April ‘99
*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!
April 1, Thursday
Blue Chablis came in bright and early this am. It was cool and cloudy all day.
John worked on the water pump some more – also found a connection on the fuel line going bad and put in 54 gallons of fuel via jerry jugs.
Samie and I played Boggle with Angie and Megan. Watched Home Improvement in Spanish.
April 2, Friday
John worked more on the fuel line. Cloudy again. Dock party, Megan spent the night.
April 3, Saturday
Well, now John found an oil leak under the head gasket on the engine – shit! Cloudy again.
April 4, Sunday
Happy Easter – or Feliz Pascua
Hal and Angie hid all the easter eggs for the kids (Angela, Wand’rin Star, and Cross – they came back with a broken motor mount). Barb, Blue Chablis was decked out as the easter bunny.
John finished taking the engine apart. We had Dominos Pizza delivered for dinner. Talked to Mom, Dad and Angie.
Mom said it snowed in Scottsdale, Four Peaks and Roosevelt Lake got 8” – Taylor got a foot, I think she said. Weird.
*😆Maybe I couldn’t find any Easter eggs ‘cause I was too busy looking for cute boys!
I’m happy to say I’m still in touch with Barb, and that she has been enjoying these recounts as much as my parents and I have. 😊 Love ya, Barb!
April 5, Monday
John had Bear, Oceana, take the head into the shop. Samie went with Angela and Cross to the water park. Sunny, but cool 10-15k breeze.
*Poor Lil’ Hal! He must have bumped his noggin’ on the way down the slide or something.
Ewww! Thankfully I do not remember the bathrooms at this place! 🤢
Translation for “swing-slide thing-a-ma-bobber” would be a zip-line. 🙃
What a fun day for us!
April 6, Tuesday
Talked to Goon, they got 2.5 foot of snow in Pinetop yesterday. All is well, her and Caleb are looking at buying a house in Show Low.
We got the head to the engine back $60 US. It was tweaked and bowed. How is a good question?! $60 US also for Neal to help put it back together.
Samie and I were at Angela most of the afternoon. All the kids, also Cross played charades and had a good time.
I sent the laundry out, fast service. It was warmer today until around 5 pm when it cooled right off. 8 pm, it’s still blowing 10k and pretty cool. We went out with Angela and Cross. Hal drove, for a taco dinner and a walk down to McDonalds for a long wait in line for some 3 peso ice cream.
*Fun fact: Peggy and Caleb ended up buying that house from my dad, Sam and his wife, Rane. So I knew that house well for over a decade.
*That sounds like a fun game of charades. I’m glad we let our parents talk us into it.
I remember this night going out to eat.
That poor guy who’s stand we wandered into and out of! Watching 11+ people come in would have been a promising sight - only to have them move next door! 😩
I still remember when my knee did this - it was so bizarre. It just kind of gave out from underneath me for no apparent reason. We weren’t being rambunctious or anything, just standing and chatting when whoop! It buckled. It has given me trouble since, but for logical reasons when that joint twisted in an unfortunate way, and always recoverable. But this first one will always be a mystery!
I love that Megan and I had our “secret channel” and that we still had so much to yap about, despite having been together ALL DAY. Cute.
April 7, Wednesday
Mazatlan
Samie is really working good at school so that she can get with Megan, Angela. Angie, myself, Barb and Leslie, Cross, all went to Gigante for a little shopping. It was the 1st and only place I’ve come across that wouldn’t take a traveler’s check – so I had to use the VISA. Later, Angie went with the girls to the mall – Samie used some of her money and bought a cute sundress for $70 pesos (&7 US).
It was nice today – again until sunset when the wind picked up to 15+ and cold. Strange for April – more like December.
John ran the engine, all is well.
*I don’t remember anything about this game Lemon. I feel like it was some sort of modified version of truth or dare, but I could be making that up, entirely.
What I DO remember is Where in the World is Carmen San Diego!! I loved that game!
April 8, Thursday
This a.m. was unusually calm, I trimmed Samie’s hair. By noon it was howling 15 to 25k. Seems like the last few days boats leave here to cross to La Paz, but turn back. Samie even heard that Shadowfox had left PV for the South Pacific and they turned back – don’t know for sure. Tim, Scallywag had a 30+ and broke a back stay – so he’s here. And the storms on the US west coast are one after another. COLD, too!
