2008 Dec Blog

Dear F&F, December 27, 2008 I feel like we are on a spiritual retreat, out here communing with the mantas. We have had so many wondrous experiences in a row. We do not take them for granted & are in complete awe with each creature that ventures near us. We just had another 45 minute […]

Dear F&F, December 26, 2008 It\’s just past noon & we\’ve already had another amazing day. Scott spotted mantas on the surface just inshore of our boat at sunrise. We had a quick cup of tea & hopped in off \”Beach House\” with tanks. Chuck & Linda snorkeled & got to see 3 manta rays

Dear F&F, December 25, 2008 Day 9 – San Benedicto Island Scott and Linda went out snorkeling this morning & they got to see 2 big turtles. She was very excited. Scott & I did only 1 dive today. No mantas. No sharks. But lots of colorful fish & some lobsters & an eel, so

Dear F&F, December 24, 2008 Last night about 1 am we awakened to rain coming down on us. We leave the roof hatch open. It stays warm enough at night to use only a sheet or no covering. Certainly no blanket needed. We are actually south of the Hawaiian Islands latitude, so we are truly

Dear F&F, December 23, 2008 We took the dinghy around to the dive site called \”The Boiler\”. It was much flatter seas so a more comfortable ride than when we went out with the commercial boats. Today we had a hard time finding the shallow site to anchor on. We had tied up to the

Dear F&F, December 20-22, 2008 I have to limit my computer time because I can very suddenly get a headache & nauseous if the weather gets a bit bumpy here at the anchorage. I thought I\’d be over that by now, but the motion sickness still jumps up & bites me sometimes. Almost every other

Dear F&F, December 19, 2008 Today is Friday. We arrived at San Benedicto Island 2 days ago. On our 2nd dive today all our dreams came true. Jeronimo Jara drives the panga for the \”live aboard\” dive boat, \”Solmar V\”. He came over this morning to introduce himself & offer information about the dive sites

Dear F&F, December 18, 2008 It is difficult without exact GPS waypoints to know where a good dive spot is versus a nothing spot. The commercial dive boat, \”Nautilus Explorer\” had showed up in the evening & we dinghied over to say hi & get some local knowledge. Owner of Reefseekers Dive Company (Ken Kurtis),

Dear F&F, December 15-17, 2008 The distance to our destination was such that no matter how we calculated our possible speed & distance we would be underway 2 days & 2 nights in order to time a daylight arrival. Going to an island unknown to us, it is only prudent seamanship. Before exiting the marina,

Dear F&F, December 12-13, 2008 We were happy that the windlass worked flawlessly as we upped the anchor at 6 am. It was still dark, with dawn coming about 40 minutes later. We took 3 hour shifts being on watch, although we were both awake most of the day. The 175 mile trip took us