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trip logs

Six Months

Dec 29th, 2011
by Sara.
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Six months ago today we left Olympia, bound for Hope Island and the world beyond. A mere half-year later we are not the same people who left that day. Voyages, even short ones, change you forever.

We have grown and evolved in so many ways and recognize those things we still need to work on too. Obviously, we have become better sailors having come all this way. We’ve learned to live together, gratefully, in these close quarters day after day and come to enjoy it. Most days. We’ve learned to make friends quickly as you never know how much time you’ll have together. We’re learning to live in the Now as we know that before we realize it we’ll be looking at the past longingly with the tough moments nearly forgotten with time. Some days are better than others of course and our patience, compassion, and calm – while better than ever – sometimes fails. But we always get another chance to do better.

When we arrived in Banderas Bay a month ago we thoroughly enjoyed just being still for awhile. It didn’t take long, however before we started asking ourselves what we really want out of our time in Mexico. What next? This being our second trip here together via sailboat we’re finding ourselves drawn to the new, to places we didn’t make it to our last time down.

We’re also finding that, despite our vision for so many years, just playing on the warm beach, shooting the breeze with other cruisers and drinking cervezas isn’t quite enough. While we have absolutely loved enjoying the wonderful culture, food and people of Mexico, we have found ourselves craving something more, something more challenging and entirely new. Before leaving Washington we told a few people that our ultimate goal is to make it to New Zealand where we hope to work for a few years. Gradually, what was once a dream of sailing the South Pacific had become a goal and now, our plan for 2012.

Today, on our half-year cruising anniversary we finally left Banderas Bay and the delightfully friendly town of La Cruz and headed north to the lovely port of Chacala. While it is beautiful here with a brown sugar beach and towering palm trees, it’s also the week between Christmas and New Years and the shoreline is absolutely thronging with tourists. Since the northerlies aren’t expected to pick up again until next week, we’ll head north again tomorrow, bound for Isla Isabel (think “mini-Galapagos”), one of our favorite places of all time. The only tourists there should be us.

Since we only have another three months or so in Mexico we have thought long and hard about how to make the most of our time here. Being kind of in the middle of the country, we really only have two options: sail south to the beaches and wonderfully lazy seaside villas of Chamela, Tenacatita, Barra de Navidad. Or, sail north into the Sea of Cortez where the heart-achingly beautiful desert sea has always been calling us back. But it’s winter up there, and cold, and windy. And deserted this time of year except for the whales.

Perfect.

La Cruz: Where the Kids Are

Dec 19th, 2011
by Sara.
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We have been in La Cruz in Banderas Bay for nearly four weeks now. We had planned to leave a week ago — no matter what — with the goal to be in Barra de Navidad for Christmas (naturally!). But then the kids began to gather. There were four other kid boats here when we arrived, more than we’d encountered in one spot this past six months of cruising. Now, five days before Christmas there are at least 10 boats with kids onboard with more on the way.

So, we’ve stayed here in La Cruz so the girls can savor some major kid-time. Which gives their parents time to mingle with other sailing parents and chat about the challenges and thrills of cruising with little people. And, ahem, enjoy a cold happy hour margarita while our young crews play tag in the grass. We’ve known that cruisers are a tight bunch and friendships form quickly, especially in a foreign place. But we’ve also found here that cruising parents are attracted to each other just as quickly as our kids are. Maybe it’s because we all know how to eat quickly and understand each others stories even though it’s only every fourth sentence that gets finished.

While Holly is the youngest of the bunch she doesn’t mind tagging along with her big sister one bit. Leah currently has two other girlfriends with birthdays within weeks of hers and is in heaven. We’ve recognized the importance of just staying still for a while and letting Leah nuture her friendships. For nearly five months it felt like we were constantly on the move and it’s been nice to stop here for a bit and nurture our own as well. And to finally have time to simply let the kids run with their friends and just be kids, with games of tag, sleepovers, playing in the water. It’s like a Christmas summer camp here and it’s marvelous.

