Gresham Family Exodus

Breaking the stories into chapters is actually quite difficult because there’s never really an end, just an arbitrary breakpoint in how I’ve decided to describe our journey.  This segment has been incredible, but it’s had a different tone than the previous one.  I feel like we’ve slowed down a bit and really come to understand that we don’t have a destination.  We have a journey and we are appreciating every bit of it.  Even the heat and the bugs (stay tuned for stories about bugs and other winged creatures).

We haven’t dragged anchor, lost an engine, or ripped the bowsprit off the front of the boat this time, but we have had a couple mishaps and a few boat projects.  The biggest problem we’ve had is the seizing of our solar array supports.  On Exodus, the major way we get power is through three 250 W solar panels that you can manually rotate fore and aft to track the sun (so we have our best sun days if we are pointing East or West, and since we are still in the Northern hemisphere, pointing North isn’t too bad either.)   Since we don’t have a generator, the only other way to charge the batteries is with the engines, which works fine, but adds wear and tear on the engines.  At this point, we haven’t had to run the engines just to charge batteries, but then the solar array supports seized, and we couldn’t rotate them.  Basically, each side is just two hollow stainless steel poles and you move the outer one up and down on the inner one to rotate the panels.  Tim took everything apart when we were in Santa Rosalia, and tried many different things, but couldn’t get the poles to move freely against each other, and by this time, both sides were seized.  He ended up getting new poles made when we were in San Diego, so now the old outer pole is the new inner pole, and they seem to be working well so far.

We had a couple sailing projects to work on in Santa Rosalia.  First, when tacking we tore the bottom of the gennaker, so our new standard practice is to furl/unfurl the gennaker when we tack or jibe.  The other was the mainsail stack pack.  Marsha had sewn one side while she was here, and now the other side was torn.  Unfortunately, we weren’t with Star Passage anymore and Kim’s awesome sewing machine, but there is never a shortage of helpful cruisers.  Dan from Dazzler not only loaned his sewing machine but came and did the sewing as well.  It only cost us a few beers.

Also, while in Santa Rosalia we had a little issue with our shore power connection.   The power often goes out there, and one time after coming back on, we were no longer getting power to the boat.  Tim called our resident electrical engineer, Steve from Lady Carolina, and of course, Dan from Dazzler came down to help too.  They troubleshot for a while, and finally figured out it was a breaker in Alex’s room that would blow when the water heater was on.   It just happened to be the breaker that Tim kept insisting wasn’t attached to anything, just leftover stuff from previous installations, so it took them a while to figure it out.  We still aren’t sure what’s wrong with the water heater, we just haven’t used it since then.

There is always something that needs to be fixed on a boat.  Relatively speaking, we have it pretty easy since we have a pretty new boat, but there’s always a balance to be struck between preventive and corrective maintenance.  I’ve been doing a lot of reading since being out here, and I’ve found some resources that give decent outlines of what should be done when from a preventive perspective.  So, I built a spreadsheet that lists maintenance tasks, by boat system, with the frequency it should be done, and then had it flag things that were overdue.  I forced Tim to sit down and go through it with me to add his take, and now we are better organized and know what needs to be done when.  Of course, I’m pretty sure Tim hasn’t cracked the spreadsheet since.  Oh well, you can bring a horse to water…  I think I’ll work more on my provisioning spreadsheet because I definitely use that

July 23-29, 2013

We made a whirlwind trip to San Diego in order to renew our tourist visas and buy a TON of stuff.  There were no rental cars in Santa Rosalia so Tim took the bus down to Loreto and came back with a mini-van.  We drove all the way to San Diego in one day and then had three wonderful days with friends and family amongst all of the errands.  It was a difficult trip, but it was so worth it.

There’s nothing in the logbook about this, but I distinctly remember getting hassled at a checkpoint near Ensenada where they searched our car and also my purse and found that I had a couple thousand dollars worth of pesos and they wanted to know why.  In my very broken Spanish I tried to explain that our boat is in Santa Rosalia and we were preparing to sail up to Bahia de Los Angeles for the summer where there are no ATMs so I had taken a bunch of cash for food, etc.  Over and over he asked me the same thing and over and over I tried to explain.  I’m not sure if he ever actually understood more or if he just gave up, I’m just happy he didn’t ask for a bribe.

