tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54299917213639562742024-03-05T07:04:44.759-08:00Bettie del MarBettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.comBlogger307125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-60480891680031545292014-10-23T09:22:00.000-07:002014-10-23T11:26:37.812-07:00For Sale: Cascade 36<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Selling Bettie really sucks. If we had the cash, we would probably keep her forever. She's just that good of a boat, forgiving to novice sailors and strong enough to go pretty much anywhere. Even in heavy seas with ten to twelve foot waves slamming into the hull we always felt safe. That's the kind of stability you get with a solidly built boat, a seven-foot, three-inch draft and a heavy steel keel.</div>
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Bettie was specially commissioned from Cascade in 1979 with a flush deck and 14 extra inches of freeboard. That's right, tallies! There's no hunching inside this boat, even for my husband who is six-foot, three-inches. The hull is hand laid, fiberglass mat, and the deck is solid, marine grade birch plywood with a fiberglass top and maple stringers. And there are <i>no leaks</i>, which is almost unheard of in the boating world. </div>
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Vlad just redid the bottom, which included sanding off all the old paint, grinding and faring the keel and repainting with three layers of epoxy primer barrier coat and three more layers of bottom paint with extra copper. And he didn't find a single blister. Not one. People in the yard kept commenting on how good the bottom of the our boat looked.</div>
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Bettie is cutter rigged with three head sails - a hanked-on staysail, a yankee on a roller furling and a genoa on a roller furling. The main sail needs replacing but is suitable for short cruises, though not an ocean crossing. In the storm sail department, we have a trysail that runs up the mast on a separate track, a spitfire and two other storm jibs. The boat also comes equipped with a spinnaker pole and a whisker pole.</div>
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The electronics we have onboard are reliable - radar, a chart plotter and a GPS - but honestly, we mainly used Navionics on our iPad. Also, we have an Icom VHF radio and an Icom 7100 HF with a Pactor modem. The autopilot is Raymarine and comes with a spare. We also have an aged but perfectly functional HRO watermaker. It is fully manual and has to be run off of a generator. There are three solar panels equaling 250 watts of power and a brand new battery bank consisting of eight golf cart batteries. The engine, which runs perfectly, is a Yanmar 3GM30 with 4,001 hours on it.</div>
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Inside, Bettie is open with great airflow and lots of fans. There's no stuffy boat smell here. The galley comes fully equipped with a two burner stove, oven, griddle, and broiler, a two-basin sink, and a built-in refrigerator with a separate freezer. The boat sleeps five with a pilot berth and two settees/double berths. The head includes a sink, a shower and a manual toilet. The v-berth area is both a workshop and a massive (for a boat!) storage space, complete with drawers, cubbies and a workbench.</div>
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We are selling the boat in Mexico for two reasons. The first is that Puerto Vallarta is a great stepping off point for anyone who wants to cross the Pacific or to travel up into the Sea of Cortez. And the second is that we figured why put the wear and tear on the boat bashing back up the coast to California. Wouldn't someone rather buy the boat down here? If you're interested in doing just that, send us an email at bettiedelmar at gmail.com. We are asking $34,000.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The galley</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The nav station</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Companion way and pilots berth</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Settee</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Double berth</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salon</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Workbench</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">V berth</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Head</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The engine</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bettie's bottom</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cockpit</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bettie at the dock</td></tr>
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Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-19244461460366896262014-10-15T08:41:00.000-07:002014-10-15T08:42:08.794-07:00In Retrospect<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDI3YDUCvz7nfxmyFznkd6LCXdM2Rt5Ek3Cdd77o49QVloYY8vVBwdWdEjCNHh-CjvtfjukQNw-ZcAQ9B-n8Cp8vSn0GJsaPmxf0Ef5Tq5kO3f_iEpT2RRwqHvWNKuohCwuktr9lR8F4/s1600/IMG_6848.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDI3YDUCvz7nfxmyFznkd6LCXdM2Rt5Ek3Cdd77o49QVloYY8vVBwdWdEjCNHh-CjvtfjukQNw-ZcAQ9B-n8Cp8vSn0GJsaPmxf0Ef5Tq5kO3f_iEpT2RRwqHvWNKuohCwuktr9lR8F4/s1600/IMG_6848.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not a palm tree in sight.</td></tr>
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We are enjoying life on land, with its not-boiling-hot weather (I love fall!!), stand-up refrigerators (no more taking everything out of the fridge for that last piece of cheese), employment opportunities, family fun times and vast floor space perfect for crawling babies. But the transition has not been without some nostalgia. </div>
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For one thing, we had an amazing time. With each other, with our boat and with the ocean. We met tons of new people, made lasting friendships, spoke regularly in a foreign language, hiked through jungles, swam in pristine reefs, learned the sport of spearfishing and lived on the ocean for days at a time with no outside contact except the occasional sea bird or passing dolphin pod. People rarely get to experience such complete solitude or to travel so extensively, bringing their home with them.</div>
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And I wish we could have kept going for a few more years, especially up into the Sea of Cortez with its electric blue water and storms of sea life and desert landscape. It just looked incredible, but so it goes sometimes. Even though we didn't travel much this last year, I'm happy that we accomplished something much more important. We were able to stay with our baby, both of us, for almost his entire first year, which is just unheard of normally. You can't get much better than that. </div>
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So without further ado, here are some photos of our trip and beyond. </div>
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And because it just wouldn't be a blog post without some baby pics, here are some photos of Jari since we've been back in the States. I can hardly believe it, but he's almost 1. Just a month and half to go. </div>
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Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-90886911983231455822014-09-21T15:43:00.000-07:002014-09-21T15:43:43.518-07:00News, News and More News<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioQElXPpTr0Ya-bmb_fr0WTTv4Cm1agtxB_herwdiq6NCYBPFaV7hK6y6f4lqPHy9ZmAdCdg6pwh3T391To3x6oV0Bkfxdt0zhY1Xlqd8Qjkeb5MftJ3Fta33CheykXO2warpQwymLyYg/s1600/photo-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioQElXPpTr0Ya-bmb_fr0WTTv4Cm1agtxB_herwdiq6NCYBPFaV7hK6y6f4lqPHy9ZmAdCdg6pwh3T391To3x6oV0Bkfxdt0zhY1Xlqd8Qjkeb5MftJ3Fta33CheykXO2warpQwymLyYg/s1600/photo-2.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">Where to start? I guess I should begin where I left off. We hauled Bettie out and painted the bottom. Vlad and Jaime sanded off all the old bottom paint and ground down and fared the keel. Then, they painted on two coats of epoxy primer and three coats of bottom paint mixed with cooperous oxide and New Mexican hot chili powder (don’t ask!). It took seven days of pretty grueling, in-the-hot-sun work, but they got it done and done well. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at that awesome, shiny paint job!</td></tr>
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Of course, as I complained before, it cost mucho dinero, because as we now know the La Cruz Shipyard has the most expensive haul out fee in North America at $19.80 a foot for the haul out and $1.10 for lay days. At least, I couldn't find a pricier work yard after a few days of internet scouring. They raised their already vastly inflated prices 10% from 2013. Go figure. </div>
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Anyway, for eight days on the hard, we paid $1,100, which was a slight discount due to my complaining. I would highly recommend going somewhere (pretty much anywhere!) else if you want a fair price and decent service. (The service wasn’t terrible, but it was pretty crap when you consider that we were paying such an astronomical price. Everyone told me to get used to it because "it’s Mexico," but my thought is that if they want to charge more than the United States they had best have better, faster service. Or you might as well go to San Diego. Which I highly suggest anyway.) Ok, I’m done complaining about this, and I hope I’ve warned all future, budget, DIYers to steer clear of the Banderas Bay area if you need a shipyard. I repeat DO NOT go to La Cruz or Puerto Vallarta for a haul out if you at all value your money. </div>
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So, what else has happened in the past month and a half? Well, we have been hashing over our future plans for a while now and decided that it was time. Time to head back to land. Back to jobs. We are now in New Mexico, where Vlad is working and I am on Jaroslav duty, and we are contemplating our next move.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what we look like when we contemplate.</td></tr>
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And so we are putting Bettie up for sale. When we started this adventure back in 2012, we knew we had enough savings for a couple of years of sailing. Then, we had a kiddo, and then we got stuck in working in La Cruz, and then we decided that maybe it was finally time for something different. I have some final thoughts on our trip that I'll go into detail on in subsequent posts, a bit of nostalgia mixed with excitement for whatever we decide to do next. And of course, I'll give details on Bettie in case anyone wants to buy the best boat ever. </div>
