Anchorage here was a little better than being at sea. Rolling and hobby horsing were the familiar motions of our boat as if at sea. Bay of the Virgins was spectacular. Its green peaks resembled the shrouded Virgin Mary on the right side and buttressing pillars on the opposite side. Many cruisers sheepishly say that they stopped here mainly for the photo op. For us it was the southern most island in the Marquesas we were willing to embark. As…
Our friends had gone on a tour run by a tour guide named John. He had been running a tour operation for the tourists for over 29 years. It’s funny how things happen at the washing stations. Like in those old stories where women gather at the well or at the river to wash clothes. Well, the washing station by the dinghy dock in Atuona, Hiva Oa was the place to be seen and to see. It was there that…
May 8, 2018. The day greeted us with a heavy downpour. It was nice to get our boat washed of the salt crystals we accumulated during the crossing. However, our 45 min trek into town for mass at 8 am was a wet one. We did not see many boaters heading to shore unlike us. We and the crew on Banyan were the only crazy Catholics getting up at 7:30am and dinghying to shore in the heavy rain. Despite the…
May 7, 2018. Sophia was first to spot land as Monica was busy working with the bread dough. ” Mama, I think I see land!” That statement was enough to keep our heart alight with hope and anticipation . The green blob in the distant seemed so far away. Was it really land? Yes, our navigational chart confirmed it. We were greeted by Jean Rene on sv Baloo, another family boat we met in La Cruz, Mexico. It was so…
April 27, 2018. UTC 1905 Lat 00°00’N Lon 126°16.4’W. SOG 6kts. 20% cloud cover. We knew we would be approaching the equator when we got up today. Many have made momentous events out of this crossing. Most have kept the tradition of toasting to King Neptune for safe passage. We also decided to make it a celebratory event but with food. Although it was festive, Monica spent most of her waking hours preparing a Key Lime Pie, ginger ale, and…
April 19, 2018 UTC 0310 Lat 12°9.8′ N , lon 114° 12.4′ speed 4.3kts , 100%cloud cover. Dark looming clouds are coming our direction from the East as we point 330°T. Jeff was able to set up a nifty function (MARPA) on our radar to detect movement detected by our radar. It’s all good to have technology but it’s a bit daunting to look at the computer screen to see that you are surrounded by all kinds of movement (weather)…
April 17,2018 1526 UTC 14°17.6N 112°45.2W Partly sunny with 50% cloud cover. We all just had breakfast in the cockpit consisting of eggs salad on crackers, beef jerky and some Costco chocolate covered clusters. Yeah, our breakfast is not typical but it works in all the food groups. About two nights ago, we were making poor speed with our double poled yankee and stay sail. With light winds downwind of us, we thought we’d catch most of the wind that…
UTC 0013 Apr 13 2018 Latitude20°18.113N Longitude 105°59.544W Windspeed 5 kts Boat speed 4.5 kts Course 220deg M Crew on Board: Jeff, Monica, Anna, and Sophia Crew Condition: All in good spirits. Anna is a bit seasick and Sophia is bored. We pulled up our anchor in Punta De Mita at 9:30 local time on April 12, 2018. As Jeff finished putting the anchor away, I drove over to our friends’ boats, sv Banyan and sv Free Spirit, to say…
Testing, testing, 1,2,3… Uh hmmm. If you can hear this I guess it’s working. At the moment, we are trying to make sure that our email posts from open ocean is going to work. Only a few days left before we untie the dock lines from La Cruz Marina Nayarit in Mexico. We are going to miss Mexico for its food, people, beauty, and laid back style. Jitters? Yeah, what if I don’t have enough toilet paper? What if we…
For us to cross, lots of preparation is required: from medical kits, safety gear, about a year worth of food, school supplies and resources, boat gear and their spares to charts and navigational tools. In the midst of our chaos, we we’re blessed to have visited with Jeff’s parents who got to taste a bit of Mexico that we know and love. In the midst of our chaos, one of the other boaters prompted me about getting our boat blessed….