11/01/2009, heading south for Laundry at Santa Rosilia
After 5 days of 20-25kt winds out of the north it was a welcome change this morning to see almost no wind. The forecast is for the winds to remain calm through this afternoon and then come back at only in the 10-15kts range this evening and into Monday, again out of the north. This will give a chance for the large sea to calm down a bit and should work out well for our midnight departure for Santa Rosilia. It's pretty safe to say that yesterday's birthday party lunch was easily one of the best meals we have had in some time. Home made Lasagna, a fresh green salad and garlic flat bread followed by a Black forest cake for desert left everyone aboard all three boats stuffed and happy.
Today will be spent getting the boat ready for sea because it's amazing what things can look like after almost a week at anchor waiting out a cold north wind! I also plan to take a look at the steering system to make sure everything is ok after we heard a new sound while sailing to San Francisquito from the Alacron anchorage. It's most likely something easily, with the hardest part of the job being emptying out and then restowing all the equipment from the starboard sail locker to gain access to the steering system.
It's amazing to see how we have come to love the warm weather. When I say it's cold here, the temperature is only 69 to 70 degrees, but it feels much colder after spending the last year in a planned continual summer. The quest for warmth has us wanting to get to the Mexican mainland faster than originally thought but there's also an added bonus. The faster we get back "home' to San Blas then the faster we can continue our exploration south and make the hop across the Golf de Tehuantepec to El Salvador and points further south in Central America. When we were in the planning stages of our cruise, the thought of being out for over a year seemed like a long time, but now that our first full year of cruising Mexico is over it's easy to see how some people stay out cruising for multiple years. There's always somewhere else to visit and another passage to complete that make years seem like months. It's interesting to try and imagine where we will find ourselves next November 1st, but as long as there are funds still in the bottom of the cruising kitty, we will no doubt be someplace interesting and assuredly warm!
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10/31/2009, with Oct being our best month yet!
I have uploaded our October 2008 Cost of Cruising numbers and it's nice to say that October was our cheapest month of Cruising to date, coming in at only $773. It would be nice if every month was that far below our target of $1000, but the realities of cruising are often quite different from the plan. You can view our complete cost numbers by clicking on the side link located on the right of the blog screen entitled "What does it cost to Cruise?"
We are still waiting out the Norther at San Francisquito and winds are currently out of the Northeast at 18-25kts, but the winds are forecast to lighten this afternoon giving us a chance to start our trip to Santa Rosilia in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday. But in typical cruiser mode, if the winds are still up, we will just relax and push our departure back another day and at this point with the wind currently blowing 18-25kts, a Monday departure is looking more likely.
It's looking like we may speed up our crossing to Mazatlan so that Lori can have a suspicious patch of skin looked at by a Dr and cut out if necessary. She's already had a few precancerous patches of skin removed from her left arm, and it looks like a third patch is in need of removal and biopsy. There's nothing at all to worry about, as contrary to popular perception, there is excellent medical care available in Mexico, for people with the ability to pay for private care, at cost less than most common co-pays back in the States. World class Drs are available in Mazatlan and many of the larger towns in Mexico making the myth of rusty re-used needles and unclean facilities here in Mexico's larger towns just that, a myth.
Later this afternoon we will attend a Birthday Party for Caroline aboard SV Windfall. We had all hoped to be in Santa Rosilia for her party, but here we are, so the party must go on!
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10/30/2009, which called for a "comfort food" pot-luck
Below are a few shots of the San Francisquito inner harbor area where we have been hold up for a few days waiting for the strong north wind to die down a bit before we head into Santa Rosilia. As you can see from the photos, there's no reason to feel sorry for us being stuck here, because there could definitely be worse places to have to wait out what's known in the Sea of Cortez as a Norther. When we awoke to a cabin temperature of 70 degs this morning, the whole crew was cold and ready to head for the Mexican mainland and warmer temperatures! The winds should start calming soon, and we plan on heading South in the early pre-dawn hours of Sunday Nov 1st.
Last night we had a "comfort food" pot-luck aboard the sailing vessel Gemini that included pots of home made Minestrone soup, New York Clam Chowder, and Beans. We had a great time and enjoyed both the good food and company.
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