svbeachhouse

Category: 2008 Blog

  • Diving in the Sea of Cortez….

    July 25 – Aug 21, 2008

    Scott & I stuck to Terry of trimaran Manta like glue all summer. With his
    years of experience diving these waters we didn\’t feel the need to stray any
    further than his wake. Often our group of diving multihulls included s/v
    Rhumb Line (Mick & Joyce), s/v The Heavenly Star (Monty), and s/v
    Rapscallion (Henry & JJ).

    We were generally out 5-10 days, coming back to a mooring at Puerto
    Escondido for 3-5 days then out again. I didn\’t need to stock up on mass
    quantities of food since I knew I\’d have shopping opportunities frequently.
    The in port days were convenient to work on boat projects & do other
    business from the internet café.

    There were just-ok dives, good dives and great dives but we always enjoy
    getting wet & blowing bubbles. Mick & Terry were often \”on the hunt\” with
    their spear guns. They also enjoyed zooming around under water on their
    motorized scooters. Seeing Joyce in tow holding onto Mick\’s legs was a
    comical sight. If the sea life was not that interesting you could count on
    Terry to entertain with underwater antics. I have always taken diving very
    seriously. This summer I learned I could play more & still be safe. My
    diving became more instinctual & relaxed.

    One dive I got a cramp in my toes that made it impossible to kick with that
    leg. I handed my fin to Scott & tried to stand on a rock & massage it &
    stretch it – everything I could think of. But the minute I tried to use
    muscles in that leg it cramped again. So we cut the dive short & I \”limped\”
    back to the surface. Of course it went away immediately upon getting in the
    dinghy. Cramps are weird that way.

    My goal was for 2 dives a day, but we moved around to many different islands
    & anchorages, so often only dove once per day. If we only dove once I made
    it a point to at least swim or snorkel. Being in the water was the only
    thing that made the heat bearable.

    Isla Ildefonso is known for hammerhead sharks this time of year. We did 2
    dives, but no luck at seeing sharks there or anywhere in the Sea of Cortez.

    After one successful hunt, \”Rhumb Line\” hosted a cabrilla \”fish fry\”. The
    idea of frying anything in the heat was beyond me. We are one of the few
    boats with air conditioning but I did not volunteer my galley. Mick & Joyce
    bravely endured the heat & mess. With her homemade tartar sauce it was
    absolutely delicious.

    We did host the \”chocolaties\” (clams) grill-fest. Terry taught us where to
    stick your knife in the sand & lift them out from hiding. The messy part was
    done in the cockpit: prying open the shells, scooping out the meat &
    chopping it. We used Henry\’s recipe of mixing the clams with salsa, garlic &
    parmesan cheese. Scott & I are not big on clams, but we were happily
    surprised – they were quite good. Of course just about anything with enough
    salsa, garlic & parmesan cheese becomes edible.

    Besides diving & eating, we watched a lot of DVDs. I found it too difficult
    to read in the heat, but watching a show or movie was good entertainment. We
    love our Sirius radio & are so glad the reception is good down here
    still. Scott
    finally got the still and video camera gear in the water, but mostly for
    getting used to it. Scott posted a few underwater photos in our Photo
    Gallery (**06, 07 & 08 – 2008 – Puerto Escondido & San Diego).
    * *

    Diving in \”The Sea\” with Terry is an experience we will never forget.

    Scott & Cindy

  • Road Trip: Driving to California

    July 16-24, 2008

    Cindy first met Clark as a physical therapy patient (See Photo Gallery – 06, 07 & 08 – 2008 – Puerto Escondido & San Diego) and later Scott became
    his dentist. We became good friends with shared loves of cycling, sailing,
    diving & joie de vivre. He has lived in Paris for many years. When our boat
    was being built in France, we enjoyed seeing Clark & partner Vincent on
    every trip. They helped us \”move in\” once we launched, unpacking items we\’d
    shipped via container to set up house.

    I was very sad to miss their civil union ceremony in Paris (known their as a
    \”pax\”), so we were thrilled to receive the invitation to their wedding in
    San Diego. Seeing the shopping opportunity, Scott was easily persuaded to
    join me in the epic journey to drive up the Baja to attend the wedding. We
    had a pretty long list of boat items that were impossible to fly in, but
    easily driven across the border. At the top of our transport list was
    synthetic transmission & engine oil that is not available in Mexico. You can
    get it in Hawaii, New Zealand and Austrailia, but for some odd reason not
    down here.

    So we rented a car in Loreto (2/3rds of the way down the inside of the Baja
    California Peninsula) & set off. It was a 600 mile journey on a very windy
    road. There were construction & dirt sections that made progress slow. Scott
    & I took 2-3 hour shifts driving, listened to our IPOD & enjoyed a full
    array of junk food. We really got to see the Baja terrain. Which is mostly
    rocks and cactus. But a wide variety of cacti, very interesting & beautiful
    in a desert-y way. The drive was interrupted by 6 military checkpoints.
    Later we found out that they get money from the US for every car that is
    inspected. So every single car was inspected at every single check point. It
    ranged from a brief glance to actually opening bags. They almost all tapped
    on the door & trunk walls to listen if it was packed with drugs. We were
    polite & so were the soldiers, but it was a tiring process and added about
    an hour and a half to the trip.

    Entering Ensenada felt like we were almost home, since we had spent so many
    weekends there after our boat was delivered from Mallorca in June 2004.
    Scott had taken a long shift on the roughest part of the road & was
    absolutely exhausted, so I took the final leg: crossing the border. It is
    tricky finding your way through Tijuana to the border and I hesitated at an
    intersection whether to turn right or go straight. Immediately a motorcycle
    cop flashed me to pull over. He saw the fear in my eyes & assured me \”No
    moleste\”, for which I was immensely grateful. I explained we were uncertain
    of our way & he kindly directed us. We had a previous \”mordida\” (which is
    Spanish for \”the little death\” and is a small bribe) experience with La Paz
    police so were relieved for this better encounter.

    The northbound Mexico-US border crossing is always tedious. Despite it being
    after 9 pm on a Wednesday, the backed up traffic took over an hour. We were
    soooooo happy to finally pull up to our favorite Doubletree hotel & stumble
    into bed. Door to door it was 17 hours.

    No time to be wasted, we shopped with a vengeance all day Thursday: West
    Marine, Kragen, Home Depot, Staples, Bed, Bath & Beyond. We enjoyed a lunch
    break with sailing buddy Ty Hokansen who lives in & works in San Diego. We
    ran into several contractors that had worked on *Beach House* during our 6
    weeks stay at the end of 2007. It was fun to be back in one of our many
    \”old neighborhoods\”.

    Friday was more shopping including upgrading some of our dive & dinghy gear
    suggested by Terry Kennedy, our Sea of Cortez diving mentor. We were looking
    forward to seeing the happy grooms to be at a pre-wedding dinner that
    evening when Scott got a phone call. It was his half brother Courtney
    telling him that their father, John Rush, was declining rapidly with
    melanoma. Please consider how serendipitous this was: When we are out of
    the US we do not use our cell phones & would not have gotten that voicemail
    for weeks or months. Courtney had no idea that we were in San Diego. He was
    just trying to contact Scott on the only number he knew. The timing was
    fortuitous. Although we had not intended to drive the additional 2+ hrs to
    Los Angeles we immediately agreed that Scott should go see John on Sunday
    after the wedding. Scott was no longer in a celebratory mood, so I attended
    the dinner with Clark & Vincent by myself. It was great to see them & I
    really enjoyed getting to know their intimate family & friends.

    A bit more shopping was done before the Saturday evening wedding & then we
    spiffed up & headed to the Hotel del Coronado. It was a perfect setting for
    this beautiful event. Wouldn\’t ya know we drove 600 miles for Mexican food?!
    The ceremony was touching, the grooms gorgeous and a good time was had by
    all. I was honored to sign their marriage certificate as the witness and be
    seated next to Clark for dinner. A highlight moment was the toast given by
    Clark\’s mother, with her charming Oklahoma accent: \”Vincent, I welcome you
    into the family & I love you. No woman was ever good enough for my son!\”

    We had so much boat booty piled in our hotel room that we decided to drive
    up & back to LA in one day & just leave our stuff there. We had a quick hug
    with Christine (Scott\’s former office manager) off a Lawndale exit to
    retrieve our mailbox key. We visited Scott\’s first former office manager,
    Marion, in the Fairfax district. We emptied our Marina del Rey mailbox, then
    headed \”over the hill\” to the San Fernando valley.

    I had called my friend Linda\’s husband on his cell to make sure they would
    be home so I could surprise her. It was a success! Martin did not spill the
    beans & Linda was thrilled by my unexpected visit. Scott went alone to see
    his birth father. He got more acquainted with 3 of his 4 half siblings. A
    few weeks later, when he got the news that John passed away, he was very
    glad to have been able to see him that one last time.

    Skye met us for Thai food, it is always a treat to see our beautiful
    daughter. Our last stop heading south was at Mike & Beth Lonnes\’ home in
    Redondo Beach. Mike is our main shipping & receiving address when we order
    boat stuff. He does a ton of finding, shopping & accumulating for us.
    Without the incredible assistance of Mike, we\’d be in a world of hurt.

