We had planned to get out of La Paz and spend Christmas on the mainland in warmth, but since we have some good friends here in La Paz it just seemed crazy to hurry off when the mainland will still be there when we eventually do decided to pull anchor. We will just have to continue to wear socks...oh the horror.
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As we complete our 15th day at sea we are kind of getting ready to be there! The wind came up around midnight and we were able to sail until noon today. We were only making about 3.5 knots so the crew was getting restless. The captain gave Eric the stink potter option - and for some reason he said something like "put the pedal to the metal" - must be jeep talk.
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We're going to try and put in multiple images in the post so here goes. The first picture is of Tracy's new English Muffins. The first batch was made with old flour that had been run through the microwave to kill any and all bugs and then vacuum packed. Came out hard as a rock. I made bread out of it and had to put it in the cuissanart to bust it apart. This time, new flour with much better results
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This is what we see every time we dinghy into town. (View Post...)

This is where we anchored prior to coming back into Jolly Harbour. A lovely, quiet and mostly deserted cove. (View Post...)

The scuba open water diver certification class was by far harder than anything I've done before. Yes, the Safety at Sea course in MA was grueling, and OK, our passage down here wasn't exactly a walk in the park but compared to this? Totally overwhelming, anxiety-generating, testing of my resilience sort of stuff. Now don't comment, please about how easy you found this course. I will not feel better with those types of comments. Just know that I am done, I got certified, I passed but it took everything I had to complete it. Ed? Guess! Swimmingly well. Not surprised? Me neither.
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The worst situation for 4 sailors is one that involves days of motoring. Alas we are those individuals, and are steady making progress. As you can imagine, we have had lots of time to reflect on the meaning of life and share stories on this trip. Some of the best stories are the personal ones: What was Jamies nick name as a child - rhymes with winky, who was that famous Bean that started Albersons, What was the name of that boat part that brought Eric and Jacky together? How many years did it really take Rodney to finish college? all of these stories are safe and sound with us 500 miles from Grenada.
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Today was a sad day on Azure II. It is not that we hit a whale, tore a sail, or ran out of beer. No, it is much worse than that. At 10:00 UTC, 707 miles from Grenada, with 10 knots of breeze from the west - we engaged the transmission. A true Zen sailor's nightmare - we have now joined the ranks of the stink potters. The crew and I have always made fun of the other cruisers on the morning net that had reported that they were "motoring" in 8 knots of wind. We can make 4 knots of boat speed in 8 knots of wind, I would say. No, it was the wind direction that killed us. If Venezuela was our destination we were right on target - but we would not be home for Christmas. So we traveled 2000 miles under sail, as distance from San Francisco to Hawaii, but now we are stinky.
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Today was just another day of small tasks that needed to be done aboard the boat. Yesterday, the marina lost water after a construction company broke the main line coming in from the main road. It was restored after several hours but with no water available, many services suffered. Heck, the cafe couldn't even wash their dishes. We checked our tanks this morning and found that we had about 3 inches left. It was time to fill them up. Not full, but to maybe 3/4 full. There is no need to have them full at this time as when we go out to other islands to explore, we want to be a bit lighter than normal so we move better and faster. Fully loaded, our tanks add almost 2200 pounds to our waterline. Now filling our tanks takes a good bit of time as every drop that goes in our tanks is filtered. It goes through a thick paper filter and then through a charcoal filter. We've been told that the water here at the marina is perfectly safe but why take the chance that something might get in our tanks and contaminate the water. We have ALWAYS filtered every drop that hits our tanks--unless we are making it with our water maker and even it goes through filters. We have friends that brought water aboard in the Marquesas that was supposed to be safe and a few days later, their water was turning green as life began to grow in their tanks. They had to empty their tanks and scrub them out to get rid of all of it. We won't take that chance. After well over an hour, the tanks were 3/4 full and that is just fine with us.
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Cruising is as much about the weather as it is the Tacos and Destinations, so the fact that we are all freezing cold isn't right and its reminding us of why Baja isn't the place to be in the winter. Sure, you won't find snow on the ground or ice in the cat's water bowl, but while enjoying tacos tonight at Chino's I was noticeably cold and Lori was shivering. Street tacos are just not intended to be enjoyed wearing 4 layers of clothes, so it's time to start searching for a weather window and get the crew of THIRD DAY over to the Mexican mainland, just in time for Christmas.
