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The Bradley Pages
S/V Promise
Tom and Jane Bradley
S/V Promise, Trip around Vancouver Island - April 30, 2003
And so it begins; It is almost 5 PM on Wednesday, the last day of April, 2003.
We are anchored in Fossil Bay, Sucia Islands in the San Juan Islands. We
traveled here from Port Ludlow today. The outside temperature is 61, the sun is
shining, eagles are flying over the anchorage and their high pitched call echoes
across the bay. We were even able to sail part of the way here this afternoon.
What an idyllic start to our adventure...
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Tom and Jane Bradley
S/V Promise, Extended Cruise Monday, September 15, 2003
N 37° 51, W 122° 28, Richardson's Bay, Sausalito, California We motored out of
our slip at the Port Orchard Yacht Club at 6:00 A M on Friday, August 29th. We
almost didn't make it away from the dock, but Marcia Snow discovered the dock
line that hadn't been untied and we were off. After a rousing rendition of
California Here We Come, we settled down to the routine of motoring...
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Saturday, December 13, 2003
N 24° 09, W 110° 19, La Paz, Baja California South, Mexico Feliz Navidad!
Greetings to you all from sunny, warm Mexico! This will serve the dual purpose
of our regular monthly update as well as our Christmas letter. Today it is
blowing like stink (20 t0 25 knots), and we are not going to shore so I thought
it would be a good time to get this letter done. It does not "feel" like
Christmas...
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12/18/03
Bahia San Gabriel, Espiritu Santo Island N 24° 26' W 110° 22'
Hi everyone, We have left La Paz and have come north about 17
miles to a beautiful bay with white sand beaches and red sandstone cliffs. The
water is so clear, that you can see the anchor at about 20 feet. The sunset was
great tonight and it is still 70° at 6:00 PM. As we arrived at the bay, a dorado
was in hot pursuit of a flying fish. It was fun to watch the poor flying fish
skipping across the waves with the dorado jumping right behind him. The last we
saw of the flying fish, he was leaving the dorado behind. We took the dingy
exploring the bay this afternoon. Jane saw some large eels swimming along the
bottom and became less enthusiastic about wading in the water after that.
Tomorrow, we are going south about 50 miles to Bahia de los Muertos (Bay of the
Dead) and the next day if the good weather continues, will start an overnight
passage to Mazatlan where we plan to spend Christmas. Tom & Jane
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2003 10:42 AM
Subject: A Tough Sail
Man what a tough day of sailing we are having today! We are sailing under head
sail only, doing 6 + knots, our trusty wind vane steering (affectionately known
as Cap) is handling all of the steering, Tom is laying down reading and I am
catching up on e-mail. We are currently 36 miles across the Sea of Cortez headed
for Mazatlan, we should be there by noon tomorrow. Oh yes, it is 71 degrees at
11:30 am. We have really seen some beautiful scenery the last couple of days. It
is one of those times when we wish you all were here to share it with us. We
have also been treated to the most fantastic sunrises and sunsets. We see more
sunsets than we do sunrises but today we left just before sun up and were
treated to quite a display for 45 minutes. We miss you all, take care. Tom and
Jane
Sunday, December 28, 2003 5:22 PM
Subject: Oh Where, or where can our little boat be?
N 21° 42. W 105°.51
Hello All, We are currently under way from Mazatlan to La Cruz. La Cruz is a
small town 20 miles from Puerta Vallarta. We will anchor in La Cruz until Friday
morning when we will go into Marina Vallarta for Joani and Randy's visit. We
left Maz. About noon yesterday. We sailed for 18 hours. We are currently
motoring because of lack of wind and we also really needed to charge batteries.
We have to have battery power to do the really important things like receive and
send e-mail. We did a little shopping in Maz. Before we left yesterday. Marcia,
I did find Vanilla. I also bought a USA Today (ya, I know, poor choice of papers
but it was in English). I read the WHOLE things, even the ads. I also paid twice
the normal news stand price. I am news starved. On my middle of the night watch
last night I was able to get some stateside English radio stations, one was a
talk show for truckers. Oh well, it helped to keep me awake. Well, it is my
watch again, I guess I'd better go "watch." It's Tom's turn to snooze. More
later, take care y'all.
The crew of Promise.
Monday, December 29, 2003 7:47
We are now in La Cruz, just north of Puerto Vallarta. We caught up with a couple
from Canada that we met in the Queen Charlotte Islands, but haven't seen since
San Diego. It was good to see them and play a couple of games of crib - they won
2 out of 3 tonight. The weather is in the upper 70's in the day and lower 70's
at night, kind of hard to take. When we entered the bay last night, there were
about a dozen Humpback whales in the channel feeding. It was fun watching them,
but interesting trying to work our way around them without getting in their way.
