Pigeons and More

Both Mike and I have been sick - some sort of flu-y or cold type thing.  He had it first and just as he was getting better, I got it.  I just wanted to be well (or at least well on the mend) by New Years Eve and I think I will make it.  At least we got sick now and not just before leaving.  Of course, once we are underway we are not likely to get sick since you have to be exposed to other sick people in order to get that way yourself.

We discovered that in Mexico, Christmas Eve is a big celebration with people shooting off fireworks that cumulate at midnight.  Christmas day is quieter, but there were still lots of restaurants and shops open, especially since Christmas fell on a Saturday, which is one of the days the cruise ships dock for the day.  The Carnival cruise comes here every Wednesday and Saturday.  Those are big days for the merchants and restaurants here.  There are some other cruise ships that come less regularly, like Holland America and one other.  The sidewalk vendors are starting to recognize Mike and me and no longer try to get us to buy their stuff, they just say hello.  We are known in our favorite restaurants, and some of them now know automatically not to put cheese on any of my food.  One woman who works at our favorite breakfast place brought to our table the other morning tamales she made at home.  She had brought them for her coworkers and us.  None of the other restaurant patrons got any.  I felt really honored and special.  Mexican people have a way of making you feel special.  I think that is one of the reasons I like it here.

We are spending New Years Eve with some friends we have made down here, Margo and Tony.  They live in another marina in their Catalina 36 and we had dinner on their boat.  It is more homey than ours,  but truthfully interior design has been put on our back burner since there are plenty of more necessary things to do.   We all spent the day together on Monday, just having coffee and talking and walking around and I had a great time.  So we made plans to spend NYE together, and the first stop will be a casino.  Now, that is not our first choice by a longshot, but we are open minded and it should be fun, if for no other reason than it will be something new.  I haven't gone out and celebrated a New Year since 1999-2000. 

The work on Magda Jean is almost done, and were it not for the rain that is expected later tonight, we would be back in the water this weekend.  Oh well - I think we will be out of here and on our way south sometime this next week.  I hope so, anyway.  As much as I like it here, we need to move on.  I am tired of being cold (with apologies to anyone reading this who has snow and ice) and want to start wearing my shorts and bathing suit instead of my jeans and sweatshirts.  We are going to start preparing our charts for the trip south, and although our plan is to go straight to Bahia Tortuga (Turtle Bay) which is a three day trip, we will also set alternate routes along the coast so we could stop and anchor at night if we want to.  I also discovered two possible seasickness remedies from some other cruisers, so I plan to stock up just in case.  I usually don't get seasick, but I sure did coming down when the seas were rough.  I want to be able to pull my weight, and being seasick does nothing to further that goal.  There are so many sailing skills that I need to acquire, that I find it sort of overwhelming at times and I get scared I will not measure up.  Then all the work will fall on Mike, and that can't be sustained for any amount of time.  I am a terrible helmsman.  I can't hold the course to save my life.  I believe it will come with practice - to tell the truth, it took me a long time to learn to drive.  I even flunked the behind-the-wheel portion of drivers ed and had to take it a second time.  I think maybe I am starting to get the hang of it - famous last words! 

Anyway - that is what is happening to us these days.  I got Mike a nice hat with earflaps as his watch cap blew off his head on the way down.  This hat has ties under the chin so it won't blow away.  The number of hats, particularly  baseball-type caps that Mike has lost in the ocean is astonomical. I make fun of him about it.  A good present to get Mike will always be some sort of baseball type cap as he always needs new ones.

One very interesting thing has happened - I spotted a pigeon with pink markings on his otherwise white feathers.  I have seen many pigeons in my life, but never a pink one.  The pink is peptobismol pink, and he has a magenta racing stripe across his forehead.  I look for him every day because I know where he hangs out, and I have pictures.  If I ever learn how to post pictures on here, his will be one of the first.  I like pigeons anyway, and this one is spectacular.  Nothing like him in the States!      

Christmas Eve Eve

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  The town is decorated up real nicely - the palm trees have white lights strung around the trunks with green spotlight-type lights shining up under the fronds.  It is fun to paint here because everything is so colorful.  There are also creches everywhere you turn, and I like that.  I am as strong a supporter of separation of church and state as anyone could possibly be, but (with apologies to all the druids and such) without the whole Jesus-being-born-thing there would really be no Christmas as we know it today.  Obviously it has evolved into a cultural experience as well, with Santa and shopping and trees and all that, but isn't it kind of stupid to pretend it has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity?  It's not like nobody knows.     

We lost a week's worth of work because of all the rain, so we aren't likely to get out of here before the new year.  And because it is up on stilts in the shipyard, we have been staying in hotels.  Patience, patience.  This will not be the first time we are at the mercy of the weather.  Even had we been ready to leave, we would likely have been here anyway, waiting for a weather window.  A bunch of Canadians left today, because there is not supposed to be anymore rain until maybe Sunday.  I'd sure rather wait out a storm than be all wet and miserable at sea if it is avoidable.  By the way, the woodwork that has been done looks really good.  The wind generator appears to be working well, and we are dying to check out the new performance of the solar panels since Mike changed most of the connection points.  He did all the work while it was rainy and overcast, so we haven't been able to test it out.  But interestingly, it was showing some generation even while it was overcast.  We had not noticed this in the past.  So now we are eager to see how much it generates since the repairs once the sun comes out. 

Being as energy independent as possible is one of our biggest goals.  We can always charge our batteries by running the engine, or hooking up to shore power, or even using the gas generator we have on board.  But none of that makes us really independent, because of the reliance on diesel or gas.  We enjoy our creature comforts (like the refrigerator, the stereo, the computer, hot water,and so on), and some of those use a lot of power.  There are a number of people who sail without all that stuff, even some who sail around the world engineless, and while I admire that, I want things more comfortable.  At the same time, I am looking forward to long stretches at sea without being able to get more diesel or gas or some marina slip's shore power cord.  The solar and wind will be great when we are at sea or at anchor, the frequency of which I am really hoping with improve shortly!

It is sort of strange to be away from everyone during Christmas.  It isn't like I was always surrounded by family in past Christmases, but it is strange to be completely on our own, not even going back to work in a couple days to familiar faces or waiting for my son to come home from his father's house. He will be spending Christmas with his girlfriend and her family - he now celebrates almost all his solidays with them.  He needs to get a passport to come and see me - I have told him I will pay for it but he is not getting that done - is he trying to tell me something?  Now I really am ridiculous, ha ha ha.  I am not lonely here, but it is unsettling a bit. There have been so many changes this year, I almost wish I could take a couple days from my life just to take a breath and review the whole thing.  Less than six months ago I was employed with a house and a car and everything that goes with a so-called normal life. That is a lot of change to absorb. 

Just one last note about life here in Mexico - and the great food.  Last night I had quail in rose petel sauce - the recipe from Like Water For Chocolate.  I would not have minded dying at that moment, it was that good.  And just for the record:  hotels are nice but I miss my snug cozy boat!            

A Rainy Day In Mexico

So much for warm, sunny Mexico - at least that is what I heard some Canadians bitching about today. I could have told them the warm doesn't start here, but no one asked me.  But it rained all day today, rain I am sure the area could use.  I never mind when it rains, but I will admit I am not sorry to be staying in a hotel.   It is scary up there when the boat is "on the hard" and even more so when it is wet and slippery.

