Conch shell greeting

Tradition has it that when sailors enter or exit a port they announce their arrival/departure with a conch shell horn.  We've found some wonderful conch shells along the way and the kids quickly learned how to blow them to alert anyone nearby of our whereabouts.  Friends on Meshach showed us how to saw off one end to create just the right opening to blow through...and it worked!

One morning at 3 am we were awakened by the sound of a conch shell horn.  Coincidentally it was our good friends on Meshach letting us know they had just about run aground and we were about to do the same.  The tide had swung a little further out than we had both expected and it was Mother Nature's way of telling us, "It's time to get going!"   So off we went on a midnight sail.

You just never know when those conch shells will come in handy!

Poems on the hook

Halyard Swing

A swing can bring in the breeze
And fling kids’ cheers like wings into the air
Until it drinks them into the
Bottom of its salty seat.


Then up, Let’s rise, stop, swoosh, then lean out, see water below
And “hello” here I come
Raging an arc
Close cut to the hull until I pull up and spring out to the other side of the deck
And glide top side again.

June 2010, Carmen Island (Baja, MX)

Cookie Coma

Cookie Coma

Imagine.  A warm, lumpy brown cookie

rippled with chocolate chips after

an enlivening snorkel escapade and fresh

water rinse off!

Warm in the galley the sunset shuts

Off.

the sea’s roll

Halts.

a gull’s cry snaps in two... The first bite! 

All senses to their stations.

It is done.  The sugary, buttery, baked

Batter swallowed.

The sun picks up where it was falling,

The mixing bowl lists and rocks again,

The gulls’ cries resume.

Senses creep back to their beds.  

-Doug   

(Los Arcos, returning after a day’s dive)

One of my favorite cruiser days

Cruiser days are filled with many exciting activities but one of my favorite days along the way so far was the day two cruiser families and HanaCrew hung out at Los Arcos, an anchorage off the coast of Santa Rosalia.  The cave effect of the rocks creates a shallow pool area to swim in and the seashell collecting keeps us all occupied for hours.  That special day kids and adults jumped off a boulder situated at the edge of the water and splashed into the cool water bringing great relief from the hot temps on board our boats.  Conversations abounded with spear fishing stories, sailing tales, boat maintenance questions, reviews of recently read books, and talk of the possibility of making the 21-day passage to the South Pacific next spring.  There couldn't be a more relaxed and beautiful environment anywhere.

She sells sea shells

We see, collect, and leave behindtons of uniquely beautiful shells out here. Take a look...

What a day! by Chandler

Flip-flop
Doodle dot
Splish-splash
Engine drop
Zoom zoom
Beach walk
Water play
Spa-ghet- tay
"What a day!"

poem by Chandler