Sarana's Slog

Varnish Stinks and Secret Recipe Revealed

2011-12-12T16:21:00.001-08:00

I think we have been stripping teak and varnishing for 8 weeks now and we probably have another 4 or 5 weeks to go not including holidays. We've gone through a gallon of varnish which is supposed to cover 500 square feet in one coat. To say we are tired of stripping teak oil, and varnishing and sanding is an understatement. Just smelling the urethane solvent from a distance brings me down.

Here's an example of the starboard side settee after we stripped it and before we varnished it.

Now here's what it looks like after varnishing.

We usually put on about 6 or 7 coats so it will be durable and hopefully last about 100 years. Since we have to do everything in sections, we have to move things around and try to plan what can be stripped while the other area gets varnished. This makes all the spaces in the boat either under construction or buried in stuff for storage.

We did perfect a secret recipe for stripping off the teak oil:

1 - part "Roma" laundry soap powder. (Roma brand soap is an important ingredient!)
1 - part Baking Soda.
2 - parts White Vinegar.

We apply this as a liquid paste and don't let it dry but rather sit on the wood for 10-15 minutes. It pulls the teak oil and gunk out. We can usually strip off the old layers of oil in 2 passes. Sometimes some sanding is required, but the stripping part usually removes a large bulk of the old teak oil. Rinsing the soap out of the wood probably takes another hour or two of work, but at least the chemicals are fairly non-toxic and they work well.

Pitching the Guides

2011-12-04T17:26:00.001-08:00

Our friends Bill and Jean from Mita Kuulu run the Rally to El Salvador and we donate a few guide books for them to raffle off. They kindly let us join in their presentations, which is rare because we are often never in the same spot at the same time. It gives us a chance to talk about the things we like in Central America and talk about our books. We had a pretty big crowd turn up for this rally which was pretty exciting.

Me babbling about Central America!

Good sized crowd

About 35 boats signed up for heading south! Here's a link to the Rally if you're interested:
http://elsalvadorrally.blogspot.com/

Fun in Sayulita

2011-11-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

We spent our Thanksgiving week on the beach -- I know what a surprise. The fun part was getting together with friends from different parts of Mexico! Stan and MJ came all the way up from Manzanillo with a cat sitter to watch their crew. John and Linda came from the Puerto Vallarta area with a boat/cat sitter to watch their home and crew. We just drove our kitty along with us in our little RV. It is usually pretty hard to get these types of people together from such far away spots!

Our first night we drank Micheladas, and caught up on everyone's latest adventures. Then we spent lots of time on the beach, got caught in a revolution day parade, flushed a reptile down the toilet and did some hiking in the jungle.

Nice beaches:

Enjoying cold popsicles on the beach after a walk through the town's graveyard.

What comes up might go back down again

2011-11-25T16:11:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder what kind of creatures luck in the pipes at night? Well, I tried to catch one!?!?!

Cartel Street Battle in Sayulita Using Children

2011-11-25T14:07:00.000-08:00

The town was under siege this past Sunday. We happened to be caught in the middle of the fighting and took some shocking video of this murderous rampage. In a desperate attempt to expand drug cartel's territory they have now trained and armed children -- armies of them.

Trouble started in this normally relaxed beach resort when two rival groups encountered each other on the bridge that links two sides of the town. Shots were exchanged and the mob grew rapidly. Bigger weapons like home made cannons and machetes were everywhere. Smoke, explosions and wounded children were everywhere.

See the shocking video that proves how dangerous it really is here in Mexico.

Viva la Revolucion!!!!
Viva Mexico!!!

(Disclaimer: if you didn't get it, this is a parade for revolution day, Nov. 20th)

The Longest Summer

2011-11-10T17:56:00.000-08:00

I feel like we've worked non-stop for the past 7 months. Four months we spent working in the Brokerage office (as volunteers) so we know Ray and Jeannette's business so well that we can step in any time. Jeannette is going to have to have another surgery next week and re-start her chemo in January because she's had several setbacks from her original operation back in April. And we've been so swamped with all the office/boat work that there hasn't been much to write about.

However the past 3 months we were overjoyed to have Ray and Jeannette hire Julie to fill in at the office which allowed us to focus on the disaster that is our boat.

On the boat we slaved over:

Tore out 1 bulkhead, 1 wall, 3 counter tops, removed the stove and sink.
Rebuilt the wall and bulkhead
Re-plumbed all the tanks and sink
Rebuilt new counter tops
Added 2 new storage areas and 3 new access panels
Installed new formica (GONE is the 70's YELLOW!!!)
Rewired the electronics so they pass through the counter top neatly.
Made a complete set of new molding so we now have proper sea-rails around the counters
Stripped the 35 years of teak oil off the walls (ugh)
Varnished everything and it looks great now.
We have moved 3 times too (house sitting, to condo and this week to the RV) while doing all of this.

Here's a few photos of the job in progress with new Formica and varnish. (There is more to work on, but you can get the idea from the finished bits).

About the only fun things we have done are visit with Kate and Michael, celebrate Sherrell's Birthday with a surprise party and marched in the Day of the Dead parade where people chase donkey carts dispensing free beer (probably the best parade on the planet).

We are continuing to strip the teak. I just finished 7 coats on the bow section which allowed us to reload the boat with all our stuff so we can move on to the RV. The boat will probably continue to be UNLIVABLE for another several months as we work our way through the reconstruction of everything. But it's gonna look f****ing good. It's definitely the biggest single project we've ever done on the boat.

Hopefully this winter Jeannette will do well on chemo and we'll also find some time to get away from the work projects to see some more of Mexico using our little RV.

We have to use blankets already (nighttime temps are in the low 70's!!!). I think we might be running the heaters again this winter if it gets much colder. It's hard to believe I'm serious, but right now Sherrell is wrapped in a blanket and I'm jealous.

Bikes and Beer

2011-06-18T14:39:00.001-07:00

Oh yeah. New bikes.

To go with our bikes we bought the BEST BEER IN MEXICO. Special ordered from the brewery in Gaudalajara, winner of the Gold Metal in the World Beer Cup: Minerva Pale Ale -- on par with Deschutes Mirror Pond, which seems impossibly good. In the house we are watching for the summer they have a "drink" fridge:

Quiksilver International Surf Contest

2011-06-02T17:11:00.001-07:00

Free music and amazing surfers...what could be better? Here's some shots from today's events (we sneaked away from work for 1/2 day!)

See anyone familiar?

Trying to pull off a floater

Across the top

Rail grab!

These guys even made the small waves work for them.

Lots of famous surfers are competing here. I was jealous to see such flawless surfing, wave after wave after wave. The swell is gradually decreasing too but these guys still pull off some amazing moves.

Lots of changes

2011-06-02T17:01:00.000-07:00

We haven't written because we've been dealing with some bad news. Almost immediately after splashing our boat back in the water, Jeannette, Ray's wife was diagnosed with colon cancer. (Ray is Sherrell's dad). So we jumped in to learn her job here in Mazatlan and we've been working for almost 8 weeks now 5.5 days a week to cover for her. We put everything on hold and are volunteering in the office until Jeannette can com back. Since we've been though a similar experience with Sherrell about 5 years ago, we know how tough this is for both of them.

On the plus side, we've been helping them research options and talk with doctors and Jeannette has recovered well from the surgery about 8 weeks ago. She's now ready to start the chemo stage of her treatment.

Anyway, that's the reason we haven't written much, done much boat work or traveled anywhere...we're office slaves again. Now I remember why I quit! Haha!

Jezebel the Boat Kitty 1991 - 2011

2011-04-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

Jezebel's 20 year old kidneys finally gave out, and she passed from us today. She was a superb ship's cat, even though she never set "paw" on a boat until she was 12 years old. Honestly, we didn't think she would adapt to the cruising lifestyle at that late age, but she proved us wrong. In fact, she flourished and blossomed on the boat as she never did in a house, where she was often timid and hiding.

We will miss her terribly, but are glad we were able to share in her 20 years of life. Bien Viaje Jez.

Can you tell where we are?

2011-03-09T13:08:00.000-08:00

Very few people would recognize Plaza Zaragosa, but how about the whole wheat cinnamon role? Oh yum...hot out of the oven.

I'll only give you one hint: Mazatlan. Mazatlan's Old Harbor to be exact. We anchored a few days in Punta de Mita, a few in Mantenchen Bay and now we are anchored in the Old Harbor. There really isn't a New Harbor, but it seems everyone calls it old.

We've always wanted to anchor here to see what it is like for ourselves. Opinions are all over the board: Love it, Too Sketchy, Terrible.... Typical stuff among cruisers. For us, it's nice. The harbor is calm, we can walk to downtown. The facilities are pretty run down, but there is a dinghy dock and showers. We get to watch the ships go by (very slowly) and our favorite bakery is not far. Yeah there is a sewage processing plant nearby but we haven't been bothered by it yet after two days.

They bake the best bread and pastries. Just like old times, we bought some and ate them in the Plaza. Sometimes familiarity is a good thing.

{GMST}22|11.0|N|106|25.33|W|Mazatlan Old Harbor|Water is surprisingly clean{GEND}

Sky Garden for the Birds

2011-02-09T09:05:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the things people do with their boats can take on a surreal form. Take the case of this sailboat who was trying to keep birds off his mast. He had hoisted a huge orange plastic garden rake up his mast. They do this diligently when they leave the boat unattended. To me this big rake in the sky made a distinctive image in the marina. When I first saw it, I thought of a frustrated gardener turned sailor. I mentioned it to our friends on the boat next to them and they pointed out their broom at the top of the mast. Desperate house keepers? No, they are all desperate to keep the prolific bird piles off their boats.

It wasn't until yesterday that I saw "someone admiring the nice sky rake that I felt inspired to post a photo of it.

These frigate birds are notorious for breaking the small wind instruments on the tops of masts. As you can see in the photo this bird is happily sitting on the anemometer getting his back scratched by the rake.

Rough Ride to La Cruz

2011-01-30T14:47:00.000-08:00

We seem to have bad timing for capes. It took us about 23 hours to get from Chamela to La Cruz against the NW winds. The wind probably didn't get much higher than 20 knots, but since it blew continuously for miles over the sea and the current was running slightly against it, the sea was rough. Larger boats probably would have had less problems, but we were struggling to do 4 knots most of the way. We dipped our bow numerous times into the sea sending spray all over the boat. It was rough and impossible to sleep well.

Nonetheless we are anchored, cleaned up and getting ready to do a little presentation tomorrow about our Central America Guide Books for the cruisers headed south.

Sherrell wants me to mention how much more she likes this anchorage now that we have a flopper-stopper that we bought in Panama.

And we're looking forward to visiting with Scott & Liz on Tues. when they arrive.

{GMST}20|44.95|N|105|22.40|W|Is this now yuppie central?|La Cruz 2{GEND}

Chamela Shamela

2011-01-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

Probably the best part about coming up from Tenactita to Chamela is we didn't get beaten up by head winds. Now if we can just get around Cabo Corrientes with the same results. We did see 3-4 whales playing out in the sea and the anchorage is nice and calm. There are about 5 other boats here which was a bit of a surprise, but I forget just how many boats are tooling up and down the Mexican coast.

I had to wear a long sleeved jacket and pants on the way up -- THAT'S how cold it is. In fact our little kitty can attest to how bad the cold weather is even in the sun she needs her "coat":

{GMST}19|35.055|N|105|07.889|W|Chamela|Cold water{GEND}

Tenacatitia Again

2011-01-23T08:48:00.000-08:00

I've been lacking inspiration lately, however I'll endeavor to not bore. We enjoyed meeting new people in Barra, watching boats get stuck in the soft bottom (no damage ever occurs) and seeing familiar places again. We did the basics: felt sorry for the caged spider monkey who has been there since Sherrell first visited 15 years ago, swam in the pool, exchanged books at Beer Bob's (Bob passed away while we were gone), shopped for clothes at the market, astonished ourselves at the sheer number of gringos everywhere (especially Canadians, and yes Canadians are gringos too), had some Indo beer on tap (a rare find) thanks to Stan's detective work.

And it is always hard to leave Barra. The lagoon is better than being in a marina because it is so calm yet offers plenty of privacy. We did however manage to pry our anchor up out of the muck and sail up to Tenacatita.

We've never been here during the peak of the season like this and it was interesting to see all the boats (23 or so) here. The beach landing is pretty easy compared to later in the season when the south swells pound this shore. In fact were were surprised to see everyone landing directly on the beach, something that was impossible when we were here last.

The first boat we passed in the anchorage was Harmony, a boat that we met 4 years ago in Panama. We've exchanged a few emails in the past but there's nothing like a catching up in person. We also met the father of another boating couple we last saw 6 years ago. The sailing world is pretty small at times.

Turns out Robert from Harmony is the social director around here. They call him the mayor and he likes to get people to play nice together. We were planning on stopping here for a day or two just to clean the bottom and prop before making the push around cabo corrientes. We told Robert we weren't staying long and weren't going to put the dinghy down and join the crew on the beach. He hid his disgust well and offered us a ride. While we are not big on group activities, I joined in the boat-to-beach swim, which ended up with me on the beach wandering for ten minutes wondering where everyone was because I didn't have my glasses. And apparently it wasn't a race to the beach. And then I found myself playing volleyball while Sherrell walked the beach. We went with the flow and had good time.

I guess the crowds were a bit overwhelming for us and we didn't get to talk to Robert & Virgina much, but we did briefly meet a few new people and it was fun hanging out on the beach.

The weather has been SO cold here that we have been running the diesel heater almost every morning. Thankfully it still works after 5 years of no use. We had to buy a baby tee-shirt for Jezebel to wear to stop her from shivering during the COLD COLD night (in the 50's!). We'll post a picture when we have internet access....

{GMST}19|17.936|N|104|50.251|W|Tenacatita|Cleaning the bottom{GEND}

PATA Clinic and Whales diving

2011-01-16T12:05:00.000-08:00

Before we left Santiago, we helped the people from PATA (Personas Ayudendo Todo los Animales) do a sterilization clinic. They try to round up stray cats and dogs and also local people's animals and sterilize them for free. It was a fun to see PATA in action and help out with the animals.

We pried ourselves out of Santiago Bay and managed to motor upwind about 20 miles to Barra de Navidad. The anchorage is deep inside an estuary and the water is flat calm.

Not much has happened in the past 4 years since we were last here. A lot of the town has remained unchanged and there hasn't been a lot of growth either. There are a few changes, like the Canadian guy who calls himself "The French Baker". That guy has a his own panga now for pimping his goods to the cruisers who are anchored in the bay. His store/restaurant/bakery has had a huge upgrade too. I'm glad he's been able to make it work so well.

Well, we'll spend a little time here before moving on. It is so quiet and peaceful. Even the level of cruisers are down this year. Normally it is packed but there are only about 18-20 boats in here now, which is tolerable.

On our way from Santiago we shot some video of three whales doing their thing.

{GMST}19|11.5|N|104|40.2|W|Sooo calm|Barra{GEND}

Santiago Bay Shadow Dance

2011-01-04T16:12:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to catch some video of Jordan's sun worship dance on top of the dodger and I finally was in the right place at the right time...oh yeah bump bump.