Since there is some wind accompanying this storm, we finally got to see the new wind generator in action.  It spun like crazy and we also got to see the amp gauge register it actually charging the batteries.  And since Mike reworked all the connections to the solar panels, it was actually showing about half an amp in this weather.  That is interesting because there is no sunshine.  We can hardly wait to see what a sunny, windy day will look like.  We are pretty sure our battery charging capabilities will be able to handle what we need vis-a-vis our power needs. 

Since it rained all day today and is supposed to rain for most of the week, they aren't going to do any work until maybe Thursday, when the weather is supposed to change.  You can't do varnish work in the rain.  So that means we will be here until Jan 4 or 5.  We spent the day watching movies and I did some painting.  I liked elements of each one of them, but none were really any good.  I am just glad to be using the stuff I learned in the workshop.  Until it stops raining, I plan to read, paint, write, and maybe go to the movies.  And get a pedicure and a facial.  There is plenty to do.  This will be my first Christmas as an expat.   



 

The best things in life

We have had a lot of interesting experiences since we have been here.  We aren't bored, and that is not only because we exhaust ourselves working on the boat.  By the way, the wind generator is installed and all we need now is wind.  We did some checking on the solar panels, and discovered that the panels themselves are putting out power nicely, but power is being lost as we traced wires back.  It doesn't seem like we will need new panels, only new wiring that we (Mike) can do ourselves (himself).

Last night we went to a Posada. For those that aren't familiar, it is a traditional Mexican celebration of when Mary and Joseph had trouble finding a place to stay and give birth.  Everyone gathered at this art center, and walked around with candles, singing about needing a place to stay and then being denied.  Finally, entrance is granted and there is a party.  There were tamales, posole, and different drinks.  One was a fruit concoction that tasted like a cross between hot cider and wassail.  There was no alcohol in that one.  Then there was this drink made out of almonds, or pecans, or coffee, or vanilla that was thick like eggnog and packed a wallop.  MIke bought a bottle of it.

There were pinatas as well.  Apparently, pinatas were frowned upon  by the Spanish missionaries as they represented the Aztec worship of the stars (the traditional shape of the pinata.)  But the people didn't want to give them up, so the missionaries changed it to a symbol of the devil, and the purpose of whacking it is to beat the devil down.  The pinata stars have seven arms, which represent the seven deadly sins.  The first pinata was for the children.  That was funny enough.  Then there was a second pinata.  We were just about to go when the master of ceremonies grabbed ME and had Me whack away at that thing blindfolded.  Apparently the second pinata is for the adults!  I whacked away at it and then horror of horrors - the stick flew out of my hands!  I am lucky it didn't hit anybody.  Every one started booing (in a good natured way of course).  It was a LOT of fun, and we attended the event with some of the new friends we have made here.
The next exciting thing was that I had ostrich for dinner one night - cooked with poached pears in a merlot reduction. ,  Delicious!  It was like thinly sliced beef, real tender and I can hardly wait to have it again!  We had that plus Mike had a huge steak and we had wonderful appetisers and soup and a fantastic bottle of a local cabernet and all for less than $75.00!  And that is by far the most expensive meal we have had here.  We eat most of our meals out (we always have, even in San Diego before we retired and all that) and our food bill has dropped to half if that.  And we eat well.

Another exciting thing was the singing cab driver.  We have been staying in hotels while the boat is out of the water.  We could stay on it like that, but you can't use water or the bathroom normally and it makes me nervous to climb up the ladder we have to use.  So hotels are it for now.  We chose one for a few days that is a little ways north of here, but right on the beach.  We enjoyed it a lot, listening to the surf break just outside the window.  We took the bus to town in the daytime, but took a cab home at night.  One night our driver told us about how he used to be a professional boxer, and now referees professional boxing matches.  He is also a songwriter and singer with a mariachi band.  As we were riding along, he serenaded us with a lovely rendition of "Mona Lisa".  Just another wonderful day in Mexico!

More about life In Mexico so far

After spending a few days back in San Diego tying up some loose ends, we are not back home in Mexico.  Mike is raring to get further south, but me not so much.  I like it here and am starting to make some friends.  But they are all heading south eventually as well, so we can stay friends. 

Yesterday Mike and I installed a wind generator.  We have to finish up that job today.  It wasn't easy - first we had to assemble the thing. Then Mike had to cut wires apart and solder them back together with this melting metal stuff made out of lead.  The interesting thing about that was the smell - I thought it would be a horrible chemical smell but it actually smelled sort of good.  But inhaling melting lead is a bad idea so I kept my distance. After he soldered the wires together he put this black tubing around the cut part and used this heat gun to shrink all the tubing so the wire connections are waterproof.  Then we had to run the wires from the unit itself on the stern rail all the way to the batteries. I figured out that if we took the ceiling off the inside of our bedroom, we could run the wires in existing holes. It worked out well and I was proud of myself for figuring it out.  I even got to put it back together again with the screws.  I usually don't get to actully do anything other than hand Mike tools and get yelled at for locating them too slowly! 

We also have to rework our solar panels to see if we can get more power out of them.  They are old, but not so old they shouldn't be working.  We think we can take all the electrical connections apart and work them over and things will work better. We (I) also want to go over the bilge again and make sure all is working properly so there will be no repeats of our last trip.  And so on. 

Tonight we are going to a posada - a traditional Mexican Christmas celebration. I am not sure what is involved, other than walking around with candles and singing.  That is actually good enough for me. 

Well, I have to go now.  Have a great rest of the week!    

Living in Ensenada

Well, we have been here for a few days now.  We arrived on the 30th, and spent that day clearing customs, getting something to eat, and then falling into bed at (I am not joking) 4:30 pm (3:30 for Mike) and slept through til Wednesday.  We then spent most of Wednesday cleaning up the boat after our harrowing sail down here, and then were in bed by something like 7 pm.  Thursday we worked on our bilge and the bilge pump to make sure there were no more problems and our theory about how the bilge filled in the first place was correct.  (We are sure it was correct.)  We strolled around a bit, had some food, and stayed up until after 8 pm!  I can't remember Friday - Saturday I made it to 9 pm.  We watched the Chargers game Sunday, had dinner, and finally we are keeping normal grown up hours.  At our age, it takes a while to recover from being up all night and being traumatized.

Now I must admit that after we dissected the trip down several times, we realized that but for the flood, the rest of it was handle-able.  The strong winds lasted only a few hours, and had I kept up on the barometer, theoretically we would have been aware some drama was about to occur and the sails would have been ready for it.  Things had actually begun to die down a bit by the time we discovered the flooded cabin, so without that, our story would not have been so, well, harrowing.  Not to get cocky, though.  There are still tons of mistakes we can make if we are not on top of things.  And me being sick was no help at all, although Mike said I toughed it out well.  He told me he was feeling pretty awful when he went below and was manning the manual bilge pump.  So it is nice that he understood and wasn't thinking I was being wimpy about anything.  I also recently discovered a remedy for seasickness - it is called sturgeron (not sturgeon!) and is not available in the US.  It has no side effects like the sleepiness one gets from dramamine, and better yet - you don't have to take it in advance - it is effective even after you start to feel crappy.  I don't normally get seasick and even if I do feel funny, I can usually cure it with ginger candy.  This time the ginger couldn't do its job because nothing was going to stay down at that point.  I am excited to try this stuff.

I learned about it from a fellow sailor we met when we attended the weekly meeting of the Ensenada Cruisers Yacht Club - a loose group of people who live here and who are passing through.  (I consider myself living here now because I have no home anywhere else.)  They were fun, interesting, and a font of knowlege.  One of them has an art studio here and is giving a workshop on watercolors, which I hope to attend.  Maybe I will finally learn to use those paints I bought properly! 

