Underway - Day 1 and 2

Dolphins surrounded the boat as we left Ant Atoll.

Just in time for supper tonight, we caught a fish. Finally! I won't tell you how small it was, just that it was a Mahi Mahi and it was the perfect size to feed our little family.

Our first "little" fish.

Eventually, we caught two more.

That's the first major event that has happened on this passage. So I guess that makes it a pretty good passage. Our wind has been fair, but we've spent today motor sailing. The trades haven't quite settled in and the wind keeps shifting a bit and the speed varies as well. But we're making good time. We should be arriving in our little atoll tomorrow, early afternoon.

I was trying to think of something interesting to write in this update and couldn't really think of anything. The biggest thing on my mind this time is how much I wish I enjoyed these passages more. I haven't gotten sick on this one, but at the same time, I don't feel my best. I get nervous and I'm sure that doesn't help things. I wish I was more comfortable out here. I keep saying it's because we haven't been out in a while, but I know that's not true. I'm just getting more honest... The good news is that it will just be these short passages between atolls so even though I won't have time to get acclimated, I won't be very far from land for long.

Stay tuned...we have no idea what we'll find tomorrow. From the looks of Google earth, it's a bit populated. I don't think it will be too "native" but we'll see!

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A few more pics from Bikini

I went back to the boat yesterday and found I had missed a few pictures...

Our MahiMahi we caught leaving Rongelap.

Looking a little rough, but enjoying the trip from Rongelap to Bikini.

Yokwe!

11/27/2010 - Isla Isabel

We pulled anchor about 1:30 yesterday from Stone Island to head for Isla Isabel.  It was an 89 mile passage so we knew we would have an overnighter.  All was going great until about 7:00 when we almost got ran over by a shrimp boat.  I was on watch and saw that it was heading for us.  It’s hard to tell sometimes out here because they have so many lights on them that it confuses the navigational rules.  If a boat’s port side (left) is showing to you then you will see a red light.  If her starboard side (right) is showing you will see a green light.  If both lights are showing then she’s probably heading straight for you.  From my chair, I could see both lights but they were on the wrong side.  It looked more like she was heading away from us.  But if that were the case, then I would just see her stern light.  Later we were to find out the shrimp boat had a triangle of red lights, some orange lights, green lights, white lights, a little bit of everything.  Christmas is getting close…. So I woke Andy up (he was trying to rest up for his late night watch).  Well, it turns out to be a good thing.  Andy altered our course slightly but the ship kept coming toward us.  After a few hair raising moments we finally saw her pass in front of our bow about 300 yards out, never slowing down or altering course at all.  Another important reason to keep good watches…

BIG FISH... not so flattering of me, but remember, it's 7:00 am

The rest of the night was uneventful until I hauled in a 25 pound Dorado this morning!!!  I saw the line zip all the way across the stern of the boat and when I went to pull it in it tried to take off.  I hollered at Andy to come help…while I pulled it in, he gaffed it and then it promptly dropped into the cockpit and went crazy.  According to my husband and son, I did the same thing.  I took the baseball bat and made every attempt at a humane one shot kill but it turned into more of a close my eyes and swat at the fish kind of game.  I made a serious mess and when it looked like the fish might actually land in the cabin, Andy stepped in and gave the final blow.  Holy cow this thing was big!!! 

The "kill zone"

Everything was calm after that and we arrived at Isla Isabel about 11:00 this morning.  The anchorage here is over a very rocky bottom and can make you a bit nervous.  But Andy dove on it and it appears that were in there tight (but not so tight we can’t get out).  We’re here with two other boats and it feels pretty close.  We saw a fourth sailboat try to come in but ended up moving out to the east anchorage.  We’re thinking of staying here another day or so depending on the weather and then heading out to San Blas. 

Isla Isabel

Here’s what the guidebook says about the island…  “Isla Isabel is an isolated volcanic island lying approximately 18 miles off the mainland coast, and 40 miles northwest of San Blas.  This very unique island has been nicknamed the ’Galapagos of Mexico,’ due to its enormous number of nesting birds and resident iguanas.  Like the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador, the Isla Isabel is isolated in the Pacific Ocean and relatively free of natural predators.”

Tomorrow we’re going to wake up and go for a hike to the top of the hill.  The caldera of this extinct volcano is filled with water so you can imagine my little volcano loving son can’t wait to see it.  Andy will do a dive in the afternoon (waves permitting) and we’ll probably head out Monday.

11/6/2010 - Moving on

Friends on Endurance waving Bye for the last time.

Friday morning we had a short goodbye swim with our friends on Endurance and then a sad goodbye wave as they headed north and we headed south.  We truly enjoyed their company over the last week and all of us on Savannah are sad that we couldn’t be going the same direction.  Trinidad and Samantha are such good kids.  Funny, smart and cute as a button.  Jake can’t quite get his head around not seeing them again.  We all promised to meet up again after our trip is over.  With my experience with leaving friends in the military, this isn’t as far fetched as it sounds…you always run into people down the road.

It’s interesting to see the landscape change since we came through here a few months ago.  Aqua Verde, our first stop, has transformed from a small dustbowl to a beautiful cove with actual flowers blooming (albeit not very many)!  We pulled in early afternoon and spent the evening watching the fishermen come in and out.  After breakfast the next morning we went to the Tienda for some vegetables and eggs and were able to get some fresh goat cheese.  It’s not the kind we think of at home, it’s more like a mozzarella, but very tasty.  This is my favorite little Tienda that we’ve been to.  I posted pictures the first time around.  It’s a small house with food on the front porch and coolers extending in to the yard.  You can either browse around or just ask for what you want and they will point you to the right cooler.  We were able to get tomatoes, eggs, avocados, lettuce, cheese and chayote (a vegetable good for stir fry…Paula made it and it was delicious).  The also had chicken, potatoes and onions but we didn’t need any of those things yet.  It looks so bare yet has so many things…and the people are so nice and helpful with our Spanish!

