This page is for the adventures of Rick and Pam aboard Hotel California and our life while tied to the dock. We plan to sail under the Golden Gate in the summer of 2010 or 2011, turn left and spend the next 2 years or so cruising Mexico and to the Caribbean. In the meantime, we will update this site with our current adventures.

What's New
We have left the States for Sunny Mexico!! We left San Francisco on Sept. 3, 2010 for Half Moon Bay, spent Labor Day Week-end there with friends and family. Since then we have traveled down the California coast to San Diego and joined in the Baja Ha Ha 17. We cheated death and made it to Cabo San Lucas. We will spend time in the Sea of Cortez, down the coast of Mexico and hopefully into the Caribbean!

We have a blog which is updated often during our travels on Hotel California. Please follow us and send us an e-mail if you get a chance. We'd love to hear from you.

The link is http://svhotelcal.blogspot.com/

You can now click on the pictures to see larger versions.

November 14, 2009 A Day of Sailing on the Bay
Dale, Helen & Davie, Kellie and Ryan went sailing out on the bay with us for the day. the weather was warm and the wind was mild. On the way into the Estuary the guys put the spinnaker up. Sherry, Tommy and Sabrina met us at the dock.

Davie Dale and Pam	Kellie Driving, Helen and Davie
Kellie and Ryan	Helen and Gizmo
Unsocking the Spinnaker	The Spinnaker
The Girls in the Salon	Ryan, Davie and Tommy

September 4-7 , 2009 Labor Day Week-end at Half Moon Bay
We sailed out on Friday morning and arrived at Pillar Point that afternoon. We grabed a mooring ball. The next day Ray and Diane on Emerald Star rafted up to us with their two dogs, Luna and Tiki. Gizmo and the dogs got along fine, no fights. We had a cocktail party with a few friends on our boat Saturday afternoon. Sunday we went to shore to the HMB Yatch Club and over to Ketch Joanne's. We sailed back on Monday with our main reefed. Here are a few pictures of the trip.

Heading toward the Gate	Outside the Gate
Pillar Point Bouy	The Anchorage
Rafted up with Emerald Star	In the Cockpit
Cocktails	Happy Hour
Our Dinghy at the Dock	Boats from the Yacht Club
On The Way Home	Coming in Under the Gate

August 7 , 2009 The Canvas is complete.
Kissinger Canvas did a great job with the dodger and bimini. We highly recommend him.

August 1 , 2009 The New Dodger is on.
It looks great! Kissinger Canvas is re-doing the boat canvas. So far the dodger is a great improvement. Last week we took the boat out without one and realized how important a dodger is! Next week the bimini should be done. Here are a few pictures with and without the dodger.

New Dodger

Side window of the dodger

Inside of the dodger showing the windows

July 31, 2009 The New Salon Cover
We made a new cover for the window over the salon. Our canvas guy sewed on the binding for us because my sewing machine can't handle that thick material. Rick installed the snaps and it is ready to go.

The New Salon Cover	The other side

July 5, 2009 We have a Spinnaker!!
Dave from Island Planet Sails brought the spinnaker to the boat. We decided to fly it in the estuary, but it was too windy. The next plan was to raise it in the slip. We turned the boat around so the bow was downwind. With the help and attention of about 20 fellow boaters, we raised the spinnaker and finally the sock. The wind was blowing the sail pretty hard so we didn't leave it up long. Here are a few pictures. You can also see some under "Boat Projects".

Flying the Spinnaker in the slip

Rick running the lines	The Spinnaker in the sock
Catching some wind	Almost full

June 20-21, 2009 Steve Sears Birthday Celebration
We bar-b-qued a giant roast for Steve's birthday dinner. Delicious!
The cake was Steve's choice, a caramel cheesecake. Great choice Steve.

Prime Rib on the BBQ	Steve eating Ribs
Caramel CheeseCake	Happy Birthday STEVE!

June 12-14, 2009 Sausalito and Half Moon Bay
We left Marina Village Friday night to head over to Sausalito to spend the night for an early start in the monrning. David Beeman came with us and we met up with Glen and Arlene on AGN' Sea. Went to shore for Clam Chowder and cocktails at the Spinnaker. Glen's wrist was hurt and he couldn't use his arm, so they left the next morning for the doctor. We sailed on to Half Moon with great weather, anchored in the harbour and took the dinghy to shore. The marina area has changed since the last time we were there. There is a new hotel and restaurant, 'Crab Landing'. First we ate at HMB Brewery then checked out the sushi at Crab Landing. We liked it and we'll have to make another trip just to eat there. The seas were calm with a little wind for the sail back, we just had to avoid the crab pots! We sailed all the way down the estuary. Can't wait for our new spinnaker.

