Pacific Ocean : 1 ; Family Circus Crew : 0

Just a quick update on our passage north. We started 4 days ago, and made decent but bumpy progress from Zihuatanejo to about Manazanillo, and then the breeze picked up right on our nose, as did the swells. We pulled in to Barra Navidad at sunrise to refuel for the push to La Cruz. Thankfully, the French Baker came along in his little boat and we could load up on some french pastries for breakfast as we were heading out. Heather and the kids raised the sails and got the boat going in some decent breeze which matched the 11-15 knot forecast. Within two hours however, the wind was consistently over twenty knots and didnt dip below it for the next 12 hours. We double reefed the main and partially furled the jib, as the breeze picked up to the mid twenties, with gusts north of 30 knots. We couldn't motor in to the waves, so we tried sailing upwind with some big tacks offshore, but after a valiant 14. hour day bouncing and pounding, we bagged any thought of going further and limped in to Chamela- arriving an hour after sunset - only miles north of where we had started the day. Pacific Ocean : 1 ; Family Circus Crew : 0.

We were happy to be at anchor, and an additional highlight of the day is that we were able to make SSB radio contact with Pelagic - 1100 miles away in Costa Rica. It was good to see that work, as we hope to continue to stay in touch with SSB and HAM folks from in the Ocean. If there are any HAM radio operators on the West Coast that can help us connect home, let us know!

We quickly fell asleep, and slept in hard. We got a good day of homeschooling in, and had a phenomenal boogie boarding session in the corner of Chamela Bay. The waves were breaking right, and we got some great rides and video footage- even though the water up here is quite cold at 75 degrees fahrenheit.

Weather forecasts have been significantly inaccurate from the multiple sources we pull them from - but today, Friday, pointed to our best opportunity to make it the final 100 miles north to La Cruz. Tomorrow looks ugly, so early this morning Heather and I raised anchor at 6am under moonlight and headed out. We had a great first two hours as the Moon was setting and the Sun started to rise, even with some favorable winds and dolphins, but the left over swell is still plenty big. We've decided to bite the bullet and motor hard north- its causing a bumpy ride but we're making over 7 knots on this roller coaster ride and only have 38 more miles until we get around Cabo Corrientes and in to Banderas Bay, where life should get much easier. The kids are being troopers, and we're listening to Lady Gaga as we keep the throw up bowl at the ready. (funny how we subconsciously associated Lady Gaga with throwing up, or gagging) Hopefully we'll even the score Family Circus Crew: 1 ; Pacific Ocean : 1.

We have a long list of items to prepare and fix in La Cruz and think we have about 10-14 days before we want to head out to the South Pacific, weather permitting. It will be nice to be back somewhere familiar for this last push- they even have showers and wifi! We'll post more, and with pictures, when we get there!

Plugging away at Latitude 19 degrees 56 mins, Longitude 105 degrees 33 mins --- Chris

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Voyage North Update, and Practice

Hello from the Pacific Ocean! I thought I would send a quick blog update to practice using our Single Sideband (SSB) Radio emailing and updating capability. We cant post images, but hopefully this text update will work!'

We are currently 12.5 miles off the coast of Mexico, approaching Manzanillo after leaving Zihuatanejo 23 hours ago. (technically we're at 18 degrees 22 minutes North Latitude, and 103 degrees 47 minutes West Longitude - for Grandpa Carl) We had a great quick visit from my younger brother Andreas and his fiancee! (a 24 hour old engagement)We love having family on board and getting to share a little bit of this life with them. We got some quality beach time in, Andreas and I stood up on the same wave surfing, and all importantly, we got to enjoy some fabulous rum drinks together at sunset - a Family Circus favorite for the adults.

