Journey's End

      I'll be honest. The blog was fun, but I'm rather glad to be done with it. It became a bit of a chore to try keeping up. I simply wanted to enjoy the rest of our travel time with my family while it lasted. 

      The Bahamas were rather gorgeous. The blues and greens in the water. The shallow water--I mean, sailing for hours through 20 feet of clear water, seeing the coral heads and the fish swimming through them. A giant barracuda grabbing our fishing line and then nearly taking a chunk out of Joe's finger... Levi losing his ring in the sand while playing beach volleyball in Georgetown, and the entire cruising community rallying around and looking for it, and a couple finally finding it and hailing on the radio, "Attention the fleet. To the young man who lost his silver ring at the volleyball court, your ring has been found!"Snorkeling, walking on the beaches, meeting new friends.... 

The view stop Stocking Island, Georgetown, Bahamas

The sandstone was incredible!

We found where Pepsi was born in New Bern, NC.

T

 Here we say farewell to Kyrie, our floating home for the past seven years. 

Fare thee well on your next adventure!  

 

      Every adventure lasts for a certain amount of time. We may not know its duration at the onset, but we know one day it will come to an end, and our adventure on Kyrie has come to a close. Our family made the decision, for multiple reasons, to at least hit pause on our cruising life and see if we can find another owner for Kyrie. It was a heartwrenching decision, driving away from our home for the last seven years after parking her in North Carolina, but it was the right decision.

       Now, we're back where it all began. Despite our original plan (since when does that ever actually happen?!), we returned to our old home of Juneau, Alaska, where a job, family, and friends waited. Interestingly enough, a few of our cruising friends have done something similar--apparently it was time for a new adventure for more than just us!

        To everyone we met while out on our travels, I'm so glad we got to share an adventure with you. Whether you are still out exploring on your boat, or if your road has turned in a different direction, I hope we stay in contact. You have all touched our lives in some way and I think my family is better for all our experiences--the good, the bad, the boring, the exciting, and the ugly!

        The story of Cruising Kyrie has come to a close, but hopefully my musings on the road of life will continue. As I (and this is Kristen writing this final post) attempt to enter the world of publishing a book, I have just started a Substack newsletter. You are more than welcome to subscribe there. Come along with me on the next adventure at My Chosen Road.

Making the most of an unplanned stop

      For a place we only intended to stop a little while to rest and recover, Jamaica held us tightly for quite a while. We checked in at Montego Bay on November 17, and finally departed on January 22. Did we enjoy our stay? That’s an interesting question to try to answer. On some days, we did, and on other days, it was a difficult time—that’s the short answer, I suppose, and I’ll try to explain better. 

     The original thought was that we would go straight from Panama to Port Antonio, on Jamaica’s northeast coast, to be best situated for a run through the Windward Passage on to the Bahamas. Everyone knows how that plan worked out and that we ended up having to aim for Montego Bay instead. After repairs done in Montego Bay, we were only able to move as far as Discovery Bay before the tradewinds picked up again and kept us from going further. At last, shortly after Thanksgiving, we got up in the middle of the night, and got out of there. We had realized that at night, wind comes off the island and counteracts the waves from the trade winds. Therefore, that was the right time for us to go. The end of a 12-hour motor run saw us arriving at Errol Flynn Marina in Port Antonio, where we would stay for nearly two months. 

     Boats came and went during our stay. A number of boats had come through the Windward Passage from the Bahamas, bound for Panama. Others came from Aruba and Curacao, with plans to go to the Dominican Republic, or west to Cayman, Mexico, or Central America. The Kyrie crew seemed to be the oddballs, trying to get through the Windward, at the wrong time of year. So we watched the boats coming and going, meeting new people and saying farewell, all the while waiting for our turn. 

     What did we do during that time? I wish we could have explored Jamaica more. What we saw was beautiful and we heard stories from others about the mountains and rivers and jungles. But we were pretty much confined to Port Antonio and where we could go in a day because we had Rio with us. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend visiting Jamaica if you have a dog. There are strict quarantine rules for animals coming in to the country and there aren’t any exceptions for dogs on cruising boats. We had friends who had been in touch with the Ministry of Agriculture, their dog had had the rabies titer test, they had done a bunch of paperwork, and the dog still could only be let off the boat to run on the dock—not ashore on the marina property, or anywhere else—and that was after three weeks of being in Jamaica. Because we hadn’t planned on stopping at any other island that required it (not to mention the cost and amount of time it takes), we didn’t bother getting a titer test done for Rio. As a result, our poor pup was confined to Kyrie the entire time we were in Jamaica. He did alright though. We played with him a lot and I think he got a lot more treats during that time than usual! 

     Port Antonio is a neat town. We discovered the culinary delights known as Jamaican patties (think Cornish pasties, but thinner), as well as various incarnations of jerk chicken and jerk pork, which ran the gamut of spice levels. Piggy’s was easily our favorite—look for the building in the background of the most recent James Bond movie. The cast and crew apparently ate there frequently while the movie was being filmed in Port Antonio! The people there were lovely. The workers in our favorite stores came to recognize us fairly quickly and said hello whenever we came in to shop. 

