DaFever's travels

Pic's I should have posted earlier

2010-06-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

I want to thank everyone that followed us on the blog, given us encouragement and support along the way, left comments on the blog and on facebook.
My recomendation to anyone that would like to undertake a trip like this is, volunteer to crew on a FUBAR or Baja Ha Ha trip south and if you still want to do it then go for it. It was a great experience, would I do it again? NO! Would I crew for someone? YES for a couple of weeks at a time, as I said in an earlier blog full time crusing is a full time job, planning, plotting courses, making reservations, watching weather, checking tides and currents, doing maintenance, running the boat. I learned a lot this last year as well as learning a lot about myself and my abilities, thank you everyone and thanks for the friendship and support.
AS before start at the bottom and scroll thru the pictures from the bottom up to follow the trip in order. One thing I didn't learn is how to organize the blog, I'm just an anolog guy trying to fumble thru this digital world.

. Tucked away in our boathouse. THE END of a long trip, 1 year and about 5,000 miles. The boat preformed great through the entire trip.
. Docked at St. Helens Memorial Day 1 year to the day of when we left.
. The Astoria Bridge as we pass Astoria on our way to anchor at Tounge Point behind Lois Island, we got in and anchored about 11PM.
. I think this is Mt. St. Helens in the background over the Astoria Bridge, a great sight!
. Bouy 12 I'M IN THE RIVER!
. BOUY 10--crossing the "BAR" on the Columbia River against a 5kt to 6kt current, at times I was only going 2.5kt to 3.5kts across the "BAR".
. Tillamook Head Lighthouse on my way from Newport to Astoria.
. Heading out of San Francisco Bay on my way to Eureka (a 32hr trip).
. My "ride" to lunch my last day at Pittsburg Yacht Club.
. Friends at a dinner at Pittsburg Yacht Club.
. The start of a speedsking race at Pittsburg Ca.
. The Mothball Fleet.
. C&H plant near Vallejo Ca. heading out of San Pablo Bay up into the Sacramento River.
. Anchored off of a park at entrance to San Pablo Bay.
. Coast Guard station at entrance to San Pablo Bay N.E. out of S.F. Bay
. Over the bar and inside San Francisco Bay.
. Bumpy water coming into San Francisco Bay, incoming tid brought me in at over 9kts.
. Coming around Seal Rocks into entrance to San Francisco Bay.
. The Cliffhouse Restaurant and Seal Rocks at the south entrance to San Francisco Bay.
. My first view of the Golden Gate Bridge coming north from Santa Cruz.
. Hearst Castle
. Hearst Castle
. Coming into anchorage at San Simion- Hearst Castle is on top of the hill just to the left of the pilings.
. Behind me at Coho 2 boats had been washed ashore.
. Anchored at Coho anchorage looking at Point Conception waiting for the weather to go around the Point and head north.

Made it to Newport Or.

2010-05-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

As most of you know by now I made it to Newport Or. I made a 32hr overnight run from Sausalito to Eureka, after I tied up some people we had met on the way down came over to say Hi. After letting them know I was hoping to get up to Cresent City and Coos Bay in the next 2 days Tracy ask how far could I get if I had help, we sat down and figured I could get to Newport so he offered to go as far as Coos Bay and his wife would drive up and pick him up, so at 7AM we took off on a 36hr run to Newport.
I pulled in to Coos Bay pulled up to the dock, Tracy jumped off and I headed back out, 45 min in and out and back on course for Newport. I arrived in Newport Sunday evening and collapsed, Monday was going to be the end of the good weather to get up to the Columbia River but I couldn't face a 15hr run after a 32 and a 36hr run back to back that I had just done so I called LaVon to come down and pick me up and I'm leaving the boat in Newport until there is another break in the weather. It doesn't look like I will get the boat back before Memorial Day weekend but oh well we will have lots of time this summer to go out on the river, I just want the boat back in Portland by the 4th of July for the Blues Festival.
See you all soon.

Sitting in Sausalito

2010-05-05T06:51:00.000-07:00

Well I came down to Sausalito Sunday planing to go out Wed. and hoping that the weather may clear enough to get out Tues.
Tues. came and the conditions were not good and Wed. did not look good either, 25 to 35kt wind, gale warnings, 7' to 10' swell at 8 to 9 seconds while north of Point Arena there are 4' to 5' swells at 10 seconds diminishing to 4' to 5' at 15 to 16 seconds and it is good all the way up the Oregon coast thru next Monday, I just can't get out of San Francisco and the 20 hrs. up to Point Arena to get the good weather up into Oregon. Maybe tomarrow, it looks a lot better, but then I hope that the weather window up north doesn't close down later in the week.
The weather this time of year is so frustrating that sometimes I feel like saying screw the world and just stay in the Delta but I miss my friends and family and want to get back to Oregon.
I did all of my engine checks last night in preperation to leave this morning and I noticed an odd smell and a brown stain on one of the stringers where the fuel lines are strapped down and some brown muck in the bilge (Mexican diesel is amber not red and it smells different)I didn't think much about it and put an absorb pad in the bilge and went to bed, at 4:30 this morning I sat up in bed and realized that the brown is fuel! If the strap had rubbed a hole in the fuel line and it is leaking, it will suck air when the engine is running and the engine will shut down and I will be on one engine and down to about 6kts speed with no place to get it fixed, so I ran down into the engine room and started to investigate the leak.
I have been having some problems starting the generator but it has always started and run fine, well I traced the leak back to the generator, it is leaking fuel some where around the fuel pump or injector pump when it runs. OK I can live without a generator if I have to so I shut the fuel supply off and I will turn it on if I run the generator and shut the fuel off when I shut down the generator, if it quits running then I just live without the generator until I get back to Portland and get it fixed.
Extended crusing is not for the meek, I have a tremendos respect for, or maybe disgust for the stupidity of anyone who will go out on the Ocean singlehanded, it is not only DANGEROUS but it is a full time job plotting courses, checking weather, planning times and tides for arrivel and departures, sitting and waiting, leaving or arriving at all hours of the day or night, and thats just in your free time, out at sea you have to be constantly alert for crab pots, floting kelp that can foul your props or plug your water intakes, any other floting debries like logs, lumber or trash, being aware of swell direction as well as maintaining course and speed and knowing where you are at all times so you know when to change course and when you should be arriving at your destination, being aware of how the wind and current are affecting you, if your not in the right place then figuring out why and where are you. This is a lot more than this old fart ever wants to do alone again.
Cell phone service is spotty along the Northern California coast so I don't know when I will be able to update again but I will try to update this weekend when I should be in Eureka

In Pittsburg Ca.

2010-04-20T10:31:00.001-07:00

I finally got out of Oxnard and as I said I got to head north, had a bumpy ride from Coho Anchorage to San Simon after the Coasties ran me off at midnight, San Simon to Santa Cruz was a pretty good trip up to Point Sur then it was a little bumpy into Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay was a great trip, I had a following current pushing me to 8.5kts to 8.8kts so when I got to Half Moon bay it was only 12:30 so I decided to go on to San Francisco I could go in 1/2 hr after slack hi tide so I continued on and the following current kept pushing me.
When I came up on the Cliff House and Seal Rocks at the entrance to San Francisco Bay I was running at 8.8kts and as soon as I rounded the corner into the channel I was pushed up to 9.5kts and sometimes as fast as 9.9kts. I went under the Golden Gate Bridge at 9.7kts and rode the incoming current past Angel Island, up thru the San Rafel channel, under the San Rafel Bridge and up into San Pablo Bay where I anchored for the night. I'm just sorry that Carl didn't get to enjoy this part of the trip.
The next morning I caught the tide and ran up to Pittsburg at over 8kts at only 1650 RPM.
I won't say I'm stuck in Pittsburg because I choose to be here at a good Club among good friends until the weather clears in a week or two, They want me to stay longer but I would like to head home. They have a Wed. night dinners and on Sat. they are having a Calamari feed so I know I won't go hungry. Good food, good friends, good weather up here (85 degrees predicted for Sat.) who could ask for more!-------- BUT WAIT THERES MORE! Last weekend they had a cruise in and I met some great people from Solarno Y.C. I was invited for munchies in the afternoon and for drinks aboard one of the boats in the evening where I exchanged e-mails.-------- BUT WAIT THERES MORE! They are also hosting a cruise in for another club this next weekend, so I have more people to meet and more friends to make.
I don't think that I'll have any updates until I leave unless something earth shattering happens like California falling into the Pacific Ocean or I decide I like it here and I decide I'M NOT COMING BACK, but I don't think that will happen so I hope to see everyone soon.

Beach Vollyball is a big deal out here.
The sand also blows up to the back of the houses and will bury the patios and back doors so when they clean the streets and dump the sand back on the beach they use a large tractor to pull the sand away from the houses and groom the beach pulling the sand back out to the ocean.
This is the sand blown up onto the street and the city comes by about once a week and scoops it up into a dump truck and dumps it back on the beach.
This is a common sight, shoveling or sweeping your driveway along the street nearest the beach because the wind blows the sand up onto the street and in the driveways.
I was told that Esquire Magazine had rated Mrs. Olsens near the marina, as one of the best places in the USA to have breakfast, so I had to try it out. There is a waiting list to get in and everyone leaving is carrying a take out container. The food was excellent and very large portions.
This is the Pacific Corinthian Marina at Oxnard.
After getting in the slip I pushed the boat as hard as I could to the starboard side and dropped a fender down on the port side. This is a 14'8" boat in a 16' wide slip.
After a few days wait we realized that we were not going to get to head north for a week or two so Carl flew home and I got a slip for a month. There are not many places that can accomadate boats much over 40', they put me in a 42' slip and several people at the marina ask how I got the boat in the slip, as you can see it was a tight fit.
More Dolphins accompany us as we head to Oxnard, again I can't thank Carl enough for the company and a familar face, it has been a nice trip, but it will be nice to get home to friends too.
Leaving LA Harbor entrance
Carl on the bow taking pictures as we make an early AM departure from LA Harbor.
My friend Carl relaxing in San Pedro harbor while Norm is in the next slip hard at work. I thank Carl so much for coming down to help me, I'm just sorry we couldn't get farther than Oxnard before Carl had to go back to Portland.
Our friend Norm hard at work on his 38' Bayliner, I look forward to Norm and Sherri coming to Oregon to go boating on the Columbia River with us and our Club.
The other tall ship
In Dana Point we had two tall ships across from our slip at Dana Point Y.C.
We had a great trip from San Diego to Dana Point flat seas and Dolphins following our boat.
At San Diego saying goodby to friends Frank & Nora when we left.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

2010-04-15T20:24:00.000-07:00

Hopefuly not everyone has given up on my blog, I am now on the move again. Monday I left Oxnard and anchored at Coho anchorage right at Point Conception, weather didn't let me leave Tuesday but I did get out Wednesday, not as good weather as predicted, spent 12 1/2hrs getting bounced around but that was because I left 6 hrs before I planned to. The Coasties kicked me out because they thought I was too close to their mooring ball when they got there at 11:30 at night, soooo at midnight I didn't want to reanchor in the dark by myself so I just headed out 6 hrs early. I anchored at San Simon, got a good nights sleep to make up for the 1 1/2 hrs sleep I got the night before. I arrived in Santa Cruz today after another 12 1/2 hr run, a lot better day on the water today, Half Moon Bay tomarrow about 7 hrs and on into SF Bay Saturday, then I wait for a weather window of 4 days to get to Euerka.
I'll post some pictures of Carl and I going from San Diego to Oxnard and some pictures of my trip to San Francisco after I get into the Bay and have some time.
Thanks to those of you that have been patient with my lack of posting on the blog while I was stuck in Oxnard, there wasn't much to say about setting in a marina for 6 weeks.

