Author Archives: Tawn

For those of you in the know, that is a play on some lyrics from one of my favorite Beastie Boys songs…for those of you not in the know (family)….No we are not running from the policia, no we do not have a weapon on board…but we are about to have a boat load of fun. I mean, we have been having a blast, but we have officially arrived in the Sea of Cortez…land of short day trips, warm clear water, cheap beers, cheap tacos and the infamous Shack burger in La Paz (or La Paused as cruisers call it).

This is our 6 month update. It was supposed to be sent out on November 11th via SSB radio update…but as it often happens in cruising…fun happened and it was delayed. So here it goes. We left Seattle on a sunny cool morning on May 11th 2013 to join some friends for one last raft up. From there we started north…and then went south:-) We have traveled about 2700 miles (we lost track), we have increased the air temp. by 40 degrees, the water temp. by 30 degrees, the sun has officially been found and California has been conquered. We have traded fuzzy sea otters for angry looking birds and beautiful fish. No longer are we catching Ling Cod and rock fish, but we have caught 3 big eye tuna and almost snagged a Dorado. The crab traps and down riggers have been traded for spear guns and Hawaiian slings and the sun screen has been dug out and is being applied liberally (that’s for you mom).

We officially arrived in Mexico on October 22nd to be hauled out in Baja Naval Boat Yard in Ensenada for some work, as mentioned in the previous post. It was cool, rainy and felt pretty much like America with street tacos. As we started heading south it got warmer, the water temperature rose…but once we rounded the tip of the Baja Peninsula was when we found our Mexico. The Mexico you dreamed about while working endlessly on boat projects and while curled up freezing your ass off in bed in the Broughton’s. This is when it all begins…until you move on to the next location with even more awesomeness…that is the life of a cruiser. We are currently in Bahia de Los Muertos pirating some wifi from the beach bar…where they pirated us of our money for expensive, but delicious cervesas and nachos. We will be moving on tonight and will be in La Paz in a few days to meet and greet that Shack burger we have been dreaming of since we were down here 2 years ago with s/v Deep Playa.

We have been traveling with s/v Loukia (the couple mentioned in the famous dinghy flipping of 2013). We officially met them in Fife inlet way up in Canada when they saw us sailing off in the distance. They hailed us via VHF radio and said they were heading south as well. We never ran into them after that until we randomly saw them at anchor in San Francisco. We hooked up again in San Diego and have been traveling pretty much together since. They have a West Sail 32 and a dog named Boaty who is frequently threatened with being left on the beach to fend for himself with the Mexican beach dogs (usually after he jumps out of the dinghy and causes it to flip). There are numerous boats down here from the Pacific Northwest. 2 of them were from our dock in Shilshole. We are looking forward to more adventures with new friends and old. Here are a few pictures of our trip down the coast.

The small dusty town of Bahia Tortuga, 288 miles from Ensenada…this place is like 150 miles on a dirt road from Highway 1 (the main route down the Baja).

Beautiful Bahia Santa Maria, 248 miles from Bahia Tortuga. The 2nd stop on the way down the Peninsula. This bay is basically uninhabited accept for a few fish camps. We stayed here 5 days because it was so cool. Hiking, surfing, spear fishing and swimming were all achieved.

Fish Camps up in the mangrove lagoon in Bahia Santa Maria. You had to go over 2 sets of surf to get in here with the dinghy…we were successful…I hear s/v Bella Star was not when they came through 2 years ago;-)

S/v Loukia…Westsail 32 sailing wing on wing toward Cabo San Lucas…this was the only time they were in front of us…trust me.

From left: Boaty the barky terrier, Joanne, Brad and CB. This was on Joanne’s unknown #’d anniversary of her 29th birthday.

We got to San Diego a little earlier than most cruisers as my family was flying in and meeting up with the rest of the San Diego contingent for a last farewell to us and a much needed family reunion…my mom, dad, aunt and uncle flew in from Chicago. My cousin flew in from New York. We all gathered up at my aunt and uncle’s house outside of San Diego along with my other cousin, her husband and their two kids. It was a great 5 days. We went to the best fish taco place this side of Mexico, had fabulous meals at the local family homes and got to talk for hours on end catching up with each other after years of being apart. We even got to be slave labor by helping my cousin wrap product for her new company. It was great…the most often asked question “what do you eat on the boat?” CB’s response…”astronaut food”:-) On Saturday we got all 13 ppl loaded onto the boat and went out for a sail. It started out a little windy and ended up a little beery. It was a great sail…even my uncle Mike who feared he may chum the waters had a great time…maybe it’s time for a boat Mike?:-) As usual CB pushed the envelope and provided entertainment/butt puckering as we sailed very close to a cruise ship.

