Preparation for Hurricane Jimena

Tuesday, September 1. Puerto Don Juan. Awaiting hurricane Jimena.
We had a Cubasco this morning at 2:30am. We got up and I pulled up the side curtain so it wouldn’t bang against the hull. We closed hatches in preparation for rain which never came. There was thunder and a lot of lightning around us. We put all electronics in the oven and closed the middle panel to the dodger windshield. Then we just waited. The wind came up and then it would die and come up again and die. So I went back to bed and Dave stayed in the cockpit. After about 10 minutes the wind started gusting so I got up and went out into the cockpit and joined Dave. Eventually we both laid down and almost fell asleep. When it was calm, I went back to bed and Dave joined me. We got a couple of sprinkles out of it and that was all.

We needed to get up early so we could drop our sails and we had planned on doing that after the weather report at 7:00am. People were dropping sails between 6:00am and 6:30am. I got up and Dave and I assessed what we needed to do but by that time the wind was piping up and there would be no way to control the sail if I let it out. So we waited. Pretty soon the wind died down enough to where Dave said “let’s do it”. So I let out the sail and then I released it as Dave was pulling it down and folding it. Both of us had to work quickly before wind picked up and blew the sail around. We got it done and stuffed it into the sail bag and took it to the cockpit and then later I would take it down below. At 9:00am there was a meeting of all the divers and drivers of the dinghies that would be assigned 3 boats to dive the anchor to make sure they were set on each boat. There was only one boat that needed to re-anchor, so all was well. Ken from m/v Genesis came and picked Dave up for the meeting so while Dave was gone I took side curtains off from around the cockpit, stowed the headsail, and anything that could get blown away in a 55 knot wind. Right now that is the prediction when it gets to us, at the present time, however every hour it changes. It is a wait and see situation.

I pretty much have all the loose items that were under the dodger and in the cockpit put away. The majority of the things went into the guest aft stateroom as it is bigger and can hold more things.

When Dave returned from diving anchors, he was tired of course, but he couldn’t take a break yet. He was going to get our second anchor out and deploy that to keep the chain down in heavy swells because it is the swells that rock the boat up and down and can pull the anchor up. So while he was diving I cleared out the back locker so he could get to the line we need and the anchor. But he had been talking to Ken and between them and some of the other guys they thought that having 3 lead ball weights tied together attached to the main anchor chain and deployed will do the same thing. So that is what he is going to do. Ken is letting Dave borrow the weights. This type of thing is called a kellet. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to do that today as the wind blew to about 25 knots all day long. It isn’t a good idea to deploy something like that when the boat is rocking up and down. It puts too much strain on everything. So he will hopefully be able to do it in the morning. Ken said he would come over and help him if he needed it.

We listened to the weather twice this afternoon and the hurricane is moving NW and instead of landfall at Magdalena Bay it is just going to miss it and go a little north to Punta Abreojos, then cross over the Baja and come out to the Sea of Cortez. As it crosses the land it will weaken and we will either get a tropical storm or a tropical depression. The differences between them are the wind speeds. The latter is lower winds. We will know more in the morning and then we will know whether we need to take the windshield off the dodger and collapse the bimini and deflate the dinghy. We just have a couple more things to do and then all we do is wait for it to come our way. They say it will come right over us but the winds may only be from 25 to 45 knots. We have been in 40 so that isn’t anything new.

Tonight there is a snack potluck on shore so we can meet the other cruisers in the bay. We have heard the names of the boats and the people on board those boats but have never met them. So tonight we will get to do that. Everyone worked so hard helping others to prepare for this storm and also to get their own boats ready. Whatever happens we all know we are as ready as we can be.

We listened to the weather on the net tonight and nothing has changed. After the net most of the cruisers took their goodies ashore and we had a lovely time. It was nice to meet everyone.

Well tomorrow is another day of preparation and hopefully a little closer to knowing how much wind that hurricane will bring us. It looks like it is going to rain tonight. That wouldn’t hurt our feelings any. The boat is in dire need of a bath.

Wednesday, August 2.
Dave got up and listened to the net for weather. He still doesn’t believe what they are saying about the weather. Oh well. This hurricane is not acting like the other ones that have ventured up this way.

We are still making preparations. We lowered the three lead balls over the bow and down the anchor chain then secured the lines to the cleats on deck. That should keep the anchor on the bottom. The wind was not blowing too hard yet so Dave decided it was time to dive under the boat and clean the bottom. We still had John and Sandy’s hooka and we needed to get this done so we could get it back to them. So Dave suited up and we got the hooka ready and down he went. As I kept an eye on the hose to make sure it didn’t get tangled and kept an eye on the hooka machine, I noticed little fish were having a great time feeding on the stuff Dave was scrapping off the hull. There was a lot of it too. We had to run the generator to make AC so the hooka would work so while we did that I made ice. After he scrapped the bottom he took a scrubber and went over it again and got more stuff off. He was tied and after 3 hours in the water it was time for him to come up. He said it needs more cleaning but it will have to wait for another time. The lycra suit he wore was full of little shrimp and so I had to go over it with a fine tooth comb to make sure they were not stuck in the zipper, neckline or cuffs of the sleeve. So I had my work cut out for me. Meanwhile as I did that Dave rinsed off everything and put the hooka all back together and packed it back in the bag for return to John and Sandy. Then because I had to use a lot of water to rinse off the suit, Dave decided to make water. So we charged batteries, made ice, and water, and took care of all the necessary stuff. We returned the hooka and gave John and Sandy ice as a thank you as they were all out.

We folded up the bimini and secured it, all the dodger side curtains are put away, the dinghy is on the deck and we let the air out of it and folded her up. We carried it to the cockpit and put it in there, we took the dinghy engine off the pulpit and put it on the floor of the cockpit, took the BBQ off, decided to leave the dodger windshield on because with one crack in the windshield now, we try and take it off and it will definitely crack somewhere else. So we decided to leave it up and take our chances. If we get really high winds and it cracks well then that is what will happen. We have the middle section in and the windshield cover secured over the windshield which will help protect it from moving much. We took two long lines and crisscrossed them over the solar panels on top of the dodger, secured to cleats. That is to help hold the structure down if we get high winds. So we had lines going all over the place. I tied the fenders onto the rail so they wouldn’t flop around and brought two of the little ones in and put them down below. All the cushions were put below and the diesel jerry cans were already secured on the stern of the boat and the gas cans were secured under the cockpit aft seat behind the helm. Well there isn’t much else we can do now except wait. We were keeping up on weather reports to find out where the hurricane was heading.

I did wash out some towels and clothes and hung them to dry. The wind didn’t blow as hard today as it has the past couple of days. One thing though the clothes dry fast.

I did some crocheting and reading. Fixed dinner and after that was tired so Dave and I sat in the cockpit for awhile. We watched the clouds roll in and we thought a couple of times we were going to get rained on, but nothing. The clouds would clear and the moon and the stars came out. I finally was ready for bed so I went to bed and Dave stayed up a little longer. We had closed all hatches except the ones over our stateroom as we needed the air flow. The main saloon hatches were still open as well but all the others were closed and locked. We figured if it did start to rain we would just get up and close them. No worries.

Thursday, August 3.
This morning around 2:00am it started to rain hard. We had the forward hatches open which are over our bed and the main saloon hatches, so I got up and went outside and closed and locked them. I should have taken a bar of soap with me to take a shower, but as heavy as it was coming down I got rinsed off. We didn’t get a lot of wind which surprised us. This hurricane, Jimena, has a mind of its own and is confusing everyone, including the weather forecasters.

After the hatches were closed I dried off and went back to bed. We slept pretty well. Then Dave got up at 7:00am and listened to the net weather. It is now heading toward San Carlos on the mainland side after it crosses over Bahia Concepcion and Puerto Santa Rosalia. We had a report from Puerto Escondido and they got winds up to 80 knots at one point. But the wind does tunnel up the channel so a lot of times there is more wind inside then on the outside. They had a couple boats break loose from their moorings and go aground but that was about it. They had torrential rain so they didn’t have to worry about dirty boats any more.

We dodged the big one!! Whew!!! We were sweating bullets for a while because we just didn’t know where it was going to go. We basically had nothing. It is over---or is it?

There wasn’t much wind this morning or matter of fact most of the day so it was hot. Dave and I were really tired and the heat didn’t help much. We didn’t feel like putting a lot of effort in putting things back on the boat again but we thought we would do a little at a time. We brought out the cushions for the cockpit, then started to bring everything up from down below. We took the dinghy and put it back on the bow and also put the headsail there too so we could put it up later. We put up the BBQ, put the engine back on the pulpit, put the screens back up around the cockpit and put the side curtain down for the refrigerator and freezer. We unfolded the bimini and secured that into place and everything was pretty much done. I was so tired I took a nap. Dave went off with Ken and helped him get his kayaks back on his boat. He had taken them ashore and tied them down in an old fishing boat wreck for safe keeping until after the storm. When he returned he listened to the weather forecast again and it had said the hurricane was now in Texas. Dave didn’t understand that because the sky was saying something totally different. Then when we listened to Don on the net tonight, he confirmed what Dave was thinking. The hurricane had gotten to San Carlos on the mainland side and stopped and is still there. It has not gone any further north and is expected to turn back and hit Santa Rosalie again by tomorrow morning. That means we may get winds anywhere from 35 to 45 knots. Sure!!! Just as we thought we were in the clear and everyone spent the day putting things back in order on their boats. We should be alright with that much wind as we had about that when we were at anchor at Trinadad coming up here with a Chubasco.

At Santa Rosalia the old marina, not the one we stayed at, got wrecked. A wall of water and mud came down the mountains and flooded the main street pushing cars in the Sea and one person got killed. Now the hurricane is coming back which is not good news.

San Carlos got hit hard as well. The marina at San Carlos had about 8 boats broken loose from their moorings. There is a couple we know that are there now and they said they and their boat are fine and they have been busy with helping others tie down their boats. There have been winds all day of sustained 45 knots, and torrential rain. No electricity there and they have had thunder and lightning. Roads and the marina are covered in mud. It is just a mess from what we have been told. There is lots of damage. It is going to take months for them to get back on their feet again. Roads over on the Baja side that lead to Santa Rosalia and other towns have been washed out so supplies to those places are going to be delayed. There were a couple roads washed out in Bahia de Los Angeles, but for the most part they will be able to get supplies, food and diesel. We will have to make sure we have plenty of both before heading south as it will take a while for things to get cleared out. Work is already underway at the hard hit areas to rebuild and clean up. So that is what is going on in our part of the world. We now know how to prepare for a hurricane and where we were in Puerto Don Juan was the best place to be.

We will have to wait and see what happens tonight and what the weather forecast is tomorrow on the hurricane. Everyone here is anxious to leave and go back to Bahia de Los Angeles to resupply and take our garbage to shore, but we will have to wait another day maybe two depending on what happens. I sure hope we don’t have any more hurricanes this year. I think this was enough!!!

We are hoping to get a good night’s sleep but we never know how that is going to turn out. Right now we are still tired, but healthy and doing well.

Friday, September 4. Puerto Don Juan to Bahia de Los Angeles.
We were able to get a good night’s sleep last night. Nothing happened. We watched clouds come and go and then the skies cleared. We heard the coyotes howling which is really a neat sound.

Everyone is breathing a sigh of relief that we didn’t have the hurricane come our way. San Carlos, Santa Rosalia, and Bahia Concepcion area, especially Mulege and Burro Cove, got hit hard and it will take a while to get things repaired and up and running. I am so glad I got pictures of the palapas at Burro Cove as some of them got ruined. San Carlos got hit pretty hard where the water in the marina is muddy, no electricity, no roads, nothing.

I’m pretty sure by the time we start working our way south in another month and a half Santa Rosalia will be up and running again to where we can get diesel and food. La Paz faired really well. They only got winds as high as 50 knots through the whole thing. That is good. We were extremely lucky and no one that we know got hurt or their boats damaged which was a relief.

Dave pulled up the kellets with help from the s/v Jackaranda and we stowed them, took the line and coiled it and then got things ready for us to get underway. A few boats had left already to go to Bahia de Los Angeles to get supplies before going to La Gringa for the full moon party, Sunday. So when we were set we said goodbye to the fleet at Puerto Don Juan and left. Dave tried fishing on the way but never caught anything. S/v 2 Pieces of Eight and s/v Bamboo were already anchored and there were boats still trying to find a spot so we had to wait to see what they were going to do before we could figure out where to go. We picked a spot between s/v 2 Pieces of Eight and s/v Bamboo but there ended up not being enough room to swing comfortably so we pulled up the anchor and went behind s/v Bamboo and dropped the anchor. It was further out in the bay than we wanted to be but there wasn’t another spot close to the sand spit we have anchored before. It is only for a couple of days so no worries. The wind was blowing and continued to blow all afternoon and we got the wave action from around the point. After we got settled and knowing that the wind comes up in the afternoon, we decided to go into shore to get vegetables while they had them. There were a lot of cruisers coming in to resupply and if we wait until tomorrow there may not be any left that are good. So even though I didn’t want to go in we did anyway. The wind waves were already starting to build.