    We loaded 250 lbs of batteries into the trunk and the car. Knowing how much
    we already had piled up back at the hotel room in San Diego, I was wishing
    we had rented a bigger car…

    Monday was our last day to do business in San Diego. We picked up special
    order parts from Kragen and Kaman Bearing. We picked up my rush order
    repaired dry suit from DUI. We had a final dinner with Ty & got to pet his
    still-a-puppy yellow lab Chase.

    Packing the car brought out Scott\’s origami skills. We first removed all
    packing materials. Then stuff was crammed in every imaginable nook & cranny.
    We would drive down to Baja in a low rider.

    With no line at the southbound border crossing & no checking of cars for
    drugs, we made it back to Puerto Escondido on Tuesday in 15 hours. Our
    faithful friend Terry was there to shuttle us by dinghy to *Beach House. *It
    was the first time we left her unattended on a mooring and were relieved to
    hear the weather had been calm and all was ship shape.

    The next day, Terry (s/v Manta) & Mick (s/v Rhumb Line)
    *heroically*assisted Scott with installing the 12 volt batteries. And
    also helped us
    shuttle via dinghy load after load of our boat booty to empty the car. Once
    stuff was onboard, stowing it properly was another massive job & spawned
    many repairs, upgrades & installations. We took advantage of our last day
    with the rental car to grocery shop in Loreto and to pick up our FM-3\’s
    (temporary resisdent Visas).

    It was a worthwhile trip with benefits on many levels. Thank you Clark &
    Vincent for providing the inspiration.

    Scott & Cindy

  • Puerto Escondido – Part 2……

    June 28 – July 15, 2008

    There are 2 times I don\’t write much for the website: When we are too busy
    having fun. And when we are too busy with boat projects. The above stretch
    of time was happily spent diving diving diving.

    We followed Terry Kennedy everywhere & dove with him almost daily. When we
    weren\’t diving, washing dive gear or pumping tanks with the compressor for
    the next days dive, we were swapping stories, sharing food & cocktails,
    watching DVDs and thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

    What is so great about the Sea of Cortez is that there are so many islands &
    dive sites within a short distance of our \”home base\” Puerto Escondido. We
    didn\’t mind the 90+ degree weather every day since we were submerged in 80
    degree or colder water for a couple of hours per day. Affectionately termed
    \”Therapeutic Hypothermia\” – the longer we spent in under body temperature
    water, the better we tolerated the heat & the more tired we were at night. The
    topside terrain is stark: very little vegetation, rocky mountains &
    scattered cactus. Underwater there was a great variety & abundance of fish
    life, eels, sting rays, lobsters & some hard coral. We were so privileged to
    have Terry be our mostly private tour guide of his underwater playground. We
    had, as he loved to say: \”all the fun we could stand\”.

    We will be posting more soon….

    Scott & Cindy

  • Puerto Escondido……Part 1

    2008 June 10-26

    Dear F&F,
    Puerto Escondido is 18 miles south of Loreto, Mexico. In Spanish this means
    \”hidden port\”. There are no docks only moorings, which are permanent anchors
    that you tie your boat to. This system is common in Catalina\’s main harbors
    so we are used to it. We had heard that when originally installed 2 years
    ago, the moorings here were not made properly. The lines were inadequately
    small & the chains to the cement anchor block were not secure. In strong
    winds, boats had broken loose of these poorly made
    moorings and were damaged. Since then they have upgraded the mooring
    installation and are now safe. But many boaters are still leery due to
    stories of problems in the past, so it is not very busy. Many cruisers do
    not stay onboard in Mexico during the summer hurricane season. They will
    dock their boat somewhere they consider safe & then go \”home\” if they have
    another home. Those of us who are full time (not seasonal) cruisers move to
    a non-hurricane region, like where we are now. Later in the season,
    we will have to keep a close watch on potential hurricanes that can come up
    into the \”Sea of Cortez\”. We had heard the diving was great in the Sea of
    Cortez which is the inside of the Baja Peninsula. So despite the warnings of
    it being hot hot hot all summer – here we are.

    I only endured 2 days of heat before I flew out of Loreto to visit my family
    in northern California. Scott stayed with Beach House. It had been 6 months
    since I was in California. This was the longest span of time to not see my
    Dad in many years. I was so happy that his dementia seemed just about the
    same. He still knew me right away. He can still walk pretty far, has good
    enough balance to step down into the ditch & enough flexibility to bend over
    & pick up trash which is one of his main activities.
    Otherwise he naps a lot & will randomly sing a gravelly rendition of
    \”Amazing Grace\”. He remembered that I am the daughter from LA. He is
    affectionate, polite, enjoys nature, lives in the moment and never
    complains. We should all be like him. He will be 92 in November. I am
    wrecked each time I say goodbye, never knowing if this is our last time
    together.

    My sister Alberta & brother-in-law David, in wonderful Sebastopol, provide a
    lovely \”home away from boat\” for me. I also got to see Karen & Ron in Santa
    Rosa. Karen & I have been friends since 5th grade. I met Ella her first day
    as a physical therapist about 20 yrs ago & always enjoy her & Leo\’s
    treehouse-like home in the Guerneville Redwoods right on the Russian River.
    I was very happy to finally have Karen & Ella meet each other, something
    we\’d never been able to manage in my past trips. They both
    agree that the fact that they still work can be so inconvenient!

    As great as it was to see my friends & family it was really hard for me to
    be apart from Scott. Most boating couples are extremely close or divorced.
    He called me every night from the satellite phone, which besides being
    expensive, he was running out of our pre-paid minutes over a weekend, so not
    able to buy more. Conversations were brief & not very satisfying. When he
    took our laptop computer to the harbor office, he could hear me on Skype
    (internet phone) fine, but I could not hear him well enough
    to have a functional conversation. Very frustrating. After being together
    24/7 for the past 9 months I was having serious deprivation syndrome. Each
    day was full so I tried to just stay in the moment, enjoying the people I
    was with, knowing I would not see them again for a very long time. But still
    it was hard. I am very glad that on our next trips we will be together.

    Besides wanting to visit family & friends, the main purpose of my trip was
    to bring a ton of boat stuff back with me. We had heard everyone gets the
    \”green light\” coming through Loreto Customs & Immigration. (A Red Light
    means that they go through all your belongings). There are so many things
    that we need & have no means of getting here. With our residence visas we
    are entitled to bring a certain amount of stuff for our \”residence\”.
    Blessedly, the officials had no more interest in seeing my stuff
    than I had in showing it to them. That was a relief!

    Skye was kind enough to let me borrow her car to do my errands while she was
    at work. This ensured we saw each other twice a day which was great. She is
    a key member of our shore side support team and would join us onboard more
    often if she didn\’t have to work so much. We are extremely proud of her hard
    work & ambition in the business side of the entertainment industry. Bravely
    following in her grandparents footsteps (Art who worked at Warner Bros TV
    and Anne Nelson, still at CBS TV).

    Scott\’s Aunt Barbara in the valley & PT friend Lori in Santa Monica provided
    my LA \”homes away from boat\”. More key members of the Beach House support
    staff. If you live in the LA area & didn\’t know I was in town, please
    forgive me. It was absolutely impossible to see everyone I would have like
    to in the short time I was there. Skye kept reminding me: \”Your life is a
    vacation. This is a business trip.\” She was absolutely right.

    Our sailor friend Mike was kind enough to agree to let us ship stuff we
    needed to his business mailbox. He had been emailing us that it was
    accumulating to quite a large pile of boxes. Despite his warning I was still
    stunned when he met me in the parking lot of our LA storage unit. The back
    of his SUV was FILLED bottom to top, front to back with boxes. I was driving
    Skye\’s Honda Accord. It was obvious there was no way I was going to be able
    to fit all that stuff into her car. So we opened everything
    & sorted what I would take now & what I could leave in storage for the next
    trip. After an hour I had a Honda full of boat stuff & Mike had a truck full
    of boxes & packing materials. Thank you Mike! We appreciate your generous
    help. And thank you Beth (Mike\’s wife), for putting up with all our crap in
    your garage…

