To The Beach: 2016

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

First anchorage on our around the world sailing adventure

https://youtu.be/rB_HmRp5Yqk

Full moon party organized by Dominga

https://youtu.be/lUlcRBrR-Yw

We sailed to Mexico with only $800, this is on the way down. Life is great

https://youtu.be/Ennq_sKJoN8

Friday, September 23, 2016

About two years ago our Diesel engine stopped working. I won't go through all the details but let's just say it seized, most likely from water back flowing from the exhaust. This has forced us to sail everywhere which has just made us better sailors.

But it's time to have a diesel again because it opens up our travel options. The issue up till now is trying to afford rebuilding this one or replacing it. The only way to afford this would be for me to do the rebuild and removal and installation or find a really cheap rebuilt diesel. Not being a mechanic and not having any place to work on a engine I didn't think this was going to be easy.

But we came into a marina to run away from a hurricane and met Rob and Kim Cross who own a diesel shop and Rob is a great mechanic. I can't afford him but he was nice enough to loan me his tools and give me a small space to work on the engine in his shed. Best of all he will give me advice along the way. This is the only reason we're staying in the marina. The free wifi, pool, showers, water, electricity have nothing to do with it, I swear.

Here are a couple pictures and a video of Dominga and I removing the transmission and engine. At the last minute a dock mate came along to give a hand.

We will update this as I work on the engine. Because we have so many other projects going, this may take awhile.

Friday, September 16, 2016

Difference between anchorage and marina life.

In our 4 years of cruising we have spent over 95% anchored out. This is for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact it's free. Being on a extremely tight budget makes this a necessity. But there are other reasons we prefer anchoring to living in a marina.
During the summer it's so hot you really feel more comfortable the least amount of clothes you can wear. In the anchorage you have the privacy to wear anything or nothing at all.
The breeze in the anchorage also keeps you cooler than in a marina where the boats are packed so tight and the buildings around you keeps the breeze to a minimum.
At anchor there is sea life everywhere. We have dolphins swimming around and under our boat almost everyday and you can catch fish right from your cockpit. Not to mention the crabs , starfish and last week a whale shark swam under my dinghy just inches away.
When anchored we're so close to the beach that we can take the dogs swimming and running for hours a day with very little effort.
So all and all we love and prefer being anchored out when we're near a city with marinas.
Then hurricane Newton came calling and we decided it's safer to be in a marina. We really only needed to be there for 2, maybe 3 days. But the price was the same for 3 days as for a week. So we paid for a week. We thought it would be a good opportunity to use the almost unlimited water to fill our tanks and clean the boat from top to bottom. In the anchorage water is precious because every drop needs to be transported by dinghy in 5 gallon jugs.
Then the pleasure's of marina life started to work it's evil ways.
First, as mentioned, the unlimited water. Then the unlimited and fast internet access. Then two even bigger benefits, showers anytime we want for as long as we want and a really nice pool. Did I mention the unlimited water?! I think only a cruiser can fully appreciate how nice this is!

All this was almost enough to convince us to fork out money, we really couldn't afford, to stay in the marina. But not quite.
Then one more reason came up and we have gone to the dark side and we're now in this marina for a second week and it looks like it may be even longer.
On the dock near us we met a really nice couple, Rob and Kim Cross, that own a engine repair shop. Our engine crapped out almost two years ago. We just haven't had the money to pull it and rebuild it. So we've been sailing everywhere we go, which sometimes can be hard and/or frustrating. But they are going to let us use their equipment and some space in their shop to rebuild our engine. Because I'm not a mechanic his free advice is going to be priceless. This is worth more than the cost of staying in a marina for a couple months, at least!
We're going to enjoy this while we can and use this time to get stuff done on the boat, but we know we're just not marina people at heart and will be back out in the anchorage very soon.

Update on week three: someone gave us a air conditioner so now we've truly gone over to the dark side!

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Hurricane Newton in La Paz

Hurricane Newton wasn't as bad as hurricane Odile was 2 years ago but there were still 5 boats washed up on the beach. The good news is that no one was on board any of these boats and no one was hurt. We had up to 70 knots of wind, which is still scary. So far, 5 days later, we have dragged 3 off the beach successfully. Mika wanted to help but it's not easy without thumbs but she did bark at the Dolphins watching us work.

Friday, June 17, 2016

A " Baja Bash" that lived up to its name!

Up to this point I've done 18 Bash's, each with its own issues. Most have been a mix of rough conditions and good sailing. Occasionally we have engine issues, rigging issues or the like.

I will tell new crew, that haven't done this trip before, there are mostly two types of days; some days you can't believe you're getting paid to have such fun, then others you're not getting paid enough for this crap! Not much In-between.

This one was 12 days of the latter.

This is the first delivery, in15 years, that I was crew and not captain. Because of this I didn't do a complete inspection of the vessel, which turned out to be a mistake.

I met the owner in Cabo, where he'd been anchored for a couple days. It was to be just the two of us on this trip, which is normal, but just means less sleep then if we have 3 on board. I got there on a Friday. There's a old wise tale that you should never leave on a long sailing trip on a Friday, or you'll have bad luck. So we left the next morning, but that didn't seem to help.

The owner and captain on this trip was a soft spoken man that just bought the boat less than a year ago and spent many months fixing a verity of issues. Up to this point, he told me, he hasn't had to much time sailing her.

