Lavac head (toilet) took a break
07 April 2009 | Isla San Francisco Baja - San Carlos Sonora Mexico
Jodee
On April 7th we departed Isla San Francisco for San Everisto at 9:15 am. There was no wind and the seas were like mirrors. We put out the fishing pole on starboard and the bungie-parachuet fishing line on port. At about 11:20 the wind had built to about 12 knots and the seas were about 1 foot. With 12 knots of wind, we rolled the jib out. No main. We sailed from San Jose Island over to San Everisto. No fish, Boo hoo. The anchor was down with snubber at 12:30. Russ donned the wet suit and went down to finish mowing the grass (the bottom of the boat that had algae). We relaxed the rest of the day.
April 8th was a day of relaxation until about 5:00 pm when we took the center seat out of the dingy and put two sport a seats in and two fishing poles with a box of lures. Oh yeah, don't forget the cheap drinking alcohol, gloves and pliers. We are now set. On came the engine and out went the lures. With in a half an hour Russ had caught a Spotted Sea Bass. Two ounces of alcohol was poured down the gills and the pliers took out the lure and of course the gloves are so you can handle the fish. So, it was fish for dinner fresh from the sea right on to the grill. Yum, Yum.
We went ashore today (April 9th) for water and supplies from the little store and also to do a little exploring. The store was first to inquire about water from the desalination plant. Lucky for us we know the man's name that handles the water. So we received directions to Tony's house which is a hike up the hill and before we made it to his house we ran into him. We went back down the hill and to the store which is right in front of the water plant. We purchased produce, snacks and milk and then we got water and Russ hauled it all back to the boat. He brought back the egg container and back to the store for eggs and coke and he took these back to the boat. Now it was time for exploring. We followed the road which is a rough rocky dirt road (only recommended for trucks or SUV's ) over to the salt ponds. There were wild donkeys and cows even a Brahma bull. There are a few nice homes with very clean and groomed yards complete with chicken wire stick fences. We were eyed by the Brahma Bull and when he thought we were too close he started taking a step closer to us. Now keep in mind that we were about 100 yards away from him. When he started to come to us we decided to make a u-turn and head back. Mr. Bull then turned and walked back to his harem. We noticed a lot of bees and yellow jackets hanging around this puddle. Russ decided he wanted to take a close up of it and I decided to walk away from it. On the way back to the dingy we stopped back at the store for limes to go with the Rum and Coke that was on the boat. Now the limes were put on board and we headed out fishing. Russ caught a Sierra Mackerel with in about 10 minutes of putting the lure out. He let me bring it in. We trolled for another 45 minutes when the water around us started to splash and we were getting sprayed. Then the birds started to dive all around, their must have been about a hundred of them. I was so excited I told Russ that our lures are going right through it (turbulent water). All of a sudden I had a fish on and a second later Russ had a fish on. We both are reeling in and my fish crossed over Russ's line and got off and in the process my lure caught on Russ's line. I keep reeling in until I could take my lure off his line and meanwhile he still had a fish on. It took about 20 minutes to bring the fish in and it was a yellowtail tuna. Turns out that it was a school of yellowtail tuna working together rounding up food and we were in the middle of it. Berrel, Ron and George saw the entire show, however did not get any photos of it. Berrel said it was amazing. I sure wish I had a photo of it. Next time we take the camera. We gave half of the tuna to "Sea Bourn" Berrel, Ron and George. Yes, we had fish for dinner and watched a movie.
April 10th we dingy ashore and hiked to the lighthouse to take photos of Smoke-N-Blues in the harbor. The wind came up and it was too windy to fish, Boo. Read a book and Russ took a nap.
April 11th - I read until about 2:30 then cleaned the boat up and made "Sandpipers Onion Tart". Russ converted the other 6 volt anchor light into 12 volts. Berrel, Ron and George come over for cocktails. They gave us the rates for Esconditio. Boat size 41-50 foot in length is as follows:
$ 4.29 pesos ft per day ($ 13.48 US dollars)
$18.67 pesos ft per week ($ 58.69 US dollars)
$70.00 pesos ft per month ($220.00 US dollars)
After they left we watched a movie.
April 12th - It was blowing about 20-25 in the anchorage. We stayed aboard and I read and Russ took a nap and read. We had fish for dinner and watched a movie and I crossed stitched.
April 13th - We awoke at 6:00 am and departed San Everisto at 7:00 am headed for San Marte which is about 37 mile trip. Of course the wind is right on the nose. There is a north swell that is about 2-5 foot. The fishing lines were put out on starboard and port. I checked the port line and the lure was gone. I put on another lure and put it back out. Russ checked the starboard line and changed lures and put it back out. No fish so far.
The Lavac head (toilet) decided it wanted to take a brake and decided not to flush. Now we all know that no sailor would think about going to see without a spare head. So, we brought out the Cadillac of all heads (toilet). It has been with us since Florida in the early 90's and has passed all sea trials and never failed. It is orange in color and low to the floor. It is from "Denny B's Bait & Tackle in Tampa Florida". I know this because it is written on the outside. It also has a strong black handle from which we tie a rope. By now I'm sure you have guessed it is a sturdy bucket. This handle and rope makes this bucket a multi use tool. Every boat should have one.
I use to say the difference between boating and yachting is Ice. Now I have to say that a working head (toilet) and shower is the difference between boating and yachting.
