Author: Jamie Czetwertynski

Before we could check out of the port in Chiapas, Mexico to continue south, we had to fix our hydraulic leak issue. We were able to determine that it was not leaking from the same place as before, and as Paul and the mechanic started taking off panels in the engine room, they found that the leak was in a 5000psi pressure gauge. The mechanic and Paul set off on an impossible journey to find a replacement gauge. Unsuccessful in traditional stores and searching a scrapped truck cab, the mechanic’s buddy welded the gauge (safety gear is to be worn on top of your head, right?) and it was able to hold pressure! Another one of the mechanic’s buddies then called, saying he had found a gauge, so now we have a spare! Gracias to the mechanic, and his friends, for putting in a full day adventure with us!

We arranged immigration to come the next morning at 8a.m. to check out. Immigration brought a search dog, which was fun, especially since he only seemed to want to sniff Andrew! After a debate about our unreported underwater scooters (they told us in Ensanada we only needed to report a motor over 15 feet), they gave us permission to leave and we pulled out of the marina under their watchful eye to make way for Costa Rica!

Three days later we flew a Costa Rican courtesy flag and a yellow flag showing that we had not been cleared by immigration as we pulled into Marina Papagayo in the Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica. Our agent and immigration official cleared us, we took down the yellow flag, and we headed on shore for lunch. Unfortunately, Kathryn was day 6 of a stomach flu, unable to eat or drink, so I took her to the local clinic and was thankful when they gave her an IV. He told her to come back the next day, so we headed back and determined that since she still had stomach pain, that we should take her to the hospital in Liberia. They did bloodwork, which was fine, thankfully, and they gave her another IV. Part of the reason that I was concerned that it was bacterial was because no one else in the family had gotten it. I worried too soon about that one…

Feeling mostly good, the kids and I headed to the Guachipelin Volcano Adventure. It was an epic day! We started the day horseback riding; I love horses but my horse was rude! Next, we went river tubing; the scenery was beautiful and the white water was awesome! Next, we ziplined through the lush forest and waterfalls covering the volcano. After a delicious lunch, we ended the day with mud baths and relaxing in 9 natural hot spring pools.

Paul returned from a quick trip back to Virginia for work and we were lucky enough to share more Costa Rican adventures as a family when we swam in the cascading Llanos del Cortez falls. We then visited a sloth sanctuary, where we saw a tapir, two very poisonous eyelash vipers (dead within 40 minutes of a bite!), and several sloths. After the sloth sanctuary, we headed to a cacao and coffee farm, where we learned about the process of picking beans and making coffee and chocolate. We ended the day with a great lunch, before heading back to the boat.

Paul changed the oil and filters, a job better suited for a person the size of a 100lb female so we could leave the following day. We fueled up and headed out Monday. We originally planned to stop at Isla Tortuga to snorkel and swim the next day, but since we are not feeling 100%, we decided to continue to Golfito, where we will spend a day before checking out of Costa Rica to continue on to Panama.

As no blog entry will be complete without some kind of boating issue, Kathryn came upstairs this morning reporting that water was leaking out of her ceiling. I went downstairs and the casual drip she reported was more like a deluge! (okay, exaggerating a bit, but her bedding and floor were soaked). Paul, my super handy husband, found the source of the air conditioning leak and now we have to pump the water out of the hatch, along with continuing to hand pump out the bilge (still working on finding a replacement part for that too!). Paul has add repairman of all kinds of sorts to his resume!

As all good fishing stories go, it was huge, epically huge! And is pretty on par with the rest of our fishing adventures. Significantly more lost than brought in. Thank goodness so far we aren’t dependent on fish for nourishment!

We often leave a long line out (about 250 feet of line) and listen for the line spooling out or watch the rod on the stern camera from the pilot house. Claire, Andrew and I were on the rainbow couch out back and see a marlin jumping through the air (if you read the last blog, this time it really was a marlin). It continues to jump and I see a bright lure trailing behind it; we caught a fish! (Okay; I have mixed emotions – I eat it, but don’t want to be the one killing it…). Paul slows the boat and then goes to reel the sucker in. He announces it will take about an hour to pull in. 10 minutes later, he comes back up announcing Mr. Fishy got away. We don’t really like marlin anyhow. At least he didn’t take our line or lure…

Paul was drifting off in the pilot house and began to dream that our fishing rod was spooling out. Oh crap! Too late, he realized that it wasn’t a dream; our fishing rod was spooling out. He was heading downstairs when he heard a loud pop; our 800 feet of line had snapped off the rod. Our fish and our line got away.

