Ruby Slippers

We have been in Cabo for a few days now. We just had the awards ceremony for the race. Ruby Slippers won 1st place in the “Jalapeno” division, thank you very much! A lot of boats motored at some point in the race, just because it is a pretty low-key race and sometimes the wind was light, but we didn’t motor at all - only sailed, which gave us a lot of extra points, I guess.

Cabo San Lucas is a lot like Las Vegas - with people speaking like Cheech and Chong. There is loud music, lots of bars, people pushing necklaces and whistles in your face to see if you want to make a deal… It will be nice to get to a more peaceful place. On the other hand, there are a thousand restaurants, warm water, pools and laundry, and a “fifties” diner with American hamburgers and milkshakes. So, I guess I won’t complain.

We had the best crew members with us from San Diego to here. Dan is from Kirkland, and has sailed all his life. He was so helpful and fun. He played games with the girls tirelessly, and mostly let them win. Chris is from Maryland - he is a rep from the Jeanneau America office, so he knows a lot about our boat and how it is built and put together. He is funny and a great cook. We all had a lot of fun together, and caught some fish - dorado, tuna, sea bass, and a rubber-lipped something. Molly and Jessie enjoyed dissecting the eyeballs on one of the fish (I don’t know why, either). They are constantly looking up fish, birds and stars in their various reference books, and are learning a lot. It’s a good thing, since I have discovered that I am not a very consistent school teacher. We have had school about 7 times since we left Anacortes one month ago. Ahhh, confession is good for my soul. I promise I will do better, Mr. Principal of Haller Middle School… When we do have school, we all enjoy it, and it goes very well. It’s just that there are so many things to do: swim, cook, read, catch fish, win races, play checkers - busy, busy busy.

We are leaving for LaPaz tomorrow. It is up north in the Sea of Cortez, on the east side of the Baja Peninsula. It is supposed to be a true Mexican town - not so touristy. It is the Capital city of Baja, and sounds very peaceful. It might be a little cold this time of year for diving, but I think we will try. Since Molly and Jessie have been certified for scuba diving, they are itching to explore the under-world. Maybe they will find a “school” down there that will be more consistent in their teaching.

Even though I dislike entering new anchorages at night, the ones we have conquered have been beautiful at night. San Francisco looked like a string of pearls, worthy of Barbara Bush’s neck, while the lights of Cabo were from houses built into the rocks, and looked like a palace stairway. The anchorages of Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria were very dark, but the anchor lights from all the boats in there lit the bay like a city. The last couple of nights of sailing, we had a bright orange full moon to help us find our way. There was no need for radar, because we could see across the flat ocean for miles and miles. I actually felt lucky to have the 8 to 10 PM watch, for the sunset, and the 4 to 6AM watch for the sunrise. The rest of the day, however, I was not quite as chipper as I sound right now.

Jessie has posted some notes (see below) from a while back when we were still in California. I think she posted some new pictures, too, so check the media gallery. Molly is working on her update, so keep checking! We miss you all and hope to see some of you in these warm, peaceful lower latitudes… Jeanna

I’m so confused about the date. There’s nothing to remind me - no payroll, taxes, house payment, school projects, or even weekends or church. We are usually up by about 7:00, and in bed about 8. The sun sets about 5, so we have dinner, go for a walk, maybe play a game, and we’re ready for bed. I’ve never had this much sleep in my life! Life in a marina is so much different than when you are making a crossing. There, you never get to sleep, because you are on watch, or the boat is lurching, pitching, yawing, thumping, creaking, and rolling.

We have been boat cleaning the past couple of days. i cleaned the heads (yum) and the galley. Even after only one month, everything was a little grimy and salty. I took all the silverware and dishes out and rewashed everything, cleaned out the fridge, washed all the walls and floors, and re-oiled. Yesterday, we did the laundry, and packed away a bunch of things we aren’t going to use for a while (turtlenecks, wool socks, Levi’s, books we have read). Molly, Jessie and Jim cleaned all the chrome on the outside of the boat and gave it a coat of wax. Jim sprayed all the stainless parts to get rid of rust and salt corrosion. There is still much to do, but one can only do a little when it is so hot. I can understand the slower pace of life near the equator.

The lion-colored hills on the west side of Baja turned to lush green as we went north up the Sea of Cortez. The water is an emerald green, and very warm. We stopped at a beautiful anchorage on the way here - Isla de Muerta (Cove of Death). There was a clean, well-designed restaurant/yacht club there that re-named the cove the Bay of Dreams - I’m sure some marketing genius came up with that idea. It is a much more appropriate name, though - this cove was quiet and protected and had some great snorkeling and fishing spots. We might need to re-visit it on the way back. I think we will be here in La Paz through Thanksgiving, then head across the Sea of Cortez to Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, where we stay through Christmas. At least, that is the plan today. Manana - who knows?

