We left La Paz on monday a little after noon headed south, south east on course to Isla Isabella. We had beautiful seas, steady winds around 10-14 and a wonderful sail to cover the 300 miles. We stood our watches, slept, read books, watched huge pods of dolphins, and ate light meals, watching our miles to destination meter tick off. We arrived at isla isabella around 3 am early thursday morning. The moon had just came up to help light the way in, but it didn;t reveal what our spotlight did once we turned it on. A crazy maze of fishing nets everywhere! We had to weave and dodge the floating buoys, ( old milk jugs and soda bottles holing the nets) to get into the anchorage. It was a little stressful to say the least. We hooked up real nice in the rocks on our second attempt, in about 15 feet of water with the sound of waves breaking on the beach. We opened a beer to enjoy and after, satisfied that we were holding went to bed. The next day we did some snorkeling around, and then loaded up in the dingy and headed to the beach. This island is full of birds, and that understates it. There are birds everywhere, circling in the air, nesting on ground, roosting in trees, and dead. we found the education center? where they have a visitor guest book. we looked back a dozen pages and found our names from 3 years ago, pretty cool. We went for a nice walk, attempting to go around the whole island, but the trails had been overgrown, and we settled for a shorter hike. Plus we had ben invited for drinks aboard a very nice expensive looking motorsailer, and we had wings to cook up for dinner! Well our afternoon aboard our new friends boats is a story in itself, but for now lets just say we, had some drinks, ate some great food, and made new friends. We left happy and got a great nights sleep, and woke up to shakira waka waka in the morning for some sunrise dancing before we pulled up our anchor and headed the 37 miles to San Blas, and the promise of even warmer water and coconuts! Along the way we saw a bunch of wales, playing around, breaching out of the water. Whale watching never gets old. :)
We made San blas in the Afternoon, and set our hook. The water temop was now reading 72 degrees, getting nicer. We all decided to hope in and go for a paddle over to SV Lady Hawk and say hello. We knew Lady Hawk from 3 years before when we had been sailing and it was nice to see them again. With the surf not happing, we improvised and started towing us behind the dink on the longboard. It was great to stand up and get to wake surf. our motor was a little underpowered, but then Mike from Lady Hawk got in his dink with the 15 horse outboard, and with that pulling us, we could really fly around on the boards. We spent the rest of the evening towing ourselves around the bay, and then enjoyed a fabulous completion dinner of giant tacos, fresh salad and spicy chinese noodle dish. It seems that every day gets better then the next. We are eagerly looking forward to our prawn cook tonight, 2 kilos of camarones, here we come!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Hasta Luego La Paz!
After having a blast in La Paz and Kite Boarding in La Ventana it is time for Gadfly to continue on to Isla Isabella. It will be a roughly 300 mile passage back across the Sea of Cortez and should take about 3 days. Wind forcasts are very favorable and we anticipate smooth sailing. We want to put a shout out to Nates Uncle Irl, Aunt Barbara, and Roy Greening who had a huge hand in making this dream come true. Just a little history of Gadfly II for you. She is a Kaiulani 38' designed by Ted Brewer and built in Maine by John Yohe for Roy and Barbara Greening in 1986. You can check specs here: http://www.tedbrewer.com/sail_steel/kaiulani38.htm
After traveling much of the east coast, and Great Lakes, she was hauled out and trucked to the West Coast where Roy and Barb travelled north through the inside passage until reaching Juneau where they worked in the medical field and settled. Roy developed cancer and passed away leaving Barb, Gadfly, and their beautiful home on the southern Alaska coast behind. Years later, Nate's uncle Irl developed a strong friendship with Barb and they eventually fell in love. In 2005 Nate and his father Steve hiked the Chilkoot Trail with Irl and Barb. During the excursion there was much discussion about the future of Gadfly II. Barb was reluctantly attempting to sell her as she was in need of serious maintenance and becoming a burden. Nate and Steve offered to take her over and maintain her. They both had a lot of sailing experience and wanted to do some world traveling. Gadfly II would be the perfect vessel. Thinking she would be sold soon they never expected what happened next. Barb had some people lined up to purchase but the deal fell threw. She called them and asked if they were serious about wanting Gadfly. They said "Of Course!" and she responded with "Well come get her!" 7 months later all 4 of them were headed south through the inside passage together. Barb and Irl said goodbye to Gadfly II in Port Townsend Washington. Steve and Nate continued south to Ventura California where Gadfly was hauled out and underwent a major 2 1/2 month overhaul. Nate designed a new stainless tower with davits and solar panels and a new paint scheme honoring her Alaskan roots. Lots of time and $$ was invested to get her up to date and pretty once again. After splashing her, Nate and Steve continued south to Mexico where they met many fellow cruisers and developed friendships with people from all walks of life. Sean Schesinger and Luke Bishop were some of those people. Then aboard SV Cloud Dancer they had just finished college and were on a cruising vacation of Mexico. Gadfly and Cloud Dancer met up in Cabo San Lucas during New Years of '07/'08. Continued buddy boating south creating many memories and having lots of laughs. Eventually anchoring in Barra de Navidad where they spent almost 3 months with lots of new friends. They left Barra de Navidad in late March and travelled back North to San Carlos where Luke's parents have a beautiful house overlooking the bay. Gadfly II was hauled out and put in Marina Seca (Dry Storage) awaiting it's crew for the next season. Things didn't work out completely according to plan due to the economy and took a couple of years before we could get back to Mexico.