And the time before that, we caught a pelican, and the sucker was not cooperative when Paul tried to remove the hook and line. Ouch! He was successfully freed and flew off though. And we were redeemed when we got an actual fish on the line!

Not our fish…but theirs. While underway, a panga (small boat driven by locals) maneuvered in front of us and would not let us continue forward. Paul slowed down the boat, and I went to check what was going on. I see the two guys in the panga, and Paul told me that they were blocking our path. We had no idea what was going on and were a bit scared. We locked all of the doors and Andrew crawled under the table, lol. Paul stepped out of the pilot house and they pulled to the port side and informed us that they had a long line out for fishing (in Spanish but meaning was conveyed). There were black buoys that blend in with the water, but we could have easily missed them and become tangled in the line – no bueno- if they hadn’t stopped us. We actually got another fishing line caught under the bottom and in the anchor that day; however, we were able to remove that line easily. Since the first time, we have encountered more pangas, long lines, and blocked routes. Both sea state and the large number of fishing boats often lead us to cruise at least 12 miles offshore.

I think we are at a total of 2 fish that we have caught and eaten; two since June! Here’s to hoping our fishing luck turns around!

We left Acapulco so we could enter the Gulf of Tehuantepec during the predicted low winds Wednesday at 2:00p.m.; however, when we checked again, the weather had changed and 40 knot winds were expected on Wednesday. Thursday looked better, so we decided to spend a day in Huatulco. I was excited for the detour; it was a recommended destination, and it did not disappoint. We anchored at Playa Organo, a national park and beautiful beach.

We were the only boat when we pulled, in and the beach was empty. We paddled into the beach and the kids had a blast boogie boarding. Motivation to do school work the following day was nil; there was a gorgeous beach calling our name! From the beach, there was a 1.8 kilometer round trip nature walk filled with lizards, butterflies, flora and beautiful birds. The turquoise water was inviting and refreshing with the 90 degree heat of the day and coral along the cove resulted in great snorkeling. Playa Organo became my number 2 of places we have been so far. I was disappointed that we couldn’t stay longer; Huatulco hosts some of the top beaches of Mexico.

Paul went into town to check in with the port captain (we are required to check in and out of every port, and they all seem to have their own rules). This port captain informed Paul that there was a port fee…so Paul pulled out cash from his wallet. Immediately there was a lot of yelling, and the only word Paul could understand amongst the rapid fire Spanish was “corruption”. The security guard with the M-16 rifle was not easing Paul’s anxiety. Paul was trying to use Google translate as fast as possible and came to understand that he was required to go to the bank to pay the fee. Sure enough, there was a poster at the bank showing a big red circle with a slash through it over a picture depicting a person handing over cash. Paul also found out that we had illegally anchored overnight at Playa Organo, and we would have to move our boat. Several hours later, Paul finally got his entrance and exit pass for the port and headed back to the boat. We packed up the boat, secured all loose items, headed to the anchorage and went to a great dinner in town. At 3:00a.m., Paul and I woke to the sound of grinding anchor chain. We looked at the screen in the room that showed that we only had 1.5 feet of water under the hull. Suddenly wired, Paul decided that we should edge forward, pull up the anchor and get an early start to the dreaded t-peckers.

So…Tehuantepec was bad for the wrong reasons. Waves sprayed over the bow of the boat, but, all-in-all, the wind and water were easy-peasy. But….we got low hydraulic oil alerts. Apparently not the same issue that we had when lost stabilizers in October on route to San Diego. Paul hasn’t yet found the source of the leak. We have gone through 2 5 gallon drums of oil, and Paul centered and pinned one of the fins to reduce the pressure on the system.

To further complicate the matter, we got a high water bilge alert. The bilge pump was clogged. This seemed to me to be the same exact issues that we had back in October. I don’t understand; why does this keep happening? While Paul explained that it was the a different bilge pump this time – in the engine room, not the lazarette, I continued to be perplexed.

Was it the waves causing things to go loose? They were nothing compared to what we will face on this journey. Did we just stick a bandaid on the issue in San Diego instead of addressing the underlying problem? Or is it a new problem?

