Chacala 2.19.09

We left the anchorage at 7:30 this morning, heading to Chacala with a couple boats heading the same way. S/V Optical Illusion, S/V Precious Metal, S/V Warren Peace, S/V Twins, & M/V Wanderer were all headed the same way, around the same time and formed a line down the coast as we all cruised at different speeds. S/V Optical Illusion was in the marina and told us a harrowing tale yesterday – they hit a whale! Luckily, there was no damage to the boat except for some deep scratches on the hull, but
nothing major. They said it must have been sleeping and they hit it on the side and kind of rolled off of it. Scary.

We had some amazing whale activity during the day! We watched in awe as one whale did a tail-flap, slapping the water with its tail for about 5 minutes! Luckily, I got some of it on video and can't wait to post it. It's part of the mating call – I forget whether it's the male or female, but one sits at the surface slapping the water with her tail while the other does the spectacular breeches. We saw a lot of spy-hopping, where the whale just comes out of the water about ½ way, and lots of graceful
breaths at the surface. I know I've said it before, but I never cease to be amazed by how amazing these whales are. And it's such a treat to see them so often! We didn't see many turtles this trip.

We arrived in Chacala around 3:15, although we moved out of the Central timezone so we gained an hour. The motorsail was nice – it was a sunny & clear day – we had a spectacular sunrise as we were leaving La Cruz and the swells were large, but long period so it was a comfy ride. There was a red algae bloom at the entrance to the anchorage turning the water blood red. We anchored along with 3 others in the anchorage (before the cavalry arrived behind us!) and were visited by S/V Deerfoot who highly
suggested putting out a stern anchor as the anchorage gets incredibly rolly in the evening. He said he didn't put a stern anchor the previous night and it was his worst night's sleep in 30 years of cruising! Duly noted…we threw a stern anchor….and it was fine. It was very rolly and the boats that did not put one out were doing the twist around 3am! The town was beautiful – bright colors of yellow, burnt orange, & blues. The area was reportedly devastated in 1992 with Hurricane Kenna but they
have rebuilt a lot and it looked very welcoming. We didn't go into town…we'll stop here next season and check it out.

Tomorrow we're heading to Mantanchen Bay! The final pit-stop before Mazatlan…
Rene

Hanging with Selah 2.17.09

After a nice evening resting & relaxing from the long trip, we were contacted by Bob & Marlene on S/V Selah this morning. I believe I mentioned that they have a condo in Puerta Vallarta and a car! So they drove over to La Cruz with their daughter, Sherry, and picked us up with the plan of showing us their favorite spots in Puerta Vallarta. I did a bit of research before they picked us up and found 4 geocaches in PV and figured if we were by any of them, we would see about stopping. But after
telling them about it, they were just as excited to find them as we were and we ended up finding all 4! Woohoo! We ate at a local hotspot called 'Andale's' (which is pronounced On-da-lay, you know….like Speedy Gonzalez… "andale, andale, eee haw!") where at the end of the meal we were given a special shot – tequila, coffee liquer, & coke – and the waiter placed a napkin over the top, slammed it down on the table and shouted "uno, dos, tres, Andale!" and you were to drink up the fizzy shot. It
was actually pretty good! After lunch, we walked the malecon, checking out the sculptures & having a bracelet made for my bracelet pole on board, & even stopping to taste test a handful of tequilas. We drove back to their condo and sat chatting on the porch, enjoying the view, the company, & the day! Their condo overlooks marina Vallarta and they have a great spot for people watching as well as watching all of the boats come & go. Then we walked all around the marina, stopping for a refreshment
& chatting with others. We knew that in La Cruz they were having open mic night at the Brittania in La Cruz and we all decided to check that out for dinner & music. The food was excellent – ribs & chicken from Casa Laurie and the music was good as well. Mike & Ceacy from S/V Ramble on Rose played 5-6 songs until the house band arrived and then the place started hoppin! They played, we danced, & chatted with those around us. Sherry started to feel bad and so they went home while we stayed & enjoyed
the music. We are always amazed how amazing cruisers are, and Bob & Marlene fit the bill to a tee. They are a wonderful family, great people, and we enjoyed getting to know them better. As always, it's always a bummer when you can't spend as much time with others than you would like and alas…we had to leave La Cruz on Thursday. We hope to meet back up with them next season though, later in the year, & catch up! He had a great toast that I thought I'd share…

There are good ships,
there are wood ships,
& there are ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships
are the friendships
and may they always be.

Nice…huh?!

The following day we did our boat chores, went in town for some internet time and GUESS WHAT?! We were offered jobs in Alaska. We ended up with 3 offers and had to pick the one we both wanted the most and after mulling it over & a tough decision, decided to take a position in Ketchikan for the summer, giving Hummer tours & working on an amphibious vehicle named the Duck! The company is Alaska Hummer Adventures in Ketchikan and they have Hummer H2's that perform a minimum 4 hour tour around the
area. When we interviewed, it was described as a 'Jeeves meets Indiana Jones' job. You have no set place to visit, the clients set up the day to what they want to see! If they want to go shopping, you hold their bags, if they want to go on a 2 mile hike, you go with them. It is the best of all worlds for me – I will get to really learn about the area as I need to be well versed not only about Ketchikan but about Alaska for all of the questions that come up and we will have some off time to get
to explore the area! I have never done a tour guide job before, but have always felt I'd be good at it – as you know, I love to talk, I love to learn a lot about the area, & I love to share that info! And if we need more hours, we have the opportunity to work on a 90 minute amphibious tour called the Duck tour. Sounds cool, huh?! And to top it off, this will make you laugh….housing is very expensive in Ketchikan and we were worried about finding a place to stay. But the owners of the business
offered to let us stay aboard their power boat in the harbor! We'll be right at home, living on a boat for the next 6 months. Haha!! It will be awesome, we can't wait! We have so much planning & preparation to do now though! How will we get there? When will we leave? What route will we take – whew! We'll be busy in Mazatlan.

So we're off tomorrow, heading for a place we haven't been before, Chacala.

More to follow!
Rene

Cabo Corrientes 2.16.09

We left at midnight, or a little before, this morning with S/V Selah leading the way & have been motorsailing the entire way. It is about 52 miles up to Ipala and Cabo Corrientes is about 10 miles North of Ipala. We had no issues on the crossing – mostly calm seas, winds between 8-12 knots the entire time. We saw a lot of turtles but no whales this trip. The phosphorescence in the water was stunning, cascading off of the disturbance in the water that we made, it lit up the ocean with a blue-white color. Bob & Marlene have made this trip several times and it was nice having a buddy boat for the trip. Bob made contact via radio with us at least once an hour and we each chatted for a bit to help keep the z-monster away. Selah cruises quite a bit quicker than we do, she is a 54 Jenneau with beautiful lines, a longer waterline and very sleek. Bob kept backing down, running slower to allow us to catch up, and never letting us get more than 2 miles behind. We ran the RPM’s up this crossing to try to keep up too! The moon came up around 12:30 and was a beautiful blood red quarter moon on the horizon before giving us plenty of light the rest of the trip. The clouds were out, a pineapple express is hanging around which kept the temperatures down, but it was still a bit chilly! I even put on my Ugg boots & sweats! Oh man, I’m going to freeze my patooty off in Alaska! Haha…

We made it into La Cruz around 2pm and anchored just as the winds picked up to 12 knots or so. But the holding here in good and the anchor stuck on the first try. We wanted to get near the front of the pack to attempt to get wireless internet, but still can’t pick it up We will need to go into town to catch up. Next year we’re purchasing a super duper wireless antenna so we won’t have this problem….hopefully! Michael was beat – these long crossings take it out of him. We did shifts during the night, but still it’s difficult to get such little sleep, at smaller increments, & not be comatose the next day. Once the anchor was down & we felt secure, he immediately laid down in the cockpit & fell asleep. I was pretty wide awake so I immersed myself in a new book that I can’t put down – Disclosure by Michael Crichton. We attempted to watch an Adam Sandler movie and were crashed early. We are looking forward to spending the next couple days in La Cruz and spending time with Bob & Marlene.

More to follow...
Rene

A day in Chamela 2.15.09

After listening to the weather & getting weather fills from friends who had the info at their fingertips, we made the command decision to stay a day in Chamela and leave the following evening. So we had the good fortune to spend some time in Chamela, one of my favorite places! We dinghied into shore & walked into town with the folks from S/V Baywolf looking for an internet café. We had been to town previously and I needed to find the tienda that sold the ‘Gorilla Snot’ shampoo! I didn’t get a bottle of it the first time and kicked myself figuring it would be all gone by the time I got back. As luck would have it, they had a couple bottles left so I picked one up for a gift for my niece or nephew! And I have to tell you….I’m beginning to get desperate….It’s time to get back to the States. I’m out of Coffee Mate. Haha!! See, I really like my coffee mate in my coffee, just a little flavor. They sell coffee mate down here, but it’s just not the same. Last year when Michael flew back to the States for business, I asked him to bring me some ‘real’ coffee mate and he did….so I’ve been using that since we left. But I am on my last couple teaspoons of it and I’ve even started rationing it – cutting down the size I’m using and even skipping coffee a couple of mornings (these mornings are not Michael’s favorites!) to try and make it last. OK, so I’m a bit of a nut, but it’s time to get back & buy more of it! Haha… Oh, and yes, I found it being sold one place, in Barra de Navidad….for $12.50! I wasn’t desperate then….I would buy it now!

Anyway, Chamela. We walked into town with the folks from S/V Baywolf – Kirk & Sachi with their two kids – Miya & Romi. The youngest was 8 and was just a treat to chat with. She told me everything – what they had been doing, where they had gone, who they met, what kinds of fish they caught, which ones were her favorite & least favorite, etc. We talked the entire time looking for the internet café. When I asked her what her favorite thing about being out here cruising was….she replied….the pools in Puerta Vallarta. Check out their website... www.sailblogs.com/member/baywolf The Internet café I knew about was closed as it was Sunday so we asked if there was another one it town and were given directions from one of the tienda clerks. Two or three blocks up the street, two blocks over. We walked into a residential area of town, dirt streets, with no storefronts to be seen but asked a guy walking down the street and we just missed it by one street. We found a little tienda that sold lots of gifts, balloons, wrapping paper, & misc items and in back were 4 internet stations. We ended up using the internet for about 30 minutes for a whopping 10 pesos, around 80 cents! And the shop owner was wonderful, even offering us use of her memory stick. The folks from Baywolf had more internetting to do so we left them & headed back to the beach with our fresh fruits & veggies & gorilla snot shampoo!

Bob & Marlene from S/V Selah were at the palapa enjoying the sunshine and some snacks so we joined them & chatted away. We decided to leave at midnight, skipping the stop in Ipala and heading straight to La Cruz, an unplanned stop. Bob & Marlene have a condo in Puerta Vallarta and convinced us to stop so they could show us the area! How fun… The last time we were there we dealt with generator issues most of the time so we didn’t do a lot of touring the area so it was a nice offer.

Leaving at midnight…
Rene

Enjoying Tenacatita 2.14.09

Tenacatita is fast becoming one of our favorite stops down here. There are no pangas zooming around you, no jet skis or water skiers around, it has beautiful warm turquoise water, & there are always plenty of activities! We arrived with 14 boats but that number quickly swelled to about 27 during the three days we were there. There were friends of anchorages past and new people to meet. We spent the entire day we arrived camped out on the boat reading, relaxing & listening to music. Beverly from
Sea-tacean came over to invite us to the Valentine's day dinner but our plans would make us leave on Valentines day morning so we had to decline. The next morning, Michael went over to visit with Archie from Sea-tacean in the morning as I was frantically trying to send the updates via radio and finally managed to get it to go. Whew! That's when the fun started. There was a bocce ball game scheduled on the beach and both Michael & I went to play. We were joined by Archie from Sea-tacean, John
from Begone, & Bob from Selah. John & I paired up as a team and did a fantastic job playing. After the game, we all went to the palapa for a post-game refreshment & visiting. John & Patricia from Paloma came up to the palapa and we all decided to play some volleyball the following day. We had 12 people show up to play or watch or cheer! We ended up with 4 on 4 - Rene, John, Archie, & David from Decade Dance played against Bob & Marlene from Selah and John & Patricia from Paloma. And we smoked
them – won 3 games in a row – woohoo! After another celebratory beverage at the palapa & more chatting, we made our way back to the boat to prepare for the evening's dinghy raft-up. There were 14 dinghies that attended the raft-up! The largest turnout so far. Whew! At the raft-up, 3 dinghies dropped an anchor (it was pretty windy so needed some added protection), then everyone faced bow in and tied off to their neighbor's dinghy, securing the 'circle'. Everyone brought an appetizer to share
and they were passed around along with boat cards (like business cards with all of your pertinent boating info), & any books or DVDs to trade. It was great to have such a large turnout and was so much fun getting to know everyone. All this fun….it had to end sometime.

So this morning, we packed up the boat & headed up to Chamela along with Bob & Marlene from Selah. As soon as we anchored, we were visited by Justin & Dahlia from S/V Steady Beat, friends from Mazatlan that we haven't seen since December. Again, it's always nice seeing old friends – especially when it's a surprise! There is a possible weather window to round Cabo Corrientes so we wanted to get close to it to time our crossing. We're not sure when we'll make the crossing yet, but we're only about
60 miles from it right now. There is a possibility we go up to Ipala, which is 50 miles north of here, but it's super windy right now in the anchorage – it's gusting up to 30 knots! So we may not. We'll see!

More to follow…
Rene

Back in Barra 2.7.09

We made it back to Barra de Navidad lagoon on Friday. We dropped anchor and before we knew it, Linda & Wally from S/V Andanzas with Angel their dog were on board catching up. We chit-chatted with them for a while and then ran into the internet cafe to check messages & call in for another interview. This one was for a job doing an H2 Hummer Tour and a tour aboard an amphibious vehicle in Alaska. It sounds like fun! We'll see...

I have to tell you something kinda cool about this area. Last week we walked through a big celebration in the new church in town called San Antonio's Church.

It has some interesting history. When Hurricane Lily struck the area on September 1st, 1791, according to the locals, during the most violent part of the storm the many families who were sheltered inside San Antonio's Church began to pray feverishly. After which, the image of Christ in the church lowered his arms and all of a sudden the strong winds and rain stopped. The image is now known as ''El Cristo del Ciclon'' (The Christ of the Hurricane) or ''El Cristo de los Brazos Caidos'' ('The Christ of the Fallen Arms) and is prominently displayed in the new church.

I have heard that the vatican approves of the image and has allowed it to be displayed as the 'miracle of Barra de Navidad'. And since that time, there have been no hurricanes or tsunami's hit the area. Cool, huh?

We spent Saturday on the hunt for a chiropractor for Michael - we found a deep tissue masseuse and a accupuncturist in Barra so we jumped on a bus and went into Melaque and finally found a massage/chiropractor and Michael was adjusted to the best of this guy's abilities. He is still in a bit of pain and continues to take medicine to help. We are planning to see the accupuncturist tomorrow to see if he can help. Until then, Michael is taking it easy & resting. Poor guy...

Have a wonderful weekend!

More to follow...

Rene

Carrizal 2.5.09

We hauled anchor out of Santiago Bay with Pacific Jade and headed just up the coast to a cute anchorage named Carrizal. We were greeted by a couple of whales as we exited Santiago Bay – we never tire of seeing them. Carrizal is a smaller anchorage with a long entrance of high, rock hills on each side.

Some of the rocks had the red tint like lava rocks and there were lots of trees & foliage everywhere. Our first attempt at anchoring was skipping so we re-anchored and got a good bite. Both of us jumped into the water to cool off and Michael scrubbed the bottom & the propeller while I supervised. Wink wink! The water was a bit chilly so I made a mental note to wear a rash guard to help keep me warm when we went snorkeling. After a quick bite for lunch, we jumped into the dinghy & went to the North side of the entrance for some snorkeling with Deb & Joe. The water was still chilly & a bit murky but was still awesome. We saw several new fish that we haven’t seen before, some incredible blue coral, a sting ray that I watched for some time before it burrowed itself under the sand (it was trying to get away from another fish, not me!), & a sea anemone that looked like a dandelion when fully extended but would suddenly shrink up and look like a straw when startled. The colors were amazing & there were just so many fish everywhere! You could just hover around and see all of the life around you. It is just so spectacular here. We joked that a mediocre day snorkeling beats a good day at work anyday! Sorry, don’t mean to rub it in…

We rinsed off from snorkeling and headed over to Pacific Jade for another evening of margaritas & snacks.

Tom on another boat in the anchorage called Tis Magic joined us and we laughed & chatted for the evening. The swell had increased and was really coming into the anchorage – about 4-6 feet, but luckily a long period swell. And the boat pretty much stayed nose to the swells so we were doing the rocking horse maneuver, befitting the ‘carousel’ name of the anchorage! We rocked the entire evening and the swell just stopped about the time we were pulling anchor the following morning.

Because of the timing of the jobs we’re looking at in Alaska, we decided it’s time to begin heading North back to Mazatlan. We will leave the boat there for the summer again and need to have time to stop in places on our way and enjoy the rest of the time we have instead of bashing up quickly without stopping & having fun! We still don’t have jobs lined up, but have interviewed with several places and are waiting on offers, which we expect to get in the next week or two. Some places we interviewed at are expecting to make a decision by the end of the month, but the start date in Alaska is April 1st – 15th. So we will need to be in Mazatlan and get the boat put to bed by the middle of March. And so it goes…

So we are heading back to Barra lagoon and will be there for a couple of days, provisioning for the voyage North. We had a spectacular sunrise this morning and Pacific Jade was just behind us in the pictures!

There is some weather coming our way and we will stay in Barra until that passes, more than likely leaving early next week. Whew! How time flies. Next year we hope to have this system down better and will know what to expect! It is a bummer to leave friends but we’re sure to buddy boat with others heading North as well.

More to follow!
Rene

Lost my sunglasses 2.4.09

We decided to head into town in Santiago and check out the place with Joe & Deb on Wednesday. It was another spectacular morning & we jumped in the dinghy to the beach. Beaching the dinghy takes finesse – timing the approach just perfectly, jumping out & keeping the bow forward, and pulling it before the next wave approaches. No problem! Some days everything goes right, some days not. Today was one of those days. Now before you get too excited….no, we didn’t flip the dinghy. Long story short, somehow I ended up underneath the dinghy….again! You will remember that I was held underneath the dinghy just before Christmas in 07 when we did flip it that time. Well…here’s what I recollect about the incident.

We were coming in, a wave had just broke & we were right behind it. Perfect! I jumped out of the dinghy & was running forward when Michael said “Oh, here comes another wave”. I dashed forward trying to get to the front of the dinghy to pull the nose straight (so it wouldn’t flip) and somehow was bowled over by the dinghy and ended up directly underneath. Completely underneath and stuck between the sand & the dinghy. Fully clothed mind you! As the dinghy moved along & I pushed myself around it, I finally found the engine and was relieved, at least now I could breathe! Above water, Michael was frantic. He couldn’t see me and didn’t know where I was! He screamed my name (I didn’t hear him) and Pacific Jade who was on the beach tending their dinghy turned around and saw I was no where to be found. Once I got a breath of air, suddenly Michael lifted the dinghy like a car hood and I escaped. Of course my shirt was over my head, my hair was in my face, my hat & sunglasses were gone & every spot on my body was filled with sand. Haha… I managed to see my hat floating away along with the power bar I was eating that was in my pocket and scooped them up. I swam out to deeper water & tried to rid myself of all the sand & compose myself while cursing like a sailor. I was pissed! Everyone convinced me to go back to the boat & rinse off & change and it was on our way back to the boat I realized I had lost my sunglasses. And they even had croakies on them! Damn it! My favorite, new sunglasses! Oh well, I wasn’t hurt – just scared shitless. I jammed my pinkie finger & one of my toes, supposedly while trying to get the dinghy off of me and I’m still pulling sand out of my ears some 3 days later, but not even a scratch on me. We joke now that I was trying to lift the dinghy with just those two digits ‘get this thing off of me!’…haha… So, yep, the dinghy attempted to kill me – again! It better start behaving! I will trade it in on something else if it’s not careful.

Once I was showered & in dry clothes, we made attempt #2 to get into the shore and was successful. We jumped on a bus into town and paid our 5 pesos each. Joe & Deb had also never been into Santiago so we just jumped off when we thought we were at the end of town. We were looking for the famed Chandlery in Santiago and after asking a couple people, found it. There’s one thing about boaters – wherever there’s a ships chandlery, there is cool stuff that must be checked out! We figured it was just because we used to own one, but Joe & Deb assured us it wasn’t! We spent quite a while inside ooh’ing and aah’ing over all of the boat & fishing supplies. We also did a quick check at the internet café for any job offers, but were only treated to another interview request. We found a flat chicken restaurant and had chicken, tortillas, salsa & rice…yum! We walked around town & found a Mercado that we walked through & picked up some fruit & veggies and trinkets. The town center was beautiful, as always...

And while we were eating lunch, we were surprised to see that the circus was coming to town and they were advertising it up and down each street with several bright red vehicles each pulling trailers full of animals! There were tigers, monkeys, camels, llamas & lots more! It was quite a spectacle!

Michael went to the bank for some $$ and the ATM said it was ‘unable to distribute money right now’, so we went back and now we are over our limit. Damn! It just isn't our day! o back to the internet café to let them know we didn’t get the first disbursement. We walked down the main street as Joe had seen a chiropractor sign and Michael is in much need to get cracked. We found it, but it was closed. There is one in Melaque that we’ll stop at when we’re there again. Had a quick refreshment & noticed a BBQ place on the opposite side of the street so we stopped for a BBQ brush, something Michael has been looking for in Mexico since his fell apart. After all that excitement we jumped back on the bus back to the boats. We had a wonderful stroll along the sandy beach to our dinghies & went back to Pacific Jade for one of her fabulous margaritas. After such a stressful day, a margarita was just what the doctor ordered! Haha… Back on our boat, we ate dinner, watched a movie, & thanked our lucky stars for the outcome of the day.

More to follow…
Rene

Santiago Bay 2.2.09

We left Barra de Navidad lagoon on Monday morning and headed South for Santiago Bay with Lovely Reta,

Eyes of the World,

& Pacific Jade. On the morning we were leaving as Michael was cleaning up the cockpit, he found a boat card from our friends on Seabird – John & Linda – and written on the back they told us they had just come into Barra! Of course! On the day we leave, after being here a whole month, some long lost friends turn up! I don’t know if you remember John & Linda but they are on a 47’ Nordhavn which is a super nice power boat. We met them on the way down the coast of Baja early last year and buddy boated down until Mazatlan. Since we last saw them, they went back up to California, then to Alaska for the summer, and now are working their way back down Mexico and will go through the Panama Canal and over to the Mediterranean. Wow! We were thrilled as they dinghied up to the boat and we were at least able to chat with them for a few minutes before leaving Barra. And to add insult to injury, Wally & Linda on Andanzas also showed up in Barra on Monday. Bummer! We hope to meet up with them when we head back to Barra in a week or so. The day was spectacular, we motorsailed all the way as we only had wind enough to sail as soon as we rounded the corner. It was nice & sunshiny, warm, & calm seas….perfect! The coast here is just amazing – miles & miles of sandy beaches and no houses! The mountains & hills are tree lined with brown & green foliage and the sandy beaches have a bit of black on them. It’s really beautiful. We anchored on the northwest side of Santiago Bay along the beach of Playa Miramar along with Pacific Jade. There is about 13 other boats here, but on our side there are only 4. There is a wreck in the middle of the bay, one that was called the “Mexican Titanic” by the tour boats that are visiting the area, that you are able to snorkel. We hope to see it before we leave. We are right outside of an estuary entrance and water is clear on the incoming tide. We anchored right next to Joyeau, another boater friend from Mazatlan, Rob & Sue, and had them over to the boat for quick conversation the day we arrived.

OK, so Santiago Bay is absolutely beautiful….a long stretch of sandy beach lined with colorful umbrellas & palapas. We had a restful evening on Monday and decided to stay put on the boat as it was very windy that evening & just settled into our new home. Tuesday morning we dinghied into the Playa along with Joe & Deb and went in search of internet. We had scheduled two interviews for Tuesday and wanted to make sure we could find a strong wireless signal to phone them via Skype. Skype is an internet phone service that has very inexpensive rates. The only other viable option is to use a cell phone, but it is .60/minute…where Skype is between .02 and .05/minute. That makes a big difference on hour long interviews. So we found two options – one was at the Oasis restaurant & bar where we ate lunch and I did my first interview of the day. There was nowhere to plug in for electricity except for right at the bar so I asked the bartender if he would mind if I sat there & made my phone call. He even turned the music down so I could make the call uninterrupted…they are just so kind here. Unfortunately though, the restaurant began filling up & the bar started to get busy and before I was done with my interview, I was surrounded with people who were staring at me amazed that I was talking to my computer. I explained what I was doing and everyone was just floored! But I will say it was very intimidating trying to do an interview with people around you staring! Not so good for the concentration. Haha… So I wanted to find a little more peace & quiet, sans onlookers for my next interview. We were thrilled to find out we had two additional companies hoping for interviews and scheduled all 4 of them for that day. Whew! We won’t do that again! We’re sure that by the last interview, our brains were oozing out of our ears as we were toast! I had 4 interviews, Michael had 3. It was amazing. We found our 2nd spot for interviews right down the beautiful cobblestone street behind a small tienda. There was a table & 4 chairs and the price was 20 pesos per hour. We got there around 1:30 and began the interviews. Joe & Deb were so nice to stay with us nearly the entire time, chatting to whichever one of us was off the phone at a time. But after a while, it even got boring to them and they headed back to the boat. We finally finished up our interviews around 5pm – whew! And the gal at the office only charged us 50 pesos for the internet. We were absolutely spent. We headed back to the dinghy & out to the boat where we were so surprised to see John & Linda on M/V Seabird anchored right beside us! We dinghied over & chatted with them for a half hour or so but Michael’s back was hurting him so much he could hardly stand it. We went back to the boat & crashed…ate, read, & crashed.

The next morning Seabird contacted us and told us they were headed further down to Zihuatenejo and were thrilled we could visit with them. They’re headed to the Mediterranean and so we figure we won’t see them for a couple years. Again, that’s the good & bad of meeting cruisers down here! The friendships are wonderful but so often separated by cruising plans! It happens and we just can’t wait to hear of their trip.

More to follow!
Rene

Leaving Barra de Navidad 2.1.09

Ahh, what a wonderful place but alas, it’s time to check out new shores! With a happy generator, we spent most of this past week submitting resumes & applications to Alaska for jobs. It’s amazing how much time it takes to fill out applications, scan them, & e-mail them out! We’re still on the hunt for the ever elusive job in Alaska for the both of us for summer. I will let you know as soon as one comes through! But I think we’re closing in on one. Here's Michael interviewing for one now...

There was a temporary mass exodus of our friends this week – Lady Hawke, Pacific Jade, Lovely Reta, & Eyes of the World all went out early in the week for a few days out of the Lagoon but with so much work ahead of us, we hunkered down & got to work. But at the same time we figured – hmmm…the generator’s happy, Michael has finished studying for his HAM test, we have time to ourselves….it’s time to socialize!! We made a point of meeting a new cruising couple a day and get to know them. We had a new boat appear in front of us called Eagle Wing and invited them over for appetizers & refreshments Wednesday evening. Joe is the boat owner of a 56’ Alden ferro cement boat that has an awesome layout. It actually has a full sized kitchen! He purchased the boat about 6 years ago and has been cruising for a couple years now. Katie is his crewmate and he has two additional crew joining them for their crossing over to the South Pacific! They are both young – in their 20’s and are enjoying their time out here. We also met & had dinner with the couple off of S/V Freestyle – Jenna and Tim. Jenna & Tim were the couple instrumental in raising the $2800 pesos for the local hospital in Colimilla for the respiratory equipment they desperately needed.

We had dinner at Fortino’s restaurant and feasted on their special chille rellenos made special for the evening, grandma’s recipe! Saturday was Tim’s 50th birthday so I attempted to make some cupcakes….which turned out incredibly awful….but took them over anyway. I guess my mix doesn’t like to be vacuum packed…mental note for next time. Hey, it’s the thought that counts, right?! Haha… We have been trying to get together with Dave from S/V Shoot the Moon for this entire week and have only managed to see him at the pool, but hope we can hook up with him when we return.

We had a nice surprise on Friday – when we were listening to the morning net, we heard ‘Slacker’ check in! Mike & Julie on S/V Slacker are on Dock 6 in Mazatlan and we have had the pleasure of getting to know them this past year. They work 6 months out of the year at the Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego & cruise the other 6 months. They’ve been doing this for over 6 years and decided to spend this cruising season doing projects on the boat for the entire season. We were bummed when we learned we wouldn’t be able to cruise with them but understood their reasoning. Anyway, we contacted them on the VHF and found out they were traveling with another couple and would be in Barra for the next couple days! We met them at the pool at The Sands Hotel and enjoyed catching up & cooling off in the pool and then went out for dinner that evening. The couple they were with turned out to be from Alaska and we learned a ton about the different cities we were applying and they gave us lots of info to think about. Sam cruised Mexico on a boat called ‘Livin’ and has it up for sale with the hopes of buying another smaller boat once it sells.

Saturday evening we went over to Heather & Jim on Meerkat, a catamaran from Ventura harbor along with John & Deby on Lovely Reta & Rick & Karen on Eyes of the World and attended an ‘It’s no-one’s birthday, birthday party’.

Yep, that’s right, it was no one’s birthday – a great reason for a party! Haha… Everyone was instructed to bring their own hamburger patties and were assigned an appetizer, salad, side, etc. I had the honor of bringing appetizers so I made my favorite carrot/cream cheese/olive appetizer as well as crackers & a cream cheese dip smothered in raspberry chipotle sauce…yum!! They were gobbled up as the 10 of us chatted, sang, & viewed photos. Meerkat had another couple on board, Alan & Susan from Anaheim who had joined them on their sail for the past month. They have a boat named Toshal at home & we enjoyed getting to know them. Anyway, Jim fired up the bbq and tossed the burgers on while everyone else was getting ready with baked beans, salad, & condiments. We chowed down some fantastic burgers & just enjoyed the evening. Deby from Lovely Reta has a large plastic duck that she was given by her sister and was named ‘Alice’ and she brings the duck all over & takes photos & sends them to her sister. She even has a theme song which was played loud over the speakers & sung to. Too funny…

Sunday was, of course, SUPER BOWL!! Yep, even down here we were able to watch the great game! We didn’t get the American commercials so luckily it was a good game! We took the shore boat into town around 2pm and walked around the town, scoping out the town for the best place to watch it. We had lots of options – a pig roast at one place, drink specials at another, sunset at another! We finally decided on Los Arcos and we ended up with a group of 13 people – Mike & Julie on Slacker, John & Deby on Lovely Reta, Alan & Susan from Toshal, Heather from Meerkat, Rick & Karen from Eyes of the World, & Sam and his girlfriend.

Can you BELIEVE the Cardinals LOST?!! Amazing… Anyway, another enjoyable evening & back at the boat. We’re leaving Barra tomorrow morning & heading to Santiago Bay! Woohoo!

More to follow…
Rene

Michael's a HAM! 1.28.09

Well, those of you who know him will agree... But seriously, he took & passed his Technician HAM exam offered today by fellow cruisers. Woohoo! The paperwork will be submitted in the next few days and we'll be excited to learn his call sign. When we do, we'll share it!

Congrats Michael!

While he was busy taking tests, another cruiser arranged for a tour of the local hospital in Colimilla and a fundraiser as the hospital is in desperate need for some equipment. The hospital was incredibly basic, even to my un-educated eye. The hospital is hoping we can raise enough money, only $180 for a respiratory machine. We hope we can help them out! Cruisers often help cruisers, and the local towns they stay. In the Barra de Navidad area, there is a strong wind that comes up most afternoons that blows pretty hard in the lagoon. Often there is a boat that winds up 'dragging anchor' and is in need of help. The dinghies to the rescue! Folks jump in their dinghies and attempt to help out the boat whether manned or unmanned. In Zihuatenejo there is a 'sailfest' that the cruisers raise money for the town, work at the schools, & assist wherever needed. It's just something we do!

Oh, and I uploaded some more photos...
Rene

Sailing to Melaque with friends 1.24.09

We had a wonderful day today. Our new friends, Ron & Wendy, who we met in the grocery store a little while ago had talked with us at the fishing tournament about going out for a sail with a few friends. We figured – why not?! I was dying to get out of the lagoon and so we said yes.

Ron & Wendy had rented a condo in a complex with 3 other condos and had become good friends with the other 3 units and invited them out as well. We had a total of 10 on the boat, 8 guests plus us. Ron & Wendy were from B.C., Luigi & Pat from the U.K., Laura & Adam were from England, & Ed & Chris are from Canada as well. They were all here on vacation, some her for 2 weeks, some up to 8 weeks. We had a FANTASTIC time! They all came aboard with coolers & snorkeling gear and we headed out of the lagoon around 11am and had a wonderful sail outside of Barra. Ron has a sailboat that on the Shuswap Lake in B.C. and took the helm for the majority of the day. He looked as if he was in 7th heaven as he was steering the boat and showing others how to steer.

We had some incredible whale experiences out there that was the highlight of the sail! Two of the guests were worried about getting seasick so they were watching the horizon the entire time. Suddenly, Chris shrieked – WHALE!! There were whales that were breaching far away, probably 300 yards from the boat. We all watched while we were sailing back to Barra and were preparing to drop the sails. Everyone was looking intently in the direction we had last spotted them when suddenly, there was a spout that was so loud, both myself & Pat jumped and Pet even though we had ripped a sail! I was so stunned…all I could say was WHALE!! There were two huge whales, just off the port side of the boat that were probably 20 feet from us! They were spouting & gracefully arching and showing their tails right in front of our eyes! It was absolutely, completely amazing. And what an experience for all of our guests! We joked that we didn’t charge extra for that sight…but I think everyone was too stunned to get the joke. And our final whale encounter was once we turned around and was headed over to the anchorage in Melaque, a humpback whale did a turning breach right out of the water that I swear was National Geographic perfect. He came all the way out of the water, turned around, & flopped hard on the water – so much that Michael swears he felt the impact in addition to hearing the sound! Incredible…

After the spectacular whale sightings, we headed over to an anchorage in Melaque & dropped a hook for some lunch and snorkeling. Luigi made wonderful sandwiches & had fruit, croissants, & snickers bars and several of us jumped in the water to check out the snorkeling. I got my first jelly fish sting as I must have jumped right onto the rascal. It wasn’t that bad, it felt like someone slapped my leg really hard and eventually in the afternoon, I had red welts where it had stung me. But by the next morning, it was all better. I considered the snorkeling poor as it was very murky, but I eventually found a perfect spot to hover & watch the beautiful fish. I saw some absolutely gorgeous yellow angel fish that I haven’t seen before and some little fishes that were half orange and half blue – but every fish had it’s vibrant colors – orange, yellow, blue, purple, red – you name it!

After getting my fill of fresh water and lunch, we motorsailed back into Barra, successfully avoiding the bars as we were came in at low tide. We had such a wonderful time enjoying our new friends and although we have seen whales previously, we never tire of them as they are spectacular – so graceful.

We’re thrilled that we could take the group out and experience our life a little bit. We were given some ‘coconuts’ ($) for gas as it is illegal for us to earn money on our Mexican visas. The water taxi took the group and Ron & Wendy flew out the following day. My camera had a dead battery and I only got a couple of photos, but I hope that our guests will send us some photos of the day so I can post them!

Pacific Jade is back in the lagoon from their adventure and we are planning to join them to leave Barra and head South to Santiago Bay, hopefully later in the week.

More to follow!
Rene

Fishing Tournament 1.22.09

After putting the boat back together for the past couple days & working hard to find jobs for the summer, we needed to relax. Our friends John & Deby on Lovely Reta, Rick & Karen on Eyes of the World, and Mike & Wendy on Boddhistava all from Channel Islands Harbor finally made it into the lagoon and we were so excited to finally be in the same place as them!

There was a big fishing tournament going on at the Grand Bay Hotel and we decided to go over for the weigh-in on the first day of the tournament. Oh yeah, and there were some big fish….marlin, sailfish, & dorado’s.

The entry fee was $3000 US per pole and a minimum of 3 poles per boat and lots of boats! The fishermen were incredibly friendly and we even saw the marina manager of Marina Mazatlan, Jaime, down here!

Oh, and did I mention the Tecate girls?

Many of the cruisers headed up to the marina for the 10 pesos beer and 12 pesos shots of tequila. We had a wonderful time and were doing well with shots of tequila…until a bottle was bought!

Hey, Rick - is that a worm in your tequila??

After that, well, things seem to get fuzzy. Haha… But we had a great time – I even have a video! Of course, I think I’ll keep that one off of the website. But it was great having a good time with old & new friends.

Boats continue to come & go in the lagoon and the average boats here still runs around 30. Pacific Jade headed out to an anchorage called Coletta de Campos and had a lovely experience – a local Mexican family swam out to the boat and invited them to their house for coffee the next day. They went to the house and were immediately adopted and offered the use of anything at the house – the car, food, etc! They had the family out to the boat one afternoon and said it was a wonderful experience. I have to admit, I am very jealous as that is exactly what I am down here to experience. Hopefully we will have the opportunity to experience the same somewhere else.

OK…more to follow!
Rene

Good news on the generator 1.20.09

So last I left you, we had wrestled the generator out & taken it to a mechanic in Melaque. We went & picked up the monster and were bummed to hear him say it was working fine...but he needed to come to the boat to make sure nothing else was wrong. We were very suprised at this news as we were convinced it was something with the armeture, brushes, & bearings - something! And even more suprised that he wanted to come to the boat to check it out! We were in a neighboring town and so we all jumped into his pickup truck, with him & one other worker and Michael & I and the generator and drove to Barra de Navidad, then all four of us jumped into our dinghy and made the journey out to the boat. They hung out in the engine room while Michael put the thing back together, observing and asking a ton of questions. They spoke absolutely no english and we all laughed as I had two english/spanish dictionaries on my lap and was translating both to spanish for the workers, then listening to them in spanish and translating to english for Michael! It was quite fun. See, I'm really getting good at speaking spanish in normal conversation, but when it comes to saying weird words like 'fan belt', 'volts', 'under load' and such...I need help! Shockingly though, we got our points across and had fun learning at the same time - me learning Spanish, and teaching them some English!

OK, so they get to the boat and are working away and for some odd reason, when we fire up the generator, it runs for about a minute and then dies. Starts up, runs for a couple minutes, then dies. The mechanic was convinced that the capacitor was blown again and took it with him and said he would look for a new one in either Melaque or in Manzanillo, a larger commercial port South of us. We took him back to his truck with high hopes he could find a replacement! He said he would call us when he found the part.

Two days later, he hadn't called. But in the meantime, Michael had been scratching his head on why the generator was failing! There are only 3 things that it would die like that - no fuel, no water, or no air. He originally thought it was a water problem but tore that apart and found no problems. So he began the arduous task of determining if there was a fuel issue. The fuel comes from the same tank as the engine so we knew it wasn't a problem of bad fuel. The filter looked perfectly clean but when he took the downside and dumped it into a 5 gal bucket and pulled right out of the bucket, the generator ran without issue. He consulted with John from Jonco and decided to take the line off of the filter and place a different type of in-line filter in place, a super simple paper filter, and see if it works. Well, it does. We're still scratching our heads why the super duper filter seems to have failed while this simple paper filter is working fine, but alas - it works!

But of course, now we're still without a capacitor. On Monday, we took a bus up to Melaque and talked to the mechanic. He couldn't find the capacitor anywhere here. Of course! But said he had it tested and it was not dead, as he suspected, just low. Whatever that means. So we took the capacitor back to the boat and replaced it on the generator and WHAHLAH!! IT WORKS!! WOOHOO!!!!

We've been walking on eggshells for the past week hoping among hope that it will continue to work without fail and so far, so good! All of the prayers helped!

Now let me tell you something else... When we first took that taxi into town with the generator, the taxi driver helped us significantly with the mechanics since they only spoke Spanish. Then, he gave the mechanic his personal cell phone number when the mechanic asked as we didn't have a phone and he said he would find us if the mechanic called. We worried that with his help, we would be upcharged by the taxi driver. It was a comment Michael said when we initially dropped off the generator. We ended up going in to Melaque without the taxi driver & dealing totally with the mechanic ourself for the rest of the transaction. And even after spending about 2 hours on the boat, and who knows how much time looking for a replacement capacitor....the mechanic charged us absolutely nothing. NOTHING! It was shocking...and a bit ironic. Oh ye of little faith. But a case of beer & some tequila is heading his way! :-)

So woohoo! We're now able to begin planning to go cruising again!! We are still looking at purchasing a little portable 2500 watt generator somewhere…and John from Jonco is going to Puerta Vallarta this weekend and will look for one for us. Just as a spare, just in case. You know?!

More to follow...
Rene

Coco's Beach video 1.18.09

I uploaded another video, for some reason I have 3 that just won't work. Oh well...

Here's a quick vidoe of our walk to Coco's Beach in Barra de Navidad...and the surf! Look on the left side of the screen to the rounded rock. Just over that rock is the tucked in coves & beautiful sandy beach we hung out at!

Jonco 1st Annual Pig Roast 1.18.09

Well, we changed plans...again...and decided to hang in Barra de Navidad for another few days, rip the generator out of the engine room & take it in to a mechanic in Melaque. Michael worked hard to wrangle that monster out of the engine room, stripping it down as much as he could to minimize the weight. The mongrel weighed in around 80lbs! Michael had hoped to take it in his backpack so he could shoulder the weight, but it ripped the backpack on the first attempt so we put it in some heavy-duty canvas bags and gingerly moved it into the dinghy. Luckily, Joe & Deb and Mike & Marylyn were also going into Melaque the same day so Joe helped lug it on the 8 block walk to a taxi. Funny enough, when Joe first helped Michael get it out of the dinghy, he said "it isn't that heavy"...but after walking the 8 blocks to the taxi, commented "that's a heavy @($#%&!!". haha... We had been given several suggestions for mechanics in Melaque and drove to one but he took a look at it and sent us to another one down the street. The 2nd mechanic, named 'El Chalan' which translates roughly to 'the helper' took a look and said he could do it. We left it with him on Friday and he expected to have it done by Monday unless he needed parts. We will call him first thing Monday to make sure no special parts are needed. So keep your fingers crossed that it will run better! When we get the generator back, we'll have Jonco come out & help Michael put humpty dumpty back together. We spent the rest of the day hanging out in Melaque and while there, I found a photo processor & dropped off our 2 underwater cameras with high hopes of some spectacular photos. They won't be finished until Monday either but if there were any that develop, I'll post them as soon as possible.

Speaking of Jonco, on Saturday John & his wife, Lupita, hosted their 1st annual Pig Roast at their house. It was a lot of fun. He had an entire pig cooking in a bbq pit on his property and asked the cruisers to come & bring a side dish. I love attending shindigs like this as you get to try some spectacular foods prepared by everyone else. We made BBQ'd pineapple - a favorite from a luau evening we cooked up for friends previously. You take the pineapple & cut it into rings, leaving the core. Then you take 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup rum, 1/4 cup butter, & 2 tbls water & heat in a saucepan. Once everything is melted, drizzle it on the pineapple & marinate for a bit. Heat the bbq & grill the pineapples on each side for 5-10 minutes or until brown. It's FANTASTIC!! So incredibly yummy... We decided to take a taxi to their house because we didn't know exactly where we were going and it turned out we got a nice tour of the ranches of Barra as we passed the house but continued for probably 5 miles! We made our way back the way we came and found some other cruisers walking and jumped out with them, who knew the way. There were probably 70 or so people there and everyone was hiding out in the shade as it was a very warm & sunny day. The one thing that John did not remember was chairs and so with some leftover building materials and John's permission, we constructed a couple benches in the shade...perfect!

The pig was roasted to perfection - the meat was incredibly tender and the BBQ sauce spectacular. All of the side dishes were a wonderful compliment to the pig and there were even pitchers of margaritas as refreshments. The majority of people present were cruisers, but some neighbors & other land-based businesses that service the cruisers were also represented. I missed getting a photo of the pig before it was cut up....but it was pretty ugly anyway. We spent about 3 hours or so chatting with everyone & then made the walk back to town. It was a welcome walk as we were all stuffed! We walked through town & made a stop at Diane & Drew's for a bit and then back to the water taxi.

So it's Sunday now and we're resting from all the excitement of the past few days...haha. Actually, Michael has been doing projects like crazy - the head discharge hose was plugged (urine mixes with salt water & creates this crazy crystal reaction and coats the hose....until almost nothing goes through) so he took it apart after unsuccessfully snaking it and had to beat, bend, & rinse the hose to get it clear again. Success! The rear head works like new again! He also tightened the packing on the shaft as it was dripping a little too much. So this afternoon he's taking a much needed break from projects.

We're staying put for a few more days, or until the generator is functioning again. The plan is still to go further South and we've been hearing Lovely Reta & Eyes of the World on the radio & know they're close! We're looking forward to seeing more spots and getting back in clean water! Today is 97 degrees outside and very little breeze, it's HOT!

Rene

Back in Barra de Navidad 1.14.09

We left Tenacatita on Sunday morning and made the small jog back to Barra. There are about 23 boats in Barra now and it's still very nice. We are anchored in just about the exact same spot as before and it's nice here. We arrived on Sunday around 9:30 after a 2 ½ hour motorsail and for some reason I was completely exhausted. I laid down just after we dropped anchor and slept until 1pm! I must be fighting something. Michael has been fighting something for the past few days as well and there
are lots of other cruisers who have picked up a cold - bummer! We went into town yesterday for some internet time, pool time, & visiting with fellow cruisers. We met up with Pacific Jade & Kim & Linda from Endeavor and we all went up to Piper Lover's Bar in time for an incredible sunset (I forgot my camera - again!) and some live music. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous - red, orange, & yellow falling behind a palm tree lined beach….spectacular! We were back to the boat after dark - again -
and had a lovely dinner.

