Steve
08/06/2012, So cal

Yesterday I met up with my youngest daughter Ashley. Ashley is getting ready to start her second year of law school at Pepperdine University School of Law. Ashley spent most of the summer working within the legal system in Uganda....it was her third trip to Africa. Ashley and I ran some errands in San Diego then headed up to Los Angeles....The City of Angels. As we made our way through "Stop and go traffic", I had to remind myself several times that even the "stop" part at 20-25 MPH, was still faster than Si Bon goes. Today I met Ashley at Pepperdine for lunch, what a beautiful campus (pic) over looking the amazing Pacific Ocean. What a difference a few years makes....not only is Ashley now almost as tall as I am (hey, she's wearing heals), but now it's Ashley in a suit and I'm wearing shorts....HA HA, love it.
All in all it's been a great, but whirlwind trip. I was able to spend a good amount of time with both Amber and Ashley. I was able to spend some quality time with my good friends Paul & Kim (hope I didn't wear out my welcome), and I have visited with numerous other friends. The bad news is that there are MANY friends that I either haven't seen....or haven't seen much of. So I'll be returning to the states the first of September for a 3-4 week visit.
So I'll be heading back to San Diego tomorrow, I'll have breakfast with Ashley before I leave and Dinner with Amber when I get back, and Thursday morning I'll be on a plane to Puerto Vallarta....as much as I've enjoyed my time here in So cal....I'm anxious to get back to my home....Si Bon.

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Steve
07/31/2012, Bahia de San Diego

Yesterday I took my oldest daughter Amber and her "little" brother Ben, and a group of Amber's friends sailing. We rented a 27 foot Catalina and headed out for a four hour tour of San Diego Bay. It was a beautiful San Diego day with the sunny skies and light winds making it perfect for a relaxing sail. It was the first time sailing for 4 out of our group of 7, so the light winds gave them a nice mellow look at the world of sailing. In keeping with the "never a dull moment" theme of sailing, as we were coming back in the boats engine wouldn't start. The rental company had to jump start it before we left and now it was dead again. We called the company and told them to get ready to catch us, as we were going to be sailing into the slip. Sailing into a slip is not the most favorite thing on most skippers lists....no matter what the size of boat. So after one failed attempt at the end tie, I told the guy I was just going to take it into the slip and in we went without much fanfare.
All in all it was a wonderful day of sailing and it made me realize how much I love San Diego.

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Steve
07/28/2012, San Diego

After a slight immigration problem leaving Mexico, which caused me to miss my flight, I am back in the "good old US of A". I don't think of myself as a dumb man, I've actually traveled to several foreign countries and never had any kind of immigration issues. Now don't get me wrong, as long as you board a plane in the US or Canada, fly to Mexico for your one week of overindulging in sun, food and alcohol, then board your plane and go home, Mexico immigration is spot on. However if you throw in anything different, like taking a bus or car to Mexico, or sailing a boat one way then taking a plane or bus back for a visit, they just don't seem to be very efficient. I mean really, how the hell do you get a boarding pass, pass through security, proceed to your gate and then as you are walking onto the plane are told by a flight attendant that you need a stamp from immigration?

In keeping with the "when in Rome" theory, I have rented a car bought a cell phone, visited West Marine and have quickly adjusted to driving an automobile on the Southern California freeways. And that was all on day one of my return. I am staying with my good friends Kim & Paul, who last night put together a very nice welcome home party. All of my close friends were there and so was my oldest daughter Amber. I think if you ask any cruiser what they miss most about life in the "good old US of A", they will tell you it is their friends and families. I would also add to that list Kim's cooking.