    A few random examples of the goodies I came back with:
    *Spare fin straps – Scott had broke one & we only had 1 spare. Yes he has a
    spare pair of fins, but his primary ones are better.
    *Software – a program called Lightroom to help with photo editing. Now that
    we are diving more he will be getting more into underwater photography which
    is his passion.
    *Spare O-rings for underwater camera & video with accompanying grease. Not
    good to let your O-rings dry out.
    *1 ft x 2 ft plastic hatch – fits under the helm, ours got a crack & leaks
    in water.
    *Rebuild kit for our shower sump pump. Our shower drain is below the
    waterline of the boat, so the water has to be pumped up & out. Fortunately
    this arrived just in time as the rubber parts broke.
    *Spare control panel for our watermakers.
    *Spare refrigerator door handle. Keep in mind that this boat is only 4 years
    old. We have already replaced the door handle TWICE! You could live in a
    house with 10 kids for 20 years & never break a refrigerator door handle. It
    is bizarre how expensive, yet unreliable boat stuff is.
    *50 ft of stereo speaker wire & small speakers so we can get music in our
    bedroom through the 12 volt stereo & not have to run the inverter which
    takes more battery power.
    *20 ft of coated cable to use with our dinghy anchor. Line can get chafed
    through on rocks or coral. This will be stronger.
    *Back-up Skype headset – our other back up was doinky & broke. If our
    primary one breaks we would be out of luck without a spare.
    *Current HAM radio licenses. Scott renewed ours online & they were mailed to
    Tracy who runs our mail service in Washington & pays our bills. She sent
    them to LA friend Mike who held everything for my arrival.
    *Cleaning product for the vinyl headliner which is everywhere except the
    bathrooms. The vinyl is susceptible to sun damage even though interior.
    *Cleaner & polisher (helps get rid of small scratches) for the plastic
    windows. We can\’t use windex, it ruins the finish.
    *Coolmax t-shirts & tanks for both of us. Cotton holds moisture. Coolmax is
    much better in hot climate. We will give away most of our cotton stuff.
    *Favorite type of sunscreen – Neutrogena dry touch for sensitive skin.
    *Assorted DVDs
    *2 bottom & 1 top king size sheet. I am a thrasher & had ripped up 1 bottom
    sheet. The first night I returned I shredded the other old bottom sheet!
    *A year supply of my contact lenses, after I saw my eye doctor & he said he
    thinks my prescription will be stable for at least that long.
    *Seasick meds, valium, sleep meds (helps keep boating fun).
    *Malaria meds (won\’t need these until further afield, but have to start
    stocking up). My pharmacists said I\’m his favorite customer. Not sure, but
    it may have something to do with me spending $500 every time I see him…
    *Assorted bug sprays from very toxic DEET (which my dermatologist said to
    only use on clothing, not skin) to Avon Skin So Soft body oil which has
    citronella.
    *Biggest single item: our HAM radio which we had shipped from Mazatlan via
    DHL ($150 postage & insurance) to Washington state for repair after it
    abruptly stopped working for no known reason. We had the company that fixed
    it send it to our friend Shea in San Diego for bench testing. Shea sent it
    to friend Mike in LA who gave it to me. Its 3 components filled up half of a
    mid-size suitcase & weighed 20 lbs. Without the radio onboard for 2 months
    we had no free way to send & receive email. We had to
    use the Iridium satellite phone, using pre-paid minutes ($1.25/min). The HAM
    radio is also our free source of weather charts from NOAA (National Oceanic
    and Atmospheric Association) & the way we check in to various boating
    networks. We are very happy to have it back & only pray it doesn\’t go on the
    fritz again. Not an item that we carry a spare of.

    I was prepared to pay the overweight baggage charge at LAX. Skye dropped me
    plenty early and the sweet baggage ladies didn\’t want to take my money. They
    kept shooing me away to the side so I could re-shuffle the weight of my bags
    to get under the 50 lb limit. It took me 3 tries! It was annoying, but
    became a challenge. My carry on weighed more than a large dog, but no one
    was weighing that, so I just rolled it on. And was oh so happy to let them
    check it at the jetway since the plane was a little
    tiny 1 seater-aisle-2 seater. No room in the overhead bins or under seat
    areas for more than a daypack or large purse. Yippee! I was onboard, soon to
    see Scott & had all precious cargo – success!

    While I was away, Scott met & dove with Terry of \”Manta\”. Terry has been
    living on his trimaran & diving out of this area for 27 years! Former Navy
    Seal, very sweet, fun guy, likes to catch seafood. There were 4 lobsters in
    the freezer when I got home – yum! We are excited to tag along with Terry
    this summer, learning all the cool dive sites. Not many cruisers are scuba
    divers. Terry is happy to meet like-minded folk. And we are so thrilled to
    have a personal tour guide of this area. We are using
    Puerto Escondido as \”home base\” and plan to take 1-2 week dive trips out to
    the many islands within 20 miles of here.

    Scott & I had a very happy reunion at the Loreto airport and I got the
    \”green light\”. Scott unpacked my bags like it was Christmas and was very
    proud of all I managed to schlep. The \”what we still need\” list began
    immediately. Which led to our decision to DRIVE to San Diego July 16. See
    the next Web Post…
    That\’s all for now. Don\’t forget, you can write us at whatever email
    addresses we have given you or always at this one…..beachhouse51@gmail.com
    KIT (keep in touch),
    Scott and Cindy…..Puerto Escondido, Mexico

  • Los Frailes to LA PAZ

    2008 May 10 – June 4
    Los Frailes to LA PAZ

    We enjoyed 4 scuba dives over 2 days at Los Frailes marine park. We wanted to stay longer but a local man in a panga told us where we were anchored was not allowed. According to our cruising guide books, both Rains & Cunningham, we were in an allowed anchorage & clearly our anchor was in sand & nowhere near the reef. But having no defense in foreign waters, we left under threat of being reported to the park authorities. It was very sad for us to leave this beautiful dive area sooner than intended.
    Jim & Linda of m/v \”Outward Bound\” a 47 foot Nordhaven consoled us with happy hour aboard their lovely yacht.

    May 11 – Los Muertos
    \”Outward Bound\” was on the same path as we were so we buddy-boated for the next 2 days. It was a beautiful sunrise as we motored away from Los Frailes and we were entertained for an hour by the jumping rays. ***See photo gallery*** The reason for their behavior is a mystery. This article offers some interesting information on mobulas, which are small rays. We believe the species we were watching were \”Golden Cow Nose Rays\”.
    http://www.malbertphoto.com/mobulas1.html

    Seven hours later we were anchored in Los Muertos. The word muertos here refers \”to the dead-man mooring system\” used in the early 1900s for barges that loaded ore from nearby silver mines. Early guidebooks told of giant buried anchors called \”dead men\” or muertos.\” We read of this tale in The Rains Guide to Mexican Boating. We picked up Jim & Linda in our dinghy for an easy \”wet landing\” on the beach. There were many cars parked right on the beach with families enjoying the calm cove. We enjoyed
    dinner at \”The Giggling Marlin\” palapa restaurant. The chile rellenos were delicious.

    May 12 – La Paz
    We had a sunrise start again for another 7+ hour day motoring to La Paz. The closer we got to La Paz, the hotter it got. It was 100 degrees when we tied up to the fuel dock to take on diesel & check in with the harbor master. Marina Costa Baja is quite new and beautiful. They were very full. They found our reservation, but put us on a dock built for mega-yachts. The power outlet needed to be rewired to fit our power cord. The very friendly dock worker promised to be back in 1 hour. Two hours later
    I am literally having a meltdown. I am curled up, in the coolest part of the boat I can find, barely breathing, completely depressed & upset that we had to leave the wonderful idyllic anchorage of 2 nights ago and come to this godforsaken inferno. Scott, initially frustrated by my despair, soon came up with a brilliant solution: start the generator so we could turn on the air conditioner! At least I didn’t feel like I was going to die of heat stroke. We also put up the \”circus tent\”, our additional
    awning that helps shade the saloon & galley. Abelardo (the primary dock supervisor), did return eventually and we were able to use shore power instead of the generator. It was the first place we ran the air conditioning all night to sleep. Although the temperature did drop about 25 degrees overnight.

    This marina has a couple of features we have not seen elsewhere. 1) They have hard-wired internet connections. They give each boat a cable and modem. Our main laptop would not connect. This is the computer that is the primary for our onboard network. So we had only 1 computer connected to the internet. Sharing a computer is one of the compromises of boating I don’t like, but Scott & I manage to take turns. (Two and a half weeks later we made a Skype call to our network guru Craig Johnson and he
    had all 3 laptops on the internet in about 10 minutes!)
    2) Holding tank pump out stations on all docks. This is very convenient so it encourages all boats to use their holding tanks instead of flushing directly overboard. Sounds gross, but it is common all over the world. Consequently this marina has fish swimming in crystal clear water all along the docks. Fabulous.

    May 13 – Downtown La Paz
    We listened to the La Paz radio net in the morning and heard that yesterday was the first 100 degree day they’d had. Lucky us. Fortunately since then it has mostly been in the high 80s to low 90s.

    There are 2 other marinas closer to town. Costa Baja is the furthest away and the nicest. Scott knows I love to swim every day I can & they have a great pool, so here we stay. Every 2 hours there is a free shuttle for the 20 min ride to town. We were happy to see Marv & Ardy of s/v Odyssey, our prior buddy-boat as well as John & Sharon of s/v Sunbow that we met in Ensenada (fellow catamaran owners). We all went to a fun lunch spot called Mr. Azucar (Mister Sugar) and enjoyed their great food. While
    in town we visited the very well stocked English language bookstore and picked up the newest Sea of Cortez guide by Shawn Breeding and Heather Bansmer. We highly recommend it. We also bought \”Diving and Snorkeling the Sea of Cortez\” by Susan Speck and Bruce Williams which we hope to put to good use all summer.
    Right near Marina La Paz where our friends were docked, was the Carey Dive Shop. We decided to gain some local knowledge by diving with them & signed up for 3 tanks on May 15.