The La Cruz Kids Club (yes, it's really an official club!) holds a bake/book/smoothie sale at the cruiser's swap meet

Leah and Frances hold a swap meet of their own out of dock box treasures

Time for a little preschool, kindergarten and second grade in the (air conditioned!) La Cruz marina lounge

The sailing kids of La Cruz decorated a tree for the marina lounge

La Cruz Kids Club heads to the grass to play "What time is it, Mr. Fox?"

 

Racing Out of Our Comfort Zone

Dec 4th, 2011
by Sara.
2 comments

“There’s cheap beer and tacos up at PV Sailing tonight!” announced our new friend and La Cruz dock neighbor Tami on Andiamo III one afternoon last week. Without thinking twice, we packed up the kids and headed over.

It turned out to be a meet and greet for cruisers and local sailing vendors and we enjoyed meeting all sorts of new folks. And while the beer was very cold and cheap and the tacos muy delicioso, the goal for the evening was to get boats to sign up for the Banderas Bay Blast, a four-day charity fun-race being held the following week.

As dusk fell, the girls were tired and had had enough of our yakking and we quietly snuck out with them. “It would sure be fun to do a race like that someday,” I said to Michael. “Hey…maybe we should do it now?”

“Let’s go for it!” he replied and I ran back inside to put our name down on the list of race boats.

One of our goals for this trip is to not pass on opportunities that lie outside our comfort zone, which we tend to want to do, as do most people I assume. There’s been a number of chances we could have taken in the past – both large and small – and few things are worse than regret at “what would have happened if we had…?” Whether it’s taking a job opportunity in Alaska, or sailing across an ocean, or just talking to someone we really want to meet, we are learning not to let these types of adventures pass us by.

Riding a panga in through the Punta Mita surf to the after-race moonlit beach dinner

Sailing in the Banderas Bay Blast was not to be one of them. Believe it or not, it was the very first time I have ever raced a boat and Michael’s first since he was a kid. We were a little nervous at what to expect as we motored Wondertime up to the start line but with the help of our crew (the Del Vientos, who we originally met in Olympia when they drove through in their car on their way to their boat in Mexico and who our girls are over the moon to have now reunited with in La Cruz) we soon had the sails up and were across the starting line right on time. With a bow full of giggling girls, we tacked back and forth across sunny and warm Banderas Bay all afternoon, making our way to Punta Mita and the finish.

We certainly weren’t the first to cross the finish line, and it’s entirely possible we were the last in our class, but we didn’t care. It was an awesome challenge sailing upwind in very light air (yes, we can point higher than the big cats!) and as we and our crew took a panga ride to shore through the Punta Mita surf for dinner on the beach we were all grinning ear to ear.

The following day was the final leg, a downwind spinnaker run to Paradise Village (this one with just the Wondertime crew aboard). Once again, our sailing skills and patience were challenged as we struggled to keep the boat moving at a decent pace in the 5-8 knots of wind from astern. In the end, we folded that race as we were moving 1.5 knots still 6 miles from the finish with the time limit looming. No matter, we were hardly bummed at getting to our free slip at Paradise, enjoying a scrumptious dinner at the Puerto Vallarta Yacht Club and taking a dip in the huge pool.

While the two free slips and three parties had enticed us at the beginning to sign up for the Blast, it really was the racing that we’ll remember. I dare say that our sailing skills have improved a touch with the added factor of competition thrown in. I mean, we gybed our cruising spinnaker in three minutes flat! While Michael and I have sailed together as a team for years, it was an entirely new experience to try to do things quickly – which is what you do in a race it seems but not too often when sailing a slow cruising boat southward — and remain calm at the same time. And definitely not least, we also had an amazing day of taking our new friends out sailing.

As always happens when we don’t let an opportunity pass by, we gain much more than we ever think we will.

Click here for Latitude 38’s coverage of the Blast (with photos of the Wondertime girls tossing water ballons at the Poobah and Wondertime at the start line!)

Photo by Gato Go

Thoughts on a Crossing

Nov 29th, 2011
by Sara.
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450 miles, all barefoot

We arrived in La Cruz, in Banderas Bay next to Puerto Vallarta, nearly a week ago. It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and so we’d arrive in time for a nice big helping of turkey and mashed potatoes we sailed nonstop: south from Bahia Magdalena, past the taunting lights of Cabo San Lucas and then 275 miles across the southernmost portion of the Sea of Cortez. 450 miles, four days and nights of sailing.

