Day 11. Santa Cruz

Day 11. 15th June
At 7am, as was the challenge, sock sliding Ben woke us for an early morning swim. The only surprise… he was wearing a wetsuit.
True to form, Paul rose with great allay & kicked me from my slumber, telling me it was a monks duty to out do their host at a morning challenge.
So we trotted down to swim the 55 degree (13 Celcius) water.


Paul & Ben frolicked in the water together while I went out to catch a wave & at least make the breathtaking experience worth my while.


Pam, Nate & Satch met us with towls but sadly no warm coco, on our exit from the ocean – Paul remaining in the seas icy embrace by far the longest - & we went home to a breakfast of champions. The Green Buzz. (Look out for it on youtube)
Miguel bought us Burritos for breakfast, then we packed down, said a sad farewell to Pam & Nate & drove off in opposite directions.
Oksana & Miguel drove with us to Monterey to see us off, then it was two monks, a dog & a Satchel in a hippy bus down highway 1.

The road wound us along the cliff edges of some spectacular, ruggard coast line.

With the proximity to the cliffs, I’m surprised this road is legal in such a ‘safety’ conscious state as California.

We stopped in at one of the ruggedly beautiful beaches…and my lack of obedience got me in trouble.

I ran around the beach & called on nature for a bit to re-establish my sense of self worth.

I was rewarded with my first viewing of sea otters at quite the significant spot. It’s where Satch got married.
We drove on & pulled in at the beautiful Pfeiffer Falls. An opportunity presented itself that was too good to miss.

While I was down the cliff, the cops came & tried to mace Satch’s cute little 9 month old Blue Healer puppy, Crash. Father Paul stepped in & protected Crash, scalding the fearful officer in the process.
We drove on as night fell, but as we turned on our headlights, the battery began to fade & with it, the headlights too.
It wasn’t too many miles before we were out hammering the alternator, as there was nothing but a brown glow from the headlights. Sadly, the hammering was to no avail.
We were left with little option but to pull off the road & sleep, unable to make our appointment in Santa Barbara & hoping for a jump start when daylight returned.