    May 14 – Clean Boat & m/v \”Speedbird\” Party
    Whenever we can hire someone to wash the boat we do. She is a big girl and after being \”at sea\” a few days she gets really crusted with salt. We greatly appreciate boat washers everywhere.

    We met Mary Rose and Peter of m/v \”Speedbird\”, another big & beautiful Nordhaven (57 ft) on the shuttle ride to town yesterday. They invited Jim, Linda, Scott & me for happy hour. There were actually several hours of happiness as we swapped stories and enjoyed the abundance of yummy food and beverages. We have a fondness for Nordhavens. Mary Rose and Peter are upsizing to a 64 footer, so Speedbird is for sale. Peter & Scott both looked a bit stunned when I suggested a direct swap of our boat for
    theirs, but no deal. That’s ok. We love our \”slow bird\” and with diesel prices going up and up, we hope she will use her own wings instead of just her engines.

    May 15 – Carey Divers
    There were 2 other divers, 2 snorkelers, the Captain, naturalist and dive instructor in the Carey panga. The intention was to motor 2 hrs to Isla Islotes to dive with the sea lions. One hour into the trip the panga engine quit. The radio didn’t reach the dive shop on shore, but they got through on a cell phone. While waiting for their 2nd panga to come fetch us, we got a tow into Isla Ballena & did a dive. It was great to visit all our fish friends again. Scott took his underwater camera on her maiden
    dive. He had the wide angle lens expecting sea lions, so it was frustrating to shoot small fish. But he learned a few things about his digital rig and is determined to learn more & get better results.

    All people & dive/snorkel gear & lunch transferred to the working panga, but we had to tow the broken one around. Consequently we didn’t get to the sea lion colony. The next 2 dives were on wreck. First m/v (\”motor vessel\”) Fang Ming. It was a 250 ft fishing vessel that was used to smuggle people from China to the U.S. Mexican officials intercepted it, impounded the boat & returned the people to China. After languishing for 10 yrs, they decided to sink it to create Mexicos’ first artificial reef.
    Many fish call Fang Ming home so it came to good use.

    The 2nd wreck was the Canonero 59. It was a retired Mexican naval vessel, 150 ft. Also a lovely artificial reef. Despite the air temperature in the high 80s, I was pretty cold going into the 3rd dive with water temps only 75. Scott & I joke about \”therapeutic hypothermia\”. It is wishful thinking that getting cold by being in the water will help you feel cooler for the rest of the day. This day it worked because we had the wind chill factor of the 25 mph, 2 hour panga ride back to our boat. We got
    great information about many sites from Matias and Mauro. Mauro is a passionate naturalist who shares our love of marine life. We look forward to diving with Carey Divers again later in the summer.

    May 16 – Our 15 Year Wedding Anniversary
    Scott asked me what I wanted to do on our special day. One of my favorite activities abroad is going grocery shopping. So we took the free shuttle from marina Costa Baja to Soriana which has just about everything. I stocked up and it took me 5 hrs to \”process\” & stow everything once we were back to the boat with the food. Processing involves things like: removing all cardboard packaging (can harbor cockroach eggs). Putting food into vacuum bags to stay dry & fresh (nuts, grains, tortillas). Taking
    the skin & bones off cooked chicken to fit more compact in the fridge & freezer. The highlight find of this shopping trip was Swiss chard. I ate all of it, not sharing one bite with Scott (whose favorite vegetables are peas & corn).

    May 18 to 25 – Carmina’s Visit
    Thelma Carmina Thompson Robles lived with Scott’s parents for 10 yrs when he went to college. She returned from Guatemala to care for Suzanne when she was ill at the end of her life. We had originally planned to be in Guatemala this year. When we decided to slow down & spend more time in Mexico, Carmina was sad not to see us for so long. So we flew her in to join us for a week in La Paz.

    We had 2 glorious days off the dock at Isla Partida. She is not a swimmer, but with a floatation belt, quick lesson on wearing a mask & breathing through a snorkel she was mesmerized by the sea life and we snorkeled together a long time. She did great. Scott went under the boat on scuba & replaced our zincs that protect our propellers, sail drives & fridge/freezer keel coolers. We had a lot of bees seeking fresh water after we rinsed off in the cockpit. They were only thirsty & did not sting us
    at all. A panga of fishermen came by also seeking fresh water & we filled their 6 gallon jug.

    There was a strong \”Corumel\” (sort of a Santa Ana type wind) that night & the anchorage was very rolly. We decided it was best to return to our marina in La Paz because the prediction was for 3 more days of very strong winds. We went with the wind to visit Isla Islotes, the sea lion rookery we missed with Carey Divers. Then motored down the east side of the island which provided some protection from the wind. When we entered the San Lorenzo Channel the wind was in our face at 25-30 knots. Carmina
    earned her sea legs by chopping vegetables in the galley while the boat pounded into 2-3 foot wind chop. I kept checking that she did not cut off a finger, but she was a real trooper. (See our photo gallery for pictures of Camrinas’ stay with us).

    Docking the boat was a challenge as the wind was blowing us off the dock hard. Scott, the master docker, took the helm & 2 Costa Baja dock hands helped to finally tie us up safe. We enjoyed Carmina’s special dinner of Guatemalan enchiladas. They were a tasty & colorful combination of beets, peas, carrots, chicken and tomato sauce spiced with bay leaf & thyme.

    Carmina & I took the free shuttle to town one day. We swam & snorkeled in the beautiful pool another day. A good time was had by all. She couldn’t stop thanking us for her \”millionary weekend\”. We are looking forward to visiting her in Guatemala early next year.

    May 26 to June 4 – Adventures in Escrow
    We were looking forward to getting off the dock & heading north up the Sea of Cortez for more diving. We got a call from the real estate agent that we had another very low offer on Scott’s parents Palm Desert home. We had fallen out of escrow once and had super low offers twice, so were pretty much expecting to hold it for the summer season & re-list in the winter.

    It took 5 days, but buyer & seller managed to bridge the wide gap with a generous concession by our agent. Since we had already been through a \”dry run\” of escrow abroad, the stack of documents we had to print, sign, scan & email back as PDF attachments were familiar to us. We couldn’t have been in a better place to do all this since marina Costa Baja is the only marina we have seen with hard-wired internet modem & cable. When we tried to do this from the Grand Bay marina in Barra de Navidad it was
    excruciatingly slow and tedious. Now we just zipped right along. Our only snag was getting an \”Apostille\” from a Mexican notary for the grant deed.

    After 2 trips and $400 to a very nice Mexican notary we received an official translation & \”Apostille\” of our Grant Deed in Spanish. Our escrow agent said Riverside County would not be amused.

    So after some research & phone calls we rented a car on June 4 & drove 3 hrs each way to Cabo San Lucas where Mike Houston saved us. He is the American Consular Agent and for $30 provided a federal notary to our document. . Another \”thank goodness\” that we were here, where we could do this sort of business & not in the back of beyond where a flight back to LA would have been required.

    The only bummer besides the long drive, was getting pulled over by the police on a bogus charge. We were accused of driving TOO SLOW & spending too much time in the passing lane. There were 3 cops in the police car and our rental car marked \”Dollar\” evidently broadcast \”get your mordida dollars here\”. Mordida literally means \”the little death\” which is the Mexican form of bribery. We did not have time to follow them back to the station to get an official ticket. We did not have adequate Spanish fluency
    to argue our way out of it. So for $80.00 US the cop let us go. And we made it to Cabo 1 hour before the consul office closed. Adventures in paradise. We are happy to report that this is only the 2nd incidence of this kind we have experienced in Mexico in 6 months. We understand that it is standard operating procedure in many 3rd world countries.

    Stand by for more updates. We are currently in Agua Verde, 25 miles south of Puerto Escondido where we get our next internet opportunity.

    Scott & Cindy s/v Beach House

  • Living the Dream……

    Dear F&F;,

    2008 May 9
    Los Frailes, Cabo Pulmo Marine Park

    Today was the day. We are so excited to report that we are \”living our dream\”. Many of you have written us: \”Congratulations on living your dream.\” To me, before today it felt more that I was in pursuit of, en route to but had not quite yet found my dream. Today the dream came to life. WE WENT SCUBA DIVING & SAW LOTS OF WONDERFUL THINGS!!!

    Yes I like sailing. Yes we have a very nice Beach House. Yes it is fun to take your whole house with you to another country. Be able to explore all day and come back to sleep in your own bed. The jungle cruises have been exciting. Hiking with nesting birds very special. Learning about the local culture & history fascinating. Participating in a dinghy raft-up potluck memorable.

    But 99% of my motivation to pursue this water-based lifestyle is that I love scuba diving. It is my passion. Every time I swim in a pool, I imagine myself surrounded by tropical fish. Every time I practice ujiyi breathing (one type of yoga breathing) I hear the same sound as when I breathe through my regulator underwater. Every time I see a bird soaring I know that sensation: weightless in water, free to move in all directions.

