Friday Jan 20, 2023 - Nassau to Bisbee

OK. Travel day. Coffee and tea at the Orange Hill Beach Inn. The taxi picked us up right on time ($25). We got to try out the new Global Entry passes and there were no lines at TSA but we didn’t have to take our shoes or belts off. That’s a start anyway. We also used our Global Entry status to clear customs and it was so easy. Our bags had been checked (free) and we had ample time to get coffee and people watch at the airport. Three flights today.

First flight was Nassau to Miami (45 mins), easy peasy. American Airlines did everything right (so far). Safely long layover in Miami (busy place) and then American from Miami to Dallas. Deb got a notification 2 nights ago that the original Chicago route was having weather issues, so they offered a free re-route via Dallas that would get us back to Tucson at 8pm instead of 11pm. Dallas flight was easy. The Tucson flight was easy. The van was waiting for us at the Quik Park ($78), light traffic, and the 1.5 hours home to Bisbee.

Below is the map of where we went in the Bahamas. Great trip!

And here is the same map with satellite layer on. Nice blue water!! 

Thursday Jan 19, 2023 - Long Island to Nassau

Packed everything up, locked the doors, took out the garbage, and loaded up the car. We picked up Hannah and Erick at 8:00 at the dock. We drove south on, you guessed it, the only road on Long Island past the airport (12 miles or so) and another 5 miles to “Under The Sun Department Store” where the rumor was they had breakfast. And they actually had an amazing variety. And coffee, fancy and just coffee. We ordered a bagel, a couple of breakfast sandwiches, breakfast burrito, coffees and a chai latte. The department store had pretty much everything you need from PVC fittings to sewing machine needles to backpacks. The old “if we ain’t got it, you don’t need it” kind of place.

After breakfast we went back north to the airport and “checked in”. One counter and a scale then wait for the plane. We said our goodbyes to H&E and got on the plane which was a 2 engine prop job, about 48 seats, about 75% full. We left 10 minutes early and we were in Nassau in 45 minutes. Always nice flying over the blue waters and islands below.

$25 taxi to the Orange Hill Beach Inn where we stayed 10 days ago. This has been run by the same family for the last 42 years and it is close to the airport, reasonable prices, next to the beach, and they serve 3 tasty meals a day at fair prices. Easy.

We walked a couple of miles down the beach and stopped for a drink on the way back. We both swam in the pool and Deb crossed the road to also take one last ocean swim. Showers and then dunner, where we met a couple from Chicago and spent a nice evening chatting over dinner. They are going to Long Island in the morning.

Wednesday Jan 18, 2023 - Long Island (Day 3)

 Erick and Hannah came up at 8:30 and we headed south on Queens Road (the only road down the island, and up for that matter) and the first stop was all the way to the end where the road ends. Right there is a lovely beach and Gordon’s Beach Bar and Grill with tables and chairs right on the beach. We hiked down the beach an hour or so and then back.  We had a swim to replace the sweaty salt with ocean salt.

The nice woman running Gordon's sold us some beers, grouper fingers and cracked conch for our “first lunch” with a couple of Kalik’s to wash it down.

Back in the car and north on (clue: only one road..) Queen’s Road and stopped at Charles'place, who E&H knew from two years ago, and Erick bought a basket for (it’s a secret). Next stop was Dunmore Plantation ruins, which was another late 1700’s plantation. Lord Dunmore was a loyalist who went back to England and then after a couple other assignments, was given land here and ran a plantation. Not sure what he “plantained” but it was probably cotton. We got pretty scratched up finding it through a barely visible trail but we did. Nice stone ruins on top of a hill overlooking the sea. 

For our next stop (after the bleeding stopped) we drove to a nice beach just south of Clarence Town, with a narrow sandy beach and water that turned deep real fast.

Stopped at the bakery in Clarence town but all they had left (2:30pm) was pound cake and pumpkin bread (which was tasty). Clarence Town is a few houses along with a dock, where a mail boat (the mail boat) was being unloaded, so the dock was pretty busy.

