How Did You Spend Mother’s Day?

Quiet conversation over eggs Benedict and mimosas is always a fine way to celebrate Mother’s Day, but for a change of pace we, and roughly 30 other sailors, took a novel approach to honoring the moms in our lives: a full-day cruise out to the Farallon Islands and back aboard the Sausalito-based schooner Freda B.

We’ll give you a full report in next month’s Latitude 38, but for now suffice it to say we all had a fun and fascinating cruise that will probably be a standout among our memories for years to come. While the crew kept us well nourished with all sorts of goodies from the galley, Captain Paul Dines shared his intimate knowledge of the islands and their history. Having mentored under the late Charlie Merrill, who decades ago pioneered the Farallon Islands Patrol decades ago, which ferries scientists and supplies to the islands, Dines has an intimate knowledge and deep affinity for the Farallones. Lying roughly 26 miles west of the Golden Gate, these rocky pinnacles are a haven for seabirds, sea lions, seals, whales and great white sharks. If you too celebrated Mother’s Day out on the water we’d love to hear about it.