I was able to speak to a person.  Not so friendly, I was told they had one space available for tonight at a dollar a foot!  Only one slip available!  There are 700 slips in total!  We couldn't really stay in our anchorage much longer, if we could even stretch one more night.  John had a plane to catch in the morning, so we agreed to the price and I made the reservation.  Check-in was noon and check-out was eleven am.  Twenty-three hours for $42!  Anyways, we rowed back to the boat, started engines (found out we could use our engine. The aquatic park just does not want motorized boats in the bay) and off we went.  John chose to stay ashore and meet us there by foot.  A little bit of a walk!  The motor over was fine and we were able to see a bit more of the waterfront.   We tied up at our slip with no problem.  We were at the very end of the first finger.  We walked the good five minute walk to the harbour master where a lady greeted us with, "Can I help you." With not so friendly a tone.  "Yes, we would like to pay for our slip."  "Do you have a reservation?" "Yes." I replied.  She had me start to fill out a form.  As I began to fill the form out I realized that the required information was the same information I had already given over the phone.  Upon enquiring she was able to confirm that yes they already had our information.  After paying I asked if she had a brochure or a map of the facilities.  She asked me what I meant.  I stated I was interested in what facilities they offered, like showers.  She replied with, "The showers are downstairs."  Then she gave no more information.  I continued with another facility suggestion, "ice?" "Yes, ice is $1.50 a bag you pay here and there's the key." As she pointed to the wall.  Still offering no more information.  I finally left and quickly returned to ask about internet service.  "The café down the street has wireless."  I am beginning to not be shocked by the lack of "welcome" attitude around here.  We checked out the café and then headed for china town.  China town was somewhat like the one in Vancouver only I found this one to be set-up with a main street and then less focused streets on either side.  On one of these side streets we found a little diner that just served dim sum.  For $10 we all stuffed ourselves.  We couldn't have made such good dim sum for that price ourselves.  The boys bought themselves new watches and I bought some postcards.  I felt that some of the pictures on the postcards I would never be able to get myself.  One of the postcards has a picture of the marina we stayed at.  We also bought ourselves San Francisco t-shirts.  Really being the tourists! J On our 20 or so block walk back to the marina we started to see more and more people and dressed in orange??  Finally we saw the reason, there was a baseball game: The Giants vs. The Dodgers.  This would be the closest I have ever been to a baseball game.  The baseball stadium was directly behind our marina.  Learning afterwards tickets were $25 I thought maybe we should have gone.  I found the game exciting all the same from our boat and the marina.  You could here the fans screaming and see all the lights.  We were able to get the game on our TV even!  Life is interesting.

Saturday, September 30^th, 2006

Submarine Tour

Talking to the Veteran

  Getting my palm read.

  Today we were losing one of our crew members.  John Dunnick who had joined us in Ucluelet was flying home today.  We have all appreciated having the extra crew member, especially for our first big offshore adventure: spreading out the watches with a fourth person helped with the exhaustion that occurred.  We all wish him a safe trip home and hope that he enjoys the rest of the trip through "our eyes" on the website. 

The day had promise of sunshine.   I packed up my computer and headed towards a little breakfast and lunch shack that had free wireless so that I could put info. From our legs thus far on the website and to check our emails.  I sat on a bench on the pier figuring that since I already had a coffee in hand and that the wireless should have some range that I would not sit at the restaurant.  I did get several wireless options pop up and had no idea which was there's.  Many of the connections were password protected.  After about forty minutes of trying I was finally connected to someone's network?  This is all new to me.  In fact this would be my first ever wireless connection.  I updated my virus protections first as I watched the minutes left on my battery continue to drain (not plugged in obviously).  I was finally able to get to our website and I was happy that I finally figured out how to get my text right on the website instead of a document link.  Much better! I didn't have time to put together the photo albums I wanted or even edit the written work really.  I do hope with errors and all that I have enlightened you all to our experiences so far.  The feeling of reaching San Francisco by sailboat is really inexpressible.  After a couple hours on the computer and draining my batter down to 27%, I packed up and headed back to the boat.  Check-out was eleven am, an hour away.  The guys were back at the boat tidying up.  John had his bags all packed and in a cart ready to head out.  We all ended up chatting with a sailboat couple docked beside us.  They gave us some more ideas on where we might like to go for anchoring or places of interest.  One lady that Jon talked to told him that they had been sailing for years and they had also done the west coast leg.  They assured him that the sailing gets better.  The weather improves and so do the seas.  To keep going! J  We all had our goodbyes and thanks to John and then we were off as well.  First was the pump-out station just around the corner.  I took the helm and of course when we got to the pump-out dock there was only one place available to dock, between two other sailboats.  I looked at Jon and said, "I've never parallel parked a sailboat before."  Well, all went well without a hitch.  We filled our water tanks and with the broken pump nozzle were able to clean out our tanks somewhat.  Back out into the harbour we went and back to our anchorage in the aquatic center.  The water traffic really isn't as bad as I thought we would experience.  On the chart the area has exclamation marks everywhere with a grid outlining the area.  There are all kinds of ferries and cargo ships etc... But other than the wake you are pretty safe.  Some of the ferries go pretty fast and leave nice deep waves as a wake.  We just turn into them and sometimes we get splash off the bow. 

First on the list was to get Wade a camera.  We had been looking for ever since we landed in San Francisco and the prices were all over the place.  We had found one place right down in the tourist zone if you can believe it that had the best price so far.  The camera he was looking at was sold. L However, he did pick-out another underwater camera.  I think he is happy with the camera.  The only downfall is that the instruction booklet says that the battery takes 300 minutes to charge.  That is ridiculous!  We will see.  My camera battery charges in less than an hour.  With new camera in hand we all headed over to Fisherman's Warf to go check-out a submarine.  I have never been on a submarine before and neither had Jon.  Wade had been on one in Australia.  We paid the $9 each, after attempts to get the family rate fell flat on the emotionless face of the seller.  After the tour I really appreciated the space aboard our sailboat even more.  I couldn't believe that 85 men would function in such a small space.  There was a veteran on board who had served on the ship in WWII.  I really enjoyed listening to his explanations of procedures and his experiences on the boat.   After our tour we went into a building just across from the submarine.  Inside were all of these old games and animations from the 1800's to present day.  Fun!  I had my palm read from a machine.  My reading indicated that my luck is steadily improving and that a wonderful change is occurring in my life.  I would say that the reading was accurate!  The sights and sounds were interesting and informative of change as time has evolved.  After a Safeway visit we were back on the boat and preparing dinner: chicken strips and fries, afterwards a movie on my laptop.  Life is good!