Tuesday we had a bad day. You know how you will have those days that start out so wonderfully and then just magically get worse? That was our day on Tuesday. We woke up & ran the generator, which was doing fabulous. Michael went into town on the dinghy and picked up our laundry & got some fuel & veggies (all of the store owners take delivery of new produce on Monday night) and I was working on the laptop getting the blog ready to publish. We don't have internet at the boat so we have to tote
the laptop into town for internet. Anyway, we were sitting in the cockpit enjoying the sunshine when the generator made a very odd noise. Michael ran down & observed…it not making any A/C power again. Oh great. It seems we have blown up our last capacitor. @#$(%&!! He stressed out about it and shut it down and we went back into 'super-energy-saver mode' and decided to just go in town to do some internetting.

Now we usually go into The Sands Hotel & work there but we decided instead to go to a restaurant called Fortino's in Colimilla instead as they had asked for our help with getting the internet up & running for the restaurant guests. No problem, we beached the dinghy & helped Margarite out with questions and were all set with internet. We went to the table & I had an iced tea…which was oddly placed on a wobbly tea plate. I was working away and when the food arrived, I moved the laptop to the side
of the table and (I missed this part!) placed the side of the laptop right on the corner of the wobbly plate which quickly dumped the entire contents of my glass directly onto the laptop. In lightning fast speed, Michael says he saw me move quicker than he has ever seen me move, I had the laptop upside down & turned off before he could say SHIT! We drained out the liquid and dried it off, removing the battery, & took it back to the boat for more drying time. I checked all of the openings for liquid,
sprayed it with compressed air to attempt to remove any liquid, and ultimately placed it in the engine room which is the driest, warmest spot in the boat for the entire evening. I am happy to report that aside from some sticky keys, it seems to be functioning properly so far this morning. Whew!! The one thing I would always stress to my students and I go and do it.

We met a wonderful couple, Wendy & Ron, from Canada (we seem to meet a lot of Canadians when we're cruising) while getting groceries the other day that are staying at a condo here in town. We invited them to come out & see the boat and much to our surprise, they kayaked out for a visit! It was great talking to them. They have a business in Canada called Reef Knot Sail Cruises and offer a boat charter on the Shuswap Lake. Check it out… www.reefknotsailcruises.com

So this morning I'm working on the laptop while Michael charges the batteries via the motor. We are planning to leave Barra tomorrow morning and head further South to Bahia Manzanillo to an anchorage called Las Hadas where we hope to find a generator repair place. Manzanillo is a large town and has a commercial port there so hopefully we'll get lucky! Wish us luck…

Oh, I am posting more photos & videos today as well so check them out!

I'll write more later!
Rene

Bahia de Tenacatita 1.10.09

We left Barra lagoon on Monday morning, the 5th, and motored North a few miles (about 14 miles away) to Tenacatita Bay. We missed this stop on our way South as we were trying to get to Barra by Christmas so we figured we'd go back for a while! Tenacatita is a very popular anchorage and many cruisers will spend several months between Barra, Tenacatita, & Santiago Bay which is nicknamed the 'Gold Coast' as it is spectacular and each spot offers something just a bit different. Pacific Jade had left
Barra the day before and we made it into the bay after a beautiful motor sail up the coast. Lady Hawke joined us all a few hours later. We tossed a line in the water hoping to catch some fish and thought we were getting lucky...as we had two bites but they both managed to escape before Michael could reel them in completely. Bummer! The bay is spectacular and we were welcomed into the entrance by two whales playing just around the boat. We also had help anchoring by several local dolphins who
welcomed us into the anchorage by surfacing all around us. The dolphins are notorious here and everyone looks forward to seeing them. One is nicknamed 'chip' as there is a piece missing from his fin. They also rub up against your anchor chain, scratching their back. You hear this crazy sound of chain jingling and run up and see some just under the bow of the boat. There were 13 other boats in the anchorage when we arrived.

We spent 6 days in Tenacatita and it was fabulous. The bay has spectacular clear blue water and we went swimming at least once every day. We also spent the days doing projects, snorkeling, kayaking, walking the beach, reading, relaxing & meeting new people. The beach is one long stretch of a white sand beach. There is a resort at the far end of the beach, called the Blue Bay Lagoon Resort, that is an all-inclusive resort. It is reported that last-minute stays are as inexpensive as $70/person
but cruisers are not welcome. The beach is backed by palm trees and at the other end is a small palapa that serves beers & food and a small campground. This is also the site of the movie set 'McHale's Navy' and one of the buildings still stand. There are two anchorages in Bahia Tenacatita, one near the 'aquarium' and the other on the other side of Punta Chubasco. We chose the calmer anchorage on the North of Punta Chubasco and stayed there the entire 6 days. There is a river estuary called Rio
Iguana that you can take the dinghy into that is filled with mangroves, birds, flowering vines that canopy over parts of the channel, butterflies, colorful crabs, fish, and it is rumored to have crocodiles though we haven't seen any. The trip starts out at the entrance to the estuary where you have to either time your entrance to be sure there is enough water under you, or get out & push or drag the dinghy through the entrance. We beached our dinghy as we had trash to get rid of on the way in but
raised our dinghy engine and paddled and pushed until we were in the free flowing water on the way back out. We began somewhere around 10am and made our way through the jungle river trip to the end which takes you to a lagoon and the main town called Playa Escolleras where there are several restaurants, a small tienda for groceries, & lots & lots of beach. We made the trek with Pacific Jade while Mike on Lady Hawke took the shorter ride around the point and met us later. Mike met up with Ryan
on Buddhaventura, an RV'er that we know from Mazatlan and who helped bring us a frequency meter just after Christmas and joined us for lunch. We visited for a while & had a wonderful lunch and then headed back to the boats. The entire trip was about 6 hours.

We did maintenance on the boat, as always - this time Michael scraped the bottom. You see, the boat sits in the water at all times & things begin growing on it that makes it much less efficient, as well as possibly doing damage to the bottom paint which is designed to repel the critters who attach themselves. He hooked up his 75' hose directly to the dive tank and began cleaning the bottom. There was sea grass, critters, & barnacles growing and he used a scraper & a fibrous scrub sponge to remove
all of the crud. While he was scrubbing the bottom, I was giving all of our stainless steel a freshwater scrub to remove any of the salt that was on it to slow down rust. I found a couple missing screws and Michael found a big missing one! One of the heads of a bold holding on the chainplate at the bow of the boat was missing and the chainplate was beginning to pull up. If you will remember, he had a similar failure on his way up the coast from Panama and did not want to deal with it again.
So he enlisted the help of Pacific Jade, Lady Hawke, & Endeavor and they replaced the bolt, under the waterline, while in the water - a somewhat risky job.

I have to tell you how cool these cruisers are. Michael noticed the missing bold and shared this info with Pacific Jade and Lady Hawke via the radio. Now the benefit of using a radio is it's much easier than yelling (haha) and it's just like a phone, quick & easy to use - but the sometimes bad side is something called 'lurking'…which is when others listen to your conversations. Everyone does it and I'm just as guilty as the next guy - I get curious and will follow another conversation when they
switch to other channels. Anyway, Michael was sharing his issue (he was looking for the correct size bolt) with Pacific Jade & Lady Hawke when we were called by others in the anchorage, and at the RV park, offering us the bolts they had. How cool, huh?! Michael pulled out all of the items he needed for the repair but decided to work on the project the next morning as he was reading a book that he couldn't put down. The next morning came around and he was called on the radio - first by Pacific
Jade offering his assistance, then by Lady Hawke, then by Endeavor. He was fielding the calls and went back to reading his book. Finally I looked at him and said "You better get to it…these guys need a project to do!"…hahaha… And a little while later all 3 of them were at the boat and with great precision, the old bolt was removed and a teak plug in place to prevent water from flowing inside the bold while Michael got the new bolt ready, gooped up, passed up and Joe placed it in the hold and twisted
it in place from the outside while Michael did the same from the inside. The whole thing took less than an hour and another crisis averted! On closer inspection though, the bold looks like it has some electrolysis and even though the metal was tested to be 'protected' we will have to watch it closely to make sure it does not happen again. We're very thankful to everyone who helped - Joe, Mike, Kim, & Ryan for their help. What a cool community..

The rest of the week was spent just having a relaxing time. I put the inflatable kayak in the water and checked out the spectacular clear water and visited a few boats one morning while Michael worked on projects. We went to the beach one afternoon and met up with Kim & Linda on Endeavor, and other couples from boats who were new to us joined us for a walk down the beach and afterward a beer at the palapa restaurant by the campground. If you didn't watch it, you could keep yourself very busy in
Tenacatita - there were bocce ball games, domino games, card games, walks, book trades, etc. that were scheduled almost every afternoon! It's a great place to really get to know your boat neighbors and the beach is perfect for walking, bocce ball, & shell hunting as it's a nice flat white sand beach.

On Friday evening at 5pm there was a dinghy raft-up scheduled where everyone in the anchorage was invited and we met at a corner of the bay. One of the dinghies set out an anchor and everyone else joined them in a semi-circle and tied themselves to their neighbor. We ended up with 12 boats represented - out of the 13 in the anchorage! Some of the boats there were: A Capella (the organizer), Batu, Lady Hawke, Synchrony, Di's Dream, Finale, Pacific Jade, Rediscovery II (from Kansas!), Hobo, Maradon,
Sailfish, and us. It was great! Everyone brought an appetizer to share and there was some great dishes being passed around! We brought something out of a cruiser cookbook called 'potato nachos' that turned out pretty yummy. Just sliced potatoes, broiled for 10 minutes, then topped (I used Rotel tomatoes) and some cheese and broiled for 10 additional minutes. I had two books to give away as did someone else so they were passed around until someone took them. We had a great time chatting with
everyone and getting to know them and stayed until dark. Marylyn on Lady Hawke has been sick since New Year's day and a few days ago Mike on Lady Hawke ended up with a head cold so we haven't seen much of them this trip. Hopefully they get better soon so we can hang out with them again.

The next morning Pacific Jade moved their boat from the anchorage to the Aquarium anchorage and after they were settled, we dinghied over to the anchorage for some snorkeling! The water was spectacularly clear and we know how they got the nickname the 'aquarium'. The fish were amazing, so many different colors & varieties. The water was a bit chilly as it was a bit overcast but it was spectacular anyway. There was a large coral field with white, black & green coral that looked like a cauliflower
head everywhere and pillars of rock jutting out of the water that were inhabited by pelicans. They seemed to be watching us with interest and I joked with the fishes swimming just below them that they were tempting fate being this close to the pelicans! There were needlefish, beautiful large blue angelfishes, butterfly fishes, and simply ones I can't identify in my book but there were blowfishes, blue fishes with white polka dots, bright red fishes, schools of itty bitty extremely colorful fishes,
clownfish, & little teeny guys with yellow stripes. It was spectacular. I took more underwater photos but am not having much luck finding a photo processor yet. I may have to go into the town of Melaque tomorrow to look for one. I hope they turn out OK!

After snorkeling, I was absolutely freezing (I should have brought my rash guard and am just lucky that I had a one piece swim suit on to help with the cold) so we got back in the dinghy and warmed up a bit. Ryan on Buddhaventura (www.buddhaventura.com) was parked right on the sand by the aquarium and he had made a special beer trip into town for our visit. We beached our dinghies on an incredibly awesome coral beach right in front of his RV and spent a few hours visiting with him before walking
into town for lunch. After lunch we walked back to the dinghies and zoomed back to the boat - just before sunset. It was an incredible day. I have a good friend who always used to tell me she needed to 'get wet' every couple days to really feel good…now I understand. I have developed a severe need for 'water therapy!' Now I have to get back out on the surfboard more!

After several days in Tenacatita, we headed back to Barra de Navidad where we will reprovision, check e-mails (we're anxiously awaiting e-mails from all of the applications we submitted for jobs in Alaska), update the blog, and get fuel & stuff. We plan on spending a couple days in Barra and then head further South to Santiago. That's the plan!

So I apologize for not writing more, we've just been enjoying and haven't spent much time on the computer. I'll write more later!
Rene

Feliz Ano Nuevo 1.1.2009!

Happy New Year everyone! What a spectacular year we have had and we hope to be able to continue this lifestyle for several years. We’re so blessed to have been able to go on this trip, while we’re so young (something we’re told almost daily!), and are really having the time of our lives out here. The cruising community is fabulous – friendly, helpful, & well…fun! The friendships we make here I’m certain will last a lifetime. OK, enough of the sappy stuff…haha!!

Today was another action packed day! I was told about a street fair in Melaque, a town just outside of Barra de Navidad and arranged to join a group of gals going. I hitched a ride with one of the other dinghies as we took ours in for service since we got the parts brought down by a boater. We had ordered the parts but they hadn’t made it to Mazatlan before we left so we asked Pacific Voyager to hold on to them for us but they knew they wouldn’t make it down here before we did, so they gave the parts to another boater who was heading down and we got them! Woohoo! It’s not pony express, but it made it!

Once in town, I joined Rita from Over Heated and Kim & Linda from Endeavor and the four of us walked up through Barra to the bus stop and then jumped on the bus to Melaque.

In Melaque, every Wednesday they hold a street fair that is probably 10 blocks long in one long straight street. You can buy anything here – arts & crafts, local handiwork, undergarments, clothes, shoes, kitchen utensils, watch batteries, sunglasses, DVD’s/CD’s, fruit, you name it, it’s probably there! I had a great time and walked away with some things that had been on my list for a while! A metal lime squeezer as my current one is plastic and has cracked in two places, a bean smasher since we’ve been cooking beans and need to mash them, a watch battery that works in our favorite timer on the boat, a tank top for Michael, a swimsuit for me, fresh eggs, potatoes, a couple DVD’s – Batman, 007, & a Richard Gere movie, and a couple other things. It was very fun to walk around & check out everything. We walked further in town and went to the ‘Super Hawaii’ store that sold lots of ‘gringo’ items and then walked further to find a restaurant where I had a fantastic meal for only $3, drink included! We jumped back on the bus and made it to the boat for a little rest and prepare for New Year’s Eve!

Most everyone went into town around 5:30pm and again, met at the Alondra Hotel for a drink and a fantastic sunset. We had dinner at a restaurant called “Mexico Lindo”, spent some time with Diane & Drew, friends of Joe & Deb from Canada for a while, and then basically bar-hopped from place to place as there were lots of live bands playing and we had to check out each of them! The Grand Bay Hotel shot off a wonderful display of fireworks at midnight and everyone raced to an easy spot to watch them. We listened to a few more sets of the bands and around 1am took a water taxi back to the boat. It was a very fun evening.

We spent the last couple days, well, recovering, taking it easy, relaxing, etc. After getting the dinghy engine serviced, it still isn’t quite right so we have an appointment to take it back tomorrow. We splurged and paid for 24 hours of internet that we can get on the boat and have been applying for jobs & just internetting like crazy. We called Xantrex and they told us how to adjust our changer so that it won’t kill the generator so we will be trying that out tonight. There are three ‘Extra’ class HAM operators in the lagoon and have setup a test on Monday for ham tests. Michael wasn’t able to get his when I got mine due to Uncle Sam calling him away so he’s studying like crazy and plans to take the test on Monday. We’ll leave Barra on Tuesday and go up to Tenacatita for a little while. That’s the plan! Of course, as you know, plans change sometimes hourly.

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year’s Eve and wish everyone a healthy & prosperous New Year.

Love,
Rene

Coco’s beach 12.29.08

As today was our play day, Pacific Jade & Lady Hawke suggested we go over to the golf course for brunch and then to the beach. Cool! We’re up for that…

We met in our dinghies around 10am on Monday and headed over to the Colimia side of the lagoon to the golf course. There is an exclusive hotel here called The Grand Bay Resort by Wyndham that also operates an amazing golf course here on the Isla, across the bay from the city of Barra de Navidad. So we dinghied over, tied our dinghies to a tree and, dressed in our beach clothes with soft sided coolers on our back, began to walk through the golf course. We first came to the clubhouse where we stopped and ate brunch. They had a good breakfast, complete with fresh squeezed orange juice, and we wondered if they were either irritated with us for being there or grateful as we were the only ones in the entire building! After lunch, we walked through the golf course, following the golf cart route directly to the ocean. Imagine a golf course that is right on the ocean in the U.S. allowing a bunch of non-golfers to walk through to get to the ocean! Once we made it to the beach, we walked down the beach until it dead-ended right into a large hill of rock. On the edge of the rock there was a walkway that went up & over the rock and took you to a beautiful beach with two coves separated by another large rock and a tunnel rock where the waves came rushing in and sometimes joined with the surf of the main beach. It was spectacular! I posted some pictures of the beach and will upload a video soon as well.

We spent the day just hanging out – swimming, combing the beach for shells, chatting, etc. We even found an old trashed volleyball that looked just like “Wilson” from the movie and we helped him out & posed him for some photos. There were very few people on the beach, only two or three at a time, and most came and stayed for only a few minutes and left so we were spoiled with a beautiful, hidden beach, all by ourselves. The water felt spectacular and it was a turquoise blue with white surf. We didn’t realize we had spent 7 hours until we got back to the boat so late! But it’s nice when you’re with friends and the time flies…that’s how you know you’re with good friends.

Unfortunately, I didn’t plan on 7 hours in the sun and got a little sunburned that I’m still nursing but it was so worth it. It was absolutely spectacular. A great hidden gem that we’re thrilled to have been shown.

Tuesday morning we arranged for another generator technician to come out to the boat & take a look. His name was John and his company is Johnco. He is an expat and has been working & living in Puerta Vallarta for several years. Anyway, he came over and wouldn’t you know it….the generator performed spectacularly. No problem whatsoever. Of course! We discussed the problem with him and he agreed though, we have a problem not with the generator, but with the inverter/charger. I’ll attempt to explain it.

- We have a 3.5KW generator which translates to 3500 watts. Divide 3500 watts by the volt output, which is 140 and you get a maximum 25 amp output.
- Now, we have a Xantrex Freedom 30 Inverter/Charger that when the batteries are low, requires 28 amps in the ‘Charge’mode.

So we’re bringing the generator ‘to it’s knees’ when it’s attempting to charge the batteries. Not a good thing. We need to figure out if we can change the amp requirements of our Xantrex unit or if we need to get a separate charger. We would have to re-wire a separate charger and finding one down here will be very difficult and it will cost a fortune to have one shipped down here. We’ll see. We’re able to keep up with it as long as we do not let the batteries go down below 20%. We’re running the generator a lot more than I like – I don’t like the ‘noise maker’ running so much but that’s the way it is right now and we’re still out here so what am I complaining about! But our Christmas list for next year is getting HUGE! Haha… Additional solar panels, re-insulate the fridge, maybe a new TV (ours is giving us fits now & then), jeez, it’s expensive to go cruising! Haha… With two additional solar panels and a re-insulated fridge we will be able to reduce the ‘noise maker’ significantly. Woohoo!

Once we finished with Johnco, we packed up the computer and went into The Sands Hotel for some more time on the internet for more job applications. Mike & Marylyn and Joe & Deb as was Ryan, an RV’er currently in Tenacatita who came down to Barra to lend us a frequency meter, were also at The Sands Hotel and we all decided to go in town & watch the sunset. Ryan had beenin touch with Kim & Linda on Endeavor and they were at a hotel in town called the Alondra. So we went there & joined an already large group of boaters for a fantastic sunset. The boats represented were Effie, Aquarius (who had just arrived earlier that day), Over Heated, Endeavor, Lady Hawke, Ryan & us. We had a wonderful evening chatting away. After the sunset, we went to eat dinner with Kim & Linda from Endeavor at Pepe’s Mexican again – did I mention the fantastic burritos for only 25 pesos! After dinner we all went back to The Sands Hotel and participated in a dart tournament. There were approx 8 teams and two dart boards and well, Marylyn & I were a team and didn’t do so hot. So who cares who won?! The groups were made up of both locals and us boaters and we had a wonderful time playing. We made it back to the boat around 1am. Fun!!

New Year’s Eve is next!!
Rene

Barra de Navidad 12.28.08

We’ve had a wonderful time here in Barra de Navidad. We are anchored in the Barra lagoon and we’re in between the cities of Barra de Navidad and Colimilla. The city of Colimilla is only about 5 blocks long & 2 wide but has lots of great restaurants, an outboard service business that we had our dinghy serviced at, & Maria’s tienda, who services the cruisers with water & food deliveries. Barra is a bit bigger and has just about everything you may need – restaurants, laundry, internet, propane, hardware stores, medical, etc. You name it, you can probably find it in Barra. The city is about 13 blocks long and 8 blocks wide, but the main area that everyone spends time is only 6 x 5 blocks. Barra is a Mexican vacation spot and the majority of vacationers come in from the bigger city of Manzanillo. It’s a beautiful beach town with beaches as far as the eye can see, colorful umbrellas propped up everywhere, beautiful palm trees, dirt & cobblestone streets, & the traditional town square & beautiful church. We were here once before, staying with our friends Scott & Liz on Ocean Lady, but it’s always so nice to experience it again. The people here are wonderful – very friendly & helpful.

The lagoon is full of boats – the numbers keep going up & down but are hovering around 25-30 each day. We are anchored out near the edge of the boundary, which is working out perfectly as no one wants to anchor around us. Haha.. Living in the lagoon is good & bad. There is absolutely no swell so the boat sits nice & comfy…but! The fishing pangas scream by early in the morning, any time after 6am, which causes a nice wake that makes the boat roll around, there are water ski boats that pull skiers during the day, causing more rolling around, and finally….the water is not clean enough to swim in (for me) or make water in. Ahhh…the perpetual problem….no place is absolutely perfect. I guess we’ll just have to keep looking. Darn! But it’s great to have the town to visit and there is a hotel, called the Hotel Sands that is ‘cruiser friendly’ and allows us cruisers to enjoy the pool, bar, & internet. The dinghy landing, a seawall that the dinghies tie up to, is at the Sands Hotel as well.

Our typical day, if you can call any of this typical, begins with the morning net. On the VHF radio, the morning net begins at 9am. They begin by asking if there is any emergency or priority traffic, followed by a call for departures or arrivals. If there are any new boats, they tell everyone the name of their boat, the names of everyone on board, where they have come from & how long they’re planning on staying. After that begins general check-ins. Everyone says their boat name and is acknowledged by ‘net control’. Following that is a call for mail – anyone who can take flat stamped mail back to the U.S. or Canada, General Announcements, rides & crew, treasures of the bilge (a swap or sell of items), and finally local assistance where you can ask for help finding places and items. After the net, the ‘French Baker’ makes a stop at the boat, selling bread, pastries, quiches, etc. He comes on the net and says “Zis es ze Franch Baykeur, I am coming into ze lagoon”….it’s so funny to hear him. He has been here for years & has yummy stuff…almond pastry, chocolate croissant, baguette, quiches, etc. We don’t buy stuff from him often – bread mostly but every once in a while that chocolate croissant is calling my name! haha…

During this time, our generator is running, pumping juice back into the batteries & running the fridge & freezer. We have breakfast & do our daily chores and prepare to go into town. We go into The Sands Hotel & do whatever we need to, & most evenings head back to the boat before dark. Dinghying at night can be dangerous as there are lots of pangas, both fishing & water taxi, that zoom through the lagoon and often without lights. So we make every attempt to get back before dark…or be extremely careful when we’re out after dark.

Wireless internet is out in the lagoon, but before today, there was only one provider – called Low Maintenance, that charges 350 pesos for a month of service. It seemed pretty extreme of a price since we will only be here a week or so, so we decided to just take the laptop into town when we needed to check e-mails. Just today though another restaurant, Fortino’s, began offering daily passes so we will check that out when we go into town.

We’ve had such an action packed week – I can’t believe it’s going by so quickly! We arrived on Christmas day & took it very easy. We immediately took to the one day work, one day play philosophy and the following day, spent most of it at The Sands Hotel working on the computer – uploading photos, updating blogs, checking e-mail, etc. We were introduced to a new drink called a ‘Caesar’ which is much like a bloody mary but somehow much more potent. The Sands has 2 x 1 drink special from 2pm – 7pm every day which worked out well as I would order a drink, get two, give one to Marylyn and then vice versa! Soon enough, it was time to get some food in our belly so we went on the hunt for Pepe’s Mexican Food for some fantastic burritos & fries. We walked through the town a little and then headed back out to the boat.

The next day was our typical routine. There was another ‘beaders annonymous’ class at 10am, a book exchange, & a gamers table at The Sands Hotel and I had been working on a new bracelet so I attended. I was able to complete my 2nd bracelet and get some fabulous ideas for others. Michael stayed on the boat and did some projects, took a nap, you know…the usual. Haha… After several hours of beading & chatting, I hitched a ride back to the boat and had another mellow evening on board.

Sunday was another full day in at The Sands Hotel using their internet. If we haven’t said before, we have decided to get jobs over the summer this year while the boat is holed up in Mazatlan. It was a tough decision but we figure it’s the best time to reinvest in the market! And if we can find enough work to cover our expenses for the summer and have some $$ left over to fill the cruising kitty, even better. So we spent the entire day at The Sands on the internet, applying for jobs! I have to admit – it’s a long & painful process! Haha. We figure if we HAVE to go to work, we’ll try to find a new area to do it, and something that will be fun to do as well. We have been applying for jobs in Alaska as we have both never been there and they have a lot of seasonal positions available. We applied as Park Rangers, tour operators, etc. So wish us luck and help us out if you know any secrets of how to get hired!!

More to follow…
Rene

Videos Uploaded 12.28.08

I finally got around to uploading some videos! Here they are...

These are from the Posada block party in Bucerias:




These are from Isla Colorado in Bahia Chamela





And these are from our jungle tour in Mantanchen Bay




I hope to have more uploaded soon!
Rene

More photos uploaded 12.26.08

I found a great internet cafe at the Hotel Sands. We are sitting enjoying a cocktail, overlooking the pool, catching up on all of our photo uploads. I hope you enjoy!

http://photos.aheakali.com/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=0

Rene

Feliz Navidad! 12.25.08

Feliz Navidad from Barra de Navidad. We weighed anchor around 10:00 on Christmas day and headed down the coast to Barra. It was another spectacular day. No wind but it was a great motorsail. The coast was beautiful – miles & miles of beach and very few houses. We saw our regulars – whales, dolphins, turtles, lots of fish & birds. Though we never get tired of seeing it! Haha…

We arrived in the lagoon around 4pm or so. The Barra lagoon entrance is incredibly tricky, the opening in the middle of the entrance is only 12ft deep! And keep in mind…our keel is 5’5” down….so you have to pay attention! We were given coordinates in Mazatlan that had waypoints that marked the opening in the channel, as well as a route to follow that we followed to a tee. We also had Lady Hawke ahead of us that we were following and we entered without incident. It’s not uncommon to have a boat on the shoal – leaning awkwardly until they are either pulled off of the shoal, or the tide rises high enough to loosen them up. But we lucky, paying super close attention and made it without incident. Woohoo!

OK, so for our generator issues. We are still struggling, but are doing OK staying on top of it. The battery terminals were cleaned which made a big difference but still the generator is bogging down with different loads which baffles us. We’re ‘band-aiding’ it by running loads differently and seem to be staying on top of things. Just this morning we asked anyone on the net if they had a frequency meter and someone does…so we will try to get him to come over & look at it with us and see if the frequency is off (which has been suggested by the manufacturer). Since we’re in Barra now, we can also have our outboard motor repaired (it’s still running slow and needs to have the carburetor rebuilt) and this is the place so hopefully we can get our repairs while we’re here.

We are going into town this morning to check in with the port captain and try to find an internet café to upload our blogs, photos & videos.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! We miss you all very much and hope everyone is doing well. We love it out here!

More to follow…
Rene

Chamela 12.24.08

We had another great cruise down the coast today. We are making short hops down to Barra de Navidad, still hoping to make it by Christmas. We left Ipala on Monday around 08:00 and cruised down the coast by 50 miles to Chamela. The seas were flat as can be and it was a beautiful motorsail. No wind at to speak of but we had the main & mizzen up for stability & the occasional push. A fun thing about being out sailing down the coast is you’re never alone. Of course we have our buddy boats but also we are contacted on the radio often by other boats that pick up our conversations and want to chat as well. Communication between the 3 boats is plentiful – we talk about what we’re seeing (miles & miles of beaches), sea conditions (what a current we’re bucking!), report any wildlife we see (whales!) and our position if we can’t visually see each other. But we’re often contacted by others who happen to hear our conversations and are looking for info on weather, our plans, etc. It’s a great community and I’ve always been amazed how boaters always wave to each other & help out whenever needed. Why is boating that way, I wonder?

We saw logs of life in the sea again – turtles, whales, fish, birds – you know, the usual.

We arrived in Chamela and there was a south swell running, making the anchorage entirely too rolly for us to stay so we cruised out by the islands and anchored there. We had another scare as our batteries were not entirely charged – stressing Michael out. We did have full water tanks (we make water while we’re underway using our watermaker to pull the clean water from the ocean, desalinate it, condition it and put it in our water tanks), and hot water for showers though! We tried to run the generator and it was doing it’s bogging down thing again so we shut everything down for the night – we’ll deal with it in the morning. The evening sunset was absolutely gorgeous and we jumped overboard to cool off & look for the ‘green flash’ while the sun was setting. The water was perfect – just enough cool to cool us down but just warm enough to let us stay in for a while. After a shower & dinner, we read some more and unwound for a bit and hit the sack. The evening was quite a bit rolly and it was the first evening on the hook, so we didn’t get much sleep.

We woke up & Michael tore apart the back cabin looking at the batteries. We had thought about it a lot the evening before and decided it must be a bad connection or something wrong with the batteries as the engine alternator is directly tied into the batteries and after a 7 hour motor, they were not topped off. He identified 2 battery terminals that could stand to be cleaned up and disconnected everything to clean it while Mike from Lady Hawke supervised. The water was so super clear we could see the anchor and chain from the bow of the boat – 16 ft down. The anchor was dug in well and we could even see the ripples in the sand below. Just beautiful…

Around noon, we all decided to go into the beach for some snorkeling & beach time. Joe & Deborah from Pacific Jade & Mike & Marylyn from Lady Hawke. The beach we were anchored off of was about 150 ft long, super fine white & black sand, pelicans & booby birds everywhere, & the most excellent turquoise blue water lapping into the sand that I’ve seen. It was paradise. Lady Hawke brought out a nice umbrella and the girls took off looking for shells & beach glass while the boys installed the umbrella. There were hermit crabs everywhere – from small ones the size of a pea to larger ones golf-ball size – and they were running all over the beach hiding their beautiful shells from us! The island is a preserve, although it didn’t say whether it was a bird refuge or what exactly. There was cactus growing all over the island, both the traditional cactus and some cactus that looked like an octopus – tentacles everwhere. And there were trees & shrubs were everywhere. It was a super sunshiny day, temps in the 80’s and the water just as warm. The snorkeling was off the charts – by far one of the most spectacular places I’ve seen in a long time. There were what seemed like millions of fish everywhere you turned. Lots of schools and lots of colors! My new favorite fish is the puffer fish and I spent quite a while just hanging with one of them. There were needlefish, star fishes, blue, orange, & yellow fishes, all surrounded by spectacular turquoise blue water. We even saw a very pissed off eel that we stayed away from and a snake that took off quickly when we saw him. The sun was shining and was shimmering down onto the rocks we were snorkeling around, it was splendid. Mike from Lady Hawke showed Michael & Joe what scallops looked like and made it their mission to find some for dinner. By the end of the snorkel they boys had rounded up 5 large scallops!

Back at the beach we all snacked on things we each brought – a fresh cut pineapple & roasted peanuts – chatted, & enjoyed the beach & sunshine. The boys began the chore of cleaning the scallops which turned into great entertainment as they are not easy to open and then when you do open them up, they have little critters that come crawling out that elicited a hearty ‘Gross!’ from everyone watching & by the time they had them cleaned & ready…it was time to get back to the boat before dark. Mike & Marylyn had caught a sierra while fishing and was going to make fish tacos for dinner and I had pressure cooked some pinto beans so we figured it was the perfect combination and went to their boat for dinner. We had forgotten to turn on a light before we left the boat and it was pitch black when we were going home! There was no moon out and the million stars out were of little help but we managed to make it back. The phosphorescence was incredible though – it is like seeing little lightning bugs everywhere in the water. When we were motoring back to our boat, we had a 10’ tail of phosphorescence that was following us! It was just a spectacular day.

With everything from yesterday, how could we possibly top it? Well, we had a Christmas eve that went to our top 3 of all time. We were up & about early, as result of another horridly rocky evening. I was sitting at the computer trying (and failing) to send e-mails while Michael was up on deck and the generator was running. All of a sudden, Michael comes running down the deck (which is right above my head) screaming ‘Rene!!’ I was flipped out and started running towards the generator kill switch (a reflex since we’ve been having issues with the @#$(& generator) when he finally says “there’s a seahorse out here – come quick!” And there it was…a real live seahorse! It was a burned red color and was hanging out at the bow of the boat, nibbling the algae that was stuck to the chainplate at the waterline. It was spectacular. I’ve never seen one in the wild, only in aquariums and had always hoped to. After telling the others about it, I realized how rare it is! Everyone I spoke to had never seen them….and they have been cruising for lots of years! I took photos but they don’t capture how cool it was…sorry.

Mike & Marylyn had to go into town for beer & ice so we tagged along. At the main anchorage in Chamela, we found another boat – A Capella with Ed & Cornelia on board and stopped to say hi. We beached our dinghies & took off to town. The town was small and had one paved road through it. There were a handful of tiendas & abbarotes and we checked each one out! Lots of goodies. The main square was beautiful and there were several nativity scenes set up all along the street. We provisioned with the necessities and headed back to the dinghy only to find Ed & Cornelia having a beer on the beach! We joined them for a quick one & before we knew it, it was time to be back on the boat to prepare for our big Christmas eve celebration.
The 6 of us met on the beach again around 3pm with presents & dinner. There were two large beach blankets on the sand with all of our goodies and we each brought a beach chair. Each of us cooked an arracherra, a cut of meat popular down here that has a nice flavor to it, and a side dish. Marylyn brought a cabbage salad with a yummy ginger sesame sauce, pineapple slices, & a cream cheese/raspberry chipotle appetizer with crackers. Michael made some potatoes that were covered with bacon & roasted and we also brought some chipotle cheese to share. Deborah made a coconut key lime pie for desert…yumm!! After dinner, we exchanged gifts. We made off with a incense set, an ornament & a beaded hair clip from Lady Hawke and a crank flashlight, a loofah soap, & chocolates from Pacific Jade. I gave Michael a set of ‘worry dolls’ that the Indians believe that you tell your worries to before you go to bed and they worry for you, and an earring. I had picked up a tank top when we were in San Blas that acted as my gift. It was perfect.

We cleaned up our site a little and then began gathering our racers. You see, yesterday as we were looking at all those cute little hermit crabs….we had a wild thought. Let’s setup a racetrack & have hermit crab races!! Sounds great. A racetrack was created in the sand, with a start line & finish lines….and a few little speed bumps for the sport of it! We all hunted for what we thought was a speedy hermit crab and placed them on the start line. How exactly do you determine a speedy hermit crab you ask? Good question! Everyone seemed to have their own set of requirements – mine was simply putting a bunch of them in my hand and which ever one opens up first must be a speedy one! Haha… So once we all had our crabs down…we waited for one or more to cross the finish line. Deborah’s crabs won both heats, with mine coming in second each time. Somehow Deborah & I were the best at picking the crabs since everyone else’s crabs didn’t even finish! Of course we were the ones encouraging ours the most, so that must be the secret. Deb had brought prizes for the winners and my crab (that I called ‘Red’, hers was named ‘Hermie’) and I were awarded a kazoo! Red didn’t want to play so I played for him…haha. And before you ask…no, we weren’t drunk – just enjoying. The video I have to share will have you rolling in your chair….and if not, you’re too darn serious!! We also played a game called ’20 questions’ which was a handheld computer game where as a group you choose select an object and then the computer asks you 20 questions and then tells you what you had selected! We figured we could surely stump it so our first word was ‘seahorse’. The darn game asked us 20 questions such as ‘is it heavier than a 1lb of butter?’, ‘Does it have a long tail?’, ‘’Does it have legs?’, etc and it came up with the correct answer!! How did it do that?? So we tried again, this time choosing a volcano. Yep, it got it correct. We stumped it with a ‘kazoo’, but it redeemed itself with a ‘dinosaur’. Stupid game… hahaha…

The sun was setting so we started a bonfire in the sand and sat around & just enjoyed each other’s company. We talked about everything & kept warm to the fire. We watched as all of the pelicans and booby birds nestled into their trees for the evening, the hermit crabs retreated under the logs & burrowed into the sand, & the phosphorescence in the water sparkled as the tide was gently lapping in. We finally extinguished the fire & headed back to the boat around 9:30. Temps were still in the 70’s and the water was nice & cool. We went back to the boat and had one more rocky night and decided to weigh anchor and head further down the road to Barra de Navidad. This anchorage was absolutely splendid – perfect in my eyes. If it had only been a calmer anchorage in the evening….Michael would agree! We will definitely return here.

Rene

Ipala 12.21.08

We left La Cruz de Huenacaxtle early Sunday morning at o-dark-thirty so we could round Cabo Corrientes as early as possible. We have had a hard time hearing Don Anderson's weather forecast and have been doing our own research and figure today was the best day to make the crossing in the next few days. Cabo Corrientes is one of those places where if you do not time it well with a good weather window, it can be a harrowing place.

The seas were pretty calm during the passage, although there were some large swells. The wind was directly astern so it wasn't a pleasant sail (the exhaust fumes get pushed into the cockpit). The scenery here is stunning. Untouched beaches as far as the eye can see, mountain ranges in the background, palm trees everywhere, & a crystal blue sea. But we saw all kinds of marine life! It's like an aquarium everywhere we go now and it never gets boring! We had dolphins racing our bow, sail fish
jumping about 5 ft out of the water, turtles floating by with their flippers out of the water - waving them as if to say hi! This trip we have also seen a lot of rays - simple brown ones and even a few manta's (we think!). They are so graceful! When we were anchored, we saw a bunch of them jumping out of the water! Michael had a fishing line in the water most of the trip but didn't catch anything…bummer!

We arrived in Ipala around 2pm and grabbed a nice hold on the anchor & then just relaxed. I was hoping to do some swimming but the water didn't look as clean as I'd like so I read instead. I had also been given a recipe for cooked plantains that were like mashed potatoes. I had picked up all of the ingredients on our last minute provisioning trip into Puerta Vallarta on Saturday and so I made them last night. Honestly, they were pretty weird. They tasted like hot mashed bananas….so I guess I
used the wrong color plantains. I'll have to try again. Using the local ingredients is one of my favorite past times and I'm always up for trying something new. How will I know if I don't like it?!

The town here in Ipala consists of about 10 buildings. It's busy today - a Sunday - and there is a panga full of it appears Mexican tourists as they keep circling the boat taking pictures of us…haha. It feels weird to be the center of attention! We didn't go into town as it takes too long to drop the dinghy & re-sling it and we're heading out in the morning. The anchorage is a bit rolly, but not too bad. Lady Hawke, Pacific Jade, & a new boat - Acapella is in the anchorage with us, along with
a much smaller boat that we haven't seen the name of - but they have a young baby, under 2yrs old on board. A nice dinner & a movie and we were done for the night. I will definitely come back here for another visit & look forward to seeing the town.

Chamela tomorrow!
Rene

Posada 12.18.08

We were treated today! Marylyn & I took the bus into the town of Bucerias to shop & pick up some foccacia bread that she ordered the previous day. We had eaten at a little sandwich shop on the day we all went in looking for batteries that had to die for foccacia bread. We purchased some from them and asked where they got it from, to which they told us about this bakery in Bucerias called 'Yunior's'. We got off of the bus and walked around the small town. It's nice with dirt & cobblestone streets,
a beautiful town square, & a large shopping area. We wandered the streets looking at everyone's wares and found the bakery & picked up a full sheet of foccacia bread for 200 pesos. It was two large pizza boxes worth and was it heavy! Haha… Anyway, we stopped at a little shop and were shopping & talking to the ladies and they invited us to come to a block party where they lived that evening. Sure! We'll be there! So after a day of wandering the town, we walked to the bus stop and were hanging
when we saw Willem & Mary Jane in a van and the motioned for us to get in! It must be our lucky day! Haha…

Later that evening, the 4 of us took a bus back into Bucerias and wandered the streets until we found it. I hope I can do the scene justice as it was spectacular. Again, the streets are cobblestone & dirt, the street was a dead-end street and only 2 blocks long. At the open end of the street, a large light stage had been set that basically blocked off the opening to all vehicles & was booming music down into the street. When you were walking along the main street, you couldn't really hear it
as it was directed down the street. The lights were multi colored and spot lights, shining down on the street. And there were kids chasing the lights before the festivities began. The houses along the street were mostly one story with a couple two story houses. There were trees planted along the sidewalk and Christmas lights were strung on a few of the houses. Some of the kids were dressed up as angels, Mary, Joseph, & wise men. The celebration was for Posada, which is the 12 days before Christmas.
The kids in costume & many adults gathered in front of a gated house & began to sing verses to the Posada song. Paraphrasing the song, Mary & Joseph were gathered in front of the gates asking for a place to stay for the night, and were turned down. They asked again and were turned down again. But finally (after 6 verses of the song), they were allowed entrance. The song was very beautifully sang and the costumes were beautiful.

After the song at the gates, piñatas were brought out for the kids. Now this was funny. There were a total of five piñatas broken - 3 spiky ones and two Santa Claus shaped ones. Most piñatas have spikes on them and we were told this represents sins and when you are beating the piñata you are fighting the evils & sins of the year. And when the piñatas are broken the candy represents the 'fruits' of successfully fighting the sins. The piñatas were only for the kids and each kid got 5 whacks on
the piñata. There were big kids and also itty bitty small ones and those piñatas were tough! A couple of them were made out of clay and the others were made from paper mache and a couple times the adults 'helped' the breaking of it by either hitting it or helping to tear it open. When it was ripped open, all of the candy & confetti fell out and the kids would swarm the area, jumping on the piñata as soon as it was broken. I found the funniest part was the man who was raising & lowering the piñata
(the piñata was not stationary - it was raised & lowered by a man so that the kids wouldn't break it so quickly!) he was hysterical. He had a perma smile and was having a blast teasing the kids with the piñata. While the kids were hitting the piñata, the adults sat up & down the block in chairs chatting with each other. We spent quite a while talking with the lady who invited us, Cynthia, and after all 5 pinatas were broken everyone was gathered in the main area when it began raining balls.
Not beach balls, or soccer balls - but like a four-square ball? On the 2nd floor of one of the homes, just above one of the tiendas, all the lights were out but these balls kept being thrown - one or two or ten at a time, it was very random. Everyone was jumping & trying to catch one! One time, I even caught one (we were standing to the side but it was thrown directly at me!) so I handed it to a little one who hadn't managed to get one yet. There were probably a total of 50 balls tossed out to
the crowd and then the goodies changed. Backpacks, hats, jewelry, clothes, you name it. Everyone was having a great time trying to catch something and as soon as they caught it, they left the area and let the rest catch something. And amazingly….no fights! After that, it was time for food. The locals gathered for a nice dinner of roasted corn, rice & beans, & bbq. And one last thing before we left, all of the kids under 10 years old were told to line up on the street and each of them was given
a baggie full of candy.

We didn't want to impose, so we told Cynthia thank you and took off down the street to find a restaurant. We found a place that looked like a total hole in the wall, with an extremely large driveway so we thought why not?! We walked down & were seated…right on the beach! The waves were crashing in just beside us and we had an excellent dinner. There's nothing more relaxing than the sounds of the ocean and we were getting tired so we headed back to the bus stop & to the boats. We were sidetracked
in La Cruz at Philo's bar as they had a live band (they always have a live band!) and Bill from Grey Max was playing. We stayed there for a while and were surprised when we didn't make it back to the boat until after 1am. Time flies when you're having fun!

Here's the verses in Spanish for Posada, if you're interested: (I hope it posts OK!)

AFUERA ADENTRO
1. En nombre del cielo 1. Aqui no es meson,
os pido posada sigan adelante,
pues no puede andar yo no debo abrir
mi esposa amada. no sea algun tunante.

2. No seas inhuman, 2. Ya se pueden ir
tennos caridad y no molestar,
que el Dios de los cielos porque si me enfado
te lo premiara, os voy a apalear.

3. Venimos rendidos 3. No me importa el nombre,
desde Nazaret, dejenme dormir
yo soy carpintero pues que ya les digo
de nombre Jose. que no hemos de abrir.

4. Posada te pide, 4. Pues si es una reina
armado casero, quien lo solicita,
por solo una noche como es que de noche
la Reina del Cielo anda tan solita?

5. Mi esposa es Maria, 5. Eres tu Jose?
es Reina del Cielo, tu esposa es Maria?
y madre va a ser entren peregrinos,
del Divino Verbo. no los conocia.

6. Dios pague, senores, 6. Dichosa la casa
vuestra caridad, que alberga este dia
y os colme el Cielo a la Virgen pura,
de felicidad. La Hermosa Maria!

Marina La Cruz 12.17.08

We upped anchor on Monday and went into the marina. The marina is called Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz and is beautiful. Check out the website here… http://www.marinarivieranayarit.com/usmarinarivieranayarit/welcome The marina has 351 slips available and I’d bet there are only 90 slips full. It’s a nice, new marina and the best thing…it has power! Haha… Our batteries were mostly to the point we couldn’t go past so we came into the marina and plugged in. We contacted two maintenance men who are supposed to have a good knowledge about generators and hope they can fix it!