So Dave and I went into shore to get some vegetables and Dave was going to go to the internet place, Isla, but I thought he was going to go with me to the macado so there was a miscommunication and Dave didn’t make it to the internet place. We will go tomorrow. After we got some of the things we needed at the macado, we came back to Gillermo’s and there were some cruisers there and Herman so we joined them and had a lemonada. That is their version of lemonade. It is made with fresh limes, mineral water and ice. It was very refreshing and good. Herman got me a chair to sit in and I sat next to him. He told me to restrain myself and try not to man handle him too much. I joked back and then I got up and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He was so surprised and very happy. I think I made his day. He is 87years old and such a nice guy. He is such a character. I’m hoping we can buy a book from him and have him sign it. After we visited with Herman and everyone else, we said goodbye and got in our dinghy and came back to the boat. The waves had calmed down a little so we made a run for it. When we got to the boat we put the groceries away and I read some of my book in the cockpit. The wind had picked up and the boat was rocking a little and after being down below for a while the motion was starting to get to me so I went out into the cockpit where I could sit in the breeze.

As I was out in the cockpit I would look up once in a while to see what was going on and I saw Michelle, Tim, and their dog Bently come back from a run on the beach and tie the dinghy and get aboard. Then a few minutes later I look up and I see their yellow dinghy with the bow facing the opposite direction from the boat and it looked as though it was floating away from their boat. Then I see Michelle come out on deck and holler “can someone get out dinghy”? I hollered to her yes and then got Dave and he jumped in our dingy and rescued theirs and brought it back to its home. It reminded me of the time I didn’t tie our dinghy up very well and didn’t know it had floated away and here comes Peter in his dinghy towing ours. So we were glad to help someone else get their dinghy back. All turned out well.

We had the last of our sierra fish tonight. That was so good. Dave will have to catch some more. We still have dorado we have to eat but it is nice to have something else besides dorado.

After dinner we were sitting in the cockpit enjoying the moon coming up and I was so tired I was falling asleep. It wasn’t very late at all. I went below to get ready for bed and noticed it was only 8:30pm. I didn’t care. I was going to bed. So that is what I did. Dave was hoping to run the generator and charge batteries but didn’t because I went to bed. I told him he could run the generator it wouldn’t bother me but he didn’t. The wind was still blowing which is unusual but it was nice to have that breeze in the cabin and especially in our stateroom.

Saturday, September, 5. Bahia de Los Angeles.
The wind blew all night which like I said is not usual. It was nice for sleeping however, but then this morning I had to put the sheet over me as it got a little chilly. It was a quiet night last night.

Dave was up to listen to the net and the weather. I was up at 7:30am and we had our coffee in the cockpit. The wind was still blowing. We got an invite to go to breakfast with s/v 2 Pieces of Eight, Bamboo, and Aquarius at Costa Del Sol. We thought that would be good to try so we said we would go. The wind started picking up and the boat was pulling on the anchor chain and making creaking sounds. Dave checked the wind speed and it was around 17-18 knots which is not anything to worry about. Dave was concerned about leaving the boat if the wind was going to get stronger but it didn’t so we decided we would go. We wanted to use the internet and walk to the co-op to get more vegetables. The wind waves were building and we wondered if we were doing the right thing going into shore. Well it was either now or later and now was a better time. We figured we would have breakfast and go to the internet place and then get what we needed at the co-op. So we took off. We got to shore and the tide was still quite a ways out yet so we had a little tug getting the dinghy up the beach to the wall. We secured it and then the others started showing up so we helped them bring their dinghies up on the beach. Then we went to breakfast. It was really good. Then Dave and I went to the internet place and the others did their thing. I checked emails and after I got done the internet petered out so Dave didn’t get a chance to check his. But he was able to connect to the internet on the boat so he could check the bank statement and other things so it wasn’t a big deal. We left the internet place and walked to the co-op. It was a very busy place. There were cruisers and locals in there getting what they needed. We got our stuff and left and came back to the internet place were some of the cruisers were standing outside talking. We stopped and talked for a little bit then we left and went across the street to check out a couple of things in the store there then we got some water and walked back to Guillermo’s. John and Sandy Eltrich were there along with Marni and Peter. We joined them and had a lemonada and sat and talked. Then everyone else showed up and we all sat around and talked and watched the surf pound the beach. One of the cruisers that were with us had his dinghy sideways to the waves and his boat filled with sea water. It was full of water when he finally arrived and all the guys went out to help him get stuff out of the dinghy and get the engine off the back of it. Then they lifted the dinghy up and drained all the water out and then rinsed the sand out of it. We all had to move our dinghies further up on the beach to keep water out of them. The tide was almost all the way in and the wind was still blowing a lot and there were white caps. No one was going anywhere for a while until it settled down. Pretty soon we started to leave one by one. We all were successful in getting off the beach and back to our boats without getting thoroughly soaked. It continued to blow for the rest of the afternoon. When we got back Dave started the generator and I defrosted the freezer and we made water. Then I washed dishes from last night because we were so low on water I was afraid I would be pushing it by washing them. So now that is done and I rinsed out my outfit I wore to shore this morning as I got wet on the launching from the beach. Then I unpacked the groceries and put them away and I was beginning to feel the results from the boat bouncing around so I got a banana and my book and went to the cockpit. Once out there I had the wind in my face and I was fine. So I ate my banana and read my book.

The wind started to die down about 5:30pm and we were all supposed to go back into town to have dinner at Costa Del Sol. We listened to the net and then changed for dinner and took off. The waves had gotten a lot calmer and the ride in was dry. It was 6:30pm when we all started heading for shore. There was Tim and Michelle from s/v Bamboo, Sally and Jerry off s/v Aquarius, Marni and Peter from s/v 2 Pieces if Eight and Faye and Ken from m/v Genesis going to dinner. We had a wonderful time and a great dinner as usual.

We enjoyed the walk back to Guillermo’s looking out over the bay with the full moon shining in all its glory over all the boats anchored. It was a beautiful sight. We got into our dinghies and headed for our boats. We had a much smoother ride this time and no one got wet. Hooray!!!!

Dave tried to get on the internet but the connection wasn’t good so I will have to post my blog whenever we get back as tomorrow we leave to go to La Gringa which is just around the corner about 5 nautical miles maybe less for our full moon party. We are supposed to bring a floatie be it homemade, store bought or something put together with noodles. There will be prizes and we will ride these floaties out of a estuary when the tide goes out into the larger bay. It sounds like fun. I really am not feeling all that creative so I don’t know if I will decorate my noodle. That is all I have. Maybe tomorrow I will come up with something. Dave was thinking we could use the dinghy as our floatie but I don’t know. It may be too big. We’ll have to check it out tomorrow when we get there.

Well it is almost bed time. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day. Chow!!

Sunday, September 6. Bahia de Los Angeles to La Gringa.
We pulled anchor and were on our way to La Gringa by 8:30am. A few of the boats had already left. Dave tried fishing again but only got a nibble from something and that was all.

We arrived at La Gringa after traveling 6 nautical miles. Not far at all. It is a wide open bay and there is an estuary that when the tide comes in it fills up and when the tide turns and goes out we are to ride our floaties out.

I had an idea last night but when I tried putting it together this morning it just didn’t come out the way I wanted it. So I tried something else. I have no idea what I am doing but it floats and that is the main thing. I plan on wearing my periwinkle lycra suit and our flamingo hat. Yep!! The same one I wore for Dave’s birthday and Halloween in Ensenada, and Dave wore for Peter and Marni for their Canada Holiday.

This should be interesting folks. I usually like to sit back and watch, take mental notes and then the next time know what is going on. Well I am just going to experience whatever just like I did when I went snorkeling for the first time with a group of people in Cabo. Stay tuned.

It was time to join everyone down by the estuary so we loaded the dinghy with my floatie and off we went. As we got closer to shore Dave had to put the wheels down and so I was getting ready to get off the boat when we got to the shallow part. I thought I heard Dave say we were in shallow water and he had to pull the engine up so I jumped out of the dinghy into water over my head. Oops!!! Dave wondered what in the heck I was doing and I told him I thought he said we were shallow. Well that wasn’t what he said and quite frankly now I can’t remember what it was he said. Anyway, I’m holding onto the dinghy kicking my feet while Dave is trying to get the engine up so it won’t drag on the gravel on the beach. I’m laughing my head off and saying “help”. I couldn’t get back in the dinghy because I had no leverage so I hung on. THAT was a Kodak moment bvut no one had a camera. Thank goodness. Dave got the motor down so we could get closer to shore and then I could touch bottom. I was still laughing and everyone else was wondering what in the heck was I doing. Here is this lady dressed all in periwinkle hanging on to a dinghy, laughing. Well I guess you had to be there. All was well and I got my floatie and the flamingo hat and off I went to get in the water.

My floatie wasn’t all that great but it kept me up if I lay across the width of it instead of the length of it. Every time I tried to lay the length of it I would flip over. So I just laid the other way and paddled my feet and I did o.k. There were so many neat looking floaties and some of the people had great imaginations. Everyone had a great time. What we did was float into the estuary on the incoming tide then once in the estuary we just floated around and visited with one another until the tide changed and we floated out into the bay. It was a lot of fun. I had never done anything like that in my life. Some people went back to catch the tide going a little fast out, but I was tired by this time but at least I got some exercise and the water was great. Everywhere you went in the estuary you could stand up but it was more fun to try and float around.

After we all got through the current and came back to shore, some people stayed in the water because it was refreshing, and others went and talked to the others that were on the beach. Peter from s/v 2 Pieces of Eight was out in his floatie with Quilla their dog, and all was going well until they got in some deeper water and Quilla started to get nervous. Picture this—Peter is sitting on his floatie and Quilla is on his lap then Quilla starts to move around and pretty soon you see the floatie floating away and all you can see is Peter’s head sticking out of the water and Quilla is walking on his head and face trying to get ashore. Finally she starts swimming ashore and Peter is trying to get so he could bring himself to shore. Marni was really concerned about Quilla and someone asked her “what about Peter” and she said he would be o.k. Well we know where Peter is in the family tree!!!! I was funny and pour Quilla was scared!! She got in their dinghy and didn’t want to get out!!! After all that excitement, Dave and I got in our dinghy and went back to our boat so I could rinse everything off and me too and hang stuff to dry. That was fun!!

We didn’t have much time after getting back and changing than we had to get ready to go ashore again for snacks and the rest of the party. I fixed my salmon dip and then we packed things up and left after the net was over and went to shore. Everyone gathered with their food and drinks and we visited and then a couple people told jokes and stories and then we had 2 very talented musicians play their instruments and sing. It was fun to listen to the music and watch the moon rise.

Dave developed a rash on his legs so he couldn’t get in the water today. It looked like little blisters were forming. He is not going to be able to swim in salt water for a while until it clears up. We were told that a mixture of one part Clorox to 9 parts water is good for the rash and many cruisers have used it for rashes they have gotten from swimming in the water here. So Dave applied the Clorox solution and then let it set for a few minutes then patted his legs dry and applied aloe vera gel to his legs. Within a matter of 10 minutes the blisters looked like they were popping and the rash was getting smoother. So he will continue to treat the rash like that until it goes away.

When we returned to our boat after going to the party, we heard the coyotes howling on shore. That is such a neat sound. Some of us howled at the full moon tonight too!!!!

We are staying here tomorrow and Dave and Ken are going fishing in the morning, and I want to walk the beach to get some exercise and see if I can find shells. The beach is pretty gravelly, but there were shells all over. So we shall see. This is a nice anchorage and tonight it will be cool enough to sleep. It is a little cooler here than Bahia de Los Angeles which surprised us. Last night while we were still anchored in Bahia de Los Angeles, it was really warm for sleeping so neither one of us slept that well. It was humid and damp so neither one of us slept outside. Tonight I think we will sleep just fine.

Monday, September 7. La Gringa.
Dave went fishing this morning with Ken off m/v Genesis and came back with a couple of sierra. While he was gone I had my coffee and then I started cleaning the heads. After that I washed dishes and let them air dry. I was taking the rugs out on deck to shake them when the guys were heading back to our boat. I asked how they did and they said they caught 5 sierra. 2 belonged to us. So that was exciting. They are going out again tomorrow morning to see if they can catch some more.

Dave got cleaned up and I started the generator then he walked me through setting up and running the water maker. He cleaned the fish and I bagged it and put it in the freezer then we ate lunch. Once all that was done and the water maker was working he left and went to Ken’s boat to help him load weatherfax and sailmail onto his computer. I used this time to wash clothes and vacuum the floor. There was hair and sand all over and I just don’t like walking barefoot on a floor that dirty. So I gave it a quick go over and it is much better now. This is the first time I have vacuumed while we have been away from a marina. I probably won’t do it again until we get back to the marina in Santa Rosalia when we start our trek south.

When Dave returned from Ken’s boat Jack from s/v Mandan came over and showed Dave what records he needed to keep for the net. Dave will be doing the south bound Wednesday evening net starting this Wednesday. He will be good at it, but I will be the one to take notes. Yuck!! Oh well. It is important for all cruisers to have it so if we can help which is a good thing.

We have the foreward port water tank to fill and I think we will do that the next time we run the generator. It has been running since 10:25am. It needs to cool down. Dave’s rash is getting better and he is putting aloe vera on it regularly. He stopped using the Clorox rinse as it had dried up the blisters plus the Clorox isn’t good to use on a continual basis.

I think we will be going back to Bahia de Los Angeles tomorrow so we can go in and use the internet or at least try to hook up to the one we can get from the boat if it is strong enough. I have to post the August blog.

I just finished making coleslaw for dinner. I think we will either have sierra or dorado with it.

I am going ashore to walk the beach and look for shells and anything interesting after the water tanks are full and we shut down everything.

