Leap Year Friday

First thing this morning was to get our Insurance Company to pull their finger out and get our quote and cover happening. Which we hope will be active by Monday?? Also got the final official US documents from the Coast Guard, de-registering 'Sea Otter' as a US vessel, so we can now apply for Australian Registration. The 13 page fax to Australia with all the Registration papers required cost $40 US!!!

By then it was lunch time, which saw us eating at the Cafe at 'Safeway' Supermarket again. Geoff then took off to check if the rigging had turned up (which it hasn't) and left me to fill some more trolleys with food and supplies.

This time I grabbed a BIGGER trolley and as the supermarket and products are so unfamiliar it took awhile to walk each aisle. Just so much variety and so many brands I don't know. Surprisingly the cost of groceries over here is NOT cheap, not as cheap as I remember it from last time. Compared to Australia it is pretty dear on basic items. Geoff met me in aisle 20 and we topped the trolley to the brim and went to the checkout. The guy there was horrified I didn't have a Safeway Club card when he saw the total reaching $540. I just assumed a Club Card was a rewards card, but apparently if you have a Club Card you get the deals marked on the shelves. For example 5 for $5 or buy one and get one free. I just assumed everyone got that deal and I think this is why Americans love their coupons. So the guy ran over to the Service counter grabbed me a card and swiped it..... I watched with awe as the total dropped and dropped and dropped and ended up at $460!!!!!!! Now that's what I call a Rewards Card! I thanked the guy profusely and Geoff even tried to give him a tip, which we then found out is one of the only places in America where they don't accept or expect tips. So lucky day, I am now the proud owner of a Citibank account and ATM card and now a Safeway Club Card, woo hoo!

So far the total of groceries, toiletries and First Aid items has hit around $800 and I still haven't stocked Pasta, pasta sauces, more bread mixes and more BEER! The photo above shows the stores rearranged to go into lockers this afternoon. The other photo is taken from the deck of Sea Otter this afternoon at Sunset looking out over the Marina. And another one of Alameda's beautiful old homes.

Our lovely rental car will go back after 3 weeks tomorrow and we will try and manage without one. However there is a cheap Company just 4 blocks away that rents a Economy for around $200 a week, so we may stockpile chores and rent one in a weeks time. The Lucky Supermarket is so close that I can walk to it in 5 minutes and top up with small loads of stores if I wanted to.

Had a hot shower on Sea Otter for the second time again tonight, it is pure luxury to have a hot water heater on a boat and to be able to skip the cold walk up to the Marina facilities. It's a luxury that will have to be rationed out once we are on passage, as we couldn't carry enough water to do it nightly or keep the power up to the heater. So maybe just after a tough day??? I will have to be very nice to the Captain to get extra favours!

Cold and Frosty down below

We got a rude shock last night, our boat was cold....very cold and Geoff reckons that there was frost on our hatches this morning!! The water temperature we are sitting in is around 10 - 12 degrees C and I suppose that our fiberglass hull doesn't offer much insulation. So our first night was slightly uncomfortable due to the chill, but otherwise - quiet and calm.

Tonight however, it is going to be much toastier, our new buddies Dinah and Roger have loaned us a small heater until we leave....mmmmmm. Geoff is snuggled up on the saloon bunk asleep in front of the TV and I am sitting above the heater at the Laptop....huh, things don't change much really do they? And to think we travelled thousands of miles for adventure because we felt we were languishing in too much comfort, with no fear in our lives!! HA!

Not a lot on today....I went over and spent about $300 US on stores to start the filling up the lockers.

Geoff is patiently waiting for our insurance company to give the go ahead for insurance cover. And it is bothering him that they haven't got it sorted yet. Otherwise he is also waiting for the rigging, maybe, hopefully tomorrow.