Los Gatos was our next stop and it looks like they too were able to get some green things growing!  The beach here looks completely different from the first time.  It looks like they got some rain and a bit of erosion on the beach.  It was very neat to see the miniature cliffs left in the sand by the running water and wind.  They almost looked like replicas of the mountains standing behind the beach.  We explored a good bit, threw the Frisbee around and worked on Jake’s rock skipping skills.

He can throw...

He just can't quite catch yet.

After a brief visit and Spanish practice with the local fisherman, a nice sushi dinner (we caught a fairly large dorado on the way here), we’re now on our way to Isla San Francisco.  This will be our dropping off point for the mainland.  It’s about 35 miles so we got an early start this morning and are seriously hoping for some wind.  We’ve been motoring since we left.  We tried a bit of sailing the first day but after a few hours at 2 knots, we decided to crank the motors back up.

We’re looking forward to a beautiful sunset tonight, as Isla San Francisco is really one of the more picturesque places we’ve been.  

There is really never enough sushi for that kid.

7/23/2010 - Humbolt Squid

We're told that humbolt squid are found off of Santa Rosalia and Guaymas in large schools.  We were also told that there aren't that many this year.  Before we left San Diego there were several reports of them washing up on the beach around La Jolla.

Imagine our surprise last night as we're anchored off of Isal San Marcos playing with Jake (well, I was napping) on the front of the boat when we saw tons of small bait fish making waves near the shoreline.  Andy got out the binoculars and started hyperventilating...."squid! squid! squid!"  He's been dying to catch a squid ever since he heard they were here.  He grabs his spear, rushes back to the dinghy and takes off.  It turns out he didn't need his spear much... they were literally beaching themselves!  There were hundreds of them jumping out of the water.  He looked like a mad man running around grabbing them with his hands, spearing them when necessary.  It was the craziest thing I've ever seen.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to get my camera until he was already on his way back.  He had a grin from ear to ear and a dinghy FULL of squid ink.  

He ended up with eight of them.  We shared them with the other boats in the anchorage, put a few in the freezer and set some our for lunch/dinner today.  It was also an impromptu science lesson for Jake... dissection of a humbolt squid.  As After much discussion about where the ink sack was, Jake asked him "Why don't they have bones?"  Andy told him he would have to ask the big man that question, he didn't know.  Jake asked, "Who's the big man?"  "God" said Andy.  "Oh, well, I really want to know that so I'm going to ask him."  Knock yourself out.  Of all life's little questions, this one's got Jake all wrapped up.


This morning Andy saw the squid again a little further out from shore and we all got in the dinghy to take a look.  By the time we got there (put shorts on the kid, lifejacket, hat, etc) they were gone.  But we did get to see a manta ray swimming on the surface.  It just swam around in circles as we followed it in the dinghy.  


It looks like our time back at anchorage is working out for us so far!

5/8/10 - Asuncion

It was a nice day sail down to Asuncion from Bahia Totuga.   This is the next little cove for hopping our way down the Baja.  It’s not as protected as Turtle Bay, but it’s listed in a few of the guides as a place worth stopping.  Along the way, we got our fishing lines tangled up around the prop (my fault, but since I write the blog, I reserve the right to edit as I choose).  It’s worth mentioning  because of what happened afterwards.  Andy cut the line and jumped in to get the remaining line out of the prop.  After piecing the line back together, he threw it back in the water and caught a huge Bonito.  We’re estimating 15 lbs or bigger.  At this rate, you guys are going to get tired of seeing pictures of Andy with a big fish.  I’m also thinking my brother is getting more jealous every time he reads this seeing as he loves fishing.

By the time we anchored and our friends Terri and Scott anchored, we had a nice feast all prepared to share.  It was a rocky ride into the actual anchorage so this was a perfect way to settle in and relax.

The town in Asuncion is similar to Turtle Bay.  It’s dusty and small with a bit more vegetation.  The opinions of the personalities of the locals  varied among our group but I didn’t see a big difference in the ones we met earlier in the week.  Very friendly, a little reserved, but helpful. 

We met another American, Shari who has settled down here and opened a camping ground complete with laundry services and wifi.  It’s named after her daughter, Serina.  She was very helpful in filling us in on some of the local places and directing us to a place called Juanita’s for lunch.   One of the cool things about the places we’ve been to is that we get to practice our Spanish for real now.  When we lived in Puerto Rico, there were always people who spoke English so we really never had to learn.  Even if we tried, we decided either their desire to practice their English was greater than our desire to practice Spanish or our pronunciation was so bad they couldn’t tell what language we were speaking.  But I can honestly say, we’re making progress!  In Juanita’s, not only did we get what we ordered but managed to find their bathroom and have a short conversation with our waitress about Jake.  I was able to practice a little more when we went into a pharmacy.  I didn’t know how to say “sea sick” in Spanish so I acted it out while explaining we were on a velero (sailboat).  They chuckled at me, but understood.  I still didn’t get the medicine I wanted but it boosted my confidence in being able to communicate.

After a very tricky dinghy exit at the beach (I’m going to dedicate a whole post to this soon) we got back to our boat, changed into warm, dry clothes and settled down for a lazy afternoon.  Tomorrow we’ll be heading off to Magdelena Bay.  It’s about a 2 day/night sail from here but is supposed to be very protected.  We think it might be a good place for some kayaking and pictures by the look of the charts.  Time to get a good night’s rest.