FIRST MATE LOG ARCHIVE

Today is April 25, 2007 and I just mailed in my official retirement papers!!!!!

My retirement date is August 17, 2007. Rick and I will be heading south with the first weather window available after that date. We had hoped for an earlier date of departure to make sure we have good weather, but I will take what I get! It is hard to realize that the day has finally come, or will soon. The paper work being filed makes it so much more real. All of a sudden I have so much to do!! Rick has spent the last four months working on projects, getting us ready to go. We had hoped that I would be able to retire in July so I could help more at the haul out but we will have to make due.

Today is 8/24/07 - My first full week of retirement has been one very busy week! The last thing we had to do before we could throw off the dock lines and take off was to empty out the storage shed. Having not seen the shed in three years I very optimistically said "we're going to clean out the shed on Monday!" Oh little did I know. Today is Friday and we just now finished cleaning it out. I can't believe how much stuff was packed into that 10x10 foot room. What a mess! I am also amazed at what Rick packed onto the boat! If asked I would have said no way could all that stuff fit, but he did it.  So, with that done, nothing but the weather and one trip to the grocery store is keeping us from taking off. I hope I am as good at packing (food) stuff as Rick is! Now that I am retired I will try very hard to update things more often.

(watch for updates as I journal this new life to come!)

August 31, 2007 - We finally did it!! We are on our way to Southern California and points south.  We left Charleston on 8/29/07 at 1440. We had quite a few people come down to say goodbye.  It was so good to see all our friends wishing us well, but it was sad too, saying goodbye to people that have come to mean so much to me.  This is a new chapter in my life and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, but I am going to miss a lot of people.  Well, I made my first passage with just Rick and I. I have only done one other passage, with Tom and Jean and Rick and I. This passage was obviously special in that it is the first for us as a couple. I think I did ok! I even got the nerve up to handle the sails and make a slight course correction while Rick was down below resting!!  That may not seem like much, but for me it was a huge step in taking an active part in what will be a whole new way of life.  I have so far been watching and learning, and I will continue to need to do a lot of that, but to take even a small step in taking charge of actually running boat is like taking charge of my new life! I want to live and be a full member of this team, not just a ride-along! God has blessed us with so much and we continue to thank Him and pray that in the life we will now be living we will glorify Him. May others see Christ in the way I live, where ever that may be and whatever lifestyle we choose.

September 8, 2007 - I should have updated in Bodega Bay but got lazy!!  We had a great trip from Eureka Ca. to Bodega Bay.  We had to reef the main, a major first for me, around 2120 at night. I was amazed at how unconcerned I was. The seas were really rough and the wind was up.  I steered with one hand, holding the boat into the wind, and held the main sheet with the other.  Rick was at the main sail putting in the reef. He would crank the sail  down while I let a little of the main sheet out, then I had to pull it in again. We did this several times. I was braced with one foot against the seat and the other on the deck. It was like riding a bucking bronco!! But it was exhilarating at the same time. Art, Rick's friend from the R.C. club in Coos Bay came to see us on Tuesday. He brought a huge bunch of produce!! He brought apples, peaches, onions, fresh corn on the cob, Egg Plant!! I was amazed!  He is such a sweet guy. We spent a couple hours talking to him.  Then Skipper, Tim's brother, came by and we visited with him for a while. It's amazing the people that go out of their way to come say hi and visit.  (even though I could not remember Skippers name at first!)

While we were in Bodega Bay we met Terri and Lyman Potts.  They are on Sans Cles. They are also going to Mexico. They will be doing the Baja Haja while we will not.  We spent most of the day Wednesday visiting with them. We went to lunch in Bodega Bay then after dinner they came over and I made apple crisp! Terri and I had a lot of time to talk as we also ran in to each other at the laundry mat. It was great to meet another couple that was basically doing the same thing we were. It made it seem finally real, that we are CRUISING!!! I know that we will meet a lot more as we go along.  I am also amazed at how each day I get more and more confident in handling the boat.  In theory I knew what I was supposed to do and all but to actually be doing it is a great feeling.  I will write more after we have had time to explore Monterey.

September 16, 2007 - I am going to again try and update the web site.  I tried in Monterey but the wifi at the library had to many filters (I think) So, we spent a couple of days walking around Monterey.  We found a neat little restaurant called LouLou's.  It only did breakfast and lunch and was right at the head of the docks.  It was great food and we could sit outside at 0800 and eat as it was warm and sunny! We walked all around old Monterey and Fisherman's Wharf, watching all the people and seeing a few sea otters. The Italian festival was great.  I spent some time in Sicily when I was in the military and one thing that I loved there was the rice balls they made.  They had them at the festival so we got one for lunch. You only need one as they are huge and filled  with cheese and sauce. We found a small grocery store not to far up the way and got a few things to hold us over until we could get to a regular market.  Most of the time in Monterey was walking and relaxing together. There are a lot of neat old buildings, a lot of history.  We went to the Maritime Museum and enjoyed learning how such a large Italian population came to be there. They were brought in when they (?) found that there was a huge sardine population.  Monterey's sardine packing was/is famous. We even saw a quick video on how the whole process right through packing was done.  It was fun. 

So, on Monday 9/10/07 at 0830 we took off to go around Pt. Conception.  The first day was warm and sunny, no problems mate!!  The night was much the same, a wonderful clear night with lots of stars and just a little bit of moon.  The next day we neared Pt. Conception around noon.  The seas of course came up sharp and steep but not dangerous.  The winds kicked up to over 25 knots so we dropped the main and motored the rest of the way around.  Around the corner is a little anchorage call CoJo anchorage.  There is absolutely nothing there, no town, no roads, nothing bur some mooring balls for the large tenders that service the oil rigs and a train track that goes right along the cliffs there.  There is a beach and it looked like there may have been a picnic table there but we didn't go in.  We sat there from 1400 on Tuesday until 1700 Wednesday afternoon, doing nothing but reading and resting.  I take that back, Rick did get in the water and check out a few things. Things are getting easier for me, things like handling the sails etc.  When we took down the main the wind was up a lot and the seas were very choppy.  I had to hold it into the wind until Rick got the sail down, then bring her back downwind and get the tie downs for him.  I was still nervous about things but feeling more confident each time we do these things. I know that they are old hat for Rick but each one is new and exciting for me.  Each one gives me a little more confidence.  So, we are going to explore Newport Beach and hopefully send another update in a day or two, if our luck with wifi holds out!!

September 26, 2007 - We are now in Mission Bay, just 10-15 miles north of San Diego.  There is a free anchorage here, 72 hour limit, so we came here first.  Then we will go to San Diego police dock and take a slip for a couple days and go visit Rick's mom and family. 

We spent eight days at Newport beach.  We had a mooring ball at Balboa Island.  It is a neat Island with a lot of history.  It is definitely for the rich and famous!! Heavy on the rich.  Which surprises me as the mooring was only $5 a night.  We walked all around Balboa Island and over on the peninsula, sight seeing.  We found a regular full size grocery store a mile or so away and spent one morning walking up there and getting groceries.  Then we wandered around until we found the laundry mat (actually had to ask) and spent another morning doing laundry. We tried out a couple of restaurants of  course and even found a Star Bucks!  It was a great interlude to the trip south.  I am excited about doing that very same thing once we get to Mexico,  then we will spend a lot of time exploring. 

We left Newport Beach Saturday September 22 around 1000.  It had rained hard the night before and we debated staying another night but decided to go for it.  Rick and I made a great team getting off the mooring balls as well.  He was at the wheel and there was enough wind that we were afraid of being blown onto one of the other boats as they are fairly close together. We we tied to a ball in front and one behind so as soon as one is untied we thought the wind would blow us over before I could get the other one untied.  Of course Rick had to stay at the wheel.  So, I went up front and got that one off and ran to the back and had that one off before the wind could even think about it!!  I have so much fun doing this stuff.  Even though, truth be told, it is really stressful as I am doing it.  It's not a negative type of stress though.  It's the adrenaline type that gets your heart racing and it's fun!!  Anyway, once we were off the balls Rick took us out to the main channel, then I took the helm and took us out the mouth.  Once we got out Rick went forward to put up the main.  The seas were kind of sharp and a little big (in my estimate!) and I had to keep the boat into the wind and watch all the lines at the back of the sail as they can get caught in stuff as he is putting it up.  It's tense trying to do all those things when the boat is bucking and pitching (a little). We were doing ok but the batten at the top got caught behind the jack lines so I had to turn more into the wind and he had to bring it back down a little to get it back inside the jack line, then finish putting it up. After he got it up he told me to fall off.  I know what that means but for some reason my mind went blank! I still do that from time to time. I just could not process it so I just said, "right or left", he really looked at me funny and said "right". He is so good though, he doesn't yell or get mad, even when I know he is frustrated with me. I don't know why there are times when I intellectually know something but while in the middle of it just can't process it to do it.  So, guys,  remember that, if our wife has brain freezes like I do, be patient and don't yell, we will get it. Some day it will be second nature and we will be able to do things without having to think about them.  Anyway, once we got that up we turned to head out to Catalina.  As we were going along we could see a huge black cloud just to the left of the island with a huge, black curtain of rain marching across in front of Catalina. It was very far off so we didn't get caught in it, but it was cool watching this wall of water march across.  It was so black and solid you could almost think it was more clouds but it wasn't.  We watched that go by then I happened to look off our port side and saw a "neat" sight.  It looked like little puffs of water bouncing up off the water.  I said to Rick, look, isn't that neat.  He really didn't have a "that's neat" look on his face.  So, I looked again and it hit me...funnel cloud.  That's not good. A funnel cloud is like a tornado on the water.  Well, this one was just beginning but it could be a problem.  It was off our port and heading right for us.  We were of course moving forward so it ended up passing behind us a little ways.  As soon as it went behind up the sails slammed over to the opposite side of what they had been.  The wind was that strong and had shifted when it passed behind us.  It was a great way to be introduced to funnel clouds. It was safe, no harm no foul, but enough of an experience to really know what could happen.  I like those kind of experiences.   So, we continued on to Catalina. We got to Avalon around 1800 and took a mooring in Descanso bay. It was a very rolly mooring.  We went into Avalon the next day and wandered around, had lunch and checked out the museum.  Not as exciting as I had anticipated but it was a relaxing fun day. 

Thursday October 11, 2007 -  we spent one more night at Avalon and took off for Mission bay Monday 9/23/07.  We were determined to sail the whole way. Partly because up to now we had motor sailed because we wanted to get a certain distance south. Now we could just sail for fun, no time frames.  So, of course, the wind doesn't cooperate! At first we had wind and sailed along around 3 knots. Then it dies and we have to motor for maybe an hour or less. Then we get wind and for a while we sail along at 5 and 6 knots (sometimes 7!).  That's fun.  I laid out on the foredeck getting some sun as the seas were so quiet. It was great.  Then I took a nap! What a life.  I watched for a couple hours while Rick laid down to read.  I saw a huge whale! It was off our port beam and it was big.  I watch it with some trepidation but it was going the other way so once it was behind us I felt better.  So then I go back to watching a fishing boat that was coming up on our starboard side. He was kinda close but no real problem. Then I look back again where the whale was and there he was only he had turned and was coming right at our stern!!!  No, go away!!!!  Then he took a big breath and his whole tail came out of the water so I knew that he was diving deep. Good. Never saw him again but the guys on the fishing boat hollered as we passed asking if I had seen Moby Dick!!  The day was so calm that I was actually able to pick up my tatting and work on it. I had never been able to do that before, or read or write.  The rest of the trip was beautiful and sunny and uneventful.  We got to Mission Bay around 0200 the next morning.  We had hoped to not get here until after sunrise but the winds were so nice we sailed faster then anticipated.  The bay we are anchored at was way more crowded then I though it would be.  Rick brought us in, weaving through all the boats and finding a spot big enough for us.  The night again was beautiful and bright as the moon was only two nights from being full.  We anchored and went to bed around 0245.  So, that's enough for now.  I will continue to update. We will be here in San Diego for the next month plus.

Tuesday October 2007 - Not really much to update. We have been sitting at anchor for about a month now. We go to shore most days and do little errands or just site see.  We go see Rick's family often.  The fires down here did not come close to us but the smoke and ash sure did.  Check out the photos of the sunrise that looks like a sunset because of the smoke and the black ash all over our boat.  We are about two weeks from taking off.  We are waiting for some things we ordered and for our Oregon license renewal.  Yesterday the Baja Haha took off.  We went out to watch them leave as we had some friends in the group.  It was amazing the number of boats milling around and not running in to each other.  Of course about that time a Canadian war ship was going out and an American aircraft carrier too!  Everyone got off ok though.  It was quite a sight. 

We did get our FM3's. That is the one year visa for Mexico.  We got that so we could renew without leaving the country. It was not nearly a difficult as expected and the lady at the window was very nice.  Of course the guy at the cashier's window was very nice,  he wanted our money! Not much else going on. I will update again before we leave.

Saturday December 22, 2007 - WOW, have I got a lot of catching up to do! It has been two months since I last updated.  That is because we got stuck in San Diego for a month longer then we planned. We had hoped to leave 11/5/07 but didn't get gone until 12/1/07.  Several reasons. First, Rick had ordered a part that didn't come in, which I am now thankful for!!  Then, when the part did come it was so close to Thanksgiving that we decided to stay and celebrate with Rick's family.  Then!!!!! Chris and Eric came down as a surprise for me!!!! Rick, and everyone else in the world it seems, knew but me!!  I am so thankful that we had that special time with them. Other thenthat, there really isn't much else to talk about for the rest of the stay in San Diego.

