Just Another Manic Monday

Even though I no longer work a normal (aka boring) Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 job, it still seems to me that Mondays are the most likely day of the week for things to go awry. And those telephone calls that throw carefully made plans into total confusion? I generally get those on Mondays, too.

So, Mike called this morning from onboard the Chat de Mer and reported that he and Leo were offshore just past Morro Bay, clipping steadily along at 6.5 knots and, at that pace, they were estimating a Richmond marina arrival early tomorrow evening.

Wha'???

When I got the call I was at the Benicia library picking up an audio book to listen to while I made the long drive to Simi Valley to spend the Thanksgiving holiday at my parent's home. I was heading down a few days early in order to help my mom with the myriad preparations necessary to host 40+ family members for turkey dinner. My bags were packed and in the car. I had said goodbye to the cats. The housesitter was due sometime this afternoon. In fact, if I hadn't been behind schedule by about an hour, I'd have probably been halfway to Tracy when I got Mike's call.

Ok, so if you've been reading this blog for awhile you have probably already figured out that this is yet another chapter in the Baja Ha-Ha-2008-with-Captain-Leo saga. That man has changed the schedule numerous times each time causing confusion and cancellations and other general chaos. I'd truly like to kick his . . . well, you get the idea.

My options were to stick to my original plan and get on the road, or wait for Mike and then he and I could leave early early Wed'day a.m. and go to Simi Valley together. I spent a brief period pacing in the library parking lot trying to convince Mike to make Leo put him ashore some place where I could pick him up on my way south. Mike didn't go for it, probably because he knew it would be incredibly difficult (but not impossible, surely!) for Leo to single-hand that huge catamaran (the third crew member that was originally on-board jumped ship in Cabo San Lucas). And Mike doesn't go back on his word or quit and desert just because the going has gotten tough (as is obvious; after all, he's still married to me, heh heh).

What to do, what to do? Go alone now, or wait a couple days and go . . . what was that word . . . together?

I called the housesitter and explained the change in plans. She was really nice about it and will now come over on Wed'day instead of today. Then I called my mom and told her the new plan. There's disappointment all around but in the end I'd rather be there with Mike than without him. If we get there in the early afternoon on Wed'day there's still time to be of some help with dinner preparations (and now there will be two of us to help). AND Mike will be there to perform his own very special duty; that of removing all the meat from the turkey carcasses. My mom says no one else can do it as well.

It was just plain weird to come back home and unpack the car. The cats seemed glad to see me although maybe they just wanted some of the string cheese I was eating. But I'm adjusting to the new schedule now and starting to get excited about Mike's arrival. He has been gone since mid-October. He's anxious to get home, too. Originally he was to have been gone about 7 weeks. I think they have actually only been gone about 5 weeks, though it seems longer. In order to accommodate Leo's latest need-to-be-home-by date he and Mike have been running the Chat de Mer's two engines continuously since San Diego and they won't be stopping until they're back home.

San Diego to San Francisco in one straight shot!

That's a tough push and not for the faint of heart. Mike even said it was a good thing I hadn't gone on the trip, and I agree. I don't think I could have stood the stress of round-the-clock motoring and night after night after night after night of nightwatches and sleeping only 2 or 3 hours at a time. I'd have probably jumped overboard! It's unfortunate that Leo, for whatever reasons, turned what could have been a great trip into such an ordeal.

Still, it's a nice surprise, to have Mike home for Thanksgiving, after all!

Left Behind

No, this post isn't about the book series, or getting held back a grade in school, but about being the only one in this photo who didn't set sail this morning. Wahhhhhhh!

I drove Mike to the marina where he met Michael (hat) and Leo (no hat). They were all so excited. Like a bunch of boys setting off on an adventure. Well, and they are! They are going to have such a good time. I wished I could go. I was sad to leave and come home alone. But I'm happy that Mike is going; he's really the avid sailor. I can't think of anything about sailing that he doesn't like. Ok, maybe repairing an oil leak in the middle of the night while being tossed about on the waves and breathing gas and oil fumes isn't high on his list of Fun Things to Do on Summer Vacation, but I betcha he still prefers that to any repair work on land!

Meanwhile, I'm making a long list of all the stuff I need to get accomplished between now and Christmas and, from the length of it, I don't think I'll be bored. Not the least item is the trim on the house that still isn't painted. I hope to get all of the trim on the front of the house done for that all-important curb appeal (or at least most of it - not sure I should be climbing up on the roof to reach the highest peak when no one else is home). Besides, I LOVE the new colors and can't wait to have the house-painting completed. It's so pretty! Fresh and shiny like a new penny.

Today I'm working with a professional graphic designer, Darcy at Graphically Designing, to do a makeover on my Webajeb blog. It will probably be done in the next few days. Can't wait to unveil the New Look. It's going to put Debz Talkin' to shame. I'll just have to do a makeover here as well but I'll be doing that one myself.

