North to Escondido and back down to La Paz

12-5-15 we’ve moved bays headed north. We are on the island of Partida in the Bay Ensenada El Cardonal. We had some decent wind and small waves getting here. Before we left we stopped by a fish camp and bought two snappers. Once filleted it wasn’t much fish, but we did not care. I dragged a lure to this new Bay but did not catch anything. Patti let me take the Helm for a bit, which is good cause i started to think to myself if sailing is watching someone sail for four months, sailing is not for me. I have much to learn, but it was fun watching the wind and sailing as close to it as possible. There are little stringers on the sails called ’tell tails’ that you watch and as they flutter downward you can move closer to the wind and as they flutter up and away it means you are losing the wind. John and Bones headed back to La Paz and Pat decided to sail to this next bay with us. Once here and anchored we had some lunch and then took a skiff ride to shore. All of us were itching to do a bit of hiking. Supposedly there is a trail here. As we were eating we listened in on the VHF and heard that another sail boat a few miles north of us hooked a Marlin. This is something everyone wants to do, but at the same time no one wants to do. On a sailboat you have no way of landing a fish this big or storing it. Far too much to eat between two or three people. We listened to the chatting between the boat that caught it and the boat that they were traveling with. They think it was about 8’ and after an hour or so they got it to the stern of the boat. They said they were going to try and retrieve the lure. I’ve heard from multiple people that it is best just to cut your losses as close to the lure as possible. Of course the fish is going to be exhausted but you don’t want to chance it freaking out while you hand is in its mouth or it damaging something on the boat. Patti chimed into their conversation and mentioned that she had a couple fishermen on board who both suggested cutting the line. They said that probably what they would do. We heard later that they were able to release the fish and retrieve the lure. Once in our new bay we had some lunch and then we took the skiff to shore. We were all itching to do a hike. Supposedly there is a trail here, but you wouldn’t know it. I did see a faded out piece of flagging tied to a cactus. The terrain is very rocky with loads of pokey things. Everywhere you step is danger. I saw some lizards and some sort of herbivore scat. Looked a bit like maybe bunny? We all sort of went our separate ways. I told Pat and Patti to head on up as i was going to take some photos along the way. Pat and i both eventually made it to the top of the hill, Patti turned back early as her dog, Mariah’s heart seemed like it was about to explode. The view from the top was spectacular. I kept thinking what a great place for the Spanish or some pirate to hide a treasure chest. Sadly i did not find any gold. I also thought how bummed the Spanish must have been when their ships spotted land here for the first time and it was rocks and cactus as far as the eye can see, cause that is kinda how i feel. The hike up to the peak didn’t take long. The beginning was the most difficult. You could not take step forward without your legs being scratched on something. The way down proved a little more difficult. It was hard to judge which rocks and boulders were loose. I only had one close call when i stepped and the rock rolled out from under my foot, causing me to fall forward but luckily i was able to catch myself with nothing more than a little scrape on the palm. It was pretty much the only couple of square feet with nothing pokey sticking out. Patti thought it was one of the worst hikes, but i kinda liked it myself. We went over to Pats boat for dinner, the fish was delicious fried in a little oil with salt and pepper. The night was not comfortable at all. All night big gusts of wind would come up. Patti was pretty nervous about the anchor not holding so she’d jump up after every gust. I figured with her worrying about it, i did not need to. I never felt like we were moving. Maybe i would have felt different if it were my boat. 12-6-15 Because it was soooo windy we moved down a couple bays to Mezten~o wasn’t much calmer over here. I drug the handline with the cedar plug, but caught nothing. This bay was much smaller than the last few. There was another boat already mored here. I rode with Pat, but he did most of the work. I enjoy his company more and more every day. Because neither of them, Patti or Pat got any sleep the night before, because they were both worried about their boats in the wind. We took it easy. I read my book while Patti took a nap. Later in the afternoon Pat stopped by and we skiffed to the beach. I did not bring my hiking shoes and unfortunately forgot my camera as well. Never leave the boat without my camera. I found an old turtle shell and a pretty cool looking hermit crab, he was about the size of my fist and a long ways away from the water, i turned him around and pointed him in the right direction, but he was on a path of his own and headed back up towards the desert. I was in sandals and walked around on the coast a bit. I got within a couple of feet of a Heron sitting on a rock, would made a great photo with his body silhouetted in the sun. Found some cool shells and a piece of cactus drift wood, which is really cool as it is very light and filled with holes. I also found the jaw of some animal. After your little beach stroll we hoped back in the skiff and back to Patti’s boat, forgetting all my great treasures on the beach. All the beaches around here are the same, so i am sure i’ll find more. We had dinner, had some wine, watched the sunset then watched a movie. Pat is headed back to La Paz and we are headed north to San Francisco Island, which is some 21 miles away, and depending on our speed we may head another 8 miles north to the little town which is north of there. We have plenty of food, but are running low on fresh fruits/veggies. 