January 28, 2008, marked one full calendar year since we sailed away from the dock at Shilshole Marina in Seattle, Washington, with no intention of returning. The year has been…interesting. Rewarding. Complicated. Satisfying. We have successfully avoided killing each other – though on a few occasions bad words were muttered sotto voce. And sometimes, not so sotto. We have sailed, just the 2 of us and the Fox, and rounded capes (Scott, Brooks Peninsula, Mendocino, Conception, Falso & San Lucas); managed days and nights of fog; crossed river bars; avoided fishing boats, nets and pots; been out of sight of land; made landfall at night (not recommended); worked with inaccurate charts and a failing GPS; kept anchor watch at night when the weather turned bad. And, coasted over flat-calm seas watching 7-gill sharks rummage around; had whales circle the Fox; received dolphin visitors on the 3am watch; seen the green flashes of meteors off Bahia Magdalena; made many new friends; seen the sun rise while approaching Cabo San Lucas; watched manta rays do back flips. So much of the average day is a challenge, and a wonder.
Some things were unexpected – like, assuming we would need to use a watermaker in Mexico, and ending up relying on it far more heavily right at the beginning of our cruise, in the Broughton archipelago in British Columbia where potable water is rare. Other things we prepared for, like anchoring in difficult spots requiring 2 or 3 separate anchors, haven’t happened*. On the other hand now that we are cruising in a completely different climate with different water, we’ve found a few things that are more necessary (shade covers for the deck) or less necessary (cleaning mildew off inner locker surfaces) here than further north. Nevertheless and for the most part, I am comfortable stating in this here blog that we have a newer boat that is well-outfitted and -maintained so that in 12+ months and a few thousand miles nothing drastic has happened.*
We will discuss in future posts what has worked for us; what has not worked; and what we would have done/will do differently.
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* Yet.
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