Thursday, December 30, 2010

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



















Tuesday, December 28, 2010

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.....




Sunday, December 12, 2010

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