The Inside Passage

Our first trip on the M/V Ursa Major for the summer season was a two week charter from Anacortes, Washington to Sitka, Alaska. The wildlife viewing along the way was spectacular, as seen in Josh's photos of the journey.

A brown bear foraging at low tide in Sergious Narrows near Sitka. The heavy snowfall received in southeast Alaska and coastal British Columbia at all elevations forced bears to the beaches earlier than normal this summer to forage.


Humpback whale breaching in Frederick Sound near Petersburg, Alaska (part 1).


Humpback whale breaching in Frederick Sound near Petersburg, Alaska (part 2).


Humpback whale breaching in Frederick Sound near Petersburg, Alaska (part 3).


Humpback whale breaching in Frederick Sound near Petersburg, Alaska (part 4).


Humpback whale breaching in Frederick Sound near Petersburg, Alaska (part 5).


The whale activity we've seen in just the past few weeks was more extensive than the whale activity we saw all last summer in southeast Alaska. We are expecting this summer to be quite exciting for whale watching!



We also caught 500 jumbo Alaska Spot Prawns in our shrimp trap. The largest shrimp we caught was almost 1 foot in length from antenna to tail. Delicious......

May 2nd, 2009

After a brief engagement across two countries and two time zones, Josh and I were married at a little wedding chapel in Las Vegas on May 2nd.


We spent four days in Las Vegas between our Mexico and Alaska charter seasons and had quite the time. After we were married, we spent the rest of our honeymoon attending Cirque de Soleil shows, riding rollercoasters, driving go-carts, gambling, and relaxing in the desert sun. Viva Las Vegas!!


We also held a pre-wedding reception in Seattle for our family and friends prior to our wedding. Thanks again to everyone who attended our little party!

So Long (Mexico) and Thanks for All The Fish...

Our trip from La Paz, Mexico to San Diego was filled with 20-30 knot NNW winds and 9-11 foot head seas. This is our 4th trip up from La Paz to Seattle and the weather always seems to be on our nose. We are stopped briefly in San Diego to pick up additional fuel and also fill up on full meals and a good night's sleep. A few more hours here and then we are off for an 8-10 day trip to Seattle.

While coming around Cabo San Lucas last week, Josh snapped some great action shots of common bottlenose dolphin playing around the boat.


Dolphin #1 launch


Dolphin #1 mid-air.


Dolphin #1 splashdown.


Dolphin #2 launch.


Dolphin #2 mid-air.


Dolphin #2 splashdown.


The crew on the bow of the M/V Ursa Major dolphin watching in calm weather off Cabo San Lucas.

Hard At Work in the Sea of Cortez

Josh and I have been busy at work on the M/V Ursa Major for the past month and have been cruising around the Sea of Cortez between La Paz and Loreto. Josh has been behind the camera lens taking beautiful photographs and as seen in the following photos, the wildlife viewing has been spectacular.

Remains of a conch shell on a beach in Bahia San Gabriel, Isla Espiritu Sanctu.

Josh enjoying a skiff ride early in the morning in Bahia San Gabriel, Isla Espiritu Sanctu.

Emily kayaking on Isla San Jose.

Sperm whales, (mother and calf), cruising in San Jose Channel on a calm morning.

Sperm whale breaching in San Jose Channel (part 1).

Sperm whale breaching in San Jose Channel (part 2).

Sperm whale breaching in San Jose Channel (part 3).

Sperm whale breaching in San Jose Channel (part 4).

More sperm whale activity in San Jose Channel.

Common bottlenose dolphin playing in San Jose Channel.

Honeymoon Cove, Isla Danzante.

Pilot whales south of San Jose Channel.

Baja geology in action.

Josh's foot amidst the mangroves of Isla San Jose.

Brown pelican mid-flight in Bahia Aqua Verde.

Giant manta ray in flight near Isla Carmen. Actual color does not reflect reality.

More giant manta rays in flight near Isla Carmen. Note wingtips on giant mantas.

Josh's birdseye view of the giant manta rays near Isla Carmen. Photograph taken from ratlines.

Viva Loreto!

We are leaving La Paz today for a charter on the M/V Ursa Major and will be in Loreto by the end of the week. The weather looks great for work!!


Our friends Heather and Shawn on the S/V Om Shanti, and authors of Sea of Cortez - A Cruiser's Guidebook, gave us a picture of our beloved S/V Estrella under sail. We passed them on our first cruise just outside La Paz and were cruising in 15 kts of wind with all sails flying. Thanks Heather and Shawn!

La Paz from an Ultralight Aeroplane

For Josh's Feliz Navidad present this year, I gave him a half-hour ultralight plane ride over La Paz. At the time, the ultralight plane was flying over La Paz on a daily basis giving rides to tourists. Then it vanished from the skies for four weeks. Nearly on the verge of finding a replacement gift, the plane reappeared on a nearby beach yesterday. Josh and I rushed over with his camera to find the pilot and his assistant working on the engine. The plane was back in business (and in working order) so we made an appointment for Josh to take a ride an hour later.


After verifying with her lawyer that she did have rights to survivorship over the boat should I not make it back, Emily took a parting photo and waved goodbye...