Sunday, October 1^st, 2006

Today was more of a laid back day.  I made an omelet for breakfast for all of us around 10 am.  Jon tinkered away on our alternator set-up so that we can charge our batteries off the engine.  While Wade worked on the dishes and then helped Jon.  I worked on organizing things.  We have been enjoying San Francisco and now want to put a little more time into our living space so this too can be enjoyable.  We talked about what was working and what wasn't working on our offshore journey here and what changes we need to make.  We also began to tackle the pile in the aft washroom only to discover that we had water on the floor.  Not quite sure how the water got there.  We know one of the little portholes in the washroom leaks a little, but nothing on top was wet??  No real damage.  Jon's runners were soaked and salt encrusted and a few other things the same.  No biggie.  We all had afternoon naps and then Wade and I rowed into shore.  We each made phone calls to family and then walked to Safeway to grab groceries.  Wade stopped at a book store along the way and grabbed a couple books for learning guitar.  Something hopefully we all will learn on this trip.  Would be fun!  By the time we were done, we were walking back in the dark.  Back at the boat we all settled in to a before dinner drink and then enjoyed a Thai curry dish Jon whipped up!  Excellent of course.  We played around on the computer reading the comments people have left and making a few more additions as well as checking out our hotmail.  Today was just a nice relaxing day.

Monday October 2^nd, 2006

      We stayed on the boat all day today.  Not even a grocery run or anything.  Continued working on the boat jobs and organizing.  Things are getting more comfortable.  I made cream of broccoli soup from scratch and warmed up a French loaf with fresh crushed garlic and parmesan cheese.  Delicious!  We all lounged around for the evening reading books and chatting.  Skies began to clear and before nightfall we had blue skies.  We hope we will have some nice weather tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 3^rd, 2006

   The boys get ready to go to town!

Marni and Pete's cat soaking up the good life in the sun!

We woke up to see the stadium seats at the aquatic park being sprayed off , markers being put out on the pier and barges being put in place all for the air show this week.  The skies were blue but did not last.  We were off to Sausalito by lunch.  A brisk motor over.  We watched the boats coming and going throughout the harbour.  No real big boat traffic to speak of while crossing the shipping channels but a large container ship came under the Golden Gate Bridge shortly after we were most of the way across.  Lots of boats in Sausalito.  As we looked for a place to anchor we heard someone calling to us from another sailboat.  We couldn't hear anything they were saying.  I was navigating us to a bay ahead where I was hoping we could get anchorage close to shore.  We decided to motor over to them and just watch our depth.  We were at five feet before we reached them and I went to the bow and yelled out that we have a draft of 6 feet.  The guy from the other boat said, "We draw 8 feet does that make you feel better?"  We finally could hear them and they pointed to a mooring pin just passed them and said they believed it was free.  Not knowing the area etc... And with their offered kindness we headed over and tied up.  Soon we had our motor on our dinghy and motored over to them.  The wind is strong here and there were wind waves to deal with.  Rowing to shore or anywhere would be work and long.  We met Marni and Pete from Vancouver: the sailors that helped us find our mooring.  We also met their cat who was very content bathing in the sun.  I was missing Rockford and soaked up the moment to love a cat.  Marni and Peter were eager to help us get to know the area better and let us know where we could tie-up our dinghy to go ashore, where the grocery store was, where a good restaurant was and other places we should check-out for anchorage or docking.  We sat in their cock-pit and chatted for awhile enjoying our first gathering with other sailors since we began this trip.  They also shared some great pointers about comforts aboard a boat.  One we are definitely adding to our boat was to buy one of those air compressed weed sprayers.  You pump it up and you get pressurized water.  The container holds a gallon of water and they said works great for showering!  Great idea!  We finally said our goodbyes thinking we better get to shore before we lose our daylight.  We invited them to come see our boat and hope they do.  On shore we found the restaurant and the grocery store.  The grocery store was nice, but the prices were much higher in some cases than Safeway and when I already think Safeway is an expensive grocery store we opted to leave grocery shopping for later when we might find others to do some compare shopping.  We began a walk around to choose a place to eat.  Each restaurant we found offered meals from between $14 - $30 and all we really wanted was a $7-8 burger or wrap or something.  We are on a budget you know.  Soooo, we opted to go back to the grocery store and bought two frozen pizzas.  They actually turned out great!  The crust was garlic bread and rose nicely in our oven.  We also bought a tub of ice cream and had to eat as much as possible because it was just going to melt (very saddening J ).  It was hard to eat all that ice cream, but I did! J You can't waste ice cream.  We ended the evening with checking our emails and doing a little reading.

Wednesday, October 4^th, 2006

    We spent the morning working on the boat.  The boys got working on installing our wind generator.  I made brochetta for lunch with bacon, tomato and parmesan.  Good!   Marni and Peter stopped by, not for a visit, but to share with us that we should go into Sausalito Sailing Club as they were told they were very nice, you could get a key for the washrooms and they have a potluck dinner on Fridays.  At 3:00 pm we got in our dinghy and headed over.  Unfortunately no one was there and we tied up at a public dock and went ashore.  The walk was nice.  There are little boutiques all along 2^nd street.  A little more on the pricey side, but not too rich.  No McDonalds in this area though, that is for sure.  As we continued our walk, Jon noticed a sign ahead, "Fish n Chips."  When we got colder the sign on the window said, "Wednesday special, Fish n Chips, $2.79."  Wade looked at me in disbelief and was only able to get out the question, "Is today Wednesday?"  I said, "Yes."  We still couldn't believe that it was for real and thought we better inquire.  In fact I thought maybe it was an old sign from when the store was open years ago.  In fact I did find one of those signs inside and the fish n chip price then was 99 cents. We paid for 3 orders, $9 and 1 cent.  Not the best tasting fish n chips, but not bad either.  Wade made another observation that the price worked out to be even better than our Chinese dim sum.  Jon kept talking about getting a second order.  They had great flavours of ice cream as well, but I think we were ice creamed out from the night before.  We continued our walk after dinner.  We found the Golden Gate Grocer and the Sausalito Grocery, both corner stores, so it looked like Mollie's, although expensive was going to be the best bet in Sausalito.  We came across a salt water taffy store and the lady kept saying, "Try different flavours.  Samples are free."  We did try and the candy was good.  We then felt obligated to buy some.  ½ a pound was $3.49.  We ended up with a pound.  Enjoyable though!  The boys found a hardware store, closed, so we will head back in the morning.  On our way back to the boat we stopped at the sailing club again and met Gerd.  He was very friendly.  Told us where we could get our laundry done and said to come back tomorrow night to meet John who lives on a boat in Sausalito and could share all the info.  We would need to know about where to leave our dinghy, water, pump-out etc… He also invited us to come for the potluck dinner on Friday, but I think we will be back at the Aquatic Park for the air show. 