We had been pretty stationary for about a month, so we are getting used to old routines , that are pretty weather dependent. We had a decent first 12 hours but they were pretty bumpy as we were heading in a direction that the waves, and light wind didn't want us to go. The seas have flattened out today but the wind is still super light, and in the wrong direction, so we are a very sexy motorboat for the moment. Unfortunately our starboard engine has a pretty serious oil leak that makes it only useful for docking and emergency use, so we are hoping our fuel in our port engine tanks gets us where we need to go. Worst case we could take another shot at repairing the leak, or switching the oil pipes from the port to starboard engine- but all that would require us either sailing, or bobbing for an extended period of time- we should be OK and will know it the next 30 hours.

We've decided to head back to La Cruz/Puerto Vallarta for a final few weeks of preparation before we head off across the Pacific. We will probably try and get up there as quickly as possible (maybe motoring three days straight) to avoid some weather forecasted for tomorrow night that would make it super uncomfortable. Worst case, we can pull in to a number of anchorages along the way and hang out if we needed to.

The crew seems to be doing well. Tristan and I just finished another game of Stratego, Heather is beading after she cooked two nights' worth of dinners, Mykaela is lounging after standing watch, Lexi and Lina are watching movies and listening to music, and much to no one's surprise, Amaia is reading! Its a bit too rolly to read or study too much, so homeschooling is taking a break, though I might try one or two subjects in an hour or so. The boat really is quite comfortable and we have lots of stuff to do- its just adjusting to the motion that is still taking time, and on our crossing, we are expecting the first two to three days to be the worst from a seasickness perspective.

After catching and releasing two skipjack tuna last night, the fishing has been quiet, except for a big bite this morning that kicked free before we could set the hook. Definitely wasn't a skipjack! At least some flying fish are wizzing around and a pod of dolphins came to hang out with us for a while- a sight that never gets old.

So all in all- life is really good. We miss our friends and family a lot, but are excited to be continuing the adventure, and taking on a new, big chapter shortly. Hope you are all doing really well! Keep the notes coming! CHRIS

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Por Los Ninos...... all the warm smiles you can receive....

Hello Everyone -

So we are still here in Z town getting ready to leave the area on Tuesday to head north again back to Puerto Vallarta.  We had decided to come down to Z town not only for the beach scene in the Shawshank Redemption but also for Sailfest.  Chris and I thought what a great opportunity to help some of the kids in Mexico and for the kids to participate in a fun event but also to feel that they are helping some kids as well.  We have heard numerous stories about this event and how it is the primary fund raiser for the poorer community here in Mexico.  We wanted to especially help the kids.  As you walk the street they are the cutest things and always give you the biggest smiles.  So with that said it is hard to imagine that if they cant afford a uniform or what we would consider a very small fee they can't attend school past 6th grade or even at all.  School is not mandatory and is very much a privilege for them.  From what I understand school is subsidized by the Mexican Government but only until grade 6.  After that the families are on there own to provide funds to send their kids to school.  If they don't have the funds the kids don't go.

We had a great time with Sailfest.  We participated in the Sailfest Race day.  In this Chris got to race the house and all the boats in the bay around 20 of them took passengers with them and raced out around Roca Negra and Back.  It is a quick race and most of the cruisers don't really race their boats because of the weight and lets just face it we build our boats for long distances not speed.   Plus I think I have a complete aisle of Costco provisioning in the bildges of my boat.  Anyway We got to take a few people out that participate in the Sailfest.  They are tourists from the mainland, some Chicago and New York... then there are all the little activities that Sailfest offers and then the parade at the end where we took about 25 people on our boat and sailed/motored up to Ixtapa (about 10 miles) and back.  Some of the people that were on our boat were able to come back with the circus so we had a blast with them again.  So much fun seeing how relaxed and excited they were to be out on the water.  Something we take for granted everyday... and sometimes even get annoyed with it.  So it is nice to get reinspired and reminded how fortunate we are to be able to do this.  Any Way we made a few really great friendships with this event and had a really great time.  Don and Carol it has been a blast seeing you guys in town, going to dinner and listening to the Ipod you so generously donated to the family circus adventure... we will be playing the steel drums sound track on our way across to the Marquesas hopefully with a full sail and a full moon.  Cheers!

Anyway back to Sailfest and Por Los Ninos...

