WOW…WHAT A MOTHERS DAY!
We decided since we couldn’t swim in the main bay at Huku Niva and everything was closed on Sunday, that we would go around the corner to a bay with a beach and a good place to swim. Since it was mother’s day, I took the helm from start to finish and brought us in to Hakatea Bay also called Daniels Bay after a Marquesan couple who lived in the bay for 60 years. My favorite so far…so freaking gorgeous with the mountains and the sun and the rain and the clouds making works of art every 5 minutes. It rained off and on all the way over and it was wonderful steering the boat through the swells and the mild squall, in my bathing suit in the warm rain with my favorite playlists through the Bose! We were surprised to find 9 other boats in the bay. We jumped in as soon as we knew our anchor was secure and we put the swim ladder down. Great swim…followed by Hinanu beer, homemade chips, and fresh guacamole made from the big batch of avocado that this nice guy in in Ua Pao gave us. After our perfect lunch, Ian gave me a ride in the dingy to the beach so I could see what the beach has to offer…lots of good shells…my bliss! On the way back to the boat we saw about 4 reef tip sharks swimming over in the coral reefs….even though I swam with an entire school in Moorea, this water is not as clear here so for some reason I am chicken. This was one of my best mother’s day ever…even though my kids are 4000–ish miles away as the albatross flies.

May 7th Saturday
We have had a great time exploring the Marquesas Islands and have arrived here in Huku Niva to get gas groceries beer fresh vegetables and of course... more baguette! We leave for the society islands after we can get our laundry done which will be mon or tuesday. We may go straight to Bora Bora or Moorea and end up in Tahiti. These islands are green and lush and have lots of beautiful peaks just like in all of the pictures! It will take us about a week to get there... the only downfall is that our auto pilot is out so we have to hand steer all the way...oh well...am getting a good lesson at the helm, as I am doing my watch too. I like being on the boat with 3 guys! the rule is if you cook you don't clean up so that is great! We love the local Hinanu Tahitian beer! Tahitain rum is not bad either! Na Na! Good bye in Tahitian! See you in a week!

Waiting for my ship to come in… so to speak…
Unable to weasel my way on the Shanti for the puddle jump ride…the trip from various parts of north America to The Marquesas Islands…These are the first group of islands one gets to after he/she makes the jump from the mainland...somewhere. I did get invited (weaseled) the opportunity to meet the mighty vessel at its first landing on the island of Hiva Oa.
Wait I said…that is a looooong haul and a trip I have wanted to do since I can remember. So I decided to come early and since one has to land in Tahiti to get to all these other islands, I decided to do a little of my own exploring before the boat arrived. One fun night in Tahiti, experiencing the grand Tahitian market, then took a 30 minute ferry and spent ten wonderful days getting to know the beautiful island of Moorea. Had a beach front bungalow with my friend JENNY and we snorkeled 1, 2, or 3 times daily, rode bikes, saw sharks and manta rays and turtles and thousands of fish and corals. We took a couple of island tours and saw the incredible dance and heard the mesmerizingly beautiful songs of the Tahitians. We had great fish and had the real thing one fine day…cheeseburgers in paradise…a little island taken to by boat…cold beers…burgers cooked on a big grill outside. After lunch a snorkel to the next little island….ahhhhhhhh. Would take to long to tell you how much fun we had on Moorea…besides…this is a “sailing blog”
My friend left back to Seattle and I caught a plane to the island of Hiva Oa to wait for ….ummmm...my ship to come in…so to speak. Arrived on a Sunday morning and Sunday and Monday the town was a ghost town. I saw not a single sign of anyone, nor heard not a sound but for the chickens and roosters…ZIP. Walked through town up to the cemetery where the famous artist Gougan lived and died. No place to swim here really…rainy days and nobody that I met spoke English including the bed and breakfast I was staying in. I will say I was a bit bored here for the first few days…especially after Moorea! Walked down to the pier where I counted 15 boats tightly bow and stern anchored in the small bay. Talked to a few in town and down by the water…coming from all areas of the world. Through the canal (big ditch) New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa…many had stopped at the Galapagos. All were waiting for the office to open so they could check in and begin their South Seas adventure. Everybody had their personal route and islands they wanted to see and things they wanted to see. Me…I’m just a long for the ride.
ARRIVAL OF SHANTI TO HIVA OA THURSDAY April
There they were…out there with all of the other cruisers who had just finished “the jump” Most talked of a difficult journey. Storms and squalls and confused seas broken auto pilots and doldrums. All were official “shellbacks” which is what one becomes when you cross the equator on a boat. Me I am still a polywog…but have always loved pollywogs and caught them all summer long during my childhood in northern Michigan. I will wait. Shanti’s crew had no storm stories…in fact did not get any really and were through the doldrums in no time. Only problem they had is that their rudder threatened to...who-knows-what but it was not good...still not that good but we shall see. They were glad to be on land. The Ian…captain of Freya…was among the crew of Shanti sporting a 20 day beard and looking handsome and happy. Emil the captain of Shanti and Dominique the able bodied crew were also in good shape. Ian and I splurged and stayed up at the Pearl Resort high on the hill looking down at all the boats in the bay for a couple of nights. He appreciated the big bed…the big luxurious shower no watch and no worries.
We spent a few days exploring the island and got a nice tour from Marie Jo. The Marquesas are quite different from the Tahitian island as they are all volcano as the other island are some volcano and some coral and some all coral. It was cloudy and rainy most days as the end of the rainy season was just passing. Dominique Ian and I spent part of the day in a hired car and took a $200 half-day tour of some highlights. We saw some old ruins at Taaoa, the Smiling Tiki after a muddy hike, some interesting petroglyphs, and Han+++++ Bay which has a big rock in the bay called Cabeza Negro, a bay on the other side of the mountain. A lot of interesting scenery, beautiful flowers, wild fruit trees, vanilla, wild hot peppers, wild lime trees, and tons of beautiful trees.
THE BAQUETTE
Okay so… there are baguettes available every day all over the US and every store but somehow it becomes a big focus here on the islands. First of all it is served with every meal and every morning I found myself looking forward to them at my bed and breakfast place I stayed in while waiting for Shanti to arrive. Freshly baked with butter and homemade jam…hey who doesn’t like a good baquette. The cruisers that are landing in Hiva Oa for their check in merge to the stores on land and start buying baquette like they have not seen fresh bread in 20 some days…which they haven’t. The islanders are the same…big piles of baquettes going everywhere. Same thing in Tahiti and Moorea. I love bread but I avoid it but can’t seem to run fast enough from the baquette here on the islands. As I write this we are saling form Hiva Oa to an island called Ua Poa on our way to Nuka Hiva and every since we ran out of baquette 2 days ago…that is the goal…MORE BAQUETTE!