     Without a vehicle, however, it was difficult to go many places and see much, so we found our time a little boring. Our kids were the only ones in the marina, so they had a hard time. The weather forecasts were confusing and the windows to get through the Windward Passage would show up, only to rapidly shrink. In desperation, we utilized Chris Parker for weather routing. We’ve heard a number of friends talking about using his services, but never used him ourselves. I can highly recommend him and his team now! The forecast they ended up zeroing in on and giving us was almost spot on.

     As I said, we were able to check out and leave on the morning of January 22. The wind was a bit stronger than forecast, but the seas were manageable and we even sailed part of the time. We had friends say to expect at least a call on the radio from the U.S. Coast Guard while traveling through, but we heard from no one the entire trip. We chose to stick closer to Cuba and got through just fine, arriving at Matthew Town, Great Inagua island in the Bahamas about 50 hours after departing Jamaica.

Our Most Challenging (Read Terrifying) Passage

 

On Wednesday, November 9, 2022, Kyrie checked out of Panama and departed Shelter Bay. We easily motored up to Linton Bay and spent the night with our buddy boat at anchor – enjoying a pizza at their fantastic little restaurant for the last time.

Early the next morning, we pulled anchor and ran down to the Swimming Pool anchorage in the Holandes Keys in the Guna Yala (San Blas) Islands. We spent a lovely night and day there, walking on the islands and cleaning the bottom of the boat prior to our passage to Jamaica. We checked all the engine fluids, folded our dinghy and lashed it to the cabin top, cleared the decks of anything that can move, and secured everything in the cabin for a long passage. It was to be around 675 miles, and roughly 5 to 6 days of travel to get to Jamaica non-stop, easily double the longest time we had ever been to sea. The butterflies in the stomach were strong, but we pulled anchor at 4pm on November 11^th, bound for Jamaica. 

Kyrie at anchor in paradise - San Blas Islands

 

Bumblebee - our dinghy on the beach in San Blas

 

Our weather window looked good. 12 knots average wind, with 80% on the beam, max gusts of 19 knots and max seas of around 1.3 meters. 0% of the time was to be running upwind into wind greater than 15 knots, which our boat really does not like. Boy had we wished that was the truth.

The evening departure was lovely, sailing under spinnaker until around 10pm before the wind died, and we started the motor. We motored slowly through the night to save fuel, and about 6am encountered the first of many squalls, and just about the fiercest one of the trip as well. It lasted about half an hour, with winds near 40 knots, and torrential rain. After it let up, we had a lovely day motoring through the sunny calm southern Caribbean towards Colombia. 

Our buddy boat - No Regrets that night

 

About 10 at night, the seas began to kick up, with gentle winds of around 9 knots on our nose, but large confused seas that didn’t match the wind at all. They were coming from 3 directions, short and steep, around 5-6 feet. We gritted our teeth, trying to make as much easting as we could before making the turn towards our destination of Jamaica, and hobby horsed and pounded the boat mercilessly at 2-3 knots of forward speed for the next 12 hours.

At first light, the seas just were not improving, and out of desperation, 70 miles prior to our intended turn, both Kyrie and our buddy boat decided to make the turn towards Jamaica, which would at least put the worst of the seas on our starboard quarter and make the ride a bit better. We hoped as we got further from the lee of the land the irregularity of the seas would normalize and we could make better, more comfortable headway.

By about noon that day, the seas did indeed even out, and the trade winds kicked in, about 18-20 knots over our starboard bow. We were pointing as high as we could and sailing along at 7-8 knots, but still aiming directly at the west side of Cuba. The seas were lumpy and bouncy, but passable. We had no good option but to go on, as we were about 125 miles from the nearest land at that point.

So we soldiered on, hoping for the wind to change to its predicted direction (due east) in the near future. It blew from the northeast all night, and with night came four squalls, with winds easily near 40. Thankfully with our radar on we were able to shorten sail before the winds hit, and were trucking along at a steady 7 knots, unfortunately towards Cuba.

By the next morning, the sea state had really deteriorated, but the wind direction had finally improved, allowing us to at least point towards the island of Jamaica. We were close hauled in 25-30 knots of wind, with every other wave over the bow all day long. The seas were 8-10 feet, short, steep, and breaking. Just for fun a 12-14 foot wave would tag along every 20 minutes or so and crash over the coach roof of the boat. It was extremely uncomfortable and hot down below, and we had no idea how much worse it was going to get.

Around 10am one of the kids pointed out that we had a little water running down the cabin sole. I tasted it and it was salty. Not good.. So I began to look around. Where was the water coming from? I immediately traced it to one of our can pantries, and then to the lockers under the master bed. So, out came everything from those lockers and out came the wet-dry vac to get the water out before it did serious damage to anything.

But where was the water coming from? Kyrie had been taking a serious beating for over two days straight now, and I noticed that we were getting a slight leak from the front windows – that must be it, right? I proceeded to dry everything up as good as possible, while everything from the lockers was spread all throughout the boat – making her nearly unlivable.

