not yet marooned...
Saturday, 27 November, 2004
Hi friends
Just a wee email to let you know we are still alive
and kicking.
We are currently in a wee bay called Bahia de Los
Angeles on the Bahia California Peninsula in Mexico.
We have been sailing for the last 6-7 days to get here
island hopping over from the mainland town of Bahia
Kino. We have seen hardly any people along the way
except 8 crazy mexicans doing free diving for fish and
lobster. Have seen heaps of wildlife though which is
great. stingrays, seals, whales, pelicans, dolphins
and a microscopic scorpian. We didnīt see the 2 foot
lizzards or snakes we were warned about which was a
bugger. The area is totally barren with just a few
shrubs and cacti on some of the islands. We have had
some amazing campsites in sheltered coves and have
been doing it in style - propane stove, gas lantern,
chairs, table and lots of food.
Weather has been kind and we have only been nervous a
couple of times.... the latest being when we were
crossing a large stretch of open water, with strong
winds, strong tidal currents, big waves, and the
second reef on the mainsail started to rip. So we had
just gone back to the first reef (so overpowered) when
the rudder started to fall off (a bolt at the bottom
snapped). So keith is hanging over the back of the
boat holding the bits together, while andrew gets the
outboard going to steer the boat into the wind. A big
wave swamps the motor which nearly cuts out
threatening to send us side on to the waves. Nic in
the meantime is doing lengths of the boat getting the
sails in, finding the spare bolts, nuts and tools and
trying not to get washed overboard.
All a bit of a drama, but we got it sorted enough to
limp into a sheltered alcove where we spent the next
day doing an extensive check on the boat and making
repairs on the rudder, turnbuckles and sails. We have
since tested the repaired second reef which all works
well.
Today in Bahia de Los Angeles we have stocked up on
the essentials - water, gas, food and beer and are
heading out tomorrow to circumnavigate Isla de la
Gaurdia - weather and seas permitting. Then island
hop back to Kino. The tides are really huge here and
the currents very strong (sometimes making the sea a
chaotic mess of steep high waves as we learnt on day
3) so our sailing days are planned carefully around
the tidetables.
Will be out of contact for the next 12-15 days.
Love Nic and Andrew
[Florida road trip!]
Monday, 15 November, 2004
Hi everyone..
Just a quick email to let you all know how its going
and where we are...
We left Chile a week ago nearly and have since been in
Florida around Miami. So here in Bush country we are.
Where we can at last flush the toilet paper, where we
can watch stereotypical fat americans be unhealthily
obsessive over their pets, food and cars and where we
can only look but not touch cause its all way too
expensive! The last internet place we looked at was
$16NZ an hour!!
We rented a car at miami airport and have spent the
last 5 or so days zooming around trying not to crash.
The first day was a bit of a nightmare with us both
being tired from no sleep, trying to adjust to driving
on the other side of the road, not having a decent map
etc etc. We got by and have had a great time. Drove
down to Key West (furtherest point south of USA) and
slept in the car in the KMart parking lot for the
first night. The rental car was expensive and hence
we don't want to fork out $20 US a night each for
hostel or $30US just to camp. We tried to find
somewhere to camp illegally but is all so heavily
policed. I guess thats what you get in the tourist
areas. Wandered around looking at beaches and people
with way too much money before driving north and
finding a free campsite somewhere in the middle of
nowhere. Were going to put the tent up but the
alligators running around on the grass put us off (not
to mention the millions of mosquitos) so we slept in
the car again.. We also discovered we could lie the
seats forward and almost lie comfortably so its not
too bad.
Have driven past more accidents in the last 5 days on
american roads than what we saw in total in 8 months
in south america. Amazing. Were one of the first at
the scene at an accident just near the Kennedy space
centre near orlando where a couple drove off the road,
through a power pole and landed upside down in a
waterway ditch. They were fine, but had pretty bad
shock. We gave them a towel and left as others were
helping out and there was nothing we could do. We
have since driven past several upside down cars on the
motorways and other head to tail smashes.
Had a look around the west coast of florida before
zooming through Orlando and the hoards of touurists
and theme parks. I never realised there were so many.
And each one is huge - able to take thousands of
people every day. They all cost too. Nothing is
cheap or for free as we are slowly finding out. You
might pay $60 US or more to get into a theme park, and
you still have to pay $10US on top of that just to
park your car in their parking lot.!!
