PacificSailors

Mexican food made easy. And no fridge required!

2012-05-29T10:31:00.001-07:00

Tortilla Machine in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

Now that we are in Mexico tortillas have become a staple food, so I figured I better learn how to make them in case we run out. Corn tortillas are a breeze as long as you have Maseca, water and salt. And most importantly a tortilla press! Not wanting to add more gadgets to my galley I tried making them without a press and they turned out a "bit" thick. The recipe is right there on the bag and even I can decipher the spanish instructions.

Since fresh meat only lasts a few days we found the perfect substitute: We call it bagged meat (see photo below). It lasts for two years unrefrigerated and tastes great! Just fry it up with some onion and bell pepper if you have it.

Make fresh guacamole by adding lime, salt and several spoonfuls of your favorite salsa (I like to use Herdez Salsa Casera). To keep avocados from spoiling too quickly put them into "green bags" in the fridge (leave the bag open to prevent moisture).

Then mix up some Media Crema with a squeeze of lime and you get instant sour cream!

¡Buen provecho!

Don't forget to make up some of our favorite Margaritas. Recipe on GalleySwap.

Maseca and Tortilla Press from Cabo

Fresh Tortillas cooking on the stove

Bagged meat. Very little trash to boot!

Useful Things

2012-05-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

There are so many lists and guides on the internet of things you just have to have on a cruising boat that I didn't want to make yet another list, but I have found some things that I have not seen listed elsewhere which we use almost daily.

Spotlight

The rechargeable variety and the smaller the better. Not only useful for the obvious reasons like finding your way into a harbor at night but also for finding your boat in a dark anchorage. We have reflective tape at the top of our mast that guides us back to our boat when we scan the tops of masts (especially useful when we forget to turn on the anchor light). We never anticipated other uses for the spotlight but found that it really lights up a dark space much better than a regular flashlight. Shine it into the bilge or engine room and they light up like daylight. We have this one.

Hooks

We like to hang things all over but hate making holes into our boat. These removable hooks are perfect and don't have that cheap look at lot of plastic hook have. I can put a hook where I think it will be useful and if it ends up being in the wrong spot I can move it anytime without damage or residual stickiness. These hooks can hold a lot of weight but I have found that the glue needs to "set" for a while. I usually wait overnight before adding any weight. I use the plastic ones inside cabinet doors to hang our fire blankets.

Wine Bags

Trader Joe's and Whole Foods carry these 6-pack wine bags for about a dollar (sometimes free with purchase of six bottles of wine). They are great for storing glass jars (and of course wine and liquor bottles). I have about a dozen of them all over the boat. While plastic jars don't break as easily I hate using plastic. Ever hear of the great pacific garbage patch?

Green Bins and Bags

These handy bins keep fruits and vegetables alive! I have kept strawberries crisp for over four days in the bins (in the green bag they went mushy overnight). While the bins work better than the bags I use green bags for things like carrots, lettuce, limes and chard. Just be sure the wipe out the moisture every couple of days and keep a paper towel inside to soak up moisture. It also helps to keep them open. In Mexico's heat the avocados will ripen in less than a day and I end up having to make a lot of guacamole. If I store them in an open green bag in the fridge they don't ripen until I take them out. Check your local dollar store for the bags!

Glass Bottom Bucket

We don't have one and I can't remember where I read about these but I want one! Would be great for checking on the anchor and "snorkeling" from the dinghy or SUP. Currently we are anchored in 15 feet of crystal clear water and I like to sit on the swimstep and watching the bottom and the fish go by.

Dingy Dinghy Life-vests

On passages we always wear our safety harnesses and are clipped into jack-lines that run the length of the boat. When it gets rough we wear our hydrostatic life-vests with harness. We also have some old life-vests that I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of when we moved aboard. They are now our dinghy life-vests. If the dinghy flips and everything goes into the drink they won't inflate suddenly like the hydrostatic vests would. We also don't have to worry about them being stolen. They make excellent seat cushions and work as a spray shield to keep our butts somewhat dry.