Just got home from dinner on 'X to Sea' Roger and Dinah's 42' Catalina and it really is a big boat compared to ours. Just huge down below and really set up with some gear. Roger BBQ'd some fantastic steaks and Dinah made Baked potatoes, salad and grilled Asparagus. I took the Australian Wine and a Apple Pie. Yeah we are getting royally spoilt. Again, it is going to be VERY hard to leave Alameda. Lucky the US customs has only given us 3 months!!

So that's Thursday, not much to tell, in fact rather pleasant day. Oh the weather? Fine, 20 degrees! We are SO lucky ;)

On board but not away

Check out our new Maxi feathering Prop!!

Well, believe it or not we are aboard for our first night on Sea Otter!! The new prop came in today at the yard and they installed it this afternoon. Which means instead of staying on board at the yukky Yard docks, we were able to motor around to the Village Marina. K18 is our home berth until we throw the lines for sailing South.

The other good news is that we have Internet reception at the Marina!! Yay, so now we can keep in touch.

I started buying large plastic containers today for storing away food in lockers. Tomorrow I hope to start the big buy up of groceries. Not that there is a rush, as we will likely be here for another 3 weeks, but.... As an old pro at cramming as much food as possible into the smallest spaces on a small yacht, the technique is to buy in stages. Buy one big first load, pack it away, rearrange it a few times, see what space you have left...then go out and buy some more, repeat process. Do that until nothing rattles around in the lockers. The big trick is to pack it so you don't have to unpack everything to get to something at the bottom. So regularly used items need to be in a smaller or easier locker, or on the top of the stacks. It's a challenge....and it's sort of fun to be doing it again!

All of our (which is not much) clothes are now packed away and we shall be sleeping in the aft double tonight. As the mainsail is still in the V berth. Don't know how cold it will be tomorrow morning on the boat, but we are prepared for about 6 degrees. Currently at 7.15pm it's 12 degrees outside and 17 degrees inside.

The rigging may be done by Friday so we can reinstall the mast before the weekend. It's not such an issue now we have this lovely Marina to stay in. It is about a 5 minute walk to Lucky Supermarket, Longs Drug Store and about 12 fast food outlets for everything from Mexican, Chinese, Subway, Hawaiian Fast Food, Sushi, Pizza, Quizno's Flat Breads, Burrito's, Smoothies and of course the ever popular on every corner, in every supermarket, Starbucks! For some strange reason Honey is VERY expensive over here? But we love the self service checkouts, were you swipe your own barcodes and put your money into a slot and it spits out your change. It's very novel and very fast.

Naked!

Today is another beautiful day, cool in the shade and warm in the sun. Sea Otter sits alongside the Yard dock naked without her Mast. While her mast lays waiting for the new rigging. We are getting a quote for a s/s frame to put the huge new solar panel on. It will go on the other side of the transom.

Next on the agenda was to go and buy that Satellite phone! Yep, we decided to splurge out and get one. We haven't decided on the plan yet, but the phone cost $1800. Ouch! Once we have a plan paid for, we will be able to send out the details of our phone number and how to ring or text us and what it may cost you!! and us. We decided not to go for the data plan that allows for emails as this was just a bit too much. It is an Iridium system, that hopefully will allow us to text our position to family and friends cheaply and make brief phone calls. No matter where in the ocean we are. But we will wait and see how it works once we have it all.

Bad news for the day, was that the Autohelm steering system that Sea Otter has is now discontinued!! Aargh. Typical. We wanted to buy one complete as a backup/spare...so now I am searching the country to see if an old one languishes on a shelf somewhere? The good news is, because it is discontinued....we may, just find one cheaper???? You can only hope.

So far the budget goes better in one area, then worse in another. Pretty typical of boating costs. Just as we find out that the surveyor was not as much as we budgeted. We realise that the feathering prop will cost $300 more. Save on one hand - spend more on the other!!

Squirrels! I just love them, and although everyone here says they are dangerous and they bite....well you just can't help but find a fluffy tailed, brown eyed creature cute. Especially when it is eating half a bagel! (no...I did not give it the bagel!) Check out this guy hanging around our Motel this afternoon. He came right up to me to suss out if I had something for him to eat. The locals shake their heads at me, I get the impression they think I would do the same thing with a Grizzly Bear! Is this how it is in Australia with the Asian tourists and Kangaroo's??? hmmm, make mental note not to shake my head at tourists anymore.

