ADVENTURES
ABOARD KYSSEN
7/16/16
Today we said goodbye to Marina del Rey and set sail for
Catalina Island toward San Diego. We learned to live on our boat while docked there.
Everyday eliminating things we could do without. We reviewed all the tasks we had accomplished
while in the LA area for the last 2 months; new borders on the sails, five new
thru hulls installed, new zincs on/by the prop and in the engine, bottom
cleaned, prop cleaned, Givens life raft inspected and recertified, purchased a
new EPIRB, updated our propane tanks, worked on water pressure issues and
installed a new water pump, a completely new refrigeration system installed
with a sea water cooling feature, Rob fixed the holding tank vent, we purchased
a new dinghy and outboard, cleaned the windlass, and rebuilt its engine,
installed windlass, rebuilt 2 alternators, installed a new pump for the
water-maker, sold the Avalon and sold the truck last night. So, we walked to the bank to deposit the
check this morning. We notarized a paper to enable the sale of the Valley View
house and sent it off.
Passed the breakwater! Heading south we encountered
about 30 happy dolphins smiling and jumping alongside our boat. It was thrilling. We were reminded to enjoy the
journey. Six hours of glorious sailing with a favorable wind brought us to
Lover’s Cove on the south east part of Catalina. We set anchor and the sea rocked us to sleep.
7/17/16
Last night I heard something flailing above my head on
the outside of the boat. I imagined it
was a bird. Poor Rob had just gotten to
sleep but went out to check when the next round of flailing began. He reported
that everything was fine. This morning we found two 13” flying fish where the
noise had been.
The breeze carried us two thirds the way to the San Diego
Harbor at variable speeds, sometimes at 8 knots. But then the wind was still.
War ships were conducting live ammo exercises urging pleasure crafts away, so
we motored into the harbor. The natural harbor is huge. The full moon and harbor lights on the water
were stunningly beautiful. We had the entire place to ourselves in a way
because it was 2 am. We went under the
Coronado Bridge with a clearance of 195’ with our 51’ mast enjoying the optical
illusion of collision, yet knowing we would clear. (This is the first going
under something experience for us.) We anchored in Glorietta Bay and fell into
bed at 4:38 am…..a big day for two sailors in their sixties.
7/18/16
We slept in, rested and enjoyed the beauty of Glorietta Bay. We dinghy-ed over to the silver strand for
some groceries and walking.
7/20/16
Captain Keith McGarry arrived promptly at 9 am. I wanted
to practice the sailing skills he taught me earlier this year, but applied to
our bigger boat, and learn man overboard sequences. (Imagine stopping when the
sails are up, turning the 44,000 lb vessel around and retrieving an injured
person who needs to be hoisted in while the sea is doing its thing.) Captain Keith had some excellent strategies
as usual. It was a great day of sailing, learning and sunshine ending with the
motor giving us some trouble and Rob and Keith finding and fixing the problem.
We celebrated with shrimp cocktails back in Glorietta Bay.
Only three days anchorage in Glorietta Bay is allowed. So
today we checked in with the harbor police (required) before anchoring in the
cruisers’ anchorage. It’s still nice,
(it’s free) but more exposed to the waves and wakes of the main harbor so you
get rocked here, especially in the afternoons when the motor boats are
returning.
7/22/16
We dinghy-ed over to the grocery store this morning and
stopped into Starbucks for a bit of internet and caffeine. Learning to live without the internet always
available is on-going and tougher than I expected. Then we went to explore the
old ships and replicas of old ships at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. The
internet said there is a dock for those arriving by sea at Anthony’s, next door
to the museum. But we looked and hunted and could not find anywhere to tie up. Not to worry, Rob found a likely spot at the
workers dock. We climbed up a steel
ladder, over and around cannons and barricades as pirates do! Rob is feeling
great about no docking charges here in the cruisers’ anchorage so he bought us
lunch at Anthony’s. We asked about the advertised dock and were told a story
of the dock being swept out to sea by El Niño!
7/25/16
Today is my grandson Connor’s sixth birthday! If we could somehow just be magically
transported to attend these important family gatherings and see our loved ones!
