(no subject)

Day 18. Yesterday was a bit of a milestone for as as we crossed the equator into the southern hemisphere and we enter another phase of the journey, that of light winds. We have had everything so far: perfect conditions, downwind sailing, upwind sailing, sailing in gales, squalls and now we have the light wind section. It is a little frustrating, sometimes enough wind to make good speed in the right direction and then it changes to poor speed in the wrong direction. Difficult choices then have to be made, do we sail on in the slightly wrong direction or do we pull everything down and drift? Either way this section is probably going to be the longest in time, possibly 10 days or more to cover the final 750 miles.

Jude was on the helm yesterday and I was lying down in the cockpit looking at our trail. I decided to change the fishing lure which had been on the line for over a week with no success. I put on the Mexican Flag lure, known to be effective and then sat back and watched it skip across the surface. Within a couple of minutes I thought I saw a black fin come up behind it and then drop down again, then it came up again. Clearly something was stalking the lure. I thought it was a tuna and went to the rod and eased it forward and then dropped the line back in a hope to drop it back into the mouth of the fish. Sure enough the fish took the bait. Well did that real scream or what as the line went out at a blistering rate. I put some more torque on the reel to slow the line going out but still it went and then the fish, which I knew was big, leapt out of the water, it was a Marlin and probably 200-300 lbs if not more. It leapt into the air several times trying to dislodge the hook. I had no chance. This rod was my Alaskan salmon rod with 80 test line and it snapped the second time the Marlin performed its aerobatics. We watched the Marlin continue to leap into the air clearly relieved that it had escaped and to be honest so was I. Yes it would have been nice to have some fresh Marlin but there is no way we could have eaten or stored all of it and it would have been interesting getting a fish of that size onboard. Fun all the same.

(no subject)

After Geeves's abandonment of autopilot duties our schedule has changed somewhat, we not only find that hand steering the boat during the day in winds of 20-25kts is quite tiring but at night it is a real challenge. We had hoped that the bright moon would provide us some visual reference from which to steer but not only is the moon not rising until late the skies are pretty much clouded over. By midnight we are usually exhausted and starting to make mistakes or not being able to steer a true course so we have taken to heaving-to until the moon provides some benefit and we have caught up on some sleep. This does however mean that we are losing valuable progress towards our destination and will add several days to our crossing time. Pretty much as soon as we crossed over the 4 degrees latitude mark and into the ITCZ we saw our first ominous looking cloud system that stretched across the horizon. I had a look at the radar and sure enough it showed up as a dense red strip some 12 miles long and 4 miles wide. We decided to try and track around it but it moved too fast. Within an hour we were in some of the heaviest rain I have seen and winds steady at 30kts gusting to 40kts. The seas built quickly and were white with streaks and crests. We ran with the wind on our quarter with barely a handkerchief of head sail out and were doing 8 knots. We had put the boards in the companion way in case we had any breaking waves and we were glad we had as we several times we had water over our beam and stern. During this chaos I saw a pod of dolphins leaping high into the air, clearly enjoying the chaos. All this lasted about an hour and a half after which we were exhausted and it was dark so we decided to heave-to again and check the radar for any further approaching systems overnight.

(no subject)

Day 12 into our Journey. The good news is that we are just past the half way mark! and the bad news is that Geeves, our autopilot gave up three days ago so now we have to hand steer the Sarita the rest of the way, this means 1 hour on 1 hour off shifts 24 hrs a day for the next 10-12 days. Geeves failed after steering us through a 3 day gale with 15-20ft waves and 35knot sustained winds, driving rain and confused seas. I think it was all too much for him. All is well though and we are making progress to our destination where i can assure you I will be looking forward to a Gin and Tonic and a good nights sleep. Thanks to all in La Cruz who are trying to find us a replacement Geeves (Simrad AP20).

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(no subject)

Its a long way to the Taco stand.

Its been over six days since we left Mexico and we have traveled 800 nautical miles, not as many as we had hoped for but the winds have been quite light but on the bright side its been an extremely relaxing crossing so far. When I look at our position on the world map our little dot in the middle of the Ocean looks really quite insignificant, nothing for hundreds even thousands of miles. We unanimously agreed today that it does not feel like over 6 days since we left but more like 3 days and we passed the 1/4 way mark.

You would think that you would get pretty tired of looking at the ocean each day but its surprisingly captivating. Every day seems to be different in some way: The colour of the water changes, the waves and their effect on the boat, the small amount of wildlife but each day is punctuated with something special. On our first night we had 14 squid throw themselves on deck along with a number of flying fish. This morning we had three stowaways sitting on the solar panels, not sure what birds they were but maybe a boobie variety.

