Clay's Time Aboard Starship

I have been in Baja for slightly over a month with Anne-Marie and Chris staying aboard Starship. The cruising lifestyle is almost exactly the way I imagined it would be. The one major difference is that I though there would be much more free time. Going grocery shopping in Loreto took almost the entire day and was one of the best workouts I have had in years, and going for a hike and snorkeling can make an entire day disappear.

This trip began exactly how I wanted it to. My sister gave me a haircut that my mother would strongly disapprove of.

As we traveled north along the coast of Baja we went from anchorage to anchorage staying at each for roughly 5 days at a time. Our biggest pastime so far has been snorkeling. I was amazed by the amount of fish that would be swimming around you.

As I snorkeled Annie and Chris would go spearfishing. Chris is the spearfishing expert of Starship and would often bring back fish for dinner.

Chris was kind enough to share some of his spearfishing wisdom with me. He showed me certain fish which were good to eat that you could shoot. One day while attempting spearfishing I was very determined to come back with a kill. While surveying the area from above I spotted a hogfish (known to be rather challenging prey). It looked like one of the biggest fish I had ever seen while snorkeling. My primal hunting instincts immediately kicked in and without hesitation I dove down and shot the fish in the spine instantly paralyzing it.

At least that's how I saw it. But here's what really happened...

Chris told me that he believed a type of fish called sweet lips would be hanging around this one rock. After swimming around there for 10 minutes I saw a bunch of fish I believed were sweet lips. I am not very good at identifying fish, so I reported my findings to Chris. He told me to go for it. After 10 more minutes of hesitation I dove down, tried to shoot at the head of one of the fish, and missed by a mile. A few minutes later I saw another one and dove down. This time I aimed for the body instead of the head, and somehow shot its spine and paralyzed it.

Once I had my kill back at the dingy I could tell that it was rather small fish and clearly not a sweet lips. It was quite purple at spots and only has a small amount of yellow on the tail. Chris confirmed these suspicions. Back at the boat Annie identified it as a hogfish. Surprisingly the fish guide book said they were easy to kill while spearfishing (I think the book must have its facts wrong). But luckily the book said these fish were good to eat so it wasn't a waste. Chris also killed a previously unknown type (we still aren't sure of its name). They were both quite delicious!

My fish

Chris' fish

We also have done quite a lot of hiking. One hike in particular was quite memorable. We left early in the morning in an attempt to avoid the hottest part of the day. This seemed to have little to no effect on me. I sweated more than what I thought was humanly possible. At times I considered giving up, but by the time we got to the top I was very glad I didn't. The view was incredible!

At the top of the mountain there were very interesting rocks. If you hit the boulders with smaller rocks they rang loudly and sounded like bells. On the way down the mountain we also saw hieroglyphs.

Besides that we have been kitesurfing, making delicious food, cooling off in the water, eating ice cream every chance we get, and having the occasional siesta.

Despite the bug infestation, bee swarms, and dingy explosion, I have thoroughly enjoyed my month aboard Starship. My lovely sister (Anne-Marie) and her super cool husband (Chris) have been extremely welcoming throughout the entire trip. They have made it a truly enjoyable and unique experience for me. I can't wait for the last 3 weeks and I will be sad when it all comes to an end.

For MANY more pictures, be sure to check out our web album!

Loreto to Santa Rosalia

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Location:

Santa Rosalia

Latitude:

27.34066667

Longitude:

-112.2643667

Made it to Santa Rosalia!

Chris, Clay (my brother) and I have had an eventful (mostly good, with some very annoying thrown in) trip from Loreto to Santa Rosalia. I'm really happy to have Clay on board for a number of reasons. I've been missing family and Canada for a while, so Clay definitely helps to fill that gap and it feels like a little bit of Canada has come to Mexico. He's also an awesome cook and he helps and inspires daily in the galley (some great food pictures to come). He's big and strong…..very helpful for carrying groceries, boating supplies and water. It really is amazing how much he can carry! These first 3 weeks have been awesome and I look forward to all the good times to come during Clay's remaining 4 weeks. Clay will be writing a blog post in the next few days with more specifics.

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Location:

Santa Rosalia

Latitude:

27.34066667

Longitude:

-112.2643667

A Wonderful Adventure

The following is my Dad's/Kevin's perspective of our pre-cruising San Francisco days as well as his visit to Starship with my Mom in May.

Note: My Dad (Kevin GERARD Allen) signed his name Auto G because there was no need for our autopilot (Auto P) with Kevin on board. Auto G handled all sea conditions enthusiastically and without complaint!

….

Over the past few years I have had the good luck of spending several weeks aboard Starship. While it was a pleasure to spend time with the kids the conditions were usually cold, dark, cramped, foggy and not very windy. Mark Twain was absolutely correct about summer in San Francisco. When it was windy, several of the first voyages of Starship did not go as well as hoped.

Cold and foggy northern California days

When we went out into the ocean beyond the Golden Gate bridge we faced terrible difficulties and had to quickly turn back. The first voyage the kids took with Herb and Michelle (Chris' parents) was even worse. Over the subsequent many months Anne Marie and Chris told me many times that they were too busy to go kiting because they were doing boat projects. These ranged from electrical to plumbing to sewing to electronics to water tanks and beyond. I suggested that the kids just start the journey and sort out the projects en route.

New anchor locker separation

New windows 

Starship's usual chaos during the boat project mayhem

Why isn't this bilge pump working ?!?!?

The early difficulties have clearly resulted in the co-captains taking safety very seriously. They have all the equipment (including 3 anchors and 3 GPS's), all the necessary skills (they did very well in several courses) and the right attitude to deal well with routine and unforeseen circumstances. When one of our anchors began to slip during the night I found out that three anchors were indeed helpful. After sorting out the problem they even debriefed later to ensure the same problem would not occur again.

The kids have a wonderful set up on Starship and we were very happy to share it with them.

Then and Now

         Just before shoving off in Half Moon Bay                                Mexico

 

We enjoyed sailing, snorkeling, skurfing, clam gathering, wildlife watching and the occasional game of euchre and had a relaxing yet adventure filled vacation. We look forward to being regular participants in their wonderful adventure and to hearing about the parts that we cannot participate in.

Thanks

Auto G

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Location:

Loreto Area

Latitude:

26.014791

Longitude:

-111.339097