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Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-53565406050124413592014-07-24T09:16:00.001-07:002014-07-24T09:16:21.234-07:00Bettie's Haul Out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOwJ-8um34qlDq5FnmXKs7IwkEyAjljmna1GbdRdPyZtAOgNMM8YLie9ODopiYv4Qd44VcNxiT1qGqscjMOW6-38DJXLoILt4TMCEf1EMVmr1oeQjanZJXD3QUt0Zsiz0aGNoSxYommI/s1632/Photo%25252020140724111259.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOwJ-8um34qlDq5FnmXKs7IwkEyAjljmna1GbdRdPyZtAOgNMM8YLie9ODopiYv4Qd44VcNxiT1qGqscjMOW6-38DJXLoILt4TMCEf1EMVmr1oeQjanZJXD3QUt0Zsiz0aGNoSxYommI/s500/Photo%25252020140724111259.jpg" id="blogsy-1406218578476.3994" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="667"></a></div><p> We always knew Bettie had a good looking bottom, but we were pleasantly surprised at how nice her hull was even though she hasn't had a fresh coat of bottom paint in at least five years. We are three days into our haul out, and things are looking good.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRMyjpSYiIU56SFV6MQPZAtLSAMgSTGC9Kfi51L8ym6_dOyxFbEXJwSCvCUwy4uC5dwyV-nNcUecrA5L9et_b9n_sUNs5WrySg7BEqwVSnQDdU81pyvPPuctOI-Ex6w9jePCTx91zd8c/s1606/Photo%25252020140724111259.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRMyjpSYiIU56SFV6MQPZAtLSAMgSTGC9Kfi51L8ym6_dOyxFbEXJwSCvCUwy4uC5dwyV-nNcUecrA5L9et_b9n_sUNs5WrySg7BEqwVSnQDdU81pyvPPuctOI-Ex6w9jePCTx91zd8c/s500/Photo%25252020140724111259.jpg" id="blogsy-1406218578440.96" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="667"></a></div><p>The keel was rusty but no more than we expected, and there were no blisters. Also, he investigated the crack in the rudder - that crack that everyone always points out to us with these very concerned looks on their faces - and he discovered something kind of cool. The rudder is just covered in fiberglass, and the crack is just in the covering. Underneath, it's solid teak! Craziness.<br></p><p>But mainly what Vlad did was grind rust off the keel. All day long. In 94 degree heat. He looked like a coal miner by 6:00 p.m. on the first day. Thankfully, he has a guy helping him, and Jami has sanded a half of the hull and scored us some bro deals on gel coat and fiberglass resin - things we would have had to hunt for costing us precious time. Here's Vlad looking as dusty as that Mexican street:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjul8-FWXVgqqFnLqochHsS14yETDMgu5zHPQGqaOgXpmS-lvE1CsUsqujs0Ez6eFARHAoRrptkT3A0M-iVUgWMoMzeJqO7GtOwJ9EuccHwjOxwLHtXwkpHALsfQij0eUQdybP49EZ7tlk/s1632/Photo%25252020140724111259.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjul8-FWXVgqqFnLqochHsS14yETDMgu5zHPQGqaOgXpmS-lvE1CsUsqujs0Ez6eFARHAoRrptkT3A0M-iVUgWMoMzeJqO7GtOwJ9EuccHwjOxwLHtXwkpHALsfQij0eUQdybP49EZ7tlk/s500/Photo%25252020140724111259.jpg" id="blogsy-1406218578481.7148" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="667"></a></div><p> I had big dreams when it came to our haul out, that Vlad and I would undertake this massive project together and complain about how hot it was and how much painting sucked but in the end we would have completed this major and essential piece of boat maintenance. There's something satisfying in that, a sense of accomplishment in the face of heat stroke. Instead, I am on baby duty, and while that is also an essential task I kind of feel like I'm missing out, which just goes to show you can complain even while sitting in air conditioning.</p><p>On the bright side, though, we discovered that Jari loves on the orbital sander. I guess he inherited the power tools gene.<br></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-JETotSYo3lg/U9ExJ_r8ZiI/AAAAAAAADls/vOvCvkQUjLk/s1632/Photo%25252020140724111259.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-JETotSYo3lg/U9ExJ_r8ZiI/AAAAAAAADls/vOvCvkQUjLk/s500/Photo%25252020140724111259.jpg" id="blogsy-1406218578507.388" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="667"></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMANq35-XqveCH5Y13SwhyktPHzZJChsLTKRUBaD3_JwLE_xd9HTj7gW0YJGElKoQsAHlL_ZSaUsJJGDLzeKLtnC85ZpCx1iO4X0d0BDXUU4Va7m47Av-5uR7Vc0PQJv6DEUCuGHvNCvY/s1464/Photo%25252020140724111300.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMANq35-XqveCH5Y13SwhyktPHzZJChsLTKRUBaD3_JwLE_xd9HTj7gW0YJGElKoQsAHlL_ZSaUsJJGDLzeKLtnC85ZpCx1iO4X0d0BDXUU4Va7m47Av-5uR7Vc0PQJv6DEUCuGHvNCvY/s500/Photo%25252020140724111300.jpg" id="blogsy-1406218578514.8835" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="375" alt=""></a></div><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-91486540467635793712014-07-20T07:58:00.001-07:002014-07-20T07:58:31.515-07:00Sometimes It Doesn't Pay to Be Cheap
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh12PcB0HFGG4Ce0sIp_G20HQQOKNuDJDV6lWOpa1SwmxR8JwAR3oDiwJlgzlesG1xn0ufju2hHGjrSak1d9LQ3vfcquh2Zdne0bVnjWG1Cj_Lfqwz3Lyb027tzAwRiZJmiQsxghNDfqwA/s640/Photo%25252020140720095742.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh12PcB0HFGG4Ce0sIp_G20HQQOKNuDJDV6lWOpa1SwmxR8JwAR3oDiwJlgzlesG1xn0ufju2hHGjrSak1d9LQ3vfcquh2Zdne0bVnjWG1Cj_Lfqwz3Lyb027tzAwRiZJmiQsxghNDfqwA/s500/Photo%25252020140720095742.jpg" id="blogsy-1405868309406.9233" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="375"></a></div>
<p>Can you tell that Jari and I are displeased about haul out prices in Banderas Bay? </p>
<p>There is a not-so-subtle irony that in our search for a cheap place to redo our bottom paint we wound up in the most expensive place in North America to haul out our boat. More expensive than San Francisco. More expensive than Key West. And more expensive than Seattle. In fact, I have yet to find a place in the United States where it costs more to haul out, put your boat on stands and splash it back in the water than Banderas Bay.<br></p>
<p>A little background. Bettie needs a bottom job. Bad. For those of you non boaters, every couple of years boats need new paint on the portion of the boat that is below the waterline. This ensures you don't wind up with a <span style="line-height: 1.3em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">keel that looks like a marine sanctuary. At the moment, every time we scrape the bottom of the boat I'm afraid we are going to get fined by the EPA.</span><br></p>
<p>We needed new bottom paint when we left Texas but thought we could find a cheap yard somewhere in Central America where we could haul the boat out and do the work ourselves for a way better price. However, we made an unfortunate error. On the Caribbean coast of Panama, there was only one haul out facility, and that was Shelter Bay. They made the most of their monopoly, <a href="http://www.shelterbaymarina.com/rates_reservations/haul_out_rates.html">charging $12 a foot</a> for a haul out, and the boat yards on the Pacific side of Panama weren't any better. Little did we know that would have been a steal compared with Banderas Bay.</p>
<p>So we moved on to Mexico where prices would surely be more reasonable. And they are. In San Blas, a tiny town 60 miles north of Puerto Vallarta, the cost is $8.49. In Mazatlan, <a href="http://www.fonatur.gob.mx/mar_de_cortes/Escalas_Nauticas/en/index_mazatlan.asp">it's $11.53.</a> In La Paz, I got a quote for a little more than $800 for someone else to do the work for us. And in Guaymas, <a href="http://www.marinaguaymas.com/price.html">it's a flat rate of $300.</a> In Banderas Bay?? $19.80 a foot at the La Cruz Shipyard. And $17.80 at Opequimar, the other shipyard in Puerto Vallarta. Funnily enough, Opequimar's lay days are more expensive, so the price is almost exactly the same. </p>
<p>Anyway, I wasn't too fazed by the astronomical prices because we had heard you could negotiate like our friends over at <a href="http://withbrio.com/">Brio</a> did. They got a quote of $10.92 a foot at both Opequimar and La Cruz (<a href="http://withbrio.com/hauling-out-at-la-cruz-shipyard-workyard-for-10-92ft">read their excellent post about it here</a>) and had a great haul out in La Cruz. Oh, the difference a year makes.</p>
<p>We went over to the shipyard to discuss pricing and spoke with Alejandro, the same guy Brio talked to last year. He said he could no longer negotiate but would give us last year's rate of $18.00 a foot. (They jacked their prices up 10% for both haul outs and lay days since last year. I'd be curious to see how much they went up in 2012.) He then said we could speak with the harbor master if we wanted to negotiate further.</p>
<p>So here begins my two conversations with the harbor master. During the first conversation, I asked for the survey rate, the same $14 rate they offered Brio last year without any negotiation. Instead, he offers me 5% off of the $18.00. Now the price was at $17.10. </p>
<p>And I got to thinking. You see, this price sounded really expensive to me, but I knew next to nothing about prices for haul outs. So I decided to do a bit of internet sleuthing. Surely the price would be more in, say, San Francisco where the cost of living is ten times that of La Cruz.</p>
<p>At the DIY yard (Berkeley Marine Center) in San Francisco, <a href="http://www.berkeleymarine.com/yard-rates">it's $11.00 a foot</a>, a full $8.80 lower than in La Cruz! In San Diego, I couldn't find a DIY yard, but for $1,360 I can get the bottom job done at <a href="http://www.driscoll-boats.com/">Driscoll Mission Bay Boat Yard and Marina</a>. That's only $300 more than the price I was quoted here, and someone else does the work for me. In Seattle at the <a href="http://www.canalboatyard.com/Rates.html">Canal Boatyard</a>, I could get a haul out for $9.00 a foot, less than half of the rate in La Cruz. In <a href="http://www.3dboatyard.com/ratesservices.htm">Key West</a>, an incredibly expensive place period, it's $8.00 a foot.</p>
<p>At first, I thought, what are the odds that we have found the most expensive haul out rates in the entire world! But I got on to Cruisers Forum and the Women Who Sail Facebook page and asked if anyone had heard of a higher price. And, indeed, higher prices exist. One guy was quoted $23.62 a foot in Kotka, Finland. A woman who had sailed extensively in Europe said that her haul out in Crete was less expensive at $16.98 a foot but that on the mainland it could get more expensive at $20 a foot or higher. The prices in Sydney, Australia are comparable to here at $17.10 a foot on the low end. </p>
<p>I still have emails out to see if prices are higher in Singapore or Tokyo, and there might be a higher price in Flamenco Marina in Panama City. But the fact is that all of these places (besides PC) have exceptionally high costs of living, much more so than Mexico. And with cost of living factored in, this might very well be the most expensive haul out rate in the world. </p>
<p>That's when I went back to the harbor master for our second discussion. I asked him what the rationale was behind his pricing structure when I could get the same service in one of the most expensive cities in the United States for close to half the price. His answer: the high cost of living and taxes! As if San Francisco doesn't have a higher cost of living and I'm betting way more of a tax burden, at least that's what I hear all the California cruisers complaining about. </p>
<p>He then went on to say that he had gotten tired of all the negotiating that cruisers were doing over the prices, including going back and forth between them and Opequimar to try to score a better deal. Which I will admit does sound annoying until you consider the fact that the prices they are asking for are so out of the realm of reason that it would be idiotic <em>not </em>to negotiate. Anyway, so he went to the guy at Opequimar, and they both agreed to keep their prices at a set rate and to no longer negotiate with cruisers. He then said that the price must be expensive for us, which may or may not have been a slight (just because my husband has the boat covered in tarps right now does not mean that we are destitute!), but $19.80 a foot is expensive. It's expensive in the United States. It's expensive in Mexico. Heck, it's even up there in Australia and in Europe. </p>
<p>You may wonder why I am writing this. Why don't I just quit complaining, get over the fact that boating costs money and head to one of the other, cheaper, spots in Mexico? And my answer is this: I am willing to get gouged. I have accepted the fact that as people who live on boats we are expected to pay more than the fair price. But there is a limit, and I for one think $19.80 is way over that line. If you are a boater who does his or her own work, then DO NOT come to Banderas Bay. Seriously, just get your work done in the United States. We wish we had.</p>
