SV Estrellita 5.10b

Don't Panic

2012-01-27T14:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Family, Friends, and Readers Worldwide,

We have an emergency plan and you* are not part of it.

If we drop off the face of the earth during our journey, stop blogging, stop emailing and stop updating our positions, don't panic. We do not want you to call anyone on our behalf.

The people involved in our emergency plan know what their roles are and know when and in what conditions to start panicking.

So just relax, sit back and enjoy the show.

The show: The Pacific Seafarers Net is the net we plan to be checking into (again, no panic if we don't). They follow boats in transit across the Pacific. The net is everyday at 0300UTC** warmup and the roll call starts at 0325UTC. You can listen online and they post a list of reporting vessels each day here. My call sign is the one we will use for check in (VA7LIV).

Sincerely, Team Giddyup

PS - We know you are all reasonable people but we thought we should bring up the topic because we know of at least one boat that had a reader call the Coast Guard.

*Unless you happen to be Livia's parents.
**To convert from UTC/GMT to US/Canada local times, check out this .pdf.

Pacific Prep: General thoughts

2012-01-20T03:00:00.000-08:00

In somewhere in the vicinity of 7 weeks we will take off on an ocean passage, the length of which will be longer than the sum of all of the other passages we have ever made.

Writing about our prep for this passage is complicated because we’ve been dreaming of this passage since we made the decision to cruise. Our decision of which boat to buy, what gear to add, and what experience to gain for ourselves were always measured against the yardstick of the Mexico to Marquesas run.

This is the biggie, or at least the first *really* biggie for us.

We have stunned several people who have asked us what we have to do to get the boat ready by saying “nothing really – just normal maintenance items and provisioning”. It's not that we haven't had a lot to do, but rather that we've been doing it in pushes over the last year. So much of the prep for this passage was already completed for the Tofino to San Francisco passage. The waters off the coast of N America aren’t to be taken lightly, and we prepared ourselves and the boat accordingly. The only prep we had after that passage has been logistics and items that have come up for repair or maintenance since July and we’ve stayed on top of most of that list. The boat had to be shipshape for the last passage and we’ve worked hard to keep it that way. Still, logistics, including such things as customs clearance/exit research, guidebooks, research on possible multiple seasons in the S Pacific, and the first stages of provisioning, has taken up large chunks of the time we've spent in La Paz since the end of November (more on that later).

At this point, in mid-January, we’re feeling so prepared that we are squeezing in several weeks of kiteboarding and a second set of fly-in guests in the next month before we knuckle down to get ready for a mid-March-ish departure.

When I was sitting around in Victoria, reading the blogs of people in Mexico who were preparing to jump, there was always a sudden decrease in posting as boats hit Mexico and prepared for their "puddle jump". In addition to simply being busy, I sense that many people realized that the whole blogging thing sounded better in theory than the actuality of taking time to write in the midst of the fun and then trying to find internet to post it. It is a transition period, perhaps, that causes all of us to sift through our blogging motivations. Are we writing primarily for our audience (family, friends, readers) or primarily for ourselves?

Although we are in our own vortex of activity and preparations, I find that sitting down and putting thoughts into text is my own way of marking the moments for myself now, and for the future. I process what I’m feeling and what is happening while writing and I love re-living each anchorage by sifting through the photos and writing up our virtual log. l think that all bloggers, myself included, want an audience, but the audience would not be enough of a motivation for me to pass up some fun or to squeeze time in between our preparations.

Best of 2011

2012-01-18T15:46:00.001-08:00

Time for a NUMBERS post.

Google Analytics reports that we had 35,363 visits to this blog from 11,133 unique visitors with 77,740 pageviews. People averaged 2.2 pages per visit and spent an average of 2 minutes reading per visit. We have 357 people who view this blog via a feedreader and 165 people who have the posts emailed to them.

So, what are you all reading?

