BAJA--NO BETTER SUNSETS!

Grey Wolf lay on anchor in Bahia de los Angeles when Alice spied this spectacular sunset developing in the western sky.  This is just one of the several shots she got before the sun set.

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse~

Bill took his super-great 5D Canon outside on the night of December 20 to capture the lunar eclipse.  We had carted around his tripod for years and hadn't used it, so we took it HOME just this past year! He rose to the challenge of doing handheld shots directly over his head, as that is where the moon was at the point the eclipse began!

It took a while for our naked eyes to see the beginning of the shadow cast by Earth to appear on the surface of the Moon.  However, the camera was able to capture it as it began to blot out the brightly lit Moon.  This was about 11:45 PM Mountain time in Santa Rosalia, Baja California Sur.

By 12:20 AM, Dec. 21, the Winter Solstice had actually begun and the Moon was slipping slowly away, with only a slice showing at the top.  Bill was having more trouble capturing the image, as he had to slow down the shutter speed to increase the visibility of the image.  It is remarkable how well he did in steadying the camera since he was pointed it straight up into the night sky!

By 1 AM the eclipse was complete and the red cast of the Moon shone down on us for quite a while.  Bill tried several shots from the dock by our boat where he had taken the other ones, but he could not steady the camera enough.  So he went up to dock ramp and braced himself against the ramp handrail to get this remarkable shot of the Moon!  It would be another 1 1/2 hours for the eclipse to reverse itself- we just went to bed at that point!  What a show!

Thoughts of Christmas from the Captain~2010



Christmas fun on Grey Wolf




Alice has been playing with her early Birthday/Christmas gift from Bill:
a new lens for her camera- a fixed 50 mm which allows her to takeclose-up shots with the blurred background you see in this photo!  It will take practice, but it will be fun learning a new technique for close shots~





CHRISTMAS?
What comes to your mind when you are reminded that Christmas is almost here?

Most people think about the amount of money that they will HAVE TO spend.  There is Mom and Dad, if you are lucky enough to still have them with you, Husband or Wife, and children of all ages.  You will do what it takes to make your loved ones happy and that is wonderful that people the world over will stop to show their love to family and friends.

But for the Christian it is a reminder of that joyous occasion when Christ first came to earth to teach and to go to the cross to pay our debt.  It was a debt we could not pay ourselves.  We now have the great joy of remembering that we are saved by simply faith that Christ CAME and died and we know we are HIS through faith only.  It has always been faith!!  Those before Christ looked forward with faith that the Messiah would come, and He has.  We now look back on the fact that He has and that is the reason we are filled with so much love at Christmastime~ because He first loved us.

Take a moment and read Phil. 2:1-8.  What great love that He would leave the place of glory and come to take the form of man!  The word HUMBLE is the one word that stands out to me.  Then in John 10:1-10 Christ explains Salvation and compares Himself to thieves and robbers.  He came to save, while others come as a thief to just get what they can for themselves.

As Christmas comes upon us so rapidly let us examine our Faith.  Are we trying to be good enough?  We have failed all through the years to be good enough.  Isa.64:6 tells us that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. 

What a wonderful season we have now, being able to look back on the birth of our Lord and Saviour, knowing that He came and is still gathering His flock.  Let us all have a wonderful Christmas, but let us all take time to thank and Praise the Lord for the season we are celebrating!

Merry Christmas from Captain Bill

GREY WOLF GETS A FACELIFT!

Grey Wolf, sparkling white with the new paint job Bill did this

summer, moves across the north end of the harbor at Puerto

Penasco on her way to be pulled out for bottom painting...

The haul out here is primitive compared to using  a Travel Lift as

we have done before.  She will be hauled out on a rail and lifted

just far enough into the boat yard for painting- the first time they

tried, the equipment broke. After a welding job, they got her out!

Here is Grey Wolf in dry dock.  You get a good idea of the size of

the boat with the workers standing nearby.  Bill put in a new through

hole to install a piece of equipment, while two workers prepped and

painted the bottom~  all done at last!  Bill had to do some touchup

work right at the water line once back in our slip...  This paint job

should last longer in the cool waters of the Pacific Northwest, where

we are headed next year!