Mangas is born!

Issac arrived safe and sound and we were anxious to take the boat back to the islands. But, before we could, there was something we needed to take care of - naming Mangas officially. We had received our new paperwork for Mangas from the US Coast Guard and we arranged for all of our Temporary Import Permit paperwork to be completed and, most importantly, the stickers for the boat had finally arrived.

Renaming a boat is not seen as a good thing to do. It really has to be considered, because you do not want to jinx your boat or insult any of the water and wind powers with your decision. We knew that we needed to rename her in order to officially make her our home. So we wanted to do it right.

The legend is that all christened water craft are registered on Poseidon's Ledger of the Deep. Our first step was to request from Poseidon that the boat's old name be wiped from the ledger before we could register her under her new name.

The Denaming ceremony involves finding every instance of the boat's former name and collecting them up, in the case of paper, or removing altogether in the case of any etchings on the boat or engravings with her name. The papers are gathered up and they will be burnt and the ashes returned back to Poseidon during the ceremony. As with the Naming Ceremony, an offering of champaign is provided to Poseidon. Isaac is at the ready with the bottle while I speak the ceremonial words. Basically thanking the boat for her service up to that time and asking that her name be struck from the record.

The burnt offering of the old boat name - in wind... :) 

After the Denaming, comes the Naming Ceremony. The name has not been placed on the boat yet as this is seen as extremely bad luck. The thinking is that by doing so, you are assuming that Poseidon will accept the new name, before you have asked him.

The Naming Ceremony requests the name be registered on the Ledger of the Deep (I love saying that) and requests the protection of Poseidon and the four winds. This requires another sacrifice of champagne to be made to Poseidon and then the four brothers who are rulers of the winds. The first, Great Boreas, ruler of the North Wind. Then, Great Zephyrus, ruler of the West Wind, followed by Great Eurus,  ruler of the East Wind and finally the Great Notus, ruler of the South Wind. The champagne is poured into the water from East to West as the names are invoked. And  finally, the captain and the first mate take the final drink and the ceremony is complete.

Captain Migz taking the first drink - not a champagne lover, but he muscles through

Tilly Family on Mangas

Adding the stickers for the new name and hailing port (which is actually a land-locked town between Phoenix and Prescott)

Yeah! She looks fantastic and we are anxious to head out for our first sailing trip on the new Mangas.

First Visitor!

Liz arrived! Yea! So nice to see a friendly face from home. Also nice for the kids who have only had mom and dad for 24/7. Now they have a new focus and they are ecstatic.  So glad that Liz is willing to come down and see us as her first trip into Mexico. She flew into Cabo San Lucas and took the $35 ride on the Eco Baja Tours bus up to La Paz. Highly recommend that shuttle!

We headed out the following day back to San Gabriel Bay, which lies about 19 nautical miles north from La Paz. Again, we unfortunately face no wind. 

Girls watching out for the manta rays that we see jumping from the water - whenever we do not have a camera ready

Fast friends

Trying for some fresh dinner

Great sunset shots captured by Liz

The next day, we motor up to Ensenada Grande and try out hand at fishing there. (Only to find out that apparently, there is no fishing allowed in this part of the park - but luckily, we had only catch and release encounters all day.) The most exciting catch of the day was this Reef Cornetfish. Luckily, we got him unhooked and he went merrily along his way.

 

Reef Cornetfish on the line

Beautiful!

 Before we knew it, it was time to head back and meet Isaac, but we would soon be out again.

Finally on the water!

First night at anchorage

We finally made it out of the marina on February 13th. Our first solo sail as a family. Very light winds meant that we had to motor to San Gabriel Bay on Epiritu Santos, but we were finally putting the new boat and ourselves through our paces and figuring everything out.

Like every home, there are so many systems to figure out and maintenance routines to get into. We knew that two friends would be heading our way in a few short days and we needed to see if the boat needed anything that we could order and have brought down. 

The first night we were treated to hundreds of Frigatebirds. They are really beautiful to watch in the sky. They have the greatest ratio of wingspan to body weight of any bird, catch their meals in the air, cannot swim and can spend a week or more in the air never touching down.

Those really tiny black spots in the sky are hundreds of Frigatebirds at sunset

Sunset at the anchorage, a few other boats enjoying the calm waters as well.

