South Bay Opening Day May 14

Matt and I took the boat down to the Redwood City Marina Saturday for South Bay Opening Day.  The forecast called for rain, including hail and thunderstorms, on Saturday night and into Sunday but we decided to go anyway.

We had gone by the marina office the weekend prior to pay for our slip.  The fellow there had given us a slip number but suggested we call as we came in to make sure that slip was still ok.  He also said if we came in and the slip was in use that we could go into another empty slip temporarily and then find out from the office where we needed to go.  We had a bit of excitement as we were coming in as there was a boat up on the rocks waving for help.  We couldn't get close enough to do anything for them so we told them we'd send help.  With all the activities with South Bay Opening Day we soon saw a Coast Guard Auxiliary boat and we asked them to go help the stranded boaters.  Shortly after that we found ourselves in the midst of several small sailboats being skippered by young kids so we were pretty occupied with trying not to mow anyone down.  Needless to say, calling the harbormaster was not the most important thing to do at the time. 

So as we came to the dock we saw the assigned slip was occupied so we pulled into an empty slip.  As soon as we were tied up we went to the office and apprised him of our situation and asked where he wanted us to go.  To say he treated us like idiots would be putting it nicely.  I worked in customer service for MANY years and there are nice ways to say something and lots of not so nice ways.  This fellow had definitely perfected all the not so nice ways.  The upshot of it was that we had to move the boat two slips over.  Ok, NOOOOooo problem dude, we are just here to ask where you want us to go!  no need to be rude about it!

We moved the boat and then headed up to Sequoia Yacht Club for lunch.  We saw a couple other folks from CPYC and we also saw one of our competitors from the Pac Cup last year, the folks on BRAINWAVES.  They were some of the nicest people I met during the Pac Cup prep and it was great to see them.  They had joked about changing their boat name to BRAINTIKI so they could compete for the Tiki Trophy.  Coincidentally, they won a dinner for two at CPYC so hopefully they will use it and we will see them at CPYC!

After lunch we hung out on the boat and played around with our new A57d Ray Marine Chartplotter that Matt installed on the upper helm last weekend.  It is a shrunken version of the C and E units we've used previously.   It is nice to finally have a functioning chartplotter aboard!  Later, Matt's coworker Brian came by with his girlfriend, Hannah, and we checked out other boats in the marina then cooked steaks for dinner. 

The rain held off until late Saturday and I did not hear any hail or thunder.  When we got up to leave on Sunday one direction looked beautiful and the direction we needed to go in had some gray skies and looked a little threatening.  We set off after a breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast.  There was just a bit of rain midway but we were soon back up on the flybridge and all in all I would call it a nice day.  I am very glad we did not let the forecast deter us.  We were glad we had left when we did as by the time we had the boat cleaned up and put away it was rather windy.

I didn't take any pictures this weekend.  Next time!

Car trip to the Delta

Matt and I stayed on the boat last night and attended the club cinco de mayo party.  Our pineapple habanero margaritas once again took first prize in the margarita contest.  We were just drinking the leftovers and I had to give mine to Matt and eat a bunch of antacid tablets. So this morning we had to run down to Redwood City Marina to pay for our slip for our cruise next weekend to South Bay Opening Day.  On the way back to the marina, we stopped by West Marine for a chart of the delta so we could plan our July trip up there.  We got back on the freeway and before long Matt asked if I wanted to drive up to the delta to check out the places we are planning on going.  Since I was thinking the same thing, I immediately said yes and off we went!

