Terry will be doing book signings at the West Marine booth at the Seattle boat show this year!
Come on by to get an autographed copy -- or just to say hi.
The show runs January 29th thru February 6th -- Go to the Adventures Aboard Rick's Place link for more information.
Other notes:
Check out the link to the right for Bryce Dylan Edwards -- he's my very talented great nephew. His artwork is amazing! His dad's website is right next to his: Brian Edwards Photography
Also click on Kavenga's Wake -- our friend Steve Van Slyke has a new book out, "Sex, Lies and Spinnakers" that's an exciting who done it set on the high seas and a must read.
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There are two things that keep most people from spending a year in the Sea of Cortez as we are planning to do: Summer and Winter.
Before making our decision to spend our time in this beautiful area we talked to cruising friends that had and got mixed answers. Some said the winter in the Sea was miserable -- too cold and too many Northers.
Northers are the frequent winter winds that can blow down the Sea. They can be strong (15 to 30 knots) and can blow for 3 to 5 days (average) at a time. With a fetch of 600 miles the water can get quite steep and choppy and not a fun place to be. The good news is that they are very well predicted and there are many well protected anchorages that you can tuck into and sit them out.
So far we haven't had any major Northers (knock on teak) and a light short one is just passing (we were in the marina so no problemo). We'll wait a couple days for the seas to settle back down and then head back up to the islands for a bit.
Many also think this area is too cold in the winter, but so far it is just perfect to us: highs in the high 70's and lows in the high 60's. Cold is definitely a relative thing and it seems a lot of us here now are from the Northwest and we're finding this very comfortable -- especially when we look at the weather reports from back home!
Now the summer is another thing. It gets VERY hot here -- plus it is hurricane season. But that's a long way off so we have plenty of time to plan for that!
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After a little more than a week at the dock at Marina Palmira, we were ready for a little "vacation" and headed up to the nearby islands. They are as close to La Paz as our old favorite Blake Island was to Gig Harbor, so it was a short hop up here and we had the anchor down before noon and soon after that we were snorkeling in the clear warm water!
The snorkeling was fantastic with loads of colorful fish -- and coral! This was a surprise to us as we didn't remember seeing coral in the anchorages we visited in this area 10 years ago.
We then worked our way over to the beautiful white sand beach and enjoyed the feel of it on our feet as we walked the length of it.
After dinner we were treated to a gorgeous sunset and then we turned on the Christmas lights that ring Cetus's lifelines. It's a peaceful, calm anchorage and we have it all to ourselves!
We plan to explore a few more anchorages on Espitito Santos and then head back "home" to La Paz sometime next week. Many cruisers are now starting to migrate south to Mainland Mexico as the weather cools here in the sea and the water will soon be too cold to spend much time in it. But we're looking forward to exploring and hiking these beautiful islands before the crowds come back up in the prime weather period this spring, and we're very happy we made the decision to spend a year here before moving on.
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We pulled into the dock at Marina Palmira on November 29th -- boy did it feel good to be on solid ground again after all the time traveling and on the hook!
We've been busy ever since we tied up with cleaning, paperwork (finishing our FM3's and buying Park Passes), visiting (old and new cruising friends plus a visit from Brother Dave and his wife Pink! -- they made a daring drive up from their time share in Cabo to spend a day with us) and walking -- lots and lots of walking.
Our plan is to stay here till after mid-month and then head up to the islands for the holidays.
A NOTE ON COMMUNICATIONS:
Though we have WiFi here at the marina, we haven't been able to access our aol email. So, if you've sent us something to that address, that's why we haven't responded.
We also don't check the winlink every day now, since the radio connection isn't as easy in the marina.
So, for now, the best way to reach us is through any of our g mail addresses or by phone. One note on the phone is that we can't access the voicemail. So, if you've left a message, we haven't gotten that either! But go ahead and call -- if we don't answer, just try again later!
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We've put 2,300 miles under Cetus's keel since leaving Gig Harbor at the end of May.
The first two months were a relaxing vacation in the beautiful San Juan islands and then we began the long trek south.
We had many enjoyable stops along the way, including two extended stops (3 weeks in San Francisco Bay and a month in San Diego), but for the most part we've been in traveling mode the whole time.
That all ended yesterday when we dropped the anchor in the lovely, cozy anchorage of Caleta Lobos, a few short miles north of La Paz. We could see the anchor as it sank into the sand beneath the boat and it wasn't long before we were swimming in the clear, warm water.
It was then that it hit us: we had finally arrived at our destination, we were actually in the Sea of Cortez! We are done traveling because we were where we wanted to be. No more long passages for a while, we would be gunk holing around the Sea of Cortez much like we did in the San Juans, only here there are cactus instead of Evergreens and Magnolias and water that we can swim in! There are many more anchorages just as enchanting as this one (though right now it's hard to imagine anything could rival the beauty of this place) and we have the whole next year to explore.
In a couple days we will head in to "the city" of La Paz where we'll spend some time at Marina Palmira while we have family and friends that will be visiting the area. We'll have WiFi while there and I'll once again be able to post pictures to add to these blog posts.
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We had a long motor sail into weather today -- but it was a good day and we got to end it with a nice swim off the boat after dropping anchor. We've got another long day planned tomorrow to get around to Balandra Bay and from there it's just a short hop down to La Paz!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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We reached a major milestone in our journey yesterday when we rounded the southern tip of Baja at Cabo San Lucas about 9 am!
It was just as we remembered from 10 years ago as far as being greeted by dozens of sport fishing boats heading out of the harbor at sunrise, but the coastline seems to be much more built up with lots of hotels along the hills of the coast. The number of people on the beach would indicate that not many of the rooms are occupied however.