Okay back to sail blog stuff…
MONDAY APRIL
Sailed out of Atuona with not enough baquette (who knew) off to explore the island by boat. First stop the island of Tahuata. We anchored in Hanamoenoa Bay along with 6 or 7 other boats. It seems to be the first stop after everyones long journey on the jump, they check in, and grab as many baquettes as they can carry and come over to Tahuuata for a breather and some bread. ..Ian and I snorkeled to the beach to check it out…a bit of a surf so while trying to take off my snorkel I took a hit and rolled in scraping mildly some body parts. A scene from Bali Hai…I think not. The Aranui 3, the big freighter combo cruise ship that was in Atuona Bay when we first got there, showed up and dropped anchor. They shut down the engine but kept their big bright lights on all night, like a bright little city. About dawn they pulled their anchor and left. Next day …early morning brought us 6 or 7 rays feeding on the krill in the bay. We jumped in and snorkeled with them which was a beautiful thrill. Big schools of small fish come right at you and then dart away together like a ballet. The rays also come right at you with their huge mouths wide open to filter the krill. A little scary when they come right for you but they are not interested in you…just their breakfast. Manta baquette I suspect. Ian kayaked me over to the beach after breakfast and I spent a good hour or so cruising the beach finding pieces of shells they were beautifully formed by the surf and the sea. They were all located in the bushes, not on the beach. We were invited to shore for a bonfire with some of the other cruisers in the bay. We dingied over with a platter of olives and cheese and carrots and yup baguette and wine and beer and they had a nice fire going burning palm fronds. The bugs were ridiculous and we all lathered ourselves in bug stuff in order to hold a conversation. Lots of stories swapped, 2 couples from Australia, one from Croatia, one from Denmark one from Italy. It was great to meet them all and one of the great things I love about cruising, is meeting people from all over the world.

Next day we headed south down the coast a couple of miles to Vaitahu. We wandered around the village, shopped the two grocery stores but didn’t come out with much, but he church was nice. All the villages have very open airy nice churches and are either Catholic or Protestant. Bugs me though theat they all came in and made or brain washed the Marquesas’ into getting rid of their customs and beliefs nad their ways. Okay fine the people sacrificing was a good thing to toss and the last human sacrifice was a 10 yr old girl 1928. Yikes.

May 2nd and 3rd
We headed south again to the next little bays, passing beautiful vertical cliffs covered with green, with big luscious groves of coconut trees. We went to Hapatoni first, then to Hanatefau. After anchoring in Hapatoni , Emil and Dom went into town to shop for carvings and art. Dom went wild and bought a bunch of warrior wear type of carved necklaces. We upped anchor and moved a mile or so north to Hanatefau. This was such an ideal anchorage. So peaceful and beautiful. We had a nice dinner with , wine conversation, and went off to read and sleep. We go to bed mighty early on the boat!

Saturday June blabity bla. Actually written in the cockpit, on watch, in the middle of the aft on June 8th coming across the ocean, La Paz to Puerto Vallarta....88 miles to go...expect to arrive in Banderas Bay in the early am. Only one more night at sea... Yippee ky yi yay. Or however you want to spell that...

Now lets see where were we...oh yes...sitting at the dock in La Paz enjoying daily showers, power and water aplenty and preparing for departure...I talked Ian into staying one more day so things wouldn't slam so close together and we could actually have R&R in addition to getting ready to leave. We met a guy, Bill, who is sailing alone on a sailboat called Turn the Page. The former owners' named it and since he likes Bob Seger too, he left it at that. We invited him along to go to Banditos and we all ended up partying...some. I made them go to a night club near our Marina...lured them with the promise of eye candy... as I suspected, a place our 20 something kids would love. We stayed for one beer. Everybody was just standing around listening to loud music...not much happening...all of a sudden with a combo of a bunch of guys showing up and a certain song (maybe), the whole place came alive in an instant and everybody started moving. Interesting to see it happen so quick and simultaneously. Reminded me of the early school dances when everybody was sort of milling around, exchanging sidelong glances, girls running to the bathroom to check their hair and their butts and boobs...suddenly...YMCA comes on and the whole place comes to life. A good DJ knows how to work a crowd. A career I always wish I had pursued. Did not want to go back to school and do the work though. I just wanted to walk into a radio station of my choice, sit down and start playing and talking, controlling the mood of the city through music...blow them to full watts when they need a jolt in the aft, and put them to bed sweetly after hours...oh well... I do sing to my patients upon occasion iof they need cheering up.

Okay so last day spent "getting groceries". Provisions? We ain't got no provisions'...we don't need provisions...I don't have to go get any stinking provisions! I like to throw my favorite movie line in every chance I get. If you have not seen the old movie "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" check it out. The theme is greed, one of the world's worst enemies. Had the taxi guy take us to the local market where we bought fresh shrimp, scallops, vegetables etc etc., and would get the rest at the grocery store later. We both wanted to make sure we made the crossing with good coffee and ½ and ½ and some chocolate. I wanted to make sure we had ice and lettuce, Ian mayonnaise. Ha ha. Ian went back to the boat and I wandered around La Paz with all of the locals out on a Saturday running their errands. Again my lack of Spanish was apparent, cursing myself in English, why I had not been more diligent in learning a second language. Especially since I took Spanish in high school and college.. Did not get back to the boat until 4 pm, tired thirsty, feet complaining and wishing I did not have to put the load I had in my dock cart away. Ian had been doing his guy stuff, checking the oil, filling the water tanks, and washing off the boat (usually my job) and drinking beers with "Turn the Page" who had stopped over to talk guy boat talk and plain guy talk. Our plan was to shower in the am, head over to the fuel dock and GO. Had cheeseburgers and drinks at the marina restaurant aptly named "The Dock" but also a local Mexican hangout too. Last night of real sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sunday morning.
Woke up to local church bells ringing wildly. I think they were ringing in Spanish. It was really really windy in the am as the nightly evening coromels (winds from the pacific rolling over the land to La Paz) had yet to calm down. Ian was worried about backing up and out of our slip in so much wind and because of the particular angle of this particular wind. I mean he is good...really good, but so was the wind. He sat there thinking and pondering like he does, going through each possible scenario in his head. We waited for our boat neighbor to come out to throw us off with the bow line, I messed up on my stern flipping technique and had to let the line go in to the water and pull it in...never have you seen a line come out of the water and into the boat so fast...oh no you don't Mr. Line. Never again on my watch. With much maneuvering and the skills of el capitan, we were out of the slip and heading for the fuel dock in the marina next door. I had all of the lines and bumpers in place on the port side...just before we got to dock he decided it would be a starboard approach. He commented that I didn't even complain...1. didn't have time...2. If only he could have read my mind . We started across the bay to circle around Turn the Page to say goodbye to Bill, but noticed a strip of brown water in the middle of the bay looking shallow so we radioed him but never connected...happy sails to yooooooh...until we meet again...is what I was going to sing to him...Bye Bill... have a good sail back up to California.

