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Dear F&F,
January 21, 2009

The day was cloudy & the sea grey which does not inspire us to zoom out diving. We felt so ho-hum about it that we even considered moving on up to Cabo Henslow today. But we did not feel like we\’d really done the diving justice here, so got ourselves together & dinghied out to Punta Tosca. Despite being awake off & on much of the night, I had good energy. Good thing because the first dive proved to be a workout.

We anchored on the southwest ridge in about 50 feet of water & could see the current was pretty strong. Often more potential for bigger animals then. We saw a black-back manta pretty quick after securing the anchor, our first one underwater while here at Socorro. It didn\’t stick around long, just a \”fly by\”. We swam along the ridge which dropped off pretty deep, on the lookout for hammerheads or other sharks that we\’d heard can be in this area. The visibility was good, at 80 feet we could still see the bottom which was about 150 feet. No sharks seen today.

On the return swim to the anchor we were really against the current. This is not what we like. We always try to swim against the current first so on the return it is with you. I was kicking like crazy & felt that I was not making much headway in the water column. I was breathing hard & fast, but it was like running in place. I could not afford to use up my air going nowhere, so dropped down to the ridge below me: 105 feet. My dive computer said I had 4 minutes before decompression mode. Not automatically dangerous, but something we try to avoid. Our computers help us to stay within recreational dive protocols. It only took me 2-3 minutes to combat crawl my way up the ridge which started to get shallower & my computer gave me more lots more \”no deco\” time. Scott knew what I was doing when he saw me sink down & crawl. He managed to stay 80 feet or less with his stronger longer legs and bigger stiffer fins. He swam right above me, watching me the whole time to make sure I was ok.

I was a bit shaken & had really sucked down my air fast. It goes much much quicker that deep, just as keeping shallow you can really stretch a tank out a long time. Once in sight of our anchor line I could relax a bit. That is my way to the surface, the dinghy & all the air I need. I signal to Scott that I need to go up to the safety stop depth of 15 feet since my air is down to 700 psi. That is the minimum we like to surface with. He signaled back that he still had 1200 lbs & since 2 mantas decided he was the most interesting thing on the reef, the bum got to stay. I was thrilled just to hold on the dinghy line & watch another manta-photographer love fest. The two girls took turns swirling, circling, hovering over his head. Terry had told us that he had never ridden a manta in Socorro. After many minutes of close up video, eye to eye introductions & a few belly rubs Scott could not resist trying. It didn\’t shy away at all, in fact he could have ridden it much longer than he did. But having done it, he let go & returned to increasing the world\’s largest collection of manta video footage. Fantastic. At 15 feet I had enough air to stay longer than the required 5 minutes (2 mins mandatory due to my earlier depth & 3 mins usual safety stop). Scott finally got down to 700 lbs himself & popped the anchor. I hopped in the dinghy once he reached his safety stop. We were both grinning ear to ear. Another dose of mantas before leaving the Revillagigedos, terrific!

We had brought 4 tanks out so we could do a 2nd dive. We drove the dinghy out of the swell to a more protected spot in order to swap out our BC (buoyancy compensators) & regulators, have our snack & do some surface time. We were hoping the mantas would stick around that part of the reef & we had marked it as a waypoint on the GPS so could easily return to it. After about 45 minutes we went back to check it out. Unfortunately the swell had really increased from earlier. We did not feel it was prudent to dive there a second time. We motored most of the way back to the anchorage for a 2nd go at the 6 foot pinnacle. The swell was much less there & we were already wet, so why not? The visibility was much less than yesterday. One electric ray seen on the sandy bottom. We did not go deep to chase it. We made a tour of the Matterhorn-shaped reef & called it a day. By the time we surfaced the swell had come up even there.

Linda had hailed us in the morning that she baked ciabbata & wanted to share. We stopped by the \”Socorro Bakery\” before going home. It made for a fresh & delicious lunch. Chuck & Linda told us they were able to get very near the Mama & Baby whale in their dinghy, able to watch for a long time. Cool. Later, she swam ashore & explored the beach a bit. The terrain made for rough walking so she couldn\’t go far, or find the fresh water spring that is here somewhere per the book they have. Thus all the greenery & palm trees.