Thinking I had it figured out, we continued on.

I didn’t have it figured out. . .

After another terrible night run, I came into the cabin, and the previously dry lockers had a few inches of water in them, water was flowing down into the port hull, and somehow the cap for one of our water tanks had dislodged and water was flowing down into our freshwater tank.

The mess was way worse than before. Our port bilge was nearly full to the top of the floorboards, our water tank was now contaminated and undrinkable, and on investigation, we were taking on about 1-2 gallons every time we hit a wave (every 20 seconds or so). At this point we were nearly halfway to Jamaica, and around 300 miles from land.

Of course, at this point, you need to take stock in your surroundings. With the incredible beating the boat was taking – had we cracked the hull somewhere? The exact location the water was coming in was hard to locate, but after an hour or so looking I finally found the culprit. One of our large bow lockers had a pair of open holes on the port side. With the strong wind and heavy seas over the bow, the locker was partially filling up and the excess was flowing down into the cabin. What a relief – the boat was actually fine, and this was something I was pretty sure I could fix out here.

So, out came the magic goop bag. I slowed the boat down to 3 knots to ease the ride, and with Levi’s help, emptied out the bow locker (not an easy feat when the deck has an inch of water running over it every 2 minutes or so). I then was able to get some sealant in the holes, and stopped up the leak for the remainder of the trip.

With the leak sealed, we then began the process of trying to put the boat back together at least a bit. Another not-easy task when you can’t stand as the boat is pitching so violently. We managed to somewhat get one locker cleaned up and put back together, but the boat still looked like a bomb had gone off.

With no other good option, we soldiered on. Thankfully the next day brought somewhat easier conditions – still strong winds, but the large seas abated a littlee. We only took a wave over the bow every 1-2 minutes or so by that point.

The next day is a bit of a blur. Conditions were still very rough, but we chose to motorsail one night just to have the soothing sound of the motor running, and so we could point a bit higher at our ultimate destination--Port Antonio, Jamaica. I think we were so fatigued and emotionally spent at that point we were solely in survival mode. We had barely eaten anything for 3 days, barely slept... but had to continue on.

The following day dawned with steep seas right on our nose. We turned on the motor and began motorsailing, trying to point at Port Antonio, but again, could only make 2-3 knots due to the sea state. It was blowing around 20 knots, with seas around 8 feet, short, steep, and breaking. Around 2pm, and about 90 miles due south of Kingston, Jamaica, I had had enough. Out of desperation, I turned the bow to point at Kingston, thinking it might be a bit better, but the ride was much the same. I then turned the bow to the western tip of Jamaica and we could instantly hear the angels singing. The seas suddenly were on our starboard quarter, with winds on the beam at 20 knots. 

 

At that instant, it became clear. 24 hours of beating into the waves to Port Antonio, and possibly breaking the boat even worse or an easy beam reach to Montego Bay. Choice made.

We had an amazing last night, surfing at 9 knots through the waves, and arriving at dark on the West coast of Jamaica. Total time in transit was 6 days and two hours.

Sunset our last night at sea.  Conditions had finally abated, it was lovely.

 

We dropped the anchor, shut the motor off, and slept the sleep of the dead.

So what went wrong? Our best estimation is the weather models we were relying on were off by one day, with the strong system we were trying to avoid showing up 24 hours early. By turning when we were about 50 miles offshore of Cartagena, Colombia, it sealed our fate in having a close hauled sail the next 4 days to Jamaica. Had we been able to make it the planned 70 miles further east, the winds would have been much more on our beam, and the trip would have been much easier and more comfortable. The forecast wind strength was also way under-reported, with actual winds normally being 10+ knots stronger than forecast.

 

As to damage to the boat?  It wasn't as severe as I had feared - we got lucky.  We broke the tabbing loose in two places from the bulkheads - a relatively easy fix with some fiberglass work we had done in Montego Bay; got some new leaks in the corner of the front windows due to the constant pressure of the seawater - also sealed that back up at anchor in Montego Bay; and lost one of the pivot pins to our outdrive. Thankfully the drive stayed attached to the boat - it could easily have been ripped off the back of the boat.  I had a new pin made at a machine shop in Montego Bay and it was good as new.

Tabbing broken loose in one of the two areas.

Bottom line: we arrived safely in Jamaica, beat, battered, and worn out, but by no means done with cruising. Give us some time to recuperate and we’ll be ready to continue our travels.

Sourdough on Cruising Boats

 **This is an update to a previous post**

 As we travel, one of the things we have done is offer sourdough starter to fellow cruisers as we encounter them. It has been curious to note how many times people are afraid of sourdough or unsure what to do with it if they have it. The most prevailing belief is that sourdough has to be used everyday, or a portion has to be thrown out, which is simply untrue. In our opinion, sourdough is an amazing addition to your cruising boat and should be included in every boat's galley.  It is cheap, nutritious, and fun. In fact, our kids refer to it as the pet they can eat!

