SoBLA

(Note: a lot of this stuff happened before Otis. I'm a little behind on blogging.)

We spent a couple days of days anchored off a vacation village at the southern end of Bahia de Los Angeles known by the local yachties as SoBLA. One of the boats which spends time in this area during the summer has a little place there (a micro trailer with an attached porch and small storage unit). They invited us all ashore for a game of dart. Yes, 'dart', singular. They have a dart board hanging off the porch roof but over the years all but one dart has been lost. So we took turns throwing it at the board until Lance saved us all by announcing that he'd brought his set of darts. Fun as it was, 'dart' was a little boring. Darts was far more entertaining.

After leaving SoBLA we were fortunate to get to spend a couple of nights in a little hole between two small islands. Pata and Bota (foot and boot) are about 100 yards from one another and the gap forms a 1/4 mile long anchorage aligned almost exactly east and west. This seems really nice until you know that sometimes the wind blows very hard from the west at night. The forecast was good so we decided to risk it. It turned out to be everything we were looking forward to, isolated and a little wild. We had all sorts of wildlife to watch including sea turtles, osprey, sea lions, and several birds we hadn't seen in a long time like a kingfisher. The fishing was excellent - in one morning I caught 5 yellow tail, 4 sierra, a dozen barracuda and a few trigger (I kept two yellow tail). After two nights we figured we had just about used up our luck in this risky spot so we decided to go up to a place called 'Las Rocas' where we planned on meeting up with friends.

The next morning the forecast was for light northerly winds, and while the anchorage at Las Rocas is not the best in north wind it should have been fine. If the forecast was accurate that is. We're getting the idea now that we can't really rely on any forecast in the Sea of Cortez. Anyway we started out in light north winds and by the time we got the anchor down in Las Rocas it was blowing 15-18 out of the NW. THe anchorage wasn't bad, so we settled down to have breakfast. 45 minutes later, the wind was blowing 25 with much higher gusts and it was clear we were going to have to move. Getting up the anchor in gusts over 30 was pretty exciting, but we did it and got out in the channel where the waves were pretty big and nasty. Luckily, we only had to go three miles to get to our backup anchorage (La Gringa), so we only had to put up with the rough water for 45 minutes or so.

We stayed at La Gringa, hanging out with Stan and MJ, until the whole Otis scare started up. You know the saga of that.

John and Linda

Otis Has Left the Building

8:00 AM PDT October 3, 2005
Puerto Don Juan

Unbeknownst to the other we each wrote updates so here are both of them.

Linda writes:
It's looking like Otis is going to be a non-event for us, and now we're hoping to at least get a boat wash out of it. Yesterday was completely clear with a nice breeze of 15-18, and we even had our sun shade up all day. Since we already had everything stripped or lashed down above decks we spent the day reading and visiting with other boats. Three of the divers checked anchors, and everything looked good (though inexplicably one boat dragged later in the day and had to re-anchor). Last night was completely calm and clear. We woke up this morning to about 90% cloud cover and still very calm. Puerto Escondido, El Burro Cove, and Punta Chivata are reporting rain and squalls, so hopefully a little of that will come our way soon.

We're all looking forward to holding our post Otis beach potluck as soon as possible so we can get out of here and get cruising again!

John writes:
Well it's starting to look like we got all prepared for nothing, which is exactly how we want it. As if to underscore the unpredictability of tropical cyclones Otis didn't do anything the forecasters said and is dying a quick painless death and is now headed up the outside of the Baja. At one time packing winds over 125 mph Otis has backed down to 40 mph and is expected to get down to 28 mph by tomorrow morning.

This morning we have a lot of overcast and a little rain, which except for the humidity is welcome. Today's projects include wiping dirt and salt off the boat with rain water, slowly reassembling the boat, and planning the wake/potluck for Otis.

John and Linda

Ready and waiting?

7:00 AM PDT October 2, 2005
Puerto Don Juan (PDJ)

While John's running the Amigo net this morning I'll take a moment to update our Otis status. Yesterday morning after the radio nets (Sonrisa and Amigo) we moved to PDJ from La Gringa, in NoBLA (northern Bahia de Los Angeles). We had removed the staysail after our crossing from San Carlos since we don't need it for the coastal day trips, and we make a habit of removing our headsail from the furler to prevent UV damage. So the only remaining sail to take off the boom was the main, which we did while motoring to PDJ since it was calm. Most of the boats here have removed their head sails and lashed their mains, but our sail cover is cut so big that it's more effective (and not that difficult) for us to just completely remove it. Yes, this leaves us without backup in case the engine fails, but we wouldn't be able to sail upwind under mail alone anyway. And if the wind is that strong, we should be able to move in any other direction under bare poles. That's the theory and we're hoping we don't have to test it.

There are currently 14 boats in the anchorage with #15 due to arrive later this morning. This is a very low number compared to past years when there have been anywhere from 25-30 boats in this hurricane hole. Hard to imagine trying to fit half again our number in here because it's not that big, and everyone has 225-300' of anchor chain out! But we're pretty well spaced out, and today some of the people who SCUBA dive are going to check the set of our anchors.

This morning is calm and mostly clear with high humidity (our decks were wet this morning). It's sounding as if Otis is diminishing somewhat which is good news to all of us. This morning's report has the wind arriving here tomorrow morning at 35-55 knots. We'll try to make regular updates, but keep in mind that we may be very busy once the storm arrives!

Linda and John

Waiting for Otis

2 PM PDT October 1, 2005
Puerto Don Juan, Bahia de Los Angeles
28 degrees 56.631' North; 113 degrees 27.132' West

As some of you already know we're preparing for hurricane Otis to make landfall somewhere along the Baja Pacific coast soon. No one really knows where it's going to land or what it will do after that so it's a bit of a waste of time trying to second guess it. We are proceeding under the assumption that it will hit us and hit us hard. Will try to keep everyone updated as best we can!

Linda and John

Local Attractions

September 22, 2005

We left La Mona early in the morning, sailing off the anchor using only the drifter. We only had about five nm to go to get to our destination, and with all day to get there we didn't mind going slow. Everything was going well, we only had another mile or so to go, when I noticed the unmistakable sound of bees buzzing around the boat. The sound grew stronger and stronger, but I couldn't really locate where the bees were. Finally I looked up at the top of the mast and saw a swarm of 25-50 bees buzzing around up there. The wind was very light so they were easily able to keep up with NAKIA. We watched them for awhile and then decided we had to do something. They were starting to land and looked like they were getting ready to set up housekeeping. We started the engine and motored toward the only wind we could see. Slowly the bees dropped away until all of them were gone. Too bad we weren't able to sail all the way but at least we didn't have a bee hive in our mast.

After dodging the bees we headed into the anchorage in front of the town of Bahia de Los Angeles, population approximately 500. Commonly referred to as 'The Village' it has about five stores, one paved road, and one stop sign. It's the only place within 80 miles to get provisions and while the pickings are usually slim, if you're patient and go to all five stores you can usually find enough fresh veggies to keep you happy. We didn't really need fresh food so we went for the other main attraction. Two for one margaritas, and tacos from the roadside taco stand. Our social director, Jo, decided that to avoid the rush we'd go have 2 for 1 margaritas at one of the motels first. By the time we finished there, and had walked down the road to the taco place, it was 8:10 PM and the proprietress had closed up shop and was backing out in her truck to go home. We walked on a little farther to a place that another couple had recommended for hamburgers and fries, which was still open. Our six orders took awhile to prepare but everything was good and worth the wait so we didn't mind.

The next morning we had a date to meet at 8:00 for two stops, 1) breakfast at the motel with the two for one margaritas and 2) a visit to the local museum. The breakfast was excellent (yes we had breakfast, not margaritas)! Linda says it was one of the best meals we've had anywhere. She had chilaquiles, which are basically pieces of tortilla fried up with onion, mixed with salsa and cheese, and can be topped by two fried eggs. Yummy. The museum was nicely done for a place this size and had a great collection of shells and their identifications. Now we know what we've been picking up off the beaches.

That evening we finally got to try the fabled tacos, but we both thought the adobada (marinated pork) and carne asada were a bit greasy and fatty. Guess we'll have to go back to the motel for more chilaquiles and margaritas instead!

John and Linda

Jacuzzi at La Mona

September 19, 2005

We pulled anchor after four nights in Quemado and set sail (literally) for La Mona, inside Bahia Los Angeles. The sailing in this area is pretty nice. Winds in the morning are generally light, but destinations are usually very close (we sailed 8.7 nm to get from Quemado to La Mona) so we don't mind spending all morning going slowly. The best thing is that once you get in the bay, the water is usually very calm. There's no swell and the chop is low or non-existent. It's like sailing on a lake! Our trip to La Mona was one of the faster ones we've done, taking only two hrs to go 8.7 nm (4.3 kt average) and we did it almost entirely under sail. We only had to start the motor for the last 100 yards or so to get the anchor down.

The big attraction at La Mona is the 'Jacuzzi', a small lagoon behind the beach that fills with water during high tides and then empties, creating a whirling stream of water where beach goers can sit and be massaged by the soothing flow. Or so we were told. We got to La Mona a couple of days after the highest tides and, not knowing exactly when to go or how to sit and be massaged, we arrived near the top of the flood. The incoming tide at this point could hardly be referred to as a 'stream' so we splashed about in the water near the beach and planned to come back during the ebb. Then we thought for sure we would be massaged by the soothing flow. We arrived back on the beach having had lunch and headed directly for the Jacuzzi. Imagine our disappointment when we saw only a small stream of water making its way from the lagoon. Surely, THIS isn't the soothing flow, we thought, but we entered the water anyway and attempted to make the best of our situation. Desperately hoping that we didn't look to the other beach goers like two kids sitting in a street gutter after a rain storm.

