Farewell E Dock

After what seems like months of endless boat projects we are finally weighing anchor and heading south.  Ok, well, not exactly 'anchor' this year as we've been spoiled on E dock.  Perhaps we should say 'disconnecting our power and water' but then that is soooo not nautical.

We headed off to Monterey around 11am and were sent off by so many of our new E Dock friends wishing us well.  It was sweet...especially when Loren kept telling everyone "I'll miss you!" and he surely will because the folks there are endlessly patient with his lengthy stories and boundless energy.  When we left Santa Cruz little did we know that we would be heading into such a fabulous day on the bay!

We first spotted whales just past the mile buoy and we enjoyed the show for more then half of the six hour trip.  The marine biologist on board said we were seeing humpbacks, and risso dolphins, not to mention the bazillion jellies and dozens and dozens of dancing sea lions.  In all my years sailing in Monterey Bay I have never seen such a spectacular show.   This helped us pass quite a bit of the time but as with any sail greater then one hour in length, the gang starts to get restless so we have to get creative.

The wind was very, very light at one point so Keith decided to launch the inflatable for a photo op with the new sails up.  He and Mason jumped on board while the little guys and I hung out and trimmed sails.  We ended up with some really great video and photos.

The boys all played Toss Up, a simple fun game that they got for Christmas last year and one of the very few games that Loren can play along with everyone else since the rules are so simple.   They only had a slight challenge when the boat was heeling...dice wanted to travel a bit further then they wanted them too.

Elliot and I snuggled up for some quiet reading time while Loren hung out with Dad and watched for things with the binoculars and Mason played games on his phone.

Towards the end, when Mason got his internet back on his phone, he played DJ for awhile and we were able to dance away to some thumping dub step.

All in all...a really great start to our journey down the coast.  We'll stay in Monterey for a bit while I work and the kids get some local education at the aquarium and such before we keep on moving.