 Leg 2 - Ucluelet to San Fransisco

Saturday September, 16^th, 2006

            We all had a sleep-in ready for our big day to start our leg two of our trip.  We just had a few things to do before we headed out Ucluelet Harbour.  As we tackled the jobs, the hours began to tick by and we found ourselves sitting for lunch deciding what to do.  We listened to the weather report and the outlook did not look good.  Fishing boats had been in harbour over the last couple of days waiting out a storm, but they seemed to be gone now.  We decided to do a shakedown cruise anyways.  We would head out of the harbour and practice heaving-to and discuss man overboard procedures etc… As we headed down below to put our gear on, John announced that he only planned to wear his floater suit at night and therefore would need a life jacket.  With all the packing and organizing I did do you think I could remember where I put the extra life jackets.  The life jackets were one of those items I didn't see as needing for guests until Hawaii.  We rummaged around for a while and then decided buying one was the easiest and fastest solution.  I had made up a list of all of our provisioning and gear by location on the boat, but so many things had been placed on decks on our last day leaving Bamfield, that there were several things now stowed away with no list to go by other than what our memories would serve.  So, off to the Government dock once again.  Life jacket bought, check, rubber boots bought for Wade, check, hydraulic fluid bought, check, and last minute munchies and one more case of beer bought, check.  We headed out of the harbour to only see the skies part.  There were big gray clouds formed around the land behind us and blue skies before us.  We listened to the weather report again and we all decided that the bad weather was going to hit the Queen Charlottes which were to the north of us.  We were heading south.  We all had our gear on.  I had my sea bands on that my mom gave me for sea sickness and everything had been lashed down.  So, we grabbed our bottle of wine from Steve Clark and decided to keep going and head for San Fransisco.  At one mile off shore I was uncorking the bottle and pouring half the wine into the sea for the sea hand and safe sailing.  We all took a swig and made a toast to our journey.  I went down below to our log book to record our decision.  Soon after I was throwing up in the head.  The seas were quite calm and Jon and I decided my sea sickness was due to nerves.  I figured this way we had more wine in the holding tank if we needed to appease the sea gods later.  I grabbed my stash of sea biscuits; soda crackers, and headed back out to the cockpit.  Thanks Sheila, the crackers tasted great!  Jon and I took our rest first.  Jon made everyone hamburger with mushroom sauce on a bed of rice.  I ate from the bed only raising my head to take a spoonful.  I was obviously not feeling well and found life much easier horizontally.  As soon as I sat up, I was sick.  Jon and I awake for our watch at 11 pm.  Wade stayed up with Jon an extra hour to give me a little more rest.  I joined Jon at 12 am.  Jon was right that the phosphorescence coming off the waves and lighting up the sea was spectacular, but I just couldn't sit and enjoy the view.  The sea seemed massive.  In the dark I could only see blackness swelling all around us with flashes of light from the phosphorescence.  The winds had picked up and the waves were a swirl of rage.  I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach and I continued to have strong heaves with only bile left in my stomach.  I had taken two motion sickness pills and threw them up.  I resorted to the suppositories but they did nothing more than offer a strange feeling.  I still had on my sea bands but they were not helping much.  When I could I would eat crackers but I would only end up throwing them up.  We finished our watch at 2 am and I curled up in bed.

Sunday, September 17^th, 2006

            Jon didn't wake me for our 5 am watch until 7 am.  I went into the cockpit and clicked on my harness to the safety line.  The winds were howling and the sea was a jumble of waves bashing into one another.  I wasn't scared.  Last night in the dark I was definitely nervous.  The boat was handling herself well though.  She was that bull however, that I spoke of earlier bucking at the dock, only now she had been let out into the ring and was tossing us from side to side, up and down, forward and backward.  What I call damn uncomfortable.  Not  Sonadora's fault though.  She was only doing the best she could with the sea conditions.  Wade had resorted to sleeping on the floor in the saloon.  His forward cabin bunk was just too bouncy.  He said every stitch of his clothing was wet and here we had only been out less than twenty-four hours.  This was not the first cruise we had all dreamed of.  We should have gone with the weather report and stayed in harbour.  We were now 100 miles off shore and in the thick of it.  No sense in turning back.  Discussions are going on about heading back to a port though.  Engines are running right now to charge the batteries and the boat is acting like one of those animal seats on a large spring you see at a playground.  I don't know how much more of this any of us can take. I am lacking in my watches, everyone's tired and we've attempted to heave-to several times to no avail.  The wind needs to let up.

            I had managed to fall asleep and woke up about 11:30 to much calmer seas.  I even felt better.  I heard two guys in the saloon having a snoring contest so that must mean Jon's at the helm.  I was able to walk with little bracing through the walk through which was a huge improvement.  I found Jon sitting among a million stars.  There were wisps of dark gray clouds amongst a black void of stars.  The phosphorescence could still be seen along the remaining waves from the storm that has hopefully past. We all needed a break from the bashing a constant bracing.  I sat with Jon for a while and actually drank a whole can of ice tea without heaving it up and over the side.  I tool the wheel about midnight and Jon went below to warm up.  Wade got up at two and relieved me from my watch duty.  I slept most of the night waking to the boat on a pretty steady heal.  You could hear the propeller going, so we had definitely picked-up speed.  Jon had turned off the engines last night and put up the full main and Genoa.

Monday, September, 18^th, 2006

            It's 8 am.  John is at the helm.  We are on a pretty good heal.  You have to use your legs to brace yourself from sliding down in bed.  A few things on the port side of the boat hang suspended from the bungies I had rigged up to hold things in place.  Jon just reported that we are doing about 6 knots.  I nodded in and out of sleep during the morning anticipating I would need to take watch soon.  With Jon's gentle nudge I relieved John up at the helm at 10:30 am.  The skies were parting and the sun was coming up.  My stomach seemed to relax, so with a desperately parched mouth I decided to try and drink some ice tea.  Glad to say I drank most of the can and kept it down.  I stayed on watch fro four hours and in that time watched the squalls go by us with only one hitting us slightly.  Saw my first boat, fishing boat I believe.  I ate and kept down my first protein bar.  I came down below leaving blue skies in front of us to have a lay down. 

            Jon has definitely earned his water wings or whatever you earn as a good sea captain.  He has been taking care of his crew, making sure we are all fed, and well rested.  He has been the cook, the dishwasher, the navigator, the sail changer, etc… He's in his element.  He has gently with me as I have been trying to get over sea sickness.  He pulled out one of dad's moose stews, added some ground beef and egg noodles.  I really wanted something warm to eat so I thought I would try a little.  I hadn't taken part in a meal since our first night.  The seas have gotten sloppy again and I threw-up just before dinner.  I still wanted some and somehow I managed to keep dinner down.  I didn't do any night watches though.  I didn't sleep well either.  I think I've been in this bed too long and with the seas continuing to be sloppy.  Sloppy meaning that the seas are coming from all different directions as if they are not quite sure how to collect themselves and move in unison.  The boom thrashed around a lot.  I did manage to get up in the night and check on Jon.  I made him a hot chocolate, got him a snack and tried to roll him a cigarette and went to the washroom all without getting sea sick.  Maybe things are turning around.  I even felt like I could share a little in the excitement of passing the Columbia River.  Things would be so much better if I felt better.

