Eureka! And further on  

Sep 9th

We left Crescent City early in the morning on Sep 7^th, in company with Velvet Sky and our new friends Scott, Cindy and their son Bucket who are travelling the same route as us.  We set up a radio check in with each other every two hours, and each time Velvet Sky was further ahead of us, however our lesser speed has one advantage, by the time we arrived at Eureka they had arranged for moorage and guided us into our slip in the Marina.  What a treat!

Eureka is about 5 miles up the river so it took a while to get there after an uneventful bar crossing (this is where we make the transition from sea to inland waters, the Columbia river bar being a notoriously bad one).  There is not much going on in Eureka, it appears to be a town in decline, but admittedly we did not spend much time there as we left the next afternoon to make a 100 mile (20 hour) trip to Fort Bragg.  We did not spend enough time thinking about the state of the tide at Eureka as we were busy timing our departure from Eureka so that we would arrive at the Noyo River bar (Fort Bragg) on the flood tide which is the best time to cross the bars.  Because the weather conditions were so calm and our entrance to Eureka had been so easy we were perhaps a little complacent, and left on the ebb tide.  It was sporty! Not dangerous, but definitely sporty!  A little more respect ensued.

Velvet Sky crossing the bar at Eureka, photo courtesy of Marshall, I was too
busy hanging on to take pictures!

The weather was calm and we settled in for a long motor, all was going well, we passed around the dreaded Cape Mendocino so quietly you couldn’t even tell we were there.   But after Cape Mendocino there is another point called Punta Gorda, this one made us feel like we travelling in a giant washing machine, not so much fun for me and Marshall and even less for Scott.  That kind of action is not good for someone prone to seasickness…

But that only lasted for about 40 minutes and then it was back to smoother waters and enough wind to sail for an hour or so under the full moon.  Magic!

Pelican at the riverfront

Looking up the river from the bridge

Velvet Sky arrived at Fort Bragg about 7 am, radioed us directions to our slip, then they went for a well deserved nap.  When we arrived at about 10 am we (easily) crossed the bar and then we were in the narrowest waterway we have been in yet.  The Noyo River is quaint and lovely and is lined with marine businesses and boats in various states of disrepair.  The Marina itself is fairly large and unlike most of the other Marinas we have been in has very few derelict boats hanging around.  (With the exception of Crescent City, which just had very few boats)  It’s nice to see boats being used and taken care of.

With our first sunshine in days we were delighted to strip off the layers and enjoy a quiet day hanging around the waterfront and catching up on missed sleep.

The Skunk Train

Scott and Bucket at a big Redwood

Today we took a ride on the Skunk Train, a four hour trip up the Noyo river through the Redwood forest, picked up some things we needed for the boat, went to the local farmers market,  got some delicious local tomatoes,  grapes and goat cheese and had happy hour with the good folk on Velvet Sky.  I can’t complain about my life.

Always good advice before crossing any lines!