Captains-Blog

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02 November 2015

Catching Up

18 February 2014 | La Paz
Russ
We are currently back in La Paz after a few weeks cruising North in the Islands with Gwen's Sister Susan aboard. I posted daily updates and all kinds of good stuff via HF radio only to find nothing appeared on the Blog as I had some settings wrong. Too bad, as there was good content for a change. I will post some photos shortly while we have wifi. In Summary we had a Smith Family rendezvous in Puerto Escondido, where we met up with Hafa Adai a buddy boat from Australia, with Dave and Nancy aboard as well as Gwen and Susan's brother Mike (all Smiths) who is cruising the Sea with them for a while so we took advantage of everyone being in the Sea at one time and had a few parties, did some hiking and beachcombing, the two standard excursions at most stops along the way. We rented a van and toured around a bit, went into Loreto for some touring, local fair meals, the open air market and provisions. Loreto is a beautiful little town with most of what one might need in a remote location and the town’s folk are like all the folks in the Baja, friendly, laid back and very pleasant. Once they know we are not Gringos but Canadiances, they open up and relax quite a bit. We bashed our way up to Isla San Francisco then had good winds for the next few stops up to Escondido. An overnighter in Agua Verde, resulted in a huge dorado (mahi mahi) finding its way aboard which provided two very large and tasty meals, not much better than fresh Dorado. Weather has been great and getting quite warm now. Along the way we saw all kinds of dolphins and many whales close up along with all the usual sea life and scenery. The ever changing colours and vistas along the Baja are hard to verbalize but one comment is that it is like sailing in the Grand Canyon flooded. On our return sail to La Paz we used the Code Zero (spinnaker) sail a lot and had some fantastic sailing with winds on the quarter and making good speeds, something that eluded us last year as we bashed all the way North and all the way South which was not at all fun. We spent a few days anchored at Isla San Francisco, did some beach touring, swimming and poking around, the girls collected a number of shells and such and had a great time. We came across a huge fish dead on the beach that was 12 feet long and serpent looking. Later we learned it was probably an Oar fish that resides quite deep in the sea and is rarely seen. Apparently they mate for life and only swim vertically. Later we learned another couple had seen the same one dead and another near by still alive but not doing so well a few days before since it must have followed the other into shallow water then couldn't get back to deep water to swim vertically. It was one of those type of fish that you would probably hesitate to get into the water with even to help it, hopefully it made it back into the deep. The last morning before we were headed back to La Paz the bee's decided the bits of fresh water and dew lying around was enough to make them want to set up residency on board. Since the live on desert islands there is little to no water for years at a time and they smell fresh water a long way off. Once one arrives and goes home with the smell of fresh water on them, word gets out pretty quick and the invasion is on. Can’t blame them for it, they need water and we need bees. Fortunately, we had screened in the pilot house and were safe in there but when I put a towel over a pail that had some water and a hundred bee’s in it they became somewhat aggitated to say the least. Note to self,,,Bad Plan. We have a large African queen style mosquito net for over the bed so I put it on and Bridezilla went out to face the now increasing swarm of bees trying to save their buddies in the pail. After uncovering the pail and dealing with the odd bee that got inside my giant veil they calmed down a bit so Gwen crawled out the front hatch and upped anchor so we could get outa Dodge. After we were underway they seemed to get the hint and bugged out for home. A neat experience and no one got stung. This has been an excellent sailing season so far. I dis-assembled and re-assembled the watermaker several times to try to correct the high salt content but no joy there, so we have ordered new RO membranes from the manufacturer which are due to arrive on Friday this week, or some week since this is Mexico and nothing is guaranteed but heat. It appears we installed high volume membranes the last time which would never produce the quality of water we needed and since our water maker is a low flow system (hindsight / or perhaps experience, which is something one gains immediately after needing it) they just wouldn’t cut it. Now we believe we will have the correct ones and should have all the pure water we need once it is up and running again. On the plus side I am getting pretty good at tearing it down and putting it all back together. A good lesson albeit a costly and frustrating one. Crew is here today doing a complete boat detail and polish so the boat is looking great. We have completed many new chores and improvements such as finally finishing the air conditioning installation, some new fans, painted dorades and more items designed to improve life aboard, just in time too. We have joined the Pacific Puddle Jump Rally and plan to head across the Sea in the next week or so on the next weather window bound for Mazatlan to visit with friends and see that city, then cruise down coast to Puerto Vallarta where we will attend seminars related to the Pacific Ocean Crossings and begin the big preparations for all that comes with such an undertaking. Eventually we will get the remote blog posting sorted out so we can post daily and get some of the cool stuff recorded before it is all a blur and we have to ramble on like this post, that said, that is all for now, hopefully we can post photos shortly.
Comments
Vessel Name: A-TRAIN
Vessel Make/Model: Sundeer 60
Hailing Port: Vancouver Canada
Crew: Gwen and Russ Hobbs
About: currently, Aug 2016 ready to depart NZ for warm waters North
A-TRAIN's Photos - Main
229 Photos
Created 3 July 2015
50 Photos
Created 29 November 2014
9 Photos
Created 29 November 2014
2 Photos
Created 29 November 2014
18 Photos
Created 29 November 2014
30 Photos
Created 29 November 2014
6 Photos
Created 15 August 2014
12 Photos
Created 10 August 2014
19 Photos
Created 25 July 2014
5 Photos
Created 14 July 2014
34 Photos
Created 29 June 2014
8 Photos
Created 29 June 2014
21 Photos
Created 29 June 2014
12 Photos
Created 4 June 2014
5 Photos
Created 30 March 2014
One of the nicest Islands in the Sea of Cortez on the Baja side. We flew over it and got a photo from the air, Cool!
20 Photos
Created 6 March 2014
Punta Chivato, a shell collectors dream come true, most people just stand there shaking their head and wondering how it could be possible that so many shells could be in one location. WOW! Gwen collected a few but it was better to just look and leave them there.
13 Photos
Created 6 March 2014
Cabo, Bahia Los Frailies, Los Muertos, La Paz, and North to San Gabriel, San Juanico, Puerto Escondido and across the Sea to Guyamas and San Carlos
20 Photos
Created 6 March 2014
misc photos of getting ready to shove off, various stops along the way and rounding up into Cabo San Lucas
20 Photos
Created 6 March 2014
Misc photos to catch up Blog
59 Photos
Created 5 August 2013