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What's New?
(Check out our latest pictures on our Photo Album page)
December 04, 2009
Today we went for the first time to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet in Auckland in a production of Peter Pan.
I must say that the average age of the audience was probably around 7 years old. Nevertheless, the show was very good
with excellent dancing and good music and lots of life. Apart from that, Adam Blazczak from San Jose and I went
to visit Jason Rose who came back from his tow boat job in Alaska and is back in Whangarei. Check out his website at www.jasonrose.com for some cool photos of sailing including some of myself and Adam. We had a good time touring the Bay of Islands and playing
music.
September 29, 2009
We have been in New Zealand for over 8 months now. We have survived the New Zealand winter. Where we live, Silverdale on
the North Island, the temperature dropped below zero C maybe couple of times at night. Besides that we just had quite a bit
of rain, but with frequent patches of sunshine. Coming from Seattle, the winter here did not really bother us at all.
Of course it did help when our landlord purchased a heat-pump for our apartment which kept us nice and warm. Summer is almost
here though, and we have found some really nice beaches to go swimming and surfing. There is a place just north of us called
Omaha with the nicest beach we have seen yet in New Zealand.
Besides the weather not much has changed. I am still working for QBIK. Iwona is doing some programming at home on UList
and also developing a new Web application that will be some day marketable to local businesses. UList is not doing too well.
People in New Zealand are used to Trademe, a paid classifieds website and they don't seem to mind paying $99 for example
for a "For Rent" add. Chaning a mentality of the whole country to use a free website will require tremendous ammounts
of advertising and perhaps even targetting the young people in hopes that years from now they will become our customers. There
are also other services on the market that are better funded that UList like Sella.co.nz. It may be time to start looking
for "the new cheese" (as in a book Iwona read some time ago "Who moved my cheese?").
July 28, 2009
After nearly five months of programming we have finally finished the 1.0 release of our new free classifieds website for
New Zealand. We are excited to have it out on the net, but now the real difficult work begins of advertising it. Basically,
we are a bit clueless in this department so wish us luck... You can check it out at http://www.ulist.co.nz. It is still in beta testing so occasionally it blows up :-( We are trying to come up with a good logo and any
suggestions are welcome. Try submitting a comment about ulist at http://www.ulist.co.nz/contact. We have now officially entered the world of business after two years of slacking off on the boat.
June 8, 2009
I (Iwona) have decided to apply for NZ residency instead of a
work visa. We love it here and there are practical reasons as well. Arek have been issued a visa for a period of just three
days shy of two years. Later we'd discovered that to qualify for healthcare, he needs at least a two-year visa. So we are
not covered, even though his employer offers full coverage. Another wrinkle is that Arek's visa is tied to his current job,
and my visa, if I applied for one as his wife, would also be tied to his current job. I find that quire unsettling.
Three weeks ago, I found out that I can claim enough points
to qualify for an Expression of Interest for NZ residency. Immigration is already going over my application, and once
they verify that I really am eligible for the points claimed, they will hopefully invite me to apply for the residency. After
that, there are three possible outcomes: I get the residency, I get a work-to-residency visa, or I get a rejection. Keep your
fingers crossed.
For now I have no right to work, so I'm stuck at home. I'm not
sure how long I'll have to wait, but I presume that it is going to be months rather than weeks. That is the only disadvantage
of applying for the residency versus a work visa. I'm keeping busy by being a perfect house wife and writing my own web site,
which takes care of my days and keeps me sane.
Winter is coming to New Zealand. Everyone says that it is not
going to get much colder, just a bit more wet. We like the climate so far. It rains here more than in Seattle, but we don't
mind. The rainfall is usually much heavier than in Seattle, but with much more sun in between. We still get beautiful sunny
days, with temperatures allowing for hiking in just a long sleeve T-shirt, but it is only June and the winter is not quite
here yet... But in July, I’m going skiing no matter what.
We've been exploring this area for the last few weeks, and we
are amazed how gorgeous it is around here. We don’t regret it so much anymore that we didn’t find work on the
South Island right away; there is time enough for that. It turned out that there are tons of nature reserves around Orewa,
with hours and hours of trails going through a beautiful country, and hilly enough to elevate your hart rate (especially after
two years of doing nothing;-)). They also have a surprising number of rock-climbing sites. We went climbing on Saturday; first
time after over two years, so I’m in pain like you wouldn’t believe. We went to a site on the T Point peninsula.
The cliff is right on the beach, so close to the ocean that some of the routs are only available at low tide. There are barnacles
growing at their base and you are climbing with the waves crashing below. We'd forgot our camera, so I have no pictures to
share with you;-(.
We are slowly settling into New Zealand and the new routine. The
last load of our meagre possessions is coming from Seattle today, which makes us officially moved in. And, what's even more
significant is that we bought wine glasses last week. This is a symbolic purchase, cementing the fact that we have decided
to stay. Beautiful wine glasses merit good wine, so we went wine tasting this past weekend. We visited two wineries, one of
them deserves to be mentioned: the Brick Bay winery in Matakana. They produce only four blends, but they are all quite good.
Their tasting room is a glass house on a little lake surrounded by rolling hills with wine crops on three sides, and sheep
grazing on the fourth. We’ll take you there for sure when you visit. Tempted?
March 21, 2009
Yesterday was the first day of New Zealand’s fall/autumn.
