Jessica – Page 61 – Matt & Jessica's Sailing Page

Pizza and a Sunset

Thursday January 23, 2014

There still isn’t much to update here in Isla Mujeres. Â We keep looking for a weather window to get ourselves to Florida, and they keep disappearing as soon as we get hope that there’s something on the horizon. Â We’ve actually been spending a lot of time on the boat, really enjoying ourselves here now that we have a fast internet connection. Â Couple that with the sun keeping our batteries pretty full lately, and we’ve been electronic maniacs for the past few days. Â Tool around on the internet in the morning, read a book and catch some rays on deck in the afternoon, prepare a tasty meal and enjoy in while watching a movie at night, and then maybe a little more internet time before hitting the sack at night.

Tonight I decided that we needed to get off the boat to finally do something more than grocery shopping. Â Matt suggested we try one of the pizzas over at Marina Paraiso. Â Luki and Elmari had told us the portions are very big, along with the pizza itself being really good. Â Plus, since we land our dinghy there every 2-3 days and haven’t actually given them any business since having lunch with Lee and Amanda about 10 days ago, we figured they were due some of our cash.

The nights here have been getting a little bit cooler, enough for me to start nagging Matt that I need to pull out the down comforter that had just been stored away when we were leaving Guatemala. Â Donning long pants and t-shirts, we went to the open air bar/restaurant, and put our orders in for pizza and beer. Â While glancing back and forth at the many tv screens playing various sporting events, the wind was still kicking up and making it a very chilly evening. Â As soon as the pizza was set in front of us we quickly picked up the piping hot pieces to keep our hands warm, but couldn’t seem to stick around any longer than when we’d had our fill. Â As Matt was paying the tab and getting the remaining, truly generous portions, boxed up, I snuck away to the docks to get in some photos of that night’s sunset.

Matt kind of likes to mock me each time I run out with my camera to do this, but really, do amazing sunsets ever get old?

The Wanderers

Saturday January 18, 2014

We finally moved ourselves out of the small depressing hole that is the lagoon, and back into the main harbor. The weather was good enough for us to do this days ago, but the fact that we were getting internet on the boat there made it very hard to leave. It’s so nice being back out in the harbor though, the sun shines a little brighter, the water is much cleaner, and now thanks to Lee, we can get internet out here as well. Life is pretty perfect. I do feel a little bad though that we’ve now spent over three weeks on this island and haven’t fully explored it yet. I’m sure we’ll get there in stages, so today we decided just to take a leisurely stroll before hitting the grocery store in the afternoon. Instead of doing the large 1-2 week stocks like we used to, we found out in Guatemala that it’s much easier just to buy for the next 3-4 days. Something that forces us to get off the boat, and keeps our waterline just a little bit higher.

On our way in we decided that instead of filling up on carbs through the various muffins, cookies, and rolls that we’ve been buying dirt cheap at the store, we would try and hit this taco stand right next to where we land our boat, one that has always sold out of food by the time we walk by it in the late afternoon. After looking through the many varieties of ways she could make up our food, we put in our orders and enjoyed them under the shade of a palm tree nearby.

Matt said my Spanish is getting much better, but I’ve just realized that’s because instead of trying to put together elaborate sentences that I don’t know how to conjugate I’m going for very simple fragmented sentences instead. Two chicken and two of those (point at one of many pork dishes). With everything. One Coke and one Pepsi. How much for everything? Thank you. To the woman working the stand I must have sounded like a struggling preschool student, but to Matt I sounded like a Spanish speaking goddess. All he saw was that I was actually able to get my point across, and was understood. Which I guess in the end is all that matters. Until I finally have enough battery charge to keep my computer going for more than 4 hours a day (these blog posts are really time consuming! (ok, and Facebook)), and I can get back to my Spanish lessons.

When we finished with our food we didn’t really have a certain area in mind that we wanted to check out, so we fell through the back streets until we eventually ended up at the Melecon that lines the east side of the island. I was hoping that some of the large 3 meter waves that were supposedly rolling through during the last storm would still be there, crashing up against the rocks, but we were just left with the easterly trades throwing up a little bit of spray here and there.

Taking a left we starting making our way to a small sandy beach ahead, one much less crowded than north beach, but with a few people still taking in the afternoon sun. There were a few wading pools to go in and cool off, although the red flags were flying which meant it probably wasn’t a good day to try. The area reminded me a little bit of the Bahamas, all the jagged coral edges we’d tiptoe around while exploring uninhabited islands there. On our way down to the beach, Matt even found a little dog that wanted to be his best friend, and if it wasn’t for the collar on his neck, we probably would have tried to take him with us.

Walking all the way until the beach ended, we found a little trail through the sand and rocks until it dropped us off at the beginning of North Beach on the east side of the island, right next to the Avalon Hotel, a landmark that many sailors coming from the north use to first spot the island. It looked like a beautiful place that had perfect turquoise waters with sandy bottoms for families and little kids to safely swim in.

As we wandered further up, we came across parts of the beach that we had never seen before, never having ventured that far down. Today, there was one area set aside for a wedding, dozens of chairs set up and a canopy perfectly framing the white sand and clear waters behind it. Each seat a a maraca lain down on it, a little present for each guest attending. Not that I didn’t love my ‘destination’ wedding in Vegas, but had we been a little bit older and willing to part with a little more money for the even, this would have totally been the way to go. It was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. Whomever you are, Matt and Emily, you made a great choice by planning your wedding here. I was almost tempted to force Matt to run me back to the ‘Dip so I could throw on a dress and crash the thing. Guess I’ll just have to come more prepared next time. Start your journey to matrimony in style; experience your dream wedding with Designed Dream and cherish every moment, for more, please visit: https://www.designeddream.com/destination-weddings/. And if you’re looking for a wedding photographer, Stacy Smith Studios does Rhode Island wedding photography. You may also consider getting the services of professional wedding photographers Northern Virginia.

