Last Island Trip and Renaming our Boat

Posted by Meredith Andersen in baja anchorage, Cruising, Emotions, La Paz, Learning How to Sail, On the Water, traveling, Uncategorized and tagged with Baja islands, Baja Mexico, Baja travel, boat stuff, boom, cal 35 sailboat, challenges, engine repairs, home on the sea, Isla San Francisco, islands, jib, Learning, main sail, Mexico, motorsailing, sailing, sailing downwind, sailing upwind, San Evaristo, sunsets, travel, traveling November 18, 2013

Sailing out to the islands on a cloudy day was nice.

After squashing what we thought were all of our obstacles to getting out to the islands near La Paz for a more relaxing “vacation” part of our trip, we set sail on a cloudy day. It was a nice sail slightly upwind, so we planned to sail out on one tack and motor back into anchor, as we were feeling lazy and didn’t want to sail upwind the whole way.

Sails up and heading out to Isla Espiritu Santo.

After motoring for maybe 30 minutes, our engine began overheating and spewing coolant. We immediately killed the engine and began sailing toward the nearest anchorage, unsure what the issue was. We sailed upwind in light winds all the way to anchor in Bahia San Gabriel. The engine had finally cooled enough for Tim to get in and take a look. It turned out to be an easy fix of installing a new alternator belt, allowing us to motor up to a safer anchorage with more wind protection just before one of the more beautiful sunsets.

Our alternator belt broke and our engine overheated on our way to the islands. Tim had to dive into the cockpit locker to fix it.

We arrived to anchor just before sunset at Isla Espiritu Santo.

It was a stunning sunset as we anchored for the night.

The next day offered winds from the west/southwest, allowing for us to have a wonderful sail up to one of my favorite islands — Isla San Francisco. This is one of the more picturesque places we have visited in the Sea of Cortez. The same night, our friends on s/v Calypso, Rick and Jasna, arrived just before sunset. We had planned to meet them there, but weren’t sure if the would make it. We enjoyed swimming, kayaking, spear fishing (Tim, Rick and Jasna) and hiking at the island for six days. Rick and Jasna had to deliver some school supplies to the small fishing village just to the north, San Evaristo, and we were looking to get away from the tons of mosquitos at Isla San Francisco, so we followed them upwind.

Our nice sail up to Isla San Francisco.

We were keeping the sun off our backs as we sailed north.

The water was crazy clear and the perfect temp for swimming.

Swimming, fishing, kayaking and hiking at Isla San Francisco.

Tim shot three trigger fish for dinner with Calypso.

Beautiful Isla San Francisco from the hike along the ridge line.

Me and Tim hiking with Jasna along the Isla San Francisco ridge line.

Jasna gazing off into the Sea of Cortez on our hike at Isla San Francisco.

The view from the top – Isla San Francisco.

Jasna and Rick on Calypso are expert sailors, I would say. Jasna used to teach sailing in Italy, and Rick took a Yatchmaster course in Austrailia. Knowing we could learn a thing or two from these pros, we set out to follow them on our next sail upwind to San Evaristo. This proved a bit unsuccessful as we tried to tack our way to the little fishing village, we got frustrated and decided to turn the motor on (cheaters, I know). Much to our dismay, the alternator belt was slipping and our engine was struggling with overheating again. Tim rigged up a temporary solution by tying a line to the alternator and putting upward pressure on it so we could motor sail our way in. We stayed for a couple nights in San Evaristo, restocking our chocolate stash and a few other fresh foods that were running low.

With north winds predicted for the next several days, we all decided it was a good time to head back to La Paz. We were a bit nervous, considering our motor troubles, but left early for what we thought would be a nice downwind sail. Unfortunately, just as we pulled out of the anchorage, our engine was overheating again and the belt had broken once more. Frustrated, we opened our jib only and headed downwind, thinking we could repair it along the 6 hour trip. The sea was pretty rough and choppy, and without our main sail up, we were rocking and rolling the entire trip. This didn’t give Tim a chance to crawl around the engine compartment and sort out our issue.

