Gresham Family Exodus

February 2014

When we drop anchor our standard procedure (after lots of iterating) is for me to be at the helm and for Tim to be on the anchor.  When Tim drops the anchor, I drop a waypoint on the chart plotter to more or less mark right where the anchor drops.  It’s not exactly straightforward because our GPS unit isn’t right on the bow roller, it’s back by the helm, so depending on how deep the water is and how fast I’m backing down I hit the button about where I think the anchor will hit the ground.  Then we plug that location into our anchor alarm, so we have a more reliable way of detecting whether we are dragging with very few false alarms.  Of course, we haven’t dragged since we got our new anchor way back in La Paz, but better safe than sorry.

So, since we now have anchor waypoints for everywhere we’ve anchored I thought I’d start including them.  Not that they will be of much use to the 3 people who actually read my essays, but someday I may post them for other cruisers, so I thought I’d start collecting them here.  And this installation isn’t very exciting because we didn’t really go anywhere.  (Dates are yearmonthday)

20140206 PuntaDeMita 20 45.930 N 105 31.205 W

20140204 LaCruz 20 45.010 N 105 22.045 W

20140122 LaCruz 20 44.995 N 105 22.149 W

20140123 PuntaDeMita 20 45.982 N 105 31.115 W

20131221 LaCruz 20 45.050 N 105 22.007 W

February 2014

I’ve mentioned Punta de Mita a few times, so I thought I’d give a little more information about it.  It is the northern point that defines Banderas Bay (Cabo Corrientes is the southern point), and the hook of land just inside the point has a small beach town.  The anchorage is a popular spot amongst the cruisers for the surfing, and it is sort of a getaway spot when you feel like getting away from towns and crowds but still feel like staying within the Bay.  Our first time there was actually by land when we took the bus from La Cruz.  Shauna (s/v Sand Dollar) and I thought we’d take a our kids for a day outing for some boogie boarding and fun in the sand and sun.  Of course, without consulting each other we both invited other kids to come along and when all was said and done it was me, Shauna, and 11 kids age 7 to 14.  It was actually a lot of fun, but there was obsessive compulsive head counting going on when we were boarding and disembarking the buses.  We parked ourselves on the sand in front of a palapa and ordered some drinks so we could sit there and let the kids play.  The waves weren’t that great that day, so some of the older kids tried going to a few different spots, but it was pretty calm everywhere.  That didn’t stop them from having fun and they played in the lapping surf and dug holes and built forts.  We also stopped at the OXXO (convenience store, like 711) before grabbing the bus back, and they all got good and sugared up for their parents.  Among the kids we took were Victoria and Jonathon from s/v Fuenta.  Have I mentioned already how I would take those kids anywhere?  Well, I would.  They are fun, friendly, and very very low maintenance.   Our second time at Punta de Mita was by way of Exodus when we anchored out for one night when Gary and Marsha were visiting.  We found a spot close in where there was easy access to the surf, and this time there was surf to be found.  Unfortunately, Alex had another ear infection, so he wasn’t able to play in the water, but Tim and Brenden took the boards out and had a lot of fun.  A few of our friends (s/v’s Fluenta and Kenta Anae) had taken the bus up from La Cruz so they all did a little surfing together.  Alex tried to get to shore to play with the kids, but the surf was too big for him to paddle in without the risk of falling in and getting his ear wet, so he had to abort the mission and turn back.  Spoiler alert – we will spend more time at Punta de Mita in future installments, but for now these were our initiations to Punta de Mita.”

February 2014

We ended up making a somewhat last minute decision to haul out in La Cruz.  Most cruisers go down to Puerto Vallarta for haul out, because the word on the street is that it’s cheaper there, but unfortunately for Catamaran owners the travelift is not quite wide enough, so we are stuck with only one option in Banderas Bay.  The main reason we decided to haul out was the anti-fouling on the saildrives needed to be redone.  When we hauled out in La Paz, Tim had not intended to have them do anything with the saildrives, because the PropSpeed (specific prouduct used on props and saildrives) was still in good shape, but before he knew it the guys in the boatyard had sanded down one of them.  So, they ended up painting them with the same paint we used on the bottom of the boat.  I guess this wasn’t the best solution, since now, not even a year later, we had barnacles setting up shop within hours of cleaning them.  So, the plan for this haulout was simply to reapply PropSpeed.  When we hauled out in La Paz, we were pulled out on rails (like a train track) but this time we were lifted out by a travel lift.  It was a little unnerving seeing your house lifted well off the ground and then moved around within the boatyard.  There’s a video on the facebook page if you haven’t seen it already.

