April Fools

We've turned back!!!! Just kidding, actually jibed to the SSW during the night. The wind that pushed us along so well for the last 8 days finally petered out last night. We had two awesome spinnaker days though and have passed 1070 miles. So we are currently limping along at 3-4 kts wing and wind heading about 190 degrees T. At least it is a comfortable ride.
Yesterday was a very good day for all the crew. Seemed like everyone was well rested and needed to get energy out. So we cleaned the cockpit, shook rugs, swept the main salon and kitchen, did laundry and had showers. We looked like a real cruisers boat with all our skivvies hanging on the lifelines! Had 2 fish on the lines - Bonito. The first came during breakfast. It was very small so we threw him back. The second fish hit as I was making dinner and we were preparing to take down the spinnaker. Would have made a pretty cool YouTube video. Turn off the burner, Dennis goes to the line, Mark to the helm, Vickie to the cockpit, Josh and I to the foredeck to take down the spinnaker. Mark turns up, Vickie runs the sheets as I drop the spinnaker onto Josh who gathers it all up so it doesn't go into the water. With the Spinnaker under control, Josh goes back to help Dennis with the fish. Another Bonito (not our favorite fish) bigger this time, but not enough for 5. So we let him go too. We have decided to keep the next one as long as it is not way small. Almost anything tastes good in fish tacos. Today is quieter, my 2 goals - make water and write the blog post. Check off both.
We listen to Ham radio nets daily. Mark has 2 he likes in the morning (Amigo and Sonrisa) and one in the evening (southbound) and then we all listen to the Pacific Puddle Jump net that comes on at 0200 zulu (GMT). Dennis was the PPJ net controller last night. There are 16 boats now that check in with their position, weather and sea state every night. Is kind of like the old days when everyone gathered around the radio to listen to news. It is our daily contact with other people. We hear where they are in relation to us, and what the weather and sea are doing at those positions. Is also good to hear voices of people we know. The earlier nets also have weather on them which is useful as well.
Now that we are finally somewhat rested and into the groove we would like to put on paper (so to speak) some very heartfelt thanks to some folks who made this cruise possible and leaving La Cruz less painful.
To Nancy Gray - Thanks for teaching me that cooking outside of the home kitchen is not only possible, but can have variety and be interesting as well.
To Bob Gray - thanks for being so patient with our mail, and to both of you for teaching me how to enjoy the great outdoors. You are the big brother and sister I never had.
To Bill and Tracie on Zephyr - thanks for the sewing machine needles that made the front awning possible and for loaning us the water filters to fill our tanks.
To John and Gail on Music - thanks for GNTs, dinner, US cash, flags and help.
To Lisa Foley - thanks for the walks, cold water and diet cokes - you always seemed to show up when I needed you most. We are also so appreciative of the Mega and Costco runs!
To our favorite "mule" Uncle Henry - thanks for bringing down all the things we forgot!
To Doug and Carla - too many things to list, but hurry and catch up hey? We hear yucca on the beach calling!
To Steve and Ana - quietly there in the background all these years with sage advice, or cutting humor or a cold beer.
To Sue, Ken and Anna - for making room in your home and lives for us. No small deal and no amount of Thanks will ever be enough.
To all the rest of you who put up with our crazy life, we love you and thank you for your support and understanding of our crazy dream!!!

Only 1700 miles to go and once again we will prove that the world is round, we'll get there!

March 3,2011

Day 7
860 miles out heading about 250 degrees True. Winds 10-15 NNE. Spinnaker went up on my watch this morning. Dennis was happy. We are making 7-8 knots mostly comfortable ride. Are using the autopilot and the windvane together to keep us on a somewhat steady course. Has been hard to get used to steering in a general direction but mostly to the wind. Will take it down before dark. We have had cloud cover for the last several days, it is comfortable, a little cool at night (read long pants, t shirt, sweatshirt and jacket with hood for me). The wind continues to be consistently inconsistent 7-20 knots NNE. Days are good, but nights have been hard for me. I have the best watch schedule 07-10 & 19-22 too bad I can't get a full night's sleep. Oh well, naps are good.

