just thought i´d show off her christmas decorations. she´s so beautiful all decked out for the holidays.

raindancer decked out in her christmas regallia

one of the boats in the marina

ok, here i am again. we had a very quiet, lovely christmas, hope yours was as good and peaceful. things are quiet in the marina this time of year, lots of people are spending the holidays in the states and canada. not too many gatherings, just a simple appetizer/dessert christmas thing and nothing so far for new years. guess we will spend it just the two of us. maybe have a drink before bed to toast the new year. bedtime is about 9 or 10. i guess we are not the normal cruisers, cuz we really don´t do much drinking any more. maybe a beer now and then with friends,( i usually skip the beer and have a mixed drink or a margarita). i do love a good margarita. our friends on big wonderful got back to la paz last week and had a good time swimming with the giant mantas in the socorro islands. they took some great underwater videos. we watched them last night. i don´t think that is my calling. i think i will stick with whale sharks, they like people. lol.

took the dogs to the vet and got their shots updated. daisy and maggie also got hormone shots. they are in great health and the vet was surprised at how good their teeth were. look ma, no cavities!!!! they sure are good dogs. i guess we got the right kind of dogs for our adventures. they are loving it as much as we are. who knew.

i decorated our boat for the holidays and guess i will be taking them down in a few more days. i love the lights on the boat. it makes it look so cheery when we have been gone for a while and come back after it is dark. i may leave them up til after the new year, if dan doesn´t object too much. i think he kinda likes them too. there are a few boats in the marina that put up lights and i like to walk up the dock every night and look at them. it is really the only thing that makes it feel like christmas. i guess if i had lived in florida or southern california, i would be used to the sun and 80 degree weather, but being from washington, i think of cold and wet this time of year. oh well, i have to admit, i love the warmth and the sun. beats the hell out of cold and wet. well, you all have a safe new years eve and a very happy new year. later.......

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS, WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR. hi, hope you all were visited by santa and he brought you lovely gifts. more later, busy, busy, busy. hugs

just a note to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone. hope you enjoy your turkey and give thanks for all you have. i will miss having the big family dinner, but pb&j´s are good any time. lol. a few more pics for your viewing pleasure. fish in the marina at our dock, late at night. dogs having a run on the mogote. beer 30 on the raindancer. daisy´s new friend dori. mel´s new friends.

ok, just a couple more to keep you droolin´ that´s enuff for now. hope you enjoyed the show.

RAINDANCER in the flesh

not done yet....

more, more, more blow up beach chairs and a great picnic. a beautiful sunset from the dock in la paz

dan´s b´day at el gran establo

what? you say you still want more? ok,

still more.....now this is sailing

and some more.....

just a few more....just a little sea of cortez scenery

the pups enjoying the water. me enjoying the pelicanos .

a few more.....hope you are not turning green with envy!!! this is rick and suzanne from KikNit at cruiseport in ensenada

this is mel and dan sitting in the water at ballandra beach. just doesn´t get any better than this, eh??

not much happening here, just lolling around in the sunshine. weather has gotten cooler, only in the 80´s during the day. this morning we had to put on sweats and a long sleeve t shirt. chillly. oh well, by 8 am it was heating up and is pleasant now. never thought i would think low 80´s was chilly, guess i am acclimatizing to mexican weather, huh. we are still in la paz and enjoying the closeness of town, but i am anxious to get back out on the water. tomorrow, we are going with mel and sandy out to the mogote and swim with the whale sharks. they are in the sea now and are very gentle creatures. dinghy´s are going out all the time to swim or just watch them. should be exciting. ralph and angie on nanner moon are on their way from ensenada and are in turtle bay resting up. they should be down here in a week or so. will be good to see them again. when they are rested up, we will take them out to the islands and show them the good spots. yesterday, emily and mark from groovy, showed up in their dinghy. they are back from touring the states in their rv all summer. they are anchored in the harbor not too far from our boat. there is no room in the marina to dock. the baja ha ha will be pulling in, in the next couple of days and they have the slips all reserved. some will stay on and some will leave but for now there is no room at the inn. guess we will be having thanksgiving at palmira marina. they put on a big traditional spread for the cruisers and most of the people go there for it. should be pretty good and i am considering volunteering to help serve, not sure yet. dan hasn´t made up his mind if he wants to go or not. he is not that fond of turkey, so he´s not overly impressed. i love turkey and want to go so we´ll see who wins (usually i get my way). lol. hope this finds everyone well and healthy. we are just enjoying ourselves and loving life. puppies are good and happy, so all is well with our family. hugs to all

