Take to the sea

The (mis)adventures of two dreamers that do

Two becomes three

Let’s continue this little numbers game and turn the focus now to the question of time. We had a plan initially: spend from the savings pot for two years of comfortable minimalism and sail an unspecified loop through the great unknown. The thing about the unknown though is once you know it, your perspective changes.

February 2014: month in review

February was full of beautiful places and friendly faces, but it was not without its challenges. The lowest point was discovering that we were short one prop blade, leaving us engine-less. Rather than snorkeling, hiking and relaxing (all of the things I was doing) during the first two weeks of February, Jeff spent much of his spare time trying to figure out a makeshift solution to the prop situation. He fashioned three spare props out of materials at hand, but each creation had a small shortcoming. I have no doubt, however, that if we had more fiberglass and epoxy on this boat, solution #4 would have been a resounding success.

Lost in translation

One of my favorite things about traveling is learning and practicing another language. Though there are definitely some days when my brain gets tired and I wish I could just stick a babel fish in my ear.

Learning a new language is all about small victories. For me I think my initial break through moment in Spanish occurred when I was chatting with several guys at Marina Palmira in Topolobampo about our recurring dreams and then we took turns trying to interpret each other’s dreams. Not only was I able to understand their dreams and weigh in on the meaning, but I recounted my very strange and very vivid childhood dream. I didn’t know I had the vocabulary to describe it until I opened my mouth and the words just started pouring out.

One becomes two

After the third failed attempt at fabrication of a new propeller from available materials, I relented on my self-sufficiency fantasies. We opted instead to pull the rip cord and deploy a strategy called Phone the Land of Internet Searchable Plenty.

The long way home

So, what’s your plan? This is our most frequently asked question these days, from strangers, other cruisers, friends, siblings and parents (of course). I don’t know that we’ve ever really […]