Geoff is back on Sea Otter packing away the sails we had to take off for the mast removal, so we can sleep on board tomorrow night. Hopefully we will only be at the Yard dock for one or two nights, then we can move to the permanent berth at Village Marina. Just one dock away from where our Brokers live on their boat a Catalina 42 called Ecstasy.

Dinah and Roger are just fantastic, we cannot believe how much they are doing for us and helping us - after the settlement. They even joked last night how funny it would be if they were on the dock at Brisbane to catch our lines as we return home! 'Now that is follow up service'

I feel very at home and at ease with the whole process, these are the sort of friendships and aquaintances you meet when cruising that make it so special. It is a large portion of the reason why I love cruising. We said that if we do come back to California to do it all again with another boat, we would definately use them as our Brokers.

Now finally, we could be out of Internet access for a couple of days while we are at the Yard dock. Then when we get to the Marina, we will have to see how we can get access or if we have to just go find a WIFI hot spot to connect at???? So there may not be a blog post for a few days.

Otherwise, I am off soon to start buying stores for the cruise. It should be fun, interesting and challenging. Hmmm now how many toilet rolls will it take to get us back to home? How many blocks of chocolate should I hide on board for Geoff to sniff out by the second week? And...how many beers can I stack on board? Well.. over here at least I can buy all the booze at the Supermarket!

Back in the water, but...

A beautiful morning dawned and we hear from the locals that it won't really rain now till fall. We are looking at a week of 16 deg C days and 9 deg C nights....pretty damn warm after the temps we've experienced lately!

We've spent a bit of time pottering about 'Sea Otter' while she was on the hard, clearing out the lockers and repacking some of our gear. Also continued visiting Mall's and supermarkets researching stores and supplies. Today, the Yard Manager told us they had received the wrong feathering propeller for us and the right one won't turn up till Thursday! So the options were stay on the hard or drop her back in the water and pull out the mast to start re-rigging. So...Sea Otter is back in the water Mast-less! We however are still in our luxury Motel at Marina Village and will check out and move onto Sea Otter on Wednesday.

We have a big order about to be placed for all the big ticket items at West Marine. Liferaft, Dinghy, EPIRB, 4 deep cell gel batteries, Solar Panel. Don't ask how much, lets just say...2 round the world air tickets would be close.

Tonight we went to dinner at 'Dragon Village' with our fast becoming best buddies in Alameda, well actually California! Our brokers, Dinah and Roger. Dinah seems to have adopted us and is horrified at how bad we are at negotiating better deals and prices on gear. So she has taken over! They are also our tour guides to all that the area has to offer, in food, wine and entertainment! Dragon Village is the best little Chinese restaurant, it looks very unassuming from the outside but inside the food and prices are unbeatable. Check out the photo above!

The other photo is from our walk around the Marina at dusk last night. I also saw my first Hummingbird...tiny and beautiful.

Rainy days

A big storm is supposed to hit the San Fran area today, with high winds and lots of rain. But currently at 4.30 pm we only have constant drizzle and not so bad wind. As we own a boat sitting on the hard and we are getting tradesmen to do most of the work for us, today is a lazy day. Combine the above with the weather and we've spend most of today just pottering about Alameda. Checking out the west coast beach of the island, in the photo above: you can see San Fran city in the distance from the beach.

We went to 'Mervyns' a department store, checked out the huge Safeway supermarket, getting ready for putting stores on board. Went to West Marine again. And then spent an hour or two going through all the lockers down below on 'Sea Otter'. Throwing out a bit of stuff we won't or can't use. Rearranging lockers to suit the places we want certain things to go: Safety locker, Spares locker, Food lockers, galley lockers etc. It was a productive time and allows us to feel abit more familiar with our new boat.