Cordless Screwdriver

Mike made fun of me when I put this into the cart and said we have a real drill for that. He now uses it nearly every day. It's so much faster than a regular screw driver and much easier to get to than the drill which is buried somewhere.

What are some things you use everyday? Leave a comment to share!

Isla Espiritu Santo

2012-05-20T19:05:00.000-07:00

Icons on map are clickable for more information on anchorages, marinas, snorkel spots and more

The past four weeks have been spent almost entirely without access to the internet. At first I was worried about missing important emails. Turns out I don't get any important emails. When I was finally able to get back on Facebook - which I usually check daily - I realized I hadn't missed anything there either. How about world news? Not much new there.

After arriving in La Paz from Mazatlan we stocked up on food and headed about 15 miles north to Isla Espiritu Santo and its nearby islands which are inhabited only by wildlife - except for the local fishermen staying in makeshift camps on occasion. The islands are surrounded by emerald green coves, white sand beaches, and brick-red cliffs covered in "Mexican snow" (aka bird guano). Frigate birds soar overhead, pelicans glide inches from the ocean, manta rays break the surface to do summersaults and dolphins leap through the air.

Our favorite place was the sea lion community on Los Islotes. Here you can swim with the sea lions. Most of the female sea lions seemed curious about us but the males were quite vocal in wanting to be left alone. I didn't brave the water after seeing how large the males are up close. Mike went for a snorkel but stayed far away from a female that swam up to him at full speed and then veered at the last second. Apparently she does not welcome visitors near her arch.

We spent nearly four weeks exploring the many anchorages the islands have to offer. The last ten days were spent with Mike's parents on board. It was great to be able to share this magical place.

Los Islotes covered in "snow"

Towing Mike on the SUP with the dinghy

Mike's dad on the SUP inside of a sea cave

Dolphin

Spotting wildlife

Even more photos....

iPad on Board

2012-04-23T09:49:00.002-07:00

Sailing the Sea of Cortez

The iPad was one of he best purchases we made before leaving the US. We bought it at the last minute after realizing that buying new chart cards for our chart-plotter could be quite expensive in the long run. The iPad 3/4G comes with an "assisted GPS" (the basic WiFi version does not have a GPS receiver!) and while in the Apple store we talked to several of the geniuses about what exactly assisted GPS is. They all agreed that I had to be within reach of cell towers for it to work. I didn't agree then and I can now say that the GPS works just fine well over 100 miles from shore and gets a fix in mere seconds. But who am I to argue with a genius?

Our chart plotter came with one chip that covers Cape Flattery to Mazatlan. While Cape Flattery is amazingly beautiful I doubt we will ever take this boat that far north (we sailed past boats on Puget Sound and love the Pacific North West - in summer). However, in one month of cruising we had already gone past the southern border of the chart card. Not to mention that the card is from 2004 and I have yet to figure out an easy way to get updates. I just cannot justify buying new cards every year or two.

Cape Flattery, Summer 2011

When we arrived in Ensenada we realized that our marina was too new to shown up on our chart-plotter. Luckily I had downloaded the latest charts onto my iPhone and we were able to come into port using it for guidance. But we quickly determined that the iPhone screen is too tiny to be used on a daily basis.

I have heard a lot of complaints about inaccurate charts around Mexico. Maybe we haven't been to enough places, but so far we have found the iPad app (we use Navionics) to have very accurate cartography. Of course, being hydrographers, we give anything that that wasn't charted within the last 10 years a pretty wide berth.

The iPad makes route planning a breeze. We like to sit together in the cockpit or on the settee with a cruising guide and the iPad to plan our upcoming journey. Later we transfer the waypoints to the chart-plotter which is located on the binnacle. This way the autopilot can track our course and we can kick back and keep watches from a more comfortable seat (which is where I initially wrote this post on the iPad while Mike was snoozing happily until his watch started a few hours later).