So, on to our trip south.  We left San Diego Saturday December 1, 2007 at 1100. It took a total of 80 hours to get to Bahia de Tortugas, Turtle Bay. I really pulled a boner this time! I did not behave myself before this trip. I had coffee, I ate greasy spicy food etc.  So, you guessed it by 1800 that night I was feeding the fish!!  The first time this whole trip though!  Anyway, I knew better but just thought I could handle it. Never again!!!  Anyway, the day before we left San Diego was a nasty day. It reminded me of Coos Bay in the winter!! They had record setting rain all day long.  Saturday morning didn't start off looking so good either but by 1100 it was clearing up pretty good so we went. It started off not so bad, but as I've come to learn it went down hill fast. By later that afternoon/evening we had rough seas and maybe 17 knots of wind. Rick had a lot of work with the sails until it got bad enough he just took them down. He was really beat by the time I got up to do my watch. I had been in bed since 1800. It's a good thing all I had to do was check for other boats! (thank God for auto pilots!) When Rick got up at 0400 I went back to bed and slept until 0800 and felt fine the rest of that trip. I hope I never forget that lesson! The whole trip was long but only the first night was really bad. (Of course I had no idea what bad was but I'll get to that!)  So Saturday night was not so hot. Sunday was ok, nothing really going on, so-so seas and winds. Mostly we motor sailed. Monday the winds died a lot so we thought we would try the spinnaker. Rick got it all set up and I steered the boat as the auto pilot couldn't react fast enough. I don't blame it! It's not that easy to steer with an asymmetrical spinnaker when the winds are directly from behind. It wants to be to one side or the other! So that lasted less then 30 minutes and the wind comes up again! Time to take it down. Guess who "gets" to do that!  It really wasn't bad. The spinnaker has a sock so all I had to due was pull on the right lines and the sock collapsed the sail and contained it beautifully. I was sitting down, almost laying down, while pulling on the line! I didn't want to be standing and have the boat take a jerk and throw me down (or off). The rest of the trip was very bland. We pulled into Turtle Bay around 1630. We anchored near a Tri and Rick was a little worried we would swing on the anchor different and have problems (he had all rope and we had chain) but we stayed put.  We were tired so we ate and went to bed.  We should have listened to that little voice of his. Around 2130 we ended up bumping the Tri. It was not a hard or bad bump, no damage or even scratches, but it got all of us up in a hurry!  So, Rick up anchored and moved to another spot where we ended up staying the rest of the time there.  So ended round one. At this point I am doing great overall.  I was worried about missing people (which I do of course) and maybe getting sad or depressed, but so far so good. Even though this part was long and some of it not so good I am glad that I am here.

Bahia de Tortugas!!! Awesome, our first foreign port of call. Turtle Bay is an odd little town though.  It's a fishing town.  There is nothing else for miles around and the whole town exists for the fishing and what cruising boats come down.  The Baja Haja pumps a lot of money into the economy but that's only once a year. There is one long pier  that is a least 20 feet off the water.  You tie up your dinghy and climb a latter to get to the top. There is a large (large being relative) fueling facility there for the fisherman and the cruisers. They only deal in diesel though so we had to walk into town with our jerry jugs to get our gas. There are several "pangas", the local small fishing boats that run from boat to boat picking up garbage and laundry that their wives do and then bringing it back the next day. (the laundry, not the garbage!) All for a price of course.  The prices were really not so bad and I took advantage and had a couple loads of laundry done, something I have never done before. On Wednesday Rick went to change the spark plugs in the motor as it had been acting up  a little on the trip down. Unfortunately one of them broke off inside. You mechanics know what that means! No more motor. It broke off down inside and there is no way to remove it. OK, now what? Well, Rick being Rick, we had a spare motor!  But it was so depressing at that time that we decided to jump ship and go to town.  We walked around and found an internet place so I zipped off a quick generic email and checked our emails etc.  Then we found a small place and had some fish tacos.  Sidebar: every place I have been in so far in Mexico does fish tacos different! You know, anyplace in the states you order a hamburger or hot dog you basically know what you are going to get. Not so with Mexico. Every item in fact that I have ordered so far has been different in each restaurant! It has all been very good though. Back to Turtle Bay; the town is built kind of on a sloping area, not really a hill but sloped. There is only one paved street in town, all other streets are packed dirt.  None of the streets are made in a straight line, they just seem to go where the person needed to go at the time! Like someone decided to build a house so they put in a street and built their house. There had been rain some days before and all the streets had big groves from the run off, some parts were washed out and men were filling them in with new dirt, whoever lived closest I think. Every person we passed in the streets said hello! It was so nice. I guess I thought they might be leery of foreigners or maybe just shy but they all said hello, and the kids loved saying hello in English! They thought it was so cool to speak to us in our language and they would laugh or giggle when we would say it back in English!  Oh, and none of the streets had names that I could see. There were little markets about every 5-6 blocks and we bought one or two things then headed back to the boat.  Thursday was spent changing the motor. (You can see the details on that in the Heading South section.)  Friday and Saturday we spent a little time on the boat and a little in town walking around and visiting with whoever would talk with us. Saturday night we went out for dinner as we knew we were leaving the next morning.  We decided to try a new place. So far everyone spoke at least a little English and we know a few words in Spanish so we had been doing OK. This place did not speak any English. We were trying to figure out the menu but we were not having a lot of luck. So, we decided to order "Taco Dorado" thinking Dorado was a type of fish!!! Dumb gringos that we are!!  Dorado is a method of cooking shredded beef.  A very excellent method I might add!!  It was by far the best taco I've had yet. Live and learn! Also at that same place Rick ordered a lemonade and I ordered an orange soda (there being no rootbeer in Mexico). The gal brought my orange and said something about the lemonade that we of course could not understand. Rick took it to mean that they didn't have any so he ordered a coke. She brings him the coke and pretty soon our meal, then the lemonade shows up! So, what she said was that it would take a while for the lemonade! He drank them both. In total we stayed in Turtle Bay from Wednesday afternoon until Sunday morning. It was a nice restful time after the long first leg.

On Sunday December 9, 2007  we took off at 0930 from Turtle Bay and headed to Bahia Santa Maria. It took a total of 48 hours, exactly! We arrived around 0930 Tuesday morning. The day started off ok, (sound familiar?) but deteriorated by the afternoon. You can see all the details of the seas and winds in the Heading South part but suffice it to say it was ugly again! I did not get really sick as I had behaved myself this time but I got down right crabby!! I was tired of bad sailing weather. We were going south for sunny warm nice sailing! (darn it!!!)  Although I should have been thankful there was no rain a least. The second day was better and we arrived in Bahia Santa Maria in nice sunny weather.  There is nothing there but a very small fishing camp. If you go another 10 miles past Bahia Santa Maria you are at the entry to Mag bay as we call it, Bahia de Magdelena is it's full name. Mag bay is very long and has towns and facilities so more people tend to go there I guess . There were two in Bahia Santa Maria when we got there. We spent the rest of Tuesday just lazing around, it was warm and nice. Wednesday Rick  went in the water and cleaned the bottom and I cleaned up inside a little. It was so nice to be at rest and relax in some very nice warm weather. Two other boats came in on Wednesday. We had met both of them in San Diego before we left. Thursday three more came in! There were 7 of us then.  We took off around 1500 Thursday. It was such a nice day with just enough wind that we sailed off anchor with just the jib! What a gorgeous day. Our gorgeous weather  lasted the rest of that day and the next! A record so far. But, all good things come to an end as I am finding out. Friday night around 1830 the winds came up. The swells had already started building but weren't too bad yet. Once the wind came up the seas grew worse. We had seas up to 10-12 feet before it was over, confused seas and wind, sustained, at 30 knots. We were slamming so hard it sounded like a cannon going off.  It stayed that way for 8-10 hours then started letting up. By 0800 Saturday morning it was flat and clam with so light a breeze it wouldn't even fill the jib.  But I'll tell you those 8-10 hours were worse then any we had going from Oregon to California! It was nasty. When I got up at 0800 we were just rounding Cabo Falso. It was such a beautiful site! We came around the corner and were amazed at the condo's lining the cliffs. Rick said none of them had been there 10 years ago. For the next hour or so we just enjoyed the sunshine and cruised along. We got to Cabo San Lucas around 0900 and snuck into the fuel dock, tanked up and ran!!!  We did not want to stay at Cabo for any length of time as we did not want to check in there. So, 1000 we are sailing along in warm sunny weather with just a little swells. I hate to repeat myself but, it didn't last!! Again, the seas started building and the wind came up. We stayed close to land for as long as we could to avoid the easterly swells but by night we were back in it. Marginally less sever then the night before but still ugly. It lasted all Saturday night and into Sunday. It started to calm down Sunday and by Sunday night it was flat and smooth like a mirror! No wind but who cares! It stayed that way through Sunday night. I thought we were tied up to a dock. It was great even though we had to motor the rest of the way.  We arrived in Mazatlan Marina around 1130 and got into a slip. I told Rick that this chick was not doing anymore overnighters for a long time and then no more then 36 hours for a very very very long time!! I have to tell you that after so many icky nights I was beginning to wonder what the heck I was doing here. I am really glad that I am here though. You gotta take the bad with the good sometimes. Since we have been here we have met a lot of really nice people, Mexican, American, Canadian, German etc. We even met a taxi driver that invited us to his house for Christmas Eve!! I'm not sure if that will work out but it was so nice of him.

Tuesday we spent the day doing our check in. It was an interesting day to say the least. We had a cruisers guide that someone has put together. So, we took the bus to where we thought the Port Captain was (per directions) and spent 1-2 hours walking up and down the street. We would ask directions and get the answer sometimes in English and sometimes in Spanish; go that way 3 blocks, go back 7 blocks, go that way 5 blocks!! I think that one of them did say something about turning off the street we were on but we weren't sure so we didn't. What a trip! I finally told Rick to wave down a taxi! We did and that's how we met Alturo! He's the guy that invited us to Christmas Eve dinner at his house. He ended up spending four hours with us. He took us to the Port Captain and acted as interpreter, then to Immigrations, then the bank, then to a clerical person to fill out the forms in Spanish, the back to Immigration then to Sam's club, all the time giving us a tour as we drove along. He showed us where to get the best chicken, pork, beef, beer etc!!! He was so much fun. Of course there is no way I would ever find those places again but who cares, it was great. What a trip! He even helped carry our groceries to the boat and we gave him a tour. The next day he came back and got us as we had to make one more trip to Immigration. So, we are starting to meet people and to see a little of the town.

Wednesday we finished the Immigrations and did a little shopping.  Thursday we went with three other couples to a place called Stone Island.  It is not an Island, it is a peninsula with  a long nice beach to play on.  There are lots of little places to eat and a ton of venders walking up and down the beach selling everything from dresses to hair braiding done right at your table.  It was a very nice relaxing day.  We rode bus to the end of the line, then caught a water taxi across the water. Then you walk a short way to the beach.  We ordered lunch and sat and visited for a couple hours. It was just a really nice day and it's neat to start meeting other couples.

Friday was a down day!! I puttered on the boat and Rick did computer stuff and went to the bank to do our temporary import permit for the boat. Friday evening the local Salvation Army orphanage put on a traditional song and dance fund raiser. We watched part of that and gave some money then hit the showers. Saturday they had a marine swap meet in the morning so we participated in that. Then I did laundry and Rick went to Wal-Mart.

Today we went with some friends to the Juarez market. It is like the big flea markets in San Diego only bigger.  It is the first place that I have seen that has open air meat and fish stalls.  Each place only sells one item, chicken in one, beef in one, pork, seafood etc.  There are also lots of fruit and vegetable places as well as tons of clothes and everything or anything you can imagine. It was fun, we bought some pecans in the shell. They only have them here at Christmas time I guess. We also bought some fresh made tortillas! My favorite. The rest of today, being Sunday, is a day of rest. We shall see what the new week brings!!  We will be here at the marina until Friday the 28th, then we are going to the anchorage.  I don't know yet what access we will have there but I have seen tons of internet cafe's so I'm sure I will be able to keep things up to date.  We will be here in Mazatlan at least a month before deciding where else we might want to check out.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!!

We have  had a really hard time getting internet when we first got here. The marina was having trouble with their system. That seems to be fixed so I hope to get this out and be more consistent in my updates. I was surprised by the problems I have run into getting access to the internet, I didn't think I would have so much trouble.

Tuesday January 1st, 2008 -  A new year!! We are now in what is called the old anchorage. Mazatlan has basically and old town and the newer part of town.  The old town is beautiful and has some great historical sites to see. We left the marina on Friday Dec. 28th.  It only took us about two hours to get over to the old harbor.  We sailed along slowly enjoying the weather. Well, Rick did anyway. I got sea sick.  I guess I thought it's wouldn't hit me so bad on such a short trip! It was just bad enough to make me want to lay down. No throwing up but no fun either. We got into the anchorage about 1130 Friday morning.  We just kicked back the rest of the day. We didn't even put the dinghy together until the next day. Saturday we walked up to the market. The old town Machado or central market is great. I like that it is within walking distance. It is a bit of a walk but we need the exercise anyway. I have to be in the right mood to hit it though. It is a real press of people. And that's not even when the cruise ships are in town. I guess it's a real madhouse then. Monday we took the bus to the large grocery store and bought a few things. We even stopped off at Wal-Mart but didn't find anything we were looking for. Monday being New Years eve all the boats in the anchorage got together at 1700 and had a pot luck.  Once the sun went town it was cold (I know, it's relative) so we didn't stay to long.  We were back on board by 1900 eating ice cream. It was a crazy notion but I wanted to do something for new year's!! It only made me colder. This morning seven of us got together and hiked the hill that the lighthouse is on. It was a great hike and definitely warm enough! It was a great view and Rick took several pictures. I put them in the Mazatlan section. I was really glad to have the potluck to get to meet some more people. One of the things that I had been looking forward to was meeting other cruisers. I was beginning to feel like it wouldn't happen. It was hard to leave everyone I knew, friends and relatives, and take off not knowing anyone. Last night was a beginning anyway.  A few ladies are talking about getting together and doing some yoga in the mornings. It will be another way to get to know people.  We also met (again) a couple from Winchester Bay. Jerry and Dana. They started cruising last year and met Ron and Bonnie on the Bonnie here last year. It was great to talk to them for a while too.

I have yet to find an English speaking church group, but I am still looking. I know that there is one in La Paz and we will be up there sometime in April. I haven't gotten brave enough to try the Spanish churches yet. I don't know if I will.

