Happy Holidays from Windward Bound!!

LAZY SUSAN

As you may have noticed, we haven't updated our blog in a while. My apologies. While I wouldn't say that we've been lazy, exactly, we did manage to let our communications slide. We very much wanted to wish everyone a very happy holiday season, so it seemed like a good time to get back into the swing of writing the blog update more often. Here goes...

Windward Bound landed in Mazatlan in late October, and we hauled out there, having some engine maintenance done and applying a new coat of paint on the bottom. All went well, and Total Yacht Works did a great job, on time and on budget. YEAH!!

We had some time before our haul out, so we worked hard on cleaning the things that needed it while we had fresh water to work with. It's amazing how dirty everything gets in the summer up in the Sea of Cortez. Fresh water is such a luxury, that we utilize the time we spend at the dock cleaning everything we can think of. We did get a bit of varnish work done as well, even with the high humidity of Mazatlan.

For the past couple of years, we have hustled down from the Sea of Cortez as soon as the threat of hurricanes is past so we can meet up with our friends, John and Cheryl and family in Barra de Navidad. They bring their family down to Barra each year for Thanksgiving, and it's such a treat to see them that we move quickly to get here.

Well, this year the boat wasn't quite ready, so we took a bus from Mazatlan to Barra instead. The road trip was fun, and we got to see some of the countryside. Our friend, Joe, has a beautiful home on the canal in Barra, and he was generous and gracious to let us stay with him for the week that we were here.

Part of the deal was that we would cook Thanksgiving dinner. Joe has a wonderful kitchen, so it was a real treat. Some friends from another boat joined us, and as is typical, they pitched in, providing several of the dishes. It was a great meal, and lots of fun. We had leftovers for everyone, and enjoyed turkey dinners for the entire weekend.

Back to Mazatlan, and three days later we were ready to head south. Our passages were mostly uneventful, except for a couple of close encounters with Humpback whales. Enough to get your adrenaline going, but luckily no contact. We got to buddy boat part of the way with Ted aboard Harrier, and had a spectacular time in San Blas. Someday we'll tell you about the martinis.

We arrived in Barra several days ago, and have enjoyed the town immensely, as always. Restaurants are plentiful, and run the gamut from ridiculously cheap, to what we call "special occasion" places, and the food is very good at both. It turns out that this is Birthday Week here. Jim’s birthday was Monday, and there are four more celebrants among the cruising community before Christmas. Quite a lot of partying going on, over and above the usual holiday stuff.

On Christmas Day we will have a gathering of about 60 people off the various boat, coming together for a potluck. Someone who lives ashore here has offered to fry two turkeys, and we’ll have a gift exchange. Should be a lot of fun.

We miss our friends and family back home even more during the holidays, and hope that this holiday season is filled with wonderful times and great memories. Please take good care in your travels and enjoy the people close to you.

Much Love and Happy Holiday Wishes,

Susan & Jim

Windward Bound

Our Northernmost Destination This Summer

We spent the last two weeks traveling north to the northern tip of the large island, Isla Angel de la Guarda (Guardian Angel Island). The anchorages known as Puerto Refugio(N29*32, W113*33) are beautiful, and there is a lot to do up there, but conditions don't always permit us to stay long. Look up the coordinates on Google Earth. Fishing is wonderful, as is the snorkeling, and swimming with the sea lions is a real treat. We caught and shared several good sized yellowtail, and the trigger fish and calico bass were plentiful as well. We never needed to dip into our freezer for something for dinner. It sure helps our provisions last longer when we can supplement our diet with fresh fish.

The snorkeling is diverse and the water clarity quite good. The Sea of Cortez is home to many species of filter feeders (baleen whales and whale sharks, for example) and the organisms that attract these animals are so thick in the water that the visibility is often quite poor. The good news is that there are many places to snorkel that are shallow and very accessible. The down side is that sometimes you come across a whale shark quite by accident, and that can be a shock. The whale sharks in this area are 12-20 feet long, and though that is not large by whale shark standards, it is unnerving to meet up with one unexpectedly.



One afternoon we went out to the sea lion rookery and swam with the sea lions . We just dropped off the dinghy and waited until the curious sea lions came close to take a look at us. They are so beautiful and graceful in the water. There were some very young pups, and the bull sea lion was very protective of his harem as well as the newborns. When we came too close to the colony, the bull warned us very loudly, and then entered the water, swimming between us and the females and pups. It was frightening since he was huge and annoyed, but we were able to get back to the dinghies without incident.



The scenery is very dramatic and diverse, and there are many small bays to explore. However, the anchorages are not protected from north winds, and the tides are extreme this far north in the Sea of Cortez, so when strong winds are forecast, we usually head for another anchorage.