Better put that on the To-Do List!

Trials, Tribulations, and Trips

So, the trial lasted exactly one day, including seating the jury, the opening and closing statements, witness testimonies, AND the jury deliberation. Yeah, it was a shorty. It basically involved a homeless man who interrupted a police officer occupied in towing the guy's abandoned and unregistered car from a public parking lot. The man got riled up, claimed he "owned the city" and threatened the cop by saying, "I'm gonna burn you, this entire city, and everyone in it." He began walking away and the cop, figuring the guy was irrational at the very least and that he'd better find out just what he intended to do next, yelled at him to "Stop." Of course, the guy didn't, even after the second "Stop" command, so the cop grabbed him by the shirt. The guy took a swing at the cop with his right arm which was in a plaster cast but the cop took him down and placed him under arrest. It seemed the trial was nothing more than the homeless man asserting his right to a trial by jury. It was open-and-shut; the only testimonies were his and the cop so it came down to who we thought was more credible. Based on the homeless man's assertion (on the witness stand, mind you) that he had inherited, from a great-grandfather who once owned a racetrack in the city's boundaries, all the land that the city was built on so HE owns it and therefore the cop was trespassing on HIS land, AND the fact that he claimed he would, in three years, receive a $60,000 settlement from an insurance fraud case, we decided the police officer was more credible.

After much deliberation. Not.

So that was that, and my civic duty is done for the next 12 months, darn! I love being on juries, and had hoped for a long, very involved, and high-profile case. Ah well, next time.

When I got home, this is what I found:
My poor laptop! Actually, it (my "Precious") fared pretty well this time. Last time a cat laid on the keyboard it was Bo, and he somehow caused all my desktop icons to clone themselves and scatter all over the screen, downloaded some funky toolbar from the internet, AND turned on sticky keys. AUGH!

I also found Mike running about like a crazy man, packing for the sailing trip which, apparently, is ON. He also mowed the lawns, instructed me on where to send insurance payments for the next two months, and cleaned both litter boxes. That last item proves, like nothing else ever would, that he feels bad about going off and leaving me here alone for the next 8 weeks!!!

Today he is at the boat with Leo working on the anchor and the water-making system; they will also fit in a trip to Costco for provisions. Last I heard, around noon, the plan was to leave at zero-dark-hundred tomorrow a.m. That means I will be getting up ultra-early, too, to drive Mike there so that we don't have to leave a vehicle in Richmond.

I rather hate the thought of coming back home to an empty house. It's going to be lonely.

Order in the Court!

Well, dang it, I've been trying to get a chance to post an update to this blog (and my other one, too), but too many things have been getting in the way. I've got a jury summons and have to report to the court tomorrow at 8 a.m. It will either be the only day I have to go, or I'll be put on a jury (California has a one-day or one-trial term of jury duty policy).

Other stuff is happening, too. My Webajeb blog is undergoing a makeover which means I have lots of decisions to make about its new Look.

Election time is drawing near and there are a couple of things I'm involved in with regard to that (including, can you believe it, standing on the street waving signs), LOL! The "silent majority" is being advised to speak up so I'll do my part.

The Baja Ha-Ha sailing trip? The 8-week one, that got cancelled?? Well, Captain Leo is back from Texas and now wants to go! Well, we gave up our housesitters so I'm not going, but if the trip DOES get resurrected, Mike will ship out within a couple of days, so there's gonna be some heavy-duty hustle and bustle around here.

So, please be patient! I will be posting as soon as humanly possible!

"One Phone Call Can Change Everything"

...as my friend, Linda, recently said. So true!

We received the phone call a few days ago, and we're still reeling, reassessing, and rearranging our plans for the fall.

What's this all about? In case you didn't notice already, the ticker showing how many days are left until our sailing trip is gone. The trip is off. The Baja Ha-Ha will take place, as it does every year, but we will not be among the sailors enjoying the trip.

This is due to the domino effect of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Our captain, Leo, on whose catamaran we were to crew, works for FEMA on as as-needed basis. Following Gustav Leo was mobilized to Texas to assist with the aftermath. He was still there when Ike arrived to create even more havoc and damage. FEMA's job grew ten-fold.

Knowing they'd be nowhere near finished inspecting homes and applying for FEMA aid on behalf of the homeowners, Leo had to make a decision. Stay in Texas and continue the work, or leave before the job was done, not to mention walking away from the opportunity to make some good money. His decision to stay meant our trip was off.

It has taken Mike and I a few days to assimilate the news. We'd been getting ready to go for over two months, so it's proven hard to modify our thinking processes. I keep finding myself thinking things like, "oh, I've got to make sure that I have a two-month's supply of my medicine for the . . . oh, wait, no, I don't." Mike, who didn't bother looking for a new gig when his last contract engineering job ended, now will need to start looking again. I had just cleared my schedule of client work for my digital scrapbooking business, so now I need to ramp things up instead. We even had to cancel our housesitters, Richard and Mary, and we felt terrible about the short notice (only three weeks).

