No Whales :(

Reports of many whales  each day 3 - 5 miles off San Pedro inspired me to plan a "whale watching" trip .  I printed out pictures of Gray Whales, Blue Whales and Fin Whales.  And Common Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin, and Pacific White Sided Dolphin.  OK, and California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal, and Fur Seal.  Just in case.

I set up a new waypoint called "Abbaroka", which seems to be a bell out past San Pedro.  18 miles from the slip, so this trip is going to take awhile at 5 mph.  All I could find about Abbaroka was a sunken Japanese ship from WWII.  Maybe a dive spot?

  10:56 a.m. Sail cover off

Beautiful sky.  I like to document the sky before we leave. 

12:46 p.m. Hazy kelp

 Notice the lack of wind (smooth sea).

 
The Captain.

The main sail is up, and permanently reefed (tied shorter).  We seem to have more problems with too much sail than too little.

12:48 p.m.  Are those Sea Lion's out on the buoy?  Let's go see.

Can 3 aka California Sea Lion spa.

12:55 p.m.  Is that a whale?

Nope.  It's a bird island!  

Cormorants!

2:53 p.m.  I see a seal!  

Do you?

What kind is it?
(Seems I left my documentation at home.  Darn it!)

2:55 p.m.  Sky.  We never did quite get to Abbaroka.  We followed the Whale Watching boat "Christopher", and marked the spot we saw her.  We followed another boat around San Pedro, but they dropped anchor and set out fishing lines.  Ooops.  Guess they weren't whale watching.

But we were out further west than we ever had before.

"We better get back before the fog rolls in.  I can't even see Long Beach anymore!"  says the Captain.

Trying to use the motor to come about, the transmission wouldn't go into forward.  What's up with that?  Jerry was able to jam it in.

There goes the jib!

San Pedro through the fog.

3:19 p.m. Vicki at the helm.  I get to sail home.

3:29 p.m.  Now the the wind is up and the sun is out.  That is Catalina in the fog.

3:48 p.m. Wind meter

    Big boat.

3:55 p.m.  The sun makes a big difference.  Hard to photograph.  But for the wind, I can always photograph the flag.   Fishing boat coming in.

3:56 p.m.  Closer.  Followed by birds.  Sun through the clouds.

Best shot of the fishing boat.

 

New GPS maps.  We're about to go through the breakwater near the Spruce Goose, going 7 mph, through the cut in the "restricted zone".  Water is 74 feet deep.  It's 3:56 p.m..  Should be home by 4:46 p.m., 3.63 miles to go.  Just follow the little red line.  Sort of.

3:59 p.m.  Jerry at the helm.

Such a pretty day.  Horizon not quite straight.

Trying to capture the sunlight.

4:05 p.m.  The container ships always look so big as we come into the Long Beach harbor.

4:57  p.m.  Docked.  Engine did not go into reverse.  Surmise that since we used the motor all day, the transmission fluid was thin and wimpy.

 
6:41 p.m.  All scrubbed and polished for the night.

27.8 miles
6hr 5 min
Avg speed 5 kt
Max speed 9 kt