Well I never made it to shore. I took a nap. That’s alright as most of the beach is gravel. It was around 5:00pm when I got up and we were warned by another boat that there might be a Chubasco coming. We could see a rain squall to the south of us so we took down the awning and I pulled up the side curtain in preparation for wind. We watched and waited and it dissipated so we didn’t have to worry about anything.

About 5:55pm we listened to the net and then we had company from s/v Alma Inquita. Deb came over to help Dave decipher what medicine he should get for his leg condition. He has varicose veins in his left leg and it swells and gets a rash. So there is a special medicine he can get to rid him of the swelling and the rash but he wasn’t sure what the instructions that he had on his condition said. Deb was a nurse so she said she would stop by to look at the paper work Dave had and try to help him figure out the medicine he is suppose to have. She was able to do that and we figure we can get it here in Bahia de Los Angeles. So when we get back he will try and get it. We visited for a while and then it was dinner time so they said goodbye and went back to their boat. We then fixed sierra on the BBQ and we had that and coleslaw. It was really good. Dave is going fishing tomorrow morning for more of the sierra.

Just as dinner was over we got a west wind which is an elephante. The wind was warm but not hot which is good. It is still blowing and I have washed the dishes and Dave is out in the cockpit putting his leg up. When he is done with that we will run the generator to cool off the cabin for sleeping and charge the batteries. We don’t know how much longer the dry wind is going to blow, but at least it isn’t hot.

We will be heading off to bed before too long. Tomorrow will dawn a new day full of something. You never know.

Tuesday, September 8.
Unfortunately I didn’t sleep soundly. I kept waking up. Some nights are like that. Dave was up a little before 7:00am and he listened to the net. Then he went fishing while I was still in bed. I just didn’t feel like getting up yet. I finally got up about 8:15am and heated water for coffee. Once coffee was made I went outside to sit and read but it was hot with the sun shining on me so I eventually ended up down below. The wind started to pipe up and I thought of Dave being out there in the dinghy with the waves getting bigger. I wondered if he would still be able to fish. A lot of people went out this morning to fish and were successful. Dave caught 4 and ended up taking 2 to some young men and women on shore that were camping. A couple other people gave them fish too. When he returned to the boat he had a cup of coffee and then filleted the fish and we put the fillets in the freezer. Now our freezer is full of fish.

Dave tried to fix the sump pump that collects water from when I defrost the freezer and refrigerator but wasn’t successful. The pump died. So now I will have to siphon water out of the tray after defrosting so it won’t over flow into the bilge. We will have to buy one when we go home for a visit. Actually we need to buy 2 because the other sump pump will eventually give up the ghost too.

I straightened up the boat and then I read some and crocheted some more of the baby afghan. I was so tired and really didn’t feel like doing anything. We were invited to Ken and Faye’s boat, m/v Genesis, along with Peter and Marni around 3:00pm to play Mexican train. Dave went to the cockpit to put his leg up and read his book and I lay down and took a nap. Around 2:00pm I got up and mixed gin and tonic into a thermos to take over to m/v Genesis. Dave had come down from the cockpit and laid down on the bed and propped his leg up for awhile and fell asleep.

A little before 3:00pm we went over to m/v Genesis and had a great time playing Mexican train. We played some games and then we took a break and Ken and Faye made quesadillas as a snack and then we played another game. They told us to bring our fish over and they would BBQ it and they would make rice and a salad. So that is what we did. We had a wonderful dinner and after dinner we played another game. Then it was time to go. It was fun. Now we are back on our boat running the generator to charge batteries and cool the boat down. It is really nice here because it isn’t as hot as it is in Bahia de Los Angeles. We get a little breeze at night. But we have to go back to Bahia de Los Angeles either tomorrow or Thursday. I told Dave he can make the decision tomorrow when he gets up. He needs to do a couple of things on the internet so I am letting him do what he needs to do. If we stay tomorrow, Marni, Faye, and myself will float in and out of the estuary. So we shall see what Dave wants to do tomorrow. I don’t care one way or the other. I like it here and I also like it in B.L.A. A lot of boats have left here and have gone to Bahia de Los Angeles to get resupplied, check the internet and then will be on their way to somewhere else. If we go tomorrow the bay will be full, but if we wait until Thursday, some of the people will have left to go elsewhere. So we shall see.

Wednesday, September 9.
Today was another wonderful day in paradise. Dave went fishing to try out a couple of lures. He brought back a sierra. So he filleted it and I stuck it in the freezer and we are having that for dinner tonight.

I did some reading and crocheting and I am almost finished with the baby afghan. I am on the last row and then I will do the edging. This will be the first time I have finished a baby afghan before the baby was born. Well it helps when you don’t have a job and going to meetings all the time.

Dave had some lunch and then he went back out again and caught 2 more sierra. So he cleaned those and I stuck them in the freezer.

I was in the cockpit reading and Dave was in our stateroom taking a siesta when we got a call from m/v Genesis asking if we were going to the estuary. I told them I didn’t think we were going as Dave can’t get in the water with the rash he has on his legs. But they said that if we changed our minds they would be there. Then Marni and Peter came by in their dinghy and asked if we were going and we said we didn’t know but if we decided to go we would see them on the beach. Dave asked me if I wanted to go and I said I didn’t want to float and I didn’t want to sit there and watch everyone else float around. But Dave did have a point and said we needed to get off the boat and at least get some exercise. So I agreed and I had wanted to walk the beach anyway so that would work out just fine. So we got in the dinghy and went to shore and joined the others. Ken and Faye went in the water and floated for a while. Peter and Marni went in for a little bit. I guess the current wasn’t running very hard so the ride wasn’t anything out of the estuary. While Dave talked to everyone that was there, I walked the beach looking for shells and interesting rocks. I found a couple neat shells and a fossil rock which was cool. So I was happy. Some of the other cruisers came over to dig for clams or get in the water to refresh. To the south of us Ken and Dave noticed birds diving in the water which indicates there is fish. So Ken asked Dave if he wanted to go fishing and of course he did and Marni wanted to go too. So it didn’t take her long to jump in Ken’s dinghy along with Faye and go back to m/v Genesis to get the fishing poles and drop Faye off, then Ken was coming over to our boat to pick Dave up. So Dave and I came back to our boat and he grabbed his fishing rod and waited for Ken to pick him up. Once Ken came and picked Dave up they were off. Marni was so excited. She was going to catch a fish!! Dave need the generator going to charge up the batteries since he is doing the net tonight, so I told him I would take care of it while he was fishing. So when he left I went below and fired up the generator and got everything set up so we were charging batteries.

Dave came back to the boat with 2 sierra. They said they were biting like crazy. They caught quite a few but let some go. So Dave ended up with a couple and so did Marni. She was all smiles when she came back. That was neat.

Dave filleted the two sierras and I put them in the freezer then I fixed us both a rum and coke and he prepared to do the net. I got ready to take down information as well so we could compare afterwards from out notes and then he will put it in a tracking sheet on the computer.

He did a great job tonight on the net which I knew he would. There wasn’t even a problem with Don Anderson and the weather either. Sometimes Don gets a little testy and depending on his mood if you say something he doesn’t like he chews you out. But tonight ran smoothly and we had 17 boats check in.

After the net he went outside to light the BBQ so we could BBQ the sierra he caught this morning. After he lit it he saw dorado and sierra under and around our boat so he got excited and got his fishing pole out and tried to catch them. No luck. They were feeding on the bait fish and didn’t like his lure. Oh well. I prepared the fish and a bean dish and we have left over coleslaw. Dinner was really good. We had a glass of wine with dinner and then we sat back and relaxed a little before I did dishes. Now dishes are done and we are running the generator to run the air conditioner and charge the batteries the rest of the way.

We are planning on going back to Bahia de Los Angeles tomorrow morning sometime. We have some internet stuff we need to do and Dave needs to get some medicine for his leg. The heat is making his leg swell which isn’t good. So he needs to see if he can get the medication written in the printout the doctor gave him for Stasis Dermatitis. This disease is caused by trauma to the leg or legs that happen when young and when you get older can turn into a common inflammatory skin disease which occurs around the ankle and the calf. It is like varicose veins. It can be serious if not treated correctly. He has to put his leg up at least 2 times a day and the heat is not helping the swelling go down. Plus there is a rash that comes and goes and also ulcer sores that puff out like blisters but pop on their own and ooze liquid. So it can be serious and it needs to be cleaned and moisturized. He has been putting aloe vera lotion on which is helping. He noticed yesterday that the nail on his big toe on the left leg where he has this condition is coming loose. It had some blood around the nail and it was hurting. He figured he caught it on something in the dinghy as he was fishing and ripped the nail back. So he is keeping an eye on that. Poor guy! Needless to say we won’t be making the trek to the South Pacific where there is a lot of humidity and it is hotter than here. We had decided that after we have been here in the Sea. We don’t need to be in remote places where there is a chance of getting infection and having complications. That is just the way it goes. We are really glad we made it this far. We have a lot more of Mexico to see so we are looking forward to that.

The weather is starting to cool down a little now which is nice. Dave and I can sleep in our bed now because we get a little breeze at night. The days haven’t been really hot either. Today was a great day but when the breeze died it got hot and muggy. It is still muggy out but the cabin is cool.

Thursday, September 10. La Gringa to Bahia de Los Angeles.
We had our big trek back to Bahia de Los Angeles. Only 5 nautical miles to travel. There wasn’t any wind until we were half way to Bahia de Los Angeles and that didn’t last long. Dave was trying to catch a dorado from the boat as we motored. He got a big bite and started to reel the line in but he lost it. He figures it was a large sierra because the lure he uses for the dorado that they like is like a squid and each time he pulls it up it is missing tail strings. He didn’t catch anything this time. We got into the anchorage at Bahia de Los Angeles and found a spot and anchored. We couldn’t get internet because we were too far out from shore. As people leave and spots open up close to shore I think we will move so we can access the internet on the boat instead of having to go into the village and pay for it.

Sally on s/v Aquarius had announced that she was going to head up a tournament of bocce ball at 4:00pm on the beach by the lighthouse. Dave and I aren’t bocce ball players so we already had decided we weren’t going.
We need to get some more diesel so we emptied all we had in the jerry cans into the tank so we could take the empty cans to shore and get them filled.

We went into the village to use the internet. We met Faye and Ken from m/v Genesis at Guillermo’s and they asked if we were going to the bocce ball tournament and we said no. They weren’t either so they invited us to come over and play Mexican Train at 4:00pm. So we said that sounded like fun. So we said goodbye to them and we headed for the Isla store where they have the internet. There was a cruiser already there that had brought in her own computer and was having trouble with the internet so she tried one of the Isla computers and didn’t have much luck. We tried to get on and the waiting was excruciating. It took forever to get anywhere so we finally gave up and said we would try another day. So we left and were walking back to Guillermo’s where our dinghy was parked on the beach when we saw the little yellow truck that belongs to Ava at Guillermo’s go by. We waved and then we saw it turn around and it came to a stop by us. There was Michelle and Tim from s/v Bamboo, Sally and Jerry from s/v Aquarius, and the couple from s/v Panoya all piled into this little truck. The gals were in the front seat with Michelle who was driving and the guys were all in the back. They stopped to tell us that they were going to get the dive tanks filled and also get diesel and gas and if we wanted to go back to our boat and get the jerry cans and come back they would give us a ride. We said that would be great. We failed to find out if anyone was carrying a VHF handheld radio so we could get a hold of them if need be. They drove off and we continued to walk back to our dinghy. We launched the dinghy and went back to the boat. We tried to hail them but no one answered which told us no one had their handheld with them so we were out of luck as far as getting the jerry cans filled today. We didn’t want to carry them to shore and wait and wait and then have them not show up. Besides it was hot and it was getting late so Dave decided he would go into Guillermo’s tomorrow and make arrangements to borrow the truck from Ava tomorrow.

It was getting later in the afternoon and we still haven’t seen the guys return from their excursion yet. Marni came on the VHF and announced that the bocce ball tournament had been cancelled due to them not being back yet. Oh well.

Just before 4:00pm as we were getting ready to go over to m/v Genesis we saw Peter driving Tim’s dinghy, heading for his boat. So we got in the dinghy and went over to s/v 2 Pieces of Eight and talked to him for a minute or two. The guys were still getting the dive tanks filled so Peter was delivering his cans to his boat and then going to Tim’s boat to drop off their cans. Then he had to go back to shore again. After that we headed over to m/v Genesis and got onboard, visited for a little bit and then we got down to playing the Mexican Train. It was Ken’s night to do the net so they said we would play until the net, and when he was finished we would resume our game. Then when the game was over we would have dinner. I wasn’t expecting to stay for dinner, but they said we might as well. So we did. We had fish and it was delicious. After dinner we chatted for a while and then it was getting late and we needed to go back to our boat and run the generator for awhile to cool it down and charge batteries. It was a hot one today with hardly any breeze so we definitely had to run the air conditioner. We thanked them for the fun and dinner and said goodnight.