Paul discovered that the hydraulic oil is leaking into the bilge and likely the source of the clog due to its high viscosity. And so, Paul, aka Mr. Gadget, attached the kids sand bucket to the hook on the dock stick, and we use it to scoop the oil from the bilge. We dump the used oil into a bucket and then refill the used oil tanks with the used oil.

10 hours until Chiapas; how long will this jerry-rigging hold out?

From Manzanillo, we continued south to the town of Zihuatanejo, which wins the prize for my favorite city name (I have a weird fondness for the letter Z!). We had a stressful entrance through the narrow, shallow channel into the marina, which we timed with high tide as we draft 7 feet and the channel is 15 feet at high tide. We tied up, hooked up power – goodness gracious, air conditioning has become a necessity if we are to peel ourselves off of the couches – and were immediately told NOT to swim due to the abundance of crocodiles in the water! Eek – better get that AC on; we aren’t swimming to cool off! The town itself, while not our favorite, was a cute town to visit.

It was filled with a bustling market, all mainly selling cheap trinkets (“no gracias” has become so common a phrase that I now say it in my dreams), but also boasted good food (we finally found churros again!), musical performers and fun swings on the beach.

They were holding a fishing tournament, and it was fun to see the biggest fish hauled in each day.

The kids and I decided to visit Los Gatos beach and had to take a panga (small boat/water taxi) from the town pier to get to the beach. That doesn’t mean it was a quiet beach; restaurants and shops lined the shoreline. The sun was out; the water was warm; the food was good. The next day we did an archeological and cultural tour in the Xihuacan village.

Remains indicate that the site was founded over 3,000 years ago and was inhabited by three cultures with influence from other cultures in Mexico. The guide took us to a local restaurant, where we tried a typical Guerrero (Mexican state) specialties, aporreado (steak and eggs) and braised pork (I can’t find the name…) – delicious! We returned to the boat and after shopping and a nap, mustered the energy to head to Zihuatanejo (the marina was in Ixtapa) for one last night out. We had a delicious dinner on the beach and found crepes for dessert on our walk back into the city center, which we enjoyed while watching the local basketball leagues duel it out on the colorful oceanfront court.

Being brave or stupid, we decided to leave that night, so we could have time to explore Acapulco the next day. 16 hours later, we pulled up to a mooring ball in Acapulco and a panga came out to help tie us up and take us into town. We discovered that Acapulco is no longer the dreamy destination that it was a decade ago; it has degenerated greatly with crime and the destruction brought by a hurricane a year ago. In fact, Paul did feel a hand try to slip into his pocket in the market. We walked to La Quebrada, where we watched brave cliff divers plunge from heights up to 135 feet.

The next day, I swam to shore in search of the store that held a package of boat parts that Paul had ordered. Unfortunately, we discovered that it was a Mexican holiday and the store was closed. And we didn’t have the time to wait. We are heading south on a tight schedule and cannot miss a weather window to enter a harrowing passage through the Gulf of Tehuantepec (aka, T-peckers). Extreme winds form along the isthmus separating the Gulf of Mexico from the Pacific and gain speed across the Sierra Madres and then funnel out onto the Pacific, creating huge waves that can extend out hundreds of miles. And the high winds/waves are more frequent than not, sometimes only allowing passage a couple of times a month. One of our favorite apps, Windy, showed waves would be down to 5 feet every 12 seconds Wednesday at 2pm, so onward we had to go. In the early evening, Paul was on a call and looked out of the window and shouted about jumping marlins. The jumping marlins were actually dolphins, and they were so excited to see a boat that they could come play with. The group started as a small group of four but we continued to see dolphins farther out leap and swim over, so they could join in the fun. Like the whales, it is a sight that will never get old.

In this cruiser lifestyle, you make good friends quickly and then have to say goodbye in similar fashion. Bittersweet, for sure. Hannah and Kathryn, in particular, bonded with two girls from SV BellaLuna (they have been cruising for 10 years!) and we all grew close very quickly. It was a tough goodbye, especially when you see your teenagers (what?!?!), who you worry about so much, find friends, but we have promised to meet up again in the near future. Another tough goodbye was leaving the amazing Kids Club. I really bonded with the fearless leader, Kat, whose warm but spunky energy was immediately contagious. Beyond our aforementioned activities with the club, we took place in sushi making class and the Trash Boat Regatta (we have a lot to learn about creating sailing vessels made of trash, but they looked great)! My super creative, detail-oriented Kathryn put a bathroom (visited by Lego people), bedroom, kitchen and couch on her boat!