Our experience with keeping sourdough started with Joe's grandparents.  They would make a lovely batch of fresh sourdough pancakes every time we visited, and both us and the kids loved them.  Shortly after moving aboard on Kyrie we took home a little batch of starter from them and have been enjoying it now for nearly 7 years of living aboard and cruising.  It has meshed perfectly well with our cruising lifestyle, and has been extremely easy to maintain and keep.

**Understanding Sourdough**

Sourdough is simply a mix of flour (both wheat or standard all purpose work well), water, and wild yeast.  The wild yeast eats some of the sugars in the flour, creating lactic acid and carbon dioxide in the process, in turn giving sourdough its sour tang, and creating bubbles to raise your bread or baked goods.

Sourdough will change depending on where you are in the world.  It is a wild colony of yeast, after all.  Sourdough in San Francisco will inherently taste different from sourdough in Seattle, for instance.  As you move your home around, it is fascinating to note how your sourdough will change.

Freshly recharged sourdough after
making pancakes this morning.
We only added water and flour.

Every time you use some of your starter, you add fresh water and some flour to the previous mix until roughly the consistency of pancake batter, and let it sit on your counter for a couple days until good and bubbly.  In cool climates, you can just leave it on the counter if you're going to use it at least twice a week, or if you're not going to use it for a while, put it into the fridge.  Ours has traveled from Alaska, down the Pacific coast, through Mexico, Central America, and now we are in the Caribbean and has had very few issues, like a bit of mold after we forgot about it for 3 weeks.  See below for the fix for that issue.

In addition, you can use wheat flour, white flour, or even potato flakes for your sourdough.  Experiment!  We found half white flour and half potato flakes made a particularly interesting sourdough!

It is best to start with an existing sourdough starter from a friend or family member, but starter cultures can also be bought on ebay or amazon.  You can even start your own by mixing water, flour, a pinch of sugar and a bit of bread yeast and letting it sit on the counter in a non-sealed container for a couple weeks to let the natural yeasts in your environment take over.  Note for the first few months, this new sourdough can be a little unstable and will require watching and careful tending to get your healthy, stable crew of wild yeast to take over.  The longer you let the starter sit between uses, the more sour it will get, so if you like it nice and strong, let it sit a little longer!

**A Home for Your Sourdough**

Normally, in a home environment a crock with a lid is used for sourdough, but this is just too fragile on a boat.  For our sourdough, we use a plastic container with a "steam vent" lid similar to this one.

Note the steam vent lid is important as the starter needs to breathe, but the small hole helps to prevent flies from getting to your sourdough.  If you overfill your container, it also keeps the lid from blowing off as the sourdough kicks!

**Sourdough Health Benefits**

First things first, sourdough is a fermented food, so much like raw sauerkraut, pickles, kombucha, and yogurt, it is fermented with lactobacillus cultures. Those cultures are probiotics, those much-touted good gut bacteria. The cultures don't survive the baking process, but they do create lactic acid. What good is lactic acid? Plenty! Lactic acid helps decrease the amount of phytic acid in bread, which interferes with absorption of certain nutrients. Break down that phytic acid and voila! More nutrients are suddenly available to be digested and absorbed by our bodies. That wild natural yeast also helps the bread last longer without the addition of any sort of preservatives. Not to mention, in my opinion, few breads taste better than a good sourdough. Try it out for yourself if you haven't done so already.

**Sourdough Recipes**

_________________________________________________________________________________

Basic Sourdough Pancakes

2 cups sourdough starter
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix all ingredients except baking soda in a bowl - do not overmix.  Add a little water or flour to get the consistency desired for lighter, thicker pancakes or thinner pancakes as desired.  Just before cooking add the baking soda and cook on lightly buttered non-stick skillet, flipping once.  Serve with butter, maple syrup or honey, and peanut butter.

Optional mix-ins are berries (blueberries and raspberries are both amazing), thinly sliced bananas, chocolate chips, and anything else your heart desires. 

Alternately, mash 3 very ripe bananas and omit the sugar in a double batch recipe for amazing banana-sourdough pancakes.

Sourdough Bread 

(adapted from the "basic white bread" recipe from The Boat Galley Cookbook)

1 cup warm water (100-115 degrees F)
1 teaspoon regular yeast
1/4 cup of sourdough starter
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 cups white flour, or more as needed.

Mix the water, yeast, starter, and sugar together and let sit at least 10 min. in a warm spot to proof (look for bubbles on top).  Add salt, oil and 2 cups of flour to that mix and mix thoroughly.  Add more flour as needed to form a stiff dough.  Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Put a small amount of oil in a bowl and toss the dough to ensure it is lightly covered in oil.  Cover the bowl with a tea towel.  Let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in volume (1-3 hours).  Punch down, let rise until doubled again.  Then place in your favorite greased pan.  Place in cold oven, turn oven on to 350 degrees F and set timer for roughly 55 minutes (may vary by how quickly your oven comes to temperature)  Start checking bread for doneness at around 45 minutes.  When fully baked, remove from pan to cool on counter and serve.

**The longer the bread is allowed to rise the more sourdough flavor will develop.  It is especially good if you allow it to rise overnight in the fridge, then finish rising in a warm spot.