Whales and Dolphins and Gunk

2010-12-18T09:28:00.000-08:00

Here's some video footage shot during our various legs from Zihautanejo to Manzanillo where we stopped in the commercial port of Lazaro Cardenas (fantastic anchorage by the way) and Caleta de Campos.

Our new camera has been really nice for getting closeup photos, but shooting video on a boat is proving to be really really hard. I think the dolphin footage came out ok (it was pretty calm) and the whales were good because they were so close, but the sea was starting to build up and it was tough keeping the image stable.

Anyway here it is for you to enjoy without all the sleepless passages and crappy headwinds.

{GMST}19|06.078|N|104|20.621|W|Nice Anchorage|Las Hadas{GEND}

No Lefts for Me

2010-12-14T16:23:00.000-08:00

The swell was up. We left our super calm yet pungent anchorage in Lazaro Cardenas for surf! Caleta de Campos is supposed to have a nice left break that peels. Since it was only about 35 miles away it seemed like a good roadstead anchorage to try for a couple of nights.

Our trip up was very calm, unusually calm. In fact I even wrote a java program while on the way up here. How geeky is THAT?

We did get to see turtles, dolphins and a strange sludge/slime barrier that we drove happily through. I'll post a video of the adventure when we get internet access again.

Stoked to see a ripping peeling left wave as we worked our way into the bight all I could see were close-outs. That bites.

So we are out of here in the morning. It is a beautiful little spot with a cool beach, but the surf is closing out everywhere. If we wanted to get to shore we'd have to swim it. I know this was a hot "secret" spot for waves, but it isn't working for this swell direction now. Bummer.

{GMST}18|04.375|N|102|44.97|W|Rolly|Caleta de Campos{GEND}

Lazaro Cardenas and the Whale Backstroke

2010-12-13T13:47:00.000-08:00

In a typical fit of indecisiveness we changed our plans. We stopped at Isla Grande just outside of Zihuatanejo to clean the bottom of the boat. The idea was to depart again in the evening. However the wind was a headwind and we both felt like resting instead. So we settled in and had a beer. Not more than 5 minutes later the wind shifted favorably offshore and stayed there all night. Figures. We didn't feel like changing our plans again and going.

So we got up early in the morning and the offshore breeze was still blowing. We set sail and sailed along at 3 to 4 knots until it died at around 9am. Instead of doing the long passage, we decided to go somewhere new and unusual -- a commercial port.

Lazaro Cardenas pumps tons of products in and out of Mexico, including lots of oil. There is an old abandoned basin just inside the entrance surrounded by mangroves and out of the ocean swell.

We mananged to squeeze in between a procession of ships and anchor for the night. It's very calm an quiet with a nice odor of oil, yum.

We did see a large pod of spinner dolphins and got some video (no spins caught on film) and also there was a giant mama humpback and her baby doing tricks: breaking, fin slaps, spy hops and sounding. At one point it looked the momma whale was doing the back stroke with both fins rotating around and around! The calf of course kept trying to imitate her...sadly not much of that duo was captured on video either.

{GMST}17|55.875|N|102|09.814|W|Breathe that freshly oiled air|Lazaro Cardenas{GEND}

In Zihuatanejo guided by spinner dolphins

2010-12-06T07:16:00.000-08:00

We finally had a nice calm night passage. It took us about 26 hours to get from Acapulco's Bahia Marques to Zihuatanejo ("zee-WAT-en-ay-ho"). Before we left we took some photos from around the town and then on our passage I tried to take some video of some of the things we typically see.

Fish balls are a common occurrence in healthy marine zones. The water froths, fish leap and birds swoop. Often you'll spot a large predator in the water which usually is the cause for all the turmoil. There was a large fish ball off our starboard side so I got a short shot of it.

Also I got really lucky and caught two spinner dolphins leaping out of the water and spinning. The film is really jerky due to the boat's motion, but I put the clip at 1/3 speed and you can clearly see them leaping and spinning. A rare sight for land lubbers.

So now we are in Zihuatanejo! There are only 8 other boats here and 3 of them are leaving today. In the glory days of the '90s there would be almost 100 boats here for Christmas as this was the place to be. The town has great food and lots of artists and we look forward to going ashore and seeing how things have changed in the past 3 years.

{GMST}17|38.157|N|101|33.228|W|Great sopes, yum.|Zihuatanejo Again{GEND}

The diamond town surprise

2010-12-02T14:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had to rebuild our raw water pump because it had been leaking and I also noticed our fuel filter was allowing air to leak into the fuel supply. Luckily our fuel system is self bleeding or the air would have caused our engine to die -- probably at the worst possible time.

Lucky me, I had spares for everything that was broken (including a new racor bowl and drain plug). As I was tearing things apart I found both engine drive belts needed to be replaced too! Well I have a few belts too fortunately.

To prove the cliche "Cruising is doing boat maintenance in exotic places" wrong we decided to see what was here in Puerto Marques and the nearby Acapulco suburb, Diamante (Diamond). The beach here is nice with lots of friendly people and latino hipsters (even though we are outside of Acapulco by a few miles this place still has an urban flavor). We walked about 1.5 miles to the diamond town (a heavily yuppified area) and had a pleasant shock. They had built a new Walmart, Office Depot, Sam's Club, Costco, Mega Super and a mall with a multiplex cinema. We've been wanting to see the latest Harry Potter film but it wasn't playing in English in Huatulco. Low and behold, this cinema had 1 theater playing it in English at an 11:30am matinee! Holy crap!

For those of you surrounded by 10 million consumer options, you're probably wondering what the big deal is - but for us it was an amazing treat. While we impatiently waited for 11:30 am, we scored some delicious SOPES (de Rajas (grilled poblanos peppers and onions) y de Champinones) in the food court. Then we paid our $2.80 each and had the entire theater to ourselves.

In our opinion, this film was well done and finally stuck pretty closely to the book. And they really got creative with the tale of the Deathly Hallows -- brilliant stuff. Of course you've probably seen it and know this.

Anyway our heads are still reeling from the surprise sensory overload of seeing the film on the big screen. Then we did some shopping and found Dr. Pepper and real Ginger Ale! Truly a mind blowing day at Diamante.

And here's the thing: no one really even knows about this place. The guidebooks have the anchorage location wrong and from reading what both books have to say, it appears they've never really been here. The government is rebuilding the town waterfront with new beach restaurants and a public pier. It is going to be great when it's all done. On the other side of the cove, it's all natural jungle complete with the songs of various birds. The anchorage is very calm -- probably the best we've been to in southern Mexico and the provisioning is fantastic too. Not to mention English movies on the big screen! LIFE IS GOOD.

{GMST}16|47.74|N|99|50.45|W|Calm anchorage and great provisions|Puerto Marques{GEND}

Ten Thousand Turtles Maybe More

2010-11-30T17:23:00.000-08:00

Our 53 hour leg from Puerto Angel to Acapulco was filled with surprises. The biggest surprise was finding a large section of ocean filled with billions of jellyfish egg sacks and thousands of turtles floating nearby. Like a prehistoric scene these old reptiles were snacking on these ancient invertebrates. Well, actually the turtles seemed to all be sleeping and the jelly fish, they just sort of floated there too. It wasn't until our little boat started weaving in and out of this crowd that things got lively.

The groggy turtles would awake with a start to find themselves staring at a sailboat. With reptile like brilliance they responded with a variety of undignified moves, usually accomplishing little more than making splashes.

We have never seen so many turtles ever. They made a mile long road block of the ocean. Fortunately for us the sea was in a rare mood and was still and clear -- great for taking some photos. Here's a video compilation:

There were also a large variety of dolphins who performed leaps for us, some massive manta rays doing flips and jumps in the air. We even saw some pilot whales.

It wasn't all fun and games, however, as the second night spanked us. For about 12 hours we had unusually strong headwinds which built up into a nasty chop on top of the swell and funky steep current waves. It wasn't until the early morning hours that the winds backed off enough for our speed to "soar" over 3 knots - did I mention the adverse current? Needless to say, we are beat and the boat is covered with salt spray.

Now we are anchored in Bahia Marques just south of the main Acapulco bay. It is quieter here and has a lot less water traffic. A good night's sleep will definitely clear the fog out of our heads and help us forget the headwinds.

The Chepil Singularity

2010-11-23T14:39:00.000-08:00

One of the great glories of Huatulco has been the corn tamales (tamales de elote). They used to be everywhere. Old women would walk the streets of the town with large baskets of them on their heads selling them for 3 for 10 pesos (about $0.80).

Three years ago we had our favorite old lady we would buy from and they were to die for. Die! Time and progress has intervened. Our vendor has faded into obscurity and no one wants just a plain corn tamal anymore. Now all the tamales are filled with crap like chicken, shrimp, pineapple, strawberries, cheese.

Trying to find a plain corn tamal was futile. I went to the one official "tamaleria" (tamale store) and demanded tamales de elote. A woman at a nearby table overheard me and shouted out, "Hey he's pure Mexican! Where are the tamales de elote?! Hahaha!"

So we continued our search. Where are the old ladies? What's happening to this place? It turns out there is a specific "Tamal Time Slot" when vendors roam the streets selling tamales. It varies depending on whom you ask, but the general idea is 10am to 11am then again at 5pm to 6pm. By chance we were in town at 11am one day and found a bicycle cart vendor selling his Tamales! Joy! Tamales de Elote here we come. No go. He has stuffed his tamales full of all kinds of animal products or cheese. Crap! What's a vegan got to do these days for some real food?

He stood there looking confused, probably thinking, "How could these gueros not want chicken? Everybody wants chicken." So we gave him the spiel...no meat, no animal, no chicken, no fish, no shrimp, no cheese, no lard. What on Earth happened to the classic elote? He smiled and said something incomprehensible. It sounded like Tamales de Chepil.

We looked at each other. We know lots and lots of Spanish words, but he blew us away with that one. So we verified this Chepil wasn't an animal or some odd cheese product and he pulled one out and unwraped it. Sure enough. Green, leafy. Definitely plant like.

The flavor! Oh my! Chepil is a small leafy herb that has a light flavor that I found was a bit like spinach. The tamales were fantastic! We ate 4 of them. While not quite as good as elote, but we were hooked.

Today we decided for one last splurge. We rowed into the beach. Walked into town and proceeded to comb the streets for Tamales de Chepil. Nothing. Nada. We checked the time, hmmm after 11am. Damn. The tamales had evaporated into the void.

Sigh. So to make up for our disappointment we decided to one up the splurge from 4 tamales for 20 pesos to a full on lunch at the only vegetarian cafe in town (For those coming to visit Huatulco go behind the Super Che and you'll see a hotel with VEGETARIANO in neon). The chef there makes his own breads and he has talent! This place is priced right so for 107 pesos we had an all homemade veggie burger and curry vegetables (not traditional curry vegetables but still tasty).

I still want to know why everyone is too hip for tamales de elote.... And how do I get some more Tamales de Chepil?!

(FYI - some tamales are made with lard, others are cheaper and go with vegetable shortening--go cheap. Also in Spanish tamal is singular for English word tamale.)

Out of the dusty marina

2010-11-23T14:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes trying to leave is harder than actually leaving. Things break, engines die, fuel filters get clogged. Well this time none of that happened but it was still tough to leave.

The dredge decided to tie off for the night. So they ran a rope across our channel way to the other side of the marina. In effect they had trapped us. We walked down there and called out to them that we wanted to leave. "No. It's closed!" was their answer. Great, how hard is it to move some floating rope out of the way? After some back and forth they decided they would "open" it for us. Great! We'll be back with the boat.

We squeaked out around their equipment and pilings for our long voyage to Bahia Santa Cruz (0.3 miles away). Although we were ready to leave, the boat isn't quite ready. There's the bottom to clean, the top to clean, the sides to clean, the insides to clean. Where did all this dust come from I wonder. We also have to test out a few systems that are kind of important like the sails. We just couldn't bring ourselves to raise them in the dust filled marina.

Ah but now we are back on anchor! The cat is free to roam the decks! And the water and air are clear again!

{GMST}15|45.185|N|096|07.663|W|Back again and happy to be here|Santa Cruz Ancorage{GEND}

Let there be warm white light

2010-11-22T11:30:00.000-08:00

LEDs are problematic when it comes to using them inside. The color is often a bit harsh and the light can be very focused. They are very tough however and work for years until something corrodes on them. Traditionally pre-packaged solutions are way over priced and replacement solutions are marginal with brightness and color. So we've been waiting for something good to come along.

While we were in Seattle we played around with a large light display in Fisheries Supply. One of the lights really caught our attention was the Imta's design (IMT ILSPG4-10W) with 10 LEDs, a linear current controller and a claim to be "warm white". The color of the light was nice on the display and it seemed bright in the store, so we bought one. Paying $20 for 10 LEDs with a PCB and a controller seemed like an ok price, even if the parts run about $5. It looks like this:

Fast forward months later back on the boat where I had forgotten about it until I was digging around in the bag with engine parts and found it. So we pulled the socket out of one of our lights and wired it in place with solder and some heat shrink.

Oh wow. When we turned it on I almost blinded myself and the color is very similar to nice incandescent glow. The best part is it doesn't get hot and only uses about 0.2 amps. Now I wished I had sprung for a few more. As long as it holds up in the marine environment I'd say we've finally found a winner.

Glory of Marina Chahue

2010-11-19T07:02:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are and change is ever present. The marina recently changed owners from one government tourism branch to a port authority branch. Good old mexican tax dollars seem to be pouring in because they are building like mad. Unfortunately we are right in the middle of it and covered with dirt. Notice the large rock pile at the top of our ramp. And since we are in the cheap area there is no running water or power for cleaning up. Oh the glory of it all.

Just to add to the image. This photo shows our walk to the civilized section of the marina where there is power, water and wifi internet. That dirt is the fine powered kind that turns into muck in the rainy season and choking brown fog during the dry season. The rock piles come and go via dump truck and backhoe and you can imagine the clouds of dirt that engulf our boat. The small building in the background used to be the old marina office, but now it has become the computer room for the people who can't get wifi on the boat (the canal dwellers like us), but bring something to sit on. It is also the shower room (outdoor showers) and the public bathroom.

They have added two new finger piers in a void that many years ago I tried unsuccessfully to talk the harbor master into letting us anchor in (imagine the cost savings...haha). The have also completely reinforced the sea wall all around the marina. And they build a "mega yacht" area that consists of a long concrete wall with no floating ties. I don't know anyone with a mega yacht, but I doubt they are going to tie to a concrete wall (with black rubber strips) that they are going to rub against in the serge and rise and fall of the tides.

Here's a better shot of the long wall on the far side for the richies. They installed a gate and a fence to keep the public away from the money people. I wonder how the tax payers feel about paying for that?

What else can I say? Oh, they have also been dredging the entrance and the area along the mega-yacht wall. So if you're headed here, keep an eye out for the added obstacles in the middle of the channel entrance. I don't think it is lit at night either. The sunlight was bad for this photo, but in it they have ropes and floats blocking the right side and they've added temporary pilings in the middle of the channel to assist in the dredging work.

Of course I'm a bit negative because we are ready to get going. This is a very pretty area and we have beautiful egrets, white herons, and several cool birds I don't recognize around us. The town is fantastic and the people are all friendly and quick to chat up a conversation or provide directions to some obscure shop that has just the thing we need.