Well, happy birthday to you Connor! I am remembering you sitting next to Rob
and me last Christmas and reading several books to us. You are a wonderful
reader, student, brother, athlete and the list goes on.
7/26/16
Captain Keith arrived by kayak this morning. We just finished reinstalling the teak planks
on the bow sprit and cleaning up the drop cloths from re-finishing the planks
yesterday. We headed straight for the
ocean to practice heaving to, tacking, jibing, and reefing the mainsail. Two golden sea lions were lounging and
barking on a large buoy marking the channel.
I called to them imitating their sounds and the smaller one lifted her
flipper to one side and waved at us! It
is thrilling to be at sea. The sounds of sirens, helicopters, planes, and motors
fade into the distance. There is a kind of silence. Now it is just the rush of
the wind, the freshness of the sea and our own thoughts of what nature is
likely to give us next to fill our sails and how we might use it best. I am
becoming a sailor!
7/27/16
Laundry and grocery shopping must be done before we can
sail to Oregon. But now we have no wheels and the anchorage is a 25 minute
dinghy ride away from the dock closest to the grocery store and laundromat. Rob
and I devised a plan; we loaded the bundles of laundry, the six large grocery
shopping bags, some envelopes to be mailed, and ourselves into the dinghy
directly after breakfast. A choppy ride to the dinghy dock and then a welcome
four block walk to the laundromat toting the bundles. I’ve learned to take
quarters and small bills in my smallest purse with a long shoulder strap. Rob
carried the largest bundle and left me there to do the laundry while he mailed
the envelopes and did the shopping with the comprehensive list we made the
night before. Two hours later we met up over a sandwich at Nellie’s Deli. I had
all the laundry done and folded in the bundles and Rob had done the shopping
loaded the bags into the dinghy, taken them to the big boat, put away the
refrigerated items and come back for me and the laundry. We left the bundles at
the front doors of sailing shops on our way back to the dinghy where we
purchased a new 80’ line for the inner stay sail roller furling and some cabin
fans in an attempt to survive the afternoon heat. While toting the laundry bags
to the dinghy, we caught the attention of Bob Grieser and Betsy Crowfoot of
Sailing Magazine. They asked if they could take photos of us and said they are
doing an article about the convenience of the San Diego Harbor for
cruisers. We had a fun little visit with
them. This is arranged conveniently for
a larger city port. I still think smaller
ports on tiny islands need to be checked out thoroughly.
August and September 2016
The plan was to sail to Cameron and Vicki’s wedding in
Oregon on September 1st. So
we kept checking the weather reports to find a window of good sailing
weather. Many had warned us about the
currents and tough sailing conditions going north from Southern California. We
left between storms hoping to get a bit of the tail-end of a dying storm for its
residual wind to take us way out to the west and miss the next one. Well, the weather forecasts underestimated
the wind, waves and currents. We found ourselves in seas with white-capped waves
as big as houses coming at us one after the other. Our belongings were crashing
and getting soaked below. When things mellowed a bit, I went down into the
cabin to close hatches and clean-up the mess, but the weather was not finished
throwing us around. The boat lurched and hit me above the eye giving me a
wonderful “shiner.”
Rob had promised that if it was “too much” we could just
turn around and go back to San Diego. I
called him on that offer. When we
returned to San Diego, we found the insurance company had been leaving messages
that we needed a crew for that travel plan because of the hazards going north.
Catalina Island's Little Harbor was a welcome place to drop anchor and rest for a few days.
To get to the wedding, we rented a car and did a road trip. It turned out to be great fun. Well, great
fun if I overlook the food poisoning I got on the way. Traveling through the
Mt. Shasta area, I learned that the higher altitudes with less atmospheric
pressure caused very uncomfortable arthritis pain in my knee that had been
completely fine on the water. Rob’s
arthritic knee was acting up so badly that he broke down and bought a cane. We
are really quite a pair. The wedding was
just beautiful and it was great to see family members and catch up with many of
them.
We love San Diego.
Staying in the harbor has given us lots of good practice on tricky anchoring
and dock approach skills. We were
anchored near a restaurant where a live band performed all the Beach Boy hits
and more. We sat in our cockpit eating dinner and just enjoyed it.
