Isla Partida

Ahoy! From Isla Partida (a small island 20 miles north of La Paz)
We decided to sail north to Isla Partida, before La Paz, to snorkel and sight-see. As we sailed the beautiful 12 miles from Puerto Balandra to Isla la Partida we caught two brightly colored Dorado (30” and 36”), then later we hooked “something BIG” that spooled out our big reel filled with 80lb line and it broke off our favorite plug. Dang! It’s another “fish story” for the books. But, the sailing was outstanding and we enjoyed our 7 knots of smooth blue water cruising.
We have not been disappointed with our decision. Isla Partida is a beautiful little desert island with white sandy beaches and clear warm turquoise waters to anchor.
We dinghied around the island to find some sea caves, and we drove the dinghy inside one cave then turned around (very cool). We continued our dinghy adventure to the top of the island, to a large rock sticking out of the sea called Los Islotes. We were amazed to find many boats near the rock that rises 80 feet, reaching 800 foot long, and “accented” with white guano highlights (bird doo!). Quickly we understood why the tourist boats were here…..diving and snorkeling with sea lions! It didn’t take long for the crew of Windfall (Ben, Nancy, and I) to don our masks and fins and take the plunge into the warm water. It is like looking into an aquarium filled with colorful tropic fish, suddenly…SWISH! Right past us went a playful sea lion!
Male sea lions can grow up to 8 feet long and weigh 800 pounds, while the females grow up to 6 feet long and 200 pounds. Ok…so we were a “bit scared” at first, but you quickly find these playful animals are having as much fun as us. It’s a little un-nerving as a 800 pound sea lion swims inches past and wants to “play.” N-n-n-nice Sea lion! G-g-g-good boy!
There is an opening (cave) through the rock can swim through. The sea lions LOVE to swim right along with you, passing over, under, and beside as you slowly kick your fins. We swam to the far end to find another and much smaller “swim through.” As Nancy was floating in the water, a sea lion swam from behind, laid it’s head on her shoulder, and gave her a “full-finned” wrap-around hug! Ben said Nancy’s eyes looked huge inside her mask as the sea lion slowly swam away. I think Nancy has a new underwater friend with a passion for blonds!
We watched as a small sea lion pup played with a stick, dropping it into the water again and again, and then fetching it back to the surface. I sure wanted to toss that stick to watch him retrieve it.
As we enjoyed this so much, we’re going back to Los Islotes, and this time I’m taking our underwater camera and a beach ball…sticks are hard to come by aboard a boat. (Nancy is shaking her head as I read this to her).
So, with a hug from a friendly sea lion, or two, our cruising adventure continues aboard Windfall. Adios for now! We’re grabbing our snorkels and heading back to Los Islotes…Now where can I find a good stick….

