Posted by The days leading up to Thanksgiving Day had us on the move looking for shelter from an upcoming storm. Winds were forecasted to be from the south and ranging from 20-35 plus knots and then a few days later 20-30 plus knots from the north. There are no anchorages in our area that provide 360 degree protection so we had to move from anchorage to anchorage based on the direction of the wind. It is really more of a nuisance or inconvenience than a problem to move so we figured we would not complain. It is just “part of it” when it comes to living on a boat. We spent Thanksgiving Day tucked in close to a high cliff in Ensenada la Gallina. The cliffs protected us from the 30 knot winds. Our anchor held us tight all through the high winds. Accompanied with the winds were rain clouds that drop a deluge for about 4 hours. The rain was so heavy I took a shower on our back deck using just the rain and a bar of soap. We also took the opportunity to scrub our decks and all of our stainless steel and give it all a good freshwater rinse. We added a sewing project to our to-do list. Ashley is going to create a rain catchment system. We figured that if we had had a system in place during that rain we could have completely filled one of our water tanks. More to follow on that project. After the high winds we were able to get off the boat and do some snorkeling and we found a fun place for a multi-ridge hike. The hiking here is not exactly what we are accustomed to in the Pacific Northwest. Clearly defined trailheads, nicely groomed trails, some sort of sign at the destination are all what we have come to expect from a hike. None of that is what you get here. Here you have sand and or rock ground. Interspersed brush and many forms of cactus and rock are spread throughout the landscape. Hilltops, spurs, draws, saddles and depressions can all be seen for miles around. This makes your route planning for your hike easy in that you can see before you start where you are going and roughly how you are going to get there. It makes it difficult in that sometimes the brush becomes too thick to be passable or the rocks are too steep to climb so you have to backtrack a little. We have seen no sign of trails so we just make our own being conscience of trying not to walk on any vegetation. Either way it makes for challenging and fun exploring. The views are rewarding so it makes all the challenges worthwhile. We also had a major breakthrough as far as distribution of workload while anchored in Ensenada la Gallina. I should first say that somehow taking Ranger to shore every morning and every night has somehow been either officially or unofficially assigned to me (Dan). I get a stern; we are not going to talk about this look from the boss (Ashley) each time I TRY to bring it up. I suspect it has something to do with having to get up early in the morning. I digress. The breakthrough came when I launched the kids’ dinghy. You may remember that we carry a second dinghy on our bow. It is the yellow boat called a Portland Pudgy that we purchased this last summer in Vancouver. We consider this Alexander and Victoria’s dinghy. After the high winds passed I put it in the water to let Alexander row it around. The first thing he said was that we would take Ranger to shore for me. Hallelujah, praise whomever, this is amazing! Alex this is now your job! He thought that was a great idea and my day was made. That night he and Victoria rowed Ranger to shore, he went and did his business and they all came back in one piece. The whole time I am dreaming of sleeping in (Ranger begins pacing at about 6 am every morning) and all the extra sleep I am going to get. I was bouncing on air. This whole time Ashley is looking at me like I am an idiot and telling me that there is no way the kids are going to want to get up and take him in the morning. And yes, in retrospect I may have been a little sleep-in blind (is that a thing?) but I told her that they were excited about their new responsibility. So I was undeterred by her negative-nelly attitude and was looking forward to sleeping in the next morning. I am sure you all know how the next morning went. “I am toooooo tiiiiiired!” said Alexander. “I don’t want that job anymore”, said Victoria. From their beds as I headed up the ladder to take Ranger to shore. I know. I know. Ashley you were right. OK so maybe not a breakthrough but at least a start.
Sailing Samadhi 