Last week we did a small see trial outside San Carlos. We had serious wind and confused seas that put Plume and the crew to the test. As usual Plume sailed fine. The crew however needed better sea legs 
We spent the 2 following days at anchor inside the San Carlos Bay. The first night we had a serious thunderstorm with very gusty winds and lightning for several hours. Good test for the anchoring system and to evaluate how quickly we can disconnect our antennas.
After a good day resting at the anchorage and visiting the nearby beach, we finally took off for the large bay of Guaymas. This was a very welcome change for us because we were tired of San Carlos, sounding too much like work…
In addition, Guaymas from the sea is much more beautiful than from land!
We still had our car because we were waiting for a package in San Carlos. But we could see that we did the switch from land to sea: the car that was a nice convenience while working on the boat, suddenly became an annoyance (we had to pick it up by bus, park it, etc.).
After a week, we have finished our last projects, received our package, filled Plume with food, put the car in storage, and enjoyed pre-carnival atmosphere: we are ready to go south!
The big storm that passed over California and Arizona Thursday to Saturday affected the weather even down here in San Carlos. From Geary’s blog on Jan 23:
Yesterday morning we had a report of 57 knot winds just to the north of San Carlos. This morning I received an email from Don on All the Way in San Carlos that said they had 5 sailboats and 2 powerboats on the beach with only two being successfully taken off so far.
In the marina we did not suffer like the poor boats that ended on the beach, but we could not believe it would rain so much… We were really slow to wake up and start closing the ports. Result: one of our 2 small keyboard did not survive being filled with water 
We also discovered that 2 ports are now leaking (there were not during the hurricane, otherwise we would have seen water marks). Unfortunately, one of them is above the chart table: require a fix…
We are in the water, and not sinking!
This is wonderful to feel that Plume is a boat again 
After some stops in Phoenix and Tucson (delightfully hosted by some friends who are/were Norsea owners) we finally crossed the border January 6th. It took us 2 hours and several hundred pesos to declare some items (for whose who know, we got a “green” light) and get new visas. Pretty good for a first passage, but it delayed us enough that we arrived by night at San Carlos. But we had a night booked at Adlai and we grabbed a nice dinner at Rosa’s Cantina.
The next morning we discovered Plume at the boat yard with our own eyes for the first time after 5 months and one hurricane. Everything was impregnated with dust, but we found no serious damage.
From there, the hard days to convert Plune-storage to Plume-sailboat started. The boat had been totally reorganized to sustain the summer heat with almost all the gear stored inside. It is an interesting puzzle to restore the boat to a livable space. The first effort was put on the aft cabin, thus Kenzo recovered his own area with his toys and books! Now he does not want to leave Plume to go back to the hotel!
We spent a cold but wonderful new year eve in a campground at Joshua Tree National Park. We slept 3 nights under our small tent next to our new trailer. Kenzo had his first real rock climbing introduction on the colored granite: who could dream of a better place to inaugurate a new pair of climbing shoes and harness!
Last year it took us one month to sail from the Bay Area to Los Angeles. Yesterday it took us 7 hours (there was a lot of traffic) to L.A. (Chino to be precise). Of course, we did not enjoy Monterey or Santa-Barbara for 10 days on the way, and is true we started more south since we departed from Cupertino .
The important thing is that we left: this is a hard part!
The last days were hectic, as usual. Shopping was intense: Saturday we tackled West Marine, REI, Michaels Art and Crafts, Village Starionary, Kragen Auto Part, Sears, Whole Food, FedEx. And since we did not have time to cover everything, we continued Monday in Chino with: Trader’s Joe, ACE Hardware, AutoZone and closed the list at 9p.m. with Fry’s Electronics… This is probably the most horrible part when taking off: the infinite list of last minute items that are still missing. And this is after months of minutiae planing and shopping by Cecile! In this stupid list of stores, you may notice a new trend: less boating (we covered the subject last year), and more car stuff. This is because we just took possession of our new trailer! Yes, we will continue the trip from L.A. to San Carlos towing a 2500lbs 3 axle trailer that can safely carry Plume on the way back.