Ten minutes later, we had made our way across the whole North Beach and were back to the main street with all the vendors and tourists just getting off the ferry. Our whole wandering experience had taken less than an hour. I looked at Matt and pathetically muttered, “We are the worst wanderers ever, we couldn’t even make it two hours”. Then he corrected me. “No, that just makes us good wanderers. We don’t get distracted”. I guess that’s one way of looking at the glass half full.

Run Ins and Waterspouts

Wednesday January 15, 2014

Isla Mujeres has not stopped providing it’s excitement at anchor. Â I just happened to be looking out one of the deadlights today at just the right time and saw this waterspout. Â At first I was worried about where it might be going, but then I realized that it was still in the Caribbean Sea and would have to cross over land before making it to either the lagoon where we were anchored, or the main harbor. Â We kept our eye on it as it swept closer to us from the sea, but as soon as it did come up on land the whole thing dissipated within moments.

There was also one more act of excitement since we’ve been sitting in the lagoon here. Â A few days ago, before we removed our second anchor, another sailboat passing through the channel caught it. Â I had just laid down for an afternoon nap up in the v-berth, when all of a sudden I heard a loud noise and a tugging motion. Â Tossing over, I tore out of bed and ran up the companionway just after Matt to see the other boat which now had our pulpit in their lifelines. Â Luckily we didn’t get tangled and they were able to push themselves off right away. Â However, they still had our anchor line attached to them in one way or another, and the two of us were sure it was around their prop. Â The other boat owner stated he thought it was on his keel and he wanted to reverse.

With our high test 5/16ths G4 anchor line possibly about to get shredded if it was not in fact just around his keel, we’d be out one really nice set of line. Â Eventually he let the current push him back a little where we found out that it was thankfully only wrapped up in his keel. Â Soon they were off and yelled their apologies back to us, stating that they’d come back with beer to make up for the trouble. Â So far we have not seen them again.

I’m starting to think that Isla is rejecting us and giving us hints to leave as soon as possible. Â With all of our friends also leaving now, there really isn’t a reason to stay. Â As soon as a window of three to four days of south and/or west winds come up, we.are.outta.here.

Our Last Dinner with Skebenga

Tuesday January 14, 2013

Tonight we had our last dinner with Luki and Elmari for what could be the last time ever. Â After one more front passes through tomorrow, they’ll be on their way to Cuba, and up to Cape Canaveral to sell Skebenga and move back to South Africa. Â Their adventure is soon to be over.

In true Skebenga style, they invited us over to their boat where one last extraordinary meal would be prepared and we’d all act like this was just a short term separation, because there is no way the fates could keep us away forever. Â We’ve become family now, a bond formed by the sea, and it won’t be an easy one to break, even when each of us is once again stranded on land.

For our last night together I had Luki share with me his absolute to die for recipe for spaghetti and meatballs. Â I remember eating this meal for the first time on the roof top deck of Luis’ boat back in Guatemala, and ever since I have been desperate to find out how to make it myself. Â Armed with my camera and a notebook, I followed Luki around the galley, scribbling on my paper each time he made a movement. Â When the balls of meat had been placed in the pan to simmer, and the tomato sauce was added shortly later, there was nothing left to do but sit and wait for it to cook, enjoying a glass of wine in the process. Â Now there’s something I know how to do very well.

Matt, still trying to knock 80% off the price of Skebenga so we could buy it ourselves, kept remarking on how well built it is, even having me take photos of the floor because ‘Our next boat needs to have them’. Â Putting on our sweetest faces, we tried to get Luki and Elmari to give it up for charity (us), but they’re pretty keen on actually collecting the money so they can start their new life on land.

When the food was ready we all moved up to the cockpit and enjoyed great food and conversation under the stars. Â Since Luki and Elmari were no longer going to the Med to leave their boat stored for six months of the year (their original plan), they loaded us up with all their guide books and recommendations of places to go. Â We found that we can take the boat up a river in Italy to get just outside of Rome, and Mallorca is such a beautiful place that it’s hard to get there and not set down roots. Â We were also entranced with stories about Morocco and camel rides through the desert. Â Once again, the desire to keep moving and see new things was bubbling up, and a three to four week trip across the Atlantic seems well worth the spoils.

After dinner we savored a few sips of wine that Elmari only brought out on Special occasions. Â Once that was gone we knew we needed to follow suit, although I was ready to cuddle up in Skebenga and stay there forever. Â We said partial goodbyes, but knew we’d get the final one just before Luki and Elmari leave for good on Thursday. Â I’m already beginning to formulate a plan to see them in Florida since I know I won’t even be able to make it a month without seeing them. Â Besides, it would be completely rude of us not to take them out to dinner to repay them for the fifteen guidebooks that were just handed over to us.

Â They’re not even cooked and they look delicious!

Â Matt and his Nalgene bottle of Coke. Â He can’t go anywhere without it.

Dinner on Jargo

Friday January 10, 2014

I have to admit it,Â we (or at least me) kind of have a crush on the crew of Jargo. We haven’t met any new faces in a long time, probably since we got to Guatemala in June, and the fact that these two are young and fun, and the fact that we all clicked right away, well I’m kind of in a swooning phase. Not only was I excited to see them again, but I also wanted to show them off to all my other friends. Which while we sit here in Isla Mujeres, is Luki and Elmari. Or maybe I was just excited to show off Luki and Elmari to Lee and Amanda? They’re all such awesome people, I guess it kind of goes both ways.

