Everyone's Gone to the Movies, Now We're Alone At Last

Not the movies, but seven miles over to Bahia De Los Angeles, where all the cruising boats are meeting for a big party, hailed as the Cruising Social Event of The Season. We were thinking about going, but decided against it because 1) we would have to haul anchor with no windlass and 2) it is really nice having this anchorage all to ourselves. That doesn't happen too often, and this is a really comfortable anchorage. We can swim naked, and I have developed a real fondness for that.

Yesterday we went fishing and caught a sierra. They are really good for ceviche, so that is what we did and had it for dinner. Our clams are still soaking so as to get all the sand out of them, and Mike is making the clam spaghetti for dinner tonight.

Also on yesterday we were busy on deck doing this and that when all of a sudden there were bees everywhere. We went below and put up the screens, and I herded all the ones out that got in. They were doing the bee equivalent of knocking at the screen door demanding entrance - it seemed like there must have been a hundred of them out there. The window screens are pretty secure, but the screen door, so to speak, the one that covers the companionway hatch, is not so secure. Mike got out the blue painters tape and taped as many areas of ingress that he could find. Luckily it was already close to sundown, and since bees are totally diurnal, they disappeared as soon as it started getting dark. I have no problem with bees, and neither of us are allergic to them, but that many bees was just too much to deal with. I hope they don't decide to make a daily social call! We think they were attracted by the 20 or so lime rinds that remained after we squeezed them for the ceviche. That or our beers.

There isn't too much news today. Again, we have changed our plans and decided not to get all het up about our windlass problems. Our friends on Sundancer are still at Santa Rosalia, and are crossing the Sea of Cortez in about a week as their parents are coming to San Carlos on the mainland to visit with them. We will probably leave here in about 2 weeks or so and will join them in San Carlos, then we will all head down to Topolobampo for our trip to the Copper Canyon. Mike decided he is willing to become a human windlass so we don't have to cancel all our plans. The trip to San Carlos is about 150 miles south-southeast, and then Topolobampo is about 150 miles south of that. We figure it will take about 3-4 days to get to San Carlos, wind and waves and currents permitting. Of course, this is all subject to change as is everything we plan. You just never know.

And another thing happened yesterday. There is this little brown bird, sort of like a large sparrow (we think it is a vireo) that has been visiting us and perching on the lifelines real close and looking at us. He (or she, who knows) is not particularly shy. And yesterday he/she came right into the boat. He/she flew into the bedroom and landed on Mike's shoulder and then his hand, since he was still in bed. Then he/she hopped down and wandered into the kitchen, where I gently removed the hatch screen and allowed him/her to mosey on out. I swear that bird made eye contact, and seemed to be curious. There was no crazy wild flapping around, just hopping, and controlled flight when he/she decided to leave. We will name him/her if he/she shows up again.

So that about winds it up for today's post. I have already hung the laundry to dry (after using my bucket and plunger technique) and there aren't too many chores to do today. Mike just got up and noticed that there are a lot of bees investigating my fresh laundry. I think they are attracted to the fresh water I used to wash the clothes. I guess if this keeps up, we'll hang the laundry at night, when the bees are sleeping. I would rather deal with bees than with mosquitos or biting flies or the tiny biting bugs called no-see-ums (jejenes in Spanish) that we have heard tons about but mercifully have not encountered yet. And these bees are aggressive about where they want to go, but so far have made no moves to sting us, even last night when I was herding them out of the kitchen and up through the overhead hatch. We do need to take the big genoa headsail down so I can sew the rip, but there is a little bit of wind and we need to do that when it is absolutely still, as it is a big sail and will be harder to deal with in the wind. I have all my sail repair gear standing at the ready.

So this is it - have a great day and don't allow any insects to bite, sting, or suck blood or whatever it is they want to do.

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