Mountains and Waves

Jay catches a "Big Eye Tuna"

Jay's Post: Mountains and valleys everywhere. The peninsular mountain ranges of Baja California run down the geographic center of the state. The most notable ranges of these mountains are the Sierra de Juarez and the Sierra de San Pedro Martir.  These mineral-rich mountain ranges extend southwards to the Gulf of California, where the western slope becomes wider, forming the Llanos del Berrendo in the border with Baja California Sur. Many of these mountains can be seen from far out at sea.  The mountain ranges located in the center and southern part of the state include the Sierra de La Asamblea, Sierra de Calamajué, Sierra de San Luis and the Sierra de San Borja.  Picacho del Diablo, at 10,175 feet, is the highest peak on the entire peninsula. The valleys between these mountain ranges are located within a climate zone that are suitable for agriculture. These valleys included the Valle de Guadalupe and the Valle de Ojos Negros, areas that produce citrus fruits and grapes that are shipped to consumers in the United States. However, these are not the mountains and valleys of which I speak. The ones I am writing about are found in the ocean, swells that reach 10-15 feet as we travel down the Pacific coast. In a 24 foot sailboat, they look huge as they approach us from behind. As they near, “Little Lara” slowly rises to meet them. And then, if by magic, we find ourselves on top of these mountains of seawater looking down into the valleys far below. Then “Little Lara” begins to slide down the backside of these waves only to reach the valley floor as the next wave approaches. The process then repeats itself over and over again. These mountains and valleys, unlike the ones found on the peninsula do not have names, but they are just as impressive. Thankfully, “Little Lara” was designed to handle them as we slowly sail down the coast.

Peggy's Post: Reflections on Waves

I have decide that waves are a lot like people. A few are angry, mean and spiteful. They get right in our faces and cause fear to surge in our hearts. Some are strong and powerful, intimidating us with their size. Others are headed in the wrong direction, getting in our way, causing us to have to fight our way forward. And then, there are the happy, bubbling and singing wave that we pray for. They keep our spirits up and keep us company along our journey. They help us by moving along with us, pushing us forward on the right course. These are the waves we love!

Marina Cabo San Lucas

Presently we are in Cabo San Lucas. Here we will re-provision “Little Lara, perform some routine maintenance and enjoy being in a marina after anchoring out for the past three weeks. It will be a blessing to be able to attend church again. Next week we will head north, up the Sea of Cortez, to La Paz. Finally, let us express how much we look forward to and enjoy reading all the comments from family and friends. Keep them coming and should you have any questions, please ask.

Hurricane Odile damage to Cabo San Lucas

Who would have thought? --
Swarms of butterflies in the middle of the ocean

Bahia Tortuga

Sightseeing at  "La Bufadora", The Blow Hole

Jay's Post: Typically, our offshore passages have been day hops of forty to sixty miles. This takes us approximately nine to thirteen hours to complete. There have been exceptions, like when we rounded Point Conception, California, which took us twenty-two hours and the sail from Bahia San Carlos to Bahia Tortugas, which took us twenty-nine hours. These long overnight passages tend to wear us out, as one of us is on watch at all times to ensure we remain on coarse, and more importantly we run into nothing and nothing runs into us. Our routine is to spend three hours on watch and three hours off watch. While off watch we read, relax or sleep. For meals we try to eat food that is easy to prepare, like sandwiches, burritos, peanut butter crackers, etc. These offshore meals are eaten when we get hungry, with no fixed schedule. Most of our energy goes into sailing “Little Lara”. As Peggy says, “sailing is hard work, very hard work”. It also can be very tiring.

Sunset at Santo Tomas

All of this changes, however, when we are at anchorage. Then we get a full nights sleep and eat regularly prepared meals. We also enjoy going ashore and seeing the sights and meeting people. With the onset of winter, the days are growing shorter and the nights are growing longer. Once our evening meal is over and the dishes are washed and put away, Peggy frequently asks if it is time for bed. I have to inform her it is only 6:30 PM. If we go to bed to early, then we tend to wake up well before sunrise. Plus, in almost every Mexican town we have visited, there seems to be a band that starts playing music from 7:00 until 10:00 PM. With these bands there is much pounding of drums and blowing of trumpets. This is followed by all kinds of shouting. A lively party of some kind? All this noise makes it difficult to sleep, but it does peaks our curiosity as to what possibly could be going on.

Fish On

Amongst cruisers 9:00 PM is frequently referred to as “Cruiser's Midnight” while at anchor. That is because most cruisers go to bed then. Perhaps it is because they, like us, are tired after the day's activities, or because after sundown there is not much to do on a sailboat, or because you are trying to conserve electricity. Perhaps it is all the hard work that goes into sailing the boat, shopping for provisions, or obtaining fuel. Whatever the reason, not even the Mexican bands prevent sailors from hitting their bunks at “Cruiser's Midnight”.