Since the iPad has a 10 hour battery it can make it through almost an entire night of watches without having to be recharged. When the battery does run out there is no need to run the generator or inverter. We simply use the same 12 volt plug we use for the iPhones and use the electricity we make with our solar panels (another one of our favorite purchases).

Taken April 2012 in Bahia de los Muertos, Mexico

Turns out the iPad has many other great uses. Not to mention all the obvious ones like endless games, Facebook, internet research, dictionary, translator, email, etc...

Boat Log

We tried keeping a hand-written log of maintenance items, trips, fuel usage,etc but soon realized that after spending months trying to convert everything we had to digital we were once again using paper! We tried several of the boat log apps available for the iPad but none had everything we wanted. Finally we realized that all we needed was a calendar. We now use the calendar app and the best part is that we can search entries. So if Mike needs to know how many times we have ran the Honda generator I simply search for Honda. From there we can figure out when it's time to change the oil.

Weather Updates

Aside from simply using weather websites we really like the Weather 4D HD app. For $2 we get all the weather updates we can handle in a really pretty display.

We haven't tried this yet but we have an app that will listen to the HF radio weather fax signal and then display the weather fax on the iPad. How cool is that?!

To Do List

We use the reminders app because, like the calendar app, it can work over the "cloud" and update the other iDevices. So, if I'm out and about with only my iPhone I can update our calendar or shopping or to do list and the other iPhone and the iPad will get the same update. It's all rather brilliant! We like to take the iPhones to shore in the dinghy because they are lighter and easier to protect from getting wet than the laptop or iPad.

Movies and Music

I like to watch movies on my night watches. Since we like to stand two long night watches it helps make the time go by and keep me awake. I can only contemplate life for so long. When on WiFi or near cell towers we can also watch Netflix. Oh, and if you want to know how to listen to Pandora from Mexico send me an email ;)

Internet

Here in Mexico WiFi isn't always easy to access but you can buy Internet access by the day or month and by how much data you want. No need for a multi year plan. If you just email and do daily light surfing a month of Internet can be about $20. We have a chip for the iPad and a USB stick for the laptop and have been able to get Internet over 10 miles offshore. Great for getting weather updates!

By the way, if you buy an iPad outside of the US I hear (this is not confirmed) that it will not be unlocked like the US version, meaning if you buy it in Mexico it will only work with a Mexican carrier.

Phone Calls

Really cheap/free calls via Skype or Google Voice. Why did I ever pay for a cellular plan???

PS: I didn't get anything from Apple for this post - I just believe the iPad is a great asset to have on board.

UPDATE (May 23, 2012): After nearly dragging anchor onto a rock we tried to use the iPhone/iPad as an anchor alarm. The problem is that it has to be left on (screen lit) all night and connected to power. It also seems to shut itself down after some hours which turns off the anchor alarm. I'm not a fan of having to run out into the cockpit every time we get a false alarm on the chartplotter so we now use our handheld GPS with anchor alarm. We record our track and set the audible alarm. Works great and there is no need to get out of bed!

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

2012-04-19T17:56:00.001-07:00

When we arrived in Bahia Puerto Balandra around 5pm we were stunned by how beautiful the bay was, with rugged cliffs and small coves of white sand beaches. We set our anchor as usual, in 12 feet of water at low tide, and paid out 75 feet of chain. After making sure that it was set well, we jumped into the emerald green water with our snorkel gear. Mike swam over to our anchor (a Manson Supreme - the name alone helped me sleep... until now) and made sure it was nice and buried in the sand.

Snorkel reef

After snorkeling and quick showers on deck, we had dinner and a sundowner. During dinner the wind started to pipe up a bit. We weren't too surprised as it had been forecast to blow about 15 - though we haven't had any wind at night time for weeks.

Before heading to bed we did our usual evening checks and made sure the deck was clear of obstructions. Every night we put the spotlight in the companion way to grab if needed. Of course we didn't think we would need any of it since we had been through much heavier winds.

