Dinner with Jonathan

Jonathan arrived today direct from Australai so we had to go to the pub to celebrate.
The buffed guy who is slightly blurred is Billy Bob from Tennessee he is a Rugby Player, fly half so he says.

The beer is from the Marin County Microbrewery just over the road, they only serve beer or wine so beer it was, the boys had a couple of pitchers as they didn't know what jugs were. Eddy got a huge laugh from the waitress, mainly because she couldn't understand a word we were saying.

Golden Gate Bridge

One going north one going south...all angles

The Day at the Beach

We cruised up north to see if the boys could get a surf....beside the fact that it is an amazing day and everyone else had the same idea, the traffic was horrific and the beach was a hole.

Matt got a little puppy love.
The Golden Gate was the next spot to visit....drive over.
Then lunch at IHOP.

Back to it tomorrow as Jonathon arrives and need to get him straight into it.

Provisions

Went to costco last night to start on provisions.
We got to aisle 4 and two trolley's full.
Have to go back Tuesday and do the rest.
The boat got a major pressure clean and is looking good.

Inside the boat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-wdDf6IYU4&feature=channel_page
Dave took this with his phone so it's a bit dodgy but gives you a rough idea.
We are heading out for a slap up Chinese meal with the neighbours from the Marina.

View from the boat

This was the view when we arrived this morning just perfect. The golden gate bridge is just out of site but not far from where we are.

Dave managed to get his hands on a gernie and cleaned the deck a treat.

Matt wouldn't let it go and was cleaning for hours....the boat is looking better every day.

We also got the water maker delivered and emptied the sump, got to do it sometime. It was a good day.

Ed got the battery box organized so that we can keep them nice and safe.

Day off tomorrow being Sunday the boys want to see the coast so will cruise around and drive over the GGB.

Day 6-7-8-9

We have been so busy, bunks are in, fridge is connected and working we now have running water in the boat.

This is the San Raffel bridge that we cross to get to the marina, it was a freezing cold day only 13C and the wind chill made it feel like it was only 5C

We moved to another hotel that has wireless in the room....luxury.

Shopped it up at Wal-mart and got most of the items to keep us going.

Heading to Costco later this arvo to start stocking the galley.

Dave got the diesel oven working yesterday but it was so hot in the boat we had to turn it off.

There is also a little 3 burner gas stove so that might do the trick.

Today has been just perfect and we went for a little motor around.

We have also got an electrican working on some of the wiring as it is up the spout at the moment.

Lunch

It was good. Margaritas all round.

Alcatraz

We took the ferry from Larkspur to San Francisco and saw a couple of sea lions in the bay.

Wandered down to Fishermans Wharf and went to lunch at the best restaurant.....

After a couple of delicious margaritas we caught the Alcatraz ferry.

Did the tour which was great a must do if you are here.

Back to the boat today to get the fridge sorted out and hopefully the water connected....anyone know a plumber????

Day 5 a day off

Crusing into San Francisco today for a look at Alcatraz with Dave, Matt and Ed.
We tried this last Wednesday but as it is summer it was all booked out.
Down to Fishermans Wharf for lunch...yum

Day 3 & 4 a visit from Eva

Eva is the original designer and engineer of the boat.

We also found out the original name is Vivamus....which means 'while we live ...let us live' Dave and I both think this is a much better name and will work out how to change it back once we are home.

Eva went up the 65' mast to make sure all was well....the good news is she came back down safely and the mast is A OK.....tops.

Day 2

We started with a healthy breakfast at Denny's. We waddled back to the boat to start work again.
A little lost as to where to start.

Whats this for?

Day 1

We finally got on board.
The boat was full of dog and cat fur but had a massive vacuum cleaner that was fantastic.
Ed got straight into it, replacing rusted hinges, so much to do.
Matt was hitting up the vacuum.
Dave went off shopping.......he bought back lunch which was good.
I dived into the galley, finally got enough grease off to see the sink to wash some stuff.
The best part of the day was a visit to Costco.....did we have fun you can buy a gallon of mayo for $5.40......massive

LIEN

We finally got our boat all cleared today.
The guy who owned it wound not let us on the Marina to work on it .
Matt was stressing that he might have to go home and all Ed wanted to do was to go to Alcatrez.
We didn't make it to Alcatrez as it was all booked out but we got the boat and all work starts tomorrow.
Will post some pics as we haven't got any yet ha
Just as a side line Dave blew the tyre out on the hire car as we were driving through the toll gates, Ed almost had a kitten as we went very close to hitting the toll booth and rolling the car.....LAMPOONS VACATION this is so much better.

Plus we are living in an all black neighbourhood not that there is anything wrong with that you white honkies.....

The challenge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiqTElyKIgs

Location

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1340+Marina+Way+South+Richmond,+CA+94804&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GZEZ_en-GB&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&ei=Rd8ySviaA5a8tAP85YXOBg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1

Location

http://www.marinabayyachtharbor.com/interactive_map.htm

Weather

The weather in San Francisco is looking good for our arrival on Tuesday 18C
I am sure the days will fly by once we start work on the beast.
Most of the gear is now packed and ready to go.

11th June

Back from Bali and the time is slipping away.
Dave has been buying up a storm....hopefully only buying and not creating.
Most of our gear is here and we will be taking it to San Francisco on Tuesday.
So far so good.