The sailing has been fun and is challenging me to get the best boat speed and direction from the light winds. We hauled out the spinnaker this morning and it was great to be moving along effortlessly in light winds. The spinnaker pole was used to keep the genoa from flogging but its a dangerous thing to set and take down in a swell, being so heavy.

The girls are doing very well Katya has been doing her schoolwork and reading and Amber has been helping us sail and reading. Jude, as ever, has been making sure we are all extremely well fed and enduring the 3am-5am night watch. Signing off for now.

(no subject)

Thursday 17th March. Position 16 degrees 18 minutes North 111 degrees 14 minutes west. Approx 440 miles covered. The winds died down to below five knots on Wednesday afternoon so we ran the engine for a few hours and took the sails down to prevent them flogging against the rigging. We floated about overnight rolling from one side to another as the swells passed us by waiting for the winds to pick up. By 9am in the morning the winds picked up to just over 5 knots allowing us to get going again. We had covered just over 5 miles overnight pulled along by the current. The winds died again and the seas became glassy so it was back to waiting around for winds. We spotted turtles slowly swimming by and were lucky enough to see a juvenile turtle and a leatherback turtle. Dolphins swam and performed around the boat in waters that are infeasible blue and clear, so much so that the dolphins look like they are swimming through air. Despite the light air today the past few days have been wonderful and great way to start the journey.

Passage update

We departed La Cruz Mexico at midday on the 14th March, raising the sails shortly after leaving and pointed Sarita towards the Marquesas islands, 2700 nautical miles away. The winds were in a perfect direction for us to sail out of the bay on a beam reach making over 8 knots with a bit of current to help us along. Now, two days after leaving, we have covered just over three hundred miles and the sight, sounds and smells of land well behind us. The conditions have been absolutely perfect with calm seas that will enable our stomachs to get used to the movement. Jude has been preparing delicious meals and we have been getting as much sleep as we need. All is well onboard.

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Adios Mejico. Te amamos!

Eric and Meagan

We cannot believe that it has been 16 months since we first arrived in Mexico and over that time our opinion of the country has changed significantly. The stories of crime and the unscrupulous I am sure exist but we have met nothing but lovely, friendly, fun-loving people on our travels who will go out of their way to help you. The countryside that we have seen is spectacular, from the arid desert landscapes of the Baja peninsula to the spectacular high mountains of the interior and back down to the tropical jungles of the mainland coast.

Kids science club on the dock

We could definitely stay here in Mexico longer and explore more of the southern and interior parts of this country but we have to depart on our epic adventure across the Pacific Ocean to Australia. I know that when we leave we will all shed a tear for the wonderful people we have met, both cruisers and locals. We have formed relationships that will last over the years and hope that many of these people will visit us in Australia or we might bump into them in another foreign port.

Kids Club smoothie making for the orphanage

The Pacific calling

Drying the fruit and veg after steralizing

Our final preparations for the crossing are complete. We have purchased enough food that should last us many months and every conceivable space of the boat is crammed with provisions. The task of provisioning, which is thankfully Jude’s responsibility, is a challenging one. How can you buy enough provisions to take you through the Pacific islands without going off? What items do you place space priority on? What items can you buy along the way and are they even financially viable? What is the best way to store the items to maximize their life-span. We only have limited space and even more limited fridge and freezer space so these decisions are important. We have garnered advice from seasoned cruisers and reading other cruisers blogs who have gone before us and we believe we have enough provisions to last us but you always want more.

A small part of our provisions

So we have checked out of Mexico with the officials from immigration and Customs boarding Sarita, stamping passports and checking the boat with dogs for drugs and stowaways. It was a painless task and the complete opposite of crossing the border into our out of the US. These people are human!

Now we are just watching the weather for departure out of the bay. The 2700 nautical mile journey is made up of 4 major legs, the first being the leg from Banderas bay to the NE trade winds. Winds are predicted to be light, somewhere in the 7-10 knot range on the beam so we will probably be flying the spinnaker until the winds exceed 10 knots. The second leg runs through the northern equator trade winds and we hope these are in the 15-20 knot range but as we near the equator we expect clouds and squalls to develop with possible thunder storms. The next leg is the tricky one and that is choosing a place to cross the ITCZ, inter tropical convergence zone, sometimes known as the doldrums which is an area potentially light winds and squalls. If we are lucky we might be able to motor across this section in a day but some boats have known to have taken 5 days. As we cross the equator we move into the 4 leg which sees the winds shifting to the south east and will hopefully take us to our first destination, the Marquesas islands, which are some of the remotest islands in the world. 