In the afternoon I finished my Ellen MacArthur book (\”Taking On the World\”), reading the highlights out loud to Scott. It was a great companion to this offshore experience. I highly recommend it to anyone, especially if you are looking for inspiration on being your best & pushing yourself to the limits.

I swapped all the remaining food from the main freezer to the extra unit in the \”camera room\”. It can be set for fridge or freezer. This way we can shut down the main freezer & hopefully save power. Being able to leave the door open on the primary freezer as long as I wanted allowed me to take an accurate inventory of my remaining frozen stores. We will not starve. But we have made a plan of setting sail for Zihuatenejo soon. Weather permitting, we will head to Cabo Henslow (just 5 miles north of here) tomorrow and dive the sites there 2-3 days. Once again, checking the weather, we will return to mainland Mexico, taking all our happy memories of San Benedicto & Socorro with us. It has been quite an experience. One we are so glad we did not miss.

Scott & Cindy

Dear F&F,
January 20, 2009

Scott listened to Chuck who was the Net Controller on the Amigo net this morning as I made breakfast. Eggs again – YUM!!! Today\’s version: scrambled with turkey chorizo on corn tortillas with a bit of cheese. And on mine the last slice of avocado. Sigh. A delicious but sad moment.

We saw Mama & Baby whale not too far out so were eager to gear up & go out their direction for a dive. We easily found the 6 foot pinnacle again thanks to the handy GPS. Chuck & Linda tied up to our anchored dinghy to snorkel. But it was really more of a dive site. The top of the pinnacle is a fairly small area & not that much life. The rock broadens out deeper & we enjoyed exploring around it. We saw the largest lobster to date. Since it was out in the open, I posed next to it for the video so you can get an idea of the size. One octopus was seen tucked in amongst a crevice of urchins. The largest animal of interest was a stingray down in the sand at 90 feet. We dropped down to get a closer look & it swam right over Scott\’s shark shield giving itself a bit of a zap. Stingrays (versus Manta Rays) have vestigial Ampulles of Lorenzini which is the part of the anatomy on sharks that gets affected by the electrical pulse emitted by our shields. We always turned them off when playing with the Manta Rays. The shock they get does not harm them, not even a shark. They just don\’t like it. Kind of like a high pitched noise to a dog. We swam shallower once Scott got good footage of the stingray. No belly rubs for him! Very pretty site & we spent nearly an hour there. Chuck & Linda had moved off to snorkel near the shore, which was better for them.

After my shower I started lunch. Just as Scott got out of the shower the bilge pump alarm on that side went off. Thank God he installed those alarms. It tells us with a loud audio signal not only that we have a problem, but by LED alarm light, shows the area on the boat with the problem. We had a lot of water in the starboard (right side) central bilge. Not normal – means something is leaking or not draining right. Upon investigation, it was the shower sump. You may not recall, but we had to switch to our back up shower drain about a month ago. And now the back up died. The only spare we have is installed on the port side, which drains the small sink where I usually wash my hands before handling my contacts.

Our work was cut out for us for the next 3 1/2 hrs. I ran tool shuttle as Scott once again bravely contorted himself into impossible positions. And again he was cursing the installers (this time the builder in France) for not leaving a service loop of electrical wire. Each job takes so much longer when he has to re-do the wiring. First, take out the broken unit on the starboard side. Clean yuck (envision what your shower pipes might look like 3 feet down�). Scavenge any still working parts for spares. Go to the port side, take out the working unit & bring across for installation on starboard. Clean & dry that empty box so it won\’t leave a stinky mess. Put blue tape on my sink as a reminder that it is out of commission. I can deal with my contacts in the galley or our main bathroom. He re-routed the wires to get them mostly out of the bilge which is a wet area. He still put shrink-tube to help with waterproofing. Heat gun needed. Long extension cord for heat gun to reach working area. Invertor on for heat gun use. So many steps & details. I know I am repeating myself, but I really think it was so helpful that he is a dentist & can do these annoyingly tedious jobs.
***See below for hilarious response to this report from my friend Linda van Zeyl***

