Sailing Valparaiso

"Searching for Paradise"

25 July 2010 | Astoria, Oregon
28 January 2010 | OKC
18 November 2009
11 November 2009 | OKC
08 May 2009 | Oklahoma City, OK
12 September 2008 | OKC
09 September 2008
07 August 2008 | Portland Oregon
25 July 2008 | Neah Bay
25 July 2008
25 July 2008 | Bremerton
25 July 2008
15 July 2008 | Friday Harbor
06 July 2008 | Causeway Marina
03 July 2008 | Friday Harbor
26 June 2008 | Causeway Marina
12 May 2008
07 February 2008 | Still in OKC
20 January 2008 | Portland Oregon temp in OKC Oklahoma

Lord of the Flies...

10 November 2012 | La Paz, BCS, MX
Joe/Butch
Ok Chris G…attached are the photos I promised…now stop buggin’ me…as you can see above I’ve got important things to do…I take my job serious.
Now I would like to share a story that happened while out in the islands (faint of heart should not read on). Curious…well I warned you? Here we go; I may have mentioned earlier because of huge rainfalls here this fall there were tons of flies and Bobo’s as the locals call them (tiny, pesky, obnoxious flies). A couple of days after getting out there Susan noticed some black oblong pellets on the floor above the bilge access…where we keep our garbage cans. At first she thought we had a stowaway…you know a “Mickey Mouse”…I was thinking more along the lines of a “Speedy Gonzales”. Turns out they were fly eggs…I guess that’s what they call em’. These “fly eggs” turn into…yes you guessed it…maggots…dozens of maggots! Now the day before I had killed over 24 of their parents so they were out to get me…no really. Susan was freaked out…ok I was a little freaked out too. We were running the generator so I simply vacuumed them up (taped over the end…didn’t want those little unwedded parent critters escaping), double bagged the garbage sack and put it out on the poop deck…all is back to normal…no really! That night I laid down to bed, turned out the light, and as I was trying to go to sleep…I kept feeling something crawling on me. Wait, wait just a minute, don’t get ahead of the story. I kept telling Susan and she kept telling me to shut up and go to sleep. She tells me that a lot. Now the side of the bed I sleep on is right under the aft hatch…on the poop deck! After lying there for about an hour…I finally caught one of the little crawly things…it felt plump, soft and squishy, kinda’ like a bugger. You know what I’m talkin’ about, don’t you Rooney? I pinched it between my fingers and turned on the light. Holy Crap! It was a maggot! I leaped out of bed…ok, now I’m freaking out. I had 4 of the little buggers on me. How in the world did they get in my bed? I’m thinking they’re coming after me for killing their kin…no really! “Revenge of the maggots”! Ya, ok it takes me awhile to figure things out…but about an hour later I jumped out of bed, flew up the companionway, turned on the spreader lights only to find maggots all over the poop deck. At this point I’m pickin’ em’ up as fast as I can, tossin’ em’ overboard. Hey…it’s ok to touch em’ now…I mean after all…I had em’ in my arm pits! I warned ya’!!! Now one would think the story ends here…wrong! I double bagged that sack of trash and placed it on the bow as far out on the bowsprit as I could get it…if they get out now, they’re over the water and at least fifty feet from me. They next morning after a sleepless night, we weighed anchor and motored around to the next anchorage. When I went forward to drop the anchor I found that these persistent little maggots had blown all over the foredeck, open hatches everywhere…are you kidding me? Will they ever go away? At this point I actually considered throwing our garbage overboard. For the rest of the trip they found themselves now in 6 layers of garbage bags, hanging overboard…you don’t suppose that is why there were so many fish hangin’ around?
Oh well, all’s well that ends well, finally got rid of the little buggers. I love a happy ending. Wait! Oh Crap! I forgot about the ones in the vacuum! I’ll write soon…

It's Been Awile...

08 November 2012 | La Paz, BCS, Mexico
Joe/Butch
So it’s been awhile since our last blog…it’s hard to write when you’re having so much fun. We finally pulled out of the marina. Everyone say’s If you stay to long it makes it harder to leave. We made a number of repairs to things that just fail over time. We replaced 7 batteries, 2 float switches, replaced the shift cable, removed the steaming light for repairs and removed and reinstalled the wind vane just to name a few things. I was hoping to accomplish more but the swimming pool kept calling my name. Did you know they serve adult beverages at poolside…what a country?
So we’ve been in the islands for a week now. I hooked a tuna with my new fishing rod. My fishin’ buddies in Wyoming would have loved it…another Joe fish! This fish wouldn’t have made a good tuna sandwich it was so small. We’ve been snorkeling every day…the first two bays we stayed in we swam with dozens of sea turtles. We took the dinghy through some sea caves…that was exciting. We cheated and watched the tour boats go through first…it worked. We’ve had a northern for the past couple of days so we’ve stayed anchored in a bay that‘s provided us a lots of protection, beautiful scenery, snorkeling and great beach combing. Did I mention the first bay we had to ourselves…swimsuit optional!!! Susan took a great picture of me roasting some wienies...makes you want a copy doesn’t it?
Wednesday we dinghyed over to Los Islotos and swam with the sea lions. OMG! It was awesome. At first we didn’t want to get in the water with them but a fellow cruiser convinced us to try it. We’re glad he did…can’t wait to go back. We got some terrific underwater photos and some video. We’ll try to share those in the next couple of days. Our computer batteries died and I forgot to recharge them when we ran the generator.
Back in La Paz Wednesday evening where we anchored in the Magode…I did hook a four foot Dorado on the way back however I suck at landing fish as my buds will tell you. Next week we sail south for San Jose del Cabo to spend Thanksgiving with our family from Missouri. We’ll let you know how the trip went. Joe/Butch

We Made It!

08 October 2012 | Marina Palmira, La Paz, BCS
Butch
We made it…back in La Paz at last! First of all it’s hotter than Hell here. It rained 5 inches a few days earlier…it feels like Missouri in the summer time…Hot and Humid. Everyone says it will be cooler next week…unfortunately that’s a relative term, could be just a couple of degrees; I’m hoping mid-eighties (I think the heat is getting to me). I’m about to break down and buy an air conditioner or move into the hotel.

We cleared customs, no problema. However I did walk off and leave my fishin’ rods laying there, oops problema. Thank goodness Susan lost and earing and went back to see if she could find it. It was nowhere to be found but she did pick up my rods, problema solved…here we go again…what a moron.

The boat was in excellent shape. Had to replace a couple of batteries, float switches and clean out the bilge, but that was it. Did I mention it’s hotter than Hell? The outboard started on the first pull…can you believe that?

We’ve already made a number of new friends and reacquainted with a couple of old ones. The picture is the two of us having breakfast at the La Panga, one of the two restaurants in the marina. Ok enough for now…I think the computer is shutting down because of the Blasted Heat!
Vessel Name: Valparaiso
Vessel Make/Model: Irwin 52 Center Cockpit Ketch (tall rig) 7' Draft
Hailing Port: Portland Oregon
Crew: Joe (Butch), Susan, JW & RC KK4FDZ
About:
In the early 70?s Susan and I purchased our first of four boats, a 24ft Clipper quarter ton sloop having never been on any form of boat in our lives. [...]
Extra:
"Valparaiso" (Veil of Paradise) Chase the dog star Over the sea Home where my true love is waiting for me Rope the south wind Canvas the stars Harness the moonlight So she can safely go Round the Cape Horn to Valparaiso Red the port light Starboard the green How will she know of the [...]

Same Ole Ship... Different Day!

Who: Joe (Butch), Susan, JW & RC KK4FDZ
Port: Portland Oregon