Sonadora  - To Boldly Go!

Getting Ready

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006, 9:00 am. 

Goodmorning everyone!  Jon, Wade and I are working daily to finish the last necessities for us to cast off and begin our adventure.  Wade arrived mid July and we have been working daily with the help of friends and family along the way.  There always seems to be so much to do!  When I look back on all that we have accomplished in six weeks I am impressed with our completions.  We are all tired and can't wait to go.  We had a break in this weeks fog yesterday and I was able to get the rest of the deck painted. Jon has been working on setting up our battery bank and the electronics.  Wade has been trying to focus on the bathroom but Jon and I have been pulling him in different directions to help us complete our chosen jobs.  Our friend Tanya has been wonderful and we have been able to relax each evening with a meal at her house.  I am cherishing these moments as soom we will become email pals and I will miss her dearly.  The following entries are to give a snapshot of who we are, where we have come to arrive at this idea of sailing off and to share in some of our monumental moments so far.  I appologize for the blog address change.  The other I had started would only allow me to type on-line, which obviously was not going to work with no email ability on the boat.  I hope to keep you all informed as often as possible and you will never be far from our thoughts.  This new blog supposedly allows me to download video as well, so I hope to send you some video clips fo us at sea etc.. I have just done a crash, one hour course on llearning this new blog, so I do hope that this blog will work for communication.  Until my next entry, please take care and we all look forward to your emails and comments.  Please pass on the new blog address to others for us. Thanks.

Cathy, Jon and Wade :)

 We're Off! 

From dreams to......

possibilities.....

         The sun is shinning in a cloudless sky, the fire is burning with the last scraps of wood and the clean-up is happening.  When we first made our goal to do this trip we knew that with our full time jobs the summer would be about working on the boat non stop to have her ready for this journey.  As we waded through the tasks we felt we needed more than, "We are leaving in the first week of September." We dicussed dates and to the best of our guestimate of things to be done we chose September 10th.  With the date in mind we three focussed and worked knowing only, three weeks to go, and then only two weeks and then finally only days.  Well, September 10th past yesterday and we were emotionally drained to have to change our date.  Changing the date felt somewhat like failing, but we are far from failures.  For all that we have accomplished in the past two months I feel like a magician!  And with our set departure for tomorrow, only two days of our original chosen date, I would say we guestimated quite well on when we would be ready to leave.  Now, there is that word, "ready."  Sailors know all the jobs are never done, but we are ready.  We need to get out of our raggy, resin stained clothes, put on some shorts and head south!  

 We want to thank everyone, for all they have done.  This journey is only possible because of everyone's contributions.  Thank-you Pat for the the curtains and pillows, thank-you John and Pat for the "briefcase."  Thank-you John for being a crew member on our leg down to San Fransisco.  Thank-you Sheila, Ray, Jim, Jill, Mom and Dad for all your help on the boat.  Thank-you mom for the food!  Thank-you Tanya for the dinners and surprise lunches.  Thank-you LaRae for the farewell party, farewell cake and for all of our coffee breaks with fresh muffins.  Thank-you E-Bay for all the great savings (Hal, you are our man!)! Thank-you Ray and Ursula for all your help when you during your visit in July including the wrapping of the wheel, lunches and all the odd jobs that were necessary to make this trip possible.  Thank-you Bridgette (Wade's sister) for the cushions.  Thank-you to Wade's Aunt for the jackets and t-shirts.  Thank-you to Ardie, Normandie, Tanya, LaRae, Bob, Rita and everyone for getting us off the manse property and on our way. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you everyone! And I mean everyone.  There were so many people that helped make this trip possible.

I have added some pictures to show some of what has gone on this summer.  Enjoy.

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 Leg 1 – Bamfield to Ucluelet

Helping out!

Saying goodbye

Ma and Pa came to Ucluelet to say goodbye.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Time: 3:15 pm to 8:45 pm

I Woke-up this morning with the fog right down to the water.  All I could see clearly was Sonadora.  I felt that this was fitting since our goal this morning was to finish loading the last of our equipment and belongings and then head off on the beginning of our adventure.  As I began to take loads down to the boat I started to notice that the fog was lifting little by little.  Soon I could see across to the other side of the harbour.  I started to think that maybe when the fog completely lifted our packing would be done and we would be off in the sunshine.  That was seven in the morning.  Friends began to show up and help with cleaning-up our work site and taking boxes of materials down to the boat.  The goal was to be ready for eleven or one.  Our friend Tanya had noon hour supervision at the school and as much as she wanted to see us off, she needed to fulfill her duties.  We had no problem obliging and soon figured that we would not be ready for an eleven o'clock departure.  That felt OK though, we would go at one.  As the fog continued to lift, I began to think that if my paralleling of the weather to our departure was going to be correct, that fog better lift soon!  The deck of our boat was beginning to get very cluttered with tools, rope, parts and wire.  By one o'clock, friends who had arrived earlier were saying their goodbyes as they needed to move on to other events happening for them that day.  Other friends arrived and began to help.  We had just sat for ten minutes with BLT's, pickles and popcorn (thank-you Ardie and Normandy) and were ready to get this show on the road.  Our emotions were raw and energies were waning.  There were so many projects left to be done on the boat as many sailors can attest to and yet there just comes the moment when you have to go.  The look on my husbands face told me, "not yet."  I had been talking to my parents the night before about meeting up with us in Ucluelet for a farewell.  If we left now, we wouldn't be late.  With most things packed, there was the flags to be raised on the boat.  I went down with Tanya.  Floating past our boat was our friends and landlords, Jane, Earl and Marion.  They also came by to see us off, with video camera in hand.  Soon, I kept saying to myself, we are going soon.  I got out the flag I had received from the students at a farewell gathering at the school.  They had all signed their names on the ribbons, the other, a large Canadian flag.  With both flapping in the wind along with a fish windsock, I thought, OK, time to go.  At 2:00 pm Jon was still frantically cutting up pieces of wood he knew he would want aboard to finish some projects.  I started to wander if this was going to become a working trip.  Yes there were projects to do, but I could live without a few things as well.  I had plans of snorkeling!  I went to the burn pile and threw on my work pants. Time to go!  I repeated. By 2:30 pm I had Jon down in the boat with my connecting the battery cables.  They had been disconnected during some work being done previous. At 2:45 pm the engine began to purr. "Yahoo!" was the resounding cheer.  I jumped off the boat and hugs all around.  I was going to miss these faces but I knew the spirits of all were with me.  I took the helm and pushed the throttle forward.  I had Jon run below and grab our fog horn.  The fog had lifted enough to see the entrance of the harbour, but I wanted to make some noise as we left.  Friends waved from the board walk and their house porches.  We were really doing this!  LaRae, Normandy, Tanya and Ardie followed us out in LaRae's boat.  Several pictures were taken of them and of us.  We were all etching the moment in our minds.  My emotions sat beside me.  Exhausted from everything, I just knew I could not spare the energy to cry whether tears of joy or …

            Half-way to the Deer group, we saw LaRae had turned her boat around and was heading back into the harbour.  We were on our own.  I think Jon and myself had the same sentiments, "Was this really happening?"  We reached the Deer Group and I felt we were making good time, but I realized very soon that I could not get the boat going very fast.  I had her up to 2200 RPMs and if I tried to push her more, the temperature needle moved to close to the red zone for me.  We looked back to see Bamfield still engulfed in fog and ahead of us was blue skies.  If this was not another sign that we were exactly where we are to be and doing exaxtly what we are supposed to be doing.  Upone reaching the Broken Group I came along Ephinham Island as we have done many times before and prepared to go between the two rocks to turn in along Turret Island and through the Broken Group.  As I turned I could see the rock to my right, but not to my left.  I thought maybe with the tide high, I just couldn't see it, so I continued on.  Next I came to a kelp bed and put the throttle in neutral.  I didn't remember this?  Doesn't matter and kept going.  Then the island formations didn't' look right.  The long and short of it, I had turned all right, but went forward too far and had turned around Turtle Island instead.  I couldn't believe I had done this!  I had never done this.  If this is what tired does to you, what is going to happen in unknown waters.  I couldn't even seem to focus on the chart to find my location.  With Wade's calming way and finding something positive, "You're just speedy Cathy that's all."  No worries right.  Turning around we were back on track with the loss of an hour.  Late as it was I tried not to think about my parents waiting in Ucluelet for 2 hours and then three hours.  I started to estimate arriving around seven.  That wouldn't be so bad.  But as I watched the sun set, seven turned into 7:30 and then 7:30 turned into 8:00.  We finally docked at the Governement Dock at 8:45 pm.  My parents had a three hour drive to get home, but I was not going to focus on the lost time.  I wanted to absorb as much time that I had left.  With hugs all around and laughter about the slowest crossing to Ucluelet yet, we all piled into my parents car and went for dinner.  They had already scoped out the town and found the pub serves food right up to 10:00 pm.  Heck we could have been later!  (NOT!).  I am learning (slowly) to not focus so much on something to come as that the something to come does and then passes.  I need to live more in just the moment.  I have to be honest that I fought back and forth in my head from the hours we were late and the hours lost that I couldn't get back to be with my parents for our last time and the mesmerizing play of light on the water and the colours that bounced on the clouds as the sun was passed by the earth's turn.  My thoughts just before entering the Ucluelet harbour was of what it will be like to not see land.  As I looked out to the open see I thought the feeling will be like touching heaven.  Without land to show your eyes the distance, heaven comes down and touches the water.  I know I will like that.  Thanks everyone for being yourselves and sharing your spirits with us.     

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

7:00 am.  I woke to the sound of a climbing body going out the companionway and then on to letting out the chain from the chain locker.  No rest for the weary, we have jobs to do!  First on my list as admiral was to get my crew coffee.  I walked up the hill to the first open coffee shop I saw, Blueberries!  The waitress seemed pleasant enough, but then another lady came out that I was guessing was the owner.  She questioned my coffee mugs I brought to be larger than a large coffee and wanted to charge me more!  The waitress insured her that the mugs were the same size and after having to show the owner by pouring coffee from one of my mugs into one of their cups she was satisfied.  I am thinking at $2 a coffee how much money was she thinking she was going to lose!!  Next on the list was cream.  They only had a carton, no creamers to go.  We now have John Dunick on board and I never asked him if he took cream or sugar in his coffee because I just assumed I would grab creamers and sugar packets. Well she could give me some creamer in a cup, but she would have to "charge me for the cup because the cups were expensive!"  What this situation for real!  I mean I could have argued that by bringing  my four coffee mugs I had saved her three cups anyways if she were to give me one with cream.  She finally gave me the cup for free.  How nice of her! J $8 and some change later I have four coffees.  Now for those of you who no me for always looking for saving a dollar I came back to the boat convinced that we needed to get our stove working and make our own coffee.  As the day progressed, so did the projects AND so did the winds.  Wow!  Why do fathers always have to be right?  Always meaning most of the time.  In the case of hurricane winds coming, but father was right.  We were happy to be tied to the gov't dock!  There have been white caps in the harbour and our boat has been acting like a bull in a pen ready to be set out into the ring to knock off his cowboy!  Our bow line began to chafe on the dock and John and I did a few loops back from the boat to the dock to better secure the boat.  As I stood on the Co-op line-up forgetting to buy Jon his cigarettes (or did I really forget?), I heard a man say that a storm was coming and would be hitting at 11 pm.  By the flickering lights in the bank earlier and by the looks fo the harbour I would say the storm was already hitting.  Beautiful blue skies though with huge puffy clouds around Mount Ozzard.  With wind blowing my hair around in every direction and thinking about how I may want to deal with the hair issue out at sea I climbed aboard the boat ready to get back to my days job; stowing everything away.  A huge job, but I am happy to report I have made excellent progress.  Now if Wade can only find his missing wire he is trying to send through the boats air vent space we can have our safety electrical shut-off for the propane tanks installed and we can use the stove.  Lets pray! J

Thursday, September 14^th, 2006

            We had mom's chili for dinner on our stove last night!  Everyone wanted to celebrate the first dinner on the stove and Jon and I had to burst their bubble that actually the first meal on this stove already happened and we had rack of lamb.  Rack of lamb, chili, well, their comparable.   J Anyways, the home-made buns and chili were great.  Thanks mom.  The winds were much less today.  I wish I could have said the same for the work load.  Stiffer muscles this morning.  I was able to get the galley all secure, buy the last few groceries, get lunch to the crew, and have a few nerves pile-up as I watched all that I had organized get moved around and put into various piles around the boat and the men worked.  We chatted about how everything need to have a place and how I had worked hard to achieve this.  I appreciated all the work that they were doing, this was not the issue.  Everyone agrees that everything needs to have a place, we just all need to practice.  Everything is now secured up on deck and all the working gear is ready to go.  We plan to wake up in the morning, secure the dingy to the deck, put away the emergency anchor and make sure all our nav equipement is ready to go, and make sure that everything is secure.  If we can achieve this by noon we are off.  If we can't we decided we would wait another day.  I felt my nerves subside.  I mean I have never been offshore.  Nor has Jon or Wade.  This is a new adventure and we cannot always know the outcome, but we can prepare.  This we have been doing. No stop.  We are exhausted and want to get going for the sake that we want to stop working and begin to enjoy the dream we have been striving for.  It is now 9:45 pm.  I am heading for bed.  I finished my book about Tania Aebi's solo sailing trip around the world and have picked out my next book.  As we all learn the dance of four we will eat, sleep, and sail as a team.  In some ways putting four people together in the space of a boat is like putting four people in a room of a house and expecting them to live together but yet the room in the house needs to be navigated and sailed through changing seas and waves. Maybe I feel this way because I am one girl to three guys who to a certain degree who see me as the "girl."  I mean is it not true I do the dishes, the laundry and do the shopping?  For those who know me, not only do I not see this as my job but the insinuation gets my steam arising.  Cooking, dishes, turning on the macerator, navigating and taking the helm will be all of ours to sahre.  Life is not that bad though.  The life upon Sonadora is actually heavenly.  I have to say again how much I am enjoying the bed mom and dad, thanks!  Anyways off to dream land for me.  Until tomorrow.

Friday, September 15^th, 2006

            Tomorrow we sail!  Well, we couldn't today.  I mean who wants to temp superstition.  Sailors have warned many a time to never start off a sailing journey on a Friday.  So why would we set sail for our very first off shore adventure on a Friday.  I mean we want to get going.  Today gave us the opportunity to get all of the electronics hooked up and running.  Everything on deck has been put away.  We all had the opportunity to have showers last night with our newly hooked-up diesel heater and water tank.  Nice!  Feelings are better today with things much closer to how we have been hoping to have things ready before heading off.  The barometer is rising and the skies are blue.  We are going to have a fabulous trip!  We are treating ourselves to a night out for dinner.  A chance to actually relax.  I even took a cat nap this afternoon.  Thoroughly enjoyable!  I think we are ready.  The journey will be an adventure. 

 Leg 2 - Ucluelet to San Fransisco

Saturday September, 16^th, 2006

            We all had a sleep-in ready for our big day to start our leg two of our trip.  We just had a few things to do before we headed out Ucluelet Harbour.  As we tackled the jobs, the hours began to tick by and we found ourselves sitting for lunch deciding what to do.  We listened to the weather report and the outlook did not look good.  Fishing boats had been in harbour over the last couple of days waiting out a storm, but they seemed to be gone now.  We decided to do a shakedown cruise anyways.  We would head out of the harbour and practice heaving-to and discuss man overboard procedures etc… As we headed down below to put our gear on, John announced that he only planned to wear his floater suit at night and therefore would need a life jacket.  With all the packing and organizing I did do you think I could remember where I put the extra life jackets.  The life jackets were one of those items I didn't see as needing for guests until Hawaii.  We rummaged around for a while and then decided buying one was the easiest and fastest solution.  I had made up a list of all of our provisioning and gear by location on the boat, but so many things had been placed on decks on our last day leaving Bamfield, that there were several things now stowed away with no list to go by other than what our memories would serve.  So, off to the Government dock once again.  Life jacket bought, check, rubber boots bought for Wade, check, hydraulic fluid bought, check, and last minute munchies and one more case of beer bought, check.  We headed out of the harbour to only see the skies part.  There were big gray clouds formed around the land behind us and blue skies before us.  We listened to the weather report again and we all decided that the bad weather was going to hit the Queen Charlottes which were to the north of us.  We were heading south.  We all had our gear on.  I had my sea bands on that my mom gave me for sea sickness and everything had been lashed down.  So, we grabbed our bottle of wine from Steve Clark and decided to keep going and head for San Fransisco.  At one mile off shore I was uncorking the bottle and pouring half the wine into the sea for the sea hand and safe sailing.  We all took a swig and made a toast to our journey.  I went down below to our log book to record our decision.  Soon after I was throwing up in the head.  The seas were quite calm and Jon and I decided my sea sickness was due to nerves.  I figured this way we had more wine in the holding tank if we needed to appease the sea gods later.  I grabbed my stash of sea biscuits; soda crackers, and headed back out to the cockpit.  Thanks Sheila, the crackers tasted great!  Jon and I took our rest first.  Jon made everyone hamburger with mushroom sauce on a bed of rice.  I ate from the bed only raising my head to take a spoonful.  I was obviously not feeling well and found life much easier horizontally.  As soon as I sat up, I was sick.  Jon and I awake for our watch at 11 pm.  Wade stayed up with Jon an extra hour to give me a little more rest.  I joined Jon at 12 am.  Jon was right that the phosphorescence coming off the waves and lighting up the sea was spectacular, but I just couldn't sit and enjoy the view.  The sea seemed massive.  In the dark I could only see blackness swelling all around us with flashes of light from the phosphorescence.  The winds had picked up and the waves were a swirl of rage.  I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach and I continued to have strong heaves with only bile left in my stomach.  I had taken two motion sickness pills and threw them up.  I resorted to the suppositories but they did nothing more than offer a strange feeling.  I still had on my sea bands but they were not helping much.  When I could I would eat crackers but I would only end up throwing them up.  We finished our watch at 2 am and I curled up in bed.

Sunday, September 17^th, 2006

            Jon didn't wake me for our 5 am watch until 7 am.  I went into the cockpit and clicked on my harness to the safety line.  The winds were howling and the sea was a jumble of waves bashing into one another.  I wasn't scared.  Last night in the dark I was definitely nervous.  The boat was handling herself well though.  She was that bull however, that I spoke of earlier bucking at the dock, only now she had been let out into the ring and was tossing us from side to side, up and down, forward and backward.  What I call damn uncomfortable.  Not  Sonadora's fault though.  She was only doing the best she could with the sea conditions.  Wade had resorted to sleeping on the floor in the saloon.  His forward cabin bunk was just too bouncy.  He said every stitch of his clothing was wet and here we had only been out less than twenty-four hours.  This was not the first cruise we had all dreamed of.  We should have gone with the weather report and stayed in harbour.  We were now 100 miles off shore and in the thick of it.  No sense in turning back.  Discussions are going on about heading back to a port though.  Engines are running right now to charge the batteries and the boat is acting like one of those animal seats on a large spring you see at a playground.  I don't know how much more of this any of us can take. I am lacking in my watches, everyone's tired and we've attempted to heave-to several times to no avail.  The wind needs to let up.

