Friday, January 16th
We are still here! Waiting. I wrote to our old neighbor in Ensenada to ask him to see if he could contact the boat that is bringing us our dingy motor. He will do that and let us know when “Cat’s Paw” will be headed this way. That will help!
It is beautiful out here today. The water is peaceful and calm. The breeze is soft and the sky is blue. There are a few dolphins out today and many seagulls and even a few pelicans fishing in the bay. Other than that there are 3 sail boats left here. Chris and Sharon on “Bright Star” are still here and there is another boat here named “Andiahma” (And-de-ah-ma). We three have been here for quite a while. Andiahma came in during a wind storm on Christmas and their boat was grounded on the beach. They had to cut away their anchor and are trying to find it and retrieve it. It looks like someone has taken it and is using the chain for a buoy mooring. They can’t prove it unless they can find the anchor at the bottom but the end is buried and they haven’t been able to see the anchor.
Jim is fishing and I am thinking about washing out a few clothes after lunch. I have been answering email all morning. I feel like I need to get busy. I am not accomplishing much. I am working on a cross stitch and reading a book in my spare time but it doesn’t seem natural to just sit around and read or sew. I guess it is. It seems like I should be doing something. I am not use to having time to do things like this. I am sure I will relax and enjoy it after a while. After all this is what I wanted to do.
Yesterday a boat came in called “Wind Strutter”. Tony and Jackie told us that they met “Cat’s Paw” on the way down and it is still coming. They are pulling into a port each night because a lady on board does not want to travel at night. I didn’t know there were that many places you could pull in between here and Ensenada. We were glad to know they are still coming. Chris brought us water today. We really feel handicapped without a dingy. But Chris is always willing to help.
“Aundiahma’s crew is still looking for their chain and anchor. The chain is unusual because it is stainless steel just like the new chain on the buoy. The men have not been able to uncover the bottom of the chain to see if the anchor is attached.
The boat owners, Dave and Maureen, bought new chain today. Of course you cannot get stainless steel chain around here so he just bought galvanized steel. And another boater sold him an anchor so he can continue on his way.
We spent the last two nights at the palaypa eating fish tacos. Marsadies let us help make them and now we know her secrets. The first night she breaded and fried the fish. Last night she made a delicious pocket of fish with vegetables to unwrap and put in tacos. She used foil but she said they usually use banana leaves. She didn’t have any on hand. Then tonight she invited us back again for another kind of fish tacos but Jim and I stayed on the boat. We are short of cash and decided we would be better off if we just stayed here and fed ourselves. That is fine because I have a fresh batch of bread and some soup in the Fridge.
Jan 23, 09
Our ship came in last night!!! Finally! They got onto a sand bar and got stuck for a while. I haven’t heard the details but we are glad they are all right. Today they brought us the motor and several bronze wool pads for scrubbing steel and teak. Most surprising of all is the fact that Downwind wasn’t mixed up when they said that Rick and Cynthia were on a 41 food “CT” like ours. This is the first one we have seen since we left Salt Lake, (except ours of course). We thought Downwind was mixed up and gave us the description of our own boat instead of theirs. But they didn’t. We spent a pleasant afternoon visiting and learning about all the improvements they have made to the boat they have. They do have some good ideas!
Yesterday “Wind Strutter” had a get together and invited most of the people here including Russ and Isabel. It was good to see them again. Since our dingy is so hard to maneuver we have been pretty well stuck on the boat. That isn’t entirely true since we can always call a taxi and Chris has volunteered to chauffer us back and forth. I really dislike the taxis because they are so dirty inside and Chris is always busy. We hate to ask him. So we just stay here on the boat. But after a few days I get “cabin fever”. Maybe tomorrow we will call a taxi and go over and look at “Cat’s Paw” and actually see all these wonderful features they added.
For now Jim is planning our course to leave. I really wanted to stop and see where the whales come to breed and give birth to their young. Jim doesn’t want to leave the boat that long. He has some good points but I still want to stop. I know I can push the issue but I know he is feeling the responsibility for our safety really heavy. I guess I will wait and see if he decides to do it on his own. Maybe I should reconsider my opinion but why have a boat and go sailing if you aren’t going to go to shore and see things?
Jan 24, 09
Today was a great day! I went to shore with Sharon and washed clothes at Isabel’s house. I took a shower too. She has lots of hot water and she and Russ are very helpful. Russ came home from fishing with a couple fish. Each one was about 20 inches long. Isabel taught me to flay a fish. Russ also brought home some lobsters and so Isabel taught me to cook lobster and make the most delicious lobster salad. We ate it for lunch. Chris, Maureen and Dave and Tony and Jackie all showed up too.
Our plans are made to leave here. I guess everyone is going together early tomorrow morning. Jim and I prefer to leave later in the day. We will leave here tomorrow afternoon and travel straight through for about 20 hours till we get to the Whale Reserve. Everyone else will leave around 5 in the morning. They will travel about 50 miles then stop for the night. They will leave that spot early the next morning and meet us down at the Whale Reserve. We expect that it will take us about 20 hours of travel to get there.
We may spend a day or two there. Maybe longer. Then we will go on to LaPaz where I will try to contact my family again as soon as we get an internet connection. I don’t know how long that will take but the trip from the Whale Reserve to LaPaz will probably take about 3 days.
I will stop here because I want to try to send this before we leave here.
We love you all and are thinking about you. I will try to send some pictures. I think my computer processor is very limited. This may be part of the problem I am having. Maybe I just haven’t learned enough to be good at it.
Love,
Donna and Jim