Finally able to get off of the boat, the kids explore the white sandy beach and extensive shoal.

Off the boat and out of the marina!

To their delight, they find numerous dead puffer fish that have washed ashore and dried, deflated, on the sand. Tide pools, long sticks and plenty of shells are all they need to begin a game of pirate explorers. 

 

 Snorkling the shallow water, we find urchin and numerous colorful fish. One special fish is all black with a brilliant blue collar lining his neck behind his gills. Still haven't found that one in the fish books.

Time to try out the new snorkel gear!

On our dinghy ride back to the boat, we swing by the Frigatebird colony in the southeast corner of the crescent shaped bay. The Frigatebirds make a spectacular racket and are really fun and beautiful to watch. There were many males puffing up their red throats around the females and many young, the size of their mothers, but different coloring, being fed mouth to mouth.

Later in the day, Mike starts the motor and finds that the voltage is not registering, seems like we are not able to recharge the 12V battery bank - bad alternator? Our plan to stay out a couple of more days is cut short and we head straight back to the marina the following morning to troubleshoot and to order a backup alternator that one of friends can bring down with him. Have a backup alternator for the 24V, but, of course, not for the 12V.

Back at the marina, after a great deal of troubleshooting by Mike (so thankful to have a mechanically inclined partner!) we discover that the alternator works if the engine is throttled up, but not in neutral. Though, it had worked fine the previous days, so intermittent? Anyway, crisis averted and backup alternator on the way just in case.

Finally aboard in La Paz

Although we purchased our boat in December, it took several weeks of preparation in Arizona before we were ready to come down and actually move aboard.

Breakfast in Mulege Saturday morning

We left Mulege in the morning and came into La Paz on a late Saturday afternoon. There she was, waiting for us, the vessel Avalon. Hard to believe that she was now ours... and just a bit intimidating. We found the keys hidden where the broker said they would be, and quickly began unloading our items onto the vessel. The last stretch of road out of Gonzaga Bay had filled the back of the Bronco with dust and most of the items had an inch of dirt on them that had to be dusted off and cleaned before they could be unpacked - making an already long day a bit longer. But, there were awesome showers available at the marina and as soon as I had the last box on board, I grabbed a towel and went to wash away the remaining road dirt. Have I mentioned how great showers are?

The marina was all blue skies and 80 degrees with a soft sound of Mariachi music drifting across the water from the beach cantina down the road. Perfectly cliche. We walked down to  Rancho Viejo for great dinner for five and then came back and quickly fell asleep.

The next day, we went to the Mega store down the street and got our food provisions for the week. The kids especially love the bakery where you grab a tray and tongs and place all kinds of sugary goodness onto your tray for the bakery lady to wrap and tag for you.

With provisions on board, we begin the arduous task of getting to know Avalon and all of her systems.  We are also anxious to rename her, but that will have to wait until the new name stickers arrive from the US.

The systems on Avalon are plenty. Battery banks and alternators, control panels, solar and wind generators, water makers, auto pilot and gps, radar and rigging....aaarrrgh. It is overwhelming, but you just need to dive in and start tackling a system at a time.

Avalon in her slip

We had arrived on the 8th, and by the 13th, the time had come to take her out and escape the chores and planning that could only be done with the internet and power hookups at the marina. We headed north to the tip of La Paz Bay and the Isla Espiritu Santo. No wind, but we created a breeze under power, and with Tecates in hand, we watched the water flowing beneath us and the landscape pass slowly by.

Why we love Mexico! (Part 2)

Waking up in Gonzaga Bay, we head to the beach and stretch our legs before the long drive ahead for the day. The sun came up soft over the bay and lit up the string of houses that line the sandbar. They look precarious resting there on the sand and remind me of a surreal movie set, though these houses are very real. (Not sure how well they weather storms?)
As with most of the beaches along the Baja's northern coastline, this one stretched the entire bay without another soul in site.

Gonzaga Bay is a beautiful crescent shaped bay with Willard Island that becomes more of a peninsula point at low tide.

We still had an issue with the bank not realizing we were here and the funds were running out. It's Friday and we need to make a Skype call to the bank before they close for the weekend.

A quick cup of coffee, a stop at Pemex and the mini-mart and we headed on for the long dirt road that lay between us and Highway 1.

