10/05/2009, Singlar Marina, Santa Rosalia
Well it's been 6 weeks since we got here to Santa Rosalia, we had not planned on coming here but are glad and fortunate to be here and safe. Santa Rosalia is a small city, pop. 4,000, fishing and mining are the mainstay of the town. The French have been mining copper here for 150 years or more, 25 years ago they abandoned the copper mines, leaving mountains of tailing, a rusting foundry, and a church built by Eiffel of the tower fame. It is a city that grows on you as it is small and very friendly. People wave, smile, greet each other, and the occasional guest, because they seem to care. The language here is Spanish unlike so many of the other large places we seem to visit. A form of Spanglish is spoken well enough that it becomes easy to not work on language skills.
We are here not as a goal but as a rule, this is the way the wind took us. We had planned to go to San Carlos/Guaymas, Sonora on the mainland side of the Sea. Well we made an attempt early in the morning, 3am, only to hit some rather contrary seas. In the process of pounding into the waves the big mirror on the bulkhead came off and broke, now I don't know if it is 3 or 7 years bad luck, but we got it off almost immediately. It trashed the carpet so it had to go also. We tried again only to find it 'uncomfortable', so we 'hung a left' and went down wind to Santa Rosalia. It was a good sail downwind. We found moorage at Marina Singlar, new docks, pilings, and facilities. We decided to stay as the car and bike were in La Paz and we could take a bus to retrieve them. We needed to make a trip to San Diego to pick up repair parts for the watermaker and another charger/inverter as it quit. So a bus ride to La Paz was fun and the road trip back was good. When we got back to the boat we let all the other cruisers on the dock know we were going to San Diego on a parts run. If they had every thing boxed and paid for I would bring it back, no shopping and no chasing around. We left on a Thursday and it is a 2 day trip or 15 hrs. We stayed at El Rosario in a really nice hotel for $27.50 a night. We got to San Diego and stayed with old friends, Ken and Linda Morrow, and the party continues. Saturday I was checking email and was notified of a hurricane coming and the 'track' was headed directly for Santa Rosalia. Saturday was spent power shopping. Sunday, Cindy and Linda went to a flea market Linda sells some of her art work. Well on Sunday the storm track was straight for us. Time to head for the boat. Cindy got back at 6pm and we left at 7:30pm, now it is a rule to not drive at night in Baja. The roads are narrow there are no shoulders and the livestock come up on the road to eat grass along the edges. We made it back to the boat on Monday and the hurricane hit on Wednesday afternoon. I was extremely happy to be at a new marina, in a fairly protected harbor with cruisers that have been through a hurricane and are willing to help others. The wind reached to about 90 knots with rain. It blew so damn hard, it blew the fish right out of the water into the cockpit and that's no shit. (Actually there were two dead fish in the cockpit) We survived fine, the boat was not damaged at all, Cindy should be put on shore however, as she is so nervous she almost wore out the floor pacing.
We all threw a party at the marina lounge after the winds subsided a bit and we could untangle all the lines criss crossing on the dock. It was great.
When we left San Diego we had not done all our chores and picked up some of the stuff we had ordered so it was back to SD with yet another grocery list of; lines, fenders, pieces parts, and other misc. stuff. We have been across the border so many times we feel like illegal aliens.
We took the ferry across to San Carlos. We decided we wanted to have the jeep and motorcycle waiting for us once we hit San Carlos the end of October. The ferry is pretty rolly polly - so if there is any seas at all it's not much fun. The trip over was fine but the one coming back was a bit rolly. We stayed with Cindy's cousin Brad who has a house in San Carlos. We had a great time with him and Millie (his girlfriend). They have a new addition - an eight week old Chihuahua. She is the cutest little thing - full of energy.
We will be heading north to Bahia Los Angeles for a few weeks and across to the islands, then to Guaymas to haul the boat out. We should be driving back to the states the first week in Nov. for maybe 2 months with a return the 1st of Jan.
