12-6
Isla Partida- El Cardonal

We arrived here on Dec 2nd. It was a nice, quick sail over and we had Marcy with us the entire way. It has been very windy most of the time, but this is a very pleasant cove to hide out in. We had Marcy and Baloo to keep us company and Rocinante was one cove over.

After 2 days of very windy days, Peter and Ginger of Marcy, Nick and Cindy of Baloo, and David and Laura of Rocinante all came over to Wiz to go snorkeling with the sea lions. It was still very windy with choppy seas, but we motored up to the north part of the island to check it out. In the lee of the island it was doable. There were no safe anchorages close to the area so Darrell was nice enough to stay on Wiz while we all went to swim with the sea lions. The babies are apparently used to people so as soon as we got close, they came out to play. It was amazing!! Once warmed up to us they would tug on our fins, and touch their nose to our hands. I made the mistake of scratching one of them on the back. He would not leave me alone after that. He kept swimming up and putting his hind end right into my face for a scratch. Then he got a bit too friendly as I was swimming over to the group, he swam up onto my back! Then he put his nose right on my snorkel! It was the coolest! We all had a great experience and I am hoping that when Don and Jerie come to visit that Darrell will get a chance to swim with the sea lions too.

Today Cooper is 14 months. As a gift, we had Nick and Cindy (both in the medical field) to entertain him while we went scuba diving. Coop did not even notice we were gone. As I was leaving, I saw him grab Cindy’s finger and start pulling her around the boat and to show off his toys.

I had almost forgotten how much I love diving. We had a blast diving in only our shortie wetsuits. We have GOT to get an underwater housing for our camera! I brought back a few things that I thought were scallops. When I went to clean them, I realized they were not scallops but possibly…um oysters, but not ones that I would eat. In the one that I opened, I found a tiny little lobster. It was really weird.

Also Marcy left today. It was quite sad to see them go, but we actually got to spend more time with them than originally planned. As they sailed out, I followed them in the dinghy and snapped some photos for them. They have become very good friends and we look forward to seeing them again somewhere, sometime.

We are heading back to La Paz tomorrow to make a scheduled conference call on Friday for work. We will send the latest photos and call the parental units then.

Cabo San Lucas
Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo was only 180 miles and we made it in 25 hours. Though we had to motor for about half the trip. Cabo is quite the impressive sight from the sea. There are beautiful hotels and homes built on the beach and right into the rocky outcroppings. We anchored out at Cabo as the rate for a slip was nearly $200 per night. Cabo is a dollar driven sport fishing and tourist mecca. We walked through the glitzy waterfront and a few blocks into town and had really great tacos at a tiny stand. Susan had 4 tacos and a drink for about $5. On our walk back she had an ice cream at the waterfront for $6. That will give you a bit of an idea how the waterfront tourist versus regular mexico.


The anchorage in Cabo was quite unpleasant as the swells roll right into the harbor and there are jet skis and parachute boats and party boats going around and around. Therefore we left right after the Ha-Ha awards ceremony where Cooper was awarded the “Youngest Ha Ha er” award. His picture may appear in the next Lattitude or ‘lectronic latitude, which is available on the internet. Given the development of Hurricane Sergio, currently 5-600 miles south we decided to go directly to La Paz to watch it’s development.

Bahia Santa Maria
The passage from Turtle Bay to Bahia Santa Maria was 240 miles and took just under two days. We were about the 30th boat to reach the bay out of 164. I thought that was pretty good considering There were several 60-80 footers and some small race boats with large crews. As usual Wiz sails really well and comfortably.
We dropped anchor at about 10:00 pm and in the morning we were surprised and happy to see our friends Peter and Leigh on Marcy. We met Peter and Leigh two years ago on our trip around Vancouver Island. The water temperature is now 78 degrees so we are swimming!! There was another beach party and Cooper got several trips to the beach where he just loves to play in the surf, chasing and being chased by the waves. We chose to stay behind the fleet for a day and just relax in this beautiful bay. The following day with only 5 boats in the bay was relaxing. The next day Susan was feeling quite out of touch as we had been without phone or email for nearly two weeks so we left for Cabo.

Turtle Beach
After a 2-1/2 day 360 mile passage of good sailing we arrived at turtle bay. We had good winds nearly the entire passage and it was an easy though tiring trip. Rest is limited by the need to watch Cooper. When Cooper is awake watching him is more work than being on watch. Cooper thinks it’s fun to walk across the cabin when the boat is rolling and pitching. He is pretty good at it but we worry that he will take a flyer and crash into something, so we watch him pretty closely at sea. Night watches are more restful.

