Disappointment

Looks like this.

No wind = no 'captains only' sail. Instead we sit around and sulk. Just kidding, I'm sure we'll find something fun to do today. The glorious Mexican music is already at full blast and so the festivities begin. 

**Note Susana's attire. It's starting to feel a lot like winter here, at least to our now thinned blood. Actually, it got down to 39 degrees here the other morning and when you're on a boat in the water you feel every bit of those temperatures. 

Happy Holidays!

We've been meaning to write a post now for over a month, but time just keeps getting away from us. That and crappy Internet. So, I will provide an update without being too wordy. Surprise, surprise.

Here's how we spent Thanksgiving. Yes, that's a watermelon I'm cutting up and it was delicious! I also washed our clothes in a fancy (not really) portable washing machine our new boat friends gave us. Please don't hate us because we live in paradise and can wear shorts and tank tops during winter.

 

We finally got Jade out on the water with our sailing instructor. He also does rigging and various other boat projects so it's been difficult scheduling lessons. 

 

We also found time to relax and enjoy our surroundings.

 

We scored another anchor for Jade. I know it looks like Susana is ready to go to war, but it's really just an anchor.

We went to a bar at the marina for a Christmas carols sing along event. Thankfully, I did not get up an embarrass myself despite the amount of margaritas I consumed.

Susana, the gourmet chef, has been making treats and amazing dinners. She made us a lovely New York steak Christmas dinner.

It's s tough life, but we somehow survive!

We're planning to take Jade out tomorrow without an instructor for the first time. We chose a very light winded day for our 'captains only' maiden voyage. Hopefully, we won't get lost at sea and we'll be able to report our progress.

Cheers!

Hairs so Vain

You probably think I'm talking about you. But I'm not, I'm talking about me. As you might have seen in my last post, I took the plunge and shaved my head (well, actually Susana shaved it). These days I cherish simplicity and though it might not look pretty, it certainly is simple. Here I am in all my glory. This day happened to be my birthday and Susana wrapped my birthday gift in her camp towel. And for all the sailors out there, she tied it in a bowline! Simplicity at its best.

Here was my fantastic present. We saw this lovely gem in a tourist store and fell in love. It will soon hang in our bathroom. It looks small but it's about a foot long.

We also spent a fantastic day at the beach. That's right, the beach, in the middle of November! Don't hate us because we live in paradise.

Oh, did I mention that we watched three dolphins swim by close to the shore? Here was our lovely view of the beach.

Yeah, our life sucks doesn't it?!

We also scored some killer shrimp that we needed to clean and devein (aka clean out the poop). Such a very sexy thing to do.

Here's where those tiny bottom feeders ended up...in the most remarkable shrimp corn bisque dinner I've ever had. Happy Birthday to me! 

The Joys of Boat Ownership

We thought it would be rather comical (although not at the time) to post our first trials and tribulations of boat ownership.

Day 1: S/V Jade was launched, but our reserved slip was occupied. The temporary slip, which we contemplated keeping, was too shallow. We had to wait a few hours before our slip was available.

Day 2: Our galley sea cock was leaking, actually streaming, in the open position. Will our boat sink? We closed the sea cock, which still had a slow leak in the closed position. 

Day 3/4: We inquired with our boat broker about the sea cock since he is very knowledgable about sailboats and he provided us with some suggestions, but he couldn't provide direct assistance because  he was too busy.

Day 5: The sea cock was still leaking and we couldn't find anyone who could help our sorry asses.

Day 6: We made contact with a repair person who took a look at the sea cock. He suggested that it be replaced with a new one and, in order to do so, we would have to pull Jade out of the water and back to the dry dock where she just came from. Think $$$$$.

Day 7: We told our boat broker what we learned and he disagreed with the repair guy and suggested we ask other local boaters for assistance. The boat community hosts a boat net every morning on the VHF radio.

Day 8: We move onto our boat but couldn't use the galley sink since it still leaked. We noticed the beautiful teak floor boards were getting wet in the galley! Most likely a result from the leaky seacock. Oh great, will our boat sink?

Day 9: We asked the local boaters for assistance and a nice, young gentleman came by and took a look at the sea clock. He managed to get the leak stopped, but in doing so he sheared the tightening handle right off the base. So now, we don't have a leak, we can use the galley sink but we may not be able to close off the sea cock in the future. Our broker seemed to think it would be fine, so we considered it a victory.

Day 10: We brought one of our empty tanks of propane to the local pub, where the propane truck stops by to fill them. Usually, they are filled and available to pick up in a day or two.

Day 11: I'm sure something happened, but I can't remember.

Day 12: We arrive at the pub to pick up our propane tank. One of the workers told us that the propane truck couldn't fill our tank because our tank valve was wasn't centered and they couldn't get their valve on correctly to fill it. We returned to Jade and got to work on getting the valve centered, which took me about an hour and several different tools to get it back into place. We returned the tank back to the pub.