The wind was getting pretty strong as we and Calypso — both with only headsails out — headed down to Isla Partida. As we finally approached our intended anchorage, we attempted turning into the wind with hopes of getting close enough to safely to drop anchor. This was a big mistake. The wind had picked up over 20 knots and we didn’t have any power without our main sail up. So we raised the main with the boat pointing downwind — a little dangerous maneuver because the chances for a accidental jibe are high. That is exactly what happened. We accidentally jibed hard, popping the boom right off the mast.

I had already reached my maximum stress load and freaked out about 10 minutes before we lost the boom. So, I stayed strangely calm, sailing the boat into the mouth of a different, calmer anchorage where Tim was able to replace the alternator belt before we got too close to land. This allowed us to motor (hobble) the rest of the way to anchor. After a day like that, there was no way we could come on the VHF radio and hail with the name “Luckiest.” We decided at that moment we must rename our boat. We called Calypso, who had already anchored in our intended spot. They came down right away to help us lick our wounds. We were happy to have their help, and we all stayed a couple of days to relax.

The second night we had our renaming ceremony (sailor’s tradition) for our boat, asking Neptune to take care of her under the new name — Lucí.

It was a calm, wind-free day as we motored back to La Paz after reattaching the boom and repairing the engine a final time.

Sailboats Belong in the Sea

Posted by Meredith Andersen in On the Water, Uncategorized and tagged with American Dream, Anchor chain, Baja Mexico, Baja travel, batteries, battery switch, boat electrical systems, boat stuff, boat yard, cal 35 sailboat, home on the sea, Learning, lesson learned, living your dreams, Mexico, preparing, rewiring sailboat, sailing, sailing gear, sea cocks, starter battery, sunsets, traveling, Working October 28, 2013

As it turns out, we had to take care of a few more pressing items before getting in the water. Sailboats are funny like that, as soon as you think you have repaired everything, something else breaks.

After hooking up the new batteries, we noticed our started battery was overcharging. We quickly disconnected it and decided to have someone else look at our wiring and electrical system. Tim and I don’t trust ourselves with electrical problems and boat electrical systems.

Victor is a highly recommended Mexican marine electrician and was able to work on our boat the next day. He spent all day analyzing our system. It was too late for our starter battery, so he installed a new one and our battery switch, which will keep the starter battery separate from our house batteries. It’s often we learn important lessons about our boat when something breaks and we have to figure it out, or in this case hire someone to help us figure it out. We paid close attention to Victor’s work, so we would have a better understanding of how our boat should be wired.

Victor, the boat electrician, re-wiring our system.

Another issue we had to fix before launching was a broken sea cock — part of the plumbing that goes through the boat to the water. This is key to function properly. We replaced it, did a test start on the engine and declared ourselves ready to splash!

Tim working on replacing the head sea cock (plumbing).

We were very anxious to get into the water where the boat belongs. It was really a quick process, Tim took the helm and drove about one hour to the La Paz anchorage, while I took the car down into town where we could access it after moving the boat.

It went pretty smoothly until we needed to anchor. Our friend Jasna picked me up in her dinghy and dropped me on our boat to help Tim anchor. We hit a little snag here, as our chain did not want to come out of our Windless anchor wench. With a little more help from Rick and Jasna, we were finally able to drop anchor in La Paz.

We finished a new layer of anti-fouling paint on the boat bottom.

Capitan Tim manning the boat as she gets back in the water.

Luckiest back in the water. the Splash went smoothly and Tim motored down the La Paz Channel to anchor.

Life on the water is sooo superior to the boat yard. It’s cooler, less bugs, more beautiful sunsets.

Life on the water is so much better. The Baja sunsets are some of the best we have ever seen.

Sunrise this morning through our v-berth porthole aka “bedroom window.”

