Update

Well, we haven't been too good about keeping up the blog lately, so here's an update. We've been in La Paz for two weeks, in that time we bought a sewing machine, made a boom tent, installed our inverter, fixed the mast

and went for an overnight sail with our friend Smiley George. We plan on leaving today for Isla Partida, only about 20 miles away, but we'd like to stay a few days, and take it easy. If we have internet we'll keep posting, but otherwise, it could be a while. 

Ensenada to La Paz; 4/13-4/14

After adding 15 gallons of fuel from our jerry cans, we departed Bahia San Quintin, for Turtle Bay; (abrejos is another story). We left the bay with little or no wind, but the motor has been doing fine. 6- 7 knots at 2000 RPM. Overall, an uneventful day, taking care of chores, and getting ready for the night watches. Just before dark we were accompanied by a small pod of dolfins riding the bow. It is really neat to watch them watch you! Jack couldn't figure it out, he always went to the wrong side of the boat to look! Motoring through the darkness, the stars were awesome, not another vessel in sight.. we each had our moments alone with the sea. Karin is starting to get into her watches, she loves flying by herself! I came out to relieve her about 7:15, the sun was up, so I put a line out, and in a few minutes..., the reel was screaming, and after a good fight, we had a small tuna! We cleaned and prepped the fish, and put it in the fridge. Dinner tonight!
 We arrived in Turtle Bay at about 5 PM. Setting the anchor is getting easier, and we feel good about the CQR anchor. We took a panga ashore to grab a few things, then returned to the boat for a great fish dinner.
 The next day we had to top off the fuel, which involved Enrique Jr. bringing out his fuel panga and filling our tanks. After some discussion we adjusted our schedule to stop halfway to Magdalena Bay, at a spot called Abrejos.
Flyin sideways is performing just fine, we had some wind during the day so we sailed a beam reach at about 4 - 5 knots, with some rolly seas. The swell was more westerly than north, so we were quartering along with it, and having a hard time keeping her on heading...another night of motor-
sailing under a moonless sky.

Ensanada to La Paz, 4/11/13, 4/12/13

0830 we arrived in Bahia San Quintin, set the anchor, and started to get warm and unwind....... then from up on deck, I hear Kenny shout; Breaking wave!! As I burst through the companionway, I look to the left, and there's a perfect, glassy 4 footer rolling through the bay! About 100 yds away, so we decided to move.
We decided to put a line out and bottom fish, snagged a tiny little guy, and let him go; caught another one in a few minutes, and mixed it with some cup o noodles.. yummy:)
All through the morning there were baby whales playing in the mouth of the bay, it was amazing, it was the playground.. all the moms were hanging out , protecting the bay! We enjoyed a nice evening and were looking forward to departure in the morning. Jack was pretty calm throughout the entire sail, either his paws got cold, or he's doing a Mickey Mouse impression.
Unfortunately, during the night sail, a piece of conduit inside the mast had come loose, and was beating itself to death. The diesel engine was quiet in comparison. It was going to be a noisy journey.
 We awoke to rain... what forecast?  We carried on and started the next leg to Abreojos (open your eyes), stay tuned!

Ensenada to La Paz, April 10, 2013

 It's been 4 days, waiting for the winds and swells to die down so we can head south. Our good friend Kenny came down from San Diego to make the passage with us, and has been giving good advice and helpful tips along the way. Our major projects taken care of, we feel like we're ready to go!
 Our friends from B dock at Cruiseport came down to cast us off, and at 11:15, we motored out of Ensenada. Around 1:15 the winds came up, and with a 6 ft. following sea, we we're sailing beautifully.
 As we got into deeper water, the depthsounder began to malfunction....... we've seen it before, but this time it really stopped working. Going through the menus to try and reset something, and, magic; it's working again. The wind and swells are increasing to 6-10 ft. and probably 20-25 knots, so we put a reef in the main, and partially furled the genoa, and we still reached 10.5 knots! The wind lasted through the night, it was cold, and we all stood our watches, shortly after 0830 we could make out the coastline for our first anchorage; Bahia San Quintin.

I can't believe it!

Once again trying to post, and...... this could work. I'll add a photo and see what happens.

 o.k., here goes ....

view from the top

 We finally pulled out the Bosun's chair last week and made it up the mast! Karin went first, she was excited to go up, and enjoyed the ride! I enjoyed it too, but would not look forward to trying it at sea. Last minute  (that:s us!) projects and details continue... we're here until the 5th, so the clock is ticking......

Charge it!

Finally... the new alternator and voltage regulator are installed and functioning! It really wasn't too hard, but the wiring and calibration for the voltage regulator took some time. We had lots of help from our friend Pete (the old salt), and our other friends, Kenny, Paul, and Pete.

 We're making the conversion to 100% DC; we've removed our old fridge, and the microwave. Sailors don't need ice, or hot pockets! Hopefully, this week we'll get the solar panels up and running, and we're almost ready to go. Theres going to be a swap meet here at the marina on the 16th, so we'll stay for that and try to get rid of some stuff, then, get outta here! We need to go sailing soon, maybe a day sail or two here in Ensenada next week, then south!