Home

Well, it's true. We are back in Seattle. After hearing of my uncle's passing, we made a left turn when we were halfway across the Sea of Cortez and made our way to Mazatlan. Mazatlan was the closest port to us with a safe and secure place to store the boat and an airport for us to fly home. And yes, we made it home after a brief layover in Minneapolis of all places. Although Seattle doesn't feel like home anymore. Home feels like wherever our boat is, so I guess that means Mazatlan is home for now.

Even though we were trying to high tail it back to Seattle to be with family and take care of a laundry list of odds and ends, there was a bunch of stuff that needed to happen before we could leave. A marina had to be found that our home-sweet-home could sit in for an undetermined amount of time, flights needed to be booked, and boat maintenance had to happen. The water maker needed to be pickled, the boat needed to be cleaned up after our passage across the Sea of Cortez (the boat is always an utter disaster after any time at sea), and everything that isn't bolted down had to be locked up. And in between all of those things, we needed to explore a little bit of Mazatlan. It was our new home after all.

We had no original intention of ever setting foot in Mazatlan. Even though we try our best to see everything, everything isn't possible and Mazatlan didn't make the cut of intended stops. But since we were there and it's a place that was new to us, it had been moved up our list and was now a must see.

The first and most important thing I can tell you about Mazatlan is that it's hot and muggy. We had just come from La Paz and the Baja Peninsula which is a desert. It's warm and dry over there. Mazatlan is a bit farther south and officially in the Tropics and it unmistakably feels like it. It feels like you just entered an oven after stepping out of a shower. We nicknamed the place “duct tape” because we both felt like we were wrapped in it - we were always hot and sticky. Stepping off of the plane in Seattle in the middle of winter after leaving our new home of tropical Duct Tape made my nuts freeze completely off (you may be thinking that Brenda took my nuts years ago so how could they freeze off??? Well, touche, touche).

We had a huge amount of stuff to take care of before we left for Seattle so we didn't get a ton of time to wander aimlessly, but what we saw of the place was pretty great. If there is one thing we've learned in our time as travelers, it's that every place has something to see. Some places are more interesting than others, but still, every place has something. I wouldn't say Mazatlan is our favorite place on earth by any means, but I will say we are really glad we stopped there and saw it. Hopefully we'll have a bit more time to roam around when we get back to our floating home-sweet-home after our time in Seattle.

I actually had a point when I started writing this a few days ago, but we've been so busy trying to catch up with family and friends for the last few days that I haven't had the time to finish this rambling. So, I've decided to change directions and just answer some of the questions that are being asked every time we see someone new. To our family and friends that we are going to hopefully be seeing in the next little bit, read up and pay attention, because when we see you, we'd like to not do all the talking – we'd like to hear about you too.

Let's get started:

Why are we here in the middle of the worst winter Seattle has had in years? My uncle passed away. Try to keep up. And yes, it was unexpected, and yes, I am sad about it.

How long are we going to be here? As long as it takes to get the family stuff taken care of. We booked a one way ticket here. We are guessing a couple/few weeks.

Where is the boat and is it safe/secure? It's at a marina in Mazatlan behind a locked gate, we feel just fine about it sitting there, and it costs about $550 per month (not too bad) to have it tied up at a dock.

How do we like Mexico? We absolutely love it! It's better than we could have ever dreamed about. We'll expand on that in person, but yeah, it's been incredible.

How is the food and do we have constant diarrhea? Yes, that is one of the most common questions and the quick answer is that the food is phenomenal and cheap. No, Montezuma's revenge is not a problem. When we are in a place that has restaurants, we eat out as much as possible. One of the best things about traveling is the food. Especially when we can have an amazing meal for the both of us for about $5-10 US. That includes drinks folks. It's amazing and be careful with the salsa. It will melt your face off.

Do we have a problem finding groceries and fresh produce? No. An amazing fact that you might not be aware of is that wherever there are people, there is food. People eat. Sometimes in the smaller towns and especially the villages, things are not plentiful, but we can still eat. Modifying your diet and recipes to what's available is key, and our boat is usually re-stocked pretty well with most necessities every time we get to a real city. We can carry months worth of food on board.

How is the fishing and can we survive off of the sea? If the boat is moving, we are fishing. We catch a lot of fish but unfortunately, the majority of what we catch isn't something that is edible or palatable. If you have ever tried skipjack, you'll know what I mean. It tastes like rotten fish smells. It's horrendous. Most of what we hook get's thrown back in the ocean and we watch it swim away. If we kill something as we are bringing it in, I'll eat it. Even if it tastes terrible.

Are we worried about crime, the drug cartel, and violence in Mexico? Nope. We haven't felt even the slightest bit threatened or scared. Not the slightest. The big key here is that we aren't a rival gang and we aren't making drug deals. That is where the vast majority of violence is happening. For petty crime, like theft and such, common sense goes a long way. Just like in Seattle or wherever you live, we don't leave our door unlocked when we are off of the boat and we don't walk around at night while waving a handful of cash out in the open with a sign on our backs saying, “look at me! I have a handful of cash and I'm waving it around!” If we are anchored in front of a big city, we hoist our dinghy out of the water at night so temptation to take our dinghy is minimized and we lock the outboard to the boat. Common sense is key.