We still have a bit of work ahead of us before we head out for a couple of weeks at the islands. Tim discovered a leaky sea water impeller, so we are trying to repair this today. That, plus attaching the sails will be key before heading out. We have never reattached sails, and it has been 1.5 years since we removed them, so it could be interesting. We think we can do most other items out at the islands.

Life in a Boat Yard

Posted by Meredith Andersen in Blogging, Gearing up, La Paz, traveling, Uncategorized and tagged with American Dream, Baja Mexico, Baja travel, boat maintenance, boat stuff, bottom paint, cal 35 sailboat, challenges, diy, Driving in Mexico, Learning, Mexico, newport beach area, preparing, sailboat cleaning, sunsets, traveling October 23, 2013

One week into round two of our Baja adventure, and we are happy it hasn’t been all work.

We left our Denver home and dog with my aunt and drove out Tuesday, Oct. 15, as planned. We got an early start – about 5:30 a.m. – so we could make it to Newport Beach by the end of the day. We crossed through the Eisenhower tunnel as the first snow rolled into the Denver area, making our mountain driving a bit icy, but beautiful as daylight broke.

Driving through the Rocky Mountains on our way to La Paz, Mexico.

I felt like we were driving through winter into fall as we drove down the Rockies’ western slope. It was really a beautiful scene, and a pretty drive all the way from I-70 to I-15. We drove through mountain and canyons the whole way, periodically stopping to enjoy the view in Utah and Arizona.

We drove from winter into fall. You can see the snow at the higher altitude fade away.

We so enjoyed the drive through so many types of mountains from Colorado to California.

This beautiful Canyon in Utah made us stop to admire it.

We had to drive through the Las Vegas strip, even though it was the middle of the day because I had never seen it. This put us at our day one destination about 8 p.m. to visit with our (pretty-much professional) sailing friends, David and Katie, who we met at Thanksgiving in La Paz almost 2 years ago.

They are always so welcoming when we crash coming or going from Baja. We delayed our morning start just a bit so we could meet their one-year-old daughter, Emily, putting us on our way about 7:30 a.m.

We crossed the border in Tijuana with no issues and booked it for our typical mid-way stopping point in Guerro Negro.

The mountains in Baja were more beautiful than we remembered because they were so green. the Baja had been getting a lot a rain and very wet season, actually washing out a lot of roads on the only highway that runs the length of the peninsula.

Luckily, in Mexico, they will happily divert traffic off-road.

We arrived in Guerro Negro just at sunset.

This is the hotel we like to stay at in Guerro Negro. It is on the edge of town, always clean and the people are nice.

The roads washed out just 2 days before we drove through here. Baja has had a very rainy season.

We really enjoyed how green the mountains were because of all the rain on the lower Baja.

We arrived in La Paz around 6 p.m. Our boat broker, La Paz Yachts was our first stop because we needed to get the key to our boat being stored at a local boat yard – Bercovich. Our second stop was Bercovich to check on the condition on the boat, and our third was dinner with our dear friend, Jasna, from the boat Calypso.

The boat was not in bad shape. She was a little dusty and in need of batteries and bottom paint, but mostly just how we left her. We got to work pretty much right away.

Day 1) Wash down outside and clean inside thoroughly. Remove old batteries, buy new batteries – about $450usd

Day 2) Install new batteries, unpack bags and ready v-berth for sleeping

Day 3) Power wash the boat bottom (we were able to borrow one from our boat neighbor, Pete, who came down from San Francisco to work on his boat too.)

Day 4) Had the boat bottom inspected by a local boat surveyor, Cecil – who did our boat inspection before we bought 2 years ago. He was a boat builder most of his life and will be 89 soon. We bought one gallon of ablative anti-fouling paint nearby for about $180 usd and supplies for painting. We got advice to just do a light sanding on the existing paint, power wash again and paint. So we did.

Day 5) Find cayenne pepper and put inside paint – old sailor trick to keep barnacles away. Had paint shaken again to mix all biocide and cayenne pepper inside. Now, we paint the bottom.