It is strange to be living like this.  I feel sort of like a helium balloon after some kid let go of the string.  I feel completely rootless, and it is taking some getting used to.  I called my son just to hear his voice - would that he was more of a phone talker, at least to me!  But he isn't, so the sound of his voice is about all I got.  (I am pretty sure he doesn't read this.)  It is also strange not to be working yet not having to worry about money too much.  I have had some sort of a job since I was 14 years old (earlier if you count babysitting) and I sort of feel like somehow everything can come crashing down at any moment.  I'd like to get to know some of the other cruising women better so I could talk about this stuff.  Mike is pretty good - we share a lot of these feelings - but nothing beats talking with another woman who knows where you are coming from.  My anxiety level is higher than I'd like it to be, but I guess no dramatic life change can happen without some discomfort.  I am still concerned about my blood sugar, as I am really worried about being diabetic.  It runs rampant on my mother's side of the family.  

We are going back to San Diego in a couple of days to take care of some loose ends, and to pick up some boat spares and other things we (Mike) decided we needed.  No argument from me.  After his masterful repair-while-underway of the recalcitrant bilge pump, he is my shipwright hero.  Anything he thinks we need, he can get.  We will take a bus up - there are several options, all pretty easy. 

I discovered a wonderful drink - they take clamato juice, zap it up with salt, pepper, worcestshire (I know this is spelled wrong), and a dash of tabasco sauce, and then they add real clams.  Its like a meal in a glass.  They do make them with vodka or something, but with the diabetes threat, I am staying away from alcohol til things are more under control and the numbers are better.  But I love clams, and this drink is heavenly with lots of protein due to the clams and vitamins from the clamato.  All without a lot of sugar as best as I can tell.  And since I have very little appetite these days, it keeps me going.   The loss of appetite is not a bad thing, since I desperately need to lose some weight.  That is one area that is going nicely - I have no access to a scale, but there is a dress that I couldn't even get zipped in September that now fits pretty well.  And of course the expensive pants I bought at the marine specialty shop are getting loose.  But that is all good stuff. 

Anyway - that is what is happening now.  The woman in one of our new favorite restaurants always gives me a Spanish lesson when we come in, and my Spanish gets better every day.  I get a lot of compliments from the people I talk to.  I like to speak Spanish, and at times, I am getting to the point it just comes out without having to translate everything in my head first.  My immediate goal is to learn to speak in more than just the present tense!  Adios amigos, hasta luego!             

The Revenge of Tempest

I am writing this from Ensenada, Mexico.  It is nice and peaceful here in the marina.  Things were not so nice, however, on the way down here.  Let me begin at the beginning . . .

We left San Diego on Monday, November 30, at three pm.  We had a nice motor out of the harbor, and then put the sails up.  We sailed along nicely for a couple of hours, and then the wind went all screwy.  It didn't exactly die down, but rather was coming from all different directions.  This made it extremely difficult to set the sails.  We basically drifted along with the current (which thankfully was going south, just the way we wanted to go), with the sails slatting around all over the place.  The seas also began to act up, causing big waves that battered the boat about in a very uncomfortable way.  I do not usually get seasick, but I did this time.  This was the situation from about seven pm until about one am, at which time the wind shifted to the east and began howling at about 20-30 knots.  This would not have been so bad had it not been for the mounting waves, which were reaching 10-12 feet.  I know that when I looked at Mike standing in the cockpit at the helm, the waves were as tall as he was and even taller.  We were surfing down waves at  9 to 9.5 knots, which is faster than we are supposed to be able to go. 

This part was actually pretty exhilerating.  It would have been more fun for me had I not been so sick.  Being seasick is more than just being sick to one's stomach - it also makes one disoriented and and sleepy.   And slow on the uptake.  All I could really focus on was trying not to throw up too much.  We had to reef the sails (make them smaller) in order to handle the strong winds.  Reefing is one of those things one needs to do BEFORE one actually needs to do it.  The reason we did not do it sooner was because I was so sick I did not try to read the barometer when I logged our hourly position, because being below trying to read it made me even sicker.  That is not an excuse, believe me.  I have learned my lesson.  Had I done so, and told Mike how much  barometric activity there was, we would have known we needed to reef those sails - a skill we have not practiced - in plenty of time before it all got so wild.  So we had to struggle with the sails in a strong wind.  Very difficult and not fun.  But we got that done and thought everything was reasonably settled, except for my stomach.  Little did we know.

At about when three thirty in the morning, Mike looked down into the cabin and discovered to our horror that the floor of the cabin was covered with water.  He lifted the floorboard to discover the bilge was completely full of water.  He hollered at me that we were in danger of sinking.  I cannot tell you what I was thinking, because I wasn't.  The only reason I wasn't ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED was twofold:  I was too sick to really process it all, and I could still see land, so I figured rescue would be possible.  Probably not true, but it was a comfort at the time.  Mike and I immediately started using the manual pumps to clear the bilge - a physically exhausting job.  I called to Mike "Shall we get on the radio?"  He hollered back "Not yet!"  So I figured at that point he must have a plan.  He was on his stomach digging around in the bilge while the boat rocked all over the place and we went completely off course.  That was the least of our worries.  Our big concern was that we could not tell where the water was coming in from.  Mike finally got the bilge pump working again, which was clogged with - you guessed it - DOG HAIR!  (Hence the title of this post - Tempest did not like us making her live on a boat and punished us for it.)

Once the pump was working again, the seas also began to calm down,  but by this time we had dropped the sails because the wind was against us and we were too tired to diddle around with the tediousness of tacking back and forth, and we also felt a need to get to safety.  We turned on the engine to make better time.  We noticed that as soon as the seas calmed down we were no longer taking on so much water, so that narrowed the possibilities as to what was going wrong.  By the time we got into the harbor, the sun was shining and there was almost no wind.  Mike docked like the champion he is, and I was never so happy and relieved in my life.  It took another two or three hours to go through customs and all that stuff, we got something to eat, and went to bed at four in the afternoon and did not get up until Wednesday morning.  I have never slept so long or so hard.

Later, we figured out the water came in through the anchor hawse pipe, which is the space where the anchor chain comes out of the bow (front pointy part) of the boat.  Because the seas were so high, hundreds of gallons of water poured through that space, and the dirty bilge caused the pump to clog and therefore short out.  We now know to plug that space!   This morning we tore the bilge open and cleaned it out.  That is one nasty, disgusting job.  But it is done, the bilge is clean, and the pump seems to be working properly.

We didn't have any idea the weather would get so bad.  We can no longer blithely assume the weatherman will be right.  I should have kept track of the barometer.  Next time, even if I am sick, I will do that first, no matter how close to throwing up I come.  We will plug the anchor hawse pipe, and will also make sure we have a spare bilge pump - just in case.  I am proud of us, because we kept our heads, I didn't cry, Mike was awesome with his mechanical skills and diagnostic ability, and we didn't need to call for help.  (I did forget one other problem - it was REALLY cold out there on top of everything else, but as soon as everything started going south, we worked up a sweat with the manual pump and the cold was not much of an issue compared to the rest of it.) 

But we are really happy to be here in Mexico.  The people are wonderful and I have been speaking Spanish like crazy.  If this keeps up, I will be fluent before I know it.  We will be here for a couple of weeks, because we want to get all the wood on the outside of the boat redone.  I love it here and don't care how long we stay.  Viva la Mexico!     

