Cruising Indigo
  • Home
  • The Crew
    • Our Dream
    • Our Search
    • Our Why
  • The Boat
    • Why PS34?
    • Bill Crealock
    • PS34 Specs
    • Pacific Seacraft
  • Upgrades
    • Misc >
      • Computer Table
      • Cockpit Step
      • Mast Pulpits
      • Instrument Panel
      • Spice Rack
      • Shelving
      • Dinghy
      • Interior Lighting
      • Exterior Lighting
      • Yacht Transport
      • Ladder
    • Sails >
      • Roller Furling
      • Standing Rigging
    • Wind Vane
    • Batteries
    • Radar & Wind
    • Engine Mods >
      • Engine Panel
      • Fuel System
      • Fluid Capacity Gauge
    • Head
    • Solar Panels
    • Watermaker
    • To Do List
  • Pics
  • Links
  • Blog

The Pearl and The Pink House

5/30/2017

Comments

 
Picture
"Casa Grande" otherwise known as The Pink House.
This year we read John Steinbeck’s classic novel, “The Pearl”. Spoiler Alert: I’ve summarized it below, as my sun-withered brain remembers it, including the ending. So if you have hopes of reading it soon, stop right here.

The short story reads like a parable, taking place during La Paz’s booming pearl industry in the early 1900’s. The main character is Kino, a poor fisherman whose baby boy becomes deathly ill. Lacking money for the treatment, Kino and his wife, Juana, are desperate for a miracle. They get one.

Kino, in gathering oysters from the Sea of Cortez, discovers an enormous pearl - one so large, no one has seen it’s equal. He immediately realizes the significance of this find and begins to dream…a better house, a newer boat, a rifle, a church wedding, his newborn son’s future education… and most importantly the cure for his son’s illness. This will solve everything.

But the La Paz pearl merchants tried to swindle him; they were all in cahoots, offering only rock-bottom prices. Knowing his pearl was worth so much more, he rejected their ludicrous offers. So he hid it, hoping to journey to the capital for a better price.

Meanwhile, people begin to treat him differently, knowing he possesses this valuable item. They warn against the arrogance of hope for a better future, deride him for thinking he can ever rise above his station in life.

In addition to jealous neighbors, so too do evil villains emerge. The smarmy doctor maintains Kino’s boy in perpetual illness, while hoping to discover the location of the pearl. Kino’s house is ransacked.  His boat is destroyed. His house burns down. He gradually transforms into a different person - fearful, obsessed, suspicious, and violent. Sensing her family’s self-destruction, his loving wife wants him to throw the pearl back into the sea. She thinks it’s a curse. But Kino would not be dissuaded.

One day, a band of thieves attacked him, and in fighting back, Kino killed one of the perpetrators. Despite this righteous act, he knew they’d brand him a murderer and someone would inevitably seize his precious pearl.

So Kino gathered his family and fled into the mountains. But they were soon followed and backed into a canyon out of which they could not climb. Kino hid Juana and their son into a cleft in the cliff while he backtracked, attempting to lure the posse away. They would never stop hunting while he still possessed the pearl, so Kino decided to attack his pursuers.

But just then, one man heard a whimpering. Assuming it was a coyote, he aimed and fired at the noise. The whimper stopped. And Kino knew. The bullet had found its mark… his child, still cradled in his mother’s arms.

Kino and his wife returned to La Paz. As they grimly walked the path home, carrying their dead son, the neighbors watched in silence. Kino still had the pearl – the pearl that was supposed to solve everything; but he’d just lost everything because of it. Too late, Kino realized the price of his pearl…and threw it back into the sea.

------

Sigh. So sad. So SAD!
Steinbeck’s word smithery is pure genius in this palpable parable, peppered with plucky perception. Ah, you’ll just have to read it, despite the fact I’ve ruin the ending. I cannot do Kino’s character justice in this brief summary… his initial aspirations, his sheer perseverance, his escalating anxiety, his covetous transformation, the final blow, and his anguished realization.