Until then, we went into Puerta Vallarta with Lady Hawke & Pacific Jade. Mike & Marylyn went in search of batteries and Joe & Deborah went in search of a solar regulator as they are having issues with their solar panels. We went in search of a generator mechanic that knows electrical. There is a magazine that is published here called “Vallarta Nautica” that has a large section on local businesses that can help cruisers. Under the battery section, there were several so we just started down the list. Michael found the guy we were looking for 1st thing and we made an appointment for 3pm. So we joined Mike & Marylyn on their quest for batteries. We walked to a place called Zaragoza’s, which is like a West Marine – a large marine store. There were batteries in the back and Mike & Michael tried to find the specific ones they needed. Marylyn & I walked around the store, looking at the goodies. We meandered back and found that Zaragoza’s did not have the batteries we needed, we were looking for 6 volt deep cycle batteries, and Mike asked the guy at the counter to call the next place on the list. Sure enough, the next place had them and the Zaragoza guy could arrange for them to be delivered for $2100 pesos each. Mike had a funny feeling that the Zaragoza guy was tacking on a percentage and asked me if I could make a phone call to the battery place and ask the price before he agreed to get them through Zaragoza’s. We went outside and started to walk down the street, attempting to get the cell phone to call the place. Mike & Marylyn have a U.S. cell phone which is very weird to use and we were having issues with the area code. We stopped at an OXXO, which a convenience store like a 7-Eleven. I was thirsty so I went inside to get a water while they were messing with the cell phone and pay phone. I went to check out and got behind a man who was taking a little longer than usual because he was adding minutes to his cell phones, all 3 of them, and he apologized for taking so long. I chatted with him for a while and when I had paid, went back outside to see how it was going. Still no good, there was something we were doing wrong! I figured I’d go in & ask the man what the area code was and during the conversation, he volunteered to make the phone call for us on his cell. What a deal! He called up and we played hot potato with the phone – first he told the guy I was going to ask him questions, I asked & answered his questions and the he asked if he could speak to the guy again! Turns out, the batteries were only $1500 pesos each direct through the company and our hero from the convenience store even had them come to deliver/pick us up right at the store! We thanked him vehemently and bought him a beer and gave him $5 for his cell phone use. We waited about 20 minutes and lo and behold…a little blue beat up pickup truck pulled into the lot with two smiling young guys with our batteries!! We asked them a million questions and eventually, Mike & Michael got into the pickup truck to be taken back to the company where he could pay for them, then they drove them all the way from PV to La Cruz, which is about a 20 minute drive. If that wasn’t enough, when they got to the boat, the two guys removed the old batteries from the boat which is NOT an easy chore! The old 8D batteries are like 200lbs and are stuffed into compartments that a midget couldn’t fit into. When the first battery was removed, one of the guys cursed long enough to make a sailor blush about those @#&$ batteries. Then they lugged them back up to the truck & were away! Now that’s what we call a true Mexican adventure. We could have been screwed by the guy at Zaragoza’s but ended up winning big time on the batteries.

Once Mike & Michael jumped into the pickup truck, Marylyn & I went….shopping! haha… We stopped for a fantastic lunch – a chicken parmesan sandwich on a wonderful foccacia bread (we even purchased a couple pieces of foccacia bread to eat later!) and then went shopping. We ended up at the tequila factory where we each purchased 3 bottles of tequila for Christmas! Haha.. We jumped back on the bus and was back at the marina by about 5pm. Mike & Michael had the new batteries wired in & were sitting back with beers in hand. Deborah & Joe from Pacific Jade came by & we all chatted & enjoyed the evening. Our generator guy didn’t show, bummer. We called and he rescheduled for Tuesday. Back at the boat for chicken tacos & watch Mama Mia.

Tuesday was boat chore, e-mail, phone calls, etc. day. That evening we went in to town & had dinner at Brittanica, a local pub that hosts a ‘jam session’ where musicians of every talent get together & perform. It’s totally random, some rock music, some folk, some country, etc. Dinner was bbq’d ribs with Spanish rice & coleslaw. The music was good, OK, fantastic, & phenomenol. I wonder if it had anything to do with the margaritas we were drinking, haha… It started out with a local guy singing with 2-3 cruiser guitar players, then another guy got up & sang some folk songs, then two guys from New Caledonia got up and rocked the joint & finally the local guy finished out the evening. The guys from New Caledonia were wonderful – one was a guitar/singer and the other played the harmonica & sang. All the while they had a bass guitar, lead guitar, drummer, & even a guy playing the spoons who accompanied them. This was probably the best harmonica player I’ve ever seen. I sat & chatted with them after they played and they are here for only 2 months. They began their ‘tour’ in L.A., then Tijuana, Mazatlan, here, & they are continuing to go South and play where they can, paid or not, until their 2 months are up. They will be in Zihuatenejo in a week and we’re bummed we will miss them! Oh, our generator guy still didn’t show up today. I guess he’s not coming…

So it’s Wednesday now and we’re still doing boat chores & internetting, & getting caught up. We had a new generator guy come by today named “Tea pot Tony”. Uh huh…just what I was thinking. He worked with Michael for about an hour and left scratching his head. We couldn’t reproduce the issue (of course! It’s like taking your car to the mechanic!) and he wanted to run the problem by one of his electrical gurus and will return on Friday. We’re going to run on battery power only, just like we had, and hopefully reproduce the problem tomorrow. It’s a nice hot day and we’ve spent the day on boat chores & lounging. Tonight we are supposed to do a dinghy raft-up with Pacific Jade & Grey Max but we’ll see if that actually happens! We’d like to get out of the marina again and hopefully something will get figured out soon!

More to follow…Rene

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle 12.15.08

We left San Blas on Thursday early in the morning to a fantastic sunrise. That’s the only good thing about getting up so early is to see those spectacular colors! We left the anchorage with Lady Hawke and ahead of us by a couple hours were Pacific Jade and Wirewalker. There were small swells and very little wind so we motorsailed most of the way. We were nervous as Don Anderson, the weather guru on the nets had predicted 35 knots of wind for our passage. And sure enough, they came. Pacific Jade alerted us since they were a little way ahead of us. We double reefed the mainsail & prepared for the winds. They came on us suddenly – and strong! There must have been a canyon that the winds were coming out of and they hung with us, pushing us along, for about 30 minutes. We were taking water over the bow and were healed over, rail almost in the water. It was a good ride! Michael got a salt-water bath when a wave hit us on the beam and soaked him…I have to say it was pretty darn funny! Haha… We had only one casualty – our tea kettle was on the stove – and secured in…but went flying across the cabin with one wave, spilling water all over & breaking the porcelain on the inside and out. We’ll be shopping for a new tea kettle now! Oh well, we were lucky – Lady Hawke had a box of milk fall out & explode…I’d much rather have water spilled than milk.

Once we passed this section, the wind & waves flattened back out and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way – even glassy at times. We saw a lot of wildlife – whales & turtles. We’re getting to the area where the turtles are called speed bumps – sometimes just bouncing off the sides of the boat as you go by! There were lots of them all out swimming around. I love turtles… J We arrived in La Cruz around 4:30 and dropped anchor. It was incredibly swelly all evening, we were bouncing around like a rocking horse. I went up to the bow of the boat and was mere inches from the water as we were rocking. There were 30 boats in the anchorage and we saw our friends Blythe Spirit, Grey Max, & Integrity. The batteries were topped off from our motorsail and the fridge & freezer were ran during our trip but the fridge is still taking way too long to cycle, which is running our batteries down. The first night at anchorage is always difficult as you get very little sleep because of the worry of dragging or of others dragging into you. You are on ‘anchor watch’ getting up to do a visual inspection of the other boats around you. Of course, we set an alarm on our GPS which would notify us if we have slipped, but not until we move twice the length of what we have out with the anchor. So visual inspections are required. Michael wakes up very easily and is on the outside of the bed, so he gets the pleasure of checking our position much more than I do.

The next morning, Mike from Lady Hawke came over to the boat and assisted Michael in charging the refrigeration system. We use a refrigerant called “409A” and were given a recharging kit before we left. There is a watchglass on each of the compressors and when the fridge kicks on, there should be bubbles appear in the watchglass, but then disappear after it runs for a while. There were lots of bubbles when it kicked on and they never disappeared, which told us we were low on refrigerant! You’ve heard the song “Tiny Bubbles”….In my wine, makes me happy, makes me feel fine. Well between the two Mikes, they got the fridge all charged up & happy. We went into town for lunch and to get some internet time because the internet at the anchorage is incredibly spotty. We at at a local cruiser’s hangout called “Philo’s”. It’s a happening spot in the evenings and has live bands most nights. We walked all around town, checking out each establishment. At Ana Banana’s we signed the ‘cruiser wall’ where most cruisers put the name of their boat, date, & who’s on the boat. We found a movie rental place and rented ‘Mama Mia’ and just checked out the town. We also checked in and back out with the port captain which was absolutely painless. We had to get back to the boat to run the engine to charge the batteries as we are still having issues with the generator and Michael charged the freezer with refrigerant as well since it was a bit low. We decided to forgo the evening in town as we were dealing with all of the generator issues and found out the next morning we missed one helluv-a-party. Seems everyone went in town & did some heavy partying! Oh well, next time…

Mike & Marylyn on Lady Hawke are having battery issues so they left the anchorage and went into the Marina in La Cruz. We went with them as line handlers and hitchhikers so we didn’t have to drop the dinghy and it’s a good thing we did! The windlass on Mike’s boat was not functioning, hopefully from the low batteries and the boys had to pull the anchor by hand-cranking the windlass, not an easy chore. The Marina in La Cruz is very nice! Everything is brand new, new docks which are almost completely empty! There is only about 3 docks that are in use and they are nearly empty. It’s amazing. We have heard rumors that in the past couple years they have charged up to $10 for the dinghy dock but this year they are not charging any money to leave your dinghy at the dock. Mike & Marylyn needed to go into Puerta Vallarta to meet with the agent to renew their FM3’s so we went in with them. We walked up to the bus stop, stopping to drop off a load of laundry, and took the bus into PV to Marina Vallarta. We walked around Marina Vallarta & had lunch & rode the bus back. It’s quite a change from La Cruz to PV – La Cruz is a small town, dirt & cobblestone streets, Spanish spoken, very small town Mexico. And then into Puerta Vallarta – where it’s very ‘Americanized’ – most speak English, bright & clean streets - landscaping, lots of traffic, mega stores, etc. It was nice being in the big city but we were so glad to be back in La Cruz!

We had a big issue with the generator the other evening and since then, the generator has not been charging at all. Michael called the manufacturer and they suggested the capacitor be tested, but we do not have the equipment to test it properly. Michael changed our the capacitor this morning and when we got back to the boat, we ran the generator and it charged…but it still has the same issues – it bogs out for no reason & we do not know why. If we can’t get it working correctly and can’t get the batteries topped off, we will also have to go into the marina to plug into shore power until we can get it looked at. I hope that’s not the case!

One of the local establishments had a Cuban singer in town so we went in to listen and for a refreshment. The music was wonderful – it was a woman with a fantastic voice who sang Cuban music in Spanish. She was fantastic. We walked around town a while to the different hotspots but it appears everyone was partied out from the night before so we went back to the boat. It was a nice, relaxing evening.

Sunday was a mellow morning. We are finally sleeping well and it was a very mellow night at anchor. Michael started the engine again as the generator is still on the fritz but the fridge & freezer are running like champs since being recharged! So all is not bad. But it looks like we’ll be going into the marina tomorrow morning as we’re having a bugger of a time keeping the batteries at a good level and it’s all consuming Michael, which is not fun. We went into to town, landing our dinghy & visiting with Mike & Marylyn for a while and finally ate breakfast around 2pm at a little place called Sylvia’s for some fantastic omelets & fresh squeezed orange juice. Yumm… We went back to Lady Hawke & visited with them & Joe & Deborah from Pacific Jade, doing some beading & chatting. We dinghied back to the boat in the anchorage after dark and even found it! Haha… Tomorrow – the marina!

We're in the paper! 12.15.08

The local paper in Ventura, California ran a story about us this sunday. How exciting!

Read it here... http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/dec/14/acting-globally/

Too fun!
Rene

The Bells of San Blas

THE BELLS OF SAN BLAS
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

What say the Bells of San Blas
To the ships that southward pass
From the harbor of Mazatlan?
To them it is nothing more
Than the sound of surf on the shore,--
Nothing more to master or man.

But to me, a dreamer of dreams,
To whom what is and what seems
Are often one and the same,
--The Bells of San Blas to me
Have a strange, wild melody,
And are something more than a name.

For bells are the voice of the church;
They have tones that touch and search
The hearts of young and old;
One sound to all,
yet eachLends a meaning to their speech,
And the meaning is manifold.

They are a voice of the Past,
Of an age that is fading fast,
Of a power austere and grand,
When the flag of Spain unfurled
Its folds o'er this western world,
And the Priest was lord of the land.

The chapel that once looked down
On the little seaport town
Has crumbled into the dust;
And on oaken beams below
The bells swing to and fro,
And are green with mould and rust.

"Is, then, the old faith dead,
"They say, "and in its stead
Is some new faith proclaimed,
That we are forced to remain
Naked to sun and rain,
Unsheltered and ashamed?

"Once, in our tower aloof,
We rang over wall and roof
Our warnings and our complaints;
And round about us there
The white doves filled the air,
Like the white souls of the saints.

"The saints! Ah, have they grown
Forgetful of their own?
Are they asleep, or dead,
That open to the sky
Their ruined Missions lie,
No longer tenanted?

"Oh, bring us back once more
The vanished days of yore,
When the world with faith was filled;
Bring back the fervid zeal,
The hearts of fire and steel,
The hands that believe and build.

"Then from our tower again
We will send over land and main
Our voices of command,
Like exiled kings who return
To their thrones, and the people learn
That the Priest is lord of the land!"

O Bells of San Blas in vain
Ye call back the Past again;
The Past is deaf to your prayer!
Out of the shadows of night
The world rolls into light;
It is daybreak everywhere.

Photos uploaded 12.9.08

I have uploaded some photos of our trip so far. Check them out at http://photos.aheakali.com/thumbnails.php?album=20 Enjoy!!

Rene

Jungle Tour San Blas 12.9.08

We were up & at ‘em early this morning as we all wanted to get on the first panga out on the Jungle tour. Again, when you think of San Blas, you think of the Jungle tour. You jump on a panga that takes you up the estuary similar to one we have been on in Tenacatita. Mike & Marylyn on Lady Hawke and Joe & Deborah on Pacific Jade with us beached our dinghies and locked them up at Ismael’s and walked down the street to the beginning of the jungle tour. Two other cruisers on Indian Summer joined us and all 8 of us jumped in a panga and began the tour. The estuary is lined with mangroves, cat tails, trees, & ferns – everything green you can imagine. The day was beautiful – sunny & warm and a bit muggy. We know we’re South now! We saw probably a hundred different species of birds, turtles, iguanas, butterflies, bulls, & crocodiles! Yep, freshwater crocs! We even saw an abandoned movie set. Our guide had eagle eyes and stopped the panga & identified every bird he saw, flower, tree, seed, & shell. Along the panga ride, we saw about 6 crocs from small ones only 3’ long or so and others that were bigger, fatter, & scarier! Our first stop was at a Crocodile farm which is a refuge & even a little bit zoo. There were lots of crocs – from itty bitty ones about 6” long to huge ones 6-7 feet long! And other animals – deer, hogs, parrots. We were attempting to take pics of the huge crocs and were worried that we would scare them and they’d run after us…well, I was taking a photos of a particularly large one and suddenly….a HUGE moth flashed right in front of the camera lens…it scared the beejesus out of me!! We all had quite a laugh at that. Then, I was also taking a photo of the hogs, which were so cute! I took a photo and the flash scared the hell out of one of them and it jumped, which made me jump twice as high! Haha… After spending a little while at the crocodile farm, we jumped back in the panga and went to a nice hidden swimming hole with a restaurant. It was heaven! The water was clear and turquoise, fresh & cool. We all jumped in & swam around in the cool refreshing fresh water. Ahhh….now this is living. They even had a swing that the boys used to jump into the nice cool water. After we were swimmed out, food & drinks were ordered and I went around the place to take photos. I was approached by one of the workers, the head maintenance man who lived on the property and he told me he lived on the property – a perk of the job – and he was responsible for keeping the pumps running 24/7 as they supplied San Blas with drinking water. We hung out for about an hour at the restaurant – swimming, chatting, & eating lunch, and jumped back in the panga to head back. We started the trip around 7am and returned around 1pm. What a fun morning! The Jungle trip is definitely high on my list of recommended activities – but especially the fresh water swim!

We walked back to the Bay and had our obligatory beers at Ishmael’s and made it back to the boat for some much needed rest & relaxation. There are plenty of small projects to complete on the boat – wash the dinghy, wash the boat, laundry, etc. We had a nice dinner & catch up on the blogs! We’re planning on staying for a couple more days and then heading further south to Guayabitos Cove to Jaltemba. The plan is still to be in the Barra de Navidad area by around Christmas.

I hope to update photos in the next day or so!

Mantanchen Bay 12.8.08

We have had an action packed couple of days here in Mantanchen Bay! We arrived here right at sunset on Sunday evening and anchored in the dark just beside Lady Hawke. It is a very large bay and we were lucky, there were only 2 other boats when we came in. We were exhausted after a 17 hour trip so after anchoring we set the anchor alarm, scarfed down some food, & hit the sack. There’s something about those longer passages that just takes it out of you. The passage was uneventful – there were some big swells at first, but about ½ way through the trip, the seas mellowed out and by the time we were anchoring, it was a smooth as glass. We saw whales & dolphins and even a turtle. We dodged a few fishing vessels and were lucky as Lady Hawke was 2-3 miles ahead of us so they would contact us if they saw anything. We lost sight of 4-P.A.C.K. as they were headed to Isla Isabella but stayed in radio contact until we all anchored.

The next morning we slept in a bit & were putting everything away from the passage and observing our surroundings. It is spectacular – a huge bay that is rimmed with coconut palm trees everywhere. Everything is so green and lush I feel as if I’m looking at a post card from the South Pacific. There are palapas dotted along the long & inviting beach. As we were admiring our new home Pacific Jade came sailing into the anchorage. They set the hook and we all went into town. We beached our dinghies at a restaurant called “Ismael’s” which is cruiser-friendly. What that means is we can leave our dinghies outside the restaurant, secured to the business and he will watch them for us. They can also arrange to dispose of trash (a constant cruiser issue), send out for laundry, get block ice, etc., anything to help the cruisers. In return, the cruisers frequent the establishment, partaking in the ‘bucket of beers’ – 10 beers for 70 pesos (or about $6.50). Anyway, we beached the dinghy & parked them in front of Ismael’s and then walked to the corner of town where you can catch a bus, walk, or hitchhike into San Blas, about 9 miles away. We were in luck, a pickup truck slowed down for a speed bump and we asked if he would take us to San Blas – he said Sure! All six of us! Woohoo! We’re pretty sure he was related to Mario Andretti but he got us there safe & sound. In town we tried to pay him for the ride but he refused.

Both Lady Hawke & Pacific Jade have been to San Blas/Mantanchen Bay before so we were treated to a personal tour! We walked through town and took in the sights. San Blas is a beautiful town with about anything you need. It is a smaller town, no mega stores here, but lots of stores to check out. The town square was very cute and was all decorated with Christmas trees & lights. In 2003 & 2004 San Blas was hit with hurricanes and is still recuperating from the damage. They are building a new church and it is close to finished. We walked to Mc Donald’s (NOT the chain!) for lunch and enjoyed lunch with two other boats – Indian Summer & Frejea. The girls, Marylyn, Deborah, & I took off to go shopping while the boys all walked over to the Port Captain’s office to check in & out of the port. Us girls walked from shop to shop checking out the wares. The bead & wood work was amazing. They had handmade dishes for condiments that were in every shape you could imagine – turtles, frogs, owls, fish, etc. I watched as one of the women was making one and asked her if I could take her picture, but she denied. We are in the state of Nayarit and the native people are called “Huichol” and are known for their bead work, paintings, & woodwork. I wish I had enough $$ to get one of everything! Haha.

After the boys visited the Port Captain, they made their way to our rendezvous point, the San Blas Social Club, otherwise known as the bar. When we found them they were enjoying the special – a beer and shot of tequila for 40 pesos. We found an internet café in town that we checked out – it had some of the wildest internet stations, they looked like old video game machines (think donkey kong or Ms. Pac Man) that had the insides ripped out & replaced with a monitor & computer. The keyboard & mouse were where the old controls used to be located. Internet was incredibly inexpensive – 1 pesos for about 6 minutes of internet time. What a deal! The internet café was packed, but by young kids, probably 12 years old. They were all chatting with friends all over Mexico. It was fun to watch them as they watched us to figure out what we were doing! Haha. Of course once they found we were just checking e-mails, I think they were disappointed. Back at the bar, we sat & chatted for a while but it was getting dark & we needed to get back to the boats, plus we were getting eaten alive by the ‘no-see-ums’ or ‘jujunes’ that inhabit this area. Most people relate Mantanchen Bay or San Blas with No-see-um’s and many simply stay away. It’s a shame as the town is so beautiful but I’ll admit, the no-see-um’s are maddening! They seem to come out every evening just at sunset & hang around & bite the hell out of your legs between your knees & ankles. We jumped into a taxi and started back to the bay. I enjoy talking (can you tell?!) and began asking the taxi driver about the area and what celebration they were getting ready for as you could see them sprucing up the area. They are getting ready for the celebration for the Virgin of Guadalupe that is on the 11th & 12th. We won’t be in San Blas for it, but it sounds like a great fiesta! I had been told by several cruisers to make sure & get some banana bread while in San Blas and I also asked the Taxi driver where the best was in town. It just so happens we were driving right by it so we stopped & bought some loaves of both Banana & Coconut bread and eventually made it back to the bay where our boats were hanging out. Dinner & ½ a movie and we were out like a light!

Leaving Stone Island...finally 12.7.08

Stone Island was a blast! We had a great time there and stayed for several days longer than we had intended to work out some kinks in both our systems & our buddy boat - Lady Hawke - as well as wait for a package mailed down from the states that had our boat documentation inside & Michael's repaired sunglasses. It was near torture as we were forced to swim in 75 degree crystal water, dinghy into shore for pizza at Benji's, watch magnificent sunsets, watch cruise ships come & go from the commercial
dock, spot dolphins in the anchorage playing, break in our sea legs, and more... It was sunny & clear most days and just gorgeous. We shared the anchorage with Lady Hawke and only a couple other boats that straggled in and out during our stay. There were never more than 6 in the anchorage which was perfect! Grey Max & Pacific Jade joined us on Thursday in the anchorage and we all dinghied into shore & partied pretty hard Friday night. Everyone except us came armed with flasks of tequila! We
felt a bit unprepared and a bit out of our league, but soon fell right in step and had a wonderful time. It was a great night - dinner at Victor's, margaritas next door, a fun dinghy ride after dark to our boat for cookies, and everyone was gone by about 9pm - cruiser midnight! haha...

While at Stone Island we discovered and fixed a few bugs in the system. Sparky the generator was misbehaving again. One morning we could not get him to shut down! Yep, most people have trouble getting them started, we can't get it to stop. Michael eventually got it stopped by pulling a lever but the next morning it was worse than the previous and try as he might, it just wouldn't stop. Mike from Lady Hawke came over and watched in awe as even when they tried to shut off the air supply, it just
kept going and going. Maybe we should change it's name to the energizer bunny! haha... Eventually Michael found the problem - a set screw had come loose and wouldn't allow the lever to be fully disengaged. Problem solved! With only about 2 hours in the super heated engine room working around a super hot generator that wouldn't shut down - only a few small burns later, it was shut down. Whew! That problem was resolved but for some reason when Sparky is running, the AC Volts periodically drop
from 150 (where it prefers to run) to never less than 110, but with no new load placed and no real reason for a drop. We're baffled as to the reason and concerned, but since it doesn't drop less than 110, we're not freaked. All other systems are working well.

We are currently motorsailing to Mantenchen Bay, outside of San Blas. It is 4:54 in the morning and I'm on watch so I'm writing to keep myself awake! Michael is sleeping in the cockpit. We have a swell coming from the NW hitting us on our rear quarter stern and the wind is dead on the nose. It's a bit bouncy but not super uncomfortable. We have the mainsail up for stabilization only and it's bouncing from side to side. We left the anchorage around 0100 with Lady Hawke & 4-P.A.C.K. Lady Hawke
is about a mile ahead of us on the same course and 4-P.A.C.K. is directly abeam to us and is headed to Isla Isabella. We decided to skip Isabella on the way down because conditions are poor and there seems to be a lot of people out there. We plan on catching it on the way back to Mazatlan in the spring. The stars are out like gangbusters again. When we left the anchorage a beautiful quarter moon was setting, it is cool outside, in the 70's. I even put on a sweats!! And socks!!

We should arrive around sunset to Mantechen Bay and I'll send an update as soon as I can get a good signal!

Rene

Anchored at Stone Island 12.3.08

We made it - woohoo! We left Mazatlan Marina on Monday and headed South. The day couldn't have been better it was sunny, clear, the wind was 15-20 knots, and we left with a group of 4 boats - S/V Slacker, S/V Tao Min, S/V Lady Hawke, and us. We put up all sails and was scooting along around 5 knots. It was perfect! Stone Island is only about 10 miles from Mazatlan Marina but it was a wonderful sail & a lovely day. We are anchored in about 17ft of water, put the boat away from the sail, and
enjoyed our first evening at anchor with a nice meal.

Tuesday morning we ran the generator and had a nice lazy morning and around 9am jumped in the dinghy and went to shore to explore the island. Mike & Julie from Slacker, Mike & Marylyn from Lady Hawke, and Ed from Dolphin that came with Justin on Tao Min all went for a walk along the island. We introduced Geocaching to the group as there was one here and had a good time looking around for it! It was located inside the grounds of one of the beach restaurants and we chuckled as the employees kept
giving us hints that we were 'Muy Frio' (cold). It was pretty comical as there were 7 people roaming around the restaurant grounds! We all signed the log and checked out the goodies inside and then stayed for an ice cold beer. What a treat! Mike & Julie and Ed had to leave mid morning as they needed to get back to the Marina for her flight back to the states. We continued to explore the island with Mike & Marylyn and decided to stop for a homemade pizza where we left our dinghyies for the day.
Back at the boat, Michael and I had a nice snooze in the sunshine in the cockpit and recovered from our hard day! haha... We made rice and dinghied over to Lady Hawke for a wonderful fajita dinner. They were supposed to have other guests but apparently there was a problem on the road to get here and had to turn back. So we enjoyed an intimate dinner with them! After dinner we played a lively game of Mexican Train Dominoes. Ahh....life is good!

There are currently only 2 boats in the anchorage, us and Lady Hawke. We have a great view of Mazatlan's commercial port and have enjoyed seeing the cruise ships come in and out. There were 2 yesterday and so far 2 today. We're running the generator this morning and listening to the morning nets on the radio and are planning to jump in the dinghy this morning and explore the commercial port. We'll see!

More to follow...
Rene

Leaving Marina Mazatlan...12.1.08

Woohoo! It's that time! We're fully stocked & ready. FINALLY!! It's time for us to be cruisers again, not dockers! Our plan today is to leave Marina Mazatlan around 2pm and go over to Stone Island, just outside of the old harbor. We will stay there for a couple days and get used to the movement of the boat and just RELAX, then leave for Isla Isabella, weather permitting.

We have had a couple of crazy days since Turkey day. On Friday, we took off early in the morning and did the last of our provisioning, went by Nid Art to see our sailboat they are making for us, and got to Immigration around 11:15. Our appointment wasn't until 12:00 but we decided since we were there, to just go in & wait. We had asked earlier in the week for them to move up our appointment and so when we arrived, the guard at the desk recognized us. Only 10-15 minutes later, more people started to arrive and pretty soon, there were over 25 people in the waiting room. Now remember, we have to get our FM3's and make it to customs by 2pm so that we can extend our vehicle import expiration date. If I haven't explained it, when you enter Mexico, you purchase a Tourist card which is good for 6 months. When you enter with your vehicle, your temporary import permit is only good for as long as you are allowed in, in this case, 6 months. The FM3 is a document that allows you to stay in the country for 1 year at a time. But our issue is that once we get our FM3, we have to take those copies & a request for extension to customs to extend our vehicle temporary import permit to the year expiration date. Whew! That's a mouthful.

So anyway, Twelve o'clock came around, nothing. Twelve thirty, one o'clock, and we're starting to panic. Finally at 1:15, they call us (we were the 1st ones called!) and we go upstairs, put our thumbprints on our FM3's and we were outta there by 1:20. We are officially 'Estados Unidos Mexicanos' or 'American Mexicans' now...hahaha... I guess I really have to learn Spanish now! haha. So we high-tail it down the street to make a couple copies of the FM3 and then take off for Customs. It just so happens, on a total random sighting, I see the Aduana (customs) building by accident and it was not where we thought it was supposed to be! A little hesitation on Michael's part as he knew we had very little time to get this done, we turned around and went inside. We clocked in at 1:25, and back out at 1:30!! Can you believe it!? It was one of the easiest parts of the day. We just walked in, presented our request, made some more photo copies, and wha-la! The Jeep is safe & legal again. Whew! That even we were supposed to participate in a dinghy raft-up but decided to bail & make it a mellow evening.

Saturday came and suddenly - we're only 1 day from leaving! It was one of those crazy days - first the morning net, then there was a swap meet right after the net (and we sold lots of items), then there was a cruiser 'talk' about cruising in Panama, Cell phones, & Tenacatita. There were books to return, beading instructions given, chatting with Debbie on S/V Lovely Reta after her surgery, and visiting with everyone on the docks. We cleaned & organized the boat in preparation for guests. That evening, we invited Elvira & her fiance, Ramiro, to dinner and Michael made his famous Crab Newburg with some cauliflower. We enjoyed chatting with them and after dinner, jumped in their car and they toured us through Mazatlan. It was so much fun!

Sunday morning, when I should have been sleeping, we heard lots of police activity and even a helicopter! Mazatlan holds a marathon every year on the weekend after Thanksgiving day. The runners were running right by the marina! So I threw on some clothes & went out for lots of clapping & encouragement. When I got back to the boat my laptop was delivered - virus free (actually, he couldn't find anything wrong with it...yippee!) - and we continued to work on the small cleanup items - install the jack lines on the boat, do the last loads of laundry, update the blogs (wink!), clean & organize from last night, try to find the geocache at El Cid, run the dinghy around to make sure it's working properly (it isn't), & other little stuff like that.

We are planning to buddy boat with Mike & Marylyn on S/V Lady Hawke while several of our friends catch up with us. Debbie & John on S/V Lovely Reta are stuck in Mazatlan for a couple more weeks as she recovers from knee surgery on Friday for a torn miniscus, Linda & Wally on S/V Andanzas are also stuck in Mazatlan for a while as he recovers from back surgery, Barry & Pat on S/V Pacific Voyager are stuck until their refrigerator is rebuilt, and Anne & Jeff on S/V Outrider are still in La Paz with repairs. So we're going to take off & explore and will look forward to seeing them later.

At Stone Island, a couple other boats from the marina are going to join us - in addition to Lady Hawke, Mike & Julie on S/V Slacker and Justin on S/V Tao Min are planning to anchor at Stone Island as well - and we'll have a nice party out there! We will miss all of our friends here at the marina, but are looking forward to meeting all of the others out there!

So, here we go! Follow us along as we attempt to explain what we're doing and all that we're seeing. I will insert pictures as often as we can, but will be posting all of my future posts via the Winlink system - over a Ham radio signal.

Enjoy the posts!

Rene

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! 11.27.08

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! And there's no better time like the present to let you know that I'm so thankful to have you in my life. Thank you for checking in on us & I hope your day is beautiful, wherever you are.

We had an action packed day! As I told you before, Michael is in charge of the Thanksgiving Dinner for the cruisers. He has been working with Elvira, the Marina office manager, and Ray, the owner of Mazatlan Yachts who has helped put this event together for years. He also organized a core group of cruisers who helped with the entire event - setup, decoration, entertainment, clean-up, lighting, promotion, etc. The event is entirely cruiser run - there is no monetary help from the marina at all - so it will keep the costs low. Last year, the dinner was about $30/person. This year, because of Elvira's help and the labor of the cruisers...it is 175 pesos, or about $14/person. They had to put a cap on tickets at 180 as they could not fit any more tables & chairs outside in the lounge.

The first hurdle of the morning was when the tables & chairs were delivered. Pacifico (the local beer distributor) loans out tables & chairs for events. But when they arrived...they were FILTHY! No problem - the setup committee with about 20 volunteers got busy with buckets & rags and had them all cleaned up spic & span in about an hour! It was amazing to see so many people jump to work and knock it out! The food was excellent - turkey and all of the fixings. The evening went off with only a few little issues but everyone loved it.

In the morning, Father Horatio held mass and then jumped into the panga to provide a 'Blessing of the Fleet'. He had some palm fronds and holy water and went from boat to boat, throwing water & praying.

I stood on the bow of the boat and accepted the blessing as we can use all of it we can get! It was a wonderful detail of the day that Ray & Jeanette from Mazatlan Yachts organized.

Michael spent most of the evening helping with all of the details of the night and I mingled with several of the cruisers. Once the entertainment started, Michael was able to eat his dinner and enjoy the evening as well. The night ended around midnight and we crashed! Tomorrow starts the countdown - only 4 more days until we leave!

Rene

Update 11.26.08

Here we are again, several days over my weekly blog. Oh well, I’m a cruiser, what do you expect?! Haha… Actually, I haven’t been online much at all because I picked up a computer virus from another cruiser and have had a hell of a time getting rid of it! It was a very bad one and has taken me several days to clean it from both the laptop and desktop. It was transferred via my flash drive and disabled my antivirus, firewall, & windows updates…allowing other viruses to spread. It’s a huge bummer and I believe I have it about 99% but am calling in the help of a 12 year old boy in the Marina named Casey on S/V 4-PACK today for help.

The past couple weeks have been action packed, as always. There’s always something to do and it’s amazing that time has flown so quickly! Here we are, about 6 days away from our leaving Mazatlan and we will still be down to the wire on a few items.

We have spent the past couple weeks reuniting with a bunch of cruisers who have made it down here from spending the summer up in the Sea of Cortez – Pat & Barry on S/V Pacific Voyager, our sister ship. And some additional friends from Ventura, Wally & Linda on S/V Andanzas came into Mazatlan after cruising down the Baja Peninsula during the Baja Haha. We’ve spent a few evenings with them and have enjoyed playing ‘cruise director’ showing them around Mazatlan.

We hiked up to El Faro with Linda and her son & friend, David & Aly

and Pat & Barry from Pacific Voyager

We had a wonderful hike and even stopped for 2 geocaches on the way up the hill! No one in the group had even heard of geocaching so we explained it and while looking for one of the caches, Linda was the one who found it! The day was gorgeous – sunny & warm, temps in the upper 80’s with just enough breeze coming off of the ocean to keep us cool. We weren’t as lucky this time as the lighthouse keeper would not allow us up inside (there were too many tourists around as there were 3 cruise ships in the harbor and lots of people filtering through!) even after giving him a candy treat. Oh well, next time. But we enjoyed the view of Mazatlan and the cool breezes and then hiked back down. Oh, and FYI….it is 340 steps up to the top! Once we were back down, we decided to walk the malecon over to old town so that we could visit my favorite shop in Mazatlan, Nid Art. This is the place I’ve written about before that makes the fantastic leather art. We had asked the owners if they would make a small sailboat over the summer for us. They have been so busy opening up a pottery school, they had no time to make it but assured me if I came in on Friday, she would have something started for me. I can’t wait to see it. Wanna check it out? Go to http://www.nidart.com/

So we made our way through downtown & jumped on a bus back to the Marina. We had just exited the bus when Ally looked at David and asked “Do you have my purse?” You guessed it, she had left it on the bus. Oh NO! They took off down the street after the bus, luckily it goes down the street and makes a U-turn and comes along the same route back in front of the marina. They finally found the bus and the bus driver said one of the passengers had taken it, but he had the cell phone # for the person and gave it to Ally. Multiple calls later to the cell phone, no one answered. So finally, she gave up and called to cancel her credit cards. I didn’t mention that they were flying home that evening….and her I.D was inside. Luckily her passport was on the boat so she could still fly home. She was mostly bummed for losing the purse! (Which I can relate to as I had my purse stolen while in Channel Islands and could care less about the contents, just wanted the purse back!!) They flew back to the States and on the radio net the next morning, someone asked if anyone knew an Ally! Turns out, the guy who found the purse came to the Marina and was asking around to some of the cruisers to find her. One of the cruisers took his info and told him it was a cruiser and he should bring it to the office tomorrow morning. Amazingly, the fellow showed up in the morning and gave the purse over to the Marina office. Nothing appears to be taken and it was safely, without reward, returned. Another ‘random act of kindness’.

We have continued with our social calendar – Dominoes Pizza Tuesdays (today we had 27 people!), dinners out, and just visiting with fellow cruisers. Last Saturday we had a group that went up to the Hotel Freeman for sunset and then down to old town for ‘street potatoes’. Yumm… John & Debby Dye from Lovely Reta, Linda & Wally from Andanzas

Mike & Julie on Slacker

Pat & Barry on Pacific Voyager and ourselves had a wonderful evening. When we were on the top of the Holiday Inn watching the sunset, we all remarked how the ocean was calling us and we just can’t wait to get out on the hook again.

Mac from S/V Effie held a ‘beaders anonymous’ meeting and 8 women attended and learned how to do a DNA stitch using a super tiny needle, thread, & seed beads. There were half newbies (me included!) and half experts who brought along some of the most amazing pieces of jewelry that I’ve ever seen! I’m in process of making a bracelet. It is a job! So much detail! In the 3 hour class, I finished about two inches of the bracelet so I’ve got some work to do but it is something I’ve wanted to learn forever so I’m glad that I had the chance to meet these wonderful ladies. That’s one great part about cruising – participating with others and learning all kinds of fun stuff!

We’ve been doing a little bit of Geocaching this past week. Aside from the 2 we found while hiking up to El Faro, we found 5 others with Debbie from Lovely Reta in tow. She loved it! We even let her find one of our first ones – one no one had found before – making it a First to Find! The owners had left a 10 pesos coin inside as a bonus, she was thrilled! There are a total of 12 in the Mazatlan area and I hope to find some of the others before we leave!

The boat is ready – all of the projects are done (or done enough!) except for one tiny detail. Since we returned, our dinghy engine has been running sluggish. We have had trouble getting up on a plane and even at full throttle, we’ve been passed by people with much smaller engines! We had an engine service over the summer so we asked Rick from Cape Star to take a look again. His guys pulled the engine apart and discovered we had one injector that was plugged. What is it with these injectors?! So he tore it apart & cleaned it up, but when he was putting it back together, realized he needed a new gasket as well. Turns out, we didn’t have a spare on board. Of course! How that happens with all of the spares we do have, I’ll never know but I guess it’s bound to happen. And of course, there is not one to be found in Mazatlan. Yep, welcome to cruising in Mexico. So we are having them make one for us and we’re crossing our fingers it will work. He gives it a 90% success rating, so we’re hoping! It is supposed to be made tomorrow. In the meantime, we’re having two of them shipped down from the States, but they won’t be here for several days to a week and we’re leaving on Monday.

I guess I let the cat out of the bag! I’ve been reporting before that we are planning to leave on Dec 1st and head down to Huatulco and then working our way back North to leave the boat in Mazatlan for the summer. Hang on to your seat….we changed our minds! We’re still leaving on Monday, the 1st but our plan is now to just go out to Stone Island, right outside Mazatlan for a couple days to just get out of the Marina & get back into the groove of things, then continue to slide down South, stopping at all of the places we can until we get to Zihuatenejo. We may be in Barra de Navidad for Christmas, we may not. We’re just going to take it one day at a time and have a good time. Cruiser plans are as solid as writings in the sand at low tide – bound to be erased. And it’s nice to be so flexible, it’s less stressful that way! We removed all of the foil window coverings from the windows and the fans will disappear in the next day or so. It’s time to go cruising!!

OH! I almost forgot! We went to a Baseball game the other day, the Mazatlan Venados vs the Guasave Algodoneros.

Baseball here in Mexico is very popular and the games are much more than simply the game!

First, as soon as you enter the park, there are Pacifico, Coca Cola, Lala, and every other girl you can imagine dressed in super sparkly, super tight outfits to greet you at the entrance.

Of course all the men just adored that part. Then there’s about everything imaginable to eat here. The downstairs concourse was filled with vendors – tacos, sausage, sushi, chicken, hot dogs, etc. Once you are in your seat, there was a beer vendor with two buckets of ice cold beers in each section who is responsible for all of the beer sales in that section. You don’t even have to get out of your seat to get a beer! Just holler or signal and he will pour you a cold one for 15 pesos and pass it down the row. There were a lot of mascots during the game – the TelCel Shark (the local cell phone company), the Mazatlan mascot is a deer and he was so animated, it was almost more fun to watch him that it was to watch the game!

In fact, the game was a bit boring until the 7th inning. The Venados were down 0-2 and it didn’t look good. But one pop fly and a missed catch and they were caught up and then got the go ahead run to win the game. As soon as the inning was called, every kid in the stands, and many adults too, jumped over the side walls and onto the field to help the players celebrate. It was amazing. The evening was so much fun. There were about 30 cruisers who attended, but only 10 of us stayed around for the end of the game and the win! About 4 times during the game, after an inning was called and before the next one started, folks would run out along the fences & throw promotional items out. There were water bottles, t-shirts, key rings, baseballs, etc. I caught one of the water bottles – a promotion from Burger King (haha!) and allllmost caught one of the baseballs but it glanced off my hand and went behind me. Bummer!

We have been working on getting our FM3’s, an immigration document that looks a lot like a passport that will allow us to stay in Mexico for 1 year instead of the tourist card that expires in 6 months. The submission process is pretty painless – take photos, make copies of your passport, complete the application forms and schedule your appointment to pick up the finished product. We were assured by everyone involved that the appointments would be scheduled 2 weeks later so we waited until two and a half weeks out to submit the paperwork. And of course, Murphy stepped in and the appointment was scheduled for December 4th – 4 days after we were hoping to leave! Doh! We went down to immigration with Elvira from the Marina and talked to them (read – begged!) to get an earlier appointment, which is scheduled for Friday, the 28th. After we get our FM3’s, we have to take them and the temporary import permit for the Jeep to Customs to get the permit extended to match our FM3’s. Sounds easy! Our only issue is that our appointment is at noon at immigration, and customs closes at 2pm! It will be a race to get everything done and we’re hoping Murphy is no where to be found today.

Our cushions are super clean and beautiful since the zippers and new foam was installed. I ended up taking the cushions up to the drycleaner and they removed the covers and drycleaned them for only 35 pesos each. We have dealt with our Fishing Licenses, although it was not as easy as it was supposed to be. It’s a nice easy process – go online, fill out the application, print two pieces of paper, take them to the bank, get your receipt, go back online and enter the code from the receipt and print the license. Simple! Mine worked without a hitch, printed beautifully. Michael’s…..not so much. The code just would not work! I tried & tried, took it up to the office and Elvira tried & tried! Well, long story short, they misspelled Michael’s name on the bank receipt and since it does not match, won’t work! We went back to the bank but since it was days later, they could not fix it and suggested we call the Conapesca office, but no one could help. So we are keeping our payment receipt and our application on Michael and if we are asked, will attempt to explain! We went to have some maintenance items taken care of in the last few days as well – haircuts & teeth cleanings! What a deal on a cleaning – only 350 pesos! Michael has been busy with the Thanksgiving Dinner preparations. There are lots of things to work out & coordinate and he’s doing a fantastic job. And of course we have been provisioning & stocking the freezer. We found some great frozen lasagna meals at Sam’s club which is an incredible find in Mexico, we stocked up on some meats from Henderson’s which is the best place for frozen meat we have found here (they flash freeze it & vacuum seal it in the U.S. and bring it down), cheeses, & misc items we know we won’t find further down the road.

I have some more cruising blogs & websites for you to check out!
Mike & Julie on S/V Slacker is www.sailblogs.com/member/slacker
Linda & Wally on S/V Andanzas is http://www.andanzas-adventure.blogspot.com/
Joe & Deb on S/V Pacific Jade is http://www.sailing-vacations-web.com/
Terry & Vicki on S/V Tenacity is http://www.tenacity123.blogspot.com/
Steve & Gig on S/V Charlotte Alane is http://www.julianhotel.com/
Dawn & Tom on S/V Warm Rain is http://www.warmrain.typepad.com/
Patrick & Susan on S/V Perpetua is www.geocities.com/svperpetua

Oh, I have to tell you how much fun some of the cruisers are here. As everywhere, there are several ‘jokesters’ and there are several here. One story that I have to tell you though is about “Jean Claude”. In the middle of one of the morning nets, someone (I won’t name names!) came interrupted the net with a very thick French accent and said he was just coming into Marina Mazatlan, was sick of cruising and was selling everything on his boat, including his boat for very cheap! Things like a dinghy for $50, including the engine, watermakers, lines, canvas, etc. All of the things a cruiser is on the lookout for! Even his boat he was going to sell for $500. He said to come to dock 5 in Marina Mazatlan and it was first come, first sold! What you should know about Marina Mazatlan is the numbering sequence is off – there’s dock 3, 4, 6, 7, 8….but no dock 5! Of course, he caught some cruisers hook, line, & sinker and there were even several boaters who were calling on the radio “Where is dock 5?”….. There were people from the other marina who even hopped in their dinghies and zoomed over here….all looking for dock 5 and “Jean Claude”. It was a classic. People are still looking for “Jean Claude” and all of the items he was selling. No one tells those people that there is no “Jean Claude” and it was all an elaborate joke. Haha…!!

