Sunday, December 30, 2007

Happy New year! we caught fish

Well the fish gods are with us . we caught 4 tuna yesterday and 5 more today. bang bang. just like that. using green zukers and following the birds.( this was taught to us by our Tuna man "Dave" we met in Cresent city! they are about 10 pounds each. we are motor sailing right now as there is just a smalll breeze. our friends are just ahead with their spinaker flying. we almost sunk our boat last night. one of the hoses on the water maker blew off, and the thru hull was still open. took only 15
minutes for us to have water half way up our engine pan in the bilge. quite the scare, thankfully we found the problem quick and pumped it all out - thank god for the manual emergency bilge pump!! and the hose is fixed and the thru hull will be doubley checked that it is closed!

take care all we will be in Mag Bay sometime tomorrow Jan 1 2008

hugs,
Dionne

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Still in Turtle Bay

Still in Turtle Bay there is a weather system coming through with 35knt winds expected. we are all set with an extra anchor line on our anchor and an a 2nd anchor added to the end of the chain for extra weight.
We went to shore - had to do a surf landing, which is quite the trick. we managed to keep us and boat dry until we went to leave and we were a little slow and got hit with the surf. Filled our boat with sea water and poor Emma (who was in the bow) and Maya got totally soaked. I also got soaked but I was still in the water trying to help push the dingy in deeper when the surf got me. Thank god it's not cold out!! Our experienced friends (Tillicum) also got wet in their dingy. We will get it figured
out!!
The Bahia de Tortugas village is quite small and poor. Talk about a culture shock. Main road is a dirt road and the main stores, well you can't really tell the difference between the homes and stores. Learned to bring our own TP and wet ones!!
Thank god for our friends who speak a little Spanish - I am picking a few words up here and there and can figure out how to read some. I think this stop has been an eye opener for Steve and the kids. ( remember I've been to China so I wasn't caught to off guard).
Do plan on posting photos when I get to internet. Thank god for the ham and pactor modem we bought . to think I was initially against the Pactor modem!! How stupid of me.

Monday, December 24, 2007

We made it to Turtle Bay Mexico!!

I am sending this via my mom through the ham radio as there is no internet access here at Turtle Bay. So all photos will have to wait until I find internet. ( trust me I will find away - there actually is one wireless network but it needs a WEP key)

Trivia Question #15 - I'm sure you've all figured out is Turtle Bay and Karen got it first ( I was able to read the blog before we left on Thursday Dec 20) Karen answered so fast I barely had it up

We arrived on the 23rd at 1;30pm in the afternoon. We sailed most of the way here and only had the engine running for one day. Dec. 23 at 2:31 am was our fastest sail @ 6.8knts - good waves too. took a lot of green water on the deck and even had it splash the back window of our enclosure. We were healed over to starboard and washed the deck a few times. Good fun!! I sure trust this boat! We did manage to chafe through our 1 & 2 reef lines from inside the boom , so we have some repairs to do.

We traveled 386 nautical miles from San Diego to Turtle Bay that's 65 hrs of straight traveling!
(not our longest though Port Angelos to Cresent City was longer, however this one was tougher in that we all got sick and had lots of confused seas!)
Steve has also figured out that we have traveled over 1500 nautical miles from Vancouver to here. !! wow that's a lot! .
It is sunny and warm ( a little windy on the water) and we have dolphins playing right off our bow. We are anchored with an 8 to 1 scope as it was really windy last night ( 25-30 knts) Apparently the grey whale migrates here and we should see some in the bay. Cross our fingers!! It is very brown and deserty here. This is were the desert meets the sea. On the southside of where we are anchored there is a place with lots of whale bones, so we will go for an adventure on Christmas day.
The villagers cruise the bay in "pangas" bringing fuel to us if we need it.
We are getting ready to head to the village - We need to learn our spanish!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!!


Well we are leaving San Diego today and going straight to Mexico. Our destination you will have to translate : Trivia Question #15 “Bahia de Tortuga” What is it in English ?

