Puerto Santo Tomas

On By Tor Stark4 Comments

Poked my head outa the hatch this morning at 0600. Morning light was just hitting the hilltops around this tiny fish camp, Puerto Santo Tomas. I watched as the men started milling about, very slowly, like molasses, as they poured down the hill to the boat ramp, about 15 pescaderos.

20 pangas waited on moorings in the bay. A white van showed up; it must have driven all night over the mountains to get here this early. They unloaded four huge white coolers as two pescaderos rode out to bring up four cages filled to bursting with lobsters. No one was in a hurry, a world apart from the hustle and bustle in San Diego where we were just a few days ago. This is what we came here for.

They all watched as the bugs were counted and loaded into the white van. Off it went with their hard-earned living. They milled about some more, talking and smoking cigarettes, probably discussing lobsters and sea conditions. My guess is that they do this every morning; it seemed they had not a lot to do and all day to do it. Then they got in their boats, two or three men to each one, some wearing life jackets. And left to go bring in their catch, leaving every 10 minutes or so with a welcoming wave and big smile to me, the only gringo on a fancy yatch anchored in their bay.

One panga, the only one with an orange hull, was smoking or steaming as it got close to me. They shut the engine off, took off the cover, splashed some ocean water on it, fiddled, splashed some more water, fiddled a little more and it sputtered back to life, off they went with a hearty wave and smile.

I can only speculate if there were any women in the camp, or children, as I could see none. A couple big cinder block houses painted brightly, but most were small and seemed slapped together with whatever was available. I read in the guide book that these people would treat you like family if given the chance and I felt it. Would be nice to go ashore and visit but we were leaving soon on down the coast to the next picturesque bay and fish camp. It was nice to be here now, sip my tea, observe and off we went to see what’s next.

Tor

Leaving the US!

On By Amelia Stark3 Comments

After finishing a long list of errands in San Diego, we’re finally leaving SoCal! It’s a beautiful afternoon, with perfect wind and calm water. I’m sitting outside with the sun on my back while Tor steers. He says Sebastian (our autopilot) is drunk this afternoon. He’s veering off track. It’s so nice to finally have the engine off. Hopefully the wind stays through the night. We’re all relieved and excited to finally be leaving the warship-filled port of San Diego. And to not be woken up at 6:31 by airplanes taking off two miles away. And to not hear gunfire consistently throughout the day. And to not be reminded of war and capitalism everywhere we look.

Yesterday we shopped all day, Lyfting around the city between Home Depot, Whole Foods, Target, Ralph’s and Costco. Groceries the boys picked out: a three-pound brick of cream cheese, tortilla chips, and a bucket of cookie dough. Groceries I picked out: kale, spinach, and walnuts. But we all agreed on the ten 24-packs of beer.

This morning we got our fishing licenses, changed the oil and transmission fluid, took one more trip to West Marine, and reserved our birth in Ensenada. We plan to sail through the night, alternating 2-hour shifts. We should be there by noon tomorrow. Finally! We’ll spend one night there hopefully, and then head south, with our eyes peeled for good waves. Maybe at some point in the next three months I’ll catch one.

Blog from a boat

On By Gabe Stark6 Comments

SoCal Shenagz

     As we pulled away from the hordes of Dana point stand up paddle boarders we hoisted the mainsail and spinnaker.  Soon we were sitting in the cockpit, sweating profusely as we flew down wind at almost one and a half knots.  After we calculated that continuing under sail power would put us into our next anchorage well after dinner we put the sails away and motored off.  It seems like a big part of sailing in Southern California is motoring in a straight line through dead glass water, watching endless urban sprawl pan out along the  shore.  

     The constant diesel growl of the Yanmar motor was punctuated  mostly by buzzing fishing reels as we hooked into all different kinds of seaweed.  It was hot enough that we were all pouring buckets of ocean water on our head.  As we approached the Oceanside harbor we finally hooked into a fish.  Tucker lit up, fought for a minute and soon had another beautiful Tuna flopping around on the deck as Tor and I scrambled around looking for the fish dispatching knife.  

     While Tucker cleaned his fish, Amelia and I paddled surfboards across the harbor towards a beach break on the other side of the jetty.  As we paddled out through warm waves a cold fog moved in and it quickly got dark.  After a couple mushy waves and a paddle back through a dark foggy marina we were back at the boat ready for dinner.  

