Overnight to Santa Barbara

This trip was much nicer as we could sail most of the way. With the goal of maintaining a minimum of 4 knots we didn’t have to turn on the engine until about 4 am. It was strange sailing that coast at night with the oil platforms lit up light floating castles. I find it somewhat contrary that California has such strict pollution and emissions laws, but then has dozens of these platforms right off their coast. We learnt from locals at Santa Barbara that some beaches get so tarred up that you can’t use them. During my morning shift I watched as we drove through a huge oil slick. Later, as Fynn and I enjoyed one of those lifetime moments watching dolphins together in the morning light, I could help but wonder how those creatures fared when they came across the oil they were headed straight for. Maybe they can sense it at the surface and dive down, hoping to swim under it. Fynn loves to watch the dolphins. “Mama” “Papa” “Dada” “Baby” she labels each dolphin as they come out of the water in the only way that she can relate to the world, through family.

Santa Barbara was a hopping harbor town. As we fueled up I took Kyber for a quick walk only to discover we had arrived during the Santa Barbara Harbor and Seafood days. The places was packed with people buying fresh seafood, and eating fresh seafood, including raw sea urchins straight from the tank.

We anchored off of the pier and headed back into the marina to find a place to leave the dinghy. From Google satellite images we could see that there there heaps of dinghys tied to the dock and tucked right into shore. After tieing up we checked in with the harbor master who informed us that the dock was permit use only for the liveaboard boats anchored out (which we thought was a cool system). We crossed our fingers behind our backs and promised to move the dinghy, but realistically figures with all the hubba baloo going on no one would notice our unpermitted dinghy. Santa Barbara is hot. After finding the required playground we headed back towards the pier but the extreme tourismness of it all got to us and it was time to head back to Asunto for a swim and some rest. There is a West Marine directly above the fuel dock and a Trader Joes 2 miles into town, so another decent spot to get what you need. From Santa Barbara a lot of people head into the Channel Islands, but first we had to stop by Oxnard where we had family friends who could take care of Kyber while we visited the park (no dogs allowed).