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Alien Abduction

10 April 2013

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Alien Abduction

Last week, I walked up to the Kiosko convenience store to get a couple things and as I rounded the corner, it was chaos. There were cases and cases of Cup-O-Noodles stacked head high, surrounded by confused looking young men, a beer truck, dogs, kids, four chefs, trash, a mop and a mop bucket, and […]

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Looking For Crocodiles

28 March 2013

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Looking For Crocodiles

One of the first things we saw after pulling into Paradise Village Marina in Banderas Bay, was a little African Queen-type tour boat that’ll take you deep into the mangrove swamps so you can maybe see some crocodiles. Eli was all, “That’s kind of cool, but we can totally do that in the dinghy for […]

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Duct Tape On The Rocks

27 March 2013

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Duct Tape On The Rocks

“If…anchorage…Duct Tape is on the rocks…,” was pretty much all I picked out before the VHF went crazy with static and people stepping on each other. We turned up the radio and started sweeping the far shoreline with binoculars. “Don’t know if anyone can help…looks pretty bad…please, there’s a boat on the rocks outside the […]

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First & Second

25 March 2013

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First & Second

Yesterday was for firsts–today, for seconds. Yesterday I surfed a new spot for the first time, right near the boat. It’s a long and rocky point break just east of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. It was the first time that I ever had an entire surf session all by myself. It was also the longest […]

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Cleat Hitch

21 March 2013

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Yesterday Eli and I were inflating our warranty replacement dinghy as a really nice catamaran was coming in to the dock at Paradise Village Marina. We walked over to help them and they tossed us some lines. I cleated off the bow so that they could use that line to turn the boat on and […]

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Hockles Suck. Also, I may have tied an Air Bowline.

13 March 2013

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Hockles Suck. Also, I may have tied an Air Bowline.

From the backlog: When we upped anchor in Turtle Bay, we came face to face with a weird looking section of 3-strand that turned out to be a Hockle [cue foreboding music]. Innocuous little word, isn’t it? Rhymes with cockle and is the equivalent of the blue screen of death for your anchor line. Worse, […]

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Can’t Tell If Anchor Dragging Or Just Weird Wind Direction…

11 March 2013

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Can’t Tell If Anchor Dragging Or Just Weird Wind Direction…

“Tamiko,” Steve called, from out on deck, “Need you to come up and take a look at this. Tell me what you think–we’ve got a little sailboat getting…pretty damn close.” Yesterday we decamped from the La Cruz marina and found a spot in the anchorage that’s fairly close to the breakwater, which is nice because […]

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San Carlos–From The Backlog

8 March 2013

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San Carlos–From The Backlog

Even though Mag Bay is certifiably ginormous, there’s not a lot of buildup, so to speak. It’s chock-full of scenic wonder and amazing wildlife and not much else. Awesome for relaxing and recharging your soul and all, but kind of inconvenient when your frickety-fracking whatisit finally gives up the ghost and there is NO HOPE […]

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Not Saying Goodbye

4 March 2013

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The first time I met Hans (S/V Lifee P. Baker), he was adrift in a dinghy out in the middle of Cruiseport Village Marina in Ensenada. We were heading the opposite direction, toward the laundromat. “Do you think he needs a tow?” I asked Steve, as we watched Hans trying to resuscitate his outboard. “Wouldn’t […]

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Puerto Magdalena–from the Backlog

3 March 2013

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Puerto Magdalena–from the Backlog

Puerto Magdalena is a sleepy little fishing village inside Bahia Magdalena–and by sleepy I mean, I fell asleep practically as soon as we got the anchor set. But also, it’s really laid-back and incredibly isolated. The whole town goes dark around 10pm every night, when they shut the generator down and there is no way […]

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