Friends for the New Year

A psychologist turned carpenter and a doctorate student in need of a holiday aptly describes the last couple of friends that joined us to bring in the New Year. But does it really? The depth and “breadth” of their wit and humour (yes the English blood shows I think) defy the rougher outward persona they portray to perfection. Albeit some alcohol was involved that led to more one liners and unplanned antics than I can recall, but our sides are still recovering from laughter. We still consumed the chocolate cake I stepped in and I’m sorry Rob but those pictures of the chorizo sausage will stay under lock and key. This entertainment made up for the cooler temperatures and overcast skies we had while exploring the islands north of the La Paz. We still managed many snorkels, a swim with sea lions, some beach exploration and great sailing to and from the islands. On the wildlife side (and here I exclude Homo sapiens), the highlight was the Magnificent Frigatebirds in San Gabriel starting to court, the males red pouches puffed to impress and much bill clacking between what appeared to be courting couples.



Devil Ray

Back in La Paz we had a couple of nights in Marina Palmira and caused quite the stir hanging our laundry out to dry. It seems we may have started a movement which I hope takes hold to drive some sense into the north American psyche. On one hand we were congratulated for doing so by Antipodean and European boaters, whilst murmurs of discontent were heard through the grapevine by the odd North American.

We hope everyone had fun over the New Year, best wishes for 2011 and thanks to Rob and Caroline for all the laughs.

We are now gearing up to leave Baja for the mainland and are pleased we took the time to explore the Gulf of California.

Festive Season in the Islands

View from the top of Isla San Francisco

Each morning we listen to the weather on the Ham Radio nets. We hear about low pressure hitting the BC coast back home, bringing cold and wet weather, while we have enough warmth here for snorkeling and hiking in shorts.
On Christmas Eve we anchored at Isla San Francisco and shared a sunset drink on the beach along with the crews of nine other boats also anchored in the bay. Then on the day “Sarah Jean II” hosted us for a holiday feast that couldn’t be beat: lobster, prawns (steak for Stephen) and lots of fun stories around the table.
Whether in a warm or cold climate, we hope everyone had a joyous, festive season this year!

Christmas Cruising Crowd Isla San Francisco

Full Lunar Winter Solstice Eclipse



View at 28 minutes after midnight

We spent most of the night of the solstice on the beach at Amortajada, on Isla San Jose. With hot rum in hand we were able to witness the moon gather a shadow and the stars multiply as the night grew darker. We went ashore to try and take photos of the event and we were glad that we did despite small biting insects! We had a short nap while the moon was completely dark and once we were satisfied that it was coming back, we made our way back to Narama. We watched the final stages of uncovering thru the hatch above our heads while we lay snuggled in our bunk onboard. The last time we watched a lunar eclipse was seven years ago – also from an island in Baja. Perhaps it’s prophetic that the celestial bodies have aligned again while we are here?



Eclipse Seen from Amortajada

South to Puerto Escondido

Narama flies her Spinnaker!

“I guess we should take the pole down before we catch a fish.” We had been running down wind with our jib poled out on our first day out of Santa Rosalia. The pole had barely touched the deck as we were about to round up behind Punto Chivato when we looked behind us and had a nice dinner-sized Yellowtail on the line. Oh its nice to be at sea again! We’ve had a lovely week or so making our way south in the Sea of Cortez. We hope that everyone has a wonderful Solstice and Christmas and a Happy New Year!

From the logbook:
Dec 10: “Sailed off the anchor with the mainsail. Then rigged and set the spinnaker for the first time in who knows how long. A light 10 knot NE breeze made for an easy sail south to Punto Mangles.”
From the Sketchbook:

Pair of Red-billed Tropicbirds.  We heard them calling before we saw them fly over-head.  NE San Marcos Island.