When we got on our boat I fired up the generator while Dave went on the back step and took a shower. I turned on the air conditioner but the lights on the units didn’t come on so I figured I had to turn something else on to load up the generator. So I turned on the water heater and then turned on the air conditioner and that wasn’t a good thing because I over loaded the system and flipped the circuit breaker. So now I had Dave’s attention and he asked me what happened so I told him. He said I couldn’t do that and that is the second time I have done that. I forgot of course. So he dried off quickly and came down and showed me where the breaker was and he flipped it and all was well and I turned off the water heater. Good thing Dave was finished with his shower. Well I better remember that so it doesn’t happen again. Joe off s/v Blue Moon gave us some Hibiscus leaves to us on Dave’s leg. She said that is what they use in the South Pacific for infection and rashes. The leaves were dried so we had to heat some water to boiling then pour some water on the leaves to hydrate them, pour off the water and take the leaves and grind them up real small and smoosh the leaves and add a little hot water to it to made it gooey. Then Dave was to put that on his lower leg to help with the swelling and rash. After we applied the goop we wrapped his leg in guaze and he was to sleep with it on and elevate his leg all night. He wasn’t looking forward to something hot on his leg but it was worth a try. In the meantime I had him take an antihistamine with Benadryl to help with the swelling. So after all that and when batteries were charged and the boat a little cooler we shut down everything and went to bed.

Friday, September 11.
Dave’s leg looked so much better this morning. The swelling was way down and the redness was fading. Now we don’t know if it was the leaves or the antihistamine that did the trick, but the combination had good results. The rash on his forearms, lower torso and under his arms seems to be spreading. He is a little concerned about that. I talked with a couple of people and with what those people have told us Dave and I think it is heat rash. It is located in the areas where he sweats and stays damp and it itches so it is driving him crazy. We don’t have any calamine lotion on board so I will have to find some.

Dave and Ken went into shore so Dave could reserve the truck and also the guys wanted to go to Diaz to see about getting some lures. So I stayed on the boat. When they returned Dave had a new Mexican lure. They call them that because of the colors are the same as the Mexican flag. He also said the truck was reserved for us after 10:00am tomorrow.

Today is Faye and Ken’s wedding anniversary and a bunch of us cruisers are gathering on shore at Costa Del Sol to celebrate with them for staying together for 25 years. So another party!!!

We figured we would go into the village earlier than the rest of the gang so we could give the internet another try so we packed up Dave and my computer and took the dinghy to shore. Dinner is at 7:00pm and we left around 3:30pm. About half way to the internet place Dave remembers he forgot his battery pack and the battery cable. So he won’t be able to use his computer. He wasn’t real happy with himself. We got to the internet place and I hooked my computer up and Dave used one of isla’s computers. I got connected and had to wait a little bit for it to open my blog but it finally opened and I was able to post my August blog. Finally I was able to get that done. No pictures though but at least it is done. Then I tried to get on Yahoo and the bank but I kept losing my satellite connection. Dave on the other hand was having a terrible time getting on period. He would get to a point and he would type something and it would boot him out and he would have to start all over again. He did a lot of mumbling and was not a happy camper. He kept having problems so I asked the gentlemen there if he would help Dave. He did. Dave was able to get to the sight he wanted but it took forever for it to come up. I tried again to get into Yahoo and our bank with no luck so I gave up. I packed up my computer and waited for Dave to finish. He had to sign up for the security program we have on the computer so it was important for him to get it done before the time was up. He finally was successful and he checked his emails which he was lucky to do, then he was done. He paid for using the internet and we left. It was about 6:20pm and dinner isn’t until 7:00pm but we figured we would just be early. We got to the restaurant and ordered a margarita and bottled water with lots of ice. Right after we got our drinks people started to arrive. We had a great time and a delicious dinner. After we were all finished and the bills were paid we left and walked back to our dinghies and went back to our boats. By this time it was 11:00pm. Time flies when you are having fun.

Saturday, September 12.
Faye and Ken are coming for dinner tonight. Dave is going to make his carbonara for them. I love it even though it is really rich and fattening. He only makes it for special guests. It is too much for the two of us to eat so that is the only time I get to have it is when we invite people over for dinner.

We are going into shore this morning to get diesel. Ken of m/v Genesis and Jessie off s/v Francis Lee need to fill their jerry cans also so we are picking up Ken and Jessie will meet us on the beach. Dave loaded the dinghy with the empty jerry cans and I got my backpack to do a little grocery shopping while the guys do their thing. We left and picked up Ken and went to shore and met Jessie. The guys piled in the truck and I walked to the store which is in the opposite direction from where they were going. I need to get some exercise so I prefer to walk.

I got some fruit, bacon, milk and a small box of white wine and walked back to Guillermo’s. No sooner had I sat down they guys arrived. They gave the money to Dave to pay Ava for the use of her truck and then I helped Dave carry a jerry can to the dinghy. Jesse had already carried his can to his dinghy and was off to his boat so Ken, Dave and I got in the dinghy and took Ken back to his boat and told him we would see him and Faye for dinner. We told them to come around 4:30pm and bring the dominos so we could play. So they said they would. Dave and I went back to our boat and off loaded the jerry cans. Then I took the nozzles off each one and inverted them in the cans so I could put the covers over them and tie them back on the stern steps. After that I straightened up the boat and put things away getting ready for company. We decided to move the boat in closer to shore so we could hook up to the internet without having to pay for it. So we pulled the anchor and moved. We were closer to m/v Genesis this time. They were the ones that told us they were able to connect to the internet from their boat. Once the anchor was down, Dave hooked the computer and then I stood holding the antenna to see where the strongest signal was coming in at. When we found the signal Dave attached the antenna to the stern rail of the boat and we were good. I did laundry and hung it out to dry then cooked bacon and chopped garlic getting ready for this evenings dinner. I find that if we cook the bacon ahead of time it cuts down the time to make the dish plus the galley doesn’t get as hot. After I did that I sat and read. Dave put his leg up like he is suppose to and took a little snooze.

At 4:00pm we turned on the generator so we could turn on the air conditioner to cool it down for us and our guests. At 4:30pm Faye and Ken arrived and I got them something to drink and Dave and I too, then we sat down and played Mexican Train. The wind was blowing so we were bobbing around a little bit but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

We took a break when the net came on so we could check in and listen to the weather. Then we resumed the game. I made a mistake though and started cooking the spaghetti too soon so we had to hurry through the game in order to get the rest of the dinner made. Oh well. So we moved the dominos off the table and I set it and then helped Dave with the Carbonara. When it was done we served it up and I had made a tossed green salad earlier so we had that with it and wine. They enjoyed the dinner and so did we. After dinner I cleared the table and we laid out the dominos again to finish the game. By this time the wind was really blowing and we watched on the wind instrument to see how much. It was between 15 and 18 knots. Ken went out and made sure the dinghy was not banging into our boat and he looked to where they were anchored and all was well. So we played until the game was over and they thanked us for dinner. They are taking off in the morning to start heading to San Carlos. They have made reservations. It appears the mud and everything left over from the hurricane has been cleaned up and they are back in business. I’m sure they still have repairs to a few of the docks but they will have a spot for them. They are planning on going to Nicaragua. They are from Canada and are very nice people. Ken was Dave’s fishing partner. Dave will truly miss that. The wind was starting to really kick up now and it looks like we are getting an elephante. The wind is hot and coming off the land from the west. Dave tied the dinghy securely to the stern of the boat and we closed the middle panel in the dodger and I took up the side curtain. So everything that needed to be secured was. It blew for the longest time. We wondered when it was going to stop. We had gusts to 33 knots. There wasn’t anything we could do and our anchor was holding very well so I decided I would go to bed. It seemed as though the wind was trying to die but it was struggling with that. I went to bed and a little later Dave joined me. The wind finally did die down and then it was all quiet and the boat quit swinging so much.

Sunday, September 13.
It is a beautiful day and it is going to be a hot one. I put the awning up and the side curtain back down so we were good now with the heat. We got a call from s/v Aquarius asking if we would like to be part of a bocce ball team. We said sure. We have never played so we thought it would be fun. We are to meet at Guillermo’s around 1:00pm. I washed clothes and did dishes and siphoned the water out of the tray in the back air conditioning unit. Dave was tired as he has been taking the antihistamine which makes him sleepy. So he laid down and I sat in the main saloon and read my book. Pretty soon I was getting tired so I decided to lie on the settee and take a snooze. After we got up I fixed us lunch and then it was time to meet everyone on the beach at Guillermo’s. When we arrived on the beach we tied the dinghy up and joined the people that were already there. More were on their way so we sat down and visited until everyone got there. The group decided to have lunch and so we sat there and ate chips and salsa waiting for the game to begin. After everyone was done with lunch we went on the beach and started the game. It was fun. I didn’t throw the ball very well but I had fun none-the-less. We played for a couple to three hours then some went back to their boats and we stayed at Guillermo’s to have a lemonada. Herman was there so we talked to him. After Dave and I finished our drink we said goodbye to Herman and got in our dinghy and went back to our boat. I had started a macaroni salad yesterday so now I needed to mix stuff in it so that is what I did. Then it sat for a couple hours cooling. In the meantime we listened to the net and then had dinner which was the salad.

After dinner we had a glass of wine and sat outside for a while. There was hardly a breeze. Around 8:30pm we started the generator and turned on the air conditioner to cool things down and charge batteries. Once we finished doing that we both sat on the settee and read for a while before going to bed. It actually ended up being rather pleasant outside tonight. Good. We should sleep well then.

Monday, September 14.
Today is fuel filter changing day. Whoohoo!!!! Do I sound excited??? I’m really not and Dave is even less excited. He asked me what I had planned to do today and I told him I didn’t have one. After we had coffee and I put the awning up and then Dave started clearing things off the bed in the guest stateroom so he could lift the mattress to access underneath it to get to the generator fuel pump. He had hoped to have his dive bag hold the mattress up as he did last time when he was working on the head, but that didn’t work this time. I asked him if I could hold it and he said sure and he asked if I was going to hold it for an hour and I said no. Well when nothing else worked guess who volunteered to hold the mattress? It was no big deal as I wanted to watch what he was doing since I couldn’t get in and help him. So I sat on the mattress and held the door open for him so he could work on getting the filter changed. He had a hard time getting it unscrewed but managed to do so and drain the fuel out of it. Anyway it was pretty painless. When we were done with that everything worked just fine and all the air bubbles were out of it. Now it was the engines turn to have it done. Oh boy!!!! You would think that one would be easy since it is easier to get at right? WRONG!!! He had trouble from the get go and it got worse from there. When he started swearing I knew there was a real problem. He called for lots of paper towels as fuel was dripping into the bilge. He was trying to get the part off that has the o-ring on it to drain the fuel but that didn’t work and the lower part of filter unit came off therefore fuel went everywhere. Oh boy!!!! Are we having fun now? Anyway I won’t bore you with all the particulars but the job got done. We ran the engine and everything worked well. Now it was cleanup time. Since my hands are small I volunteered to wipe the spilled diesel. I did that as much as I could reach but there was some down under the engine we needed to get out so we ended up taking the floor board out from under the step to access under the engine. I took a lot of paper towels and sopped up the spill and then when I went to get up to get my balance I put my weight on the step. Wrong thing to do!!! I dislodged the screws that held the step in place. Someone was very unhappy with me. Guess who? Well it was an accident and he knew that but the bad part was this wasn’t the first time it had happened. Someone else had been helping him last time and did the same thing so Dave had to redo the screws. So he wasn’t sure if the screws would go back in or not. As it turned out we got it fixed (yeah for Dave!!!) and we put everything back together again. That job was finally done. I cleaned up and then fixed us lunch. After lunch I washed clothes and hung them to dry. I put dished away from last night and siphoned out the tray of the back air conditioner. I cleaned the sump pump and emptied the shower so we could take a shower. Dave needs to at least rinse off every day to get the sweat off. His rash is still there and itching. He has cut down on the Benadryl to once a day, just before bed, and he is putting hydrocortisone cream on some of the areas and calamine lotion on other areas. He can’t seem to get rid of it however his leg is doing much better. I think as it starts to cool down the rash will start to go away. At least that is what I am hoping for. After all that I sat and read my book. I am almost finished with it. We got a call this afternoon from another boat in the anchorage letting us know that he had just had the bottom of his boat cleaned by a couple of locals and wanted to know if anyone else was interested. We were so I got on the VHF and talked to the guy and he said he would send the guys over to talk to us. So they came over and Dave made arrangement to have them come back in about a week and a half. They negotiated a price and then we sent them to another boat that wanted to get their bottom cleaned. After that the afternoon was uneventful and we relaxed. I checked some emails and answered and sent some and Dave was trying to check on flights out of Los Cabos for the end of October. Our 6th grandson is supposed to be born on the 2nd of November and we want to be there when that happens. So Dave is looking into flights and also sent off some emails to a couple of marinas in La Paz to see how much it would cost to leave our boat there for a month. So hopefully he will get an answer here shortly. We figure if we can leave the boat in La Paz we could take a bus to the airport which is only a couple of hours. So we shall see.

