Begone's 2015 Big Adventure - The "Plan"

February 17, 2015 - San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

Greetings from Tom List, Suzanne Statler List and Vicky Oswald!

It's been two years since Tom and I have enjoyed an adventure on our sailboat, Begone.  She has been high and dry in San Carlos at the Marina Seca just waiting for us to come back to play.  So this year, we decided on a Big Begone Adventure!
In the big picture, we're planning to sail from Mexico's Sea of Cortez to the Hawaiian Islands in March/April/May.  Then May and June we cruise Hawaii.  Toward the end of June it's wait for the weather window from Hanalei Bay, Kauai and sail to Alaska or Seattle (depending on our mood and the Pacific High).
Below is a little more detail...

Here's our 2015 "plan" (subject to weather, whimsy or whatever).  

February - Tom, Suzanne and Vicky Oswald (oh so talented yacht varnisher/painter/wood worker/sailor/horse rider/trail runner/adventurer...and friend) drive from Port Costa, CA to San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico.  We work on the boat to prepare her for an ocean crossing.  

March - The three of us drive back to Port Costa.  March 7th, Vicky runs the "WayTooCool - 50K Trail Run" in Cool, CA with Tom, Suzanne and our 1973 GMC Motorcoach "Emma" as ground support. 

To Do items back in the 10 days back in the Bay Area include: Have our spinnaker re-cut into a cruising chute, have our life raft certified, sign our tax return and visit our family & friends and dog (who is on doggie vacation with her pal Peanut) Vicky stays and works until early April.  

Tom and Suzanne drive back to San Carlos -- Begone goes in the water on March 18.  

We finish the preparation, return the car to Arizona, provision and around March 21st start waiting for the weather window to leave San Carlos and Tom and Suzanne sail over to the Baja side of the Sea of Cortez and into La Paz..

April - Sail into La Paz and have tons of fun, make last minute repairs, visit our cruising friends, visit our land friends Melanie and Pat, Vicky flies in around April 3rd, provision the boat, wait for the weather window and sometime around April 14th head out and around the tip of the Baja on a 25 day  (+/-) sail to Hilo, Hawaii (around 2600 nautical miles).

May and June - Sail the Hawaiian Islands, visit friends, meet new ones and sometime toward the end of June anchor in Hanalei Bay, Kauai.  Wait for the window and sail the 2350 nautical miles to Alaska or Seattle (it's about the same distance)..maybe 20 days?  

July - Visit friends up in the Pacific Northwest, sail around, leave Begone up north for the winter and come back to the Bay Area sometime in August.

Well, that's what we're thinking now.  We'll see how it all actually happens.  We'll keep you posted in the blog.  Here's to fair winds and following seas!

Farewell, La Paz - heading North to the islands

The seas are calm and light breeze is a warm 84 degrees - so it's time to be Underway Making Way.
We are planning to spend a couple days heading North to Isla San Francisco and then to Puerto Escondido to visit our friends Otis & Joyce.  Finally returning to San Carlos to have Begone put in dry storage on March 25th.

La Paz

They say La Paz is a "sticky" place.  People sail, drive or fly here and decide to stay - or at least plan to return.  Unfortunately we will won't be able to stay this year, but Begone will Be Back! 

Tom's old habits die hard!

It should not be a surprise that Tom found something interesting to do in La Paz. 
Our friends, Ron & Bette on "Wisp" (a home built 42' sloop), purchased a used Yanmar engine and trucked it down to La Paz to replace their old Perkins engine.  It turned out that the installation required quite a bit more engineering expertise than Ron thought.   And as good luck would have it, we arrived just as the project started.  

Tom would get up in the mornings and after coffee and Spanish lessons would sit at the chart table engineering everything from shaft extension to engine mounts.  He and Ron found a machinists in town who made the parts from Tom's specs -- then happily let Tom work in his shop so they were "perfect".

Yesterday, they finally were able to test the engine (does that eBay used engine actually run?!).  Yes indeed, it does.  And after Ron finishes the exhaust system, Turbo charger, engine controls, fuel system, Wisp will be able to leave the marina and head up to the islands with auxiliary power!

You can step away from the Marine Engine business, but the profession doesn't step away from you!   As a matter of fact, almost everyday someone has asked Tom if they could ask him a question.   

Yep, old habits die hard!

Life in La Paz - on the Land and Sea

Wednesday, 27 February 2013
We have been in La Paz for 2 weeks and the time has flown by.  
The weather forecast says it will be Monday or Tuesday next week before the strong Northerly wind subsides and opens the window for our trip back north to San Carlos.

Marina de La Paz - home to cruisers from around the world

Both of us have kept quite busy.
I was invited to race on "Genesis" (Hunter 34) in the Valentine's Day Regatta -- and we won 1st place in our division! 

Tom has been very actively studying Spanish -- going to a free Spanish class at the marina and regularly spending an hour or two studying with Rosetta Stone.  I've noticed his vocabulary, pronunciation and confidence is quickly improving.  He's starting to correct me now.  You go, Tom!

"Hola, me gusto un 'perro caliente' (hot dog), por favor."