Sunday through Wednesday

So here we are sailing sailing sailing across the ocean blue...getting the night watch thing down. The first night, being a newbie and all, I positioned myself at the helm with nothing but the compass, the wind arrow, the gauges, the sails, the radar to stare stare stare stare at...with stares in between at the stars and ocean. Beep, quietly goes the radar timer...stare at the compass, stare at the wind arrow, stare at the gauges, stare at the sails, stare at the radar...hard... looking for blips of boats, stare at the horizon for lights, stare at stars, ocean and repeat...for 4 hours. This is not all done sitting down but maneuvering around the cockpit which is not exactly steady. I was trying not to let happen what happened before on our grueling 24 hour deal where we were both exhausted. I was seeing things in that compass like you would not believe, a little guppy swimming under the glass dome, native dancers (in 3D! no shit), Mickey mouse ears...two sets, so Minney must have been with him...well you see where I am going here. I believe the word was "hallucination" which is what I must have chose to do instead of go into shock. Ha ha. I had the 9 to midnight but I tried to let Ian sleep for as long as I could. Better the captain be the most rested. I am a bit of an insomniac and was worried that I would not be able to sleep for 3 hours then get up. The aft bunk is the most stable so I made a lovely nest for myself. The first night when I settled myself into my nest ... I thought "YOU HAVE FREAKING GOT TO BE KIDDING ME" Now, I love the song that Bruce Springsteen sings...Born to Run... the one where he says "wrap your legs around my engine" (motorcycle). It has a nice ring to it. There is not a song that says lay your weary head on my unbelievably loud boat engine and go to sleep. I was going to abort almost immediately, but loved so much about my lovely nest, the way it held you snug while the boat was heeled...very comfy...so I mentally made that loud engine purr like a kitten, let it lull me, and guide me to dream land. In 5 minutes or less I was asleep, with the fresh ocean breeze blowing in my hatch, every bit as happy as a girl with her legs wrapped around an engine....sort of. My good sweet captain took over at one-ish, I got up at 4 ish to relieve him... Hey! Your sleep called and it wants its REM back! Good morning compass, wind arrow, gauges, sails, radar, ocean and stars...fancy meeting you again...and so soon. Waaaaaaah, she whined, her facial expression telling her tale, searching searching, for the positive attitude that she has mastered most of her life. Where is that bitch Pollyanna when I need her. Sorry. Kidding. Ahhhhhh, sunrise how I love you...Sunrisa in Espanola means Smile!

The last two nights of watch have been vastly different, oh yes, the compass, wind arrow, gauges, sails, radar, horizon, stars ocean... all still there. But with a little experience and relaxation it becomes something else. First of all, I do not have to position myself right AT the helm, the compass can be read from the side, add a book, a reading light, a thermos of hot chocolate, pillows and blankets, and a little bag for all of your cockpit stuff so you don't have to go searching...MUCH better. Of course the wind has EVERYTHING to do with how much fun you are going to have...EVERYTHING. Yesterday, at the end of Ian's watch he had 25 knots of wind which woke me up before my time. Please... I thought... Don't go any higher. It didn't. Now we have 8-9-10 knots which is not good enough...except for sitting in the cockpit typing... but we are not getting there very fast. Last night was great...steady wind 13 to 15 knots all night long...my exciting book, comfy seating arrangement... hot chocolate...captain went right to sleep at 9 pm. I let him sleep until 2:30...he let me sleep until 8:30. I woke up at 6:30, he said all is calm and I am just reading my book in the cockpit...go back to sleep. Gotta do what the captain says...what bliss.

Last night, as I sat there in the cockpit on my watch, looking at the stars and watching the incredibly beautiful phosphorescent waves go by, I bonded with the experience of being in a nice solid vessel we have been calling home, out in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of the night, halfway to our destination that started out 400 miles away, come what may, and I thought...cool...how lucky we are to have this experience. No, it is not all sandy beaches and snorkeling, and turquoise anchorages, and dirty monkeys...and I totally despise the fear that high winds and waves conjure up. Like my friend Tiffany said who has sailed from Mexico to Fiji and surrounding islands ( check out her great blog blueplainsdrifter.com...she is a great writer) to New Zealand to Australia...the things that are a pain in the ass are...A REAL PAIN IN THE ASS. But... I say... and I know she will agree... the things that are cool are spectacularly, unbelievably, wonderfully cool. Just ask any mermaid.

The last night and day under sail...
A little less relaxing and a little more on alert as there were cruise ships and fishing boats showing up. It takes a while for me to figure out what it is I am looking at exactly and I bonded with the radar more. Also there were some rocks that had a light on them that we were supposed to see around 2 am and had to make sure they were far enough to the left. Once the first light showed up I really couldn't relax enough to read so I just hung out of the front of the cockpit with a birds eye view of what was to come and the radar. THEN... SOMETHING SO BEAUTIFUL AND EXCITING HAPPENED I WILL NEVER FORGET IT.