Another time we came back from doing errands to find a
Coast Guard boat with six uniformed crew alongside our boat because the wind
had blown Kyssen from her anchor spot toward their dock. The wind picks up
every afternoon and we “drug anchor” a few times. This served to teach us to
carefully monitor our GPS co-ordinates after anchoring and when the wind
changes.
10/8/16
We left San Diego and sailed to the Coronado Islands. We
anchored and stayed overnight but Rob didn’t sleep well because the ocean
swells were rocking the boat and he worried about the anchor holding.
10/9/16
We headed for Ensenada.
“What’s that?” Rob pointed starboard to a distant line of
splashes. We watched carefully. A
familiar form silhouetted in the sinking sunlight leapt out of the water. “Dolphins!
Spinner dolphins!” They jumped and
splashed in groups of two, three, five, and eight nearing the bow. Larger ones were with their young, all
gleeful and celebrating. The first group of two dozen passed to the port side.
The more we giggled and laughed, the higher and crazier they jumped. Another
group followed, then another and another.
“They’re jumping to get a good look at you because they are interested
in your giggle,” Rob observed. The
celebration lasted twenty to twenty-five minutes. We saw at least ninety
dolphins jump out of the water. Perhaps
there were more beneath the surface.
What were they celebrating? I can guess it was life, just being
alive. We were celebrating their glee
and their welcoming us to Mexico.
Alone on deck with the night, I watched the moon duplicating
distorted, dancing images of itself in the dark calm waters. Then, I heard a
breath like a diver surfacing accompanied by a splash. Next, a stale fishy
smell, a small splash and then …. silence and dark water. The presence was
gone. The next morning Rob told me of his experience of the same sounds and
smells during the night on our slow sailing into Ensenada’s bay. We think they were California Sea Lions who
saw the boat bottom and hoped for a snack. They’ve been conditioned by the many
fishing boats cleaning their catches and throwing out their bait on the way
home.
In Ensenada we’ve found a very helpful set of young men,
Carlos and Jose, who speak perfect English at the boatyard. They are helping us with the check-in process
in Mexico.
October
We’ve met many new friends here in Ensenada. While waiting for the day to have Kyssen
hauled out for bottom paint, we began to explore the city. We found it to be
very safe and friendly. Also, there are many awesome restaurants.
By day, the large sea lion population in the marina is
entertaining. A young female watched me with great interest do my Yoga routine
on the dock beside our boat. But, by night the sea lions bark continuously and
loudly. And the ocean’s surges rocks the
boat all night causing our mooring lines to strain and groan so loudly that I
cannot sleep. So, we moved the boat next door over to Cruiseport Marina because it is a newer marina and more
protected with less surge. That was a
good move. We’ve met many new cruising friends with lots of stories and advice
on sailing south.
Back to the boatyard. Climbing up and down this ladder is one way to keep in shape. The restrooms and showers are located up a spiral staircase above the parts office. It gets annoying after a week or two. It's hard to cook much without washing a lot of dishes (there's nowhere for the water to drain except out on the boat yard pavement!)
We had the old bottom paint removed
only to find that a previous owner had removed the gel-coat for blister repair but didn't get a barrier coat on
there right. So, we decided to get the blisters repaired correctly, some
really good bottom paint and the water line stripe redone. You know the old story about “owning a boat?”
Turns out the boat owns you! Yeah, well all the work was done really well. And
Kyssen was happy about it.
We should have legally changed her name from Annapurna to
Kyssen while we were in San Diego. It is
just too much hassle to do it in Mexico. So, for now she has dual names.
10/30/16
Happy Birthday Logan!
Today is your 9th birthday! Rob and I are sitting in an
internet café downloading the clips from your playoff football game! We’ve had a ball watching all of your games
thanks to daddy filming them and sending us the clips. What a great season you’ve had! Catching all those passes and running for
those touchdowns! We’re very proud of
you! It reminds me of the fun times when
your dad and uncles were in football for all those years.