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For those of you afloat as well as on land, let me tell you an easy way to do ribs. I bought a rack of what were supposed to be baby backs but instead I got spare ribs when they were delivered a few days ago. I guess a brake down in communications between myself and the person behind the counter. Out here in Fiji, it's not that uncommon. Any way, with spare ribs being more stringy than baby backs, I looked into a better way to cook them where they would come out tender with the stringiness broken down.
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We have started to settle into our new home, at least home for probably a couple of months. I know I am constantly complaining about the wind, but once again it is very windy, right now gusting to 30 mph.
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We spent two nights on Little Farmers Cay at Farmers Cay Yacht Club and Marina. There is a restaurant and bar there. We had breakfast our first morning there. It’s very small but nice except for the showers. Based on Bill’s description of the shower I didn’t even bother to try it, something about the toilet drainage and the shower water being connected (ugh!) The bridge is out between the Yacht Club and the little Village so we had to take the long way, basically walking down the air strip on the island. No planes coming or going on both our walk to and from the village. We were the only ones at the Yacht Club. Weather, again, very windy.
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When I got the new SPOT Connect I didn't change my settings to have it display on my share page. But now I have, so if you click on the link to the right called "Where in the world are Terry and Heidi" it will take you to our new share page on the SPOT website and if any SPOT messages have been sent out within 7 days they will show up there.
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We're still getting settled into life at the dock -- we came in on Dec. 1st but by Dec. 3rd we were on the road north driving up Baja to take our car back and stow it away for awhile. I traveled as far as San Diego where I flew back down so I could stay with Rosie while Terry completed the trip, and now he will fly back home on Saturday.
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Noch nicht alle aus der alten Besatzung haben das Boot verlassen, als die neue Crew die frei gewordenen Kajüten belegt. Es ist nicht so leicht, wieder zu gehen, nach einer intensiven Zeit auf See mit dir, Santa Maria. Mich hast du verführt, noch einen Tag von Teneriffa nach Gomera zu segeln. So lerne ich heute noch mit dir zusammen die neue Crew kennen, mit der wir nun gerade nach einem ersten Segeltag in San Sebastian angelegt haben.
Mit sanftem Segelwind, der anstatt wie im „Windfinder“ angesagt konstant aus Nordosten zu wehen, uns später am Nachmittag auch mal aus Westen entgegenkam, hatten wir einen geruhsamen Einstieg. Mit der gesetzten Fock starteten wir bei einer mäßigen Brise, die am Nachmittag wieder abflaute und uns gestattete zusätzlich das Großsegel in aller Ruhe zu setzen. Als der Wind vor der Küste Teneriffas nachließ, begleitete uns eine Walfamilie ein Stück des Weges durch das Wasser und schenkte der neuen Besatzung ihre inspirierende Anwesenheit.
Freude und Konzentration wechselten im Cockpit unter der heute überwiegend weiblichen Steuerkraft der Besatzung. Die Maschine brummte dann in den frühen Abendstunden gemütlich und brachte uns sicher vor Sonnenuntergang in den Hafen von San Sebastian.
Am Abend wurde das Kochen von der männlichen Seite der Bordmannschaft angeregt und die Crew fand sich beim Gemüse schneiden und Salat bereiten im Decksalon zusammen. Es erklangen Salsa-Töne als Musikuntermalung nach dem guten Essen und kurz vor Mitternacht spielte ein letzter Tango mit leiser Melodie.
In der Stille darauf hörten wir die Fender zwischen den Booten mit kurzen regelmäßigen Tönen. Es klingt wie ein leises Aufstöhnen, wenn sich die Boote mit den ausgehängten Fendern an den Stegen reiben. Im Nachbarboot wird auf Deck noch erzählt und gelacht, während aus einer unserer Kajüten ein zartes Schnarchen zu hören ist.
Der erste Segeltag hat die Crew müde gemacht und nun liegen sie in ihren Kojen und lassen sich von Dir mit leichten Bewegungen in den Schlaf wiegen.
Morgen geht die Fahrt weiter nach Hueltas bei Valle Gran Rey und ich werde die neue Besatzung und die Santa Maria vorerst ihrer Wege ziehen lassen, bis wir uns eines Tages vielleicht wiedersehen.

Santa Maria, wie gern habe ich deiner Stimme gelauscht.
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Isla San Franciso is sort of the poster child for the islands in the Sea of Cortez. It's main anchorage is a large crescent shaped white sand beach filled with turquoise water .Add to that some great hiking trails through red rocks and along a ridge that offer fantastic views it is a perfect setting.
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We are now anchored off Big Majors Cay. Big Majors’s claim to fame are the swimming pigs. When you dinghy up to the beach 5-6 pigs come out looking for food. One almost managed to swamp the dinghy, trying to get in. They are huge, not some little piglets, big mothers.
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The culinary melting pot that is San Francisco doesn’t stop at the standard Italian, Greek or Chinese fare. No, no. Child’s play, those are. When you want something off the beaten path and, oh…delicious, go Hungarian.
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