Category: Hiking

Sunday May 13 2018

Bodega Bay To Fort Brag (Noyo Harbor)

Trip Distance 83 nm

This leg of the trip is the first of one of the longer legs so we decided to leave at 05:00 in the dark from Spud Point Marina.  We had our track into  Bodega Bay on OpenCpn which I could follow on the way out.  Murphy’s law hit and our hand held search light went out when we cleared the marina and in the dark went slightly past “R”34 marker and ran aground.  Luckily we were going slow and I was able to back off and get off the ground but it was a bit exciting since could see nothing.  Patty was a real sport and stood on the bow trying to use a flash light to find the markers on the rest of the way out.

Calm flat seas today and we rounded Point Arena with no problems but did have to dodge a lot  of crab pots.  On night trips we cannot see the pots so we keep outside at least the 300’ depth line where the water is usually too deep for pots.  On the way we have noticed pots out too 270’.

Arrived at Fort Bragg (Noyo Harbor) at 13:30 in good shape.

This harbor is for smaller size boats and we fit in but with some effort.

Noyo Harbor is another fishing working harbor, like Spud Point Marina, where not many pleasure boats visit.   Many of the nice older classic wooden fishing boats as well as newer steel hulled ones were in the harbor.

There is not much to do at Noyo Harbor but there is a nice stretch of grass in front of the marine for the dogs to play with the chuck it.

Monday May 14 2018

Monday morning we took a hike out the front of the marina and out to US 101 to the Pomo Bluffs park that is on the ocean on the south side of the entrance to the harbor.  On the way back we stopped at the Harvest Market which is a high end very nice market just outside the marina.

Trip Length 52 Nm, Approximate trip time 6 hours

Saturday morning we got out at 7:00am bound for Bodega Bay for the first leg of trip up coast to the PNW.

Nice day but not perfect conditions with the forecast for 10-20 kt winds with wind waves 3-5 ft and NW swell at 4-6 ft.  Did notice buoy data at Station 46214 – Point Reyes showed wave hights of 14’ but this station is quite a ways out from Point Reyes at 21 nm and should die down a bit by the time we got there.  Made the decision to go since things should be improving later in day according to grib data from Predictwind.

Here is the NOAA forecast that morning:

12NM SW San Francisco CA

Marine Zone Forecast

May 12 NOAA Forecast

NW winds 10 to 20 kt…with gusts to 25 kt this morning. Winds becoming SW 10 to 20 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft. NW swell 4 to 6 ft at 12 seconds. Patchy fog in the afternoon.

Due to swell from NW it was almost too much to take short cut, not use the shipping channel through Bonita Channel but turned out OK to cut across.  Did hit some good wave though cutting through.

When coming across Point Reyes the 3 to 5 ft NW swell was easily 10-14 feet and we pitched heavily until we rounded point and headed toward Bodega Bay which took the waves off our nose and more on our beam which the stabilizers took care of.  Hollie looked a bit sea sick, sea dog Terra just got a little wide eyed.  Patty took a meclizine sea sickness pill at this point, I had taken one at Bonita channel crossing.

The winds clocked around to the SW which helped push us to 9-10 knot speed for final leg in too Bodega Bay Spud Point Marina when we docked at end of C dock at 1:30pm.

Spud point is mostly a working fishing boat marina with many very nice old wooden fishing boats.

Week end guy at Spud Point Marina was very nice and too good care of us.  If no one in office just look for a guy/girl in a blue uniform and ask to check in.

That afternoon for Lunch we got white clam chowder st the Spud Point Crab Co across from the Spud Point Marina office, amazing stuff.  We went back the next day for another bowl each it was so good.

Saturday May 12

Got going on our hike for the day walking down the back road just outside the main road circling the North end of Bodega Bay to go in too town across the bay on the east side from marina.  Plan was to walk to town and then do a dune walk on the way back.

We passed the other small marina and bay side RV Park on the way.  RV park has small spaces and looks like it used mostly by people fishing.

On the way back via the same route we cut through the Bodega Bay camp ground in the woods too find a path to the dunes to the west.  Really nice looking camp ground for an RV or camper.