Why do we Cruise?

This article was also published in Cruising Outpost Magazine. See it here.

There is a stereotype that says that most cruising couples are out cruising because the male instigated the lifestyle. On our boat this is not the case. I am the instigator of our current cruising life but in actuality it was the male in my family that started this whole thing.

Back in the late 80s my dad got the cruising bug and over the course of a year my parents and I sailed from Germany to California as we immigrated to the US (more on that here). This ruined me for a "normal" life... no longer would I be able to happily hold down a 9-5 cubicle job with healthcare and a retirement plan. A life of quiet desperation would not do for me. So when I met Mike I started telling him about sailing and cruising. After some adventures aboard our pocket-cruisers we started saving to make full-time cruising a reality.

I imagine preparing for cruising was easier for me than for someone who has never been. I had a pretty good idea of what to expect and what the lifestyle entailed. What I didn't expect is how much the cruising community had grown. There are cruisers everywhere! With the advent of GPS, global communications, solar, watermakers and the like, this lifestyle has opened up to any adventurous soul with some money in their pocket. 

Long gone are the days of listening in on people calling home over the VHF* (via the marine operator), asking big ships to confirm positions and weeks spent without any news from home. With up-to-the-minute updates via blogs and Facebook some of the allure of cruising has gone missing.

Of course we revel in all of this luxury ourselves. We have 3 huge solar  panels to keep the gadgets going, a watermaker to take daily showers at anchor, 6 or 7 GPS units, a sat phone and countless toys. But our boat is also ready to run without all of these things - comfortably - just like we did it in the 80s.

Heading out to cross the Atlantic aboard Joy in the late 80s. 

 Camille at anchor

* After crossing the Atlantic we tried calling my grandma in Germany via the Marine Operator. The operator asked my dad with whom he would like to be connected. Rather than giving the phone number my dad simply said: "My mother-in-law". 

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This post was written as part of a blog-hop. Visit the Monkey's Fist website for posts about this topic written by other cruisers or check out these topics:  

Relationships Aboard
Pink and Blue Jobs Aboard
Leave it or Bring it: Stuff
Provisioning
Fear
Swag and Approaching the Natives
Clothes and Laundry

Sea Turtle Rescue

This is the (true) story of how a dorado saved the life of a sea turtle....

>>Be sure to watch the video at the end<<

Also published in 48° North Magazine's September 2012 issue.

After an early morning start from Mazatlan, we headed for Puerto Vallarta. Mike was napping below and I was whiling away the time of my watch with a good book in our sunny cockpit. There wasn't much of a breeze and just a few clouds. Being "on watch" simply means we look around every ten minutes or so, making sure we are still on course and no other vessels are in sight. Occasionally we also check the fishing line that always trails our boat. Most times it seems to repulse any fish in the area but not this morning! I yelled down to Mike that we had a fish on the line, slowed the boat and started reeling it in. When I saw a bright yellow flash I knew right away it was a dorado. We'd be eating good tonight! As soon as Mike heard me say "dorado" he was up on deck with the camera, ready to document the occasion. As I got the beautiful fish close to the boat Mike took a couple of photos and then the fish had one big burst of energy and shook himself free of the hook. So much for fresh ceviche and fish tacos....

While we were lamenting our loss, I spotted something white floating not far off the port side of the boat. We usually don't go out of our way to investigate trash for fear of getting line or netting, that may be attached to it, into our prop. But this thing looked odd to me,  it appeared that something was swimming very close to white flotsam. I took the boat off autopilot and steered over to it. Mike went up on deck to spot any debris that might foul our prop.

As we approached, it became clear that the white flotsam I had spotted was a makeshift buoy made out of a white plastic jug and a 2 liter soda bottle. And tangled up in it appeared to be a sea turtle! At first glance we thought the turtle was dead because we saw what looked like white bugged out eyes, but as we approached the turtle started to thrash around. We later discovered what looked like white eyes on top of the turtle's head were actually two white barnacles attached just above each of the turtle's eyes.

Now that we knew the turtle was still alive we had to try and rescue it.  We formulated a quick plan and pulled some gear together. As we approached the buoy again, we noticed a line trailing down that probably had a shrimp or lobster pot at the end of it. We also noted which direction the current was pulling it and made sure to make subsequent approaches from the opposite side to keep our prop clear. While I pulled up to the buoy Mike was on the bow trying to toss a loop of line over the jug.

The current, swell and waves kept pushing us off target and after several tries we decided to try backing up to it so Mike could use our swim-step and be closer to the water. Every time we approached, the poor turtle started to panic and tried to dive, but with the buoy attached to one flipper it could barely dive a foot deep. After several tries Mike was able to grab a hold of a short line attached to the buoy and get our rope around the jug so he could pull the turtle close to the boat and remove the buoy from the turtle.

With the whole contraption firmly attached to our boat we were taking a short breather when we realized that now the turtle was being pulled under water and no longer able to come up for air. So Mike just started pulling the whole thing toward the boat and cut the line that was dragging everything down. But the turtle was still attached to the white jug. Mike pulled it onto our swim step and once the turtle was on deck he cut away the line that was wrapped tightly around the turtle's flipper. After letting the turtle rest a while Mike pushed it back into the water and it dove off in a flash. Viva la vida!

So you see, if it hadn't been for the dorado that made us slow the boat down, I probably would have missed the white buoy all together because I wasn't due for a look around for another ten minutes. And if the dorado hadn't gotten off the hook we would have been too busy dealing with it to spot the buoy.

And that is how the dorado came to save the sea turtle!

