LandfallVoyages

Morning Coffee, the Viva Mexico Edition

Apparently Mexico beat Brazil in the Olympic soccer final and won the gold. I had no idea until I pedaled out for coffee this morning. The whole waterfront and gringo shopping district (shopping for gringos, not shopping  for gringos) was filled with Mexicanos locos screaming VIVA MEXICO! from cars, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles or anything else, all […]

Three Dead Bodies in Ensenada

Every time we walk around town, the many differences between Mexico and the United States strike me anew. People are kind here. Old people are treated with respect. You step out of their way and wait patiently, everyone does, it’s understood that they are doing their best. Cars, all cars, stop for you so you […]

Kick a hole right in the sky

Hurricane Fabio may be spinning itself into dissipation but it’s not going down without a fight. Walking back from the dentist’s office last night we were treated to an epic, knock down drag out battle between Fabio and the setting sun.              

Danger, Will Robinson

The other morning I heard the unmistakable drowning lawnmower drone of an incoming skiff. Coming in kind of hot, actually. That’s not so unusual. Our boat is parked in slip 13, out at the very end of C-Dock and a lot of visiting boats take advantage of the extra long dock space. Some of them […]

Navy Boats in San Diego

In Dana Point, you can’t turn around without having some, admittedly very well mannered, harbor cop crawling all up in your nethers. Again, they were hella nice, but I’m a grown up girl and comfortable with the idea of being responsible for my own actions. Tell me the rules and I’m good to go. I […]

Random Ensenada

Steering Shakedown

No matter how well it goes, after any major repair, you’ve got to go out and give things a test run. See what stays fixed, what new things break, and how many other things decide it’s all of a sudden time to pack it in and take a vacation. I don’t like to be ruled […]

Old Town San Diego

This was supposed to be a picture of pigeon parking. Just up the street from the dinghy dock, we spied a smallish flock of pigeons in various states of repose, scattered liberally amongst the blue lines marking off a handicapped parking space. They were supremely uninterested in us, which of course made them irresistible. It […]

Replace Your Hydraulic Steering Lines in Ten Steps or More

Old boats are a lot like old cars, in that the minute you’ve fixed one thing on them, something else decides it’s time to take a permanent vacation. And so it is that our minor hydraulic steering leak went from trickling status to OMG she’s bleeding out. We’ve been trying to isolate the leak for […]

Trip Down to Oceanside

Today  started off rather inauspiciously with a cold, grey overcast that betrayed no hint  of the gorgeous day we had yesterday,  but by the time we stowed everything that needed stowing, the sun was starting to peek through. After we filled our freshwater tanks and pumped out the holding tank,  El Sol had Señor Overcast […]