Santa Rosalia



Place names from our time in the Northern Sea of Cortez









Great Egret on the dock

On arrival in Santa Rosalia we were greeted at the marina by the statement that “the asylum is run by the inmates”. If they are crazy we didn’t see it, maybe we fit in there too, but what a great bunch of people. We are all eccentric in our own ways. Our two night planned stay turned into two weeks when we found out it was not too complicated or expensive to get your chain galvanized up in Mexicali. That’s a days bus ride away and I pondered where else you could send a wooden crate of chain weighing 105 kg on a bus! The transport cost was over twice the galvanizing, but we opted for speed (oh right we forgot we were in Mexico). We did get it back and a nice job was done. Our timing was impeccable as we arrived very salty the day water returned to the town after a 3 day drought, we enjoyed a wonderful thanksgiving meal at one of the “inmates” houses and sat out a few day 40+kn Northerly at anchor in the protection of the harbour without mishap. The bakery in town served as a pleasant distraction to the usual tortillas and we found more stove fuel for which we had run out and had reverted to the camping stove in the cockpit. Projects like covers for the kayak and jerry cans, sail maintenance, water pump bearing changes, varnishing and research for our puddle jump filled the rest of the two weeks rapidly. In town the old mining relics, museum, the church designed by Eiffel and brought out from Europe and of course the hot dog stand(maxed out at 3 with all the toppings) filled the local culture aspect of our visit. We were glad to spend the time there get to know everyone even a little bit, but also nice to be back on the road sailing out into the boisterous NWesterlies again.

Marina and Mining Relics in Santa Rosalia

Pilot Whale Vocals

In the deep waters around the San Lorenzo group in the Northern Gulf of California we have had a couple of fascinating encounters with pilot whales. Some of them swimming upside down checking out Narama's bottom and others vocalising.  The clip attached has the vocals of a group slowly travelling, the second sound bite is a different occasion when two groups met with far more excited calls.  The pictures are a mix of Pilot whales, Long-beaked common dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Whale Shark, Sperm whale and Bryde's whale.

For better picture quality use this link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyiFt50DFMQ

Water Works



Baja is dry! In fact in 7 months we've only seen a few drops of rain! We ponder how the austere looking big horn sheep copes and have marvelled at the myriad of cactii that thrive here. But what about us? As we don't have a water maker, we liken the boat to a camel, some friends term it "camping", we call it home. On the longer 2- 3 week jumps away from the supply of liquid gold, we have to be careful. Especially when there is more than two of us aboard, but we can live quite happily on 50L/person/week. So what do you get for that? ...... you get: a daily fresh water rinse under the solar shower; to do dishes in a bucket of salt water (mexican dish soap handles this well) and rinse with some fresh; exercise from using the hand pump as we don't have a pressurized system (that can be vulnerable to leaks and requires electricity); as much drinking and cooking water as you need and finally to wash clothes in salt water with a little rinse in fresh, but then, we aren't wearing to many layers these days and most washing waits till we are closer to a supply. For sea passages we cut the showers to a sponge down and cook with a little more seawater. This then lasts about 5 weeks for the two of us at 5L/person/day. Keep in mind the head (toilet) uses salt water and we get to swim at least once a day when anchoring.

Where do we get water? In La Paz the highly chlorinated water available at the marina must have cleaned us and our tanks nicely, in San Everisto there was a desalination plant for the village where we had our jerry cans fillled, in Puerto Escondido they had sweet spring water from the mountain range that rises abruptly behind it, and then on three occasions we have been genourously given a jerry can or two from cruisers with watermakers that enabled us to stay out a few extra days. All small towns will have a purifacador, "the local government subsidised watering hole" who will fill your jerry cans with reverse osmosis treated water and whose facilities are always spotless. 10 – 15 pesos gets you 20L. (about $1CAD). Or as in Guaymas and San Felipe, you call a water truck and lug the 20L containers up and down the dock to fill 300 odd L if we are empty.

So thats how water works here, we do enjoy the odd day at a marina to rinse the layers of salt that accumulates after spray dries and sticks over the weeks of sailing. Recently we arrived in Santa Rosalia on the day the water came back after a 3 day drought for the entire city.... apparantly due to internal politics, the city had not paid the water bill.....where did the money go is the question...??
So next time you turn on that tap..... be thankful :).