     Pulling into Mission beach the next evening it became apparent that we were again anchoring about a quarter mile from waves.  While Tor headed to the liquor store to resupply on precious beer supplies the rest of the crew got suited up and jumped off the boat with surfboards.  We surfed until the sun went down in small but fun peaky beach break.  As soon as we got back to the boat we wasted no time firing up the grill for our second Tuna dinner in a row.  We sat around the table squirting wasabi out of a tube into our soy sauce and drinking cold beer.  

     I dragged myself out of bed this morning at 7:30 so that we could catch a couple more waves before heading for the main San Diego harbor.  After a quick surf we packed up and Amelia steered us back into the ocean.  This time as we put our sails up they filled with wind immediately.  Tor and I had a lively sail down the San Diego coast, with Tor coaching me on the ins and outs of sail trim the whole way.  

     Rounding down into the entrance to the harbor we were flanked by warships, aircraft carriers, giant tankers and navy combat boats flying around conducting live fire drills.  I’m ready to get to Mexico.

   Gabe

San Diego Airport, I mean anchorage

On By Tor Stark3 Comments

Well, I for sure can tell what time the airplanes get to take off here in San Diego, 6:31 sharp. By 6:40 this morning I heard 17 planes go screaming overhead, not sure if they’re going to clear our mast ‘cuz there’s a low cloud cover.

We’re here in the huge port of San Diego for as short a time as possible. Meeting a mechanic on Tuesday morning to look at the fuel leak, hopefully he’ll kick us down the road with an all clear and under warranty. Thank goodness for Uber, otherwise we’d be wishing for Tucker’s skateboard I told him not to bring. We’re going to Home Depot, Trader Joe’s, West Marine, a dive shop and need to find a bulk food store for good granola. We have quite the lists, Amelia is our list maker.

The past few days haven’t been too exciting. The highs were definitely catching more tuna. Tucker’s getting good at filleting them and the BBQ. Low was definitely the sound of the engine droning on and on…..it’s so sweet the few times we’ve had wind and it gets turned off. Gabe is continuously amazed at how many people can live in this half of the state.

The kids…….I can’t call them kids, the young adults I’m traveling with have gotten some small but fun surf, I think they’re appreciating Santa Cruz for its waves. They’ve fallen into roles on the boat, Tucker’s navigating and everything fish, Amelia’s taking after her dad and cooking up a storm, Gabe attacks anything mechanical I throw at him and fixes it, I couldn’t ask for a better crew. I’ve been teaching them about the boat and every now and then I quiz them randomly: Gabe, how many fire extinguishers do we have? Answer: Sir, one in the V birth, one under the chart table, one in the aft cabin and one on the lazarette lid, sir! Good boy. Amelia, thru hulls? Tucker how does the steering system work? They’re going to be running this boat soon.

I’ve pretty much put away my long pants and jackets, going for shorts and the sun protection gear instead. The hair on my face keeps growing.

There goes another plane, it may have clipped our VHF antenna, damn, gotta row in and call an Uber!

Tor out

11-2: Tucker Puts His Life on the Line

On By Amelia Stark8 Comments

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Things have been pretty slow the last few days. We spent Halloween in Newport, listening to the party boats around us make circles around the harbor, bumping music. Our most Halloween-y event was celebrating our skeleton friend and autopilot, Sebastian’s, first birthday.

Yesterday we woke up and ate breakfast early, so we could make it to the Wedge on Newport Beach before we left for Dana Point. It’s a famous spot, where two waves meet, and crash directly on the steep sand. The walk along the beach was long, but sunny and beautiful. Tor ran the whole way, cheerfully waving his flip-flop-clad hands at everyone he passed. The waves looked flat and we all worried that the Wedge would be dead. But when we got there, it was not dead.

Tucker pulled his wetsuit on in a hurry and ran out into the water, Tor yelling after him to try not to break his neck. Gabe, Tor, and I sat comfortably in the soft, warm sand and watched Tucker and the other brave souls get pummeled. Tor clapped and cheered every time someone popped back out of the water after getting smashed onto the sand.

We walked back along the streets, surrounded by expensive houses. All of the windows had their blinds drawn, and there was no one in sight. The only open doors we saw were where people were painting the walls inside or cleaning. It made me think about all the people living on the streets, while all these beautiful homes sit empty. Capitalism… One good thing about a deserted sidewalk though; we found an untouched pile of melted Halloween candy, and ate chocolate the whole way back.

