Angel Island October 2011

We spent a fabulous three day weekend at Angel Island October 21-23rd.  We actually got up there late on Thursday the 20th, though it was not a midnight run like our trip to the Wheelchair Regatta.  We headed up there after work Thursday and arrived about an hour after sunset.  It was slack tide and we were easily able to pick up the bow mooring by coming up alongside it and grabbing it from the gate amidships.  We then let the boat drift backwards to what would be the stern mooring and Matt jumped in the dinghy to hook us up to that one.  It all went fairly smoothly and we were soon tied up and ready to help Joe and Carrie get tied up as well. 

Ada Helen

 

Sparkler 3



Pineapple Girl

A few more boats from our yacht club showed up early Friday and once we had everyone tied up, several of us headed to shore to explore.  We quickly divided into the hardcore exercisers who set up on a hard core speed walk all the way around the island and the sightseers who went on a casual stroll to the Garrison on the East end of the island.  We all got back to Ayala Cove about the same time and made plans to meet up on Pineapple Girl for dinner.  Carrie made a fabulous pork tenderloin with Molasses and Coffee barbecue sauce.  We also had all sorts of other fabulous food provided by our guests.  Including us, we had a thirteen for dinner.  It did not prove an unlucky number and everything went great.

We weren't alone on the Island Saturday Night

Saturday the exercising crew once again went on a trip around the island while some others went to the cafe on the island for lunch and to listen to live music.  The live music turned out to be banjo music so we didn't stay too long and were soon back on our boats and playing around in the cove in the fabulous warm weather.  Saturday evening we had appetizers and pot luck dinner on shore and then retired back to the boats fairly early. 

the Brunch Bunch

Sunday morning we met up at the park docks and loaded everyone up on Pineapple Girl to head over to Tiburon for brunch at Sam's Anchor Cafe.  It can be a little difficult to get space on the Sam's docks so we were a little concerned about getting space.  There was room for us when we got there but we could not access the space due to the position another boat was in.  We were ready to give up when the owners of the boat came down and agreed to move it for us so we could get in.  Turned out they recognized our boat as they had also been at Angel Island the night before.  One of them actually recognized the make and model of our boat, which has never happened to us before as there were not a lot of them made.

the boat at Sam's dock

We had a terrific brunch then spent some time shopping in downtown Tiburon before heading back to Angel Island.  We were almost back to the cove when someone suggested we go around the island first.  Since nobody really wanted to go back yet, we all quickly agreed to that suggestion and had a great circumnavigation.  Then we reluctantly headed back in and dropped everyone at the dock then headed back to Coyote Point.

It was one of the best weekends we've ever had at Ayala Cove.  We have led the Coyote Point Cruise there each October for the past several years and this year we had the fewest boats and the best weather we have ever had.  It was really nice to have a small number of boats as that way we were able to have everyone on our boat Friday night and we were able to take everyone to Sam's for brunch.  The weather felt like summer and several people actually went swimming.  It was a great way to end the official cruising season.