Fast forward to shortly before midnight. I woke up to wind howling in the rigging. I nudged Mike to get up and check on things (I like to use the I'm not wearing my contacts excuse). He begrudgingly rose and headed up top. Not long after he came back down and said "I think we've drug anchor". I grabbed my glasses and threw on a jacket (it's been getting down to 60 at night). I started turning on instruments and deck lights while Mike started the engine. We had dragged almost a quarter of a mile and were now very close to a rock cliff on the other side of the bay with the wind blowing us toward shore. Luckily, the anchor appeared to be holding.

We didn't feel very comfortable next to the cliff but it was dark and there are a couple of small reefs in the bay making maneuvering difficult. We decided to hoist the anchor anyway and follow our trackline back to our original position. While Mike was up on the bow running the windlass I was praying that the engine would not fail as soon as the anchor came up since we would have been blown onto the cliff in mere seconds.

With the anchor up I started heading into the wind along our track line towards our old anchor spot. Mike came back to grab the boat hook and told me that a big rock had lodged itself into our anchor!!! Well that explains it!

With our anchor once again ready for service we dropped the hook as usual and went back inside to listen to the wind howl and the boat creak and groan. But not before turning on the anchor and depth alarms and staring incessantly at our GPS position on the iPad...

Lessons learned

Just because your anchor has held out through 40+ knots of wind before doesn't mean it will do so again.
Check if lone rock wedged itself into set anchor in an otherwise all sand bottom.
Turn on anchor and depth alarms!

UPDATE (May 23, 2012): After this debacle we tried to use the iPhone/iPad as an anchor alarm. The problem is that it has to be left on (screen lit) all night and connected to power. It also seems to shut itself down after some hours which turns off the anchor alarm. I'm not a fan of having to run out into the cockpit every time we get a false alarm on the chartplotter so we now use our handheld GPS with anchor alarm. We record our track and set the audible alarm. Works great and there is no need to get out of bed!

The rock cliff

Going Digital

2012-04-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

Before moving aboard we converted as many of our things as possible to digital format. We knew there would be no space on a boat for years of paperwork and stacks of music CDs. We had originally planned on not keeping anything that wouldn't fit on the boat but there were just some things we couldn't part with so we bought a small cargo trailer that is being stored with family (Thanks R & D!).

Banking and bills
Banks make it easy to pay your bills and receive statements online but they still like to send lots of junk mail. I had to call them directly to turn off the ads for credit cards and those pesky checks they want you to use.
So we don't have to log into our banks through questionable internet connections we use mint.com to check balances and transactions.

Past paperwork
We went through all our old files. And there was a whole file cabinet full! Most of the contents were shredded and tossed but some things we scanned to keep for records. The only thing we kept paper records of are past tax documents. I don't think we have to but paranoia got the better of us.

CDs
I took our stacks of music CDs and painstakingly copied them onto a hard drive. It took days and days. Then we took all the CDs to the goodwill.

Photos
I had several boxes full of photos. I sent them to Foto Bridge to get scanned and then destroyed the originals. It was not easy to do but I'm glad I did it. I had moved with those boxes many times and never once looked at the photos. Just the other day I was able to use a scanned photo taken in Cabo 24 years earlier in a blog post. I keep copies of all of our photos on two computers and two external harddrives. And I don't delete the cameras' memory cards until I have at least one backup.

Stay tuned for another post about going digital in which I highlight our handy iPad!

Iguanas de La Cruz

2012-03-31T07:13:00.000-07:00

Our favorite taco spot in La Cruz is nestled among the trees and all throughout lunch you hear things drop onto the awning above. Turns out it's the iguanas running around in the tree tops knocking down leaves and seed pods.

Siesta time

Look at the length of that tail!

Making Water

2012-03-28T18:02:00.002-07:00

Remote panel above pillows. All other parts are under dinette seating.