North again and we found the ruins of the Diamond Salt Works (Charles said it closed in the 70’s). Rough roads and a giant air strip and salt ponds everywhere. Looks like it was a really big operation. 

Back on “the road” we stopped for our second mini lunch at Max's Conch Bar & Grill for wings, fries and shrimp appetizers. Lots of expats there.

Last stop was the Shrimp Hole which is a sunken pool with tiny red shrimp living in it. The rock here is insanely porous and we could see the water below our feet through holes in the limestone. Kind of creepy. The Shrimp Hole is also out behind an abandoned church which is also a little creepy.

Finally back to the Air BnB where Erick grilled lobster tails and Hannah whipped up some coleslaw. And special treat, H&E brought the last of the rum cake she made a couple days back.

Tuesday Jan 17, 2023 - Long Island (Day 2)

 

Another nice weather day today. Deb and I are on shore and Erick and Hannah stayed on the boat last night. Today we pick up a rental car and start touring the island, which is 80 miles long. We actually have the car for two days, and then on Thursday morning Erick and Hannah will drop us off at the airport, return the car and then get back on their boat to sail to Georgetown for the next batch of people coming down.

Cereal for breakfast and then a walk up the road to the car place (Fox), but by then Erick and Hannah had already picked up the car and met us halfway. The plan is to tour the north end of the island today and then tour the south end tomorrow,

First stop Adderley’s Plantation ruins. This is the ruin site of the original English folks who raised cotton, beef, and sheep starting back in 1790. Slave power built these stone buildings now overgrown. There is a trail out through the ruins. We returned via the beach and then stopped at a store for a drink and got “pops”, which are simply plastic cups filled with juice of a few kinds and then frozen. Fifty cents of satisfaction. We next stopped at a little shop that sold various gifts and picked up some local made grass woven baskets. Very nice lady running the shop (Debbie).

Next stop Christopher Columbus monument at the very tip of the north end of the island. Nobody really knows which islands he stopped at (San Salvador is the most probable) but a lot of islands claim it. Built in 2020, it has new stairs, railing, and a monument. Looks like a government job for tourism (we went there, didn’t we!?)

Next stop Santa Maria Beach Resort to get some lunch. They were having some “kitchen crisis” so we walked up and down their beautiful boardwalk, one of the nicest beaches down here. Back to the kitchen but still no lunch, so we bought a coconut off a couple workers there who were trimming the trees and drank the coconut water to hold us off until we found lunch.

We saw a sign for cold beer at the Sunset Bar and Grill where what I assume was the owner and his buddy were working on a car out front. They could serve cold beer but no food (had to get the car fixed first). So we ended up at an even nicer place called the Stella Maris Bar and Grill which was right on top of a rocky beach with waves crashing in. Burgers and a quesadilla, then we walked down a boardwalk to the waves below and Erna’s Nature Pool, which was a rectangular hole drilled and blasted out of rock. Probably so your kid wouldn’t get swept away.

Met a couple from Long Island who flew down from Jupiter, Florida (winter home). They knew Greenport, NY and might send some friends to East End Charters this summer.

Then we took some back roads down the east coast to some not quite developed plots of land. It seems you can buy land here fairly cheap.

Then back to Salt Pond where Erick & Hannah made a quick trip back to the boat to get some leftovers for dinner tonight. Deb stopped at the store to get a few things. Erick and Hannah returned with laundry and rum punch. Cocktails of course. We warmed up the leftover moussaka, added a lettuce-less raw veggie salad (mail boat comes tomorrow with lettuce) and steamed broccoli (one of few veggies at the store which still looked like a vegetable). 

E&H back to the boat and D&M made microwave popcorn and finished watching the movie we fell asleep watching last night.