We are now back at the small village at Bahia de los Angeles(28*57, W113*33), where we will catch up on e-mails and gather the few provisions that we need. We will spend the next few weeks at some anchorages on our way south towards the town of Santa Rosalia. This is the time of year that we would like to move south quickly, but are always mindful of the possibility of a late season hurricane. The later storms are more prone to curving back towards Baja and the Sea of Cortez. We will stay within 30-40 miles of a good hurricane hole(N28*56, W113*27) or(N28*26, W112*52) and listen faithfully to the weather forecasts.


We look forward to posting another update on our travels when we once again have Internet access. We hope that you are all well and happy and enjoying the early fall weather. Hopefully the dreadful heat in the Southwest has diminished by now -- 113 degrees in Los Angeles - YIKES!!


Love to All,


Sue & Jim


NOTE: I have included GPS coordinates for some of the anchorages and hope that you will enjoy using Google Earth or another mapping program to view the places that we have stayed.

NOTE: Sorry folks, but the Internet connection here is pretty poor today. I was unable to attach any more photos. I'll add more when I get a better connection.

Summer Cruising in the Sea of Cortez

Greetings from Bahia de Los Angeles,



We have finally arrived at Bahia de Los Angeles, the northernmost point of our summer cruise. This is where we will stay until the danger of hurricanes is over, possibly in only 6 weeks or so. It has been a light year for Pacific hurricanes, and for that we are thankful. This is a really wonderful area to cruise. The water is cleaner and clearer than other places, there is much more wildlife (whales, sea lions, whale sharks, etc.) and the fishing is great! It is never boring, as there are easily two dozen anchorages to explore, each with different qualities. We listen faithfully to the weather forecasts on our single-sideband radio, and depending upon the predicted wind direction, we usually have several anchorages that will offer us protection from the prevailing winds. We are comfortable at anchor with fairly brisk winds, as long as we have no wave action.


To get a feel for where we are, look up the Bay of Los Angeles on Google Earth. Approximate coordinates are N28*57, W113*33. You will see that there are plenty of islands and interesting bays to explore. We will stay within 40 miles of our hurricane hole so we can run there if we need to. Knock on wood that we won’t have to. Three days ago the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. Right now it is in the high 80s with a nice breeze out of the north. This is the most comfortable weather we have ever had during the summer in the Sea. Usually it is so blessed hot that you can hardly think. And talk about sweating! Ick! Suffice it to say that this is a special treat.

An afternoon thunderstorm in the Bay of LA. Impressive and intimidating.

Whale sharks are pretty common in the BLA area. What a treat to get in the water with them!

 In the last blog, I mentioned briefly that we had replaced the refrigeration unit. It is still working fine and we are enjoying ice cubes every day. What a luxury! We were so very lucky that friends were willing to store our frozen food for several weeks. Otherwise we would have lost all of the food we had stocked up for the summer. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, until you realize that you can’t get some things this far north. (like decent steaks, italian sausage, thick cut pork chops, etc.)


For now, the frozen food will be a back-up for the fish we will catch. This is where we have the most luck fishing all year. Much of mainland Mexico’s waters have been all but fished out. The Sea of Cortez has been overfished as well, but it has rich ocean currents feeding it, and hopefully it will rebound. There are bait fish everywhere, and that is a good sign. We trail a line from the boat, and when at anchor, we get out almost every morning in the dinghy and troll for sierra mackeral, yellowtail, barracuda, triggerfish, and cabrilla bass. Dorado (Mahi Mahi) are a special treat, and usually caught off the big boat (though we did catch one off the dinghy last year – now that was exciting!!)


There are quite a few boats up here this year, many more than in the last two years. We had a party on shore for the people who run the daily radio “nets”, broadcasts on the single sideband radio that provide us with weather and anchorage information, as well as loosely keeping track of the boats cruising in Mexico. It was a fun party, with lots of great food and a lively dart tournament, complete with prizes. The next party will be on the day of the next full moon. We will gather at an anchorage where there is a lagoon that fills up when the tides are high. Just after high tide, we will go into the lagoon with floatation devices (cushions, floaty noodles, air mattresses, and anything else that floats) and ride the outgoing tide into the bay. Sounds corny, but it’s a lot of fun. And of course we’ll finish out the day with a potluck on the beach.

Potlucks are quite common when cruising. You always have to be ready to make something up for a crowd. Sometimes it’s just an afternoon get-together on someone’s boat, so it’s appetizers or chips and salsa, or dinner where we provide one or two dishes, and the host provides the other dishes. Then there are the big shindigs on the beach. The food is usually fantastic, and no one goes away hungry. To all of these events we bring our own plates, silverware, and beverages. It works out really well, since the effort is shared, and hosting duties are rotated. This is especially helpful since we are all moving around to different anchorages, and every boat moves at a different pace.


