August 29, 2011

Hello friends and family.

Well, we took a big step the other day.  We signed up for the BA JA HA HA.  We’re paid up so we’re committed.  The plan is to leave from Ensenada, meet up with the other boats and go from there.  We’re also planning on taking our Mexican captain so we will have some additional experience and safety onboard.  There are parties and meetings in San Diego as well as a parade.  We’re thinking about whether or not we should go to any of them.  Our information package is being sent to Toronto so we can get it when we visit.

Which, incidently, will be on Sept 17.   This time we’ll only be there for 2 weeks.  Border crossings are getting easier.  Our last two times, we were pulled over for additional screening, but no one wanted to see our papers, besides our passports.  Perhaps our file is getting cleaned up.  Anyway, we’re selling the house in Scarborough and we expect to be reviewing offers when we’re there.  We’re selling it with optional furniture.  Hopefully, the new owners will want it, so we won’t have to deal with it. 

We’ve been technically challenged the last little while.  The power supply unit on the dock for our boat suddenly stopped working.  Luckily for us, there is no one in the slip next to us, so we’re plugged into their outlet.  Our cable went out and just came on now.  It was out for a week and because of that we’ve watched most of our dvds.  They were supposed to be for when we are at anchor.  We’re going to have to get some more, that’s for sure.  Our Magic Jack isn’t working.  Our subscription ran out and when we went to renew, we were automatically taken to the Mexico site.  We thought we set it up properly, but the system wouldn’t take our credit card.  The system isn’t very flexible and we’re waiting for someone to fix it for us.  Its been over a week too.

Otherwise, we’ve been learning more about the boat.  We’re figuring out the GPS unit.  We found out it includes a chart plotter, which is excellent!  We’ve also trying to figure out the radar and inverter.

We got our dinghy davits.  They look beautiful.  Now we have to get a pulley system and we’re rolling!  We also got a new anchor installed.  Our chain is out getting painted.  We’re slowly getting her into tip top shape for our departure.  The HA HA leaves on Oct 24.  Not too long now.  It’s a little scary, but very exciting.

Today we went inland a bit to visit Mexico’s wine country.  When we left the marina it was 22.5 degrees.  About ½ hour later, it was 43 degrees.  Both of us felt, though, that we could handle this type of heat.  It is dry and in the shade with a little breeze, it wasn’t too bad.  If the Sea of Cortez is like this, it’ll be great.

Here are a few short videos of our day.  We were at native Mexican lands and you’ll see some historic structures and some colourful clothing.

Bye for now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=met2krG4Z0U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G07SN0DA8K0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahopnt4UVT8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahopnt4UVT8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTImwD4jcCw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IXz8NpWP1U

An Ensenada song we got Neil Diamond to do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0lg5cY4UQI

August 20, 2011 - Ensenada

August 15, 2011

In keeping with our promise to update the blog more often, here’s the latest.

We were busy last week.  We had visitors from San Diego.  Our friend/broker Tom sailed his boat to Marina Coral along with a couple of friends, Ken and Ryan.  It was different and fun having guests who had their own boat.  They also had another boat arrive the next day along with 4 or 5 of their friends, who also happen to be friends with Fernando, one of our friends from E dock.

So we did a lot of sight seeing and socializing.  Ryan bought a big halibut from the fish market and cooked it on the bar-b-que on paper.  It is the first we’ve heard of cooking on paper on a b-b-q, but it worked out great.  The following night we had dinner, brats, on their friend’s boat, Tara.  We were lucky in that they put us all on the same dock.

Now that they are gone, we miss them.  But Tom says he’s retiring next year and we hope to meet up with him somewhere in the Sea of Cortez.  We think we’re going to meet up with a lot of people in the Sea of Cortez.

We’ve still got some work to do on the boat.  We’re considering getting a generator/watermaker.  Expensive, but what is the price of independence?

No new videos this week.  Sharon did see some porpoises in the marina, just behind our boat.  They were darker in colour and bigger than the dolphins.  There were only two (or perhaps 3, counting a baby) and they were very quiet.  We’d heard they were coming in after the anchovies.  The water is teaming with those tiny, shiny little fish. 

We say a poor injured (or something) pelican, in the slip across from us.  Poor thing just kept swimming around in circles.  Maybe he was blind.  One of the security staff was going to call someone to help it.  Not sure what happened but the next time we looked, it was gone.

One of the marina workers caught (is that the right word) a nice, big fat starfish the other day.  It was just clinging to the piling.  Everyone got involved in the operation, bring poles and nets and buckets.   It took some doing and the help of half a dozen people, but he was able to extradite it from the piling in one piece to take home for his aquarium.

Piggy is getting less shy everyday.  He loves to go outside on deck and he now goes out during the day.  He sleeps in the cockpit most of the time.  He still runs from everything, but some of our dock mates have seen him now.

We should be going to San Diego this Thursday to pick up a bunch of stuff on our shopping lists.  It might be our second to last visit for supplies before we head south.  We’ve starting stock-piling.  We need to get a lot more cat food and litter.  Not to mention Miracle Whip, bagels and everything else non-Mexican we can think of.  Also need to get some boat parts.

Signing off for now.

Update – Aug 20

Once again we’ve taken too long to update the blog.  So, here goes, assuming we have a good Internet connection.

We went to San Diego for the day on Wednesday, then went to the boat yard the next day.  Cleaned the boat, got new dinghy davits installed and had neighbours over for dinner, so you see, we really are busy.

We’re re-evaluating our plans to go south.  We might still decide to go with the Ba Ha Ha Ha and still take a captain along.  It would be a slower trip, but with lots of learning and experience along the way, not to mention parties, etc.

A couple of photos for your enjoyment:

Cats in the cockpit.

One of our Canadian neighbours on Canada Day, can you see the flags?  Even the dog had the Canadian flag on..

Gotta go and post this….

August 8, 2011

We’ve been remiss, not updating the blog often enough.  So, we’re going to start trying to update it once a week. 

We’ve been busy lately, getting a lot of work done.  We had the sail cover re-sewn, and had some places on the mainsail re-enforced.  They did a pretty good job, and cheap.  We also bought a major windlass, for pulling up the anchor.  We’ve got dinghy davits on order, which are for lifting the dinghy out of the water.  We had the boat cleaned and polished.  We’re getting there, getting ready to head south, that is.

We had Neil’s family for a visit and they stayed onboard.  It was interesting having so many people in such tight quarters.  Neatness becomes important, they’re so much more stuff on board.  Well, we survived it.

They brought us our new video camera, so we’ve been playing with it.  Also, in order to make updating the blog easier, we’re going to include more video and less words.

Here’s a video of our visit to the blowhole with Neil’s family.  You’ll see Moe, Steven and Thomas.

And the fish market:

There’s a blue heron that’s been hanging around:

And an usual shot of the boat moving, from the dock. 

Adios amigos.

In no specific order the videos are below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a2sH_hjTkE&feature=youtube_gdata
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KTsrsGvl6Q&feature=youtube_gdata
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1qkOmJicgQ&feature=youtube_gdata
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6aPJzKHmGc&feature=youtube_gdata

Here are some pics as well:

 Bathroom signs at a restaurant in town

Concert at our hotel marina