This anchorage was just ok. The north swell does wrap around and makes it a bit rolly.
April 14th up anchor at 7:30 am and moved 7 miles around the corner to Aqua Verde on the north side. A local Mexican lady came by to buy our trash. She went to every boat buying trash until her little dingy was filled. She then rowed it ashore and burned it. The going price for trash removal was 30 pesos, we gave her 50 pesos because we did not have anything smaller. I also gave her a hat. Then she asked for water and we gave her a glass. She also asked for candy for the kids and since we did not see any kids we did not give her any.
The wind switched to the Southeast and we moved the boat over to the south anchorage. Russ fixed the head. The wind blew 30-35 knots all night.
April 15th the winds predicted to come from the north so we moved back to the north side and tucked up behind the reef. Russ tested the head and it leaked so he got the epoxy out and glued the joker valve screw. Now it is a twenty-four hour wait and re-tests. Now with that out of the way it is time to go ashore and find the killer goat cheese. They make it everyday here.
We went ashore with Less and Diane on Gemini. We walked to the tortilla place and Cecilia who makes the tortilla's fresh per order was not there, so we headed to the small store and purchased fresh vegetables, coke, tostada shells etc... We then took the long walk across the wash to the house that has the goat cheese. Less and Diane speaks enough Spanish to communicate. They purchased two kilos of cheese and we split it four ways. It was back to the Cecilia's place to try and get tortillas. Cecilia was not there and I want back to the store and purchased them there. Cecilia's sister Margareta (I think that's her name) made tortilla's that day and Less and Diane purchased a kilo.
There are hundreds of goats here and you can see and hear them roam the hills. The also have a lot of goats in town. We heard a story about a goat herding dog.
It goes like this: The dog owner tells the dog to go get the goats and the heads out by itself into the mountains (that are too steep for man) and rounds up the goats and brings all the goats back. Meanwhile the dog owner is at home. Diane on Gemini was saying that she got between the dog and goats by accident and the showed it teeth and growled at her. The dog took his job seriously. Once Diane backed away from the goats the dog was fine. It goes to show you don't get between a dog and his job.
We had cocktails and nachos, cheese and crackers on Juniata with Dave and Marsha. We had such a good time we did not get home until 10:00 pm and then of course we watch a movie.
April 16th we sat in the cockpit sipping hot chocolate and eating banana bread and watched all the boats move from the middle of the bay to the now crowded North side. Yeah, the head now works. We're back into semi yachting again.
April 17th we took a hike up one of the goat trails and it lead to the cemetery where we found a sand road and walked it until we came to a hard dirt road that lead back over the hill and back to the beach. It was the long way home. After that hike we needed a good rest before cocktail hour on the beach at five pm.
April 18th Russ listened to the single side band radio for weather and I slept in. Then I went to town with Les and Diane to make a trash run and pick up a few more cokes, onions and tortilla of course and a few other things I have forgotten. I was on Les and Diane's inflatable dingy and we went through the surf to get to shore. This was not a problem. However, coming back through the surf was a real trick. Did I mention "Surf's UP". We pulled the dingy into the water and the waves hit the dingy and it took on some water. We kept moving the dingy out to deep water to put the engine down. Less told me to get in and my assigned seat was in the bow to keep it from flipping. Yeah, your right, the wave hit and I got soaked and they kept moving the dingy out and then Diane was up to her chest in water and I had to put my arm over for her to grab and help pull her in and then Les was up above his chest in water before he got in. A few more waves hit us and then we were through the surf and on our way to our boats. What an adventure. Meanwhile Russ was changing the engine oil and doing engine room duties.
April 19th is a reading, relaxation day. I am working on the log and chasing hornets out of the boat and Russ is reading. At 5:30 Juniata - Dave and Marsha will be over for pot luck and movie.
April 20th and 21st we hung out waiting for weather. Juniata came by to borrow some movies. We read and watched a movie and of course Russ worked on some boat projects.
April 22nd Wednesday we left Aqua Verdi at about 9:00 am following Juniata. This leg is about 24 miles. We had one of the most glorious sails so far. The wind was 17 knots and our speed was 7.5 to 8.0 knots and of course we had the fishing lines out although we did not catch any but the landscape was amazing. I have yet to get tired of the jumping bat rays. It is really a wonder how they jump. We arrived at the fuel dock at about 1:00pm and took on two jerry jugs of fuel. We also put water into the two five gallon jerry jugs along with two capfuls of microdyne and then put the water into the water tanks. We did this about four times. We do it this way to make sure we get the correct amount of microdyne to water ratio. Microdyne is a water purifier. And it turns out we did this in at least 90 degree heat. Russ went to check in with the harbormaster and I waited on the boat. While he was gone I helped a fishing boat dock. There was three guys on board and all caught fish. The cooler on their boat had about six yellow tail tuna in the 4-5 foot range and a 28 inch fish from the snapper family. The captain asked if I wanted a piece of fish. Of course you know I said yes and I walked away with about ¼ of one of the yellow tail tunas. This is enough fish to feed about five people. We then went and found mooring ball number 85 and tied to it. We got over heated and had to take naps. Neither one of us felt well until we cooled down and after our nap.
