Tales from our Travels
A Bad Omen And The Worst Week Of The Trip
Let me start this story by stating that I have long been a non believer. Superstition, witchcraft and other belief systems that are light on evidence and heavy on faith generally bring out the scientific skeptic in me. But two days ago, I felt the wrath of my first...
Shark Attack…or Sharks Get Attacked
We were scanning the East Cape coastline, waiting to get another glimpse of a shadow of a roosterfish, when two pangas began heading our way. They gunned it right before they hit land and launched themselves high up onto the sand, an expeditious anchoring...
Eyeball to Eyeball With Gray Whales
We’ve had visitors this past month, and we were hoping to find things that would really impress them and prove our worth as maritime tour guides. We figured whale watching would bring in the big tips, so off we went to Todos Santos on the Pacific coast of Baja....
Alaska Bound? No Thank You!
So, Mark and Katie keep talking about this place called Alaska and how special it is and how amazing it's going to be. Well, naturally I got excited. I mean, dolphins, whales and sea lions are kind of what I live for these days. Throw in some salmon carcasses...
Alaska Bound
Our Baja adventure draws to a close; the desert, the dark skin, the tacos and a life lived by the wind will soon become distant memories. The tears that were shed were many, but they dried before they hit the ground when we were offered positions working at Tutka Bay...
Looking Back At Our Time Aboard
Someone recently asked us: "How did you make the decision to live on a boat?" And someone else asked: "What will you take away from this trip?" It was a road trip to Bellingham in September of 2011, the Pacific Ocean in our rearview mirror and salt still on our lips...
Not A Sasquatchfish – An Oarfish!
Drumroll please. We've talked with three different biologists that all came to the same separate conclusion about our sea monster sighting (if you missed it, see the post with video and photos here). What we saw, according to all the experts, was an oarfish, a rarely...
Mordidas
Anyone who has traveled in Latin America in the last 400 years probably knows the Mordida; it means "bite" and refers to the little bribes that keep the squeaky wheel turning down here. We've heard that Mexico was cleaning up its act, though, and it's true that...
Can Sasquatch Swim: Oarfish Sea Monster Sighting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPNtwBGch74 The sea was glassy calm, an eerie occurrence in itself for late January, so we were motoring along making our way towards Isla San Jose. 100 yards away, two tentacles arose from the depths and slowly bobbed about,...
Beseiged By Our Brethren
The norther had blown hard for three days, and while the birdwatching had been good, we were really waiting for Friday morning when the wind would lay and all those hungry birds that had been hunkering down would come out to feast. Friday morning came and from the...
An Argument For Early Retirement
Katie had just poured me a piping hot mug of coffee, and I was checking our email, like most mornings here at the marina, awaiting the news of our imminent employment. Before my first sip Katie directed my attention to our megayacht neighbor a few slips down. I looked...
Goodbye to Selkie
It's been a hell of a ride. We're ending this trip and returning to the States to a lifestyle that will be a bit more mobile and a bit less stable than it once was. And that's okay, it is all by design and things are going according to plan. Our goal is less...