Monday Jan 16, 2023 - Long Island (Day 1)

 Woke to the lovely smell of fresh brewed coffee. Capt Erick was on deck going over notes from previous visits to Long Island. Today Deb and I check into the AirBnB with a washing machine and a real sized shower. The boat is actually very comfortable, but after a week the laundry and trash had to be dealt with. They have a shower on the boat but since the sailing was so good yesterday, we never ran the engine so no hot water. First world problems...

We stacked all of our bags, trash, laundry, and all of us on the dinghy and motored to the tall dock, unloaded and walked the  ¼ mile to the AirBnB. It is owned by a retired Bahamian firefighter who now lives part-time in Florida, and it looks like he built 2 units. One to live in and one to rent. Our cottage has a beautiful view of the water and is really comfortably outfitted. We found the keys, washer, and dryer, and all rotated into the hot shower.

Next stop was lunch at Sou’ Side down the road and ordered conch sandwiches, a fish sandwich and cracked conch, along with a few beers from Vanessa. Another couple from Canada were just leaving and another guy with an old Nissan hippie van came in for a beer, but other than that we had the whole porch to ourselves.

After lunch we stopped at the grocery store for a few supplies. The prices here, as you can imagine, are astronomical since everything comes on a boat. But the store had a good selection. Then next door to the liquor store for some beer ($27 for a 6 pack).

There is a salt pond on the other side of the island which we walked to (the island is pretty skinny). Long Island, Ragged Islands and Iangua are the three islands with a long history of salt production. After the American Revolution a lot of English loyalists came to the islands. Slavery was still legal until 1840 or so so they used slave labor to grow cotton (did not last long, no soil here) and produce salt. They drew sea water in huge ponds and let it evaporate, kind of like a maple sugar pan with multiple sections. Then scrape the salt out, put it in bags and then put it on ships and sell. Slavery ended and this all went to pieces, but in the mid 1900's some big salt companies (Morton, Diamond and others) produced salt by the same process, but with diesel instead of slaves.

Erick & Hannah went back to Surprise to get laundry and later we got out the barbecue grill at the AirBnB and Erick made steak tacos for dinner. Chatted until they went back to Surprise and Deb and I tried to watch a movie (back to civilization) but fell asleep early. Kind of weird to have terra firma underfoot after 6 days on Surprise.

Sunday Jan 15, 2023 - Cabbage Cays to Long Island (Bahamas, not NY)

Cool this morning but we were all on deck ready to move today after yesterday’s storm. We got the main sail and jib up and the wind had us going at 5-6 knots. Nice breakfast on deck of rum cake, nuts, fruit and yogurt. The jib was knotted up at one point, so a few minutes of excitement to get it straightened out. Good cruising day.

Lunch today was big steaming bowls of Miso soup in the cockpit. These two are both either running the boat or preparing food or both. Hannah seems to always have some baked goodie going. Today she mixed up some bread for tonight’s dinner (I hope).

Spent most of the day under sail going from 5-6 knots and as we approached Long Island we were clocking 8+ knots, the boat’s limit. Good wind today.

We anchored in a large protected bay mid afternoon and took the dinghy to a nearby beach. Like a lot of remote beaches down here (they are everywhere) it was not used by anyone. Signs of activity long past (an old pile of rust that I figured out was a bicycle with a small engine on the front wheel??) and a few plastic items washed up. And the standard remains of a coral stone foundation (someone’s dream) probably blown away by a hurricane. The concrete remains of a sheltered lagoon someone built to protect their boat, now just concrete remains.

Deb and I stayed on the beach while Erick and Hannah went back to the boat to, what else, cook. Hannah is working on her sourdough bread for dinner tonight. Deb and I hiked around looking for a path off the beach to the road. We did find an old road, long since abandoned, that went to the road, but it ended with a broken down wooden gate on a coral wall which we could not get over gracefully. We walked as far as we could before it turned to brush in either direction and about that time Erick came flying back to retrieve us.

Dinner tonight was moussaka, a Greek dish with ground lamb, eggplant, potatoes and spices I did not see go in. Nice salad and Hannah's just out of the oven bread. We played another game of Farkel (Milo won!!) and then off to bed. Our last night on Surprise. We will next spend 3 nights on Long Island. Stay tuned.