When we arrived, our friends Bette and Ron on "Wisp" were berthed on our dock and happily I was able to join her and other (mostly) women La Paz residents and cruisers in a Zumba exercise class.  The class members participated Flash Mob Zumba performance on the Malecon (boardwalk) to raise international awareness about violence to women and children with the 1 Billion Women program.  Here's a couple pics  of my Zumba class and the diverse troupe of performers:

There's so much to do here.  The Club Cruceros is a cruiser club that have coffee each morning here at our marina and orchestrate dinners for special events like Valentine's Day.  They (we) are also very active in the community helping local people in need - from collecting money toward a kidney transplant for an Agua Verde 15 year old to sponsoring students in advance education (high school).  

While here, we're enjoying our favorite tacos at Super Burro (17 pesos = $1.20ish), dinners out with friends (like last night @ Bandidos where our Ribs were grilled in the engine compartment of a 1970's Chevy), grocery shopping (one of my favorite past-times) and walking around town with new and old friends. 

Tom holding up the famous "La Paz Rock"

La Paz is a wonderful Old Mexico city with over 900,000 residents. And on land and sea it offers an opportunity to be a part of a very special place.

Life in La Paz -fun with Brooks & Judy

February 21-24 - We knew our friends Brooks & Judy Townes were on the Baja in their "MoHo" (named because it's too small to be a motorhome).  They are Sausalito friends who are now living in Port Townsend.  We had heard they were up near Santa Rosalia, but as we came across to the Baja side, we got word they were down close to La Paz and thinking of leasing a little piece of land on the central part of Baja Sur. 

It was such a treat to meet up with them in La Paz...and enjoy visiting with them for a few days.  Judy & I walked all over La Paz.  Brooks & Tom researched Solar Panels.  Then we took off on a couple days on the road in the MoHo and back to La Paz for a day sail toward Isla Espiritu Santos...

Brooks & Judy in El Truinfo (a former silver mining town on Rt. 1 between La Paz and Cabo San Lucas.  Fabulous pizza, salad and bakery restaurant.  Then a walk about town.  And a stop into the piano museum before heading on to Rancho Verde... 

Rancho Verde RV Park on Rt. 1 between La Paz and Cabo San Lucas.  Brooks & Judy stayed there for a couple weeks and made some good friends -- even thought about leasing some land there.  We'll see what they decide, but it was a great overnight there.  Big thanks to the good community of RV'ers and residents, the big bonfire , the little room we rented for the night in the community area and Judy's delicious dinner and breakfast from her very compact galley!

Can you read the sign?  "Rancho Costa Plenty"  Oh, we just thought that was funny!  This Rancho is next to the GranSuenos Resort.  The resort was built on Ensenada de Los Muertos (Bay of the Dead).  We understand that the big investors thought the dead thing would be a problem for visitors so now road signs and maps refer to it as Bahia de los Suenos (Bay of Dreams).  Oh, isn't marketing grand!

Sunday we cast off Begone's dock lines and sailed toward Isla Espiritu Santos (19 km) on a calm breeze.
It was a relaxing day as Begone quietly filled her sails on a flat sea. (look ma, no hands)

We're hoping to sync up with Brooks & Judy again on the Baja in Loreto, Bahia Conception or Santa Rosalia because a good time was shared by all!

The Fiddler and Authoharpist @ Ciao Molino's

 Wednesday nights is Open Mic night at Ciao Molino's -- the Palapa Restaurant right across Marina de La Paz.  

We decided to bring our little bit of Bluegrass to the evening.  

Tom is always a huge hit and I had some fun backing him up.  You may notice there's a second autoharp in the pictures.  It's odd enough to have one of these "boat size pianos" but Mike was there -- so we had a little dueling autoharp licks.

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We've enjoyed a bunch of opportunities to play music on this trip -- and hope we'll find more along the way.

La Paz welcomes us with the Mardi Gras Parade

Tuesday, 12 February 2013 - Marina de La Paz

We left San Everisto on Monday morning bound for the island just north of La Paz.  However, after listening to Garry's weather report on the Sonrisa HAM Net, we realized we should just head straight to La Paz unless we wanted to stay on the island for 3 or 4 days until a big, ugly weather system blew threw.  So onto La Paz we sailed.

Our favorite marina, Marina de La Paz would not have space until Tuesday morning so we anchored in the Magote for Monday night.  The Magote is a popular anchorage for cruisers and La Paz residents.  But the friends and creature comforts in the Marina were worth the $26 US per night to stay in the Marina.  
So on Tuesday morning, we motored into the Marina to the same place we had 2 years ago!   And as was also true 2 years ago, we arrived for the last day of Mardi Gras which featured a huge celebration on the Malecon (waterfront boardwalk) and the Mardi Gras parade.
Could you ask for a warmer welcome?!!!
Here's some pictures from the evening:

And after the parade there was fun and food and streets were filled with people until the early morning:

Spinning Dart throwing game for 5 pesos (~45 cents) a try - unfortunately Tom missed but looked great trying!

This was new to us - a boiling kettle of oil in the potato booth.  When someone requested one of these spiral cut potatoes on a stick, they dip the stick of potato in the hot oil, add some salt and there's your snack.

What a night!  Marina de La Paz is just a couple blocks from the Malecon and celebration so as we drifted to sleep, we could hear the party continue.  What a welcome to La Paz.  We love it here.