Thursday 4th

It’s the end of a very long day, and both Liz and I are very tired. I think the time difference and the seasick pills we took (plus the very nice glasses of wine we had in the hotel when we got back from the whale watching trip) have finally taken their toll. We collapsed for an afternoon snooze and woke up 4 hours later.

This morning we were up with the lark again as we had to convene for the whale watching tour by 0730. The catamaran which took us out was called Kitty Kat, and Liz took a photo of me by the boat for you Kat! We had an on-board ecologist, called Heather, who was very knowledgeable about all things, and is teaching ecology at the university here whilst researching into the plastics which are dumped into the sea. From carrier bags and water bottles, to the little tiny beads in cosmetics which are used for skin exfoliation. Apparently she has been successful in campaigning to get these tiny plastic beads removed from make up products over here, which is incredible.

We were a strange bunch on the boat, from a nob of a bloke whom Liz dubbed Captain Ahab, dressed to kill in a silver lame hoodie and had to borrow a sou’wester from the crew but who left the silver hood hanging out, and who cupped his hands over his eyes in pretend-binoculars style and was determined to win the Snickers bar for who saw the whale first (he didn’t!) to the dumpy lady who was the daughter of a cotton grower farmer from Stanton in Texas, who loved Liz’s Cotton Traders backpack because it said “cotton” on it, and refused to believe it came free with an order from that company.

We set off in a clear but overcast morning light, sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge (which is orange) and it got colder as we went out to sea. The notes said to dress for arctic conditions, and it felt like it. We had 5 layers on, and we needed it. It was impossible to stand up as the swell was very big (thank heavens for the seasick pills) and I was surprised that I managed to deal with it until late in the day.

The company had trumpeted that a humpback whale with calf had been seen, and that they very seldom had trips that failed to see whales. Well this time, it was the 25th hour. We covered over 100 miles looking for the blasted things and I was crushed underfoot by an insistent woman all of 2 feet 6 inches tall (and round) who was intent on standing near to Captain Ahab in the bow of the craft Titanic-style. No photos were possible although plenty of people will have had loads of photos of waves. As whale spotting went, it was a poor show and we only saw the blow from the spout, and two dorsal rolls, but everybody seemed excited.

We did however see plenty of sea birds – cormorants, pelicans diving for fish, common murre, shearwaters – plus a couple of dolphins, harbour porpoises, a few long-distant sea lions on beaches, and something very strange which leapt completely out of the water for a split second which the ecologist didn’t see and had no idea what it was when it was described to her,but it looked like an elongated catfish to me.

We did see a sun fish, called a mola mola, but only a baby one. This one was the size of a dinner plate, but they can grow to huge proportions, they are flat and squashed with a fat flat face (a bit like your mother, as a smart Alec Brit behind us said!) – no comments Baz please!

We hung around the whale sighting area bobbing up and down in the swell, hoping for further sightings, but to no avail, so to a chorus of platitudes from the captain telling us we were the most awesome passengers he had ever had on board in his 25 years at sea(!), we returned to the Wharf area. Liz and I had to stop outside the hotel in the sunshine for her to have a ciggie, so I suggested that we celebrate with a little glass of wine from the bar. It turned out to be 2 glasses, and very nice they were too. Liz reckons she’s going to find the vineyard on Sonoma Valley while we are there and get crates shipped back to the uk! Note to self, it was called “Charlotte’s Home” from the vineyard of Rodney Strong. We will go and look him up when we are there and maybe do a tasting.

Then we returned to the room, overwhelmed with tiredness and wine. And slept until 8.15. I had to fight to wake up. It would have been easier to remain asleep until morning, except that I knew we would be awake by 11.30 and then not sleep overnight. So we went out for a supper neither of us really wanted. We ended up in a cafe on the harbour, totally overpriced and basic, but perfectly adequate. We had a couple of beers, and I had prawns in garlic and white wine with rice, while LIz had spaghetti with mussels and garlic in white wine. And while looking out over the harbour from our table by the window, there were a couple of giant brown rats wandering around. Nice!

Tomorrow we move on and away from San Francisco. It’s been great, but the Napa and Sonoma valleys are calling. We are picking up the car from the airport and the shuttle will collect us at 10 in the morning. This will get posted in the morning when I go to the free wifi area, so goodnight all, hope your Thursday has been as good as ours.