South

Shrimp Boats Everywhere!

December ?  Not sure what date, but it's Wednesday as I write this in my notepad. I think.

We've passed the halfway point between Turtle bay and Cabo. Turtle Bay is actually the halfway point between San Diego and Cabo. I like working in halfways when it comes to geography and traveling. It seems to make sense and gives me a sense of moving forward. No matter where I'm at, if I see it as halfway between two spots then I'm closer to something or some destination. Or further away, it depends on how you look at things and if you're coming or going.

What I love most of being South of Turtle Bay is that we're not only in Baja California Sur (Baja South) but it's warmer. Much warmer. Like shorts & sport top. If I were the exotic type I'd probably ditch the sport top. But I'm not the exotic type. I'm French Canadian and I grew up wearing wool socks year round. Oh how I wish I had a sock monkey made of an old grey sock with the red trim...

So, back to me and my shorts and sport top. Lee's wearing nothing but shorts, or some kind of lycra italian undies. Very sexy. He's more exotic than I am. If it were a contest I'd declare him the winner in exotic personality profiles. But it's not a contest and we haven't got any winners. Or losers. So I guess it's a win-win so maybe there are winners, but not the kind who bring home a medal. Although we do have each other as trophies.

Being South... There's barely a cloud in the sky, or anywhere else for that matter (ba-boom-boom-tish!) Until the moon rises, the stars do their best to make it nearly impossible to find the big dipper.

I don't know why but I struggle to rest until I spot the big dipper. That big old lard-ass of the skies...

This year's southbound trek sure is the stellar opposite of last year's southerly bash. We. Are. Taking. Our. Time. Yesterday was our very first sailing day stretching beyond 8 hours of navigation. And that's only because we had no other choice! Nowhere to park, ya know? And even then, we almost cruised right on by our anchorage as we both dozed off on autopilot. I saved the day (or night) which is a rare thing. Lee's the fixer. I woke up, looked outside, looked at our radar and the GPS and woke up the fixer "Where are we supposed to anchor?" he blinked a few times "Shit, we went passed it!"

But not by much. We turned and dropped the anchor and slept with vivid and immediately forgotten dreams.

Killer Day!

Up until last year when we sailed South my most frightening day ever was crossing to the famous Cedros Island midway down the peninsula of Baja California in Mexico. That day was dreadful.
Topped that one today I tell ya... *shivers* Today was so friggin scary I actually did utter the magic words "Oh God, please let us survive this!" Yup. I prayed. I openly and out loud prayed. Maybe more than once too. Not sure. But I did in fact pray to the baby Jesus and begged him to let me see the full moon tonight.

We sailed our spinnaker sail. For the third time today ever, we sailed it. And for the third time I thought I would die behind it. Or get hurt. Or break something. Like a bone, a neck or maybe our boat.

It started perfectly well. It was in fact sublime. We had a wind, dead behind us, and our sails were useless. Lee said "Let's try the spinnaker!"

"Uh oh." I was still shaking from our 2 previous attempts. And up he comes the staircase dragging that pretty thing of death.

We hooked that bitch up, pulled it up and shazam - it was awesome! Beyond awesome. It parachuted open dead center in front of our boat and we hit speed digits we'd never (ever) seen. We even wen't beyond 10 knots. Which is insane, trust me.

Suddenly (after nearly 3 hours of nose bleeding speeds of 8-10 knots) the wind picked up. It PICKED UP! Mega schmega style! And this beautiful butterfly turned on us and went à-la Hitchcock and yanked the boat to one side dipping in the water then boom yanked it to the other side, tipping so far over I stood STOOD on the SIDE of the bench 0_o and this went on and on and ohmygodIwilldieinthisfrigginboat on.