There is a silver lining, of course; in fact, several. We'll be able to go to my mom's for Thanksgiving, after all (we missed it last year due to the Baja Ha-Ha 2007), I won't have to leave my kitties for two months (that's a tough one for me), and Richard and Mary found a new housesit opp almost right away (just goes to show how GREAT they are!).

Life likes to throw curve balls, and we just had one come our way. We'll just have to think of it as an opportunity to make new plans.

Baja Ha-Ha 2008

Well, here we are, the Captain and Crew of Chat de Mer! From left to right, Michael, Leo (captain), Mike, and Deb (me). We're a compatible group of sailors with a mix of talents and skills that should serve us well on the 8-week sailing trip this fall.

This is the photo that Leo will submit to the organizers of the Baja Ha-Ha, along with a write-up of our group. It will also be published in Latitude 38 in either October or November, along with those of all the other sailboats. Last year 180 boats were registered and around 165 actually made the trip.

On September 10 there will be a get-together at the Encinal Yacht Club (that is, if it is held at the same place as last year) for everyone who is planning to go on the Ha-Ha. It's a nice way to get to know the other boaters, and maybe see friends from last year. Also, captains who have not filled their crew list, as well as people interested in crewing, can connect. It's a fun evening.

We have lots of prep work to do in getting ready to go; boat maintenance, new equipment to install, menus to plan, night watch schedules to figure out, not to mention all the provisioning. Our fishing licenses arrived in today's mail from Mexico's Fish and Game organization. I have to have one, too, even though I'm not planning on doing any fishing, just because I'll be onboard. Oh, and we certainly can't forget the important stuff like making sure Mike's speargun works. He's been testing it today in the front yard, worrying the neighbors.

I think he's planning to spear a shark!

Sailing in SF, and another trip on our horizon!

We had a great day sailing on Saturday. Here's Mike at the helm of the Chat de Mer, near Angel Island. The weather was typical for summer in the San Francisco Bay; partly overcast, partly sunny, with a nice strong breeze. It was Mike's and my first time sailing the catamaran and, although the sails are harder to put up and bring down than on our old boat, Mirage (because they are so much bigger), she handles beautifully. I got a chance at the helm myself with Leo intructing me through a number of tacks as we headed toward the Golden Gate bridge. The feel of this boat is certainly different than the Mirage, but we're getting the hang of it. Leo said I did well.

Here is a photo of the Chat de Mer in the Richmond harbor. Next time we go out I'll get some pictures of the roomy inside. For now here are a few more pictures of some of the outside amenities:

Here is the netting that many catamarans have in the front, stretched between the two hulls. It's a popular place to hang out and watch the water below, especially when there are dolphins playing in the waves under the boat.

This is for you, Mom! It's the dinghy, attached to the aft end of the boat, and it's a big dinghy. Not like the little one Mike and I had aboard the Mirage, that had to be inflated with a footpump and rowed with oars, this one is large, permanently "inflated," can be automatically lowered into the water at a moment's notice, and has a nice big engine. Easy escape in case the boat sinks!

A nice feature of catamarans is the swim step on the aft end of each hull. The bottom step is right at the water line and then there is that silver ladder that can be lowered into the water for very easy reboarding.

We used to have a time of it trying to get back into the Mirage after a swim. We had to either climb the rope ladder (very difficult and awkward) or climb into our dinghy and then into the boat. I used to worry incessantly about Mike going overboard, becoming exhausted in the cold water, and me being unable to pull him back into the boat. I'd probably have to tie a rope to him and tow him to shore!

Here's a view of Alcatraz. It looks empty because very few visitors come to this side of the island; they are all on the other side where the boats dock.

A small sailboat, the "Missy B," heeled over in the strong afternoon wind. These sailors are in full foul-weather gear, a good indication of the both the day's temperature, and the possibility of water splashing aboard.

The city of San Francisco.

It was obviously a great day for fishing. Look at all the party boats! The seagulls follow the fishing vessels waiting for the filleting of the day's catch to begin. They then swoop and dive on the scraps that are thrown overboard. The Golden Gate bridge is in the background.

More fishing boats. Look at all the fishermen lining the sides. The waves are from the high-speed ferry that just went by.
Leo, at the helm, and Gordon. There were five of us aboard; Leo, Mike, me, Gordon, and Jerry. It was a great day! Our next trip is scheduled for the first weekend in August, when we will take an overnight trip to Half Moon Bay.

These day and weekend trips are preparation for the Big Trip to come: the Baja Ha-Ha!! Yes, Mike and I are going again this year, this time as crew for Leo on the Chat de Mer! We are very excited. Leo will be adding one or two more people as crew; we don't know yet who they will be.