Arek found a job, so we are staying here for at least a year or two. New Zealand immigration might still have a different
opinion on that subject, but since an employment offer is the main prerequisite for a work visa, they will most likely let
us stay.
We’ve been here four months now and we love it. The country is gorgeous and the people are friendly and unpretentious.
We are renting a lovely two bedroom apartment from Robert and Susan, whom we became friends with. Until about two weeks ago
we’ve been enjoying Orewa beaches, but lately it has been a bit too cold to swim in the ocean. We are told that warm
weather will still come back for a bit before the fall sets in for good. Apart from that, we are exploring the country, spending
time with friends, and are slowly easing back to a "normal" life style.
Until recently, we’ve been spending most of our time looking for work and getting are programming skills back. It
is unbelievable how much stuff people came up with since we left for the South Pacific. I (Iwona) am putting looking for work
on hold for over a month and going on a little adventure around the globe, but this time I’m flying. I am visiting my
mom in Poland, friends in Switzerland and Seattle, and going to Jola’s wedding in Oregon (Brad finally said yes;-)).
That’s the fun part of my trip. I also have to squeeze in cleaning, painting, and renting of our condo in Seattle, but
fortunately Arek negotiated two weeks off from work for that, so I don’t have to do it alone.
I’ll be posting pictures as I go. For now, here is my itinerary as an appetizer:
Auckland to the States
- Auckland (AKL) -- Sydney (SYD) 04/01/2009 9:00 - 10:00 United 9569
- Sydney (SYD) -- San Francisco (SFO) 04/01/2009 15:45 - 11:01 United 870
- San Francisco (SFO) -- Seattle (SEA) 04/01/2009 13:40 - 15:45 United 820
USA to Basel, Switzerland
- Seattle (SEA) -- Philadelphia (PHL) 02/04/2009 8:45 - 16:48 US Airways 752
- Philadelphia (PHL) -- Amsterdam (AMS) 02/04/2009 18:40 - 8:32 US Airways 798
- Amsterdam (AMS) -- Basel (BSL) 03/04/2009 12:30 - 13:58 Air France 5201
Basel to Krakow, Poland
- Basel (BSL) -- Munich (MUC) 06/04/2009 13:10 - 14:15 Lufthansa 3823
- Munich (MUC) -- Krakow (KRK) 06/04/2009 15:05 - 16:25 Lufthansa 3334
Krakow to Basel
- Krakow (KRK) -- Munich (MUC) 18/04/2009 13:00 - 14:25 Lufthansa 3333
- Munich (MUC) -- Basel (BSL) 18/04/2009 15:05 - 16:05 Lufthansa 3824
Basel to the States
- Basel (BSL) -- Zurich (ZRH) 19/04/2009 6:00 - 6:30 Swiss International Air Lines 299
- Zurich (ZRH) -- Philadelphia (PHL) 19/04/2009 10:25 - 13:30 US Airways 711
- Philadelphia (PHL) -- Seattle (SEA) 19/04/2009 15:50 - 18:37 US Airways 1547
Seattle to Auckland
- Seattle (SEA) -- Los Angeles (LAX) 01/05/2009 12:15 - 14:52 United 6105
- Los Angeles (LAX) -- Auckland (AKL) 01/05/2009 21:30 - 5:25 (two days later) United 9549
You are more then welcomed
to meet me at any of these airports and keep me company while I’m waiting for a connecting flight.
Dec 12, 2008
We have sold our boat and are now in New Zealand.
The process of selling Ariel in New Caledonia turned out to be quite involved, mainly because our buyer had to get a bank
loan. We arrived in Noumea, New Caledonia, on September 25th. We started advertising the boat for sale about a
week later, after spending a week getting the boat ready and waiting for a spot in the marina.
Finding a buyer was very easy, even though we didn’t have a broker and didn’t now any French. Luckily we had
many French-speaking friends so thank you Fabien, Pepe and Silvia for helping out. Getting the money from the bank was quite
a trip and at times we nearly gave up and were ready to sail out to New Zealand, but after two months the bank finally paid
and all is well. Just a note of advice to any potential boat sellers out there: be aware of the New Caledonia banks; they
will not release the funds until you sign the ownership papers to the buyer and it may take some time after that until you
will see your money.
Apart from the business of selling the boat we actually liked New Caledonia. The lagoon around New Caledonia is full of
small islands and colorful reefs full of fish. We rented a car for two days and drove North to a town called Saramea where
we went on a two-day hike in the mountains. The hike nearly caused us to pass out as we were hiking a steep trail for three
hours with backpacks and 30C temperature. Luckily we bought a French duck in a can (canard) which we knew was waiting for
us as soon as we setup camp. It was delicious, but given that it floats in two liters of fat we decided not to make it part
of our daily diet.
We left New Caledonia in an airplane. It took two hours to fly the 800 miles to Auckland, New Zealand where it would have
taken over six days had we sailed our boat. What difference the technology makes. We now embark on our new driving adventure
in New Zealand. Wish us luck.
Aug 29, 2008
After five days in Savu Savu, Fiji, we are ready to depart to Lautoka, the next Fiji port west toward New
Caledonia. We have enjoyed our stay in Savu Save where people were very friendly and the value of the American dollar can
still buy a decent meal here. The food is influenced by Indian cuisine, so we liked it very much. About half the population
seems to be of Indian heritage. Our boat is moored right next to the Copra Shed marina where we enjoy sitting in the evening
and having drinks and food in company of other cruisers. We took a long walk yesterday to have a look at the island. People
seem to have a lot of time over here and they are always willing to have a conversation with the tourists. Iwona bought a
Fijan dicionary and is trying to impress the locals with her knowledge of Fijan.