Mike wrote a testimonial about our water maker for Rich at Cruise RO and we wanted to duplicate it here. There are a lot of blogs out there who write "reviews" to get free gear. While we are not above getting free gear we just wanted to reiterate that we are very happy with our watermaker and didn't receive anything from Cruise RO in exchange. That is not to say we didn't have some trying moments during install...

"We first read about Cruise RO Water on Rich's, owner of Cruise RO Water and Power, cruising blog and we later met him at the Seattle boat show. We liked the idea of buying from a small company whose owners are also cruisers. Cruise RO Water takes good care of their clients and they make thoughtful choices in the parts that go into their systems. Verena and I were also lucky enough to get the grand tour of the impressive R&D room at Cruise RO Water by Rich's business partner Charles, who took great care to answer all of our questions about the system and what to look out for during the installation.

Our decision to purchase a water maker paid dividends on our first week away from the dock. We stopped in Turtle Bay, Mexico, which is literally a desert. We went into town and met the folks anchored next to us. They were rather grim telling us all about the town and the only open restaurant. Then they mentioned how they had tried in vain to find a hot shower. They were told the entire town was on water rations and no showers were being offered. We saw them later at the dinghy dock with 5 liter jugs of water that the guys at the fuel dock were kind enough to truck for them from the grocery store.

The Cruise RO Water system is very simple to operate. We purchased the SeaMaker 20 water maker and run the high pressure pump off or our Honda generator. During operation we keep the generator on the swim step. It takes only a few twists and turns of the valves to get the system up and running. The weekly process of filling the water tank usually takes 3 to 4 hours. With that we get a better quality of water (lower TDS) than the bottled water we had purchased from the store.

We finally pulled into Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with a full tank of water and us freshly showered ready to hit the town. We are very happy with our purchase and equally grateful to the guys at Cruise RO Water. They helped us out every step of the way, from making the right decision on the model to advising us on final installation and troubleshooting. The Cruise RO Water team usually replied to our emails within hours and had fast courteous responses that were accurate and easy to understand."

On a side note: Please "like" our page on Facebook so we can get to know our readers!

We had a small box built for the remote panel to match the rest of the wood.

The membrane behind our fridge compressor under the dinette seating.

Pumps and filters also under dinette seating.

Honda generator on swimstep (used at anchor, not in the marina).

DIY Boat Cards

2012-03-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

Traveling by boat we meet a lot of people - we live “next door” to them in marinas and anchorages. Having a common bond, we get to know each other quickly and “what do you do for a living” and "can you believe that traffic” is replaced with “what do you think of the upcoming weather” and “where can I find the showers”. It's nice to be able to have a little something to remember these people by, so most cruisers carry boat cards which are similar to business cards, only the boat is the “company” being represented.

Our contact info has been changing frequently so we haven't been able to decide on what to print on our boat cards. Instead we've been sharing our contact info on bits of paper or outdated business cards.

We wanted boat cards that were easy to update and economical. Shipping to Mexico is not very reliable so we decided to make our own. Before leaving the US we bought a small WiFi color printer - so we can print from any device and can put the printer anywhere - and heavy cardstock paper (cheaper than precut business card paper). We designed cards that work for us right now and only printed enough to last a couple of months. When something changes or we get tired of the design we will make new ones.

Cutting the cards was a bit of a challenge since there really wasn't any room to bring along a papercutter (though I might still buy one). I'm using a fabric cutter and a straight edge to make the cuts and they are coming out pretty even.

We have a folder with business card holders on board to keep track of companies we use in maintaining Camille and the people we meet on our journey.

Oh, and the back of our card has a photo of us since it's nice to be able to put a face to the name years later. Back in the 80s when I was cruising with my parents I kept a logbook of the people we met (which I cherish to this day) and one sailor wrote this:

“It's easy to come and go. The hard thing is to remember.”

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

2012-03-23T09:22:00.003-07:00

Copa Mexico Regata

We are currently docked next to my parents' boat Prana in a very nice marina on Banderas Bay - about 20 miles from Puerto Vallarta. La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (pronounced wahn-a-caxt-lay) is a sleepy fishing town with cobble stone streets and an outdoor restaurant with live music on every corner.