The phosphorescence had been really thick and bright since we had left, lighting up each wave with a beautiful glow. I was standing at my perch looking out at the ocean at 3 am, having let the captain go back to sleep cause I had awakened him to help me determine what the light was ahead and which way it was going. I was pretty sure... but "pretty sure" wasn't enough for a possible collision. He was sound asleep when the show began... I saw 3 loooooooong trails of underwater light come screaming up to the starboard side of the boat. I watched with pure thrilling joy as the boat was suddenly surrounded with underwater trails of phosphorescent glow, combined with splashes as they jumped....all the while they were clicking and talking. A large pod of dolphins had come to play, giving me one of the most beautiful and exciting thrills of my life. Due to vast amount of phosphorescence in the water you could see every move they made, jumping and darting and swirling and going under the boat to come out the other side and some up at the bow. It was too much joy for one person. Wake the captain? YES! We took turns up at the bow and you could see them perfectly under water...the motion bathed them in a kind of light hard to describe but WOW was it cool! There were 4 at the bow, and others all around. He was glad I woke him up. They stayed for quite awhile...then left as fast as they came... back to sleep for el capitan and now I was so high I was wide awake. They came back a little later as I willed them back mentally to give me one more for the "road".

Ian took over and when I woke in the morning we were putt putt putting across Bandares Bay with the Tres Marietta's on our port side with only an hour to our fuel stop in La cruz. We did it. No problems...no issues...no wind ...and no sleep...but we made it. Slid into our slip in Paradise Village at 1 pm...drank three strong dirty monkeys EACH, passed out in the cockpit for the afternoon, woke up, had dinner and passed out solid again until morning.

So concludes our Baja adventure...the boat has been battened down for the summer in Paradise Village Marina, with hopes of no hurricanes to come and test our "batten-ing" down skills. What a wonderful unspoiled spectacular part of North America the Sea of Cortez is. We barely scratched the surface , exploring only a small portion of the baja... we are looking forward to going back for more. I plan to keep my mermaid parts in tune until me and the sea meet again...

May 26th Wednesday
Rented a car with another couple and spent the day in the nice town of Loreto...the old capital of Baja. Walked around. Checked out the old mission then proceeded to find out who had the best margaritas in town. Bar hopped to three cool places...got the car till 3 pm tomorrow so when the morning light comes streamin' in...we'll get up an' do it again....AMEN...get it up again...(Jackson Browne) Had a good DD but almost hit a cow in the road on the way home... but the quick swerve of my captain and driver...missed it...we were warned to have someone on goat and cow watch...full moon tomorrow...gonna go find a place to watch it rise in the dingy...

May 27th Thursday
Spent the morning in Loreto with our new friends John and Jan, a couple of psychologists from California....hey you guys I am normal...psyche! We both had to get groceries or in boat language..."provision" which is a word that bugs me for some reason...get groceries is what I say. We had a lot of fun with them and hope to run into them again sometime. They came down on what is called the FUBAR (fucked up beyond repair is one version...there is another but don't know it) which is when a bunch of power boats gather and come down from California in a group. The sailboats version is called the Baja Ha Ha. They are messing around in the Sea on their nice cruiser called Carefree II, then going back up before hurricane season. The women declared a "we ain't cookin" night, so met them at the one and only restaurant in the Marina (very good food and drinks) and watched the Big Yellow moon come up from the deck. The store was closed...YIKES! I am addicted to ice cold beverages so declared I am not leaving without ice! Ian agreed to leave after the store opened in the am. By the way we had to leave our mooring ball again when we got back from town, this time to go to the water dock to fill our water tanks and rinse the boat off...perfect hook job again...Boo Yah!

May 28th Friday
Headed over to the dock for final shower and ice and WHAT? Store does not open until noon. Was lamenting to one of the regulars who is a live aboard in the bay Puerto Escondito (Hidden Bay). I had pegged him as a bit arrogant cause when I asked him what time the store opened he acted like I didn't know what I was talking about...oh you mean the tiende he says? Right, like a total American suddenly forgets what a store is I thought, I retorted back with a hint of polite sarcasm...but suddenly he morphed into a super nice guy and borrowed a friends keys and drove me to a store down the road that was open. I wanted to buy him a six pack of something but he says he drinks rum only but would not let me buy him anything. Goes to show it is true what they say...arrogant people can hop off their high horses and take you to the store. Ha ha. Off we went around 11am and headed back to one our faves...Aqua Verde and arrived at 6 pm. The swells started around midnight and it was like we were in a cradle and some big meanie was rocking the living crap out of us seeing how much stuff they could knock down including me out of my bed. WOW. I get it now...about the swells. Did not sleep until morning when they let up as I was busy most of the night stuffing things in the liquor cabinet and glasses cupboard and securing things that I THOUGHT were secured. Tried sleeping sideways in bed and then relented to the salon area. Ian slept some in the cockpit, as he can sleep anywhere it seems. Decided to spend the day there and snorkeled a different area than last stop and able to swim over to the cliffs from our boat. Layed around and read our books, and tried to catch up on our sleep. We put out our "flopper stopper" one of the few names that makes sense in the boat language world. It helped...we still had swells but it kept us from rocking so far over.

Saturday and Sunday May 29th and 30th
Left Aqua Verde at 7am and had a slow but sure trip down to San Evaristo. Pulled into the familiar harbor and anchored on the other side of the bay than where we were last time. No swells but strong wind that night. Spent the day snorkeling right from the boat (as opposed to putting the dingy in)...sipped cold beverages... layed around and read our books, and tried to catch up on our sleep.

Monday Memorial Day May 30
Left Aqua Verde when we got up and got going and went across the bay 7 miles to Amortohada...put the dingy down and went on our Amortajada for our dingy trip through the mangroves. Beautiful "vast maze of mangrove lined channels snaking through to an open lagoon." If you were careful you could sneak back out to the ocean through a little shallow open space at one end of the lagoon. We didn't...besides the ride into the lagoon was so beautiful with lots of birds and fish jumping. This is a known clam area so we "parked" our dingy and waded all over the ankle deep sand bar looking for signs of clams...nada. Beautiful red headed heron though. Looks like our white wine and garlic and butter will have to be put to use with another type of seafood. Not a great place to anchor although the bay was beautiful but due to all the mangroves the no see ems that come out at sunset. We headed next door to my favorite Isla San Fransisco.
I did not get the change to explore the land last time cause after all mermaids do not do well on land. As soon as I gathered my goods and put on my hiking shoes to see what I could see. Hiked through the salt ponds which were full of salt that looked just like snow to the other side of the island where there were said to be agates. I had planned on hiking more and to the top (689 feet) but got engrossed in looking for agates and shells and the birds and loving the fact that I was the only person on the island...my island. Sun was going down so thought I had better head back to the other beach to radio El Captain for a trip back to Freyja. When I got to the beach he was rowing over...seems the dingy engine will not start. Lucky for us there was no wind so easy to row...mermaided up and took a final swim and said goodbye to Isla Sanfran until the fall...OR SO I THOUGHT!