I took a picture of where one of my shoes landed. It wasn't on me per say, but it needed to leap from one counter to the other, to land 4 feet away tucked between the stove and the cabinet. Ok? I can go on. I so could totally go on with the weird and insane stuff that happened. But I won't. Because you either:

1. Would not care.
2. Would not believe me.
3. Would be too scared to sleep tonight.
4. Would ask to see my I.D. (in case you work for for the DMV or the INS or the FDA or the CIA or the KKK)

Why the heck would I ever think of adding those last 3 hateful letters???
We freaked out. Needless to say. We tried loosening both sides. The sail only parachuted more and created a bigger bubble. We lowered the lanyard holding the death bitch up. Bigger bubble. We loosened the sides again. Big bubble. Words were said. Maybe yelled. Prayers were mumbled. Then spoken more clearly. Bits of flesh were lost on the quickly and harshly tugging lines. Rope burns. They suck.

Finally we tossed the coin: it's us and the boat or that beautiful flapping butterfly. We won. Thank god. And we released first one side then the other. I'm at 530 words and by now the true story has taken over 60 minutes, has brought my heart rate way up and ...I don't know... I realized I had more of a belly than I did last year. Yeah, as I jumped from one side to the next I looked down and saw the bulge. What can I say, I love hot pastrami sandwiches!

Yeah. So long story short (too late) we let go both sides, watched it flop all over the place, then finally let it out the top so much it came down to the water, we motored up to it scooped it up and allowed twentyfivethousand gallons of salt water into our cockpit (hee hee I said cock). Oh yeah, and with all this tipping dreadfully from one side to the other a jug of fuel spilled over. Fun! We not only had the threat of laying the boat on its side but now we faced the thought of explosion!

Killer day I tell ya, killer day! Oh and my belly - have I mentioned my belly and how my legs need a waxing?

A New Slideshow!

We've been gone for... how long now? Yesterday we dropped anchor in Bahia Tortugas (Turtle Bay) which is half way between San Diego and Cabo San Lucas. Last year the couple of days leading to our arrival at this spot was beyond frightening with horrendous storms and a fuel shortage under head-on winds of 30 knots. Not fun. But this year it's been perfectly perfect!

I wanted to share with you a first batch of pics with this slideshow. Hope you enjoy!

Ohmygodthedayhascome!

Do I sound like the hap-hap-happy puppy that jumps all over you and licks your face once you’ve entered the room after having left it for 5 minutes? Yup! That would be ME!

The day has finally come… We have set sail for a new adventure. The coolest part of true adventures is how you don’t really know for sure where the journey will take you. We have ideas, plans, and have been doing major name droppings *cough-tahiti-cough* but in reality:

WE HAVE NO IDEA WHERE WE’LL END UP!

And that’s the most exciting part. It reminds me of those game shows prompting you to pick door number one, door number two or door number three. The surprise is such a big part of the prize! Actually, the word should technically be spelled out S-U-R-P-R-I-Z-E!

People often ask “Wow, did you win the lottery or something?” and the funny thing is: its the stellar opposite and they think we’re mad when we answer “No, its because we are broke that we need to leave!” “I wish I were broke” is the common answer. Food in California is insanely high ($6 for a pound of ground beef? Are you kidding me???) and then there is the fuel, the eventual nights out with friends at $10 a drink, etc. Mexico offers us absolutely free living expenses (no cost to drop the anchor) and much more reasonably priced fuel and groceries.

Plus the water is invitingly warm… Dippity doo-dah! Too hot and sweaty? Jump in the water. Bored and need something to do? Jump in the water. Need exercise? Jump in the water. Hungry? Jump in the water. Heh heh heh.

But what will you do after?

We really don’t know. Not a clue. Not an inkling of an idea. Scary? Yes, of course. Exciting? You betcha! And the biggest part of the fear factor is that when we’ll come back to live and settle here we’ll be even more broke than we are now. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Most likely we’ll be walking across that bridge because we won’t be able to put fuel in the car.

Life’s too short. I plan on squeezing every last morsel out of it like a hawk pecking away at a bunny rabbit. A cute little fury white bunny rabbit minding its own business eating a carrot as it was planning his next adventure.

And I just compared life to a bloody dead bunny. What is wrong with me?

Crossing the Sea of Cortez

Sorry, it's been a while! I think something in me changed somewhere along the way as we crossed the Sea of Cortez. I went from counting the days until we might return to San Diego to... (get ready for this one) simply enjoying myself, enjoying being on this amazing trip and simply living in the moment.