We can now say “We’ve sailed the Horn of Mexico” and we find ourselves in Bahia Los Frailes… 104 nautical miles south of La Paz on the beautiful Sea of Cortez. Los Frailes bay is surrounded by very high rocky mountains covered with a green brushy vegetation, small sandy beaches, and clear warm turquoise water. We enjoy our quiet Mexican evenings gazing upon the many stars not seen near city lights.
Each night hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of 10 to 12 inch fish come to feed on smaller fish attracted by Windfall’s lights. Their eyes glow an eerie orange as we cast our bright spotlight in the darkness upon the clear water surrounding Windfall…believe me, it’s an awesome sight! Nobody has yet dared to jump into the water at night …not even with a “double-dog dare” as these “orange-eyed-man-killers” appear hungry! Well…that’s our story anyway! And we dare you to come and try!
This morning Windfall is anchored in 30 feet of warm 78 degree, blue, and very clear water of which I can easily see the sandy bottom. This is our third day at anchor along with our friends Butch, Susan, and their 19 year old son Joe on Valparaiso that is anchored 75 feet off our starboard side.
Yesterday, we snorkeled nearby Pulmo Reef, the only coral reef on the Pacific side of Mexico. With dinghies fully loaded, the white-legged crews of Valparaiso and Windfall motored along the rocky shoreline toward Pulmo Reef. As we approached the reef, the park ranger come along-side to tell us the rules…No anchoring on the reef, No touching the reef (it kills the coral), and it’s a 50 Peso ($5.00) daily fee for a wristband to use the park….But, he was out of wristbands…so today is FREE! “Gracious A-mee-go”, I said as we headed for the beach (I’m still working on my Spanish)! Ha Ha
We anxiously pulled our dinghies ashore and soon we were all in the water pointing out the many varieties of colorful coral fish…including one small moray eel! The water felt marvelous and we were not disappointed with our snorkeling adventure (as seen by the sun-baked smiles on our wet salty faces). We all agreed THIS is what we came to Mexico for!
Ben (our “crew”), Nancy, and I returned to Windfall exhausted after a day of exploring, swimming, and soaking up that warm Mexican sunshine. Nancy prepared a great lunch made with our fresh caught Bluefin tuna. Lunch was followed by a long “siesta” that lasted well into the late afternoon.
We’ve heard rumors of the best coconut shrimp and strongest margaritas are in the neareby village. So today this is our quest. …This is the voyage of the S/V Windfall…To seek out new life and new civilizations...To boldly go where no man has gone before… unless there’s rumors of coconut shrimp and margaritas!
We have a funny situation…we don’t really know what time it is! We were on pacific time, then USA daylight savings (and Mexico’s daylight savings falls on a different day), now we are in the Mountain time zone… in Mexico… and unknown if it’s daylight savings time or not…..in fact we have to quiz each other to see what DAY it is! Seriously! Hey, it’s Mexico …the land of Mañana…so why worry about the time… And right now, Nancy has breakfast ready…is it 8am, 9am, or 10am…..who really cares…it’s time for breakfast.
A nice 20 minute walk from our beached dinghy found the local restaurant made of a simple open air palm-thatched roof structure and small open kitchen. Our cook, Christa, took special care of us and also helped our Spanish. We watched anxiously as she prepared our dinners of lobster, breaded scallops, shrimp (in a sauce that was finger licking good!), and wonderful mashed potatoes made with milk, a dash of chicken bouillon, slice of butter, and her secret spice …fresh nutmeg (she allowed me to watch as she prepared each item). We can honestly say this was the very best meal we have had in years. Our delicious dinner by candle light was $13 US dollars, Pacifico beer was $2, and fresh Lim’onade (limeade) is a delicious house specialty made with fresh squeezed limes mixed with mint leaves picked right off the bush just 10 feet from our table. As we prepared to leave, the owner, Albina, offered to give us a lift back to the dinghy…to avoid snakes resting on the warm road at night. We declined (at first) then he added…and to also watch out for tarantulas and scorpions on the road! Christa pointed to a small scorpion resting on the floor…. Ok…“three gringos” would appreciate that a ride now! Gracias Amigo!! Nancy rode up front, while Ben and I jumped in the back of Albina’s flatbed truck with our flashlights anxiously scanning the road for “critters of the night” (none were seen).
Christa was out of coconut for the coconut shrimp and graciously invited us back…Hmmmm , Christa’s Margaritas and Coconut Shrimp…Hey Nancy, put those hotdogs away, we’re going out for dinner tonight!
Sadly, our friends aboard Valparaiso have decided to leave their boat in La Paz, and return home to Portland and back to the “real life”. It’s not uncommon to have cruisers anxious to “live the dream,” only to find the “dream” is not shared by both partners. I am very lucky to have as great a partner as Nancy.
Cruising partners must share the same dreams and desires if they wish to make those dreams become a reality and enjoy the adventures…Which does include the icy margaritas toasted during warm tropical red sunsets, but it also includes such things as repairing a broken backed up toilet…and I can ‘t think of anything worse…Oh what fun! And, what an Adventure!!
Here aboard Windfall, for Nancy and I, the rewards are well worth continuing and living our dreams while enjoying the many challenges life brings. We can’t think of having a better life than right here, right now. Yea, I love cruising…..Hey Nancy! Where’s those rubber gloves, I’ve got an “adventure” waiting to be repaired!

Baja Mexico

Ahoy! We enjoyed a great time in San Diego and some of the fun “tourist” activities as well…The San Diego Zoo (Very Good!), toured the USS Midway aircraft carrier (now a museum). Denielle, Nancy’s daughter, came from Reno to visit and brought along her new boyfriend…who just happened to have served aboard the USS Midway, we got our very own private tour guide to show the ins and outs of a working aircraft carrier. Later in the week Nancy and I went to Tijuana for a afternoon. We found a Tequila Festival happening in the downtown area where Nancy and I really enjoyed sampling the many (and I DO mean MANY) free tequilas! How could we pass this up! I had a short time to study for the General HAM license and passed first try (Whew!), now we can send and receive emails anywhere in the world aboard Windfall.

We set out on the 17^th Annual “Baja Ha Ha” on October 25^th from a cold and dreary San Diego Bay…along with 195 other sailboats, and set our course for Bahia Tortugas (Turtle Bay) about 410 nautical miles down the Baja coast. We had all types of sea conditions...including some very “confused seas” with 10’ to 12’ waves that tossed Windfall around a bit, but we endured well and gained much faith in our trusty sailboat.

