Sleeping Lady in a Bed of Fog

Blast from the past - great photos!

Thank you, Jack and Marlene Birdsall, for sharing these photos!

Most are from 1969 with a few from 1992. Enjoy!

1. The van and tent enclave is us on the wide meadow.

2. Jack and Marlene camping near the river. Note the reeds..

3. Marlene and friend preparing potatoes for baking on the grassy meadow.

4. This is the outhouse that sat above the ocean where the upper camp spot is today. The concrete pillars are still there! You’ll see them if you walk on the lava rocks.

5. Our son in an abandoned boat.

6. Our son and daughter and friend.

7. La Bocana in 1969!

8. Where the river and ocean meet.

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9. Where the river and ocean meet.

10. Kids in the river – La Bocana 1969!

11. The “Lydon” house in 1969.

12. The old Bocana store. Sergio is the 2^nd kid from left. Jack is enjoying a cerveza.

13. Picnic at the tide pools south of the beach.

14. Picnic near the tide pools to the south of the beach. Jack in center, Marlene on far right.

15. Jack, Senor Gomez, Sergio in 1992.

16. Sergio presents the key to our casa to Jack in 1992.

17. Senor Romulo Gomez signing our copy of God and Mr. Gomez--1992

18. Tres hermanos: Pepe, Sergio, Romulo in 1992

As seen on the dirt road

This is what happens when you have time on your hands and access to a video camera...

Last summer, a few of us had an afternoon without any pressing La Bocana type of projects (such as rewiring the house, fixing a broken water pipe, patching a hole in the side of the house, or chasing a cow out of the yard) so we spent the afternoon making a commercial. Believe it or not, it took many hours to create this short video.

Beautiful - any way you look at it

360 degree video taken near the Lydon house.

Sunrise, January 1, 2011

Not only did I wake up to this beautiful sunrise (note the crescent moon), I also saw whales (the first of the season for me). This is the third year that I saw whales for the first time on January 1. What a beautiful day to start off a new year.

We rang it in right this year!

,OK, we rang in the new year at 9pm, with a mini shot glass of champagne. However, that was after a huge potluck dinner, a spectacular firework show, and homemade desserts all with a great group of folks.

Happy New Year La Bocana! Hope to see you all in 2011!

Thanks to Cy for the photos.

The Eve of New Years Eve

Menu of the evening

Emily and Susan

Dallas and Jerry shucking oysters - brought up that day from San Quintin!

Carrie in the kitchen

There could not have been a better way to celebrate the eve of New Year's Eve than at the home of Carrie and Dan. We had a tremendous time eating gourmet food and enjoying each other's company.

Thank you Carrie and Dan!!

PS. That giant tree became part of the firework show the next day

Amazing Secret Low Tide Garden

This past weekend, the beach looked like this

Photos by Carol.

The foot bridge used to be here

The beach has been reconfigured

Dallas says that at high tide, the waves wash all the way back to where the bridge used to be (yes, the foot bridge was washed out)

Take the High Road

Photo: view of the where the low road used to be taken from the new road.

This rainy season pretty much erased the low road out of existence so if you go to La Bocana anytime soon, take the high road. At the cow gate, veer right instead of left. It's beautiful now (it is so green) so it is well worth the trip!

Here's to another great year!

I think we got everyone in the photo this year. Let me know if any of the names are wrong or misspelled. Click on the photo to make it larger.

Thanks to Art and Jen for hosting the party and fireworks.

Happy New Year, everyone. It was great seeing you.

Orcas in Puerto Santa Tomas!

On the afternoon of New Year's Eve, we jumped with excitement when we saw whale spouts from our front porch. My brother ran and got his camera and took pictures.

Imagine our surprise when he zoomed in on the photos and saw dorsal fins on the whales! These were not California Grey Whales but they were Orcas, also known as Killer Whales.

I remembered that the news in San Diego had recently talked of a pod of Orcas in the waters of San Diego so this must be the same group.

Click on the photo to enlarge and see the fin.

Read the article: http://www.10news.com/news/22048250/detail.html

Photo by Tom Kennedy

New Year's Eve

Happy New Year

Happier New Year

Happiest New Year!

Romulo the Patriarch

Here are some photos of Romulo Gomez, the patriarch of La Bocana. I never met him but I wish I did. I only hear good things about the man and he's the one that brought us all together on this piece of paradise. Enjoy:




If you have photos or stories about Mr. Gomez, send them and I'll post them.

Happy New Year to all!