-
Cruising in the Time of COVID
After a tumultuous decision to launch the boat without going back to pick-up Tuxie and drop-off the van, into the Sea of Cortez we went. There’s a boat parked near the launch ramp named “Three Hour Tour” – a subtle warning perhaps? The “what-if?” list was long…what if someone got sick at home and we couldn’t get back? What if the locals bar us from coming ashore for food? What if Mexico shuts down completely and things really get nuts? What if one or both of us gets sick? Other boats were launching too with all of the same worries, but we were all telling ourselves we were making the…
-
Corona Run 2020
The Clash song "Should I Stay or Should I Go" was playing on repeat in my head as we made a difficult decision back in April. Here's a VERY tardy post about the hand we were dealt as Corona was hitting Mexico (not the beer, the other Corona) :-)
-
Single-handed Adventure
Wherein Jen goes on a 5 day solo* trip from Puerto Escondido around Isla Carmen. 50+ miles, 5-25+ winds, one tough day, one chill day, and lots of confidence-building. (*Tux was onboard, but not a very useful first-mate.)
-
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. 😊
-
Choose Your Cruise
Wherein Jen ruminates on the beaten vs. less-beaten paths through our watery world.
-
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.
-
Channel Islands Adventure
We finally venture out to do a bit of "cruising" in the Channel Islands off the California Coast, visiting San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa and Catalina over 14 days.
-
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,…
-
Lines Untied
We did it! We untied the lines! We tied them back on in Half Moon Bay, a mere 7.5 hour sail from Emeryville, but we have officially made “the big left turn” (South from the Golden Gate). I’ve been a mess of emotion these last few days with all of the goodbyes and actually doing what I set out to do 14 years ago. And this marks the close of a very big chapter in my life, the main chapter as an adult. When people ask me where I am from, I don’t say Florida where I was born, or Texas where I went to high school, or certainly not…
-
Solla Sails (whew!)
The boat sails; she sails well in fact, and now that we’ve serviced the heat exchanger she motors well too! But wait, there’s more…. nothing broke or failed to function! I’m happy of course, but I think “relieved” is the chief emotion 🙂 The “tune-the-rig” sail with our rigger and friend Barrett didn’t end up happening (no wind, and I’m giving him little welding lessons so we did that instead). The following day, New Years Eve, Deb came and we got off the dock around 1130am. The tracking device in our Wirie that I got working that morning performed beautifully, and you can see the route we took for the…
Sailing/Cruising Blog of Jen & Harry aboard the Solla Sollew
