Onward and Upward

I was digging in the box of Christmas ornaments.  It had to be here, but I couldn't find it. An ornament given to me for my birthday, in maybe 1978.  Friends Rick and Mary Jean Stewart knew my dream way back then in Clymer, Pennsylvania.  It was never a secret - out there for anyone to see.  I was a sailor, and one day I would own a boat that we could live on and that would take us to exotic places. 

I still haven't found the ornament - a fine little wooden carving of a sailboat that hung on our tree at Christmas.    But every year it served as a reminder of what adventures lay ahead for us if we would just keep moving forward, toward the dream. 

Well, as you know, in September of 2008 we pulled the docklines on our little "Sojourner" and our adventure began.  It was no longer just a dream.  It was actually happening!  We were free to move about the world at will.  How nice it was that Mexico proved to be far enough.  We were warm for the Winter, and adventure and new stuff to do filled every day.  What a joy.

Of course this meant that we wouldn't be home for the holidays, but that didn't seem quite as important then.  And, truth be told, I didn't miss the annual shopping madness one bit.  Claudia, however, is a shopper.  And a Mother.  And while it was easy for me to believe that being away from our family for half a year at a time was, in some way, good for us all, I'm pretty sure she never felt that way.  Still, she hung in there with me for the whole package.

 
Until one day.....................





Clearly there were new dreams being formed.  Now, even our big new comfy boat "IRIE" couldn't fill the void.  






We managed one more full season in 2012 - 13, but you may recall that it was far from our best.  Between the fuel tank crisis going on for more than two months and the unusually cool weather, the dream was becoming thin.  Now, the attraction to being home was coupled with something of a push to be there.  I was receiving an attitude adjustment as Hank Jr would say. 

Our short cruising season this year was altogether outstanding as I've written here before.  The weather was warm, IRIE was perfect, and we got to spend lots of  quality time with our friends on the water.  Yet, it was as though the stars and the planets were somehow realigning or something.  There was little doubt that this would be a good time for us to move on. 

By the end of last month, we had sold - well, sort of - our magic carpet IRIE.  And,while the process was a torment of frustration and heartbreak, now that it's done, we're both happy for the release and we're looking forward to a new future.  That future doesn't have a face on it yet or even a fuzzy picture, but of course, putting it together will be half the fun.

Let me just say that we have learned and grown and experienced far more than we dared to imagine during this chapter of our lives.   An altogether positive experience, with the laughs and the character building, the many happy hours and sunsets, the sunrises and the wonders of Baja, writing the story on these pages, and all of it enriched greatly by the friends we traveled with along the way.

So on this Christmas day, allow us to wish for you all, dear readers, the excitement and joy of reaching your own dreams and the pleasures of having family and friends to enjoy it all with. 

And we leave you with a few pictures of a recent trip to the Oregon coast:

Backwardation

Given that it's now July, we'll have to step back in time a bit to pick up the story.  You might recall that in our last post there were pictures missing - locked in the broken ship's computer.  Well, they're free now, so we'll begin this post somewhere in the middle of the last one............

This was taken on that first day out of La Paz.  We were still getting used to IRIE's new canvass and I couldn't resist taking this shot of the "blues".  One day I'll remember to install the filter on the lens that makes colors more correct in daylight, but for now,          the new blue canvass, the old blue canvass, the sky, and Caribbean looking blue water.  It was pretty spectacular at the time.

One of the many fishing Pangas racing through the anchorage to and from the tiny fishing village of San Evaristo.

A couple days later, we met friends at Punta Prieta, a small anchorage with no fishing village attached.  Allan and Ali from sv Sea Boa in the foreground, and Mark and Mimi from sv Mimya with Claudia.  We had dinner aboard Mimya back in La Paz after which Mimi brought out a boatmade lemon meringue pie! Mmm    No, this did NOT inspire Claudia to attempt to make ANY kind of pie aboard. 

  




The anchorage and the amazing colored rocks at Punta Prieta.

The next afternoon, just after getting IRIE hooked up on our borrowed mooring in Puerto Escondido, the storm that would provide excitement for the next couple of days approached.  See previous post for more on this one.