12-7-15 we tried to make it to the isle of San Francisco, it was very rough going. Easily 6 foot seas, Patti loved it, i did not. She asked if i wanted to turn back and try again the next day. I tried to bear it, but after about ½ hour i changed my mind and when she offered to turn in to a northern bay i said “Hell Yes” we spent the night in the middle lobe of Ensenade Grande. Once into the bay the waves and wind died down. A few other boats followed suit. You’d see them rocking and rolling as they came here to hide out. I think this is the best anchorage we’ve been to. I am hoping to stay another night, but Patti wants to head north. We are going to wait and see what the weather says. We have a single side band radio that puts out the weather at 7:15 am every morning. I like this bay as it is peaceful and quite. Patti went for a swim right when we got here and i went for a lay down to settle my stomach. Patti took her spear and came back with dinner. I should have taken a photo but did not:( It was more like a bite sized h’or devour, but it was tasty, some sort of snapper. I decided id take my gopro and a chunk of fish i saved from two days ago and feed the fish around the rocks. I dove into the water and when i got to the rock i had lost the baggie of fish. Oh well. There was plenty of action around these rocks. Lots of colorful fish. Balloon fish, triggers, i saw a pretty good sized eel. This was the best snorkeling place as of yet. I then swam to the beach and back to the boat. The water is not the cold but gets chilly after about an hour. We broke out the BBQ, but could not get it to stay lit so we ate oven broiled Steak and zucchini, which i thought was great. 12-8-15 we decided to sail across to Ensenada De San Francisco. It was pretty rough going. I decided and glad i did to take a sea sick pill. I felt fine the whole jaunt. A little sleepy. i watched the tail end of a humpback breach, pretty much just saw the end splash. About half way across. 17 miles in total we sailed through a pod of dolphins. They were just milling around, nothing too exciting, but it is always cool to see dolphins. I tried to take a nap down in the V-berth there in the bow, but i did not fare too well. It was a long sail. 17 miles took us 5.5 hours. The dog got sick, but i held my lunch. I’ll take California’s San Francisco over Baja’s any day. The anchorage was fairly calm. We took a ride to shore and went on a nice long hike, up to the top ridge of the island. From there you could easily see the ocean on the other side of the island as the ridge fell nearly straight down to it. A great view of Kiwi 3 and the other boats around there. 12-9-15 We left San Francisco in the morning and took a pretty easy sail across to the pathetic town of San Evaristo. We were hoping for some internet and a store to do some provisioning. There are a few shacks along the shore, Like a small little fishing village, but less romantic looking. I took another pill today and it made me very tired. Patti let me drive some of the way and attempt a tack. I need some practice, but she was very patient. We are pretty low on fresh food, but we aren’t close to starving. I am making up some stew, with some canned beef i found while Patti is wandering the town. I was too tired and just did not feel like making the jaunt into “town”. I feel like i did not miss much. Patti did come back with a handful of veggies, some tomatoes, sad looking peppers and three nice cucumbers. Also two big ole fillets of grouper. She ran over to a nearby boat to get the weather, i cut the fish into fours and started prepping one for dinner. Salt/Pepper and crumbled macadamia fried, then baked. When Patti got back from her weather swap she let me know that she had already eaten fish tacos in town. That was ok, cause i had no problem taking that entire chunk of delicious fish down. I think we will head north tomorrow and try and make it to the town of ?? in a few days. 12-10-15 We are headed north to the town of Escondido, which is some 50+ miles away. yesterday we did 17 miles to Red Rocks. There was not much wind so we only sailed about 3 miles and motored the rest of the way. Motoring is actually much more comfortable than being heeled over, but then of course you are motoring and not sailing. Supposedly the winds change tomorrow and we sail with the wind. This is something i have not experienced yet. Patti keeps saying how much smoother it is. up wind is all tacking back and forth and heeled over one way or the other. Exciting when you are the one at the helm, but even that gets old to me. It was an all day motor/sail to Red Rocks. Once here we both skiffed to shore, Patti walked the dog and i snorkeled around the rocky shore. It was a bit murky but still lots of fish. This part of Mexico definitely has great, well at least very good snorkeling. After my swim i changed shorts, put on dry socks and hiked towards the Red Rocks and over by Patti and the puppy. Patti then went for a swim while i checked