October 20, 1997
Moss Landing, California, USA

I left Santa Cruz this morning just before noon. I wanted to reach Monterey this evening, although I knew it would be dark by the time I got there. I decided to shoot for Moss Landing just in case I couldn’t make it. Ken told me that I would know it was Moss Landing by the massive smoke stacks. I could see the stacks almost from Santa Cruz, but beyond the stacks I couldn’t see anything. It was completely fogged in.

I was expecting to have a rendezvous with the Coast Guard helicopter today, so I called the Coast Guard station in Monterey on my VHF and asked them to check it out. They called San Francisco and then contacted me to say that the chopper is not available today. I wasn’t disappointed - I’ll try again farther down the coast.

By the time I got to Moss Landing, it was already 4:30pm, so I paddled directly into the marina, and looked for a place to park my boat for the night. As I came alongside the dock, a grungy old man walked toward me and started untying a small sailboat. I thought he was making room for me, so I said, "You don’t need to do that." "What are you..." he said, "some kinda angel?" Upon hearing his slurred response, I knew the man was totally blitzed. He then crawled onto the untied boat, and motored out of the marina. I’m quite sure I’m not an angel, and I’m positive that sailor shouldn’t have untied his boat.

I knew Mike Mulligan was waiting for me at Monterey Bay Kayaks, so I found a phone and told him where I was. After picking me up, we drove to the hotel where he and Mary, his mother-in-law, are staying. I’m in Mike’s hotel room at this time and we are just about to head down for some grub. On Wednesday, I plan to dive in the kelp forest at Monterey. I’m totally psyched!