Fun in Bandaras Bay!

We have been enjoying our time in Bandaras Bay. After all the work, we are finally getting some decompression time. Some of us have been sick from physical exhaustion but all of us have been soaking up the extra sleep and enjoying the simpler schedule. We met Chris and his Dad in La Cruz and had a great afternoon sail on Sophia. It was great to see Joe and his best friend together in Mexico!

One of our internet spots in La Cruz has a Huichol Indian gift shop. This rattler is made of beads set into wax. Very time consuming but very beautiful.

We met new friends in La Cruz. Chandro (6) and Matero (3) from the boat, Kenta Anae.
Legos, legos, legos!

Stephan caught this 2.5 foot snake eel jigging at night in La Cruz. Cool creature but aggressive and creepy with his blue eyes and fangs.

Finn and I celebrated Easter at the small, local Catholic Church. No plastic eggs or chocolate to buy so we had Easter ice cream!

The winds start to blow in La Cruz every afternoon. We took the kite to shore to practice for future kite boarding. Joe "surfed" bare foot on the sand!

Stephan and Joe with full bellies!

Finn turned 9 years old in Punta Mita. As he said, "This is my last year to be one digit!" He spent a nice day on the boat, enjoying building the new Lego sets and looking at all the goodies.

The evil alien ships from the Mars Mission sets!

Photographed by Finn

Of course, new Bionicles!

We also met new friends in Punta Mita, Niall (almost 10) and Mairen (6) from the boat, Totem. Finn and Niall became immediate friends, trading Legos and sneaking in a sleepover.

Siobhan (4) was loving Joe's finger tricks. I loved having some girl time and our families enjoyed dinners and beach time together.

Stephan has enjoyed the fishing in Punta Mita, supplying us with several rosy rock fish fries.

He is getting a lot better at cleaning fish!

We love to hang out at Mita's Pizza, with homemade pizzas and great friends. Dolphina is 18 months, walking now but still just as cute as last year!

We spent one night at a slip in Nuevo Vallarta to get some much needed water. We all enjoyed revisiting the crocodile slides at Paradise Village Resort. Stephan scoped the girls and Finn wore out another bathing suit on the slides!

That is a snapshot of our last few weeks. Though we have made reeds, studied in school and worked on boat projects, we also have been resting and catching up with friends. We have another week in the Bay and some day trips planned before we must start heading north.

More soon from the crew on Wildflower!

Sailing to Bandaras Bay

Our first stop after leaving Guaymas was Playa Algodones (Cotton Beach), a nice anchorage north of San Carlos. We spent five days there getting our sea legs, finishing small projects on the boat and enjoying the tourist scene. The beach was fine sand, Finn and I enjoyed a small hike and we all watched many kite boarders catching the wind. Stephan especially enjoyed the social scene at the Soggy Peso Bar!

Finn and I at the top of our hike. Yes, that's Wildflower.

Enjoyed a day with our good friends, Helen, Oscar,
and Millie (the dog!)

Playita Algodones

Our first day out of Playa Algodones was very pleasant. However, by the end of the second day, not only had our auxilliary rudder bent in two but we realized a gale was catching up to us. At its worst, we experienced 30 knot winds and a 12-15 foot swell. Instead of trying to hand-steer through it, we decided to heave to. This means putting the boat into the wind with just the mizzen sail up, beam on to the swell. We "drifted" for the next 40 hours, going SW about 1 knot/hour and enduring severe sideways rolling. Though we felt like corks rolling around in a washing machine, we managed to watch Lord of the Rings 2 the second afternoon.

IPOD's are a great tool on passage!

When it was comfortable again, we headed to Isla San Fransisco (Baja side) to regroup. We spent a nice day and a half on this island; fishing, hiking, fixing the broken auxiliary rudder and getting much needed showers. Stephan was the winner on this fishing trip, pulling in two Pargos, the bigger of which we enjoyed for dinner. The water was the turquoise blue we remembered from last year and we all enjoyed a refreshing swim after an amazing hike along the cliffs.

Isla San Fransisco

After two nights of good rest, we set sail again for Bandaras Bay. The rudder rebroke on the first afternoon, so we took three hour watches and resigned ourselves to hand-steering again. After complaints of tired legs, Joe rigged our bucket hammock from the mizzen boom. Steph and I got good at steering with our feet! Joe rebuilt the rudder again on the third day and it held through the night-halleluiah! It took us full three days (450 miles) to sail from Isla SF to Bandaras Bay, though this part of the trip was very comfortable. We all felt like we had gained our sea legs in the storm and were able to enjoy normal activities like reading, eating and playing games to wile away the time. Joe and Stephan were disappointed to not hook anything more substantial than a few bonita on this passage.

Aren't they cute?

We saw several beautiful sunsets!

Steph's Pargo


The good ship Wildflower!

Someone's found their sea legs!

We were greeted by a humpback whale and bow-surfing dolphins on our approach to Punta Mita (the NW tip of Bandaras Bay). We are looking forward to resting the boat and ourselves, finding friends and surfing. We truly feel like our vacation can start now!

End of Hard Work in Guaymas

Has it been half a month already? The past 2.5 weeks have been filled with work - cleaning, prepping for paint, painting, then more cleaning.