After returning to NAKIA we decided we needed professional help (no, not that kind of professional help). We enlisted our friends Stan and MJ from SolMate, who are veteran Jacuzzi goers, to come and show us how and when to be massaged by the soothing flow. They arrived the next day and we prepared to have the best beach day possible. We packed a picnic basket, set up our beach umbrellas, put our beach chairs in the sand, put on sunscreen, and waited while the lagoon filled to its maximum height. Then waited more, with the pause at high tide stalling the eventual ebb, only increasing our anticipation. Finally the ebb started and, the critical moment having arrived, we placed our bodies in the stream for maximum relaxation. The ebb built to a mild stream and we had a good time drifting down and sitting in the water. It was fun, to be truthful, but not the soothing flow we'd been expecting. It turns out that two or three days ago, when the tide was at its maximum, we really would have had something to talk about. But the tides were not so high now and as a result we didn't really get the best of the Jacuzzi. Maybe next year.

John and Linda

More Fishing

September 16, 2005

The reason we went from Alacran to Quemado was to celebrate Jo's (Milagro) birthday. Lance, Jo's husband, secretly sent out emails and radio messages to other friends so we could have a surprise party on the beach. Of course Jo figured it out when all these boats that she hadn't seen in a long time started arriving in the bay, but we had a good party even though it wasn't much of a surprise. The men gathered up a bunch of wood and we set up a table on the beach for a potluck. Dinner was wonderful, as all potlucks are, and Nakia served brownies for Jo's birthday cake. We didn't have candles so I held a miniature butane lighter for Jo to blow out after we sang Happy Birthday to her. Cruising is all about improvising...

My main entertainment is fishing. Sometimes I get up early in the morning and troll along the shore to catch grouper and trigger fish, other times I wait for dusk and try for yellow tail and rooster fish along the beach. Well, one morning I went out looking for whatever I could catch, working in and out of the shore. I was catching a few fish, but mostly trigger fish which I wasn't interested in keeping and barracuda, which I wish would find some way to get themselves off the hook so I don't have to handle their slimy bodies. I was about ready to give up and go back to NAKIA when I hooked a pretty big fish, it started pulling line off the reel, and then far back behind the boat I saw a fish leap from the water. At first I thought I'd hooked a large yellow tail but it soon became clear that it was a dorado, hooked within 50 ft of shore! I fought it to the dinghy, identified it as a female, about 38-40 inches long. I don't like keeping female dorado, one female fish can make a lot of baby fish, so I decided to release it if I could. I finally got ahold of its tail and got the hook out and then went about the process of reviving it. When you fight large fish to exhaustion it can take a long time for them to recover, usually I hold the fish horizontally in the water and move it's tail back and forth like it's swimming. This is supposed to stimulate water flow over the gills and help it pump blood to weary muscles. The problem was that it wasn't working, this fish was not waking up. Not only that but a sea lion had noticed me and was swimming around under the dinghy just waiting for me to let go! I tried for another few minutes and finally came to the decision that either the sea lion could eat the dorado or I could, and I'd much rather I ate it. So off to NAKIA we went for a date with the fillet knife.

John and Linda

The latest

Well, it's been awhile since I've updated the blog. I'd like to say it's because we've been too busy, but I know you all would just laugh at the outrageousness of that (how can two people without jobs, kids, or schedule be too busy to do anything). So I'll just say it's because I haven't been in the creative writing mood lately.

After our crossing from San Carlos we met up with Milagro and SolMate at Isla Partida. There's another, better known, Isla Partida just outside of La Paz but this Isla Partida is special in it's own right. It reminded me most of the island of Molikini off shore from Maui. It has the same shape, almost as if it were once a volcano and one side of the crater washed away opening up a 'U' shaped bay. We rafted up to SolMate when we got there to pass off all their treasures from the States as well a few 'bonus prizes' we brought back with us. Milagro came over too, and we had a little party watching Stan put together his new fans. Unfortunately the wind came up out of the north (that's where the 'U' is open) and we had to leave the next morning because of the chop driving into the bay.

Our next stop was Ensenada Alacran where we spent four peaceful nights. Backed by a large white sand beach and a small eco-resort (10 yurts and a hut) Alacran was a great place for fishing, swimming and diving. Of course I'm not qualified to do the latter so I was happy playing support crew for Lance and Stan while they swam around in the briny deep. One of their dives was for large 'free swimming' scallops and they managed to bring back enough so each couple could have 4. Now 4 scallops doesn't sound like a lot, but these are BIG, one scallop gives 3-4 ounces of meat, so four is about all two people can eat. When Lance brought his load up to the dinghy he began examining them closely, explaining that when one is down on the bottom it's hard to tell if the scallop is alive or just an empty shell. He threw out a few empties and gave me four which seemed good. We took them back to the boats to clean them and having done my first three easily I started puzzling over the fourth. The first three opened without much of a fight but the fourth wasn't even starting to open. As an experiment I put my knife in at the hinge of the shell and gave a twist and the shell popped right open. However, the inside of the scallop didn't look like the others, in fact it looked like something else entirely. Gently opening the shell, I peeked inside and found a small octopus staring back at me with several egg sacks attached to the inside of the shell. The octopus was holding the shell closed as hard as it could, presumably four legs on the top half and four on the bottom. I showed my discovery to Linda, and then slipped the expectant mother and her brood back into the water where they can finish their development in peace.

There are places to stay all over in this area, probably 30 anchorages in a 60 square mile area. So the next spot 'down the road' is usually only 5-10 miles away making it easy to sail from one spot to the next. This is just what we did to go from Ensenada Alacran to Bahia El Quemado, a whopping six nautical mile jaunt. Amazingly, we actually passed a third anchorage on our way, El Pescador. Since we weren't going far we decided to sail the whole way, even if it meant having to go very slowly. We set our nylon drifter and sailed at speeds anywhere from 1.0 to 4.5 kts and made it to Bahia El Quemado in two and a half hours sailing 7.0 nautical miles to get there. We used the engine when pulling the anchor, but dropped the anchor under sail. All this slow sailing was very amusing to our buddy boats, Milagro and SolMate. We were the brunt of several comments about being purists. That's okay, I'll get them back when they have to lug diesel fuel from the Pemex to their boats in jerry jugs when they have to refuel.

John and Linda

Travel Log

I've been thinking about our visit to the USA and thought you guys might be interested in some of the statistics.

We traveled approximately 4000 miles.

We bought 15 tanks of gasoline for two different cars.

On our return trip we carried approximately 1000 lbs of food and equipment in our truck including:

6 gal of motor oil
75 ft of anchor chain
5 ea 70 lb batteries
25 lbs of cous cous
25 lbs of granola
32 cans of Albacore tuna
8 swimming noodles
10 splash bombs
50 lbs of cat litter

We started and finished in San Carlos, Sonora, MX and made stops at the following cities:

Tijuana, BC, MX
San Diego, CA
Long Beach, CA
Redwood City, CA
Weed, CA
Grant's Pass, OR
Milwaukie, OR
Vancouver, WA
Seattle, WA
Winslow, WA
Pendleton, OR
Bend, OR
Fremont, CA
Redwood City, CA (return trip)
Tracy, CA
Oxnard, CA
Tucson, AZ
Nogales, AZ

We slept in one bus, one boat, three campgrounds, one hotel, seven houses, one apartment, and one motel:

Mexican Bus 1 night - August 5
Patti's house 1 night - August 6
Sharon's boat 1 night - August 7
Oregon campground 1 night - August 8
Washington campground 1 night - August 9
Seattle hotel 3 nights - August 10,11,12
Linda B.'s apartment 1 night - August 13
Lucks' beach house 1 night - August 14
Leslie and Tom's house 4 nights - August 15,16,17,18
Oregon campground 1 night - August 19
Frank and Lynn's house 4 nights - August 20,21,22,23
Eliza's house 4 nights - August 24,25,26,27
Patrick and Gina's house 1 night - August 28
Len and Norma's house 2 nights - August 29,30
Tucson motel 1 night - August 31

Thanks to all our family and friends for their kindness and generosity during our mega visit to the wonderful West Coast - we couldn't have done it without you!

John and Linda

Back in Baja

8:00 AM September 9, 2005
28 degrees 45' N, 113 degrees 02' W
Underway from Bahia San Francisquito to Isla Partida (Norte)

We moved out of Marina Real on September 5 as planned, after unloading and stowing everything from the truck, and buying more provisions to fill the larder. We used to list to starboard but now we really list to port because of the five batteries for SolMate stored on that side. After wrapping up all the final arrangements for storing the truck, and getting everything we needed before we left the big city, we departed the San Carlos area on September 7 for an anchorage 20 miles north (Las Cocinas). This gave us a better start position for the crossing to Baja.

John talked to Don Anderson, S/V Summer Pasage, (aka The Weather Guy) and got an all clear for no chubasco activity forecast for that night, so we were underway at 9:30 PM. It turned out to be a very monotonous motor trip with glassy seas all night and the next day. The only event to break the boredom was another 30" male dorado which John brought aboard at 11:00 on September 8. We didn't get any wind until we approached the anchorage at 1:00 PM, and then there was a good land breeze creating too much chop to swim in the cool water - 80 degrees!

Last night we didn't get much sleep when the boat started to roll sideways to the swell at around 11:30 PM. We got up at 3:00 AM to get underway for Isla Partida, where we're meeting SolMate and Milagro with their goodies from the States. It's been another long motor sail today and we're pretty tired after two nights of not much sleep. We're really looking forward to staying put in one place for several days after we get to Partida!