We have gotten a little bit of disappointing news in the past few days that both of these boats will quickly on their way out of Isla, with Jargo heading south to Belize and then Guatemala, and Skebenga moving over to Cuba before landing in Florida to get the process started on selling their boat. We were quickly about to lose both crews and end up all alone. Although we still had standing dinner plans with Lee and Amanda, we did want to get both groups together at least once and planned a little cocktail party on Serendipity in the late afternoon. Can you believe that in all the time we’ve known Luki and Elmari, the only time they’ve ever set foot on our boat was the first day we met back in Jamaica, and they never made it further than the cockpit? I mean, it’s easy to see why we always hung out on Skebenga, their boat is gorgeous, but we couldn’t let them leave for good without getting one tour of the ‘Dip.

Matt and I spent the day tackling some of the cleaning projects that usually get pushed aside past the every day maintenance, such as Cloroxing the ceiling and making it shine, and then made a run out to the grocery store to stock up on supplies, also dropping off a six pack of beer to Alex and thanking him for the drinks he got us our other night out. Back on Serendipity, we had just enough time to pull in all the cushions that had been airing out outside (yeah, we’re going to have to get those steam cleaned in Florida, our previous cleaning job was a total fail), and for me to finish my bruschetta before our guests arrived, surprisingly within about sixty seconds of each other.

While giving the tour, Elmari was very impressed for the layout and the use of space in this 34 ft layout. I love hearing the phrase â€œIt looks so much bigger down here than you’d imagineâ€ and â€œThis is plenty of space for two people to live inâ€. It just helps me confirm to Matt that we do not need an extra ten feet unless we’re planning on starting a family while cruising, and neither a bigger boat or a kid is in the budget right now. Just after the tour, the sexes split up with the guys hanging out in the cockpit, and us girls enjoying the comforts of the salon. It was fun to have Amanda and Elmari talk about places they’ve both cruised, Elmari having lived in and obviously cruised South Africa, and Amanda having joined Lee on a leg of his circumnavigation down there. All of us were shocked when the clock was already striking eight, finally breaking up the group so we could all start our dinners.

Luki and Elmari headed back to Skebenga while Matt and I trailed behind Lee and Amanda to have dinner on Jargo. We settled into this beamy boat, and while Amanda started on our pasta dish for the night, we listed to more stories about how the two of them met on the French island of Reunion where Amanda was working as a teacher and Lee was passing through on Jargo. We also gave them pointers on where to stay in the Rio Dulce, basically forcing them to agree to a slip at Tortugal where Jargo will be holed up for nine months while they go back to the States to top off the cruising kitty. Lee told us about how this is now his third time in Isla Mujeres, and how this place can really suck one in, keeping you here for weeks when you only planned on staying a few days. Tell us about it, our stop was originally supposed to be about 7-10 days and now we’ve already been here two and a half weeks.

We enjoyed a great dinner of wheat pasta and meat sauce, and now Matt is obsessed with trying to find wheat pasta in one of the markets around here. I had brought over some after dinner entertainment, a DVD to watch, since I had not been able to shut up about a show called Three Sheets when we were having our bar crawl the other night, telling them about this comedian that visited countries all over the world and partook in their local drinking traditions. We positioned ourselves along one of the settes while the movie played on Lee’s laptop on the table, and I have to say, it wasn’t as good as I remember it being the last time I watched it a few years ago. A little bit of a letdown there. Luckily, I had also packed the first season of Modern Family, since that show had come up in discussion also, with neither Lee or Amanda having ever seen it before. Thank you to Modern Family for saving the day. I think we may have just hooked another couple on it, and I’m pretty sure Matt and I are ready to go back and watch it from the beginning again.

Tomorrow will be a leisurely lunch with Lee and Amanda before they head out for Belize on Sunday. Â It really sucks that we’re going to have to say goodbye to them so soon after meeting. Â I would say that’s a good thing because I probably would have turned stalker on them, but they’d probably turn around and do that right back to us. Â Which is exactly why I love these two.

Don’t worry Georgie, all these people aren’t moving aboard and taking up your precious space.

The Introduction of the Sangrita

Wednesday January 8, 2013

Today was a whirlwind of activity that we were 100% not expecting when we woke up. Just like the past two days, we assumed that we’d be sitting at anchor, in these cloudy and cold conditions, just hoping for some rain to fill the tanks, and that the winds wouldn’t pick up enough again for us to be on anchor watch. Of someone else hitting us. So when we busied ourselves around 10:30 this morning removing our second anchor, we were happy and surprised when Lee dropped by to see if we wanted to go to shore with him and his girlfriend Amanda to grab a coffee or beer. He said he’d be back in 30 minutes to pick us up, and we quickly rushed through some very cold cockpit showers in order to clean ourselves up in time.

When Lee came back to get us around 11 am, with Amanda now in tow, I could tell that I liked this girl already. She was dressed in jeans, a winter coat, and a wool hat..in Mexico. When I told Matt I had been thinking about wearing a winter hat out, he had laughed at me. At least one other person around here shared my values. Finishing out the introductions, we zipped off to Oscar’s Marina inside the lagoon, and tied up at the end of one of the docks, ready to grab a beer. Our conversation on our way out must have caught the attention of one more, because there was a guy on a boat at the dock we were using that popped his head out and joined our conversation. He asked if we were headed up to the bar and said he’d love to join, bringing our group up from four to five now.

While being introduced to the newest member, Alex, I had already known a little bit about him just by his boat name, Pumpkin Pie. On our first day here, Luki and Elmari had mentioned that there was a boat crossing from the US that had been demasted out in the Gulf of Mexico, and required the Mexican Navy to tow it in the rest of the way. The boat? Pumkin Pie. We had seen it tied up at the concrete pier in the harbor for a few days until it disappeared, and I guess it wound up at Oscar’s marina. Over our first beer there, I tried to get the story of what happened from Alex, but all I came away with was that there was a Chiquita banana container ship that a crew member abandoned to after he decided that he no longer wanted to wait out help on Pumpkin Pie. Someday, I will get the full story.

