Hanging out in Morro Bay

October 18th - November 10th 2009

Sailing by Morro Rock

Morro Bay 

We arrived at Morro Bay in calm weather and entered the harbour with no problems. ( If it is really rough or blowing the bar crossing can sometimes be a little intimidating!) A sea otter was hanging out in the entrance, they are so cute with their little whiskers.  

A bit about Morro Rock

Morro rock is a volcanic plug and one of 12 in the area. A volcanic plug is created when the magma cools in the shaft.  The surrounding rock is gradually eroded away and the hard plug remains.  It was first named in 1542 by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo  and became a common stop for the Spanish galleons.  It was first claimed for Spain.  The first recorded settlement was in 1864 by the Riley family. In the 1870's schooners filled the  harbour as sea transport was the only was to transport the farm goods from the surrounding ranches. At this time you could enter the harbour on the North or South side of the rock but it had a reputation for being a difficult entry through the surf. In the 1900's the area started to expand and they began to quarry Morro rock.  in 1933 they began using the rock to close off the north entrance and build a jetty.  The south channel was dredged and a breakwater constructed to protect the entry.  Commercial fishing boats filled the harbour and Morro Bay began to grow.  A power plant was built , bringing more work and more people.  The power plant is now closed but the 3 - 450ft towers still stand.  In 1968 Morro Rock was declared a State historical Landmark and it is now a sancturary for numerous sea birds and peregrine falcons.  (info from Morro Bay tourist info & brochure)

School included (aside from Math and Language Arts) a history of Morro Bay and a study of ocean waves, tides and currents.  It is cool to look at swells and think that the water isn't really  moving, its the energy passing through. When the waves get close to shore they slow down and get higher (surf). These are our favourite type of waves for playing on the beach!! While we were at Morro Bay there was a full moon and we could see the direct impact on the size of the tides. 

Hanging out in Morro Bay

 We anchored in the North end of the bay for a week before moving to a floating dock. The wind really blew (60knots!) so we were happy to be tied up.  The deep channel is quite narrow and right next to the anchorage it gets really shallow fast. We've seen a couple of boats anchor just a little too close to the sand bar and find themselves aground at the low tide. 

Our time in Morro Bay was spent hiking, sailing the dinghy and boogie boarding on the outside beaches.  There are really strong tidal currents in the bay so you learn pretty quickly to get in the dinghy and start rowing hard! It also made sailing a bit crazy if there wasn't enough wind to overcome the current.  Charlie got the outboard running and built a floor for the inflatable dinghy so we had an extra dinghy for exploring.  

Chris and the new outboard!

We spent most afternoons on the outer beaches, there were lots of dead things to look at. One day Steff counted 4 dead sea lions and one on its way! The vultures give them away as they circle above or feed greedily in groups.  It was interesting to watch them decay as the tide moved them further up the beach and the various animals and birds all seemed to take their little tastes. In no time at all there was very little left to identify.

There were plenty of sea birds - seagulls, plovers, long-billed curlews, pelicans and cormorants. The pelicans make a terrific noise as they dive and splash beside the boat! At night, the sea lions would start up with their chorus of barking which seemed to last until dawn. The next morning you'd see them lounging on the docks, resting up for another night of noisy barking!

Dinghy adventures in Azul

We named the dinghy 'Azul' - blue in spanish.  It was great sailing in the harbour. One very windy day Emily and Chris were rescued by the harbour patrol. They tipped over and were having trouble getting upright. They would just get the dinghy up and over it would go again as it filled with water. Oops forgot the bailing bucket! The harbour patrol were watching and finally went over to help them up and drop them back at the boat. They gave the kids points for lifejackets, tenacity and general good attitude! Em and Chris still claim they would have been just fine without help. 

It was nice to do lots of shore things and just hang out for a few weeks.  Russell came to visit and took the kids on a great tour of Cal Poly. It is a college nearby and the kids came back excited about school in a new way - they definitely have better toys at college!

Morro Bay has a great book shop so we found some new reading material and traded in some old favourites.  We all went to see 'Where the Wild Things Are' in the local theatre - there were about 10 people in the whole theatre.  We all agreed it wasn't really a little kid show but it was good.  Chris and Charlie also took in the Hot Rod Car Show in Cayoucoos. We visited San Louis Obispo for Emily's 14th birthday. (It's about a 45 minute bus ride from Morro Bay)

It is hard to believe we've stayed here this long! Just as we got ready to go the weather turned and some big seas (19-20ft) were predicted so we decided to stay put for another couple of days.