out the landscape. The rocks were amazing looking, the wind and weather has made some very cool designs in the rocks. I would see a pile of rocks that had fallen from up high and wonder “Did these fall a few hours ago? or a few hundred years ago” when i could not tell id hike well out of the range of any falling rocks. there are lots of cool things out here on these islands. I know lots of people come out here on their sailboats but not so many that things get destroyed. I found a full eel skeleton, a big pufferfish and part of a parrot fish that was dried and in tact. At first i look around at these islands and anchorages and think “Ehhh” I’ve seen better. I have seen better, but they are all very impressive in their own way. 12-12-15 Kept heading north, to the so called town of Escondido. We stopped for a night out in front of some big resort two miles south. We were tempted to go to shore, which was a ways away and into the resort just for the sole purpose of wifi. Happily we found that with Patti’s booster we got a good free signal from the boat. Did an eve of interwebbing. I bought a ticket home and Patti bought a ticket for Christmas to Bend, OR. Then next morning we went onto Escondido, the real reason for going there was to Provision the boat as we are running low on fresh foods and eggs. We were both very unimpressed with the town. Actually i walked and never even found a ‘town’ pretty much just a port. A small 7/11 type store that we were able to buy eggs, bananas and a few other things. Prices were not cheap. From there we left and headed south some 20+ miles and are now in Aqua-Verda. We spent the night and will stay here for the day before heading south tomorrow. 12-13-15 I wasn’t all too impressed with Aqua-Verda. We skiffed to the beach and took a long walk to the town of Aqua-Verda. The town was pretty much nothing. A few houses a church and a store that was closed cause it was Sunday. I saw maybe 5 people. At the end of “Town” there was an area with lots of palm trees, goats and pigs. Seems lots of people are growing palm trees, most are only a few years old. My theory is that they are going to sell them to the big resorts that are going in up the way. Or they are hoping some big resort is going to come into their town. They have lots of room between shanties. After our walk and Patti’s swim we decided to leave. The plan was to either go back to Red Rocks or Plow through 50+ miles back to San Francisco. We opted for the later. It was a rough ride, but i was glad we were going south so that we could keep up our speed. I started to feel a little nauseous when we tried to play scrabble. So i went and laid down for a bit. We left the Verda around noon. I started feel woozy around 4pm. I decided to get back up at 6 since Patti was now sailing in the dark. I stayed up and we chatted off and on until we got to SF. Sailing at night is pretty peaceful as long as the GPS works which it did. Took us nearly 10 hours. We were finally anchored at 9:30pm. Not the funnest day but i am glad we are this much closer to our final destination. We now have three more stops. We will leave this afternoon after a hike and maybe a snorkel back to my favorite place. Ensenada Grande. They had the best snorkeling by far. I have been bit by some kind of sand flea or ? my ankle and just below my thumb are red and terribly itchy. 12-14-15 There was no wind so we motor sailed with just the main and the motor towards Ensenada Grande, we’ve been following another boat the last couple of days. Atsa , which is maybe Native American for Eagle. Leslie and Hartly. Hardly radioed us in the afternoon to tell us that Grande was full of boats and that there was room at the next door anchorage and cocktails would be at 5:00. We pulled in about 3pm. Not as pretty here as Grande, but different. We had wine and snacks on board Atsa and heard the life stories of those two. Leslie was a doctor and Hartly was in the Special Forces and then a stay at home Dad. Both pretty interesting stories i thought. Patti said she was bored as she doesn’t like hearing other peoples lives who don’t ask about ours. I already know my life story and was into hearing theirs. Atsa is a beautiful boat much larger and roomier. Hartly did lots of communications stuff so there was radio stuff all over. He said a Cromely (sp) was headed in this evening. Cromely is a powerful wind out of the west. Something that happens after a day of no wind. Doomsday Bob gave us the story. It was named after the Pirate Cromely. He was had been on the run from the Spanish. He went into a bay and the Spanish found him with two of their boats the blocked the exit. There was no wind so the new he could not escape and they would wait till the next day to go in after him since they too had now wind to move. Because Cromely new the winds around these parts he had it all set up for when this strong wind was coming late at night. His cannons at the ready and as soon as this powerful wind started he threw up his sails and passed right between the spanish blowing the heck out of their boats. The Spanish commander was so impressed that he named that type of wind after him, or something like that? About 9pm the wind and waves picked up. Big rocking waves. We heard Atsa’s engines start up and then he came on the radio to let us know he was moving 2 miles south to a better protected anchorage. He asked if we wanted to follow. He knew that Patti’s GPS isn’t very good at night so we followed them there. Glad we did as it was a much nicer nights sleep.

