This and That….

Many of you that have ridden in a car with me, know that I like to go fast.  So, you can imagine my consternation when I discovered that our average cruising speed would be about 4 knots (1 knot = about 1.1 mile an hour)!  With sails up, we can average about 5 knots and when we hit 6 knots, I am literally jumping for joy!!

Now, Bill on the other hand, drives like the 63 year man that he is, and is very happy at 4-5 knots.  And as he points out, going at this speed allows us to really enjoy everything around us.  He is right, of course.  Yesterday, we pulled into Bonanza Bay, took a nap, as we had left anchor at 2:00 a.m., then swam in the beautiful water, ate dinner, and had quite a show of the sunset and of the diving birds, not to mention the beautiful coastline a long the way.

Going this slow, you would think that, not having to watch for traffic signals would be a relief.  We do have to deal with a lot of other things, many unseen, that can raise the level of concern.  Wind, tide, currents, ferries, and other boats, just to name a few.  It is quite an art to plot our next course, taking all of this into consideration.  Thank goodness for GPS, plot charters, good charts, and a couple of incredible books authored by sailors who have gone before us.  I am much more laid back about all of this than Bill is so combined we are making a pretty good team.

Also, many of you may know, I am not a really late night person but I do like to stay up til about 10 watching my favorite TV shows.  Well, we have no access to those shows so at dark there isn’t much to do but play cribbage and read.  Bill continues to pretty much beat me at cribbage, as I am new to the game.  I have read about 4 books and played the same video games over and over.  So bedtime can be as early as 7-8 pm. unless we are sailing the next morning (usually rising around 2:00 a.m. so we can anchor in daylight the next day), then it can be around 6:00 p.m.

Another thing I am learning to enjoy, is not planning anything, even thougt I am, of course, the social chairman or Captain Kirk to some of you.  If the weather is threatening (wind mostly) we just stay were we are until it improves, sometimes a couple of days. This allows us to get the dinghy out and go explore were we are.

While in Bahias de los Muertos, we wandered around the area. There were plans to make this a great resort area and rename it Bahias Suenos (Bay of Dreams instead of Bay of Death).  We wandered into a resort hotel, GranSueno, that had about 10 infinity pools.  It is really beautiful if you want a very relaxing quiet vacation.  In the area were the bar is, a huge model train exhibit is on display.  Although it is in a little disrepair, it is pretty cool.  There was also a pool table, shuffle board, and pin ball machines.  We had the whole place to ourselves and enjoyed a couple of beers and a fun afternoon.

We are sailing into La Paz at 5.2 knots, which should take us several hours and gives me time to write this.  We are excited to be able to get a beer, a real shower, and wash some clothes as it has been awhile for most of that. So wish us luck as we approach the narrow channel!