Tanque de Tiburon

Thursday, February 21, 2013

San Carlos!

We started out the month of January hanging out with Bob and Donna, visiting from ND, and Tom and Joan in town. We made it to La Palapa for Mark's music a few times, stops at the Capt's Club for lunch and PM music and walking the beach south of Guaymas as well as Algodones Bay.

Joan and Donna and the rental house, Donna and Bob at the Cpt's Club and dancing.

Music at JJ's on the street....this is Manuelito's band! Bob and Donna enjoying!

A festive dinner at Tom and Joan's, still with Christmas cheer!

Mark at La Palapa Griega! And with a new singer....

The Algodones Bay beach near Pfaff's rental house.

Marina San Carlos - Tanque de Tiburon in the center, our bathroom sand dock area:

A trip eith Joan and Donna to Cochreta Beach souch of Guaynas after the flea market at Empalme:

Joan feeding the wild dogs!

so then end of San Carlos and on to new horizons....

After fun 3 weeks with friends in San Carlos, we headed out initially on January 22 with Bob and Donna aboard for a day sail. We had a great day, actually turned the engine off and sailed a little bit! Arriving around the corner, we dropped the anchor in Algodones Bay near their condo on the beach. The winds picked up by mid-afternoon when Bill was ready to dinghy them ashore so they had a wild ride in! We did notice a difficult biut of steering, though, and decided the next AM to pull into Marina Real and get it checked out. Took a few days, consult with a diver and Omar-the-engine-guy (our saint) and some parts but had a clogged artery in the steering cable. Did a Roto-rooter of sorts and it has worked well since. Whew.

Ok we are heading south until the mantequilla melts....

Bob the sailor!

Cheers! Happy sail day!

...and back to shore...bye bye Bob and Donna!

as the sun sets behind the Tetakawi's (um, Goat Tits)

Sailor Donna at the helm!

Linda and Donna...BFF along with all my other BFF's....

Hasta Lueago, San Carlos!!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Stuck in San Carlos...

Here we sit in San Carlos awaiting a weather window. So no news is good news. We decided not to beat ourselves up and wait for a good time to cross to the Baja. We have been cold - for San Carlos - many nights down to low 40's. Thankfully, our boat's diesel heater is working well!!

We've spent time with friends and seeing a few Mark Mulligan concerts locally...and eating out here and there. Bob and Donna from ND (they even thought it was too cold for Mexico!) have rented a house here for a month and are also enjoying the local cerveza/margaritas, sights and sounds of the city.

We should still arrive La Paz o/a February 7th. Palmira has our slip waiting for us. Hoping it warms up a lot by then - and further south.

Here's a pic from last year's haul out, if you are curious what we look like in a sling! 40,000 # of boat - pretty good sling! It honestly feels like watching your baby be born when they haul her out of the water. "Please don't drop her!" We will be hauling again in April as we found out we need a new boat survey for insurance purposes. Probably be back in San Carlos o/a April 1 for that.

Cristy's little girl is due to arrive EOM April, anyway - so be good to be closer to home! A short south season this year - if we ever get out! But we are hoping to sail again in June with Grandkids Daniel and Amber!!

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Let the Season Begin!

January 2013!

We are back on Tanque de Tiburon in the marina at San Carlos and just about ready to cross to the Baja. It's currently too windy for hardly a beer at the Soggy Peso bar with Joan and Tom as well as Bob and Donna - but we managed it, anyway. So we'll keep doing little projects and more socializing as we wait for a weather window to make the overnight crossing to Santa Rosalia again. We'll hope to have some time to make a few stops as we head south and enjoy some of our favorite anchorages. Our goal is to arrive La Paz o/a Feb 1, where we have a slip awaiting us for a few months at Palmira. We'll travel in and out of La Paz for a few months.

We have several events this spring to plan around. One is that Cristy's baby girl is due April 30th, in Mesa area. There is a baby shower Feb 16th also in PHX area that Linda will try to attend. No easy task as it will involve travel from La Paz to Guaymas (fly?) then drive to PHX and possibly a stop at the house coming and/or going. But Bill will likely stay with the boat in La Paz for that one.

The other big event we are planning on is grandson Michael's graduation from USMC boot camp at Camp Pendleton, San Diego on March 15th. This also might be a semi-complicated trip involving bus and fly.We are looking at a possible flight up from La Paz...perhaps into Tijuana then crossing to San Diego and stay a few days.

So you ask - why don't we just sail to these events, or at least back to San Carlos and then drive...? Well, since we move at 5 mph and must rely on weather assist, it takes too long and is unpredictable to arrive anyplace on time. Hence, we'll park the boat in Palmira and fly.

The big news from 2012 as Cristy and Tony's wedding in October in Maui as well as a fun 35-day trip to the PNW in August-September. The wedding was great, all went well. Due to the distance and cost, only 27 at the wedding but it was the dream beach wedding Cristy wanted. They are settling into work, new house and starting the family. We were able to visit briefly with s/v Moondance in Hawai'i, too. Bill and I enjoyed a full day touring the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor - Bill was thrilled to see the ship.

We visited Linda's cousin's in the Seattle area and saw several cruiser friends and had very enjoyable visits with Canadians s/v Gosling, Intrepid II and Kasasa in Victoria, friends Elaine and Mark in Vancouver, s/v Odyssey and Tamara in Portland and former s/v Full Quiver in South Lake Tahoe as well as s/v's Andiamo!'s Lisa in Seattle. We also had home visits by s/v Merlot - which is for sale. Fun to see everyone OFF their boats and around.

As we travel this season, we'll try to keep the Blog up a bit better. We hope we have solved and prevented any further, predictable boat problems and planning on smooth sails this year. Omar, the engine-magician, did a lot of work on the boat this past summer - along with the Omar-engine tweaks he does so well, so we have a new transmission, new bilge pump, new batteries and even a new tachometer! And some new canvas and a new back and fore stay replaced when we get to La Paz. Many parts aboard old Tanque!

In no particular order.....a few pic from 2012....