Hurricane Odile. Links to videos that show how a community can work together

It's amazing, when you set out on an adventure, it's so easy to not think about the negative things that can happen along the way. It's November 22nd, and there is still a few boats still beached. The whole fleet has been working hard to get the last few off, but what they've done so far is truly amazing.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzhHaF2ldjI  Beached boats rescued

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIQ1g_BFPFk  Odile's aftermath in the City

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbnzQkreYQc  Lovely memorial for our dear friend Gunter.

Baja Ha Ha party in La Paz

The Ha Ha arrived and we made some new friends, had some wonderful food, and entertainment provided by the local high schools. These kids were amazing and we could tell they were having so much fun! I cannot imagine high schoolers in the US having this much fun dancing.

And earlier that day we watched a parade celebrating the Revolution of 1910. El Dia De Revolucion. My favorite, as always is the dancing horses :)

It's now almost Halloween and we're still in La Paz, Mexico. We were hoping to be sailing around the Sea of Cortez by now, but I haven't had a delivery in months so the funds are low. Luckily Dominga has started to get canvas work in the past few weeks. We know that once the "seasonal cruisers" get here she will have more work than she can handle and the deliveries start up also. We hope to be sailing the "sea" with-in 6  to 8 weeks.
BTW, if anyone of our family or friends wants to spend their Christmas break in Mexico ( or any other time of the year), sailing the sea, let us know. We can comfortably take on 2 to 4 people (if 4, must be close family). The sea life is the best in the world and the fishing is out of this world. We want people to come down!!! We dream about it all the time. All you need to do is pay for your tickets and a little provisioning (cheaper than buying food in the states) and we can sail around beautiful anchorages for weeks, if you want. It's not a five star hotel but the sunsets and snorkeling are the best anywhere. It could be a great break from the winter blues.
Right now the days are in the low 90's and the nights in the low 70's. Around Christmas it's about 10 degrees colder than that. Almost perfect. We had dolphins giving birth 20 feet from our boat, yesterday and hundreds of fish jumping around our boat everyday. And, we hear, that the sea life just gets better in the next 5 months. Tickets from San Diego to La Paz can range from $70 to $150. And there are many great deals to get to San Diego, from almost anywhere in the U.S. Just drop us a email and we can make sure we are in La Paz when you get here. Only rules are:
1) Must be able to deal with two, overly happy, dogs.
2) Must be laid back and be ready to have fun at anytime of the day or night.
3) If we need to do an overnight passage, must stand a 2 hour watch.
4) Most important, MOST leave all the stress of the states at the airport!
We're serious about wanting family and/or friends come down and see this great place.

Dog Days

Mika & Bean Sailing back to La Paz

Mika & Bean

Mika, Bean and Star their best friend...besides James and I.

Mika, Bean & Star at Ballandra

Bean...Then and Now

At the Shack for the best food in La Paz with the beautiful Rosie! Owner and operator. Amazing food, you MUST eat here.

La Paz, Baja California Sur

The past few months have been very busy for us. James has completed two deliveries to California, one to San Francisco where he got to spend a few days with family, but not nearly enough time! and the second one he just finished in San Diego, due to poor weather windows they were not able to make it all the way to Humboldt county as originally planned. I was not complaining that he was home early…I'd only spent 4 days with him in the last two months.

We are currently in La Paz, anchored right off the Malecon. The weather is getting warmer every day. We've gotten to where all chores, and errands ashore are completed by 1pm, and we're back on the boat with fans blowing and all shades pulled for the afternoon sweat bath. 

Yesterday….no lets go back to Thursday the 24th. About 1pm a sudden wind picked up, blowing about 25 knots with gusts up to 38, causing the largest wind waves we've seen in the area. Two boats drug anchor, a large power boat and a white ketch. They had been anchored near the Magote, quite some ways from us on the Malecon, but after watching closely for a while, we realized we were directly in the path of the white ketch. We set out fenders, got out our poles so we could fend off, and started the engine, just in case. Just in case was the case. We had about 2 minutes to get Nomatia out of the way of the ketch who was headed for our bow with it's stern. We managed to steer Nomatia hard to port so the ketch did not get hung up on our anchor. We were lucky. Our friends anchored in front of us were in the path of the blue power boat, which did get hung up on their anchor, but they were able to float it with a fender an release the anchor. They sat the rest of the storm out on their back up anchor, and the blue power boat stayed put. The same day this occurred, we heard on the radio about another boat in San Everisto who was not lucky in any way. His boat was blown ashore, the keel broke off and the boat began to take on water. Though it's a 4 hour drive on roads that could wash away any time, a group from the fleet in La Paz drove to the assistance of this poor boater. (I do not have permission to use names of people or vessels) They were able to salvage a good deal off the boat, but not the boat itself. It made us feel good, knowing that there are people out here that will jump to assist at any time. 

Yesterday, we saw it coming. We pulled down the boom tent, secured all hatches and watched and waited. We got hit with gusts up to 38knots again, and rain coming down sideways. We stood in the cockpit anyway, watching for any wayward boats headed in our direction. Everyone in the fleet made it thru unscathed. The Thursday incidents had most of us on high alert, and honestly today I keep checking the sky, looking for hints of a storm. So far, it's a beautiful day.

Meet Bean! The newest member of Nomatia's crew.

Friojoles Negro, or Black Bean was found by two wonderful little girls in Guaymas two months ago, starving, flea ridden and very timid. After Mika started objecting to the few times we left her onboard when we had to re-provision, we decided it maybe time to find her a friend. So over the morning Net we heard about Bean. The people fostering him were not able to give him a forever home, but after 3 trial days, Mika, James and Dominga all decided he is a good fit. So...Welcome Home Bean!!