We are hoping to get into the water in a couple of days, in which case we would head straight to the islands to finish up the work on the boat. The boat yard has not been as bad as I thought it would be. I just had to accept that I would be dirty, sweaty and eaten by mosquitos every day. But there is unlimited fresh water and electricity, and we have the best spot in the yard with an ocean sunset view.

We enjoyed the sunset walking the ocean boardwalk in La Paz.

Our boat “on the hard” in the boat yard.

Our boat bottom before any cleaning.

Tim power washing our boat bottom.

TIm painting the boat bottom. We went with a darker blue, and I really like it.

Big News — Back to Mexico

Posted by Meredith Andersen in Gearing up, La Paz, traveling, Uncategorized and tagged with Baja islands, Baja Mexico, Baja travel, boat sale, boat stuff, cal 35 sailboat, challenges, la paz, la paz yatchs, Learning, Leaving, lifestyle change, maintenance, Mexico, preparing, sailing, traveling October 9, 2013

Big news – we are heading back down to La Paz, Mexico!

We knew we needed to get back down and take care of our boat, but we were not sure about when we might be able to actually break away from the life we have been building in the Denver area. Money was also a big factor; as in, will we make enough in a short time to get our boat back in the water?

It turns out, Tim was able to work a hail storm in Greeley, CO, selling new roofs to replace damaged ones. For those of you who didn’t know, Tim grew up in the roofing industry repairing and selling roofs for his parent’s roofing company in DFW. This work has afforded us the possibility of getting back to our boat for some TLC.

Our lovely Cal 35 sailboat has been stored on-the-hard in a boat yard in La Paz for more than a year. We did the typical seasonal shut down checklist, per advice from our sailing friends. This included removing all sails, draining fluids from the engine, tying down everything and protecting what we could from the damaging sun and bugs. This took us about four days to really secure her to be stored. We are anticipated about two weeks to put her back together.

One reason we decided to go back now was to get our beautiful boat looking beautiful again. As I said in a previous post, we have decided to sell our boat. She has been on the market for a few months with a few showings under her belt. But when we left her, we hadn’t intended to put her up for sale, so we know she is not looking up to her potential. Hence, our trip down is two-fold: to have a last hoorah at the islands and to put a bit more work into The Luckiest to get her sale-ready.

We plan to probably pay someone to sand down the previous layers of paint and barnacles and applying a fresh coat of barnacle-resisant paint to her underside – the anti fouling process. This also increases sailing speed, which is important when every knot counts. We will clean her up and get her sails back on, etc. Her house batteries are also ready to be replaced, so we are adding that in, too. All this, we do in hopes of selling her as this years sailing season approaches.

It saddens me to think about selling her, because she is a perfect cruising boat. But the truth is, we have to find a better balance of a traditional American lifestyle and one of travelers. It is a very hard balance to strike, and we thought we could do it by living on our boat for six months and in our small townhome for six months (sailors call it “six on, six off”). This plan isn’t really working for us because we have to work more throughout the year than say a retired person to keep ourselves afloat. We have tried to keep a minimalist lifestyle in the states with a small monthly budget to keep ourselves free of as many strings as possible.

Because travel is a high priority for us, we still plan to set ourselves up for lots of it. More realistically than six months out of the year, we will have two to three months for travel yearly. This will take time and financial legwork, but we will get there. We love the sailing lifestyle and community – having made some dear friends in the Sea of Cortez. It’s likely that we will come back for more, just not on our own boat. Crewing on other’s boats is a big part of the sailing community, and we certainly would like to see more of the world via sailboat.

For those of you who are interested, or might know of someone in the market for a Cal 35 with added sugar scoop, please share this listing info and blog post.