Can't remember where this was taken, but a nice sunset moonrise shot of Sea Boa.

Anchor up, and away we go.  Ninety one miles to San Carlos.

    









So there you have our 2014 season.  Short, but outstanding.  And, as you know, IRIE is now for sale, but we're hopeful for one more season.  So, with a little luck, we'll see you right here again the first of next year.

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.

Carnaval La Paz 2014

This past week brought Carnaval to La Paz, and it was a really good one!!  Lots of interesting floats and bright new costumes.
But, in order for you to get even a glimpse of what it's actually like, you'll need to look at these pics in front of your loudest music cranked up.  Every float has a built in sound system, - you can see some of them - so you'll have to change the music frequently too.

Have fun.

                                                                              

 Sorry, did the best we could shooting into the sun.

 

This is a float from Brazil

To give you an idea of size, the parade route is about 3/4 mile long...................and it all looks pretty much like this.

The gay boys float

Friend Billy.  Bruce & Judy s/v JUCE in the background.

Yes, we had a good time!  It was a two beer parade, lasting over an hour, and easily the best one of the last couple years.  And, Hector finished our canvass work on Monday - only one day late which is outstanding for Mexico - and it is todo bien!  So now we have a few days to take care of odds and ends and provision before beginning our trip North to San Carlos.  There will be many friends on boats doing the same thing, so we look forward to taking our time, doing some visiting, and enjoying the Sea.  Maybe we'll even catch a fish.  For sure, we intend to check out some new anchorages too.  And, as you know, there will be little if any internet once we leave La Paz, but Claudia will be sending Spots whenever our anchor comes up or goes down.  So for now, Adios.

As the Prop Turns

We continue to have a wonderful time here in La Paz.  Cool nights and sunny 80's for daytime - getting pretty tan too.  We're still at the dock as Hector isn't quite finished with the new dodger yet.  I had no idea how much work there is to making that.  He says he will finish today.  Woo Hoo!  Then, after a good bath, we'll take some outside pictures to update the for sale ad and you can see if you want.  IRIE is looking good!

We have one more week here in the Marina before we lose our internet connection, so I thought maybe it would be good to send some more pictures while we can.  Also, it's Carnival time right now, so we'll try to get some shots of that to send before we leave to go North next Sunday.

This is our friend Hector.  He did some canvass work for us on Sojourner, and has been a highlight of our visits to La Paz ever since.  He learned to use sewing machines as a little kid in his Father's shop.  These days, he has become too busy for much socializing.  When you're really good at what you do, responsible, and speak near perfect English, it doesn't take long for word to get around.  I'm pretty sure that Hector turns down more work than he takes these days........

By the way, does anyone remember Maxine?  She's been seen all over the place lately.  Frisky even.  Maybe it's the weather

Some interesting art along the Malecon..........

And a bit more art here and there in La Paz.

Ever since we started coming to La Paz in Winter, we've heard about the Whale Sharks.  These are sharks the size of whales that hang out in the area.  Local pangas take tourists out to see them all the time.  They're supposed to be really docile, feeding on plankton rather than folks, and people jump in the water and swim with them.  Last week, we finally took our dinghy out with friends to try and find them for ourselves.  Well, we had a great dinghy ride, but this turns out to be a lot like fishing - who would have thought?  After a couple of hours, the beer was gone and we hadn't seen a thing.  Claudia was not impressed with me.

So, when I had a chance yesterday to take our dinghy out in search again, it wasn't much of a surprise that she chose to let me go alone.            Too bad for her.

We still didn't find the Whale Sharks even though there were several pangas out there - the idea is to go where the pangas are.  But we did come across two Humpbacks who put on quite a show for us.......
 

Do you remember the long fin on the malecon art whale?    Here's a real one....












Dale and Moe had a good look at this one........

There were lot's of shots of the fins and tails.   
Then, all of a sudden             this whale came out of the water           about 20 feet               straight up! 

The camera was in my hand, turned on and everything.  And I missed it.   
I'm not too impressed with me either............



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