It's a fun town and the marina rates in our cheap area have been good despite the extra challenges. (FYI--If you choose to stay in the cheap area, they have upped the short-term rates to prevent people from doing a quick in and out.)

This being the only the second dock we have been at in 3 years we don't have much of a recent comparison. It certainly was good for Sarana (and many other boats) during the hurricane season. However the perpetual travelers in us are itching to go again.

New RSS/Atom Feed Pages

2010-11-15T05:50:00.000-08:00

If you are reading this blog with a feed reader (and there seems to be a lot of you doing this) then you'll need to update your links.

I've written my own tool for generating RSS and ATOM feeds because I didn't like blogger.com's. Now all the links will be correct and I've removed some of the non-compliant stuff so maybe it will work better. If you see any problems please let me know because I don't really read my own site :)

Atom feed: http://www.sailsarana.com/atom.xml
RSS Feed: http://www.sailsarana.com/rss.xml

Back on the Boat

2010-11-10T07:55:00.001-08:00

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally made it back to the boat. You might wonder what took us so long to post something about it since we've been back at the boat for about 10 days now. As you can imagine we had a lot of dirt and mold to clean up and piles of “stuff” from the RV to sort out. Then once the space was livable again we started fixing things that were broken, cleaning and filling the water tanks and taking care of the engines.

Despite the serious construction going on around us in the canal things seem quiet and relaxed. The humidity has spiked and backed down again to the point where we have to use blankets at night (i.e. less than 70F).

We still have a few serious issues on the boat to fix before we can get back on the water, but just being back here with our simpler lives with no car and no television or obnoxious news is revitalizing. The cats literally collapsed in happiness when they returned. Jordan saw the boat and struggled out of my arms to leap on board. In fact Jordan probably can best describe how we felt without using any words:

Day of the DEAD

2010-11-10T07:33:00.000-08:00

We've spent about a week now working on the boat and replacing parts that mysteriously broke in strange ways. There's been more steps forward than backwards so far and we're hopeful to get back out on the water by the end of the month.

In the meantime Sherrell had the opportunity to experience the Day of the Dead (Nov 2) in classic Oaxaca style. Several cruisers who have been in this area for a while have learned about a small town nearby called Santa Maria de Huatulco which has large chaotic graveyard. Any other description besides chaotic wouldn't fit this place. Graves are haphazardly placed forcing visitors to twist, wind and step on many sites just to try to pass through the yard. Some were elaborate and some were just piles of dirt.

The Day of the Dead is a day to celebrate the lives of the dead and not necessarily their death. Family and friends come from all over to gather, have some food and light some candles. Often graves are elaborately decorated. Everyone hangs out at the grave surrounded by marigolds, candles, and other ornaments and talk about all the good times they had together. To elevate the festive atmosphere there was even a wondering Mariachi band willing to play on demand for a little coin.

Ahhh back in Mexico

2010-10-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

We've been in Mazatlan for almost a week now and already had the pleasure of going to a dock party (our first in about 5 years as docks are few and far between). Now we are gearing up to store the RV, load everything into a TINY car (cats too!) and drive ourselves to Guadalajara to meet friends and do Sherrell's 5 year milestone checkup (and celebrate her b-day). After that we're continuing to drive our little rental car another 800 miles down to the boat and get it back into shape.

It's great to be back in Mexico and we're excited to see our friends and return to the boat!

I promise to sort through our photos from Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and Arizona soon and post them. Really we'll get to it, what else are we busy doing?

Here's a teaser photo of us on a cliff in Zion. You can dangle your feet off the edge and watch the dots of buses straight below drive underneath them 1000's of feet down.

Traveling the US

2010-10-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

Since internet access is almost impossible to find, I'll have to just give a brief update.

We toured Kuna, Idaho. All I can say is I have seen the future and it is grim. Can you say sprawl? The tiny town I grew up in now has a 4 lane road leading to it and the town is overrun with development communities. It's a mess. Strip malls are everywhere for as far as the eye can see in Boise.

Well, anyway, we went to Craters of the moon, where it SNOWED on us. Our heater and solar panel broke. If that wasn't enough the window which I've tried to fix twice now, leaked onto my side of the bed again. So there we were with low batteries, no heater and a wet bed in below freezing temperatures. Good times! Oh to top it off at the same time, the fridge decided to konk out for 3 days allowing everything to slowly melt before I discovered the problem caused by dust in one of the jets.

The heater turned out to be related to having a low battery because the free solar panel (it was damaged by lightening) someone gave me finally quit working. It was so cold that we were immediately thinking of canceling the rest of the trip and heading back to Mexico. Fortunately I patched everything back together and we were underway again but relying on the engine only for charging the battery (which sucks).

We hiked like mad in Yellow Stone! We went everywhere looking for elusive wolfs, bears and moose. I think we saw just about every other animal in Yellow Stone except those three....

The Tetons where fabulous and we discovered a trail off Jenny lake which was probably one of the best hikes we've done! Again no moose....

We also went to Wasatch mountain in Utah where the fall colors where mind boggling.

Then we went to Escalante, Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon, Vermilion Cliffs, and now Sedona. Pretty soon we'll be in Phoenix and then Mexico.

In total after leaving Seattle we've probably hiked about 150 miles of trails and taken almost 700 photos. We'll post some when we have time to sort them out. Right now internet access is very scarce and so we probably won't post again until we are in Mexico.

Seaya Seattle

2010-09-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

We had a great time seeing family and friends here in Seattle. There's no doubt we ate the WTM's weight in food during this past month. There are so many good places to eat: South Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, Mediterranean, Ethiopian, Italian... I think I'm making myself hungry.

Anyway it was great being here again seeing everyone and trying to stay warm in the 45F nights. However we're off to the next leg of our trip and headed East to Idaho, Yellow Stone, and the Tetons.

We are going to miss everyone. Thanks for all the good times and good food! Don't forget you're welcome to come see us too.

Who doesn't like videos of forests, lakes, glaciers and snow?

2010-08-12T12:13:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a while. But there is just so much good stuff to sort through, edit and post. Life has been very busy seeing friends and family. You'll have to forgive me if these videos are a bit rough. I slapped them together with duct tape and swear words. Unfortunately I still haven't had time to go through all the Yosemite and Tahoe material, which creates a large 3 week gap in this little on-line show. Nonetheless, I will try to bring part of our trip to life for you.

On our trip north from Tahoe we went to Lassen. While we only spent 4 days there, it was magical place with volcanoes, hydrothermal vents and TONS of snow.

After hiking Lassen we spent a night at Crater Lake, which was like a refugee camp. The snow covered campground had Fourth of July hopefuls screaming at each other, swatting large mosquitoes, draining mud from their sites with sticks, shivering inside their cars and trying to heat food over flames that had the life sucked out of them by the cold. We of course were warm and dry in the WTM.

We worked our way up the coast to the Olympic National Rain Forest. Exploring the southern end of the park is something we had never done and the trails, rivers, and mountains were breathtaking. And I mean that in the cheesy sense of the word as well as tough to climb in places. Our photos don't do it justice. This video shows some of the sites along the way.

Last but not least: Mount Baker. Skiing is the only time I've been in this park, and we both thought it would be a good time to see more and take Sherrell's mom with us. She did great hiking around and again we saw lots of snow and ice. This time we even had classic lightening squalls complete with tropical style downpours.

I hope you enjoy the videos. I hope perl jam, foo fighters and underground don't mind me using some of their tunes either....

I will post some stuff from Tahoe and Yosemite, but even I don't know when that will happen.

Our updates are oh so slow.

2010-07-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

Internet access in the US is a little harder to find on a regular basis because everyone has it in their house.... Anyway let's recap.

Tahoe was a blast. Then we spent 4 days in Lassen National park. We tried to get to the summit, but the road was still closed. There was probably 20' of snow still up there in many places. We hiked up the road to where the road crews were still clearing the peak. It was an amazing place with some FANTASTIC volcanoes. This park had everything and we were entranced. So we decided to check out the other parts of the park: Devil's Kitchen full of hydrothermal vents, Boiling Springs Lake, a HUGE volcanic cinder cone, "Fantastic Lava Fields", and on and on.

After hiking there we went to Crater Lake where the lake was fogged in, the campsites were still under 2 feet of snow and the private company running the camp ground in the public park (a bad idea) was charging $26/night almost double the norm. It probably costs a lot to rename the crapper a "Comfort Station".

From there we went to hike at WATSON FALLS, which was beautiful NW-style hiking. Green mosses and ferns and waterfalls dominated the trail. And from there we visited our friends in Salem and Tualitan where we did more hiking, beer tasting and watched the Timbers play soccer. Did I mention vegan donuts?

So where are we now? Well we are on the Oregon coast where we camped at Cape Lookout and toured the area around Tillamook including Sand Lake a bizarre place.

Now we are on the road to Long Beach and the Olympic Forest. We literally have 10,000 pictures from our trip but no time to post them right now...sorry! Stay tuned.

Leaving Tahoe

2010-06-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

Our sailing friends on Desiderata gave us their luxury cabin for a week while they traveled and all we had to do was play with their cat. Not a bad deal because their cool cabin is about a block from the lake and is surrounded by monster trees. They gave us some good hiking tips and let us use their bikes.

The only downside is at times the temperature is in the low 30's! We've been trying to get used to actually being cold, but the freezing part is asking too much. We did a lot of hiking and a friend from when we used to work at moto came to visit too. One of the hikes we did together had a great panoramic view of Tahoe.

We also hiked through some snow fields, but that alien substance was a bit too cold for our tropical blood.

After enjoying "our" vacation home we hung out for a few more days to visit with everyone and we did some more hikes. One of them was up to a nice lake where even Hopper went swimming.

We also got watch some fun baseball games, went out for dinner and spent a lot of time swapping stories because we haven't seen them for almost two years. While we are still stuck in cruising mode, they have adapted well to modern life again and are having a great time living next to the lake, skiing all winter and hiking the forests in the summer. We even went to the beach together like old times, just no surfing and the water felt refrigerated. Despite their best antics they couldn't sucker us into that ice water.

Now it's time to say goodbye (yet again) and hit the road. We are headed towards a place called Lassen National Park (most of which is still closed due to snow) to see what we can find there.

Trip Through Yosemite

2010-06-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

Three days in Yosemite was not nearly enough time. The waterfalls pouring over sheer granite cliffs reminded us of the fjords in Alaska and Northern Canada. There was so much snow that the upper campsites were all closed and Half Dome still didn't have cables installed for climbing.

Because of the limited number of campsites, and the fact that we didn't have reservations, we had to play the daily game of getting on the waitlist at 8am (which meant being in line by 7am)and returning by 3pm for the site assignment. This limited us to about 5 hours of hiking each day, but we always managed to get a site.

The Yosemite Valley is run a bit like Disneyland with lots of crowds and people who don't seem to know how to enjoy the wilderness with their cell phones, mp3 players and all the park services (swimming pool, restaurants, stores, tram rides, etc.) This aside the scenery is fantastic and it is impossible to take a bad photo.

Here's a slide show of our 3 day trip of some of the cool places we hiked/drove.

And a couple of videos:

Calling Dr. Baicy STAT

2010-06-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

My sister Kate has been in school for over two decades. I can't fathom how she did it. Her accomplishment is even more impressive because she completed the college portion all on scholarships. Family members from all over the country as well as from Singapore and Mexico, drove or flew to LA to share in the celebration.

On June 4th, Dr. Kate Baicy, MD PhD graduated from UCLA Med School with a concurrent PhD in Neuroscience. Oh, and we had the additional celebration of her marriage to Michael Tapper, who has been with her since the early days of grad school. They had a simple and private ceremony in Hawaii on May 14th.

For Kate, this is just one break in a long and difficult road. At the end of this week, she will be moving to New York where she will begin the intensive underpaid work as a Resident at NYU, in Obstetrics/Gynecology. She will be working at Bellevue Hospital where she will work a required 80 hours a week for 4 years, in a stressful environment with someone watching and critiquing her every move.

What really brought us to this day was not Kate's graduation but Kate. In her humble and quiet way was hidden a powerful mind and spirit. There were so many ways things could have gone wrong for her, when it was easier to give up, to do something else, to just quit. However she found something she loved and in the process she began to discover herself and her own abilities.

Patients will be lucky to have Dr. Kate Baicy with her string of alphebetic letters behind her name on their side. Lucky not because she has a fancy degree from a highly respected medical school, but because of who she is. She cares, listens and understands, then puts her mind and soul into helping and learning.

She will be working as an OB/GYN in both private and public environments for NYU, the hospital's affiliate university. Bellevue Hospital is the oldest, and one of the largest public hospitals in the country, with a private hospital attached. Kate will see cases from all over the world and learn how to cope with a huge spectrum of problems ranging from language barriers to rare illnesses. Bellevue is also the home of the US's very first maternity ward, so Kate will be at the start of it all.

While I was absent from much of her life, I am so happy we could be here and share this day with her. Enough about that...photos!

Kate and her new husband Michael!

An extremely rare collector's item: Kate's Family together! (our dad John, brother Eric, husband Michael, (Kate), her mom Sandy and brother Andrew)

And finally all the siblings together (Eric, Kate, John, Yazmeen, Andrew):

In LA after AZ and Joshua Tree Park

2010-06-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

We spent about a week with our friends Robert and Liz and their family in Phoenix. Where they had the pleasure of helping us after we broke down about a mile from there house! Hopefully the new fuel pump and filter will fix the problem as the old pump was the wrong size and I don't think the fuel filter was ever changed.

Anyway I think we mananged to successfully lower the properity values of most of the neighborhood before we left.

On our way to LA we decided to stop at the Joshua Tree National Park. And we were glad we did. There were very few people there and we felt like the massive park was all ours. We spent the night at Jumbo Rock campground. There were massive boulders around and just us, the animals and our wild kitties. (Can you see the WTM?)

The desert park was in full bloom with lots of flowers and bright colors. I don't know how we got so lucky. There are also several oasises deep in the desert with lots of animals and no one around. If we had more time we probably would have done some of the longer hikes, but we got to see a good portion of the park.

WTM breaks down but we found the wave cave

2010-05-09T12:15:00.000-07:00

We left Huatulco and found a nice beach town called Zipolite. Within yards of the beach we parked our beast and took the cat for a walk. It was a beautiful place with powderlike sand. We spent a quiet night there and an early morning fixing stuff on the RV.

Our goal was to make it to another beach on the other side of Acapulco. But after leaving the town of Santiago Pinotepa Nacional our engine acted up. We noticed a relay had been clicking on and off about every 5 seconds and I tried to locate it, but with no luck. Outside of town in the middle of nowhere the engine died.

Totally dead, no spark, no go. Fortuantely this didn´t happen on a blind curve. I was able to coast to the only pull-out for miles. I still couldn´t find the problem so we let it cool off and it started fine. So we turned around to buy some parts to jumper in a relay. After getting the parts we went to get some cash but the ATM machine ATE my card!! The bank couldn´t do anything until the next morning. So after watching the military raid a hotel and block off the street, then getting kicked out of a Pemex (mexican gas station which normally lets people park overnight) by a rude old dude, we finally found another Pemex whose guard even offered to keep an eye on us during the night. We waited most of the next day to get our card back only to discover it was EXPIRED. It would have been nice if the machine had at least told us why it kept our card.