Linda and John

Hola from San Carlos

Well, we made it back to Mexico safe and sound and without having to pay any duty at the border. The only hiccup was the hour and a half it took us to get the Temporary Import Permit for the truck. It should have been simple, but we didn't have our passports, or our original birth certificates, and they didn't like the copies we presented. John finally stressed the fact that we already had our FM-3 visas, and he eventually got the TIP.

It was 95 degrees down in the cabin, but except for a fishy smell from the chain locker, all is well with the boat. We put some things away, but are saving most of it for what we hope will be a somewhat cooler morning.

Just a quick one to let everyone know where we are again!

Linda and John

Mosquitoes and Rain and Bears, oh my!

August 9, 2005
Seaquest Washington State Park, about 150 miles South of Seattle

We didn't have far to go from Portland to Seattle, but didn't want to arrive in Seattle before our motel check-in time, so we decided to find a camp ground somewhere in the middle. There were a couple of possibilities and we stopped at Seaquest first.

Seaquest, contrary to its name, is nowhere near the ocean. It's about 15 miles east of I-5, on the highway to Mount St. Helens. From the entry kiosk it looked like a nice park, so we headed into the camp ground to set up. On the way in we passed a bicyclist heading out of the tent camping area carrying all his camping gear. This should have been our first warning. We pulled into our camp site at around 4:30 PM and I started setting up while Linda wandered off to find the bathroom. When she got back she said there was a group of bicyclists leaving their camp site all complaining about the mosquitoes. Linda asked them, 'What time do the mosquitoes come out?' thinking that they would, as usual, come out at dusk. The cyclist replied, 'They're out now!' Of course I already knew that, because of the swarm buzzing around me as I set up the tent. Linda madly searched the camping gear for some bug repellant and found some years old industrial strength stuff which seemed to dissuade the little beasts even though I'm sure it was well past its expiration date.

Our first disaster averted we sat down (in the tent) to read and while away the evening hours. After a nice hot shower and a bite to eat we bedded down for a cozy nights sleep... which was interrupted at about 1:00 AM by the sound of some slobbery animal nosing around outside the tent. Linda was the first to awake, which was amazing because she can sleep through a gale on NAKIA, and promptly roused me with an urgent whisper, 'John, there's an animal outside the tent!' Being not too very awake, I listened carefully and found that whatever it was was either getting quieter or farther away. I sat for a few seconds and confirmed what I suspected - the animal gave us a slobbery sniff or two, decided we were not good to eat and moved on. I then told Linda to go back to sleep. She never follows my advice on these things so while I reacquainted myself with the inside of my eyelids she sat awake making sure the animal didn't change its mind about its dinner options.

The night went quietly by for another couple of hours until I was awakened by a loud splat somewhere near the tent. I sat up and waited and heard another, then another. It was raining, and I hadn't put the rain cover over the tent the night before. The only thing we had between our nice dry sleeping bags and the rain clouds was a layer of no-see-um netting. So I put my shoes on, not bothering with my pants, and hastily threw the rain cover over the tent while Linda slept soundly in her bag. I guess I should have made some bear noises if I wanted to get her attention.

John and Linda

Moving North

August 8, 2005
Vally of the Rogue Oregon State Park
About 250 miles South of Portland

We started our long trip North from San Diego on Saturday afternoon. We didn't have far to go the first day, just to Long Beach to spend the night with Linda's friend Patti. We got to see the results of the extensive renovation done on the house; when we were there many years ago it was just getting started.

We left Patti's house early the next morning (Sunday) and enjoyed a very quick trip into the Bay Area, only 6.5 hours drive from Long Beach. We were amazed that we didn't have any heavy traffic in the LA area or in the Bay Area. We spent the night on Mrs. Robinson (that's a boat, not a person) after having dinner with friends at our favorite U.S. taqueria, La Azteca in Redwood City.

Monday morning found us in line at the DMV before it opened. We want to get our truck back on the road and before we would be able to do that we had to get it registered. When we left it at my sister's house we submitted a certificate of non-opperation. This allowed us to keep from registering it, or so we thought. After standing in line at the DMV we were informed that since we only had it in non-op for 11 months, we had to pay regististration on the 11 months. So we didn't save anything. That's the DMV for you.

After the DMV we made a trip to the Post Office to turn in applications for new passports. That only took a short time so we were on the road to OR before 9:30. Once again we didn't have any traffic to speak of and made it all the way to the Rogue River before we stopped for the night. On the way we couldn't resist stopping for hamburgers at the Weed bowling alley, the best burgers, fries and shakes in Northern California. The camp site at Valley of the Rogue was quiet and clean and there were hardly any mosquitoes in the evening, perfect for a couple of out of practice campers.

The next day we got going bright and early to get to the Portland area to pick up the truck from my sister's house. This we did and then headed to the airport to drop off the rental car. This seemingly simple activity was complicated by having to FIND the rental car office. Which, after driving around the airport, we found is not located at the airport and instead is located in a hotel complex some 3 miles east. We almost had to pay for an extra day because of traffic getting to the return counter.

We made it though and then returned to Milwaulkie to go to Bob's Red Mill for food for the boat. We like a lot of stuff at Bob's Red Mill, especially the Cous Cous and Granola. So, we bought 25 lb bags of both. That may seem like a lot of Cous Cous and Granola (no, we don't mix them together) but we're going to be away from this kind of thing for at least another year so we need to get stocked up.

Our final erand in the Portland area was to investigate puting a cover over the bed of the truck. We'd been thinking about this for awhile and when we noticed a place along the highway that sold pickup tops we decided to stop in and take a look. We were met by a very nice salesman who, after listening to what we wanted, told me it would be about $800 USD to put a shell over the bed of my truck. Now, since the truck itself isn't worth more than $2000 USD, I didn't want to put that much into it. After informing the nice salesman, he remembered a used shell they had in the back - price: $250. Much better. Of course we wouldn't have our choice of color or model, but we could at least take a look and see if we could live with it. Well, it turns out that the used shell matches the paint on the truck pretty close, and is 'high rise' just like I wanted in the first place. Also, it came off an older model Toyota pickup truck. Perfect! So after $20 to have it installed, $20 for a new lock and $20 for a tip to the nice salesman we drove out with a $310 top for our truck. Now we can lock things in the bed and not worry about them getting wet or dirty or stolen.

Off we went with our 'new truck' to find a camp site somewhere between Portland and Seattle...

John and Linda

New Pics!

Hi Everyone,
We haven't posted any pics in a while, mostly because it takes real internet access to do and we haven't had that in months. So here are a few pictures from our recent advenctures.

John and Linda

Back in the USA, here's our campsite in Rogue River on our way north.

The Dorado we caught coming across the Sea of Cortez to San Carlos

Here is a pic of Santa Rosalia in the morning, it looks so peaceful doesn't it?

Here's a picture of Linda and her buddy Rocky at the 'noodle party'. A noodle party is where we all sit around on noodles or other pool toys in the water on hot afternoons.

Here is NAKIA decked out for 4th of July at Burro Bay. Unfortunately you can't see all the flags very well because the sun awning is in the way, but there's no way we were going to take the sun awning down on a 96 degree day!

Here is NAKIA and SOL MATE at anchor in Medano Blanco. Nice Beach!

These are blossoms on a large cactus. This picture is from La Ramada North of San Juanico.

Two 'bugs' we got at Isla Carmen, very tasty.

Linda and John at Rancho Viejo in La Paz, having dinner to say good-bye to Dave and Debbie and Jan and Rich.

West Coast Tour

August 9, 2005
Seaquest Washington State Park, Approx 80 nm S of Seattle (46o 25' N 122o 32' W)

We departed San Carlos/Guaymas late Friday afternoon (the 5th) and started our long driving adventure that will take us up and back down the entire west coast of the United States. Our journey began with the shuttle bus from Marina Real to San Carlos. Just as the shuttle was dropping us off at the bus stop a bus pulled up. We thought this was going to be a good omen (not having to wait for the bus) and boarded the rattle trap local bus for the 15 minute ride to Guaymas. On arrival in town we walked the three blocks to the main bus terminal (actually four separate bus companies located on the four corners of an intersection) and went in to inquire about tickets. We chose to take the TAP line, because the pictures of the busses at their ticket counter were fancier then the pictures at the other line's ticket counters. TAP is $10 more expensive than the other lines too, so we figured it had to be better. The only problem is that the TAP line only has three busses that go from Guaymas to Tijuana 6pm, 7pm and 9pm. All the other lines have busses that leave every hour. We were about two hours early for the 6pm bus and didn't mind waiting. Unfortunately the 6pm bus was sold out so we had to buy tickets for the 7pm bus. No problem, we sat back to wait... and wait... and wait... it would have been nice if the terminal were air conditioned, considering it was about 95 degrees and 80% humidity. Oh well, we had a great bus coming, we were sure. We watched 5 or 6 busses leave the other terminals with 'TIJUANA' showing in their destination board and decided that they were all inferior rides, our bus would be much better, if it would only arrive. 7:15 rolled around and the 6pm bus finally arrived. Great, were we going to have to wait until 8:15 for our 7pm bus? No, the ticket attendant assured me that our 7pm bus would arrive shortly and sure enough, it arrived 'right on time' at 7:45. The rest of the 14 hour ride to Tijuana was uneventful, except for having our passports checked by immigration. We're convinced the only reason Mexican's check gringo's papers is because Mexican's are always getting checked when they're in the US.