Thursday April 23rd turns out to be a laundry morning. Got up and ate breakfast and then headed to do laundry and had to wait, there were two people ahead of me and Russ had a hard time getting tokens for the laundry machines. Finally laundry was finished at about 12:30 and back to the boat to put it all away. I made lunch and then I went into the marina office to try and get on the internet. There has been an internet and phone problem, because there was some kind of accident and took out both. Meanwhile Juniata came in and went to the restaurant for a burger. So when I could not get on the internet in the mooring office I went up to the restaurant to see if Juniata found out anything about the internet in the restaurant. It appears that the two are not the same. So, if you buy food or drink you can use the internet for free. I called Russ on the walki talkie and asked him if he wanted to come up for dinner. You see there is another little problem we are short on pesos and Escondito does not have a bank. We have Visa to use however, their Visa/Master card machine is down due to the accident. So we have to watch our pesos until we can get to a bank. I went and got Russ and we had dinner. We were able to answer some e-mails and skype call Russ's mom & dad and his sister and my Mom before we had to leave the restaurant because they were closing. The computers have not been able to connect to the internet in the mooring anchorage.
April 24th Friday We were suppose to go into Loretto to day and our ride did not work out. Needless to say I was real disappointed. So I read and cross stitched until I was blue in the face and then I took a nap. Russ woke up with a real bad pain in the back this morning and he took a half of a muscle relaxer. Now he was down for the count. He had no choice but to take a long, long nap. When he woke up he was raring to go so he jumped in the dingy and cleaned the wind vain. And of course we watch a movie before going to bed.
Saturday 25th I was up at 6:45 am and headed out to the cockpit to read. Russ woke up with the net at 8:00 am. We put out on the net that we would like to share a taxi into Loretto. So at 10:30 am we took a taxi with Don and Vicki on Ospry to Loretto. We walked around a little, took some pictures and had really good lunch. Then after lunch we walked, shopped and looked some more. I found my little bead work art. This stuff is wonderful. I bought a little 2 inch vase for a souvenir. And then we got a cold pipas (coconut), we drank all the coconut water and had the coconut meat cut out so we took it with us. Now we are off to the grocery store and then to the frozen meat store then to the water purification store then back to Escondito.
What a haul down to the dingy and back to the boat. We put it all away and then we called the marina to see if we could change mooring balls. The answer was yes and so we motored over to number 96 to get away from the diesel fumes that the diesel generator on a power boat was generating. Now it is cocktail time and we purchased the makings for the perfect margarita. Maybe I will have it perfected by the time we get back so many of you can try them. Must run, the Ice maker just dropped another load.
April 26 was Sunday brunch on the deck between Singlar and Portobello Restaurant. There was fried potatoes, chorizo & eggs, boat made cinnamon rolls, hot pancakes cooked on site, a ton of quiche, potato salad, just to name a few. I took "Sandpiper Onion Tart with Ham". They had "Bloody Marys" to purchase. There was plenty of food for everyone. Every dish was cleaned out. I was sitting of to the side by myself watching people when Anne off "Meander" came over and asked what I was doing sitting all alone. Anne and Ron are traveling by camper and have a 28' sea dory that they tow. We started talking and the topic of Loreto Fest came up. She was helping out with the lead up work and her task was to go to Loreto and get about five gift certificates from stores that participated last year. She asked me if I wanted to go. I said sure. After that we were Internet bound, so we thought. Well after about a half hour of trying to connect it finally worked and we were there until about 5:00 pm.
April 27th. Russ took me to the dingy dock to meet Anne at 9:00. We left in Anne's nice big truck. We went to the five stores that were on the list and then we went a lot of other stores that were not on the list. We even purchased an Item for our selves. By the time 5:30 came we had about 27 gift certificates and 7 product items. Meanwhile Russ was jerry jugging fuel and topping of the tanks so we were ready to leave when the time came. We ordered pizza to take back to the boat from the Portobello Restaurant.
April 28th. Anne was working the HPYC (Hidden Port Yacht Club) library until 2:00 pm to try to pick up some more certificates. During the morning I was working on re-typing the donation sheet that is in Spanish. The one we had was drawn up about ten years ago and has been copied every year since and it was real hard to read and embarrassing to hand out for them to read. Anne was able to get the Schedule of events translated into Spanish and I typed it up. Now next year they will have a clean page to work with along with the files so they can change and print as needed.
In Loreto this afternoon we were able to get about 6 more certificates and 2 product items. Some of the certificates were for raffles and some were for the silent auction. All product items were for the silent auction. Two of the organizers had gone out and received product. However, Anne & I returned with the most. We returned back about 7:00pm.
April 29th was a day for cleaning the boat. I spent a good half day scrubbing the cockpit. First I started with Ajax then Soft Scrub and finally Clorox. Now one would think that only one of these products would be enough, but nooo. Even after the Clorox it was not all white. It looked 90% better. If I knew then, what I know now about the properties of Henry's roofing paint. I would have tried something else. It passes all tests except the ability to clean and stay clean. Russ was cleaning the stainless with "Muriatic Acid". After rinsing he followed up with "Never Dull".
Ken and Lori from "Esprit" came over for Margaritas snacks and a movie. We all had a great time
April 30th is the first day of events at Loreto Fest which is being held at the Singlar property here in Pourto Escondito. Russ went to the GPS Hiking seminar. I checked out what was up for auction. Nothing I had to have so I did not bid. We ate dinner at the Hors d'Ouevres pot luck. I took a chocolate cake. It turns out that the person that was going to be part of the entertainment had an issue with immigrations. If you have an FM3 (which is for foreigners) and work in Mexico you have to file with immigrations. As I understand it and I could be incorrect, it does not mater if you are doing it for zero dollars. The substitute was Ken & Lori.