Saturday Jan 14, 2023 - Cabbage Cays

 

Sure enough it got a little bouncy last night just after midnight, but we all slept okay. Hannah and Erick were up just checking things in the middle of the night. The new solar string lights we brought down add a nice moonlight effect in the cockpit, and you can see if you are above deck late at night.

Scrambled eggs with lobster and veggies for breakfast, and Hannah started a rum cake for later tonight. We spent some time going over New Zealand plans (South Island) with Hannah and Erick, since they spent an entire winter down there a few years back.

They installed a water maker a couple of years back and it is a game changer. We have not had to make (fresh) water since we left Georgetown, so they fired up the generator for a few hours this morning. Better than ferrying water back and forth with the dinghy.

Today we sit tight as this storm blows through (wind but no rain to speak of). We are seeing it hit 30 knots off and on all day and the captains found a nice quiet pocket to spend the day in. Along with the high wind is cold wind (well relatively, fleece jackets). Good “work day” to run the water maker and fill the tanks. Hannah had some cabin projects and Erick and I (okay, I watched Erick) pulled one of the sump pumps apart, cleaned it and added a check valve to reduce the gurgling sound every 6 hours or so. 

Erick swam to a nearby island (with the wind howling) looking for lobsters but came back an hour later empty handed. They must have been riding out the storm as well deep underneath some of the coral tunnels.

Cocktails were a little later due to all the projects. They brought out some English ale with nitrogen canisters inside that was smooooth.

Dinner was hog fish that Erick had previously speared with a tamarind glaze, cassava, and salad. Hannah worked on a rum cake we have been smelling all day and we finally had some of it for dessert tonight. Delicious!

We played a game called Farkel (Deb won) which is played with just 6 die. 

The wind is settling down tonight and the boat is nice and calm. I see some good sleeping happening tonight.

Friday Jan 13, 2023 - Rocky Point to Great Exuma (southside)(Cabbage Cays)

 

Forecast is for rainy stuff from the west later today so the captains found a spot to tuck us in  tonight out of the wind. Nobody pulled in last night so we woke up to just us, our own private cay. Erick got us under way while Hannah whipped up some peach cobbler and yogurt for breakfast. Milo is doing serious damage to the coffee supply.

The wind this morning is from the south but the forecast is for it to shift from the west and rain on us. We got out of the shallows and motor sailed (both motor and main sail to conserve fuel). The autopilot kept us on track and sure enough around noon the big black cloud bank appeared behind us. It started raining lightly a bit later and the swells had us picking our spots to hang on. Us land lubbers had more issues obviously (especially Deb, who lost all of the delicious peach cobbler she’d had for breakfast) but it was a fun ride.

Lentil soup and some of yesterday’s bread braid with artichoke hearts, spinach, and cheese.

After lunch the weather cleared and we all jumped in the dinghy and anchored it nearby off of a small rocky island. We dropped Deb off on one of the rocky islands with a chair, to calm her queasy stomach.  As is usual, we were looking for supper. The usual beautiful fish (ho hum) so Erick and I swam to the next island and there we found lobster. I found a small bevy, herd, flock?? of lobster and Erick picked the biggest one and it got a free ride tonight back to the kitchen. He got another one on the surf side of the island (I’m too chicken to go over there) so two lobsters for dinner (or pre dinner snack).

The wind seems to be settling in for the night but the waves were coming off angle, so Erick and Hannah pulled some tricky maneuver with the anchor, so they could rotate the boat relative to the anchor and get the boat pointed into the waves instead of into the wind. Clever. Erick said it’s an old trick used by Benedict Arnold to rotate battle ships during gun battles in the American Revolution.

So we all used the outdoor shower (lots of hot water after cruising all day) and started cocktails. Erick made some amazing appetizer out of the lobsters we caught today, and dinner was  Bahamian pork chops topped with a delicious cheese glaze, sauteed mushrooms and onions, along with mashed potatoes and salad.