My folks arrived here a couple of months ago and have made themselves at home. My dad being a videographer has been busy working on the latest installment of his "Travel Secrets Mexico" series. The segment about La Cruz is coming to a television set near you soon. Check out the accompanying website made by yours truly.

More trailers on YouTube.

Marina La Cruz

The biggest danger in all of La Cruz. Always look out for holes when walking around Mexico!

Handmade baskets available at the Sunday Market

Cabo San Lucas and more Tales of Gales

2012-03-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

After the sand storm we left Turtle Bay on a great weather window. Or so we thought...

On the morning of our third day at sea the wind became gale force within a matter of an hour. Apparently the Northers that plague the Sea of Cortez during the winter months can make their way across Baja and blow into the Pacific without warning.

With good sized swells form the NorthWest and high winds from the NorthEast the seas started building quickly and became confused, short and steep. To make matters worse, a direct course for Cabo put us right into the trough knocking us onto our side. We started running downwind, but after calling my dad on our sat phone to get the most recent weather update we learned that this blow would last about 24 hours. Since running downwind in a gale is a fast way to travel, we would have ended up pretty far off shore, forcing us to beat back through sloppy seas and adding a day or two to our trip.

So we opted for heading towards shore. Usually this is not a good idea, but since this was an offshore wind there was no chance of us getting onto a lee shore. Our cruising guide stated that this shore is excellent to stay close to when doing the Baja Bash (heading north into waves, wind, and current), so we knew it would be fairly safe. We were also hoping that with less fetch the seas would be calmer and we could once again head towards Cabo. Our plan worked great! We beat into the waves at about one knot and when we got within 10 miles of shore the seas settled. Take a look at our SPOT track to see our route.

We finally made it to Cabo. The last time I had been there was in 1988, when I was sailing from Germany to San Diego with my parents. Back then we had visited a quaint fishing town with one or two inns and now I returned to spring break central. Condos and hotels have sprung up everywhere and our boat was in a constant state of motion due to pangas and jet skis zipping by.

Mike and I had a blast though, sneaking into resorts to use their pools and showers, and sipping margaritas with our feet in the sand.

Lover's Beach

Left: Mike 2012 -- Right: Verena 1988
At The Giggling Marlin Cantina, Cabo San Lucas

Sand Storm in Turtle Bay

2012-03-18T16:30:00.001-07:00

The day we had planned on leaving Turtle Bay (on a good weather forecast) a wicked sand storm blew in from the east. It lasted for two days and sand got into every nook and cranny on board.

One of our neighbors, who also didn't know what was coming, had secured his dinghy by simply hanging it from a halyard - something a lot of people do. Take a look at how his dinghy beats into this boat. Luckily, he was able to wrestle the dinghy aboard and secure it on deck before any damage occurred.

The video is a bit jumpy since our boat was moving around pretty good in the chop but it gives you a good idea on why not to do this.

Turtle Bay

2012-03-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

After a two day, three night sail we arrived in Turtle Bay at first light. It's only about 200 miles south of Ensenada but when you are moving at 4-5 knots things tend to take a little longer.

Turtle Bay seen from our anchorage

The dinghy and fuel dock

The abandoned fish factory

The lone sailboat in the distance is Camille

Feliz Dia Del Amor

2012-02-14T18:22:00.000-08:00

This is the view we had over dinner the night before Valentines Day. We went out the night before to avoid the crowds and our cunning plan was a complete success.

Some people (the two people that actually follow this blog) have been wondering where we've been? Here is what we've been up to.

The Mexico-USA border fence. This is the old fence at Tecate. In Tijuana there is also the new fence. Both have an excellent view of the United States and la migra on the other side. We have been driving to San Diego to buy more parts pretty much every weekend.

The United States seen from the other side.

While waiting for three hours to get back to the States you can buy everything from tiny guitars to bobble head chihuahuas. Oh, and fresh churros! Yum!