Saturday Jan 5, 2008 - The last few days have been fun. Thursday we went on a tour with about a dozen other cruisers. It was the Pacifico brewery which doesn't excite me but just going on a outing with others was fun and dinner afterwards was a lot of fun. We then walked back to the boat on a very nice evening. Yesterday we tried a local dentist. We had a consultation with him and made plans for some work but after we got home and talked about it we decided to wait and maybe check out a different guy. This guy was nice but didn't really take the time to check our teeth well. Rick had to tell him where he knew he had some problems. Today we got up really early and took the bus to a restaurant that Karen had recommended. It was nice but very "American". We really want to experience as much of the local fair as we can. I was not overly impressed with the service or the food. It was ok but the coffee was cold (lukewarm) and that is a "sin" in this kids book. Then I had to ask for cream three times and finally asked the bus boy!! Anyway, we will stick to more local places now. We did have lunch at a very local type place at the market. It was totally "native" and the food was great. And the pigeon on the next table didn't even try and steal any! Anyway, after breakfast we took the bus half the way home then walked the Malecon home. It was great seeing more of the area, scoping out new places to visit. Tomorrow we may be going to the Juarez market with some friends. It's a huge market that's part flea market part regular market. We went once but the trip was cut short. We also found a Presbyterian church! We saw the sign walking home today. We walked down and looked at the building. It's very small but we plan on checking it out next Sunday. Another good way to improve our Spanish!!

Saturday Jan 19, 2008 - I didn't realize how long it had been since I updated. Time seems to just fly and because I have been calling people via Skype I feel like I have been in touch. But, not to everyone so I will try and bring things up to date.  We have been in Mazatlan a month now. The first 11 days at the marina and the rest here at what they call the old harbor. We have met a lot of people. There is a big variety of boats and as big a variety of cruisers. I am surprised at the number of boats here that have kids. There are at least four or five and that is about 25 percent of the boats here. There are young (mid 30's) couples with no kids and same age with kids. There are several single guys on various boats, mostly single handing but a couple of boats with two or more single guys aboard. There are couples our age and up (no kids or course!) and one younger (late 20's to early 30's) woman that crews on whatever boat needs an extra hand.

We have spent a lot of time wandering around old town Mazatlan, sometimes with Terry and Dana on Windblown, mostly just the two of us.  Being at the harbor is really very nice. We have to dinghy into shore and tie up at the dock, then either walk to town or catch a bus. We walk a lot as we need the exercise anyway. (I REALLY miss the gym!!!) We can get water right at the dock. We have a double filter system that we use so the water is safe. The bathrooms are not so hot but we have the shower on the boat and with water so easily available showers are not a problem. I am getting used to going shopping every 2-3 days for fresh produce and fresh tortillas. I think the tortillas are going to be the death of me! (where's the gym!!!) They are so very very good!!!!

We have visited the Cathedral and the archeological museum and a few of the local artists shops. I have found a couple of places that make pretty good coffee!! Not like my good old Dutch Brothers but close enough for the price. We also found a great bakery that also serves coffee. (so why am I still on the food thing!!)

We have found a nice restaurant next to a laundry facility. I am in heaven!!! The laundry is cheap enough that we pay them to do it!!!! Every woman's dream!! And they have wifi for free if you drop your laundry off. On top of that the restaurant is in the same building and it is fabulous!! We are slowly getting to know the owners and hope to improve our Spanish with them. The guys is already teasing me about "no limpio de plato" or not cleaning my plate!!! He is really a nice guy and a great cook.

We had an interesting bus (BUZZ) ride last Saturday.  There were seven of us going to a marine swap meet at the marina so we all got up at 0700 and caught a bus. We were the only ones on the bus at first. About a third of the way through a bunch of teenage boys got on and as expected went to the back of the bus. The bus continued to fill up until there was standing room only and packed in like sardines! Then we started to notice the distinct smell of marijuana! At first we thought that one of the guys that just got on had been indulging! Then it got stronger and stronger!! Then people started opening windows!! I looked up and behind us, we were in the very front, and the overhead hatch had been opened and smoke was pouring out!!!! The kids in the back were smoking it!!!! The bus driver just kept going! What could he do? I don't know! It was a very interesting bus ride for sure. Life in Mexico is different. As a side bar, the bus system is great. Most buses are 50 cents and the large air conditioned ones are 80 cents. There are buses that will take you everywhere and you don't even have to be at a bus stop specifically, just wave your arm and he stops!

We had our first dentist appointment the other day. Actually not our first but we decided not to use the first guy, he was to far away. So, we go to this dentist with Terry and Dana who had recommended him and really liked him. We walked in expecting to make an appointment and all four of us sat in the chair and he checked us out and made decisions on what needed to be done and then made an appointment for the next day to get started!! It was so odd. He doesn't have an assistant or a receptionist. He does it all himself. He was trained in the U.S. and speaks almost perfect English! The office building leaves a lot to be desired but hey, less overhead cheaper prices for us!! Rick and I went to for the first real appointment and he did a great job. Rick is less then enamored of dentists and even he said the guy did a great job.

I have to say that so far we are having a great time. Every once in a while it strikes me, WOW!, what a dream I am living! Stuff I have only ever read about and now I'm the one doing it! Living in another culture is so awesome. I want to experience as much as I can and share as much as I can of what I am feeling and experiencing. Rick and I have been talking about next year around this time renting an apartment, which you can do for $400 for a month ($100 a week), and seeing if there are people back home that might want to come down and spend some time. It would be cheaper then a hotel and so much more fun and we could have 3 or 4 couples/families come visit! So guys, think bout it!!!!

Carnival is just around the corner and Mazatlan carnival is the third largest in the world. Rio is the largest, New Orleans is the second (although I think it's down a little after the hurricane) and Mazatlan is third. We just bought tickets to a buffet at one of the local hotel/restaurants that is on the Malecon and we will have front row seats and dinner for the big parade. There are around a hundred cruisers going and we are going with two other couples. It is going to be great. We hope to see more of the activities then just the parade. They just crowned the queen (I guess that's what they call her) of the carnival a couple nights ago. We missed it but hope to catch some other stuff. I will try and get pictures and will put them in the Mazatlan section or course.

I'm not sure if, in all my rambling, I have taken the time to thank people back home that encouraged me to go do this. Without you guys telling me I could, I don't think I would have even tried. Thanks for the support and encouragement and faith you had in me!!!! I know I didn't have enough confidence in myself without you!

Friday February 8, 2008 -  I can't believe (again) that it has been so long since I updated. The time just gets away from me!! What am I doing every day that takes up so much time? Who knows! Stuff!!

Carnival just got over. We had a good time. We went out four of the six nights of Carnival. I put a lot of it in the new link titled "Carnival" so I won't repeat it. We did met a lady at the fireworks that invited the four of us to dinner, Rick and I and Terry and Dana on Windblown. Tonight is the night. I am kinda nervous about going. She doesn't speak any english and we speak very  very limited spanish. I think it will be fun but if Terry and Dana hadn't been there I don't think we would have accepted. Rick may have wanted to but I would have been very nervous about it. In a way I am glad that they were with us. It will be an experience that's for sure. We plan on buying a box of chocolates to take. We couldn't decide so we opted for the obvious!! Yesterday we all went out to do some shopping and decided to try and find her address ahead of time. It's great, there is a bus that goes right to her front door almost! So, tonight's the night! How we met her was she brought her little grandson over and he proceeded to throw confetti all over us! It seems to be part of Carnival to throw confetti on each other. He had so much fun he came back with another color and did it again. Yolanda would go up to the guys and pull their hats off and let him throw the confetti on their heads! It was so much fun, he had such a great time and we all laughed.

Rick is taking his turn doing the "net" in the morning. What happens is one boat acts as "net control" and everyone participates each morning in a sort of VH radio meeting. The net control asks for different topics like emergency or priority traffic, check in (who alls around), arrivals and departures, announcements and local assistance. We all help each other out finding stuff around town that in the states would be a piece of cake to find but not so here. We have found one american run library and an american run used book store so we are in heaven on that score. We currently have three and a half bags of books sitting under our table! Most we have read and need to exchange for new ones. We also went to the local archeological museum and have found (most important) a couple of good place to buy specialty coffees. I even have Dana and Terry hooked on frappachinos! Since it's warm here that's mostly what we have.

Now that Carnival is over a lot of boats are starting to leave for other places, both north and south but mostly south. We will be going in a week or two. Rick is done with his dental but I still have some work to do. We have been going to the dentist Mon., Wed., and Fri. for about three weeks now. I'm glad we are almost done.

Lotus come into the old harbor on 1/30/08. They are friends of Charlie and Sharon. They gave us a call and we went over and visited them. They are very nice. The headed south a day or so later. It was amazing to find out that they had lived in Sisters Oregon the same time I had and we knew some of the same people, or at least I remembered the names. I'm sure I wouldn't know them to see them after 30 years. We plan on looking them up when we head south. Dan on Ethereal Star and Ken on Mermaid took off two days ago heading south. We talked to Ken on the radio the next afternoon and found out he had stuck his finger where it didn't belong and got the end cut off. Luckily he has a friend aboard and it wasn't life threatening but very very painful. He's the one that said he had stuck it where it didn't belong too! It's so great, I really feel part of the community! I am always so nervous about meeting and getting to know new people but everyone is so awesome!!

A quick side bar: there is this very odd thing that goes on every day on Tigger!!  Each and every day one, only one, bee comes aboard! It is always on it's last wind so to speak. It comes in and fly's around very crazily, some times landing and wobbling around and then dies! Sometimes we are on board and see it sometimes we come back and find it laying around! Life is weird!

I'm not sure if I already put this in but I spent three weeks being a klutz! Once a week for three weeks I managed to kick something hard and metal with the little toe of my left foot. The last time the little toe ended up sticking out to the side of my foot!! I'm sure I dislocated it that time. Rick put tape around it to hold it back in place! That night while I was sleeping I must have stretched my feet because I felt a pop and it started aching again but the next it seemed to be more or less back in place but the whole top of my foot was purple and swollen! I am much more careful walking around on deck.

Today is laundry day. I do the small stuff onboard and hang it up and take the big stuff up to one of the local places and have them do it. Back in the states I would never have dreamed of the luxury of paying someone else to do my laundry! Again, isn't life grand!

So, done for now. The next update I will let you know how dinner at Yolanda's went.

Friday February 22, 2008 - It has been two weeks since we went to Yolanda's. We had a great time. Everyone was nervous at first, Yolanda and us, but we settled in and started talking, or attempting to, and everyone relaxed and had a great time. Yolanda fixed a fish dish that was fabulous! None of us had ever tasted anything so good. Then, we raved about it so much that she stood there and showed us how to make it!!! Dana took notes and I copied them later. I haven't tried it yet but I can't wait! When we got there we went into the kitchen. It was about 5pm. She took out these foil packets and put them on a griddle that was heating on the stove. She only took out four! We thought, ooops!! What's up?  She didn't take out any for her family. We figured out later that they eat their big meal around 1pm and don't eat again until 7-8-9pm. So, that was a little uncomfortable at first but didn't seem any big deal to her.  We met her oldest daughter, Karen who is 17 and has a 2 year old boy that is adorable!!! Yolanda also has a 12 year old boy and an 11 year old girl. The girl was at school! We asked and finally figured out that the kids go to school in shifts. One shift in the morning and one in the afternoon. I think that it depends on what grade you are in. The older kids go earlier then the younger!!?? Who knows. Karen (pronounced Ka-Rin) works during the day and goes to school at night. Yolanda works at a local store called Leys. She works upstairs with the cash received. Her husband works as a security guard somewhere, couldn't figure that one out. I had brought our English/Spanish dictionary and they thought that was so funny but we really did communicate pretty well.  As we were leaving we invited them to see our boats.  Yolanda, Karen and her son and Yolanda's son Jose came out the next Friday. We had Dana, Terry, Greg, Nancy, Lymon, Terri, Rick and I on our boat. We had pie and coffee and had a great time. Terri from Sans Cles does pretty good in Spanish so we were able to communicate a little better. Yolanda and her family did NOT like the dinghy ride to the boat. They were pretty scared but came anyway. The little boy, Angel Paul, had a great time. Yolanda told us several times to call her and we would have dinner with her again. We told her that we were going south but would be back. I think I may post the recipe for that fish, it was so good.

We are now getting ready to head south. We are done with the dental and our friends on Sans Cles are heading south so I think we will join them. They are not coming back this way but we will be back probably the last week in March before heading north into the sea and La Paz. We have to get our shopping done but that won't take much. Rick has been sick and I'm hoping I don't come down with it. It may delay our going, I hate to travel when I'm not feeling good. It is only an overnight to Isla Isabela but I would rather wait. We'll see.  The next update will be from San Blas which is another 20-30 miles south of Isabela. Isabela is only about 70-80 miles from here.

I am really doing pretty good with the language. I don't really make sentences per say but my vocabulary is growing and I seem to be communicating pretty good! I would really like to take a class but haven't been able to due to the dental appointments. Maybe when we get to La Paz if we stay there long enough.

Gotta go for now. Like I said the next update will be from San Blas.

Saturday March 8 2008 - So, as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men!!!  I never did make it to a internet place at San Blas. We ended up only staying there five days instead of a couple of weeks. We left Mazatlan Monday February 24 around 1430. Sans Cles traveled with us. We had about 7 knots of wind on the nose so we were motoring. Not much later the wind died altogether. The seas were really flat and I am very thankful for that. I was still out of sea sick pills so I was stressing over rough waters. I did great. I had a very little bit of queasiness and took a couple of ginger pills during the trip but had no real problems. We motored along for several hours when I saw something weird sticking out of the water. I looked a little closer and thought at first that they were sun fish. Then they started jumping out of the water and I realized they were manta rays!! It was so cool!! We watched for a while then they stopped. Then Rick said come here and look at this. He was kneeling at the stern of the boat looking over the side. I got down beside him and the luminescence from the water coming off the prop wash was like a light!! It was so bright green you would have sworn that we had put a neon light under the boat. There we were, after dark, hanging over the stern laughing and really loving cruising!! Earlier, after the rays I had also seen a couple of dolphin way off in the distance. So, the night went really well. I did my watch from midnight to 0400 then went down to bed. About an hour later the motor stops and my eyes pop open. We still have zero wind so I lay there waiting. Nothing. I lay there for another minute, nothing. Finally I get up and go outside and there's Rick leaning over the side with the big spot light! "What are you doing?" I asked. He says, come here. There are tons of jelly fish all around the boat. That's pretty cool, but Rick says watch this. He turned off the light and turned on the motor. The jelly fish started flashing!!! Like the flash on a camera. I have seen jelly fish light up but I have never seen them flash like that. It was cool!! But it was 0500 so I went back to bed. What an awesome sight!!!

