Finally!!

"Honey, do you suppose anyone still goes for a look at our blog?"







(Our last look at Sojourner)









This piece is for those folks who followed our blog when it was active. I've been feeling pretty low about my lack of participation lately.........for quite a while now actually. And we really have no excuse.



But, before we get into that, did any of you get the short Summer this year? Whew! I know we did. Good Grief! It's Christmas already!!! Where does the time go??





I thought about doing updates often actually, but then I'd get a call to go whitewater rafting, or fishing, or for a bike ride, or we'd be at a weekend party on a riverbank somewhere. There was family camping and party camping and a few nights in motels. A couple of trips to the Oregon coast, (one of them this fantastic 4th of July with neighbors on the beach). It just kept going and going and going.



Claudia has been working as a visiting nurse all this time and, once again, I'm amazed at how much she can get done in a day. And all the while, she's been creating an awesome new kitchen for us. Wait til you see it!! Pictures will follow when the job is finished.




We got to hear The Devil Makes Three in concert again, and our daughter Kristen got accepted into nursing school tool IT WAS A GREAT SUMMER!

In fact, I was regularly heard making statements like "Wow! It just doesn't get any better than this."



(Notice the pool table. This group knows how to camp out!!)



We hope you all had a great summer too! Lately now, in the mornings especially, I've noticed the thermometer in the 30's. Uggggghhhhh! Time for us to head South.

Oh! And we sold Sojourner!! Thanks to Mike and Shelly, our brokers in La Paz, a fellow from Switzerland bought himself a sweet sailor at a real good price. Our bank account took a nice little bump in September after it was all said and done. So now we have no boat to go to.

Many of you will remember that we had talked about buying Ballena, the Sea of Cortez veteran owned by our friend Dario. And we probably would have a year ago, but before we left La Paz last Spring, Claudia and I actually talked through what we felt we really had to have in our new floating home. A private, comfortable cabin, separate from ours, for the folks who want to visit went high on our list. But, sadly, Ballena would not provide that. So the search for a new and improved Sojourner began.

You'd probably think, as we did, that with the economy in the tank, there must be boats by the gazillion on the market. By distressed owners, like us just a few weeks ago, just crying and dying to sell. What fun this will be!! Woo Hoo!!

We talked with Mike and Shelly of course, and with George in San Francisco who had sold us Sojourner, and I looked through literally hundreds of boats online, only to be frustrated by the lack of decent boats for sale. We were completely taken back by the lack of possibilities in our price range. We drove 350 miles to the Bay area and spent two nights in motels to look at two boats that turned out to be a waste of time.

Then we found the boat of our dreams. In Florida.........OK, we'll just pay the shipping to the West coast. Umm, $15000 or so should do it. Long story short, we tried to make that work for almost two months until, in November, we finally learned that it was definitely NOT going to happen..(We are so lucky)

Damn! Back to square one. OK, a new search brought up 346 boats. Narrowed that down to 5. Four of them are in the Northwest, so let's just make a trip. Portland and Seattle, here we come. We ended up looking at three boats which C and I both thought were boats that we'd love to own. But only one proved worthy, a 39' Freedom. That's all I'll give you for now, as we don't want to jinx the deal which still needs a good survey and an acceptable sea trial.

There are a couple of things though, that we can tell you at this point. First, as we are not willing to sail the Pacific coast in Winter, we can be found here in Grants Pass for the entire, whole, long, cold, season. Brrrrr. And second, if you are reading this, there will be a place for you to come visit us in the Sea of Cortez in about a year.

So there it is. We will keep you in the loop if you click on this site occaisionally, as we will update as things progress.

For now, we wish you all the very best. Enjoy the Holidays, and keep your fingers crossed.

Emrick & Claudia

Abaroa Boatyard/Marina

Greetings from Mexico. Had a bit of nostalgia come over me last night. As we're planning to leave here in four or five days, it seemed a good idea to show you something of where we've called home for the last six months.





Our neighbor, the 50' wood trawler Dee Jay, captained by one Iver, a good friend who teaches us about the Sea and passes along good books too.











Look Mom no hands!!







I'm surely going to miss the views.We have been taking them for granted.

Who can pick Sojourner out from the lineup?

