EXPEDITION JOURNAL October 22, 2003  These past few days have been filled with family visits and last minute details. Suzie, Rachel and Trisha spent the first night of travel in Lincoln (NE of Sacramento) with the Wilkies after driving down from Bellingham. The drive was incredible, going through so many climate changes, ultimately from rain and wind storms to sun and stars.
Early on the 21st, we got on the road. In Suzie's small truck, we drove to Huntington Beach with Rachel and Suzie switching off driving duty. Trisha lazed around in the truck bed in a den of pillows since she can't drive a standard yet. The first two listened to books on tape throughout the Grapevine and LA traffic. Trisha wore ear plugs. In Huntington Beach we met up with Suzie's Dad and then Rachel and Trisha continued on to San Diego to stay with Rachel's grandparents the Jacksons. Meanwhile, Frewin went surf kayaking and finished up at Boojum. Frewin had a hard time leaving all his new friends there, but hopes that a little sun and his first swim with the whale shark with turn his frown right around. Finally, after much planning and anticipation Frew and the Burly Girls were together at last. Staying with the Jacksons was incredible. Edie and Harold Jackson showed us the true meaning of southern hospitality (even though they left Mississippi over 50 years ago). We all had moments where we felt like forgoing the trip and simply staying with them, their company has been so pleasant. On their lawn we staged for our trip, laying out all our food and gear. We sprawled out so much that passing cars slowed down, and one man approached us thinking it was a garage sale. We are leaving EARLY tomorrow morning and heading to San Felipe. It feels a little surreal, perhaps because it is hard for us to imagine how it is going to be, but it is exciting for this very reason. And so it begins. November 12, 2003 Week One Rocky and Big Lar, the transportation crew, sent us off in San Felipe! Before they waved goodbye they pulled Frewin aside to make sure he would take care of the ladies. We left wondering who was in more trouble, them or us. After paddling a couple days we were hit by our first El Norte wind.  Stuck at a beach called "shell beach" by the locals and "drug beach" by the Federalis we met Steve who gave us our first fish and some insight into the weather. Everyday it was different weather, we never knew what to expect. On the water again and paddling towards Puertocitos, we dreamt of fish tacos when out of the bay sped Bobby and Jim. They informed us the restaurant had not been open in months, but invited us over for cold drinks and a tour of town.Ý Bobby and Jim gave us our first taste of the spirit of generosity and hospitality that exists among the people here in Baja. Week Two Our second week began with a wind so strong that is picked up one of the boats and slide it across the other three and down the beach. So that boat received the name of the "Flying Turtle." In the morning on the 31st Suzie and Frewin made their first barter with a nearby shrimp boat. Finally, the winds calmed down and the fishing picked up . The handlines were fruitful, thanks to the bait Bobby gave us, we caught trigger fish, corbina and tuna. Suzie caught a jellyfish and bird, let both go and has not fished since. We have all become accustomed to the process of catching, beating, filleting and eating the fish. Once we got to Gonzaga Bay our fish taco dreams were met as were a number of interesting people. Team Premier dirt bikers graciously let us use their showers and laughed that we spent the afternoon in the bay playing in our boats after paddling over a hundred miles. We also met Mary and Cliff Hurley who gave cold Frewin a blanket who is very grateful. Week Three This week began in the remote coast south of Puerta Final and North of Bahia de Los Angeles. The cliffs rise straight from the water and the creatures are everywhere. We have seen sea lions, sea turtles, dolphins, tuna feeding frenzies that we refer to as f squared, pelicans, osprey, and isopods that hug the shore after dusk. Rachel and Suzie saw an interesting creature with three spikes swimming in the ocean, however Trisha and Frewin claim it was a hallucination. Suzie spotted a beached whale covered with vultures. Rachel and Frewin got excited and paddled over to the beach to get a closer look. We identified it as a dead humpback whale that appeared to have only been there a few days. Trisha caught a beautiful yellowfin tuna during her first fishing experience. As soon as we arrived at the beach for the night she filleted the fish and we ate the freshest sashimi ever. Yesterday we paddled the final miles to Bahia de Los Angeles, the bay that always seemed to be just around every corner. We are spending a couple days here resting, contacting friends and family, and quenching our thirst with many different cold beverages. We met a family who are living out of their motorhome with their two kids traveling around and doing research. They have a website, www.ontheroadin.com They have been really kind and allowed us to charge all our electrical equipment on their power grid, take showers (first one in 20 days) and even made us sushi. So far we are healthy and in good spirits and the friends we meet are amazed that we still have things to say to each other. Thanks again for all the love we have received through emails we will write again in a few weeks. November 28, 2003 Week Four We left Bahia