“Best” is probably arguable, but the top 10 most viewed pages on this blog in 2011 were:

As you can see, these are mostly navigational or background from the nuts and bolts section of the sidebar. If we remove posts linked from the sidebar, we get a top 10 that looks like this:

The top 10 sites that people came from if they were referred to our blog from another website were:

The top 10 search terms that drove people to our blog from google or other search engines were almost entirely variations of our names and our boat name with the exceptions of people searching for these three items:

current table british columbia (presumably finding this post)
sv iridium victoria bc
mahina rocna

Our barnacle farm

2012-01-16T13:27:00.001-08:00

When we are full water, full fuel and full provisions we ride a little lower in the waterline and the area of the hull that isn’t protected by special paint is underwater. As we eat, drink and be merry, the boat gets lighter and we go back to our painted waterline.

In BC we had never had any substantial barnacle growth. Maybe a half dozen after a year and all below the waterline. Well, we had that many just on our waterline and down below was a little factory. Even though the ones at the waterline were out of the water, apparently the barnacles ~~survived~~ thrived by staying wet with the splashes from wavelets.

We hired a diver for the first time to clean our entire bottom. Carol had done some cleaning of the prop and bottom free diving and even changed one of our zincs. It is an exhausting job and we were delighted to pay someone $1/foot to roll out their full barnacle killing, gentle hull cleaning accoutrement.

La Paz is known for whale sharks. Giant, gentle beasts that feed on tiny shrimps. Those tiny shrimps are what is coating the diver in these photos. We can hear them all throughout the night through our hull making little clicking sounds.

Our prop is now running without cavitations and we gained at least a knot of speed under power and probably half of that under sail from having a clean hull.

The Critter Report

2012-01-10T07:12:00.001-08:00

Caleta Partida – Sea Caves

2012-01-09T03:00:00.000-08:00

After posting the last bit, I realized I hadn’t mentioned our time at Caleta Partida except in reference to watersports.

It was a windy place and we were excited about that because we had hoped to kiteboard. Unfortunately, high peaks make for gusty conditions and thus no kiteboarding. Caleta Partida is a bay formed by the intersection of two islands: Islas Partida and Espirtu Santo.

We followed Camanoe through the pass between the islands to see the sea caves on the other side. There were two big caves and one would have made the perfect secluded (slightly scary) skinny dipping spot if it had been a touch warmer and if we hadn’t had those pesky Camanoe folks ;)

In addition to the usual characters, we hung out with Pyxis and partook of their inflatable SUP towing craziness. Fun, fun folks.

San Gabriel & Balandra

2012-01-07T15:56:00.001-08:00

We left Caleta Partida for San Gabriel which we had hiked to from Playa Bonanza but not anchored at. Somehow we managed to not take any photos of the gorgeous San Gabriel beach or of Thomas and Allison on Cat (yes, the catamaran) whom we hung out with again there.

We went from San Gabriel to Balandra.

Balandra is not a well protected harbor but we had two nights of light wind and were able to anchor and enjoy the flat water, the windless heat, the white sand and fantastic snorkeling. It was a wonderful way to transition from at anchor to returning to the hustle, bustle and social scene of La Paz.

All along the Western portion of the bay is great snorkeling. There is an outer reef marked by a buoy with great coral and fish and then a series of underwater boulders and even one swim-thru cave on the Western shore. I’m new to free diving and the boulders and relatively shallow white sand bottom were a great place to practice. As long as I start clearing my ears as soon as my head goes under I am mostly limited by my own anxiety at this point. It is very fun to chase fish underwater.

A Paper Captain

2012-01-05T03:00:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite sculpture on the boardwalk (malecon) in La Paz.

The paper boat, the paper hat, the sense of dreaming, longing, expectation (or is it sadness?) in his face. Gazing off onto a distant horizon. What a great symbol of the cruisers in La Paz, n’est-ce pas?

Water toys

2012-01-03T03:00:00.000-08:00

It is becoming more and more clear to us how much water toys can add to our cruising fun.

Carol was recently towed around on our kiteboard (which is much the same as a wakeboard) and a few days later both he and I took turns being towed around the anchorage behind a fast dinghy on an inflatable SUP (which we covet).

Thank you Navigo! Thank you Pyxis!

Prospero Ano Nuevo!

2012-01-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from La Paz!

