LA PAZ.... sea of cortez

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Well........ where do i start.....?//

Ummmm....I think i'll start... with 3 little stories that i think sum
up the nature of our our first 1000 miles

Firstly.. 'Bahio Santa Maria" at the "tropic of cancer" (what an
amazingly beautiful place) .... myself & veronica are simply swinging
in a hammock on deck.. I'm still reading "rough weather seamanship"
thanks Jodie..&..... suddenly out of the sun....a local fishing boat
with a old black mercury 35 outboard, pull's alongside, filled with
smiling mexican fishermen.. after about 10 minutes of us all smiling
at each other..... one finally speaks.... he asks in mexi/english "if"
we have any cold drinks for them...? anyways.... as it happens ...

we do!.. so i disappear beneath & appear with 4x bottle of ice cold
"Perrier" water, not the iced "coke a cola" i used to advertise (what
happened to all that stress... "the client " Umm too fizzy, " no
smaller bubbles" yes yes.. change that bubble... the noise is more of
a pizzz than a pissz..) that they were hoping/dreaming for i
guess?.... but "Perrier" is what we artists drink... anyway no
sooner than i give them the cool refreshing drinks, than they
immediately pull out 4 fresh lobster as a return present... 4 massive
lobsters amazing what a feast.. poor as they we're, they wouldn't take
any money...

Secondly: One evening Ensinada..... i got talking to a couple of
American sport fishermen, i liked the design on the side of there boat
( it was a female figure)... so we got talking.. which led to
discussion about traveling the world..blah... blah... my plans on
taking such an adventure etc.... Well to cut a long story short, the
following morning, i got awoken with a knock on the side of my yacht,
to find one of the sport's fisherman handing me a expensive looking
fishing rod & around 20 massive hooked baits to trail..( wrong word) "
trawl? "This is a present to bring good luck & fair winds" was his
words...

Ummmm... what do you say...? Well.... ive been thinking about fishing,
but the thought of killing a fish was simply too much for me.. but on
the other hand.... however i couldn't refuse such a well thought &
meaningful gift.......

Cut/to..... the fourth day sailing & still 100 mile off shore,
Veronica & Apple (dog) have been looking at me .. licking there lips
we're a little hungary... ummm that fishing rod was even looking ummm-
tasty? So i pulled out the most convincing looking bait.. which was
extremely hard!! because they all looked so ridiculous, A massive
bright pink feathers one, a bright yellow & green rubbery squid
thing,,, a lump of wood with a lead nose.. how dumb are fish?

Well.. there truly dumb.... because .... within about 15 minutes the
rod started "clicking" faster & faster.... & eeeK i'd caught a fish!!!
how was i expected to kill it.!!!.. Veronica & Apple moved in closer,
both holding plates at the ready..... i guess very hungary, but all i
could do was think about how was i going to kill the little fishy?....
well within another 15 minutes, what a battle.... I was looking into
the eyes of a massive albacore tuna... everyone aboard was liking
there lips, even the yacht....!! & the then suddenly the killing
question was answered.!! . because when i looked into its eyes.. i
could see he wasn't ready to die, simply he had too much life left to
live... so i carefully removed the hook & let him go... only to turn
round to see Apple shaking her head & looking away... anyways within
about another 15 mins I caught another very similar albacore, which
was ready to die.... to be continued...as with the third Story about
Apple jumping off the yacht and following a sea lion way out into-the
ocean.... what a nightmare!!!..

Oh... some facts about the journey... The first 1000 miles was truly
an adventure, after 7 days of waiting in Ensinada ( mexico) reading
"Rough weather seamanship" by Roger marshal, between studying the
weather patterns developing over canada with intense trepidation.. we
decided to leave... and with what an amazing winds... as the heavily
predicted North westerlies blow at around 20-knots, that fast & that
took us out about 100 mile off shore, where "Apple yacht " clocked up
speed of 10.1 knots, which is fast .. that over it's hull speed due to
the large surf... which she glides down..

So from Ensinada we raced down to Bahio San Barlolome (turtle Bay)
which we pulled into at the end of the fourth day... turtle bay is a
relatively empty, small fishing bay...