Meanwhile I am standing by my man. I am tired, but this horrid job would be made excruciating if he did not have me to dump the bucket, turn on the invertor, hold the hot heat gun between use, shine the flashlight into the dark bilge, place a pad under his bony knees, etc etc. We are a real team & since he bears the brunt of the \”blue jobs\” I do my best to not let him down in the Vanna White department. To help me rise to the occasion, I swirl some instant espresso in a short glass of milk & gulp it down. I needed IV caffeine to keep me going.

I mop up after he finished & put away most of the tools. As I was tossing overboard the last bucket of bilge water I saw my big bilge sponge go flying into the ocean! UGH!!! I was in my swimsuit & did not hesitate but jumped in to rescue it. Thankfully the ladder was down so I could climb out. I laughed hard at myself. I have really become a boater now – jumping in the ocean to rescue our bilge sponge! Yes, I have a bunch more, but our mindset is to use everything until it becomes unusable. No room for waste out here. I take a shower & we congratulate ourselves on yet another in-field boat repair. Chuck has an expression that you get a \”green flag\” when a fix goes well. We are collecting a few too many green flags! We wish stuff would just work. But since it is a boat & we know that is an unrealistic fantasy, thank goodness I have such a handy repairman on board.

We still had to empty the dinghy of dive gear & rinse & hang it all. We had Mama & Baby whale not too far out to entertain us. Baby jumped a few times. There seems to be another adult whale with them tonight, maybe a male. We did hear likely whale noises underwater. Not the song type, but the drum banging type.

Tonight\’s dinner, bowtie pasta with meat sauce. The Solmar V boat came & went. Panga driver, Jeronimo, if he is onboard this trip, did not call us on the radio & we were too busy & where they anchored for their dives was too far out to go out & talk to them. Good thing we were able to give Nautilus Explorer our trash the other day.

We are down to our last 4 liters of milk. It did not occur to me to have Scott ask for that when he got the eggs from Nautilus Explorer. I have used up the 2 tubs of powdered I had. Will keep LOTS MORE (of everything) onboard next time.

We hope to get another day of diving at Punta Tosca tomorrow then may move up the island a bit the next day to an anchorage called Cabo Henslow. A couple of days there then we are thinking of sailing back to San Benedicto again before our permit ends & we have to head to Z-town.

*** Use it in a sentence today! Feel free to use it as a swear word! Many will not know what it is, some will not realize the \”zest\” of the phrase, and those that do understand, will appreciate its color!

Gee! You two will soon be called \’bilge rats\’ for all your bailing and sloshing amidst the stink and grime! Here I Give You the Impressive, the Indefectible! TEAM STOLNITZ!! Watch their Fearless Descent into the Bilges! To Clean! To Repair! To Bail! As for me, a one way ticket home please! Well, it is good to know that you married such a great
handyman. No shrinking violet he!***

Scott & Cindy (with some poetic license from Linda van Zeyl (insert happy face here!)

Dear F&F,
January 18-19, 2009

Last night after an off & on rainy day, the wind piped up. Always seems to happen at night. My Captain goes on high alert when we are anchored & the wind gauge shows steady over 15-20 & gusts 25-30 knots. We really feel the effect of the elements especially the wind & swell. Different from a house where you can close yourself inside during rough weather, we have to be on the lookout that our house stays in its place! We have a lot of confidence in our anchor, it has never dragged yet (quick – knock wood!). But we are never complacent when the conditions outside are boisterous. We have to watch the relation of the boat to the shore of the cove as we swing with the wind, swell & current. From one wind angle we can be fine with plenty of room to swing, but if the wind shifts 90 or more degrees we can find ourselves a bit uncomfortably close to the rocks. We also keep an eye on Chuck & Linda\’s boat & how close we may be to them. We both keep our VHF radio on 24 hrs so that if either boat had a problem we can hail each other. Another thing we have to do when it\’s windy is secure everything outside, like all the dive gear. We don\’t want to lose anything that could blow overboard. After a fresh water rinse we hang our dive stuff on the lifelines so had to bring in all the still damp towels, gloves, & lycra stuff inside.