Sailing on Kiwi 3

12-4-2015 Ensenada El Cardonal, i think this is the name of the island and, Caleta Partida is the name of our anchorage. we took off from wherever we were last night just after breakfast. We all met on Pats boat, he had whipped up a tasty scramble. The seas were much calmer today, the sun was shining and it was a nice pleasant sail. I rode today with Patti. She is a much better sailer than Pat. Kiwi 3 (Patti’s boat) seems much easier to sail, easier to handle than Pats big boat. Pats boat one has to take a few steps back and forth across the deck in order to winch the jib from one side to the other. Patti is able to do this from the one position of standing at the helm. It took us at least 3 hours to go 3 miles. Lots of tacking back and forth to finally get to our anchorage. We did not motor at all thought. I had my handline in the water and really expected to catch another fish, but i did not. I also left my rod and reel with Orca and they too got skunked. After anchoring we all met on Corina, which is Doomsday Bob and Brandts boat. We went there for burgers. I sat back with Bob and found that he is pretty funny. Funny in the fact that he really gets worked up about everything. Doomsday fits him perfectly. Brandt talks like Norm McDonald and is very calm and patient with Bob. I kinda think Bob can’t help that he is so negative about everything. He had mentioned the night before that he worked on old VW’s so i was asking him about stuff. I told him i had a 66 and he proceeded to tell me what a piece of shit car it was and how 1966 vans are the worst car made, the brakes are shit, the steering is shit, the engine is shit, with each shit his voice would get loader and he’d become more intense. Then Brandt would look up and give him a nod like “Calm down Bob” and Bob would then change it up and say something like, VW’s are great cars, easy to work on, run forever i am just an old man what do i know, and then the whole thing would start back up again. I found it kind of funny and entertaining. Patti, Bones, and John are not into him at all. After lunch we skiffed up to the edge of some rocks, anchored and tied our boats together. We jumped in the water and did a little snorkeling. nothing spectacular compared to other places i have snorkeled. Patti got bored quick and decided to swim back to the boat. I was ready to go soon after and Pat said he had a cramp so Pat and i skiffed back to the boat picking Patti up along the way. We relaxed a bit and then all went to the big beach. I was excited to do a bit of hiking. Not getting much exercise sitting on the boat. It is a lot of work if you are the one sailing. Patti sorta offered to let me take the helm, but i could tell she really wanted to do it herself, and that was no big deal to me. We got to the beach and i walked towards the rocks and cactus. I waned to get a photo next to one. On the way there i found loads of dried up puffer fish, would really suck to have stepped on one barefoot. I had shoes on though. I was nearly to the first cactus when i heard a whistle being blown and yelling. I looked back and saw a boat and the rest of the guys gathered around it. Park Federalies. I guess it is illegal to have a dog on the beach, and there is to be no hiking of any kind allowed. Well that wasn’t ver fun. Everyone drinks tequila like water, so we had a couple shots (though i sipped them) of tequila and headed back to our boat. We all met on Pats boat for dinner and drinks. Patti made cookies and i made Jumblia , with sausage that John brought and some chunks of meat that Pat had. Patti tried to say that she saw the Southern Cross at 4am that morning, which none of us believe since it is a southern hemisphere thing and the equator is another 3000+ miles away. We have a great view of the stars with no other lights around. Very spectacular. We were all well tired, and called it a night around 8pm.

