A Week in the Life

And…we are still at the La Cruz marina…preparations, preparations, preparations, and a bit of play.  Here is one full week of daily journal entries to give you a feel of our La Cruz dock life. It got a bit long!

March 6, 2024

La Cruz has an active cruising kids group led by a passionate animal and environmental advocate resulting in some stellar activities.  This morning, the kids and I went to El Cora Crocodile Sanctuary, an organization that promotes conservation through environmental education, ecotourism and wildlife rescue.

Our tour was actually led by the Sanctuary’s onsite veterinarian.  We learned about (and subsequently lost some fear about) the American crocodiles that live on this coast, as they don’t live in the saltwater or see us as food.  They had four American crocs, including one that was 79 years old. 

Among the animals they had were also a Mexican croc (from the Atlantic side and feistier), a red-eared slider turtle, white-nosed coati, collared peccary, and Mexican fox squirrel.  Many, such as the military macaws, were kept as “pets” and cannot be released safely to the wild; others are injured such as the two brown pelicans who needed broken or injured wing amputations. 

It was a highly educational and inspirational tour; a highlight was hearing the kids eagerly telling Chris all about the experience.

Chris continued his work on Terikah’s general maintenance, today doing a full service of the generator (changed the coolant and replaced the thermostat) while the kids and I played/learned. 

We’ve enjoyed the food options in La Cruz, eating rotisserie chicken from a street stand for dinner tonight.  Nice to have dinner cooked, finding that cooking anything on the stove or in the oven on board heats up the galley, as I need a shower after the experience!

March 7, 2024

Calder has been busy building a sailboat out of found items for an upcoming trashboat regatta with other cruising kids, my favorite element of his design being a boom made of a trumpetfish head bone.  He and the neighboring boat kids have been hanging out, so sweet to see the younger cruising kids reaching out for Calder’s hand or cuddling up to Cora during a movie.  Age really blurs out here in the cruising community, for kids as well as adults.

Enjoyed margaritas and dinner out at Ballena Blanca with crew of SV Fern, our waiter a gem as he told stories and taught the kids Spanish.  We found out that the “Cora” are the indigenous ethnic group of North Western Mexico which live in the Mexican state of Nayarit that we are currently in, the waiter making our Cora feels quite special about her name!

March 8, 2024

Fresh drinking water is a gift.  Tied up to the dock, the hose water is not potable, and we needed to seek out fresh drinking water as we’re running low.  Our first comical attempt included Calder and I transferring water from the marina’s jugs to our jugs, then hauling them down the dock in our overloaded cart that had a mind of its own, resulting in Calder saving his shoe from the ocean!  The next attempt, was to use the non-potable dock water through our water-maker, after Chris replumbed the system to deal with filtering the chlorine or other chemicals, resulting in the success of full tanks. 

Secure ATMs with low fees are also a gift.  Calder and I walked a mile to get to an Oxxo (gas station) that had one in order to get some pesos.  All worked well and he was way too excited about his basic ham-n-cheese gas station sandwich.

Every Friday night, PacVoy (Pacific Voyagers) get together at a nearby sail loft to go through weather and learn about a different topic; this time was about the different Coast Guard locations and their jurisdictions in case we should need them out on the water.  Eek.  On our walk home, we enjoyed the yummiest paletas (fancy homemade popsicles, some fruit, some creamy) we’ve had in Mexico.

March 9, 2024

Today was a HUGE workday for Chris.  He did oil, coolant, and transmission oil changes in both engines, as well as changed the filters and cleaned the raw water strainers.  He also cleaned the bilges and changed the oil in the watermaker.  He also removed, took apart, cleaned, and reinstalled the carburetor on our 20hp dinghy engine; success!  Our dinghy (essentially our car) is fixed.

My work included making provisioning lists, filing the paperwork to enter French Polynesia, figuring out the logistics to leave Mexico (a bit of a process that involves numerous people), and taking notes on the weather patterns and currents of our upcoming route using Pilot Charts.

The kids had a beach garbage clean-up this morning with other cruising kids, then went mountain-biking with a neighboring boat family.

