12/20/16
We wanted to go diving with a group while in San Jose de Cabo. We talked to a very friendly agent and before we knew it, we were signed up to go diving! Only catch, - it was in Cabo San Lucas instead of right here in San Jose del Cabo.
Diving at Cabo San Lucas was crowded in every sense of
the word. It was crowded on the bus going there and coming back. The roads were
crowded. (My best advice to anyone riding a bus in this town is to engage in
a lively conversation with fellow travelers to divert your focus from the near
death experience the bus drivers seem to enjoy.) The Bay was crowded. There were three huge cruise ships
in the bay, glass bottom boats, snorkelers, pleasure boats of every description,
jet skiers, windsurfers, and several dive boats.
Arriving at our first dive sight, Land’s End, I noticed I was a bit freaked out about how many boats were in the water. I had to
work on myself to get out of the helmsman mindset and back into the diver’s
mindset. I had prepared well for this
dive, getting my ears ready with massage, drops, and decongestant pills. The dive master gave us lots of specific
instructions but main command was to stay together as a group.
The descent into the water was the moment of truth for my chronic ear congestion. And, great news! My ears adjusted and equalized perfectly! Twenty-five feet down on the sandy bottom, the dive master handed me my fin. What? My fin came off? He showed me the broken buckle and motioned that I should go back to the boat. Are you kidding? I handed it to Rob. Rob could fix anything. Bad news, even Rob agreed that it was broken and I had to abort the dive. I was more than ticked off. But there were other fins aboard and another dive coming up after the surface interval. So, I tried to get over it.
Rob came up with the group and reported that they saw several large schools of fish, some beautiful tropical fish, and sea lions on the first dive.
The second dive was good too. There were lots to see and
enjoy but I kept thinking of a different type of experience…. away from the
crowd.
12/22/16
It was a fabulous sailing day! Good wind and relatively
smooth water. Before we began our adventure, I naively thought that all our
sailing would be like this. We sailed from San Jose del Cabo to Bahia Los
Frailes. We had a couple of whale sightings where we saw the spouting sprays
and the tails as the whale dives. The last sighting was of a pod with more than
ten spouts and at least three tails!
12/23/16
I saw a ray jump 6 feet up straight out of the calm morning
water and back into the bay!
We made arrangements for a dive boat to come to our boat
and pick us up to dive the reef. The
small panga that finally showed up was already loaded with 5 divers, a captain
and a dive master. Rob and I were divers
number 6 and 7 (there were only six places to sit on this little panga.) The
dive master said that it was too windy to go to the reef but no problem, there
were two great dives right here in our little bay. The dives were beautiful but
I couldn’t stop thinking about how much better it would be to diving with just
Rob and me and our own equipment.
12/24/16
We’ve patiently waited for the right time to try out the
hookah in earnest. Today’s conditions would
be nearly ideal for a maiden voyage of this type. Now that we are securely anchored
in this beautiful, protected little bay with a great dive site nearby the wait
is over!
We inflated the hookah raft, launched it and lowered the
hookah compressor and motor down off the big boat! Dressed in our diving gear
and fins we swam and swam and swam, manually towing the hookah 1/3 of a mile
over to the dive site. This worked out better in my imagination than in
actuality. The current is invisible from the surface of the water. The swift
current and wind teamed up and worked against us as we swam from the boat to
the site. It took 40 minutes instead of the 15 minutes I had imagined. Then we
uncoiled the 100 foot air hoses, turned on the compressor and we were free to
enjoy the wonders beneath the sea.
There were hundreds of corals; some I’d seen
before and some new ones. A majestic soft pink coral offered a perfect backdrop
for a black pufferfish spotted with a hundred white dots. We saw beautiful,
delicate lavender fan corals everywhere and many parrot fish.
It was a shallow dive only 30 feet at the deepest point and
ended after 55 minutes. We put the hoses back into the raft and swam for the
big boat. This time, the wind and
current helped us and it took only 20 minutes to return.
A friendly pelican wanted some company on Christmas Eve. She came close to the boat, looked it over and decided to perch on our railing even though Rob was sitting in the cockpit and had gently called to me that we had a visitor.
After she stayed for three hours, we named her Penelope.
She made her intentions to stay the night clear by hiding her head beneath her wing while perched on the rail.
I heard her stir early on Christmas morning. The mess she left behind will probably deter me from allowing such visitors in the future.
12/25/16
Today we tried a new arrangement for diving with the hookah.
We removed the seat from the dinghy and put the mechanical part of the hookah
in the center of the dinghy instead of the hookah raft. This left space for us,
our dive gear and of course the blessed outboard motor which is mounted on the
rear of the dinghy.
On our way to dive we stopped by two neighboring boats of
friends, Ron and Bridget on S/V Shameless and Phil on S/V Lutra, wished them
Merry Christmas and invited them to dinner at our boat later in the afternoon.
In just a couple of minutes we were at the dive site. The
equipment worked beautifully! Rob and I enjoyed a peaceful, gorgeous dive
through the wondrous beauty of corals and tropical fish. Suddenly, from the
corner of my peripheral vision, a husky 12-inch fish jetted through the water and
positioned himself in the sandy bottom just in front of us near some rocks
covered with lacy algae. We slowly approached and marveled at the perfect
camouflage of this rock fish. He was
exactly the same mottled browns and had the same lacy green algae floating from
his body as the rocks! Now, with his fins flattened against his body it would
be almost impossible to believe he was anything other than the rock he
pretended to be.