CB says “we have right-away…he needs to yield to us:…uhhh okay cappy????

When I say “close”…I mean my uncle Tom could ask the guests where they were going and what they were having for dinner. Overall it was a great sendoff. We even got t-shirts to memorialize the event (thanks Jenny).

Front: “Palarran – San Diego Send Off 2103”
Back: “Where in the World are Tawn & CB…Charts…check, Life Jackets…check, Beer…?”
Funny thing, we had to go to West Marine to buy a bag of life jackets before everyone went out on the boat…and beer?…never an issue:-)

Fiona and Eliza came up with the idea to sign the back of the shirts….great idea girls.

Although we will miss you all, it was good to show everyone our seaworthy boat and share the knowledge we have gained over the years of research for this trip. We will be safe and think of you often. Here are some more photos of the weekend.

This is a first world sweat shop…imagine if you will CB wrapping fanciful little things in tissue paper…I got asked to opt out after my “field testing” the razor handles ended in to many broken razors…hey…you wanted to know if they were strong enough Jillian :O

Catching up on the back porch of my aunt and uncle’s home in Alpine, CA.

Thanks Mom & Dad for making me the sailor I am today…

Between family and a list of projects, we decided to get a dock for 2 weeks. I do not like being tied to a dock…it means no late morning coffee followed by noon breakfast as well as crap load of work. But we buckled down and got to it. Parts were bought, awnings and dinghy chaps were made and provisioning was done. We had to make the best of our time at the dock and the use of a friends car (no amount of thanks can cover how appreciative we were for this and all the other assistance you gave us Dan). After 2 weeks we left the dock and pretty much did nothing for a week before leaving for Ensenada.

The best part of cruising is taking more photos of your boat that anyone would ever care about in weird and out of focus framing options.

San Diego was cool…but much like any large metropolitan city…expensive and hectic. We can’t wait for the bottom job to be done and get back to cruising…let this adventure continue!

P.S.
You may be wondering what this dirty waffle thing is about…our friend Dan Freeman has been trying to get this going for years and we’re just trying to help him out. Here’s the breakdown: San Diego…Sandy Eggo….Dirty waffle….got it? I don’t know Dan…I think that may be second tier stuff:-\

Well hello there! We’ve been sorta outta touch since leaving mainland Cali and heading out to the channel Islands. Our SSB modem is out being upgraded so no radio updates either. But we’re back to society…sorta…on Catalina Island. We are currently sitting at an outside bar having drinks looking out at palm trees and a busy Mooring field….this place is crazy cool.

Isthmus Cove…the crazy side of Two Harbors. Believe it or not, this is a slow weekend…we are on the other side…way less crazy…unless u enter after dark like we did…CB!…your other Port

The Channel islands are anywhere from 18-30 miles off the California Coast between Santa Barbara and LA. When we left San Luis Obispo we were planning on rounding Point Conception (the cape horn of CA…or so ppl. said) and head to either Santa Barbara or San Miguel (the furthest north island) depending on the weather. But as typical with cruising, those plans changed. We had such a good weather window that day, we decided to go all the way to Santa Cruz Island. There was supposed to be some heavy winds coming in and Santa Cruz provided better protection than San Miguel. As it turned out…this was a very good decision on CB’s part (story to follow). Any who, our first anchorage was call Forney’s, which some crazy guy named Douglas who wrote numerous cruising guides said was the most beautiful anchorage on the island and provided good protection to north westerlies. Now unless a bird poop covered rock that stinks and brings in multitude of flies is what u call beautiful, this was not what I saw as defining beauty. This was also our introduction to what “protected anchorages” are outside of the Pacific NW. The protection was a small reef with 2 low lying rocks that apparently blocked the swell and caused the wind to go over the top of the boat….if you felt comfortable anchoring 20 feet from said reef. Hmmm we thought…let’s check out somewhere else. So off we went to a “more” protected anchorage. So about 15 miles around the island we came to Coches Prietas, a popular anchorage providing good protection for impending NWerlies…this was a beautiful anchorage. We got there and it was calm and hot. We made our first surf landing on the dinghy and went for a hike in this desert landscape that is the Channel islands.