Perhaps I should say a word about our journey to Fiji from American Samoa. We left Pago Pago and proceeded toward Western
Samoa where we have stopped for one night just to get some rest before continuing onto Wallis. The sail from Western Samoa
to Wallis was uneventful except that we cought a Baracuda. The fish was quite tasty and we ate well for the next few days.
The new pink-silver lure that we bought in Pago Pago seems to be working very well. Soon after we cought a Dorado which we
released since it is our policy not to eat these beautiful fish. After that we cough a yellow tail tuna which is delicious.
Anyhow, we spent three days in Wallis where we just took it easy anchored next to a motu. The sail from Wallis to Fiji was
very slow at first. We sailed toward Futuna, another French island, under a blooper, but we did not stay there for the night
as the anchorage turned out to be not suitable for staying. The sail from Futuan to Fiji was a bit rought. We had 20K of wind
in which we were close reaching because we went a bit West to get to Futuna. That was a mistake, but we finally made it.
The next leg of our journey will be inside Fiji and we will stay in secluded anchorages away from towns. We are heading
toward Lautoka and expect to be there in a week or so.
There are some pictures from American Samoa, Willis and Fiji on our photo album page.
Aug 1, 2008
Quite a lot has happened since our last update on Jun 09. We have not been able to keep the web page current because the
Internet prices in French Polynesia, like everything else I must add, were just too outrageous. So, we have finally made it
to American Samoa or as the locals call it Amerika Samoa, where we bought a month worth of Internet for only $15. (Compared
to two hours for the same price in French Polynesia).
Now then, what have we been up to?
Well, after arriving in Papayete in June we got very excited in being in a rather large town with access to large food
stores stocked with awsome French food. The cheese selection was just unbelievable. So, we hanged around Papayete for I believe
about two weeks eating good food and just relaxing at the anchorage. Tahiti was quite nice, although the personal interaction
with the natives was not there as it was in the Tuamotus in the more deserted islands. The tahitians were nice, but like most
people of large centers of population, busy with their own thing and not terribly seeking contact with the influx of the turists.
From Papayete we sailed to the island of Morea, only 15 miles away. While Morea was probably nice, I (Arek) got a flue
and spent most of a week locked in the boat with no swimming. Iwona however enjoyed the crystal clear water. While at anchor
in Morea we have been battered with 40 knot winds that on a sigle occasion managed to bend our anchor roller from showing
the boat from side to side so much.
From Morea we sailed to Huahine. I believe it was around 200 NM. The sail went quite nice and we soon found ourselves on
what we found to be one of the nicest islands in the Society Islands. The island of Huahine is actually two small islands
joined by a bridge. The town of Fare on the north west side of the north island is the largest urban development with a nice
grocery store a warf and some other shopping. It was in Fare that our friends from Willow and Bodherun (Greg and Jason) got
themselves tatooed by a local tatoo artist. Check out the pictures from Huahine on our Photo Album page to see the tatoo artist.
Iwona was really tempted to get herself a tatoo, but chickened out at the last minute. She believes that once we get to New
Zealand then she will be able to get a nice one there.
We stayed in Fare for maybe a four days and then sailed to the southernmost point on the south island of Huahine. This
turned out to be a beautiful anchorage with clean water, great swimming and a cool restaurant on shore where one could see
local Tahitian dancing. We spent a relaxing week or two in this anchorage doing some snorkeling, biking, spear-fishing and
reading books.
Next we have sailed to the next island to the west of Huahine, Tahaa. Tahaa and Raitea are two islands that are sourounded
by a single coral reef so once across the pass in the reef one can sail to Raitea or Tahaa. We avoided Raitea because we thought
that it was a busy island with a big port, but people have told us that they have enjoyed staying there. Instead we stayed
for two dyas on Tahaa. Again did some snorkeling and swimming, but decided to keep going to Bora Bora wich was only about 25
miles away.
Bora Bora turned out to be quite nice, although comparable to all the other society islands. We actaually liked Huahine
better. Bora Bora is an island that has an island in the middle of the reef and many small atols that sourround the bigger
island. The smaller atols were quite cool with not too many tourists and wild tropical vegetation. The water was clean and
warm. The main town in Bora Bora we did not find all that nice. It was a busy turist town with kind of an anonymous atmosphere.
While on Bora Bora we took the luxyry of going to lunch in the famous Blody Mary resturant where many famous people have
stuffed themselves silly. They were not interested in taking our picture -- little do they know that some day we too will
be famous.
From Bora Bora we said good bye to French Polynesia and set sail to Suwarow, one of the islands in the Cooks Islands. On
the second day we got hit with a nasty gale that lasted for three days. Some boats sustained damage during this passage and
one smaller boat even got rolled upside down. They did not get hurt, but the boat mst was damaged badly and now needs
to be replaced. For us the passage was a bit rough and unconfortable, but at least the miles flew by quickly. In two days
we sailed almost 400 miles averaging around 8 Knots.
