Until we chat again…

We’re home, or at least close enough to home to ‘call it’ so.  We’ve sailed from Maple Bay, BC to La Paz, Mexico; we’ve visited many, interesting towns and areas along the North American coast; we’ve come to know the coastal/harbour areas of La Paz fairly well; we’ve explored some of the many islands on the Baja side of the Sea of Cortez; we’ve met up with multitudes of marine mammals and birds along the way; we’ve met many interesting and amazing people – most doing exactly the same thing; and we’ve learned tons about ourselves… our strengths, our weaknesses, our challenges and our goals.  We’ve even had the opportunity to drive back from La Paz, paralleling our south-bound route and visiting some of the places we missed.  What a trip!  What an experience!  Sailing will never be quite the same and our horizons have definitely been expanded!  And, hopefully we have grown and developed personally as well.
Some of you will be new to reading this Blog.  If you are, and you’re interested in our journey, please start at the beginning and travel with us as we journeyed south in our Ontario 32 sailboat the SV Shannon.  For those of you who kept up with us along the way, thank you so much.  While we enjoy writing, it is a blessing to have folks who actually enjoy reading what you write… so thank you again from the bottom of our ‘writers hearts’.
To all of you, we bid adieu for now.  We’re home and it’s time for us to concentrate on our domestic life in Maple Bay, BC.  We’re looking forward to spending time with family friends and to doing some of those things that owning a sailboat seem to preclude.  Stuff like camping and golfing and just plain hangin’ out..  And, if we’re lucky, maybe someone will even take us sailing now and then :-) 
So, we won’t be writing any more blog posts for now.  We’ll leave it here.. and take up again in the fall when we will be continuing our adventure in Mexico.  Until then, enjoy your lives, each and every day, and thanks for joining us on our journey. 
Carolyn, Kathy and Princess Sophie.

PS:  For those of us following our return trip, I forgot to mention, we came through the US/Canada border without a problem, dropped off Vicky's stuff,and were in Richmond by the afternoon of Day 16 of our return drive... no sweat.

Pickin' up the pace...

DAY 14 Wednesday, April 25: We made good time today... so good that we were at Grant's Pass by mid-day... way too soon to stop. So we kept going and ended up in Springfield, Oregon.  This is great because we were wanting to stop here anyway to do a wee bit of shopping.  So, we've spent a comfortable night at the Comfort Inn (no pun intended); indoor pool and hot tub as well as another very nice suite.  Watched a movie called 'War Horse'... and liked it. It appears we've managed to shave a day off our travels and may actually be into Richmond by Friday afternoon... fingers crossed.
DAY 15 Thursday, April 26:  We're up, Kath's had a swim, a warm breakfast awaits us.  Then we're off to check out a couple of things and hit the road.  Next stop, Bellingham.  We're so close we can taste it!!

You know, we really grew to appreciate, very much, the beauty of the land and sea in Mexico.  I had no idea rocks, red rocks, could look so beautiful...  the striations continue to lure me and my camera lens.  But, the vibrant greens of our own terrain... that which is truly home... are the most beautiful colours in the universe.  And the air smells so good!  We remain truly blessed by the grandeur of our world.

Day 16 should see us through the border, to White Rock to drop off Vicky's stuff, and in to Richmond. Will write again once our mission has been completed...  Hope all of you are doing well.  Have a great day... CJ

Not much to report... but we're fine.

DAY 12 Monday, April 23rd:  Not much to report... we had a pleasant drive and kept going till it felt like time to stop.  Spent the night in a place called Kettleman City... not much more than a truck stop, but the hotel was clean and we were tired.  Up early and moved on.
DAY 13 Tuesday, April 24th:  Had a very nice drive today with great scenery... rolling green hills, farms and ranches.  Even saw some cowboys on horseback, with herding dogs, moseying along after some cattle along the fence.  Made it as far as Red Bluff (just north of Sacramento) today and have stopped at a very nice Comfort Inn (complete with pool, sauna, hot breakfast... and we have a suite - one of the nicest rooms we've ever stayed in - with a balcony.... and we used a coupon so got the suite for $69/night.  Not bad hey. Off for Chinese food tonight... after a swim of course :-)
That's all for now...  We're heading for Grant's Pass tomorrow.  It'll be a shorter drive but should be quite nice (depending on how hard it rains on us :-(