Stuck in Oxnard

2010-03-01T09:13:00.000-08:00

Carl came down and we had a nice trip up to Oxnard and then we got stuck, he waited for a couple of days then flew home.
I've been here for ten days waiting for a weather window to go north and I can't get one, I need one day (8hrs) to go anchor at Coho anchorage near Pt. Conception then a day (13hrs) to run up to San Simion to anchor and another day (12hrs) to get to Montery and I can't seem to get more than two days between storms that are less than 10' swells and some days heve had as much as 30'+ swells.
Sattilite images of the Pacific show one storm after another for the next two weeks so I just rented a slip for a month.
I did survive the Tsunami, we had a tidal surge in the harbor here. It was really strange, we had about a 4 to 5kt current running out of the harbor and the depth at Pacific Corinthian YC dock went down to 6.9ft before it started to come back in, 10 minutes later the depth had come up to 9.3ft. That is almost a 2 1/2' change in 10 minutes. That was the biggie then we had a couple small tidal changes where you could see the current change direction. In Long Beach harbor the news showed pictures of some boats that were aground at the low point of the surge and the Coast Guard closed LA harbor to ship traffic because the water got so low.
Well so much for all of my excitement, back to sitting here and hurry up and wait!
To quote Bugs Bunny th-th-th-thats all folks!
Irv

San Pedro

2010-02-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

I had a good trip up to San Diego, picked up some kelp on a prop and had a diver in San Diego clear it off after I had checked in at Customs. Customs was no big deal but they did go thru EVERYTHING, they looked thru the engine room, lifted all the floor hatches, took my lettuce, carrots, celery, green onions, I knew that they would take anything with seeds like the limes and tomatoes but they took all fresh agricultural products.
The weather has been nice and Carl Dalton from Tyee Yacht Club offered to come down to San Diego and spend a week to ten days or so with me to help head north. We got as far as San Pedro and the weather around Pt. Conception is going to get nasty in a few days so we holed up here for a few days and we'll go up to Oxnard for a few days then on up to Ventura and maybe Santa Barbara as we wait for the weather to settle down before we head up around Pt. Conception to Monterey or Santa Cruz.
Monterey and Santa Cruz are not very protected harbors so I need 4 good days to make it to San Francisco from Pt Conception with just day stops along the way, so I want at least a 5 or 6 day weather window in case the weather prediction is off a day or two. Right now they are predicting 12 to 15 ft seas and I don't want to be out in more than 5 to 7 ft seas so we just hurry up and wait in So. Cal. it's tough in the 75 to 80 degree weather here.
Until I have something new I'll just be sitting here waiting. LaVons at home cleaning, painting and puttering 'til I get home.
IRV

Up the Coast of Baja

2010-02-08T00:23:00.000-08:00

Again scroll from bottom to top.
We left San Jose del Cabo at 4:30 AM and headed out around the end of Baja at Cabo and the long overnight run to Magdalena Bay, we arrived about 3:30 PM and I didn't want to waste the daylight so I continued on to San Juanico for the night then on to Bahia Asuncion the next night, the plan was to go to Bahia Santa Maria near Turtle Bay but we passed Turtle Bay at 2:00PM so me not being one to waste daylight I decided to go on up to Isla Cedros for the night, when we got there the weather had deteroiated and the anchorage had been swept clean of sand bottom by the last hurricane, we were not in 50' of water dropping to 12' like the chart said, we were in 176' of water and no place to anchor so rather than back track in the dark for 4 to 5 hours we continued on thru the night----well boy howdey the weather got worse, we were running in 6' to 7' seas at 6 to 7 seconds and 20 to 25kt winds at sundown and I don't know how big the seas got because we couldn't see them in the dark but we kept dropping off of waves and hitting hard, twice we took green water over the bow and it washed up the windshield and down the decks, it took our electric cord overboard and good thing it was screwed onto the socket on the boat because about 14 hrs later after sunrise and the seas settled down we spotted it draging alongside and we pulled it back in, we also picked up all of the broken dishes and cleaned up the mess from stuff that fell out of the cupboards and fell off of the walls. We pulled into Bahia San Quintin a little after 3PM and went to anchor and the chain would not come out, it took 1/2 an hour to pull the anchor chain out of the locker below and straighten it out because the rough seas had tossed 1000lbs of chain around like flipping pancakes in the locker and tangled it up.
After the rough night last night we decided to make this a short night, get up early and see if it was good enough weather in the morning to go on to Ensanada or go back to bed. The seas were good and we headed to Ensanada, when we got in Seth (my crew) got on the internet and found out that his parents were still in LA so he caught the bus in the morning to the border and then took Amtrak to LA so he could hitch a ride home to northren Calif. with his parents.
I had the boat hauled that morning and it should be back in the water Wed. so I can head back to the land of the living with good internet, cell phones, good grocery stores, good coffee, and I speak the language, LAND HO --- I CAN HEAR SAN DIEGO CALLING!!!

Looks pretty good after just pressure washing it.

Almost ready to paint

Almost three years since last bottom paint.

Blocking boat to put it on stands.

OOPS

Getting hauled out

Coming into Ensanada

Tuna---all told we caught 1 Darado and 3 Bonita for two days of fishing.

THIS does NOT look good! Just past Turtle bay we had bumpy seas, rain and the sun was setting, we were going to anchor at Cedros Island just ahead but we found out that the last hurricane had washed the sand out of the bay so we had to continue on thru the night, the seas got bigger and the wind picked up to 30 to 40+ knots for the next 10 to 12 hours.

Waves crashing off of the rocks almost 3 miles off shore as we pass Punta Abreojos

Moon rise as we ran all night

And then a Darado -- we lost the other Darado when it broke the 30# test line

Hard to see in this small picture but it is a whale, saw lots of whales and dolphins

Our 1st Tuna

Arches as we round the cape at Cabo San Lucas

Sunrise leaving San Jose del Cabo

A LAST LOOK AT LA PAZ

2010-01-29T18:47:00.000-08:00

As before scroll to the bottom and read from bottom to top to be in the right order.
We left La Paz and we picked up a young man to travel with me going up the outside of Baja because LaVon did not want to, we got into San Jose Wed. the 27th, spent some time with Dick and Maryllin Smith and LaVon flew home Fri. the 29th.
Seth and I will be leaving about 4AM Sat. morning the 30th and I figure it will be about 8 to 10 days up to Ensanada with one over nighter weather permitting.
I'll let everyone know when we get into Ensanada, Seth will take off from there and I will probably stay for a week or so and have the bottom painted before I head up to San Diego and on north.
When I get back to the states I'll reconnect the phone and I will get a new air card so I will have internet. OOOHHH to have a reliabel (sp) internet again...

Sunset as we got close to San Jose
The whale breeching
We had to slow down and turn to miss the whale
A whale breeching directly in front of us on our way to San Jose
One of the pools at Gran Sueno resort
One of the pools at Gran Sueno resort
Model trains
Model trains
Model trains
Model trains
Model trains
Model trains
Ted look at this -- the train room at Gran Sueno resort at Bahia Muertos
Seth and a 36" Darado (Mahi Mahi)
A visitor
30kt winds blowing into the marina
30kt winds blowing us off of the dock. We have 9 dock lines on
Dinner with friends
Sunset at La Paz
OSTAR a 170' yacht that belongs to Carlos Slim the richest man in the world, this is his small boat and we look like a shore boat compared to it
Seals playing near the boat
A bird aimed at the bald spot and missed
The old oyster beds at Bahia San Gaberial where they used to grow pearls
At anchor at Bahia San Gabrial

Fossilized clamshells caught in a lava flow and scorched in the lava

A school of fish behind our boat

A friend landed on our rail

WE drifted back and over our anchor, this is taken off of the swim step, our anchor is at the top of the picture

Wind waves
Dinghied to shore and black bugs were moving across the rocks like a wave
Far left pelicans diving into water
Pelicans diving for fish

Try Again

2010-01-20T23:27:00.000-08:00

AS BEFORE YOU NEED TO SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE AND READ FROM BOTTOM TO THE TOP TO BE IN CRONOLOGICAL ORDER.
I FOUND THE BEST TIME TO USE THE INTERNET IS BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND 4 A.M. WHEN NO ONE ELSE IS ON AND I CAN DOWNLOAD PICTURES WITHOUT IT SLOWING ME DOWN AND DROPPING ME OFF.
WE STAYED IN LA PAZ A WEEK BECAUSE THE WINDS WERE PICKING UP FOR A FEW DAYS, THEN IT TAKES ANOTHER DAY OR TWO FOR THE SEA TO FLATTEN OUT. WE WENT BACK OUT TO THE ISLANDS FOR ABOUT EIGHT DAYS OF SOME OF THE BEST WEATHER WE HAVE HAD SINCE WE ARRIVED DOWN HERE.
WE ARE BACK IN LA PAZ NOW BECAUSE THE STORMS THAT ARE GOING THRU CALIFORNIA ARE CAUSING THE WINDS TO PICK UP AROUND HERE, THAT MAY DELAY OUR PLANS TO START HEADING BACK NEXT WEEK, IT WILL TAKE ABOUT A WEEK TO GET TO CABO AND ANOTHER TWO WEEKS TO GET TO SAN DIEGO WEATHER PERMITTING. NEXT WEEK 12 TO 14 FT. SWELLS AND 30 TO 40 kt WINDS ARE PREDICTED OFF THE WEST COAST OF BAJA SO IT IS NOT THE TIME TO HEAD BACK YET.