Well, that’s about it for our update. We should be back at BLA village in about two weeks, and will work on another update then. Just know that we are well and happy and enjoying this life. It would be wonderful to share it with you in person, so if you’d like to come visit, please contact us and we’ll figure out a way to make it work.


Much love,


Sue and Jim

Wedding Photos and Travel Plans

Hello to all,

Susan arrived back in Santa Rosalia, and we spent the week installing and testing our new refrigeration unit. We are now making ice cubes and are pretty proud of ourselves for intalling the refrigeration ourselves.

Today we will leave the marina and head out to the island nearby. Friends on Distant Shores have been storing our frozen food for a couple of week, so we'll meet up with them and put it back in our brand new freezer. Yeah!

After that, we will move north towards Bahia de los Angeles and spend the rest of the hurricane season there. We will have limited access to Internet, so I wanted to post some wedding photos before we leave.

Kelsey and Trent were married on her parents' farm. This is a 'before' look at the space we'll transform for the ceremony and reception.

We erected a 20' x 40' tent, with lots of help, especially since the wind decided to pick up just at that moment.

A little adjustment on the guy ropes, and we'll see if the tent will stand up to the wind...

Now it's starting to look like a party!

All of the flowers for the wedding came from Jim & Pam's garden. It was a beautiful variety and added lots of color, but were so special because they had grown them all themselves.

Again, there were many people who pitched in to help.

Like the flowers, much of the fresh food for the reception dinner was grown on the Dyer's Wool farm. It was hard to resist eating all of the beans right off the vine! And the cherry tomatoes were incredibly sweet.

The wedding day arrived, and we're all ready for the ceremony to begin.

Cue the bride and groom...

Kelsey, the bride's sister, makes her way to the arbor for the ceremony.

Kelsey is a beautiful bride, clearly happy that this day has arrived.

The father of the bride says a few words to begin the ceremony. Kelsey and Trent recited their own vows. The ceremony concluded with a reading from Dr. Seuss - "Oh, The Places You'll Go".

The bride and groom enjoy their first dance as husband and wife.

Kelsey with Jim & Pam. Proud parents.

The Dyer family. All in all, a great day!


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Well, I hope this gives you a taste for all the preparation and fun of Kelsey and Trent's wedding on the Dyer's Wool farm. It was truly a community effort, and the results were wonderful. I was very happy to be a part of it.

Best wishes to all.

Love,
Sue & Jim

Heading Back to Baja

Well, the wedding was wonderful, and we have the components for our refrigeration, so today I'll be taking the bus back to Santa Rosalia on the Baja. I will have some photos of Kelsey and Trent's wedding when I get back to the boat, and will post them this week.

Wish us luck on the install of the new refrigerations. It's supposed to be simple, but we'll see.

Hope you are all well and happy and enjoying the late summer weather.

More later.
Love,
Sue

Windward Bound - Underway

Santa Rosalia

Well, we are still in Santa Rosalia, about halfway up the inside of the Baja peninsula. Our refrigeration gave up the ghost (after about 25 years), so we'll order a new unit and pick it up in the US next week. Susan had planned to attend her niece's wedding in Colorado anyway, so the timing works out well.

Hopefully we'll be on our way north in two weeks. We try not to let things slow us down, but we couldn't go without refrigeration in the Sea of Cortez, especially in the summer.

The heat is bearable, but we just can't be out in the sun too much. We just sweat so much, and it doesn't take much activity to be drenched! There is a pool here, and that helps a lot, since we can't swim in the harbor. We also have dock power, so ALL of the fans are running most of the day. At anchor, we would be typically 5-10 degrees cooler, so we're looking forward to that.

We have a few projects, but only the ones that are critical or help us deal with the heat are getting done. It's just too hot. The rest of August and most of September will be the hottest times, so we have less than 8 weeks left of heat!

We hope that this post finds you well and happy and enjoying the summer, wherever you happen to be. Even with the heat, we are.

All the Best,
Susan & Jim

Finally - we publish a blog!!

Hello to all of our friends and family!!

This is our first stab at setting up a blog that will be easy to access for everyone and one that we will actually USE. Please let us know if you have any difficulties and/or suggestions. If it's not easy, none of us will use it, so let us know.

We are currently cruising in Mexico, and have been here almost three years now. We'll fill in with articles about past adventures and post some photos so you can get a feel for what we are doing and how we are living. Suffice it to say that it has been a great adventure for us, and we continue to learn something new every day.

But now I'd just like to actually post something to the web, so here we go...