First time sailing

12-3-15 sailed out with Pat on Ballena. We left La Paz just after 10am. She's 41' but seems much bigger than Patti's 39' Kiwi 3. Ballena is much wider for sure. We were fighting the wind and tide getting out of the slip and at one point I thought for sure we were going to hit our bow spirit on the piling. But we made it out. I took the helm and motored us out of the channel. Pat's 68 year old eyes are not all that good and he has a hard time seeing the red and green buoys ahead. Under power this was easy for me. Out of the channel we put up the jib and expected to give up the helm, but he kept me on. He showed me how to watch the wind vain and keep us sailing on the edge of the wind. We were sailing straight into the wind so we had to do lots of tacking. Sailing back and forth in order to go forward. Not the funnest way to sail. We were hitting 3-5' swells. Ballena (pronounced Bye-yeah-na) does not sail into the wind in 3-5 foot seas very well. Her bow would come up, the wind would take her and we'd move off course and slide backwards. At one point for a very long time, I was watching the shore and with our speed of 1.9 knots we were making zero ground. We had our eye on a little island, thinking we are just about to pass this little island, but an hour later we were what seemed to be in the same place. It was about this time that I gave up the helm to go and get my gopro. Bad idea, not being at the helm and being knocked around by the wind and waves I started to feel sick. After this I could not shake it.. I tried to lie down in the back of the cockpit but it seemed like I had to rally and jump up to help Pat move the jib from one side to the other as the wind kept switching on us, and never got the chance to let my stomach settle. We finally decided to pull the sails and motor in. While I was lying down, calming my stomach and falling asleep I dreamt of what I could be doing next winter instead of sailing with Patti. Maybe i'd go back to AU and hang out with Christian, or fix up the Grouse/Shouse and my bus in PA. Wondered if Patti's boat was taking the waves better than Pats boat, is it going to be like this the whole time? I gave it my best, maybe I am not a sailer and a land-lubber instead. It was about this time that we made it through the channel and over to our island destination. When we were about 45 minutes away from our anchorage I looked back at the handline (fishing line) that I had in the water and it came up to the surface, was this because we were now doing 6 knots or was there a fish on. I decided it looked more like a small fish and this was confirmed when it started being circled by a few birds. I grabbed my Cuban Yo-Yo ( that is what they call the plastic circular thingy that you wind the hand line onto) and reeled it in. I did not want to get blood on Pats teak decks so I tried to slip a finger into its gill plate while leaning over the side. Its teeth were sharp so I had Pat help me slip on a glove. I was able to hold onto it but had nothing to knock it out with so I grabbed my travel coffee mug and gave it a good wack. Unhooked it and Pat was there with a plastic bag. I thought I had caught a barracuda. I filleted it up and after we were anchored we all met up with John and Bones on Orca. (John and Bones are two people and Orca is John’s boat) I had the fish with me. John and Bones were pretty impressed, but there were two other guys there. Doomsday Bob and Brandt. Both of which told me it was not a barracuda, but some shitty fish, you cant eat that that is the worst fish you could catch, they kept saying stuff like this. I dont know my fish down here, but I knew it was not a skip jack like they said it was. Bones asked to see a photo which I showed, and then once the Negative Nacies saw the photo they said it was a Sierra, one of the best eating fish out here. I fried it up with some garlic and butter and it was delicious and everyone oohed and ahhed. I think maybe people dont like me when they first meet me? Or everyone is jealous because I am partnered up with the only gal under 50 around? it is definitely in a mans world, this sailing community.

The Flight down to La Paz

November 23 had a shuttle come get me at 5am from Karens house. Karen got up early with me to wait outside so that when the shuttle came i could leave with her my heavy winter coat that I surely won’t need in La Paz. What a good Sister . The shuttle was right on time getting me to the airport well in advance. They stopped me through security because of the brass sailing winch thingy looked just like a small caliber machine gun. At the gate they made me check my carry on because it seemed too big? Glad i did. The flight out of SEA was delayed for unknown reasons. My two hour layover in LAX was more like 20 minutes. All of which i spent running across the parking lot to terminal 2 and running back ad forth looking for gate 28. When i got there they were boarding by sections. I did not know what ‘section’ i was in so i went up and asked. They looked up my name and i was not in the system. They kept asking me if i had another last name. All i could think of was, back at Rose Ave. some would call me Fartley. I didn’t suggest they look me up that way. It took lots of stressful computing, radioing and phoning, but they got me another reservation and tracked down my luggage and got me on the plane in time. It was during this time of running to Terminal 2 that i was happy not to have the carry on bag. For surely i would have been detained as they looked at what looks like a a single handed machine pistol. One of the TSA peeps took me aside anyways to swab my computer, he went as slow as slow can go. I was in the very back of the plane, but had pretty good leg room and a big empty space the side of me. So the flight to Mexico City wasn’t bad at all. Once we landed in MC, things went very smoothly i was quite impressed by how quickly they got people through immigration and everyone was so friendly. I tried to declare my smoked salmon but they could care less, and pretty much just shoed me along. I found the ATM and took out some pesos. Grabbed a sandwich and tasty beer. Indio, which tastes like Heineken. Waiting now for the monitor to let me know which gate i am departing from. No free wifi but i am at a charging station juicing up my phone.

