We had a nice stay in Ventura. We left there yesterday morning and headed for Santa Barbara in the fog and mist. Our radar is working well; we’re getting used to reading it and the new chart plotter is great.

It was a very calm day, but we managed to motor sail. In the distance we saw some whales jumping completely out of the water! They were too far away to see what kind they might be. We passed through a couple of pods of dolphins and I got a good photo of them playing in our bow wave. We also saw several sunfish, which are really strange prehistoric looking things.

Santa Barbara is really lovely and we are tied up at the public docks. Yesterday we did some laundry here at the marina laundry facility. Today we broke out the bikes and rode to Trader Joe’s to stock up on essentials, about 4 miles round trip, mostly in really nice bike lanes.

For the next couple of days there is a calm weather window, so we are taking the opportunity to get around Point Conception. We spent today making food to have on hand, checking the engine fluids, and doing general cleanup in order to be ready for a very long day tomorrow. We plan to leave in the wee hours of the morning.