Nick's Page
My dad told me that we might be doing the Baja Ha Ha a year in advance. At the time we owned a 28' Lancer. Since then my mom decided to jump on board along with my sister, and that we should take 2 1/2 months off and cruise down the west coast, and arriving in Costa Rica, and to get a bigger boat. Then, at a boat show, we found that a Catamaran was best for us. My dad went on eBay and in two days found a boat that he thought would do the job, and placed a bid. That boat ended up being fake, in a way, and we went to San Francisco to find the one we are in now.
We started sailing it down to Ensenada, taking a couple months of weekends here and there. Along the way we stopped in Capitola for a month, loading it up by many dinghy trips filled up with me and an overloaded amount of food. It all paid off when we left the Ensenada Marina, and started our adventure.
The First leg was our longest, lasting about 4 days, but since then the legs have been no more then 3. Although, 3 days out to sea is harder then it looks, especially when there are rough seas and nothing to do but puke your heart out. When we are at port, we play a card game, Hearts, Spades, or Poker. Most of the time my mom or sister will make some sweet treat, like cookies, every few days.
Most of what I eat (I hate to cook, and more then one step is WAY too many) consists of Top Ramen, chili or beans, cereal, and my favorite; Dinty Moore Beef Stew. Corn nuts, Sour Skittles, and Paydays will usually hold me over until someone makes lunch or dinner. We have crate after crate of root beer for me, Diet Pepsi for my dad, Diet 7up for my sister, and (PUKE) V8 for my mom. I have learned to tolerate Diet Pepsi, since my dad has had a huge glass of it ALWAYS with him for my whole life, but everything else diet, is about as good as trying to drink V8, an old arch enemy of mine.
Wonder how this guy would taste
Well, I am the second person that has caught an eatable fish. GO ME! It was a Nameless Fish, weighing about 45 lbs. I caught it about a week ago, put it in the freezer, and my sister-o-joy keeps making up excuses to NOT EAT IT! last night it was... "We have been on the boat all day, why don't we go in to eat?"
Bob the fish
We have decided to rent a car for the time spent here, El Salvador, which is a great thing I will need to get used to. In Mexico there were always buses, city or private, ALL OVER CREATION. It was crazy, you would stand on the side of any road, and in less than two minutes, you were on a bus on the way to your destination.
Now who do you know that got a marriage proposal at 13? Well despite the oddball name you just thought of, it happened to me. Me and my dad went into a Papusarria, looking for some papussas for dinner. We went in and there were two girls waiting for costumers. We walked in and one girl just about peed her pants. She started laughing with a huge smile, looking like she was about to explode or something. My dad said, "Happy?" and she nodded. We ordered and sat down, and about 10 kids came in the door, all looking at us with big smiles, acting like we were aliens that we going to do some amazing trick, that they did not want to miss. I started staring at them wondering if one was going to say something. Then they were shooed away, they then went outside, and looked in through the window. We decided to walk around the very little town until our food was ready. We ended up going in a little tienda, where the old lady owner asked us were we were from. We told them California U.S.A. She then turned to some other people sitting around, saying "Californians, in my tienda!" We thought all of this was very neat and could not wait in till we got back to tell my mom and sister. We went back to pick up our food, when the first lady started to "squeeze" my hand (if you took the spot where your index finger met your palm, and your pinky at the same place, and gently pressed the two spots together, allowing your palm to fold at the middle, you would be close) and seemed very interested with it. We then learned that her hand did not "fold" in the middle. She asked how old I was, and my dad said, "18". But you see, most people when asking me this, go on to say how tall I am, but this was not the case. 18 did not work for the, "you're so tall" plan, so I then said, "13." Everyone by now sees the problem. She then got a sad face, and my dad said "She wants a kiss, moron" I then immediately said 18, like a good boy should. She then asked for a kiss, and I was happy to oblige. She did not speak English, so she did not hear "She wants a kiss, moron." After the kiss, she told a boy, who spoke english and spanish, that my dad was now her father-in-law.
BAM BAM BAM! There are fire works going off like there is a major war going off at all times. EVEN AT 3:00 IN THE MORNING. TOO SWEET. I KNOW. There is a firecracker shop about 500 yards from where I am typing this piece of nonsense, that once my dad gets back form the airport with our rented car, will have a major chuck missing from its inventory. Down here, you can get a whole days worth, (1000 M-80s or so) with one allowance. The coolest part is that all of this is completely legal, unlike at home. Although the legal part only means that you cannot light off more then a few in your back yard, which anyone that has been to my house, not being a cop, knows. They also have M-9000( M-1000 is a normal stick of dynamite), the mother load, and I am sure you could ask for a bigger one, and they would make it for you. OH YEA, they make all of them themselves, so the sky is the limit!
Pulling the dinghy onto the beach with dear old dad
Besides Firecrackers, dreaming about airsoft, and the girls wanting to marry me, pushing our dinghy as fast as it will go is a main point of fun. That son of a gun will go over 30 mph, which, on water with waves going every which way, in an over sized raft, is WAY more then you need to get thrown out landing on your poor little head.
One thing that I will do different next time, we are hoping next summer, is to make or buy a motorized "get me around" object that is not too hard to store on the boat, get from the boat into the dinghy in less then perfect seas, and then from the dinghy to the beach. ANY IDEAS??? It is difficult to get the bikes that we have to the beach, and a skate board does not have the range needed. But I am hoping to figure something out before now and then. If any of you smarts out there ever read this (I feel sorry for those of you that do) have an idea under the price range of.... well just contact me.
AIM is one thing I love to use at home.
IM me at new s/n burningcloud2334@aol