We cleared the deck as something windy and wet will be coming in late tonight. Another great Surprise day.

Thursday Jan 12, 2023 Lee Stocking Island to Rocky Point

 

Another perfect weather day. This morning Erick made an egg frittata with ham and mushrooms for breakfast and endless cups of coffee for the old man (Milo). We took the dinghy up the shore a little ways to a secluded beach where a hiking trail begins. Lee Stocking Island was home to the NOAA Caribbean Marine Research Center from the 1960’s to 2011. It was originally purchased by a man named John Perry to start doing marine research. He paid $70K (795K in 2023 dollars). At some point he got NOAA involved and they built an entire compound. All the buildings are in rough shape having been abandoned in 2011. But someone is working on them as there was a big backhoe, a big truck, a lift truck and some kind of trailer used to burn stuff (never seen one of those before but it makes sense with all the vegetation to clear). There were what looked like personnel quarters, office buildings, a building with still intact aquariums, a chemical lab building with sulfuric acid bottles laying around (empty I hope), and large concrete ponds where I assume they raised stuff. There was  even an old wind turbine laying on the ground with the gin pole still attached, so they must have augmented their generators with wind. There was an airplane landing strip with beat up tarmack and some the the roads had tarmac here and there. We hiked 4 miles or so all over so it was a good survey trip. Back to the boat.

Today’s task was to motor over and around a bunch of cays through pretty shallow water. Surprise has a draft of 4 feet so she was made for the Bahamas and all the shallow water. We didn’t see many boats all day since I suppose most boaters stay away from the shallow stuff. We spent the afternoon poking through the shallow sandbars with Hannah standing on the bow pointing left and right as the water color showed the relative depth. The GPS maps and the big map book they use was last surveyed 5 years ago so the sand bars change year to year depending on storms. It was also close to high tide (about 3 feet), so that gave us an extra buffer and the shallowest water we saw was about 6.5 ft.

We got to Rocky Point in 9 ft of water and there was absolutely nobody else here. Hannah made an amazing sourdough bread braided with spinach, cheeses, and artichoke hearts for late lunch/early dinner, almost too pretty to eat.

We dropped the dinghy and Hannah put together one of the Oru origami kayaks and she circled Rocky Point in one direction, while the other three of us circled in the other direction looking for supper (aka lobsters). Water

temperature perfect (like everywhere) so we spent a long time in the water. Water was a little milky due to the fine silt here, but still enough to see that there were few hiding places for the lobster. We did see a couple of lion fish and Erick saw one small lobster, so crackers and milk (or more mahi mahi, or conch or ??) for supper.

We met Hannah and lashed the kayak to the side of the dinghy and headed back to the boat. Erick and Milo went back out to look for lobster and came home empty handed but had a nice long extra snorkel. The sun was just setting when we headed back to the boat.

Shower (hot water every time we move the boat) and clean clothes then evening cocktails and a charcouterie plate for dinner. Nice night catching up and later on we cracked open the old family movies and pictures that Milo put together for Hannah and Jake as Christmas presents.

We closed things up in case of some rain tonight and slept like kings.

Wednesday Jan 11, 2023 Stocking Island to Lee Stocking Island

 

So the anchor was raised at 7:00 am (Erick and Hannah run a tight ship) and we were on the move. Slept like babies again last night. We are settling into the routine. Move, plan what to eat for breakfast, eat breakfast (coconut bread french toast with real maple syrup), move more, plan lunch, eat lunch (stir fried chicken rice salad, foccacia bread and pesto), snorkel, plan cocktails, talk, sleep.

We threw the fishing line out this morning and we had good winds so we motor sailed until a Mahi Mahi hit the line, then Erick and Hannah were all hands on deck to reel in a nice big Mahi Mahi, which will be had for dinner tonight. They had some store bought bait that must have done the trick. Takes the pressure off finding conch today for dinner tonight. We had awesome winds, so 7 knots under sail until we anchored for the night at Lee Stocking Island.

