December
17, 2012 – Anchorage, Alaska
It is
now three days before the start of winter, although one would not know that by
looking outside our kitchen window, where the snow is piled high on the back
deck and over the Christmas lights strung around it. The sky is a beautiful clear blue, and the
temperature has warmed to minus 6 degrees.
With a warm cup of tea, Christmas music in the background and a fire
going, it seems far away from our fall cruising in the Sea of Cortez this year,
where the temperature was usually at least 90 degrees warmer than this.
I think
that the fall is perhaps the very best time to cruise the Sea. This year was a little different because
there has been a good deal of rain, at least by Baja standards. As a result, the hills were quite green,
instead of brown, and the air was somewhat humid. The real downside was that we found ourselves
pestered by flies and some mosquitos that had not been an issue in La Paz the
prior winters. The locals were happy to
have the moisture so there must be more pluses than minuses.
As we
had discovered last year, there are flocks of little yellow butterflies that
are found even way off shore. I don’t
know where they are the rest of the year, but it made us feel like old timers
to see them again and be able to say – oh yes, as usual in the fall.
The air
temperature in the early fall is higher than I like, especially during the
day. At the beginning of October it is
frequently in the high 90’s. By the time
we left in the first week of December, it had dropped into the 80’s during the
days and the 60’s at night, making for great sleeping. The wonderful thing, however, is the
water. Starting above 85 in October, it
was still just below 80 when we left and extraordinarily clear. I think we could always see the anchor. Swimming was something that we did multiply
times a day, and, if we were alone, we did not bother with suits. It was heaven. We are currently planning on bringing the
boat back north this summer, and I am having a hard time adjusting to losing
this aspect of Mexico.
This
year we did not have any specific plans to go anywhere. It was incredibly relaxed, even by our
standards. We spent time generally near
La Paz and explored some of the smaller coves that we had passed over in prior
years, but somehow did it with no sense of urgency. It was wonderful. There was lots of time for reading, knitting,
other handwork, kayaking, and just enjoying each other and any guests who
dropped by for a drink or to visit.
As
usual, we met wonderful people. One
young couple from Canada was planning to go off to the Pacific. They were darling and I was slightly envious
that we were not in their shoes. Another
cruising couple gifted us with 16,000+ eBooks.
I have finally figured out how to get them on my kindle and Earl’s iPad,
so we may never need to buy another book from kindle. The week before we left, we met up with Nina,
our Norwegian friend off the 27-foot sailboat Bika. They have spent 7 years on a sailboat with
‘limited amenities”. As Nina said, just
having no through hulls limits things a lot.
They have really mastered a simple way of life. They too are planning to head across the
Pacific where they plan to sell Bika and buy a larger sailboat in which they
will live when they return to Norway.
The
week before we left, we finally got to see the whale sharks that are frequently
found out in front of La Paz. These are
strange creatures. They are filter
feeders and very large. They grow up to
between 40 and 60 feet. Their mouths are
huge. For all their size, they are very
docile and many people swim in the water with them. We
admired them from the deck.
For now
we will bundle up and enjoy the North Country, our family and the holiday
season. How lucky we are! We return to Mexico around January 15th
and, in contrast to the fall, have a busy schedule planned. We will cross over to the Mainland in January
with the help of our friends, Joan and Clark Scarboro. Then come mid February we will be back on the
Baja to pickup our son Stuart and his wife in Loreto and cruise down to La
Paz. We will reverse the trip and return
to Loreto with friends from La Conner, and hopefully have a visit from old
friends, Jim and Jane from New York before another visit from our son Brian and
his family. Then, it will be time to figure
out when to go north back to the Puget Sound area. (Or not, if we change our minds).