One of the opportunities we had with Sailfest is to visit one of the schools that they helped to make better.  So the Family Circus headed inland and went to school.  All I can say is wow..  I can't believe how good we have it and how big our schools are.  The school we visited had 9 classrooms (1st through 6th grade), an outdoor cafeteria (two picnic tables and a Costco folding table for the food) and one bathroom that was just installed.  One toilet for the boys and two for the girls.  The foundation, 2 years ago, had just paid to have the dirt floors replaced with Concrete.  They only pay for supplies.  The parents have to come and do all the labor.  It is important for the parents to take ownership of the school.  The foundation is based all on volunteers, parents and community.  They can only afford to pay for the materials....  The kids come from the local neighborhood which is considered a middle class area.  Only because they can afford cement houses.  The kids living in wood houses are the really poor families.  Most of the kids had uniforms.  There were two different types the uniforms donated by the Mexican government and the newer uniforms that were donated to the school by another private school that closed its doors.  The families can purchase the new uniforms or for a lower fee can purchase the Mexican Governemt uniforms.  Uniforms aren't mandatory but the kids really want to wear them because if the child doesn't have a uniform it shows how really poor they are because they can't afford it.  At the time we were there the Mexican government was suppose to send food rations to help the lunch program for the kids.  This school hadn't received their shipment for over a month so the parents were making a ton of rice and beans to feed the kids during lunch everyday... talk about arranging volunteers for lunch time!

Any way the kids were shown around the school and I could see them processing what they were looking at.  One small basketball court in the middle that looked pretty new as well and then the 9 classroom surrounding it.  They went to look into the classrooms and typically each classroom is decorated the same way.  There is a white board in front... some desks for the kids, and one small bookshelf 1/4 of the way filled.  Bars on the windows, no glass with homemade curtains blowing in the wind.  Some art work on the walls from construction paper the kids made and that is it.... The boundry of the school has a fence built around it from chain link fencing and posts from bushes/trees they have cleared around the property.  A lot of the parents were just sitting on the outside of the fence waiting for the kids to be finished and watching with younger children playing in the dirt ruts surrounding the property.  Once inside all you could see were the smiles of all the children and how much fun they were having.  At this point I couldn't tell you how frustrated I felt because of my lack of Spanish.  They all wanted to talk and play with the kids.  Chris picked up a little Soccer with the kids and Amaia and Alina played some hopscotch and Alina was tickled and touched by so many little kids playing with her hair.  They loved taking pictures with us and posing for the cameras.  I think it probably impacted me more than the kids but we all sure came away from there thinking of our friends back home, the schools and how fortunate we are and how much we take for granted.

I usually don't ask for donations and never really thought I would in my Blog... but am really touched by this organization and the kids and just felt it was right to bring attention to it.  I am really hoping to bring awareness to this program and if there is anyway to donate a small amount... it is crazy how far the funds go down here and how much they can accomplish for the kids.  I have attached some links at the bottom to Por Los Ninos foundation for you to look at if you have a chance... Any little bit helps a great deal!

Here are some of the pictures from the day:

SailFest is a six-day festival that combines fun and games, heart-felt volunteerism and an outpouring of international friendship. Although the tone of the event is light-hearted, the cruisers’ goals are serious – to raise funds for the education of Zihuatanejo’s poorest children. In the true spirit of a "rendezvous", vessels begin arriving in November from as far away as Alaska and the Caribbean and drop anchor until February to participate in what is becoming one of Mexico's premier sailing events, the Zihua SailFest. Cocktail parties, benefit concerts, live & silent acutions, sailboat raoces, kids beach day, seminars, chili cook-off, street fairs, regattas, school tours and work parties at the schools are just some of the events that highlight this gathering of "free spirits".


http://www.porlosninos.com/index.html

About Por Los Niños Zihuatanejo

Despite Mexico's best efforts, many children lack the resources to attend school. Local communities often lack the finances to provide a safe and secure learning environment. School supplies can be a luxury the children and parents cannot afford.The Por Los Niños charity, and our caring partners, have provided more than $6,000,000 pesos to give these deserving children an enhanced opportunity to learn at more than 20 schools.