I'm also happy to report that the same couple who house- and petsat for us last year have agreed to return this year! We're tickled to have Richard and Mary coming back; our cats already know them so the adjustment should be easy for them, and I will have a little less separation-anxiety (at least we hope so). Richard and Mary enjoyed living in Benicia, so are also looking forward to the two months here this fall. Our dates of travel will be October 15 through December 15.

And, of course, I'll be taking my laptop so I can blog along the way!

"Home Is the Sailor, Home From the Sea..."

...(from the poem by A. E. Houseman)...

We got our first view of the Golden Gate Bridge in the mid-afternoon of Thursday, December 13th. What a welcome sight! It was a very cold day and we were bundled up in multiple shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, hats and gloves, and the first thought I had when I saw the bridge was, "Tomorrow I get to take a hot bubble bath!"As we sailed under the bridge it was hard to believe we'd been gone 60 days (!) and even harder to believe that our trip was nearly at an end. We'd logged approximately 2,600 sea-miles in a 34-foot sailboat with no refrigeration, heater, A/C, shower, or flush-toilet. We cooked and ate simple meals and if we were missing an ingredient we substituted something else or did without. Our "stuff" was minimal and what we found was that we really didn't need much. All the things we left behind -- the stuff that literally fills to bursting a three-bedroom home with a two-car garage -- proved to be totally unnecessary. Some stuff we missed, but we sure didn't need it.We saw this mural on one of the buildings on the San Francisco waterfront -- although we've seen it many times, on this occasion I felt it was meant just for us! The sun was going down as we moved through the bay and just as we reached the Bay Bridge it dropped behind the buildings creating this awesome view of the famous San Francisco Skyline:

The story of the huge oil spill of November 7th was (and still is) all over the news. A container ship called the Cosco Busan hit one of the supports on the Bay Bridge which acted like a giant can opener ripping open the side of the ship and dumping 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel oil into the water. We got a chance to see the damaged strut close-up as we sailed under the bridge; I took the photo below. You can see where all the concrete has been torn away and the underlying steel structure is exposed. It's under repair now. The most fortunate thing is that the damage to the support didn't cause any failure of the bridge.

We spent that night on the boat, docked in Alameda. The next morning our housesitters, Richard and Mary, arrived in our car to pick us up and take us home. By that time I was literally counting the minutes until I'd see my cats again! When I did, there was no hesitation on their parts -- they came right up to us, rubbed against our legs, and butted us with their heads. I was so surprised! I was sure I'd get the "cold tail!" All three were fine, a little fatter, and obviously purr-fectly happy.

That was 4 days ago. Since then we have quickly re-adjusted to all of Life's little conveniences! We're cooking in the microwave oven, stocking up our (relatively) huge refrigerator, taking long baths, flushing the toilet (instead of pumping it by hand!), doing laundry whenever we feel like it, running to the store for every little thing, and sleeping in a huge bed with real bedding (and three cats) instead of crammed in the forward berth in sleeping bags!

One thing that travelling to foreign countries always does for me is help me appreciate anew how blessed I am to live here in the U.S., and being without my "stuff," my pets, my family and friends only makes me enjoy them all the more now that I'm home again.

Santa visits Morro Bay - via Sailboat!

The kids in Morro Bay must have some kind of "in" with Santa because the jolly old elf paid them a special visit this past Saturday (12/8) and he arrived in a sailboat! We were tied up to the dock of the Morro Bay Yacht Club when Santa made his entrance, and he pulled in right behind us, then quickly disembarked to the joy of the kids lined up on the yacht club balcony.
After Santa's visit we were too excited to stay on-board Mirage so we went for what would be our last walk through the little town of Morro Bay (population 10,000 according to a waitress in town). Mike, who has a fondness for all-things-mermaid, naturally wanted his picture taken with the cutest mermaid in town. I guess anytime I want more attention from him all I need to do is grow a tail (oh, and cavort with dolphins and wear seashells over my...uh...yeah, those)!
The next photo is for our friend, Paul, who says he used to work at the Wavelengths Surf Shop in Morro Bay. He wrote to us about it with such fondness that we thought we'd stop in and see it for ourselves:
Indeed, it's a super-cool shop if you are a surfer and, as Paul told us, they have an awesome collection of vintage surfboards on display on the walls and ceiling. We talked the "kids" running the place into letting us take some photos so here's one:
I'm pretty sure that board on the right-hand side, second from the bottom, with the orange stripe, belonged to my friend Judy's brother, David, when we were teens in the 70's and growing up in Redondo Beach, California (and that dude STILL surfs everyday! Sweeeet)!

Oh, by the way, Paul? The shop seems to be doing just fine without out you. ;-)

Now, last but certainly not least, is a photo of Bob and Sue Cross:
I met Sue on-line in a yahoo group for scrapbookers and this was our first chance to meet IRL (in real life). We had a great time talking sailboats & scrapbooking, and had a fun dinner together at Rose's Bar & Grill. She and Bob now live full-time on their boat, S/V Fugue, and spend their days sailing from place to place, keeping to no schedule but their own, and just enjoying what life brings. A lifestyle we should all aspire to!

