A Day On The Bay

Almost 18 years ago Terry and I honeymooned in Morro Bay, California and fell in love with the charming small town on California’s Central Coast. So on our trip south from Oregon we built time into our schedule for another visit.

The town takes its name from 581 foot tall Morro Rock, the imposing monolith that stands guard at the entrance to the bay. The rock is a volcanic plug millions of years old, and today it is a bird sanctuary and home to a number of peregrine falcons.

This is going to be the cover of the first book of a new RV-based mystery series I’m planning. The boat has an interesting history. It was built in Russia and brought to San Francisco for a big race, but right after it arrived the US and the Soviets got in a pissing match, so they pulled out and abandoned the boat. The US government seized it, sold it at auction, and the new owner converted it to live aboard full time.

We spent several hours wandering around the Embarcadero, the street that parallels the waterfront, poking our heads into the different shops and checking out the goodies for sale.

This shop sells seashells from around the world and some of them are amazing.

Along the way we bumped into our pals Tom and Barbara Westerfield.

They told us they were on their way to take a late afternoon 50 minute tour of the harbor with Captain Stew’s Bay Cruise and we decided to tag along. I’m glad we did because we got a completely different perspective seeing everything from the water.

Captain Stewart Hamby is an excellent tour guide and told us about the history of the community, the wildlife that live in the bay, and the stories of some of the working and pleasure boats that call Morro Bay home.

These sea lions hang out on a floating platform in the middle of the bay, living the good life.

Miss Terry got a lot of great pictures, including this otter, which seems to be floating in a sea of stars.

Just like a lot of people live fulltime in RVs, there are those who make their homes on boats. Some wander up and down the coast, and others stay right there in Morro Bay. Captain Stew said that it costs $300 a month for one of these moorages, with no hookups, though they can take the boat to a free pump out dock on the shore to empty their holding tanks. Most of the boats have generators, and quite a few of them also had solar panels. I think I prefer living in a house on wheels instead of a house on the water. At least if I ever decide to go sleepwalking I probably won’t drown.

We really enjoyed our day in Morro Bay and there is a lot more to see and do in this area but I think today we are just going to hang around home. I’ve got a couple of things I would like Barbara to help me with on my computer, and we need a day to just relax and take it easy.

Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing for an audiobook of Mountain Angel, the first book in Suzie O’Connell’s Northstar Romances series. To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn this evening.

Thought For The Day – Stand up to bullies. You’ll only have to do it once.

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