A STICK BUG ON THE WALL
WECHECKED OUT THIS RESTAURANT ACROSS THE HIGHWAY FROM OUR MARINA
IRV HAS RIPE TOMATOES!
WHEN WE GOT INTO THE MARINA THERE WAS A DOLPHIN SWIMMING AROUND BEHIND OUR SLIP AND IT WOULD COME UP TO THE SWIMSTEP BEHIND THE BOAT
JUST AS WE WERE COMMING BACK INTO LA PAZ A YACHT TRANSPORT SHIP WAS LOADING-- IN DEC. I DID E-MAIL FOR A QUOTE ON HAVING THE BOAT SHIPPED BACK FROM LA PAZ TO VANCOUVER B.C.--ALMOST $24,000 NOT INCLUDING INSURANCE AND PORT FEES
ON OUR WAY BACK TO LA PAZ WE SAW A LARGE WHALE BROACHING--WITH THE DELAY ON THE DIGITAL CAMERA ALL I CAUGHT WAS THE SPLASH BUT IT WAS SPECTACULAR TO WATCH
THIS IS OUR FRIENDS HOUSE WHERE WE WENT TO WATCH THE ROSE BOWL
WE WERE INVITED BACK TO LORETO ON NEW YEARS TO WATCH THE ROSE BOWL GAME AND WHILE WALKING TO OUR FRIENDS HOUSE I NOTICED THIS MICROWAVE TOWER THAT WAS MADE TO LOOK LIKE A PALM TREE
NEW YEARS DINNER IN THE RESTAURANT AT THE MARINA
WIND WAVES IN THE HARBOR AT PURETO ESCONDIDO--THEY WOULD WASH UP OVER THE DOCK SOME OF THE TIME
THE MALACON IN DOWNTOWN LORETO
THE BUS STATION IN LORETO AND THE BUS THAT WE TOOK BACK TO PURETO ESCONDIDO--THEN THE BUSDRIVER FORGOT TO STOP AT THE PURETO ESCONDIDO TURNOFF SO WHEN I WENT UP THE ISLE TO TELL HIM HE STOPPED AND DROPPED US OFF ON THE HIGHWAY 1/2 MILE PAST THE TURN OFF, SO WE HAD TO WALK BACK TO THE TURN OFF AND THEN A MILE INTO PURETO ESCONDIDO
THE NEW MAIN STREET 1 BLOCK EAST OF THE OLD MAIN STREET
THE OLD MAIN STREET LOOKING SOUTH FROM THE CHURCH
CASA de La ABUELA THE FIRST HOUSE BUILT IN LORETO AS THE MONKS ORIGINAL RESIDENCE IN 1740'S THEN REBUILT IN 1877 AFTER AN EARTHQUAKE
A SUGAR PRESS USED TO SQUEEZE THE CANE
INSIDE OF THE MUSEUM WHICH USED TO BE THE MONKS RESIDENCE
RECTORY GROUNDS NEXT TO THE CHURCH
INSIDE OF THE CHURCH
US OUTSIDE OF A MISSION AT LORETO FOUNDED IN 1697 AND BUILT IN THE 1740'S
ANOTHER VIEW INSIDE THE HOTEL
INSIDE THE HOTEL--THE SKYLIGHT IS THE GLASS BOTTOM OF THE ROOFTOP SWIMMING POOL
THIS IS A VERY INTERESTING HOTEL ON THE TOWN SQUARE
THE TOWN SQUARE IN LORETO- THEY ARE TEARING UP ALL OF THE OLD COBBLESTONES AND REPLACING THEM WITH STAMPED CONCRETE TO LOOK LIKE STONE. THAT IS SO SAD BECAUSE THE QUALITY OF CONCRETE THEY USE IS SO POOR THAT IT STARTS TO CRACK IN 4-5 YEARS

Loreto & back to La Paz

2010-01-11T13:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I've been trying for three days to put pictures on and the internet here keeps dropping us. We have been stuck in La Paz most of the week and we are going to have a couple of nice days so we are going out and I will try later to send pictures.
The internet is like most every thing else here "manana" maybe!

La Paz & going up the Sea of Cortez

2009-12-28T21:06:00.000-08:00

AGAIN THIS IS LIKE THE OTHER BLOGS YOU NEED TO START AT THE BOTTOM AND SCROLL UP TO SEE THE TRIP IN THE RIGHT ORDER.
WE WILL BE HEADING BACK SOUTH TO LA PAZ AS SOON AS THE WEATHER CLEARS UP, IT'S TOO CHILLY UP HERE IN DEC/JAN AND TOO MANY "NORTHERS" -- THATS WHEN THE WIND BLOWS AND IT'S TOO ROUGH TO GO ANYWHERE.
I'LL TRY TO WRITE AND PUT MORE PICTURES ON AFTER WE GO TO LORETO AND WE ARE READY TO HEAD BACK TO LA PAZ ABOUT JAN. 3RD OR 4TH.

CANALS AND BRIDGES AND A PARTIALLY BUILT HOTEL--IT'S SUCH A SHAME TO SEE IT DETEROIATING.

NICE WIDE STREETS WITH LANDSCAPED CENTER DIVIDERS.

PUERTO ESCONDIDO WAS A GOOD IDEA THAT RAN OUT OF MONEY OR INTO TOO MUCH GOVT. RED TAPE AFTER THE ELECTRIC, WATER SYSTEM, SEWERS, STREETS, SIDEWALKS AND STREET LIGHTING WENT IN.

MED MOORED INSIDE THE HARBOR--MED MOOR IS DROPPING THE ANCHOR AND BACKING UP TO THE DOCK, TIEING STERN LINES TO THE DOCK AND THEN PULL UP TIGHT ON THE ANCHOR TO HOLD YOU STRAIGHT--AND YES THE SIDEWALKS ARE WET! IT RAINED ON US TODAY.

LOOKING OUT OF THE ENTRANCE OF PUERTO ESCONDIDO--THE ENTRANCE IS THE 200' WIDE CHANNEL ON THE LEFT OF THE PICTURE AND THERE ARE SOME BOATS ANCHORED IN THE OUTER HARBOR OUTSIDE OF THE ENTRANCE
AGAIN THE MULTI COLORED STRATA ON THE SHORELINE--WE BYPASSED LOS GATOS AND AGUA VERDE BECAUSE OF THE ROUGH SEA CONDITIONS AND HEADED UP TO PUERTO ESCONDIDO AND MY NEWEST CHART PLOTTER DIED ON ME AND I HAD TO CONNECT THE HAND HELD GPS TO THE COMPUTER SO WE WOULD HAVE THE ELECTRONIC CHARTS.

SUNSET AT TIMBABICHE

AND THEY ARE GONE--20 TO 30 SECOUNDS LATER THEY WOULD ALL SURFACE TOGETHER

THEY WOULD ALL DIVE AT THE SAME TIME

WE WATCHED THE STRANGEST FLOCK OF BIRDS ON THE WATER

THE ABANDON "CASA GRANDE" AT TIMBABICHE BUILT BY A FISHERMAN THAT FOUND A 5 CARAT PEARL, BOUGHT A FLEET OF BOATS AND BUILT THIS HOUSE. AFTER HIS DEATH HIS HEIRS LET IT FALL INTO RUIN AND IT HAS BEEN SCAVENGED FOR THE BUILDING MATERIALS.

THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS WE CAUGHT TWO NICE DORADO (mahi mahi) ON OUR WAY TO TIMBABICHE

TURKY VULTURES CIRCLING OVERHEAD

TURKY VULTURES WAITING FOR A MEAL

TO ALL OF OUR FRIENDS A TOAST TO A HAPPY NEW YEAR

NOT EXACTLY A SNOW ANGEL BUT AS CLOSE AS WE COULD GET TO ONE

IT JUST WARMS THE HEART TO BE BY THE FIRE AT CHRISTMAS

WARMING OURSELVES BY THE CHRISTMAS FIRE

OR IS THIS A CHRISTMAS TREE?

OH CHRISTMAS TREE OH CHRISTMAS TREE YOU ARE SOO LOVERLY

THE CARDON CACTUS FOREST AT MANGLE SOLO ON ISLA SAN JOSE WHERE WE SPENT CHRISTMAS DAY---WE MISSED OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS

THE CEMETARY AT SAN EVARISTO

GUESS WHERE THIS HIGHWAY LEADS

THE MAIN ROAD LEADING TO SAN EVARISTO

THE SCHOOL AND THE VILLAGE OF SAN EVARISTO

SHOPPING IN BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN SAN EVARISTO TIENDO (local mini grocery)

THE DYNAMIC DUO ANCHORED AT SAN EVARISTO

TURKEY VULTURES FEASTING ON A DEAD DOLPHIN THAT WASHED UP ON SHORE

LOTS OF PUFFER FISH SKELETONS ON THE BEACHES

OLD NETS

MORE TRASH

I CAN'T BELIEVE ALL THE TRASH, PLASTIC BOTTLES, NETTING, ROPE, CANS, BEER AND LIQUOR BOTTLES ON THE BEACH AND AROUND THE FISH CAMPS

IRV AT THE OLD LIGHTHOUSE NEXT TO THE NEW NAVIGATION LIGHT

SAN YSIDRO SALT EVAPORATION PONDS

ANCHORED AT SAN YSIDRO---ABANDON EQUIPMENT AT THE SALT EVAPORATION PONDS

AT ANCHOR ISLA SAN JOSE AT SAN YSIDRO IN CRYSTAL CLEAR WATER (about 74 degree water-not real warm) THATS OUR ANCHOR CHAIN ON THE BOTTOM

FISHING VILLAGE ON ISLA COYOTE

MULTI COLORED STRATA OF THE SHORELINE LEAVING ISLA SAN FRANCISCO

LOOKING OUT OF THE BAY AT ISLA SAN FRANCISCO

ANCHORED AT ISLA SAN FRANCISCO

SUNSET FROM AN ANCHORAGE AT ISLA PARTIDA

TWO NICE ANCHORAGES JUST OUT OF LA PAZ

THE PALMIRA MARINA IN LA PAZ

THIS IS WHY WE STAYED IN LA PAZ ANOTHER WEEK--REALLY CHOPPY OUT THERE

A PLAYGROUND ALONG THE MALACON---ALL OF THEIR TRASH CANS HAVE A TURTLE OR A PORPISE ON THEM AND ARE MARKED ORGANICO ON ONE AND NON-ORGANICO ON THE OTHER

LUNCH ALONG THE MALACON

LUNCH ALONG THE MALACON (main drag along the waterfront)

A CHESS SET OF SPANISH AND MAYAN FIGURES

AT THIS HOTEL YOU GET FREE COFFEE IN THE MORNING AND A FREE SHOT OF TEQUILLA AT NIGHT

THE COURTYARD OF A UNIQUE HOTEL IN LA PAZ

STREET VENDORS AT LA PAZ TOWN SQUARE SET UP FOR CHRISTMAS.