To keep me occupied as we were on weather watch, I continued work on making playlists from the mp3s Skye bought for us & burned onto CDs. We love our 2 main stations: Spa & Coffee House on Sirius radio which still works all the way down here. She added some \”bonus tracks\” some of which are growing on us. I also made a not great version of brownies. It was a recipe from Runners Magazine. I chose it because I kinda had most of the ingredients. Instead of oats & wheat germ, I just used my whole wheat/white flour mix. Which frankly tastes a bit stale, which is not shocking since I think the flour was from California, so over a year old! Note to self – buy fresh of such items whenever you can! They turned out a bit dry due to the oven being a bit too hot again. Although I did not have the flame going out problem upon turning it down, so this is progress.

Despite the windy conditions, Scott managed to sleep. I was pretty much \”on watch\” a lot all night. I was not worried or afraid, but the noise in the rigging & other parts of the boat make more noise than usual & I just was not feeling sleepy. It seemed an apt time to read my book about the solo sailboat racer, Ellen MacArthur. The part of the book I read was about her rounding Cape Horn. So to be tucked into a protected cove on this lovely Mexican island was quite a comfort compared to the hardships she was enduring. I did finally start feeling the eyelids get heavy at about 11:30 pm. At 11:50 pm I woke up thinking that several hours had passed. Darn! Only 20 minutes!! So it was one of those nights. I have felt quite good despite not that much deep or continuous hours of sleep. I have really been happy at how well I\’ve felt. I think all the excitement of diving & snorkeling with the mantas, sharks & now whales, has given me incredible energy.

Until this morning… We got up at 6:45 am as usual. We were happy that the wind had finally calmed down in the early morning hours, but we had leftover sloppy seas, so just walking around making breakfast was more of a challenge than usual. I was ecstatic to have an abundance of eggs. Don\’t think I mentioned it yet, but Scott & Linda dinghied over to Nautilus Explorer yesterday to say hi & give them our trash. Not having to stow 5 weeks of trash onboard has been a real bonus! Scott also asked on my behalf if the chef he had any eggs to spare. He gave us a flat! Egg heaven. And a pound of margarine. I prefer butter, buy hey, beggars can\’t be choosers! So I\’m feeling really flush on breakfast again. Shared both with Chuck & Linda. Anyway, we hung up the load of laundry we\’d washed last night & then I really hit a wall. I was just soooo tired. Scott was eager to go locate the 6 foot submerged pinnacle Terry had told us about that is supposed to be a good dive site. Jeff the whale researcher emailed us the correct latitude/longitude so with the dinghy GPS it was easy to find. Scott took Linda out with him & they found it right away. He marked it as a waypoint for diving & snorkeling tomorrow.

Before dinner Scott decided the boat was too close for comfort to one side of the cove. So we hoisted the anchor & relocated to another spot. Not able to clearly see the bottom, to know if we were in sand or on rocks, Scott put on his scuba gear & dove to check it out. Good thing because the chain was fouled up on rocks & if we needed to leave in a hurry for any reason that could have been a problem. He used another one of Terry\’s handy suggestions: clip on lift bags to a couple sections of chain to keep it lifted off the rocks. Lift bags are literally heavy duty plastic bags specially designed to hold air in them to life heavy objects off the bottom of the ocean. The anchor needs to be well dug in to keep us secure, but the chain does not need to all be lying on the ocean floor. More important that it can be raised fast without any hang ups. Mr. Safety Patrol keeps us safe once more.

I made chicken tacos for dinner. It was a beautiful \”red sky at night\” sunset. Not much to tell Terry at the 6:00 pm radio chat since we did not dive these 2 days. We are doing another load of laundry while the generator is on. Chuck & Linda have to do their laundry in a bucket! I am so glad to have (almost) all the comforts of home onboard \”Beach House\”.