We hope to be in Richmond by the afternoon of the 28th, have a short visit with Dad and then get back to the Island on Monday the 30th. We'll be back to see Dad for a better visit, after we've delivered the van and in time for his birthday (May 9th) and a few days thereafter.  That's it for now. Happy Birthday Penny, and Dwight, and Joanne.... and Happy Anniversary P&J.  ttfn  CJ

San Diego update

DAY 8 (cont'd): Our drive to San Diego was smooth with only a short wait at the border, a pleasant border guard, and a scenic drive into SD and to our motel The Vagabond Inn. We spent the rest of the day walking about and enjoying our return to this great city (at least the boating world so evident in the Shelter Island area). We really like San Diego and we particularly enjoy the boating area within which we visit. Downwind Marine and other marine suppliers are great to deal with and very helpful. Some of the folks have actually become friends as we've stayed in touch during our trip down the coast and into the Sea.

DAY 9 and 10 April 19/20, 2012: We spent our time relaxing, tidying our gear and visiting some of our favorite spots. Lunch at the Southwestern Yacht Club was as great as we remembered. There's nothing like sitting out on a beautiful balcony, overlooking the full docks, watching boats sailing into and out of San Diego and watching the ever-present sea fog (oh how we missed the fog :-) hovering at the entrance to Shelter Island. Oh yeah, and enjoying our Crab Louis and Cobb Salads along with glasses of crisp Chardonnay.

We did a little shopping and lots of walking... and, yes, we succumbed to doing some restaurant 'inspections'. Found a great Sushi place that even has a happy hour with $3 Saki... yahoo !! We've been missing sushi.. the Mexicans sort of understand it, but lose the game when they insist on using cream cheese instead of mayo. It was fun to finally have some sushi the way we like it. As well as wandering about and shopping, two out of three of us managed to secure hair cuts. I'm holding out, waiting till I get home.. for a couple of reasons... First because I like my hair cutter at home, and second cuz my dad always gives me grief when I get my hair cut short... ok, and maybe because I don't want to cut off all the blonde before I can show it off. Yep, there's still a little blonde left...at the moment.

DAY 11/12 Saturday/Sunday, April 21/22: Our friends Susan and George arrived on Saturday morning and treated us to a great lunch. We spent the afternoon visiting and catching up and then had a fun dinner at the local seafood restaurant. Today (Sunday) we're off to have lunch at the San Diego Yacht Club and then visit the USS Midway. It's been great to see our friends and we're so happy they were able to come and join us for a couple of days here. We leave Monday morning, early, and will begin our driving trek up through the US to home. We expect it will take us a comfortable 6 days to reach Richmond, BC and look forward to the scenery and places we'll visit along the way.

Will write again when we can.... hope all is well with all of you. Remember that no news is good news... and there may not be that much to report as we travel north.... time will tell... ttfn CJ

PS: I'm just finishing up an article about the process for prepping the boat for leaving on the hard in La Paz. Look for it in an upcoming issue of Currents, the Bluewater Cruising Association monthly publication.

every day can’t be a “10”…

DAY 7 (cont’d): Ain’t that the truth! Moments after I posted the last blog I leaned forward over the netbook… zigging when I should have zagged and causing one of my discs to do a wee ‘tweak’. Just a wee one, nothing too serious… but ouchey enough to slow me down a tad. Those of you with ‘tweakable’ backs know what I mean. You also know that the show must go on, particularly when you’re in the middle of an uphill/northbound road trip home after the sailing adventure we’ve had. We are on our way home… and home we must be going. Funny; the closer we get, the faster I want to go; and after more than 2000 nautical miles without even a ‘hitch’ I’m not complaining about my back…ever. However, that was just how the day that wasn’t a 10 began… it got worse :-)