Before actually getting on the original dirt highway just north of Gonzaga, we lowered the PSI on the Bronco tires from 50 to 25 to make our drive on the washboard road less of a kidney cruncher. It worked wonders and allowed for a very smooth ride, though bit white knuckle for me, truth be told. I think that Mike will need to enter the Baja 1000 at some point in the future.

Third reason why we love the Baja: The undeveloped stretches of beautiful desert noted in the last blog. One thing we do not like about Mexico - the trash. Many towns do not seem to have a waste management program, so there are stretches of indentations in the landscape that are full of every kind of trash imaginable. Not good for the local environment or the water table below. Because it is not managed, it spreads with the winds and creates real scars in an otherwise gorgeous terrain. This is not unique to Mexico, of course. It seems that, for those of us old enough to remember, the campaigns in the US in the 70's to clean up our act (remember the crying Indian PSA's?) were unique to us and effective. Unfortunately, many countries, like Mexico, are just beginning to raise the same awareness.

That being said, as we continue on the dirt road, we come upon a small sedan that is parked on the side of the road. We stop to offer assistance only to find that it is a couple who are just walking the roadside collecting trash. Out in the middle of nowhere, on a road that had to be doing terrible things to their suspension, on a Friday afternoon. Just collecting trash and throwing it in their trunk. At our next stop along the road, the kids and I are inspired to take the time to wonder a bit further in and collect any bottles or bags we find and load up the Bronco.

Twenty-two miles into the 36 mile dirt road journey, we come to Coco's Corner. An institution in the desert, Coco has been hosting a beer stand out here, in the middle of nowhere for the past 21 years.

Parked at Coco's Corner

We could see Coco's in the distance from the dirt road and looked forward to a cool drink before continuing on. We were the only vehicle as we pulled in near the entrance, but we could see a man behind the counter and we happy to find that it was Coco himself. He shouted a warm welcome to all and Mike and I quickly ordered up two cold beers.

Coco with the kids

We spent the next hour chatting up with Coco about his history here, how things have changed and what remains the same. We asked about the last Baja 1000 that came through a couple of months ago and learn that Coco had been a checkpoint for the Baja 1000 for 19 years, but this year, under new management, the Baja 1000 coursed raced past Coco's corner. You can see the memorabilia hanging everywhere under the patio. Everything from shirts, racing jersey's, pants, bras and underwear are attached to the ceiling, all with black marker sentiments to Coco and signed by the previous owner. There is a wall of photos with Coco and Baja participants and spectators and customers who, like us, just happened by one day. It is a monument to desert racing and Baja travelers.

Coco informs us that the truck campers are available to anyone who buys a beer and needs a place to crash, he'll even provide a bucket to serve as a pot chamber. Mike laments for a moment that he wished we had known. Uh...no. Coco is great and all....but, no.

Accommodations in a pinch!

It is hard to say how long Coco's place will continue on. If you have the opportunity, and the right vehicle, you need to stop by.

Fourth reason of why we love the Mexico: The people. Probably should have been our first reason, but what brings us back are the people. Of course, this is true for every country we have visited.  Whether in Europe, Africa, South America or Asia, the people have always been inviting, gracious and patient hosts. No matter the headlines that surround any country or population, we have always found that 95% of the population just want to raise and provide for their families. They want the stability and resources that allow them to do that, and they want to live in peace. Unfortunately, that doesn't make for very provocative headlines.

After our brief rest, we continued on towards Highway 1. I was still desperate for a wi-fi connection so I could Skype the bank and get access once again to our funds. The afternoon was starting to get away from us, the funds were getting low and I was getting concerned.

Three hours later, after stopping at a couple of roadside stands advertising Internet, only to find that their Internet was down, we roll into Guerrero Negro and the state of Baja California Sur. Just before the border crossing, a restaurant with Internet provides great food and good internet and a couple of Skype calls to the bank gets our block removed and put us back in business.

Why we love Mexico! (Part 1)

We finally made it to La Paz. And only just got a wireless connection. Big apology to the family who were a bit worried!