So, if everything goes according to plan, we haul out on Tuesday, grab a motel, and early Wednesday we'll begin the drive back up the Baja. Three days to the border, then two or three more to reach Grants Pass, and we'll see some of you at the Bur.

Some recent photos

We actually spent most of last week at anchor at the island - sort of our last hurrah before getting to the serious preparation for having Sojourner hauled out for the summer. It was a nice time. Actually, Claudia explained it well to one of our daughters - put you and your husband in your master bathroom. Close the door. Now live there for six days.





It's not really that bad of course, but even a large boat can become quite small after a couple days. On this trip, we had two days in a row of rather strong winds. It was no problem as our anchor and ground tackle are more than adequate, but we stayed on board - no dinghy or kayak trips.


Check out the photo of the anchor on the bottom. You can see the chain curled into a loop and then the anchor itself buried in the sand. This in 15' of water. Really clean!!

Moving Right Along

Thanks to Brad and Vicky aboard sv Jo Jo for this great shot of Sojourner under sail. We're actually on the return trip from Isla Espiritu Santo, but it's so fun to look at I had to give it to you first.







Yes. That means we actually untied the lines and got off the dock for a few days!!! We had a wonderful time in all kinds of weather on this trip.







Here's one anchorage called Caleta Partida where we were the first ones in on Friday and got the prime spot in front of the "fish camp". If you click on the picture, you should get a full screen version, as with all the photos on the blog. This fish camp reminds me of some of the hunting camps in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and probably elsewhere.






The anchorage is a well known "hidey hole", so on Saturday with strong winds and light rain, we found ourselves among 14 other boats.









The rocks in these pictures are actually small islands - Los Islotes. They are famous for their sea lion rookery. You may not be able to actually see them in these photos, but I assure you they're there as the tour boat and pangas will testify.











So who can tell me why these islands are covered in white?





If you could smell these pictures, the answer would come easier.








Oh and here's a shot of our little Sunday afternoon volleyball group.




See you next time.

Baja racing

Oh, here's one last shot from Carnival with friends Don and Susie from mv Neshama.





Our marina is owned and operated by the Abaroa family, as is the marina next to us. This family is involved in other activities in addition to their marinas and boatyards. Some, are only rumors, while others, like the racing, are totally for real.



The man in this photo with his son is Louis, the manager of our marina, and winning driver of the number 21 car. At least twice a week, they bring this car out of the garage (in the marina next to us) and run the engine. All I can say is wow! this is the real deal. I've always loved the sound of big horsepower revving, and we get to hear it on a regular basis. Scott, I'll try to get a photo of this rig with the body panels off - at an estimated 400K, it is impressive.




I just assumed that these cars (there are two brothers, two cars) ran in races like the Baja 1000 and that there was nothing to go and watch. But one day, I asked Louis about that and he lit up and told me about a race that was being run just outside of La Paz on the coming Sunday.

(Check out Claudia's hair)

So, we loaded the van with folks and beer and were off to the races. We drove just a couple miles out of the City and then about three more miles into the desert on sand through a ranch to the staging area you see in the photos.


Once again, the camera can only do so much, but the sight was really impressive. Thousands of people had gathered in the dusty sand. If you can imagine a bowl, maybe 3/4 of a mile across, with tents, trailers, and motorhomes lining about 1/2 of the perimeter two tiers high, I think it would be close. The cars run in the bowl on a track sort of like a motocross, then they run out into the desert for six or eight miles before returning to the bowl. That makes one lap of a five lap race. We could only see the dust once they were outside the bowl, but it was still pretty exciting.

A good time was had by all!

And Now For Your Viewing Pleasure . . Dolphin Stampede

CARNIVAL 2010

Claudia and I have always enjoyed fairs. From the Minnesota State fair to all the little County fairs we've lived near, you could count on us to be there. For me, the attraction was almost certainly the rides. And lucky for me, when C began losing interest in carnival rides, our daughter Kristen was happy to take over her place. She even got me on the roller coaster at New York, New York in Las Vegas a few years ago. Whew! That one might be my last. But I was wishing she were here in La Paz last week during Carnival.











