Return to AK

I'm back in Alaska again, after long absence.  The first bit of work has been nice, and in a few days we will get the whole shebang of people, but for now we've been having half full or empty boats to work with.  It is nice to meet and get to know the crew without a lot of fuss and frustration of having a lot of guests, and we've really had a great time learing how this boat works, because it is different every time.  On our way north, I got this shot of some current lines in the San Juan Islands, and then a big coast guard chopper was doing rescue practice right off the stern of our boat in Juneau.  They are awesome looking when they fly low and drop the swimmer and then pick up the people.  I also got a nice shot of a long tailed duck!  Things are different this year, South Sawyer was pumping out so much ice that we couldn't make it up to the end of Tracy Arm, and Baird Glacier is very different.  Since there wasn't much snow over the wintertime all the mountains are different looking and it is not that cold out.  I haven't seen Glacier Bay yet, but Baird is so different, I wonder how Lamplugh Glacier is going to look.  I can imagine it to be totally drawn away from the water.  Seeing the glaciers change so much is really amazing to me, and it seems like Tracy Arm is going to be heading for a big change in the near future, at the rate it is spitting out ice.

 One of my fellow crewmembers.  Everyone is super nice and I like how we run the boat.

Shangri-La

 I made a pilgrimage to Shangri-La.  My brother went with me.  We found ourselves in a magical place with water and earth mixing, as if the rules of gravity were merely suggestions.  I can't tell you where it is, or how to get there.  It may not exist like this again.  It might have been just a dream.

 We had to struggle and pass through many trials to find the spot; climbing hillsides so steep no trees would grow on them, descending cliffs that would make a llama's knees shake, wandering through trackless forest, and battling a clear-cut full of blackberry.

 As in many magical places, there was a strong sense of Deja-Vu.  We had attempted to peer into this Pandora's Box before with little success, but when we did, we found ourselves climbing a waterfall just like the one above, with a log the only conveyance for us.  We clawed and scraped ourselves up the slippery log and found an impassible wall, so we retreated.  This time we came upon the very same spot, or so we thought, but it was impossible.  Unless our memory moved to another place, deeper in the canyon, we were misled.

 The river flowed in many forms, sometimes wide and gravelly, sometimes narrow.  Here it is a narrow slot of sandstone cut by time.

 There was an overhang cave that was the size of a small house.  It was gigantic, and dry in the bottom, with the river flowing softly along the side.  It must have been carved out by a huge flood at some time.

 It was a memorable trip, and I hope to do it again, possibly with more camera gear, in the future.

Return To Seattle

I made it back to seattle, by driving with my friend Wes, up from San Carlos, Sonora.  What a trip!  We crossed the border into the USA without trouble, and went towards the Salton Sea, where we saw some nice bunnies and California Quail, as well as passing tons of solar power plants.  There are normal silicon panels, as well as one kind that uses tons of half-pipe kind of mirrors to focus the light onto tubes.  The tubes all run together and the heated liquid goes to a central cooling station where the power is taken out, probably by steam turbines.  I think its a great solution-low cost since there isn't so much refined silicon needed, and probably more efficient than the silicon anyways.  

We also stopped at a sand dunes area, east of the Salton Sea.  There were sand dunes only on one side of the road, and the other side was more grown in. I was wondering if the sand dunes were possibly created by the people driving their cars over the sand and killing the plants that would turn the dune into a hill.  Another possibility, since the area is the ancient mouth of the Colorado River, is that the advent of farming loosened the soil and the sand began to dune up after that.  In any case, there were large areas nearby that were not creating dunes and I thought it was human influenced in some way.

 At the Salton Sea we saw a bunch of ducks, and I believe these are Ruddy Ducks. They might just be the first Ruddy Ducks I have ever seen.  I cannot recall a previous sighting.

 We proceeded to LA to visit my brother and his family, and then onwards up the coast to Monterey Bay, where we saw a loon on land.  Crazy!

 And my favorite bird sighting of the trip was an American Avocet in mating plumage.  I've seen these before twice, but never in mating plumage.  I noticed that they sweep their bills side to side to collect things in the mud.  It probably helps to have an upturned bill.

 Our final night was spent near the Redwoods, along the coast of Northern California, in a secret spot overlooking the ocean and a lagoon.  It was a strange night, because it might have been the warmest night of the trip.  It was warm, there was no dew and the next day it was 85 degrees as we drove along.  Now that I am in Seattle, it feels like July.  The weather is very strange, and probably will be getting stranger.

I also made a video of the trip in Altair north from La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (in Nayarit) to San Carlos (Sonora).  I hope you enjoy it.

San Carlos Arrival

It has been a while since I've had good internet, so sorry about the lack of postings, but I am arrived in San Carlos, Sonora, now, and have a few days until Altair goes up into the air and onto the hard-for summer camp!  Altair summer camp will probably be quite hot and sunny, and I will of course go to work during that time.