Around 5:00pm we went to the sand spit where the lighthouse is to walk our imaginary dog. Marni invited us to join them and a couple other people to walk their dogs. There was quite a group. There was Aquarius with us that don’t have any animals aboard and they wanted to go to get off the boat and get some exercise. We did too. So we went and walked the beach and had a good time. I didn’t find any interesting shells this time. When we were done, we got back in our dinghies and went to our boats. The net was due to start shortly after getting back so Dave went below to turn on the net while I went and took the awning down. The wind was coming out of the west which could mean another elephante. So I took the awning down and took the dry clothes off the lifelines and brought them all in, the wind had subsided. So I think we will be alright. The wind shifted to the south thank goodness. I rinsed off our shoes and my legs from getting into the salt water and then went below to start dinner. We listened to the net for weather and it looks like the system that is brewing in southern Mexico is going northwest. Dave doesn’t think it will get to the sea. I sure hope not. The water and weather is starting to cool down so that is a big factor of whether a hurricane will survive in the sea. So we are watching it very carefully. We won’t know anything until Thursday or Friday of this week. So after the net I got the fish ready to be BBQ’d and Dave lit the BBQ and I cut up some potatoes and cooked them and made mash potatoes to go with the fish and the macaroni salad. The fish was good but I was disappointed in the potatoes. I had put lots of butter and seasoning in them but they turned out rather bland. Oh well. Such is life. After dinner I did the dishes and had to change water tanks so one of our tanks is empty. When I defrost the freezer and refrigerator in a couple of days we will fill the empty tank and top off the one we are on.

Dave checked his email tonight and found a couple of responses from the marinas in La Paz. Marina de La Paz is full and there is a waiting list. Palmira where we normally stay is open and they let us know how much it would cost to stay for the month of November. We plan on being there for Thanksgiving again this year. It looks as though we can make a reservation so now we need to see about flights out of Los Cabo. So it looks like we will be coming home at the end of October for 2 weeks and spend some time with family and see our new grandson. By the way, the baby afghan is finished except for the fringe. I did it!!!! I plan on finishing my book tonight and I will be starting a new one tomorrow. I love the Clive Cussler books almost as much as the Janet Evanovich books.

We are running the generator and the air conditioner. Our nightly routine. I have a muscle spasm in my back I have to work out so I am drinking my wine to deaden the pain. I’m kidding, well sort of. I have a rubber ball in a sock that I use to roll the ball on the muscle to loosen it and I am drinking wine but not in excess. It helps though. I started with the spasm last night and it takes a while to work it out. I will be fine and am still doing the stuff I normally do just being a little careful that’s all.

Well it looks like we will have another quiet night. Hopefully we will have a little breeze through the night. Good night all.

Tuesday, September 15.
It was a quiet night last night which was nice. Dave gets to sleep until around 2:00am and then it gets warm for him and he starts to sweat and then he itches. So he gets up and goes out in the cockpit for awhile and then when he is cooled off he comes back to bed. Poor guy! It has to be miserable for him. The rash is getting better but it just isn’t going away. One good thing though is it is cooling down so the boat doesn’t get too hot and we aren’t sweating profusely like we were. This is a good thing. So there is hope for Dave yet!!

When I got up this morning I put the awning up and then I read for a little bit while I drank my coffee. Dave needed to go into shore to the internet place to make some phone calls. I didn’t want to go with him so he went alone. While he was gone I cleaned the knot meter, washed clothes, put dishes and clean clothes away and shook out 2 rugs. Then I went out into the cockpit and started reading a new book. Another Clive Cussler book titled Skeleton Coast. I got a call from Marni asking if we were going to have the bottom of our boat cleaned today and I told her we had already made arrangements with the guys to have it done in about a week and a half. Well the guys have to pull the panga out of the water each day and they wanted to get all the boats scheduled for cleaning done today. Well Sally and Jerry off s/v Aquarius were scheduled to have their bottom cleaned on Wednesday but they left this morning for town and aren’t back yet. So I told Marni that Dave was in town and I would have to talk to him about getting it done. She said the guys were leaving her boat now and would be passing by. So I thanked her and called Dave on the VHF and told him the story. He wanted to know how much they were going to charge so I waved at them as they passed by and they came to the boat. I asked how much they would charge to clean the bottom and they said 500 pesos. So then I told them I would talk to my spouse and let them know when they came back. They said they were going into shore to see if they could find Sally and Jerry at Guillermo’s and ask if they could clean their boat and they would return later to check with me about cleaning ours. So off they went. I still had Dave waiting on the VHF and I told him what the cost was and he said we should go ahead and do it. The price was right. So I told him when the guys came back I would go ahead and have them do the job. Well I waited and waited and they didn’t show up. When Dave was heading back to the boat he saw the panga and the guys in it and went over to them to let them know they could clean the bottom of our boat. They were diving for clams so they finished with that and in the meantime Dave was back on the boat. The guys arrived and started to work right away. Both guys dove under the boat and cleaned. It took them quite a while so I know they did an excellent job. When they were done and back in their panga, they wanted to know if we wanted some clams. We said sure. So they gave us a few clams in trade for a coke and a beer. Dave paid them for the cleaning and away they went to visit s/v Aquarius as they were back on board now. We are having fried clams for dinner.

Dave spent the afternoon on the internet searching for a flight out of Los Cabo to Seattle and trying to contact the marina in La Paz to see how much it will cost to moor our boat for a month. We are going home for a 2 week visit so we can meet our new grandson, Dave’s son and the rest of the family. We are also going to get a few boat parts to bring back with us that we can’t get here.

Dave got a response from the two marinas he asked for moorage with. Marina La Paz is full with a waiting list and Marina Palmira, where we prefer to stay gave us the cost. It was actually cheaper than we thought it was going to be. So we made reservations for us to be there at the end of October. It is only 6 days travel from here to La Paz and we won’t be stopping in every anchorage going down like we did coming up. Dave was able to get airline reservations for us to fly out of Cabo on November 1. We will take a bus from La Paz to the airport in Cabo which is only a 2 hour ride which is no big deal. So that is done and now we can let family know we are coming home for a visit.

When we return to La Paz we will leave there after Thanksgiving and go to the new marina in San Jose Del Cabo and meet our good friends, Noreen and Ron from home, at our mini vacation place, Royal Solaris in Los Cabo for a week of relaxation and pampering. I’m ready!!! It will be a nice break and if all goes well we might be able to take Ron and Noreen sailing while we are there. Then after that we will be heading for Mazatlan. So the next couple of months are going to be fun and busy. Summer is almost over.

I took a nap this afternoon while Dave was doing his thing on the internet. When I got up I went outside and took the awning down and then went below to listen to the net and weather. So far the system that is brewing south is heading northwest. We still don’t know if it will become a hurricane or not so we need to wait a couple more days. Dave has been tracking it on the computer and it definitely looks like it will turn left and go out to the Pacific. After the net we cooked the clams and warmed the left over mashed potatoes and had the rest of the macaroni salad. The clams were good.

There is music on shore. Today is some kind of Mexican celebration so there is music playing up and down the shoreline. Tomorrow the Baja rally is supposed to stop in the village so that might be fun to see. I better remember to take my camera. Marni and Peter invited us to lunch in town tomorrow so we will go to the internet place so Dave can make a couple of phone calls and then meet them for lunch. It will be fun.

We are running the generator charging batteries and running the air conditioner. It is cooling down faster now that the nights aren’t as hot. Less run time on the generator. Well it is book reading time and maybe a little nightcap before bed.

Wednesday, September 16. Mexican Independence Day and Possibly Bahia Rally Day.
We got an email back from the marina in San Jose Del Cabo. What a shock it was when they told us how much it would cost to moore there for a week. It would cost us $1,100.00 to stay there for a week but if we pay for a month it costs us $1,300.00 and we can bank the days we don’t use up to a year. Well I don’t think that is going to work for us. It is $2.00 a foot and that is just too expensive and we don’t know when we would be going back to San Jose Los Cabos because that is off our beat and path going to the Sea. So what we decided to do is contact Marina Palmira in La Paz and see if we can leave the boat there longer and if we can and it isn’t going to cost us much more, we will stay there and take a bus to San Jose Del Cabo. So we will see what they have to say. We get that week at Royal Solaris free so we don’t want to miss out on that.

We are running the generator and making water and I just finished defrosting the refrigerator and freezer. When we are finished filling our water tanks we will be going to shore to have lunch, use the internet for making phone calls, then going to the co-op to get some fresh vegetables and fruit.

We finished filling our water tanks so now we are off to shore. As I came up into the cockpit to pull the dinghy into the stern I got startled by a pelican. He flew or hopped up on the step and came up behind the wheel and was standing there when I came out. It startled me and him too as he left us a small package on the step. They look at you with pathetic eyes as if to say “you’re not really going to shoo me away are you”? You bet I am and I did. He flew off the boat and went into the water not far from us so we didn’t trust him to stay there so we pulled up the stern step and closed the screen.

When we got to shore Herman was there with his friends so I went over and said hi and told him I wanted to buy a book from him. So he invited the group of us to go to his place for margaritas after we got done in town. That sounded like a nice thing. So we told him we would see him later.

We found out that the Baja Rally had been cancelled due to dirt road conditions after the hurricane down by Santa Rosalia. Plus most of the guys are now in their 80’s and it would be a real hard trip on their kidneys as Peter put it. I was disappointed but such is life.

There was a group of us cruisers going to lunch so we all came ashore at the same time. We walked past the place we are having lunch so us gals could go to an art store. It was just up from the restaurant. So we went in there and everything was handmade. There were wire sculptures and all kinds of neat things. I had a good time looking but didn’t buy anything. Once we left there we walked across the street to the food co-op to buy some vegetables. Unfortunately they didn’t have much. I bought some garlic and carrots and a box of cereal. When we were done there we walked across the street again to the restaurant. It was a nice little place and the people were friendly and nice. We hadn’t eaten there before and one of the cruisers said it was a good place so we thought we would try it for lunch. The restaurant is called La Palapa. With the meal they serve you soup and today the soup was white bean which was very good. Dave and I had pollo (chicken) enchiladas. They were very good and a lot to eat. After we all got finished with lunch and paying our bills some of us went to the internet place and others went back to Guillermo’s and others went back to their boat. We told everyone they were invited to Herman’s for margaritas, but we were the only ones that showed up at his place. We didn’t have a margarita because he was waiting for everyone to show so he could make a pitcher. I told him we would do it another time. I wanted to get his book but we didn’t have enough money so we told Herman we would get it from him tomorrow. We did have a drink of blended scotch with him and he showed us a couple card tricks. Dave showed him his card trick so we had a good time. He is really a neat man. We told him goodbye and we would see him tomorrow. Then we got in our dinghy and went back to our boat. Once on board we started the generator again to cool the freezer down some more so it would shut off.

Dave did some computer work while I read my book and then he laid down and elevated his leg because it was swollen. Then it was time to prepare for the net as Dave is net control tonight for the Southbound net. At 5:55pm Dave opened the net and after all the vessel check ins were finished and Don gave the weather the net was over. Then I fixed us popcorn for dinner as we were still full from lunch.

We are running the generator again to cool the boat down. The days are a little cooler now with very little humidity which is really nice and the night is cooler too. We had to cover up with a sheet again this morning. The temperature is bearable now. There isn’t much of a breeze tonight, but I think sleeping won’t be a problem. I’m off to read my book now. Tata!!

Thursday, September 17.
Like usual I put the bow awning up and had my coffee in the cockpit and was reading my book when Dave said he wanted to go ashore while it was still cool. He needed to fax something to Royal Solaris and make a couple of phone calls. While he was going to do that I was going to walk to the co-op and see what kind of vegetables they had. I needed to pick up some tomatoes, bread and any fruit I could get. So we went to shore and parked our dinghy at the dock where the army guys are on watch on a barge. We went into the mini market at Guillermo’s and asked if they had any fruit, tomatoes, lettuce, eggs and limes. He said he only had grapes, no tomatoes, but had lettuce and limes. So we told him we would be back. Dave bought the army guys a coke (2) and then we were off to the internet place. I walked to the co-op which is just a little ways up the road from the internet place and bought some tomatoes, zucchini, and bread. They hadn’t received their fresh vegetable and fruit shipment in yet. When I left there I walked to the liquor store to price rum. Then went to the internet place. Dave was talking to Ron from home and he was able to fax the paperwork to Royal Solaris so all was good. We bought some rum at the store there and paid for the internet and fax use and left. We stopped at Costa Del Sol and had brunch. It was very good and very filling. I felt like I was going explode. We walked to Guillermo’s and Dave went to the yellow store to buy some shop towels and I went to the mini market to get my eggs and lettuce. I forgot to get limes though. I had mentioned to Dave while we were walking back to Guillermo’s that I should get some bacon and we could have bacon lettuce and tomato sandwiches for dinner tonight. That peaked Dave interest but guess who forgot to get the bacon. Yep!!! It were I!! I didn’t remember until we were heading back to the boat. Oh well. We thought we might be able to catch s/v Bamboo before they left for town, but they were already gone. Well I will have to get the bacon another time.

We got back to the boat and Dave got on the internet to see if he got a response from Royal Solaris and there wasn’t any. I washed clothes out and hung them to dry and then I read my book. Dave continued on the computer checking the weather and it looks as though no hurricanes are forming to come this way. That is very good news. It’s been a very strange year here for hurricanes I guess. I don’t think there will be any more coming up the Sea.

Dave finally ended his computer stuff and went and laid down, putting his foot up. His rash is getting better so that is all good. He isn’t itching as much either.

Around 5:00pm we had a couple of local guys that were out fishing in their panga come by and ask if they could tie to our boat so they could fish. They were catching sierra. We said sure and took their line and tied it off the stern handle on the boat. They were catching sierra like crazy. They were hand casting. That is just a line with a lure at the end of it. No fishing rod. So Dave wanted to catch some so he went out in the dinghy but had no luck. The guys must have caught about 5 or 6 really good size sierra. When they were done they asked me to untie them and I did and they went off to another spot to catch more. Really friendly young guys.