Well, I am going to update this now. There is a lot more on San Blas and the jungle trip we took but I need more time to put that together. I will try and update the rest later in the week.

Saturday March 13 2008 - I am here again. What a lot has gone on even since last Saturday! I will get to that, but first I really should update our last adventure on Isla Isabela and San Blas.

We got to Isla Isabela around 1100. Sans Cles was already there and waiting to go ashore. We got anchored and I made us some lunch. Terri and Lyman picked us up in their dinghy so we didn't have to put the porta boat together. We motored from the anchorage a short way south to the little cove that the fishing shacks were on and went ashore there. It was much calmer and all the trails led off from there. The only things on the island is the fishing shacks and a large cement floored "palopa"  which is a floor with posts to hold up a thatched roof. This one was set up for the students that come to the island so it also had an actual separate little room I think they used for their scientific stuff. I saw some microscopes on the counter. Anyway, other then a few outhouses and a place I think is set up for a sun shower that's all that's on the island. Oh, plus about five million (truly!)  frigate birds!!! The biologist on the island told "Last Mango" that Isla Isabela is the largest sanctuary for the frigate birds. It is also home to Bobbies and other sea going birds. I put most of this in the other link to Isla Isabela though so I won't repeat here. Anyway, we had a great time on the island. It was very warm but not really humid so the hiking was great if a little dry and dusty. We really enjoy spending time with Lyman and Terri too. Afterwards we went back to the boat and rested for awhile. Well, I did. Rick got in the water and cleaned the bottom, or most of it. He finished it the next day before we took off for San Blas. That afternoon we all got together on Sans Cles. Last Mango and Tigger. As we were visiting and getting to know Last Mango, Mike and Gladys, Misty Michael pulled in so they came over too. We had a great time. I think the best part of this cruising is getting to know so many people. Because we often see them for a short time we really work at getting to know them and enjoying their company. We all know that we may see each other in a week, month, year or years from now, and when we do we will have these special times to reignite the friendship again!

So, the next morning Sans Cles took off around 0900. Rick got in the water and finished the bottom then we lazed around until 1500 when we decided to not waste another evening rolling around at the island so we took off. Again the plan was to take off early and go really slow and easy!!! I know, I know!! I keep trying!! And it actually looked like it was going to work this time!! Well, it sort of did. We sailed off the hook and we doing around 3 knots most of the afternoon. As evening wore on the wind died and it we got slower. No big deal, we were in no hurry. By the time it was time for me to sleep we had almost no wind and was only doing 1 to 1.5 knots. OK, no problem we still have a ways to go. Except that now the main sail and rigging was making a LOT! of noise and I was trying to sleep. I get SO cranky when I can't sleep!! So around 2230 Rick finally took the main down and started the motor for a little while. Really for a very short time though. We got a little more wind and he put the jib up so there would be less noise. Other then that the trip was uneventful. We pulled into San Blas around 0730 and really surprised Sans Cles, they weren't expecting us until that evening. Again, we rested a while then went ashore with Terri and Lyman. We were Matachen Bay and not in the estuary which is right near the town. So, we were looking at beach landings again. I have only done one or two and can't say I was enamored of the idea but most of the places we will be going will be beach landing so no time like the present to get a handle on it!! My unfortunate timing though had us there for what was the largest surf they had seen in several weeks. Our first landing was a piece of cake!! I thought, "I can do this". So we go ashore and meet Ishmael. He owns a restaurant there on the beach and makes some wonderful fish and shrimp dishes. He had worked in Portland Oregon for 15 years in a Mexican restaurant there. He speaks great English and is very willing to help with anything a cruiser might need. He is just a really nice guy. From the beach you have to walk maybe 3/4 of a mile to the main highway to catch a bus to town which is about 5 miles away. We went into town and wandered around, found the port captain and checked in and just did a little sight seeing. One of the things to see is a very old church built I think in the 1700's that Longfellow wrote the poem "the Bells of San Blas". I have never read it but they had a little excerpt of it on the building. One of these days I will look it up. After that we went back to Ishmael's and had a late lunch then went back to the boat. That afternoon Last Mango and Misty Michael came in. They had up anchored at 0300 due to the swell dragging their chains across rocks all night and keeping them up anyway. We got on the radio and we all decided to go on the jungle tour the next morning, Saturday 3/1/08. So at oh-dark thirty we got up and had breakfast and met on shore at 0700 to head out. Luckily for us the place was just up the road. We were the first ones there and the young guy driving the boat looked like he had just woke up!! He was a very nice guy and a good boat driver. Anytime we wanted to stop and take pictures he would see us raise the camera and he would stop or slow down or even back up if we wanted. We had a really great time. I am doing a whole page on that trip as we got some awesome pictures. It was a great day. We had so much fun with all of them. There were eight of us and it was great so check out the link on Jungle Tour. After the tour we all headed back to our boats. We got to the beach and the surf was up!!! To bad we didn't have surf boards instead of dinghies. Rick and I got ours down to the water and pointed into the surf but had to wait for a lull before we could launch. So we are standing there as swell after swell came in and pretty soon my sandals were coming undone!! The surf was undoing the velcro straps!  I kept trying to restrap them but finally the left one just came off and floated next to the boat. I reached down and threw it into the dinghy and right after that a big wave hit the dinghy and pushed against me and down I went!! I was fully immersed to my neck!! What fun!! I scrambled up before the next wave and it was time to launch. We pushed off and jumped in and did fine except that the last wave that hit us before we jumped in dumped a fair amount of water inside the dinghy so once we got offshore enough we had to stop and bail out the water before we went on. What fun!! But it was such a nice warm day that we got back to the boat and stripped off and rinsed off with the sun shower none the worse for wear!! The next day was Sunday and we lazed around all day. Misty Michael, Sans Cles and Last Mango all took off on Sunday. We woke up Monday and Aka and Worldwind had gone also. The only ones left were us and BarDan. Rick went to shore and got fuel. He took the dinghy all the way around to the estuary and up to the fuel dock instead of doing the beach landing with jerry jugs. It was a great trip and only took about 20 minutes so when he got back we went again to check out the town one more time and have lunch. We had a nice quiet lunch and came back. I had unfortunately pick up something Saturday that was keeping me close to the bath room all day Sunday and I was iffy on Monday so we didn't do much. (that "something" ended up lasting a whole week!) So, Tuesday morning we took off back to Mazatlan. What an icky icky ride for me this time!! This was the worst so far because I still hadn't found any Meclizine for my sea sickness. The trip to the island and San Blas was so smooth that it didn't matter. Not so this one!! The winds and the seas were on the nose!! They were short choppy seas and I literally spent the whole day in bed! I kid you not! Rick got us underway at 0600!! Fine for him, I stayed in bed until 0700! I finally got up and drug out the Cheerios and we ate. Shortly after it was back to bed for me! Around 1000 I woke up and realized that it was getting late so I finally got up again. That didn't last long. Within 30 minutes I was back in bed. And so went the whole day! I got up and made a sandwich around noon thinking that if I ate something it would help. NOT!!! But I didn't throw it up either. So, back to bed. Rick was on his own for dinner as I was still in bed. Then at midnight I had to stand watch as Rick had been up since 0600 running the boat by himself, which he is totally capable of but even he gets tired. But, miracle of miracles, I got up at midnight and was wide awake and not a tough of seasickness!!  It was totally gone!! So, I let Rick sleep an extra hour and did a five hour watch. I could have done more really but he wanted to change course and keep an eye on something. We got into Mazatlan old harbor Wednesday March 5 around 1100 and found Aka and Worldwind there. They had gotten in just a short time before us coming from Isla Isabela. We spent most of Thursday and Friday showing those two around and having a wonderful time. We have also spent some time with Festima Lente and Windblown.

Now for the "ugly" news. Saturday March 8 we went to dinner on Festima Lente with Windblown. We had a great time but around 2000 I was feeling a little "punky" so we decided to go back to the boat and I went right to bed. I woke up a couple times in the night to go to the bathroom (not unusual). But each time my left eye seemed weird! I thought at the time that it was just really full of "sleepy". I got up Sunday morning and went into the bathroom and realized that I was unable to close my left eye!!! I would not close or even blink! I had to use my finger to manually close the eye!! So I called Rick and had him look at my face. He noticed that the whole left side seemed to be a little droopy.  Well, that really scared us both I got to tell you! So he started asking me questions about my left arm and any pain etc. Then he had me stick out my tongue. We were really afraid that I had had a TIA, or miniature stroke. We mostly decided that it wasn't that because there was no pain or numbness in the rest of my left side and instead of my left eye drooping it was stuck open!! And boy was it open. Rick said I looked like Mad Eye Moony form the Harry Potter movies. It was bug eyed for sure. So, we went to church with Windblown and they checked it out too. I remembered that a guy back home had had something similar but couldn't remember the name of it. Dana remembered, "Bell's Palsy". So when we got home we looked it up and it seemed to us that that is what was going on. But, to be sure we went to our dentist, who is the only one we knew that spoke good English, and asked for the name of a doctor. He took one look at me and said I needed a Neurologist. He got out the phone book and called a guy that he knew spoke English and was close by. He made an appointment for me for the same day, then called his brother in law who is an optometrists and got the name of eye drops that would help. He wrote it all down so we could take it to the Pharmacy. He is the greatest guy!! My eye by that time was is such a mess that I could hardly stand it!! We got the drops and went to the Neurologist at 1700. He verified that I indeed had Bells Palsy. He said it is a virus that settles in the nerves behind the ear that controls the muscles of your face. The nerves get inflamed and you have no muscle control on that side, hence not being able to blink. So he started me on Prednisone and vitamin B complex. First I have to have one shot of the vitamin B every other day for a total of five shots then pills until the symptoms go away. So guess who gets to give me a shot in the but every other day!! Rick's First Responder training for the volunteer fire department really is paying off. He actually gives very good shots. I don't recall every having a shot hurt less!! For all his toughness though I have to tell you he finds it very hard emotionally to actually give me the shot!! He has a hard time knowing that he is inflicting pain!! But it really doesn't hurt hardly at all!!

Let me explain something else. Because the left eye will not close on it's own I actually have to tape it shut each night. Yes, you read it right. The Neurologist said use masking tape and tape it closed!! He did not want me using an eye patch because I would either have to put so much pressure on the eye to keep it closed or the eye would open under the patch and then the patch would scratch the eye. So yes, in the middle of the nigh while sleeping my eye would actually open up on it's own!!

So now, be prepared. We decided to get some pictures of this thing. It took a lot of talking to get me to agree but we finally took a couple. So, first here is what Rick gets to wake up to each morning. Brace yourself!!!

Not a pretty picture!!! So, the major issue here is protecting the eye. On that note, we went over to Windblown and between us we managed to come up with an eye patch that would work. It had to cup over the eye so as not to touch it as the eye stays open, but it had to stop the wind and dust etc from getting in the eye. So here's what we came up with.

I'm sure you recognize Rick's art work there!! You can't see the red but he did put in red as my eye was pretty blood shot for a while. But, this too shall pass and I really want to keep our spirits up so I try and smile a lot, which actually sends us all off into hysterical laughter!! In this shot Rick got me smiling but the right eye blinked just as he took the picture so you can see what I mean about the left eye!

So, I am really thankful for good friends and that God has given me a good sense of humor and the ability to laugh at myself! OH, and that this happened here, the total cost for the Neurologist was $40!! Not a typo!! And all the medicine totaled up to about $60. And I really love the "low tech" answer to keeping the eye closed at night. In the states I would expect to buy some very pricey eye patches or something!! So, God is good and we are doing great. The doctor said this should start clearing up in just a couple weeks. These shots are five days into it and the eye actually looks better then it did the first day but the mouth got worse. That's a whole other aspect of this, eating and drinking is not a pretty site!!

Well, that's were we are now. We will be staying in Mazatlan until after Easter anyway, then heading up into the sea and La Paz and surrounding area for the summer. So, when you think of me...........SMILE!

Monday March 24 2008 - It has been two weeks since I came down with the Bell's Palsy. It is so much better. This morning when I woke up I could actually close the left eye with out using my finger. I still have a ways to go but Rick says I almost look normal! I'm not sure I ever looked normal but I'll take that as a positive. I am through with the medications except for the vitamin B complex.

Last weekend was busy and a lot of fun. On Friday night we went to a folk dance at the Angela Peralta theatre. It was awesome!! Because the dancing was fast and they didn't really stop and "pose" I don't really have any pictures. We have a couple of the theatre it's self but I didn't put them in. They started with the Aztec dances and went all through their history! It was great! All the narration of course was in Spanish so we didn't understand the explanations but it didn't matter it was so good. Then Saturday night we went to see "Elvis". There is a restaurant that brings in impersonators on the weekends and has a buffet so we went. The food alone was worth the trip and the money. The Elvis was really pretty good too. It was a really fun time with audience participation. Rick and I even danced, twice!!! Both nights we got back to the boat really really late and ended up getting up early so I was tired for several days but it was worth it.

Easter week just got over. It is a HUGH holiday here. The legal holidays for the week were last Monday, Thursday and Friday. Only Tuesday and Wednesday were not legal holidays. There were thousands and thousands of people, both Mexican and non-Mexican tourists. They even close down whole sections of the Malecon in the evenings and there is one big street party for three nights running. During the day the beaches are packed and they have band stands set up and tons of vendors. We walked the Malecon with our friends from Windblown on Saturday. It was a perfect day. We are really going to miss Dana and Terry. They are selling their boat and will do land cruising. They plan on coming back to Mazatlan next winter and renting a house or apartment though so we will get to see them then.

