Day 8: Little Scorpion, Santa Cruz Island to Two Harbors, Catalina Island
12/30/2017
Little Scorpion, Santa Cruz Island To Isthmus Cove, Two Harbors, Catalina Island
64 nm | 18.5 hours | Sail / Motorsail
I awoke with the sun as usual and after getting some coffee in me I launched my drone to get some footage of the stunning setting that I was surrounded by. The fog lingered over the hills and the morning light blanked everything that with a warm light that felt more like a movie that real life.
Taking the morning slow I did my “chores” of transferring all of my footage, recording my podcast for this anchorage, doing the dishes, topping off my fuel and checking the oil and preparing to depart in the early afternoon.
I hauled up the anchor at 1 pm and motored around Little Scorpion in an attempt to recalibrate my Raymarine St2000+ Auto Tiller. It continued to not hold a course and force out hard to starboard.
Once I motored out of the anchorage I was able to sail right away and turn off the engine. A large fog bank, which I had hoped, was simply the mornings marine layer loomed in the East just past San Pedro Point and completely shrouded Anacapa Island. I had intended on sailing down the North side of Anacapa to get a look at her light house and see that side of the island but with the fog I decided to just turn south through the Anacapa Passage and make my way towards Two Harbors on a course of 124°.
I sailed through the fog at about 2 to 3 knots and saw or heard several small fishing boats but everyone was being safe and keeping their speed down. I do not have radar on the boat so aside from m AIS I was basically sailing blind and just keeping my distance from the shipping channels.
At around 4 pm the sun made an appearance for a brief time lighting up Anacapa whom was creeping out of the fog and blanketing Triteia it the most beautiful magic hour light. As I sailed in silence and surrounded by beauty my heart felt as if it would explode.
Anacapa looked like Kong Island and I look forward to the day I get to explore that wild and rugged place.
As night set in the fog returned. My wind put itself to bed and I started the engine and sat down with the Raymarine Autotiller manual determined to get it working. After pouring over the book I found a section that explained how to switch the Autotiller from being configured for Port side to Starboard side. Currently it was set up for being mounted on the Port side, which is where it is installed on the boat and it shows the correct degree heading in relation to the compass. I decided to try and switch the settings to Starboard side just to see if it made a difference, now the settings show the exact opposite degree heading on the display. To my confusion and delight it worked! It held course and worked perfectly and the only problem was that the display reading is wrong and that when you make adjustments to port/starboard they are the opposite as well, but this is a very small inconvenience and having the Autotiller made my life 1000 times easier!
I have decided to name my Autotiller HAL 2000.
From 10pm – 4am I slept in 20-minute naps on the deck (with my AIS alarm set).
I got up at 4:30am and made breakfast and was grateful how easy this passage was compared to the push north. I could see Catalina’s West end Light by now and soon I could see Shiprock’s light in the distance, which marks the entrance to Two Harbors.
The final sunrise of 2017 did not disappoint. An incredible show of brilliant pink made its entrance and slowly faded into the morning. On my port beam was a very stoic looking Shiprock standing guard.
I motored into the cove at 7:30 am and was amazed at how empty the anchorage was. Assigned to mooring Kilo 4, I tied up and got the boat in order and prepared to start my day.
- Sailor James
POSITION LOG:
13:00 – 34°02' 80" N | Departed
119°32' 76" W
00:00 – 33°44' 89" N | Midnight Position
118°58' 06" W |
06:00 – 33°30' 59" N | Six AM position
118°33' 78" W |
07:30 – 33°26' 53" N | Tied up to K4 Mooring
118°29' 81" W | at Two Harbors, Isthmus Cove
- Heavy Fog until sunset
- Autotiller worked out (on reverse settings)
- Engine did great
- Fog throughout the night
- Dolphins throughout the night
- Easy peaceful passage