Tuesday June 1st
Left Isla San Francisco at 8:30 for our long trek to La Paz. Bashed against the wind and waves all damn day...it was taking for EVER. As they say in boat language it was blowing like stink and I sure could smell it. It was blowing 30 knots with gusts to 35 and again I found out what wasn't REALLY secure in the boat. Little did I know what was lurking on deck? We were double reefed which is what I plan to start out with whenever it is blowing 20. More than 20 25 I will try to stay in the anchorage! Weather guys said 10 to 15 knots. LIARS! We had a reprieve when we were behind the island of Partitas and Esirito Santo but then it kicked up again and there we were back with 30 knots with 35 gusts with waves 4 to 5 feet and... hey how about waves into the cockpit a foot deep and getting dark! I smelled fear and my heart went out to Ian, in charge of the whole damned mess with me as his total crew. But...it got oh so much worse...Finally we were 3 miles from our destination, head sail down, ready to drop the main sail and seek shelter. Motor quit...WHAT? C'mon...what's next...snakes on a boat? Line or net...oh shit...I had mentioned securing the line on the port side that was stuck in the cleat and thought I had but NO! I got distracted and never did it. That little son of a bitch was caught in the propeller. You having got to be kidding me? So there we were wind 30 knots, dark, waves 4 to 5 ft, no motor to get us in to an anchorage safely. We did not know the anchorages well enough to come crashing in so the he made a decision that made us both not happy but too bad oh line leaver inners...WE HAD TO TURN AROUND AND GO BACK TO ISLA SAN FRANSISCO ...we needed a wide familiar anchorage, daylight, and a place we (HE) could dive under the next day to free the line. I cannot tell you the feeling I had, to see the lights of La Paz behind me as we were leaving, knowing we had to now stay up all night after an exhausting sail to deal with another problem when we got there and to have to do the trip all over again. I wanted to throw up, cry, scream, and cut that line into a million pieces with my teeth, throw a tantrum like a 2 year old, all at the same time. I said ...go ahead and laugh "Can't we call SEA-TOW? I'll buy! My captain said not available, my goal is for us not to die tonight...GO captain! GO captain! I tried to go into shock but backed out knowing it would be rude to leave my able and relatively calm and skillful captain down. One thing in our favor and only one...the wind was in our favor...the same wind that we beat all day pushed us quickly back to Isla San Fran. Well... quick means 8 hours instead of the 12 or 13 it took to get there. A little too quick in fact, as we had to tack outside of the bay until daylight. The plan was formed...3 boats anchored all in the places we wanted to be but...oh well. He would sail in (luckily the wind had died down so we were not going too fast) leave the sails up and I would quickly drop anchor the moment he said drop, and holler anchors away so he would know to drop the sails. Shit shit shit I kept saying to myself...sometimes the anchor sticks and I mentioned that and he says yes but this time you will do it perfectly. Fuck fuck fuck I added to the thoughts in my head. Go into shock? Nope...save it sister. So I talked to my anchor, my new best friend unlike that piece of shit line wrapped around the prop. A line I had once boasted was my personal pal that I bought, my beautiful blue mid ship line that I jump off the boat with when we dock, and expertly cleat it and stop the boat from crashing into the dock....that's right I cleat things too. Okay so I tricked the anchor into thinking it was going to go down but stopped it so it could not get stuck...PLEASE! In we go at the crack of dawn closer closer...c'mon tell me to drop it...hurry...we are getting closer to that other boat...DROP IT! I kicked that sucker so hard I probably put IT into shock and hollered... anchors away... (hey everybody we are here) and the captain sprung into action...dropped the main sail letting the head sail flop around. We did it. We m f'in did it. We sat in the cockpit and probably had the earliest beer we could recall except for in our 20's when we could drink all night. I got my dear captain all settled into his beloved cockpit place of rest and said good night. Only slept till 11:30 cause I thought I heard Ian below the boat already but no he was in the cockpit reading. We had coffee said a line prayer, even though I secretly hating it.
He thought he would at first just snorkel down and see so in he went... a little windy... a little wavy...I watched over the bow ready to hand him various tools he may or may not need...screw driver... pliers...and a serrated knife to chop his head off...(the lines head). He came swimming up at the end of his breath with that little SOB in his hand and I jumped for joy. He came up and started the engine and all was well again. Okay...Trip to La Paz...part two....soon come mon

Wednesday and Thursday June 2nd and 3rd...or... straight on till morning
Ian wanted to leave at midnight and told me I could stay in bed and he would get us under way himself. I agreed as I could relieve him when I got up and he could sleep. Nope. Too windy to get the anchor up without somebody at the helm...plus awfully dark...hard to see how to get out...boat getting whipped around....crap here we go again. Anyhow...Left at 1 am and did not arrive to La Paz until 700 pm. Not 30 knots but 20 some knots...big ass waves and going into the wind and had to tack a few times...I now call this area the Isla Partida triangle as we looked at that damn island all day long...and an island we have yet to explore... Espiritu Santos. My GOD we were glad to pull into our slip!! Got the blender going for a drink...toasted...took long awaited showers from heaven...and went to out favorite restaurant up the hill, and because "I almost went into shock" had flan...happy to be alive.