We arrived at Bahia Toutugas where there is a small town that is absolutely crazy about baseball, soon it was the Locals vs “The Ha Ha’s” at their new “stadium”. “Slugger Nancy” stepped to the plate and knocked one out for a base hit, and later got a run! Yeah Nancy! We later partied on the beach with music and fun for all…and about 500 fellow cruisers. One afternoon we went on a dinghy “adventure” with Ben (our new crew member), and our friend Ralph who is crewing for our friends Butch and Susan aboard Valparaiso. Ralph was in search of large whale vertebrae to take home. The four of us piled into our dinghy, “Blondie”, and motored far across the bay on a quest for the treasure. Sadly, as we slowly motored to the beach, our faces dropped with disbelief….litter covered the beautiful beach, plastic bottles, jugs, all types of plastic litter as far as we could see. As “they” say…this is Mexico and recycling has not yet reached us. We left with a new pride in that Windfall does practice recycling…and every bit counts…as we have seen.

Soon it was time to set sail for Bahia Santa Maria 223 nautical miles further south. We tossed our lines into the beautiful blue and warm water….soon….Zzzzzzzzzzzz ! Ben (pictured) was battling with a nice 12 pound tuna….which I must say we also practice safe “Filet and Release” methods aboard Windfall. Soon Ben and I were enjoying “fresh sushi” on the stern; Ben said it was still wiggling in his mouth (Now THAT’S fresh)! Nancy did an excellent job of preparing the tuna for dinner and the crew of Windfall enjoyed it very much. Kudos to Nancy!

Bahia Santa Maria is a very small fishing village tucked inside a beautiful and well protected bay. After two days and nights of sailing, we arrived with a beautiful blue sky sunrise and we looked forward to a well deserved rest. Within minutes of setting anchor, our VHF radio blasted out ”Attention Baja Fleet…we have a MAYDAY…A boat is on the beach and in dire need of help … We’re requesting help immediately”! We quickly packed with tools and necessary items, lowered our dinghy into the water, and with blurry sleep deprived eyes we were on our way. About 60 cruisers showed up to help a lone cruiser, not with our "Ha Ha" fleet, who fell asleep and drifted ashore with his beautiful sailboat…four years his home and dream tossed ashore in minutes. The decision was made to cut everything and salvage all we could before the high tide...which was coming in at that moment. Soon tools were flying about the stranded sailboat, items were being packed high on tp the beach, and onlookers shook their heads with a quick shot of reality that THIS could be their boat washed ashore and THIS could be them standing in shock as others cut away their dream. No time for fancy unbolting and such. Time was not on our side, and the tide was literally at our feet as we worked diligently to save what could be. One particular winch was stubborn and would unbolt from the boat….till I used a battery powered Saws-All saw and cut it off! We salvaged what we could, yet, they were holding out to see if a high tide in 5 days would help to free the stripped boat deeply lodged into the wet sand…many shook their heads as they walked away…”It’s a Damn shame…poor guy”. We felt lucky to be safely anchored in the bay.

Currently, Nancy and I are at Cabo San Lucas (Yeah!), sitting at a beach-side cafe in WARM 85 degree sunny weather...Oh, and the water...it's clear, blue, and 78 degrees! Sure do miss that cold rainy Columbia River....Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. We "Skyped" Nancy's Dad in Florida while we sat at the cafe' table (very cool!). Today we did all our "check-ins" to clear customs into Mexico, later this afternoon we have a beach party with the Ha Ha Fleet. - FYI for our cruiser friends - The Mexican authorities (and locals) have been gracious and very helpful, the process took only a few hours and was actually fun as we walked Cabo in search of the Port Captain, Immigration, and API (Federal Port Authorities - because Cabo is a Federal Port you MUST pay a daily tax even to anchor in the harbor (about $10 US - which is better than the $140/day the marina charges!) Our Spanish is actually getting "Muy better"!

We must say that we have NEVER seen so many stars as while we sail, it's really incredible to look up and see stars ALL around and down to the horizon waterline...it's something to see. We've caught several tuna, one BIG (something) broke our 40 pound line....of course. One tuna tournament here in Cabo is happening, and so far the biggest tuna is 180 pounds!

Monday we sail to La Paz, then Loretto ( Sea of Cortez) which we "hear" has several islands to snorkel and dive...and do nothing but enjoy that warm Mexican sunshine.....Ahhh...the Mexican life suits us well.

We LOVE our watermaker (Thank you Kim at Columbia Marine Exchange!), we ran it continuously for 20 hours on the way to Cabo. We've filled other boats watertanks and have enjoyed MANY showers! (requested by crew!)

We have a beach party to attend, wish you all were here to enjoy with us! ....I guess I'll have a Margarita!

More sailing "Adventures" to come!