OUT TO THE ISLANDS AND BACK

2009-12-11T22:03:00.000-08:00

WHEW! IT HAS TAKEN THREE EVENINGS AND MULTIPULL TRIES BUT I FINALLY GOT ALL THE PICTURES DOWNLOADED. AS BEFORE SCROLL FROM BOTTOM TO TOP TO BE IN THE ORDER OF OUR TRIP.

THE WINDMILL ACTUALLY PUMPS WATER INTO A POOL AT IT'S BASE

ALONG THE MALACON HEADING BACK TO THE BOAT WITH GROCERIES

OTHERS ARE WAITING FOR LUNCH TOO

STOPPING FOR LUNCH DOWNTOWN

WATER SLIDES JUST OUT OF TOWN AT LA PAZ

PULLED ANCHOR TO RETURN TO LA PAZ AND FOUND THE COTTER PIN HAD COME OUT OF THE ANCHOR PIN AND WE ALMOST LOST OUR ANCHOR.

IRV HAS TOMATOES!!! LETTUCE ISN'T DOING REAL WELL THIS TIME

LOOKING AT OUR ANCHOR CHAIN IN 22' OF WATER AND I CAN SEE THE LINKS OF THE CHAIN ON THE BOTTOM

SHOO---SHOO DON'T LEAVE ANY DEPOSITS

AT ANCHOR. THIS IS A CALDERA OF AN OLD VOLCANO

PULLING INTO CALETA PARTIDA TO ANCHOR

OH LOOK A CHRISTMAS TREE FARM! OOPS, THOSE ARE CACTUS

IF IT'S DECEMBER THESE MUST BE CHRISTMAS TREES!

LOVE LETTERS IN THE SAND

ANCHORED IN 20' OF CLEAR WATER

NO TEQUILA HERE THIS IS GREEN AGAVE

BEACHCOMBING

SETTING AT ANCHOR WITH NO ONE AROUND

PELICAN ON ROCK

A SUNSET LOOKING OUT OF ENSANADA EL GALLO

AT ANCHOR IN ENSANADA EL GALLO

ENTERING A SECLUDED BAY "ENSANADA EL GALLO"

STREET SWEEPERS ON THEIR WAY TO WORK, THE SIDEWALKS AND GUTTERS ARE ALL SWEPT BY HAND

THE TOWN SQUARE IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH

A CHURCH AT THE TOWN SQUARE

THE DOWNTOWN CULTURAL CENTER

ALL ALONG THE MALACON ARE BRONZE STATUES

PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS ALONG THE MALACON, A METAL FRAMED CHRISTMAS TREE. CHECK OUT THE WIND BLOWING THE PALM TREES.

LOOKING DOWN THE MALACON CLOSER TO TOWN

THE MALACON (spanish for "main drag along the water front")

THE OTHER POOL AT CASA BAHA

THE LATEST IN DINGHYS ABOUT 36ft TWIN DIESELS WITH VOLVO DOU PROP OUTDRIVES. ONLY ABOUT $500K

I LIED, NOT GOING NORTH YET

2009-12-10T20:13:00.000-08:00

Before leaving La Paz we reprovisioned the boat, pop is available by the can or two liter but it is rare to find 6 packs or 12 packs, I bought all 4 6 packs I found at one store and the cracker slection is non existant, saltines are the big thing here, they do have Ritz but they taste like a cross between Ritz and saltines, chips and dips are also nonexistant. In San Diego I thought that I had stocked the boat with snacks, crackers and pop for a couple of months supply but we had done in 2 1/2 cases of Pepsi and all our snacks in three weeks
We won't be heading north for a few days. We went out to the Islands for a few days and anchored in a bay by ourselves, no other boats for three days, explored the coves with the dinghy, walked the beach, climbed the cliffs, beachcombed, skinnydipped or at our age maybe we chunky dunked, moved to a larger bay with about 6 other boats, explored that with the dinghy, had dinner with some friends on their boat, fished a little, no luck but had something take a chunk out of a wood lure without biting down on the hook. The fun part was cleaning out the holding tank when we had head problems, clothspin on the nose and rubber gloves, whoopee.
One of our friends headed north and another headed back to La Paz, we stayed 2 more days and about 6 or 7 sailboats came in looking for a hidy hole because we heard the wind was going to pick up to 20 to 30 kts over the weekend, we had run out of propane so we headed back to La Paz for propane, some protection from the wind and wireless internet (and I use that term lightly) you notice I did not say hi speed, at this marina it's like two cans and a string, it's slower than dial up so I won't be putting any pictures on this time. We have lots of nice pics of sandy beaches, turquiose water and beautiful sunsets. I trolled on the way back to La Paz and caught a nice 26" to 30 " darado (mahi mahi) and it spit the hook out at the swim step when I was getting ready to gaff it.
When we got into the marina I changed oil, filters, and some of the fuel filters on both engines and the gen set since I had about 300 HRS on since the last change, dropped off the propane bottle and filled out endless forms for coming back into a port, I tell you, the Mexican govrenment could keep Oregon's logging industry going at full steam just to supply them with the paper for their paperwork, and fees, oh yes, fees, out at the Island the Park Police came by all of the boats and collected a fee for a yearly "park pass" so we can anchor at their wildlife park, $20 per person--it's an uninhabitable cinder cone Island with blue tarp fishermans shacks on the shore, he says but it's only $20 per year, some of the American parks are $20 per day, I said yes but we have Park Rangers, interpretive centers, museums, improved trails, picnic areas, docks, AND restrooms! What are we getting besides a sandy bottom to drop our anchor on, he just looked at me sheepishly and said you get a commemrative coin with your park pass, I said gracias as he moved off to the next boat to collect their fee.
Oh well, tomarrow we go by imagraition because the marina noticed that imagraition in Ensanada did not stamp LaVon's visa when we checked into Mexico. Then we will go in search of beef that is not sliced so thin that it only has one side and for pop and crackers, bread and for vinager to clean the salt out of the toilet bowls. It's amazing that the vinager just disolves the salt in secounds. Boating in salt water is a whole different ball game, I had new zinc's put on in Dana Point and some of them need to be replaced again plus I need to dive on the boat to clean the bottom and scouer the props with a stainless steel pad to get the barnacales off and then scrape the rudders to clean the marine growth off of them.
As soon as the weather settles down we will head north to other "parks" and enjoy the sun and sand.
Well the spell check won't work so you will have to deal with my phunny phonitic spelling!

San Jose to La Paz pics.

2009-12-02T18:18:00.000-08:00

------VIEW PICTURES FROM BOTTOM TO TOP FOR CORRECT ORDER---------
WE WILL BE CRUISING OUT TO THE ISLANDS AND NORTH IN THE SEA OF CORTEZ SO WE WILL POST PICTURES MORE OFTEN NOW THAT WE ARE NEAR INTERNET CONNECTIONS.

THE CREW AT R&R

STILL HOT TUBBING, IT WAS A REAL LONG TRIP

HOT TUBBING AFTER A LONG TRIP

THANKSGIVING DINNER IN THE AMPHITHEATER

THE MARINA BEHIND THE RESORT

SUNSET OVER THE POOL

1 OF THE POOLS AT THE RESORT

COMING INTO LAPAZ, THE CHANNEL STARTS AT THE BOW OF THE TANKER AND TURNS RIGHT UP THE SHORELINE. THE MARINA ENTRANCE WE ARE GOING TO IS BEHIND THE TANKER TO THE LEFT.

THE FLEET AT ANCHOR AT MUERTOS BAY

COMING INTO ANCHORAGE AT MUERTOS BAY THE RESORT AHEAD. SORRY TED NO PICS OF THE TRAIN ROOM WITH HUNDREDS OF TRAIN SETS, FORGOT TO TAKE THE CAMERA ASHORE, MAYBE ON OUR WAY BACK WE'LL STOP AND TAKE PICTURES.

THE FLEET LEAVING PUERTO LOS CABOS HEADING INTO THE SUNRISE TO MUERTOS BAY

LEAVING THE BREAKWATER AT PUERTO LOS CABOS

DOWNTOWN SAN JOSE

MARINA AT PUERTO LOS CABOS

2nd NIGHT PARTY

2nd NIGHT PARTY

2nd NIGHT PARTY

2nd NIGHT PARTY

RESORT AT THE 2nd NIGHT PARTY

THE CREW

A MARICHAI BAND AT THE 1st NIGHT PARTY

1st NIGHT PARTY

THE RESORT AT THE 1st NIGHT PARTY

THE WELCOME TO PUERTO LOS CABOS 1st NIGHT PARTY

San Diego to San Jose del Cabo

2009-12-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

SCROLL THRU THE PICTURES FROM BOTTOM TO TOP TO BE IN THE CORRECT ORDER

WE HAD A FOLLOWING CURRENT PUSHING US AND PASSED CABO SAN LUCAC IN THE DARK SO WE HAD TO SLOW DOWN SO WE WOULD PULL INTO PURTO LOS CABOS AT SUNRISE (SAN JOSE DEL CABO)

SEVERAL BUTTERFLYS HAD HITCHED A RIDE SOUTH WITH US

CLEANING SALT SPRAY OFF THE WINDOWS IN PREPERATION FOR ANOTHER OVERNIGHTER

WHALE BONES ON THE BEACH FROM DAYS GONE BY

CLEANING THE DAYS CATCH FOR THE FISH FRY

MAGDALENA BAY FISH FRY

ANCHORED AT SANTA MARIA

IRV IS GROWING A SECOUND CROP THIS YEAR

THE FLEET AT ANCHOR

REFUELING BOATS FROM A PANGA AT TURTLE BAY

4HRS ON 4HRS OFF TAKES A TOLL ON THE CREW

WE FOUND THAT DURING THE NIGHT SMALL SQUID HAD LANDED ON OUR DECKS

WE LEFT ENSANADA BEFORE SUNRISE BUT WHEN THE SUN CAME UP THE DOLPHINS WERE PLAYING UNDER OUR BOW

VOSS RACING CHASE TRUCKS FOR REFUELING AND RACE REPAIRS

THE NEW RACE TRUCK

WE GOT TO SEE OUR SON IN ENSANADA PREPING FOR THE BAJA 1000

MEXICAN FLAGS ARE FLOWN ON THE STARBOARD SIDE

FUBAR 2009 PENNANTS WERE MOUNTED

WELCOME TO ENSANADA PARTY

LEAVING SAN DIEGO AT SUNRISE

THE CREW

THE GOING AWAY PARTY AT SDYC

A BEACHED WHALE BUFFING THE BOAT

STUDYING THE CHARTBOOKS

THE WORK IS NEVER DONE

WHILE SETTING AT THE DOCK WE WATCHED THIS BOAT PULL OUT INTO THE HARBOR SO THEIR HELICOPTER COULD TAKE OFF

!!!LA PAZ!!!