Beyond Kids Club activities, we had a blast as a family in La Cruz. We visited the hip surfing town of Sayulita.

We hiked an awesome hike up Monkey Mountain (the favorite parts were the vines to swing on and rock scrambling to the top where we faced several cute but unintimidated coatis).

We enjoyed shopping at the extensive craft and food fair at the marina (we picked up a couple of hammock chairs for the back of the boat, and I discovered my favorite Mexican dish of chilaquiles). The kids and I did an excursion to Isla Marietas. Marietas Islands are a small group of federally protected islands, so we had to go by permitted boat. It was a fun trip with a lot of water toys and snorkeling and included a swim to a hidden beach.

We also took the Fournado to Los Arcos National Marine Park – beautiful rock formations, but the snorkeling was not very good.

We brought out the tube for Hannah’s and Kathryn’s birthday. Paul was unsuccessful at tossing them on their birthday (I also nagged him not to hurt them on their birthday; I didn’t want to ruin our plans to go to Marina Vallarta for a delicious steak dinner and shopping that evening); however, he successfully tossed all of the kids on subsequent days.

The pain of leaving was alleviated by the arrival of Lacey and her two boys! I had an evening to show off my temporary home in La Cruz, and Lacey and I took the paddleboards out to find whales the next morning (successful)! It will never get old to listed to the whales breathing, especially on the quiet paddleboards. After about a 5 hour cruise, we anchored in Ipala Bay and put out the water toys for the kids to enjoy for the evening.

The next day we motored a couple of hours and anchored in Tenacatita. Lacey and I paddled 1.5 hours each way through a beautiful mangrove-lined, brackish waterway connecting the bay to the open ocean (I didn’t take my camera!?!? Thankfully, Paul took his earlier when he went half way through). Paul had to turn around when the waterway became narrow because of his oars. The mangroves closed in and were not that much wider than about 6 feet and were low enough, I paddled from my knees.

The older kids turned around after about 1/3 of the way, stating they were bored, but we wanted to forge ahead (Kacper and Claire were our paddleboard navigators and nature spotters!). After an hour, we debated turning around but the sound of the ocean and spotting of palm trees made us determined to reach the end. We ended up at a gorgeous beach with soft sand and green water (as opposed to the brown water of the bay). We took a dip and make up some ocean dance choreography before heading back. The kids had all met other kids at the beach, so we decided to stay another night. We were all famished, so we settled into the beach restaurant (if you can call it that; picture a bunch of mis-matched umbrellas covering tables and a half-standing building). The food (we accidentally ordered fish sticks not realizing it was fish ceviche) and margaritas were delicious though!

The next day, Lacey, Peter, Kathryn and I took the Fournado to a snorkel/dive site called the Aquarium. Peter had a great time with his first scuba dive!

We collected the beach-goers and headed back to the boat to get ready to pull anchor and leave. We were going to try to go to a crocodile sanctuary in Manzanilla; however, the water was rough, and unable to beach the Fournado (it is too heavy), the waves were too intimidating to surf in. We headed back to the SeaXII, which Paul had already gotten underway. I unloaded the passengers, but determined the water was too rough to try to tow the Fournado (especially when I still don’t know my knots and could not be confident the tow rope would hold with my granny knots), I decided to drive the Fournado to Barra de Navidad. It was a wild and wet ride but was a blast and I was rewarded by breaching whales in the distance.

Barra was too shallow to try to make it into, so we set anchor by Melaque and headed to the town of Barra by the Fournado for a delicious dinner and ice cream. The next morning, we had to drop Lacey and the boys off at Barra to get a taxi for the airport, and we headed to Grand Isla Navidad Resort, where we lounged by the pools and drank cocktails all day.

After a swim to the beach and run around Melaque the next day, we pulled anchor and headed further south. We anchored in a super rolly Carrizal Cove, about 5 miles north of Manzanillo. The next day we got Hannah and Paul out for their first scuba dive.

We headed to Santiago Bay hoping for a slightly less rolly anchorage (it is slightly less…we may need to get a flopper stopper as the water is flat and our big boat is still rollin’)! Another kid boat (we connect through a app called No Foreign Land and then communicate via WhatsApp) reached out and told us about a turtle release at Tortugario Manzanillo. So we loaded up the Fournado and headed for the marina and met up with other families for the release. Manzanillo is a beautiful city, filled with Mediterranean-esque, white architecture lining the hills surrounding the bay!