They are professional Blues musicians. Lori sings, writes and plays guitar and Ken is a bass player.
May 1st. I went to the HPYC to check in with Anne and do a lot of banking and e-mails. I watched the club for an hour while Anne had a seminar to attend. By the time I was through my computer was down to about 12%. Russ headed off to the swap meet. He purchased some small accessory bags, you know the ones with the mesh front and fabric backs. I headed off to the magic pot (pressure cooker) seminar and Russ headed back to the boat. I learned how to play "Mexican Train Dominos" pretty fun game. Marsha (Juniata) is an excellent teacher. Then at 5:00 pm we were off to the Taco Bar / Mexican Potluck. Then at 7:00pm Ken and Lori played. We took the Sony Handy cam and took videos.
Saturday May 2nd was a fun day for me. I learned how to make tie dye shirts. The dingy races were interesting. One of the categories was engine size. I do not know what other categories or how they judge. What I do know is that they did use a stop watch. This is what I saw: A dingy would take off from the committee boat for the designated bouy and round it and when it was about a third of the way back the committee boat would throw a milk jug (they called this the baby) into the water and the dingy would have to pick it up and head back to the designated bouy and round it a second time and head back to the committee boat to put the baby in the bucket. The time is stopped when the baby is successfully in and secure in the bucket.
I took the dingy back to the boat and hung out until the Spaghetti Dinner at 6:00 pm.
May 3rd we went to the pancake breakfast at 9:00 am. Russ socialized with Ken & Lori ("Esprit"), Dave ("Juniata") and Steve (Full Quiver) while he waited for the store to open. I went to the "Jewelry making class" and the "Handmade Paper Workshop", both interesting classes. Now it was time to do laundry while Russ headed off to the store. Russ took the dingy back to the boat with some groceries. I checked in at the silent auction where Anne was and was given a gift certificate for a good "Chinese Restaurant" for my involvement with the certificates. I was headed back to catch the water taxi and decided to stop and talk to Brenda (one of the organizers, she has spent time in Salt Lake City). Anne joined us and so did Marsha and Dave. Dave gave me a ride back to the boat. Potluck was at 5:00 pm and Russ did not want to go. He has had enough. Anne and Ron were suppose to come over after the awards ceremony and have a cocktail, however the ceremony did not end until 8:45 pm so we made arrangements to have dinner Monday night.
May 4th was a day for preparing to leave. We had dinner with Ron & Anne. They picked us up at 5:00 pm and we drove to Loretto. We had dinner at "Mita Gourmet". It is one of the nicest restaurants in town. Anne was given a gift certificate for all her work on Loreto Fest. Ron and Anne decided to share the certificate with us. We had Chocolates Clams as an appetizer and then I had a clam and garlic linguine and Russ and Anne had the Curry Linguine one with chicken and the other with shrimp. Ron had the seafood linguine. It was truly a taste bud experience. The atmosphere was an outdoor setting with arbored grapes, shade trees, lamp lights, candle lights, song birds singing and a good singer playing the guitar. Juan the chef came out to take the order and he told you about the dish you ordered and asked how you would like it precisely. The service was impeccable. After dinner we walked around the block looking and talking. It was a real pleasure. Thank you, Ron & Ann.
May 5th is the day our friends Gary & Phyllis on "Apolima" came into Escondido. We spoke to them on the radio in the morning and they were anchored in Honeymoon Cove which is about 3.5 miles east. It has been over a month since we have talked or seen them. We headed out to go exploring about 10:00 am and after we explored the north side of Escondido we were headed out to fish and on the way out I caught a small spotted bass and we let it go. We were surprised to see that Apolima had already arrived; we expected them about 2:00 pm. We stopped by their boat on our way out to fish. We both were so excited to see each other that we never made it out fishing. We had Apolima and Juniata over for dinner. Apolima and Juniata hit it off. This is a good thing, since both will be spending the summer in the northern part of the sea.
May 6th - We were suppose to leave to day, however we decided to stay another day to visit with Gary & Phyllis. We all went into the office to get on the internet and Phyllis brought season 3-5 of 24. I was up until 3:00am. Gary & Phyllis came over for dinner and we had a great visit. They will be heading south back to La Paz before making their way north again.
May 7th We came into the office for one last e-mail and contact before we leave. It will be about a week or two before we will have internet contact again. We are headed to Isla Coronodos. Anchor was down at about 6:00pm. At sunset I decided I would get the casting rod out and fish. Four out of five is not to bad. I had caught four fish out of five casts. All of which were to small to keep so we released them. A good night sleep was had by all.
May 8th we left Isla Coronodos or Caleta San Juanico. We got the anchor down and set and the wind kept building from the east or southeast. This direction is directly into the anchorage. The swell was directly in causing us to pitch (rock from bow to stern) and with the refractive waves it would cause us to roll from side to side. It was an uncomfortable afternoon and evening. At about 11:00 pm it started to calm down and the wind had switch to the west, however the swell was still coming from the east. A west wind is a hot wind because it is coming over land, not the sea. As the night went on the offshore winds flattened the incoming swell, making fans mandatory for sleeping.