Could that explain why I've neglecting writing on this travel blog? Maybe...

What Do You Do?

Full Moon Over La Paz

People often ask: "What do you guys do over there?"  The majority of our time is not spent sailing, or actually boating around if you want.

I'd say the majority of our time is spent either just sitting, reading, listening to the music or Howard Stern on Sirius, and our evenings are spent watching our favorite shows (right now that would be Shameless, Walking Dead and Californication).

Vedi, Vini, Vici

A souvenir of their visit: a mickey of tequila
with our picture on it. How fitting!

They came. (yay)
They saw. (us and we them)
They conquered. (the bars: ouch!)

Stop and Smell the Roses...

What a show-off! This young whale was putting on quite a display!

Since the beginning of our journey, we'd barely seen any whales at all. Which is atypical of this area... Normally they're spotted daily. When chatting with other travelers we discover we aren't alone in this world of no-whale spotting.

And then...

Dolphin Fiesta!

This was beyond cool!

Sailing from La Paz to Cabo to hook up with friends from Sioux Falls we encountered a crazy dolphin crossing. They don't really show up in the distance in this video plus there was well over a thousand of them swimming around us, jumping and doing their world famous dolphin dives and their daredevil antics of jumping across the bow of our boat.

See You Soon Baboon!

I'm writing this post from down below in the galley (hee hee, that's geek boatspeak for lounge and crash-out spot) while I should be up above on the (poop) deck admiring the scenery...

An Interesting Week

As we read other people's blogs on their travels, we notice one major difference between our experience and theirs: they're socializing, connecting and making friends. And us? We're naming seals (which by the way are SEA LIONS and not as we guessed SEALS how do we know it? Our NEW FRIENDS told us!!!)

Yes! We made contact! I now have a sense of what it will be like the first time people on earth come into communication with space-peeps! Giddy! We've been chillin' with our peeps & going out! GOING OUT!  Two nights in a row at that. Late. Very late. Friday night we (finally) went to a really great local concert. And she sang in Spanish!

My ongoing joke has been "I don't want to go and listen to some old white fat dude belting it out to Hotel California." But long story short...

We made friends! Yes! Indeed we did! And they joined us on a trip! Yes they did! And oh they were prepared... They showed up with a canoe (like a funky fold up kind), fishing equipment (and a SPEARGUN), food, booze, spices (SPICES!), musical instruments (A BANJO - Ayyeee!), snorkeling equipment and stories galore to keep us fully animated til we couldn't keep our eyes open!

Scott (the Outward Bound type of dude) and Kay (who grew up in a commune - how cool is that?) joined us for one full week touring Espiritu Santos and Los Islotes. During this trip we met Damon and Desiree from the Gaya (Gaïa?) and their uber cool steel boat with the funky red sails pictured above. These guys have been living aboard their boat for 9 years. NINE YEARS! They've sailed to Hawaii and the Ecuador making us look like stay-at-home scaredycats!

So... today we hugged and waved them goodbye as they left for their long journey back home to San Fran. And we are now faced with so much space on our small boat! And wondering: could we ever again host people on our boat? It's really not an easy thing to do to bring OTHERS aboard!  Even Desiree who's been doing this for 9 years mentioned how they rarely ever do this...

Oh and shall I mention where we're at in repairs?

1. Fuel injector lift pump (or something like that, as if I know what I'm talking about!) in our motor - broken.
2. High pressure hose for water maker - tore.
3. Bird poop on deck - yes. A lot!
4. Headache - now on day 3. Ugh.
5. That's it. For now. Knock on wood (ouch that hurt my head).

Hasta luego mi amigos y amigas!

Everything Takes Time... And Patience.

Broom Hilda? Come se dice en espanol?

Which we have plenty of (time), but the patience part? A whole n'other ball game! At least where I'm concerned that is! Not very patient at all...  *sigh* (Just ask Leonard in regards to the ongoing torture I've put him through these past few days because of my internet connection issues!)