*Whew! Sounds like a doozy out there in the Pacific! Glad everyone we knew of was safe and ok.
*Whoopsie daisies on the grounding! Glad she was able to get herself “un-grounded”. 🙃
April 9, Friday
Warm today, not nearly so windy in here, but still 20-25 on the crossing.
Samie is testing – doing good. I looked at another Islander, it’s a ‘81 ours is ’76 – I like ours much better.
It still gets pretty cool at night and early morning. I baked chocolate chip cookies – Samie was grounded all day. John had to get in the water and look for 3 cleats he was polishing. They were on the dock box until he opened the lid and they went flying.
*Wait, why did I get grounded?! 🤔
April 10, Saturday
Barb and Richard Flores called this am – the storm a few days ago that dumped 2.5 ft of wet snow on them has all melted – but part of that system was 105 mph of wind in Springerville and St Johns!
Boats out in the middle between here and Baja are reporting 30 to 50 k - NO THANKS! It looks like still more time stuck in Mazatlan.
Samie got Bs on all her test – except grammar was a D! Whoops, better learn those sentence diagrammings – yuk! Another cool day, cold night.
*I’m not sure where or when these were, so I’ll add them here, figuring this must have been outside or near the Aquarium. There were bungees we strapped around our waists and then ran as hard as we could before it bounced us back.
April 11, Sunday
Some boats left today and reported ok conditions until sunset to midnight when they had 30. It was the normal NW 10-18k in here. We had Dominos pizza delivery at Angela tonight.
*That El Cid pool was a lot of fun. It was always great to find a pool that was more than just a tub of water. The waterfalls, the caves and little nooks and crannies to explore were lots of fun.
April 12, Monday
We almost left today but are waiting till tomorrow. We did move over to dock 4 while the wind wasn’t blowing so that we can get out easy now. The slip fee and fuel came to $258 US.
April 13, Tuesday
This am looked like we would go on across, leaving at 3pm – but as it turned out, the low stalled and an off-the-wall high moved in and Cuckoo’s Nest is out there in the middle with 30-40k. They tried to cross over to Cabo last week and had 40-50k!
Anyway, we are sitting this out next to a dock.
Samie has had laryngitis for 3 or 4 days now.
*Look at me being melodramatic about not getting to go. How quick I was to take for granted all the outings I’d been able to go on this year! Tsk, tsk!
April 14, Wednesday
Happy Birthday Chelle.
We are still in Mazatlan, waiting for weather – now it looks like Friday. Not an exciting day; I’ve got one of my headaches. Samie and ALL 6 of the other boat kids spent the night on Angela.
*What a fantastically disgusting recipe for a drink! Funny that Zac went along with it to get Murry.
This sounds like we had such a fun time, just being crazy kids. That was nice of Zac and Sam’s mom to make breakfast for all the kiddos, and for Angie and Hal to have all the kids over to spend the night. What a packed boat! Having to wait for a proper weather window was surely to my benefit!
Hal and Megan’s beds were below the cockpit, on either side of the hull. So there must have been portholes into the cockpit where they were reaching across to pass the notes through. 😆
I’m not sure how the solution for Katie to sleep on the floor was any more fair than me being on the floor, but ok. 🤔She was smaller than me, so maybe it was a little less cramped for her.
April 15, Thursday
I was sick all night with that headache. It is mostly gone now.
This is it, the weather window we have been waiting for. I even called Bill and Trish Gibson in San Carlos at 1:30 pm and it was flat flat there. Also called to tell them that we had been stuck in Mazatlan and were not anywhere near San Juanico, as we had figured.
It was a mass exit today for the Maz to La Paz crossing. Ourselves and Blue Chablis left at 3pm. We are having (at 6pm) 15-18k NW and going into some leftover bumpy seas 2-4’ I guess. Wind on the nose and I’m a little queasy if I’m down below. We heard Shadowfox once again is headed back to PV. Now the plan is to summer in the Sea of Cortez – they blew off the South Pacific. Cross left for the SP again today.
