summer plans

Alex hiked up to take the above picture of Honeymoon Cove last month. We took the day off from sailing and paddled across the channel from Puerto Escondido. It was a fun day, and we regretted not planning ahead and bringing gear to camp the night on the beach. After leaving Loreto, we headed up to Bahia Conception for about a week, and then to the French-influenced town of Santa Rosalia. From there we crossed the Sea of Cortz to Guaymas, where we're in the process of hauling the boat out for the summer. We're escaping the heat and heading off to visit much missed family and friends, and decide what and where our next step might be. Circling the Pacific Ocean remains high on the list.

While in the states, we're taking advantage of the cool mountain weather and are currently in Crested Butte, CO until the end of August before heading back to Calif.

San Evaristo to Loreto

We weren't catching any fish until about a month ago. Really. All this time on the great big blue and trolling lures much of the time, but still nothing. Until we met The Amazing Mylan. While on anchor in San Evaristo, a lone kayaker paddled up to the boat and asked about the weather forecast. Turns out, he was working his way down from Loreto to La Paz alone in a sit on top kayak with a small sail. And even cooler, he had to be over 70 years old. We eagerly had him over for dinner to hear how his adventure was going and about the 25 years he'd spent training Peace Corps volunteers in West Africa before retiring as a gardener in Kauai. But, back to the fish. Mylan had too many lures and gave us a few, which have been working like clockwork since then. Since he isn't the first person to provide fishing advice, and suggest a no-fail lure (it's a toss-up between who has more advice to dole out, fishermen or sailors), I can only attribute our new found lucky lures to his good karma.



This is the elementary school in San Evaristo, where we spent a few days helping with science week. The last day, the kids broke pinatas which they'd made the day before. Great fun with some learning about action and reaction thrown in for good measure.

We are currently anchored at Isla Coronado, near Loreto, and will spend about another week exploring the islands in the area before continuing northward. We took a month go the 100 miles here from La Paz, and could have spent more time in any of the bays along the way. Cell phone coverage was nearly obsolete however, and we thought our families would want to hear from us. Alex did, hear a rumor about a hill with cell coverage and hiked up it one afternoon to make successful calls to our mothers.

Some more pictures from the past month, including the amazing rocks in Puerto Los Gatos, flying our new spinnaker, and Kristi's new haircut and her handsome stylist who accepts guacamole as payment.

scary wildlife

The picture above is a dolphin scull that is part of an entire skeleton that a friend had on his boat when we caught up with him for on Isla Espiritu Santo. The Whale Museum in La Paz sent him and some college students to clean the carcass and bring it back. Usually an evening with Jack looks more like dinner and a music session, but chips and salsa over a dolphin carcass was an interesting twist.

In general, the wildlife has been both alive and friendly, and we're delighted to share our days with egrets, herons, osprey, pelicans, sealions, colorful fish, dolphins, rays, and just yesterday, an octopus swimming under our boat. However, sometimes, I can't help but feel that the creatures are out to get us. An evening paddle in a bug infested estuary on Isla San Jose over two weeks ago that left me with nasty bites on my face, neck, leg and hands which still itch. Watching egrets settling into the sunset was brilliant and sure made the bites worth it though.


The following afternoon, a swarm of bees came in search of fresh water and didn't leave until the next night. We hid out in the boat all day, only sticking our heads out when a couple from another boat ventured over to say hello. They suggested we place a bowl of fresh water on the bow to draw the bees away from the cockpit. They must have a much longer boat, because all this did was increase the number buzzing guests. The next morning, before the bees returned, we pulled up the anchor and scurried off to Isla San Francisco, making sure not to have any fresh water outside during the daytime.

A week later, I was swimming about 30 feet off the starboard side of the boat in Bahia Agua Verde and saw a pretty big shark fin about 100 feet off the bow. Yup, it was scary. I swam as quickly as I could (which isn't saying much) to the boat, hoping my dangly legs looked too scrawny to be a good meal. Just as I was heaving myself into the kayak, a panga with a local family motored up to warn us about the shark in the bay. As it turns out, it was a young whale shark, which is a docile, filter feeding shark. It stayed in bay for a few days, giving us a couple opportunities to paddle along side it as it fed. Alex even jumped in the water with his mask and swam with it.

To top off the wild creature experience, I was on the beach one afternoon with a Christine from another boat. We'd gone paddling when the afternoon wind started to howl, so we decided to wait it out over lunch and a beer. The neighborhood kids took a liking to our kayak, practicing their paddle stokes in the sand. Soon, the neighborhood dogs also came by to say hello. One of them, while quite friendly, had a look about him that suggested he might mark his territory if you stopped petting him. Which is exactly what he did on my leg. Thinking quickly, Christine poured beer on me, thinking human urine is a remedy for stingray wounds, so beer must work for canine urine.

completely defrosted

It is good to be sun-happy in the Sea of Cortez. Beautiful anchorages with white sand beaches only a day sail away, warm, clear, fish filled, manta-ray dancing water, hardly any swell and gentle winds (for the most part). This is the honeymoon cruise we've been looking forward to.