We will be traveling for 3-4 days so this is the last blog entry before Christmas. I understand internet is hard to get on the Baja, so not sure when we will be able to update. But trust me to find away ASAP.
So Steve,Dionne,Kyle, Maya , and Emma wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and we love you !!! xoxoxoxo
We will try to call when we find land and a phone together-

Have got our solar panels and the water maker works, except the pump is not powerful enough. Fortunately we have a pump we can use and Steve is just needing some fittings which we will pick up before we go. The water tastes great!! Yeah ! IT IS WORKING NOW !!!! Steve just changed the pump.
Weather looks good going down and we will be meeting up with our buddies on “Free Style” and “Tillicum” – ( Tillicum is a Canadian boat and they know Gillian West & Glenory Doherty– pass on a hi to them)

Hope Santa is good to everyone and I trust he will find us wherever we are!!

We are hoping to be in Magdalina Bay for New Years ( I’ve got a big bottle of Captain Morgans Coconut Rum – only pd $16 for a 40lber, just for the occasion )

Orca III signing off for now – Happy New Year’s too, just in case I can’t find internet

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Last night on the dock.....and they are calling for rain.. what's that?


we are going to go and anchor out tomorrow.we will be close to downtown and will wait there until our solar panels come in. They are supposed to be in on Thursday - got my stove and its already installed. sure burns hotter!! I have already baked butter tarts and sugar cookies - the kids will decorate them tonight. Our fellow cruisers who are from Oceanside have never had butter tarts before. I am dropping some off for them to try!!! I am on a mission to find either frozen or fresh cranberries. Trader Joes and Von's ( aka safeway) here don't have any as there is a shortage. so I had to resort to buying canned cranberry sauce. However, I am still looking -
Steve has the water maker all hooked up but when he was starting it water leaked from behind the back. so tomorrow he will investigate what happened............hope it is something small.
There are 4 canadian boats here on the dock right now and 2 of them are from Vancouver and Coquitlam.............. cool, eh?! "the canadians are come'n!!.....)

answer #14 - drum roll please............. Annette is right - the pilot house window curtains ( she did 90%of them... I believe I took all the kids to the park - and she is so much better at making them than me!) as for the material on mine and Steve's stocking - mom was right about the long underwear.............. just joking it's on our foam cover for our master bedroom ( didn't know we had one of those *wink tee hee*)
Once again thank you all for playing Tremblay Trivia aboard the Orca III ........
question #15
How many Californian ports has Orca III been in ? name them...............

Monday, December 17, 2007

Just hanging around





We've been doing boat projects, socializing, and a bit of Christmas. Me and the kids have made us some stockings as I didn't bring anything Christmas from home. Not bad,eh . I think they look excellent. Kyle and Maya even sewed their own. I had them trace the pattern, pin and cut it to. Emma helped with the pinning and cutting and she has been busy making clothes for her stuffies. Today I will help her sew them.
We rented a car and did some running around. The two cruising women and me shopped till we dropped and had a blast!! Felt like Christmas! This boat is soooooo loaded with food!! Our buddies are leaving today for Mexico and we catch up to them. Our stove is supposed to be here sometime today and then it's just the solar panels................ Hope they come today as well. cross your fingers!!
Last night we watched the boat parade here. It's quite the competion. They decorate with lights and parade down the harbour past the judges boat............ Abosolutely fanstastic. my digital camera doesn't do it justice, but I also used the 35mm with the telephoto lens and those will be good. (These are our buddies)We all watched together and had a popcorn feast ( yes my special popcorn with the nutmeg and sugar- was loved by all)
?Trivia # 14 ( i think)
Where else on our boat has the fabric in Maya and Emma's stocking ( and the top part of Kyle's) been used?
bonus question - how about the fabric on Steve and Dionne's stocking? - now this one's a nasty one! have fun!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Midway tour

Steve trying to get his fix!!



Well that was pretty good Dad and Joe. There are 10 bays,the torpedoes are 22 ft long and their speed was 49knts. This is question brought you by Kyle tremblay.
We went and toured the aircraft carrier " Midway" - wow, is it ever huge !!! An excellent tour! You must see it when you come to San Diego- they had all kinds of planes on the flight deck and down in the hanger deck. They even had the cockpits of other planes for us to go into!! Very well done!! we were there over 4 hrs and could spend some more time to see everything and hear everything. There were actual men who were pilots on the Midway doing talks on landing and catapulling! They were great! Kyle really loved all the planes, fighter jets, and helecopters - there were all kinds - all carrier aircraft that operated from 1945-1992 . The "midway" was decommissioned in 1992. Maya, and Emma even thought it was good. Of Course Steve and Kyle were in their element.
We rented a car for today to provision up with food and Christmas. me and a fellow female cruiser are going first thing this morning to get food and then Steve and kids and I will get whatever else. Everything is so far away from the transient dock.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