Day 13: We have two manual faucets in our galley, which are both fresh water that feeds from our holding tanks. One has a filter on it for drinking water, but it wasn't tasting as fresh as we hoped it would. Susana went to change the filter and let's just say it was the most disgusting slime we have have ever encountered on a filter....that we were drinking out of!! 

Day 14: We went to pick up our propane tank, but it hadn't been filled yet.

Day 15: It was during the evening time, on this lovely day, that we check all of our outside boat lights, like our mast light, anchor light, running lights, etc. We couldn't seem to get our running lights working and it didn't appear that our anchor light was working either. We went through our electrical panel, turned on and off several switches and still couldn't seem to figure out why our lights weren't working the way they should. We decided to send an email to our boat surveyor to make sure he checked the lights, since there was no mention of them needing repair on our completed survey. 

We also noticed that our refrigerator/freezer unit didn't seem to be working. The fan that we normally hear in the engine room wasn't on. We broke out the manual and still couldn't seem to get it going. The fuses looked fine, but we decided to pick up fuses the following day as we had already planned  to travel to Guaymas to obtain our Temporary Import Permit (TIP) which is a requirement in order to keep a boat in Mexico and be able to import boat parts duty free.

During this time, I also discovered we had a leak on the toilet pump handle.....Aye!

Day 16: We traveled to Guaymus by bus and arrived at the bank that handles the appropriation of TIPs. After about 50 minutes of waiting for the previous owner's TIP to be canceled and our TIP to be issued, we were told that another previous owner of the boat (the one before the last previous owner) still had a valid TIP and we needed that TIP paperwork so they could cancel that one and issue one to us. It didn't make sense to me as the owners before us were issued a TIP so why didn't it get canceled at that time??? Of course that question couldn't be answered so it now became our problem. We made the best of our Guaymus trip though, by picking up some things we needed for the boat including those darn fuses. When we returned to San Carlos we contacted our boat broker about our issue with the TIP process. They were just as baffled as we were, but thankfully they had the paperwork we needed!

On our way back to Jade we stopped by the pub to pick up our propane tank. It still hadn't been filled yet.

We also got a return email from our surveyor who was out of town. He couldn't remember anything about the lights not working and he suggested we contact the previous owners. We sent the previous owners an email and asked about the running lights and the refrigerator/freezer since we had changed the fuses and it still didn't work. We placed several small bags of ice in the frig in hopes of being able to keep our perishables cold. When we drained the water from the melted ice we discovered the floor boards by the frig were wet. Aye, another leak! 

Day 17: Back to Guaymus we went and this time, we a managed to get our TIP. Woo hoo! We also received an email from the previous owners who instructed us about the lights. Turns out there was another switch on the opposite end of the boat that worked the running lights. Go figure. He also said he never had any problems with the refrigerator/freezer and suggested we check to make sure the switch was on...wait, switch??? What switch? Get ready for it....the ignition switch on the electrical panel is actually the refrigerator/freezer switch. Well, that makes sense....NOT. Anyhow, it seemed that while we were checking the lights the other night we inadvertently turned off the switch. One big problem solved without too much embarrassment. 

Day 18: We retuned to the pub to pick up our propane tank.....nope not yet filled. 

Day 19: It was the evening time when we discover that Susana's wallet was missing. One of us had either left it in the marina bathroom, dropped it by mistake or misplaced it. We searched and searched but to no avail. It held her driver's license, her ATM card and about $300 dollars in pesos and American money combined. Crap!!!

Day 20: We got on the boat net and asked about Susana's wallet and if anyone had found it, but there was nothing. We checked the marina office for it too, but still nothing. ATM cancelled (with the help of a good amiga back home since we could not email the bank and making a call would look like this...$$$), and adios wallet money. 

We also heard about another WIFI service near the marina and decided to give it a try. The marina WIFI is pretty slow and at times non existent. Well, so far, the paid WIFI service doesn't seem to work any better and often times it's worse. Some boaters can pick it up pretty well, but not us. If it keeps up like this we'll probably cancel it.

Day 21: Propane success!

Now, don't get me wrong, there have been many enjoyable moments along the way,  but I thought I would just give you a taste of what we've been dealing with the last couple of weeks or so. As you can see, we've had no time for sailing but we plan to change that soon. We've met a couple of sailing instructors and we hope to get some lessons going in the near future.

Until next time...fair winds!

The Adventure, Part 2

We've had a very busy month so apologies all around for this delayed post. As you recall, back in September we took a bus to San Carlos, Sonora MX to check out a boat. We made an offer that was accepted and as of October 22nd, the boat was ours. My mother and stepfather (Mamacita & Keet) offered to "move us" to San Carlos so we wouldn't be subjected to another long bus ride. Plus we had stuff. Lots of stuff. Which is rather surprising since we got rid of most of our stuff. We had so much that we filled the bed of the Subaru Baja and had to strap items to the top and back. 

We arrived in San Carlos on October 30th and our boat was launched into the water on November 1st (the previous owners had it dry docked during the "escrow" part of the sale). We had our broker take it to the slip as neither one of us felt confident enough to get it to the slip without crashing into another boat. 

