Month: April 2024

Not too many comments. I guess the weekend is a bad time to publish this blog. Anyway I will continue from where I left off. Our first day in Las Vegas was discussed in my last post.

The next three days were a jumble of ordering various things on the computer. At one point we went to the UPS store to return four items from my original order. Colin did a Costco run as well as a wine run to Total Wine. Of course he only purchased what we could drink until we drive into Canada. So nice to have some good wine again. Other than their walks to the dog run area to do their business the girls were happy to just hang out in the RV. The heat did cool down and they were but to spend time outside in the new pen. We did have one day of rain and did it ever cool down. I hadn’t been looking at forecasts so it was a surprise.

Colin took this for you to see what kind of neighbour we had in Vegas at the RV park. Quite the gun. We feel so bad for the 3 large dogs who were never taken out for a walk. They had a pen about 4′ x 5′ with artificial turf for the dogs to pee on. They did pick up but did not hose off the grass. It was so small that the dogs could barely turn around oil the pen.

Colin also visited Beaudry RV to picked up different RV plugs, such as  a new 50AMP end, male and another female end, a new 30 AMP end, a 30 to 50 and a 15 to 30 AMP. Our 30 to 50 and 50 to 50 ends are fused together. They are 23 years old and were no longer making good connections and over time they fused together. It will be nice to have all new ends moving forward. Colin was surprised at how high the bill came to. When he got back to the RV he asked me to check for the end pieces on Amazon. I ordered them and we got $100.00 plus tax back with the savings.

MacTack.  We have put a few items into play within the RV which is already making out lives more comfortable. Meanwhile I had a problem with a non Amazon order which I ordered about 16 days ahead of expected delivery. OFF the six items only one arrived. I can’t figure out why each time the order was coming from a different country such as Ireland, Denmark, Germany, Spain and Italy. I had been communicating with their customer service all week explaining that come end of day Friday I would not be there to receive the parcels. They refuse to credit my account nor refund the shipping. Now is not the time to deal with this but I will get back to it in a few weeks.

The new fridge vent. The part included the frame which is still there.

We did get the fridge vent and it fits – sort of. Colin had to cut a bit here and there to make if fit properly. No idea right now about painting the vent. At the moment it stands out like a badge of honour. Sadly the microwave replacement glass plate is smaller than the original. We had to pay an extra $50.00 air freight to get it here before we left. The thing is, is that it still works. We can adapt to the new piece.

The new glass plate. The middle part fits but the circumference shelf be at least one inch more.

So it all tuned out just fine but I was stuck inside dealing with the bits and pieces. It really wasn’t a hardship. Plus I was careful to compare what could be ordered on Amazon.ca instead of Amazon.com. So glad that I did that as two lamps were several dollars cheaper as well as a new system to store my dishes and a few other items.

So much packaging for such a small plate.

We left Las Vegas and as we were talking the RV became distracted and went west instead east, Colin had a small problem hooking up the Jeep to the tow brake system win the morning but sorted it out. Always something to deal with. We were finally heading in the correct direction at 12:45 PM, a late departure for us. Diesel at the Sincalir in Alamo was only $3.79 per gallon. We fed and peed the girls and were driving with egg salad sandwiches. We were driving again at 3PM.

As we got closer to Ely, Nevada the air became much cooler. I checked and sure enough the forecast was for a low of 19F 😥 ( fortunately it only went down to 27F ). We pulled into the Mountain Valley View RV Park at 5:50PM for a total drive of 256 miles. Fortunately I had made a reservation and we got the last open pull through site. The sun was shining and the girls loved sleeping on the dash in the warmth of the sun. But once the sun went behind the mountains there was a distinct coolness in the air which was seeping Into the RV.

Our RV was built in California and it was not intended to be in cold climates. All of our windows are only single pain. Colin went out to get out Mr Buddy heater from the basements. The door lost its oil/hydraulic/I don’t really know what and the strut instead of staying up came crashing down on his head. It was one of our largest very heavy basements doors. I think he saw stars and his head was sore ( 24 hours later he is alright but might need to see a chiropractor ). At least we would be warm.

It seemed like  we had a very long day. The four of us had a nap and woke up in the dark at 8PM. We were warm and I used the oven to heat tuna pies for dinner which added more heat. We were all snuggled in bed by 10:30 PM.

Colin is as he says “just fine”.