It remained calm and uneventful through the night. There was no moon – but the phosphorescence on the water surface was pretty amazing. The little bit of chop and the boat wake was all aglow.
*More goodbyes. They never get any easier, no matter how many you’ve been part of. They’re definitely one of the hardest parts of nomadic life.
Me and my crushes! 🤪
April 16, Friday
Maz to La Paz
It’s 4pm and has been a beautiful day – the VHF range is amazing – San Carlos, Mazatlan, PV. There are 10 or so boats on the same passage as us and several long line tuna boats, but at least we passed three of them in the day and not night. One huge tanker. The only wind really was blowing off of Isla Ceravo at 20-25 for a couple hours around 10 pm to midnight.
April 17, Saturday
La Paz
We lucked out and had a beautiful and peaceful crossing. On watch last night (or early this am). John had a whale coming and going directly under the boat. The whale was a light-up green with the phosphorescence. It got his attention for sure.
We only had one ferry in the channel, just ahead of us. We got fuel (62 gallons) at Marina Palmaria and were anchored by 8 am.
*Aw, man! That would have been so awesome to actually be able to see the whale all lit up under the boat like that!! 😯
April 18, Sunday
The morning started out like it was going to be a disaster! There is water in the engine oil. At first, John thought it was fresh water and anti-freeze – which would mean a cracked block or head. It turned out to be salt water, which is not so bad. One of the petcocks to “bleed the engine” was plugged up, therefore water in the oil. It was a long day – but all is well.
The fridge was also acting up – but now all is well. Beautiful day - 90°, only 10k of breeze. It’s actually rather warm after the cold mainland.
I’ve got the stuffed head and nose with the sore throat that Samie had last week.
April 19, Monday
Time is flying by so fast! Only 2 months until Peggy and Caleb tie the knot.
It’s warm – hot – enough to put away all the blankets and put up sun shades and wind scoops. John changed the engine oil, I did laundry. Samie got together with Natalie from Night Owl. Blue Chablis went out to Isla San Fran.
April 20, Tuesday
Isla San Francisco
We left La Paz at 6 am for Isla San Francisco. I don’t know how – but we managed to miss all 3 ferries by a good distance. We had 10-15 k of southwest breeze from behind so it was a real nice ride.
7 hours later, we were anchored. We managed to get a spot inside the hook, so when the nightly south cornells blow, we don’t have any fetch. But we are only in 9 feet of water!
Barb and Steve, Blue Chablis came over for a chicken and fresh fish BBQ. I had another headache – I think from too much sun.
April 21, Wednesday
Beautiful, warm day. I’m telling ya, we went from winter to summer in the 40 hours it took to get from Mazatlan to the Baja. John and Steve went out of the hookah.
April 22, Thursday
Los Gatos
It blew a little from the south again last night. We and Blue Chablis left Isla San Francisco around 8:30 am headed for San Evaristo – where we anchored for 10 minutes, then hauled it up – too crowded and too rolly where we were – at 4 pm we were anchored in Los Gatos. We had anywhere from 15 south, north and 25-30 west wind today.
It must be really blowing on the outside of the Baja to come over the mountain and still hit 25-30. Anchored it’s only 10-20.
Bill Gibson called, they MIGHT bring Prime Time across.
Barb and Steve came over for dinner.
April 23, Friday
John and Steve went out around the north point and came back with scallops. Samie swam around the boat – cold water. Barb and Steve came over for BBQ, bacon-wrapped scallops and fish dinner. Some rain looking clouds moved in from the southwest just before sunset. Really pretty sunset and an amazing ranbow – brilliant pink in the dark blue clouds!
April 24, Saturday
Happy Birthday Grandma Davis - 90 something?
John and Steve went out on the south point with the hookah and came back with more scallops. Put these in the freezer for future reference.
Bill Gibson called this am and said it was windier than shit there, so they’re not crossing over. We should have moved more up, inside earlier but oh well. It feels like San Benedicto again – rolling around in the slop coming in from 10-18 N all afternoon. It calmed down for a nice night.
April 25, Sunday
Escondido
We left Los Gatos at 6:30 am and made it all the way to the “waiting room” at Escondido. Calm, nothing over 12k – but mostly on 5.
