East Coast and Sailing Nova Scotia - Lobster and Rappie Pie

I've taken some time the past few weeks, (amidst the mad packing before heading back to La Paz), to catch up on our photo album of our wonderful trip to the east coast (Marblehead MA) to visit our friends Jay and Jacqui, son Quint (whom we met for the first time!) and their two puppies Chili and Pepper. 

Jay, Jacqui and son Quint

Tom with Chili, Jay with Pepper

We spent a jam-packed week with them: visiting Jay's museum the Peabody Essex which is world-class...

Jay is the Chief Marketing Officer of this fabulous museum

...touring Salem, Boston, Marblehead, 

I loved the gravestones at the historic cemetery by Jay's house.

... the seaport of Rockport 

Sylvia, Tom, Jacqui and Jay on a ferry tour.

...working out with Jacqui, walking the dogs, picking up lobster pots...

Their veterinarian Dr. Jeff takes us out on his lobster boat.

...and even helping them stage their house to sell it. 

After visiting Marblehead we drove to Portsmouth NH where Tom lived for a few years as a child. We visited the first Condy home and Tom's first school. We toured the U.S.S. Albacore which is a wonderful submarine/museum. People are allowed to climb all over it and get a feel for how submariners spent their time. It was fascinating.

The old basketball hoop looks a lot shorter than it did when Tom was in 1st grade.

Touring the U.S.S. Albacore. So cool!

While in Portsmouth we were contacted by our Aussie friends Ashley and Cathie aboard the beautiful schooner Windjammer. We raced with them in Antigua last April. Turns out they were sailing in Nova Scotia and invited us to join them for a week. This was an opportunity we couldn't pass up, so we spent a full day figuring out if we could change our flights and get to Halifax within 24 hours...and we could! And we did. Twenty-four hours, a plane flight and a taxi ride later, we rolled into the world heritage town of Lunenberg where we rendezvoused with our friends. 

Reuinted with Cathie and Ashley in Lunenburg.

Lunenburg as seen from the water.

We didn't have proper sailing gear, but we figured our friends, having sailed around both Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, would have gear if we needed it. The day we arrived Nova Scotia was in the midst of a heat wave, and we didn't even need to put on a jacket for a few days. Lucky us. In our first anchorage after Lunenberg, in Mouton Bay, we even went swimming in the water.

The beautiful schooner Windjammer at anchor.

We spent a glorious 10 days visiting numerous beautiful anchorages and towns. Nova Scotians are a wonderful and friendly people, and we absolutely loved getting to know as many locals and fellow cruisers as we could.

When we were in the historic town of Shelburne, "founded" by loyalists and freed slaves during the revolutionary war, we actually ran into some friends from the SF Bay Area. Turns out one of them has a house in Maine and for the past few years Stafford, Todd and Liz have sailed Stafford's boat around Maine for a few weeks. This was the first year they went to Nova Scotia. We spent a fun day and evening hanging out with them and visiting the hospitable Yacht Club for dinner and live music.

Proud of its loyalist roots.

Bay Area sailors in Shelburne. Liz, Todd, Syl, Stafford and Tom in front. (photo by A Kerr)

They left the next morning to return to Maine, but we wanted to spend a few more nights in Nova Scotia before heading across the gulf to the states. We made plans to reconnect with them in Maine.

Cathie and Sylvia think it's starting to get chilly.

We spent the next few nights anchoring in the remote anchorage of Point Negro and then up to the fishing town of Pubnico, where our arrival caused quite a stir. After lunch at Dennis Point, where I tried the local special of Rappie Pie (recipe says "boil 2 chickens and grate 20 lbs of potatoes), we were visited by numerous locals, including an Aussie couple who had just purchased a local home, as well as the harbormaster Floyd who serenaded us that night on his "geetarrr" with his favorite songs from the 70s until we were nodding into our drinks.

Windjammer tied up to a fishing boat in Pubnico harbor.

Ashley inspects the fishing gear.

I went into a Carb Coma after trying the Acadian Special of Rappie Pie, Fish Cake, Fish Chowder and giant wheat roll.

We headed up to Yarmouth for a couple of days to sight see and prepare for our crossing to Maine.

Tom and I bicycled out to the famous "apple core" shaped Yarmouth light station. 

We had a very pleasant sail across the Gulf of Maine and arrived in Northeast Harbor around sunset. Todd, Liz and Stafford could see us from Stafford's home on Great Cranberry Island.

After we broke out of the fog we had a wonderful sail across the Gulf.