Tuesday, Sept. 19^th, 2006

            Winds were good last night and we made some good progress.  Woke to a dying wind.  Ended up turning the engine on around 9 am and kept it on all day.  With lack of wind and a pretty calm sea we all took advantage.  Each of us had a needed shower.  I chose to sit in the shower thinking I could focus more on the shower than bracing myself for the swells.    Wrong!  Add soap and I was sloshing around uncontrollably from side to side and all around like a skateboard moving from side to side on a half pipe.  We still haven't managed to fix the water gauge on the showers, so I added scalding water to the fun.  I was able to brace myself at a knee bend with toes flexed long enough to wet myself down.  Everything takes effort, but the shower sure felt good!  I even rushed my teeth and changed clothes.  That's right, first time on the trip!  Yuck hey!  I even managed to change the sheets on the bed before throwing up.  Progress at least.  I am able to get some tasks done before getting sick.  Spent most of the day in the cockpit.  Worked on another sea sickness remedies.  Actually felt good for most of the day.  After Wade woke up we all sat in the cockpit and chatted and shared stories.  I enjoyed listening to some good sailing stories.  I needed them.  This being my maiden voyage and being sea sick for most of the journey so far, I have to say I was having a hard time seeing the purpose.  I took the helm at about 1:30 pm and everyone else went below for a rest.  The sun was shinning and the seas were picking up somewhat.  The only issue was when the boat hit from the side by a swell.  This was pretty much impossible to stop from happening since the sell was coming from North and West.  I enjoyed the afternoon alone and was able to be just in the moment.  Jon woke only briefly at 4:30 pm.  I thought he was staying up.  John had joined me in the cockpit and we were starting to feel a slight breeze.  Ever hopeful, I attempted to hoist the main although nervous about standing on deck in the bobbing sea.  I got the main ¾ of the way up and then I couldn't make the main go any higher.  Something was stuck, but what!  No ideas and John wasn't sure, so I went to get Jon.  He was lying in bed and I was hesitant knowing how much he needed his sleep.  However, I also didn't want to leave the main part way up to flop around in the breeze.  I felt bad, but I didn't know what else to do.  We are all relying on Jon a lot.  The sheet had gotten tangled around the stays and tiredly Jon got the sheet loose only to have the sheet re-tangle on the other side.  He was finally able to get the sheet untangled and the main hoisted.  He also helped me get the Genoa out only for us all to watch the sails flop in the slight breeze.  Ever thankful we awoke him for this he began to trim and adjust the sails to try and find something that would work.  With the wind and the sea on our side this was no easy task.  He also began to explore this squeaking noise we had been hearing high up on the mast.  Trying to decide if something was too tight, too loose…. To his weary eyes he came across stress cracks on the cabin top.  Now with little winds and a rocky sea he threw on the concerns of weather damage had been done during the gale on our first night out and the problem solving of how serious was this and what to do.  My heart went out to him because I did not want him to bear this all alone and yet I found myself out of my element with little knowledge to help.  My only suggestion was to head for a port and assess the issue.  Jon felt if we couldn't fix whatever out here we wouldn't be able to in port either because our pockets wouldn't be deep enough.  Going through a gale of wind forces of 45 plus knots and sloppy seas where the waves reached the first spreader (at least) on our mast to no winds and now this we were both wondering why this was all happening.  With all our hard work and other peaces falling into place to make this dream trip possible it was all starting to feel like the trip was falling apart.  I tried to get Jon to rest knowing that we were all tired and could think better rested.  He lay down only to listen to the squeaking in the mast and the boom thrashing, thrashing with every swell of the sea even though the boom was tied down.  So up he got and on deck trimming and adjusting the sails to find something that would work.  Finally finding some consistency and speed he came down below to rest.  This was short lived as the wind unfortunately and in a couple hours he was back up on deck trimming and adjusting to no avail.  He finally gave up and turned on the engine and the autopilot.  We were like the seas weighted down toy as we swayed back and forth, back and forth with each swell.  The swells began to subside slightly in the early morning and I relieved Jon at 3:30 so he could once again try to rest.  The stars were out and in the distance you could see the lights of fishing boats.  Jon came back up at 5 am for one more hour and then John and Wade took over.  I think Jon even slept for 2 to 3 hours straight.  Wade is looking tired too.  We will see what the new day will bring.

Wednesday September 20^th, 2006

            We have wind!  Sails went up at about 9 am.  We are on a steady heal, not to far over.  Can actually walk around with little bracing.  I woke up hungry today, which I take as a good sign.  Joined John and Wade in the cockpit and had some oatmeal for breakfast.  I took over watch shortly which wasn't much work since all I had to do is sit there.    Jon had a good sleep and got up and wanted to get Finnegan running, the autopilot and the boat was handling herself.  I even attempted to do a little reading.  So this is what sailing is!  Not so bad!  Near the end of my watch I decided to have a mango juice and then return to my bunk to warm up.  Well, the mango juice tasted good going down. L  Why am I still getting sick!  I was enjoying the day taking pictures, watching the guys laugh and come to life.  This sailing day was what they were waiting for.  Of course the performance could be better (according to Jon J ) so trimming the sails, changing the sails…soon we were on a good heal and from inside the boat we sounded like a freight train.  The Genoa furling line had been chafing somewhere and snapped today.  The Genoa flapped in the wind as Jon monkeyied his way up to the bow to find a way to bring in the Genoa.  Succeeding to the point of bringing in the Genoa most of the way he had to do a little more thinking on how to tie off the Genoa so that it would not unfurl making for a dangerous situation in the night.  A wet and smiling Jonathan stood before me in the walk through,.  "You are enjoying yourself aren't you!" I said, "Yeah." He relied with his smile widening.  "I just like to know we can handle things out here."  The boys laughed, told stories and cheered the winds with their cool beers.  They were having a good time and I was happy for them.  I lay in bed and wrote about the days events.  Still don't have that iron clad stomach.  I pulled out my Sony Tanya gave me hoping that music would lift my spirits some.  They were lifted!  Jon peered around the walkthrough as I sang out loud.   As I sang I found my thoughts drifting around touching on different memories of my life.  Some brought tears and some made me laugh.  As I lie here I guess I have time to reflect.  I began to smell scalloped potatoes and found myself wanting to eat.  I am improving however slowly.  I enjoyed a small bowl of scalloped potatoes with ham as I listened to the winds howl outside.  The guys cannot believe we are doing 6 knots with a storm sail and double reefed main.  We've covered a lot of ground today and look forward to tackling the California coast as we say goodbye to the Oregon Coast.  I listened to John tell another story as I lay bouncing with the rhythms of the boat.  I found myself enjoying his stories and even had comfort when I couldn't hear them but just knew they were being told.

