Friday November 4, 2011 Leaving Santa Rosalia

When we left Salinas on the 22nd, we fished our way down to Isla Danzante and Honeymoon Cove. No fish, but a pleasant trip. The 23rd we spent the day giving the boat a thorough cleaning in preparation for the arrival of our guests on the 25th. Then late in the afternoon we went into Puerto Escondido and anchored. Killing two birds with one stone, we went to the little restaurant, Portobello, at the Marina for drinks and dinner and internet connection. It was about as pleasant as could be, sitting on the deck overlooking the marina at sunset.

We finished up our boat work on the 24th in the morning. Earl had arranged for a rental car from Hertz at noon. Puerto Escondido is about thirty minutes from Loreto and shopping, so we always get a rental car. (The marina always calls Hertz, and we noticed at the airport the next day that there are other rental agencies - Eurocar, Fox and Thrifty among others, and we will check them out next time and see if the rates are better. ) We had lunch at Tio Lupe. It was good, but incredibly slow. Earl had an enormous fish soup - more like a stew actually. It included crab, lobster, clams, scallops, shrimp and fish. Very pleasant even if slow. We wandered around town looking for some specific items. I wanted a container to put by the stove with implements and finally found a couple that I liked. Then we tried to get some scuba masks to replace our leaking ones, but could not find any.

The man from Hertz had recommended that we drive to Constitution for groceries. It is a town of 60,000 and has much more to offer than Loreto which is a small town of about 10,000. We took off shortly after 7 am and had a beautiful drive through the mountains watching the sun slowly light up the wonderful rock formations around us. The road was excellent. As promised, Constitution was a good place to shop. We went to Leys and they had most everything we wanted. After that we stopped at another store that was more like a Costco with lots of canned goods, but not much in the way of fruits and vegetables which were our main goals. Finally we went into a Ferra Mar (marine store) and found some fins and masks. It was a good trip and one I think we will repeat if we are again in Loreto.

Then it was time to meet Howard and Louise at the airport. The Loreto airport is very modern and the temperature inside was lovely. Louise was a little taken aback by the heat when we left the building. I promised her good swimming so we hurried back to Puerto Escondito, picked up our anchor and headed for lovely Honeymoon Cove and warm clear water.

On the 26th, Earl started off early at 6:30 while the Esslingers slept in. There were winds forecasted for the next day and we wanted to get into a nice anchorage to spend a couple of days waiting for the weather to improve. We headed for San Juanico which is an excellent anchorage for north winds. We were there by lunch time. The water was 84 and perfect for swimming. Down came the dingy and kayaks for the next day.

The next day the promised wind had arrived. It was too windy to kayak or swim. The good news was that the winds had cooled things down lots so we were finally able to sleep without air conditioning. We were visited by a nice couple from the sailboat, AirOps, with not one but two schnauzers who came on board for a cup of coffee. Daisy was delighted to be the hostess and the dogs were all very well behaved. The couple keep their boat in Puerto Escondido. They told us lots of stories about local politics in there which were reminiscent of what happens in other small groups. The up shot was that the manager Connie who was well known among the cruising community was fired and things have since settled down.

Mary’s hobby is shells and she told us a great deal about where to find various shells and where to go clamming. One place we need to visit is the fish camp at Santo Domingo at the entrance to Bahia Concepcion Apparently there is a large pile of murex shells on the beach there.

We started north on the next day, the 28th, only to find it choppier than we had anticipated. We anchored behind Pulpito, a wonderful rock formation that is shaped like a church pulpit. We had never anchored there before and found it a wonderful shelter from the north wind. The downside was there was no beach to speak of and much of the land was fenced with barbed wire which we would have to climb through to explore, so we spent the day on board. There were two boats there, a largish motor boat and a sail boat. We never saw the occupants if any. Around lunch time, we were joined by 4 very small open sail boats, each with 4 people on board They came from the north and anchored with more or less skill. Eventually they swam to beach, climbed the rocks and made their way through the barbed wire and up the rock head land. We saw them come out on the top of Pulpito. I suspect it was an outward bound type of group. They entertained us.

