Looking for a Catamaran Cruising Blog?

If you found this blog via a link from a cruising site ~ we did cruise Mexico on our Ocean 49 cat for a season. See the first text box on the right for links to our preparations, trip down Baja, life in Mexico, cruising and trip back up to SoCal. Unfortunately we are back to the grind in the USA...

Saturday, May 31, 2008

The "Dollar" Store

For excitement I go to "The Dollar Store", even though it is not called "The Dollar Store".
But we call it that.
It's actually the "one price store" even though they have items with many prices... go figureThis one is empty.
I guess people bought everything already...They do have one store that has the word "dollar" in the name.This makes no sense to me as you pay in pesos.

But they do have some great products!
This was something I had never seen before in Mexico! So of course had to buy, but really, this is my first package and it's lasted me over a week and there is still at least half left, not that you care.It does make me wonder though, would the US open a store called "The Ten Peso Store"?

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Who Reads This Thing Anyway???

After all, it is the highlight of our day...

What to do with watermelon when your husband does not eat fruit...

Watermelon martinis of course!The second batch were watermelon margaritas ~ I liked the martinis better.
And what to go with the martinis?
Dorado (mahi mahi) that the guys caught!And giant "ripe when you buy them" tomatoes!Here is our pet pelican who sits on the cleat behind our boat and keeps an eye on Jim's fishing poles in hopes of a handout.Seems he would be more comfortable sitting on the wood where he wouldn't have to balance in the breeze...

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Playing with Photos - San Jose del Cabo

Just playing a bit...

The Last Of...

Well, even with the thousands of items I bought before we left "Alta California", it is inevitable...

We are now out of the following items:

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Skype Call With Caitlin...

Strange niece we have...
She distorted the video on her end so she looked like this~~~And this~~~Entertaining, but strange...

Mexican Courtesy Flags

When you sail into a foreign country, you fly that country's flag on your boat as a "courtesy".

This is what the Mexican courtesy flag "should" look like (this is the flag on "Meerkat" of course).Well, after your boat has been sitting in the tropical sun for awhile, the flag might look a little different...
Or get stuck on something...Sometimes the flags fade to French...Or an odd shade of turquoise (what country is this?)...But most of the time they just get "holey"...








And the winner of the contest is:

La Paz Waltz (Not a Dance You Go To...)

This is why I never slept while we were anchored in the bay on "Thistle"...

The wind will come from one direction and the tide will be ripping by at a gazillion several knots.
Normally the boats should all have their bows headed in to the wind.
With the tides blasting through, the boats will head in all directions, as the tide is stronger than the wind (or something).
The boats will also slide along with the tide, the abruptly turn and slide along in another direction.
The wind was blowing 15-20 this day and these boats were all over the place.









Theoretically the bows should all be lined up in the same direction.
In this one (kind of hard to tell), they were all completely opposite.The boat on the left kept sliding sideways, then would stop, head back up into the wind, then slide again.It's called "The La Paz Waltz" because these boats really do dance around the bay.
Kind of scary when you are anchored, as you never know "for sure" if you are dragging your anchor or just doing "the dance" unless of course you find your boat on the beach or 12 miles away, then you were definitely dragging.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Happy Birthday Laina!!!

Happy Birthday to our niece Laina!
We have no idea how old she is...
I'm guessing 25?
Here is when she was little~~~









And obsessed with her cousin, Joseph~~~








Celebrating a birthday many years ago~~~And slightly more recent (well about three years ago...) HOPE YOUR BIRTHDAY IS AWESOME!

Anniversary Dinner & Visit with Dave and Kellie of "Sweet Lorraine"!

Yesterday afternoon we drove out to Costa Baja so I could meet up with some of the project sales associates.
We looked down at the docks and there was "Sweet Lorraine" and Dave walking down the dock!
They had just come up from Muertos after crossing from Mazatlan.
We hadn't seen them since their visit last summer.
Amazingly enough they still had their bottle of scotch they keep on hand for Jim!We caught up with them, then went to a great restaurant (Ana's?) at the marina in Costa Baja.
Excellent food!
Dave and Kellie treated as a surprise for our anniversary.
THANK YOU TWO!
Then back to their boat for a bit and made an attempt to take a picture of ourselves.We were tired from staying out with the stalkers Stu and Anita until midnight the night before, so walked back through the marina by the fountain...









Back to the car...
Back through town...
Through the nightly cruising traffic...
To the other marina...
To "Meerkat"...
To bed!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Happy 13th Anniversary to Us!

So this is what we looked like thirteen years ago~~~
Young, thin, no wrinkles
Happy, carefree and crazy in love!But look who has really changed since then, Renee and Zak!

Dinner with The Stalkers Stu & Anita

So the stalkers charter cat people, Stu and Anita who we met in Agua Verde came back in to town.
They had a few days before they had to fly out, so we met them at the Municipal Pier last night.
Saw this funny three wheeled truck on the way...Better make sure you center your weight in the driver's seat...

Then to Rancho Viejo for a great dinner, followed by drinks at Salsipuedes and a LOT of conversation and laughter!We really enjoyed meeting them and learned our lesson:
Charter boat people are people too.
Always talk to the charter boat people.
Plus when they fly back they give you their leftovers!
And look what they brought us for our anniversary~~~They stalked us again showed up today with wine, beer, tequila and books!
Also, they walked all this stuff down from their hotel, which is on the absolute other end of the malecon.
It was great to meet them - we had a blast, and I know they will read this someday, so I will just call them our new friends, instead of the stalkers.
Hopefully they start a blog & provide the address of it, because they travel all the time and lead some pretty interesting lives. They are going to Iceland this summer! They won't find us there though...

Happy 11th Birthday to Evann ~ 05-19-08!

Happy Birthday Evann (one day late)!
So eleven years ago on this day, I barely made it through watching a c-section at 3 am was lucky enough to witness the birth of this sweet child!This is ten years ago ~ not enjoying how cold her 1st birthday ice cream was... Hope your birthday was GREAT EP!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Back to La Paz on Monday, 05-12-08

Well as much as we didn't really want to...
It was time to head back to reality La Paz.
We had a long way to go, so got a relatively early start.

Headed out and meandered a bit in hopes of catching some fish.
Caught a few skipjacks which we tossed back.
Another cloudy day to keep the wind and heat down.

Saw lots and lots of dolphins ~ the big slow kind that don't usually pay any attention to you or do anything exciting like jump out of the water.
But today I saw two of them jump clear out of the water in tandem TWICE!
Then we saw lots of the small spinner dolphins and went through a huge pod feeding.Didn't see much else, except a few boats heading North.

Had some wind coming through the San Lorenzo Channel, so pulled the headsail out for awhile.

Just passed Pichilingue when the ferry came out ~ timed that right again!
Then saw this behemoth anchored out in front of Costa Baja...There was actually a big white and gray one anchored next to it, but the poor white and gray one didn't have a helicoptor on it's back...

Back into Marina de La Paz, where we had a fun time little difficulty getting side tied with the afternoon breeze.

The water sure had warmed up in the last week or so!Back to the internet, cell phone range, emails, blogging, laundry, and LIFE IN LA PAZ!