Thanksgiving in San Diego

Since it is but two days to Thanksgiving and we are still here, this year it will not be celebrated in Mexico.  Here is the most current, and sorriest reason yet for not leaving - we have to wait for the bank to send us new credit cards.  No, they were not lost and they did not expire.  Mike literally wore his out at West Marine.  The damn thing is about to break in half.  The magnetic strip is damaged.  And of course you cannot just walk into the bank and get a new one.  Not possible!  So we wait.  And wait.  Now that the boat is ready to go, it is terribly frustrating.

My medical tests came back and while the doctor did not label me as officially diabetic, I have to test my blood twice a day and I cannot eat anything that actually tastes good.  Fruit!  Who would have thought they could take that away!  But I am being overly dramatic - it is no worse than Weight Watchers, which I know I can do, and it is sort of interesting to do the blood tests. 

The first time I could not get the machine to work properly, so I had to call customer service.  After the guy on the phone walked me through the recalibration and reset process, he had me do a test.  I left the phone on the settee and went to wash my hands for the test.  Mike wanted to know what I was doing, so I told him I was washing my hands for the test.  He said "Why?  Did they tell you it was not okay just to lick your finger before poking it?"  The guy on the phone heard him, so after that it was just one big phone party with laughing as the guy talked me through the process.  There - enough about my health.

Although we haven 't left yet, I do love living on this boat.  I can clean it from stem to stern in an hour or so, and that includes vacuming.  Even though it is cold (by SoCal standards) we have a space heater.  I still do not miss TV, only when I am sitting around at night and am not in the mood to read or Mikeis talking too much for me to read.  We have watched a couple of movies downloaded from Netflicks, but the internet connection at this marina is not very good.  I know for a fact it is much better at Baja Naval, the marina in Ensenada, but I have to learn how to use a "US Proxy" in order to be able to see Netflicks and Hulu down there.  I have had to learn not to generate clutter, which for anyone that knows me, is something very difficult for me.  Especially paper clutter.  But I have gotten pretty good at it - in fact, junk mail does not leave the post office.

I am currently reading "Kidnappped" by Robert Louis Stevenson.  I never read it as a kid.  I am really enjoying it.  After this will come "Robinson Crusoe."  I love my Kindle!  It broke once, but I called Amazon and again there was a person on the end of the line to talk me through the reset process.  I feel bad for anyone who actually reads this - we haven't done anything noteworthy.  But please stay with me - I promise it will get better!      

test post only

The only purpose of this post is to see if I can do it through the short wave radio. Here's hoping@!

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Foiled Again

Of course things were going too smoothly.  I went to the doctor mainly to get written Rx's, and they decided my blood sugar was too high so now I have to have more tests to make sure I am not diabetic which of course I am not.  It foils us because now we have to stay here for a follow up appointment after I take some horrid test that involves drinking sweet stuff and then having my blood checked.  All this for what I know will be a false alarm.  I think if a person has diabetes there are symptoms and I have none.  Mike of course now has something to blame all my bad temper on. 

The boat is ready with the exception of the dinghy motor davit, and the boat guys measured something wrong, so it did not get put on when it was supposed to.  This is all a bit discouraging, but we will deal with it.  I sure hope I get to spend Thanksgiving in Mexico!    

The depth meter works!

Yesterday was wonderful and not just because Mike got the depth meter to work.  We spent the whole day out on the bay.  There was hardly any wind, but Magda Jean managed to ghost along anyway, which was really amazing.  It is actually harder to sail in light wind than it is in heavy wind. (hurricane force excluded of course.)  I took the helm for a good portion of the day and managed to hold the course - another thing that is difficult when there is no wind.  It was also over 80 degrees - in November!  But it was wonderful.

This helming (steering) thing for me is pretty big.  I have not been a good helmsman in the past.  But the last time we went out, and I got blisters on my hands from handling the sheets (the ropes that are used to move the sails back and forth) I realized that helming is a lot easier than sheet handling.  And if I am at the helm. Mike cannot annoy me by shouting "Pull!  Pull!" when I am already pulling as hard as I can.  So I decided that no matter what it took, I was going to take over the helm and let him drag those sheets around.  I particularly disliked handling the large genoa, which is a big jib sheet at the bow of the boat.  It is extremely heavy.  And Mike did not seem to appreciate how heavy that sheet is.  I concentrated hard, paid close attention to how things went, and I now feel like I can handle the helm for everything except docking.  I need more practice for that.  I also felt really vindicated as Mike got blisters on his hands and was looking at them with wonder.   

Helming isn't quite like driving a car, because when you are in a car, the road beneath you isn't moving like the water is, and you are not as affected by the wind.  In a sailboat, you can hold the helm perfectly straight and you will not necessarily go perfectly straight.  The wind will try and blow you sideways, and the water is at times going the opposite direction you are.  That is also why helming in light wind is harder - there is no wind to counter whatever the water is doing.  So the boat drifts and you have to really watch it and keep the boat going the course you want to go.  In the bay I use a landmark, but at sea you have to rely on your compass reading.

So all of this means that we are really close to being able to leave.  There remains the davit for the stern rail, but that is being fabricated as we speak and should be put in next week.  Oh Mexico - so close and yet so far.             

Closer and Closer

Since we haven't left yet, it seems sort of silly to keep writing this blog as there is nothing that interesting to tell anyone yet.  However, that isn't stopping me.

The elections are over.  Thank goodness.  I hope to never have to live through another election cycle here.  I only want to read about it from afar.

We now have air conditioning!  Really!  Mike bought a generator and a small ac unit.  If we are at a marina, we only have to position the unit in the space between the cockpit and the cabin (the companionway) and turn it on.  If we are anchored with no shore power, we use the generator.  Amazing if you ask me.  I feel like a megayacht owner!  Not really, but having ac is likely to save me in the tropics.  A few people have asked me why, since I do not do real well in hot weather, I want to go to the tropics.  Well, I only do poorly in heat when I can't get out of it.  Since I am not working and will be surrounded by water, I can jump in and cool off.  I can take a nap during the hottest part of the day.  I can put the shade up over the cockpit so the sun isn't beating down on me.  I can schedule work projects for early morning and evening when the sun isn't so high.  When I went to Cancun, I spent most of my time sitting under a palapa on the beach rather than in the direct sunlight.  I don't plan on getting sick from the heat.  I know how to handle myself. 

We also got a dinghy.  It is a ten foot inflatable with a hard bottom and a 10 hp engine.  We rigged up a way to lift it up on the boat so it can be stored when we are underway.  The boat guys are building a davit system that will double as an antenna tower so the engine can  be lifted off the davit and stored on the back of the boat for sailing.  If we are using the dinghy everyday, the engine stays on and we just hoist it in the air next to the boat at night so it won't get stolen.  Your dinghy is your everyday car.  Last night a friend came into town and we took her and her friend to dinner - using the dinghy to go across the bay to the restaurant instead of driving.  It was really fun.  I like riding in the dinghy - it is almost as much fun as Magda Jean herself.

The only thing keeping us from leaving is a problem with the sonar, which acts as our depth gauge and fish finder.  I could live without the fish finder stuff, b ut a depth gauge is essential.  The boat guys are having trouble figuring it out, and it looks like we might have to haul the boat out.  I am hoping not - besides the expense and time, I don't want to live in that dirty shipyard anymore.  The fun wore off a long time ago.  Shipyards are filthy places, and everything gets dirty.  In addition, I really want to get underway.  Interestingly, I am experiencing a small but unpleasant depression, and I am not sure of the cause.  I can't blame Mike for everything!