Last year we watched the fireworks at the Seattle Space Needle and this year we watched the fireworks shoot off over the town of La Paz, complete with loud live music and gunfire and flares at midnight. We toasted the new year with champagne and sparklers on our dock with SVs Eagle and Cat.

Even better, SV Shannon organized a "polar bear" swim today (New Years Day) at 10am on the beach in front of our dock and about a dozen of us went for a dip in various costumes. Of course, the water is pool temperature so not much fortitude was necessary.

As far as we know (or care to know), this was the inaugural La Paz Polar Bear Swim. We challenge future years to do it better! Oh, and yep, that's me in a full dress and tiara.

Northers: Under sail and at the dock

2011-12-30T04:00:00.000-08:00

VIDEO FRIDAY

I've mentioned the "Northers" or stormy winds with a N or NW direction the rip down the sea of Cortez. After numerous warnings about them, we were cautious and observed a few of them before sailing in them. Essentially, for those people from BC or WA, a Norther is similar to a Westerly blowing into the Strait of Juan de Fuca or a Southeasterly blowing up the Strait of Georgia. The issues are the steep short interval waves that build.

Being comfortable running from the wind in those type of waves and comfortable with the strength of wind in a particular Norther (wind strength varies in what might be called a Norther), then we felt we could sail in them. So, we did. We ran the short distance from Isla San Francisco to Isla Partida (some of that distance is sheltered from the brunt of the fetch, some not). It was wet but manageable.

Here, on the other hand, is a video of us being beam to a Norther, with the fetch that builds in La Paz, at the new marina Vista Coral (formerly the Virtual Marina/Santa Cruz):

Recipe for Fun

2011-12-29T03:00:00.000-08:00

Take a lovely beach. Arrive early to gather wood and start a fire (below the high tide line of course).

Add one set of friends and some liquid motivation.

Add a second set of friends and mix gently with a perfect sunset:

Priceless.

Dueling blogs

2011-12-28T03:00:00.001-08:00

Before cutting the docklines I read a ton of blogs. As these people traveled, it was fun to see photos of people from one blog show up on another blog and to see how they appeared when they weren’t editing their own photos (if you know what I mean). I like to think we post all kinds of photos of ourselves here (not all flattering) so I assume we look “pretty much as you would expect” when you see us appear somewhere else.

Recent examples include us finally meeting the Yoders and of course, on and off with Bella Star.

We have been hanging out a lot with the crew of SV Eagle lately, including more than one drink with their mascot “Lefty,” shown here wearing his party sombrero. Lefty gets more face time on their blog than they do so I thought it appropriate to show our meeting with him.

He’s a shady character, that Lefty. I like to keep a close eye on him.

Merry Christmas from Mexico

2011-12-27T03:00:00.000-08:00

You might remember this photo from this post from last year.

I am delighted to report that the down jacket is stowed, the down booties are gathering dust and I have worn a sun hat much more often than a knit cap.

It is a world of difference. I wear flip flops, skirts, shorts and tank tops instead of fleece, down, and long underwear. When the wind pipes up, I put on long pants or a light jacket but I still wear flip flops.

Still, winter in La Paz is still winter. It's not as warm as it was and it isn't as warm as the mainland. It is as if we are easing slowly into the tropics. We can still sleep comfortably at night even as the sun bakes us during the day. We know that we'll look back on "sleeping without sweating" with longing in the future and so we put up with jackets at night without fuss.

Here is what Christmas clothing looks like this year. We had "Christmas ice cream" which tells you something:

Booby on a stick

2011-12-26T03:00:00.000-08:00

Boats often received feathered visitors. While coming down the outside of the Baja coast, we had a booby who just didn’t want to leave. Carol chased him around the deck hoping to shoo him away before he pooped on something.

Then he snuck up on the booby, and convinced him to get on a paddle, after which he launched him. Here they are eyeing each other suspiciously.

Ensenada la Grande

2011-12-23T03:00:00.000-08:00

Ensenada la Grande has three lobes and we anchored in the Southernmost. This is probably our favorite anchorage so far in the area. Extra fun because of the excellent company we had in Navigo and Camanoe.
We did both hikes from that area with the main hike from the beach being our favorite. A lot of gorgeous desert scenery and every time you turned around you had a perfect postcard window of the anchorage.