2009-11-28T18:08:00.000-08:00

OK OK it's been too long since I wrote but it has been a long gruling trip, 3 over nighters back to back. We would leave at 6AM run all day and all night and pull into an anchorage in the afternoon have a meal on the beach and leave at 6AM again for another overnighter.
Baja Mexico is desolate no more than a village here and there and no internet, we did have internet at Puerto Las Cabos near San Jose Del Cabo but we had 1 afternoon to go to town and then a dinner each night so not much time to write.
The trip from Puerto Las Cabos to Muertos Bay and then to La Paz was great, we saw whales, marlin jumping, dolphins, had a nice dinner at La Casa de los Suenos resort at Muertos Bay in the Train Room, Ted Safranko eat your heart out they had hundreds of model trains set up and running.
The over night runs were intresting we ran on chartplotters red lighting and radar, some people had AIS (automatic identifican system) that list the boat name length course speed and destination of the other boats that have the system. All comercial ships are required to have that so we knew when the Saphire Princess cruise ship was heading for the fleet of 40 + boats, he was warned by radio that this was a dangerous situation and ask if he would change course seaward a few degrees so as to pass safely,WELL he changed course directly toward the fleet and on a collision course with one of our boats, when warned of this and ask again to alter course to seaward because he had now created a very dangerous situation he replyed that we did not know what we were doing and we were under the influnce of alchol and then he would no longer respond to radio calls and the one boat had to run at top speed to avoid being run over.
That was the excitement, most of the overnighters were just long long long nights, you could hear dolphins splashing next to the boat sometimes they would come far enough out of the water to see them, if you looked over the side of the boat at the wake you could see photoplankton glowing blue and green in the water like the orange sparks from a welder, sunrises while on the ocean were beautiful as well as the sunsets. Running under red lighting for night vision as well as trying to make snacks under red light is a strange phenomonon as well as adjusting to 4 hours on and 4 hours off for 30 + hours a day for 3 days in a row does not help the disposition. It' called sleep deprovation!!! We did learn to drink watered down oatmeal out of a cup for breakfast.
We arrived at La Paz on Thanksgiving day and they had a thanksgiving feast with turkey mashed potatoes and cranberrys. The official FUBAR trip is over and people are spliting up to each go their own way or stay here for a while, we will be staying here for a month taking 3 or 4 day cruises out of La Paz since there are 5 or 6 nice bays to go anchor in within 20 miles of La Paz.
I did have an alternator quit when we left Ensanada and we had to run the generator to keep the batteries up and when we got to La Paz I am getting the alternator fixed, it only needs brushes, and found I have 2 bad batteries and 2 weak batteries, prices here are about the same as I paid in Calif. for the batteries so no big deal I knew the batteries were getting old.
We are staying at the Costa Baja Resort which is a 5 star resort with shops and restraunts, 2 pools, hot tubs, weight room, shuttles to town, wireless internet, and cable TV in the marina at each slip. They have an airport shuttle that Chris and Craig can take when they leave 12/2/09 then we will be on our own for the next 5 months, except for a quick trip home in Feb. for a couple of weeks.
Hope to have some great pictures on the blog in the next day or two.

Irv & LaVon

Just Waiting

2009-10-30T05:57:00.000-07:00

For those of you that are wondering what's going on-----not much. We spent the first 10 days making phone calls, and moving around while trying to find a months moorage, no luck while Baja Ha Ha boats were still here. We did find 10 days at the city dock but I'm still on the phone looking for moorage for the last 10 days.
The Baja Ha Ha boats (192 boats) left Mon. the 26th for Mexico and Tues. at 4 P.M. 200 miles south of San Diego one of the boats hit a whale and sank in 5 to 7 minutes, all aboard were rescued. Yesterday a Marine helicopter and a Coast Guard C-130 collided off of San Diego, so far no survivors found.
Weather is a little cool for San Diego, daytime has been hi 60's to low 70's and nights are mid 40's to low 50's but it's suppose to warm up 6 to 8 degrees next week.
I replaced the chock that we had torn off in the Delta, had to fix a diesel leak at the starboard fuel pump and clean up the diesel in the bilge, did some sanding and varnish, on the phone trying to get the last of our paper work done.
Our phones will be shut off Nov. 13th so contact will only be by e-mail or on the blog, so it may be sporadic, only when we get to an internet cafe or a marina with wireless internet.
We did see two BIG sailboats come in and watched a yacht pull out of it's slip into the bay so it's helicopter could take off (FAA wont allow them to take off while the boat is in the slip) pic's to come later.

On to San Diego

2009-10-17T20:37:00.001-07:00

While we were home we got to spend some time with family and friends.

Passing the Queen Mary at Long Beach.

Met with a long time friend From High School at Newport Beach and had a wonderful visit.

Dana Point is a beautiful Harbor to come into.

Rock Art done by a local, all of the rocks are balanced and when the wind blows them down he comes back and re does them, no glue, no support.

This is why we were stuck an additional 3 days in Dana Point. High swell warnings until Friday so we left for San Diego Saturday. Decided to skip Oceanside due to local knowledge telling us that it is not a good harbor to enter.

The latest craze in California is paddling surfboards around the harbor and out into the ocean.

And the scenery is not too bad either! Eat your heart out guys.

Square Rigger at the Oceanography Institute.

The owner takes this out occasionally on nice weekends. Roomer is that for a 1 million dollar donation he is allowed to park the boat at the Oceanography Institute. Name of the boat is "Fighting Irish" . Notra Dame grad ya think?

Welcome to SUNNY SAN DIEGO! On the trip down from Dana Point we ran into fog about an hour out and had 1/4 to 1/2 mile visibility all the way into San Diego, thank heavens for chart plotters, GPS and radar.

Last leg to San Diego

2009-10-13T10:37:00.001-07:00

The day before we left San Pedro LaVon had an abscess and we had to bicycle to a dentist and they had to pull a tooth, fun fun fun. We moved on to Alamitos bay to Long Beach Y.C. for two days and to Seal Beach Y.C. for one day, LaVon still had some pain so the wonderful friends we met in San Pedro came down and got us and took her back to the dentist, he said that was normal so we spent the rest of the day at our friends house, I helped him trouble shoot a problem with his new (used) diesel Pickup and stayed for pizza and, spaghetti for LaVon (she's on soft food for now.)
Alamitos Bay has shopping close by so we peddled around, called a friend in Newport Beach that I went to Hi School with and made arrangements to met with them.
Moved on to Newport Beach, stayed at Balboa Y.C. had a wonderful visit with our friends, they had us up to their home for dinner, ran us around looking for my missing chock, still no luck, they took us out to dinner the next night, had a great visit but never long enough!
Our friends are going to try to get to San Diego while we are there so Brian and I can celebrate our birthday together (same day).
After two days we moved on to Dana Point, beautiful harbor very friendly people at the Dana West Y.C. had a great dinner at the club, gleaned all the local knowledge I could and met several people that have made the trip to Mexico before.
Can't get into Oceanside until the 14th so Dana West Y.C. let us stay another day, hope the weather is OK on Thurs. There is a front moving in and we heard that there will be 10' surf at San Diego this weekend. We did have some rain last night (Mon.) here at Dana Point. Hope to get into San Diego on Fri. although we could pull into Mission Bay if it gets bad, either way it will be a 6 or 7 hr. day after a 4 hr. run on Thurs.
We saw on the weather last night that Baja is going to get hit with a tropical storm 60+ mile an hour winds and 3 to 4 inches of rain, hope theweather clears up before Nov.
That's it until we hit San Diego.
Irv

A few pics

2009-10-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

I finally got this to download some pictures, although it downloads from bottom to top so these are in reverse order of our trip. Top is a restored "Red Car" one of L.A'.s original street cars, it runs up and down the waterfront in San Pedro.

The San Pedro Maritime Museum is in the background and the 16" gun and projectile 6' in front of the gun are from one of the Iowa Class Battleships from WWII.

When we were heading to LA we had Dolphins running under our bow just one or two feet from the boat.

Exchanging burgees with Channel Islands Yacht Club. For the non boaters a burgee is the small flag we fly on our bow showing which club we belong to and exchanging with another club signifies friendship between the two clubs.

We have been warned to watch where we anchor if we go out to one of the Islands because they have a lot of kelp beds and it not only can get wrapped up on your anchor but it can get wrapped up in your propellers and get sucked up into your cooling water intakes.

At Avila Bay we saw 50 or 60 sea lions thrashing in the water all around the bay and at one time all around our boat. We finally figured out that they were feeding on bait fish that came into the bay and the group of them moved around the bay as the fish moved, it was quite a sight to watch this huge area of churning water move around the bay.

We will be heading to Newport Beach tomorrow, weather has been low to mid 70's during the day and mid to hi 50's at night, cooler than normal. Oh well it beats 50's and 30's.

WE"RE BACK!!

