February 16, 2016 - Isla Tiburon - Bahia Monumento

We decided to leave at 9 pm for a 12 hour run north to Isla Tiburon, a Seri Indian territory and the largest Island in Mexico.  The night run was very unpleasant (hobby horsing again) but weather was due to get a bit worse before getting better in a week.  We expected the south end of the island would have good protection from NW winds.  After anchoring, Steve and I went for a 2 hour nap.  The afternoon brought some waves from the NE into our anchorage of Bahia Perros (Dog Bay) so we decided to move around the corner to Bahia Monumento.  Once we moved around, the seas were calm and the fun began with some swimming!  There are no other pleasure boats here, just fisherman in panga’s that seem to be harvesting those Murex shellfish. 

The first night was calm as could be with not a sound except for our pumps from refrigeration making noise.  It was nice to feel rested in the morning.   We spent 4 nights here and other than some swells from the side a couple of nights, we had wonderful sun and calm winds.  We started playing the card game Hearts each night.  One night we even had the loser of each hand get to choose the Sirius XM radio station.  That station remained until the end of the next hand.  We had some interesting music playing!  We have also been playing a lot of Boggle, another fun game.

The days have been up to about 80 degrees but the water is around 62.  The kids have been wearing their wetsuits some of the time when playing in the water.  The surf boards are out and Kevin was towed behind the dinghy a bit.  One afternoon the kids melted chocolate chips by the sun and covered peanuts and pretzels for snacks later.  We got a magnifying glass out to add to the fun and burn paper and chocolate chips! 

We had two great hikes up the hills.  There is certainly no one out here except a few panga fisherman.  Our last night a Mexican navy ship came in so we had company although they were anchored quite far from us.

The bay looking east.  m/v Adagio in the background

Kevin jumping on the cushion

Cindy jumping on the cushion

Kevin and Cindy racing for the boat

Cindy climbing the rope - hard work

Cindy on the surfboard

more water fun

sunrise

Kevin!

Getting ready for a hike

Cindy trying things out with a kayak paddle

Kevin tow surfing!

more Kevin tow surfing

Kevin stretching

Kevin and Kathy enjoying the water

Net fisherman circling the fish.  They then bring the net in and collect the fish

The bay looking west

A bird eating a fish on top the cactus

the beautiful cactus with Cindy

This incredibly beautiful cactus

Relaxing on the bow

Zappa with his special grass plant.  He loves it!

Melting chocolate chips for chocolate covered peanuts and pretzels

burning paper and chocolate chip with magnifying glass

Playing Boggle

Finback whale coming through the bay

The whales coming through the bay.  We have video but too large to post.

February 12, 2016 - Bahia San Pedro

Bahia San Pedro was only a 15nm trip north from San Carlos but a good stop for our first night and to test all of the systems of the boat to make sure we were set to begin our journey this year.  Steve and I were a bit nervous which we found interesting.  Life aboard your floating home is a different way of life and not exactly like getting back on the bike and knowing how to ride.  As an example, we untied from the dock in nice calm weather, planning to back out and go to the fuel dock.  Steve was attempting to back out and the boat was not moving, we had a second line on the bow (starboard side) which we normally do not do because of all of the wind.  We had forgotten to untie it.  So now we are fending off from hitting the sailboat next to us as Steve moved forward and Kevin untied the boat end of the line and threw it on the dock.  As we were just getting out, workers from another boat heard us all yelling at each other and came running but a bit too late for us to get the line and for them to even help.   We did OK getting into the fuel dock!  The kids then ran around the entire marina to go get the nice long line we had left back at our slip and then ran back before we were to leave the fuel dock.  Thanks Kevin and Cindy!  Diesel was only about $2.80 a gallon, which is a much better price than the last time we were here and it was over $4. 

There were several other sailboats in the Bahia San Pedro anchorage but enough room for everyone.  We were glad we did not have far to go since the seas were a bit choppy with 2-4 foot waves and a 4 second interval.  Seems small in height but with them so close together (4 seconds) it did have us doing a bit of a bash as we hobby-horsed our way northward.

The afternoon, we remained on the boat and planned to venture ashore the next day.  The winds have been in the 20-25 knot range every afternoon for weeks and we are ready for a break from it.  Overnight, several time, we heard packs of coyotes howling.  Eerie sounds that were not far away!

The bay looking south

Walked north and looking north 

A pile of pink Murex.  These are collected from fisherman in panga's via snorkel.
They then go to shore and take the meat/animal out and throw them in a pile

Cindy holding some of the pink murex shells

Pink murex

A creation of pufferfish, bone, and some sea garbage

Zappa's new box, for a new relaxing spot.

This cactus is destined to survive

Beautiful scenery

part of a seafan fromt the sea, all dried out

February 10, 2016 - San Carlos

We leave the marina tomorrow.  San Carlos is nice but we are ready to move on and explore new places.  It has been quite windy here every day, which is why we are still in San Carlos.  The weather seems to be cooperating for the next 3-4 days though, but then we may need to make sure we are in a good anchorage in case we need to wait out some winds for a few days.  Time will tell.

The kids trying to coax Zappa out of the large yacht that he likes to visit....

We took the bus into Guaymas the other day for two reasons.  The first was to get our Banda Ancha (USB internet device) activated so we could get weather and communications via cell signal once we leave the marina's wifi.  We were very happy that even though our Banda Ancha was inactive for 7 months, they were able to just reactivate fit or us.  In the future we will just need to go into an Oxxo  store (think 7-eleven) and add money each month to our account.   The bus cost us a total of $48 pesos each direction, which is under $3 for all four of us to take a 40 minute bus ride. Nice!

The second was to see the Guaymas Carnaval parade.  We arrived at the parade route soon after what was the published start time, but ended up sitting for nearly two hours before the parade finally started.  you've got love "Mexican Time".  Being Americans without tans, wearing American clothes, we certainly stood out in the crowd.  We only saw two other Americans there during our 4-5 hours in town.  The parade was very long and seemed to go on forever - so long that we left before the end.  One marching band and then dance group after dance group with loud music and bands.  It was really colorful and beautiful with all the floats and great to see all the kids participating in the parade!

Before the parade, l;ive bands played music.  A lot of it classic American Rock.
Vendors selling all kinds of snacks and trinkets.

Colorful snacks and trinkets.

Great marching band.  We think they teach music at an early age in Mexico.

One of the many, many dance groups.  Very colorful.

There were a lot of very nice floats in the parade.

A "Mario" dance group

Yesterday Kevin and Steve rode their bikes into the dentist for a checkup and cleaning.  Dr. Rodgriguez was great.  Very fast, efficient, and did a great job.  Kevin commented that it was a much better experience than he remember from his last dental visit (in America).  Kathy and Cindy rode their bikes and joined up with Steve and Kevin to go explore by bike a bit, visit a veterinarian to buy some vitamins for Zappa, and stop at a big store to look for souvenirs.  It turns out that water-maker water is devoid of all minerals which can lead to pets becoming ill.  They need to take supplementary vitamins and minerals to make up for what is lacking in the very pure watermaker water.  People do too, but all take vitamins already.

Today Kathy and Cindy will be visiting the same dentist in town.  We will get our propane tank filled.  Steve will work on some last minute boat projects.  Both kids have been working on school.  Tomorrow we will stop by the fuel dock, and then we we be on our way, venturing north to explore.

We are not sure when we will have internet access again, so don't be alarmed if there is not a blog post for a while.  We will have Spot tracking our position.  A link to that is at the top of this page.