Tom

      Thursday August 29^th we moved the boat from the slip in Bremerton, WA to Bell Harbor Marina in Seattle, WA for our grand Bon Voyage party. In Seattle my grandpa Vlasin, parents, Uncle Nelson and Aunt Janet, and Jenna's parents came to visit and see us off. Jenna's and my friend from Ekone, Jen and Sykie and Gus came to visit us. A couple friends from the Navy came and visited us before we left. We all went sailing in Elliott Bay on Saturday morning before the Oregon State football game. We had a lot of good food and fun times in Capital Hill in Seattle. I wished I had spent more time there while I lived in WA. Sykie gave us a great going away gift of Emergency-Only rice krispy treats, Thanks!

     Bell Harbor marina was very small with only 30 or so slips and only two toilets and two showers for all tenants. We luckily had a slip that was very easy to get into and out of and very little rocking from waves and wind. There was wi-fi, which is a plus, but we were as far away from it as you could get and had to sit topside to get any signal. The Bremerton Marina also had wi-fi which we could get down in the boat on the iMac. The bathrooms in the Bremerton Marina were very nice and kept very clean. Although the surrounding city was pretty bad a couple blocks away, the Bremerton Marina was very nice. I would rate Bremerton Marina 7 out of 10 on account of the surrounding city. Bell Harbor Marina was a 8 out of 10 because of the location downtown.

     At 6AM on Sunday September 1, 2013 we left Bell Harbor Marina in downtown Seattle, WA and began our journey to New Zealand on the Trade Winds. Crew members included Tomas, Jenna, Koelby, Jessica, and Jessica's brother Jason. We pulled out of the Marina before the sun had risen and were greeted by large cruise liner pulling into Seattle to drop off passengers. We had light winds heading out of Elliott bay and spent three hours in the morning floating off the shore of the West Point lighthouse with no winds contemplating how our job for the next six months is to sail and travel.

     The winds picked up slightly in the afternoon and we were able to make it to Port Townsend a couple hours after dusk. With no wind, we made the conscious decision to motor around Fort Warden to see if we could get better wind. Jenna and I took the watch and with a little luck and a little wind we made some forward progress. During our watch we were surprised with a huge thunder and lightning storm and hundreds of fishermen around Dungeness Point.

     With a little more luck and some wind we finally made it out of the Strait of Juan De Fuca at 5 PM on Tuesday September 3^rd. I unfortunately found that I can get sea-sick, but I have also found that a well placed drug before we leave port will cure all that ails me. It was at the mouth of the straits that we saw our second Humpback whales. On Wednesday we sailed mostly on a Southwest tack making our way south. The ocean is a lot less formidable than I expected from the deck of a 53' sailboat.

     That Wednesday night Koelby and Jessica saw that the second batten on the main sail was broken and was sticking out through the sleeve. The batten was safely removed and we made the conscious decision to motor into Astoria, OR to affect repairs on the Main Sail and the UV cover on the Genoa. We made it to the Bar of the Columbia River at around 5 AM. Jenna and I were on watch. It was amazing to see the merchants stacked up five deep waiting to get into the Columbia River. We could see tugs at the start of the buoy chain sitting and reeling in their tows. I am very grateful for my training and knowledge of nautical boat light configurations. It is much more comfortable in the pitch-black night on the ocean to be able to look at lights in the distance and know exactly what the other boat is doing.

     We kept the green buoys on our left and crossed the Bar. The only tricky part was that the fog prevented Jenna, Koelby, and me from seeing the second center channel markers . We followed more confident fishing vessels inbound. We moored in Astoria, OR around noon and started contacting people to fix our sails. We paid the company Four Winds to fix the sails of the Trade Winds. Jessica and Keolby had all their family switch from a Newport, OR party to an Astoria, OR party. Jenna's friend Adam came to visit us and stayed a night on the boat. We went to the Columbia River museum in Astoria and that was very interesting. Jenna and I got some great fruit wines at the Sunday market in Astoria. The sails were fixed and we left Astoria Monday September 9^th around 9. We lost Jason at this point and picked up a new crew member, Cliff. Cliff is Jessica's grandpa and has a lot of sailing experience to offer and sailed with us to San Francisco.

     The marina in Astoria was not so hot. The bathrooms were very sub-par and the walk to get to them was miles. They originally had us on a dock that did not have power for two days. We finally got a dock with power and it was an end-tie which was awesome. I rate the Astoria, OR marina 4 out of 10.

     We arrived Tuesday September 10^th in Newport at 8 AM when the marina opened. We stopped in Newport so that Jenna's parents could drop off some things that she and I needed for the trip. We were only in Newport for a night. We were moored again at an end tie, this time with power. We were all very grateful to have the Milton-van for errands and we had delicious Thai food for dinner.

     Wednesday September 11^th we left Newport and headed south toward Eureka, CA to visit some of Koelby's family. We had originally thought we would take a day or two to sail to Eureka. That date changed significantly as we sat out in the ocean with no wind. Thursday and Friday were no wind days. Finally on Saturday we had some wind and began sailing Southwest to get away from land again. On Sunday we tacked to the Southeast to head toward Eureka. Luckily with the InReach GPS tracker on the boat, Koelby's family was able to track our progress to know when to expect us. We finally pulled into Eureka on Monday September 16^th. We had a lovely meal at his aunt and uncles house and did some shopping for groceries and other items we needed.

     On Tuesday September 17^th we left Eureka in the morning and began making our way south. We began heading away from land on a southwest tack to get away from land and head south. Around 1 AM on the 18^th, Cliff and I were gybing to the Southeast to stay about 50 miles from land on our way down to San Francisco. While gybing, the boom attempted to switch sides and broke in half. I didn't believe my eyes and did a double take. It was definitely in a “v.” I told Jenna to go get Koelby and tell him that the “boom was broken.” Koelby was sleeping and was awoken pretty roughly. Asking if Jenna was sure the boom was broken, she insisted that it was. While the boys battled the boom, the girls were fighting the second “great flood” which was occuring in the kitchen. The hull valve drain for the sink was inadvertently left open somehow and water from the ocean was flowing freely into the boat. The winds were 10 knots gusting to 15 at times and 8 foot seas.

     We dropped the main sail and furled the genoa. The tricky part was to have enough headway to keep the bow into the wind, but slow enough to avoid powering over the waves. Koelby and I spent the next half-hour wrapping the break of the boom with rags and taking the sail and boom off the mast. The adventure was quite exciting with the seas. Jenna and I and Koelby and Jessica decided to motor the 170 miles down to San Francisco to repair the boom since there would be more opportunities to repair or replace the boom.

We motored under the Golden Gate bridge on September 19^th and moored at Pier 39 in downtown San Francisco. We immediately began the process of trying to affect a repair and/or replace the boom. After about 15 phone calls and four or five price quotes we decided to modify a boom already built for a boat down in Watsonville, CA. The boom has to be shortened about 3 feet and has to have lazy jacks added. The boom is about 50% stronger than our old boom. We think that there was just too many forces acting at the break location. There was the boom vang, lazy jack bolts (which were added after the boom was built), and reefing line holes. I was also trying to work with insurance in case we needed the assistance of insurance money. Cliff left the boat and Koelby's friend Ian joined the crew.

     While downtown we watched the last races of the America's cup. Once we pulled into Pier 39 we noticed that there were some considerable rust stains down the side of the boat. We began pulling out caulk and sealing the metal with a two part epoxy and re-painting. The Pier 39 marina was a 7 out of 10. The bathrooms were far away and there were annoying sea lions right out the back of our boat. The bathrooms were nice and the rates were pretty expensive, especially during the America's Cup. We left Pier 39 Marina on Sunday, September 22^nd and motored over to the Berkeley Marina. The Berkeley Marina was a very large marina, but not incredibly nice. We were on the commercial dock which was pretty rough. I would rate the marina about a 5/10. The bathrooms were always dirty. The saving grace was that there was a lot of hot water in the shower. While in Berkeley we added Matt to our crew to make our sixth crew member.

     We stayed in the Berkeley Marina until Thursday October 3^rd when we motored over to the Brisbane Marina. We went to Brisbane Marina because we joined the Sierra Point Yacht Club and this is their marina! We like the dock and the bathrooms are close and fairly well maintained. There are some ants in the showers and some of the drains back up, but the water is hot. I would rate this marina a 6 out of 10 on account of the incredible distance from anything. Our plan is to leave the marina Sunday, October 6^th after a yacht club brunch and limp our way down to Santa Cruz and Watsonville to pick up our boom.

     We left the Brisbane Marina and had an easy time motoring out of the San Francisco Bay. Pictures are included of motoring under the Oakland Bay Bridge and sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge. Once we got outside of the mouth of the Bay the wind died to almost none. We bobbed until Monday morning when the wind picked up and we made good time south with only a headsail. We motored into the Monterey Bay Marina and went to Soquel Cove in the Northeast corner of the Bay for an anchorage. After setting anchor made some drinks and celebrated successfully making it to Santa Cruz and Watsonville where we would get our boom.

     On Tuesday morning we sailed and motor-sailed over to an anchorage off the Santa Cruz boardwalk. I was jonesing for a hamburger and so everyone except Koelby paddled the dinghy over to the public wharf to get some burgers. We had to scare more than one sea lion off the dock in order to get our dinghy tied up. We were concerned that we would return and find a sea lion inside of our Zodiac. 4 of the five of us had the Bleu Cheese Burger at Ideal Bar & Grill at the end of the wharf. We anticipated doing more than getting burgers, but the sun was setting and we didn't want to have to row back in the dark.

     On Wednesday, October 9^th we took the dinghy over to the wharf again and did some shopping and some laundry for Ian and ate lunch at a little mexican place that has been in business since the 1950's. The food was cheap and fairly decent. We went back to the sailboat and set down our stuff and then took the dinghy to the beach off the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. While on the beach we played beach soccer and frisbee and helped a local high school senior ask his girlfriend to his Homecoming. In return for our assistance he gave Ian and Jessica a lift in his 240 Volvo Stationwagon to get gas for the dinghy. Getting the dinghy back in the water over the surf was quite an adventure. We got back to the sailboat but not without a lot of our clothing and personal items getting wet.

     On Thursday, October 10^th we motored down to Moss Landing Marina to pick up our boom from Ballenger Spars. We went out to eat on Thursday at this restaurant called Phil's Fish Market which was right down the road from the marina. Jenna and I had a 2.5 lb lobster and crab fettuccine which was amazing! After dinner we walked around the little downtown to see what was around. We found a lovely breakfast place called the Haute Enchilada.

     On Friday October 11^th, Jenna and I went into Marina, CA to do some shopping. We got rice and nori and rice vinegar for sushi and mugs for everyone on the boat. We rode the bus there and back and got back to the marina just as the boom arrived. Marina, CA is the artichoke capital of the world. The local market had artichokes 10 for $1 and avocados, 8 for $1. We attempted to install the boom, but when the boom was shortened, they forgot to route a groove to install the slides into the track. We would have to wait until Saturday to leave Moss Landing. We went to Phil's again to get some more seafood. Jenna and I split a scallop pasta dish which was delicious.

     Saturday morning the six of us went to the Haute Enchilada after the groove was cut into the boom. Jenna had a salmon omelet and I had a spanish burrito and both were great. The groove in the track was too small to fit our slides even with a little persuasion and some sanding. We set out on Saturday to sail down to LA. The plan is to buy the correct size slides for our main sail in LA and either have them installed or install them ourselves. We sailed down to LA with one reef in our main sail so that we can use the sail. On Sunday we made good time on a southwest course with southerly winds.

     On Monday October 14^th, Jenna decided to throw over a handline for Tuna in the afternoon and caught a large tuna that we ate for dinner with rice. Jenna did most of the reeling in of the large fish. While Ian, Koelby, Jessica, and I were playing cards, Jenna heard the snubber of the handline flip over the rail when the fish bit. Jenna went and grabbed gloves and then pulled the fish in by hand while Koelby wound the extra line around a wood block they had been using to prop up their deck hatch. It was amazing for me to eat fish that fresh. Jenna has done considerable more fishing than I have. I have included some pictures of the tuna. The fish made a horrible mess on deck, but we got it mostly cleaned up.

     On the morning of Tuesday, October 15^th, the wind died and we spent most of the day floating off Santa Rosa Island near LA. After a tuna sandwich with avocado, Koelby, Ian, and I went for a swim in the ocean and then took a fresh water shower on deck with our solar shower. It felt great. The following day we made a makeshift rope swing out of our spinnaker pole and line we had on deck. Everyone went for a swim that day and Koelby and I swam under the hull. We later learned that the waters off the islands are Great White habitat. We made enough distance that day to anchor in the protection of Kellers Shelter off Malibu Beach.

On Thursday we motored over to Marina Del Rey Harbor and moored at the guest dock of Burton Chace Park. The entrance to the marina was the best that we have found with wide channels for boats under power and an even wider center channel for boats sailing. The park next to the marina is awesome, but the bathroom showers are cold. The marina is central to everything though. I would rate the marina an 8 of 10. We all had burgers that day at The Counter which was AWESOME! I had a Buffalo burger with Garlic Parmesan Fries. A+++ Matt has left the crew and so now there are only five, but we have plans for 8! Stay tuned.

     The main sail was outfitted with new slides on Friday October 18^th and some tell-tales were added. Jenna and I went to Redlands to visit some friends for a day. We had a lovely home cooked Cuban meal on Friday night outside with their dogs Gunner, Hunter, and Bricke. Jenna and I appreciated the opportunity to take real showers and sleep in a queen size bed. The following morning we did some shopping and got some Panera for breakfast. We got the royal tour of Redlands. We saw the Kimberly Mansion of Kimberly-Clarke. We learned that Neil Diamond has a home in Redlands and the first McDonald’s was in San Bernadino. The first asphalt road was also constructed in Redlands.

     We left Marina Del Rey on Sunday afternoon and headed toward Catalina Island. We made the crossing to Catalina Island in two days and spent two days on the Island. The first day we stayed off the town of Two Harbors in the bay there. As per our usual, we pulled into the bay to anchor around midnight. We contemplated anchoring to a mooring buoy, but it was a good thing we didn't, because we had no idea what we were doing. The following day we found the instructions on how to moor to the buoys and that they cost money. We took the water taxi to shore the next day and walked around two harbors. It was a lovely little tourist area and we got our first real taste of palm trees and hot weather. We walked to the top of a hill and took pictures of two harbors and the bay on the opposite side.

     We moved the boat the next day down to the next bay south. At the bay there was a girl scout camp and a private yacht club. We anchored out beyond the 20-30 mooring buoys and took the kayak in to shore to climb another hill. At the top we took some sweet pictures. After one night, we sailed down to Avalon. We anchored in 100 feet of water not abiding by the 5-7 times anchor chain as water depth. We didn't drag the anchor so that is good. Koelby and Jessica went ashore in the water taxi and Jenna and I went ashore in the kayak. Ashore we had a lovely lunch and Margaritas and then a Italian dinner and went to a Casino for a movie. We thought we were going to do some gambling, but learned that Casino originally meant meeting place. We met a very nice local man who lives in Avalon who bought Koelby his drinks before the movie. We watched prisoners which was a great movie in my opinion.

     The next day we aweighed anchor and set sail for San Diego harbor. We had generally moderate winds on the way down and made pretty good time. We made it in one day and all stayed up to avoid night watches. It was a terrible idea as we were all terribly tired. We pulled into the Police Dock in San Diego for a night to charge the battery and get some potable water. The marina bathrooms were not very nice, but the shower water was very hot. We moved the next night to an Anchorage by the marina with all of the Baha-haha'ers preparing to head south. Jenna and I went up to Del Mar to pick up Sam Curlee's car that he graciously loaned to us and to go to a bridal show.

     With the wheels we went to get supplies to the boat and to get some local food. We ended up staying too long in the anchorage and woke up Tuesday morning to the San Diego Police boat siren outside our boat telling us to leave. Unfortunately, while we were waiting to hopefully get a permit to anchor in A9 we parked on the wrong dock and the original police officer again told us to move. He was very irate with me, but I did my best to play dumb and appease his worries. We spent time moving the boat to Coronado Island to have a place to stay and avoid moorage fees. The most worry-some part about having a graciously loaned car from a friend was finding a parking spot that would not result in a ticket. From Coronado we went over to the Gas Lamp district to a dueling piano bar. On Halloween we all dressed up and Jenna was the star of the show. When Adam played Jaws, Jenna had to get up and walk across the stage. At one point she was onstage with a sushi chef and she totally kicked his butt (ate him up)! The waiting in San Diego was for our sixth member, Keaton to arrive from Oregon.

     We moved back to the Police dock and then broke our engine while changing the oil. First, I over torqued a bolt on an unnecessary fuel filter and then we could not bleed all the air from the fuel lines. The previous owner installed an incredibly complex fuel system to and from the three fuel tanks. I finally drew the system all out to have a diagram to pass on. Jim Wilson (an amazing local Diesel Mechanic) finally found that the wire to the High Pressure Injection Pump was jostled while we were monkeying around and once attached and the fuel lines bled, the engine purred to life. He only wanted to charge me one dollar for finding and repairing one line, but I gave him a $20 for all his help. He said that he would help us any time we can call him and he gave me a DC continuity tester and his set of wire crimpers. He was incredibly friendly and and amazing business man. After lots of sitting around waiting to get the engine to work, we finally left. We were in a terrible spot because the engine was broken and therefore we couldn't move, but we did not enjoy paying the moorage fees. After fueling up to the tippy tops of the tanks we were on our way south.

November 8, 2013:

     We left San Diego Friday November 8^th and pulled into Ensenada, B.C., Mexico on Monday November 11^th. We had light to no winds the entire time. We spent most of the time playing cards and making food with little to no winds. It was a juggling act of putting the head sail and mail sail up to catch the light winds and taking them down to avoid the Genoa rubbing and grinding on the rigging and the boom of the main sail slamming back and forth under light winds.

November 12, 2013:

     Trade Winds left Ensenada, B.C. On Tuesday November 12^th and pulled off the coast of San Martin Island on Wednesday November 13^th. The trip was very fast all things considered. We had 10-15 knot North winds the entire time and following seas. Even when the winds dropped to 8 knots we were able to get 3.5 to 4 knots speed over ground with just the Genoa out and the spinnaker pole rigged. We took down the sails at around 7 and motored to our anchorage at San Martin Island. Like usual, we anchored at night. The anchor stuck and we sat below reading, playing cards, and baking sourdough bread.

