Mexico or Bust
We've been getting lots and lots of questions about our upcoming little sail to Mexico, so I thought that I could keep repeating myself, or I could just answer those questions right here and now and stop myself from sounding like a broken record. So, for all of you non-sailors, sailing to Mexico is what we are going to talk about today. And before we get into all of this, keep in mind that I have lived aboard a sailboat for almost 20 years, I've sailed thousands and thousands of miles, and been out of sight of land for days on end while bobbing up and down in the middle of the ocean. With all of that, I may sound like I am an expert, but keep in mind that we've never sailed to Mexico, so really, I don't know Jack (who's Jack?).
What I do know for sure though, is that sailing to Mexico from Seattle is a slow process. It's not like hopping on a plane, taking a quick cat-nap, and then waking up in Cabo a few short hours later. We will leave Seattle sometime in August and won't actually get to Mexico until November. If you are doing the math, you are correct, it will take us a few months to get there. Not only does our boat sail amazingly slow, at about the pace of a fast jog, but there are also the typical weather patterns of the mighty Pacific Ocean that we will have to contend with and cool stuff to see along the way.
Most Northwest sailors leave sometime in August because that's when the weather off the coast of Washington and Oregon are typically the best. And surprisingly, the waters off of Washington and Oregon can be some of the roughest waters that we are likely to see on our entire trip around the world. We have friends that have encountered 40-50 knot winds and 30 foot seas on their way down the coast and we've also had other friends that have had flat calm waters with zero wind which forced them to run the motor for days on end. We are hoping for something in the middle. We don't have a firm date in August that we are trying to leave, so we will be watching the weather closely, and when a good weather window opens up, that's when we will set sail.
From Seattle, our plan at this point is to head offshore and sail directly to San Francisco. Depending on wind and weather, we are expecting 7 to 10 days of sailing around the clock before we'll sail underneath the Golden Gate Bridge and tie up to a dock in the City by the Bay.
One of the most common questions I get from non-sailors is, “What do you do at night? Where do you stop to sleep?” The easy answer is that we don't stop. There are no rest stops or hotels in the middle of the ocean, so one of us is up at all times and in charge of the boat. We will most likely work in 4 hour shifts. 4 hours on and 4 hours off. Wash, rinse, repeat...all the way down the coast.
We are thinking that we'll probably spend a little bit of time in San Francisco recuperating from our time at sea before heading farther south along the California coast. We don't have any sort of time frame of how long we'll stay in SF, but most likely it will be just long enough for us to catch up on sleep, visit some friends, and see some of the sites. We'll watch for another weather window and then head back to sea.
South of San Francisco is where we are more interested in exploring the coast line. Not only is the weather typically warmer, but there are the Channel Islands to explore, great beaches to surf and paddle board at, and finally, San Diego. We'll work our way down the coast and end up hanging around San Diego until the end of Mexico's Hurricane season, which officially ends on October 31st. Once another weather window opens up, we'll head back to sea and make our way into Mexican waters where I'm sure we'll quickly learn how terrible our Spanish is.
Another common question we get is “How long are you going to be in Mexico and what town are you going to stay in?” The first part of that question is difficult to answer because we don't really know how long we'll be there. We are somewhat committed to a minimum of a 6 month stay because that is how the weather patterns work. However, my best guess is that we'll most likely be in Mexico for about a year before we set sail for distant shores. We'll figure it out as we go, and if we are loving it in Mexico we'll stay longer, if we aren't enjoying ourselves, we'll leave sooner. It's an easy plan.
The second part of that question is easy to answer. We aren't planning on staying in any one town or in any one anchorage for very long. We want to see everything possible so we plan on moving whenever we feel like we've seen enough of the place we are at. We have 2 reasons for this. First, we are easily bored and don't sit still very well, and second and even more importantly, there is just too much out there to see and do so we don't want to waste time staring at the same place for very long. Brenda calls this the 3 G's of traveling. Get there, Get it done, and Get out of there. It works for us.