I think Montezuma’s Revenge is kind of like sea sickness. It comes on strong for a few days, then slowly subsides, then you are able to eat almost anything. The girls on the boat have all had a bit of trouble, while iron-stomach Jim has been sampling all that Mexico has to offer. We are feeling better today, but have been very careful not to drink anything with ice, or eat salads or raw vegetables that may have been washed with tap water. Even the bottled water we got in Cabo San Lucas did a number on me. I never promised to be a great traveler, but I’m here, aren’t I?

We are receiving e-mails just fine, but cannot send any out for some reason. So, if you think we are ignoring you, please be patient. I’m sure it’s just a little glitch somewhere. Some of my latest favorite photos are in the media gallery. Happy Thnanksgiving to all of our family and friends - we miss you!

There were over 200 cruisers gathered in a spot about as big as our living room at home, with plate in hand, standing in line for a potluck meal. It was about 90 degrees, and there were chairs for about 160 people. Someone had donated about 15 turkeys, and the rest of us all brought side dishes. There was plenty of food – you just couldn’t visit with anyone. Thankfully, there were plenty of desserts, many of them chocolate!

We found a great church on Sunday – it is part of a bed and breakfast in downtown La Paz. It is English-speaking, and we knew all the songs. The church is very community-minded, and helps the locals a lot. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, they go to the poorest section of town and feed breakfast to about 70 children under the age of twelve. Molly, Jessie and I are going to go help on Friday of this week. After church last Sunday, we were fed delicious turkey soup, then the girls went swimming and jumped on the trampoline at the bed and breakfast behind the church. They met a bunch of new friends, then we walked back to the marina, about 2 miles. It was a great day!

Right now, we are anchored in a little bay near La Paz. Jim’s brother, Roy is anchored here on the Lady J, a 185-foot pleasure yacht that Roy is captaining for a few months. It’s been nice being around family. The Lady J employs a full time crew, including a French chef and a couple stewards, along with an engineer. Last night, we dinghied over to the yacht and had a terrific dinner for just Roy and our family. There was so much food, all of it cooked to perfection. I took a long hot shower on the boat, then we motored back to our little home. It was a nice break from our little icebox full of food, and military showers. I’m not complaining, honest, but sometimes this is like living in a really expensive RV. There are always power, water, fuel, holding tank and propane issues. There is a delicate balance between all of these – if you want really clean dishes, you have to use a lot of hot water. If you want hot water, you have to use battery power or engine power. If you use too much water, you have to go out into the ocean and make some more, which uses fuel. But, since it is 25 degrees and snowing back home, I’m going to stop whining right now.

We all went snorkeling a few days ago at a little cove about 2 hours from the marina, on some islands called Espiritu Santos. There are hundreds of anchorages and dive spots on these islands. People have swum with whale sharks and sea lions around here. We found a spot where there were 40 or 50 different species of fish. We saw a long eel, a couple of trumpet fish, tons of colorful angel fish and some big parrot fish. Jim and I dragged the girls behind the dinghy, with their snorkels on, going about 2 knots. It was cute to see their little butts out of the water, and hear them squealing underwater because of some amazing bit of life that they were seeing. Last night, they went snorkeling right around the boat, and saw about 20 small manta rays. Jessie almost touched one, but couldn’t quite get close enough. Today, Molly said she pet a puffer fish, right on his nose.

I hear the water gets about ten degrees colder here over the next month or so. Time to head south! We will be in Puerto Vallarta by December 20^th, where we will get to spend Christmas with my sister Jami and her family. I can’t wait! I wish my whole family could be there.

School is going pretty well. I am learning a lot in math. I must have been absent much of 7^th grade, because I sure don’t remember all this stuff about variables and associative properties and stuff. Molly and Jessie’s assignment today is to write a poem about family. They are not very excited about it, but that’s okay. They need to do a pre-write, a rough draft, and a final draft. They are also memorizing Phillipians 2:3-4, which is a really good verse about how to treat others. It’s something we all need to be reminded about in the tiny space we are occupying together…

Jessie said she will be posting some new pictures on the site soon. Maybe tomorrow, when we get back to civilization. Thanks for checking the site!