Life’s eternal struggle is knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. You can’t blame Kino for wanting a better life for his family. The sad part is that most of us don’t recognize when blind ambition, greed or even pride has warped into acid, until it’s too late. But should our potential failings stop us from playing the game? No. Because life is like a box of chocolates…you never know what you’re gonna get.

Because in a parallel universe…
in the real world…
Kino sold that pearl and became a rich man.

Wait. What?

The Pink Pearl House
Nestled beside the Baja seashore sits the tiny hamlet of Timbabiche, its backdrop a dreamy desert mountain skyline. Looming above the surrounding sandy hills, a unique landmark appears… a two-story, pink stucco house. The only structure large enough to be visible from miles away at sea, it looks positively colossal against this vast expanse of desert nothingness.

Why such a large house in the middle of nowhere?
This elaborate home was built in the 1920’s…
by a poor fisherman, just like Kino…
from the profits of a single pearl (reportedly 5 carats).
Steinbeck’s parallel universe.

Casa Grande
In the abundant pearl-harvesting era of the early 1900’s, there’s sure to have been more than one lucky pearl discovery. But at least this version had a happy ending. That pearl financed a fleet of boats and the construction of this huge house, officially known as “Casa Grande” or the Big House. As I read The Pearl, I couldn’t help but wonder whether some of Kino’s troubles mirrored those of the man who built Casa Grande. Yet this man survived and his family thrived.

Except subsequent generations couldn’t agree on what to do with Casa Grande. It fell into disrepair and eventually was scavenged for building materials. Now a shell of its former grandeur, the pink house stands sentinel over Timbabiche. But we were to discover, generations of the family still live there, right beside it.

Meet Jimmy, Casa Grande’s Great-Grandson
We’d just anchored in Timbabiche when a smiling Jimmy approached in his fishing panga. Tempting our tastebuds with freshly flopping fish aboard, we purchased a delicious sierra. Our friends procured several sea creatures and bandaged his thumb after he’d sliced it open with a fishing knife. They learned Jimmy is actually a master scuba diver, having attended school in La Paz. Ah, makes sense. Free-diving for scallops, octopus and lobster seemed for him as easy as breathing.

A couple days later, we bought fresh scallops and started talking. We had hiked to the pink house the day prior and asked him about the pink house.

“Casa Grande? My great-grandfather built it!”

Wow! Jimmy’s great-grandfather found the pearl of his dreams. What had happened to cause its decline, we did not think appropriate to ask. Jimmy was obviously very proud of the pink house, as is. I didn’t want to ruin it by asking what the heck happened?

Jimmy told us that about 80 people live in the village, invisibly scattered among the rural dirt tracks. The white, stucco-roofed building (an intriguing Moroccan, tent-looking design - see gallery), is a school servicing about 12 children. But Jimmy’s wife and kids live in the nearest town where they attend a different school; the town is a 3-hour drive one-way. He fishes during the week and drives the long way to visit his family every few days. Out there, fishing by himself every day, Jimmy struck me as a genial but lonely guy. We wish him well.

Maybe one day, the Casa Grande will be his…the pale pink shell of a beautiful pearl.​
Comments

Two Years in Review

7/29/2016

Comments

 
Picture
Sunrise. Indigo sailing towards Isla Cerralvo, heading to Mazatlan. Photo by Starfire.
Two years?! Yup, I know right? It’s hard to believe! In May of 2014, Brian retired after 20 years in the Marine Corps and I quit my job of 17 years. We sold or donated most of our possessions and entered the Baja Ha Ha cruisers rally that October, sailing to Mexico on our 34ft sailboat, Indigo. Before leaving on this stupendous sojourn, the skeptics were in abundance.

“Wow, you sure you want to live on a boat full time?” (No, but we’re going to risk the attempt in order to escape the rat race for a while and see some of the world.)