The big attraction ride was the one in this photo. Since I couldn't get the whole thing into a decent picture, you'll just have to imagine.......... a very sturdy base (yellow) probably fifty feet tall, supporting the center of a ninety foot long boom, which had a "car" at each end with seats for four suck, uh, people. It didn't have to spin around many times to give folks quite a ride!


And just to show that the Mexicans do have a sense of humor, check out the life sized statue . I'd have gone on this with Kristen anyway.



I've been trying to come up with a one word description of Carnival, but it's not easily done. First of all, it runs for the six days before Ash Wednesday, which I believe begins the 40 days of lent. So it comes from religion, but it certainly doesn't seem religious.



It's also BIG. They close down about a mile and a half of the main drag through La Paz, which runs along the Malecon. Remember, the Malecon is the wide ornate ceramic and concrete sidewalk
that borders the water in a coastal Mexican city.
In La Paz, it's about 6 or 7 miles long, with palm trees and benches and sculptures, a wonderful place where families and young people hang out. Anyway, then they fill all this space with booths and rolling carts and walking vendors and sound stages. Hats, shoes, food of every variety, beer, blankets, Mickey Mouse ears, masks, jewelry, and the usual carnival junk and games of chance, and music.







Then there are the parades. Actually, one parade, done three times. The first day it runs from South to North. They leave the floats and stuff somewhere, and then the next evening the parade comes back South. And the next evening the whole thing moves back North. And each parade attracts a huge crowd to watch and cheer.








The mood is electric. Everyone is partying as though it's their last chance - actually, for many, it is, for forty days at least.




As the night moves along, the crowds keep growing. For us, about 10:30 is pretty late, and we still have a 20 minute walk back to the boat. It actually gets so crowded that in many places you can only move with the crowd. Too close for sure. And the headline music hasn't even begun yet!!





Which brings us to my final thought on the one word description. Try to imagine walking through this. On your right, a booth is selling pirated CD's and playing them through a sound system that would support a local band. LOUD. And it sounds pretty good - good old American rock and roll. Then, as you move along, you begin to hear the Mariachi band playing to your left on a sound stage and Peruvian pipes being broadcast from the next booth on your right. You just keep moving through this sea of sound for as long as you're there.

When one sound is dominant, it sounds pretty good. Otherwise, the word that comes to mind is cacophony. Pretty much just good old noise.

And even when we're back on Sojourner it isn't over because the main stage lights up with the headline group at 11:00. We are quite a distance away, but sound travels well over water - some sounds at least. We can here clearly the bass, boom boom boom. And if we wake up before 3:00 AM we can still hear it.

Then there are the girls of Carnival..........

Todos Santos

About midway between La Paz & Cabo San Lucas is a small town called Todos Santos. In its heyday it was the most fertile area of Baja California (southern part of the Baja) because of its abundant water supply from the Lajuna Mountains. It was home to eight sugar refineries & was covered with green palm trees and fruit trees. During the town's 100 year bonanza beautiful homes & buildings were built including an outdoor theater. However, a sudden loss of water from the mountains & a drop in sugar prices led to a collapse in the town's econony, & in 1950 it became a ghost town. The town slept for the next 30 years & the few remaining inhabitants devoted themselves to fishsing & agriculture to survive. Mysteriously, in 1981, the water returned & the land became fertile again. A two-lane highway was completed in 1984 & now the town was only an hour journey from Cabo or La Paz. In 1986 an internationally renown painter & sculptor settled in the town & started to promote the area as an artists colony. Sound interesting?? We thought so. So on my birthday we all packed into 2 cars & took off to check it out.

This pic is of the home that was originally the town's outdoor theater. The owners opened their home to us & gave us a tour explaining what was original & how they had changed the layout. Wow, it was magnificant. The pic directly above shows the area in purple that was the "screen" where they would shine the movie picture. Of course there were no plants or additional structures at that time. The pic above & to the left is part of their kitchen.

Part of the fascination of this town is the many old buildings, especially the doors, that have survived for so many years.

Here we have to goof around & just enjoy all the trouble we can get into as adults.

Lots of "galerias" from glass to copper to weaving to woodworking to jewelry to all the stuff inbetween.

The final bit of fun was traveling back home, finding a palapa along the road side where we could sit down to relax & have a cold one. We even got to see a show, Mexican style. These guys were transporting their donkey home when they had a flat tire.
Not a bad birthday. c