Currently, it’s 84 degrees, water temperature is 71 degrees, and our course set for Cab San Lucas…109 nautical miles ahead. We landed two very nice Bluefin Tuna and only kept one 12 pounder as we have “plenty of tuna” according to Chef Nancy. Ben and I are holding out for a sailfish or marlin.

Catalina Island

Our journey started at San Francisco’s Aquatic Park with raising the anchor in total darkness at 6:30am, then maneuvering Windfall around several swimmers in the water. About 20 swimmers were in the water, some swimmers thankfully had little blinking lights on their swim caps, while others had no lights and were very difficult for us to see as we were trying to aim Windfall out the narrow opening to the bay. Twice we were lined up in the darkness to the narrow channel leading to the bay…twice we were blocked by swimmers crossing our escape. Nancy held the spotlight on swimmers, letting them know we seen them and telling me which way to turn to avoid the unlighted swimmers. With the fog totally encompassing the Golden Gate Bridge (normal for us by now) we sailed under the massive structure for the last time.

Hey Nancy! Wake up! Twenty five miles offshore of Half Moon Bay we spotted Humpback Whales! WOW! These were huge and only a hundred feet from Windfall in the open water as they slowly swam, spouted, and dove into the cold 2000 foot deep water.

We have many dolphins approach Windfall during the day and night. We call out to them and clap our hands in welcomed appreciation as they jump, splash, and playfully put on a show for Nancy and I. The dolphins are so playful, many times we spot 20-30 in a group racing toward Windfall, leaping from the water like it’s a race to be the first to jump Windfall’s wakes left behind.

The water was a bit rough with 5-7’ waves coming directly at us from behind, but Windfall seemed to like the waves as we motorsailed at a brisk 7 knots, and gave us a smooth ride. In fact, Nancy read a book on her new Kindle, which she loves, about the tragic Donner Party...I just hope she’s not copying recipes! Gulp!

I thought for sure Nancy would feel seasick reading and cooking as we sailed, but with the faithful “patch” stuck behind her ear she felt very well the whole trip…including during rough water….I’m very proud of her.

Saturday, at 5:30am, as we were nearing the islands, a Warning to Mariners came blasting on the radio! Warning! Mariners should take to port immediately! A HUGE large electrical storm with lightening shooting to the water, 40 knot winds, and high waves has been reported from Catalina Island and heading Northwest at 20 miles per hour….right for us! Son of a Bit…. HEY NANCY! Wake up! We quickly altered our course 90 degrees away from the storm, and prepared Windfall for heavy seas. Fortunately, the Weather Gods were with us and we missed the storm completely…and had very smooth water to sail. But now, we are behind our schedule to arrive at Catalina Harbor during the daylight hours, and entering an unfamiliar harbor, at night, and with a bit of fog is NOT on our list of fun things to do. Again, the Weather Gods gave us a small break and lifted the fog just 3 miles from the welcomed entrance.

After 62 hours leaving San Francisco, we slowly entered Catalina Harbor seeking just one available buoy for Windfall to tie up to. With spotlight in hand, Nancy slowly searched the darkness for a buoy…and searched… and searched, when finally one lonely and empty buoy was spotted. These buoys have a 4’ tall pole on top with an attached rope connected to two heavy concrete weights secured to the bottom. You tie one end of the rope to the front of your boat, and then lead it to the back where you pull tight and tie it again. This secures your boat front and back and keeps the boat from swinging with the tides and waves...and from bumping into your close neighbor’s million dollar yacht! Whew!

It’s now Sunday, 8 a.m., as I’m sitting in the cockpit, sipping hot coffee, and typing this on the computer. The friendly Harbor Master boat came along side and answered questions of where we pay for the buoy, stores, fuel, etc…Oh, and by the way…Did we know this is Buccaneers Weekend and there was over 3000 “crazy buccaneers” in the little town for the weekend! Uhhhh noooo…no, we didn’t know this. Luckily for us, it’s now Sunday and many “Buccaneers” and boats are leaving the harbor to return to their homeports of Long Beach located on the mainland 30 miles across the water.

Today, we will relax, do some housekeeping, and go to the Harbor Master to pay moorage. Tonight, a nice barbecued dinner with glasses of wine are in store for the “tired crew” of Windfall.

Nancy phoned our friends, Butch and Susan, who are in San Diego and awaiting for us to arrive. We will be sailing the Baja Ha Ha along with Butch and Susan’s boat Valparaiso and 195 other boats signed up for the cruise Ocotber 24^th , to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico! Susan told about their adventure today to the Miramar (Top Gun) Airshow… they took a bus, then had to walk a mile to the entrance gate…then another 4 miles to see the airshow! With complete fatigue and sunburned faces they returned with the endless 5 mile walk back to the bus, then returned to their boat where they fell onto the couch in sunburnt exhaustion. Now, I’m not a doctor, but I would strongly prescribe several “coldies” to help relieve the patient’s endless sufferings…of course, these “prescribed coldies” would come from their coolers and not ours!

