FISH ON!!! Striped Marlin

The first billfish has been caught and boarded on the Liahona!  We left Agua Verde at first light this morning to make the 44 miles down to the little fishing town of Evaristo along the Baja coast just north of La Paz by about 5 hours.  We have had 3 days of strong north winds, a norther, and it has left the seas a bit lumpy.  We sailed early in the day for the first 4 or 5 hours then the wind began to die down around 11am.  So we left a headsail up and cranked up the diesel burner to get enough speed to get into Evaristo before dark.  Just after lunch I went down below to get a snack and Marne started yelling that we had a fish on.  Then she yelled "it's a big one, and it's jumping"!  I came running up top to see a billfish dancing on it's tail about 80 yards behind the boat.

We scrambled to get the reacher in, shutdown the motor and get in the other lines so we could battle our fish.  He was jumping like crazy and dancing across the water shaking his head violently trying to rid himself of the hook.  He was spooling line like crazy!  By the time the boat lost most of her speed and the fish had tired some, he was probably 300-400 yards behind the boat and we could barely see him.  He hit on the lighter pole with the smaller reel so I was worried about losing him.  As I barked out instructions, Marne handled the boat like a master and positioned us perfectly so we had the fish off the port beam, although a LONG ways out there.  After about 40 minutes or so we had him beside the boat and then started trying to figure out how to handle him.  After some pro videography, Marne grabbed the rod and muscled him up next to the side of the boat so I could get the gaff into him.  

BAM!  A perfect gaff and he was ours!  We hauled him on deck, threw a tail rope on him, cut his gills and cleated him off the stern.  We are so pumped right now!  It is a blue striped marlin about 7' long and maybe 60-70 lbs.  After all of the excitement we called in to Evaristo, talked with the little restaurant on the beach and they are going to cook him up for whomever wants to join the party.  I can't say how perfectly everything went and how much of a BOSS Marne is!  She did everything perfectly.  Catching and landing a billfish on a sailboat does not happen very often.  If we would have been sailing at 4 knots, he wouldn't even have been interested. Or if we were sailing faster we would never have been able to get sail down in time to actually reel him in.  He would have completely spooled the reel.  

As you all know, I could go on for pages and pages but suffice it to say that we are super excited and looking forward to a great dinner on the beach tonight with friends and anyone else that wants to join.  On a closing note, the last billfish caught on a Liahona was in 1980 aboard my dad's original Liahona.  This one's for you pops!

Until next time...gone fishin'!

SV Liahona 
Bret and Marne

Cave paintings in Agua Verde

This morning we got up and headed off with 4 others from sailboats here in Agua Verde to find the "cave paintings" about 4 kilometers up the beach from here.  After getting directions from some locals we finally accepted the offer from a family on a small ranchito along the way to take their 12 year old son Enrique as our guide.  It is a good thing we did because it was a two hour hike criss crossing trails along the coast to the base of the hill where the cave paintings were.  It was worth the hike.  Two large caves about 30' deep and the same across, situated about 200' up the rocky hillside were the keepers of this, supposedly, ancient art.  Painted on the side of the cliff, between the two caves are about a dozen or so red hand prints.  Above the hand prints there are several others that appear to be a hand print that was drug downward along the wall leaving long, red streaks and at the bottom the where the streaks stopped, a hand print.  The prints are somewhat small, looking to be the size of maybe a 12-16 year old child.  Supposedly they are hundreds of years old.  Looking at them, one would not necessarily doubt that.  However, who knows, maybe they are the marks of some Mexican kids that got into their dad's red house paint and wandered up into the hills and decorated their "club house".  Kind of doubtful since it is in the middle of no where but it leaves me wondering. So any curious ones out there maybe you could Google "cave paintings Agua Verde BCS" and see what you find out.  I would love to know what the "pros" say about the origin and age of these paintings.  If you find any info, please email back and share.  We have some awesome pictures that we hope to post later.