We drove back to Santa Rosalia on July 27 and rushed around for two days in order to get off the dock as soon as we could.  I had done my research regarding customs and had put everything in a spreadsheet and calculated what I thought we would owe at the border.  When we stopped and they opened the van and saw how packed it was, and I showed them my spreadsheet I think we overwhelmed them and they just waved us on.

When we pulled into the marina in Santa Rosalia, it was the first time we had stayed in a marina since we left San Diego.  There are good and bad things about being in a marina versus anchoring out, but in Santa Rosalia, the bad was represented more than the good.  In places like La Paz and Puerto Vallarta there are luxury marinas that seem like mini-vacations within the larger cruising journey.  However, in Santa Rosalia there is one option for a marina, and it’s the small, government-run, Marina Fonatur (Singlar).  When we first pulled in it was great fun for about 2 hours.  Other cruisers we knew were already there, and they came and helped us with dock lines, then we all did the same for Lady Carolina, who came in just after us.  We all brought our safe arrival cocktails out on the dock and it was a little social gathering while we chit-chatted about recent events, made dinner plans for the evening, and joked about the very close quarters we have at the marina (no naked showering on the swim step, etc.)  However, the novelty soon wore off, and we all tried to get out of there as quickly as possible.  One of the worst parts about being in the marina was the immense heat while not being able to just jump in the water any time you want (yuck, you don’t want to swim in the harbor!)

The good things about being in a marina are: 1) Shore power, 2) Wifi, 3) Laundry facilities, 4) Dock water, and 5) Shower facilities.  In Santa Rosalia, most of these became a bit of a challenge.   With shore power we can charge the boat’s house battery bank, so we aren’t solely dependent on the sun for our power, and we can directly run AC devices (like the microwave and electronics) without using DC from the battery through an inverter.  In Santa Rosalia, I think the best thing about having shore power was that Lady Carolina had these large AC powered fans.  The boys brought one over one evening and let’s just say Tim hijacked it for a while.  We did end up buying some fans for ourselves.

They had decent wifi in the marina office but for some reason we had trouble getting it from the boat.  One OK thing about that was that the office was air-conditioned, so we would just take our devices and computers up to the office to use the internet.  The boys did that a lot.  I wonder if the marina office staff was glad when we left since those noisy kids wouldn’t be spending all their time there anymore.

Like the marina in Puerto Escondido, the laundry facilities took tokens that you had to purchase at the office.  The problem was they only had like 4 tokens for the whole marina.  Just between the two families of four (Lady Carolina and us) this was a huge problem and we weren’t the only ones in the marina.  You had to do a couple loads, then go get the marina guy to come and open the washer and dryer to get the tokens out to buy more so you could do all of your laundry.  And that’s assuming you were the one with the tokens in the first place.   I grew tired of that pretty quick and just carried our laundry to a place in town where I could just leave it and have them do it and pick it up later that day.

The dock water was nonpotable, but that was OK.  We didn’t put it in our tanks but we used it for everything else: taking showers, hosing down exodus, and hosing down ourselves in the middle of the day when we just couldn’t take the heat anymore.  We were able to purchase potable water and it was delivered in large “Sparklets” jugs and the delivery guys were unbelievably efficient in how they got the jugs on board and poured them in the tanks.

The shower facilities weren’t worth using since they didn’t have hot water, and we could just use the deck water hose dropped down the hatch of our bathroom and shower with that in our own shower.  For the most part the bathrooms and shower facilities were kept pretty clean, with the exception of the day after a huge birthday party for a little kid where clearly the adults did more partying than the kids.  The entire marina and especially the bathrooms were a disaster.

One good thing about being at a marina is it’s a good stable place to give Exodus some love and clean her off and do some boat projects.  The Exodus and Lady Carolina boys teamed up and would do work on both boats together.  Among other things, they were responsible for the care and cleaning of both dingies, and maybe working together made the chores a little more fun.   The kids were also in charge of running to the store every day or so to pick up ice and milk.  They also “hand bombed” some jerry cans to the gas station to fill using the hand carts.  They didn’t exactly do all this without a grumble, but they did do it.  And no one can say boat kids are spoiled!

