Good Internet; Here come the pictures!!

Nice to see the family name on a street in San Diego Just a little beach combing and leg stretching

Mexico here we come!!

Comong down the hill into Ensendada, the first big city on th Baja

A little roadside cafe between San Quintin and Santa Rosalia

The kitchen in most of these little restuarants are just household size. These ladies sure can put out some good food!!

Small roadside gas station. There are larger stations but we weren't sure when the next one was going to be so we purchased gas from this fellow.

Driving across the mountains from the Pacific side to the Sea of Cortez side of the Baja

In the boat yard getting Nordic V ready for the water. Our buddies Irene and Liz lending a helping hand

Big job taking out all the gear and clean it all up and restow it all. Nice when it is all done!!

More shots of the drive down.

This is Liz sizing up the next job, which is to climb the mast to tie on the roller furling rigging

Thank you Liz!!

Splashing in, getting ready to head out the day before Xmas

Xmas party with the fleet at Peurto Escondido

Of course, no Xmas party is complete without a pinata!!

Xmas day Isla San Cosme Exchanging gifts with Liz and Irene xmas morning

Xmas day raft up party with the fleet at Peurto Escondido

More raft up xmas day

Bahia San juanico on our way up to Santa Rosalia

This booby bird flew alongside us trying to land to take a rest and finally succeeded by landing on the kayak. he sat there for awhile until he slid off the kayak backwards.

We have landed at Santa Rosalia and are excited to do more exploring around this very cool town. We poked around the village today and tomorrow will try to find the museum and maybe tour a library that was created in the name of Mahatma Ghandi. Apparently he lived here for a number of years and there is some photographic history as well as some signed books. I will update the blog one more time before we leave this area with some local pictures.

Blog ya all later!!

Feliz Ano Neuvo!!

Team Nordic V

In the water and sailing about

Hello Everyone

We arrived in Peurto Escondido a week before Xmas and joined in on the festivities going on around the harbour. We are reunited with our sailing companions from the Misty Moonlight and they have joined us to cruise for a few weeks. We sailed out of Peurto Escondido for Honeymoon Cove on the 23, spent the night and headed Bahia Cosme for Xmas Eve. At Bahia Cosme there are some hot springs (actually, we think it is hot air that heats the water) and at low tide a tidal pool is left to heat up to about 102 degrees. It is quite lovely to relax in the pool.

We anchored at Isla Cosme for Xmas Eve. Xmas morning was sunny and beautiful and we exchanged gifts with Liz and Irene. We enjoyed a Xmas breakfast complete with roast turkey, mashed potatoes, peas, stuffing and tortillas. We managed to cook a 25 lb turkey in our oven; deboned of course!! It barely fit, but it turned out great!!

We returned to Peurto Escondido for the remainder of Xmas day and joined the local fleet for a big raft up party. There was plenty of ho ho-ing and good times. There is a really great group that live year round in Peurto Escondido and we have come to know them well.

Boxing day had us heading north toward Santa Rosalia where we will spend New Year's Eve. As it is a 119 NM trip, we are doing the journey in hops. We spent our first night on Isla Coronado, left the next morning and sailed up to San Juanico. At San Juanico we met up with some other cruisers and had a little party on the beach. We have made plans to meet up with them in Santa Rosalia for New Years.

The following morning we sailed up to San Sebastion where we currently as I write this blog. If the weather is good, we should made Santa Rosalia tomorrow, the 29th. We plan to spend a few days looking around Santa Rosalia. The town has a long history with many things to look at. One of the landmarks is an iron church designed by Eiffel. Apparently the church was commissioned to be built for the 1896 worlds fair and then sent to Santa Rosalia in 1897.

When I have some stronger internet, I will post some pictures.

Nordic V signing off.....

On The Road Again!!

Early Xmas !!

We enjoyed an early Xmas with the kids in Parksville, Vancouver Island

Woo Hoo!!!

Blake's parents feed the deer all winter right by their home in Fort St. James British Columbia

Stuart Lake Fort St. James



Sunset Stuart Lake

Driving the Coquihalla Highway between Kamloops heading towards Vancouver for our final day before leaving for Lake Joy

More beautiful BC!!

We have arrived at Minney's in Newport. We are just a little early and we are looking forward to see Sherry. We became good friends last year when we spent almost 2 weeks shopping here. This store has almost anything you would need for any second hand parts you may need!! We picked up 2 new sails, a new cruising book, and all the pieces we need to create a davit system for our dinghy.

No Blake, you can't go in yet!!

Well everyone, the time has rolled around again!! After some teary goodbyes to the kids, the Crew of Nordic V are on the move and heading for Mexico!! Currently, we are in Newport Beach, California and will head down the Baja on Tuesday morning. We began our trip with a little cruise northward to Blake's parents in Fort St. James in northern BC. After that, we headed south to visit our new friends in Carnation Washington (Lake Joy to be exact). Cathy, Jeanette and Cindy greeted us with the delight people have when you have not seen them in awhile. They fed us a beautiful meal, and we left Lake Joy the next morning headed to Astoria. We met up with a cruisin' buddy there, spent the night on her boat and head to southern California.

