RETIREMENT

sorry i haven´t updated for so long, but we´ve been doing a lot of things, and nothing really worth posting. we did go up to chatsworth to my nephew´s and dropped off the dogs for a mini vacation to vegas. we stayed for 4 nights and had a really good time. the dogs got along pretty well with david´s four dogs but maggie stayed under his truck for the first day and night. finally she decided to join in the fun and got back to her normal friendly self. i think she thought we had abandoned her. david said one of his dogs mothered them all, so she must have felt safe.



we are planning a trip to La Paz around may 10th. a bunch of us are going to caravan down in the cars and take our time, probably 3 days down and stay for 3 days then head back up to ensendada. we want to check out the marinas there to see which one we want to stay at when we take the boats down in october. some of the cruisers who have driven down say it´s a wonderful drive and the country is beautiful. i can hardly wait. we will be going with Lyle and Karoline from ¨Oasis¨ and Paul and Rebecca from ¨Rendezvous¨ and hopefully, Beth and Gary from ¨Fun in the sun¨. i wish you all could meet these people, they are so great and so much fun to be with.



I´ve had a bout of ¨Moctezuma´s Revenge for the last few days and haven´t ventured too far from the bano, but things are looking better today. i have been getting my vegetables fresh from the vegetable lady at la vendemia every thursday night and i forgot to wash them in microdyne before i ate them and i think that´s what got me. we need to soak all our fresh vegetables and most of the fruit in this stuff because they don´t have the department of agriculture to make sure everything is without germs. they use a different kind of fertilizer [probably straight from the cow!]. any way things are solidifying today and i feel much better.



we got a new anchor for the boat and it arrived today, so we are going to put it on and take the old one off and use it for a spare. the new one is heavier and will hold the boat at anchor a lot better than the smaller one and we won´t drift. it´s just safer. any way that´s what we are up to today.



guess that´s about all that´s new with us. most days it´s just sameo sameo, but definitely not boring. if we get tired of the boat, we just jump in the car and go somewhere. we went to la bufadora [the blow hole]. it´s a local tourist trap with the ocean spray shooting up to 60 feet or more. you can get pretty wet, but it is awesome to see. the power of the ocean is so phenomenal, you don´t really realize it until you see something like that. amazing!



that´s it for today, i´ll try harder to update more often, but you know retirement is just so busy! love to you all, think of us when you are cold. hugs

hi all, well, we made it thru the tsunami threat yesterday safe and sound. we went up to the hotel to wait it out, but we had nothing to speak of. thank god for small favors. it did give us all a good scare tho. every one was either securing their boats or heading out to deeper water. quite a few left the marina, but most stayed and prayed nothing would happen. we met up on the second floor of the hotel and watched the ocean for about and hour or so, then came back to the boat. life is good. excitement keeps us young.

we bought the car and went up to san diego to transfer the title. we had to have u.s. insurance to transfer the title, so we now have u.s. and mexican insurance. we can go anywhere we want to. we have some new people in the marina from canada. bob and jane on "beautiful butterfly".
they needed to go to town for groceries and a tv, so we took them in to costco, wal mart and home depot. then we came back to town later for happy hour at la vendemia (cruisers happy hour is every thursday from 4pm to whenever). la vendemia use to be the ensenada yacht club, but is now an italian restaurant. we have a lot of fun and get to meet cruisers from the 3 other marinas in town. we have a media consultant that comes in and sells dvd's for 2 pesos each so we bought Avatar and ordered a few more that we will pick up next Thursday night. pretty good prices, eh?

Dan and I are taking spanish lessons every wednesday morning after the cruisers breakfast. our professora is alejandra. she lives just up the beach from the hotel, so we walk up. there are 7 of us taking lessons at the same time. we have Mark (from Groovy), Mike (from Defiant), Suzanne (kickin it), Beth and Gary (fun in the sun) and dan & I. it is hard, but lots of fun and we all practice on each other when we can, especially on the walk to class. we have had two lessons so far and she has us practicing sentences already. She is a slave driver. and we are expected to do home work!! and know what we learned last week. wow. the phrasing is the hardest part. very different from english. but we are enjoying it and some day, maybe, i will be able to carry on a conversation in spanish.

guess i had better end this weeks blog, running out of things to say. ha ha. so take care, stay healthy and be happy. love to all hugs

well, here i am again, in beautiful ensenada. looks as though we are going to stay until hurricane season is over....after september anyway. we are in the process of buying a car from some fellow cruisers that are planning on leaving in a few weeks to a month. they are heading south and hope to land in chile eventually. that's a long cruise, but like us, they have time and can see some really different and beautiful places along the way. we wish them fair winds and following seas. they are Bob and Jean from "Flewzy Coup". the car is a Ford Contour, 1996.
We will now be able to go places and do things more often and not have to rely on friends with vehicles or take the bus or a cab, altho, there will be times we will still need the local mode of transportation. Like happy hour nights in town!!

it is Carnivale time here and the town is packed with people celebrating. Singing and dancing in the streets, very much the same as Mardi Gras. i think we will be going in tomorrow for the parade and saturday night festivities. should be lots of fun.

