While we are here waiting for the test results on the cat, we built a new sunshade that attaches to the back of our Shade Tree.  It’s great!  Now the entire cockpit is out of the sun and we stay that much cooler.  We bought some screens to add to the sides of our covers, making the entire boat “sun proof”.  We haven’t been able to finish the project because we can’t find grommets anywhere.

We also can’t find any cat litter.  Anyone know a good recipe for a truly “natural cat litter”?   We’d like to hear it.

I saw its beady eyes looking back at me. I made a quick grab for it. As I was reaching, I thought about the wisdom of trying to grab an insect that is almost as big as my head, but bravado pushed me forward. Unfortunately, survival motivated this monstrous bug more than my glib disregard for reality -- I found myself clutching thin air.

I was afraid to tell Sherrell about it. We�?¢â�??¬â�??¢ve sent many days on shore spotting this large cat like bugs sneaking around in the shadows. Smugly we congratulated ourselves on how careful we were with food items, not bring boxes on board and inspecting the produce for hitchhikers. We were also anchored out away from the docks, where surely they climbed dock lines in droves.

But reality is not my friend. I told Sherrell about my near miss with the dog-sized bug. �?¢â�??¬�?�??What?! You�?¢â�??¬â�??¢re kidding me? Where? How big? I can�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t be as big as a lion!�?¢â�??¬ Nonetheless, I had seen it and there could be more, if not now, then perhaps a fresh brood is on the way.

So we dug into some books and found a recipe for a homemade potion that is harmless to people but unpleasant for horse-like cockroaches. Now we just have to watch and wait. There�?¢â�??¬â�??¢s nothing worse than a boat full of bugs! It�?¢â�??¬â�??¢s too crowded already!

Bet you didn�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t see that subject coming, did you? Well it is what has been holding us up here: Cat Vomit. It happens about every two days or so and we get a nice treat from the cat. This has been happening for about 4 months. If you remember, we took her to a vet in La Paz because of this problem and they did a blood test and declared her, �?¢â�??¬�?�??Hypothyroid�?¢â�??¬.

Well, we talked to our vet in Seattle and did some research and found that hypothyroid is very rare in cats, especially in cats that have been treated for Hyperthyroidism (note the use of Hypo �?¢â�??¬â�?��? too little and Hyper �?¢â�??¬â�?��? too much). Apparently there is still quite a debate about proper thyroid levels and our old Vet said, don�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t try to treat it without more testing, because the results didn�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t make sense. She did have the same symptoms with hyperthyroidism, meaning vomiting, but she also had a few other subtle symptoms that she doesn�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t have now.

So as part of trying to find out why the cat has been sick so often and has no other symptoms of anything, we decided that the heat and her shedding has been bothering her. Thus the lovely photo of our cat getting a hair cut. Well, that didn�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t help. She still gets sick and doesn�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t really have any significant hairballs.

As a last ditch effort, we found a vet here in Santa Rosalia who has been looking at her. We tried a combo injection of anti-nausea, laxative and anti-acid and she perked right up. All the sudden she seemed to feel better. So we backed off to just the anti-acid for the last two days and she seems to be doing well. Tomorrow we take her in to do another full blood work up. Our best guess right now is she probably has IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and perhaps some kind of addition to her diet might help. We�?¢â�??¬â�??¢ll keep our fingers crossed on the blood results. If all goes well, we�?¢â�??¬â�??¢ll have a healthy kitty and be back underway soon.

If you have the means, you can contact us on the following marine SSB nets:

Amigo Net, 1400 UTC, 8122 Khz

Southbound Net, 0045 UTC, 6516 Khz (sometimes 6224 KHz in the winter)

We�?¢â�??¬â�??¢ve revamped the FAQ, added a couple more photos to the gallery (don�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t miss �?¢â�??¬�?�??Floaty Time�?¢â�??¬ and added another book to Our Book List. Go nuts.