Santa Rosalia is a small-town sort of wedged in a ravine with 3 main streets heading east up from the coast.  I enjoyed Santa Rosalia much more than La Paz or Loreto, but not because it was necessarily a more enjoyable town in general.  It was just that I had many more opportunities to enjoy it.  Since we were at a marina, getting to town was as easy as stepping off the boat with no wet bouncy dinghy ride required.  Plus, the town was quite close to the marina, so it was really just a short walk, although it did seem a lot longer in the blistering heat.  We had dinner out several times, and although it wasn’t gourmet, we did enjoy the evenings in air-conditioned establishments.  We did two big group dinners at a Chinese restaurant about a quarter-mile away from the marina.  I’ve never really been a huge Chinese food fan, but these were nice evenings out.  I really enjoyed a pizza place called El Muelle (The Dock) since we so rarely have pizza these days (although Lady Carolina has made excellent pizza on the boat a couple times).  El Muelle makes a pizza called El Metro (The meter) which, you guessed it, is a meter-long pizza.  They let you put up to 4 different sections of toppings, so everyone was happy.  Like every restaurant we’ve ever been to outside the U.S., service was slow, but when the beer and wine are flowing and the kids are playing cards, it’s all good.  I guess it’s just in the U.S. we have no idea how to slow down.  In addition to the air-conditioned restaurants, I’m not ashamed to admit that we visited a couple street hot dog vendors.   I love hot dogs with lots of toppings, but I did draw the line at nacho cheese.  For some reason I can eat a hot dog, no problem, but nacho cheese just grosses me out.  Our favorite place, by far, was the Splash ice cream shop.  There was one streak where I went there three days in a row.  They had rich and creamy ice cream (like Cold Stone) and waffle bowls and everything.

Provisioning was pretty easy just using my hiking backpack.  In fact, one day I made a total of four trips into town.  The people there were very friendly.  You hardly passed anyone without them saying, “hola,” or “buenas tardes.”  There was a fantastic bakery, although I never could figure out how to order non-whole wheat baguettes.  I guess they figure all the gringos like their whole wheat.  The Tortilleria in town was also excellent, in fact, I am really going to miss fresh-made tortillas when we leave Mexico.  We got to know the tiendas in town by the color of their storefronts.  The most popular were the “green store” and the “purple store.”  In fact, they became the prominent landmarks, so if you wanted to tell someone where something was, it was always so many blocks from the green store.

We had fun in Santa Rosalia, but when it was time to go, we were dying to get back out to an anchorage with a little more space between boats and the ability to swim again

Some say I have a big head, because, yes, a bird once flew into it (remember that Seinfeld episode?  Well that happened to me once).  At least I can say a fish never jumped into it.  That experience goes to Alex.  They were playing a game on Kyle’s surfboard, and we see jumping fish all the time, but this time, one jumped square into Alex’s head.  I even recorded it in the log.

I cannot exaggerate how hot it has been this summer.  Actually, the heat isn’t the worst part; the humidity is.  Many days are in the high 90s with 80% humidity.  You just get used to always being sweaty.  We stopped using the solar shower bags long ago because it’s just way too hot for hot showers.  When we were in La Paz I would have to shower by 4-5 pm so the water in the solar shower was still hot enough, because a cold shower was still rather uncomfortable.  Now, I take a shower just before bed with warm water from the tank, even on the cold setting, and often wish the water were cooler.  The shower has to be right before bed, because if you do anything at all before hopping into bed you’ll just be sweaty all over again and need another shower.  I have actually come close a couple times to giving up coffee in the morning, which is saying a lot because of how much I love coffee.  However, I couldn’t let that go, but I definitely don’t need a lid on it to keep it warm, and usually when I have about 1/3 of my cup left I throw a few ice cubes in and drink it iced.  We, well especially the boys, have started sleeping outside a lot, and they have sleepovers with the Lady Carolina boys on the net on the foredeck of Exodus.  The only thing that has kept me sane and somewhat cooled off is the fact that the water temperature has still been cool enough to be refreshing (the exception being Bahia Concepcion).  Sometimes, in the middle of doing dishes, cooking, or even just sitting there, I have simply had enough and I drop everything and run out and jump in the water.  The first time I did that I caught one of the boys by surprise and they said, “Mom, is that you?!?”  Of course, it’s so hot we all live in our swimsuits so we pretty much just jump in any time.  The boys only get one freshwater rinse a day, but I figure since I’m the mom, I can have as many as I need.