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Steve
07/25/2012, Paradise Village, Nuevo Vallarta mexico

Tomorrow I will be returning to San Diego for the first time in 10 months. I am REALLY excited to be seeing my kids and all of my friends that I haven't seen for so long. I've been extremely busy here getting Si Bon prepared to weather it alone for a couple of weeks and also set up for the rest of the hot summer and the upcoming cruising season.
Yesterday I equalized my house battery bank. Equalizing is basically frying the batteries by over charging them over an 8 hour period. In doing this you clean off the lead plates inside the batteries. The owners manuel says to equalize every 30 days, most cruisers I know (including myself until yesterday) never do it. Now I know this is some exciting stuff but please bear with me.....since equalizing can produce some disastrous events you must constantly monitor the process. Basically that meant I had to sit on the boat all day yesterday looking at batteries that were making gurgling noises (pic).
So the batteries have been equalized, the headsail has been taken off, repaired and is now safely stored inside. The dingy motor has been repaired and both it and the dinghy are secured for the summer. The varnish has been done, the boat and all of her stainless steel have been waxed and polished. Later today I will run both the main engine and the generator for an hour each. I'll add a few more dock lines and then I'll be ready to head home.....and yes San Diego will always be home.

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Steve
07/16/2012, everywhere in Mexico

From the minute you start planning a cruise to Mexico you start hearing the term "Panga". At first I didn't really pay much attention to this new (to me) term. Then I started hearing horror stories about these "rinky dink" mexican fishing boats that drive or drift around at night with no lights, sometimes harassing poor gringo cruisers, and I became somewhat concerned. A panga is a small (18-30 feet) boat which is primarily designed as an inexpensive, durable fishing boat. Most pangas have an outboard engine of between 45-200 HP, and not much else in the form of technology. Many of the ports and the Mexican Navy now require that the Pangas have some sort of light...although it is usually only a very small white light...if that. When cruising in non tourist areas you get very use to seeing beat up pangas, often with one of the pangeros (fisherman) bailing out water with a cut down plastic container of some sort as they head out to sea for a night of fishing. The Pangeros are tough men who live a tough life. I've never been threatened by one or seen one drifting around at night in my way. Sharon and I were warned away with flashlights one night by several pangeros as we approached an anchorage after dark. Seems they didn't want us to run over their nets...and we didn't want to either. In fact the biggest threat I've ever felt from the pangeros is that they put out nets or long lines with no visible marking, if we are to wrap one around the prop it can be serious trouble.
When cruising in tourist areas things are a little different with the pangas. Yes, the "beat up, rinky dink" boats take on a whole new look. I tried to make a list of what we've seen pangas used for....buy I ran out of paper. We've seen then pulling wakeboarders, banana boats and intertubes. On several occasions we've even seen pangas uses as make shift tug boats. We've been on pangas for jungle cruises, dive trips and water taxi's. I've seen them used as floats in parades and Thursdays a couple of guys come by in a panga and pump out my holding tank. They do still occasionally use them for fishing charters...but they look nothing like their cousins, they have shiny paint jobs, electronics, and even fancy bimini covers to keep the costumers cool.
So far my favorite use for a panga...BY FAR...is "De French Baker" in Barra de Navidad, who each morning delivers his fresh baked goods to us poor cruisers, in his panga. MMMM....I can almost taste a ham and cheese croissant.

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Steve
07/13/2012, Paradise Village, Nuevo Vallarta mexico

OK...so there isn't really much excitement in paradise right now, it fact a better title would have been "boredom in paradise", but who would read the blog with that title? Yes, I am beginning to see why all of my fellow gringos have bailed out and gone back to their native countries for the summer. We have definitely fallen into a weather routine here in paradise. Beginning sometime in the evening or during the night the clouds roll in, the thunder shakes the ground and the sky lights up. Oh, and the rain comes down...usually very hard. Not to be negative, there are some advantages to this, it does keep the temperature down, it washes off the boat nicely, and trying to figure out which one of my ports (windows) is leaking tonight, gives me something to do.
I'll be returning to San Diego myself for a couple of weeks, so all kidding aside, I am busy not only with trying to stop all the leaks but also getting Si Bon ready to face the storms on her own for awhile.

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