The next day, Saturday, October 29th, we head for Conception. As is the way sometimes, we could not anchor in front of the fish camp to look for murex shells. The wind was up and from the wrong direction. So we motored on down to a very protected anchorage called Santispac. We had spend several days in a storm last year here and had good memories of a small beach restaurant, Ana’s.

It was time for dinner out. Around 5 we piled into the dingy and went in. The tide was out and we had to wade the last 20 feet to dry land. We were surprised at the large number of cars in front. As we walked in, it was clear that there was a Halloween party underway. We were greeted at the door by an extraordinarily slender and tall woman with long black hair and wearing a glittery one piece pants outfit with spaggeti straps- apparently Cher. Six foot legs and a twelve inch waist, and quite a dancer. A nice couple from a sailboat, the only other people not in costume, invited us to sit at their table. We sat there with our barbeque, margaritas and beer and enjoyed the show. There is apparently a good sized expat community in the area, presumably all retirees and they meet on Saturday nights at Ana’s and party. For many of them this was their first chance to see one another since returning south after the summer. There was a chunky lady dressed as Smokey the Bear who danced all night, frequently alone, with or without her shovel. Kermit the Frog had a long red tongue that he would snake out at one and a couple in Zorro outfits had several sword fights. Fred Flintstone and his wife showed up, as did the lady decorated with shells including clam shells boobs complete with smaller shells for nipples. Sadly none of us had a camera, so these pictures are in our memories only.

It was a wonderful evening and we stayed much longer than we had planned. It was dark when we left and we had no flashlight to help us find our dingy. Earl, miracle worker, found it, but then the bad thing happened. Louise walked into a large stone and badly hurt her foot. She had to spend most of the rest of our trip with her foot elevated and iced.

Sunday we headed north. We had promised Louise a chance to collect some shells so we stopped at Punta Chivato where the shells are so plentiful that they form drifts. Louise is a determined lady and even in pain she managed to make it. It is an overwhelming sight, but once again, no one had a camera. We filled bags with shells and Louise spent the next day sorting through them to determine which ones she would take back to Alaska.

We fished all day Monday as we headed north towards Isla San Marcos. All we got for our trouble were a couple of bonito which we had named Howard Fish after he caught ten of them on his last visit. We anchored on the south side of the island. There is a large gypsum mine on the island and the anchorage is reputed to be dusty but we found it perfectly pleasant and had our last swim that afternoon.

The next day, Tuesday November 1st, we headed into Santa Rosalia and tied up by noon. I took Howard for a short tour of the town and we picked up a little fresh fruit and eggs. It was terribly hot, and we had to stop for a cool cervesa. There was wind forecasted for Wednesday at noon. It arrived with a bang at about 10 am. Suddenly we had north winds that gusted up to forty. There were white caps in the harbor. It was crazy and lasted overnight.

We took Louise for a very short tour of the city by cab so she was able to see the steel church by Eiffel, but we really did not have the opportunity to show her the parts of the city that we love, like the panadaria and the fruitaria.

That night we invited a couple from the sailboat Isabella for drinks. Jane immediately sympathized with Louise. It turns out that she had a minor foot operation which lead to a mers c infection - a one in a million occurrence. She had seven operations, one of which she went into not knowing if she would have a foot since amputation was one of the possible outcomes. She contributed a ice pack for Louise to use on her trip north the next day.

Then it was Thursday the 3rd. We woke before dawn and walked the Esslingers to the bus station next door to the marina for the 7 am bus to Loreto. We would return at six to pick up the Scarboros - Joan and Clark- who were flying down on the plane that the Esslingers would take north.

Saturday, October 22, 2011 - in front of Loreto

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

On Monday we headed into a lovely anchorage on Isla Carmen across from Loreto. The water was clear and felt wonderful. Unfortunately we were quickly joined by a large number of honey bees. They were not aggressive. They were only interested in the freshwater on our back deck, but they were so numerous that we did not feel comfortable sharing space with them. So we headed south to Isla Danzante and lovely Honeymoon Cove.

