Welcome home

Yesterday, I grabbed my camera for something - it was a sunset/moonset shot - and a little spark went off in the back of my head.  IRIE's laptop computer broke a hinge about the time we were leaving San Carlos, and the geeks are still trying to fix it.  Of course, that's the machine that has the photos and stuff on it, so, much as I've wanted to, we couldn't update the blog for the three weeks that Claudia and I have been home.  That is, until the spark woke me up to all the photos that were still in the camera.  Duh.      The sunset/moonset came out lame, but there were a few shots you might like.

First, let me say that this was probably the best season ever for us.  The weather was warm.  The winds were reasonable.  And the good ship IRIE was near perfect.  We finally had time this year to paint and varnish and polish.  It's called work, but, you know it's hard to call it work when it involves your boat.  Especially when it's non threatening, and there was no particular rush with any of our projects this year.  What a joy.  And IRIE is looking good.  The companionship with other cruisers scored big points again this season too.  Old friends and new, the people around us are a major attraction to this lifestyle.  And while surely some of it was luck, experience and familiarity figured in to our enjoyment of the Sea this year.  Our two overnight crossings were smooth and easy for a change.  We got to spend a month at a wonderful marina in our favorite port of La Paz.  And, whether we were heading North or South, it seemed that the weather gods liked us.  It just doesn't get any better.

Sunday March 9 - La Paz to Bahia Falsa.  Only 8 miles, this move was kind of a shakedown after being tied to a dock for a month.  Kind of nice really, we're at anchor by ourselves, but still close enough to hear the morning VHF cruisers net and we have internet here too.  A nice easy day, and as all boat systems are happy, we'll start our Northbound cruise tomorrow.

The pictures of the next five days and three anchorages are on the ship's computer, so we'll save all that until later.  We did ease on into Puerto Escondido on Friday afternoon the 14th, just ahead of strong winds that were predicted for Saturday and Sunday.  And thanks to friends Lon and Becky on mv Interlude, we got permission to hook up to a mooring near them for our stay.  A mooring is like a permanent anchor on the bottom, rigged to a line and ball at the surface to which we hooked our anchor bridle.   Life is good.

Saturday evening, after fine dining aboard Interlude, we returned home thinking that all this wind we expected wasn't coming after all.  Well, fooled us, it was simply waiting until well after dark and when everyone would be asleep.  Funny how that seems to happen.

As usual, this picture only begins to give you a feeling for Sunday morning.  Of course you can't hear the wind or feel the sting of the saltwater in the air, and you likely had a better night sleep too.  Nor could you see all the boats near us blowing around like corks.  It was amazing.  

From IRIE's log Monday 3-17:  "Yesterday was the worst blow we've been in down here.  With the wind shooting through the channel, there was some fetch by the time it reached us here in the mooring field (called the "Waiting Room"). 
From about 2200 hrs Saturday until about the same time Sunday, it was foaming whitecaps with sheets of saltwater, airborne, flying at us like horizontal rain.  Our wind meter was showing steady mid 20's with gusts in mid 30's, but others have been reporting gusts mid 40's which seems a lot more accurate.

 IRIE is trying hard to break loose.  Three boats did break their moorings - one we were able to get hooked back up, but two spent the night in the mangroves.  When it all got sorted out, folks who had ridden out hurricanes  here said that this was just like one.  Thank God we were on sv Brandwine's mooring - one of the best maintained here in the Waiting Room.  Otherwise, helpless."

As things were back to normal on Monday, Becky drove us the 20 miles to Loreto - a beautiful and quaint older city here on Baja - to wander through the shops, do some provisioning, and simply enjoy the city. 

Here's an example of what we see throughout what Mexico we've been to - even many simple buildings have fantastic doors.

Tuesday, off to Isla Coronado on a flat Sea.

On Wednesday, we motorsailed to one of our favorite anchorages at San Juanico.  

Friends on sv Juce and sv Circe were already here, and Allan and Ali from sv Sea Boa arrived a little later.  It was an easy afternoon with Bocce ball on the beach. 

The next day, a short hike brought us to this gnarly cactus, and a dinghy fishing trip brought Allan and I nothing but a perfectly wonderful day on the water.




On Friday morning, we motored on a calm Sea with Sea Boa eight miles to Punta Pulpito where the anchor went down for another enjoyable day.  At 1730, it was anchor up and motoring out to sea, 91 miles across to San Carlos.  It was an amazing flat calm all the way across.  The phosphorescence was brilliant in the calm water, and at 0903 Saturday we were tied to the fuel dock in San Carlos - the easiest crossing we had ever made. 

We spent about 10 days on the dock here in San Carlos decommissioning IRIE for Summer storage.  Then, a day in the work yard to fit her cover, and we were off on a four day road trip.

Even the trip home this year was a good time - four days and three nights on the road, but with two nights in casinos, we were livin large.