Lil' Rumi Boat

We've had to make an unanticipated stop on our circuitous route to Guaymas. We are in Santa Rosalia to fill up our propane tank. Typically our tank lasts us for several months, so we didn't even think to refill it in La Paz. But of course, with five guests aboard over a period of six weeks we used a lot more propane than normal. So here we are. And while we're here, we're grabbing this opportunity to do another blog posting to update folks on our travels. In this posting you can read about: OUR VISIT WITH DICK RANDOLPH ISLA CATALINA and OTHER STOPS ALONG THE WAY OUR ROUTE NORTH NOTE: Don't forget to check out our Fotki site for better quality photos and to view additional photos. OUR VISIT WITH DICK As mentioned in our previous blog posting, we had a great time with Dan's dad, Dick Randolph. Dick sailed with us for 11 days, and Dan's cousin Bill on Barnacle buddy-boated with us the entire time. Dick seemed as comfortable on the boat as he does on la...

On February 13th we bid farewell to San Blas and the mainland of Mexico. We had mixed emotions about leaving the mainland and crossing back over to the Baja. We definitely could have spent much more time in places like San Blas, exploring more of the cultural attractions and tropical terrain (and continuing to enjoy 80-degree F days). On the other hand, we were definitely excited about returning to La Paz to meet our friends Alan and Laura, scheduled to arrive there on February 22. We had ten days to get to La Paz. It took us 8 days. Our only stop between San Blas and La Paz occurred on day 2 of our crossing. We stopped off at Isla Isabella and did a 4.5 hour hike around the island. Isabella is an incredible haven for frigates and boobies, and to a lesser extent for pelicans and other birds. We arrived at a time of year when the frigate babies were in the nests, and, for the most part, the boobies were still incubating their eggs (we did, however, see one baby booby - shown in thi...

Back from a month on the road After a month in the U.S. and Canada, and an unexpectedly long time at the marina in Santa Rosalia (10 days, due to continued problems with our alternator), we are about to continue our northward push into the Sea of Cortez. We have greatly enjoyed our stay in Santa Rosalia. This town is filled with extremely hardworking, generous, friendly folks, and we will definitely return here when we sail back down. We just posted some photos of Santa Rosalia from our pre-Hurricane-Jimena stay. You can click here or click on the photo of Santa Rosalia (above) to view a slideshow of the photos. Recapping our road trip Before we discuss our autumn sailing plans we thought we'd share some tales from our drives up and back down the Baja peninsula in August and September. Click here to view a slideshow of photos from those road trips. We are absolutely charmed by the Baja terrain and vegetation. From Santa Rosalia it's possible to drive to the US border in a...

Friday morning, in the pre-dawn hours (both a bit slap-happy from lack of sleep) we shut the door, for the last time, on our Reno apartment and hit the road to La Paz. . .Mexico, that is. On the Baja peninsula. To join our new boat, Rumiko , and our friends, Burke, Kacey and Quinn. We're writing this from Costa Mesa, CA, where we had to pick up boat engine parts. By tomorrow morning, we will have put close to 1,000 miles under our wheels, and will end up in Ocotillo, CA, where our good friend and Edie Harmon has an oasis in the desert. We'll relax there for a day before crossing the border that stands between us and our new lives! Whenever we talk with Edie she entreats us to come and visit her in Ocotillo, because "it's on the way to everywhere." Well, this time we can't argue with her logic. It's certainly on the way to where we're headed. And we're happy to go eat oranges and pomegranates in her cabana.