Our time in Vegas was productive but not in front of a slot machine. 😎

My friend Linda on the Isla( upstairs to our right ) Sent me a photo the day after we left. Heavy fog and rain. What a mess! Glad we were already gone.

The drive from Santa Ana via Hwy 2 was mostly uneventful. The road was bumpier after Carboca but not too bad. Having said that, about 2 1/2 hours into the drive we heard a very loud crash – it sounded like breaking glass.

It appears that the one bad bump which went across the width of the road caused the convention/microwave door to open and the glass turntable tray fell onto the floor.

Quite the mess. The glass was spread from the bedroom entrance into the living room area.

We were only ten minutes away from KM 227 where people turn in their TIP. We stopped there. I tried to help with the clean up but it was a one person job due to the limited space.

Lots of shattered glass everywhere.

We parked just opposite the Banjercito office on the road that is blocked off to through traffic. While Colin continued the clean up I walked into the Banjercito to return our ten year TIP on the RV. They were not busy but the fellow in charge insisted that we drive further up the road and come in via the bus entrance and park right next to his office. I asked him to please come outside and showed him that the RV was just behind the wall and very very close. No matter, we had to come inside his area.

So we moved the bus as requested and the jefe who had been watching for us came outside to direct to the exact spot he wanted us to park 🙄 Colin dealt with him. Of course he had to come inside the RV as our VIN is in one the the bedroom closets. However we travel we a large dog crate, two gallon water jugs and right now space taking ‘things’ 😎 I have only place to take two steps to put the bedroom slide in and out. So in comes the jefe and the young guy he is training. Of the five panels of numbers in the closet only one has the VIN number. However they insisted that they would figure it out. Finally as they were leaving I insisted on showing them where the VIN was, as they had missed it 🙄

It took 15 minutes to take the photos.  Then they wanted to take the TIP off the Jeep but we didn’t have one as our vehicle is attached to our temporal residency. Finally we were able to leave.

I am not certain when this 20 peso coin came out but this was the first time I have seen it. Not very much difference from the 10 peso coin. Colours not true to the coins.

The US border was a short 10 minute wait. The agents were fun and friendly. There is a new set up and all four booths were open – a first for us.  The RV lane refers to RV’s in Spanish as  Casa Moviles. There were also two x-ray machines among the four lanes. The agricultural person came on board as always and she went through the freezer and the fridge. She took away two potatoes. I offered her a half eaten cucumber and some fresh zucchini. She said they are not looking for things like that right now. But we did have to drive through the x-ray machine while she stood to the side and took notes. Once satisfied she removed the cone at the end of the lane and we were free to carry on. Welcome to the USA.

Ciela has still not sat on Colin’s lap this trip.

A side note here, the agricultural gal noticed the area of the fridge vent, covered by cardboard. She made Colin remove the cardboard and used her flashlight to thoroughly inspect the cavity.

We finally got to AJO about 3:40PM. Extremely hot @ 95F. Much too hot for the girls to even walk outside on the gravel. Once it cooled down Colin took the girls for a long walk and let them off leash over the entire golf course. Their first long run since the Isla.

Shortly after leaving Ajo Monday morning we were stopped for a good 25 minutes re re road construction. It was frustrating as we couldn’t get a wifi signal.

Once we got closer to I8 I was able to get a signal. The trip went past in a flash. I spent the entire time online or on the phone trying to order either the fridge vent or a glass plate for the microwave.

We drove on the California side of Hwy 95 to Quartzsite. Much less traffic and very scenic.

A quick note, we picked up some fuel at Running Man just before Parker for only $3.937 per gallon of diesel. Best price we have seen to date.

Definitely too hot to be traveling at this time of year. We were fortunate to get a good RV site for the night. The drive from Ajo to Q was 169 miles. We stopped at the ” RV Pit ” to fill up our propane . All winter we used propane as opposed to electric as we usually do. Mostly because we were not sure that we could get the propane truck come to our Isla RV Park. The good news is that only 8.2 gallons of propane was used at a total cost of $26.98USD. We still used electric for the fridge and hot water but did use propane for cooking. Basically I spent the entire drive researching parts as well as the rest of the day once we arrived. Being a 2001,RV parts are not as easy to find.

Every day since we lelt the Isla, once we stopped and opened the fridge we were treated to a few hundred bugs at the bottom on the fridge. We can only assume that they were coming in from that partially sealed open fridge vent area, We have not seen any since we stopped here in Las Vegas.