* Another day in paradise!*


Well we now have 8 new batteries! got them for $107 each (do the math) but believe it or not we got a deal ( they were $133 each) pays to talk and meet people! Steve installed them right away and all is honky dory. We are also waiting for our solar panels to come it. mid week they say (we got a great deal on them $1800 after tax and a regulator and 4x65 watt panels) so that's quite exciting! had a big pot luck dinner on our boat last night with 3 other cruising boats (1 canadian, 2 american) that are going to Mexico too. We will be meeting up there too.
I managed to get us a key to the pool/hot tub at the Kona Kai hotel just off to the left of us.So once again we are sort of at a resort (kinda) even had the seagulls wanting to swim in the pool!!

Dana got the pirate question right - well done Dana!! applause applause, *tee hee*
loved Terry's answer!!

Trivia #14
How many torpedo bays does the "Russian Submarine" have? how long are the torpedoes and how fast can they travel?

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Trivia #13 Question

oops for got the trivia question - this is especially for Auntie Sandy- (I hate to disappoint)...*wink wink* tee hee :) but you all can answer.

Why did pirates wear a patch over one eye?

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Getting Mexican Visa's !


We went to the Mexican Consulat to get our visas for mexico!!! they are for 6 months and we also got our fishing licenses for all of us and the boat too! $387.00 - ouch but we have no choice as we have fishing gear on the boat so it is manditory and everyone on the boat must has to have a license if the boat has one. better than the altenative - seize the boat if you are caught without one!!
We toured the maritime museum today - saw 2 big tall ships, one that was in the film "Master and Commander" and the Star of India" which had a grade 5 group on a field trip so there was an actor ( and sailor), Captain Al who was the " captain" he even quizzed our kids, it was fun.He was also in the master and commander movie Unfortunately I forgot my camera!! however one of the teachers took some pictures of us and will email them to me. we also toured ................. THE RUSSIAN SUB! yes you read that right the original Russian Sub ( that a few of us had shares in a long time ago) the Foxtrot that was at the Westminster Quay - but they are calling it the B-39 instead U521.Because Steve told the girl in the museum all about it she let us in for free!! so that's how we toured all the ships.Funny, eh? Hope to get some photo's tomorrow
We also got free passes to see the aircraft carrier "Midway" so hopefully tomorrow we will see that. Have met a few more cruisers who are just starting out and going the same way we are.

Monday, December 10, 2007

dophins everywhere when we left





Good morning !! we have arrived in San Diego. 6:45 am tied to the police dock waiting to check in. We sailed almost the whole way, at 3am we had to start our engine.
We had a whole lot of dolphins all around us when we left Redondo Beach!!! Everywhere in front, behind, beside and in our bow wake. Even had a couple do a small jump! Missed it with the camera though.
Had a great 22 hr run. no one got sick and just the kids felt a little queasy for a short time.
the answer to trivia question #12 is ( and Mark (Clark? is that you?) got it) it's an egg sack from the horned shark - cool,eh? Auntie Sandy for being so close we will send your "egg sack prize" to Auntie Ila's :)*tee hee*
Annette, Lincoln and Grant I had bets you guys would be first with the answer. What happened?

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Trivia #12 What is this in Maya's hand?



Well glad to see you've all been trying to learn about where we currently are. The answer I was looking for was HUGE WAVES, a lot of them! They came crashing in over the breakwater and hitting the hotel and wiping out some of the marina. We saw a picture of it in the harbor masters office. ( i forget when it happened ) thanks for playing Tremblay troup trivia!!!! coming to you live aboard the Orca III - just had to say that!! :)
It was very windy yesterday!! We are planning on leaving tomorrow. sun is shining and there is very little wind here in the harbor- hope there is a little out there. Won my stove on Ebay - won, that's so weird to say cause I had to pay for it! hahaha
We went to the Sea Lab here in town and we learned all kinds of things about local sea life and also got to touch lots of stingrays, horned sharks, sea urchins, sea cuumbers, snails, stars.ect. Even got to watch them feed the halibut and boy can they move fast and jump!! I got sprayed with salt water ( right in my mouth, I was talking- suprise?!)
We've been swimming everyday and walked everywhere. Time to move on!
We just had a nice suprise! One of our old Spruce Harbour neighbors happened to be here, Lyle (used to have Steel Eagle) He just was walking along the seawall and saw our boat and popped on down. How cool is that!! nice to chat!!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Just another day in Paradise!!