     The next morning we got up and explored the island. Around 3 we aweighed anchor and motored over to Bahia de San Quinton. After misjudging the distance we anchored in the dark around two other boats. That night, the fog came in incredibly thick and the temperature dropped. We played cards inside and stayed warm. In the morning the other boats were gone and I fixed the Single Sideband radio and we decided to brave the “building weather” and head south. We had nothing but blue skies and beautiful wind. From the Bahia de San Quinton we set sail for Bahia de Tortuga.

November 18, 2013:

     Nothing of note in the Bahia de Tortuga. We went into town expecting some sort of civilization and were greeted with a small town with many stray dogs and cats for Jenna and very small dirt roads between the tired homes. We walked around looking for large water sources (preferably from a hose) and found none. The small restaurant with WI-FI was not open so we got back in our dinghy and pulled anchor and got underway at noon.

     At 2 PM we ran completely out of water. A quick story on how we got to that point. We left San Diego, CA on November 8^th with a full 150 gallons of water. When we got to Ensenada, B.C., Mexico on 11/11/13 we anticipated being able to fill our water tanks in the Cruise Port Village marina. As luck would have it, the water at the slips was not fit for human consumption. We left Ensenada with probably a little over 75 gallons of water. We were not able to get water off San Martin and the Bahia de San Quinton. We were not filling the tanks with watermaker water because we anticipated services as we went south. The water maker draws about 38 amps and with full wind (20 knots) the wind turbine produces between 10-12-14 amps. The battery has to be drained to make up the difference. After some quick number crunching on my part and an owners meeting, we decided to support OPEC and run our small generator while we make water instead of purchasing, installing, and maintaining solar panels to try and make up the remaining amps. Not the most enjoyable solution for me, but simply the most economic. We made about 36 gallons of water after about 4.5 hours of water making.

     About an hour before our watch, I was startled awake by the sound of sails dropping and the engine starting. I flew out of bed and into clothes and went topside to help if necessary. The autopilot switch that controls the left steering hydraulic pumps was stuck and was causing the rudder to stick left. After about a half-hour of digging through the lazarette and troubleshooting in rough weather with the house and starter batteries disconnected, we located and fixed the sticky switches. We believe that a spring on the switch is tired and worn out. It did not help that while this was going on the wind was gusting to 18-20 knots. Jenna got up during the ordeal as well and helped battle the problem.

     Jenna and I took the watch and continued using the autopilot and it worked like a champion. We should have followed Mike's advice and carried an extra of everything and then we could have fixed this problem permanently.

November 19, 2013:

     Steady NW winds the entire day. Mostly 12-15 knot winds sometimes gusting to 20 knots. We covered 103 Nautical miles in a 24 hour period (noon-noon). Seas were building, but now that we are closer to Magdalena Bay (our destination), the winds are dying way down. All this downwind action sure makes me wish that we had a spinnaker. Washing dishes in sea water was a great success! We are getting lots of practice putting reefs into the main sail and taking them out. We are finding out that by reducing sail area we can actually gain speed (who would have thought)!

November 20, 2013:

     Moderate NW wind in the morning and light NW wind in the afternoon and moderate NW wind in the evening. Started the day with two reefs in the main with one removed around 8 AM. Jenna and I saw a pair of dolphins that jumped about five feet out of the water about 10 feet from our boat. When I came back from retrieving the camera, they were gone, which is to be expected. Around 10 PM we anchored in Magdalena Bay. Jenna and I stayed up during what would be our watch to make sure the anchor was not dragging and that the boat was secure. We made water for about 4.5 hours and Jenna, Koelby, and I saw a one foot diameter turtle.

November 21, 2013:

     We pulled up the anchor and motored over to San Carlos. It was a task and a half trying to find the channel markers. Some of the markers were missing the can or nun portion that distinguished them as port or starboard markers. The scary part about navigating the channel is that the Garmin GPS has no information because we are outside the US and the INAVx says that the water depth is 1-3 feet outside the channel markers. We have gotten used to channel markers only really applying to deep draft merchants. In this case, WE had to also stay inside the channel.

     While motoring over we saw dolphins and I thought I saw a whale breaching in the whale watching area of Magdalena Bay. Pelicans were flying all around us. In San Carlos we anchored North of the fish dock and took the dinghy to shore. The chart was not lying when it said that it got 1 foot deep. We motored until it was about 2 feet deep and then I jumped out of the dinghy and pulled everyone to shore. I had delicious breaded shrimp at a lovely Mexican restaurant. The owner also owned a resort and so he let us shower for $8 USD. It was a wonderful shower as our last shower was 10 days prior.

     When we got back to the boat there was concern that the boat was resting on the bottom because it was not rocking as much as usual. It might have been on the bottom, but probably not because the depth said 8 feet below the keel. If it was, it was a sandy bottom and didn't do any damage. It was late after our showers and so we didn't see any of the town. There probably wasn't much to see.

     We all had our smartphones out and were checking emails, facebook, finances, and catching up on news and sports. It feels good honestly to be so disconnected for long periods of time.

November 22, 2013:

     Koelby and Jessica are usually late risers and so Keaton, Ian, Jenna, and I woke up at 7 and moved the boat from San Carlos back to the sand dunes for some fun in the sun. The girls paddled to the shore in the kayak while the boys swam to shore. While on the shore the boat drug the anchor about 600 yards and Ian and Jessica had to paddle to save Trade Winds.

     While on shore Jenna, Keaton, and I went on a grand shell and animal hunt on the pacific beach side of the dunes. I found a very large and awesome shell. Jenna picked up a turtle skull that I showed her and we saw a jack rabbit. It was great to finally get some sun.

      After our fill of sun we moved the boat back to our original anchorage spot and tackled some projects. Koelby and I determined that the fresh water capacity of the boat is only 150 gallons instead of 250 gallons. We measured all the tanks and then converted cubic inches into gallons. It was a sad day, but also made me feel silly to think that we had 5 fifty gallon drums in the bilges for water. We were also trying to determine why the generator is not able to run the refrigeration unit any more to keep the refrigerator and freezer cold. We cleaned out the freezer and ended up throwing out a lot of food. We are slowly coming to the realization that refrigeration might not be possible on long ocean crossings. Koelby and I are going to troubleshoot the engine driven refrigerator when we get to Cabo San Lucas.

     At night Keaton found a bunch of flying fish. Keaton found them with a flashlight. When we shined the big flashlight out on the water, the fish would jump out of the water away from the light. We baked another delicious loaf of sourdough bread using enough of the flour that we don't have enough for any more loaves.

November 23, 2013:

      We aweighed anchor around 9 after doing some saltwater dishes and cleaning and stowing the deck for sea. Steady NNW winds in the morning and afternoon drove us on a fairly SW course down to Cabo San Lucas. This was not an ideal course, but we were getting there at 6-7 knots. Around 5 we tacked to a SE course to make the best course to Cabo. Winds luckily shifted to the N to allow for the new course. Around 9 the winds kicked up to 20 knots and the seas developed 4-5 foot rollers. The action of the wind and seas really heeled the boat over all night. It also became apparent that our stow for sea topside was not the best as things were flying all over topside. It was the first time I was in harness and attached to the jackline while sitting at the helm in a long time.

November 24, 2013:

     Jenna and I awoke to find a small 7 inch flying fish on the deck topside. Winds and waves from the N as before with moderate seas. We made good time down to Cabo San Lucas. We dropped anchor around 7 PM and did a little research on marinas from stolen WI-FI in Medano Bay. We ate some pasta and played a little cards, while listening to party music from the beach clubs before going to bed.

November 25, 2013:

     Ian and I were up around 7:30 and fixed the topping lift line. It appears that pulling it sideways around the pulley causes the spice between the cable and line to fray. After the repairs were completed, we enjoyed a morning cup of coffee in the morning Cabo heat.

     The beach of Medano Bay by the resorts and clubs went from no people and no boats to tens of boats, jet skis, water taxis, yachts, jet packs, and swimmers. The tour boats were taking people to other bays as well as Lovers Beach as well as the famous Cabo San Lucas arch.

     We put the dinghy in the water, but ended up taking the water taxi ashore. We had a lovely breakfast at Los Ajos and probably overstayed our welcome using WI-FI We then went to the one marina in town and reserved a $100 slip for Wednesday night. After a little swim off the boat we got dressed and went into town by taxi and had a dinner at El Squid Roe. Jenna and I got some cash from the HSBC ATM. We went to a sports bar and watched Monday Night Football. We went originally looking for The Office restaurant, but Jenna found that it was on the beach where we originally landed and so we went to El Squid Roe. After trying to watch the Trailblazer game at The Baja Cantina, I swam to the boat to get the dinghy and pick everyone up.

     While diving the boat I found the bottom in good condition with the exception of the keel by the screw. Around the screw and the packing there are barnacles growing on the shaft packing. We plan on having the zincs replaced and the shaft packing redone possibly in Puerta Vallarta.

November 26, 2013:

     We swam ashore around 8 AM to get some breakfast at Sharky's and it was very good. After finding some earplugs for Jenna at Ace Hardware and a lunch at the Milky Way Cafe; Koelby, Jessica, Jenna, and I snorkeled for about 2 hours or so. The underwater camera worked great and it would have worked even better if I had it on the correct setting.

     After snorkeling, we went back to the boat to get shower stuff and then Jenna and I showered and got some delicious pizza at Wicked Pizza. Jenna and I got our pictures taken with two tropical birds, a parrot and a toucan. The street vendor was very friendly and overly insistent on the $5 price. The street vendors hawking their wares is becoming quite annoying.

November 27, 2013:

     Jenna and I woke up at 7 and took the dinghy over to the Marina to take showers and do laundry with Ian and Keaton. We did one load of laundry while we waited for the slip to open up. I took the VHF radio ashore to communicate with Koelby and Jessica back on the boat. There was so much interference that I ended up walking most of the way to Medano Beach to reach the boat. After waiting a little bit to see if the sailboat was going to vacate our slip I talked with the front office of the IGY Marina and got another slip. The four of us dinghied back to the boat and Jenna, Koelby, Jessica, and I pulled into the slip at the IGY Marina. Koelby and Jessica went to finish all the boat paperwork and started their laundry.

     Due to limited washers and laundry loads, we decided not to go to the store for our major grocery shopping trip. We instead went to dinner at Ramuri in Cabo San Lucas with Koelby and Jessica. The restaurant had amazing food and unfortunately no Portland Trailblazer game for Koelby. The Marina is by far the best marina that we have visited and scores a 9/10. The only problem with the marina is that the WI-FI is not very strong. The bathrooms are extremely nice and the water was very hot. Koelby and I tried to determine what was wrong with the Tecumseh Refrigeration plant, but made no progress. We still have no freezer or refrigerator.

November 28, 2013:

     Jenna and I woke up at 7 and took a shower before walking to a Wal-Mart. Before we got to Wal-Mart we found a Mexico Costco that charged $2 if you were no a member. After $300 for groceries and a cab ride to the boat we made it back to the Marina. The grocery store was less than 1 mile away. After all the food was stowed and a lunch eaten, we pulled out of the slip and over to the fuel dock to pump out the sanitary tank. After a gross fiasco with locals that did not know how to work their equipment and spilling sea-water (we hope) all in the guest bedroom, we finally pumped the tank dry. The boat easily left the slip and we anchored again in Medano Bay next to all the locals. While driving out we were passed by a steady stream of charter fishing boats. The boats fly flags corresponding to the type of fish and quantity that they catch and they throw left over bait to the pelicans for a dramatic entrance. One boat was feeding bait to a large sea lion which had swam up onto the swim platform and was catching a ride.

     After lunch Jenna and I headed ashore to do some computering at Starbucks and then had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at Baja Brewery. At dinner we met a husband and wife and his parents who sat next to us. They were all very interesting and since he traveled a couple years ago for a year by himself, he was very interested in our sailing trip. After dinner Jessica went back to the boat and the five remaining people went to El Squid Roe and had some drinks and danced a little. It was impressive just how demanding the women were to jam jello shots down our throats. Koelby, Jenna, and I went back to the boat and watched Role Models.

November 29, 2013:

     We picked up Troy and his wife Kucy and father Brian at the beach at 10 and sailed to Medano Bay for snorkeling. Troy and Kucy graciously brought the remnants of their refrigerator because they are flying home tomorrow. We had lovely avocado and turkey and Munster cheese sandwiches and plenty of drinks. We enjoyed swift sailing with 8 knot Northeast winds. While pulling into the bay I pulled in the handline and caught a little tuna which we threw back. It was my first catch this trip. While in the bay we snorkeled and saw all sorts of fish. I swam back and forth under the keel two times and down 20 plus feet to to grab my snorkel goggles which were dropped.

     After swimming and snorkeling until we could do it no more, we got out the Subwing and Troy, Keaton, Koelby, Ian, and I all tried it out behind the dinghy. It was a very fun toy. I was diving down and coming back up around the reefs and around the schools of fish. After all the fun was had that we could have, we pulled up the anchor and headed back to Medano Bay. Troy and Kucy graciously allowed us to use their shower and clean all the salt water off. After a nice long shower Jenna and I went to Wicked Pizza to use the internet and grab a dinner.

November 30, 2013

We all woke up to a loud bang this morning letting us know that we had drifted pretty far. The jury is out as to whether we had hit the bottom, another boat hit us, or a large wave hit the boat. To me it sounded like a loud bang we hear in the forward berth when a wave hits the side. When I poked my head out of the forward window I saw two large power boats going out to fish and when I went to the anchor to reel it in, I could not see the bottom. The depth sounder said 175 feet. When we get to warmer water we will dive the boat to see it we can see what happened. After we got the boat back safely in Medano bay we went back to sleep. It was not a very restful sleep for me as every bump and sound woke me up. 

Around ten we all got up and ate breakfast and cleaned the boat, stowed for sea, did the dishes, and took the last trash ashore before heading out to sea. We had light N winds all afternoon blowing us along at a nice 3 knot clip. Around dinner time the wind died and we sat and bobbed with the currents. 

We are finally up into really hot weather. We have every window open and fans running and are still stewing in our own juices. It is all tank tops and board shorts. Jackets are put away and night watches are nice because it is a break from the heat. Sleeping in the v-berth is a little more uncomfortable than it used to be because the dinghy is on deck upside down. I finally installed the little DC fan in our room up forward which is a very nice addition.

December 1, 2013

We continued our way south toward Puerta Vallarta and Marietas Island from Cabo San Lucas. We had pretty dead winds all morning, but around 8 we started to get 5 knot N winds. Around noon we put a reef in the main sail when the winds kicked up to 15 knots. We made 6-7 knots all night. At around 6:30 I caught a tuna and threw it back. Just a lot of fun in the sun. We saw a pod of spinner dolphins in the morning and a couple dolphins at night riding the bow wake. 

December 2, 2013

We continue to make around 5-6 knots.Jenna and woke up to find two baby squid on the boat deck and then I found a flying fish by the mast around noon. Both the squid and the flying fish were bait on the handline. One of the squid had some bite marks, but the other just fell off over the course of an hour. The generator has developed a problem related to cooling and so it will not work.

From noon to noon we made 133 nautical miles. This was by far our best day. I made another loaf of sourdough bread, this time with oregano. The starter is really coming along and when we are done I can say that this starter has been all over the world! The winds died down and we were making about 3-4 knots in 6-7 knot N winds. 

December 3, 2013:

When Jenna and I took the watch the winds really died down. We sailed with light winds for about an hour and then started motoring to Marietas Islands for two and a half hours making water. Off the coast of Marietas Island we saw a dead dolphin in the water. Shortly after the dolphin siting, I spotted Humpback Whales off the Island. We motored around the Island and tried to cut in between the two islands dodging the water fouling and land. At a depth of five feet below the keel we turned around and headed around the further east island. We were glad we did. Around the east side of the second island we found the sink hole that we were hoping to find. We dropped the anchor and put on our swim suits and snorkel gear and swam into the Marietas Island sink hole. It was a whole lot of fun.  Check the pictures out on the main picture spot. After our fill of snorkeling we motored over to the second island to try and find more sink holes. 

We dropped the anchor again closer to the second island and took the dinghy ashore. We had an exciting beach approach as I got partially drug under the dinghy scraping my knee and Koelby got stuck in a rope hobbling around on one knee. I was trying to prevent the boat from rotating sideways in the surf and tipping over and ended up getting shoved underneath partially. 

We did not find any more sink holes, but we found more caves and a trail around part of the Island. We saw a lot of what I believe John Steinbeck calls Sally light foot crabs around the island as well as red land crabs and lots of Brown and Blue footed Boobies. We went more around the Island and met another sailing gentleman who gave us some tips for anchoring. After dinner and cards we went to sleep. 

I had not been asleep for more than an hour when incredibly loud booms were heard forward and aft through the boat. I went topside in my underwear to find the anchor ball slamming against the side of the boat. The winds had died and the current was pushing the ball against the side of the boat. Not knowing what to do I shortened the anchor line from twenty feet to about five feet to keep the ball more under the anchor. It should be noted that the mooring ball was a repurposed propane tank that had tons of barnacles growing all over it. 

Satisfied that the noise would be stopped I dropped a GOS waypoint and went to bed. A couple of hours later Jenna and I were awoken again by the sound of the anchor and anchor chain slamming into the deck as the mooring buoy line was pulled tight over the anchor forcing the anchor up and then down. 

December 4, 2013:

The noise was incredibly impossible to sleep with and didn't sound good either. Koelby and I lengthened the rope and it eased the noise. After we lengthened the rope back to 20 feet the position was 100 feet from original anchor position. The shorter length was putting a lot more force on the buoy. The jury is out on whether the buoy was drug, but it was blowing 17 knot winds and the coast was behind us. We decided to pull the dinghy up in deck and motor toward an anchorage. 

We anchored outside of La Cruz Yacht Club and took the dinghy into shore for some research. We decided to stay at the marina for at least a day while repair men look at fixing our refrigeration plant and fixing the rust problems on the boat sides. Earlier Ian and I determined what was wrong with the generator we think. Corrosion in the sea water/coolant heat exchanger made it impossible for water to pass. We have the exchanger sitting in coke to dissolve the corrosion- you got to change those Zincs!

We had lunch and dinner at local establishments having grilled marlin tacos and seared tuna for lunch and Fettuccini and turkey & ham deli sandwiched with Caesar salad for dinner. We are back using the marina Wi-FI to upload pictures and the blog.