            I had managed to fall asleep and woke up about 11:30 to much calmer seas.  I even felt better.  I heard two guys in the saloon having a snoring contest so that must mean Jon's at the helm.  I was able to walk with little bracing through the walk through which was a huge improvement.  I found Jon sitting among a million stars.  There were wisps of dark gray clouds amongst a black void of stars.  The phosphorescence could still be seen along the remaining waves from the storm that has hopefully past. We all needed a break from the bashing a constant bracing.  I sat with Jon for a while and actually drank a whole can of ice tea without heaving it up and over the side.  I tool the wheel about midnight and Jon went below to warm up.  Wade got up at two and relieved me from my watch duty.  I slept most of the night waking to the boat on a pretty steady heal.  You could hear the propeller going, so we had definitely picked-up speed.  Jon had turned off the engines last night and put up the full main and Genoa.

Monday, September, 18^th, 2006

            It's 8 am.  John is at the helm.  We are on a pretty good heal.  You have to use your legs to brace yourself from sliding down in bed.  A few things on the port side of the boat hang suspended from the bungies I had rigged up to hold things in place.  Jon just reported that we are doing about 6 knots.  I nodded in and out of sleep during the morning anticipating I would need to take watch soon.  With Jon's gentle nudge I relieved John up at the helm at 10:30 am.  The skies were parting and the sun was coming up.  My stomach seemed to relax, so with a desperately parched mouth I decided to try and drink some ice tea.  Glad to say I drank most of the can and kept it down.  I stayed on watch fro four hours and in that time watched the squalls go by us with only one hitting us slightly.  Saw my first boat, fishing boat I believe.  I ate and kept down my first protein bar.  I came down below leaving blue skies in front of us to have a lay down. 

            Jon has definitely earned his water wings or whatever you earn as a good sea captain.  He has been taking care of his crew, making sure we are all fed, and well rested.  He has been the cook, the dishwasher, the navigator, the sail changer, etc… He's in his element.  He has gently with me as I have been trying to get over sea sickness.  He pulled out one of dad's moose stews, added some ground beef and egg noodles.  I really wanted something warm to eat so I thought I would try a little.  I hadn't taken part in a meal since our first night.  The seas have gotten sloppy again and I threw-up just before dinner.  I still wanted some and somehow I managed to keep dinner down.  I didn't do any night watches though.  I didn't sleep well either.  I think I've been in this bed too long and with the seas continuing to be sloppy.  Sloppy meaning that the seas are coming from all different directions as if they are not quite sure how to collect themselves and move in unison.  The boom thrashed around a lot.  I did manage to get up in the night and check on Jon.  I made him a hot chocolate, got him a snack and tried to roll him a cigarette and went to the washroom all without getting sea sick.  Maybe things are turning around.  I even felt like I could share a little in the excitement of passing the Columbia River.  Things would be so much better if I felt better.

Tuesday, Sept. 19^th, 2006

            Winds were good last night and we made some good progress.  Woke to a dying wind.  Ended up turning the engine on around 9 am and kept it on all day.  With lack of wind and a pretty calm sea we all took advantage.  Each of us had a needed shower.  I chose to sit in the shower thinking I could focus more on the shower than bracing myself for the swells.    Wrong!  Add soap and I was sloshing around uncontrollably from side to side and all around like a skateboard moving from side to side on a half pipe.  We still haven't managed to fix the water gauge on the showers, so I added scalding water to the fun.  I was able to brace myself at a knee bend with toes flexed long enough to wet myself down.  Everything takes effort, but the shower sure felt good!  I even rushed my teeth and changed clothes.  That's right, first time on the trip!  Yuck hey!  I even managed to change the sheets on the bed before throwing up.  Progress at least.  I am able to get some tasks done before getting sick.  Spent most of the day in the cockpit.  Worked on another sea sickness remedies.  Actually felt good for most of the day.  After Wade woke up we all sat in the cockpit and chatted and shared stories.  I enjoyed listening to some good sailing stories.  I needed them.  This being my maiden voyage and being sea sick for most of the journey so far, I have to say I was having a hard time seeing the purpose.  I took the helm at about 1:30 pm and everyone else went below for a rest.  The sun was shinning and the seas were picking up somewhat.  The only issue was when the boat hit from the side by a swell.  This was pretty much impossible to stop from happening since the sell was coming from North and West.  I enjoyed the afternoon alone and was able to be just in the moment.  Jon woke only briefly at 4:30 pm.  I thought he was staying up.  John had joined me in the cockpit and we were starting to feel a slight breeze.  Ever hopeful, I attempted to hoist the main although nervous about standing on deck in the bobbing sea.  I got the main ¾ of the way up and then I couldn't make the main go any higher.  Something was stuck, but what!  No ideas and John wasn't sure, so I went to get Jon.  He was lying in bed and I was hesitant knowing how much he needed his sleep.  However, I also didn't want to leave the main part way up to flop around in the breeze.  I felt bad, but I didn't know what else to do.  We are all relying on Jon a lot.  The sheet had gotten tangled around the stays and tiredly Jon got the sheet loose only to have the sheet re-tangle on the other side.  He was finally able to get the sheet untangled and the main hoisted.  He also helped me get the Genoa out only for us all to watch the sails flop in the slight breeze.  Ever thankful we awoke him for this he began to trim and adjust the sails to try and find something that would work.  With the wind and the sea on our side this was no easy task.  He also began to explore this squeaking noise we had been hearing high up on the mast.  Trying to decide if something was too tight, too loose…. To his weary eyes he came across stress cracks on the cabin top.  Now with little winds and a rocky sea he threw on the concerns of weather damage had been done during the gale on our first night out and the problem solving of how serious was this and what to do.  My heart went out to him because I did not want him to bear this all alone and yet I found myself out of my element with little knowledge to help.  My only suggestion was to head for a port and assess the issue.  Jon felt if we couldn't fix whatever out here we wouldn't be able to in port either because our pockets wouldn't be deep enough.  Going through a gale of wind forces of 45 plus knots and sloppy seas where the waves reached the first spreader (at least) on our mast to no winds and now this we were both wondering why this was all happening.  With all our hard work and other peaces falling into place to make this dream trip possible it was all starting to feel like the trip was falling apart.  I tried to get Jon to rest knowing that we were all tired and could think better rested.  He lay down only to listen to the squeaking in the mast and the boom thrashing, thrashing with every swell of the sea even though the boom was tied down.  So up he got and on deck trimming and adjusting the sails to find something that would work.  Finally finding some consistency and speed he came down below to rest.  This was short lived as the wind unfortunately and in a couple hours he was back up on deck trimming and adjusting to no avail.  He finally gave up and turned on the engine and the autopilot.  We were like the seas weighted down toy as we swayed back and forth, back and forth with each swell.  The swells began to subside slightly in the early morning and I relieved Jon at 3:30 so he could once again try to rest.  The stars were out and in the distance you could see the lights of fishing boats.  Jon came back up at 5 am for one more hour and then John and Wade took over.  I think Jon even slept for 2 to 3 hours straight.  Wade is looking tired too.  We will see what the new day will bring.

Wednesday September 20^th, 2006

            We have wind!  Sails went up at about 9 am.  We are on a steady heal, not to far over.  Can actually walk around with little bracing.  I woke up hungry today, which I take as a good sign.  Joined John and Wade in the cockpit and had some oatmeal for breakfast.  I took over watch shortly which wasn't much work since all I had to do is sit there.    Jon had a good sleep and got up and wanted to get Finnegan running, the autopilot and the boat was handling herself.  I even attempted to do a little reading.  So this is what sailing is!  Not so bad!  Near the end of my watch I decided to have a mango juice and then return to my bunk to warm up.  Well, the mango juice tasted good going down. L  Why am I still getting sick!  I was enjoying the day taking pictures, watching the guys laugh and come to life.  This sailing day was what they were waiting for.  Of course the performance could be better (according to Jon J ) so trimming the sails, changing the sails…soon we were on a good heal and from inside the boat we sounded like a freight train.  The Genoa furling line had been chafing somewhere and snapped today.  The Genoa flapped in the wind as Jon monkeyied his way up to the bow to find a way to bring in the Genoa.  Succeeding to the point of bringing in the Genoa most of the way he had to do a little more thinking on how to tie off the Genoa so that it would not unfurl making for a dangerous situation in the night.  A wet and smiling Jonathan stood before me in the walk through,.  "You are enjoying yourself aren't you!" I said, "Yeah." He relied with his smile widening.  "I just like to know we can handle things out here."  The boys laughed, told stories and cheered the winds with their cool beers.  They were having a good time and I was happy for them.  I lay in bed and wrote about the days events.  Still don't have that iron clad stomach.  I pulled out my Sony Tanya gave me hoping that music would lift my spirits some.  They were lifted!  Jon peered around the walkthrough as I sang out loud.   As I sang I found my thoughts drifting around touching on different memories of my life.  Some brought tears and some made me laugh.  As I lie here I guess I have time to reflect.  I began to smell scalloped potatoes and found myself wanting to eat.  I am improving however slowly.  I enjoyed a small bowl of scalloped potatoes with ham as I listened to the winds howl outside.  The guys cannot believe we are doing 6 knots with a storm sail and double reefed main.  We've covered a lot of ground today and look forward to tackling the California coast as we say goodbye to the Oregon Coast.  I listened to John tell another story as I lay bouncing with the rhythms of the boat.  I found myself enjoying his stories and even had comfort when I couldn't hear them but just knew they were being told.

Thursday, September 21^st, 2006

            The winds did not pick-up last night as forecasted.  We kept up a speed between 3 and 6 knots through the night.  Hard to sleep again.  We still have the West swell on our side and there would always come a wave that liked to send Sonadora into a pendulum swing.  I think everyone is happy to have Finnegan, the autopilot on.  No one has to be at the helm.  Having Finnegan's working parts right under our bunk however is noisy as he makes adjustments.  Sleep can be restless at times with the sound.  I took watch on at 9:30 am.  The motor had been running for a few hours.  Wade and John saw our Canadian flag begin to show life and were eager to get the sails up.  I said we should wait for the wind to be consistent.  Wade replied with, "Cathy doesn't want to sail."  I replied, "It's not that I don't want to sail, but you need wind to sail."  Wade didn't wait much longer and put up the main sail and the storm sail.  For the next three hours they both flopped around with the boom continuing its banging with each swell motion.  Jon came up and took down the mainsail early in the afternoon just so we could have some quiet.  It wasn't like we were going anywhere.  The bobbing of the boat with the swells was getting to us.  The feeling was frustrating.  There wasn't even a whale or a dolphin or anything to throw some excitement or entertainment into the day.  At one point I saw another patch of seaweed and something white.  I thought great, my third piece of garbage I've seen, looks like a plastic bag.  Jon looked at this white mass and said no, that IS something.  Some excitement!  Turned out to be a sun fish!  I have never seen one before.  We turned on the engines to get a closer look.  The fishes shape reminded me of a parrot fish down in Mexico.  Not all the pretty colours.  This fish was just a pale white or gray colour.  He was big and round.  The fish almost looked like it was all head and no body.  We contemplated between the marvels of our first fish and could we eat it?!  I got our Al's gaff and Jon took a couple of swings at the fish.  He said the fish was hard as cement.  He never even punctured the fish.  Weirdly enough too the fish didn't even seem phased. He swam down about 6 feet and then just came back up.  No fast motions.  John and Wade came up a little while later and we told them about our adventure.  We all settled into the cockpit, guys with a drink, I wasn't drinking yet!  I had just passed through my first 24 hours of not being sick and wasn't going to test myself with a beer.  A beer doesn't taste THAT good!  I questioned the weather report of rain and 10-15 knot winds as the clouds were breaking apart and I had been wearing sunglasses for a few hours now.  Jon made a chicken curry for dinner.  A little daring for my stomach I thought but the meal sounded good and I was hungry.  I even helped prepare.  I went to get butter out of the freezer and a swell caught both Jon and I by surprise.  All I could do to hold balance was hold onto the side of the freezer and my other hand let go of the lid.  The lid crashed down on my hand.  Just another small bruise of many but the nav station board separated from the freezer lid in the crash.  Another job to be done.  Some of the things breaking etc… were definitely adding to frustrations.  Jon and I had just discovered the one metal plate on the main sheet traveler was bent up.  This is not an area to get strain so all we could think was a rope had gotten caught underneath and reefed the plate up.  Disheartening really what wear and tear occurs out here at sea.  We all sat out in the cockpit and enjoyed Jon's chicken curry dish.  This would mark my first meal with the crew.  After dinner Jon and I went to lie down and Wade and John took on watch.  A beautiful evening, but Jon needed to rest for the night watch and I needed to work on keeping my dinner down. J The winds started picking up around 8 pm and Wade put up the sails.  Same situation where the wind was strong enough to fly our flag, but not the sails.  Within an hour though the winds were great and we averaged 6 to 7 knots all night.  Still a westerly swell, so for anyone trying to rest the outcome was not what was intended ~ rest.  Have you ever stood up at the same time of lying down? I have.  A most awkward position.  I had indent marks on the bottom of my feet from bracing against the base board.  The swells were just loving rocking this boat!

Friday, September 22^nd, 2006

            We are still heading through the swells like a freight train.  A gorgeous day!  No clouds in the sky.  After 3 ½ hours at watch and having several swells wash over the boat and me, I was quite content to go below and warm up.  Lots of talk going on about making landfall.  After just rounding Cape Mendacino we have 180 nautical miles to go to reach San Fransisco.  We are talking about Bodego Bay though as our first land fall.  Bodego Bay is only 138 nautical miles away.  We figure that things are probably less busy there and a good place to shower, do our laundry, and clean-up the boat before reaching busy San Fransisco.  For now we just hope the winds keep up so that landfall can be possible in a day or two.  Jon just made me some homemade chicken noodle soup.  I am am warming up in the bunk and the guys are enjoying cocktail hour and tales of the sea.  As I lay my head down on the pillows I hear John say, "there's no fishing boats out here, they know better."  The guys must have been talking about having a look-out for ships.  Since 12:30 pm no one has been up on watch in the cockpit.  They just stick a head out every now and again for a look around.  Jon just turned on the radio for a weather report.  "Small craft warning off of Cape Mendecino…winds 35 knots tonight…hazzerdous seas tonight…"  Lovely!  You know there is nothing like the gentle rock back and forth, back and forth where you ever so slightly begin to slide down your bunk.  Eventually your head is not longer on the pillow and the fitted sheet beneath you befins to let go of the two upper corners of the mattress.  Eventually you put a leg out to brace yourself ever hopeful that your leg can stay ridgid while you attempt to fall asleep.  On this particular night with the seas whipped up by the winds we were fortunate to experience a few rogue waves.  Absolutely delightful!  The boat's side is lifted in this suspended air and crash as gallons of water are dumped onto the boat and she uprights herself with a flick and a jolt.  Most pleasant.  Thankfully as the night grew the seas didn't.  I think I got a few good hours sleep.

Saturday, September 23^rd, 2006

            "Land!" Jon and I are both awoke to John singing out, "Land!"  And there she was with the sun just popping up for the morning.  As we did a sail change a little birdie, looks like a chickadee, came and hung out on our safety lines.  A glorious morning.  I even felt in the mood to do up some dishes and maybe make some pancakes for breakfast.  I got half way through the dishes, threw-up for the first time in the last 64 hours and went back to bed.  Isn't there something said about it's the thought that counts.  This sea sickness is frustrating.  I must be setting a record.  I went out on watch at 10 am.  Simply beautiful out.  Another bird joined us.  I tried to feed him crackers but I think he was more interested in just resting.  Jon made us some ham alfredo around 2 pm.  My appetite has been coming back   I was hungry.  I ate my whole bowls worth.  My stomach of course gave some pains to this but a little lie down in the sun and the breeze were just the cure.  At 6 pm we were in the fog. Our first fog.  I was somewhat anticipating the fog with the last sunny hot days.  The boys are hoisting our radar reflector to make us more "visable" to other boats, and are taking us back out to sea.  After learning yesterdays noon talk of San Fransisco being 180 nautical miles away was a dead reckoning and at 2 am this morning according to our 'course' we were 180 nautical miles away.  Here we are now 6:30 pm and moving away from the land after I spent most of my watch moving towards the land.  Was this not using up time we needed in order to cover the 'ground' necessary to make land fall tomorrow?  Jon is out of cigarettes and going batty and I want a warm shower and laundry clean!

Sunday, September 24^th

            I woke up this morning to little wind and the motor running.  We are still in the thick of the fog.  We motored all day with the winds never rising more than enough to flip our Canadian flag once and awhile.  Everyone was anxious for landfall and we called out our distance often.  Birds and more birds of several variety were pretty much the point of entertainment.  The fog was pretty thick and I felt like we were in a Jurassic Park movie with the pelicans coming out fo the fog like pterodactyls. We arrived in Bodego Bay at 7:00 pm through the fog.  We really wanted to see the entrance to this bay and the channel for entry, but we did make the journey and arrive safely at dock.  The channel into the bay is dredged and there is no room for error.  Literally you are looking at sand bars on either side of you.  We were working through 12 feet of water.  There are markers all the way through this narrow channel with the objective being to keep the red markers on your right and the green ones on your left.  The markers are all numbered.  At marker 33-34, you turn directly left.  There are two new pillars that are hard to see the markings at first and then new smaller marks lead you in to Spud Point Marina.  There are two other Marina's but for a cruising sailboat this Marina is just what you are looking for.  We tied up at a dock directly across from the gas bar figuring we could ask the gas attendant what to do.  He said that we register with him. Bodega Bay is not an official port of entry, so I guess we are illegal aliens!  We paid 21.58 US for the night and asked for directions to the showers and dinner.  Being Sunday night and a small community around the bay the gas attendant said we had a mile walk to the nearest restaurant.  The restaurant, The Sandpiper, closes at 8 pm and we started our hike at 7:30 pm.  Now coming off a boat after 9 days of bobbing around walking is no easy feat. You body is swaying around and your legs feel like jello.  We found the restraint and at 7:45 hoped they would serve us.  I walked up to the waitress at the front and said, "I know you are about to close but we have just been offshore for 8 days and really would love a meal."  I had no problem with a little begging after all our walking and the 8 days at sea.  We had been told of another restaurant up the hill, but wanted to make sure we ate.  They sat us with no problems and we had a very nice waiter.  A little bit more of a fancier restaurant than we cared for, but there was food.  The prices were high and the selection was quite small.  I decided that this was our dinner out and I was going to enjoy myself.  I ordered the red snapper with shrimp and crab sauce.  The meal was delicious.  Jon had prawns, Wade had fish and chips and John had a jerk chicken sandwhich.  With bellies full, we took the directions of the waiter and walked up the hill to the nearest "open" store.  Jon still had not had a cigarette and was getting on 'my' nerves.  While he bought cigarettes, John and I made phonecalls to let family know of our arrival.  The walk home was long but enjoyable.  We did the walk there and back, dinner and the store stop over all in two hours.  We all laid down for a great sleep and found with the boat not moving you felt like you were sleeping on a board.  I think sailing screws your whole body up.  Not comfortable out at sea and now not comfortable on land.  What's up!