We are planning on exploring as much of the country as possible and that means that there are times when we will tie the boat up at a secure dock so we can leave the boat behind and travel inland. Other times we will be anchoring out and living off of the sea. Mexico not only has interesting towns, a vibrant culture, and ancient historical sites, it also has the Sea of Cortez which holds one of the most diverse marine wildlife populations in the world. Again, we want to see and do everything possible.
Another thing that a lot of people don't seem to understand is how we've been gone for almost 2 years but we are still here in the good ol' United States. I have run into people that I haven't seen for a while who ask, “Did you already sail around the world?” Well, no. At 2 years into our trip, we are just getting started. Sure, we've seen and done a lot in 2 years, and we've visited far off and distant countries, but we have just barely scratched the surface on what's out there.
I often tell people that we are sailing around the world because that's an easy way to describe our journey but it's really not accurate in the slightest. 20 years ago, when I first started dreaming about this trip, I wanted to actually sail around the world. I wanted to be able to say that I completely circled the globe on a sailboat and I wanted the glory that somehow that act would provide. These days, I really don't care about actually circling the globe on a little boat. My focus is to see, smell, taste and touch the world and all it has to offer with my own senses rather than reading about it in a book or looking at it on a screen and the sailboat is just a mode of travel that will get us to some of these places that would otherwise be impossible for us to reach.
Some people don't seem to understand what we are trying to accomplish with our little adventure, and to be honest, I probably don't really understand it either. The best way I can describe what we are doing is to tell you that we are living a lifestyle. We aren't set on any destination or even any one goal, but rather a way of living. And Mexico is another step on our journey of living a different type of lifestyle that is not only challenging but rewarding as well.
In a little over 3 months, we will be on our way down the coast. So, what are we going to do until then? The next thing on our list is to install our new mast and get a bunch of maintenance completed on the boat. The mast is supposed to ship next week, so once it leaves the factory in California, we'll race up to Seattle and spend a couple of weeks working on the boat to get it ready to head out into the mighty Pacific Ocean. We are having a hard time making plans after the boat work, because mainly, we don't really know how long that boat work is going to take. Our main focus is going to be making the rounds to visit with family and friends before we leave the country for a really long time. We have some other fun things on our list of stuff we want to do, but we aren't sure if time will allow for everything before we need to set sail. As always, we'll keep you posted.
Here are a few photos from our last couple of weeks.
What I do know for sure though, is that sailing to Mexico from Seattle is a slow process. It's not like hopping on a plane, taking a quick cat-nap, and then waking up in Cabo a few short hours later. We will leave Seattle sometime in August and won't actually get to Mexico until November. If you are doing the math, you are correct, it will take us a few months to get there. Not only does our boat sail amazingly slow, at about the pace of a fast jog, but there are also the typical weather patterns of the mighty Pacific Ocean that we will have to contend with and cool stuff to see along the way.
Most Northwest sailors leave sometime in August because that's when the weather off the coast of Washington and Oregon are typically the best. And surprisingly, the waters off of Washington and Oregon can be some of the roughest waters that we are likely to see on our entire trip around the world. We have friends that have encountered 40-50 knot winds and 30 foot seas on their way down the coast and we've also had other friends that have had flat calm waters with zero wind which forced them to run the motor for days on end. We are hoping for something in the middle. We don't have a firm date in August that we are trying to leave, so we will be watching the weather closely, and when a good weather window opens up, that's when we will set sail.
From Seattle, our plan at this point is to head offshore and sail directly to San Francisco. Depending on wind and weather, we are expecting 7 to 10 days of sailing around the clock before we'll sail underneath the Golden Gate Bridge and tie up to a dock in the City by the Bay.
One of the most common questions I get from non-sailors is, “What do you do at night? Where do you stop to sleep?” The easy answer is that we don't stop. There are no rest stops or hotels in the middle of the ocean, so one of us is up at all times and in charge of the boat. We will most likely work in 4 hour shifts. 4 hours on and 4 hours off. Wash, rinse, repeat...all the way down the coast.
We are thinking that we'll probably spend a little bit of time in San Francisco recuperating from our time at sea before heading farther south along the California coast. We don't have any sort of time frame of how long we'll stay in SF, but most likely it will be just long enough for us to catch up on sleep, visit some friends, and see some of the sites. We'll watch for another weather window and then head back to sea.