here i am again. i have been trying to add pictures of our trip to this blog and so far i am not sure what has happened. if they show up, they are ensenada cruisers, trip from ensenada with suzanne and rick on "kiknit" and all stops on the way. la paz and the beautiful sunsets from our dock. dinner with pat, terry (sunnyside), suzanne and rick (kiknit), caryn and rolland (meliora) at gran establo (owner, chef jorge) and cruising the islands with mel and sandy (big wonderful). i hope they come through, some are great, some are not. hugs

hello again, sorry it´s been so long, but my keyboard decided not to be useful and i had to replace it. now we are working again, so here goes. we are back in la paz after 3 months cruising the sea. what a great place to explore. so many beautiful islands and perfect diving and snorkeling places. the fish are beautiful, so many different and gorgeous colors. it is absolutely amazing. like being in a tropical fish tank. a big one. the beaches are white sand usually and the water temp was almost like bath water. nothing is cold down here, not even the water. it is nice to be back at the dock, with all the conveniences, but anchoring has it´s good points too. the dogs were amazing. they line up on the deck and wait their turn to get into the dinghy and have a hard time containing their excitement until we get close to the beach. then they jump out into the water and swim to shore. once we put the dinghy on the beach, they are in the water and swimming like i had never seen them do before. cept for daisy, she´s not comfortable with it yet, but she has fallen off the boat into the water before and i think she is just a little scared. she´ll come around, i´m sure. she gets in to about her tummy and whines while the other two are paddling around. she likes to dig a hole in the sand under the bow of the dinghy and lay where it´s cool. they all run up and down the beach and try to catch the birds, but so far haven´t had any luck getting any. ha. we are going to stay in la paz until after the first of the year. we are waiting for ralph and angie on nanner moon. they should be down here around the middle of november. we will be having thanksgiving at palmira marina, i think, with the cruising community here. we have heard that they put on quite a spread. i´ll let you know in a future blog. when angie and ralph get here and have settled in, we will be leaving for the islands again to show them the good ones to go to and the ones with lots of bugs and bees to stay away from. not too many bad ones, but we don´t want to go there again. we also want to go diving with the seals. they are so tame, they come up and nuzzle with you. sandy and mel took their son diving with them last week while he was here visiting and sandy just snorkeled and had one come up to her and she cuddled him just like a puppy. she said it was really awesome. so naturally, i want to cuddle with one too. lol. one of the nice things about this marina is the dock restaurant. they have really good food, mexican and american, and it is just a walk up the dock. very convenient. we have a couple of favorites and the waiters all remember us, and know what we usually want. anyway, that´s an update for now, i´ll try to post some pictures, wish me luck. we are both good and the dogs are too. hope the same goes for all of you. remember, we are just a plane ride away. airport is just 15 minutes away and hotels are only a short walk away. you are all welcome to come and visit. hasta luego, mi amigos.

well here we are in isla coronados. it is a pretty large cove about 100 miles north of la paz. we have been cruising in the sea of cortez for a month and have visited many, many islands. this is one of the best with white soft sand and clear turquoise water. the water temp is about 89° and is actually refreshing since it is about 100° out of the water. we have been buddy boating with mel and sandy on ¨big wonderful¨ and yesterday kate and mike on ¨magda jean¨and ron and heather on ¨sundancer¨ pulled in here. we met kate and mike in ensenada, but had only talked on the radio to ron and heather, so it was nice to finally meet them. the dogs have been having lots of fun running and swimming. we have been totally amazed at max and maggie..they love to swim and you can´t keep them in the dinghy when we get close to shore. they jump out before we get up on land. daisy had fallen in the water too many times and she doesn´t like it very much. she will get in to about her tummy and that´s all. when we were in escondito, maggie and daisy were runny full out and came to the end of land, but were going too fast to stop and ended up in deep water. it scared daisy and she kept trying to climb up the wall instead of swimming to the rocks. dan had to lay in the dirt and reach down to get her out. she does know how to swim, but can´t get by being scared. that´s ok. she digs holes in the sand and lays in it in the shade while we swim.

a little while ago, another boat we know hailed us on the radio and said they would be up here in a couple of days, so we will be hanging out here for a while longer. that´s fine with me, so far this is my favorite cove. they don´t allow any jet ski´s in this area, so the big power boats with all the toys on board don´t usually come in here. this is a national park and has a bunch of rules about what you can and cannot do. taking dogs to shore is one of the cannots, but we do any way. all they will do is tell us to take them back to the boat. they don´t destroy anything on shore, so we don´t see the reasons for not allowing them. oh well, some rules were made to be broken, right????