    Scott & I used to take these amazing live-aboard dive trips to exotic diving locations. We have been to Cozumel, British Virgin Islands, Solomon Islands, Palau, Yap and the Red Sea. We maximized each 10 day trip by diving 4-5 times a day. It was thriling, yet exhausting. For those of you who have seen Scott\’s pre-digital underwater slides, you know what an artist he is. We have a \”point & shoot\” team approach. I point & he shoots. Works great. He might sit in one spot focused on one creature for
    an hour & I swim circles around him. I do not have the patience or multi-tasking skills to be an underwater photographer myself, but I love to let him \”do his art\”.

    Each of these trips cost thousands of dollars. We always left wishing we could stay longer. How great would it be to be able to sit for a month in one spot & just dive 2 or 3 times a day & feel relaxed & have the benefit of time? So we did the only sensible thing: bought this boat in order to travel to the world\’s best diving.

    Every time we snorkeled previously in Mexico we could barely see our fins. This has been the main factor that has kept us from pulling out the dive gear before now. In the worst places, only inches of visibility. Awful, green or brown murky pea soup. Only at Isla Isabella could we begin to see that there were indeed tropical fish in Mexican waters. This gave us hope. We were thrilled that today we could see through the water about 20-40 feet. Divers call this visibility.

    The temperature was 75 degrees on the first very shallow dive (8-10 feet). 73 degrees for the second dive, down to 40 feet. On the first dive I was completely comfortable for 45 mins in my 5 mm thick neoprene wetsuit. On the second dive I started to feel cool at 20 mins, but was fine to continue another 15 mins. The air temperature is 89 degrees, so I got warm really quickly once out of the water. Spending time in water below body temperature is a great way to keep cool. Nothing like a little therapeutic
    hypothermia. We look forward to spending several hours a day in the water all summer here in the Sea of Cortez to help us manage the heat.

    We always wear our shark shields when we get in the water. For detailed info on this gizmo see the really neat video at http://www.sharkshield.com In brief, it is an antenna that we strap around our ankle that repels sharks. You can rest assured that we have no intention of being part of the food chain. In return, we do not each much fish. Scott does not care for it, so except for the occasional camarones (shrimp) we are nearly anti-fishetarians.

    We dove at Catalina & the other Channel Islands in the past several years, but we had not been warm water diving since January 2000. I remember this specifically because we went to Maui for my 40th birthday. The diving here reminded us quite a bit of diving in Hawaii. Hard coral on top of rocks form the reef, which is 4 miles long by a quarter of a mile wide.

    For the second dive we tied our line to a friendly local dive charter boat & got some good information about this area. Diego brought 2 divers from San Diego on the 1 hour panga ride from the beach town Buena Vista, north of here. Simon from England, works as divemaster, although Diego is also a divemaster, as well as an avid fisherman. This reef is a protected marine park, so no fishing or anchoring on the reef. But there is plenty of sport fishing (especially marlin) just outside the protected
    area. There were about 6 other panga dive boats out today over a large area. Our catamaran is anchored well away from the reef. We dove from our dinghy closer to the reef, careful to set our anchor where we could clearly see sand on the bottom and not harm any coral.

    Diving is such an experiential activity that trying to describe what we see feels terribly inadequate. But since many of you will never blow bubbles beneath the surface of the ocean and want to know why we love it so much, I will do my best to share the magic with you & pique your imagination. All are familiar friends. Here is a list of the various sizes, shapes & colors of marine life we saw today:

    Parrot fish: 2 feet long, bird-like beak, various shades of green & aqua (largest we have ever seen).
    Wrasse: face green & pink stripes, body blue & green striped (swims like its trying to constantly stay afloat).
    Tangs: yellow, blue
    Butterfly fish: silver, white, black stripes
    Trigger fish: dusky blue
    Damsel fish: dark blue
    Banded (or arc-eye) Hawk fish: 2-3 inches long, red & white plaid body
    Cow fish: 1-2 inches long, rectangular body, brown with white spots
    Barred spiny puffer fish: brown & yellow
    Nudibranchs: 1 inch, black with orange fringe
    Green moray eels: 5-6 feet long, 6 inches in diameter (saw 8 of them).
    Fiddler ray: buries in the sand, body 15 inches round with 1 ft tail. Light & dark patchy pattern
    Banded guitar fish: 4 ft long, brown, green & beige
    *You\’ve got to love the scientific name of this guitar fish – Zapteryx exasperata*
    And many, many more that we have not identified yet.

    Scott\’s underwater photos will do more justice to these beautiful creatures. Since we are just getting our onboard protocols going, today he did not take the camera. We are hoping this is just the kick off to a whole summer of fabulous diving & amazing photos in the Sea of Cortez.

    We will stay here at least one more day in this incredibly calm and beautiful place. Soon we head for La Paz.

    Scott and Cindy

  • MAZATLAN

    MAZATLAN
    2008 April 29 to May 7

    April 29 Tuesday
    We arrived tired but happy with the way the passage from Isla Isabella went. I already mentioned this elsewhere, but we were amazed & thrilled that we were able to hire a boat washer right after we docked at El Cid Marina. The 2 man team did a great job of removing the unwanted reminders of Isla Isabella’s bird population.

    We had been warned that El Cid was the most surgy of the docks, but also the only one with a hotel (and swimming pool) affiliated. Since I love to swim so much we always favor the marinas where I have pool access. At least until we get somewhere that has nice beaches. I would be happy to swim in the ocean. But so far all the beaches of Mexico that we’ve been too have pounding surf, strong currents & undertows. Pretty to look at, and ok for boogie boarding, but not really for comfortable swimming.

    April 30 Wednesday
    One of the main attractions for Scott in Mazatlan was having a consultation with Bob of Total Yachts to discuss our transmission oil (leaking in salt water) problem and potential solutions. Via email, a Yanmar mechanic in New Zealand had proposed a header tank be installed. This would keep positive pressure on the drive seals and prevent water from leaking in. Bob agreed this was a good idea, but has never installed one. He suggested Scott try to get more detailed info from the chap in New Zealand.
    Meanwhile, Bob inspected our transmission oil & said Scott has done a good job of staving off a serious problem by his frequent changing of the oil. He said we can wait and schedule the job in October when we return, no panic to do it now. That was a relief to hear.

    Scott’s former patients, Bev & Don Anderson, take their annual vacation at a time share in Mazatlan. They have been following us on our website & were eager to see us & the boat. We enjoyed having them & their friends, Diana and Leon Easley from Milwaulki, Oregon onboard.

    The pool is filled with guests enjoying the water until after 8 pm. No way to do laps or exercise. By the evening, the water is pretty murky from the days sunscreen & trash from the pool bar. I do swim but am not thrilled with the experience.

    May 1 Thursday – Labor Day Holiday in Mexico
    Norma that works at the laundry in the marina does side jobs of boat cleaning. She & I worked together for 4 hrs. Not quite Eva & Eloisa, but we did our best. It always feels so much better when the boat is clean inside & out.

    My favorite grocery store chain (so far) in Mexico is “Mega”. It is large & has just about everything you could want. Ok, no pine nuts, rice wine vinegar or fig newtons, but plenty of interesting food & nice produce to make me happy. Pineapple, papaya, mango, plums, tangerines, bananas. Broccoli, red & yellow peppers, jicama, carrots, onions. Yogurt, milk, cottage cheese, sour cream, eggs, and a couple types of queso (cheese).

    We didn’t really grasp that May 1 was a holiday where a lot of businesses are closed. It is “Mexican Labor Day”. Before grocery shopping we stopped at DHL to ship our non-transmitting SSB/Ham radio in for repair. We had to return the next day as they were closed.

    The surgiest marina in Mazatlan lived up to her reputation. We did the slam dance for 2 days. It was uncomfortable onboard, tricky getting on & off having to time your step from the ladder on or off till the gap was minimized. What was really unnerving was walking towards our dock with groceries in tow and seeing Beach House literally “dancing” in the slip. We had entirely enough of that. Scott pulled out our extra heavy long spare anchor lines & tied her up every which way. That stopped 90% of the
    motion. What a relief! Note to selves: tie the heck out of the boat when at a dock.

    May 2 Friday
    First order of business was going to DHL. Since we will likely be having our radio shipped back to us in Mexico, it was important to have all the proper documents showing that we were sending it for repair. We do not want to pay import duty when it is returned to us. Paperwork included copies of our passports, FM-3 visas (temporary resident status), boat importation document and a letter in Spanish from the El Cid Marina Dockmaster verifying that we are in their marina with our boat and that we were
    sending our radio in for repair. Everyone in the marina office & DHL were very thorough & helpful, because they are familiar with this situation.
    *Note: the day we departed the package was still sitting in Guadalajara. Sending & receiving things from the US is a lengthy & expensive process. One-way shipping of our 20 lb box to Washington State cost $145.00, $20.00 of which was insurance.