We love our Lekue pan for bread. It makes the above recipe in one batch, with only one dirty dish.  It can be found on Amazon or sites.  Lekue Breadmaker on Amazon

 

 Cranberry Sourdough Scones

**This recipe was given to us by a friend, and has quickly become a breakfast favorite**

2 cups AP Flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup dry cranberries

4 Tbsp. butter - cold and cut into small cubes 

1/2 cup sourdough starter

1/3-1/2 cup cold water (or milk for a softer, cakier scone)

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar (added to the water or milk)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a bowl.  Stir in cranberries.  Cut butter pieces into the flour with a pastry cutter or fork until mix is crumbly.  Add Sourdough starter, mix, and then drizzle in water or milk (with vinegar added) until the dough just comes together in a ball.  Try not to handle the dough to keep the butter from melting, and try to not overmoisten it.  You just need enough liquid so the dough comes together with no visible dry flour.  Roll the dough into a disc about 1/2" thick.  Cut dough into 8 or 10 wedges, and place on a parchment paper or silpat lined baking sheet.  Bake in preheated oven for 15-17 minutes until lightly golden top and golden-brown on bottom.  

Serve warm with jam, cream cheese, honey, or butter.  This recipe makes enough for our family of 5 for breakfast. 

The dough can be refrigerated overnight if desired to bake in the morning.

**Common Sourdough Problems & Fixes**

1.  Sourdough overflows your container
Don't overfill your container!  Leave an inch or two after mixing up your starter for expansion as the sourdough "kicks".  It isn't a bad idea to put your container on top of a plate the first few times you mix it up to contain it if it overflows a bit.
2.  Mold grows on your sourdough
This one is extremely easy.  With a clean spoon, carefully scrape off the mold on top of the batch.  Take one or two clean spoonfuls from the center of the batch and place in a clean bowl.  Dump out the remainder of your old sourdough and wash the container thoroughly.  Add the sourdough you retained to inoculate the new batch with the wild yeast, and let sit on the counter for a couple days - you're good to go!
3. Flies or maggots on your sourdough
This is the most disgusting one that can happen if you don't keep a good lid on your sourdough.  If it happens and the maggots are only on the surface, you can dig down to the bottom as in #2, and restart your batch.  If it's too far gone, you might need to dump the batch and start over.  To help if you fear this, read the last paragraph in this section.
4. "Dead" sourdough
Most likely this won't happen to you, but even if it does appear to die, just simply pour off half the batch of starter, add fresh flour and clean water and let it sit on the counter for a week.  If you see bubbles, you are good!  Also note if you chlorinate your water tanks be sure to filter the water you are using through a carbon filter for the sourdough as too much chlorine can easily kill your starter!

If you aren't going to be using your sourdough for a while, you can take a piece of plastic wrap, spread a bit of your starter on it and let it dry.  Keep this powder in a ziplock bag in your freezer for up to a year to inoculate a new batch!

From all of us on the Kyrie crew, we hope this has been a little educational. Sourdough is not something to be feared--it's to be used and enjoyed! If you have a favorite recipe using sourdough, could you please include it in the comments section? We'd love to hear about your experience with these wild little creatures. For a little bit of history on yeast and some fun, watch Alton Brown's "Dr. Strangeloaf" video with his yeast puppets.

Reflections on a journey

This is Kristen. I've admittedly been out of the practice of writing for a long time. My only excuse is that I've been experiencing this life with my family, enjoying the ups and getting through the downs. The last time I wrote anything was in El Salvador, back in February. Since then, we survived the Golfo de Fonseca (two weeks of insane wind and having to move anchorages at least every other day, sometimes twice a day), played panga ping-pong on our way down the Nicaraguan coast, experienced a little bit of Costa Rica (including a troop of Capuchin monkeys dropping limes on our heads!), and at last crossed a huge item off our bucket list by traversing the Panama Canal in our own boat, traveling with friends and making new ones all along the way. 

The adventures have been many. The experiences vast. The trials character-building. This journey has changed and shaped us individually, not to mention as a family. The kiddos are 15, 12, and 8 now, and it's shocking every time I stop and reflect how much of their lives they have lived on a boat and travelled. How will it shape their future lives? Their directions and decisions? I hope so much that they use this life we have tried to give them to continue living what many people apparently see as "abnormal." "Normality" is overrated! LOL 

Bahia Drake, Costa Rica. We'll be back!

Rachael & Megan meet a parrot in Shelter Bay.

On the bow in Gatun Locks. Caribbean Sea is right behind us!

Kyrie kids and friends enjoying a sunset in Golfo Fonseca.

Golfo Nicoya, CR

Riding a roller coaster at the carnival in Golfito, CR.

The kids on a wander around El Barranco, Bahia Honda, Panama.

Joe and Kristen in Bahia Honda, Panama

Kyrie locked and loaded in Miraflores Locks.

Welcome to El Salvador

 We're in El Salvador! I know, I know. As usual, I'm running behind. We've been here in El Salvador for a little over a week now and are thoroughly enjoying ourselves. Kyrie is once again in a new country! Currently, we are docked at the marina at Hotel Bahia del Sol, grateful for power and an air conditioner because it's hot. I mean, 90s in February? Ouch. But I have no complaints. The hotel manager is the bend-over-backwards-to-help type and we've met some lovely people.