We saw distant whales off & on today. No mantas seen. We are eager to get back in the water tomorrow.

Scott & Cindy

Dear F&F,
January 17, 2009

Today\’s diving was not so much about what we saw as what we HEARD. On yesterday\’s dive, twice we heard a whap whap whap noise. Like someone was pounding against something hard on the ocean floor. That was new. Scott emailed Terry & the whale researcher that Terry had put us in contact with, Jeff, who both confirmed that was likely a whale song noise. Today we heard the more familiar whale songs that we first experienced while diving in Hawaii. It was not super loud, so likely they are quite a distance. We have been told the song can carry 1-2 miles underwater. Super duper cool.

Otherwise we saw the usual suspects: lobsters, octopus, many colorful fish. Chuck & Linda enjoyed the snorkeling spot in the shallow area near our first dive at Punta Tosca. Scott & I had some strong current, hand over hand on the rocky wall again at times. Only one timid white tip shark, nothing exciting in the shark department. All the more dangerous aggressive sharks live mostly in cold water areas. We are NOT going to encounter great whites or makos & unlikely to encounter tiger sharks (but they are a small possibility in warm seas). However, we keep the shark shields on all the time so will not be caught unawares. The only time we turn them off here is if we want to get close to a shark & it\’s shallow & we are close to the bottom or if we see a manta ray (They are supposedly more sensitive to them than the sharks as they too have ampuli of lorenzini). When we can see well & we have a rocky wall to our backs, we aren\’t particularly concerned. Sharks generally attack from directions where they are difficult to see. That is why surfers & snorkelers are more at risk. Even kayakers. Also most attacks on humans are when the human is dragging bloody fish. We, nor Chuck & Linda, spearfish so will not be attracting them to us as a food source. Sharks are opportunistic hunters. They are in a constant battle to maintain their protein supply. Our shark shields are to insure we aren\’t part of it.

Since the dive site Punta Tosca is about a 15 min dinghy ride each way, we pumped 4 tanks, brought Gatorade & granola bars for the break between. Both dinghies moved to a calmer area, away from the current for our surface interval. Lo & behold we spot mantas on the surface! At least 2. One black-back and one with white shouldered chevron patches. Linda jumped in & they did not run away. They were feeding though. Terry had told us that the Socorro mantas are generally not as approachable as San Benedicto so we did not have high hopes. Sure enough, by the time we switched our gear to the fresh tanks & rolled in they were out of sight. But Scott did get about 15 seconds of video of a very large wahoo! Of course when we took off the tanks, climbed back in the dinghy & drove a short distance we saw the mantas again. But after our experiences at San Benedicto, there is no need to go chasing skittish mantas here.

We chose another rocky pinnacle for our 2nd dive which was halfway back to the big boats. We had seen mantas & dolphins in this area yesterday, but today it was a pretty sleepy dive. Just the usual suspects. It is always lovely to blow bubbles & explore. The underwater terrain that we\’ve seen so far is interesting. Huge slabs of rock & tumbling boulders, like underwater ancient temple ruins. Many of the rocks are quite light grey or white so really stand out. Not the usual black volcanic color, although there are those too. Back here at the anchorage there are jagged cascades of lava rocks that remind us of places we\’ve seen in Hawaii.

It has been overcast most of the day, contributing to a lazy afternoon. I made another batch of pressure cooker popcorn. Funny, I used to limit myself on eating popcorn at the movies because it almost always gave me a stomach ache afterwards. I\’m not sure if I\’ve developed a more cast iron stomach or if it was some additive that they put on movie popcorn. My stomach is quite pleased with just about anything I put in it here! Prepare to roll your eyes…dinner will be lobster tacos. I am a bit reassured on our food situation after doing a thorough investigation of what is remaining in the freezer. I have a nice supply of raw chicken, mostly boneless thighs & a few packs of corn tortillas. We can eat that for breakfast if we run out of cold cereal! We are definitely not starving (yet).

