August ‘94
*Additional notes may appear in italics after my mom’s initial journal entries.
A ladybug means you should check the comments at the bottom of the page to see what Mom has chimed in on after reading these!
August 1st, Monday
We all just took it easy this morning. Peg took Samie swimming again. John BBQ’d burgers and then it was time for them to fly home - bummer! They flew out at 3:00 pm and Peg called at 6:00 to say they were at Grandma’s and her and Danielle will be driving back over on Thursday.
August 2, Tuesday
John finished installing the water-marker and it is now making water. He is working on odds & ends, I laid in the sun while Samie swam.
John went to scuba class.
*I think this is a good time to mention a funny story which was definitely also a catalyst to my learning to swim:
Dad was hosing off the deck of the boat and I was, as always, looking for ways to help. I decided that feeding the hose was surely the way to do this, unbeknownst to my dad, who yanked the hose for more while I had a hold of it and in I went off the side of the dock! There I was, probably doggy-paddling my little heart out and all I can remember worrying about was if a seagull was going to poop on my head. Now, why this is what I was worried about or why I only considered at this precise time and no other- I couldn’t begin to tell you! But that is what I remember, and really nothing else. I don’t remember being scared or getting fished out of the water, but I do remember it became quite important that I learn to swim and get acquainted with the water as soon as possible. We’ve been best friends ever since. ☺️
August 3, Wed
John took the oven apart and tracked down all the new parts to make it like new; we even got it all back together and it works great. Much better than buying a new one at $450.
August 4, Thursday
Danielle called, her car has a dead battery – Michael jumped it, but she needs a new one, and gas, she was on empty. They didn’t leave Phoenix until 7:30 pm to come on over.
We worked on odds and ends around the boat.
The girls and Andy W, a friend that drove over with them, got here at 1:30 am.
August 5, Friday
The oil had water in it again. So John went through that process again and then the starter blew. While John worked on this, the kids and I all went shopping and to the beach.
Bob W. picked up the starter to fix.
Aug 6, Saturday
More work on the motor. Kids went back to the beach. Called Angie for her Birthday.
Aug 7, Sunday
Got the new starter on and found the real problem, the exhaust manifold was all plugged up. Bob W. took this to be cleaned and fixed.
The girls took Samie to the beach.
We had a “dock party” at the pool area, out first. Real nice.
Aug 9, Tuesday
Got the boat all put back together – runs great, better than ever. Went for a sail, Danielle got sick.
August 10, Wed
The kids all left for the drive home at 8:00 am. Danielle called from Mesa at 7:30, she had stopped in Yuma and registered for school at Arizona Western College.
August 11, Thursday
We did a lot of runn’en around trying to get ready to leave Sunday morning. Dewey from Shelter Island Yacht Sales went out for a sail with us and showed us a few tricks with the sails.
*I remember this specific sail, and so did Mom when I mentioned it to her. I remember spending pretty much the entire trip watching the water and the waves through my starboard side porthole up in the front birth. I was just fascinated with it.
August 12, Friday
More last-minute runn’en. Jerry, on the dock here, manages the “Bali Hai’ restaurant and treated us to a really nice dinner.
August 13, Sat.
We sold the blazer for $1,550 and 20 fishing lure plugs (worth $20 each). At least we don’t have to worry about that anymore.
Stephen from Bacchus and Laura invited us over to her apartment for a steak BBQ, which was very nice. They are planning a trip to Hawaii and then on to New Zealand – very nice people.
Fun facts about Stephen and Laura:
Steven once (I think twice, actually) took a swim off the side of his boat while single-handing and the boat got away from him! I don’t remember how he got back aboard; I’ll have to ask mom. Maybe Laura was napping on board or something…
Also, about Laura; her brother and sister were both actors who had small roles in some of our favorite movies! I have seen her brother pop up in a number of movies and he always makes me smile.
Lastly, there was this really random toy, the head of some creature-thing that they called Oogly Smoogly. I have no recollection of the backstory or why he is thusly named - but I still have him and it always makes me laugh when I find him. 🐞
August 14, Sunday
Left Marina Cortez at 5:37 am headed for Ensenada, Baja California. The adventure begins! Beautiful day- but not much wind and what there was, was right on our nose. Sailed right along- auto pilot works wonderful! We moored just in the harbor, next to Baja Naval, tomorrow we may get a slip, but I like it out here better. We arrived at 5:30 pm, the trip was 12 hours.