To have insurance.... To not have insurance... that is the question

Before Chris and I left we debated a lot of whether to purchase medical insurance or not.  It is a scary thing traveling with 5 kids and accident prone parents and not have insurance.  Especially when living on a boat ACCIDENTS are bound to happen!  So far we have been extremely lucky and have only had an ear infection to deal with.  Knock on Wood.  Another aspect is the regular doctors visits for check ups.  We had decided after a lot of research and looking through many of the cruisers blogs to just pay for the medical appointments when they came up.  Often the care is just as good as in the states and completely affordable.  Dental cleanings run around $35 and to fill a cavity is around $40.  The cruisers network is so helpful and many of the cruisers live here for half the year and have for years so they are often recommending doctors that they have repeatedly seen.  Again I can’t say enough about how wonderful and helpful the sailing community is.  Whatever you may need someone either has the part/ the answer/or directs you to a way to solve it...

The kids last saw a dentist in August, so we were coming up on our 6 month cleaning appointment time.  Our friends on Pelagic had seen a dentist here in Zihuatanejo and said he was fantastic.  So I was planning on carting all the kids down to him just to get a cleaning and make sure there aren’t any issues before we leave for the Marquesas... We were having dinner with friends from another boat (Seahorse 5) who I knew she was a dental hygienist but also knew she didn’t have her instruments... so I was just blabbing and letting her know that I was going to take all the kids in... Well, Tina had mentioned that her friends that were just visiting brought down her tools so if I wanted her to, she could come over to our boat over a few days and clean the kids teeth... ARE YOU KIDDING!  YES!  that is so awesome.  Not only is it someone the kids love and are comfortable with but so easy and convenient since we were anchored right next to each other.  So the kids were all able to get their teeth cleaned... While I am assured that they have all been looked at and any areas of concern... Tristan is the only one with a cavity that we need to have filled... So I will be looking for a dentist in La Cruz to have this filled.  We now don’t have time to get it done here.  Of course she told me that without x-rays she can only see the ones on the surface and not in between the teeth... but I hear that Tahiti also has amazing dentists and it bought me some time until we get there to have some work done and full cleanings with x-rays... I wonder if the dental offices are under a tiki hut?

In the end when we were registering for the Puddle Jump we found out that in order to enter in to the French Polynesia they are now requiring proof of medical insurance... so we have purchased our medical policies through the Dan Divers Insurance for the whole family.  We wanted a medical evacuation policy and this incorporates both medical and evacuation at the same time.  So at least we have something.

Hugs to all

Heather

They Did it! Two new certified Divers on Family Circus

They did it!  I never thought that much of the significance of Tristan and Lexi getting their SCUBA certification - I’ve always loved stuff like that and they are always game for doing new things (which I love!)  They are also incredibly comfortable in the water- swimming and snorkeling.  Two of my favorite pictures and memories to date are them diving down 8 or 10 feet when they were five or six years old and then kicking back to the surface.  It's just such a cool sight.

However, as we approached the book work for their PADI Jr. Open Water dive certification, I started having some doubts.  I had forgotten the scientific and technical nature of diving and what you need to know.  I also didn’t know if they would take it serious enough- they didn’t understand yet why they needed to do the reading.  I started to realize the magnitude of what they were undertaking. There is an age limit for scuba certification, with a simpler certification starting at 10, but 12 still seemed super young.  I mean how many of this reading audience are well steeped in Boyle’s Law, and Nitrogen Narcosis?  I was excited about their undertaking but certainly apprehensive as well. I also remembered that Kava did this around this age.