Monday, September 25^th, 2006

We woke and motored the boat over to the gas dock.  We figured we would fill up with diesel and ask all our questions about a slip, showers, laundry, internet service etc… While Jon tended to the diesel tanks I spoke with the gas attendant. I was asking him about all of the RV's etc… He said that many people come in their campers and RV's.  not only because Bodega Bay is a beautiful spot with gorgeous beaches, but a hot spot for salmon fishing.  The salmon fishing season is not quite over here.  He also said that if we were in to snorkeling we could dive anywhere from 8 feet to 20 feet for abalone.  I have always wanted to try abalone.  You would need a fishing lisence of course and the lisence would allow you to get a limit of three.  The gas attendant said that three could feed ten people though!  They must be big.  I said that we came from a small west coast community but did not see the signs that we saw there in Bodega Bay, not even in the other neighbouring communities that are big on tourism and seafood.  Everywhere you looked in Bodega Bay there were signs stating fresh seafood: red snapper, tuna, crab etc…  Each of the restaurants we saw seemed to focus on seafood.  The one directly across the road from the marina was big on crab: crab cakes, crab chowder, crab sandwhiches…A guy interested in our boat came down to the gas dock and started asking questions.  Again, like many, he wandered if our boat was steel or cement.  I had to share this guy with Jon since he had come down to see our boat.  I thought that Jon needed to talk to him and have the pride of showing off his boat.  Besides the guy asked how much weight in the keel and I couldn't remember.  A good opportunity to get Jon talking to him.  Jon was just finishing off topping up the diesel cans on deck and I threw out the question.  The two started to talk.  All of a sudden there was a geyser of diesel and for a moment Jon could not stop the deisal flow.  The small, more manageable handle and hose was out of commission, so Jon was using a large, oversized nozzle.  Some how the trigger got stuck.  Luckily most of the diesel spill was on deck and not in the water.  I know that does not sound lucky, but the guy told us that if Coast Guard had seen that we would have had a heavy fine.  The gas attendant gave us several oil rags and suggested we start up our motors to disperse the diesel in the water.  Now I don't know if we would have been given a fine or what.  A protected bay etc… but we had an accident using the wrong, but only nozzle available.  Anyways, everyone was good natured about the whole thing.  That ended the conversation about the boat though.  The only other unfortunate thing was John had put out his sleeping bag to air and with the sleeping bag lying just in front of the diesel cans, the sleeping bag soaked up a lot of diesel.  Into the dumpster with that.  With all the drama we paid our bill, another $200 in diesel (Are we not  a sailing vessel!  Need wind!). We headed for our slip.  First on the agenda was showers.  I grabbed a towel and shampoo and off I went.  The showers were great.  The water pressure was so great that I could have forgotten soap and still had the dirt peeled right off my body.  Nice warm water.  Ahhhh!  After showers came the laundry.  Four loads!  A lot of wet gear though from our first two days at sea in the storm that just got smelly.  I worked on my journal and pictures while the clothes washed and called home.  I enjoyed sharing the journey with mom and dad.  In some ways I found telling the story of our sailing adventures as a past event weird.  Our second leg to San Fransico was almost over.  A journey behind us instead of infront of us.  We took one last walk oround the bay to the little corner store.  We picked up a few groceries to make pizza back at the boat and ordered cheese burgers for lunch.  While we waited for our order we saw a poster of the movie, The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock.  The scene where everyone was running down the street was filmed right there.  So of course I had to go out and take a picture.  With pizza fixn's in hand we began our walk back.  Our little propane stove does not seem to get all that hot and only has a bottom element, so pizza was slow and allow the cheese was melted on top you did not have that nice brown cook to the top.  We all enjoyed the pizza though and the last one I made I rolled like a calzone.  We kept this for lunch the next day.

Tuesday, September 26^th, 2006

We all awoke to the sound of trickling water this morning.  I had heard Wade get up to go to the washroom, so at first I thought that he was just washing his hands, but then the water continued.  John called out about water running and then I smelled that warm steamy water and knew where the water was coming from.  We have a hot water tank hooked up to our diesel heater but there is no thermostat regulator.  The water literally boils and then a release valve lets water out onto the floor.  This was at 6:30 am this morning.  Yet another item on the to do list.  We were planning on leaving harbour around 8 am, so might as well get up.  I started with last nights dishes and got the coffee on.  I made John and I an ommellette with the leftover pizza fix'ns.  Good! J  We followed the channel markers back out the harbour and were on our way to our next destination, Drake's Bay by 8:45 am.  The winds were not much better, but we did get our sails up.  We would be tacking, so of course more distance.  The distance from Bodega Harbour to Drake's Bay is 25 nautical miles.  At 5 knots we should be there within 5 hours.  Unfortunetly we started off at about 3 knots.  A nice sail for most of the day.  Didn't see much other than the birds.  A sea lion popped his head up just briefly to check us out and then was gone.  Some fisherman further towards the land spotted 5 whales.  We were further out.  Jon said he saw a fin at one point but that was all.  I kept scanning the waters, but never saw any whales.  When we came up to Reys Point just before Drakes Bay we saw the lighthouse on the end and the steep cliffs.  The scene would make a fabulous picture in the sun.  We had an overcast day, so the image is not so dramatic.  We had one cargo ship go by.  Would not want to meet one of those in the dark!  We arrived in Drake's Bay and dropped anchor at 6 pm.  Yep that's right, the whole whopping 25 nautical miles took us all day, 9 hours plus.  If you are in a hurry to get somewhere do not go by sailboat.  I really enjoyed the sail today.  I had a tuna casserole all put together and in the oven as the anchor went down.  I played around with pictures from the day and wrote in my journal.  There is an estuary here that I would love to check-out.  To get to the estuary is quite a distance in our dinghy at the far end of the Bay and not really safe to take our sailboat over.  And besides as illegal aliens probably not advicable.  We will clear customs tomorrow.  For now we will enjoy the evening.  We all just finished dinner.  Jon has decided to go up in the last bits of light to try his hand at fishing.  We are surrounded by fishing boats that have also come into the protection of Drake's Bay for the evening.  There is one other sailboat here.  All decked out with solar panels etc…  I would love to go and explore the land.  There is house here with trees surrounding the property.  Strange really.  I don't know if the pictures will give a good enough idea of why the scene seems out of place.  The rest of the land is barren and from what we have been told trees like these were brought in and planted to help with wind protection.  So the trees are not native to the land and therefore stick out.  We are all looking forward to tomorrow to see the Golden Gate bridge.  I am hoping for some sun as a picture of the bridge in any other conditions is probably not as pretty.  We have been listening to the VHF radio and are hearing about a boat that has gone down around the Golden Gate Bridge.  The last we have heard is that there are 3 to 4 persons, no longer on board and in a life raft.  Sounds like the Coast Guard have lost contact with the people and they are asking for any assistance from boaters in the area if they spot anything.  Scary.   The last thing before going to bed, I stuck my head out the companion way to have a look and found over thirty fishing boats all in an ark creating this oval of boats and land around us.  We were the only ones in the middle.  Were we anchored in the wrong place?  Was there something to anchoring formation that we were not aware of?  We were in plenty of water, so we went to bed.

Drake's Bay

Wednesday, September 27^th, 2006

            Popped my head out the companionway this morning to see hundreds of flies all over the deck! Ugh!  Most of the fishing boats that had come in last night to anchor wre dispersed and had started their day of fishing.  I wandered if the flies had come from the fishing boats?  The guys thought from land.  Those flies or most of them stayed with us all day.  I think the last ones were finally gone when we tied up to the mooring buoy in the wind nine hours later.  I checked the oil and transmission fluid while I waited for the coffee to brew.  Jon had his coffee in bed this morning.  I took the helm and Wade helped out with bringing out our route.  We were saying goodbye to Drake's Bay and very excited about todays destination ~ san Fransisco!  The sea was like a mill pond and with the straight course we had to take we were back to motoring.  This trip was eventful.  We saw whales.  One of the whales even brought her head right out of the water. We saw porpoises, seals, a sea lion and lots of different kinds of birds.  Maybe this is what the coastal cruising route offers!  The scenery was interesting but under a gray sky the pictures are not too spectacular.  Overall though with the cold weather and the pretty barren land we felt we had sailed to Newfoundland or England or something.  Our trip clipped by quickly and while looking for a green buoy marker that would signify where we needed to turn I spotted one of the towers to the golden gate bridge in the distance.  I saw the bridge!  We were almost there.  We figured that we really couldn't have asked for better weather.  Visability was good even though over cast and the seas still remained calm.  As we came closer to the harbour entrance the water became turbulent and there was quite a current.  All of this with calm seas and a flood tide!  I couldn't imagine what the entrance would be like in even a normal swell or with a breeze!  We chose to cross directly over to the other side where the current is not so strong.  A cruise ship had just passed but we could not see any more large ship traffic coming and therefore relatively safe crossing the shipping lanes.  We decided to go under the bridge with motor off and sails up.  There wasn't much wind but there was enough to help us along.  I was taking pictures everywhere and soaking up the moment. J Once we crossed under the bridge we saw other sailboats and the big city!  The winds began to pick-up and were qite brisk.  No problem sailing now.  We were actually surprised by the change.  We aimed for Saint Francis marina.  A friend of my mothers suggested we go there for a couple days for free guest berthing.  As we came to the entrance we decided to start motors and take down the sails.  The motor wouldn't start so we kept on a straight course until we got the motor started.  Yes, another item on the list.  We tied up at the dock in front of the harbour master only to be told they were full.  Slips were available on a first come first served basis and they were pretty much booked until October 9^th.  He said that there were a lot of events going on right now.  I grabbed our passports etc.. and as acting captain called customs.  The officer was very friendly.  He unfortunetly was not very helpful with directions and places to anchor.  He said he wasn't fron here and actually was from Texas.  I tried to get a barbeque dinner out of him, but I don't know if that was really, going to happen. J He said we could go ashore tonight and check-in at their customes office tomorrow morning.  He told me that we would probably find it easier to sail down under the Bay Bridge to Oakland on our left than to get a taxi.  From the water he said the customs office was ten minutes up the hill.   However, later in the evening we asked a bus driver if a bus could take us there (save us leaving our anchorage) and he said absolutely and bus.  Customs was only 5 minutes away????  We will have to figure out what to do tomorrow.  We left the dock and headed for the aquatic park where we were going to anchor for the night.  As we approached the entrance we read motor boats prohibited and watch out for swimmers.  So we steered out and raised our mainsail.  There was a good blow in the harbour right now and we figured the mainsail would be enough.  With motor off we headed into the bay.  Upon entering we saw several morring buoys.  On the cahrt we saw only two mooring buoys.  In front of us were many more to pick from.  There were a few other boats already moored.  Wade decided to go up to the bow to be our cowboy lasso man to get the morring buoy and Jon took the helm.  I was at the ready to drop the main sail to bring the boat to a stop.  While attempting to tie to a mooring buoy we also had to watch for swimmers and there were swimmers!  On a few tries we finally seemed to have lassooed a morring buoy and I dropped the main sail.  Shortly after releasing the main, Wade announces he lost the mooring buoy, so back up the main goes.  Jon told Wade to give me a hand with the main.  In the process the sheet somehow got knotted.  This meant the main was up but wasn't coming down until we could get the knot out and this knot was tight!  I now took the helm and then Wade took the helm.  I went to the bow while Jon tried to figure out the knot.  While Wade went by mooring buoy in the meantime I figured I would give a try at being a cowgirl.  However John followed me up to the bow and decided he wanted the honour.  So I pressed over the rope and headed to the stern of the boat.  After several passes to no avail and the know now turned into two as Jon and I attempted to get the first  knot out by winching the line we had become quite the entertainment for the locals I am sure.  Jon was able to get the first knot loose and began reading up on knots.  He knew of a way you could tie a second line to a primary line to pull and release tension.  With the book open to the instructions in my hand, Jon attempted to make the knot.  I finally gave the knot a try and got it!  I wrapped the line around a second winch and we were able to get the knot loose. Yeah!  Wade was passing another mooring buoy and I decided to grab a line to be ready in case John missed.  The buoy passed right by the starboard side of the boat.  I got right down on the deck, hung over the side and was able to wrap the line around the mooring buoy.  Finally we were tied!  We got the dinghy unlashed and inflatable tube pumped up and dinghy into the water ready for shore leave!  John decided to stay behind and Wade, Jon and I  rowed ashore.  While John enjoyed a bowl of soup and news on the TV.  Jon, Wade, and I walked the streets of San Fransisco.  We found a famous scotish restaurant.  Most people know this reastaurant.  I think the restaurants called, MacDonalds? J  Afterwards we continued to enjoy the sights as we walked and went to a comedy club.  The comedians were OK. Some were funny and other seemed to be trying to come up with material on the spot.  There was only 18 people or so in the audience.  I guess what would you expect on a Wednesday night.  A great first night ashore.

We made it!

 SANFRANCISCO - WEEK ONE

We three are having a great time!

Thursday, September, 28^th, 2006

            I awoke this morning to voices at 6 am.  A swimmer if you can believe it!  She was talking to another swimmer about looking for her friend who looked like a marshmallow?  All I could think was the friend must have on a white swimming cap.  I fell back to sleep for another hour and then got up and made coffee.  John and I headed to shore.  I went in search of a phone to call customs to make sure I knew where we were going.  I made the phone call, received an answering machine.  First fifty cents gone.  Tried another number I had, also an answering machine.  Second fifty cents gone.  John suggested calling immigration because they were just up the hill and would save us the two hour bus and train ride to customs if we were able to do all the paperwork there.  I was reluctant to include yet another party in this, but phoned.  I told the lady who answered that we were a crew of four on a sailing vessel from Canada and were anchored in the aquatic park.  She replied with, "What seems to be the problem mam?"  I said, "There is no problem.  In our sailing guide we were informed to call immigration upon arriving in our first port of entry.  When I spoke with a customs officer he said we could fill out all the papers there, but since we were closer to the immigration office maybe we could just come see you."  "What forms do you want to fill out?" she replied.  "Well, I don't know what forms we have to fill out that would be you."  She told me to wait a moment and soon another person came on just as confused.  I was starting to think that the people here really don't know what is going on and that I should just leave well enough alone.  He started to direct me to the airport saying that they handled all ships.  I thanked him and hung up.  John was ready to say forget it all because he only had two days left.  I didn't feel as comfortable with that since we were here longer.  I phoned customs again and long story short just said, "If we don't need a cruising license and you have our passport numbers is there any reason we have to come in?"  He said he could look into it, could I call back in an hour.  I replied, "I am not trying to be pushy but we are using payphones and going through a lot of quarters.  Is it possible for you to find out now?"  He put me on hold, came back and said, "That's fine.  We have your information.  If you choose to go down the coast, you will need to come and see us for a cruising license." Finally!  We headed back to the boat and got Wade and Jon. We stopped at a marine store to get belts for our alternator and saw a sign, "be back at 1:00."  It was now noon.  Next we needed to find a marina, because there didn't seem to be any other anchorages in the area and we could only stay a max of 72 hours where we were.  From more answering machines, to "We are full," we continued our search on foot.  We decided to try pier 39.   We walked past the sea lions.  Quite an attraction.  We joked that they were occupying the guest dock.  Their facial expressions were funny as if they were being stuck up.  When we finally made it to the Harbourmasters office for pier 39, we got to read another sign saying, "Back at 1:30 pm."  What is going on?  So we decided we would walk around pier 39 and check-out the sites.  The place seemed familiar and I finally realized that the area had been used for different movies I have seen.  There is the fortune teller machines that I believe Tom Hanks used in the movie where he was a little kid and wished to be big and ran a toy store or something??  Anyways, kind of cool.  We stopped for a bite to eat.  Nothing all that cheap around.  I got my first soup in a sourdough bowl.  Not bad!  We finally made it back to the harbour master only to be told, "We are dredging and therefore not taking any guest moorages," So we headed back to the marine store to get our belts.  The man there suggested that we check-out Hyde marina.  As we walked by we noticed the slips looked pretty rough and even wandered if staying there would do damage to our boat.  We went in and asked price and availability anyways.  Guess what that had availability but for $76 a night!! We were not too sure where we were going to go, but we were not staying there.  We picked up a few groceries, and I gave Tanya a call. We would have to continue our search for a marina tomorrow.

Friday, September 29^th, 2006

 China Town        

Frog Legs anyone!

  I got up this morning and made eggs and bacon for everyone.  John, Wade and I rowed in to shore afterwards.  Our destination was china town.  However, first we wanted to call one more marina and see if we could get a night or two.  There was only one marina on this side that we had not tried.  I used a payphone and needed operator assistance again.  When the call went through I was listening to an automated service.  I was told to press two if I wanted to make a reservation for guest moorage or to leave a message on the answering machine or to press the pound key for the directory.  I didn't want to take the chance to get an answering machine, so I opted for the directory.  Not getting anything there I pressed the star key as instructed to take me back to the menu.  After a pause I was listening to an automated voice say that I have exited the system, goodbye.  There goes another 50 cents!  On second call, I was able to speak to a person.  Not so friendly, I was told they had one space available for tonight at a dollar a foot!  Only one slip available!  There are 700 slips in total!  We couldn't really stay in our anchorage much longer, if we could even stretch one more night.  John had a plane to catch in the morning, so we agreed to the price and I made the reservation.  Check-in was noon and check-out was eleven am.  Twenty-three hours for $42!  Anyways, we rowed back to the boat, started engines (found out we could use our engine. The aquatic park just does not want motorized boats in the bay) and off we went.  John chose to stay ashore and meet us there by foot.  A little bit of a walk!  The motor over was fine and we were able to see a bit more of the waterfront.   We tied up at our slip with no problem.  We were at the very end of the first finger.  We walked the good five minute walk to the harbour master where a lady greeted us with, "Can I help you." With not so friendly a tone.  "Yes, we would like to pay for our slip."  "Do you have a reservation?" "Yes." I replied.  She had me start to fill out a form.  As I began to fill the form out I realized that the required information was the same information I had already given over the phone.  Upon enquiring she was able to confirm that yes they already had our information.  After paying I asked if she had a brochure or a map of the facilities.  She asked me what I meant.  I stated I was interested in what facilities they offered, like showers.  She replied with, "The showers are downstairs."  Then she gave no more information.  I continued with another facility suggestion, "ice?" "Yes, ice is $1.50 a bag you pay here and there's the key." As she pointed to the wall.  Still offering no more information.  I finally left and quickly returned to ask about internet service.  "The café down the street has wireless."  I am beginning to not be shocked by the lack of "welcome" attitude around here.  We checked out the café and then headed for china town.  China town was somewhat like the one in Vancouver only I found this one to be set-up with a main street and then less focused streets on either side.  On one of these side streets we found a little diner that just served dim sum.  For $10 we all stuffed ourselves.  We couldn't have made such good dim sum for that price ourselves.  The boys bought themselves new watches and I bought some postcards.  I felt that some of the pictures on the postcards I would never be able to get myself.  One of the postcards has a picture of the marina we stayed at.  We also bought ourselves San Francisco t-shirts.  Really being the tourists! J On our 20 or so block walk back to the marina we started to see more and more people and dressed in orange??  Finally we saw the reason, there was a baseball game: The Giants vs. The Dodgers.  This would be the closest I have ever been to a baseball game.  The baseball stadium was directly behind our marina.  Learning afterwards tickets were $25 I thought maybe we should have gone.  I found the game exciting all the same from our boat and the marina.  You could here the fans screaming and see all the lights.  We were able to get the game on our TV even!  Life is interesting.

Saturday, September 30^th, 2006

Submarine Tour

Talking to the Veteran

  Getting my palm read.

  Today we were losing one of our crew members.  John Dunnick who had joined us in Ucluelet was flying home today.  We have all appreciated having the extra crew member, especially for our first big offshore adventure: spreading out the watches with a fourth person helped with the exhaustion that occurred.  We all wish him a safe trip home and hope that he enjoys the rest of the trip through "our eyes" on the website. 

