Santa Barbara

We've had a great time in Santa Barabara. We've been here almost a week, but today we're off to the Channel Islands! Santa Barbara has been a nice first, albeit rolly, anchorage. It's taken some time to get used to how rolly it is here. We've had a couple of nights where it felt like we were getting tossed about, because waves would strike us on our beam (side) when the wind died in the evening.

Luckily our anchor is quite the beast and we haven't moved a bit. We also have a wonderful anchor watch, which not only alerts you if you drag, but I can also sneak peaks at it in the middle of the night on my phone to make sure we're OK.

Even though we've only been here a short time, I feel like we've packed a decent amount in. Our first day was a nice foggy beach day! The kids have never had so much sand on them in their lives.

We provisioned for our trip to the Channel Islands, and did some maintanence on the boat. Since we no longer own any cars, we've walked everywhere we needed to go, and are slowly getting used to that. The kids made good use of their scooters, so they didn't tire out. Now if only we could teach them not to tail-gate pedestrians at a distance of  6 inches... We'll get there.

Owen and the kids checked out the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum on the second day, while I went provisioning. We also visited the local fish market, where the kids got to taste fresh-as-you-can-get uni (sea urchin). We also bought a local ocean white fish that was wonderful when pan seared.

Over the weekend, we enrolled into a trapeze class with Santa Barbara Trapeze Company! By the end, Olivia was doing catches with an instructor! Archer had fun swinging "like Spiderman"!

On our last day before departure, we spent the last prepping, resting, and starting homeschool. Tiamat Naval Academy is now in session!