A view from inside the cave

After the morning exploration we took the dinghy around to the beach in front of the village to get some groceries and allow Marne to see some baby goats that we were told about.  The little store, which is basically a little metal shed in someone's back yard, just received fresh goods yesterday.  We bought a few items including several beautiful bunches of bananas that we promptly peeled, thirded and put into our solar food dryer on the back deck.  A quick stop to see the 4 day old goats, ok, they were pretty cute, and then we were off.  However, not without some excitement.  With the strong winds blowing there was quite a wind chop swell surging on the beach.  It was a bit tricky but we managed without incident.

At 4pm today the 7 boats here in Agua Verde are getting together for a pot luck.  We were going to do it on the beach but with all the wind the Machado's (the pro surfer Rob Machado's parents) offered the spacious aft deck of their catamaran to hold the festivities.  Marne prepared a 5 layer bean dip and chips complete with home made sour cream that she learned how to make from half and half and vinegar from her "Galley" cookbook.  Yes, she is learning to cook with substitutes, minimal ingredients and minimal cookware.  

The only other noteworthy event today was when I thought I saw a sea lion swimming along side the boat.  It didn't take long before I realized it was a dog!  Keep in mind that we are anchored about 100 yards off shore and the water is a bit stirred up with all of the wind.  I jumped in the dinghy and came to his rescue putting him in the dink and giving him a lift to shore.  I have no idea what he was thinking or where he thought he was going.  About 30 minutes after dropping him on the beach he swam by the boat again but proceeded over to the shore.  Strangest thing I have seen in a while.

Ciao for now.

SV Liahona
Bret and Marne

Holeing up in Agua Verde

Dinner with Jose on the beach in Agua Verde

Last night in Danzante, aka the Blue Lagoon, was a bit sketchy as the anchorage is very tight with barely enough room for one boat and swing room on the anchor in varying winds is extremely minimal.  Last night we had wind from every point on the compass...several times each!  It ranged from 2 knots to 18 knots and as we swung around like a pinwheel I was seriously concerned that during  the course of one of those swings we might be a little more intimate with the volcanic rock shoreline than I was comfortable with.  As a result I stayed up in the cockpit checking wind direction and depth for several hours.  Once things settled a bit around 2am I went back to bed and did not enjoy the rest of my restless night.  

Today we rode light north winds southbound to Bahia Agua Verde where we are nestled in with 6 other boats.  Most likely we will be here for several days as we are supposed to get a multi day norther blow with winds to 30 knots.  We will see if that materializes.  On the way down we had a bit of excitement as we had a quadruple hook up!  Both hand lines and both rods were spooling.  Back in the day we would most likely reel in 4 yellow fin tuna.  Not these days.  All four were skipjacks.  Not good.  There are probably some feral Mexican cats that would turn their nose up at the site of skipjack in their bowl.  But...it was exciting and fun anyway.

Aqua Verde is as beautiful as usual.  We went to the beach and invited Jose to dinner tomorrow night.  Jose is an 80 year old dude that has been living in his beach shack for over 25 years and he was excited about the invite.  We then took a stroll around the anchorage on the paddleboard to meet our neighbors.  All super nice...of course.  Newsflash for the Lyle gang...the boat anchored right next to us are Rob Machado's parents!  What?!  Pretty cool.  For those not in the know Rob Machado is a world renowned pro surfer, right up there with Kelly Slater.  

Anyway, another day in the books aboard SV Liahona.  Ciao for now.

SV Liahona 
Bret and Marne

Marne's new world.... SCUBA

Not Scuba here but a great cave nonetheless.

Yes, there is another world that exists beyond the boundaries of the air that we breathe, the underwater world.  Today Marne discovered that realm.  After graduating from the Bret Mitchell school of diving (an intense 5-15 minute course that only a few have completed... Craig Lyle and Ken Earl are some of the early graduates) we strap a tank on your back and head down.  At this point Catherine is probably seriously worried about the safety of her daughter but no worries mom...we've got this handled.  And it is not as crazy as it may sound.  She started in 4' of water and figured things out before heading down to a conservative 15-20' for her first official dive.  She loved it and can't wait to do more!