We were very excited and we had her cleaned and waxed. We also changed her name to "Jade". 

Susana had some fun climbing the mast steps just to make sure we could reach them.

We spent our first night aboard on November 8th. It was exciting and surreal to know we now own a boat and are living in about 80 square feet together. Thank goodness we like each other!

 

Ah, but all is not perfect as any boat owner will tell you. We discovered we have a leaky seacock under our galley. What is a seacock you ask? Let's just say it a very important piece that allows water to drain from the sink, but also allows water in from outside the boat as the opening is below the waterline. We've successfully closed it for now so no water is leaking into the boat, but we need to have it serviced. Let's just say that's no easy task at the moment. First off, we don't know what the heck we are doing and there are various opinions on how to fix it, from hauling out the boat and replacing it to plugging up the hole below the waterline and repairing it while the boat is in the water. We have yet to find someone to do this for us, so for now we are using a bucket for a sink. It's just like bike touring! 

Until next time....fair winds!

UPDATE: We may have actually fixed the seacock, although the tightening handle sheared right off. But, hey, at least it's not leaking and we can use our sink. Woo hoo! 

Water, Weenies and Waiting

WATER

There are times in life when you are so into your daily routine and culture that you forget not everywhere in the world operates the same. Take water for instance. For many of us we simply turn on the facet and the water comes out as long as we pay our water bill and most parts in the United States, we are able to drink the tap water.

What about where Poncha and I are living? Most of the houses in this area of Baja have pilas; which are water containers. Pilas are either concrete tanks located underground and/or heavy plastic containters located above ground. Some houses have both. In this part of Mexico you have to order water which you store in the pila. Water is delivered to your home. This water is not for consumption. It's used for showering, washing clothes, doing laundry and such. You have to pay attention to how much water you use since there is no "endless" supply of water coming from the tap. It makes you very aware of just how much water one can conserve and still fully function. I must say Poncha and I do really well at water conservation.

 

Water delivery. Poncha helps fill the rooftop pilas on Mamacita's home. 

 

A view of the concrete underground pila at our rental and Poncha checking the water level.

The water we use for drinking and cooking is bought from local water stores and is purchased in five gallon reusable plastic bottles.

  

The best deal appears to be at this one which charges $0.65 per five gallon container.       

Poncha watching our water fill up.

     

Here's the water truck that supplies the water store. 

WEENIES

We are keeping up our social calendar thanks to a bit of help from Poncha's Mamacita. This week we attended an annual weenie roast put on by two gracious hosts who supplied everything to their sixty guests, which included all the hot dogs and sausages you could roast with a variety of toppings from chili to roasted peppers to numerous types of mustard. They also supplied wine and beer and desert! You'd be crazy to pass up this kind of invite!

 

    

Seventeen different kinds of goodness to choose from! 


WAITING

As you know, we visited San Carlos and fell in love with the 32 foot Wetsail Sailboat. We made an offer, which was accepted and now we are in boat escrow and waiting for everything to clear. If all goes well, we will know in a few weeks if we have a new home aboard the 32 foot Westsail. If so, we will pack up what little belongings we have and move from Punta Banda, Baja to San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico where will we spend time learning about the boat and all that goes into her and sailing!

                      

     

While we wait we tried our talent at recycle/reuse art! We went to a local artist's home and saw she had used bottles to surround some of her plants.

                                                                                                           

Now Mamacita has her own yard art! 

San Carlos Boat Shopping

We arrived in San Carlos on Friday after 19 hours of travel, which included one car ride to Ensenada, a bus ride to Tijuana, another bus ride to Gauymas, Mexico topped off with yet another short local bus ride to San Carlos. Surprisingly, it all went rather smoothly. Our intention was to view three boats however, we had one in particular we were really interested in. After checking into our hotel we made arrangements with Don, the boat broker, to view the boats and he picked us up right away and off to Marina San Carlos we went. We viewed a 32 foot Westsail named 'Otter' and that was all we needed to see. She captured our hearts.

We departed the marina to discuss our next steps over margaritas and food. After all, the best decisions in life are made this way.

 

The next day we viewed the boat again, looked at every detail and asked more questions to allow us to decide if this could be our home on the water. Here's a few pics of the inside.

 

 

 

This is view of the stern with solar panels.

We decided we wanted this incredible boat to be our home and made an offer! This boat caught our attention a month ago and we were trying to determine how to travel the distance to San Carlos. Shortly thereafter, we noticed the boat was pending sale and we were very disappointed as it was fully equipped to set sail. To our delight, the previously interested buyer opted out and we jumped at the chance to view this beauty!

How do we celebrate making the offer? With beer...of course! And in styrofoam cups no less....not our first choice, but adapting to the culture is all part of the adventure.

Tomorrow is our sea trial which means the current owner, ourselves, the boat surveyor and the boat broker will take the boat out for a sail to explore all the workings. This means we've stayed in San Carlos an extra day. So here's a bit of how we spend some of our down time in 90 plus degree temperatures with 90% plus humidity! Enjoying the pool atop our hotel with great views!