After 690 nautical miles we arrived in Suwarow. Suwarow is a uninhabited atol which in its entirety is a National Park
of the Cook Islands. During the off-hurricane season John and Veronica and their four sons manage the park and show the visitors
around. They were very very nice. We had a big potluck on their property where all the yachts, and there were probably ten
or more, brought their dishes. It was a great party.
Suwarow itself is kind of in the middle of nowwhere so the water is super clean and there are tons of birds and fish. That
of course includes ton of sharks. Iwona and I wend snorkeling in the pass that enters the atol and were able to see lots of
interesting fish. There were all your usual reef fish ranging from very tiny to quite large, maybe three feet long. But, there
were also reef sharks, two different schools of tuna with some up to five feet or so, and we saw some big baracudas (after
which we promply jumped back in the dinghy). Cool stuff.
From Suwarow we sailed to Amerika Samoa, where we are now. We just made it for the closing ceremony of the Pacific Arts
Festival where participants of many Pacific islands show off their national dance moves. Too bad we missed most of it. Amerika
Samoa itself is quite nice. The local Samoans are very friendly and as an added bonus that speak English rather than that
funny language called French (ok I am biased). One other thing: THINGS ARE CHEAP ! On the first day we stuffed ourslves silly
and celebrated the arrival on US soil by drinking at the Pago Pago yacht club and later in a pub. The American dollar
still does good here.
Another bonus is that we can actually afford machine laundry. A load is around $1.50 like it should be while in French
Polynesia it was something like $20 per five kilo or something rediculus like that. We have done our share of hand washing
bed sheets and believe me thank god Edison for electricity and Whirpool for washing machines. You can of course substitute
your favorite inventor and your favorite washing machine manufacturer.
Anyways, we are extatic to do our laundy tomorrow which we were supposed to do today, but went to eat Sushi instead. Which
I belive was a more sensible choice still.
That birgs you up to date on our travels...
Jun 09, 2008
We haven’t updated the site for a long time now, but we’ve been cruising some really desolate places. We’ve
left Marquises a few weeks ago and moved on to Tuamotus. We liked Marquises well enough, but Tuamotus were simply everything
we’ve imagined cruising to be. The atolls are amassing for swimming and snorkeling, and the people there are super friendly.
We would jump in the ocean directly from the boat and go swimming or take our dinghy close to a reef, where snorkeling was
better. Arek turned out to be very good at spear fishing, so we eat fish everywhere where it is safe to fish. Also, he has
been playing blue grass on the accordion with our new, guitar playing, cruising friends, and has a lot of fun doing that.
He is getting very good at jamming with other people. The band has also proved to be a perfect icebreaker for meeting the
locals and getting us invited to their homes. We’ve been spending a lot of time with the locals since he started playing
with the band. They took us fishing and hunting for coconut crab and langusta, cooked for us, and even jammed with the band.
I wish we new at least a little bit of French, so we could have conversations with them that go beyond waving your hands,
smiling, and drawing pictures.
The people of French Polynesia are very talented, Marquises were big on carving in rose wood and bone, and jewelry made
from farmed pearls, mother of pearl and all sorts of seeds. In the Tuamotus and Tahiti people are very musical. A lot of people
play instruments and sing, and when they do sing, they harmonize beautifully.
We are currently on Tahiti. Papeete is a big city compared to what we’ve seen in the South Pacific so far, but very
clean and attractive. It is also half the price of the Marquises and Tuamotus, but still much more expensive than the States.
So the plan is to re-provision here for no more than six weeks, and then buy more food in Cooks or Samoa, were we’ll
pay New Zealand prices instead of French prices.
Next, we’re going to go to Moorea in a few days for a couple of days or so, and then head West. We have to go to
Bora Bora to check out from French Polynesia, but beyond that, we just don’t know. The time to cross to New Zealand
in November, so until then we’ll continue to have fun exploring the South Pacific. We like the idea of not really knowing
were we are going to be two weeks from now.
And last, but not least, photos from Tuamotus and Tahiti:
http://www.vacosolventus.com/tuamotus_kauehi
http://www.vacosolventus.com/tuamotus_raraka
http://www.vacosolventus.com/tuamotus_fakarawa
April 22, 2008
We've finally made it to Marquises, French Polynesia, after 27 days at sea. The trip
was very tiring, because we had very little wind and confused seas on top of that. We've been promised trade winds up to 25kn,
but Neptune didn't deliver. All we ever saw was 5 to 12 knots and big swell.
So, crossing oceans is a tiring business. We should have taken a crew, because keeping
watches 24/7 between the two of us proved to be almost too much to handle. Now we know how jail feels like, since we really
wanted to get off the boat after about 10 days, but couldn't; it teaches one patience.
We did have nice sailing days as well and the ocean was incredibly blue and clear.
We haven't caught any fish, but then we weren't trying very hard, too tired.
Here are some photos from the crossing
http://www.vacosolventus.com/crossing
Our first tropical island is Fatu Hiva where you can get anything for a boat fender or some rope. Here are some pictures
we took.
http://www.vacosolventus.com/fatu_hiva
March 19, 2008
We took a really long time to update this page this time. Here are some new photos from Mexico, Ipala, Chamela, Tenacatita:
http://www.vacosolventus.com/chamela
http://www.vacosolventus.com/tenacatita
Next time we do an update, it is going to be from Marquises!!! We are leaving for Marquises in an hour, so I don’t
have much time, but will take the month it takes to get there to update this page.