     For example, last week, we met a family visiting from San Salvador and chatted with them for quite a while. They were curious about our life on a boat, so we brought them down to Kyrie so they could check it out. Then, they offered to take us out for pupusas, which is pretty much the El Salvadorean national dish. Delicious! They are basically thick tortillas, made from either corn or rice flour, filled with cheese, beans, meat, or some combination thereof. They come to you right off the comala, with the filling at approximately the consistency and temperature of molten lava. Usually a bowl of spicy pickled cabbage sits on the table, inviting you to pile it on top of the rocket-hot pupusa and dive in. I've burned my fingers both times I've eaten pupusas now, but just can't bring myself to wait until my dinner cools down, or to use a fork! 

      I digress a little. Trying new foods in new areas is a huge part of why our family is traveling, but meeting new people is equally important! This family has a son Levi's age and a daughter Rachael's age and they seemed about as fascinated with us as we were with them. We were told that we have to come visit their home when we go to San Salvador, Levi has been in touch with the son all week, and apparently, they are coming back down here this weekend! I love making new friends!

   We'll be here all told about a month. Joe and I are trying to figure out road trips so we can explore this small but vibrant country. We want to find waterfalls to play in, coffee plantations to see the process from plant to cup, and towns with paintings, architecture, and food! If anyone has a location in El Salvador we just have to go check out, please let us know. This is a place I don't know much about and am eager to learn.

These parrots live in a tree outside 
the hotel office. The girls like to feed
the green one Chinese almonds.
The red one isn't as friendly
toward fingers

This turtle has showed up in the marina 
a couple of times. It has enormous 
barnacles all over its shell!

On our way out

    Today's the day! In just a few hours, we'll have our final inspection by the navy and finalize paperwork with the Port Captain, and then we're on our way. After being in Mexico for more than two years, it's quite surreal to know we're leaving and moving on to another country. I'll admit to a bit of apprehension, but in the words of some other cruising friends, it's time to get out of our comfort zone again.

     Mexico is currently our comfort zone. We know enough about how things work to do and experience what we want to. I love it here, and I foresee us returning someday, although I don't know when or for how long. However, when we planned to travel, we definitely intended to visit more countries before we potentially chose to settle somewhere, so it most certainly is time to see other places!

       El Salvador is our next stop. It will take us about the same amount of time to get there as it did for us to cross the Tehuantepec from Huatulco--about 40-43 hours. We're in touch with an ex-pat couple who run the marina and mooring balls in Bahia del Sol and they will bring a pilot boat out to meet us and guide us in for the bar crossing. Here's hoping it's a calm crossing and nothing like our surfing experience coming into Humboldt Bay!

       Here's to our time in Mexico. Two years of new experiences, new friends, new food, and beautiful places. Mostly good times, and only a couple what I might call bad. I have high hopes for the next few months as we travel through Central America.

        The adventures of Kyrie and her crew continue...

58 to 15 -- We've Come a Long Way!

    Thursday, January 20, 2022, marks six years that we have lived on Kyrie. Such an anniversary seems a worthy time to revamp this much-neglected blog. In six years, we have traveled from Washington to Southeast Alaska, then explored much of Southeast, before embarking on this grand adventure we’ve been on for two-and-a-half-years. Juneau sits at 58 degrees north latitude. Today, Kyrie sits in Marina Chahue, Bahias de Huatulco, Oaxaca, at 15 degrees north latitude. If there are 69 miles in one degree of latitude and we’ve traveled south by 43 degrees, we’re 2,967 miles south of where we started… if I don’t include how far east we’ve traveled. We’re on the same time zone as Austin, Texas, and Chicago now. We have come a LONG way since leaving Juneau!

Breaking a vow of silence?

      Apparently, some time this summer, the crew here on Kyrie decided to make a vow of silence, at least with regards to our blog. That's the only reason I can give that seems remotely appropriate right now. So, here I go with my attempt to break that vow at long last.

      It's been a good summer for us. This truck stop, as our friend Michael on SV Eos calls the resort, has been a good place to hang out and hide from hurricanes for the season. We've met some great people, done some fun things, and literally weathered a bunch of storms. Most days are pretty much the same. Breakfast, lessons for the kids, walk Rio at some point, read and play games, and then, around 3:00, most of us cruisers congregate in "our" spot up at the pool for a few hours. The kids play in the pool or on the beach, while the adults sit around, discussing our various boat projects, BSing about our opinions on various world situations, and laughing at the ridiculousness of us cruisers spending the summer at a place people save their money for months to spend a few days or a week at. I admit, it's a bit of a lovely feeling.  