December 5-7, 2013
      We got up Thursday morning and waited until David the refrigeration repair man came over to our boat to look at our refrigeration unit. He quickly determined that the compressor was shot and that a capacitor needed replacing. He suggested either a robust or an economic compressor to fix it and we chose the robust model. He tore the old unit out to take back to his shop and told us that he would be back on either Monday or Tuesday to install the new one depending on when it arrived from Guadalajara, Mexico. He looked at the engine driven refrigeration unit also and quickly found that it would require a lot of troubleshooting and repair to find the source of freshwater in the refrigerant. He said that most likely the cold plates around the freezer had a leak somewhere. 
     We also met a cleaner on the dock whom we hired to clean all the rust stains on the boat, clean the hull and cockpit area, clean all the steel rigging and chrome, and wax everything. He was not very busy right this time of year so he gave us a good deal he said. We signed a contract written on scrap paper and he agreed to start Friday morning and finish Monday morning/afternoon. That night we ate at a local bar called Anna Bananas and saw a live group called The Good Stuff. While at Anna Bananas, I met a guy named Gael whom I had complimented earlier on  his Peugeot bicycle. It turns out that his home port is in Berkeley, CA and that his boat was about three slips away from ours. He invited us to go snorkeling with him and his tour group on the weekend and to race with him on next Friday if we are still here. 
On Friday Jenna, Jessica, Keaton, and I got on a bus and went to Puerta Vallarta to go to a marine store to look for a Impellers and Zincs, but unfortunately we found neither. We continued walking around the city all day and had sushi that was very good for dinner. During the day we found out that there is a hole from the outside of the boat into the chain locker that required repairing and that the chain was sitting in a pool of water that needed to be cleaned and preserved and that the wood cap around the boat has old dry caulk on the inboard side which is allowing water to seep under the paint and cause the exterior rust. They quoted us a good price to fix each and so we are completing the repairs. 
On Saturday we woke up later and hung out around the VIP lounge all morning doing internet stuff. Jenna and I booked a horseback ride for Monday and we decided that we would go up to Sayulita, Mexico on Sunday to have some fun in the sun and go surfing. That night we went to Sayulita with Pancho who we met because he is working on our Boat and his friend Alejandro. Keaton, Koelby, Jenna, Jessica, and I all piled into their car with them and rode up to Sayulita where a Festival celebrating Mary was going on. We ended up in a bar and club which had a French-Jamaican rapper and a mixer who called themselves something like the sound machine. It was an awesome time and I had my first taste of a Micheladas which is a Tomato/Beer with lots of spices and salt and Tabasco. Jenna said, and I could agree, that it tastes kind of like a liquid salsa. Once back in La Cruz, we stopped outside another music festival and had delicious hamburgers from a street vendor for 20 pesos. It was definitely a night to remember.      
This marina is probably a 9 out of 10. The internet is super fast at the lounge and the water in the showers is very hot and consistent. They went a little bit overboard with key card access, but I guess better safe than sorry. The marina office has a small pool and very nice meeting spaces. It used to have a very nice rooftop bar and restaurant and a convenience store, but those have shut down recently and are trying to re-open under different management. It looks like this marina thought that it would get a lot bigger than it did and so there are indications of open spaces that have just been left undeveloped because there is not enough traffic. 

December 8, 2013:
     We met back up with Alejandro and went to a local beach for a couple hours. We threw the frisbee for a little while and a game of soccer was played. We walked back to the car and went back to the marina. For dinner we went to an awesome little taco stand for some delicious tacos and quesadillas. The girls have friended Alejandro on Facebook making for interesting comments on pictures that he is tagged in. 

December 9, 2013:
     Jenna and I woke up early and took the small bus into Puerta Vallarta to meet the woman who owns the ranch. She met us at a defunct discoteca and drove us about 10 minutes to the outskirts of the city to her ranch in a nicer Ford Ranger. She drove into her driveway collected her money and then we jumped on horses with our guide Tomas and were on our way. She had mentioned on the website paying extra money for a private tour, but we paid the regular rate and got a private tour anyways. 
     We rode around up into the mountains for five hours. The ride went across a river a couple of times which was very fun and up to the top of the mountains to overlook Puerta Vallarta, Bahia de Banderas, and the mountains on the other side. On our way down we came across a Gum tree which had channels on it from the gum being collected earlier. Tomas showed us by slicing the tree a little with his machete and then chewed the tasteless syrup in his mouth and pulled out gum to show us. He said that it was hard work to climb up the tree and make the channels. 
     On our way down the mountain we rode down extreme rocks and then in deep washouts only slightly wider than horses and way above the horses shoulders. We crossed the river a couple of times, rode up a hill a couple minutes, dismounted our horses, threw the reigns over the saddle horn, and walked up to a small little waterfall in the mountains. After a couple of pictures and washing my face we headed back down the mountain and forded the river a couple more times and headed back to the ranch. It was interesting that in the middle of the wilderness and there was a beautifully paved road next to the river starting at a gate and ending at a gate. Tomas explained that the road is for an exclusive restaurant that is trying to open up in the mountains. The road to get to this beautifully paved road was a dirt road. The other part about the road is that they claimed to not harm or displace any trees in the making of the road. During the ride we cantered three separate times. I rode a mare named Luna, Jenna rode Commander who plowed into anything, and the tour guide rode a blue eyed mare named Confetti. 
     After we got back to the ranch Jenna hosed down her horse and then we ate a delicious taco meal that the owner bought for us. We got a ride back to the bus stop from the owner's son and had a coffee at Starbucks before heading back to La Cruz. While we were out, Koelby and Jessica had to take the boat out into the bay to have the boottop painted because the marina does not allow painting at the slips. The repair efforts on the boat look great. We had dinner at Anna Bananas again and listened to the band The Good Stuff. We went back to the boat and crashed. The horse back riding worked muscles on me that I don't normally work. 

December 10, 2013:

     After a lazy wake up and more internetting at the VIP lounge, we walked into town and got cash at the Oxxo. We paid the workers and the refrigerant man for their services and started to clean the boat to get underway. After waiting too long to get underway we decided to stay one more night in the marina. Alejandro invited us to his house for dinner so we purchased some beverages and went over to his house for a lovely dinner. It is amazing how hospitable and friendly he and his family are. The chicken enchiladas were amazing and the company was better. 

      After the water maker was installed we tested it out and it ran perfectly. One small problem developed. The refrigeration system uses freshwater in the potable water tanks to cool the R-134. Since there was so little water in the tanks it quickly heated our freshwater supply to a scalding temperature. To make matters worse, the water developed a weird almost battery taste. We flushed the water with the non-drinking water at the pier and drained that water completely from our tanks. We tried to email and ended up calling the repair man to ask if he used any cleaners on the heat exchanger that we should know about. We could only get "don't drink the refrigerant" out of him so we are still checking. The biggest problem is that a couple of us drank the water and would like to know what chemicals we ingested. We are still trying to get a definitive answer from David on what, if anything, he used on the freshwater side of the heat exchanger. Hopefully it is a non-toxic, biodegradable scale remover that won't kill us all. 

December 11, 2013:

      We got up around eight and set about getting the boat ready to go to sea. After two hours and checking out with the port captain and getting some groceries and a breakfast at the red gecko, we cast off all lines and headed south to the small city of Yelapa. After checking the GPS and the iNavX ( which did not know where Yelapa was) we consulted the Banderas Bay tourism guide to laser guide us to the correct location. We invited Alejandro to come to Manzanilla with us for a couple days. 

     After two hours of motoring a fifteen minutes driving around the bay looking for anchorage spots/ mooring buoys, we pulled up on a little black fender that we attached to an anchor. A unique feature of the Yelapa bay is that there is a huge shelf next to the shore that goes from 200 feet to 15 feet over about fifty feet. This makes anchoring tricky especially if the anchor is drug off the shelf. The locals and other marina tenants who have been to Yelapa told us that the anchor buoys are worth the price of admission. The fender was so small and the anchoring loop so low in the water that after seeing us struggle for a while, a local fisherman came close enough in his little panga to get Koelby from our boat to the finder and back to our boat. Thanks fisherman!

     We at a little dinner at a small little cafe with Wi-FI and practiced some beach landings and departures and were on our way. The town of Yelapa has no roads in it and the only way to the city is by boat. It is a beautiful little city nestled in the hills and the bay. After a nice dinner we went back to the boat and cast off the fender and headed to sea. We had nice winds about 12-15 knots from the North pushing us down the coast. The winds continued throughout the night.

December 12, 2013: 

Once we came back on watch at seven the winds had died to about five knots. We putted along all day and motored for five hours to make water. We are having troubled keeping the high pressure pump primed which I attribute to the placement of the selector tree above the waterline. Keaton and Alejandro caught a little fish that we made into Ceviche for dinner. It was very limey and very good. Nothing like fresh raw fish. Jenna saw a dolphin with two parasite fish attached to it. 

December 13, 2013:

I woke up today and went topside for watch to find twenty or so dolphins playing around the boat. So much fun! Still north winds at about 8 knots and about forty miles away from Manzanillo. We made good time today and arrived in Manzanillo Bay at about sunset. Alejandro and I caught another little Mackerel that we quickly gutted and set on ice to eat later. Manzanillo Bay had about ten large merchant ships at anchor and another two passed us outbound and another one was inbound behind us. There were probably another three or four at the docks getting loaded or unloaded. We found an anchorage around all the fishing boats of the region. 

When we went to deploy the anchor we found out that the anchor chain was wound around itself after the first one hundred feet. Fixing that will be a project for the future. We also saw that a lot of the rust spots that were cleaned up we're rusting again which is VERY discouraging three days after they finished fixing them.

after making sure the anchor was holding we went ashore to find some food. We settled on a Chinese restaurant on the little waterfront park area. I was rewarded for going ashore with a train engine going by. After a quick dinner we walked to the amusement park and we all rode the Mouse roller coaster. It was fun, although since it was named in English and not Spanish we wondered if it was a US roller coaster that could no longer pass inspections. The seat belts not working was my first indicator. We got some ice cream and some tortillas and drinks and headed back to the boat and went to bed. 

December 14, 2013:

We got up at 8 AM or so and made a breakfast before going into town to drop Alejandro off at the bus station. While Koelby and Jessica and Alejandro went to the bus station, the rest of us did research on what we would like to do in Acapulco and further on down the Mexico coast while Wendy is here. We decided that CiCi water park and the cliff divers and old town are three things we would over to do in Acapulco. 

we grabbed some groceries and went back to the sailboat. We have gotten quite good about beach landings and departures in the dinghy. We managed this last one with nothing getting wet except ankles and some knees. We stowed the boat and weighed anchor and departed for sea. We made water for a couple of hours while we motored with no wind. After drifting backward for a couple of hours good east winds picked up during Jenna and my evening watch and we started making was south at about four knots. 

December 15,2013:

I tried the super pasteurized milk we got at the Mexico Costco today and I have no complaints. It tasted good and felt like milk. Yesterday we stir fried all the vegetables that we got at a market for less than $10. It was very good and a nice break from canned and dehydrated. During the night watch we sat and slowly drifted toward Acapulco and repeated the procedure in the morning. 

December 16, 2013:

After drifting for a couple hours we started motoring and started making water in the water maker. While motoring I caught a large fish on the handline that was putting up a huge fight, but the fish managed to get away. After a brief lunch we stopped the boat and went for a swim. The water was so warm on the surface, but it was cooler deeper below. Dinner was a good meal of baked potatoes on the BBQ and an egg on top with hollandaise sauce and some Costco soup on the side. 

December 17, 2013:

More of the same interns of sailing, little to no wind and some motoring to charge the battery. A very large swordfish bit on the line today and nearly pulled me overboard. When I went to pull him in he somehow released the line and the hook sling-shorted forward with such force that the hook went wizzling by my face about a foot away and went forward of the boat a little ways. I pulled the line to make sure we still had a hook and to untie a knot that worked its way into the line during sling-shooting. We watched the movie finding sugarman after dinner which is about the musician Rodriguez. His music is very good, I would like to find his albums. 

December 18, 2013:

 Light winds from the west blew us lightly toward Acapulco. At 10:30 we took down the sails and started motoring and making water. We continued to have water maker problems with the high pressure pump getting air bound so we turned the 20 and 5 micron filters around so that water was flowing through them correctly and the system works great now. We also replaced the filters.  No bites on the hand line although it was out. 

After dinner one of the bolts connecting the starboard rudder ram to the rudder un threaded leaving us without turning ability while we cleared out the lazarette and rethreaded the bolt. We fixed it and took off sailing again.

During our night watch we had a very exciting time. The autopilot failed while sailing and held the rudder left. I immediately jumped downstairs to turn off power and un-stick the stuck switch. When the boat came across the wind while I was down below, the boom slammed across with such force that the lower block for the main sheet came apart again swinging the block around over Jenna's head wildly. Jenna pulled in the boom as tight as she could and we struggled to take down all the sails and fix the block. The topping lift came out of our hands at one point and started swinging rapidly. We secured everything with the boom and took off sailing again with just the genoa.  Sailing is very much a young mans game. I wonder sometimes how our older less knowledgeable sailing aquaintenances would fair in similar situations.

December 19, 2013:

We took the sails down and started motoring toward Acapulco and water making at 10:30. The water maker works like a champ and we are making 0 ppm water at 8 gallons per hour all day long. At 3:30 we pulled into Acapulco and tied to a mooring buoy and took the dinghy to shore. We had to motor around on the dinghy forms while looking for a place to park the dinghy. We finally settled on a dilapidated pier that charged us a small daily fee. 

We had a dinner at a German restaurant and went and watched the 9:30 and 10:30 Acapulco cliff divers. The show was amazing at 10:30 because they dove off the cliffs with fire and because our viewing location was center stage. When we got back to the boat and laid down to sleep, Jenna and I heard the all too familiar sound of the fiberglass anchor buoy hitting the hull. After a little engineering prowess and some knot tieing, Keaton and I fashioned a fender loop that fit on the lip of the fender to protect the hull and all was well.

December 20, 2013:

Jenna and I were woken up at 6 and 7 to the sound of the fiberglass anchor buoy hitting the hull. I got up both times and repositioned the fender ring on the buoy the noise stopped. At 8 we weighed anchor and drove over to the East side of the bay closer to the Mexican Navy boats and the hotels of Acapulco. Ian, Keaton, and I spent about ten to fifteen minutes yanking and pulling in the anchor chain to get it un stuck. When the workers in La Cruz wound the chain into a nice stack in the locker, they failed to realize that the rocking might tip the stack over and pinch the chain- which it did. We took wonderful showers in Wendy's hotel room before she checked out. After a couple trips to and from the boat, we made our way to the CiCi Waterpark. 

At the Waterpark we found out that many of the slides were closed. They gave us what was possibly a deal when we inquired, but it turned out they made money on us. The original tickets were 180 pesos for slides, dolphin show, and a meal voucher. They gave us 120 pesos for dolphin show, slides, and inner tube rental. It turns out that the inner tubes were only 30 pesos and the meals were 55 pesos so they won. I enjoyed the dolphin show and took lots of pictures and videos. In hindsight,t he pens for the animals were probably a little small, but the dolphins liked the free fish for performing. 

After spending from 1:30-5:30 at the park we left and picked up groceries at the grocery store and headed back to the boat. For dinner we made an awesome broccoli, asparagus, cucumber, and green pepper stir fry with sesame seeds and ate a store bought rotisserie chicken. Ian, Keaton, Jenna, and I went back to town at night to grab some ice cream from a delicious local store. 

December 21, 2013:

The boys minus me woke up and went into town to get fruit, yoghurt, and granola of breakfast. After gorging ourselves on fruit and after two failed attempts by me to seat the new o-rings on the generator heat exchanger, everyone minus Koelby went into town to do laundry. We took a taxi cab with our enormously large laundry bags to a full service laundry mat. Kenna and I paid around $20 USD to have all of our clothes, towels, and sheets washed, dried, and folded. Well worth the price of admission to not have to sit in a hot coin operated laundry facility. 

While waiting for the laundry to be done we went to Starbucks to plan out our day. I borrowed Jenna's phone, a telephone directory from Starbucks, and Keaton's laptop to try and find boat repair stores. I finally found one that was close to the Home Depot which we were planning on going to anyways. After packing up and determining who wanted to go with us on a grand adventure (no one), we hailed a taxi cab to shorten our potential hour walk (by google maps) down to a ten minutes. After all the research to find an address in the directory of the store, the taxi driver couldn't read Jenna's iPhone so I told him to take us to Home Depot instead. The Home Depot had thermometers and a JB Weld alternative for the main sheet block and walking directions to a Sears for freezer gasket. 

While walking to Sears we walked by a whole in the wall windshield and automotive tubing shop that had a window gasket that fit our needs for 80 pesos for two meters. We then headed back toward the Home Depot to find the marine repair shop. We finally found the repair shop, but they didn't have any zincs and had turned off all power to weld so they couldn't call any of the other places to ask if they had what we wanted. The manager spoke some English and gave us basic directions to find another marine store by the Acapulco Yacht club where we had been anchored the first day. We decided to grab a bus and go the eight miles for eight pesos each instead of 80 pesos by cab. Jenna and I played the fun game of should we get off the bus here or there game and ultimately ended up riding the bus for a little too long. 

My heart sank a little bit when we passed a deserted lot with a couple of master craft and ski boats on trailers and no signs of life. It turns out that a little ways down the road, by the entrance to the yacht club there was a small marine store. I walked right by the store, but the word marine and the painted nautical flags caught Jenna's eye a block away. After hemming and hawing on my part about whether the zinc would fit our boat, we got one zinc (that fit) and two 4-packs of marine toilet paper. We hopped on possibly the wrong bus back to Starbucks and the laundromat and hopped off when it took a turn when we didn't want to and paid another 16 pesos total to get on the right bus. The spotter who hangs in the doorway looking for riders didn't really acknowledge me either way when I was asking if the bus went to Wal-Mart. I saw later that night that the bus did ultimately end up where we wanted to go, oops!

We hung out for another hour at the Starbucks and got Jenna some more ice cream from the awesome store and some street vendor Pollo Enchilada Tortas (think sandwich) for 35 pesos each and then met the crew at the laundromat. Koelby spent a majority of the day seating the o-rings on the generator heat exchanger and determining that the plug for the main engine heat exchanger was seized in place and would require further repairs down the road. We schlepped our laundry back to the boat, installed the new zinc and tested the engines and stowed the boat for sea and got underway. We want to get down the coast quickly to allow Keaton to try and solve his stolen card issue before all stores shut down on Christmas. Naturally, when we got out of the Bay of Acapulco and started to sail the wind all but died. 

December 22, 2013:

Steady East winds at ten knots and steady four to five knot boat speed all morning. Jenna and I saw a huge pod of spinner dolphins and Pantropical spotted dolphins. I have pictures and videos of each. We started the generator at 7:30 and started making water to completely fill our tanks before we run the compressor to start the refrigerator and freezer for good. Great progress on making water and started to get the fridge and freezer cold again. We had light to no winds in the afternoon and then started making some headway in the evening before bobbing all night. 

