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Showing posts from 2014

Spending time around La Paz

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We had a lovely sail down to La Paz from Guaymas.  We made a few stops at some nice anchorages but we didn't go ashore as Malcolm has broken his foot again! Yep, last September he broke his left foot before we left Vancouver. It is his other foot this time!  He was working on some wiring in the ceiling in the boat and caught his foot when stepping down. The resulting crash broke a bone in his foot and now he has to keep weight off it for 6 weeks (3 more to go).  He started out with a regular cast but it didn't slow him down from working on various boat projects, so after 5 days it was falling apart. Now he has a nice sturdy boot for bashing around the boat and a pair of crutches for getting around off the boat. Malcolm steering the boat while keeping his foot raised We've had a lovely Christmas.  Both Heather and Zophia came down to visit! Heather waiting for Christmas dinner on Falcon VII Dina and Zophia enjoying the sunset from "the balcony"

Birds

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We've been seeing a number of birds around the boat and the marinas we've been to.  Here are some of our favourite photos. Brown Boobie hitching a ride We don't know what kind of bird this is Green Heron Great Blue Heron Osprey on top of our neighbours mast

Santa Rosalia to Loreto

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We'd seen some damage due to Hurricane Odile up in Bahia de Los Angeles, and were wondering how bad things might be in Santa Rosalia.  The whole town is in a large arroyo (gully) and we thought the flood damage might be severe. Luckily for the town, things were not that bad.  Some roof damage here and there, and some dock damage.  The worst damage seemed to be the museum (partial roof collapse) and the older marina with the wooden docks.  We found out that a couple of boats at the older marina broke loose of their lines and crashed through the docks.  Two months after the hurricane, one boat was still in a pretty bad situation.  In the photo you can see where the dock used to be. Wooden schooner still in the middle of the crash site Two friends from Vancouver, Mel and Pete, met us in Santa Rosalia.  They had flown into Loreto and taken a local bus to where we were.  The first day we started off with good wind and were sailing along right away.  In the afternoon we caught a

Bahia de Los Angeles

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We got as far north in the Sea of Cortez as Bahia de Los Angeles.  This is a pretty large bay which is quite popular with whale sharks ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark ) .  These are the largest fish in the world, they are sharks but they're slow moving filter feeders.  Malcolm and our friend Bill swam with one near La Paz last April.  In this bay we saw several of them right from our anchored boat, but they never came by when we were ready to jump in and swim with them.  We did catch one on video as it approached the boat and then swerved to avoid us. We went ashore to get some fresh groceries.  It was hot out, so we stopped at Guillermo’s restaurant for some beer on the patio and Internet access. The server asked if we were from that sailboat out there and Dina said we were.  He then asked us if we’d be able to take a sea horse with us and set it free.  Dina said we’d be happy to and the server left us with no further explanation.  We went inside to find out the

Beach bonfire and starry night

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At one bay we found lots of driftwood.  Since nobody was around to complain we gathered up a bunch and started a little bonfire. Getting the bonfire started It was a new moon that evening, so Malcolm was happy to be on a nice stable beach for some long-exposure photos.  They seemed to turn out okay! Bonfire under the stars (and a satellite and plane) Good as Gold anchored under the stars

Heading North in the Sea of Cortez

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Our friends Gary and Karina are sailing their boat to Mexico and plan to leave it in Guaymas next year, so they asked us if we wanted to drive their car down for them.  We jumped at the chance and ended up having a great time visiting some friends along the way and seeing some amazing scenery (road trip photos to follow). We also got to do some shopping along the way!  We arrived safe and sound, the car was fine but a bit dirty, the boat was also fine and quite dirty. Arrival - us, car, and boat all safe and sound Wine and cider from BevMo and Costco in Tuscon! After a few days getting ready we sailed up to San Carlos, which has lots of vacation properties and a problem with mice at the marina.  Dina sacrificed a plastic bottle for some mice-guards on the dock lines. Anchored by some vacation homes in San Carlos Mouse defense Lot's of people choose not to go north of San Carlos, probably due to the larger distances between anchorages and the limited amount of f

Toronto Highlight

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We hope Zophia and our friends are not offended, but the highlight of Toronto has to be “the cutest boy ever”. Hudson is an adorable two year old who loves short walks in the park and enjoys picture books. His parents are Mark and Val, two great friends of ours. Hudson reading in his lounge chair Mark and Hudson Cutest boy ever! Malcolm photo-bombing Hudson's selfie Hudson’s little sister Everley doesn’t talk much.  She has spent the last 5 weeks eating, sleeping and making dirty diapers. Like Hudson, Everley is also adorable. Everley staring at the camera Not sure what she's thinking Dina explaining something to Hudson (Everley is bored) It is very sad to say goodbye to everyone again, but it’s getting cold here and our boat is waiting for us.

Ontario – Friends, Family, Gin and Photography

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Back to Ontario, where we spent so many years... Zophia picked us up at the airport and we spent a LONG time in traffic as we headed out to Waterloo.  With her roommates gone for the summer, there was lots of room in her apartment for us.  It was great to see her, and it seems like she appreciated some grown-ups around who know how to cook.  Apparently she remembered the duck recipe as she claims she made it for a friend and the two of them have not been hospitalized.  Waterloo isn’t that far from Toronto, so we went back and forth a few times as did Zophia. We drove up to Wasaga Beach and visited with Pat and Ted. They used to live in Vancouver and have retired in Ontario. In addition to great food and catching up, they introduced us to Dillon’s Small Batch Distillery ( dillons.ca ). Our friend Michelle was kind enough to let us stay at her place in Toronto.  This meant doing more cooking and enjoying some awesome wine with her.  Michelle works in the wine industry and kn

Road trip down the length of Vancouver Island

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We left Haida Gwaii a little sooner than we wanted, but we’ll be back someday.  After taking the two ferry’s back to Port Hardy, we grabbed Gary and Karina’s car (Karina had driven up meet Sea Rover) and started to head south.  First stop was an interesting cave formation at Little Huson Caves. Water flowing under the natural bridge at Little Huson Caves Next stop was in Bamfield to meet our friend Jennifer and Campell on their boat Camdeboo ( http://www.camdeboo.ca/ ). They’d previously sailed Camdeboo to the South Pacific and back, and are now spending their sailing time around Vancouver Island.  We spent 4 days on Camdeboo exploring the Broken Group Islands.  The scenery was different than we’d seen on our trip so far. It was a lot more wind swept and the morning fog off the Pacific added an extra dimension to it all. Jennifer and Campbell made up some grand story about seeing lots of bears feeding along the shore.  We know they made it all up because we certainly didn’t se