Tidings of Joy: Santa Barbara

When I first moved to California 20 years ago one of our first road trips was to Santa Barbara. I can't say I remembered much with the exception of State Street and the courthouse. The cruise up from Ventura was uneventful and we were happy to leave Trumpland. When we pulled into the harbor we were asked to dock at the accommodations dock while they dropped a pellet into our holding tank (making sure we weren't going to pump overboard while in the harbor) and then checked in at the office. The marina was huge. I read they had over 100 guest docks in addition to their full time docks. We got settled in to our end tie with a gorgeous view of the entire harbor and the city and decided to check things out a bit. We took a short stroll through the marina area which consisted of shops and restaurants and then out to the pier. It was sunny and the pier was bustling with weekend traffic and we were very happy to be back in Santa Barbara.

Accommodations Dock Santa Barbara

View From Bow of Boat

Fishing Boats in the Harbor

We would end up spending five more days in Santa Barbara. Each day we tried to do something different and new. We took a long walk to the famous State Street and looked at all the shops and found a good vegan lunch. Jeff got some of the famous McConnell's ice cream and was quiet happy. We took our bikes down and rode down the boardwalk as far as it would go from end to end enjoying the ocean views. There was an area next to downtown called "The Funk Zone" that was full of wineries, breweries, art galleries and a few shops. Apparently you can take your own wine tour if you download an app. We did not. Instead we had a bottle of wine at a restaurant called The Lark. It was charming and had a bizarre menu consisting of lots of meats. Jeff had been wanting to see the Avengers movie since it came out and he found Santa Barbara an opportune time to do that. Those type of movies aren't my thing but I'm a sucker for popcorn so I went. 3 long hours later it finally ended. Again, not my thing. We were scheduled to leave the next day for the channel islands but a small craft warning kept us in port one final day. We took a lyft and provisioned for the remaining 3 weeks of our trip. It was not easy. To get to our boat from the top of the ramp its a half a mile walk (Jeff calculated it). There were no dock carts to be found so we chained my cart to a post and got it when we returned. In addition to the full cart Jeff carried an additional four bags and I one. Not fun. Once provisioned we felt better like we could make it for the duration but man so much work. In the morning we would venture out to Santa Cruz Island one of the Channel Islands.