A special thank you to Casey and the Santa Cruz Yacht Club for hosting Sampaguita, and a shout out to Roland Nikles, the president of the Port Townsend Sailing Association, for helping to facilitate it.

I had an excellent visit with a couple bandmates of the past in Santa Cruz and made a new acquaintance too.

Also, thanks to Commodore Jeff at the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club for hosting Sampaguita in Monterey. Her crew even got a hot shower and a shave. The mirror was bigger than Sampaguita’s galley! I also must thank Jeff Brantley, also of the PTSA, for helping to make this happen. I couldn’t have done it without him.

A few more observations:

Cruisers on a budget, take note. Hooray for Trader Joe’s. If you think they are an expensive boutique store, they are not. In fact, I just paid the same price for goods in Monterey, CA as I paid in Seattle, WA. Not true for a Safeway, for example. In fact, most everything in California costs more. Except Trader Joe’s. Yes, I am having sesame chicken for lunch.

Whales. Landlubbers often ask, “Do you see whales?” Does a dairy farmer see cows? All day, every day. You will not convince me that humpback whales are endangered. Of course, I am traveling along their migration route. The thing that concerns me most everyday, is having a close encounter with a whale. I am not a whale chaser. I even feel at times, they chase me. I’m not big on regulation, but I think there should be a law requiring whales to stay 500 yards from any Flicka 20. I see them twice Sampaguita’s size often. They do what they want. I will regularly vocalize, “STAY AWAY.” Naturally, as both human and whale populations expand, there will be more instances of close encounters.

Just sayin’.