Morro Bay Seabirds, a Cat & a Meltdown

A walk along the waterfront here in Morro Bay never fails to provide good photo opps. This Great Blue Heron kept one eye on us but we didn't seem to worry him much; he was too busy waiting for his breakfast to swim unknowingly by. What a beauty! What first caught my eye, though, were these two white pelicans (below). We see a lot of the brown pelicans but these were the first white ones we've seen on our trip. In our neck of the woods, northern california, I've often seen these guys in the marshlands off Highway 37 between Vallejo and the coast but this is the first time I've had a chance to photograph any.Also on our walk we came across this grey-and-black Tabby cat. His nametag told us his name is Tony. He was very friendly and clearly wanted some attention which I was glad to give!He's also kind of a camera hog! As you know, the weather has not been too good. Thursday, which was yesterday, actually looked like a small window of opportunity to get out and on our way. Mike went out early to look at the sandbar (at the entrance to the harbor) and came back to report that it looked ok. I was concerned that he hadn't gotten a "second opinion" from someone like the harbor patrol or the coast guard. He was confident, though so despite my misgivings we made ready to go.

As we were motoring toward the harbor entrance I got more and more unsettled. I was down below, bouncing from window to window, and trying to gage the weather with my landlubber's eye. True, in the harbor the water was calm (see above photos) but that was not a good indication of what was going on out on the open water. I couldn't see out there, I only knew that the weather reports were indicating much higher winds and swells than I'm comfortable with. Up on deck Mike had on his cold-weather gear and life-jacket. I had just started to put on my own life-jacket when I glanced out a window and saw spray coming up over the rock jetty that we were approaching.

Well, that was the last straw -- I could NOT go out there! I slipped into a full-fledged panic attack. I opened the hatch and told Mike to drop me off at the nearest pier, that I would take a bus home! (I may even had said I'd jump overboard, I can't remember for sure!) He threw the boat into a u-turn and started motoring back, then turned back to the harbor entrance again and told me to come up and look, that the entrance was not bad at all, I'd see, and there was even a boat ahead of us on their way out, but I wouldn't even go up, I'd made up my mind. Mike was angry, but he drove the boat back to the dock and tied it up. By that time I had my bags packed and was ready to walk to the nearest motel to check in until I could figure out where to catch a bus or Amtrak.

Mike didn't like the economics of that (Paul, you understand!) and convinced me it would be better for us to stay on the boat, at only $20 per night, until I was ready to head home and at that point he'd take me to the bus station. As I have calmed down over the last 12 hours or so I've realized I really would like to finish this trip on the boat, if at all possible. Mike has agreed to wait out this bad weather, which looks like it may last through the weekend, and we've figured out that we still have time to make it home by the 15th even if we didn't leave until Monday.

At this point, our plan is to make a short run to San Simeon on Sunday - the weather will be calming though still a smidge over my ultimate comfort level but it would be only for a short day -- stay the night there, and continue on to Monterey Bay on Monday after the storm has fully passed. After a night there we'd then decide whether to make the run home to Alameda (about 100 miles) all at once, which would entail sailing overnight, or perhaps make a stop in Half Moon Bay.

And, what do you know? The weather deteriorated greatly last night -- the wind roared and rain hammered -- and today the wind is howling through the rigging and even here in this normally calm and placid harbor (check it out in the photos above), the water is choppy. I took the photo below about an hour ago of the boats near us that are tied to mooring buoys and they are surrounded by whitecaps!It's pretty clear that Mike and I have different tolerance levels for dangerous ocean conditions which is understandable since his skills at sailing are far greater than mine. Mike thought I was questioning his judgement about whether or not it was safe to go out yesterday, and that made him angry. The reality of it is that I simply reached the limit of how scared I can stand to be! It doesn't even matter whether my fear is rational or not; it is what it is.

So we are here for at least two more nights. You can't beat the accommodations, and we've been invited to attend a get-togther this evening at the yacht club. Mike has gone off (in the wind and cold) to hike to the grocery store for a few things, and I'm wrapped up like a burrito in a blanket enjoying the free internet access! The sun peeks out now and then but the wind is still howling and I'm quite happy inside our snug little boat.

(by the way, I have no idea why some of these paragraphs are single-spaced and some double -- the blogger tools seems to make decisions like that for me!)

Homesick Again

I've been looking through my digital photo files and came across some that our housesitters, Richard and Mary, recently sent us. They are caring for our home and our cats during our 8-week trip and, let me say this, if you haven't used housesitters, it's THE way to go if you want peace of mind on vacation! (Check out http://www.housecarers.com/, where we found Richard and Mary, next time you need someone to care for your home, with or without pets.)

