Puerto Escondido

Steinbeck Canyon our best hike in Mexico so far - truly spectacular.

Dad went to Switzerland again, and Chris is getting closer to his goal of wearing the same T shirt every day. Tough on his sister who rarely gets to wear hers! Gets a lot of comments, more who think he is some kind of first aid gurru than think he is Swiss.

It's Mid October!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well time is sure flying by, but we are still having fun.

We are back in Santa Rosalia, a small French colonial town on the Baja side of the sea of Cortez. It boasts a prefabricated steel framed church by Monsieur Eiffel. Also renowned among cruisers for its bacon wrapped hot dogs, but the satnd is shut every time we go by. Pepe makes great shrimp tacos though.

We have spent the last month in some remote Islands, really fabulous and getting cooler. We feel chilly snorkelling n 85° water after the summer 95°.

Done a lot of spear fishing, mostly for grouper which are fabulous eating. Since we don't have any refrigeration we like the medium sized ones which feed us all well for two meals. Steff got a recipe for fish sausage which makes a really good spicy pasta sauce!

The nice thing about the cooler weather is that it is fun to go hiking again, and we don't spend the whole day feeling whacked.

We had a break in Ontario for Steff's parents 50th wedding anniversary ( a little early) and Charlie went to Switzerland for a meeting. Welcome injection of green scenery, the desert burns your eyes after a while.Steffs parents enjoyed all eight grandchildren together for the first time. It was fun.

It is dry, hot and barren here but spectacular.

More soon, Charlie Steff and the teen monsters

In the Far North

Well it is  a while since our last entry.....

We are in San Felipe, close to the mouth of the Colorado and convenient fro San Diego, as Charlie is off to Suisse for a few days for the launch of the Sochi winter Games project.

The recent highlight was definitely swimming with this guy and his two buddies. They were really babies at 12-14ft (Whale sharks can reach 60ft) but still pretty impressive as they come out of the gloom. They circled the boat for about two hours until a nice man on a jetski scared them off.

It is hot, about 100°F/38°C most days and our comfort depends on the presence of a breeze. It sure encourages swimming which we do a lot of, snorkelling and spearfishing.

Heres Bill from Iron Maiden with his grandson Billy, with one of two Yellowtails they caught














And heres ours- but bigger than it looks and plenty of delicious eating for the four of us. We don't have any refrigeration so can't keep fish for more than a few hours.

Daddy is 50.

Old photo from Los Frailles in Jan?

Above Bonanza, Isla Espiritu Santu. Thats Adios III on its own on the right. I blew 45 knots and we were rock solid. The boats on the beach all drug except one as the sand was really granular off the beach. We felt very clever.

My dad always said that he was a well known fisherman and I was a sore dissapointmtent as I didn't like fishing or football. Well I ma catching up maybe as Chris is so keen. We have caught a numbe rof Dorados now - Delicious.

Coming out of Loreto the other day we caught a four foot plus shark. Pretty scary getting the hook out of its mouth, broke the ine in the end trying.

Well, we truly are failed bloggers. I watch Renovas blog and they make me cringe with incompetence. Sorry.

We are now leaving La Paz, today I hope, to head up into the sea for the summer. Glad to be out of here finally, though it is my favourite Mexican town so far, the people are really friendly.

I have helped a couple to put their boat on Dockwise which was fun, and helped another guy haul out. Time to get out before I get busy.

Watermaker is up and running, SO COOL to see that stream of fresh water whenever we run the motor. Makes about 18-20 gals an hour depending on water temp. We installed a cockpit shower to celebrate. Also changed the rear engine seal which was hot sweaty job and I STILL have a small drip from sowmhere.

Caught a nice Dorado the other day, but sadly didn't land it. Chris very excited about fishing prospects

Update

We are now in Puerto Escondido, just about to head back to La PAz slowly to pick up a few things.

We have been here about a week, enjoying the Loreto Fest, a cruisers event. We learnt some good fishing tips and ate some hot dogs. The highlight was definitely a hike up the "steinbeck Canyon" which was absolutely spectacular. Not a place to be caught in a storm however!