Friday June 4th
Sitting at La Paz Marina in the cockpit telling this tale... just picked up my bee-yoo-tee-ful laundry that I dropped off this morning all folded and packaged in bags...ready to get my drink on. Ian hired a guy to wash and wax the hull...heading for banditos for dinner close by and a bar-b-que, grilled in the hood of an old car. Mentally and physically preparing myself to go back out there again only this time 4 to 5 days straight. I know this is a sailing blog and I am in a sailboat but the wind annoys me...not enough...too much...wrong direction...it is like planning a BIG outdoor party and it pours down rain...so I hope for the best and hope I do not have to deploy my life raft, try to go into shock, see waves in the cockpit, the Sea of Cortez is such a beautiful place in the world. I found this in the guide called Sea of Cortez by Heather and Shawn (incredible guide book!) we have been using and want to share it with you. I never would have known had I not read it here...

"In January of 2003 an alliance of Mexican and United States conservation groups assisted the Mexican government in funding the purchase of the Isla Spirito Santo island chain for the purpose of preserving and protecting these islands...GET THIS...According to the Nature Conservancy, "the Sea of Cortez is the second most diverse marine body in the world. It is home to 31 species of whales and dolphins-one third of the world's total. This region also serves as a breeding ground for sea lions and marine turtles, and is a migratory corridor for 210 bird species. Some 500 fish species, 4,848 known species of marine macro-invertebrates and 626 forms of macro algae live in this region."

WOW! I am coming back...yes by sailboat...first I need to make it back to PV alive and into in shock. Later my friends.

Hey I know these blog entry's are long...am working on shortening them up

May 17th Monday Monday

Checked out at noon so we bought up our fishing license and our national park passes..our neighbor was nice enough to throw us off the dock so departure was a breeze...Bye bye La paz ...see you in a few weeks. Ian changed his ticket until later so no pressure to rush back....

Well well well ...what do we have here... sailed a short distance down the bay to come to our first anchorage... got here about 4 pm and anchor down in 15 ft of nice clear water in a place called Puerto Baldera home of the famous "mushroom rock". This rock was barely hanging on by a thread and is featured in many a postcard from La Paz. It finally toppled over and it was reconstructed in memory of _______ and is now made of fiber glass but you would never know it. The bird poop on it is real. We are anchored out looking at it but may not make it in to check it out. This anchorage is not a good one for corumel southwesterly winds and we fear that is what is coming our way. We took a chance but are ready to up anchor and head out if our anchor starts dragging or the winds become annoying. This beach is a cool hang out and is available by land so there are people on the beach checking out the rock and swimming and enjoying a bee yoo tee full place. We decided not to put the dingy motor on as we will check it out on the way back. We want to bee line up to the national park area and make sure we get to enjoy the crème de la crème and make our way back to this beauty.

The first order of business was to jump in and el capitan finished scraping the bottom and I took a swim before I made perfect margaritas beautiful salads and left over spaghetti. Add a little music and a sunset and a crescent moon and we were counting our lucky stars. Now here I am cooling off with a nice breeze and sitting up on the deck writing this and getting ready to get back to my book. The captain plans to sleep in the cockpit to anchor watch and keep an eye and ear on the wind. We plan to leave in early am to make our next anchorage in Isla San Francisco. Coffee and sunrise...oh yea.

May 18th
Remember that nice little breeze I just commented on? Well that little sucker turned up the volume and started blowing 19-20 knots with gusts to 22 or so. I sound like I have always known what knots and gusts have felt like...nope...but in a boat on anchor it means something. It was our first experience with the famous corumel winds. They begin in the evening and blow throughout the night. We had experienced them on the dock in La Paz, but we were in a marina surrounded by other boats. This time we were out on anchor. These winds are caused (in case you want to know) by the low lands of the La Paz area allowing the cooler air from the Pacific Ocean to flow across the Baja peninsula toward the warmer Sea of Cortez. We had heard of people dragging anchor in this bay so we slept out in the cockpit to keep an eye on things. Well , I tried to sleep in the cockpit and lasted for quite a while...but it was so damn windy and noisy that I couldn't. I finally decided that we were staying put and holding anchor with our gusts etc. so I went below and caught some z's in bed. The captain (as I stated before) can sleep any where any time, was sleeping through the noise in the cockpit, with the anchor alarm on both mentally and electronically. Morning brought us calm seas and turquoise water...we were in no hurry...coffee and contemplation...anchor up at 10:30 and headed north for San Evaristo on the mainland. We arrived there at 7:00 pm as we had little wind and had to bash into the wind and waves all day. S_L_O_W... but pleasant enough. Good book reading time and looking at the Baja coast go by. We had heard on the morning Sonrisa net on the Ham radio that the space station with the shuttle docked to it was supposed to go over so we positioned ourselves on deck with our space shuttle cocktails but... nada. Think it was farther north. We were also hoping to view according to the radio guy...an Iridium flash, which is when the space station rotates it sends the light back to earth...(not exactly sure of details) Now that all sounded like a pretty exciting scene....but didn't see that either... was exciting to look for it though. Not the destination it's the journey thing ya know. Drinks were good.

San Evaristo is a small fishing village of about 20 families or so, all positioned along the beach and up in the small hills. There is a school, a tienda (store) desalination plant (good water) and fuel. The fishing pangas (boats) come and go at all hours... dropping off their catch for the local and mainland markets. We watched and heard the village wake up and since it is a good anchorage for all kinds of wind we were sharing this small bay with 5 other boats. The roosters were crowing, kids playing, and fisherman loading up on ice and fuel to head out to their fishing grounds. Made for a very pleasant peaceful way to wake up and drink coffee. We did not go to shore...decided to head over to Isla San Fransisco, an anchorage we had skipped due to the wind direction the night before. Didn't REALLY look like a place to fuel or water or food up...

Same day Isla San Francisco

Okay people...now this sort of thing is what I live for (among other things) . We motored into this crescent shaped lagoon and there were the crystal clear turquoise waters I had been seeking, a white sandy beach...I could feel my mermaid comin' on. I could hardly wait to drop that dingy down and had long ago prepared the snorkeling gear and whatever else we needed for the shore. I am just going to admit it here and now...it actually brought tears to my eyes. Ian smelled fish so he threw his fishing stuff in the dingy, dropped me off on the beach and took off happily and handsomely, to fish the bay. He was excited to have barracuda on his line and seeing them in the water first because it was so clear. I am sure it reminded him of the Seychelles where he stood in a clear lagoon and saw the fish going by. I immediately put on my snorkel gear and did not get out of the water for two hours. The only reason I did is because I was actually chilly. The water temp was perfect, esp for temps in the high 90's but after awhile your body feels it. I was finding all sorts of cool stuff "treasures" and swam from one end of the beach to the to the other. Next time Ian checked on me, I opted to go back to the boat to read and shower and have lunch. Then...there they were...THE BEES!!

