The Green Light

Most sailors get quite excited when they see the green flash at dusk but what really gets my
heart pumping is the sight of the green light on my printer. For some unknown reason my printer decided to stop talking to my computer sometime last January. It would not even talk when connected by the printer cable, not good. How could I print off pictures of Nicholas for my Brag book!

Two days ago it became a do or die situation here on the boat. Rog had ordered a new IPad 2 for me for my birthday and I read about it's ability to print via AirPrint. This sounded great but would require a new HP Printer that had AirPrint capabilities, even better I thought until my good friend Eric found out I would still need to work through a network system on the boat. So back to the drawing board to try and resurrect the network on the boat.

I had a couple of problems I had to overcome including USB ports that have become faulty. Several phone calls to Fujitsu and different repair ideas I realized there was no hope for running more than one USB port at a time. Maybe a new small computer was the answer, something that would talk to a new HP Printer that would also talk to a new IPad. It all sounded good to me until I realized it would require updated navigation software, at the cost of $495.00, and other various programs I like. I am still running off an old XP operating system so none of my programs would match up.

Back to the drawing board once again. After uninstalling both the router and printer and then reinstalling them I finally got the green light and boat network was once again functioning as it should. However that was only half the problem, could I get Roger's IPad to recognize the network and connect to the printer. This required a phone call to Lexmark and downloads to both the iPad and computer before there was success! My first print job was a photo of Nicholas and Andy that I had recently received from Jenny.

So after one full day of frustration and elation I am finally ready to turn Roger's IPad back over to him and know that my new IPad will work with everything when we return to PV in November. To my way of thinking, this new IPad did not cost Roger a penny because I did not have to buy a new printer for the boat or computer and navigation programs. I am so proud of being thrifty now that we are retired!

Party Time

The season is drawing to a close here in PV, the rain, thunder and lightning has the majority of cruiser headed for dryer climates. That does not mean we can't get together for one final party to celebrate Philo's birthday and 10th anniversary of his restaurant. A very large crowd was on hand to enjoy music and dancing into the wee hours.

We shared a ride and table with Chuck and Clista off the power boat Shilo. They are the parents of our good friend Chip and Katie on Miss Teak. Shilo had planned to join all of us
up in the Sea this spring but Boat gremlins kept them tied to the dock.

It was great to see Teapot Tony there along with his wife Tealady Ronnie. I still remember meeting them for the first time and wondering why anyone would go by those names. Still do not know the history of the names but with their British accents I can not imagine calling them anything else for all these years. They have certainly earned everybody's respect and admiration in the PV area.

Dire Predictions

Forty four years ago when I was a very young girl of 19 my Mother made some very dire predictions. You see, I wanted so very badly to get married to this guy by the name of Roger and my mother was throwing a complete fit. We were both way too young and dropping out of college. She had never thought I would do anything so irresponsible! He was nothing but a boat bum out of Newport Beach, CA., never mind that she had married a life guard from La Jolla. I couldn't remind her of that and my Dad did graduate from Cal Tech and Stanford so it wasn't quite the same. So she predicted that we would have too many kids, we have three fabulous kids, live on some boat just anywhere, I kind of like Puerto Vallarta, and eat hand to mouth, yes our yellowfin tuna was mighty good.

As Rog and I were enjoying a beautiful dinner overlooking the marina here at Paradise Village wishing Both of Moms were still alive to celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary we were remembering our Mothers dire predictions and how they have finally come true. Mom never said when all these terrible things were going to happen, she just warned me and I am glad she did or I might never had to enjoy the fabulous times Roger and I have shared.

We have seen whales breaching right in front of the boat, had the thrill of reeling in huge sailfish out in the middle of ocean, sailed under the full moon while crossing from Mazatlan to PV, enjoyed the morning sun as she woke us up, met many wonderful cruisers and most of all gotten to know the very friendly and courteous local Mexicans.

Rain, Thunder, Lightning

Hurricane Beatrice has been down graded to a tropical storm but that does not mean she went quietly. We had prepared for her arrival yesterday with all sorts of inside the boat projects, enough food to last a couple of days and videos in case the TV went out and we couldn't watch Wimbledon. But nothing happened. It was very overcast, the sky looked very threatening but we were able to stay dry. I even went to work out in the gym in order to stay out of Rog's way while he had the floorboards up.