Last week was a busy busy week. Rick and I did shopping on Monday, just groceries etc. On Tuesday I took Lura and Julie to the "Grand Plaza" which is a big fancy upscale mall here and I took them to a couple other shopping places. It was a long day but we girls had a lot of fun. Fran missed it as she had banking problems so I took here to the same places on Thursday. Wednesday we spent half a day with Windblown just wandering around the Mercado and having a coffee!! I was so bummed!! I could not drink my frappachino through a straw!! It was to thick! I love drinking it through a straw!! Oh well, I got one anyway!! I had not had one for a month! It was nice just wandering around and being with Dana and Terry. Saturday we went to the marina for a swap meet then walked the Malecon. Sunday we went to Easter service then had a dock party in the afternoon. How did I have time to work!!! The service was ok. The dock party was great! There were kids running around and lots of food and good company. The weather was perfect. No real wind and just warm enough for shorts.

This week we are doing our final preparations for going north. I am going to really miss Mazatlan and the people we have met. We need to do shopping and fill up our water and fuel. I need to get the laundry in today so we can get it back tomorrow. I am really getting spoiled about this laundry thing! Everyone says that up in the sea it is so hot that all you wear are shorts or swimming suits and you can wash those out by hand and hang them up.

So, that's it for now. I will take this up and update it this morning. I don't expect to do any more updates until La Paz. We are going to Altata and maybe Topolabomba before we shoot across to La Paz so it could be a couple weeks before you hear from me again.

Tuesday April 15, 2008 - La Paz. We are here. La Paz is so much quieter then Mazatlan. Mazatlan is a much bigger town and always seems to be hustling and bustling. We have walked around La Paz a couple times and it just seems so quiet. Also, it does not have a large Mercado like Mazatlan. We really came to enjoy shopping at the Mercado or central market. La Paz does have a much larger cruiser population. We just got through with the Club Cruceros annual Bay fest. It was a lot of fun but it is too easy to just get hung up with other cruisers and not go out and see the local economy and meet the people. It took a while when we were in Mazatlan to really get out there so I guess I will have to be patient.

The trip over was one of the best we have had so far. Dana on Windblown had a battery operated wrist band that you wear for sea sickness and I found four Bonine that I didn't know I still had so I had zero!!! sea sickness the whole time. The wrist thing really works. Also, we had southerlies the whole way. At first they were really light so they didn't help much but by the time we had turned left from the mainland and headed out across the sea they were perfect! We had two whole days of wonderful sailing, no motor!!!! It is so quiet and beautiful on the water when engine isn't running. I had some more "firsts" on this trip. The first trip with no sea sickness!!! YEA!!!!! Also, another first in becoming more of a viable working partner on the boat. The first night out from Mazatlan to Altata (which we ended up not going to) we ran into (literally!) some fishing nets. It was 2330, about a half hour before I was to come on watch when the motor stopped. Anytime the motor stops I come awake! Anyway, we had run over a net. Rick was outside watching of course so he saw it and was able to stop the motor before it got to the back of the boat and fouled the prop. We got that one off and continued on maybe 15-20 minutes and I saw the next one hit us. I called to Rick and again he was able to stop the motor before it got fouled. This time he had to go into the water as it caught on the dagger board in the middle of the boat. We got that one off and I said we need a plan!!! All over the water we could see little points of light. So, I suggested that we head to the next light in our path and see if is was a ponga and try and determine a way to get around these things. There were tons of them!!! So we did, we headed to the next little light and found that it was indeed a ponga. We were then able to determine that the nets all hung off the bow of the ponga's and that based on the wind and currents they were all facing East. So, when we saw a light to our left we didn't worry about it. All the ones to the right we headed toward the closest one and went around behind him and went on to the next one. We did not hit another net!! After the first two Rick went down and went to bed. It was around 0230 and he should have been in bed from midnight to 0400 while I stood watch. After he went to bed I realized that he trusted me totally to bet us around the rest of the boats and nets!!! That was an awesome feeling for me. Each time I master something on the boat to the point that he goes off and I take care of it I feel that I have really accomplished something!

Anyway, since he had been up late I let him sleep until 0600 instead of 0400. Around 0330 we ran into a fog bank. That's another first for me while standing watch alone. It was a solid wall. I watch it for an hour as we approached it. It was amazing. I turned on the radar of course. While in the fog bank I could see the bow but not the water in front of us. I was nervous as the ponga's don't always show up well on the radar. I was torn between standing outside, where I had been since getting up, and going down to see the radar. You can sort of see it from the doorway but I didn't feel confident that I could see it well enough to see a little spot that might be a ponga. So anyway, I just went slow and it only lasted about 20 minutes. I was proud of the fact that I didn't just call Rick,  I decided that I could handle it!  Every time I get a little more confident!!

So we made our way up the mainland coast to Altata. When we got there, around 0700, we found huge breakers 2 miles off the mouth!! Whoa!!! We were amazed. We found out later from others that sometimes they are huge like that and sometimes non-existent. Our bad timing! We hung around for about three hours but it didn't get any better so we decided that we would just head for La Paz. The wind and weather were perfect for a sail anyway. That next night while I was on watch I got to see the moon come up! That was awesome!! Seeing a moon rise on the ocean/sea with not much noise (just the motor at that point) and no other light but the stars was so cool!! The next afternoon when we were close to the Baja peninsula, Rick was down sleeping and I started seeing whale spouts. Most of them were pretty far off but suddenly I saw one just ahead and to our left. It was pretty close and coming toward us but still off to one side. I got a little nervous and ended up waking Rick up. He was not impressed! The whale did not come any closer so we had nothing to worry about. Rick went back to sleep!

We have been in La Paz just over two weeks. I think we will be here two or three more before we start exploring north into the sea. It is a LOT hotter here. It has gotten up to 98 in the salon area. That was when we were gone and the boat was closed up. It has gotten up to the low 90's while we were here and had all the hatches open. It's about 89 right now and it's noon. The highest heat is around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. The good part is that sunset is around 1945 but by 1800 or earlier it starts cooling off and actually get down to 59 or 60 at night. Every afternoon, as soon as it has cooled off we take a quick shower and it makes for a wonderful cool evening. I think that I will freeze when I come home in July/August!!!

Monday May 5, 2008 - So, here we are still in La Paz. We have been here a month and are getting ready to go up into the sea. We have had a good time here. We've spent more time with other cruisers here then in Mazatlan. In Mazatlan we spent more time exploring the city it's self and spent some time other cruisers. La Paz is smaller and there is less to see on land. We have managed to find our way around a bit. We have ridden the bus a few times, but the bus system here is not as easy to figure out. One day we rode it the Soriana, which is a really nice store but kinda far away. Then when we tried to get back close to the marina where we leave our dinghy we had some trouble. We rode a bus around for a while but then it started heading back to Soriana without going near the water so we ended up getting off and walking. It ended up we had to walk about half the way back. It was hot and we had bought a few groceries so we were pretty hot and tired by the time we got back. But, hey, this is what we are here for right, experiencing the local culture!!!

We are getting acclimated! It has been in the mid to high 90's for the last week or more and though I sweat a LOT, I don't seem to mind too much. I mean I don't get heat sickness or really crabby about being hot. Every evening we get a pretty good breeze and it cools off a lot at night so we are able to sleep well. The other night we had a beach part/potluck. It was really close to our boat so it was easy to get to. There were 20+ people and a half dozen kids and a few dogs!! It was a nice afternoon until the wind came up late. We all just hung around chatting and getting to know each other. It's funny, I can remember faces and the name of the boat that goes with the face but it takes a time or two to get the people names down!!

I have spent a couple of Fridays with a new women's group. We call ourselves SASS, sister acquiring sea skills. We get together to learn real sea/sailing skills. So far we have had a workshop on navigation, (which I didn't go to because I took a class from Mike via the power squadron!) and this coming Friday we will be doing man overboard drills on a 51 foot boat, women only!!! It's a good group and I think we can learn a lot from one another. It's also a way to get to know other ladies!! It's been fun so far but this time of the year people start traveling to various places so I don't know how many more Fridays we will meet. I guess next year they will start again in earnest.

We are getting ready to go up into the sea. We will be leaving in about a week and will be traveling for about a month north up the coast of Baja. We want to explore a few anchorages and a few of the other towns along the coast. If we find wifi along the way we will do updates but I'm not sure what we will find. Around the middle of June we will be in Guaymas to haul the boat out for a couple months. We will work on it for 10-12 days then head up to San Diego. When we come back we will do the bottom paint and put her back in the water and spend the rest of the summer in the northern part of the sea until hurricane season is over.

So, that's it for now. I will try and update again soon. Smooth sailing to all!!!!!

Saturday May 17, 2008 - Hello again from La Paz. We are now getting ready to head up into the sea (Sea of Cortez) for a month. We have one more provisioning trip to do today for our fresh fruits and vegetables and meats. There are not many towns where we will be traveling so I need enough to last the month. I will be able to get some fruits, vegetables and bread or tortillas but not a lot of other stuff. It is going to be great. We will finally be in water that is both clean enough and warm enough to swim in. Also, my ear infection will be cleared up by then also. I have been fighting that for a month!

Rick has more then half the windows replaced and should have the others done soon. It really makes a difference. The new windows are tinted so the boat stays cooler and with temps in the high 90's every little bit helps!! This last week the temperatures were slightly lower but the humidity was higher with a pineapple express over us for most of the week.

Earlier I told you that I had joined a woman's group that was organized to help women learn more practical sea skills. We had a few class room meetings on rules of the road and basic navigation first, then, last Friday, 18 women went out on TALION, a 51 foot boat owned by Patsy. She has lived aboard for many years and is a very experienced sailor. We did Man Overboard drills! It was great. Each of us actually took the helm, and while under sail mind you, no motor, we dropped a large fender off and brought the boat back to it and another lady would use the hook to pick it up. Then later we actually had a volunteer that jumped overboard and we used the Life Sling to bring her back on board. We did that using the engine. It was awesome! The two instructors were actually certified sail instructors that had years of experience teaching women all aspects of sailing. Below are a couple pictures of the trip.

ALL ABOARD!!!	So far this is easy!!!  Sheila is one of the instructors.	Shelly is the other instructor.
What!!!  I so did NOT volunteer to go overboard!!!	Patsy, sole owner operator of Talion.	What a crowd!!
Dang, now where did we leave that fender??	Oh! Oh! I know, over there over there!!	NO!!! It's over there, I've been watching the whole time!!
Our "volunteer" woman overboard.	Check it out!!! She really did it!!!	Guess we better go get her, she has kids!!
Good thing the water is warm.	It's to warm with all this gear on.	All kidding aside, we really learned a lot.

So, really, we had a lot of fun but we really learned a lot. I feel a lot more comfortable with the idea that I can handle the boat and go back if anything happened and Rick went overboard. Of course the plan is still to not let that happen and stay out of bad weather!!

I will update again as soon as possible. The places we are going will not have internet for the most part. There will be one or two places but not many. We will be in the sea for about a month then we are going to Guaymas to haul out. I will keep you updated as much as possible.

Wednesday June 11, 2008 - Wow!! Have I got a lot to catch up on. We left La Paz May 19 and arrived here, Santa Rosalia, last Saturday June 7.  We spent three awesome weeks slowly working our way up the Baja. Our first trip took us from La Paz to Calita Lobo, only a few hours from La Paz. We had been there before and really enjoyed it so we spent a couple night there just soaking up the quiet. Rick did go in and do a light cleaning on the bottom and we folded up the porta-boat and put it away, but otherwise it was a nice quiet rest stop. Of course all of them ended up being really quiet rest stops!!! That's all we seem to have!! I am loving this if you hadn't noticed. I am going to give the details of the stops we made in the link "Sea of Cortez", so here I'll just put what I've been feeling and experiencing.

La Paz was fun. We had a good time with all the other cruisers but we were ready to see the Sea!! Believe it or not, so far the water had not been really warm enough to swim for any length of time. Now it, the water, is in the high 70's and low 80's. I know that this will sound funny but even though the water temps have been in the high 70's and low 80's it feels cool when you first jump in. That of course is because the air temps have been in the high 90's and hitting 100 several days! So, when we are really feeling the heat we jump in for 1/2-1 hour, snorkel or just float around, and by the time we get out our body temps are much lower and we feel great!! 

Our days have a basic pattern lately. We get up around 0800 and I make coffee then breakfast (I do have my priorities!). Then we sit and finish our coffee and read for a while if we are not going to another anchorage that day. Then we either putter on the boat or go to shore and hike around. In the afternoon, after lunch, we sit and read then jump in the water and either float around or snorkel for a while. After that we lay out on the boat to get dry. Some days I work on my tatting. Rick putters and does at least one "project" on the boat each day. Some evenings we watch a DVD. If we are moving to another anchorage that day Rick gets up early and gets us underway while I play lazy for another hour or so. Then I get up and do coffee and breakfast. We sit outside while sailing (or motor/sailing) to the next place. When we get there we jump in the water and check out the snorkeling and Rick checks the anchor to make sure it has set well. The other thing that I try to do is my journal. I write in it as soon as we get to the new anchorage and if we are in one place long I try and write every day or so. Sometimes I go several days without writing but I am finding that the more I write the more hooked I am on keeping the journal. I use it a lot when it's time to update the web page too. The other thing that I am doing is learning to snorkel. I'm sure you're saying "what's to learn", that's what I said. But it's amazingly not that simple. The actual snorkeling it's self takes practice. Just putting on the mask is irritating! My hair is constantly getting tangled in the rubber straps and pulling! That's really not the hard part, just annoying. The harder part is going down then, when you come up, you have to blow out the breath you have been holding hard enough to blow the water out of the snorkel tube. I can't tell you how many cups of sea water I have gotten in my mouth, some of which I have swallowed!  Then, amazingly enough, just the act of putting my face in the water with the snorkel on took a while to get used to. At first when I put my face in the water I couldn't breath! It was so funny. I couldn't figure out what the problem was but Rick said it was fear. I didn't think I was afraid but I guess subconsciously I was! Anyway, I am much better at it and really enjoying it a lot. At Ballandra one night we went outside to look around and looking in the water we saw an incredible sight!! The phosphorescence was strong that night that we could see each individual fish as it swam around! Not the fish it's self but the signature in the water of the phosphorescence!! It was one of the greatest sights I have seen so far. There was no way we could have gotten a picture but it was awesome!!