When that story and our first round of beers were gone, Lee suggested we try a particular drink that originated in Mexico. Introduce the Sangrita. At first I thought I misheard him and he was asking for sangria, but no, Sangrita is much different. After agreeing to try one, I had a shot of tequila placed in front of me, along with another glass that housed about 2-3 oz of a clamato kind of juice, basically the mixer you’d enjoy with a Bloody Mary, only with a little OJ added. Don’t be fooled now, it’s not a shot of tequila with a tomato chaser. This is what first came to mind as it was placed in front of me, and as much as I love tequila, I wasn’t ready to shoot it down at noon. No, this is a drink to be sipped an enjoyed. Take a few sips of tequila, take a few sips of clamato, and let the flavors meld together in you mouth. It was actually quite enjoyable and went down much faster than I expected.

By this point though, Matt and I were only subsiding on a muffin each and that was not enough to absorb all the beer and tequila that had just rushed into my system. When it was deemed that no one was ready to go back to their boats yet we decided that food was the answer. Matt and I were extremely excited to show them the awesomeness that is Bobo’s and their hot wings. Alex ran back to his boat to grab some more cash and a 40 oz of beer, which the five of us passed around as we hopped a taxi into town. Walking down the main road Matt and tried to remember which side street harbored Bobo’s, and surprisingly found it on the first try. We also found out that Bobo’s was closed and our tasty dish of hot wings and french fries was now out. But that’s ok though, because Lee came through once more with some fun Mexican information that we never would have tried on our own. Just across the street from us by the ferry dock was a cart that sold hot dogs wrapped in bacon. Excuse me? Hot dogs..wrapped in..bacon? Why were we even standing around talking about it?

Completely famished, Matt and I ran up and ordered two apiece, while everyone else only took one. Alex made a beer run to the 7-11 across the street, and we enjoyed our meals under the shelter of the docks terminal while a rain fell lightly outside. Everything was perfect. My beer was cold, my hot dog was delicious. Then I made the critical mistake of balancing my hot dog tray on a railing, and a strong gusts of wind came up and flipped my little styrofoam tray, sending my second hot dog flying to the ground. At this point I was still starving and probably about four drinks in, so I was fully prepared to enforce the five second rule and scoop that baby back up. Matt though, enforced his OCPD and made me bring it to the trash instead. But at least he did give me 20 pesos to run out at get another one.

Even after lunch and about five hours out and about now, none of us were even close to ending the night. Lee led us down the main boulevard until we came across a little place called the Soggy Peso, which actually would have wings, and better yet, on special tonight. From the street this place doesn’t look like much, in face you can barely tell that anything is there, but from the inside it’s a fun little bar with a million banners stringing the ceiling and tables surrounding a nice little pool. Alex did the honors of ordering everyone at the table a Dos Equis and a shot of tequila (to be sipped, of course). Some hot wings were consumed, and before we knew it we were on to the next place.

Sitting down at the bar at our familiar Marina Paraiso, I looked up in front of me to see that Lee had done the ordering this time, Pacificos and another round of Sangritas for anyone that wanted them. For never having ever tried or even heard of this little concoction before, I fell instantly in love. If they weren’t so potent I could have been drinking them all night. Plus they were a little more expensive than our $2 beers, running about $6 a pop. But seriously, if you ever see us while wandering about the world and you not only want to buy me a drink, but really really get on my good side? Buy me one of these, we’ll be best friends right away. I’m serious. Unless you catch me while I’m out having a quiet lunch with my parents. Eh, you know what?, bring it over anyway. (I’m talking to you YOLO, I might be in the Phoenix area this fall).

Sangrita, best drink ever!

We made one more quick stop on our way back to Oscar’s where all of our boats or dinghies sat, ready to fall into bed after over ten hours out on the town. We stopped long enough by the lobster tank for Oscar himself to come out and show us how to use one of the oars to pin down a lobster and pull it out, really adding to the ‘choose your own lobster’ effect. Not that we were staying for a late dinner, but he let us fool around anyway, Matt pinning one down with the oar as shown, and Alex and I going rogue and just sticking our hands directly in to grab one. It’s all about the element of surprise.

As Lee and Amanda were bringing us back to the ‘Dip, I was thinking that we hadn’t had a crazy night out like this in a long time. Possibly since the night we played beer pong at our hostel in Peru. It’s so nice when you randomly meet young people like yourselves to hang out with, but it’s even better when everyone just instantly clicks, which is exactly what happened with our two cruising boats tonight. We’re already planning dinners and movie nights with these two, and for however long each of us are planning on staying on this island for, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other.

Â Amanda does not look too thrilled with our last stop.

Â He does not look happy to be holding that lobster. Â Truthfully, he just wasn’t paying attention to me.

Enough Excitement Already

Tuesday January 7, 2014

The thrills of beingÂ anchored here in Isla Mujeres just keep coming. Our daily checks on passage weather showed another heavy front on it’s way, just a few days after the one that sent us dragging at anchor on Saturday. The forecast was very bad, showing winds sustaining at 35-40 knots through last night and into today. This time we weren’t going to take any chances, and we moved ourselves into the lagoon that has much more protection from the wind. At first we were worried that there may not even be room for us in there, due to shoals all around the edges and a channel running through the center, there isn’t space for more than 5-6 boats in total to comfortably anchor without the danger of possibly swinging into each other. As we motored in from the harbor we were pleased to find that only three other boats were anchored in this area, and we hoped that no more would be on their way.