We left Ensenada via Bahia Todas Santos (All Saints Bay) and explored the nearby islands in
search of a good diving spot. There was only one small place to anchor because
of the aqua culture (fish cages as large as strip malls) covering the shores of
the east side of the island. Although we
tried several times to anchor, the wind blew us off and toward the rocks every
time until we gave up and headed south by noon. I was very disappointed. Rob
seemed disappointed too. The air was
chilly and a cold storm predicted in the forecast.
Then a large pod of dolphins appeared to cheer us up.
They swam, surfed and jumped in our bow wake. Later, a large group swam alongside
of us for twenty minutes. We could see
them body surfing in the waves right next to the boat! We had three dolphin
encounters today. Their happiness is
contagious!
11/24/2016
Happy Thanksgiving to all! We sailed south through the night last
night. I took over while Rob tried to
sleep for four hours in the morning and late afternoon. We are going to continue
going south tonight.
11/25/20016
We anchored off Cedros Island on the north east
side. The water was calm and we were
protected from the wind. The weather was gorgeous, shirt sleeves or a light
jacket!
There were hundreds of pelicans perched on rocks then
flying in precise formation one or two inches above the water, then spreading
out, gaining altitude, then diving straight down into the water. The lucky and
the skilled bobbed up, sat atop the sea, lifted their long beaks and we could
see the shape of the whole fish slide down their fleshy throats!
A colony of 45-50 sea lions inhabited the sandy beaches
40 feet from our anchor. The young ones
and this year’s babies, played and splashed and practiced diving and swimming
about 10 feet from the shore in 10 to 15 feet of water and surf guarded by two
or three young females. Occasionally, the
huge male (about 600 lbs) would lumber his way into the water look straight at
us and our boat, open his huge mouth and roar a loud, low, gargling warning
about us not coming any closer to his colony. One hour after our arrival, when
he realized his roars had not scared us off. He swam a semi-circle from one end
of the main group to the other bellowing the entire way, marking his territory
in no uncertain terms.
North about 100 yards up the shore under the pelican
rocks were three younger males. When they weren’t sleeping, we could see them
sparing as sea lions do, working out their hierarchy, preparing for the day
when one of them will become the dominant male with rights to the harem. Fifty yards south on the beach were four
females who mostly slept for the two days we were there. All the rest of them
were together, center stage.
On the second day, after breakfast, a brave and curious
young female swam toward our boat and popped her head out of the water 10 feet
from us to get a better look. We talked
to her and then she disappeared. A few minutes later she returned with three
friends her same age. The four of them stayed together within touching distance
of each other as they surfaced and blinked at us. The male roared from the
beach, then disgusted he snorted and rolled his blubber into a more comfortable
position on the rocks and sand and he fell asleep.
We got caught up on our sleep during this awesome stop.
11/28/2016
We arrived at Turtle Bay. We bought some over-priced fuel
and some economical groceries. Our
friends Ron and Bridgette on Shameless were here so we had a chance to visit
with them and compare stories of the sea and the voyage.
11/29/2016
Three fishing boats
collected mackerel (bait fish) right next to our boat anchored in Turtle Bay by
casting out a net with floaters on its edge in a large circle and then hauling
the heavy net back in. The sea lions,
dolphins and pelicans objected to them taking their food out of the bay. Four
sea lions jumped in and out of the net. Five dolphins witnessed the crime and
circled like sharks. And the pelicans
swarmed covering the surface of the water over the net. The fishermen waved
them off and continued their work.
11/30/2016
We headed for Punta Asuncion. While Rob was in the engine
room working with the water-maker, I was at the helm. I saw a huge splash 300 yards ahead off the
port bow. I watched the surface of the water and saw a white whale shaped
creature jump three quarters the way out of the water and splash and submerge
again. “Whale!” I shouted to Rob. The
whale was coming toward us and continued his jumping, feeding frolic every 20
seconds giving us at least a dozen chances to see him! He didn’t care about the
boat in the least. He jumped out of the
water just 20 feet from us and continued his feeding frolic as he passed. His
belly was white and his back was gray. We estimate he was 30 feet in length,
probably a juvenile gray whale! It was another thrilling encounter with nature.