We arrive in Northeast Harbor, Maine.

For our last couple of days on Windjammer we toured the town of Northeast Harbor, hiked up to the botanical gardens, and hooked up to Stafford's guest mooring on Great Cranberry Island.

View of NE Harbor from the botanical gardens.

 Stafford and crew made dinner for us at his house, and we returned to Windjammer Ashley pulled out some very special cactus fruit liqueur that they got on St. Helena island in the middle of the Atlantic. (This is the island where Napoleon was imprisoned in exile.) 

We celebrate our farewell with Tungi (shaped to resemble the 1,000 ft high Jacob's Ladder staircase) and Cape Horn beer...very special!

The next morning we said our farewells to our gracious hosts and Stafford was kind enough to pick us up in his skiff and then drive us to the airport. What service! 


Here is the album of our trip: East Coast and Nova Scotia


Here is a link to our route: Sailing Nova Scotia

What a great trip!! Acadian and Canadian flags.

Redwoods and Lighthouses - Camping in California and Oregon

So what did we do when when Asaf, Amy, Rachel and Joseph returned from Italy and wanted their house and kitties back? Why, we moved in with their relatives, of course! 

We've known Mati and Tova since the early 1980s, when Tom, Mati and I all played on the same company soccer team. (Oh man, I wish I had a picture of us back in the day.) We've watched their sons, and now their grandkids, grow up over the years. Mati, Tova, and doggie Henry were kind enough to let us crash at their place. In return Tom would manage the repair and repainting of their front trellis. It was a big job, and Tom and Mati did hours of repair, priming and painting. 

Shortly after we returned from Mexico Tova mentioned that they were planning to go on a 10-day camping trip into Oregon. By the time we ended up at their house we had somehow managed to include ourselves in the plans. Tova had a basic itinerary and had already made a couple of reservations, but we still spent a couple of afternoons with maps of state parks, working out our itinerary and making reservations for a trip through northern California, up into Oregon, and then back again. It was slightly challenging as many of the prime campgrounds were already full, but with a little bit of searching to find some more out-of-the-way sites, and with a couple of lucky cancellations, we firmed up our plans. Mati and Tova recently adopted Henry, a 7-yr old Havanese mix, so we also had to make sure that our choices were dog-friendly. 

As soon as Henry realized we were going somewhere he jumped in the car and refused to budge.

The day finally arrived and we put down our scrapers and paintbrushes, loaded up the cars and started driving north.

The Tundra is once again ready to roll.

3 August - 200 mile day. Lunch in beautiful Healdsburg, CA. Must go back to visit sometime. Arrived Van Damme State Park before sunset. We used to come here years ago for spearfishing meets. The campground and park are just as beautiful as we remember. At the beach there were kayakers, divers, and people fishing. At Van Damme we established what would become our routine: park the cars on level ground (we slept in the cars), walk Henry, set up the camp kitchen, Happy Hour, make campfire and dinner, relax some more, snooze. It appeared that Henry didn't like to leave the car unless he was on his leash. Separation anxiety from his past life? That was OK by us, as he was the perfect little camper, never trying to run away or sniff around other campsites.

Sylvia, Tova, Henry and Tom getting comfy amongst the oaks and redwoods.

4 August - 110 mile day. Packed up, drove north, and visited Point Cabrillo Light Station. As a child I was always fascinated by lighthouses, and thought it would be cool to grow up to be a lighthouse keeper. Point Cabrillo Light Station is still an "active duty station", and houses its original Fresnel (fray-nell) lens. The grounds are large and beautiful, and contain the lighthouse, 3 restored keeper's houses, a restored blacksmith shop, and several other restored buildings that have been converted into rental cabins. Highly recommended!

Continued north to Humboldt Redwoods State Park, home of the giant redwoods, Avenue of the Giants, and the Rockefeller Forest, the world's largest remaining contiguous old-grown coast redwoods forest. This campground was much bigger than Van Damme and, like the previous night, was completely full. Although we don't love crowds, we were glad to see that so many people, including many internationals, were enjoying and learning about this spectacular natural resource. (We just wished that some of them weren't so darn noisy about it.) 

5 August - This was one of our 2-night campsites, so we spent the morning learning about the area at the excellent visitor's center, more like a museum really. We also went down to the Eel River to check it out, not much water as you can imagine during our California drought, and went for a hike. We drove along the Avenue of the Giants, and visited the Rockefeller Forest (named for John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who was active in the Save-the-Redwoods League and donated much of the money that helped purchase this old-growth redwood grove). 