Current Price: US$ 35,000

Yacht World Number: 2614835
Located in La Paz, BCS, Mexico
Year: 1974
Hull Material: Fiberglass
As stated in the brochure, the ingenious and unique touches that Bill Lapworth has designed into the Cal 35 set her apart from other world cruisers, coming close to a perfect cruising yacht. Whether you’re anchored off La Paz in the Sea of Cortez or running downhill across the Pacific to Tahiti, you’ll live in style and comfort aboard the Cal 35. The interior finish is as practical as it is luxurious, beautifully designed with rich Burmese teak. With a full 6 foot 6 inch head room and a 7 foot long double berth, this is a great boat for tall people! The raised dinette allows you to view the scenery while dining below. The long water line, sleek hull lines and large 546 square feet of sail area give her great speed. And she’s easy to handle. The big modern spade rudder offers greater maneuverability and easier wheel steering control. The comfortable cockpit has benches long enough for sleeping outside as well. All mechanical and electrical equipment is easy to get at. Making repair and engine maintenance a cinch on the Perkins diesel and its fuel supply give you an 800-mile cruising range on power alone at 7 1/2 knots. This is an excellent cruising yacht!

Sailing from Isla Danzante to Puerto Ballendra at Isla Carmen. We sailed all the way there with fairly steady wind and good speed.

Our main living space with Galley to the right and dining area to the left.

A peek into the v berth and head.

The amazing sunset from the south beach at Agua Verde. We saw some of the greatest sunsets ever.

A view of our boat at the beginning of our long hike across Isla Carmen.

Across the Map

Posted by Meredith Andersen in Emotions, Side Trips, traveling, Uncategorized and tagged with Baja Mexico, baja peninsula, Baja travel, challenges, Driving in Mexico, Learning, Leaving, lifestyle change, Mexico, Road Trip, side trip, traveling, yuma arizona January 26, 2012

Welp, we made it to Galveston from La Paz by car. We drove all the way up the Baja peninsula and across Arizona, New Mexico and Texas… not the preferred method of travel, but when Mexico tells you that you cannot import your car to the mainland, you kind of figure out a way around it.

We planned to take a ferry from La Paz to Mazatlan and drive a more direct route, but we hit a little snag. Mainland Mexico requires an import permit for a vehicle, but the Baja does not. We imported the car when we drove down through the country in October and were told we could export the car when we arrived in La Paz. That was not correct. We had to drive to the border to export the car, so we didn’t, and assumed we could re-import the car because the permit had expired. Well that was wrong and we had to change plans quick, so off we went to see the Baja.

It was such a beautiful drive. We saw the terrain change and different types of mountains. We drove along the coastline of the Baja on both sides. As we passed the Bay of Conception, Tim reminded me to look out for our friends Jasna and Rick on Calypso. Just as soon as he said that, we spotted them! We pulled off the road and wandered down to the beach to call for them. Tim yelled load out to their boat, they heard him and kayaked in to the beach. We visited with them for 30 mins or so before we headed on our way.

We made it to Guerrero Negro (about half way up the Baja) before dark. On day 2 we drove the Mexican wine country and then and incredible boulder mountain range on our way to the U.S. border crossing in Mexicali. We traveled about 12 hours each day. We landed for the night in Yuma, Arizona – where Tim was stationed as a Marine. We were able to spend the night on the base. Tim took me to his old shop where he built and repaired giant guns used on the Harrier. We took our time in the morning, and he took me on a tour of his old stomping grounds. We also went to the Arizona Territorial Prison which was along the Colorado River.

We then made our way to Fort Stockton, TX – about as far as we could get before we were exhausted. It was straight north of Big Bend National Park and we were wishing we could go explore it. Had we planned better we would have worked in time for that. Day Four of driving took us to San Antonio to see the Alamo and River Walk – two places I had never been even though I grew up in Dallas. I liked learning a bit more about our Texas history and was surprised how cool the River Walk was. We had dinner down there – finally finding a good frozen margarita. Then we headed to the outskirts of town to get a head start of driving for the next day.