Now we are snug in our luxury waterfront Motel room back at Marina Village Inn. Check out the photo above of the view from our room!! Sweet :)

Two photo's are of some historical info on Alameda. The painting of Alameda back around 1866 and the photo in 1902 of the first sail boats on the Island. There are two distinct regions to Alameda: the older Victorian homes area near the middle and eastern sides of the Island and the beachy, one story Californian bungalows on the western side of the island. Geoff already selected the unit complex on the western beach area with the view to San Fran, as where he would live if we lived here. Me I would go for one of the gorgeous Victorian dolls houses!!

The Streets of Alameda

Gloomy, cold and raining this morning....a perfect day for spending money on shopping for boat gear! Geoff already has his boat owners worrying cap on and scooted off early this morning to check that 'Sea Otter' was okay and locked tight on the hard.

A late brekkie at Macca's....yes I know tragic, but Motel living does that to you :( Then we went off and bought some chart and anchoring guide books for Tonga, French Polynesia and a big juicy guide to anchorages in the Pacific! We enquired about Satellite phones, how they work, what they cost and we decided we will probably buy one. I think it means that we can make short calls on a limited prepurchased time card and send Text messages as well. Family and friends can text us for free, I believe :))

Then we went off and bought a portable DVD player and some cigarette lighter chargers to plug all these things into. Next was West Marine a big Chandlery group over here, like a Target for boaters! And we priced a Liferaft, a dinghy and a EPIRB.

We still have some big purchases to spend money on, new rigging for one. This morning at the yard we found out that the owners had paid for the haul out and antifouling of the boat! We were pleasantly surprised. It has saved us $1300 usd. I think they felt bad about the shock we got yesterday, when we found out about the shoal draft keel. They are a really lovely couple and it was very generous of them to pay.

It is just great to eventually have the keys to the boat and be able to look and board and start planning on what we need and what we have to do first. So the next few days while she sits on the hard will be a matter of writing up lists of gear and things to do.

The photo's are of just some of the adorable homes around the island, it is a real distinct Victorian style that apparently the wealthy San Franciscians built for their holiday homes on the Island around the 1860's to 1900's. I just love them, the styles, colours and diversity of architecture on the island. I want to go and take more photo' every time we drive down a different street. It's a fab place to hang out and with the old US Naval Air Station taking up 1400 acres of island land, it really is an interesting place.

Oh and Andrew McSweeney was right! This is where the 'Mythbusters' are located and film a lot of their big projects out on the deserted base.

The BIG day

Some days it rains, some days it pours. And when we woke up today we thought it may rain. But it ended up pouring in both the literal and metaphorical sense.

All was going well as the morning progressed, it was drizzling and the forecast was for heavy rain, but it seemed to be holding off. The Surveyor was very happy with the interior and deck and could not find anything to be concerned about. A few very minor items, that were more wear and tear than seaworthy or costly issues. So far so good. The yard then very professionally manouvered Sea Otter into the lift-out area and the slings were placed. Slowly she raised out of the water......

This is where it starts to pour, both ways. Add the cold wind that had picked up and we both got the shivers. There as she came out was a bulb keel? Confusion, we had been given specifications for a 6'4" draft? Which usually means a fin keel? I was with the owners and I commented to them, 'hey it doesn't really look like 6'4" and funny that a bulb was on a keel that deep?' Apparently Geoff said something simpler to the Broker Dinah, 'Shit'

There she was a shoal draft bulb keel, that when measured was a whole 5'1"!!!! It would take to long to write what went on over the next 4 hours, but needless to say, the owners seemed to fade away. Our broker was horrified as she too thought it was a fin keel. Everyone else kept telling us, most of the boats over here are now bulb or wing keel and they are really good. Easy for them to say! Everything went on hold while Geoff and I tried to think it all over and digest whether we wanted a shoal draft 37' boat to sail home. Much nashing of teeth, heavy sighs, weighing up of specifications and head shaking happened, before we decided that everything else on the boat was better than we had expected. The surveyor had found no problems underwater either and we had a keen price, so........

