We arrived in Santa Barbara harbor on January 19. On January 20, we had a wonderful time exploring the old, historic part of Santa Barbara, which is within easy walking distance of the harbor. We first visited the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum and enjoyed learning about the history of the Chumash Indians, the Spaniards, the Mexicans, and other settlers. The museum had some interesting exhibits that portrayed the evolution of the local economy from fishing, hunting and gathering, to cattle ranching, whaling, fishing, diving and oil drilling. We also did a self-guided walking tour of the oldest parts of Santa Barbara and saw the Casa de la Guerra, the remnants of the old Presidio, and the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. The museum had some beautiful paintings of early California and early Santa Barbara. We also visited the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, pictured below.
On the way home, we stopped outside an open-air bar to watch the NFL Conference Championship game between the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs. We loved hearing all the cheers and gasps from the fans around us. The Pats won in overtime in a very exciting game and qualified for the Super Bowl. Then we went back to the boat and watched a total lunar eclipse rise above the Santa Ynez Mountains and the ocean.
On January 21, we continued to explore Santa Barbara. We enjoyed the sunny, warm weather, and the peaceful beauty of the harbor. In the morning, Nina took a long walk along the harbor breakwater and watched the sea birds, dolphins, sailboats and surfers. For fun, we also visited the Santa Barbara Roasting Company, a coffee shop that our friend, Chris, had recommended to us.
Later that day, we realized that the water coming out of our faucet in the galley sink had slowed to a trickle. We had replaced the main water filter with a new filter just three days before, and it was already clogged! We checked the preliminary filter, which is a metal screen, and discovered that it was full of grit and green stuff. We had been planning to sail to Santa Cruz Island the next day, but decided to clean out our water tank instead.
One definition of cruising on a sailboat: Sail to beautiful places and work on your boat. 😉
On January 22, we spent most of the day cleaning out the water tank. We were pleased to see how sturdy and well-built our water tank was.  We started the task by removing the aluminum covers to the ports to access the water tank. This took longer than expected because the bolts fastening the aluminum covers were corroded, but Robert persisted and eventually got them off so that we could look inside. Overall we were happy with the condition of the tank.  There was some brown green slime, but basically the tank was pretty clean.  We set to work scrubbing out the tank.  To reach the corners of the tank required true boat yoga!  Nina also took a break from the cleaning to have lunch with her dear friend Lauren. We continued working on the tank until late into the night and went to bed at 2 AM.Â
On January 23, we continued cleaning the tank until we finished around mid-day. Nina walked about two miles to a grocery store to purchase provisions, while Robert replaced the main water filter in the engine room, and one of the hoses for the freshwater foot pump located at the galley sink. Just as Robert was cleaning up, he threw a bag of line into the cockpit locker. The bag landed on the fire extinguisher and sprayed fire extinguisher dust all over the cockpit locker!
In the evening there was another beautiful full moon. Nina took a walk along the breakwater. She stood on the breakwater, looking at the moon rising over the Santa Ynez Mountains with the moonlight reflected in the waters of the bay. She could feel the surge of the ocean to her right, and the peacefulness of the water in the harbor to her left.
On January 24, Robert and Nina spent the day cleaning out the cockpit locker of all the fine white dust from the fire extinguisher. We pulled everything out of the cockpit locker and cleaned and vacuumed the locker all the way down to the second level. We also cleaned the water tank cleaning supplies by hosing them on the deck. We used this as an opportunity to repack the cockpit locker. At the end of the day, we were pretty happy with how the cockpit locker looked, but it was a long day and we finished as the sun was setting.
Even though we were working hard, we loved staying in Santa Barbara Harbor. The weather was sunny and mild getting up into the 60s and 70s during the day. The view of the Santa Ynez Mountains was uplifting. And it was wonderful to have the ocean beside us just on the other side of the breakwater. The place was so beautiful and peaceful.
On January 25, Nina rented a car and drove from Santa Barbara up to Redwood City to attend her friend Kate’s birthday party. It was an absolutely beautiful drive. The mountains, hills and valleys were bright green from all the rain. Kate’s party was a blast, and included some heartwarming toasts and wonderful dancing.
The next morning, Nina rose very early and drove back to Santa Barbara. While Nina was gone, Robert did some consulting work for a client. After Nina returned, we walked back to the Santa Barbara Roasting Company to get on Wi-fi and then went out for tacos. At our favorite little taco shop, we ran into our friend Marty, who is a friend of ours from Strawberry Music Festival. What a small world! It was really fun to see him.
On the way to the cafe we loved listening to the Santa Barbara Ukulele Club!