Memorable evening.
We’ve come a long way, but we still have quite a ways to go. It’s hard to believe that we’ll be crossing into Mexican waters tomorrow night. I just finished putting lots of letters in the mail and making final phone calls before my cell service goes dark tomorrow. It’s ridiculous, but selling all of our things, moving onto our sailboat and transiting the Pacific Coast was less nerve-wracking to me than crossing the border. Life has been different, certainly, but I more or less knew what to expect. I know the language, I know the customs (for the most part…So. Cal. is making me rethink this one), we can buy anything our little hearts desire (which is dangerous), and we have friends we knew all along the way to make us feel right at home wherever we were. We were also connected to our old lives via cell phones and internet. Who knows, we may have these things in Mexico (if we pony up), but life will be a little bit more uncertain after tomorrow. Tomorrow we become international travelers, destination unknown.
Here are some highlights from the month:
449 … nautical miles traveled
2 … nights spent at sea
15 … nights spent at anchor
7 … nights at a marina
4 … nights on a mooring ball
1 … night spent in a REAL, SQUARE bed with ample leg room (thank you David and Laura!)
$5,000,000,000 … the average cost of a home on the shore of Balboa Island (Orange County baby!)
$15 … the cost per night to tie up our boat off of the shore of Balboa Island
$3.25 … what the laundromat charges for a load of laundry (wash only) on Balboa Island
6 … the number of times Harmony spilled her coffee in the cockpit
3 … the number of times Harmony spilled her coffee in the cabin
100 … the number of pumps until our holding tank (read: poop tank) is full (we discovered this the yucky way)
76 … hours logged on the engine
34 … hours spent sailing…or attempting to sail
20 … oil rigs in the Santa Barbara channel
50 … estimated percentage of oil in the oceans that is released through natural seeps
800 … estimated minutes of Buffy and Angel watched (don’t judge : )
6 … days of rain (most of which were in ‘sunny’ So. Cal.)
4-5 … hours Jeff spent studying for the HAM test
20 … hours Harmony spent studying for the HAM test
0 … answers that Jeff got wrong on his HAM test
0 … answers that Harmony got wrong on her HAM test
5 … real showers enjoyed this month