Once placed down on the blocks, everyone got to work.  This is one of those times when my princess status is revoked and I have to pitch in with all the manual labor as well.  We ended up deciding to repaint the bottom too since it looked pretty shabby and we were already out of the water and everything.  So, overall I think we were in the yard for 5 days, and they let us stay on the boat during that time.  Funny thing is everyone told us they didn’t let you live on the hard at that boatyard, that we would need to find a place to stay.  We walked around to a couple of the hotels, but no one had vanancies, so Tim decided to just ask nicely if we could stay, and they said yes!  Sometimes, all you have to do is ask.

The guy who we contracted with to do the work on Exodus was named Gabriel, and he isn’t the most well known one there in the yard, but overall he and his crew did a decent job.  Tim’s only regret is that he didn’t insist that he apply the PropSpeed himself, because when they were doing it late in the afternoon, it was a bit rushed, and wasn’t as meticulous as Tim would have liked.

Gabriel would sometimes bring his 6 year old son, Christopher, with him to the yard, and one day we invited him to play on Exoudus.  Communication was a little tough, but he had a great time playing with Alex and Brenden’s toys, particularly the hex bugs.  He asked questions like where to we sleep so Tim took him on a little tour and he showed him our cabin.  Christopher then asked where do I sleep (as in me, Deanne) but Tim had already started moving on and pointed out the bathroom to him.  Christopher was shocked, “en el bano???”  He thought Tim told him that I sleep in the bathroom.  Then he laughed and laughed.  It was so cute.

We were back in the water on 4 February ready to get out Banderas Bay and do some cruising again.

January 2104

One of the main reasons for going into the marina (as opposed to staying out in the anchorage) was to get some boat projects done prior to our Pacific crossing.  There were many, many small projects on the list, but there were two big ones that needed to be addressed early so they didn’t end up delaying us in any way.  They were the cockpit floor and the dinghy engine mount.

The cockpit floor is kind of a long story in that basically it was work in progress when we bought Exodus.  From the factory, Exodus came with a stock gelcoat nonskid cockpit floor, but then the dealer replaced that with a Teak floor before selling it, I guess thinking it would be more marketable.  Well, the previous owner, John, didn’t like the Teak, I think because it was too high maintenance, so he contracted to have it pulled up and then put a gelcoat floor back in.  He wanted it to match the rest of the non-skid around the boat, so he found someone who would make a mold from another part of the boat to use in the cockpit.  Sounds great, but there was a lot of drama surrounding the work because the guy left the country back to Mexico for a while and there was confusion about why he left and when he would return.   It was incomplete when we went on the Baja Ha Ha, but it was supposed to be complete by the time we took possession of Exodus in early December.  Of course, it wasn’t, and John gave us the option of waiting another week or taking Exodus and having the guy come up to Marina del Rey to finish it.  We opted to take Exodus, and in hindsight maybe we were influenced by our excitement of becoming boat owners, because that turned into a HUGE hassle.  First of all, when Tim inspected the work that had been done so far, it was crap.  Basically, they had made a mold of the non-skid pattern from the top of the hard canopy, but then they just laid that down in the cockpit with the non-skid inverted.  So, instead of little bumps on the floor to prevent slipping there were little cups, which as you can imagine just collect water and make the floor even more slippery, totally defeating the purpose of the non-skid floor.  So, when the guy came up to “finish” the job, Tim insisted he pull it all out and start over.  There were issues with this, and maybe, again in hindsight, we should have just cut him loose and found someone local to do the job, because we ended up having to pay for a hotel and even some gas to drive back and forth to San Diego.  I can’t remember, but I think we split the expense with the previous owner, but in the end, it didn’t really matter, because even after it was completely redone the integrity of the floor didn’t last long.  It wasn’t a few months into our journey that the floor was waterlogged and coming apart.  Tim applied blue painters tape around the edges to keep the sharp edges contained so no one hurt themselves.  We lived with the blue tape for quite a long time, so long that we almost didn’t notice it anymore.  But we knew we needed to have a water tight floor, so in La Cruz Tim took on the huge task of redoing the floor himself.  Well, not totally himself.  Dan on Dazzler provided a lot of consulting ahead of time (since he had quite a bit of experience with this sort of work) and then when it came right down to it, he rolled up his sleeves and got down on his hands and knees and helped Tim with a lot of the labor too.  It was quite the job, and it took a couple weeks to finish.  The rain didn’t help, though.  It rained pretty much our entire first week in the marina starting the day after Tim started ripping up the floor, of course.  The finished product is a sight to be seen.  Tim and Dan did an excellent job, and although they have a habit of inspecting close and searching for the imperfections, I certainly can’t say there are many to be found.  They used Kiwi Grip as the non-skid surface, and, no, it doesn’t match the pattern of the rest of the non-skid, but it looks great, and if that had been done in the first place it would have saved us so much hassle.

