A Whale’s Tale

Hello Everyone,

Here we are again on the eve of our departure from BLA, dripping sweat onto the keyboards of our favorite internet cafe. There is an up side to the hotter temperatures, the water has warmed up too. It’s absolutely perfect for snorkling. Randy and I spend alot of time swimming with the fishes. We watch in awe as hundreds of quicksilver fish change the shape of their school in the blink of an eye. It’s like moving art, exquisitely beautiful when the sun flashes along their silvery sides. Some fish are as curious about us as we are about them. We dance around one another in a kind of underwater ballet, getting closer and closer. I love to glide peacefully over the water in the kayak too. One day I brought the camera with me and as I silently approached a sting ray resting in the shallow water, I tried to click a picture of him before he skittered away in a cloud of sand. I got three good pictures. Unfortunately all the pictures are on our computer, which crashed a week ago. As soon as Randy gets it working again, WE WILL POST PICTURES.

We had a great time at the Full Moon Party on August 28th. Imagine 20 boatloads of cruisers gathering from all over the Sea of Cortez at the La Mona anchorage to play in the water. A natural water slide was created at midday when the highest tide of the month surged into a normally dry lagoon behind the beach. We donned snorkle and fins and were swept into the lagoon along a meandering channel. Pink and purple shells flashed by beneath us as we dodged green mangrove bushes along the way. I had a ball grabbing the prettiest shells. Sue calls shell collecting “shopping”. This was express shopping, let me tell you! Three hours later the water slide reversed as the ebbing tide began to empty the lagoon. As if this wasn’t enough fun, there was a total lunar eclipse the night before. Six of us moonlovers went ashore at 3am to watch the full moon go dark and the stars come out in all their glory. I wasn’t surprised to learn that one of the couples named their boat “Blew Moon.”

Well, time to ferry water to the boat. With lots of love,
Gina, Randy and Pretty Bird

Hi Everyone,

We’re feeling pretty good today. Hurricane Dean sent us some clouds, which means a pretty sunset tonight and less heat during the day. Normally we’d be sitting in this internet cafe with our tongues hanging out and sweat dripping on the keyboard. (Now it is just hot and our tongues are hanging out – Randy.) We’re also feeling good about our new method of hauling 70 gallons of purified water to the boat. We hired the Garcia brothers to truck ten jugs of water from the grocery store to the dinghy. Two dinghy trips to the boat and the entire job was finished in less than two hours. So much better than our all day marathons in the past! (Keep in mind that Bahia de Los Angeles, also known as BLA, is hotter than Bakersfield.)

We’re in BLA to stock up so we can spend several days at La Mona, a beautiful anchorage we enjoyed on the southern-most shores of the bay. Behind the white sand beach is an intriguing lagoon. For most of the month it is bone dry and used as a nighttime playground for a pack of vocal coyotes. During the full moon however, the high tide fills the lagoon with water, which then rushes out as the tide begins to ebb. The cruisers discovered that the rushing water creates a gigantic water slide and are gathering from all over to play in the water and share a “Full Moon Pot Luck” on August 28th. This we’ve got to experience! (I expect a continuation of the disagreement between some of the men and some of the women regarding the medicinal properties of beer. We will be sure to have a picture taken of us at the SS Minnow that is “docked” at La Mona.) Last week we painted the dinghy on the picturesque beach and laughed as we cooled off in the turquoise water. We’re living the definition of cruising: “Boat repair in exotic locations.”

We worked on the “Autohelm ST4000+” self-steering device this afternoon. Otherwise know as the Autohell ST4000+ &?%$|@!. For some reason it seems to work better, even though we did not do anything to repair it. I guess it just liked the attention.

Mail us a block of ice,
Gina and Randy

Well, we got our problems sorted out on the top of the mast today, thanks to Gina. She did an excellent job, almost 50 feet in the air working in the heat for 2 hours. She replaced our anchor/tricolor combination light and wind speed indicator. The problems started months ago when we were in a high wind near Bahia Tortugas. Part of the wind speed indicator flew off for no apparent reason. Then our friend said that our tricolor light was rotating, something that is impossible. I hoisted brave Gina up the mast and she found out that the light broke in half clear around the base and in the process, knocked off part of the wind indicator. She lowered the light down and I glued and taped it together and sent it back up. Today we replaced the taped up light and the broken indicator. I hope that is the last of our problems up there, because it is hard work for both of us and no matter how careful we are there is always an element of danger, even with lots of care and triple safety lines. We reviewed our handy work tonight after dark and it was worth it. The new low energy light bulb worked great in the new lamp too.

Gee, Randy’s writing such a great letter (with me as the heroine), I hate to stop him. I just brought him dinner however, so while he takes a break, I’ll add a few words. We’re sitting in the lounge of an old marina in Santa Rosalia, one fan aimed toward me and another aimed at Randy. “Lounge” is a bit of a misnomer. “Dilapidated warehouse with lots of character” describes the place better. The French built it during their early mining days about 100 years ago. A big turtle shell hangs on one wall, racks of dog-eared books and magazines to trade are on another. Three recycled grocery store refrigerators hold cold drinks by the front door and a rusty washing machine and dryer are tucked in the back near the bathrooms. Everything runs on the honor system. Whenever you take a drink, ice, or use the laundry, you mark your purchase on a tally sheet and pay when you leave the marina. Our kind of place. So, back to the mast. To add a little extra thrill to the job today, the wood in the canvas seat I was sitting on split in half when I was about ten feet from the top of the mast. No monkey ever gripped a tree tighter than I gripped that mast! After the initial shock, I assessed the damage and found that the heavy canvas material encasing the wood was holding fine. In-fact, my rear-end was jammed in more comfortably now than before. I also wore a sturdy safety harness and was clipped to another safety line wrapped around the mast, so we decided to continue onward and upward. Randy had the most strenuous part of the job. First he’d winch me up a few feet with the line attached to the canvas/wood seat, tie that line off and go to the other winch, where he’d repeat the operation with the line attached to the safety harness. Back and forth, back and forth. He sweating buckets in the sun, me yelping whenever he cranked the safety harness too tight and the leg straps bit into my skin. The whole marina appreciated the early morning entertainment. (more…)

Hello Everyone,

We’re back in the USA! I’m writing this letter late at night in Drew’s apartment in Bakersfield. Believe it or not, the weather in Bakersfield seems mild compared to the heat in the Sea of Cortez. Are we nuts to travel to Baja in the summer? I keep looking for the hidden, unconscious reasons we’ve made this journey. It’s been three months since we crossed the border and I’m beginning to notice some subtle changes in myself (I won’t speak for Captain Bly.) Traveling far from home tore me from my regular routines and ways of looking at life. I’m far more centered in the present moment now (no pun intended.) The state of the wind and waves has a greater impact on my activities than a pre-concieved mental schedule. I’m more in tune with the flow of “what is” rather than what my mind says “should be.” The heat has been especially effective in focusing my attention on what is. I may have great plans to explore an island or town, but if it’s too hot, my body gets lethargic and all I can do is lay down and sweat.

We left Santa Rosalia the evening of July 19th and 29 hours, three buses, two taxies and one trolley ride later, arrived at the Frazier Park offramp. We were so glad to see Dad at the wheel of the Alberti Express coming down the road to pick us up! His was by far the nicest taxi.

And that was the end of my writing for the night. Infact, the end of my writing for the next three weeks. We so enjoyed being with all of you again! Thank you for treating us so royally during our visit! As we waved goodby August 6th and headed south again, we felt mighty lucky to have such loving families and friends waiting for us north of the border.

With love,
Gina, Randy and Pretty Bird