We went and checked out the beach today!! wow what huge waves coming in..........all the surfers were out today!! The weather guys had warned of high surge ( that's one reason we didn't leave today) Who needs huge waves? Not if I can avoid it!! The kids had a blast playing on the beach, (Emma built a sandcastle),collecting shells, chasing waves, watching the surfers, and watching all the birds - their were a lot of sandpipers and these little things - there feet went to fast you could hardly see the feet!! so cute too!! Tried to get a photo but it didn't turn out. You can't really see them.
It was so nice to be on the beach!!
Wandered around the Pier, watching guys fish and looking at some shops. Even stopped at an arcade and played Air hockey ( i beat Steve and Kyle beat me) The lady working the prize area was so sweet and gave all the kids lots of extra goodies!!
We saw a seagull stuck in a crab trap too! Dumb bird, someone will let him out.

Thanks to all of you for telling Kyle how great To Kill a Mockingbird is......... I still had to pull rank and told him as part of his school curriculum he has to read it. I just know he'll like it!!!
I am looking for the movie Dr Zhivago cause I still haven't seen that one. All's fair in Books and Movies - :) haha
Did our costco run last night - Thanks Barb for getting my card activated so quickly!! one thing I have learned is that meat here is way cheaper (and better looking) at Costco then any of the other food stores. Time to start catching fish!! we will be getting a fishing license in Mexico!! we've plotted our course and it looks to be a day and half to San Diego. We don't plan on staying there long 2-3 days max. And then another 24 hrs or so( depending on wind,waves ect.) to Ensenada.
Time to get into Mexico.
TRIVIA TIME !!
Question #11 - What caused the corner of the Portofino Hotel (Kings Harbor) to collapse and send cars into the marina and destroyed some docks?

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Waiting for weather again!


just checked the weather forcast and looks like a storm is a brewing, so we will sit here until probably Saturday ( will check daily in case it blows by so we could end up leaving tomorrow even) We played in the pool again yesterday . Looks nice eh? All resorty like!! 90* it was in the pool!! not bad for December close to Christmas -(how is that weather?) still CHEEKY!!

And we as a family did more sanding,oiling,and painting on the old beast. Also went and met Bob Bitchin and Jody (his wife) lovely people. They had a slot machine in the office which the kids got really good at playing - winning!!!! making lots of noise, dropping tons of tokens. In fact they had never seen their machine do that before!! Maya figures "we should go to a casino with walkie talkies and they could tell us when to push the button and we could win lots of money" HMMM........... just where do they get that from? you know who you are!!!
We went and saw a movie last night too.. with my winnings from the dress race!! Enchanted - it was good, very enjoyable. We are off to walk the beach today will post a photo later.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Morning sun on Orca III at the dock


First off- I don't remember doing that Dana,are you sure it was me?:) I don't do crazy stuff like that......... I mean just cuz I got a whale signed once ........ hahahaha and anyway it sure makes for cleaning your room a whole lot more fun!!! that's me....lets have FUN!
So jacklines are the ropes running down the deck that we can clip on so we don't have to keep unclipping an clipping back on to do from the cock pit to the bow. It's a safety thing at sea. And works great.
Today we will meet Bob Bitchen from Latitudes and Attitudes Magazine. He is in the process of building a boat and who knows maybe he'll like our dodger/windshield .. Will keep you posted.
Yesterday Steve did some checking for solar panels, looks like Downwind Marine in San Diego has some. and my stove......... Well no parts available - obsolete - and Steve tried to fix it again to no avail so................. we are getting a new one. Have put a bid on one on ebay ($250) hopefully we will get it for that price. cross your fingers (bid ends in 2 days) Still searching out batteries - looks like Costco has the best price but.... my costco card has expired - so I will have to get that updated I think. Does anyone know if there is a Costco in Mexico?
Yesterday was hot so the kids and I went for a swim in the Hotel Resort pool and boy did they have fun!! the pool was 90*F not bad ,eh? (how's that rain/snow/) Cheaky aren't I!! Emma's swimming is getting better and better and the other two , well they are just fish!! I did laundry and have been getting caught up on my scrapbooking and beading. The kids did some fishing and caught ........ an old fishing lure. they were so excited!! They started to fish with the magnets we brought, trying to find treasure... they are pirates you know!!
Well the sun is up and looking great, we are planning to leave tomorrow am to San Diego. Doesn't the burgandy stripe look good on the hull - finally all one colour!!