The temp. is up around 20 degrees and we are lovin' the warm air. We are looking forward to another fun-filled winter in the Sea of Cortez. Our young friends from the Misty Moonlight are waiting for us to return and we plan to spend more time sailing/playing with them. We look forward to reconnecting with all the folks from the Hidden Port Yacht Club in Peurto Escondido.

I will sign out for now, hope everyone is well and healthy and ready for Xmas. Special thoughts to my niece Shayla who is due to have her baby today!! Once again, the invitation is sent out to all of you to come and spend some time with us on the Baja. We have a vehicle in Mexico this trip. Just fly into Loreto and you will have vehicle to come and find us and hop on board!!

Cathy and Blake

Nordic V

Loreto

The town of Loreto is just north of Peurto Escondido where we are anchored. The port is a huge anchorage and there are many ways to get into town, including hitching with year round residents. People are generous with their rides and local advice. Our spanish is not improving though as most people speak english. We have not moved past one word sentences and pantomime!!

Open market in Loreto
Blanket weaver in the Loreto open market. He will weave any pattern you ask him to.

Fruteria in Loreto

Loreto Mission Church circa 1659

I received permission from this lady to take her picture as she rested in front of the mission

Every sunday there is a big open market where farmers bring their produce, local stores bring their wares and vendors sell tacos, burritos and hamburguesas. The veggies are cheap and fresh and delicious!!

San Marte

We sailed up from San Evaristo to Bahia San Marte. We spent one night and then sailed up the Peurto Escondido. We have joined the yacht club in Puerto Escondido and will be hauling the boat out there. The town of Loreto is just to the north and there is plenty of shopping and sightseeing.


Sunrise in Bahia San Marte

Nordic V at anchor in San Marte

Nearly every anchorage we stop at has hiking trails and beautiful views. This view is from the plateau above Bahia San Marte

Not sure what this plant is, but it reminds me of chinese lantern and the animals eat the fruit

Sea caves just south of Agua Verde

The rock formations are varied and create an amazing coastal view. The different layers contain volcanic rock, limestone, shell, and bone and the list goes on. On the beaches you can pick agates, obsidian and countless types of shell for jewellry.

Isla Espiritu Santo to San Evaristo

Part of the reason for us to go on this sailing journey was to meet people and share stories. We met Jane, Simon, Hugo and Ethan on Elixir in San Quintin on the outside of the Baha waaay back in January! We have been bumping into them as both our boats travelled down the Baja and up into the Sea of Cortez. Elixir is a 48 - 51 foot catamaran and the family is travelling to Australia. We enjoyed spending time with them and playing with the kids. My hat is off to Jane and Simon undertaking such a challenging journey with a 3 year old and an 18 month old. They are from Australia so we hope to see them again when we get over there !!

As we travel up the Sea, I am amazed at the varied and continuous beauty of the bays and islands we are stopping at. Each one has something new to explore from cool cactus to unique tiendas (little stores) and friendly locals. I am so grateful for the evolution of the camera from film to digital!! I can click away with out any concern. Everything looks picture worthy; it is hard to stop taking shots.

We are currently in a small bay called Honeymoon Cove across from Peurto Escondito. For some reason we can get internet; even though we ARE out in the boonies!! (?) I am trying to get caught up on the blog so everyone knows where we are. Today's date is March 15 and we are having some quiet time with our young buddies from the Misty Moonlight. Time is closing in on them and we are spending a few days together before they head back to La Paz and back to their working lives. Time closes in on us as well and we haven't even touched the tip of the exploration iceberg !!

Our plans for the next few days are to explore a bay called Agua Verde and then it will be time to part company with Misty. I try not to think about our departure from them; they have become like daughters to us and we are going to miss them immensely. We have spent alot of time together and I can't count the laughs there have so many. We have made some tentative plans to see them in the future; when and where will be determined. They have touched our hearts and we look forward to more trips with them in the future.

We will head north to Bahia Concepcion to investigate that area to finish our trip for this year. We will meet up with some folks we met in Peurto Escondido and sail with them before we make our way back to Peurto Escondido where we will leave the boat for this year.
We will leave Honeymoon Cove tomorrow and will be away from internet service for a bit. Hoping this finds everyone healthy, happy and ready for more blog news as the Nordic V wends her way to her most northern destination on this; our first trip around the Sea of Cortez.



Old pearl farm in Bahia San Gabriel Isla Espiritu Santo

More ruins at San Garbriel

Mangrove swamp at Bahia Amortajada on Isla San Jose

It was that we decided we needed to have a holiday so the crew on Misty Moonlight proclaimed March 1st as Cactus Day. We all celebrated at the beach on Isla San Francisco with afternoon appies. Pictured is Sarah from Misty Moonlight and Neil from Rootea

Bahia San Evaristo

Simon, Jane, Hugo and Ethan from Elixir. Blake from Nordic V

Cabo and points North

Lands End at Cabo San Lucas
More Cabo San Lucas Bay

Greetings from Ballandra Bay!! Finally, I am putting on some nature type pictures. We are having a blast as you can well imagine. This pretty little bay is just north of La Paz and we spent some time there with Amber, Cory and Taylor
Nordic V at Ballandra

Hondo Rock

Sharing the bay with these fine feathered friends!!

On the road to San Jose del Cabo to the airport. Taylor and Me!

Cory, Amber and Taylor snorkelling at Ballandra