December 23, 2013:

12- 15 knot winds from the East making for 7-8 knot boat speeds with a large two knot current. When Jenna and I put up the stay'sl for some extra speed the winds picked up to 16 knots and keeled us over 20 degrees and we were seeing 9 knots over ground. After lowering the stay'sl and getting the boat back under control we continued making about 7 knots. As the morning progressed the winds slowly started to shift south making our desired easterly course more and more impossible. As the winds shifted they also died until we were just drifting east with our two knot current. During the morning we ran the water maker and finally filled the water tanks completely full and ran the refrigeration plant for about 5 hours. 

 After a small lunch we jumped in the water and did a little bit of hull cleaning with rags and brushes. It definitely feels like she likes her new found speed. Koelby got in the water with the GoPro and chased after a sea turtle that we saw and got a pretty cool video. We had another delicious stir-fry and rice for dinner and watched Failure to Launch with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McCaunghey. Jenna and I piloted the boat into Bahía Chachua and Koelby and I dropped the anchor. The swells from the ocean predominately come from the south while the sea breeze comes from the East. This makes for a rocky sleep when the wind pushes the boat parallel to the swell.

December 24, 2013:

We woke up and took the dinghy to shore after a quick breakfast and cleaning up the boat. We met a husband and wife and son who have been living on the island for six years who were very friendly and knowledgeable. They told and showed us what we have to do to get to town. Koelby, Jessica, Wendy, and Keaton braved the four transportation modes and went into town to try and sort out Keaton's financial dilemma. The highlight of the adventures was Keaton and Koelby riding on the roof rack of the collectivó truck because there wasn't room in the bed as the truck barreled down the dirt road at 40+ mph. 

While they went into town, Jenna, Ian, and I had a lunch of awesome Cerveche and beers at a local bar and then went hiking and dinghies around the mangroves. The bar was exactly out of a movie scene. The shade is provided by palm frowns above and there are multiple hammocks strung between the support pillars. The floors were all sand and we sat bare foot in plastic lawn chairs. To get to the hiking locale we had to take the dinghy about 100 yards west across the lagoon entrance to where the lighthouse is and the Mexico mainland. We hiked over to the Pacific Ocean and then up into the lighthouse. From the roof we had an amazing view of both lagoons and the bay and the little town. 

After hiking we sat in the shade and played cards with a couple locals waiting for the other four to get back. Once they got back we at dinner at the blue lagoon and then went back to the boat. At the beginning of the meal the power went out and we ate by candle light. My meal was forgotten again and I had to go up to the counter and order it again. The hamburger came out, but it didn't have any fries so I had to ask for those and it took even longer. After settling our bill we piled into the dinghy and made the long voyage back to our boat. We dug out the stern anchor and made two attempts to set the stern anchor. The anchor held for a while, but when I checked it in the morning the wind had pushed us parallel to the waves again. I think the stern hook is vastly too small  for our massive boat. 

December 25, 2013:

     We got up around 10 with the intention of going to the beach to take a Christmas picture. After some discussion, we decided to save the trouble of moving the dinghy into the water and back out again at the end and take the Christmas picture on the boat. The picture can be seen on Facebook. After finishing the pictures and getting the boat stowed for sea, we weighed anchor and completed our first non motor-assisted underway from anchor. 

     The winds were from the southeast as we attempted to steer an easterly course. We got pinched in between irons and land and were forced to run the motor to make way down track. Later in the day we were making no progress and going backwards because of the current and so we motored into Puerto Escondido. 

     While sailing and motoring into Escondido I saw many schools of Mobula rays. The coolest thing about these rays is that while in the large groups on or two of the rays will jump out of the water and slap the water like a belly flop. We have sweet videos/pictures of the rays jumping. Jenna and Keaton and Koebly saw three Yellow-Bellied Sea Snakes and we all saw more sea turtles than we can count.

     We pulled into Puerto Escondido after 8 and watched a little Jack Frost while we ensured the anchor was holding and went to bed. 

December 26, 2013:

     We all got up around 9 and cleaned the massive stack of boat dishes and climbed into the dinghy to go ashore. We took two trips ashore and took all the trash off the boat. All seven of us had a breakfast at a local bar and then split up. Keaton and Ian went to the Post Office, Jessica, Wendy, and Koelby went to the Harbor Master, and Jenna and I went to get some cash and check out hotels. At 1:30 we met at the grocery store Super Che and then decided to stay one night in Puerto Escondido at hotels. 

       After wonderful showers and some Wi-FI in our rooms we went to the restaurant Ben Zaa which is run by some Ex-Pats and is a Gringo hangout. The dinner was absolutely amazing and the company was wonderful. Jenna and I went back to our hotel and cut my hair and got ready for bed. We are heading to Huatulco tomorrow and then after some snorkeling we are going to cross the Gulf de Tehuantepec. 

December 27, 2013:

Jenna and I got up from our hotel room at a leisurely time and went over to the Ben Zaa hotel to meet Koelby and Jessica and Nancy to go the market for some groceries. Since Koelby and Jessica were still sound asleep, we went without them after a brief conversation. At the market we picked up a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables that were very good quality and some super high quality coffee at a local shop for $100 pesos per kilo. The vendor was scooping the black beans from a large burlap bag in front of us. They did not brew any coffee there only sold beans. After an hour in the market we went to the Super Che grocery store and got all of the dairy and meats that we didn't want to get at the market. 

At this point Jenna and I were saddled with about 10 grocery bags total so we took a taxi back to the Ben Zaa hotel. We met up with the other crew and while we checked out of our hotel, they took the groceries back to the boat. Keaton and Ian stayed in Puerto Escondido while the five of us plus a new comer Linda sailed over to Hualtuco. For dinner we had spaghetti with meatballs and home made cheesy bread sticks. The bread sticks were great except that they were after dinner snacks because they take so long to cook in our little oven. The night watch was no wind for us and super wind for Koelby and Jessica averaging five plus knots of boat speed. 

December 28, 2013:

The morning watch was un-eventful with little to no wind most of the times and just enough wind to keep us sailing east at about two to three knots at other times. Without the boys on board we had to jockey the watches around a little bit, but it all worked out perfectly. Around noon we made burgers on Tortas and chicken patties for the girls minus Jenna. With ten miles to go and little to no wind, we hauled in all the sails and started the engine and water maker and headed for Marina Chahué in Huatulco. An hour and a half later we pulled into a slip after fretting about super shallow spots and the engine stopping on us just as we were entering the slip. Here is to good timing!

We were relieved to find that the reported drinkable hose water in Huatulco is in fact drinkable. We washed the boat off in freshwater and plugged in to shore power to let the refrigerator and freezer cool down. The showers were outside shower heads in a room with no locking doors. The cold water was appreciated. Overall the marina is probably a 5/10. Wi-FI is weak, the bathrooms are poor, but the slips are well maintained. The moorage rate is fairly reasonable and in-line with other Mexico prices. Jenna and I made super spaghetti leftovers by adding more meatballs to the meatball sauce and adding more sauce and some elbows. We met/ were introduced to/ heard of about five other boats in the 80 slip marina that are also waiting for a good weather window to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec. I was not aware but, nasty weather develops in the gulf as a result of the narrow land between the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of Tehuentepec. We have seen up to 50 knot winds and 20 foot seas. Not the kind of weather we want to find ourselves in. Many a boat has limped back in tatters after a failed crossing. 

December 29, 2013:

We woke up at a reasonable time and set off on the days adventures from our mooring in Chahué. Jenna, Koelby, Jessica, and I hopped into a cab and went to visit the archeological ruins in Copalita. While not impressive in terms of ruins size and information, it was very interesting to read that these Mexican ruins were around 200 years before the Mayans in 400 B.C and went 300 years later until ~1522 when a plague decimated the 2000 person population. The large park had much more that was still being excavated that was not available to view but you can see a "lighthouse," temple, burial hut, and ball court in our pictures. Hopefully our park visitation helps fund further park explorations. 

After the park we ate lunch at a small taco stand and then went to the Super Che to pick up some meat, cheeses, and Tortas for dinner. While everyone minus Koelby, Jenna, and I went to snorkel around the spit, we stayed back to work on the engine that failed the previous day. We found after checking the oil, fuel lines, and water strainer that the wire that failed in San Diego to the high pressure fuel pump had fallen off again. We tightened the wire and reconnected it and the engine works like a champ. We had ground beef Tortas and steamed vegetables for dinner and went to the bar for dessert and some drinks. After a couple hours at the bar and drinking with our neighbors from Canada also heading to New Zealand, we went back to the boat and fell asleep. 

December 30, 2013:

I got up at 7 and went to the bar area to grab some Wi-FI up by the office and check weather windows again. Unfortunately  we kind of missed our weather window that started on Saturday and is ending Tuesday morning. I have mixed feeling about the crossing. On the one hand I don't want to be a statistic and break anything, but I have also seen a lot of blogs about people dreading this crossing and having perfect weather. 

  Around ten Keaton, Ian, Jenna, and I all grabbed our snorkeling gear and dinghied over to the local beaches in Huatulco. At the first beach we saw a lot of pretty blue coral and lots of small bright blue fishes. While swimming back to the main beach to meet the others, I found myself surrounded in a huge school of trumpet fish. I have a video posted of me spinning round and round inside of the school. On the beach I saw these small black crabs that have the ability to jump from rock to rock of which I also have a video. Before we left a local Mexican man swam out of the water and hiked barefoot up a steep hill with a fresh lobster in his left hand and a loop full of about half a dozen octopi. 

We loaded into the dinghy and motored over to the roped off snorkeling area adjacent to the beach by the cruise ship terminals. The snorkeling spot was very full of coral which needed to be protected from the damaging anchors of cruisers. The sad part of the spot was that it was full of solo cups and juice boxes and various other assorted trash. The fish were not as plentiful as on the first beach, but the coral was much more vibrant. 

After snorkeling we went back to the boat and showered and then went to a bar across the street from the marina for dinner and to watch the Oregon bowl game. I had an amazing bacon wrapped shrimp with Gouda cheese for dinner. After spending hours on the internet and buying two extra camera batteries and a charger for the Pentax, we packed up our stuff and headed to OXXO to grab some ice cream.  After a short walk back we talked about leaving plans and went to bed. 

December 31, 2013:

Jenna, Keaton, Ian, and I got up at nine and went to a breakfast buffet and the Super Che for groceries for the trip. When we got back we all cleaned up the boat and stowed for the gulf of Tehuantepec crossing and took showers and got on the road. The four amigos drank some fresca and tequila while Koelby, Jessica, and Wendy went to Super Che to grab Champagne and two loaves of French bread. When they got back we backed out of our spots the marina and headed out to sea.

We had moderate wind all afternoon, but had to start motoring at 11 to make way down track to make our crossing window. 

January 1, 2013:

Happy New Years!!

We motored all morning to get to the 16th parallel and then started sailing at 5 knots with the stay'sl at around two. While motoring in the morning we were either making about four knots east into the teeth of the storm or 2 knots NNW. To allow for a northerly course Koelby, Jenna, and I dropped the main and stay'sl. With no sails we could motor NNE at a maximum of about three knots. Once we got to about forty feet deep at the north side of the gulf, we turned east and started sailing. We saw a maximum of 33 knots of wind today. 

it was smooth delicious sailing all night. The boat glided along under the power of the Genoa and stay'sl all night. For dinner I made spicy and non-spicy chicken and beef burritos. 

January 2, 2014:

We are 100 miles from Puerto Madero where we will check out of the country and head south to El Salvador bypassing Guatemala. We will loop back via bus to check out some ruins in Guatemala. With light winds and following seas I expect us to sail into Puerto Madero on Saturday morning. Hopefully customs is open on Saturday to check us and our boat out so that we can be on the road to get Wendy down to San Salvador for her flight back to the USA. 

I started making cheesy breadsticks again around ten to have for dinner. After they had risen once and were ready to form and put in the oven, I caught a fish on the handline. I had the privilege of being able to kill and fillet the fish. For lunch we had barbecued fish and rice and for dinner we had fish bone stew over rice with breadsticks. I felt much better about my fillet job knowing that we would be using all the meat in the stew later on. Both meals were a success and were free! During our night watch we had rocking North winds blowing us south at 6 knots with just the Genoa and stay'sl up. We were chasing down two fishing vessels and just about caught up to them when Jessica and Koelby relieved us. 

January 3, 2014:

Jenna and I were woken up by Koelby to a disaster. The line on the hot water heater had broken and all 150 gallons of fresh water had been pumped into the engine bilge by the water pump over the course of an hour or so. It was noted by Wendy that there was no water which raised attention and then Koelby noticed that the engine wasn't producing any amps while motoring. We spent the better part of an hour pumping out the bilge and then drying what we could. We started the water maker at 5:30 AM and ran it until 3:00 PM making approximately 76 gallons of freshwater. We are pretty bummed because we had extremely full tanks coming out of Huatulco. 

Jenna and I laid down for an hour and a half and then got up for watch at 7. During our morning watch we roared south at 5 knots in the beginning with following seas and East winds and then limped at current speed at the end of our watch. When Koelby relieved us we retested the engine and water maker and started motoring for an hour to charge the battery. Unfortunately, when the generator is running to make water and we are not running the refrigeration plant the generator is not at max output and the battery is drained of some amps. We were able to motor east towards land for an hour and then throw up all sails and achieve 5 knots with south winds. 

We sailed for two hours before we took down the sails and started motoring into Chiapas. We pulled up next to Lucky Goose to drop anchor and heard from him that there was the Chiapas marina just a little ways back with free Wi-FI and showers and the ability to take care of all of our Mexico check-out paperwork. We pulled into the marina and then went to the nearby restaurant Baös to get Gouda cheese bacon hamburgers, cold beers, and Wi-FI. We went to bed full and happy. The marina bathrooms are awesome and the Wi-Fi, although sketchy at the boat, is very strong in the lobby. Definitely a 9/10. The marina is in a secluded section behind the fishing docks and is very sleepy. If we didn't have to continue on, it would be an awesome village to spend two or three weeks.

January 4, 2014:

We woke up and attempted to get checked out of Mexico, but found out that we couldn't do anything until Monday. Koelby met two locals named Tony and Miguel who own and operate the tour company called Tour Discovery and they offered to take us to Wal-Mart for cash and to  take Koelby, Jessica, and Wendy to a hotel. Jessica and Wendy are taking a bus to El Salvador so that Wendy can make her flight back to the US because it is not likely we will get to El Salvador by boat in time. We went to the Wal-Mart to get cash at the nearest ATM and also got a can opener and a new netbook case for me. We came back to the marina by cab and used Wi-FI after covering the main sail. Jenna and I went to the bar again and got two mixed drinks and then nachos for dinner. 

January 5, 2014:

Jenna and I were on the road early at 8 AM with Tony and Miguel to pick up Koelby and start our tour of Izapa Olmec and Mayan ruins. The first stop was at "Site F" of eight sites which was tight on the side of the road. There was a temple and a hip ball court and it was described as a market that locals would travel to for three days out of a month to exchange goods. Feathers, jade, and Cocoa were traded here. It was interesting to learn that the currency to enter the market was cocoa seeds. 

The second and third sites were much smaller than the first, but equally interesting. They were not as well restored, but had more carved stones and interesting information related to astronomy. Three stones all were positioned in direct orientation with Orion's Belt and when the sun was directly overhead of the stones on August 11th or 12th, they marked the new year of the nine month Mayan calendar. During the nine fertile months the Mayans planted crops and prepared the land. Coinciding with the nine month gestation period of humans, they used the remaining 90 days to harvest all of their crops. When August 11th came around, the calendar started over again. All of the sites were nestled in and among private property. Having a tour guide gave us access to information and places that would have been very hard to find otherwise. 

We ate and purchased cocoa and a soy, sugar, cocoa drink mix at a second site and the woman let us pick star fruit from her tree for FREE! Koelby, Jenna, and I were amazed to learn about all the fruit in this region. We must have seen about 12- 14 different fruits. The most interesting was probably the jack fruit which has seeds on the outside like a sun flower that can be roasted and eaten and a very sweet interior we are tole (like a mango)! The woman who sold the cocoa and powders also served us some star fruit with salt and a spicy chili powder that was excellent. 

From the ruins we headed north to the volcano Tacana. We stopped on our way up to look at the river that separated Mexico and Guatemala and also North America from Centeal America. While visiting the volcano we drove through plantations of Coffee and saw workers and laborers carrying coffee in burlap sacks that we were told could weigh up to 150 lbs. We saw large concrete pads with the coffee beans drying and saw farmers turning the beans. We stopped at a German coffee village and went and toured a German building. The building was built by a German family in 1929 when Mexico was attempting to draw Germans into Mexico. It was rumored that Eva Braun lived in the house we toured because she matched the physical description of the woman, but it is thought to just be a rumor. 

From there we went up to Union Juaréz and had some drinks at a bar called Daniel's which was named after a local man across the street who plays a marimba on the sidewalk all day. The stray dogs seemed to love the sound as I saw about five different dogs come and go throughout our two hours there. I ordered a Michelada with Chamoy which was as amazing as my Michelada in Sayulita. After settling our bill we made our way further up the mountain. We went as far up the mountain as we could took a couple pictures and drove back down. It is interesting that half of the mountain is owned by Guatemala and half by Mexico. The hike to the top is about a 6-8 hour hike and the Guatemala side is rumored to have land mines so extreme caution is recommended. 

We came down the mountain and stopped at a local restaurant and had amazing Empenadas and Jenna and I had a tomatoe and cheese salad. The food was delicious and the prices were reasonable. The wait staff was dressed in bow ties like a fancy Mexico City restaurant. The owner of the restaurant has moved to Mexico City to start a fancy restaurant there. We stopped at Wal-Mart to get groceries on the way home and gave Miguel and To y a tour of the boat before paying them. I am so glad that we were able to see all that we got to see and took a lot of pictures to put on the blog. Check the flickr for new pictures. 

January 6, 2014:

We woke up and went with a man at the marina to visit the port captain, immigration, and the harbor master. We paid all the fees, got our passports stamped, returned our visas, and paid for our four nights stay at the marina. After a lovely lunch and a couple of last snacks to spend all of our pesos, we went to the boat and got ready to get underway while waiting for the port captain to give us our international zarpe and final paperwork for the boat. At 4:30 we motored away from the slip and at around five we entered the Pacific Ocean. The only other real news for today is that I discovered that my passport expires in July and so I will be getting a renewed passport in El Salvador from the US embassy. We took down the Mexico flag from the halyard and flew the El Salvador flag. 