drinking agua in Managua, Nicaragua

6 days into Nicaragua, I am with my girlfriend Andrea on this trip, we flew into Managua From a red eye flight. Nierher of us got much
sleep. We both did carry on since we only had an hour to cat h our next flight out to the Corn islands. As it figures our connecting flight was two hours late. It is nice to be able to carry around a small bag, but. I kind of wish I had abigger bag so I could fill it with Nicaraguan crap that I don't need. We checked into our crappy little beach bungalo. We were the only guests. The headed down the street to find some food. There is only one road that circles the island and both directions were dark. We took the road heading right. We soon found a little ice cream shop that had food. I ordered fried shrimp and fried plantains and it tasted sooo good. Had an awful nights sleep as our bed was pretty much springs covered with a dirty sheet. The next day we made it to the other side of the island by cab. A taxi no matter where or how far you go is 20 Cordoba's or $1 We paid a $2 you're leaving big corn tax and then jumped on an open boat with 20 other people and headed for little corn island. Little corn is way better than it's big brother. No road just a partial cement a d dirt path around the island. We got off the boat and decided to go left since everyone else went right. We got a ways down the path and met up with a local who had us follow him back the other way to where the accomodations were. We ended up at a liitle hut with the sea as it's front yard for $15. We went back to where we met the local for a fabulous dinner of baracuda. White and tasty like halibut. We also booked a couple of dives for the next day. Diving wasn't all that. I've had wY better dives in Borneo and way worse in Colombia. We did see a dolphin swim by with it's baby by her side, deffinetly the highlight thus far. We ended up diving three dives we both really liked our dive master and the equiptment was pretty new too. Short vacation so we left and went back to bigger corn spent the night and had another great seafood meal and hopped a ride bCk to Managua where settled into our hostel and walked up the street to eat another delicioso seafood supper. I've concluded that Nicaragu has the best food south of the border and is running a close second behind Vietnam.
We took a one hour $1 mini bus ride from Managua to Granad. we canned from our hostel to the bus station and before the taxi could come to a stop this guy ran up took our bags out of the trunk and put them on a bus. Andrea was trying to pay for the cab and I was trying to see where this crazy guy took our bags. It all ended up ok we were on the mini bus to Granada. I guess the bus doesn't leave until it is full and time is money. Tomorrow we have booked. A few hour cruise around some islands in Nicaragua Lake, only the lrgest lake in Central America

a little Wining

Last spring i went wine tasting with my friend Andrea, it was old hat for her, but it was my first time. I quickly caught a bit of a wine buzz and soon after got caught up in the whole wine tasting thing. Andrea left for a few to use the ladies room at which time i made the awful mistake of joining a wine club which commited me to buying two cases at $180 ea. Now i relise $15 a bottle for good wine is not a bad price, but at the time i was pretty much broke, having just gotten out of debt to my Mom (thanks Mom) and i don't even drink wine. I might drink a total of three bottles in a year and mostly white since red gives me a headache. The stuff that made me go "Mmm" was a Pinot Nior, which suposedly does not have all the tanis(sp) and all that other junk that causes headaches. I ended up giving a few bottles away and tried to get family and friends to buy the other case. I even went so far as to call my attorney and ask him if he could get me out of the contract. I never heard back from him. Mom, Enza and Gr. came over a few weekends back and we took a drive over to east Eastern, Wa east of Twisp. That is where my winery is. We did some more wine tasting and i bought my second and final case of wine. I found out that after my first case of Pinot, i really liked it. They (the winery) were out of the year i liked 2004 so i got 2006.Then a few days ago i was at our local grocery and they had the 2004 flavor on sale for $7. Here i am someone who drinks maybe three bottles of white a year and i am buying another case or wine. I am finding that i am really enjoying a class or two of this wine. Now i don't feel so dumb about joining the wine club, maybe a little dumb for paying $15 a bottle when Hanks Grocery store has it for $7?