From Cabo San Lucas, we began up the inland side of the Baja peninsula and were delighted to have a Southerly wind pushing us along nearly all the way to La Paz. The first day out was dreadfully hot, so we took turns jumping in the water. A few hours later we spotted a momma whale with her baby also heading up the coast. We overnighted in Los Frailes, a pretty little bay just south of the marine sanctuary, Cabo Pulmo. In the morning, to our delight, the baby whale spent hours playing in the bay not far from the boat. Later that afternoon, we decided to take advantage of the wind and continue to Bahia de los Muertos.

Los Muertos was quiet and well protected from the wind, so we stayed for three nights, spending the days swimming, paddling, and reading. One end of the bay has a small hotel with a sandy beach, and the other end is stacked with pangas that went out fishing at dawn each morning. There was also a little restuaunt with a great view that we had dinner at with a couple from another boat. Had we not begun to run out of fresh fruit and veggies, we would've stayed a few more days.

Jumping manata rays accompanied us on our most recent leg up to La Paz. We call them firecrackers since at night when it's dark and the only thing we hear is their slapping on the water.

We're going to use La Paz as a base for the next month, exploring the outlying islands, and returning about once a week to replenish fresh food, fuel, do laundry, etc. I was leary about the kayaks being our primary means of getting to and and from shore, but it seems to be working just fine. That's me below with the laundry, the laptop, and the wheelchair.

We had an exciting morning yesterday. Alex jumped into the water after a runaway piece of tupperware and found the current too strong to swim back to the boat. He gave into the current and swam to another boat. The couple on the boat seemed to enjoy their surprise guest and suggested a cocktail when I arrivcd with the kayak.

cabo san lucas

Kristi's parents came to visit us in Cabo for a few days this past week. Above is the view from their hotel room balcony. In the background you see a big cruise ship; in the foreground is our little Fjordmus. There was a lot of swell in the days preceding their visit and everyone on anchor was complaining about the sleepless nights. One guy even put his sleeping pad on the floor to keep from falling out of his bunk. So, we were quite happy to retreat to a hotel bed for a few days, and wake to lazy days, playing poolside scrabble, and wondering where dad and Alex snuck off to with the kayaks.

We're getting ready to leave tomorrow, and plan on spending a week or so poking our way up past Cabo Pulmo to La Paz. With new lures ready we hope to be eating ceviche along the way.

For those of you heading down after us, we found a great restaruant, La Bohemia on Mechor Ocampo (near the main supermarket). Great food, very reasonable. The lemon drink is especially yummy on a hot day. There is also a museum across the plaza from Cabo Coffee. It's not the best museum, but the pictures of Cabo from before the boom are worth the stroll if you are in the area.

pancakes & tsunamis

day 1. champagne & pancakes to celebrate our 9 am arrival. afternoon nap. late night unplanned swim from kayak delays plan to go ashore for much anticipated drinks with umbrellas.

day 2. tsunami warning. we spend the day sailing and fishing away from shore. this was clearly fate making sure that we arrive on the 26th since we also left on the 26th of November, and we got married on the 26th of May.

day 3. we finally get to shore after 2 weeks. yoga, beer and laundry. in that order.

days on and on. kayaking, swimming, and sunshine. happily ever after.

Batteries for Lobster

We are in Magdalena Bay with free wireless from the fishing camp.

From San Diego, we sailed 4 days to Isla Cedros. It began great and quickly turned awful. The gal who sold us the boat came to see us off with her dad. We really enjoy them both and were happy to connect again. A sunny morning with moderate winds soon turned into BIG ugly seas and wind and rain nearly the entire trip. I gave it my best the first day at the tiller, but I was seasick the entire trip and of very little help. Alex, bless his heart, was loving it. Although when the winds reached gale force on the second day, he did admit to being a bit frightened. Nonetheless, he was at the tiller and singing what I now think of as the Kristi Song.

We anchored next to a colony of elephant seals on Isla Cedros for two nights before sailing another few days to Turtle Bay, a quick stopover in Bahia Santa Maria, and then Magdalena Bay. These passages were much nicer, with plenty of wind to sail but without the awful gut wrenching swells. I'm really enjoying not having the motor running all of the time.

We traded 4 AA batteries for our lobster lunch yesterday (fishermen needed them for their GPS and we could have taken more, but even one hardly fit in our biggest pot) and this morning a whale surfaced not less than 30 feet from the boat while I was reading (The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, very good so far).

It's dark as I'm writing this, and we just heard a huge splash next to the boat, no doubt a whale. This just gets better and better.