Lots more exciting things to come! Stay posted...

Rene

Who said this was easy? 11.12.08

I have failed in my attempt to write a once-a-week blog update again. Sorry!! It is so easy to find something else to do! But I’ll bring you all up to speed on what’s been going on lately. We’ve continued to work our way down the ‘list-o-things to get done before we can leave’ and have crossed several things out this week and as always, added a few as well.

Going down the list of completed items…the mainsail slides were sewn on and the mainsail was re-hung. All of the reef lines installed and most of the lines were whipped to prevent further fraying (something we should have done long ago!). All of the sails are up & ready to go! When the mainsail was up there was a slight amount of breeze and she was tugging at the docklines…she’s ready to get out sailing as much as we are. We had a chain plate on the starboard side that was leaking so it was re-bedded. The SSB antenna was reattached, the rudder post bearing was checked & Michael added nylock nuts to it. We checked the emergency tiller, just to be sure it still worked since replacing the rudder post – it works fine! The backing plate for the stanchion base was finally completed (the one we had the engine room all torn apart for) and we have 3 additional ones to install at all of the stanchions at the gates.

We had quite a scare the past few days as Sparky the Generator wouldn't start, a very, very bad thing.

We had Bob & Rafael from Total Yacht Works on the boat Saturday who thought it was a blocked injector (we don't have a spare, of course!) so he took it to clean it out. Monday morning Rafael returned with the news that the injector was fine. Oh great! We have had lots of problems with this #%@ generator and when it wouldn't start, figured it would have to be rebuilt again. It's a Phasor LP1 3.5KW generator that was purchased for about $5K and rebuilt for another $1K a year ago, when we could get all the parts shipped direct. We shuddered to think how much it would cost here in Mexico. Further inspection found the water impeller in pieces. It was replaced (thank goodness we had a spare one of that!) and it still wouldn't fire! About 3 hours later after tearing it mostly apart, the technician shot some oil through the injector straight into the head which lubricated the rings & piston, which increased the compression from about 80 to 230. It was put all back together….and it fired! Turns out the rings and/or piston must have been a little rusty? or possibly just 'stuck' and wasn't doing it's job. So thank GOODNESS it was a simple fix....or we hope! We haven't gotten the bill yet....haha.

After a stressful day dealing with the generator, we went out to dinner with some friends from Channel Islands that are taking off today heading further South, Milan & Adrian Ford aboard M/V Integrity and John & Debbie Dye on S/V Lovely Reta who are old work friends of Michael's. It was a place called 'Fat fish' and they had a special - two dinners (Ribs, Ribeye, or Shrimp) for 160 pesos (about $13) and two for one margaritas. It was a nice evening - Adrian's b-day was Sunday and someone gave her a huge chocolate cake so she brought it and everyone had a piece! Milan & Adrian left Mazatlan the next day, headed South for the season. We hope to run into them on our travels.

Oh, but back to work! Michael changed the oil on both the engine & generator, whipped more lines, continues to work with the aft shower, and has even begun writing in the mornings all about our adventures. You’re sure to see his additions to the website shortly! In fact, he sent out a mass e-mail to everyone in our address book with a reminder we are out here & what we did over the summer and we’ve been overjoyed with the response. Hearing from long lost friends is always such a treat.

The boat is being scrubbed down, top to bottom, on a daily basis. There are lots of nook & crannies that get scrubbed with a toothbrush, wood cleaned & oiled, brass polished, etc. The cushions in the main cabin are dirty after years of use and we’ve been pondering how to clean them up. A plea out to the cruisers & condo’ers did not turn up a steam machine so we decided to clean them ourselves. The problem is they were obviously a handmade job and did not include any way to remove the foam and clean the fabric. After much deliberation, we decided to have zippers installed in them so we can take them apart & clean them ourselves. Of course, talking to the upholstery guy, the inevitable happened….we decided to get new foam installed while he had them. The old foam was getting too soft & bottoming out so why not!? We’ve been without cushions for about 5 days now and should have them returned today just in time to take them apart & clean the fabric! He could do it while he had it…but at a cost of $10/cushion we decided I could do it cheaper.

We are in process of getting our FM3’s, an immigration document similar to a passport that will allow us to stay in Mexico for 1 year. Our temporary permits are only good for 6 months and we will be here until June, which is 8 months. There is an agent here in Mazatlan who does all of the paperwork & footwork for you and we decided to go this route for this initial submission. We went yesterday and got our requisite photos, very similar to a passport, and filled out all of the paperwork. We have also been working on getting our Mexican fishing license renewed. The renewal can be done online now at http://www.conapesca.sagarpa.gob.mx/wb/ and I have instructions if anyone is interested. We have printed out our receipts that we need to take to the bank to pay for the license, then return & print them out. As of January 2008, the requirement to have a license for everyone on board as well as the boat & dinghy has changed! Now you only have to have a license for the persons on board. We paid 447 pesos plus 35 pesos for the online transaction per license. Have I mentioned the dollar to peso conversion is very much on our side right now – it is averaging 12.5 – which is a welcome benefit!

Whew, all that work is making me tired just thinking about it! Haha. But of course we’re still having fun as well. Our Dominoes Tuesday Pizza nights are still in full swing, last night gathering 17 people! A group took off last Wednesday in our dinghys and zoomed out to Deer Island, just off the Mazatlan coast, for a few hours of soaking in the ocean, snorkeling, & relaxing. The day was gorgeous – sunny & warm, no wind to speak of. The island has a wonderful beach area and as we were pulling the dinghys onto the soft sand, we assisted with some young boys who live on the island. There were only about 20 or so others on the beach and the entire group of us spent some time just soaking in the water before donning our snorkeling gear & checking out what was underneath! The water was a bit murky, but once we swam around to the side of the island, large boulders provided a great area for vividly colorful fish, shells, & even a bloom of scallops. There were 3 dinghys – ours, Mike & Julie on S/V Slacker and Mike & Marilyn with Bianca in tow on S/V Lady Hawke.

The water was perfect in the 80’s it felt wonderful and we all had prune hands by the time we got out of the water. It was a quick trip – out & back in about 3 hours – but was fantastic.

Wednesday night, Rafael Rodriguez sings at Gus Gus, the restaurant at the top of our dock and we seem to catch his show every Wednesday. The food at Gus Gus is outstanding and inexpensive and Wednesday evenings they are packed with cruisers & condo folks.

Geez, is that it?! Nope, not quite. Mazatlan has always held a terrific Thanksgiving Day dinner and through sheer luck (or torture, we’re not sure which), Michael has been made the President of the committee this year. Was he nominated? Did he volunteer? Nope…he just happened to be at the right place at the right time and whala…he’s it. So for the last couple weeks he has been holding meetings, organizing the cruisers to ensure everything is taken care of, etc. Last year, there were 189 people in attendance! Luckily, there are several cruisers who have volunteered to help and so far the ticket sales are positive. The Marina Mazatlan manager, Elvira Lizarraga, has worked very hard to ensure everything is taken care of – has made the arrangements for the food, tables & chairs, beer, wine, soda, etc. It is a lot of work for everyone but it’s coming together nicely. The menu is turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, stuffing, salad, cranberry sauce, croissants, carrot cake & after dinner coffee for 175 pesos per person – that’s only about $14! Plus, after dinner, Rafael Rodriguez who sings at Gus Gus will play for 4 hours. It should be a wonderful evening. We’re looking forward to it. Wanna come?! :-)

There are lots more cruisers in the marina now. There were probably 30 or so who checked into the net this morning and the marina is just humming with activity. There are exercise classes 3 days a week, daily Baja Rummy games, lots of work being done on boats daily, and that great camaraderie in the air. Everyone is getting excited to begin their journey, wherever it takes them! Hurricane season is almost over – November 15th is the magical date. It has been less hot here as well, temps in the upper 80’s during the day and today we’ve been blessed with a nice breeze that is cooling everything down. The evening temps have been fantastic – cool enough for us to turn off the A/C unit and only use the fans. Our plan it still to leave just after Thanksgiving and head down to Huatulco and then begin our trip North. But remember, cruiser plans are like nailing jello to the wall! Irregardless, only 2 more weeks until we take off - woohoo!!

Keep in touch! If you missed out on the mass e-mail and would like to be included, send us an e-mail to sailing@aheakali.com and we'll add you to the mailing list for our very occasional e-mail updates.

Rene

We had a friend come & visit on the dock the other day - posing for pics & being talked about!

El dia de los Muertos 11.1.08

Last night was the 'Day of the Dead' parade in downtown Mazatlan and a group of cruisers all went down for the festivities. We jumped on the ‘green’ Sabalo Centro air conditioned bus and exited at the Mercado, walking a few blocks to the center of the festivities, Plazuela Machado. The place was swarming with people, vendors selling jewelry, books, & goodies, and music. There were 11 of us – Mike & Julie from Slacker, Mike & Marilyn on Lady Hawke, Merry & BJ on Willow, Justin from Tao Min, two non-boaters Bianca & Sherri, and Michael & I. Roy & Darlene from Scrimshaw & Scott & Cindy on Beach House were also seen in the crowd. We started off at a restaurant, the majority of us ordering fish or shrimp tacos (yum…) and we timed it perfectly as once we finished with dinner, it was time for the parade!

What is the Day of the Dead all about you may ask? Well, to me it seems like a combination of Memorial Day, Halloween, & the 4th of July all wrapped up in one. The Day of the Dead is a big deal here in Mexico, often more celebrated than Christmas.

Every year, on November 1st (All Saints Day) and 2nd (All Souls Day), the Day of the Dead festivities take place. While it's strange for most of us to accept the fact that "death" and "festivities" can go hand-in-hand, for most Mexicans, the two are intricately entwined. It isn't difficult for foreigners to interpret dancing skeletons, candy skulls and general drunken revelry as disrespect for the dead and grief at human loss. Nothing could be further from the truth. For those accustomed to hushed voices, formal clothing, a solemn priest and an absence of children as fitting for the graveside, this festival flies in the face of propriety. Bright flowers, loud music, colorful decorations and seasonal sweets are characteristic of the first two days of November.

This all stems from the ancient indigenous peoples of Mexico who believed that the souls of the dead return each year to visit with their living relatives - to eat, drink and be merry. The living invite the spirits of the family to return home for a few hours of laughter, tears and memories. It is a time for remembering friends, family and ancestors. The cemeteries come alive and altars are created which are filled with flowers, candles, a selection of the deceased favorite food & drink and fresh water, photographs of the deceased and offerings. Even families with very limited budgets spare no expense when preparing the altar to honor their family.



They want their spirits to enjoy the offerings and to return each year to continue this special spiritual companionship. The spirits of the dead are expected to pay a holiday visit home and should be provided with an enticing repast and adequate sustenance for the journey. Frequently a wash basin and clean hand towel are provided so that visiting souls can freshen up before the feast. The offering may also include a pack of cigarettes for the after-dinner enjoyment of former smokers, or a selection of toys and extra sweets for deceased children. The smell of burning copal (incense) and the light of numerous candles are intended to help the departed find their way. While most altars are laden with the favorite foods, sweets, drinks, and harvest fruits of each family spirit, even the most basic altar includes these basic needs:

WATER to quench the thirst and for purification
SALT to season the food and for purification
BREAD to represent the food needed for survival

It is a time of lively reunions at family burial plots. Some bring along picnic baskets, bottles of tequila for toasting the departed or even a mariachi band to lead a heartfelt sing-along. To preserve the tradition, government and private institutions have recently increased promotion of commemorative altars displayed in museums, educational centers and other public venues.

Other symbols include the elaborately-decorated pan de muerto or ‘dead bread’,



skull-shaped candies and sweets

,

death figures



and paper maché skeletons and skulls.
This may all seem morbid and somewhat ghoulish to those who are not part of that culture. But, for Mexicans who believe in the life/death/rebirth continuum, it's all very natural.

The festivities are the epitome of what I love about being in a different culture. By the time the parade began, there were thousands of people in the plaza. There was so much going on, every sensory was tingling. The parade was not what I would consider a parade, but more of a procession. There was a lead vehicle with spotlights shining onto the crowd and fireworks were shot out every few minutes.



The fireworks are a signal to help guide the spirits home. Behind the lead vehicle were thousands of people, who walked the entire parade route (about 20 blocks). Everyone sang & danced to music provided by brass bands evenly spaced out throughout the procession. This is a quick video showing the dark streets, the band, and if you listen, everyone singing.





There were also 3 burrow-drawn carriages decorated with flowers.



These carriages carried kegs of beer and a couple men whose job it was to keep the beer flowing. During the procession, you simply sidled up to the carriage and were poured a cup of beer (which sounds so much easier than it was!) and then continued to walk along the parade route.



You drank the beer in remembrance to those who have passed. Of course, the beer carriages were always surrounded and I think they had one guy specifically for pumping the keg alone! All ages were represented and it was not unusual to see an entire family walking along. Some participants were dressed in elaborate costumes,



but mostly everyone wore black & white of some sort.



At the end of the parade route, which took us right back to Plazuela Machado, students of the local ballet school performed “La Catrina dances, too” depicting death & rebirth.



We were even treated with a sample of the 'dead bread' by gals walking through the crowd. The entire evening was amazing. Incredibly, the entire group managed to meet back precisely when we were supposed to and all hopped into a pick-up taxi back to the Marina.



The festival reminded me of a favorite song of mine…

And the band played
Songs that we have never heard
But we danced anyway
We never understood the words
We just sang Oh, la la la la la la la la la
And we danced anyway…

Nobel laureate Octavio Paz said, "The Mexican is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it; it is one of his toys and his most steadfast love."

An amazing evening…
Rene

All work and no play 10.31.08

Well, you know the end of the proverb, I’m sure. Luckily, we haven’t lived up to it this week…

We're still working on the boat, surprise, surprise. Remember, it’s just like a house, stuff breaks, chores get put off until later, there’s always cleaning & maintenance and it’s much easier done at a dock than out at anchor. We have 1 of the 4 sails put back on the masts, 3 to go (the biggest ones, of course! We did safety checks – the windlass (works!), un-pickled the watermaker and ran it for a while using water from the hose, checked the pins in the turnbuckles of the rigging, Michael added stainless steel backing plates onto the inside of the boat where the turning blocks and the arch & davit system attach to the boat which will make it more solid and prevent the deck from flexing, and lots of little things that we didn’t write down or cross off of the list.

On Friday we had our cabinets glued & screwed & put back together. Our cabinets in the main salon are a lifesaver, nice & large so we can store lots of items and are the cushions of the settee. The bad part is they are nice & large and have lots of room to stuff lots of stuff inside! Two of the 6 cabinets are used for dry good storage, specifically all of our canned goods, which are very heavy. This weight has caused the frame of the cabinets to bow, making the bottom pull loose from the top, so the latches don't work the way they should. We could shore them up from the bottom for the time being, but the bottom is the top of the futon couches so that's not an option. So we removed everything from the cabinets (6 of them) and had Joel, a wood/cabinet guy, take them apart, re-glue (epoxy) them, get them in place and then counter sink some brass screws to make them look pretty. That turned into a 36 hour project - removing everything and storing it in the V Berth, the 2 1/2 hour cabinet work, then 24 hours of curing, then putting it all back in, neat & orderly. Whew! haha... And just like magic….the cabinets work just like they should.

While waiting for the epoxy to cure, Michael took advantage of the clutter free zone and replaced the macerator on our waste system. Just before we left the boat in May, the macerator went out (this is a pump that chews up the waste on board and moves it to a holding tank or out of the boat - a stinky job!) and we had to have the marina come over & remove the waste from our holding tank. This was the most dreaded item on the ‘list’ but luckily turned out to be a fairly easy replacement.

We have a ‘list’ of items to complete (ask any boat owner, they always have a ‘list’ to complete…). The heat is keeping us moving slow and we get jobs done on a daily basis, but not everything yet. Here's the list (right now...) Michael is rigging a topside shower and just needs a few more parts to complete it (Home Depot, here we come...again!), Fix the 3 sail slugs that broke on the main sail before replacing it (an all day job of sewing and then another day to get it put up on the mast at least!), repair a stanchion base that was loose (the fiberglass work & the deck painting is done, we just need to drill holes in the deck & remount after getting the stainless steel backing plate drilled by one of the contractors (a 4 day delay already), Oil change on the generator & engine, at least a 2 day job but we can’t start it until the stanchion base is finished. (the refrig compressor is in the engine room which keeps it nice & hot in there), re-attach the SSB antennae (5 minute job but must take the entire bed apart, a 2 hour job!), and a long list of some really minor things. Not much!

We have had a very social week which is more consistent with the cruising lifestyle that we love. We started doing the Tuesday Dominoes pizza parties on our dock and had 12 people the first week. On Tuesdays, Dominoes has a 2 for 1 night - two pizzas for the price of one. Word has gotten around though and we'll have many more next week, I'm afraid. I did the ordering of the pizza, all in Spanish, and did pretty well! I was nervous as all get out though. Then Wednesday, our dock neighbor, Sally & Gerry on Aquarius, who live up in the condos, invited us up for a swim party. Oh.....the pool felt sooo good! It was very cool, almost chilly, and was perfect against the heat. There were 11 people there - boats Aquarius, Scrimshaw, Overheated, & Joy-u (I have no clue how to spell their boat's name so will just spell it phonetically) plus us and a straggler from Willow. And what do you think we all did?! Brace yourself....we played keep-away! I was about laughing my head off as here we were, 11 grown adults in the pool, and we played keep away! But it was a great time and we played until dark. After a nice swim, we met at Gus Gus, the Restaurant at the top of the dock where the singer from last week was playing and had a nice relaxing dinner. The 3 boats Aquarius, Overheated, & Joy-u are going to head out right after Thanksgiving and go straight down to Huatalco and then work their way back up the coast and we might just join them. We'll see...nothing is set in stone but it's an option.

We had a Halloween party on Friday night at the cruiser's lounge. Halloween in Mexico is like the 4th of July in Canada – it just doesn’t fit, but any reason for cruisers to get together, and eat…and it’s a party! We dressed as pirates, I know....real imaginative....but we've had the costumes from long ago and shockingly there was only one other pirate.

This is a picture of Michael & I with Elvira, the Manager for Marina Mazatlan dressed as Sleeping Beauty. Such a princess! There were about 50-60 people there but only 8-10 of them dressed up. The lounge was decked out and there was lots of food for everyone. We made worms & eyeballs for the potluck. Worms are hotdogs cut lengthwise in quarters then grilled/pan fried. When they get warm and are that small, they start to curl, looking somewhat like worms. And eyeballs - big carrots cut into 1" rings, cream cheese & black olives make the eyes. The eyeballs were extremely tasty - and easy. They will be one of my top appetizers from now on - they were crunchy, salty, & creamy. A perfect combination! I'm not a black olive fan but these were fantastic. And it was healthy!

I'm feeling MUCHO better! Boy, if I had known that this was an infection, I'd have started on antibiotics much earlier. Michael is doing much better as well, still can't hear out of his ear, but his cough is almost all gone. He's weaning off of one of the meds and starts another in the next couple days.

It's still very hot & extremely humid (which is the worst part) here – today’s high is only supposed to be 86 (although it's already 92!) but 98% humidity. You can't walk from your boat up to the office without dripping in sweat. We had one evening this week of rain which cooled everything down for a couple days, but then that sun poked back through the clouds & the heat was back.

Boats are beginning to come & go, slowly, and more cruisers are returning to their boats. We typically see about 1-2 new cruisers back on the docks or up at the cruisers lounge daily and it’s such a welcome sight! The camaraderie here is just amazing, it’s a wonderful feeling. We have plenty to keep us busy for the next few weeks in chores alone, not to mention playing with friends, surfing, & just enjoying Mazatlan. We both like it here a lot. There is so much to see & do.

More to follow!
Rene

Hiding from the heat 10.25.08

We've been back at the boat for a week and what a HOT week it's been! Temps have been in the upper 90's and the humidity has been trying it's best to match. Projects get done slower in this kind of heat. If Michael is working outside, he must drink lots of water and take breaks often. Inside, it's the task of working around everything as there are lots of 'stuff' out for projects. That's not including the two circulating fans that block the entrances to the aft cabin & main cabin. It's an adventure! haha.

Michael & I both went to the Dr today. He's been suffering for the last month or so with a cough that won't go away and his right ear has been blocked like it won't 'pop'. The gal that runs the marina here, Elvira, has a fiance who is an Ear, Nose, & Throat Dr. The Spanish word for it is a mouthful! Otorrinolaringologia. Yep, say that 3 times fast! haha... Anyway, he opened up his office for us and one other person today. Looked over Michael first. Put him on several meds to get everything under control. Wants to see if he can get the inflamation down in his chest, get the allergies under control, & will see if he is better after 22 days. If not, off to the pulmonologist. I went because I still have this sore throat! It's been about 3 weeks. It's not a horrible pain, but is nagging and is always there. I'm also tired a lot. But I don't have a fever, which prevented me from thinking about taking an antibiotic. I don't have congestion & so I've just been dealing with it. Well, he took a look and turns out I have an infection in my tonsils! He sent me home with an antibiotic, anti-inflamatory, & an allergy med. I came back to the boat and took the meds and they have me really whacked out - dizzy - so I'm taking it easy. $400 worth of meds for both Michael and I.....whew! But hey, if it makes us feel better, it was money well spent.

This week has been good, Michael's getting lots of projects done. And I have been too - just not as noteworthy. I've been getting the laptop/desktop upgraded/synchronized, cleaned & organized, painted my toenails a nice bright pink & ???....read? I'm amazed how quickly my time passes, just doing small stuff.

There is a restaurant at the top of our dock called Gus Gus and on Wednesday they have a guitarist, his name escapes me but they promise he'll be back every Wednesday. It's a nice relaxing evening and everyone seems to turn out to listen to the music, dance, & chat. There are 3 condo complex's surrounding the marina and Gus Gus was absolutely packed with people!

It rained like cats & dogs yesterday evening and cooled things down for a night - we actually took the A/C down & enjoyed a night of cool temps! We were outside on the docks visiting with others from the dock when it just started to POUR! And big drops! Everyone scattered and ducked onto their boats. Luckily, with the rain, Michael pulled down an access panel and water poured down. See, we have deck stepped masts and all the wiring comes out of the masts and into the heads. He removed an access panel and there's one piece of conduit that must be open at the top of the mast and just acts as a funnel to the rain. Now it's figuring out if we need to fix the wood part or if it will correct itself once we are out of the humidity. We've been told our rig is tuned too tight for this humidity. Problem is...Chad tuned the rig just before we left. If we loosen it, we'll have to figure out how to tune it ourselves or have someone else tune it. We'll see what Michael decides to do. But that ends our search for the water intrusion.

The newest search is for la cucaracha....Michael was getting into the cupboard the other evening when he jumped out of his skin. He said he saw a roach about 3" long (one of the flying ones)in the cupboards. We tore everything out but have slats on the backside of the cupboards and he was long gone. I haven't seen him at all and Michael says he's seen him twice in the last 3 days. We bombed the boat today when we went to the Dr's appt with only one bomb, and only in the main cabin cause we only had one spare! There is another boat at the foot of the dock and has major infestation - they called the exterminator out and the exterminator said it's the worst he's ever seen. BUT...they left all of their food intact on the boat, a big no-no. Yikes. So we're trying hard to get rid of our friend. We have no clue how he got in - maybe flew is our best guess as we hadn't gotten much food yet!

So not much else to report! We're looking forward to seeing new cruisers invade Mazatlan as the Baja Ha-Ha begins tomorrow. There are a little over 180 boats that are making the jump from San Diego down to Cabo and many of them will continue down South from there. Want to read about the Baja haha? Check it out here... http://www.baja-haha.com/

We're also looking forward to seeing many of our cruising friends as they move from the Sea of Cortez down to our neck of the woods. We've been communicating with many of them and they're all waiting for the magical November 15th date! (The end of hurricane season).

Drop us a line! e-mail us at sailing@aheakali.com We're readily available on e-mail until about Thanksgiving and miss everyone.

Rene

Back in Mazatlan 10.17.08

Ahhh....home!! The boat fared well - no mold to speak of, nothing missing, one door doesn't close like it used to and we think it's a little water intrusion, but will need to look further into it. We turned on the refrigerator yesterday and it's getting up to temperature well. It only has a few items in it right now as we haven't provisioned yet but we have lots of water, beer, & towels inside. The past couple days we've been unpacking the boat - moving everything back out onto the deck from inside, and unpacking everything we brought from the Jeep. We brought enough books to last us quite a while! We didn't realize just how many we had brought until we started unpacking them! We were given some from friends, purchased some, brought some from Nicaragua, and they all added up! There's probably 50 or so! haha... Now it's the chore of stowing everything!

I haven't felt good since before we left Texas - I picked up a cold along the way so I've been taking it a little easy since we arrived. Today I'm updating the main computer with all of the necessary updates - windows updates, antivirus, firewall, etc and catching up on the blog! The heat is miserable - it's hot, hot, hot here! Temps are in the 90's and the humidity has been in the upper 90's as well! The heat index has been over 110 degrees for the last couple days! Our little A/C unit gets the main cabin down to a comfy 74 degrees at night but just can't compete with the heat during the day and the temp inside raises to the upper 80's. Michael installed the cover onto the back half of the boat (the mizzen side) today which we hope will help to keep the aft cabin, where we sleep, a little cooler. The main cover, over the main boom, we hope to install in the next day or so. When we first got onto the boat, I removed the foil window coverings from the windows but quickly put them right back up, and more, over all of the windows to keep the heat & sun from getting inside the boat.

It's time for the cruisers to begin coming back to the boats and already there were 13 boaters that checked in on the morning net. There are 7 cruisers on our dock preparing their boat for the season. The girls in the office said there were only 3 cruisers who stayed the entire summer. We picked up a loaf of bread and have been eating cold sandwiches for lunch and showering (in cold water which feels FANTASTIC!) and going up to the newest restaurant, Gus Gus, that is just at the top of our dock entrance.

So other than that, we're just generally getting the boat packed & ready. Michael has several projects he needs to complete before we leave but for now we're just getting everything stowed & will attempt to relax a bit before tackling all the hard stuff. We have to close all of the doors so that the main cabin gets cool so it's not very conducive to completing a project when you have to move stuff, open up that door to get stuff, close it to keep it cool, etc. I'm sure we'll figure out how to get around it all but for now that's what we're up to!!

Hurricane season ends on November 15th so we have about 4 weeks to get the boat prepared, stocked up again, & ready to head out of the harbor.

Until later!
Rene

{GMST}23|16.260|N|106|27.282|W|Waiting out the hurricanes!|Marina Mazatlan{GEND}

Leaving Texas 10.16.08

After spending a week working on the property, it was about as close as it could be. The appliances were purchased, carpet purchased & scheduled, painting of the main house had begun and we decided to leave.

We left Corpus Christi on Thursday morning and headed to the Mexican border at Reynosa, just opposite McAllen, Texas. We had 3 choices to cross - Nuevo Laredo (opposite Laredo, Texas), Reynosa, & Matamoros (opposite Brownsville) and chose Reynosa as it seemed the smallest & I felt it would be safest. If you've been paying attention to the news in Mexico, the drug traffickers & police shootings have gotten worse in the border towns and general violence & kidnappings have become worse than ever. So we hoped for the best and crossed over. We were stopped by the U.S. Border Patrol on our way out of the country - yep, the U.S. Border patrol! We were asked to pull over and they had us get out of the truck and, seperately, interrogated us. They took us into a room and made us take everything out of our pockets & even patted down Michael (the female officer was busy so I didn't get that treatment). They asked us the same questions and we believe because our stories collaborated, they released us. We guess they suspected us of taking money or drugs into Mexico, but they wouldn't tell us.

Once we were inside the border, we got the 'Pase' green light at customs so they didn't inspect the vehicle (whew!) and we headed over to immigration to get our 6 month tourist permits & our temporary import permit for the Jeep. Not that we were bring in anything illegal, but we were over in our limits of a few items. We had no problems with that at all - woohoo!

But as we left immigration, our luck changed. We took a wrong turn accidentally while attempting to get to the highway and a crooked cop spotted us. Bummer. He pulled us over, for no reason, and told us because we failed to stop (yeah right!) for him, he would impound the vehicle for 36 hours. No way, we said. OK, what will it take for him to let us go? 6,200 pesos. Yep, that's right - $620 USD!! No way... We continued to talk & negotiate down our 'ticket'. During the entire incident - he spoke absolutely no English while we stuttered along with our Spanish (thankfully we had just spent 1 month in Nicaragua and had honed up our Spanish a little bit!). He finally settled on $175 and then gave us an escort to the highway. How nice of him - $175 for a personal escort to the highway. But the experience spoiled our whole day. We were pissed at being 'taken' and that we were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Oh well....we continued on. We wanted to make it to Monterrey for the evening. The toll roads in Mexico take you from one spot to another - with no stops in between! We decided to take the Toll roads even though they are quite expensive as the roads are better and it's much faster as it avoids all of the cities! But because they avoid the cities, we ended up going around Monterrey all together and continued on to Saltillo. It was about 5pm and we figured we would look for a place to stay. We stopped at 4 hotels - the first one was $125, the second $159, the third $199, and the forth....$20 for 6 hours. Well, we didn't feel comfortable in any of them so we decided to continue on....even though it would be dark by the time we would hit the next big city. I hate to drive at night ever since my eye surgery gave be bad night vision but we just wanted to get further down the road. So we ended up in Torreon. It was raining like cats & dogs so the streets were flooded, it was super dark, and they were building a new freeway system that was half good and half bad. We saw signs for hotels but there wasn't directions other than '5 minutes away!'. We saw a hotel on the right hand side of the street and so we exited the freeway. Unfortunately though, we couldn't get over to the right hand side of the street because of the freeway construction! So we ended up driving down the street looking for a hotel, then turning around, getting back on the freeway, exiting the next exit, and somehow making it to the other side of the freeway to the hotel. It didn't matter the price - it was after 9pm and we were both exhausted and just wanted food & a bed. The next morning we were up bright & early and headed out again. We were determined to make it to Mazatlan and had an easy day's drive ahead of us.

We needed gas and tooled around looking for it but didn't find an easy station, so we jumped on the toll road and headed to Durango. Durango is a large city and we were sure to find gasoline there. At Durango, we encountered our first Mexican Army checkpoint. The young boys were very friendly and they waved us through after chatting with us a bit. Again, the toll road took us completely around Durango...so we were on the outskirts before there was an exit. At the exit, we saw a Pemex station and drove over there....and it was a closed. Bummer. We jumped on the toll road again hoping we would find a gas station ahead. As the gauge got lower & lower, we really started to worry. There was no civilization ahead as far as we could see and we were almost on empty. We found an exit on the highway and exited. We drove along but it was looking bad. The light came on indicating we had only 2 gallons left. Luckily we had brought along two - 2 gallon gas cans just in case, and we stopped to put in our last few gallons of fuel. This gave us about 45 miles to find a gas station....or else! We were about 30 miles outside of Durango and we could drive the 'free' road and were sure to find a gas station, but that would mean turning around. Or we could take our chances that there was fuel in the next town, La Salto. We decided to turn around and go back to Durango. The fun part about driving the 'libre' roads in Mexico is all of the sights you get to see! And the obstructions in the roads. There were cows, horses, & donkeys alongside the road or even on the road in several spots! And it was an incredibly windy road, winding along the mountains. We found our 2nd checkpoint of the day on our way into Durango. We had quite a chuckle with the military members as when they asked us where we were going and we responded 'Mazatlan'....they looked at each other and said it was the other way! 'Yes, we know, but we don't have enough gas to make it to Mazatlan (the soldier looked at our gas gauge and concurred...haha) so they graciously gave us directions to the closest gas station. Whew! That was a relief!

All fueled up & ready to go....we jumped on the same toll road (again!) headed to Mazatlan. A few miles up the road, we were stopped by some guys on the road who told us there was an accident. Looking ahead, there were only about 5 cars in front of the accident and the emergency personnel had not arrived yet. Everyone turned off their vehicles & many exited the cars to go up & take a look. Emergency personnel arrived about 10 minutes later, moved the vehicle out of the way and we were allowed to pass. It was a van that had obviously flipped several times, ejecting the passengers. There was at least one dead, and they were working on one other as we passed. It was very heartbreaking. We continued along until the toll road abruptly ended, sending us onto the 'libre' (free) highway.

The most comical part of the entire day was our encounter with 'Crazy Trucker' (and any related play on the words). You see, we exited the toll road and mistakenly thought it continued even though there was a little bit of a road block. We decided to go through it until we came upon an even bigger road block where we turned around. We got onto the 'Libre' road just in front of this trucker. At this point, we were in the Sierra Madre mountain range and the road is called "El Espinazo del Diablo" - Devil's backbone. The scenery is fantastic - beautiful vistas, waterfalls right alongside the road, and nice & cool temps. But the road...is switchback after switchback, hair raising turns, road construction that sends traffic onto the same side of the road, etc. And this crazy trucker obviously knew the road like the back of his hands. He was nearly driving us off the road before we let him ahead of us. And once in front of us - he took the S turns like a pro, right into oncoming traffic, driving speeds that no fully loaded trucker should be able to maintain - and blind curves? No problem for crazy trucker! So we figured being behind him was a great place to be as he was clearing the way! haha... He would pass other semis like they were standing still - blind curve coming up on not! We stayed behind him for almost the entire way to Mazatlan. We were pulled over on one military checkpoint and he got a little ahead of us, but we eventually caught up. At the checkpoint into the state of Sinaloa, we were pulled over & one member went through the truck, as well as he could. We had the hitch on the back so he couldn't open up the back, so he had to look through the stuff behind the seats. He went through our luggage and looked at each of our medicine bottles (Tylenol, vitamins, etc), opened up most of the compartments, talked to us a little bit, and let us go. We caught up with crazy trucker a bit ahead as he got stuck behind some other semis. We were stopped two times as there was road work ahead and they would close the road for like 30 minutes each time. So we finally rolled into Mazatlan about 6pm on Friday, went straight to a restaurant as we were both starved, and then down to the boat. We moved stuff around enough to get to the bed and one of the heads. We had purchased a little air conditioner before we left Mazatlan and had it on the boat and when we arrived, it was still in the upper 80's with very high humidity. We placed the A/C in the main hatch and along with the two oscillating fans, knocked down the heat enough for us to sleep.

We made it - woohoo!!
More to follow...
Rene
{GMST}25|34.922|N|103|24.227|W|Hanging in the hotel|On our way to Mazatlan{GEND}

Back in Corpus (yet again!) 10.10.08

We left Kansas because our property that has been being remodeled since June wasn't finished and we had to come down & ensure it was complete before it took a year! We've had problems between the contractor and property manager and work has slowed down to a trickle for the last several weeks. It seems the two just can not manage to get along and it has turned into a lot of he-said-she-said and the project is not getting done.

So we rolled up our sleeves, dressed in our grubbiest clothes and jumped in with both feet! Amazingly, both people were at the property and the past couple days there has been more work on the property than in the last few weeks! Let's see...in the last couple days I've pulled weeds, cleaned, cleaned, cleaned, scraped all the paint off of the windows, took lots to the dumpster, jeez! Michael tore the bathroom apart, worked on the windows (they all open up now - woohoo!), swept the entire driveway, and has been coordinating the work between the other two. It's been a very busy couple of days and we're both nice & sore already. We figure we're getting ready to be back on the boat! But the house looks very nice now.

The house is two separate structures - the main house is a two-story house with two units - one upstairs and one downstairs. The entire downstairs has been remodeled and is currently being painted, inside & out. The back structure is a garage type structure (more of a large shed) and the upstairs is a 1 bedroom apartment. This has also been entirely remodeled. The bathroom has had soft spots on the floor so after several attempts to repair, we decided to rip it out and totally replace it. The tile is being laid today and tomorrow and the tub is supposed to be resurfaced as well.

Only a couple more days of work and the back unit will be ready for carpet and then ready for renting. The main house has a few more days to go and will hopefully ready for renting in the next couple weeks.

We're planning on leaving Corpus around Tuesday or so and head down to Mexico and the BOAT!! Woohoo!! We're so ready to be back at home. It's been a fabulous summer and we've had a wonderful time, but we're ready to be back on the boat.

More to follow!
Rene
{GMST}27|47.770|N|097|24.383|W|Our property on King Street in Corpus Christi, TX|Our property in Corpus Christi{GEND}

Visiting in Kansas! 10.8.08

We had a great visit with my family these last few days. We arrived on Friday, after stopping in Fort Worth for an evening, just in time for a Friday dinner date with grandpa! Mom & Dad go to dinner with him every Friday evening and after dinner, we went back to his house & gabbed until almost midnight! It was great to spend time with him. Saturday morning we got up & went to a Wichita Geocachers breakfast and then went geocaching with the group for about 4 hours. And we weren't finished! We went back to the house to regroup & get additional coordinates and then took off again for about 4 hours more! Sunday morning was a Red Cross breakfast and then another full day of geocaching! Whew! :-)

Monday Michael & I took off to see his son, Brandon Jacobs, and just missed meeting his girlfriend, Alex. We spent a couple hours chatting with him and then visited another friend, Brian Warren. I didn't have a chance to look up some high school friends to see if they are still in Wichita and figured I'll get more chances later.

Tuesday we just visited & found a few more geocaches, getting ready to leave. All in all, we found over 50 geocaches! It was a ton of fun and we had so much fun on our trip. We just wish we could stay longer!

Michael had his cold the entire time we were there but was a great sport and didn't complain (loudly) once! haha. He has a chest cold that he picked up just before we left California. I've managed to avoid it so far, and hope it stays that way!

We're heading back to Corpus tomorrow. It's almost time to head back to Mexico!!
Rene
{GMST}37|37.598|N|097|21.516|W|Visiting my family in Kansas|Wichita, KS{GEND}

Back in Corpus 10.1.08

We turned in the vehicle to the Red Cross office in Fairfield, had it inspected, & caught a ride by one of the volunteers to the San Francisco airport for a 3pm flight back to Corpus Christi.



Our flight was a long one - arriving in Corpus around 11pm. It was a long day but we're back....for one night... haha... We're heading to Kansas tomorrow morning to spend some time with my folks, visit my Grandpa, visit with some friends and Michael's son. Going, going, going!!

Rene
{GMST}27|48.368|N|097|27.127|W|Back in Corpus Christi...again!|Corpus Christi, TX{GEND}

Fairfield, CA 9.30.08

We made it - woohoo!! Back to Jelly Belly country - just outside of San Francisco. We made it by about 5pm and got settled in at the hotel. We turn in the vehicle tomorrow morning and the local chapter has arranged a ride to the airport by a volunteer. We'll be back in Corpus tomorrow evening and then are driving up to Kansas to see my folks. Michael isn't feeling so hot today and I hope he gets over whateve he has before then! I told him...that will not get him out of visiting with my family! haha...

Rene
{GMST}38|13.105|N|122|07.917|W|A quick stop in Fairfield, CA|Fairfield, CA{GEND}

Welcome to California! 9.29.08

We made it back to California! Who knew we'd be back so soon after leaving! haha... We drove through New Mexico, Arizona, & finally California today. We're ready to be finished! We rescheduled our flights and are flying out of San Francisco airport at 3pm, arriving in Corpus Christi on Wednesday evening around midnight. Whew! We took it easy this evening and are taking off early tomorrow morning (it's easy because of the time difference!) and hope to make Fairfield by early afternoon.

Almost done...
Rene
{GMST}34|53.739|N|117|00.407|W|A short stop in Barstow, CA|Barstow, CA{GEND}

Outside Albuquerque, NM 9.28.08

We made the drive from Wichita Falls, TX to a town just outside Albuquerque, NM. We saw lots of rolling hills and the tallest buildings were either water towers or grain towers! There were camel, donkey, & livestock farms. The people are so friendly out here! Of course driving the ERV we're often asked where we are going or where we came from!

We stopped in Texas at 'The Big Texan' Restaurant/Hotel. It's there that they have a 72oz steak dinner that if you can eat in 1 hour, it's free! Of course it's a 72oz steak, baked potato, side salad, dinner roll, & 4 fried shrimp. While we were there, 2 gentlemen were attempting - one made it (with seconds to spare) and one didn't. The guy who made it was a slim, tall, & lanky guy & the one who didn't was a large guy! And they were up on a stage while they ate! They even have a webcam! Check it out...www.bigtexan.com The waitress said 1 in 7 make it. And if you don't eat it within 1 hour, it's $72.

2 more days until California!

{GMST}35|04.583|N|107|33.323|W|Just outside of Albuquerque, NM|Albuquerque, NM{GEND}

Day 1 on the road again! 9.27.08

We left Baton Rouge this morning and made it to Wichita Falls, TX. The Red Cross vehicle we are driving home was extremely weather beaten and the red on the vehicle almost looked pink in areas! So after we checked into the hotel, we went outside & waxed it. It looks 100% better...but still can use some work. We're headed to Albuquerque, NM tomorrow. I'll post an update tomorrow!

Rene
{GMST}33|56.106|N|098|31.136|W|Made it to Wichita Falls, TX|Wichita Falls, TX{GEND}

Red Cross duty in Baton Rouge, LA 9.25.08

As you know, we have been trained up over the summer to help out with the American Red Cross. Well, we were called up to help yesterday. We were asked to go to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where Hurricane Gustav, a category 4 hurricane hit on September 1st. We were asked to go out to drive the ERV (Emergency Response Vehicle).

We flew out of Corpus Christi on Thursday and arrived around 5pm. We were picked up at the airport and transported to the command post - an old Wal-Mart building that the Red Cross leases out year-round for their command post (called a 'Hotspot'). It was HUGE!! Lots of people working and were very organized. Of course they looked at us like we had three heads when we said we were sent here....from Texas....(just after Hurricane Ike ripped through Galveston & Houston)!! The operations are winding down here and they're sending all of the ERV's TO Texas. So we got checked-in and talked to the ERV coordinator who said she needs people to return ERV's to their hometowns, would we be willing to take one somewhere? SURE we said! So we went in today and by the end of the day, are driving an ERV out to Fairfield, CA (just outside of San Francisco where the Jelly Belly Factory is located).

They have 2 staff shelters and 1 client shelter. We're in the staff shelter called "Broadmoor" which is a large church here in Baton Rouge. We're in the recreation room (basketball court) and there are approx 175 or so cots setup here and it's about 2/3 full of volunteers. And only 3 showers!! haha... When we arrived at the command post, we got checked in & told to come back tomorrow so we found a ride to the shelter and then another ride to dinner. The shelter is nice & clean, lots of comforts - blow up mattresses, lots of blankets (they say it gets really cold at nights), snacks, water, juices, coffee, etc.

So we're on our way to California!! Hey, didn't we just make this trip!?! We estimate it will take about 4 days for us to get there, driving approx 500 miles a day. Tonight we're just outside of Baton Rouge as we wanted to get out of town early as there are a ton of people coming in town for a big LSU game tomorrow.

So although we didn't get a chance to directly help folks that are in need...we're doing a service for the Red Cross by getting the ERV back where it's supposed to be for the next disaster! Want to read more about it? Check out this link... http://hurricanegustav.wordpress.com/ They have daily updates on what is going on with each of the states affected. It's pretty cool!

So we'll be on the road for the next couple days. We will update as we can!
Rene

{GMST}30|27.227|N|091|05.512|W|At the Headquarters of the American Red Cross in Baton Rouge, LA|Baton Rouge, Louisiana{GEND}

Back in Corpus Christi 9.20.08

We made it back to Corpus Christi today after hanging out in Nicaragua for another week because of Hurricane Ike. As you may be aware, Hurricane Ike rolled through Texas on Saturday, September 13th. Luckily for us, it hit North of Corpus Christi between Galveston & Houston so Corpus Christi only had significant rain and our property, tenants, & friends in the area were all spared. Thank goodness!

We enjoyed another week in Nicaragua which included more surf trips, more trips throughout the area, & unfortunately, some system malfunctions at Scott & Liz's house. Luckily, Michael was there to help out Scott with the generator, inverter/charger, & septic systems. Scott & Liz were flying out to Guadalajara for her yearly medical exams so we hitched a ride with them to the airport. Poor Scottie, he was so stressed out with leaving the house with so many problems but they're leaving it in the very capable hands of Katy & Victor so I'm sure it will be OK.

We enjoyed our trip and are looking forward to seeing them again soon! But I'll tell you....we are both starting to get seriously homesick. We're ready to be back on the boat!

The past few days we have been getting ourselves established in Texas - both vehicles are Titled & Registered in Texas and our property continues to be remodeled. We're heading up to visit my folks in Kansas tomorrow and will spend a little over a week with them.

More to follow!
Rene
{GMST}27|48.315|N|097|27.247|W|Back in Corpus Christi|Back in Corpus Christi, TX{GEND}

Plans Change & Surf day – woohoo!! 9.10.08

OK….so we changed our plans – surprise, surprise!! We had stressed about the hurricane situation and the ‘what if’s’. Will there be an evacuation order? Will we even be able to fly into Corpus if we want to? What happens if we get stranded in Houston? How long will the evacuation order last? So many questions. So we went onto the Continental Airlines website and found they had setup a deal for passengers who were flying into the areas affected by Hurricane Ike to be able to make changes to their itinerary without fees. We talked to Scott & Liz and are staying another week here! We could have flown at any time and it just worked out for us that Scott & Liz are already flying to Guadalajara for their medical workups on the 20th and that is the last day we can fly fee-free so we booked it for the 20th so that S&L would not have to make two trips to Managua in the same week (it’s a 4 hour trip). We made changes to our flight without issue, then made hotel changes for both Managua (our flight is at o-dark-thirty – 6am so we’re staying the night before at a hotel across the street from the airport) and in Corpus Christi. A couple hours later…we’re all set for one more week in Nicaragua! Luckily, we’re headed out on the 20th, just 2 days shy of our 30 day visitors visa in Nicaragua. But, funny enough…if you stay after 30 days, you simply pay a fine of $1/day for each day over the 30 days. It would be crazy to be an illegal alien in Nicaragua! Haha…

So after all the toiling & torture of contemplating the what-if’s all morning, looking at all of the satellite tracking pages, National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center, Weather Underground, and watching all we could on Fox News & then all of the plan-changing….we decided to head to the beach for some surf!!