i missed girls camping this year and spent a couple of days thinking of all my buddies laying on their air mattresses on the river, but not really wishing i was there. just missing the girls and the fun. hope they missed me a little bit. we were just too far away to get up there this year. hope they all had fun and nobody fell in the campfire!!!!

well, that´s it for this session, i will try to update again as soon as we can get internet service. we are heading toward a little more civilization now, so i should be able to write more often. take care, stay healthy and have fun. love to all...hugs

well, here i am again. we ordered or dive gear, tanks, regulators, bcd´s, etc. and they should be arriving soon. we have a cruisers net here and it has a really good video of rescuing a humpback baby whale. if you are interested, go to www.club cruceros. org and scroll down the left hand side, yellow, and click on humpback whale rescue. it shows just how large the sea of cortez is and the amazing rescue these people did. we are just about ready to head up that direction. soon as the dive gear gets here and our boat buddies next door-mel and sandy on big wonderful, are ready. they had to recommision their auto pilot yesterday, so they are just about done with their projects. mike and dianna on defiant will be joining us as soon as they get their fm3 cards. (mexican residency). we are getting so excited. we have wanted dive gear for years and finally decided that since mel is a master diver and has the equipment to fill our tanks, that now is the time to do some serious diving. further up the sea, we will be able to dive with manta rays, whale sharks, sea lions and of course, dolphins. mel will give us a quick refresher course on the equipment and then off we go into the deep. wish you all were here and could join us. it is such an awesome adventure to swim with the fishes. there are so many different kinds of fish, so many different kinds and colors of coral, it is truly amazing. can you tell i am really looking forward to this. plus we have been sitting at the dock for way too long again. anchoring out will be good. love the rock and roll of the boat at night when we are anchored. soothing and puts me to sleep. also when it gets too hot we can just take a swim to cool off. the water temp right how is in the high 70´s and will get even warmer as the summer comes on. we bought a couple of floating chairs with cup holders, so we can even have a beer while in the water!!! i am anxious to let the dogs off the boat and let them swim and run on the beach. if we let them off while docked, they seem to think it´s ok to get off any time they want, so we have to leave them on the boat. they haven´t had a good run for a long time and they will really enjoy that freedom again. i will try to update this as often as i can and hopefully post some good pictures while we are sailing. hope this finds everyone well and healthy. take care of yourselves and remember, we are only a plane ride away or a long drive for a great vacation. hugs

hello everyone, just an update. we have finally got our new water tanks installed, the old one had a leak and was too old to repair. the guy that made the new one, had to cut the old one out. seems like they built the interior around the water tank, who knew! he made two so they would fit in the same space and we can shut one off to keep it fresh in case the other one gets fouled somehow. then the water maker went tits up and we have been a month trying to figure out what it´s problem was. replaced every part that is replaceable and finally had a new pump sent from the factory and now we have fresh water again. the marina here has good water, but we need to be able to make our own, when out to sea. we also had an onboard air conditioner installed. the weather has been in the high 90´s -100´s every day and doesn´t cool down until about 7 p.m. since we are planning on leaving la paz the end of june, and going north up the sea of cortez, where it gets in the 120´s, we needed to have the a/c put in. it will only work if we are in a marina, but we have a portable one that we can use with the generator when we are at anchor. at anchor we can also just jump in the water to cool off if necessary. we are planning on taking our time and island hopping all the way. the islands are suppose to be amazing; white sandy beaches and crystal clear water to about 50 feet. we ordered our dive gear and it should be here next week, so we can do some reef diving while we are gone. the sea is full of beautiful coral and different kinds of fish. also can swim with the whale sharks, sea turtles, dolphins and rays. it sounds so exciting, i can hardly wait. we have been at the dock way too long again, but things had to be fixed. someone defined cruising as repairing your boat in exotic ports. guess he knew what he was talking about. every cruiser we have met so far has been working on one project or another. the acronym for b.o.a.t. is¨ break out another thousand.¨ only too true. oh well, we could be buying new lawn mowers!!!! tomorrow our neighbors Mel and Sandy on ¨Big Wonderful¨ and us are driving down to Cabo San Lucas to go shopping at Costco and provisioning for our departure. they are buddy boating with us up the islands. he is renting a car tonight and we are leaving around 8 a.m. it takes about 2-3 hours to drive there and we will be tourists on the way. lots of quaint little mexican villages to peruse. should be lots of fun and i can stock up on raspberry chipotle and other stuff at costco. we have a sam´s club here, but i don´t like it so much, just doesn´t seem to have the good stuff that costco does. well, i guess that about does it for this time. take care of you, stay healthy love u all. rain and capt dano

hey, hey, hey....another quick note. we joined club cruceros and can have mail sent to us directly without going thru our florida address, so i thought i would give it to all of you, just in case you would like to send us a letter or money. it is:
dan or rainy eastman
s/v raindancer
Club Cruceros de La Paz AC
APDO Postal #366
La Paz, B.C.S, Mexico C.P. 23000

