We made it up to the Santa Barbara Mission. It was established in 1786 by Franciscan monks so it has been there for a long time. They still use the chapel for services. The grounds of the mission were very impressive and the view from the front of the mission was outstanding, it was up on the hillside and you could see the whole waterfront, an amazing spot. I was glad we went to visit and was particularly struck by the graveyard. It was the first time I had seen a mausoleum, where all the bodies are stacked up inside a building, oh Ilie, I probably saw one when we were in England but I have forgotten about it. The art that was done by the aboriginal people's when they were living around the mission was quite striking, all the handmade dies and the very intricate designs. Last night we went to the Santa Barbara Yacht Club and watched the Wednesday night races. What a lovely setting for a club, right on the water and the view of the beach from three sides of the building was spectacular. We watched a catamaran try and right itself for about 1/2 an hour, it was right in the middle of the racers and some had to move off their chosen path to go around
it. The way they finally got up was some boat went over and sailed very close to wind ward to the cat and then in the lee of the sailboat the cat popped up and sailed away. Oh, by the way most people I have talked politics with out here with figure ARNIE is doing a pretty good job. One guy told us he does a lot of business in his cigar tent which he put up on the legislature grounds shortly after becoming governor. We headed back to the Channel Islands today. We had a great sail, about 20miles across the Santa Barbara Channel to Santa Cruz Island, and went to our chosen anchorage. It was called Diablo Anchorage and for good reason. The wind howled like the devil through there. There wasn't much swinging room and once the anchor had set we were uncomfortably close to these nasty looking rocks. Sooo, we hauled anchor and got the heck out of there and headed off to another anchorage about 12 miles away. This one is much more to our liking, but it is starting to roll a bit in here. If the anchor decides to let go during the night (which it won't) we have about 20 miles of room before we would hit anything so that is a very comforting thought. There is a lovely full moon out there tonight and it is lighting up the sea and the island, everything is bathed in this luminous glow.
it. The way they finally got up was some boat went over and sailed very close to wind ward to the cat and then in the lee of the sailboat the cat popped up and sailed away. Oh, by the way most people I have talked politics with out here with figure ARNIE is doing a pretty good job. One guy told us he does a lot of business in his cigar tent which he put up on the legislature grounds shortly after becoming governor. We headed back to the Channel Islands today. We had a great sail, about 20miles across the Santa Barbara Channel to Santa Cruz Island, and went to our chosen anchorage. It was called Diablo Anchorage and for good reason. The wind howled like the devil through there. There wasn't much swinging room and once the anchor had set we were uncomfortably close to these nasty looking rocks. Sooo, we hauled anchor and got the heck out of there and headed off to another anchorage about 12 miles away. This one is much more to our liking, but it is starting to roll a bit in here. If the anchor decides to let go during the night (which it won't) we have about 20 miles of room before we would hit anything so that is a very comforting thought. There is a lovely full moon out there tonight and it is lighting up the sea and the island, everything is bathed in this luminous glow. 