We went to Playa Maderas again and both Scott & Liz were super bummed because the onshore winds were blowing which closed out the waves so surfing for them was terrible. For me though….I finally stood up on the board – woohoo!! And not just once, multiple times!! I will admit, I was incredibly nervous and finally just said screw it. My first wave to stand, I went to my knees first then stood but I ran right off the front of the board. Michael was watching from the beach and yelled “where were you running to?”….what a backseat surfer!! Liz was incredibly patient, even when my swimsuit wasn’t cooperating (there are surfing appropriate swimsuits, and not….I was wearing the not) and flashing everyone at the beach, and encouraged me on wave after wave. Paddle, paddle, paddle…get up, up up!! She thinks she swallowed more water than I did as she was screaming instructions…I beg to differ. Haha… Michael managed to snap a couple photos and said I looked like I was just waving to him on the beach. Yeah, that’s what I was doing all right!!

Back at the house we washed up the animals, rinsed swimsuits, checked e-mail, watched another spectacular sunset, & are showering up for the evening. It has not rained in 5 days!!! Well, there’s been sprinkles here & there and a super small rain, but rain, rain…when it has deterred our plans…free for 5 days! Maybe this extra week was in the plans all along & it’s our week to really enjoy Nicaragua! We still have lots of trips planned for this week & places to see. So keep tuned!

Now we’ll just be worried about our property in Corpus, just 6 blocks from the bay. We just had new windows installed as well, which are being boarded up as I type. So we can only watch, wait, & pray. If you have spare prayers…please hope for no injuries for our tenants and if possible, little or no damage to the property.

Rene

Home again (S&L’s) 9.9.08

Oh boy, it was a very early morning this morning….and what was with the spinning rooms?? And where did those sore muscles come from?? Haha. We met for breakfast at 7am this morning and chowed down our pinto gallo & Cristofer met us at 8am. Actually, he left the vehicle at the hotel each night and one evening stayed with friends one night and in one of the casitas the next night. He took us into Moyogalpa for our ferry that departed at 11:30am.

We arrived plenty early so Liz & I toured the area. We found by accident a huge star fruit tree. We talked to a woman and remarked that they were sooo good and she said 'take all you want!!' We took 3 - one for seeds and two to eat. Hopefully Liz can get some growing on her property!

Also, on the water were these hatched roofs and we figured out - it was a laundrymat! Right in the lake, separate stalls and all.

On the way to Moyogalpa, Liz called Katy, who was staying at the house to look after the animals. Randalls, their old cat, died on Monday night in his sleep. It was very sad. He had been finicky eating the last week and getting pretty skinny…but didn’t make it.

The truck was safe & sound in San Jorge in the storage shed, thank goodness, & we headed home quickly. Both Katy & Victor were there & once a proper burial spot was chosen, Victor dug an adequate hole & we all laid Randalls to rest, planting a hibiscus at the spot. A sad day.

And comparable worse….we learned that Hurricane Ike is heading straight for Corpus Christi!! And….it’s scheduled to hit on Friday eve, Saturday morning. We’re supposed to fly back to Corpus on Friday morning. Hmmm…I sure hope that it changes course, slows down, dissipates, whatever!! We called Continental Airlines and they had no cancellations or changes so far. We’ll be keeping a close eye on it and figuring out our plans!!

More to follow…please keep us & our property & the lives of our tenants in your prayers!!
Rene

Cascada San Ramon & Petroglyphs 9.8.08

We were up & at ‘em early this morning, meeting Cristofer at 9am. The boys were a little slow but manageable. We had a nice breakfast (with another favorite food called ‘Gallo Pinto’, a rice & bean concoction that’s super yummy for breakfast) & headed off to the Ecological Reserve where the trailhead was for the hike up to Cascada San Ramon (the waterfall).

The hike was 3KM, only about 2 miles, but it was a killer!! The trail started out straight up, then about 2/3 there, dropped down into the jungle. It was hot & sunny and once we made it into the jungle, the temperature dropped significantly.

The trail was great up until the rock slide destroyed it. Apparently, the rockslide happened in May and it was HUGE!! Taking out about 100’ deep of dirt. We went from a hike to rock climbing, jumping from side to side of the stream to make our own path. It was one hell-uv-a-hike. But oh so worth it when we arrived.

The waterfall was down a rock face and was probably 30’ wide. I don’t know how tall it was…but it was tall!

There was supposedly a geocache placed around the base of the waterfall and so Michael & I searched & searched….but nothing was found.

Again, the rockslide took out a significant amount of dirt so we’re sure it was washed down stream as well.

Bummer. I decided to climb up to a downed tree to check out around it and got up the hill fine….but didn’t make it unscathed coming down. I started slipping and could do nothing but slide down the hill with the loose dirt. Hmmm….a few bumps, scrapes, splinters & bruises later, I was fine. The waterfall was so inviting and I was so muddy/sweaty/dirty….what else was there to do but to rinse off! Ahhh….it felt great. I’d never been in a waterfall like that before. Of course I was soaked through & through…but I was as dry as everyone else by the time we were finished.

The hike out was a bit more difficult, but we made it back with no problems. Back at the trailhead, Cristofer was waiting for us & we enjoyed an ice cold beer to celebrate our accomplishment. We were pretty exhausted, hot & sweaty and it took us about 4 hours. Of course as Scott puts it “we put ourselves in a lot of pain by hiking straight up the @$(%& mountain for 4 hours!!”

We chatted with Cristofer & he took us to a spot on the island called ‘Albergue Ecologico’, another finca (which is a farm) where they had both petroglyphs and a great lunch spot.

The finca had a hotel on the property and we checked out the rooms which were only $16/night. They were great!

And the property was fabulous – tons of flowers, butterflies everywhere, a magnificent view of the Volcano

and the food was great too. We’d totally stay there if we came back.

There was something pretty funny/odd that happened though… We had been seated at a large table under a thatched roof hut for lunch. Liz & I took off to take some photos & Michael & Scott moved from the table to the hammocks. They heard a large ‘thud’ and looked over at the table, where they were just sitting, & found a super huge tarantula!! On closer observation, it seemed he leapt from the roof somehow, caught a large butterfly in flight, & dropped down to the table to eat. Seems logical, don’t you think?

We laughed hard thinking of the boys sitting there & trying to get away from it if they were close! Screaming like little girls laughing all the way. We decided to move tables…. J Actually, Michael has been drawn to insects this trip. His story is he’s almost died this trip – having a heart attack when he found a scorpion on his shoulder (he had just put his shirt on and it was hanging on), then a tarantula lands right where he was sitting at lunch, not to mention the grueling hike up the @$#&%( mountain!! But who’s writing this blog, anyway!! Haha…

We were all pretty exhausted plus we were hot & sweaty so we headed back to the Hotel to clean up. We met back at the bar/restaurant and ordered another bottle of rum/cokes special and Michael, Scott & I proceeded to kill it….and order another! After all, it was Scott’s big day! We had another wonderful meal & then they brought out the special desert that they had prepared for us….ice cream and chocolate brownies! And Scott’s had two birthday candles ready to blow out. We sung him the “Happy Birthday” song with Roseanna & Heidi singing along in Spanish.

It was great! And the brownie/ice cream was such a treat!! Ice cream is difficult to get here as it’s so bloody hot, it won’t stay frozen for the trip back to the house….and the generators at the store don’t keep it frozen anyway.

Speaking of rum…they make a rum here called ‘Flor de Cana’ that is very, very good. It’s a super smooth rum and is incredibly inexpensive. At the stores, a liter of rum is between $5-8 dollars, depending on the age of the rum. We picked up two to bring back with us (it sucks we can’t bring more back!) – one is aged for 5 years was only $5, the 7 year was about $6 and there is a super special one that’s aged for 12 years for about $8. Incredible. We found a special setting on the camera to capture what we were seeing...and this is it!! hahaha....

After dinner we headed (read stumbled) back to our respective casitas & crashed. So even though we didn’t find the geocache (I’m still bummed about that…) the hike was good, the waterfall incredible, & the petroglyphs & food was spectacular. I love this place!!

Back to S&L’s house tomorrow…
Rene

Ometepe Island 9.7.08

Ometepe Island was formed by two large volcanoes that have fused together out in the middle of Lago de Nicaragua (Lake Nicaragua). Lake Nicaragua is a HUGE lake – Central America’s largest lake – almost the size of Lake Superior! It touches both coasts - the Pacific Ocean & the Caribbean – and is a freshwater lake. The larger volcano is Volcan Conception and the smaller is Volcan Maderas. Scott & Liz have lived here almost 2 years and have never been, although they’ve wanted to go so what better time than now!! On the island are lots of petroglyphs, a waterfall, a geocache (supposedly), lots of hiking, and water sports.

We decided to go over to the island after much of the rain had stopped & we could enjoy a couple days there. And tomorrow is Scott’s 49th B-day so we have special reason to celebrate!

There is a ferry to shuttle vehicles over to the island and we made reservations on the 11am ferry. We drove to San Jorge, just outside of Rivas to catch the ferry. On our way into town we had a turtle rescue operation to attend to…there was a cute little turtle (about the size of a desert plate) that was crossing the road, in the mud. Liz quickly got out of the truck, in the mud, & helped it onto the other side. Hahaha… When we arrived at the ferry plaza, we were told that the ferry was broken down….on the island….and they didn’t know when it would be up & running again but it would certainly not be today. Soooo….we adapted & changed our plans. We could take the launch over, but would be without a car and would need to do something with the vehicle on the mainland. We found an ever-so-helpful tourist guy who had a deal for us!! Haha. We could store the truck in a covered, locked storage building, among super high stacks of rice & beans, take the launch over, & a guy over on the island has a van who could pick us up & take us around for the 3 days. He would pick us up at the ferry on the island at the city of Moyogalpa & take us to our hotel on the other side of the island near San Ramon. Then the following day, pick us up at the hotel & run us all around town, and finally on Tuesday, pick us up at the hotel & take us back to the ferry. We negotiated for a price of $150 for the entire trip.

We jumped on the ‘launch’ and headed over to the town of Moyogalpa along with about 40 other people (including one in a coffin!).

As we were waiting for the launch to leave, we noticed a group of people in the water. Upon closer observation we figured it was a baptism! After all, it was Sunday, there were a lot of people in the water, fully clothed, singing, clapping, etc. All the while a guy on horseback was bathing his horse & people were playing with a volleyball nearby.

The trip over was great, it was a beautiful day, sunshiny with only light clouds in the sky.

Once we arrived, our driver Cristofer met us at the ferry and ran ahead to grab the van. We made it just to the road and he drove right ahead of us and told us to Jump in!! We hopped in & he drove us out of town.

Driving along we saw lots of fun sights. There were cattle being herded along the road by a guy on a bicycle, lots of crops - Red Beans (Frijoles), Platanos, Banana, Cana (Sugar Cane), some weird spice, Star Fruit, Refresco fruit, Coconut, Papaya, Corn, Avocado, Mango, Rice, etc. And there were wild pigs, horses, & cattle along the side of the road that were eating the grass & plants. It was quite a sight.

This picture is a couple guys beating what looked like straw. On closer examination & talking with them...this is the red bean plant - and they are beating them for the pod to open & the bean to fall out onto the tarp, which is then left in the sun to dry.

We were starving so we talked him into taking us to a place for lunch. He took us to a place right on the isthmus called Hotel Finca Santa Domingo in a city called Santa Domingo (surprise, surprise!) but was nicknamed ‘Ojo de Agua’ (Eyes of the water) and had a nice swimming hole.

The food was great! I’ve found a new favorite dish here called ‘Tostones’ which is fried plantain slices with a salty cheese slice on top.

Actually, now that I write about it, it probably shouldn’t be my new favorite….but yum, yum, yum….is it ever good!! They’re made slightly differently everywhere we try them and luckily Liz likes them as much as I do so we wind up splitting them plus splitting another dish. The beach at the lunch spot was beautiful – very serene. We enjoyed the area while our food was being prepared.

Back on the road again – entirely dirt road with lots & lots of potholes – headed to the hotel. The houses on the island were similar to those on the mainland. Either wood or brick construction with tin roofs. We made it to our hotel, Hotel Omaja (pronounced Omaha), & were greeted by one of the staff, Roseanna.

She showed us both of the casitas – they were nice, large one-bedroom, one-bath houses.

And the best part…with A/C and HOT WATER!! Woohoo! Now this is living! Since it was Scott’s b-day, we let him have the casita that also had TV & Satellite. We all got settled in our places, showered up, & made it to the bar/restaurant also on the property.

Heidi (pronounced Haiti) was the bartender/waitress and hooked us up with some drinks while we relaxed in the hammocks also on the patio.

We enjoyed watching the sun set over the mainland & chit chatting with S&L.

Dinner was also fabulous and we had the run of the place since we were the only guests at the hotel. They have room for only 20 guests, about 5 casitas. We chatted with Heidi & Roseanna and since tomorrow is Scott’s b-day, made arrangements with the chef to make him up a special desert with birthday candles. Yumm!! They had a special – one bottle of rum, two cokes, & a box of ice for $7.50 (150 Cords). Michael & Scott tried to kill it that night but only made it through about half.

It’s absolutely beautiful here. We can’t wait for tomorrow!!
More to follow…
Rene

First week in Nicaragua 8.31.08

We’ve been in Nicaragua for a week and it’s been a fun. We had a nice birthday for Michael. Had a nice breakfast, went to the beach

surfed a while (Michael got up several times but I only got up on my knees....next time they're working on me standing), then came back to the house & showered and headed into town.

Even Mocha got a shot at surfing! And I hate to say it but think he may have done better than both of us....

There is a great little Italian restaurant that we went to for dinner, then downtown for drinks & dancing. We ended up back home around 2am or so...and had a great time!!

Oh, also we had an invasion! It absolutely poured the night before and in the morning there were a ton of Alacrons (scorpions) that managed to get everywhere around the house.

Michael & Scott started killing them and finding more & more, then the army ants came....and almost took over! The Army Ants were attacking the scorpions! We got to watch this, armed with a machete & a broom to keep everything off of the patio while Scott mixed up some bug spray. It was really amazing. All in all, I believe we counted about 40 of them.

The area is absolutely beautiful. It's definitely a third world country though, no paved roads in their town except for a few streets that are still cobblestone - you must have 4 wheel drive and must be prepared to bounce excessively on the drives. We're in the JUNGLE!! It's nice - save electricity, enjoy your surroundings, etc. There are bugs here, but no more than while we were camping. skeeters that bite, but we wore more au-de-bug spray when we were camping than I have here. San Juan del Sur is a great beach town. There are lots of young people here, lots of foreigners from everywhere around the world. Adventure backpackers, surfers, and travelers looking for beautiful beaches. It's an absolutely beautiful place - jungle that goes right down to the beach, beautiful white sand beaches, lots of wildlife - birds that make absolutely wonderful songs, etc.

It's been nice here - in the 80's and 90's with between 80 to 94% humidity each day. It has rained every day, some days harder than others. The rain brings down the temperature which is nice unless it only rains a little where it just increases the humidity and makes it worse. It's less hot here than it was in Corpus, but just as muggy. You can't leave the house without sweating.

Scott & Liz’s house where we’re staying is very nice, two bedroom, two bath, with a large family/dining/kitchen area. Their dogs (they have 4 of them) are an active part of their lives, they don't go anywhere without them and they're constantly around licking you, etc. They also have 3 cats but they're not around much. There is no hot water. All showers, dishes, etc are taken with the lukewarm water that comes from the well and is stored where it heats to room temperature. Getting into the shower is sometimes difficult! But amazingly, you feel soooo better once you're finished. They have a wonderful garden & eat many things from it which is way cool. They also eat a ton of chiles which we also like but they eat them much more. They use chilis in most everything they make and it makes my head spin. They have a great plant right outside of the deck on the front of the house called 'Chili Diablos' as they don't know what kind of chili's they are. It's a beautiful plant, the chilis are only about 1" long and start out purple, change to orange, yellow, & finally red. The purple is mild, the red hot, hot, hot. I'm hoping to take some seeds back with me to the boat to plant in a little pot, it's such a beautiful plant, very colorful. Everything grows here in the jungle & they've planted lots in the garden. It's nice, everything is fresh - fresh made tortillas, fresh veggies from the garden, etc. They have a dirt/mud driveway that's about 1/2 mile up from the main road, the Chocolada which is like the coast highway of Nicaragua. The closest town is San Juan del Sur and is about 4.2 miles away from their driveway. It takes 20-30 minutes to get to town because of the roads. The only thing I could compare it to is when you’re traveling in L.A. traffic and it’s stop & go….well, it’s very similar here. Drive 20mph, stop to go over some bumps, drive a little, stop again, it’s incredible.

They also have a casita on the property, a 1 bedroom/1bath house totally separate and down the road from the main house that they rent out as a vacation rental. I've been working with Liz with her website that she built. There are lots of changes but check it out… www.ranchocecilianicaragua.com.

They are ‘off the grid’, making their own power either by generator or solar. To install power at their house would cost $20K and then the electricity is very expensive. It’s just like living on a boat! They have Satellite TV (which was installed while we were here) and also Satellite Internet. The internet has been problematic for the past couple weeks, up and down all the time until it was down for about 4 days straight. Turns out they had to pull down the radio off of the water tower and found army ants had invaded it, turning it into their own little nest. The computer guy (Nica Geeks) came out to fix it and we’ve been back up & running since. They have a well that water is pumped out of and into a water tank. The water is then mostly gravity fed through the house. It’s an amazing system. Everything else is just as you would expect of a house still being built. They have screened windows which sounds so normal, but in this country, most windows are not screened and they have a mosquito netting over the bed instead. It’s sooo much nicer this way as the windows can be left open, ceiling fans on and enjoy the beautiful evening air without the bother of bugs.

This week the offshores blew all week – South winds, which ruined the surfing so we used the week to rest, relax, & enjoy the area. Next week we're planning on shopping & enjoying the area - Liz needs a kitchen table (she has one now but wants a better one), hammocks, small lamp fixtures for outside lights, small tables for the bathroom, etc. We're also planning a trip to one of the volcanoes in the middle of Lake Nicaragua where we can hike & will stay the night as it's such a long (time consuming) place to travel to. We haven't been back at the beach since last Saturday because of the South winds and it looks like they’ll be here a while longer because of the hurricanes in the Gulf.

Michael had some bad news on his b-day, his dad went into the hospital with chest pain, he thought he had a heart attack but they determined it wasn't, but are keeping him because of his kidneys and talking dialysis. Ugghhh... Michael's stressed and worried. He’s better, left the hospital on Friday. They found there was a drug interaction with his meds which shut down his kidneys totally. I couldn't get any details out of Michael so can't tell you which ones. His 'new' kidney Dr came in and scolded him for not knowing he was not supposed to take these two meds together. He said he's feeling much better now, still weak, but OK.

Scott has been sick since we arrived so we've been hanging low here at the house for the week. We've been working in the garden, chasing howler monkeys through the jungle, practicing our Spanish with the workers that work here, reading (I've read 3 1/2 books since we got here!), reading, reading, relaxing, and cooking a ton. It's been great. We bought a book series 'Twilight' by Stephanie Meyer for Michael to read about vampires and I've been reading them as well. He's on book 4 of the series and I'm just beginning on book 3. They're labeled 'teen' reading so they're light & cute. About a girl that falls in love with a vampire, then a werewolf, and all the trials & tribulations surround that. It's cute & fun. Then Scott & Liz gave us a stack of books to take back with us and in the stack was a Dean Koontz book 'Velocity'.....it was riveting. I finished it in 2 days and had lots of crazy twists & turns.

Since it has rained every day, we've only left the house 2 days to go into town. Monday we headed into Rivas which is a pretty big town to the Northeast of us and went in search of materials that Scott needed to install his wind generator - a ladder & wire to hold it in place. We had to order everything and it was just available on Saturday. Scott was not feeling good at all while we were in Rivas so we picked up what we could for groceries and headed home. It's amazing - there are Ox carts & horse carts everywhere here, most Nicaraguans don't drive or have vehicles, only bicycles, ATV's, or walk. When we went to Rivas we picked up an elderly man who was hitchhiking along the side of the road and on our way back, we picked up a mom & daughter probably 15 or so. The Nicaraguans are friendly, but not as friendly as the Mexicans. We stayed in, making lots to eat & drink (shakes that they call here 'frescos' that are mostly made with inedible fruits that you boil then blend with sugar, cinnamon, & clove that are just divine). We've had true Nicaraguan fare sold to us by the neighbors - enchiladas that are more like an empanada - huge, stuffed solid of chicken, rice, & lots of flavor. The next time we went into town it was just Liz & I. We went to the water store, the propane store, the cell phone store to buy more minutes on her cell phone, the mercado where we purchased some fresh veggies, fruit, an avocado the size of a HUGE papaya, & other little stuff. Then we went to the 'Pali' which is like a miniature Vons to pick up the rest of the stuff - rice, beans, sugar, flour, etc. That part is just like Mexico. You don't have a large store to go to to purchase everything on your grocery list. I love/hate it. It takes a ton of time but is so much fun to go everywhere. We did a little shopping while we were in town, there are a few places to 'shop' for beach clothes, slaps, and little stuff. We're going to go into the big town later this week and will shop for some of the handcrafted stuff that the town is famous for.

Scott & Liz have two workers from down along the main road, Katy (pronounced Caught-Y, not Kate-y) and Victor. Victor works M-F and 1/2 day Saturday. He earns $10/day. He works outside all day digging, using the machete to clear the land, moving rocks, dirt, cutting down trees, and just about anything they want him to, climb this tower, move this, clean this, etc. He's 23, married to an 18 year old who is the sister of Katy. Katy works inside, cleaning the house, doing dishes, washing laundry by hand, making homemade tortillas, planting flowers, making food, etc. She just does about anything 'inside' where Victor does everything outside. She's much more than a maid, more a housekeeper. She just does everything. They both do not speak any english, although Katy is attempting to learn. She is very shy, but wants to talk to me in Spanish. I've forgotten much of my spanish and am trying to talk to her back and luckily have Liz to help translate often. She has 3 kids and if I remember right, is like 28. She has an 11 year old, an 8 year old, & a 2 year old. Very cute kids. Her oldest is protesting going to school so she said fine, you go to work with me. So her 11 year old has been here the last couple days and finally told her mom that it was too much work, she'll go back to school. Funny. Katy comes M-W-F but with us here, has come M-T-W-F-S. She earns $7.50-$10/day as well, depending on how long she works. It's kinda embarrassing having her do our laundry but boy can she get the stains out of our clothes!! I want to learn how to make tortillas from her on Monday if we're around for it, she makes it look sooo easy!! Oh, the average daily wage here is $5/day. And both Katy and Victor are always busy, never sitting around, always doing something.

The exchange rate here is like 18 to 1. The currency is called Cordovas or 'Cords'. We round to 20 when trying to figure it out so it's easier. Things are very inexpensive here, but finding things is difficult and some things are a bit 'cheap' too.

That’s it for now, I hope you enjoy our tales of doing….well….not much! In a nutshell, eating, sleeping, reading, watching the new TV, gardening, and just checking everything out. I’ll attempt to update more frequently the remainder of our trip.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!
Rene

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua 8.23.08

We made it! An easy flight from Corpus Christi to Houston and then from Houston to Managua, Nicaragua. We arrived around noon and met our friends Scott & Liz at the airport who drove us to their house in San Juan Del Sur, about 4 hours away on the coast and just North of Costa Rica. It's beautifully lush & green here, with trees & plants everywhere. It's in the rainy season so everything is so green. We made it to the house before it began raining and it poured last night! We're getting up & around now, and will decide what the plan is later.

Oh and a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Michael!! The big 42! We have a party planned at a neighborhood restaurant. I'll be sure to update with pictures in the next couple days. We're here for 3 weeks and have lots planned during that time.

Have a wonderful week!
Rene
{GMST}11|17.48|N|085|53.14|W|Hanging out with Scott & Liz in San Juan Del Cabo, Nicaragua|San Juan Del Cabo, Nicaragua{GEND}

Off to Nicaragua 8.22.08

We're headed to Nicaragua on Friday. Woohoo! We'll spend 3 weeks with Scott & Liz - surfing (lessons for me!), relaxing, hiking, reading, and helping them with their home improvements.

We've spent the last few days dodging the rain as it has rained here every day since we arrived, getting shopped & packed for our Nicaragua trip, visiting our property, meeting & dealing with our property manager & the contractor that has been working on the improvements on the house, & touring the area. The city is nice but has been dumped on with rain - first the hurricane then a solid week of rain. It needs time to dry out a little. And the mosquitoes are everywhere! They must know we're out of towners and have been taking every opportunity to chomp on us as they can. We went swimming in the ocean today - and then dipped our toes in the gulf - the water is a very warm temp, perfect for swimming!

Our property is having major improvements done - new windows, remodel of the bathroom, kitchen, deck, paint, carpet, tile, etc. It was in pretty bad shape but the improvements are coming along nicely. Two of the units are vacant right now so the work is being done a bit quicker & easier.

The weather has been...wet! It's rained every day, has been in the upper 80's to mid 90's every day and is MUGGY!! We've driven all around the island & have even managed to find a couple geocaches.

Tomorrow we're taking the Jeep to storage along with everything we're not taking to Nicaragua (including the laptop!) and we'll get a ride to the airport Friday morning. Our flight is early - 6am and we should be in Managua, Nicaragua around noon or so Friday afternoon.

I'll be without a computer & cell phones while we're there (thank goodness!) but will attempt to update the slog as often as I can. Stay tuned!
Rene

Corpus Christi 8.16.08

We made it – woohoo! We finished the final 300 miles in just a couple hours, rolled in town, found a storage place to leave the wonder truck, & found the hotel. This last drive was hot & muggy - in the upper 80’s with the same humidity. The drive was nice – beautiful wild sunflowers growing on the side of the road, bright blue sky with large puffy clouds in the sky, & mowers on the off ramps for that fresh cut grass smell. Yummm… But as soon as we hit town the clouds opened up and dumped tons of rain on us! I haven’t hydroplaned like that ever, it was very scary. But we made it safe & sound with no problems.

We're definately back in the big city - of 275,000 people. And it's nice that we're by the water. We're on the Gulf of Mexico, just a couple blocks away from Corpus Christi Bay. I'll tell you, it's nice being back in the midwest - country music monopolizes the airwaves, there are more cars visible, nice rest areas and even themed picnic areas & Paul Harvey is on the radio!!

We’re in town until Friday when we fly out to see our friends Scott & Liz in Nicaragua for 3 weeks. We'll do a little sightseeing tomorrow and will visit our property on Monday. We're looking forward to finally finding out how it looks! We can’t wait for Nicaragua...

{GMST}27|47.843|N|097|23.591|W|Hanging out in Corpus Christi|Corpus Christi, TX{GEND}

Day 4 on the road 8.15.08

We hit the road early this morning. We lost an hour because of the time zone so getting up early was even more difficult! We were on the road around 8am or so and continued our long drive across Texas. If you've never seen this part of Texas, you can skip it. It's desert with shrubbery and some rolling hills. No towns along Interstate 10 to speak of, no cars on the freeway (only pickup trucks & semi's!), nothing special at all. Although we did go through Bakersfield - we must have taken the wrong freeway. Although we also went through Miama yesterday so we're just all over the map. haha... Actually, the trip today was pretty good - it was overcast which kept the temps in the upper 80's most of the day and we even saw a few sprinkles. There was a storm that was chasing us and we may have even seen a funnel cloud. We drove for about 9 hours again and lead-foot (Michael) increased our speed to the 60's. We had been going slower and when I asked he said he wasn't pushing the truck, it just went that fast on it's own. Hmmm...sounds posessed.

Although I'll tell you, I'm ready to not being on the road. As I've said, it's hard for me to stay awake so I've been alternating between sunflower seeds and wasabi peas. So now I'm all puffy from all the salt and can't taste anything from the horseradish in the peas! haha... But only one more day of driving, and it should be a quick one. We should have about 4 hours left tomorrow into Corpus Christi. There's rain all over the state and we were treated to a show last night of lightning & thunder all around us. I miss that...you just haven't seen lightning & thunder if you haven't seen it in the midwest.

So only one more day and we finally get to see the house we purchased!
More tomorrow!
Rene
{GMST}30|04.08|N|099|06.74|W|Hotelling it in Kerrville - just outside San Antonio|Kerrville, TX{GEND}

Day 3 on the road 8.14.08

Another successful day travelling today. We made it all the way across New Mexico and are just inside of Texas, around El Paso. The trip was uneventful again and New Mexico was pretty. It was mostly desert, with some mountains threw in every once in a while. It was nice to travel through a state with so much sparsely populated! Coming from California where the cities grow into each other it was nice to see cities here & there. It was overcast which was nice because it kept the heat down. It was in the 80's most of the day until we were close to El Paso where it heated up to the 100's. Just outside El Paso we found a gas station, restaurant (called the Cotton Eyed Joe's), & hotel & are relaxing and will get started early tomorrow morning again. Today's trip was 373 miles and took us about 9 hours. It's a long, boring drive and I struggle to stay awake! I've found that keeping sunflower seeds with me and munching whenever I start to get tired keeps me awake. I'm driving the Jeep behind Michael who's driving the Wonder truck.

Two more days to Corpus!

{GMST}31|35.836|N|106|11.895|W|Hotelling it just outside El Paso Texas!|El Paso, TX{GEND}

Day 2 on the road 8.13.08

So...where are we now? You tell me! The State moto is 'Ditat Deus' (God enriches). It borders California, New Mexico, Utah & Nevada. The Grand Canyon is located here...

And if you haven't figured it out yet, here's some photos to help you out...



This is called Superstition Mountain



There's lots of these here and all through the state...and one more that should make it perfectly clear...



Yep, you've got it...Arizona. We stopped in Apache Junction, about an hour east of Phoenix to pick up a guitar at our friend's Scott & Liz's storage to bring with us to Nicaragua.

The trip was HOT!! It was already 90 when we left Palm Springs around 8am and the hottest I saw it was 106 degrees. Whew!! We were sweating like crazy and were oh so glad to get to the hotel to cool off & shower. But traffic was not bad at all and the trip was uneventful. We cleaned up, cooled down, ate a quick dinner & are trying for an early evening as we need to get up & on the road early tomorrow morning as well to beat the heat.

Keep those prayers coming that our truck makes it to Texas! So far, so good
Rene
{GMST}33|23.31|N|111|32.60|W|Hotelling it in Apache Junction, AZ|Apache Junction, AZ{GEND}

Moving Day 8.12.08

Today's the day! We're leaving California - taking all of our stuff & heading to Texas. We've had a hard couple days as we realized that we're leaving everyone! It 'hit us' that we probably won't be back for a year or two, or possibly more. And you would think that we would see as many friends as we could but for some reason, we just wanted to slip out quietly. I guess we don't do goodbye's very well. I know, it's no excuse. So to everyone that we left, to all of our friends who we didn't get by to personally say hi to, we apologize. We will miss everyone so badly it hurts. But we will be back to visit sometime.

We left early and made it to Palm Springs by about 3pm. We stopped in Palm Springs to see Michael's family one more time. Michael's Mom, Muriel, had shoulder surgery this morning and we suprised both her & Michael's Dad by the visit. We stayed with Michael's sister & brother-in-law in their very comfy RV - with Air Conditioning!! We had a nice visit. We should be in Corpus Christi by Saturday. Tomorrow is a long day.

I'll write more when I can!
Rene
{GMST}33|44.812|N|116|17.700|W|At Jennifer & Walter's House in Bermuda Dunes|Palm Springs{GEND}

The WONDERful moving truck 8.11.08

All of our 'stuff' has been in storage since we moved onto the boat and took off. Most everything is tax records, pictures, and items we just can't get rid of. We have been trying to figure out what to do with it all - leave it in Ventura or move it to Texas where we have property. Michael researched what it would cost to rent a U-haul, Budget truck, etc and it was about $2,500 - wow! We looked at purchasing a vehicle and finally found something in our budget! So without further adeau...I introduce you to.....our WONDER Bread truck!!

It's a 1976 Ford Step Van that was retired out of the Wonder Bread/Hostess Snacks fleet that we saw sitting by the airport when we got back from our camping trip. There were 5 vans in the lot and we contacted the owner - a wonderful man named Billy Davis - and worked with him for several days and ultimately picked one of the 'best' trucks with decent tires, a good running engine, & no problems.

Michael wedged a 4 x 4 across front and we placed two partitions from our internet cafe across it, making a good barrier and then loaded all of our stuff into the back. And amazingly, it all fit!! Michael did his best to make the front part as comfy as he could, installing a fan and fitting the doghouse with a blanket to make it a bit cooler. He travels with the door open and the window down and lots of water! Just pray for us that we make it to Texas with no problems. We have spent the last week looking for a spare tire but unfortunately, can't locate one. See it's a weird size that's no longer made or carried anywhere. Hopefully we'll make it without any problems!

Wish us luck...

Rene

Tall Ship Festival 8.10.08

Well, we've had a busy week! Seems we've been gone each day almost all day! Dr's visits, shopping, packing, it's been nuts. A crazy week for sure. This weekend though, we volunteered for the Tall Ship Festival that comes into town every 3 years. We sponsored the Californian three years ago and they are back in town.



There were meetings ahead of the arrival, and the ship arrived on Wednesday. We had one person to help us with the Californian but luckily, they didn't need much help. We were on hand every evening as the Californian participates in Battle Reenactments and the public could purchase tickets. On Sunday, we were invited to go with them! Woohoo! We love getting out on the water....but what a treat to go on a 129ft Tall Ship and participate in a battle with 4 other ships.

There was a total of 8 Tall Ships in the harbor - the Californian

The Lynx

The Bounty

Irving Johnson

Spirit of Dana Point,

Curlew

Kaisei, & one we can't remember the name of. The Irving Johnson was the ship that ended up on the beach here about 2 years ago - the heart wrenching ship that was being tossed on the beach. They finally got her off of the sand bar, towed her into the yard and spent a couple million dollars fixing her up. And she was back! The other cool ship was the Bounty of 'Mutiny of the Bounty' fame! It was the actual ship that was built for the movie. It was pretty impressive, though smaller than I imagined.

We left the dock around 5pm and we went out of the harbor. We travelled up & down the coast, dodging other tall ships that kept shooting at us! haha. We figure we 'won' the battle as we came back in 1st.

The cool part though was about 30 minutes into the sail, the captain called us back with him and we got to hang there the entire trip. We even had the opportunity to steer the boat during the maneuvers. It was a beautiful sail - we were out for about 3 hours - the seas were fairly calm, the wind perfect. We had a wonderful time but it just makes us miss our boat that much more!

We're headed to Texas on Tuesday! We've been so busy getting everything packed, purchased, & loaded. Whew...!!

More to follow...
Rene

Parade 8.2.08

We made it back to Port Hueneme and stayed with Roberta for a couple days and then moved over to my friend Sue's house. We've spent the last few days getting settled again from our camping trip - lots of laundry & rearranging.

We also helped out when the Red Cross called up....to participate in the Ventura County Fair parade. We drove the ERV - Emergency Response Vehicle in the parade...waving & smiling the entire time. It was fun! We only have 12 days in town and have lots of things to do & people to see! Michael even wore PANTS!! The first time in a loooonnnggg time for him...haha.





I'll post more when I get a chance!
Rene
{GMST}34|18.555|N|119|21.309|W|Hanging with Sue & Den!|House on the Beach{GEND}

Camping Recap 7.31.08

We took off on our 8 week camping trip on May 31st and made it back yesterday - 60 days. We loved the fact that we were able to finally see & experience California at our own leisure. We had a great time, saw some beautiful scenery, ran from an awful lot of fires, had both good & bad days & learned a lot!

So time for some interesting stats... We traveled over 5,400 miles, fueled up a whopping 36 times, used 306 gallons of gas & paid an average of $4.54 a gallon. Our most expensive gas was at the gravity fed pumps at 5.75/gal and our least expensive was $4.11 in Reno, Nevada. We camped at 12 different campgrounds - meaning we put up & took down the tent, aired up the matress (350 pumps of the foot pump each time!), rolled up the sleeping bags, packed the truck...you get the picture. And that doesn't count the times we stayed at a hotel which totalled six.

We paid for most of our showers - most about 25 cents a minute for hot water. We ate most of our meals on the campstove, had campfires most nights, met some wonderful people - other campers, the campground hosts & rangers. We had two coolers - one that held all of the cold stuff & the other held water/wine/sodas. We brought several clothes that we didn't wear, but only about 2-3 pieces of camping 'equipment' that we did not use. One piece, surprisingly enough, was our lantern!! We only used it one time the entire trip! We used a smaller citronella mini tiki torch the entire time which gave off plenty of light.

Our favorite place? That's a tough question. We both loved the Big Sur & Redwoods campgrounds - but it's hard to determine a favorite all-around. The many hikes we went on were fabulous but our favorites were also in the Redwoods - the huge trees, the beautiful greenery, the coast, the cool weather. And the ranger evening programs & the hikes with a ranger were incredibly educational. The one realization was that each place was individually beautiful - each was unique & wonderful. It was also wonderful to see friends & family that Michael hasn't seen in 20-30 years and I have never met, not to mention our boating friends! The waterfalls, hikes, wildlife, trees, ranger programs, scenic drives....magnificent.

With all this beauty what could spoil it? Well, we suffered from poison oak, a $40 parking ticket in San Francisco, not having a hair dryer, having to do laundry every other day while we had poison oak, etc. Nothing horrible, just aggravations. Of course the biggest problem was that the fires of Southern California were burning all around us everywhere we went. Luckily, they only 'spoiled' the day on the 2nd half of the trip and it still wasn't a total bust. It rained only 3 days which was an amazing feat!

All in all, we had a fantastic time. We only hope everyone else has the chance to experience the places we visited.

This closes our 'camping around California' chapter of the year!! haha... now on to the next chapter.

More to follow! :-)
Rene

La Brea Tar Pits 7.29.08

We drove into town today to visit the La Brea Tar Pits. I have lived here for several years and have never been. It was pretty amazing. But the amazing part was that as soon as we arrived and were walking over to Pit 91...there was a 5.8 earthquake centered just East of where we were...and we didn't feel it! haha...

Yep, that's right...we didn't feel a thing. See, we were walking and talking, not paying any attention. When we arrived at Pit 91 everyone was filing out talking about the swaying water, the swinging chains, & how freaky it felt! Bummer...another earthquake I didn't feel. Oh well! We checked out Pit 91 - a 12 foot hole in the ground that has been excavated since 1969! It was crazy what they have found in those holes in the ground. Just amazing...animals I've never heard of and lots of them.

After the earthquake, they closed the museum for about an hour so we sat in the sunshine, listening to a guy play his guitar & banjo until it opened back up. We toured the museum and then took off & headed back to Port Hueneme - back to Roberta's House!

Rene

Venice Beach 7.28.08

We left the San Diego area and drove up Hwy 1 North, passing through those great beach cities...Carlsbad, Oceanside, Escondido, Capistrano, Dana Point (where we stopped for a quick geocache...), Laguna Beach, Newport, Huntington Beach, Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Marina Del Rey & finally....Venice!

We came here as Michael loved the area & wanted to show me the 'boardwalk'...muscle beach, pier, etc. It's full of crazies...literally. There is a boardwalk with shops on one side and merchants on the other. You can purchase beautiful jewelry, peace/love/war paintings, palm readings, aurora adjustments, tatoos, etc. And the real 'show' is the group of homeless and crazy people that gather just outside of the nice hotel that we stayed - the Cadillac Hotel right on Ocean Front Walk.



The hotel was very nice and we stayed in a room that faced the ocean on the 3rd floor. The weather was perfect - in the 80's & sunny and we walked down the boardwalk, checked out Muscle Beach (and the hot bods working out!), and found a nice place, just across the street from our hotel for dinner. We had quite a show while we ate dinner & went on up to our room. What am I talking about...show? Well, we had a guy who was playing numchucks with a scarf...for hours! There was also kung-fu fly guy...he would be walking along and all of a sudden...hi-yah! Kung fu to another fly. We listened to turf wars, and arguments for no good reasons.

Unfortunately, the show continued deep into the night. And the arguments got louder & louder. In the morning, we went to the same restaurant for breakfast & took off for the La Brea Tar Pits.

Just one more day on our trip...bummer... :-)
Rene
{GMST}33|59.382|N|118|28.470|W|The Cadillac Hotel in Venice!|Venice Beach{GEND}

Leukadia 7.27.08

We had a wonderful visit with Michael's family - enjoying dinners on both evenings & spending some quality time with Gracie & Nolan. They're such good kids, so happy & animated. We just love spending time with them. We played with tinkertoys one morning before going to the pool & then back for lunch. Michael's Dad was not feeling well but we're glad we were able to see him one evening. Michael's Mom is struggling with her husband Pete and advanced Alzheimers. It's difficult to see her struggle and we feel helpless about the situation. And yes, it was HOT!! Michael's Mom, Muriel, made a wonderful chicken dinner and even baked a carrot cake! We were so spoiled there (as we always are!) and are bummed we can't spend more time there.



We left Palm Springs on Saturday morning & made it to Leukadia, a town just North of San Diego. Michael has an old buddy here that we met up with for a neighbor's party & then back to their place for drinks. It was awful nice of their neighbor to have a party just for us....complete with live band and dinner/drinks. We had a great time with them & it was nice catching up.

I had too much to drink last night and spent most of the morning recovering. We took a walk on the beach & went to lunch at this great place called the 'Wakei Cafe' that we visited yesterday as well. We had a nice leisurely walk down the main street checking all of the little boutique stores along the way. There are lots of surf shops, hawaiian stores, & small cafes. The place is great.

Tomorrow we're headed to Venice Beach. We're looking forward to checking out the crazies there.

{GMST}33|04.267|N|117|18.297|W|Staying at the Leucadia Beach Inn|Leucadia (San Diego){GEND}

Palm Springs 7.23.08

On the road again….just can’t wait to get on the road again…seeing places that I’ll never see again….I can’t wait to get on the road again. We left Vegas and are heading to Palm Springs (another HOT stop) to visit Michael’s family. As we’re on the road, we’re playing the familiar ‘Name that Rental RV’ game…screaming out “CRUISEAMERICA”, “EL MONTE RV”, “ROADBEARRV” or “TRIPLEARENTAL”. And just for the hell of it “UHAUL” if we see one too. We’ve been amazed at the number of rental RV’s we’ve seen this trip. They must be doing a good business. And waving at all the other Jeep owners. See, it’s a responsibility of all Jeep owners to wave at other Jeep owners. Have you heard of this?! Here’s a good website on it… http://www.jeeptalk.org/jeep_wave.php There’s an entire scoring area that just boggles my mind but being jeep owners, we do our best to acknowledge other owners on the road.

Of course when you’re driving through the desert, there’s bound to be oddities you have a hard time explaining….one was a random tree with what looked like hundreds of shoes tied to it! Weird...

We're staying with Michael's Mom and will visit with his Dad & sister/brother-in-law. We're always excited to see our niece & nephew Gracie & Nolan. We'll spend a few days here begin the journey back to Port Hueneme.

Rene
{GMST}33|46.056|N|116|23.205|W|Michael's Mom's house in Palm Desert!|Palm Desert{GEND}

Hot Dam! 7.22.08

We have both been to Vegas 100 times and have never made it to Hoover Dam so this trip was all about going there. And it didn’t disappoint. We arrived there around 1pm or so and yes, it was hot…112 in the shade. There were pretty tight security measures in place – we had to go through a security checkpoint first and then were told we couldn’t park in the covered parking garage as we had the propane tank on the back of the truck so we had to cross over to the Arizona side of the dam & park in the sun. But we had a better view from there so it wasn’t awful. We took the ‘Discovery Tour’ which allowed you into 7 areas of the Dam, including a trip down to the hydroelectric generators.





The architecture, engineering, story of how the dam was built, and the scenery was amazing. It was definitely an engineering marvel. We spent several hours there & checked out many of the sights including the winged statues to honor those who died during the building of the dam - only 96 which is amazing, and we too turn rubbing the toes for good luck.





There were a good number of people there, but I was amazed to hear the average number of people on a daily basis was just 2,200. That number seems low to me. We met a great couple traveling to California & chatted with them for most of the tour. It’s been great to chat with so many good people on this trip. The one thing that just amazed me was the thickness of the dam! Michael loved being able to go down into the ‘belly’ of it & seeing the original diversion tubes, hearing the water surge below us, & seeing the huge generators. It was quite spectacular!



We left there & headed for the Downtown area of Vegas as, again, we have never seen the Freemont Street Experience. This is a 1400 ft long arched steel canopy along the street that has a light & sound show with 12.5 million synchronized LED lights. We stayed for two shows, the first was Don McLean’s song ‘Bye Bye Miss American Pie’ complete with animated pictures & bright colors.





It was nice and again, our necks were sore from looking straight up. All along Freemont Street were the old hotels that have been there forever – Golden Nugget, Vegas Vickie kicking up her heels on top of a strip club,





and a cool place called the Neonopolis where they have rescued some of the older neon signs from the graveyard and have them lit & displayed.


We even took in a cruise while we were there! We headed back to the hotel for one more night of luxury & prepared for our journey West again. We are going to Palm Springs next to visit Michael's family then ahhh....back to the coast!