Anyway - that is the story so far.  Please stay with me - I promise things will get more interesting eventually!   

Posting via Email

This is really more of an experiment than a blog post.  I am attempting to learn how to post remotely.  This is coming from my email account.

As Time Goes Slowly By

I am so eager to get going I can hardly stand it.  And yesterday made it worse.  We went to a seminar about cruising the sea of cortez, complete with pictures.  It is beautiful, which is putting it mildly.  They even talked about La Paz having a "secret season" which means it is really nice at certain times of years but people don't know about it.  Suits me just fine.  We love La Paz, and before this sailing stuff started, we had planned to go down there and live for six months.  It is one of my favorite places.

We also had a fabulous lunch yesterday with some friends at their yacht club.  It was pretty impressive.  Our yacht club is a trailer that is hardly ever open that shares dock space with a marina.  This one has its own docks, a shipyard, multiple buildings. a pool, tennis courts, and of course a really nice restaurant and bar, and I know I missed some of its attributes.  We now have a two week guest membership, thank goodness we have cards to prove it or they'd never let us past the guard at the gate as we don't dress well enough! 

The other thing I wanted to talk about was that it has been raining the last couple of days and being in the cabin when it is raining gives a whole new meaning to the words "warm and cozy."  We even have a little space heater which also keeps the humidity down.  The rain makes a great sound on the decks and the water, and you still get to hear the sea birds.

There is a blue heron that spends a lot of her time on our end of the dock.  One day I decided her name was Griselda.  I am not sure why I picked that one - I don't even like the name.  But she is a very elegant, serious bird, and it just seemed to fit.  When a name just pops into your head, it is probably the right one, that is what I think.  There is a night heron that spends his time right across from us - he needs a name to.   But I think he needs a French name.  And the one I am considering I can't spell, so as soon as I figure that out, he will have his name.  I have always thought that half the reason I liked to have pets was the ability to name them. 

This will be it for today - which will be spent with boat chores.  And any day spent on a boat doing anything (except maybe bilge cleaning) is better than any day working!

Nothing Really Exciting, But I Have This Blog, So . . .

Today is Thursday - at least I am pretty sure it is.  I keep losing track of which day of the week it is and which date.  I am certain of the month.  That's about it.

We have been attending some seminars on topics relating to cruising.  The latest one had to do with how to send email through the SSB (short wave) radio.  That will be important once we leave the marina and thank goodness Mike understands the parts I don't.  So no one needs to despair - whether you like it or not, I can remain in touch. 

Things are almost ready - that is, if Mike does not decide we need yet another gadget for this boat.  He has decided we need a new VHF radio.  (For anyone who cares, a VHF radio is for coastal communications and ship-to-ship when there is not too much distance.  The SSB is for long distances.) I thought the one we had was fine - but what do I know?  At least he is not insisting on a satellite phone as well - those things cost a fortune, not even counting the air time which is a gazillion dollars a minute.  I am very hopeful we will be out of here by November 15 - MY target date.  I am dying to be in Mexico right now, where it is warm and the fishing is good. 

Otherwise - there is nothing really exciting for me to post here.  We spend most of yesterday with this guy who might buy Finesse (our old 25 foot sailboat that we learned on.)  He had a survey done, and I am curious because we never had one.  It will also give an appraisal value, so even if this guy decides he doesn't want it, that survey will be helpful.  I hope he does buy it, because it is a great boat and he would be a wonderful owner for it.  Plus - we need to sell it so we don't have to keep paying marina fees for a boat we don't use any more!  It isn't a lot, but at this point the money is, as my mother would have said, going down a rat hole. 

When I finally have something interesting to say, I will post again. 

Actually Sailing

The good news is that the hand is not broken.  The bad news is that he has tendonitis.  So he has a new brace and instructions to lay off the use of that hand. Which of course is advice he is ignoring, for the most part. 

Yesterday we took her out and tested some of our new systems.  Everything for the most part went well.  We also learned how easy Magda Jean is to sail - a lot easier than our little boat.  She is very responsive, turns on the proverbial dime, and zips along nicely.  We plan to spend one day sailing, then a day working on the boat, and so on until we feel ready to go. 

Being retired is a lot weirder than I thought it would be.  For one thing, there is absolutely no structure.  I understand why people become alcoholics after retirement when they weren't before.  There is nothing and no one to stop you from deciding to start drinking at noon.  There is no one and nothing telling you to do something "productive."  You can stay in bed all day (if you can stand that).  If I had a TV, I could watch stupid shows all day long.  Now, none of these things appeal much to me.  If I started drinking at noon, by seven I would be in  bed.  I do have things to accomplish.  And I have no TV!  I am not explaining this very well, I know.  I feel a lot of pressure (self imposed, of course) not to waste this time.  I think about my parents, and how they both passed on before being able to enjoy any time like I have now.  I may not keep the chickens my mom wanted to have, but she would be pleased to have the boat named for her, and I think she'd like the idea of this adventure.  My father would cringe in fear of the risks I may be taking, but would be proud at the same time.  I have some goals I have set for myself - now lets see if I can actually fulfill any of them.  Until next time . . .

Home again, home again, jiggedty jig

We made it back okay but not without missing the dogs terribly.  We now have absolutely no structure to our lives.  None at all.  When the jobs ended, that was pretty amazing, but we still had the responsibility to walk, feed, and otherwise care for the dogs.  No more.  I believe they are happy and being very well  cared for.  Sophie will no longer be subjected to seasickness.  Tempest no longer endangers her life and limbs everytime she negotiates the cockpit to cabin route.  There is no more dog fur all over the settees.  We can leave our door open at night and no dogs get in bed with us and take over all the room.  And it is not the same and I miss them very much. 

The Baja Ha Ha (the rally we planned to go to Mexico with) is in exactly 15 days and I don't think we will be ready.  Besides lots of things to get done, there is the issue of Mike's left hand.  I have not mentioned this before, but back in July, in the early stages of boat upgrades when Mike was doing a tremendous amount of physical labor, he hurt his left hand.  We had these braces I had to use for carpal tunnel-type problems, and I had him put that on while he slept, as the pain kept him from sleeping.  Of course he refused to go to the doctor - insisting it felt better - but it has not gotten better and he finally agreed to go.  Whatever happens with that (I am afraid he has broken it and it will have to be re-broken and whatnot) will determine when we can leave.  I am in favor of going down to Ensenada and living there while the hand heals - there is an express bus that takes expats (mainly) to and from San Diego regularly.  That way he could make doctor appointments.  I really want to get moving.

I have had mixed feelings about the rally for a long time, anyway.  On the one hand, it looks to be a lot of fun.  A woman with the same sort of boat we have has already emailed me.  There are parties and stuff like that.  Even a baseball game.  (Which of course I will pass on as I am the worst ball player in the world and all my teammates eventually end up hating me - do not ever believe ANYONE who tells you "Oh come on, its just for fun."  It never really is, and when you cause your team to lose, the ones who were only playing for "fun"  become frustrated and eventually angry.)  We would get to meet a lot of people, people who have a lot in common with us.  There are so many reasons why it would be fun.