We are dwarfed by a huge old-growth redwood tree.

For movie buffs, this area was transformed into the moon of Endor for Return of the Jedi. Remember Luke and Leia chasing stormtroopers and skimming over limbs and downed trees? Yep, this is the place.

6 August - 220 mile day. We drove through Eureka and Arcata, stopped for lunch in Crescent City, then headed inland toward the Oregon Border. We arrived at our next campground, Valley of the Rogue, in the early afternoon. Goodbye to the coastal overcast and hello to the HEAT. This campground is very close to the highway, but it is immaculately clean. 

Shortly after we arrived we were somewhat startled to hear a good deal of racket, huffing and puffing, from the tent next to our site. After a few seconds we realized nobody was getting beat up, it was merely our neighbors enjoying a bit of strenuous "afternoon delight". Did I mention that this campground wasn't very private? 

Henry does his best to ignore the noisy tent behind him.

Mati and Tom went off on a blackberry picking expedition and returned with a bucket of sweet berries. Yum! And that night we treated ourselves to some sauteed NY strip steaks (Tova ate vegetarian), sauced in a beurre rouge. Hardly roughing it!

7 August - 110 mile day. On to Crater Lake. This was a first for Mati, Tova and me, and we were all impressed by this natural wonder.

The blue of the lake was stunning!

After sightseeing around the lake and a pleasant tail-gate picnic, we continued on to our next campsite, the rustic Thielsen View campground located on Diamond Lake. This was the one site that didn't have showers, but even Tova declared that it was so beautiful and pleasant she would have stayed another night. 

Fishing on Diamond Lake

Mati is a keen fisherman, and actually got in a  bit of fishing on this beautiful lake. Henry was completely bored by the numerous chipmunks running through the campsite.

8 August - 175 mile day. On our way back to the coast we stopped at the Toketee Falls for a hike and a sightsee.

The falls, part of the Umpqua River, are 85 feet high.

We stop farther down the Umpqua so Mati can get in some fishing.

As we approached the Oregon coastline the temperature dropped from the mid 90s to the low 60s, quite a difference. Also, the clouds and fog closed in on us and the smell of rain was in the air. As we drove through Florence, Oregon, we stopped at the Krab Kettle fish market to check out the fish situation. The clam chowder was advertised as being excellent, so we picked up some containers for dinner, along with some smoked halibut. 

Our campground for the next couple of nights would be an RV Park, not our first choice for accommodations, but we were lucky to find a space and it turned out to be rather quaint and more private than most wide-open RV parks. Luckily we had a big tarp in the truck and Tom and Mati managed to cobble together a very serviceable shelter over the outdoor kitchen. 

Our jury-rigged shelter.

Somehow we always managed to eat well regardless of the situation.

Hot chowder, sourdough bread, smoked halibut, and Mati's home-smoked salmon (he caught it) made for a gourmet meal.

9 August - A beautiful morning with clean skies and some wispy clouds. Our neighbors came by to tell us they were very impressed by the speed and agility with which we constructed our tarp. We got a big laugh out of that. 

We drove to the Heceta Head Light Station, which is a beautifully restored lighthouse and grounds. 

Tova was delighted with all the flowers that bloomed along the pathway. She has been a student of Ikebana for over 30 years, and holds the highest rank of Shukan. She has been teaching this art for years and really knows her plants. Turns out that many of the flowers and plants she uses come from Oregon, and now she could enjoy them blooming and growing all over the hillsides. It certainly expanded our enjoyment to have her ID-ing the variety of plants around us.

The Montbresia were in full bloom.

After the lighthouse we drove into Florence for the Farmer's Market and to grab some lunch. We bought some delicious-looking fruit and veg for dinner later that night, and then enjoyed a patio lunch. Tova and I indulged in the restaurant's specialty, fruit Margaritas. Yum!!

Strawberry

Blackberry

More flowers in front of this stunning art-deco drawbridge over the Siuslaw River.

10 August - 245 mile day. We drove along the coastline through Coos Bay and into Bandon, OR, which was recommended to us by some friends who, years ago, had sailed into the harbor for repairs. What a great harbor! People were setting crab traps off the docks, and some fishermen had just come in with a load of tuna. There are also numerous statues and educational plaques, and there was even an art contest on display.

Mermaids were a contest theme

Beautiful wooden seahorse

As it approached lunch time, the smells issuing from the various dockside restaurants became irresistible. We settled on Tony's Crab Shack and indulged in some extremely fresh oysters, crab and fish.