“What about pirates?” (Haven’t seen or heard any stories of such on the West coast of Mexico.)

“I could never live with my husband in such tight quarters every second of every day.” (I do, and it’s no problem…I have my side of the boat and he has his.)

“How are you going to get food?” “Are you going to have to fish every day?” (We eat better in Mexico then we do in the States. It’s cheaper. Fishing not required.)

“No way, I’ll give you 6 months, tops. You’ll sell the boat and come back.” (…they’re still waiting.)

“You CAN’T do that!” (We CAN and DID.)

So… what’s the verdict?
Two years are gone, but we have no regrats. Not a single letter. Yes, we still enjoy living on a boat. No, we haven’t strangled each other, yet. Yes, we still want to continue the journey... we just don’t know where to, or when, or for how long... you can’t make these decisions lightly.

Stats
I have been asked (hounded, actually… sheesh… alright already) for an overview of our time here in the Sea of Cortez. So here are the stats after two seasons of cruising in Mexico:

Miles traveled:  (2yr totals)
2496 miles

Hours at sea:
575 hours on the water = 225 sailing hours + 350 engine hours since we left San Diego
​
Nights / passages at sea: 14 total nights (a night meaning dusk 'til dawn) / 9 total passages
3 nights straight, San Diego to Turtle Bay (Longest…and uber-tiring)
2 nights, Turtle Bay to Bahia Santa Maria (Worst. Big waves = mental breakdown. I don’t know if I can do this!)
1 overnight, Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo San Lucas (Getting warmer. OK, we can do this. Truly felt like we accomplished something!)
1, Cabo San Lucas to Bahia de los Muertos (First tropical anchorage… “Ah, now THIS is cruising!”)
1, Playa Santispac to San Carlos (Brian’s best - sailed all the way, dolphin escort, no motoring!)
1, San Carlos to Playa Santispac (Marya’s cranky crossing, moonless night, no fun steering)
2, La Paz to Mazatlan (Our crossing w/Starfire was great! Finally learned how to sleep while sailing.)
2, Mazatlan to Playa Bonanza (Marya’s best - perfectly calm, skating-rink water, 24hrs straight motoring! Can you tell the difference now between my perfect crossing and Brian’s? Basically: motor vs. no motor.)
1, Punta Mangles to San Carlos (Now we are old hats…no biggie.)

Islands Visited: 6, Coronados, Danzante, Carmen, San Francisco, San Jose, Ispiritu Santos

Anchorages Visited: 44, many of these more than once

Favorite Anchorages:
Marya’s favorite anchorages – Isla San Francisco, Puerto Los Gatos

Brian’s favorite anchorages – Bahia de los Muertos, Caleta Mezteño

Best sunsets – Caleta Lobos

Best snorkeling  – Marya - Bahia Cobre, Brian - Los Gatos

Best week of seclusion – Caleta Mezteño, 2nd  Ensenada Grande

Clearest water – Honeymoon Cove on Isla Danzante

Best beach hotel – Bahia Candeleros

Best kayaking – Can’t decide: San Juanico, Agua Verde, Candeleros, Ensenada Grande, Honeymoon, Los Gatos – all good

Best tide pool strolling – Agua Verde

Coolest rock formations – Puerto Los Gatos

Best wildlife sightings – Isla Coronados (jumping mobula rays all evening), San Marte (more jumping rays and fish) and Bahia Cobre (fish galore and a bighorn sheep)

Most picturesque anchorage – Isla San Francisco (west)

Best cliff hike – Agua Verde; 2nd – Isla San Francisco

Best canyon hike – Steinbeck’s canyon in Puerto Escondido; 2nd – Ensenada Grande

Best rocky beach – Isla San Francisco (east)

Best sand beach – Playa Bonanza

Best shell beach – Punta Chivato

More Bests and Worsts, Firsts and Tidbits:
Most difficulty anchoring – Punta Mangles (due to strong winds)

Trickiest anchorage – San Juanico (multiple shallow reefs, plus someone inevitably has taken the good spot!)