When Dave came back to the boat it was time for the Southbound net so we listened and checked in. After the net we fixed dinner. We had BBQ’d dorado some noodles and a salad. We ate in the cockpit. After dinner I washed dishes and then we started the generator. Battery amp hours were down so we needed to charge them. So we started the generator and turned on the air conditioner and Dave and I sat in the cockpit with a glass of wine and a cigar. It is a beautiful night and I got to see a falling star. Dave went below when he finished his cigar to check email and I stayed in the cockpit to finish my cigar. Then I went below to type the journal/blog and read my book.

Well not much else is happening. We have let family and friends know we are coming home so now we just finish seeing different anchorages up here before we head south. Not too much longer and we will be on our way to La Paz. The summer has gone quick. If we do this again we will be a lot wiser and more prepared.

Friday, September 18.
Dave listened to the net this morning and when I got up I put the awning up. Dave went out to see if he could catch some sierra and he did catch a big one. So he filleted it and I stuck it in the freezer.

We didn’t do a lot today. I washed a few clothes items and hung them out to dry and then I read most of the day. I am trying to finish the Skeleton Coast before Sunday because we are having a net controller party and there will be a book exchange so I want to at least have a couple of books to donate. All our reservations for flying home and for Royal Solaris and Marina Palmira are finished so we don’t have to worry about that now. We are thinking it might be fun to rent a car for a week and drive it from La Paz to San Jose Del Cabo and then Ron, Noreen and we can go to Todo Santos to the Hotel California. That would be fun. It all depends on how much it will cost. At least it is an option and since we have to come back to La Paz anyway it might be the best way to go. We shall see.

Today we had some breeze which was nice. We got some rollers from the outside of B.L.A. that bounced us around a bit but nothing uncomfortable. We watched boats come in to anchor so they can go to the net party on Sunday at Guillermo’s. Our time in the Sea is getting short. Only a few more weeks and we will be heading south for La Paz. I think I am ready. It is getting cooler here and as we go south it will still be warm.

There is a system brewing off Acapulco which looks a little unsettling so we are keeping an eye and ear out to see where it goes.

Tomorrow a lot more boats coming into the bay for the party on Sunday so it will fill up quickly. Peter and Marni invited us to go with them to breakfast tomorrow morning around 9:00am. Then they will be going to the internet place to do their thing and I think I will pick up some limes and bacon and some more tomatoes. That way Dave can have BLT’s for dinner tomorrow night.

We are running the generator and air conditioning right now. It was a little muggy today as the humidity was up. So hopefully it won’t be too bad tonight for sleeping. My plan is to send a couple emails tonight and read my book then go to bed. Sound exciting? Yeah right!!!

Saturday, September 19.
Before leaving the boat to go to shore for breakfast, I put the awning up as it was going to be a hot one. When we got to shore there were cruisers arriving on shore to get a prearranged ride to the Mercado’s and to fill gas and diesel cans. He lives here and used to be a sailor. He offered to take their garbage and take them where they needed to go. We were there just to go to breakfast as we had already done all that earlier. We said hi to everyone and then when Peter and Marni got to shore we walked to Costa Del Sol and had a wonderful breakfast. Afterwards Marni and Peter went on to do internet stuff and get some vegetables. Dave and I walked back to Guillermo’s and I stopped in their mini market and got some bacon, large tomatoes, some limes, and 2 cans of chicken. Dave got a bottle of gin since we are getting low and bought 3 cokes for the Army guards on the barge at the dock where we tied our dinghy to. We do that as a thank you for them letting us tie to the dock. After that we got in our dinghy and came back to the boat. When the groceries were put away I got my book and went to the cockpit to finish it. I had three more chapters to go.

I finished the book and will be passing on 2 of the Clive Cussler books tomorrow at the net party.

Dave played some cards and did some looking at what the current storm was doing south. Then he went out into the cockpit and relaxed but then the fish were calling him. He tried to fish off the boat but that didn’t work well so he finally ended up in the dinghy trolling around the bay. He managed to catch a small sierra so we have another one for the freezer. While he fished I started cutting yarn strips for fringe on the baby afghan. It was truly a warm day today. I sweated up a storm today.

When Dave got back from fishing he cleaned the sierra and I put it in the freezer. The freezer wasn’t shutting off so he started the generator to run the air conditioner. Dave had put in new latches in the freezer but because the original ones were installed incorrectly, even the new ones are off center and allow too much moisture into the freezer. So that was why it wasn’t shutting off. He took those latches off and now the door sits flush with the counter and no air is leaking around the seal and the freezer did finally shut off. We turned everything off so we could listen to the net and we will run the generator again later before we go to bed.

I cooked bacon so Dave was able to have his B.L.T. for dinner. I have to admit it sure tasted good. Their bacon is so much leaner than the U.S. processed bacon and there isn’t a lot of grease.

We sat outside as the sun was setting behind the mountains. The lights were just starting to come on in the village which was a pretty sight. The tide is way out and I saw a person walking the beach with 3 dogs following him/her.

There are a couple of kid boats here anchored in the bay and today we saw them running around in a dinghy gathering up kids to go to the beach and swim and have fun. There are sisters off one boat and the oldest was driving the dinghy as the younger one was on a float board holding on to a rope that was connected to the dinghy and sister was pulling her around the bay. Just listening to them laugh and have a good time was great. The kids do have a ball!!!

Well not much going on tonight. I will be finishing the afghan and then starting a new Clive Cussler book. So many books so little time. HA!!!!

Sunday, September 20.
Last night I made a discovery when I opened my last bottle of prescription antidepressant medication. There were only 20 pills in there. That isn’t going to help me get through October and the first week in November until I can get another 6 months worth. I messed up. Actually I thought I had 180 pills in the bottle but in reality it was the tail end count to make up a total of 6 months supply. So now I have a problem. Well not yet until I run out of my medicine then it becomes a big problem.
I found out where the clinic is in the village and walked there when we went into shore, but they weren’t able to help me. She said I couldn’t get it here in B.L.A. I guess I will have to go to a town named Guerrero Negro which is about a 5 hour round trip ride. That is where the people here go when they need stuff. So now I have to find a ride there. We were going to leave the bay tomorrow and start exploring the anchorages north but we can’t do anything now until we get my little problem solved. I could just kick myself in the butt for this. I was so careful about my vitamins and all my other stuff but totally spaced the medicine I HAVE to have. Well it will work out. It is just a hassle we didn’t need. Oh well.

When I got up and had my coffee, I washed dishes, clothes and cleaned the head. Then I siphoned the water out of the back air conditioner tray and went out into the cockpit with my book to take advantage of the breeze. I read for a little bit while Dave played a form of solitaire. I took a little snooze in the cockpit and found out that Dave was doing the same thing down below. He had gone into our stateroom to lie on the bed and put his foot up and fell asleep. When I woke up I went below to make a salad for the potluck this afternoon a Guillermo’s . We are having the net controller party at 3:00pm there and there will be volleyball, and bocce ball on the beach and a game(s) of Mexican Train. Then at 6:00pm we will have dinner. Everyone is to bring a side dish and the main dish is hotdogs. So I made a raisin and carrot salad and we packed up and went to shore. We met more cruisers and I visited with some of the gals. I watched the volleyball game and checked in on Dave while he was playing bocce ball. It was a hot day so I really didn’t want to sweat anymore than I already was so I decided to just visit. When the games were over it was dinner time. Hot dogs taste pretty good. The best thing after the hot dogs and salads were the desserts. There were chocolate chip cookies and brownies among other things. Yum!!! I picked up a couple of Janet Evanovich books which made my day. Unfortunately Dave didn’t find a book he was interested in. Bummer. So he still doesn’t have reading material. After dinner was over we sat around and visited and then people started to go back to their boats. The bugs were coming out so it was time to leave. We said goodbye and walked to our dinghy and had to push it out a long way before it would float as the tide was way out. That was a lot of fun!!! Not! We did have help from another cruiser in pushing us out far enough so we could start the motor without getting sand in it. We got back to the boat and started the generator. It was hot and humid down below. It is cooling down nicely now.

Last night it was hot and humid. We started getting wind from the west which turned into an elephante, blowing up to 20 knots. It wasn’t bad but it blew hot wind which wasn’t so good. Dave ended up sleeping in the cockpit as it was too hot for him down below. I turned the fan on and that helped but I didn’t sleep all that well. I woke up this morning still tired. It is warm tonight but there was a little breeze so I hope it will continue and Dave and I will sleep better tonight.

Monday, September 21.
I bet you can’t guess what I did today? If you said put the awning up you were right, if you said laundry and dishes you were also correct. Then I defrosted the refrigerator and freezer and made water. I siphoned the water out of the air conditioner tray and also the sump pump that the water from defrosting the refrigerator and freezer run into. The motor on that is shot. Then I cleaned the other sump pump because the float doesn’t always come up when the water gets to the top so the water has been spilling out of it which runs into the bilge. Not what we want to happen. So I thought that I would check to see if the filter needed to be cleaned but it didn’t. So I just cleaned what I could and I will just have to watch it every time I run water into the sink or take a shower. When we get back to La Paz we will order 2 sump pump units and replace these. There is always something. After all that I was able to go out and play. I took my book to the cockpit where there was a nice breeze blowing and sat and read. One of the cruisers went into town and on their way back they stopped at our boat. They are friends with a family that owns a hotel here in Bahia de Los Angeles and so as they were talking with them and the subject came up that another cruiser (me) needed to get some medication soon. Well the man they were talking to said his father-in-law was coming down from Ensenada and if they could get the name and dose of what I needed he could bring it down with him since they sell it over the counter. So when Les from s/v Gemini told me this I thought that would be a good thing to do so he offered to take me into shore to meet this man and give him the information. So that is what we did. Esteban is the man’s name and I told him how he could get a hold of me on the boat. His father-in-law will be here tomorrow some time. So at least I don’t have to worry about running out real soon. If worse comes to worse, I can get a ride into Guerrero Negro from a local here. The locals are always willing to help you if you ask. So I think all will be alright. I certainly won’t do that again. So we are stuck here in the bay for another day or two. No worries.

After that I read some more while Dave played his Silent Hunter submarine game on my computer. We had been invited to s/v Gemini’s boat for cocktails at 5:00pm so about 4:30pm I took the awning down and put it away and then we got ready to go. Dave got the rum and cokes ready for transport and off we went. We had a very nice visit and it was great getting to know them. After our visit we came back to the boat and started the generator to cool down the inside of the boat. I am updating the journal for the blog and Dave is playing a solitaire game on his computer and checking emails. Then I will read for a while before I go to bed.

Tuesday, September 22.
Well today was a lot of fun! I’m being sarcastic. We went to shore and to the Hotel Hamacas where I need to pick up the medicine that Esteban’s father-in-law is bringing down from Ensenada. A lady was on the phone talking to the father-in-law and she was giving the name of the medicine and how much and how many boxes which told us he hasn’t left Ensenada. They said he should be here this afternoon, but I told them we were suppose to get some strong winds today so if we can’t make it back in this afternoon would tomorrow be alright and they said yes. She didn’t know exactly what time he would be in B.L.A. Come to find out she takes the same medicine and said I could by some from her if I need more. I told her thank you and I would keep that in mind. So we left there and walked to the internet place. I wanted to get on the group health site to check if I have an email from my doctor about sending the medicine. Well with Mexican keyboards nothing is what it seems and when I typed in my password, of course you can’t see it and it rejected it. So I tried again and it was only 3 tries when they locked me out. So now I don’t know if the pharmacy filled and sent the medicine or not. So we walked back to Guillermo’s and bought ice and then got in our dinghy and went back to the boat. We tried to get on internet again and we had no signal. We eventually figured there was no satellite coverage. So that was frustrating. Dave did try one time to make a call from our computer and he got as far as typing in the number and then the signal went away. The only way I can get a new password and have them unlock me is by phone. That sucks. So hopefully we will be able to get on tomorrow.

After lunch we had heard a boat that left the bay call another boat here in the anchorage and say they had 20-25 knot winds all of a sudden from the north and it was coming our way. They were half way to La Gringa which is north of us. So Dave called s/v Bamboo and told them they might want to start taking their awnings down because the wind was coming. Then I got on the radio and announced to the fleet that it was coming and people might want to get their awnings down. I had already taken ours down and no sooner had I made the announcement the wind picked up and it blew 20-25 knots all afternoon. It is suppose to die tonight and then tomorrow pick up again but with more wind. We had white caps all over the bay and Dave wasn’t sure if we should try to go into the village to see if the medicine came or not. We made the decision to go in the morning before it started to blow. We had no idea if the guy made it yet from Ensenada and we feared we would get there and it wouldn’t be there. So tomorrow early we will go in to the internet place and see if I can’t get things straightened out and hopefully make it back to the boat before the blow. Well that is the plan anyway.

Dave is still trying to get on the internet but having problems. I read my book today and played some solitaire and then sat outside just watching the boats and waves. About 5:30pm the waves and wind were subsiding so it will be a quiet night with probably not much breeze. Oh well. At least the humidity is way down.

I washed some clothes out today and some pillow cases and I wanted to wash my sheets but they would have gotten beat to death hanging them to dry in the wind we had. So I will save that for another time. I did end up taking the laundry off the lifelines and hanging it in the cockpit. I was afraid they might wiggle their way off the lines and then they would be gone. So I played it safe.

