Santa Barbara

Happy sailors arrive in Santa Barbara

Our reward for enduring a rolly night at Sacate Anchorage was a pleasant sail to Santa Barbara. Light winds meant beautiful flat water sailing, and Madrone milked the breeze until it died into a glassy calm. We were visited by a pod of 50+ dolphins and enjoyed a close-up view of several of the oil drilling platforms that adorn Santa Barbara Channel.

The oil platforms in Santa Barbara Channel look small from shore, but they’re huge from the edge of their quarter mile safety zone

We pulled into Santa Barbara Harbor for a couple of nights to wash the boat, do some laundry and enjoy some of the great restaurants in town. Being in the marina also makes it easy to welcome Mike’s mom to Madrone. We’ll sail out to Channel Islands National Park about 25 nautical miles south of Santa Barbara and do some exploring for a few days.