6/28/05

We�?¢â�??¬â�??¢ll, we�?¢â�??¬â�??¢ve got another Tropical Storm called Calvin. This one didn�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t quite make it to a hurricane, and it�?¢â�??¬â�??¢s pretty far south about 100 miles off Acapulco. Calvin is expected to dissipate soon, but there�?¢â�??¬â�??¢s a 4^th system developing already. According to all the historical data of hurricanes, none have ever come up the Sea of Cortez in July; only 3 tropical storms have made it up the Sea in the last 80 years. So July is pretty safe, but that doesn�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t make hearing about them any easier. August and September are the much more dangerous times of year. The Bahia de Los Angeles area is very protected and on the edge of the belt, as we keep reminding ourselves, so we�?¢â�??¬â�??¢ll be just fine.

If you want to follow Hurricane developments yourself for the NE Pacific try the national hurricane center:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

6/27/05

We spent the day exploring the sea caves at Los Arcos, where the snorkeling was amazing. There were lots of large trigger fish, puffer fish, parrot fish and wrass. Now we are sitting inside the harbor at Santa Rosalia. Our wireless antenna almost got us a connection, but we just couldn�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t quite pull in the signal, so we�?¢â�??¬â�??¢ll probably have to hike it into town to finally send out all our updates.

06/26/05

I saw it hidden among the rocks while we were snorkeling �?¢â�??¬â�?��? a flash of color and a slight movement. At first I thought it was a plant of some kind, so I watched its strange movements. Then the blobish looking object unfurled and changed from a round ball, to an 8 armed little octopus! It snuck around the side of a rock and before I could blink my eyes, it changed into a jet black color to match the shadows.

I immediately screamed through my snorkel, afraid to take my eyes off the sneaky bugger, �?¢â�??¬�?�??HEEYAM DER ANNN OCTOMUSH DEER!, HEY TAMAN OCTOMUSH!�?¢â�??¬ Sherrell translated snorkel speak and rushed over, saying, �?¢â�??¬�?�??Don�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t take your eyes off him!�?¢â�??¬ She called out to the two other couples snorkeling with us that I found an octopus, and I could hear their fins shredding water towards me.

The little guy was probably no bigger than a large softball, but he was lighting fast and could change through a rainbow of colors and patterns in an instant. As everyone gathered round they struggled to spot the 8 armed sneekster. Just as they were beginning to wonder if I�?¢â�??¬â�??¢d been in the sun too much, he moved, eliciting a �?¢â�??¬�?�??DER HESSS! MOVN THERR LOOOK�?¢â�??¬

He unfolded his arms and felt around the rocks and came out into the open, changing from jet black, to red, then to green with yellow spots, then deciding better of it, yellow with green spots. Out in the full light of the sun, he changed to several shades lighter and blended in with the background rocks instantly. I was mesmerized watching him lurk around, looking for food, and changing colors at will. A fish was pestering him, and with a causal lighting fast whip of one of his 8 arms, he sent the fish a message and the fish bolted. We watched him creep around looking for urchins that were easy pickings as he went from rock to rock, until finally Sherrell had to tell me to back off and leave the little critter some space.

It was definitely, by far, the highlight of my day!

I should mention we�?¢â�??¬â�??¢re still at Isla San Marcos in a place, dubbed by gringos, �?¢â�??¬�?�??Sweet Pea Cove�?¢â�??¬. It isn�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t really a cove, it�?¢â�??¬â�??¢s more of an open bight. Tomorrow we are going to Caleta de los Arcos (Rings Cove) where there are several sea caves, then on to Santa Rosalia!

6/23/05

We left Bahia Concepcion, hitting a maximum temperature of 124.9 F, for the cooler open anchorage of Santa Domingo. After spending about 3 nights there, unmelting, if that is possible in 100F heat, we set off for Isla San Marcos. The trip was nice, about 30 miles and we sailed about 2/3rds of it. It is much cooler here, the water is refreshing in the 70�?¢â�??¬â�??¢s and the cabin temperature stayed below 90, most of the time.

Anyway, this brings me to Beatrice. The summer weather means summer storms down here. We had our first hurricane about 700 miles south of us a month ago. Now we have Tropical Strom Beatrice. This one is much closer, about 450 miles away and inside the boarders of Mexico. We�?¢â�??¬â�??¢re not too worried about this one, as it is loosing its punch fast. Hopefully by tomorrow it will be down graded to a depression and then fizzle out.

Nonetheless, it is a very real reminder about the East Pacific hurricanes and we�?¢â�??¬â�??¢re going to have to stay on our toes.