Daylight is in short supply as we approach the shortest
day of the year. Anchoring in the dark
is not my favorite, in fact I hate it.
Anchoring in the dark in a place we’ve never seen before is even
worse. This anchorage has a small island
and dozens of rocks at its entrance so it was tense coming in and finding a
spot. We relied heavily on the guidebook
information, GPS coordinates and the charts.
When it was over and things were fine, I felt a bit more like a salty
sailor.
12/2/16
Sailing along today we caught our first fish in this
adventure! It’s a type of tuna, Bonito.
12/6/16
We arrived in the dark to our anchorage destination at
Santa Maria Bay just north of Magdelina Bay.
There were several boats anchored in this ideal natural harbor.
12/9/16
We left our peaceful anchorage in Man of War Bay inside
of Magdalina Bay to head north to San Carlos for groceries, gas, laundry, and
hopefully a nice lobster dinner. Although we’ve seen hundreds of lobster traps,
we have found no lobsters for sale.
We’ve been told they are all turned in to a co-op and sold to Japan and
China where they pay at least $40 per kilo for them.
The long channel to San Carlos is marked with buoys so
the hull of the boat can stay in the deeper part and not run aground. But, it’s not a straight shot. The path zigs and zags for 15 miles. So, this
was a new experience for me to pilot the boat while Rob looked for buoys to
help us stay in the channel. We anchored a mile or two north of the commercial
dock by a picturesque beach motel.
12/10/16
We dinghy-ed to the beach and met Aldopho, the proprietor
of the motel. He was most gracious and
accommodating providing all our needs including a ride to the gas station and
the grocery store. Then, we enjoyed a romantic lobster dinner on the beach
patio watching the sunset with Kyssen in silhouette. Rob left some lights on so we could find our
way back if the fog came in.
12/11/16
This morning was very foggy. We sat in the cockpit waiting for the fog to
clear so we could move the boat south closer to the mouth of the bay. When out
of the fog, just inches from the glassy water came the pelican patrol. Pelicans are awkward looking creatures until
you watch them glide over the water where they become breathtakingly sleek and mesmerizing.
There were thirty of these precision flyers flying in a “V” formation just a
few feet from the boat. An hour later the fog was getting thinner. The entire fleet of pelicans about 150
individuals formed four squadrons to inspect the water’s surface in classic
flight formations. Our boat was an
obstacle to their sweeping operation so, the long line of precision flyers simply made a bridge to glide above us
then they gracefully dropped back into line after the obstacle was behind them.
We watched with delight and awe.
12/12/16
Heading south from Magdalena Bay toward Cabo San Lucas
Rob spotted a clump of green color in the blue sea. “What do you think that is?
…a clump of sea weed?” he asked. “Yeah, I guess.” By now it was behind us and I
couldn’t see it very well. I went downstairs to do some tidying up in the
stateroom. “Hey, come up here! A
turtle!” Rob called. So, for the next few hours we were delighted to identify a
dozen or so green turtles of different sizes six to ten inches beneath the
water going north.
12/13/16
We arrived in Cabo San Lucas after 30 hours of sailing -- and motoring for the last few because the wind died. CSL is beautiful! Just as we were anchoring, an enormous golden
moon rose in the east! (The photos didn’t capture it well.)
12/14/16
Just four hours further around the tip of Baja is San
Jose del Cabo with a newer marina and all the amenities we could ask for. We
arrived in the afternoon, got settled, made some new friends and went to dinner
with them!
12/16/16
We rented a car for the day to go to Costco, get propane,
and complete our lists of errands, Whew! It’s warm here during the days 80-90
degrees Fahrenheit, cooling to comfy sleeping temperatures at night.
12/18/16
I finished cleaning and polishing the stainless steel
railings until I got too hot. Rob is
washing some laundry in a bucket as I type this. “I wish I had a ringer.” That’s
as close to a complaint as he ever makes aboard the boat. (We won’t talk about
road rage manners right now.) Well, I’ll attempt to post this while we have an
internet connection.
Merry Christmas to all our family, friends, and loved
ones! We miss you ......but not your northern weather this time of year.