de Los Angeles on a cloudy day. Frewin was excited to show us his favorite spots from his previous visits. We were lucky enough to spot the infamous whale shark as we paddled out of Bahia. They are really docile and don't mind if you paddle near them. It was quite amazing to see a creature so big. It was about twenty foot long and had leopard spots all over it. It swam like a shark but had an enormous head and body, more like a whale. Suzie and Frewin were brave enough to jump in  and experienced the once in a lifetime chance to swim with the whale shark. We had a lot of great campsites during this leg of our trip. They were gorgeous with red rocks and verdant vegetation from all the recent rain. Frewin led us to "clam heaven" on our first night out of Bahia. We harvested butter clams that night in a shallow cove. All we had to do was run our fingers through the sand and we pulled up clam after clam. We also encountered Manta rays flying out of the water as we paddled by and started seeing sting rays lurking amidst the sand. Towards the end of the week we ran into Todd and Paul, two firefighters from Santa Clara County, at Playa San Rafael. They shared storiesof firefighting, scubadiving and good food and got us all thinking about possible careers as firefighters. Todd introduced us to his longtime friend Pancho who lived nearby. Pancho goes out of his way to make sure everyone that visits Playa San Rafael is comfortable. He gave us Spanish lessons all night and was kind enough to help us get water in the morning. Week Five We bid farewell to our firefighting friends and set out on an epic crossing, a twenty mile stretch that turned into rolling waves and white caps as the wind picked up. Mid-way through the crossing a huge pod of dolphins surfaced near our boats. They played amidst us and two even swam underneath Suzie. We finally came around the point and found a safe spot to pull off. This small rocky cove would be our home for the next two  days as the wind picked up and didn't stop. Rachel and Frewin took advantage of the rocky areas and did some snorkelling. They took the Hawaian sling with them and brought back scallops and fish for dinner. We had a lot of challenging paddling this week thanks to the infamous wind here in Baja. We found ourselves paddling up to twenty miles each day to make up the time we lost on our winded-in days. We paddled in some of the biggest water yet and experienced a sahara like sandstorm brought on by 30-40 knot winds. It was quite an experience to have sand blown into every orifice of our bodies for two days straight. Thankfully, the wind stopped, we rubbed the sand from our eyes, ears, scalps etc.... and had three more long days of paddling hard. The wind wasn't our only challenge. We got pretty low on water and found ourselves dehydrated and cooking with partially salt water in an effort to conserve. Someone must be  watching over us because after seeing no other people for eight days we spotted a fisherman on a beach in the middle of nowwhere who gave us some water. Another challenge has been the length of the trip. We all get a little homesick, crazy from too much time to have deep thoughts while paddling, and run out of things to say to each other at times. Despite all the challenges we are still engrossed in the adventure and living one day at a time. HAPPY THANKSGIVING:)))))))) from Frewin, Rachel, Suzie, & Trisha Week Six Leaving Santa Rosalia we started the next section with rough water that would continue throughout the next 10 days. Also, Frewin, started this section with a medical emergency-thankfully Rachel was on hand with the "Cavit" to fill the gaping hole in his mouth caused by a broken filling. The first night out of Santa Rosalia we stayed among the palm trees and got our first taste of the tropics. There has been a wonderful new change of scenery the further south we go. The clear water and sandy beaches provide excellent snorkeling and the fishing in this stretch has been exciting as well.  We started filling our days with more miles on bigger water getting practice with our bracing and surf launches and landings. With this big push of wind and water we made it in just a few days to Mulege in time for an epic adventure, one which caused a minor setback. Unfortunately someone mistook our gear for their gear and helped themselves to an early BaHannukah. "I always wanted one chaco." - Suzie "My quality of life definitely suffers when Gold Bond is not a part of it." - Frewin "Guys...they took my stretch pants and underwear." - Trisha "Um, where's my passport?" As the federalis tower over me. - Rachel So with a lighter load we went south again toward Loreto, our next big stop. On the way, after only 42 days, Suzie finally caught a fish but when she did it was well worth the wait. The rest of the days continued in the same fashion of eating, sleeping, and paddling 20 or so miles a day toward Cabo San Lucas. Along our way we were fortunate to see some amazing things that many people never do get to see. This is an exciting part of the adventure for us and we have to work to achieve a balance between taking the time to enjoy these beautiful places and paddling hard toward our final goal. Weeks Seven and Eight After recharging our batteries in Loreto, we got back on the water excited to be paddling the last section of our trip. The landscape became lush and green and our first night out we camped on Isla Danzante. It was nice to get off the mainland and see our first true sunset of the trip. We had a calm day paddling about 20 miles in flat lake like water and then the winds picked up again. At this point in the trip, we have all become more comfortable paddling in rougher conditions. When we got on the water on Day 51 we thought we would get a nice push with the wind at our backs. The push turned into something more like a shove and the following events occurred:
*After checking the weather and water, everyone decides to paddle until the wind picks up *Big swell starts to get bigger *Trisha is afraid to look behind her because the waves have gotten so big *The need to get off the water becomes apparent and we decide to try to go around Punta San Telmo and find a protected cove. *Suzie and Frewin get pushed into the surf zone and realize they wont make the point. *The 7ft waves come in sets, really close together, and Suzie flips and pulls out of her boat *Frew gets hit by a huge wave and Eskimo rolls his boat. He eventually jumps out of his boat and decides it is a good time to practice the BCA Class 5 surf tow landing *Rachel and Trisha turn back from the point attempt and get ready to land on the beach. *Trisha gets surfed in by a ridiculously large wave and ends up swimming her boat into shore * Rachel also gets surfed in and flips out of her boat 5 seconds before completing a really sweet surf landing *While Frew and Suzie were swimming in, Rachel and Trisha took care of the boats and gear  After this experience, we were all a bit shaken up and realized our desire to get to Cabo had put us in a precarious position. We sat down and took a serious look at our goal to make it to Cabo by New Years Eve. To do this, we would need to paddle 20 miles day with no time for winded in days or early pulling off the water due to bad conditions. During our meeting, there was some disagreement and tension about whether to push for Cabo or not. At one point there was talk of splitting up in La Paz. Everyone took some time to evaluate personal and group goals. In the end, we decided that finishing the trip together was more important than making it to Cabo. We would end the Paddle for Ovarian Cancer in La Paz.
Our last days paddling in the Baja were filled with fishing, snorkeling, and soaking up the landscape around us. Trisha had some good luck fishing and brought home the bacon on more than one occasion. We had more than a few winded in days on this last section and spent a lot of time reading, playing chess, hiking, and watching the water. We decided to create our own holiday and celebrated Bahanukkah on December 20th. The celebration began early and we all exchanged gifts. Frew serenaded everyone with an original Bahanukkah song and in the evening Trisha spent a lot of time cooking our holiday feast of real mashed potatoes, chili, cornbread, and pudding soup. A couple of nights later, we decided to paddle for a few hours under the stars. The water was like glass and as it got darker, the phosphorescence got brighter and more vivid. When our paddles hit the water swirls of light would appear that looked something like the trails of Tinkerbell in Peter Pan. We could see glowing schools of fish dart near our boats. Throughout the paddle, it felt like we were in a Monty Python movie when fish started jumping onto our boats and bodies. One fish jumped right into Frewin's armpit where he held it before releasing it back to the sea. It was quite surreal to be paddling in the dark being pelted with flying fish.  As we got closer to La Paz, the wind kicked up again and we sat on a beach for two days staring at the lights of the town. Frew and Suzie decided to attempt to find a road and hitchhike into La Paz. After walking for 3 hours, a car finally came and they got a ride into the city. Overstimulated, they spent their time searching for a potential campsite and eating sushi. The next morning they hitchhiked back to Rachel and Trisha on the beach and found the water too big to be able to launch. When the wind finally died down, we all got back on the water and paddled over 20 miles to the town. In many ways paddling into La Paz was like paddling to the Camp Orkila dock where we all first met. Each paddle stroke was loaded with emotion and the point seemed to stretch away from us indefinitely. When we finally rounded the point of the neverending sandbar, we were confronted with the big city that is La Paz. Perhaps the ends of journeys are always bittersweet, for the traveler is always torn between wanting to continue and missing home. As glad as we were to be in La Paz we all knew that our time together was ending. Soon we would all be heading off in different directions. Had we achieved what we set out to do? Had we made a difference? Would we get a hot shower? We huddled together for a celebratory cheer before setting up camp for the last time.
So there we were spending a week in La Paz, relaxing, recivilizing, decompressing, and waiting for our transportation crew (Andrew Bruck and Keir Moreano). We got to spend Christmas with Suzie's Dad and sister. It was really great to see some family. All of us would like to send a heartfelt thank you for the encouragement and support we have received throughout this journey. Thanks for following along on our journey. Que le vaya bien. Trisha, Rachel, Frewin, and Suzie To see our complete photo gallery, click for Weeks 1-3, or Weeks 4-5 or Weeks 6-8. See a short video of our trip at www.necessarynomads.com. Click on Projects. | 
