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Category: Hers

Big changes & a new adventure

Big changes & a new adventure

Last night, Philippe and I laid in bed and tried to recall as many of our favorite trip memories as possible. There was the time we spontaneously ran in the Día de los Muertos 5k in Ensenada. And the time we made pasta from scratch in a calm anchorage in the Sea of Cortez. We swam with whale sharks, explored salt mine ruins, and filled our bellies with tacos, margaritas, and pupusas. We realized that if you get too close…

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A weekend of land travel in Panama

A weekend of land travel in Panama

After a 2-week work trip in San Francisco, I was ready for a little land travel in Panama. We planned to be in Golfito, Costa Rica, where we could leave the boat for a long weekend and visit Philippe’s Uncle Earl, Aunt Mayra, and cousin, Josh. We intended to take the bus to the Costa Rica boarder town, Paso Canoas, but while waiting at the bus stop a number of taxis stopped and asked if we wanted a ride. We…

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Exploring Quepos, Costa Rica

Exploring Quepos, Costa Rica

It was an easy 1-day jaunt from Playas del Coco to Quepos, Costa Rica. Philippe and I settled into the anchorage right around Punta Quepos, where the water was mostly flat and the depth varied a lot with the tides. Our navigation guides, along with several other cruiser’s blogs, warned us of the exposed rocks at low tide, and it was quite alarming to see their jagged edges peeking above the water surface a couple times per day. We were…

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Taking lots of photos in Papagayo and Playas del Coco Costa Rica

Taking lots of photos in Papagayo and Playas del Coco Costa Rica

We departed San Juan del Sur in the rain and had a wet trip to Bahía Elena. After two weeks in the rolly SJdS anchorage, Bahía Elena was a complete relief. We were only there for a night, but the bay is entirely protected and has water as flat as glass. We could hear all sorts of animals in the national park around us. We hope we’ll have some more time to stop there on our way north, but with…

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Falling in love with San Juan del Sur

Falling in love with San Juan del Sur

We weren’t actually planning to stop in San Juan del Sur, but we met some backpackers in northern Nicaragua who recommended it. Similar to Bahía del Sol in El Salvador, San Juan del Sur has a couple of cruisers that live there full time and help to usher in and orient newbies. We only got to meet up with Ralph and his wife for one evening (they flew to Texas shortly after we arrived), but they were super welcoming and…

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The biggest beard in El Salvador

The biggest beard in El Salvador

One of my good friends from graduate school spent a lot of time in El Salvador and loved it, so I really wanted to follow suit. And, in fact, there were some parts that I really did love. But there were also some parts that I wasn’t crazy about. For the last nine years, Bill and Jean have done a phenomenal job organizing the El Salvador Rally. Similar to the Baja Ha-Ha, the El Salvador Rally is intended to create…

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The Cost of Cruising: April

The Cost of Cruising: April

I can’t believe it’s already May. But here we are, and we’ve logged another month of expenses. I was hoping that because we did a little less boat maintenance and ate at restaurants a little less, we’d spend less money. That was partly true, but it wasn’t the significant decrease I had hoped for. There were a few “surprise” expenses, like medicine for Yuki and new charts for Central America. Plus, food in Mexico is particularly inexpensive when compared to…

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Adiós, Mexico!

Adiós, Mexico!

Philippe and I had an uneventful Tehuantepec crossing (map). The Tehuantepec can be a big deal, since the wind funnels from Texas and the Gulf of Mexico through the skinniest part of Mexico. This can create some high winds and big waves, leading most sailors heading south post up in Huatulco to wait for a weather window. We stuck to that plan as well, and caught a weekend weather window with absolutely no wind. We started out hugging the shoreline,…

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Four Things We Loved (And Two Things We Didn’t) About Huatulco

Four Things We Loved (And Two Things We Didn’t) About Huatulco

Things at work have been a little hectic lately, and with long days spent behind my laptop I’ve been unenthusiastic about spending even more hours working on the blog. We did really love Marina Chiapas in Huatulco, though, and I’m finally getting around to writing about it. What we loved… A great community. Huatulco is just north of the Tehuantepec in Mexico, which means that people have either just crossed it or they are waiting for a weather window. It makes…

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The Cost of Cruising: March

The Cost of Cruising: March

When Philippe and I discussed cruising, we estimated that our costs would be about $20-30k per year. Once I decided to keep working, we knew that our costs would probably skew towards the upper edge of that boundary, if not slightly beyond. Among other things, keeping my job means more nights in marinas, extra hours at cafés, a higher cell phone bill, and additional fuel costs when we’re trying to reach a new location within a weekend. It also, of…

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