May 9th we are up at 6:45 and anchor up at 7:00am. We got blown out of Caleta San Juanico and are headed for Bahia Coyote in Bahia Conception. Bahia Coyote in Bahia Conception has numerous anchorages, one of which is Santispac, our destination. The anchor is down at 5:30 pm. The restaurant on the beach is "Anna's". We heard on the VHF radio that they will be closed for about two weeks. That's too bad since a dinner on the beach was so inviting. It must have hit over 100 degrees today. I was so hot my body shut down until after sunset. Or maybe it was the one glass of wine that did it. It was about 86 degrees when we at dinner at 9:00 pm. At 11:00 pm it finally started to cool down. Sleeping with fans on is starting to become normal.
May 10th - We had to remove the plastic windows in the dodger (windshield), so now we have just the shade windows in without the plastic. What a difference it made. Still hot, however we had more of the breeze coming through. We put up the bow boom tent to shade the foredeck and scoop air in through the two hatches to cool the inside of the boat some. Russ jumped in to clean the bottom and I got in to do water aerobics. After my water aerobics I cleaned the water line and as far down as I could reach. Now it is shower time. You got to love the showers. Since our water maker does not work we have to take salt water baths with a fresh water rinse. The hammocks never looked so inviting. You know we could not resist a casual lay down with a gentle swing. Again the temperature today must have hit 100 degrees. The lesson here is NEVER consume ANY alcohol in high temps without air conditioning. NEVER!!!!! It will make you sick or shut your body down so fast you won't know what hit you.
A person on the VHF radio with a call sign of "Eagle Eye" hailed us on the VHF. He lives on land here and is from Glen Cove Marina back in the seventy's. He was suppose to make contact later today and never did.
May 11, 2009. Mulege' here we come. We took the dingy over to Posada Conception. This is a gringo community with nice homes. We met Joe and Bob.
They are having battery problems and Russ talked at extended length about their problem. We then walked up to HWY 1 to hitch a ride to Mulege. Bob saw us and asked us to come to his house. He wanted to show Russ his system and ask how he could make it more efficient. He then drove us 13 miles into Mulege and gave us a mini drive through town. We left Bob and started on foot about 11:00 am. We looked in a couple of shops on our way to the ice cream parlor. I did not find one shirt that I liked that fit to purchase. The ice cream was another story. Did you know that they have "Jamaica" ice cream? It was wonderful combine it with limon and you have a real treat. We looked in a few more shops on the way to lunch. Lunch was at a place called "Doney". Excellent food. Now it was back to exploring so we wondered off using Russ's hand drawn map from the crusing book to find the Museum. The museum is up on a hill. We never found the museum, however we did manage to walk one third of the way to the beach and back. Then we found out that the museum was closed for maintenance. On the way back to town we stopped at "Saul's" market. We purchased some Tillamook black label cheese and ajax. The cheese was very pricey. Oh, what a find, extra sharp cheese. It does not matter what the price is. We drank down gaterade and headed to find the mission. We did find the mission. It was beautiful. Out behind the mission was a meditation look out. From here you can see the Mulege river and more palm trees then I have ever seen in my entire life.
We walk back to town to Hwy 1. We were too tired to shop on the way. We waited all of 60 seconds on Hwy 1 for a ride. A van with Idaho plates picked us up. It was Russ & Lupita, they own Anna's restaurant. It turns out that they had to close the restaurant because of the change of ownership and they were waiting on the paper work. No paperwork no restaurant. We went back to the boat and put our supplies away and made a snack to take to take to the boat "Ann Marie" which is hosting a puppet show. There were two puppet masters and nine guests all on a 28 foot morgan. The puppet show was called the "Roy Orbeshark" show. These guys are profession puppet masters. What a great time. There was John & Liz on "Outta Here", Dave & Bill on "Lexi Lady", Angus & Roann on "Periclease", -Smoke-N-Blues and Herman the manager of Posada Conception.
NOW YOU KNOW WHAT WE DO OUT CRUSING.
May 12th, we motored over to El Burro and anchored in the Southwest corner waiting for another boat to leave. We did not like the way the anchor set. It skipped over the bottom before setting. Our confidence level in the anchor holding was not strong. You see if the wind came up from the opposite direction then the anchor set then the anchor might have a hard time resetting because it may have to go back over the same stuff that it skipped over and may or may not reset. About an hour later one of the boats in the anchorage left and we pulled up anchor. The anchor came up with a 4 x 8 piece of corrugated tin roofing. We assume it blew off a roof in a hurricane. We drug it out to about 40' and let it go and then re-anchored. At about 2:00pm the heat shut the body down and we had no choice but to take a nap. Now we know why it is called Siesta Time.
May 13th - We read and relaxed. We thought that we would get a jump on the body shut down today, so we strung the hammocks and prepared cold drinks. At about 2:00 pm with cold drinks in hand it was time to lay the bodies in the hammocks in preparation for the body shut down and without delay it followed. At about 6:00 pm we went ashore to have dinner at Bertha's restaurant. Ardy & Marv from "Odessey" came in for dinner and we invited them to share our table, which they did. We had a great dinner and good conversation. We hope to meet them along the way sometime.