February 5, 2008
We have decied to sail to the South Pacific starting with the Marquesas. However, the sailing window from Puerto Vallarta
starts in March 15th. That gives us month and a half to kill (that's in addition to the half a year that we are currently
killing). Anyhow, as we are impatient we just had to go somewhere in the meantime. Whoever can guess
where we currently are will receive a good old fashioned post card directly to their home (fellow cruisers,
since you don't have addresses we will just come over and hand you one personally next time we see you).
You have the following pictures to help you figure that out. If this proves too difficult then we will add more obvious
pictures later.
January 29, 2008
Some photos from our trip from Mazatlan to Isla Isabela:http://www.vacosolventus.com/vallarta
We are stuck in Puerto Vallarta after an interesting trip from Mazatlan. Well we are not really stuck, as in being stuck
in the sand, which of course could happen as well, but we are trying to take care of some business and it feels like we just
are not making much progress. Our dinghy died last week when we have ran over it with our boat. The painter got wrapped around
the prop and then then dinghy went after it below the boat. More on this later...
Pictures of La Cruz and Puerto Vallarta from Kinga and Dawid's visit.
January 3, 2008
We've decided to walk off lunch today, instead of taking a bus. After about forty minutes, we’ve stumbled across
a liqueur store and simply had to go in to look for Arek’s favorite El Tesoro tequila (what else). We haven’t
found the tequila, but we did buy 950 milliliters of egg yolk and milk cream, which I like, and consumed some on the spot
right outside the store. After another hour or so, we found an amazing grocery store, called Ley, with all sorts of super
fresh authentic Mexican foods and couldn’t resist buying a few things.
One of the more surprising things there
was sour cream. They had four kinds of fresh sour cream sold by liter. The lady behind the counter simply dipped
a spoon into one of the containers and pointed it at us, obviously invading us to taste it. We all froze for a second, but
got our wits back quickly and simply scooped some with our index fingers and licked it off. The cream was tick and super tasty,
and we’ve tried two more in the same manner. They also had two kinds of cottage cheese. Unfortunately we just shopped
for groceries in Gigante, a store where all the Americans go, and I don’t have any more space in the fridge.
January 1,2008
Latest pics from Mazatlan here: http://www.vacosolventus.com/mazatlan
First day of a new year. Happy New Year everyone! Still in Mazatlan, but we are thinking of sailing south soon as
it is not warm enough for us here. The days are around 75 - 80 F, but the nigts are a bit on a cool side and the water is
too cold for swimming. On the positive side, there is lots of inexpensive food everywhere in town so we find our favorite
past time lately to be stuffing ourselves with yummy Mexican food.
December 29, 2007
Something funny happened to us today and by ‘us’ I mean Arek, Richard,
and myself. We were trying to go home in the evening after spending a day in town, but two busses wouldn’t stop for
us. The bus drivers waved us away like flies and just kept on going. By the time a third bus approached our bus stop, we figured
out why and managed to get on it.
Mazatlan resorts and marinas are located to the north of the old/historic part of
town, and this is where all the tourists are kept. The tourist area is called The Gold Zone. Couple of days ago, we moved
out of Marina Mazatlan to a free anchorage south of the town, where gringos seldom venture (we very much like it that way).
Now when we go back home, we go against the current. The bus drivers know very well which way should all the gringos be headed
in the evening; for milking I suppose. Therefore, the south-bound bus drivers wouldn’t even bother to stop to ask us
where we want to go.
We’ve escaped the tourists’ ghetto and this is the price that we have
to pay.;-
December 27, 2007
Marina Mazatlan, where we’ve been docked for the last four days, is very comfortable.
It is located twenty minutes drive to the south of Mazatlan and on a major bus route to the city, with a bus every five minutes.
It’s clean, has extremely nice English speaking staff, and a wonderful cruising community. Showers, WI-FI, laundry (they
do it for you and return it fragrant and folded), boat yard, and restaurants are available right there for the cruisers’
convenience. Veggies and fruit, bottled water, and fresh shrimp trucks come every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; and you are
an easy ten minutes walk away from all the impressive resorts and their heated swimming pools, which marina guests are welcomed
to use at any time (towel service included).
Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? This is probably why most people there bring their
boats in intending to stay a few days on their way to see the world, and never leave.
We did our laundry, washed our boats, filled our
fuel and water tanks, and left as soon as possible for the anchorage at the other side of town; making sure to go out with
the high tide this time.;-)
December 24, 2007
Mazatlan is our first Mexican city and today we went exploring. I haven’t been
this excited since we’d left Astoria in August this year. I’ve been happy, hopeful, relaxed, unhappy, seasick,
very tired, joyful, exuberant, amazed, and extremely aware that I’m alive, but not this excited.
We’ve jumped on a bus in the morning and headed to town. The guys volunteered
me for finding out what time is the last bus to the marina, so I’ve got to ask my very first question in Spanish. This
is what I’ve asked: ‘Qué hora es el áutobus último?’ It probably isn’t
grammatically correct, but the bus driver understood the question and told me the time.