La Paz Malecón

Not everything got completed before we left, but you can only plan and prepare so long before you realize you need to just do it. We had planned to leave Yarnell, AZ last Sunday, but ended up not heading south until Wednesday. That day was filled with a lot of cursing as the tailgate window on the Bronco broke on us and I believed I had forgotten the very valuable cruiser guides, which caused a huge search effort through a jam-packed vehicle - aargh. We finally got going at dusk and pulled into Yuma later that evening to find that the first 15 hotels we inquired about were full. Finally, found one of the last two rooms at the Clarion and fell quickly to sleep. Yuma completely booked? Huh?

Thursday, with Starbucks in hand, we headed across the border at San Luis. I was not looking forward to the first inspection that would require that we empty the back from over the back seat. Sure enough, at the border, the Mexican Customs officer asks us to pull over to one of the inspection slots. The officer there asks us where we are going and to open the tailgate for the inspection. When he learns it is broken, and looks in the back seat to see the monumental task before him if he really wants to see the contents (not to mention the three little kids in the back munching on their Starbucks lemon pound cakes amongst a mountain of pillows and blankets), he decides, not today. He just shook his head, smiled and said, OK. And off we went.

Last time we had driven to La Paz, we went straight down Highway 1. Absolutely the quickest route through Baja California and Baja California Sur. But, we had done that, and given that we had the  Bronco, we were better equipped for the inevitable off-road portions off an east coast drive. Our plan was to head down Highway 5 to Gonzaga Bay then cut across and catch Highway 1 again at Lake Chapala.

OK, so why do we love Mexico? There are a lot of reasons, and I will try to sprinkle them throughout this post. Also, I should preface this by saying we are Sonoran and Baja travelers, so mid and southern states, and any issues they may have, are not known to us. Whenever we invite friends and family to visit us on the boat while we are down here, we get a very small minority who are game. Most have no interest in visiting Mexico and I have to think that much of that is due to all of the press regarding violent events around the drug cartel activities. We can't blame them for the apprehension and frankly, unless they come down here and experience this great place, nothing I say can put them at ease.

First great reason that we love Mexico: It is the land of self-responsibility. Or, as Mike says, you can't be a dumbass. In the US, we have thousands of laws that were crafted solely to protect us from ourselves. And we have a great deal of infrastructure put in place to account for and lessen the blow of the acts of dumbasses. You should always be wearing your seat belt. We know this. In Mexico, the likelihood of being pulled over because you are not wearing your seat belt? From our experience? Zero. Do we wear them, of course. We care about our safety and the safety of our children. But, we don't need law enforcement protecting us from ourselves. That is a simple example, but that concept of you can lead a horse, but not make them drink, is really about self-responsibility and if you want to be an idiot, well, in Mexico, that's really your own business. We love that.

Second great reason to love the Baja: The military guys at the checkpoints absolutely love families. We all know that profiling is human nature and in some cases, like checkpoints, it works out for you, if you have kids with you! A family of five pulling up in a Bronco, headed south - on your way please! Thank you!

San Felipe has been a popular US tourist destination for a very long time. It boasts of great fishing and is a very easy drive from the border. Stop at the Pemex gas station - and card denied. Oh crap! Forgot to alert the bank of our travel. Should have enough cash to reach destination for the day, so on we go. South of San Felipe, the next stop is Puertecitos. Other blogs spoke of the perpetually closed Pemex, which we found open and they wrote of stopping at the restaurant and mini-store - closed.

Like most of the towns on the east coast, Puertecitos is true desert meets the sea. Sapphire blue water lapping against a brown sand and white plaster landscape.

Checking the load before we hit dirt

The highway south of Puertecitos is under-going a huge road construction project that is paving the highway to Gonzaga Bay and then on to the Highway 1 junction. Third reason we love Baja: There are literally stretches of hundreds of miles without any towns or roads in the back country. Just horizon after horizon of untouched Sonoran desert. Forests of majestic cardones and ocotillo. Creosote and palo verdes and palo blancos. And backdrops of spectacular rugged mountain ranges with pale tall cliff faces amidst millions of dark brown broken rocks and boulders, evidence of the violence that brought them to the surface. Will the paving of this highway bring an onslaught of travelers, forever changing this lightly touched part of the world? Time will tell.