We arrived in Las Vegas ( staying at the Las Vegas RV Resort ) as usual about 2PM. We were unhooking by 2:10 and parked in our site with the jacks down and slides out plus the electric running by 2:30pm. This is a new record for us 😎 It was only a 208 mile day.  Once again it was very hot and the RV park even handed out a flyer explaining how to protect out pets from the heat. Colin had to carry each girl, one at time, to the dog area.

Just before our exit off the freeway to the RV park we got caught in a bit of traffic.

Once we are organized Colin picked up all the things, from the office, I had ordered from Amazon and could not live without in our new home to be. It was better than Christmas morning. Here are just a few examples.

We each got one of these to replace the contents of our desks.

Our new file cabinet system including business files. They stack and are very narrow. Lots of places to keep/hide them.

A new dog pen system for travelling. Much less weight then the old one.

I had purchased this teal/blue bed on the way to the Isla. Ciela claimed it, but Carlie used it quite a bit. So I got Carlie her own pink one this week. They immediately shopped sharing beds.

Ciela cleaning her face with her paw.

Carlie looks as sweet as she can be. She is doing much better everyday. Hard to believe that she was so sick a few weeks ago.

Tonight is night four of the time we have been here. More on that in the next post. BTW I have only been out of the RV twice. Yes I was doing more research. Adios for tonight, I need to go enjoy my wonderful dinner that have been in the crockpot since early afternoon.

Silly me! Did I really think that we would be dry camping in 99F temps? I just wasn’t thinking. We are staying in an RV Park we have stayed at before. The rate was $40.00USD but we were only charged $20.00 plus .50 cents to use Visa. They still had our Passport America number on file but I don’t think that we are still members. Colin did the checking in.

We arrived about 3PM and have had both A/C’s running since then. Now at 7:50PM it is down to 77F. By bedtime we will shut it down and just have open windows, like we did last night.

The weather on the Isla is much cooler with our constant wind. The girls are loving the heat here but I know that we would all prefer to be back in Mexico.

Once again I am worn out. So no blog but all is well. Carlie in on about day 7 of doing well. Our priority with her is to give her her meds on time several times per day.

We spend the time as we drive discussing what we should do first once we get home. So far we are on the same page. Today we only drove 169 miles but it still took over 4 hours as we had a lengthy road construction delay.

Tonight we are having a simple dinner of burgers and salad. I hope to get to bed early. You should be able to figure out  our next stop 😎 We will be staying there for four nights and I will have time to catch up on blog details of the past few days. And hopefully get some down time.

Tonight we are in Ajo, Arizona, staying at the Ajo Golf Course RV Park. All the other RV parks were full and this was all that was open. So happy to be here and have 50AMP ( it is a very dry 95F outside.). Not to mention internet.

It was a much shorter drive day, only 208  miles – which took closer to 6 hours on the road.  However we still had our fair share to bumps and potholes.

We had no problems with either side of the border. However we are worn out and need to decompress as we are driving again tomorrow. I know that some of you worry if you don’t hear from us.

Life is good, other than this very very dry air we are trying to adjust to.

Of course we had an incident or two, Stay tuned for details.

Carlie is doing well thus far.

Thanks for checking in……

….to the place I belong! Oh my, what a very very long day.  Even though we left at 7:40 AM, we drove for 10.5 hours. It took forever to drive 417 miles. The roads totally slowed us down. Plus as I mentioned recently, we are trying a new schedule re overnight stops due to having to leave the Isla earlier in the day. However I think that I screwed up. I was working on my timing, mileage and places to stay at night while the carpet cleaners were at the RV last weekend. Not really an excuse but I should’ve had calculators and maps outside with me.

A very long second day of travel. The roads were that bad that it took us 10.5 hours, actually 9.5 hours. We stopped to fuel up, to make breakfast and lunch. Not more than an hour total did we stop.

I think we are beyond long distance driving which we used to do. Sadly the condition of the roads has lead to extra time driving. Plus there are not that many RV parks or places to spend the night. Colin is really exhausted – he may go to bed without dinner. The good news is that tomorrow we are only driving 200 miles, about a 3.5 hours drive.  Plus we will be stopping at a full hook up RV Park in the USA.

The girls are doing really well and Carlie appears to be better. She is certainly happier.

Ciela has all these adorable positions as she sleeps.

