San Francisco & Yosemite
Getting into San Francisco Bay was easy. Wave wise. However, we managed to get our main sail stuck again and as soon as we arrived in Sausalito Tom headed up the mast to free it. Certain manoevers we should avoid ...
Soon after our arrival, Ueli left for Kirkland and Europe while we waited for our friends Yvonne & Moritz to go to Yoisemite together. Thanks to the crew from Kea ("the Dominiques" on their French catamaran) we got on shore easily and without worry about getting the dinghy stolen while being away for a couple of days. Cruisers help each other, that's a certainty., it seems.
Yosemite is spectacular and even in low season there are a lot of tourists. We did, not knowing the secret spots, the tourist hikes (Sentinel Dome, the Falls) and were impressed. By the views and by the masses there. Anyhow, the scenery is impressive and it was a pitty we could not hike in there for many days but just two.
Getting back into the Bay area by car was another experience after the Amtrak ride. Central Valley is amazingly flat, large, rural and dry while the Bay Area is so urban and - in most areas - chic. We sailed around Angel Island, went up to the top of it (Mt Livermore), went around Alcatraz and towards Golden Gate when we wrapped our genoa halyard and borke it in turn ... bad luck. The genoa took a swim in the bay and we were quick to retrieve it. No damage to the sail, just the halyard to be fished from the bottom of the mast and to be hoisted again.
We anchored in wonderful Aquatic Park, right downtown, to give Yvonne & Moritz best access to the airport. And to give us access to all nice coffee shops and vistas around Ghirardelli's Chocolate place. Later we went back to Angel Island and hiked Mt Livermore a second time to see the sunset up there: beautiful (see the videos).
Now it's time to relax, repair and do the internet stuff you just read :-) In the meantime the genoa furling / halyard is ready to test and was tested OK.
After more sight seeing and loading huge solar panels on board (1 kWp to shelter our dinghy from UV and rain ;-)) we will move on towards Los Angeles on Tuesday. Big news: we will host my brother and a post doc that are attending the LA AI conference. What a great opportunity to test our last guest berth (the forward stateroom has been tested by Ueli, Moritz & Yvonne to great satisfaction). And much more important to see Matthias. Visiting friends and family is super. We enjoyed our stay here a big part due to the friends we had on board and the family we met. Thank you Beth & Eric, Sallie & Ed for the great time & hospitality. It was a great pleasure to see you!
See all the impressions and details in our San Francisco and Yosemite photos. And don't miss the next video being uploaded in the next few days.
Soon after our arrival, Ueli left for Kirkland and Europe while we waited for our friends Yvonne & Moritz to go to Yoisemite together. Thanks to the crew from Kea ("the Dominiques" on their French catamaran) we got on shore easily and without worry about getting the dinghy stolen while being away for a couple of days. Cruisers help each other, that's a certainty., it seems.
Yosemite is spectacular and even in low season there are a lot of tourists. We did, not knowing the secret spots, the tourist hikes (Sentinel Dome, the Falls) and were impressed. By the views and by the masses there. Anyhow, the scenery is impressive and it was a pitty we could not hike in there for many days but just two.
Getting back into the Bay area by car was another experience after the Amtrak ride. Central Valley is amazingly flat, large, rural and dry while the Bay Area is so urban and - in most areas - chic. We sailed around Angel Island, went up to the top of it (Mt Livermore), went around Alcatraz and towards Golden Gate when we wrapped our genoa halyard and borke it in turn ... bad luck. The genoa took a swim in the bay and we were quick to retrieve it. No damage to the sail, just the halyard to be fished from the bottom of the mast and to be hoisted again.
We anchored in wonderful Aquatic Park, right downtown, to give Yvonne & Moritz best access to the airport. And to give us access to all nice coffee shops and vistas around Ghirardelli's Chocolate place. Later we went back to Angel Island and hiked Mt Livermore a second time to see the sunset up there: beautiful (see the videos).
Now it's time to relax, repair and do the internet stuff you just read :-) In the meantime the genoa furling / halyard is ready to test and was tested OK.
After more sight seeing and loading huge solar panels on board (1 kWp to shelter our dinghy from UV and rain ;-)) we will move on towards Los Angeles on Tuesday. Big news: we will host my brother and a post doc that are attending the LA AI conference. What a great opportunity to test our last guest berth (the forward stateroom has been tested by Ueli, Moritz & Yvonne to great satisfaction). And much more important to see Matthias. Visiting friends and family is super. We enjoyed our stay here a big part due to the friends we had on board and the family we met. Thank you Beth & Eric, Sallie & Ed for the great time & hospitality. It was a great pleasure to see you!
See all the impressions and details in our San Francisco and Yosemite photos. And don't miss the next video being uploaded in the next few days.