y 4th… Underway, Under Baja Sun…
we are on the water – hardly forgot how to do this boating thing at all. Well, maybe one or two very minor glitches.. but that’s boating. The sun is shining, the seas are flat, there is no wind – it’s all good!
And I am at a level 8… which means, in happiness quotient terms… on the water, in the sun, and I have a fishing line in the water. Level 9 means the fish are jumping like mad. Level 10 means I get one on my line. I don’t have a level 11 – Fish In The Boat – because most of the time just having a fish on that line is good enough for me. Happened a few times when we were down here before – playing something like mad, watching it jump, arms aching in a “wicked tuna’ kinda way… especially seeing that thing jump. I can honestly say it was HUGE! Well, maybe not honestly, but it would have been a bit crazy to land it.
When I do land a fish… there’s all that messy stuff like killing it ( killing these Baja fish is a lot harder and gorier than killing my little one-pound trout or ten-pound salmon – it’s more like dealing with a 40 inch ling cod).. and then there’s the cleaning it.
I love to cook and eat it mind you… but still..
so here I am at level 8. Pretty damn fine!!! I only have one rod in the water because after half an hour of dealing with an old backlash and almost getting it untangled ( while the lure was in the water yet… there’s always a chance I might get one.. I was wearing gloves.. it’s all good) .. the line actually broke on the reel. Luckily I was holding the bitter end of the lure line, so no lure was lost in the production. I wonder who brought that line in last? I am pretty sure that’s the one I replaced before the last trip… no problem.. deal with that later…)
Much later… we have had a wonderful day, entered Partida and found Colibri and Sea Level and a few sail boats… anchored and connected with everyone . They were on shore for a walk, came back to our boat for a beer and a chat and planning time for the rest of the day. Turns out there are some amazing caves on the other side, if you wait for high tide to take you through the gap between the islands, (hence the name Isla Partida? ) We found an absolutely stunning display of the geology of the Baja. Hard to describe, but the different colours and rocks and formations made us all think of castles and Scylla and Charybdis …. we tucked ourselves into a few caves, prayed that the rocks didn’t plop down on us… and explored the other side of the islands. It was pretty spectacular!!! Oddly enough very little in the way of sea life or even birds. We did see a small ray jump out of the water, and a few fish jumping in the distance, but otherwise it was pretty desolate. Maybe the constant threat of a mountain of boulders rolling down ( or in some cases just dumping down from the heavens above) makes spending too much time there a bit dicy.
Then back to the boats, where Kim made Margueritas. We had a fantastic dinner thanks to all the boats – music courtesy of Cam… just a typical night on Sea Level II.
Colibri Dinghied us home, to find that yet again we have lost the kayak. I cannot believe that my round turn and two half hitches has failed again. Really??? it is windy, but it seems to me that a line shouldn’t undo itself that easily. Unfortunately the other kayak blew its zipper when I over inflated it and it sat in the sun for , like, five minutes. Boom. Zipper blown. Not too sure that I can fix that tomorrow , which means no kayak for the trip. Quite bummed out now. Suddenly my Level 8 has gone to Level 3 or lower.
Time for bed ….. Hopefully things will all come around and tomorrow will either find our once again missing kayak or we will figure out how to fix the zipper on the busted kayak.
Positive thoughts. And really…. the wind is blowing, the lines are zinging, the halyards are clanging.. I guess there are other things to worry about .
What did Scarlet say??? something about Tomorrow?? exactly.
MAY FIFTH the next morning…
The Kayak has been spotted and we have picked it up. That’s twice she has tried to jump ship and twice we have been able to find her. I had better learn a new knot. Christof says that bowlines are good. Time to start practicing!!!!