We are happy that the RV is doing great mileage wise. In November we filled up at our favourite Pemex ( just before Culiacan) enroute to the Isla. Today we were able to use that same tank of diesel all the way to Navajoa. 210 litres for 5600 MXN. At least we won’t have to fill up again until we get to the US. Oh can anyone tell me if fuel is still cheaper in the US than here? I don’t have any extra time to research. FYI we got the best window wash at the truck stop north of Navajoa. The fellow wanted 30 pesos to do our huge front window. It was so sparkling clean that we gave him 50 pesos.

Such dedication to cleaning our windows.

Tonight we are in Santa Ana, Sonora at the Punta Vista RV Park, they are on FB. There is water and 15AMPS. 350MXN for the night. The sites are back in but we were allowed to stay in the middle of the road so we did not have to unhook. Dora has created a lovely environment including a garden setting to sit in the shade and relax. We were here well over 15 yers ago when her brother was running the park. It is now a family affair.

Today I noticed a strange thing. Ever since Ciela has been a puppy she would only sit on Colin’s lap as we drove back and forth whenever we were in the RV. In the past Carlie was lucky to get 2 or 3 lap visits per year when we traveled. She usually slept on the dash, or in the bed between our seats or on me. Ciela has yet to sit in Colins lap this trip. She has sat on me a few times. And they have shared the bed between us a few times. I look forward to seeing how it will all unfold. Perhaps because her sister has been ill she is giving up sitting on Colin’s lap.

Basking in the glow of the sunset.

Looks like I didn’t take to many photos today. Lets see what tomorrow brings.

****This is the second post I published today. Don’t miss the first one , Unwanted Early Morning Intruder.

Continue reading “Sorry no internet”

One of my favourites. I love the bit of peach edging along the end of each petal.

Ready for the bodega.

Yesterday ( Wednesday ) Colin arranged for two trucks as we usually do to take our ‘stuff’ to the bodega. Two trucks have alway been more than enough. It wasn’t yesterday and one of the trucks had to come back for a second load. Plus Colin had the Jeep full of other ‘stuff’. We are storing much more than normal.

There is nowhere in Canada nor the USA that has such delicious burger buns. Note the avocado, pickles, tomatoes and cheese. Not to mention all those wonderful seeds on the bun.

So much important ‘stuff’.

Our good friend Nancy has a few pet iguanas.I bet that they don’t bark! But they do expect her to feed them. Cabbage is a favourite.

There was so much ‘stuff’ in our area of the bodega that Colin could not get back far enough to get a photo.

Lots of muscle required.

Miss Carlie resting in her carry bag coming back from the vet about 10 days ago. She has had six good days now. Hopefully the daily driving in the RV will be good for her. She is so good – she lets me give her her ‘stomach gel’ before every meal with no fuss. She even licks my nose as thank you.

This fellow is affectionally known as King Kong, mostly because of his muscles. He was good at organizing the maximum amount that would fit inside each of the trucks. This vehicle is normally used to transport folks around the Isla including tourists, but space is limited. He was more than happy with the money for the third load.

I hope that my Desert Rose survives as I have had this plant since 2009.

Today, Thursday, after the girls beach walk, Colin power washed the roof of the RV – lots of dust 8O. Then he washed down the entire RV and cleaned all the windows. I was doing some inside stuff including making egg salad for lunches on the road as well as arranging to transfer money from our Canadian bank to one of our Mexican banks. Another busy day.

I was going to do this post last night but a very special friend dropped in to say goodbye to us until we return in October. We had a lengthy and most pleasant visit. Meanwhile our dinner was cooking in the crockpot. New recipe and very tasty. We will have the leftovers on Sunday when we will have electricity again so we can heat it up.

This past week the weather has been perfect ( for the most part ) and the waves were larger and interesting to watch. Unfortunately we didn’t have more than a few moments here and there to sit and observe.

A relaxing moment together before the packing began in earnest.

However, next October we will be living here full time. That thought should keep me going all summer.

Colin was able to figure out the plant watering situation today. To be honest I am not sure of the details and I don’t care to know. Our neighbour Humberto told us that it would be very windy and at times the rain might flood everything. In my mind if the plants die then we will simply replace them as needed. However I do have some favourites but it is all out of my hands. I have no intention of even thinking about them again.

Colin was also able set up to have a load of pea gravel delivered before we arrive in October. We never put any under the RV last November as we were already parked. It will be nice to have it all completed.

Our last cruise ship before we leave.

We are going to miss this place so very much. Six months should pass quickly. If the house sells we will be back here sooner.