On the way past Acapulco the engine clicking wouldn´t stop. Fearing another engine failure on a blind curve in the middle of nowhere, we sucked it up and skipped the bypass and plunged headlong into the road nightmare that is downtown Acapulco. Acapulco has become the slum town of Mexico. There is no other way to say it. We found a little RV park that was totally run down but was right near all the auto repair places. The next day we found this guy in an dusty lot and a small cinder block room with "Electrico" on the side. Not holding out much hope, we pulled in.

The owner wanted to buy our RV, but his mechanic and I ignored him as we poured over the engine, which refused to reproduce the problem. At one point I got so fed up I started moving and pulling things randomly until a large spark shot out of something and the CLICK of the ignition coil relay caused me to excitedly shout "Eso es la sonida!" We traced it to a bad diode that was shorting to ground and killing the power to the ignition relay. I was shocked when the mechanic reappeared 10 seconds later from behind the concrete hovel with a brand new version of this chassis mounted toyota diode. $22 later we were back on the road and better than new.

Our next stop was Playa Linda which is a spot we surfed 3 years ago with some other boats just outside of Ixtapa. It was so quiet and relaxing parked next to the surf. We slept hard knowing the WTM was running well again.

The next day we wound our way up the coast to a funky little RV park/restaurant/mini-store on the beach. We were the only ones there.... Jordan went bonko in the bushes and ended up covered in stickers.

So today we decided to go a short ways to Maruata. Wow is it beautiful. We are parked right by the main beach (i.e. free) with fantasic sand, clear water, cliffs and reefs all around.

Then we discovered the WAVE CAVE. We´ve probably seen thousands of caves and cliffs and blowholes, but the wave cave is cooler. From this hole in the wall comes spouting rushing waves. It creates its own little beach. See for yourself:

Cat in Training Photos

2010-04-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

Tonight is our first night on the WTM. We are still moving piles of stuff around trying to sort it all out, but so far so good. We plugged into an AC outlet to hopfully get the fridge kickstarted....

Jordan is getting better at walking on her leash as you can see in the photos.

But she still hates it when it is time to go back home...

WTM and Cat-In-Training

2010-04-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

Our short list of things to "fix" on the RV turned into about 3 weeks worth of work. We found some sections of dry rot and had to remove several areas of the inside roof and replace two roof vents. This took a lot of time but the job was cheap and easy. Now the inside looks really good with new paint and roof fixtures. We also added a solar panel to keep the White-Trash-Machine green. And we put in an invertor for using AC power.

We also went through all the equipment and got everything working, from the fridge to the water heater. We even added a water filter so Sherrell can have her good tasting water.

Now we are about 90% moved on board the WTM. But what about the cats? Well Jordan has been learning the fine art of walking on a leash. She loves the outdoors so much that we have been trying to get her used to the idea of being outside but not being able to "go bonko". She is really good at maneuvoring on the boat with her harness and tether, but walking with her has been a real learning experience. Sometimes she gets wrapped up on things and panics, sometimes she sees other cats and gets feisty and sometimes she just has to be dragged back home. All in all she is doing pretty good and should be ready for the parks and the city. She is quite a crowd pleaser as everyone is interested in a cat on a leash. Jezebel on the other hand doesn't like change so we'll just have to see how she does...

Our plan is to spend a couple of days actually living on the WTM while "putting the boat away" for the summer. After 7 years this will be the first time we've left SARANA alone for more than a month. Fortunately, there are several people here to keep an eye on it for us. So we should be checking out the surf spots by next week and slowly working our way north along Mexico's coast.

White Trash Summer

2010-04-02T16:45:00.002-07:00

I'm sure you're wondering why we've been so silient. We decided to tie up in Huatulco, Mexico this summer and go see our friends and family in the US. To do this properly (i.e. bring the cats) we needed wheels.

In addition to prepping Sarana to be alone, we have been researching RV's. Yes a full-on beater white trash machines (read: cheap). We found a class of 21' RV's that get about 16mpg (outstanding when it comes to RV's I'm told). So after scouting the internet ads we opted for me to fly to Phoenix, Arizona where there was the largest collection of these RV's. And as an added bonus I was able to crash at Sherrell's childhood friend's house and they even had an extra car for me to drive in my quest.

Well, I found it. And not only did I find our 6 wheeled (it has dual rear tires) WTM (white trash machine), I fixed it up, loaded it with Mirror Pond Ale, and drove it over 1500 miles from Arizona to Huatulco (not far from Guatemala). I crossed 12,000' mountain passes near snow covered 18,000' peaks in Mexico City. I crossed the desert, the forest, lakes, rivers, more mountains, more cities in an endless blur to return to Sherrell and our cats.

FIVE days of day-time driving and that has to be a speed record. I didn't have a single serious break down. In fact during my rest stops I spent time fixing things inside. The only problem was a $100 in bribes to some crooked cops near Mexico City and about 37 toll booths. (I took the paid roads because they are big beautiful smooth roads with emergency service phones and plenty of help if I broke down). It was a spectacular little trip to bring our WTM to Mexico.

The pictures make it look bigger than it is. This is a toyota mini-truck with a box on the back. In the box is a propane stove, a electric/gas fridge, bathroom, shower, sink, water heater, and of course the bed. It's smaller than our boat, but what the hell? This thing was built in 1986 and has retro all over it. One thing for sure is RV's and boats are worlds apart when it comes to quality. RV's are junk.

But we are fixing this one up. The engine and drive train are in great shape with only 80k miles. There are some issues with the hatches and the ceiling, but we've found materials here in Mexico and are starting to fix them. One hatch blew off when I crossed the area near the Tehuantepec. Ironic isn't it? The Tehuantepec is a nasty gulf to cross in a sailboat and here the RV is what takes the damage.

Got a parking spot for us?!

Tsunami Video

2010-02-27T14:49:00.000-08:00

You might have missed the little 8.8 earthquake and the media obsession with the tsunami hitting Hawaii, but other parts of the world experienced that little wave. Here in Huatulco in the southern part of Mexico we had a little surprise too.

We are in a small canal off the side of the marina (I call this area "The Cheap Seats") where there is no water or power, but the price is right! This smaller area was more dramatically effected than the main marina. I measured a 4'9" height change in about 90 seconds. Fortuantely these aren't true tsunami style waves, but are just smaller waves that cause large current surges.

In the smaller basin where the fishermen are near town there had some serious problems. The narrow entrance just pumped waves inside like a shotgun. Several pangas were sunk. There was a cruise ship on the dock that immediately departed for deep water.

Fortunately for us all we experienced was the rushing current and the elevator ride up and down about 15 times so far today. I shot a boring little video that shows some of the current draining out of the marina...remember this water is normally at a dead standstill.

Bahia Santa Cruz in Huatulco

2010-02-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

The passage across the Tehuantepec went better then we could have ever planned. The killer part was after we crossed the gulf. That part was supposed to be easy; no one told the ocean. The waves were whipped up in a wild frenzy like some kind of fake scene out of Hollywood. I've never seen anything quite like it. There was practically no wind, yet here were these 6 foot tall brick wall waves slapping us every 4-5 seconds from random directions. The current was still pushing us fast so we were slamming into to these beasts and flying out the back side.

Imagine rocketing up at 30 degrees then plummeting down the back at 30 degrees. Repeat 1000 times every few seconds for 10 hours. It was truly mind-boggling. I don't know what caused these conditions or how it was physically possible for us to hit these waves so hard and have the boat continue to move at 5 knots or more. Normally when we slam into waves this hard we end up crawling at 1-2 knots or even going briefly backwards after the impact.

Somehow we charged onward. Dunking the bow over and over. Rocking and rolling violently and only rarely after a brutal series of slamming waves would we loose speed down to 4 knots. All those random waves and no wind? Insanity. Sometimes they would calm down almost instantly and we'd think relief! Only to turn on more violently 30 minutes later. I thought that the ocean was playing some kind of sick joke on us.

The good news was we arrived about 15 hours ahead of our best guess. The bad news was we could only eat crackers, were unable to sleep during our off-watch times and arrived in the pitch black night. Since we've been in here 3 or 4 times before and there are lots of lights for guiding cruise ships into this little bay, we chanced a night entrance between cliffs and rocks. Despite exhaustion we kept it together and anchored safely at about 3am this morning.

It is nice to have the Tehuantepec behind us and be back in this fun anchorage. There are actually other cruising boats around and tomorrow we get to do about 30 pounds of laundry and find some TAMALES DE ELOTE!

{GMST}15|45.176|N|96|07.679|W|Tamales de elote|Bahia Santa Cruz{GEND}

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Greetings from the middle of the Tehauntepec

2010-02-21T10:44:00.000-08:00

After waiting an eternal 13 days an opening in the nasty gulf of Tehauntepec finally appeared! This little gulf is probably the nastiest stretch of water that I have ever known. I'll spare you all the boring details, let's just say that this place sucks.

Our luck has really turned for the good, however. Since leaving Puerto Chiapas, Mexico we have had tremendous force of nature pushing us for the past 36 hours. Some sort of mystery current has been our benevolent benefactor moving our boat with an unseen hand at 20% to 30% faster than we can normally go. If all goes well it will cut 12 hours off of our projected crossing time!

So here on the start of day 2 we are a bit groggy. There were a lot of shrimp boats out working the shoals, but we never had any problems or had to alter course much. The winds have been against us, but light. Right now we have been moving at 6.6 knots (we normally max out about 5 without that current push) and the wind is SW at 10 knots. We have to turn SW against the wind of course later this evening, but we are trying to time things so that when we need to turn the thermal (day time) SW winds will start to die down. What all this means is we've been motoring. Motoring because of headwinds and motoring to avoid more headwinds. At least our Tehuantepec weather window is gorgeously long lasting a full 24 hours longer than we need. Due to the mellow conditions we are taking the 16 degree short-cut which chops off a few miles and reduces the amount of time we will have to head SW against the wind...fellow sailors don't try this at home; stick to one foot on the beach.

{GMST}16|03.1|N|94|43.75|W|Almost hugging the beach|TPec{GEND}

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Chorizo-Dr Pepper-Haas-Heaven

2010-02-17T06:47:00.000-08:00

Today I cooked up some soy chorizo with black beans, pico de gallo and haas avocados to make the worlds most delicious burritos.

It probably sounds crazy, but here's the skinny. Mexico has a lot of good soy products. They make some excellent soy chorizo and outside of Costa Rica/Panama Haas avocados are hard to find. There are several different varieties of avocados, but haas is what many of us gringos are used to. Now, to be honest, Nicaragua has some of the worlds finest tomatoes (and rum) but some combinations like soy chorizo and haas avocado with a fresh pico del gallo (chopped tomatoes, onion, celantro, lime juice) can not be beat.

And Dr. Pepper, as bizarre as it sounds is one of my favorite drinks. But this random blend of raisins (I think) and sugar isn't a big hit outside the US. But occasionally places in Mexico carry Dr. Pepper. Now I'm in some kind of coma induced chorizo-dr pepper-avacado-mezcal stupor.

And while we are still waiting for the Tehuantepec winds to stop blowing for a few days in a row so we can travel north, at least we are enjoying ourselves!

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Photos from Nicaragua

2010-02-12T10:04:00.000-08:00

We finally found internet! So here are some photos from our time in Corinto which was a great place to hang out with the boat.

We were surrounded by mangroves and volcanoes. That cloud on top of the volcano, isn´t a cloud; that is smoke and ash! Sometimes you can hear a rumble.

Ivan and his family were friendly and helpful. We let the kids take a turn at trying to row PUFF around the estuary. The navigator took them straight across the water and hard onto the mud. We had to go out in Ivan´s boat and pull them out of the muck.

We took several day trips to see some of the famous areas and parks around northern Nicaragua. We even splurged one day and rented a car to see the highlands.

This photo is from the cathedral in Leon. It seems you can´t take a photo anywhere without a volcano or another church in the background.

One of our side trips took us up to the private forest reserve run by a coffee plantation Selva Negra. They are hard core conservationists with all shade grown coffee and they have even developed a new way to capture the waste from coffee processing and reusing it...something no one had done before. They have a small lodge with private chalets. The most amazing of the building is the little chapel which has been carefully designed and watered so that it is covered with plants. It looks like a living building and it is truly amazing.

Here´s a picture of Sherrell looking out the window of the chapel. Notice the roof and walls?

And the chalets are on the edge of their private reserve where we hiked several trails and listened to the howler monkeys.

Culture Shock

2010-02-11T05:50:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Puerto Chiapas (used to be Puerto Madero) thinking we would be in the middle of nowhere, stuck in a commercial port, paying high commercial prices to clear in. Turns out we were wrong. Despite having been here before, we didn't see much of the area. The port captain let us sneak in and out without clearing our papers. This time however we had to go to immigration because we are international arrivals. In the past they used to charge private boats high commercial rates to clear in.

Immigration has recently changed it's policy about charging private boats, so now there is a separate fee which is much more reasonable. We paid only $48 for two people. (The port captain also charged $20). The total to clear in was about $70.... While expensive we were expecting a ridiculous $180-$200.

We were told immigration is in a nearby "town" called Tapachula. Turns out this town has over 500,000 people! It's huge and it has everything. We gazed in awe of the 10-plex cinema, the mall, the US-sized Wall-Mart, the Sam's Club, Office Depot and many other stores and restaurants. Who knew? We didn't.

Our minds were reeling in panic as we walked in the stadium-sized Wall-Mart and were overwhelmed by the billions of products. Billions and billions, in fact.

Shopping and selection are really just a bonus. We are anchored in the ONLY nice spot in the commercial harbor next to the estuary and large dock. We have a ton of birds all around us and fish swimming all around the boat. The other basin with the fuel dock and the shrimp boats is equivalent to floating in a large unflushed toilet ringed by a 1/2" thick layer of animal fat. I physically felt ill when I went over there for fuel in the dinghy. I still get shivers just thinking about it.

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Piss poor passage

2010-02-08T17:05:00.000-08:00

Here we are working very hard to move forward, yet the depressing fact is with the wind and the current against us: if we did absolutely nothing, we could almost go faster backwards. Apply that frightening thought to 84 hours of a passage and you will probably understand how we feel-frustrated.

Anyway despite the head-winds and nasty current we often made it above 3.0 knots and we survived the short (yet painful) 350 mile passage without going insane, despite the large amount of fuel we used, the ringing in our heads and the beating we took.

It's good to be in Mexico. I heard a weather forecast from the port captain over the vhf radio...it's like being in a first world country with a marine weather service. The Tehauntepec is supposed to blow hard starting tomorrow, so the fact that we need to rest and repair some things won't matter because we have to wait for a weather window anyway.

{GMST}14|42.75|N|92|24.2|W|Ah, sleep!|Day 4-Mexico{GEND}

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So much happening in route to Mexico

2010-02-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

After some slaving, we finished another update to our guidebook (Part 1) with some serious updates including new city maps and more information for those of you who are never satisfied. Go update your copy today. www.sailsarana.com/guide/Login.php

We had a great time in Corinto thanks to Ivan and his staff. They watched our boat while we toured the forests, volcanos and cities of Northern Nicaragua. Corinto is a great place to stop in northern Nicaragua and much cheaper and centrally located than Marina Puesta del Sol. Anyway, we had planned to post some photos of all the cool things there during our 3 week say, but you lose. Perhaps we'll get some posted when we get to mexico.