January 7, 2014:

Moderate Easterly winds allowed us to make good time down the coast during the day. Light swells made for easy comfortable sailing. Before dark I caught a small little tuna about one foot long. I got the hook out of his mouth and threw him back. It was the first fish we caught in Guatemalan waters. Something happened that made both Koelby and I and no one else feel really bad. We think it might be food or something. During our night watch Jenna and I watched the wind come up from 8 until over 20. I would keep setting a trip-point and the wind would quickly cross that threshold and then we would repeat.

January 8, 2014:

Finally at a quarter until one Jenna and I made preparations to reef the main sail. With the help of Keaton we lowered the main and tied all the reef lines. Because Koelby is on watch alone we decided to leave the main sail down and he would sail at night with the head sail only. When we came on watch at 7 we had more of the twenty foot east winds and eight foot seas. While reeling in the head sail I noticed that the genoa sail had ripped about two-thirds of the way up the sail about a foot and a half. We furled the genoa completely and put up the stay'sl. 

While up by the stay'sl rigging I noticed that the mooring lines were over the side and terribly knotted. I tried to pull the lines up on deck but they were stuck around a zinc. Once more people were up and awake I got the lines back on deck with the help Koelby in the water. Around eleven the wind died and the seas were calm and so we motored for two and a half hours to make headway and to make water. A neighbor at the last marina said that the trip should be 41 hours, but we are way longer than that. Either we have bad luck with wind or we don't motor as much as everyone else. After some Tortas with Fajita seasoned spam? and Parmesan garlic fries, Jenna and I went to bed for our night watch. The night watch was slow sailing with a light east wind. 

The winds started playing the same pick up speed game with us again. This time at 17 knots we got Ian and Keaton up and put toe reefs in the main sail. A couple of minutes later the wind was howling at greater than 20 knots. We are lucky we did it when we did. The danger is that if you wait for wind to pick up to far you are trying to move around on deck while giant waves are crashing over the boat and the wind is trying to blow you off the deck. I was glad Jenna ensured to reef to main when she did. 

Everyone has talked about the might T-Peckers or Gulf of Tehuantepec winds but nobody has talked about the nightly winds off of Central America. It might be a coincidence or seasonal effect, but two nights is a trend. With 23+knot winds and 8+ foot seas they are mighty dangerous conditions. 

January 9, 2014:

Very light east winds and light seas make for very slow sailing. We are now on our 66th hour (at 10 AM) of our supposed 41 hour journey. I am glad that Wendy and Jessica got a bus into El Salvador because Wendy was not going to make her plane by sailboat. Trying to coordinate visitors meeting us is difficult at best when subject to the whims of tides and winds. We drifted most of the morning and the afternoon toward the southeast when we needed to be going east. The current was taking us at about 1.5-2 knots the entire time. We had four knots of wind which we could have possibly done something with if we had the genoa in service, but with the stay'sl we were unable to harness the wind. 

We started motoring and making water around four and around 8:30 at night we anchored off the coast of Bahía del Sol in preparation to cross the bar the next morning. We wanted to sail and save fuel, but there was no guarantee the winds would be strong enough and this way we could all sleep during the night. The anchorage was incredibly smooth considering that we were in the Pacific Ocean. For dinner we had gluten free pizza with chorizo. The little Force 10 oven struggles to cook a deep mountain man pizza pie. In the future we will cook the dough a little more fully and ensure that the dough is more evenly spread. 

We had a problem with the windlass not operating and are holding our breath that we don't have to replace a windlass any time soon. The motor also died and failed to start when it was taken out of neutral. I jostled the wire on the high pressure pump, but we are not sure if that is connected to the problem. 

January 10, 2014:

We woke up around eight and stowed and made preparations to cross the bar around ten. At nine we hailed the marina and arranged to cross the bar with the pilot. We motored toward the mouth of the estuary around nine thirty and drifted waiting for the pilot to arrive. When he arrived he asked if we were the sailboat requiring his services and then said the waves were light and the crossing should be easy. At the helm, I took the engine to full throttle and followed the panga. The pilot would easily maneuver out of our way, but he was usually under the bow a little. This made it difficult for me to see him and required a lot of jumping around in my part to see him. The bottom got as high as two feet below our keel by depth sounder. The waves were not bad, but still required a lot of rudder action to follow the pilot in a straight line. 

Once we got into the estuary I radioed the marina and arranged a slip to arrive in. We hooked up shore power, water, and took the documents to the port captain to check into the country. The process was about an hour long and very easy and very cheap it was nice that all documents could be taken care of under one roof, unlike in Mexico. We paid to stay in the marina for one night for $32 a free pilot services instead of paying $25 for the pilot. We hooked up to Wi-FI and started researching what to do in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. 

January 11, 2014:

We woke up and did more research on tourist activities and dropped off our laundry to be washed and dried and folded for $1/lb after our fix of internet and growing hunger we walked to a food stand ten minutes up the road and ate hamburgers. Uninformed, we should have chosen the local papusas which we had later and were awesome! I met a local man named Paco who owns three fishing boats down in El Salvador. He has lived in El Salvador his entire life except four years when he went to school at the University of Miami. He said he returned back to El Salvador right in time for the height of the civil war. 

Luckily his son does boat repairs so we are in the process of getting quotes for required repairs. We are not holding our breath, but if the price is right we would consider doing some major repairs while the boat is in El Salvador for a while. After ordering a dinner he purchased us some local Papusas that I mentioned above. They were delicious. We spent a little more time on the internet and then went back to our boat at anchor. 

January 12, 2014:

I woke up around seven and started doing dishes. The chorizo is very acidic and was eating all the seasoning off the cooking sheet and staining dishes! It was also starting to smell quite ripe. The brushes on the small dc motor on Jenna and my fan decided to either break or melt off and so is out of commission. Without the fan I sleep way too hot. I end up getting up a time or two in the middle of the night and just sitting outside cooling off. We are going to carol's today for a couple of days and are going on a tour with Carol's friend Kelli and to a Lucha Libre. Around eight we are going back to Carol's for a party. I am excited to finally meet Monkey in person!  

January 13-19:

We all stayed at Carol's place for this entire time. I spent some time with Jenna getting carol some house warming things and doing some little repairs. Her toilet in her bathroom needed to be fixed and she didn't have door mats for the front or back. She had one hose that had come apart and so we replaced the hose end. Monkey unfortunately doesn't like people when Carol is not around and so she sat in theme  corner and cowered while Carol was at work.

Carol expertly told us how to navigate the local bus system so we used city buses to get to and from all the malls. While at the malls we got the stuff for Carol's house and used the Wi-FI when available. On the 16th I had my passport appointment at the US Embassy. I had to wait in a bunch of long lines to get my passport and spent about one hour waiting to do about six minutes worth of business. I was able to get my passport in the ten days advertised for the regular price. Why doesn't everyone get a passport at the embassy instead of waiting the six to eight weeks if you get it at the post office. Don't bring iPads into the embassy as their lockers won't fit them and don't take the 8 AM appointment because the doors don't open until 8:15. It got very old going from Carol's to the mall and back, but when you are addicted to Wi-FI you got to get your fix! We went down to the Galerias mall which has a mansion in it. It was interesting, but had been heavily remodeled to match the mall decor. 

Jenna and I met Carol at the Siamon department store and helped her purchase a sofa bed for her house so she can have her bed back that Jenna and I were sleeping on. On Saturday Carol took us downtown to a nice street market where Jenna and I got two black clay mugs that are awesome. From the market we went to a couple shops and then a chocolate shop that had amazing chocolates and baked goods. We stopped at a grocery store to get goods for breakfast for dinner and started the long bus ride back. We had a lovely dinner and then went to bed after a bit.  

Other items of interest during this time period were playing soccer with Tony and his friends, going downtown Santa Tecla with Carol for traditional El Salvadorian food and then grabbing drinks at an Argentinian restaurant. Check out online for pictures!

January 20, 2014:

Koelby, Jessica, Jenna, and I woke up at 4:30 and took a cab to the TICA bus station and bought tickets from San Salvador to Guatemala City on the six o'clock bus. We went across the street before getting on the bus and got some of the saltiest breakfast sandwiches we had ever had. Unfortunately it was dark for most of the ride to Guatemala City before we got to the border. The coach bus we were on was packed full and labored mightily up some of the steep grades. 

At one point I witnessed whisks of clouds shooting up from the mountain tops as it was just beginning to get light. The border crossing was incredibly easy because we already had entry into El Salvador. El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua all have visa reciprocity. The views coming down into Guatemala City were amazing as we saw the city spread out in the valley. At the station we caught a cab to the city center and did research on hotels. Guatemala has this weird hotel rule where only three people can stay in a room and to have four people you have to pay for two rooms. 

We ultimately ended up in a hostel in zone one that was cheap and very low budget. The beds were hard and some of the pillows were also hard. The hot water for showers in Guatemala is mostly provided by heating shower heads. Koelby and our new friend Brandon learned the hard way not to stand in water and touch electricity. We took a cab into the city center to view the president's house and the Guatemala City Metropolitan Cathedral. We walked down the market street and Jenna got. New pair of Tom's shoes that she can get more dirty. We ordered pizza in the room because we did not want to go out in zone one. There was some noise in the hostel, but it was mostly empty. 

January 21, 2014:

We all caught a taxi at 4:00 from the hostel to catch the 5:00 bus to Lanquín. We had thought that we would catch the five o'clock bus, but we ended up being some of the last people on the five o'clock bus. Being the last people we ended up having horrible seats. Jenna were in the back where the seats didn't recline next to the bathroom. Luckily we really didn't smell the bathroom save once or twice on the six hour ride. The ride up to Lanquin was exciting because the bus was very old for as hard as it was working. Driving up over some of the passes the engine was laboring. I thought that the driver was trying to grind us all off a complimentary pound of he gears for our troubles. 

At Coban the driver helped us get off and catch a microbus to Lanquin. The microbus worked super hard going over muddy back roads to Lanquin with all the passengers. During most of the ride the bus had about 12 passengers, but closer to Lanquin about thirty people piled into the tiny little bus. We were so full that four people were hanging off the back. The bus packer/yeller helped us get off right next to our hostel. 

While checking in to the hostel, the manager informed us that there was a small personal tour leaving for Semuc Champey that afternoon that we were able to join. Most tours had fifteen to twenty people and our tour had six. Two of the people were managers of the hostel. Leaving for the tour on Tuesday allowed Jenna and I to travel north to Flores to visit Tikal on Wednesday. 

Semuc Champey was awesome. Thanks Carol!!! We first did an awesome candle light tour of the bat caves and then jumped off a 8-9 meter bridge into the river. After climbing out we walked up to the observation point of the Semuc Champey pools. We hiked down and played in the pools. If you are interested in how they were formed (click here. There were placid pools to dive and swim in and natural water slides. Additionally, there were small little fish that ate at your dead skin and scabs in the pools. The park was amazing. The transportation there and back included standing up in the back of a Kia 2700 truck and riding the roller coaster while barreling down the muddy and slippery roads. I would go to the park again in a heartbeat. 

Because we completed the Semuc Champey on Tuesday we signed up to catch a shuttle up to Flores on Wednesday at 8:00. After a nice vegetable dinner buffet and a shower we went to sleep happy and full. 

January 22, 2014:

We woke up and had a beautiful breakfast and hopped the ferry to Flores. When we came into Lanquin there was very low fog. While traveling out there was no fog and so we could see the beautiful mountain range that we were in. After a ferry ride and a couple stops for food and bathrooms and seven hours of riding we arrived at the Los Amigos youth hostel/party palace. Luckily there were so few people on the bus that Jenna and I were able to spread out and get comfortable. We arrived in Flores at around three and booked a room in the hostel and a sunrise tour to Tikal and a nice bus ride back down to Antigua on Thursday morning. We got on some Wi-FI and had a nice dinner at the hostel. We met a nice couple from Portland who have been traveling for the past six years. They gave us a bunch of good advice and good conversations. We might see them again in Antigua on Friday. We went to bed and set an alarm clock for 2:30 to get up and catch our three o'clock sunrise tour of Tikal. 

January 23, 2014:

We woke up and got to the park at around 4:30. We were at the top of Temple 5 to watch the sun rise over the other temples. Unfortunately for us, the cloud cover was too low to see the sun, but we were able to see the temples emerge from the dark around us and hear all the birds and animals in the early morning before they were scared off. We saw a red backed tarantula, spider monkeys, howling monkeys, turkeys, hawks, toucans, and lots of other animals. Check our flickr for all the animals. The park was discovered in 1848 by a group of hunters and was opened by Guatemala in 1955 to the public. In 1956 UPENN came in a started restoring temple 5. Only twenty percent of the park is uncovered or restored. There is a Japanese university that is currently working on restoring one of the temples. 

Tikal is the name of the ruins and means voice of the echo. When in the central plaza you can hear awesome echoes from whistles and claps. The name of the city is Josh'mtal and had as many as 3.3 million people at its heyday. The Mayan people dispersed into Guatemala around 900 AD when the resources ran out. Approximately 80 percent of Guatemalans are descendants of the Mayans who come from the Bearing Strait. There are over twenty dialects of Mayan and some are only known by as few as 75 people. 

Tikal is home of the tallest temple single structure in Central America. El Mirador has a taller structure but it is a temple and pyramid combination and so it doesn't count. The temple is over 76 meters tall from temple base. The temples are ordered in the number they were restored/discovered and not the order they were built. The ruins are awesome and were compared to the Cambodia ruins Angkor. Check out our pictures on Flickr. 

January 24, 2014:

 Jenna and I took a 8 PM bus from Flores to Antigua that connected in Guatemala City. Because we did not have a connecting bus voucher or a name on the list to Antigua, the bus left without us. We had to pay an additional fee for a bus from Guatemala City to Antigua. We think that we were probably fleeced because there were six of us in the same situation by the travel company in Flores. The large overnight coach bus from Flores was barely in the terminal long enough to get all the people off. 

Once in Antigua we found a nice hotel for $17 per night and it included a breakfast and Wi-FI. Because we didn't sleep all that well on the bus we took a nap before touring the city. Well rested we walked to the center plaza and purchased a book of all the church ruins and the history of Antigua. We saw about 5 ruins on the first day. Jenna and I would walk to a ruins and I would read all about the ruins and it's history and then take some pictures and then we would hike on. 

The city of Antigua used to be the capital of Guatemala and was called Santiago, but it was hit by so many destructive volcanic eruptions that the Capitol was later moved to Guatemala City and the city of Santiago was renamed Antigua. We had a lovely dinner and then went to bed after planning our next days tour route. 

January 25, 2014:

We woke up and had a great continental breakfast of fresh fruit and pancakes and coffee. We grabbed the camera and guide book and set out to walk about the city. All told, we saw about 20 ruins that day. We learned about bishop-nun affairs and about churches being destroyed again and again and again. We walked all told about three miles probably. We had an enormous lunch a Reilly's which is a Brooklyn Pub and then dinner at a nice restaurant serving Italian cuisine. Check out the flickr for some awesome pictures of all of the ruins. 

January 26, 2014:

Another delicious continental breakfast and a late wake-up and a five hour bus ride back to San Salvador. We noticed that the bus ride back in to El Salvador had many more officials come onto the bus to check passports and the bus manifest. All told we were stopped along the road three times after we checked out with the border officials. We paid for a taxi back to Carol's place and then crashed after a long day of traveling. The country of Guatemala is a little bigger than the size of Louisiana and it is evident by the large quantity of time we spent in buses traveling around. Jenna and I are amazed with the beauty of Guatemala and definitely plan on spending some more time in the country in the future. 

January 27-29, 2014:

Kelli picked us up at 8:30 in the morning for our three day El Salvador adventure. We used a hostel in Yulupa as our central location for traveling. We were joined by Koelby's dad and his friend Jens as well Keaton, Jessica, and Koelby. The first day we did two street fairs and markets and then hiked to a river that flows hot from a thermal. We jumped off some cliffs and then hiked further in to where a cold river flows into the hot river making a nice temperature water. The hot water was plenty hot we estimated about 104 degrees. After the river we went to natural pools to let little fish eat dead skin cells off our feet and ankles, they tickled a little bit, but it was awesome. 

The next day we went on a grand hiking adventure to some waterfalls and a damned waterfall/public works project. Some swam in the man-made pools under the waterfall and in the man-made connecting tunnels, but I was dry enough that I didn't need to get wet and do spelunking type stuff that I have done before. We had a nice local dinner and called it a night. 

The final day of the tour included a tour of a coffee plant. They take the raw coffee grapes from the fincas and process and ship them to the buyers. It was amazing to learn how complex the entire process is from start to finish. After that tour we went to some local San Salvador ruins. The site had been covered up by about three meters of ash and was found when a bulldozer hit one of the structures. Unlike the temples and pyramids which are for royalty, these ruins were of the farmers and commoners. The problem with these ruins is that because the huts are made of earth they are very hard to preserve so they are covered with giant roofs to keep rain from destroying the ruins. There was a nice museum also with the ruins. After those ruins we went to San Salvador and had delicious cuisine prepared by a friend of Kelli's who raises his own meat and dairy goats to make delicious cheeses and deserts. It would have been wonderful, if I had not gotten food poisoning (I think) from the food. I was the only one, but it was miserable. 

January 30, 2014:

Mall day and trying to figure out where our extra batteries and charger are that shipped to El Salvador from NJ on January 5th or so. The company line is that they are still working with the Christmas rush and that packages are taking a month and a half, so fingers crossed. 

January 31 - February 7, 2014:

       We spent the last days at Carol's house and going to and from the mall. We met Tony's parents and had a lovely Papusa dinner at their house and refilled water bottles and used the Wi-FI. We went to the boat with Tony and Carol on Sunday and then took the anchor windlass electric motor into town to be fixed. The next day we were able to fix the motor after a little walking around. We finally found a shop that would fix the motor, but we had to buy the wire and the bolt to fix the negative terminal on the motor. After all was said and done we fixed the motor for $6. We installed the motor on the 6th and it worked like a charm. 

     To get down to the bus, Jenna and I took a taxi to the south Public bus terminal and then caught a 2 hour bus down to the beach. The worst part about the bus was that every other stop it seemed, the driver would let 3-4 locals who would hawk goods, or give sermons, or sell food. It was like a moving restaurant at one point with every type of meal being offered on the bus including pasta!

     Jenna and I had a wonderful time with Carol, Tony, and Monkey in El Salvador and hope to see them again. The last two nights we had wonderful home cooked meals. We made Indian Green Curry and Seafood Paella. They were both wonderful, Carol is an amazing cook. As much as I loved being on the land for the past month, now that I am sleeping on the boat again with a fan,the bed on the boat and I am ready to sail on.