Well, it’s now the crack of 10:30 and time to muster-up the crew from her well deserved rest and prepare for the day’s chores…tough duty in this beautiful sunny 75° California weather…yeah…we sure do miss that cold, wet, and endless Oregon rain…Ha Ha Ha Ha!
We are in Two Harbors-very laid back and like a Hawaiian village. We spotted a buffalo on the hillside as we were packing up to leave. As we were raising the dinghy motor to secure it to the boat....well, lets just say "someone..who remain nameless (Sam)" forgot to tie the dinghy to the boat! There it went..slowly floating away....we looked at each other (with Nancy giving me "the look") Son of a B! Next thing I know "Super Nancy" is jumping into the 63 degree water to retrieve the runaway dinghy! NO WAY!...Yes! She swam back with dinghy in tow! With a storm coming in we needed to leave soon, so at 6pm we set a course for San Diego....Hey Nancy…toss me another coldie!

Charleston, OR to San Francisco, CA to Yosemite Park

We were 10 miles off Fort Brag, CA. It was 6:30am and Nancy was below sleeping when suddenly BOTH of tuna poles were bent over with 80 lb line screaming out the reels ! Hey Nancy! She came running up to the cockpit, sleepy eyed, to find me with two poles in my hands and fighting two Albacore Tuna! I handed her a bent pole, with the largest tuna of course, and she began her first battle with a Pacific Albacore Tuna. We believe in catch-and-release…so, we released Nancy’s tuna back to the blue waters of the Pacific…Oh, and the second tuna….well, we released it’s filets into the freezer! (It’s doing well). On our way we had many dolphins riding our bow wake, what fun it is to watch as several dozen dolphins jump, splash, and quickly swim under the boat. We could watch for hours!
After 3 days sailing in fog, thick fog, and fog so thick you could cut with a knife, we made it to San Francisco. Encompassed in a very heavy fog we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge, only to see the pillar beside as we passed and the underside of the bridge. But, things turned out for the best as we dropped anchor in the famous Aquatic Park with Ghirardelli Square right in front of us with million dollar views of San Francisco, the Golden Gate (when the fog cleared), Fishermen’s Wharf, and Alcatraz …and the cost……FREE! We rowed our dinghy 75 yards to the beach, tied up, and walked to the best San Francisco has to offer.
Located at the park is the famous Dolphin Swim Club, founded in 1877, they encourage people swim in the 55 degree water. We woke up Saturday morning to find HUNDREDS of swimmers passing Windfall at anchor! Hey Nancy! Come look at this!! We were watching the Alcatraz Invitational swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco! Oh, if those Alcatraz convicts knew they could swim that cold water and the 1.2 miles to the shores of freedom! And as for the movie “Escape from Alcatraz”…they do not count that as an “escape” as they never found bodies or captured the three escapees. Good going boys!
We toured San Francisco on the open double-decker-busses, Japanese Tea Garden, Fishermen’s Wharf, Chinatown, and took the ferry Alcatraz. We spent several days at anchor (free) at the Aquatic Park. After several days we moved Windfall to an Alameda marina so we could rent a car and travel to Reno to see Denielle (Nancy’s daughter) who is now teaching her first class at University of Nevada Reno. We were fortunate to sit in on one of her cultural geography classes and enjoyed it very much.
We stayed a few extra days in Reno and went to Yosemite...pictures do no justice to the beauty of Yosemite Park. We watched as climbers slowly advanced up "El Capitan" - several thousands feet straight up of solid rock that takes 4-7 DAYS for climbers to reach the top! No thanks!
Wednesday, September 29th, we will be back on Windfall and sailing to Catalina Island for scuba diving and with much more adventures to come. Thanks for coming along!

Deer Harbor to Port Angeles pics

Deer Harbor to Port Angeles

Aug 21^st 2010 – Deer Harbor, Orcas Island, WA- We went on a 15 mile round trip bike ride yesterday….ALL UPHILL!!! Ha We rode the bikes from Deer Harbor to Orcas – another bay around the other side of Orcas Island. There was a large amount of people getting on and off the ferries…cars, motorhomes, busses, etc…

Wednesday Aug 24^th -Friday Harbor - We’re in Friday Harbor again (since Monday afternoon). Yesterday I installed the new VHF radio cable, and the oil pressure gauge is acting up so I replaced it too.