We arrived in Tijuana early Saturday morning, ready for our next battle with Aduana, otherwise known as Mexican Customs. We want to bring a few things back with us to the boat. We're bringing our truck back to store in Mexico so this is an opportunity to bring things that won't fit in a carry-on bag. We were advised by other cruisers to get a letter from the marina stating that these things were parts for a boat which was on a temporary import permit. Then we wouldn't have to pay duty. The letter, and a list of the items, would need to be stamped by Customs before we left Mexico to prove that we didn't have these things on departure (or some other similarly confusing reason). Then when we return with the things, we show Customs the stamped letter and list and no duty is paid. Wonderful, no? As they say, it sounds good on paper. The problem was that we couldn't find a single Customs official in Tijuana willing to stamp the letter and list. We tried. Very hard. We spent 2 hours and went to 4 different customs officials and no one would get out their stamp pad. Finally we decided to give up and try again when we return (I'll walk back into Mexico via Nogales the day before we drive in and try to get the stamp then, stay tuned for further developments).

Finally we continued our journey by waiting in line for 45 minutes to walk through the boarder crossing. This wasn't as bad as it could have been, the line was reported to be 90 minutes long that day and it was only because of our search for a Customs agent that we entered the line half way in from the back of the line. We boarded the North bound trolley to meet our friends Ron and Anita who agreed to give us a ride to the airport to pick up our rental car. Not before going to lunch at Point Loma Seafood though. We can't come through San Diego and pass that up! After lunch Anita and Ron drove us to the rental car office to pick up our next ride, a Pontiac Sunfire which we'd be driving to Portland, OR over the next few days.

To Be Continued...

John and Linda

Back to the 'Other Side'

July 28, 2005
San Carlos, Sonora, 27o 56' N 111o 03' W, About 250 mi S of Nogales AZ

We had a pretty good weather window to cross the Sea of Cortez Monday night so we got the boat ready and hauled anchor at 0100 Tuesday morning to make the 80 nm passage from Isla San Marcos to San Carlos. This was a lot earlier in the month than we wanted to be here but long term weather this time of year is highly unpredictable so we bit the bullet and made the jump.

The trip over was pretty un-eventful, we had light NW winds for most of the trip, motorsailing (that means running under power of the engine with the sails up to help as much as they can) all but an hour. I heard a couple of large whales cross our wake in the night and Linda saw some dolphin jump high out of the water in the morning but other than that we didn't see much in the way of wildlife. However, I trolled two lures and managed to catch a 31 in. Dorado (Mahi-Mahi) in the morning. This is the first Dorado we've caught since early December, last year. So far we've had three excellent meals from this one beauty and have about three more to go.

We arrived at 3pm Tuesday and dropped anchor in Bahia San Carlos which is one of the most protected natural harbors we've visited in Mexico. To date, only Puerto Escondido has better all around protection from the wind.

It's obvious to me that the mainland of Mexico gets the most money. Even though the prosperity and glitz of Baja towns like La Paz and Cabo San Lucas are impressive, the development in little bergs like San Carlos is even more so. There are expensive vacation homes all around the hills of Bahia San Carlos and Guaymas, an industrial port city 15 minutes by bus up the road from San Carlos, is easily as hustle-bustle as Mazatlan or Zihuatanejo.

We spent our first day here riding the bus out to Guaymas to find out about cross country bus service to Tijuana. It's even easier and cheaper then La Paz, $56 USD one way leaving every hour on the half hour. There are three bus lines offering about the same service so we should have no problem finding a seat for our trip back to the States.

A slip in a marina is not as simple though. There are slips available in Marina San Carlos; we're not sure how many, but they are first come, first serve so if someone takes the last slip before we do we'll have to go elsewhere. Not that we're anxious to leave the boat in Marina San Carlos, since it's $10.75 USD per foot per month. For NAKIA that's $430 USD for one month slip rental, $175 more then we paid in the states. This is the off season and most marinas offer discounts just to keep their slips full, not MSC apparently. Fortunately, there are also slips available at Marina Real, about 10 nm from Marina San Carlos, for $230 USD. If the facilities there are as secure (we've yet to take a look) we'll probably be leaving NAKIA there.

The weather took a turn for the worse since we've been here. Though the temps are not as high as on the Baja, the humidity is much higher. And because of the mountains to the east, we get huge lightning storms developing every afternoon. These storms are pretty incredible, size wise, and after they spend all afternoon getting higher and bigger they slowly start making their way down the mountains and out into the Sea of Cortez bringing lightning, high winds and rain with them. The really bad part is the wind and lightning don't really get cranked up until after midnight so it's not until you're trying to get a good nights sleep that the boat starts to bounce around w/ gusts over 30 kts and lightning going faster then flash bulbs at a New York fashion show. I had to sleep with a pillow over my eyes last night just to keep from getting woke up. Of course Linda is oblivious to it all and sleeps right through without even so much as turning over.

Oh well, we only have a week to put up with this stuff and then we can get on our bus to the States.

John and Linda

Electricity

July 24, 2005
Isla San Marcos, 27o 14' N 112o 07' W (10 mi SE of Santa Rosalia)

We moved back to Isla San Marcos the other day to get away from the muck and expense of Santa Rosalia. The town is very nice but the harbor is really dirty. Every night at sunset about 100 pangas leave to go squid fishing. They return between 10pm and 2am, offload their catch, and then proceed to clean their boats in the harbor, washing all the squid ink and other assorted muck into the waters of the harbor. Both nights we were there I woke up thinking 'what is that SMELL!'

There's not much going on at Isla San Marcos; we're really here to stage for our crossing to San Carlos which we think we'll try in the next few days. They weather was a little strange yesterday and the day before. We had constant overcast, high temps in the low 80s, and night before last it rained pretty hard for about three hours. The boat feels nice and clean after not being washed for weeks.

A friend recently sent us email asking how we manage to keep up with the increased battery load due to the hot weather. The short answer is we use a 1000 watt Honda generator to run the battery charger. On average, we have to do this about 3 hours every other day. We could run the generator every day but it's a little noisy and it seems like we get charge faster if we let the batteries get down to about 30% discharge before we run it.

Now for the long answer, you can skip this if you don't want a lot of boat related details. Our battery bank is four each six volt golf cart batteries, lead acid. This gives us about 440 amp hours of capacity, but I program the battery monitor with 400 just to make sure we have a little reserve. We have a Cruising Equipment battery monitor which tells us how much battery capacity we have left in percent (it will also tell us how many amp hours we've used but I like the percent meter better). We have three ways of charging the batteries: 1) a 30 amp IOTA battery charger, 2) a 90 amp Balmar alternator, and 3) two 55 watt solar panels (110 watts).

A couple of comments on the charging facilities. First I wish I had a bigger battery charger. I installed the 30 amp thinking we'd only use it when tied to a dock so it didn't need to be very big. That was before we bought the generator. Now I'd have a 55 amp battery charger if I was sure the 1000 watt Honda would run it. Second, I wish I had room for more solar panels. I think if I had about 150 watts more I could just about keep up with our load. If I had 250 watts more I know I could keep up, the thing is there just isn't room on NAKIA for 16 sq ft of solar panels (4 ft x 4 ft). On the other hand, I've only seen one boat in the Sea of Cortez that I thought had enough solar power. It was a power boat with a big back deck covered by a bimini. The entire area above the bimini was solar panels, I figure about 1000 watts.

We don't have a wind generator, and I don't think I would want one. Most of the ones we've seen (heard) are pretty noisy. Others are quieter, but don't seem to put out as much. I'm not sure I could live with the noise unless it put out 10 amps and even then I'd probably shut it down at night to sleep.

We don't have a water maker (more on that later) so our biggest draw is our refrigerator. It's an Adler Barbour Super Cold Machine, it draws about six amps and though it has an option for water cooling I've yet to install it. This is the 'next big thing.' We have a pretty small fridge, enough to hold 4 liters of water, some beer, a couple heads of cabbage, four or five cucumbers, condiments, cheese, tomatoes, and avocados. We also have a small freezer which will hold two ice trays (yes we make ice) and about four pounds of meat. The fridge is cooled by a spill over fan from the freezer. Several years ago, when we first got the boat, I re-insulated the box with six inches of extruded polystyrene (Dow blue board) against the hull and four inches on the sides and top. I did this because I found that the existing insulation was soaked through with water that leaked in from the drain in the bottom of the fridge. The re-insulated box does not have a drain. All that seems pretty good, but in fact worse then the amount of cold lost through the insulation is the cold lost when you open the box to get something out. If I had the chance, I'd put a small water tank (2-3 liters) in the fridge and plumb it into the pressure water system. That way we could have a cold drink w/o opening the box.

Like I said, we don't have a water maker. This was an 'experiment' on our part, to see if we can live without one before we commit to the bucks, and we're still not sure if we want one. It would be nice to have the extra capacity that a water maker enables, but we're not sure it's worth the expense and maintenance hassles. As it is we can go about four weeks on our tanks (105 gal in the boats tanks and 25 gal in plastic jugs). That's about 4.5 gal per day (2.25 per person per day). We don't do laundry on NAKIA but out of that 4.5 gal per day we get a daily shower (bathe in the sea and then rinse with fresh water), wash dishes, and all the water we can drink. We get water when it's available, either at a dock or from water purification plants. Every town has a purification plant and you can usually have a truck deliver water to the shore where it's a short carry to your dinghy. Cost for this water is anywhere from $.80 to $2 per five gallon jug. We have five jugs which we bought on the mainland, actually we just paid the deposit on them, for $4 each. We give the water truck driver our empties and he gives us full jugs. $2 for five gallons might seem like a lot, but if you consider that a water maker can easily cost $5000, we can buy 12500 gallons of water @ $2/5 gal before we pay for a water maker. I read an article recently in which the author said he's run his 180 gal/day water maker for 1500 hours over the last four years(approx 12000 gal). His water maker still hasn't covered the original purchase price, not to mention new filters and repairs. All that said, we may still install a water maker, there's nothing like knowing for sure where your next five gallons of water is coming from.