Scott is hollering for me gotta run. Whales Ho!

LATER THAT EVENING�
What Scott was hollering about was a Mama & Baby humpback just about 250 yds outside the anchorage. Fortunately we still had the dinghy in the water, tied off at the back. Scott grabbed the small digital camera & video thrown into waterproof bags. I grabbed mask, snorkel, fins, my easiest to pull on wetsuit, booties & weight belt. It was a miracle I had the presence of mind to take all that. Ever since we were onboard the Solmar V boat for dinner January 1st & saw the beautiful video footage of a Mama & Baby humpback allowing divers & snorkelers near, I have fantasized about swimming with a whale. They are the largest creatures on the planet & I was determined if I had the opportunity I would seize upon it.

Our Mama & Baby were just hovering on the surface, not swimming in any particular direction. Just there. We motored very slowly & quietly until about 200 feet close. Then Scott cut the engine & rowed closer. (Good thing we put those rib bruising paddles back onboard!) At about 100 feet I quietly slipped in the water. I tried to swim as quietly as possible. The sky was still cloudy & it was about 5 pm so not good visibility. I could not see them underwater & kept kicking closer. Suddenly I saw the white belly & underside flukes of the juvenile. It was vertical in the water & obviously going for a jump. I raised my head briefly to see it jump, (body half out of the water) then quickly looked underwater through my mask again to see the freight train swim by. Mama was a big girl! At least 40-50 feet long & she was in a hurry. What a thrill! I was in the water with whales!!! Since they were not so keen with my presence on first glance I climbed back in the dinghy & we just hung back & watched them from a distance. Wow! Such a high!!! I have pet a baby whale & now I have swam, however brief, with a Baby & Mama. We continued to see them on the surface, spouting & the occasional tail until the sunset & it was too dark to see. We are hoping they adopt this cove as home so we may have another chance to get more acquainted.

You know the expression \”Now I can die happy\”? I want to first reassure you that I have no intention of dying out here & fully plan on living to be a ripe old age & be able to have tea parties back on land. Besides, I promised Skye that I would not die on the boat & would be an active Grandma to her future children. But I have such a sense of fulfillment, satisfaction, peace, even elevation – high on nature & all the wonders that it is bestowing upon us. I am humbled, awed, filled with joy, gratitude & amazement. What a privilege to be here. Yes, this year in Mexico had its hard times, but we are being amply rewarded by these islands – the Mexican Galapagos. I cannot imagine that the real Galapagos can give us this many fantastic encounters with marine life or other animals. We do not take any of it for granted. We are thrilled beyond belief & let out whoops & hollers when we reviewed the 5 second video that Scott captured of me in the water with the Baby jumping just in front of me. That will make the website, I am sorry you have to wait for it.

Scott & Cindy

Dear F&F,
January 16, 2009

This is our 30th day in the Archipelago Islas Revillagigedo (Karen, you are adorable! No this is not an expression, but the name of the island group.) We are only visiting 2 of the 4.

It was nice to wake up in this very sweet anchorage. Great to see green hills. After putting the maximum air fill in 2 scuba tanks we zoom off in the dinghy in search of some of Terry\’s recommended sites. He made a typo on one of the coordinates that we\’d really hope to go to, showing it as 30 miles away, which is a mistake. Just last night on the radio he told us that it was only 250 yards; a very short ride from this anchorage. Oh well. Will try to clarify at next radio date. We have a hand-drawn map that Chuck & Linda had downloaded off the internet of the dive area called Punta Tosca. The commercial dive boats also said they go there. We scout for nearly an hour. About halfway from where the big boats anchor to the dive site. We see dolphins & 1 manta ray on the surface. They go deep when we try to slowly approach. Terry had told us the manta rays didn\’t seem as approachable here as in San Benedicto, but our hearts still flutter when we see one.