Of course, the gauge wasn’t the problem, so today I’m getting a new pressure sensor and putting that in, if this doesn’t solve the problem then it must be a loose /broken wire somewhere…oh that would be SO fun to track down! Sheesh! The gauge would bounce in pressure, then work for awhile, then bounce again later.

Today we’ll to sail to Stuart Island after repairing the oil gauge. We’ve heard this is a great place, nothing there, but a lot of trails and sights to see. J

We talked with Ralph about when he’s heading back to Portland with his boat, sounds like we may be “boat buddying “up again for the trip south, but Nancy and I will continue on to Newport. We may stop in Astoria for a rest – its 24 hours from Neah Bay to Astoria and another 20 hours to Newport. But we’ll see what the ocean conditions are and how we feel once we get to the mouth of the Columbia River…and see what the Columbia Bar conditions look like.

We plan on a few days in Newport, then head south to Winchester Bay or Coos Bay and meet up with my Mom; she wants to take us to Roseburg for a few days then back to the boat. From Winchester Bay or Coos Bay we’ll stop at Eureka, CA for a couple days….from there…well…..whatever works. J

We went out to dinner with Ralph and his wife; we went to a Thai place here in Friday Harbor….very good! We brought some back and I had it for dinner last night! Yum!

I think my cold is in its last stage of wanting to kill me, I’m not coughing as much (or as hard!) and I’m feeling a bit better – just hope Nancy doesn’t get this!

These are a few Orca whales we spotted on our way into Friday Harbor on our first trip…pretty cool! J Yesterday, we went to the Friday Harbor Whale Museum…it was ok, we stayed in the free area as I didn’t want to pay $6 to go look at whale bones in the museum’s upstairs area.

The inverter is working great, as is the generator for additional AC power. The generator charges the batteries AND provides AC power (hot water for showers and microwave) at the same time. We’re learning how long we can run the hotwater heater, microwave, etc…on the inverter, it seems to take a LOT of power, but we also have a BIG generator and the main engine that will give us a lot of charging power. But most things on the boat run great. ….except for that *&^%^ Oil Gauge! Ha Ha

We’ll start watching the weather faxes and see what the weather & ocean conditions are turning out for next week. I hook up the laptop to my SSB radio at a certain times and we get weather faxes, voice weather information, and typed (text) weather information from the National Weather Service and US Coast Guard downloaded right onto our laptop. J

Thursday Aug 26^th - Friday Harbor ^- I’m sitting in the cockpit this morning, sipping coffee, and listening to Radio BBC on the SSB radio. It’s lightly raining….actually a welcome surprise as it will wash some of the salt off Windfall. J Yesterday I got the Oil Gauge to work; it was a bad sending unit (mounted on the engine).

Today, we‘re motoring/sailing 12 miles north to Stuart island. We want to run out watermaker as we motor, so last night we got out the book and started reading how to use the watermaker and how to maintain it. We have to use it once every week (in cold water, and every 3 days in warm) otherwise we have to “pickle” the filters by adding chemicals. Right now I have it plumbed into one of our 100 gallon water tanks; Nancy wants me to plumb it into both…so it looks like more “plumbing fun” in my future. Ha Ha

Looks like the rain may be about over, I see blue sky ahead. J Windfall is really looking like a true Bluewater Cruiser. Our plan is to stay a few days at Stuart Island, then spend a couple days in Port Townsend (Nancy wants to visit Carol Hasse who she took sail mending classes from last year), then a couple days in Port Angeles, and lastly meet with Ralph in Neah Bay for our trip south. J …..be right back….NEED COFFEE! Ha Ha

….Sip…Sip…. Ok, I’m back. J I really liked our navigation electronics, they’re easy to use and have been invaluable crossing some of the busy straights. The straights are major shipping lanes for the US and Canada (Straights of Juan de Fuca, Straights of Georgia, Rosario Straights, etc…) Of course we still have all the other ferries, ships, and boat traffic traveling at high speeds to various ports each day. This is a BUSY place!

Listening to a Vancouver radio station – they say this is the largest Frazier River Sockeye Salmon run in over 100 years! All I catch is SHARKS! Ha Ha – Oh! I DID have a seal take my jig and take off…. But he spit it out …what a fight that would have been to get into a net! Ha Ha I told Nancy to reach down and grab it by the lip (like the pro bass fishermen) and lift it to the boat. Ha Ha Yeah….THAT went over well! Ha Ha ….Hey, sleeping on the couch isn’t THAT uncomfortable! (rubbing sore neck)

Yesterday we went to a coffee shop in Friday Harbor and used the free WiFi (internet) to catch up on email, check the Blog, and had a Skype video chat with Nancy’s Dad. J He seen we were online and used Skype to video talk with us. It’s pretty cool to be sitting in a coffee shop in Friday Harbor and visiting with her Dad on video in Florida. The technology now is pretty cool.