Doesn't this look like fun?

Finn power washes the hull in preparation for new paint.

All the new steel gets 2 coats of yellow zinc stromate epoxy.

Next, two coats of anti-corrosion barrier paint for steel.

Cochetti comes to inspect our painting of his welded steel!

The white is a high-build barrier epoxy primer.
We used the same paint inside the boat.
First, we repeatedly syringed paint into about 2 dozen holes
to block water from getting in between the old and new steel.
Then, we applied a coat to all exposed steel throughout the interior.

Finally, the new steel received the good stuff -
(and the most toxic!) - copper-based anti-fouling paint.

There's still more painting! In preparation, Stephan and I power wash
and scrub the rest of the bottom of the hull for one more coat
of the good stuff. We are filthy!

The bottom is done!!! The final coat is dark blue

copper-based anti-fouling paint.

Can you see the welds? Good, neither can we!

She is finally ready to go in the water.
A giant sling picks her up off her stands,

last minute paint is applied and transport begins.

This is a scary moment for any boat owner.

The Travel Lift

The Ways

After careful driving, Wildflower is positioned in the ways!

She is in the water! Will the engine start?

Will we make it through the shallow, narrow channel?

Did the Captain remember to plug the remaining hole?

Yes, Yes and Yes!

Wildflower pulls safely away -

happy again in the water!

We say good-bye to our yard-mates, Ted and Richard.

Thanks for all your help, advise and humour!

A well-earned day off! The boys get hair cuts.

They all approve of their new looks and

the barber takes a sigh of relief!

Where's her margarita?

Finn and Millie have learned to play together, tug o' war and hide 'n seek.

They are evenly matched!

Finn and his new "abuela", our angelic landlady, Tina!

Thanks for renting your beautiful space to us.

The scorpion Mom caught on the bathroom wall - yikes!

We are at a dock with a gutted boat to clean and put back together.

Copious amounts of soap and water make a dent on the yard

dust and grime. Mom stocks the boat and feathers the nest inside;

Dad prepares the boat for sea. It is good to be home again!

This is what six weeks in the yard has done to my husband!

Wildflower is ready for cast off....

AND SO ARE WE!!!

We are headed south about 530 nautical miles to Bandaras Bay!

There are fish to catch, warmer waters to dive in, waiting surf,

friends to see and rest to be had! More in a few weeks!

Progress in Guaymas

It has been a couple of weeks since we have been able to keep you updated and a lot has happened! My 35th birthday brought me dinner out with my boys, a cake from Tina (our landlady) and a hand-made bracelet from my new friend and neighbor, Helen. Stephan arrived about ten days ago and will be joining us for the rest of our time in Mexico.

In Mexico, you place your wedding ring around a candle before you make a wish!

Stephan is 19 years old and 6'7"!

Mostly, the last few weeks have been about WORK! Joe has spent quality time with his mega grinder, cutting out the holes in the transom, trimming the plates for the keel, and preparing 40 feet in patches to double weak steel in other parts of the hull. I learned how to use a wire wheel to grind through bottom paint to get to bare steel for the welds. Our welder, Conchetti, has spent 60 hours tacking, fitting and then welding on all the new steel. We completely used up a 20x6 ft sheet of 3/16in steel and 20 kilos of welding rods. Conchetti was exact and thorough, a master welder, who outworked all of us on any given day.

Trimming a plate

Grinding the hole in the transom

The Hole!

The full face mask

Cochetti on the ground welding on the bottom of the keel.

Our neighbor and fellow steel boater, Richard, has been invaluable in letting us use his welding machine, as well as sharing materials and work space.


Since the welds have been completed, Joe and Stephan have spent too many hours grinding down the welds and preparing the steel for paint. The inside of the boat has needed lots of work as well. The welding on the outside stripped epoxy barrier paint on the inside. The yard was treated to the sound of repetitive banging on steel for many days as Joe pounded out burnt paint and years of accumulated rust. I have spent time pounding and scraping to get to clean steel throughout the interior in preparation for a holding coat of paint. Finn has been a big help doing the glamorous jobs of vacuuming and picking up trash, including spent welding rods! The good news is that we are over the hump! Next is painting and then we can splash the boat!

The Boys!

We won't sink!

The welding is done!

Nice tan, huh? But look at the Teva lines. That's my real color. The rest is from one day in the yard!

Finn and I have also been working at home. My oboe reed orders are high so I am preparing a big batch to mail to the States. Finn has been learning pre-algebra (Do YOU remember the Communtative Property of Addition?), reading Robinson Crusoe, studying the Ancient Egyptians and learning about cells in school. He has also been collecting pets: hermit crabs, a locust, a cricket and a baby coral snake. The crabs died and the rest have since been released but we have enjoyed examining them. Guaymas has a five day Carnaval right before Lent, complete with a parade (floats, a band and dancers), loud music, treats, trinkets and festival rides. We took a break on Fat Tuesday to enjoy the sights and sounds.

The Guaymas Drum Corp!

Du-fish!


Dragon Float!

Finn's Locust!

Sunset from our roof.

The end is in sight - soon we will be sailing!