Troy's blogging

Ahhh...where did I leave off? I think my last entry found us in Zihuatanejo. I was trying to find a Honda generator for the boat and I was lamenting the sewer smell in the bay. I decided that I should clean the bottom of the boat again before we left for Acapulco. This is a rather tedious process that entails me holding my breath with a snorkel while I scrape all manner of growth (barnacles, algae, mussels, etc...) from the bottom. I use a plastic paint scraper and a green scrubby pad. Every square inch of the bottom will usually need at least a wipe if not a scrape. With a little luck, I can do the whole boat in about two hours. This time was no different other than a thick coat of algae at the water line. Two hours later I was done with my task and other than a quick shower, we were good to go-or so I thought...As I climbed up the ladder to the transom shower, I noticed lots of small shrimp like creatures all over me. In addition to these, there were 20-30 clear, pea sized crabs climbing around. They were everywhere-my hair, my body, under my swim trunks! You can imagine the giggling “you’ve got crabs!” coming from Brady’s corner. After a long shower and careful inspection, I was crab free. Oops, I spoke too soon. As I shook the last bit of water from my ears, I could hear movement from within my right ear and OUCH it bit too. Great...A quick call to our friends on Sapphire over the VHF yielded a few more giggles, but a solution to the “how do I remove a small crab from my ear canal” question. A capful of hydrogen peroxide in the ear and a quick shake and voila! The final trespasser was removed. I was definitely ready to leave for Acapulco. We toasted the evening with friends Luke, Megan, Jeff, Amber and little Carden, who would be heading North to the Sea of Cortez. Craig and Bruce from Gato Go also gave us a send off. Thanks everyone! The following morning, we were all set and Luke brought over his laptop to give us the weather report from passage weather. He informed us that the wind would not arrive until Friday (it was Wednesday), but we had the itch to leave. We were only headed South 6 miles to a marginal anchorage at Potosi. If the wind or swell picked up from North-ish, we would have to pass on this one and head 33 miles further to the South to a breakwater protected anchorage called Papanoa. First, to you Luke, pitch the passage weather:) After motoring toward Potosi, the wind built steadily to 30 knots from the North-ish (directly behind us). We decided that we would have to head to Papanoa, but we needed to get some sails up. In this wind, I opted for a double reef in the main and a few turns shy of the full genoa just in case. We had to nose into the wind for this and the waves seemed much more exciting this way. Anyway, back downwind and we were moving right along at up to 11.6 knots (a new record)! As the wind slowed, we shook out the reefs and managed to make it to Papanoa by sundown. Papanoa was a three block long peninsula town with a nice beach. We had 25 knots of wind through the anchorage the second night, so I put out another anchor just in case. The following morning, we decided to head for Acapulco, which would probably require an overnight. We motored the first four hours to charge the batteries and top off the water tanks. The wind came around and we sailed well until the start of Brady’s watch at 2000. The wind promptly died and Brady had to rouse me to help take down the sails. We fired up the engine and I went back to bed. At 2230, I came up to check on Brady and ended up taking over so she could get some rest. We pulled into Acapulco Bay around 0300 and I was ready for some sleep. There is an Island called Isla Roqueta on the way into the bay, but we were hoping for a spot near the Marina. As we entered, the trash could be seen floating in the water and the smell wasn’t great either. I was not about to do that again, so back to Isla Roqueta. We anchored in 50’ feet of water and got some much needed sleep. Since then, we have procured the generator I wanted, visited a lighthouse, seen petroglyphs from ages past, toured a colonial spanish fort from the 1600’s, seen the city, and have basically taken it all in. Acapulco is a city of 1 million+ and is probably the last big city we will see in awhile. We are waiting for a care package from my mom and hope to head South again soon, with stops planned in Punta Galera, Puerto Escondido, Puerto Angel, Huatulco, and Puerto Madero. I will update when I can and hope everyone is well.

