I’ve recently mentioned snorkeling in Baja. This is not as easy for me as it might be for other folks. See, when I was very young and first learning to swim in a tiny neighborhood pool, older kids would play this game where 3 of them would pile on top of a younger kid and…
So. There we were in 57 feet of water in Bahia Agua Verde, with a busted anchor windlass. GB believed after some serious testing* that the problem lay in the electric windlass motor. Which, fortunately, was heavy but portable when next we were at a port with some repair opportunities. GB manfully raised the 66-lb.…
Every cruising port has an informal cruisers’ net on some VHF frequency or another where general cruising and port information is exchanged. La Paz boasts a second cruisers’ net – this one, on VHF 21 about a half hour before the more standard cruisers’ net starts on VHF 22 at 0800 Monday thru Saturday. Both…
Some time ago I posted a stream-of-consciousness list of some of the things that have worked well for us on the Fox after a full year of cruising. Now’s time to discuss what has not worked. Fortunately, there has not been much that has broken or not worked according to expectations. I feel that’s partly…
Half a century. The number of states in the USofA. 3.57 stone. The square root of 2500. The length of the Fox plus 10 feet. The height of the Fox’s mast minus 8 feet. I’m feelin’ it, but in a good way. Left the dock at Shilshole exactly one year ago today. Health could be…
After four days in Guadalajara we traveled a few miles south to Lake Chapala by rental car. At the time it seemed logical to rent a car, not knowing the lay of the land and all, but the next time we make this trip (and it’s likely there will be a next time) we’ll study…
Mazatlan has a tropical climate. For the likes of me, even in December (winter, here) it’s been in the 80s (F), with 70% humidity, man. I get sweaty, sticky, and short of breath. Also? I got attacked by a gang of no-see-ums, the likes I haven’t seen since BC. Check this out: Insects love to…
Some cruisers leave Mazatlan for points south or north but return, sooner or later. Others never leave. I understand why. There’s a lot going on here, and it’s easy to get around. The name "Mazatlan" means "the place of the deer" in Nahuatl. With all the construction going on, I’m not sure whether any of…
One disturbing event on our crossing of the Sea of Cortez. About 1500 (3:00pm) on November 19, out in the middle of freakin’ nowhere, we heard a little bird twittering. Looking around, I saw the critter, in a tiny flash of yellow, black and white: an Audubon’s warbler. Heading east from the Baja peninsula. This…
Seems like the best time to see ocean critters is when there’s no wind and the seas are flat clam. Ocean sunfish (the little ones, it turns out) drift along the surface of a calm daytime sea. The big ones – 10 feet or so, like what the Monterey Bay Aquarium has in their Big…