<p>** Update: after my second conversation with the harbor master, the shipyard has decided to run a 15% off special until the end of October. Unfortunately, even though this is still insanely overpriced, we have to take them up on it due to time constraints and the fact that the travel lift in San Blas has been down for "routine maintenance" for the past two months. So be it. And if you made it through all that, here are a couple of happy sailors for your time!</p>
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<div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-83205418988718768612014-06-23T07:57:00.001-07:002014-06-23T07:57:59.657-07:00Back by Popular Demand<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_LStwJKEoF5FDvQJhnWqfB4C66HYklt_sxQTYbVvtFL0FtIneOapfnp9X9PUeIxhpPbOtVXrHyEnhWX9HXRSwDWRmwGozRWh_PS60S4Q8GuaOSGGDGTnfATPD2p1QrHv82tg1vO2t2s/s1632/Photo%25252020140623095534.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_LStwJKEoF5FDvQJhnWqfB4C66HYklt_sxQTYbVvtFL0FtIneOapfnp9X9PUeIxhpPbOtVXrHyEnhWX9HXRSwDWRmwGozRWh_PS60S4Q8GuaOSGGDGTnfATPD2p1QrHv82tg1vO2t2s/s500/Photo%25252020140623095534.jpg" id="blogsy-1403535477887.3535" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="667"></a><div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal;">Grandmas really like baby photos in blog posts, but because our computer is no longer functional there has been a major lack of baby pictures, or any pictures for that matter, on the blog. The computer, which Vlad thinks was struck by lightning in the giant electrical storm we had a couple of weeks ago, is still on the fritz, and we won't be able to get it fixed any time soon. So I have been forced to try to blog from the iPad, a less conducive medium. I am trying out a couple of different apps to see which one works best, so please be patient with any technical difficulties.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal;"> </span></div></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In other news, we are back in the marina for a couple of weeks. Vlad is doing some work to the toe rail that just couldn't get done at anchor, and he is also doing some little fix it things like getting rid of our only leak and giving the engine some love.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">On the baby front, we are really enjoying the six-month stage. Jari is just too much fun! He's curious about everything and has a penchant for dogs and hermit crabs. And toes. And the marina key cards. And sea birds. And books. And dinghy rides. And the baking utensils that make up his awesome percussion band. If it's active or going places, he's down. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And talk about mobile, I can't leave him alone on the bed anymore, and he is working on crawling in the marina's lounge area, the only spot we can find with a decent amount of floor space. He is also living it up in solid food land, which is a delight in Mexico. So far, he's had papaya, apples, pears, apricots, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, leeks and potatoes, zuchini, grapefruit, eggs, fish, yogurt, curries and the list goes on. His favorite to this point is banana cooked in coconut milk with rice cereal. And his most hated is avocado. I'm not sure what happened, but he's decided that we are trying to kill him when we feed him avocado. Babies, quien sabe!</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><font size="3">Here are some more baby photos to appease the grandmas.</font></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidUrfvDJ9gaqgkVg7scKvMVY2KOR7TY5rHtHFoG_qY-BqsO4ERfevzj0Nb5sIqLOtngzGvoJ53YjOTjaF4GyeLzAsv44QL7qH2k2E9rWwBwN6L5EwGrlz739WdLABswIMm4Izb2P8-0tA/s1280/Photo%25252020140623095534.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidUrfvDJ9gaqgkVg7scKvMVY2KOR7TY5rHtHFoG_qY-BqsO4ERfevzj0Nb5sIqLOtngzGvoJ53YjOTjaF4GyeLzAsv44QL7qH2k2E9rWwBwN6L5EwGrlz739WdLABswIMm4Izb2P8-0tA/s500/Photo%25252020140623095534.jpg" id="blogsy-1403535477921.093" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="375"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8BE9lvRHb9GpnAEYvIKQIzzL72dTB-QoUxoeJyhWVjYQuUllqkJRRuabuJeI-9igdRIShzqyKqkVKnrfDLYgunjp6wiax3lc_g_E8K8afzSvtPuvvA9mqHNRBoWG4jc6pJmG-_0uQ5oI/s640/Photo%25252020140623095534.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8BE9lvRHb9GpnAEYvIKQIzzL72dTB-QoUxoeJyhWVjYQuUllqkJRRuabuJeI-9igdRIShzqyKqkVKnrfDLYgunjp6wiax3lc_g_E8K8afzSvtPuvvA9mqHNRBoWG4jc6pJmG-_0uQ5oI/s500/Photo%25252020140623095534.jpg" id="blogsy-1403535477952.9692" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="480" height="640"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkzax4HnoKhceOuttkkTeJZW1WR2Me1nwqceq8_Xplv3SSLXj3erG8PtutAHr3mhZBVvEeUfY91Pm5U2Tj4bzkAvqBEAOzZGE-fQUznprdOgZbldtaMcd8f9lgI5SDSdeRuYQuCV5GWOY/s1632/Photo%25252020140623095534.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkzax4HnoKhceOuttkkTeJZW1WR2Me1nwqceq8_Xplv3SSLXj3erG8PtutAHr3mhZBVvEeUfY91Pm5U2Tj4bzkAvqBEAOzZGE-fQUznprdOgZbldtaMcd8f9lgI5SDSdeRuYQuCV5GWOY/s500/Photo%25252020140623095534.jpg" id="blogsy-1403535477949.3223" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="375"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3RFRjr8WAPyZ1Zk55SmostcILxOWS2YQ2FjjlkliGgBqBXbo0_LE51E86CFqx5fKDSMDBXeB8HssoVrrabgoRnlWRll1g2vNfwtu7cKllv4uPzEYKnsKqWd-LtC4BuOCtPJORIdLt2To/s1280/Photo%25252020140623095534.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3RFRjr8WAPyZ1Zk55SmostcILxOWS2YQ2FjjlkliGgBqBXbo0_LE51E86CFqx5fKDSMDBXeB8HssoVrrabgoRnlWRll1g2vNfwtu7cKllv4uPzEYKnsKqWd-LtC4BuOCtPJORIdLt2To/s500/Photo%25252020140623095534.jpg" id="blogsy-1403535477947.5488" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="375" alt=""></a></div><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-50487263358616735572014-06-15T09:12:00.000-07:002014-06-15T09:12:10.345-07:00A Swarm of Bees<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I've figured out what worse than a broken computer and a few sleepless nights. Bees. On your boat. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The other night we came back to Bettie after a lovely evening of chitchatting and tacos. Jari went down easily for his 45-minute pre-sleep nap. (Why he can't just go to sleep then is one of those baby mysteries I've yet to figure out.) And Vlad and I had a beer in the cockpit. While taking that first sip of beer, I noticed this strange, dark mass hanging from the bimini, something that looked like the outline of a push broom brush, but thought it must be a tarp or something that Vlad had flung over the top as rain protection. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And in any case, I soon forgot all about it when we resumed our heated discussion about this article I had read on Slate. The author gets freaked out because he sees two kids alone in the back seat of a car, and it's a hot day. That sounds pretty bad, until he mentions that the girls look to be about 9 and 12! And I'm thinking, wait a second, in two years the 12 year old will be able to drive a car. Surely she can open the door if it gets too hot? People were saying that he should have called 911. Baffling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Anyway, we proceed to agree that we will probably get arrested for letting Jari play out in the woods without (gasp!) parental supervision when Vlad mentions this silly bee that's been crawling on his arm, and we both remark that it's a little late for bees as we watch it bumble its way up to the dark mass perched above our transom. That's when Vlad, who knew he hadn't put a tarp on the bimini, said uh, oh.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">While we were out blithely eating dinner, a bee swarm had taken up residence on our boat and were quietly sleeping in a giant clump of what must have been a few thousand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now, I have a bit of a bee phobia. While I appreciate bees in the theoretical sense - their importance to pollination, the delicious honey they create and their general sweet nature - I still freak out when one is buzzing around my face, so my feelings when faced with a pile of bees on our boat was more dread than anything else. Vlad, on the other hand, is a bee aficionado. He loves them and even pets them when they land on his hand. This attitude came in handy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then Jari woke up, and for once I was secretly thankful that my job in this bee situation was taking of the baby. We went below, shut all the hatches, and Jari and I snuggled down under the fans in what was rapidly becoming a sweat box while Vlad went to work on the bees. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">First, he put a tarp and a plastic bin under the bee blob and then pulled down one side of the bimini top so that it provided a barrier between the companion way and the hive. Then, he shook the bimini to knock the bees down, but the blob didn't move. So he broke out the samurai sword. (Yes, we have a samurai sword on board in case of pirate attack. And bear spray.) With the samurai sword, he knocked the majority of the bees into the plastic tub. Each time he did any of these things, he would then jump back down into the boat, slamming shut the door, and would wait until the bee-splosion calmed down before venturing back outside. Did I mention that he looked kind of like he was having fun doing this? Yeah, he likes bees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So now we had a box full of bees, and because it was nighttime and the bees were especially docile Vlad was able to drop the box of bees into the dinghy. Now we had a dinghy full of bees. And I mean full of bees. There were bees in the box, clumps of bees on the outside of the box and balls of bees on the whole front of the dinghy. It was a lot of bees! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Vlad decided that the best course of action would be to take the bees to shore, but as he was driving away from the boat he realized he couldn't beach land the dinghy because bees were covering the front of the boat. So he made a snap decision to take the bee box to our friend's boat in the marina to get some help. Perhaps this wasn't the best idea, but you know what they say. Don't judge a man until you've driven around in his dinghy full of bees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">He pulled the dinghy up to our friend's boat and tries to tie up but in the process finally pisses the bees off enough that they start taking action. He banged on our friend's boat for help, but there was no answer. Then he sprayed the bees with water, further infuriating them. At this point, there wasn't much else he could think of to do, so he left the pile of bees on the dock, thinking that they would fly away in the morning. Well, they moved onto our friend's boat. Everything turned out ok. He was able to get rid of them early the next morning, but we were pretty sure that we would be ostracized from everyone in the marina for dropping off a bucket of bees on Dock 10. Our friend wasn't mad about the situation, though he did say that he didn't want any more presents from Vlad ever again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Vlad suffered six stings in this entire process, and most of them were at the end of the saga. We could have waited until morning to deal with the bees because sometimes they fly away on their own, but we were worried about the baby if they decided that our boat looked like a nice place to stay. Jari did get stung. We are not sure when it happened, but there were several dozen (hundred?) stragglers the next morning. I'm guessing that one of them was hiding in his life jacket and stung him when I put it on before we went to town. That was the only time I can think of that he cried. His little hand swelled up and turned red, but he didn't have a major reaction, thank goodness. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Anyway, it was a long, bee-filled night, but aside from a few stings and the deaths of hundreds of bees, well, it could have been worse. Plus, Dock 10 doesn't hate us. </span></div>
Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-25810229660394400272014-06-10T13:59:00.003-07:002014-06-10T13:59:37.973-07:00A Conspiracy of Sleep and Humidity<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It's officially the rainy season. Every night we are greeted with the flash bang of lightning at 3:00 a.m., and every morning I wake up to soggy cockpit cushions that we can't seem to get dry enough to stow before the next torrential downpour. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And it seems that all the humidity was just too much for my computer, which may have suffered its second hard drive failure in so many years. That makes a total of three failed computer hard drives and two dead-as-door-nails external hard drives. Electronics are no match for boat life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And all that extra moisture means squall activity, especially at night, which leads me to the sleep portion of this conspiracy. Life with a baby is fun but not exactly restful. Jari started out as an excellent sleeper. For four months, he slept pretty much through the night, every night, and I would wake up all bright eyed to a happy, equally bright-eyed baby. It was fabulous. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then we got hit with the four-month sleep regression, and then he outgrew his bassinet. We tried to make a bunk for him on the settee, but he would have none of it. So he ended up sleeping in bed with us. In a bed slightly smaller that a full size mattress. Did I mention that our baby defies the laws of physics and takes up the majority of the bed? It's true. Did I also mention that Jari kicks and scratches all night? Yeah, he does. Did I also mention that as his main food source he really prefers to snuggle up right next to me and then kick and scratch? </span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Long story short, I was having a really hard time sleeping and would spend all night shuffling around to various corners of the boat trying to get comfortable enough to doze for at least a couple of hours. Vlad said it was like living with a groundhog, in addition to the hedgehog and the bed hog we already had on board. So now I sleep on the settee. Every night we raise up the table, and I get to snuggle down by my lonesome while Vlad sleeps with the baby. And we were all sleeping relatively well, until the humidity kicked in. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now the baby wakes up at least once a night from the thunder storms and then I'm up for another hour or two trying to get back to sleep and then he wakes up again. And our computer is broken. I know this doesn't count as an actual conspiracy, but it sure feels that way. </span></div>
Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-76226259996856740512014-06-05T07:36:00.001-07:002014-06-05T07:36:22.272-07:00A Trip of Firsts <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Pe5ljaSnOayqIQgbkhaf9u0OjWae5aDFFk62dc85XLSUCFbWwYXQgD0inVeb0kiou_ogusXSea8Gmb_7ScwAV7tZ-4Zum7_2yw9tTPglfNj4MQTh9SsME8tA0ht31l6MCks2sdvTpJU/s1600/photo(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Pe5ljaSnOayqIQgbkhaf9u0OjWae5aDFFk62dc85XLSUCFbWwYXQgD0inVeb0kiou_ogusXSea8Gmb_7ScwAV7tZ-4Zum7_2yw9tTPglfNj4MQTh9SsME8tA0ht31l6MCks2sdvTpJU/s1600/photo(1).JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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We experienced many a first on our little jaunt to Punta de Mita. It was the first time we boated with
baby, which was family fun times but also way more work for Vlad. We even beach landed the dinghy with Jari, and despite all my anxiety he did not get swept out to sea. It also showed us how much extra time it takes to do things with a baby. It took us two weeks to get ready to go to Punta de Mita, and that is a <i>9-mile trip</i>! I'm hoping that it won't always be that bad, but gone are the days when we could get things stowed and provision in a day. Now, we are reduced to one person working rather than two, and somehow it really equals out to only half a person. Yeah, we are slow.<br />
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Also, it was the first time we've seen Mexican fishing bats. After Jari had blessedly gone to sleep one evening, Vlad and I were chilling out in the cockpit, and we noticed a quick flash of brown that kept zipping across the water. Was it a bird? No, it was a bat, and a rather large one at that. We could hear it's wings skim the surface like the rustling of leaves and thought that it might be eating fish rather than insects. As it turns out, there are two species of marine fishing bat -the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myotis_vivesi">fish-eating myotis</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Bulldog_Bat">greater bulldog bat</a>, and though we couldn't tell which type these were in the dark I'm gunning for the fish-eating myotis. Mostly they live well into the Sea of Cortez, but they inhabit islands like the Marietas, which are just a few miles offshore. Also, they were oddly stinky. We could actually smell them as they flew past. The whole situation reminded me of when we were <a href="http://bettiedelmar.blogspot.mx/2013/01/isla-linton-invasion-of-fruit-bats.html">invaded by fruit bats</a> in Panama, and Vlad thought that whatever brushed his leg in the night was just a giant moth. Nope, it was a fruit bat eating our bananas. Thankfully, these bats stuck to the water.<br />
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This next one is a downer. It was the first time Jari rolled off our bed onto the solid teak floor. I cried almost as much as he did, but he did not even have a bruise. It's definitely time for lee cloths. And, finally, it was our first anniversary! We didn't do anything special, unless you include family cuddle piles and Vlad cooking dinner special. I know I do.Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-2818528230094902712014-05-30T09:19:00.001-07:002014-05-30T09:19:42.481-07:00Going Places<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiys55pSDq3UD5HIrzKlfFh4w-YmSRpqko3uSlUDCCenrVkgcrTqTk-Mr20UhqrVwc42rIlXJaDM-hKeTuUykoI6mXMJ5xFGva-fsNSFVSlo2A1jQG-XDrMhuaimAy3mWKDW7cfMHETHyE/s1600/photo-96.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiys55pSDq3UD5HIrzKlfFh4w-YmSRpqko3uSlUDCCenrVkgcrTqTk-Mr20UhqrVwc42rIlXJaDM-hKeTuUykoI6mXMJ5xFGva-fsNSFVSlo2A1jQG-XDrMhuaimAy3mWKDW7cfMHETHyE/s1600/photo-96.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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For the first time in a year, we actually went somewhere new on our boat, and though a Pacific crossing it was not, we had a lovely time in Punta de Mita, the resort and surf town at the edge of Banderas Bay.<br />
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And it was great! The anchorage was a million times better than the one at La Cruz, less swell and a gentle breeze in the afternoon instead of the gusting winds we generally get down here. The water was just gorgeous, that dreamy tropical blue, and we took Jari for some more swim time, which included dodging paddle boarders and hanging out with a group of local kids who can best be described as "scamps." <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXHF2vhf4yGND6UN2-lIRvObif-f9-dzSUa7m7Fqxjp-NKHorAGFfDGwAk0LE_MB0RizjPAm6sJQaDdqFIuYLODLOnTnwf60TAQkD5y0s1dDzpJw0EpX4D93VNh0QZoot6_F0T3mbZANM/s1600/photo-99.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXHF2vhf4yGND6UN2-lIRvObif-f9-dzSUa7m7Fqxjp-NKHorAGFfDGwAk0LE_MB0RizjPAm6sJQaDdqFIuYLODLOnTnwf60TAQkD5y0s1dDzpJw0EpX4D93VNh0QZoot6_F0T3mbZANM/s1600/photo-99.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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We also got to put Jari in what I've been calling the Mexican high chair of death. Every restaurant in Mexico seems to have the same high chair that has nothing to strap a baby in so they could easily fall through the gap between the chair and the tray. Of course, we were trying to be relaxed about it, but our little perpetual motion machine always scoots forward as much as possible while constantly wriggling and banging his arm on the tray, clamoring for more and edging ever closer to sliding through the gap. But who doesn't want a side of danger with their lunch? <br />
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The town of Punta de Mita is a bit odd. We've seen resort areas in Mexico, the usual palapa bars and hotels lining the beach, but Mita had a garrison wall of condos that made me nervous about boiling oil or a barrage of arrows if we got too close. Once you walk past the palapas and the intimidating condo wall, the town is kind of barren, all concrete and dust and few trees. And to really play up the stark divide, you then hit another manicured resort that's gated. Anyway, weird place.<br />
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But it has the best fish tacos I've had so far in Mexico, and the baby got swept up in mariachi madness and stolen by another Mexican lady. Though I guess you can't really call that news since it happens every time we go out. <br />
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<br />Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-52749040146467736202014-05-20T08:35:00.003-07:002014-05-20T08:35:47.898-07:00Mantus Anchors<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When we left Bettie for what wound up being four nights to paperwork it up in Guadalajara, we left her on the hook, something we'd only done once before for two nights and not without great trepidation and two anchors. Not so this time.<br />
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Our old friends from Kemah at <a href="http://mantusanchors.com/">Mantus Anchors</a> hooked us up with a great deal on a 65-pound, galvanized steel behemoth, and we finally glimpsed an end to our anchoring saga. I don't think I ever fully expounded upon our prior anchoring woes, but let me break it down for you.<br />
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When we started on this trip way back in April of 2012, we were total newbs, and in terms of anchoring we were even more clueless, having set the hook once before crossing the Gulf of Mexico. We had assumed that the 40-pound CQR left aboard Bettie by the folks who had previously owned her would be just fine. We thought they used it during their years of cruising, and we also pretty much assumed that whatever they did was the gold standard, an assumption that has served us well on all other occasions. <br />
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Looking back on it, we think they must have had a different primary anchor because that CQR sucked!! We participated in <a href="http://bettiedelmar.blogspot.mx/2012/04/anchoring-is-drag.html">drag fest 2012</a> in Key West, and, no, not the fun kind. We dragged in a few other spots, and then came the second anchor. We started putting down a smaller Fortress to help us stick, and that second anchor created a whole new pile of problems. We didn't drag, but we did create a few Gordian knots out of the two chains. They would twist together as Bettie would turn with the tides, and Vlad would have to get in the dinghy and push Bettie in circles until the chains came undone. And when they got knotted up? Oh boy. Vlad would be in the dinghy trying to undo a giant ball of high test chain, which is really not how you want to spend your morning. <br />