There were a couple of other boats there but it was not crowded. We were on the south side of the anchorage and some distance from the others. Around sundown, a panga with three men on it came in and landed on the shore behind us. They poked around on the shore as if looking for something and then sat down on the beach in the dark. I have to admit that they spooked us a bit. We hauled up our dingy just in case they were planning on taking it. The next day we saw a big 80-90 foot blacked hull Mexican sport fishing yacht anchored in the bay below us. Earl thinks that perhaps the men in the panga were some type of security since it was probable that there was someone important on the boat. And of course, there are always drugs... Who knows.

The weather which has been incredibly humid seems suddenly to have changed for drier. While it is still hot, it is now quite pleasant. We are now enjoying sitting on the top in late afternoon.

Friday, October 21, 2011 Looking for fish around Isla Coronado

We are staying in the area of Loreto since our friends will be arriving there on the 25th. It is a nice cruising area, with Loreto somewhat protected by Isla Carmen and lovely anchorages from which to choose. An additional bonus is internet and telephone service is available over much of the area. I am stunned by the clarity of the water. We have seen the bottom as deep as forty feet below us.

Yesterday we cruised in the anchorage on the west side of Isla Coronado. After a wonderful swim, we took Daisy for a boat ride. She perches on the bow like a hood ornament and obviously loves it. There were a number of pelicans on the beach and as we approached she became increasingly excited. Finally when we were about 20 feet from shore in about 2 feet of water, she could stand it no longer and leaped off the boat. In the past she has only jumped off when she could hit the beach or very shallow water - about 6 feet. This time she had to swim for it. When she came up, she was off heading for shore, apparently untroubled, and intent on running off the pelicans. It was her first real swim. I hope we have not created a monster!

There were two sail boats anchored near us, the Juniata and the Windward Bound. We had met the Juniata up in Santa Rosalia and taken a great sunset photo of her. It is nice to meet old friends. Marsha and Dave from Juniata and their friends from the Windward Bound, Jim and Susan, came over for drinks. Both couples live aboard their boats and were on their way south after spending the summer in the Northern Sea. The Juniata will spend the winter in La Paz and then, after 4 years in the sea, will head back up the coast to the Northwest. They will miss the warm water but they are hungering for the shrimp and crab of the Northern Pacific. They are looking into marinas in Washington so we hope we will see them again up north.

Jim and Susan are also getting itchy feet. They have now spent four years here as well and Susan wants to explore further south. They will probably not go until next winter. It sounds as if there is a four year itch. It will probably hit us next winter.

We left Coronado around 10 am. We have circled the island and are headed down to the east side of Isla Carmen. Earl is putting his fishing gear to work, but so far we have had no luck since catching the two dorado a week ago.

Well, speak of the devil - I had no sooner written the above when Earl had a fish on. It was a good sized dorado. He fought like crazy and when Earl finally had him up to the boat, he slipped the hook. As they say, we had everything except the eating of him!

Saturday, October 22, 2011 - fishing off the east side of Carmen

By the time we anchored yesterday in front of Salinas, Earl had caught 3 dorado and was satisfied with his fishing. We anchored on the east side of Carmen in Bahia Salinas. Years past, there was a commercial salt operation there. The workers came over from Loreto and anchorage on the north side of the island at Bahia la Lancha. There are said to be giant salt crystals in the salt evaporation ponds and I was hoping to explore the ruins and see the salt crystals. As it happened, there was too much swell for us to take the dingy into the beach. I had a lovely swim and we had a pleasant evening on the deck listening to the radio and looking at stars. My exploration will have to wait for another visit.

Monday, October 17, 2011 near Loreto

Sunday, October 16, 2011 On the way to Candeleros Chico

Today is the end of our first week out, one we have spent remembering the old routines - like closing the port holes before getting underway- and sweating and swimming. It has been very warm and even a bit humid, although maybe the humidity is just what we are producing. During the day it gets into the 90’s outside and can hit 100 in the cabin. Earl and I don’t really agree on the use of air conditioning. I am of the less is more school. If it is in the 90’s outside, it seems that the mid 80’s inside is adequately cool. Earl thinks 72 is the right temperature inside, summer or winter although he can be talked into 76. I hate cold air blowing on me, he loves it. I have to admit that without it at night, at least to start, my pillow is wet as am I, so we have been leaving it on.

