Just passed Eureka, CA today
Last night I made my first contact from my ham radio off of the boat. We were passing by San Francisco and I got to open up the repeater on Mt Diablo for a little bit and have a chat with a couple of hams on their daily commute. It was interesting to hear them talk of how it was friday and how excited they were to have the weekend off. I couldn’t even explain what was going on with me, and why the weekend off didn’t really mean the same to me. All in all it was great to have a chat with people that are not in any way shape of form related to the boat, so I think I will have to try and hit a couple of more repeaters along the way. I’m sure that there will be places in Alaska that I will be able to talk as well. Good deal. I just need to remember how to program this radio I brought, it’s my oldest and least used of the lot.
We are cruising up the coast of Northern California now, the weather is about as nice as one could hope for. I’m really surprised that the conditions are as good as they are. I don’t think that I have ever seen the weather this nice two days in a row on the coast. Maybe it’s just that we are 15 miles or so off the coast, but it looks pretty nice on land as well, at least from my perspective. Pretty soon we should be up where the redwoods are right on the coast, so that will be pretty cool to see. I looked and looked for the Golden Gate yesterday, but never got to see it. Oh well.
I did get in another beautiful sunset, there is just something that makes them a sight to see every day when you are on a boat. I’m not sure what it is, maybe the water all around you, or the way the sun goes through the fog off in the distance, or maybe even just the fact that it signifies another day almost complete. I sure do love watching it. I also recognized some of the terrain off in the distance tonight as well, we were cruising right by Eureka, and I could pick out the snow covered Trinity Alps in the back ground. I’m sure that the terrain is covered with my favorite redwoods, but at 14 miles off the shore we are too far away to really see them, even with binoculars. It’s nice to know that they are there, and see some green terrain, and even refreshing to see snow, even though I’m going to be looking at plenty of it the next couple of weeks.
Tonight I go for another navigation lesson on the bridge, but I also have some questions about the zodiacs for my mentor as well. I hear that there is a certification that you can get for being a zodiac pilot, and I’d like to find out more about that. Either way there is lots to learn about on the bridge, so I’m looking forward to it.
Only three more days left of our cruise, I’m sad and happy as well. Sad because this has been a pretty kicked back atmosphere, and it’s been cool to watch the coast line go by as we traveled. On the other hand, I’m excited about seeing Alaska and having our “normal” routine start back up again. It will be nice to have chances to get off of the boat and explore a bit more often, like we did in Baja.