We decided to anchor the dinghy in 30 feet of water between the 2 rocky reefs that comprise Tosca. This area is referred to as Turtle Cove. One of the big attractions for divers at Socorro is sharks. We have our shark shields on & will leave them turned on. When we swim down to check our anchor we are surrounded by hundreds of colorful fish. Mostly pale yellow ones with 6 black stripes called Convict Tangs. Right away we saw an octopus out in the open. They usually like to hide in the rocks, especially in the daytime. It actually swam towards Scott\’s video camera, so we have some good footage. Also saw several lobsters out & about. Reminds me I have some meat in the fridge that Linda gave me – will make a good lunch. I am such a hypocrite. I wouldn\’t want to kill one myself, but will happily eat a lobster that someone else has killed. This philosophy caused me to be vegetarian from age 10-20. Now I admit my conflict & am happily omnivorous. Well, certain things I still would not eat. Like an octopus (They\’re too much like shy, playful puppies). But I digress�

The visibility was at least 50 feet in the shallow areas. We swim outside one of the reef points along a vertical wall & are looking out into the deep. This is potential shark territory. None seen today. We swam against a pretty strong current. Sometimes I had to pull myself along the wall hand over hand. On the return, we enjoyed drifting with the current – free ride! We returned to the shallower reef area and came upon a sandy cut. Five white tip sharks (4-5 1/2 feet long) swam all around & then zoom – were gone. Scott signaled me to turn off the shark shield. These kind of shark are hamsters, so no worries. We are not positive that they felt the impact of our shields but they may have. That is the first \”in field\” reaction we have been close enough to witness. And it was a maybe. They could have just been fraidy cats & got used to us later. Because we did see them again & Scott got some good video. Cool.

On the dinghy ride back we sighted a breeching whale in the distance. Later at sunset a couple more on the surface not too far, spouting & swimming. Very cool.

I cracked the lobster legs Linda shared with me (no claws like Maine lobsters). Chopped up the meat, mixed with mayo & minced onion; ate with wheat crackers. Yum! Scott declined this delicacy (more for me!) so I made him a turkey sandwich.

We had considered an afternoon dive, but I felt very low energy. We rested a bit after lunch then Scott took advantage of the time to install the propeller pitch locking rings. So even if (God forbid) we catch something else on the props in the future, it won\’t change the adjustment. He also did some other under boat maintenance. I stayed topside to fetch him the tools & parts he needed. I am so grateful that he does all the \”blue jobs\” with grace. He in turn is very appreciative of my assistance & encouragement. I made popcorn in the pressure cooker for the first time as a late afternoon snack. 1/3 cup oil, 1/2 cup popcorn bring unit to pressure, cook 1 minute. Release pressure, open lid, sprinkle with salt – Perfecto! I have only 4 bags of microwave type left & enough of the regular popcorn for 3 or 4 more batches, so that\’s a happy discovery. Another reason for this happy experiment is it reduces our trash. We don\’t throw anything over the side close to the island, so we have to stow all our refuse till we can give it to another boat or get to deep water. Plastic NEVER goes over the side.

We enjoyed a glass of wine with the sunset & are counting are blessings. This past month has been what we had in mind all along. Actually with the manta interaction, San Benedicto exceeded our wildest dreams of diving nirvana. Socorro is lovely & we have more places to go looking for sharks. Not just the white tip \”hamsters\”. Galapagos (average length 7-12 feet), Dusky (7-10 ft) & Silver Tip (5-10 ft) and Silky (4-7 ft) sharks are known to be here. They all have more girth & can really get your heart racing. They are not aggressive, just impressive to look at & we hope to have the opportunity to see & film them. We will keep are shields on around them & I am looking forward to more confirmation by field testing that these bullwhip looking things we swim with actually work. There are hammerheads here at Socorro too, it is always difficult to get close to them.