In the afternoon we motored a few hours to Dana Point. I think we were all relieved to arrive. It’s much less crowded here, and the harbor is tiny compared to Newport. We had a quiet evening. Tor cooked the cheesiest, most delicious vegetables I’ve ever eaten.

Today, I stayed on the boat to rest and catch up on homework while the boys went out to explore. Tor shuttled Gabe to a surf spot, then came back to pick Tucker up and head toward the rocky point, where spear-fishing is supposed to be good. Gabe came back a few hours later, livid at the stand-up paddle boarders who had stolen all of the waves. Tucker and Tor motored up soon after. I asked Tucker if he’d caught any fish with his new shiny spear gun. He told me yes, he’d caught a few. Big ones. He pointed me toward his backpack. Inside was a beautiful, eight-inch Calico Bass. Nonetheless he was proud, and we were proud of him. It was the first fish he’s speared!

Later, as the sun was setting, Tucker climbed up the mast to fix the broken steaming light. It was a careful mission, with many thorough safety precautions. Each of us took turns holding onto the safety line, which was connected straight from our hands to the bottom of his harness. If you’re having trouble visualizing, the point is that the safety line would have done nothing if he had fallen.

While Tucker sat 64 feet in the air, sweating bullets, teetering on the edge of life, Gabe and I hopped in the water for a sunset swim. We air-dried in the setting sun, and watched Tucker struggle his way down from the mast. For dinner we made salad, and Tucker cooked his tiny fish. Once again, he dropped something into the water. This time, our beloved tongs. He made up for it though with his delicious bass.

Tucker continues to be easy to make fun of. But he’s also the only one of us who has caught any fish. The only one to climb up the mast. He gave me the most thorough surfing lessons. And he constantly reassures me that I most likely will not get attacked by a great white.

SoCal Anchoring 101

On By Tor Stark1 Comment

Here in Newport Beach I think they must have different anchoring etiquette, or perhaps just for big ol’ power boaters

When we got back from a day excursion yesterday a big stinkpot had anchored right on top of our neighbor, only a boats length away. He’s an older solo sailor from Alaska, sporting a white ponytail and speedo, must be a hardy soul, with an old classic beautifully maintained sailboat. I thought for sure the power boat was just making a lunch stop. No one could ever be quite that rude, as there was plenty of room elsewhere, to stay so close overnight. Gabe said late last night he was in a moral dilemma ‘cuz the boats had swung close together. He felt better as he watched the sailor come on deck, after getting dressed, and let out a few more feet of chain probably grumbling to himself about being in California. Sure enough when I awoke this morning, the wind had swung around offshore and the boats were mere feet apart. Wow. Just heard them having a friendly conversation, no yelling, just communicating. Perhaps a hearty good morning, how’s your coffee or I could hear you snoring last night. To far away to tell. Just saw him let out yet another few feet of chain

We’re outa here today! A few more days and we’ll be in Mexico. Newport Beach is not for me and my crew feels the same.

Tor out

Slow days in a big place.

On By Tucker Stark2 Comments

Yesterday we left Catalina with a long motor in front of us. The seas have been in their usual calm and glassy state so the motor back was taken up with mainly rigging and re-rigging of our standup fishing poles, reading, and looking for balloons floating in the open ocean. Unfortunately no fish were caught that day but we did end up catching 5 balloons disguised as jellyfish. The Newport Beach harbor is an immense expanse of the nicest and most expensive vessels I have ever seen. Every mourning ball, anchorage, and dock is met with a boat that is worth an inconceivable amount of money. It took us about forty five minutes to get to the entrance of the harbor to where our boat is anchored right now. Today all we did was shopping and repairs. We went grocery shopping off a list supplied by Amelia. Gabe took us to a shop to get the outboard motor repaired, but actually just left the boat to pick it up after being repaired! The newest toy in our fish catching arsenal is a speargun, which we are all excited about. As soon as Gabe gets back from his motor run we are headed to the famous beach break The Wedge. We hope this heavy beach break will satiate our growing need to get involved in the ocean and it’s beautiful beat downs. The surf is small today but hopefully we can get thrown around enough to get some sand in our ears.

Gabe’s Dawg Blog 10/29

On By Tucker Stark2 Comments

Gabert here, being forced to schwing some blog action. Yesterday, after motoring roughly 11 hours across dead glass ocean, the jagged cliffs of Catalina island materialized out of the grey sky. The northwest side of the island juts straight out of deep ocean, strikingly resembling a huge gorilla. Steep talus fields comprise a majority of the island’s coast, rising hundreds of feet straight up into the fog.