After two attempts to get the anchor down in a decent spot that would also keep the party catamarans from yelling at us that we were in their channel (as what happened last time), we decided that a second anchor, Bahamian style, might not be a bad idea. We had approximately six hours until this blow was supposed to set in, and we didn’t want to be wishing as it was too late, that this was something we had done earlier. Shortly after we had gotten our spare fortress settled down a hundred feet from our Rocna, we were getting all the lines tight on the bow when we had a surprise visit. One of the people from another boat in the lagoon, Jargo, came by to say hi to us. He introduced himself as Lee, and it took us less than a half a second to notice something about him. He was a young cruiser! We thought those were becoming outmoded as we had not seen any new ones since Ana Bianca came on the scene in Guatemala. While talking for a moment he mentioned that he had already done a solo circumnavigation and now he was cruising part time with his girlfriend Amanda. We agreed that if we all got through that night’s storm that we’d have to go out for drinks sometime.

The remaining hours leading up to the storm were quite boring. I had just found a new series of books on my e-reader which were keeping me captive, and the hours on the clock ticked by so fast that I hadn’t even realized it had gotten dark out. Dinner was quick, I wanted to get back to my book, but I kept taking mental notes of the positions of the boats outside in the lagoon, memorizing the location of their anchor lights. Because of our Bahamian anchoring there was no swinging on our part, so it was very easy to keep tabs on the others. Every time I’d get up from my book I’d look out our deadlights and make sure nothing seemed out of place. One time, there was. A new anchor light.

I wasn’t sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me so I made sure to stick my head out the companionway to double check. I still couldn’t be sure since it looked as if it was on the other side of the channel and I didn’t know if I was confusing one of the previous anchor lights as something from the nearby marina. Grabbing a high powered flashlight and shinning it across the water, I confirmed that it was in fact a new boat. One that had come in in the dark. I wasn’t thrilled by this thought, but they seemed to be set, so I went back to my book. Every time I got up to refill my drink, use the head, or just generally torment (snuggle) Georgie, I’d glance outside. On my third or fourth check I noted that this new light seemed noticeably closer. Calling Matt up, he agreed that the boat did look like it was getting closer.

As I had mentioned in our last post, one of our bigger fears is not actually dragging ourselves, but others dragging into us. Putting on some warm coats, we flipped on the instruments as the wind was distinctly getting higher. It had sounded as if it was holding in the 20’s before, but now we were pretty sure it was getting into the 30’s. We watched from the cockpit, staying behind the shelter of the dodger, and watched as a flashlight kept running the length of the deck, making us thinking the person operating this other boat was a singlehander. It looked as if the person was trying to get their anchor up, but luckily, not getting any closer to us during this process. We watched intently as the light made rounds between the cockpit and the bow, and finally the boat was underway.

Now came the fun part. This person obviously had issues with their anchor dragging once tonight…where would they try and put it down a second time? The same spot? Which happened to be directly upwind of us. Yes, that is exactly what they tried. After 3-4 attempts of getting the anchor to stay put in that area and ultimately failing, the boater decided to start zooming around the anchorage at breakneck speeds, weaving around all the currently anchored boats and coming very close to some of them. We thought we heard a yell from our new friend Lee down on s/v Jargo, and we had a feeling he was outside watching this mess as well. Soon it became a game to try and spot this guy’s anchor light zipping through the anchorage, and then figure out what direction he was facing, and if he was trying to get his anchor down.

Honestly, we did feel bad for the guy. Even in this very protected lagoon, the winds were strong, holding in the mid 30’s, and I myself would not want to try anchoring in this midday, let alone in the dark. A few times I asked Matt if we should do anything to help him, but Matt remembered a French flag on this particular boat (we now remembered him from the main harbor), and didn’t think we could be of much assistance to him. He did finally set anchor down in front of us again, and after keeping an eye on him for the next 20 minutes to make sure he did not move an inch, we finally felt comfortable enough to go down below deck again. Being on high alert though, I kept checking out the deadlight every ten minutes to make sure he was staying put. He did not.

Just to make sure I was seeing things right, I climbed into the cockpit so I could get a firsthand view. Then I calmly called down the companionway to Matt, â€œI’m going to need you to put on your jacket and join me up hereâ€. By the time he was up in the cockpit, this boat was 2/3rds closer than he was just moments before. We grabbed fenders out of the lazarette and prepared ourselves to run up front and fend him off. We were waiting for just the right moment so we didn’t have to face the brunt of these now 40 knot winds at the bow unless we knew if/when he would hit. Once more, right as he was getting too close for comfort, the engine kicked on high gear and he hightailed it out of there, realizing this was not a safe spot for him to anchor. 20 more minutes of anxious watching later, we watched him set his anchor down on the far side of the lagoon by the channel, far, far away from us. I really hope Isla doesn’t have any more of these high wind storms in store, I don’t think I can handle this constant excitement.

One of our fenders marking our second anchor.

Our other neighbors in the anchorage.

This area was wide open, and we have no idea why.

Georgie is ready to help in any way necessary.

What a Drag

Saturday January 4, 2014

Â You’re sitting pretty now, but little do you know, we’re going to come careening at you in a few hours.

The past few daysÂ on Serendipity have been quite boring. There’s a front blowing through the area, bringing clouds, rain, and lots of wind. We actually haven’t left the boat since we’ve returned from Cancun, not actually wanting to put ourselves out in that weather even for much needed groceries, and subsiding on a diet of sandwiches and lots of reading. The weather has brought our batteries back down as well, so of course, computer work is once again out. Yup, these have been quite boring days indeed. And if I was lucky, it would have stayed that way.

The winds yesterday were much more fierce than they have been today for the most part, only blowing in the high 20’s with gusts up in the 30’s, instead of yesterdays 30’s with gusts into the 40’s. During our after dinner relaxation time though, they began to kick up again. The wind would howl, rigging would clank, and we’d look up from the books we were reading, our eyes communicating to each other, ‘Wow, that was a big one’. At some point we began to step into the cockpit to glace around and make sure we were still in the same place, that our anchor wasn’t dragging at all. But with darkness, also comes confusion. It became much harder to tell exactly where we were because we were now surrounded by a sea of black with only twinkling lights from town and the occasional anchor light as a guide.