We jumped in the dinghy and spent the rest of the day snorkeling and looking for conch. First stop was Leaf Island to cavort with the iguanas. They came down to greet us. They are not aggressive like other islands but very friendly, keeping their distance. Then off to another stop to snorkel and look for conch. Lots of great colorful fish, sponges and coral. The pure neon ones are amazing.

Second stop was an old salt lake where they harvested salt centuries ago. Erick found some conch up in the channel to the salt lake, kept one, and the other three of us found none. There were lots here last year but they must have moved somewhere else. A couple of men were riding around in their dinghy looking for conch using a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom cut out so they could look down into the water. They eyed us protectively.

Back to the boat and cocktails (margaritas), and then Erick grilled the Mahi Mahi he caught this morning, rice and salad.

Games tonight and bed. Another great day!

Tuesday Jan 10, 2023 - Nassau to Georgetown

 

Set the alarm for 5am so we could meet the taxi at 5:30. This hotel was great and I would recommend it. A young German woman was sharing our taxi this morning. She was flying back to Munich after working the last week on Long Island (Bahamas. not New York). She is an economist helping the Bahamian government make the best use of hurricane relief money. Perfect English and very pleasant. $34 for all three of us.

A little worried when we got to the Bahamas Air check in as the line was really long and our flight was leaving at 6:45. But they opened another line for the earlier flights and we breezed right through. I was patted down in the security check (titanium hip, stainless steel leg patch or maybe my knuckle head). I had seat 1F, which was way up front turned around backwards. Small dual prop job with maybe 80 seats and 40 passengers. Everybody slept.

Mixed clouds over the aqua and dark blue water. I love flying through clouds, miracle.

In Georgetown by 7:30, and then took a taxi to the market where Hannah and Erick met us. Seems like a nice little town, pretty tidy.

We took the dingy (new bigger one) to the boat with all of our luggage and finally arrived back on board Surprise.

Surprise looks better every time we see her. Lots of new paint inside and out, brand new anchor chain and the new refrigerator. Erick and Hannah have massaged her into nice shape over the last few years.

We heard on the radio that there was a fire on the fuel dock and sure enough a 50+ foot boat was engulfed in flames. Hope everyone is okay.

First order of business, a dingy ride to Stocking Island for a picnic lunch (Erick’s lobster salad sandwiches with Hannah’s homemade foccacia). We hiked down the beach and then up to the highest point to get a view. We could still see the smoke billowing from the burning boat in the distance. Nice breeze and nice hike on all the porous coral that this place is made of.

Quick swim to replace the sweat salt with sea salt and then back to the boat.

Cocktails (it was 4pm after all) and we opened Christmas presents. Erick grilled chicken and made a tasty flavored rice to go with it. Milo did dishes and we spent the rest of the night catching up. Next stop deep deep sleep. It’s good to be back on board!!

Monday Jan 9, 2023 Bisbee to Nassau Bahamas

 

We set the alarm for 1:45 to get up to Tucson 2 hrs before check in for the first flight to Dallas. We took the van and parked at the off site parking site but found the van is too tall to fit under the covered parking covers, so the nice parking lot shuttle driver guided us to where all the tall boys park, uncovered. Just as soon have it uncovered so we can leave the refrigerator running (solar panels).

Checked in at 4am and no crowd (could have slept another 30 mins). We had TSA pre-check so easy peasy pass through security. The plane was right on time and a few hours later we landed in Dallas. Pretty nice airport with the SkyLink shuttle between terminals.The flight from Dallas to Nassau was on time and we landed 20 minutes early. The crew made the point that the pilot and co-pilot were both women so the entire crew was women. 

We are staying at the Orange Hill Beach Inn which is 3 km from the airport. The taxi charged us $28 and the hotel manager said it should have been $22. so we contributed an extra $6 to the local economy.

