I still can’t believe we actually left. Looking back it seems surreal. We planned for it for so long, hit so many speed bumps along the way, and then all of a sudden the day came. The week before, Damien turned to me on the couch and said, “We can leave next week if you want.” It caught me off guard, almost as if he was calling my bluff. Would I really be able to do it? I was terrified and excited. “Okay, let’s do it”, halfway thinking it wouldn’t actually happen. But we had been planning, hoping, working towards this day. We went about business as usual for the next few days, as if we hadn’t just decided on the date of one of the biggest turning points of our lives.
I feel like it happened so fast, but really it didn’t. I had left my job the previous October, our bon voyage party was in November, we made it through the holidays, the new year, we weren’t out of our house until January and had now lived on the boat for 4 months. Still, all of a sudden, it was actually time to go. On Tuesday, May 7th we found places to fill our propane tanks and made one last crazy, almost two cart trip to Costco. There was a whirlwind of goodbyes. A quick laugh with our Luna Loca Linda. A fast stop by with my mom for a hug and a kiss and a promise to come home in a few weeks. One too quick, last dinner in San Ramon where a chunk of my heart was ripped right out of my chest and went home to Livermore in a white Jeep. It was like ripping off a band aid; it had to be done fast or we’d never actually do it. The goodbyes we’re definitely the hardest part. Our friends and families are everything to us.
I don’t really remember too much about the morning we left, all I know is suddenly it was about 12pm and if we didn’t leave soon, it would be dark by the time we made it to Half Moon Bay. So we went to the marina office and they said, “sounds great, we’ll walk you down and take your keys.” Holy crap, what? Now? Okay, we can do this. We need to stop on the fuel dock anyway. We can tie up any loose ends there. So there we were, our final walk down the dock. We gathered up the rest of the crap we had laying on our slip, piled it on to the net and untied the boat. The fuel dock is only about 50 feet from our dock, it’s no big deal, we’re just getting fuel. When we got there, there were two pumpout boats blocking the fuel dock. We looked at each other, do we wait? Nope, we gotta go now, it’s already happening.
Leaving the marina was strangely like any other normal outing on the boat. Now that we were off the dock, it didn’t seem so scary, it was like any other sailing day. Because we were so spazzed out, neither one of us bothered to look at the tide that day, we just knew where to point the front of the boat. The trip out of the Bay was the longest we’ve ever experienced. Literally and figuratively. We were motoring dead into the wind at a full flood tide, so it took us approximately 2 hours from Emeryville to the Golden Gate. Now it’s 3pm and it can take around 4 hours to get to Half Moon Bay. Damien looks over to me and says, “We can anchor over here for the night and head out in the morning if you want.” I knew he was looking out for me and my feelings and I sure was appreciative. “Nope, let’s do it.” Even if we didn’t get there til 7, it would still be light out and today was the day.
So we passed under that beautiful orange bridge for the last time and we were pumped! We did it, we left the bay and officially began our slow trek down the coast.