Rene

Vegas Baby! 7.21.08

We zoomed through Death Valley as we were worried it would be horribly hot....and it was! Luckily though, we took off super early and at 7am, it was in the 70's...by 8am, it was in the 80's and suddenly at 9am it was over 100. We stopped in Furnace Creek which is aptly named and checked out the Borax Museum and then zoomed the rest of the way into Vegas.

We're staying at The Palms, just off the strip. We got a killer deal on our room - I guess in July they're begging people to stay. We purchased 2 nights, got one free plus a $30 dinner credit, daily admission to the spa, & when we arrived we were upgraded to a Jr. Suite....it's bigger than our boat! And after 3 weeks of campgrounds....we appreciate it so much. No bugs, no hike to a bathroom, TV without worrying about power issues, all the Internet we can stand...it's kinda like heaven. haha...

So the last couple days has just been doing well....What Happens in Vegas....stays in Vegas! Gambling, gambling, & shows. We've been relaxing & keeping plenty busy at the same time. We went to The Comedy Stop last night & walked up & down the strip all day. It's HOT here!! Suprise, suprise! haha...

Tomorrow we're going to Hoover Dam...we've both been here 100 times and have never gone. Can't wait!!

Rene
{GMST}36|07.279|N|115|11.643|W|Vegas at The Palms!|Vegas Baby!{GEND}

South Inyo County 7.19.08

We toured the area today, having a nice, mellow but fun & informative time.

It was hot early this morning - already in the upper 80's by 8am so we had a quick breakfast and got outta there! Our 1st stop was at the Interagency Visitors Center for some info on Death Valley. We met a great USFS Ranger who told us all about the area and things we should do & see today. Our 2nd stop was at the Lone Pine Film History Museum. It turns out we're camping just beyond a place called the 'Alabama Hills', crazy rock formations that are a favorite location for television & movie companies.



Over 300 films & numerous commercials have been shot on location here. The terrain is very weird - odd granite formations jutting & crumbling from the earth and with the Eastern Sierra mountains in the background. The Lone Ranger, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Zorro, Gunsmoke, the Zane Grey Movies and more recent movies - Gladiator, Maverick, & Ironman. Now of course, these are the only films I had heard of but there were more that maybe you recognize....Nevada Smith, An Eye for an Eye, Waterhole No. 3, Oil for the Lamps of China, I Died a Thousand Times, The Blazing Sun, Pack Train, Sinister Journey, etc. Have you seen any of these?

There were also hundreds of Cowboy & Cowgirl actors filmed here...John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Roy Rogers, Tim Holt, Tex Ritter, Gene Autry, Steve McQueen, Fatty Arbuckle, & William Boyd just to name a few.

I'll admit that the majority of films were well beyond my years, but I'll tell you, the museum was fabulous. It still gave me a nostalgic feeling looking over the artifacts, pictures, movie posters, & hearing the songs of the singing cowboys. Most of the items were from the 1920's - 1960's and were exquisitely maintained.

The 3rd stop on our trip was to another Visitors Center in the little town of Independence. There, they had a fantastic display of old pictures and artifacts from the Japanese War Relocation Camp, Manzanar. Let's just say, I was stunned. I have only read the info from the Guide Books about Manzanar and had no clue about what I was going to see! I was just amazed. I can't imagine this same thing happening today. I know times were different and we had just been attacked as a country...but am amazed that we sent "all persons of Japanese ancestry" on the West Coast to these concentration camps. Given just hours or days to prepare to leave and only being able to bring with them what they could carry - these people lost homes, businesses, & possessions. Amazing.



This new information made us go & visit the actual site of Manzanar. We toured the visitor center which was fabulous. It was probably the best visitor center we have seen yet. Lots of information, laid out well, with lots of interactive exhibits. Incredible.



We took off from there & went up to the base of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States at 14,497. Now we did not climb it...just drove to the portal at 8,365. We were told there was a great restaurant there but it turned out to be a shack shop that only sold one thing...hamburgers. We also took off looking for the waterfall that was in the area. We walked down a path where the water was flowing & looked for this so called waterfall. We found a small one about 5 feet and figured that was it



but as we walked back we just missed it by a couple feet! haha. It was a beautiful waterfall & we sat & watched it for what seemed like hours.



It was mesmerizing and such a beautiful day and since we were at 8K feet...was nice & cool from the 105 degrees down the hill.

It was early evening when we headed back down the hill and since the laptop was still not working...we decided to go into town again for some more work on the fix. The Internet Cafe was open & luckily I found that Microsoft had sent down a patch that conflicted with my Zone Alarm firewall and shut down the Internet. Frickin Microsoft!!

I had lots of updates to post & spend most of the evening until we were thrown out of the place working on the internet. Whew! Was I relieved to get it fixed!

Tomorrow we're headed to Vegas...yeah baby! haha...
Rene

Computer Back Up! 7.19.08

Woohoo! The laptop problem is fixed. Microsoft sent down a patch that installed on our way to Sequoia Canyon. This patch conflicted with my firewall - Zone Alarm. A quick call to Microsoft confirmed the problem & got it all fixed. Whew! That was a major stress to me the last week. So keep tuned! We have lots of updates to post...

Rene

Lone Pine Campground 7.18.08

We made it to Lone Pine after a 6 hour drive down & around the Sierras. We went through Visalia, Bakersfield, & up to Lone Pine. The campground is nice although this is one campsite we didn’t pick very well. It was a walk-in campsite, meaning you have to hoof in all the equipment & leave the jeep in the parking lot. We talked to the nice camp host & he allowed us to change our site number. After we drove around the park about 4 times, we finally settled in a campsite made for an RV with a bit of shade. It’s hot today – in the 100’s and shade is a necessity. After we setup camp, we decided to check out the town of Lone Pine & find dinner there. We found a wonderful Mexican restaurant called Bonanza & sat among the locals for supper. Across the street was an internet café so we ducked in there just before she was closing & quickly scanned our e-mails & I downloaded the fix (hopefully) to my computer issue. Wish me luck!

P.S. As I sit here in the dark typing this…there is some strange critter that’s yelling at me (or so I imagine as he’s making all kinds of noise!) from the bushes just beside me & the moon is coming up over the mountain range. It’s a perfect full moon & the light is super bright just before it crests the peak – it’s beautiful. The stars are popping out like popcorn in the sky – you know how popcorn pops – one, two, then twenty, fifty, & hundreds in the bag? That’s how the sky looks….at first I can only pick out one or two, but the next time I look there’s twenty, then fifty, and finally…millions of stars up in the sky peering down at us. What could be better?!

Rene
{GMST}36|35.844|N|118|11.064|W|Camping in Lone Pine Campground!|Lone Pine Campground{GEND}

General Sherman Hike 7.17.08

No stop in Kings/Sequoia Canyon would be complete without seeing the world’s largest tree – the General Sherman tree. Ol Gen’l Sherman isn’t the tallest, the oldest, or the widest but is the largest by sheer volume & weight. Here’s his amazing stats:

Height – 275ft
Weight – 11,385 tons!
Circumference @ base – 103ft
Age – 2,200 years
Diameter @ base – 36.5ft!

That’s one huge tree! I wouldn’t want to be anywhere around it when it falls. We listened to a Ranger as she explained all the stats & tried putting it into perspective for us – it’s as heavy as 11 gray whales & larger than the statue of liberty. These trees are simply amazing. They’re so tall your neck gets tired from staring straight up for so long!

We took off from there to a hike along several trails in the area. We started on the Congress trail, switched to the Crescent Meadow, to the Huckleberry, to Tharp’s Log, to Log Meadow, & finishing at Crescent Meadow again. It was about 3 hours & we estimate it to be about 4 miles or so. We took it easy & enjoyed the area.

The trees were just monstrous – out of this world big. You look like an ant to these trees.
The wildflowers were georgous – all the same colors as before but seemed to be more vibrant today. The meadows were surrounded by bright green ferns that seemed to go on forever. I was a bit disappointed as we were heading up to the parking lot after walking all of those backwoods without seeing a bear! Or any wildlife really when lo & behold…just 100ft from the parking lot (of course!) a small black bear appeared & rummaged through some downed trees then took off into the meadow. So cool.

We jumped on the shuttle & headed back to Lodgepole center for a quick bite of late lunch & a shower before going back to camp for the evening. Tomorrow we are going to our campground near Lone Pine. We’re looking forward to the new scenery!

Rene

Grant & Cedar Grove 7.16.08

Today we drove up through Grant Grove to Cedar Grove, and then down along Hume Lake back to camp.

The Grant Grove to Cedar Grove drive is considered one of the most magnificent in any national park, including Yosemite. The drive takes about an hour and views from the drive are spectacular – roaring Kings River with all of it’s creeks that feeds into it, rugged peaks, steep granite cliffs, waterfalls, & windy roads.



We started at Grant Grove & stopped to see the General Grant Tree, the 3rd largest in the world, a memorial to U.S. Soldiers killed in war, & the nation’s Christmas Tree. On the 2nd Saturday of December, they have a grand celebration here yearly. The General Grant tree has a base of 40ft in diameter! It would take 20 people holding hands to circle the base. It’s sheer size makes it the 3rd largest tree, by volume, in the world. It’s a sight! The hike was only 1/3 of a mile to the tree & several around it and then we headed on down the road.



We stopped at Kings Canyon Lodge where the gas station was one of America’s Oldest double gravity pumps is still in use! Built in 1928, the tanks are above the pumps which fills the pumps, and when it’s pumped into the vehicle, it uses gravity as well. The novelty of it all made us add 10 gallons – at $5.75/gal! Yikes!



We stopped at Grizzly Falls and had a great PB&J lunch, then on to the Cedar Grove area.



We hiked out to Muir rock, a large, flat river boulder right on the river where John Muir would bring Sierra Club field trips & give talks. There was a family of about 20 who were daring each other to jump into the frigid water below & survive the rapids! Everyone did fine – even the youngest boy who did NOT want to jump in but succumbed to peer pressure.

That took us to the roundabout appropriately called ‘Roads End’ and we headed back. This time we stopped at Roaring River Falls, a 5 minute walk to a 40 ft spillway that falls into a granite bowl. It also looks like the water is carving out a super smooth journey!


We decided to take a different route home, through Hume Lake. The Hume lake area is beautiful! Although…it’s filled with kids as it’s a Christian camp. They were everywhere! It sure looked fabulous and Michael noted that he would have liked to come here when he was growing up!



Back at camp it’s Macaroni & cheese night as we’re trying to use up all of our remaining staples we brought along.

Rene

Moro Rock & Crystal Cave 7.15.08

Although groggy & a little hungover, we were up and around this morning & headed into the Giant Forest area for an 11am Ranger talk on the top of Moro Rock. Just like Yosemite, Sequoia/Kings canyon has shuttle busses where you park in one area & they’ll shuttle you from place to place. We parked at the Giant Forest Museum & rode the shuttle to Moro Rock. Moro rock is a granite dome that overlooks the deep canyon of the Kaweah River’s Middle fork. It’s a ¼ mile climb up some steep steps (around 300 of them!) to the 6,725 summit and some of the best views around. The Ranger spoke of….I don’t remember…I must have been hungover. Michael remembers him talking about the different ‘Life Zones’ – High Sierra, Conifer, & Foothills – and what grows in each zone, how plants & trees adapt to live there, & the climates of each. He also talked about some of the problems that the plants & trees were having – acclimating to the increased ozone and how it’s destroying them. It was a good Ranger talk.




This is the Sentinel Tree at the Visitors Center - 257 ft tall!!



We climbed back down the steps & took the shuttle back to the museum. There, we walked around the ‘Big Trees Trail’ – a one mile loop of sequoias, wildflowers,



& Round Meadow – a lush forest meadow.



I’m starting to believe that looking at these huge sequoia trees so often makes me lose perspective on just how large they are. I see the numbers and compare them to trees around, but it’s easy to see them as just another large tree.



We drove over to a picnic area called Pinewood for a picnic lunch & then drove back to camp as it was getting cold & rainy looking again and I was not dressed warm enough. After picking up some warm clothes, we headed to Crystal Cave, where we had a 4:15 tour. We opted for the ‘Discovery Tour’ as it was longer than the regular tour and there were only 16 people max. When our tour started – it was just the 2 of us! A few minutes later, 2 more people joined and still we enjoyed the tour with just 4 people….nice.

Crystal Cave is the only cave in the park that’s open to visitors. There is quite a hike down to the cave, and our guide pointed out all of the different plants & trees, showing us how to identify them. A waterfall at the Marble Fork Kaweah River Bridge marked the beginning of the cave



and a very cool spider web gate guarded the entrance (I asked if it had any significance…and was told it was just the whim of the builder at the time, nothing special at all.)



Inside we spent 2 hours exploring a cave with stalactites (hanging from the ceiling), stalagmites (shooting up from the floor), columns (where stalactites & stalagmites meet & merge), rushing water carving out the marble below our feet, cathedral ceilings more than 40 feet high in places, stalactites that formed in a ribbon shape that lined the ceilings and looked like curtains,



pools of water (I forget what he called them!) that looked like brain coral out in the ocean,



teeny tiny spiders that have adapted to living in the cave, underground & overhead chambers & much, much more.



We learned so much! The cave was 50 degrees and was well lit by lights & a walkway that was installed over 50 years ago! There was one room we entered where our guide shut off all of the lights and just let us experience what it would be there in total darkness. It was crazy dark – even after about 10 minutes of total darkness, we still couldn’t see our hand in front of our face, or anyone/thing else. That total darkness & when everyone was quiet and all we could hear was the dripping of water inside the cave was my favorite part of the tour. Michael loved almost everything but especially the so-crystal-clear-it-looks-blue water as it was carving out the granite and the ribbons in the ceiling. So if you’re headed out here…definitely put this on your list to do…it’s spectacular!!

The hike back up the hill was a good one! It’s a quarter of a mile….straight up! They say it’s the equivalent of climbing a 30 story building. But alas, we made it! Again, it was raining (it’s been raining all day!) so instead of going straight to camp, we went back to the Lodgepole Center and ate….gulp…chicken fingers & fries. Mmmm….junk food!! Haha…

Back at camp it was after 8pm so we read our books – Michael’s on book 2 of the Eragon series and I’ve been reading a book called “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert - in the tent until bedtime.

Rene

Lodgepole Visitor Center 7.14.08

We woke up to a fabulous morning – blue skies with puffy white clouds above, the stream lulling us away into that place of total relaxation, the scene of beautiful green fir & pine trees, & down along the river are white, red, yellow, orange, & purple wildflowers. It’s truly spectacular.

Once again we managed to blindly pick another great campsite. We’re at the Stony Creek Campground and our site is right along the creek. We were lulled to sleep with the bubbling brooke sound last night…hhmmm…

The great thing about the rain is it really brightens up the scenery! Heck, even the Jeep & tent look so much more happy having some of the dust, pollen, & grime rinsed off. Although our ‘leak proof’ tent…isn’t. It leaks in about 4 areas of the tent unfortunately, but luckily we can center the bed and it doesn’t get it wet.

We’re taking advantage of a lazy day, heading into the Lodgepole Visitor Center to do a bit of laundry & shower. We arrived around 12:45…luckily! Cause the showers closed at 1pm – 3pm for cleaning. Showers were $3.25 for 8 minutes of water. We started laundry and went to the visitors center and general store to check them out. After laundry was done & we had our ice cream snack we went back to the campsite.

We started playing dominoes as the table is perfect here. One bottle of wine later and it started to rain so we quickly packed everything up & headed for our tree cover to wait it out. The water to the bathrooms just up by us was shut off because of a leak so we had to hoof it up to the other bathrooms. Michael went over to offer his assistance/sympathy that they men were working in the rain to fix the leak. When he walked up, one of the men looked at him and asked his name. “Michael”….no, your last name….”Ditton”. Turns out the man, SGT Harvey Williams, recognized him as they were called up for Iraq and were in the same Army unit, the 729th Trans Co from Fresno. What a small world. They chatted a while and we came back to the camp…still raining. So what should we do? Have another bottle of wine! Haha… Yep, the first bottle went down so well we decided to have another and watch a movie on the laptop. As you can imagine, after two bottles of wine I was pretty toast and fell asleep during the movie (which was OK since it was a stupid movie anyway).

Rene

Sequoia Canyon – Stony Creek Campground 7.13.08

We were up bright & early this morning and packed up camp and was on the road again. I figured that on the way, I could take advantage of the wireless & update the website since we’ve been without internet since going into Yosemite. Well, in Reno, apparently there were some Windows Updates downloaded & began to install which I didn’t want as I had other plans, so I cancelled the install. Big mistake. Now I can't get on the internet at all. Shit!! I don’t know how I’ll get it fixed and have the next 8 days to stew about it cause there’s no cell service or internet anywhere in the park. Grumble… Hopefully when we’re in Vegas I can get to an internet café and research the problem and hopefully get it resolved quick!!

We stopped at a little pizza joint on our way into the park for lunch & had a great pizza & salad before continuing on.

We made it to the park around 3pm and setup camp just in time for an afternoon shower. Rain! We heard thunder in the distance (which I miss a ton growing up in Kansas – it just doesn’t thunder in Ventura) while setting up, but it seemed far away. It rained for about 2 hours, maybe more. We still had to check-in with the campground hosts and used the rain as a good excuse to run up there. We chatted with them for nearly an hour, telling stories, favorite places, & they showed us their favorite Yosemite photos. When we returned to our site, we pondered whether to have cold cereal for dinner (it was still raining) but decided to setup the grill under a tree & cook dinner there.

We have 5 full days of exploring the sights of Kings/Sequoia Canyon (they’re jointly managed) and have lots planned! Stay tuned…

Rene
{GMST}33|39.820|N|118|50.176|W|Camping in Stony Creek Campground in Sequoia Nat’l Park!|Sequoia Nat’l Park{GEND}

Mariposa Grove & Wawona BBQ 7.12.08

(One more view of Yosemite Falls - both the upper & lower)

We had another lazy morning today – we both woke up when we wanted (or when the neighbors were too loud) and just lounged. I think I’ve told you that a friend of mine gave us some heater meals before we left to use on our trip. We’ve been eating them when we didn’t get fresh items at the store or when it just was not convenient to make something fresh. All of the items have been good so far – we call them mystery meat meals as you never know exactly what you’re going to get. This morning we tried the eggs & pancakes…. The pancakes were excellent…but the eggs….they were horrible. Michael managed to choke his down but I couldn’t get over the smell and went hungry. They were those powdered eggs that you just add water to. Disgusting...

We got cleaned up & took off to Wawona. On the way, we found this cute little guy - a red fox – running down the side of the road for a bit.

Wawona has a little general store that we picked up items for a picnic lunch – egg/tuna sandwiches, crackers & cheese, & a cookie for Michael. We ate while waiting for the shuttle to take us to the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoia trees near the South entrance of the park. We met the same park ranger, Ranger Alex, for a guided tour of the Mariposa Grove up to the Grizzly Giant tree. It was monstrous! One of the branches is 7 ft in circumference…almost as big as some of the trees on the ground! We enjoyed the talk very much and even though we’ve heard it about 3 times, learned a thing or two.

We meandered around the grove for a bit and then jumped back on the shuttle to Wawona. The grove of redwoods was nice, although since we’ve been to the Avenue of the Giants on the coast, I was a bit disappointed. Hopefully Kings Canyon/Sequoia Canyon will be better. Honestly, I’ve been a bit disappointed with Yosemite as a whole. Sure, there are beautiful parts (as any park has) but after all I’ve read & been told about how magnificent Yosemite is…I had higher expectations. Frankly, it sucks that the fires are burning & smoking up the place. We go up to these fabulous areas and can barely see the other side of the valley! The more people I confide this in all say I must promise to come back in the Spring or in January & I’ll see the grandeur I was expecting. Michael says he remembers it to be super crisp the last time he was here and right now doesn’t even compare to his memories. Ok…enough with the complaining…

When we chatted with Michael’s Uncle & Aunt, they made us promise to eat a meal at the Wawona Hotel as it was one of their favorites. Tonight, they had an all-you-can-eat BBQ dinner for $20/pp. The whole front lawn was splayed with circular tables & chairs and had a ton of food…ribs, chicken, steak, hot dogs, mahi mahi, and all the sides you can imagine.

We sat at a table with a couple from England & Tim, a fellow from Texas. We all had a wonderful time chatting & getting to know each other over the wonderful meal. Before we took off for the campsite we both went to the restroom before meeting up at the Jeep. (This is very important….just stay with me) The bathrooms were just beside the golf shoppe & had something wonderful in them….SHOWERS!! Our campground does not have showers & there are only 3 public shower facilities in the entire park – one in Toulumne Meadows and two down in the Village, which are all a long way away!! So I ran back to the Jeep (skipped the whole way, actually) so excited to take a SHOWER! It took Michael a little convincing but he finally gave in as well and took advantage of the oh so wonderful shower. Ooohhhh…it felt sooo good!! Haha… And even better because it was free! Well, we rationalize it by thinking we paid for dinner & a shower…haha…shhhhh….don’t tell!! Anyway, it was a great evening and perfect for our last night in Yosemite. Tomorrow…we head for Kings Canyon!!

More to follow…
Rene

Wawona & Glacier Point 7.11.08

We started off the day in Wawona, at the south end of the park, for a 9:30am ranger guided ‘Wawona History Walk’ with Ranger Alex. Michael’s dad used to work at Wawona so we were especially interested in the history of the Hotel & the men who owned it. We were treated with that & more of the history of the area. The pioneer of the area was Galen Clark who came to the valley in the 1850’s while in his 40’s and just diagnosed with Tuberculosis & given one year to live. He figured while he was here, waiting to die, he would help the area & the people traveling through. He built the first Wawona hotel, which was a mere shack for people to stay, a bridge to Yosemite Valley which he charged a toll to cross, and was instrumental in the first road to Yosemite Valley. Interestingly enough, the 1st year he charged a toll, 36 visitors came through the park. That number continued to grow to today’s visitors – a whopping 3.7 million. Wow!! Clark had the vision of the first hotel in the area but it was a businessman, Washburn, who purchased it from Clark and built it into the welcoming place it is now. By the way Galen Clark lived to be 95! I guess Yosemite agreed with him.

While in Wawona we happened upon a presentation by a blacksmith who was making trivets & bottle openers. It was fascinating to watch her take a dull piece of steel & mold it into a beautiful piece.

We drove up to the Taft Point/Sentinel Dome trailhead as there was a 2pm Ranger guided hike to Sentinel Dome. We ate lunch on the back bumper of the Jeep and still had an hour to kill so we took off for Taft Point, a 2.2 mile hike up to the top of an overlook & drop-off at the edge of a sheer 3000 ft cliff.

Again, it was incredible!! If only it was smoke free. The view down was mind boggling. You could look straight down and not see below you.

The fissures in the rocks all around the peak were insane with huge boulders that seemed to hold them apart.

The hike was incredible – lots of wildflowers growing everywhere that were beautiful.

We high-tailed it back to the trailhead just in time to meet up with Ranger Shannon for the tour of Sentinel Dome, another 2.2 mile hike. We stopped all along the way to identify pines & ingenious ways to remember their names. The white pine has needles of 5, and white has 5 letters in the name. The yellow pine has needles of 3 and you can make a Y out of the needles, and the Lodgepole Pine has only 2 needles and you can either make an L out of the needles, or make a teepee, which is the wood that the Indians made their teepees out of.

Once at the top of Sentinel Dome we were treated to a 360 degree view of the park & all its peaks. Unfortunately, it was smoky so it wasn’t as spectacular as it should have been but o-well…it was still pretty amazing.

Back at camp, we had an amazing filet mignon dinner (yeah, we’re roughing it…) and put everything away for the night. We took off for Glacier Point as there was a Ranger talk at 7:45 about fire & a stargazing session we were interested in.

On our way to Glacier Point, we came around a bend in the road to find cars everywhere! It was like an accident just happened & everyone was jumping out of their cars to help. As we drove by trying to figure out the commotion, a man in a car told us there were bears over there. BEARS!!! I grabbed the camera & hopped out & sure enough…there were two bears. All I could see at first was the larger one lumbering around the trees but a friendly observer pointed out a cub up in the trees. It was dusk & there were lots of trees and brush in the area so I only took one bad photo before the Park Rangers came by & made us all leave. But it was phenomenal! The larger one was on the ground around the trees and the young cub was up in the tree. I hope he didn’t tree himself to get away from us!

At Glacier Point, the same Ranger that did the Sentinel Dome hike with us gave the evening talk. She spoke about fire – the status of the fires in the park currently (all have been extinguished except for one, the Hill fire which was expected to be contained by 6pm), the benefits of fire & the firefalls. I found it interesting that the Park Service for the last 100 years has believed that fire is bad and have gone to great lengths to prevent or extinguish fires immediately. ‘Only you can prevent forest fires’… But what they have come to realize is that fire is essential for the health of the forests & now they are trying to right the wrong and fix 100 years of misuse. I wonder how long it will take to restore the area to what it should be.

Oh & the firefalls!! Have you heard of these? Well, from 1872 to 1968 they would build a fire at the top of Glacier Point & would push the burning embers over the cliff nightly creating a ‘firefall’. Glacier Point is at 7214ft elevation and has quite a magnificent view of the area. Michael’s great uncle told us about them the day we chatted with him & how on the final one he was told to ‘make it a good one as it would be the last’. They typically only lasted 15-20 seconds…the last one lasted for minutes. Turns out it was discontinued because it was a man-made attraction not a natural one & was ordered to be stopped. I would have loved to have seen it! It sounds amazing. Check out http://www.firefall.info/ for more stories.

After the ranger talk, the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers Association setup their personal telescopes on Glacier Point & gave a great presentation about the stars, moon, & milky way. There were about 20 telescopes ranging from huge to small & manual to fully computerized. We saw the moon, Jupiter with its rings & 4 moons, & a star called Alberio, in the Summer Triangle, which is actually a ‘true double’ - 2 stars, one blue & one gold that revolve around each other. It was not a perfect night for stargazing as the smoke & clouds obscured the view a bit, but the astronomers were incredibly informative & friendly answering any dumb questions we threw at them. They also allowed everyone to look through their personal telescopes & were incredibly informative. We had a great time chatting with them all & enjoyed the evening immensely. Some of the things I like the most about camping is meeting all of the folks camping or hiking around us. Alex & his family were one of the Astronomers we met & chatted with that evening and it turned out, were camping right across the way from us. We left around 10:30 or so and they stayed there until almost midnight! What a wonderful volunteer service they give the park.

More to follow…
Rene

Yosemite Valley 7.10.08

Today was our first day to visit Yosemite Village. We started out the morning by taking off & stopping at a place called ‘Tunnel View’. This is a little stop right outside one of the bridges in the valley that has a spectacular view of the entrance to the valley – El Capitan (on the left), Half Dome (in the center), & the Three Brothers to the right.

You can see the smoke in the air – there are 6 fires burning in Yosemite right now, started by lightning strikes on Tuesday.

Then we took off to Bridalveil Falls, a 620 ft drop.

The sun was just behind the falls and it was difficult to get a good picture of it. There were tons of people around, everywhere the eye could see. The parking lot was full & everyone was climbing up to the falls via the rocks. We hightailed it outta there and onto the Village.

The ‘Village’ is the highlight of the park – shops, museums, food stands, & stores. They have parking just outside of the village and a free shuttle bus that runs you around to 21 stops. When we arrived, it was hoppin’ so we decided to just hoof it around the village. We wandered the shops, stores, museums, bookstores (it’s dangerous – I wanted to purchase half of the books!), visitor center, & Ansel Adams Gallery. We stopped for the 22 minute ‘Spirit of Yosemite’ movie with its fantastic photography & great history of the area. The place was packed but was easy to forget everyone was around when you looked up at the marvelous view around you.

We decided it was time for lunch so we hopped on the bus & headed out for the Ahwahnee Hotel. The Ahwahnee is a beautiful hotel with lots of history. It is also spectacularly beautiful. The lobby looks as if it hasn’t changed in the 80 years it has been operating.

You can relax on the couches in the Solarium while taking in the fabulous 10 floor-to-ceiling windows.

We had a wonderful lunch there (Michael had a cracked-wheat turkey wrap and I had a chicken waldorf croissant, it just sounds amazing, doesn’t it!). We relaxed on the back patio & just took in the grandeur of the place. And of course no trip to the Ahwahnee would be complete without a sneak peek into the grand dining room…

Once we were fueled up again, we took off on the Shuttle to the Happy Isles Nature Center. We love to take in all of the information in these places. From there, we headed out to hike up the Vernal Falls Footbridge which I had read was an easy, .8 mile with a 100ft elevation change. I was mistaken…badly!! We took off around 4:30 to start the climb and only saw folks headed down the hill. That should have been our first clue. But we kept on going…up and up…it was at least a 30% incline the entire .8 mile hike. It was a killer. But, we continued on and were rewarded with a fantastic view of the bottom of the 317ft Vernal Fall. Beautiful… (yep, that’s it…right in the middle of the picture)

We jumped back on the bus & headed back to the jeep. On our way out of the village we stopped at Yosemite Falls – the highlight of the park. Yosemite falls drops 2425ft, considered the tallest in North America and the 5th highest in the world. We first went to the lookout point where there was just one other couple enjoying the area

but then made the choice to join the legions of others as they hiked to the bottom of the falls. It was still beautiful but I would choose the quiet, serene spot next time.

On our way back to the jeep, we found a small buck chowing away at the foliage in the meadow. He was so cute!

Back at camp we enjoyed a nice dinner & fire – our first in several days. Yosemite Village was nice to visit – once. But I prefer the outskirts. No cell service or internet in our campground so I’ll have to update everything at once when we leave. I won’t have cell service or internet in Kings Canyon or Sequoia Canyon too so be patient and I’ll update as soon as I can.

More to follow…
Rene

Family in Oakhurst 7.9.08

We pulled up stakes & took off to Yosemite today and SUCCESS!! We found a killer campsite in Bridalveil Campground in Yosemite. We zoomed out of Mono Lake at some o-dark-thirty time when the sun was barely up & drove into Yosemite. The drive through Yosemite is a bit slow as it's a very windey road & is mostly 35mph. So to make it from one entrance to the Village is an hour & a half, and to make it from the Village to our campsite is another hour. But since we got up so @#(%& early....we had found a site in Bridalveil, setup the tent, & were headed to Oakhurst by 11am. Whew! That's our quickest time yet to pull up from one place & setup at another, but I reminded Michael...we won't try that again...haha.



We drove into Oakhurst (another hour & a half from our campsite) to see Michael's Great Aunt Pearl & Great Uncle Dick, who he hasn't seen in over 12 years. They were delighted to see us (as were we!) and we spent most of the afternoon at lunch & visiting. We were treated to a wonderful italian lunch & some very old photos of the family, (that's Michael's head at the bottom of the picture and his mom, dad, & sister)



not to mention stories of their time in Yosemite. Uncle Dick worked in Yosemite for 30 years & had lots of great stories about where they visited & places we should see. Dick began working at Yosemite almost 50 years ago! He told us many stories of the area and one that I found fascinating was about the time he was the logistics manager of the building of one of the High Sierra Camp houses. He explained that everything – the building materials, fixtures, cement, had to be brought in by mule. They had 25 mules – 5 teams of 5 mules, and it took over 130 days to build the place. That just amazes me. He was also explaining that they would use wooden boxes on the side of the mule & would take the mules down to the river & would load those wooden boxes up with river rock for the cement. Well, the first shovel of rock to hit those boxes startled the mules so much that “those 5 mules ran in 10 different directions and it took us near the whole afternoon to round them back up”. By the end of construction though, the mules would have no problem with gravel falling on the hooves.

He also knew Ansel Adams personally and spent time with him. He called him a master in the darkroom and often the picture that he took was not the finished product as he could manipulate the light to get the picture he desired. Now I’ve always admired Ansel Adams’ photos. But I’ll tell you…with all this beauty & grandeur everywhere you look, how can you NOT take a fabulous picture! Of course Ansel is rolling over in his grave for that comment.

It was such a pleasure to spend time with them.

Although….in Oakhurst it was 115!! It was hot, hot, hot! We stopped to do a quick load of laundry and thank goodness it was air conditioned! And for some reason, I was super car sick on the roads out of Yosemite today. I’m not a car sick person, and can even read while we’re driving….but something about today – the super windy roads that are like the tracks of a roller coaster with their twists & turns….something was different. It was all I could do to hold it together until we got back to camp.

It was the 1st time I've met them & they were lovely. If we didn't have laundry, grocery, & an hour drive to get back...we could have visited all day.



We're leaving Oakhurst now - I spent the last hour while laundry was going to update the slog & read e-mails. Hopefully I'll have internet long enough to post them tonight!! I'm pretty sure we'll lose it when we get to Yosemite as we have no cell phone signal.

I'll have lots more in the coming days!
Rene
{GMST}37|39.765|N|119|37.254|W|Camping in Bridalveil Campground in Yosemite!|Camping in Yosemite{GEND}

Lazy day at Mammoth 7.8.08

We went back to Mammoth today as we've changed our plans & are going to leave camp tomorrow morning & find a campsite at Bridalveil Campground in Yosemite. We have learned that there are sites available & hope one will be available tomorrow morning!!

So we had a nice, lazy day today. We drove up to Mammoth again (I love this place!) and took a gondola ride up to the top of the mountain - some 11,000 feet! The gondola ride was great - very smooth - and was at one time, the longest in California. It took us a whole 7 1/2 minutes to reach the top. The view was spectacular! Tickets up the gondola were $18 a piece but there was a ride-n-lunch special for $21 each that included a sandwich & soda at the summit. It was the cheapest lunch on the trip and was very good!! We saw a full 360 degree view of mountain ranges, & valleys all around us. There was still snow in some places & it was a bit chilly - 55 degrees with 20-30mph winds. As long as you stayed out of the wind, it was perfect. We checked out the summit, took some photos, found a geocache (yep, even at the top of Mammoth mountain there's one!!), & then took the gondola 1/2 way down the mountain called McCoy Station. At McCoy Station, we searched for another geocache, then travelled the remaining way down the mountain. There were lots of mountain bikers zooming all over the trails, which looked like so much fun!! Next time... Michael was having some asthma trouble today - felt like an elephant was sitting on his chest, so we got down the mountain as soon as we could.

We went into the town of Mammoth & drove around to check it out, visited the Mammoth Museum & chatted with the Ranger there, found a couple more geocaches in the area, then headed back to camp. In Lee Vining, there have been several write-ups about a Mobil station with a deli inside - called the Whoa Nellie Deli - that have said how fantastic the food is. So we stopped for dinner there. A pitcher of mango margaritas & a fabulous dinner later we made it to camp. Yummm.....mango margaritas. They remind us so much of Catalina Island with some wonderful friends. mmmm.... haha.

Tomorrow....Yosemite again!!

Rene

Hiking in Yosemite 7.7.08

We had our 1st day in Yosemite today! We drove in via Highway 120, better known as Tioga Pass out of Lee Vining. We made it to the Toulemne Meadows Visitor Center and chatted with the Ranger there on hikes in the area and decided to do the Lyell Canyon hike. It's an 8 mile hike, but is fairly level as you hike along the Toulemne River. We took off into meadows green with grass, trees everywhere, & crazy boulders that were slowly growing skyward.

It's the only subalpine meadow in the area and was spectacular. There were beautiful white rocks, trees, plants, flowers, animals, & streams...everything was perfect. We started on the John Muir trail and were supposed to turn right at the Lyell Canyon fork...make a right, but instead made a left (I can't read a map to save my life!) and continued along the John Muir trail. We walked for a total of 5 hours and we estimate the hike at 9 miles or so. The views were spectacular - mountain ranges encasing us & beautiful green meadows. We saw lots of wildlife - ground squirrels, marmots,

& deer that didn't seem to mind us being there one bit. the streams were crystal clear & we spotted some fish trying to swim upstream. The water was very brisk but on our next hike we're bringing our swimming suits!! It was very warm and the water would be very cold...but only for a little bit!! The streams were very fast moving, tumbling over rocks. Michael called them 'mystifying'...we loved them & could have spent all day watching & listening.

The day was perfect - in the 80's & mostly sunny. There were lots of people around but once we were about a mile out, everyone seemed to disappear.

Michael finished his 3RD book this morning & has already started on his 4th! Shamefully, I'm still on my first one...haha. His knee is doing OK - it started to bother him on the hike today and we'll see how it feels tomorrow. But he's getting around fine. My poison oak is still healing - I've lost the 1st set of scabs and continue to put vitamin E on it. It's starting to become less obvious & less ugly. Hopefully it'll heal without a scar!

More to follow...

Rene

Mono Lake Tufa Towers 7.6.08

We had a nice leisurely morning as it’s Sunday and many people are leaving the RV park. It’s always fun to watch couples helping each other back the vehicle to the awaiting hitch…and the fireworks that come with it! It’s almost as much fun as watching the show at a boat launch (you know what I’m talking about!!). Right…a little more…NO LEFT….slow….slow….right, Right, RIGHT!! Keep coming…LEFT… Nope, pull forward, try again. Then there’s the quick switch… “you drive, I’ll direct”. You can almost watch the stress level rise as the attempts increase. Of course we’re tent camping so the worst we have is we forget to roll up the vestibule in the tent & have to start over.

We took a drive to town, purchase some fresh fruits, an LA Times newspaper (at $3.25!), & go to the south side of the lake to a place called ‘Tufa Towers’ for a guided hike by one of the Rangers, Mike.

What the heck is a Tufa Tower you may ask? Well, it looks like fun sand castles jutting out of the water and are created by the chemical reaction of the spring water (which has a high content of carbonate) that bubbles up from below the lake with the highly salty (or alkaline) lake water. When the two merge, they become calcium carbonate and over the years, they grow taller & jut out of the water.

Then when the LA Water District diverted the feeder streams, the lake level declined, exposing the tufas. Now they are the towers that make Mono Lake so distinguishable. They’re truly remarkable!

The lake itself is a terminal lake, meaning the water doesn’t go anywhere, just evaporates. So it’s extremely salty – about 4-6x more salty than the ocean. No fish live here but it’s home to trillions (literally) brine shrimp & alkali flies. The lake is also the place where dozens of migratory birds stop to fuel up for their journey – eating as many shrimp & flies as they can handle. Most of the California gulls (seagulls), 85% of them, return here year after year.

The tufas are amazing & the views of the lake even better. Just beside the Tufas is Navy Beach, where there are sand tufas, which are just like the tufas except they are made of sand!

LA Water District diverted the feeder streams in 1908. Subsequently, the lake was lowered & the salinity doubled. Then in 1976, an environmentalist, David Gaines, decided that the aqueduct was unlawful & together with several organizations, sued the LADWP – eventually (20 years later) winning! LADWP agreed to restore the lake level 20 ft in 10 years. They were doing good for awhile but Mother Nature has not helped in the last 3-5 years and they still have about 8 feet to go. The most amazing part of the story is that once the lake is restored, these tufa’s will be covered in water once again! So we’re seeing a little bit of history that in the future will be under water. Cool, huh?

We left there and drove through the 14 mile June Lake loop which takes you to 4 different lakes – Grant, Silver, Gull, & June. We stopped at a famous bar & grill, the Tiger Bar, for a late lunch/early dinner. The Tiger bar is a landmark in the area and Clint Eastwood even frequented it while filming here. They had hands down, some of the best hamburgers (even for a non-hamburger person) & a great atmosphere.

Back at camp, catching up on e-mails, checking on the fires, & planning our next 6 days at Yosemite. Michael has been reading throughout the trip – 3 books already but just started ‘Eragon’ and can’t put it down! He’s hooked. Luckily we have book #2 for him and book #3 comes out in August so I guess I’ll be pre-ordering it for him!!

Tomorrow…Yosemite!!
More to follow…
Rene

Bodie Ghost Town 7.5.08

Bodie is a California gold mining ghost town, the west’s most authentic & best preserved ghost town. There are about 70 structures (only 5% of the original) still standing. Bodie in it’s heyday rivaled Sacramento for the 3rd largest city in California. There were about 10,000 people in 1879 when the big gold & silver mines were at their peak. Gold was discovered here in 1859 and over the years, gave up $35 million of gold & silver. But once production plummeted, so did the population, eventually becoming abandoned. This was a rough town, there were killings almost daily fueled, I’m sure by the towns 65 saloons! For me, the history of the town was fascinating, the people, their stories, how they used their resources, etc. But I was not impressed with the buildings. It seemed to me someone should clean this place up!! The buildings/houses were filled with original artifacts, covered in dust , left as if they had been ‘frozen in time’. Peering through the dusty windows we saw stocked stores,

a schoolhouse with books, desks, lunch boxes,

workshops filled with tools

& houses filled with furniture, the bank with it's safe

& the church with all the pews & organ.

Michael loved this stuff, said he must have been a cowboy in a previous life. He loved identifying the Hellman’s mayonnaise bottle, Clorox bottle, Del Monte plums, mail order catalogs, etc.

I was bit of a skeptic that everything was just ‘left’ here! What about looting? Vandalism? All those years and everything was STILL here! Ranger after Ranger assured me that they take great pains to ensure items are actually from the area & they have people wanting to donate stuff all the time and will not accept it if they can’t prove it was from Bodie. Besides, I’m told…it was the time of the depression and it was more expensive to move it out then to buy new. And finally, the previous owners (before the State of California) hired guards to protect it. I’m still not buying it, but it is fascinating. The area is kept in a state of ‘arrested decay’ which just means that no improvements are made but repairs are completed. I’d love to read more of the stories and one or our neighboring campers recommended a book called “Soiled Doves” about the ‘women of the night’ and their story.

We spent nearly the entire day there – watched a movie about the place & took a Ranger guided tour of the area as well. We left there & found a geocache on our way back to camp, rinsed off the dust & grime from the day, & prepared for the evening.

There is a legendary ‘Bodie Curse’ that basically states that if you remove anything from Bodie, you will have bad luck from that time on. Inside the museum, there is letter after letter from people sending back items they removed – glass, rocks, railroad ties, etc with specific details of the horrors they had experienced after they left! Just to be sure, we picked every last rock out of our boots…we don’t need any bad luck following us!! Haha…

More to follow!
Rene

Happy 4th of July everyone!! 7.4.08

The ladies working the office at Mono Vista RV Park told us that Bridgeport was the place to be today with a great fireworks display. We decided to take their advice & spent the entire day there. We made it to the town just in time to see the end of the parade (doh!) and then checked out the other festivities until fireworks time.

And did they have a ton of festivities!! There was everything from arm wrestling, watermelon eating contest, greased pole climbing (for the kids), karaoke, mud volleyball (with 33 teams!!),

rubber ducky race, & horseshoe throwing contest. There was a rodeo in the afternoon with bull riding, steer wrestling, bronc riding, team roping, & barrel racing.

There was a great arts & crafts fair, plenty of food, & of course, live music.

The town was very cute – about 6 blocks long & 2 wide and very gracious, fun people. Most everyone knew each other and if you didn’t, you were just visiting. It was the stereotypical small town, with the stereotypical people to complement it! It was very fun & very welcoming. It was a beautiful sunny day with great temps and the mud volleyball was so much fun to watch! And of course…the fireworks! We parked the jeep on the side of the highway and watched in chairs sitting right behind it. Nice…

Happy 4th of July!!
Rene

Devils Postpile & Rainbow Bridge 7.3.08

Today we went to Mammoth – a ski/bike resort just below Mammoth Mountain. I have never been here and it’s such a beautiful place!! I’ll admit…we arrived & I saw all of these mountain bikers and wondered what the big draw was! They were all geared up & covered in dust and I still didn’t get it! Finally, I saw the gondolas & the sign outside listing all of the trails that were open and the lightbulb finally went off! The bikers were getting on the gondola, going up to the top of the mountain and biking down the trails…duh! And how cool! We talked about renting bikes & checking it out but Michael’s knee still won’t allow it. Oh well, next time.

So instead we went to Devils Postpile and Rainbow Falls and hiked the area. Vehicles are not allowed in the park between 7am & 7pm so we parked at the bottom of the mountain and jumped into the shuttle, which took us to the trailhead.

Devils Postpile is an area with basalt lava columns. Over 100,000 years ago, the lava flowed through the region and allowed the lava to cool slowly, forming vertical columns. The columns were exposed when a glacier flowed down the river, & carved away one side of the postpile, exposing a solid wall of columns over 60 ft high! At ground level the columns & pile were incredibly impressive. But curiously, one of the columns hasn’t broken or fallen since the 80’s! Up on top, the columns were mostly hexagonal – the most efficient shape. They looked like tiles – like a big soccer ball. It was amazing.



We continued on to Rainbow Falls, a 101 ft waterfall over a cliff of volcanic rock. It’s called Rainbow Falls because the water hits rocks at the waterline and shoots a steady stream of mist that on a sunny day, gives you a continuous wonderful rainbow. It’s really stunning.



The hike to both areas reveals a badly charred landscape & trees that look like toothpicks. The fire was in 1992 and the area hasn’t recovered, it’s sad.



Down from the mountain, we had planned to ride the gondolas up the mountain & check out the view from the top but we would have only had one hour at the top and found out there are some geocaches up there so we decided to come back another day. We hit the gas station, grocery store (who knew that at 5pm on the day before a major holiday, in a recreational mecca it would be so PACKED!), & generally checked out the area. An hour later, we headed back to camp.

More to follow!!
Rene

Mono Lake 7.2.08

We took our time leaving Reno this morning - finally getting on the road around 1:30. We had lunch, made some phone calls, gambled, searched for 2 geocaches, hit the bank, post office, gas station (for $4.11 gas!), & we were on the road again. The drive here was nice & uneventful. We arrived to 90 degrees to the Mono Vista RV Park. Our campsite is great - it has green grass!! We're on the end of the row of tent camping & are set back a bit so it's nice & quiet. The campground is GREAT!! Mono Vista RV Park is a private run facility, located at the crossroads of Hwy 395 & 120 & has a fantastic view of Mono Lake. The campsites inside Yosemite are full so we'll stay here & travel to & fro. The campground is full service - it has a laundry facility, hot showers ($1 for 5 minutes of hot water), cell service & internet!! woohoo!!