There were a few times that we’d pop our heads out, and I being the much better judge of measurements and distance, would mention to Matt, â€œI think these other boats look a little closer than they did beforeâ€. These other boats, meaning two that were anchored behind us. With the wind coming over the island from the east, we were at the front and center of the channel, with nary a boat in front of us, which is just the way we like it. We have a Rocna. It holds. We don’t have to worry about dragging, our biggest fear is of others dragging into us. So with these ‘slightly closer’ positioned boats, we weren’t sure if we’d actually moved or if our eyes were playing tricks on us in the dark. They tend to do that sometimes. Going back to our books we just said that we’d keep an eye on it, looking out again every so often to make sure these other anchor lights weren’t getting any brighter. Every 30 minutes after that we’d check again, and everything looked normal. I thought to myself ‘Even if we did somehow drag back a little bit, we seem to be still now’.

We were quite content with our situation and position while getting ready for bed around 10:30, when we heard our anchor alarm going off. Normally this doesn’t send us into a panic as it will sometimes go off even if we’re only rotating at anchor, but this time we knew to be suspicious. I stepped up on deck, and Matt was quickly behind, moving me out of the way because, as usual, I wasn’t moving fast enough. We looked behind us and though, ‘Ok, yeah, that boat does look a little closer’. Then we looked to our side and said, ‘Huh, we weren’t even with that boat before’. And then it dawned that we hand in fact dragged. And silly me, I somehow assumed that we’d caught again. We formulated a plan to move forward and re-anchor, and I went about finding a clip to pull my hair back so that it wouldn’t blow in my face, causing temporary blindness, and changed from my long yoga pants into shorts so that I wouldn’t trip on hem while out in the cockpit. Finally getting back out into the cockpit I realized that I should have been in much more of a hurry. The boat behind us was growing closer and closer….we were still dragging! And not very slowly either.

Since we had to deal with the new problem of having issues with our starter, and THANK GOD we figured that out earlier or we’d still be engine-less, just like we were when we went to charge the batteries this afternoon and found out it wouldn’t turn on; Matt jumped into the lazarette and manually started the engine as I was behind the wheel, quickly trying to unlock it. There had been no time for a discussion on exactly what was going to be done or any kind of planning for a course of action. This was a fly by the seat of your pants, get your ass moving before you hit the boat that you’re quickly coming up on, situation. I put the boat in gear, not sure of how much punch I should give it since I knew we still had to get the anchor chain up in the first place and I didn’t want to go roaring past it. So I kept us around 1300 RPMs. Until I looked behind me and saw that we were, I’m not kidding, about 40 feet from hitting the other boat. The wind was so strong that drowned out my cries of â€œOh Shit!!â€ as I punched us up to over 2000 RPMs to get us moving. I kept at this pace until I saw the boat growing dimmer behind me, and finally, Matt waving his arms, trying to get my attention to slow down. So I basically brought us to a stop. Can you see where this is going?

Now my too slow speed was giving us no forward motion against the winds that were trying to hold us back, and the bow was turning to Port even though Matt was sternly pointing toward Starboard and I had the wheel fully cranked that direction. Scared, flustered, and frustrated, it didn’t dawn on me to give us enough gas to at least keep us moving forward until Matt had to run back and tell me. My heart sank a little more as I realized this is the only way we could communicate. There was no way we could hear each other over the HOWLING wind with him at the bow and me at the stern, and with it being so dark out, my beloved hand signals were now obsolete. I kept moving us forward at a slow and steady pace, unsure of where we where, or even where we were heading. The darkness made everything so disorienting and I couldn’t tell exactly how far away we now were from the other boats, or especially the channel.

Matt came back once more to tell me that it all started because our anchor had gotten caught on a BMX bike frame which came up along with it and the chain (wtf?!) and now to just keep an eye out,that we wanted to try and end up at the current position we were at that moment after the anchor was let down again and enough chain was let out, so to just get us a little further out. Which again, in the darkness, I had no idea how to judge when we’d gone another 100 feet or so. I just kept us slowly moving forward, hoping for some kind of signal from the bow, when I looked over to Port and thought, ‘Huh, that kind of looks like a mast’. Then I stuck my head out further around the dodger and realized, ‘Holy s%*t, that IS a mast!â€. I guess in my rush to get us forward I had put us into the channel, and now we were coming up on another sailboat that was anchored on the other side. One which, instead of having a light atop their mast, had one glowing from the cockpit, perfectly matching the location of the lights on shore. I know a lot of people have these, so don’t take this personally, but I HATE anchor lights situated on the boom or in the cockpit. It does NOT light up your cockpit making you easier to see, it just makes an optical illusion that you’re much further away than you actually are. (Done ranting now)

Eyeing this new boat that we were now on top of, I quickly turned the wheel to Starboard and we began to follow the path of the channel. Becoming extremely aware of my surroundings now, I eyed the anchorage more closely and realized there were a number of boats that didn’t have any kind of light on. None. I could barely make them out through the blackness. Another pet peeve of mine. Yes, I know that legally it is not mandated that you have a navigational light on your boat at night if you are in a marked anchorage. But seriously people, do you not want to be seen?! I know people aren’t normally moving around anchorages at night, and if they are they should at least have radar on, but there are times (like this!) where emergencies happen, there isn’t time, and that’s not an option. (Whew, sorry about all this, if you can’t tell, I’m both a little stressed out and worked up right now).

