From the "City of Good Living" to the "City of Sails"

For the past month, I’ve been enjoying the quiet suburban life in San Carlos, “The City of Good Living,” while continuing to teach sailing out of Berkeley.  

My new apartment in San Carlos is fantastic.  I’m tucked away on the top floor; I have only one neighbor; and I’m walking distance to the shops and restaurants downtown, as well as the library and train station. I have laundry on site as well as a dedicated parking spot.  

Best of all, I don’t have a check-out time.  The trade-off, however, is no housekeeping service.  So, I’ve had to buy a broom, a bucket of cleaning supplies, and even a vacuum cleaner.

Although my kitchen is very small, I’ve been doing a bit of cooking, aided by the much-talked-about “Insta-pot” pressure cooker which I also recently purchased.  Who knew I could put some lentils, Brussel sprouts, and butternut squash in a pot and have dinner a few minutes later? That said, I still can’t tear myself away from the fresh Italian food and local camaraderie at Trattoria da Vittorio, which is only a few blocks away.

The commute to the OCSC Sailing Club in Berkeley is 45 minutes with no traffic, but that is a very rare occurrence here in the Bay Area.  Usually the drive takes 60 to 90 minutes of frustrating stop-and-go around accidents, construction, and potholes.  I’ve been experimenting with combinations of train, ferry, and bicycle.  Given that I can sleep on the boat, I can spread my commute over 2-3 days of work to lessen the burden.  I’m looking forward to making this work during the summer months.

By mid-May, I was just beginning to fall into a bit of routine when an opportunity to crew on the sailing vessel “Avalon” materialized.  She was sailing north from New Zealand to Fiji in early June, and there was room for me!

Without hesitation, I booked a flight to New Zealand and not more than a few days later, I was having breakfast at the VicPark Café with Avalon’s skipper in Auckland, “The City of Sails.”

View of Auckland, “The City of Sails,” as I head north on the bus to Whangarei and Marsden Cove Marina.

“The City of Good Living” (San Carlos, CA) and “The City of Sails” (Auckland, NZ).