We’ve got out at the Mercado, the public market. The Mercado is exploding with
colors. Hundreds of vendors displaying their fruit, veggies, cheese, butter (by kilo), meat (by half a cow), leather goods,
CDs, straw hats, sweets, shoes, and all else under the sun. And finally, TACO STANDS! Tacos, and other authentic Mexican foods,
are served from pushcarts like the hotdog carts in the States. They are prepared from fresh ingredients while you watch, cost
anything from 60 cents to a dollar (American), and are the best Mexican food I’ve ever tasted. Taco stands are all over
the old/historic part of Mazatlan and each of them has something different to offer. They’ll be rolling me out of Mazatlan
when the time comes to leave for Puerto Vallarta.
After a while, we had tacos coming out of our ears
and went to walk them off around the city. Mazatlan is a very beautiful but neglected city. The French Court is my favorite
part, with its narrow back aisles, stairs that seem to go on forever, and old houses with courtyards with gardens inside them.
Try to imagine looking through a window expecting to see a couch, only to find a jungle there instead. It almost feels like
finding a door to Narnia.
December 23, 2007
No White Christmas for us this year, but at least we will not be spending Christmas on the open ocean. We arrived in Mazatlan,
Mexico, half an hour after dark today. By ‘we’, I mean Arek and I on Ariel and Rich on Jazz; we’ve been
buddy boating with Rich since Turtle Bay. The Charlie’s Charts, which is a guide for cruisers describing anchorages
and marinas, warns against entering the Mazatlan marinas channel at night. We’ve ignored Charlie’s, because it
tends to exaggerate a lot (not this time), and because we’d just went through two days of sixteen foot seas and twenty
five to thirty NM winds and couldn’t wait to get inside.
It was pitch black by the time we approached Mazatlan. The lights of the city were blinding us and we couldn’t find
the channel’s navigation lights (you know the Read Right Returning and a green on the left). We’ve tried calling
Mazatlan Marina’s personnel on the VHF throughout the day, but with no luck. Finally, Rich made a desperate plea on
the radio to anyone able and willing to help us find the entrance and several cruisers responded.
We shouldn’t have attempted that channel at night. Had we known what it is like, we would have avoided it even during
the day. The Channel turned out to be so narrow, that it felt as if the boat was too wide for it; if you’ve ever parallel
parked a bus, you know the feeling. On top of that, there was a huge dredging machine parked in the channel. As if that wasn’t
enough, we’ve entered it at night, at a low tide (Arek saw 5.5 feet under the keel once and went ballistic, since we
need six), and with breaking seas. We’ve practically surfed inside the channel and once in, realized with horror what
we’ve gotten ourselves into, but there wasn’t enough room to turn around and run. The boat was trashing left and
right and up and down almost scraping its sides against the breakwater. Arek did a splendid job of maneuvering safely through
all that, while I was frantically running around putting fenders out and flashing a spot light at all the horrible obstacles
around us.
I must say, that we wouldn’t have done it without the help of the cruising community there. There were people at
every point of our journey through the channel giving us directions and about ten more cruisers waiting for us at the dock
to help us tie up. Apparently, desperate stupidity calls for desperate measures.
December 24, 2007
New photos from the Sea of Cortez: http://www.vacosolventus.com/sea_of_cortez/
It is Christmas in Mazatlan, and apparently anywhere else in the world, but we are in Mazatlan. After sailing for 34 hours
we have crossed the Sea of Cortez from the Bahia peninsula to the mainland Mexico. We have enjoyed staying in the Sea of Cortez
for the last two weeks and were going to stay some more, but the strong winds from the North made us change our sailing plans
and head south instead of sailing to La Paz.
The last two places where we have stayed were as close to a tropical vacation as we have yet been. In Bahia de los Frailes
we have swam, snorkeled and sunbathed on the beach for the first time since we left Astoria. The water was quite warm and
it was full of marine life. We have enjoyed staying there for about a week. Next we sailed north to Bahia de los Muertos which
turned out to be another secluded bay with great views and crystal clear water. We did some more swimming and snorkeling while
waiting for three days there favorable winds to take us to La Paz.
We’ve lost los Muertos three days ago for La Paz, but the winds increased to a gale force and in our face on top
of that, so we’ve turned around and headed for Mazatlan instead. It was an interesting sailing experience and for the
first time we didn’t have to turn the engine on.
Today is Christmas Eave and we’ll be going to diner and a midnight mass in Spanish to celebrate it.
Marry Christmas to you all.
December 7, 2007
It's been a month since our last update as we find ourself more and more isolated from the tech world. No more Wi-Fi
that we can catch while sitting at anchor in ports, but there are some Internet cafes so we will try to keep this site
up-to-date as much as possible.
Currently we are in Turle Bay, Mexico, about 300 miles south of San Diego. We have spend two weeks in San Diego where
Arek's family came and together we went to a Casino to celebrate thanksgiving. The food was good and we had a good time. Monika,
Arek's sister moved to San Diego so we have been seing lot of her and Arek's niece Maya.
After spending way too much money on stuff that we probably will never need, we left San Diego in a hurry. I was
relieved to hit the open ocean as the business of the San Diego area was getting to me. We sailed continuously for six days
beceause the winds were very light and many times blowing in our faces. We have been visited by a whale and a sun fish which
hanged arround the boat for some time and seemed curious.
During our six day sail we have been in some stormy weather with winds up to 30 knots and sometimes a bit stronger.
It was a bumpy ride and Iwona felt the seasickness. I also did not feel my best, but we eventually made it to Cedros Island
where we for the first time saw real Mexico. It was a bit of a shock. The housing looked run-down and there was a lot of junk
all over the place. However, the people were really nice and they seemed to have plenty of food, good clothes, cars and the
like.