Around 5am this morning I noticed Rog was no longer in bed! I quickly figured it out when I saw a huge flash of lightning followed by a tremendous bang of thunder. It reminded me of the summer storms back in Kansas. Yes, I grew up there long enough to remember some very powerful storms, even had a tornado hit our home. The lightning lasted about 20 minutes but that was enough to get me up for the day. The rain has ended for now but we could continue to get rain off and on today. I will have reason enough to stay on the boat to watch Wimbledon all day. Happy girl

A Fish Tale

No, this is not a blog about the big one that got away but rather a synopsis of our fishing adventures since we left San Francisco last September. You may or may not remember when in 2008 Rog managed to hook a huge fish that very quickly stole his rod, reel and lure. This fishing set up had been a gift from our son Rob to celebrate his marriage to Stacy. Jump forward to 2010 and the entire family decided to try once again to outfit Rog with an outstanding rig. It is a beautiful Shimano Tallus rod, Shimano two speed reel and many various lures. This setup has been in use ever since we left Long Beach last October specifically to catch the big one.

At the end of leg one of the Ha Ha just before entering Turtle Bay we caught not one but two yellow tails at the same time, on the other two rods. You see, Rog drags three lures, one tickler and one hand line at all times. They can get tangled when pulling in a fish so we always have to reel them all in when we get something on the line. Do notice that Rog is wearing his heaviest coat.
On the rest of the HA HA we fought several more fish including a couple on the big rig but for several reasons we never pulled those fish into the boat. There was one fish we believe was a mako shark, definitely did not want him on board and then two marlin who were just to big for us to deal with. Nothing we could eat.

Since Cabo until just recently we have strck out. Nothing to write home about, a few Jack Cravels but nothing else. The entire time we were up in the Sea, nothing except a red snapper we bought off a local fisherman for $4.00. It was very tasty but not Yellowtail. Almost forgot, we did catch a very large marlin at the end of our passage from Mazatlan to La Paz. He danced all around the boat for close to 30 minutes to no avail. He spit out the lure. Sorry no pictures of him as I was busy driving the boat in reverse trying to keep him on.

Our last passage in the Sea was from Isla Partida to La Paz and it is just a 4 hour trip. We fought more skipjack tuna in that time frame than during the entire year. We were getting hit on two lures at a time. great fun. Rog sent all of those guys back so that they could grow a bit larger.
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I did mention that we have to pull all lines in when we hook a fish so Rog was finally getting tired of reeling everything in and turned that job over to me. Big mistake, my lure was no more than 10 feet from the back of the boat when I saw something big jump out of the water and snag the airborne lure. I immediately screamed for him to stop running all my line out but to no avail. I quickly had my spool in a mess, Rog busy with a Skipjack and I was trying to land our first Yellowtail of the day. I got him to stop playing with his fish and to take over on mine. He was a great fight but we decided to let go in case there was something bigger out there.

Our keeper for the day was at least 30 inches and a big boy at that. We had to release sails, put the boat in reverse and fight him very slowly so as not to loose him. This was easily a thirty minute fight never knowing what we had on the line.

Nothing hit on the entire trip from La Paz to Mazatlan so we thought we were done for the season. Did that put the poles away, not on your life and it was a good thing too. We had the day every fisherman dreams about, a nice breeze, soft swells and lots of fish! We landed four Skipjacks, two nice Yellowtails and released another sailfish. What a way to end the season. Rog filleted the larger Yellowtail for massive tuna steaks while we were sailing at 7 knts and a setting sun. It could not get any better for our final night out to sea.

So long to the Sea

Tomorrow morning Rog and I will be leaving La Paz and heading over to Mazatlan for the first leg of our trip back to Puerto Vallarta. It is very bitter sweet, the weather is getting verm warm but so is the water. I loved the anchorage at Isla Partida where we could swim in 80 degree water any time we got hot which was often as the inside cabin temp was 87! It is currently 101 in the shade here in La Paz and we are sitting on a patio deck watching the sun set. Too beautiful

We have many wonderful memories and new friends from our first year of retirement From the day we left our slip at the Oakland Yacht Club we never could have imagined the beautiful waters, abundant sea life and other cruisers anxious to share their experiences and knowledge. Next year we will be even better equipped when we leave Paradise Village for points south as we are really getting the boat fine tuned.