    After DHL we took a taxi into “Old Town”. We enjoyed a nice lunch on the plaza, visited the Catholic Cathedral (wedding party exiting) and most interesting was the Angela Peralta Opera House that was recently restored to its former glory. SEE PHOTO GALLERY (will post from La Paz).

    May 3 Saturday
    We walked 20 minutes to check out the other marinas. Elvira, Dockmaster at Marina Mazatlan was very friendly & showed us what slip our boat would be assigned when we return in September. It was good to see Carol & Dick from sailboat Tanoshii. They had been in the Grand Bay Hotel marina at the same time as us. Bob of Total Yachts was assessing their propeller problem, so we didn’t stay long. We met another cruising couple from sailing vessel Prism using their laptop at the upstairs cruisers lounge
    (to get internet access). Otherwise it was pretty quiet over there. Supposedly Mazatlan has not had a direct hit from a hurricane in 37 years, so quite a few boats stay year round. You could take the view that “they are due” for one. Or concur that it is a safe bet as a rarely struck area.

    After visiting Marina Mazatlan, we decided to have lunch at what everyone had told us was the nicest hotel in town. We had looked on the website for Pueblo Bonita at Emerald Bay and it indeed looked very lovely and luxurious. I enjoy being out at sea, in nature, and am not a big shopper. But I have a fondness for fancy hotels. And I like to stay at the nicest one I can find.

    The taxi pulled up to a big gated entry. The guard asked if we were guests of the hotel. We said no, we wanted to have lunch, see the hotel & make a reservation for October (when we haul out). “Do you have a reservation? You must have made a reservation 24 hrs in advance.” For lunch? “Yes, for lunch. We are a timeshare, it is private.” We would like to make a reservation. “But you don’t have a reservation, so no, you cannot have lunch.” After having our taxi move out of the driveway to allow other
    traffic in, many calls to his front desk & exasperation that we didn’t just go away, the guard reluctantly let us in & told us to go directly to reception.

    The grounds are as lovely as they looked on the website. The place was busy with a wedding party having their photo shoot, and a deep line at the front desk. A bouncer-looking guy met us and was quite distraught that we had been let in. No you cannot eat lunch, absolutely not. Since he could see we were not going to be that easily shooed away, he just waved us off to go look around on our own & then instructed us leave. “No you cannot make a reservation. They left at 1 pm”. It was about 3 pm.

    What made this ridiculous policy unbelievable to us, was that several people had told us that they will pay you cash (up to $200) to listen to their timeshare marketing schpiel! Oh well. We were just as happy not to have endured the marketing campaign and were really put off by their behavior. But the fact remains that it is THE NICEST hotel in Mazatlan and amazingly costs only $125/ night (plus taxes, plus fees) in October. After spending hot & sweaty days at the shipyard supervising the work that
    will be done, it will be a relief to return to the beautiful hotel.

    May 4 Sunday
    Mostly on email & Skype doing business. We ordered things we need to have shipped for me to pick up when in LA. We bemoaned the state of the real estate market with our agent, Greg Manns of Coldwell Banker. We reviewed common area bills due with beach neighbor Celeste. The property suffered quite a bit of storm damage in February. Friends Linda & Martin are handling things there for us, for which we are incredibly grateful.

    May 5 Monday
    Cinco de Mayo is not a big holiday in Mexico. We asked the gals at the hotel front desk what was going on in town, or at the hotel. They shrugged & said “nada”. Banks were open & it appeared to be business as usual all over town. May 1-4 had been a long weekend for many. Our hotel had 2 weddings on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. The weather is ideal.

    We took a taxi to the lighthouse. The sign claims it is the highest manned lighthouse in the world. We aren’t so sure about that statistic, but we enjoyed the hike to the top. The view was great & we happened to meet 3 US Navy men up there. Bart, Allen & Rob came down on USS Antietum from the base in San Diego. (photos to be posted in La Paz).

    Mazatlan’s main harbor anchorage is free & well protected, but unfortunately down-wind of a super stinky sewage treatment plant; very unfortunate. Past the anchorage is the commercial & industrial dock where the boat will be hauled out on October. With our view from the light house we got a good idea of its location. About 30-40 min drive from the fancy hotel, but we will rent a car, so no problem. Mazatlan is a big city with a very long coastline.

    We looked in town at a couple of not-Cindy-preferred hotels, had lunch & took a walk along “the worlds longest malecon” (which is very likely true). Malecon would translate to boardwalk. Except think cement sidewalk up above the beach, not boards down on water level. The “Malecon” in Mazatlan appeared to be about 5 miles long.

    May 6 Tuesday
    Another business day for us. I figured out in the past couple of days that I could swim in the morning without too many people yet in the pool. If I can get in the water, it doesn’t matter what happens the rest of the day – I am so happy in the water. We are kind of done here and antsy to get off the dock. We will leave tomorrow if the weather looks good for crossing the bottom of the Sea of Cortez.

    May 7 Wednesday
    Scott hired a diver to clean the bottom of the boat. He arrived promptly at 7 am. Since we anticipate motoring a lot, if not the entire 165 miles, we wanted clean propellers to start out with. The prevailing wind is predicted to be in our face 10-15 knots, hopefully less at night.
    We wanted to hose off the evidence of the birds of Mazatlan, but the water was off at our dock.
    We tanked up on diesel at the fuel dock, hooked our hose up there and took the opportunity to hose off the dirty girl. It was hectic at the Harbormasters office who handles day charter tourist bookings. There was a long line of people needing to pay her. Knowing the boat taking the tourists needed to fuel up too, I went to the front of the line & told her we were stuck at the fuel dock until she took my money. Suddenly I got to be next! Eight nights at the dock with electricity = $440. Plus 285 liters
    of fuel $190. Not too bad.

    And so we are off on our next adventure. We are hoping Los Frailes will not disappoint us. It could be our first Mexico diving site. That is why we are going there. It would be a shorter & potentially less rough trip, or at least a shorter rough trip, if we skipped it & headed straight for La Paz. But we can’t stand to think of what we might miss. So off we go. Auto pilot is steering 279 degrees and we are slogging into short period swell of 5-8 ft. This is our modified version of the “Baja Bash”.
    When boats leave to go back to the US at the end of the Mexican cruising season, they often have to motor straight upwind and against the swell too. This is the most uncomfortable direction for us to travel. We should be at Los Frailes anchorage just after sunrise tomorrow. Ah the life of a sailor!

    Scott & Cindy (23d-19min N x 107d-09min W)

  • Isla Isabella – BIRDS

    Dear F&F;,

    2008 April 28

    Isla Isabella – The Birds

    It was a 10 minute dinghy ride with “wet landing” and steep, soft sand. It
    was a strain for Scott to pull up the heavy dinghy out of the water above
    the tidal zone. The many fishermen were occupied with their work and did not
    pay much attention to us. We asked if where we left the dinghy was ok, not
    in their way, and received a quick “si”. There was a trail map board and
    some information about the various nesting birds, all in Spanish. One
    dilapidated cement building, many iguanas and hundreds of soaring frigate
    birds. We fumbled along and by 9:30 am I was already hot, dusty & regretting
    that we did not get a much earlier start on this tour. But, since I am not
    likely to ever go ashore again at Isla Isabella, I suck it up & trudge on.

    We first come to the frigate bird nesting area. We are used to seeing them
    soaring high with a striking resemblance to Batman. Up close the adults look
    a bit more like vultures, but with longer necks. The males have a red sack
    at the throat that they can puff up when trying to lure a female. It seems
    that the luring is over because there are pretty big fledglings sitting in
    nests on branches of 10 foot high trees. Can’t tell you what type of tree,
    other than at this time of year there are no leaves, just dry sticks. The
    baby frigates look like a goofy cartoon version of a bald eagle. They seem
    so big to still not be able to fly. The downy fluff on their heads is in
    various stages of molt as they mature. The trail goes right through & under
    the trees with the nests and none of the birds seem especially bothered by
    us.

    Our chart indicated “stinky lagoon” and indeed we hike to a pea green
    sulphur smelling pond; the remnant of the volcano that formed the island. No
    birds seen right there, the water undrinkable due to its sulphur content. We
    pass through a stand of banana trees which we were warned are home to the
    brown recluse spider which can inflict a skin rotting bite. We steer clear.

    After an hours walk to the far side of the island, we arrived at the shore
    where our boat is anchored. Here we come upon the boobie birds. The
    blue-footed boobies are easy to identify. We suspect the males are the
    primary guards and distracters for the fledglings. And they do a valiant job
    of it. Sometimes there was no easy route around a boobie that stood his
    ground in the middle of the path. In the face of 6’4” tall Scott, these 1
    foot short birds were extremely brave and vocal. We did our best to respect
    their territory and give them space.

