Cala Mujeres – Sept 5, 2011

Monday morning after Jack’s school session, Just a Minute and Hotel California headed around the corner to Cala Mujeres, a little bay with great snorkeling. Just a Minutes dinghy engine was giving them some problems, so Rick went over to help. After a little work, Jack was back in business with his dinghy!

'Just a Minute' in Cala Mujeres

The snorkeling was good, but the hunters didn’t get any fish. Maybe next time. Laura and I swam to shore and walked the beach looking for shells. We found a few. This is a beautiful bay, but not much protection, so we are heading back to the inner harbor at San Francisquito where Just a Minute was anchored. We followed them in thru the shallow entrance and anchored in 14 feet.

The Beach at Cala Mujeres

San Francisquito – Sept 3-5, 2011

We had an east wind and sailed most of the 41 miles to San Francisquito in 8 hours. It was very choppy around the point, but calmed down as we entered the bay. We heard our name called over the radio. It was ‘Firefly’ anchored in the left side of the bay. We had expected to see them further north, but were excited to catch up with them so soon. We motored over and anchored next to them. That night, we had cocktails, fixed a little dinner and caught up with what they have been doing in the sea for the last 6 weeks.

Hotel California and Firefly at anchor

The next afternoon, ‘Just a Minute’ came into the bay with Partick, Laura, 13 year old Jack and Rudy, their dog aboard. They are on a catamaran with a low draft, so they motored right into the inner bay which looks very shallow, but is a beautiful place. They invited Firefly and us over for cocktail hour which lasted until after dark.

Patrick, Laura, Brenda, Pam and Rudy on 'Just a Minute'

Firefly was leaving to cross the sea to San Carlos the next morning, so we said our good-byes and made plans to meet again in Puerto Refugio in a few weeks.

San Francisquito

Punta Trinidad – Sept 2-3, 2011

With such a late start, we decide to stop at Punta Trinidad. Our cruising guide does not recommend this anchorage and other cruisers have been blown out of here during the nights. Patrick, from ‘Just a Minute’ had stopped here a few times and didn’t have a problem. We decide to stop for dinner and get some sleep, if the wind comes up during the night we will get up and head north.

Sunset

Rick with the Left Over Pizza

There was no wind when we arrived just before dark. We anchored, had some left over pizza and went to bed early, expecting to be woken by the wind during the night. We woke up with the sun about 7:00 after a good night’s sleep, ready to sail north to San Francisquito.

Leaving Trinidad at Sunrise

Leaving Santa Rosalia - Sept 1-2, 2001

Our last night in Santa Rosalia, we went into town for pizza with Steve and Susan from Kashmira. We bought a metro which is a meter long (39.6 inches) so we would have left overs to take on our passage. That night it rained hard for a few hours. In the morning, I had to make one last trip into town for cat food and found the town flooded and muddy. There were bull dozers removing the mud around the town square. It doesn’t rain very often here, so when it does the streets can’t handle the water. When I got back to the boat, my feet and shorts were covered in mud.

Getting out of the marina was a lot of work, we almost gave up. We were ready to cast off the lines at 10:00. Started the engine, turned on the instruments and were ready to go, but wait, no autopilot, no wind indicator, no depth. Shut off the engine to figure this out. Rick looked up the error code and it said there must be a bad connection. He remembered wires that may have been pulled while we installed the new exhaust hose. We tore the bed apart to climb under it. Went into a little cubby behind the bed and found the connection box. After a search of the wires, Rick decided which one looked loose. He re-connected it, checked it, and all the instruments were working. Great! It’s now noon and we are again, ready to go. Start the engine, cast off the lines, put the boat in reverse and hear a loud grinding sound. I shut off the engine, Rick ties up the boat and we try to figure out what could be wrong.  We restart it a few times and put it in and out of gear. No more grinding. We are hoping the gears just weren’t lined up right the first time. So, it is now 1:00 and we are leaving the slip and departing from Santa Rosalia after a 3 month stay. It’s time to spend a few months on the hook.

Leaving Santa Rosalia

Boat Projects in Santa Rosalia – August 19 – 31, 2011

Our first day back was full of unpacking and cleaning the boat.  Rick went up the mast to wash it, then cleaned the decks. What a mess. We were rewarded by being invited over to Full Shell for a steak dinner to celebrate their 50^th Anniversary. They looked so nice, I have to post their picture.

Marilyn and Eric's 50th Anniversary

Over the next 2 weeks we worked on boat projects with the supplies we brought down from the states. We installed new lights, a battery combiner, a new exhaust hose, added additional fans and made a hooka.  We also made shade covers for the boat. We borrowed Eric’s Sailrite sewing machine for the shade covers because it works so much better than mine.  Couldn’t have done it without it.

Shade Cover for the Boat

Shade Cover

Rick Replacing the Exhaust Hose

The Tortilleria

We have been shopping and stocking the boat up with food for the next month or 2.

Julie at the Bread Store

Marilyn at the Grocery Store

Rick in the Hot Tub

But we did take a little time to relax in the marina’s hot tub. It is cooler than the pool!