The day had promise of sunshine.   I packed up my computer and headed towards a little breakfast and lunch shack that had free wireless so that I could put info. From our legs thus far on the website and to check our emails.  I sat on a bench on the pier figuring that since I already had a coffee in hand and that the wireless should have some range that I would not sit at the restaurant.  I did get several wireless options pop up and had no idea which was there's.  Many of the connections were password protected.  After about forty minutes of trying I was finally connected to someone's network?  This is all new to me.  In fact this would be my first ever wireless connection.  I updated my virus protections first as I watched the minutes left on my battery continue to drain (not plugged in obviously).  I was finally able to get to our website and I was happy that I finally figured out how to get my text right on the website instead of a document link.  Much better! I didn't have time to put together the photo albums I wanted or even edit the written work really.  I do hope with errors and all that I have enlightened you all to our experiences so far.  The feeling of reaching San Francisco by sailboat is really inexpressible.  After a couple hours on the computer and draining my batter down to 27%, I packed up and headed back to the boat.  Check-out was eleven am, an hour away.  The guys were back at the boat tidying up.  John had his bags all packed and in a cart ready to head out.  We all ended up chatting with a sailboat couple docked beside us.  They gave us some more ideas on where we might like to go for anchoring or places of interest.  One lady that Jon talked to told him that they had been sailing for years and they had also done the west coast leg.  They assured him that the sailing gets better.  The weather improves and so do the seas.  To keep going! J  We all had our goodbyes and thanks to John and then we were off as well.  First was the pump-out station just around the corner.  I took the helm and of course when we got to the pump-out dock there was only one place available to dock, between two other sailboats.  I looked at Jon and said, "I've never parallel parked a sailboat before."  Well, all went well without a hitch.  We filled our water tanks and with the broken pump nozzle were able to clean out our tanks somewhat.  Back out into the harbour we went and back to our anchorage in the aquatic center.  The water traffic really isn't as bad as I thought we would experience.  On the chart the area has exclamation marks everywhere with a grid outlining the area.  There are all kinds of ferries and cargo ships etc... But other than the wake you are pretty safe.  Some of the ferries go pretty fast and leave nice deep waves as a wake.  We just turn into them and sometimes we get splash off the bow. 

First on the list was to get Wade a camera.  We had been looking for ever since we landed in San Francisco and the prices were all over the place.  We had found one place right down in the tourist zone if you can believe it that had the best price so far.  The camera he was looking at was sold. L However, he did pick-out another underwater camera.  I think he is happy with the camera.  The only downfall is that the instruction booklet says that the battery takes 300 minutes to charge.  That is ridiculous!  We will see.  My camera battery charges in less than an hour.  With new camera in hand we all headed over to Fisherman's Warf to go check-out a submarine.  I have never been on a submarine before and neither had Jon.  Wade had been on one in Australia.  We paid the $9 each, after attempts to get the family rate fell flat on the emotionless face of the seller.  After the tour I really appreciated the space aboard our sailboat even more.  I couldn't believe that 85 men would function in such a small space.  There was a veteran on board who had served on the ship in WWII.  I really enjoyed listening to his explanations of procedures and his experiences on the boat.   After our tour we went into a building just across from the submarine.  Inside were all of these old games and animations from the 1800's to present day.  Fun!  I had my palm read from a machine.  My reading indicated that my luck is steadily improving and that a wonderful change is occurring in my life.  I would say that the reading was accurate!  The sights and sounds were interesting and informative of change as time has evolved.  After a Safeway visit we were back on the boat and preparing dinner: chicken strips and fries, afterwards a movie on my laptop.  Life is good!

Sunday, October 1^st, 2006

Today was more of a laid back day.  I made an omelet for breakfast for all of us around 10 am.  Jon tinkered away on our alternator set-up so that we can charge our batteries off the engine.  While Wade worked on the dishes and then helped Jon.  I worked on organizing things.  We have been enjoying San Francisco and now want to put a little more time into our living space so this too can be enjoyable.  We talked about what was working and what wasn't working on our offshore journey here and what changes we need to make.  We also began to tackle the pile in the aft washroom only to discover that we had water on the floor.  Not quite sure how the water got there.  We know one of the little portholes in the washroom leaks a little, but nothing on top was wet??  No real damage.  Jon's runners were soaked and salt encrusted and a few other things the same.  No biggie.  We all had afternoon naps and then Wade and I rowed into shore.  We each made phone calls to family and then walked to Safeway to grab groceries.  Wade stopped at a book store along the way and grabbed a couple books for learning guitar.  Something hopefully we all will learn on this trip.  Would be fun!  By the time we were done, we were walking back in the dark.  Back at the boat we all settled in to a before dinner drink and then enjoyed a Thai curry dish Jon whipped up!  Excellent of course.  We played around on the computer reading the comments people have left and making a few more additions as well as checking out our hotmail.  Today was just a nice relaxing day.

Monday October 2^nd, 2006

      We stayed on the boat all day today.  Not even a grocery run or anything.  Continued working on the boat jobs and organizing.  Things are getting more comfortable.  I made cream of broccoli soup from scratch and warmed up a French loaf with fresh crushed garlic and parmesan cheese.  Delicious!  We all lounged around for the evening reading books and chatting.  Skies began to clear and before nightfall we had blue skies.  We hope we will have some nice weather tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 3^rd, 2006

   The boys get ready to go to town!

Marni and Pete's cat soaking up the good life in the sun!

We woke up to see the stadium seats at the aquatic park being sprayed off , markers being put out on the pier and barges being put in place all for the air show this week.  The skies were blue but did not last.  We were off to Sausalito by lunch.  A brisk motor over.  We watched the boats coming and going throughout the harbour.  No real big boat traffic to speak of while crossing the shipping channels but a large container ship came under the Golden Gate Bridge shortly after we were most of the way across.  Lots of boats in Sausalito.  As we looked for a place to anchor we heard someone calling to us from another sailboat.  We couldn't hear anything they were saying.  I was navigating us to a bay ahead where I was hoping we could get anchorage close to shore.  We decided to motor over to them and just watch our depth.  We were at five feet before we reached them and I went to the bow and yelled out that we have a draft of 6 feet.  The guy from the other boat said, "We draw 8 feet does that make you feel better?"  We finally could hear them and they pointed to a mooring pin just passed them and said they believed it was free.  Not knowing the area etc... And with their offered kindness we headed over and tied up.  Soon we had our motor on our dinghy and motored over to them.  The wind is strong here and there were wind waves to deal with.  Rowing to shore or anywhere would be work and long.  We met Marni and Pete from Vancouver: the sailors that helped us find our mooring.  We also met their cat who was very content bathing in the sun.  I was missing Rockford and soaked up the moment to love a cat.  Marni and Peter were eager to help us get to know the area better and let us know where we could tie-up our dinghy to go ashore, where the grocery store was, where a good restaurant was and other places we should check-out for anchorage or docking.  We sat in their cock-pit and chatted for awhile enjoying our first gathering with other sailors since we began this trip.  They also shared some great pointers about comforts aboard a boat.  One we are definitely adding to our boat was to buy one of those air compressed weed sprayers.  You pump it up and you get pressurized water.  The container holds a gallon of water and they said works great for showering!  Great idea!  We finally said our goodbyes thinking we better get to shore before we lose our daylight.  We invited them to come see our boat and hope they do.  On shore we found the restaurant and the grocery store.  The grocery store was nice, but the prices were much higher in some cases than Safeway and when I already think Safeway is an expensive grocery store we opted to leave grocery shopping for later when we might find others to do some compare shopping.  We began a walk around to choose a place to eat.  Each restaurant we found offered meals from between $14 - $30 and all we really wanted was a $7-8 burger or wrap or something.  We are on a budget you know.  Soooo, we opted to go back to the grocery store and bought two frozen pizzas.  They actually turned out great!  The crust was garlic bread and rose nicely in our oven.  We also bought a tub of ice cream and had to eat as much as possible because it was just going to melt (very saddening J ).  It was hard to eat all that ice cream, but I did! J You can't waste ice cream.  We ended the evening with checking our emails and doing a little reading.

Wednesday, October 4^th, 2006

    We spent the morning working on the boat.  The boys got working on installing our wind generator.  I made brochetta for lunch with bacon, tomato and parmesan.  Good!   Marni and Peter stopped by, not for a visit, but to share with us that we should go into Sausalito Sailing Club as they were told they were very nice, you could get a key for the washrooms and they have a potluck dinner on Fridays.  At 3:00 pm we got in our dinghy and headed over.  Unfortunately no one was there and we tied up at a public dock and went ashore.  The walk was nice.  There are little boutiques all along 2^nd street.  A little more on the pricey side, but not too rich.  No McDonalds in this area though, that is for sure.  As we continued our walk, Jon noticed a sign ahead, "Fish n Chips."  When we got colder the sign on the window said, "Wednesday special, Fish n Chips, $2.79."  Wade looked at me in disbelief and was only able to get out the question, "Is today Wednesday?"  I said, "Yes."  We still couldn't believe that it was for real and thought we better inquire.  In fact I thought maybe it was an old sign from when the store was open years ago.  In fact I did find one of those signs inside and the fish n chip price then was 99 cents. We paid for 3 orders, $9 and 1 cent.  Not the best tasting fish n chips, but not bad either.  Wade made another observation that the price worked out to be even better than our Chinese dim sum.  Jon kept talking about getting a second order.  They had great flavours of ice cream as well, but I think we were ice creamed out from the night before.  We continued our walk after dinner.  We found the Golden Gate Grocer and the Sausalito Grocery, both corner stores, so it looked like Mollie's, although expensive was going to be the best bet in Sausalito.  We came across a salt water taffy store and the lady kept saying, "Try different flavours.  Samples are free."  We did try and the candy was good.  We then felt obligated to buy some.  ½ a pound was $3.49.  We ended up with a pound.  Enjoyable though!  The boys found a hardware store, closed, so we will head back in the morning.  On our way back to the boat we stopped at the sailing club again and met Gerd.  He was very friendly.  Told us where we could get our laundry done and said to come back tomorrow night to meet John who lives on a boat in Sausalito and could share all the info.  We would need to know about where to leave our dinghy, water, pump-out etc… He also invited us to come for the potluck dinner on Friday, but I think we will be back at the Aquatic Park for the air show. 

 San Francisco - Week Two

JON - Caught in the act of doing laundry !!!!!

Marni and Pete aboard their boat.

Thursday, October 5^th, 2006

            We headed into Sausalito first thing this morning after breakfast.  We met Pete and Marni on their way to new ports and adventures.  They passed on some magazines and were off to warmer climates they hoped.  I gave them our website address and they gave us their card.  We appreciated their help and enjoyed their company.  I was wishing we had our sailing cards, but a friend (Tanya) said we should wait until we have our name painted on the stern of our boat and have a picture taken to place on the card.  Well, we better get that name painted soon! J Anyways, we wish Marni and Pete all the best.  First on the list was to go to the hardware store we found last night.  We collected screws, and the like necessary to finish off some of the unfinished jobs on the boat.  Next on the list was the Laundromat.  Now this may be a shocker to many so look at the pictures with caution. Jon has been caught folding laundry mothers!!  I think we scared him off though by taking pictures.  He was no where to be found when the second load came out of the dryer.  Back to the dinghy and over to another dock further down the harbour to go to West marine for more boat supplies and then over to Mollie's Grocery store for dinner.  Tacos it would be!  Back to the boat for dinner and then we watched a new episode of Gray's Anatomy!  Jon continues to complain that Wade and I cannot let go of the 21^st century: "We should be reading."  Oh, the novelty of being able to watch TV was fun though!  I missed the new ER. UGH.  Beside, I thought last year was their final season.  What's going on?! I know, I am in San Fran, get over it, right! J

The Blue Angels

Friday, October, 6^th, 2006

            Back to the Aquatic Park we go.  We have an air show to enjoy!  There was shipping traffic in the harbour, but no trouble navigating.  The big cargo ships move way faster than we do and they would be out of our way before I had to worry about a collision.  As we got closer to the Aquatic Park there was more sailing traffic.  I was watching a little speed boat coming my way towing a sailboat and trying to decide which way to go when I started to notice the current.  I did not have much choice, I was moving sideways like I was heading down a river.  I couldn't believe the strength of the current!  I could only turn the wheel to end up going on one side of a yellow marker instead of hitting it.  I was happy once we were tied up in the Aquatic Park.  There is one other boat from Canada anchored here and we are dreaming that maybe they will invite us over saying they have too many lobsters to eat on their own, and that they sure could use our help eating them!  Sure that will happen. J  Hopefully we will get a chance to meet them though.  The air show had a slow start and with a gray sky, with even a bit of a sprinkle, not that great.  The sound the jets made though was incredible.  We can only hope the weather improves.  We paddled in to shore around 5 pm.  I had a phone call to make to wish my father a happy birthday and we needed some more groceries.  We definitely need to get our fridge up a running; these almost daily runs to the grocery store are getting a little tiring.  First I went to the hotel where I had been using the payphone in their lobby: much quieter than the ones on the street.  I was stopped at the door and asked for my room number.  I said, "I wasn't staying at the hotel, I was just coming in to use the phone."  "We don't have a phone in the lobby," the man replied. "Yes, you do," I said, "It's just around the corner."  "Well, we are very busy this weekend with the air show…" "So can I use the phone?" "No."  "Thank-you." And I left.  I can appreciate things being busy and I had even found it a bit odd that I could use the phone in the first place, but I may one day be a customer or tell someone about this hotel.  His reception was not conducive to me sharing wonderful things about the hotel, busy or not.  As we walked around we ended up deciding on going out for dinner.  Just before dinner I was able to find a phone in a corner in Ghirardelli Square.  I thought it might be OK, but the phone was not that great sound wise.  Happy birthdays were made and off we went for dinner.  Just hamburgers, but in a nice pub and we had live music.  They were an Irish band called Shades of Green.  They were good.  I really enjoyed the lead singer's voice.  A quick trip up to Safeway we had steaks in hand for dinner tomorrow night and we headed back to the beach.  Upon stepping on the beach we saw one of our paddles lying there in the sand.  Your worst thoughts are racing through your head.  Our boat was there thankfully, but was full of 12 or so Goth teenagers.  "Sorry, sorry…we found it this way….we just wanted to pretend we were pirates…sorry"  were their words when Jon announced, "wrong boat guys."  We found the other paddle in the sand beside the boat and the boat was filthy with sand.  The rope we had tied the boat to the Warf with was cut.  Our guess was someone had cut the line and taken our boat out for a row.  A little nerve racking.  We cannot afford to replace our $3000 dinghy.  Yes, I wrote the total correct.  The main Walker Bay is $800, the sail kit we have for it is $800 and the inflatable tube that wraps the whole boat for stability costs $1400.  We were glad that the tube had not been slashed.  With the busy weekend here for the Air show we are going to have to be extra careful.  There is nowhere else to take our boat.

The Air show was great!

The crowds were everywhere.  You can see some behind Wade.

I enjoyed the show with our "Spirit of Sam."

Jon took the opportunity to have a little nap.  He said he was in to boats not planes!

Saturday, October, 07.2006

            Sailing life isn't for everybody. J Today for example, blue skies, sunshine sparkling of the water, sailboats all around and music playing in the background.  Happy hour started at 12 pm as we went up on deck, cameras in hand to watch the navy ship parade and air show.  I couldn't believe all of the people everywhere, lining the streets, sitting on stadium seats and walking the beach.  Smoke circled around on either side of the beach where hamburgers and hotdogs were for sale.  A beautiful day!  There are always "those" people though who test your ability to let go of the small things.  We had tied up the night before in a perfect location to see outside the bay and yet not in anyone else's view.  Minutes before the navy ship parade started an American pulled up anchor and positioned his boat right in front of us so he had a better view.  Nice!  I am glad he was able to get some good pictures.  We did too, with his boat in every one of them.  Maybe he would like to trade pictures.  Oh well!  We are finishing the day off with a steak dinner and then a row in to go pick out our turkey for thanksgiving.  We will just make a trip to Safeway and straight back.  We are little nervous about leaving out dinghy on the beach.

Note: We were all to full and tired and never made it in to Safeway.  We just lounged around and read.  The tough life of sailing! J

Jon testing the waters!

Our duck Thanksgiving dinner.  Delicious!

The after effects of Thanksgiving dinner are the same everywhere! Wade had too much stuffing.

Sunday, October, 08, 2006

            Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Jon had the big idea today that he was going swimming.  He got out his swimming shorts and got up on deck, lowering the swim grid ladder.  He stepped down, one step at a time until reaching the swim grid that was positioned just under the water and,"Holly, #*@* that is cold!  How do the swimmers do this!" Then the swim was over.  We all spiffied up for a trip to town.  We all enjoyed a shower, dressed and rowed ashore.  With the state of our dinghy full of the Goth teens the night before and the rope cut etc... I was a little apprehensive about leaving our dinghy on the beach.  This time we chose to tie the dinghy on the beach in open view as apposed to around the corner.  All we could do is hope for the best.  We began our walk down the main street down along the water.  Our destination was to go and see the navy ships from yesterday's parade.  We found the majority of people were walking in the opposite direction of us.  There was an Italian parade starting soon in the direction of where we had just come.  When we finally found the boats the line-ups to tour them was ridiculous and we all quickly and unanimously agreed that we did not want to stand in line-ups all day.  We took a few pictures and moved on.  Destination number 2 was to buy a duck in china town for Thanksgiving dinner.  We continued our walk along the water before turning up through an arts and crafts display and through the city.  I felt like I was walking downtown Vancouver with all of the high rises and numerous shiny glassed buildings.  I found myself looking up often and feeling dizzy. China town was found to be just as busy as the water front.  The streets were crowded with people.  We enjoyed bobbing in and out of the walking herd to peer into windows and the various barbeque and seafood options.  Funny enough, at the end of china town is the Italian area of town and we walked right into the parade.  I thought we would miss the parade because as I understood it, the parade was downtown.  A long parade, starting at 12:30 and going to 2:30.  The restaurants had tables lining the streets and people were sitting, drinking their vino and enjoying the scene of each entry of the parade.  We were into mid afternoon by the time we bought our duck and we had been doing a lot of walking, so back to the boat.  We stopped at Safeway on the way to get some cold beers and with an exhale of relief we found out dinghy with no damage.  Back at the boat we sat out on deck with drinks.  I put on by bikini bottom and sat on the swim grid.  A little more daring than Jon, but with the sun on the other side of the boat and water giving me goose bumps that would not go away, I did no more than sit and enjoy the view.  A boat by the name of Wanderlust came in.  They called over and asked where we were from.  They had flown in from Toronto to pick up the boat and were destined for Mexico.  They invited us over later.  We hope to do just that.   I got the duck in the oven with the ribs we bought, started a pot of rice and found the stuffing.  Wade dug out the cranberry sauce and Jon found my dad's blackberry wine.  We were going to have a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner.  With plates overflowing in Thanksgiving tradition we all sat down and rose our glasses to our adventure.  The duck was great!  After dinner, Jon put on a pot of coffee and settled in to a new book.  Wade undid the button on his pants and collapsed on his bunk.  Thanksgiving is the same!  Well, we do miss our family and friends and wish you all the best this Thanksgiving.  Another wonderful day in the sun!

Our first walk through San Leandro near the Marina of course.