Now some people would take this bee thing less seriously, but I happen to have a special fear for two things in my life...bees and turbulence...and okay funky showers...and okay the moment just before you get into the door at night when you are alone (too many scary movies as a teenager)...and okay rats...and okay bats...and okay... some other stuff that I won't go into but damn those bees. We had read about them and heard about them and I was bound and determined to BE PREPARED. Seems when you are at an anchor and you leave fresh water behind (in your sink drain or anywhere) they smell it and come out to your boat and belly up to the fresh water bar and bring all of their friends. When I saw that turquoise water I lost all sense of sense and did not think twice about the leaky cooler and the SHAM-WOW I had catching the leak. Came back to the boat with bees swarming the fresh water swim up bar. You are supposed to wash things off with salt water and they also do not like soapy water. The mighty captain took care of the main bee business and went off to fish... I stared out at the bees with my water bottle full of soapy water from behind the screen like an idiot. Came out once to throw salt water all over the cockpit...it took them almost two hours to vamoose...but I am onto 'em now...bee bee bumble bee every come in free...NOT.

We had a most pleasant night at anchor... billions of stars, fish jumping, moon hanging out, cool and calm. Too exciting for me to sleep in the cockpit. Too much to look at and listen to so at midnight I headed for the trusty ol bed. Zzzzzzzzzz... No insomnia for this girl on the boat...always get my 8 hrs...this sailing stuff is grueling ya know!

May 20th
7 am...anchor up (cranked up by hand by me the "anchor woman" also my morning weight lifting program), coffee in hand and ready to continue the adventure north up the Sea of Cortez. Ian caught a Tuna just out of the bay and we have "somewhat" mastered the cleaning thing by doing a lot of it off the side of the boat keeping the blood and guts out of the cockpit. I love fish and am a fish eater, but do have to turn my head when we go in for the kill...poor thing just out for breakfast and bam (How would you like it if yours eggs were full of fish hooks), suddenly he has his gills slit, his guts ripped out, his head and tail cut off...I know... it's a fish for cripe sake... but still. No wind today AT ALL. Spent a lazy day at sea reading and drinking Dirty Monkeys' for lunch...what else to do with the ripening bananas?...banana bread? Do I look like a baker? No but my father was... hence where I got my rolls ha ha). Watching the beautiful landscape of the Baja go by is something else. I had no idea it was so beautiful. We passed a boat named Qualchan heading south and hailed him on the radio to say hi, otherwise nobody except for a pod of dolphins also heading south. Our next stop Los Gatos...

A little hard to find but with our baja guide books open and our GPS readings we pulled into a absolutely gorgeous anchor... Los Gatos. Two other boats were already there so we anchored in between them and stared at the incredibly beautiful red rock formations all around us. All smooth and shaped by the wind and waves and a nice sandy beach. We decided to spend the next day here so we could explore the rocks and snorkel along the reef on both sides of the anchorage. Fresh Tuna for dinner prepared by el capitan and perfect Merma-ritas by the mermaid on board. Another night of sunset and moon and stars and fish jumping...this is getting a bit ridiculous wouldn't ya say?

May 21st...Friday
"This is Kilo Echo 7 Whiskey Sierra Alpha"...is what I woke up to at 7 am. Ian on the Ham radio net which is the way we get our weather and any other important info. He got a new ham radio and had it installed in PV so was excited when he got a return acknowledgement meaning we were being heard loud and clear. Everyone who is tuned in checks in and says their hamm call sign, who they are and where they are and what the wind and weather is doing. Ian and Judy on Freyja in Los Gatos sounded mighty good to me. Coffee and contemplation in the cockpit this time accompanied by a pod of 6 or 10 dolphins in our little anchorage to say good morning, and Ian lit up a cigar to hopefully discourage the bees from forming. Dingy down snorkeling gear aboard and off to explore the land and sea. The other two boats had left in the am and another came in and dropped anchor and since we were cruising around went over to say hi. They invited us on board for a cold beer so of course we wanted to be sociable. Nice boat...called Avalon...nice people from California heading south to La Paz then over to Mazatlan to put their boat to bed for the hurricane season. Which is what everybody is doing now. Getting the most out of the Sea of Cortez with the warm water and warm temps. You have till the end of July before the weather start to get iffy. Am still waiting to experience a Chubasco which is a squall that is violent but short lived with thunder and lightning. Hope I get to skip it. I love it from a house in bed reading but on a boat in the water with a tall metal mask sticking up...YIKES! And oh so much more.

Spent the day snorkeling and hiking the rocks then back to the boat to read and chill and...whoops...no boat work done again today. Got some breezy windy rocking going on with 6 other boats joining us so now we are a fleet of 7. Again we were told to look for the shuttle to go over at 7:20 so we will be ready on deck to hopefully check it out. Will let you know how that works out....hmmm...what to drink...a word about drinking. We are eating pretty healthy but we find it impossible not to have a cocktail when that anchor goes down...or if we are in the middle of a sail on a calm day with 4 more hours to go and a bunch of ripe bananas. A dirty monkey by the way is a pina colada with kaluah and banana in it...just made my decision...drink of the day and something to watch the space shuttle go over....this is kilo echo 7 whiskey sierra delta...heading for the blender...over.

Heeey! No space shuttle AGAIN! Darn it. I really wanted to see it go over and over it did go but not in view for us. Oh well. The dirty monkeys went over though. We have to run the engine to charge up the bats...mostly for refrigeration and it is kind of annoying but we figured out a good solution tonight. We set up my computer in the cockpit... got all comfy with our pillows and blankets...put in a movie...slapped on our bose headphones and were not bothered one bit with the engine noise. The sea has calmed down, the stars as usual are out in abundance due to zero light pollution, and it has cooled down to a perfect sleeping temp. Going to try to up anchor early as our next stop is a half a day away...Aqua Verde...can't wait. Buenos notches mi amigas and amigos.