After my friend Lacey commented that my blog posts made it sound like every day was vacation and that, in reality, it was not that much different than “real” life just in a different setting, I decided to write a post about our daily schedule. Except that there really is not a daily schedule, nor a weekly schedule, or a monthly schedule. Not having a daily schedule can be hard on all of us. I like schedules. I like predictability. Schedules and predictability are definitely not at the top of cruiser life characteristics. Every day is new. Every day is different. We met new cruisers yesterday, and we had a difficult time saying where we were anchored or what anchorage we had come from (we know, we just don’t know.) This mostly amazing life does tend to blend the “where on the map are we today?” and “what day is it?”

We do have some dates on the calendar but how we get to that date is everyone’s guess. When we were in Alaska, we knew we had to be in Juneau to pick up Paul’s sister Sophie on July 12th but until then, who knew. For now, we are working on the goal of being in Panama by February 21st so Paul can fly “home” for work. We also need to get work done on the boat, so that we will be allowed to head to the Galapagos (for example, we need to get the bottom of the boat scraped so we do not introduce any foreign matter to the ecological system). But as far as the time until February 21st, we just don’t know. Do we really like where we are anchored? Have the kids connected to new friends? And – a big factor – what is the weather like for the next passage?

Some day to day similarities do stay consistent and are not that far off from everyone’s day to day. I feel like I spend the majority of my time in the kitchen; can anyone relate? I make breakfast (Andrew seems to only eat chocolate chip pancakes, although occasionally I can get him to eat oatmeal). I clean up breakfast. I make lunch (I sometimes try to let the family handle their own lunch but that seems to result with eating chips or saying they are hungry and finally making something at 4pm). I clean up lunch. I make dinner. I clean up dinner. And now, I will be adding the 100 stages of sourdough bread making to the kitchen schedule. (I am only sightly exaggerating).

When we are anchored or at port, schedules are more unpredictable based on trying to meet up with other families (for example, as soon as we pulled in our current anchorage, another kid boat sent us a message about the amazing turtle release we got to witness yesterday evening) or doing an activity I have found for the area. Our days at sea are a little more predictable, so here is my best shot at giving you an example of “daily” life of the SeaXII. Mornings tend to be late for everyone. We all like sleep. Paul gets up by 6a.m. daily to start work. I roll out of bed between 7:30/8 and hopefully have a little time to make my coffee and take it to the hammocks in the cockpit to read daily news, do my Babbel lesson and read a few pages of my book. Claire and Andrew wake up at a similar time and, no longer allowed to do electronics in the morning, read a book and hopefully fill out their journal. Sometimes I try to get excercise in. I then make breakfast. I start school with Claire and Andrew and work for 2-3 hours (math is taking a long time because I am teaching two grades in one year and I am using 3 curriculums – crazy). We usually do math, language arts, science and social studies (they are currently memorizing states and capitals). I then make lunch. I then sit with Hannah and Kathryn for their math lesson (I kind of enjoy re-learning middle school math and want to be able to help them if they have questions. We also found their google search history was copying and pasting all math questions into google…..). We go over any school projects. Before dinner, it is cleaning, organizing, helping anchor or drive. The day goes both slowly and quickly (who can relate?). And then dinner. After dinner, we watch a movie or tv or play a game. This is ideal but rare. So many other factors seem to pop up (see? not all that different than day to day life).

If we are motoring 24 hours, we all take turns driving. Paul takes most of the day while he works. Around 5, Kathryn and Andrew take over to give Paul a break. Ideally we have dinner together in the pilot house. I try to head to bed by 6:30. Hannah and Claire drive from 7-9. Hannah and Kathryn drive from 9-10 (Paul naps in the pilot house, so he is nearby). Paul drives 10-12. I wake up and drive 12-5 and then Paul takes over around 5am.

We haven’t motored 24 hours in awhile, so usually we pull into an anchorage and drop anchor and try to get the kids outside before it gets too cold, but then it is so hard to get back into school mode. Or we try to go to the beach for lunch, which turns into 3 hours and then we don’t have enough time to finish school or feel too exhausted or out of brain space for school. Oh well, this is cruiser life. Hopefully we are learning so much everyday about life, science, history, math (do we have enough fuel in the day tank to make it to our next destination?). It will all work out. We will all be fine. I worry too much. Sound familiar?