After another visit to La PAz we will head up into the sea of Cortez for the summer. Temperatures are still not too high, but we get the occasional day that warns us of what is coming. Definitely worth getting up and active early.

School is getting back into a regular rythmn after a bit of a break associated with being busy. Steff and the kids have spent a while at Spanish school in La Paz, and will do some final lessons on this visit.

Our watermaker should finally be working soon and some photos will follow.

Charlie went to the Vancouver Games.

Before I went to the Games I had seen one live hockey match. I saw about six Women,s games and Maybe ten men's games.



I watched the fils Bozetto win a Bronze in Snowboarding in the pouring rain.



I met some mounties.












Curling is cool.

I had never seen curling, live or on TV and I spent at least ten sessions at the venue.











I was probably the only person in Vancouver with access to the Gold medal Hockey game who didn't go. ( I would have only seen it on TV from behind the Ice and I was cream crackered)

I caught up with some old friends, saw my mum and filed my tax return.

I have never felt so Canadian.

Emily and Christo started to build their hydrophone. Basically just a small amplifier with a microphone that we can hang up to 25ft underwater. Just started soldering all the components onto the printed circuit board. Dad started a long lecture on how to solder and Emily just grabbed the iron and ripped right into it. "We did this LAST year at school dad" - roll eyes. Dad fairly impressed,

Some Photos

Flun Flun Flun (As Steff says after two (2) glasses of wine). Some days are just about maintenancce. This one was to take off the heat exchanger and take it to the Radiatore Man to be pressure tested (put it in a basin of the dirtiest water I have ever seen and then put an air hose in one end and a thumb in the other and look for bubbles). All new hose clamps, new zincs, some new hose and new coolant. A new radiator cap and we are running 10° cooler. All Happy now.

What Happened for two months!!!

Well in two days it is April the 1st.

We have been up to lots, just not blogging about it:)

Charlie went to Vancouver for a month to observe his project at the Vancouver Olympics. It was fantastic, but a bit of sleep deprivation was involved. Glad to get back to the boat for a few restful night passages. Filed a tax return and caught up with some friends. Even slid a round for a day on the white stuff - thankyou John.

Steff, Emily and Christo spent a week at a Spanish school in Yelapa, and then they did a road trip into the interior of Mexico to see Monarch butterflies and some colonial architecture.

We all got back to the boat for the begining of March, spent a few days at La Cruz on the North of Banderas By and then heade North again. A night at Chacala (One of our favourites) and then on to Mazatlan. A few days there, then a two night trip acros to the Baja again. Some good sailing , some motoring and some more good sailing to windward. Adios III does sail well.

Then we had three days at Playa Bonanza on the East side of Isla Espiritu Santu. Some snorkelling and hiking, but a lot of time on the boat as it blew 40+knots for two days. Two anchors out and lots of chain gave us restful nights but it was noisy and we didn't like to leave the boat much. Actually it was challenging to leave the boat. When it finally went down I snorkelled over the anchors and they were both buried out of sight!

A night in our old favourite spot of Caleta Lobos, where we had spent Christmas 2001 with Rick from Firewater, and now we are anchored in La Paz doing the famed "La Paz Waltz". It is a narrow channel with a significant tidal flow and the wind is often against the current. The result is that we all sail about at anchor in a seemingly random manner. Two boats a hundred feet apart will be facing in opposite directions. Quite entertaining if you have enough space.

Tomorrow we should go onto the dock and I will take the heat exchanger off the motor as it needs a repair. Steff is going to try and wade through the paper trail needed to get our FM3 visas which will allow us to stay for the year without having to leave the country every six months. Should challenge her rapidly improving Spanish.

The blog is under new management, so I will endeavour to keep it a bit more regular. Photos to follow tomorrow

February 1st, 2010

Where are we???

Well, today we are in Paradise Marina in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It rained here and that is amazing as it has not rained in Februrary since they began recording rainfall! We don't mind as it cools things off a bit!