Thursday, September 21^st, 2006

            The winds did not pick-up last night as forecasted.  We kept up a speed between 3 and 6 knots through the night.  Hard to sleep again.  We still have the West swell on our side and there would always come a wave that liked to send Sonadora into a pendulum swing.  I think everyone is happy to have Finnegan, the autopilot on.  No one has to be at the helm.  Having Finnegan's working parts right under our bunk however is noisy as he makes adjustments.  Sleep can be restless at times with the sound.  I took watch on at 9:30 am.  The motor had been running for a few hours.  Wade and John saw our Canadian flag begin to show life and were eager to get the sails up.  I said we should wait for the wind to be consistent.  Wade replied with, "Cathy doesn't want to sail."  I replied, "It's not that I don't want to sail, but you need wind to sail."  Wade didn't wait much longer and put up the main sail and the storm sail.  For the next three hours they both flopped around with the boom continuing its banging with each swell motion.  Jon came up and took down the mainsail early in the afternoon just so we could have some quiet.  It wasn't like we were going anywhere.  The bobbing of the boat with the swells was getting to us.  The feeling was frustrating.  There wasn't even a whale or a dolphin or anything to throw some excitement or entertainment into the day.  At one point I saw another patch of seaweed and something white.  I thought great, my third piece of garbage I've seen, looks like a plastic bag.  Jon looked at this white mass and said no, that IS something.  Some excitement!  Turned out to be a sun fish!  I have never seen one before.  We turned on the engines to get a closer look.  The fishes shape reminded me of a parrot fish down in Mexico.  Not all the pretty colours.  This fish was just a pale white or gray colour.  He was big and round.  The fish almost looked like it was all head and no body.  We contemplated between the marvels of our first fish and could we eat it?!  I got our Al's gaff and Jon took a couple of swings at the fish.  He said the fish was hard as cement.  He never even punctured the fish.  Weirdly enough too the fish didn't even seem phased. He swam down about 6 feet and then just came back up.  No fast motions.  John and Wade came up a little while later and we told them about our adventure.  We all settled into the cockpit, guys with a drink, I wasn't drinking yet!  I had just passed through my first 24 hours of not being sick and wasn't going to test myself with a beer.  A beer doesn't taste THAT good!  I questioned the weather report of rain and 10-15 knot winds as the clouds were breaking apart and I had been wearing sunglasses for a few hours now.  Jon made a chicken curry for dinner.  A little daring for my stomach I thought but the meal sounded good and I was hungry.  I even helped prepare.  I went to get butter out of the freezer and a swell caught both Jon and I by surprise.  All I could do to hold balance was hold onto the side of the freezer and my other hand let go of the lid.  The lid crashed down on my hand.  Just another small bruise of many but the nav station board separated from the freezer lid in the crash.  Another job to be done.  Some of the things breaking etc… were definitely adding to frustrations.  Jon and I had just discovered the one metal plate on the main sheet traveler was bent up.  This is not an area to get strain so all we could think was a rope had gotten caught underneath and reefed the plate up.  Disheartening really what wear and tear occurs out here at sea.  We all sat out in the cockpit and enjoyed Jon's chicken curry dish.  This would mark my first meal with the crew.  After dinner Jon and I went to lie down and Wade and John took on watch.  A beautiful evening, but Jon needed to rest for the night watch and I needed to work on keeping my dinner down. J The winds started picking up around 8 pm and Wade put up the sails.  Same situation where the wind was strong enough to fly our flag, but not the sails.  Within an hour though the winds were great and we averaged 6 to 7 knots all night.  Still a westerly swell, so for anyone trying to rest the outcome was not what was intended ~ rest.  Have you ever stood up at the same time of lying down? I have.  A most awkward position.  I had indent marks on the bottom of my feet from bracing against the base board.  The swells were just loving rocking this boat!

Friday, September 22^nd, 2006

            We are still heading through the swells like a freight train.  A gorgeous day!  No clouds in the sky.  After 3 ½ hours at watch and having several swells wash over the boat and me, I was quite content to go below and warm up.  Lots of talk going on about making landfall.  After just rounding Cape Mendacino we have 180 nautical miles to go to reach San Fransisco.  We are talking about Bodego Bay though as our first land fall.  Bodego Bay is only 138 nautical miles away.  We figure that things are probably less busy there and a good place to shower, do our laundry, and clean-up the boat before reaching busy San Fransisco.  For now we just hope the winds keep up so that landfall can be possible in a day or two.  Jon just made me some homemade chicken noodle soup.  I am am warming up in the bunk and the guys are enjoying cocktail hour and tales of the sea.  As I lay my head down on the pillows I hear John say, "there's no fishing boats out here, they know better."  The guys must have been talking about having a look-out for ships.  Since 12:30 pm no one has been up on watch in the cockpit.  They just stick a head out every now and again for a look around.  Jon just turned on the radio for a weather report.  "Small craft warning off of Cape Mendecino…winds 35 knots tonight…hazzerdous seas tonight…"  Lovely!  You know there is nothing like the gentle rock back and forth, back and forth where you ever so slightly begin to slide down your bunk.  Eventually your head is not longer on the pillow and the fitted sheet beneath you befins to let go of the two upper corners of the mattress.  Eventually you put a leg out to brace yourself ever hopeful that your leg can stay ridgid while you attempt to fall asleep.  On this particular night with the seas whipped up by the winds we were fortunate to experience a few rogue waves.  Absolutely delightful!  The boat's side is lifted in this suspended air and crash as gallons of water are dumped onto the boat and she uprights herself with a flick and a jolt.  Most pleasant.  Thankfully as the night grew the seas didn't.  I think I got a few good hours sleep.

Saturday, September 23^rd, 2006

            "Land!" Jon and I are both awoke to John singing out, "Land!"  And there she was with the sun just popping up for the morning.  As we did a sail change a little birdie, looks like a chickadee, came and hung out on our safety lines.  A glorious morning.  I even felt in the mood to do up some dishes and maybe make some pancakes for breakfast.  I got half way through the dishes, threw-up for the first time in the last 64 hours and went back to bed.  Isn't there something said about it's the thought that counts.  This sea sickness is frustrating.  I must be setting a record.  I went out on watch at 10 am.  Simply beautiful out.  Another bird joined us.  I tried to feed him crackers but I think he was more interested in just resting.  Jon made us some ham alfredo around 2 pm.  My appetite has been coming back   I was hungry.  I ate my whole bowls worth.  My stomach of course gave some pains to this but a little lie down in the sun and the breeze were just the cure.  At 6 pm we were in the fog. Our first fog.  I was somewhat anticipating the fog with the last sunny hot days.  The boys are hoisting our radar reflector to make us more "visable" to other boats, and are taking us back out to sea.  After learning yesterdays noon talk of San Fransisco being 180 nautical miles away was a dead reckoning and at 2 am this morning according to our 'course' we were 180 nautical miles away.  Here we are now 6:30 pm and moving away from the land after I spent most of my watch moving towards the land.  Was this not using up time we needed in order to cover the 'ground' necessary to make land fall tomorrow?  Jon is out of cigarettes and going batty and I want a warm shower and laundry clean!