La Paz has stores on every street corner. Some stores are "tiendas" like small general stores and hold everything from parts to build your own propane BBQ, to awesome terra cotta dishes and brooms. (Oh yeah, most stores have buckets of brooms right out the door, it appears as though these are always in need, especially when people sweep the sidewalks!) You can always find the unexpected...

The problem is finding what you're actually looking for!

And it's cool how some stores are almost organized per district. If you see a "everything-you-need-for-making-a-piñata" store chances are you'll find another right around the corner, and another one across the street.  And yes Virginia, there is a piñata store!

See? I told'ya!

But back (hee hee, I just said "but back", ya get it?) to finding what you're specifically looking for... Here's the simple stuff what we've been struggling with:

• Markers. Regular old Crayola Super Tips Markers that WalMart sells at $5 for 40 markers of all colors! Kids are forced to color with crayons (wax kind) or pencils (wooden kind). Isn't that a sad thought for Mexican kids?
• Pie dough. No dough! Here if you want pie you gotta make it yourself! And that means that I now also need a pie plate!
• Half & Half Cream. Yeah they drink coffee here, but I guess they use milk or drink it black. If you ask for "crema para cafe" in a store they'll show you a can of cream that once opened has the consistency of sour cream. WTH?
• Sunscreen. Oddly enough the sun shines here. Plenty. You would think this item would be a given. Actually I found some today, but it was total block. I don't want to block the sun I just don't want to be scorched by it!
• Mushrooms. Am I hallucinating or are they simply not there? Again, today I finally found some mushrooms after searching and searching numerous stores, markets, etc. But still no baby bellas (my all-time fave) or portabellas. Sigh.
• Caps. More specifically caps for gas cans. We have 2 diesel fuel jugs to hold extra fuel for the long distance runs and for some reason the caps broke! They just simply snapped off the top from being over-tightened. Our jugs are fine (at least I know my jugs are okey-dokey) but the caps are now useless. I've used up my shoes walking this town looking for caps. Nada. (See how at least I put good use to the Spanish I'm learning?)
• 12-Pack of Coke. Forget about it. At least the regular Diet Coke with no added flavors of vanilla, or cherry, or other weird stuff. Can't do it. I guess Mexicans aren't about stocking up like their Northern neighbors - and simply purchase soda one can at a time. 

Mmmm... beer! Now THAT'S a tall one!

p.s. with everything coming in the quantity of "some of this" and "some of that" and "can't find some" you'd think the word "some" would be something I wouldn't struggle with when it comes to translating to Spanish!

Dive! Dive! Dive!

Why didn't I start diving earlier? This is such a fun sport! Can I even call it a sport? To be quite honest, the hardest part of diving is the before and after (getting the gear ready and rinsing it all out with fresh water) because believe me when I tell you - it's by far the most relaxing "sport" I've ever engaged myself in!

I'm still limiting myself a lot in internet usage so these are only the highlights, there are plenty more pictures on my hard drive!

But did you see that close-up? We can see the whiskers of that seal he's so close! And no, I wasn't using the zoom! Did we see Squeaky again? Not quite sure... but I do think he was among those who teased us and came real close (enough to bite). Once we were done with the dive and were just bobbing above one little dude popped up, touched his nose to Leonard's ear and dove back down. It was hilarious! But by then Leonard was quite fed up with how "aggressive" our friends were.  Hahahaha!

Such fun...

Yay! More Pictures!

These are NEW pictures... Most are from our recent trip to local islands. We saw some really cool stuff! Sorry about that pig head to start off. Or to think again - I'm not sorry. I thought it was really freaky to see that head sitting in an open meat counter. Can we say that? A sitting head? And the dudes got a kick out of watching some little gringa snap a quick shot of their meat.

That came out all wrong.

But you'll see lot's of bones on this slideshow. I think a good deal of those bones are whale bones. Really cool. And skulls. Probably leftovers from the meat market displaying the heads... Who knows.

Its a new year and we're getting more and more thrilled by this little journey!

Cheers! And like we say in this neck of the woods: hasta luego!