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!!

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!!

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....

Marilyn, Marti and Linda... tres hermanas!

sister Marti and Fred visiting in November...

Marilyn's daughter Amy, husband Jim and the three girls: Courtney, 14, Megan, 19 and Ashley 16. at Mare's, Prescott for Thanksgiving.

The Pattison Clan in July, San Diego's Balboa Park...a real Family tree!!

Linda and cruiser friend Lisa in Seattle.

Ardy and Marv from s/v Odyssey in Portland on a quest for the perfect beer.

Dave and Marili from s/v Tamara with Marv, Ardy and Linda watching the  Chimney Swifts in Portland.

so 

In Victoria on a Navy cruise to observe the Canadian's historic  Oriole sail on it's Diamond Jubilee celebration...

Jean Guy, Fran and Rosie at their home in Victoria; JG sailed on the Oriole "a hundred years ago"... LOL.

Happy Cristy and Tony, engaged.

Yeah, they did it! In Maui at the Grand Wailea's beach ceremony.

"First comes love, then comes marriage and here comes Mina in a baby carriage!" Due April 30th.

Linda observing the OR coast - love that place!

In SLT with former s/v Full Quiver's  Pam and Steve Lanin.

Linda at brother Lon's holding Justin's new baby, Henry. Yes it's a beer but Henry didn't get any....or did he?

Krista and nephew Chris with son Shane near Bend, OR.

Linda, a tree hugger....

Vancouver City visiting Elaine and Mark: Bill and Mark with his 18#.  fresh-caught salmon, fileted ! It was yummy!

Biill and the USS Missouri, Pearl Harbor

Lon's wife Linda, brother Lon and grand baby Henry(Justin's baby) in Eugene.

Amber and Chase visiting from Dallas, with Grandpa, July 4th, Sierra Vista.

That's all for now!

Summer!

There went the summer, almost.  We hosted a Mark Mulligan/Rob Mehl concert at the house in June as soon as we got back - barely had time to get the grass well and some summer plants potted!

Shortly after that, the grandkids arrived: Amber is now a lovely young lady at 12 and Chase is a great 8 year old. We did mostly local activities but managed a stop to see Cristy's new house 9with Tony) in Mesa, visited the Biosphere, did the Gaslight Theater in Tucson, some swimming and arts and crafts and a few movie nights with popcorn.  The summer rains started and we enjoyed the monsoons that cooled things off....but the July 4th park activities and  fireworks were damp. A picnic from the car was kinda fun!

July 5th-15th, we drove the kids to San Diego and dropped them off with their aunt.  Also while there, the enire Pattison clan appeared and we had a reunion 0 to include family photos in Balboa Park.  Vicky (Tori) and Lindsey surprised their kids, Amber and Chase, and flew from Dallas  in for the w/e.  Bill III (Stormy) and fiance, Cris, came in from Atlanta.  Tiffany and family also attended most of the activities and included Chanin with husband and baby (Tyler, our great grandson is almost 2) who all flew in from New York!  Rylie participated, as did Marty (Chanin #1) and her kids, Michael, Danial and Jamie - all still living with Marty.  whew.  Michael's GF helped take many of the family/group pictures.  Michael leaves soon to join the USMC, like his grandpa, uncle Bill and cousin Chanin before him. That's it - the whole fam damily!

We did make a boat/San Carlos run a few weeks ago to prep the boat for hurricane season - we'll be gone during some of the season (see below) and not able to respond as fast.  So the sails and canvas are down and all the deck "crap" stowed below. We have a great guy watching the boat - as he works on the engine.  Omar the diesel mechanic is such a super person and knows our boat well!

Not much home time this summer. Now we are planning Part 2 - which includes the Pacific NW road trip Aug 14 - Sep 18th.  Need to see family and cruiser friends and a few sights en route. Looks like 4000 miles!
Nice to have family, friends and  new cruiser friends to visit places like Las Vegas, South Lake Tahoe, Reno; Eugene, Portland and Terrebonne Oregon; Seattle, Vancouver BC and the island....and hoping for a little highway down the OR/CA coast. Glad we get pretty good gas mileage.

October is a trip to Hawaii for Cristy's wedding, Oct 21 in Maui. Then we hope to find a month to make a short boat trip (3-4 weeks) into the northern part of the Sea of Cortes. And be home for 3-4 weeks over Christmas.

Summer pics TF later....Linda and Bill

back in San Carlos

30-31 May 2012 Santa Rosalia to San Carlos

We had the fastest run ever across the sea!  We actually sailed about half the trip, with a beam wind and good seas.  There was a small heel back and forth - but Bill still called it a flat sea.   With 15-20 knots of wind about 0200, we  gave the motor a rest and sailed until we reached Algodones Bay and had to motor in to drop the sails and, eventually the anchor in the bay in front of the Soggy Peso. We also had a 3/4 moon until 0400 and very little other traffic noted via radar. As per usual, tho - and predicted - the winds kicked up to 25-30 knots all afternoon and evening.  So our plans to dinghy to shore were nixed. As was happy hour at the Soggy Peso and dinner aboard with Joan and Tom, boo hoo. We could hear music ashore as we missed the party.

The winds died down about 2100 and we slept well.  In the AM, we departed at 0700, in order to pull into Marina San Carlos - a 2 hour drive around the corner -  at high tide. We slood into slip A 16 about 0900 and settled in. Now for the task of cleaning up, stowing lines and sail gear, deciding what stays and what goes home *clothes, gally, linens, etc( and doing as much laundry here so not to have to take it home,

Joan and Tom met us at the Capt's Club as we were having lunch and we rode back to their house to get our car.  The battery tender we used worked great and the Venza started right up! Bill began making plans to meet up with Omar and other "workers" to do stuff on the boat. But we'll work days and rest nights (and sleep with a/c - yeah!), do a few things with Tom and Joan. There's pizza and concert movie at Capt's Club and a Full Moon Party at the Soggy Peso.

We'll drive home Tuesday, June 5th - prep for Mark Mulligan party at our house June 15th, the two youngest grandkids arrive June 26th, to San Diego July 6th for a mini-family reunion, some more guests in July, a northwest trip in late August (driving, 3 weeks) to see family and friends...and Cristy's wedding in Hawaii in October...whew...there goes the months!...and back to Tanque de Tiburon for a few visits between. Then we'll  cruise November, home December and back to the Baja in January. Hasta!

Linda and Bill