We had sierra for dinner tonight. It is so good but wouldn’t want to eat it every night. Right now we are running the generator and the air conditioner, having a glass of wine and Dave is probably playing solitaire on his computer and still trying to bring the internet up and I am here typing and getting ready to play a couple games on the computer and then read my book. Well here is to a quiet evening. I sure hope tomorrow I can get my medication problems resolved. What a pain.

Wednesday, September 23.
The temperature was pretty good for sleeping last night. The only thing that kept us from getting a restful sleep was a dog barking and howling all night. That was irritating. We got up early and the breeze was already starting to blow but it was from the south. It would turn and blow from the north before too long. Dave wanted to hear the net weather but the net control couldn’t get him to come up. So about 7:30am we decided it was time to go into shore and we would get weather from the others that listened to it. So Dave packed his computer and off we went in the dinghy to shore. We walked down to Hotel Hamacas and asked about the medication and they had it. We paid them for the medicine and gave them a little more for the gas it took to get it and bring it down. They were appreciative. So that is taken care of. We walked across the street to the Isla place for internet and Dave hooked up his computer. The internet was very slow this morning but I was able to get my group health account unlocked and then I checked my emails. To make a long story short, the nurse and doctor did not understand the urgency of getting the medicine shipped overnight to the address I gave them. So I called and talked to the pharmacy and they were still awaiting the official word from my doctor and then they would ship it and charge me the $18.00 to ship it overnight. I didn’t care because it needed to be done. So then I called and talked to the nurse and tried to explain that the medicine needed to be sent a.s.a.p. and to the address I gave them before Friday as the gal was leaving that address to come to Mexico and I would not get the medicine. Then I wrote an email explaining the urgency to my doctor’s nurse. So after all that all I could do was wait and check emails later on the boat. So we packed up the computer and walked back to our dinghy noticing the waves were starting to build. But it wasn’t too bad yet. I got a little wet coming back to the boat but no big deal.

I changed clothes and decided I would not do laundry today because of the wind. It blew from 10:00am until 5:00pm, 20-30 knots. Pretty much everyone stayed on their boats and napped and read or did inside projects.

I checked email this afternoon and found an email from the nurse saying that the medicine had been sent and it will get to the address by Friday or Saturday. So that was really good news. FINALLY!!!

I read my book and took a couple of naps. I had a headache and I wanted to get rid of it. When I got up from my nap, I fixed Dave and I some lunch and then I read some more. Dave played his submarine game then ended up taking a nap. I laid down again around 3:00pm for a little while.

Dave did the net tonight and afterwards we ate dinner. It is getting dark sooner now. Bummer. It is still warm though but rather pleasant outside. I did the dishes and then siphoned the water from the air conditioner tray and then went outside to sit and enjoy the lights of B of LA.

We are running the generator to cool the boat down and then Dave will probably go outside to sit in the cockpit and I will read. I am halfway through the book. So that was my day in a nutshell. Not a bad day at all. Now I can relax.

Thursday, September 24.
It actually got a little chilly last night to where we had to put the sheet over us. The days are cooler and the nights are too.

There was a slight breeze this morning from the south. The wind is supposed to blow again from the north but less than yesterday. We weren’t planning a trip to town so we didn’t care about the wind. I washed my sheets and some articles of clothing and hung them out to dry. I washed dishes and then siphoned the water out of the air conditioner tray. I went out and checked on laundry since things dry fast when the humidity is down and one of my sheets was dry so I brought it in and folded it. The other one wasn’t dry yet but I had to bring it to the cockpit and drape it over the pedestal to finish drying it because I had to put the awning up. After the awning was up I went into the cockpit with my book and started to read. The wind started to pick up so I kept an eye on the awning. Usually if we get anything over 18 knots I take it down because it stretches the bungee cords too much. The wind indicator said 19 knots of wind so I went out and started to take the awning down. It was up for at least a couple hours. I told Dave I would need help as the awning was flapping wildly in the breeze. We got it rolled up and put away and I checked the other clothes but they weren’t quite dry yet. I went below and fixed Dave and I some lunch and I went back to the cockpit and read my book. Dave tried to get on the internet with a small amount of success but it didn’t last long. So then he played his submarine game.

It wasn’t long before the clothes were dry and I could bring them in. So when I gathered them and put them in the cockpit, I folded them and then took them down below and put them away. I wanted to go to the beach and look for shells but the wind was still blowing quite a bit making a few white caps and we would have gotten a little wet on the way and the return trip. So I figure maybe tomorrow because it isn’t supposed to be really windy then.

I helped Dave pour diesel into the fuel tank from 3 of the 4 jerry cans and that brought the tank tender up to ¾ of a tank. Dave wasn’t sure if he wanted to add the last can as he was afraid it wouldn’t all go into the tank. But later this afternoon he decided he wants to pour the diesel from the last can into the tank tomorrow morning before we go into the village.

There is a guy who lives here and his call sign is Native Son and he announced yesterday that he would be at Guillermo’s at 9:00am Friday to take who ever wanted to get fuel and groceries. He has a truck and he had offered his services last week for a bunch of us cruisers. We didn’t need his service last week but we do this week. So we will be there at Guillermo’s in the morning. There were some guys that had gone into the village today to get fuel since they had reserved the truck from Ava that works at Guillermo’s. I suspect a lot of the gals will be going in tomorrow to get fresh vegetables and fruit. So I will have lots of company.

I also heard from Native Son that Mary will be leaving California on Monday and will be down here on Tuesday with my medication and parts for some of the other cruisers. That was great news!!! Now we will be able to leave the anchorage probably on Wednesday. It will be nice to meet Mary as she helped me out a lot.

Well we are doing our nightly routine of running the generator and air conditioner. Not much else going on. It will be a cool evening again tonight for sleeping.

Friday, September 25.
The bird life around here is interesting. When I am sitting in the cockpit getting some fresh air and cooling off watching the pelicans, seagulls, and boobies get fish. When a pelican dives into the water he opens his beak and his gullet fills with water and fish and once he has landed he wiggles his tail like a dog just getting out of the water. The seagulls and boobies are right there to see if they can get the fish from the pelican. The pelican sits in the water with his head down and beak in the water while the seagulls and boobies try to get the pelican to release his beak so they can have some fish. Sometimes the boobies get lucky and get one but most of the time it is a waiting game between the pelican and the others. The pelican out waits the other birds and when they fly away he then lifts his head and beak out of the water and swallows his meal. It is quite interesting to watch to say the least. Nature is quite interesting and you can learn a lot just by observing. It’s awesome.

Before we left the boat for shore I hung the awning. There isn’t supposed to be much wind today at all. Dave poured the last jerry can into the fuel tank so now we have 4 jerry cans to fill. We put the empty cans in the dinghy along with the garbage. I had my back pack on my back for groceries and away we went. We met Alan and Barbara at Guillermo’s and they took a bunch of us cruisers through town to the different mercado’s and we discovered a new one. The chef at Costa Del Sol has a store just behind the co-op so now we have another source for fresh vegetables. He has only been open for a year so not many cruisers know where he is. I bought some things there and then we went to the co-op and I bought some other items there. Then we went to the gas station to fill those who had gas jerry cans. Then we went to another Pemco station and got diesel. Then we came back into town and stopped at another Mercado and then last stop was at the yellow store for things we couldn’t get at the other places. So it was a pretty expensive but productive day. It was really nice of Alan and his wife to cart all of us around town. They live here and moor their boat in Santa Rosalia. Once we were all done with making the rounds in town, Alan and Barbara dropped us off at Guillermo’s and most of us stopped and had lunch. It took a long time to get lunch and then afterwards we carted all the fuel and groceries to our dinghy and came back to the boat. When we got on the boat and off loaded the fuel and groceries, we covered the jerry cans and secured them to the stern of the boat and then I took the groceries down below and started putting them away. We got fresh apples, nectarines, plums, and a cantaloupe. Nummy!!

When all the groceries were taken care of Dave went on the internet and I was able to check my group health site to see if I got an appointment with the doctor when I get home. Unfortunately they don’t make appointments into November yet. So I will have to wait and do it just before I leave La Paz. Then Dave checked emails and played some solitaire and then moved to my computer to play his sub game. I went to the cockpit and read my book. I am almost finished with it.

We are going into the village tonight for dinner. Anyone of the cruisers that want to join us came along. We are going to Costa Del Sol.

I haven’t finished my book yet but will probably before I go to bed tonight. A little after 5:00pm I took the awning down and put it away and then at 5:30pm I took a shower and got dressed for dinner. At 5:55pm we listened to the net and checked in then got in the dinghy and went to shore. We tied up to the dock and walked to Costa Del Sol. There were already some of the cruisers there so we sat down and ordered a margarita and visited. More people arrived until we had 12 all together. We had a lovely dinner and were able to talk to cruisers we hadn’t talked with for a while. After dinner we paid our bill and then walked back to our dinghies and came back to our boats.

We decided we are leaving Bahia de Los Angeles and going to La Gringa for a couple days and then come back to get my medicine. We need a change of scenery. So sometime tomorrow morning we will pull the hook and leave. It only takes an hour to get there so there isn’t any real rush. We liked it there as there was always a nice breeze and it was cooler.

We had a great day!! We are cooling down the boat as it is warm and humid. Last night I ended up putting a lightweight blanket on my feet to keep them warm. Fall is coming to Bahia de Los Angeles.

Saturday, September 26. Bahia de Los Angeles to La Gringa.
Dave pumped up the floor and sides of the dinghy as it was getting a little soft. When that was done and we got things put away we fired up the engine and off we go. We left Bahia de Los Angeles around 9:00am. We went around the point and headed for La Gringa. Dave got his fishing pole out and was fishing off the port side of the boat. It is a beautiful morning with a soft breeze blowing. We were more than half way to La Gringa when Dave hooked a small dorado. He was cute, just a baby but big enough for us to have dinner tonight.

Once we got closer to La Gringa Dave put his fishing rod away and we got ready to pick out our anchorage spot. Once we decided where we wanted to go we dropped the hook and settled.

We had some cantaloupe for breakfast and then settled in on doing what we needed to do. Dave took the windless apart and cleaned it up getting the salt and corrosion off it. It looks brand new now. I washed clothes and hung them while he was doing that. Then I hung the awning after he was finished. I finished the Clive Cussler book, Shock Wave, then started a Stephanie Plum book by Janet Evanovich. That should be a short read. I then will read the other Janet Evanovich book titled Fearless Fourteen. Then I will be able to put them in the book exchange on October 4th for our second full moon party in La Mona. There is an estuary there that the tide comes and goes fast which will be fun to ride in and out on my floatie.

The wind came up this afternoon and I kept an eye on it but it wasn’t going over 18 knots so I decided it would be o.k. so I went below and laid down to take a nap. The wind was gusting and pretty soon it was getting a little more than I was comfortable with leaving the awning up so Dave and I took it down. Then I came back down below and took a nap and Dave went back to playing his submarine game. It really is a tough life you know!!

It stayed windy all afternoon and actually didn’t die down until about 7:30pm or so. We ended up cooking the dorado on the stove. After dinner we enjoyed our wine in the cockpit and I did dishes and then Dave started the generator. Since the water is cooler now, the refrigerator and freezer don’t have to be defrosted as much and they are running well.

Dave wanted to go fishing this afternoon but because the wind was blowing too much he wouldn’t be able to catch anything. So maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am hoping to walk on the beach at low tide and go around the point to see if I can find any interesting shells and rocks. The beach is gravel but there have been a lot of shells washed up so I might get lucky, ya never know. Well here is to a beautiful evening. There is a half moon tonight and the stars are out but hard to see a lot of them because of the brightness of the moon.

We are running the generator and air conditioner right now and I will probably read after I finish this. It’s been a great day.

Sunday, September 27. La Gringa.
This morning we woke to a sunny sky. There wasn’t any breeze and I thought it was going to be a hot day. Dave was up just a little before 7:00am and he listened to the net as I stayed in bed. I wasn’t ready to get up yet. Dave heated the water for coffee and made it and then around 7:50am I got up. I took my coffee and joined Dave in the cockpit. It was a pretty morning. A family drove to the beach across from us and unloaded a couple of kids and set up like a day camp. Then they hit the water. It was fun to listen to the kids laugh and one of them liked to scream. That wasn’t so pleasant but the family was having a great time. Dave went out in the dinghy to try and catch fish and I stayed behind and put up the awning and read my book. When Dave returned he had a barracuda that had swallowed his hook and he had to get his leatherman to work the hook out of his mouth. He had to hold onto the line with one hand while he tried to pry the hook lose by going behind the gills. He got it loose and then dumped the fish overboard. I guess you can eat them but we weren’t sure so we didn’t want to keep it. They are really slimy on the outside and have very sharp teeth. After he got his hook back he went out again to see if he could catch something else. Meanwhile I washed out clothes and hung them to dry and washed dishes and then sat in the cockpit reading. Dave had no luck keeping any fish. He did have a fish break his line and he lost the spinner that his Dad made. That was a shame. Oh well. Dave said it was the first time anything bit on that lure. He tied the dinghy to the boat and put his stuff away. We had breakfast and then I went back to reading my book.

Around 12:30pm the tide was going out so Dave said he would take me to shore so I could scan the beach for shells and anything interesting. So I packed some water and some trail mix and got a bag to put shells in and off we went. He dropped me at shore and took off. I had the handheld radio with me so I could call him when I was ready to have him pick me up. He went back to the boat and took the awning down as the wind was blowing pretty well. I walked the shore and found lots of treasures. I got some shells and starfish. I got two different types of starfish. One was the 4 legged kind and the other was like a daisy with lots of legs. Then I got some small ones that had 3 or 4 legs. I had been gone for about 2 ½ hours because when I got to the boat it was 3:00pm. I had fun. I called Dave and he picked me up and then we went back to the boat. He said he didn’t do anything while I was gone. He played his sub game and whatever else he wanted to do.

