South California...we expect the worst but what we are going to see is opposite:

The coastline between Port san Luis n Santa Barbara is one of the wildest we sailed.

Down the coast, citizens are far to be the poorest in the world and money talks, but the californian are really a step ahead of us in matter of ecology...

Respect of reserved zones,  strict rules regarding waste reject n overfishing, general awarness of the global warming...all of that give tremendous results; We can find a lot of life along the shore, including near cities,  some happy fishers living from their job, even clearwater at entrance of  huge boats refuge like NEWPORT where rental fleet use mostly full electric boats etc etc...

Another paradox, arriving to Santa Barbara: a strong petrol smell...we immediatly accuse the numerous offshore rigs, but this smell and the sometimes oily watersurface are "natural"  here from thousands of years;  the first nations people used the residus on the beach to give waterproofness to their canoes...Knowing that; may be strange, but the smell is different !

From now , we begin to focus on ALCYONE maintenance before leaving to Mexico this winter...we ll stop a week in SANTA BARBARA n 3 weeks in SAN DIEGO  with some day'visit in LONG BEACH, MARINA DEL RAY n NEWPORT.

We ll always find solution to anchor as the quasi permanent very slight NW allows to stay out of the costly marinas and harbours. Night sailing is a partial way to cut the engine, but only partial !

SAN DIEGO: The climate, the harbour, the Navy...this place is very active; Any non US cruiser with a boat in good condition can stop a few weeks in "A9" anchorage area. This is free but she must pass an inspection with the authorities...ALCYONE do it: she need a  maintenance pause to prepare the next tropical cruise in MEXICO. All facilities are a dinghy ride away but the public docks are crowded with many wrecks rigid tenders.  After many unsuccessfull tries we met SEAN, the young manager of SUN HARBOUR MARINA. He find a small spot for our dinghy, closed to all the facilitiesof SHELTER ISLAND. This small marina (100 berths) is "LEED" (

Leader in ecology n environmental design): B

uilt with recycle materials in a cute mediterranean style, all the management push as far as possible this LEED concept.

A9 anchorage, in the heart of active SAN DIEGO is not a dead place: Navy helicopters, coastguards speed boats, jetskis,  planes from the adjacent n quasi downtown international airport and above all the thunder of the navy jets taking off from CORONADO base...

Namibie in south Africa ?....no...this is the wild sandy coast of Punta Sal...

...this west coast with a cold current produce the same  conditions...

...and also wild life: we saw already many '"food frenesia"...

...but this one is much more impressive with the splashes of dozens of powerfull sea lions...

...birds just scavenging some pieces left by the excited mammals...

....this red creature in the mouth of this sea lion is responsable...fish ? squid ?

...3 miles away from the coast, hard to consider these sea lions as the kind of "pets"we saw in harbours up to now...

Sunrise with a strong -but fully natural- smell of petrol...we are not far from SANTA BARBARA

S.BARBARA: Smart welcome of the harbour staff, top organisation mixing clean dinghy dock n active fishing fleet...

West Marine on the dock: good to switch our 400 lbs batteries

ALCYONE in marina for 1 day: She deserve a strong rinse after a bumpy n dirty Santa Ana offshore wind party...

Ryan fight a lot to fill our metric bottle with CO2 !

SANTA BARBARA: The huge n famous beach under a quasi permament the sun all the year !

...a long pier with restaurants as on many cities of the west coast ...

...but a clever game possible from this one: a local bum encourage pier's pedestrians to throw coins in his buckets...

SANTA BARBARA is also the place of the famous spanish mission...

...a delicious "home feeling" for a latin european visitor...

...already charmed by white neo colonial buildings in a clean tropical garden,

A short drive on the "Highway 1" between the dry mountain n the surf...

...n we arrive in windy VENTURA: A good time as Halloween is  very soon...

...Halloween  is also the birthday of Helena...

Last restaurant in SANTA BARBARA: The week of maintenance in this luxury spot is over and it's  time to leave !

31th october on a night sailing : fire in VENTURA...

...the most impressive was the unbelievable noise of the fire fighting planes in the black...

Whales like the tween hulls of ALCYONE, when she is under sail...

...these modern cathedrals are a part of south Californian offshore...

This small island is the closest anchorage to visit  LONG BEACH

as a flag ship of the harbour,  old  british"Queen Mary"still gives permanent stylish lesson to modern cruisers...

as our more beautifull cruiser"FRANCE" was scrapped in India a long time ago...

but french citizen are specialized in king's murdering... Will present courageous Emmanuel MACRON survive ?

A few miles south: NEWPORT shows one of the highest  concentration of pleasure boats in the world...

...but propose a real well maintained garden to any visitor...

...including beaches n swimming area inside the harbour...

...yes Californian can be proud...we have to learn from you on this matter !

One explanation...but the first is that in AMERICA each one respect the rules...

...at least human beings...these larger rights given to animal kingdom  are not everywhere appreciated...

...n each one try his own method to protect his boat with diverse results...

but they never do it a bad way for the wild life. ..

On shore CALIFORNIA does'nt show the poorest side of America with many good spots, and age helping,

... these alternatives to the on board dinners are more n more appreciated...

as walking around the clean streets where pedestrian get more space n right than in the past.

SAN DIEGO, a few miles more south offer an incredible XXXL playground...

Training for the US NAVY...you better move with a radar during  some SAN DIEGO's foggy mornings...

Many smiling teams play around on the water...

Cat's Inspection in Shelter island: we met here the nicest policeman ever...

...before anchoring in free "A9 zone"...the heart of the bay...n activity

This is home of the NAVY and the maritime museum: as any cruise ship passenger, we visit the WW2 MIDWAY...

...the legendary n still sailing AMERICA schooner, and behind her , an incredible replica of the SAN SALVADOR, the vessel CABRILLO sailed to discover SAN DIEGO almost 500 years ago (1554)

this museum is the only one we visited in the town, but we never saw better in the world as the ships are in real size !

as this 3 mast "STAR OF INDIA", but also a 18th century warship, cold war submarines ...

...a long dinghy run gives the scale of this immense water area almost joining the mexican border...

...and here also despite the activity,   some sea lions can be spotted....

Public dinghy docks are pretty crowded as this one...

..we park our dinghy in lovely SUN HARBOUR MARINA (LEED...Leadership in Energy n Environmental Design)..

... closed to one of the largest store of WEST MARINE...God save this venerable cruiser's institution as without stock n sharp advices  on the spot (wich is not true in this store ! ) how to fight against AMAZON ?

Still a good hull brushing party, and ALCYONE, full n maintained  is ready to move to MEXICO !