Buena Ventura
on the south,) which here bends in like a crescent, and three large
islands opposite to it and at the distance of twenty miles. This is
just sufficient to give it the name of a bay, while at the same time
it is so large and so much exposed to the south-east and north-west
winds, that it is little better than an open roadstead; and the
whole swell of the Pacific ocean rolls in here before a
south-easter, and breaks with so heavy a surf in the shallow waters,
that it is highly dangerous to lie near in to the shore during the
south-easter season, that is, between the months of November and
April.
This wind (the south-easter) is the bane of the coast of California.
Between the months of November and April, (including a part of
each,) which is the rainy season in this latitude, you are never
safe from it, and accordingly in the ports which are open to it,
vessels are obliged, during these months, to lie at anchor at a
distance of three miles from the shore, with slip-ropes on their
cables, ready to slip and go to sea at a moment's warning. The only
ports which are safe from this wind are San Francisco and Monterey
in the north, and San Diego in the south.
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