Video | Dual Use Foot Pump
When we first moved aboard Camille, we added a freshwater foot-pump to our galley sink so we would have a backup if our pressure waterpump failed. The foot-pump also helps us conserve water and electricity while at anchor. But we haven't used it much. A cardinal rule of living aboard is that everything needs to serve at least two functions, so our foot-pump needed to become more useful. What we needed was good drinking water, and while our watermaker makes excellent, very drinkable water, [...]
Ring around the tub
Our current marina is located inside of an estuary. Filled with mangroves and even some crocodiles, the water has a visibility of about zero. It's muddy and coconuts and other debris float by with the tide. Sometimes the coconuts knock against the hull and more than once have we thought somebody was coming to visit. Camille gets pretty bad "ring around the tub" - what we call it when the white part above the waterline gets brown - and [...]
The big stink and boat-brain
View from our mast top For a couple of weeks now there has been a peculiar smell every time I open the cabinet under the galley sink. At first I didn't think much of it and tried to remedy it by getting rid of an old sponge and looking for a leak for possible mildew. Everything was dry and clean. Odd. Yesterday I decided to investigate further. Below the cabinet (in te bilge) is our main canned goods storage [...]
An un-traditional Thanksgiving
Since it's just plain too hot to bake anything onboard we decided to have a decidedly un-traditional Thanksgiving. Not to mention I had no clue where to buy a whole turkey. We headed to the beach at Punta de Mita with the SUP. On the way we stopped off at our favorite taco place in La Cruz to have our "Thanksgiving Dinner". Total cost: 12 bucks! This marks two years in a row that we did not have a [...]
One Year Cruise-iversary
One year ago today we finalized the purchase of Camille and moved aboard in San Diego. Thanksgiving 2011 was the first time we woke up aboard. A week later we sailed our boat into Mexico where we have been living and exploring ever since. We are about to celebrate our first Thanksgiving in Mexico and feel more grateful than ever. Many people worry that they will miss their family while out cruising. My parents live right up [...]
Captain’s License Renewal
Verena said that I had too much time on my hands this summer and it must have been true. I was actually perusing the internet and found a job that sounded like the perfect fit. I believe a lot of the interest was due to the job being located in Hawaii. The small problem was that I needed a “bigger ticket", i.e. I needed to have a captain’s license with an endorsement for greater tonnage. Since it [...]
Provisioning and Lessons Learned
Before heading further south into Mexico we spent three months in Ensenada (60 miles south of the border) getting Camille ready and driving across the border to San Diego once a week to buy parts and gear. During this time I was learning what types of food are available at Mexican grocery stores but we had a hard time weaning ourselves from what's familiar. So we filled Camille to the waterline with all of our favorite foods from [...]
Shade at last
After a year of shading our cockpit with a white, rectangular sheet of canvas (photo above) we are finally getting a real "insert" - the part between the solar panels and the dodger. The twists snaps are in place and today the pattern was taken. Check back to see the final product next week... we're doing something pretty innovative!While we were in California last month we bought a second cable lock to be able to lock our [...]
Interviewing the Bums
After nearly three months in the same marina we finally got around to interviewing Pat and Ali Schulte of Bumfuzzle fame for the Travel Secrets TV series (aka my dad's retirement project). This awesome young couple from Minnesota sailed around the world aboard a 35 foot catamaran and later drove a 1958 VW bus from Alaska to Argentina. They have "driven nearly every road in Mexico" and keep coming back for more.Now with a baby and toddler in tow [...]
Free drinks
After finally making it over to Home Depot today and replacing the leaky faucet we walked up to the resort to enjoy the weekly festivities put on for the newly arrived turistas. Free drinks, snacks and a show. It's good to be home after a month in California.
Entropy
en·tro·py (ˈɛntrəpɪ) : noun1. lack of pattern or organization; disorder; chaos 2. order leading to disorder Why is it that every time I get the boat spic-and-span something breaks? It's usually just some seemingly small issue... such as the galley faucet that started leaking today. But since we live in a boat-shaped 38' by 12' space total entropy ensues - in a matter of minutes. To get to the faucet the entire under-sink-cabinet has to be cleared out. Since there was a leak everything has to be [...]
California
After spending the entire month of October in California we are finally on our way back to Camille in Mexico. We made the trip up to renew our captain's licenses and while waiting for Mike to be able to take his sailing endorsement test we took a bit of a tour of California. Even though I lived in California on and off for over 15 years there is always something new to see. What an amazingly diverse state. There [...]
Fear
A couple weeks into our 21-day Atlantic crossing from the Canary Islands to Barbados we were sailing along nicely while I was fast asleep in my bunk. It was that magic time when things always seem to go wrong - around 2am. I was awoken by a loud thud and a strong jerk which felt like the boat had come to a sudden stop. It was all hands on deck. The boat had indeed stopped moving, though [...]
San Diego
San Diego, California -- Every time I come back to Southern California I wonder why I ever left. Beautiful beaches, the smell of sex-wax in the air, perfect weather year-round, great little surf towns up and down the coast. Not to mention excellent sailing conditions. After leaving Germany at 15 years of age, San Diego was my first home in the US. I went to high school and college here and made it my home for nearly [...]
Germany
Just a few highlights from my one week trip to the homeland to visit family. More...
Boat Swag & Approaching the Natives
Boat Swag We've seen several boats that tout their blog address in big letters on their boom. Others wear hats and shirts emblazoned with their boat name and website. We stand out enough with our terrible language skills so we try keep to our boat and ourselves from looking like a walking advertisement. Currently we carry one piece of boat swag: Boat cards. And to save money we make them ourselves (see our DIY recommendations). We are currently considering one [...]
Homemade Flour Tortillas
Just added my favorite flour tortillas recipe to GalleySwap. They are easy to make and taste amazing!
Punta de Mita
Story of our trip to Punta de Mita in search of tacos and surfboard in photos. Click play below when slideshow appears.
Routines
Now that it is hurricane season and Camille is safely tied up to the dock in Paradise (a resort and marina - watch my dad's video about our marina), I'm sure many of you are wondering what we do all day. After coming down the coast and then sailing the Sea of Cortez until June without any real schedule we looked forward to being in one place for a bit. While we certainly don't miss our cubicles, sometimes it is nice to [...]
Video | Road Trip into the Mountains
Last week we rented a car for four days to take a trip into the Sierra Marde Mountains. I love road trips! Especially since Mike usually does the driving. The first thing we noticed was the amazing temperature difference. While Puerto Vallarta has been unbearably hot and humid, it was very comfortable as soon as we gained some elevation. So much for cool ocean breezes. The road to mile-high Guadalajara was five hours of mostly pot-holed country road. Being Mexico's [...]