    We also saw some boobies that have yellow feet. We meet 2 students from
    Mexico’s National University, counting banding and taking other stats on
    booby fledglings. The ones we describe as yellow-foot boobies have
    distinctive darker head and white chest coloration that look somewhat like a
    nun’s habit. They tell us there are azul (blue), rosa (red) and marron
    (brown) footed boobies on this island. Lucia and Juan Carlos were friendly
    and informative. See photograph of them holding a fledgling being banded.
    They have been on this desolate island studying the birds for 4 months! Such
    dedication. They confirm that there is no “loop” to the trail & we have to
    retrace our steps to return to the dinghy. We are hot & dusty when we
    finally make it back from our 3 hour hike. But we are happy that we took the
    opportunity to see this unique place.

    Having seen it, we must decide when to move on. We decide to move that
    evening before sundown.

    Reason A) Due to the many fish/lobster traps around the anchorage we want to
    exit in daylight.

    Reason B) There is usually less wind and swell at night (the prevailing
    directions is opposite where we are trying to go, so it will be another
    motor passage).

    Reason C) We want to arrive at our destination of Mazatlan in daylight since
    we have never been there and the harbor entrance looks a bit tricky per the
    charts & cruising guides.

    Reason D) It is easier to see boats at night than during the day (assuming
    they display their navigation lights). Most boats making this passage would
    be lit up. There is no reason for a small fishing panga to be out there.

    Calculation: 93 mile trip, average speed 6.5 knots = 14 hour passage. So we
    leave at 6:30 pm. Just after another sailboat dropped anchor beside us. They
    teased, hoping they didn’t “chase us away from the anchorage”. We told them
    of our plan to have an overnight passage to Mazatlan. They had just arrived
    from Puerto Vallarta.

    Passage Notes: It had been 2 ½ months since we’d done an all night trip. I
    took the first watch. Scott rested, but didn’t sleep. Scott took the 10 pm –
    2 am watch. I slept off & on. He had 1 power boat on a reciprocal course
    within ¼ mile.

    I took the 2:00 – 6:00 am watch. I had a large fishing boat overtake me on
    port (left side) within 1/8th mile. The radar is worth its weight in gold
    during these encounters. You can see the lights of the other boat so far
    away & cannot accurately determine their distance. Having another vessel
    come at you will keep you awake. The radar is very accurate for showing
    their distance. I sighted the flashing white navigation light for Mazatlan
    from 30 miles away. The stars were fabulous, but I was happy to have the ¼
    moon keep me company too. It helps you see the horizon distinct from the
    sky.

    I also reward myself with treats to help me make it through the watch. After
    the first hour: half a mango. After 2 hours a bowl of cereal with vanilla
    yogurt. At the third hour I have full attention on this vessel overtaking
    us. With a half hour to go, I brush my teeth, write my log entry and eagerly
    await Scott getting up to take over at 6 am.

    I tried to just stay awake until we entered the harbor but couldn’t keep
    upright for that last 2 hrs, so flopped down after making breakfast. With
    the sun in our face, the harbor entrance was not obvious until we were quite
    close. We know better than to rely sole on our electronic charts because
    they are up to 1 mile off. This is because modern GPS is so accurate and
    most of the chart surveys were done long before the advent of GPS. Some of
    the surveys are catching up, but too slowly as far as we’re concerned.
    Indeed, once again the chart plotter, (like a fancy version of a cars
    navigation system), showed our boat “going over land” as we entered the
    marina. We tied up on the end of A dock as we were instructed by email when
    we made our reservation. We ended up moving down a few slips so that our
    power cord could reach a power outlet.

    No manana time today: Within 3 hours we have:

    A) Checked in with the harbor master

    B) Turned in & received back clean; 1 load of laundry (our sheets &
    towels were getting groady)

    C) Turned the air conditioner on, closed all the hatches & had 2 guys
    wash (all the bird droppings off) the boat & Oxyclean the teak.

    We are still woozy from our “all nighter” but pleased to be here & think it
    was a good decision

    Tomorrow morning, Bob of Total Yachts will meet with Scott regarding our
    transmission oil leak problem & potential solution. Thursday morning Norma
    will come & help Cindy clean the interior.

    Due to our state of fatigue, we may or may not venture off the boat today. In
    Mexico, there is always manana……Bienvenidos Mazatlan!

    Scott & Cindy

  • Isla Isabella – Arrival & Snorkeling

    Dear F&F;,

    2008 April 27

    Isla Isabella – Enroute Challenges & Snorkeling

    I suppose our early morning on Saturday, to go on the Jungle Cruise,
    contributed to our being wide awake at 530 am on Sunday. We knew it would be
    about a 6 ½ hour motor from Matenchen Bay (San Blas) to Isla Isabella. So
    there was no particular need to get this early of a start. But on the other
    hand, we were already up, so why not get going? We had our incoming \”track\”
    to follow out that we knew was safe passage on our chart plotter (LCD screen
    with charts of everywhere we go). So we didn\’t necessarily need to wait for
    sunrise. So we weighed anchor (pulled it up) and off we went.

    I was down in our cabin making the bed when I felt Scott make a sharp right
    turn and the engines forcefully thrown in reverse. I scurried out to the
    cockpit to see what brought us to an abrupt halt. In the pre-dawn light,
    Scott had sighted a long fishing net out of a panga just at the last minute.
    Running over a fishing net would really ruin our whole day. Not to mention
    do serious damage to the boat. We are in their territory & the fishermen
    are often very casual with their work and often do not light their boats or
    floats. If it had not been for Scott\’s keen lookout and quick reaction it
    would have been a mess for us and the fisherman. This is one of the many
    reasons we maintain a 24 hour watch at all times.

    With that hazard behind us, the sun up and breakfast eaten, it was time to
    hang up the wet laundry. Our European combomatic washer/dryer washes great.
    Drying not so great. But we have lines strung up in the cockpit & create our
    own wind when motoring, so it dries quickly.

    The second problem of the day happened when I was on watch and Scott was on
    the radio trying to check into the Amigo Net.

    (Explanation: This is one of Mexico\’s many networks for boating
    communication. The nets you will hear me talk about have names like: Amigo,
    Sonrisa, Picante, Chubasco, Southbound, etc. The net controller, person in
    charge – running the net, asks for check-ins. A legendary character named
    Don Anderson transmits weather reports from Oxnard, California. He devotes
    many hours per day and provides regional weather reports for Mexico, by
    area, and will take individual questions. Boaters report the weather where
    they are so that other boaters can get the on-site report. Boats can relay
    messages to each other. If someone needs assistance they can ask for it.
    When we are at a dock we don\’t always check in, but when we are \”at sea\” we
    always try to. Sometimes they can\’t hear us, or we can\’t hear them, but that
    is another topic…)

    Anyway…suddenly Scott could not transmit. He pushed the mike button to talk
    & nadda, zip, nothin.

    Poor guy sinks into the pit of despair. It is very discouraging that boating
    equipment is so prone to failure. We have had problems with our ham/single
    side band (combo unit) radio before and it was one of the many items that we
    thought we had worked the bugs out of. But alas, here it goes poof again. We
    can still hear the net, but they cannot hear us. And we also can no longer
    connect to Winlink our \”at sea\” email communication. Cannot send. Cannot
    receive.

    But, do not fear. Being that Scott was a Boy Scout, we have a back up plan.
    We are able (for $1.10/minute) to use our Iridium satellite phone to send &
    receive emails. And that is what we will have to use until we A) Get to a
    dock where we have an internet connection & can use our gmail accounts. B)
    Troubleshoot the radio / tuner failure which Scott at this point believes
    involves being shipped back to the manufacturer in Washington state. The
    joys of boating continue.

    On a happy note, we are motoring into 2-3 foot swell and I am not seasick
    and I do not have a scopalomine patch on. However the no-see-ums saw me just
    fine at our last anchorage & I am covered chest, back & arms with red
    bites. Thankfully Benadryl staves off the itching.

    When we arrive at Isla Isabella we anchor in the recommended area per the
    cruising guides near 2 rocks called Islotes Las Monas (little mannequins).
    The island is a convenient stop on the passage from San Blas to Mazatlan and
    is a bird sanctuary. No one lives here except for seasonal fishermen who
    camp in primitive shacks onshore. And students counting, banding and
    studying the various nesting birds and fledglings.

    Thirty-some years ago, Jacques Cousteau and National Geographic filmed the
    \”pristine underwater habitat\”. We know better than to get our hopes up too
    high because we can see that the water clarity is still poor. But it is not
    as bad as most places, so we jump in with snorkeling gear and our shark
    shields.

    ASIDE: Shark shields are a device we strap around our ankle that delivers an
    electrical impulse that repels sharks. For really neat video demo see:
    http://www.sharkshield.com There are tiger & bull sharks in Mexico. We think it
    would be really lame to get bit by a shark so wear these gizmos every time
    we get in the water. I had a hard time bonding with it because it shocked me
    like a TENS unit when the antenna hit my leg. But Scott emailed the
    manufacturers in Australia & they suggested a keeper loop to my fin to help
    the 7 foot x ¾ inch antenna to trail better. Works like a charm.

    There were tropical fish and hard coral. It was exciting to see the
    potential. However, it was (yet again) disappointing to only have about 6
    feet of visibility. The water temperature was a comfy 79 degrees.