2009-10-05T18:23:00.001-07:00

Well We've been home to visit friends and family, check on my son, his cancer has returned and that means more chemo, so most of our trip home was good but not all of it was good news.
When we arrived back at the boat it was filthy from all of the fires around L.A. we spent 5 hrs cleaning. internet
We met with friends from Cabrillo Beach Y.C. and had dinner with them then moved over to L.A.Y.C. LaVon got up at 1AM Sat. morning with her jaw swollen and Mon. I had to get her into a dentist and he had to pull a tooth.
Tomarrow Tue. we will be moving to Alimitos Bay for a couple days at Long Beach Y.C. and one day at Seal Beach Y.C. From there I still have to make arrangements for moorage at Newport Beach, Oceanside, Dana Point,and then on to San Diego. We are planning to spend about a month in San Diego, this moving every 2 to 3 days is getting old but I can see why the Yacht Clubs have to limit how long someone stays on their guest dock.
I just got an e-mail from San Diego Y.C. about more paperwork, the port of San Diego wants info on all boats coming into port for the FUBAR trip and Homeland Security requires a decal for us to re-enter the US, thats two more forms and fees to send in----I need a secretary and a filing cabinet! It's a whole lot easier to go up to the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound!
I'll try to download some pictures when we have faster internet, I tried to download a picture and after 5 min. I gave up, this ATT air card is too slow.
I'll write more next time we move.
Irv

Boat Drinks

2009-08-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

We've had Sunshine and that puts me in a Jimmy Buffet frame of mind, things like "Boat Drinks" and "The weather is here wish you were beautiful my minds not too clear," and so on. I'm sorry you have to be a Jimmy Buffet fan to understand that, I was just rambling.
Again we have met some wonderful people here at Cabrillo Beach yacht club, one member ran me around to used marine stores to look for the chock that I'm still looking for and another member ran me around to marinas to check on moorage for Sept. when we head home, and they invited us to their home for dinner one night. We did burger nite at the club and what a spread, you had your choice of veggie, chicken, seafood or 1/3# beef pattie, w or w/o cheese, coleslaw, salad, baked beans, french fries and all the deli condiments, B. L. T. onions, pickles, relish,and a selection of mustard's.
After we used our reciprocal time there we moved 1/4 mi. to L.A. yacht club for three days and they said that I can stay five days since I have to wait until 9/1 to get into a moorage. We did find a reasonable moorage, I say reasonable because we found prices from $483 a month at a live aboard marina in the industrial area to $1780 a month in the upscale area and one marina wanted a copy of a survey (boat inspection) within the last 24 months.
We have had two big fires down here within 6 to 10 miles away that have burned about 1000 acres and we got up this morning and the boat was covered with ash and it came in through the open windows and we had big flakes inside the boat so we have spent the day cleaning.
This is a great adventure but we really miss family and friends back home. Would we do it again? Only to meet the wonderful people that we have met, as for the boating----it's really hard to beat the Columbia River and Puget Sound for great boating.
We will move into our slip on the 1st and we have our plane tickets out of Long Beach on the 8th with our return flight on the 29th.
We want to stay home for most of the month because the bad news is that the Dr's. think that my youngest son's cancer has returned, say a prayer for him.
We probably won't post anything until we come back to Calif. unless I download the camera and I put some pictures on here. So until then, we're thinking of you.
Irv & LaVon

Found some sunshine

2009-08-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

Had a great dinner and visit with Josie and her mother, we stayed another 2 days at the municipal marina in Marina Del Rey so we could meet up with Ralph and Jackie for lunch as they were on their way to a wedding at nearby Manhattan Beach the next day. So great to meet up with some of the wonderful people that we have met along the way.
We left Sun. noon and made the run to Redondo Beach, nice trip the ocean was pretty smooth but we still had low clouds 1 to 2 mile visibility, met a couple from Seattle that are headed back to Mexico.
Mon. A.M. we headed down to L.A. About noon we pulled into Cabrillo marina at San Pedro, again low clouds and 1 to 2 miles visibility until we arrived then the sun came out and it got up to the low 80's. The weather is supposed to get back to normal, mid 80's the rest of the week.
I'm going to try to meet up with someone from here that is going on FUBAR (the trip to Mexico) when we are going, then I have to get busy on the phone and try to find a place to moor the boat for a month so we can come home for 2 to 3 weeks.
Plans are to come home on the 8th and stay until the 29th so I need to find out where I'm going to leave the boat so I know what airport we'll fly out of.
We look forward to spending time with family and friends, we miss everyone!

LaVon's comments: Girls the water hasn't been so bad, had couple times when uncomfortable for me at least. Meeting people along the way is great but seems like you don't get to much "girl time." Moving so often isn't always great, would love to find a place to be for a couple of weeks to stay and feel more like home than nomads. Places around here are few and far between to just go anchor out, sit back relax and lay around. I will admit it is a great place to own a kayak as you can go around the marinas with ease. These guys down here even go out in the ocean. NOT for me. Does make it a little challenging coming in to a channel or harbor with all the kayaks and the latest thing, people on surf boards standing paddling in the middle of the channel. For some reason big boats coming in or out of the harbor doesn't mean they should get out of the way!!!!! I am ready to come home for a visit although the weather has finally improved and am looking forward to finally getting a tan. Have learned one thing: YOU CANT ALWAYS GO SHOPPING AND JUST BUY THINGS 'CAUSE YOU DON'T ALWAYS HAVE THE SPACE TO STORE IT. Rule #1. Something comes something goes.

That's all for now
Irv & LaVon

On to Marina Del Rey

2009-08-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

Had a great time with beer and bocci ball Thurs. evening at Channel Island Y.C., then went to the Sat. evening "name that tune" dinner/dance, that was a real hoot. This is a MUST stop for any one heading south, they are a great club and a lot of fun, they made us promise to stop by when we go back north, one member gave LaVon his cowboy hat and told her that she has to return it on our way back she wound up leaving it at the club with a note that we don't have room for more "stuff" on board but we will be back.
Sunday we headed to Marina Del Rey, great trip 1' swells at 8 secs. some of the time the ocean was like glass, little or no wind until we got to Marina Del Rey. We had dolphins running under our bow, 75 degrees out sun shinning.
Marina Del Rey is a busy harbor on a Sun. afternoon but they have traffic separator buoys in the channel coming in and out. Power boats stay on the outside edge of the channel by the jetties on the way in and out and the sailboats are restricted to the center of the channel this make for a great system.
We had a little trouble finding the guest dock, we had a non boater receptionist on the phone trying to give us directions so we tied up on an end tie and ask a member that was close by on his boat "where is your guest dock" he pointed it out and came down to help us tie up.
The club is closed on Mon. and Tues. as many of the clubs are so there is not much activity around here. I peddled off to a chandlery, I'm still looking for a chock to replace the one we had torn off up in the delta, no luck!
We called our friend from Pittsburg Y.C. and made plans for dinner then we peddled off to Costco, now that is a real challenge, go shopping at Costco on your bicycle. We could only buy what would fit in 4 grocery bags because the saddlebags on each bike will only hold 2 bags. We got a few strange looks at Costco as we loaded our bikes but you do what you gotta do. One guy commented "bicycles, I like to see that" I didn't tell him that we burned 700 gallons of diesel to get here!
In another 3 to 4 days we have to meet another friend probably at Redondo Beach then on to San Pedro, L.A., Long Beach, Los Alamitos Bay and around then we will fly home for two to three weeks.
Weather here is still cool and overcast until noon and then in the 70s in the afternoon, not as warm as normal, we do want to make a trip out to Catalina Island but we may not do that until we come back from our trip home.
We're having a great time, keep in touch, we love to read the comments people leave.
Irv & LaVon

Oxnard

2009-08-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

8/6 We fueled up at Ventura and learned a lesson, when I call around to check on fuel price some places quote full price with sales tax and some quote pump price that does not include sales tax.
We left at 10:00 before the afternoon wind picked up but by the time we got 10 miles down the coast, Oxnard had small craft warnings out and we followed a commercial fishing boat into the harbor. When those guys come in you know it's getting bumpy out on the ocean.
We spent 3 days, with SUNSHINE hanging out at Channel Islands Yacht Club. A great bunch of members, Thursday we were invited up for $1 beer, $1 hot dogs, and bocci ball, Friday night for potluck and Saturday for their dinner night. Sunday,after our allotted 3 free days we moved 1/2 mile down the channel to Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club for 3 days there. Monday evening we dinghied back to CIYC for movie night and popcorn. We had been invited to come back down to CIYC for 4 days before we leave (they waved their 3 day limit).
Sunday there is a great farmers market at the marina and we rode our bikes to town, Monday we dinghied thru the residential canals, for 1 to 1.5 million you to can have a house on the canal with your boat at your dock on the canal, we cruised on up to a shopping center with a dinghy dock and bought groceries, came back to the boat and puttered, cleaning windows and painting the boarding ladder.
Monday had cooled off and Tuesday was overcast all day, 65 degrees, the weather calls for cool days for the next week, about 15 degrees below normal. They call it their marine layer I call it overcast and chilly!
This (Tues.) was a good day to stay inside, I spent several HRS. online trying to figure what forms I need to fill out and mail to F.C.C to get my "restricted radio operaters license" (required to use your radio outside of the U.S.)
Tomorrow, Wed. we will go back to CIYC for beer, hot dogs, bocci ball, and then Sun. head out for a 5HR trip to Venice, Marina Del Rey to meet a friend we met at Pittsburg Yacht Club when we were up on the Delta.
That's all for now
Irv & LaVon

Monterey to Ventura Harbor

2009-08-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

We left Monterey at 5:30 A.M. and headed out on a 13HR trip to Morro Bay, pulled in and tied up as they were finishing their burger night so we ate dinner and then signed in. Morro Bay YC does not recognize any reciprocals, Yacht Club member or not eveyone pays $30 a night but they expect a free reciprocal wherever they go because "they are the only safe harbor on that stretch of the coast"---WELL excuse me but I could have anchored in the harbor for free and I let them know on my return trip I would anchor out and not support them by buying their burgers or drinks, I told them that to attract new members our club has to offer a reason to belong to a Yacht Club and that reciprocals were part of attracting new members. Oh well I vented, paid my $30 and learned a lesson.
One of their members I talked to does not agree with their policy but he says "I'm only one vote" and he told us that he has a mooring bouy at San Luis Obispo and we were welcome to use it so the next morning we went around the point to San Luis Obispo and hung out on the bouy for two days. Each day we would watch 50 to 60 young sea lions jump and frolic around in a group just stiring up the water, at one time we had them all around our boat just stiring the water into a foam, when I saw the pelicans diving into the group of sea lions I figured out that they must be circling around small bait fish and feeding.
The seas laid down a little and on 8/1/09 at 4:30AM we headed out on the 11HR run to Santa Barbara with 2' seas and 5kt wind for most of the way.
We had 3'-4' seas at 8sec's around Pt. Conception for about an hour and then it smoothed out again and we are now offically in "Southren California" waters .
We spent the next day checking out Santa Barbara, the shops and the historical spots, we found out that from here on south we need to call ahead and make reservations at Yacht Clubs so we called ahead to Ventura and Oxnard and made reservations for the next two stops.
8/3/09 we left at 11:30 A.M. and made the 5HR run to Ventura, calm seas and very little wind it was a good trip, my Nobeltec navigation program did have problems reading the charts that I downloaded from NOAA so I had to run from the flybridge and use the chartplotter up there.
Ventura was great we woke up to sunshine! No fog in the mornings, 73 to 75 degrees, not very many members around because they are on a week long cruise to Catialina Island but the ones we met are friendly.
Tomarrow 8/6/09 we will move on to Oxnard to Channel Island YC for a few days and to Pacific Corinthian YC for a couple days then we will cruise down the coast to Marina Del Rey and meet up with a really nice gal that we met at Pittsburg YC.
We'll let you know if we see any whales on the way down the coast, the tour boats out of Ventura have been spotting Blue Whales and Humpback Whales.
Irv & LaVon

Moss Landing and Monterey

2009-07-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

Lots of new pictures on some of the older posts also. Those have labels for the pictures at the bottom of the post in underlined blue font.

This post I have described each picture, as you read it, it describes the pictures from bottom to top.