I always worry about my cats while I'm gone even on short trips so I was truly nervous about both Mike and I being gone for two months. I couldn't possibly just have someone come in and check on them, even if it were every single day -- they'd probably destroy the house or, at the very least, develop some very bad habits if left on their own so much. Plus, I don't like to leave my home vacant; even though we live in a very safe area, you still never know! Finding Richard and Mary was a huge relief; especially when we met them and saw how they interacted with our pets and we could tell they were responsible, caring, and thoughtful people who would take the same care of our pets and home as we would.

So anyway.....just check out these photos! The first is of Jack who is obviously in blissful heaven sprawled in Richard's lap! The little traitor!
And here is my little sweetheart, Scout, giving MY kisses to Mary! The little hussy!

All kidding aside, I'm really grateful to Richard and Mary for providing such good care of the Tabbies that they have (obviously!) bonded to them. I can relax and enjoy my vacation knowing that my pets are not unhappy, pining away for me (do cats even do that?), or not being fed and watered and loved on a regular basis.

And, not to leave out our third (and oldest) cat, Bo, here is a photo of him snug as can be in his little bed. At over 17 years of age the only things that make him happy are a warm bed and food and we know he's getting plenty of both.


Thank you, Richard and Mary!!

Happily Tucked into snug Morro Bay

There's a big storm coming causing conditions like the waves pictured above. That's a big Coast Guard cutter entering the Morro Bay harbor amid huge seas. So glad we got in last night ahead of the storm. It's supposed to get worse before it gets better so we'll be tucked in here for a few days at least. No way do I want to be out in 35-40 knots of wind and 15-25 foot sea swells! I'm seasick just thinking about it. We couldn't leave if we wanted to -- the Coast Guard has closed the entrance to this harbor due to the dangerous conditions.

Of course, staying here is no hardship because we are tied up to the dock of the Morro Bay Yacht Club, and we're the only visitors here, so we have the guest bathrooms/showers/laundry facilities all to ourselves AND free wi-fi internet--wooohooo! Needless to say I'll be updating both my blogs plus reading and replying to all my emails, making phone calls, and doing plenty of digital scrapbooking. So nice to be back in civilization!

We've already done quite a bit of exploring here and love this little seaside town. It's our first time in Morro Bay and since we'll be here for a few days you'll get to see some photos of this quaint little place. First, though, here is a photo just for my Mom who Mike has fooled into thinking he's always clean-shaven -- hah!!!

Most of the time on-board the Mirage THIS is how he looks! I refer to it (affectionately, of course) as his "grizzled sea-captain" look. He was getting ready to shave in preparation to going to a restaurant but I made him wait til I took his picture. He doesn't look too bad here, he's been much worse!

That's the famous Morro Rock - I took this photo yesterday in much calmer weather. This afternoon it is shrouded in fog. It's really quite incredible. People used to be able to climb it but naturally, since that would be so much fun, the gov't put a stop to that. After all, we might hurt ourselves. At one time this rock was separate from the mainland but then a causeway was built in 1933 and you can now walk, bike, or drive along the inland side. There's a lot of new construction going on as the walking and jogging trails are improved, and a boardwalk is being added. We're hoping to come back in a year or so and see it all completed.

And here's the other landmark which distinguishes Morro Bay -- a power plant with three towers stretching high into the sky. Too bad -- a necessary building, sure, but to put it right at the waterfront? And you can see it -- like the Rock -- from practically anywhere in town. An interesting juxtaposition of Nature and Man.

Last photo for this post is this pelican. Mike took this photo -- he's really a much better photographer than I am -- he has a lot more patience. I love how he caught the bird as it's wings nearly brush the surface of the water!

San Diego - Part Two

That’s me in my cold-weather headgear. Hah, Mike says I look like a Russian. I’ve got some pretty strange outfits for cold days and, believe me, fashion is a distant second to warmth out on the ocean! Some days I end up with 5 or 6 layers of clothes on!

I was asleep when we crossed from Mexican waters into the U.S. or I’d have immediately fired up my cell phone to check for service! We reached Shelter Island Harbor in San Diego early in the morning. Then it was immediately to the showers, woohoo! And, yep, we’ve got cell phone service!

Other very necessary chores followed – laundry and trash removal among the most important. Mike had a long list of boat maintenance tasks and I had a lot of work to do on my laptop. For my digital scrapbooking business I needed to upload my December freebies (check ‘em out if you haven’t already: http://www.webajeb.com/, then click on the Freebies link at the top), post to both my blogs (this personal one, and also http://www.blogwebajeb.blogspot.com/), as well as go through numerous emails in both my business email account and my personal yahoo account. Whew!

By the time I got myself over to the Kona Kai hotel to sit in their lobby and use their free wi-fi connection it was already after noon. Before I got busy with internet stuff I called my mom’s house but no one answered so I figured she and my sisters were off on the annual day-after-Thanksgiving “Mother/Daughter Christmas Shopping Kick-Off.” I was missing it! Well, but I could talk to them anyway! I got hold of my sister, Karen, on her cell phone and, sure enough, they were all at the Simi Valley Mall: my Mom, my sisters Karen, Lisa, Denise, and Kristen, Karen’s friend, Jen, Lisa’s daughter, Heather, and Denise’s daughter, Jenny. They were having a great time. I’d love to have been with them.