Today, we made it! We were looking at the map and realized that we will have made it clear across the entire map by the time we get to Cozumel. It will be the most I have traveled in 10 days. We are both excited to get on the cruise ship and RELAX. It has been a long time since we have just kicked backed and didn’t worry about something. We will be traveling around Texas and Colorado when we get back from the cruise, but I think we will be going at a slower pace.

It feels a little weird being back in the states. Everything seems so expensive and moving at a faster pace. I have not been out of the country for longer than 2 months before now, and I guess we will have an adjustment period.

Sunrise the morning we left the boat.

Mountains near Mexicali

The Colorado River near Yuma

San Antonio River Walk

Tim’s Parents’ Visit

Posted by Meredith Andersen in baja anchorage, La Paz, On the Water, traveling, Uncategorized, Visitors and tagged with Baja islands, Baja Mexico, Baja travel, boat stuff, challenges, islands, Learning, lesson learned, Mexico, Parents visiting, sailing, traveling January 19, 2012

Steve and Debbie were not quite sure what they had signed up for when they decided to visit us in La Paz, but I think they were very pleasantly surprised. They had booked a hotel for the five nights they were here and left the option open to possibly stay on board the Luckiest. They only stayed in the hotel the first and last nights and stayed with us on the boat at the islands the other three nights.

We all had a wonderful time. Tim and I really enjoyed being able to share some of our experiences with family – especially at the islands – and it sounded like Debbie and Steve were enjoying it all. We got to show them the world of discovery we have been finding over the last few months.

We took them to the grocery store and the market the first day and headed out to the islands the next. We did get stopped by the Mexican Navy on our way out of the La Paz channel, but we had heard that they were friendly and courteous ambassadors that simply wanted to make sure nothing funny was going on. This was our first time being stopped, and machine guns always make me a bit nervous, but the troops really were pleasant and kind. One man boarded our boat while another four stayed on theirs. He asked to see our documentation, import permit, passports and if we had life jackets. Thanked us for our time and off they were. No big deal at all. I was glad it was just like we had heard.

As we got out to the channel, I convinced Tim to do a bit of sailing, even though we were making good time with the motor. Tim has decided he doesn’t like sailing too much, but I was able to get him to show Steve and Debbie some of the things we have been learning. We had a great smooth sail in about 10 knots of wind.

Our first stop was Candeleros Bay, which is one of our favorite anchorages because of the great hiking and the cool rock formations. We anchored there about an hour before dark. That night we all piled into our sad little deflating dinghy and zipped around in the dark water watching the bioluminescence glow. It is so magical looking and hard to describe without seeing it. we had a sparkling wake and as we would approach fish we could see them scatter surrounded by glowing plankton. It doesn’t get old seeing that. In the morning we all went up to the beach to do some hiking and exploring. We took Steve and Debbie up the center ridge just as we had done a couple weeks before. It’s great because we were able to get a great view of the bay without having to work too hard. We all went on a hike back into the valley. Steve did hurt his toe, but it was a easy-going hike other than that.

After lunch on the boat, we scooted over to Caleta Partida, a popular and well-protected spot. The winds had kicked up some, and Tim was feeling a bit adventurous, so we put up the sails at his insistence. I think we scared Debbie pretty good this time. We had Steve at the helm, just to give him a bit of a thrill as well, but I’m not sure he was quite ready to take on that task in those winds. We did some whipping back and forth (accidental tacking). We regained control, I took the helm and eased us into the anchorage. After we all settled down, Steve and Tim donned their wetsuits and went looking for some fish.

When they returned (no fish) we all decided to play cards and have something else for dinner. Little did we know that when the guys had returned from spear fishing, the dinghy was not properly secured to the boat, so before Tim and I tucked into bed (in the convertible dinette), he checked outside and we had no dinghy! It had floated off somewhere, and with light winds and lighter current, we knew it couldn’t be too far, but it was far too dark to see anything. This was pretty frustrating for Tim knowing he might be able to save it if he could see, but there was nothing we could do until the morning.