Easiest anchorages – Coronados (south)

Anchorages we’ve entered in the dark – Timbabiche (first), Bonanza

Anchorages we’ve left in the dark – Timbabiche, Caleta Lobos, Ensenada Gallina

Anchorage in which we’ve re-anchored in the dark (not recommended) – San Juanico

Best anchorage for norther’ protection – Playa Santispac

Anchorages we’ve had all to ourselves – Lobos, Mezteno, Ensenada Grande (believe it), La Raza, Gallina, Amortajada (south)(where the biting no-see-um’s hung out, no wonder it was empty), Colorada, Perico, Coronados (south), Honeymoon (south), Mangles, Pulpito, Santispac, Santa Barbara, El Burro

Shared with only one other boat – Timbabiche, Punta Salinas, Cobre, Bonanza, San Francisco (east)
This endearing characteristic of the Baja Peninsula (lack of people) is why we enjoy it so much.

Best night’s sleep anchorage – Puerto Escondido
​
Worst night’s sleep – San Juanico (south swell caused us to re-anchor); Partida (idiot power boat dragging anchor)

Worst anchorage of all time (experts agree) – Bahia Amortajada (biting jejene’s)

First tropical anchorage (wow, we can see the anchor!) – Bahia de Los Muertos

Rolliest anchorage  – Los Frailies (so bad we didn’t even set the anchor, kept on going overnight), 2nd – San Juanico (see worst night’s sleep)

Windiest anchorage – San Evaristo (unexpected night blast), Playa Santispac (30kts but we knew it was coming and it wasn’t bad)

Worst beach – Ensenada de la Raza (I wouldn’t call this a “beach”, more like a mud pit)

Anchorage most happiest to arrive at (after sailing 2 nights in uncomfortable seas) – Santa Maria

Worst anchor neighbors encountered – Ensenada Grande & Partida (the two most populous spots)

Unsurpassed fish taco shack – Lupe and Maggie Mae’s in San Evaristo

Best bay if you like bees – Ballandra on Isla Carmen

Cool ghost towns – Bahia Salinas, Punta Salinas


Marinas:
Best Marina Ever – Camp Pendleton Marina

Best Mexico marina overall – Marina Costa Baja in La Paz ties with El Cid in Mazatlan, Palmira a close 2nd

Best pool – Marina Costa Baja

Best internet – Marina El Cid

Worst internet – San Carlos (1st yr, they’ve since stepped up to 2nd best!); Marina Mazatlan (2nd yr)

Best and ONLY Cable TV – El Cid

Best swimming beach – Costa Baja

Best (and hottest) place to do boat projects (like a refrigerator) – Marina San Carlos

Best marina for: canvas work – El Cid; varnish – Marina Mazatlan; engine repair – Palmira

First Mexico marina – Cabo San Lucas

Most expensive – Cabo San Lucas

Loudest – Cabo San Lucas

Cheapest – Puerto Escondido Moorings at $10/day; 2nd Cheapest – Marina San Carlos

Most cruiser-friendly – Marina Palmira

Best wildlife viewing – Puerto Escondido

Most remote – Puerto Escondido

Most resortish – El Cid

Nicest marina admin. – (aside from Camp Pendleton) Marina Palmira ties with Marina Mazatlan

Most surge – El Cid

Least surge/best weather protection – Costa Baja

Cleanest bathrooms – El Cid (hands down)

Best shower facilities – Costa Baja open-air showers at the resort pool ties w/ El Cid, but Palmira now comes in close 2nd with their brand new facilities

Worst bathrooms – Marya - Marina Mazatlan; Brian - San Carlos (the men’s bathroom is just BAD)