August 15, Monday
We went into town – checked in with immigration and the port captain; this took about 30 minutes. We walked around, had a fish taco and found the supermercado.
We hooked up the wind scoop and filled [aired] up the Avon dinghy. While we were lifting it into the water, the wench handle slipped and hit me in the lip. Black and blue fat lip – not a pretty sight.
We are just going to stay moored out here this – this mooring costs $150 per month, but I think if you just anchor it’s free. We were going to go anchor at Todos Santos but heard on the VHF that there was a storm with 20-foot swells. We are glad that we came in yesterday.
Whoops – that was one of those rumors. The guy that anchored at Todos Santos didn’t set out enough anchor and he was washed up on the rocks when 6-foot waves came in the anchorage.
August 16, Tuesday
We did odds and ends on the boat. Met a family from South Africa, they have two daughters – Susan, 14 and Mary, 11; they came over for a while, then Samie went to their boat.
*I remember these girls, they were very proficient with origami, and I remember them teaching me some of the easier folds. There’s a decent chance I’ve still got one of the ones I came home with that day. 🤔
August 17, Wednesday
We left Ensenada at 8:00 am and headed to Todos Santos Island. The wind, of course, was right on our nose again. We were checking out the anchorage and saw the wrecked boat. We didn’t catch any fish – came back into the harbor at 2:00 pm. Went into town later. Called the kids – all is well, Peg likes high school.
August 18, Thursday
We were going to go back out to Todos Santos and anchor for a few days but the refrigerator for the ice box won’t cycle on. It was 1:00 pm before anyone came out to look at it. He said it needs freon and he would be back at 3:30 to fix it, but he never made it, so we put ice in to try to keep it cold; so far it’s holding at 40°.
John found a little water in the oil again, so he changed the anti-siphon valve so that it can’t run back through.
Talked to John R. and he did get the mail that we sent.
I started Samie’s school today, she wanted to go right on to lesson 2, but we’ll wait.
🐞
August 19, Friday
About 11:30 am, someone finally came out to fix the ice box. Apparently, it was never set right. He put freon in it and adjusted the temp. It was about 3:30 when he left – the charge was $100.
We went in to town for a little while, bought postcards and beer.
John tried to get Steve P. on the ham, but no success.
August 20, Saturday
We left the harbor this morning about 8:30 for Todos Santos; we are going to anchor out this time.
We reached the island at 11:30 but just circled around while a couple of small fishing boats pulled up the motor from that wrecked boat; there’s still a lot of debris on the rocks.
I don’t recall the time that we first tried to set anchor, but we dropped the wrong one (the longer, full chain) and had to haul it all in.
Made the loop around again and dropped anchor. Ready, set, drop stern anchor – whoops, not tied off – lost that one. John can dive tomorrow and find it.
Next, we took a line off the stern over to the rocks behind us – not as easy as it sounds. Finally got the back end of the boat in the right direction – mission accomplished. When John tried to re-tie the splice in the line, it slipped and we had to start this procedure over again. Anchoring is NOT my favorite thing to do!
Finally, 6:30 pm we seem to be anchored and tied off securely. THANK GOODNESS.
Samie caught a small calico bass – which we ate, very good. John caught a scorpion fish, throw that one back – poison.
*I very much remember this night. I don’t actually remember catching the fish or having dinner, but I remember fishing with Dad. I remember how calm the water was and how cozy the anchorage was. I remember learning how to toss the line out and bring it back in, not letting it sit too long, but keeping things moving. I must have listened well, based on my catching of the evening’s dinner! How cool, I bet I was quite proud! I remember looking up fish in our guidebooks all the time. I also remember being very nervous about the wreck in the cove. It felt quite ominous.
The Star in Todos Santos with all her anchors out, and the flopper-stopper hanging from the main boom.
(The boom is attached to the mast and is where all the sail material is bundled, waiting to be raised. We would swing it out to the side, as you can see here, and hung the flopper-stopper from it. You’ll learn about the flopper-stopper in just a little bit here.)
August 21, Sunday
I was awake most of the night, we have only set anchor once before and until I’m more comfortable with it I won’t sleep too well the first night. But lucky us, everything held and we’re still here.
John went diving and found the stern anchored, tied a line to it, but in trying to haul it up, it grabbed. So we’ll just have to pull it up when we leave.
We all went snorkeling – well, Samie didn’t stay in, her wetsuit is short sleeve and short legs so she got cold.
This was my first time to snorkel. We also took the dinghy around to a pebble-beach or dinghy-landing and hiked up a small edge to get on top of the island. Looking out over the coves out to the ocean – beautiful!
