Sunday, November 28, 2010

Pictures?


Art & Jaye

Sarah & Darryl

Me

Brie en Crute(sp?)
 The People.....then the Food ....
then the fun!! the pictures downloaded
but it is hard to put text to
all of that in the proper order! 
Every day is a learning experience
around here.  Feel free to come and join
me any time.  Let me know when and I
will try to tell you where and hopefully
we can meet up. 
  All in all it was a lovely Thanksgiving dinner and I
felt so lucky to be with friends thinking about my family.  Tomorrow I am going to swim with the
whale sharks.  They are the biggest fish in the
ocean and I have always wanted to do
this.  Film at 11pm.





Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Just for Fun

Oops! Wrong button......


could. It was so sweet. I am having the most terrible time uploading or downloading pictures to my blog that for the time being I am going to just forget about.  My hopes are that if I write for a while the pictures might download.  Thanksgiving day I went to Art and Jaye's boat for dinner at 3pm.  I was so looking forward to this.  Jay had cooked a turkey and made gravy and stuffing.  Sarah brought stuffed mushrooms (mmmmm...)
and pineapple upside down cake.  I brought champagne, wine and Brie en crute (sp?).  No puff pastry dough on hand but pie crust worked.  I even cut out a palm tree with my palm tree cookie cutter that David Merrick and Cati Merrick had given me for a gift a while back and it looked perfect on top of the Brie.  Hopefully pictures will follow.  We hooted and howeled and enjoyed good company, good food and good wine and just had the best time.

Thanksgiving

Well...there were many Turkey Dinner
Parties all around La Paz.
It was so amazing. The people here
kept wishing us a good Thanksgiving.
They don't celebrate the day per se but did
know that we do and so they were wanting
to make us Gringos all as happy as they

Thursday, November 25, 2010

It will probably be La Paz for quite a while.

Marina Palmyra
The anchorage off the city is a lovely place.
It is great holding in 15 feet.  There is quite
the tidal flow and the boats at anchor
frequently face the opposite way the wind
is blowing.  It is very strange.  The current
is often much stronger than the wind and
that is what causes it.  They call it
"The La Paz Waltz".  I was so ready to get to
a place where I could wash, wax, clean
dinghy and do varnish that I made a pest
(nicely of course) of myself until the girls who run
Marina Palmyra finally relented and gave
in.  I am now in a great place to do the
work and spend the holidays. Thank you

 Marcella and Adrianne!
  The other day I took a long walk along the city front on the Malecon.  It is a beautiful sort of cobblestone
walkway that extends all along the city.  Everyone is
out walking or jogging in the Am and Pm.  It isn't
quite as popular during the heat of the day though.
  There are beautiful Bronze Statues all along the
the way.
   The one below I just love. On my way here as I was passing through the Canal De San Lorenzo (the passage between the mainland of Baja California Sur and
Isla Del Espiritu Santo) I was scanning the

 horizon looking for the channel markers when
I saw this huge something hurl itself out of the
water and do 2  360's and then dive back in!  Then
there was another and another....it was amazing.
I had heard that Rays do that but
I had never seen them do it. Wow. Can hardly
wait to see that up close!
 As I was walking back to the boat I passed this
tiny boutique hotel.  This is the kind of place
I look for when I want to go to a hotel.  Reminds
me of my favorite places in Mendocino the Albion.
 



  I am having
Thanksgiving dinner
with Art, Jay, Sarah
and Darryl on
Arione. They too
are in the Marina so I best get the
potatoes a boiling. Happy Thanksgiving to
all.  I know I have a lot to be thankful for!!!


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Bahia De Los Muertos Then La Paz

Moon Rise Over Muertos
    Well I was just informed by Doug and Carla on Moondance that there will be many more beautiful places to anchor and see beyond Los Frailles.  I do have much to look forward to.
   I arrived in Los Muertos late that afternoon
and was planning to stay but the weather
looked as though it would turn bad
pretty quickly.  Since I had already been to Los Muertos and the bay was rough I didn't want to try to get the dinghy motor on it or
for that matter try a beach landing and take off  with the dinghy at night.  I decided to hang on the boat and leave again the next morning.



Red Sky In the Morning Sailors Take Warning
 The next morning the sky was deep crimson. I headed out right at sunrise for La Paz.
 I had plan a,b and c.  One was to anchor in
Ballandra Bay at the mouth of the La Paz
Channel.  It was still light enough so I proceeded
down the Channel.
    I passed that big ROCK and was glad that a)  it was daylight and b) that is was lit up at night.
   It was really a beautiful afternoon...fairly long
day thought and I was glad to get in.
  I anchored off of Marina De La Paz for the night
and slept like a rock (as in Rocna).  The next morning I decided  Iwas a bit close to the
channel and moved the boat closer to shore.
    My next spot just happened to be right next to

Sunrise Over the Life Raft
Camelot.  It was good to see Laurie and Tom
again.  They seem to be adjusting just fine.
I have tried to get a spot at one of the Marinas
but they are all pretty full.  Who da thunk.  Anyway
I headed into town to just scope out a bit
had a margarita and then back to the boat. 
On my way back I saw a Passport 40 anchored fairly close to me so I checked it out.
Come to find out that it is none other than Rondeau
Bay.  She once belonged to Jim Ellis formerly of
Gate 11.  This fellow was the second owner since
Jim.  What a small world.
   I visited for a bit then home to Jasdip.



Coastline Around the Tip of Baja




   Coctail hour and evening breezes.  Ah Bombay,
tonic and lime.  The nectar of the Gods.
Slept like a baby and now I am going to explore again and see what kind of trouble I can get into
today.  Adios me amigas.