First thing in the morning we all hurried to eat and ready the boat to either go find the dinghy or head back in to La Paz. With no dinghy, there is no way off the boat, so our trip would have to be cut short. I was plotting ways to get a new dinghy and how we would get off the boat, etc. as we pulled up the anchor. Tim and Steve had binoculars on the bow and scouted to find it. It seemed unlikely because it had been missing for about 12 hours and the north winds had really kicked up in the night, which would have blown it out into the open sea. As we came out of the anchorage we checked one side along the shore and turned to head toward the other side. Then, shockingly, Tim spotted it! It had almost made it out of the large cove, but as it neared open sea the waves kept it pinned to the rocks.

Tim quickly suited up in his wet suit and I got him as close to the rocks as I could. He tossed our foam surfboard into the water and jumped in after it. We joked about his Seal Team Six dinghy rescue mission. He was great. He bailed it out, pumped it up, and paddled away from the rocks against the waves until we could pick him up. He was afraid the fuel had water in it, so he waited to replenish it before starting it up. We really were the Luckiest.

The rest of the trip had far less drama, thankfully. Our refrigerator did quit on us, but the food stayed cold enough for the whole trip. We made one more stop on the way back to La Paz – Bahia San Gabriel. This is where Tim and I had spent Christmas. It has a huge white sand beach, and Debbie was really enjoying looking for shells, so we spent lunch there before heading back.

We drove them back to the airport and they were wishing they had planned for more time to stay. Now we are regrouping before we head back to the states ourselves. We are taking the ferry across the sea on Sunday and driving back out to Galveston to join up with more family for the company cruise. Yes, we are leaving our boat on one side of the Mexican coast to go to a cruise on the other side of the Mexican coast. Kind of ironic, but it should be relaxing, which we both need.

After the cruise we are heading up to Austin, Dallas, Evergreen, Colo., and end in Corpus Christi for my dear friend’s wedding on March 3. From there we will head back to our boat here in La Paz. We feel like we are ready to cut strings in La Paz and head north into the sea as soon as we return. We shall see how it goes.

Exploring the rock ridge in Candeleros Bay.

Nice View

Tim and Steve off to spear hunt and snorkel.

Tim rescuing the dinghy.

Steve snorkeling in Caleta Partida

Debbie looking for treasures on the beach. She went home with loads of shells.

In Transit

Posted by Meredith Andersen in Emotions, traveling, Uncategorized and tagged with Mexico, saying goodbye, traveling, visas October 24, 2011

We hugged our families goodbye on Saturday with a few tears from our heartfelt mothers and hit the road. I had been rather emotional about leaving over the past week – as you saw in my last couple posts – but for some reason I could only think happy thoughts on Saturday when we left. I feel like everything will be fun, and it will seem like we just left when we get back. I don’t know how long we will be gone, but I think it will seem short. It is merely a droplet of time in a lifetime.

The drive on Saturday was actually a little leisurely because we only wanted to drive to the border and stay on the Texas side. We were told by several experienced individuals not to drive at night in Mexico, so we planned to cross the border at dawn. So Saturday morning we had a delicious breakfast with Tim’s parents and headed down to meet up with my family in Austin for a little bon voyage lunch. Then, only 3 more hours and we made it to Eagle Pass – a recommended crossing town.

This morning we awoke at 6:30 a.m. and we on the road by 7 a.m. We crossed into Piedras Negras. We were not quite sure what to expect at the border because we have a new car (traded in the good ol’ Honda coupe for a Toyota 4 Runner to fit all our stuff) loaded down with crap. I had no idea if they would question why we were driving that far or how long we were going to be in the country or possibly go through every bag of stuff we have. NONE of that happened. They did not even look at our passports. We were kinda shocked. It seemed way too easy. So we headed on thinking – awesome! About one hour into the country we come across a checkpoint. I was thinking it was similar to the other ones we had gone through on our last trip where they poke around your stuff and send you on your way. Well, I was wrong. This is actually where they want all of your documentation and information about your trip. We drive up and are directed to a man at a station where it looks like he is about to look through everything we own. “Oh boy, this is gonna take a while,” I’m thinking. He asks us if we have our permits in broken English. I, in broken Spanish, offer up our passports with our Mexican Visas inside. No, no, no – for the car. hum…

These are close to his actual words, “I hope you understand me when I say this. Without this permit this car now belongs to me.”