We signed and we are now proud, but frayed new owners of 'Sea Otter' We've just been out to the NZ Pub here for a celebration dinner and the only place you can find vegemite over here! I just paid $10 usd for a big jar!!!! It's gotta last us till Tonga before we can find more. Geoff is happier with his 6 pack of Heineken beer price $6 usd!!

Sea Otter will sit on the hard over the weekend, where the yard will try and put a coat of antifoul on her bottom, and a new 3 blade feathering Maxiprop (an expensive luxury) the keel bolts will be tightened and hopefully if the rain holds off, we can drop her back in the water on Monday afternoon. Then we can finally MOVE ON BOARD!! Yay!

Snow days in Tahoe

Can things get any better than I had imagined? Yep. I wanted to see snow and boy did I get to see snow....well not falling snow. But huge deep piles of snow. We left our beautiful little room after a night of minus 8 degrees. Which actually didn't feel as bad as it sounds because there was no wind and plenty of sun.

Check out the photo of the pool area at our Resort it was so cool to sit in the Spa with all that snow piled up around you. We wimped out on going for a spa during the night..it didn't actually snow, so we used that as an excuse!

Lake Tahoe was a hard place to leave, we both enjoyed it so much. But the forecast was for incoming rain and snow for the next 4 days and we didn't want to get snowed in when we had a survey to do on Thursday and rooms booked and paid for in Alameda. We thought about buying chains, but again wimped out. So instead we left South Tahoe and drove up along the west coast of the 80 km long lake. Crossing into Nevada as you leave South Tahoe. It continued to be breath-takingly beautiful and picture worthy. So lucky I got that new digital camera in NZ!!

The water is so clear and the lake is about 1400' deep at the deepest point. It must be lovely in summer too. But so cool to see snow right down onto the sand! As we got to the northern end of the lake the snow seemed to get deeper and deeper. The snow sitting of houses looks like layers of blankets sitting on top of each other. And the way homes have to carve out their driveways and footpaths to the door is incredible. The last stop of snow frolic for us was Donner Lake, apparently infamous for when the pioneers were crossing the pass to find California, they got stuck there due to the snow and ate each other!!! I think this was what was really worrying Geoff about us getting stuck at Tahoe in the snow with no chains.....that I would eat him!!!

After throwing rocks onto the iced over Lake Donner, which seemed weirdly too much fun, maybe reverting to childhood here....we drove out on the highway towards Sacramento. And as we did our mood dulled, then depressed. It's just depressing after being in such beautiful scenic snow covered areas. The sky seemed to dull with our mood and by the time we got close to Sacramento it was raining! Geoff had been driving all day so we got through the city freeways and stopped for the night at the town of Fairfield. Which we found out the next day was a MAJOR Airforce base during the war. Our Motel last night was rotten, it was full of noisy dudes who seemed to be up to some mischief of some type. So I was a bit unsettled, and poor Geoff had to deal with a backed up loo that overflowed onto him in the bathroom this morning. The toilets over here are weird they have so much water sitting in the bowl you think you are going to get a wet butt!!

So, after that unpleasant start we drove on through the western hills of San Fran area and back into Alameda. Checked in with our brokers that all was go for tomorrow's survey. Tried to get some cash from the bank but, it had just been held up and as we couldn't get into our Motel. The checkin times over here are 3pm!! we went to a greasy spoon Diner called 'Tilley's' for lunch. Fast Food over here is actually not that cheap, we paid $5.40 US for a hotdog, then add tax and convert to Australian and it's pretty expensive. However the food was really fresh and the place was sort of funky cause of how old fashioned it is and the older waitress was just so lovely. Which, we found out when Geoff came back from the loo, to tell me then her that he had backed up the toilet!!!!!! Oh my god, what is American food doing to his system? And how will the poor little manual pump out toilet on the boat handle this? The waitress was really sweet to him and by the time we were paying she patted his arm and told him he just hadn't pushed the handle down far enough. Poor Geoff. I think he will be forever nervous to use toilets over here.