We left our wonderful, garden oasis and hit the road again, heading north towards Ensenada. The drive wasn’t bad… much the same as the days before, with narrow lanes, crazy drivers, pot-holes, low or no guard rails, high cliffs and low valleys… and dust, lots of dust. But we weren’t worried, after all we were headed to the lush Valle de Guadalupe and to a dog-friendly hotel with great reviews, a lovely setting, and a reservation. After only two military checks (both were painless) we drove through Ensenada (missed a couple of turns, but found our way out the other side without too much stress) and linked up with the highway that would take us into wine country. The scenery around us began to green up as we continued north and it was really nice to finally see some wooded hills and fertile fields…. Then, not far along the ‘Rue de Vin’… we spotted our destination, the Hotel Fatima, on the right side of the road. Even at first glance, things didn’t look quite right… at least not as nice as the pictures on the internet. Parking on the dirt lot and walking up the weed infested, dusty and uneven stone entrance path, we couldn’t help but notice the rows of rough wooden doors lining each side. I kept expecting one to creak open on a rusty hinge and expose some poor dead cowboy wasting away inside. An old rusty triangle, swinging in the breeze wouldn’t have been out of place. And there was absolutely no sign of anyone, not even a caretaker, until we were actually at the dark, front door… at least it looked kind of like a front door… at least it was in the middle of the wall. Anyway, a young Mexican fellow (name unknown as I couldn’t understand what he said) met us and indicated he was in charge. I asked him about the owners (Doug and Sue Robinson according to the internet) and he agreed they were still around…at least he pointed to their photograph enclosed in a glass counter.. hmmm. Then I did my best to explain to him that we had reservations, that we were a day early, and that I was wondering if he could fit us in (I know that sounds a little funny considering there was absolutely no signs of life in the place except us). Well, it gets worse. He looked quite blank and didn’t understand what I was saying and then I noticed he had the hotel register under his hands… so I pointed to it and we began to communicate with international gringo sign language. It didn’t take long to figure out there was absolutely no one staying at the place, and there was no notation of our reservation at all, not anywhere. At this point he decided to show us a room and did so. It was room #7, the door creaked open just as I’d suspected it would… and the inside was no cleaner than the outside. To make matters worse three earwigs scuttled across the floor as we stepped in and I was afraid to look any further in case there were other, larger creatures lurking about. Suffice to say we made our exit quite quickly… making idle promises about “maybe later…”. As we drove out of the parking lot, senor ‘desk clerk’ could be seen sweeping out room #7. He may still be waiting for us…

Feeling lucky to have escaped this rather unfortunate turn of events, we carried on along the wine route with me casting my tired old eyes left and right looking for signs of a beautiful, dog-friendly, lush by the riverside, with bird-filled gardens and a heated pool… kind of a place.. you know.. the ones with free wine-tasting as well as B&B… Kathy, bless her heart, delved deeply into the tombs of data available via the internet and our pamphlets… seeking furiously anything that might house us for the night. We found a place; right on the highway but up a hill and surrounded by vineyards. It looked quite nice. Turns out, after negotiating a deeply creviced and rutted uphill drive, we discovered both the restaurant and the B&B hotel were closed. At least we were able to turn around and didn’t have to back down the hill :-) We carried on…. or rather we back-tracked to a place we’d passed earlier that was described in the books as “basic but clean”.

The Posada Inn actually has a swimming pool, looks kind of nice, and has a restaurant next door. We pulled in and asked a staff member if they had room for us and if they took dogs. Quick answer: “yes” they had room, “no” dogs not allowed. Turns out neither of us were above begging and with a little friendly chatting we were able to gain permission for PS to join us in our room. The manager did, however, give us the oldest room in the place and even PS wasn’t too impressed with it. The room was ok. It was clean but it was.. well, it was dowdey. Enough said. It had a bed (which wasn’t too hard) a TV (that didn’t work) a door (with a lock that didn’t, really) and neighbours. Turns out the walls were thinner than paper and even tho’ we tried to pass the time by sleeping… the noise of the jake brakes of the semi’s roaring down the highway about 3’ from our pillows and the ‘romancing’ going on next door was enough to curl your toes. By about 0500 we’d had all, of both, we could take… gave up trying to sleep, got up, fed the dog, packed the van…. and abandoned all thoughts of wine country tours. Instead we pointed our noses north and headed off to take on the authorities at the Tecate border crossing. It was time to head for home.