Sunday, September 24^th

            I woke up this morning to little wind and the motor running.  We are still in the thick of the fog.  We motored all day with the winds never rising more than enough to flip our Canadian flag once and awhile.  Everyone was anxious for landfall and we called out our distance often.  Birds and more birds of several variety were pretty much the point of entertainment.  The fog was pretty thick and I felt like we were in a Jurassic Park movie with the pelicans coming out fo the fog like pterodactyls. We arrived in Bodego Bay at 7:00 pm through the fog.  We really wanted to see the entrance to this bay and the channel for entry, but we did make the journey and arrive safely at dock.  The channel into the bay is dredged and there is no room for error.  Literally you are looking at sand bars on either side of you.  We were working through 12 feet of water.  There are markers all the way through this narrow channel with the objective being to keep the red markers on your right and the green ones on your left.  The markers are all numbered.  At marker 33-34, you turn directly left.  There are two new pillars that are hard to see the markings at first and then new smaller marks lead you in to Spud Point Marina.  There are two other Marina's but for a cruising sailboat this Marina is just what you are looking for.  We tied up at a dock directly across from the gas bar figuring we could ask the gas attendant what to do.  He said that we register with him. Bodega Bay is not an official port of entry, so I guess we are illegal aliens!  We paid 21.58 US for the night and asked for directions to the showers and dinner.  Being Sunday night and a small community around the bay the gas attendant said we had a mile walk to the nearest restaurant.  The restaurant, The Sandpiper, closes at 8 pm and we started our hike at 7:30 pm.  Now coming off a boat after 9 days of bobbing around walking is no easy feat. You body is swaying around and your legs feel like jello.  We found the restraint and at 7:45 hoped they would serve us.  I walked up to the waitress at the front and said, "I know you are about to close but we have just been offshore for 8 days and really would love a meal."  I had no problem with a little begging after all our walking and the 8 days at sea.  We had been told of another restaurant up the hill, but wanted to make sure we ate.  They sat us with no problems and we had a very nice waiter.  A little bit more of a fancier restaurant than we cared for, but there was food.  The prices were high and the selection was quite small.  I decided that this was our dinner out and I was going to enjoy myself.  I ordered the red snapper with shrimp and crab sauce.  The meal was delicious.  Jon had prawns, Wade had fish and chips and John had a jerk chicken sandwhich.  With bellies full, we took the directions of the waiter and walked up the hill to the nearest "open" store.  Jon still had not had a cigarette and was getting on 'my' nerves.  While he bought cigarettes, John and I made phonecalls to let family know of our arrival.  The walk home was long but enjoyable.  We did the walk there and back, dinner and the store stop over all in two hours.  We all laid down for a great sleep and found with the boat not moving you felt like you were sleeping on a board.  I think sailing screws your whole body up.  Not comfortable out at sea and now not comfortable on land.  What's up!

Monday, September 25^th, 2006

We woke and motored the boat over to the gas dock.  We figured we would fill up with diesel and ask all our questions about a slip, showers, laundry, internet service etc… While Jon tended to the diesel tanks I spoke with the gas attendant. I was asking him about all of the RV's etc… He said that many people come in their campers and RV's.  not only because Bodega Bay is a beautiful spot with gorgeous beaches, but a hot spot for salmon fishing.  The salmon fishing season is not quite over here.  He also said that if we were in to snorkeling we could dive anywhere from 8 feet to 20 feet for abalone.  I have always wanted to try abalone.  You would need a fishing lisence of course and the lisence would allow you to get a limit of three.  The gas attendant said that three could feed ten people though!  They must be big.  I said that we came from a small west coast community but did not see the signs that we saw there in Bodega Bay, not even in the other neighbouring communities that are big on tourism and seafood.  Everywhere you looked in Bodega Bay there were signs stating fresh seafood: red snapper, tuna, crab etc…  Each of the restaurants we saw seemed to focus on seafood.  The one directly across the road from the marina was big on crab: crab cakes, crab chowder, crab sandwhiches…A guy interested in our boat came down to the gas dock and started asking questions.  Again, like many, he wandered if our boat was steel or cement.  I had to share this guy with Jon since he had come down to see our boat.  I thought that Jon needed to talk to him and have the pride of showing off his boat.  Besides the guy asked how much weight in the keel and I couldn't remember.  A good opportunity to get Jon talking to him.  Jon was just finishing off topping up the diesel cans on deck and I threw out the question.  The two started to talk.  All of a sudden there was a geyser of diesel and for a moment Jon could not stop the deisal flow.  The small, more manageable handle and hose was out of commission, so Jon was using a large, oversized nozzle.  Some how the trigger got stuck.  Luckily most of the diesel spill was on deck and not in the water.  I know that does not sound lucky, but the guy told us that if Coast Guard had seen that we would have had a heavy fine.  The gas attendant gave us several oil rags and suggested we start up our motors to disperse the diesel in the water.  Now I don't know if we would have been given a fine or what.  A protected bay etc… but we had an accident using the wrong, but only nozzle available.  Anyways, everyone was good natured about the whole thing.  That ended the conversation about the boat though.  The only other unfortunate thing was John had put out his sleeping bag to air and with the sleeping bag lying just in front of the diesel cans, the sleeping bag soaked up a lot of diesel.  Into the dumpster with that.  With all the drama we paid our bill, another $200 in diesel (Are we not  a sailing vessel!  Need wind!). We headed for our slip.  First on the agenda was showers.  I grabbed a towel and shampoo and off I went.  The showers were great.  The water pressure was so great that I could have forgotten soap and still had the dirt peeled right off my body.  Nice warm water.  Ahhhh!  After showers came the laundry.  Four loads!  A lot of wet gear though from our first two days at sea in the storm that just got smelly.  I worked on my journal and pictures while the clothes washed and called home.  I enjoyed sharing the journey with mom and dad.  In some ways I found telling the story of our sailing adventures as a past event weird.  Our second leg to San Fransico was almost over.  A journey behind us instead of infront of us.  We took one last walk oround the bay to the little corner store.  We picked up a few groceries to make pizza back at the boat and ordered cheese burgers for lunch.  While we waited for our order we saw a poster of the movie, The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock.  The scene where everyone was running down the street was filmed right there.  So of course I had to go out and take a picture.  With pizza fixn's in hand we began our walk back.  Our little propane stove does not seem to get all that hot and only has a bottom element, so pizza was slow and allow the cheese was melted on top you did not have that nice brown cook to the top.  We all enjoyed the pizza though and the last one I made I rolled like a calzone.  We kept this for lunch the next day.

Tuesday, September 26^th, 2006

We all awoke to the sound of trickling water this morning.  I had heard Wade get up to go to the washroom, so at first I thought that he was just washing his hands, but then the water continued.  John called out about water running and then I smelled that warm steamy water and knew where the water was coming from.  We have a hot water tank hooked up to our diesel heater but there is no thermostat regulator.  The water literally boils and then a release valve lets water out onto the floor.  This was at 6:30 am this morning.  Yet another item on the to do list.  We were planning on leaving harbour around 8 am, so might as well get up.  I started with last nights dishes and got the coffee on.  I made John and I an ommellette with the leftover pizza fix'ns.  Good! J  We followed the channel markers back out the harbour and were on our way to our next destination, Drake's Bay by 8:45 am.  The winds were not much better, but we did get our sails up.  We would be tacking, so of course more distance.  The distance from Bodega Harbour to Drake's Bay is 25 nautical miles.  At 5 knots we should be there within 5 hours.  Unfortunetly we started off at about 3 knots.  A nice sail for most of the day.  Didn't see much other than the birds.  A sea lion popped his head up just briefly to check us out and then was gone.  Some fisherman further towards the land spotted 5 whales.  We were further out.  Jon said he saw a fin at one point but that was all.  I kept scanning the waters, but never saw any whales.  When we came up to Reys Point just before Drakes Bay we saw the lighthouse on the end and the steep cliffs.  The scene would make a fabulous picture in the sun.  We had an overcast day, so the image is not so dramatic.  We had one cargo ship go by.  Would not want to meet one of those in the dark!  We arrived in Drake's Bay and dropped anchor at 6 pm.  Yep that's right, the whole whopping 25 nautical miles took us all day, 9 hours plus.  If you are in a hurry to get somewhere do not go by sailboat.  I really enjoyed the sail today.  I had a tuna casserole all put together and in the oven as the anchor went down.  I played around with pictures from the day and wrote in my journal.  There is an estuary here that I would love to check-out.  To get to the estuary is quite a distance in our dinghy at the far end of the Bay and not really safe to take our sailboat over.  And besides as illegal aliens probably not advicable.  We will clear customs tomorrow.  For now we will enjoy the evening.  We all just finished dinner.  Jon has decided to go up in the last bits of light to try his hand at fishing.  We are surrounded by fishing boats that have also come into the protection of Drake's Bay for the evening.  There is one other sailboat here.  All decked out with solar panels etc…  I would love to go and explore the land.  There is house here with trees surrounding the property.  Strange really.  I don't know if the pictures will give a good enough idea of why the scene seems out of place.  The rest of the land is barren and from what we have been told trees like these were brought in and planted to help with wind protection.  So the trees are not native to the land and therefore stick out.  We are all looking forward to tomorrow to see the Golden Gate bridge.  I am hoping for some sun as a picture of the bridge in any other conditions is probably not as pretty.  We have been listening to the VHF radio and are hearing about a boat that has gone down around the Golden Gate Bridge.  The last we have heard is that there are 3 to 4 persons, no longer on board and in a life raft.  Sounds like the Coast Guard have lost contact with the people and they are asking for any assistance from boaters in the area if they spot anything.  Scary.   The last thing before going to bed, I stuck my head out the companion way to have a look and found over thirty fishing boats all in an ark creating this oval of boats and land around us.  We were the only ones in the middle.  Were we anchored in the wrong place?  Was there something to anchoring formation that we were not aware of?  We were in plenty of water, so we went to bed.