We have some new neighbors on D Dock. They are Mark and Emily on the s/v Groovy. She just had a birthday and we helped her celebrate it with Beth and Gary from the s/v Fun in the Sun on Wednesday. had a few beers, a shot of Don Peron tequila and some good snacks. was quite enjoyable and didn't have to walk far to get back home. Speaking of birthday's, i have to wish my very good friend LORI a great happy birthday and wish i had been there to help her celebrate another year. i haven't missed one for a long time, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LORI.

We did go into TJ's for Super Bowl and had a really fun time. and of course, the best team won!!! We aren't big football fans but we had to root for someone, so we picked the underdog. Who knew.? After the game ended we walked over to La Vendemia, which has happy hour for cruisers on thursday night, to see if we won anything in the superbowl pools, but of course, we didn't. had a couple of margaritas there, then went home. super day, superbowl!

can't think of much more that's interesting from this point of view, cept that the weather is getting warmer and the sun is lasting longer in the day. that's the way i like it, uh huh, uh huh.
so with that i'll close with the normal "i love and miss you all. hasta luego mi amigos

hi everyone. greetings again from ensenada. yup, we're still here. andy, i think we are going to watch super bowl at TJ's here in ensenada. doesn't look like we will be in LaPaz for at least another month or so. we have a few more things to do to the boat before we leave and dan has to go to san diego to west marine for parts. betty, was good to hear from you. sorry we didn't get to see you before we left, but things were very hectic for the last couple of days. keep in touch and we'll do the same.

dan and i went into town last sunday for a few groceries and stopped at TJ's for a couple of Bufadora beers. i had a cold and after a couple of beers, decided to take a couple of cold tablets with a shot of Don Peron tequila then a couple more beers. Bufadora is 7.9 alcohol so is very potent. i woke up Monday morning with a black eye and a big lump on my forehead. when i went to the bathroom, the floor came up to say hi to my face. now i have two black eyes and a bruised nose, but it's not so purple any more and it doesn't hurt to look in the mirror. everyone in the marina thinks it's pretty funny so i have managed to make a lot of people laugh. seems like everyone has done the same thing at one time or another. lol

our neighbor, terry on the s/v Sunnyside, is helping dan run the wires for the SSB and the internet connection today. it will be nice to have internet when we are away from the dock or in a cove that doesn't have i-net connection. our weather has turned sunny and warm again. we have had more rain in the last month then they have had in years down here and being from washington, you know who they are blaming. lol

ok, i guess that's enough for today. be safe, stay healthy and have fun. love to all hugs

buenos tardes mi amigos.

not much different happening here. we are having a cold front coming in, so the weather is not doing it's usual sun shine thing. we are just hanging out on the good ship Raindancer and watching tv. i had my first massage today. omg, what have i been missing all my life? my advise to any one who has never had one, go now, don't wait. it is the most relaxing thing i have ever done. i could get very, very used to this. the cost was $36.00 for a full body massage that lasted about 30 wonderful minutes. after she was done, she said to lay there and relax for 5 minutes and i fell asleep for 10. lol

we are going into town one of these days to the movies to see Avatar. everyone says it is so good, we have to see for ourselves. victor and andre' went to see it first in english, but not in 3D, so they went again to see it in spanish and 3D. we found a theater that is playing it in english and 3D so we are going there. it is way out of town by the big box stores and will probably cost $10 for the cab ride, but oh well, i want the full meal deal!

we are still planning on leaving ensenada in the near future, but right now we are waiting for a good weather window. so far the prediction is wet and windy for the next week. high wind waves are not in our favor, so we will wait it out. we are paid up here thru the 10th of feb., but plan on leaving before then. we are both anxious to get back out on the water and get south before spring, so we can acclimatize before the summer heat in LaPaz. plus we are looking forward to seeing Andy and Candy from Chinook Landing Marina in Tacoma, in Feb. hi guys.

Dan says he can't think of anything else to add so i'll close this for today and end with the usual, take care, stay healthy and love to all. hugs

happy 2010 everyone. hope your new years eve was happy and everyone was safe. we had a little get together at the end of our dock and had a nice time with fireworks and the whole schmere. had a good time and was home by 10:30. time has a different meaning here. we went into town and walked about 5 or 6 miles all over the downtown area and out towards the big box stores. we are doing a lot of walking and it is really helping the lax muscles we have developed over the last 5 years of setting around the house. it feels really good. town here is much different than up in the states and you must watch your footing very carefully, but it is interesting and very colorful. the street vendors are everywhere and bug you to buy their wares, but are not too obnoxious about it. the restaurants are inexpensive and the food is awesome.

As soon as Dan has the SSB radio all hooked up, i think we will be heading south. we are getting anxious to get along with our voyage. it is so beautiful here, it is hard to leave, but time moves on and so should we. the dogs are doing well and we take them down to the beach for a run and a swim. its amazing that they like to swim here, but hated it at home. maybe the water temperature has something to do with that, but they love the water now.

Not much else to report. hope you like some of the pictures i have posted. oh yeah, itś the first of january and i am wearing a tank top and shorts. the weather is absolutely gorgeous and about 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and itś suppose to be like this for a least another week. love to all hugs