Two pros checking out, and setting up, their gear

We actually sent business to both Scuba shops in Zihuantanejo, and I was super happy with Luis “Poto” Pelayo at Zihuatanejo Dive Center- he connected really well with the kids, had a fun energetic attitude and was very accommodating around our schedule.  I also took a free diving class with Poto and the shop the weekend before. The kids spent a day in class, and then they invited me to join them for the ocean dives.  I was hesitant to get in the way, but Tristan insisted, and I am so glad I went- it was a blast to see them doing there skills demonstrations underwater.  The dive shops’ boat (and captain “Chompy”) came and picked us up at our boat every day and we headed out of the bay to various spots.  I’ll let the kids provide their own color below, but as a parent… pretty damn awesome.  SCUBA itself is pretty surreal if you haven’t done it, or haven’t done it in a while, and then watching your kids learning and demonstrating skills they have just learned underwater is on another level. They dont have nearly the same anxious thoughts as most adults and are open to learning without questioning, or overthinking.

"Hold your mask and regulator"

Instructor Luis loved the kids and was really impressed with them- their easy going nature, their comfort level underwater and with different skills, and their comedic jousting as a pretty tight brother and sister pair.  He was very patient with them, although he often didn’t see them doing somersaults behind his back, or pulling each others’ masks off!  We went as deep as 60 feet but most of the diving was around 40 feet, and while the visibility wasn’t great on any of the dives, Luis helped us see all sort of wildlife! They are now certified to dive with an instructor, or their parent, up to 60 feet, and with the 4 tanks and compressor we have on board- I hope we will get some great diving in, as we are going to some of the top dive locations in the world over the next 16 months.

I asked Tristan and Lexi to pen a few thoughts and will let that, and a few photos, finish the story!  Chris

Tristan’s Scuba Blog entrée

Tristan slithering through the opening

 

       This week I got scuba certified and it was awesome because my dive instructor was awesome because he was very funny and cool. When my sister and I first joined the class my sister was worried about how much English he understood, but he ended up speaking great English. The first day we went to the shop and watched videos, but after we had lunch we went to the pool and practiced our skills such as taking the gear off underwater and putting it back on, and finding your regulator. The next day we went to the ocean and went over some more skills above water and then we went diving, and one of the first things we saw around coral was a seahorse. Later we saw a lot of eels and fish. On the next dive we went to a cove and probably saw 150 sting rays and electric rays. We only did two dives a day but they were amazing,  such as on the next dive we saw spotted eagle rays flying over us and saw tons of pufferfish and stone fish. On the next dive we saw an octopus and eels and something called a nakerjodiceo, or something like that.  This week was really fun and I am very excited about getting scuba certified.

LEXI Scuba diving

Lexi coming through the Rock Bridge

 

                  Scuba diving has been a great experience and I was glad I got certified for it. I’m most excited for when I get to be able to go deep down on the rocks and not worry about not being able to hold my breath long enough (Which is pretty convenient saying as the most important rule of diving is "never stop breathing"), or getting too cold down deeper. I thought getting scuba certified would be hard but it was easy. You watch a couple of videos and do as couple of dives and then take a test and then it’s pretty easy. But it was very exciting, you get to see all kinds of different animals that you would never see snorkeling because they hang out on the bottom like sting rays or seahorses and we even saw three eagle rays and Uno octopus. My favorite moment in the classes was when me and my brother got to just play in the water was (and trust me it’s different doing back flips in the water when you don’t have to worry about air supply and you are 60feet deep). I'm mostly excited about diving different ship wrecks and being able to go inside the holes in the wrecks.

Dive Buddies!

Art Class, Naming Ceremony and Valentines Day

Hello Everyone,

Well we had a wonderful time with Oma over the last 10 days.  We were able to take an art class from a local artist.  Alfredo offers a class on Saturdays with Acrylics.  The kids had a really great time.  We were really sad to see her go and miss her very much.  As I said before... I think Oma missed her calling of living on a boat.  It was a seamless transition for her and she adapted to our way of life very quickly.

We also had a great time celebrating her birthday a little early.  Happy Birthday to Oma.  Wish we were there to celebrate your Bday with you.

We received a note from Poseidon notifying us that our boat name is not recognized and that we needed to preform our boat naming ceremony in order to be protected by the gods of the sea and wind.