Monday, October, 09, 2006

            We were woken early this morning, 3 am to the sound of fog horns.  We are used to fog in Bamfield, but here in San Francisco there is a succession of fog horns all with different intensities and tones.  This is to help the ships find their way I am sure, but sure did not help us have a good nights sleep.  The anchorage here in the Aquatic Park has been much rollier than before as well.  We have some swells coming in rocking the boat often.  Oh, well, getting to keep up my sea legs.  Getting better, I might add!  I can now stand in a shower with pretty good stability.  I even learned that I can actually stand upright.  I am not quite sure why I always felt like I had to be bent over??  We are heading for San Leandro today.  They have a marina with moorage for $10 a night.  We need to bang off a few things on our boat list and Costco and Wal-Mart are near as well, so we can top up on our provisioning.  As week two here in San Francisco is coming to a close I am realizing that our trip to Hawaii is just around the corner.  We are eager to get going.  We all really want the warmth and sun.  Jon and I in our pitiful attempts yesterday, just really want to get into the water. Jon and I rowed over to the boat Wanderlust to say hi.  They were heading out for the Baja, ha, ha.  They are boat number 132 (If I am remembering correctly).  They too are looking forward to a great trip.  Jon and I were able to get in touch with San Leandro Marina and secure a slip for the week.  The cost is $15 though.  They said that this has been their price for two years now.  I said, "Well, your website says $10 and Charlie's Charts for 2005 say $10."  The guys reply was, "Well, that could cause some trouble now."  Whatever.  We need to get our list dwindled down and there is a Costco, a Wal-Mart and a Home Depot all in the same area a couple of miles a way.  Now how to get a sheet of plywood back?!! J We are all getting excited as we talk about the reality that we are heading off for Hawaii in a week (ish).  Don't anybody go and quote me on that! J The trip down was nice.  We were able to see all of the navy ships that had come in for the parade.  We even had a small speedster come out to ward us away.  Too close to the boats I guess and they need to keep up their security.  A gorgeous day in the sun.  Finally getting my colour back again.  San Leandro is a very pretty place.  Palm trees and all kinds of flowering plants.  There are well kept homes, a golf course right across the road and a nature trail all around the bay.  Beautiful.  We will enjoy our week here!  Docking the boat was quite interesting.  The fingers are not that far a part and the slips are just enough room for a boat.  There was some kind of current or something pulling us towards our slip making it very difficult to maneuver.  I attempted first and every time I tried to back up to give myself more room to turn the boat just kept drifting towards the slip side when I wanted to go over to the other side.  Jon gave it a try and went out of the fingers three times to turn around.  We finally lands safely and tied the boat securely.  We went for a walk to check out the area.  We found a grocery store and laundry mat a mile a way as stated in Charlie's Charts.  We bought steaks at $2.99 a lb.  A far cry from Mollie's grocery store prices in Sausalito!  Good steaks too.  We made tacos for dinner as we were inspired by the Mexican restaurant next store and trying to not eat out too much.  We find that we want to go and explore the area though and enjoy the place.  It is hard not to go out!  I met Tony and Sharon on their boat, Mrs. Robinson.  A fun couple.  There are here just here helping Sharon move her mother.  I hope we bump into them again. Interesting falling asleep here. Once again getting used to no movement.  I still don't know which is worse now: stillness or movement.  There is an airport right beside the Marina.  It is just on the other side of the bay.  There are planes decending right infront of the marina all day.  Think of it as another free air show.  Quite the rumble though.

Tuesday, October, 10^th, 2006

            We all had a long and good sleep.  We need to get into work mode this morning though as we have many jobs to complete.  The sun is shinning and promises to be a warm and delightful day!  The guys started working on the freezer.  Jon said they needed a sheet of plywood before they could so anything.  We had talked about the logistics of having to get to home depot either walking, bus or taxi, all which didn't help with transporting a sheet of plywood.  We had seen a piece up by a restaurant last night, so I went up and asked the manager if the sheet was available.  By 2:30 pm, I had Jon carrying a sheet of ½ inch plywood back to the boat.  The manager of Horatio said, "To help ourselves." Great!  We now have the plywood.  "But we need 2 x 4's" Jon says.  So, off I went again in search of wood.  I met Ann who told me that the yacht club on the other side of the marina usually had some wood by their dumpster and that they did, but no 2 x 4's.  I then met Mike later in the day as I walked the pier trying to connect to the internet.  I have not been able to get wireless on the boat.  I finally found a spot at the end of the pier.  This is where I met Mike, who told me to talk to Randy and after talking to Randy, I had two 2 x 4's.  Still no freezer done.  However, our mattress has been taken up on deck as we pulled wood out and I get to have the joy of sleeping on the floor.  Yipee! 

Sunset at San Leandro Marina

Wednesday, October, 11, 2006

            In the morning, I was told that we need ¾ X ¾ pieces to build the shelves that were going to happen yesterday.  I met Barb on her boat just across from us and she took me into Costco, Wal-Mart and Home Depot.  So I came back to our boat with wood and provisions for our offshore trip. No meat though because we still don't have a freezer.  With the boat in shambles, the guys decided to work on the mast.  I enjoyed being with another girl if only for a few hours.  Living on board a 42 foot boat with two guys has been trying at times.  To settle everyone's concerns the mast is in great shape.  All has been assessed and prepared for offshore!  I got to work right away to get provisions away and started preparing a steak dinner.  I really find this place beautiful. I was shocked to hear from Barb the high crime rate of the area.  She highly suggested that I do not walk anywhere alone.  I would never have thought.  There are all of these beautiful walkways along the water etc… and what am I going to get the guys to go with me. J We sure are enjoying the hot showers though with heaters in each of the individual stalls!  Heaven.

 Week Three- San Francisco

Thursday, October 12^th, 2006

            Another work day!  What was exciting today was getting the name on the stern of the boat.  Finally!  I had printed letters off the printer and with mac-tac cut out a stencil.  With Wade and Jon's help we got the stencils on the stern and then a sponged painted the letters.  Overall the process went quite well and we are pleased with the outcome.  Now maybe we can get a picture and I can make our traveling sail cards.  Jon was able to get more shelves up in the aft washroom.  I guess this space will not be a bathroom but a closet space. This is OK though.  The shelves really helped organize a bunch of the bits and pieces of electronics, tools, and equipment for all of the odd jobs.  Wade was working on the wind generator and cut himself on the hand with his exacto knife.  Nice deep cut! L We put steri-strips on the cut after he stopped bleeding and wrapped the hand.  Probably could use a couple stitches, but the cut is healing and we were able to keep it clean.  He was pretty much out of commission for the day because he could not put any pressure on his hand or he would just re-open the cut.  How do I know this?  Because he did put pressure on his hand trying to help with a job and I did have to re-bandage his hand. A busy day!  I know I have mentioned working on the freezer before and the wind generator and other jobs and I am sure some of you are wandering, "Why are they still working on the freezer…? Etc… Well, people, just because I say we are working on a job does not mean the job is done.  Some of these jobs take a while, need parts we don't have etc… For example, when I had said a while ago at the end of week one or beginning of week two that we were going to Sausalito to organize and make things more comfortable on the boat, this was our plan and we did work toward that goal.  Did we get the boat completely organized? No way!  We still have stuff all over the place; shelves need to be built and parts to be installed.  I have put stuff on the aft bed and then taken it off and shoved it back into the aft washroom and then back on to the bed more times that I would like to count.  The good news is we are getting closer and our thoughts of leaving for Hawaii soon are predominant in our heads.  Until you sail or live on a boat, what we experience is hard to imagine and hard to describe.  I only hope that my journals can give a snippet of an idea.  We look forward to the grunt of the work being done.  Leaving Bamfield was just that, to get the trip started and to get down the coast before our weather window closed.  We still are working on jobs daily.  You also have to appreciate that this boat is Jon's pride and joy and he does not want to mickey-mouse anything.  Spaces are becoming defined and we are enjoying the bought more and more every day! J 

Friday, October 13^th, 2006

            That's right, Friday the 13^th!  And what a day too! Jon started work on the freezer right away.  Before long he needed some more expanding foam to fill in the gaps around the hoses etc… Insulation is very important.  A couple of nights ago I had looked up on the computer where the nearest hardware stores were and I found one just up the street about a mile and a half.  So, I suggested that Wade and I walk up quickly and get the expanding foam plus a few other items we had on our list.  With backpack on, we headed out.  We walked up Marina Drive to the grocery store that we had been to before and then took a left down Doolittle.  The hardware store was to be a couple of blocks over.  We finally came to a strip mall and there in big letters was the name of the hardware store.  We walked the parking lot looking at all the stores, but could not seem to find the hardware store.  I finally concluded that the store is bigger, so it must be on the back side.  We could see a bigger building just beyond.  So we walked a long block just to be sure and no hardware store.  We then turned around and went back to the strip mall, saw a walk through and thought maybe the hardware store is through there.  All we found was the back side of the strip mall.  We finally asked in a store, not wanting to look lost to anyone since we were in a high crime area and found out that the hardware store closed down a couple of months ago.  Great!  Well, we decided we would walk at least to Fairway in the other direction because there was suppose to be another hardware store and Fairway was another street that would take us back to the Marina.  We didn't want to go back empty handed though and stopped in at a tile store that just opened and bought a 12" x 12" square of tile that we needed for our oven to help dissipate the heat better.  With the tile in the backpack we headed off.  We soon came to two guys with lumber etc... in the back of their truck and Wade's says, "Hey, they will know where there is a hardware store."  So, we asked and the only one they seemed to know of they said you would not want to walk to.  We said thanks and kept walking.  Soon we came to the water, which by my map memory we should have come to Fairway road not the water.  To the left was all industrial and to the right were all suburbs.  We decided to walk through the suburbs as apposed to just turning around and we must have missed Fairway.  Block after block and now a good four miles of walking we eventually came back to the strip mall and the intersection sign read, Fairway Road.  The map I had looked at on the computer said the hardware store was between Fairway and Marina Drive, so I had not even thought to look at the street sign.  We had come this far, so we decided that we might as well walk back to the grocery stores and see if there was anything around there.  We could then just walk Marina Drive back.  We made it back to Marina Drive and walked a little further, and then a little further.  Wade stopped at a road side vendor and bought some tacos to munch on and we both got a drink.  A little further and before we knew it we had walked to Home Depot.  A long walk.  We were here, so we did Wal-mart as well and picked up almost everything on our list.  We decided to take a bus back since we had walked close to ten miles already and we had left at 12 and it was now 4.  We asked where the nearest bus stop was and made our way over.  In about 10 minutes a small white bus pulled up and a lady went to get on.  Wade and I looked at each other and Wade got up to ask, "Do you go by the San Leandro Marina?"  "Yeah, I will drop you right off on the corner."  "OK," Wade said, "How much?" "Ten dollars" the bus driver stated and then laughed, "Just kidding, it's free."  I followed close behind Wade and said, "Too bad, I was going to give you $20."  We sat down and wandered, "Why is the bus free?"  We soon were pulling up in front of the grocery stores and we thought, "Oh, he probably goes up to Fairway and around."  We soon hit Fairway and continued on. "Oh, he probably goes to the end and then does a loop."  Before we knew it we were heading right downtown and as far away from San Leandro Marina as you could be.  When we reached the Bart system (train) and almost everyone got off, I went up to talk to the bus driver.  He had meant he could drop us off on the corner of Marina drive and was going back around so he would make sure to do that this time.  Oh, well, a free tour of the city! J A lady on the bus overheard the conversation and said, "Are you new in town?"  "Yes," I replied, "Can't you tell."  She proceeded to tell us where we could get free groceries and was giving us an address and phone number where we could get lots of different resources.  Well, we are not too thick, we had been trying to figure out the commonality of the people on the bus and here was the answer, they were all poor and now they thought we were too.  Better not mention the 42 foot yacht!  We were finally off the bus in another 15 minutes, stopped in the store laughing and got a drink for the last mile walk home.  Arriving back at 5, Jon had been a little curious as to what had taken us so long.  I definitely did not need to here from Barb that she had just gone up to Wal-mart too!  We were just doing a mile and a bit walk to a hardware store.  I didn't want to bother her for that.  We all grabbed showers and went out to dinner with barb and Barry to the Mexican restaurant.  Excellent selection of tequila!  Jim would have loved the place.  Excellent food too!  We couldn't believe our plates when they came out: huge.  Delightful conversation and a wonderful meal!  I am going to miss San Leandro marina.  Being here for a week there is a little community of sailors and I have really enjoyed meeting all the people here.

Saturday, October 14^th, 2006

            The days are beginning to blend one into the other.  We are always asking one another, "What day is it?  What is the date?"  We too are longing for the warm weather of summer as all of our friends and family back home are doing as the fall pushes forward.  We have had some beautiful days here as I have heard those back home have had too.  We are more than ever now waiting for the day of jobs to be done, the ones that will allow us to cast off our lines and head for Hawaii.  The time is so near.  At the same time, I have begun to enjoy life here at San Leandro Marina.  More so probably because of our friends Barb and Barry.  They have been a source of laughter, resources, help and friendship.  I will miss them.  We talk about meeting up in Fiji.  For now I will hope to keep in touch by email when we leave and let the future unfold as it will.  Jon built the aft bedroom closet shelves today.  Our clothes finally have a permanent place to be.  Yeah!  Slowly, ever slowly everything is finding a place to rest where we can find them, use them and place them back.  Heaven to the organizer freak in me! 

Peaches

Clem

Maxi

Sunday, October 15^th, 2006

            The boys were up late last night determined to get the freezer working, but unfortunately to no avail.  They were sleeping in this morning, so I snuck over to Barb's boat.  She offered me a "real" coffee and I thoroughly enjoyed the moment of conversation with the sweet aroma of coffee in the air.  Our percolator makes coffee, no doubt, but I miss the smell and taste of drip coffee.  I am still trying to make friends were Barb and Barry's three birds and two cats.  An interesting mix yes.  The cats, Ren and Stimpy are short haired and black as night.  One of them hissed at me.  Me! Who loves cats! The two love birds sit cozied up to one another wandering who the stranger is amongst them.  The parrot, Maxi, is not too sure of me either.  I keep trying to tell her that she is a pretty bird to win her over.  I love the fact that she 'smacks four.' She only has four claws, so she cannot 'give you five!'  And if you ask her "What do good girls get?"  She will reply with, "cracker."  I finally returned to the boat and the boys arose before noon.  After showers we went to Costco.  A dangerous place really and who would have known that Sunday is like Saturday back home: packed with people!  Jon was floating around from sample table to sample table and checking out the isles like he was making a list for Christmas.  We saw the rotisserie chickens at the back.  Who would have ever know how popular they are.  Line-ups formed continuously to grab a freshly cooked chicken.  We were told 17 minutes to the next set of birds to be fought over.  We had made our way up to the till by then, paid for one and I ran to the back to collect.  Another line had formed.  I was behind to people with carts.  I could have so easily walked past them as there was room too, but they had lined up before me.  As I saw the potential for new comers to get ahead of us because these two carts in our way, I finally said to them, "Are you in line?"  "Yes" they replied. "Well, you may want to leave your carts and walk up" and then I proceeded to do just that.  I was not missing out on a bird because these two people thought it best to get through a mob wanting chicken with their carts!  Chicken in hand I left. J The only other thing I would have loved to have bought at Costco was this silver case of three very nice tequilas.  A great gift for my brother for Christmas, especially knowing he would not get this in Canada because Costco, like most stores in Canada do not sell liquor.  Unfortunately the $109 price tag did not sit well with our dwindling budget.  Merry Christmas in thought Jim! J  Back at the boat we added our new purchases to the rest of our belongings lined up on the couch and floor all waiting to find out where their resting place will be.  We were told tomorrow was promising rain and closed all the hatches.  We settled in with sushi dinner that we bought at Costco and a movie.

Monday, October16^th, 2006

            We were told that it was going to rain today.  Well, if blue skies and heat is California rain, I think Canada should follow suit.  We had all of our port holes open today.  A really warm and beautiful day!  Jon and Wade worked hard getting all of the bilges cleaned out.  Jon also got the engine bay cleaned and washed out our water tanks.  I was able to get more of our provisioning stowed away and organize the aft better.  Just as the light began to fade at the end of the day Jon replaced our aft floor and then called it a day.  He has been working really hard to get the jobs knocked off the list.  We all want to get into vacation mode.  We relaxed with a drink and our 'Costco chicken' for dinner.  I was even able to watch two episodes of House.  There is everyday living in amongst this sailing life you know! J

Tuesday October 17^th, and Wednesday October 18^th, 2006

            This has definitely been a work week, so not a lot of exciting news to share.  We have been able to take several items of the "To do' list which is nice.  Over these past two days we walked to Home Depot twice carrying back our loot of boat goodies to keep punching away at the jobs.  Good exercise, but no one seems game to want to make dinner.  "To tired!"  Well, walking over 6 miles a day to and from Home depot, we should not be exhausted, but with all the shopping, no one wants to do anything else when we get back to the boat.  The first time, we just went to Burger King.  The guys were excited by the 2 double cheeseburgers for $2.  But 3 burgers each later, they were not so excited! J The last time we went, we bought already cooked chicken and frozen fries.  Lazy I know.  Well, I wish I could say we have our freezer going, but we don't.  I guess we will be leaving with out it running.  Another 2 more beautiful days in San Leandro!  These two days Wade definitely did not mind going up the mast for some repairs.  His camera went with him of course.  For those pictures you may have to stay turned to his website, which may take some hassling, since he has not put anything on his website yet!

 Week Four - San Francisco

(trouble with internet - will do my best here to get as much on as possible)

Thursday October 19^th, 2006

            I love waking up in the morning and from the comfort of our aft bunk, I can look up through the hatch and see what kind of day we will have.  As the day gets brighter, I start to see a glimmer of yellow and then bright blue.  Another gorgeous day in San Leandro is beginning.  We were to be leaving today.  However, as one thing lead to the next and we started on that freezer again, we are finding ourselves here yet another night.  We can only leave on high tide and we missed our high tide today.  The entrance leading to San Leandro Marina is a very shallow bay and even with the markers available for a good mile and a half if not two to lead your way, we need to leave on a high tide.  We did accomplish more again today, so not a total loss.  We know that our time is short now and there are still things we need to do to prepare for our trip offshore and things we want to do before leaving San Francisco.  As week four here begins and we had said we would spend three weeks in San Fran, "We have to go!"  Soon, right! J  We will keep you all posted.  I will miss having the email access right on the boat.  Everyone will have to wait in anticipation until we arrive in Hawaii before hearing about our trip across the sea!  We were finally able to get in touch with Tom whom we bought our freezer unit from.  He is sending us a new unit through FedEx and it should arrive Saturday.  So, yes we are here a couple more days.  What started out as a couple days has turned into almost two weeks here in San Leandro.  We will utilize these next two days to get the reaching pole ready and finish off other jobs on the list, then hopefully we can go to the aquatic park, do our last bit of tourist sight seeing and then head off into the blue.

Friday, October 20^th, 2006

            Well, we were all a little bit lazier than planned today.  We all relished in yet another day where we could have an endless supply of hot water in the marina showers.  We puttered away at jobs, including the reaching pole, but with a cold trying to grab hold of me, it seems that the two boys have been somewhat attacked as well. I took a trip with Barb to town and she asked "How is it that I always have so much to pack down to the boat?"  I was just accompanying her and somehow ended up with a flat of water, a case of pop, and a bag of groceries.  I don't know how this happens.  J We all headed over to Barb and Barry's boat for dinner.  Barb cooked up her signature dish of chicken cacciatore.  She started off the meal with French bread and a spinach salad fixed with proccuito.   Jon was in heaven with the salad alone.  There was plenty of wine and laughs with dinner as well.  This would mark our very first dinner on another sailing yacht.  I don't think we shared this with them?  We had a wonderful night of food and friendship.  I have found a new friend in Stimpy, their cat.  In fact Barb told me that the last time I was over and gave Stimpy a scratch over, he followed me out of the boat and down the slip.  I guess he did not want me to go! J  I was able to get Maxi to tell me "What do good girls get?" – "Cracker!"  but she would not 'slap me four' without Barb around.  I sat with Clem and Peaches for awhile as well.  The birds fascinate me.  A great evening we will remember.  Thank-you again Barb and Barry for everything!!