In the book “The Bounty”, I just read a part where a sailor struck an officer… he got 2 dozen lashes with the cattail from 4 different ships, they brought him by boat to the port for a 5^th lashing (2 dozen again)…but found he was dead…..They leaned him over and gave him another 2 dozen lashes (though he was dead), then buried him at low tide. Sheesh! Nancy just finished a book about Captain Vancouver, he had on his ship one man who received a total of 196 lashes! WOW! THAT’S ONE TOUGH BASTARD…he must have been from Roseburg! Some of the men were lashed for NOT eating the food – it SO bad that they refused to eat! Ha Maybe this is why Nancy is doing the cooking now…Hmmm.

It’s very pleasant this morning, quiet, calm, and peaceful in the bay this morning. Nancy is sleeping in late (9:40am), but with no schedule and only 12 miles to sail to Stuart Island….I’ll let her sleep in. J

It looks like low tide; I see a lot of the beach exposed this morning. Seagulls are perched on the floating mooring buoys available for rent for those who don’t want to anchor, or have a full-time mooring. Windfall is sitting at anchor in 20’ of clear water and gently swinging with the wind from side to side. It’s so cozy, warm, and very comfortable here in the cockpit and worth every drop of sweat we put into making the top and canvas last summer.

The dinghy is working great, the 15Hp Honda is very easy on fuel and we haven’t filled the 4 gallon tank since Portland and we still have a couple gallons remaining. Yesterday we went “exploring” around the edge of the bay, we love doing this…looking at starfish (now called Sea Stars), crabs, fish, and I even spotted a wrecked boat at the end of the bay! It was an old wooden boat sunk in about 6’ of water and submerged in the mud to the top of its deck. I wonder what the story is…whose boat was it…how it got there…Hmmmm, I guess it’s not an Atocha sunken treasure mystery. J

Oh! Did you hear the famous 5 pound gold bar, at Mel Fisher’s Atocha Museum at Key West was STOLEN! Someone stole it and they have their photos…I thought the photos looked suspiciously like friends of ours! They said the gold bar was worth $550,000….and they’re offering $10,000 reward….. Have a great time Jim and Richard, I see those commercials advertising how to turn your “old gold” into cash! Ha Ha….Now was that reward $10,000 for each, or both ?????

Instead of RUSH HOUR…we now have Happy Hour! J When we go to town I wear a backpack to carrying any groceries back to the dinghy. It’s fun to use our dinghy as “the car”. Jim said he’s got the Explorer with a for sale sign asking $2,500 … a great price for it. Jim “joked” the best “offer received” so far was to “only” charge me $200 to haul the Explorer off! Ha I said I’d think about it! Ha Ha

Well, I’ve got 19 minutes remaining on the laptop battery before I need to recharge…which takes awhile. More later…..Must charge…….Must charge…..must charge……must charge……

Friday Aug 27^th – Stuart Island - We sailed Windfall for 2 hours in 28 knots wind to get to Stuart Island! WOW!!! We used the mainsail and the staysail (smaller jib sail on the front). Nancy had forgotten to lock the windlass… so she put on her harness and went on deck in 28 knots of wind to secure the windlass. When she came back inside the cockpit her eyes were pretty big and she didn’t have much to say Ha Ha She just stared blankly out to the open water, her hair in a windblown state, and she repeatedly said, ”Wind…Big…Big Wind...Big…Big” J

We had the boat heeled over pretty good at times, but Nancy did good… after she got used to the leaning…and only a box of corn meal fell out of the cupboards..ok, maybe a little more than that. J Not too bad. We’re defiantly getting our “shakedown” cruise done properly…And, as Captain Ron says, ”If it’s going to happen, it’ll happen out there”! We would rather it happen while we’re still here in the USA and where parts are more available.

Here’s our view this morning aboard Windfall of beautiful Stuart island. Yesterday we took the dinghy on an extensive exploration of the bay – Nancy drove the dinghy while I relaxed. Came back to the boat, installed a new 30 amp circuit breaker needed for the watermaker …boy, what a nightmare that was to replace! Sheesh! With no power turned on, while working on the breakers, Nancy had to help hold the flashlight, pliers, screwdriver, and listen to a whole new list of cuss words invented specifically for electrical work! She did great, and it was defiantly a combined effort to get the job done…have you ever noticed how some things are not made to be worked on after they’re installed, and when you DO have to work on them it’s a totally NEW set of problems to get it fixed? Sheesh! I was only going to “look” at how the breaker came out and would be replaced…next thing I know….there I was elbow deep in electrical wires and ready to kill an electrician! It took 2 ½ hours to replace ONE breaker! Whew! Job done!!