We ducked into the harbor to check it out for anchoring for the night, but the harbor was rough and more crowded than it had been 10 years ago -- mostly due to the 2 huge cruise ships in the small bay! So we continued on to the next possible anchorage at San Jose del Cabo -- where there is also a new marina that would be a possibility if the anchorage wasn't good.
We were delighted to find a lovely open roadstead anchorage off a beautiful white sand beach lined with fine hotels. Once again, people on the beach were noticeably absent. About 15 minutes after dropping the anchor in the clear warm water, we were diving off the boat and enjoying the 1st swim of this adventure! Another milestone! How refreshing after our long 30+ hour trip from Mag Bay. We had a good nights sleep and were on our way again at 6:30 this morning as the sun began to rise.
Started the morning with great sailing until our course turned us into the wind on our way to an anchorage at Los Frailes where we plan to spend the night. From there we will have a longer day (about 45 miles) to the next anchorage at Bahia Los Muertos. The winds are supposed to be nearly non existent tomorrow, so we will spend Thanksgiving motoring all day.
We will bring a little tradition to the holiday, despite our travel plans. I'll prepare a lunch ahead of time of dressing with turkey meat (canned turkey from Costco!) and then when we're at anchor I'll heat a small canned ham and we'll have that with mashed potatoes and corn and green beans. I even have a can of pumpkin I'll turn into a pie or at least a pudding tonight.
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We left Neah Bay about 3 1/2 months ago to begin traveling down the coast. Tonight will be the last night we'll see the sunset on the open Pacific, as we should round Cabo San Lucas tomorrow morning to begin the next phase of this adventure: The Sea of Cortez!
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We left Bahia Santa Maria about an hour ago for the short (20 mile) hop to Bahia Magdelena.
We're traveling in the company of 40 very large power boats that joined us in Santa Maria yesterday. They are the FUBAR -- a rally similar to the Baja Ha Ha, but for large mega yachts. We first heard about it in San Diego, but had no idea about their schedule until yesterday afternoon when they started coming into the bay. Pretty interesting to see that many large power boats come in and anchor all around. We were just glad that we weren't making a night passage when they were -- it would have been a bit nerve wracking seeing so many radar blips and AIS reports while traveling in the dark. They had a party on shore yesterday afternoon and are now headed into Mag bay. They are headed to Man O'War cove, while we are going to Pt. Belcher. Mag Bay is very big.
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The trip to Bahia Santa Maria remained uneventful and windless, so we made lots of water and got lots of rest. It was a gorgeous star filled night with great visibility. A good trip all and all.
Approaching the headland looked just like making landfall on a Pacific Island, as the mountains on the point are the only land you can see, the rest being flat beach. So we are in a beautiful peaceful anchorage with occasional dolphin and clear blue water.
We plan to stay here a day or so -- like we told our friends on Galetea "Long ago we made a rule that we should stay somewhere at least as long as it took to get there". Then we'll have a short hop (about 20 miles) to Bahia Magdelena and then another overnight to make it down around the tip of Baja at Cabo San Lucas.
Changed the ships clocks to Mountain time today -- should make the sunrise and sunset occur at a more reasonable hour!
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The good news is we made lots of water today......... but you know what that means: we were motoring with no wind. But the seas are smooth, the sky is clear and it's a pleasant day out here and looks to be a good night. We're hoping to see more of the meteor shower tonight -- only saw a few shooting stars last night.
Spotted a few whales today and some dolphin stopped by for a visit.
So on we go!
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The 50 mile passage from Turtle Bay to Asuncion was wonderful! We were able to sail as soon as we left the harbor at sunrise. Sunny blue sky, smooth seas with 10 - 15 knots of wind abaft our beam -- it doesn't get much better than that. We did have a gray whale sighting, but pretty far from the boat to have a good look.
Like all good things, it did come to an end as the wind died just before noon, and we had to motor sail the rest of the way. But that wasn't bad, either, and we used the engine time to run our watermaker and desalinated 15 gallons of water to replenish our tanks.
By 3:00 pm we were anchored in beautiful little bay, well protected from the NW wind and swell and had a lovely night. We are staying here today to rest up and prepare for another overnighter to Bahia Santa Maria. Meteor showers tonight!
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We got up at 4 am and hauled anchor and motored out of Turtle Bay as the sun was rising -- off to a good start.
Galetea had some glitches with their navigation system, so we headed back in to Turtle Bay so they can work on it. It's a beautiful day and we'll enjoy another night here and hopefully be off again tomorrow am.
Yesterday I began to have all emails sent to comcast addresses from my winlink address returned as undeliverable. Not sure what the problem is, but if you're comcast, don't be alarmed that you don't hear from us. I'll try to post on the Blog daily, as well as sending out SPOT reports daily -- even when we're not traveling.
Enjoy your day!
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What an enjoyable stop!
We put the dinghy in the water yesterday and with Jim and Ellen (Galatea) went into the small town to look around and find the Veracruz Restaurant that provides free WiFi. The town was much as we remember from 10 years ago. Since this is a stop for the Baja Ha Ha Rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas they are very cruiser friendly and can provide all the services that might be necessary -- fuel, water, laundry, food and internet.
The wild life in the bay has been very entertaining, as well. Hundreds of birds flock around feeding -- we especially enjoy watching the Pelicans dive from 20 feet up. Seals swim amongst the birds and this morning we were treated to a few dolphin swimming around our boat.
Today we'll top off our fuel, I'll wash a few clothes and bake some bread (I started a sourdough starter while in San Diego -- something I've never done), Our plan is to leave tomorrow morning and do a day hop (about 50 miles) to Bahia Asuncion.
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