Sailboat races at Santa Cruz and Lighthouse.

Here are more pictures, lots of sea lions at Moss Landing and sea otters, these are not the cute little ones that get on your boat like we had in Puget Sound, these sea otters are as big as a sea lion pup and ugly. Glad they are not getting on the boat!

Also have pictures of sailboarders in S.F. Bay skimming around big ships and across the ships wake.

We moved on to Monterey, very narrow entrance to the marina but they have lots of history here, pics. of the old Mexican Customs House, the first brick house next to the Whaling Station where whalers lived.

There are several old Adobe Homes, as well as all of the foo foo shops along the old "Cannery Row" and the Monterey Aquarium.

Wed. the 29th will be a long day we will be leaving about 5:30 AM to head to Morro Bay, we are going to bypass San Simion because we have been told that it's not a good idea to try to land a dinghy on the beach and they have no dock there. Morro Bay is about 110 miles so at 8kts thats about 14hrs, hope to arrive by 7:30PM.

Irv & LaVon

Santa Cruz and Moss Landing

2009-07-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

Had a great time in Santa Cruz, walked to town, not much in downtown, but the boardwalk and pier are interesting the boardwalk is like a perpetual carnival with rides, food booths and circus acts, the pier has a lot of interesting shops and the weather was warm, in the mid 70's. After two days the weather pattern changed and the swells were changing from the NW to the SW which means that the swells will come straight into the harbor entrance so we moved on to Moss Landing, about 25 miles down Monterey Bay, it was kind of a bumpy ride with the swells coming on our starboard beam as they were changing from NW to SW, big change in weather, morning fog and PM low clouds mid 60's, very accommodating people at Elkhorn YC. We were going to move on to Monterey YC Sat. but we stayed for a benefit dinner Sat. for a member that lost his home in a fire.
After checking weather and wave reports it looks like we will not be heading south for a few days, local knowledge tells us not to go out in a swell from the south so we contacted Monterey YC by e-mail for reciprocal moorage (that's how their web site is set up for contact) and first I was ask if we were a sail boat, I replied no a power boat, then they responded that they have a 30,000 lb limit on their dock so it looks we will stay in Moss Landing another day and then move on to Monterey Harbor Marina for a couple days before heading out again.
We did visit a Shakespeare museum that is in the process of moving here from LA because they lost there property in LA to progress and condos. They have some books from the 1500 and 1600's lots of memorabilia, furniture and pictures from the old Globe theater in LA.
Sunday they are having an antique fair downtown that we will go check out.
I'll write more when we move on, I'll post some more pictures in a few days.
Irv & LaVon

Rough Road To Recovery

2009-07-21T20:14:00.004-07:00

Sat. we peddled to the other side of the island to a swap meet, no chock but LaVon found a cutting board for 50 cents, then we peddled over to Alameda Y.C. to see if we could meet two gals that are going to go on FUBAR to Mexico when we do. They were not there but they were signed up for a birthday dinner Sat. night and we were invited to come to it, we went, we met the gals, we had dinner, we danced and had a great time, it reminded me of the great folks at Tyee Y.C. made some new friends and look forward to seeing them at the FUBAR trip.

Sun. we went to Clipper Cove at Treasure Island under the Oakland Bay bridge and the wind blew all afternoon and night. Mon. we went to Travis Marina at the north footing of the Golden Gate Bridge, don't believe a harbormaster when they tell you "sure it's deep enough at low tide" we got up at 6A.M. to leave at 6:45 to catch slack tide over the bar, guess what, we were hard aground we had to wait until almost 8A.M. to leave so that meant that we had to fight an incoming tide and a rough bar, the Columbia River bar may be the roughest but S.F. bar has to be the longest, we pounded out for an hour and ten minutes before it was smooth enough to turn south.

The NOAA weather said 3' to 5' seas at 8 secs, we bounced down the coast in 6' to 8' seas at 6 to 8 secs. following seas (pushing under us from behind) for the next 4 hours, so we bypassed Half Moon Bay and decided to go on to Santa Cruz, the seas eased up for a while then about 2 hrs. north of Santa Cruz the seas picked up and started breaking, we were pushed to port then to starboard, foam from the breaking waves passing under us, we skated down the back side of waves sideways until the rudders would grab and straighten us out then the next wave would push under us, we were pushed as fast as 14.4kts and skated down the backside as slow as 6.6kts, that went on for a little over an hour before it flattened out, that was tiring, constantly on the wheel hard left then hard right, the last 45 mins. into Santa Cruz was pretty good, now a couple of days off to explore and recover.

All and all it's been a good trip I know the boat will take more abuse that we will. Meeting great new friends, look forward to seeing some of them in L.A. and San Diego.

LaVons version: Met some real nice people, partied, shopped and then a miserable trip to Santa Cruz. Saw water out the side windows and don't even have to clean the walkways it was done for us. Boat rolls farther than you think without tipping over so take drugs and sit down.

Road Rash

2009-07-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well we walked into Berkley and cruised up and down 4th ST (thier shopping district) -ho hum- lots of yuppie shops, kind of like NW 23rd ST in Portland. We walked around town a little and picked up some groceries before heading back to the boat, about 5 to 6 miles round trip. Sunday we walked out the Berkley Pier, about 1/2 to 3/4 mi. long and thats only 1/2 as long as the original wooden pier, the channel is so shallow that they had to build the pier out to deep water (18'to 20') to reach the old sailing ships so they could unload.
Monday we headed to Alameda and stopped at Oakland Y.C. nice people, nice club they share part of their docks with Encinel Y.C. also a nice club and nice members and they have a swimming pool. One of Encinel's members ran me around to several boat yards to look for a chock, no luck, only parts for small boats, Sat. we will go to a swap meet at Ballena Bay Y.C. on the other side of the island, I did find Calif. chart cartridges for my chart plotter at a used parts store, we got our bikes out and rode down 10 blocks to the local shopping center, had our pictures taken to renew our Passports, Wed. we had lunch at the club then we rode across the island to the Post Office at the Mall and mailed our passports in, then we cruised around the residential neighborhoods on our way back to look at some of the beautiful victorian homes and the cute '30's stucco bungalows, 4 1/2 hrs. on a bike will make your butt pucker!!
Thurs. I spent some time on the computer designing cards with our boat and our names on them because we have traded cards with so many people we ran out of the ones we had, then I rode to the other end of the island to an industrial boat yard and they are going to look for a chock for me. When I left they gave me a pen with their name and infomation on so I could call them, as I was riding off I was trying to hold the pen up with one hand and read it and I did not see the speedbump! Opps, over the bars and ROAD RASH! Looks worse than it really is.
Sun. we will be heading out to the Bay and plans are to head out and down the coast on Monday. We'll write more when we get to Half moon Bay.
Irv & LaVon

Berkley

2009-07-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

We left Vallejo Fri. AM and pounded our way across San Pablo Bay, 4' chop at about 4 sec. with 25kt to 28kt wind, we took some spray on the windshield as we pounded into some of the swells.

Arrived at Berkley YC about noon, the channel coming into Berkley is about 3/4 mi. long and 7' to 8' deep, that's a little unerving when I draw 4 1/2', one eye on the depthfinder and one eye on the channel markers. I just can't get used to running with 2 1/2' to 3' of water under me.

No one at the club when we arrived so we just tied up, when the club mgr. arrived we checked in and were told that they are having their regular TGIF sailboat races and BBQ tonight and we are welcome to come (just what I need, more food).
Berkley is mostly sailboats and they are friendly but I don't understand the classes, the horns , the cannons, or the flags, but they get a real hoot out of their races. At Vallejo they were preping an 82' ocean racer for a 42 mile race to Angel Island and back, now that was intresting to go through, an owners cabin,a radio room, a galley and 22 bunks, very spartin no frills.
Today we are going to walk into town and explore Berkley.
Thanks to everyone that have left comments we love to hear from you.
Irv & LaVon

More Pictures

2009-07-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

I've finaly figured out how to do the pictures, the captions for the pictures are at the bottom of the blog in blue script.

Pig out in Pittsburg

2009-07-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

We spent Thurs. and Fri. moving boats and checking out the fire at a nearby park that was started from early fire works, Rich ran us over there on the patio boat and then showed us around the canals with condos that have their own boat slips at each condo. Fri. we had a potluck dinner on the dock and Sat. Ralph did ribs and chicken with more potluck side dishes, then Sun. it was leftovers. I think I'm gaining weight!

Sun. evening the club had what they call First Sunday Jazz, Blues & Broadway, a five piece group and about five or six performers each doing a couple of songs the first set then one song the second set, then all of them alternating on the finale.

Sat. Ralph Tocci introduced us to a marina owner from Alameda and he is going to help locate a replacement chock for our boat when we get to Alameda, we also met a Pittsburg YC member that also belongs to L.A. Yacht Club, her son and mother belong to other Southern California Yacht Clubs, so when we met her in L.A. she will help us get guest berthing in Southern California.

We plan to meet Ralph and his wife in Long Beach in August when they come down for a wedding.

We hated to leave but it was time to move on. We had a good trip down to Vallejo Tues. eve, Wed they had sailboat races, Thurs. we went over to Mare Island Naval Museum, very interesting, we walked around by the old "Officers Homes" they are 8,000 to 10,000 sq ft turn of the century homes, then we toured a WWII gun boat that is being restored.

Fri. AM we will head back down to S.F. Bay probably to Berkley then Treasure Island then on to Alameda.

Back at Pittsburg

2009-07-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

I got the toe rail fixed and varnished and LaVon sewed the torn canvas, I dove on the boat and pulled weeds off of the port shaft.

For those of you that are wondering how my garden grows I'll include pictures, my lettuce is doing great, my tomato plant rotted off at the stem, I think I watered it too much.

Check the bottom of the picture and you will see the missing chock and the stripped piece of anchor line that I had to cut out.

Mothball Fleet

2009-07-07T22:33:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of pictures of the Mothball Fleet and the Battleship Iowa near Benicia.

My first clue that the wind blows on the delta was the wind generators.