Since I happened to instantaneously change direction, Matt came back to see what the heck was going on, where upon he got a full earful from me on all the things listed above. He was just as peeved too. Once we both took a few deep breaths and calmed down a little, we made a plan to keep our new course for just a minute, now putting ourselves in an area where no one was behind us, before slipping the boat into neutral and dropping the anchor once more. We settled into a spot that we’d hoped was just out of the channel, although I’m sure we’ll both be up with the sun tomorrow, ready to reposition. The winds now seem to be dying down, but my heart is still going a million miles a minute. I hope we don’t ever have to do that again. As I just mentioned on our Facebook page, THAT.WAS.SCARY.

Leaving our Provisioning List Full

Thursday January 2, 2014

One of the reasons Matt and I had been looking most forward to getting to Isla Mujeres, was the opportunity for a trip to Cancun. Â It only sits four miles from Isla, and word was, they had such luxurious shopping centers as Walmart and Home Depot. Â We were so excited about the shopping in this city, and so sure of what it would offer us, that this was supposed to be our big stockpiling location should we have been heading straight to the Bahamas. Â Since, you know, you can barely find a variety of food there and it’s ridiculously expensive when you do. Â In my head were visions of stocking up on boxed wine with flavors of actual Cabernet or Merlot instead of ‘vino tinto’, and other things like cheddar cheese and Skittles. Â Matt was looking forward to getting some must have repair items for the boat like caulk and a drill based pump for our oil. Â We were both quite excited for this trip.

Waiting for all the holiday hubbub to die down, we thought today would be the best day to do our wandering around the large and hopefully modern and Americanized city. Â Assuming we would need the full day to do our shopping, we hopped on the 9:00 ferry for the 20 minute ride over. Â I had research with what little internet I had in the anchorage where these two main stops of our were, and what buses we needed to take to get there. Â Being the (normally) logical person that I am, I suggested that we hit up Home Depot first since I planned on fully stocking our two backpacks with every kind of goody from Walmart that I hadn’t set my eyes on for the past four months. Â According to the vague information I was able to scribble down from my computer, we were to go to a place called Plaza de Americas, and Home Depot was only one block south from there.

We found the Plaza without issue, and with the compass on Matt’s watch, began wandering in a southern route from there. Â We assumed that the bright orange sign would jump out at us, but no matter how many blocks we walked, there was nothing in site.After 30 minutes of finding nothing, and becoming quite sweaty in the process, I finally broke down and asked a gardener maintaining the hedges of one of the office buildings where the Home Depot was. Â Surely he would know, it was probably one stop shopping for all his gardening needs. Â Then I realized one more problem. Â I knew enough to know how to ask for directions, but I wasn’t prepared to receive a decipherable answer. Â A slew of words that I had not mastered yet were thrown at me, and when Matt turned to me, expectantly waiting for me to tell him where we should turn, I pointed in the same direction the gardener just pointed me in. Â That much I could decipher.

Getting across the street there were once more no orange buildings in sight, and we were at a dead end. Â Even though I was planning on following pointed fingers until I got there if that’s what it took, I had a happy surprise when I asked the next gentleman I ran across for directions. Â He spoke perfect English. Â Then came the bad news. Â The Home Depot we were looking for had moved a few years back, it’s old location now being turned into a casino. Â One that we had in fact circled twice. Â The new location was about 4 miles way. Â Continuing with his hospitality, this man flagged down a cap for us, gave the driver specific directions on where to take us, and talked him down to the local rate instead of the one they probably tried to squeeze out of tourist. Â We were very thankful to find him.

Running in the door, ready to fill up our basket, everything looked just like the Home Depot that we became so familiar with in St. Augustine, ridding our bikes there almost every other day. Â Pulling our our list, we got to work. Â First up, 3M 4200. Â Hmm, nope, they didn’t have it. Â 5200? Â Didn’t carry that either. Â Luckily they had Sikaflex 1A which would do the job Matt needed it for up in the anchor locker. Â Ok, next item, a drill pump so we can change our oil. Â Nope, nothing. Â No kind of backup for that one either. Â Master brand combination lock? Â Nope. Â In the end we left with only two things on our list, the Sikaflex and a small package of latex gloves, the rest having to wait until we make it to Florida and it’s much better stocked stores. Â Running next door to an AutoZone, I talked Matt into getting a manual pump for our oil for $10. Â I’m pretty sure that stuff has to be changed before we dare crossing the 350 miles to Key West.

Even though Home Depot was a little bit of a letdown, our next stop wasn’t. Â How could it be? Â We found McDonald’s, and no matter where you fine one in the world, you can always count on a Big Mac at your disposal. Â The fries were just as good as I remembered them, but strangely enough, I couldn’t eat all of them. Â Or my sandwich. Â Or even finish my 16 oz drink. Â What would have normally taken me less than 10 minutes to eat in my previous life was now taking me 30 minutes just to get a little more than half. Â Finally conceding, I shoved the rest toward Matt, the garbage disposal that can finish any kind of extra food whether he’s hungry or not.

Hopping on one more bus, we were dropped off in front of Walmart, only to come across the same problem we had at Home Depot. Â The sign out front was the same as back home in the States. Â The contents inside, were not. Â Although it was a much larger store than we’re used to shopping at back in Isla, it pretty much contained the same items. Except with a lot more toys. Â I kid you not, we ended up walking out with ten items. Â Here are just a few of the things we were expecting to find but could not: Â Cat litter (of any kind), upholstery cleaner, Corelle coffee mugs (we’re down two from the beginning of the trip, apparently they’re not completely shatter proof), Miracle Whip, boxed wine, and even pretzels. Â Dejected, I grabbed a small bag of Skittles in the check out lane to satisfy at least one craving, and we taxied back to the ferry dock where we arrived about four hours earlier than expected and our backpacks limply hanging at our sides. Â Looks like we’ve just added a few more things to our list of things to pick up in Florida.