South of San Francisco is where we are more interested in exploring the coast line. Not only is the weather typically warmer, but there are the Channel Islands to explore, great beaches to surf and paddle board at, and finally, San Diego. We'll work our way down the coast and end up hanging around San Diego until the end of Mexico's Hurricane season, which officially ends on October 31st. Once another weather window opens up, we'll head back to sea and make our way into Mexican waters where I'm sure we'll quickly learn how terrible our Spanish is.
Another common question we get is “How long are you going to be in Mexico and what town are you going to stay in?” The first part of that question is difficult to answer because we don't really know how long we'll be there. We are somewhat committed to a minimum of a 6 month stay because that is how the weather patterns work. However, my best guess is that we'll most likely be in Mexico for about a year before we set sail for distant shores. We'll figure it out as we go, and if we are loving it in Mexico we'll stay longer, if we aren't enjoying ourselves, we'll leave sooner. It's an easy plan.
The second part of that question is easy to answer. We aren't planning on staying in any one town or in any one anchorage for very long. We want to see everything possible so we plan on moving whenever we feel like we've seen enough of the place we are at. We have 2 reasons for this. First, we are easily bored and don't sit still very well, and second and even more importantly, there is just too much out there to see and do so we don't want to waste time staring at the same place for very long. Brenda calls this the 3 G's of traveling. Get there, Get it done, and Get out of there. It works for us.
We are planning on exploring as much of the country as possible and that means that there are times when we will tie the boat up at a secure dock so we can leave the boat behind and travel inland. Other times we will be anchoring out and living off of the sea. Mexico not only has interesting towns, a vibrant culture, and ancient historical sites, it also has the Sea of Cortez which holds one of the most diverse marine wildlife populations in the world. Again, we want to see and do everything possible.
Another thing that a lot of people don't seem to understand is how we've been gone for almost 2 years but we are still here in the good ol' United States. I have run into people that I haven't seen for a while who ask, “Did you already sail around the world?” Well, no. At 2 years into our trip, we are just getting started. Sure, we've seen and done a lot in 2 years, and we've visited far off and distant countries, but we have just barely scratched the surface on what's out there.
I often tell people that we are sailing around the world because that's an easy way to describe our journey but it's really not accurate in the slightest. 20 years ago, when I first started dreaming about this trip, I wanted to actually sail around the world. I wanted to be able to say that I completely circled the globe on a sailboat and I wanted the glory that somehow that act would provide. These days, I really don't care about actually circling the globe on a little boat. My focus is to see, smell, taste and touch the world and all it has to offer with my own senses rather than reading about it in a book or looking at it on a screen and the sailboat is just a mode of travel that will get us to some of these places that would otherwise be impossible for us to reach.
Some people don't seem to understand what we are trying to accomplish with our little adventure, and to be honest, I probably don't really understand it either. The best way I can describe what we are doing is to tell you that we are living a lifestyle. We aren't set on any destination or even any one goal, but rather a way of living. And Mexico is another step on our journey of living a different type of lifestyle that is not only challenging but rewarding as well.
In a little over 3 months, we will be on our way down the coast. So, what are we going to do until then? The next thing on our list is to install our new mast and get a bunch of maintenance completed on the boat. The mast is supposed to ship next week, so once it leaves the factory in California, we'll race up to Seattle and spend a couple of weeks working on the boat to get it ready to head out into the mighty Pacific Ocean. We are having a hard time making plans after the boat work, because mainly, we don't really know how long that boat work is going to take. Our main focus is going to be making the rounds to visit with family and friends before we leave the country for a really long time. We have some other fun things on our list of stuff we want to do, but we aren't sure if time will allow for everything before we need to set sail. As always, we'll keep you posted.
Here are a few photos from our last couple of weeks.
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| The "Fire Wave" at Valley of Fire in Nevada |
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| An old Box Car at the Rhyolite Ghost Town near Death Valley |
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| The desert was in full bloom. |
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| We took some dam pictures at the Hoover Dam |
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| Hiking the historic Santiam Wagon Road. |
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