The Delta Has NOT Been Kind to Us

2009-06-30T20:39:00.000-07:00

We cruised up to Stockton Fri. and up the Calaveras river, 1/2 the width of the Multnomah channel by Coon Island and about 6' deep in spots. I just can't get used to the shallow water in the delta.
We tied up at Stockton Yacht Club, very nice grounds and clubhouse, met a couple of members, walked about 1 1/2 miles to Safeway and back, the club was mostly deserted over the weekend, figured most people were home getting ready for the big holiday next weekend.
LaVon's exbrother inlaw came up from Clovis with his wife and two daughters to see us on Sun, had a nice visit and they took us out to lunch,before they left.
Sat. was a record for temp in Stockton 108, we had 113 Fri and 115 Sat at the boat. I had to mount a fan behind the refrigerator to keep the temp down to 40 in the fridge.
I was going to dive on the boat but the caretaker said that he wouldn't dive in the Calaveras if you have an open cut so I'll wait until we get back to Pittsburg.
We left Mon. and headed down river looking for an anchorage the wind picked up so we pulled behind an Island in a narrow channel (these islands are sandbars 1 to 2 feet underwater with tule weeds growing out of them) not much protection when the boat is 20' high, as we dropped our stern anchor and tried to turn into the wind to drop our bow anchor the wind picked up to 20 to 25 kts and kept blowing us towards the leevie (ROCKS). Now we are pulling sideways on our anchors and we have blown near the leevie and we can not hand pull on the stern anchor and the chain on the bow anchor wants to roll off of the front roller if we try to pull it in so I try to manuver the boat back and forth so LaVon can pull the anchors in and the wind blowes us so hard that the stern chock (the guide for the rope) rips out of the toe rail, bolts and all, it flies out to never never land never to be seen again and rips the rear canvas at the opening for the rope as well as stripping the braided cover off of about two feet of the anchor line right smack dab in the middle of a 150' line. Now it's a panic to get the anchors up and get out of there.
When we left we had 25 to 28kt winds so we decided to head back down to Pittsburg and a dock. As we neared Antioch we had steady 28 to 35kt winds and up to 39kt gusts, we were heeled over 10 to 15 degrees like a sailbote.
We pulled into Pittsburg with 15 to 20kt wind and it dies down in the boat basin so we can dock OK. Mon we relaxed and assesed the damage, not too bad. Tues. I glued and screwed the toe rail bought a dowel and glued it in the old screw holes, Wed. I'll sand and refinish the varnish, then when we get to Alameda We'll but a new chock, I dove on the boat and found a bunch of tule weeds wrapped around the shaft at the prop so I pulled them off, starboard side was OK.
We will be staying at Pittsburg thru the 4th then we will head back to the S.F. Bay area.
We are at the same Lat and Lon as before when we were at Pittsburg, you won't see us on google earth unless the sattilite goes over when we are here but you can see the location.
Thanks to all that leave comments.
Irv & LaVon

$?%# HAPPENS

2009-06-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

Well we left Pittsburg YC and went to a recommended anchorage at Potato Slough, all flat lands and the wind blows, we anchored and the second day the wind let up and it was very nice Tues and Wed until noon, the wind came up with a vengeance, we were going to leave but we decided to stay put with the wind, WWeeelll God has other plans, with 20+ knot winds our anchor drug and our stern wound up in the toolie weeds, couldn't hook the anchor trying to pull it in so I had to start the engines and try to move away from the weeds the wind kept pushing us to shallow water as I tried to turn and back out to the channel we stirred a LOT of mud and when we got away we had a bad vibration on the port side. After getting out of the slough and back into the main river channel the vibration was not as bad so I hope it is weeds wrapped on the shaft and/or prop and not a damaged prop.
I guess I'll get to try out my hookah diving gear when we get to Stockton!
We went up river about 1/2 way to Stockton and found a partially protected anchorage so we will stay until Fri.
We are at 38.00.230N 121.26.671W

Still in Pittsburg

2009-06-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

For those of you that use google or google earth we are at 38.02.266'N and 121.53.012'W in the boat basin at Pittsburg.
We were going to head out on Wed. and members of the Yacht Club wanted us to stay for their Wed. nite pot luck dinner. What can I say about the hospitality we have recieved here, it's great!
Ralph Tocci of Tocci Yachts loaned us his car to run to the store now they want us to stay for the Thurs. nite cruise in downtown and dancing at the Liberty Hotel, oh yes and there is the Clubs Fri. nite dinner and Sat. farmers market in town. So plans have changed and we might leave here Sun. If we don't leave pretty soon I figure they will have to bill me for monthly dues!
There is not a lot to do in old downtown Pittsburg but they do have a great museum about the history of this area a nice park and some interesting old buildings.
We'll check in next week when we move on.
Irv & LaVon

SUNSHINE

2009-06-15T19:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry I havent written sooner, thanks to everyone that have posted comments it's great to hear from you.
Well we left Bodega Bay and cruised down to Drakes Bay behind Reyes Point, much better protected than Bodega Bay, stayed 2 days then picked the tide and current to cross the potato patch and into the San Francisco Bay, LaVon says the "Golden Arches maybe Gold but the Golden Gate Bridge is RED!!"
Went into Sausalito, stopped to see the broker that we used when we bought this boat, not much in Sausalito, marina was $1 a foot so we called SF Yacht Club to use our recipriocal---$1 a ft with a recipriocal, no thanks so we cruised up to Vallejo YC, really nice people. Vallejo is "recipriocal," you pay what your club charges.
We signed up to stay 2 days got lots of information about cruising the Delta, walked downtown and did the foo foo shops, when we returned the boat smelled, checked it out and I had a battery overcharging because of a dead cell, had lots of offers to haul us around to get a battery, found one but it would be Mon. before we could get it, another member ran us up to the local chandlery to pick up a chart of the Delta up to Sacramento, we stayed Sat. for their dinner and met some visiting members from Loch Lomond YC and got an invitation to stop at their club on the way back. Went over to the city marina to get fuel, cheapest in the area, $2.499 with a Boat US discount, 400gal for 99.8 HRS of running = 4 gal per HR
I can't say enough about the hospitality at Vallejo YC!
We had our battery delivered Mon. AM and headed up river, should have waited another hour or two, they have real currents here in the river, we had a 3knt current against us for the next 5 HRS. We did pull into Suisun Bay and cruise around the Pacific Mothballed Fleet, then on up to Pittsburg YC, wind waves and small swells all of the way. I was hoping we would get out of some of the 10kt to 15kt winds, no such luck, my first clue was the miles and miles of wind powered generators along the north shore and inland---but we did find sunshine!
I'll try to write more often.
Irv & LaVon

Exciting Times

2009-06-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

6/5/09 last night in Eureka, one liveaboard took us to Costco on 6/4/09 and when we got back to the boat we walked downtown went to the local musuem cruised the local bookstores, neat Victorian town.
Fri. evening the couple that took us to Costco stopped by to say goodbye then later another couple stopped by, while they were on our boat an altercation between two other livaboards happened on the boat behind us and the police had to be called, Exciting Times!!!!
6/6/09 left 6AM for Shelter Cove uneventful trip except for the Coast Guard pulling along side off of Punta Gorda and asking us to slow down, they wanted to know where we came from and what our destination is, if we had life jackets on board then they zoomed off, 3' swells 5 to 10kt winds. low clouds 55 degrees 8HRs later dropped anchor about 2PM, went to call the kids and LaVon's friend to let them know we arrived so they won't call the Coast Guard to send out a search party, guess what---no cell service!!! What now?
I called the Coast Guard and Noyo River answered, I ask if they could make a call to our family so that they would not report us missing and cause an unnessary search, I was told that the Coast Guard does not respond to personal request's. As I was thinking over my options Humbolt Bay Coast Guard station responded and said they will make the call, whew at least somebody has some smarts.
Left Shelter Cove at 3AM as in 0-dark thirty, headed out on another 15HR run (not many places to stop in Southren Oregon and Northren Calif.) had a good trip saw light houses and whales, same weather 3' swells and 5to 10kt winds low clouds 55 degrees untill south of Cape Arena, winds picked up and swells ran 4 to 5' untill just North of Bodega Bay then it settled back down.
Pulled into Bodega Bay and anchored about 6PM, going to rest and stay two days, Tues looks good to go 25 miles to Point Reyes and Wed. looks best for weather and current to go in SF Bay to Sausalito.
Will write more when something exciting happens, like maybe sunshine!
Irv & LaVon

2009-06-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

We met several people that were going north, called a friend of LaVon's and they stopped by, took us to lunch and shopping. When we returned to the marina a 75' Nordhaven hull #1 pulled in for fuel, looks like a huge sportfisher instead of a trawler, oh well I guess you build what the market buys.
Well we left Newport Sun. about 7AM and ran south to Coos Bay dodging crab pots all of the way, about 11 1/2 HRS. uneventful crossing of the bar and ran upriver to the City docks, farther than I remembered, about 7 to 8 miles.
Called my cousin and he and his wife stopped by Sun. evening and came back and took us to lunch Mon. another free meal, this is great! Just kidding, I thank both couples for lunch it was very gracious of them.
We left Coos Bay 6AM to make the long run to Cresent City CA. not too many crab pots, several net dragers out on the ocean, lots of crab pots and prawn pots coming into Cresent City and it was at sunset 15 1/2 HRS. What a hole, 1/3 of their docks are missing, 20 amp electrical, whats there is not in good shape, they told us that they lost everything in the '64 tidal wave and then lost the new docks 3 YRS ago in a storm.
We left the next morning at 10AM and headed to Eureka in 1/4 Mi. visibility(been in fog, low clouds and 55 degree weather since we left) no crab pots going south but we did see whales.
Pulled into our slip up river at Eureka at 6PM, had help tieing up and 3 couples came by to greet us, got offers for cocktails for Thur. eve and offers for running us around town if we need any thing. Very friendly people and helpful marina staff, the marina has a man walk the docks every AM with a brush and scrubs off seagull droppings, free showers, I would recomend this stop to anyone. We will spend 2 to 3 days here after our two long days running (12 and 15 HR days).
Had a little rain last night and it's forcast to have scattered showers today and mid to hi 50's the rest of the week, no sun,---HA-HA everyone back home is suffering with 80 to 90 degrees, don't be too enveious of our 55 degrees and FOG!!!!!!!
Sat. we should leave for Shelter Cove and anchor for the night and then another long run of about 15 HRS Sun. to Bodega Bay. We'll wright more when we get there.
Irv & LaVon

We're on the Ocean!

2009-05-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

Well it's Thursday and we are in Newport, We did the Memeorial Weekend cruise with the club then ran downriver to Longview Yacht Club Tues. Went down to Illwaco Wed and left at 5:30 AM this morning, had a good trip down the coast, following seas at 3' about 6 secounds, made good time pulled into Newport channel about 5:00 PM, thats where the swells out of the north and the wind out of the north at 18 to 20 kts played hell with us comming in the channel.
We were taking the wind and swells on our port beam all of the way in, scared the begeeses out of LaVon, rolled us pretty hard a couple of times, lost our little TV most of our dishes and some of our glasses, took about 2hrs. to clean up, looks like a trip to the thrift store in Newport.
Looks like Sun. will be the best day to move on to Coos Bay, We will let you know how that goes.