The tour of the Gypsum mine on Isla San Marcos was definitely one of the highlights so far.  We went with the Lady Carolina crew and also Dan and Kimberly of Dazzler.   The Director of the mine was named Augustus (I think, my memory is so bad…) and he was very friendly and showed us great hospitality.  The first thing we did was all pile into his pickup truck, with most of us piling into the back, and drive up to the mine offices.  There we sat in an air-conditioned conference room and first watch a movie on the history and operations of the mine, and then had a Q&A session.  Before we got there, I had told the boys that since we were taking the day off from school this was an official school field trip, so they had to pay attention and each ask at least one question.  Brenden didn’t waste any time asking his question there in the conference room asking, “Is Gypsum valuable?”  He was disappointed to learn that no, it isn’t really valuable except in very, very large quantities.

Next, we were outfitted with hard hats and masks and all hopped back into the truck.  Three people could fit in the cab of the truck, and we all kept rotating those spots since they were the coveted air-conditioned spots.  We drove all around the mine, and most of the time I was in the back of the truck, and the tour back there was given in Spanish.  I picked up some, but luckily Dan from Dazzler spoke a little more Spanish and helped fill in the holes.   He drove us all around the mine and explained how they blast the hills and then break down the gypsum to smaller and smaller pieces and showed us the miles and miles of conveyor belts.  At one stop we met two college students who were studying mining engineering and were there as summer interns.

At some point along the way we had mentioned to Augustus that we wanted to hit the tienda, but he said it closed at noon and we probably wouldn’t be done by then, so he called them and asked them to stay open for us.  So, at the end of the tour we stopped by the gymnasium and the boys shot a few hoops and then we were able to stock up a little bit at the tienda.  Then we went back to the conference room for a debrief, and to our great surprise, they brought in lunch and drinks for all of us.  Tim tried to return the hospitality by inviting Augustus out to Exodus, but unfortunately, he didn’t bite.

There are a few weather risks staying in the sea this summer. First is heat and humidity. Oh my god there have been days over 100 and all you can do is hang out in the water. One unforeseen advantage of having a catamaran is being able to hang out in the water in the shade under the boat between the hulls.

Another risk is “Chubascos” which are short duration violent squalls that can kick up with little warning in the evening or middle of the night with winds up to 50 knots with thunder and lightning. We think we had a Chubasco a couple weeks ago when we were at Isla Cornados. We had a spectacular lightning show that got very close. I went back to bed but Tim said it came as close as in the bay with us. Then the winds picked up to about 30 kts from the N, which is about the most we’ve seen at anchor so far in our trip. The worst part is the wind died and shifted to the SE but we still had swell from the North winds so we were getting rocked pretty good with swell from the side.

And of course the third risk is tropical storms/hurricanes. It’s very rare for one to come up into the sea as high as we will be going but we have to be prepared. Hurricanes can have much stronger winds but on the other hand you usually know they are coming days in advance. There have been 5 named tropical storms so far this season and the last one (Erick) made it as far north as the tip of Baja. We, well, mostly me, have become incessant weather watchers. There are radio nets with weather reports and a low bandwidth document service where you can download weather info from the national hurricane center in FLA.

Not weather-related, but something that is driving us absolutely crazy right now are the bees! They come looking for freshwater and if they find a drop they go tell all their friends and then it really gets fun. I’m not proud to say we have committed what could be considered bee genocide on more than one occasion. Most cruisers have similar stories of how they tried to help the bees or shoo them away without killing them at first, but at some point, after you have been stung a half dozen times or so, you just can’t take it anymore. Lady Carolina (our buddy kid boat) uses the vacuum cleaner on them.