We arrived in La Cruz (no idea how to say Huanacaxtle), just west of Puerto Vallarta in Banderas Bay early January (time blends and we have no idea what day, time, date it is – not a terrible thing) early in the morning after an overnight cruise. The first thing I noticed is that everyone around us speaks English. While it may seem comforting, I actually didn’t like it. I have liked being immersed in Mexican towns and cultures and having to practice my Spanish as well as to impress the need to learn a 2nd language on the kids. We had lunch with Anna/Babcia/mama, where Paul even found his Eagles’ bar, and kissed her goodbye for her flight back to frigid Canada.

That afternoon, I grew to love the city as Paul and I walked around town to try to find parts for the boat (unsuccessfully). Yes, everyone, even locals, speak English (largely due to large cruising community), but one block from the marina are the cobblestone, dirt roads with bright homes and decor, small tiendas and street taco stands with delicious aromas pervading the air. And everyone greets you with a “buenas dias”.

On Saturday, the kids and I headed to Puerto Vallarta Navarit to do an Outdoor Adventure – one of the best excursions I have ever done. We took a fast boat ride to adorable Boca de Tomatlan, a town nestled in the foothills of mountains filled with lush green and colors so bright, you are instantly drawn to it. We then took a rugged, open bus into the mountains before each being assigned a mule to ride further up the mountain. (no face to ass ride, we were allowed to go at our pace, even nudging the mules into canters if they would acquiesce). We dismounted and were quickly outfitted with harnesses for the multiple ziplines, rappels down waterfalls and waterslides. There was even a zipline roller coaster – a bit jerky, but we all appreciated the novelty. The kids did amazing! We finished the tour with delicious quesadillas at the base camp, which had tons of toys to play with.

The day wasn’t finished! We had reached out to the Nordhavn forum about alternator parts and a wonderful woman, Alexa, replied and was a wealth of information. She connected us into the wonderful kids club. We went directly from the adventure to “kids takeover a restaurant” where the kids helped prepare food, serve and wash dishes at local restaurant, Iguanacaxtle. They collected tips to donate to the Sanctuario de Crocodilas.

On Sunday, we unloaded the dinghy and visited Yelapa, a town only accessible by boat. I was expecting a small, quaint town similar to the small towns we visited in Alaska; however, it had become a tourist destination due to the novelty. It was still a rural, colorful town, especially after you breached the beachside tourist chairs and restaurants. We were immediately met by people with large iguanas and since Andrew was sad to have missed the kids’ club iguana feeding, we paid way too much for pictures.

After advice from friends, we rented a burro (yes!!) taking turns riding for the 6 mile round-trip hike to a beautiful waterfall, that we all took turns riding the strong current. After hiking down, we were famished and had a great lunch before tackling sloppy waves returning to the SeaXII.

On Monday, we volunteered in the kids club’ event, in which they invited a local orphanage to swim in the marina pool, serve lunch, have kings’ cake (Three Kings Day) and presented each child a gift from Santa. It was really cool. These kids, who have so little, had the brightest of smiles and the warmest laughter as they enjoyed the fun day.

On Tuesday, the kids and I visited the crocodile sanctuary, and we fell in love and learned so much about all of the animals being rehabilitated. After the sanctuary, we went to Punta de Mita for a surfing lesson! Kathryn was the most successful, but we all had fun and hopefully can remember what we learned for the next time we have the opportunity to try (my main lesson takeaway…relax-a concept I do not easily embrace).

On Wednesday, the kids and I visited a cacao farm with the kids’ club. We learned the process of picking the cacao bean and making chocolate, and the tour finished with each of us making chocolate to take home (if it got that far).

I had jam packed all of the activities into the schedule because we had hoped that we would only be spending a few days here before continuing south, but reality knocked us into place. After visiting 17 stores, Paul still was unsuccessful in trying to locate a belt for the alternator. (On our overnight cruise, the kids had woken us up, saying there was a burning smell. After tightening the belt, the smell grew worse and resulted in smoke, so Paul just cut the belt.) We also needed to find watermaker testing chemicals, and it was way too difficult to find those as well. We eventually found the chemicals, so we headed out of our slip Wednesday evening to test the water maker. And bam, the water maker worked, but the transmission failed and we had to move to the safety engine. It is difficult to steer with the engine as it is located on one side of the boat, making it difficult to turn, so Paul used thrusters to drive. The thrusters over-heated and not only did we have to pull back into our slip on our back up engine, we had to pull in without a bow thruster. Paul is a superhero driver! We found someone to take a look and he indicated a bad bomba; failed transmission oil pump. Shockingly, they are not available anywhere in Mexico…. So we found parts in the U.S. and paid them to overnight the parts. Unfortunately, the pump was $28 over what an individual can import, so we have to send the part back to the U.S. and find alternative ways to get the part. At least we are stuck in a great town and are surrounded by a great group of welcoming fellow boaters.