I hope that you had a great Christmas with Jeff being home. We heard that there
has been some windy weather there. Has anyone had any troubles with their boats?
Well, it's time for bed, will write more later.
Tom
Whales, Boobies, Skates, & Crocs
Thursday, January 15, 2004 W 20° 44, N 105° 22, La Cruz anchorage, Banderas Bay,
Mexico.
It was 5:15 PM, we had been underway for 29 hours, we'd left Mazatlan About noon
the day before. The passage began with a an excellent sail, we were currently
motoring as the winds had died and we did not want to arrive at the anchorage in
the dark. As we approached Punta de Mita the sun began to set, the whole sky was
flaming pink, it was magnificent. As this display was going on behind us, Tom
was busy steering to avoid a group of humpback whales (at least 12) directly in
front of us. The whales were feeding and cavorting and seeming to enjoy the
sunset as much as we were. We maneuvered past the whales, into the anchorage and
had the anchor set just as darkness closed in around us. This was our
introduction to Banderas Bay, the largest bay in Mexico. We were very glad to be
in Banderas Bay because just 17 miles further into the bay was Puerto Vallarta
where we would be meeting two of our kids on January 2nd, 5 short days away...
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1/18/04 Chamela Bay N 19° 35' W 105°08'
Just a short note to let you know that we are on the move again. We left Puerto
Vallarta Saturday morning and spent the night in the small bay of Ipala about 40
NM south of PV. Today we continued about 50 NM south to Chamela Bay and had to
motor all of the way because of the lack of wind. We are anchored in the north
end of the bay off of a small village. The local children are having fun in the
surf as we listen to their squeals of joy. The cloudy, rainy weather of PV has
given way to beautiful sunny days with mild temperatures in the upper 70's.
This is Jane, I have discovered something really good! We like the Mexican
refried beans we get in the restaurants but the canned non-fat Rosarita brand
that we get in the US isn't nearly as good. I figured out how to make them taste
like the ones we get here....add bacon grease! Boy are they good that way. Yes,
I know you are laughing at me, because they are no longer non-fat. Go ahead and
laugh and we will enjoy them anyway! Oh yes, Tom didn't tell you, we saw a new
kind of Jelly Fish today. They look like giant floating mushrooms, there seems
to be quite a bit more substance to them than the moon jellys of the Northwest.
Girls, I haven't tried whopping them yet, but I'll let you know when I do.
Yesterday we had a startled boobie flying around the boat. He was evidently
going to try to land, but ran into the spare Gib halyard and twanged off into
the water. He sat there for a bit shaking his head then flew away. That's all
for now folks.
Tom and Jane
1/20/04 Bahia Tenacatita N 19° 18' W 104°50' After mostly
motoring with a little sailing today, we arrived at Tenacatita Bay. Along the
way I saw a marlin jump clear out of the water three times about 100 yards from
the boat. It was very impressive. There are 21 boats anchored here in the
northwest corner of the bay, one of the most protected anchorages that we have
found in Mexico so far. There is a river that we are going to take the dingy up
tomorrow that goes quite a ways back into the jungle. Should be an interesting
trip with lots of birds and hopefully, crocs. We plan to stay here a couple of
days to get some maintenance done on the boat and to deliver a part to a boat
that will be arriving sometime later in the week. Yesterday, we had a school of
small fish under the boat in the anchorage. Every so often, about 6 or 8 yellow
fin tuna would charge through them and nab a meal. I tried to interest the tuna
in a lure, but wasn't successful. They would have made a great meal, but oh
well, maybe next time. We have been listening to a drama on the SSB nets the
last couple of days. A boat with a single woman on board had left La Paz and was
crossing the Sea of Cortez to Mazatlan when her engine died. As if that wasn't
bad enough, she had water coming in the boat and couldn't find the source. She
said that the bilge pump was keeping up, but I was wondering how long that would
continue without an engine to charge batteries. She had another boat staying
with her in case things got out of hand. The next day, she said that she stopped
the leak and had the water down to the floorboards. Today, we heard that she had
made it safely to Mazatlan.
Tom & Jane
Thursday, January 22, 2004 12:20 PM Jungles and Crocs
Hi Y'all, We are still in Tenacatita enjoying the sunshine and warm temps. Tom
is currently making a screen for the companionway. There are flies here and we
know that as we go further south we will want screens for more than just flies.
Yesterday we took the dinghy 3 miles up the mangroves on what is called here a
jungle cruise. It was really cool. We were the first boat in yesterday morning
so the birds had not gotten all stirred up. They were really something to see.