They were great puppies. They have grown and do their own thing at times but are still attached as twins. Today Ciela gave one bark ( it was a ‘I can see a cat bark’. )  Carlie who was asleep in her crate came running in just a few seconds. I am so going to enjoy cuddling them as we drive home. Lucky me.

We only have three more nights here at our Isthmus Isla RV Parque. Tick, tock 😕 It seems that we have run out of time to get ‘it’ all done. Thank you so much for your comments over the last few  blog posts. From suggestions re vets to medical health insurance for us and so much more. I would like to reply to some of you and hope to get to that one day. I want to thank Laney for your comments re IMSS and self insuring. It has helped me to not worry about it any longer – I have enough other things to worry about. I just want to mention that last week I was told about a fairly new hospital in town called the Mazatlan General Hospital. It is not a private clinic but much better than IMSS. Apparently IMSS is run differently in every state in Mexico and here in Sinaloa it is not very good, even the Mexicans don’t want to go there. The Mazatlan General basically has good doctors and charges based on what you can pay with your income. That is all I know. Do any of you have more information to share?

Our girls give us as much love as we give them. Over and over everyday.

Our gate has finally been installed. It needs to be painted and I think it is okay but certainly not what I was expecting. However I love having it. Looks I have started a job list for next fall. Sadly Genie & Joe left just a few hours before it was installed last Wednesday, the 10th. They are now safely back in the USA and missing their home here on the Isla.

The orange machine at his feet is a welding machine.

We had quite the scare after the gate was installed. We had no electrical power. However it was only in our RV. The fellow installing the gate used a large welding machine that was plugged into our RV outlet. It was quite the panic situation as we had no idea if parts of the electrical rv system had been permanently damaged. Colin was able to discover that Joe had power at his post which meant that the problem was solely with our RV. Erik responded quickly to the SOS call. He and Colin put it together and Erik suggested that Colin go the meter on the street and reset the breaker. Another miracle. Thank goodness that the RV was not damaged.

Colin running 3 RV electric cords together to reach Joe’s post.

We are for certain listing our home in Kelowna on May 1st. If it does not sell this summer we will still be moving here full-time in October. We are not in a rush to sell but it certainly would be nice to have it sold. Just have to wait for the right person to fall in love with it.

These goats are right next door to us. They came along the rocks munching everything in in their path. Hopefully they won’t get to my plants once we leave.

The same cleaners that did the Jeep last week were here this last Saturday to do the RV carpets and the furniture. Everything looks so clean and smells like new. So special to have this service right here on the Isla. However they were here for close to 5 hours. We gave them a huge tip.

As you can easily see they did a great job on this carpet. I don’t remember it being so white.

Our palapa builder Alex came late that same afternoon to put in one more support post at the front end of the palapa. This had been suggested by our very very first palapa builder, Lupe, after Colin asked him to come and check the construction and strength of our palapa. So glad that was done. That lone post was also cemented into the ground.

Doing the hole for the post. Being diggers themselves the girls were quite interest in his technique.

Also that same day Erik came to do some RV work. While cleaning the dust off the engine he discovered that a fuse for the transmission was almost totally corroded. We likely would not have got very far without being stopped in our tracks on the road north. Today Erik came to replace that fuse and did the others at the same time. One of them was almost as bad. They were the original fuses from 2001. We are so fortunate to have him here looking out for us. He will be removing our water pump once we leave and will install it again just before we arrive in October. We can’t afford to take a chance on it going missing.

Alex and Colin deciding to add yet another cross beam. The two chairs are the inside dining chairs drying in the sun.

Oh yes we also had a friend or two drop by that afternoon. Gosh as I write this I once again realize what a crazy busy week we have had. Last Saturday I was so unsettled from all the people coming and going and the noise and activity that my solar plexus was really stirred up. Of course the carpet was wet and would need a few days to completely dry. Needles to say all surfaces including the bed were covered with stuff. I managed to push things around so I could lay on the bed and I slept for several hours. I did not wake up feeling any better and could not eat so went back to bed for the night.

This bottom wine area went to the top of the photo. This extra shelf allows the same area for vino but a full shelf for something else. Colin will be finishing the edging to match the cabinets.

So here we are working hard to get ready to leave. I have cleaned out many many of the things usually left in the RV in order to make room to pack in more of our personal items to bring down here. Just another thing to add to the job list for October. Which cutlery will we keep, or even set of dishes. Maybe I can keep my entertaining items in a bin under an outside table next year which might give me another cupboard to put clothes into. It will be fun sorting it all out.