There are few people out. It is too bad for them, because the warm air brings warm water. It has been between 85 and 87 degrees and delicious. I think I could just live it it.

It has been a lazy week. The first day we went to our old standby anchorage Caleta Partita between Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partita. There was one boat when we arrived and later another came in. We were visited by a pangero looking for some D batteries which we were able to supply. He offered to bring us some fish the next morning in return but we told him we planned on leaving early. Then we had a wonderful dinner on the back deck - chicken breast sauted with mangos and salsa. That night we turned on the underwater lights which Earl had replaced. To Daisy’s delight, 6 pelicans appeared quickly, following by lots of tiny fish. Later the slightly larger fish came to feed and, a first, a small skate. It was what is called a mobula, about 1 foot in diameter. Its white belly was luminescent in the lights and we watched in wonder as it gracefully swept around behind us.

Pelicans on Parade

Tuesday we left Partita and headed for the lovely anchorage at Isla San Franscico called the Hook. We had it to ourselves until late afternoon which made bathing suits optional. It was so lovely, we decided to spend Wednesday there. I spent a good part of the day on the phone with Ocens, our satellite weather program people, trying to get the phone hooked up to our new computer. It took the better part of an hour, but with the help of Pedro in Seattle, we finally got there. (Now my next task will be to get the GPS and AIS hooked up. I think we need new ‘drivers’ and I will wait until tomorrow to call Maptech for help.)

On the way to the Hook

Early evening Wednesday after a lovely day, Earl decided to move to the other side of the island. He was concerned that the weather would give us a rocky night where we were but I think he just likes to move. Disaster! We started to roll around when we got into the new anchorage and I could not get all the stuff on the counter corralled at once. Just my luck, it was a full bottle of Yoy Soy, a sticky marinade with soy sauce, sesame seeds and sugar, that fell and spilled on the rug. What a mess to pick up! I was not pleased with Earl. This particularly piece of rug has been previously marinated by multiple glasses of red wine, and one entire bottle of sweet late harvest white wine. All things considered, it looks pretty good, but I wonder if in hard times it could be turned into s savory stew.

Thursday we headed north to Agua Verde, another favorite anchorage. Earl had the fishing gear out. Daisy had not forgotten how to fish. As always she heard the line running out of the reel before we did. We caught two dorado, one of which we released. They are really a lovely fish to see.

We had Agua Verde to ourselves and stayed two nights, spending our time sweating and swimming. Friday night Earl woke me to see a small bunch of mobula dancing in our lights. He is very frustrated that he has not really been able to photograph them adequately, but he did make a movie. I’ll see if I can post it. (Posting of the movie failed. I'll try again another time)

Saturday we left Agua Verde and headed east out into the sea around Isla Catalina looking for big fish. Nothing showed up. Finally at 3 we headed to Yellowstone Beach on the north side of Isla Monserrate and found paradise. We had been here before with Louise and Howard in the Spring. when we wandered around on the beach admiring the ochre colored rocks and the hundreds of shells shed by lobsters. This time as we anchored we saw thousands of colorful little sergeant majors swimming in the clear water. As Earl was dropping the anchor, I saw that we were drifting over a reef twenty feet below and told him to turn around and so as to drop the anchor over the sand. The anchored boat drifted over the reef and we found ourselves in an aquarium. We could see clearly to the reef 20 feet below us. Near the surface were hundreds of little yellow sergeant majors while large fish drifted below. In we went, like aged Adam and Eve in a marine garden of Eden. It was the best snorkeling that we have had in Mexico. It was a magical day!

Monday, October 17, 2011 - Heading north to the West side of Isla Carmen

We left Eden after marking it on our map so that we can return and headed for a little anchorage we had never visited before. Candeleros Chico is a tiny bay, big enough for one or two boats. Again the water was clear. At 30 feet we could see bottom. Sadly there was not the fish life we had seen at Monseratte. Nonetheless, it was a lovely spot and we actually had a delightful breeze in the evening which helped cool us off. For once, I was up before Earl this morning and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise through a break in the rock wall on our east. Now we are headed north where we will pick up the signal from Loreto and I will be able to post this. Then we will anchor and going swimming again.