    As much as we have enjoyed this long stop, I know I'm getting itchy. As I told Sandra, Michael's wife, yesterday, I'm getting a little tired of being a dock rat! I'm looking forward to getting out of a marina and finding some little place to drop the anchor in for a while. We're hoping the temperature and humidity will drop just a little more once Hurricane Pamela is completely past us and then we can do just that. It's time to put Kyrie's sails back on, clean out the cockpit, put away the air conditioner and shades, and get back to being a cruising boat again, instead of just a live aboard. We want to get out to Tenacatita again and make sure everything works properly. 

     We're looking forward to seeing friends again who have been away from their boats for a season or more and are planning on heading further south like us. As much as we have loved our time in Mexico, the wanderlust whispers that it is time to keep moving, to work our way through southern Mexico and finally say goodbye, before saying hello to Central America and then, hopefully the Caribbean. We know full well what happens when we try to make "for-certain" plans, so we won't, but there are some biggies on the wishlist of places to see "next." Chiapas has temples, coffee and cocoa plantations. Panama has Las Perlas and San Blas islands. Costa Rica, although complicated to visit, has jungles full of monkeys and sloths. Then there are so many possibilities of stops in the Caribbean. As we prep to move again, I'm reminded of the enormous wealth of options spread before us--the possible experiences still out there to have as a family. We've truly only just begun.

Hang on to your butts

    That line of Samuel L. Jackson's in Jurassic Park pops into my head from time to time. Prepping for a tropical storm/hurricane seems like an appropriate time. Here we are, at the end of June, and we're getting prepared for the second tropical storm warning in a week. Officially Tropical Storm Enrique, it could possibly turn into a category 2 hurricane in the next day or two. Thankfully, this potential bad boy is supposed to pass by far enough out that we should just get 50-60 knot winds and rain--albeit a lot of rain! After living in Juneau, 50-60 knot winds just don't sound like that big a deal. The last tropical storm dropped about six inches of rain on us in an afternoon, so it will interesting to see what this one brings...

    I have to laugh at us a little because I remember our time in San Carlos last summer. Joe and I talked about wishing a big storm would make its way up to us so we could experience one. Be careful what you wish for! It may not have happened last year, but it sure is this year. Location, location, location!

    We'll be checking the National Hurricane Center's website for updates on Enrique today and making sure we're prepped. Hang on, because something ugly this way comes!

Taking Stock

      This has been an odd past few months for the chief blogger here on Kyrie. It's not that we haven't done anything, but the desire to write it all down just hasn't been there. I've had some people ask me what we're up to and why there haven't been any updates here on Cruising Kyrie. What can I say? 

       In the nearly three months since I last wrote, we traveled over 2500 miles by road around the Sea of Cortes to pick up our new lithium batteries and to get our new tourist visas, hauled out in San Blas to repaint Kyrie's bottom, and made our way south to our home for this summer--Barra de Navidad. The road trip was crazy--we drove from La Cruz to Mazatlan, rode the ferry overnight to La Paz, and drove to Santa Rosalia; next day was a drive up to Mexcali; following day we drove first to Nogales, and then down to Hermosillo; Hermosillo to Mazatlan the next day; and finally, back to La Cruz on Levi's 14th birthday! Whew! The kids did a fantastic job being stuck in the car for hours on end and Joe and I got the bug of driving out of our systems for a while. 

The US Border fence from our rental car

        San Blas was hard work, but we still had a good time. We hauled Kyrie out and hired a few guys to do all the sanding for us this time. Sorry, no photos of Joe as Papa Smurf this time around. :) Our poor boat needed the bottom repainted in the worst way. Last time, which was over a year ago, we did a fairly light paint job, anticipating hauling Kyrie out in Puerto Peñasco and spending the summer in the States. Then of course, those plans changed. Thankfully, the paint job held okay, but it was definitely time to get some new paint on the old girl. She looks much better now! We found a great place to stay in San Blas since we didn't want to stay on the boat on the hard--no electricity to power the air conditioner and we were there during a full moon. As usual, the bugs were fierce during that time, so we were grateful to have a cool place to stay, as well as somewhere the kids and Rio could park while Joe and I were working in the yard. Bonus: there was a swimming pool to come back to and a blender to make frosty drinks! We would have loved to stay in San Blas longer. Despite the bugs, we have a soft spot for that town. We spent six weeks there last year when Covid first shut the world down and it was nice to see it again a bit more open. Unfortunately, the word about San Blas has spread and the little Fonatur marina was completely full, so we couldn't stay. It was time to head south again!

          We anticipated taking our time traveling south, especially because we knew we were heading for the barn. This past year, we have spent way more time at the dock than we had ever thought we would. As I've said in a previous post, it isn't a bad thing and the time has given us some great opportunities to really get to know a town. However, there were also some really great anchorages we wanted to revisit, especially since we don't know if we will head north again, or keep moving south after leaving Barra. Chamela and Tenacatita were high on the list. I had visions of staying in Tenacatita for at least a couple of weeks again before moving on, but the conditions weren't good. We saw the biggest surf we've ever seen in Tenacatita--waves were breaking over the rocks guarding the river entrance! Perhaps we could have been patient and waited a few days for the swell to settle, but then again, maybe not.