We occasionally see other cruisers and chat with them. So far we have only stopped at only two places besides here that had any sort of village at all. Some of the places have fishing shacks where the fisherman come when they are out fishing to rest and or clean their catch. Sometimes they camp there for however many days until they get a load then take it back to their homeport. Occasionally they will come to your boat and want to sell or trade you fish or lobster. They will trade for drinks, coke or beer, or just sell it to you. We don't have beer of course but did give one guy a coke. We didn't want any fish or lobster at that time so we just gave him the coke. I already had plenty of fish and legally we are not supposed to buy lobster or any shellfish from the individuals. It has something to do with the co-op that handles shellfish. Anyway, most cruisers will buy it anyway but we feel that if the government has said not to then we don't. It's way to easy to get the same stuff at a market so why go against the government.

So far all the sails/motor-sails have been wonderful experiences in themselves. Except the one from San Juanico to Santa Rosalia, it was a bit of a hassle. You can read about that in the Sea of Cortez link. I am learning and relaxing more and more every day. I am surprised at how confident I feel handling the boat now. On the one leg from San Juanico to Santa Rosalia, when we decided to do an overnight ,I was on watch around 0330 or so when the wind changed. It was a very strong wind and we were under a reefed jib only. I had to tack the jib. I did it with no problem but I knew that it wasn't trimmed right. In the past I would have caved and called Rick but he had not gotten to sleep to much before that and I was feeling like I really needed to just "do it". So I messed with it and messed with it. Finally I yelled at it, "what do you want!!!" That didn't help either so I sat and looked at it and finally realized what I needed to do. It was a great accomplishment for me as sail trim is the one thing that I still have trouble with. But!!! Having done it that way I will not forget the circumstances and what was called for! It was a great learning experience.  As I write this is seems silly on paper as it was really something simple but that is, or has been, my Achilles heel so to speak and I am conquering it!

One of the things that I am loving about cruising is meeting other cruisers. It's like everyone you meet is an old friend instantly. We have a common love of sailing that makes friendships quick and easy. And I have to say that I have only met one or two that I would rather not continue the friendship, all the rest are awesome people that I am glad to call friend. Well, we need to go to town for a few things then I will come back and transmit this to the web site. I don't know how many actually read this stuff but it is great for me, I am really enjoying writing it.

Tuesday June 17, 2008 - We are now in Guaymas. We spent a week at Santa Rosalia. The facilities and the people were great. We met a couple of guys that run a little taco place. We actually chatted with them in Spanish, sort of, about the soccer game that was on the TV. It was very rudimentary Spanish but it was fun and I felt pretty good!

We left Santa Rosalia on Saturday June 16 at around 1200. We were expecting south-southeasterly winds and that's what we got! The winds were not that strong but the swells were short and choppy again. It seems my lot in life to have short choppy seas when doing an overnighter. I don't mind the overnight part but the short choppy seas makes it very hard to sleep and I get down right GRUMPY! when I don't get my sleep. Rick can attest to that but I have threatened him sufficiently I don't think he will!!!!  Around midnight when it was my turn to get up we were in the middle of several large fishing boats going every which way. Rick stayed up for a few minutes until we kind of figured out the dance then he went to lay down. The wind shifted and the sail, the main sail this time, needed to be trimmed. I thought I knew what needed to be done but again I was afraid to take charge and just do it. Rick had not gone to sleep so I went down and talked to him. I told him I knew the sail needed trimmed and what it was doing. He told me what to do and it was exactly what I had thought!! And this time he did not get up and do it himself as we had talked about how I needed to be actually doing the trimming. So, I went back up and trimmed the sail. I can't explain how that made me feel. Rick has always encouraged me to learn everything on the boat and to do these things but I have just hung back and been reluctant to do it. Just doing that one thing really seemed to release something inside me, freeing up my self confidence to "just do it!!"

Anyway, we pulled into the mouth of the bay of Guaymas at oh-dark-thirty, which translates to around 0530. We were unfamiliar with the bay so we just hung out (I slept!) until it got light and then we tucked into a small cove for a few hours rest and breakfast. At 1000 we raised the anchor and headed over to the yard we planned on hauling out at. It was Sunday and we knew they were not open but we wanted to actually locate it and do a visual before going in the next day. We had then planned on anchoring again for the night but I talked Rick into going into the Singular marina just across the way. That way we could get a good night sleep, a shower and be able to do a little prep work for the haul out. I am so glad that we decided to do that!! When we got to Singular the main office was not open but the dock guy said that there would be no charge for just the night! Wow, that was great but it gets better. We talked to a couple of guys on the dock and found out from them that Singular had just been officially open a month but had already hauled two different multi-hulls. One, a tri, was still in the yard. The yard is paved and very very clean. The facilities are great. The are modern and include laundry, showers, a swimming pool and a lounge with wifi. There is a charge for the use of the laundry but the wifi is free. There is also a coffee shop in the complex. I have not yet trained the young man working there to get my frappachino just exactly right but am working on it!! So, even though this place is a little more expensive, and it's not really that much more, the benefits far outweigh the cost. The other place was old, had a dirt yard, was really far from town and had no restaurants near buy that we could eat at. That was a biggie as I can't use water on the boat when it's out of the water so I can't do dishes so I can't cook!! Not that I'm complaining mind you. We have cereal and coffee in the morning, sandwiches for lunch and eat out in the evening. I have paper plates and bowls and plastic silverware.  So, that's it for now. I may or may not update again before we go home. It depends on how much work we get done.

Monday September 1, 2008 - Wow!!! Again, time seems to have vanished! We are back in Guaymas but it seems like we never left. We had worked on the boat for about 12 days. The weather was hot reaching 100 every day. On Saturday June 28 we caught a bus to Tijuana and walked across the border. We were back in the U.S.A.!! We spent a couple weeks in San Diego with Rick's family and caught up with old friends there. Then we headed to Portland where we visited my oldest daughter and her family (which is larger by one!), and spent some time with friends. We got to meet the first grandson, Caleb, for the first time. He was born in late March and has two older sisters. Because my youngest was having her first child in July we decided to make one trip to see both. We arrived in Coos Bay Sunday July 20th. Our second grandson, Josiah was born July 28. Because there were some complications with the birth and Josiah had to stay in the hospital for seven days and because of other family issues, we were not able to see everyone that we had hoped to see, including one of my brothers who had just had heart surgery.  We spent most of the time with my family, especially the parents to be, but did get together with friends. We were able to go to the yacht club meeting that month and show pictures of our trip so far. We really enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up on local happenings. We stayed in Oregon until August 11th then went back to San Diego for a couple weeks and returned here to Guaymas on Monday August 25th. When we arrived in Guaymas it was raining. It proceeded to rain all day Monday, Monday night and most of Tuesday and Tuesday night. There was a tropical storm making it's way directly up the Baja peninsula and we were getting the edges. It was a slow moving one and dumped a lot of rain. One of the guys told us that they expected 50mm (a little over 2 inches) of rain and received 190mm (about 7.5 inches). The whole town of Guaymas was flooded. We walked up the main street on Tuesday and every store was sweeping mud and water out of the store. The water came up over the sidewalk and into the stores. Pants that were hanging up on racks showed a good three inches of wet and mud on the hems.  The streets were a mass of mud and water. One of the locals told us that they had not seen that much rain in 20 years. It has been a very strange year for weather down here.

Our goal now is to get the boat projects finished up and get back in the water. With all the rain it is very humid and uncomfortable. No more then two weeks, and hopefully less, and we will be back in the water and headed back to the Baja. I probably won't have much to update until we do take off.

Although we were in the states for seven weeks it feels like no time at all. There were so many people that we had wanted to get together with and were unable to. I sincerely hope that next time we will be able to see everyone. At this point we don't know when another trip back will happen, probably not for a year or maybe two. 

Saturday, October 11, 2008 -   This is a record I think. I can't believe it has been six weeks since I updated the web page! You must all think I have abandoned it altogether. I apologize to all!! This summer has been an odd one. Mixed with wonderful events and not so hot happenings.  The haul out went beautiful. The marina was everything one could ask for and more (a coffee shop that made great frappachinos!). We got all the work on the boat done and got back in the water on Monday 9/15 and spent a couple days provisioning. We left Wednesday 9/17 and headed toward Bahia de los Angeles.  There was a nice breeze the day we left and we had a great sail for 5-6 hours before it dropped to nothing and we had to motor /sail again. We had absolutely no wind the next day so we motored. Wind or no wind it was such a great trip. It was so smooth that for the first time ever I was able to read while underway!! I was amazed. I hung out outside and just soaked up the sun and felt so relaxed and back in the grove of being retired and cruising!! God is an awesome God!!!

Our first stop was just outside Bahia de los Angeles at Puerto Don Juan. What an awesome anchorage!! When we got there we were the only boat there and we took advantage. We arrived at 1700 and it had been a very hot, still day. The first thing Rick did, after anchoring, was to jump in the water. Not to be left behind I followed quickly! It was warm and beautiful. So warm in fact that.....who needed swimsuits!!! If you had asked me a year ago if I would have ever done that.....NO WAY!! It was a great feeling. We saw a large turtle swimming around and it was so cool! We had only intended to stay the night and then go on in to Bahia de los Angeles but it was so great the we ended up staying several days. The second or third day another boat came in so swimsuits became mandatory again but it was still a wonderful spot. And the boat that came in was Pacific Voyager whom we had met in Mazatlan. They are a great couple and we got to visit with them for awhile one morning. Another boat that we knew from Mazatlan, 4 P.A.C.K.  had also come in and we got caught up on news with them also.  On Sunday September 21 we moved over to Bahia de los Angeles. It was just a short motor, 3-4 miles, to the bay. We anchored just off Gillermos restaurant. Most cruisers land their dinghy at Gillermos. It is a safe place to leave the dinghy while you go shopping. It is a short walk south to a fairly nice store that seems to have a lot of stuff that gringos like. Bahia de los Angeles is a popular land destination for fisherman and has a moderate population of retired people that live there most of the year.  There is a couple of places that you can get internet but non are wifi. The internet connection is ok but not super fast. We did make a few phone calls though. It's not bad but not as fast as we have seen in other places but then again BLA is pretty remote. The town it's self is not very big and strung out around the bay. There really is not much there but stores that support the gringos coming down for fishing and a few motels and a trailer park. They just got their main road paved this last year and electricity to the whole town. BLA is a great place to hang out but not for the town it's self. There are a lot of anchorages very near besides Puerto Don Juan that we want to investigate and since the town does have semi-decent stores it's overall a pretty great place to base out of for the hurricane season. We will be back next year.

We left BLA headed to San Felipe. We had decided that a wind generator would be a good thing so we ordered one and San Felipe is really close to the border and has a new, although small, marina. We went from BLA to Refugio to Willard in day hops then from Willard to San Felipe in an overnighter. Refugio is another awesome anchorage that I would like to go back to and spend more time at. Willard is an ok spot but not to much to make me want to go back. I will tell more about them both in another link. We got to San Felipe on Tuesday 9/30/08. We met a neat couple on a power boat that has a car here and she, Mary, gave us a ride into town and showed us around a little on Wednesday. Then on Thursday Mary took us to the bus stop to catch the bus to Tijuana. We spent a week with Rick's mom and sister and visited Dick and Don and Lisa. It was a nice quick little visit. The purpose of course had been to get the wind generator. We got it alright. It was BIG!! We knew the dimensions of the blades but had no idea of the weight. It must have weighed 50lbs! Needless to say it was way to heavy for our boat so we ended up shipping it back. Not a totally wasted trip though as we got more books, one can never have to many!! And we got a few odds and ends that were nice to have.

We got back to the boat Thursday October 9. When we picked up the bus in Tijuana we met another couple that were coming back to their boat here also, Jacaranda. We had a nice visit with them, they are very nice people. The bus ride was good, no hassles and not too long. On Friday I went shopping with Jacaranda (can't remember her name!). It was a good day, and it did take most of the day. Yesterday we, or I should say Rick, spent the whole day guarding the dock lines. The winds came up NNE and caused hugh swells which caused us to be alternately slammed against the dock and jerked away. More then one line chafed through until Rick got chafe guards in place. It was so rough that I got sea sick!!! I had to go up to the office and play on the computer for a couple of hours until I felt better. All the boats here were in the same condition. Everyone was outside all day watching dock lines and adjusting as needed. What a mess. No one was hurt and no damage that I know of but the starboard amidships cleat will have to be removed and reinforced as it was shifting under the load. Not a major deal but one more thing to work on. The weather is calling for more of the same through possibly Tuesday. We are scheduled to leave Wednesday. We are going back to BLA then slowly work our way down to La Paz. A big hurricane just passed over the Baja peninsula yesterday and there is another south of Cabo and close to shore that we don't know where it will head so we will have to watch it closely before going to far south. I am really looking forward to the trip, probably more then actually being in La Paz. We will be meeting up with Charlie and Sharon in La Paz and that will be awesome!

Guess I will close for now. I need to make a new link for the passages we made from Guaymas to here and get the pictures in. I don't have as many pictures this time but will get more on the trip back down the Baja. Till next time, fair winds and smooth sailing!!!!!

Sunday, October 26, 2008 - We  are back in Santa Rosalia. I love this town! It has the best hotdogs and a neat bakery. The people are really nice too. We left after much trouble. As I wrote above we were at the dock getting banged around by the northerly wind. Well, after three days of that we said enough and with help from Chuck and Linda on Jacaranda we threw off the lines and went out to anchor. That was Monday evening. Thinking all was fine we had an enjoyable evening and the next morning was fine even though the winds were just as strong as the day before. The hassle came when a ponga driver came over to ask if we wanted shrimp. I made Rick go out and talk to him as I hate telling them no. So, Rick went out to tell him no and when the guy went to take off the stern corner of his ponga slammed into the letter E of Tigger on the port side! Put a hole right threw it! I literally jumped out of my seat! I was so mad I'm not sure I didn't say a bad word!!! I won't confess to saying one but I wouldn't be surprised!! The driver took off and Rick and I were just dumbfounded! I guess not really as we had a whole lot to say!!! Nothing I will repeat here!! Rick flew into action though and got a patch of epoxy mixed up and put in the hole right away to keep water off. All I could think was that we had left the dock because we were afraid of damage to the boat!! Just goes to show you can never know.