Drake's Bay

Wednesday, September 27^th, 2006

            Popped my head out the companionway this morning to see hundreds of flies all over the deck! Ugh!  Most of the fishing boats that had come in last night to anchor wre dispersed and had started their day of fishing.  I wandered if the flies had come from the fishing boats?  The guys thought from land.  Those flies or most of them stayed with us all day.  I think the last ones were finally gone when we tied up to the mooring buoy in the wind nine hours later.  I checked the oil and transmission fluid while I waited for the coffee to brew.  Jon had his coffee in bed this morning.  I took the helm and Wade helped out with bringing out our route.  We were saying goodbye to Drake's Bay and very excited about todays destination ~ san Fransisco!  The sea was like a mill pond and with the straight course we had to take we were back to motoring.  This trip was eventful.  We saw whales.  One of the whales even brought her head right out of the water. We saw porpoises, seals, a sea lion and lots of different kinds of birds.  Maybe this is what the coastal cruising route offers!  The scenery was interesting but under a gray sky the pictures are not too spectacular.  Overall though with the cold weather and the pretty barren land we felt we had sailed to Newfoundland or England or something.  Our trip clipped by quickly and while looking for a green buoy marker that would signify where we needed to turn I spotted one of the towers to the golden gate bridge in the distance.  I saw the bridge!  We were almost there.  We figured that we really couldn't have asked for better weather.  Visability was good even though over cast and the seas still remained calm.  As we came closer to the harbour entrance the water became turbulent and there was quite a current.  All of this with calm seas and a flood tide!  I couldn't imagine what the entrance would be like in even a normal swell or with a breeze!  We chose to cross directly over to the other side where the current is not so strong.  A cruise ship had just passed but we could not see any more large ship traffic coming and therefore relatively safe crossing the shipping lanes.  We decided to go under the bridge with motor off and sails up.  There wasn't much wind but there was enough to help us along.  I was taking pictures everywhere and soaking up the moment. J Once we crossed under the bridge we saw other sailboats and the big city!  The winds began to pick-up and were qite brisk.  No problem sailing now.  We were actually surprised by the change.  We aimed for Saint Francis marina.  A friend of my mothers suggested we go there for a couple days for free guest berthing.  As we came to the entrance we decided to start motors and take down the sails.  The motor wouldn't start so we kept on a straight course until we got the motor started.  Yes, another item on the list.  We tied up at the dock in front of the harbour master only to be told they were full.  Slips were available on a first come first served basis and they were pretty much booked until October 9^th.  He said that there were a lot of events going on right now.  I grabbed our passports etc.. and as acting captain called customs.  The officer was very friendly.  He unfortunetly was not very helpful with directions and places to anchor.  He said he wasn't fron here and actually was from Texas.  I tried to get a barbeque dinner out of him, but I don't know if that was really, going to happen. J He said we could go ashore tonight and check-in at their customes office tomorrow morning.  He told me that we would probably find it easier to sail down under the Bay Bridge to Oakland on our left than to get a taxi.  From the water he said the customs office was ten minutes up the hill.   However, later in the evening we asked a bus driver if a bus could take us there (save us leaving our anchorage) and he said absolutely and bus.  Customs was only 5 minutes away????  We will have to figure out what to do tomorrow.  We left the dock and headed for the aquatic park where we were going to anchor for the night.  As we approached the entrance we read motor boats prohibited and watch out for swimmers.  So we steered out and raised our mainsail.  There was a good blow in the harbour right now and we figured the mainsail would be enough.  With motor off we headed into the bay.  Upon entering we saw several morring buoys.  On the cahrt we saw only two mooring buoys.  In front of us were many more to pick from.  There were a few other boats already moored.  Wade decided to go up to the bow to be our cowboy lasso man to get the morring buoy and Jon took the helm.  I was at the ready to drop the main sail to bring the boat to a stop.  While attempting to tie to a mooring buoy we also had to watch for swimmers and there were swimmers!  On a few tries we finally seemed to have lassooed a morring buoy and I dropped the main sail.  Shortly after releasing the main, Wade announces he lost the mooring buoy, so back up the main goes.  Jon told Wade to give me a hand with the main.  In the process the sheet somehow got knotted.  This meant the main was up but wasn't coming down until we could get the knot out and this knot was tight!  I now took the helm and then Wade took the helm.  I went to the bow while Jon tried to figure out the knot.  While Wade went by mooring buoy in the meantime I figured I would give a try at being a cowgirl.  However John followed me up to the bow and decided he wanted the honour.  So I pressed over the rope and headed to the stern of the boat.  After several passes to no avail and the know now turned into two as Jon and I attempted to get the first  knot out by winching the line we had become quite the entertainment for the locals I am sure.  Jon was able to get the first knot loose and began reading up on knots.  He knew of a way you could tie a second line to a primary line to pull and release tension.  With the book open to the instructions in my hand, Jon attempted to make the knot.  I finally gave the knot a try and got it!  I wrapped the line around a second winch and we were able to get the knot loose. Yeah!  Wade was passing another mooring buoy and I decided to grab a line to be ready in case John missed.  The buoy passed right by the starboard side of the boat.  I got right down on the deck, hung over the side and was able to wrap the line around the mooring buoy.  Finally we were tied!  We got the dinghy unlashed and inflatable tube pumped up and dinghy into the water ready for shore leave!  John decided to stay behind and Wade, Jon and I  rowed ashore.  While John enjoyed a bowl of soup and news on the TV.  Jon, Wade, and I walked the streets of San Fransisco.  We found a famous scotish restaurant.  Most people know this reastaurant.  I think the restaurants called, MacDonalds? J  Afterwards we continued to enjoy the sights as we walked and went to a comedy club.  The comedians were OK. Some were funny and other seemed to be trying to come up with material on the spot.  There was only 18 people or so in the audience.  I guess what would you expect on a Wednesday night.  A great first night ashore.