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Suffice to say, anchoring has not always been as easy as dropping the hook in front of a palm tree covered island. But with the Mantus, our life has gotten a whole lot better. A couple of days before we left for Guadalajara, we motored out into the anchorage and dropped that big, beautiful anchor, let out a hundred feet of chain, set the anchor (which involves reversing the boat thereby digging the anchor into the ground) and let out the rest of our chain. The anchor set on the first try, and we haven't moved a bit since, even though the wind howls through the bay every afternoon.<br />
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We did get a size up than what Mantus suggests for our boat, but on the advice of other cruisers who have sailed the Sea of Cortez we went with the bigger option. Evidently, high winds - we're talking 60 knots here - can kick up for short periods, generally in the middle of the night. If you've got an oversized anchor you won't worry as much about you and the boat blowing away, and you can focus on salvaging your the remnants of your sunshade. <br />
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One more plug for the Mantus design - it comes apart. Typically, anchors are welded together or are molded from one piece of metal, but the Mantus requires some assembly, which means it's easily stowed and transported. We didn't even have to pay oversized luggage fees when carting back a 65-pound anchor. We just packed the three pieces in separate bags, and away we went. Plus, Jari loves the anchor. When we unpacked it, he was completely
enthralled, and he really wanted to be a part of the assembly process.<br />
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We can't thank <a href="http://mantusanchors.com/">Mantus Anchors</a> enough for their generosity! <br />
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<br />Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-50577224825399611052014-05-16T06:26:00.001-07:002014-05-16T06:26:57.946-07:00Well, That Worked<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpSv5Hzpgnf-z7QU86spYx7hl9GnGwKK-weVyma2E3hJoOcbVHTX-V6NfbiHkHj75NV76voLwf_U6fLDmQRG9NBaW6qlFQhqpicWenbk50EaWFET9jnnphsND_8htif4IcTGL5nPRS8do/s1600/IMG_5600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpSv5Hzpgnf-z7QU86spYx7hl9GnGwKK-weVyma2E3hJoOcbVHTX-V6NfbiHkHj75NV76voLwf_U6fLDmQRG9NBaW6qlFQhqpicWenbk50EaWFET9jnnphsND_8htif4IcTGL5nPRS8do/s1600/IMG_5600.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Somewhere in the stacks is our baby's birth certificate. </td></tr>
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You have no idea how close I came to writing the opposite title. We just spent three full days in Guadalajara trying to get Jari's birth certificate fixed, and it looked like it was a lost cause. Everyone kept telling us it was impossible. Oh, no, they said, you need a lawyer, and it will take a year to fix. But paperwork is kind of like life. Persistence is key.<br />
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On the our last day in Guadalajara, we decided to pester the ladies at the Registro Civil just one more time, and for some reason that was the day they suggested going to the main archive office. That's where we met the man who would solve all our problems. You see, Jess and James had a similar issue, and they had gotten an amendment to the birth certificate clarifying Jess's name. So we knew we could do something similar, but we had to fight for three days through the "you can't do that" crowd. The folks at the archive office seemed to deal with this sort of thing all the time, or they perhaps took pity on us. Whatever the case, after a gathering of paperwork (and lots of stamping!), we finally got an amendment to the birth certificate, and Jari can now easily get a Mexican passport.<br />
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On a somewhat unrelated note, we love, love, love Guadalajara. Unlike Puerto Vallarta, the weather is gorgeous. There's a ton of things to do. The food is cheap and good and so is the coffee. It's a super vibrant city that has an old-world, European flavor but with bomber tacos, and as an added bonus they have great public transportation.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9nEABqhGfjKIHlUspnPIhhINMDvBhRbXA4fFGze2pVBAr66bZ0v4V_HMjsuv7vk_qjF86KRQp2o5nLsSYKmgRt44tIcm8QeqwP3MS-xW_Adf7zWGRZAB6Au6kg4ZniYLqXF4S6kMshSc/s1600/IMG_5590.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9nEABqhGfjKIHlUspnPIhhINMDvBhRbXA4fFGze2pVBAr66bZ0v4V_HMjsuv7vk_qjF86KRQp2o5nLsSYKmgRt44tIcm8QeqwP3MS-xW_Adf7zWGRZAB6Au6kg4ZniYLqXF4S6kMshSc/s1600/IMG_5590.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The subway in Guadalajara.</td></tr>
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The public transportation is especially fun because Jari is a smile predator. Like a lion at the watering hole, he is constantly on the lookout for his next victim, and a bus is the perfect environment for him to grin at every passing stranger. And all the Mexicanos are happy to oblige. He even got passed around the Registro Civil and had a ball, giggling and drooling on everyone's important documents. This kid is a total ham.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Jz9FnaVtAF5-Nn3qRTV-UHnesy8HPCvS9XaitTzsC-u1Utr4Z9eU2zJfq9raUcmtHiL7h3URBcd4Lt77DWOgLm78YUeG6j4LeXUawV4wJ5FwKYbaOoVVlhuMX5OqaNBM3aaYyeJlwfc/s1600/IMG_5596.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Jz9FnaVtAF5-Nn3qRTV-UHnesy8HPCvS9XaitTzsC-u1Utr4Z9eU2zJfq9raUcmtHiL7h3URBcd4Lt77DWOgLm78YUeG6j4LeXUawV4wJ5FwKYbaOoVVlhuMX5OqaNBM3aaYyeJlwfc/s1600/IMG_5596.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jari in his element.</td></tr>
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As to how we should have filled out the hospital paperwork, honestly, after all this I'm still not sure. It seems as though every gringo we spoke with or read about who had a baby in Mexico got some portion of the name wrong. I'll update this post if I ever figure it out.<br />
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<br />Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-58767382340212127492014-05-04T06:50:00.000-07:002014-05-04T06:50:08.758-07:00We Cut the Dock Lines ... Again<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHm2xW92BlxQH3eUEXkhPN-0ruJOW6lc7-FzSQQd-THy9G_VXzzX-EGHnIx6eIrZJpYsp3sapr9OnMUdmddAN3V9cvOGc2qa9B1Swo_Ks_1mTkdiUkpIvQJTVCaoLdaIx1x5bQGea-LPs/s1600/DSCN3054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHm2xW92BlxQH3eUEXkhPN-0ruJOW6lc7-FzSQQd-THy9G_VXzzX-EGHnIx6eIrZJpYsp3sapr9OnMUdmddAN3V9cvOGc2qa9B1Swo_Ks_1mTkdiUkpIvQJTVCaoLdaIx1x5bQGea-LPs/s1600/DSCN3054.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A very nice morning in La Cruz.</td></tr>
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Right now we are sitting in the most amazing of places, a spot we haven't been to in almost a year. The anchorage. I am currently typing in our cockpit, enjoying a cup of coffee and looking at the sprinkle of boats anchored in the flat calm bay. The pelicans are causing trouble, and occasionally a fish breaks the surface tension. Can you tell that it feels really, really good to be back? <br />
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Before this run, the longest we had ever stayed in a marina since leaving Texas was two weeks at Shelter Bay because my dad was visiting and because of some Panama Canal business, and I thought that was extravagant. If you want to cruise on the cheap, it's obvious that marina's are not the place to be, but we were dealing with atypical circumstances. Nothing like having a baby to stick you on the docks for a few months.<br />
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Unfortunately, the main anchorage here in Banderas Bay is kind of crap. It has zero protection and gets super choppy when the winds kick up in the afternoon, which makes for wet dinghy rides. But we're hoping as we travel up the coast we will find more hospitable digs. Even with the chop and roll, we are still liking this life if yesterday evening was any indication. The wind was still gusting, and we all sat in the cockpit as the sun was going down. Vlad and I talked shop, while Jari sat in his diaper playing with a toy giraffe and watching the seagulls dip and dive. There aren't too many better ways to end a day.Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-25535611564670768202014-05-02T07:48:00.001-07:002014-05-02T07:50:13.083-07:00Adios, Amigos<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINU1CyV0EMLxtd3mE_lxpnUT31oVQJT21E5lXyR9vMp5hdkTR9qGuNtOnkh3tatD5b5VgPSzPMJyGW0aUHShkusGvSZinMcNdImus88b199Q_-HwNGF33ZyE7Db0hfuI2BUZCR5jFgGM/s1600/DSCN2743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINU1CyV0EMLxtd3mE_lxpnUT31oVQJT21E5lXyR9vMp5hdkTR9qGuNtOnkh3tatD5b5VgPSzPMJyGW0aUHShkusGvSZinMcNdImus88b199Q_-HwNGF33ZyE7Db0hfuI2BUZCR5jFgGM/s1600/DSCN2743.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No more early morning baby play dates. Oh, and Vlad can sleep through anything!</td></tr>
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We got back from our trip to the States and were greeted by a very quiet marina. Of course, some of our friends are still here, but most have ventured out to various far-flung locales north, south and west. And I have to say I'm feeling a little lonely. <br />
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It's funny because we didn't start out on this journey with the purpose of socializing. Our reasoning revolved around a bit of adventure and the chance to spend time together and to explore new places. And though we've had a ton of fun with taxi drivers, shop owners, locals, people from Europe and New Zealand and Canada, almost all of them were fleeting friends. Either we left for new horizons or they did, and even though we are in contact with some of them, email just isn't a substitute for face to face communication. Occasionally, however, we've traveled with a boat or two for quite a long distance. We met our friends Jess and James on the Caribbean side of Mexico and traversed quite a ways together, both distance wise and in the major life events category. They came to our wedding, and we had babies around the same time. But about four weeks ago, they left on a Pacific crossing, and we took a different turn. <br />
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Also, up until a few weeks ago, there were FIVE boat babies (and their support staff as my sister describes us) in Banderas Bay, which is a whole lot of baby, and it was incredibly neat to watch all the little ones getting plenty of bonding time. Now, however, Jari is the only one whose crying reverberates across the docks, and it's up to us to entertain him, an increasingly daunting task.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZd60hDotcovMy8-eE9GmzYLznyMNrqyjRmJKjJSiEEFH1eONtduAk4rkfefC3gTqrLGcz98eln8P3RAMapiERtyT-f23g9I-OdvaJH4IDJZ1R_N83jOf9KI57yygosGe9uGa-01ZXUOw/s1600/DSC_0008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZd60hDotcovMy8-eE9GmzYLznyMNrqyjRmJKjJSiEEFH1eONtduAk4rkfefC3gTqrLGcz98eln8P3RAMapiERtyT-f23g9I-OdvaJH4IDJZ1R_N83jOf9KI57yygosGe9uGa-01ZXUOw/s1600/DSC_0008.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's a lot of boat babies! Photo credit: James on Adamastor</td></tr>