After we were all setup, we had our heater meal - mystery meat dinner - and for a change of pace...watched a movie on the laptop!! 27 Dresses...it was a cute movie!!

We have 10 days here & were told that Yosemite is a zoo with people right now so our plan is to check out the area in the next couple days then hit Yosemite after the 4th.

More to follow...
Rene
{GMST}37|57.579|N|119|07.408|W|Mono Vista RV Park|Mono Lake{GEND}

Reno 7.1.08

Ahhh...the familiar pack-up ritual of camp.... Michael gets all of the big boxes ready to go - food, coolers, stove, etc. While I pack up the insides of the tent - blanket, lantern, duffel bags (his & hers), then it's time to roll up the sleeping bags which is much easier when there's 4 hands, sweep the inside of the tent, sweep the outside, & we're ready to roll up the tent & ground tarp. Whew!! From there, it's Michael's turn again to pack everything into the jeep (he's the tetris master). Once packed, we place the hitch, firewood, & we're off! We've been consistently leaving the campsites around 10:30.

We made it to Reno around noon. After a short trip downstairs (literally!), we hit the casino floor. Hey, we have to finance this trip somehow!! Hours later, Michael was up .30 cents (after being up several hundred dollars earlier) and I managed to lose $40. Hmmm...maybe we should re-think this whole way of financing. haha...

We're back at the room for a shower, e-mails, blogs, TV, and we're headed to dinner in a bit.

Tomorrow we're going to Yosemite!! Woohoo!! Well...Lee Vining, just outside of Yosemite as we couldn't get reservations for the 4th of July holiday.

More to follow!!
Rene
{GMST}39|31.678|N|119|49.164|W|Hanging in the hotel in Reno, NV|Reno, NV{GEND}

Bumpass Hell 6.31.08

Today we took off on an auto tour of Lassen Volcanic Nat'l Park and hiked Bumpass Hell. Lassen is a crazy place where the landscape changes about every couple miles. You could spend weeks just exploring all of the differences. We started at Manzanita Lake, where we're camping. The lake was created during one of the avalanches 1,100 years ago. We drove through the area, stopping at 'Hot Rock', a 30 ton rock swept there by the 1915 avalanche. It has the 'hot rock' name because 7 days after the avalanche, the mud was still boiling around it, was approx 1000 degrees & took months to cool. Devastated Area was next and gets it's name as the 1915 eruptions transformed this place from a mature forest to a landscape of mud, ash, & rocks. Still today, there are tons of jumbled rocks for the ground with trees growing out of them. A few other stops included Hat Lake, Summit Lake, Kings Creek, Lake Helen, & finally we arrived at the Bumpass Hell trailhead. Bumpass Hell is the most popular hydrothermal feature of Lassen. It has boiling pools,

fumaroles (small ground vent with steam),

mud pots,

& beautiful colors everywhere.

It's amazing. It's what I would imagine the moon looks like! The steam & gas are created when rain & melted snow (yes, there was snow!) percolates down into the earth where the water is superheated by hot rocks or cooling magma.

Water boiling underground results in a high pressure steam & gas reservoir over the top of the heated water. It smelled like sulfur & the water flowing was very warm - like bath water. The part I loved the most was the colors everywhere. When the sulfuric acid is diluted by water, colored iron & magnesium clay, orange brown iron, & other colors appear. It was amazing to be at 8200' elevation, in shorts & tank tops, walking through snow on a sunshiny, 65 degree day. And to imagine volcanic activity right under our feet!! It was quite impressive.

We continued to the 'Sulfur Works' area of the park where we ate PB&J's again and viewed more boiling mud pots & fumaroles.

After our hike & drive we were both exhausted as we got a little too much sun so we headed back to camp. The campsite is covered with a yellow dust & we finally had a chance to ask a Ranger what it is...it's pollen! There's TONS of it!! It's a crazy bright yellow & blankets everything! The park is nice but we're ready to head out tomorrow. We've both been feeling a little low & think it's the smoke in the air from the wildfires. Maybe Reno will cheer us up!!

If we had another day here, I'd definitely love to hike Lassen Peak! Unfortunately the smoke was just too thick and we wouldn't be rewarded with a magnificent view so what's the point?! Another time...

More to follow!!

Rene

This guy was just too cute not to share on the slog!!

Lassen Volcanic Nat’l Park 6.29.08

We made it!! We took a lazy morning to get up & around (we didn’t want to leave the nice air conditioned room!) and took off for Lassen in the afternoon. There are fires about 20 miles from the campground and we were considering just blowing off the stop, but checked it out anyways. The air quality in the campground is good, much better than it is in Redding, so we stopped. We picked out our campsite (Lassen is a first come, first served campground) and started to setup camp….just as a thunderhead decided to dump a bit of rain & sleet on us. Michael’s not a fan of camping in the rain and the little downpour put a damper on his spirits. But it passed, thank goodness & the sun came out a little while later. We walked down to Lake Manzanita to check it out & watch some kids in blow up boats enjoy the lake.

Today is a very special day!! We’ve been camping now for 4 whole weeks – we’re half way finished with our trip! Woohoo! We’ve had a great time and can’t wait for the remaining 4 weeks. Our plan is to head from here to Reno, then to Yosemite for 10 days, Kings Canyon for 5, Sequoia Canyon for 5, then to Palm Springs to visit family, then to San Diego, Los Angeles, & back in Channel Islands for the 1st of August.

We celebrated with a fabulous bottle of wine given to us by our friends Dale & George & ate a ‘heater meal’ for dinner. Haha… The campground is nice – we picked a spot that is away from most everyone, and backs up against a wooded hill. We have seen several deer & squirrel so far this evening. It’s beautiful, would only be better if there was more visibility. We’ll be here for 3 nights then off to Reno.

Our last 2 campgrounds have been ‘bear country’ campgrounds – so we have to use a bear box to store our food, drinks, & all toiletries. They’re pretty large, we can get all of our food, two coolers (one for food & one for drinks), & everything in with no problem. The saying is ‘A fed bear is a dead bear’ because bears are no longer relocated if they begin coming into a campground, they just destroy the bear. So we’re being extra careful!!

More to follow…
Rene
{GMST}40|31.549|N|121|33.743|W|Camping at Manzanita Campground in Lassen Volcanic Nat’l Park|Lassen Volcanic Nat’l Park!{GEND}

Subway Cave & Burney Falls 6.30.08

After another great campfire breakfast, we took off to Subway Cave, a lava tube-like cave formed about 20,000 years ago. The roof of the cave partially collapsed revealing about 1/3 of a mile of a lava tube cave.



We entered through the 'Devils Doorway', checked out stubtoe hall, the wind tunnel (where the walls & ceilings narrow), lucifer's cul-de-sac, the sanctum (the largest area in the cave with ceilings of 17 feet & over 20 feet wide), even some lava bubbles at the end. The thickness of the roof was between 8 and 24 feet! The cave was cool - around 46 degree year round except for outside where it was in the 90's. The plants & trees around the cave & above it were beautiful.







Inside it was total darkness & we took our headlamps with us. A group leaving just ahead of us only took one flashlight and their batteries went bad...they had to feel their way out! They said it was spooky.



From there we continued North to the McArthur Burney Falls Memorial State Park to see Burney Falls, a 129 ft spring fed waterfall.



The water is a cool 42 degrees year round & comes surging over both the top & also from springs in the rocks across the face of the waterfall. They estimate that 100 million gallons of water cascade over the falls everyday. There was even a turtle swimming in the rocks at the bottom of the falls. I love turtles... :-)



We took the short, 1 1/2 mile hike down & around the falls, then drove down to Britton Lake for a PB&J lunch.



After relaxing at the lake for a bit, we deove back to camp, showered (25 cents a minute!), read, dinner, fire, etc. It's a beautiful night and the campground is nearly full! Surprising for a Sunday night when most people bail. The only thing we can come up with is people have taken this entire week off for the 4th of July weekend.

Michael has somehow lost his shampoo & soap, claiming to have left it right on the seat of the Jeep. We've had a standing joke since leaving the Redwoods where a certainl ill-fated carton of eggs was accidentally left on the running boards of the Jeep and didn't make it back to camp with us... So that is the only thing we can recon...it must have been left on the running boards somehow. How they got there, only he knows... haha.

More to follow!
Rene

Detour, California wildfire style 6.28.08

Just as we suspected, highway 299 was closed heading East into Redding. So we left the Redwoods and headed Northeast into Oregon and then hit Interstate 5 down to Redding. On the way, we had some fantastic views of Mt. Shasta, the 5th largest mountain in California.

We arrived at 5pm to 105 degrees and smoky, hot weather! You know that old saying ‘Be careful what you wish for cause you might just get it’? Well…we got it!! We went straight from 50-60 degree weather right to 100 degree weather! Whew!! The visibility was down to 3 blocks, if that and the smell of smoke was heavy in the air. The temps seemed to amplify the effect.

Because Redding was a one night stop, we checked into a hotel and really appreciated the A/C! We walked over to a highly suggested sushi spot for dinner and after that…watched a couple of hours of TV, checking e-mails, & surfing the net.

It’s questionable whether we will stop in Lassen Volcanic Park or not as we’ll see how smoky it is in the campground when we get there. The temps are scheduled to be in the upper 90’s, hot & smoky. If not, we’re headed to Reno for a few more days.

More to follow…
Rene
{GMST}40|35.242|N|122|23.474|W|Hanging out at a hotel in Redding, CA|Redding, CA!{GEND}

Fern Canyon 6.26.08

We met a wonderful couple from New Mexico/Alaska that are here for his 85th birthday & have had several family members come camping with them. They have come to this park for years & highly suggested a hike up to Fern Canyon - a place Michael had heard of from others & I read as one of 'four great hikes' in this area. It didn't disappoint!! Fern Canyon is best described as a 'lost world' - a narrow canyon with 50ft walls that are carpeted with luxuriant ferns, moss, & waterfalls. the creek flows through with a chilly, crystal clear water right out to the ocean. The hike was beautiful - spectacular views & lots of different scat to try & identify!! Bear or elk...we're just not sure.

Speaking of Elk, as we were driving to our hike this morning, we came around a bend to find a bunch of cars pulled off to the side of the road. There, across the street, were 5 Roosevelt Bull Elks!! They were HUGE and so majestic! They are supposed to grow to be half-ton & these were easily that big!

We saw another one just near the trailhead, a female, that I swear was posing for me! She posed, I snapped a picture, she walked a few feet, I snapped a picture, turned to face me, I snapped a picture, turned her head the other way, I snapped a picture. Although when I told her to 'work it'....she took off. I guess she's not ready for the runway yet.

After we hiked Fern Canyon, we walked out to Gold Bluffs Beach & watched the waves crash in for a little bit. The sun FINALLY decided to come out for a bit & we were lucky we did the hike when we did! When we arrived, there were only 2 cars in the parking lot. When we left, it was full! We travelled into the town of Orick for lunch & a few supplies - then went to the Information Station to find out about road conditions for our departure tomorrow. Good thing we did - the Highway we were going to take, Hwy 299, was closed due to the fires. The alternate route was also closed. So tomorrow, we'll have to take the 199 North into Oregon and then take the 5 South, about a 3 hour delay. Bummer. O-well! I was hoping to get into Oregon! The only bummer is that I'll miss the Bigfoot Museum!!

We finished at the Information Station & drove to the Lady Bird Johnson grove of redwoods for a Ranger led hike. We lucked out and Ranger Jen, from last night's fireside chat, led the hike. The title of the hike was 'The everything besides Redwoods' where we learned of all the other trees & how they benefit the forest, wildflowers, lichens, mosses, & plants in the area. Again, we learned a lot & it was beautiful day.

Back at the campsite, we played a couple more rounds of dominoes (I won this time!), chatted with the family down the way who generously gave me a bottle of Aloe Vera for my leg, ate dinner, & warmed up by the campfire. Tonight's fireside chat was about Black Bears & how to be safe around them & what to do if you see one. It was good, but not as good as the last two.

Oh...a funny thing in the park literature...it states "If being attacked by a mountain lion, fight back aggressively." Well, I can assure you...if I'm being attacked, I'm definitely going to fight back!!

We've really enjoyed the Coastal Redwoods & are looking forward to seeing the behemoth giant sequoias...but are most ready for some warm weather!

More to follow...

Rene

Another lazy (ha!) day 6.25.08

It was cold & overcast again this morning - go figure! When it's overcast outside, it's hard to tell what time it is when you're laying inside the nice warm sleeping bag in the tent. Michael is the 6-7am guy where I can easily sleep in most every morning. But this morning, even Michael slept in. By the time we were up & around, it was about 11!


I'll share a funny story - I woke up & hurried out of the tent up to the public bathrooms. I was still in my PJ's (which were mismatched because of my Poison Oak issue), my hair was still bed-mussed, & I still had my teeth retainers in. I stumbled up to the bathroom, barely able to see as my eyes had not 'woken up' yet, and there were 3 teeny-boppers sitting on the rail outside the bathroom door and the stalls were busy. Wanting to make sure they weren't waiting in line, I turned to them and asked 'Are you waiting?'...the problem was that my voice also wasn't working yet...and what was intended as a considerate question....turned into a very raspy grunt/growl....the girls' eyes turned as big as saucers and they assured me they weren't waiting. I laughed all the way back to the campsite imagining their comments.


So we took off to do a hike one of the Rangers had told us about called the Kalamath Overlook, which was about 10 miles from here. We drove to the spot where we were supposed to park & start the hike, but the temp was still 52 degrees & overcast so we decided to drive the rest of the way. Once at the overlook, the fog was really rolling in & we could barely see the ocean! We met a roving ranger who told us we just missed a bald eagle! The other had his zipper down & we elected to quickly take a couple of pics and move along.


From there, we drove through the town of Kalamath looking for the ever friendly laundromat. Kalamath was not a very welcoming place & the laundromat we found was a bit scary so we headed North to our favorite Crescent City.


On the way, we stopped at the 'Trees of Mystery' which was an area with gondolas that take you up through the canopy of some redwood trees with a trail to the bottom. Because it was so foggy & cold we decided to skip the gondola ride & instead checked out the 'End of the Trail' museum. It's the largest private collections of native american artifacts. There were clothing, pottery, baskets, weapons, & tools that enabled those remarkable cultures to thrive. The tribes in the area are the Yurok & Tolowa groups. At the 'Trees of Mystery' stands Babe the Ox & Paul Bunyan towering above everything else.




Again in Crescent City, we hit the Thai place for lunch (yeah, we're a little bit creatures of habit) and had about an hour's time of internet & phone service while doing laundry. We headed back to camp & played a couple games of dominoes (Michael won both) and had dinner & a campfire with some redwood we purchased in town. We went to the evening 'fireside chat' given by Ranger Jen about 'The darkside of the forest' - about the animals that come out at night. Owls, skunks, foxes, porcupines, bats, opposum, racoons, flying squirrels, and how to safely do a night hike & identify the animals. Ranger Jen even did some fantastic owl sound impressions that were dead on! The presentation & info given was spectacular & she was a great speaker.


More to follow...
Rene

Hiking in Elk Prairie 6.24.08

After a fantastic breakfast, we took off to hike a couple of trails here in the park. The trailhead to about 10 different hikes starts just at the info station. We hiked the Cathedral Trees trail, Circle trail, Prairie Creek trail, Revelation trail, & Nature trail. All the trails were nice - lots of redwoods, oaks, ferns, & tons of other vegetation. It's amazing how many shades of green there are out here!!

There were lots of beautifule flowers & berries as well.

The trees are soo huge!!

Of all the plants, flowers, & animals we have seen so far - my favorite was the banana slug... It's so ugly & creepy, it's cool...hahaha

Tonight is cool - in the 50's & we have a nice warm campfire and Michael's bbq'ing a tri-tip...yumm!! We went to the campfire chat this evening hosted by the USFS Ranger - it was on tectonic plates & how this area was formed. It was a great discussion & very informative!!

More to follow...

Rene

Crescent City 6.23.08

We went into Crescent City today, which is about 20 miles from our campsite, for groceries & errands. We needed to find a post office, bank, grocery store, lunch & laundry. Right beside the laundromat was a theatre so we figured - why not! It was a cold, overcast day...perfect for a movie. So we used up our spare time for some geocaches & an early dinner and went to see 'Sex in the city'. Our drive back was spectacular - the sun was just setting & was marvelous. We had a quick stop while there was orange in the sky for a photo of the 'Golden Bears' on the Klamath River bridge & it was dark when we made camp. A fun, necessary errand day.

More to follow...
Rene

Redwood National Park 6.22.08

Woohoo! We made it!! Our furthest place North and brrr is it chilly!! Haha.. Not really, the temps are in the low 60’s for a high, and into the 50’s at night. The drive here was pretty uneventful – we headed out around10:30 and headed North along Hwy 101. We stopped in Loleta to see the Loleta Cheese Factory – http://www.loletacheese.com/ – where Rita was nice enough to explain what was going on in the factory & even took my camera into the back room to snap some shots! Thanks Rita!! They were making 2 cheeses when we arrived – Cheddar & Organic Cheddar.

One of the vats was ‘cooking’, while the other was ‘cooling’ and was just about ready for the whey to be drained off (the watery substance) & the curds (the globs) to be placed into the boxes you see & pressed overnight. They place about 43 lbs in and in the morning, nice 40lb blocks of cheese are ready to cut & package. The whole process was pretty cool.

We continued up the 101 to Eureka, where we stopped for lunch & to see the Carson Mansion, a building that took 100 men over a year to build. I would love to see it from the inside!

By the way – folklore claim that when whaler James T. Ryan sailed into the bay in spring of 1850, he shouted ‘Eureka!’ (Greek for ‘I’ve found it!), and the name stuck. Funny…

Our campground is called ‘Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park’ and has an elk grazing prairie surrounding the entrance to the campground. We saw two elk – and a baby chomping away as we entered the park. Our campsite is very cool – (temperature and view!) – our tent is surrounded by 6 large moss-covered redwood trees, ferns, and beautiful greenery everywhere we look. It’s a pretty small campground – 76 sites total, and only 18 on our ‘loop’. We setup & are beginning to plan what we’ll do the next 5 days!

More to follow…
Rene
{GMST}41|21.523|N|124|01.844|W|Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park!|Redwood National Park{GEND}

Avenue of the Giants 6.21.08

Today was a busy day! We started out by checking out the ‘Avenue of the Giants’ – a 32 mile drive that parallels Hwy 101 & the Eel River.





It is an old growth redwood forest – the 3rd largest in California – which means the trees are more than 200 years old. It was spectacular. The trees are awe inspiring, absolutely beautiful! And the other flora & fauna in the forest was magical as well. I am still amazed at not only how big & tall the trees are – but how even after they fall, still sustain the forest. It was so cool to see smaller trees sprouting from downed trees, ferns growing from the roots, and all of the other plants in the forest. Ever downed tree supports over 4000 other species. Amazing! It’s hard to get a feel for just how large & tall they are…I hope these pics put some perspective on it!



Some other cool stuff about the California Redwoods:
- They can live over 2,000 years & withstand floods, insects, & fires.
- Trees that fall are left to decompose naturally & it’s estimated it will take 200-400 years to fully be absorbed into the forest floor.
- Living, they support over 1700 species of plants/animals and dead, they can support over 4000!
- The bark can grow up to 12 inches deep!
- There are 3 different types – Coastal Redwoods, the tallest of the bunch, Giant Sequoia’s, the largest, and Dawn Redwoods – found mostly in China but still resides in California and is distinguished by it’s smaller size & different leaves.
- Coastal Redwoods grow in a narrow strip along the Pacific Coast of California & southwestern Oregon. Giant Sequoias grow only in the Sierra Nevada’s western slope.



When we started out on the Avenue of the Giants, we didn’t have a map of the area and just winged it, driving along until it looked like a good place to stop. We ended up stopping alongside the road where the ‘Mahan plaque’ was placed. We walked into the trail and found ourselves on the Dyerville Loop – a trail that took us to the tallest in the world redwood – the Dyerville Giant. It fell in 1991 and was measured at 370 feet – six times taller than the statue of liberty or two feet taller than Niagara Falls!!





The above pic is me on top of it...and the below one is me taking a photo of Michael at ground level!!




It is estimated to be 1600 years old and was taller, older, & larger than all the others around it. It fell when another tree fell & hit it, knocking it over. A Ranger in the area when it fell thought a train had derailed – that’s how loud it was!! It’s now decomposing, housing lots of other plants & animals, though it looks like it could have fallen just yesterday.



We stopped at the ‘Immortal Tree’, one that is technically dead, although branches still grow from it. It’s called immortal as it survived the 1963 flood, a logger’s axe, & was struck by lightning, knocking off a 50 foot section on top. We also visited the ‘Chimney Tree’ which was burned by fire which hollowed it from the inside.

From there, we continued North to the North entrance, jumped on the 101 and drove to Shelter Cove, a black sand, smooth pebbly beach about 15 miles west of Garberville.




Though we’re not sure they calculated it right – it was a crazy windy road, up & down the mountain until you finally got to the beach – it had to have been further than 15 miles!! The beach was very pretty – small pebbles & black sand. I was looking forward to a little ocean rehabilitation for my leg, but no such luck – the ocean was too rough & the riptides were threatening.





We meandered up & down the beach, checking out the surf & area. We saw this cool starfish while walking – it was very unique we just had to snap a picture!





The beach was not volcanic, just black shale. It was beautiful and is part of an area called the ‘Lost Coast’ – though it’s a drive to get there, no wonder no one comes to visit! When we arrived, there was only one other couple on the entire beach. Nice!!

After Shelter Cove, we went back up the ‘Avenue of the Giants’, this time from the South (and we had a map this time!).





Our campground is called Burlington & is just past the ½ way point of the drive & the very large Humboldt Redwoods State Park Information center. We gathered up my clothes & headed to the Laundromat just down the road in Myers Flat (we have instituted a strict use it, wash it, policy for anything I touch as my poison oak is very bad). I feel like a wimp because I’ve read of people who get poison oak over 60-80% of their body! I only have it on my legs & arms and am suffering. The large patch on my left leg is the worst – it is about the size of a large grapefruit, has oozing blisters and hurts (read – itches so badly it hurts) like hell! The other spots are not so bad – two spots on my left arm (about a quarter size), about 12 individual spots on my right lower leg, a large patch on my upper right leg about the size of an orange, and even a few bumps on my belly button!! I’ve learned…I hate poison oak & will do everything in my power not to get it again! And that Benadryl is my friend…haha.

OK, back to laundry. It adds up quick!! Especially with the changing temperatures. We drove into the town of Myers Flat where the ‘Drive thru tree’ is located and spent the time that the clothes were in the washer to explore that area. I’ve read that the drive-thru tree was the first ‘attraction’ in the area – there were some interesting places to explore & of course take a picture or two! After the clothes were finished in the washer, we walked to Riverbend Cellars for some wine tasting. We met Bob there, who explained everything we needed to know about wine in this area (that’s Bob in the background!). They had 5 wines to try, and we ended up in a split decision between the Coquette, & the Firehouse Red. We ended up with bringing the Coquette back to camp with us. Check it out at http://www.riverbendcellars.com/.



Back at camp, it was dinner & a campfire (the temps were down into the 60’s) and off to bed for an early morning to pack & head to the Redwoods!!

Oh, my favorite quote that I saw today was “I feel most emphatically that we should not turn a tree which was old when the first Egyptian conqueror penetrated the valley of the Euphrates….into shingles.” – President Theodore Roosevelt

More to follow…
Rene

Humboldt Redwoods State Park 6.20.08

After spending time in the hotel with the A/C, we headed out of clearlake around 11:00. We stopped to find a geocache at the Clearlake Marina on our way out of town. The drive here was beautiful - winding roads with trees all around. We took Hwy 23 to 20 to the 101. It was hot again - temps in the 100's!! We stopped for lunch in Willits and made it here around 3:30. We setup in a little drizzle of a rain (it was more just some spitting, nothing substantial) and relaxed with some cold beers, getting acquainted with our new surroundings. The campsite is beautiful - nestled in the redwood trees and is a full campground. The highway is parallel to the campground and we can hear the whoosh of the passing vehicles. Michael made a great dinner & there is an 8:30 Campfire lecture 'Amazing animals of the Redwood Forest'.

As I type, the clouds are thundering and there's just a hint of sprinkles in the air...but not enough to send us inside the tent. Tomorrow we are planning to drive the 31 mile 'Avenue of the Giants', a collection of the tallest & largest redwoods and also go to Shelter Cove, where there's a black sand & smooth pebble beach. Can't wait!!

More to follow...
Rene
{GMST}40|18.66|N|123|54.59|W|In campsite 036BU - Burlington Campsite in Redwoods State Park, Weott, CA!|Hunboldt Redwoods State Park{GEND}

John & Debbie in Clearlake 6.19.08

We left San Francisco today, stopping at the Golden Gate Bridge as our final stop in San Francisco. The Bridge was very busy, as always, but absolutely beautiful. We met a wonderful couple from Delaware and spent a bit alternating taking photos of each other! I just loved the bridge...so beautiful.




We finished with our 15 minute stop about an hour & a half later...and made our way to Clearlake where our dear friends, John & Debbie Dye are staying while Debbie is recuperating from back surgery. She is doing great! We met them at the house they're staying (John's sister) and had a great home cooked lunch! We visited while sitting on the patio overlooking the lake. It's a beautiful area & we enjoyed the nice warm weather (in the upper 90's) and both the deer & the hummingbird wars that was happening just around us.




We left there & went....to a hotel!! Woohoo!! The first hotel in about 3 weeks and a welcome one. I have developed a pretty significant case of poison oak on my leg, just above the knee and have been suffering a bit for the past couple days. In the hotel room, OK, I'm still suffering...but at least I'm suffering at a nice comfy temperature thanks to the AC unit...haha.

We met them again, along with John's Sister & Brother-in-law (Patty & Jimmy) for dinner at a local home-cookin' restaurant - mmmm!! They brought a homeopathic remedy for poison oak and since today is also our anniversary...a nice anniversary card. They had arranged for a cake to be brought out & sang a very merry "Happy Anniversary" song to us. It was one of our favorite anniversaries - spending time with friends. We took a stroll back to our hotel & managed to use every available plug in the room - charging all of our gadgets! Yep, the hotel will definately lose money on us with all of the electricity we're using! haha...

We're looking forward to spending time with John & Debbie when we return to Mazatlan - their boat is 'summering' there too while she's here recovering.

Tomorrow we're headed up to Weott to spend a couple days visiting the 'Avenue of the Giants'. I can't wait...

More to follow!!
Rene
{GMST}38|56.96|N|122|37.89|W|Visiting with John & Debbie Dye in Clearlake, CA!|John & Debbie in Clearlake, CA{GEND}

Dale & George visit 6.18.08

This morning we went to Fidelity Title to sign our escrow documents for our Texas property. Judy at Fidelity was incredibly accommodating, faxing items for us & allowing us to use their conference room for a bit to get the transaction finalized. She really took care of us and we appreciate it!!

Afterwards, we went to visit some friends of Michael’s family, Dale & George. Dale & Michael’s Dad, Doug, worked together in the 60’s and have been friends of the family for years. We had a fantastic afternoon visiting with them. We met at their house where just outside was 4 deer, went to lunch just down the street, then came back to the house to visit some more. We really enjoyed catching up & reminiscing with them. They have a beautiful home & a great collection of carnival glass. We’re so glad we were able to make arrangements to see them.

On our way back to the campground, we stopped to look for some geocaches – finding one right in front of the police station!

Tomorrow we’re headed to Clearlake to visit our good friends John & Debbie Dye, who are in the states while Debbie is recovering from back surgery. Their boat is also down in Mazatlan for the summer!

More to follow…
Rene

Fisherman’s Wharf & Lombard Street 6.17.08

We continued on our city tour of San Francisco. We arrived just before noon and had lunch at a great little sidewalk/alley café in the financial district. Today was a bit of ‘things we missed’ day – we walked up to see the dragon gate in Chinatown (how did we miss that!),



found the fortune cookie company that sells ‘French’ fortune cookies with suggestive fortunes inside, walked up, down, & up again until we found the Fairmont Hotel (those are some steep hills!!),



magically ended up at the Cable Car Barn & Powerhouse (where all of the Cable Cars are ‘driven’…fascinating!), then we jumped on a cable car that took us to Fisherman’s Wharf. Fisherman’s was a huge mecca of any possible item you wished to purchase and was absolutely packed with people!! We stopped for the obligatory clam chowder at Fisherman’s and checked out the ships in the Maritime Museum,



went to the Mechanique Museum that was a bunch of quarter operated old machines – pinball machines, the old crank movies, player piano’s, etc. We walked up to Pier 39, a 3 story shoppers mecca and when we had seen it all, decided to take the cable car up to Lombard Street to see the ‘crookedest street in the world!” When we got to the cable car stop, there were at least 200 people standing in line so we said – let’s hoof it! Let me tell you…walking down Lombard Street is difficult. Walking UP to Lombard street is VERY difficult!! But, you’ll be amazed to know, the Cable Car only beat us to the top by mere seconds…even though we were quite a bit more winded than they were.



Once we finished with Lombard street, we hopped aboard another Cable Car heading back to our BART station and attached is the entrance to the Westfield Mall – another huge shopping mecca! We went inside & walked around, buying last minute items (San Francisco Salami, & Coffee) and then BART’d back to the Jeep. Now the parking at the BART station is $1/day and we remembered after we were halfway to our destination that we had forgotten to pay the $1!! We asked at the next station, but it was too late – impossible to pay. Lo & behold…there was a shiny $35 ticket waiting for us when we returned…bummer. We called to plead our case but were told we would have to write a letter. We hope we’ll get lucky!!

So I almost got to see everything I had planned – missed a few minor things…but all in all we walked a ton of miles, and saw much of the city. I could spend days in some of the spots we have seen though and completely understand the lure of the city. The city is so unique and inviting, I loved it.

More to follow…Rene

Golden Gate Park & Alcatraz 6.16.08

We got a bit of a late start this morning and ended up arriving at Golden Gate Park around noon or so. The park is HUGE with a ton of recreational areas to do & see. We started by walking to Haight & Asbury, ground zero for the parties in the 60's. Seems not everyone left...the area had a very interesting mix of people and the murals in the area were very artistic. We went to Amoeba Records, what a fantastic store! Very nostalgic with lots of antique/historical items in the windows and everywhere.

Once in Golden Gate Park, we zigzagged through the park, checking out many of the gardens & sights. Seems the park is especially friendly - we were even asked if we wanted to 'smoke some seed' with some of the park occupants. Of course we took time to partake (just kidding! just making sure you all are paying attention!). The weather was freezing fricking cold again - and windy to boot! Luckily I have learned the art of layering my clothes and stayed warm enough. The Conservatory of Flowers was closed, but luckily the Japanese Tea Garden was open.

The gardens were beautiful! We enjoyed a bag of wasabi peas hoping to warm us up while we walked further into the park. About 1/2 way through we figured we should high-tail it to Pier 33 for our Night Alcatraz tour. We made it just in time to enjoy a bowl of chili & sandwich and some coffee before jumping aboard the boat out to the island. I chose to take the Night Tour as it had a couple more attractions than the day tour - the boat circled the island and then docked. Alcatraz was great! So fascinating!!

I didn't know the history of 'The Rock' and was fascinated to learn it was a military fort before becoming a prison - and that they ultimately shut down (both the military & prison) cause it was too expensive to keep it running!! The island has no water so they have to barge it in, which is at a significant cost.

Anyway - the prison tour was excellent. The Rangers/Guides were very informative leading us up the 1/4 mile hill to the main building and once inside, we were given a headset for an audio tour of the prison - which was also excellent. It was still cold & windy but the sun just started to poke through the clouds. Still nipply...but not too awful. After the main audio tour, there were more tours offered from the rangers & video tours inside the different buildings. It was a fantastic attraction....highly recommended.

We ended our tour around 9:45 and walked back to the BART station with a couple from Spain that were doing a whirlwind tour of the U.S. – 5 Cities in 3 weeks…whew! But the funniest thing was yet to come. Knowing we wouldn’t get back to the campground until after 10pm, when they locked the gates, we arranged to get a key to the gate which they do on weekdays only and don’t necessarily advertise. We got to the gate around 11:30, pulled up, and Michael got out to open the gate. I noticed a car pulled in behind us but didn’t think anything about it until the cop came up to the door! Michael knew he wasn’t doing anything wrong and continued to unlock & open up the gate. The conversation went like this…

Cop: Where are you staying?
Michael: In the campground.
Cop: What are you doing?
Michael: I’m camping!
Cop: I KNOW that…where are you camping?
Michael: In Anthony Chabot (The name was right on the gate!)
Cop: I KNOW that…
Michael: Oh…space #45
Cop: What are you doing with the gate?
Michael: I’m opening it up!
Cop: I KNOW that…where did you get the key?
Michael: I got it from the campgrounds…wanna see my receipt?
Cop: Yes. (He looks at it…says “OK” and gives it back to Michael)

Now I realize we have two cop cars behind us!

We get through the gate and Michael gets out to shut & lock it again. The cop tells Michael “Don’t worry about it…I’ll lock the gate”…and Michael tells him he has to lock the special lock as instructed. The cop says, “I’ll lock it”…and Michael asks if he has a key, to which he responds “I’m the POH Lice… I have a key”…

It was a crackup!

More to follow…
Rene

{GMST}37|49.344|N|122|25.198|W|On the Night Alcatraz Tour!|Escaping Alcatraz{GEND}

Muir Woods 6.15.08

Sunday, we took our time getting ready at the campsite & watched everyone pack up & leave (it was a full campground over the weekend). We finally got out of here & headed out to Muir Woods and Mt. Tam. The traffic wasn’t bad but when we arrived there were signs stating the parking area was full and to take the tram in. We stopped for lunch & then found the tram into Muir Woods. Muir Woods is the largest stand of Redwoods this far South. It was phenomenal to say the least. We lucked into a tour from the park ranger which explained how the park was formed (Thank you Teddy Roosevelt!) and how the United Nations still meet here on a regular basis. The trees were spectacular & it was a brisk, sunny day. There were nice, short hikes (about 1 mile) and of course much longer ones. We were amazed to learn that there had not been a significant fire there since 1856...which is shocking as so many of the trees were still black & looked like they had just been burned! We learned that the bark on the redwoods can reach 1 foot thick - and that it grows up for the first 60 years (or so) and then starts putting on it's bulk. The Rangers at the park were very fascinating & admitted that the U.S. Forest Service was constantly learning. They explained that for years, any time a tree fell into the creek, they immediately cleared it thinking it would block the flow of water and cause problems. Well, by doing that, they were preventing the pooling water and thus preventing the fish from being able to spawn. So now they just let nature take it's course...unless it makes a problem for the park. One thing they said when asked whether the climate changes were affecting the trees in a negative way was that it was actually the visitors to the park that were 'stressing out' the trees - climbing, touching, etc that was causing the most damage. And that controlled burns actually help the area by opening up the canopy, allowing new trees to blossom and sunlight to get through. I was thoroughly fascinated...I can't wait to see the larger trees further North!!

We were at Muir Woods for about 3 hours and it was getting too late to stop at Mt. Tam so we headed back ‘out’ of the city around 5pm…big mistake! Seems everyone from the North Beach festival & everyone else was heading the same way. We finally made it back to camp at 9:30! Yikes! There was a little stress as we knew the gates to the park close at 10:00…no big deal, you can just leave your vehicle and then walk…the 2 ½ miles to our campsite. Haha. Luckily, we made it, no problem.

More to follow...

Rene

North Beach 6.14.08

This morning we had a wild turkey gooble gooble gooble us away nice & early! He was just outside our tent making his way to the trees...and he was loud!! One more wild animal to the list…

We were up & around and went to a U-haul as we’ve been having trouble with our stove/propane setup. The stove works fine on a small bottle, but with the large bottle & hose, it doesn’t work. As Michael suspected…the bottle was still mostly full. Bummer.

We jumped on BART & jumped off @ Powell Street. We started a walking tour starting at Union Square, over to the St. Francis Hotel where the grandfather clock and the phrase "meet me at the St. Francis" came from (OK, honestly, I had never heard this phrase...but I guess it's a historic one!), through the financial district, through Chinatown & many of it’s alleys,

through North Beach & up to Telegraph Hill/Coit Tower.

We even got to see a protest (“the Cult of Scientology”).

North Beach was having it’s annual festival & there were lots of people, vendors, arts & crafts, live music, & street chalk drawings.

It was a beautiful day and lots of folks were out enjoying. I especially wanted to see the chalk drawings & there were about 10 spaces where artists were painting. Most were still in production but they were way cool!

From there, we walked up Telegraph Hill to the Coit Tower, down & back up the Filbert and Greenwich steps, & enjoyed the wonderful views.

We spent some time in Chinatown, went to the Mee Mee bakery where they showed us how they made fortune cookies, to Jack Kerouac alley, and to the Good Fortune Parking Garage where fortunes were on each space.

And my personal favorite...

After we shopped til we dropped, we BART’d back to the Jeep.

Figuring the propane problem could only be the hose now, we found a Big 5 store & purchased a new one. Success! How a hose goes bad, we don’t know…but it appears to have been our problem. Jill (our GPS) took us a ‘new way’ (we’ve started calling her that as she never takes us the same way twice) which was right by a geocache in the area so we stopped & stomped through a briar patch to find it.

Back at the campsite & after an easy dinner, the fire ban has been lifted so we’re planning a campfire and a mellow evening. Tomorrow…Muir Woods!

More to follow…
Rene

Sugar High 6.13.08

Today was round 2 of factory tours…we started out by driving to Fairfield for the Jelly Belly tour. I was a little disappointed as most of the factory was shut down for cleaning but nonetheless, we were able to see other candies being packaged. The tour itself was very informative & fascinating. The factory was HUGE and there were lots of cool things to see like the robots dancing & the jelly belly pictures. The pictures are made of 100% jelly beans – up to 1 million of them – and can take 4 months to create. Back downstairs, we were able to sample all the jelly beans we cared to & purchase products. We bought some ‘Belly Flops’, Jelly Belly’s that didn’t make the cut because of shape (too big, too small, two together, etc) or color. There were lots of people there & the tour left about every 15 minutes with groups of about 30. The history of the company was interesting too! They started with one of my favorite candies…candy corn. 

They were promoting a new product called ‘Bean Boozled’…where there were disgusting flavors that were made to look like normal yummy flavors, in the same box. You could get lucky biting into a turquoise one and get Berry Blue…or you could be bean boozled and get toothpaste. Not too bad…but there were worse ones! For instance…skunk spray, vomit, ear wax, black pepper, rotten eggs, moldy cheese, booger, & pencil shavings. Yuck!! I’d hate to be the scientist trying to figure out how these things taste!! I asked for samples of the bean boozled ones and only got through the vomit one before calling it quits for the day.

We left Fairfield and went to Berkeley for lunch. I had read about a great salad & sandwich place just off the UCB campus and was not disappointed. The area was…interesting!! A mix of college students, locals, & wackos. Outside the bar next door was a man dressed in a monkey suit eating a banana, a culinary management student asking people to fill out questionnaires, and all along the street were vendors selling tie-dye clothes, jewelry, bumper stickers, & books. The stores ranged from quaint café’s bars, head shops, clothing stores to anti-establishment book stores. It was very interesting and almost as entertaining as the airport!

From there we went to the Sharffen Berger Chocolate Factory for their tour. Mmmm….Chocolate….a subject near & dear to my heart. The best tour of the 3 – it was incredibly informative. The guide walked us through the entire process of making chocolate from growing the cacao bean, harvesting, fermenting, shipping…and that’s just the beginning! We got to walk around the factory…but again, they were not in production mode as they work ½ days on Friday. Bummer. The tour was made much sweeter by the 4 samples of chocolates we enjoyed. And of course, we purchased some to enjoy on our trip. The guides were incredibly informative & could answer any question thrown their way. This tour is highly recommended if coming to Berkeley/San Francisco.

More to follow!
Rene

P.S. We originally scheduled these tours on the end of our trip to San Fran, but adjusted the dates which threw them to the beginning of the trip. No need to rearrange…that’s how they ended up 1st! FYI…

Anchor Brewing Co. 6.12.08

Our 1st day in sunny San Francisco!! Woohoo! So how did we spend it? Golden Gate? That can wait…. Cable Cars…nope. Our 1st day in San Fran we went to the Anchor Brewery for the factory tour! After Michael spent the morning getting some business out of the way, we headed into town & figured out the BART system to arrive in the SOMA area of the city. It was sunny & 86 degrees – unheard of for this area whose average is in the 60’s so to say the least…our 1 mile walk from the BART station to the brewery was very warm. We arrived about 1 hour early as we didn’t know what to expect so we checked out the area & cooled down with some welcome iced tea. The brewery tour was fascinating – it’s amazing what can be done with a little hops, barley, yeast, & water! After the tour, we got to sample 6 varieties of beer – and we’re not talking little samples! They were at least 6oz glasses. We both liked the ‘Summer Brew’ the best – a light, wheat beer made only April – October.



We got to talking with a wonderful family – the Pearson’s (& ‘A’) as we were sampling beers. We enjoyed chatting with them and were even invited to their home, outside of Yosemite for a visit!



The 2 hour tour ended with a ‘last call’ and we made the 1 mile trip back to the BART station in record time…could it have been the beers?! We found a great Mexican food place to eat & are enjoying the peacefulness of the campsite once again…

More to follow!
Rene

Anthony Chabot Campsite, San Fransicso 6.11.08

We’re here in Anthony Chabot campground, just outside of Oakland. There are not a lot of campgrounds in San Francisco and the one I was looking so forward to staying was closed due to a red flag warning. So we came to our fall-back campsite, Anthony Chabot. Our campsite is nice – settled in among the beautiful & fragrant eucalyptus trees. We’re quite a ways inland & higher in altitude so it’s nice & warm here…in the upper 80’s. That’s a good thing because the fire danger here is ‘extreme’ so NO FIRES! Bummer….the marshmallows just don’t taste the same cold. Oh well…

The campground is very dry but there are a lot of mosquitos around! We DEET’d up and they have magically left us alone.

Our drive up the coast from Santa Cruz was beautiful – there were high bluffs & a beautiful rocky coast. We stopped at Half Moon Bay as everyone had told us how beautiful it was but when we arrived, it was super windy & COLD!! We hopped out of the jeep, took some photos, & jumped back in!! We also saw a guy running along side of the road with a torch so we stopped to find out his story. Turns out he was running for an organization called World Harmony Run to promote peace throughout the world. www.worldharmonyrun.org. He was a great guy who took all the time we wanted to explain the mission, although I suppose he welcomed the break as well. A group of runners are running through all 50 states and it is expected to take 4 months to complete. A sister torch started in Europe and is expected to take 10 months! He was quite an extraordinary man.

After setting up, we spent the rest of the day figuring out when & where we were going to spend the next 9 days! These days will come & go quickly I’m sure and I want to make it through my extensive list!! Evening came and after dinner we finally finished up our 1st game of Mexican train dominoes & I must admit…Michael won.

Tomorrow we’re planning to do a hike around here (& a geocache hunt) and then figure out this BART system (Bay Area Rapit Transit – public transportation system) so we can get around the downtown area easier. We have been having problems with our propane system so we hope to find a propane place as well.

More to follow!
Rene

{GMST}37|44.073|N|122|06.284|W|Anthony Chabot Campground in Oakland, CA|Anthony Chabot San Fran!{GEND}

Natural Bridges & visiting ‘Micki’ 6.10.08

Our good friends Scott & Liz on Ocean Lady are from Santa Cruz and gave us some tips on things to do while we’re here. We had a nice, relaxing morning and went for a walk on the beach which was beautiful! Then we headed in town for a little lunch and then to Natural Bridges State Park. This is where the monarch butterflies spend time from October to April before migrating South. Apparently, there are thousands of butterflies here during that time….they were all gone when we visited…but it was a nice visit anyways!

Michael had been dealing with Micki, his customer service rep from Port Supply as long as he has owned the Chandlery. He’s always had such nice things to say about her, has said she’s always upbeat, & extremely enjoyable to work with & has enjoyed working with her. Well, the headquarters of Port Supply is located in Watsonville, just a few miles away & he called her up. She told us to come on over and then gave us the grand tour of the business! We had a great visit & appreciate her giving up her time to spend with us.

We putzed around a little more, checking out several more State Parks in the area before going back to the campground. The last couple evenings, we have been visiting with another camper across the way, Bradley. He is another CA transplant from Kansas – Pittsburgh to be exact – and we’ve enjoyed getting to know him over the warm campfire! Tomorrow we’re headed (hopefully) to Mt. Tam in San Francisco…Mt. Tam is another first come, first served campsite…so we’re keeping our fingers crossed!!

More to follow…
Rene

Mystery Spot & Boardwalk 6.9.08

We did a couple of ‘tourist items’ including “The Mystery Spot”, a place where the laws of gravity, perspective, compass, velocity, & height are defied.

It’s a fascinating place and was a lot of fun. For instance, here’s one of the weird spots. The ‘T’ on this spot is perfectly level (shown by placing a level on it and it was perfectly square)…but on one side, I’m almost as tall as Michael….and the other side I’m significantly shorter. It’s a mindbender!! Check it out…http://www.mysteryspot.com

California summer finally visited & the temps soared into the upper 90’s! I would say it was downright hot! We went to the Surfing Museum & the Wharf and found a couple of geocaches before visiting the boardwalk. The Santa Cruz Boardwalk was an amusement park right on the ocean. It was nice…we rode the gondolas. It’s a nice place to unload a bunch of money burning a hole in your pocket! Haha… www.beachboardwalk.com

After walking around town, we headed back to the campsite for another beautiful evening. Somehow I managed to get some poison oak on my ankle too so I cleaned it up with the scrub we purchased at REI called Tecnu. I’ll let you know how it works!!