We made it!

Leg 1 – Bamfield to Ucluelet

Helping out!

Saying goodbye

Ma and Pa came to Ucluelet to say goodbye.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Time: 3:15 pm to 8:45 pm

I Woke-up this morning with the fog right down to the water.  All I could see clearly was Sonadora.  I felt that this was fitting since our goal this morning was to finish loading the last of our equipment and belongings and then head off on the beginning of our adventure.  As I began to take loads down to the boat I started to notice that the fog was lifting little by little.  Soon I could see across to the other side of the harbour.  I started to think that maybe when the fog completely lifted our packing would be done and we would be off in the sunshine.  That was seven in the morning.  Friends began to show up and help with cleaning-up our work site and taking boxes of materials down to the boat.  The goal was to be ready for eleven or one.  Our friend Tanya had noon hour supervision at the school and as much as she wanted to see us off, she needed to fulfill her duties.  We had no problem obliging and soon figured that we would not be ready for an eleven o'clock departure.  That felt OK though, we would go at one.  As the fog continued to lift, I began to think that if my paralleling of the weather to our departure was going to be correct, that fog better lift soon!  The deck of our boat was beginning to get very cluttered with tools, rope, parts and wire.  By one o'clock, friends who had arrived earlier were saying their goodbyes as they needed to move on to other events happening for them that day.  Other friends arrived and began to help.  We had just sat for ten minutes with BLT's, pickles and popcorn (thank-you Ardie and Normandy) and were ready to get this show on the road.  Our emotions were raw and energies were waning.  There were so many projects left to be done on the boat as many sailors can attest to and yet there just comes the moment when you have to go.  The look on my husbands face told me, "not yet."  I had been talking to my parents the night before about meeting up with us in Ucluelet for a farewell.  If we left now, we wouldn't be late.  With most things packed, there was the flags to be raised on the boat.  I went down with Tanya.  Floating past our boat was our friends and landlords, Jane, Earl and Marion.  They also came by to see us off, with video camera in hand.  Soon, I kept saying to myself, we are going soon.  I got out the flag I had received from the students at a farewell gathering at the school.  They had all signed their names on the ribbons, the other, a large Canadian flag.  With both flapping in the wind along with a fish windsock, I thought, OK, time to go.  At 2:00 pm Jon was still frantically cutting up pieces of wood he knew he would want aboard to finish some projects.  I started to wander if this was going to become a working trip.  Yes there were projects to do, but I could live without a few things as well.  I had plans of snorkeling!  I went to the burn pile and threw on my work pants. Time to go!  I repeated. By 2:30 pm I had Jon down in the boat with my connecting the battery cables.  They had been disconnected during some work being done previous. At 2:45 pm the engine began to purr. "Yahoo!" was the resounding cheer.  I jumped off the boat and hugs all around.  I was going to miss these faces but I knew the spirits of all were with me.  I took the helm and pushed the throttle forward.  I had Jon run below and grab our fog horn.  The fog had lifted enough to see the entrance of the harbour, but I wanted to make some noise as we left.  Friends waved from the board walk and their house porches.  We were really doing this!  LaRae, Normandy, Tanya and Ardie followed us out in LaRae's boat.  Several pictures were taken of them and of us.  We were all etching the moment in our minds.  My emotions sat beside me.  Exhausted from everything, I just knew I could not spare the energy to cry whether tears of joy or …

            Half-way to the Deer group, we saw LaRae had turned her boat around and was heading back into the harbour.  We were on our own.  I think Jon and myself had the same sentiments, "Was this really happening?"  We reached the Deer Group and I felt we were making good time, but I realized very soon that I could not get the boat going very fast.  I had her up to 2200 RPMs and if I tried to push her more, the temperature needle moved to close to the red zone for me.  We looked back to see Bamfield still engulfed in fog and ahead of us was blue skies.  If this was not another sign that we were exactly where we are to be and doing exaxtly what we are supposed to be doing.  Upone reaching the Broken Group I came along Ephinham Island as we have done many times before and prepared to go between the two rocks to turn in along Turret Island and through the Broken Group.  As I turned I could see the rock to my right, but not to my left.  I thought maybe with the tide high, I just couldn't see it, so I continued on.  Next I came to a kelp bed and put the throttle in neutral.  I didn't remember this?  Doesn't matter and kept going.  Then the island formations didn't' look right.  The long and short of it, I had turned all right, but went forward too far and had turned around Turtle Island instead.  I couldn't believe I had done this!  I had never done this.  If this is what tired does to you, what is going to happen in unknown waters.  I couldn't even seem to focus on the chart to find my location.  With Wade's calming way and finding something positive, "You're just speedy Cathy that's all."  No worries right.  Turning around we were back on track with the loss of an hour.  Late as it was I tried not to think about my parents waiting in Ucluelet for 2 hours and then three hours.  I started to estimate arriving around seven.  That wouldn't be so bad.  But as I watched the sun set, seven turned into 7:30 and then 7:30 turned into 8:00.  We finally docked at the Governement Dock at 8:45 pm.  My parents had a three hour drive to get home, but I was not going to focus on the lost time.  I wanted to absorb as much time that I had left.  With hugs all around and laughter about the slowest crossing to Ucluelet yet, we all piled into my parents car and went for dinner.  They had already scoped out the town and found the pub serves food right up to 10:00 pm.  Heck we could have been later!  (NOT!).  I am learning (slowly) to not focus so much on something to come as that the something to come does and then passes.  I need to live more in just the moment.  I have to be honest that I fought back and forth in my head from the hours we were late and the hours lost that I couldn't get back to be with my parents for our last time and the mesmerizing play of light on the water and the colours that bounced on the clouds as the sun was passed by the earth's turn.  My thoughts just before entering the Ucluelet harbour was of what it will be like to not see land.  As I looked out to the open see I thought the feeling will be like touching heaven.  Without land to show your eyes the distance, heaven comes down and touches the water.  I know I will like that.  Thanks everyone for being yourselves and sharing your spirits with us.     

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

7:00 am.  I woke to the sound of a climbing body going out the companionway and then on to letting out the chain from the chain locker.  No rest for the weary, we have jobs to do!  First on my list as admiral was to get my crew coffee.  I walked up the hill to the first open coffee shop I saw, Blueberries!  The waitress seemed pleasant enough, but then another lady came out that I was guessing was the owner.  She questioned my coffee mugs I brought to be larger than a large coffee and wanted to charge me more!  The waitress insured her that the mugs were the same size and after having to show the owner by pouring coffee from one of my mugs into one of their cups she was satisfied.  I am thinking at $2 a coffee how much money was she thinking she was going to lose!!  Next on the list was cream.  They only had a carton, no creamers to go.  We now have John Dunick on board and I never asked him if he took cream or sugar in his coffee because I just assumed I would grab creamers and sugar packets. Well she could give me some creamer in a cup, but she would have to "charge me for the cup because the cups were expensive!"  What this situation for real!  I mean I could have argued that