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On a somewhat tangential note, a big congratulations to <a href="http://water-log.com/">Adamastor</a> and our friends on <a href="http://searavensailing.com/">Sea Raven</a> for their Pacific crossing! Both boats are nestled in the Marquesas, hopefully stuffing themselves on French cheeses. You deserve it. In some ways, I'm kind of glad we decided to forgo the Pacific this year. The trade winds didn't look super great, and knowing our usual quick pace of 2 miles an hour, I could just see us having a six-week crossing and me apologizing to Vlad over our last can of Costco chicken. Though maybe all the brie would have made up for it. Tough to tell. Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-59019606461221039782014-04-28T09:15:00.002-07:002014-04-28T09:15:58.286-07:00The Baby Parade<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrJApLp2JmObqaRXxZkoScwATjYN2P08wy6vAcdHmR2uPZaHu0Mh-NcKPoypMMmjGzuiK55-8wfHCJ7B4b_6YjYsH1wZVsDlpKibv0qjKEct8-O6ootm2RHmTIpoYitye2l2aSF_QEZc/s1600/IMG_5442.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrJApLp2JmObqaRXxZkoScwATjYN2P08wy6vAcdHmR2uPZaHu0Mh-NcKPoypMMmjGzuiK55-8wfHCJ7B4b_6YjYsH1wZVsDlpKibv0qjKEct8-O6ootm2RHmTIpoYitye2l2aSF_QEZc/s1600/IMG_5442.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Check out these way cool blocks from Jess, James and Rocket!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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For three weeks we were in the United States taking Jari on a much needed visit to see family and friends. We went both to Arkansas and to New Mexico, traveling by airplane and by car, and the kiddo did very well, despite the fact that both his parents got food poisoning on the trip to Arkansas. We have managed to travel all over Central America with only one bout of food poisoning for yours truly on the bus from Puerto Angel to Acapulco (I swear I didn't eat the iguana tamales!), and yet we got sick, sick, sick from a couple of sandwiches in Puerto Vallarta, which created possibly the worst traveling day ever. First time flying with baby and vomiting. That's never a good mixture.<br />
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Horrible flying experience aside, the little guy got to meet many of the important people in his life. He got to play the accordion with his Great Aunt Ruthie and learn all about dogwood trees with his grandma. He learned about floors and cold weather. He got to meet his first chicken, see his first forest, look at his first desert, sneak a taste fresh pumpkin puree and just get generally loved on by his grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends.<br />
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And he completely hammed it up for them. Truly, this kid is all smiles these days.<br />
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<br />Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-52233057220461404632014-04-09T10:39:00.000-07:002014-04-09T10:39:30.247-07:00In Solidarity with Rebel Heart When we first heard about the tragedy that had befallen our friends on Rebel Heart, Vlad and I were just heartbroken. We had watched their boat leave the marina in La Cruz for points west on a family voyage that honestly I was a smidge jealous about, and it is wrenching to see that dream deferred. <br />
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It was also wrenching to hear people say nasty things about our friends on the internet, hyberbolic things like having kids on a boat is "just nuts" or "irresponsible" or "unfair." And they were saying this about every single family living on a boat, families that we have met all throughout our travels, families, incidentally just like we are now. We've met families with brand new babies and others with teenagers. Some were traveling with children with disabilities. Some had large catamarans. Others traveled in less than 30-foot boats across oceans. <br />
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In other words, living on a boat with a kid, while certainly not for everyone, isn't a rare occurrence, despite what the internet thinks. We've personally met around fifty kid boats on our travels, and not a one of those kiddos seemed upset with their circumstances. That includes the teenagers, people! In fact, all of the kids I've spoken to were excited about their lives, their travels, different languages and new people. Not a one said, "Geez, I wish my stupid parents hadn't taken me sailing."<br />
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As for the babies, though they might not ever remember their time onboard or the specifics of the journey, they get a very rare gift in this world - two parents who are with them pretty much all the time. We read books, talk, play the ukulele, listen to music, and go on walks with Jari every day. He also spends an abundance of one-on-one time with his dad, walking the docks and talking to people and intently watching Vlad fix things. In short, he gets a lot of attention from both of his parents. That doesn't sound deserving of a CPS call, now does it?<br />
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And a bunch of people have put it much better than I have. Here is a list of blog rebuttals to the internet maelstrom:<br />
Behan on <a href="http://sv-totem.blogspot.com/2014/04/crazy-people-taking-children-cruising.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+S%2FvTotemFamily+%28S%2FV+Totem+Family%29">S/V Totem </a>who is currently sailing around the world with her children.<br />
Brittany on <a href="http://www.windtraveler.net/2014/04/baby-on-board-cruising-with-kids-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Windtraveler+%28Windtraveler%29&m=1">Windtraveler </a>who raised one baby girl aboard and is about to do the same thing with their new twin girls. And here's a great post she wrote last year: "<a href="http://www.windtraveler.net/2013/07/on-boating-with-baby-and-being.html">On Boating with a Baby and Being Irresponsible Parents</a>."<br />
And here's Tamiko's take on <a href="http://landfallvoyages.com/2777/rebel-heart-reality-check/#comment-221">Landfall</a>. <br />
Cidnie from <a href="http://theceolmors.blogspot.com/">Our Life with Ceol Mor</a> has uploaded an excellent<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8WGmCOXkg8#action=share"> sailing with kids video</a>. And it even shows Charlotte baby wearing Jari aboard our boat. <br />
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Also, Charlotte and Eric lost their home and all their possessions and need help getting back on their feet. If you would like to make a donation, here is the link to the <a href="https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/djWq3">Help the Kaufman Family</a> fundraising page.<br />
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<br />Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-53582605045985522392014-03-18T08:07:00.000-07:002014-03-18T08:07:46.081-07:00The Big Decision<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXjfOS14vLSFo28eoCliP-e6dS13Lfy2UVKEs-RqEfls6FTlcQ8vXhh9cshHmkJ5lLo5bEiDp0H8Zap76sjwKEONuzN2mxx2rvoSyGiVpfgdDj3YM3xZydwU5iJarSFZcJ-bIkLC4YMeI/s1600/DSCN1847.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXjfOS14vLSFo28eoCliP-e6dS13Lfy2UVKEs-RqEfls6FTlcQ8vXhh9cshHmkJ5lLo5bEiDp0H8Zap76sjwKEONuzN2mxx2rvoSyGiVpfgdDj3YM3xZydwU5iJarSFZcJ-bIkLC4YMeI/s1600/DSCN1847.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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And the <a href="http://bettiedelmar.blogspot.mx/2014/02/what-to-do-next.html">winner</a> is ... the Sea of Cortez! We will be heading up into the Sea for a couple of months this spring and summer, and we are so looking forward to it. While I've appreciated all this dock time - what with the C-section recovery and the new baby and Vlad working - it will certainly be nice to head back out into the wide open world and actually do some traveling again. Plus, we will get to see a completely different landscape from the usual lush tropical vista. Think fewer palm trees and more cacti.<br />
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As for the Pacific, well, it's not going anywhere. We seriously considered just going for it, but Vlad was concerned about getting our boat ready while also working on other people's. There just wasn't enough time. And after watching all of our fellow puddle jumpers, I'm kind of glad we didn't go the super stressful route. We also really want to explore the Sea of Cortez with its small, dusty towns and bare mountains and clear, fish-filled water. If we crossed the Pacific now, we would probably never get come back to see this particular spot.<br />
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On the down side, we have heard horror stories about the heat, but we will see how it goes. We will, however, escape at least one of the hellish summer months with a trip to Guadalajara because as it turns out we have to get Jari's birth certificate fixed there. (See our latest paperwork drama <a href="http://bettiedelmar.blogspot.mx/2014/03/epic-fail-mexican-passport-edition.html">here</a>.) They can't amend it in PV. I'm guessing this has to do with the fact that his birth certificate is actually in a file in a stack in the specific office where we registered him, and the whole thing is strictly analog. On a similar note, we did get the baby's American passport (yay!!) last week, and we didn't even have to call our congressmen. The paperwork drama is almost finished.<br />
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But our travels with our new crew have just begun. <br />
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<br />Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-30619990149646388392014-03-11T16:44:00.000-07:002014-03-11T16:44:24.429-07:00Epic Fail: Mexican Passport Edition<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Awe-HomwoVM-ABoyTrfqHInE-EAyRqUtdLwK6UuQDlk7shoU_CGoeu8lrw9qkMB1gXtKfVXMx0JQoNSPQFOSZedpPi_yXQdb9ZeVAC4HjBhA7xOEWJSKFMarPS534HeEDCl6USh0v4I/s1600/photo-88+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Awe-HomwoVM-ABoyTrfqHInE-EAyRqUtdLwK6UuQDlk7shoU_CGoeu8lrw9qkMB1gXtKfVXMx0JQoNSPQFOSZedpPi_yXQdb9ZeVAC4HjBhA7xOEWJSKFMarPS534HeEDCl6USh0v4I/s1600/photo-88+2.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why won't anyone give this kid a passport?</td></tr>
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We just can't seem to catch a break when it comes to passports. Yesterday, Vlad, Jari and I went to San Vicente to get Jari's Mexican passport squared away only to return to the boat with a good dose of "what the heck do we do now," and it's all because of my name.<br />
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You see, in Mexico children take both their father's and mother's last names, and all paperwork reflects that custom. So the form that Vlad filled out in the hospital asked for my first name, my father's last name and my mother's last name. This form, which he was told was my admitting paperwork, is actually a very important piece of paper. It's the form upon which all of Jari's other paperwork is based in Mexico, and Vlad filled it out as it directed and yet also incorrectly.<br />
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To make matters even more confusing, my middle name is my mother's last name, so the lady at the birth certificate office was just baffled by me and wrote my name down as Attila Berry Loving instead of Attila Loving Berry on Jari's birth certificate. She was insistent that I have my mother's last name tacked on to my last name, and I went along with it, thinking that was just how they did it in Mexico. Add to this the fact that we had just had a really intense experience. I was recovering from a C-section and could barely walk, and we were adjusting to life with a week-old baby. So you can understand how this mistake went down. What's in a name anyway?<br />