As soon as we pull into the mooring at Catalina Harbor I spot a narrow path climbing straight up what looks like a small hill. Amelia, Tucker and I jump in the dinghy and book it to shore to catch the sunset from the top. With daylight dwindling we scramble up the edge of the cliffs towards the top. Deep cracks in the grass twenty feet off the cliff edge point to potential for a huge landslide halfway up. By the time I near the top I am ready to puke after relaxing on the boat for nearly a week. With Amelia and Tucker close behind we climb above the haze at what we all estimate is over 600 feet above the boat. We are greeted with a spectacular sunset before climbing down in the dimming light.

Today after a quick windless motor around the island, we pulled into our mooring at Avalon surrounded by crystal clear water and thousands of fish. Amelia Tucker and I sprung into action again, pounding a beer, shuffling into wetsuits and grabbing snorkeling gear. We jump off the boat as Tor is starting to jam out to some disturbingly funky beats. The last of the day’s sunlight streams through waving fields of kelp grass as Garibaldi, Jack Mackerel, Kelp Bass, and some other mystery fish dart and school around us. The water is thick with salt and is the perfect warm temperature.

I’m heading for bed now after Amelia whipped up another delicious dinner.

Loki out!

10-29 Amelia Blogs Too

On By Tucker Stark1 Comment

I’m sitting in the cabin right now. Tucker is laying on the ground making his signature pterodactyl noises, annoying everyone onboard. Gabe is cooking a bowl of cheesy tuna fish. Tor is sitting up top, repeatedly getting excited when the wind picks up and sad when it dies, over and over again for the last 2 hours. We’ve been sailing for 11 and a half hours today and have 3 hours left. Tucker and Tor took the first shift at 3 this morning, and Gabe and I took over at 6. Since then, it’s been continuous snacking, reading, and looking out at the grey water and sky. Tucker gets hungry about every 45 minutes, and asks, “Who’s hungry!?” When no one offers to cook food, he eats a granola bar. The cycle repeats endlessly. A few times the fishing lines started whirring, and each time we pulled up seaweed. There are about one billion dolphins out here. My favorite was a tiny baby who swam next to its mother the whole time they rode the bow.

The past week we’ve been surfing in Santa Barbara with Tucker and Gabe’s friend, Vincent. Tucker got a cool video of one of the many leopard sharks at the surf spot there. But no great white attacks yet.

The last two nights we spent in Smuggler’s Cove again, on Santa Cruz Island. Mostly, we played a new world-building strategy game Gabe found. It’s called Polytopia, and it’s consuming all our lives. When I close my eyes for bed, all I can think about is whether I should train swordsman with catapults or just knights.

Gabe, Tucker, and I ripped ourselves away from our kingdoms yesterday to dingy around the cove and look for a good snorkeling spot. Unfortunately, Tucker put the anchor out and let go, forgetting that it was not attached to the boat. After that, in order to snorkel, one of us had to stay in the dingy with the oars and keep it away from the rocky shore. We did not retrieve the anchor. But it was hilarious.

Although it’s cloudy today, it’s calm and sparkly, so I’m going to go back outside and watch the island come into view. Hopefully, Tucker will drop less items in the ocean today than he has been.

10-26

On By Tucker Stark3 Comments

Tucker is having to much fun to stop and post, so this is Tor…..hopefully he’ll settle in and take over as he’s much better than I.

We’ve been here in Santa Barbara for awhile, losing track of days, I think that’s a good thing. We made an overnight to Santa Cruz Island with The Admiral and caught two tunas on the way back, beam reach sailing in the mid 7’s and calm seas! Admiral has gone on to land based things and we’ll miss him on the boat. Hopefully more fish is in our future. Did a Costco run and Trader Joes here in Santa Barbara, West Marine a few times, we need to leave soon so I stop spending money. When I go ashore I get land sickness, OMG I hate it! The 20 somethings surfed the past two days and loved it. Today we head back out to Santa Cruz Island for two days of fishing and snorkeling than an overnight to Catalia Island.

Boats been running well. After changing the fuel filters on the engine that the stupid heads in Moss Landing didn’t know about, the engine is starting like it’s supposed to. Fixed the freon leak and now the fridge is working great. Solar is keeping up with daily demands nicely. AIS on anchor watch overnight helps me sleep soundly and is highly recommended to anyone anchored out.

“Weather is here, wish you were fine”

Tor