 

Our approximate route

We hope to provide short position reports as we cross but as this has to be done with a primitive short-wave radio and some clever technology they might be sporadic. You should be able to track our position as we cross by clicking the “where are we” link at the top right of the home page.

Getting closer

Katya practiced her special effects make up on Ethan

We were getting close to departing for the Galapagos via the Cocos islands but the cruising Gods saw fit to delay our departure. The service of our turbo charger turned into a monumental disaster. The mechanic who was supposed to service it did so much damage to the unit that we have had to buy a new one and I have had a valuable lesson in getting things fixed in foreign countries: don't trust anybody to do a good job. Its actually quite amazing as to the damage that he did. This now means that we have not only had to cancel our plans to head south but now the boat is not operational and I have to purchase a new turbo from Japan and o and collect it from San Diego. Fuming is not the word. What makes it worse is that the turbo was working fine before I gave it to the mechanic.  


We have now decided that we will start our trans Pacific passage from  La Cruz, mainly because we have no other alternative as the boat is in pieces at the moment, but I suppose that is not so bad, La Cruz is a great place to be. 

Jude making covers for the Kayaks

Jude and Katya decided to take a trip back to Australia to see Jude's mother who is not well. I took advantage of an empty boat to complete so of the more complicated boat projects one of which was  installing 4 new 220 amp hr batteries each weighing 65kgs each. I decided to move the position of the batteries to where they were originally located, under the aft starboard bunk, but this required quite a bit of modification.    

450lb Swordfish

On the 16th Feb I boarded the flight back to San Diego California to collect the new Turbo. I could have had it sent by courier to the Marina but I did not want to risk having it held up, or even lost, in Guadalajara which is not unusual. I was back in La Cruz within 3 days and very pleased to have the turbo back. The following day I reattached the turbo, refilled the coolant, replaced the impeller and fired the engine up for the first time in nearly three months. I cannot express the relief of having a boat that is capable of moving again.


The other boat projects are nearly complete and now I can focus on planning the passage across the Pacific, for which we hope to depart the 2nd week in March, weather and crusing Gods permitting.   

Katya made this pom-pom hat, not great for the tropics but quite amazing.

Balance

Our aft head being is pieces

Like many things in life living on a boat is a balance of different things and there is a balance between things you enjoy doing and things you don't enjoy doing. Naturally we try and have balance more towards the things we enjoy doing but over the past few weeks the balance has swung the other way with so many boat projects to do. Some of these projects are planned but the ones that really tip the balance are the ones that are unplanned. The turbo fiasco is a monumental pain in the backside, not only will it delay us but it could end up costing a lot of money and is frustrating given it was working fine when I took it off, I thought it prudent to have it checked since it was off the engine. That will teach me to meddle with things that are OK.






We have a load of covers to make, the refrigeration and freezer to repair, repair a few strips of caulking on the deck and a host of smaller projects along with all the preparations we need for our Pacific crossing in a few months time. Just when you think you are getting on top of something else needs repairing. It's probably been over due but it had to happen- yes the aft head needed servicing. The pipes are probably solid with waste and it has started to leak. This has to be one of the worst jobs I have to do but at least I know what needs doing. In short I feel like the balance has shifted the wrong way in the last month or so but it will come back on track. Hope springs eternal.

From summer to winter in two hours

Steve in front of his trusty steed

Our good friends Steve and Sandy have been coming down to Yelapa in Banderas bay for quite a few years now. Last year they started to build a palapa on a beautiful spot overlooking the ocean and Steve hopes to make some progress on it this year which includes the installation of a spiral staircase which he had made in Denver. Yes Denver Colorado, not exactly just down the road from Yelapa but a 2000 mile drive. Steve has been so kind in helping us take Sarita up the coast to Washington and back down again so I offered my limited services as a co-pilot for the journey from Denver. So I flew out of Puerto Vallarta on New Year's Day along with a band of hung-over revelers on their way home and landed in a rather chilly but sunny Denver. Steve picked me up in their shinny Chrysler 300, pimp mobile and drove me back to their house in the mountains outside of Boulder, a beautiful spot and at this time of year it was covered in snow and looking very festive with all the Christmas lights everywhere.  Coming from a hot and humid climate to a freezing climate was like flying from winter to summer in just two hours.

I had taken the opportunity to order a host of spares for the boat which I could take down in Steve's truck and these included a new fridge compressor and evaporator plate and a portable freezer which we will use as a back up when, yes when, the main one breaks down. It was like Christmas all over again unwrapping all of the Amazon packages.