We are hoping to cross paths with the commercial dive boat Solmar V or Nautilus Explorer to get more information on the dive sites here. The paper chart we have on these islands is drawn from information collected in 1874. Our boat navigation chart is way off. It shows us anchored on land half the time. So few people come here, that there just hasn\’t been time & money put into updates. We are kicking ourselves for not doing more research on Google Earth when we had internet access. We\’ve looked at some of the satellite photos that Chuck downloaded & they give accurate GPS & views. We have made a note that we need to start making files of the Google Earth info for all the places we plan to go in the future. Since the advent of GPS (Global Position Systems), the charts have YET to catch up to their real positions. Often they are up to a few miles off. A bit disconcerting, but we have learned to adapt.

I am hoping to feel full of vim & vigor tomorrow. Although I certainly get plenty of rest, I do not always get that much good sleep. I keep telling myself I am not starving, but my awareness of our diminishing provisions is on my mind a lot. Telling you about my lobster dinner & lunch probably does not elicit any pity whatsoever! I have decided to take a full multivitamin instead of my usual half, just to cover the gaps. I\’ve also started adding a tablespoon or so of olive oil to whatever I can just to increase my caloric intake. Scott meanwhile is hoping to continue to shed pounds while we are out here having a more physical life style than in the marina or adjacent to land based food stores.

I\’m afraid we are getting a bit too brown. We may return to land life looking weathered but I will not regret having traded my fair skin for these outdoor adventures. Looking forward to tomorrow & embracing all the possibilities the new day will bring.

Scott & Cindy

Dear F&F,
January 15, 2009

When he dove to inspect the propellers this morning, Scott was happily surprised to find that the pitch had indeed changed on the starboard engine. He was shocked that something like a line or fishing net could do that. We never saw evidence of, but definitely snagged or hit something en route from Cabo to San Benedicto. I could hear the thump thump thump of something hitting the hull where I was in our cabin. Whatever it was, cleared when we backed down (went in reverse with the engines). Anyway, Bob our Mazatlan mechanic, had told Scott yesterday that he thought that was the most likely diagnosis & by golly he was right. Scott adjusted it to the correct pitch, we pulled up the anchor & went out for a test drive. All systems good! Full speed & full RPMs. What a relief!!! Scott is still semi-stunned that we dodged another bullet. That\’s the 3rd semi-catastrophic problem we\’ve had in a month that he was able to repair in the field. First the watermaker, then the generator, now the propeller. The best news is that this means that, as far as we know at the moment, we ARE NOT having a transmission problem & we can just hope that the repairs done in Mazatlan hold for a good long time.

It was an emotional roller coaster, especially rough on Scott. Maybe he will eventually learn that mentally envisioning \”the worst case scenario\” right off the bat is not such a great idea. All along I had envisioned a simple, easy fix & although I can take no credit for it, I do know that keeping more positive energy makes me feel better internally. The theory that one\’s energy can attract a positive (or negative) outcome from the universe is suspect. But we are always happy to get lucky!

We did not return to Navy Cove after our engine/propeller test. There is no reason to remain there. We radioed Chuck & Linda that we were going to continue up the west coast of the island to Punta Tosca which Terry & the dive boats had said was good for diving. Socorro is growing on us. Due to the red colored cliffs & green vegetation it is prettier, less stark topside than San Benedicto. \”Jacaranda\” up anchored just behind us & saw mantas along the coast. We have not yet seen a manta, but both boats have sighted whales.

We did a scouting trip to Tosca but the wind & swell made it too brisk to for a good anchorage, even for the day. We returned back to a sweet cove we had passed, there are a few palm trees on the beach & just enough room for our 2 boats to comfortably anchor. It is called Ensenada Grayson. Chuck & Linda traded sodas for lobster with some Mexican Navy divers in a panga. Navy or Navy family members, not sure. Friends of theirs here last year had told them of doing this. They generously offered to share. I will make rice. Such a deal.

So my friends, all is well again in the Islas Revillagigedos. We are breathing easier & hope to be breathing underwater soon. Lots to scout out & hopefully more GPS details from Terry during the radio chat at 6:00 pm. If all continues to go well, we will stay here 10-14 days then set sail for Zihuatenejo. There is prediction for a potentially strong easterly wind on Monday, but being 4 days away things can shift. Always looking to the weather.

Scott & Cindy