Feb 8- March 4, 2014:
      I am so sorry that I have been distant for so long. Truth-be-told I had a wonderful journal entry made covering the entirety up until February 20 something or so. Unfortunately, when the iPad was synched with my account, we lost all of our journal entries. I am sorry. Lots of cool things happened. I think the highlight was seeing the Tropical Bottle-nosed whale and swimming around the boat in Isla Del Coco with some reef sharks. Life is good and we are having a blast. 

March 4:

We left the Banana Bay Marina around noon after a full morning. Jenna and I had to go back to Customs and the Port Captain because Customs was closed on Monday and the Port Captain would not see us until after Customs. We were able to pay the $21 to the Costa Rica national bank on Monday which was good because there was a huge line on Tuesday morning waiting to get in. A little story about the bank. 

I went into the bank and felt like I was in Beetle Juice a little. I pulled the number 54 and the number they were serving when I got there was 22. When I left they were only serving 28. Luckily a man looking over my shoulder in the back nose-bleed section noticed that I wanted to pay for an international zarpè, kindly pointed me to another line. I waited there in a chair for only about five minutes before I was served. With Zarpè in hand, we got back to the boat and JT and I took the dinghy up to the Yamaha dealer to grab the outboard. Through old-age or overheating- we will never know, they also determined that the thermostat was bad. Because the 4 HP four stroke engine is not sold in Costa Rica they don't stock any parts. We were able to get a new kill switch and a new impeller. We were not able to get a spare impeller, new bushing (that we melted in the heat), new thermostat, or a new zinc for the engine. Hopefully Kevin in the Marquesas can get us running as good as new. The engine worked fine after I figured out that it was dying because the fuel switch was off. It would start but as soon as I put it in gear or took it to neutral it would die. Hmmm, gasoline engines needing gasoline, crazy! We motored back over to the boat and pulled the dinghy out of the water. 

We spent about an hour cleaning the dinghy of some new scum and a lot of the remaining El Salvador estuary scum. It looks so nice when it is white and shiny. We left and got some fresh fruit, bread, eggs, and a last milkshake at this local stand. After paying our fuel bill and filling my taxes we left Banana Bay Marina and Golfito Dulce. We motored until the mouth and then started sailing. We are eating like kings and queens with all the fruits and vegetables that we have and only four people. We made about 5 knots in a SW direction with 10-12 knots WSW winds. JT and Mandy have the 6 AM to noon and 6 PM to midnight watches and we have the other two. They cook lunch and we cook dinner. Quite a lovely arrangement. 

March 5:

We continued sailing SW and even had to furl the headsail in a little when winds touched 18 knots. The winds are generally in a WSW direction and light at 10 knots. At noon we had made 67 miles from Golfito. We are trying to average 80 NM a day to get to the Marquesas to meet Grace and Kate. Our friend Rob, who told us all about the South Pacific said that he made it in 36 days without motoring and sat in the doldrums for 5 days. 

Around 6 PM the winds died and so JT and Mandy motored for two hours to make way down track. We are seeing a lot of merchant traffic coming and going from the Panama Canal. Any day now we should hit the Trade Winds. 

March 6:

We had a light five knot W winds for an hour and a half allowing us to sail at 4 knots WSW. After the wind died we took down all sails and floated until 6 AM when the wind slowly picked up. We put out the hand-line and a second lure on Koelby's sturgeon rod. At 9:10 JT was playing with the rod because he thought there was a fish and then a four foot Sailfish hit the lure. We fought with him for about three minutes as he pulled out another hundred yards of line under tension. While trying to add tension the line snapped and the fish jumped another couple times in admiration and was gone. A third lure lost to the fish gods. We are almost one to one on fish caught to lures lost. 

We finished the previous 24 hours with 47 miles sailed. With our discussions with other sailors who have crossed and what I have read, I am fairly confident that once we get into the trade winds we will more than be able to make up for these dismal days and still arrive in Nuka Hiva Marquesas on time. 

March 7:

Not a whole lot of wind in the morning. We had some W winds pick up around early morning that allowed us to sail around 2 knots. Light W winds can be so frustrating because the two tack options become S or N. This early on we really want to get W out to the trade winds. For the 24 hour period we sailed 57 NM. No fish caught or any nibbles. We had a juvenile booby land and stay on the anchor this afternoon. It was probably a brown booby Jenna thinks. It stayed on the anchor even when Jenna walked up to mess with the furling line 4 feet away. 

I cut a length of 3/4 PVC pipe and glued two fittings on for the booster pump of the water maker. These fittings will allow the hose a more direct route. I am going to try and do a project or two every day to lighten the load at the end and make the boat more livable and comfortable. 

Toward dinner time a booby landed on the spreader and took off a couple of times because the genoa scared it. I went to bed early, but unfortunately tossed and turned for a long time I think because I wasn't physically tired. 

March 8:

I woke up 15 minutes before my alarm to help JT and Mandy put sails as the wind picked up. While trying to connect the main sheet halyard to the sail it slipped out of JT's hand and up the mast to the second spreader. A couple of minutes later and with the help of Mandy and Jenna we hauled JT up the mast in the ascending harness with slight rain and thunder clouds building all around us. It was quite exciting for me and I could imagine it was more-so for him. With the thunder and lightning and the storm it makes for nice winds for sailing and cool temperatures. We were able to make 4 knots down track with one reef in the main.  

With the help of the four and five knot travel speeds we still only made about twenty five miles all day. I started to clean all the rigging with a soft brass wire brush and they are starting to look magnificent. 

March 9:

We motored for two hours during our morning watch and then for two more hours before noon. We raised sails once during they day for thirty minutes and spent the rest of the day drifting with sails down waiting for wind. We made 31 miles with motoring alone. 

March 10:

We have just been drifting with the tide back toward Central America. There are crazy blue bio luminescence in the water and a school of five dishes with blue glowing bits on the end if their fins were surrounding the lure this morning. We drifted backward 9.9 NM at noon. 

Finally at 6 PM, we got a sustained 4 knots of wind that is propelling us forward at least at 1 knot. Watch out speed records, here we come!

I got the SSB working and have found the Calgary, Canada flight weather and listened to a sailor net communication between a Caribbean sailor and a SC base. I hope to find the BBC news and get the weatherfax images to work.

Jenna, JT, and I fixed the striker on the force ten stove. The AA battery holder broke on one end, so we taped it around a new battery with some duct tape. 

March 11:

Light winds managed to find us allowing us to sail 16.6 NM over the previous 24 hours. Winds were still W at about five knots. The problem with five knot winds is that they are not steady winds, so they barely hold the sails full. 

During the afternoon the solenoid valve for the liquid propane gas stopped working. After a little troubleshooting to figure out the problem, we took apart the solenoid and removed the moveable slug so the valve is always open. We open and close the tank manually now at the valve when we are done with the stove. I was incredibly worried when the stove wouldn't light that we had already gone through one 3/4 full canister of propane, but, relieved to find that the valve was broken. It is funny because I have been looking at the incredibly rusty looking solenoid over the past couple of weeks and wondering when it would fail. 

I started using the metal cleaner that came with the boat to clean the binnacle and the metal on the helm. Both have started to rust with the constant saltwater. They both shine incredibly bright after a little work and polishing.  

A little Pacific Swallow landed on the boat and stayed around during the entire afternoon and evening. During our dinner it sat on the ledge going into the Saloon and slept while we walked right by it. Before dinner it landed right on Jenna's scalp as she walked into the cockpit.

March 12:

It rained during our night watch fairly heavily. After taking care of closing all windows and the biminany cover I grabbed some soap and shampoo and showered outside. By the time I was outside though, the rain was not completely strong enough to rinse out the shampoo. It was enough water to get it in my eyes completely.  I jumped in the shower in our bathroom and completed rinsing off. 

We looked more thoroughly through the cruising books and decided that we are squarely in the ITCZ which is leading to our snails pace. We decided to motor much more during the day here in the beginning to find the wind. Unfortunately, as far south as Costa Rica where we started, even after the 200+ NM we have traveled, there are still about 300+ miles remaining until we get to the trade winds. We are trying to balance the want to sail and save fuel with the not wanting to take three months to get there. We have decided to motor during the day when there isn't wind to find where there is wind. We are in the middle of a lot of storm cells rolling through which bring some winds with the rain, but extreme calms in their wake. We are still too far from Honolulu to receive weather information on the SSB to help in our weather determination. Over the previous 24 hours we traveled 54.5 NM thanks to the motoring. 

I started cleaning the front lifeline tubing that surrounds the anchor windlass and the front stay. The starboard side looks amazing compared to the port side which remains to be completed. I also caulked the screw holes on the diesel heater and around the vents for the water tanks. I also removed some of the dead caulk around the starboard saloon windows in preparation for new caulk. There is one spot in particular which is rusting pretty bad and needs to be redone. The spot that I redid in Chiapas, Mexico is holding great although it is a little sloppy and will need to be redone. At some point before selling the entire cockpit will probably be completely stripped of windows and hardware, preserved, repainted, and then have the windows reinstalled and caulked. I covered the areas where the caulk was removed or wet with bags to prevent it from being rained on. It feels good to start fixing a lot of small stuff that will help the boat be sold. 

Before dinner JT noticed that one of the fittings on the propane tank regulator connection was loose and bubbling the water around the connection. We took the regulator off and were able to get another complete turn on the fitting and put it all back together sans leak. 

March 13:

There was another big storm that rolled through during our night watch. I ran out at the beginning of our watch and shampooed and soaped up and then ran down to use a little boat water to rinse off completely. I didn't get soap in my eyes like previously. 

We motored for most of the morning and afternoon and made water for five hours during the afternoon. Over the previous 24 hours we travelled 66.1 NM. We are still seeing southerly winds and waiting to find the NE trades!

Jenna and I switched out the lure on the handling. After the two hits by the big sailfish which took our lures, we have had no action of any fish. We will see if this gets any fish. We would like to eat some fish for a change of pace. 

March 14:

Happy birthday John Milton. Light SE winds at 5 knots are pushing us forward slowly in the morning at around 1 knot.  We made 54.5 NM by noon but not after a considerable fight with a 20 minute 20+ knot gust. With all hands on deck and Jenna at the wheel we got the stay'sl up and two reefs in the main. As soon as the sails were up the winds was back down to a 5 knots SE. 

With JT's help we fashioned a rope harness to keep the topping lift continuously attached to the boom. This will greatly ease in putting up and taking down the main and allow for quickly dropping the main in an emergency. We are considering fashioning a rope so that we don't have to climb up and down the mast to remove and attach the main halyard each time we want to raise or lower the main sail. 

I whipped the end of a small reef line for the second reef point on the main sail to replace a terribly frayed line that was previously installed. I think there are two or three more reef lines that need to be repaired. I have resolved to read the book that Mandy brought on how to sail to learn all the finer details of trimming sails. I definitely know the basics, but now I want to get the small details. 

As I continue to make small repairs to the boat and fix things the way that I like them I am growing more and more attached to Trade Winds. It will be sad to see her go in New Zealand. 

March 15:

There was no wind in the morning. We spent the entire first six hours of watch putting the genoa out in four to five knots of wind and then rolling it right back in with too little wind. When JT and Mandy for on watch the wind became a steady six knots south allowing us to make to sail on an easy beam reach west at four knots. Overthrow night a red footed booby hitched a ride on the propane tank on the back of the boat. I sent him on his way with the boat hook because I wanted to turn on the propane. 

We read in the book the real way to reef the main and it is a thrill to see how easy it can be. I am excited reading more and more of the sailing book!

Over the past 24 hours we sailed 72.4 NM which is our largest distance covered on this crossing. We are experiencing steady 12 knot S winds allowing for a easy six knots W on a beam reach. 

After breakfast for dinner we had another red footed booby land on the front lifelines around the genoa. He left briefly when I opened our hatch for airflow and then came back a couple minutes later. 

March 16: 

We finally have some steady wind. We are seeing 12-15 knots of S winds allowing us to cruise at 5-6 knots on a close reach down track. By noon we had made 121 easy NM. Sailing is a breeze. We had a bird friend join us all night on the bow and boy what a terrible mess did he/she make! We made four hours of pure water with the generator.

March 17:

S winds continued all day at around 12 knots. There were gusts up to 19 knots around 3 AM so Jenna and I pulled in the genoa and put up the stay'sl. With the stay'sl and main we still were making 3-4 knots down track. Around noon we put the genoa out with the stay'sl and main and cruised at 6 knots toward the marquesas islands. By noon we had covered a modest 99.6 NM with wind power. We passed 6000 NM total miles traveled on the trip and less than 3000 NM until we hit the Marquesas Islands. 

During the night we lost yet another lure from our sailfish kit. It appears that the cinch knot I tied on the monofilament did not hold so I am using an improved cinch knot now. We will see if that holds. We had a huge sailfish or marlin swimming around our lure but he failed to strike. We also had five or six seagulls swarming interested around the lure.

I have also been trying to fish with a hook baited with a piece of cloth like was mentioned in the book Desperate Voyage. I think there were just tons of more fish in the Pacific Ocean in the 1940s. The main characters fish stories would impress an angler of any caliber. He easily caught a fish a day and harpooned a couple sharks next to his boat on his crossing from Panama to Australia on his 39' cutter Pagan. So far I have not caught any fish with cloth. I have tried both white and blue fabric.   

March 18:

Steady S winds at 13 knots continue allowing for an easy 5-6 knots toward our destination. After a lot of initial southing, we have been able to do a lot more westing now to get back almost to our intended track line to the Marquesas. 

By noon we had done 118 NM and passed 1000 NM completed since Costa Rica. Today we saw many more flying fish than usual. All afternoon and evening we had very large seas which made the autopilot struggle into each wave and the boat crash into each wave. The rollers were about eight to ten feet high. There appeared to be some storm system to our southeast, but it never made its way toward us and we never got any rain. 

March 19:

Steady S winds continued most of the day at around 10knots. There were periods throughout the day and night that the wind was less than 5 knots, but those didn't last more than a half hour or so. By noon we had completed 108 NM. We ran the generator for four hours to recharge the battery. Tomorrow we will make water while we charge the battery. I polished the port side of the stainless steel on the bimany cover and the winch for the boom vang. Tomorrow I will do the starboard side and some of the lifeline stanchions. 

I took off the fish attractor on the handline and tied five nuts as weight to the line to try and get the lure below the surface. I accomplished the mission, if just barely. Tomorrow I am going to try and put the tuna lure back out on the sturgeon rod. 

March 20:

During our morning watch we crushed the nautical miles with 15 knots of steady wind. We averaged over 6.5 knots during our 6 hour watch. That is some wicked speed!!

We completed 131 NM over the previous 25 hours. 

I say 25 hours because we shifted our clocks back one hour to shift to Mountain Standard time. We had favorable winds in the afternoon but then we lost most of the wind around dinner time. We were going to stay with the fresh S winds as long as possible, but cut south when the opportunity presented itself. 

Jenna and I made a plan to head south and cross the doldrums as fast as possible and pick up the south equatorial current and the SE trades in the Southern Hemisphere. From our resources we estimate that we should hit the winds at around 2-3 degrees South Latitude. Jenna and I decided that in the interest of time we were going to motor across the doldrums when we don't have winds and put up sails when we can average more than three knots. 

We ended up motoring most of our watch and most of the next watch. The battery was very happy that we were motoring and charging the banks at a higher rate than the generator. 

March 21:

Around midnight we picked up 10-12 knot East winds allowing for a 5-6 knot S course without motoring. It was a good break for the engine and nice to see some winds in the doldrums. It was on and off sailing and motoring all day. At noon we had completed 108 NM. We were able to sail most of our afternoon watch. I kept putting out different lure combinations to try and catch some fish. So far I have had terrible luck.

March 22:

During the morning watch we crossed the equator and became shellbacks! I have before and after GPS pictures. We were doing a little motor sailing at 8 knots with the 5 knot East winds. I finished (for the first time) George Orwell's 1984 on the morning watch. By noon we had completed 127 NM. 

I started reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand about A Japanese POW. It is a good read and an amazing story. I read non stop all day, it had me hooked. 

 

March 23:

There was not much wind in the morning. I had made a comment last night about how we timed our turn south to cross the Duldrums at just the right time and we didn't see very many real calm seas like they did in Unbroken. Well, we had glassy seas all night so Jenna and I ended up motoring and making water for about four hours. I finished Unbroken and started reading Thunder at Sea which Grandpa Vlasin bought for me a year or two ago. It is about the Pacific Naval Campaign from 1941-1945 which fits in nicely with Unbroken. My only complaint is that are large print editions so I have to read 700 pages. Luckily a page takes about twenty seconds. 

Around noon I caught a foot long Bonito fish. I gutted and filleted it and I grilled it up promptly with lemon pepper seasoning and served over rice for lunch. Good eating! At noon we had completed 104 NM. 

JT tried to use the fish guts to attract a shark, but to no avail. I used some of the spine to bait the hooks in the water, but still haven't caught anything else. 

March 24:

Still in the doldrums. We are seeing winds and rain squalls and some wind. We put up sails and then take them down. We tried to reef the main with the new way and found that we couldn't exactly perform it as explained in the sailing book. We will have to try again when it isn't dark and storming. We went 65.2 NM in a 24 hour period. 

March 25:

Sporadic winds from the S sometimes gusting to 13 knots. We are able to maintain our SW course. We are in and among a lot of rain squalls that are making giant waves and rollers. We could maintain a fast 6 knots, but when we plow into the waves we loose a lot of speed. With the wind and current there are not a whole lot of options. We went 85.8 NM in a 24 hour period. 

In keeping with the doldrum unpredictability and storms we had a 20+ knot squall blow over us for 10 minutes. Later all winds died so we took down sails and motored for a little while. After an hour we found some consistent 14 knot SSE winds. With only the genoa up we are able to maintain 7 knots. 

March 26:

Continuing on our WSW course at 7 knots with our 14 knot SSE winds. The boat speed on the B&G Autopilot is not working, but I estimate that we have about 1-1.5 knots of current helping us out. The seas are still very folly with 10-12 foot seas. I don't mind the seas that much, but the girls don't like them. Jenna especially doesn't like how the waves will catch the keel and cause dramatic heeling. 

By noon we had traveled 156 NM which is our new record! Except for the folly seas we think we are in the trade winds. 