These beautiful oysters had just arrived from Coos Bay. Delicious!

Our last stop in Oregon was at Gold Beach, where the river mouth was filled with skiffs fishing for salmon. Mati was beside himself seeing all the fish activity. We stopped at the local fish-cleaning station to admire the day's catch. It was very impressive.

A couple of successful locals breaking down their salmon.

We crossed the border and pulled into Patrick Point State Park. Our campsite felt buried in redwoods and ferns, with the highlight being that it was overrun by banana slugs dining on the foliage. Naturally, being a graduate of UCSC, I was absolutely thrilled to be surrounded by the mascot of my alma mater.

Go slugs!!

Although the campsite was somewhat gloomy in the afternoon, it turned out we had a very clear sky that night, and while the fire crackled we enjoyed watching the stars pop out overhead. It occurred to us that this might be our first clear night.

11 August - 160 mile day. We were originally scheduled to return home today, but the consensus was that we should add one more night of camping if we could find a spot. Damn, Van Damme was full! But just north of Fort Bragg we pulled into McKerricher State Park and, as luck would have it, they had just received a cancellation for their group site. Being a group site it was not very secluded, but we were happy to find a place. Also, we were close to the showers which was always a plus in our book. The park has a nice boardwalk hike and a walk to the beach that was perfect for watching our last vacation sunset. 

We arrive just in time for the sunset.

12 August - 225 mile day. Boo hoo, we had to go home. Yes, we really did because Tom and I had plane tickets for Boston leaving the next day! So we loaded up the cars for the last time and enjoyed our final, leisurely day of road trip. We arrived back in the Bay Area much more educated about redwoods, bridges, plants, lighthouses and some wonderful state parks. Henry had a good time but he was very happy to be home. A thorough grooming session would be in his future.



Album: Camping with Mati, Tova and Henry.

Our route

Coming soon: Visit to the east coast and an unscheduled trip to Nova Scotia.

Tom eventually finished the work on the front of the house. Looks great Tom!

Road Trip - Return From La Paz/Baja Mexico to SF, CA

This is a quick log of our road trip home from Mexico this summer; overall, a fun trip.

I Can't Make It On Time: June 22, 2015 - The day that we finally left Marina Palmira in La Paz and started our drive north to the SF Bay Area. It was sweltering hot and, after hugs goodbye at the marina, Tom's quick dip in the swimming pool, and a stop at Marina La Paz to pick up a package to deliver up to the boatyard in Puerto Escondido, we finally got out of town at 2:00 p.m. 

Due to our late departure we arrived in Puerto Escondido way after the boatyard closed, but some nice folks there told us where the manager lived and even escorted us to his home. 

Elvin and Connie have a nice open-air residence right on the beach near Puerto Escondido. 

Mail is unreliable in Mexico, so cruisers traveling the Baja often courier letters and packages to others.

They invited us to stay for some refreshment but we had to make it up to Bahia Concepcion that night, so we got back into the car and headed north.

Of course we had to stop in Loreto for a gigantic burrito from Asadero Super Burro

We're Havin' A Heat Wave: Concepcion was blazing hot, even at 9:00 p.m. when we arrived, and there was no breeze at Casa de los Suenos. Alas, there was no water either. The cistern was empty. Ack!!! My dreams of a cool shower were crushed. 

The beautiful new outdoor shower at Casa de los Suenos...but NO WATER!

Tom had a half gallon of water, now hot after spending the day in the back of the truck, and I actually managed to wash my hair and take a shower with it. I'm not complaining because I felt great after my mini-shower. We spent the night in a comfortable bed with three fans on us, but it was still so hot we had to continually flip from side to side about every 45 minutes so the fans could cool off our sweaty undersides. 

The next day we took  pictures of Hurricane Blanca damage for the McGuires, and then headed north.

We stop for a side-of-the-road picnic (next to a cell phone base station). For some reason this amused numerous truckers who honked and waved as they drove by. 

After the heat of eastern Baja it was a relief to reach the cool, west coast. 

Friendly T-Rex by our motel in El Rosario.

We spent a very comfortable night in El Rosario and hit the road the next a.m. bound for Ensenada, where we planned to spend a few days visiting friends.

Our first night in Ensenada we rendezvoused with Cinnabar's old project manager Mario, wife Sandra and new baby Tommy. Mario worked at Baja Naval when Cinnabar was painted there in 2013, but he has his own marine business now (http://www.nizamarine.com/).