Have we been in any terrible storms and were we scared? We've been in 40+ knots of breeze and 20+ foot seas, the motion of the boat was violent and miserable, but we weren't scared. We were extremely uncomfortable, but scared hasn't been the case. We trust the boat and our abilities. And really, scared has no place out there. If you are scared and panicking, that's where mistakes happen and that's when you can get in trouble.

Where are we going next? We have no idea. The world is our oyster as they say, and there are too many possibilities to contemplate. We are trying to see all we want to see in Mexico and then we'll move on. We are most likely going to head south from Mexico through Central America and then either take a right or a left, across the Pacific or through the Panama Canal. But that decision is about a year away.

How long are we going to be doing this? As long as it takes, as long as we are enjoying it, and as long as we have the money to continue. At the moment, I can't see doing anything else. There is too much to see out there and we are having too much fun.

How is the boat working? Great (knock on wood). No current issues to report, although little things always pop up. It's a boat after all.

Any boat gear that we can't live without or that's made life onboard easier? The water maker is a necessity for us. Not only do we have unlimited clean drinking water in a place that's not known for such things, but being able to take showers and do laundry makes life grand. We are the cleanest smelling cruisers around. And our Rocna anchor is pretty great too. We've been anchored in 40+ knots without a care in the world (other than all the noise and motion the 40 knots creates). Oh yeah, our folding bikes are amazing. If we are in a place where we can ride them, we use them. They open up a whole lot of area that our feet alone couldn't get to. We have put hundreds of miles on those little bikes and have thoroughly enjoyed them.

Any boat gear we wish we had? A wind generator/more solar and a better dinghy. We have 2 – 135 watt solar panels that keep up with power demands if we are anchored and there is plenty of sun. If we are on a passage, that will keep up with navigation and autopilot needs during the day (again if there is plenty of sun), but at night or if it's not a great sun day, we are severely lacking. It's pretty frustrating to be sailing along with plenty of breeze but have to either run the generator or engine to make power. I despise having to make power when there is plenty of it around that just needs to be harnessed. We have been debating on whether or not to add more solar/wind. Our dinghy works pretty well except that it's an extremely wet ride. A deeper V and larger tubes would do wonders for keeping us and our gear dry. When our current dinghy wears out, a new one will be happily purchased.

How do we access weather forecasts? Our lives revolve around weather. We pull weather daily. We need to know where the wind is coming from and how strong it's going to be for everything from anchoring, sailing, motoring, fun, and general comfort. We live by it. If we have cell phone coverage (rare), we use Windyty.com (it's been one of the most accurate sources), predictwind.com, and a couple others that I can't remember right now, we can load weather from our Delorme and Iridium, but the most reliable and most used is our SSB (for you non sailors, it's like a ham radio). We pull weather using sail mail and sail docs. We try to get as much data as possible from different sources and then do our best to decipher the mismatch of info and then make a judgment call on what we think it's going to be like. We have become our own weather gurus and no we don't use any sort of weather routing/route planning service.

Is there anything we miss? Other than family and friends, it's definitely high speed internet. Actually any speed internet. Sometimes we would sell our spouse for old fashion dial up. In the 2 ½ months we've been in Mexico, we have had reliable internet access for about 8 days and speedy doesn't come into the equation. Sad but true.

When and where can I visit? We have a spare bedroom with your name on it. When? Anytime. Where? Well, that's a tougher one to answer. I know most people schedule their vacations months in advance. Sure, schedule some time with us. But don't buy your flight until just before you come. It's impossible for us to say we'll be in x place on x date at x time when that is 6 months away. There are too many variables when cruising to pinpoint those things. We would love to have you and we'll get to a place that's easy for you to fly to, but, we won't know where that is until a couple of weeks before you come.

That's about it for now. We are doing our best to visit with everyone we can while we are here, but unfortunately we won't have time for everyone. If we don't get to you, know that it's because we just don't care about you. There are other people that are more important. Just kidding. We are doing our best and we love you all. Peace out for now.

After a few days at sea, we anchored for a day in front of Mazatlan until we could arrange a marina.

Yup, we made it to Mazatlan.

Mazatlan has a pretty amazing market that rivals Pike Place in Seattle. Although there are a whole lot more colorful smells here. Everything from street food to the fish monger to the butcher has a powerful smell.

The inside of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. It's more grand in person.

Some repairs happening to the exterior of the Cathedral. Still pretty grand.

One of Mazatlan's famous fountains.

If you figured this photo out, you are a sailor. Yes, we are moored about 1/4 mile inland and 1/2 mile from where the boat is actually sitting. Charts are almost useless here. We've sailed past more than just a few uncharted massive islands, we've anchored inland, and depths are always off. We have a few different chart options and they all differ.