Well, since I wasn’t there to take photos I’ll just have to post the only photo I have with me from a previous shopping trip. Here’s Kristen, her friend, Stacy, Mom, Lisa and Denise. This is from a few years back, I don’t even know how many….! (Stacy’s black eye is a whole ‘nother story!) However, if you visit my sister, Kristen's Blog, she just might write about it....or not -- depending on if she sees this posting! Here is the url: http://ascernia.blogspot.com/.

I also got to have a long chat with my son, Rodrigo, later in the day. He is due to get married next summer so he brought me up to date on the latest wedding plans. He and his fiancée, Dianna, have a lot going on these days with the upcoming wedding, full-time jobs & night school, not to mention applying to graduate school programs. Thank goodness I don’t have to maintain a schedule like that!

Our day in San Diego flew by with all we needed to get done. We fell into bed that night and slept like logs in spite of a couple of dock lights that were shining directly into our windows. This morning we got up early and hit the showers (ahhhh!), did a couple more quick things to the boat (like pump the holding tank – yummy) and then headed back out to sea. On our way out the channel we passed several buoys, all occupied. These goof-balls were definitely enjoying their snooze in the sun.

We originally thought we’d head out to Catalina and then to Ventura or Oxnard, but when we did the calcs for distance and travel time we realized we’d reach Avalon in the dead of night. Not a fun time (or safe) to try to anchor in an unfamiliar harbor. We studied the charts again and decided, instead of spending a day on Catalina, to instead spend that day with family, so we will be forging straight through the night and most of tomorrow to reach Oxnard by dark tomorrow evening. I told my Mom we probably wouldn’t be there until Tuesday so I hope she and my Dad won’t mind us showing up a bit early!

Of course, our new schedule means night-watches tonight. You can bet I’ll be wearing one of my cute cold-weather outfits when it’s my turn. Mike always takes the bulk of the night-watches but I try to do my share. I am better about them now than when we first started this trip, but I still don’t like them much. It’s just creepy out on deck all alone in the dark! Luckily, we have a full moon tonight so that will help a lot.

And it’s almost time for my shift so I’ll put away my laptop now and get settled for the long night ahead.

Take care everyone!

Bashing Back

Hi all, and Happy Thanksgiving! (a little late....)

I’ll be posting this in San Diego hopefully tomorrow which, unfortunately, is the day AFTER Thanksgiving. I had so hoped we’d be in the U.S. again by today so that we could call home to our families. Our cell phone service (Verizon) doesn’t seem to work at all here in Mexico even though Verizon assured us that we’d be able to make roaming calls when we were in range of larger cities. Guess the little coastal towns we’ve been in don’t count!

I’m craving turkey today (no surprise there) but we are going to have to make do with a Chicken Helper box dinner with canned chicken. Oh well, Mike has promised me a turkey dinner when we get back home in a few weeks, and another one for New Year’s, so I will just look forward to that. He’s sad to miss the great sale prices on turkeys (we usually buy several and freeze them). One thing I have learned on this trip is to forgo instant gratification. We sure can’t run out and buy whatever it is we might want for dinner, or that one ingredient we need but don’t have, or anything really. In fact, we could wait up to a week for a food item, and other things we can’t get here on the coast of Baja at all. Whatever we don’t have, we do without. My mom has always said, “Happiness is not having what you want; it’s wanting what you have.” So, I want a Chicken Helper dinner, Bisquick biscuits, and Crystal Light Lemonade for our Thanksgiving dinner today – YUM! Oh, and we have plenty of cookies (Mexican, which I’ve developed a great fondness for) and candy for dessert. One thing we won’t be missing out on is the overabundance of calories associated with a Thanksgiving Day feast!

The last week has been a bit hard. We have set foot on land exactly once in six days, and it looks like we will not get off the boat today either, not until we get to San Diego tomorrow. We have been sailing from anchorage to anchorage, staying just the night, then setting off again in the morning. Due to my dislike of night watches, Mike is trying to locate small harbors where we can anchor for the night and which are close enough together distance-wise that we can get to them with just day-sailing. It’s been nice doing that but we don’t make very good time on our “Bash Back,” which is what the Baja Ha-Ha calls the return trip north due to having to sail into the wind -- always harder than having the wind at your back (this is why sailors wish each other “fair winds and following seas”).

A couple of times the wind and waves were especially uncooperative and we didn’t reach our anchorage until past dark (last night it was at 1:30 a.m.). This means I get to go forward with a spotlight and watch for such things are crab pots, small buoys and floats, and other boats (especially pangas which don’t bother with anchor lights so they are hard to see at night). Oh, and kelp, which is hazardous because it can foul the prop. One night when we anchored after dark (at Isla Cedros) we woke to the anchor alarm at 3:00 a.m. because the anchor had dragged free and we were drifting out to sea. It took over two hours to hoist the anchor, move to a new location, and set the hook again once more.

