Monterey is super cute and chill. Picturesque bike ride to some excellent pickleball (shout out to Via Paraiso Park!), great food, solid and much needed manicure … what’s not to love? We spent a few days there, then off to Morro Bay for our first overnight sail. I had been dreading this for obvious reasons, but it was infinitely less terrifying than I had envisioned, The auto pilot was working beautifully thanks to Captain T, and there were no other boats in sight. Bonus: the night wasn’t the pitch black I was expecting thanks to the moon and an abundance of stars. So in the morning, these salty sailors decided to keep going past Morro Bay and head straight to Santa Barbara.. When that wasn’t so bad either, we just kept going like the rock stars we are to our final destination: Ventura. We knew that Point Conception could be gnarly, and since we rounded it at night during a pretty good weather window, we went for it. Two back-to-back all day/night sails and we arrived safe and sound. After topping off our fuel, we took our lucky newbie asses straight to our slip. And with a little (OK, a lot of) guidance from T, I guided us in with no (physical, at least), damage done. Yaaaassss, queen.

Sidebar: I know we’ll primarily be at anchor (or “on the hook” since, you know, we use sailor terminology now), but I’m not ashamed to say that I do not hate a marina. No dinghy to wrestle with for shore excursions, no water or electricity restrictions, nice shower facilities, unlimited wi-fi … Exponentially more expensive, but sooooo worth it.