We had a frame made for the solar panels and are now producing our own electricity!

Lo and behold the stand up paddle board fit right under the solar panels! Almost like we planned it!

Gena tried to teach me how to cook real mexican food!

The captain's birthday celebration

Celebrations

2012-02-04T18:03:00.000-08:00

Some days ago Mike had yet another birthday. We hadn't really been out to a fancy dinner since leaving Portland and were happy to have an excuse to dine in style. Punta Morro Resort, just outside of town, has a fabulous restaurant over the ocean. When the seas are big, waves splash onto the windows just beyond the tables. Since the sun has been setting around 5pm here, we arrived after sunset and instead were treated to the moon setting into the pacific ocean.

Vaka Visit

2012-01-25T19:16:00.000-08:00

Seven beautiful vakas (traditional polynesian voyaging canoes) pulled into our marina today. They are on their way to the South Pacific via the Galapagos while filming a documentary on preserving the oceans. More about their journey...

Today was Australia Day and since we have a few boats from Australia here, we had a bit of a celebration and potluck. Mike and I even had our first taste of Vegemite - not bad!
Not having a lot of time between boat projects I threw together a quick pasta salad. The recipe is on GalleySwap.

Ensenada, Mexico

2012-01-15T21:28:00.000-08:00

This morning we headed out looking for a fast internet connection to place some orders and call family. The connection at the marina can get a bit sluggish especially when the cruise ships come in.

When we got into town the first thing we noticed is that it was eerily quiet and everything was closed - including our favorite coffee shop. Everyone must have been sleeping in or at church. Luckily, Starbucks doesn't seem to follow local custom and we got a great connection for the price of a cup of coffee.

By the time we left at lunch time it was time to head to our favorite taco shop which was jam packed. We were serenaded by mariachi (actually it's banda around here) bands and watched the commotion at the fish market. The fish scale is always entertaining as there is usually a group of men trying to pack as many slippery fish as possible onto a flat surface.

By the time we got back to the boat there was just enough time to pull Mike up the mast to replace our anchor light with a new LED light, attach some spreader boots, and add reflective tape to the top of the mast. We hope the reflective tape will help us find our boat in a dark anchorage. The concept being that rather than shine our flashlight into the other boats' windows, we shine the flashlight up high and our unique markings will guide us home.

Coffee and Culture

2012-01-11T13:43:00.000-08:00

Ensenada's Cultural Center is just across the street form the marina. They have a cozy little coffee shop with free WiFi so we head over there to make phone calls once in a while since the WiFi in the marina is not fast enough to use Skype.

Full moon

2012-01-08T19:18:00.000-08:00

Beautiful full moon here in Ensenada. The Santa Anas have been blowing all day so we don't even need to turn on the heater tonight.

We had another whirlwind weekend in California. Dropped off a bunch more things at our storage trailer. Spent many hours at West Marine and hardware stores. Took our biennial First Aid/CPR class to keep our captains licenses up to date. And even had some time to visit with friends and family.

Now we're just waiting on the life-raft, Froli bed springs, head spares kit, spare autopilot and few parts to finish the watermaker install. Meanwhile we are busy installing and/or finding room for all the things we have bought...

A Successful Day

2012-01-04T08:30:00.000-08:00

Our current home port - CruisePort Marina in Ensenada

The view up our dock

Most things on a boat take at least twice as long, cost twice as much, and are three times as difficult as anticipated. But today we had two projects that took hardly any time and cost us nothing at all!

The fridge had been running a bit too often. Not a problem here at the dock but very costly (in energy) at sea or on the hook. We have a freezer that chills the fridge via a small computer fan. It seemed like the fan was not working, so I removed the fan cover and pulled it out gently to get its info to purchase a new one. While I was doing that the fan started up! Turns out it was installed backwards and has been blowing warm fridge air into the freezer (for the past ten years I'm guessing). Problem solved!

