Across the Sea of Cortes, again

After splashing and getting ourselves pulled off the reef AND spending several days working on the rudder—getting it to move freely again, we left Guaymas on a Friday, heading in the direction of Punta Chivato just northeast of Bahia Conception. Now some superstitious sailors would recommend not leaving on a Friday, so we asked Ray, a fellow NW sailor, and he said “being superstitious about leaving on a Friday depends on what religion ya believe in”, and since we didn’t have one, we left. Besides, we had a 36-hour window of favorable weather before a stiff norther was predicted to blow and we wanted to be in the protective bays of Conception before that happened. So off we went with some trepidation. (We still had a twinge of that superstition nagging in the backs of our minds) After all it had been 9 months since we had sailed and we had a lot of new stuff to get used to! We were basically on a shakedown test run across the 90 or so miles of this portion of the Sea of Cortes.

Yes, I had better mention that we also had Marjean along with us as a visitor this time. As some of you may remember we had a third crewmember when we sailed down the coast to San Francisco, and it was she! You will see her in the pictures that are published here.

Off we went sailing well after dark, making such good time that we arrived at Punta Chivato by full moonlight at midnight. Anchoring in the dark is not recommended in Mexico, but with the light so bright, and by using our radar to make certain that we were a prudent distance from the nearby islands and the shore, we settled into our calm anchorage for a brief sleep. After 6 hours of sleep we up anchored and headed into Bahia Conception, once again visiting some of the anchorages we scoped out last year.

SPLASH!

We finally made it to the water on Wed, Feb 1! Yahoo! But not without our problems, which we will detail in another post. The following pictures show our new cockpit benches and us enjoying ourselves on them. Marjean, our friend from Bellingham is now with us and you see her in the next to last picture. A big celebration is in order............

Pics of the new Batwing as of Jan 14

Working in the yard in guaymas

Pictures are of (top to bottom) Sunset in the boatyard, Eric and Sherrell from Sarana, view of San Carlos Bay and LoonIII going back into the water.
We arrived in Guaymas during a very hot fall--temps soared in the 90,s which made it very hard to work much longer than 4-5 hours a day. We learned the value of siesta very well. Shortly after we arrived, acquaintences but soon to be friends Aly and Iain from LoonIII arrived and we spent fun times driving around town getting food and water as well as getting to know them. We had first encountered them in an anchorage in the Bunsbys on the west coast of Vancouver Island, then in Sausalito and then in Baja. Also arriving shortly after were Monica and Jack of BellaVia, soon to be our mentors in this project to give Batwing a facelift. Days became work time in morning and early afternoon, then off to internet and possibly water and food shopping, trips to the ferreteria or hardware store then back home to early to bed on the boat. Throw in a weekend day to goof off exploring the coast north and south of Guaymas, trips to San Carlos to visit other cruiser friends, and you have our routine. Wait till we show you pictures of Batwing!

Back in Mexico

Weather has finally started to cool off to high 80,s and we are getting more work done. Stay tuned to the changes we are making on Batwing!
Great to be in the land of papayas and avocados. Avos are about a quarter apiece and papayas 2-3 $$ depending on the size. Guac rules!

On the way out of Colorado

As we left Colorado, we visited Brian Sperry for a couple days on his river property. Very beautiful place and a fun time visiting and working with Brian. Then on to Grand Junction where we hiked near the National Monument area with Ron's sister jan and her husband Dan.

Ron visits his mom

We spent 10 days in Blair Nebraska sharing time with Ron's mom, then back to Hastings where we caught another concert, this time the Cathedral Brass, a quintet made up of Dan and Susan Schmidt and 3 other excellent musicians. We really enjoyed the touch of culture in our Midwest visit, compliments of the musical Schmidts!