I hope that covers some questions on cruising. Let us know if you have more, and we'll try to post answers.

John and Linda

The best meal in Santa Rosalia

July 21, 2005
Santa Rosalia, 27o 20' N 112o 15' W

There are a lot of great restaurants in Santa Rosalia. Many, you could say most, provide their diners with the luxury of air conditioning. The best meal to be had in Santa Rosalia, however, is not held within the confines of a cooled building.

You'd think that cruisers, who've spent most of their time in humid 90 degree weather, would rather lounge with a cold beer while waiting patiently for their meal in a room cooled to a civilized 75 degrees. But no, the first place anyone heads for in Santa Rosalia is at the busy street corner of Avenida Obregon and Pedro Altamirano. Sitting catty corner from the church designed by Eiffel, who also designed a tower in Paris, is a white cart which supplies road side diners with that most Mexican of foods, Salchichas (Hot Dogs).

Now I can hear you thinking, Hot Dogs are not Mexican. Well they are when they're cooked like Chuyita cooks them. Allow me to describe the process. First take 2 pounds of bacon trimmings, and fry them until all the fat is rendered. Remove the cooked bacon bits and set them aside. Now take your Hot Dog and spiral wrap it with a slice of bacon and deep fry it in the rendered bacon fat for a minute or two. Place the Hot Dog in a firm bun (not the fluffy nothing buns we use in the US) and add onions, tomatoes, squirts of ketchup, mayo, and a yellow cheese product (can you say secret sauce), and top it with the bacon bits fried in the first step. Total cost, about $1.30 - cheap, eat three. If you're lucky, Chuyita will even give you a free bumper sticker.

We were only in Santa Rosalia for two nights, and the second night we really did want to be civilized and eat in the comfort of air conditioning, but before we left we bought five Hot Dogs to take back to Isla San Marcos with us. They weren't for us though, they were for Earl and Maria off Dos Brisas who, having left Santa Rosalia a few days before, were experiencing Hot Dog withdrawals. Hopefully one of our friends will bring some Dogs out to us before long.

John and Linda

Cephalopod Sport Fishing

July 17, 2005
Isla San Marcos, 27o 14' N 112o 07' W (10 mi SE of Santa Rosalia)

The other night Lance on Milagro suggested we do a little night fishing for one of the Baja's most prolific species - squid. All that's needed is a hook and a bit of glow-in-the-dark plastic. Lures are sold specifically for squid fishing and they look like an elongated plastic egg made out of glow-in-the-dark plastic with a 'basket of spikes' at the bottom. Of course I don't have one of these purpose-built lures, but I do have a bottom jig that has glow-in-the-dark paint on it, and I figured that would be good enough.

We weren't going to be the only boat on the water though; we'd be joining some 100 or so Mexican fishing boats that fish the same area for squid nearly every night. They are based out of Santa Rosalia and every evening around 5pm they leave to go fishing. They return around 11 or 12, usually with 1000 lbs of squid 'fillets.'

We began our outing just before sunset. I've been told that it's not completely necessary to fish at night, squid can be caught during the day, but that fishing at night is cooler so that's when the Mexican fisherman do it. Anyway we set out, four of us (Stan from SolMate, Lance from Milagro, Earl from Dos Brisas and me) and got set in our fishing spot after about five minutes. We used a flashlight to 'charge' the glow-in-the-dark lures and then dropped them down to the bottom. The water is pretty deep, probably 200 ft, so it takes a long time to get to the bottom. The good thing is that you usually don't have to wait that long before a squid takes your lure. The 'strike' isn't much at all. The lure will be dropping and then all of a sudden it will stop, almost like hitting the bottom, except that when you try to bring the lure back up a little you find out that you're hooked up to something big.

I'm sure a lot of you are thinking, 'How hard can it be to catch squid; I've had calamari rings and they aren't that big,' well these are not those kind of squid. These are much bigger - up to six feet! I had the lightest rig, 7' pole with 20 lb test line, and a lot of times they would take line in long runs. The biggest one I caught was about four feet long and I had to bring it up to the boat three times before I could release it. The first two times I got it up to the boat and it took off on another run.

Another thing about squid fishing is what to wear. A bathing suit is best, and nothing else. Squid, you see, have two methods of propulsion. First they have large triangular 'fins' that they flap in the water to move about gently. Then they have the 'warp drive' which is part of their breathing system. It's comprised of the mantle and a jet nozzle. To breathe they draw water in through the mantle and over their gills, then they expel it through the jet nozzle. The expulsion part they can do with amazing force and, if they happen to be close to the surface when they do it, and pointed towards the boat, someone is going to get wet! It's like a mini fountain going off right in front of you. Of course it doesn't take long to figure out how to 'steer' them so that when they're next to the boat it's your boat partner that gets soaked, not you. This is the second thing that makes squid fishing difficult, just try to reel in a three foot squid while getting shot in the face with a geyser of salt water and laughing hysterically.

The next challenge is releasing the squid. Since a small one is plenty for two meal's worth of calamari steaks, you do a lot of catch and release. The catching part is easier then any other fish in the sea, but it's the releasing part that can be a little unnerving. Unlike fish, where all you have to worry about is keeping them immobile while you remove the hook, the buisness end of a squid comes equipped with 10 arms covered by suction cups. The hook will be on one or more of these arms and to release it you have to get pretty close. As soon as you do the squid takes the other eight or nine arms and tries to grab a hold of you. Having dozens of little suction cups grab onto your skin is pretty creepy, let me tell you. Also in the middle of the arms is the squid's mouth which has a beak much like a parrot, and just about as powerful. Get too close to that and you can lose a finger.

Anyway, we each caught a squid for dinner and had our fun catching, squirting, and releasing and got back about midnight with a lot of good memories.

You might think that's the end of the squid fishing tale, but no. The next evening, just before sunset, Linda was about ready to take a swim and wash up (we bath in the sea using salt water soap, then rinse in fresh water) when she noticed several large fish swimming around under the boat. She wasn't quite ready to jump in, so I got my pole out and dropped the lure in the water, just for fun. I hadn't removed the lure I used for squid, but when I'm just playing around I don't usually care too much what's tied on the line. Sure enough after about five seconds I hooked one of what ever it was, and boy it was big! I carefully steered it away from the boat and then jumped into the dinghy to finish pulling it in. As soon as I got it up to the boat I recognized the fountain. I'd hooked a two foot squid in 20 feet of water. Not only that but there were three more swimming around the one I'd hooked, all of them 'flashing' from red to white and back once every second or so. They change the color of their skin so fast it's amazing! Of course this put an end to Linda's plans for a bath at dusk, forever! Who wants to get in the water with the possibility of some hungry squid mistaking your foot for a fish?

I had Linda untie the dinghy from NAKIA so I could release the squid without worrying about getting hung up on the anchor chain or rudder. I ended up getting a little ride around the anchorage as the squid pulled the dinghy about a quarter of a mile before I could let it go, and getting soaked by multiple jets of salt water before I could get the hook out. So much for my last pair of nice clean shorts.

John

Cruising Highs and Lows

July 11, 2005
Isla San Marcos

Well, just when you think you're ready to throw in the towel on the cruising life, nature throws you something amazing to remind you why you're out here living the simple life instead of sitting in a cubicle making tons of money.

I'd been having a "poor me" day on Saturday - just tired of everything on the boat being salty and sticky, and of constantly feeling like I'm stewing in my own juices. I'm not the kind of gal who enjoys the "glow" of perspiration, and boy have we been dripping sweat this past month. We now seek out a spot in an anchorage that will get us close enough to a hill to block the sun (preferably setting, but even rising is a bonus if it gives us an extra hour of shade). And even though we shower as late as possible in the day, it's usually a challenge to stay clean and dry for more than about 30 minutes. I have to admit that this sometimes makes me want to scream.

So yesterday morning I was fantasizing about our upcoming trip back to the land of: limitless fresh water flowing from pressurized faucets (you try living on 2.5 gallons of water per person, per day, every day, for the unforeseeable future); push-button, fresh water, flush toilets; air-conditioning (fans are nice, but not so helpful when they're blowing hot air around); electricity you don't have to monitor daily and make yourself when it gets low; big refrigerators full of ice and cold drinks; and big grocery stores where what you purchase doesn't have to be inspected for roaches, weevils, or their eggs before you bring it into your home.

Anyway, I was sitting out on deck enjoying my pre-dawn coffee, trying not to sweat as I drank it, when I saw what looked like a few dolphins in the distance. But then I heard and saw a blow that would be more typical of a whale. I got the binoculars out and confirmed that they were not dolphins but some kind of small whale. John thought he noticed one that seemed headed in our direction, but he was in the middle of listening to the morning radio net and went back below. It didn't take long before all 4-6 of the creatures were in the anchorage right next to the boats. It was still early and I didn't want to yell, so it took three tries, ending in, "Get up here now!", to get John back on deck to see one just as it swam under the surface past Nakia's starboard side. I couldn't believe it at first because they seemed so small (and there was no male with a telltale tall dorsal fin) but John correctly identified them as Orca whales. I so closely identify these with the colder waters of the Pacific Northwest that I was astonished to see them here.