Yes, Mexico. That's where we are headed to right now at this very moment. However there is a nasty 1.0-1.5 knot current that has been slowing us down for 30 hours now. We also have had headwinds and some sloppy seas. However I can't complain now because the last 8 hours have been favorable (except the current) and I have high hopes that tonight things will stay mellow.

Right now we are off El Salvador, where we avoided stopping because it would probably add a week or two to our schedule...too bad too because it's a great place. Anyway only about 44 hours more to go.... Lots of turtles and dolphins out here today with deep blue water.

{GMST}12|09.0|N|89|10.0|W|5knt headwind 1knt adverse current|Day 2{GEND}

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Satanic Winds Part 2

2010-01-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

We heard from our friend on PAPAGAYO in San Juan del Sur and it sounds like we missed all the fun. With wind gusts clocking to 80 knots, boats broke moorings and drug anchor. The wind pushed these boats out to sea where the waves were tremendous!

One boat had the roller furling sail open and shred, then the mooring broke and this 68 foot boat tried to power its way back against the wind and waves but could not even get their bow pointed into the wind. The navy offered to take them off the boat, but they refused to abandon the boat. A large fishing boat came to the rescue, but it took them almost all day to tow them against the weather back into the anchorage.

The following photo was taken two days AFTER the worst winds had calmed down enough that our friend could get his camera on deck. These two boats are fighting to stay tied to the large white sea buoy (in front of the Ketch with shreded sails). This buoy is about 3/4 mile from the beach but look at how the waves have built up! It is also a buoy normally used by ships, but both of these boats drug and were desperately tieing to anything that wasn´t moving.

Looks like we made it out just in time, eventhough our passage was rough we got north fast enough to avoid the brunt of the hurricane force winds!

Satanic Wind

2010-01-11T05:30:00.000-08:00

The gap winds toyed with us. The computer models showed 20 to 25 knots for leaving southern Nicaragua and heading north. However the NOAA forecasters kept making references to a cold front up in Mexico that would make "fresh breezes" and "strong breezes" in the gap wind areas. While I trust the forecasters over the computer models, I wasn't sure if fresh and strong were 20-25. Turns out the models lied.

We departed San Juan del Sur with about 20 knots and started sailing north along the coast. The gap winds blow NE to ENE allowing for a nice sail if you're heading NW like us. They also come right off the shore so the waves don't build up if you stay close to land. The key is you have to STAY close to land in marginally charted waters. The problem was the wind built to about 35 knots and stayed there. Dust was blowing onto us off the shore and we were getting sprayed with salt water. All still good on board as we were doing about 6 knots with only about 1/2 of one sail up. Then it started to get gusty...really gusty! Winds were hitting the 40's and starting to really heal us onto our rail (which is hard on our fat boat). We reduced sail down to about 1/8 of its size to stay in control, but we were still hitting over 7 knots!

The fine line here is we had to stay in control enough to keep close to the shore. If something happed and we got pushed away from the protective land, we would end up in open water in terrible seas with no real way to fight our way back to land against those winds.

Then to top it off we started getting even stronger gusts in the 50's! With almost no sail out we were putting the rail in the water during those gusts! Fortunately we have a good guidebook (haha) and sought refuge in a nearby anchorage which had good protection and great holding. We spent the night there, but we only managed 25 miles that day and we were pretty nervous about getting pasted the next day because we still had 80 miles to Corinto.

Fortunately for us the wind was more normal running 20-25 and we trucked north the next day without seeing anything over 30 knots. We eventually sailed out of the gap wind funnel zone and the wind even died for while forcing us to motor some.

We arrived at the entrance to Corinto at 2:30 am and since it is a well marked commercial port with good charts, we decided to attempt the entrance. The channel was pretty easy and only one buoy was missing and one was lit the wrong color, but it was all good. We anchored, checked in and then met Ivan who took us up the estuary to his hidden spot. It is super calm here and we have some work to do on the boat before heading out again. More about this place with smoking volcanoes later....

{GMST}12|31.579|N|87|11.970|W|Calm and quiet estuary|Paso Caballos Corinto{GEND}

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Happy New Year from Nicaragua!

2010-01-05T07:45:00.001-08:00

We've been enjoying San Juan del Sur as usual! The resturants are still great and a few new ones have sprung up! There are more surf shops here now and it seems like there are a lot more tourists, but this is the first time we've been here during the xmas/new years season.

As usual most cruising boats skip Nicaragua and that's their loss because this rough and tumble little town is still a hidden diamond.

We were overjoyed to have xmas and new years (a day early) celibrations with our sailing friends Scott and Liz who now run Rancho Cecilia (rated 4.5/5 on trip advisor!) They have built a jungle paradise from scratch and are only 10 minutes from the surf. It's amazing! Here we are at xmas:

And the night before New Years we sort of outdid oursleves. We had a great meal at Colbri and drinks just about everywhere. Here's a nice New Years Prelude photo:

Of course it wouldn't be a complete new year if we didn't have something break on the boat at a bad time. You see the winds here blow often and hard. It isn't a big deal because they come off the shore so the waves are pretty flat. However sometimes your anchor won't hold and you have to be prepared to move the boat and re-anchor to avoid dragging out to sea or onto the rocks.

So one windy day we went to start our engine because we decided we wanted to anchor closer to the beach. No go. Not even a click. Now this is a problem I've had occur randomly for the past year or more. But on this evening unlike in the past, trying again didn't solve it.

That night was a bit unerving because the wind blew into the 40's and if we drug it would be a very bad bad bad bad scene.

The next day I ripped everything apart, climbed in there ready to test for the electrical failure, told Sherrell to crank it...and it worked first try. Damn. Tried again and again. Only once did it fail and thing I was measuring worked during that test. At least I knew it was something else.

So we stripped everthing apart, starter, solenoid, relays, and switches. Cleaned tested and put it back together. I still can't find the problem or get it to repeat now. So I'm going to wire in a completely redunant starting system (assuming the starter is still good because during the failure the solenoid didn't click) until we can buy some replacement Yanmar parts.

We can't have the engine not start, that would suck in these strong winds where it is impossible to sail upwind against it if we needed to.

Needless to say we're going to spend a little more time here getting that sorted out and looking for a weather window before departing lovely San Juan del Sur.

Photos from Costa Rica and Arrival in Nicaragua

2009-12-20T08:11:00.000-08:00

The winds have been blowing very hard for almost 2 weeks. We had a surprise while in Santa Elena, our friend Ira on PAPAGAYO sailed in to the bay. He is usually hanging out in San Juan but he decided to take a trip to Costa Rica and it was really cool to have a friend to hang out with while we waited for the winds to calm down. After about 10 days there was a slight lull where the winds were below 30 knots. We didn't want to miss our friends xmas party in Nicaragua, so we slammed our way through the waves to San Juan del Sur.

During our time in Bahia Santa Elena we found a few more places to hike and saw more wildlife (parrots, large deer, dead bright blue snake, a 5' long crocodile, and monkeys to name some of them). Here are a few photos, including one from a very naughty monkey:

Parrots cry out "WACK-CAH"

Crocodiles lurk in the mangroves

Playa Blanca was beautiful.

Capuchin Monkey that threw a stick at us.

{GMST}11|15.39|N|85|52.6|W|Back after two years!|San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua{GEND}

Falling Booby

2009-12-09T15:00:00.000-08:00

The leg from Playas del Coco to Bahia Santa Elena is always exciting during this time of the year. The strong offshore winds blow very hard. The prediction for our rounding was expected to be 10-15 knots, so we expected 20-30 knots against us. Not ideal, but it is the lowest prediction we've seen for days.

About 2 hours into the Golfo de Papagayo we had about 5 knots of E wind. I was hoping we picked the right window. As we were motoring along with part of the main sail up there was a sudden CRASH! I looked up to see a booby on the dodger tumble down through the open companionway hatch and into the boat. I shouted to Sherrell down below, "Help! Help! A Booby just fell inside!" Sherrell looked over and saw a black heap of something at the base of the ladder. It quickly righted itself into the shape of a booby bird and just stared at Sherrell as if to say, "now what do I do?". Remembering hearing about how sharp their large beaks are, she quickly threw a towel over the bird and passed it up to me. I took it up to the bow and released it. It seemed perfectly healthy but you can never tell with birds. It flopped around a bit and clumsily hopped over the boat into the water. It seemed ok, and we hope it does fine. Jordan, on the other hand, was a bit disappointed her new playmate left so quickly. She spent the next hour sniffing around the boat trying to find where we hid it.

The winds remained light until we got almost exactly to the halfway point -- you know the point where you don't really want to turn around. The wind quickly built and of course it switched to the NW directly in front of us. We soldiered on.

The wind continued to build to about 20-25. We began hitting large waves that would slow our progress to about 2 knots (less than walking speed) and we started to dip the bow below the waves and take on lots of salt water and spray.

Determined to make headway we kept fighting the waves and wind...for hours. Each turn around a point of land only found the wind to turn directly against us again. Progress was slow, uncomfortable and wet. While certainly not the nightmare conditions we endured 2 years ago, it was still hard earned mileage.

We are now anchored in the magical anchorage of Bahia Santa Elena, where it is calm, where we can sleep and where we were almost exactly 2 years ago to the day.

{GMST}10|55.1|N|85|47.35|W|The magical Anchorage of Santa Elena|Santa Elena{GEND}

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Gap Winds Are Not Fun

2009-12-06T14:29:00.001-08:00

We've been moving along -- four anchorages in three days. Well, ok, one was a marina where we stopped for fuel and water. But we’ve been trying to move fast to beat the gap winds which as I speak are blowing about 25 knots and making some chop in the bay…so that’s not working out too well. We are just at the start of the season where they start blowing and they have all been 30 knots or less so far.

We went from Potrero to Guacamaya to Marina Papagayo to Playa Mata de Cana where we anchored yesterday. Now today we are in Playa del Coco. We are going to clear out of the country tomorrow and wait for a weather window for going around Cabo Santa Elena. Last time we went around Cabo "Satan" Elena the highest winds I’ve ever experienced and damaged two sails. We have a little more time to wait for better weather than we did last time. It was a nightmare…we don’t want a repeat this time.

Last time we were in Tamarindo I really wanted a sunset photo of the sun going down over Isla Capitan. I don't know why, but I really really wanted the photo. Now that I have it, I know why. It's fantastic! Or as Sherrell put it, "Uhng, just another sunset photo, big deal."

P.S. Jordan seems to be back to her normal self! Phew, dodged that vet bill :)

Bahia Potrero

2009-12-04T12:22:00.001-08:00

The surf went flat the day I was planning to hit the waves in Tamarindo. That brought me down. Not wanting to just sit around and moan about it we went sailing about 20 miles up the coast to Bahia Potrero. There are many nice beaches here and a smattering of expensive cafes and restaurants with good food. We did a little shopping, rode the bus around some and had some lunch. I found a good map of the area to expand the guidebook with too.

For some reason the beaches here are really clean. It makes the whitish yellow colored sand and the blue clear water almost hurt your brain it is so pretty. We’re waiting here a bit for the Papagayo winds to calm down so we can head around the corner to get some fuel, water and check out of the country.

Jordan is sick. In case she gets worse we want to be where we know there is a vet. She horked up a hairball yesterday but hasn’t been able to keep her food down since then, despite her eagerness to keep trying by stealing Jez’s food. We keep giving her special medicine for it and try to keep her from eating until her stomach is better. She seems like she’s a little tired but she acts normal otherwise. We’ll give her a little food tonight and see how she does.

{GMST}10|26.43|N|85|46.86|W|Nice beaches|Bahia Potrero{GEND}

Bahia Ballena

2009-11-28T10:58:00.001-08:00

We're back in one of our favorite anchorages with howlers, the organic market, groceries and a nice beach. Sherrell really wanted to post some photos from Southern Costa Rica and some of the sights so far so here's a few of the goodies.

Fiery-Billed Aracari

Toucan

Scarlet Macaws

Sunset Out on the Ocean

Bad Kitty on Watch!

Island of the Dead

2009-11-25T15:59:00.000-08:00

Once a hot-spot for sailors, the Fantasy Island Yacht Club lost its sparkle when the owner died in 1997. Now in the hands of new owners whom are suffering through the failing economy, it has yet to see new life. This is a shame too because the location is beautiful. One can easily see the attraction to the palapa bar and pool, but it is fast becoming a ruin.

We did some tours around the bay in the dinghy checking way points and depths for the guide book and seeing what else has changed. This anchorage is like a lake surrounded by green jungle.

While we were hiking around we spotted howler monkeys! A whole troop of them were carrying on in a large tree. This is the first time we've managed to see them, rather than just hear them, in over 1 year! I've been practicing my howler monkey call and it was quite a crowd pleaser with the monkeys.

{GMST}09|52.76|N|84|55.65|W|Howler screams of the dead|Isla Muertos{GEND}

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Was that a water balloon full of bird crap?

2009-11-23T04:19:00.000-08:00

We woke up to find our boat plastered with white smelly goo. I quickly found something else to work on while Sherrell cleaned it up. I'm always amazed how much crap those sea birds carry around, it's a wonder they can fly.

On our way from Drake's Bay we did a lot of upwind sailing and motoring. To add to our anguish we had to fight a 1 to 1.3 knot current. But later in the evening the wind quiet, the seas calmed down and the current changed. When life was looking good, the squalls rolled in on us. They were small and didn't pack much punch, but you never know. It's enough to keep you on your toes and hope that lightening doesn't strike. As we approached the bay there was a wide array of flashing lights. And that means trouble. Fishermen had set long lines out, but there is no way to tell which end is which, so you have to just charge ahead. I caught two of them and had to pop them loose with our boat hook in the dark.

Nonetheless, we arrived in Bahia Ballena and are now happly anchored. Jordan is sniffing the new smells and waiting for the birds to try to land. Now to catch up on some lost sleep....

{GMST}09|43.0|N|85|00.0|W|Such a calm bay|Bahia Ballena{GEND}

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Slogging away

2009-11-22T06:45:00.000-08:00

We spent about 5 days touring the Golfo Dulce to see some of the places we hadn't seen before. One of those places was Casa Orquedea. This botanical garden is packed with all kinds of plants, fruits, herbs and veggies. We got our first glimpse of the Firey-Billed Tucan and some great photos. The additional bonus is we can now update the guidebook with the best anchoring spots (yes there is a good spot!) and the exact location of the garden. We also checked out a wildlife refuge along the coast and bought some bagels in Jimenez.

The swell has been too small to try surfing so we skipped those plans and headed back out into the ocean. The winds and currents weren't very kind to us so after about 14 hours we decided to stop for the night in Drake's Bay. It was a bit rolly but pretty calm compared to the last time we were there.

Sherrell is outside trying to take a picture of a booby (that's a bird gutter-brain) who keeps trying to land on our boat but can't manage the dynamics of approach/landing. Our goal is about 25 hours away at Bahia Ballena where we will rest a bit and then go into the Nicoya to visit one of the last islands we didn't see on our trip through Costa Rica last time.