November 10th - January 30th, 2010

Well we are not really natural bloggers. Sorry for the delay we will try to be more diligent in the future. Having read so many wonderful blogs out there I must confess to a wee bit of blog envy – interesting text neatly flowing around beautiful pictures, perfectly placed. (sigh)

Here is a quick catch up of our trip to date. Hopefully we can get some photos on soon. The slideshow is new and we'll change it every so often to highlight some of our adventures.

November 10^th – 16th, 2009 Morrow Bay - Catalina Harbour, Catalina Island

We left Morrow Bay under blue skies and calm seas. Otters escorted us out of the harbour and dolphins spent the first half an hour playing off the bow. Not a bad start considering there was no sign of the predicted 15-20 knots that we hoped would push us along. Instead we motored at 5.5 knots.

Point Conception was calm and we continued motoring through Santa Cruz Channel. We saw several whales in the distance and enjoyed the friendly antics of the dolphins off and on all morning.

1500hrs on November 11^th, tired of the noise, we put up the sails at the first puff of wind and managed to ghost along at 2-3 knots. Our only excitement was a batten that flew out of the main and luckily landed in the cockpit. Oops, someone didn’t tighten the screw in enough. Our course was a bit erratic as we struggled to keep the sails full but the positive side was that we would arrive at Catalina Harbour at dawn rather than the middle of the night.

We had no trouble entering the harbour and decided to catch one the mooring buoys for our stay. It is an interesting Island, very steep and rugged with spectacular views all around. We spent several days in the harbour and enjoyed the hiking, flying and dinghy sailing. Charlie was able to fly his Weasel on the hills surrounding Cat harbour several times while the kids and I hiked and explored. There are several little guest camps around the island which offer an escape from the mainland rat race. It was pretty quiet while we were there however the local grocery still had the basics.

We saw one of the famous wild bison on the island. According to the signs posted, the bison were left behind in the 1930’s by a movie maker. Since then the herd has grown and is now controlled at 150-200 head.

November 16^th,2009 - We liked the sound of White’s Cove so we motored around (2hrs), it also meant we had a shorter day to Newport harbour. Chris went snorkelling and saw lots of great fish. Charlie changed the zinc on the prop and boy did it need it!

November 17^th 2009 Catalina Island - Newport Beach CA

9am we left White’s Cove and headed for Newport Harbour for some boat jobs. No wind so we motored. Just outside the harbour we stopped to watch a sea plane land and take off again. What an amazing amount of energy to get off the water!

Newport was a great stop for water, fuel, groceries, and boat things. We tied to a mooring in C section which left us close to the outer beaches.

November 21^st 2009 Newport Beach - Dana Point

We headed to Dana Point today. Motoring again. Anchored in the West end of the bay between moorings G and F. Nice overnight stop but that’s about it.

November 22^nd, 2009 Dana Point - Mission Bay

We left Dana Point in the dark and motored to Mission Bay, just North of San Diego. There were big swells going into Mission Bay but we were fine. Watched a sport diving boat broach, he was lucky and pulled out of it just fine. Kids were impressed with the power of the waves. Great place for the sailing dinghy and just hanging out.

November 23^rd - Dec 16^th , 2009 San Diego

We moved on the La Playa anchorage at San Diego. We shuffled between there and the police dock for the next few weeks. We had some land time visiting Nik and Lee. Great fun helping them dig up there yard! We visited some of the galleries; Chris and Charlie visited the SEAL training and the aircraft carrier down town.

A tremendous windstorm came through, flipping dinghies, knocking down trees and a few boats broke free of their moorings and ended up on the beach. Very exciting for San Diego. We got more boat jobs done, caught up on school and generally had a nice time hanging out.

December 16th -17th San Diego - Ensenada, Mexico

We finally leave the USA! It felt great to be on the water again. We left San Diego about 13:30 Dec 16th and arrived in Ensenada around 8:00 am Dec 17th. We sailed most of the way at about 2-3 knots. Not very fast but at least we didn't have to listen to the motor. There were lots of shooting stars on the night watch and the usual dolphin show!