More to follow…
Rene

Manresa State Beach Santa Cruz 6.8.08

We left Monterey late morning and headed for Santa Cruz. A quick stop to REI netted me another long john top and in the same parking lot at Best Buy we found a fix to our laptop charging problem – a 150 watt inverter. We have an inverter onboard but it’s a not a pass-through charger – it has a battery and feeds off this battery. The problem is we can’t seem to get the battery charged up enough to charge anything else! We purchased a simple inverter and our problem is solved.

We arrived at Manresa State Beach in Santa Cruz around 1:00. Manresa is a hike-in campground, you must leave your vehicle in the parking lot at the entrance to the park. So we humped all our gear in (and we don’t travel light!) and setup. We have a campsite just near the main entrance, overlooking the campground & the ocean. The campsite itself is pretty blah…no grass – only dirt & hay on the ground with few trees.

After setting up, we headed in town for a late lunch at a local’s favorite called “Carpo’s” and for some strange reason, ‘Jill’ (our GPS) took us home with a detour at 31 flavors…haha.

The campsite is most full, at least the entrance says it’s full, and there are several families around us with precocious 1 & 2 year olds!!  The moon is a thumbnail in the sky & it’s crystal clear. Temps today were in the 60’s with lows in the 50’s.

Tomorrow we’re doing our tourist items…visiting “The Mystery Spot” & the boardwalk, & of course hopefully find some geocaches.

Oh…we can add to our list of creatures seen….a skunk!! Luckily, we were more scared of him than he was of us but came within 10 feet of our firepit as we were sitting here!!

More to follow…
Rene
{GMST}36|55.110|N|121|51.001|W|Manresa State Beach, Santa Cruz, CA!|Manresa Santa Cruz{GEND}

Maint & Movie 6.7.08

Today was a nice easy-going day….a sort of maintenance day. We took the day to do laundry, hang around town, search for some geocaches, & take in a movie.

There are a couple geocaches around us so we took off first thing this morning to look for them. The 1st one was a multi-cache, meaning it had more than one find. This one had two and when you find the first cache, it gives you coordinates for the next cache. It was on a hiking trail so we decided to hike it back to the campsite to see where we ended up. While we were hiking we saw two bucks! The 2nd geocache took us on another hike around the area & we ended up with two travel bugs where you take a numbered, trackable item from cache to cache & log where it goes. The two we found are both from Monterey so we’ll take them camping with us and try to place them in San Fransicso.

We went into town for laundry & lunch and during laundry, I went across the street to ‘B’s Coffee House’ and asked to plug in & check e-mails. The owner was very gracious and had no problem with it. We were right around the corner from another geocache so after laundry, we hit that one as well. Inside was another travel bug and a disposable camera asking you to take a photo of yourself! What a cute idea…

Michael’s been jonesing to see the new Indiana Jones movie so we went this afternoon. He liked it a lot.

Tomorrow we’re headed to Santa Cruz!
More to follow…
Rene

Happy Campers 6.6.08

We were woken this morning to Reveille playing as our campsite backs right up to The Presidio where the Military's Defense Language Institute is located. For you non-military folks out there who don't know what Reveille is...it goes like this... doot doot doodle oot, doot doot doodle oot, doot doot doodle oot, doot doooo doot, doot doot doodle oot, doot doot doodle oot, doot doot doodle oot, doot doooo...etc. And it typically signals the troops to wake up. You can also click to hear it here... reveille.mp3

We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium today and it was spectacular. My favorite exhibit by far was the Jellyfish exhibit. I'm just amazed by their beauty & grace and could sit & watch them for hours on end. When I asked Michael what his most memorable part was....he said, and I quote "Paying $50 to go see the Sea Otters which, in the display, were motionless & boring and looking out into the ocean and seeing a wild one....for free!" hahaha... You see, we were outside watching the wind churn up the water & watching a little sailboat with triple reefed sails when - hey look! A Sea Otter was playing in the ocean below and was extremely animated! But seriously...the aquarium was absolutely fantastic.

Visit their website...http://www.montereybayaquarium.orgwhere they have eight live webcams. They have feedings & you can watch this also. The Kelp forest is @ 11:30 & 4pm and has a ton of fish. The Sea Otters are @ 10:30, 1:30, & 3:30, and the Outer Bay which has Sea Turtles, Tunas, Sharks & Barracuda is @ 11am on Tues, Thurs, Sat, & Sun only.

Afterwards we had lunch at Willy’s BBQ house right on Cannery Row but since it was so cold & windy, decided to bail on walking the shops.

So as I’ve mentioned several times I’m sure…it’s been freezing fricking cold out here & we decided enough is enough, it’s time for long johns. We had strongly considered it before we left but figured we’d wing it until it got too cold to handle. The time has come! So…a quick trip to REI (actually we tried 4 places before finding any at REI) and a wonderful assistant manager, Anthony, and we’re sitting pretty…and warmly in our new thermals tonight. We’ve decided Long Johns make happy campers….hahaha…

The Ranger has advised us it’s considered Extreme Fire Danger because of the high winds & dry conditions and we should be ready to not have a fire. I only hope it doesn’t happen.

Our campsite was visited by some raccoons last night and our neighbor campers have a family of 12 coming right up to them! We didn’t leave any food out but that didn’t stop them from climbing all around the campsite & on the top of the Jeep to look!

Michael managed to get a small patch of poison oak in Big Sur and has been babying it the last couple days. At REI, we purchased a scrub that’s supposed to remove the oils from the skin & make the rash go away quickly. He’ll use it tomorrow and see if it helps.



More to follow…
Rene

Veteran's Mem'l Park Monterey, CA 6.5.08

We left Big Sur & headed North to Monterey. We saw all of the cool stuff on the way - the old historic bridges like Bixby Bridge, and Point Pinos lighthouse and high-tailed it to the campground because we were worried there wouldn't be any spots available. Veteran's Mem'l is the only campground in Monterey...and it is first come, first served! As luck would have it, there were a few spots available. We pitched the tent & unpacked (hey, didn't we just tear down earlier this morning!!). As we were unpacking, two deer - a doe & a fawn greeted us just behind our tent. They were munching away at the foilage and after a few pics & a video...we let them be. The below is a video of the deer. Click on the big arrow to play the video. (I'm trying out a new video program. Let me know if something doesn't work!)



The only thing lacking in Kirk Creek campground was a SHOWER! And after 3 days of hiking...we were getting a little funky. My jeans could almost stand by themselves!! So after the campsite was ready....we took a wonderful, hot, long shower & cleaned up. Mmmmmm....fresh & clean. :-)

The ice in our cooler had just melted & we told 'Jill' (our little GPS unit) to find us the closest grocery store. She took us right to Trader Joe's - Woohoo!! OK, for all you non-Trader Joe's people out there...TJ's is a small grocery store with a ton of fabulous specialty items - cheeses & wines from all over, fresh fruits & veggies, & just plain 'yummy' items. We bought a few bottles of wine & pasta for dinner & then set out looking for block ice. Our cooler is one of those 6 day coolers - which just means the insulation has a higher rating and will keep things cool for 6 days. We put 1 block of ice in the cooler before we left on Saturday and it lasted until today. Saturday - Thursday...not bad! But finding block ice in Monterey proved to be a bit of a chore. Three stores later...success!

Back at the campsite the sun went down & the fog rolled in and it was COLD!! The temps have been in the 50's during the day & down in the 40's at night...brrr!! Why the heck do we keep heading NORTH?!? Michael is a polar bear & the cold doesn't bother him...me...I'm another story. Luckily I brought lots to layer, a hat, scarf, & lots of jackets. I didn't bring enough leg layers though and that's on the shopping list for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we're headed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, walking around Cannery Row, & some odds & ends shopping.

More to follow...
Rene
{GMST}36|36.015|N|121|54.738|W|Veteran's Memorial Park, Monterey, CA!|Monterey, CA{GEND}

Henry Miller Mem'l Library 6.4.08

Just a few miles North of Partington Cove is a place called Henry Miller Memorial Library which was advertised in the local paper as having FREE WI-FI!! So we jumped at the chance to catch up on our logs. The laptop battery was mostly dead, the camera battery was running low, & the mp3 player was completely dead. (Darned gadgets!!) So we took some time to play catchup & juice up!

Amazingly, my photos magically started uploading again so I edited all the blogs since we left with some photos and uploaded the blogs. Hopefully at our next stop I'll have a chance to upload the videos.

The Henry Miller Memorial Library is not a memorial, not a library...and not even his house! It's a house of his friend, Emil White. Inside were lots of books, paintings, literature, letters, etc. Things to purchase and a library encouraging you to grab a book, hang out on the deck, enjoy a cup of coffee or tea, sit & listen to the music, or just do nothing! The library's grounds is used for a ton of events - book signings, concerts, etc. While there, we met a fellow who had circumnavigated twice on sailboats! He shared his list of 'favorite' places to go & see.

We had managed to skip lunch and were both starving so we didn't check e-mails but got the coordinates for a couple of geocaches in the area. We found one of them, made it back & snarfed down a whole bag of pretzels while playing mexican train dominoes. Geez, life's tough!! :-)

Today we saw a salamander, a blue dragonfly, a fresh-water crawfish (that looked just like a lobster to me!), & a centipede. It was a great day...and we were bid goodbye with an awesome sunset. We're off to Monterey tomorrow!

More to follow...

Rene

{GMST}36|13.235|N|121|45.239|W|Henry Miller Memorial Library!|Henry Miller Memorial Library{GEND}

Partington Cove 6.4.08

We headed out this morning for a hike at Partington Cove, about 17 miles from our campsite. What a treat!! It was super windy and cold when we hit the turnoff and we considered bailing but figured after we got our heart pumping we'd warm up. We took off down a steep hill with switchbacks criss-crossing down the hill. At the bottom of the hill was a 'Y' in the road and we decided to go left first. This path took us across a cool bridge where we were immediately in the Redwoods.

A little further took us through an even cooler tunnel, which led us right to the ocean!

The water was a magnificent turquoise blue and because of the high winds, the waves were pounding around us! There was a kelp forest in the cove and we sat on the bench and watched the sea lions frolick in the ocean below us.

We came back up the trail & made a right which led us to a fresh-water stream that made it's way into the ocean.

It was really beautiful & a treat to listen to a bubbling brooke with one ear and the ocean with the other. The beach here had large stones & we searched for some fabled jade...but didn't find any. We made a little Feng Shui rock castle & then hit the trail for the all-uphill portion of the hike. Surprisingly, we weren't cold at all when we arrived at the top! Go figure...

More to follow...
Rene
{GMST}36|10.579|N|121|41.576|W|Partington Cove - A magnificent hike!|Partington Cove hike{GEND}

McWay Falls 6.3.08

Today is Tuesday the 3rd and we drove to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and hiked to McWay Falls. McWay Falls is California's only coastal waterfall. It's an 80' waterfall that falls directly into the sea. It was a beautiful place and we enjoyed the nice, easy hike to see the waterfall.



It was only about 1/4 mile hike so we decided to hike around the rest of the marked hikes in the park as well & enjoyed the day there. The falls were right on the ocean and the other hikes took us up into the tree covered forests.



We have run out of water so we headed South to a little town called Gorda which has a gas station (only $5.79/gal!), a restaurant, two gift stores, a bed & breakfast, & a general store. We purchased two gallons of water & two water bottles for a total of $14! We had a very nice chat with one of the merchants and he told us all about the town.

Back at the campsite, we played a few games of Mexican Train Dominoes & are relaxing in the sunshine when it's out. The fog keeps threatening to roll in and obscures the sun for a little bit, and is chased back out just as quickly.

There are lots of animals out & about here and we've enjoyed watching the bunnies, gophers, ground squirrels, & birds. They're definitely entertainment!!

Tomorrow we're headed to Partington Cove where there is a nice hike.

More to follow...
Rene
{GMST}36|09.541|N|121|45.239|W|A beautiful 80' coastal waterfall!|McWay Falls{GEND}

Kirk Creek Campground 6.2.08

We arrived at Kirk Creek campground, our first "First Come, First Served" campground that we didn't have reservations for and were in luck! They had just a few spots left and we snagged one of the coveted prize spots that sits right on the ocean bluff! On the right is another campsite, and the other is the hiking trail down to the ocean & the creek valley. It's an absolutely beautiful spot. We're probably 200ft above sea level. The ocean is crashing right below us and we were lulled to sleep by the waves & the occasional sea lion bark. After the crummy accommodations in Avila Beach...this nice spot was a welcome change! The only redeeming quality of Avila Beach was it's beautiful beach side town & nice merchants.

We took Hwy 1 from Avila here which is a great ride. The road snakes through the mountains and with all the hairpin turns & switchbacks...we meandered here in about 2 hours.
Kirk Creek is a U.S. Forest Service campground and is in the Big Sur Area. Big Sur is not a town, but a 90 mile stretch of road and we're approx 1/3 of the way up the coast. Once we arrived we had lunch & popped up the tent in record time! Then we took a small hike down along the creek to where it hits the ocean. It was beautiful & invigorating....especially when I looked down and spotted a !@#$% SNAKE!! It just happened to be crossing the path as I was walking down it and managed to scare the bejesus out of me. haha... The beach here is very rocky & has a large rock with a hole in it where the ocean comes right through...it's really spectacular.

We sat around the campfire last night watching the sun set. Michael cooked up a fabulous meal on his stove/grill combination from Coleman. It has one burner and one grill on the same unit. He likes it a lot and prevents us from having to buy/lug around charcoal.
We don't have cell service here (I am told people come here to 'get away from it all') so I won't be able to post until we hit Monterey. And I have managed to run the laptop battery totally down and our inverter can't handle the load....bummer. We'll have to get this part figured out!!
More to follow...
Rene
{GMST}35|59.343|N|121|29.733|W|Kirk Creek Campground in Big Sur|Big Sur - Kirk Creek{GEND}

Elephant Seals 6.2.08

About 4 miles North of Hearst Castle/San Simeon is a colony of Elephant Seals that have made it home. It's right on the side of the freeway and a well known spot so it's not hard to miss the busy parking lot! It was super cold - about 58 degrees and even more windy, but we decided to brave the elements to see & watch these goofy creatures. They sunned themselves, covered up with sand by flipping their fin, & meandered up & down to the ocean.

Elephant seals were nearly extinct 100 years ago and can easily weigh over 2 tons! They make an odd guttural sound that sounds to me like they're burping and lumber around just like the 80's dance move the 'inchworm'....(come on...you know that one...where you lay on your stomach & roll from head to foot!). It's quite a sight! It was fun to watch their expressions, see them interacting (or not!) with each other, & listening to them burp.

A must see/stop if you're heading North!

We took a video and as soon as we have a good internet...will get it uploaded!!

More to follow...
Rene

Labyrinth Meditation 6.1.08

For my birthday, we went out looking for 2 geocaches in the area - one was called 'Brothers' which we had looked for yesterday and couldn't find (but were bound & determined to find it!) and another was called 'Mother tree'. We looked again for the Brothers cache and couldn't find it so we headed down the 4 mile Bob Jones Memorial Bike Trail that winds around & ends up down at the beach. At Mother tree (called that because of the unusual shape and 'features' it boasts) I found the cache in seconds & we continued down the path to the intersection. We found a little high-end market & went inside looking for a bottle of wine. Luckily, they had a great selection & we ended up with a Santa Barbara wine called "Sextant"...fitting for us.



Anyway, on the way back to the campground, we walked right past a place called "Labyrinth Meditation Garden" and I remembered reading about a geocache in the park....but I didn't have the coordinates! Not to fear...a quick call to my friend Sue and we had them (Thanks Sue!!). We found the cache after looking for a while and then stopped to take time to admire the beautiful garden. It had a large labyrinth in the center & beautiful trees, flowers, & plants all around. If we hadn't had known & stopped to look for the geocache, we would have missed it. If you ever get the chance...it's a beautiful spot to sit & enjoy.



More to follow...
Rene
{GMST}35|11.218|N|120|42.708|W|Very cool park/garden in Avila Beach, CA!|Labyrinth Meditation{GEND}

Camping in Avila Beach 6.1.08

We made it!! Woohoo! After 6 long hard weeks of getting the electric boat rental business sold, shuffling stuff to & from storage, & getting prepared for a 2 month camping trip - we finally left today!!! We got out of Port Hueneme around 9:30 and made it to our campsite by about 12:30. The drive up was cool & foggy - in the 60's, but we made it to camp and got all setup and are now enjoying sitting in the sunshine and it's absolutely beautiful. The campsite is nothing to write home about, in fact it's quite a bit disappointing for $30 a night...but we are not complaining. We figure we'll make a best/worst campsite list and this one right now is in the worst category.

Today we spent a couple hours just unpacking & getting everything setup for tonight....it took us about 45 minutes to put up the tent & do most of the unpacking (we figure we'll time ourselves at the end and see how much easier it's getting!) and had a pop-up race to our neighbors who arrived at the same time and who beat us miserably...haha. We also went to search for a local geocache, but couldn't find it...bummer. The campsight was full by the end of the evening and we were even partied away with another group of kids celebrating a birthday. We had a very nice evening, ate dinner, & had a campfire. We had a bit of a camping emergency as we left the wire hanger for smores at home....but Michael saved the day by hiking all around the area finding suitable tree brances to make them with. Success! Smores was our treat for all the hard work we did earlier in the day!!

Today is my birthday (Happy Birthday to me!) and Michael made me a great breakfast and we rode the Avila Beach trolley into town and check out the town. It's a great little town with three piers. We walked around town, ate at a little restaurant called "Fat Cats" and then took the trolley back to the campsight. We're heading now to hike the Bob Jones bike trail and look for another geocache....I hope we'll get lucky this time! Tonight is a nice camp-cooked dinner and a great bottle of wine. The campsight was totally booked last night (19 spots) and is totally deserted right now so we hope it stays that way. I have lots of photos to post but am having picture posting issues again so I'll have to do them later! We'll spend tonight in Avila Beach and then head to Big Sur.

More to follow...from Big Sur!
Rene
{GMST}035|10.81|N|120|42.09|W|Camping at Avila Beach Hot Springs & Resort|Avila Beach, CA{GEND}

Many Thanks to Roberta 5.31.08

We just wanted to take a moment to thank Roberta for letting us stay with her the past 6 weeks. It's been so pleasant to have a place to call 'home' and she let us have the run of the place while we were there! Of course we tried to be proper house guests also - helping when we could & she had a honey-do list for Michael the past couple days! But we're so lucky to be able to stay with her.



We've been getting everything packed & ready for camping - lots of stuff!! Being away for 2 months, we had to think of nearly everything and then pack it in our jeep! But alas...somehow Michael made it happen! Here's some pics of the driveway before....and after!


More to follow...
Rene

Geocaching 5.28.08

OK....so if you have never heard of Geocaching...it's time you learn. We had just had a ball 'playing' this game. It's like treasure hunting with your GPS. There's a great website here...check it out!!

Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a GPS receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value. Today, well over 800,000 geocaches are registered on various websites devoted to the pastime. Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica.

And what's best about it is it's just plain FUN!! Who of you reading didn't like treasure hunting when you were a kid? If you said 'me'....well the Easter bunny would be so disappointed! And no, you can't use the excuse that you don't have a GPS unit to play. My mom & dad as well as a friend are both doing it without a GPS unit, they just do a bit more research on Google maps as it will even show you a picture of the round-about place it's hidden. OK and for you fuddy-duddies that say "you have too much time on your hands..." You're RIGHT!! And we're enjoying it as much as we can. ;-) wink, wink!

Did I mention how much FUN it is?? OK, so we have been 'playing' for about a week so far and have found 9 caches already! They range from somewhat easy (the hints are given well and we can find it quickly) to the really, really hard ones!

I'll show pics of 2 of our favorites so far...and describe our most favorite.

The first one was a 'Parking lot cache' and it was a 2 1/2 difficulty. We looked one day without success then came back another day after doing much more research and looked & looked. Finally, the cache owner 'caught' us and helped us out. It was disguised as a nail in the parking bumps! See the pics...

Another one that was eluding us was called "Thar She Blows". It was a cache disguised as a sprinkler head!!

And finally, our absolute favorite so far is called "Radio Central". It is a 3 part cache - you go to the 1st stage and it gives you the coordinates for the next one and so on. So the first stage was called a 'park and grab', which essentially means it's a fairly easy one to find. Inside was the coordinates to the next one and said to be sure to tune to FM 88.5 for some easy listening when we got there. We drove to the next one, tuned to 88.5 where there was an "Emergency Weather Announcement for the Hollywood Beach area. The weather was going to plummet today to 34 degrees with winds coming out of the west at 15.47 mph and tomorrow the weather would heat to a blazing 119 degrees with winds switching to the north at 35.75 mph. We should be able to pull out of the hard string of weather. We now return you to your regular programming". Too cute!! (FYI, 34 15.47 and 119 35.75 is our GPS coordinates here).

So we went to the final coordinates and looked, and looked, and looked! (We're new and haven't figured out all of the 'tricks' of the trade!). There was a hint on the instructions that said to be conspicuous when looking for the last one cause neighbors were watching, but knew about geocaching and were cool with it. We couldn't find it and left. But didn't get far before deciding not to let it beat us and went back. Finally, I noticed a bolt in the fence that was just out of place. I wiggled it, & pulled it out a bit and it was tied to a string! I pulled it hard and up from the back of the fence came the final cache even singing the 'chicken dance' song! haha... And as we headed back to the truck, Michael & I laughed knowing the neighbors were probably watching us as we did the 'chicken dance'. Fun, fun!!

OK, so after reading this...you MUST be interested! Beware though...it's infectious! It's just like Lay's potato chips....once you start, you just can't stop!

Here's what you do. Go to http://www.geocaching.com/. On the right hand side of the screen, enter your zip code and click Search. In the upper right hand side of the screen, you'll see a picture that says "Map It!". Click that. This will bring up a google map showing all of the geocaches in your general area! Click on the green geocache and it will show you a window with details. Click on the title of the geocache and it will give you the puzzle & hints to find it. To see the exact latitude/longitude, you must be signed up as a member...but it's free and they don't spam you.

Good luck to everyone! Drop me a line if you decide to do it, or have already tried it, I'd love to hear the stories!

More to follow...

Rene

{GMST}034|09.00|N|119|11.00|W|Port Hueneme, California|At Roberta's House getting ready for camping!{GEND}

Red Cross Volunteers 5.24.08

Since we have been back in town, we have signed up as volunteers for the American Red Cross and have completed several classes. We figure since we have free time, why not give back somehow?! My family have been volunteering for several years and both my Mom & Dad have gone on several national disasters to help. They shared their knowledge with us on how to get started and we began training.

We have attended the following classes so far...

- Red Cross Volunteer Orientation

- Intro to Disaster Services

- Mass Care Overview

- First Aid/CPR

- Ready, Set, Roll - ERV Driving

Whew!! We are trained up to be ERV drivers - Emergency Response Vehicle. The ERV is mainly used for mobile feeding but can also be used to deliver supplies to those in need. We have met some fabulous people & are looking forward to being able to volunteer!

More to follow...

Rene

King Street 5.18.08

Michael has been working this past month identifying properties in Texas that would fit well into our overall portfolio and has found one that he's incredibly excited about. It's a three unit property in Corpus Christi on King Street. We made an offer and it was accepted...we opened up escrow today. Woohoo!

He's been watching the Corpus Christi area for the past few years and feels it will be a good investment. There are a lot of positive things/growth in the area. We will be packing up all of our 'items' in storage and moving them to Texas later in the summer.

There are plenty of things to do before we close...inspections, etc. But we're excited about the property & are looking forward to closing the deal. Here's a pic of it.



I'm still trying to fight off this @#%& cold without much luck...

More to follow...
Rene

Family visit 5.17.08

Michael's Sister, Mom, & Neice/Nephew came up for a visit this weekend. We spent Saturday with them and had a great visit! We met them first thing Saturday morning and jumped on the train and headed up to Santa Barbara for the day. It was Gracie & Nolan's first time on the train and we had a fabulous trip. The weather was perfect - in the 90's! Once we were in SB we walked around the harbor, watched the sailboats leave for a race, walked up to the pier for lunch, took the harbor trolley around State street, played in the water for a while, and then took the train back to Ventura. It was great fun! Gracie & Nolan are just wonderful & we both enjoyed spending time with them...and of course with Jennifer & Muriel!

Once in Ventura, we went to dinner and then home. What a great day.

More to follow...

Rene

{GMST}034|25.33|N|119|42.51|W|Santa Barbara|Visiting with Family in Santa Barbara!{GEND}

Visiting & Fighting 5.16.08

We've spent the last couple weeks running errands, working on the reservations for camping, finalizing taxes, disolving the corporation, getting all of the items required for the camping trip, shoe shopping (still), and the best part...visiting with friends.


We have had a great time catching up with everyone here. We've been happily innundated in girl's nights out, dinners, lunches, & just visiting with all of our friends.


We were even treated to a sailing trip on Mother's day. Marc Coleman took us, Sandra & Dave, & John took out of Ventura Harbor on his boat out for a day of sailing. It was cold & overcast - only about 60 degrees...but was fabulous. Such a treat!


And fighting...the cold that is!! This week turned out to be much different than what was planned! I ended up with a terrible cold. I was feeling a bit run-down last week and was trying to take it easy but I think being out in the cold all day Sunday, it finally got me. I came down with a killer cold that just doesn't seem to be getting better. I'm exhausted - I've slept more the past week than I have in years! Luckily it's still just a head cold, but it's a killer one. I haven't left the house all week. We had grand plans this week and had to cancel every one of them.
I did manage to feel OK enough to do dinner with Leigh, Tara, Dorothy, & Dan Friday night though....we really miss them and it was great to visit with them.


More to follow...
Rene

Red Bull Air Races 5.4.08

We went down to San Diego for the Red Bull Air Races this weekend. It was a blast! It was crazy how these little planes zoomed around the air gates in under 2 minutes! (A picture of the hardest airgate is below)

They were having a special viewing of the planes & pilots Saturday morning before the show on Coronado Island and we got to see them all up close. Unfortunately, we had driven for 3 hours just to get there and they had no bathrooms on site...so we viewed all of the planes and them zoomed out of there to a rest stop!

We had a great hotel downtown called La Pensione that was in the Little Italy area of San Diego. There were wonderful Italian eateries and we splurged on some yummy gelato, tiramisu, & italian food.

We watched the show at the South Embarcadero just behind the Convention Center. The show was fantastic - so amazing. The acrobatic moves they were doing were incredible. The show was both Saturday & Sunday. Saturday the weather cooperated and was in the 90's. Sunday the fog & colder weather started to creep in and by the time the show ended, it was downright chilly! We had horrible traffic all the way home but made it safe & sound. Great weekend! If you ever have a chance to see these again....do it!! I'm having photo issues again, when I get it fixed I'll update with the photos.

More to follow...
Rene

{GMST}032|70.42|N|117|16.49|W|San Diego|Red Bull Air Races in San Diego{GEND}

Goin' Places..SOLD! 5.1.2008

We sold Goin' Places, the Electric boat rental business and it closed today. Woohoo! That's the last 'thing' that we had to deal with in California, other than recreation. So we're free! Michael will be working with the new owner teaching them the ropes & will still deal with little related items but we're FREE!! Woohoo!!

More to follow...
Rene

15 days back... 4.30.08

Well, we've been back in the states now for 15 days. How time flies!! And what in the world have we been up to you may ask?!

We've been busy planning our camping trip. This sounds so easy but those of you who have been camping lately have surely figured out it's not as easy as it sounds!! There are reservations to be made, itineraries to plan in each city, special places to map out (off the beaten path), people contacted, etc. We've been so busy making our reservations for campsites it's taken literally days of research, plotting & planning to get most of it done. And campsites have definately increased in price since the last time we camped! Campsites charging $25 or more per night are the average. That certainly shocked us!

But we have as many places booked as we can and will just have to take our chances on the first come, first served sites in the places we can't get reservations. The toughest place we've had issue with is Yosemite - we'll be there over the 4th of July and there are absolutely no reservations available. But there are several first come, first served campgrounds in and around the park and we'll just hope we get there early enough to score one of them! We're experiencing the same thing in San Francisco, Monterey, & Big Sur. So please keep your fingers crossed for us!

In the meantime, we've also been obtaining all of our camp gear. We have added a hitch & a small cargo rack onto the back of the Jeep because the storage space in the Jeep is pretty small, purchased our tent, camp stove, sleeping bags, etc. We have almost everything except for my hiking boots (I guess I have a weird shaped foot that doesn't like hiking boots!), a folding chair for me (I'm just picky on that one!), a lantern, & some odds & ends, but other than that, we're ready!! Check out our snazzy tent... (yes, we put it up in front of storage so we could see how easy & quick it was.)



We have enjoyed catching up with all of our friends as well. We've been invited to several dinners & have enjoyed running into those friends who didn't know we were back for the summer!

And after all that hard work shopping, seeing all of our old friends, & getting settled in our temporary house, we took last Friday off and went to Six Flags Magic Mountain with our friends Andy & Michelle and Andy's Dad & Daughter. We had a GREAT time!! We haven't been to Magic Mountain in a couple years. Magic Mountain is known for it's rollercoasters and we rode all of them that were open - Ninja, Batman, Scream, Riddler's Revenge (the world's tallest & fastest stand-up roller coaster), Goliath (with a 255 ft first drop that takes your breath away), & Tatsu (the world's tallest, fastest, & longest flying coaster).



We also rode the Buccaneer & took the Sky Tower to see the view of the park. This is a picture of the newest coaster - X2 & Viper - that were both not working when we were there.



This weekend we're headed to San Diego for the Red Bull Air Races. We've heard about them for a couple of years and just happened to catch wind of this one in time to get a room down there. We're looking forward to it! Check out this link for info on them.

And if you're reading this...I hope you will have noticed the Google map on the page that pinpoints our whereabouts. I'm still fixing some bugs on it and hope it's fully functional in the next couple days! But for now...just don't click on anything!! haha...

More to follow...
Rene

Hello California 4.15.08

We flew back to California on Tuesday, the 15th. Luckily, there were 3 other 'cruisers' going back at the same time and we shared a ride to the airport. Danni from Kinship was heading home for a couple weeks and Merry & BJ on S/V Willow. We met Merry & BJ the night before as we went to a restaruant/club called "Canuks" that has 'open mic night' on Monday & Fridays during season. There we spent our last evening in Mazatlan with our friends Barry & Pat, and some new folks that were there for open mic night. Merry & BJ have a website - check it out! - and plan to head home for a little while then jump on their bicycles & go over to Europe for a tour with friends. What fun!

Since we've been in California we've been getting settled (we're renting a room from a college friend of mine, Roberta), have been going through items in storage several times, Michael's been meeting with the buyer of the Electric Boat rental business, and spending money like crazy! haha.. We're in the market for our tent, sleeping bags, etc for our grand camping adventure and have been researching places to stop & see. It's great to have internet access 24/7 without having to walk up to the internet cafe for access! We'll certainly be spoiled again when we leave.

The plan is still to stay in Ventura until about June 1, then take off and do the big 'circle' camping trip through California. Visit friends in Nicaragua in late August & be back on the boat around early October.

I'll keep the site up during our camping trip as well so stay tuned and thanks for checking in on us!

Rene
{GMST}034|09.00|N|119|11.00|W|Back in CA|Back in CA...at Roberta's House!{GEND}

Adios Marina Mazatlan 4.14.08

We have enjoyed our stay here at Marina Mazatlan over the last couple months. We've met lots of wonderful people here - both locals and other boaters. We have stowed everything on the boat as well as we can & have made arrangements for her to be looked in on, the bottom cleaned, & the dinghy engine serviced while we're away. It's a wierd feeling leaving our 'home' and heading back to California - for vacation?! But we're confident in the people we have left to tend to Ahea Kali for the next 6 months.

One of our favorite people here is Elvira (seated) who runs the office (and really the marina) at Marina Mazatlan. She is a smart, beautiful, fun, & fabulous gal who has helped us on many occasions make phone calls, arrangements, given references, directions, etc. For one reason or another, we see or talk to her almost daily and our stay at Marina Mazatlan has been enhanced by her presence.

The weather gets super hot down here during the summer - so much that the locals don't even like to be here. There are lots of boats here...but very few people stay during the summer. Most head back to the States or stay in condos in the area. It's anticipated that only about 10 boaters (or so) will actually stay on their boat for the summer.

We had some other 'Ventura' locals come & see us when Michael was laid up recovering - John & Debbie Dye off of S/V Lovely Reta.

Michael & Debbie have known each other for several years as they were both in the Real Estate business. Debbie & John headed back to the States as she requires back surgery. We wish her the best of luck for a speedy recovery! Speaking of recovery...Michael's knee is doing better. He's getting around pretty good, trying not to abuse it too much and taking it as easy as he can. So we're headed back to California tomorrow - woohoo! Drop us a line if you get a chance!

Rene

{GMST}023|16.00|N|106|27.00|W|Leaving Marina Mazatlan| Marina Mazatlan{GEND}

The PLAN for Summer 4.11.08

After one full week of resting & recuperation for Michael, he had his stitches removed on Thursday. And for those of you who know Michael....yes, he stayed on the boat the entire time and no, I didn't have to tie him down. He 'doesn't want to go through this again' and followed the Dr's orders. The Dr told him to 'walk normally' now - which is difficult after hopping around the boat, but he seems to be doing OK.

We're in our last 5 days before leaving the boat & heading back to the States. Whew! Time sure flies! I can't believe it's been almost 4 months. So much has happened, we've had so much time to relax & enjoy the trip so far...and so much more to do next season. And how do you pack for 6 months away from home and still be under the 50lb weight limit for bags on the airplane!? Especially when we'll be in such different climates! I'm sure we'll be purchasing things while we're there.

This summer we have a lot planned already. We're flying back to California on April 15th. Michael will spend a couple weeks (at least) working with the new buyer of the Electric Boat business. We will stay in California until the end of May. Then we'll take off on a long camping/hiking trip of California/Oregon/Nevada/Arizona that should take us about 2 1/2 months or so. We have many stops planned and will certainly come up with more places when we come up with the 'final' plan. So far, here's the rough draft plan...take off in early June, head up Highway 1 North up beyond the Redwoods, then possibly continue up to Crater Lake in Oregon, then down to Yosemite, then over to Las Vegas, then to the Grand Canyon, then back to San Diego and back up to Ventura. We have all of June, July, & only the first week or so of August. I'd like to spend a week (at least) in San Francisco, the Redwoods, Yosemite, & the Grand Canyon, and the rest of the time in between. There are obviously many, many places & things we want to see & do but here are a few of our 'hot spots'...

- Santa Maria - the wineries of the movie 'Sideways'
- Big Sur - Redwood forests
- Pacific Grove - Point Pinos Lighthouse
- Santa Cruz - Mystery spot, boardwalk, surfing museum, Mark Abbott lighthouse
- Fairfield - Jelly Belly Factory tour, Anheuser Busch tour
- Visit a working lumber mill (although I haven't found one yet...)
- Loleta - Loleta cheese factory
- Madonna Inn
- Hoover Dam/Las Vegas
- White water rafting in the Grand Canyon
- Monterey Peninsula
- Monterey Aquarium
- Yosemite - most of the waterfalls & the A
- San Francisco lots of things... Ride the cable cars, Lombard street, visit the Ritz Carlton & Fairmont hotels, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge & Park, Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, Chinatown, Telegraph Hill, Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood, Alta Vista Park, Muir Woods, Lincoln Street, etc.
- Berkeley - the campus and also the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker
- Saucilito
- Death Valley
- LaBrea Tar Pits in LA

Of course, our list will grow or change but it's a start.

After our circle of California, we'll pack up all of our items in storage and hit the road out to Texas. Michael has been looking at properties in the Corpus Cristie area and we will purchase one. If time allows, we'll go up to see my folks in Kansas before heading to Nicaragua to spend 3 weeks with our friends Scott & Liz. That trip is looking to be late August/early September or so (we haven't purchased tickets yet). When we return to Texas if we weren't able to spend time with my folks, we'll do so after the Nicaragua trip. Finally, we'll drive back down to Mazatlan from Texas, making several stops & checking out Copper Canyon on our trip back home to the boat! We anticipate being back in Mazatlan in early October, opening the boat back up and heading South! Woohoo! Funny, we left to 'sail the world...' and so far we've only spent 4 months on the boat, and are now headed back to the States for 6 months. But oh the adventures we'll have in the next 6 months!

We don't have a camper/RV - just a jeep & a tent (which we will replace). So it'll be fun! Luckily while we're in Ventura, we'll be staying with friends for the 6 weeks we're in town. Then it's time to pack it up.

Do you have any suggestions on where we should go/see/do while on our trip? Drop us a line! We'd love to hear of any hot spots that you have found. Off the beaten path & on...it doesn't matter to us.

So until Tuesday we are packing up the boat & moving down our 'summer packing list'. We're doing really well so far - have only the big things still to go. We have moved into a condo as the boat has gotten REAL small suddenly as everything is out, open, stacked, covered & everywhere. There's no more sitting room, the bed is tore apart, the heads are cleaned & ready for summer, etc. It's a lot of hard work in the 81 degree/70% humidity weather. We don't have internet at the condo....but we do have a bathtub, a refrigerator we don't have to climb in to see what's there, LOTS of room, air conditioning, a TV and best of all....a pool! Wow! What a treat! Our plan is to bust butt for the next couple days and then attempt to enjoy the condo/pool on Monday before we leave for California on Tuesday. Cross your fingers for us...

More to follow...and we'll see many of you soon!!
Rene

Surgery 4.3.08

Michael had his knee surgery today. We were at the hospital at 7:20 and finally left around 2:30. It was a long morning!! He was taken into the pre-op room and given two 'margaritas' to calm him, then given a spinal block anesthia. They found that the meniscus was not torn laterally, but was damaged on the outer rim. There were several other things fixed while he was in there – lots of scar tissue & damage on the cartilage which was also scraped & cleaned up. He even watched the procedure while the Dr. narrated. Unfortunately I was not allowed in the operating room to watch too - bummer!! He was taken to his own room for recovery - with a beautiful setting just outside. The hospital itself was also beautiful and everyone was extremely helpful.

Our friends from Pacific Voyager, Pat & Barry, joined us on the trip – praying & keeping me company in the waiting room. Michael got off of the boat and Barry met him at the front of the boat and said "I'm all dressed up and have no where to go - I guess I'll go with you to the hospital!" What a treat! And he has had several people come over to find out how he’s doing since we made it onto the boat. It’s wonderful to have such warm & loving people in your lives! Thank you also for all of the kind thoughts & prayers – they certainly helped!!

Once he was out of surgery, he was taken to a private room to recover. We found a taxi back to the Marina and then jumped into a golf cart and taken to our dock, where the security guard helped Michael navigate the dock ramp. It’s not easy to get around a boat on one leg! But he’s managing just fine. So amazingly....the entire day set us back 19,000...Pesos. Or about $1,900 dollars. $12,000 for the surgeon, $3,000 for the anestheologist, $1.000 for the nurse, and $3,000 for the use of the hospital - operating room, private room, etc.

So he has 7 days of crutches & staying off of the knee. He’s on antibiotics, pain, & anti-inflammatory meds. Then we have a Dr. appointment next Thursday and will move into a condo and start packing the boat for hurricane season. Who said this cruising thing was easy!?! We’ve been doing the preliminary items that we can – packing all of the food in vacuum food storage bags, locking down or removing items from the deck, etc. Lots of things can’t be done until the very last minute or at least when we move off the boat! Like defrosting & cleaning the fridge & freezer, packing everything down below, opening everything up, etc. But it’ll be an action packed week!

More to follow…Rene

Moto Rally 3.31.08

Mazatlan was host to the 16th annual International motorcycle week this past week. They have a fantastic site with lots of pictures... http://www.motoclubmazatlan.com/english/motorcycle_week_event.htm


It ended today, yesterday being the big 'parade'. All week there have been events - races, acrobatics, judging for custom bikes, etc. There were an estimated 5,000 bikes in the parade all different - Harley's, Custom, Racing bikes, etc.










And what would a parade be if some of the riders were not dressed up?! The outfits ranged from the traditional leather clad, interesting hats, full on costumes, etc. There were whole families on bikes, scantily clad riders, and lots of pride in their bikes.










The artwork on many of the bikes was phenomenal.






They were even doing it on-site...





I was admiring a bike the previous day in front of a hotel with some big, burly biker dudes watching me closely to ensure I didn't get too close! The biggest, baddest one came over to me and motioned for me to get on! I asked in extremely broken spanish if he was kidding, I could get on?! Yep, he even helped me get on and pose for a picture.




Most riders were without helmets, even though there is a helmet law in Mexico and it's an amazing site to see a family of 4 on a motorcycle! (Which is not an uncommon sight....)





This little guy was zooming around during the pre-parade...and had a great lift during the parade.






The word got out among the boaters in the marina that this was going on and that some people were meeting at a restaurant along the route called "Las Bruchetas" (which translates to kabobs) which is also where we were planning to go as well. We went early & toured the grounds before they were all lined up in the streets, then went over to the start of the parade - it was a madhouse! Bikes everywhere, big & small, loud, really really loud, & quiet, a single rider & many more. The sun was just going down & we snapped as many photos & video as we could. Once the parade began, we walked over to Las Bruchetas for dinner where we found the place packed - including about 40 boaters! The owner was not ready for this big of a crowd & the service was extremely delayed but we had a wonderful time chatting with everyone. We had about 12 people at our table and ate in spurts - one or two would receive thier food at a time. It was fantastic. Of course there were some party poopers who made a big deal that the service was so delayed, but all in all, everyone enjoyed the evening. It's amazing to see the 'ugly American' side come out of people...a little humorous...and disappointing at the same time. It was night when the parade passed us again - about 7pm. After the parade they had bands playing & a huge party.







Next week we'll continue to work down our Hurricane summering list & getting ready for Michael's surgery. I'm sure it'll be an action packed week!

More to follow... Enjoy these additional photos - I guess you know which bikes I liked the best.









Rene

Summering List 3.30.08

As promised...here's our summer securing list.


Ahea Kali summer securing list


1 Remove & dispose of all food not in bags - pack food for
storage in the plastic tub
1 Pump holding tank - partially fill with fresh water &
enzyme treatment
1 Clean dodger, bimini, & MOB rings
1 Arrangements for work to be done while gone
q Fabrication or Repair
q Maintenance
1 Procurement List
q Two small fans for below
q Foil window coverings
q Fabric Softener (for laying up lines)
q Any drug/rodent stuff required – bay leaves, two gallons of bleach
q Take procurement list home for return parts
q Have originals & copies of key documents for parts reentry: Boat documentation & Import permit, rubber stamp for invoices, “Repair parts for vessel in transit”
1 Roll out sails, fresh water wash, prep for removal &
storage
1 Secure both chain pipes for water-tightness
1 Secure stern anchor chain pipe for water tightness
1 Remove all items from topside
q Speakers
q Seal hatch in main salon for leaks
1 Put sweaters, etc. into freezer ziplock bags
1 Remove running rigging, label & stow below
1 Put on winch covers & tie down
1 Put on helm cover & tie down
1 Take batteries out of everything – flashlights, MOB
lights, hand held radios, handheld GPS, Night binocs
1 Install extra fenders
1 Chaffing gear on all mooring lines
1 Clean primary bilge pump filter
1 Clean water maker filter
1 Pickle watermaker
1 Remove all aerosol cans & lighters
1 Remove lead for SSB antenna
1 Close all overboards – put instructions by main engine
thru hull & generator start switch
1 Grease water & diesel cap
1 Clean heads
1 Remove & Stow Dive Tanks
1 Have info available for ….
q All contact info
q Instructions for main engine, generator
q Have duplicate instructions on the boat with a sign-in log
q All keys & combinations
q Log for engine starts, cleanings, etc.
q Spare storm lines
q Get info from …. On how payments are made
q Get marina contact info – address, fax, phone, & e-mail


2 Fill Fuel Tanks & add treatment
2 Clean out refrigerator & freezer - prop doors securely
open
2 Clean & cover dinghy
2 Stow dodger, bimini, & MOB rings
2 Put out bug & rodent protection: bay leaves, cockroach
cookies, bleach buckets, mousetrap
2 Remove dorades & install dorade covers
2 Shut off propane at tanks & secure locker
2 Block blower outlet
2 Pack personal items – stage at Hotel
q Clothing
q Computers, chargers, cables
q Camera’s, chargers, cables, books
q Jewelry
q Prescription Meds
q Checkbooks, other financial stuff
q Passports, shot records, visas, TIP’s
q Address books
q Cell phones & chargers
q Return-to-boat procurement list
q Sunglasses
q MP3
q Copy of boat documentation, Original boat import permit.
2 Lock lazarettes – have keys labeled & available
2 Check dogs on all hatches & windows
2 Open cabinet doors, drawers, etc. for air flow
2 All panel circuits off (A/C feed to fans & dehumidifiers
from separate line)
2 Install reflective (aluminum foil) window shields up on
all outside ports/long windows
2 Prop up cushions on bunks for good air flow
2 Remove lead for VHF antenna
2 Unplug TV & DVD Player, computer, etc.
2 Have extra storm lines available below
2 Have all spare zincs on galley counter
2 Line up & start dehumidifier & fans
2 Disconnect & stow 50 amp & 30 amp power cables
2 Drain shower sump
2 Clean bilge
2 Remove, clean & stow surfboards, fishing gear, etc from
dinghy davit

3 Have dinghy engine serviced