We plugged the address in for the marina and KOA campground where we are going to spend July 2-23.  The Nav system sent us down a levee road that was marked "PRIVATE - no through traffic".  hmmmm  well luckily the street went through and it was scenic but not a well maintained road!  Despite having a yellow line down the middle it was mostly a one lane road.  We only saw one other car and lots of farmland.  We finally got back to civilization as the road joined back up with one that is actually used regularly!  Actually there was quite a bit of traffic and we started seeing signs for a "Delta Loopfest".  We were soon driving through the Brannan Island KOA campground, scoping it out in case Matt's co-workers want to come up one weekend while we are up there.  It seemed decent and had a pool and tennis courts.  We parked the car and checked out the marina and the floating store.  It wasn't fantastic but it wasn't anything bad either.  We hopped back in the car and kept going counter clockwise around Brannan Island.  We drove by Happy Harbor marina and restaurant and man was it hoping.  The street was packed for cars.  Apparently this was a center of activity for the loop fest, though we did not stop. 

We did stop at Korth's Pirate Lair.  After sitting in the car for a few minutes enjoying the scenery of the grassy lawn with people lounging in Adirondack chairs and the floating Tiki Bar, we decided to eat there.  The service was sloooooow but the food was decent and $20 paid the bill and covered the tip.  $20 lunches are few and far between near home! 

As we headed on up the road we noticed a very oddly dressed woman walking in the direction we were driving.  She had some kind of scarf wrapped around her head and had on a low cut top, high cut skirt and tall black boots.  I wondered aloud if she was the local street walker.  There were lots of cars along the side of the road so we figured she was walking to hers.

Next stop was Moore's Riverboat Marina.  They have a huge restaurant that was just opening for the season.  I was kind of wishing we'd waited and eaten there but when we asked for a menu to take with us we were told they didn't have any yet as they had just opened the bar that day for the season and they weren't serving food yet.  Next time!

So we pulled out of the Riverboat and our next stop was JUST up the road, Willow Berm Marina.  Who did we see walking along the road but that same flamboyantly dressed woman!  We had almost caught up with her when we realized we'd just passed Willow Berm so Matt hit the brakes.  As he did, he commented "I hope she doesn't think we are stopping for her!"  Luckily she did not turn around as we backed up and turned into the Willow Berm parking lot. 

Man is that place nice.  The docks were unlocked so we were able to go out and gawk at the huge boats.  Everything about the place was first class.  We went into to chat with the marina staff and they were all super nice and we discussed the Riverboat restaurant as well as the Lighthouse which was just on the other side.  They both sound yummy and we look forward to trying them in July.

Since we had already come this far we decided to keep on going and check out Oxbow Marina.  Along the way, Matt was commenting on his gas gauge and how many miles he had left on his tank.  We had felt a bit isolated before but once we got North of 12 on the way to Oxbow there was NOTHING.  Once we turned onto Oxbow Marina drive I think it was 2 1/2 more miles to get to the marina and it was the only thing out there.  We drove around and checked it out and of course the gas light came on.  They had a nice pool and it looked like we will have a fun time there. 

We found our way back to 12 and it was pretty obvious that was the way we SHOULD have gone to get to Brannan Island, rather than the unmaintained berm top road we'd taken!  The downside of computer navigation!  We headed to Rio Vista for gas and were soon on our way home. 

Once again we had a "well we're here already" moment and decided to swing by the Pittsburg marina as we are stopping there on our way up to the Delta.  We were getting close to the marina and were admiring the little downtown when, boom, we hit a "road closed" sign with a big detour sign.  We were trying to figure out what was going on.  It looked like maybe a street fair or farmer's market type thing.  We kept going down a side street hoping for a place to turn to keep on our way but street after street was blocked. What on Earth? we thought.  We were finally able to get going in the correct direction and we started to see bicyclists with numbers.  Turned out they were having the "Pitt Crit" a big criterium.  We finally got to the marina and we could hear the loudspeakers announcing the races.  Looked like a really big event. 

The Pittsburg municipal marina looked super nice.  We also checked the yacht club and some guys on the porch got super excited when the saw it.  They called to another guy and said something like "the people you are waiting for are here." Next thing we knew this guy comes bounding down the steps towards us, introducing himself and saying something about showing us a boat.  Uh, no, not us!!

We took a brief look around and then headed back to Coyote Point!  We were both really glad we'd taken the time to scope things out and we are all the more excited now about our July trip to the Delta.