Yeah, so, when we were in the throes of prepping for our departure into the big blue yonder, my dearest and only brother, Jerry, bet that I wouldn’t make it a year away from family and friends in the States, and we’d be back in San Diego before our one year anniversary. Well, dear brutha, we made it, and we’re not looking back! Time to pay the piper!
How can we possibly wrap up our first year of cruising in a single blog post, you ask? Luckily we don’t have to, because we’ve documented it so well in all of the previous posts! Yet, it seems impossible that 1) we left the security of the United States, Jody’s job, and HOME over a year ago; 2) we’ve been tromping around Mexico for over a year (and still don’t speak very good Spanish – yeah, it’s embarrassing); and 3) we have no inkling of hangin’ it up and going back to our “old” lives any time soon. We would, however, like to reduce Rand’s workload, or at least his dependence on an interweb connection – it’s proven fairly frustrating and contributes to stress no one should feel when out on da boat in the middle of the Sea of Cortez.
It’s been one heck of a year, and once again, we’re going to let the videos and photos speak for us (some of the photos are repeats from other posts, but we think they best reflect our year). Also, I must confess that absent the trips home (see Mexico Hiatus, Home for the Holiday, Fun with Fam at Home, and To San Diego and Back to La Paz) and the contact with our people via our satellite connection (IridiumGo!) and occasional cell/wifi connections, the year would have been much more difficult, particularly for me. So, thank you to those who responded to messages quickly and regularly – you kept me sane.
That said, you’ll see in the photos the prominent role people – old friends, family, and new friends – played over the course of the year. While we thoroughly enjoyed having many picturesque, remote anchorages all to ourselves, our world was greatly enriched by the many visitors who took the time to join us in our new surroundings and by meeting and integrating into the cruising community. There are so many special and interesting people who have chosen this life, and we are lucky to have come across and befriended so many. We’re looking so forward to seeing some of them down the road, and we hope those of you back home will choose to visit us in the upcoming year!
A Year of Hellos:
A Year of Sailing Highlights:
Just WHAT do we do with all of our time?:
One Year Crew Evaluation:
Our buddy-boat, She’s No Lady, leaving Ensenada
Punta Colonet at sunset
FL and SNL laying at anchor off San Quintín
Happy hikers on San Quintín
Panga off Isla Cedros
Capt. Rand sailing through the Baja Ha-ha fleet in Bahía Tortugas
Sea Esta X leaving Bahía Tortugas
The rugged Asunción coast
Panga madness at Abreojos
Gorgeous San Juanico on the Pacific side
San Juanico connection
Nico and crew leave FL a beautiful bug caught off San Juanico
Looking for surf at Bahía Santa Maria
Drying salted fish at Bahía Santa Maria
Shrimpers at work en route to Bahía Magdalena
Court and Spence visit us in Cabo San Lucas
Dusk over Cabo
Crews of FL and SNL on Los Frailes
Cruisers in San Blas
Crocs in the San Blas estuary
Rock cairns in Chamela
Beautiful Chamela
Beach walk between La Cruz and Bucerias with crews of FL, SNL, and Danika
La Cruz office
Reuben and Breezy visit us in La Cruz
Maru of Cruisers’ Comfort
Moonrise (hard to capture on a moving boat — just sayin’) from La Cruz
Tannika and Mathieu visit the crews of FL, SNL, Danika, and Ellie in La Cruz
Beautiful sail on Danika in Bahía de Banderas
The Mexican beer-off
Fighting for Pacifico in Yelapa
Hike to Yelapa waterfall
Beautiful inland enclave of San Sebastian
Monte visits us in La Cruz
S/V Ellie in Paraiso
The lagoon side of Barra de Navidad
Sensing group in Barra
Vannie, Tom, and Barb in Barra
Barra hike
Last Barra sunset for the Sensing group
Sensing teacher, Lee’s, family in Cihuatlán
Walk with Tom and Barb in Melaque
Dinghy raft-up in Tenacatita
The Tenacatita jungle estuary crew
Feeding Rand to the (fake) croc in La Manzanilla
Beautiful beach in Chamela
Rosie chopped off all of Jody’s hair in Chamela
Panga rescue in Chamela
Reunited with Iz and Mark of S/V JollyDogs in Chamela
Sunrise and a rainbow over Pajarera
Making eye contact on Pajarera
Sunset on the passage from Chamela back to Bahía de Banderas
Cruisers at Quinto Elemento
Two of our favs in La Cruz, Maru and Jeff
Serge! Our Lake Tahoe Rookies connection!