Again making an extra shelf.

Oh I almost forgot, Erik also put in four extra shelves into my pantry ( last Saturday ) to give me more storage space.  I love them. Should’ve it done this long ago. I have several ideas in the works to make our home here much more efficient.

The nightly sunset evening party boat. This was taken from inside the RV thru the windshield with some items drying on our clothesline. We simply love it here and both feel so relaxed and at home.

I was asked and just want to clarify that we are only renting this site. It has room for three RV’s but it was not quite ready for full occupancy this season. Who knows what next fall will bring?

The wind picked up and Carlie’s shade umbrella went flying – for the second time. Our neighbor Phil rescued it the first time. Now we are placing it closer to the RV rather then the water front.

Great sunset last night.

Carlie has had 4 good days so we did not take her back to the vet this morning. He wanted to put her on some neurological medication 😯  Long story short from last vet visit – she reacted to the B complex shot and puked all over the Didi car we were in. Then she could not walk at all once we got back home. We have decided on our own to feed her first thing when she gets up to go out, even at 6AM. She does her business and then goes back to bed for a few hours. Just half her breakfast and again about the same amount at bedtime. We are beginning to think that she may be so hungry that that is why she shakes in pain and then can’t walk. The extra kibble has worked for four days now.

The new gate. I really miss my sunsets and will work out next season how to get up over the rocks on the other side of the road to get great shots. It is a bit rocky and uphill and I need to be stable on a path and not fall.

Meanwhile, shower time and then another late dinner. Oh my, I just downloaded 27 photos, but I haven’t time to use them all tonight. I will do my best.

Fun shot thru the wind block.

11:26PM, I must get to bed. Only two full days left.

How lucky we were that our RV was directly under the path of totally. The eclipse made its first landfall here in Mazatlan.

Sunday night there was a parade. Official or not,I don’t know, but what fun for all the visitors to this wonderful city.

Mazatlan was crowded with folks visiting from all over the world. Sadly many reservations were not honoured, including car rentals. Getting from the airport into Mazatlan on Sunday evening became a five hour nightmare. It will be interesting to get the estimate on the number of visitors we had.

Traffic from Culiacan came to a standstill on the autopista wth huge line ups at the toll booths.

From 6AM on this morning, we were aware of vehicle after vehicle heading to the point on Chivos facing east. Many were walking. Many had spent the night on the ground or on the sand around Casa Flor. We had neighbours a few doors down that were having an eclipse party with their family. The air around us was full of excitement and anticipation.

People had scouted out what was to them the best location. This was the top of El Faro. As you can see there was cloud but it cleared just at the right moment of totally.

Waiting for show to begin.

People were everywhere.

The eclipse started at the time expected. There on the top right of the sun the moon began to cover the light. Bit by bit the moon just kept covering the sun.

I do not know this location other than it was along the malacon. Cultura had set up music. A lovely touch. There actually were events all over the city including viewing telescopes for everyone to use.

We made sure that Ciela had the proper viewing glasses.

About 30 minutes in. Photo by Colin.

NASA was here in Mazatlan for this momentous event. In fact they were just a few miles down the road from us.

So glad that the Isla was not as crowded as the Malacon.

We didn’t experience the hippos but pretty much all of the following happened “the temperature quickly drops, the colors of shadows become tinny, day flips to darkness, stars precipitously appear, birds stop chirping, bees head back to their hives, hippos come out for their nightly grazing, and humans shout or hide or study or pray or take measurements until, seconds or minutes later, sunlight, and the familiar world, abruptly returns.”  Ciela was on my lap and began to whimper, Carlie was sleeping inside. The pelicans had disappeared, the few that we saw were heading to their roost for “the night”. It was both eerie and magical. Folks along the beach cheered once totality happened and then suddenly were very quiet. After four minutes and eighteen seconds the sun ever so slowly began to reappear. Yeah it was back 😎 Such a very extraordinary special day.

We were ready and watching.

Strange cloud formations.

The light was changing and the pelicans were flying home.

It was getting close to totality and the sky darkened. I think we had 14 or 15 boats in the bay.

Very close to the total eclipse. Photo by Colin.

Wow, just wow. It was almost too much to take in. Photo by Colin.

There will be hundreds of photos all over the internet. The better ones of course were taken through a very strong telescope.