Tuesday we left Partita and headed for the lovely anchorage at Isla San Franscico called the Hook. We had it to ourselves until late afternoon which made bathing suits optional. It was so lovely, we decided to spend Wednesday there. I spent a good part of the day on the phone with Ocens, our satellite weather program people, trying to get the phone hooked up to our new computer. It took the better part of an hour, but with the help of Pedro in Seattle, we finally got there. (Now my next task will be to get the GPS and AIS hooked up. I think we need new ‘drivers’ and I will wait until tomorrow to call Maptech for help.)

Early evening Wednesday after a lovely day, Earl decided to move to the other side of the island. He was concerned that the weather would give us a rocky night where we were but I think he just likes to move. Disaster! We started to roll around when we got into the new anchorage and I could not get all the stuff on the counter corralled at once. Just my luck, it was a full bottle of Yoy Soy, a sticky marinade with soy sauce, sesame seeds and sugar, that fell and spilled on the rug. What a mess to pick up! I was not pleased with Earl. This particularly piece of rug has been previously marinated by multiple glasses of red wine, and one entire bottle of sweet late harvest white wine. All things considered, it looks pretty good, but I wonder if in hard times it could be turned into s savory stew.

Thursday we headed north to Agua Verde, another favorite anchorage. Earl had the fishing gear out. Daisy had not forgotten how to fish. As always she heard the line running out of the reel before we did. We caught two dorado, one of which we released. They are really a lovely fish to see.

We had Agua Verde to ourselves and stayed two nights, spending our time sweating and swimming. Friday night Earl woke me to see a small bunch of mobula dancing in our lights. He is very frustrated that he has not really been able to photograph them adequately, but he did make a movie. I’ll see if I can post it.

Saturday we left Agua Verde and headed east out into the sea around Isla Catalina looking for big fish. Nothing showed up. Finally at 3 we headed to Yellowstone Beach on the north side of Isla Monserrate and found paradise. We had been here before with Louise and Howard in the Spring. when we wandered around on the beach admiring the ochre colored rocks and the hundreds of shells shed by lobsters. This time as we anchored we saw thousands of colorful little sergeant majors swimming in the clear water. As Earl was dropping the anchor, I saw that we were drifting over a reef twenty feet below and told him to turn around and so as to drop the anchor over the sand. The anchored boat drifted over the reef and we found ourselves in an aquarium. We could see clearly to the reef 20 feet below us. Near the surface were hundreds of little yellow sergeant majors while large fish drifted below. In we went, like aged Adam and Eve in a marine garden of Eden. It was the best snorkeling that we have had in Mexico. It was a magical day!

Monday, October 17, 2011 - Heading north to the West side of Isla Carmen

We left Eden after marking it on our map so that we can return and headed for a little anchorage we had never visited before. Candeleros Chico is a tiny bay, big enough for one or two boats. Again the water was clear. At 30 feet we could see bottom. Sadly there was not the fish life we had seen at Monseratte. Nonetheless, it was a lovely spot and we actually had a delightful breeze in the evening which helped cool us off. For once, I was up before Earl this morning and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise through a break in the rock wall on our east. Now we are headed north where we will pick up the signal from Loreto and I will be able to post this. Then we will anchor and going swimming again.

Monday, October 10, 2011 - leaving Costa Baja La Paz

We left beautiful La Paz at the beginning of June and headed off for what turned out to be a busy and wonderful summer. After a very brief stop in La Conner to rest the dog, and check on our house and some of ourfriends, we were off to Anchorage for a couple of months. We had a wonderful time with our three sons, two wonderful daughters in law and five grandchildren. The weather gods were with us. While it was rainy and cold in the Northwest, it was warm and sunny in Anchorage. Most nights found us eating on our back deck enjoying the long days and our flowers.