May 14th - I made Mom's fried potatoes, bacon and pancakes for breakfast. Nothing beats Mom's fried potatoes. After two day's of body shut down we are implementing a new plan. Around 2:00 pm we put our swimsuits, a t-shirt and went snorkeling first the southwest corner reef. My mask had a leak which lead me to more exercise than viewing. Every minute or less I had to raise the head above the water roll over tip the goggles and cock my head sideways to get the water out of the right lens and re-secure the mask and roll back over to continue snorkeling. This reef was nothing to write home about.
We headed back to the boat to get me a different mask and then head over to the north reef. This reef was about the same. Russ found a large starfish that was brown with yellow dots. We snorkeled for about two hours. Since I did not wear any dive skins the side of my right thigh got burnt. My misery is always Russ's heaven. He gets to rub me down with lotion. The lesion here is always wear a dive skin when snorkeling.
Biagio from "Gem" came by and asked about Berthas restaurant. We had a little visit and made arrangements to have dinner at Berthas. We had a good dinner and got to know Biagio and Jill a little better. At about 8:30 we headed back to the boat and "Gem" headed back to Santispac about three beaches north. They have a 15 horse motor on their dingy so they were home in no time.
We watched two episodes of 24 from the hammocks with the DVD player hanging from the cockpit ceiling. It was kind of like going to the out door drive in movies. We had heard on the ham net that Juniata was in Santo Domingo which is about an hour and a half away from us. We talked to Shawn on "Tao" and they were headed up to Santo Domingo and asked for them to deliver a message of where we were. Tonight after dinner we received a call from "Tao" telling us that they did deliver the message and that Juniata would see us tomorrow. Then Juniata was able to reach us. Yeah!!!! Can't wait for them to arrive.
May 15th - Woke up fell out of bed, drug a comb across my head went to the galley (kitchen) to make a cup of hot chocolate. This was Russ's request. I sat in the cockpit and made notes on the log and read. Meanwhile Russ the puttser that he is, fixed my mask and found many other small tasks that were just screaming at him to fix me while waiting for Juniata to arrive. Now, it was set, Margarita happy hour at sunset.
We cleaned the garage (back cockpit) with simple green. It helped, but was still disappointing. This task took about two and a half hours. We ate lunch at 1:30 pm. Now it was time to go swimming and cool off. You see swimming is also your shower and when you get out you spray off with a little fresh water. Whalla.
You are now ready for happy hour.
Dave & Marsha "Juniata" came over and we had Margaritas of course and cream cheese with chutney and ginger peach jam along with chips. We all headed in to Bertha's for dinner and Biagio and Jill "Gem" were there so we joined them. And of course after dinner we headed back to watch 24 and go to bed.
May 16th - Smoke-N-Blues and Juniata headed to the east island off of El Burro to go fishing and snorkeling. No fish for dinner. The snorkeling was pretty good. We saw clams both alive and dead, scallops and more starfish then I have ever seen in one location. I call it Starfish Heaven. To bad our fishing license does not cover any shell fish so it would be illegal to take scallops or clams. The angel fish were beautiful and they were large and small.
May 17th - At about 11:00 we met Dave & Marsha "Juniata" and Pat & Berry "Pacific Voyager" up at Bertha's Restaurant for lunch and a game of "Mexican Train Dominos". We taught Russ how to play. It is an addicting game so you better pick one up in the states because I'm told they are really expensive down here to purchase if you can find it.
Russ went over to Pacific Voyager to check out his dingy. They purchased a Porta Boat just like ours for nearly next to nothing but it has a leak. So they found the problem and Barry now has a solution which involves the dealer to order a part.
Once again we lay in the hammocks under the stars watching 24.
May 18th - We pulled anchor under sail and ghosted along waiting for the wind with the lures out. No fish today. Russ had a great time playing and learning the boat and how to make it move in 0-5 knots with small headsail (jib) only. We were going a distance of about 5 miles and it took us four or five hours via the entire bay. Did I mention no fish?? We got the anchor down and I proceeded to make cookies. It is truly amazing how fast butter melts down here. We read. I have read six books since the end of November and Russ has read two and a half books. I guess that is because he keeps finding little projects to work on. It is about 4:00 pm and hot, a cool off swim is in order. Rinsed the salt water off and had dinner. Yeah, you got it, into the hammocks for 24.
May 19th - We sailed and fished most of the day and tried to find Wifi internet. We found it, however it was not strong enough to stay connected. We got the anchor down at Santispac and went swimming, rinsed off. We hit the hammocks to watch 24 before going to bed.
May 20th - At 2:00 am we were hit with 20-27 knots of wind from the south. It lasted about one - two hours. It was a bit lumpy since the anchorage is open to the south. It calmed down and we were back in bed.
It is 11:00 am and the temp is already up to 82 degrees in the cabin. Hopefully it will be cooler today because it is overcast outside. I sat in the cockpit and cross stitched till 12:30pm. We went snorkeling with Dave & Marsha and Pat & Berry. We snorkeled the Island between Santispac and Posada Conception. It was a great snorkel trip. There were two very large sea cucumbers, a large brown with yellow spots starfish, multiple angel fish and what looked like a possible sea spider or a feather duster looking for a new rock to mount on. On the wave cut ledge or cove there were baby seagulls. They are little balls of white fluff with black polka dots. It is really hard to see them because that is what the rocks look like. You had to identify the mother and then look for the babies and the grandpa's are squawking at you the whole time. Up high on the island there were baby pelicans also all white and they make a lot of noise. We observed all this from the dingy. It was pretty cool for us since we have never seen baby seagulls or baby pelicans.