At 17:30 I checked the handline and saw tension. I checked the line and was pleasantly surprised to find a 30 lb Bonito. After a brief fight to bring the fish on board I gutted and filleted the fish. We have more meat than we know what to do with. I seasoned it all with lemon pepper seasoning and put 10 lbs in the oven and BBQd another ten pounds. We left enough raw fish to make four raw sushi rolls. While I was doing the neat preparing everyone else was busy making wasabi and doing dishes and general cleanup. After a late dinner Jenna and I retired to bed. Although 

March 27:

Happy Birthday dad!! We continued to have 14 knot SE winds and 10-12 foot seas until about 5 AM when the wind died down to 8 knots. Winds picked up slightly and we finished the 24 hour period with 158 NM which is another new record!

I think we are finally out of the doldrums and into the trades. The seas have died down to 5 foot rollers and the skies are blue with scattered clouds on the horizon. We have steady 10 knot winds which hopefully pick up. 

When we went to start the Gen-Set after lunch to charge electronics and run the watermaker the generator wouldn't turn over. After pulling out a manual and doing some reading I determined that all required voltages were present and that there was a little corrosion on the starter lug terminals. I cleaned the corrosion and fired the generator right up. In the process I also found out what the giant red switch in the lazarette does which is pump fuel to the generator when you are on a starboard tack and the engine is below the day tank. 

March 28:

Light to no winds all day. The winds we did have came from the southwest. The wind speed indicator stopped working today so I need to go up the mast to fix that as well as the wind angle indicator. 

Thanks in part to motoring and westerly current we completed 97 NM at noon. 

We are in PST now and we adjusted our clocks at midnight so both pairs get a half-hour longer to sleep. All of the fish was finished so we don't have to worry about any fish going bad. I did a little more research on the SSB and was able to sign on the the pacific maritime net and hear most every person. Hopefully a little more learning and then we will have a weatherfax image onboard. 

March 29:

Happy wedding day Mercedes! During our morning watch we had no wind and so we drifted along with the current at around one or two knots to the west. We were in and among an impressive storm cloud system. Jenna and I were putting up and lowering the genoa all might at any sign of wind. Because the wind indicator was broken on the top of the mast we had to use the sound of the wind turbine. Around six AM the wind started to pick up and we had 12-16 knot South winds for the rest of the day. Thanks to motoring the previous day and the wind we eeked out a meager 84.6 NM over 25 hours. 

During the afternoon we were navigating around heavy swells so JT and I steered during our watches quite a bit. Although a great deal more work than autopilot, we are much more accurate and we don't have to listen to the pumps grind in heavy waves. We found ourselves again amongst ten or so major storm clouds with rain coming from each. 

March 30:

We had 15-18 knot winds from the SE with a strong current pushing us west the entire day. We made 158 NM by noon and the afternoon and evening watches both had 42 NM each. 

March 31:

The winds and seas continue. We have 8-10 foot swells. We passed 7777 total miles sailed for the trip and sailed 159 miles in 24 hours. The only concern is that we are sailing to much south in our SW course. With the waves and the lighter winds, we can't stay far enough SW without the boom slamming around and the genoa helplessly flailing about. 

April 1:

Seas and wind direction the same but a little less wind speed. We made 145 NM by noon although we sailed pretty far south. The Gen-Set failed to start so further troubleshooting is needed. 

April 2:

There was a brief 10 minute period last night where the seas were perfectly calm and the trade winds strong. During that time the boat didn't rock, was heeled over less than 6 degrees, and averaged around 8.5 knots. After those ten minutes the seas were back to their wild self again. 

During the early morning we saw another ship for the first time in a long time. All I saw was a mast headlight so it was hard to determine size. I attempted to contact them on VHF ch 16, but they didn't respond. We sailed 124 miles by noon. As new trade wind sailors we are so confused about the status of the seas. We want desperately for calmer seas in the trade winds, but don't know if these are normal. I am inclined to believe that 10-12 foot seas are not the norm and we just are seeing the aftermath of a couple storm systems nearby. 

The Gen-Set started when we jumpered across the solenoid and it turned over when we jumpered across the switch. This would seem to indicate the switch is bad. When we went to stop the unit it would not turn off at the switch either. This would also seem to indicate that the switch is bad. The only weird thing is that the correct voltage is getting to the starter from the switch when tested with a multimeter and a voltage test light. We will have to contact the manufacturer once we get to the marquesas to determine the cause. 

While troubleshooting the switch I carelessly leaned across the switchboard and shocked myself with 120 volts 60 Hz in the left nipple. It hurt, but I was more so freaked out that I had just shocked myself so close to the heart. I laid down and drank a lot of water and didn't do much more work for the afternoon. The good thing was that I shorted the circuit and so inadvertently the gen-set, which wouldn't shut down, shut down. 

April 3:

Well, I am still alive so it seems that my heart is still fully functional after the shock, thank you for your concern. We passed under 1000 NM left until the Marquesas islands. We completed 134 NM yesterday and had vicious seas and squalls throughout the day.  

We reefed the main sail in the morning after winds picked up to 25+ knots and it still was not as easy as we thought it would be. We need more practice. We did get the main to situate very nicely along the foot after almost pulling the track off the mast. I need to work on getting the track to sit flush again. It pulled up at the screws so hopefully it can just get screwed back down snugly. With one reef in the main sail we still made good time in the heavy swells. 

April 4:

The winds picked up very strong around five and so we furled in the genoa and sailed with a reefed main until the sun came up and we could hoist the stay sail. We averaged over 6.25 knots with the stay sail and reefed main. The swells became very large today between 15-20 feet. 

The emptier of the two propane tanks ran out and so Jenna and I switched the empty tank with the tank we gravity filled in Costa Rica. The new tank worked great. We made 131 NM toward the marquesas and managed to only make 5 NM south which is awesome, the rest was west. The autopilot is a blessing in these huge seas. Although it struggles at times, it is better than having to sit at the helm the entire time. 

I finished a book yesterday called West of Here which a fictional story about the Olympic National Park and the city of Port Bonita based on true events. The book is very good and then I picked up and finished The Girl with the Pearl Earrings. It is a very quick red and a good book. I do not mind the long crossing these past few days when I can devote so much time to reading and learning python coding. I do sometimes get to worrying though about all the broken things on the boat that've should really fix. The generator most recently would be really nice to have working 100%. The good news is that it will work if we need it by jumpering across the starter or the positive slug as it is called in the manual. The only thing is that is difficult to stop. JT and I took resistance readings a couple of days ago on the switch and verified that the switch appears to be working correctly. We are back to thinking that it might be a bad blue wire making a poor connection. 

April 5:

Same wind and seas, wishing for fish and calmer seas. We finished 134 miles at noon. 

We tried to put up the full main after lunch and ended up sending me up the mast to cut a rope that had attached to the spreader which was preventing the sail from raising or lowering. In ten foot seas it is quite exciting up at the second spreader. After cutting the rope and heading back down we put the main up with one reef. It took us fifty minutes including the pause to go up the mast and then we were sailing back down track with a full main sail. After dinner we reefed the main before it got dark in preparation for any potential storms. It was a much easier task than previously, but it is still not as easy as we would like it to be. 

April 6:

We shifted the clocks back one hour to Alaska time zone. The extra half hour of sleep was nice. The winds and seas were their same ruckus selves. We went 121 miles by noon and caught a little Yellow Fin tuna for dinner. After three delicious sushi rolls and some extra pieces we retired for the night. 

April 7:

Wind and seas the same. We caught a Mahi Mahi which is also called a dolphinfish and a Dorado. I baked him for lunch and dinner. She was about 20 pounds and two feet long. 

By noon we had traveled 118 miles. The huge rollers are making full sailing difficult. The wind can hold the sails open except that it isn't strong enough when the boat rolls away from the wind. 

When the wind died down, Jenna and I dropped the sails and motored for two hours. With the wind behind us still we got diesel exhaust/salt water mistings while sitting in the cockpit. Not the best of times. 

April 8:

Wind and seas all the same. Very frustrating that now that we are so close the winds aren't as strong and we can't make the 150+ miles we were previously averaging. We only made 106 NM. Because the winds are mostly East we are forced to tack back and forth on the final 300 miles. The seas are a fickle beast.

We lost the third to last lure today to some very large fish. I heard the carabiner clatter and heard the snubber flip over the boat and then pulled a lure-less handline in. 

April 9:

Everything the same. We only made 88.4 NM, but it was more like 112 when you take into account our tacks. We lost another lure today and so I attached three leaders onto the purple lure in hopes that we can catch some big fish that are stealing our lures. I have almost reached the fifteen book reading goal I set for this crossing. I have one book left. 

April 10:

The seas picked up to 10+ foot rollers and the winds rose to 20 knots in the morning. We made 98.8 NM over the previous 24 hours and have less than 150 miles until Nuku Hiva. At our current velocity we have a little over 32 hours. Night time anchorage, go figure!

April 11:

We had large swells, but good East winds allowing us to sail within 17 NM of Taiohae by around eleven PM. I stayed up instead of sleeping for our watch and helped with boat navigation. During the day and again at night we had a dolphin pod welcoming committee. The dolphins were actually making large leaps out of the water all around our boat which we have not seen to this extent. The largest jumped about 10 feet vertical and the longest was about 15 feet horizontal. 

We found the bay very well lit under a full moon and were able to easily navigate into the bay and anchor. We are still dealing with the anchor being balled in the chain locker from La Cruz Mexico when the nicely coiled chain in the locker fell on itself and pinched the chain at around 100 feet. We went to bed dreaming of solid ground and sleeping easily without watch. 

April 12:

Like a kid on Christmas morning I was up around six to stand up through our hatch and soak in all the daylight beauty of the bay of Nuku Hiva. The bay is amazingly beautiful with many green tree covered ridge lines and some hillside eerily carved away by erosion leaving hollow caverns. The whole valley has a beautiful fragrance that we have yet to identify what it comes from.  A note about Marquesas time: they are about 2.5 hours from PST. 

We did some tidying around the deck and I whipped a couple line ends. After covering the main sail and rolling up the stay sail we blew up the dinghy and headed to the old wharf sea wall and headed to Yacht services to talk to Kevin. Before we left Costar Rica, Rob told us that Kevin would be the man to help us find things. 

After a walk around the bay we found a little restaurant to have cheeseburgers and fries and a local beer. We priced a hotel that we are going to stay at tomorrow. We went to a heritage site along the way that has carved replicas of ruins around the island commemorating Marquesan culture. After a stop at the grocery store to get a handle on prices and selection we walked back to yacht services and a little shop to get some Wi-Fi before heading back to the boat. We are looking forward to the opportunity to decompress in clean sheets after the long crossing. We really missed the boat not having a spinnaker for the crossing comparing crossing times with other cruisers. Live and learn I guess. 

April 13:

We excitedly checked into the Nuku Hiva Keikahanui Pearl Lodge which have bungalows that look out over Taiohae Bay. We took full advantage of the hot water showers showering each about three or four times to get all the crossing dirt off. I think that Jenna and my last warm shower was in Antigua, Guatemala. We were going to go on a hike from the hotel, but the soft beds and air conditioning sucked us in. Jenna and I made a couple coffees and read books. We were not able to use my computer that's much because we didn't have any power adapters and the Wi-Fi was expensive at 5$/hr. I continued to read Ender's Game and Jenna watched motorcycle racing and CNN on the television. 

We tried to get some food for a snack, but all the grocery stores are closed on Sunday. JT, Jenna, and I explored a beautiful church grounds on our way back. Famished, we sat back down in our rooms and waited for dinner at 7. 

The restaurant was pretty pricey, but it was four-star quality. I had a goat curry and Jenna had a veal dish. Jenna and a splurged and got a crème brûlée with a scoop of ice cream for dessert. The sweetness was very foreign on our tongues after 39 days at sea. We fell asleep early in an air conditioned room relaxed and full. 

April 14:

We stayed in the rooms as late as we could and checked out at 10:59. We were going to stay later, but without power and internet there is only so much sleeping one can do. 

We walked back to yacht services on the other side of the bay and took all of our stuff back to the boat. We gathered and dropped off our laundry to be washed. 

While the laundry was being collected, I fired off an email to the generator manufacturer to try and find out why the generator isn't starting and did some other boat internet business. 

We started to replenish our boat food stores with a shopping trip and got chicken hotdogs with buns and potatoes for dinner. 

April 15:

Happy tax day! I have to amend my return because I wanted to file it before we left Costa Rica, but I didn't have my calumet schedule K-1. Wa!

We first dropped off an empty propane bottle to be filled with gas and then did a little bit of interneting before heading to customs. We received a response back from Next Generation Power about the generator. Customs was a pretty quick process once we found it, but required a trip to the post office which was a tedious 30 minute ordeal waiting in line. The frustrating part about immigration and customs with a boat is that you have to fill out the same information four different times about the crew and boat, but on four different forms. The price we pay to be in a tropical paradise. 

After the post office we set off on a hike to the edge of the bay. It was about an hour there and an hour back. The outcropping of rocks had awesome views up and down the coast as well as back of Taiohae bay. We have some good pictures. 

We did a major grocery run and got meatballs and tortellini for dinner. 

April 16:

We spent all day trying to get last minute internet stuff completed, last minute grocery shopping, and picked up Kate and Grace. In the afternoon I sewed the slide onto the foot of the main sail and fixed the strap on the broken slug on the leech of the main sail. After that work was complete, I had Mandy and Jenna haul me up to the top of the mast for some wind vane straightening and to check out the wind speed indicator. I also unhooked a rope that was wrapped around the second spreader. 

For dinner we went to a local pizza restaurant that made delicious pizzas. Jenna and I had a chorizo pizza. This little stray cat with thumbs on its front feet kept trying to jump into our laps and get food from us. Grace was telling us about ring worm that she got from a cat in Israel, so we were all very afraid of this cat. We went back and talked and socialized on the boat in the bay. 

April 17:

I woke up around 6:30 and finished reading Ender's Game. When everyone was up I started making pancakes for all six of us. After some delicious hot chocolate made by Jenna everyone except for JT piled in the dinghy for some last minute grocery shopping and pick up the propane container. We made it to the dock, but the outboard motor was struggling tremendously. When we tried to go back to the boat it did not work at all. Waa!

I had to go to the ATM twice to get cash for groceries and butane. The grocery store did not have a working Credit Card machine and the yacht services only accepts cash. I had the idea to get more cash the first time in case it was needed later, but I didn't. It makes me grateful how easy it is to use a credit card in the US. 

We weighed anchor and headed from Taiohae Bay further West to Daniel's Bay to hike to the second longest waterfall in the world. We toodled around in the ocean making water and charging the battery. 

After dinner which included a delicious cake made by Jenna we went to bed. 

April 18:

Dawn found us in a lovely bay. We all woke up and had some leftover cake that Jenna made the night before and coffee/jot chocolate in the morning for breakfast. We dinghied ashore after making a pack able lunch and sought out the waterfall. After a little hike on the beach and talking to the family living on the beach we anchored off of, we were given hiking directions to the waterfall. 

Once we got to the next bay over we ran into a man named Paul whose family lives and farms in the Daniel's Bay Area. They grow all sorts of fruit to include papaya, coconut, bananas, lemons, breadfruit, grapefruit, mangoes, star fruit, and another fruit that they distill and have a shot in the morning for good health. They didn't cultivate red peppers, but they grow naturally and Paul asked us to take as many as we want. We gladly took a Tupperware is these incredibly hot peppers off his hand. JT and Kate and I all tried them and they were incredibly hot. Paul has a modest little house back in the woods that he wants to turn into a bar and restaurant and he lives with a horse or two and his little puppy, Ford. Hiking through their homes we saw many pigs that they were fattening for festivals. Being as how the bay is only accessible by boat, he will not get a lot of customers. 

The hike to the waterfall was two hours and took us along many magnificent views of volcanic formations. We saw about three or four ancient ruins sites along the trail.

Once we for to the waterfall it was a little swim to get to the base of the falls. I was the only one who swam to the base on account of the little freshwater eel that I saw swimming. As I was swimming in he swam after me and then circled the rock that I got out of the water on. Finally after working up the courage and testing the waters I swam back to the others. We ate our linch at the base of the falls and then hiked back. 

While hiking back I found a coconut with the milk still inside so I hacked it open with JT's help and we had fresh coconut meat and milk. We found that the meat tasted almost almond like. 

When we walked back past Paul's families homes we stopped by Paul's moms house to watch her make coconut oil for skin moisturizing. She had about five different varieties. The oil smelled very good and smelt great. He sold us a couple giant bags of fruit for $30. We got back to the dinghy and walked the beach a little more and then paddled to the boat while the girls minus Jenna swam to the boat. 

Very shortly after getting to the boat, Tom from the Crescendo came along side looking for a diving partner or two while he spearfished. Jenna and I gladly went along with him to explore the reef off our boat. I saw all sorts of beautiful coral and tropical fish. We are going again tomorrow morning. 

We had a lovely dinner and a played a very long game of Uno with six people. Out under the stars Kate, Grace, JT, and I looked and dreamed at the charts of the islands to come. 

April 19:

After a leisurely breakfast we jumped in the water and snorkeled at the reef right next to the boat. The reef was pretty amazing, but the water visibility wasn't great. I saw an octopus. After a shark scare that sent everyone back to the boat quickly we saw a ray as we were leaving Daniel's bay that was probably the mistaken shark. 

We were originally going to go counterclockwise around the island because it was shorter, but high winds and large seas made us go clockwise around the island. When we got to the Northwest corner of Nuku Hiva we ran into the same winds and seas we had on the south side. We attempted to sail close hauled into the trade winds for about an hour and then we kicked on the motor and reeled in the head sail. We were doing all the sailing with only the headsail making about five knots. True to our modus operandi, we got into Anohae Bay and anchored in the dark. We cooked up a quick dinner and relaxed under the stars in our new anchorage. 

April 20:

Happy Easter!

I fixed the little outboard motor today by changing the spark plug. It was after I took apart the carburetor that I determined everything was ok in the fuel line and it must be a spark issue. We dinghied over to the shore and had a lovely beach day. We gathered two coconuts and split them open drinking their milk and eating the coconut meat. 

We had our first island beach day! With bags and chairs and sports gear and sandals and swimsuits we headed ashore. We walked along the beach which was almost all exclusively tide pools and reefs. On the reef from above we saw eels, octopus, black tipped reef sharks, fishes, and all sorts of crabs and shells. 

I hopped in the water to go snorkeling, but the water was barely clear enough to see anything. I did see four of the black tipped reef sharks together and then while walking around with JT and Jenna I spotted a ray that Jenna took some awesome pictures of. 

After hosing off in the freshwater shower we motored back to the boat and has a feast of a meal with Tortillas, beans, and rice with fried bananas and peach cobbler for dessert. We are enjoying the hot pepper oil concoction I made earlier in the week. 