Stomach drops. Excuse me? You mean you are going to take this car from us right now, and I will have to walk back to my home country so I can call my family.

Ok, it wasn’t that serious because he followed that with, “I will let you turn around and go back to get the proper permit for this car.”

As it turns out, the imigration and permit office was right behind us, we just didn’t know we were supposed to go there first (no signage, of course). We were able to get the proper permits for the car and check into the country with little hang ups. It took about an hour to get it all taken care of. We went back through the checkpoint and spoke with the same man who was happy to see we were keeping our car. He looked in the back seat and didn’t touch anything before he waved us on through.

The rest of the trip here to Durango was fairly uneventful. We made pretty good time and stopped only a couple times for gas and pesos. We did get a bit turned around in Torreon (a city we passed through) for a while.

Now it it time to kick back and watch the World Series en espanol before we wake up early and continue our trip to the Luckiest. Next stop: Copala to pick up (and finally meet) our sailing mentor and friend Gary!

One of the Small towns we went through. The mountains are the backdrop.

We made it! At Los Arcos Hotel in Durango, mx

Our New Home

Posted by Meredith Andersen in Learning How to Sail, On the Water, traveling and tagged with Baja Mexico, Mexico, sailing September 9, 2011

Tim, Me, Shelly and Mike just after the sea trial on our new boat

So, we did it. We bought our dream boat! We took her out for a sea trial today and we sailed for the first time in the Sea of Cortez. It was awesome! I can already tell I will be one of those types who continuously tweak the sails for more speed. Keep in mind, we are talking about the speed of a 35 foot liveaboard boat, so we are looking at like 2-6 knots. It is perfectly slow, however, because you have AMAZING views to take in while you are doing it. The water is clear about 100 feet down. Can you imagine? I didn’t really believe that —having been on lakes often — but Shelly dropped a green grape overboard just to see how long we could see it in the water. We sailed away, slowly, remember, before we couldn’t see the grape. It was stunning. Tim took a dive because it was blisteringly hot. We have found ourselves on a sailboat in the sun in Baja Mexico in the hottest part of the year and the hottest part of the month for this area. Just step outside and sweat a gallon a minute. And I thought Texas was hot! Well, it is actually about the same temp, but the humidity here takes the cake. We drank more water and Gatorade in 2 hours than I have in most days.

It was all worth it, though. We have a wonderful new home and we can float around anywhere we want. It hasn’t quite all sunk in yet. We had the boat surveyed by a pro boat builder who has been living in Mexico for the part 22 years — Cecil. He is an 86-year-old Austrian who kept up with the rest of us in that heat. I was so surprised at how good he was at moving around the boat while withstanding the heat.

Our Captain for the day was Ray. He maintains several boats in Puerto Escandito while the owners are out for the summer season. He is so nice, and a friend already. He has the exact same boat make and model as us, so he highly recommended it. We are so excited and can’t wait to head back down for the good cruising months. We have been told by every sailor we have met that the weather switches on October 15. Like clockwork, there is less humidity and a nice breeze every year. Can’t wait for that.

While we have been here we have been greeted with the friendliest people on earth. It seems everyone is incredibly supportive and helpful in whatever way possible. It is really refreshing to slow down and appreciate others. The cruisers (people living on a boat and cruising up and down the coastline) have a code of conduct to help out other cruisers and then pay it forward. They don’t help expecting anything in return, they just help because they are nice and know it will come back around one day. And it does.