monterey Bonito

With no repeater, what kind of range are hh vhf'S good for?  5-6 watts.

My understanding is about 1 mile per watt.

With no repeater, what kind of range are hh vhf'S good for?  5-6 watts.

My understanding is about 1 mile per watt.

It tends to be that as a rough approximation.  On a fixed radio, for example, has proven to yield only a few miles with a cheap antenna yet the same radio (with the same length) high-quality antenna will see double the "cheap" antenna range.

Also a reason why sailboat antennas differ from powerboat antennas.

I can hear boats in Monterey, Moss Landing, and sometimes Santa Cruz from my home in Marina...listening with a crappy handheld 5-watt VHF. (because they're presumably transmitting @ 25-30 watts)

Totally possible.  Partly because they (guessing commercial) typically have reasonably descent radios, tall antennas and you are on a hill.  My "guess" is that you couldn't reach them back though.  Would be fun to try  ... if it were legal ...  <insert disclaimer> 

in answer to the party boat question thats funny cause to me the boat I saw off of  pebble/sws out a good ways - sighted from monastery  parking lot as I had my coffee 730 a.m ---it looked exact same profile --white color and size as when rock fish is open and they stay outside the carmel pinnacle no no zone---later in the day south some it also look like a party boat...but who knows