I take back all the nice things I ever said about Half Moon Bay. I’m honestly not sure how anyone lives there. I spent the entire night listening to a fog horn go off every ten seconds, with the occasional harmony and accompaniment from sea lions and a colony of a million frogs. I tried ear plugs, and music, and an episode of the Radiolab podcast. Then I tried convincing myself that I didn’t mind listening to it. I love fog horns! I tried to think of dreams I could have in which an incessant horn would make sense so I could force myself into it. No such luck. 

I was awake when the alarm went off at five this morning and I’d like to congratulate myself on how uncharacteristically chipper I was. And by chipper I mean not crabby. It’s as good as it’s gonna get. We were under way before dawn and I was totally fine with it as long as we would be leaving the fog horn behind us. 

Our initial plan was to hop all the way down to Monterey, but we wanted a shorter distance to cover that would allow us to feel less of a time crunch. Coming into a new harbor at night is stressful, and quite frankly, terrifying. Tonight, the anchor is set in Santa Cruz right next to a small amusement park. It’s adorable and reminds me of Kiddie Land in Melrose Park- I spent a lot of hours begging people to take me there. This place is not open and I’m pretty bummed. I mean, not really. Because I showered instead, and shower days are great days. 

Today’s transit actually involved some sailing. Our top speed of the day was 7.9 knots over ground. Racing. Boat. We saw five whales and now I expect to see one every few hours. You guys, they were so close. One of them was within  50 yards. While we watched it swim by, Craig and I almost fell out of the boat trying to be quiet while being super excited.  Silent screaming is a thing and we were doing that while jumping without letting our feet leave the deck. We are nothing if we are not excited about large marine mammals. 

Not many photos for the day except this one. Of me. In red. Sneaky political post! If you thought I was going to let today pass without talking about International Women’s Day, then you’ve got another thing coming! I may not have a current job to stay home from, but I sure as hell would have. I’ve been under paid and under appreciated. I’ve had to tell male co-workers my ideas to bring up in meetings so instead of getting shot down, they’re praised as thoughtful, outside the box, and just what was needed! I’ve been to and counted on Planned Parenthood when I didn’t have insurance and I didn’t want babies. I am tired of old white guys deciding what I’m allowed to do with my body. I’m tired of guys deciding what they’re allowed to do to women’s bodies. I’m tired of being told that I just have to be the pretty one on the boat because Craig is the man on board. I’m a white woman so I’ve got it better than women of color and trans women. And if you honestly think any of us don’t experience sexism, take the time to ask us… But then make sure you listen instead of interrupting us to mansplain it all.  (Shout out to Caryn for summing a lot of that up in her post earlier today!) 

I’m a woman and I’m not fucking sorry for that unless I have cramps. Then I hate it.