Marina restaurant with the most consistently good food & still cheapish – Hammerhead’s at Marina San Carlos

Favorite restaurant (but expensive) – Marina Azul at Marina Costa Baja, La Paz

What's on the agenda this season?
We will be spending the entire winter in La Paz this year (with our friends who are coming down on the Ha Ha) in order to explore the area further. There’s just not enough time to see everything in each anchorage even after two winters. Los Gatos, San Marte and San Francisco are must return-to’s to name a few; we missed several coves on Ispiritu Santos such as Gabriel, Candeleros and El Cardonal; I still haven't visited the baby seals of Los Islotos nor the whales in the Bay of LA.  After that, maybe we’ll have seen enough and want to move on down further south. Who knows? Since the majority of world cruisers we meet declare the Sea of Cortez as the best cruising grounds around, we are not in a rush to go anywhere else just yet... 
Comments

Red Rock Vistas

4/18/2016

Comments

 
Picture
Red rocks of Puerto Los Gatos.
Los Gatos
This is our second time in Puerto Los Gatos. A 30 mile trek from San Evaristo, it makes for a long day of traveling. So by the time we arrive, no one has the energy to go ashore. I love the red rock geology here so much I made Brian stay a full day this trip so we can explore the center portion of the bay tomorrow.

Fresh Ceviche
That afternoon, a local panga fisherman drives by, asking if we want to buy any fish. Si! I purchase a fresh Cabrillo, he fillets it right there in his boat and places it in my container. I make ceviche: combine diced fish, 1 jalapeno, ½ cucumber, 1 tomato, red onion, juice of 2 limes, salt, pepper, chili powder. I let it “cook” in the juice in the fridge overnight. It’s a great lunch with tortilla chips or crackers.

Cilantro-Deficiency
Ceviche is much better with cilantro, actually everything is better with cilantro… but I don’t have any. Why? Because everything is better with cilantro…and the entire past year I always had cilantro on board… it’s cheap here and I used it in everything…so much so that I made Brian so sick of it he won’t even allow me to buy it anymore! And now he mentally equates fresh parsley with cilantro too, even though they taste completely different. SO, I can no longer have anything remotely leafy and green aboard the boat. Sigh. Soooo sad. There’s only one good thing about my lack of fresh herbs: they took up a ton of room in my teeny fridge. I guess there’s that.

Red Rocks and Snorkeling
The next morning, I made a big breakfast (since we weren’t sailing anywhere) and had a great time exploring all day. We hiked among the gigantic and mysteriously-shaped red rocks lining the waterfront, scampered along the pink sandstone shelf worn smooth away by eons of wind and water, and climbed a unique gully comprised of slippery, sand dune on one side and rocky ravine on the other, meeting together in a V-shape.

Among the waterfront rocks, there’s a perfect, pink sand beach…just right for donning snorkel gear and entering its shallow, sandy water with fins. Snorkeling along the center reef we observed quite a few small fish, but most notably, some beautiful purple sea fans flowing gracefully in the “breeze”.

It’s all Downhill from Here…
Later, we kayaked over to a nearby catamaran to say hello. They were a Swiss couple and had been cruising around the globe for over 15 years. From Europe to the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal to the South Pacific, back up to Alaska and down the California and Mexican coast. When asked which was their favorite place - The Sea of Cortez! Well, I guess everything is downhill from here…

When he mentioned the reason, it struck me as thought-provoking - most everywhere else has trees. In the Sea, there are no trees to hide the geology and he thinks that’s why he likes it here best. It made me ponder… Trees are like clothing, outright hiding the underlying landscape; buildings of course destroy and cover the ground they stand upon; grasses and leaves are akin to makeup, further obscuring any unique geology. Most of Baja has no trees, grass or buildings, nothing to hide its wondrous variations in landscape.