We spent a long day looking around the Kennedy Space
Centre on Cape Canaveral. Its quite a good centre
with loads of information, some great IMAX films (one
in 3D) with amazing footage of rocket and shuttle
launches and of course space flight. They also take
you on a bus to look at the launch pads, the equipment
to move around the rockets and shuttle and the
building where it is all assembled. Also visited what
is called the Hall of Fame where there are hands on
things related to space flight (ie a G force
simulator, flight simulators etc etc). It was an
excellent day. Could have spent two days there if we
had wanted to see it all and read all the information.
Yesterday Andrew went for a day to a place called 'The
Fantasy of Flight' - basically a big warbird
collection similar to the one in Wanaka except bigger.
Just about all the aircraft are in flying condition.
I wasn't too excited about spending a day gazing at
planes so Andrew dropped me off at Sea World and
instead I had a day wandering around listening to
really rich, fat american kids wingeing about how they
wern't allowed to do this or that!! Actually it was a
good day for me. I went three times on a crazy 55mph
rollercoaster which had me screaming, a really good
circus display, a killer whale show which was amazing,
a sea lion show and other displays of whales,
dolphins, sealions, manatees, penguins, polar bears,
sharks etc etc. Anything and everything you can
imagine related to the sea. The killer whales were
pretty cool though and the penguins. It reminded me
why I really want to go back to Antarctica. The place
also looked almost like the animals wern't suffering
too much either with spacious enclosures and always a
place they could go to get away from the eyes and
sounds of the people.
Today we have driven down to Miami and have had a
quick wander down the beach and through town. It
isn't nearly as nice as what I imagined. The fact
that its raining and grey outside probably doesn't
help but there are loads of really weird people and
shop assistants etc don't really want to help unless
you buy something (quite different from SA)....
Again, nothing is for free - even when it comes to
questions like where is the nearest toilet, phone
booth or internet... Our next task for the day is to
find somewhere where we can have a shower (the only
problem with sleeping in your car every night!!).
Gotta go. Hope you are all well.
Not sure how much we are going to be able to email
with cyber cafes costing so much here. Plus we fly to
Dallas Texas and Tucson in Arizona tomorrow to meet
Keith and drive to Mexico for 2-3 weeks of sailing so
no emailing then! Will probably be able to write
something quick and check emails for the next 2-3 days
though. After that, it will be December.
bye for now
love nic and andrew
[back in Santiago]
Sunday, 7 November, 2004
Hi
We are now back in Santiago.
Its lovely and warm - and not as unbearably hot as Rio.
Our last few days in Rio were good. We did a lot of
lying on the beach. Hired a sun umbrella for $2.50NZ
for the day which was just as well. The sun is so
intense that we both got burnt even though we only
left the shade to swim twice. I also got my hair cut
- not a drematic change. But did get about 15-20cm
chopped off it. It was long and feeling like straw.
I tried to find somewhere to get it braided but
everywhere was too expensive. Instead I got a haircut
for NZ$7.50. That was one of the more expensive
places too. I wasnīt keen to go really short cause I
couldnīt communicate with the hairdresser and tell him
what I really wanted. As it was, he was scared to cut
my hair. He thought it was terrible cutting hair - as
its every girls dream in south america to have long
blond hair. Not many people have short hair, and he
just couldnīt understand why I would want it short.
As it was, just to get it cut to shoulder length, I
had to keep saying īmas, mas, mucho mas por favorī.
(more, more, much more please!).
Had a couple of kids eyeing up our packs and gear at
the bus stop while waiting for the airport bus on our
way out. Fortunately they didnīt try anything on.
Seems to be the way it has been for us lately. Lots
of people being very obvious in what they want to
steel but not having a go. If you stare at them and
let them know that you are aware of them and their
intentions, I think they are less likely to make a
move on your things. There has also been a lot of
police and military around the city and beaches which
is good for tourists. There is some big meeting with
all south american prime ministers so security is
high. We did have some dodgy looking guy come up to
us on the beach though trying to sell us some gold
jewellery. Probably stollen from some other poor
tourist. Our flight to santiago was ok. Had an old
plane though, and something broke while they were
doing the pre flight checks so we all had to sit in
the plane while they fixed it which took an hour. We
also stopped for half an hour in Sao Paulo but wernīt
allowed off the plane. And then wernīt allowed to use
the toilets either cause of cleaning. Then had about
half an hour of taxiing and waiting in a queue of
planes before finally taking off. By the time the
seatbelt sign was turned off, there was a mad rush for
the toilets! Arrived in santiago about 10pm last
night and it took a full two hours using public
transport (bus, metro, bus) to get to Luisīs place.
Fortunately they were still up. We fly out of
Santiago again on monday night so its just a short
visit.
I think thats about all for now.
Lots of love
Nic
Back Next