I've never sailed a boat much like this. It's a Fantasa 35. These boats were built to motor up wind and sail down. It's a foot shorter than our Cal but has 4 times the water storage and 3 times the fuel. It is also more roomy inside and has much more food storage. But all this extra storage comes at a price. Her fat bottom and heavy weight means she can only point about 55 degees into the wind, on a good day. To compensate for her poor pointing ability the designer put in a huge 77 horse, turbo charged desiel engine so she can at least motor up wind. ( ours was over powered with a 40 horse).

On a normal bash you'll get a mix of winds, from 0 to 20, and almost always right on the nose. But at least you have a few low wind days from time to time. But this trip we had 20 to 25 knots for 11 of the 12 days. Like most bashes we motored right into it, until the motor decided to start its series of issues.

I should have known this wasn't going to be a good trip when we were 5 hours outside of Cabo and he came up from the bildge with a 5 gallon bucket full of oily water to throw overboard. I asked if everything was alright and this is when he desided to inform me that the boat takes on 2 to 4 gallons a hour and none of the bildge pumps worked! So for 12 days we would bucket out 3 to 5 full buckets every 4 hours.

Without going into to much detail, we ended up fixing the engine 7 times before she finally just gave up and nothing would get her to fire up again. At this point we were just 60 miles from Turtle Bay, about the halfway mark on this delivery. Without that engine we tried for 20 hours to sail closer to Turtle Bay but actually lost a few miles. After hours of contemplating we desided the only course was to sail 3 days backwards to Mag Bay and try to get parts in the small industrial town of San Carlos.

Because it was going to take weeks to get parts, he desided it would be to expensive for me to hang around waiting, so he sent me home on the bus.

I let him know that I am still available to help in any way I could, including delivering parts, finding him crew or anything else he needs.

The good news is that the owner learning a lot about his boat that he didn't know before this trip. He also learned how to sail into and off of anchor as well as other sailing tricks I was able to show him.

On a side note, I also learned that Mexico has a great bus system. I took two buses a total of 140 miles. I never waited more than 10 minutes to board and one bus had wifi, movies and extremely comfortable seats, all for under 28 bucks.

Friday, June 3, 2016

Homeless dogs of Mexico

We have come to love Mexico. The landscapes, the people and the beautiful sea life. Sailing and traveling around Mexico for the last 3 years there is one thing that still pulls at our heartstrings, the incredible number of homeless dogs. Some towns have more than others, but you can find them everywhere. In some places, like La Paz, there are groups organizing spay and neuter days, where anyone can bring a dog to get fixed for free. This has helped but even in La Paz there are homeless dogs everywhere.

There seems to be specific breeds of " Mexican" dogs. The "breed" we see a lot looks just like our Mexican rescue dog, "Bean". About 40 lbs, black with some white spots or strips.

Some times these dogs will bark at you, but through many years of behavioral training, if you bend down and act like you're picking up a rock they will turn tail and run. If you tried that with Mika or Bean ( our gringo raised dogs, even though " Bean" is a Mexican rescue) they would think you were going to throw them a ball. So the locals have no fear of the street dogs here. But I have seen many who seem to be afraid of American dogs. I asked a local friend of ours why that is and he just said Mexican dogs run from people but American dog protect their people.

On one trip to town I saw over a dozen stays in various stages of malnutrition.

This poor guy had a broken leg.

This pack is where we think our "Bean" came from. They all look so much like him.

One thing we have noticed is that these dogs seem to smarter than the average dog. If you're ever in the market to adopt a dog, there are many in Mexico.

The "right" way to go cruising?

Way back when I first started dreaming about leaving the "rat race" and sailing off to beautiful blue waters, I really didn't fully understand that the "rat race" will follow you and it's not as easy and romantic as advertised. At least not the way we're doing it.

We're what's called working cruisers, a rare breed. The vast majority of cruisers either have a large retirement or at least a social security check coming in. While we're in a location working for months on end, we watch as boat after boat come in for a few days to visit and re-supply and then off for more sailing the islands, fishing and relaxing. We hear about their plans on sailing to South America or the pacific islands and then hear about their adventures on their blogs or emails. They have the cash to buy replacement parts and pay experts to fix things and go out to eat at local restaurants and bars.

Our income, on the other hand, is only what we can earn where we are. And working in Mexico isn't as easy as we'd like. Any repairs we need must be done by ourselves and usually with second hand parts we scavenge from swap meets. Eating out or going to bars is a rare thing indeed and always on a tight budget.

As I write this we are in La Paz Mexico, for the second time in 3 years. The first time we were here for almost a year, working full time, and made just enough to make a short trip to the states to visit family and work up there. Now we're back here working again, knowing full well we can't get out of here for at least through another hurricane season. Of the over 200 cruising boats here we are the only ones, we know of, that don't have a monthly check coming in from somewhere. The only exception to this is one friend that just sailed down from Canada this year. We'll see how long he makes this work.

It's still a good life. We make many new friends, from all over the world, swim in warm clear waters, fish, watch as Dolphins feed under our boat almost daily and enjoy the beauty that is Mexico. But most people don't understand that this isn't as easy and carefree as they may think. A can't tell you how many times we've considered packing in and moving back to the states for a "normal" life (whatever that means). We work almost every day and struggle to make ends meet just like everywhere else.

Maybe someday we'll have enough to sail to the pacific. Anyone know where a good canvas person or charter captain can get work in, say, Fiji?

The 12th van

He is safely stored in Guaymas, same place we left Nomatia. He will be missed. We have so many fond and frustrated memories of the Beast. He always got us where we needed to go.