Engine survey has been done and all looks ok with it and tomorrow we will see what the survey brings. If that is ok we still have the formality of change of title, which must be done at sea if we are to not pay Californian Property Tax. This means before we can take ownership a Captain has to sail the boat out of San Francisco about 8nm to a bouy then record the GPS position, the date by way of a photo of the days paper and then when it returns we can take possession and remain in the country for 60 days to gear up. It's bizzare, we keep saying can't we just prove we are leaving by showing our Passports and temp visa's? But nope, so that could delay us moving onto the boat, particularly if the weather worsens. Which is what it is forecast to do for the next 5 days :(

Oops by the way

If you click on any of the pictures you will get a full screen blown up - high quality version! Enjoy

Ahhh Lake Tahoe....

Some days are like dreams come true and for me today was it (well except for my wedding day of course!) Lake Tahoe.

The thing that surprised me was that not long after your on the freeway from Sacramento that you start to notice bits of snow on the hills. Then you start a slow low grade climb into the mountains, more pine trees - big ones, then more snow, then large walls of carved snow/ice line the major road in. Then everywhere you look, snow, deep snow, snow on houses, snow on river rocks, snow on balcony's about one metre deep. You keep climbing and the signs periodically read 4000' - 5000' - 6000' - 7000'. Wow, then you pop over the crest and out there in front of you is a winter wonderland South Lake Tahoe! You decend into the township and it is surprisingly big and still at about 5000' elevation. Heaps of traffic, people starting to head home after the long weekend. And still there is snow everywhere! On the streets, in the carparks on the shop awnings....so much snow!

We are booked into the 3 Peaks Resort and Beach Club (except the beach at the moment is snow down to the lake edge!) We are a 5 minute walk into the village, a 5 minute walk to the beach (which is privately owned by resorts) and 5 minute walk to the Gondola. Our room is really nice with a balcony next to a big pine tree looking out towards the lake, all the furniture is raw sawn logs even on the wall paneling. We rode the Gondola for $30 each and you go up to 9100' yep 9100'. It is fantastic, white sparkling snow covering everything and the photo's above are from the skywalk lookout and around town. Pretty damn spectacular. Even Geoff was smiling!!!!!

You can then jump back on and go another couple of hundred feet up and get to the main ski field base area. Where all the learn to ski classes are and the main ski lifts to take skiers higher again. There is a Open air grill where a hotdog will cost you $9.00 USD and yes we shared one ;) There is a Tube slope where for $25 gets you an hours worth of skidding and it looks like heaps of fun. Just a shame we don't ski or snowboard :( I think I have my first regret in life.....I should have learned to ski when I was young and strong.

We came down after 3 hours of enjoying the snow and fun. In our Gondola was a 65 year old Ski instructor called 'Zac' he says this year has been a record year for snow. Last year they didn't really get any. And that today was a particularly perfect weather day and that tonight or tomorrow it may even SNOW!!! Woo hoo....pig in mud would be a pretty apt description of me at the moment. He was one cool dude, lives here and says it has grown alittle too much for his liking. It's pretty developed, sort of like Surfers Paradise without the high rises.

When we got back Geoff went for a jog, then....we both got into the steaming hot spa in the resort and the whole pool/spa area was covered in about 1.5 metres of snow. It sat thick on the banana sun lounges, which was sort of funny. We soaked and stated that if it snowed tonight we would go down under the stars and sit in the tub (which seats about 15 people) while it snows on us. But....we just got back from a fab Mexican meal and it's pretty damn cold out there already, 30.9 F (-0.6 C) so those brass monkeys may not get to go out ;)

Here are some more snaps of a wonderful day. Tomorrow we either stay here another day and see if I can get Geoff to take a Snowboard lesson?! Or we drive up the east coast of the lake to the ski areas on the northwest corner. hmmmmm

love from one happy snow bunny...