Ringing in the New Year

Wednesday January 1, 2014

Since we leftÂ the Rio so much later than we expected, by about a month, and then had an extra week added to our time in Belize due to bad weather, Mexico was not where we were expecting to ring in the New Year. In fact, I had grand plans in my mind of meeting up with Brian and Stephanie in George Town Bahamas so we could celebrate it all together. With their timely departure for Panama coming up, it looked to be the only place we might ever have to cross paths again. But life, especially a cruisers, never quite goes as planned. I have to admit though, if we couldn’t buddy up Serendipity and Rode Trip in the Bahamas, staying with our other buddy boat Skebenga in Mexico was a very close second. We even threw out one very nice weather window to Florida to stay here and celebrate.

Our plans were not to be grand, just heading out to Marina Paraiso after dinner and enjoying a few beers and cocktails, and seeing if we could make it to the New Year. Luki and Elmari had already mentioned they’d probably be back at their boat long before midnight ever came, but I was hopeful that we’d run into our friend Rum/Ron (seriously, does anyone know how to spell his name) from Rio Dulce, one of the guys that watched Georgie.

It was lucky for me that Matt had been up until 3 or 4 am going into NYE so that he required a nap in the afternoon before going out. Why is this good you might ask? Because I was able to sneak out my flat iron to style my hair. As much as I love the thing, it sucks up about 20 amps while in use, and we’re still not quite at a place yet where we can easily spare it. I haven’t had a fancy cocktail hour in months though, and to me it was worth skipping watching a movie for the next night. By the time 7:00 rolled around and I was all dolled up, getting myself slightly sweaty while trying to prepare a quick dinner though, we were ready to hit the town for the night.

Luki and Elmari were already sitting at the bar when we got there, and we saddled up next to them at a table and enjoyed a couple of cold Pacifico’s (or in Matt’s case, Coke). The bar wasn’t quite as crowded as we thought it would be for NYE, about 10-15 people sitting at the actual bar, and then us and one other couple sitting at the tables just outside of it. Conditions weren’t quite perfect to be outside though, even though the night was warm, there were strong winds whipping through the grounds. The thing we found most strange was that the winds were coming from the east, and that’s where we were sitting protected from. Still, just like the Windy City, they managed to wrap their way around the buildings and find us, taking my perfectly glossy hair and turning it into the beginnings of a rat’s nest.

It was after only two beers and lots of good conversation that most of our group began getting tired and were ready to retreat back to our boats. Since it was a night for celebration, we decided to stay for one more drink, each ordering a fancy cocktail instead of the beers or pops we currently had in hand. Once again in a tribute to Brian and Stephanie, I ordered a gin & tonic, while Matt went with his old classic of Vodka Sour. I had been hoping to finally break out that bottle of champagne we’ve been carrying around in the ‘Dip since we left Michigan, the one that was supposed to celebrate Jackie’s 30^th birthday in the Bahamas that we never got to meet up for, but instead the four of us made plans to enjoy a NYE part II the following week, after Skebenga’s company that was coming in the next day, left. It was 10:30 when we all made it back to our boats, and I was quick in bed after stripping off my party dress. Matt tried to wake me at midnight when fireworks began going off in every direction, but unfortunately, three drinks was enough to make me catatonic, and I could only stumble around for a minute to glance at them before falling back in bed.

Â The rat’s nest is starting to take shape.

Scuba, the resident diving instructor’s dog.

Today we decided to take it easy, as if our life has been anything else lately, and make another trip up to Playa Norte. Once again we prepared ourselves with a blanket, drinks and snacks. We exchanged our our e-readers for paperbacks, the digital SLR for a point and shoot, and were ready to leave all belongings unattended should the desire for an afternoon stroll or a frolic in the water come up. Once we entered the sandy passageway, we found that once again the area was packed with tourist and locals from the mainland enjoying their time off work. It was quite unintentional since we couldn’t find an open spot leading up to it, but we ended up at the same exact place that we had just a few days earlier. Taking shade under that same palm tree, we spread out our towel and unwound to the sounds of popular artist playing through the speakers of a nearby bar.

It was looking to be the perfect afternoon…until we smelled the poo. Just as my eyes were drifting shut, as this time I actually was planning on taking a nap, my nose went on high alert as it sensed a smell I’ve unfortunately had to clean out of our litter box many times. The strange thing was, one second it was there, the next second it was gone. I asked Matt if it had wafted past his nose as well, but he could smell nothing unusual. I ignored it and continued to relax. Every few minutes it arose though, and then departed just as quickly. At this point Matt had finally caught on to the scent as well, and although it seemed to be more pungent around me, kept asking if I wanted to move to a different area. Since I couldn’t see anything in eyesight that was available and I didn’t want to pack up all our belongings to search for another open area down the beach, I just went with it.

There were a few checks of all of our belongings just to make sure it was not in fact poo from our cat that we had inadvertently dragged to the beach with us, but quick nose to fabric searches of all of our belongings came up with nothing. I began eyeing the Pomeranian a few towels down. It seemed to be smirking at me. Finally when I was literally about to throw in our towel to find another area of open sand or possibly even evacuate back to the boat, a New Years miracle happened to us. A family of four that had rented out as many chairs and an umbrella for the day, decided to pack it in. Probably through the sheer luck that we were the closest people to them that were stuck in the sand, they offered up their lounges and umbrella to us, ‘since it was already paid through the rest of the day’. I greedily snatched up all our belongs before the offer could be replaced to anyone else. Then, while settling in to my new accommodations next to the other couple next to us in the sand that had been offered the other two seats, I heard some of the sweetest words in the English language. â€œWe’re not going to finish the rest of our beer, would you like it? It’s still cold.â€ 2014, if you keep treating us like this, I think we may do very well together.