Saturday May whatever the heck...I really have to concentrate on the day and date and am up in the cockpit sitting in this sweet little anchorage in Aqua Verde. We had a good day on the water and we even got 25 knots of wind. Ian was excited and hailed on the radio..."we have 25 knots of wind out here...woooo hoooo! I am trying to feel the same way about it but it is a matter of getting used to it and knowing what to do. I was busy closing hatches cause the waves were coming in and checking to see what was going to go flying. We ended up reefing the sail which makes the sail smaller so you wont be so heeled over and be more comfortable and more in control (this is not a race). We needed practice reefing and it requires one person going up on the deck while the other drops the sail to the first reefing point which is marked by this ring on the sail that you hook to this hook,...YAWN...okay I will stop. I always to be the person to go up on deck. If I fall overboard I would rather Ian save me then me to try and save him. I always "have one hand for the boat"...or three things at all times 2 feet and one hand, and never turn my back on the waves...they can git cha...

So as we pulled into our Aqua Verde and had lots of anchoring options. The place we thought we would go already had a boat in it and we could have fit but decided to go to the other side...four boats over there...nope...ended up in the middle wishing we were in our first choice. All of a sudden the boat left, leaving that awesome turquoise spot wide open so we cranked up the anchor and headed over. Perfect...now we can snorkel right from the boat and have a view of all the nice scenery. Goats going up the cliffs...these cool little bomber ducks swimming after fish acting sort of like a fish ...a huge rock reef formation with cactus growing out of the top, which is where I plan to get my mermaid on. First things first...you guessed it...dur-tee-monk-ees. Last of the banana and oh so refreshing. A HUGE 85 ft yacht anchored close by and started spitting out toys and kids and more toys... a speed boat...a jet ski...a dingy...skis...a tube that looked like a big couch. Now I love toys and kids and fun but they thought it was okay to go around and around our boat and another that had arrived when they had this nice sized bay on the other side. It was loud and caused big waves and was just plain rude. We tried to hail them on the radio but did wave them down but no good. Hoped our heads wouldn't get clipped off when we went across to the reef to snorkel. Plunged into the beautiful sea...perfect temp and had a couple of hours of nice snorkeling seeing all kinds of fish, blue starfish, and a few species I have not seen before. Best snorkeling so far as far as species but the reef was not that colorful. The fun thing about snorleling is when you spy something down below and you want to go after it so you ponder whether it is too deep... take a big breath and swim hard down down down ears popping... grab it quick... hoping it is not alive and shoot up to the surface with it. It is either a piece of nothing or what I consider a "treasure" which is my version of mermaiding. LOVE IT. We liked this spot so decided to stay another day. Next day Ian dingy'd me across the bay and dropped me off to hike around...(too much sun for him.) I went to the near top of this mini mountain following the goat poop path for a stunning view of the little bay and the green valley of the town. Going up was not so bad but coming down was tough as the rocks were loose and suddenly it seemed twice as steep as when I went up....so I sort of came down on all fours holding on to rocks hoping like hell there were no rattle snakes around. No snake bite kit in my bag. It was a great hike and when AI figure out how to post pics I will show you the view I had.

We had heard there was a Tiende (store) in town so we pulled the dingy to shore where we thought it was and found a few small houses and a cow and a pig and of all things a nursery growing all sorts of tropical plants. We spoke to a teenager with her earbuds in singing songs and she pointed in the direction of the tiende. Got a further escort... came upon a porch with a bunch of people sitting around shooting the breeze on a Saturday night. Our lack of Espanol became apparent when they did not know what an avocado was. We muddled through and walked away with onion,limes, avocado, tomatoes, water, bananas, (did someone say dirty monkey?) and a bottle of coke for Ian's sudden craving for a cuba libra. Which is what I am drinking as I speak while he naps after he had his. The life I tell ya. We are deciding where to snorkel today and have also made the decision to go further north in the early am to Puerto Escondido. We will fill up on fuel water and do the laundry and take some showers and want to take a bus 14 miles further to the town of Loreto and explore. Then we head back from whence we came...south to take the trip back to PV. I wish we could keep the boat up here but the captain wants to take it back to PV for hurricane season...I love up here in the sea... and what mermaid wouldn't ...my color of water and snorkeling every where you stop, and as they say in the diving world... good vis!

Tuesday May 25th
Got to Puerto Escondido yesterday and had lots of wind on the way. The wind is usually in the morn, then dies down in the aft, so we were headed out of out little turquoise nest at 7 am so we could catch a breeze. It pushed us along pretty good, so we arrived in Puerto Escondido at 3 in the afternoon. Nice spot...a bay to anchor in then a skinny little entry and another small bay to anchor in then a big lagoon area with a bunch of mooring buoys all over with numbers on them. You pick a buoy, grab it with your boat hook and loop it around your cleat and you are there. Now about that grabbing with the boat hook deal. I know damn well it is a form of entertainment to watch a boat come in and grab that little sucker and hook up. I know for sure if I get to watch someone do it I will be entertained. Missed it the first time...it looks so damn easy... but not so easy to get the boat exactly in that perfect position. I perfected my method and when we got hooked up we high fived like we had performed some big feat. It is a peaceful beautiful place and lots of people hanging out heading north and east and south to put there boats to bed for hurricane season. This place has a new marina with a nice cruisers club which is just a bunch of people sitting around drinking beer, some with lap tops, and a place to get info and to check out books or movies. We had a couple of beers to find out stuff and meet some new people...you know... the sociable thing to do. Laundry and showers and a store and diesel and water and a good restaurant with good drinks and cheeseburgers in paradise makes for a good stop. There is a motel down the road with a pool and bar and restaurant also but have not made it that far. Tomorrow we are going to go to Loreto and spend the night in town. We were going to rent a car but some cruisers offered us a ride into town so we will have them drop us off and explore. We had to leave our little mooring buoy today, to go over to the fuel dock and when we came back I grabbed that little sucker with my boat hook like a pro....that's right...I hook things...Oh... on our way in to the channel yesterday we were greeted by a big beautiful whale shark....very cool to see...guess he has been hanging around here lately. This area is part of a national park...hate to leave. We will stick around until Sat am and start our journey back to PV. On the way up we had 2 other people and 2 other night watch shifts. Now it is just me and my captain. GULP. Later me friends.