No luck catching fish today, so we BBQed pork chops.
Samie is enjoying school – so far.
The boat sure rocks when the tide is coming in this small cove. John hooked up and set the flopper stopper and it does help with the side-to-side rocking.
*I remember this day! lol I was so scared of this mysterious ‘Jumping Cactus’ I’d been warned about. I was mystified - how could a cactus jump at someone? I knew not to get too close - but what exactly was too close? Some of the trails were a little tight and I remember it feeling like some semi-perilous journey I was on with my parents in this strange, new land. Also, that flopper-stopper was an absolute luxury in rolly anchorages! When your entire home is rocking from side to side all day, one tends to go a bit mad. The flopper-stopper really delivered and balanced out the boat quite tremendously!
August 22, Monday
When we woke up this morning, the wind was coming out of the south, which is not good in that cove, so we headed out. By the time we got both anchors up, it was 11:00 am. When we pulled up the front anchor, somehow it had grabbed the other anchor and they came up together – one in a million.
We still haven’t caught any eatable fish. We had dinner with Precious Metal tonight.
Danielle called, she doesn’t like college and is going to stay. Danielle called back, now she is on the softball team and they are paying some of the semester and most of the next – so she’s gonna stay.
*I love this about the anchors! That’s so awesome - it seems we had a lot of happy accidents like this over the years.
*Photos above: Postcard from Ensenada, and photos from Todos Santos. The Star with all the anchors out, the flopper-stopper, and on laundry day! Can you spot little me on deck behind all the netting and clothes? lol
August 23, Tuesday
Precious Metal headed out this morning for San Fransisco. They have been sailing for 15 years, from Japan, Guam, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, all of Mexico and points in between. They will be in San Francisco area for a while.
John varnished all the wood in the cockpit area – pretty!
We went out along the coast sailing today, we had 15 to 18 knots of wind. Made enough water to fill the tank. The fish we caught weren’t very big, so John went in and bough a yellow-tail tuna. Good.
August 25, Thursday
We changed the jib and put the smaller one back up.
We went into town, found a jeweler to fix John’s gold chain.
August 26, Friday
John polished the boat and cleaned the outside of the boat in this water.
Picked up the chain, $6.00 U.S. Got an air tank filled.
Called Donna J, they still haven’t gotten the original documentation papers back in the mail, she said to give it another month before requesting another one.
Since we already used the phone, I called Peg, she likes her school schedule ok, she has gotten both letters I mailed – took maybe 3 days. She said she writes in her journal every night to me – I told her to write a letter to me!
I baked a cinnamon swirl cake today – it actually turned out good.
August 27, Saturday
Went out for a sail – made 47.5 gallons of water. Also found 2 water leaks.
John quit smoking 1 week ago – he’s doing great!
August 28, Sunday
John fixed the 1 water leak, which was a hot water heater relief valve. Made arrangements to talk to Steve P. on the ham radio, but we can’t make contact.
August 29, Monday
We walked maybe 5 miles in town today, it’s easy to do when you’re looking for something. One store doesn’t have it, so off you go, down 3 blocks and over 4 blocks, and so on.
We did make contact with Steve and Brenda at noon and set up our own channel and will try again at 5:30 because they had to go back to work- poor souls! Ok, Brenda says Danielle is moving into a dorm with the softball team and really likes it. I gave Brenda Peg’s phone # so she could call her for our address.
August 30, Tuesday
We sailed along the coast today, made about 80 gallons of water and did laundry.
Samie finished reading a 155-page paperback book. Through the whole book she would ask me words and what they meant. I thought she did a wonderful job and she is gonna write a small “book report” for me.
She is writing little notes and pictures to Angie and Jo’s kids.
We have had no luck getting Steve on the ham radio since Monday at noon, and then only for a minute, too much noise.
*I wonder what the book was! I’ll have to keep an eye out for my little book report. We definitely kept a lot of my stuff, so it might be in there!
August 31, Wednesday
John found a saber-saw to borrow and cut the hole so he could fix the other water leak – but neither of us could fit back into the small space. So now he doesn’t know what he’ll do – maybe take the batteries out and climb back in there.
We went into a pay phone and called John R. and Brenda P. about ham radio frequencies, and I finally got to talk to Peggy. She is 1 point away from an A in typing – has a B in journalism, which she says she gets to go in the dark room and is working on the yearbook! She has a new boyfriend – Jay, but I don’t remember his last name.