{GMST}08|45.5|N|83|44.53|W|Slight NW breeze|Underway{GEND}

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Going Again

2009-11-17T08:36:00.000-08:00

We found it difficult to leave Golfito and our friends there but Costa Rica's customs keeps a tight tab on how long we can be in the country before they want us to pay a huge amount of tax. Our summer in Golfito was probably one of the best. We had a great time there and got a lot of work done on the boat too.

Now we are across the Golfo Dulce in Puerto Jimenez doing some last minute shopping (they have bagels here) before we check out a couple new spots and start heading north again.

Since we will be underway most of the time our access to the internet will be limited and sporadic. We will post updates to the slog while we are underway as usual via radio email.

Is it art or is it a table?

2009-11-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

This little project started with a "Wouldn't it be nice if this table leaf was about 3" narrower?" Almost two months later it's done. Sure it only took about three days to remove the molding, formica, and cut the table leaf. But why settle with average? A local artist, Tari of Galeria Bambu, offered to do some painting for us in trade for watching her house. So why not paint our Sarana (chocolate lily) flower on our table? It sure beats the yellow formica!

We destroyed her first attempt because our epoxy coating didn't cure. Three weeks wasted. After drinking about 3 beers each (a lot for us) we angrily stripped it and then sat around depressed. Tari, probably feeling bad for us, generously offered to paint it again. Her second effort turned out beautiful too and the glass-like epoxy finish hardened properly. It looks so cool.

After not having a table for a long time, we were excited to install it and take some photos.

One leaf open.

Both leaves open.

Table up and put away. It looks really really good! Thanks TARI! See her website and check out her paintings. http://costarica-art.com/default.html

Pimping Ads, Oars, Tables and Panama

2009-11-07T17:39:00.000-08:00

Over Sherrell's birthday we took a trip to Panama to buy a year's supply of her cancer meds, do some shopping and maybe celebrate a little. Getting her medicine has been an ordeal because the credit card won't work in the hospital scanner. These meds aren't sold in many places so we've been desperate to get this to work. Really this is our second attempt to buy them because last time we were here they had the same problem. On Sherrell's b-day the plan was to swipe the card then head to the mountains. No go. After trying a few machines they found one in the hospital that worked. Despite trying to arrange this weeks ago, they still didn't have the stock we needed. So we paid for everything and they were going to airfreight them from Panama City. I really tried to get this setup before we got there, but I think they thought we were trying to scam them or something since the card didn't work when we tried to buy them earlier. So we spent Sherrell's b-day arguing with the pharmacy. To make it up to her, I decided we should rent a car. With a car we could do our shopping, then lug all our stuff around up into the mountains, return to get the medicine, then get a cab to the border back to Costa Rica. I'm really glad we splurged. We drove up towards Boquete and found a fantastic used book store that was one of the best we've seen since Seattle! We drove up and up to Boquete, through the so-so town and up into the hills. The narrow winding roads, oxygen rich clean air and the greeeeeeen pine forests were a healing change. Breathing in the cool air and enjoying the waterfalls was a blast. We had so much fun driving through the hills and rivers we forgot our troubles.There was a hot springs too in Caldera, so we drove out there through rough dirt roads (poor rental car). We hiked into the hot springs and in 20 minutes felt cured. It was soooo nice letting the hot volcanic water bubble up all around us.
Returning to Golifto reminded us of all the work we needed to finish. We repaired our outboard. I had to use marine-tex epoxy and stainless parts to build a new carburetor bowl (took 4 days). Our oars needed to be stripped, dried out, epoxy sealed and painted (took 3 days). I did some spying for Land Sea on their network to try to catch someone sharing illegal files which caused them to have their internet access blocked for a few days. We re-epoxied our table (try #2) after Tari repainted everything again (please cure stupid epoxy)! Oh the list goes on - repaired a deck leak that ruined some cook books, cut and sanded about 60 wood plugs from the mast/table modifications, we did....

Last but not least, I pimped out our website to google ads. I know it sucks. Our homepage now has a string of ads somewhat related to our site's theme. I only did this because I found out that other people are actually making money doing it. So if you see an ad that looks interesting don't be shy, click it. We earn a little moo-lah off that click. It's a brave new world. I might add them to this page too (depressing sigh).

Why can't things stop breaking?

2009-10-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

So I was reading this dramatic story on the internet about how a scientist has found a way to literally turn "life" on and off. Seriously. He found a way to prevent cellular damage caused by rapidly dropping oxygen levels (i.e. irrecoverable death). Basically he uses a poison to stop the damage from lack of oxygen. Then the organism "dies" without any cellular damage, only to be "restarted" again later, sometimes several hours later. He is working on ways to extend this technique to larger and larger animals, like us humans. So you could clinically be dead while they operate on you (or your dead body at least), then when the time is right...BAM! Re-animation! IT LIVES!

I was thinking that if scientists can switch life on and off, why can't I stop things from breaking on the boat? At least for a while. It seems that fixing them doesn't really help as things break faster than I can fix them. Maybe there is a way to stop this entropy for a while so the boat stays suspended. I can fix everything then have a beer to celebrate being done, before I turn entropy back on and something breaks.

Well, so much for fantasy and procrastination...back to work.

We are a sailboat again

2009-10-11T17:02:00.000-07:00

Our "side project" of painting the mast turned out to be a HUGE amount of work. But after hours and hours of sanding and layering paint on the oxidized spots, it took only an hour with the sprayer to put 3 final coats on the mast. The results look really good.

Here's a photo of the mast after we moved it from under the roofed building and we're getting ready to hoist it. I'm at the end hooking up the antenna and windex and Robert, Kelita, Dana and Steven look at our sparkly paint job.

We managed to wrestle it back onto the boat without breaking anything or even scratch the new paint. And what a relief! The new compression supports are nice and solid. We pulled a chain plate and the bolts just to inspect them and they all looked good. Now I'm in the process of re-tuning the mast as things have changed slightly after the compression post work and it all sitting in the yard for a while. I installed a LED tricolor/anchor light and rigged our steaming/bow light so that for the first time EVER we will have a working deck light.

The great part is we are almost finished with our 3 month bonding period with Costa Rica Customs, so we will be able to get another 3 month cruising permit and be free.

A big thanks to all those who helped us get the mast back on:
Tim - LANDSEA
Robert & Kelita -- S/V FREEDOM
Steven & Darusha -- S/V SCREAM
Dana -- S/V VIDA LIBRE

Tsunami takes a friend

2009-10-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

I was back in the US helping out my family and visiting when I received an email detailing how tragedy strikes instantly. The tsunami in the Samoas wiped out villages, boats and a friend of ours. Dan and his wife Joan gave us some great touring advice for northern Peru when we were anchored in Ecuador together. Dan was swept from the boat and drowned. It is so sad.

Another boat we know was swept though the town and all torn up. The owner was forced to grab what he could and abandon it to looters who were harrassing him.

It reminds me that sometimes even if things seem bad, they could be a lot worse and it could happen in an instant. Be happy for right now.

Our Mast Rocks

2009-09-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

With the mast down we have been slaving on the boat.

Weeks of work and the compression post is finally finished! There was a subtle problem with how the boat was orginally built and over the past 32 years things started to compress. The mast applies a downward force on the deck that is blanced by a compression post below (shown in brown). Unfortunately our compression post (strong teak) was mounted on top of a plywood sub-floor and ceiling (shown in light blue). The plywood compressed slightly over time and shifting the post.

I no likey. Here's how it was built with the orignal on top and new-improved construction on the bottom:

Step 6,039 was to pull off the compression post, table, wiring, molding, and just about everything that looked nice.

Anyway, step 10,104 was to cut out the compressed ceiling and fiberglass it. I should mention I no likey fiberglassing overhead. This foto shows the area that needs to be cut out and glassed.

This photo shows the sub-floor that needs to be replaced with something stronger. Purple heart was the wood I used as it is hard as concrete.

Our compression post isn't right under the mast, which is a bit odd. Due to the inside structures we couldn't move the post to the center, so I distributed the force using a 1/4" thick peice of stainless steel...very heavy duty.

In this photo, step 12,600, you can see the new (purple) sub-floor under the compression post. I haven't cleaned up the area yet, but things are coming together.

After building some new molding that fit flush to everything and reinstalling most of it. Step 14,212 was to take a photo of the almost finished work.

Now we just need about 50 teak plugs and our table back to finish this project. We decided to cut our table to a more narrow size and rip off the tacky formica. We have an artist working on a cool painting for our table top! It's going to look so fantastic!

Tea Parties

2009-09-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

While doing all this sanding and manual labor my thoughts have wandered to strange happenings. Like these Tea Party people. WTF? Where have these people been living? Oh, let's see where have we seen rapid government expansion?

Government buying bank shares [Bush started Government Bailouts with Banks]
Huge perscription drug plan with NO funding [can you say deficit?] while cutting taxes.
Spending went from 1.5 Trillion 2001 to 3.1 Trillion 2008+ [2009 Budget Summary via Government Printing Office, reported all as part of Bush's Budget Plans]
Iraq War cost $711 billion and climbing
Home Land Security -- Largest Fed. expansion in 50 years
Patriot Act 1 & 2 -- we need to know what books you are checking out of the library
No Child Left Behind -- massive federalization of schools [that socialist!]

"We have now presided over the largest increase in the size of government since the Great Society," said Sen. John McCain, the Republican candidate vying to replace Mr. Bush 2004.

So now they are pissed that there is going to be health insurance reform? Things seem to be getting pretty crazy. They've degraded to the point where people don't think Obama is an American? Why didn't these crackers ask to see the birth certificate from Bush, Clinton, Other Bush, Reagan, etc.? It sounds like some of these people just can't handle a minority president and refuse to see logic or reason. Nevermind each presidental canidate is required to be US-born by law.... Check out these people.

How can you argue with that logic? I personally didn't get a certified copy of his certificate, did you? Maybe he should include one in each tax refund.

The Old Street Cat

2009-09-06T15:59:00.000-07:00

Along came a cat.

We've been watching this older black and white street cat for over a month now. It was hit by a car and hasn't been able to heal. Someone tried to treat it with some iodine, but this cat needs to be kept isolated and heavily treated. We sadly watched it get worse as a bad staff infection set in. The kitty doesn't have any owners and often hangs out by the fishermen. Somone has been feeding it scraps, but we can't really find anyone who claims the old guy.

The other day I was making some cuts on a table saw and I spotted him under a parked car. He was looking really weak. Another friend of ours, Tari, has also been watching his plight and encouraged us to trap him and see if he could be treated or put down.

So we put our wild cat capturing skills back into action and brought him up to Tari's. His injuries were a lot worse than we expected and he was suffering. It tore us apart, but we called the vet to put the old guy down. I went out and dug a hole for him and Tari picked some flowers. When the vet examined him he said the cat had a poor chance at living and the treatment would be very painful. He thought it was right thing to put him down too.

I miss seeing the old guy hanging out in the shade in random places, but he isn't suffering anymore.

And now for something completely different

2009-09-05T16:29:00.000-07:00

Latin music doesn't really do much for me or Sherrell. But there is one band from Puerto Rico which I really like. Here's one of their latest songs that is fun to sing along to. I like the way Spanish rhymes so well.

No hay nadie como tu (There is no one like you)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38-cNUyOXqw

I first heard of this band when I heard what has become my all time favorite Spanish language song: Atrévete-te-te! (Dare to to to...) It's about daring girls to be more sexual and real. It's trite, but I like the rhyme....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcOknZbStOY&feature=channel

They have a lot of different sounds and are usually controversial.

Stepping the mast in Golfito

2009-08-29T06:52:00.000-07:00

We’ve been delaying the inevitable. Our mast sits on the deck, and beneath the deck is a post that supports the deck. All fine and good. However over time and a lot of sailing the post started to compress into the floor and ceiling. Hmmm. A few years ago in El Salvador, we loosened all the stays, carefully jacked up the support and inserted two stainless plates on the top and bottom to both shim it up and distribute the force. We also built a new support around the plates.

Well like the exhaust, I knew this problem needed to be addressed in a more serious fashion, meaning taking the mast out, then the post and rebuilding everything. Prior to doing any long off shore passages like crossing the Pacific this had to be fixed. So I started searching Mexico for places where I could take the mast off and do the work with the boat in the water (saving money by not being in the boat yard).

The prices in Mexico have steadily crept up since we left. I was a bit disappointed, but then I found a guy with a crane here and a basin where we could get our boat in during high tide. The price was good, so we decided to try it.

How to pull out the mast? Get a bunch of volunteers to help, one crane and keep your fingers crossed.

At high tide we entered the basin with just about every thing ready. Once the crane hooked up to the lifting rope I set up we began to disconnect the rigging.

(Rosemary and Richard helping me hunched down at the base)

The crane operator and Tim (from Land Sea) look on at our frantic de-rigging.

We then lifted it from the boat while trying to guide it and stabilize it while the crane operator drives around. A bit chaotic, but no damage! They even put it under the roof so it will be out of the sun and rain!
(Richard, David and I wrestling the mast)

With the mast gone, our boat looks a little silly. Here we are parked against the wall before heading back to Fish Hook.

Now the hard work of fixing the supports, working on the mast and checking the chain plates/bolts begins. A big thanks to all the people who helped:

Tim (Land Sea)
Richard (s/v Mandi)
David (s/v Sidewinder)
Rosemary (s/v Niña)

Four Years Cancer Free

2009-08-29T05:26:00.000-07:00

We finished another annual round of testing in David, Panama a couple of weeks ago and got the good news. She still has about another 1.5 years of adjuvant hormone treatment left before we have to consider what is next. We’re going to see the original surgeon in Mexico for the 5 year check-up and plan out the next stage.

It’s been a long road with a lot of ups and downs, scares and disappointments, tears and anger but we are hanging in there. Sherrell’s been getting healthier and we both can’t wait until she is off the hormone medicine as it affects your brain and body in weird ways.

In the same vain, I just read a review of a book, “Manning Up in Alaska”. Despite the title, it sounds interesting. It probably hits too close to home for either of us to read, but the author had terrible throat cancer, stage 3. After a 9 hour operation he was left unable to swallow properly and endured 4 months of chemo treatment. He started a foundation to take people going through treatment out sailing to help relieve them from the stress. He also went cruising and had some of the crazy cruising mishaps we've experienced. Here's a link to the book http://tiny.cc/IiCQS if you're interested.

Eric

US Health Care Ranks Below Costa Rica?

2009-08-24T14:40:00.001-07:00

(Warning: Eric rants!)

I don’t normally pay much attention to the latest in US news. But for us who know 3^rd world health care very personally I can’t stand not saying something. So I thought I would post it here where no one really reads it.

The WHO ranked Costa Rica’s health care above that of the US and many people in the US were shocked and upset. Well, I can tell you the health care here is better, faster and cheaper. In the capital, San Jose, they have all of the latest high tech equipment from MRI and 3d TAC to bone scan machines. You can walk in without an appointment get a scan, pay $20-$150 and walk out with your results usually inside 2-3 hours.

