We are in Mexico!!

Hola everyone!!

We are in Bahia de Tortuga (Turtle Bay). This small village is 210 miles south of Ensenada. We travelled from Ensenada on the 16th of January and sailed south 65 miles to San Quintin Bay. We waited out a 3-day storm while we were anchored there. The wind was clocked at 44 knots and the five boats anchored had an interesting three days to say the least!! One boat lost it's anchor and careened through the anchorage helpless to do anything. Miraculously, she did not hit anyone, and a man from the boat Elixir was able to get an anchor and rope to the boat before it hit the shore. Quite alot of excitement to say the least!! It turned out that the storm flooded the village of San Quintin, knocked out 2 bridges and cut off the village from outside roads. They called a state of emergency and the army was on site helping with repairs. We walked into town after the main storm had blown through for a few groceries. We found a ride with a young man and his wife and they gave us a ride into town and then as far back as they could on the washed out roads.

We left San Quintin on Jan. 23 and sailed the 160 miles to Turtle Bay. We are leaving today for Magdalena Bay and should arrive in 2 days time. There are many stories to relate, but we need to get going on our way to Mag bay. I will give a full report when we get to Cabo San Lucas, which our destination after Magdalena Bay.

Adios Amigas!!

Once there was a store named Minneys.....

I am writing this today as I sit in San Diego harbour while Blake takes care of our cruising discharge from the united states. Upon his return, we will head off to Mexico!!! Ensenada is 69 miles south of San Diego which is an easy day sail away. Once into Mexico, I do not know how often we will have access to internet, but we will try to keep you as updated as possible.
Now on to the story about Minneys...
This new and used marine store is every mariners dream. They have just about every part a sailor could possibly want and then some. The prices and selection are second to none that we have come across so far in our travels. Blake thought he had died and gone to heaven. Jeff and sherry helped us until we had spent so much time there they were asking us where stuff was...

See anything you like?

Blake bought the pieces to create a new bow roller - total cost of pieces - $68. - 00 new cost 359.00 - Look on Blake's face when he had the finished bow roller - priceless!!(picture coming soon)

We spent so much time there at Minneys they gave us T-shirts!!

Morro Bay to Santa Barbara

Morro Rock - south of San Francisco. This rock is a volcanic plug created 26,000 years ago. All the breakwaters around Morro bay were built from rock blasted Morro rock which is a similiar rock to granite. Excavation of this rock ceased in 1963. Morro Bay

Wing on wing - 10knots!!

Coming into Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara Marina

Santa Barbara

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone!! We are currently in Newport Beach California and will be heading south around the 7th of January. We had planned to head south a little sooner, but we are enjoying Newport Beach so much, we thought we would hang around a little longer than originally planned. That's the beauty of cruising, you can do whatever blows your hair back!!

The following pics are from our time in San Francisco

Of course, no blog would be complete without a shot of alcatraz Dining at the crabhouse at Pier 39 in san francisco

crab anyone?

Vicki and I at Pier 39 near Fishermans wharf

Forbes Island - California style!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

We leave Santa Barbara today and head to Santa Catalina Island for Xmas. We will then head to San Diego and will be in Ensenada between Xmas and New Years. Love to you all and we will add pictures down the line somewhere.

Love Cathy and Blake
Merry Xmas and Happy New Year




Merry xmas you bunch of scallywags! Merry Xmas (video)

Crossing the Columbia River Bar and headin south toSan Francisco

Captain Joe helps us get south of all the bad storms. It took 3 nights and 4 days to get to San Francisco Columbia River Bar

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse at the Columbia River Bar

Dolphins at the bow!

Full Moon on the trip south to San Francisco

Sunset to the west and moon rise to the east at the same time. Beautiful

6:30 am December 5 going under the Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

dolphin video

Pirate Girl cleans up - almost!!

When we last left Pirate Girl things were looking pretty grim. But pirate girl didn't let gecko get to her for long, and she was out and about in no time full of swashbuckling spirit!!


"My new drink of choice" says Pirate GirlVisiting the Cannery Pier Hotel in Astoria

Pirate Girl goes for a spa treatment

About to get her legs done

Visiting the museum (things are looking up for Pirate Girl aren't they)

She gets invited to another boat for appetizers and wine - will she stick to pop?

Let me at that grub

I mean, this looks divine

Pirate girls's new friend Barb

Uh oh, looks like Pirate girl fell off the wagon - I think that Barb is a bad influence!

Pirate Girl and Barb at the Triangle

Pirate girl cuts loose with a little sword action

Hey The guys are back!!

Pirate girls' new guy Randy. He poaches poachers for a living. Her kind of guy

Things goes just a little off the rail at the triangle. So much for high society; this is waaay more fun....

We are not far enough south yet!!

We woke up this morning to frost on the docks and it was quickly decided we needed to get going further south!!