Turtle bay was a nice stop with a little village. We were able to send out a position report at the internet café. The keyboards in Mexico are a bit different and that surprised me. The Baha Ha Ha fleet put on a pot luck beach party which was a lot of fun. We saw a dingy do a perfect pitch pole coming through the surf. I’m sure the picture will appear in the next Lattitude 38. Cooper had a blast playing in the estuary that cut through the beach and ran into the surf. There are several other kids in the Ha Ha but they are all older. The locals seem intrigued by Cooper and like to have their kids say Hola and play with him. We ware in Turtle Bay for 2 days before leaving for Bahia Santa Maria

Coop playing on a Santa Barbra beach


We spent 5 days in Santa Barbra and Coop spent hours playing on the beach. The water was warm enough for him to play in for quite a while.

Coopper Says:


Wow it's October 18th already. I turned 1 on the 6th of October and got to destroy a cake. My parents just figured out how to upload pictures to this Blog. They are much less frustrated with the process now and you can expect more frequent posts. They are also going to post many pictures on a site called flickr. We are in San Diego now and have been here 6 days. We are geting to see Dubie, Jessie, Grandma and Grandpa Clark and GreatGrandma Vonnie. Grandpa is taking me on a bike ride at mission beach today. He borrowed a trailer and helmet just for me! Mom and Dad are getting things ready to go to Mexico at the end of the month so they are pretty busy. Mom's provisioning and shopping and Dad is fixing things on the boat. He is going to install a watermaker so that we can all have lots of fresh water showers! We are making lots of friend with other cruisers. It's lots of fun. Some of our best friends, Peter and Leigh from Marcy squared us away on the picture uploading. As soon as we get our pictures organized we will post the link to our online album.

Saturday September 30th.
We are in Santa Cruz this morning and planning on heading across the bay 20nm to Monterey. Finally had some sunshine yesterday and went for a long walk with Cooper. He just loves to push his stroller, and push his stroller, and push… He also got to play on the beach for a while near the Santa Cruz Pier. We are not having much luck posting pictures to the blog but will keep trying.

Thursday September 28th.
Yesterday we sailed, well motored.. from Bodega bay to San Francisco. We passed under the golden gate bridge at 5:00pm and looked for moorage on the Sausalito side of the bay. All the marinas were full or could not accommodate Wiz’s 8’ draft. We decided to check out Angel Island and found a mooring buoy in Ayala cove. It was very convenient though a little rolly. Today we did a short trip to Half Moon bay and are tied up at the county marina. So far the marina’s we have stayed at are run by the county and are quite reasonable at between $20-26 per night. About half what we are used to in the San Juan’s. I’m pretty sure that will change by the time we get down around Santa Barbara. Since we had a short trip today we went ashore and had a restraint meal and gave Cooper plenty of walking. On board Cooper is still a bit unsure why walking which was getting easier every day is suddenly more unpredictable. He sure likes new things and is adjusting to life aboard. He is getting lots of bumps on the head, though I’m not sure it’s a lot more than he would get ashore. Tomorrow we are planning to go to Santa Cruz which is a larger city than we have stayed at for a few days. Santa Cruz is 45nm south of us and that translates to about an 8hr trip. Just a bit over 50% faster than walking! Wiz is working well though we are still working through a few kinks. Today the starter solenoid started acting up. I cleaned all the terminals and it started several times in a row. Time will tell if the fix is that simple. We are settling in to the routine. Susan used a patch for sea sickness even though the conditions were quite calm. The side effects seem to be not worth the cure and she will be trying something else tomorrow. We are planning on moving south every day until we get warm. It’s San Francisco grey and cool. Nights are a bit chill and Cooper isn’t proficient in staying covered so we are anxious for So-Cal sunshine soon.

Tuesday Sept 26th. We are in Bodega bay 50nm north of San Francisco. We have been here since last Thursday when Darrell, Jerie, Cathy and Ester arrived from Seattle.
Briefly, since I don't want to recall the trip in detail, it was an ordeal. 25-30 knots on the nose for 3 days, half a day of reaching in the sun, Then 2-1/2 days of 25-35 knots nearly dead astern. The whole time the seas were large and confused so we rolled incessantly. Wiz sailed herself upwind with the wheel locked-better than could be hand steared. The running in heavy seas was to much for the autopilot so we hand steered with Darrell and Jerie alternating all night. We were all quite exhausted when we arrived.
Staying in Bodega bay was real convienient as Susan's mom lives 45 minutes from here. Susan, Cooper and I spent yesterday getting settled in and things stowed. We are departing in the am for San Francisco. Conditions look calm with southerly winds (light) filling in to westerlys later in the week. Long time between posts, but it should get better from here.

This is the log of the yacht WIZ and her crew: Darrell, Susan and Cooper Clark.

The trip has been three years in planning an has been changed greatly by the arrival of our new Son Cooper who will be 11-1/2 months old when we depart.

The trip plan is to depart Seattle Sept 15th-sail direct to San Francisco, where Susan and Cooper will join me. Then we will harbor hop down to San diego where we will join the Ha-Ha fleet to sail down the Baja. From there we plan to spend a few months in Mexico then dry store WIZ until next winter when we will have to decide where to go next.