Will Gibson's South Pacific Journal

It occurred to me that in my previous post, I paid short shrift to the two sea days following departure. During that time, we traveled at an average speed of 14 nautical miles per hour. In practical terms, we traversed the coasts of Washington and Oregon in 36 hours from embarkation on Wednesday through Friday morning. We cruised the California coast the entire day Friday, arriving in San Francisco just before dawn on Saturday – more on that later.

Once we emerged from the Salish Sea on Wednesday evening, we encountered wide rolling swells of 6 to 9 feet in the Pacific. I forgot to take my sea sickness pills that day, so by the morning of the first sea day, I was queasy. I took the pills first thing after waking up, but the horse was out of the barn, and I was green around the edges most of the day. You really do have to stay ahead of the motion sickness with the medication, so a lesson relearned and I’m passing it along.

Port calls give one an opportunity to discover the seaside cities of the world, but typically only in a glancing manner. And a string of port calls can begin to feel more arduous than rewarding. But Sea days are, to me, truly the joy of cruising. Completely unplugged from digital and electronic media except for this blog), carefree and caressed by the wind, surrounded by nothing but water as far as the eye can see in EVERY direction. BAM, and time stands still, transporting me to other times, other places, other lives. Jason and the Argonauts making legends. Magellan navigating via sextant on the high endless seas. My father working far from home as a merchant marine. The Polynesian people traveling by longboat across vast oceans. As I write this sitting on the far aft of the Seaview deck, I think: how many have shared this visage? Been awed by it? Humbled by it? Inspired by it on fair days? And threatened by it on bad ones? I don’t know the numbers, but their sum is one.

Enough with the prose!

On Saturday, September 30, I was up at 6:30 am and on the top deck by 6:45. The sun was rising, and we were rapidly approaching the Golden Gate bridge. Did the pilot really raise the throttle?? It felt as if we were racing. But no, just adrenaline. Totally thrilling!!

The exit sail at the end of the day was even more thrilling as it was Saturday and the bridge was thronged with pedestrians who waved, hooted and hollered because, well let’s face it, it was a pretty cool event for them to watch us sail under. LOL

My pics and video will never convey the event because the scale of the setting is mammoth!!

On land, I spent most of the morning getting the new Covid booster shot at a Walgreens near the pier (Pier 35 at the Embarcadero). Later, I met up with my friend Shawn for lunch in the North Beach neighborhood. North Beach is an Italian section of San Francisco, and it has many very popular bars, cafes, restaurants and coffee houses, some of which have been there for generations. The clouds had cleared and it had warmed up, so we chose an outside table at Mona Lisa. We shared a Caprese Salad and a generous bowl of fresh morel mushroom ravioli in a KILLER cream sauce. Out-of-the-park delicious yes, but if you ate it often, it most certainly would kill you. LOL

I got back to the pier just before the gangway was pulled.  The Volendam departed promptly at 5:00 for a glorious sail away.  On to San Diego and a play date on Monday with my nephew Richard’s mother-in-law, Colleen.  

Thanks for reading. Be well!!