Naked Baja
The stark nakedness of the land here in Baja California is truly awe-inspiring. There is peacefulness in such pure, undisturbed desert. Each anchorage freely supplies a bounty of unique shapes and colors and textures …raw geology. You can still feel the cataclysm of lava spewing and sizzling into the ocean, the massive upheaval of shifting tectonic plates shaping these incredible hundred-mile-long, mile-high mountain ranges, the force of wind on a smoothed-out sandstone slope, the relentless pounding of surf into perfect white sand beaches, the eons it took to petrify a shell fossil, the compression required to embed giant boulders into cement, the roiling action of the sea hollowing out a reef system, the power of ancient glaciers that scraped out rock-strewn valleys and sliced off sheer cliffs and carved out the picturesque bays in which we are now anchored. Because there IS nothing else to distract you. No trees, no buildings, no cars, no freeways, no people, no cell phones, no internet. Just raw geology… in all its un-manicured glory.
Comments

Lovin' Los Gatos

5/23/2015

Comments

 
Picture
Beautiful red rocks at Los Gatos
Timbabiche
On May 11th, we trekked up to Timbabiche, hoping this anchorage will keep us partially protected from the NE swell for the night.

We have been reading Steinbeck’s book ‘The Log from the Sea of Cortez’ - required reading for anyone traveling this way. The trip up to Timbabiche mirrored how Steinbeck describes the Sea of Cortez as a mirage. At one point early morning, the slate grey water merged into light grey sky, intermingling in the middle, difficult to discern one from the other. Later, blue sky way in the distance remained in the same spot all day, we could never reach it. But the tiny portion of robin’s egg blue reflection wiggled and intertwined and melted into the slate grey water, appearing as painted watercolor on canvas. The mild seas rolled like an undulating furry carpet. The Sierra Gigantas mountains are so big, so majestic, so steep and close to the sea that they look like a set from the movie Cars. The mirage is one endless mountain rather than thousands of indentations and coves, spires and cliffs. It is difficult to distinguish one bay from the next until you are actually in it.

We saw several large manta rays doing the wing-tip thing coasting along, bigger than their stingray buddies we had seen in the coves. We saw a few dolphins but they moved on before I could capture them on film.

At Timbabiche we ate lunch and sacked out in the cockpit, too tired from the sleepless “night of the fishes” to move. Later at 4pm it was finally sunny and we kayaked to shore and walked the beach. Take your pick of scenery: sand dunes, salt flats, a grand estuary, mangroves, rocky point with interesting jutting rock formations, all can be seen here. If I had another day I’d kayak up that long, lazy estuary.

We fired up the BBQ for cheddar-filled salchichas (brats) and couscous salad with orange, jicama, cilantro and roasted coconut. Nice night at anchor. Not much wind, no dragging, no anchor alarms, no flipping fishies.

Los Gatos 5/12/2015
 We were in no hurry to leave as our next spot, Los Gatos, was only 3 miles away. So I made apple pancakes! Los Gatos has several rocky reefs to avoid so we were tentative motoring around the anchorage for a half hour deciding on where to go; we finally set down in the south lobe. A group of campers were tented on the beach in the north lobe and no boats were in the south, should be better wind protection there, after all the wind was supposed to come from the southeast.

Amazing views all around: rocky point, perfect white sand beach, red rocks all around, another white sand beach, more red rocks and a pink sand beach, another rocky point. Just beautiful. I’m going to go out on a limb here…maybe the best anchorage so far, for a picturesque view.

We got the kayak out and paddled for the north shore towards the massive red rocks. What a sight. Hard-packed pink sand beach, not littered with rocks or shells, just perfect walking sand. And wide swaths of red-marbled sandstone, smoothed by the ages. As we hiked higher up the cliffs, jagged, wind-whipped out-croppings emerged, and shards of broken sandstone littered the cliffs making it difficult to get a good footing. The thin, flat pieces would jut out precariously like stepping stones with no lower support but were too brittle to use as such. We could see crevasses in the rock, so there’s no way we were getting too close to the edge of the cliff face to look over as I could picture a rock wall shear off and calve into the water 500 ft below with me in it. Not happening.