After a while we decided it could have been worse as the damage was not that bad, it didn't hit any thing structural so we decided to be thankful and move on, literally!! We took off the next morning at 0130 to take advantage of the tides which can be 20 feet or more. Our friends on Jacaranda took off about an hour behind us. We talked to them a couple times during the day but they decided to stop for the night and we kept going. We had strong winds and some fairly big swells that were not comfortable but we decided to just get through it and get down to BLA so Rick could fix the hole and the radar arch. We had gusts of up to 30 knots of wind and probably 5-6 foot swells. That really shouldn't have been so bad as they were from the stern but they were sharp and to close together for comfort. Add to that the auto pilot had some trouble so we had to steer several hours of that. Rick steered for 2-3 hours then got really tired as we had been up since 0130 so I took over and steered an hour or more. I got really good at anticipating the boats movements, to the point that Rick came out and made a comment of how good I was doing. He is always very good and giving praise but the note of surprise in his voice really gave me an extra ounce of pride in doing so well. Later when I had him take over so I could get us something to eat he said he would but doubted he could do as well as I was!!! He is a great guy and he has taught me so much this last year!! We really work now as partners as I have learned so much! We got into BLA at 2330 that night and dropped anchor way out as we couldn't see the other boats well enough to feel safe going closer. The next day we moved closer in and went to shore to get provisions. We checked our email and got water and food! The next morning we headed out for Don Juan and a nice quiet calm place to fix our trouble spots. On leaving we decided, Rick decided, that we would sail off anchor. We do this once in a while to prove we can I guess. It was a piece of cake! We put up the main then Rick took up the anchor while I steered. Once the wind caught the main and we started moving we put up the jib and a way we went!! There was very little wind where we were so we were off on a lark! Well, as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men!!! When we passed the mouth the wind came up....and came up...... and came up!!!!!! When we left we had hung the dinghy, motor and all, off the starboard side. No big deal, we had done so before! OK, so not in really strong winds but who knew!!! So, soon we had a dinghy half full of water starting to bend in the middle!! Rick lowered it so it was in the water but still hanging from the line. Then we dropped the jib to slow down (we did almost 7 knots!), then he climbed into the dinghy as it was hanging there and bailed it out with a bucket! Not fun! I on the other hand was still steering going 6+ knots and loving it!! OK, so not the part where he climbed over the side, but the sailing fast part was awesome!! We learned that day that what you see inside BLA is not what is necessarily right outside the door. I figure no harm no foul, we made it to Don Juan in one piece, even the dinghy. It was the port-a-boat dinghy and it is a tough little critter!  When we pulled into Don Juan there were two other catamarans and one monohull. We anchored kinda in the middle and settled down for the day. The next day all three of the other boats headed out for points south and we had our lovely little anchorage all to ourselves again. But, no rest for the wicked. We had a lot of work to do. We spent the next four days, 5-6 hours a day working on the boat. Rick fixed the hole the ponga driver gave us plus reinforced the radar arch with a lot of epoxy and fiberglass. I cleaned top to bottom, inside and out. It really felt good to give the boat a thorough cleaning, not that I do it that often! Martha Stewart I'm not!! But my mother did raise me to be basically a clean tidy person, thank you mom!!! On the last day we were in Don Juan four small open sailboats came into the bay. They were 20 feet or less and had oars to row them around after they dropped sail. I guess they were some kinda of excursion group or something. We never did talk to them as they went ashore on the opposite side of the bay. That last day we also jumped in the dinghy and did a little cruise of our own around the bay. There are a lot of ray's there and a lot of fish. In places the bay gets very shallow. There is one place they call the careening beach as there is a long flat place that goes dry at low tide. Boats go in on high tide and wait for the tide to go out and beach them then they can work on the bottom. It works especially well on multihulls but even mono-hulls do it if they know how. I don't plan on trying any time soon!  On Wednesday Oct. 22 we left Don Juan and went back over to BLA. Rick got up early and motored us over there. I on the other hand was very lazy that day and slept the whole way! I did manage to get up once we got there and make breakfast though. Once there we went into town and checked email and got provisions. I went grocery shopping while Rick went and got gas. We were to have lunch at Guillermo's but they were closed for remodeling.  The wind had come up anyway so we scooted back to the boat and took her over to the north end to ride out the winds. The next morning we got up and puttered around and listened to the weather and finally took off at 0930. Again, in the bay there was little or no wind but right outside we started hitting 25+ knots! So, being older and wiser, we started out with no sails up just motoring until we scoped out the situation. When we got outside we put up the jib but within a few miles we had to take it down as there was to much wind for even that. We kept motoring out until we got past the land and could turn south. Once we did we put up the jib again and flew!!! We went under jib alone for 5-6 hours and hit as high as 7.8 knots! It was great. Again I was steering to help get past the sea sick part of the day and it was great. We did have some seas from the stern but not even as high as the ones from San Felipe so it was a piece of cake. We went on like that all day. Late in the afternoon the winds dropped and we were doing less then 4 knots so we gave in and put the motor on. Eventually the winds died altogether and I pulled in the jib and we had to motor the rest of the way to Santa Rosalia, but it was great while it lasted!!

We got to Santa Rosalia at 0830 Friday morning. There on the docks was 4P.A.C.K. and Pacific Voyager, Sunbow, and Romany Star, all of whom we had met before. Pacific Voyager especially we were really glad to see. That night we went out to dinner with them and had a blast. The next day they left for points south but we look forward to meeting up with them again. That next morning Juniata came in and we went uptown with them that night! What fun! What neat people go cruising! Today has been a day of calling home and working on the web page. Tomorrow morning I will go up to the cruisers lounge and update the web site. It feels good to be back in the grove again! I look forward to taking more pictures of Santa Rosalia and points south. In La Paz we will meet up with Charlie and Sharon, have Thanksgiving then head over to Mazatlan. After that............Who knows!!!! See ya soon!

Sunday November 23, 2008 - Let's see, where was I?? What!? Only updated thru Santa Rosalia!!! Man am I behind the times!! We are now in La Paz. We arrived here Tuesday November 4 at 1645. But, since we did not come straight here from Santa Rosalia I have a little updating to do!

We left Santa Rosalia  Thursday October 30 at 0830. It was not really to bad weather wise. We had flat seas and calm winds. I was even able to read and play spider on my PDA. I even cleaned the BBQ!  Friday morning, about mid morning we were coming up on Agua Verde when I saw what looked like a reef close to shore but it looked funny. I kept watching and finally saw that it was a huge school of dolphin feeding!! It was so cool!! There were so many and they were jumping and splashing, it really looked like a reef at first. Then a handful broke off and came over to the boat! I tried, again, to get pictures but, again, no luck! I don't know what I do wrong but I can not seem to get a picture of the dolphins!! I shall keep trying!! I usually blame it on the camera!! So we watch them for as long as we could see them. Our plan was to stop at Agua Verde but the weather was so good Rick wanted to get further down the road so we kept going. We made it to San Everisto just as the light on shore came on. It was not fully dark but getting there. Rick asked if I wanted to stop and I was more then ready!! However....."it's only a little ways more to Calita Partida!!" ooooh....all right! What a mistake that was!! Now we had been underway about 36 hours and I was getting tired!! Not that the trip was physically tiring but just having been underway that long was mentally tiring. (no cracks about being mental either!!) So, now it's 2200 and pitch black. The moon is less then a sliver and hanging way in the western sky almost ready to go down. We are coming into an anchorage that is between two islands. We have the way point on the GPS and we have the radar on so going pretty good so far. Then, just as we are getting to the way point a huge triple-decker motor  yacht goes past in front of us into the anchorage we are headed for. The anchorage is more then big enough but the yacht was lit up like the strip in Los Vegas!! So now we have no night vision at all!! We had been able to see the dark shape of the islands and that with the radar was making it passable. Now all we can see are the lights on the yacht in front of us.  OK, fine, we will just follow him in!! So, in we go. We get inside and now the big yacht has put his "dinghy" in the water to scout out a place for them to anchor. Well, his "dinghy" is probably half the size of Tigger!! OK, maybe a third the size but none the less it's huge! Now we have the motor yacht all lit up, the "dinghy" running around, two sport fishing boats anchored and us trying to see where we could go anchor. I was watching the radar but the "dinghy" kept moving around blending with other boats and I couldn't tell how many were in there. Then............our motor quit!! Now Rick is on the bow getting ready to drop anchor and I am trying to get the motor to stay running long enough to get us in position and I look back over my shoulder and there, right behind us, is a Mexican Navy patrol boat!!! It is anchored but has not a single light on anywhere!!!! We couldn't see it because of the light from the yacht and the fact that the "dinghy" kept moving around near other boats so I couldn't tell on radar how many were there!! Well, I got the motor going and Rick got the anchor down around 2300. We were really never in any danger, we never got to close to any boat or to the shore, and the motor would start right up but didn't want to idle. Never the less!!! After about 40 hours of being underway, even in very very benign conditions, we were tired and should have stopped earlier. We talked about it and agreed........never again!! It was just to stressful. I am sure things could come up that could cause us to have to repeat that situation, but not willingly. We need to just take out time. After all, it's not like we have to get back to work!!!!

So, we hung out at Calita Partida until Monday morning. It is a very very pretty place to hang out. The next day all the boats left and we had the place to ourselves until Sunday when a couple charter cats came in. Monday we took off at about 0900 but the wind was up so we went back!! Why be uncomfortable! So around noon we tried again and it was flat calm and beautiful. We headed for La Paz. We got here at 1645 that afternoon and just spent the rest of the afternoon on the boat. We've been here almost three weeks now. The first week we spent every day taking care of business. It's funny how busy you are when you are retired!! We even started back doing Yoga. There is a lady, Annie, that leads Yoga every day at Marina de La Paz. It is really good for us. Mostly it's just stretching but after being on the boat for a while you really need to stretch your muscles. I think that Rick really gets a benefit from it, but so do I. We have also spent time renewing friendships that we made when we were here in April and May. We have found a new restaurant to have breakfast at. Banditos no longer does breakfast I guess. This place is very small but does great breakfasts for 40 pesos, less then 4 dollars US. It includes your coffee and orange juice. What a find!! I love to breakfast!! My favorite meal of the day.

Charlie and Sharon are here now. They got here Friday November 14. We have had a great week hanging out with them, showing them around and doing some shopping. It's fun to have friends from home here to share the experience with. I am very jealous of Sharon though!! They saw a large pod of dolphin and she was able to get a lot of great pictures!! I don't know if it's her camera or if she is just a better photographer! Maybe I'll just have to borrow some of her pictures!! Aegean Odyssey is here now too. This Thursday is Thanksgiving and the club is having a Thanksgiving dinner at Marina Palmira. Sharon and Charlie and Ron and Karen are in Marina Palmira. We are all going to the dinner. Rick and I will dinghy over I guess. There is supposed to be something like 200 people. We have met the nicest people since we've been cruising. Now it seems like every where we go we fun into someone that we have spent time with somewhere.

We spent the last two Sundays at Crossroads Christian Fellowship for worship service but today I was feeling really punky so we stayed in. I really enjoy the service. It's a small church but it's really nice and it is bible based, what more can you ask for!!

Thursday December 11, 2008 -  Almost another month has gone by. Maybe I should just schedule updating once a month! No, then it would be two months before I did it!! We had a very nice Thanksgiving in La Paz. Club Cruceros hosts a very nice dinner at Marina Palmira. They provide the turkey and the club members provide the rest of the feast. It was great if a little crowded. Richard and Rebecca Sandel from our old yacht club had flown down here for a vacation and we were able to connect with them. Also Ron and Karen Pullen who have been cruising here in Mexico for nine years now was in La Paz. So with those two couples and Rick and I and Charlie and Sharon we had a home town reunion!  We all got together for dinner out then again for the Thanksgiving dinner. It was great to visit with people from home and old friends. Even though Ron and Karen are cruising like we are, we really have not seen a lot of them. We have just had different itineraries.

After Thanksgiving we spent Friday getting ready to head to Mazatlan. We did last minute stuff and went grocery shopping. Saturday morning we pulled anchor and headed out. We were only going to the Lorenzo channel are and anchor until we got a good weather window. We had hoped to get as far as Calita Partida but ended up with north winds hitting us on the nose. We beat against it until we got to Ballandra and tried to anchor there first. What a mess! Ballandra is to open to the North/Northwest for the winds we were having. The wind were not huge but the swells it caused were very uncomfortable. We went in and thought we would try anchoring close to the north end anyway. Big mistake!!! We idled along really slow until the depth showed 9.9 ft. At that point I turned away from the shore and headed out to the center. To late! There is a sandbar that runs from the north shore of the bay to the center or even further. The depth finder still showed double digits but all of a sudden I felt a big bump. At first I thought it was the swells as we were beam to them. Unfortunately that was not the case. We were aground. The sandbar was so sharp that the port hull hit it while the starboard hull (the one with the depth finder in it) still showed enough water.  It took no time at all for the swells to push us farther up onto the sandbar.  Also, the tide was going out so it was getting shallower all the time. Rick grabbed a secondary anchor and jumped into the water while I wrapped the end onto the main sheet winch to try and kedge us off. That anchor succeeded in keeping us from going farther back on but Rick had to also carry the main anchor off the bow out into deeper water. When he jumped into the water at the boat it only came up to his knees. He then walked both anchors out to neck deep water. I have to tell you that him being in the water was the scariest part of the whole deal.  I stayed on the boat to crank in the lines but having him out there was nerve racking. Charlie and Sharon were traveling with us and Charlie got his dinghy into the water and rowed over to Rick. I felt a lot better then, knowing that he was out there with Rick. Rick was never in water deeper then his neck but the swells can overwhelm a person pretty quick. I have describe this in more detail in San Felipe to La Paz section. What I wanted to share here is that we really worked well together. Afterwards we "debriefed" so to speak and we realized that we did not get upset with each other, no yelling and screaming, and we really worked well as a team. We also talked about what we did wrong to get us in that fix in the first place. Hopefully we learned. Overall it was an anxious time but.....We done good!!!!! We were both exhausted but really pretty happy with how we handled it and I really felt like a full partner in the whole operation. I was also amazed after the fact to realize that I was never scared. I was concerned about Rick being in the water but I was never really scared about the whole thing.