Another memorable fish species that I had never seen
before was a bright spring green with white on dark green polka dots. They were
about 10 to 12 inches and quite shy. We saw hundreds of parrot fish, some as
big as 20 inches, and just let me remind you of with those famous teeth. They were various coloration including
iridescent pastels (mostly pink and baby blue) and burgundy /ivory ones.
Our day was complete with the fun of sharing a holiday
feast with friends.
12/26/16
The wind was kicking up and predicted to get worse. So, we sailed north with the other three
sailboats out of Frailes Bay and into the Sea of Cortez. The sea greeted us
with some huge splashy waves as soon as we entered it. The hatches and port
lights were still open so we were doused again! At least this time I closed the
port light above my bed first while witnessing a bucket of sea water entering
the starboard side! The other boats
reported being wet and miserable too.
It was a long day of sailing and tacking into the wind.
The others turned back to the protection of Frailes but Rob and I pressed on
only to find the new Marina just north of La Rebra was full and had no room for
us. So, we went further north to the next
anchorage at Ensenada de Los Muertos where we rested and waited for five days
for the wind to finally die down.
We were exhausted and needed the rest after 3 consecutive
days of diving and then a very heavy day of sailing! The anchorage is nice but
does not have internet service. It does have this great little restaurant.
12/31/16 Ron and Bridgett on Shameless and Phil on Lutra
arrived in time to celebrate the passing of the old year and the coming of the
new with us at the restaurant.
1/1/17 Shameless tried sailing to La Paz this morning
through the 12 mile channel between the Baja and the island but turned back to
Muetros. Ron reported the wind and current switched direction and came on
strong making it impossible for them to proceed.
1/2/17 We got an early start and left Muetros at dawn
this morning. It was an awesome day of
sailing through the channel and anchoring early in a picturesque bay Roca Lobos
just outside of La Paz.
1/3/17 We arrived at Marina Palmira where some new friends helped us (by taking our docking lines) into our slip despite the
18 knot wind blowing us in directions we didn’t wish to go. We’ve found the
sailing and boating community to be helpful, friendly and lots of fun.
1/4/17 We took the shuttle in to town to start on our
several to-do lists for the boat store, diving store, and general re-provisioning
to accomplish here in La Paz. The
Mexican merchants are very sweet and helpful.
The further from the Malecon (tourist district) you go, the fewer of
them speak some English. Duolingo says I’m 20% fluent in Spanish, but when they
talk to me I can only get a word or two out of every sentence. So, carrying a
map helps a bunch.
1/6/17 Rob climbed the mast and replaced/installed a new
steaming light fixture.
1/7/17 Today we shopped till we dropped. La Paz is, according to our guidebook, the
best place to provision on the Sea of Cortez. The shuttle took us part way to
our desired destination. We walked the
rest of the way. Today we were hunting down natural nutritional supplements
(hard to find in Mexico) and fabric so I can make some mosquito nets for our
hatches.
Returning in the dark, walking through the pool area back to the marina.
1/9/17 We love having our evening meal in the cockpit but
it’s not much fun in the dark. So, today we installed some new LED lighting in
the cockpit, it’s like having another room added to our living space!
1/10/17 I decided we need a ladder for climbing back into
the dinghy after diving. Rob with his long, strong arms has absolutely no
problem hoisting himself up out of the water and back into the dinghy. But I struggle. The ladders we’ve seen in the
stores are too bulky and take up too much room in the crowded dinghy. So, Rob started looking on the internet for
what I thought would be ideal, a ladder made out of Nylon strapping. I wanted strong, simple, easy to use and
store, and not taking up much space. Couldn’t find it. Instead, he found a
Youtube video on how to make your own rope ladder. So, today I did it. I made my own rope ladder!
1/11/17 There are
times when Rob wants to use our spinnaker in light winds going the same
direction as we are headed. Today, Ron and Bridgett came over from their
marina, quite a walk, to look at the spinnaker and give us some tips on using
it. Ron has crewed on racing sailboats
for several years and he probably has forgotten more about sailing than I know
right now. So, it was fun seeing them and getting his insights on the
spinnaker.
1/13/17 Today
would have been my son, Jason’s 40th birthday if he had lived. He’s been gone since a few days before his 20th
birthday. The passing of 20 years has
helped somewhat with the feeling of incredible loss that all of us who knew and
loved him felt and still feel. I want to honor his memory today with one of his
favorite sayings: “Mom, let’s make a memory!”
Jason was love personified. I remember him escorting me to the kitchen
table, pulling out a chair for me, slightly bowing at the waist as he motioned
for me to sit, re-positioning me and the chair, and then taking a seat next to
me as he produced a Betty Crocker catalog along with his outrageously adorable
smile. “Let’s just dream for a minute, Mom. Thumb through here and see what
your heart desires!”
I was completely stunned.
Moms in the middle of raising four teenagers rarely have the experience
of a child actually wondering, let alone elegantly pursuing what their mother
might want for an upcoming birthday or Christmas present. He was just fourteen.
That was Jason; comical, sweet, thoughtful, fair-minded, accepting, and
wonderful. I love you, Jason.