Blue Chablis went to Isla Catalina, we had dolphins for a while – love it!! Anchored and off to the tienda, luckily we were able to grab a taxi both ways – and we were back on board in nothing flat. The not so good part was that it was $700 pesos ($70 plus) – pretty expensive.
April 26, Monday
San Juanico
We left Escondido after a peaceful night, at 7 am and made it all the way to San Juanico at 1:30. It was calm all but the last 2 hours when it kicked up to 12-30 NNW – not too bad. There are 4 sails and 3 powers in here. Calm again by 4 pm.
April 27, Tuesday
San Juanico
Strange breeze today, 10-12 k from the east. That’s the only direction that could be a hazard if it blew long and hard. East wind is very strange and seldom but we always seem to get a light one when we’re in here. Anyway, it is dying off now at sunset. We may or may not cross over to San Carlos tomorrow.
Shine called – all is well.
April 28, Wednesday
For 2 days now, they have been predicting big north wind from a front going across the north baja. And for 2 days, the outside of Baja all the way down to Cabo has had 25-30k. However, here we sit in San Juanico, for 2 days WAITING for the big north wind to blow. And for 2 days now, all we have had is a light east breeze. Would’a, could’a should’a gone across. It’s very frustrating to sit with nothing to do, knowing we need to be in San Carlos, getting ready to head out in 2 weeks!
There were millions of small bait fish in here today. The water was black with them and the birds were having a feeling frenzy!
April 29, Thursday
*Oh, dolphins playing in the bay early.*
Well, guess what?1 For 2 days we waited for the strong wind to come and go! In San Juanico it only blew 10-15k today – outside from the looks of the white caps, maybe 20k. It calmed down, seas outside laid down to only bumps. So we had dinner and left at 5 pm. All is well only 5k and not too bad.
Full moon is up, sun goes down behind the baja mountains. Wind picks up, but only to 10-15 – still ok.
John slept for an hour or so. 10 pm. 20-25k, getting lumpy. We were off the wind just a bit, but are now going straight into it. It’s much more comfortable – if that’s possible. We are still really banging hard sometimes. The anchor chain is banging in the locker, and a few things that never move have flown from their shelf!
The ships bell that Jim and Kitty, Summer Wind gave us has rung itself after, or as we fall down a wave. For the most part, we are only doing 2, 2.5 knots boat speed, with 1800 rpms on the engine. In 8 hours we have only gone 34 miles. If it was a smooth ride, we should be in San Carlos around 11 am – the way it’s going now – it would be around midnight. Yuk, another 11 hours of this, with seas building even bigger. No thanks! We bought that t-shirt 5 years ago!
April 30, Friday
Well, it’s now 5:45 am, sun is coming up and the moon will set in a while. We’ve been out here in a bunch of slop for the last 12 hours . No, first 2 hours were ok. The last 10 have been 20-30k and were going nowhere fast at 1-2 knots boat speed.
Right now we’re holding at 3.7k – if we can at least maintain that we’ll get there just after dark. 7:15 pm.
Samie slept most of the night on our bed, it’s more stable than hers up forward. It’s easy to be “airborn” now and then.
Noon now, for the last 3 hours or so, the wind has dropped to 15-20 k and the seas have also smoothed out some. We are now able to make 5+k boat speed.
Talked to Trisha Gibson in San Carlos by phone around 7 am. Right after that, John looked forward and luckily saw a white bouy just ahead in all the white caps. We were able to dodge it and not wrap the prop. Lucky again, day light, etc.
Goon called around 10am wanting to know how many wedding announcements I need.
It smoothed out considerably and the wind dropped down to 18-20k. Made a big difference for the rest of the trip. An hour or so out we plugged up a fuel filter. Probably due to all the bouncing and sloshing with only a half tank of fuel. Anyway, John changed it real fast and all is well.
It was 3 pm when we sailed in to the catch 22 bay to drop the sail and went inside where it was nice and calm. It was cold when we left San Carlos in December and it’s still cold!
We stopped by Bill and Trisha’s for a bite on the way to Tequila’s for dinner. We were in bed at 7:45.