Full moon against the sandstone wall backdrop in Coaches Prietas…not too shabby

We met some ppl. on the beach who were locals that showed us all around the trails and gave us good history on the island… they also said it was not thaaaat protected from the northwesterlies…which is why they anchor around the corner….pssshaaw we said:-) The next day we awoke to the winds. As the day went on, we realized we were not exactly protected from the 25 knot gusts and went next door to Albert’s anchorage where a big cliff provided protection from the wind…sort of. We were getting the hang of this…basically a protected anchorage was the side of the island where the wind was not blowing from…and u have to anchor close in and hope the wind does not switch and blow u into the shallow. We finally brewed another batch of beer at this anchorage. This one would be called black pig heffeweissen because Coaches Prietas means black boar in Spanish…so we were told:-) We hung out a couple days and kept on going around the island to Little Scorpion.

Here, these rocks are protection from all the swell of the NW Pacific ocean…it actually was pretty good…and we met our new friend Frank on s/v Solitude…really cool older guy that introduced us to snorkeling in this area…never thought it would be so different from the PNW…thanks Frank

This anchorage had multiple sea caves that u could snorkel into. We also were finally able to swim and stay in the water for more than 5 seconds. Waterline washing progressed. We hung out here and hiked on the trails for a few days and enjoyed the warmth. Here comes the wind story…weather prediction was for gale force Northwesterlies up to 47 knots…WTF we say…so we open up another guide book…not the one by the crazy guy…and find the best anchorage for gale force NWerlies…it was just around the corner. This is a lesson learned moment. The anchorage was protected by high bluffs that block the winds. The lesson learned was that u have to bite the bullet and anchor very close to shore to enjoy this shadow and hope the wind doesn’t turn and push u ashore. We, not knowing the laws of the land, anchored JUST outside the shadow and enjoyed sustained 40 knot winds for 7+ hours with a gust to 50. It sounded like hell and we thought the dinghy may flip at one point…but by 3 am the winds died and we finally slept…welcome to cruising. Luckly the boat did great and nothing bad happened. The next day we moved around the corner and way in and the 30 knot winds seemed way less. On the 27th the wind finally lightened and we made a 62 mile crossing to Catalina island and anchored in Cat Harbor…which is the less popular side (read relaxing) of Twin Harbores. If all goes well we are off to Avalon tomorrow and doing an overnight to San Diego the following day. My family is flying in to meet us and family that already live in San Diego, to have one last get together before we are off to the land of 10 cent tacos and dollar beers.

The beautiful Channel Island landscape is a harsh difference to the green PNW…but I am really digging this desert motif! [/caption pi

Getting to San Fran was a huge stepping stone….one we were apprehensive and excited about. Once we got there we realized how fast we re-acclimated to the hustle and bustle of the big city. Everything you want and need is right there….my favorite was CA Trader Joe’s….they seem bigger and better stocked than the WA stores:-) We stayed at a dock for 3 days to drop off crew, clean and just chill. Then off we went to explore the anchorages in Frisco. The hard part was deciding when to leave. It was so nice and sunny and had beautiful sailing in the bay. But on Wed. the 4th of September we ripped off the band-aid and took off under the Golden Gate Bridge…which we could actually see this time. We shared our exit with 3 ginormous freighters=-O

Rush hour Golden Gate style.

We only did a short jump that day, 28 miles to Half Moon Bay where we met up with some people we met in Newport…S/V Ohana. We ate at the most scenic Taco Bell ever! It was right on the beach…it even had a walk up window for the sandy, wet surfers to order at. Half Moon Bay was a cool little surf town with amazing beaches. It was nice to be out of the city again. We stayed a few days looking for used surf boards and checking out the sites. On Fri. we hauled up anchor and made a 65 mile jump to Monterey.

I don’t know why, but I have always wanted to go to Monterey….probably something I saw in a movie or TV show. The trip took us all day and we arrived just as the sun was setting. We dropped the hook in a slightly rolly anchorage and took in the sunset and lights of the town….then ate what I thought was the best spaghetti ever (but was probably very mediocre) and crashed…somehow sailing all day takes it out of ya.

The next morning we went to check out the town. Monterey is very awesome. It is surrounded by beaches and there is a dive (scuba) sight that we are going to check out tomorrow. A long bike/walk way meanders along the waterfront for miles. Apparently there is an aquarium just outside of town that should not be missed. The sun has been blazing’ and the temps. are in the 80’s….ahhh warmth:-)

Overall Monterey has been a blast. We will probably stay here another day or two and then start making bigger jumps to get to the Chanel Islands. Here are some photos of the loud, but friendly locals.

Lazy locals hang out under the fish dock…loud stinky and rowdy…but very entertaining

Don’t know if this guy is a rebel or an outcast…but he let u know what was up as u go by on your dinghy