We plan to leave the marina Sept. 2, for the first time in 3 months to go further north in the sea. Hopefully to Bahia de Los Angeles then up to Puerto Refugio. There is not much internet access north of here, but we will try to post again soon.

Our first Chabasco – August 18, 2011

Rick and Eric from ‘Full Shell’ left at 7 in the morning to take the rental car back to Loreto, about a 3 hour drive. Marilyn and I were alone on our boats when the wind started blowing. It came on very quick and strong. Everyone was outside in a hurry pulling down tarps and getting things off their decks before they were blown away. Since we were close to land there was a lot of dirt in the wind. It blew for about 3 hours, then rained very lightly, just enough to make mud. We had a half inch of dirt all the way up the mast and covering the boat. By the time Rick got back about 4 that afternoon it had calmed down, but there was a lot of clean up to do. We saved that for the next day.

Car Trip Back to Mexico – August 16-17, 2011

The car is as full as it can be. The tires are almost touching the wheel wells. Going over bumps in the roads is not a good thing. We left at 4:30am and crossed the border in TJ by noon. Next we stopped at Costco in Ensenada and met up with Patrick, Laura and Jack from “Just a Minute”. We all headed to El Rosario to stay at the Baja Cactus Inn. Very nice place for $30 a night! Highly recommend it.

Baja Cactus Inn

We left the next morning after breakfast and made it to the Marina in Santa Rosalia about 6 that night. It is soo hot here and we have to unpack the car!

The Car is Packed!!

Even the Inside is Full!

Last Week at Home – August 10 – 15, 2011

Wednesday was the first day back at school in Manteca. Kodi and Maddi  headed back and Carson had her first day of Kindergarten. Maddi fell asleep in class. Looks like she needs to get more sleep at night, or maybe her teacher is boring???



Maddi and Kodi on their first day back at school



Maddi asleep at school

For our last week-end, we spent one more night in Napa with Dave and he cooked another gourmet meal.

Chef Dave

Steak, Tuna, Pasta Salad, Potatoes and Grilled Corn - Yumm

Saturday, we headed west to Michael and Patty’s new house in Healdsburg on the river. What a great place. I see why they love it. Michael BBQ’ed and we headed down to the river with his daughter, Autumn and her boyfriend.

Michael and Rick on the Deck

Casa Buena Vida from the street

At the River

Michael, Pam, Rick and Dave

Ryan and Rachel

Sunday, August 14^th was my nephew Ryan’s wedding to Rachel. The wedding was in Sacramento at the Sterling Hotel. She looked beautiful and he looked handsome in his Uniform. What a fun wedding. 

My Mom and Dad, Ryan and Rachel

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Pam and Rick at the Wedding

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



Pam with her daughters, Jamie and Jennie 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Time to pack up the car and head back to Mexico. Our time at home went by so quick, there were a lot of people we didn’t get to see. Maybe our next trip home, whenever that is, will be longer.

 





More of Our Trip Home

I got to spend a little time with my granddaughters. We went to lunch and shopping. Maddi, Carson and Bailey were so cute trying on sunglasses and hats. They love to poise.

Carson, Pam, Maddi and Bailey

Bailey, Maddi and Carson Shopping

The family at Jamie's

Jamie had the family over to her new house for Carne Asada. We had a lot of people, but her house and yard are huge!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Arlene, Rick and Gen on their Cat

The next week-end we were down at our old marina. We stayed on Glen and Arlene’s Cat, A G N Sea.
We saw a lot of friends and had a delicious crab dinner. Hopefully they will be down to La Paz in November.

Crab Dinner     Yummmmm

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Table

 
 
 
Sunday night, my brother Dale and sister-in-law, Helen had Rick and I, Sherry and Kellie over for a beautiful dinner. Whenever we go to Helen’s we know everything will be perfect and it was. She is such a great cook and hostess.

Kellie, Sherry, Helen and Pam

 
 
 

Rick and Dale

Visiting Home – July 14 – August 15, 2011

We were home for 5 weeks, but it went by so quick. Sherry had the family over Thursday night to say good bye to my nephew Tommy who was returning to Kuwait and hello to Rick and me.


Friday we spent the night at Thunder Valley Casino where the Rutabaga Boogie Band was having a reunion. What a fun night! So many of Rick’s friends from long ago were there.

We visited with both our parents quite a bit and met Rachel, Jaden and Landon for dinner.

Jaden, Rachel and Landon

Next we were off to Napa to visit a few wineries and spend a few nights with Dave Cramer at the house he is spending his time at. What a great view over the Silverado Golf Course.

View of the Napa Valley from Dave's Place

Gizmo relaxing

We used our old house, which Jen and Kevin are living in, as our home base. It was great to have a washing machine and dishwasher. Gizmo was very happy to have the run of the house.

 
 
 
 
 
 

That week-end we went to Lake Don Pedro with most of my family. There were 4 boats and about 30 people. It is very different being on a lake, rather than the ocean.

A day at the lake

Dave, Jodi and Rick

While we were visiting Rick’s parents, Dave Cramer called and said Jodi was flying in from New York. We went to his house in Carmichael to surprise her, while she was here for a short visit. It was good to see her. Maybe she will make it down to our boat someday.

Jodi, Pam and Dave in his wine cellar