March 10, 2024

Today was a BIG provisioning trip which resulted in two grocery carts overflowing.  Other shoppers actually started to add items to my carts (thinking they were for restocking) and staff started to remove items from my cart (for restocking!).  My cruising friend Melissa and I packed all of our groceries into one taxi in a Tetris-like fashion. 

Our family spent the next few hours unpacking, repacking, labeling, cataloging, and stowing food.  Boxes and excess packaging are removed, chicken breasts are cut up into stirfry portions and frozen.  Cora and I picked up our laundry in town at Lupito’s Lavendaria, enjoying a cup of fresh strawberries from a street vendor on our walk home. 

We had Totem (Jamie and Behan Gifford) over this afternoon to talk through weather routing and final boat preparations; it provides such peace of mind to have them on our team with their extensive cruising experience, practical tools, and supportive inspirational attitudes.  They have been living aboard and cruising since 2008, and completed a circumnavigation while raising three children on their Stevens 47, Totem.  Our hope is that they can review our routing decisions and give input along the way, as we continue to learn, branching off from our normal coastal cruising to ocean passages. 

March 11, 2024

After an enjoyable school morning, we had friends from Alaska (who have a timeshare nearby) visit us on the boat and go out for lunch.  It was great to catch up and share our journey.  Thanks John and Ellyn for your support and providing us a bit of Alaska home!  Dinner was ice cream in town because, well, why not?  There are massive iguanas living in the trees near the marina that came out on our way home.

March 12, 2024

We continue to have a few hours of school daily with teaching in the morning (with me) and time to work on assignments after.  We continue on with math, daily reading and writing, and currently are studying poetry, astronomy, and Mexican history and culture.  It takes extra prep time for me, but it’s a gift to have this time with my kids.

Today we worked on setting up our Iridium GO, which connects our phones and iPads to satellites for emergency communications and weather.  It is a necessary back-up in case Starlink goes down.  We are also working on transitioning to WhatsApp for our phone calls and texting, as our current plan will not continue after we depart Mexico.  I’m putting together a detailed Float Plan that outlines passage information, emergency contacts, and boat data that a select group of family and friends who are watching us closely will have as another safety net. 

We went to an informative presentation today on using various sources of weather data to increase the chances of a safe and comfortable passage. This includes interpreting GRIB data from Windy and Predict Wind, as well as NOAA satellite images and lightning trackers, among other tools.  We are learning how to use all these tools and interpret them in the context of our upcoming passage.  As we make decisions on choosing a weather window to depart, I’ll talk more about the nuances of this.

A fire ignited in an empty lot bordering the marina and quickly took off; so thankful for the marina staff and firefighters who got it under control and continue to monitor it for any further sparks.  Also thankful that it did not get near the fuel nearby or start any boats on fire, which can spread quickly in a marina.

Tonight we said “see you later” to the Hart family, who we’ve been buddy boats and dockmates with over the past couple of weeks, as well as three years ago in Alaska where we first met them.  They are heading south tomorrow, while we stay put and wait for our weather window.  This is another part of cruising…meeting and reconnecting with people along the way, then parting ways until a future anchorage.

March 13, 2024

Every morning my alarm is set for 8:30, when there is a “Cruiser’s Net” for Bandaras Bay, where a local weather and tides report is given, ocean passage weather windows discussed, new boats are welcomed, boats leaving are wished well, and people share and look for boating supplies and other resources. 

Today was a play day, requested by the kids, and we took an Uber to nearby Sayulita to rent mountain bikes. 

The almost-new bikes were “bussin” with full suspension and hydraulic brakes. 

The kids tore off on the trails through the jungle, going over roots and rocks, some singletrack mixed in.  I started off okay, had a rough middle time with heat and exhaustion, and ended okay.  Chris was rockin’ it until he couldn’t quite make it up a steep rocky area and got his shorts stuck trying to step off the bike; he did a full-on backflip with the bike, hurt his knee, knocked off his glasses, and tore a hole in his shorts.