Two things we have not had the pleasure of here in Mexico – one is marinas with docks to tie up to and that don’t necessitate inflating our dinghy and rowing to shore; and the other is showers. You’re cringing now, ha ha! It’s true, no showers since the ones we took just before we left San Diego on October 29th. Scary, eh? We’ve been making do with sponge baths and the occasional dip in the ocean. I think I’ve washed my hair maybe twice by hanging my head over the (tiny) galley sink and letting Mike pour water over my head with a coffee cup. In between I’ve been living with hair like Kramer’s on the Seinfeld show. If I’m going to be seen by anyone except Mike (who is used to it by now – I think) then I “do” my hair by putting on a hat. I just thank my lucky stars I thought to get it cut really short before we left. A small knitted beanie or a baseball cap covers everything.

On the other hand, one thing we have definitely had the pleasure of and that’s the company of dolphins. Hundreds of dolphins. I’ve near driven myself crazy trying to get photos of them. I’d hang off the bow with my camera, try to anticipate when they’d come to the surface for a breath of air, and then press the shutter. Ninety-nine percent of the time I’d get a really nice picture of . . . water. Then just yesterday (yeah, I’m a little slow) I realized, “Hey! My camera takes movies!” Mike, who has a much faster camera trigger finger than I do, caught my moment of realization in the following photo.

Thought you all might enjoy a good laugh! Not only do I look dumbfounded and disgusted with myself, but I’m also sporting the ultra-cool raccoon tan that’s all the rage on the Mirage right now. Oh my. Anyway, after that I spent a long time taking QuickTime movies of the dolphins racing the boat and playing in the bow waves. Got some great footage! I hope I’ll be able to post one or two short ones on the internet, either on my blog, or on my website, but will have to wait awhile to figure that out. You’ll love ‘em! (And maybe Michael can help me figure out how to make some still photos out of the footage, too, hint hint!). Here are a couple photos we did manage to take – they’re probably both Mike’s:

I hope I get a chance to share some of the film with you all. It is really incredible stuff. We’ll be just sailing along and suddenly, from all sides, we see dolphins coming our way, fast. They converge on our boat and we watched groups of up to 8 at a time swimming together, racing each other and us, and surfacing for air in unison. Incredible! At times they actually roll over onto their sides and seem to look right up at us as if to say, “Hi!” They are so friendly-looking, too, with smiling faces. We saw some youngsters, too, and they usually jumped the highest out of the water. We watched them for hours both yesterday and today.

Later – 7 p.m. I’ve been keeping an eye on my cell phone since we are offshore from Ensenada now and a little while ago I actually got a “roaming” message instead of the “searching for service!” But when I tried to call my parents the call failed. I even tried dialing the 001 country code for the U.S. and it seemed to be dialing the call, then I got “lost call” message. Dang it!! I thought I was going to get to wish them (and whichever of my siblings and other relatives are at their house) a Happy Thanksgiving. We are between 8 and 10 miles offshore, though, so we are probably just too far from whatever cell towers Ensenada may have. So I’m back to waiting until tomorrow.

As I mentioned before, we’ve only been off the boat and onto dry land once in the last week. That was on Isla San Martin. Very small, with perhaps a dozen very shabby fishing camp shacks made out of plywood and corrugated tin, and only a couple of pangas moored near a small beach (which, by the way, was littered with dead pelicans and seagulls). At the center of the island are two inactive volcanoes and the land surrounding them is made up mainly of volcanic rock.

It looks pretty barren at first glance but when we started hiking around we found an incredible array of hardy-looking succulents, many that we’d never seen before. One variety looked rather like a barrel cactus but grew in huge clumps and had wicked spikes that could reach out and grab a sneaker or pant-leg from several inches away. We had to carry sturdy sticks to beat the things off. The spikes had barbs, too, so when Mike caught one in his hand, and I ended up with one stuck in my leg, pulling them out hurt worse than when they went in!

Seems the island is also a sanctuary for marine animals and birds.

We saw a lot of pelicans, especially in a small lagoon at one end of the island where they were taking end-of-the-day baths with much noisy flapping of their huge wings, also seagulls, of course, and a single butterfly and one hummingbird. My favorite critters were the seals that we came across sunning themselves on the beach, sound asleep. We actually had to whistle to wake one up. We were trying hard not to annoy them (remember the sign). The little guy (see first photo) doesn’t look too concerned, though, and the other three seals never even opened an eye.

On one side of the island are awesome sheer cliffs with the surf crashing below.

As the end of the day drew nearer flocks of pelicans and cormorants came flying in to roost for the night. It was getting colder, too, so we headed back to our own “roost” for the night.

More soon!