Hiking up the arroyo was also fun – an arroyo is a rocky ravine. The hike in the arroyo was scrambling and it felt good to be hand and foot climbing on rocks again. At the top of the arroyo the caves were fun but the arroyo itself was the best scenery. Not surprisingly it reminded us heavily of Utah/Colorado/Nevada.

We didn’t take our camera with us when we went snorkeling but the entire Northern edge of this anchorage was fantastic snorkeling, our best so far in Mexico. Lots of coral, drop off walls and boulders to swim over. The visibility is less perfect than it was last month but still good.

Images from the Sea of Cortez

2011-12-22T03:00:00.000-08:00

Isla San Francisco

2011-12-21T03:00:00.000-08:00

Isla San Francisco is where cruisers go to take pictures of their boats in the Sea of Cortez. Seriously.

Not only is it a gorgeous curved beach with a hook at the Southern end, there is a convenient trail to a ridge overlooking the entire bay so you can get a good angle on your boat, floating serenely in the perfect colors of the water. Here is the classic picture:

Here is the perspective from another ridge:

We waited out a Norther here. Northers are storms that funnel through the Sea of Cortez. The term is loosely used for any system that blows hard from the North. IslaSF was as good a place as any to wait it out, probably better than most in the area. Good holding, loads of room and even in the heart of the blow we could still land our kayak on the beach so we weren’t stuck in our boats the entire time. We were glad to not be in the La Paz anchorage during it.

We were there 6 nights. We hiked everywhere we could find a trail,examined the salt ponds on the island, Carol attempted some kiteboarding (too gusty) and we socialized with a number of boats also waiting out the winds, including the ones we arrived with (thank you Orcinius for the lovely happy hour).

Happy Estrellita.

Pacific Puddle Jump

2011-12-20T03:00:00.000-08:00

We did it. We signed up. Pacific crossing – here we come!

The Pacific Puddle Jump is a rally in only the loosest sense of the term. They have no dates (of departure or arrival), no ports (of departure, arrival or in between), and it is free. Latitude 38, who sponsors the event, has a good description.

If you go to the Pacific Puddle Jump main site you will see a Wauquiez Pretorien in the banner image (at the top). This is not us, but Piko, who crossed this last season and is currently in New Zealand.

Why sign up? Our main reason is that they negotiate a deal with an agency which allows boats (for a fee) to avoid posting a bond in French Polynesia. This bond is the equivalent of airfare back home for each person and ensures that we don’t become a burden on their society. If we become indigent, they ship us out with our own money. For various reasons, it is (apparently) a pain in the arse to post and retrieve your bond and the agencies essentially promise to pay for you if you become indigent – accepting the risk for you.

A secondary reason is that it is fun to announce your intentions, watch your name get added to the list and to see the list of your cohort growing.

WEST!

Candelero

2011-12-19T03:00:00.000-08:00

After Playa La Bonanza we went to La Paz. I’ll write about La Paz more later because we’ll be spending a fair amount of time in that city over the next few months. In fact, these recent posts are going up because we have returned to La Paz for our second time and enjoying the wifi we can get here.

After La Paz, we sailed again in company with Camanoe and Navigo back to Isla Espiritu Santo, to a bay called Candelero where spent a bit of time snorkeling (good but surprisingly chilly for the area) and explored the short hike (lovely with lovely views, but short).

Here we had Bella Star over for a farewell dinner which transitioned into an “all boats at anchor invited” party aboard Estrellita including music, dancing, glow sticks and at least one wardrobe malfunction.

Playa la Bonanza

2011-12-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

We spent a quick night at Los Muertos, without sampling its shores, and the only thing to note about that stop is that we met SV Navigo and SV Camanoe and had dinner with them. More on that crew later and hopefully we will stop at Los Muertos again and explore it more fully.

The next day we sailed in company together with Navigo and Camanoe to La Bonanza where we spent two relaxing nights. The hike was gorgeous, sweaty, included a salty marsh, a cactus attack and ended at San Gabriel – the type of bay that postcards are made from.