DAY 8 Wednesday, April 18th: We left early (as you heard above) and were at the border crossing by approximately 0800. A short chat with the guard on duty and we were through the border and heading for breakfast. Thank goodness… no unloading of van, no lengthy enquiry as to our trip… just some pleasantries and a few questions, a light ‘stirring’ of the top layer of stuff at the back of the van… and we were on our way. We had a great breakfast at Denny’s (first North American breakfast for months) and then washed the van and headed for our hotel. We’re here now, at the Vagabond Inn, Point Loma. We hadn’t planned on being here for another two days but, you know, sometimes you just have to put on your flexible cape and go with the wind… and the wind drove us north. We’re glad to be here… have a couple of extra days to relax and do laundry and stuff. Susan and George are coming to share some time with us on the 21st and 22nd and then we’ll head north.

Guess that’s all for now. We’re well; we’re safe; and we’re in San Diego, USA. Hope all is well with all of you. Later… CJ

cracked crab… hmmm hmmm

DAY 6 -  Monday, April 16th.:  This place we’re staying at could be anywhere…  anywhere beautiful that is.  The building is new and small enough to be cozy.  It’s surrounded by lush, green, colourful and fragrant gardens, complete with a myriad of birds (hummingbirds, doves, quail, sparrows and finches) that feed and live within the garden canopy.  There’s even an owl, complete with a very loud ‘hooter’, and a pair of white doves that hang out on the telephone wire across the street. I’ve used the word ‘street’ but really our hotel is on a wide, hard-packed dirt road, one section removed from the highway that slows a bit as it passes through town.  As I sit here listening to the crickets outside our door and the chirps of the birds settling in for the night, we could be anywhere… anywhere beautiful, green and ‘alive’.  Guess you could say we like it here. There’s even an orange grove next to our garden and one of the gardeners gave Kathy 4 mandarin oranges from one of the trees today.  We’ll have them for breakfast tomorrow.

Speaking of food…. did we ever have a nice dinner.  We’d been kind of frustrated earlier in the day when we tried to find a place to have breakfast… it was lunch time by the time we actually came across a place that was open and looked like the food would be safe.  It was and it was good and once done, we headed back to our little oasis to spend the afternoon reading and laying about in the sun. Shortly after we arrived we were told by Nancy, our desk clerk, about Cilieto LIndo’s, reknown for it’s cracked crab, and near enough to the ocean to actually allow a couple of girls and a small dog to reach out and play on the beach.  Soooo, off we went and after a not-too-long drive on a not-too-lumpy road we found the place.  Not only did it serve great crab it was a neat little bar, inhabited by a group of x-pats, one of whom (Clarence) bought us a beer to toast the passing of a dear friend of his. 

DAY 7 – Tuesday, April 17th: We’ve slept in a bit today… our drive will only be about 4 hours.  We’re heading in to the wine country that lies in a valley running between Ensenada and the Tecate border crossing.  We’ve had breakfast in bed with our books.. it consisted of coffee from the desk clerk’s counter (not too bad if you add about half a cup of hot water to it) a can of peaches (no, not out of the can.. we used plastic water cups and our plastic spoons from mixing the Coffee mate into the aforementioned coffee :-); and some breakfast bars (left over from our trek down the coast and still delicious… in a Kellogs, cereal bar kind of way). After showers, and repacking our gear into the trusty van we’ll be on our way into the next leg of our journey. 

It’s interesting how, as we get closer to home, things like calendars and commitments start to creep in.  There are several things we are really looking forward to doing when we get home and one of them is catching up with our friends and families.  Another involves healthy living… can’t say we’ve been able to maintain our svelt figures, so will have some work to do in that regard… good news is we know what to do, just have to do it.  I’m going to sign off now…it’s time to get going.. I’ll tell you how our drive today went..later tonight.  Until then, have a great day… ttfn… CJ

San Quintin at last...

