Adios Northern Hemisphere!

The days really slipped by for our last week and a half in Mexico. We squeezed in as much fun with cruising friends as we could, plus more tacos and margaritas, between pushing through the final projects and preparations for our departure. Here’s a taste of our accomplishments: SOLD the generator and removed it from the garage; reorganized the garage after generator removal, built a new partial floor/shelf to allow for better storage space, and installed new straps and cargo nets so things don’t go flying during our passage; applied waterproof coating to the bimini; prepared a lot of food so we don’t have to cook for our first 5+ days at sea; resealed the starboard forward portholes; stowed the scuba tanks below deck; rearranged the sail locker and aft lazarette to provide good access to appropriate sails and rough weather equipment; cleared out the aft cabin to make space for our incoming crew; reviewed paper charts and updated electronic charts; put together our navigation plan; sewed a crotch strap for our crew PFD (the strap holds the PFD in a more comfortable position when inflated); sewed a new riding sail; properly disposed of used oil and old gasoline; created our watch schedule for the passage; repacked the storage area under the v-berth; added an hour meter to the dinghy engine; installed a hydrofoil stabilizer on the dinghy engine to help with planing & balance; tested our IridiumGo satellite communication device; cleaned the boat interior; installed & tested our new single side band radio microphone; installed USB outlets in the salon; topped up the diesel tanks; re-torqued electrical connections; swabbed the deck; hired hull cleaners so we have a smooth bottom again; tested bilge pumps and alarms; completed port and immigration checkouts in preparation for the vessel checkout on our departure day; cancelled the vessel temporary import permit; added a fresh layer of silicone sealant around the bow area; celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary; had laundry washed one last time; took delivery of our beautiful new salon cushions (it’s like a whole new boat below deck now); and prepared the vessel for offshore sailing by re-installing the hydrovane, stowing the dinghy on deck, tying on the jacklines, securing the preventer lines, installing the bowsprit and spinnaker line, seizing shackles, topping up water tanks, and a handful of other final preparations.

I can’t believe we’re heading offshore. We’ve been looking forward to this specific little jump for a long time, and its amazing that the time has come already. We expect the passage to take 20-30 days. We’re well provisioned and hope to have some luck fishing too. We’re very excited to welcome our new crew member, Justin, aboard! Splitting the work of the voyage among three people will lighten the load for all of us, and we’ll have 3 senses of humor aboard now too! We will not be posting along the voyage, but we’ll share our update once we reach French Polynesia. If you’re interested, you should be able to follow us along at the boat tracker on our website. It should continue to autoupdate as we move along (but don’t worry about us if it doesn’t). We’re saying good bye to North America and the northern hemisphere, and looking forward to living on the high seas and sailing over the equator into the southern hemisphere.

Next Stop: Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia