November 2003
There were terrible forest fires burning as we  sailed down the coast, causing a very dramatic sunrise.
	7:24 am  Betsey missed the whole thing,  keeping George company on his 4 am watch.  It is still cold at night, but getting warmer during the day. We developed a routine of one person on watch, and one person sleeping in the cockpit for the night watches.
Betsey:  There are eight of these oil rigs, off Santa Barbara Channel. Eight of them. I was shocked by this. I tried to imagine how people in Washington State would react to oil rigs off the coast.  We would RESIST.
	A very happy Betsey, watching the waves  come in.  It is finally warm.  It is just now, after about 3 months, that we are relaxing into the cruising life.  We have settled into our routine of locating moorage or anchorage, locating food, water, diesel, laundry facilities.
The Boys are pretty happy, also, as it is finally WARM!  We are going in search of an internet cafe, and then a food market that isn't on a grocery workers strike.
	Belair, Luc's heart throb.  Luc fell in love with this boat, and said it was the only boat he would trade Soul Catcher for.  I doubt the owners would trade.
Soul Catcher has a million dollar view at the end tie in Santa Barbara.  We were so comfortable here, we stayed far longer than we meant to.  The showers were luxurious, the laundry was handy, the view was fabulous.  In any case, fires were still burning in San Diego, making visibility poor to the south.  So we stayed some more.
	A view down State Street.  We gradually came to realize that, in California especially, people who don't have cars, like us, are WEIRD.  It often happened that we would ask directions to one place or another, and mention that we were on foot.  People treated us as if we were vagrants, or poor, or transients. I guess we are transients...
Pelican friends at Stearns Wharf. At first we thought they looked prehistoric and bizarre, but soon they were friendly additions to the landscape. Now we think they are beautiful.
	Paul Allen's new and lovely motor vessel Tatoosh, anchored just off the breakwater at Santa Barbara Marina.  Note the J boat nestled snugly amidships on Tatoosh.  There is a motor launch in the same place on the starboard side.  Santa Barbara Community College is on the hill in the Background.