Cruising to Alaska

Recently I went on a cruise to Alaska with some of my family. We headed up the coast from San Francisco and ran into 20 foot seas and 60 knot winds. I was happy that we weren't on our 40 foot boat and was quite surprised that the conditions were bad enough to make an 850 foot ship very uncomfortable, I never thought I would need sea sickness pills on a cruise ship.

We got lucky and arrived in Ketchikan on one of those rare days they actually get to see the sun.

The mountains above Juneau

Train ride from Skagway

Dawes Glacier

 

Victoria, Canada

Eventually we'll be heading back down to Mexico and get started working on the boat again. Lots of work left to do before it returns to the water where it belongs. We've made some major changes, I'll post photos at some point.

Our Trip Home

In October we left the boat in Mexico and made the trip home to New Mexico. Spent a couple months there taking care of a list of stuff left undone after our last trip home. It was a thankless job, but it was necessary, and if we hadn't run short on money it would all be done now. Hopefully the next trip home will contain a bit more rest and relaxation. We did get a chance to catch up with family, some of our friends and even met some new people. I took a couple cool photos too.

The Miniature Donkeys of El Salto

Rio Grande Gorge

View of Taos Mountain from the mesa

Full Moon Over Taos Mountain

Blooming Chamisa and Yellow Cottonwoods in Pilar

Sunrise Over Tierra Blance

Pottery by Carl Witkop

Taos Mountain Balloon Rally

Our Home in Pilar

Reflections on the Rio Grande

Rio Grande

Arroyo Hondo

The Sacred Mountain

Sunset in Pilar

Christmas Lights on Taos Plaza

The Crowded Slopes of Taos Ski Valley

Heading for the Mainland

After leaving Angel de la Guarda, we headed back to Bahia de los Angeles to scrape up enough money to buy enough fuel to make it across to the main land. We actually did run out of fuel on our way from Este Ton, due to a miss calculation by the Captain, to Bahia de los Angeles, the wind died off completely and we found ourselves drifting with the current out in the middle of the channel. Later that night the wind picked up to 25-30knots and for just long enough to get us past the islands that litter the entrance to the bay, what a wild ride that was, then the wind died to a whisper, it was another 5 hours before we finally got the anchor down, so all in all it only took us 12 hours to go 14 miles. We hadn't planned on spending as much time as we did up in the B of LA area and we found that we weren't prepared for the fact that the village of B of LA doesn't have any ATM machines or gas stations that accept credit cards. The only thing that saved us was the little restaurant that allowed us to charge a little extra to our card and give us cash back, though we did have to suffer through a not so good meal for the privilege. Anyway, we made it with little help from the wind.

Ensenada el Pescador

The best tasting fish Jim's caught to date

Isla Partida

One of the 2 dorado Jim caught on the way across, at this point we were already tired of the 2 months of pretty much a seafood only diet.

One of the Shrimpers hanging out with us a Isla Tiburon

Bahia Kino

The Shrimpers of Bahia Kino

Ensenada San Pedro

Bahia San Carlos

Sights of Angel de la Guarda

Back in September we spent a couple weeks exploring the island of Angel de la Guarda, starting in Puerto Refugio on the northern end and ending up at Este Ton on the western coast. Very dry place, seemingly devoid of life unless you get off the boat and look a little closer, amazing things can live somewhere where there is so little rain fall.

Puerto Refugio on the northern end of Isla Angel de la Guarda

Puerto Refugio

Este Ton