Answers & Questions

The answer is yes.

Other than living in a shower-stall for the last month, things have been pretty good. The rain has finally stopped & the sun came out today! I forget the last time I actually saw it. So beautiful! If only the people living in Seattle knew…

Good Day Sunshine!

OMG! We are going to be in Mexico a year from now! Not that I didn’t already know this but now that the rain has stopped we need to fully start moving forward. I am soo ready to be super productive!

For the past few weeks I have learned to be very patient & just do what I can do from our house. But the roads are safe to drive again & we can get on the boat & do things. So until I have more stuff to report, I thought I’d look back & look ahead with some answers & questions.

What I hadn’t know or planned on in this last year. -Or The Answers:

1.You really never know a place until you explore it all over on foot. Maybe even get lost. And you definitely need to talk to people.

If you go to our blog: https://www.svmersea.com/blog/the-home-strrrettcchhh , you’ll see how the second time we stopped at Morro Bay we were pleasantly surprised. The first time we didn’t give it the chance it deserved.

I mean, if anyone came to Santa Cruz for the 1st time, this last month, they would not have the best opinion of the place. Unless they were super resourceful & made the best of it. Maybe they even found things we have no idea about.

We love you, Morro Bay!

2.Your whole schedule can & will probably get screwed up by the weather & you just need to embrace it.

We experienced this twice on our October voyage. The first time going south & I didn’t want to pay attention to all of the signs to stay in Monterey for a few more days until the weather was going to be great. Big mistake. Never let your ego or impatience call the shots on when to sail away.

The second time was when we were in Morro Bay. This time we respected the weather & waited until she was done with her wild weather party. At first we were a little blue about having to hang out there for more than a few days. However, we were pleasantly surprised each day with something new to discover about the place. The 8 days we were there passed way more quickly than we thought that they were going to.

Stormy weather exploration.

3.You never know what you are capable of accomplishing or how strong you are until you go through the experience itself.

This is how I felt after our whole trip. -Especially after our voyage between Monterey & San Simeon. Once the shock, fear, exhaustion, etc. wore off, I was able to see that I could handle something kind of gnarly. And I could still enjoy sailing after that. Probably even more so.

-That time we hiked up to Everest!

Just kidding! Only Matt got to the top!

Okay, we never really even considered this. The cost is totally prohibitive. Well that & the cold. And the physical strain it would take. And the lack of fresh food. And the lack of oxygen. And the probability of making it would be slim.

4.If the buzzer hasn’t rung. There’s still time. Things usually fall into place at the last minute. Don’t give up until the alarm rings.

-Our rigging got replaced pretty last minute, we left later in the day than planned on the first day, we retrieved the dinghy after I thought it was a lost cause, we’ve gotten to the fuel dock at the very last minute. Hence, I have come to know that things can always come through at the last moment. Don’t you remember how Gwyneth Paltrow saved the play at the end of Shakespeare in Love? If not, go back & watch it. It’s a great movie!

‘Aint midnight yet!

5.There will be a constant flux of disappointment & delightedness of the food options in every port.

And it’s okay to throw a tantrum when it sucks! And it’s okay to do a happy dance when it’s delicious! Just don’t subjugate either to strangers around you. -Unless you’re confident on your dance moves. -Which I actually am.

You take back this sorry excuse for fajitas!

That sushi was so good!!! Whoo Hoo!

Now for the questions. -or Questions We Have For The Future:

1.Where all will we go in Mexico for this voyage?

There will be a few stops on the way to Cabo. Then we plan to go to the mainland. We’ll go to some places a little north of Puerto Vallarta & then maybe a few places south of it. And then after that we aren’t sure of the stops we’ll make on our way up to the north part of the Sea of Cortez. I’m excited to do research & plan but also make new plans along the way when we are there!

See you in December Puerto Vallarta!

2.What new sailing things do we need to learn?

We are thinking about seriously learning to use our spinnaker. We did take a class year on sailing with one. On the other hand, it is hard to practice in the high winds we have up here in Santa Cruz. So we might have to wait until getting to SoCal to practice. We do have one. It’s beautiful & bright rainbow colored. It’s not imperative to use it but we would really like to.

Other than that we just need to get better at everything related to sailing. Hoping the weather will grant us days soon where we can get back out on the water.

3.How are we going to travel back to the U.S. with Zephyr?

We are struggling with this right now. We plan on leaving the boat in the Sea of Cortez at the end of the 6 months. Then going back to it 6 months later. The problem is that we can’t fly with Zephyr. -There really isn’t an airport that has commercial flights at the port where we plan on leaving the boat. I looked into renting a car but there aren’t any rental places that allow dropping the car off at the border. Will we have to buy a car in Mexico & then sell it after crossing the border? Who knows? If anyone has any ideas let us know. It’s less than a 4 hour drive from where we’ll be to Phoenix, Arizona. So if there are volunteers to drive over the border & pick us up, we will compensate you nicely.

Provide the car & I’ll drive!

4.Will going down the coast again be easier?

I don’t think it will necessarily be easier. However, I do think it will be less stressful. We will know, for the most part, what to expect. We know that we are capable of doing the sail. And we will be a little more confident in our skills. On the other hand, it’s not easy. I think there are always things to pay attention to & fix. I foresee that the most stressful part will be the few weeks before we leave. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully….. -I’ve got nothing. Let’s just say that I’m starting to make as many checklists as possible. I will also make sure my sense of humor is in check then because I think I will need it.

Praying that times like these become non-existant or far & few between.

5.What? Who? Why? When? Where?

That’s how I feel right now. So many questions. I don’t even know what they all are!!! I think I have about 10 new ones each day. So yes, I will be making a lot of lists so I don’t get overwhelmed & freak out. I just hope I come across all the questions I need to have! So come on that journey with me in the next few/several months! It’ll be fun/interesting/hilarious.

I don’t think there will be an end to the questions but we will have to eventually leave.

That’s it for this now. I don’t want to leave everyone in a state of panic. So I’ll post a cute photo of Zephyr below to tide you over until next week.

The sun is out & now I can stop wearing this stupid scarf!

Thanks again for reading! Hoping the sunshine is back in all of your lives!