They are so personal, and boaters work so hard to find a way to identify themselves through the one or two words they put on the side of their boat. I like the name Page One – the owners are avid readers, and love the feeling of adventure they get when they open up a new book and start to read. No Regrets were the last words the boat owner heard from the parched lips of his dying father. I like the nod given to our Latin American neighbors through the names Perfecto, Mucho Gusto, and Adios Pantalones. We saw a nice looking fishing boat named Fortuna – is it named for the Latin word for fortune, or does it really mean FOR TUNA? Anticipation needs to meet with Relief; Freezing Rain needs to hook up with Overheated. Perhaps Bad Kitty might have something in common with Nasty Habit. We have had total strangers call us on the radio to tell us they really like the name of our boat. We haven’t seen another one named Ruby Slippers. We’ve named our dinghy Toto.

Every morning at 8:00 there is a cruiser’s net on the VHF radio. There is a moderator, who announces the different topics of the half-hour program: weather, sightings (cleverly called Bay Watch), comings and goings, swaps and trades, etc. The cruisers will come in when they are interested in a particular topic and give information or announce upcoming events, etc. Cruisers seem to live for this net; it is their lifeline to other people who are doing what they are doing. I get the sneaking suspicion that a lot of these people landed in La Paz, or wherever, and haven’t left in 5 or 6 years. Their only connection to the world of sailing is their morning dose of the net. When someone does something particularly noteworthy, or has a birthday, the moderator will say, “Let’s give some clicks to so-and-so for his good deed.” Everyone listening will click their hand microphones for a minute or so in applause for the amazing feat that was reported. Kind of silly, huh?

We had a nice few days in the islands off of La Paz – there are several good anchorages and some great snorkel spots. We went with two other boats that we have become good friends with – there are 8 kids between the ages of 9 and 15. We anchored close to each other, and had dinner together every night – mostly on our boat. It’s amazing that we can comfortably feed 14 people on this boat. Molly and Jessie are learning about “compressed” friendships – you meet someone, become fast, close friends, play hard, then you have to leave them after a couple of weeks, with promises to stay in touch forever. It was difficult for them to leave the gang from Pythagoras and Hakuna Matata. We hope to see them again on some semi-deserted island in the South Pacific.

The control box went kaput on our auto pilot, so we spent 60 hours crossing the Sea of Cortez steering by hand. I felt like Joshua Slocum, or maybe Columbus. It was kind of fun to steer by the stars. I would position the handle of the big dipper right in the middle of the V made from the flagpole and the backstay, and that kept a perfect course through my watches. Jim caught a 4-foot Dorado and Molly and Jessie pulled in a Sierra Mackerel. Jim also caught about a one-hundred pound striped Marlin on a regular fishing pole, but that fish jumped up in the air, looked at our little boat and flimsy pole, shook his head and flipped the hook right out of his mouth. He was not going to put up with the likes of us.

We are in warm, sunny Puerto Vallarta. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of my sister Jami and her family, who will be here through December 26. I’m equally excited to spend a little time in the condo they have rented, that I’m sure has large amounts of hot water, a big fridge, a pool, and a washer and dryer! We plan to go for a couple of day sails to some nearby islands for some Christmas snorkeling.

There is a huge, very fancy hotel here, with a Mayan/jungle theme. They have a small zoo right out front, with two very large tigers, some monkeys and birds. We were very sad about the tigers; although their small cages were clean, they looked very sad and bored. We asked the harbormaster at the marina about them and he said, “Tigers won’t mate if they are unhappy, and there have been 36 tigers born in captivity here at this hotel.” We felt a lot better about the whole situation.

We are still having challenges with our e-mail. I have discovered that a whole bunch of e-mails that I thought I had sent did not actually go. So, if you have e-mailed and feel ignored, please know that we are working on the problem.

Some new pictures in the Media Gallery -Merry Christmas to all of you! I’m sorry about the terrible weather in the northwest, and promise to take a dip in the 90 degree water here in your honor…

We are having loads of fun in La Paz! We found our friends from Pythagoras, Darby and Daniel (they are 10 and 11, if I didn’t already tell you that), again, and we met four other kids from the sailboat Hakuna Matata: John (15), Alan (13), Louise (10), and Robin (9). For most of our stay here, we have been swimming at the hotel pool with all of our friends, but we have gone out for a day sail to go snorkeling by Isla Espiritu Santo, where we saw weird spiny sea stars, big schools of little needlefish, and a huge green moray eel! We also went to Puerto Pichilingue for a few days to see our Uncle Roy, who is the skipper of the Lady J, a 185 foot motor yacht. When we came into the bay, we had seen little manta rays that were only about a foot wide swimming at the surface. Coming back from snorkeling near the shore, we found them gliding around beside the Lady J, and Jessie and I splashed out of the dinghy to swim with them. We tried to follow the rays around, but they were too fast for us, so we stayed in one place and waited for them to come near. The baby manta rays were really fun to watch, because they swam around by flapping their wings through the water. Uncle Roy had been watching from the Lady J, and he said that, when we were following the rays, they had come around behind us and swam about 6 feet away from us, turning when we did so that they kept out of sight. I guess they were curious, too!