Later that evening, we discover that the road is now paved only 4 short miles from Gonzaga, making for a fast commute from Puerticitos. We pull into Gonzaga Bay and follow the signs to Alfosina's. The man at the guard gate on the dirt road that leads to the beach, tells us that he believes there is room at Alfosina's, so on we proceed. Driving down the row of structures that are literally built on a sandbar, we reach the end and wonder if the last building, that has no signs, is maybe Alfosina's? A few locals sitting outside confirm our assumption and we are pleased to know that rooms are still available. Watching the last of the sunset, Mike and I enjoy two Pacificos and get to know a California couple who are traveling the length of Baja by motorcycle. The kids explore the beach and groan as they reluctantly comply to our final demand that they come and eat.

Elephant Tree along the road - room for everyone!

What a ham!

These past 90 days have been filled with firsts and lots of learning. In that time, we sold our house in Colorado and moved to our property in Yarnell, AZ. As a family of five, we went from 4500 square feet to 200 square feet as we prepare for the voyage. 4500 sq feet to 200 sq feet. That's not a typo.  Luckily, the kids are still pretty puny, so they don't take up a lot of space. This transition has been an important one for preparing for life aboard Mangas.

Dish duty in the trailer

One thing that you miss right away when living in a toy hauler trailer, or on a boat, is the ability to take a real shower. It becomes this huge thing, like you never realized it would. Standing in a little 2 feet by 1 foot space with a little drizzle nozzle that you have to constantly turn off while you soap off makes you long for water pressure. I have started to dream at night of finding extra funds in the cruising kitty that will allow for a hotel night stay so I can just stand in the shower from check-in until they kick me out. Then I wake up and go stand in my drizzle closet...

The other issue is just water in general. We had a well dug in 2003 and hit water at 580 feet with a 3 gallon a minute recharge rate. The static line is around 40 feet, which means the depth to which the recharge will fill after water is drawn. We had never tried to draw water from the well until we moved there. Thank goodness Mike is an engineer and so incredibly handy. He put 60 feet of pvc together, placed a $250 deep well pump on top of a 5-gallon bucket and plugged it all into a portable generator and Voila! water. You can't really appreciate unless you have been without water - but we cheered and clapped and hollered, we were all so happy. So twice a day, every day, we go run the pump for exactly 5 minutes and that fills the trailer tanks with water.

Hiking on the property in Yarnell. The massive fire last July burned every inch of the property, but the desert is coming back to life quickly.

In addition to figuring out water issues, we are learning to cook and clean with minimal resource use. We have propane for the stove and generator power for the microwave, but we have never been microwave cookers. To conserve propane, I have learned quite a bit about cooking with a pressure cooker. From potatoes to meatloaf, to soups and breads, pressure cookers are extremely versatile!

Last, but not least, as new lessons go, there was the issue of learning communications while at sea. We looked at satellite phones, but could not find an option that was affordable, or as it turned out, very reliable for our destination. We looked at using our current phones with an international calling plan - again, not affordable. However, there is an HF SSB radio onboard Mangas. We discovered that we could use the radio to send and receive emails, but the free service, winlink, is only available to ham operators. Oh crap! We do not have ham operator licenses. Looked online to find that there is only one more test for Technicians before we bug out, and it is in 6-days. Find a study guide! Find online app with question pool! Everything else on hold. The day before the test, Mike does more research on our radio on the boat. As we are driving south towards Oro Valley, Mike tells me that the frequency range on our radio is only available to General license holders (one step above Technician). Oh crap! We found a hotel, took a shower, found an online resource for the General question pool, took another shower, ordered Domino's and hunkered down for an all-night study-o-thon. Well, Mike did anyway. I took another shower and went to bed. The next day, we arrived at the test site. We both took Technician and Mike took the General. Both passed our tests, so we are now officially ham operators. Yeah! We'll write about the exact communication arrangements we make on the boat once we get that setup next week as well as provide our new call signs - just in case there are other hams out there we can chat with during our trip!

Selling a house, moving to AZ, learning to live in a small space, living completely off the grid, getting sailing certification and ham licenses.... crazy 90 days - can't wait to see what the next 90 days bring.

Next post....Why we absolutely LOVE Mexico!

Finding Mangas

One of the most enjoyable, and nerve-wracking, activities when setting up for a journey like this, is finding the boat. Unless of course, you already have one, which we did not. During the Summer of 2013, Yachtworld.com became my go to site, whenever I had time to spare. We looked at many different sailboats from Sloops and Ketches to Catamarans. Many of our friends have asked how we settled on Mangas, so I thought we'd share a bit of that exercise for other's who may be considering. Disclaimer: if you are not looking to purchase a sailboat, you will likely not find this post very interesting...