Around the point at sea level the red rock formations stopped and a whole new interesting scene appeared of amalgamated rock and shells, congealed over time. This stuff looked like someone had poured concrete and added toe-to-fist-sized rocks and shells into the mix and dropped it on this point. Nowhere else around had I seen such a mixture. We walked along the tide pools looking at the sea urchins and the crusty barnacles that seemed to hiss and whisper as the water edged over them. We saw tons of crabs… little phone-sized black ones that blended into the dark rocks. But as soon as you’d get near, they’d suddenly skitter away and scare the crap out of me, clicking their feet on the rocks like thousands of high heel shoes. I saw a large one, red and slow, either dying or just didn’t care about me. As I got closer he moved but slowly and cautiously, like he was anticipating my intentions. Maybe he wanted his picture taken just so I could show Jack and Lilah.

Hermit Crab Wars
Later as I was climbing on more sandstone I saw Brian crouched down, staring at something in the sand on the beach. I meandered down to see what was so interesting. He was entranced with watching 3 hermit crabs fighting.

Pepe was the mid-sized hermit crab and he had just got his butt kicked by Tiny, the littlest but meanest hermit crab of them all. Tiny crawled up on Pepe and poked and snapped and forced Pepe out of his shell. Tiny was a big bully and wanted Pepe’s shell for himself. It was bigger and had more room. Heck, he could have a 2-millimater flat-screen TV in his new living room now, it was so spacious.

Meanwhile, watching and cheering Tiny on was Carlos the cheater. Carlos knew what was happening and was one of those guys who sort of fakes getting in on the action but doesn’t really commit. So he was pinching here and there, backing off, coming in again to say “Yeah, take that Pepe”, but he didn’t want to get too close to Tiny. What Carlos really wanted was Tiny’s shell. He figured after Tiny got his new shell from Pepe that he could have it. But Tiny was an even bigger jerk than all of them imagined. Tiny wanted to KEEP his shell too and fought Pepe and Carlos for it, holding it in between his claws and trying to drag it away with him.

Finally, Carlos was so mad that Tiny wouldn’t give up his house, (he didn’t need 2 for gosh sakes) and picked at Tiny just enough to get him away from his previous shell. Carlos quickly switched shells, leaving his discarded and even smaller shell for Poor Pepe.

So in the end, Tiny bullied his way into a huge house with a three car garage because he thought he deserved it. He looked ridiculous carrying around all that baggage; he was top-heavy and stumbling around, but by God he had a bigger house than all of them. What Tiny didn’t stop to think about was a bigger house means a bigger mortgage, and his lost ability to be fast and nimble will probably sink him in the end.

Carlos now has Tiny’s house. He had a perfectly fine house before; in fact it was probably about the same size as his old one. But Carlos was like the vulture, picking up the remnants after they are discarded… just because he could.

Pepe, unprotected and sad, struggled to climb into Carlos’s abandoned house but he was just too big. He looked like a man trying to force his monster size-11 feet into size 8 sandals… his heel sticks out the back, his toes wiggle out the front, altogether highly uncomfortable. Stuck halfway outside Carlos’s smaller shell, Pepe crawled slowly away instead of scurrying as he should. I am no crustacean expert, but I assume he will sadly die from exposure unless he can find a bigger shell.

The moral of the story is: Don’t be like a hermit crab.
  • Don’t try to take other people’s stuff. Don’t be a bully.
  • Don’t sit on the sidelines and cheer on other people taking other people’s stuff. (Baltimore) Don’t be a coward.
  • Don’t abscond with the leftovers when you KNOW the poor homeless guy needs it more. Don’t covet your neighbor’s trash.
  • Fight back harder when someone does try and take your home. It’s YOUR home. Don’t be a whimp. Fight back when you are being bullied.
I think Pepe should have gotten his concealed carry permit. Sometimes claws are not enough. Just sayin’.