It didn't take long for us to realize that the whales were working as a group to get their breakfast buffet of manta rays herded to the table. While I regret seeing any beautiful creature become a meal, it was hard not to admire the organized lunging and tail slapping of this small pod of whales. I let John have the close up view with the binoculars while I stayed a bit more removed with the big picture. The whales moved through the anchorage between the boats and shore, probably pinning the school of rays in the shallower waters to prevent their escape. This went on for a good 20 minutes before the Orcas had eaten their fill and quietly moved out to deeper water. We noticed a large school of manta rays which still swam intact at the opposite end of the anchorage and half expected the Orcas to return for them, but they didn't appear to be interested.

John and I then joined Stan and MJ from SolMate on a dinghy expedition around the point for a few hours. We did some shelling, explored the rock caves, and snorkeled before returning to the anchorage where Earl and Maria from Dos Brisas were out rowing in their dinghy trying to shoot pictures of jumping manta rays. It was a huge school (easily over 100 animals) and you could see their dark underwater shadow and ripples on the surface as they swam back and forth against the shore. After politely waiting for SolMate and Dos Brisas to get their close up views of the rays leaping out of the water, John and I asked if anyone would mind if we snorkeled with them. We made one last check for Orcas before sliding into the water and slowly swimming towards the rays. Water visibility was low so it was tough to tell exactly when you were at the edge of the school and I caught them headed straight towards me the first time. What a thrill to have them swimming underneath me and parting around me to pass! We each got a few good views before deciding to leave them in peace and returning to the anchored dinghy.

So - the question is does seeing Orcas in the morning and swimming with manta rays in the afternoon make all my personal discomfort worth it? Well, maybe not 100%, but it's sure a great reminder of why we're out here in the first place!

Linda

Hot Fourth

July 9, 2005
Isla San Marcos (23o 13' N 112o 07' W, about 10 mi SE of Santa Rosalia)

We stayed at Los Pilares for two nights. It would have been very nice except for the bees. The are the most difficult insect pests to deal with. They come to the boat looking for fresh water and investigate every little nook and cranny they can get their little bodies into. If they find any water, they go back to the hive and bring back a couple hundred of their buddies. SolMate left some water filters soaking in the cockpit to find a swam of 100 or so buzzing around the boat. They aren't that dangerous, like they say if you leave them alone they'll leave you alone, but the sound of 100 bees buzzing around your head is a little too much to take. The beach at Los Pilares, though not very inviting for sitting on, had very good shelling. We spent many hours looking for new kinds and trying to identify them. One afternoon we dinghied a couple miles back down the coast to the manganese mines. There are many abandoned buildings and a huge open pit which would have been fun to hike around, but unfortunately it was too rough to land. Maybe next time we can hike into the mines from the anchorage.

After two nights at Los Pilares we moved up the coast with the plan of going to Pta Santo Domingo (just inside Bahia Concepcion). When we got to Pta SD we found about a two foot wind chop running out of the bay so we decided to stop at Pta Aguja instead. It was nice, we were by ourselves, but the wind came up in the afternoon making it a little uncomfortable.

After one day at Pta Aguja we went over to Pta SD and picked up Stan and MJ from SolMate for a day trip to Mulege for provisions. We dropped anchor off the river mouth and dinghied in since the entrance is too shallow to get NAKIA through, and then left the dinghies at the beach near the mouth of the river. We chatted with a bus driver who was leaving a load of divers at the docks and then started the long walk into town. About the time we were wishing there was a taxi around a big bus drove up behind us and threw open the door. It was our friend from the beach there to save us. He gave us a ride into town where we immediately headed for the grocery stores. One other stop we needed to make was for water. NAKIA doesn't have a water maker, unlike 90% of the other boats in Mexico, so I'm constantly worrying about where and how to get pure water for her tanks. The good thing is that people in towns also worry about where/how to get pure water. As a result just about every town has one or two reverse osmosis water plants where city water is purified and bottled in five gallon jugs. They charge about $1 per jug and will deliver it by truck almost anywhere you ask. So, after walking around for 5-10 minutes, we found the local reverse osmosis water plant and I talked to the attendant to arrange for a truck to bring water to the dinghy down at the beach in two hours.

We took a taxi back to the beach and took all our groceries back to NAKIA then loaded the empty water jugs into the dinghy to exchange for fresh ones from the water truck. The truck was 20 minutes late, right on time for Mexico, and we loaded 25 gallons of pure fresh water into the dinghy for the trip back to NAKIA.

After spending the night at Pta Santo Domingo we moved into the oven of Bahia Conception and Burro Bay. The water temp there was 86o F and it got up to 97o F in the cabin the first day. Linda was still able to sleep in the pullman berth with two fans running, but I had to sleep on deck. This was the first time I'd had to get out of the cabin to sleep, but it was just too stuffy below for me. The next day was The Fourth, we're not sure how hot it got, since we were busy on shore with at the big party. There was a big picnic with potluck sides and free hot dogs and chili provided by Gary (a guy who's been living in his shack on the beach for 10 years), and ice cold beer served for $1 a bottle. We both played water volley ball, though Linda had a tough time with the loosey goosey "rules" (whoever had the ball started it over the net, you didn't have to serve it, and you could actually catch it with both hands to throw it back over to the other side). The fireworks were a little disappointing - a bunch of expired flares - but we'd done what we went to do and that was have a party with all our cruising friends.

On the 5th we moved to Santispac to go out to dinner for Stan's birthday. The high that day was 102o F in the cabin, but that wasn't the worst part. When it was 102o it was pretty dry, so even though it was hot it was quite bearable. Then the wind shifted and the temp dropped to 96 but the humidity went way up, and we were all wishing for the dry 102o F back. We went out to dinner at Ray's, the fanciest local restaurant (www.rayshaciendainn.com.mx), and we very pleased by the quality of the food and the presentation. Seafood entrees (including salad and vegetable) were 110 pesos, margaritas - 40, limonada - 25, and kahlua rice pudding - 35. I had calamari steak and Linda had scallops breaded in panko crumbs; both were excellent and, except for wiping the sweat from our brows during the meal, this rates as one of our best meals in Mexico.

Early the next morning (the 6th) we set sail back to Pta Santo Domingo where we were the only boat in the anchorage. Everyone else was still in Santispac. We found the water temp had gone up a little while we were in Bahia Concepcion and the temp was a little warmer, but it never got much above 93 so we were a lot happier. We spent the days walking on the beach looking for shells, scrubbing the bottom of the dinghy, and snorkeling out around the point. The high point of the snorkeling trips was sighting about a dozen large (up to 3 ft) rooster fish swimming around the reef. Of course we only got the anchorage to ourselves for one night as the rest of the Fourth of July party came out of Bahia Concepcion the next day. But we had fun for awhile.

After two nights at Pta SD we set sail for points north, hopefully cooler, and dropped anchor at Isla San Marcos (about 10 mi South East of Santa Rosalia). The trip was uneventful and we arrived to find 80o water and 88o air. I don't think it's been over 90o since we've got here, much better. There are really cool caves to explore right around the corner, so we're looking forward to spending some quality time here, before we get set to go back to the states for Linda's 30th(!) high school reunion on August 13.

All for now,

John and Linda

Outside The Box

June 30, 2005
Ensenada las Pilars
One mile SE of Punta Concepcion

Blue Moon did not leave La Ramada after all so we decided to move on instead. On June 26 we rounded Punta Pulpito and exited "the box" of tropical storm area delineated by our insurer. (There was no official ceremony, or even a sigh of relief since there are no guarantees that a hurricane couldn't still come North of the box and paste us.) We motored past a few boats anchored in San Antonio, and ducked into San Sebastian to check it out. There's a small community of gringo type vacation homes at the head of a cove surrounded by reef. Looked nice but the water was opaque and our hook didn't set on the first try in the rocky bottom so we decided to join Stan and MJ on SolMate at Punta El Medano Blanca instead. This is a nice 2-3 boat anchorage with a white sand beach and snorkeling reef.

We went snorkeling a few times during our stay there, and saw some baby Sergeant Majors on the reef. They're about the size of a dime to a quarter - very cute. Stan mentioned that he'd seen some even smaller ones by their boat, but I said we'd been seeing those regularly in Mexico and I thought they were something different because they aren't flat. They hang around our rudder right on the surface and I've been calling them bumblebee fish because they look like a miniature, bullet shaped, striped bee - fat and cute. Well, I swam back to the boat from the beach and took a closer look at the little guys by the boat (I'm swimming with snorkel and fins all the time now. Kind of cheating but I can exercise and see everything at the same time.). Sure enough they are so immature that they haven't grown into their adult looking phase yet. I wonder what they're doing so far away from the reef; most of the time they show up around the rudder almost as soon as we've dropped the anchor. I also saw an adult that was so blue that at first I thought it was another kind of fish. When the males are in their breeding phase they change from yellow and black stripes to blue starting at their head. So sometimes their front half is blue, with barely discernible dark stripes, and their back half is still yellow and black. Fun to see all the variations. I also saw my first live lobster after swimming over three molts. He was a big one down in a crack between big rocks (and yes, he was definitely moving). And I finally saw a turtle while snorkeling in Mexico. He didn't stick around long but it was exciting to finally see one under water here after seeing so many from the boat.

Although John has steadfastly maintained that we can do without a water maker, and therefore we are philosophically opposed to accepting water from other cruisers who have them, we crossed the line and let SolMate give us 35 gallons the other day. Stan said he had to run his generator anyway and that it's better to use the water maker on a regular basis, so we let him talk us into it. Of course Stan is also a representative for Spectra water makers so he may just be angling for a sale. :-)

Yesterday we went for our first hike in ages. We got a nice early morning start to beat the heat, skipping our morning coffee and the radio nets. It's an easy couple of miles on an actual path out to the non-functioning light on the point, so John decided to up the ante by climbing a steep ridge halfway there "to get some cardio." I followed him for a few minutes until I realized that it was going to be much more difficult coming down on the loose shale than it was going up. So I told him I was going back down and out towards the light. (There was a trail! It isn't often we have a nice trail to walk on, so it was kind of a no-brainer to me...) I walked on by myself and when John finally caught up to me he announced that he'd fallen coming down and hopefully his ankle was only badly sprained and not fractured. He still maintains that it's more fun to risk pain and suffering in the pursuit of adventure than it is to travel the well worn path, but I wish sometimes he'd stick to the darn path.