We missed it on the way down... San Quintin that is. It's famous for its rugged coast line and miles of sand dunes. We missed it because, as you may recall, instead of the usual 'northers' that forced sailors to hide south of the isthmus at San Quintin... the forecast was for 'southers' so we holed up at Isla St. Martin, just off the coast...same location. Never did see the sand dunes. Sooooo, as I was planning our 'return via land' I thought it might be nice to see a bit of those dunes. Little did I realize how far inland they actually have flowed. We'd been driving through them for several hours before we made the entrada to the town of San Quintin. But there you go, I've done it again... rushing forward without filling in the middle... allow me to back track ...

DAY 5: This was supposed to be the day we left San Ignacio early and drove to Catavina. Well we did get up early... and then we enjoyed yet another wonderful meal prepared by Terry and her helpers... and then we hit the road. We headed north (as you would... driving to Canada) and we continued on our way...oblivious as to how many military checks we were actually driving in to... my, my... but those boys are efficient. We got stopped and checked no less than five.. that's 5... times. Thank goodness they accepted our explanation in 'spanglish' of our journey from La Paz to Canada.... and they didn't take exception to Miss Sophie (how could they? she was the epitome of elegance and discretion) and they only shook their heads and muttered things like "oh my god" when faced with the impossible task of actually, physically checking the stuff we'd crammed into every window and opening of the van.... and thank goodness, in each case, they decided to trust that we were not dastardly drug smugglers, and let us pass with a mere 'stirring' of the top layer of each area of the van... phew! If they had truly searched the van it have would taken us hours to repack (a task we are preparing ourselves for as we draw closer to the Mexican/US border... ). Anyway, every stop was not unpleasant.. after all, they were just doing their job and were very polite to us.

We drove on... and on... and on. The highway is under 'improvement' in many places. What this actually means is that some (not all) of the potholes have been filled... a certain percentage have been left so as to catch the unwary and slow them down significantly!! The shoulders remain... oh, shall we say, seriously lower than the road... with a single painted white line which is supposed to (I think) guard you from driving over (and seriously down) off the shoulder. Now when I say 'down' I'm talkin' in some cases a foot or two... in others a metre or two... and in still more areas... a huge, frightening, 'it's not the fall that kills ya' distance. Grand Canyon step aside. The Baja wins.... Add to that the lack of passing lanes, the fact that the driving lane is just a titch (and by that I mean an inch or two) wider than the average vehicle, the huge transport trucks, the crazy local drivers, and the crazier touristas who seem to not know any better.... and you get the picture. We're learning the local vernacular too. Flashing lights mean just the same as home.. "danger ahead"... but a flashing left turn signal means "it's safe to pass me gringo... if you dare". And.. those 'safe to pass' signals usually show up during a definite "no passing" zone... with posted signs and everything. But it's all ok. They have guard rails on the windy, curving, steep-sided sections... they're about 10" high and made of lightweight metal... really useful as you hurtle down and around the curves.... yikes. !!!!

So, getting back to DAY 5... we were planning on driving to Catavina but after most of the numbing drive described above, we got to Catavina and were kind of un-attracted (is that a word?)... and decided to press on to what we had heard was an excellent choice of hotels.. Hotel Jardines in San Quintin. And we made it... all in one piece... not too tired.... and delighted to have saved a day in our trip up the Baja (we'll add it to our time in San Diego... a great city to visit). This hotel is beautiful. It sits in a bit of an oasis.. has lush gardens and an orchard... and PS gets to sleep with us on a 'big' bed... yahoo !! And, there's a well thought of restaurant/bar next door which we will certainly check out. We're here.... into some wine.. and about to go for dinner. The plan has us spending a day exploring those sand dunes we missed on the way down.. so count that as DAY 6.

Hope all is well with all of you... we're doing great!! xoxo CJ

BY THE WAY: For those of you who are still using our sailmail address to e-mail us.. please note we are land-bound now and switching over to our personal e-mail addresses... thanks for switching too.