We stayed here a couple of years ago and it is and was great because it's so close to the airport, right across the road from the beach and they serve dinner. We are flying out at 6:45 in the morning so this is a great, quick stop, family run, with very nice people that run it. We met a few British folks staying here so maybe the Brits vacation in the Bahamas a lot?

We are kind of wonky tonight from the early morning and usual airport shuffling, so we ate dinner early (delicious ribs, fish fingers, fried plantains, etc.) after a couple of drinks and then back to the cottage to crash. The hotel lined up a taxi back to the airport in the morning, so we need to be up and ready to go by 5:30am. We take a short BahamasAir flight to Exuma International Airport near Georgetown, and will then meet Hannah and Erick on the dock nearby. Warm and humid with a nice breeze off the ocean.

Tuesday Jan 3, 2023 - Gila Bend AZ to Bisbee AZ

 Full breakfast at the Space Age Restaurant then I-8 to I-10. Stopped for gas in Tucson ($2.89 instead of $3.49 back home). We took the scenic route home down RT83 and through Sonoita. There was snow on the Santa Rita mountain tops which made it a pretty ride home. We stopped up on the divide to pack up everything we were moving to the house and did the old pull up to the driveway and shovel everything out the door, then stash the van at Cooper's (thanks again Cooper!!). Deb went downtown and picked up all the mail from the last two weeks and there were a couple of UPS packages. My brother sent us two camping wine glasses which arrived hours after we left two weeks ago. We broke both of the glasses we took so these are timely.

It’s good to be back home, but it was good to be on the road. Two weeks was a good test run to try out dispersed camping, state park camping, Harvest Hosts, and an RV Park. We have a short list of extra things to carry with us, but it feels like we could go for a very long time now. Stay tuned!!

Monday Jan 2, 2023 - Campo CA to Gila Bend AZ

 

It rained all night last night off and on and the vineyard is built on the side hill so my always worrying mind (and 33 years fighting road washouts on Mason Hill North) was worried about getting out of there. But daylight came and all was fine. Paul’s water dams all held. We saw another van parked who had spent the night. Coffee and Wordle and then we drove down the hill and Deb found the road where we could hike into the southern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail, which starts at the Mexican border. 

We walked half a mile or so to the monument there and back. Lots of washed out roads so they must have gotten a lot of rain the last few days.

It was only about half an hour back to the interstate (I-8). If we had not done the Harvest Host thing at the vineyard, we would have never seen this RT94. I would recommend the detour.

Next stop, or rather last stop, was Painted Rocks BLM Park. We decided to check this out and if it looked good we would stay the night there, and if not, we would continue on to Gila Bend and stay at a motel with a hot tub. Painted Rocks ($8 camping) has a large pile of rocks where Native Americans drew pictographs (graffiti) all over the rocks. The rocks here take on a dark glaze so they could use pointed rocks and peck away the glaze and leave whatever drawing they chose. Snakes, animals, people, sun, etc. They have been here for centuries. The Mormon Battalion went through here, as did the Butterfield Stage Coach in the mid 1800’s.

So we were on the fence but decided to do the motel thing. And it’s not just any motel, it’s the Best Western Space Age Lodge! The whole place was a throw back to the 60’s and had been recently renovated. As it turned out, it was not that exciting, but they did have a lovely outdoor hot tub with nobody in it, along with a free breakfast at the Space Age Diner next door. So a good way to spend the last night out.

Day 23 - odo = 3861

Sunday Jan 1, 2023 - Tijuana to Campo CA

 

It rained hard last night but we pretty much slept through it. The power was off sometime last night and they had a leak in the living room ceiling (not so big). We were ready to get back to the van and Jake had some work to catch up on, so we drove into Tijuana Centro and got a good tour of the city. Mid-morning on Sunday, Jan 1 on a cloudy rainy day is the perfect formula for empty streets.