We stayed in La Paz for about two and a half weeks, occasionally inviting the occupants of Hakuna Matata and Pythagoras over for dinner. Jessie and I spent every day with our friends, and there was a little church in town that we all went to on the Sundays that we were there. Pythagoras joined us when we went to feed the poor children of La Paz with the church, and we had a good time. We served the kids pancakes and hot cocoa, and Dawn, who is Danielle and Darby’s mom, talked to the kids in Spanish and video-taped them.

We had a great time in La Paz, but, all too soon, we decided that we had to leave. Before we left all of our friends, we went to the islands for a few days with Pythagoras and Hakuna Matata. First, we went to Puerto Ballena, the bay on Isla Espiritu Santo that we had visited before. There, we went snorkeling by a rock wall and saw hundreds of colorful fish. The coolest fish I saw there was an absolutely enormous puffer fish that was hiding in a crevice. He must have been at least three feet long, and his eyes were as big as a giraffe’s! Later, our anchorage started to get uncomfortable because of the high winds, so we decided to move on. We agreed that Caleta Partida looked like a good spot to anchor in, so all three boats made the short trip over.

We anchored in the middle of the bay, and Hakuna Matata and Pythagoras dropped anchor farther in. It seems like they chose a better spot than us, because we dragged anchor in the night. The next morning, we re-anchored over by them. After school, Jessie and I jumped off the boat and swam to Pythagoras. I had fun diving to the bottom and looking at all the puffer fish. While we were playing by the boat with our friends, someone called out that there was a sea lion! We all rushed over, and there was a young sea lion, streaking around near the bottom. It was really cool to watch, and we all started to dive down after it. When we swam down near it, it would come up to investigate us, twisting and spinning through the water. It came so close that you could almost touch it, and John actually did, once. Alan found out that it really liked to play around. If you came up to it and spun around or did a flip, it would copy you!! Soon after, the sea lion left, and we got out of the water and had lunch. We went to the beach and looked for shells, and Darby, Jessie, and I were all doing cartwheels and handstands. After that, we decided to look for the sea lion again, and found it! We swam around with it for a long time, and I found out about more of its games. It liked to swim all the way to the bottom and find a puffer fish, and then swim around it in tight circles until it swelled up like a balloon. Once, it tried this with a big Bullseye puffer, and that fish got really mad. It didn’t even swell up, and as the sea lion went by, the puffer tried to bite it! After watching this for a while, I decided to try it (but not with the Bullseye puffer). After finding a small puffer, I swam down to the bottom and came towards it. As I came closer, it puffed up and sped away, and it looked pretty funny. As I was coming up for air, I looked behind me, and there was the seal! It had been swimming right behind me, but it streaked away as soon as I saw it!

The next day, we headed to Ensenada Grande. We went snorkeling there, and we saw another moray eel that was even bigger than the last one!!! At first I thought it was a fish’s tail sticking out from under a small head of coral, but when I went down to take a closer look, I saw the huge eel’s head, with its mouth wide open! It freaked me out at first, but the eel was really cool.

The next day, we left the islands at about 6:00 in the morning and headed for Puerto Vallarta. We were in the ocean for three days, and we saw 8 turtles, just swimming along on the surface! We also caught a 49-inch Dorado, and while Dad was reeling it in, there was a group of dolphins swimming alongside the fish, looking like they were going to take a bite out of it. We got it on board okay, but the next day, we hooked into something gigantic! It fought for about 45 minutes, and it finally snapped the line. We got a look at it, though, because it still had the hook in its mouth, and it was leaping out of the water trying to shake it loose. The fish was a huge striped marlin! The funny thing was that, before we knew what type of fish it was, I said, “I bet it’s a marlin or something!”

We are now in Puerto Vallarta and we’ve found a slip. Our Aunt Jamie and Uncle Bill and our cousins are coming on the 20^th and staying for Christmas, and I’m really excited. There is a small zoo near the hotel, and we saw two tigers, parrots that say ‘hola’, and a cute baby monkey and its parents. We also got to pet a baby mountain lion! It was really soft, and it was only two weeks old!

We’ve been having a lot of fun, and I can hardly believe that there’s only about one week until Christmas. Feliz Navidad!