I got invited to a halloween party that i did not want to go to. I got invited last year and didn't go. This year i am living with and working with a friend from back home, Lauren. She talked me into going and i am glad i did. Once i thought about a costume and started making it i got into it. The party ended up being really fun. It was in a shop that was connected to a house up on the hill overlooking the Methow river in Twisp. There was food and entertainment. People put on little skits and did some lipsincing. Lauren and i and a few local friends went. We danced till the wee hours. They all got hammered, but i stayed in control avoiding the nasty hangovers that i am accustomed to. I got a ton of props for my costume, i will probably go again next year but it will be hard to top this years costume.

Alaska 2

i don't think my photos loaded from the last time, and i am up to three halibuts caught. Now that i am able to get the blog up, i was having trouble before, i will try and upkeep it a little better.

Alaska 2

Alaska

I am a little behind on the bogging and i'm already up to two big halibut. I went out two weeks ago early one morning. It was so early that Jill, my co-worker "Go by yourself, I aint getting up that early" It did not take long for me to hook into about a 50lb halibut. I danced around with joy as i boated back to the lodge to fillet up my prize. She yielded 26lbs of meat. Today we left at 8am since slack tide was at 10am. I like to leave the cabin two hours early because depending on the wind and the size of the waves it takes us about 30-40 minutes to get to 'Halibut Hole' Todays Halibut weighed in at just under 55lbs. Jill also got one that was 18lbs, We would have let it go, but it had swallowed the hook and there was no getting it out. I also caught a smaller one, but it was able to cough up the hook, so we let it go, It was probably under 15lbs.
Last year i bought a camcorder and underwater case off of ebay. I have rigged it up with a lead fishing weight, submersible LED flashlight, halibut leader and bait. The first cast of the day was the camera set up sent down attached to a pole i have with 150lb test line, Then Jill had her pole that was connected to the leader, hook and bait. We were tethered together by a small amount of 3lb test line. This way when a big ole Halibut took the bait, jill could pull hard and snap the tether, reel in the fish and i could reel up the camera, instead of having a big tangled mess, or losing the whole set up. It was a good idea, and we may try it again but all we saw on film was blackness, a small stream of LED light and small ocean muck floating by. We only kept it down 10 minutes. I need to do something to make the light wider and be able to see the bait???
Sockeye Salmon have been coming into the lake in good numbers, just these last few days they have slowed down, but only because it has not rained in so long and the water level in the river is way way down. As soon as it rains, the weather report says Thursday, i am sure big numbers will start coming in.
Last night we ate off the land, we had Sockeye from the lake, Rice from wherever the rice came from. The rice was topped with Sea Lettuce, an edible type of seaweed, that Jill harvested backed and crumbled on top. Our steamed greens consisted of what was in the garden Jill brought out and mixed with a few stinging neddle leaves, they sting until you 'Tame' the needles which you can do by sauteing them or steaming them. And for desert, Blueberry stuffed Salmon Berries.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY, I made Dutch Babies for breakfast this morning, cause they remind me of my Mommy.
My friend Kirsti stopped by, she was doing a little camping around Methow. She spent the night parked out front of the office and then went with me to work in the morning. I think she enjoyed sitting in the truck perusing the internet on her lap-top while i did the same, and every once in a while i'd get out of the truck to throw a rock at a duck. On those cold mornings when i don't feel like getting out of the truck i can usually scare the pond predators away with the honk of the horn.
I would think by next week we will be done baby sitting the fish. Both ponds have been released. All we did was move the baracade blocking the fish's access to the river. The fish can now swim out whenever they want. We have not fed the fish at the Twisp Ponds since two weeks ago, there are not many of them left. The fish at the back channel are still getting fed, just half the amount. Those fish were not quite up to their ideal size, so we have been told to keep the feed flowing. The Coho in the back channel have to swim over about a two foot water fall to get to the river, there are tons of fish swimming just behind the heavy flow. I like to toss the feed right at the edge and sort of force them out. It is fun to watch them jump for the food and then realize they are about to float over the falls and then they quickly try and swim back into thier deep pool.
Yesterday there were two wood ducks inside the net that covers the pond. they had bitten holes in the net and wandered it. It was a bit of a hassle to get them out. They would try and fly up and get knocked back down in the water. I eventually was able to hold one end up with tree branches and a rake, i'd then walked down to the other side where they were and then they finally flew out from under the net. I repaired the holes and hopefully this keeps them out.