Right now we are in Turle Bay. The town is a bit more organised than Cedros Island but check out the pictures to
get an idea how it looks. Again, the people are very nice and overall we are having a good time. We met our old crusing buddy,
Rich, and we are most likely sailing out together tomorrow morning. The winds should be in our favor.
We should be able to write again in about a week.
November 09, 2007
Here are some pics from the Catalina island
We have enjoyed our stay in Santa Barbara where we ended up staying two weeks. Next we have tried
to sail to Ventura, CA, but upon arriving there in the evening we were not allowed to enter any one of the three marinas
that are there because we carry no insurance. The harbormaster was very nice though and did finally connect us with someone
who was willing to let us stay but for $75 a night, which we thought was too much so we decided to keep on sailing.
We have reached Marina Del Rey near Santa Monica the next morning where we found good, inexpensive
slip and no hassles. While in Marina Del ray we have done lots of shopping for our many boat projects. The traffic on the
streets around there is quite bad and I was very anxcious to get the $%#@ out of there. LA after places like Morro Bay
or Astoria feels like a complete maddhouse. Still, if one needs to do shopping then Marina Del Rey is a great place to stop
by.
After seven days in Marina Del Rey we sailed to the Santa Catalina island. It tooks us about
eight hours to cover the 40 mile trip mainly because of very light wind. We arrived after dark and it was a bit troubling
to enter the Two Harbors port given that thre are two reefs one needs to sail between. The harbormaster was very nice
and came out in his boat to guide us in for the last part of the entrance and helped us tie up to the mooring buoy.
The water sourounding the island is of beautiful blue color and very clear. There seem to
be lots of fish and the lobster season is ON. We are trying to cach some for ourselves, but after first attempt the bait is
gone and still no lobster. We will try again tonight.
While on the island, we went for a hike in the mountains. There are some great views and we took
some pictures. We saw wild bison, but did not want to get too close for photo shot. Besides that we intend to rest as much
as possible and stay on the "island time" which if you ask Hawaiians runs much much slower then time on the mainland.
October 16, 2007
Here are some pics from us leaving Morro Bay and Arriving in Santa Barbara
We stayed in Morro Bay for about a week and in retrospect it was a best anchorage so far. The anchorage is protected
from the swells which makes for very comfortable stay. There are plenty of restaurants practically in the harbor. Make sure
to visit the Hot Dog Factory if you are ever there. The "Morro Dogs" are great!
While in Morro Bay I tried my luck at fishing. The way it's done is to catch a small bait fish first and then use
the small fish to catch bigger fish. Also, the idea is to put the small fish on the hooks while they are still alive for best
results. I could not get myself to do that so I ended their missery with a knock on a head and used pieces of them as bait.
That landed me two sting rays, but no dinner. We let go of the sting rays not without some trouble.
Not to many pictures from our last leg from Morro Bay to Santa Barabara. We both felt the effects of "Beam
Sea", swells that tend to rock the boat from side to side. We did the trip in two sections. We sailed from Morro Bay to Pt
San Luis in five hours and spent the night at anchor. We sailed out at 4 AM and made it to Santa Barbara at 8PM after 16 hours
of sailing. Iwona for the first time got really sea sick and gave back her lunch shortly after having it. I felt not much
better, but managed to keep my lunch. The weather wasn't even that bad, just the angle at which we sailed to the eleven foot
swells made the boat rock left and right, left and right, left and right, left and right, left and right .... sorry didn't
mean to make you sick.
We are in Santa Barbara now. It is a nice town with great downtown area. Lots of restaurants and shops. Met a really
nice guy, Ron, manager at the Boater's World who is a Mexico sailing veteran and a great source of knowledge for us.
He also was kind enough to deliver the water heater to the harbor in his own car after I told him that I was going to put
it on my bicycle. I guess he did not want any damaged refunds.
Today we have been to the farmer's market. Lots of good vegetables and other goodies. We picked up a 25 lbs bag of
oranges for $10 (40 cents per pound WOW) which I managed to deliver on my bicycle along with a honeydew mellon and buch
of other vegetables. Iwona was delivering tomatoes and peaches on her bicycle and made it almost to the boat when her free
backpack, which she received with a purchase of some "PALM" software, tore apart at the straps dropping to the ground
and squashing the priceless merchandise. I don't think that this will be a problem though.. Last time I sat on Iwona's bag
of fresh figs she immediatelle saved them by baking a fig coffey cake. I wander what kind of cake I am going to get out of
squashed peaches and tomatoes... can't wait.
There seem to be a lot of things to do here so we will try to stick around for another week or so. The mountains
that sourround the town look really tempting for hiking. There supposedly is a really nice historic mission to see so we will
probably do that soon.
October 4, 2007
Here are some pictures from our Santa Cruz to Morro Bay sail.
We have arrived in Morro Bay, CA yesterday after 24 hour sail from Santa Cruz. The winds vere good and we were making
a good speed so we were able to keep the engine off till the entrance to the Morro Bay harbor. We have tested for the first
time our manual Saye's Rig self steering system. There is no better friend to a sailor than self steering system. Standing
behind a tiller is fun for an hour or two, but after ten hours of doing so one wants to outsource this sort of work to somebody
or something else.