AG'N Sea in Sausalito	Sailing South
Rick & Pam at HMB Brewery	David at HMB Brewery
Hotel California in the harbour	Morning
Sailing back to the Golden Gate	Under the bridge

May 17 - 24, 2009 We sailed on the Carnival Victory from San Juan to the Southern Caribbean.
We celebrated our 5th Anniversary on this cruise. We visited every marina we could find. We loved St Lucia, Barbados and Antigua and can't wait to get back to these islands on our boat. The album link is here.

Rick on sailboat Independence off St John	Marigot Bay, St Lucia

Nelson's Dockyard, Antigua	At Trafalgar Falls, Dominica

April 2009 We have installed our dinghy davits and the motor lift.
We ordered the davits from Garhauer and started installing them on the transom. At the boat show in Jack London Square, we bought the Garhauer motor lift. Rick installed both of them and they work great. Here is a picture of the dinghy on the davits. There is more info under Boat Projects to the left.

September 20, 2008 Jamie & Darrell's Wedding
Pam's daughter, Jamie, married Darrell in a beautiful setting in Knights Ferry, Ca. Jamie was a gorgeous bride and the wedding turned out perfect! Below are a few photo's. More can be seen in this album.

Summer Weekends in the Marina 2008
We are spending almost every weekend in the marina enjoying time with friends and family.

Steve fixing dinner on Hotel California	Steve & Pam after a great dinner
Rick & Kevin going for a dinghy ride	Jennie drinking champagne

April 18 - May 3, 2008 Sailing on a Catamaran with friends in the British Virgin Islands
Dave & Catie, Steve & Marsha, Sherry and Rick & Pam rented a 41' catamaran and sailed around the BVI's for 2 weeks. We brought a skull and crossbone spinaker and flew it on the cat. Below are a few of the pictures. More photos are here in a photo book and here is the first Jalbum and the 2nd Jalbum on line. You can also see the photo's Steve has posted here or here in Jalbum's.

December 8, 2007 Gate 11 Progressive Dinner Party
The annual progressive dinner party was held at Marina Village, Gate 11. The 200 dock provided appetizers, 300 dock had the main entree and dessert was s'mores over the fire pit in the community area. Here is a link to the pictures.

November 16 - 24 , 2007 Thanksgiving Week in Roatan, Honduras
Rick and Pam spent the week at Las Rocas Resort. We met a lot of nice people and did some diving. It rained about half the time we were there. Check out our photos here and the underwater photos here.

October 2007, Dell Osso Pumpkin Patch
We went with all the kids to pick out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. Click here to see all our photos.

October 6 , 2007 Fleet Week
Stuart, Dale and Helen joined us to watch the Blue Angels fly over the bay for Fleet Week. It was very windy and crowded. We drove around between all the other boats. The Blue Angels put on a good show.

Helen and Dale	Stuart

September 29-30, 2007 Half Moon Bay
David Beeman sailed to Half Moon Bay with us. We left the slip early Saturday morning. The seas were a little rocky, but the sun was shining and it wasn’t too cold. We arrived at Pillar Point Marina about 1:00, showered and went to Half Moon Bay Brewery for lunch and cocktails. We left Sunday morning about 9:00. The seas were calmer on the way back, so it was a nice sail. We saw dolphin on the way back.

David Sailing out of SF Bay	Open Ocean
Heading South	Half Moon Bay
Pillar Point	Pelicans
Rick Sailing Home	Dolphins
Coming Home	Inside the Golden Gate

September 1, 2007
Labor Day week-end we worked on boat projects. Rain caught a ray. Jamie and our granddaughters, Kodi, Maddie and Carson came to the boat Sunday afternoon. Monday, Rick helped Victor and Eldoray take their boat to Sven's boat yard to be hauled out. Our cat, Gizmo is getting comfortable on the boat.

August 4, 2007
Gate 11 at Marina Village had a huge 40th birthday party for David Merrick organized by his wife, Catie. It was a great party that lasted late into the night. The kids had a blast with the pinata and we kept warm with 2 fire tubs.

July 21, 2007
On Saturday, our kids, Rachel, Justin and Jaden and Jennie, Kodi and Maddi went with us over to McCovey Cove to watch the Giants game. It was windy and crowded so we didn't stay long.
See Photos>