traffic conjestion in the Methow

I am working the early shift this morning, driving down the highway to the Twisp ponds, coffee in hand Willie Nelson on the radio. There is a car in the other lane stopped with its hazzards on and a car in front of me. I figure maybe there is a deer in the road. the car in front of me stops and talks to the car in the other lane, then the car in front of me pulls over and i quickly pull over too, since there is a big dust cloud and a heard of cattle coming down the middle of the highway. Some more of that small town stuff.
We cut open our 20 fish yesterday and they all seemed healthy, minus the fact that they were dead. I also have been helping out the hatchery by cleaning the raceways that no longer house our Coho. I geared up in raingear and hit up the left over slime and fish poo with a firehose. It felt a lot like cleaning up the factory on the fishing boat, except it was nice and sunny out and raceway i was cleaning was not moving back and forth in the waves.
I am also starting a garden. There is a plot already fenced off in the yard at the office, it was a garden a couple of years ago. I tossed among the dirt the 20 baby Coho carcases from yesterdays dissection. I also have two 40lb bags of leftover Steelhead feed, I did not know this either but industrial sized bags of fish food goes bad after 3 months, not so much bad as less healthy for a growing Steelhead. I am making my boss, Kraig buy all the seeds since i will be in Alaska and unable to reep the benifits of the garden, hopefully there will be some carrots or squash still around when i come back in Oct. I need a hobby when i am not in the 'clay dude' making mood. I really want another old VW, but i don't have the extra $$ right now. keep your eyes open driving around or out walking. I want the style of the WHITE cars NOT RED

It is funny living in a small town, where everyone smiles, waves, or says "hi" I just got a cup of coffee at the gas station for $.50, i filled up my travel mug, of course it tastes like $.50 coffee, but still. There seems to be three kinds of people here, those who have lived in the Methow Valley their whole lives, wearing work boots and Carharts, The Seattle-lites, who have the fancy vacation home and drive the Subaru and are always sporting the Patagonia wear, then there are the seasonal workers. Usually fisheries or Forrest service (Fire). I am probably the seasonal, but i look like the native, since i don't own any Patagonia and wear work boots and fake Carharts
We have the two groups of young Coho, 45,000 in the Twisp Ponds and 45,000 in the back channel behind the hatchery. These are the fish that we are directly in care of, feeding and shoeing off the preditors. We also have (had) 7 raceways at the hatchery with 50,000 Coho in each. Once a week we would take a random sample of 100 from each raceway, the ponds and the back channel and sample them, weights and lengths, we'd check to see if they retained the little coded wire tag that was shoved into their snouts earlier on, and at what life stage they were at. They got Coded Wire tagged at 'Parr' then they become 'Transitional' and lastly 'Smolt' where they loose all of their parr marks and turn the bright silver that Coho (aka Silvers) are known for.
On Wed evening we released all those fish that were in the raceways. We pulled out the wood planks that keep the fish in and then pushed a big screen that stretched across the width of the raceway sort of crowding them down to the outflow. We release them at night to lessen the chance of them getting gobbled right up by daytime predators.
Today we are doing OSI sampling. I have no idea what OSI stands for, but we will dissect 20 fish to see if all of their insides look good. Yep that one year of High School Biology is going to really pay off today.
On my off time i have been making the clay dudes. Yesterday on my day off i got to drive 8 hours down and back to Toppenish, the main Yakima office for nothing more than a signature. I have to have a special 'Tribal License' in order to drive the government trucks we have. For some dumb reason, i can't fax or send my signature down, i have to give it in person. They have everything on record from when i was there three months ago, including my signature and photo from the last three tribal licenses i had to get, but this is tipical of the way things are ran down there. On a good note because i had to take my own vehical down, they paid me $230 and it was a pretty drive, until just past Yakima. Toppenish looks like a cross between Keys, CA and Neah Bay, WA, but not as pretty.
I walked into the kitchen the other day and just outside the window was, not a bottle of Wild Turkey, but a real wild turkey.