Shopping… again
Friday morning we drove to San Diego for another mega shopping-spree at West Marine and to pick up our new watermaker... but not before getting one more taco near the local fish market.We're back on the boat now putting away and installing our new acquisitions.
Going aloft
Mike took a quick trip up the mast to figure out what types of bulbs need to be replaced with LED.
Introducing Camille | The Head
We love Camille's huge head - that's the bathroom for you landlubbers. It has two separate areas, a shower/toilet area and the vanity/sink area. It can be entered either from the master stateroom (aft cabin) and from the saloon (and yes, that is saloon with two Os). Excellent ventilation with four opening ports and two large drains in the floor make for easy maintenance and cleaning. Last but not least we have a fresh-water VacuFlush head (toilet) [...]
Water
We've already been in Mexico for over a week and our water tank was starting to near the empty mark. It was time to get it filled so we could continue doing the dishes, flushing the toilet, brushing our teeth, etc. In Mexico that is a bit tricky as the water here is not of very high quality and can make you pretty sick. We would like to keep our tanks clean until we install our watermaker [...]
Shopping
We rode our bikes into town today to do a little grocery shopping. After looking over the receipt I realized that avocados cost us a tenth of the price of what we pay in the US. We also bought fresh eggs that were unrefrigerated, which means they won't have to use up precious fridge space on the boat. For other great galley tips and onboard recipes check out our free sister-site GalleySwap.Mike installed our 27" computer monitor [...]
Introducing Camille | The Saloon
The saloon is the main living area on a boat. On our little boat this includes the living room, dining room, galley, and navigation station. Under all the built in furniture are water tanks, fuel tanks, batteries, an inverter, a battery charger, food, gear, water and head pumps, a refrigerator compressor and countless other things to keep a boat as self-sufficient as possible. Today we took measurements to squeeze in a watermaker which will allow us make freshwater [...]
Border Crossings
We are getting settled in Ensenada. Our goal for the next month is to outfit the boat so that we will be able to make fresh water and have enough battery power to run all the systems that are onboard Camille. This weekend we took the bus back to the border to pick up our van from the US. We don't want to stray too far from the boating supply center of SoCal just yet. See the Finances page [...]
Arrival in Mexico!
November went by fast! Portland one week and Mexico the next. After (finally!) finding a boat which suited both of our needs, we jet-setted down to San Diego for survey and sea trial in early November. After given the all-clear from the surveyor we only had 14 days to finalize the sale, put our jobs on hold, move out of our house, sell all the big things and move the rest into our cargo trailer and 1-ton passenger van. Thanksgiving [...]
Introducing Camille | Guest Bedroom aka V-berth
We are slowly getting moved aboard and it is amazing just how much stuff a little boat can swallow up. The weather has been San-Diego-perfect and after the freezing temps we were experiencing in Portland we feel like we have found paradise already! Read more about Camille... Coronado Bridge Downtown San Diego Camille's V-berth (guest bedroom) looking forward Camille's V-berth (guest bedroom) looking aft
s/v Camille – Our First Home
We spent our first night aboard Camille last night as her new owners. We are very thankful this Thanksgiving. For more info about us and to see more photos of Camille visit our About pages. After our last day at work in Portland, we had less than a day to finish packing the van and trailer in order to make it to San Diego by Tuesday, as Wednesday was to be the big day for the [...]
Drying Fruit
Down the street from our house is an empty property that once must have had a grand house on it. What's left is a beautiful garden complete with fruit trees. A few weeks ago we harvested several bags full of fruit from the pear trees that adorn the circular driveway. They finally finished ripening and we are drying and vacuum-sealing the pears after giving the sliced fruit a bath in citrus water, which should keep them from getting [...]
Food Preservation
With summer and the growing season clearly coming to an end, we've been canning beets, beef, salmon and today peaches. We've also been drying all of our favorite fruit. Yesterday we had a fun time with our neighbors making sauerkraut from scratch which should be ready to can in a few weeks. We are using the Blue Book by Ball which has easy to follow instructions. You can find an introduction to canning on their website.For more [...]
US States Visited Summer 2011
Now that summer is almost over and we have no set plans for further travels I am taking stock of all the places we visited this summer. We really got around! Here is a map of all the states we visited together with the exception of Hawai'i, which is where Mike sailed to while I was in Mexico. We made a "circumnavigation" of the west and took a quick jaunt to Florida while working in Biloxi, Mississippi. Map made with http://www.visitedstatesmap.com/
Florida’s Panhandle
While working in Biloxi, Missippippi we were able to take a few days to get away from our floating cubicles during tropical storm Lee. The weather wasn't much nicer in Florida but the rain was warm and the Gulf was even warmer.
Biloxi Blues
Work work work... the sonars are doing overtime to get the good people of Mississippi some new chart data. Sidescan Sonar image of barge in Fish Haven off Mississippi Down around Biloxi Pretty girls are dancing in the sea They all look like sisters in the ocean Boy will fill his pail with salty water And the storms will blow from off towards New Orleans The Sun shines on Biloxi The air is filled with vapors from [...]
The circle is complete
The past two months have been rather eventful. We sort of made a circumnavigation of the western US (see map below). Here are the numbers: Over 5,000 miles driven in my tiny Honda Accord 2,500 miles in a sailboat (Mike) 3 countries (US, Canada, Mexico) 12 U.S. states (WA, OR, CA, HI, NV, UT, AZ, NM, CO, WY, MT, ID) 5 National Parks (Zion, Mesa Verde, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Olympic) 1 week of cruising the San Juan [...]
Arrival in Hawai’i
Saturday May 7th, 2011 at 5am Mike left to sail across the Pacific from Marina Del Rey to deliver a Hunter 456. 18 days later, just past midnight, they arrived in Honolulu, Hawai'i! Their daily SPOT check-in locations are on on the map below. View Mike's Trip Across the Pacific in a larger map
Half-Way Across
Mike is just about half-way across the Pacific to Hawai'i! Here is a note from Mike explaining his daily routine aboard: "I wake up around 11 and have brunch, retire to the aft deck for sun and light reading. Then enjoy a refreshing beverage in the afternoon followed by dinner. Lay down for a bit then do the 8-12 watch. Sleep some then do the 4-8 watch, then sleep some more and repeat. Relaxing. The most excitement [...]
West Coast Travels
After a beautiful week-long drive down the coast of Oregon and California I waved to Mike and the rest of the crew aboard s/v Xyra as they sailed off into the sunrise Saturday morning to sail to Hawai'i from Marina Del Rey. I am currently in Ensenada, Mexico aboard my parents boat Prana. We just had a great Mother's day exploring the area. Below are photos from our trip south.
Umpqua Lighthouse State Park
View of Lake Marie We're finally on our way south, where we have hopes of seeing some sunshine and warmer temperatures. Last night we stayed at a "rustic" cabin at the Umpqua Lighthouse State Park with a view of Lake Marie. While it was a bit chilly in the evening, the cabin comes with a small heater so it was all very civilized.