Comments

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

    Categories

    All
    Agua Verde
    Air Conditioning
    All-inclusive Resort
    Anchoring
    Bahia Amortajada
    Bahia Cardonal
    Bahia Cobre
    Bahia Concepcion
    Bahia Salinas
    Baja Ha Ha
    Baja Ha-Ha
    Balandra Beach
    Ballandra Bay
    Balloonfish
    Baluarte Bridge
    Bashing
    Boat Refrigeration
    Boatwork
    Boatyard Fatigue Syndrome
    Bottom Paint
    Bullfight
    Campervan
    Cancun
    Candeleros Bay
    Canvas
    Carlsbad Caverns
    Carnaval
    Chainplates
    Charleston
    Chichen Itza
    Cliff-Divers
    Cockpit Table
    Containers
    Cortez Angelfish
    Crossing
    Cruising Friendships
    Culture
    Cutlass Bearing
    Destination Wedding
    Dinghy
    Dodger
    Dolphins
    Driving In Mexico
    Dry Storage
    Durango
    EcoBaja Tours
    El Burro Cove
    Ensenada Grande
    Fireworks
    Fish
    Flat Tire
    Food
    Fun Baja
    Georgia
    Grandpa
    Gray Whales
    Guaymas
    Gulf Of California
    Haulout
    Hermosillo
    Hoffmaster State Park
    Holiday-inn-express
    Honeymoon-cove
    House
    Hurricane Blanca
    Hurricanes
    Interlochen
    Isla Carmen
    Isla Coronado
    Isla Danzante
    Isla El Coyote
    Isla Ispiritu Santos
    Isla San Francisco
    Isla San Jose
    Jumping Mobular Rays
    Kilometer 21
    La Paz
    Leelanau
    Life Raft
    List
    Llantera
    Loreto
    Los Gatos
    Los Islotes
    Los Osuna
    Marina Costa Baja
    Marina El Cid
    Marina Palmira
    Marina Seca
    Mayan
    Mazatlan
    Mexican Food
    Mexican Health Care
    Mexico
    Michigan
    Mobular Rays
    Mountains
    Mouse Aboard
    Moving Onto A Boat
    Mystical River
    New Orleans
    Nogales Border Crossing
    Nopolo
    Octopus
    Okefenokee Swamp
    Onilikan
    Pancho Villa Museum
    Pensacola
    Pima Air & Space Museum
    Playa Algodones
    Playa Bonanza
    Playa Coyote
    Playa Santa Barbara
    Playa Santispac
    Playa Santo Domingo
    Posada Concepcion
    Puerto Escondido
    Puerto Lopez Mateo
    Punta Chivato
    Punta Mangles
    Punta Perico
    Punta Pulpito
    Punta Salinas
    Radar
    Renaissance Festival
    Retinal Tear
    Retirement
    Rigging
    RV
    Safety
    Sailing
    Sailing Mexico
    San Carlos
    San Evaristo
    San Jose Channel
    San Juanico
    San Marte
    Sapphire NOW
    Savannah
    Sea Fireflies
    Sea Frost
    Sea Lions
    Sea Of Cortez
    Sea Turtles
    Serenbe Playhouse
    Shells
    Sleeping Bear Dunes
    Sleepy Hollow
    Snorkeling
    Stainless Steel
    St. Augustine
    Stingrays
    Storage
    Tacking
    Teak
    Tennessee
    Tequila Factory
    Texas
    Timbabiche
    TransUnion
    Tucson
    Tufesa Bus
    Tulum
    Underground River Swim
    Varnish
    Waterfalls
    Watermaker
    Whale Shark
    Wilderness State Park
    Wind Generator
    Windows
    Windvane
    Wing-on-Wing
    Winnebago Travato
    Woodworking

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.