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Now, however, thanks to a woman at the passport office, we see things differently. My actual name has to be the name on Jari's birth certificate, not the name that I would have if I had been born in Mexico, which is the humorous sounding Attila Loving Berry Loving. Nope, that's not how it's done. Had we been able to get Jari's passport started in Guadalajara, we could have fixed this mistake right away, but because he was two weeks late we just didn't have time.<br />
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So what to do about this latest international incident? The lady at the passport office suggested hiring a lawyer. Vlad thinks the simplest way is for me to change my name to Attila Berry Loving, which has a certain work around appeal. But I think we might have found our answer thanks to Jess and James, who had pretty much the exact thing happen to them. Because of a similar middle name/last name conundrum, they had to get Rocket's birth certificate amended, which basically means finding the right guy with the right stamp. (And you know how much we love <a href="http://bettiedelmar.blogspot.mx/2012/09/the-secret-weapon.html">stamps</a>!) So our next adventure is finding the magical stamp man, and then maybe, just maybe, our kiddo will get a passport.<br />
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Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-72403622893193587702014-03-06T14:19:00.000-08:002014-03-06T14:19:03.264-08:00Cloth Diapers on a Boat*Disclaimer: This is post describes an adventure in old school domesticity. If such throwbacks don't interest you, please feel free to read other, less poop-filled items.<br />
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While strolling the docks with Jari, I have had multiple people come up to me and say, "Oh, a baby on a boat. You're so brave!" I'm never quite sure how to respond to this since living on a boat with a baby doesn't seem much different from living in a house with a baby. Sure, it's smaller and a bit more wobbly, but it's just as much a home. What they should say is "Oh, cloth diapering on a boat. You're so crazy!" And that is pretty much how I feel every time I'm scrubbing a load of inserts.<br />
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Some of my earliest memories are of "helping" my parents fold my little brother's cloth diapers, and I always planned to use them when I had a baby. They are, after all, more economical, and they don't fill up landfills like their disposable brethren. I did not plan, however, to have a baby on a boat, a boat without a washing machine and with only a 50 gallon water tank. A limited water supply was never a factor I considered.<br />
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But to my surprise, I have been cloth diapering like a madwoman and have developed a daily washing ritual, despite my undying hatred of doing laundry on a boat unless it's up <a href="http://bettiedelmar.blogspot.mx/2012_11_01_archive.html">a river in the Kuna Yala</a> with plenty of crocodiles to keep things sporting. Not only am I doing it, but I actually get a strange sort of satisfaction out of seeing those diapers fluttering on the lifelines in the afternoon breeze, like, yeah, I've actually accomplished something. Would I trade that feeling for a washing machine? In a heartbeat. But it's nice to know that I have the capability to not completely hate this often times gross daily activity.<br />
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So just in case there are other crazy people out there who want to cloth diaper on a boat (you maniacs!), here's my daily recipe for poop stew, as I fondly call it.<br />
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First, I rinse the diapers in fresh water, though you can easily use salt if away from the dock. Then, I soak them in diaper detergent and boiling water for a couple of hours, and just to make it even more old school, I scrub them in the sink using a small washboard that my mom and Bob found for us. This surprisingly removes most of the stains (Did you know that baby poop is a bright 1970s mustard yellow? Yeah, neither did I.) and I rinse them a couple of times in fresh water, wringing them out each time. And finally, and this is the best part, I hang them up in the sun, which magically bleaches out any leftover stains.<br />
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I use two types of diapers: the old, old school flat kind that your grandma probably used and microfiber inserts. Both have their ups and downs. The flats don't hold as much pee, which means more washing, but they dry super quickly in the sun and catch the more liquidy poop better. The inserts take forever to dry and aren't so great in the poop department, but they are super absorbent. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJ5mqhXBbpMHDrLgmujUR19YBIUy6gJju6QqVaoqRgJ4SfrC9Gg6Nd_bvTOfqlV3XdXLdPHsxRbrSARY7Xt4WLLoKTfS1RPBBDdqcyKvy8UIsJDVoYY5YXQvJl7iyiG9ZhA9RGQIOhfM/s1600/DSCN2695.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJ5mqhXBbpMHDrLgmujUR19YBIUy6gJju6QqVaoqRgJ4SfrC9Gg6Nd_bvTOfqlV3XdXLdPHsxRbrSARY7Xt4WLLoKTfS1RPBBDdqcyKvy8UIsJDVoYY5YXQvJl7iyiG9ZhA9RGQIOhfM/s1600/DSCN2695.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's Jari sporting a flat diaper with an origami fold.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Of course, washing diapers has upped our water use, but I think you could use salt water for most of the process except the final rinse. When underway, people also throw dirty diapers in a mesh bag or tie them to a line and drag them behind the boat. We will have to experiment further once we get off the dock, but we plan to use <a href="http://www.gdiapers.com/gdiapering/biodegradable-disposable-diaper-inserts">gDiaper disposable inserts</a> while underway. They are biodegradable, contain no plastics and can be tossed overboard. That means you don't have to use fresh water for washing diapers while away from land, and you also avoid arriving at your destination with an extra special present for the local populace. Nothing says "hello" quite like a trash bag or two full of poop and plastic.<br />
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I've also been trying out a fancy, hand-cranked washing machine that Jess and James on Adamastor gave us. It's gotten mixed reviews from other cruisers, and Jess didn't like it much. However, I'm enjoying it at least at the dock, and if it works better than the washboard, I'll let you know. For further reading on this utterly engaging subject (c'mon, you know you liked it), please check out these sites.<br />
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Jess, James and Rocket got an awesome sponsorship with gDiapers. Check out their adventures in cloth diapering <a href="http://www.gdiapers.com/diaper-therapy/location-jess-james-part-1">here</a>, <a href="http://www.gdiapers.com/diaper-therapy/location-jess-james-part-2">here</a>, <a href="http://www.gdiapers.com/diaper-therapy/location-jess-james-life-water">here</a>, <a href="http://www.gdiapers.com/diaper-therapy/on-location-cloth-diapers">here</a>, <a href="http://www.gdiapers.com/diaper-therapy/location-jess-james-change-season">here</a> and <a href="http://www.gdiapers.com/diaper-therapy/on-deck">here</a>. And here's <a href="http://water-log.com/#/mothership/4582347767">a link</a> to their Mothership page, which details other good baby-on-a-boat products.<br />
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<a href="http://sailboatpelagic.blogspot.mx/2011/03/cloth-diapers-afloat.html">Once Upon A Time</a> has a nice description of washing diapers while sailing the South Pacific.<br />
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And a special thanks to <a href="http://www.terra-tots.com/">Terra Tots</a>, the baby store in Fayetteville, AR. They convinced me that flat diapers would be where it's at on a boat, and they were so right. Thanks for all the advice, guys!<br />
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Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-89928133218755515292014-03-01T13:38:00.000-08:002014-03-01T13:38:00.913-08:00And Even More Birthday Goodness<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ieryXn8UjM6bXFykvFcov54NBdwtirK4YYkgdRwa-zli1tC_47Dgjk55QvO8y36i5mhUN9tUpiO7r38jvSh53HVyXIqsLkoGahqPcZhgMnFShQfag_l2oqCUsKwmJ3FpzyNBN4xzV-s/s1600/DSC_0471.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ieryXn8UjM6bXFykvFcov54NBdwtirK4YYkgdRwa-zli1tC_47Dgjk55QvO8y36i5mhUN9tUpiO7r38jvSh53HVyXIqsLkoGahqPcZhgMnFShQfag_l2oqCUsKwmJ3FpzyNBN4xzV-s/s1600/DSC_0471.jpg" height="400" width="267" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy Birthday!</td></tr>
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February is always a big month for the crew aboard Bettie because Vlad and I both have our birthdays within a week. Last year, we had just made it through the Panama Canal, and this year we are living it up in Mexico with our own brand new Mexicano. Who knew a year could bring so much?<br />
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Alas, Vlad's birthday didn't include a Sayulita extravaganza, but, thanks to Bethany on <a href="http://www.svlilo.com/">S/V Lilo</a>, we did have an awesome baby-free lunch. (I don't know how he does it, but Jari always picks meal times to get fussy. Must be a baby spidey sense or something.) Other than that, we pretty much spent the day in a family cuddle pile, and then Vlad made us birthday pot roast in the pressure cooker. That's right. Vlad made his own birthday dinner, and it was delicious.<br />
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This has nothing to do with birthdays, but here's a quick update on Jari's passport situation. I spoke with the embassy in Guadalajara again, and all is well. We should have his full passport here in time, but if we don't they can make up an emergency one the week before. This response is much more acceptable than the one I got from the guy in Puerto Vallarta with the "walking your three month old across the border" mumbo jumbo, and hopefully this is the end of our bureaucratic mess. Which, come to think of it, is not a bad birthday present.Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-26233314142218305962014-02-27T06:37:00.000-08:002014-02-27T06:37:03.320-08:00Epic Fail: U.S. Passport Style<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKvRypF3Y9vtgDSSwCHV9XLuqkBfK307RTbIhyphenhyphenHgvb1P0rFhp6DMvg_Xs-mhl6U9vnvstl5x_6AWgBlIFflAjSRY4Y4rxCHBETbvDttlhsF_YFD7H96Fl6oI1LCf3pd3wAkbw2nbu6XKQ/s1600/DSCN2588.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKvRypF3Y9vtgDSSwCHV9XLuqkBfK307RTbIhyphenhyphenHgvb1P0rFhp6DMvg_Xs-mhl6U9vnvstl5x_6AWgBlIFflAjSRY4Y4rxCHBETbvDttlhsF_YFD7H96Fl6oI1LCf3pd3wAkbw2nbu6XKQ/s1600/DSCN2588.jpg" height="400" width="312" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who would deny this guy a passport?</td></tr>
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Here's our international incident for the week. You may remember this <a href="http://bettiedelmar.blogspot.mx/2014/01/paperwork-shuffle.html">post</a> about our adventures in paperwork when trying to get Jari's passport and Consular Report of Birth Abroad. Well, the folks at the consulate in Puerto Vallarta told us that they would contact us if there were any problems, but otherwise we would hear from them in six to eight weeks. A week ago, we received an email from them saying that one or both of our documents had arrived, and Vlad went to pick them up on Monday.<br />