Barbecued Clams "La Bufadora" 

Peggy's Post: Jay continues to win the fishing contest! After he lost my favorite squid lure (on purpose?), he put a cedar plug lure on the line and almost immediately caught a blue fin tuna. We had a struggle getting the 24” fish into the boat as it didn't fit into our net. But we did enjoy three meals of tuna steaks and fish tacos.

"Turtle Bay"

We are currently anchored in Turtle Bay waiting for some forecasted weather to pass. We have been disappointed the past couple of anchorages to learn that we were unable to attend church because they were several hours away. But we appreciate being able to hold church on the boat. We have scriptures, church manuals and the Ensign on our tablet so we have 'talks' and lessons... but you should hear us singing the hymns! No, you probably should be glad you can't.

When we take the dinghy ashore into little fishing villages, we meet wonderful people who are so happy to help in any way they can. Yesterday, for example, we asked a young man if he knew if there was a church here (we heard that there might be a small branch). He excitedly told us he knew where it was and had seen the missionaries. He gave us a ride to see the church, but we had to disappoint him by letting him know that it was another church.

Dodging rocks, ships and crab pots

The 'gringos' on other boats have been very friendly as well. We just met a family today who have a 2 ½ year old on their boat. They rigged up a 'captain's' seat (looks like a toddler swing) for her hanging in the cockpit. They plan to sail to the South Pacific after they spend some time in Mexico. No, we don't plan on joining them! We still plan to be back home for the summer and after that... maybe a mission.

Ensenada, Mexico Adventures

Welcome to  Mexico

Peggy working on our Blog

Peggy's post: Our adventures in Ensenada included:

* Clearing customs, immigration, import paperwork for the boat and dinghy and getting fishing licenses – a four hour ordeal.

* Finding a Mexican bank that would exchange money – there were none close to our marina and when we did find one we found we needed our passport which was back on the boat!

* Getting our cell phone to work properly in Mexico (TEXT MESSAGES ONLY please).

* Sampling squid, octopus, mussels, etc (fish tacos and churros are the best!)

* Finding our way round town while riding the city buses.

* Going to local tourist attractions and museums.

Hotel Riviera Del Pacifico & Museum

* Being in Mexico during Halloween and participating in Dia de Muertos.

* Finding diesel – there were no Pemex stations close to our marina, but we met a wonderful local family who gave us a ride because they felt sorry for us having to carry heavy jerry cans back to the marina!

* Enjoying church meetings in Spanish and we were so warmly welcomed.

* Part of our continuing adventure is learning how to obtain weather forecasts as we travel down the coast where the towns near our anchorages are few and far between.

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Jay's post: This week we find ourselves in Mexico in time for Halloween, except here the Mexican people do not celebrate Halloween, they celebrate Dia de Muertos: “Day of the Dead”. Day of the Dead focuses on remembering and celebrating family members and friends who have passed on. Celebrants believe the gates of heaven open at midnight on October 31^st and the spirits of departed children are allowed to join their families for 24 hours. Then, the following night, November 1^st, the spirits of deceased adults reunite with their families. The belief of an afterlife is said to have originated with the Mayan, Aztecs and Olmecs. For them, people did not cease to exist with death, but their spirits continued to exist in an after life. Death, they believed, was merely a continuation of a pre-mortal life and this mortal life. After the Spanish invasion of 1521, the Catholic Church tried, but was unable to banish these beliefs among the natives. The Aztecs, for example, believed the goddess Mictecacihuatl, or queen of the underworld, ruled with her husband over the bones of the dead. Her role was to watch over these bones and preside over the ancient Aztec festivals honoring the dead. These festivals evolved over time from the Aztec traditions into the modern day celebration Day of the Dead. Mictecacihuatl was originally depicted with a defleshed body and an agaped jaw.

La Catrina

 Today she is similarly portrayed, except she is depicted as a female skeleton dressed in a large hat and long elegant gown befitting the upper class of 16^th century Europe, and she is known as “La Calvera Catrina”.  As such, La Catrina is the icon for Dia de Muertos. The skeleton motif goes very well with the holiday and it is common to see women and young girls dressed to look like her this time of year.

Altar honoring a loved one

Another common symbol of the Day of the Dead is the calavers – the sugar skulls. These skulls are placed upon alters or grave sites, and are exchanged as gifts with loved ones during the holiday. Another custom of the holiday are altars constructed in homes and elsewhere to honor deceased loved ones. On the evening of November 2 ^nd the celebration moves to the graves of these loved ones. Here the graves are cleaned, the markers are polished, and the site is decorated with flowers, photos, food and candles. Family members spend the entire night socializing and sharing favorite stories about the deceased. On this night, it is said that the dead return to life to briefly join their loved ones. So, from Mexico, here is wishing you a happy Dia de Muertos – hooohaaa!