CHECK OUT THE ALBUMS FOR PICTURES
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08/25/2009, Santa Rosalie
Road Trip Time: We just got back from La Paz last night and will be leaving on Thursday for San Diego. We had a good time in La Paz visiting a few friends. We also stopped in Playa El Burro in Bahia Concepcion at Bertha's Restaurant. Bertha's has new owners as of three weeks ago - Allan and Ceila - plus they are still newlyweds. These guys are awesome - they take care of you and make you feel at home!! We met a group of guys from San Diego their one night. One of they guys we met, Sean, won the Baja 1000 race at least once and has been on the discovery channel. Remember the movie "A league of their own" - about a women's baseball team during WW11. Sean's mom was played by Rosie O'Donnell - how cool!! Anyway we all (not me) proceeded to have numerous shots of tequila. Needless to say Murray fell off his chair and proceeded to fall in the water while getting in the dinghy. Allan was awesome - he went out to the boat with us to make sure Murray got in okay and then I took him back to shore. Both Allan and Ceila and their daughter Coco were great. They were also there for us when we showed up the next morning for coffee and breakfast. I have included a picture of them. They have a lot of plans for Bertha's. They will be putting in a lounge for the cruisers to hang in; have laundry service, showers, games and lots of other goodies. Everyone needs to make a point of stopping by and meeting these guys. Also their coconut prawns are to die for!!
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08/20/2009, Marina Singular Santa Rosalia BCS
Well, we have made it to Santa Rosalia. We had really intended to go to San Carlos but the weather Gods disagreed. We need to move our vehicles from La Paz to San Carlos and it works out we have to take the Santa Rosalia / Guymas ferry. The story is actually rather funny. We wanted to take the La Paz / Topolobampo ferry but you have to temporarily import your vehicles. We spent 4 hours trying to do just that we had all the paperwork except a marriage license. It seems the Cherokee is registered in Cindy's name and the trailer and motorcycle in mine. Without a marriage license how would you know that every thing was lagit, other than the same last name, the same adress on the passports. Oh well we will take that nasty little tub of a ferry out of Santa Rosilia. I may have to drive up to San Diego for parts for the watermaker as it has quit working. And it is an absolute necessity, we probable drink at least a gallon of water each, per day along with the occasional beer. So we leave the boat tied here in Santa Rosalia and go on a road trip. Damn I wish the air conditioning worked on the Jeep. The fishing must be good as even I can catch fish, nice ones too. So far I have a dorado in the freezer and have landed a sierra, sea bass, trigger fish, and a bunch of jacks. All I have to do is drag a lure as we travel from place to place. It is getting HOT and the water isn't much help as it is 85 to 90 degrees, sometimes when I dive I can find an area that is a little cooler and I will linger there for a while. We have posted some more pictures, so check them out. Take care
Murray and Cindy
Thursday Aug 20
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08/11/2009, Loreto, BCS, MX
We have arrived at Puerto Escondito our first stop with internet and services. So far we have lost our inflatable dingy in Playa Pichelingue in an overnite thunder storm, which is going to really suck. The painter that was attached to the frount of the dingy broke in some high winds in the middle of the nite. By the time we discovered it, it was out to sea and gone. Now all we have to get ashore is the Porte a Bote which has to be disassembled or towed both of which is a pain in the ass. We have had some glorious down wind sailing. We were able to sail 38 miles under the spinnaker alone at over 6 knots. Next stop Puerto Ballandra on Isla Carmen and then on to San Juanico. LOL murraky and cindy
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08/05/2009, La Paz BCS Mexico
We are finally finished with most of the chores and are headed to the North
Sea of Cortez. We have installed the solar cells and the new refrigerator, freezer, and they have finished the cockpit enclosure. The bottom is clean and the sails are hanked. The only thing left to do is cut the dock lines. The weather has been hot and dry the sun, it's sunny every day and the breeze is mild. I have included a couple pictures of the boat and a couple of the best bartenders in La Paz, Barbra and Salvatore. Will write again when we hit an internet cafe.
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07/04/2009, Costa Baja, La Paz, BCS MX
We are back in La Paz after spending 7 busy weeks in the States. We went to Seattle, Sandpoint, Idaho, and San Luis Obispo for HS granduations and a visit with friends and family. Our trip went well and our return brought needed supplies and replacement/ upgrade parts. We replaced our refrigerator, it was 24 years old and added a separate freezer. 240 Watts of added solar cells, a additional water filter system as our current tank has a smell and taste we haven't been able to remove. We are currently working with Snug Harbor Sails on a new bimini cover and solar screens for the cockpit. Hopefully we will have them completed in a couple of weeks as the huricane season is well under way. If we were to sit out a storm in the South Sea, here in Costa Baja would be my first choice. Our intentions are to spend the summer in the North Sea
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