Spoke Too Soon

That tiller isn't going anywhere today.

As it turned out, we did not leave yesterday, and as it turns out we will be staying put today. Yes, there was the usual hullabaloo with Immigration (Immigration: we need to stamp your zarpe. Us: but the port captain's office told us to check out with you first. Immigration: no, the zarpe comes first. Us: but we wanted to make just one trip to Cancun to pay for the zarpe and our exit fee. Immigration: there is no exit fee. Us: why does no one know how this works!!)

But in the end the port captain advised us to stay due to high seas and winds coming from this strange place called the zona inestable, which seems to be a really crappy band of weather that forever hovers just off the coast of Venezuela and Colombia, and not being one to argue with the most disarmingly pleasant official we've ever met we decided to take his advice.

And indeed, the wind has been a'blowin' and the seas are choppy even behind the reef. I don't see it on any weather report, but it's true. In fact, it's been blowing enough that we decided to break out the outboard yesterday evening because rowing was quickly becoming some sort of sick, twisted endurance test.

Funny thing about rowing the dinghy in this town, we get a lot of strange looks. Mainly they are looks of amusement - a sly smile here, a suppressed giggle there - but sometimes we got outright laughter from the locals hanging out or fishing from the pier. We could tell we were the subject of some humor, but it wasn't until Vlad put the outboard on last night and motored up to the pier that the full mockery burst forth. He said that all the fishermen were cheering and clapping for him, saying things like "good job" and "about time you found a motor" and "mas facil." One of them even called him Arnold Schwarzenegger. This puts Vlad in a rare class of people who can say they've been thoroughly mocked by Mexican fishermen. Definitely a trip highlight.

The Dinghy and the Life Raft

It's finally happened. The guns have been holstered. The treaties have been signed. The dinghy wars have come to an end with no injuries and only slightly more tender feelings about tenders.

We wound up purchasing a new dinghy, a compact RIB from West Marine. It's light weight, rows decently, planes well, will be easy to get in and out of and is relatively easy to get on and off the boat without davits. Plus, the dinghy has a folding transom, making it easier to store on deck, and it's rigid bottom should protect us against most run-ins with sharp rocks or coral that would shred the average inflatable (even so, we've already been heckled by one of our dock friends who said he'd give us a patch kit as a going away present).

And it has its own handy carrying case!

We got a decent deal on the dink. The price was discounted about $200, and with the sale of our previous dinghy for $300, we wound up paying about $1,400 for the new beauty, our most expensive boat purchase by far but not bad by marine standards.

Why did we decide on this dinghy? Well, we researched and looked at each possibility, but what finally pushed us over the edge was the life raft issue. The life raft issue, you ask? The thing about life rafts is that they're expensive to purchase ($3,000 new) and, for some reason that I've yet to figure out, they're expensive to maintain (think $500 to $900 every year or two depending on the age of the raft just to inflate it and replace the flares, food and water). But on the other hand, when your boat is sinking you'd kind of like to have something to sit on that isn't sinking too.

We started looking at used life rafts, but nothing fit within our price range. Everything was either too expensive or too old, and we realized we couldn't afford the maintenance on our budget anyway. So we bought a RIB and an epirb. The epirb will tell people where we are, and the RIB will give us something to hang onto if all hell breaks loose. Our main plan is to never abandon the boat unless it is actually sinking and we can't fix it. Period.

Many people may not agree with our decision, but after looking at a range of new life rafts I feel pretty all right with it. No matter which one you're in, it's a horrendous and uncomfortable situation. Sure, a life raft would be more pleasant, relatively speaking. It's got a fancy tarp, more tubes and ballast pockets. But we can use a less fancy tarp, inner tubes, a bicycle pump and homemade ballast and still survive. Is it as nice a set up? Nope. But it'll do.

But that's enough of the worst case scenario. The new dinghy is both fun and functional and will, with any luck, serve us well.

And the Parade Goes On

Vlad's daughter Natasha came to see us, arriving 45 minutes after Sally, Apache and the two dogs left. Natasha got to experience the mad scramble our life has been lately as we try to get ready to leave in something like three weeks, but thankfully she seemed totally relaxed with the madness and the scramble. She also got to experience what life looks like after you buy a ton of stuff from West Marine - basically filled with cardboard, navigation tools and the touch of shame that comes with spending that much money.