           Pulling into the back lagoon in Barra first felt so good! No swell and super calm. After a passage of several long days--dropping the anchor a couple times well past midnight--it was such a relief to just be still. Maneuvering into our slip in the marina the next day and knowing we were settling in for the summer felt peaceful and not like we were giving something up.  I may be singing a different tune after we've been here a few months, but I like it here! The town is lovely, the resort isn't crowded so we feel comfortable using the pool, and there are activities going on here at the marina. For example, there was a huge fishing tournament a couple of weeks ago. Some pretty big fish were brought in, which was fun to see, but the really amazing thing was that a lot of the meat from the fish went to schools and orphanages in the area. We watched a crew literally scraping every bit of flesh off a 118-kg marlin one of the days. Another boat gave us a huge chunk of tuna, which we thoroughly enjoyed as sushi one night.

Tuna!

            We have definitely reached the hot and rainy season. Last night, there was thunder and lightning, the power in the marina went out, and it poured so hard you got soaked standing on the back deck under the suncover! Thankfully, no leaks showed themselves during that downpour. We'll see how Kyrie fares during the rest of the season. 

            The pool beckons us regularly and the resort isn't so busy that we feel uncomfortable spending time there. Barra and Melaque are both relatively easy to get to--water taxi, then walk or take a bus, depending on which town--in order to go grocery shopping and, of course, to continue our quest for the best tacos. Thanks to the trees, I think we might actually get sick of mangos. We can pick them all over the place, plus friends constantly give us their overflow. Our new blender is getting a good workout making mango smoothies! I don't know what highlights this season will have, but I'm determined we will enjoy ourselves.

One of many deliveries of mangoes!

Belated Updates and an Epic Experience

     Hello from La Cruz! I know, I know. It's been a long time since we've updated this blog at all, and for some reason, none of us have been much in a writing mood. No excuses, no apologies. We've been living life and enjoying ourselves! 

     Let's see. The last time I wrote was our five-year anniversary of living aboard Kyrie, so I have a bit of catching up to do. A few highlights:

     The Gold Coast was awesome! We were in Manzanillo on the previous post and slowly worked our way back north, even finding another kid boat on our way. We met the family on SV Sauvage en route from Tenacatita to Bahia Chamela and they actually reversed course and returned to Chamela with us since our fleet was the first batch of kid boats they had encountered in months! 

     After one aborted attempt and a few extra days in Chamela, our little fleet of four kid boats rounded Cabo Corrientes and gratefully dropped anchor in Banderas Bay on Valentine's Day. That apparently signaled the arrival of the kid boats in La Cruz! 

Nearly all the boat kids are enjoying ice
cream after the trash boat regatta here.

     This has been a rough year for finding family boats as a lot of families returned home to wait out this Covid situation. Therefore, we've tried to stick with the ones we've been able to find. I'll admit, it's been a bit of a difficult balancing act, trying to be safe and determine how best to observe social distancing, with kids being so excited to see old friends and make new friends. Okay, the adults are there too! Thankfully, after a parent meeting early on, I think we all reached an agreement everyone was happy with, and the kids can congregate outside to their hearts' content.

      We met a number of new families during this time here, including a family from Alaska (SV Third Day) and a missionary family consisting of seven people living on a catamaran (SV Ankyrios) not that much bigger than Kyrie! The only problem with this lifestyle is that friends come and go and we never know when we'll see them again. Thank goodness for email and other social media, right?

Up close look at baby
Olive Ridley turtles

     Cat here at Marina La Cruz has been running hither and yon, arranging all sorts of activities for the kids and their families here and we finally got to participate in one particular activity that Joe and I have dreamed about literally for years. Campamento Tortuguero Boca de Tomates is a sea turtle rescue and release program in Puerto Vallarta. They watch for sea turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs and once they are done, the volunteers collect the eggs, bury them in their enclosed nursery and keep the eggs safe from predators until they hatch. Once the baby turtles hatch, the public is allowed to sign up to attend release days, which is what we got to do last night! About 30 people from the marina signed up and we got to learn a bit about the situation for sea turtles in Banderas Bay and then see the newest batch of Olive Ridley sea turtles. 

It's a baby turtle
in a cup!

     We were all given a coconut cup and then asked to spread out on a line drawn on the beach. Then volunteers put two baby turtles in each of our cups. Once there were no frigate birds flying overhead, we were told to step forward to the next line, tip our cups over in the sand, and cheer our little turtle babies on in their quest to find the waves! Most of the turtles oriented themselves right away and started their journey, but a few were apparently confused and trying going the wrong way at first. We all had to stay back, but it didn't stop us from cheering our turtles on. Rachael and Megan named their turtles and we could hear them yelling their names and urging them toward the water. It was amazing how attached I felt to "my" turtles and watched until they both made it to the water and I couldn't see them anymore. Any of those babies that are females will return to that same beach some day to lay their own eggs and continue the cycle, and they could live as long as 80 years. Incredible! I feel so honored to have played a tiny part in helping these creatures get started in life.

Right before we all released our turtles

The kids are cheering "their"
turtles on toward the water.

Here are a few of the babies, making their
way to the water and their new life. 
Best of luck and swim safe!