Today is Pat's birthday and a pot luck party on the beach for her. We took showers and cleaned up and I make Tuna Chowder for the potluck. The other boats that came were "Topaz" a trawler berth out of Santa Rosalia, Volo sailboat from Sydney Australia, and another couple on a boat that I think was "Sea Change". Pat and Barry came back to see our Home Depot Special. We visited a while and when they left we went to bed.
May 21st - We dingy in to Ana's Restaurant to talk to Russ (an American) about purchasing some water. He was going into town and would be happy to take our water jugs and get them filled with purified water. Dave and Marsha have an alternator that needs to be rebuilt so we asked Russ about a person who could do that. Russ told us to have Dave bring the alternator to him and he would take it in to get a read out. We immediately headed over to Juniata to tell Dave he had about an hour to get the alternator into Russ. We also found out that Ana's was going to be open tonight with a full menu and full bar so we told Juniata and then headed over to Pacific Voyager to tell them. While talking with Juniata, a sail boat came in named "Mandan" with Jack on board.
We headed over to the island to take pictures of the baby seagulls and baby pelicans. When we got back to the boat Russ decided to take a nap that lasted three hours and I worked on my cross stitch project. Russ discovered a problem with our batteries or solar panel system. That will be tomorrows project.
At 7:00pm we met "Juniata", "Pacific Voyager" 'and "Mandan" at Ana's Restaurant for dinner. What great quality food and good company. After dinner we headed back to the boat to watch 24 before going to bed.
May 22nd - There was a knock on the boat followed by a "Hello" and then the sound of a dingy motor leaving. By the time I got out of bed and threw on some clothes, nobody was there. I looked around and found a foil wrapped package on the deck. When I picked it up it was warm to the touch. Being of sound mind and body I immediately took it below and opened it to find a cinnamon raisin cake just out of the oven. Now I know what's for breakfast. Wow, what a nice surprise, you got to love those early risers. We made arrangements with Juniata to have a margarita night on Smoke-N-Blues since it was going to be our last night together.
9:00am and Russ is checking into the solar panel, battery issue and I am making notes for the log. After working on the problem all day Russ discovered the problem. There was arching in the perko switch that is used for the solar panels so he fixed that problem and now we have lots of solar power. We traded Juniata three gallons of gas for five gallons of water and a siphon hose.
Jack on "Mandan" called and I thanked him for the cake and he said that we could not leave without helping him eat some scallop linguini. I went for a swim and I was behind the boat when a fish decided to suck on my two small toes on my right foot. Wow what a scare. Russ asked it they had teeth and I told him they have ridges. I did not see what kind of fish it was. Russ went swimming after me and the fish attached his torso. They were like a channel cat fish. Then they played with his feet. He had shoes on so no toe sucking for him. Note to self, get dive booties.
Later that afternoon Jack came over to see our boat. It turns out that Jack knows the previous owner Carl and was on the sea trial with Russ. Jack was going to have linguini tomorrow night and decided that since we were leaving that we would have linguini tonight at about 7:00 pm. So we combined it into a margarita, scallop linguini night with Jack "Mandan", Pat & Barry "Pacific Voyager" and Dave & Marsha "Juniata". Jack is making the sauce and I am making margarita's and cooking linguini and Pat & Barry brought salad and Dave & Marsha brought chips and a homemade bean dip. Dave told us the story about Luna the whale and Juniata. He is so animated when telling stories. I don't believe that I have ever met anyone who can tell a story like him. Keep in mind at the time it was a terrifying experience, but to hear him tell it, you will laugh a lot. The story is on line if you search (google) "Luna the whale and Juniata", if you want to read the story. A great night was had by all. Marsha made me and Pat a pretty bracelet. Mine was smoke n blue and hers was yellow. We started to prep the boat for sea duty. No watching 24 tonight, just went to bed.
May 23rd - Russ was up to listen to the Ham Nets for weather while I slept. We were pulling the anchor up when Dave and Marsha came over to say goodbye. They wanted to pay us for the fuel and I said that we have to pay for water. After debating this for about five minutes, we ended up with $10.00 and was told to have a starbucks on them and they ended up with Starbucks newest cookies (Jodee's cookies). We made plans to stay in contact and meet up again.
We pulled the anchor up and motored over to Mandan and Pacific Voyager to say goodbye. 10:30 am we headed north out of Conception bay. The cape effect winds were about 18 knots and we were doing 7.5 knots for about an hour. The farther away from the cape the less the winds were. We sailed all day until about 6:00 pm. The lures were put out at about 11:00 am in hopes of catching dinner. We were not disappointed. Mr. Dorado decided that he would be our dinner. I brought him in (that is a pink job) and Russ gaffed and filleted him (that is a blue job). All the lures were now put away, because we only catch what we can eat, no more. We had to slow our speed down so we would arrive at our destination in daylight hours. During Russ's first watch there were numerous fishing vessels and they kept changing their heading. Not one stayed on a selected course. We were making 3.5 knots under motor and mainsail, no jib. Russ had to make a thirty degree heading change and increase speed to move around the fishing vessels.
That was the most excitement of the night. Yeah, we like non eventful crossings. The conditions were perfect and the sky was full of stars along with a nice breeze.