Tim subcontracted out the work to build a support structure to mount our outboard, so it didn’t take nearly as much of his own labor, but he did have to design what he wanted and be able to communicate it to someone who spoke very little English.  We go some translating help from a woman on s/v Go For Broke, and the contractor did very fast work.  Within a couple days the new support structure was complete, and they also reinforced the dinghy davits, one of which had been ever so slightly (hence the reason we wanted to be able to remove the outboard from the dinghy onto its own support structure for an ocean passage).  So, with the two main projects out of the way early, Tim could then slowly and consistently start checking off the myriad of other projects on “the list.

January 2014

The radio frenquency spectrum is divided up and specific frequencies are allocated for specific uses.  Our SSB radio operates in the HF spectrum (~3 – 30 MHz) and the frequencies in the range most often used by yachties are those allocated for marine use and those allocated for amatuer use.  To transmit on the marine bands you need a ship station license for you boat and a marine operator permit for at least one person on board.  These are easily obtained online from the FCC in the US.  The ship station license is how you get your call sign (ours is WDG6445) and your MMSI number (which is used by DSC calling in both VHF and SSB radios).  The marine operator permit seems like just one more way to squeeze money out of you, because you don’t have to pass a test or anything, you just pay for it and get it.  Before we left home, I actually went one step further and did take a class and passed a test to get a marine operator license, because I thought I could stand to learn a thing or two.  So, I’m actually qualified, licesne wise, to operate radios on commercial vessels if I ever feel like a career change.  A lot of the radio nets in mexico were conducted on marine bands, so those were the ones I could check in to, and even net control for.

To transmit on the amateur frequencies you have to get a different license, known as a HAM license.  HAM radio operators are by no means limited to marine uses, in fact most are land based.  I never did bother to get a HAM license while still at home, because I didn’t think it was necessary and then I missed another opportunity to do it in La Paz, because I simply didn’t feel like studying.  Once upon a time, you had to know morse code to pass the HAM license test, but since they did away with that requirement licenses are much more accessible, but I still didn’t feel like studying.

Then we spent the summer in the sea, and the main source of daily weather was a voice broadcast by Geary on the Sonrisa Net, which happened to be a HAM net.  So, I could listen, but I could never check in.  It was like not being allowed into the cool kids club.  Well, not really, but I started to see that there may be a need for a HAM license as we proceed on our voyage because you never know what radio nets we’ll encounter and which ones we’ll want to participate in.

So, I started studying.  They give the test monthly at the Yacht Club at Paradise Village, so when I started studying it was early January, and I had about a month to prepare.  I learned that there are varying levels of licenses, and in order to trasmit on HF frequencies I actually had to pass two tests (technical and general classes).  I started studying for the technical license figuring I would take that one and then the following month I would study for the general.  Calling it “studying” is a bit generous.  Basically, I just took the practice tests over and over again on qrz.com until I could consistently pass.  Not a very noble way of passing the test since I was simply memorizing as opposed to learning and understanding the material, but it’s not like I’m going to build my own HAM radio shack, I just want to be able to transmit on HAM frequencies using my SSB radio.  Two days before the test I realized that we may not be in Banderas Bay the following month, and if I didn’t get a chance to take the general I still wouldn’t be able to do that.  So, I started cramming for the general test too.  Pretty much non-stop the day before the test I sat on the computer taking practice test after practice test. 