Staying in Santa Cruz was lots of fun. We had many friends visit us as well as Arek's family. Raj, Harman and their
little daughter came to see us and stayed over night. Arek's old workmate Anton who lives in Soquel, a bordering town was
a wonderful host and provided hospitability for his crazy boat friends. Also, Steve Stourral from Santa Rosa came down
with Kathrene and their little son Sterling and despite Steve being prone to sea sickness went for a short sail, which he
probably reagreated right after. Bonnie and James who treated us to a wonderful salmon dinner at their place
in Burlingame (they picked us up and drove us back to the boat). And also Eric and Maria who stayed with us over night and
fed us information about Mexico; now we know not to ever use an expression 'tu madre' if we want to keep our original set
of teeth.;-) It was great to have all of you guys over.
One thing that I would recommend while in Santa Cruz is biking. The whole town is full of bike paths. Threre is a wonderful
park near UC Santa Cruz that has wonderfull biking trails with great views of the ocean and beautiful meadows with oak and
eucaliptus trees.
Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz offers wonderful shops and restaurants where we spend some time indulging in ice
cream and other goodies.
We now go exploring Morro Bay and the sourrounding scenery... fun fun fun
September 16, 2007 10:00 AM
Here are some pictures from our Astoria to Santa Cruz ocean voyage.
We arrive in Santa Cruz after six days of sailing. The trip was probably by sailing standards an easy one, but for
us it was the longest time on the open ocean without a sight of land for the most of the way. We headed out from Astoria,
OR in the morning of Monday. For the first four hours or so we had favorable wind and we did some good sailing. After than
the wind died or turned against us. It wasn't until the last 24 hours of the journey, near San Francisco when the wind picked
up and started blowing from the North East at about 10-15 Knots. Thus, majority of the way we let the good-old auto-pilot
do the wonderful job of steering the boat while we ate, watched movies, read books, and stared with blank faces into the sourounding
ocean. What a great way to relax. The time kind of goes on pause and there is no nagging sensation that we should be doing
someting since there really isn't that much to do.
The typical day on the boat starts with the morning shift to watch the radar screen and keep the eye on the course
to make sure that we are going the right way. One of us is always on duty. It isn't hard when the auto-pilot is steering.
At night one can even take short 15 minute naps, then have a look at the instruments and fall asleep again. Things are of
course vastly different when the wind is blowing and one is holding the tiller. The boat can be difficult to steer, especially
when going down the wind. With every bigger swell or wind-wave it rolls 15 to 30 degrees right or left and without corrective
action we soon get off-course. There are of course other issues such as trying to put out the correct amount of sails for
the given wind and positioning the in the way such that they will give best speed while not causing the boat to heel too much.
It's all experience that we are about to gain.
The one day of real sailing left us almost completely exhausted. With just two people to spread the work, the constant
steering can get tiresome. We have a self-steering wind-vane, but it was not mounted. It will become our first pririty to
get this thing working.
As for the interesting things that happened during the sail, we saw whales three times. They are pretty awsome creatures.
The dolphins also came to visit us on several occasions. They love to play around in the surf created by the front of the
boat. They are really fast and amazing.
We tried fishing, but we lost two lures. I think that something has bitten them off. Then we rolled out a really
havy-duty 200 lbs fishing line behind us and we were towing it behind is for few days. Unfortunately the only creatures interested
in our lure were the birds which on several occasions tried to snach the bait from the water.
We plan to stay in Santa Cruz and relax for two weeks or more before we continue down the coast.
September 09, 2007
We set sail tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM leaving Astoria and heading down South toward San
Francisco. The distance to travel is around 650 nautical miles which with favorable winds would take around five to six days,
but we are prepared to sail for two weeks if necessary. There are many ports on the way to seek shelter should the weather
change or if we just decide to take a rest. Anyhow, Iwona and I are wery exited, but at the same time quite tired of all the
work we have been doing to get the boat ready for the trip. There still is a lot to be done, but some things will just have
to wait. We are loaded with tons of food and lots of water. Half the Costco store is traveling with us. We also stocked up
on lots of Indian spices, beans and lentils -- good protein that will not go bad if the fridge stops running.
We just spoke with David and Michael, two guys on the JAMMIN boat that also are leaving tomorrow at seven. We will try
to go out together and maybe we will stick together for part of the trip. They are going south to join the BAHA-HA-HA sailing
event where 200 or so sailboats sail to Mexico from San Diego. I think that we are too late to register for that, but who
knows maybe we will try to tag along.
For all of you following our progress, thanks for checking in. We should arrive in San Francisco by Friday or Saturday.
We plan to stop in Sausailto, CA and meet some folks in the Bay Area.
August 20, 2007
Well, we are still in Astoria. The wind generator is almost installed including the 40 feet of 4 gauge cable. Iwona
slaved away trying to paint the storage compartments by first disassembling them, then washing and then painting. We have
a new anchor bracket for the 60 pound Bruce anchor and a cool looking freshly chrome plated windlass.
Iwona was working so hard that local fishermen, Steve and Robert, took pity on her and offered her a huge tuna fish
which they freshly caught. We had a tuna party with raw and BBQ tuna and wine.
July 2007
After three weeks in Poland we are back in Issaquah to carry on with the final preparations for our trip. Some pictures
from Poland can be found here: http://www.vacosolventus.com/poland
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