May 24th - We arrived at Bahia Algodones at 7:30 am with anchor down. Today is a catch up on rest day. We went to bed and woke up about 3 hours later. I made brunch and then worked on cross stitch meanwhile; Russ disassembled a radio shack clock with soothing sound machine. At about 3:00pm I came below to find Russ was sound a sleep with the radio shack clock torn into a million pieces and all tools at his feet. I decided to lie down and take a little nap. The temperature here has been a pleasant surprise. It is about ten degrees cooler here than on the Baja side. I think I like that. Russ strung the hammocks in preparation for watching 24.
Russ got the fish out and cut the blood line out. I seasoned it with Costco's Kirkland Organic Non Salt seasoning and Pink Premier Salt and on to the BBQ to cook. I made Rosemary Parmesan squash and flavored rice. Wow, what a great dinner. Now we carefully put our full little bodies in the hammocks to watch 24.
May 25th - Russ was up to listen to the Ham net. I slept. The local VHF radio net came on at 8:00 am. My watch said 9:00 am. Who changed the time on us? We had breakfast and I called the vessel "Darkside" on the VHF radio to ask them if they could pass a safe arrival message on the ham radio to Juniata. They said they would try if they are on the net. The Darkside is leaving tomorrow morning early.
I called mom on my expensive cell phone to confirm plans. With the boat ready and captain and crew rested we motored around the other anchorages checking out the Wifi signal. It was poor. We settled in the inner bay of San Carlos not far from the marina.
May 26 - We moved the boat over to the San Carlos anchorage. Relaxed to day and read and watch all the entertainment and the coming and going of all the boats.
May 27 - We took the dingy into the dingy dock. We walked towards town to find Albert's house. We found the house after talking to a few people. His neighbor Terri told us that the house next to her was Albert's house. The keys that we had did not unlock the gate. Terri offered us the phone to call Sherri. Sherri gave us the name and phone number of the new realtor Phyllis. Russ called Phyllis and she was here with in five minutes. We did a walk through the house and yard. The house sits on a piece of property that overlooks the bay. It is a cute house and has a pool. John on Sea Quest has a sciatica issue. We went over to give him some Oregon Crème and show him how to do exercises. By the time we left he was walking better, still in pain but not as much.
May 28 - The paper is brought out to make the haul list. We went to town for a few items to start preparing the boat for haul out. We had dinner on Smoke-N-Blues with Chris & Shawn "Tao", Ardy & Marv "Odessey" and Nancy & Herman "Sea Tern". We all had a wonderful time talking and laughing.
May 29 - We continue to prep what we can of the boat while it is at anchor. The marina called to let us know that Mom and dad had arrived. Russ took the dingy into the marina to pick them up. We enjoyed the afternoon on the boat then went to the house for the night.
May 30 - After talking with Ardy & Marv we decided to move the boat over to Marina Real. Now that we are at the dock we can off load the food and items that the heat will affect. We want to thank you Albert for the use of the house and thank you Sherri for all your help.
May 31 to June 2nd - These days are pretty much a blur. Between getting the boat ready to haul and the heat we were exhausted at the end of the day. The day started at about 7:30 am and went to about 6:00 pm. Mom and Phill always brought lunch for us.
June 3rd - Today is hauling out day. Our haul out time is 3:00 pm. They tried to haul us until about 4:30 pm and the tide was not high enough. I guess we could say that this was a dry run. Russ went into the marina to get a slip for the night because we will start to try and haul out tomorrow at about 4:00 pm. Russ talked to Marina Secca about the workers working over time tomorrow because high tide is about 5:30 - 6:00 pm. Marina Secca will call Singular Marina in Guymas to see if they can haul us just in case we are not able to haul in San Carlos.
June 4th - We got up early and headed over to Guymas to see if they could haul if needed. Jared was real nice and easy to work with. They are booked full with the exception of two reservations on the books. One of which is SwanSong. Well SwanSong went to Mazitlan. Jared said he would have to get a cancellation from them since their haul date is June 8th. So we made tentative arrangements. We received an e-mail from Jared stating that we could have SwanSongs spot.
We finally got hauled at about 5:00 pm. We barley made it. They haul us out on a trailer. The keel was on the bar about 1 inch. They move one of the bars to the back of the keel so the boat was supported. Now we watch the boat go down the road a quarter of a mile before turning into the yard. They put extra stands on for the night. It will be moved in the morning to the storage yard.
June 5th - The boat was moved before we arrived. We worked in the heat making what we think are the final preparation for leaving the boat on the hard. Mom and Phil came and we went to lunch. Then back to the boat for more work. 6:00 pm came and we are exhausted. Mom and Phil came and we went for a coke and to send an e-mail to Jared at Singular Guymas to give our spot to someone else and to let Sherri know what we have done on the house and give her more information on the house. We went back to the house and hit the pool and watched a movie before going to bed.
June 6th - Russ went to the boat to finalize the boat and Mom & I went to research the Copper Canyon to make plans. We came back to the house and Russ, Mom and Dad took a nap. I researched the Copper Canyon.
June 7th - We got up early and drove to Nacapule Canyon and hiked 1.5 miles to the start of the oasis in the desert. Came back to the house and we watched movies and Russ & Phill took a nap. I tried to research the pearl factory when the internet connection went down. I move on to down loading the photos from the camera to the computer. We are now watching Raising Hellen.