Yosemite

Yesterday was a pretty low key day of driving to Mariposa where we stayed last night, quiet little town and no internet access in our room.....so sorry no blog! It's Sunday afternoon now and we have just got back from Yosemite after a great morning of exploring. It is Presidents Day long weekend and we probably didn't pick the best time to go road tripping. We left Mariposa early this morning for Yosemite, after we scrapped the frost off the car! It was about 9am when we got to Yosemite and the temp was minus 2!!! Check out the photo to see how Geoff was coping with the cold! And look at me just hyper-excited about being in snow for the first time in my life.

Yosemite was very beautiful and we both think that the snow helped that impression. The huge granite bolders and mountains do make for an impressive backdrop....but I think we both enjoyed the scenery enhanced by snow more. We had hot chocolates in the cafe and wore our new gloves and warm jackets. Geoff got his in Sausalito for $20! But we didn't buy one for me so lucky our Broker lent me hers! Didn't see any Bears :( but we saw one cheeky squirrel that I had to chase to snap a photo of!

It got real busy as the day progressed and we headed out so we could make some distance towards Lake Tahoe. Hopefully we will be seeing more of the white stuff in Tahoe as it apparently gets more snow than anywhere else in the USA. But we have to watch the weather as we don't have snow chains and there is a cold system moving in Wednesday night. Don't know how good hybrid cars go in freezing temps!!

Oh yeah, we still can't get used to having to use our brains to add GST on to the price of something on the shelf or the menu...... Then to have to add on the 15% tip to a restaurant or Diner bill...arrgh! Very stressful.

Plans for Lake Tahoe

Just got back from a lovely Italian dinner on the waterfront, our brokers Roger and Dinah took us out and then took us for a drive around the island to show us the sights. We always seem to get lucky and find Americans who look out for us! Roger used to be in the Navy and did 3 tours of Vietnam, so he drove us around the deserted US Navy base that was on Alemada, they still have some old aircraft carriers here and all the aircraft hangers....huge area of deserted accomodations and barracks too.

Then after driving us past every Marine business we could possibly need once we get on the boat, they lent me a big warm jacket for our trip to Lake Tahoe. Amazingly lovely people. So tomorrow we head off for the 3 hour drive to Lake Tahoe were the reports say they have great snow. Yay, finally after 46 years I AM going to see SNOW!!!! Can't wait, I will probably freeze my patooti off, but it will be worth it!

Even Geoff is keen, in fact Geoff is having a ball over here.....he's mellow, relaxed, funny....hmmmm, WHO IS THIS MAN????? He even went on the wagon for the week and tonight had his first beer?

Below is a link to where we are at Alemada and Lake Tahoe.
Enjoy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda,_California

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Tahoe

A test sail today

Valentines day was pretty non eventful for us..no roses or fancy dinners, just another beautiful, sunny warm day in Alameda. We poked around yacht option # 3 then went for a short drive to look at the haul out yard, liferaft supplier and then grabbed a cheap meal to eat back at our room.

Today the weather is perfect, clear skies and little wind, crisp this morning 4 degrees but lovely during the day 16 degrees. So, the news of the day is: we took Yacht option #3 out for a test sail this afternoon. Yacht option #3 is a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 37 built in France in 2000 (another fabulous french design & manufacturing yacht company) This yacht called 'Sea Otter' is in excellent condition, hardly used and in the last year the owners who live in Arizona haven't taken her away from her berth. All their clothes are still on the boat!

This yacht is smaller than the Beneteau's we have been looking at, but Geoff is more comfortable with her as she has simpler systems, only 1 head, no airconditioning, no in mast furling mainsail and bigger sails in excellent condition. She has a lovely interior mostly timber lined a good galley and the head has a shower with hot and cold pressure water. The two cabins are smaller and more like a typical boats cabins, not quite as luxurious as the Beneteau's :/

Test sail went well, nice and nimble under motor, turns on a dime and sailed well in very light conditions. In fact it was hard to get Geoff to come back in from sailing up and down the estuary!! Roger and Dinah the brokers were happy to let Geoff enjoy himself, I must admit it felt great to be back on a boat again - like coming home. Yesterday we signed a contract on 'Sea Otter', which the owners agreed to this morning. It's a good price (less than the yacht we came over to buy) And she has tons of gear, crockery, cutlery, plateware, cookware, and comes with a dinghy and outboard. So this means we have to spend less at the Chandlery, yay!! We will just need to get a Liferaft, some solar panels and wet weather gear.