But let me tell you about the trip I had getting here, from Bandaras Bay.

The first leg of the trip was from Punta Mita to Isla Iabel.  I had arranged to work my way north with the boat Shamaness, and we left at Midnight to hopefully get in before dark the next day.  I hadn't really looked at the weather too much, and Shamaness is a bigger and heavier boat than Altair, with a much bigger motor, so it didn't work out too well.  The winds came up against me and the seas became choppy, and Altair was working very hard just to keep moving in right direction.  Shamaness got in before me, but I sailed and tacked and motored and swore at things until well after sunset and finally got into the island.  My morale was low because of an oil leak and a water leak and the floor of the boat was a nasty mess, and also because of the lack of sleep, but the next day on Isabel cured me right up.  This is the island that I love to go to because of all the birds and the clear water.  There weren't as many birds at this late time of the year, but the water was clear and full of beautiful fish, and there were still some birds.  

 I set off from Isabel the next day, bright and early in the morning, and with a promise to myself that I wouldn't try to match the speed of the mighty Shamaness.  It is just that in choppy seas, Shamaness can go to windward and through those seas much better than Altair can.  After a time, I saw a sail on the horizon to leeward and soon enough she was upon me.  We sailed close together for a time and then she passed me by, and I spent a night out in the nasty chop and arrived at Mazatlan the next day.  All this makes me wish I had a heavier boat and a bigger motor.
Mazatlan was a turning point in this trip, and I began to go West instead of North, to head over to La Paz and the Baja.  The weather also began to turn and I had a nice calm flat ocean to glide over on my crossing to La Paz.  It took me two nights and three days and I was there.  On my way in, I headed over to look for Whale Sharks, and there was one swimming by.  I got a picture, but sadly it is hard to see.

I spent a few days in La Paz in order to hang out with my friends aboard the Safari Endeavor, an Un-cruise boat that departs out of there in the winters.  Then I began to go North Again.
My first stop was Esperitu Santu island, where the rocks are carved out of a sandstone similar to the rocks of Chuckanut drive, and the waters are clear and blue.

There were dolphins playing with me,

And a few grebes as well.

The islands up here are like the islands in the San Juans, where the ocean meets rocks without a crashing breaking wave, just a calm cliff into liquid.  It is also similar to Joshua Tree National Park, and sometimes like the Channel Islands.  The moonrise over the tranquil bay shone brightly in the desert.

I stopped next at Isla San Francisco, where there is a nice round bay to anchor in, and salt flats in the middle of the island. I think during the summer there are low pressure systems (like hurricanes) that raise the sea level enough to come up over the sides of the island and fill up the middle with water.  That water then evaporates and leaves behind its sea salt.  I collected some to bring back.

Some succulents grow in this salty soil.

and a little higher, some very spiny trees explode right up out of the ground.

Here is an overview of the cove

and a vulture overhead.  This guy had a bare patch on his (or her) chest, which I thought rather unique.

From Isla San Francisco, I headed to San Evaristo.  This is one of my favorite places, but I didn't linger long.  Here is a view from the kite of the anchorage.

I left early the next morning, and saw a few Humpback Whales!  There weren't many in Bandaras Bay this last winter, so I was glad to see them now.  

I stopped shortly on an island I had never been before, Isla San Diego.  It is a small little thing, with no protected anchorage, but I went up for a walk and it was nice.

As I was climbing the ridge, a Red Tailed Hawk soared overhead, looking at me.  The first shot I like because it shows the bird well...

But the second shot is a rabbit's eye's view.

I also found a berry that I couldn't identify and hadn't seen before.

I then pushed onward to Bahia Agua Verde.  (the bay of the green water).  This is a place I have been before, but the furthest north in the Sea of Cortez that I had previously been.  I really like it here, and I spent a few days.  On a short hike up the ridge, I saw a fox!

There was a north wind blowing during the time I was there, so I sent up the kite to get a picture of the anchorage.  You can see Altair as the little white speck just up from the center of the picture.

The wind died down, and I headed north, to Loreto.  I spent the night anchored out from Loreto, then took off the next morning to cross the sea again and had an easy crossing with wind from behind all the way to San Carlos.  Here is a kite shot from the bay in san carlos.  I haul out on Saturday and Wes will pick me up and we'll start driving back to Seattle.

Northing in Altair

I'm going to be taking Altair north, starting very soon.  I will push the SPOT beacon while under way, so you can check on my progress.  The link should be on the side bar to the right.  I anticipate going to Isla Isabel again, to Mazatlan, and then to La Paz and some of the islands in the sea of cortez, and then Loreto and finally to San Carlos in Sonora.  There I will put Altair away for the summer.