But here we are 2011 and settting sail once again! The current crew of Gadfly II includes:
Nathan Palmer
Jacqui Bishop
Sean Schesinger
Luke Bishop
We are a crew of young, adventurous persons with similar interests and varied skills. Very key to the success and over all enjoyment of our voyage. We are trying to figure out ways to extend our voyage through sponsorships and donations. We are capturing lots of great video footage and and pictures. If anyone out there has friends in the "Industry" we are very interested in any help that they may be able to provide. Thanks for subscribing to our blog and please be patient as we will have some edited video up for your enjoyment soon!
May you be smiling down on us Roy! And another BIG thanks again to Irl and Barb up in Juneau, AK. We love you lots!
After traveling much of the east coast, and Great Lakes, she was hauled out and trucked to the West Coast where Roy and Barb travelled north through the inside passage until reaching Juneau where they worked in the medical field and settled. Roy developed cancer and passed away leaving Barb, Gadfly, and their beautiful home on the southern Alaska coast behind. Years later, Nate's uncle Irl developed a strong friendship with Barb and they eventually fell in love. In 2005 Nate and his father Steve hiked the Chilkoot Trail with Irl and Barb. During the excursion there was much discussion about the future of Gadfly II. Barb was reluctantly attempting to sell her as she was in need of serious maintenance and becoming a burden. Nate and Steve offered to take her over and maintain her. They both had a lot of sailing experience and wanted to do some world traveling. Gadfly II would be the perfect vessel. Thinking she would be sold soon they never expected what happened next. Barb had some people lined up to purchase but the deal fell threw. She called them and asked if they were serious about wanting Gadfly. They said "Of Course!" and she responded with "Well come get her!" 7 months later all 4 of them were headed south through the inside passage together. Barb and Irl said goodbye to Gadfly II in Port Townsend Washington. Steve and Nate continued south to Ventura California where Gadfly was hauled out and underwent a major 2 1/2 month overhaul. Nate designed a new stainless tower with davits and solar panels and a new paint scheme honoring her Alaskan roots. Lots of time and $$ was invested to get her up to date and pretty once again. After splashing her, Nate and Steve continued south to Mexico where they met many fellow cruisers and developed friendships with people from all walks of life. Sean Schesinger and Luke Bishop were some of those people. Then aboard SV Cloud Dancer they had just finished college and were on a cruising vacation of Mexico. Gadfly and Cloud Dancer met up in Cabo San Lucas during New Years of '07/'08. Continued buddy boating south creating many memories and having lots of laughs. Eventually anchoring in Barra de Navidad where they spent almost 3 months with lots of new friends. They left Barra de Navidad in late March and travelled back North to San Carlos where Luke's parents have a beautiful house overlooking the bay. Gadfly II was hauled out and put in Marina Seca (Dry Storage) awaiting it's crew for the next season. Things didn't work out completely according to plan due to the economy and took a couple of years before we could get back to Mexico.
But here we are 2011 and settting sail once again! The current crew of Gadfly II includes:
Nathan Palmer
Jacqui Bishop
Sean Schesinger
Luke Bishop
We are a crew of young, adventurous persons with similar interests and varied skills. Very key to the success and over all enjoyment of our voyage. We are trying to figure out ways to extend our voyage through sponsorships and donations. We are capturing lots of great video footage and and pictures. If anyone out there has friends in the "Industry" we are very interested in any help that they may be able to provide. Thanks for subscribing to our blog and please be patient as we will have some edited video up for your enjoyment soon!
May you be smiling down on us Roy! And another BIG thanks again to Irl and Barb up in Juneau, AK. We love you lots!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
San Carlos to La Paz
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Anchors Away
The mooring lines will be released at 12 noon and we will set sail, waiving to friends and admirers, our course will be south and our adventure will begin the next chapter. La Paz here we come!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
In the Water
3 days in the yard at the marina seca, and we had Gadfly II ready for the water. We put her in yesterday around noon, and all is well. We are hooked on a mooring in bahia san carlos, thanks to our friends Chuck and Linda. its calm and wonderful to be floating again! Now we must stow everything to make ready for our trip, with our first passage being to La Paz.
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