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But there was one slight hitch. Evidently, the passport photo we took wasn't up to State Department snuff. The guy Vlad spoke to at the consulate said he had tried to call and had emailed us about the problem, which is odd since they didn't have our phone number and I only received the aforementioned email from them. But whatevs, Consulate Man.<br />
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Anyway, we went into the consulate yesterday with a lighter photo, and the same guy said it would be six to eight weeks until Jari could have a passport. This is a big problem. Vlad and I have to leave the Mexico for our visas at the end of March, which is four weeks away. So I start asking our dear friend at the consulate what we do about this conundrum. The conversation went a little something like this:<br />
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Me: Can we get an expedited passport?<br />
Consulate Man: No. You can only get an expedited passport within the United States.<br />
Me: Well, how do we go about getting an emergency passport?<br />
Him: The embassy in Guadalajara makes those decisions, but it's only for real emergencies.<br />
Me: So us having to travel to the United States without our baby doesn't qualify as a real emergency?<br />
Him: Ummm, let me go talk to my boss.<br />
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The conversation kept going around like this for a while. Basically, all I wanted to know was how the process worked, what my options were and just some reassurance that the United States would in no way leave it's citizens stranded in this position, but Consulate Man wasn't much comfort. He said things like "It's out of my hands" and "Let's keep our fingers crossed." You know, stuff you really don't want to hear when you need to travel with your baby in four weeks.<br />
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At one point, he said that the worst case scenario was us having to walk Jari across the border, which just sounds like a logistical nightmare to me. ** (To get an idea, this would entail either a plane or bus ride to Tijuana or the war zone that is Juarez, a taxi ride to the border, a two-hour wait to cross, being stranded in San Diego or El Paso without a car and finding our way to another airport to catch a flight to Arkansas all with a three month old.) I mean, really, is that the best that our gov can do? I pointed out to him that the British government will issue an emergency travel document to their citizens who don't for whatever reason have a passport. Our friends on Adamastor did just that to get their baby girl to Canada when she was a few weeks old. But Consulate Man shrugged his shoulders once more.<br />
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In the end, I'm guessing this will all work out and that our conversation with Consulate Man was an unfortunate fluke. I called the embassy in Guadalajara yesterday, and the woman I spoke with didn't seem fussed about it. However, at this point I am a little nervous about the whole thing and will be harassing the main embassy until we get that little blue booklet in our hands. And if it doesn't work out, there will an onslaught of calls to various members of Congress, two really angry Americans and possibly a blog post about our walk across the border. Fingers crossed, right?<br />
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** Minors are allowed to travel to Mexico without a passport by land and sea but not by air. Also, he can't travel into the U.S. on his Mexican passport because, to put it bluntly, we treat Mexican nationals like crap. He would have to get approved for a visa that happens to be very expensive, and the process takes two months anyway. <br />
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<br />Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-41264148108524463442014-02-25T06:30:00.000-08:002014-02-25T06:30:05.848-08:00Best Birthday Ever<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We celebrated my 33rd (the big tres tres!) in Sayulita this weekend, and it was pretty darn lovely. Really, how could it not be when I got to celebrate it with these two cuties.<br />
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And with our wonderful friends Jess, James and Rocket.<br />
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Needless to say, I loved it. We had fun times on the beach, fancy iced coffee, a good wander around town and my favorite fish tacos. The only thing missing was all our friends and family, but since they have been calling for more photos, here's a heap of pictures. And, yes, every one of them has a baby in it.<br />
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<br />Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-21330369016007380002014-02-19T06:31:00.001-08:002014-02-19T06:31:35.637-08:00What to Do Next?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I don't usually share the inner workings of my thoughts on the blog, but here lately Vlad and I have been musing about what we want to do and where we want to go next. It's always better to have options, and we've thankfully got a few.<br />
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One thought is that we stay here in Mexico for a bit. We could sail in the Sea of Cortez, keep practicing our Spanish and continue living in a country that we totally dig. We love the people here and the food, not to mention that our kiddo is a native. Eventually, of course, we would have to bash our way back up the coast to California, which is a 1,700-mile trip to San Francisco against the wind and the current. You know, pretty much our favorite way to travel.<br />
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The other, one might say crazier option, is to make that big leap across the Pacific this year, sail through French Polynesia and end up in New Zealand. From there, we would have the option to sell the boat or do more exploring. This is about a 7,000-mile voyage theoretically with the wind and the waves, but given our track record, well, you never know.<br />
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As far as wear and tear on Bettie, I'd say the two choices are both rough. Though doable, the bash up to California sounds pretty crap, and the trip to New Zealand is just plain long with the occasional tough sail thrown in. I can't help but daydream, though, about preparing for and then completing the longest ocean passage in the world, seeing some remote places we might never see otherwise and possibly sailing with the wind behind us for once. Maybe I'm just getting swept up in the Puddle Jump fever that's in high gear around the bay these days, but there's something about it that seems just so enticing.<br />
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On the other hand, we really love Mexico, and with the new baby we are a short plane ride away from family. And Jari, for sure, puts a whole new perspective on things. I'm not necessarily scared to be out in the middle of the Pacific with our two month old, but the weight of that decision all of a sudden seems quite heavy. What if something goes wrong and we are 1,500 miles away from land?<br />
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It's a lot to digest. Right now, we're just going to continue doing what we're doing - working and getting the boat put together, and when April rolls around, we shall see where we stand. I'm not the only one reconsidering our route. Our friends over at <a href="http://theceolmors.blogspot.mx/2014/01/plan-is-four-letter-word.html">Our Life with Ceol Mor </a>are as well.Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-76109211192339417742014-02-14T14:48:00.003-08:002014-02-14T14:48:51.973-08:00A Meeting of the MindsI have to admit that Sid Vicious has gotten short shrift here lately. The poor guy hasn't had his evening cuddles lately because I've been so busy with all things baby, though Vlad and the occasional visitor have taken up the slack. The situation reminds me of an <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2013/07/kids_and_dogs_if_you_re_having_a_baby_do_not_get_a_puppy.html">article</a> I read on Slate titled "The One Thing No One Tells You Before You Have Kids: Don't Get a Dog."<br />
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However, guess who loves the hedgehog? Our kiddo. In fact, I've never see him happier than when we bring out the pig of the sea.<br />
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Of course, Jari hasn't had the pleasure of touching Sid yet, and a fist full of quills might change his mind on the wondrousness that is all things hedgehog. But that's a lesson for another day. Have a lovely weekend, everyone!Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5429991721363956274.post-19585100059573653092014-02-12T08:30:00.001-08:002014-02-12T08:30:34.170-08:00Working for the Weekend<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Somebody's got to pay for those coconut rum drinks.</td></tr>
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You heard correctly. After two years of dodging gainful employment, Vlad and I both have jobs. He's working like crazy on boats during the high season here, and I'm doing some freelance editing. His work is much more lucrative, but we've both been looking at each other lately like "Wait a second. Aren't we supposed to be on vacation??"<br />
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We are both enjoying the novel sensation of money coming in instead of always siphoning out. I had forgotten what it's like in the normal working world where you may be stuck in a filing room, but you at least have a new batch of currency every two weeks. Which gets me thinking about that persistent question: How to make money while sailing? </div>
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So far, I've seen three areas of reliable work - fixing boats, doing canvas work and messing about with computers. Sure, plenty of people add to the cruising kitty by teaching beach yoga or toting a massage table around, but if you want to make the big bucks being an electrician or welder or mechanic ain't half bad. After all, if there's one thing that you can rely on while sailing, it's that your boat will break, and most people don't have the skill set to fix it. Vlad has been able to get pick up work in many spots on our travels, even in the San Blas Islands. He's good and has tons of experience, but it doesn't hurt that he packed our boat with spares and materials. I might complain about the clutter (and I do!), but having that roll of electrical wire or a piece of stainless has gotten us a few extra tacos. </div>
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The woman we bought the boat from did canvas work during their travels, which is also a pretty consistent gig. There have been several people here in La Cruz who needed new sail covers or bimini tops and wanted to hire me after seeing me lugging around our sewing machine. If only my stitches didn't look like the work of a second grader with bad eye-hand coordination, I could have made some cash. </div>
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And there's always someone out here who does web site or software work. Sometimes they even keep their real jobs and just work via the internet in exotic locations. Every time I see one of these people, I curse my younger self for going into journalism. Computers, kid. There's a great future in computers.</div>
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Anyway, while we are here saving for our next move, what are your thoughts on making money while cruising? Do you guys have any big plans or ideas on how to make money while underway? </div>
Bettie del Marhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03666822701692228531noreply@blogger.com9