Vlad and Natasha are expert dinghy unpackers.

And she made some rocking waffles with Vlad's prized waffle iron. Natasha is going to take good care of the waffle maker for us while we're gone, and she's going to come visit us on some tropical island. We just haven't quite figured out which one yet. Thanks so much for coming to see us, Natasha!

The Dinghy Wars

Here's a random dinghy on the docks. 

It must have been Valentine's Day because Vlad and I discussed the dinghy without resorting to fisticuffs. We don't fight very often and certainly not over something as seemingly insignificant as a mode of transportation, but the topic of the dinghy can get us both worked up and huffy. Ok, I'll admit, I do most of the huffing. So I got to thinking, "Why is this whole dinghy question so contentious?"

When you consider it, a dinghy on a 36-foot boat is a necessary evil - necessary because you have to have it to get to shore or get supplies or do any type of exploration and evil because there's nowhere to put the dang thing. You can hang it off the stern on davits, but those are expensive and can be problematic for ocean crossings because the dinghy can bang into the boat or get swamped. You can store it on deck, but then you have less space to maneuver. Plus, it obstructs your view and you have to haul it up and down every time you want to use it. The third option is an inflatable dinghy that you can roll up and store while underway, which is appealing to me except for the fact that the dinghy's floor can get ripped out by coral and they are difficult to row.

And when there are no good answers, you get a contentious question along with some amusingly pointless fights. So far, here are our three choices in the dinghy department, keeping in mind that we've already decided to stow it on deck.

1). We keep the dinghy that we have. It's a rigid, plastic dinghy that rows well and planes easily with a small motor. We got it for a steal of a deal, which is fantastic for our tiny budget. However, I'm not sure how it reacts in bigger seas or if we can easily get back into it if, say, we find ourselves staring into the eyes of a bull shark. Additionally, we'd have to stow it on deck beneath the boom, making it impossible to see much of anything and difficult to move around it.

2.) We purchase a rigid inflatable boat (RIB), a dinghy that has a fiberglass bottom and inflatable tubes, from West Marine. They have several options, and some even roll up part way, which is great for storage. I believe they handle waves better than our rigid dinghy due to the inflatable tubes, and I can get in them easily if running from said bull shark. Unfortunately, a RIB would cost us an extra $1,200 after the sale of our other dinghy. They don't row as well, and due to their nature as inflatables they can develop holes through either puncture or sun damage.

3). We buy a  Porta-Bote. These dinghies look like origami. You unfold them on deck, and, voila, a perfect 10-foot dinghy that planes easily, takes up very little space, is light weight and won't get a hole in it. From what I've read, they last a long time and are a nice ride. Unfortunately, there's also the cost factor (also, around $1,200), and I think you have to use a ladder to get into it from the water.

Has anyone else encountered this dinghy dilemma? If so, what solutions did you come up with? I'm really ready to declare an end to the dinghy wars.

OMG, We Have a Dinghy!!

So it's been one of my lifelong dreams to have someone row me around in a rowboat while I read poetry out loud, and now that dream has finally become a reality! Thanks to a couple of good friends and neighbors who traded their dinghy to us for some boat work, we are now the proud owners of a rigid dink complete with oars.

And Vlad was kind enough to row me around the marina while I read "Ode to a Nightingale," The Walrus and the Carpenter" and, of course, the indispensable Walt Whitman. It was truly an English major's paradise, though one of our dock neighbors pointed out that I was in dire need of a parasol. There's always next time.

With our massive draft (7'3" - yes, have the heart attack now, all you Bay Area sailors), we absolutely have to have a reliable tender to get to shore and to do any type of exploring. While we might not keep this dinghy when we go cruising, for reasons that I'll discuss in a later post, for right now it really, really rocks. Plus, it's proof that dreams really do come true!

On a totally different subject for those of you who are curious, Vlad is, indeed, wearing a Corn Palace t-shirt.