Ta-Ta for now,

Troy

A few words from the crew

Samantha-

Being on the boat is such an adventure. Some of the dolphins that we see in the dark flash with little speckles of light because there are tiny plankton that give off light when they are disturbed. Every time we see dolphins in the front when it is not dark my mom tries to hang off the front and touch them. My mom goes crazy every time we see dolphins. We all do. Except for dad. Since we are on a boat we see so many different things than we did at home. I say that because one time I got up in the morning and a few minutes later the dolphins greeted me. We have met so many people on boats that we might not see again. That is a bummer but we meet new people every where we go. Today my dad thought he saw a baby turtle, turned out it was a coconut shell. Even I mistake a bird from a dolphin fin. I miss every one but would not trade it.

Emily-

I saw a raccoon on a leash in Mexico that was cool. I learned how to roll my r’s. I love Mexico. We went to Dairy Queen in Manzanillo and Wal-Mart. Right now we are in Papanoa. We have been to a lot of places in Mexico. We haven’t been to any other places besides Mexico. Our sail attracts dolphins. We go sailing a lot. I like sailing. Everywhere we go is very interesting. I like a lot of places. The boat is the best and I love the boat.

Ashley-

I like what I do in Mexico. I like all the dolphins. We are in Popanoa right now. We go everywhere. We go to town a lot. I like to go to town. We meet lots of people. We met people on boats called Ohana, Sapphire and Rockstar. They were cool people on boats. I like swimming by the boat. Zihuatanejo’s water was very dirty. I like the palapas everywhere in Mexico.

Brady-

How do I follow the girls with stories of racoons, dolphins and rockstars???? They have really summed up our traveling life well. Everyday is different from the next, no monotony what so ever. We have started doing overnight sailing which is still a challenge for me, since up till now I have pretty much let Troy sail the boat. OPPS! I guess I should have been paying a little more attention. So, now I just wake Troy for every little change in the night. “ Troy, the boat is rocking and the sail is flogging!!! WHAT DO I DO!” as I shake his leg. You get the point and Troy misses out on the sleep. I have to say my last overnight went much better, but that could be because we motored the whole night with no wind. So, tonight is the next overnight and I will try to keep you posted on the improvement of my skills, since they can only get better from here.

Merry X-mas and a Happy New Year!

Marina Las Hadas, originally uploaded by seaparents.

Hello All,

We hope everyone had a Happy Holidays and finds everyone well. We are currently in Zihuatanejo. The trip was very uneventful. After Barra de Navidad, we were off to Manzanillo, which was only a day trip. We anchored outside of beautiful Marina Las Hadas and cleared into Mexico officially as Seaparents. We stayed for several days while I searched for a generator to no avail. We finally left because of the 8 or so ski boats and jet skis that were playing a game called let's see how close we can come to hitting the catamaran. We prepared ourselves for our first overnight sail and hoped to be in Marina Ixtapa in 36 hours or so. The first night went well with Brady and I alternating 4 hour watches. The bad part was the lack of wind. We motored for about 8 hours the first day/night. The following day, we also made no progress and around 2 A.M. I opted to tuck into the nearest anchorage (Maruata cove) for some rest. We left the following morning under power again and motored most of the way to another anchorage (Caleta de Campos). We were going to stick around to check out the town, but the wind came up to around 15 knots and we were off. We sailed at 6 knots for most of the day, but again we found ourselves floating on a vast lake. Motoring again through the night we made Ixtapa on the morning of the fourth day. Hoping to get a hot shower and a marina slip proved to be not possible as they could not accommodate the width of our boat, so off to Zihuatanejo, which was an hours motor to the South. We thought we could park it for awhile, but for all you would be vacationers, pass on Z-watt. The water in the bay is green and raw sewage flows in from the river. I was still hoping for a generator, but after filling up on diesel, water, gasoline and food, we will be off to Acapulco with two intermediate stops along the way beginning tomorrow or the next day. The weather is balmy, the family is doing great and we still are waiting to hear from many of you via text message, e-mail or skype regarding the latest updates and rumors from home. Glen, thanks for the text, keep em' coming. To Jimmy Leo, sorry to ruin it for you, but the hair policy out here is way better than back home. Ha! Hasta Luego for now,

Los Vagabundos Medinas