Monday, December 3, 2007

Hollywood & Universal Studios City Walk





Trivia #10 answer is the ........ COOLER! no one got that one hahaha.
Just joking! Annette you are so fast- that blog was barely up. Like the stripe,eh?! Sandra is also right as that teak box is fairly new - did that back in Port Angelos oh so long ago. But the other thing you cant' hardly see is the jack line running along the cabin side (tricky)
Had a full day touring LA and Hollywood, did the Chinese theatre were all the stars have left their mark!! Couldn't find our name anywhere!! What's with Hollywood - Don't they now we are famous?!
Real cool. wandered around Hollywood Blv. I didn't see anyone famous but would I recognize them if I did? Cruised down Sunset strip into Beverly Hills just to use a bathroom. Thought about knocking on someones door - but Neil didn't stop the van. haha Even went down Rodeo Drive - you should see the street lights - they are Chandeliers!! That's when you know it's richy land. Drove the scenic route to Studio City it's pretty green around there.
went to Universal Studios and did the City Walk. ( didn't go in the studio- to high for our budget) We had a blast. checked out the hard rock cafe!! Neato- then I entered a contest. They were offering a $50 gift card for the AMC theatres so of course I had to enter. A race to getting dressed in the "JUNO" wardrobe Guess what?!! I am so fast at putting clothes on that I won!! YEAH for me- I think my kids were a little embarrassed ( at least the oldest one- :)lol ( see I'm learning the Internet lingo)
Nest if was off back home - scenic once again through Malibu and where there was a big big fire. Watched the sunset from the beach - even saw a green flash as the sun went down ! Gorgeous! That's a lot to see in one day.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Sun is back!! How's the snow?


We had the sun again but was it ever windy!! I believe it was 17mph which is something like 30 knots(?) any way - very WINDY!!! The Kids and I went to the pool and hot tub , WE stayed in the hot tub cause it was cold in the pool. Neat though there were waves coming over the breakwater. All the birds where down low in the rocks of the breakwater I think hiding out from the wind. It died down by the evening and as I sit here now the sunrising and no wind. It's gonna be a great day!!

We are on our way to HOLLYWOOD today. This should be fun. We are also going to pick up a manuscript for Maya. Her friend Sara' mom (hi Sara wave wave from Maya) has a pal down here that Maya met in the summer and her brother has written a book that Maya got to read part of it. So Judy (the pal)has gotten in touch with us and we are going to pick it up. Maya is so excited!! It's a good thing too cause Kyle is reading everything ( except To Kill A mockingbird- will someone else tell him how good that book is!! I've been trying to get him to read it for a while)

We have been doing project after project and the boat is looking great!! Cosmetics have been happening as we have a dock on either side of us - so it makes painting & sanding a lot easier. Which brings me to the next trivia question #10:

Look close at the picture - What is different/new on our boat? Good luck with that one.
the answers to the last two trivia questions were : Tikitiki Room built in 1963 Danny Lou got this right - however I went and did the vitual tour and you really have to go there Danny Lou!! Not even close ( the Tiki drummers weren't drumming) and of course we all know that STEAMBOAT WILLY is the first Mickey Mouse sound movie Dana was first (surprise?!) but Auntie Sandy gave more info - So everyone is a winner and just know I am sending.........HUGS!! Enjoy them. Hope everyone is learning something new with the trivia. I know we are having fun thinking of questions and reading the answers!! We sit here laughing a lot because of you all ...Keep it up. LOL LOL LOL

Lady

Lady

Maggie

Maggie

'Lil' putt putt

'Lil' putt putt
Christmas at Snug Cove