Nopolo

La Familia Leon...residents of Nopolo Sur and always a welcome sight as we anchor off shore.

Yuvia. Gotta love the hat!

Stylin' sunglasses on Jacob who is just learning to walk.

The panga tied up just at shore...back from a trip to La Paz with Senor Leon (grandfather of the children) aboard...

Photos by Breton!

Los Gatos

Beautiful sunrises are better in Los Gatos. Such a lovely, lovely anchorage! Thanks for the memories, Breton!

Okay, what would you think if you were just sailing along in quiet seas, minding your own business when a whale spouts a couple hundred yards away? Exciting to see, right? A reminder that we are sharing this space with lots of other creatures, a humbling realization. Then what if this whale doesn't go away, but follows after you? Getting closer and closer to your stern each time it surfaces to spout? Are you a little nervous yet? We were. But it turns out (at least this is what we think...but, then, who are we to know what the whale was thinking?) the whale was curious about who we were...this large hulk silently slipping through the water in its territory. Once it determined we were 1) not food, 2) not a threat, and 3) not able to speak whale, it altered course and disappeared.

Puerto Escondido to Los Gatos

The stretch of Sea from Puerto Escondido to La Paz is filled with amazing creatures. Here we watched manta rays take flight again...can anyone tell us WHY they do that!?

We were fortunate to have a companion on this leg of our trip...Breton Shwartzenberger was hitching a ride south. He had just finished a stint with the NOLS program and was on his way home to Vermont. Yes, you can get to Vermont by sailing south along the Baja peninsula...you just have to know how.

Already an accomplished photographer, Breton put his camera to good use and shared his photos with us.

And how do you keep a sail filled when there is no wind? It takes an experienced sailor. Many thanks to Blue Moon for these shots of Odyssey!

San Quintin - Road Trip

For the past three years, we have driven down through Tucson, Nogales and Hermosillo to re-commission the boat and put her in the water. Marv did that before Thanksgiving, "sailed" Odyssey across to Santa Rosalia with Steve Terzian, flew back to San Carlos, then drove back to San Diego to join the family for the festivities.

So this year, we drove from San Diego, south on Mexican highway #1 on the Baja peninsula to pick up the boat in Santa Rosalia. The road was good, except for lots of bridge-building and construction south of Ensenada, and the (typical) narrow-to-non-existent shoulder the rest of the way.

We broke up the trip and spent the first night at El Molino Viejo (The Old Mill) in San Quintin. The motel is off the main highway, a couple of wash-board kilometers toward the ocean, but well worth the trip. Comfortable, welcoming, historically of note, we enjoyed our stay. Though we don't have photos, a performance of Christmas carols sung by a man with a wonderful tenor voice (and, when he asked, the audience sang with him) in the restaurant was a nice addition.

You can bring your boat all the way in from the Pacific, though most people who anchor in San Quintin do so outside this shallow tidal bay.

Flight back to San Carlos

Takeoff

Stephen Terzian helped take Odyssey across the Sea...an uneventful trip...flat water. Coming back, we opted for a quick flight rather than the ferry.

Isla Tortuga

From the air, you can understand why they named it Isla Tortuga.

Isla San Marcos

Stephen

 Tetas de Cabras

Back in the Water

Marv left San Diego and drove to San Carlos on his own. Ardy stayed back to play with the kids (and work on the book). The boat survived the summer well, a little dirt on deck, but clean and intact down below. Marina Seca San Carlos is a good place to store her. Marv moved her around the corner (really a 10-mile trip) to Marina Real for a few days to get ready for the crossing to Santa Rosalia. A 11 hour motorboat trip from San Carlos.

 

Play Ground Time

Near Miles and Claire's house is Froggy Park, aptly named for the dozens of concrete, ceramic, and brass frogs that live there. Claire's favorite spot is the swings..."Do you want to go up?" elicits a frantic stomping dance...a clear "yes!" in one-year-old Claire-speak.

Claire

Miles

Miles loves to climb and explore...and the playground is a great place to do that!

Start of the Baja Ha Ha

 No, we didn't take part. We just watched the start!

We're back in San Diego for a time with family and friends. Thanksgiving coming up, seeing the Bahaha-ers off on their journey, enjoying a few days of clouds or low marine moisture in the mornings, clearing to sunny afternoons. Even enough rain to warrant buying new boots for Miles...puddles need splashing in in San Diego, too.