Red Red Wine: The next day we picked up our La Paz neighbors Manny and Lola who were boat-sitting in Ensenada, and drove out to the beautiful wine country of Valle de Guadalupe. We loved Xecue winery (sounds like "shake-way"), and Tom found the owner Jose Luis to be fascinating. Jose Luis poured our wine and gave us a grand tour of his wine-making and bottling operations. The wine was good, the grounds were beautiful, and even Tom admitted that wine tasting there wasn't so bad.

Manny, Lola and Tom at the beautiful Xecue winery

We next visited our old favorite Tres Mujeres and this time got to meet one of the owners. For our third winery we went to Bodegas Cieli Winery and Brewery because they also brew beer. The owner and his helpers were in the midst of building chairs and tables for their upcoming events, but he happily took a break to be our host and pour some wine and beer. 

Finally! Tom gets to taste what HE likes.

He even grilled up some samples of food he plans to serve/sell at upcoming events. We finished the day off by stopping at a couple of seaside bars/restaurants on our way back to Ensenada. All it all it was a great day and we loved spending time with our friends.

After leaving Ensenada we crossed the border at Tecate and approached San Diego, hoping to stay at our favorite Sweetwater Campground. But it was Friday. (Duh!) And it turns out Comic-Con was in San Diego that weekend. So nope, no room at the campground. I quickly called the retro Dolphin Motel near Shelter Island in San Diego, and luckily they had just had a cancellation so we got the last room. Whew! We had a pleasant night and day of shopping in SD before we continued north. 

We love San Diego. Check out the cool Palapa scooter.

He Drives Me Crazy: We got to Seal Beach after dark with plans to stay aboard Kitty and Joe's boat Ciao Bella. Unfortunately Ciao Bella had been moved due to some dock work, and Joe didn't know exactly where she was, so Tom and I started walking the docks looking for her. We decided to split up, each taking every other dock to expedite the search. At one point Tom exclaimed upon noticing an Olson 30, a boat he has always admired. Frankly I didn't give a rat's patootie because it was late and I was tired. Well, we couldn't find the boat, so we drove over to the other side of the marina and searched there. No joy. We searched for a couple of hours, it was after midnight, and I was exhausted. We decided to look at the original docks one more time, this time walking together, before finding a motel. I know Tom was convinced that I had somehow missed the boat. When we got to the dock with the Olson 30 Tom pointed it out to me. And guess what else I saw? Yep, Ciao Bella! My dear Tom was so excited about seeing that darn Olson 30 he had completely overlooked the boat that was supposed to be our floating motel. GRRRRR!! 

Our old pal the pirate chicken supervises the cleaning.

The next day we gave Ciao Bella a good washing. The poor girl was filthy from all the dock work that was going on. 

I'll Be There For You: After the boat cleaning and a few errands, we drove north to spend the night with our friend Dayna in Salinas. We got a surprise when we arrived, Dayna has a new roommate! Her boyfriend Jack's granddaughter had moved in while attending college in Monterey. We hadn't seen granddaughter Kirsten in ages and it was great to see her again. 

What's New Pussycat?: After visiting Dayna we went to San Carlos where we would be house-sitting for the next three and a half weeks. Our friends were taking a family trip to Italy and we were scheduled to feed their kitties, water their plants, and enjoy their lovely home. Which we did! We got our tutorial, then showed up very early the next morning to give them a ride to the airport and begin our duties.

Leo (top) and Hazel, our buddies for a few weeks.

INFO: 
- 1,425 miles
- 8 nights duration
- Beds:

• Casa de Los Suenos (thanks Mike and Stephanie!)
• Baja Cactus Motel in El Rosario ($500 pesos/$32 US for a huge, clean room. NICE!)
• Hotel Cortez in Ensenada ($2213 pesos for TWO nights/$140 US)
• Dolphin Motel in San Diego ($80, we're not in Mexico anymore.)
• Sailboat Ciao Bella in Seal Beach (thanks Joe and Kitty!)
• Dayna's house in Salinas (Thanks Dayna!)
• Sailboat Eyrie in SF (Thanks Synthia!)

Then most of July:

• Hacienda de los Matatyaou (Thanks Amy, Asaf, Rachel and Joseph!)

- Stuff hauled back up: Mystery package to be taken to Puerto Escondido - Done! Suitcase of kite-boarding gear and other stuff to be delivered to Los Altos for Rob and Nancy on Shindig - Done! 


Photo Album: La Paz to SF


Or if that link doesn't work, try this one: Picasa Album

Coming soon...Road Trip to Oregon. Stay tuned!