The day of the test I hitched a ride from La Cruz up to Paradise Village with Romany Star, and I was still studying a few topics I had jotted onto a post-it note.  Turns out I’m the biggest geek every, because I passed the tests easily, and worried over nothing.  So, now I’m KK4WYW (my HAM call sign) and I am now part of the cool kids club.

January 2014

In Mexico, it is required that when a yacht comes and goes from a (major) harbor, they check in and out with the Port Captain.  On the Baja, all you have to do is radio the Port Captain on VHF and give them your boat name, last port (if arriving) and number of people on board.  In contrast, on the mainland, it is required that you physically go to the Port Captain’s office to fill out a form on arrival and departure.  Our first time doing this was in Chacala, which was a little comical because Chacalas’s not exactly a major harbor, but whatever, they have a Port Captain, so we went to visit him.  And it’s a good thing we did, because we had to show him all our paperwork, and he caught the fact that our Yacht Temporary Import Permit (TIP) was expired.  What!  That’s clearly and error, these are supposed to be good for 10 years.  He was very nice about it, and he said he didn’t really care, but eventually *someone* would care, so we should probably take care of it.Around this same time, Dena (s/v R C Kat) sent me a message about yachts being impounded in Mexico, for, yes, you guessed it, issues with their TIPs.  The Mexican government did audits in many marinas on the Baja and mainland side, and they were impounding boats like crazy.  So, we clearly needed to do something about our TIP before we went into the La Cruz marina.  This was our first order of business upon arrival in Banderas Bay.  The customs office is at the airport, and we could easily take a bus there, but both Steve (Lady Carolina) and Dan (Dazzler) told us we should talk to Dick (Harbormaster at Paradise Village).  Dick would know what to do.  So, I gave paradise village a call to talk to Dick, got the straight scoop that we needed to go to the Banjercito office in Puerto Vallarta, and I even made “tentative” reservations to go to Paradise Village.  A successful call, I think (thanks Steve and Dan).  The first business day after we got to La Cruz we hopped on a bus to head to Puerto Vallarta.  It wasn’t really a bus, more of a small van, and you would be surprised how many people can be packed in.  The Banderas Bay bus schedule is, well, not really a schedule.  There are many stops, some marked, most not, and at most stops you don’t have to wait more the 2-5 minutes for a bus to come.  Sometimes it’s a regular sized large bus, and sometimes it’s these small vans.  The prices are the same, the only difference we figured out just by watching other people is the large buses you pay when you board and the vans you pay when you disembark.  Prices are reasonable, and once you’ve done it a time or two, it’s pretty easy.  I wasn’t sure exactly how far we were going or where the stop would actually be, I just knew we were looking for a glass building near the harbor in Puerto Vallarta.  Every time I’ve been unsure of where to change buses or where to get off or really just about anything, there’s been some helpful person on board to set me on the right track.  This first time there was a man who spoke a fair amount of English, and taught us how to alert the driver that you wanted to stop.  We found the Banjercito building without any drama.  Inside, the lady was helpful in getting our TIP situation squared away and we were issued a new TIP (of course, we had to pay the full fee again.)  We also had to wait quite awhile because as our luck would have it they had a printer malfunction and we had to wait for them to get that fixed.  We were all pretty hungry and some of us were a bit grouchy by the time we were all done, but we were glad to have Exodus legally in Mexico again.  To have lunch and do some shopping we crossed the street to a huge mall called Livermore.  It was surreal, like being transferred back to the states.  We had not seen anything like it since we were in Mexico.   Starbucks, McDonalds, and we even had lunch at Chilis (overlooking the Puerto Vallarta harbor).  We also walked over to Walmart and got our last minute Christmas shopping done (there were only 2 days left!) and then caught a bus back to La Cruz, this time a full sized one.  Turns out we weren’t the only ones who had this issue of getting a 6 month TIP instead of the normal 10 year one, and the lady at Banjercito said it was a glitch in the online system.