Portland summer

Summer in Portland (well, Ridgefield, Washington in this case) cannot be beat. We drove north across the Columbia River to share a potluck with good friends Pete and Roseann Thomsen, Patsy Verhooven, Carolyn Martin, Susan Coulson and Tim Morris. Pete and Roseann have a small spread, part of an old homestead on rolling hills west of the Cascades. The view of four peaks (St. Helen's, Adams, Hood, and Jefferson), the menagerie of goats, chickens, cats, a dog and pony (er...horse), and ambling tortoise make for an idyllic place.

The tortoise tries to escape.

Foolish tortoise.


p.s. many thanks to Patsy for the photo!

Megan and Malcolm's Wedding

Malcolm and Megan at Mill Creek Gardens, Mill Creek bordered with wildflowers in the background.


Weddings in general are happy events. Megan and Malcolm's July 1st-4th wedding was spectacular! The "wedding" took place on July 3rd, but the celebrating went on for days! Guests started arriving Thursday July 1st, settling in and enjoying the ambiance of rural, stately Walla Walla, Washington, where wheat fields, wineries and Whitman College are standout attractions. Thursday and Friday were days of preparation: getting flowers, making pies, pruning and trimming lawns, even deciding what to wear to the big event!

There were lots of children and young families.

A few handstands from the Lincoln High School and Carleton College contingent.

A good deal of hugging went on.


As well as lots and lots of eating, talking, nodding off, laughing, and more eating. Did I mention eating?

The pies were a big hit...as someone said, serving up their third piece, "No one ever goes back for wedding cake!"



Formal thanks from the bride and groom to all who attended...and warm thoughts for those who couldn't make it but were there in spirit.

Back in Portland

Yes, we are back in Portland for the summer (once it shows up).

One of the projects was a  homebrew for Malcolm and Megan's wedding.  I brewed an Imperial IPA and a Ginger Wheat.  

Imperial IPA   O.G. 1.084

The hoppiness of a NW style IPA.  7.3% alcohol by volume

Nugget, Chinook and Cascade provide a hoppy bitterness while

bitter orange peel provides a hint of citrus. Dry hopped with Cascade hops.

Pulpito

Pulpito derives its name from the pulpit-like structure of rock, projecting high above the sea and visible for miles around. We anchored in 20 feet of water and rowed the dinghy into shore to climb to the top.

After a quarter mile of bushwhacking, we found the well-used trail that takes you safely to the summit. A grand view!
Back at sea level we checked out the vein of obsidian in the southern rock face of the point. The sand all around the pulpit is littered with bits and pieces of sharp, smooth obsidian, some the size of small soccer balls.

Mangles

We've sailed or motored by this anchorage a half dozen times during our time in the Sea of Cortez. This day it was calm, and we were in no hurry to get anywhere. So we stopped at Mangles.

The guide books tell you to check out the striated rock formations, so we put the kayaks in the water early in the morning and took advantage of the eastern sun to get some nice photos off the shoreline.
The water was still enough to be able to see the fish below our kayaks (nearly) as well as if we were snorkeling.

Los Coronados

The day after we hiked the Steinbeck Canyon, we left our mooring ball at Puerto Escondido Singlar and headed for Islas Coronados, a short motor-ride away. There was no wind, and we were invaded enroute by a swarm of bees. They tried to set up housekeeping under our solar panels, but we persuaded them to move on to a more hospitable place. They were hard to convince...it took three hours and, being underway, we didn't have the luxury of the usual cruiser strategy: "Close all the ports and hatches and go below until they leave of their own accord." The sunset at anchor off Islas Coronados was amazing. So was the sunrise next morning.

With Bill and Linda from Tanque de Tiburon we hiked to the top of the mountain and then snorkeled off the reef just north of our anchorage. I saw my first moray eel, a foot of its body projected out from its lair, mouth wide, searching for its reef fish dinner.

Canyon

Although this is probably not the place in which John Steinbeck hunted Big Horn sheep in 1940, it is often referred to as the "Steinbeck Canyon." Just across the road from the entrance to Puerto Escondido and an hour's climb into the Sierra de la Giganta, the view back to the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) is spectacular.


The hike is challenging, one spot taking you into, under, through, and up over huge boulders tumbled together by roaring flood waters through many years and many storms. A bat circled our heads as we wriggled through a cave, then we stepped steeply up the crack to the next level.

We were hiking with Don and Debbie from Buena Vista and Dave Wallace from AirOps. Each extra hiker motivates the rest of us to keep going.