We are doing great and enjoying the warm weather. it has been in the 80´s or better every day that we have been here. it´s going to get hotter as the months go by, so we bought a small air conditioner. should keep us comfortable enough. we think of our washington friends quite often and how cold you all must be. we are only a 7 hour plane ride away, come on down and visit any time. love to all

well, here i am again. we have been in La Paz for a week or so. met up with terry and pat from Sunnyside and gave them their groceries we brought down for them. terry was happy to get his red licorice, almost went thru withdrawls. they are taking off tuesday to sail the islands up to Loreto and San Carlos and then put the boat up on the hard for the summer. it gets pretty hot here and they are also from washington so they aren´t ready for 100+ heat. we bought an air conditioner today at home depot that works really good in the salon, which is probably where we will spend a lot of time this summer. it is already in the high 80´s almost every day. for those of you who were worried about us and the tsunami, we never felt a thing. we are in the sea of cortez, on the other side of the pacific coast of mexico, so only the slightest surge was felt here. whew. it was such an awful thing to see on tv, just made me want to cry, such devastation. ok on to a cheerier subject. our trip down the coast was exciting to say the least. we tried to anchor at night as much as possible. some anchorages were pretty good, some not so hot. when we got to Turtle bay (bahia tortugas) which everyone says is a calm bay, we were in 20´seas and gale force winds. it took us about 2 & 1/2 hours to get from the entrance and get anchored. we had waves over the bow and washing back across the deck. we got soaked and so did the dogs. we didn´t get off the boat for 4 days, couldn´t put the dinghy in the water. finally on sunday we got to go to town and do the tourist thing. not much to see, but they did have a laundry. monday, suzanne and i took all of dirty clothes in and they washed, dried and folded them for us. i´m getting out of the habit of doing housework and cooking, and i like it!!!! we got back out to the big blue and sailed to Man o war cove at Magdelina bay. wasn´t too bad, just a long trip. while we were there, every morning the pangas would come by and offer us fresh lobster. the first time, we gave them 6 AA batteries and a bag of candy for 2 big ones. the second day, we gave them a pair of sunglasses and cookies for 3 med. ones. don´t you just love it. we had the port captain take us to san carlos the next day in his panga and when we got there, and he put the pedal to the metal all the way, they loaded us onto a trailer pulled by a pickup truck to get us out of the water (didn´t want to get our feet wet) and then drove us to town still in the panga. it was so much fun. only in mexico. needless to say, we are really enjoying ourselves. from mag bay we sailed all day and all night and all the next day to get around the cape at cabo san lucas. there are no anchorages on the way. the cape is pretty narly, the currents and wind really keep you on your toes. we didn´t stop at cabo san lucas, it costs $120 a night to dock, so we went on to san jose del cabo. really nice marina there for $40 a night. we stayed there for 5 days. suzanne, rick and i walked into town for some groceries. we were told it was about 5 miles, but found out it was more like 10 miles. finally got to the market, got our goodies, and took a cab back to the marina. we were exhausted, sunburned and thirsty. but it was interesting. while we were at a dock, we had rick go up the mast and try to fasten the headsail back on its track, as it came apart. we worked on that sucker for hours before we finally got it reattached top and bottom. what a hassle. but it had to be done before we could get back in the wind. from there we sailed to frailes and waited there for 3 or 4 days for the winds to die down. here there were lots of trailers and campers and the locals called them the tree people. it was a beautiful bay with white sandy beaches. it also had one of only three natural living reefs in north america, so we had to be extra careful and not throw anything harmful over board. next stop was muertos (bay of the dead), aka bay of dreams which all the residents prefer. there was a restaurant called 1535 and dan and i had the best rib steak we have ever had there. perfectly cooked and seasoned. wow, we both said we´d go back there again. we stayed there for about 4 days, as the winds were coming from the north/northwest and we had to go north. no sense beating into the wind if we don´t have to. from there to La Paz. we are in marina de la paz and it´s close to town. we got here just before carnivale and we went in one night to watch the parade, it went on for 5 days and boy was it noisy, lots of bands playing on the malacon and school bands in the parades. but it was fun and it is a big deal in mexico. we were in ensenada last year during carnivale, but didn´t go to town. we have a good restaurant here in the marina, called the dock cafe and we eat there alot. also joined club cruceros which is a cruisers club with activities of all kinds. it´s a great way to meet fellow sailors and trade horror stories. we rented a car this morning and drove out to the wal mart, sam´s club and home depot. then we went to a new store called chadraui. it will be my main shopping store from now on. time for bed, keep in touch, love to all, ...hugs...rainy and capt dano