Steve's truck was loaded up with the spiral staircase, my stuff, not to be outdone on the weight front, I had purchased an 88lb anchor and off we set on the journey across 3 states and half of Mexico. Riley, Steve's dog watched in distress as his master drove off without him and down to McDonalds in Boulder. Steve apparently has a morning ritual with Riley, his dog, where they both go to Mc Donald's and both have a sausage egg mc muffin. I felt like I was a poor substitute for Riley as I was not slobbering enough before eating my Mc Muffin, which was a totally new experience for me.

Thank goodness petrol is cheap at the moment at 16 miles to an American gallon the V8 truck purred along but drank like Steve Duren. (only joking Steve). We watched the landscape and weather change as we drove across the snow strewn high plains of Colorado and New Mexico and slowly as we lost altitude the weather became warmer.

We stopped off in Albuquerque to have supper with some friends of Steve and Sandy's: Aaron, Stephanie and their delightful daughter Mia and a delicious home made meal it was and with great company.

We checked into our first budget motel of the trip, lugged a lot of our precious cargo into the hotel room and called home to report on the day's events.

The next day we drove from Albuquerque to Nogales, Arizona, on the Mexican border., an interesting town that seems both American and Mexican. Again we checked into another budget motel and went out for a meal at the local bar and planned our crossing into Mexico.

We awoke up early, Steve getting his cup of coffee and we repackaged the car and filled up with petrol as it is nearly half the price of Mexico. We visited Safeway and bought a few items that cannot be purchased in Mexico and then headed across the border. It's always a bit nerve-wracking crossing a border, you just never know how long it's going to take and how much it's going to cost you. Steve's luck held and we got a green light so no inspection was required and we sailed through with no passport or customs check. Phew.

So there we were, cruising down the Mexican highway towards Guaymas, weaving our way through the light early morning traffic of Nogales and then into the open country. We put on a CD that Wally, one of Steve's friends from yore entitled Mexican Road Trip 1 which contained appropriately Mexican music that set the scene for the drive down.

The intention was to drive only during the day and split the trip into 3 legs, Nogales to Guaymas, Guaymas to Mazatlan and then Mazatlan to Puerto Vallarta. We only wanted to drive at night as general advice is that you run the risk of getting hijacked by drug bandits along this stretch of road. Two unfortunate Australians were murdered a few months ago on this stretch of road and this is where the famous drug lord el Chapo is supposed to be hiding out.

We arrived at the outskirts of Guaymas at around 1:30pm, too early to stop for the day so we decided to carry on to Los Mochis.  We booked a hotel along the way and arrived in Los Mochis just after dark, taking a little time to find the hotel. We performed our routine of checking in, taking the valuable stuff from the back of the truck into the hotel room and then going for a drink and something to eat, in this case we stuck to the hotel bar as Los Mochis is supposed to be the capital of el Chapo's territory, not the safest place to be for two gringos.

We departed at dawn listening to Ry Cooder, very appropriate music for this beautiful start to the day. We pounded on down the road and again decided to skip our planned destination of Mazatlan and carry on to Puerto Vallarta. The roads were mainly excellent and travelled along near the speed liming of 70mph.

Steve has been trying to get me to listen to Alan Watts, the 60's philosopher, but his grating voice reminded me of my pompous teachers at school in England. I guess I am a philistine. Sorry Steve.

The final leg of the journey to Mazatlan took us over an impressive mountain range, we peeled off the toll road and joined a single lane road that weaved it's way to the top of a mountain passing through small Mexican villages and dense jungle before descending down the other side with a view of the ocean in front of us. Quite spectacular and the highlight of our trip for me.

We arrived in La Cruz in the late afternoon and were greeted by Jude and Katya, unloaded our stuff from the truck and had a beer or three in celebration of a completed and fun journey. The highlights of the journey for me were the journey through the mountains, listening to Steve's excellent collection of music and hearing his stories, seeing the one armed Honduran flaming torch juggler outside of Nogales and generally just taking in the beautiful scenery as we glided down the highway.

Thanks Steve for this wonderful adventure. I will remember it for a very long time.

Before leaving I had dropped off our turbo charger to get inspected and serviced if necessary and I went on the bus to pick it up so we could put it back on the engine and start heading south. But I was very disappointed to find that it was in worse shape than I left it. The bearings rattled, clearly the wrong size and they had sprayed the whole assembly a different colour. I left it again so the mechanic could fix it but our plans for heading south vanished.