Nancy and I have a saying about working on a boat, “If you only have to turn one screw, it will be an ALL DAY project”….the reason is there is ALWAYS some kind trouble…you don’t have the part, you need a “special” tool…which the store is out of, the store never heard of that particular part…but they think they can get it next week from the “other store”, and the part you DID get is “almost” the same as the old part, but not quite…and it’s just that “little difference” that makes it not fit at all and requires a total rebuild of the entire area to make it fit.

Today we’re going on a hike to a museum they have on the island. There are people who live on Stuart Island, but they’re pretty much on their own – no ferry to the other islands, so you’ve got to have a boat to get around…and no electricity- Make your own or go without!

With just the two of us on the boat, 40 hours is a very long trip, but we’ll do well and Windfall is a very comfortable boat to cruise aboard. It’s nice that we can sleep in the cockpit while the other is at the wheel, and it’s actually comfortable sleeping while motoring. Coming up here, we had 4’-6’ seas “on our nose” during the night and Nancy slept in the cockpit ….comfortably…of course the scopolamine helped! Ha

Saturday Aug 28^th- Stuart Island ^- We decided to stay here at Stuart Island. Nancy isn’t feeling well today so we’ll stay here another day or so. Yesterday we went on our hike to the next bay over (very nice) and we hiked to the school house “museum” and light house. The island has a total of 2 students (sisters) and the mother is the teacher…they do have quite a nice new school house with internet, but it’s the original one-room school that was fun to see. And the rules for female teachers were a hoot! They couldn’t keep company with men; go to an ice cream store; go beyond the city limits; not dye their hair; must wear TWO petticoats; and dresses could not be above 2” above their ankles! The past teachers who have taught here mostly lasted 1-2 year since the late 1890’s…one teacher left the island to go to the dentist and never returned! She married the dentist, then, later divorced him! Ha Ha

The hike was quite a challenge…. We were huffing and puffing uphill both ways! Ha I kept telling Nancy we’d stop for a break at the top of the hill….she didn’t get many breaks! Ha Ha The lighthouse was not a lighthouse as we are used to, it was basically a house with the light outside…but the view it has looking over to Canada and the straights was spectacular to say the least. During WWII they had lookouts for enemy ships and submarines, but today they lookout for whales, and on the board it was noted one pod of orcas had a new baby orca. J

When we got back to the dinghy from the hike, we took a little explore about the island…as we reached the beginning of the bay that we’re anchored in Nancy spotted Orcas! We stopped the dinghy, turned off the motor, and watched as 4 Orcas came right at us and within 100 yards of the dinghy! Nancy got it on a video clip with the camera! They were amazing to see spouting …AND hear! We followed the Orcas for a little way and watched as they continued on down the straight. You can see how BIG their fins are in the water! They made that dinghy look pretty small as they came toward us! Ha I was ready to start the motor and BACK UP! But Nancy kept telling me….”No.no…just let them pass”! Gulp! …. I was only starting the motor to give them plenty of room…uh huh…Ha Ha Yeah right! I didn’t want to be made into “Orca Chow” ! Ha

While on our hike to the lighthouse, we came upon a swing that was in the middle of nowhere. It had no apparent reason why it was here except for the fact that HUGE maple tree was a perfect spot to place a swing…Nancy just couldn’t help herself but to a couple minutes of fun. I pushed her on the swing, her long blond hair was flying back and forth, till she got a funny look and mentioned “something” about getting sick from the height…..or something like that…who knows. Ha Ha J

Monday Aug 30^{th -} Port Angeles, WA - We made it to Port Angeles. Changed plans as Port Townsend was too far out of the way, and we want to be heading toward Neah Bay and hope for a good weather pattern. We were between Victoria Canada and Port Angeles as we watched a huge submarine that was escorted up the Straights of Juan De Fuca by the Coast Guard. They came on the radio and told boaters to give them 1000 yards distance for security, we were a mile away and could see how BIG that sub was! WOW! Traveling with the sub and on each side were two sub-tender boats that were HUGE, and Coast Guard boats in front and behind. We also seen The Royal Princess cruise ship…but no Captain Stubing or Isaac the bar tender….Hey! Where’s my margarita???

We walked to town, ate dinner at a great Chinese restaurant, and talked with a guy catching shrimp on the dock beside Windfall. There were several people shrimping and fishing from the dock. They guy told us a couple weeks ago they filled a 5 gallon bucket of shrimp in a couple hours…”Yeah, you should have been here….”

We’re spending the tonight at the City Dock ($15) beside the ferry terminal…we found it’s got a lot of waves and swells coming from the ferry and other boats entering the bay – gently rocked us to sleep last night.

More Windfall Adventure(s) to follow….