Home is the sailor......

I'O is pretty distinctive, coming down the channel to the Police docks after three days of great weather from Turtle Bay.  Robert was able to call me from off Ensenada and I raced down the freeway from LA to be able to meet them and perhaps have a celebration of the end of their bash up Baja.  Since they had pulled into Bahia Asuncion to escape a norther, the guys had no choice but to continue to slog north after getting fuel in Turtle Bay.  They were blessed and surprised with beautiful weahter and seas, but were still too tired to party in San Diego.  I thought sailors were up for a party, no matter what. 
I left after lunch and drove back to LA and managed to get lost somewhere outside of Irvine, thinking I could have been partying with the sailors, who were all in bed by 7 pm, alone and sober.  Ian gave me some liquor to calm my freeway nerves and disappointment.

Twenty four hours later, the guys were in Marina Del Rey at the guest dock - now tell me they arn't tired.  They had put on double shifts, thinking that traffic would be intense coming up from San Diego.  They maybe saw one large ship, but did manage to make the Navy nervous as they passed a war games area with their Spot message send out.  I ws on the phone with Robert and heard the Navy on his handheld, talking of a mystery transmission.  Uh huh, these are the terrorists sailors - you can tell by the ugly bird on the bow.  After showers, lunch at Max's Deli, and a  good night's sleep, we headed north to Placerville to take Jeff home.  And I'O moved to her slip in the Boatyard - facing the next big thing:  a haulout.  So the sailors are home, from sunsets, huge wind and waves, whales breaching, dolphins playing and the real work begins. 
 I really miss Nuevo - LA will never be home.

Goodbye Nuevo....



Heartbreakingly beautiful morning, and we are leaving.  Actually, as I post this, we are docked in Marina Del Rey - but that is a story for a later time.  We picked Jeff up at the airport, and did the last minute chores to get ready to leave.  As the dredging had not been done in the channel yet, the guys were trying to set departure at high tide in three days. Although beautiful, red sky at morning meant that today was going to be a bit rough out in the water.  So we shopped for food, climbed the mast a couple times ( notice the royal "we") and tried to cram in 20 hours of chores into ten.

Rosa brought the family down to say goodbye - we both cried and promised to call each other.  But that means I have to improve my Spanish as she doesn't speak English.  The kids are learning it in school, and Pedro speaks it well enough to do his job and be a good friend.  He said I lost my Spanish when I went north....

Fabian and a young Huichol boy - his dad was making our "elephant"....and Fabian made our last tacos.  He and Fernanda were married in May, last year, and opened this restaurant to immediate happiness of the tourists and locals around.  To them, all the cruisers in the marina below them were family - just another example of the warmth and love of the locals.  The mom and dad Huichols set up their stand near the restaurant, and they were put to work at the restaurant.  The night before we left, a group had a birthday party and Fabian and Fernanda cut cake for all of us - tourists, too.  Tourists would take cabs to find the place and end up spending more for their cab, as the tacos were about .75 each....and wonderful.  It was tough to say goodbye to them.