Of course the price of playing in Mexico for months was the pile of paper work waiting on our dining room table to welcome me home. You play, you pay! Eventually I got serious about tackling it and my study, but not until several weeks of guilt had past. Someday I will learn that it is better just to do something unpleasant and get it over with.

Meanwhile Earl kept himself busy upgrading our kitchen with a new stove etc. One thing lead to another, and we now have new fabric on the sofas in the adjoining room. It was a pretty expensive visit and Earl, who loves nothing better than spending money, was in heaven. The results are wonderful, but NO MAS!

Early August we took off for La Conner for a special family reunion. The cause was our grandson Justin’s wedding to a wonderful girl, Courtney Becker. We are all thrilled with this addition to our family and had a great time seeing so many of our children and grandchildren. The grandchildren, and even the greatgrand children, are all so grown up that it makes us realize time has been passing very quickly.

Then Earl and I were off to the East, stopping in Massachusetts to see family and catch up on the remodeling job from hell in Stockbridge, and then off to Finland to ‘visit the graves of the ancestors’. Earl’s grandfather Arvo Kari left Finland as a young man in 1905 - apparently after a fight with his father, He left behind eight younger brothers, and an older half brother and sister. (Then, as now, at least in our part of the family, the Karis had a hard time producing more than one girl per family. ) Earl had stayed somewhat in contact with a couple of the cousins who had visited the Northwest in the 1940’s and they met us at the airport. What a treat was in store for us! We found a large family of relatives who gave us an incredibly warm reception and took us under their wings. Armed with a family tree, I did my best to keep track of which cousins were descended from which brother. It was a novelty to see so many people that looked like Earl, many with same large ears, apparently a gift from his great grandmother Elizabeth. While everything was wonderful, especially meeting our cousins, perhaps one of the most memorable days was our trip to a beautiful cemetery in Hamina, near the Russian border, where Earl’s great grandmother and many of his great uncles are buried. We left our cousins with all the family addresses and invitations to all to come and visit. We hope that at least some of them will come.

We added a day trip to Estonia and a few days each in St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Copenhagen and New York before heading home to La Conner to recover. We love our house there and have many delightful companions to enjoy it with. But the Serenity was calling, so we are now in Mexico and off at last from the dock and into the Sea of Cortez We are planning on going north, hopefully as far as Bahia de los Angeles in the north. We will be lucky to have company much of the time, but today t is only the three of us heading for Espiritu Santo to anchor. It is hot and Daisy is collapsed on her rug. Earl is putting out the fishing lines.

Of course the price of playing in Mexico for months was the pile of paper work waiting on our dining room table to welcome me home. You play, you pay! Eventually I got serious about tackling it and my study, but not until several weeks of guilt had past. Someday I will learn that it is better just to do something unpleasant and get it over with.

Meanwhile Earl kept himself busy upgrading our kitchen with a new stove etc. One thing lead to another, and we now have new fabric on the sofas in the adjoining room. It was a pretty expensive visit and Earl, who loves nothing better than spending money, was in heaven. The results are wonderful, but NO MAS!

Early August we took off for La Conner for a special family reunion. The cause was our grandson Justin’s wedding to a wonderful girl, Courtney Becker. We are all thrilled with this addition to our family and had a great time seeing so many of our children and grandchildren. The grandchildren are all so grown up that it makes us realize time has been passing very quickly.

Then Earl and I were off to the East, stopping in Massachusetts to see family and catch up on the remodeling job from hell in Stockbridge, and then off to Finland to ‘visit the graves of the ancestors’. Earl’s grandfather Arvo Kari left Finland as a young man in 1905 - apparently after a fight with his father, He left behind eight younger brothers, and an older half brother and sister. (Then, as now, at least in our part of the family, the Karis had a hard time producing more than one girl per family. ) Earl had stayed somewhat in contact with a couple of the cousins who had visited the Northwest in the 1940’s and they met us at the airport. What a treat was in store for us! We found a large family of relatives who gave us an incredibly warm reception and took us under their wings. Armed with a family tree, I did my best to keep track of which cousins were descended from which brother. It was a novelty to see so many people that looked like Earl, many with same large ears, apparently a gift from his great grandmother Elizabeth. While everything was wonderful, especially meeting our cousins, perhaps one of the most memorable days was our trip to a beautiful cemetery in Hamina, near the Russian border, where Earl’s great grandmother and many of his great uncles are buried. We left our cousins with all the family addresses and invitations to all to come and visit. We hope that at least some of them will come.