Cruiser Contentedness and Farewells

2011-12-10T07:35:00.001-08:00

Ever since Cabo San Lucas, there has been this sense of having "made it" which has been growing for us with each anchorage. Sailing to California and crossing into Mexico both caused a sense of accomplishment which Cabo San Lucas did not, but prior to Cabo San Lucas, we still felt like we hadn't "arrived South" in our Southbound journey.

Not every boat feels like they've made it yet. A number of our friends are less impressed with the desert landscape, or wish for more heat, or still feel like they are missing that elusive something that will make them feel like they have finally arrived. It's an interesting diversity that reminds us of how differently each person sees each anchorage.

Some of it is the circumstances of course (weather and wind contribute to the comfort of the anchorage and its temperature), but I think a lot of the contentedness (or lack thereof) is each boat coming to terms with what it is that they are looking for in their new cruising life. What do we want out of an anchorage? Out of a country? How hot is good hot? How hot is bad hot? It's a time of transition for a lot of the people we meet and for ourselves and it is interesting to watch each of us find ourselves in the midst of it.

We were looking, it seems, for the amount of heat that would make outdoor activities fun all of the time...for our personal heat-comfort levels. We want to hike in comfort, to swim in comfort, etc. For now, we have it. The winter in the Sea of Cortez will become cooler, hopefully not too much cooler this year as it varies from year to year. Our bodies will acclimate and we expect that we'll crave more heat at some point soon, just in time to head into the inferno that is the South Pacific.

In addition to emotional transitions, there has recently been a divergence of paths among boats that have been traveling within hailing distance for months. Many of the boats that were Southbound from WA/BC/OR met up with boats in California, and continued down with them into Mexico, yo-yo'ing with each other around the tip of the Baja and up to La Paz. Now, some boats are headed to the mainland, some staying in the Sea of Cortez. Some plan an extended or permanent stay in Mexico. Some are heading South to S America and/or the Panama Canal and some, like us, plan to head West. The packs are splitting up.

We said a particularly sad "farewell" to Aaron and Nicole on Bella Star (although, with all of our plans in transition we may very well see them again for another farewell – hopefully my liver will have recovered by then). It was our first painful cruising farewell, to fast friends whom we will watch carefully as they choose a different cruising path. From Little Star to Beautiful Star, fair winds and following seas.

Dry in December

2011-12-04T13:05:00.001-08:00

It is December and the inside of our hull is dry.

There are at least three ways you get water inside of your boat. Salt water is the bad kind ;)

We get fresh water from rain coming down through the mast from holes at the top of it. Not much, not a big problem because it goes into the bilge and we pump the bilge dry regularly to keep the boat smelling less like...a boat.

The worst part of living aboard in British Columbia for me was the last kind of water - condensation. Our breath, our cooking, our dish washing, all created moisture which condensed against the cold fiberglass hull. This meant that the hull side of every locker was beaded with moisture which quickly became mildew and anything touching the hull joined in the mildew party. Many areas of our boat do not drain so we would also have the delight of little pools of stagnant water which had to be sponged out and bleached.

We were told that when we went South this would go away and joy, oh joy, our hull is dry. I am appreciating every day of this winter which does *not* involve scrubbing out a locker or locating a surprise batch of mildewy goods or throwing yet another possession away that was lost in the battle.

We're enjoying the islands around La Paz for a few weeks and so the next round of photoblogging catch-up will be a few weeks away.

From Isla San Francisco in a dry boat, wet only from swimming, Livia & Carol

Your moment of zen

2011-12-02T03:00:00.000-08:00

VIDEO FRIDAY

A taste of Mexico

2011-11-30T03:00:00.000-08:00

Like most travelers, Carol and I eat our way through the countries we visit. Nice food, street food, you name it, we’re fearless. If the locals are eating it, we’ll try it.

Here is a very simple taste of Mexico that I fell in love with, which most of you can recreate easily in your home.

Buy radishes and limes.
If the radishes are small, leave whole. If large, cut into thick rounds.
Squeeze some lime onto the radish.
Sprinkle some salt on it.
Devour.

Absolutely delicious. Totally different than just a raw radish.