Break out the blankets!

21 September 2007
Ensenada Pescador (just south of Bahia de los Angeles)

Well, maybe not quite blankets but we're sleeping under a top sheet again. Everyone in the BLA area has been reporting morning temperatures below 80 degrees for the past few days, and it's amazing what a difference it makes to wake up to 78 degrees in the cabin. It really is like throwing a switch, the change in the weather seems to happen so suddenly. I'm sure we'll have a few more hot and muggy days, but at least we know they're mostly over with. The water is still around 80 degrees, and we're doing more swimming than hiking. Everyone is currently watching tropical storm/sometimes hurricane Ivo to see what he's going to do but it's doubtful that it will get up this far north. A few boats have already started moving south to Santa Rosalia, and others that were headed that way have paused to see what's going to happen. We should know for sure by early next week.

Ziggy Stardust continues to entertain us as he also taxes our patience. He's either full of energy, running around like a crazy kitten, or asleep. There are very small windows of purring affection in between those two states. As a last resort we put him on his "binky," one of John's bandanas that he likes to suckle. This calms him and we can pet him as much as we want when he's occupied with that. He likes to have visitors, and Ray and Jayne from Adios even coaxed him to jump in their dinghy from Nakia's caprail when they came by yesterday. He wants to be part of whatever we're doing, but we've started to draw a line at allowing him on deck when we're raising anchor or sails. So far he's been good about sailing, mostly sleeping the whole time, and he hasn't gotten seasick yet.

We still plan to cross to San Carlos in mid-October for a trip to Nogales to pick up parts, before continuing on south to reach Mazatlan by November 1. Until then we'll make one more trip into the village for water and veggies, enjoy friends and anchorages in the area, and then wait for a good weather window to make our crossing. It's hard to believe that another summer is almost over!

Linda and John

September Ziggy Pictures

8/16 Two months old, but malnourished

8/19 Space alien kitten

8/21 How do I look?

8/22 Asleep in his food dish

8/23 Still a face only a mother could love!

8/28 Growing fast

9/1 Ziggy in the dorade

9/2 The boys taking a nap

9/4 All legs now

Henriette roll call

7 September 2007

Well, Henriette was a complete non-event for those of us here in the BLA area - no wind and no rain. We went to the extreme of breaking down our inflatable dinghy and stowing it in the quarter berth along with all of our sails, which ensured we would see no ill effects from the storm. From reports we've had, Santa Rosalia saw 40-50 knots of wind and some boats broke loose in Puerto Escondido. This is exactly why we come so far north for the hurricane season.

We came back to the village yesterday to get laundry done and pick up some fresh vegetables. Life goes on! For the record, here are the boats we know to be in the northern Sea of Cortez and where they were for Henriette.

Puerto Don Juan (28):
Adios - Ray, Jayne, Captain Morgan (cat)
Afroessa - Dan and Lee
Balena - Randy and Gina
Blew Moon - Houston and Gail
Cambria - Michael, Elizabeth, Gordon (cat)
Came to Believe - Rich, Annette, Tito (cat)
Catherine Estelle - Ricardo and Linda
Ceilidh - Jay, Janice, Buster (dog)
Gemini - Les and Diane
Guinevere - Greg and Jill
Hooligan - Tim, Paula, Maggie, Nigel (dogs)
Java (catamaran) - Evan (not on board)
Jenny - Doug, Jo, Ziggy (cat)
Lightheart - Steve and Carolyn
Maitairoa - Alex, Susan, Gigi (cat)
Masquerade - Tim, Cindy, Willie (cat)
Momo - Bernie, Michelle, Lola, Jana
Moonhunter - Bill
Nakia - John, Linda, Ziggy Stardust (cat)
Panoya - Jim and Lita
Que Tal - Dave, Caroline, Paws (dog)
Sail Soon - John and Bridgett
Southern Belle - George, Melinda, Joshua
Sweet Lorraine - David and Kellie
Tony Reyes - fishing charter boat
Two Pieces of Eight - Peter, Marni, Tigger, Latte (cats)
V'ger - Casey and Ann
Windy City - Mike and Mon

North of BLA (11):
Daydream (bare aluminum) Wayne and Susan [Gonzaga/Willard]
Ebenezer (catamaran) - Jim, Shelley, Grover (dog) [Gonzaga/Willard]
Ensueno - Ralph and Joanna [Refugio]
Milagro - Lance, Jo, Rocky (dog) [Gonzaga/Willard]
Niaouli (Swiss boat, bare aluminum) - Andre and Claire [Gonzaga/Willard]
Rapscullion (catamaran) - Henry and JJ [Gonzaga/Willard]
Sailor's Run - Jeff and Debbie [Refugio]
Tao 8 - Larry and Angie [Gonzaga/Willard]
Kia Paha - Christian and Mike [Estanque]
Nala Setia (Rhodes Bounty II) - Clint and Jacinda [Gonzaga/Willard]
Questor - Dave [Refugio]

San Francisquito (4):
Flying Cloud
Idefex - Scott, Frederique, two kids
Ojo - Tracy and Renee
Sea-tacean - Archie and Bev

Isla San Marcos/Santa Rosalia area (5):
Nina del Mar - Lew and Billie
Peregrine - Bill
Reflections - Lew and Shirley
Two Can Play - Dennis, Susan, Jack (cat)
Vita e Bella - Colin

Puerto Don Juan

4 September 2007

Yesterday the weather report had Henriette coming our way mid-week so we left Isla Ventana (where we had been joined by two other boats in what is typically a one boat anchorage) to go to the village for laundry and water. Before we had even cleared the islands John heard a loud yowl from the bow area and rushed forward to find Ziggy with his head stuck under one of the teak handrails. We tried twisting and turning him every which way but we couldn't get his head to slip out backwards, and his belly is bigger than his head so even though he got his shoulders through, he couldn't go the rest of the way. We even tried greasing his head with oil before John got out the tool box. We were in as much a panic as Ziggy was, and so John took a hammer and chisel to the underside of the rail to chop out enough wood for us to slide Ziggy's head out. Fortunately we were sailing in very light air so Nakia took care of maintaining a course all by herself. I took a few scratches and Ziggy spent the rest of the day washing off the oil, seemingly none the worse for the traumatic experience. John's hoping he grows up soon so he can't get into any more tight spots.

We had a quick change of plan after that, fired up the motor, and headed straight for Puerto Don Juan where we are currently neighbors with 24 other boats waiting to see what Henriette is going to do. Fortunately it doesn't look like it's going to be much for us, especially when you look at what Felix is doing to Central America. But we take no chances, so our sails are off, we have a tandem anchor set (a first for us), the hurricane anchor snubber is on, and the decks are mostly clear. Ziggy doesn't know what to make of his bare bones jungle gym and quickly learned how to walk the balance beam (our now bare main sail boom).

Assuming nothing comes of Henriette, we'll hang out here until Thursday or Friday and then go on into the village.

Linda and John