The wind picked up in a major way after we got back to the boat, and our conversations later in the afternoon with SolMate (who'd moved on that morning) and Dos Brisas (in a similar cove north of us) made us start to think that it was time to leave. We had a nice downwind sail, made even nicer by the fact that we were in the shade of our wing and wing sails until the wind died during the last hour of the trip. We arrived about an hour before sunset and worked up such a sweat getting things put away/set up that we had to cool off with a swim. It's so humid here that right after sunset dew started forming on the decks. Then a breeze came off the land and dried everything off. Then the wind shifted and we had dew again. And this was all in the space of about 20 minutes. Today it's still moist, but at least there's a stiff breeze blowing to keep us cool. Tomorrow we will probably move to Santo Domingo at the entrance to Bahia Concepcion.

John has been busy with sewing projects lately. He made a bug screen for our main hatch and a new version of a wind scoop for our forward hatch. We have a commercial tall wind scoop but it casts a shadow on our solar panel which we mount on our staysail boom when we're at anchor. So he's made a low profile one now, and the only suggestion I have for people making their own is not to use spinnaker cloth. It's a little noisy, but John assures me the crackly crunch will wear out of it soon.

The ankle seems to be healing, the toe is getting better, and the bee sting is only the size of a golf ball (did I forget to mention the bee sting?). As John says, he's only a mess from the right knee down!

Linda

John's Fishing Report:
I spent one evening trolling around the reefs hoping to catch a nice trigger fish or a cabrilla and had a little bit of excitement. When doing this kind of trolling, I zig-zag into and away from shore and I started noticing that I was getting strikes on the off shore runs so I changed my route to just the offshore area (maybe 200 yards offshore). I kept getting these large pulling strikes but not hooking up. The rod would bend, the drag would run off, I'd stop the outboard and start to reel in only to find nothing attached. Finally I got what felt like a solid hook up, and whatever it was didn't fight very hard, though it pulled in short strong bursts and obviously weighed a lot. It didn't take long to get it up to the boat where, in the failing light, I STILL couldn't figure out what it was. Finally within 5 ft of the boat I pulled it out of the water and found a 2 ft squid firmly attached to the lure. I netted it and took it back to show Stan and MJ on SolMate and Linda, before figuring out how to let it go. They are supposed to be good to eat but the cleaning process is long and involves soaking overnight in milk to get rid of the salty taste, definitely not worth it. In the end I had to cut part of one of its tentacles off to set it free, but that's ok cause it will grow back, I think.

John

More from Ensenada Puerto Almeja

June 25, 2005
Ensenada Puerto Almeja (aka La Ramada), 26o 23' N 111o 27' W
About 40 miles south of Mulege

After three days of blasting wind all day the wind finally quit, of course now it's a LOT hotter, 88o F during the day and cooling off to 80 by bed time. The bad thing is, at about 3am a westerly wind comes up that's just as hot as the sun beating down on the deck. Last night it was 87o F at 0400. Makes it hard to sleep even without clothes or covers...

Ray and Jayne from Adios and Alan from Blue Moon taught us about 'Chocolates' yesterday. Chocolates (prounounced "cho ko lah' tays") are brown clams that live in 10-20 ft of water. They're easy to find by the tubes they use to breathe and feed through. They show on the bottom as two small white tubes at the bottom of a 1/2" indentation in the sand. To gather them you look for the two holes from the surface and once you sight them you swim down (it helps if you do it at low tide, that way the water's shallower) and dig them out of the sand. I even designed and built a special shovel made out of a piece of 2 inch ABS plastic pipe. An hours worth of diving and we had more than enough for dinner. We cooked them over an open fire on the beach at sunset with nothing more then a bit of tobasco sauce to garnish them. Very tasty.

We also did a little snorkeling, even though the water has been very opaque (making the visibility bad - maybe 10 ft), and I saw what I think was a Jeweled Moray Eel.

The fishing hasn't been that great and the worst possible thing I can imaging happening happened the other night. I was trolling out around some rocks and getting a lot of needle fish strikes (needle fish have very bony mouths so they rarely get hooked) when I got a big strike and pulled hard to set the hook. That's when the line parted and I lost my best (read most productive) lure. Bummer! Lures like it are simply not available in Mexico, so now I have to find my 'next best lure'.

Adios left this morning, leaving only Blue Moon and us in Ensenada Puerto Almeja. Alan says he's taking off tomorrow, which may give us the chance to have an anchorage to ourselves for once. Hopefully no one will come in tomorrow to spoil our skinny dipping plans.

John and Linda

More Life in Paradise

June 21, 2005
Ensenada Puerto Almeja (aka La Ramada)
About 40 miles south of Mulege

Last night during my usual getting ready for bed routine I noticed that the head (toilet) didn't seem to be acting like its normal self. John tried banging on some hoses and things which has helped get past the blockage before, but no luck. So we were up until 2 AM to get the job done right this time. Because of the nature of the problem it's usually best to do this when you're the only boat in the anchorage or in the dead of night. People don't really appreciate having sewage dumped into their swimming pool, even when it's a very large swimming pool. There wasn't a lot of it, but one of my jobs was to bucket brigade the stuff draining from the disconnected holding tank hose. So imagine me having to walk from the head (all the way up in the bow of the boat) past a big bucket of anchor rode, over tool boxes, up the companionway steps and out to the side of the boat where I could dump the contents over the side. The worst moment was when I inadvertently bumped the lifeline and splashed a few drops up into my face. Gross!

This morning John's doing some clean up since he had to empty out the space he was working in. He also helped the other boat anchored here fix a problem with their solar panels, which turned out to be a broken wire. I wiped down the fiberglass on the side of the boat which was still in the morning shade, wiped down the rusty salt water splash marks from our anchor chain in the chain locker, and lugged two five gallon water jugs from the bow of the boat to the stern to siphon them into the main water tank. I did all this before 10 AM and was sweating bullets the whole time. Yesterday morning it was 77.7 degrees at 7 AM, and the main problem is that the humidity has been high. Makes it kind of tough to enjoy that morning cup of coffee.

Yesterday we moved to this smaller anchorage (only a couple of miles from San Juanico) with our neighbor, Adios. We were actually the first boat here for a change and got to pick our spot. Is still breezy most of the day but not nearly as bad as the previous place. I swam to the beach and John followed me in the dinghy (he still has to keep his foot dry while his injury heals). I walked up a road in nothing but my bathing suit and reef shoes, with a swim fin for a shade visor, while he collected wood on the beach. Kind of nerve wracking to walk a rough dirt road out into the desert half-naked by yourself, but that's how desperate I was for the exercise. Kept imagining what I would say if I ran into anyone. The usual, "Hola! Buenas tardes. Como esta?" didn't seem like it would really be enough in this case! I swam back to the boat (paranoid the whole time about running into a jelly fish, but I didn't) and we went for a short dinghy ride to explore the shoreline. I still love seeing the ospreys and spotting their huge nests. After dinner at sunset we took all our paper garbage to an existing rock fire ring on the beach and burned it. This helps cut down on the amount of garbage we have to keep on board until we get to a town where we can dispose of it. Was nice to have an almost full moon to enjoy while we were standing around our little bonfire.

We keep hearing on the Sonrisa HAM net that Bahia Concepcion is even hotter and more humid so we're still in no hurry to get up there for the Fourth of July.

John Here:
If all this playing with the toilet stuff sounds familiar, see 'Head Games' from August 21, 2005. I guess it just goes to show that there are some things that are really hard to keep working on a boat. Personally, disgusting as it is, I'd rather have to work on the toilet plumbing over and over than have repeated problems with the engine. At least the parts are cheap and if you have a total failure you can use a bucket as an emergency backup.

Linda and John

Happy Father's Day!

June 19, 2005
San Juanico, Baja California del Sur, 26o 21' N 111o 25' W
About 40 miles south of Mulege

Hope the Dads are enjoying all the things that fathers like best today - family, friends, and BBQs!

Unfortunately this has been one of those weeks where paradise hasn't quite lived up to its name, and we're going a little stir crazy. For me, it started after we left Puerto Escondido. We were shooting for Puerto de la Lancha on Isla Carmen so that John could hook up with Bob on Air Power to do some fishing, but the wind was not in our favor and when we started taking spray over our freshly washed fiberglass we bailed for Puerto Ballandra (also Isla Carmen) instead. This was a pretty, well protected cove with lots of bait fish and at least a dozen larger fish herding them around (you could see them making a wake right at the surface). But the water clarity was poor and we had a few mud wasps trying to build a nest underneath our anchor windlass so we decided we'd leave the next morning.

Got an early start for the motor trip around the corner to anchor with Air Power and Adios in La Lancha, where there is no sandy beach to gaze upon, there were many stinging jellyfish (string of pearls), there are no trespassing signs on shore, and the wind came up every afternoon. We stayed there for two nights and John did a lot of fishing with Bob. They came back the first day with a couple of good sized "bugs" (it isn't legal for us to take lobster so cruisers only take bugs). Maybe it was because it was the first time we've cooked them ourselves, but we weren't all that impressed. Dungeness are still our crustaceans of choice. The next morning they got up early and went out fishing for five hours, returning with a few tasty fine scale trigger fish for our dinner.