Have I mentioned how blue the water is out here? The color is so amazing, such a pretty deep blue. Have had one flying fish and 2 squid land on the boat, but otherwise no extra passengers. The birds (boobies?) keep eying us, but so far none have attempted to join the party. Have only seen one floating plastic container - was kind of insulting to see and also a reminder about plastic and what a far reaching effect we have on our environment. Our plastic garbage bag is getting fuller, but not too bad. Is still hard to throw the biodegradable stuff overboard, Dennis still can't do it.

So, since it really is all about the food, here is an update. The lettuce lasted in the cooler until yesterday, so 7 days; pears/mangos are being eaten up daily as they are getting soft (wrapped them in newspaper), apples and tomatoes are doing fine, eggs too, but need to drill holes in the lid so they don't go moldy. Will have our first visitors bring powdered eggs to Tahiti, so I will be able to bake without buying expensive eggs. I wish I had brought more lettuce, cucumbers, onions,carrots and potatoes (all of which seem to be holding up well)I should have brought more pancake syrup, and probably more milk, we seem to be going thru a lot of milk..... Oh yeah, and the grill is so not happening. Besides the fact that it is tipped on its side, I don't think I could keep anything on it. Have had to rethink some of my meals, but hey flexibility is my middle name these days. The other thing I wish I had gotten more of, but don't know where I would have put is the Italian sausage from Carne El Mundo. Had the last of it in spaghetti sauce last night. YUM! Will have to start making bread soon, will probably coincide with an increase in the outside temperature!

Started the second tank of water yesterday, so not too bad - about 8 days, 6 with 5 people. Flushed the water maker today. Don't plan to make water until this tank runs out, then we will just work off of the aft 2. One in use one being filled or filled. I am trying to accomplish one non watch/cooking/sleeping/eating thing each day. Yesterday I downloaded music to my ipod - really harder that you would think. Charge the computer, find the cds with mp3 music, figure out how to download to itunes, lock up itunes, consult the 13 year old, download cds to computer then to itunes then to ipod - miracles do happen. Now if I could figure out how to put a movie on the ipod....Feel free to email me with a solution....
Well, almost time to start thinking about dinner.....(eat, sleep, watch, cook, repeat....)

03/28/11

day 5
continue to make good time. We have come 565 miles so far. Had another bumpy night. Lots of discussion today on how to keep it under control. Winds are consistently inconsistent 10-20 knots, is hard for the wind vane to keep up, so have to use the main rudder to help. In general we are heading 240degrees magnetic. Hope to miss the area south of us with no wind. I guess like everything in life there is a trade off - no free lunch so to speak, smooth ride no miles, bumpy ride, miles made good. Is cloudy today, feeling more humid, but still pretty cool. I sewed the opposite velcro piece onto the dodger today, so that the flaps I added to the bimini will cover the hand holds and hopefully keep some of the inevitable rain out. Not the most fun task on a 10-20 degree heal, but one more task crossed off the list. Since it is all about the food :) the menu tonight is meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans. The fruit has been holding up pretty well, lost some green beans to mold, but otherwise I am trying to cook the fresh food up before it goes bad. Ran the generator for a while today, don't think it particularly likes to heel either, but just one more thing to keep an eye on. It all sort of runs together after awhile, can't believe it is already 1530. Only 2200 miles to go.....

March 27,2011

Day 4
Had a pretty miserable night last night - lots of rock and roll. Made it to Socorro Island, but conditions did not permit a stop, Dennis stayed up through two watches so was very tired today. Winds were 15-24 knots, we did not put the second reef in the main, and paid the price with a bumpy ride. Bad call on my wind crystal ball reading. Think we will put that second reef in tonight. Have been making 6 kts consistently, Hence covered 132 miles on day 3. Have come 417 miles as of this posting. Better day today, turned downwind (south) some so have a slightly less bouncy ride. Still pretty rolly though. Has been cooler than we expected which I think is a good thing, but certainly more rolly than we expected. All but me are still taking meds for seasickness. No one is ill, just warding off bad spirits. Hopefully tonight everyone will catch up on sleep and have good watches. Have just about used up the cooler food - have had to rethink some meals as using the grill is definitely out for now. Lots of comfort food, pasta, chicken and rice (tonight again), chilli. Seems that for me it is all about the food. Will have Vickie make the last of the lettuce into a salad tonight (yum!). Is nice to have someone to help with the cooking -especially the chopping that everyone knows how much I love to do - not! Haven't been able to start Josh back on school, we tried today, but no one is ready to be inside looking at books just yet - a couple more days maybe...So, we are on a rough course of 230 with winds from the north and 6-8 foot swell averaging about 6kts, partly cloudy skies cool temps.

