Friday morning was beautiful and our excitement level high ... our second island weekend cruise of the season! Destination ... Little Scorpion Cove located at the northeast end of Santa Cruz Island.

      We pulled away from our dock at 9:30 a.m. Having borrowed a friend's dinghy (recall our's was lost last trip out), we headed out to the main channel with dinghy in tow. At the harbor's entrance, we headed northwest at a course of 300 degrees. The wind was beginning to pick up and the sea beginning to show white caps. Conditions promised us a nice sail over to the islands!

      We reached north of the Ventura County Fairgrounds in a couple of hours and then turned left to head out to the islands. We calculated this turning point to give us a good reach sail without losing our destined mark. On the way, we saw Larry, Moe and Curly again with some of their friends. They didn't have time to play this time because they were too busy feeding. A beautiful site watching dolphins work together to corral their catch of the day. The wind was out of the west northwest and was blowing about 18 knots. With Jennifer at the helm, I was freed to take some video footage of the sail.

      At about 2:30 p.m., the wind kicked up to about 20 knots and the swells reached 4-5 feet. Our borrowed dinghy was taking on water fast over her freeboard and before too long we were towing a small swimming pool! Egad ... something had to be done. Our speed was dropping and it was not a safe, or fun, way to sail. With Jennifer's adept helmsmanship, I was able to pull the dinghy up to the Ericson's transom and haul its bow out, which in turn, drained the dinghy as we continued on pace. With the dinghy now empty, we regained our 6 knots of speed and continued making our way over to the islands.

      At about 4 p.m., we reached the cove. Only one boat was there and it looked as though we were going to have this place, virtually, to ourselves. Little Scorpion is quite a bit larger than Albert's and more open. Since normally the first boat there sets the anchoring procedure ... whether to set 1 or 2 anchors, we approached our neighbor and saw he was swinging on 1 anchor. We therefore decided to set only our bow anchor and swing along with him. Finding a nice spot in about 25 feet of water, with Jennifer still at the helm, I dropped anchor. The wind and current were strong and pushed the boat back, allowing the anchor to grab tight in the sandy bottom. Letting out some 185 feet of rode and chain, we safely had a 7-1 scope. We were now ready to fire up the BBQ for those hamburgers we both were thinking about.

      The next morning, Saturday, we woke up to drizzle and overcast skies. Throughout the morning, we saw more sail boats arrive ... 9 in all. Apparently, not all sailors are of the fair weather kind! While watching the boats come in, Jennifer and I put up our canopy to shelter the cockpit from all the drizzle. However, by the time we got it up, the sky cleared and it turned out to be a gorgeous day. Oh well, at least the canopy looked good!

      We spent the day lazily doing nothing until 3 p.m. when Jennifer and I decided to explore all the caves which dotted the shore of this cove. With both cameras on board, Jennifer rowed us around to each of the caves. They were breathtaking with some of them extending completely through the mainland of the island offering us tunnel vision ... so to speak.

      Following our cove tour, we came back as it was time to start the BBQ and put the beef on. Ah, the life of a sailor!
      As night fell, the almost full moon, rose high in the clear sky. Very romantic!!

      By 10 a.m. Sunday, we were ready to haul anchor and set sail for home. However, the wind and current had already kicked up, making our job of hauling anchor a bit more difficult. We had to pull in some 185 feet of rode and chain with the wind and current pushing the boat against our efforts. We then began using the mast winch to crank in the rode, making the task a bit easier. Our next boat will definetely have a windlass. After about 45 minutes or so, we had the anchor properly stowed and Jennifer had us on a course for home. With the wind at about 18 knots and strong following seas, we made good time and got back to dock safe and sound.