After dinner we played charades for an hour. The teams were Tom, JT, and Jenna against Mandy, Kate, and Grace. The prior womped (beat) the later mightily. I went to bed hoping that the gen-set would fix as easily as the outboard. 

April 21:

We had another beach day. This time we split into two groups; one which stayed at the chairs on the beach and another that walked along the beach to Haatuatua and Haataivea Bays. The hike was easy and ventured across a couple farmers properties. One was growing tomatoes and eggplants and the others were involved with drying coconuts. They have drying racks that they cover up if it rains and at night. 

The views at Haatuatua bay were amazing. The dunes we walked across to get to the beach were covered in a low manicured grass that had a golf course green feeling. The water was a lovely turquoise and the sand was a lovely white that was hundreds of yards long from sea to sand dunes. We all caught these little sand crabs and posed for crazy pictures with the little crabs. 

Because the beach was a windward beach it collected all of the trash that floats in the Southern Hemisphere. My most interesting finds were giant tow ropes that had snapped. One was as big in diameter as my face. They looked like giant serpents buried under the sand waiting to strike an unsuspecting beach comber. 

The walk back was as uneventful as the walk there. Mandy and Grace had talked with a fellow Seattle single-handed sailor named Craig who had a refrigerator full of beers. He met us back on the beach while I was showering and six beers with us. He was the greatest. Freshly showered and full of conversation we went back and made dinner and played some celebrity charades. 

April 22:

We hiked over the mountain in Anaho Bay toward D'Hatiheu Bay. From the saddle of the mountain I took some amazing pictures looking back at the bay we came from. 

In the little village (Hatiheu) we went to a little tienda and bought beers and a Fanta for Jenna and sat on the break wall enjoying the beverage, company, and the view. Hungry from all our hiking we shared plates of food at this expensive bit awesome restaurant in town. Jenna and I shared a coconut goat dish which was amazing. They served it with fried breadfruit which was tasty if not more tasty than the fried yucca in Costa Rica. 

After food we attempted to find the big ruins site, but instead found ourselves walking up a strep road along the bay seeing lots of fruit trees and goats. Without enough daylight to hike to the ruins and go back to our bay we headed along the trail back to our bay. Along the way people purchased beers to drink back on the boat. 

April 23:

We weighed anchor and set out to sail to Ua Huka. After fighting the current and winds for about five minutes we decided to abandon Ua Huka and changed direction south toward Ua Pou and Hakahau Bay. After motoring south for most of the island, we set the headsail and sailed smartly toward Ua Pou with ten to fifteen knots of wind. Once sailing I made the crew pancakes for brunch. The new mix we got in Taiohae is more like biscuits than pancakes and is rapidly becoming a crew favorite. I guess maple syrup goes great on anything! Yesterday was some of the easiest sailing I have done yet. The rudder had to be adjusted about once a minute. I was able to read while steering and it was great! Steady winds and favorable currents are awesome. We are definitely going to plan our island routes better to avoid the Nuku Hiva and Ua Huka heartaches. 

We found an anchorage in 12' of water in a little bay tucked slightly behind a break wall. The girls and I went into town and saw a school and government buildings, grocery store, and post office. 

April 24:

We went ashore and got groceries for dinner and beyond and played frisbee in the park. While playing a gym class let out and walked bye. We threw a couple of the boys a frisbee and they were tickled pink. The boys were hooting and hollering. We played a little bit of ultimate and a local boy named Javier joined us for a little while. 

While picking up some eggs at the second grocery store I was able to procure a large box of breadfruit. We prepared the breadfruit by frying it in sunflower oil with some red robin seasoning. The breadfruit is amazing. 

April 25:

I woke up and started preparing the boat for sea. I replaced the red wire in the generator thinking that the red wire was the problem. When I tested the generator with the new wire, the engine started up remotely just fine. We went around the east side of the island and headed south. We made about 160 miles the first day. We are flying at 7-8 knots but we are heeled over on our ear. 

The generator would not start up remotely, but we needed to engine to have enough amps to start the generator. We are thinking that with the generator remotely connected to the starter battery it has a lot of cold cranking amps to start the battery. The next step to fix the remote starting problem completely, I will need to wire the hot lead from the starter battery and not the house battery like it currently is. We made water for three hours and sat in the sun heading south to the desperate islands and island number three in the South Pacific. We spent some time teaching Kate and Grace how to sail and I stayed up for a little of their watch at night. 

April 26:

Crazy fast day of sailing, on our ear flying fast with moderate seas and 17 knots of wind. Handline out not catching fish and the generator running making water. 

April 27:

We only had information in the South Pacific anchorage guide on the Iles Du Desappointment of Tepoto. The guide says only that Tepoto is a coral island and is slightly raised. In very fine weather it should be possible to anchor on the southwest side in 30 meters with a stern line to the reef and the yacht almost touching the reef. I made the decision to try the other island of Napuka and maybe do some island camping. 

The island came into view a little before 9:30 AM. We "land ho'd" and proceeded to sail around the south and west sides of the island looking for a bay. The problem was that neither the Garmin GPS navigator or our iNAVx charts had any clarity about this island. We made the decision to anchor on the southwest corner off a reef in the lee of the Northeast winds and seas. This is by far the calmest anchorage we have ever had. 

I slowly cruised from 250 feet depth to 75 feet and dropped the hook. After stowing the boat and putting the dinghy in the water we made our way toward shore. We landed on a beach next to a church where locals were out boogie boarding and spear fishing. Two local men came out and helped us navigate over the rock to the beach. While catching a wave sideways and almost tipping over we bulldozed one of the two men, he was fine. Many kids saw us and later were telling their friends with exaggerated hand signals how we surfed ashore and crushed the man. 

We think it was a chief who came and met us and took us on a tour. He and his friends harvested six coconuts and served us fresh coconut water. We looked at his nephews house and saw an awesome two branched coconut tree in his backyard. They showered us with multiple shells each and flowers for everyone. We met a Tahitian man our age who teaches the kids who speaks both French and English and he provided translation and desperately wanted our company. After swimming with the locals in a lagoon and eating raw oyster we headed back to our dinghy and boat. With help again walking our boat back to the waters edge we rowed out to beyond the breakers and stated the motor and made it back to our boat. We at pad Thai pasta and a chocolate cake to celebrate Jenna's birthday. 

I am in awe with the hospitality of the people of this island. I hope that I can remember their hospitality and attitude and carry it with me my entire life. I took so many pictures to try and capture how amazingly beautiful this island is. I am also amazed at hoe this island has paved rows in a grid across the island and solar powered street lights. I could not have accidentally chosen a better island and don't understand while these islands are called the disappointment islands. I am so happy that we are having such an awesome time on our third island!

April 28:

I woke up at 6:30 to find that we had drifted from our anchorage and were 0.6 nm out to sea. With the help of JT and Jenna we hauled the anchor up and moved closer to shore. Because the anchor was not on the bottom the windlass had to haul up the entire length of chain out plus the weight of  the anchor itself. The poor motor was straining to say the least. 

With the anchor housed we motored back over to shore and dropped the anchor again. After about ten minutes the anchor once again slid down the steep shelf we were trying to anchor on and began drifting out to sea. I attempted to haul up the anchor and then the motor just stopped working. After an hour or so of trying to manually haul in the chain to no avail, I determined that one of the leads of the foot switch had completely melted off and was not repairable. JT and I began to fashion a new switch made out of the leftover wood from Ian's computer holder. 

After four hours of drifting and assigning all six of us jobs we began to manually haul up the chain with our makeshift switch and safety observers. With great ease we hauled up the anchor chain slowly and housed the anchor. 

At around 1 we made a pancake brunch and headed back over to the island to snorkel. While the sailboat was just drifting back out to sea the girls swam to the reef to snorkel with JT in hot pursuit in the dinghy. I scraped the hull while waiting for them to return. 

After the girls returned JT and I went to the reef to snorkel. When we climbed out of the dinghy we immediately saw a little reef shark. While swimming along the reef we saw many schools of fish. Although the reef was not as colorful as other reefs I have seen, it was certainly very expansive. 

After returning to the boat and preparing to go to sea we headed southwest toward Raroia, Tuamotus. We spent all night motoring and making water and charging the battery in no wind. At 10 PM the battery was full and we secured the water maker. 

April 29:

At 4 AM Jenna and I secured the motor and began sailing toward the islands with 40 NM to go. The wind is a steady 10-14 knots from the unusual direction of NW. After a couple of squalls we made it to the atoll Raroira, Tuamotus. We spotted land around ten AM and entered the pass at two PM. With no internet we didn't actually know when slack tide was going to be, but we extrapolated from the data we had on the marquesas on the 24th of April. We arrived a little before high tide because we fought some really nasty currents at the mouth of the pass. 

The distance to our anchorage and the little city was about 1.5 NM and was covered in about twenty minutes. We had all hands up on deck looking for coral heads in the channel. We dropped anchor and had the dinghy in the water and the deck cleared in no time. We are becoming quite the efficient crew. After messing around with the forward Winter Cover for over an hour we dinghied over to the pier and walked around town. The little town was only a couple houses and an airport and a couple grocery stores and a communications building as well as a town hall of sorts. We walked to one store that had little guts around it that housed pearl farm workers. We eventually talked to Tony who was believed to be the boss of the local pearl operation and who spoke pretty good English. 

From Tony we got a feel for what was in town and where were good places to explore. The tiny store didn't have any supplies that we needed and if they did they would have been at incredible prices. For dinner we had curried breadfruit which was a hit. 

April 30:

Rain Day! It rained all day on and off so we stayed inside the boat and chilled. I took a delicious rainwater shower at five AM and set up rain catches to collect dish water. We watched the shore from

our boat and tried to stay dry. I didn't mind the slow pace of the rain day and the ability to recharge. Tony came over in the morning and gave us a tour of the pearl farm that he seemed to run. It was interesting seeing how they plant the forms inside the clam to make pearls. I did a ton of research of Fiji and their 100 islands identifying fun things that we might want to do. 

May 1:

It rained on and off in the morning, but it let up enough for us to dinghy ashore for exploration and snorkeling. We had to return to the boat once for sunglasses and sun screen. While walking the beaches a second time it started down pouring on us. Jenna and I got in the water at one point to snorkel on a reef. As soon as I got into the water a four foot shark of unknown species came up from the deep and swam toward me until about five feet away. I wasn't able to get a crystal clear picture, but did snap one picture off. 

Because the rain continued, we turned around early and headed back to the dinghy. After dropping the other four off at the boat I returned to snorkel the little reef by the town with Jenna. Previously we had seen sharks and rays and all sorts of fish on the reef. While snorkeling we only saw colorful clams and some assorted small fish. 

May 2:

We all worked together and got the boat stowed for sea and through the pass at high tide at 7:30 AM. The only hiccup was that the anchor chain was stuck on some volcanic rock and so we had to drive forward to un stick it. We sailed toward the atoll Makemo at one knot all day while making 96 gallons of freshwater. Winds were incredibly light all day from the north. The south equatorial current helped us along nicely all day. 

May 3:

Happy Birthday Carol! Light winds and rain showers are the flavor of the day. We finally spotted Makemo at around 2 PM. While motoring toward the island rain clouds billowed all around us. Right as we were making our approach to the pass we got absolutely dumped on by rain. It was one of the hardest rains I have ever felt. We turned around and headed slowly back out to sea to wait for the weather to clear. After the thirty minute torrential downpour, we easily passed through the pass and found our lone spot in the anchorage.

We decided to put on our best rain clothes and motor into the village to see what we could see. At the end of the pier there was a little community center with a tiny little hand drawn map of the entire village. After walking into a little store nearby that sold incredibly expensive everything we went back into the rain to walk around some more.  While walking an incredibly friendly family drinking under their carport called us over. 

They didn't speak much English as a whole and only one of us speaks French so communicating was interesting. A very drunk Sebastian told me a hundred times that he was the captain of the fishing boat that we passed while sailing in. He took me into his home and sat me down at his computer. I showed him our blog and he showed me maps of the Tuamotus. I realized after the fact that he was showing me the internet to allow me to MSN messenger with my family. Jenna came and saved me and we went back to the group. They brought out chips and munchies and then brought an amazing raw fish coconut curry dish with tomatoes and cucumbers and onions and garlic and olive oil and vinegar. It was passed around to all of us and was best eaten with your fingers. It was a truly awesome dish!

We talked and little more and got drunk off wine and beer and left. We did find out the location of the restaurant that was recommended to us by the diver Francois in Raroira, but were unable to break away from our company before they closed. We found out later that the store is only open Thursday through Sunday. 

We walked back to the dinghy and paddled back to the boat. While paddling away from the pier a drunk Sebastian leapt from the pier into our dinghy. There was about a six foot horizontal and a six foot vertical separation.  He couldn't have landed smoother if he had tried sober. We paddled him back to the pier and sent him on his way with coaxing by Kate. I gave my Cheetah party hat to a man named Michele who was incredibly appreciative to get my hat. We have a picture of him and I. I was sad to see the hat go, but glad that it went to such a caring man. Michele opened up his arms to us. Every local at the party was interested if I was the captain and was so appreciative that I brought the boat to their island. They were kissing my hands and my head. To be nice I was reciprocating the hand kissing gesture initially, but stopped when I was offending them. They could not understand how thankful I was for them to share their bounty with us and I guess I failed to realize just how few visitors they get. 

May 4:

Jenna and I walked around a sizable portion of the village. There wasn't much, but Jenna did find a cute kitten. We searched for a grocery store that took credit cards, but could not find it when it was open. We were taken that day to drift snorkel the pass by a friendly French couple who sailed to the island and had been living their for a year and a half. The number of fish was astounding and the size and color of the coral was amazing. He dropped us off at the lagoon side of the pass and we floated along more quickly than the time it would take to see everything, but slow enough to be enjoyable. We saw a moray eel and a neat South Pacific seastar that was round on the top and the size of a basketball. Their dinghy had a rigid bottom and had a massive 40 hp motor to rip around the lagoon. 

JT and Kate went off with a gentleman spear fishing and brought back a bounty of four fish. We had the grouper that night. After dinner two guys who pulled into the anchorage that morning came over for drinks and some music. 

Sadly, the dinghy motor failed to start again today after dying how it did before. 

May 5:

Jenna and I walked around town again and found the grocery store only to be disappointed to find out that they had a 2500 franc minimum. We also found out that the pizza place was only open on Thursday through Sunday like I said earlier. We additionally found out that the produce place arrives on Thursday which probably corresponds to the restaurant and fresh ingredients for Pizzas. Jenna and I got all the fixings for burgers and made whole wheat buns back on the boat. We had all we could eat burgers (6 small ~1/6#) and a bag of honey Dijon Kettle Chips and some pickles for lunch. We also indulged and got some delicious SunWave juice to drink. We Kayaked around a little after lunch and looked at fish and coral. I am astonished at all the fish life and coral life around the Tuamotus and how to my eye it really looks like cruisers are doing a good job of preserving the environment. 

May 6:

We got up and left the island in the morning. We motor sailed until we were around the atoll and then sailed toward Tahanea. The only problem with the north winds is that while sailing south west the starboard tack really puts a hamper on water making. We were able to sail at around six knots under a stiff breeze and arrived at the pass round 9:45. Jenna and I easily dropped the sails and we navigated into the lagoon through the pass with moonlight and our iNAVx charts to guide us. It was a little dangerous admittedly, but the calm anchorage was well worth the risk. Additionally, the charts have been spot on for depths everywhere we have gone. During the trip the aft head also got clogged big time and stopped working. Lastly, the 3 Amp load is still not isolated and the expanding hose being used topside for saltwater ruptured. 

May 7:

Needing a restful day I stayed on the boat while everyone went ashore to explore. I easily fixed the ground and attached a new hose with extra washers to stop all leaks. I got the toilet unclogged but was unable to fix the hand pump that pumps out the toilet. After toiling over the pump all day I gave up and showered around four.

Jenna and I kayaked in to meet the other four at their campsite with biscuits for hotdogs. Unable to find their fire, we joined the two other boats at the anchorage at their fire on the beach. We learned of cool snorkeling spots and had an enjoyable evening. We kayaked back to the boat and went to sleep happy. 

May 8:

The head was fixed today after some tape over an air leak and the dinghy motor roared back to life after some tweaking. While motoring over to another pass for some snorkeling and exploring the dinghy motor died again. We performed the anchor retrieval routine and moved the sailboat much closer to the pass.

Jenna and I snorkeled ashore and saw two sharks as we swam ashore. The coral and the fish life were absolutely amazing. We started to get pulled out with the large tide shift and so we made our way ashore and explored the abandoned village. 

The village is abandoned, but it looks like it is probably inhabited yearly during the copra harvest. There is a church that looks like it is well maintained and a water collection facility behind that. There are all sorts of personal effects around and launches (one with a 25 HP motor attached) lying next to the beach upright. We explored to our hearts content and then paddled back to the boat in the kayak. It is a life send to have two modes of transportation to and from the boat. Another kayak would be amazing. We had curried potatoes and onions for dinner over rice and went to bed. 

May 9: 

Jenna and I woke up and I took apart the outboard carborateur. I was able to get two of the three pin size wholes cleaned out. The head to remove and clean the third was just breaking apart as I tried to loosen it. I stopped hopefully before I do any permanent damage, but the motor still won't start. Jenna and I kayaked over to shore and walked to the Pacific Ocean side if the pass at high tide around 8:30 and drifted back to the kayak. Right after jumping in Jenna was approached by a large curious shark from the depths of the pass and turned around to scare him off. I found a large shell bigger than my head that unfortunately still had a habitant. We saw one moray eel and many schools of fish. We waded ashore and began out quest to catch and kill crabs. 

We learned from the fire group of people that you can catch and eat the crabs by frying them in oil and garlic. All told we caught around thirty crabs. We would step on them or push sticks into them to break their backs. We are level five cram hunter/gatherers. Level one is the catching one act, two to catch two at a time (which we did), three to almost catch a crab but have an octopus catch him instead, four to have sharks chase you while hunting crabs, and five to fry and eat them. 

After lunch I dove around the boat and cleaned the water line and attempted to locate the elusive boat speed meter to clean it. Under the boat in the fifty feet of water was many grouper and random fishes and a shark while I was cleaning. There was even a six foot fish that had a circular rail and a long flowing fun that went all the way to his tail. He was about as big around as a five gallon bucket and looked at me like I was a snack. We all worked together and got the boat underway promptly at four. With no wind we are motoring to the atoll of Fakarava. We are going to stop first briefly at the south pass because we are told their are a crazy amount of sharks swarming the pass. We shall see. The pass is shallow at one point so we will be attempting the pass during the day with all hands looking out.