03/26/11

Well, its the third day out, and things are starting to fall into a groove. We left Punta Mita on Thursday around 1000. Got the news that our dear friend Steve Hall (La Paz and gate 11) passed away. Not a very auspicious way to start a 3 week cruise. Ana will be in our thoughts and prayers.
The trip out of Punta Mita and away from the mainland was slow. We motored for about 3 hours before there was any hint of wind. After that things picked up and have stayed steady at 10-15 knots from the NNW with episodes of 12-18knots (usually when I am trying to cook). We are very happy with the fact that I made myself (and Dennis didn't let me weanie out of) replace the luff tape on our 130 genoa (jib/headsail). It has been great! We are making 5-6 knots consistently. The first night of watches was brutal because we doubled up with Mark and Vickie, wanted to make sure that they were comfortable with the boat and the electronics before setting them free on single watches. They are seasoned sailors and caught on no problem, so last night was much nicer, everyone got a good stretch of sleep. Dennis and Mark set up the Hydrovane yesterday, and we have been sailing with it instead of the autopilot (baby jesus as Josh says). Vastly improved sleeping for Dennis and I without the constant sound of the autopilot steering and the Hydrovane doesn't require power.
Today has been pretty uneventful, made 130 miles on day 2, will be at the Socorro Islands in the morning (sunday) and will at a minimum do a lunch stop, maybe overnight, we'll see. The highlight today was a sailfish chasing our lure. What a beautiful fish. Fluorescent blue. Thankfully he spit the lure out, after chasing it right up to the back of the boat. Would not have been pretty either losing the lure or bringing him in. I shudder at the thought of a fish that big with a pointy thing at the front coming on to our boat. Total carnage!!! He was a beauty though. Last night after dinner we had a dolphin show - Mark thinks spinner dolphins - jumping way high out of the water - it was great too.
So, so far so good, only 2400 more miles to go!

evergreen

03/24/2011 Made it to Punta Mita after leaving La Cruz, spending almost 3 hours at the Port Captain in Nuevo Vallarta for immigration, and then a 3 hour sail to weather in 20 knots or so of wind - very bumpy. The checkout procedure is actually easy, just time consuming for those of you following us here it is. Port Captain closes at 1400 - plan accordingly. There is a dock to tie up to immediately past the Port Captain's office. The port captain's place looks just like the one in La Cruz. It costs 400 pesos - please have a credit card or you will have to go to the bank. The port captain takes about 20 minutes, then you have to wait for immigration to come. Bring in your handheld so you can wait at the restaurant at the head ot the dock - they serve a good mexican brunch. Immigration will go on your boat - our little lady stamped our passports on our boat as she compared them to faces, then left. Then we did too.
I am sad to report that we have had one casualty - the rum container did not fare so well on one of the 20 knot tacks - hit the floor and drained 2 of the 2.5 gallons into the bilge - a sad day for our pocketbooks, but our livers are probably happy!
Had a good night at Punta Mita, and our getting ready to leave. I am using Mark and Vickie's telcel, so an easy post. Will be via the SSB from now on. According to Don the weather guy, we should have good wind the next few days. We'll see.

Throwing off the docklines

Well, we are leaving La Cruz today. We lost one or two skirmishes in the war on "the List", but won the war.  Will leave around 1000 today for Neuvo Vallarta, check out of the country and head to Punta Mita for the evening, then we will head out tomorrow.  Looks like we will have good winds and weather.  More later

carol