On we went to Isla Coronados trying to sail most of the way to conserve fuel. This was a very pretty and protected anchorage with a beautiful white sand beach, shade palapas, an outhouse, and a groomed trail as part of the park system under which these local islands fall. We swam from Nakia to shore and didn't have a problem with jellyfish. We read a sign stating there is a 20 peso/person/day park fee. The over 60 crowd is exempt from the fee, as are "residents," and there was a rumor that an FM-3 visa would qualify for the latter. But this didn't seem to work for another boat in the anchorage so don't count on it. It was nice to get some exercise and get off the boat for a little while, the first time for me since leaving Puerto Escondido.

By the time we swam back to the boat we had over twice as many bees as when we left. We think this may be because SolMate had tried putting water out for them up on the bow of their boat, the theory being that if they have a water source they won't bother the rest of the boat looking for more water. Sounds like a good idea but I think maybe it just ends up drawing more bees to your boat! Most people go the opposite route, trying to eliminate all sources of open fresh water on the boat - dry sponges, dry sinks, etc. Today we heard that some people go so far as to kill them by attracting them with sugar water laced with detergent. This seems kind of cruel but I guess that's just because we have yet to experience our first real bee swarm. I'm sure I'll be changing my tune after that.

On Friday, when we moved from Isla Coronados to San Juanico (back on the Baja), it was just one of those days where everything seemed to go wrong. To get away from the bees (which returned exactly at sunrise; did you know that bees use the sun to navigate?) we left before the wind had filled in and so drifted around in circles for an hour. Finally we had a nice sailing breeze to get to the big open anchorage where there were already five other boats. But as we made our final approach into the anchorage, instead of getting calmer (which is kind of the point of going into an anchorage, I think, to get out of the wind), the wind seemed to pick up intensity. We still needed to get our main sail down and in an attempt to get it down and all rolled up in a hurry the boom came off the boom gallows, the topping lift hadn't been secured, and John went down hard on the side deck, splitting open the bottom crease of his pinkie toe where it attaches to the foot.

We managed to get anchored fine after that, but it's been windy every day, starting a couple of hours earlier in the morning each day and not easing up until after sunset. On top of the wind chop there's a swell running which keeps us rolling even with the rocker stopper out. This morning we moved farther south to try and tuck in closer behind the reef but it doesn't seem to have helped much. So swimming is out, dinghy touring is out (too wet and rough), and outdoor showering is out. I managed to get one swim to shore late on our arrival day and haven't been off the boat since then. Of course everything but fishing is out for John until his toe heals up.

The rest of the time we read, eat, sleep, and sweat too much. We don't want to move north to Bahia Concepcion too soon for the Fourth of July celebration because people up there are already melting from the heat. We've noticed much higher humidity here too - we're sticky all day and the decks are wet well before sunset. So the best thing about the wind here is that it gives us built-in air conditioning while we wait to move into the real heat.

John here:
Bob and I went night fishing night before last, the idea being that red snapper and other large bass types (big grouper included) feed at night. That didn't really turn out to be the case, but we did have a bit of fun on the way out. It was right near sunset and we decided to troll our way out to the rocks where we were going to fish for 'the beeg ones.' About half way there I got a huge strike but no hook up, very encouraging, so we circled our way back around and sure enough I hooked into something that started pulling line out at a very rapid pace. 25 minutes later, Bob netted my 24 inch Jack Crevalle (kre-VAL-ey). Talk about fun! These fish are not good eating but have a reputation as fierce fighters and after examining my lure I believe it. Two out of three barbs on each of the two treble hooks were bent straight! I managed to get him in on a single barb barely hooked into his lip. After a short time in the net to get the hook out back he went to fight another day. I hooked another one later on the way out but was 'in a hurry' to bring it in and must have pulled the hook out.

The night fishing turned out to be a bust, the only thing we caught was a moray eel that Bob hooked. Talk about a handful, it would tie itself into knots and squirm all over the place. It took us almost 20 minutes just to get the hook out. Both of us. Holding on to it with both hands. I hope I never hook another one of those!

There's no such thing as too much fun, so last night right at sunset I trolled by myself through the same area where I hooked the Crevalle last night. I hooked another one that took about 20 minutes to land, it was around 28 inches, then trolled a little longer and hooked another one that took almost 45 minutes to land! It measured over 30 inches, and towed the dinghy over 1/4 mile. (The reason it was taking so long to land these two fish is that my net is too small for them, I have to get them tired enough that I can grab them by the tail to get the hook out.) I'm not sure how long my lure is going to last with these guys crushing it, but I intend to find out.

Linda and John
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Puerto Escondido

June 12, 2005
Puerto Escondido, Baja California del Sur

We stayed in Agua Verde until June 5, hiking in the hot sun and snorkeling in the cold water. We saw an osprey and an octopus. The local goats made their ritual evening strolls along the hillsides surrounding the anchorage. With a well-stocked tienda and fresh tortillas within walking distance, it was hard to leave.

We moved on to Isla Monserrate and anchored off low yellow sand bluffs. Although we gave it our best shot, hiking here was next to impossible because of the dense brush and cactus, but the beach was perfect for walking and shell hunting. We stayed a few extra days when we heard that Bob on Air Power was coming in. He and John went spear fishing together and John came back with something called a Hog fish for dinner. We all did some snorkeling out on the reefs to the east and it was the best visibility and most fish we've seen so far. Really a pretty place and we were glad to have spent the extra time there.

We were going to "run out" of water at any minute according to John's calculations, so we were a little antsy to get to Puerto Escondido. We might have run out of the water in our tanks, but we still had 16 gallons in jugs in case that happened. But we were also out of fresh provisions so it was time to go and get restocked. Puerto Escondido is great. There was a big fuss when they installed moorings in the inner, almost landlocked, harbor, but they only charge one peso per foot per day, plus 10%, and now that you don't have to pay to check-in, it seems reasonable to us. There's a place to dump garbage, a dinghy dock, a place to fill water jugs from a hose, and it's been flat calm at night. The only drawback is that it's 25 miles to Loreto with no bus service to speak of. People who base out of here have cars, which would make life much easier.

Yesterday we got seven people together to hire a seven passenger taxi van for the day. Our driver, Gustavo, picked us up at 9:30 AM and drove us into Loreto to run all our errands. We dropped three people off at an internet cafe and the remaining four drove from ferreteria to ferreteria looking for acetone, butane, and hydraulic fluid among other things. We must have tried at least half a dozen places before John finally gave up on the latter, and we cut Gustavo loose until Noon. The four of us walked around town (fishing tackle was the next goal), and checked out the Malecon, before rendezvousing at the internet cafe. Gustavo then drove us all back to the center of town where we had a nice lunch at Cafe Ole. We split up for some quick shopping and sight-seeing and met back up at the taxi again at 2:00. Then we did our "big shop" with stops at the supermercado (not so super after La Paz!), fruteria, panaderia, and finally, the deposito. By the time we arrived back at the dinghies it was almost 4:00 and everyone was tired. The taxi was 700 pesos round trip, and split seven ways it was worth it. It was especially nice to be able to store our purchases in the back of the taxi throughout the day, instead of having to haul everything around with us the entire time!

But it wasn't time to relax yet. John needed to go up the mast to 1) fix the roller furling (which got a little messed up when he made the mistake of letting off halyard tension before unfurling the drifter), 2) attach the Mexican courtesy flag to the outer shroud (this way it won't bang on the shrouds like it does from the flag halyard), and 3) affix reflective tape to the mast to make it easier to find Nakia in a crowded, dark anchorage (Phil, remember the panga ride in Turtle Bay?!). While John was up the mast I was putting away the mass of stuff we'd bought. This entails taking everything out of boxes (actually I did that before we even put it in the dinghy), wiping off dusty cans, labeling cans with a Sharpie, removing labels from cans, stowing everything, and separating the tortillas. The latter is something we learned about only recently. We had trouble with our fresh tortillas sticking together until John finally asked a local what to do about it. The secret is that you need to separate all of them until they've had a chance to cool, then you can stack them again and store them. So picture a kilo each of corn and flour tortillas strewn about all over the galley and dining table. In the midst of all this I was up and down the companionway helping John while he was up the mast.

We finished all that at 6 PM and John decided it was time to go fly fishing. He got quite a rush when he hooked a bonito which took off so hard that he had to grab the pole with both hands. He's using barb less hooks now which makes releasing the fish we don't want to eat (so far, most of them) much easier.

Today was water day. John made four trips to the water hose with our six water jugs to fill the tanks (on both Air Power and Nakia) while I used some old water from our emergency jug to wipe down the fiberglass and try to get the boat cleaned up a little. Of course we chose to be on one of the moorings that's farthest away from the water hose because it's in the shade earlier than the others, so each trip was a long one. We're getting our three gasoline jugs filled here but it's costing 375 pesos for about 40 litres (about $2.62/gallon plus delivery charge plus Pemex, the national gas chain, ripoff; it's a ripoff because we paid for 50 litres and only got 40 even though the meter on the pump said 50 litres; this happens all the time).

Stan and MJ on SolMate need to make a beer run so, in lieu of the hike we were going to do today, we're going to walk with them to Willy's tienda which is down the road about 45 minutes at the junction with Highway 1. We've already been to the one at Tripui RV Park, about a 15 minute walk. For those of you that read about the fire that destroyed most of it, Tripui is really looking good. There's a beautiful pool outside the office/gift shop/internet cafe and the grounds are lovely.

Tomorrow we move back out to the islands with a stop at Isla Carmen first. Our short term goal is to reach Bahia Concepcion by July 1 for the Fourth of July celebration at Burro Cove.

Linda and John