Saturday, October 21^st, 2006

            Barb drove me to FedEx Kinkos to pick up our freezer unit this morning.  We are happy to say after another few hours, with the removal of the old evaporator unit, the installation of the new evaporator unit and re-insulating the pipes etc…we now have a working freezer!   Yeah! J

Sunday, October 22^nd, 2006

            Woke up to frozen water in our water containers we placed in our freezer last night!  Yeah!  Now the test will be to see that we can keep the unit operating and just how much 'juice' she is going to require to keep going.  One last shower and some groceries bought and we are on our way today.  I still can't believe we have been here two weeks!  We came down with the thought of staying a few nights.  We have enjoyed our time and we have been able to get a lot done though.  I will miss our new friends.  I told Wade and Jon that we could only stay in a port for a few days from now on.  I miss people otherwise.  Sharon shared some beautiful roses with us before we left and her contagious laughter and smile.  Barb and Barry came out to day goodbye with a weather fax in hand for us.  We are so thankful for all they have done for us.  Maybe we will meet up with them in Fiji some day – who knows!  I watched Barb standing on the end of our slip right to the last moment of sight as we turned away from H dock.  I have enjoyed the time and will miss Barb's craziness! J  We left in great weather under a blue sky.  There were just a few feathers of cloud to help with better pictures.  We took a diversion from our course so that Wade could get a better look at some Navy ships.  I made us all tacos for lunch.  We keep checking our freezer to make sure things are getting cold.  We thought we would have a hard time filling the freezer and should fill it gradually.  Well, so much for that theory.  We have pretty much filled it!  Back in the aquatic park we have Alcatraz on our list and the cable cars.  We should have an exciting day.  We might even end the evening with an Indian dinner at a great restaurant we saw.  For now we have settled in for the night with Barb's lamb lentil soup.  The boys could not stop talking about how good the soup was and after every other bite either Jon or Wade would say, "Thank-you Barb" as if she could hear them.  Jon asked me, "Do we have any lentils?"  I had to reply with, "no."  Jon replied back, "We need to make this soup!" Thanks Barb.  Well done! 

Monday October 22^nd, 2006

            There are defining moments in our lives, some small and others large.  I guess what makes the moment defining is who you are and what you stand for is brought to question or is tested.  We headed off this morning to do the highly anticipated tour of Alcatraz.  When we arrived at the ticket booth there were picketers.  Hornblower (Alcatraz Cruises) has just received the 10 year contract with the National Park service and instead of hiring the current skilled union workers they are filling positions with unskilled youth, who will be working part time with no benefits.  The union members are protesting and are fighting for their jobs.  None of us felt that our enjoyment of experiencing a tour of Alcatraz could outweigh these workers plea to keep their jobs.  So we let them know that we had come all the way from Canada and were looking forward to going to Alcatraz but we would not be crossing their picket line.  With a round of applause we walked on to fill our day with other adventures.  Even though we knew our decision to not go to Alcatraz was not going to change their situation we just would not have felt right crossing their picket.  We went to West Marine instead.  Way more exciting!! J and bought yet more necessary items for the boat.  Our boats needs are going to break our bank!  We then bought the last of our provisions and headed back to the boat for pizza.  Not as an exciting day, but a beautiful one and we once again walked several miles. 

Tuesday October 23^rd, 2006

            We are in full swing getting the boat battened down for her next long journey.  Nerves are a bit at the surface as to what the unknown journey will be like, but we are very excited all the same.  Everything is finding a safe place on the boat; well almost everything and things are much better organized for this trip.  Our freezer is full to the top.  You wouldn't get a pad of paper in there now!! J  We know how to stock-up that is for sure.  We do hope to catch many fish as well though, but want to be prepared for the journey.  We will either look back and say, "Way too much!" or "Thank god we brought all that food!"  We will see.  We left our free anchorage in the Aquatic Park late this afternoon.  This was one of our first places along the beginning of our trip, now behind us.  The wind was up and there was a good chop.  Sonadora handled herself well enough that you would not guess the sea conditions from below decks.  Wade and I were chatting as we were coming up on a cautionary yellow marker at the edge of Sausalito when there was no rev to the engine anymore.  The boys twirled and became MacGyver's before my eyes.  Within minutes they learned the reason was because of a broken throttle cable (wear) and had the jib up for motion.  The current is strong as the waters curl around from offshore and from under the Golden Gate Bridge and into Sausalito.  The boat was moving steadily towards the land, but before any panic could even try to creep in under the skin, the guys had the throttle of the engine under control manually and we motored in to harbor and to our anchorage with no problem.  Once we chose a buoy to tie to, I was at the wheel, Jon had the throttle cable under control with a pair of pliers and engaged the throttle hand in forward or reverse, which ever was needed and Wade was at the bow with Al's gaff to grab the buoy.  Even with the throttle arm sticking into reverse we still had little problem.  A great team.  All of this done in time to see a great sunset while eating a pork roast dinner! J

Wednesday October 24^th, 2006

            I woke up this morning to question where we were.  The boat was so still, I would have sworn we were tied up to a dock.  Then I remembered we were in Sausalito, anchored and remembered that when we pulled in last night we were in 7 feet of water.  Were we on ground?? No, just a very calm morning.  No wind, not even much of a ripple on the water.  No boat traffic, just a gorgeous orange glow over San Francisco as the sun rose.  The day can be summed up with:

Walk, walk, walk, buy, buy, buy, work, work, work.

We are so needing to go!  A few more tasks tomorrow, diesel fill-up and away we go.  The average time for the crossing is 22 day.  Some have done the journey in 16 days and others more.  I hope for closer to 16, although I may find the journey to be more than anticipated.  I will be in touch when we reach Hawaii to let you all know how the journey turned out.  Send us good thoughts and love to all.

 Leg 3 - San Francisco to Hawaii

Leaving San Francisco

Sunday, October 29^th, 2006

            Finally on our way! J OK, so the guys said Alcatraz on Monday, boat jobson Tuesday and we would be off by Tuesday night.  Well, estimation of jobs to be done has not been the strong point.  The important thing is we are finally leaving land behind and heading for Hawaii.  Each time we make the statement a silly grin makes its way across our faces.  We are all excited.  I was hoping for glorious sunshine to lead our way to the open sea but unfortunately fog and cloud made its way in last night and we are back to cold weather.  How quickly the weather can change!  Yesterday the sweat was pouring off of Jon's forehead as he worked on the boat and I could hardly bear being in a t-shirt and light material pants.  Today, I have on two shirts, a fleece, a fleece jacket and my Wetskins raingear jacket.  All bundled up.  I even heard on the forecast that rain or snow as early as Wednesday.  Well, to Hawaii we must go! Before we could leave Sausalito, we needed to head back to the gas dock about our over charged bill on diesel.  All actually went quite smoothly and we were refunded $276.80.  Glad we caught that one before leaving and all went well in getting the money back.  As we head out the seas are calm and we have a steady 5-10 knots of wind.  A wonderful sail.  I am even making dinner tonight: New York steaks!  A great start to our new adventure.

Dolphins!

Monday, October 30^th, 2006

            Yesterday I was full of hope and dreams.  Today, I am trying to hold down water.  The guys woke me up around 3 this morning as we had water on the floor in the walk through.  The culprit was out rudder stuffing box leaking.  The problem was enough of a concern to discuss heading into Monterey Bay.  The guys were able to get the leak somewhat under control and were convinced the situation was worse when the engine was running as it pushed the stern under water more.  This morning there was still water on the floor, but over the day it got better.  I wish I could say the same about me.  I woke at 7 and for my watch and threw-up.  Yeah!  Here we go again.  What is it! I was in convulsions for a good part of the day.  I tried so olives and a slice of bread but eventually that too parted.  I finally went to lie down for a while.  Jon came to get me around 6 pm – dolphins!  I had read in a book on our way down the coast how the guy saw dolphins as far as the eyes could see, hundreds of them.  I thought he must be seeing things!  Well, let me tell you.  We watched the dolphins jumping through the waves towards our boat as if saying, "Wait for me, I am coming!"  What a sight!  Awesome!

Tuesday, October 31^st, 2006

Happy Birthday Jon!  And what a happy birth day!  While Wade made coffee, Jon opened presents from Tanya and I: a couple of Greek mythology books, a book about the history of smoking, his favourite cookies, jerk sauce, a scratch and win….  The day held promise and the sun came out shortly.  The water was this rich purple blue.  We were all mesmerized by it.  Jon decided he was going to go in for a swim.  He started out in his birthday suit and then decided to get his swimming shorts.  I joined him in my bathing suit.  The water was a colour so clear, so rich, so dense…Jon said that the closest colour he could think to describe it was cobalt blue.  Next he had flippers and a mask and was under the boat.  I was a little bit more nervous of the deep blue and stayed close to the swim grid.  Well, mainly on the swim grid.  A bit of a chicken I guess.  I did take Jon's mask at one point and had a look under the boat: amazing!  There was the rudder and the keel in dark black outlined by endless blue water.  We were all in awe of the day.  Here we were in the middle of the pacific, swimming!  Wade had dreamed he caught a mermaid.  He told Jon he was going to go out and catch him a fish for his birthday.  I think he was more focused on catching a mermaid or was it just coincidence that he had a bird bath and a shave before going up on deck to fish?

Wednesday, November 1^st, 2006

A day I would sooner forget.  I was sick for most of the day.  Throwing up almost every half hour.  In an attempt to try and find comfort for me, Jon made a nest of cushions on the floor in the walkthrough.  A place I soon made my home.  I vowed never to leave ad the not in my stomach left almost instantly.  I was still nauseous, but a heck of a lot more comfortable.  The wind has died down and the guys started the mortars early in the morning for a couple of hours.  This was to charge our batteries as well as take a bit of the roll out of the boat.  We started to catch a bit of a breeze, so back up went the sails only to have the wind die down again a couple hours later.  Its hard just bobbing in the swell.  The boat does such a pendulum swing.  When the winds had picked up in the night, they were coming directly from the south/west, the exact opposite of where we need them to come from/.  We were into a head sea all day with rain.

Thursday, November 2^nd, 2006

Spirits were low.  Wind still from southwest.  Still trying to figure out what to do.  The guys have read and re-read all info. We have on the weather and the route we should be taking.  According to the sailing gurus and the books we are in the right place at the right time, so where is the *#!* wind?!  I guess we need to keep going south.  To break up the doldrums a bit, the guys went swimming.  They both are really tired and the swim was refreshing.  Later a few dolphins showed up, but even they didn't stay interested for more than half a minute and left.

The water is so blue!

The boys in for a swim!

Friday, November 3^rd, 2006

Another day of bobbing around!  I made dinner.  I was tired of being sick and decided angrily that if I threw-up six times, I was still making dinner!  I only ended up throwing up twice! J Too bad I didn't have much of an appetite!  We had a little pow-wow later at night and decided we would give it the night.   We just could not make rhyme nor reason of this weather.  The guys tried to get some sleep.  I lay in the cockpit to keep watch.  From the beautiful sunset to the full moon that came out it was difficult to decide which to watch more.  They were both so beautiful.  The night was full of stars.  All around the horizon were clouds.  To the south, big white fluffy clouds and to the north, flat gray clouds.  The clouds began to move in.  From my spot in the cockpit it looked like stacks of chimney smoke floating across the sky and the poof, gone.  Not like I watched the clouds come in and then recede, but just gone – weird.  The guys saw many boats during the night.  One across our bow and I saw was as well early in the morning that went across our stern.  Jon and I saw an air craft carrier in the early dawn.  We thought it was probably making its was to Honolulu and Pearl Harbour.  We are about 350 nautical miles off shore near Los Angeles.  All the boat traffic must be shipping from Los Angeles going North, South and West.

Sunset!

Saturday, November 4^th, 2006

We had a bit of wind in the early morning.  Wrong direction – now from the south!  Jon pulled up the main for some stability only to have it bang around.  Frustrations are high!  We just don't know what to do!  Oddly enough though, as the day continued something seemed to change in me.  I was not focusing so much on the distant land.  How many days to Hawaii?  What about heading back and going to San Diego?  These had been thoughts over the past few days.  I now began to just be on the boat.  I started to feel I was a sailor or was beginning to enjoy the sailing although no sail was up nor any wind in sight!  The thought that came to mind was like having a hot bath.  At first the water bites and stings.  How could this be enjoyable?  But then you get in and the water is warm and comfortable.  I will most likely not be here ever again, here being where we are on this Pacific Ocean.  May be by choice, but should I not enjoy it or these moments are my life?  As the sun set nature seemed to put an exclamation to this point as Jon and I lay curled up under blankets.  Again, we could not decide whether to focus on the setting sun all a glow in yellow, orange, and fuchsia or the rising full moon wrapped in pink cotton candy.  This world is amazing!

Doing chores!

The moon!  More impressive in person!

Sunday, November 5^th, 2006

Early in the morning, around 2 or 3 am Jon was able to get a signal out of our VHF.  Something about radio waves bouncing off the atmosphere…better reception at night.  The report was calling for NW winds of 10-20 knots all week.  Jon finally rested his head on the pillow with the anticipation of coming wind.  At 4 am the boys were cracking open a beer in celebration of just raising the sails in the wind!  Sadly to say that as quickly as the winds had risen they fell and the sails came down.  By mid morning we were getting a steady wind however faint.  We were reluctant to raise the sails again to jut have them bash around, especially since we just repaired our first tear in our main sail. L  We have not sailed enough to warrant these kinds of repairs!  By early afternoon we had the Genoa out with a reaching pole and the main up in a whisper of a wind.  We were on a down wind run and we were reaching 4 knots.  Oh the wind has got to increase, just a little.  This set-up is perfect if we could just have 5 to 10 more knots of wind.  And yet this morning's joy of washing my hair is lost in this evening s sorrow and despair o yet not enough wind to keep our sails up as the sun dances on the sea and beauty surrounds us.  Such a jumble of emotions all that seem effected by the winds or lack of.

Monday, November 6^th, 2006

A grey day.  Spirits are somewhat low again.  We are moving along at approx. 4 knots that seems to have more to so with the heave and sigh of the sea than the still teasing partial winds.  We are bounced around in the chop for the day as out sanity is tested over and over by the rhythmic bang of the boom and the flog of the sails.  Each time we bow or kneel to the swell the lacking wind does not keep the sails full and therefore the mast and gear react violently.  Our gear cannot keep taking this!  By 2 am Jon has made captains orders that we all need to sleep.  I, who agreed hours ago, am already sleeping!  Jon brings the boat hove to for some comfort.

Tuesday, November 7^th, 2006

I woke up to intermittent snores from forward and aft.  I had slept on the couch.  We have sails hoisted by 8:30 am and we are clipping along all day at 5 ½ - 6 knots!  Wonderful!  The ride has been nice too! J We all hope to keep this up for the remainder of the trip.  The deck was wet this morning.  We had moved into fog last night at sunset.  Jon says something to do with the convergence zone – moving from the cool north winds to the tropical breezes.  One can only hope!  I took on the 'challenge' of doing dishes on the stern deck this morning.  Bucket after bucket over the side for water and then the balancing act of getting the dishes back and forth.  Wade helped rinse the dishes in hot fresh water as I cleaned.  The guys have done this before and know the routine better than I.  I finally sat in the clock pit and had my first hot chocolate of the trip.  I decided I wanted to make biscuits and nervous about getting sea sick set Wade to work gathering the materials and measuring while I called out instructions from the cockpit.  After a second attempt and finally finding a recipe (I was trying to go by memory or what I 'thought' were the ingredients) we made OK biscuits.  So you don't use baking soda its baking powder!  And definitely not 6 tsp of baking soda! J  Yuk!  Well, the morning was enough to wear me out, so I took a nap.  A lazy life!

Doing the dishes!  Not as easy as it looks in a swell!

Wednesday, November 8^th, 2006

Last night was awful!  The mixed seas had the boat bouncing around.  No one slept very well and we were all up at different times.  Jon was up like a jack rabbit.  I doubt his head felt the pillow before he was up again and again and again.  The bilge pump in the engine bay was running non stop and thankfully Jon heard that and was able to fix the pump before it over heated and burned out.  Then there was the transmission fluid leak he saw and went to work cleaning that up.  The sails flogged continuously with each bend port and starboard the boat took!  I think I was going to go insane listening to the back and forth of the wash basin and the weights up on deck.  Aghh!  The 3 of us were up working on the sails at 3 am.  We were all plum exhausted come morning.  The winds died down of course.  Nothing consistent out here other than the constant change of wind and sea.  I went to the stern of the boat in my bathing suit early in the morning.  I filled our washing tub with water and began to wipe away some of last nights exhaustion.  Oh the water felt so nice and I was so due for a bird bath.  After my bath I went to work at cleaning dishes again.  I was in a pretty good spirit by now and when Jon came back with dishes I threw a bucket of water at him and told him to get out of his dirty pants and clean-up! J  The boat was going slow enough that he lowered the stern ladder and was able to get a good wash up.  Wade followed after.  With us three clean and the dishes clean the winds began to pick-up again as if they had lessened to allow us to do our clean-up.  I said to Jon, "See the God's are not conspiring against us.  They just wanted us to clean up!"  How I would 'throw-up' those words later.  The wind continued to build as did the seas and we found ourselves in a gale.  The spinnaker pole traveler on the mast bent and so came down our Genoa.  We had been doing a downhill run of 8 knots and were happy for the distance we were covering.  By late afternoon we were down to a double reefed main but we only seemed to be picking up speed!  I had let the seas get the best of me by this point and I was lying in my little home in the walk through.  As the boys had double reefed the main, I watched the tool boxes flying back and forth to the stretch of the bungee cords I had put up to keep them in place.  Things were sliding all over the place above me and when a long screwdriver came flying down at me I thought seasickness haven or not I have to abandon my position!  I grabbed my blanket and pillow and retreated to the aft bunk.  You can feel the motion of the sea more from this position, but nothing could hurt me from here.  We found ourselves in the gale storm and oddly enough we all found sleep?  Partly from if not completely from exhaustion.  The winds howled and I listened to our autopilot work overtime to keep us on course.  Daylight came and the winds and seas began to calm some.

Jon made bread!

Thursday November 9^th, 2006

            A gorgeous morning.  Blue sky with big white puffy clouds.  My dream of finding some small islands to stop at last night melted in the warm air.  Another day to begin anew.  Jon brought me last night's pork chop that I never ate for dinner.  I needed to eat something since yesterdays feast consisted of 10 or so nuts and half a can of coke.  Hardly nutritious and hardly enough to sustain a mouse.  Unfortunelty the day did not bring much wind and into the night we bobbed.  Wade made Jon's favourite macaroni dish for dinner.  No one slept.  By the sounds of the boom I was waiting for it to break right off!