We saw several different kinds of Herons, Pelicans, Egrets, and what I think was
an Amazon Kingfisher. One of the Herons was smaller than a great blue Heron and
almost iridescent. My first thoughts were this is no jungle this is just
Mangroves. We proceeded further and voila! we were in the jungle! The mangroves
closed in around us and it was very jungle like. I almost expected to see the
African Queen around the next bend, except that the passage way was too small
for the African Queen. There were several spots where we had to duck to clear
the overhanging branches we took some pictures and they turned out pretty well.
We will try to e-mail some from our next big town. Today we zipped across the
bay,in the dinghy, to the small town of La Manzanilla. We got some fresh fruits
and veggies. WE stopped at all the little Tiendas and bought one or two things
from several of them. At the place where we bought most of our produce we bought
a loaf of bread (Yes, Joani it was Bimbo bread), 1/2 gallon of milk, a huge bag
of oranges, some tangerines, radishes, avocados, potatoes, a pepper, and a
pineapple for $11.00. We are very pleased with the food prices in Mexico. Last
night we laid on the deck and watched the stars until the deck got too hard.
Does anyone know whether or not we are able to see the Southern Cross from a
latitude of 19 degrees North? When we left the anchorage the other morning it
was still dark and in the southern sky there was a constellation that we had not
seen before, four stars in the shape of a cross. We have never seen the Southern
Cross, but if I had to guess, I say that is what we saw. Well, that's all for
now. At least you know we are still afloat and still having fun!
Tom and Jane
I have finally decided that it was time to check the bottom of
the boat. I snorkeled on it and found that the shaft zinc was gone and we have a
fairly good coat of slime on the bottom. I haven't gotten around to refill my
tanks, so I had to use the snorkel when I cleaned the bottom and changed the
zinc. With the warm water, it wasn't too bad. I held onto the suction cup to do
the waterline down to about 4 feet. Then I tied a line to the suction cup and
kept it down near the keel. I would pull myself down the line and clean a
section, slide the suction cup ahead and the go back up for air. It took about
an hour and 45 minutes, split up into two days, to clean the bottom and change
the zinc. It sure does beat the diving gear in the cold Pacific Northwest
waters. We plan to be back in PO about the 20th of July to the 10th of August,
when our daughter Joani has her baby. Thats all for now,
Tom
February 1, 2004
We are now in Acapulco and plan to stay here a couple of days to see the sights
and re-provision.
Tom
11:35 AM 2/5/04 off Puerto Sacrificos N 15° 38' W 96° 57'
Hi everyone, We have about another 3 hours to go until we reach Huatulco, our
last Mexican port. We plan to stay there a couple of days until the gale that is
supposed to be blowing in the Gulf of Tehuantepec Sat. & Sunday dies down. We
have had an interesting passage so far. Yesterday afternoon, we saw the first
Orca since last summer in BC. It was a lone male, I wonder where the rest of the
pod was? During the night, I waged a battle with several Magnificent Frigate
birds. The night was beautiful with a full moon and I was enjoying being in the
cockpit with the temperature in the upper 70's or low 80's. All of a sudden, a
black shape soared high overhead and circled the mast. As I watched, the shape
tried to land on the top of the mast. We have several items, the wind point and
VHF antenna, that could be damaged by large birds landing on them, so I
immediately tried to scare it off. I tried yelling at them, but they ignored me.
Banging on the rigging scared them off after they landed, but they came right
back for another landing. I suddenly had an idea that Dad would be proud of. I
went below and got my 1 million candle power search light and turned it on them.
At this point, I found that it was Frigate birds trying to land and they are big
enough to do some serious damage to the fragile things on the masthead. As they
flew in to land, I would shine the light on them to ruin their night vision so
that they couldn't see the mast. This worked for a about 10 minutes, but they
adapted. I think that they must have put on little blinders and were actually
using the light to see the mast and started landing again. Banging on the
rigging drove them off temporarily, but I had to come up with a new strategy. I
then wiggled the light side to side rapidly, causing a kind of strobe effect. It
was fun watching the birds flying in the strobe light and the flickering light
made it to where they couldn't see well enough to land. I had to keep up the
battle for over 20 minutes, but finally prevailed. Today, we have seen about a
dozen sea turtles and had school of over 100 Pan Tropical Dolphins swimming and
jumping around us for 20 minutes. Jane was up on the bow jumping up and down and
squealing with delight. Jane just now let out a yell as a flying fish became
airborne by the boat. We have been sailing about a quarter of the time on this
run, some last night and the past couple of hours. Bye for now, we will let you
know when we head south again. T&J
Addendum: We did in fact arrive in Huatulco (pronounced Wah-too-coal) safely
this afternoon. We saw 33 Sea Turtles today. We also had visit from a second
group of Pan Tropical Dolphins. More later, or as they say in Mexico, manana.