    The only boat at the anchorage, we took it easy the rest of the day,
    deciding to go ashore the next morning. The pangas put out traps all around
    us, but since we weren\’t trying to leave it was not problem. They picked
    them up in the morning. We suspect they were to catch lobster, but not sure.

    Read the next post to read about the islands BIRDS.
    Scott & Cindy

  • Matenchen Bay, San Blas – Jungle Tour

    Dear F&F;,

    26 April 2008
    San Blas & Matenchen Bay, Mexico – 2 days, 2 nights

    The 23 mile run to our destination of Matenchen Bay was fairly uneventful. No dolphins, no whales. Just cruised up the coast to the tunes on Sirius radio.

    Matenchen Bay is a very large bay – about 1 mile across & mile deep, providing nearly 5 miles of beach. There were no other boats when we arrived. After making sure the anchor was holding, we took the 10 minute dinghy ride to shore. It is a \”wet landing\” onto a sandy beach. Scott gets his exercise pulling the 250 lb dinghy up out of the surf zone. There are many palapa restaurants (thatched roofs on top of corner support poles).

    Friends Emmy & Erik from sailboat Nataraja had told us not to miss the jungle cruise here. We have done this in Magdelena Bay & Tenacatita Bay in our own dinghy. Here, you must go by hired panga because there is no easy access to the river from the bay.

    We met Antonio who helped Scott pull the dinghy right up to his palapa restaurant & assured us its security while we walked to the office to reserve the jungle cruise for today. We ask him how far it is to the office. \”About 1 kilometer\”. We proceed on a \”death march\”. This is the term author Suzanne Knecht uses in her book \”Night Watch\” to describe walks in foreign lands that are hot, dusty, seemingly endless & with unknown endpoint. After 15 minutes, we ask another person along the way how far
    it is to the jungle cruise office. It is one of the main tourist attractions so they all know what we are talking about. Again we are told, \”One kilometer\”. Discouraged that we do not seem to be making headway, we trudge on. Feeling stupido because Antonio had offered us a ride in his truck. Note to self: when a local offers you a ride – take it.

    We finally reach the brightly painted office & make a reservation for the first tour of the day: 7 a.m. Emmy & Erik said it was important to go first in order to see the most birds & animals out in the cool of the morning. The price of the trip was for the boat, no matter how many people. No problem, it was reasonable, including a tour of a crocodile reservation, and an opportunity to swim in the river. We hoped that these were completely separate events

    We took a taxi from that office into town about 6 kilometers. As we get in we ask the driver, \”How much is the cost to take us into town?\” He answered, \”10 pesos\”. This is about $1 US dollar. Such a deal. When he stops to let us out & Scott hands him 15 pesos, to include a tip, he says \”10 pesos per person\”. If it sounds like too good of a deal it probably is. No problem, well worth not having had to continue the death march.

    We walk by the Navy base & can’t help but wonder what sort of enemy would dare sneak up on the helmeted young men in fatigues with automatic weapons hiding behind a pile of sandbags. I know that our military bases have the same exact posturing. But in this sleepy surfing town with palm trees and warm breezes it seemed especially out of place.

    Downtown is under reconstruction. As usual, the cathedral is in the center of town with an adjacent \”zocolo\” (plaza square, place to meet & hang out). I am captivated by the smoky fragrance of a grilled chicken stand. This inspires a search for the tortilleria – 30 steaming hot tortillas for 80 cents. Voila! Dinner to go. We stop at a pharmacia to buy bug repellent. Besides the jungle tour & surfing, San Blas is famous for its \”jejenes\”, known elsewhere as no-see-ums. They are biting flies that
    leave an itchy red bump. We walk by several \”flea bag\” motels. The main land visitors are young surfers on a budget, so nothing fancy has been built here.

    The taxi driver that drove us back to our dinghy agreed to meet us in the same place at 630 a.m. We sat & had a limonade con agua minerale at Antonio’s restaurant.

    Back on Beach House, we immensely enjoyed our dinner of chicken & tortillas. A jet skier zoomed around our boat twice before sunset. He was probably just admiring our pretty boat, but we read in the cruising guides that there is a history of theft problems here. We have locks for all our hatches. It is a bit of an ordeal to put on the 12 stainless locks (some with bars), & secure them with 12 separate padlocks. This secures both engine rooms, the sail locker, 2 compartments of dive gear, the scuba
    compressor, safety gear, and the large starboard forward compartment that stows lots & lots of other stuff that we would be upset if stolen. In addition, we lock our 5 large hatches from the inside of the boat and our sliding door with a key. As someone once said \”We don’t want to give an honest man the opportunity to go astray.\”

    We have an early to bed night. We spray the mostly citronella smelling bug repellent on us because it was impossible to keep out all the flying critters going in & out of the salon during the evening. A beautiful 130 foot power boat, m/v Antares joined us overnight at the anchorage.

    The alarm rings at 5:15 a.m. After coffee, cereal & double checking all the locks, we get in the dinghy & ride to shore. The dawn just begins so we can remove our head lamps as we jump in the shallow water & pull the dinghy to safety. We switch from \”wet landing\” attire (shorts, water shoes) to long pants, socks & shoes. More bug spray.
    A taxi pulls up right on time at 6:30 a.m. It is not the same driver as yesterday so we are reluctant to get in & wonder if we should wait for our guy. In our fumbling Spanish we determine that Gustavo had sent Vicente for us. We are always so happy & somewhat surprised when things work out just right.

    Only 2 wandering dogs greeted us at the Jungle Cruise Tour office. But we were nearly 20 minutes early for the 7 a.m. tour. A man across the street wandered over & told us \”a la siete\”. Esta bien. We knew we were early & didn’t mind waiting. Exactly at 7, the man walked back across the street, another man arrived by car & a teenager arrived on motorcycle. We were in the panga with the teenager & on our way by 7:10 a.m. I was cold so wrapped myself in a towel, but kept telling myself to just soak
    in that cold feeling, knowing I would appreciate it later in the day.

    This was definitely the king of the jungle cruises. Our driver knew exactly where to stop & point out birds, turtles and crocodiles. It was about 45 minutes of beautiful mangroves. More wide & open than the covered canopy at Tenacatita. The flora changed from mangroves to what I can only describe as bulrushes. And in another area dense thickets of ferns. Very tranquil & lovely. Even the easily missed eyes of the crocodiles lurking just below the surface gave a deceptive sense of calm. When we approached
    they scurried back to hide with surprising speed & agility.

    Our driver stayed in the panga & had us get out for our own tour of the crocodile farm. There were 10 pairs, each in a separate pen. Scott got some great photos through the chain link fence. They would hold absolutely still, some with their mouth wide open, a tourist thrilling pose. Without any warning some lunged at the fence, reminding us how dangerous these prehistoric creatures are. The workers told us they feed the crocodiles live chickens or fish on Thursday. Only once a week. We were glad
    it was only Saturday. They must really be cranky & vicious by Wednesday. Even the enclosure full of juveniles conjured images of being gnawed on at the ankles

    There were a few other pens: parrots, an owl, some type of wild boar, coatamundis and deer. We spent about half an hour at this reserve & noticed as we exited a 10 foot free-ranging croc across the river. We eagerly stepped into the safety of the panga. We declined the opportunity to swim in a fenced off portion of the river. Somehow the murky green water & thought of crocs on the other side of the fence reduced the appeal of a morning swim in the river.
    Even more animals were visible on the return trip. River Turtles on the rocks, birds on branches, crocs on logs – all sunning themselves.

    As it was only 9:30 a.m. the walk back to the dinghy was not a death march. Although when Antonio stopped in his truck we did not decline & hopped in the back. We were entertained on the short ride by 2 adorable teething puppies.

    We picked a beach side table at Antonio’s restaurant & ordered huevos rancheros. Yum! We learned from him about the area, and as Scott suspected, learned it is a surfers paradise in the summer. There is a very shallow bay with uniformly nice sandy bottom that contributes to some amazing waves. According to Antonio (who is a surfer), waves are from 3-12 feet and ride able for over a 1000 yards. Where waves are breaking is not a good place to anchor your boat. But surf season is also hurricane season
    so there would not be many boats coming through then. Scott is itching to ride some waves, but we are happy to have the flat water at the anchorage now.

    My sensation of feeling cold had switched to hot by noon, so I jumped off the back of the boat to cool off. Scott hangs the shark shield off the dive ladder & I stay near its protection as I exercise wearing my aqua jogger. It is not pleasant to swim because you can’t see a darn thing in the pea soup ocean, but I still enjoy being in the 80 degree water. It will be very depressing if the Sea of Cortez has this poor of visibility. But hope springs eternal for decent, if not great, diving opportunities
    there this summer.

    With our early arisal, it was easy to join in the siesta tradition. I’ve been since then writing this description. It is nearly time for happy hour. The \”jejenes\” are happy to see me sitting outside, so I will soon move in & zip up the screen door. Scott is listening to one of the ham radio nets, with headphones, thank you.

    Tomorrow we will get an early start to our next stop – Isla Isabella, a Mexican bird and underwater sanctuary visited by Jacques Cousteau over 30 years ago.