The good news is that there are many, many, many sailboats out there for sale. The bad news is that they are rarely in the condition that the sail listing claims and the good ones are rarely close by. Especially if you reside in a land-locked state as we do.

We knew that we wanted 3 cabins so that the twins could share, Reid could have his own and Mike and I our own. This condition begins to immediately narrow the available boats within a budget price range. We wanted a boat that could handle blue water cruising as well as coastal, in the event that we got comfortable enough with the idea, we could do a sail into the Pacific, if we wanted to do so later. This condition also affected the field quite a bit, since many of the newer, more affordable sailboats are really made for coastal cruising. Finally, we wanted a boat that was ready to go.

The first boat I found was 52' Ketch located on the East Coast. It looked GREAT in the photos. I spoke with the broker and he suggested that we have a boat surveyor do a walk-by before we made plans to actually journey out to see it. I quickly located a local surveyor through The Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors (SAMS) at their website http://www.marinesurvey.org and for a nominal fee, enlisted his services to check out the boat. The following day, the report came back, this boat was in need of a lot of repair. It had been on the hard (dry-docked) for some time and there were water leak marks around the portholes, big blisters on the hull and lot of deck work required. The surveyor pictures looked nothing like what was on the website, which I later learned were nearly 3 years old and the boat had not been maintained since then. So, moving on...

As we looked at more boats, we found we were very attracted to traditional looking sailboats. Lots of teak and wood with canoe style sterns - boats with character. I fell in love with the Hans Christian 43T sailboats and found one in up in Victoria, BC. I flew up on a Friday to do a walk-thru of the boat on Saturday. Which might seem a bit extreme, but given that a full boat survey will run you $1000 after the surveyor and the haul out fees of the marina, it is worth a bit of upfront due diligence.

The Hans Christian was beautiful. She was well maintained, she had just safely carried a family of 5 through their one year sabbatical to New Zealand and back (See, family! Lots of people are doing this, we aren't that crazy!), she was the size we were looking seeking and in our budget. Perfect! The moment I stepped aboard, I knew that I didn't want this boat. Can't put a finger on it, no good explanation to give. I just knew. When I had called to inquire about her, I asked the broker to take an offer so she wouldn't get sold before we could see her. His response was, wait, you don't know until you have seen it yourself.  He knew his stuff. 

That same trip, I dropped in on an old friend in Seattle (Hi Lisa!) and we decided to look at boats while I was there. Again - Eureka! I found her. The boat. It was a Lafitte 44 and as I walked her, I really fell in love. She felt roomy and airy with lots of light. She was a blue water cruiser with good bones and as a Bob Perry design, she had great bloodlines. There were actually two in the area. We put an offer on the one that appeared to be the best value, given the new rigging and the electronics that came with her. We placed the offer and ordered the survey and then the family and I were headed to La Paz, Mexico to get our sailing certification for ASA 104. (Shout out to NautilusSailing.Com for offering a great certification class on Sea of Cortez). While there, we received the survey results. Won't go into the fine print, but this is why you get surveys done. The Lafitte was still a great boat, and the price was fair for her condition, but she needed work. Lots of work. Mike and I decided that the work required would likely cut into this sabbatical time by 3 or 4 months, so we decided to keep looking. Luckily, we did not have to look very far. We found our Wauquiez the following day right there in Marina de La Paz. 

So, if you are thinking of looking for a cruising sailboat, I would consider the following if I was to go through it all again:

• Use Yachtworld.com to look at current options and budget range considerations.
• If boat is found online, invest in having a surveyor do a "walk-by" before investing further time or money on pursuing the boat.
• If the walk-by looks good, get to the boat and walk it in person. 
• Have a few folks review the survey results to make sure your love-at-first-site-rose-colored glasses aren't blurring your vision.
• Consider how much time and money would it take to get the boat ready - if you have the time, and the talent, you can get a lot more boat for your money!

Mangas (still Avalon at this point) during haul out for survey and bottom paint. Ladder doesn't look that far, but eek! that was a long way down!

        Better view of her nearly 60' mast- and Reid ascending the ladder - yikes!