Nov 15, 2009 - Trip down to La Paz (last journal entry)

This will be our last journal entry on this website. We want to thank all of you for following our sailing adventure into Mexico, saying prayers for our safe passages, and maintaining good thoughts for retirement lifestyle. We are not done cruising! We are just done with this website. Our new website is http://svdistantshores.blogspot.com/. This website does NOT do automatic emails upon a new entry post – however, if you use MyYahoo or iGoogle you can add the site so you will see if a new entry is posted. You can find directions on our new...

Apr 16, 2009 - La Ventana

After the kayak trip, Jean and I went to a small town further north called Mulege. We did a long hot bike day-trip on a desert road which proved to be quite challenging, but interesting. Then we went on a guided hike up a canyon to some cave paintings, which were pretty spectacular. Jean flew home a couple of days ago, and I made my way to a quiet beach town called La Ventana, south of La Paz, which is where I am now. I plan to stay here as long as I can before heading down to Cabo to fly out on Monday. This area is big for wind surfing and...

Feb 9, 2009 - La Paz

We arrived in La Paz around two yesterday, set up, had a siesta (a tradition worth copying), were fed a great hamburger dinner with all the trimmings, had the "official" group photo taken, and then found the internet. Nice to get up to date with the blog. WE spent the morning in old La Paz just browsing in the little shops and stores. Bought a couple of things, but nothing serious. There was a shop that specialized in hand made things, but most of them were tourist trinkets. Interesting to look at, but not really anything I wanted, or...

Feb 1, 2009 - Jack and Lib's - in La Paz, S. Baja

We made it to Jack and Lib's yesterday, just in time for happy hour. Talked until we tired out. It's nice they both like to listen, being PhD shrinks it comes natural to them, I suppose. Testimony to their professionalism: while I talked they closed their eyes to contemplate every single word I said - even as I said goodnight, they maintained their deep posture of contemplation. That's friends for you!

Dec 14, 2008 - Getting Loaded

Here I sit in Dreamweaver's salon listening to Puff The Magic Dragon, very much looking forward to getting loaded tomorrow. Back in the 70's if someone would have told me it would mean putting a small boat onto a very large boat, I would have laughed my bell bottoms off. I'm sure I'll still work up an appetite, and I just hope I'll remember to eat. Tomorrow will be another big accomplishment. My friends Norma and Bill, and maybe little Eddy, who knows, will help me power into the Big Ship Lolly Pop. Looks like we're on for a 10:00 loading....

Nov 28, 2008 - were still in LaPaz

Dear Family and friends, It is hard to believe that we have been in LaPaz for a whole week already.The pure joy of having the inter net, power and unlimited water has been easy to deal with as well as the 80+ weather everyday We have some disappointment and some great joys this week. To start with, the very first friends we made in Alameda Cindy and Gary have arrived in LaPaz as well. We have had a great time telling each other all the tales about our travels. It sure has been great to catch up. As for the dissapointments, boat part are...

Nov 23, 2008 - La Paz - Marina Palmira

We have taken well over 500 pictures since our last post two weeks ago. It has been difficult to pick out our favorites to post for you to view. The majority of those were taken underwater and our skills have increased only slightly. We hope that you enjoy them. When last we spoke, we were leaving Los Muertos for Puerto Ballandra which we did. It was a beautiful passage around Punta Arena and through the Cerralvo Channel with Isla Cerralvo off our starboard beam (east of us as we were heading north). We had very light wind and it was on our...

Apr 14, 2008 - fly to La Paz

La Paz is an up and coming town that is only on the radar of the experienced Mexican traveler. Perhaps this was why our flight was 3/4 full and we could overhear passengers around us muttering about how happy they were to be going to La Paz rather than nearby Cabo San Lucas. Cruise ships stop in Cabo and it has been a favorite of ours for many years. We’ve only been to La Paz once before and we spent the day wandering around wondering what there was to do. It will be interesting to see how much has changed in the last three years. Our...

Mar 2, 2008 - Generation Gap & Goodbye To Los Cerritos

Most of the campers at this spot (Los Cerritos) have been coming to this area for years. Accustomed to camping in places with no services, they've all generally worked out what they need to get by. Electrical power generation is typically one of those needs. Almost everyone who does this sort of camping in the South and Mexico relies on solar panels to collect energy to charge their batteries. We are not so equipped, nor did we have a generator which is the next best thing. So if we were to stay at a free beach, then we needed to get...

Feb 28, 2008 - Santa Rosalia to Laz Paz and back

After leaving Santa Rosalia, we crossed into Baja California South and finally… hot weather! Again, beautiful twisty highway and many scenic views of the ocean, contrary to the road maps which only show straight highway. We arrived in La Paz and checked into another Lonely Planet recommended motel,again a good choice. Although one of our most expensive motel stays at $65, it was well worth the price. We went for a city ride the next day and walked up and down the Malecon (boardwalk).We had wanted to have one more day to ride down to Cabo...

Feb 16, 2008 - Return to La Paz

We had heard that La Paz was celebrating its annual Carnavale and wondered if it was a good idea to stay at the beach near the ferry where we had originally planned. Carnavale means the end of carne (meat) for the period of Lent (a bit of trivia for those of you who enjoy that). Since we had been hearing about such carnavales for years, we thought it might be fun to check it out. Our rethinking of where to stay was fortuitous. When we pulled into Campestre Marantha where we had stayed on our first stop in La Paz, who did we discover at the...

Feb 9, 2008 - “Capitolizing” on La Paz

With our RV patched and somewhat happy we found our way down dusty dirt packed roads (we now knew San Carlos) to the highway, on our way to La Paz, the capitol of Baja Sur. This was to be our first big city since leaving Ensenada. Our plan was to spend a few days in La Paz, getting our ferry tickets and related paperwork, enjoying the city and then to move on. The road to La Paz was slightly better. That means a little wider with some shoulders, but these were shared with burros and cattle. Many kestrels have been visible along the roads,...