We had one other legality issue to deal with during our stay in Banderas Bay, this one with immigration rather than customs.  When entering Mexico, you are typically issued a 180-day tourist card.  (As an aside, you typically automatically get issued these cards when arriving by air or boat.  If arriving by car you need to stop at an immigration office at the border to get them, because the law is that you only need them if you are traveling so many miles away from the border).  Before your 180 days are up you are supposed to leave the country, and then you can return and get a new card with a new 180-day limit.  Recall that the main reason we drove to San Diego from Santa Rosalia during the summer was to get new tourist cards and also recall that when the boys and I went from San Felipe up to the States for Danna’s wedding we were issued new cards upon our return.  I was worried about Tim’s for a while, but then he had to fly home from Loreto in November, so with that trip we should all be good until we departed Mexico in March.  However, at some point I was looking at all our cards and noticed that Tim was only issued a 90-day card when he returned to Loreto.  I was really disappointed, because this meant we had yet another administrative issue to deal with.  I was worried he was going to have to fly to the states and back again, just for that, and it would be much more expensive to fly from Banderas Bay then it had been from Loreto.

There was one small hope: the Puerto Vallarta airport.  We have heard of other cruisers going to the immigration office at the airport and trying to get new tourist cards.  Some were successful, some not.  Carolina had been able to do it the year before by making two trips to the airport.  The first time they denied her, but the second time they did it.  Then Craig and Leann (True Blue V) had a successful trip right around the time Tim needed to take care of it.  So, Tim went to the airport, showed them his card, and asked to renew it.  The lady looked at it, said he was allowed 180 days, so she just crossed out the 90 and wrote 180.  No stamp.  No additional fee.  Hell, we could have just done that ourselves had we known.  So, even while boats are being impounded, we have two no drama experiences getting all of our paperwork in order.  You just never know how it’s going to go in Mexico.

January 23, 2014

Grandma: Brenden, do you know how to tie that knot?

Brenden: Yeah, Dad showed me how on my fishing pole.

Grandma: What’s the name of it?

Brenden: I haven’t named my fishing pole yet.

Ba-dum-ba!

January 2014

The boys didn’t get a visit from just one grandparent in the month of January, no, they got three!  Gary and Marsha, Tim’s parents, arrived a couple days after my mom left and they stayed 10 days.  We were still at Paradise Village when they arrived, so we were able to shuffle over to the Yacht Club right away to watch the NFC Championship game between the 49ers and the Seahawks.  The place was packed with cruisers, and most were rooting for the Seahawks, but luckily only a few were obnoxious about it.  Our stay with Gary and Marsha at Paradise was brief, but they still got to experience the pool with the kids and the french baguettes.  When we left, we headed for La Cruz and spent just a night there in the anchorage and then went to Punta de Mita for a night before heading back to La Cruz.  On the way we hit Tres Marietas for a day stop, and the highlight was hooking a huge Dorado.  It was just as we were rolling in to anchor and the guys were all reeling in the lines (I’m embarrassed to say we have forgotten to reel in lines more than once leaving it up to a kind fellow cruiser already in the anchorage to yell out, “hey, you’re still dragging lines.”)  Gary called out, “there’s something on this one!”  And sure enough, it was a beautiful 4.5 ft 27 lb. Dorado, so Gary and Marsha got a taste of Tim’s exquisite Dorado grilling ability.  Tastes like juicy chicken!  Unfortunately, the snorkeling at Tres Marietas was not all it was supposed to be, and we were surrounded by tour boats, so we didn’t stay too long.  We found a nice spot in the La Cruz anchorage and that’s where we parked ourselves for the remainder of their visit.

We had fun in La Cruz, and I enjoyed getting to take them to the Sunday Market.  Marsha bought the boys each something (of course!).  Alex picked out a cool hat, and Brenden picked out a small piece of art to hang on his wall.  I really liked Alex’s hat and noticed they came in pink too, so I teased him that I was going to buy one too and wouldn’t that be cool if we had matching hats.  Yeah, just what a 12-year-old boy wants, matching hats with his mom!  Marsha was able to see the boys do the silks class for the first time, and the boys liked having her there to show off to.  It was a wonderful visit, but regretfully, we just weren’t able to provide the same sort of experience for them as when they came to visit in the Sea of Cortez.  Like I said about my mom’s visit, Tim and I were more than a bit distracted with projects and to do lists for getting ready for the puddle jump.  But in addition to that, the Sea of Cortez trip was something special.  We took them to out of the way anchorages that are virtually inaccessible but by boat, and I think they really had an appreciation for that.  This time we were in the hustle and bustle of Banderas Bay, even if La Cruz is a nice little Mexican town.  Their next visit will likely be somewhere in the South Pacific, and hopefully we can find some nice cruising grounds near whatever port they are able to fly in to.