In hindsight, we wondered if we could have done things differently. There was a 3’ to 4’ swell, the current was running at about 2 knots and we were over 20 miles from shore. There were just the two of us on the boat. We later emailed with a marine conservationist and were told that the best way to approach a distressed marine mammal is for the rescuer to be in the water. We had considered this as we formulated a plan for the rescue and we were just not comfortable with going into the water. Considering the sea state and the risk to ourselves and our boat we still believe that we made the right decisions.

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iPad on Board

Sailing the Sea of Cortez

NOTE: This article was also published on the Women and Cruising website as well as being one of the 12 most popular articles of 2012. Women and Cruising is an excellent source for the cruising woman - whether out cruising or still in the planning stages. 

The iPad was one of he best purchases we made before leaving the US. We bought it at the last minute after realizing that buying new chart cards for our rather outdated chart-plotter could become quite expensive in the long run. The iPad 3/4G comes with an "assisted GPS" (the basic WiFi version does not have a GPS receiver) and while in the Apple store we talked to several of the geniuses about what exactly assisted GPS is. They all agreed that I had to be within reach of cell towers for it to work. I didn't agree then and I can now say that the GPS works just fine well over 100 miles from shore and gets a fix in mere seconds.  

Our boat's chart plotter came with one chart card that covers Cape Flattery to Mazatlan. While Cape Flattery is amazingly beautiful I doubt we will ever take this boat that far north (we sailed past boats on Puget Sound and love the Pacific North West - in summer). However, in one month of cruising we had already gone past the southern border of the chart card. Not to mention that the card is from 2004 and I just cannot justify buying new cards every year or two to get important chart updates.

Cape Flattery, Summer 2011

When we arrived in Ensenada we realized that our marina was too new to shown up on our chart-plotter. Luckily I had downloaded the latest charts onto my iPhone and we were able to come into port using it for guidance - though we quickly determined that the iPhone screen is too small to be used on a daily basis.

I have heard a lot of complaints about inaccurate charts around Mexico. Maybe we haven't been to enough places, but so far we have found the charts to be about as accurate as expected. This country doesn't have nearly the amount of money to put into charting as the US does. Of course, being hydrographers, we give anything that wasn't charted within the last 10 years a very wide berth! And night sailing close to shore is out of the question almost anywhere. 

The iPad makes route planning a breeze. We like to sit together in the cockpit with a cruising guide and the iPad to plan our upcoming journey. Later we transfer the waypoints to the chart-plotter on the binnacle. This way the autopilot can track our course and we can kick back and keep watches from a more comfortable seat behind the dodger (which is where I initially wrote this post on the iPad while Mike was snoozing happily until his watch started).

iPad Navionics app being used to navigate into Ensenada Blanca, Baja Sur, Mexico. The track showing us on shore is a dinghy trip to the resort to use their free wifi. 

Since the iPad has a 10 hour battery it can make it through almost an entire night of watches without having to be recharged. When the battery does run out there is no need to run the generator or inverter. We simply use the same 12 volt plug we use for the iPhones and use the electricity we make with our solar panels.

Taken April 2012 in Bahia de los Muertos, Mexico

We have a waterproof cover for the iPad so we can keep it at the binnacle while underway. Even in direct sunlight the screen is easy to see if the brightness is turned all the way up; though at night it can still be a bit bright even all the way turned down.

Turns out the iPad has many other great uses. Not to mention all the obvious ones like endless games, Facebook, internet research, dictionary, translator, email, etc...

Boat Log

We tried keeping a hand-written log of maintenance items, trips, fuel usage,etc but soon realized that after spending months trying to convert everything we had to digital we were once again using paper! We tried several of the boat log apps available for the iPad but none had everything we wanted. Finally we realized that all we needed was a calendar. We now use the calendar app and the best part is that we can search entries. So if Mike needs to know how many times we have ran the Honda generator I simply search for Honda. From there we can figure out when it's time to change the oil. By noting our location daily, I can cross-reference the dates with our digital photos.

Weather Updates

Aside from simply using weather websites we really like the Weather 4D HD app. For $2 we get all the weather updates we can handle in a really pretty display.

We haven't tried this yet but we have an app that will listen to the HF radio weather fax signal and then display the weather fax on the iPad. How cool is that?!

To Do List

We use the reminders app because, like the calendar app, it can work over the "cloud" and update the other iDevices. So, if I'm out and about with only my iPhone I can update our calendar or shopping or to do list and the other iPhone and the iPad will get the same update. It's all rather brilliant! We like to take the iPhones to shore in the dinghy because they are lighter and easier to protect from getting wet than the laptop or iPad.

Movies and Music

I like to watch movies on my night watches. Since we like to stand two long night watches it helps make the time go by and keep me awake. I can only contemplate life for so long.  When on WiFi or near cell towers we can also watch Netflix. Oh, and if you want to know how to listen to Pandora from Mexico send me an email ;)

Internet

Here in Mexico WiFi isn't always easy to access but you can buy Internet access by the day or month and by how much data you want. No need for a multi year plan. If you just email and do daily light surfing a month of Internet can be about $20. We have a chip for the iPad and a USB stick for the laptop and have been able to get Internet over 10 miles offshore. Great for getting weather updates!

By the way, if you buy an iPad outside of the US I hear (this is not confirmed) that it will not be unlocked like the US version, meaning if you buy it in Mexico it will only work with a Mexican carrier.

Phone Calls

Really cheap/free calls via Skype or Google Voice. Why did I ever pay for a cellular plan???

UPDATE (May 23, 2012): After nearly dragging anchor onto a rock we tried to use the iPhone/iPad as an anchor alarm. The problem is that it has to be left on (screen lit) all night and connected to power. It also seems to shut itself down after some hours which turns off the anchor alarm. I'm not a fan of having to run out into the cockpit every time we get a false alarm on the chartplotter so we now use our handheld GPS with anchor alarm. We record our track and set the audible alarm. Works great and  there is no need to get out of bed!