We are leaving Vallejo this morning and heading over to Pier 39 right downtown San Francisco to spend the day. We are meeting up with a friend of mine (we hiked the West Coast trail together) and she lives near Golden Gate park. We also are picking up a new crew member, a young fella we met in Astoria who is hitching a ride south with us. I hope pirate girl behaves and doesn't make him walk the plank or anything!!

We will head toward Santa Barbara tomorrow and if it is still cold, we will continue on to San Diego. We will keep you posted!!


Frost on the dock!!

Yes, that's right; frost!!

We measured 17 degrees F this morning brrr!!

Hello Everyone

Well we left the Columbia river on December 2 nd at 10:00 am and headed out 20 miles to avoid all of the crab traps and get into a calmer sea and the headed south east for San Francisco. The Nordic V needs three crew on board in order to be a relaxing and restful experience. My idea of Cruising is to be relaxing and enjoyable so we decided that it was in our best interests to find another crew member. We talked to a few new found friends and came up with no one that wanted to go south so I hired a charter boat guy ( Captain Joe; picture to follow), The cost of the extra hand was certainly worth it to us. We were out on the high seas for three nights and were under the Golden Gate bridge at 6:50 am December 5th with Freighters, Tugs in tow, Pilot boats, fishing boats, and more, Wow all of this after only seeing 6 ships in 4 days a bit of a sensory overload for sure. The trip to San Francisco from Astoria was a great training experience on all the things we need to consider for serious off shore travel. All of the books in the world can not get anyone 100 % ready because every boat is different. We did very well and did not lose,break,or damage anything at all. Well our Captain Joe was a great asset to the trip. The seas were swells from the north west 6 to 10 feet and the winds were 5 to 20 from the north west and the east. We had a chance to experience the doldrums as well. We motor sailed and motored all the way. A picture is worth a thousand words and Cathy will be adding pictures soon. We are up in the Napa river at a small place called Vallejo and are going up the river with the Nordic to the Napa valley and will stay in Napa overnight. Our plans are to wait here until tuesday the 8 th and hook up with a friend on his sailboat ( Princess ) and Buddy boat south. Don is 71 years old and has sailed around the world a few times, lost his wife a few years ago and decided to go a third time, Don is a great guy and a real life book of knowledge.

Well that will be all for now and anyone interested in crewing let us know. 250 202 0102 will work till Mexico and then we will have a new number for anything important at all.

We just heard the weather for San Fran area and they are calling for snow tonight in the hills so we want to go south even more now.

Till later keep warm.

More on Astoria

We have become good friends with a lady who lives on her boat on the next float over from ours. Her sailboat is fifty footer with a fifteen foot beam and it has all the bells and whistles. Barbara is from Valdez Alaska and is travelling south to Mexico as well. We have had plenty of laughs together. Her and pirate girl have become fast friends. (uh oh) Barbara is overwintering here and will continue on to Mexico somtime in the future. We hope to see her down south someday! We have also met her cousin Hank who is a boat surveryor and has a wealth of knowledge of the waters here. He also has become a good friend and has offered up local information on marine shops etc.

The Columbia River Bar has a long time and very interesting maritime history and has claimed many ships over time. Navigating the bar now is relatively straightforward as long as you pay attention to the tides and the weather. The safest time to cross over the bar is at high slack tide with moderate to calm weather. Crossing any other time can prove to be quite hazardous. Careful planning and respect for the conditions are all that is needed to cross safely. We had a small snag when we were starting our crossing. We were waiting for the tide (about 7pm, high slack was at 8), when our radar went out. The Columbia River has a very busy shipping lane and we have had difficulty seeing any ships or pick up bouys if any fog rolled in; not good without the radar. The captain radioed Cape Disappointment coast guard and asked for assistance. They picked us up on their radar from the lighthouse and checked in with every 20 minutes to ensure our correct position going into the bar channel. Blake was able to fix the radar (fuse) and we had our complete navigation back. the coast guard stayed with us until we radioed that we were fine and able to continue on our own. When we were almost to Astoria, a coast guard zodia cam alongside and requested a boarding. They told us to maintain our speed and position and they would come alongside. To say the least it was a little distracting!! (I was on the helm at the time) They boarded the boat, and helped guide us into the marina. After we were docked we were given another inspection and found no infractions. They asked the same questions as the fellas in La Push "without reaching for them, do you have any weapons?" and "Does you toilet have a holding tank?" Guns and poop are important!! And in that order...

Today is November 27 and we are heading out tonight on the 9 pm tide. If all goes well, we have a weather opportunity to keep going approx. 200 nm south to Coos Bay. If we are doing well with shifts and all that, we may just keep going!!

We will stay in touch, and update as soon as we can.

Blog ya later
Cathy

Cape Disappointment lighthouse
Bridge over the Columbia River

This house was used in a film called Goonies. We did not see it, but apparently it is famous!!

River pilot coming alongside a ship in the river

Blake and I at the Astor Column. 164 steps.

Barbara and me on top of the Astor column overlooking the Columbia River In bound ship heading up the Columbia River

The Astor Column - the murals tell the story of the expedition of Lewis and Clark

The Triangle Pub est. 1934