Crescent City CA

Date: 9/24/2008
Location: Crescent City CA
Lat/Lon: 41°44.929'N 124° 11.010'W
Weather: fog this morning, sunny afternoon, calm winds

A pleasant cruise down from Brookings to Crescent City, calm winds, near flat seas, and fog. We had no more than 1/2 mile visibility for most of the trip and could not see any of Point St. George just north of Crescent City that has large rocks extending out 6 miles offshore.

We were in Crescent City in November of 2006 for 3 weeks waiting for good weather when we brought the boat north from Dana Point. We had bought the boat in October and had difficulty finding an insurance company to cover us for the trip north. Insurance in southern CA, no problem. Coverage in WA, no problem. Coverage for the trip up the coast in November, no way! We finally found a company through an agent in Seattle that was willing to issue a policy for the trip as long as we hired a delivery captain and one crew member, in addition to myself, to make the trip. They had to pre-approve the resume of the captain and mate and be informed when we were underway and when we were in port. As it turned out it was an uneventful trip expect for waiting in Crescent City for 3 weeks.

The port here is almost all commercial fishing and crabbing boats, but it seems very quiet compared to Ilwaco and Coos Bay commercial fleets. There is some activity on the boats but most are just sitting idle waiting for the crab season to open after Thanksgiving. We seem to be the only pleasure boat here at this time. We're spending our time working on a broken VacuFlush head and walking the mile into the shopping district and getting some groceries. Maybe we'll catch a movie while we're in town.

Our next stop is Eureka on Humboldt Bay. The bar entrance can be treacherous and should only be crossed during flood tides. For the next week flood only occurs in the mornings, so we plan on leaving here Saturday or Sunday in the late afternoon and arrive in Eureka in the early morning on the flood. Another overnighter but we'll arrive in daylight this time. Linda's starting to really like these night runs.