With some help from Erin on "Romany Star" we have set up a makeshift galley in the head (lavatory) where we washed dishes after a meal generated in our solar oven on deck.
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From Idaho we headed west across Washington to Whitbey Island. The island was our favorite locale of the entire trip. Company wasn't to bad either! Terry and Pat from "Mystique" hosted us at their place and really introduced us to all the local happenings. Lunch at the local pub had Patty and I slurping up all the good wine sauce in our steamed mussels after the bread had run out.
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After Portland, we headed out to Idaho to meet up with my godfather, John, for a long overdue visit. The Lake and fabulous environs made a great backdrop for catching up and swapping stories of the last several years since we have seen each other.
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They did it! Adam and Kris off "Estrella" tied the knot on July 12th in a lovely ceremony at the botanical gardens in Portland. Also representing the fleet were "flying Cloud" and "Kia Kaha" other cruisers who made it up to the wedding along with Bride and Grooms friends and family. Good times were had by all as evidenced above. We can't wait to see everyone back in the Baja.
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Back in the USA. We are roadtripping up to the Pacific Northwest to visit friends and family. Paul and Erin on "Romany Star" took us up to hike Mt. Saint Helens and see the amazing things that mother nature can do!
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Giant Squid are also called red devils becuase they are big and mean and will eat ANYTHING. We are told that every year at least one fisherman is mained or killed by being drug overboard by one of these 3-7 foot long squid who have sharp beaks and even stronger tentacles. Fortunate for us, this guy was part of the "squid die off" which occurs every spring. Apparently, after frenzied mating near shore, many squid will wash up and hundreds will stink up the shoreline after several days.
We found this guy swimming in about three feet of water and pretty docile. After getting in close with our machetes, but not sure how much fight this one would give us, Tony decided to spear it with the spear gun. This was a good idea as the spear barbs kept the squid from swimming away, and we were able to let it ink out in the water away from us. once on the beach, I did head wacking duty witth the machete, but to my suprise the severed head continued to roll its eyes and wave its tentacles at me. Once past the moment of horror, guilt, murder, brute savagry running thru my brain, I knew we were gonna have to eat this guy no matter how good he was, since we had put and end to it. Fortunately, it made super tender steaks. We gave three foot long steaks away to other boaters and still had all this in our cooler.
Tony even cut up the spade fins for bait. After calamari, squid chile and squid salad, I thought I was going to be tired of it, but we had a cruiser pot luck and I made calamari strips that came out more tender than anything Andrea's seafood could have prepared back home. Now we can't wait till squid season next year.
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This island was volcanically formed, and while the crater is filled in, you can still hike to the top for an amazing view of the Loreto area. It took about two hours to reach the summit and we passed over some very distinct geological strata. first was the sandy desert brush we are used to seeing on the islands here, then came the volcanic rock. large red porous rocks mixed with obsidian made up about a third of the journey. fortunately the trail was marked by cairn piles so that you don't endlessly climb over moonscapes. at the base of the ridge, the terrain turns to loose sandy dirt and it was a pretty vertical scamper of the side of the ridge. For every foot up, it was a four inch slide down in the dirt. Tony picked up some of the obsidian pieces to put in our grill for "brickets" on the way back.
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