I got the left over yarn from the baby afghan I made and am now crocheting a scarf for someone as a gift for Christmas. Then I started the other Janet Evanovich book. I should be done with that in a couple days.

Dave went out fishing again around 5:00pm. He had company. There were a couple other boats here at anchor took their dinghies out to see if they could catch something. Dave did catch a big sierra but ended up giving it to Peter and Marni as they hadn’t caught anything and our freezer is full. So that made them happy.

When he got back from fishing I made him a gin and tonic and then I fixed dinner. We had chicken salad sandwiches with bean with bacon soup. It actually tasted really good. A change from fish. After dinner we fired up the generator to charge the batteries and cool the boat. Not much else going on. I still have dishes to wash but I will do that later. I have to defrost the refrigerator and freezer tomorrow and then I want to walk the other side of the beach from where I was today. We might get some clams too. Don’t know though. Tomorrow we will decide.

Monday, September 28.
Dave and I didn’t sleep very well last night. I think it was due to it being humid and the fan made a lot of noise. The batteries are slowly dying and then there will be no more fan. The wind is usually blowing during the day but stops at night and that is when we need at least some breeze to keep us cool. Oh well.

Dave went fishing this morning and left me in bed. I wasn’t ready to get up yet. He got up at his normal 6:50am time and listened to the net weather and checked in and then he went fishing. He said he wasn’t going to be long as we had lots to do today. We have to make water and defrost the refrigerator and freezer and clean the filters for the engine and the generator.

I figured I would get up and get busy with the tasks for today. So I poured my coffee and started going through my mind what I had to do to get the generator and water maker up and running. Dave does it most of the time but I like to do it to keep it fresh in my mind. I put the clean dishes away first then turned on the generator and loaded it up then turned on the water maker. So that was done. Then I turned the refrigerator off and defrosted it. When that was done I put it back together and turned it back on and then turned the freezer off and unloaded it. With that done all there was to do now was keep an eye on it.

Dave came back with no fish. He said the only thing that was out there were barracuda. No thanks. We had some breakfast and I continued to keep an eye on the water maker and freezer situation. I did goof though. I thought I was filling the port water tanks and it turned out I was filling the starboard. We needed to do that but we want to keep running off the port tanks right now so Dave switched the knob so we would start filling the aft water tank.

Meanwhile, I washed out the few items that needed cleaning and hung them to dry then I put the awning up. Dave was relaxing playing his sub game after he checked the tides. We don’t know if we are getting clams tonight or not. I took some sierra out of the freezer to have for dinner so if we get clams that will be an appetizer.

I cleaned the forward sump pump and then siphoned the water out of the aft air conditioning tray. I think my chores are done now. I think I will go to the beach after lunch to look for more interesting goodies. Tomorrow we are going back to the B of L.A. to meet Mary and get my medicine. We will probably go into town and get some more supplies. We want to get to a couple of anchorages before we have to leave so we aren’t sure we will attend the second full moon party. We figure with everyone at the party the northern anchorages will be empty and we might get one to ourselves. One could only hope. Don’t know what we will do right now. No worries. We will figure it out when it gets closer to the time. That would be next Sunday. I also want to say so long to Herman too before we leave.

Dave and I ate lunch and then he took me to shore so I could look for shells. I wanted to go to the other side of the estuary to look because I hadn’t been there before but the tide was still going out and there wasn’t anywhere to cross that was on dry land. So I decided I would walk down the beach to the other end where I hadn’t been on this side of the estuary. I found some really neat looking shells. I am collecting the ones that have been broken but you can see the spiral inside. I will use those for a project I will be working on in the near future. I had my bottled water with me and my hat on and I walked and walked. It was a little warm but every once in a while a breeze would come up and cool me off. I found a few pelican remains on the beach. I think that might be one of the coyote staples. Once I walked as far as I wanted, I turned around and started heading back to the estuary. I called him on the VHF and told him I was going to walk to the estuary to check have a closer look but from where I was it looked as though it was perfect for clamming. So I asked him if he wanted to go and he said sure. As I walked to the head of the estuary Dave was gathering our boots, gloves and a canvas bag for the clams. About 10 minutes later I was helping him bring the dinghy up on shore. We walked to the estuary and walked in to ankle deep water. It was really neat. With the water running out of the estuary over rocks and pebbles I remembered when I was a kid and would love playing in creeks. All we had to do was find a spot and claw down just a little bit to get small clams. We got quite a few. I never got a chance to experience digging clams before so this was really fun and cool. Dave had never dug clams like this either so we both had a new experience. When we figured we had enough we walked back to the dinghy and pushed it into the water and took off. Once back on the boat we rinsed the gloves, clams, boots and us off with fresh water and then I took the clams down below and put them in a pan filled with water and let them sit. Later on I chopped some celery and garlic and added onion to add to the water as the clams boiled.

We listened to the net and I started the clams cooking. We are having sierra, clams, salad, and pasta for dinner. One of the cruisers came over to the boat while I was fixing dinner and dropped off some freshly made sour dough bread. That was a nice welcome to the dinner. It was so warm down below because of all the cooking, we ate in the cockpit. We ate all the clams and everything else and are stuffed. I’m saving the broth to make clam linguine. After dinner we went be below to wash dishes and start the generator to cool the boat down and charge batteries.

I worked on the blog, played a little solitaire and finally read my book before going to bed. Dave played solitaire on his computer and then his sub game. We had some rollers coming in the bay and we couldn’t figure out where they were coming from. It wasn’t windy, but somewhere there must have been wind to still up the swells that came in. It settled down after a while. Tomorrow we are going back to Bahia de Los Angeles and hopefully meet with Mary and get my medication.

Tuesday, September 29. La Gringa to Bahia de Los Angeles.
The wind is suppose to blow from the north today about 20-25 knots so we want to leave here and be in B of LA before it gets too hard to anchor. We took the motor off the dinghy and laid it on the floor and then crisscrossed the lines for towing it. We got everything ready and fired up the engine. Then we pulled anchor and off we went. It was after 9:00am. Dave sat holding his fishing rod while we trolled for a dorado. They were out there because Dave could see them. It is a beautiful morning and warm. There is a little breeze blowing which felt good. Peter and Marni were behind us fishing and they caught a big dorado. Yeah!!! They finally caught one!!!! It was about 43 inches. That is a good size. We were happy for them. We didn’t catch anything. Dave got some nibbles but nothing solid. We got into the bay and found a spot to anchor close to town so we could pick up internet. The wind never did pick up from the north like they said it was. We had a breeze from the east all day. It was hot and muggy today and I couldn’t stop sweating. Yuck!! We found out from Marni that Peter wasn’t feeling good but he managed to get the fish in and secure it and also get the anchor down, but when he walked back to the cockpit he was white as a sheet and temporarily passed out. It’s a good thing Marni helped him into the cockpit before he passed out otherwise he could have fallen overboard. He was throwing up and had diarrhea and Marni was so concerned about him. She called another cruiser who is a nurse and she was able to guide Marni as to what to do. Marni didn’t have any 7UP on board or saltine crackers so Dave and I went into shore to get those items and then dropped them off at their boat. Peter at that time was sleeping and so that was a good thing. They had clams last night for dinner but there must have been a bad one in the lot. Peter started not feeling well at 5:00am. Marni had some immodium on board so she gave him one pill and then waited to see how he was later on. We checked with her later and he was feeling better and was able to eat some crackers and sip on some sprite as there was no 7UP. So we were glad to hear he was on the mend. What a bummer. Marni got to enjoy the dorado for dinner but Peter had to have plain rice. Tomorrow he will enjoy his dorado.

The dinghy motor prop was acting like it was spun when we were going to take the goodies to Marni for Peter. So when we got to Marni’s boat Dave looked at the prop and said it looked o.k. So when we started going back to our boat he opened it up to almost full throttle and the prop was not spinning. So he slowed down and it worked fine as long as we didn’t go fast. So now Dave had another project to see about fixing. When we got to the boat he took the engine off and laid it in the dinghy while he took the prop off and inspected it. Sure enough his fear was confirmed. So now we need a new prop. When we get to La Paz we will have this one repaired and buy a new one. In the meantime Dave has to fix it so we can use the dinghy for the next couple of weeks. Then we won’t have to worry about it since we will be heading back to La Paz and won’t need the dinghy to take us to shore and all that. So he will put it all back together tomorrow and I think as long as we go slow we should be able to get where we need to go. So that was a bummer.

The other bummer was we were told that Mary, Baja Gal, who is bringing my medication down with her is still in San Diego and waiting for her sister to arrive. I guess this was a last minute thing so when her sister gets to San Diego, they will come to Mexico. That means I will probably not get my meds until Sunday. I sure hope nothing more happens to delay her because I will be out of my medication soon. Well like I have said before—there is never a dull moment!!!

I read my book for a while this afternoon and then I took a nap. We were getting some rollers coming into the bay so we were rocking and rolling a little. Dave was still working with the dinghy engine. When I got up from my nap, I went outside to get some breeze as it was hot down below. I read some more of my book. Then it was time for a cocktail and Dave and I sat in the cockpit for a while. Then it was net time so we listened and then I fixed dinner. We had the yellow tail Dave caught yesterday with the leftover pasta and a green salad. The yellow tail was really good.

After dinner we started the generator so we could cool the boat down as it was really hot and muggy. It’s going to be one of those nights. The rollers were coming into the bay and tossing us around. We decided that if it is rocky and rolly tomorrow we will move to the other side of the bay where it is calmer. I had to gimble the stove to cook on it tonight. That is how bad it was. Not pleasant. Well we are enjoying a glass of wine and it is so humid outside it is uncomfortable and wet. So we are just veggie down below. Well we will see what tomorrow brings.

Wednesday, September 30. Bahia de Los Angeles.
Can you believe another month has flown by? Wow!!! Summer is over and now we are into autumn.

Last night the humidity was up so far it was like it was raining. We had our hatches open above our bed and we got dripped on. Everything was just soaked before 8:00pm. You know the humidity is going to be high as you can see it coming and then it hangs like a haze over everything. It looks like a fog bank from the distance.

We are seeing some clouds to the south of us forming due to the depression that is off the Baja Pacific coast. It has rained in La Paz and Santa Rosalia and I don’t know if it will reach us, but we could use some rain. We had a nice breeze all day today and it was cooler today than yesterday thank heavens.

Dave spent the day trying to find the right screws from the cruisers here to make his prop work. He had lots of help from a lot of the guys which was nice and he did manage to get the right size screws. It wasn’t an easy task but he finished and tomorrow we will try it out to see if the prop spins like it is suppose to. We will have to go slow but at least it will get us to shore and back. When we leave Bahia de Los Angeles to head south the dinghy will be folded and on the deck for the trip to La Paz and eventually to Mazatlan. So we don’t have that much longer to use it. There is a full moon party on Sunday the 4th, and some people will have already started heading south but the majority of the people will be out of here anywhere from the 11th to the 15th of October. We are heading out on the 11th as we want to be able to have time to duck in somewhere if the weather is bad. We just need to be in La Paz by the last week of October. It will still be hurricane season but wrapping up so we just have to be aware of what the weather is doing down south.

I finished reading the last Janet Evanovich book I had yesterday and now I am reading another Clive Cussler book titled The Navigator. I would like to finish it so I can turn it in with the other books I have at the book exchange on Sunday. But I don’t know. I finished the scarf I was crocheting and it turned out nice. All I need to do is add fringe. I want to make some draw string purses too. I don’t make jewelry like the other cruisers but I like to crochet and being where it is warm allows my fingers to stay pain free. Yeah!!!

Update on Dave’s rash. It is for the most part gone, however, when it gets hot and humid at night and he is trying to sleep he starts to itch so he gets up and puts talcum powder on the areas and then it is alright.

I did my usual chores today like the washing of clothes. I was going to clean the head but I think that will be a tomorrow morning job. I put it off as long as I can and then it just has to be done. I helped Dave with the prop when he needed it otherwise I was in the cockpit reading and at one point tried to take a nap. I never did get to sleep but at least I was resting. Dave rested too with his leg up to help the swelling go down on his leg and foot. That is doing better now too since the weather is cooler.

It’s hard to believe we will be heading south in a couple weeks. We have really enjoyed this area and there are still a lot of places left to explore but if we come back next year we will be able to do that.

I can’t say this has been a great summer for us, but after things settled down on the boat, we were able to relax a little and Dave got to do quite a bit of fishing so it wasn’t all that bad. We at least know what it is like here and it does get really hot sometimes. We have learned that forecasting the weather here is very difficult and way different than back home. Our weather class was invaluable though and I am really glad I took the class as we were able to figure some things out along with weather maps and reports.

Well goodbye to September and hello to October. Oh yeah!! We finally found out what our new grandsons name is going to be. David Jonathan Jones. That is so neat!!!! Will the world be able to handle another David Jones? You betcha!!!! It brought a tear to Dave’s eye when he found that out his grandson will have the same name. Awesome.

Well it won’t be long before we get to meet the little guy. We are really looking forward to that. I have to find all kinds of sailing stuff for him. Teehee!!