• Beach at Puerto Los Gatos
    Ramblings,  Sailing

    What do you guys do all day?

    We just did another 2-week off-the-grid jaunt, between La Paz and Puerto Escondido (south of Loreto), along a rather isolated stretch of Baja. No phones, wifi, grocery stores, and few boats, but several islands and roughly 115 miles of gorgeous coastline. 2 weeks? 14 days?? “What do you guys do all day every day?” Well, let me tell you. 😊

  • Projects

    Happy Way Bus

    A retrospective (not a how-to) on creating custom chaps, for any other brave souls who embark on this sizeable sewing project. Also, the origin of the name of our dinghy, the Happy Way Bus.

  • Sailing

    Baja

    On November 3, we set out from Ensenada toward La Paz, in which we arrived on November 28. These weeks featured good fishing, numerous dolphin, turtle and whale sightings, periods of no wind and way-too-much wind, and overall were quite enjoyable.

  • Projects,  Ramblings

    A Few Troubles in Solla Sollew

    In the Dr. Seuss book after which our boat is named, Solla Sollew is a place where there are no troubles, or at least very few. Well, we’ve had a few troubles, and in the world of boats, they are unfortunately not “very few”. For short attention spans, I will skip to the end and tell you that we are temporarily repaired, back in the water, and have options for the next round of repairs in 6-9 mos., after a season cruising in Mexico.

  • Cruising Tips

    New-Cruiser Tips, vol.1

    So far, most subscribers to this blog are friends and family. But there may come a day when other cruisers may stumble across this site, probably just setting out like we are/were, so it’s time I start speaking to them as well. Friends-and-Family (FnF), feel free to skip this post if you wish! Bit-o-Advice #1: When you toss your lines, really toss them. Go far; fully commit to cruising and early-on go someplace where you get a healthy gulp of the lifestyle. Don’t think that you can “kinda leave”, that you can keep one foot in your “old”/”normal” life and one foot in your cruiser life, that you can shuffle…

  • Ramblings,  Sailing

    Slow Cruz

    We have started seeing touch of the “cruising lifestyle”, having visited Santa Cruz for a few days and now in Monterey. Nothing is YouTube-worthy, but we’re having fun. In Santa Cruz I took Harry to the obligatory Mystery Spot, back up to UCSC (my alma mater), visited his cousins Nina and Peter, and our friends from Emery Cove (Diane and Stefan) graciously brought their paddle boards for us to try in the harbor. One morning Harry went for a jog along the beach, and when he came back I was playing my ukulele in the cockpit while paddleboarders and sea lions were playing around us. “Cruzing” indeed. Now in Monterey,…