sailing to La Paz, Mexico

i´m back. we left Ensenada on jan 29 and have been harbor hopping for 2 weeks. right now we are in bahia santa maria. about 10 miles north of magdelina bay, where we will go tomorrow or the next day for fuel and provisions. this bay is so sweet, nobody really wants to leave. nice calm anchorage and very little wind. the temp right now is about 78 degrees and kinda overcast, but has been absolutely beautiful for the two days we´ve been here. our next jaunt is an overnighter around the tip of baja sur and past cabo san lucas. we probably won´t stop for long there, since the moorage and anchorage fees are so pricey. we have been in all kinds of weather so far and stopped in some really cool places and a few that we don´t need to go back to. our first stop was bahia san jose and it was nice, but a little choppy for sleeping. our next stop was at colonet. not too bad. saw my first whale today. when we left, it looked like it was going to rain so we made a mad dash to get underway. have had dolphins with us most of the way down, so far. they are so lovely and friendly. good luck, too, i think. got into colonet early afternoon with just a smidgen of rain so we were happy campers. this bay was horrible. we rocked and rolled all night long, got very little sleep and were glad to get underway again..next stop san quinten (keen teen). one of the best anchorages we were in so far. got a great nights sleep, even the dogs rested well. the winds picked up in the afternoon, but settled right down at sunset. and the stars, omg, the stars are so bright and feel so close like you could reach up and pick one out. awesome. from here we had an overnighter to turtle bay. it started out with a beautiful day sail and a perfectly wonderful night until about 4:30 am. the winds came up and the seas turned ugly. we had confused seas and almost gale force winds, not cool, but manageable. none of got much rest even when it wasn´t our turn on watch. when the sun came up and we finally got to the entrance of turtle bay, we had to head into the wind and have water coming over the bow and washing the decks all the way to the stern. we all got plenty wet. it took us almost two hours to get into anchorage fighting all the way. we had to hand steer most of the way, the waves kept turning the auto pilot and it couldn´t keep up. finally got anchored and went down below to relax. Pioniero was here and noticed that we were drifting a bit, so we had to go up on deck and re-anchor. what a chore, but got it solid and stayed below as much as possible. we had 40+ winds for 4 days. got in on wednesday and didn´t leave the boat until sunday. then went into town and had lunch and a tour of this little community. what a great town and the people are so nice. everyone greets you with a smile and a hola. (hello). we stayed in bahia tortugas til tuesday and headed to ascension bay. just spent the night there and headed to bahia abreojos. battery on this is too low, so i´ll continue as soon as i can. hugs

here we go again. we are leaving our beautiful marina in about a week, if everything goes well. we were suppose to leave on the 15th but we decided to put in a new alternator, as the one that was in was old and not too powerful. (men, more power). shouldn´t take too long. ha ha. after a couple of days of struggling we got the old one off. another couple of days to put the new one on. what a pain. then we had to wait for ralph, on naner moon, to get back from texas to wire it on. got that done, but had a short some where and darn near burned the boat up. started just a small electrical fire. lots of smoke, no damage. luckily. now we have that all fixed and running smoothly but need to go to san diego and get a new raw water pump as the old one is leaking.....does it ever end? it´s like peeling and onion, just layer after layer. lol so now our departure date is around the 28th or so (mom´s 92nd birthday, happy birthday, mom). keep your fingers crossed, we actually may get to la paz after all.
we are off to our favorite restaurant tonight for prime rib and lobster. jerry tries to keep us happy and fat. he likes to put on private parties for us so he comes up with favorite foods, and everybody comes. it´s cool, he makes money, we eat good. win, win. also he has made a craps table in the back room and is teaching some of his local friends how to play, so before long jerry´s casino will be up and running, under cover of night of course. no money exchange, just for fun.
we will really miss it here, but are planning on coming back up in may to spend the summer and ride out the hurricane season. it gets really hot in la paz and further south in the summer so we figured we´d come back this year. in november or so we will head south again and bypass la paz and the sea of cortez and go down to mazatlan and puerto vallarta and get to zewantenero(however its spelled). then to panama for a few months before going thru the canal. so that´s the agenda for now, of course it is subject to change daily. ha. hope this finds all of you healthy and happy. stay warm. hugs and kisses, rain and dan