I did have a little trepidation at first. To any whom have taken a ride in a mexican taxi can attest maintenance is a activity best suited for tomorrow. The ultralight had seen many an enjoyable flight leading up to my adventure. Buoyed by that fact, and that a 85 year old man whom was the previous adventurer survived I set off.





I tapped the pilot on the shoulder very gently so as not to spook him, and indicated I would like to fly over Marina Palmira. He generously obliged with a steep turn to port that brought us over Estrella. The perspective 500 ft. above the water is breathtaking. It is easy to think of La Paz as a big city. From above however she looks like a somewhat sprawling small town. No big skyscrapers here, just a rugged desert punctuated with small ranches and a blanket of modest homes that is La Paz.


I have always felt that the best photos are the ones accompanied by a long story. This flight will be remembered in the future when people ask me how my foot came to be in this shot. Composition is essential to photography, this photo may never sell but will serve to remind me of a great adventure! Thanks Emily!

Bienvenidos S/V Estrella!!!

Yesterday, we held the official "denaming" and "renaming" ceremonies for our sailboat, now S/V Estrella. We decided Valentine's Day was a better day for such events than Friday the 13th.


It should be noted that Josh and I are each holding a bottle of champagne. The first bottle, from California, was utilized in the denaming of S/V Wind Spirit as she was a California vessel when we purchased her. The second bottle, from Mexico, was for the renaming to S/V Estrella as she is currently residing in Mexico with us. Each bottle was used in the "libation" portion of each ceremony.


The reason for two separate ceremonies (and two separate bottles of champagne) is due to paying respect not only to your sailboat, but the gods of wind and sea. Our friends Heather and Shawn from S/V Om Shanti gave us a copy of How to Rename Your Boat: And 19 Other Useful Ceremonies, Superstitions, Prayers, Rituals, and Curses by John Vigor for Christmas. The first chapter of this wonderful (and very entertaining) book details fully official "denaming" and "renaming" ceremonies. While most of the specifics of each ceremony is up to the owners of the vessel, certain rules must be followed.


For the three part denaming ceremony, first all articles with the previous name on them must be removed from the vessel. This includes paperwork, charts, and logbooks. I also sanded the old name off the stern. Second, a brief speech thanking the sailboat and the gods for good luck thus far is spoken from the bow of the vessel. Third, a libation of champagne is offered and sprayed over the bow. Josh handled the champagne while I gave the speech.


We allowed a two hour break between ceremonies to give our sailboat its necessary period of "namelessness" (per the book's instructions). Not wanting to tempt fate, we spent this time drinking tequila and cold saki with old and new friends (and dog Sophie) who came by to celebrate with us. The "renaming" ceremony was two parts long and consisted of a simple blessing with the new name and a libation with a bottle of champagne on the bow. Somehow, I think Josh and I ended up wearing more champagne than S/V Estrella!

Snorkeling in the Bay of La Paz with Tiburon Ballenas (or Whale Sharks)

Following our most recent charter on the M/V Ursa Major, Josh, myself, and our chef Natalie had the opportunity to snorkel with whale sharks, or Tiburon ballenas (Spanish), or Rhincodon typus, in the Bay of La Paz. Our adventure began with the rumor on the La Paz cruiser's radio net that these creatures had returned to feed nearby. They were last seen briefly in early 2008 within the Bay of La Paz and we hoped to find them before they moved on again.


Needless to say, we found five individuals just around the corner from the marina feeding along the current line. They were following each other back and forth along the current line and were not at all afraid of our presence, (or for that matter, the presence of our outboard motor).


The large mouth, as seen in the two previous photos, takes in a certain amount of seawater at or below the surface. Once full, the whale shark will strain the seawater through its gills in an effort to extract either phytoplankton, squid, or fish for food. This also serves to oxygenate the gills and allows the whale shark to breathe. Adults are known to have over 300 rows of teeth whiles juveniles typically possess at least 100 rows.


The length of whale sharks varies from two to three feet at birth to over seventy feet as adults. The average size is approximately forty feet and thirteen tons. They have two dorsal fins, (as seen in the above photo), and tend to swim in schools in near coastal waters.


Mostly harmless, (except in a few recorded instances of whale sharks ramming fishing boats in the Indian Ocean), whale sharks are typically found in tropical waters but are described as "uncommon" in the Sea of Cortez. And the females lay eggs the size of footballs.


For Natalie and I in the water snorkeling, it was hard to imagine something the size of these whale sharks emerging from an egg the size of a football. The whale sharks we saw ranged from eighteen feet to forty feet and were covered in some variety of large sucker fish. The clarity of the water was poor and we had to swim within two feet of the whale shark to see it. None of the whale sharks we encountered in the water were aggressive and allowed us to get closer than we ever thought possible.

All photos courtesy of Josh Haury.

Sources for whale shark background information:

Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald. and H. Hammann. 1983. Pacific Coast Fishes. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, New York. 336 p.

Gotshall, D.W. 1998. Sea of Cortez Marine Animals: A Guide to Common Fishes and Invertebrates Baja California to Panama. Sea Challengers, Monterey, California. 110 p.