It took a while but we found Blue Luna which was open for breakfast with some great old time jazzy music playing (Purple Rain blues edition?). Then off to the pedestrian immigration port. We had planned to try our Global Entry passes, which we have as temporary letters saying we are good to go (the actual cards hadn’t yet arrived before we left), but there was no line at the regular entry line so we were through customs in a few minutes. We walked back to the van (it was still there, whew..) and back on the 805.

Only 4 exits later we turned off of the not too busy highway and on to a beautiful 2 laner heading east along the border. So California seems to have crazy busy roads and then when you find one of these side roads, there is nobody around; no houses, no development, no nothing. I have run into this before on motorcycle trips in California so maybe it has to do with how the state handles zoning or something. Stuff all the people together and leave big open natural places to enjoy?

Google took us on a solitary back road past some nice lakes and mountains and then we reached Rt 94 which took us loop-the-loop over mountains east. Campo is where we are staying, at our very first Harvest Host, which is Campo Creek Vineyard. But first we overshot and went into the town of Campo to get a few groceries at the Campo Green Store, run by Steve. It rained off and on all day and Steve says this has been a really rainy year.

We pulled into Campo Creek Vineyard and met Paul, who lives in Oceanside CA, but grew up here. He said we were 1 of 3 others camping here. He likes the Harvest Host program since it brings in a little business and gives his 85 year old dad some company. Sounds like Paul comes on the weekends and his dad runs the shop on weekdays. We enjoyed a wine tasting and bought a bottle of their Rose Merlot.

The vineyard is on a side hill with the border wall visible tonight from our front window. By this time it was raining steadily, so we parked in a cozy pulloff, napped and read until dark and then made dinner, watched a couple of Three Pines episodes, and then bed.

Day 22 - odo = 3594

Saturday Dec 31, 2022 - Tijuana to Ensenada

 

A good sleep last night after all of the walking on Friday. Today we drive down the coast to Ensenada. Jake and Nath live in the section of Tijuana called Playa de Tijuana (Beach of Tijuana) which is 2 blocks from the beach (of course) and about 6 blocks from the border wall. They have coffee shops, restaurants, a really nice grocery store and a Walmart within walking distance and far anough away from downtown Tijuana where it is not crazy busy. Their side street is quiet as is most of the neighborhood. They have a 2 month rental and have already looked at a whole house rental for the same price. They are halfway through the two months so stay tuned.

We drove south on the “40 peso highway” which is a nice smooth road that goes all the way to La Paz (24 hours away). The first 20 minutes of the road is rough until the first 40 peso ($2) toll both. We only needed to go 1.5 hours to get to Ensenada. The first half of the trip was lots of seaside housing being built from single homes to high rise towers. We saw signs for homes/units starting at $269K.

Ensenada is clean and relaxed compared to Tijuana. They have a cruise ship dock and marina, and the city is set up for tourism. Lots of tchachkas for sale and lots of coffee and food for sale. We had breakfast/lunch at a Venezuelan restaurant which was great. I can’t tell you what we ordered but it was good.

Jake and Nath took us the long way home which took us inland a bit on a wiggly 2 laner through pastures and horses and windy mountain roads. Then back on the 40 peso highway after leaving the mountain. We stopped in Puerto Nuevo closer to Tijuana, which was kind of gross tourism, with the street full of barkers trying to get you to park in front of their overpriced restaurants. Kind of creepy. Then we stopped in another little town and wiggled down some back streets to the beach. We climbed down the dirt path to the beach and did a short walk until we realized the tide was coming in and the beach was disappearing. So back in the car and back home. We walked to the beach and then north to the border wall where there is an international peace park with Mexican families doing an evening stroll. 

Then on to the Calimex grocery store to get some food to celebrate New Year’s Eve. We were impressed with the really nice modern store with lots of shoppers and shelves full of all kinds of Mexican brands. We picked up a bunch of stuff and walked back to the AirB&B. Eric, the rental units’ handyman, stopped by and got the water heater working so we had the chance to get cleaned up. We laid out some goodies, drank something bubbly, and enjoyed our last catch up before we go back across the border in the morning.