We added a day trip to Estonia and a few days each in St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Copenhagen and New York before heading home to La Conner to recover. We love our house there and have many delightful companions to enjoy it with. But the Serenity was calling, so we are now in Mexico and off at last from the dock and into the Sea of Cortez We are planning on going north, hopefully as far as Bahia de los Angeles in the north. We will be lucky to have company much of the time, but today t is only the three of us heading for Espiritu Santo to anchor. It is hot and Daisy is collapsed on her rug. Earl is putting out the fishing lines.

The water is 86 degrees and it is gorgeous!

Monday, May 23, 2011 - Costa Baja, La Paz

We headed south from Bonanza, down through the Cerralvo Channel to the Bahia de los Muertos (aka by developers Bahia de los Suenos). It was a lovely day, and, finally after months of no luck, Earl caught a Dorado, saving me from having to figure out what we would have for dinner. We anchored in late afternoon in water that was just too inviting. I had my glass of wine in the water

We talked that night of spending a couple of days at Muertos or possibly going south, but early the next morning, the Captain pulled the anchor and we were on our way north, back up to Bonanza. It was a lovely day, but not a fish.

Then on Wednesday, Earl headed north again for an area called El Bajo where the fishing is supposed to be good. We were not alone. There were other boats, and, finally, bill fish jumping. Judging from the radio chatter, the fish were not biting, but we got bites and finally hooked a marlin. It was hooked behind the gills and put up a quite a fight. Earl had it up to the boat over and over and was exhausted by the time it finally got tangled on our stablizers and broke off. The only bad part of that was the loss of one of Earl’s favorite lures.

We anchored that night in the beautiful Hook at Isla San Francicso, this time off to the east behind the hook itself. We had only anchored there once before and had needed to move before the night was over. I guess it is a bad luck place for us. The wind was gusting 35 from the SW at 2am when Earl went up to check, blowing us toward the beach, and we had an uncomfortable 3 feet of water under us. Earl did not want to sand off the new bottom paint, so we picked up our anchor and moved to the other side of the island.

At first light, off we went again. We had agreed that this week was a fishing trip, and, finally, someone told the fish. Over the next three days we caught 5 more marlin and a sail fish, lost a bunch more, and caught a number of bonito. We also saw a number of sharks jumping. One of them jumped eight feet out of the water right in front of our bow. It was a dark color. We think it was a mako.

Fishing for these large bill fish turned out to be very much of a team effort. Daisy played a critical role. Her hearing is far better than ours, and she has learned to recognize the sound of the line being pulled off the reel and to let us know that there is a fish on. Then the circus starts! Earl is in charge of the back deck and the fishing rods. I am in charge of everything else and, at least in Earl’s mind, am to follow all of his directions which come hot and heavy.

These fish take out a lot of line fast and we have to chase after them. I have finally made a mental checklist for myself. Slow down the engine, take it out of gear, turn off the stablizers, turn off the radios so I can hear, shut the front doors so that I don’t need to worry about Daisy jumping overboard, and finally - this one seems to be hard for me - turn off the automatic pilot. (The boat does not react to the wheel if the pilot is on.) Then run after the fish, trying to keep the line 30- to 45 degrees off the bow. The boat reacts slowly, so I have learned to speed it up a little when changing direction. Importantly, I have to remember not to swear at Earl when he tells me to do something that I am already doing. In my free time, I need to take photos and get Earl into his fish fighting belt and life jacket.

These fish jump spectacularly! One of them actually “tail walked” about 50 yards. Unfortunately, this usually happens early on when I am too busy to try for photos.