Holly quietly passes the time underway

When I think of the distances it’s possible to travel nonstop on a small sailboat, our little trip was like a daysail. But for us, it was the longest passage so far on this journey. Along the way, I thought of so many things I wanted to write down but usually I was laying in front of a fan and didn’t feel like getting up. Now, it’s like looking back at a dream: some of it I strain to remember while other parts are unforgettable, details totally clear in my memory.

We left Bahia Magdalena in the late afternoon and inched our way south to Cabo that first night and day and night slowly, two and three knots at a time. We flew our spinnaker during the day then took it down at night and poled out the genoa to catch the very light following breeze. We rounded Cabo Falso in the early morning hours and were happy to have the wind pick up with us as we scooted around the cape, pointing the bow more easterly.

Once clear of Cabo the wind died down to nearly nothing so we took the opportunity to charge the batteries, depleted in the overcast skies. Then only an hour or two later the wind turned on like a faucet; a light norther was blowing down the Sea of Cortez, 20-25 knots forecast at times, and we were now in it.

Here is where the dream really starts: 20 knots of wind just slightly aft of the beam for days and days, or so it feels like. Our main is double-reefed, the genoa furled in a touch. Wondertime just romps along, delighted. This time, we are just passengers, reefing and unreefing as the steady northerly winds rise and fall slightly over the next two days. Miles and miles passing under our keel and all we really have to do is hang on and eat and play.

Our guest one afternoon

I’m trying to remember details but mostly it’s just feelings that come back: nausea and tiredness from holding on as the boat rolls to starboard again and again with the waves rolling down from the north; dry mouth trying to chew cheese and crackers (the only thing I can manage to serve up to my hungry crew for dinner that first night across), dripping with sweat in the humid, tropical 85-degree interior cabin, trying to keep my heavy eyes open during my 4 am watch.

The third day we are halfway across the sea, nearly 150 miles from the closest land. That’s when the magic happens.

It is night, the clouds have cleared, the crescent moon is not yet up and the sky is a mess of stars. The rest of the crew is below asleep, I am outside in the cockpit, Ulrich Schnauss on the iPod, gazing around in the blackness which is lit up by our phosphorescent wake. The boat is romping along through the night on the same port tack we’ve been on for a whole day and a half. Shoooosh, shoooosh, shoooosh. I feel like I am floating. Happy. Suddenly this seems so very easy. We could do this forever.

Maybe we will.

A Third Birthday in Magdalena Bay

Nov 23rd, 2011
by Sara.
1 comment

“What do you want to do for your 3rd birthday Holly?”
“I want to jump in the waves!”
“OK!”

When I wrote Holly’s birthday down on our family calendar months ago, turning the pages ahead to November, I had no idea where we would be when our little curly-haired sprite turned three. I tucked away some cake mix, some pink frosting with sprinkles (her choice) and a few gifts in preparation for Holly’s day.

Small sweet gifts from new friends

As it turned out we were in Magdalena Bay for the celebration. On her birthday morning, Holly opened her gifts, we enjoyed fresh scones with butter and jam and then set off for — where else? — the beach. We’d spread the word to the few other cruising boats also anchored in Man o War Cove and as we stood on the shore watching them come in by dinghy, Holly jumped up and down with excitement that all her “best friends” were on their way to her party. With a small picnic in tow, we hiked across the isthmus to the Pacific side, the southernmost beach of Bahia Santa Maria.

The water was turquoise and warm, the sand like flour, and the waves just the right size to jump through and ride in to shore a little ways. Our new friends brought little gifts and cards for Holly, so touching and sweet and it made her feel very special. After dinner that night she blew out her three candles on her pink sprinkled cake, grinning from ear to ear.

Third birthdays are the best: they are the first one that a kid truly understands, when they know that it’s their special day. I think this particular one was one of my favorites as well. Simple, low cost, fun, memorable. And most of all our three-year-old was filled with joy the whole day long during our celebration of her.

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