Then you have to stack that up against the fact Mike and I are not exactly group activity people.  We just aren't.  I would not say Mike is anti-social, but he doesn't warm up to people very quickly, and in fact does not like most people because he thinks they are either stupid, republican, or both.  I like being social, but I am lazy about it.  Plus Mike does not like following rules.  And there would be rules to follow, like calling in on the radio at the proper times, and following the schedule, and stuff like that.  I just don't know.  Plus  from my side - I always feel like the biker chick of the group when I am with people my own age.  But that is another story for another day.         

New topic.  Since we no longer have TV, we are not up on the news as well as we used to be.  The main source for our news is NPR.  In a way it bothers me some,  because I feel like it is my civic duty to pay attention to this stuff.  But it is refreshing not to hear all that crap all the time.  I am really tired of it all.  I am an American and proud to be so.  But at the same time, some of (it seems like a lot of) the people here are simply becoming mean.  I don't want to spend the rest of my short life listening to people say hateful things.  It is almost as though selfishness and meaness and being judgmental are suddenly considered virtues.  When did this happen?  When did "Christians" start supporting the likes of Fred Phelps?  Why can't we just pull all our troops out of Afghanistan and let those chips fall where they inevitably will?  Why are our children dying for a people and a culture that despises them and us?  What are we getting out of all this?

Well, I had better end this now.  There are things to do - maybe a morning walk that could turn into a morning run eventually?  I am getting fat . . .    

Road Trip!!!!!

The reason I have not posted recently is because Mike and I are on a road trip.  We took Tempest to her new home in Oregon with my friend Rachel, and from all accounts her new home is working out well.  It was really hard to say goodbye to her, but it is in her best interests and I could not have a better home for her.  Now we are no longer dog owners, and I miss both Tempest and Sophie terribly.

We drove up from California on I-15, avoiding LA and going up through the high desert into Sequoia and Yosemite.  Then up the eastern sierras until Bend, Ore.  We went to Crater Lake, and drove all around some of the most beautiful country ever.  We saw friends in Portland (Nancy, Lisa, Sue - it was fantastic!) and then visited Rachel in Hood River.  We saw Mt. Hood, and are really curious who thought it was a good idea to put power lines through that Lolo pass?  Now we are on our way home, heading down highway 1.  As I write this, I am sitting in a hotel room in Gualala. (it is pronounced "gwa LA la".  I was hoping it would be "gwa la la" to rhyme with "tra la la", no such luck.)  My room overlooks the beach, with big rocks and lots of driftwood.  It is really incredible. 

We spent a lot of time on this trip looking at enterances to harbors and trying to determine if a sailboat could get through.  We looked for masts in the distance.  I guess this is the long way of saying we look at things differently now. 

I am looking forward to getting back and finishing up so we can leave for Mexico.  I don't think we will be ready in time for the rally we wanted to go with, but that is not the end of the world and we are not really group people anyway.  The projected date for leaving is the second week in November.  Maybe sooner, who knows?  There are things to deal with, like prescription medications and so on.  I really wish I didn't have to take any of those stupid pills!  There are a few things Mike has to complete on the boat mechanically, provisioning to be done, a car to be sold, and I am almost afraid to complete this list!  But by this time next month, I want to be underway.  Besides, if I don't start sailing soon, no one will want to read this. 

Mike is waking up, so we will get going and head on south.  More beautiful country to come.  California is the greatest state in the nation.    

Short-lived Victory

Although I triumphed in the pool over my ears, I completely failed to get my certification.  I wrote a big long post about it, but decided not to post it because it was so maudlin.  Scuba kicked my ass, but I will keep trying.  Mike did great:  the young kids could not keep up with him.
We are currently on the road to Oregon, to take Tempest to her new home.  Sophie has already been placed with a family and it seems to be going well, according to our mutual friends.  Now it is Tempest's turn.  We are taking our time driving up there.  We left yesterday and drove north, avoiding LA and going through Sequoia National Monument and the national forest.  We stopped and spent the night in Visalia.  Today we drove through Yosemite - over the Tioga pass through the Tuolomne Meadows to Bridgeport, where we are spending the night.  Our hotel room is right on the Walker River, and there is a sliding glass door leading out to it. 

We passed a lot of different bodies of water today.  I always like that.  Living as long as I have in southern California which is basically an irrigated desert, there are few things so delightful as a natural body of moving water.  Anytime I see a sign for a creek, a river, a lake, or anything else, I am really excited when there is actual water in it.  Even a stockpond is interesting to me.  Today there were a lot of creeks just bubbling away over rocks and boulders, waterfalls, and some lakes that were made by glaciers and are on their way out.  I felt bad about that part, but it is a natural process according to Mike, so I am not going to argue.

When we were kids and first moved out here, we lived in Orange County and often drive up to Fresno to see our relatives.  When we got to the point in the trip when the California Aquaduct first came into view as it came out of the mountains, my mother would point to it and say "See that water, girls?  That's stolen water.  Los Angeles stole that water from those Owens Valley farmers at gunpoint."  And later I found out she was right.  The story of water and Los Angeles is really fascinating and scary at the same time.

Tomorrow we plan to skirt Lake Tahoe and continue to work our way north.  It is really fun not to have a schedule to keep to.  Mike does not want to go into Nevada (probably because of Sharon Angle).  So I have no idea what kind of time we will make.  This will likely be our last road trip for awhile.  The next trip will be via water!            

Victory in the Swimming Pool

Well, all the practice paid off because yesterday night I got my ears to work properly!  So now there is no doubt I will be scuba certifed by the end of Sunday.  After all, that was the only thing stopping me.

Otherwise, there really isn't any news to report.  The scuba is all emcompassing this week.  The only bad thing is I have to wear a fat lady bathing suit.  And that is mitigated because I am BY FAR the oldest one in the class - with Mike being the second oldest - and the next oldest being MAYBE 30 . . . I guess I can live with it (I will have to) until I lose the weight yet again! 

I Can't Clear My Ears

One of the interesting things about living at the dock is the birds.  They are different than the ones I used to watch in the yard.  The first birds in the morning are the seagulls - at least those are the ones that wake me up.   Once I get up and head out the docks with the dogs, there are blue herons up and around.  They are so used to people that I can get to within three feet before they squawk and fly away.  The birds also go through a visible shift change, just as it gets dark.  The snowy egrets who hang around the fishing boats are relieved by the night herons,  but there is a slight overlap.  And trust me, if it comes to a throw down between a night heron and a snowy egret, the heron will win every time.

The other evening we were eating at a restaurant that has an outside deck that overlooks the docks where the sportfishing boats dock.  The fishing boat workers were emptying the bait tank, so all these birds - pelicans, egrets, gulls, herons, cormorants - were swooping over and around the boat, grabbing up the discarded baitfish.  At one point, we saw the boat guy reach down with a net and scoop up a gull.  I realized there was something wrong with the gull, and saw the guy take something out of its mouth.  He struggled with it for a couple of seconds, then released the gull, which flew off.  All of us who were watching burst into applause.  The guy called out "I dont give a shit about the bird - check this out, a $30 dollar lure!"  Turns out he rescued the bird only because he saw that a really nice fishing lure was stuck in the gull's beak.  I liked it anyway.