We got better with practice. One day the seas were a little rough. It reminded me of gill netting in Cook Inlet. With the stablizers off, we rolled and everything seemed to end up on the floor. I had the boat in reverse and the water was breaking over the stern - just like Cook Inlet, except the temperature was quiet nice and we wore no rain gear.

Eventually, the fish tires and then comes the challenge of getting it off the hook and, more importantly, retrieving the lure Earl gets out on the swim step while I play the role of the assistant in an operating room - only it is gaff or pliers instead of scalpel. Daisy usually sneaks out as well trying to help. When it is all done, we collapse. One day we caught two fish before 10 am and had to go anchor up and rest for a few hours. What a wonderful adventure.

We have learned several things:

--Look for warmer water. The temperatures were between 78 and 85 degrees.

--If you don’t see any fish jumping, you probably won’t catch any - Duh

--Don’t bother buying lots of different types of lures. We have caught almost everything on the same type of lure called a Mexican Flag. (Ours are looking pretty chewed up.)

Then, it was time to come ‘home’ to Costa Baja. We will need to spend the next few days putting Serenity to bed for the summer and getting packed to go north. Since we came down in October we have gone 3,177 miles - Earl does like to travel.

We took on fuel before leaving on our fishing trip. It was expensive - $3.57 per gallon. Since we took on fuel in December, we had used 1,048 gallons. Assuming 1 gallon per hour for the generator, which we ran a lot, I computed that we used 1.7 gallons per hour and averaged 6.1 miles per hour.

Last night we met our new neighbors in the marina, Dave and Janet on the Cuervo. Janet brought their pet Lucy, an African Grey Parrot, over for visit this morning. She was darling and after she warmed up, she treated us to lots of her phrases and whistles.

Sunday, May 15, 2011 - Bahia Bonanza

I left La Paz and Earl on Thursday the 5th to head to Washington, D.C. for my cousin’s son’s wedding. Having left on the 7 am bus from La Paz to Cabo airport, I wasted no time dropping into bed at the hotel when I arrived at midnight. My sister, Marie Noel was most;y asleep so we kept the talk to a minimum. Friday we spent a nice day with my cousin helping around her house a little and then having dinner. It was wonderful to see extended family for happy reason rather than the usual funeral. As my cousin is crazy about her new daughter-in-law, it was a very happy occasion.

The wedding was Saturday afternoon, with a reception at the Decatur House near the White House. We all gathered in front of the White House for a wedding photo, close to groups protesting everything you can imagine. Marie Noel and I were quite festive! I had brought two of the extraordinary bows like the ones I had given Bella as presents for two little girls in the Berkshires. Marie Noel pointed out the they would go with our outfits and that the royal wedding the week before had made “fascinators” all the rage. We were the pink bow ladies and those who did not know better assumed we were Annie’s English cousins.

While I went north with Marie Noel to Boston and Stockbridge and then down to New York with my sister Cricket, Earl was busy with Serenity. He had her taken out of the water. Her bottom was scrubbed and sanded and given two coats of paint. She was back in her slip ready to go when I arrived back on the 13th. Earl gave me a day to catch my breath and get fresh fruit and vegetables, and then we took off this morning.

We stopped at the fuel dock and got 1,650 liters of fuel. I’ll report on cost and usage next time after I do the math.

The we took off for a final fishing trip before we head back to Anchorage. Sure enough, now that we have no guests on board with fishing licenses, we actually caught some fish. They were black skip jacks, not a fish we wanted to keep, but we caught a total of five and enjoyed it. We ran about 10 or 15 miles east of Isla Espiritu Santo. The water was an extraordinary color of blue and its temperature actually hit 80. To Daisy’s delight, we had multiple encounters with big bottle nosed dolphins and we saw on marlin jumping. I am sure that the cooler water is what caused the lack of sea life we have generally had over the past few months. Hopefully, the higher temperatures bode well for the rest of our trip.

We anchored in 14 feet of water off Bahia Bonanza in 76 degree clear water. We went for a lovely swim, and, since we had no neighbors, did not bother with swim suits. Earl said I could take a photo of him basking in the water for the blog, but when I got out of the water and looked at him, I was afraid the water was too clear and this is a G rated blog.