1000 hours 2/9/04 Gulf of Tehuantepec N 15° 42' W 96° 00'
We are off on our 3 day, 450 NM, crossing to El Salvador. The weather is calm
and hot, but there is a good possibility of wind about 50 miles ahead of us.
There are 4 other boats taking advantage of the weather window and crossing with
us. We probably won't be within sight of them, but it is nice to be able to stay
in radio contact with them. We had a good time in Huatulco which is the southern
most cruise ship port in Mexico. Luckily, no cruise ships came in while we were
there. We did a little snorkeling and enjoyed a wide variety of colored fish. We
really enjoyed the bright blue ones.(Jane calls it electric blue). We saw the
sad side of cruising while we were there. A man on a nice little boat came over
to talk and try to sell us some boat parts. He has had engine problems and run
out of money and his wife had gone back to the States. He said that a bunch of
people in the States owed him money, but he couldn't get them to send him any.
He is out of money with no income, his engine is still not running well, and he
has a long upwind sail back to the States. We gave him all of pesos that we had
left, a couple of dollars worth, as were leaving, but wonder what will happen to
him. Writing this e-mail was interrupted while we watched a large group of
Bottlenose Dolphins frolic off our bow. We will keep you informed of how things
are going.
Tom & Jane
Still underway 7:30 PM 2/10/04 Gulf of Tehuantepec N 14° 25' W
93° 70'
Well, we have made it across the infamous Gulf Tehuantepec without any problems.
It is usually blowing either 40 to 50 knots or nothing at all. We are very
thankful for Summer Passage Radio in Oxnard, California which provides weather
forecasts for Mexico and Central America and gave us a good weather window for
the crossing. We had a very unusual crossing in that we were able to sail for
over 20 hours in 15 to 30 knot winds. We are now motoring and there is a good
possibility that we will have to motor the rest of the way to El Salvador. The
sail last night was somewhat bumpy and made it more difficult to sleep off
watch. Today, the activities on Promise was Tom taking a short nap about 7:00
AM, then Jane taking a nap, then Tom taking another nap, then Jane taking
another nap, then Tom taking another nap, and finally, Jane taking a final nap
just before supper. We both feel pretty good and ready for another night. We had
a few dolpnins and turtles swim by today, but other that a cruise ship last
night, haven't seen much. Bye for now,
Tom & Jane
Subject: Guatemala 0639 2/11/04 N14° 03' W 92° 19'
We had a quiet night with millions of stars to keep us company. The moon came up
about 10 PM turning the clouds and sea to silver. Night passages make up in
beauty what we miss in sleep. I have been on watch since 0600 and enjoying a
beautiful sunrise. The eastern sky has some high clouds and is a golden orange.
As we motor along, large groups of Manx Shearwaters take to the air as we pass
and wheel in circles around the boat. They swing by within a foot or two of the
boat, almost like they are thinking about landing, but at the last moment wheel
away and swing around to the stern for another run. I think that they may be
watching for squid or fish that the boat disturbs as it passes. We are about 30
NM off of the Guatemalan coast and have 205 NM to go to Bahia del Sol, El
Salvador. We should be there sometime tomorrow afternoon. Wish that you could be
here to enjoy the beauty of the sea.
Tom
Safe Passage N13° 18 W88° 53
We have arrived safely in Bahia del Sol (Bay of the Sun) El Salvador. We were
guided in by Canadian/US expats. They came out in a Panga and led us in. Tom
said it was a piece of cake. The tidal rips off of the North end of Marrowstone
Island are often worse than the bar was here. The crossing from Huatulco, Mexico
to here took 79 hours and we were able to sail 1/3 of the time. We had a nice
sail this afternoon. We just love it when we can turn off the engine and enjoy
the sound of the wind and the sea. We had one sad event on our trip here. We had
to give Little Tree, the Alberta Spruce Bonsai that Tom has nurtured for 8
years, a burial at sea! Somewhere on the coast of Mexico he got some salt spray
on him and with that and the hot weather he just did not recover he looked worse
and worse every day. It was evident that he was not going to recover and spray
painting his remaining needles did not seem to be the answer, so we bid him a
fond farewell and tossed him overboard (gently of course). Yesterday morning
while Tom was sleeping I saw a Humpback whale, actually there were two of them,
it looked like an adult and a young one. The adult breeched, she came fully out
of the water. It was an awesome sight. I can't imagine the energy it would take
to hoist a body that big completely out of the water! Well, that's all the news
from here for now. I am going to jump in the shower and we are going ashore to
the resort for dinner!
Love you all, Jane (and Tom too)
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