A cold front came in, bringing a small amount of rain, so we used the time to get school work in. We did a beach clean up with kids club this morning.

And the extra time we now have in La Cruz allowed us to throw a 13th birthday party for Hannah and Kathryn tonight! The kids’ club leader, Kat, has graciously offered her home for the party. We all have rich histories and lives beautifully lived. It is a blessing to get to know warm, kind people like Kat, as well as the other kids and their parents and hear their stories as we travel around the world.

The kids had a blast hitting the pinata strung up in the backyard (a space devoted to their multiple beloved critters), eating pizza, watching Lion King in their open-air living room, and having delicious cake prepared by a local baker and getting sprayed by silly string! An unforgettable birthday!

Hannah recently gave her scout talk on the meaning of reverence. She wrote a snippet on honoring one’s religion. I told her that, for me, reverence is a breath of fresh air; a deep respect for my surroundings. For me, Isla Isabel was a place of reverence.

Paul woke me 45 minutes after my night shift to anchor. Grumbling, I climbed the stairs and went out to loose the anchor and immediately saw a gorgeous sunrise with mountains in the sunlight and thousands of birds flying above beautiful rock formations behind me.

And then I spotted a whale behind the boat, and another whale, and another whale and another whale. A pair came close to the boat and swam in unison with another, their magical breaths being the only sound in the quiet morning hour. This was the start of a two day stay in a remarkable place permeated by majestic humpback whales feeding all around us, stunning their prey by slapping their fins and breaching out of the water (can you imagine the energy it takes for them to heave themselves out of the water?)

We had a great time snorkeling around the rock formations and viewed beautiful, colorful fish before heading to the island for a hike.

We had to anchor off shore as the bottom was filled with rocks and boulders and carried those who didn’t bring watershoes to shore on our shoulders, avoiding twisting our ankles and plunging into the water.

Following another blog we found on the internet, we went between fishing huts (and exchanged greetings in my broken Spanish) with the one fisherman on the uninhabited island) to find the start of the trail.

The trail wound us through the incredible bird sanctuary, filled with blue footed boobies, frigatebirds and pelicans. The calls and sounds of the thousands of birds filled the air and was definitely a unique experience.

We are on a couple of sites that tell us if there are other boats in the area with kids and we located a boat with a 12yo girl and 9yo girl. They came by the next morning. Despite the language barrier (they were from France), the kids got along and had a blast on our island, using the sea bobs, jumping off the fly bridge and swinging off the crane. Toys can bring anyone together!

Some whales passed within 20 feet of the boat and I could not resist diving in with a mask to see if I could see them underwater. After several attempts with different whales swimming by and a lot of swimming, I did it: I SWAM WITH A HUMPBACK WHALE!! Okay, a slight exaggeration but I did see him underwater; it was incredible!

After lunch, we decided to test out our scuba gear. I was nervous; I have never scuba’d on my own with my own equipment, but Paul managed to set up the equipment, swapping out some busted o-rings and we successfully did a stride jump entry into the water.

Unfortunately, Paul did not have enough weight and thought he had a air leak (he now thinks he just had a leak from an over-inflated BC), so he turned back. Being me (and maybe not the smartest), I couldn’t bear to turn back, so I continued to swim on and explore the island. I was surrounded by colorful fish and an angry looking eel, but the best, most amazing part, was listening to the whales sing underwater, sometimes so loud I was scared I would turn and be face to face with a whale. I wasn’t completely unsuccessful but need to continue to improve my underwater navigational skills, but I returned to the boat satiated with healthy, happy exhaustion.

Sadly, we will say goodbye to Babcia tomorrow. It was great to have her with us on our way from San Diego to La Cruz, Mexico!

We were blessed to have such a beautiful place to celebrate Christmas. Christmas looked a little different this year, which was a little hard, but we were blessed to have Paul’s mom with us. We did our best to keep as many traditions as possible: advent calendars (lego nativity, Christmas puzzle and chocolate for the kids; wine and cocktails for Paul and I!); sugar cookies; elves (Elvis even joined us for a Fournado ride to the beach!)

