long summer

It is now almost December and nearing Christmas and the blogging has been non existent all summer?? Who knows why....lots has happened.  We have spent oodles of time on Puffin, mainly cruising the southern area, Gulf Islands and San Juan Islands.  We spent time at a few of our favorite spots and added a few new ones.  Fireworks from our boat on the water in Ladysmith (BC day August 1) and more fireworks at Butchard Gardens (Saturday nights in summer) from our boat in Todd Inlet, both fun trips.  We were lucky to spend time with boating friends along the way, many shared adventures.

Just thought I would prove it is still about the food!

This is in an old building at Wallace Island marine park.  Boaters from all over make and post their "sign" here.  We started with t'morrow in 1998, and added Puffin in 2004, we add the date each time we visit.

Crabbing at Sidney Spit - the old fashion way, with a forked stick and a quick hand.

Recap of summer = great! but short.

September took us on a trip to the interior to visit family in Kelowna and lots of old friends in Merritt and Kamloops.  So nice to keep up with these friendships.

Grasslands near Merritt.

October was the month to catch up around home - yard work! holey moley is that hedge big! We were smart to hire help to do the trimming.  During all of this we bought a new to us truck, finally a diesel, we are looking forward to see the difference in our travels

November, well, November is November, cold, rainy, and out first snow of the season.  Of course in that time Dani & Reid bought a new house and moved.  It's a bit closer to Mom and Papa, which I like, so far so good.

December will be busy with a quiet Christmas celebration and planning for our trip south.

Summer Life

Happy Spring everyone!  Here is an up date of our "summer life" you will see that we have been keeping busy since we got home.

Last week we had Puffin, our boat, lifted out of the water and set up on the 'hard' to do the annual maintenance.

 First step, move Puffin onto the sling.

Lift out of the water, then onto the special area in the yard for the power wash, where all paint, debris (barnacles, muscles, etc) all are collected and disposed of in an environmentally safe manner.

Now the work begins!

Deb's job is always the hardest - painting the bottom!

John gets to fiddle with the prop, and change the zincs.

See the reflection!  It took a lot of elbow grease to get that shine. Yes, another of Deb's jobs.

Please don't drop her.......ah, back into the water just fine!  Now that's done for another year. . . . . Of course in our spare time we have been busy working at home and in the garden.

So beautiful at this time of year!

Better late than never

Yes we arrived home three months to the day on April 3 to wind, rain and cold but no snow, YEA!!!  It is now the 21st of April and either I'm getting used to the weather or it is actually getting warmer.  Fruit trees are in blossom and the rhododendrons are in bloom.  I did a sail from Sidney to Victoria with my buddy Darch the other day and now Deb & I are busy just doing spring things (WORK).  I'll just do a photo summary of the beach and add some of the trip home.  We had a great time at Joshua Tree State Park (no pics), Morro Bay (no pics) and San Francisco where we stayed across the bay at Larkspur of San Quentin fame, and took the ferry across to downtown San Francisco.  The last couple of days I’ve been working on the boat, getting her ready for the season.

 Lunch at Santa Inez

Sunset at Santa Inez

and a cactus at Santa Inez

Deb playing on the beach at Cielito Lindo

                                                                   

Now we're in San Francisco and it's COLD

Alcatraz and the not so Golden Gate 

 Crabcakes at fishermans Wharf

 And breakfast on the sidewalk in Sausalito

 Yikes!!  a few days later at Castle Crags in northern California.....BRRRRRRR!

 Can somebody tell me what these guys are up to???

 And these guys really need to see a good Dentist!!!

 Full Moon at Coyote Beach in January

 Look out below, I'm comin down.

 A lesson in sharing.

 Some cool dudes.

 And of course if you're gonna party ya gotta have Blue Shoes.

I'll sort out a few pictures of the beach and post them later.

Here is our sailboat "Puffin" where we will spend  a lot of the next few months. This was taken in the Copeland Islands in Desolation Sound.

Hasta luego 

Juan

pictures???