Our windlass (the winch that pulls up the anchor) was working intermittently. Again, not a problem here at the dock but a huge problem at anchor. Today it wasn't working so we started pulling things apart to figure out what was going on. After about an hour of going back and forth between breakers and wires and switches and miscellaneous buttons Mike took another look at the wiring behind the electrical panel. We only had our house battery turned on but the windlass was wired into the starter battery. We turned on the starter battery and voilà! Problem solved!

A good day. So we had to go out to drinks and dinner with a boat-neighbor to celebrate. We only wish all projects could be this simple.

A New Year

2012-01-01T14:37:00.000-08:00

A great start to a new year because we're finally doing what has been in planning stages for years. We're living on our boat and traveling the world at five miles per hour!

We've slowly been getting tasks checked off the list. Watermaker install is nearly complete, liferaft and new (smaller) dinghy are on order. It's getting a bit chilly here in Ensenada so we hope to be ready to leave in a couple of weeks.

Passion

2011-12-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

I love Passion Tea Lemonade from Starbucks. Unfortunately, it's just not in our budget for daily consumption, so I was really excited when my dear friend gave me a box of Passion tea from Tazo, along with a handwritten recipe card, as a going-away present. It was not only a great gift because I love the tea so much, but because Tazo's headquarters in Portland, Oregon - where we'd been living the past five years.

Incidentally, here in Mexico it's called Hibiscus Tea Lemonade since that is actually the main ingredient in the tea. The first time I tried to order it I got blank stares until I realized my mistake.

Making Passion Tea Lemonade is easy. Simply brew up the tea using the teabags, let it cool and mix with lemonade to your liking. I like to brew the tea sun-tea style by leaving it outside to steep all day. By not boiling water you keep the boat cool and save gas. You can also add extra sugar but it's great as is.

If you don't have lemonade on hand, one of our GalleySwap members submitted this great recipe, for making lemonade from scratch.

Fire Safety

2011-12-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

On a boat you can't simply step outside and call the fire department if something catches on fire - unless of course you happen to be in a marina. We're planning on spending a lot of time at anchor, so being ready for a potential fire is important. While working aboard ships, we both attended several days of shipboard fire-fighting classes, both in classrooms and fighting "fake" fires aboard old ships. Even with the fake fires my adrenalin got pumping pretty good so I can only imagine how scary a real fire would be.

The standard fire extinguishers that most people carry on their boats really don't last very long and barely put a dent in a good sized fire. Not to mention they make a huge mess. So we've beefed up the standard two fire extinguishers required by the US Coast Guard by adding more ABC extinguishers as well as two fire blankets. Our fire-fighting arsenal has been placed strategically all over the boat including the cockpit.

Yachting Monthly Magazine has made an excellent video on the different options you have in fighting onboard fires by setting fire to their crash test boat.

Space Saving Ideas

2011-12-19T15:01:00.000-08:00

Storage on a boat is at a premium. Since we first started talking about preparing to move onto a boat we have been getting rid of bulky stuff and buying tiny versions of everything we wanted or needed. But being tiny isn't the only requirement to make it aboard. Serving double-duty is another. Hardly anything on our boat serves just one function. Tables make into beds, couches and beds cover electronics and tanks, refrigerator doors serve as counter space.

Extra linens are huge space-hogs, so to be sure we have spare sheets for our guests, I stuff decorative pillowcases with towels and blankets rather than actual pillows. This way they can still be used as pillows but serve double-duty as storage.

My favorite "pillow" cover (pictured above) I made from a mola my parents and I picked up on our trip from Germany to California. I used sunbrella fabric for the back and sewed in a heavy-duty plastic zipper. This pillowcase alone has five extra towels and one small quilt hidden inside.

Shopping... again

2011-12-18T10:19:00.000-08:00

Friday morning we drove to San Diego for another mega shopping-spree at West Marine and to pick up our new watermaker... but not before getting one more taco near the local fish market.

We're back on the boat now putting away and installing our new acquisitions.