Moon Rise Over La Paz



Sunrise Over La Paz

Wouldn't want to come up on this puppy in the dark.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Los Frailles

 Well I have finally arrived.  This place is what
I have been waiting for. The water is 89 deg
and you can see for miles underwater,
The color of the water is just beautiful
and there are fish everywhere.
   There are several Palapas to pick from
while enjoying the beach and maybe a picnic.
I was hard pressed to leave but
I guess there will be more places.  I really can't
remember why I left.  Perhaps it will come to me
someday.  This was my first beach landing
with my dinghy as well as my first beach launch.
Sounds simple to most of you I know
but the truth is that it can be quite
lethal.  I actually did it twice.  Once that day
and again the next morning.
  There was a truck that came by two or three
times a week.  Literally a pickup truck with ice chests in the bed. There were fresh homemade
tortillas, a few cucmbers, I got a banana and a 1/2 gallon of milk. It was a great reason to do a
dinghy landing.  Kim, a fellow single hander, got
some chicken and 1 homemade tamale.  There
was only one left.  Guess the fisherman beat us
to it.  Apparently the truck and driver are furnished by the government as a service to the fisherman
so they can stay and fish and still eat.
   It was so much fun swimming off the side
of the boat. We had a few dinners on the
boats.  One night I made Tacos with
beef Arrachera that I picked up at
Costco of all places, in Cabo(something I must learn
to make).  Then coctails on Corvedae,
an Island Packet 36,  Nona and Steve.
Nona is a retired Operating room nurse.
 
Nothing in common there.
   Alas Arione showed up after having all of their
fuel lines replaced in San Jose Del Cabo.
Very glad to see them as I was worried when I left.
Next thing I know it was morning and
they had decided to leave after listening to
the weather report. It wasn't so good. I can now get reports on the Single Side Band  but at the time I was having
a bit of trouble getting that channel so I decided
to get out of Dodge.  Well maybe that's why I
left........it was enough to get me going. 
   So sadly I pulled up stakes (my anchor) and slipped out of Dodge.  Headed for Las Muertos.
So sorry to leave...I hope I find some places just as beautiful.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Cabo

The Arch at Cabo
We rounded the corner and anchored.  It was very rolly and windy but apparently it was also  very dangerous in the marina.  Too expensive as well. Launched the dinghy and set off for the Ha Ha parties.  The beach party was wonderful.  The food was GREAT!!!  Tuna shishcabobs and pork arrachera. It was also a tremendous deal, 12.00. Then the awards ceremony was next 
on the 6th.  We of course got 3rd place......as did most of the fleet.  Ben left the next day but before he left he did so much work around the boat it was amazing.  I really felt bad cause we finally got somewhere warm and he had to leave.  
   He has a friend of a friend in Cabo who did take him to the airport and I got to meet him on the 5th
Big Fish
of November.  
  Norm and Ellie got a hotel room and we 
met back up at the Awards Ceremony.
  I must admit it was good to have my boat back
to myself.  It was so salty.  I finally went
to Marina Baja and rented a slip for
2 days.  Got my boat washed and did
a bunch of provisioning.
  The day I was going to the market there was 
a very nice man at the dinghy dock by himself.
He invited me to breakfast and we chatted.  Wound  up going to Home Depot and Costco by bus.
We of course got too much stuff for the bus and 
got a cab home.  Then he cooked me dinner
on his boat. He is also single handing.  I am 
actually very surprised at the number of
single handed folks there are out here.
Good for me I guess.                                                              While at the dock in Cabo Jorge washed my
The Pirates Invaded Constantly
                                                                                                my boat for me.  I gave him Jam and Black Seal and Coke and the next day he brought me a 
proper hand fishing line with leaders and all and
showed me how to tie them on and told me which 
lures would catch which fish. He also brought me
a breakfast burrito and helped me with my spanish.  He became a very good friend.  So nice and always watching out for me.
His picture is below.
  My dinner on Kim's boat, Philiosophy,  was excellent.  What a great cook. I am afraid I was a bad influence on him (are we surprised) and he wound up with a hangover from the wine while for me it was an
average evening. I left the next day and thought I would meet up with him in San Jose Del but when he came by I had taken  advantage of some folks that rented a car and were headed to TelCel for a Banda Ancha (internet usb device) so I didn't get back until late.  Anyway I do hope to meet up again.
I will be leaving SJDC in the am for Frailles.  
   It has been great being here.  Lots of familiar characters as well as some wonderful new ones. 
  The local hang out  here is "The Container".  A great little place right by the Harbor Master's office.  I actually closed the place down the other night.  I actually stayed up until 9:30. 
Ben Was The Fisherman
I keep going back and forth between Cabo 
and San Jose Del Cabo...have patience with me. 
Hopefully once I catch up I will remember where
I am currently.  This is the life!!!!
    So on the way home from the Container I met 
these two guys.  We chatted for a couple of minutes
and they told me how much fish they had caught and 
either they offered or I asked (can't remember) to give me some FRESH tuna.  Are you kidding.....I drove them 100yards in the dinghy and they gave me two huge pieces of ahi tuna.  
  I invited Jay and art over the next evening  and we had Sushi, Tuna rolls, sashimi and seared ahi tuna on 
a bed of lettuce with sesame ginger dressing and 
toasted sunflower seeds and sesame seeds,
wasabi and pickled ginger.  
Best dinner I have had in a very long time.

The Grand PooBah and his Sweetie La Donna Demonstrating the  Endless Kiss for the other contestants
Jorge Mi Amiga in Cabo
who joined us and just seemed
to need to socialize.
  Guess I will go take some pictures and head 
back to the boat. Soon Amigas.
          

I