So, after that we went back to Calita Lobo and anchored there. The swells were much less. We spent two days there. On the last morning, Monday, Sharon caught a half dozen sand bass. I took them back to our boat and filleted them . They did not want them as they have less freezer space. We ate them later in the week and they were really good.

We took off from Calita Lobo at 1130 Monday morning. It took 45 hours all together as there was no wind. We really had an unremarkable trip.  We arrived at Mazatlan in time to see the Cruise ships coming in. The sunrise was awesome! You need to check out the picture on the Mazatlan link. So, we are here until we can get our FM3's Jan. 8, 2009. Then we will head a little further south.

Sunday May 10, 2009 - I am starting again. I put all the old stuff in archives and will carry on from here. I will briefly cover the last six months but it's to much work to do the whole thing. The last time I did my journal was in December when we got to Mazatlan. My mom's cancer had returned the summer before and she had started to go in and out of the hospital. We had intended to head further south but because mom was having so much trouble we decided to hang out in Mazatlan. In February Chris and Eric and Josiah cam to Mazatlan for Carnival. We had a great time and I will put some pictures in the Mazatlan section. After they left we headed to La Paz. We arrived in La Paz on Saturday March 7th. By the next Friday, March 13th, I was on my way home. I arrived in Eugene at midnight Friday night. I saw mom for several hours Saturday afternoon. By Saturday night she was back in the hospital. Mom passed away on Tuesday March 17th. I will be forever grateful that Rick insisted that I go home early. There was no indication that mom would pass away that quickly but Rick insisted that if I didn't go and something happened I would for ever be sad. He was so right. I got to spend some excellent time with mom and I will remember that forever.

 After mom passed away I spent several more weeks visiting family and friends. I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with everyone. On Tuesday April 21 I flew back to Mexico. I flew into San Jose del Cabo and caught a bus to La Paz. I got into La Paz at 1830 and Rick met me at the bus. We had a quick dinner and headed out to the boat which was anchored in the Magote. We went out for breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast spots the Olimpia restaurant. It is a very small place a few blocks up from Papas and Beer. I had woken up not feeling the greatest but had chalked it up to traveling. By Wednesday noon I thought I had caught the cold that Chris and Josiah had. We went back out to the boat and by Thursday night I could not swallow water without a great deal of pain. I checked in my throat and sure enough I had a ton of white patches in the back of my throat. Step Throat! The girls used to get it a lot when they were teenagers. So, Friday we went to the ear/nose/throat doctor I had seen last year for my ear infection and he gave me a prescription for antibiotics. It still took 3-4 days for me to feel half way normal again. It really hit me hard. Probably because I was worn out from traveling anyway. Sunday I was able to go to church but not much else. By Tuesday we started doing our shopping for the trip north to Santa Rosalia. It took the rest of the week to do that. We spent some time with Festima Lente during that week too. I really missed them. I also miss Windblown! Terry and Dana where are you!!! Come back to Mexico. We went to the Magote fest Sunday afternoon and had a good time.

Monday afternoon, after visiting with Serenity and Festima Lente, we took off for Calita Lobo. We just wanted to hang out there for a day or two before going farther south. We made it as far as buoy number 4 when the prop failed!!! Oh well, that's life on a boat. We "pulled over" just outside the buoy and anchored. Rick dove and changed the prop and within  45 minutes we were on our way again!! It's so nice to have spares and the ability to do the work (thank you Rick). So we got to Calita Lobo and hung out for a couple days then went on to Calita Partida. We snorkeled while we were at Calita Lobo. It was great. When we got to Calita Partida there were 3-4 boats. There were 12 boats in Calita Partida at one point. While in Calita Partida I managed to kick the fresh water foot pump and really jammed the middle toe on my right foot. What pain!! I did that last year in Mazatlan too only then I kicked the stanchion, three different times!! We left Calita Partida on Saturday and went to Isla San Francisco. When we got there we were boat number 5. By the end of the day there were 12 boats there!! It is a busy time of the year. Rick dove in and snorkeled but because I had jammed my toe I am not able to get my fin on so I could not! What a bummer. I could swim but I think even kicking my feet would hurt at this point. I will give it a few more days. We got up this morning and zipped over to San Everisto. We saw three boats leaving this anchorage as we were coming in. There was one boat still here. Two more have come in since we got here. We plan on staying here until Tuesday then head up to Los Gatos. We are slowly working out way to Santa Rosalia where we will leave the boat for a very quick trip to San Diego to see Rick's family and pick up the sail kit for the Walker Bay. I will be doing the update when I get to Santa Rosalia. I have every hope that I will be more consistent now that things are getting back to normal. I am looking forward to this summer in the sea! I hope to see a lot more wildlife! See ya soon!!

Sunday May 31, 2009 - We are now in Bahia de Conception. We are currently anchored at El Burro, one of the many coves in Conception. We arrived here Monday May 25 around 1830. From San Everisto we took off the Monday after mothers day and headed out to Los Gatos. We anchored there for the night. It was nice but the place we chose to anchor was a little close to the rocks. Next time we will go a little farther north. A power boat came in later in the afternoon, Discovery. We had met them in La Paz through Ron and Karen but didn't remember until we got to Agua Verde. We got to Agua Verde 1130 on Tuesday and found Ron and Karen of Aegean Odyssey there. We ended up having dinner on Emily B with Ron and Karen and Discovery. I still can't remember names but I'm getting there. It wasn't until the next day that we figured out that it was the same group of people that we had dinner with at Banditos!  So much for memory!! We had a great time. Discovery told us that Santa Rosalia was hosting a regatta so we would not be able to go in to the marina when we wanted, we would have to wait a week. So we decided to hang out a little longer at Agua Verde. We went kayaking and snorkeling several times. I love the kayaking and snorkeling a lot. I am getting better and better at snorkeling, Rick has showed me how to get to the bottom (if it's not to deep!) easier.  We left Agua Verde on Saturday 5/16 and headed up to Isla Danzante to Honeymoon Cove. Discovery had left Agua Verde at the same time as did Aegean Odyssey. Discovery is a power boat and they went outside all the islands and came in to Honeymoon from the north just as we were getting there. We went in to anchor but everything was 30 ft and really close to shore. We didn't have any problem last year but for some reason it just didn't feel good. We anchored in the south bite but ended up moving down further south on the island to a little cove called Pyramid cove. That was a really neat little cove but very exposed to the west and northwest. Luckily there was not really any wind to speak of and the bottom was really good holding. I hope we can go back and spend a few days there to snorkel. One boat was there, Silmaril. We met Veronica when she came over to talk. They had been out a while and she called up and said she needed a little "girl talk". We had a great time talking books and all kinds of stuff. His name is Steve but we didn't meet him, he stayed on the boat. We took off the next morning and headed to Ballandra on Isla Carmen. We stayed in Ballandra from that Sunday morning to Wednesday morning. We motored over to Loreto on Wednesday morning to meet Ron and Karen and do some shopping. We went in and had a late breakfast and found an internet place to do email. Then we did our shopping and headed back to the boat. That morning on our way from Ballandra to Loreto we saw a medium size cruise ship coming from the north end of the island and anchor off Loreto. It took off just before we did in the afternoon and it looked like it was heading north but it ended up going around Coronado and going into the anchorage we were headed to! We found out later that it was a condo ship. The people owned the rooms like condos and that's why they were going to places that regular cruise ships didn't. It went to Agua Verde that night, so we heard. They pulled into Coronado just a little before us and unloaded a bunch of kayaks and a ton of people on the beach. We anchored but didn't go ashore. We were headed to San Juanico the next morning.

We arrived at San Juanico on Thursday May 19. We ended up staying there until Monday May 25 when we headed up to Bahia de Conception. We kayaked and swam just about everyday. The first day we snorkeled the strap on my mask broke so I wasn't able to snorkel but I did swim. San Juanico is a great place to just hang out. This time we anchored in close between what they call Prudential rock and the pinnacles, in fact a little to close. On Saturday night we had a minus tide and I woke up to a bumping noise! Our rudder was just touching the sand in places. We were not aground and we were able to move with no problem. It was 0300 and a dark night with no moon. Another cat had come in that day and anchored outside us and between us and another boat that had been there since before we got there. We up anchored and moved outside both of them. Rick didn't even see the cat at first. I was driving and he was taking care of the anchor so he didn't notice that the cat had no lights what so ever! Not a good idea but to each his own. We were never even close to them but it could have been a problem if conditions had been worse.

So, as I said we got here to Conception on Monday 5/25. It has been a great place to hang out. We caught up with Pacific Voyager and they loaned me a mask so Rick and I were able to snorkel on Friday. Unfortunately I didn't put on sun block and got a burn on my back so I wasn't able to go again. We are anchored un El Burro, just one of the many little coves around here. We stayed here rather then check out other coves as Rick found a crack in the starboard bow that allowed water to wick into a good portion of the wood so he has been working on getting it dried out and resealed. We have really enjoyed being here. We had dinner with Ron and Karen at Bertha's which is in Burro and dinner with Pat and Barry at Ana's which is in Santispac. We motored over to Isla Coyote and snorkeled and it was great. I think we will come back here maybe after San Diego but we haven't decided for sure yet. Tomorrow we head out for either Punta Chivato or Isla San Marcos, whichever we decide. We are scheduled to go into Santa Rosalia on Wednesday and head up to San Diego.  

Thursday June 25, 2009 - We are now back in El Burro cove in Bahia de Constitution. We left here and went to Santa Rosalia Sunday May 31 to go back to San Diego to see Rick's family. We stopped in Sweet Pea Cove on Isla Marcos for one night where we ran into Silmaril again. They were in the process of upping their anchor as we were coming in but we chatted for a couple minutes. It was a very nice place and we hope to get back there to stay longer. We left the next day, Monday, and headed into the marina. We then caught a bus Wednesday afternoon to San Diego. We had a great visit and picked up the sail kit for the walker bay dinghy and a lot of other little odds and ends including new snorkel masks. We tried those out for the first time the other day. They worked great, even Rick was impressed.  We had the greatest sail we have had to date coming from Santa Rosalia to the mouth of Conception bay. At first we had light winds and we (Rick) put up the spinnaker. As usual it took him 30 minutes (maybe less) to get it up and as soon as it was up and flying.....the wind died! It always happens! Anyway, it was up 10-15 minutes and we (I) took it down. It is really easy to bring down, that's why Rick puts it up and I take it down. Shortly after we had it down the wind came up.....way up! It would have been way to much wind for the spinnaker. We were on a close reach and had between 17-20 knots of wind. We were doing 7.4 knots!! It was the most amazing sail! Not motor noise and not much swell or chop. It doesn't get much better!!  We stopped at another new (to us) anchorage, Punta Santo Domingo. Another beautiful place. We would like to stop there again and spend several days. We wanted to get here to get a good spot for the 4th of July potluck/BBQ so we only spent one night. We have heard that the 4th of July party here is a great party so we are looking forward to it. We had thought that more people would be here now but we are the only ones so far. Pacific Voyager is in Santispac around the corner. They are wonderful people that we love spending time with. After the 4th we will be heading north to Bahia de los Angeles for the summer. It is going to be hot!!! I am glad we have the snorkels and the water noodles. The water noodles are long round foam things that you use to float around in the water. Lots of people use them here. You put them under your arms around your back and just float! We have it great in that we can float around under Tigger in the shade. Looking forward to it!! Along with more snorkeling and kayaking. I  will let you know how the party went when we get back to Santa Rosalia.

July 7, 2009 - We are back in Santa Rosalia. I was not able to send the last update as Geary in El Burro lost his internet. His router died and his computer had major problems. So the whole time we were there we were unable to get internet. We had a great time there although 2 weeks there was a bit much as it was really hot. We jumped in the water almost every day and the new snorkel masks work great. We got some great shots underwater and some neat shots from the top of a nearby mountain (hill?). It felt like a mountain when we hiked it!! We were trying to find the petroglyphs but never did. There was not much of a trail so who knows where they were. We really enjoyed ourselves though. Barbara and her husband from Native Son joined us and afterwards we all stopped at Bertha's for breakfast. We left the boat at 0630 for the hike so had not eaten which was good as food would not have set well with the hike and the heat.  After breakfast we all went back to our boats and rested up for the potluck. Geary, who lives in El Burro year round, hosted a 4th of July picnic. He provided the spot with tables and chairs and the hot dogs and the cruisers brought all the rest. Geary even had a few fireworks after dark. I ended up getting a really bad sinus headache about the time we were eating so we went back to the boat for an hour or so to get rid of it. We went back in around 1700 for a talk by a couple that have gone to El Salvador many many times. It was really interesting and we are looking forward to being able to go. We plan on another 2-3 years in Mexico before we head further south though. We haven't even made it to Puerto Vallarta yet!!! This year for sure!!! There is still a lot we haven't seen. We continue to meet all kinds of neat people too.

It was so hot in El Burro, reaching 100 or close to it every day and the humidity is really high also. Even the water was really warm, 88-90!! We would jump in the water hoping to cool off and it felt like we were jumping into a bathtub of warm water! We bought pool noodles, which are long tubes of foam that are for flotation in a swimming pool, and we put them around our back under our arms and float under the boat out of the sun. It is great. We even have others come over and we all just float around under the boat! You can only do that in a multi-hull of course which is why we invite others to join us. I guess from what I hear this is what we will have all summer.....lots of heat. Hopefully the humidity won't be as bad, that's a killer. Well, it is what it is and we are still having the time of our lives!!! There is a lot to see in Santa Rosalia that we haven't seen yet so I hope to get some pictures and update one more time before we leave here. You always have to play it by ear here, stuff comes up. So, for now that's it. We had a great time in San Diego and a great time in El Burro......oh, by the way, it rained here yesterday. Just so you all know that we get rain too. Of course it was still in the high 80's, but it did rain!!  Bye for now.