The first session of scuba training did NOT go well - I cannot clear my ears at all.  But I am not going to give up and will keep trying unless and until they throw me out of the class.  At least maybe I can pass the classroom part of it and then try the actual diving part later.  It is frustrating as hell, because otherwise I do just fine.  There are a lot of things to think about at once, which is not one of my strong suits.  Tonight we actually use the scuba gear.  Last night we did everything with snorkels.  Maybe I can get my ears to clear better when we are using the gear because then I can go slower.  With the snorkel, I had to hold my breath while diving down, which meant I had to go fast so I didn't run out of breath.  With a scuba tank, I think maybe if I descend slower the ears will clear.  I can easily clear them IF and only IF I can open my mouth, which you cannot do well while snorkeling or scuba diving.  The instructors showed me about holding your nose and trying to clear them that way, but all that did was make me feel like my eyes would explode out of my head.  Wish me luck for tonight!  At least Mike did not get mad at me, and he is going to continue even if I flunk out, thank goodness.  I would feel really really bad if he quite because of me.

Otherwise - things are going pretty well.  I had a wonderful lunch with two good friends yesterday and remembered how important it is to have friends and not neglect them.  If I want to maintain relationships, it is up to me to do the necessary work.

I will sign off today and continue to practice ear clearing without opening my mouth.  Does anyone think this is related to my lifelong problem of not being able to keep my mouth shut?      

I can see the bottom!

And by that I mean the bottom of the ocean under the boat.  Mike finished installing the electronic navigation stuff, part of which is a sonar sounder that tells us what is underneath us.  It us different from the depth sounder, which lets us know how deep it is beneath the keel.  This actually makes a picture (a blobby one) of the bottom.  The same sort of thing is on fishing boats to find out whether there are any fish below.  So - fish beware, we have rods and licenses!  And we can find you!
   
Things are looking up, as well - my friend Rachel is going to take Tempest and I believe she will be not only fine, but probably  better off than she ever was with us.  I don't think this would have worked out for her very well at all.  I am so happy and grateful about all of this.  I may not deserve this much good fortune, but Tempest certainly does.  So now in a couple weeks we will be heading to Oregon.  By car.

  It does not look like we will be ready to leave with the rally to Cabo, but that is not the end of the world.  We will just go ourselves a little later.  I am not that unhappy, because I was always a little torn about whether or not I wanted to go with the group.  We have never been fond of doing things in groups.  Truth be told, we don't even like making reservations.  We once went to Humboldt county over the 4th of July without any reservations.  Everyone told us we were crazy.  I was not too worried  because we had a tent, and I figured there is always going to be somewhere to pitch a tent, even if you really aren't supposed to be there.  And at our age, we just keep smiling and act a little fuddled, and thereby avoid getting in trouble for things like trespassing.  (Sorry, I digress.)  Anyway, when we got there, we found this beautiful county park in the redwoods on the Van Duesen river.  It was supposed to be only for group camping, but because it seemed to be empty, we went to the ranger station.  We discovered that a group had canceled, and we got to camp there.  We had the entire park to ourselves, and slept on the riverbank.  Another time, I think it was in Germany or Belgium, we were told at one hotel we found in the Rick Steves guide book that not only was her hotel totally full, so was everything in town.  I did not believe her (I didn't like her anyway) so we just drove until we found one we liked the looks of, which was not only available, it turned out to be an old abbey that had been converted.  Again, a wonderful no reservations experience.      

The rally would likely be fun.  Everyone leaves from San Diego, proceeds to  Bahia Tortuga, then Bahia Santa Maria,and ends in Cabo.  There are parties at all the stops, and a big one when the rally reaches Cabo.  I like a party as much as the next person, but (I know you were waiting for that "but") as I look down the cruising guide to Mexico, I see all kinds of places I would like to investigate that the rally would bypass.  But after having said all of this, we are still signed up to go, and who knows?  If everything is ready, we will likely go.     

Tomorrow I begin a week of Scuba lessons.  Mike can hardly wait.  I am not so excited.  We actually started lessons last December, but dropped out because it was not going well for me.  First, it was COLD!!!!  Record cold (for San Diego) and the pool, although heated, was outside.  Then I kept thinking about how cold it was going to be in the ocean when we had to do our ocean dives.  Another thing, and actually the real big problem, was I could not clear my ears.  I have since been practicing and hopefully I can do it now.  And the third reason, and I am ashamed to admit it (hopefully Mike won't read this post), is that I just got freaked out and had a hard time calming down.  I don't know why.  I am an excellent swimmer and I love the water.  I cannot remember ever not being perfectly comfortable in the water.  I was not afraid of drowning, and for heavens sake, we were in a swimming pool!   I have even been scuba diving before and liked it - I did it once in Hawaii.  So I do not get where my fear is coming from.  But I am determined that it will work this time.  Before, I was working, and had to rush home from work early to get to the class by 5 pm.  Now I am not working, and have all day to do the book part, and it is nice weather.  So - no excuses.

I am actually embarrassed about the weather part.  I pride myself on not being a weather wimp, so I wonder if that was an excuse for something deeper that I don't want to face.  (That sounds lame even to me.  As my father would have said "Stop me before I kill more!)

This will wind things up for today.  Wish me luck - I am going to need all the good wishes I can get.   

Playing with the radio

Mike finished hooking up one of the radios last night, so we got to listen to it.  It is the VHF radio - it has a short range and is used to call for help in emergencies or just to contact people.  There is a hailing and emergency channel, and if people want to talk, they switch to a different channel.  It is a lot like using a CB, except only the worst sort of rube would say "breaker  breaker."  I am really glad I was told that before I did it, which I likely would have.  My dad had a Cb radio in his car in the 70s, and my sister and I would drive around in it talking to truck drivers.  Her "handle" was Godzilla and mine was Belladonna. 

We are not going to give up so easily on Tempest.  We are exploring ways to make her dog ramp better.  I can't bear the thought that she would not be put to bed at night under a blanket.

Tomorrow the fuel tank guys come to clean and polish the fuel and to clean the tank - and also to let us know if there are any problems with the fuel tank.  I fervently hope there are none - that would be an expensive fix.  I never had a high tolerance for spending lots of money - and this is testing my limits like nothing before.

There isn't much to report these days - just that I want all these repairs and upgrades to be DONE so we can just sail.  And get the hell out of Dodge.  I do not miss TV and am burnt out on politics and people's general stupidity and meanness and selfishness - there, it is out of my system.  Why do people have to be so mean?  It is not a virtue of any sort.  Did that start with Reagen or Cotton Mather? 

And so it goes . . .

(Credit here to Kurt Vonnegut)

It has been a few days since my last post.  Because the weather has finally gotten nice, I have been able to finally realize some of the dreams I had about why I am doing this.  A really good example is sitting in the cockpit with a beer listening to The Grateful Dead and Little Feat (with Lowell George) while the sun is going down.  And taking the dogs out every morning when the marine layer is still misty, and there are hardly any other people around. 

We took Magda Jean out for a sail earlier this week.  I discovered the wonders of the staysail.  Not to bore everyone, but on a cutter rigged boat like ours, there are three sails:  the main sail, the jib (on the outermost end of the bow [front]) and the stay sail (which hangs from a wire stay directly behind the jib.)  The staysail is smaller than our jib, and therefore much easier to handle.  I discovered it makes tacking real easy.  The upshot of all this is from now on, when we have tedious sailing to do, I can drop the jib and use only the main and the staysail.  Of course Mike will want all three up all the time, so we can go faster.  I will stand firm, however, because sail handling is my job.  That is in great part because I am a horrible helmsman.  Anyway, we had a great sail and I have no doubt that if Mike can decide the boat is ready, WE will definitly be ready for the Baja Ha Ha (yes, that is what the rally is called) in late October.