Friday November 10^th

            Still hardly a breath of wind.  The seas are still mixed with what seems like a north swell and an east swell.  Frustrations are high once again and patience is dwindly most likely from the lack of sleep (again), the incessant pendulum swing of the boat and all the clatter that goes with it.  Jon finally started engines around 8 am so that we could have a few hours of sleep.  We all slept and woke to the engine running ad still no wind.  The skies are grey and puffy.  I made Jon a hot chocolate, Wade a coffee and an apple crisp with the last 3 apples.  That was enough to bring back the queasy feeling.  After a relax in the cockpit I mustered up enough to have a bird bath and felt somewhat better.  Since yesterday I started reading aloud from "9 Years and 7 Seas" to the boys.  This has been fun.  Jon made a homemade chicken noodle soup and we all enjoyed the comfort the soup brought.  We continued to hope for wind as no one wants to turn off engines yet.  We know we will have to.  By 4 pm we had to give up hope of wind as we had kept the engines on much longer than we should (need to conserve diesel) and turned the engine off.  However, the sea had been settling all day with no wind and the swell was not so powerful on bouncing the boat around.  By sunset the water was glass.

Soaking up the sun!

Jon made paper poppies for Rememberance day.

Saturday, November 11^th

            Our emotions are so tied to the weather!  Last night the seas and the wind were calm and we all slept well.  Before night we all enjoyed a few episodes of Faulty Towers on the TV and the boys went night fishing.  They never caught anything but saw a large squid and had several small squid squirting their black ink upwards towards the flashlight glare on the water.  I awoke around 7 am to see stars in the sky outside the companionway.  I kept looking at my watch not believing the stars or the time.  Wasn't it morning?  I crawled out into the cockpit to see an orange glow along the horizon but the sun did not dip out of the ocean until 8:20 am.  We are definitely starting to move through time zones.  The sun, large and yellow stretched up into a blue sky.  Today was going to be hot!  By early afternoon Jon had two fishing lines out and we were both basking in the sun.  Wad was still below and practicing his guitar.  Once Wade was up on deck he spent most of his time sitting on the stern ladder staring into the water.  He was lucky enough to see not one but two sharks, or so he says.  Jon and I moved quickly when he said "Shark", but we saw nothing.  We all sat on the stern ladder for awhile, waiting….nothing.  We did see sailors of the sea from time to time, but none close enough to the boat for a picture.  A perfect day.  We sailed along at about 3 knots, hardly a swell and therefore very little movement of the boat.  We were all in food spirits and ever hopeful for this to stay but all doubting due to our luck so far.  Time will tell.  Yesterday under a grey sky and swells with no wind I was ready to be whisked away by helicopter as tears welled up in my eyes.  Today with bathing suit on the scenery couldn't have been more beautiful, the ride more graceful, and the sun block told me we were on vacation!

Sunday, November 12^th, 2006

            The Gods are toying with us!  The winds started to pick up steadily after sunset and our biggest concern was when to take down the spinnaker pole.  As time creped towards midnight and the boat began to bob more often causing the sails to flog our concerns turned back to old faithful: no wind!  By 3 am we were heaving to under a million stars and by morning we awoke grumpily (lack of sleep again!) to a glass surfaced ocean and once again, still no wind! Aghh!!!  This is getting ridiculous.  Back and forth, wind, no wind…We will all surely go insane.  Yet, blue skies, hot sun and cold drinks hold our insanity at bay.  We all take turns taking a dip in the water.  After and afternoon nap Jon told me about a piece of sea grass that had floated by with a small crab on top.  As the piece of grass came by the boat the crab jumped ship with a 'suitcase' (the guys thought maybe an egg sack?) and swam for our hull.  I found this story so amazing.  A crab on a piece of sea grass 800 and some nautical miles from the mainland and 1100 or so miles from Hawaii!  The nights we have had describe the pattern better than I will here.  The night was yet another full of motion and sound.  Another somewhat sleepless night.  We all gave up at around 4 am and took down the sails.  We bobbed under bare poles until morning.

Monday, November 13^th, 2006

            I awoke to the sound of the main sheet banging on the mast.  This could only mean one thing – wind!  I got up and stuck my head out the companion way.  Wind!  And not fickle wind like we have had for days on end.  This was real wind!  I woke Jon and we rose a reefed main deciding to wait until daylight to do anymore.  At day light we put up the Genoa and by early afternoon we had full main as well.  The wind was holding and our speed was increasing from 4 to 7 knots.  Could we have found the mythical trade winds?  I was slow to rise for the day as I was again feeling a bit queasy.  While lying on the couch in the late morning I heard Jon yell, "Fish on!"  I sat up abruptly to see Jon and Wade clamoring out the companion way.  Upon reaching the cockpit their body language told me no fish or possibly a small fish.  If there was a fish regardless of the size, this would be Jon's first catch offshore on the pacific and I was going to get a picture.  When I got on deck Jon was bringing in the line he had rigged up hand over hand with ease.  We all couldn't tell fish or no fish.  But he was finding it quite easy to bring in the line.  Soon enough though we saw that he did have a fish and Wade went to go get the gaff.  Jon had the fish up to the boat before Wade had returned and worried he would lose it if he waited he pulled it up onto the stern deck knowing full well he could have lost the fish doing that as well.  But he didn't and there on the deck was this beautiful yellow, blue and purple fish.  The colours were dusting off on the deck like the colours from a butterflies wings.  There was the photo op of course and then Jon had part of the fish filleted and in the fry pan and on plates within a half an hour.  I don't think you could ever eat fresher fish.  Wade finished filleting the fish and cutting up other pieces to use as bait.  The boys hung the head over the stern of the boat in hopes to see a shark.  No such luck!  The fishing extravaganza kept everyone on a high for most of the day and besifes the winds kept up right through the night.  This made for a bit of a rocky ride at 7 knots but we wanted to get some miles behind us.  Shifts were taken to deal with any wind changes and sail needs.

Tuesday November 14^th, 2006

            We are still cruising along at 7 knots.  Still big white puffy clouds in the sky that remind me of the Simpson's clouds.  Not much more to say about the day.  I was sea sick in the morning and pretty much stayed that way all day.  I managed to crawl out into the cockpit for a couple of hours but that was about all.  I neither ate nor drank anything.  Oh, I felt awful.  We later wandered if I had a reaction to the fresh Mahi Mahi with a sensitive stomach and all, who knows.  I don't know if the boys would report much else for the day either.  Just a nice day weather wise, clipping the miles away.

Wednesday, November 15^th, 2006

            Amazing, not only how emotions change, weather changes, but my bodies' reaction to it all.  I feel good today!  In fact I felt good all day.  I even made dinner!  I was not nauseous once!  The sun broke through later in the day.  Winds have died down some, but we are still doing 4-5 knots.

Thursday, November 16^th, 2006

            I awoke to the sounds o fluttering on deck.  I thought maybe a bird had landed, wounded.  I got up, 7 am, still dark.  I could still hear fluttering, but I could not see anything.  I grabbed the flashlight and the light picked up a tail just past the diesel cans.  This was not a bird's tail though!  Excited and also thinking simultaneously this is when I fall over board.  I got to the tail and grabbed it.  A fish!  With wings!  Jon had seen flying fish for a couple of days over the waters and I even had a chance to see one for a brief moment yesterday.  I've seen pictures in books and although I knew they had wings I was shocked, elated.  Here I was holding a fish in my hands that had wings!  What a novel idea.  I put the fish in the cockpit and went back to bed to wait for the light of day so I could see it better.  I felt like a kid waiting for Christmas.  Odd I know, but the feeling all the same.  When Jon stirred I even said, "It's Christmas!!"  "No its not!" he replied.  "There's a gift for you in the cockpit." And I scrambled out of bed.  This our morning began.  A beautiful day!  Sun, and sky, as much as anyone would want.  We say in the cockpit and read and lathered in the sun letting it soak into our bodies as we thought of family and friends stoking fires and waiting for snow or maybe the wait was over! ( J He! He!).  I was feeling better and made dinner again.  A pork roast.  Nothing too fancy but sitting in the cockpit eating dinner was better than any patio offered at a fancy restaurant.  The boys settled in for the evening with a movie and I settled for dreams knowing we would all meet again in the cockpit for a 4 am sail change. 

Friday November 17^th, 2006

            Why is it that out in the middle of the ocean talk turns to food: our favourite foods, what we crave right at that moment, only to change our minds and top each others craving with yet another like we were building the worlds best ice cream sundae.  We talked of Hawaii of course:  What would we do when we got there, where would we go… These would be our chats as we all gathered in the cockpit relishing the ice we had in our drinks.  Then we would each move on one maybe two of us back to a book or to the bow to gaze out or to the stern to check our fishing lines.  Still no fish since our first mahi mahi!  We had another flying fish on deck again today though.  Jon filleted and we all had a taste.  My first taste of flying.  Good!  We watched many flying fish dart out of the water and fly distances to disappear again below the ocean surface.  I found myself staring upwards to the clouds more than the blue waters around us.  I had never really noticed before or never spent the time to really notice the shapes and movements of the clouds!  Fluffy and bright, long and skinny or sometimes a large ball with cotton picked off the edges.  Some were stretched out like a warm flannel blanket.  Other clouds were dark and mysterious sneaking across the sky.  As evening came we were all quiet.  I have finished another book.  We are all lethargic from the suns insistent play with us all day.  I think we will all go to bed early tonight.  All a little more sun kissed than yesterday.

Saturday, November 18^th, 2006

            Last night was incorrigible!  The boat was like kernels on the bottom of a hot, oiled pan ready to pop.  Everything in the cabin was in motion rattling and shifting.  The sails flogged and yanked at their metal connections trying to break free from the trenches of the swells and the howling winds bearing down on them.  We all bounced and shuttered in our bunks.  Anytime any one of us attempted to get up to rescue the sails (if possible) we hopped from foot to foot like we were walking on hot sand on a sunny day at the beach.  You could hardly keep your balance.  We would have grabbed on to anything and everything to not be tossed around like everything else in the cabin.  The boat was like a plane in constant turbulence.  As morning came the wind inhaled.  The sails would go into hysterics and then the wind would blow a little gust, then inhale and start the hysteria all over again.  The wind may have been attempting to calm down after its night tantrum, but the seas were still rolling with energy.  The nights are never dull!  If only we could pull the covers over our heads and fall asleep.  The day was hot.  Weird how the weather changes so much.  We woke to low cloud all about and sprinkling showers, then , as if the clouds had never been, a far stretched blue sky with a scorching sun, then clouds again, back to blue sky and sun and the day ended with clouds and sprinkling showers.  Odd.

Sunday, November 19^th, 2006

            A quieter night.  We had discussed starting more regimented watches since we were now 500 nautical miles from Hawaii but we never set anything in motion.  All of us somewhat reluctant and wanting a good night sleep.  I awoke around 2:30 am and decided to have a look out just in case.  Sure enough I spotted two ships in the distance on either side of us.  Jon had been up and had spotted one but had not seen the other.  I told him to get some sleep and I would keep a look out.  Those were to be the only two ships for the night. 

            Another scorcher of a day.  We are all getting a bit lethargic in this heat.  Naps, reading, and talk were our main events of the day.  We hove to in the afternoon and all went for a dip to cool down.  We are all anticipating our landfall.  Soon!  I am sure everyone back home is wandering when we will arrive as well! J

Monday, November 20^th, 2006

            Last night was peaceful.  No ships. No sail changes.  The wind never changed direction. Sonadora just gently rocked along her course.  The billion of stars in the sky reflected the phosphorescent sparkle of the sea.  We woke this morning to wish Wade a happy birthday, 46! J  He, well we all were expecting to be celebrating his birthday in Hawaii but a birthday at sea is memorable in its rarity.  Just 300 miles to go!  The day was full of excitement.  First Wade caught a Mahi Mahi.  A birthday gift from the sea gods.  He was beaming!  He then opened his gifts from Tanya and Jon and I.  Some treasures while at sea: cereal, a new book, a scratch and win (no such luck) L coffee, some cigarillos and a t-shirt with a Canadian symbol.  He wasn't expecting anything.  I think he was touched.  It is his birthday after all!!  Next in the day's events was I got to bring in a mahi mahi.  Of course this one had to be a fighter and teasingly to Wade's dismay the biggest fish so far.  Jon said, "Your dad would be proud!"  We have quite a stock of fish in our freezer now!  Fish and chips are on the birthday dinner menu.  With constant winds and beautiful weather we seem to be getting more of a comfortable rhythm on board.

Tuesday, November 21^st, and Wednesday November 22^nd, 2006

            Big billowing clouds moved about the skies all day.  Rain sprinkled down as the clouds released their moisture in sections all around us and sometimes above us.  Refreshing.  We all laid about, read and chatted.  Conversation still focuses on food but now we all anticipate our landfall all the more as our pacific crossing is coming to a close.  As I did my night watch under millions of stars I actually felt sad that this journey was coming to an end.  Although sea sickness was a part of many days and there were times we all wanted to jump ship, the challenge we have all accomplished wraps the good and the trying all into one fabulous experience.  We just may make landfall tomorrow!

Thursday, November 23^rd, 2006

            We woke up in a race with time and we didn't know if we could win.  We had 58 nautical miles to go and no wind!  After failed attempts to sail with only reaching two knots at best and the sails continuously flogging we turned the motor on.  With no wind the day was very hot in or out of the cabin.  We busied ourselves with clean-up.  Just after 12 noon we were able to see the first hints of land.  We had just crossed the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii!! J We made it into the small Radio Bay right at dusk.  Not a lot of space.  Just as we were deciding what to do, anchor or tie Tahiti style, the motor died.  Running all day the motor just said, "Enough!"  We let out the anchor and then got our dinghy over the side.  Jon, tied to the stern rowed the dinghy and escorted Sonadora in to her spot along the cement wall.  We took so long that the customs officers that were waiting for us left to go deal with the barge that had come in behind us.  No matter, we met some other sailors and they invited us over to the communal covered area for a Thanksgiving feast.  A really nice group of people and with the heat of the day I would most likely have gone to bed without eating anything if this offer had not come up.  There was turkey (of course), mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, raw fish, raw crab, mangoes, apple pie…  Quite a spread.  Deeelicious!  What a wonderful welcome to Hawaii! Aloha! 

 We Have Been Here Two Weeks Already!

OK Three Weeks!

Friday, November 24^th, 2006

            Well the temperature eventually cooled down last night only to begin to reheat come sunrise.  First on the agenda were much needed showers and then harbour master and customs.  All formalities went very easily and everyone continues to be very welcoming and cheerful.  We checked out the small store across the street and the Laundromat.  We do have laundry! And other chores but they can all wait!  We are in Hawaii and we sailed here!  We decided to do the 2 mile walk to town to check things out.  There are several beautiful parks along the way.  Gorgeous trees and luscious smelling flowers.  We probably looked like bobble heads to the people driving by.  We were so enthralled with everything around us.  We stopped at ken's diner and had our first meal ashore other than the Thanksgiving feast last night.  When we reached town we found out that the main drag is made up of a few 'crafty' type stores and surfing shops.  Across the road were the big surf and the surfers of course.  There was a quaint little farmers market that looks like it expands across the street on Saturdays.  We bought a few vegetables and some fruit.  Papaya was 7 for a dollar!  Everything else though, stores included are 'normal' prices with the exception of beef so far.  Beef prices seem great.   After a drink stop and an ice cream stop (even though our stomachs were going to burst – most food we've eaten in 25 days!) we started our hike back.  Our feet and the rest of us were not like the 2 mile walk back.  Next time no flip flops!  We settled back on board our boat with cold drinks.  I went and had a cold shower to bring my body temperature down – Wade followed suit.  I met James and Kurt, two more sailors here in the harbour.  We had met Cecil and Nancy and their daughter Paula last night as well as Ron, Matt and Chuck and his family.  I can see the appeal to staying here.  Everyone is so friendly. There is a 30 day maximum stay in the harbour, but Cecil and Nancy have been here 4 months now and they've registered their daughter in a local high school.  Kurt and his wife like the island so much they just bought property!  For us, we are day by day.  Tomorrow, we go snorkeling! J

Hawaiian family that we took for a ride in the dinghy and let them try out our snorkel gear.

Parade

Saturday November 25^th, 2006

            Today's plan is to go snorkeling.  By late morning we had our backpack packed with drinks, towel, bathing suits and snorkel gear and headed out.  There had been some rain this morning, but we were hopeful.  When we got to the gate to leave the harbour, we asked the guards about snorkeling places.  They felt today was not the best day with the rains.  They said the water would be murky and the currents strong with the fresh water run off.  They named a few places and we headed for the store for snacks.  By the time we reached the store we were all literally soaked!  We bought our snacks, but then headed back to the boat.  Maybe they were right, today was not the best day.  On our way back we decided maybe we would use the rainy day to do our laundry.  However, once back at the boat a bit of sun came out and we changed our minds to take the dinghy and go do a bit of exploring.  We went out of the harbour around the corner to the next harbour where the locals anchor their sailboats.  There is a sandy beach and a fresh water cenote there.  We brought our snorkel gear, but like the guards had said, visibility was poor.  We decided to row the boat up into the cenote.  When we got as far as we could, we tied to a rock.  There was a Hawaiian family there swimming.  The three boys, about 9 years old were immediately drawn to our dinghy.  "Can we try your boat?"  We had so much stuff in the boat, we said no.  We swam for a bit, but then got back to talking with this family again.  The next thing the boys and the dad were all trying out our flippers and masks.  Then Jon and Wade took them for a paddle in the boat and gave them all a chance to steer the boat with our little motor.  They had a blast.  I couldn't imagine living in Hawaii and never being in a little boat or ever using snorkel gear before.  We were pleased to offer them the opportunity.  This interaction brought us just as much pleasure.  We said out goodbyes and headed around the next bay.  We came to the bridge that was almost the two mile mark to town when we had walked yesterday.  We followed the little river under the bridge and around.  We ended up right in the middle of a park.  Gorgeous trees that I had seen yesterday and really neat bridges.  We tied off to go see what all the cars parked etc... were about in front of us.  A parade!  We watched the parade for a bit, still finding it weird to see celebrations of Christmas.  Time is losing its grip on us.  We got back in our boat and headed back.   One last stop before returning to the boat was the little beach in our harbour.  We wanted to go check-out the break water and the bay beyond.  Pretty rough water and lots of people fishing of the wall.  As we turned to return, we noticed another sailing boat coming in.  Nice long boat.  A family with two girls.  They just came in from Vanuatu.  The journey took them 12 days.  We welcomed them and tried to give them information to help them know where things were etc…  Back at our boat we cooked up some of our Mahi Mahi, and some Ahi and muscles we bought at a fish market on our way back today.  I made up a Greek salad and Jon put on some rice.  An excellent meal we enjoyed out in our cockpit.  During our dinghy exploring it had not rained again, but in the night we had quite a downpour and Jon had to put up a tarp as we had water just pouring in our companionway.  We look forward to some sun tomorrow.