We all had a really great time throwing coins, pouring champaigne, whiskey, and wine into the ocean.  Everyone had a part in the ceremony from Oma to Alina.  It is so nice to finally have our name ceremony completed and the boat name now officially Family Circus is recognized and protected by all the gods that will give us fair winds and safe seas.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valetines day.  Chris and I woke up to breakfast in bed and a note from Lexi to begin our day... I thought I would share it... She is such an old soul:

Dear Mom and Dad,

You're the reason the sun goes up in the east and sets in the west.  You're always smiling and never give up on us.  You let us fall but help us get up and try again.  Giving us an amazing experience is something I can only hope to repay.  You're paving our future but are leaving alternate routes for us to decide.  When a child grows up and lives a great life, some call it fate or destiny or hard work,  I call it good parenting.  You both add in your own touches to your children that will be passed on forever.  My teacher said that you should always write in pen so you can scratch out.  Never be afraid to start over, is the message I get from that and it reminds me of you.  You let us make our own paths, but maybe add a parentheses here or a period there.  You might entirely eliminate a personal character completely but you're only perfecting the essay of our life so that when we are done with it and turn it in, we know it would be something you're proud of.  Our essay will be graded by our children who will take some pieces and add it as their own but it will always be apart of us and something you can’t let go of.

Happy Valentines Day!

--Lexi Lou Lou

Then for a special treat Chris and I were able to go to dinner while the kids stayed on the boat with Oma and Mykaela and watch a movie.

It has been a great couple of weeks but now back to business.  The kids are in class for their scuba certification this week and are having an amazing time.  We are now focusing on catching up on school work and going through boat systems.  Time to do some deep cleaning and maintenance.  

Hugs to all and have a great day...

Heather

Epic Moment Update- RIDING a Wave!

Just a quick note with an Epic Moment update that I’m specifically sending to my brothers.  I finally really “surfed” a wave! I’ve made many attempts at surfing and have gotten better and better at catching waves and standing up- but generally they have always been rides where I have gone completely straight as the wave would close out on me on either side.  But today, I FINALLY RODE a wave! It was an awesome experience to catch a very large wave, launch down the crest as you stand up, and then start turning to my left as the wave was still developing and launching forward. I was able to carve a few small turns and grin from ear to ear, riding long enough across the wave to appreciate it - probably a good 10 - 12 seconds!  Awesome!

Backing up....we have two surfboards on board- thanks to my brother Andreas and “Bird” at the Birdshed in San Diego.  Generally, cruising and surfing dont mix that often as you are usually trying to find protected anchorages for your boat/house, while surf spots generally require the opposite - open ocean facing beaches that allow the swell to come through.  However, we are getting better at finding beaches that have waves for boogie boarding/surfing and where we can also keep the boat nearby.

We have been anchored back up at Isla Grande off Ixtapa, showing my mom the island and animals, and I noticed two other cruisers heading off in a dinghy with surfboards.  Later in the day I asked them about the surf, and the next day Mykaela and I headed out after them in our own surfing safari dinghy.  There is a river opening up to the ocean that creates a river bar break and we had attempted this spot before- and had a fairly rough day, but today the water was clear and the waves were…huge!  The water had 15 surfers in it, mostly all locals on really short boards,and we anchored our dinghy way offshore to avoid any sneaker wave sets that came in.  We paddled in to the waves and were in awe of their size and power- it was like out of a magazine.  The waves averaged head height, but occasionally a much larger set come through. It seemed a bit beyond Kaela and I’s current competence level- but we hung out for a while and realized the waves weren’t all that crazy and, while powerful, they weren’t crushing you completely if you wiped out.  We gamely approached the sets, staying out of the way of the locals, who seemed to be catching everything, and started our attempts at making the magic happen.  We inevitably tumbled more than we rode, but had enough exciting moments to balance out the exhausting effort of paddling out through the waves once you wiped out.

I really only caught two, and RODE one- but that was plenty enough to keep my excited to continue to hunt for more waves near our boat.  Hopefully the South Pacific will offer up some awesome reef breaks that we can uncover!  Andreas and Mike- we are ready for your surfing visit!  Chris