Last night before going to bed Marne and I were sitting up in the cockpit looking at the stars and talking, taking in the amazing beauty and apparent closeness of the stars that seem so fewer and so much farther away if you are observing them from somewhere that has much more light pollution than here in remote Baja California.  As we were talking Marne said "shooting star" as she saw a star streaking across the sky.  I didn't jump up because I knew that in 1-2 seconds it would be all over with.  WRONG!  On my side of the bimini covering directly above our heads I saw the streaker burning across the sky.  It was unbelievable. It covered about 2/3 of the sky above us, burning bright white and lasting an astonishing 7 seconds or so.  Marne asked if it was some kind of flare or something from some other boat out there because it was so bright and so long that it didn't even look real.  It definitely wasn't a flare.   Evidently it was a "fireball", a super hot burning and bright meteor that comes into the earth's atmosphere at a very low angle which gives us a very long look at it's burn.  Supposedly there are more tonight and then more on Nov. 5th with the best viewing after midnight to the wee hours of the morning.  It was by far the most amazing shooting star I have ever seen.

For the second night in a row we went out for a night dive to find some lobster and for the second night in a row we were skunked!  I did see 3 last night.  One too small, one I couldn't get to and one that I shot but lost.  Grrr.  I am a little frustrated as this time last year, in this exact spot, Nathan and I had a lobster fest!  I wish I understood better the comings and goings of these tasty little creatures because they have me perplexed.

Where we are anchored here in the southern bight of Isla Danzante, Marne and I have given it a new name...the blue lagoon.  It is so beautiful here.  It is a tight, small little cove, just big enough for one boat that is surrounded by steep volcanic sides and everything in between is fine, white sand.  This morning we hiked up the rocks and took pictures of the Liahona sitting over the white sand in crystal clear, aqua water.  I wish I could send pictures.  Anyway, we are so grateful to be here and we have decided that it, so far, is definitely on our top 3 list of anchorages.  Until next time.

SV Liahona
Bret and Marne

Loreto for some provisions

Delicious home made pizza last night...Marne is the bomb!

After the net this morning we made a quick decision to head SW the 6 miles to Loreto in order to grab a few provisions.  Loreto has no protection so it is not a place to stay overnight.  Most just anchor there in the early morning, go into town to get their supplies then head out before the afternoon winds kick up.  Our trip was no different.  The walk to the Ley (large grocery store chain here in Mexico) is about a half mile or so through the quaint little fishing town of Loreto.  Once at the store it is tempting to fill the basket but thinking about the hike back to the the dinghy carrying all of those groceries keeps your shopping in check.

All told we spent about $45 on some fresh veggies and other things that we had on our list.  Most groceries are fairly inexpensive unless they are imported brands from the states.  Stuff like avocados are ridiculously cheap at about 75 cents for a kilo, that is 2.2 lbs.!  We also picked up two big bunches of bananas that we peeled, split and put on the food dryer as soon as we got to the boat.

Upon departure we had two options, head north back to Isla Coronados or south to Puerto Escondido and Isla Danzante.  If winds were right we were going to head back to Coronados.  However, the wind disagreed so we threw out a headsail and pointed south in 15 knots of wind behind us that brought us to Isla Danzante about 2 hours later.  Danzante lies just a couple miles due east of Puerto Escondido and is definitely on our favorites list.  There was one boat in the anchorage when we got here but it pulled anchor and left just as we were coming in so we have the place to ourselves.  Heaven!  

A quick snorkel around the beautiful rocks and reefs and then back to to the boat where I had to fix the hawes pipe that leads the chain from the windlass to the chain locker below.  The sealant had broke loose and needed to be redone.  Not a big deal and a half hour later the daily chores were done and Marne and I are now just relaxing here in the cabin enjoying this beautiful place.  On the menu tonight are the last two lobsters that we got from Isla San Marcos along with a few other fixins.  Danzante has provided some excellent lobster diving in the past and we are hoping to refill the coffers over the next night or two. Hopefully the wind calms down enough for me to want to want to actually get into the water in the darkness of the night and see what might be crawling around on the ocean floor.  We will have to see how that plays out.

Another day, another dose of pure gratitude for the life we are able to live.  Wherever this post finds you, look around, there is plenty to be grateful for wherever you are.  Recognize, smile, enjoy.  Get some.

SV Liahona
Bret and Marne