Tobin and Gretta visit us in Puerto Vallarta
Al pastor at El Fogoncito in Bucerias
Enjoying the day in Bahía de Banderas
Beautiful morning for fishing in San Blas
Taking shots in Isla Isabela
Isla Isabela inhabitants
Mazatlán bus to my home town – Chula Vista!
Dinner with our buds, minus Iz, in Mazatlán
Bowing down to the chef of the best pork chop this side of the Mississippi – in Mazatlán
Beautiful waters of Ensenada de los Muertos
At rest in La Bonanza with the crew of Ellie
FL on the hook in Bonanza
Frigate bird rookery in Bahía San Gabriel
SNL, FL, and Ryan at Puerto Balandra
Captain Rand checking things out in Balandra
The gang in La Paz
Last evening with Erin and Simon in La Paz
Michael in La Paz
Capt., Erin, and Si at Los Lobos
Ryan, Nan, and three burros in Todos Santos
Gorgeous water in Caleta Partida
More gorgeous views from Isla San Francisco
Evaristo loves cruisers by providing supplies for us to leave our mark, which we didn’t
Sunset over Agua Verde
Rock in Juncalito
Moon Drifter en route to Monserrat with the WCM Baja Rally
Kurt, king of WCM
WCM Rally crew at sunset at Islas Coronados
Hike on Coronados with Kurt and John
Early morning fog enshrouds S/V JollyDogs off Loreto
A visit with Kes, AJ, and Kim in Loreto – yay!
Cribbage at Tripui, Puerto Escondido, with David of S/V Jean Butler
Sunrise from Cabeza de Mechudo
S/V Ellie crew in La Paz
Horrible picture of beautiful mobula rays in Ensenada Grande
One of the mega tenders at Ensenada Grande
Isla San Francisco and M/V Calex
Rincón pano
Wonder why they call it Agua Verde
Amazing waters at Honeymoon Cove, Isla Danzante
Loreto duckie
A view of San Juanico
FL from Geary’s patio in Playa el Burro
Sunset and storm from Santo Domingo
Yet another sunset at Los Arcos
Hangin’ out with new cruiser buds – the crew of S/V Bloom
A look back at Santa Rosalia from the malecon
Huge gathering off the Animas Slot
Sunset at Ensenada el Quemado
Bees in Quemado
Dolphins in Don Juan
S/V Lunasea withstanding the elefante in the Bahía de los Ángeles Village anchorage
BLA museum with Annie, Laurie, Dave, and Tom
S/V Volaré on the hook at La Ventana
A view from the top of La Ventana
Whale shark in BLA Village anchorage
S/V Tao at anchor in Ensenada Alcatraz
UCSD outdoor leadership kayak group in Don Juan following Tropical Stom Lidia
What a super web site you have created. Any time I need something to read I can just click it on and there are up to hours of stuff to look at and read. You are both amazing people, and I never thought I would ever know anyone as adventurous as you are. We love you and are proud to say you are our family.
Jody Fraser
Posted on
So glad you’re enjoying our blog. It’s really fun to pull together and it serves as a diary for us, too. We’re having the time of our lives on this adventure, but we sure miss our families! Thanks for keeping track of us!
Tannika
Posted on
What an awesome year!! I’m happy to have been a small part of it.
What a super web site you have created. Any time I need something to read I can just click it on and there are up to hours of stuff to look at and read. You are both amazing people, and I never thought I would ever know anyone as adventurous as you are. We love you and are proud to say you are our family.
So glad you’re enjoying our blog. It’s really fun to pull together and it serves as a diary for us, too. We’re having the time of our lives on this adventure, but we sure miss our families! Thanks for keeping track of us!
What an awesome year!! I’m happy to have been a small part of it.
You can be a part of next year, too…yes, please!