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day afternoon at gorgeous Belandra Beach, where white sands met gorgeous, clear turquoise blue water, surrounded by beautiful rocky landscapes. We had to anchor the Fournado in the water almost a half a mile off the shore and wade in calf-deep water to the beach, where the kids and I carefully constructed sand snowmen, made sand angels and walked to the iconic La Paz mushroom, which was rebuilt after it was torn down by tourists.

Besides being excited to wakeboard and tube, we had a blast trying out our new Seabobs! They are a blast to zoom both over water and then dive underneath the water to check out the fish! Check out our cute little pufferfish!

The day after Christmas, we had the unforgettable experience of swimming with the beautiful, massive juvenile whale sharks, who come to the waters of Bahia de la Paz in the winter to feed on plankton. The majestic, defenseless creatures didn’t seem to mind when we slid in the water to swim alongside them and observe them feeding (the guide said we are probably like mosquitos to them, and when one of the whales picked up her/his speed in a possible sign of annoyance, she told us to let her/him go).

After the unparalleled morning, we had an amazing seafood lunch with our friends, fellow Nordhavn boat, that we met in Alaska, the Pendana! The next day, we did some food, fishing rod (the fish keep breaking our line!), and souvenir shopping in downtown La Paz. We were too stuffed from lunch to eat dinner but decided delicious churros with caramel sauce would make the perfect treat to end the day. On the way to find the churro stand, I couldn’t resist hugging the Grinch. Despite the hot days and palm trees, La Paz does not disappoint in their Christmas celebrations!

We left La Paz early Saturday morning to motor to Isla Espiritu Santo, an UNESCO world heritage site, where we anchored for the day. I was originally hoping to swim with the sea lions, but you are required to have a guide. Regardless, we found a gorgeous spot to anchor and snorkeled amongst beautiful coral and tropical fish and relaxed on our “island”. Another yacht in the anchorage even let us try out their huge waterslide, which extended from their third level to the water and shot you into the water!

Next stop, a day in Mazatlan!

After an unexpectedly long stay in San Diego, we are back to cruising down Baha California! Woot woot!

San Diego was an amazing place to be for almost 2 months, and I will miss it! The weather was always perfect (okay, one day without sun), hikes, no bugs, running paths, good food, reunions with good friends and a gorgeous ocean and marina to enjoy coffee by each day. We fit in all the things: the zoo, LegoLand, Disneyland, SeaWorld, hiking, ice skating, a visit from my parents and touring the USS Midway, Hotel Del. and other city sites.

We stayed in a boat yard in San Diego, and we got a lot of work done: we converted to lithium batteries, installed solar panels, put a new alternator in, fixed stabilizers (reduced and tightened connections), and washed/waxed the boat. Shockingly, the repairs took longer than expected, which worked out because it gave us a chance to visit friends In Maryland and celebrate Thanksgiving with family in Ohio. We also found out that our paperwork to obtain a permit to cruise to Mexico was not submitted on time and would delay us until mid-December. Paul’s mom flew in, and Paul and I headed to Las Vegas with my sister, Shannon, and her husband, Mark, to see the Eagles at the Sphere – an unforgettable, amazing concert. We returned to San Diego, topped off our trip with a Christmas light boat parade and celebrated Paul’s birthday before finally setting sail early Monday morning.

The boat is running great (it scares me a bit to write that!), which was great, because the ocean was roly poly, and we had to work on getting our sea legs back. We kind of stumble around a bit, looking a bit intoxicated. I do cook; I have pot holders on the stove to hold the pot in place, and I just flounder around the kitchen a bit until something edible appears on the plates. We pulled into Ensenada later afternoon, checked in and went to a great dinner in town. We are already immersing ourselves in Spanish, and the kids are feeling motivated to learn. The next day, the kids enjoyed the hotel/marina facilities, and we played tennis and swam on the pool. Once again, we had to wait for another permit, which came in around 3pm, and we pulled out of the marina around 3:30pm. We are now amid a 3+ day, 24 hour boating schedule on route to Cabo (San Lucas? San Jose? Who knows? We are being spontaneous. (I love spontaneity….). We plan to only stay in Cabo one day before departing for LaPaz, where we will spend a few days and hopefully meet up with the friends we met this summer in Alaska.

Welcome back to our SeaXII adventure; it feels good to be boating!