Living in the marina is interesting.  We have two resident bums that keep us entertained when they are not getting arrested.  Of course, I have already made friends with them.   They are both in their 40s (although with bums it is hard to tell - they could be in their streetworn 30s) and one wears a blue fishing hat and the other one wears a brown baseball cap.  They are almost always either drunk or sobering up and looking to get drunk again.  One day they had a big palm frond - about four feet long - and one of them was whipping it back and forth over the seawall like it was a fly fishing rod.  The other one kept whining "Let ME try it!" over and over again.  Last night we saw them with a grocery cart.  One of them was pushing the other one in it, and even the one pushing was so drunk he could barely stand up.  They were going back and forth along these big picture windows at the Pizza Nova staring at the people eating.  We heard sirens later, so I suppose that didn't last too long.  I wondered what was going to happen when the one in the cart decided to get out.  It would not be pretty.  I told them awhile ago when they were fairly lucid that they would not get arrested so much if they kept a lower profile and didn't get loud, and they both agreed, but one told me the other one just couldn't help it. 

It seems like Mike may finally be getting to the end of the upgrades and repairs, although I have been told over and over again the repair part will never be done.  Nonetheless, I am optimistic.  And Mike says the new radar and navigation equipment is better than what he worked with in the Navy.  He is currently wiring everything together and discussing the need to rewire the entire boat.  Funny - I thought that was what he was doing!

Amazon debited my account and my new Kindle is on its way!!!!!  I can hardly wait as I have totally run out of new reading material.  Now I can have as many books as I want to, even though there is no space.  Giving up my books was the hardest thing I had to do to prepare for this new life.

Now on a sad topic - we can't keep our big dog, Tempest.  It is not working out at all.  She simply cannot get from the cockpit to the cabin, even with the ramp I designed.  We are really afraid she will hurt herself and even break a limb.  And since she is 11 years old and allergic to wheat, she is not high on the adoptability list.  We went and visited the Helen Woodward Animal Shelter - it is a "no kill" shelter and they will take her and try to find her a new home.  It seems very nice, but it is still a shelter and not a home.  We are really torn, because we have to think about her and not about us.  This life is really hard on her. I have asked everyone I can think of and no one has any good ideas.  I can't hand her over to a random stranger who might not take proper care of her, and none of my friends and family are in a position to take her on.  We'll have to see what happens here, but it is breaking my heart to have to do this to her.  I really thought I could make it work.

Well, that is enough for now.  No plans for today except more wiring for Mike and swabbing the decks for me.  Which is actually a pretty fun chore.        

Hose Kinks and Other Musings

Yesterday we spent more time cleaning the boat.  The cockpit is now neat and orderly.  And Mike also fixed a hose related to the engine that had a kink in it.  I don't think that kink should have been there considering what we paid the guys who did the engine work!

When we got into this, I heard people say things like "the definition of cruising is fixing your boat in exotic places."  Well, we are still in San Diego and that is all we've done so far.  I'm not complaining - not really, anyway -  but it seems like it will always be something.  Mike is a perfectionist who will never be satisfied.  I have heard this can happen to men with boats.  If there isn't something broken that needs to be fixed, they will decide something needs to be upgraded. 

But the good parts are here as well.  I am much more active than I was when I was working.  I am on my feet most of the time, doing something or walking the dogs, or cleaning something.  We are starting to make friends with other people living in the marina.  We already know all the dog owners.  Everyone has lots of questions about the boat, because there aren't that many Valiant 40s out there (they only made about 230 or something like that) and they are known to be great boats.  It is fun to sit in the cockpit and just watch the seabirds.  Every morning the gulls wake me up.  Then when I take the dogs out, there is a big blue heron that is always in the same place on the dock.  She lets us get real close before she flys off, even when the dogs bark at her.  I know it is a female because Mike showed me the males, who have stripes and more white on them.

There are also the seals and sea lions.  They are fun to watch, but ask anyone in Newport Harbor about sea lions and you will hear how pesky they can be.  So many of them will climb on someone's boat that the boat can sink.  So it would be a bad idea to encourage them to hang around.  I am not too worried because we are right next store to the fishing fleet, and they are more interesting to the seals and sea lions than we are.

As time goes on and we actually get out there, it will be more interesting to read this.  Right now it is just a list of chores and repairs.  We may take her out today, and I hope we do.  I need the practice.  I'll let you all know how it goes.  I was hoping having a wheel (which steers like a car rather than a tiller which is operated backwards) would make me a better helmsman, but so far it has not.  If I were driving a car, I'd be pulled over for suspected drunk driving for my propensity to weave.   Here's hoping!   

Welcome to My World

This is the first posting in what I hope will be a long list of adventures. 

My husband Mike and I bought this boat after selling our house and all (well, almost all) of our possessions.  Mike had already retired and I was on the brink.  One of our biggest dilemmas was where we wanted to live after we retired.  We spent a fair amount of time travelling, and it seemed like everywhere we went, we said "let's live here!"  Then it would be on to the next place, and it would happen again.  We liked everything!  Almost every place we went seemed to have something special.  For awile we entertained the idea of buying a camper (I am not and never will be an RV person) but that limited us to places we could drive to - which means at least a semblence of good roads because a four wheel drive camper appeared to be expensive and hard to come by.  Then, about a year ago, everthing changed.

We decided to take sailing lessons.  Because Mike is a Navy retiree, we were able to take advantage of all that was offered on the Navy bases here in San Diego.  The lessons were affordable, and that was all it took.  We began spending all our weekends renting sailboats and sailing around San Diego Bay.  It was great.

I've always enjoyed reading about sailors who go around the world in small boats.  I've been the proverbial armchair explorer for most of my life.  Mike brought me out into the real world, teaching me how to camp and enjoy being out in nature without being scared of everything.  (OK, I adimit I am still working on that one.  But I can now stand still and look at a snake without feeling a need to run in the opposite direction.)  He taught me about fishing, and taking care to leave things as they were found, if not better.  We went camping in Mexico and Missouri, and driven jeep trails all over the west.  If not for Mike, I would likely never have seen a shooting star, an enormous dust devil, or a rattlesnake, a bobcat, and a ring tail outside of a zoo.  I would never have drank river water through a strainer, and I would never have gotten drunk in a brothel in Ely, Nevada.  So - it was not a surprize when Mike said we should retire on a sailboat.  (He says it was my idea.  I think he divined what I wanted before I knew it.)

By this time I was afraid we would go broke renting sailboats, so we bought a 25 foot practice boat.  Her name is Finesse and she served us well.  We sailed her all around the bay and out to sea a bit.  We also sailed her down to Ensenada, where all the people in the marina thought we were tough for coming all the way down there in a 25 footer.  To be honest, it wasn't hard, but it took over 30 hours to get home due to practically no wind, and what there was of it was against us.  But we loved it, and that trip was the turning point - we knew we were going to sea.

We found Magda Jean here in San Diego and knew she was for us.   We named her after our mothers. (Magda is Mike's mom and Jean was my mom.)  We did a lot of research, and determined this was the sort of boat we wanted.  Valiant 40s were designed to combine the best of the cruising sailboat (built for comfort and ease of sailing) and the performance racing designs.  Magda Jean has it all.

We are in the process of getting her fixed up with all new navigation systems, new rigging, and more stuff that I care to think about.  Mike has done a tremendous amount of the work himself, and in the process earned himself a job offer at the shipyard.  (He turned it down.)  Our plan is to leave for Mexico in October, and between now and then, to finish the upgrades and sail her as much as we possibly can  between now and then.  As I learn to handle the technical side of this blog, I will post pictures and maybe even video.  See you next post!