We anchored first and then moved into Bahia Naval Marina. Incredible surge, the boat moved all over the place while tied to the dock. Time to make some chaff protectors for the lines!

The first adventure was officially signing into the country: tourist visas, import for the boat, check in and out of the harbour - we'd forgotten the paper chase!! As with all things everything happenswith lots of patience and smiles. Why get frustrated, you learn to never go anywhere without a good book to read and no time frame.

We found a great little restaurant just opposite the fish market and enjoyed some delicious fish tacos. The kids love Mexico and both commented on how friendly and colourful it is! We wandered around the town for a little and then headed back to the boat. Next day we found our way to the museum, small but interesting, and then the art gallery. The photo exhibit at the gallery was the most interesting, it captured the variety and spontaneity of the Mexican people. All of us are excited about the months ahead in Mexico - learning spanish, visiting different places and eating different foods. It feels like our trip has just begun.

December 19th - 22nd Ensenada - Turtle Bay

We motor sailed most of the way to Turtle Bay which was a little dull to say the least. We anchored off the village and went ashore to organise fuel and water. They bring a panga to the boat with fuel which makes it easy. For the water, we flagged down the delivery guy who just happened to drive by in his truck. We bought a couple of jugs which we transferred to our jugs and carried back to the dinghy.

December 23rd - 25th Turtle Bay - Bahia St. Maria

We were really eager to get to one of our favourite stops, Bahia St Maria so we left Turtle Bay early and headed south. Caught a Sierra mackeral as we headed out of the anchorage and that seemed to herald good sailing as we were soon flying along at 6 knots. We were soon joined by dolphins and the show began as they leapt and dove around the boat.

Our next surprise was a tuna! Then another! We kept one and let the other go. Not a bad way to start off your day! During the night we had a terrific display of shooting stars - always exciting to see!

Christmas eve found us still at sea. The winds picked up and we were soon reefing sails to keep the boat balanced and under control. We raced along through the night only to find ourselves motoring by morning. We put out the fishing lines and caught a lovely yellowfin Tuna just as we were appraching Bahia St. Maria - fish for a belated Christmas dinner!!

As soon as the anchor was down the kids were in the water and swimming. The warm water felt great and we were lucky enough to share the anchorage with only a couple of other boats. Christmas was late this year as we enjoyed our stockings and fish dinner on the 26th rather than the 25th. Nobody seemed to mind though as the day was beautiful and the beach spectacular.

We spent a couple of days hiking, exploring the beach, and swimming. It really is an idyllic place - wild and remote. We found a whale skeleton on the beach, too bad we couldn't fit it on the boat!

December 27th - December 30th Bahia St. Maria - Cabo San Lucas - Los Frailies

Can you believe it rained as we headed into Cabo San Lucas!! We only spent a couple of hours in Cabo - we needed water and that was it. The anchorage was exposed and roly so we left in the early afternoon. The wind and seas picked up so it was a little bumpy to Los Frailies. It was dark by the time we anchored but it felt great to just put our heads down and sleep!

It continued to blow for the next few days so we stayed put. The hiking and snorkeling were fun and the fishing was good too. Actually, we were not so lucky fishing but out neighbors shared their catch with us!

The kids had to work hard to paddle the kayak to shore but it was worth it. Swimming and just hanging on the beach is not a bad way to spend the afternoon after a morning of school!

A little veggie truck comes by the campground so it was nice to buy a few fresh things to supplement our dinners. The fishing camp looked deserted and we didn't know if it was just he wrong season or if they had moved on.

January 3rd - 6th, 2010 Los Frailies - Mazatlan Harbour

January 7th - 21st, 2010 Mazatlan Harbour - El Cid Marina (Mazatlan)

January 22 nd- 25th, 2010 El Cid - Isla Isabella - Bay of Mantachuen (San Blas)

January 26th- 29th Bay of Mantachuen - Chacala

January 30th La Cruz anchorage

January 31st Paradise Marina