Bummer!  We had a problem with the camera - about 300 are missing or something..... something weird happened and who knows where those great shots are??  Hiking in Joshua Tree Park, Sunsets at Morro Bay, the new baby in Santa Cruz (believe me, she is a cutie), and day 1 in San Francisco, all gone!  So sad.... no photo post this time

The happy part is we are having a great trip home - not many glitches - the little incident with the high curb and the trailer step...... and yesterday another flat tire on the trailer.  If you remember back to our trip south, we had a flat in Oregon, and this one was again in Oregon about 50 miles from the last one! go figure?

On the way....

Sunday morning at an internet cafe for breakfast, downtown Morro bay.  This is one of our favorite stops on the coast.  We went to a great little restaurant for dinner last night (yes, it's still all about the food, I see a diet in the future)
The trip has been good;  Our days in Joshua Tree National Park were fun, it is a beautiful park, now at the coast again after a long drive across California.  No pics ready for you yet, next stop for sure. Ciao.

The days are just packed!

Well. it's almost time, we are just getting the last town chores done- hair cut, more shopping and a final lunch at our favourite taco stand.  Tomorrow is packing day, then Thursday we relax a bit then Friday we start the journey north.  Our beach buddies Steve & Nan left this morning, very sad :(  for us.  The south end of the beach is also getting very bare too, everyone is heading home, the spring weather had better be good in the north.

You sometimes hear of people loosing track of time while here - I really don't understand how that can happen.  It is so important to know what day it is - for example.......

Sunday - breakfast special at Bertha's restaurant
Monday - Pizza night (yes pizza delivered to the beach)
Tuesday - Diego arrives with fresh organic vegetables
Wednesday - dinner special at Bertha's
Thursday - eat the fresh vegetables and fresh fish or prawns from Carlos
Friday - chilli rellenos dinner special at Boneys
Saturday - BBQ rib dinner special at Anna's restaurant
How can you  not know what day it is? just think about what you  might miss.  Yup, it's all about the food!

here we are at Bertha's Pollo, I didn't even mention this one on the weekly schedule, you just have to fit it in.

More beach time.

Our beach is so full these days, I think we are now in the middle beach, no longer at the end!  Lots of travellers now starting to head north, staying a day or two, here and there.......always nice to meet new people....and of course we are always meeting up with people we know from our past - what fun it is to catch up on the last twenty years or so.

Headed back to the beach now....I think it's time for "sundowners"

See ya soon!

Road trip March 2 to Caleta San Juanico

 Wake early to another magical sunrise.  Drive south on Mex 1 to a dirt road that after 17.5 kilometers of  dry river bed, a few hills (very steep) and lots of dust, (all the way in low gear four wheel drive) eventually deposited us at an awesome beach.  The beach is on the Bahia de Caleta San Juanico, in the Sea of Cortes, on the east side of the Baja Peninsula.  There were a total of eight vehicles loaded with kayaks, food and drink for the day.  Crystal clear water that you can see the bottom in depths of thirty feet. Wayne and Glenna, Steve and Nan and Deb and I kayaked to a remote beach for our lunch.  Then of course there was the long dusty 17.5 kilometers  out and back north on Mex 1. Along the way someone decided going out for dinner.  We all (16) ended up at “Bertha’s” restaurant at El Burro for Hamburgoso Tuesday.  The “Margaritas Grande” were eventually served and we all had a great time.  “Bertha’s” is no longer run by Bertha, but has been turned over to a lovely young lady (bonita mujer joven) by the name of Ceilla and her very lovely daughter  Coco.  They both spent ten years living in Rock Creek, British Columbia which is about as close to desert as you will find in BC. Needless to say their english is almost perfect but very fast and musical. Not at all the way we talk.  Such a pity.

The next four are of the road in.

 

  

 The beach, Steve and Nan with kayak.

 

We had lunch on the beach to the right.

 

Deb in a rock crevice pointing out some weird bird to me.

And she just had to stop in the middle of the ocean to build a castle!

 

Now for the dusty road out!

 

  

A ranchero on the way.

  

  Afterwards here we all are waiting.

 

And this is what we are waiting for.  Ciella doing the "margaritas"

 

About three weeks left on the beach and then we will slowly head n, n, n, oh hell, I just can't bring myself to say that word. 

Hasta luego mi amigos,

Juan