So I was a bit offended by the people who were offended that even Costa Rica ranked higher. Well, I would definitely rank Mexico higher than the US too and I found Mexico was way down on the list at #61 (http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html). But I looked closer at the requirements and I think if you look at the health performance rankings by country it provides a better picture (http://www.photius.com/rankings/world_health_performance_ranks.html) with Costa Rica #25, Mexico #63 and US #72.

My real problem is with all these people on TV screaming about health care. (Keep in mind I can only see Internet news and for TV it’s Fox News and CNN International and CNN International isn’t at all interested in the subject). Please, the system is broken and the insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and lawyers broke it. Let’s not try to defend the current system. I see it has gotten to the point where some people show up with guns to the political rallies. What the hell?! People are not getting proper medical treatment or going bankrupt trying (about 50% of bankruptcies are as a result of medical expenses) should be the focus of anger.

It is crazy. Medicare and Medicaid are social programs. So are the police and fire services, big deal. The bulk of the non-war related deficit is in Medicare/Medicaid so there is a lot of room for “social” improvement. Why are so many people afraid of trying to fix some that is broken for most Americans? And I say “most” Americans because after experiencing health care of other countries I didn’t realize how bad I had it.

I can empathize with people who have steady jobs, employer covered insurance with reasonable co-pays not being interested in change. However having had major health care issues in Mexico and Nicaragua and smaller but non-trivial check-up type exams in Costa Rica, Panama and Ecuador, even that insured service isn’t great in the US. (Sherrell would be denied insurance coverage in the US because of pre-existing conditions, making coverage unattainable in the US for us).

As an uninsured foreigner, for example, I can walk into a clinic, see a doctor ($4.18 in Ecuador to $50 in Mexico), discuss my problems (no time limit), and get recommendations for tests. I can then walk into a testing facility, either independent or associated with a hospital and get my testing done that day (assuming I don’t need to fast or something unique for that specific test). I pay less than $200 (even for complex tests) and walk out with my results in my hands. I can then choose to go back to the previous doctor (the follow up is often free), or take my results to other doctors and shop around for opinions.

If I need hospitalization the costs run between $15 (Ecuador) and $200 /night (Mexico), with $100 (Nicaragua) being more common. These prices are all inclusive of care and medication at high-end modern facilities designed to US standards and there are cheaper options of course. They are fully staffed and are often certified by American Quality Assurance companies for safety, cleanliness and training. The same goes for the medical labs with certifications for both equipment and training from international organizations (usually US).

I don’t claim to know all the ins and outs of the finances behind each country’s system. However looking at the WHO rankings I see these countries are no where near the high US costs and yet doctors are still paid well which I think is very important. For people who need special high cost operations and have to go through the fully covered insurance of a socialized program, progress can be frustrating and slow, but at least they can get help.

While I don’t trust politicians, I do think a new approach is needed to health care and trying just about anything is worth the risk. The worst that could happen is we could increase the deficit and the same people don’t get health care. It’s not like we are going to war where people will die and trillions of dollars will be lost. I really don’t think the hostility shown against the new plan is warranted at all.

In Costa Rica employers pay 9.25% and workers pay 5.5% to the health care system. The overall amount is much less than is spent in the US and yet not everyone is even close to being covered in the US. People like Sherrell are SOL for coverage in the US and the costs are so high forget paying it out of pocket.

Health Care is like dealing with cancer, there is no good solution. No one is going to be jumping for joy but I think the US can do a lot better if they suck it up and try something new rather than complaining.

The history of Costa Rica’s system which is 68 years old and has both public and private option for full coverage. The system is very interesting and mirrors the US debate, only in 1941 when it started, not 2009. Looking at the history shows me why there are a lot of dollars being spent to lobby congress as the public option helped keep the private sector from reaping billions in profits. http://www.ticotimes.net/topstoryarchive/2009_08/082109.htm However it is a system similar to Canada, which the US is not going to adopt, but many of the arguments in 1940’s were the same as today in the US and were proven to be invalid.

Unfortunately I feel the US health care plan will probably be whittled down by big money and be too little too late. And people like Sherrell will still be un-insurable.

Engine Breathes Easier

2009-08-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

About 2 years ago in Nicaragua I had the wet exhaust side blow out (there are two sides: a wet and a dry side) and leak hot salt water everywhere. Let me tell you nothing corrodes metal faster than boiling hot salt water. Thinking, I was prepared because I had noticed the decay and searched out some parts back in Mexico, I assumed a couple days of work and I'll have it fixed. No go. I had purchased the wrong size parts! As usual I went to the internet to look for other parts and found that the type of steel I was using wasn't a good choice anyway. After many failed searches in Central America it took someone flying into Nicaragua from the US to bring some nice new 314 stainless parts.

After searching out all the leaks, everything was good. So I decided to pull off the insulation on the exhaust riser just to see how good that side was. It's the dry side of the exhaust before the salt water is injected for cooling. Stupidly I thought, I'm sure its fine and didn't pull of the itchy insulation earlier when I was buying parts for the wet side. Yikes, about 1/2 the thickness had rusted away underneath the insulation! I did a quick estimate and figured that would give me about 500 hours before it would fail. Based on my previous searching, I didn't stand much of a chance getting the parts again without someone flying them in. So I put it off until I could get parts again.

Flash forward to the present and now the time has come. I couldn't easily find the parts in Ecuador or Panama, but the problem is only getting worse. I pulled out the exhaust assembly and took it down to a great machine shop here in Golfito. In about a day and $55 they removed the rusty mess and machined some new stainless for it. The exhaust looks so good I took a picture of it before wraping it back up with insulation. Isn't it sparkly?

A three year long habit...broken.

2009-07-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

A great way to save money is not to use a dock or a mooring ball and just anchor. Well, we started slowly breaking the habit. We did some work for trade of a buoy here in Golfito for a few months. That was nice and I didn't have to scrub the anchor chain every couple of weeks or so. But now we've really moved up -- to a dock! We are required to bond our "vehicle" to avoid paying a customs tax on the value of the "vehicle". This law is meant for cars and trucks. But not knowing what to do with boats, they decided it should apply too.

The trouble is the only places that can bond in Golfito are marinas. Very expensive marinas. We did negotiate a rate, and we only have to do it for 3 months before we can get a new cruising permit. So we've been saving money to average out the stupidly high marina costs. We should still be able to average under our budget for the year...we hope!

Here's a picture of us at the dock, breaking a 3 year long habit of anchoring. I waited until some rain was coming to take the photo. Notice our full on gypsy appearance? We even have a clothes line on blocks rigged on the foredeck because having your laundry done is super expensive too!

I've taken to jogging up the jungle mountain nearby with Sherrell (who walks) and Reilly (a dog who runs). We do that about 2-3 times a week and we put our bicycles back together. Yes! The same crappy bikes from Ecuador which we rode in Panama too! They still work despite being wrapped in plastic on our deck and sailed about 700 miles.

Here's a view of Golfito from on top of the jungle mountain.

Here's some photos from a nearby anchorage to remind us of what waits once our 3 months are up and the rainy season has calmed down.

One REALLY BAD thing about being at the dock is keeping Jordan from going bonko on the dock and racing around other boats. We put a harness on her and tie her to a little cat run we made so she can hang out on deck, but not escape. You can see she's doing alright.

There are ships which bring boats in and drop them off. Imagine having the money to ship your boat around to wherever you want to be, then flying in all big shot like and using it after you've paid some guys to clean it up and sort it all out for you. Well it happens more than I thought. Got an extra $15,000-$30,000 you can be cool too. The first day we arrived we passed a Yacht Path ship loading up a sailboat. Look closely and you'll see the sailboat sticks out over both sides of the ship. If the owner only knew...haha.

We have had a great time here so far. There are TONS of animals around in the jungle and even in the water. One day a dolphin put on a show right by our boat!

Well not much more to write really. I'm trying to give some English lessons to a friend who wants to learn. Our radar is still broken, but we might have parts coming to Maryland. I'm (Eric) am going back to the East Coast to visit family in Sept. It will be my first time back in the US since 2004...yikes!

We are going to keep working on the boat and getting ourselves organized now that we can use the dock space which is an added bonus, along with power and water. But we both would prefer to be out on the anchor or even the mooring again.

A whole pile of pictures

2009-04-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

We've gone through our photos and have created slide shows of them to share with everyone. You can either go to our home page and see the list of new stories or you can follow each of the links here.

Photos from our time in Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador

Photos from travel in Ecuador

Photos from travel in Peru

Photos from crusing Colombia

Photos from transiting the Panama Canal (on Moondancer)

Is that mast on jacks?

2009-04-21T15:28:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we have to find creative solutions to solving problems. In this case our mast sits on our deck and inside there are wires that run through the deck to the inside of the boat. All fine and good until one day it started leaking and we had a waterfall inside our boat. So how do you lift a mast without a crane or two boats tied on each side to hoist it? Well, we decided to try to jack it up.

I built some supports and then tied the mast fore and aft at the base, just in case it tried to move. Then we took off the sails, boom, and anything that added weight to the mast. When we were ready, we loosened all the stays as much as possible, and we started jacking each jack (one on each side) slowly. After we raised it about 2-3 inches we could clean out the old sealant, then we blocked and moved each jack one at a time to clean each side and then reseal it with new sealant.

It seems to be keeping the water out so far. We're pretty excited that for about $25 bucks for the jacks we probably fixed the problem. Now we are cleaning up all the gear and repainting everything to protect it from oxidizing.

Golfito

2009-04-14T16:49:00.000-07:00

We spent the night anchored off a peninsula called Bruica and it was nice because we actually got to use our own guidebook to navigate there!

However we're getting a bit anxious for civilization and our garbage and laundry is really piling up so we spent the night and bolted in the morning to Golfito where I'm now writing this message. It was a long trip full of very sloppy waves and my body aches from the loooong day. But Golfito itself is very calm and it is so nice just to anchor and enjoy a cold drink.

{GMST}08|37.211|N|83|09.181|W|Oh yeah|Golfito{GEND}
{GMST}08|04.630|N|82|50.950|W|Good spot for sleep|Punta Balsa{GEND}

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weird to be back again

2009-04-11T11:17:00.000-07:00

Almost a year ago to the day we departed this anchorage for that fateful 7 day passage to Ecuador. The one where we helped two another boat about 300 miles.

Anchoring here alone it seems like such a long time ago -- another age. Yet here we are again. I didn't think I'd be back, but sometimes you never know the path you're going to take.

This little island is pretty protected and there is a fresh water stream so we might do a little laundry. Other than that, we'll probably rest a day before starting the hops to Golfito.

{GMST}08|05.629|N|82|20.331|W|Calm but hot|Isla Parida{GEND}

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14 miles of dead fish

2009-04-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

I'm no biologist, but it seems something is seriously wrong when you run into a bunch of baby fish (fry) that are dead. At first we thought, hmm...lots of dead little fish and they sure do stink but after about 3 miles of dead fish we began to wonder if this was going to hamper our snorkeling in Islas Secas. I jokingly said, "It can't be like this for another 11 miles." But it was a carpet of dead fish for 14 miles. There must have been 10 million of them. As we got closer the island they were floating belly up in big clouds swirling on the water.

It seemed to just be small fish of all the same type. I scooped some up as we sailed by and found they still had signs of the egg yoke so they were probably quite young. Something in the water? I don't know but swimming in dead fish stew didn't sound like fun, even if the water was ok. It's too bad to because everyone raves about the snorkeling at Las Secas.

Not to miss trying it, I jumped in, but the visiablity wasn't very good. There is a lot of coral and fish which was a surprise, but the spectre of dead fish stew kept me from staying in the water long.

{GMST}07|59.613|N|82|01.887|W|Eeew. Dead fish stew|Islas Secas{GEND}

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Ensenada de Rosario

2009-04-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I tried my hand at working on 2 more generators and a second attempt at a third, but I had no luck. No one seemed to be to disappointed and they appreciated my work. I did get a VHF radio wired up and got some LED lights working, so I wasn't a total failure. Part of the problem is there are no parts around here. One generator needs a new field controller and another has some burnt out wires on the rotor and the third was quite a mystery why we couldn't get the engine running. It's too hot for lights anyway, right?

We said goodbye to Domingo and his family and a few of the others we met and took off to see some more of the coast. According to our charts we are anchored on top of a 450' hill. Stupid charts.

The coast here is beautiful and full of islands, jungles, beaches, and howler monkeys. We're both surprised at how nice this part of the coast is. The water is also very clear which adds to the effect. We are slowly working our way back to Costa Rica and with the water Domingo gave us we should be able to meander our way there at our standard pace without having to go to a city or somewhere with a reliable water supply.

{GMST}07|51.207|N|81|34.860|W|Calm behind the island|Rosario{GEND}

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Fountain of Youth

2009-04-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

Ever heard of someone loosing 20 years off their age in one day? We've been getting to know this family that lives here in Bahia Honda. I've been working on their generator, VHF radio, LED lights and Sherrell has been busy reversing time. She was talking with Domingos wife who insisted she was 90 years old. At some point in the discussion she disappears and brings out her ID card which shows her birthday on 1949. Sherrell then explained to her that she was only 60 years old, but rather than being pleased she seemed a bit distraught. She said Domingo told her she was 90. Since Domingo is a bit older looking than her we wondered if something more
complicated was going on. Sherrell is a trouble maker.

We haven't got much work done on the boat. Our radar is still not working right. I think it needs a new cable. That's going to be expensive to get shipped down. Domingo did offer to let us take water from his property which he has plumbed running water from a creek high up in the hills. It is very clean and we were able to replenish our water supply so now we have lots of water on the boat again!

This is a great bay to hang out in. The only draw back is it is removed from any supplies. There is a small hotel here which runs to Puerto Mutis once a week, but that's it. Too bad because I could spend a lot of time in this bay. The small store in the village just doesn't have enough supplies to keep us demanding gringos fed properly.

Domingo took us on a tour of a indigenous village where his wife comes from. You can only enter at high tide through a maze of mangroves. It is a stark contrast to go from the skyscrapers of Panama City to the mud huts in these towns. The village was fullof curious people who chatted with us and often offered us food. They have a proper school, a little Catholic Church, a store and
naturally a solar powered satellite pay phone. The trip was interesting and we got to meet some more of Domingos family and friends. But birth-control would do this places a world of good as 12 kids is really a bit much. Hey Pope are you listening?

On other news, the Tehuantapec is forecast to blow at hurricane force. I don't think it has ever developed a storm that strong this late in the season

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Bahia Honda Village

2009-04-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

Everyone told us how cool bahia honda is, but in reality it's hot -- very hot. Right now we are reading 97F in the boat and not much wind. We decided to try to anchor off the village to see what the scene is like there and visit the stores. It's your typical case of dropping the anchor and having a pile of shy kids show up in dug out canoes trying to sell fruit and ask a ton of questions. Then you go into town and have another pile of kids yell candy candy candy. After being told there's no candy they quickly switch tactics to money money money. We did get a couple of cold sodas, watched a guy take his pig for a swim (too cool off), and had some drunk guys invite us to beers (rather boisterously). No luck on finding bread or veggies. There is supposed to be some guy in a panga who sells stuff to cruisers, but maybe he isn't around.