La Paz

It's now been 1 week and 1 day without James. He left on thursday the the 12th to deliver a boat from La Paz to San Francisco. He's a few days behind schedule right now, but they're doing good and should be back around the 4th of July. Paradise is not the same when the one you love to share it with is away, but Mika and I are keeping ourselves busy. I just finished a set of 5 hatch covers, and have been boat sitting for a dear friend, and feeding the gatos (kitties) on another friends boat...lots of dinghy-ing around!

Mornings are very pleasant, nice and cool, beautiful sunrises and dolphins swimming around the boat. Mika's taken to barking and growling when they get to close to the boat, hackles up and all. It's adorable. Between 2pm and 5pm is the hottest part of the day, we try to make sure all errands are completed by then and we're back on the boat relaxing in front of a fan. 

The sun sets around 8pm here, accompanied most days by the Coromuel (very strong winds) which cools things off nicely at night, making it easier to sleep. 

I've broken the rules, I never used to let the dog on the bed except saturday mornings when she's allowed up for a bit, but now, she thinks James' pillow is hers, and when I tell her it's bedtime, she goes right for the v-berth. Gonna have to do some re-training when he gets home. I'm very glad for her company though, it would be much harder without her here. 

Because the delivery came so quickly after we arrived her in La Paz, we've had very little time to explore. There's a beautiful beach on side of the anchorage where we've snorkled and collected some amazing seashells, and on the other side is the city, which is much larger than La Cruz, and I'm just starting to figure out the layout. Still haven't figured out the busses but I'd rather walk if it's not to far so the dog gets to go. When he get's back, he'll be leaving again a few days later for another delivery from La Paz to San Diego. I feel like it will be months before I get any real time with him...I hope I'm not to busy with canvas or sail work when he is home.

Well...that's where we're at now. Hope everyone reading this is doing fantastic. Be excellent to each other..and party on Dude.

Still in La Cruz

We have been in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico since February 9th. We had a wonderful visit from Cookie and Bill, James' parents.  We've been working pretty steadily for the past 2 months. We've done dinghy chaps for Wayne and Carol on Capricorn Cat, another set for Jean Marie, a set for Mel on Surrender and our last set of chaps was made for Eulalie and Eric on Elizabeth Jean. We made fitted v-berth sheets for Jane and Nigel on White cloud. We cut and trimmed a new jib for Sea Urchin and added reef points to their new sail. We restitched and added reinforcements to a boat cover for Kent on Nalu IV, as well as many small canvas repair jobs. We've met incredible people, new friends we hope to see much more of along the way. 

We attempted to leave La Cruz, but the auto pilot was not cooperating so we're still here. We had some more fun experiences though. We spent one very rocky and rolly night at Yelapa, getting a chance to hike to a waterfall and have lunch with our friends Jane and Nigel. We came back to La Cruz in the middle of the two week Easter Celebration which ended just as the local festivities began. A 9 day celebration of the Patron Saint of La Cruz…which happens to be a Cross….started with a bang, literally. We were subjected to loud fireworks morning, noon and night for 9 days in a row. Our poor dog got very little sleep. The town was filled with people, the beaches were packed and the little town square became a carnival with rides for the kids, booths selling everything from clothing to giant mugs of beer with tomato juice and topped with shrimp and jicama and chili sauce. James loved it. We played a few games, throwing rocks at beer bottles, the prize being a beer. And yesterday was Cinco De Mayo. We thought it would be a bigger deal, but it was pretty quiet all day. It must be a bigger deal in the States. 

Today (May 6) we're finishing up one more set of dingy chaps for friends we met miles ago in Turtle bay and caught up with here in La Cruz. We're hoping to get the boat bottom cleaned and attempt once more to head to La Paz.  We know we'll get there eventually!!

May 15th, we're leaving the La Cruz marina today with a fully stocked and wonderfully clean boat, we'll be anchoring at Punta Mita with hopes of sailing north on Sunday if the weather holds. Wish us luck on this second attempt!

La Cruz De Huanacaxtle

Where we are now. Very busy anchorage, about 60-70 boats here. When we take our dinghy back to the boat in the evening it looks like a City of boats, with all the anchorage lights lit up and the interior lights of the many boats, it makes us miss the quiet isolation of the other anchorages we've been to. But we are here to work, and we have found some. I just finished my first sail repair job, and James is working hard on finding me more. We did the work in an outdoor pavilion, and being so visible with such a nice sewing machine, we handed out lots of cards and have lined up several jobs for next week. YEAH!!! Still a bit broke, but kitty is gaining  some weight! We plan on staying here in "La Cruz" for a few months then we'll head up the Sea of Cortez.

lazy morning with Mika.

yeah, an iguana. awesome.

More photos to come! We'll be here for a while.

Bahia De Magdalena (AKA Mag Bay)

We had a bunch of pictures on our other camera that we lost the cord to so we were unable to upload them until now. We spent about a week in Bahia De Magdalena, it was amazingly beautiful and isolated with only a few other boats anchored out. We enjoyed some awesome hikes on the beach, into the hills and kayaking around the bay.

we spent hours at this little Dulceria, using the internet and making friends with the locals. 

This is how they "ferry" vehicles.

James took a panga ride to San Carlos for Diesel and some groceries. It was a very interesting trip for him.

Sea shells tossed way up on the beach by the last hurricane to go thru Bahia De Magdalena.

James with Mika and her new friends. These two dogs followed us everywhere and were waiting for us whenever we came ashore.