Sunrise~ Sunset~

Our friend Jim on Sun Hunter met up with us while we were on anchor in Bahia Concepcion, off the beach at Posada.  Bill snapped this early morning sunrise over Jim's boat and Alice caught the moonrise over Sun Hunter one early evening. We will miss the spectacular shows the sun has provided for us the past 5 1/2 years, as we have never seen the blazing colors of Mexico back in the U.S..  Nevertheless, we are on track to trek north to San Diego in April and on to Seattle by summer!  A new adventure awaits us...

THE RUNNING OF THE PIGS!

The 26th annual Pig Races were held on February 13, 2001 in the little town of Mulege, Baja California South.  Although we have been in the area many times before, we had never attended, so it was a first for us!  It was a first, and probably only, experience for these little piggies, too.

Since we were anchored out near Playa Santispac we had no transportation.  But sailors are resourceful, and a bunch of us hooked up with visiting Canadians camping on shore and rode in with them- the Baja Boys,shown above, are from four different American boats.

The races pitted three little piggies against each other.  Each was anchored to a guide wire that ran down the track.  #6 was having none of it, as you can see.  Some took off like they were pros!  Some of the spectators bet on the four races, with profits of this event going to the local Rotary Club's charitable organizations.

SUPER MAN!

Can he fix it? Yes, he can!
That's why he's my Super Man~
Computer down?  Not for long,
Toilet leak? He knows what's wrong!
Generator sat too long?
Now it's singing its old song~
Too much water in the bilge:
Can he fix it?  Yes, he will.
Vacuum broke- give it to Bill-
Takes it apart, finds what's ill!
WD40 may
Often help him save the day.
But when it comes down to it,
No matter what he uses,
The reason things get fixed here:
Is SUPER MAN, Bill, my dear!
 by Alice, Posada Anchorage

Baja California  February 2011

Fun With Friends in Santa Rosalia

We've had a great time hanging out with friends this past month.  The above shot was taken one evening as seven of us headed uptown to have World Famous Hot Dogs! Deb and Dave on Wave Sweeper, Alice (and Bill behind the camera) on Grey Wolf, Alan and Barbara on Native Son, and Jim on Sun Hunter all enjoyed the great hot dogs- 15 pesos each,  and then trekked across the street to our favorite Neveria for one or two scoops of ice cream for a mere 12-20 pesos~ (12 pesos to the U.S. dollar these days)

Grey Wolf Gets A New Door!

Our main door, at right,  had become a source of difficulty, with the high rolling track beginning to deteriorate, making the door VERY hold to slide.  Bill had taken it apart and lubricated it before, and it had begun acting up again.  When he told a boating friend about it, he suggested Bill go to a local glass store and see if they could make a replacement door! 

Not only did they make a new door, but it came with a screen and was very skillfully installed on our deck by a couple of young men!  No more heavy steel door with a little window in it:  now we feel like we are in a fish bowl, so to speak...  Actually, it is a lovely door that slides easily and gives us better protection from the cold winter winds that have been whipping around us the last two months!  All that for $250 American!  Wow!!



Oh, and speaking of WIND, here is a very windy photo of Alice beside the new decals we have applied to each side of the pilot house and even a smaller version in the center of our new door, so no one will accidentally bounce off of it, thinking it is open when it is closed.  (Actually, it will be a miracle if Alice can keep it clean enough for that to even happen! )  Some people have a hard time seeing our name written on the stern of the boat.  Now it will be easy to identify us...

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!

Our Sixth Anniversary! How Time Flies~

The entry to the Mission Inn in Riverside is laden with old ivy growth, indicative of the many years this entrance has stood welcoming guests.

August 28 marked our sixth wedding anniversary!  Bill was home for a brief break from working on Grey Wolf, so we took advantage of the opportunity to get away for a couple of days.  First we went to San Diego and then to Riverside. where we spent the night in this hotel that is one of the Historic Hotels of America, having opened over a hundred years ago.  Alice had always wanted to stay here; Bill had been here for his brother's wedding years ago.  So we lounged  and looked and ate and Alice even got in the jacuzzi!  We also walked and snooped around the immediate area surrounding the Mission Inn.  One of the impressive displays is the gallery of American presidents who have visited here.  Bill even sat in the oversized chair made especially for President Taft when he visited... Alice could have sat beside him, but she was taking the photo!

Six years!  And what a great time we have had!!