A Delta Doo Dah DIY Cruise

Delta Doo Dah sailors Gary and Nancy Ryan took a 10-day cruise to the Delta aboard the Lagoon 450S catamaran ‘iliohale. They departed from Loch Lomond Marina in San Rafael at first light on Friday, July 26. “We had a great sail on a flood all the way to Owl Harbor for one night,” reports Gary. “Owl Harbor is wonderful, with great people. Of course we got to pet Captain Jack the cat and got our fill of free, fresh, homegrown veggies.”

“The next day we did the 30-minute trip to Potato Slough Bedroom 2 and dropped the hook for seven full days of R&R in between planned boat projects. It was in the low 100s for the first two days, but then cooled down nicely to the high 80s, very comfortable at night.”

“We had three of our good friends on board with us, Wayne and Karen Edney (from Bristol Channel Cutter Odyssey, vets of previous Doo Dahs) and Terence Kirk. We had Bedroom #2 all to ourselves for five days during the week. The water was wonderful for swimming, and we did a lot of that while clearing all the weed from our anchor rode. We did a lot of otter- and bird watching along with star viewing. It was great to see big fish jumping at sunset after all the bass boats were gone, not to mention the swallows doing their bug-catching thing.”

“Once our water ran out and holding tanks were full, we headed to Benicia for two nights. We timed the Suisun crossing on the flood, and it was really smooth. San Pablo Bay was a different story.

“We had a blast as always, this being our first Doo Dah since we did #1, 2 and 3. We flew our flag with pride but we didn’t see any other Doo Dah’ers while we were up there. The Delta is truly a unique experience on the West Coast. There is nowhere else like it.”