Sunday, November 26^th, 2006

            We woke up to an voice over an intercom.  I looked out one of our port holes and on the other side of the pier was a cruise ship.  Huge!  We decided that we would take advantaged of their free shuttle and head in to town.  After coffees etc... we walked over to the pier.  Inside the building they had a few shops set-up for the cruisers, so we had a look.  Mainly jewelry, lei's, hats and flowers.  Interesting all the same.  We then were given shell necklaces (identifiers of the group) and got aboard one of the shuttles.  We were pointed out quite quickly as everyone else was much older.  We explained we were from the transient sailboats and all was fine.  We were shuttled off to the mall.  I kind of laughed because I thought here you are on a cruise ship, you get to be in Hilo one day and you are shuttled off to Wal-Mart!  I guess the cruisers had choice to pay and go on a volcano tour or whatever.  Anyways, we walked around and bought a few things of course.  We have no trouble spending money.  Jon and I both bought decent flip flops to be able to walk around and I bought a pair of aqua socks, which here they call tabi's.  Jon bought the cowboy hat he always wanted.  He told the cashier he was starting up a ranch and would need the hat.  He turned this into in to a conversation and we learned of some more places we needed to go visit.  Back at the harbour we met up with George and Melissa who had come in on the boat yesterday and chatted over beers at the picnic table.  A few more joined us and we all just enjoyed the evening.  We were pretty early to bed only to be woken at 2 am to a strong wind.  I had put out our throw blankets to air and saw them out our hatch blowing around.  I asked Jon to grab them through the hatch so they would not blow off the boat, but he didn't seem to understand me in his, just woke up head.  I got up and went out and grabbed them.  On my way back I also grabbed out cockpit cushions and put them lower, so that they wouldn't blow away.  On my way back through the walk through I happened to look out a port hole and noticed that our boat was going sideways.  We were dragging anchor!  We were up on deck quickly.  The rain had joined the wind and we were soaked in seconds.  Our boat dragged and the bow wedged itself along the stern of the Coastguard boat and our stern was rubbing a corner.  Jon and I were able to get some of our fenders over the back while the Coastguard helped Wade get some fenders between our bow and their boat.  What had saved our stern from going into the cement wall was our dinghy which was pinned between our sailboat stern and the wall.  With the help of a nearby sailor in his dinghy with motor, we were able to move the stern off the wall and the bow off the Coastguard boat and reposition our boat safely until morning when we would need to reset our anchors.  What an experience though.  We have been in stronger winds and everyone figures the wind was anywhere between 25 and 35 knots, but we have never experienced a situation like that.  We bent a pole on our stern ladder and chipped the fiberglass on our stern corner, but other than that we had no damage.  Even our dinghy was fine.  George and Melissa dragged anchor as well and ended up breaking another sailboats pulpit.  They were quite busy all night too! 

Monday, November 27^th, 2006

            After resetting our anchors and feeling confident with our boats position we headed off to rent a car.  We figured that for the price of $150 dollars and unlimited mileage that renting a car was worth it to see the island.  Hawaii is the biggest island of the chain and we want to have a look around at snorkeling spots, the volcanoes, the lava flow etc… First on the agenda we went to a grocery store and picked up a few things.  I saw the seaweed salads I had tried the other day when we were at the fish market.  I didn't mind the green one in a sesame marinade.  We bought some sashimi for lunch, some drinks and a few staples for the boat.  Next we headed down our main drag to go see what snorkeling sites we could find.  We settled on Richardson's Bay as the water seemed to be the friendliest looking and we saw other people snorkeling.  We are a little hesitant about the strong undertows found on this side of the island.  We had a great snorkel.  We saw quite a variety of colourful fish and the most exciting I thought were the turtles!  There were two big turtles we saw and another smaller one.  Size wise, they were about 3 feet long.  The choral was not anything too spectacular.  I think a lot of the choral has been broken.  A good start to our snorkeling adventures though!  Tomorrow we are going to head off to some tide pools someone today told us to go to.  When we went back to the harbour, we got together with everyone and had hamburgers and hotdogs.  We have such a friendly group here.  Once again I think that I will find it hard to say goodbye.  I read somewhere that meeting people was a big highlight of sailing.  I would agree!

Cowboy Jon! :)

Jon showing me a sea cucumber.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

            We started off the day with some over due tidying and chores.  We needed to get out our generator and make sure that our batteries could be charged with the unit.  Success!  We also had just general clean-up in the boat.  I pounded out each cushion in the galley, did a sweep up, wiped down the counters and cupboards etc…  We still have not brought ourselves to go do laundry.  We will need to though.  We are just having too much fun doing other things.  Just before noon we helped Melissa and George bring their boat in along the wall.  This makes it much more convenient for their family to come and go.  They have been here four days and still have not managed to get connected with customs to clear.  They cross their fingers that today will be the day.  The girls desperately want to get to a mall! J  We then packed up and headed out for the tide pools.  The drive turned into more of an hour than 30 minutes, but a very scenic drive. Everything is so lush here!  We drove by numerous varieties of trees.  I wish I was not the driver and we could stop constantly to take pictures.  Even a video though would not do justice to the beauty around us.  We drove by a land of old lava.  We could not figure out where the lava had come from but you could see this channel of lava on both sides of the road.  We drove to the end of the road the tide pools were to be on and watch surfers.  We then found our tide pools.  Another heavenly place.  I didn't take any above water pictures.  I will need to remember to when we go back.  We will be going back.  A great place to snorkel.  We saw a great number of different fish, choral and again a turtle.  There is a sign that says to be aware that the fish and eels may become aggressive.  The fish never did anything aggressive and we never saw and eels.  Jon tried to catch a ride on the turtle, but the turtle moved too fast.  He did touch the turtle though.  We did two separate snorkels just to be able to take a break.  The day was very warm and I was surprised I did not get sunburned since I forgot to bring sun block.  Maybe our tan basis saved us.  We drove back under a gorgeous sunset and discussed our next visit back to go to the hot pools and to the lava flow.  An awesome land!

Donuts! Yum!

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

            Time feels like it is picking up pace.  Sometimes you wish time could just pause.  There is so much we want to do and we are feeling that there is not enough time and also we do not want to run around constantly.  We were hoping to make an early start this morning, but it still took us until 10:30 am before we pulled out of the parking lot.  We did a few quick errands first.  The market was in full swing downtown, so I had to take a 'quick' detour to check out the booths.  I picked up some more papaya and bananas.  We then headed out on the highway north.  The land is so lush and green I found it hard to drive.  I wanted to be looking everywhere.  We were trying to find the world botanical gardens and Akaka Falls.  We ended up on a side street to a park.  Since we were there we figured we might as well stop.  I would say the park was more like a rest stop, but nice all the same.  We found several passion fruit trees and picked a bag full.  We also saw bananas, but to far to get.  There were bread fruit and avocados in the creek, but we couldn't find the trees they had come from.  We continued on the side road for a little detour.  The road was narrow and the scenery was like driving through a jungle.  Gorgeous.  There used to be several sugar cane farms in the area, but they have been shutting down and the property is now all for sale.  We finally made it to the world botanical gardens and Akaka falls.  The cost was $13 each and we decided not to go (Reading about the place later, we will most likely attempt to go).  We continued north enjoying the scenery.  We made it up as far as Waipio Valley. We went to the lookout but did not go down to the black sand beach.  The road down was steep and narrow and only 4 x 4 are allowed.  You can walk down, but the time was already 4 pm, so we decided to head home.  We stopped at Tex drive-in to have one of their famous malasadas, which is a sugared potuguese fried doughnut without the hole.  I was surprised to like the pepper jelly filling.  Not a flavour I would have ever associated with a doughnut, but it works!  We took the scenic route detour on the way back and wished we had done so on our way north.  We were losing our light and the detour would be spectacular in the day.  We got out and did a little walking though and saw a lot in the fading light.  We hopefully will go back.  We finished off our evening with pizza.  Great pizza! Instead of pizza sauce our pizza had ranch dressing.  Really good!  A little walk after dinner and we ended up buying some movies from a rental store and headed back to the boat to watch a movie.  A very full and enjoyable day!

Thursday, November 30^th, 2006

I have been dreading having to do laundry.  We have accumulated a good load.  I was able to get everything sorted on the boat and into bags then the trip began: first into the dinghy, and then up the cement wall, then to the car.  I will tell you this; although I continued to avoid doing laundry all week, if at all possible do not do laundry in the late morning in Hawaii.  I was cook'n!  While our four loads were sloshing away, I was able to get on the internet for the first time.  I was disappointed to learn that if you are not on your hotmail account in a 30 day period they delete all of your messages.  Everything gone!  I just may need to switch to a new server.  Someone said yahoo accounts are good for six months.  I was able to send out a generic email to everyone to let them know we are good and having fun.  I was also able to update the website, but not with all the pictures.  While I worked on laundry and internet stuff, Jon was back at the boat working on our rudder shaft.  Small drip.  No worries.  Just maintenance, but time consuming all the same.  Wade and I went and did a few more errands before heading back to the boat.  By mid afternoon, I was done.  Jon and I jumped in the car and went for a snorkel at a nearby beach.  There was fresh water mixing with the ocean from underground and fresh water cenotes.  Believe it or not a bit cold.  Not like Canadian waters, but cold.  We swam around.  Not a lot of fish or choral to see, but turtles!  Everywhere!  A little freaky at times because they would be all around you, but awesome too! J  I really enjoyed the up close look at the turtles.  I would definitely go back!

Caught in the act! Oops!

Don't get too close!  They look cute, but they bite!

Friday, December 1^st, 2006

Jon and I headed out early for a boo around again.  Wade has hurt his foot while helping fellow yahties tie their boat up to the wall.  He decided to stay at the boat for some R and R and to rest up for our volcano tour where we would be doing a lot of walking.  First on the list, we went back along the scenic route we had done the other day.  This time was in the daylight, so we were able to stop and see the lava tube with a river running though it.  Pretty neat.  We then went on to Akaka Falls.  A short walk around to see two falls.  We wish we could have walked down to them but there was only a very high lookout.  We then went downtown Hilo and went back to the Army surplus store and the Farmers market. Hawaii information center about how the islands were formed etc.. We had a sushi snack and headed down highway 11 to the Rainforest zoo. 

Saturday, December 2^nd, 2006

Today ended up being an errand day.  We went to the Farmers Market.  I had some internet time.  We watched a movie on the boat.  Not too exciting.

Lava Tree holes!

Steam Vents

Pele - Volcano Godess

Lava

Volcano Crater

Inside a lava tube

Lava formations

Sunday, December 3^rd, 2006

We were up early this morning to go check out the Volcano National Park.  First off was a quick stop off at McD's for a coffee that turned into breakie.  Can't resist.  Have not been in a McD's for over a month.  As we drove up highway 11 to the park we stopped off at Dan Deluz Woods to see some handmade hardwood crafts.  Beautiful work.  Expensive.  I really enjoyed seeing the display of the different woods and what the different looks were of a finished product.  Next we stopped off at Akatsuka Orchid Gardens to see one of the largest collections of orchids in Hawaii.  The different designs, colours and sizes were beautiful.  I wish we could have seen them a bit more in their natural surroundings as opposed to the gardening plastic tubs ready for sale.  The rain was still not letting up so we decided to head on to the Volcano winery before going in the park.  We had the opportunity to try 6 different wines from a full body to a dessert wine.  I thought I was going to like the macadamia nut dessert wine, but I ended up liking the guava wine the best.  They use the fruit the skin and the nut to produce this wine with a nutty taste.  Delicious.  We ended up buying one of these bottles and also the Volcano red wine which was a great red wine.  Just down the road were the lava trees where the lava came through the land and where a tree used to be there now is only a cavern or tube.  The lava just melted the tree away basically.  Jon was telling me about a volcano eruption where a town was hit so quickly that the people did not have time to flee.  Later archeologists uncovered remnants of the town and poured plaster into these caverns and ended up with these castings of a mother hovering over her child, a man running… There were just these caverns left where the lava had poured over their bodies and then hardened.  Absolutely bizarre.  Just a few minutes more up the road and we were at the park.  The park was interesting but not as exciting as I thought it would be.  We saw steam vents.  The steam was really hot!  You actually had to be careful how close you got or you would get burned.  The neatest thing, I thought was the lava tube we had the opportunity to walk through.  At first I was disappointed because lights have been installed so you can see your way and you had people in front of you and people behind you.  I was surprised for a rainy day how many people were in the park even though it is Sunday.  However, when we got to the end of the lava tube section there was a fenced door with a sign saying that the tube continues but this section has not been developed but you are welcome to explore.  Flashlights are necessary though.  We forgot our flashlights! L  There was a couple just a head of us who were heading in who had flashlights and I thought well if we just stick close to them we could go.  Well I am glad we did.  What an awesome experience.  Now this was a lava tube.  Pitch black other than the couple of flashlights.  The tube was so cylindrical.  The side and ceiling were wet and so interesting in texture. We also got to meet a couple more people along our journey.  We also went to what is called devastation trail which we thought was no more than Pachena Bay in Bamfield on a foggy day.  Glad we went to the park.  If the day had been better we probably would have been able to see the top of the largest mountain in the world.  The Thomas A. Jaggar Museum gave a lot of good information on the volcano and lava.  We left and headed back towards to Hilo and turned to head towards Puhoa to hopefully catch the end of the arts and crafts fair.  Unfortunately we missed it. L  We continued on down highway 130 that abruptly ends where the lava has flown over the road in 1992 to 2000.  There is a big sign that says local traffic only, but we can't read. Lava flowed over road.  What an amazing experience to be driving over the lava where basically a dirt road has been created and then you come to sections of the highway that was untouched.  Whenever a car would come, which was only two times, Jon would say, "OK, stop taking pictures you two and look like we belong here."  Wade and I were like to Japanese tourists clicking away.  We got to the end of the road or basically to the impassable section where the lava flow has taken over.  We got out and started walking.  We were quite nervous at first with the words of a local ringing in our ears, "…for example a couple went of the path and ended up in a lava tube and gone…stay on the #*!@ path!!"  Well there was no path to stay on and until we saw other people ahead of us we were not sure if we were doing such a smart thing.  We learned later that people park and head out with their flashlights and walk to the active lava flow.  We were safe but still without flashlights.  We had an hour before dark, so I figured we would walk out for a ½ hour and then have to turn back.  Wow!  I don't even know how to express what we saw and the pictures won't even touch the feeling of really being there.  I am so glad we took the advice of a fellow yahtie and went to the end of this road.  Way better than the park although we never did drive down chain of craters road to the lava flow where you can walk over the lava.  But again in the park there is a designated trail and lights.  I a can appreciate the need for a trail though because I could already see with the people who had been walking over this section outside the park at the end of highway 130 that the lava was being broken up with feet trekking over it and eventually, over time you will most likely not see the pristine features of the lava flow.  Very sad for the local property owners. Their homes just gone.  There land now lumps of lava.  In the dark we could not do any more exploring so we headed into downtown Hilo and went out for Thai dinner on Tanya.  Tanya had sent us a card and money to go out and have a fancy dinner on her.  Thank-you Tanya.  We had a fabulous dinner!  We also went out to a movie and somehow had room, well didn't really, but made room for popcorn.  The movie was just a dollar!  We say The Guardian.  The movie is about the Coast Guard and their swimmers and crew who rescue people from the sea.  I looked at Jon and said, "I don't want to go sailing any more."  The seas they showed in the movie were awful.  Huge waves, boat going down.  What a job to do! Back at the boat we were up for a couple more hours before tucking in the early hours of the next day.  A very full day.

Monday, December 4^th, 2006

Today we were to be dropping off our car and we wanted to get diesel before doing this.  I was up at 7 am and went myself.  I got back and the boys were hardly stirring at 9:30 am.  I don't blame them for the day before was long.  I would have loved to sleep in too, but I pushed myself with the idea, get the errands done, drop off the car and then have a nap.  Instead we decided to keep the car one more day.  The guys set to work and we finally got our diesel deck fills in so we don't have to bring the diesel hose into the boat when we fill up now.  Yeah!  We then headed downtown and went to the dive shop for Wade to get his spear gun tuned up and new rubber bands put on.  I went around the corner to the Farmers Market one last time for veggies and fruit.  We then headed back to the beach where we saw all of the turtles.  The water was still cold.  We talked to a lady there who said the water is coldest with a low tide because here is more fresh water than ocean water.  We were close to low tide.  Snorkeling with the turtles is so worth it though.  Since we still have the car we decided to head back downtown and went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean.  Tomorrow we head out of here!

This is where we have been anchored in Radio Bay, Hilo.  You can see one of the many cruise ships that come in, in the background.

You use your dinghy between your boat and the wall to get ashore.  The ladders are little freaky.

You can anchor but the price is the same and you do not have the ability to hook-up to water and power.

Tuesday, December 5^th, 2006

            Today we returned our rental car. L  We have enjoyed driving around the island and exploring little nooks and crannies.  Before turning in the car though we did fill up our diesel cans again and bought some more groceries.  We got back to the boat and began to get her ready for our sea journey.  I paid for our last day at the harbourmaster.  We made plans to have a burger barbeque with Melissa, George and the girls for dinner.  Just before heading over, Jon asked for the washroom key and until this moment none of us had thought, the washroom key has to be returned.  There is a $50 deposit on the key.  It was now 6 pm and the office was closed.  Guess we are not leaving today either.  Oh boy.  We always seem to take a few days past when we say we are leaving.  We enjoyed our barbeque and made plans with Melissa, George and some others to do a barbeque again tomorrow.  We chatted over our Hawaii chart about anchorages etc... and will try and meet up with George and Melissa in Maui for Christmas.  This will be nice.  Before the evening was over the two girls showed us their two parrots (parakeets) they just bought.  One bird is yellow with a lime green belly.  I have never seen such colours on a bird before.  Really pretty.  The other bird has a turquoise tale with green.  Really pretty as well.  We will meet up with George and Melissa again tomorrow and hopefully show them our boat.

Look Trisha - Purple bread!  The bread is made with taro root.  Cool Eh!

Wednesday, December 6^th, 2006

            All energies were put into getting the boat ready for our journey around the island tonight.  Everything on deck was put away.  All things down below put in their place.  Counters wiped off, dishes done….I then got to work on making pizza for the potluck tonight.  Jon and Wade were figuring out how to splice a rope.  Just before 7 pm I was about to take out the second pizza (much slower cooking in our oven that maybe reaches 350-275 degrees) and George shows up to say that the weather report is calling for high seas and winds of 25 to 35 knots and advices us that we don't head out tonight.  The wind is not so much the factor as you want 25 knots or so for a good sail, the high seas around here can be quite high.  So, we settled in for another social evening with our yahtie friends.  I took our homemade pizza with us and enjoyed the evening.  The winds did pick up later but all seems to be well with everyone. 

Thursday, December 7^th, 2006

            Well, we were leaving Monday, then Tuesday, and then Wednesday…Will today be the day.  I guess time will tell.  We are pretty much ready to go, so we will just have to wait and see.  We tinkered around with various jobs on the boat, walked to the store, tried to get on the internet (bogged down shortly after getting on), and did dinner and a movie on the boat.  The wind is picking up more today and there is big surf.  Guess today is not the day either!  Maybe tomorrow?

Livvy learning to row!  She did a great job!

Jon and I were practicing what it would be like to be parents as well.  Don't get too excited anyone.  There are no babies on the way. :)

Friday, December 8^th, 2006

            We had some wind last night, but the waves were breaking over the wall and creating quite a surge in the harbour.  We bobbed around pretty good but no sliding into the Coastguard or other boats.  Chris, a single hander who is delivering a boat to Hong Kong dragged his anchor and scrapped along the same boat that big Buzzard hit a week ago.  I went over to see Izzy and Livvy while they were doing their school work.  Izzy read her report to me and I wrote up her review for doing an oral report for her school.  Then Livvy read a story to me and I wrote up her review. Izzy and Melissa then went shopping and Livvy and I stayed behind to do some Artist Trading Cards.  We watched part of a movie and then I had her over to our boat for hotdogs.  Jon, Livvy and I then jumped in our dinghy and rowed over to the beach to go have a look at the surf.  We found a tire swing and Livvy was spun around by Jon.  We also talked to a local fisherman and he showed us his catch.  He told us about how he catches the fish and when is a good time to go fishing.  Livvy rowed us home.  Now we are going to settle in with a curry thai dinner and most likely a movie.  We have not decided whether to head out yet or not.