It is a bit noisy off the town because the restaurant is cranking their obligatory music so we'll probably move to a quieter part of the bay. We glimpsed another cruising sailboat but they left from the other side of the bay just about the time we anchored off the town. There is one other sailboat over there but I'm not sure anyone is on it. There sure aren't many boats cruising the coast. We've hardly seen anyone.

{GMST}07|45.220|N|81|30.835|W|Calm like lake|B. Honda Village{GEND}

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Isla Santa Catalina

2009-04-03T12:10:00.000-07:00

Just a short 15 mile up from Isla Cebaco is Isla Santa Catalina. We arrived to find massive swells and brave surfers trying to ride them. They are way to big for me to try and the bottom is pretty rocky. Because of the large swell we don't think we can make it easily into the little town which is a bummer because we would like to pick up some supplies and maybe eat out.

Despite the pretty beach and the fairly protected anchorage we will probably head out tomorrow morning because I won't be surfing those giants.

{GMST}07|37.509|N|81|16.387|W|The swells are pumping|I. Santa Catalina{GEND}

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the other ensenada naranjo

2009-04-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

We were forced out of the last anchorage by squalls. All night there was lightning and wind from odd dirrections. Then at 4am the wind started funneling right into the bay and waves started to build. We got up and got the boat ready to leave. Since our radar has not been working we decided to try to hold on until day light at about 5am the rain came down in buckets. By 6am however it started to clear up and the wind died down. The seas were still quite rough, but we hoisted the anchor and bailed out. Two bad nights and one good one just isn't very good odds. Sadly I missed out on taking any photos or doing a hike up to the hill.

Now we are at an island called Isla Cebaco in another bay called Ensenada Naranjo (naranjo is an orange). Some books call one of these Ensenada Naranja, but there seems to be confusion among the charts, books and cruisers. I don't know exactly what this (or the last place) is called. I do know there is a fuel boat here which sells fuel at $3.75 a gallon ($2.00 back in panama city) and they have sodas and beer. Wacky. There isn't any significant shore-side population and it appears this fuel boat is mostly for sport fishing boats.

{GMST}07|29.572|N|81|13.407|W|The boat Cebaco Bay sells fuel here|Ensenada Naranjo(a?){GEND}

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Ensenada Orange

2009-03-31T09:07:00.000-07:00

This place is fantastic. We had the calmest night last evening since leaving Isla Cana almost 3 months ago. There were no wakes from the pilot boats (Panama City), no swell, no wind chop, just a nice calm night. To top it off this bay has beautiful silky black sand beaches with hiking trails and wild fruit like orange sized limes (great for rum drinks!). The water is much warmer and I can see about 20 feet down without any effort.

Anyway we might stay another day or two before heading out...it all depends on the weather forecasts.

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Ensenada Naranjo

2009-03-30T05:13:00.000-07:00

Feeling lucky that we didn't get pummeled at Punta Mala and with a forecast of light winds we decided to leave Benao after 2 nights and a day of surfing while our luck was still holding. While we have a long history of getting surprise weather and naturally the 20-25 knots of east wind was a surprise. The fortunate thing is we were going west. So instead of doing 1 knot against it we were doing 6-7 with it. All those headlands really build up the seas with the current swirling around them and it was just like sailing along South America again. The bouncy soup of whitecaps wore us out.

We arrived in Ensenada Naranjo almost 2 hours faster than planned. It was calm and out of the easterly winds. What a relief, until 10pm. Then a funky little swell starting rolling in bouncing our little boat like a basketball. It's hard to sleep inside a basketball. We put another line on the anchor chain, put out the flopper stopper and moved to sleep on the couches. About 6 hours later when the tide changed the little chop died down...interesting. A larger boat (which most people have) probably wouldn't have felt much.

Hearing the howler monkeys again this morning made up for it. Now we'll see if we can find a better spot in the bay and try to get some more rest. We heard there are a lot of hiking trails here too, so we'll have to do some exploring.

{GMST}07|16.459|N|80|55.443|W|Howler Monkeys|Ensenada Naranjo{GEND}

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Ensenada Benau

2009-03-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

It was a rolly ride, but we managed to pass Punta Mala, a notoriously miserable part of Panama with very little excitement. Some rain a little wind and in the final rounding of the point we ended up motoring because there was no wind. We waited for exactly the right forecast and to our luck the forecast was right. This time of year it isn't uncommon to have 30-40 knots of wind at Punta Mala. For the rest of Pamana it is mostly downhill from here.

This spot is a famous surf beach and has about a 2 mile stretch of beach which is calling to us. We're both way to tired to attempt a shore landing or any surfing. The water is still a bit on the cold side, but the sun is blazing so it will feel good.

I was hoping to get WIFI here but we had to anchor a bit further out than most people because there is a trimaran anchored in the prime area. I'm not sure the signal is strong enough to reach the boat anyway....

{GMST}07|25.526|N|80|11.398|W|Past Punta Mala|Ensenada Benau{GEND}

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Beating the odds

2009-03-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

I think the betting pool had us at 2:1 we wouldn't actually make it out of Panama City, but we did. We are on our way to see Western Panama, an area we have yet to visit.

We got a lot of work done on the boat and found lots of parts and materials we haven't seen since leaving the US about 5 years ago. We spent a lot of time shopping and very little time meeting all the people anchoring around us, which was too bad. There were a lot of new boats coming over from the Caribbean and many old friends gathering here to -- surprise -- shop.

Of course we haven't gone far. We are only about 20 miles away at Isla Otoque where we can clean the bottom of the boat, and get ourselves back into the mindset of sailing after adjusting to the frantic pace of the city. It's nice and calm here and we are starting to unwind.

{GMST}08|35.736|N|79|36.069|W|Bye bye big city|Isla Otoque{GEND}

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All that work

2009-03-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

We've been busy. Before going through the canal. Before my mom's visit. We busted our butts. New batteries, a new solar panal, patched our sails, worked on our engine and the grand project of them all:

REFRIGERATION!

Yes after 6 years of warm drinks we now have a fridge. After some research and talking to other cruisers we opted for the Engel fridge/freezer. It is a nice compact unit that can either be a refridgerator or a freezer. We ripped out the old ice box which was fiberglass and crappy foam insulation:

Then I painted the inside with white enamle paint, which turned out to be disco gold, not white.

We added some radiated heat insulation to the walls.

Then I got busy building walls and a floor and adding thick foam insulation. We also added a formica finish.

Then finally some paint, wiring and we popped the Engel into place. Getting it to fit properly was a HUGE headache, but in the end it turned out great. There is a HOT side and a COLD side. The hot side is vented and the cold side is insulated. This allows us to put other items like bread or things that just need to be kept cool all around the outside space of the Engel. That gives us more room for drinks and other things in the fridge.

Hard to beat cold beer in 90 degree weather. And so far the solar panels are keeping up with the power demands as the Engel only needs about 15 amp-hours a day, with us turning it off at night. It's been great!

Went through the Panama Canal

2009-03-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we didn't go on Sarana (because we don't want to go that direction), but we did go through the canal. Small boats like us sailboats need extra crew to handle lines going through the Panama Canal. Other sailors usually volunteer to help those boats in return for some food and getting some money for a cab ride back.

We went through with MOONDANCER X and it was a pretty cool experience. It is amazing they built this canal 100 years ago and it is working like clock work.

Here were are going up 25 feet in the first set of chambers at the Mira Flores Locks. The total rise with 3 sets of locks is almost 60 feet above sea level. Notice the bubbling current that can cause a lot of turbulence and problems for us small boats. Here in this chamber we are side-tied to a tug.

Check out the tourists checking us out:

There is a lot of traffic in the canal in fact the WORLD just passed us by:

It was a great trip and Nancy and Tony on MOONDANCER were great. They feed us and kept us going with snacks. We were fortunate to have an advisor who was very good. He managed to squeeze us into the locks ahead of a couple of ships and thanks to his efforts we were able to complete the transit in one day...one very long day.

Panama

2009-02-09T04:29:00.000-08:00

We have been working like dogs on the boat and shopping like good old Americans in our free time. We've been working on a HUGE upgrade to Sarana as a present to Sherrell but it is also a good surprise for my mom who is visiting in 7 days.

Panama continues to amaze me with everything there it has to offer!

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Photos from Colombia

2008-12-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

Here we are anchored in Tumaco, Colombia in a protected estuary.

We sailed north to Isla Gorgona a national park. This lizard was a rare find. It is endemic to Isla Gorgona and exists no where else in the world.

This is our guide who took us on a nature hike around the island. We saw a snake, lots of birds and even monkeys.

Further north in another park called Ensenada Utria we found paradise. One of the coolest places we've been to. This waterfall flows right into the anchorage.

Further north still, our final port Bahia Solano where we checked out of the country. We found a hike up to a raging waterfall, but it required scrambling up a rocky river in the middle of the jungle.

Is that boat sinking?!

2008-12-19T11:37:00.000-08:00

On our way to do some internet and find a cold beer with Nakia, John points out a boat and says, "Is that boat taking on water?" It was sure low in the water and moving a little funny. Thinking only about cold beer John kept going. I said, "Shouldn't we go over and take a look? Maybe we can get inside one of the hatches."

I jumped aboard and started trying hatches. I got one open and looked inside to see my own reflection sloshing around. The boat was probably 1/3 full of water and filling fast. John took off with everyone else to get more help. I found a switch for "bilge pump" which did nothing. Some others arrived and I asked them to bring some tools and buckets. Someone else arrived with manual bilge pump handle and a big grin. I told them there isn't a manual pump that I can find.

The boat was taking on water fast so I decided to try to climb inside and try to locate the hole. It wasn't easy getting in because there was a door in the way of the hatch, but I squirmed inside and opened the other hatches. The water inside was up to my waist, full of diesel, oil, plastic, paper and god knows what else. The water was so murky I realized there's no way I'm going to find the leak from inside. I can't even find the through-hull fittings without a scuba mask and a waterproof light.

I slowly waded around the murky water on the boat checking the usual spots, hoping to see a rush of current or something. Then I heard a gurgle sound. I followed it to the galley. It was louder and there seemed to be a little current in that area. I felt under the sink and found a detached pipe that was gushing water. Please let this be it, I thought. I could feel the water rising it was rushing in so fast. My guess was 30 to 40 minutes before the boat went down.

I knelt down in the mucky water and tried to find the seacock, but it was under about 3 feet of water in a dark recess. So I set to work trying to plug it. With some effort I reattached the fitting that went to the sink and the flow appeared to stop. If the water level had risen another foot, it would have continued to siphon into the boat, but for now the sink was high enough that it stopped the water flow.

In the meantime a group outside had started working on getting the main companionway hatch open. I would feel safer if I had an easy exit from this boat. Everything was sloshing around. I made a mental note of the water level in case I hadn't found the main leak. As soon as the hatch was open we started a bucket brigade passing up gallons of nasty water. Someone dropped in to the main salon hatch and they started their own brigade. Soon we had people with generators and electric pumps to help remove water. It appeared the level was going down slowly.

Nearby, a ferry was anchored with a Panamanian crew who saw what was going on. They came over and offered use of their diesel powered pump. After some work (they are tough beasts to prime) we got that baby going and sucked the boat dry in about an hour.

The owner showed up in a complete daze. There were probably 15 people, 2 generators, 2 electric pumps, 1 big diesel pump and buckets of water flying all over his boat. I found out later he was a young Argentinian who was planning to use the boat to do charters. Everyone felt bad for him because his boat was a big mess. At least we saved it from going down as it was sinking fast.

The Panamanians it turned out were crew for the big ferry in the anchorage and one of them told us he surrvied a sinking ship once in 20 foot waves. He spent 4 hours in the water and when he saw the sailboat sinking he had to help. It was amazing how fast everyone pulled together and saved that boat.

This is the second boat I've helped bail out now. This boat ended up in a lot better shape than IVY ROSE from San Juan del Sur Nicaragua (if you remember that story). The fast work of everyone involved kept the boat from getting too damaged, but it's going to be a big mess to clean up and restore.

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Panama City!

2008-12-14T18:14:00.000-08:00

We spent a couple of days at Contradora walking the island, swimming, catching up on our 300+ email messages and spending an hour on the phone with Paypal trying to get them to fix something. It was a little like work but a slow re-introduction to civilization.

Despite this, I don't think we were quite ready for Panama City. We could see the skyscrapers from 20 miles off and we knew right away this was going to be a different kind of place. It's busy with ships everywhere, people everywhere and FOOD everywhere. We had a fantastic Italian dinner with fresh mushrooms! Oh it was so good.

Our new batteries are waiting for us - shipped in from Florida. And we've already set our sights on Indian food! The anchorage is a bit disappointing. It's crowded and the constant stream of ships going by creates surprise waves just when you think it's calm. I suppose we'll get used to it as there are really no other options. Anchoring alone costs $5/day for landing your dinghy on shore. God forbid you land on the beach were they will have a fit and try to fine you $500.

All in all I think New Years in Panama City shows some promise and this is certainly a place where you can buy anything, if you have money that is.

{GMST}08|54.555|N|79|31.468|W|Where the action is|Panama City{GEND}

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Two hours from cold beer and food

2008-12-11T09:18:00.001-08:00

We spent last night at a slightly cleaner anchorage. The shore line still looked like a garbage dump but the water was free enough from trash that I could dive on the bottom to clean it and change a zinc. Our friends on Blew Moon said the other parts of the Perlas weren't trashed like the Eastern side of Isla del Rey. I hope so!

We are on our way to Isla Contradora where there is a store! Finally food and cold beer! We are tried of eating dried goods and are desperate for something fresh!

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A sea of trash

2008-12-09T11:34:00.000-08:00

After a while you get used to seeing plastic junk floating around here and there -- especially in the tidal steams. But when people have been carrying on about how fantastic the Perlas Islands are we didn't expect to sail into a stream of garbage. Linda thought the trees were full of colorful birds until the binoculars revealed a colorful array of plastic bags caught in the trees.

The water is really clear. You can easily see the garbage drifting by even 10-12 feet down.

I don't know what the deal is. There is another group of sailors north of us at a different island and they said they're covered with trash too. The natural beauty here is stunning, if you can look past the trash.

{GMST}08|23.08|N|78|50.0|W|Paradise or Garbage Dump?|Isla Cana{GEND}

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Golfo de San Miguel

2008-12-07T16:36:00.000-08:00

We bailed out of Pinas at 3am in order to make headway to a remote area known as the Darien. This is a deep systems of rivers and mangroves where mostly indigenous people live and I'm talking dugout canoes palm frond hut kind of places.

However while underway our buddies on Nakia had their engine go a little wacko on them. So rather than travel deep into the jungle rivers (which involves a lot of motoring) we are going to work our way to Panama City. This works out ok despite the change of plans. Our boat's batteries are totally shot. In fact back in Ecuador we had to give up our nice large 6V batteries because they had totally failed. I found a guy there in town who sold me a large (well used) 12V battery for $20. This $20 battery has held up, but we have to run the engine quite a bit because it doesn't have much capacity. And waiting there in Panama City is a nice pair of even bigger 6V batteries waiting for us. We can't wait to have real power back on board the boat and we can quite our extreme conservation measures.

Also we are running out of food. We were unable to resupply in Solano. Rice and beans anyone?

{GMST}08|06.066|N|78|24.302|W|Entrance to the Darien|Golfo de San Miguel{GEND}

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