We will have to wait till Thursday next week to get the survey done, as the owners are coming in to clear out their gear and personal belongings. So until then we are going to head off for a road trip. Tomorrow we think we will drive off for Lake Tahoe, maybe see some snow!!

Alameda!

We spent four hours on yacht choice #1 at Sausalito today. A lovely privately owned Beneteau 411 called 'Saudade'. In as new condition....just beautiful, two cabins, two heads and no real work to do. But.......at the very top if not, above our budget. On top of the price we would have to purchase a dinghy, outboard and liferaft. Geoff is also concerned about all the latest electronic gadgetry onboard. The sails are also pretty small for the size of the boat and we would have to buy a spinnaker or a larger genoa. It all adds up to a pretty expensive boat. Heartbreaking because our top offer would be $25000 below the owners asking price. So not much chance we think :((((

So, feeling a bit flat about the possibilities of either spending more than we ever intended or not getting the offer accepted...we drove to Alameda. Or 'the island' located on the east side of the bay opposite San Fran, it is a mix of typical old beautiful Californian bungalows and an immaculate marina village. Everything you need within a walk a large supermarket 'Luckys' heaps of takeaways, chandlery's, apartments etc. All surrounded by the estuary and the bay and hundreds of yachts. Just beautiful. The photo above is at Alameda Marina Village.

Tomorrow we will look at boat choice #2 a Jeanneau 37 built also in 2000 "Sea Otter" but this one is more within our budget. This will be our second more thorough look over and like today on Saudade we will run the engine, pull out the sails and check over the gear.

We will stay in Alameda here at the Marina Village Inn till probably Saturday. It's right on the Marina with a Yacht Club either side and "Sea Otter" just a few minutes walk away. It is also more affordable as accomodation than where we were near Sausalito. Oakland looks a frighteningly large city, so we will stay clear of there. Maybe catch a Ferry across to San Fran over the next couple of days and do some sightseeing.

That's all for today....oh by the way it is still sunny, warm and very Brisbane winter like! We are SO lucky so far!

Outside it's America

Tuesday, today another beautiful cool morning with blue skies. We are so lucking out with the weather, everyone keeps telling us that it isn't normally like this, that's why everyone is so happy!

We spent the day driving to Alameda near Oakland and looking at another boat, a 37' Jeanneau. The photo is of the Richmond Bridge, really long and two levels, amazing. Oakland is a big city and a bit scary with those huge freeways that go in all different directions and ramps. We got so close to being lost. Then all of a sudden you end up on 'the island' as locals call it 'Alameda' beautiful estuary, big marina and boat yards, shopping centre all self contained in lush parks.

The boat was another lovely private yacht very well maintained and more in our price range.....though I think I am still in love with the Beneteau I saw yesterday. So am sulking a bit cause I know it is out of our price range. :/

We are staying at the Holiday Inn at Mill Park same as last night, this is a photo of the view off our balcony towards the Lakes and wetland. Geoff just came back in from jogging up the hill behind us. I think he is leaning toward the yacht we saw today, right in our price range and a fair bit of gear on her.

So tomorrow will see if we move to Alameda or if we can do a deal on the Beneteau in Sausalito???? It's all fun and we are still loving the area.

Oh by the way, I wish we had the supermarkets they have here, no monopoly of just Coles and Woolies owned. Lots of large companies running big supermarkets and the competition shows in the range of products you get.....it's AMAZING!! The deli sections leave ours for dead.

Till tomorrow....