Tag Archives: kid boats

Writing funk…but still adventuring

I apologize for the delay in an actual blog post. It seems to be more convenient lately to post pictures and videos to our instagram, facebook, and YouTube sites.

After a few people inquiring about a blog update I decided to throw one together.

When I first returned to the boat December 22, I came back to a very sick husband. We spent the first week together trying to figure out what was ailing him and get proper treatment. After deciding the first doctor was missing something, we found another. He seemed to be on to something and treated Christian for systemic Salmonella tyhoid! After 5 days of IV antibiotics and 10 days of oral antibiotics he did feel better. We were back to surfing and taking day sails and long hikes. But 5 days after the antibiotics were finished he started to feel sick again. He went back to get follow up labs and one of his levels were increased 3 fold! The doctor recommended taking out his gall bladder, assuming the tyhoid was festering in it and won’t dissipate until it’s removed. Needless to say, we went and got a second opinion, or rather a third one at this point. This doctor stated that Christian did have salmonella in the past, but that’s not what is wrong at the moment. The level that increased was the “proteus ox-19” aka Rickettsia. It resembles salmonella when tested for it. So Christian is now on a 3 day IM (injection/shots) of cephalosporin treatment. We will retest labs on Tuesday and go from there. We are trying to remain optimistic about this. He already feels better, so fingers crossed…

In the meantime, we’ve been on surf trips, hiking trips and lounging by the poolside with fellow cruising families. There are a lot more older kids this year, which is great for Nina. And a few younger ones. Specifically, Zoey on Empyrean, has become Taj’s best buddy.

I’ve been able to start focusing on my “ship shape” boat fitness workouts and yoga ashore with other cruisers. In fact I was asked to speak about boat fitness at the “women who sail” gathering here in La Cruz on January 13th! I also signed up for a 10k run on the 15th. I’m not much of a runner, but I figured I could pull it off for one day for a good cause (green awareness in Mexico). Thanks Katrina for organizing all of this!

Boat school Christmas Vacation is ending today.

Ellamae will be returning to the boat in a week!

Hopefully Christian will return to full health soon. We’d like a clean bill of health before we set sail southbound from the Puerto Vallarta area.

Stayed tuned.

In the meantime here are videos we made and some pictures to look at.

Shanti from S/V Shawnigan

I accidentally spelled Yelapa as “yalapa” on the video. Oops!

Las Posadas celebration

Christmas Eve potluck at Marina La Cruz (Banderas Bay)

Kids camp out, organized by Marina La Cruz

Liam’s (S/V Riki Tiki Tavi) birthday party.

Talent show at the Marina La Cruz amphitheater.

45 peso haircut (2.25 USD)!

Beach day with S/V Luminesce, S/V Mango Mango, S/V Empyrean, S/V Riki Tiki Tavi, S/V Wild Rumpus, S/V Raireva, and S/V Shawnigan

One year ago… we sailed out “The Gate”

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We can’t believe that a full year has past since we left San Francisco to start cruising on our sailboat! We’ve experienced so much and all of it so wonderful: The emotions of leaving, the adjustments of boatschool, the adjustments of a life less “connected” but more connected as a family, the growth of world knowledge, the change in marriage dynamic, parenting dynamic, and educator dynamic, adapting to Mexico’s culture and food, meeting new and wonderful sailors/cruisers, and so much more I’m probably leaving out. All of these had their ups and downs, but all transformed into good experiences and contributed to our lives in such a positive way.

My friend Lara interviewed us for a radio and podcast she does out of Byron Bay, Australia. I feel like it summarizes some questions a lot of people wonder about when pondering what the life of a family of 5 sailing on a 40 foot boat is like. I posted the link on our blog and Facebook when it aired live and only on Facebook again when a link was available to the podcast version.

Here is the link to the podcast version below. It will take you to the 30 minute interview. Our 13 year old daughter, Nina, is interviewed as well and adds a lot flavor to the interview.

https://www.spreaker.com/user/pregnancybirthandbeyond/a-family-afloat

Anchored off of Halfmoon Bay, California (August 21, 2015)

Becalmed off the coast of California (Oct 2015) with Christian’s father, Gene Lauducci, aboard.
Ellamae posing with her polarized #teenytinyoptics glasses

Nina and Taj posing with their polarized #teenytinyoptics glasses

On top of a mountain in Turtle Bay, Baja Mexico (Left to Right: our crew Emma Casey, Taj sleeping on my back, Josie, Christian, Nina, and Ellamae) November 2015

Taj swimming in Chamela, Mexico (January 2016)

Barra de Navidad, Mexico (February, 2016)

Baja, Sea of Cortez, Isla San Francisco (May, 2016)

S/V Shawnigan with a beautiful backdrop of the Sierra Gigante Mountain Range, Baja, Sea of Cortez, Isla San Francisco (May, 2016)

My beautiful kids back in the United States (July 2016) Ellamae (8), Nina (13) Taj (3)

Refill the kitty in 3 months!

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After 10 months of sailing around, it was time to refill the cruising kitty. We spent over our $12,000/year budget in unexpected, yet typical, repairs and replacements. Since we were so close to the US and easy access to work, we decided to take the hottest time in Mexico (July, August, September) off of the boat and head to The States to refill our hungry cruising kitty.

If you haven’t read the “about me” part of our blog, then you may need to be informed of my profession. I’m a Registered Nurse, specifically a Neonatal Intensive Care Nurse. If you’re saying to yourself “what’s that?”, I take care of premature and very sick babies. I’ve been doing this for over 12 years now and I still haven’t lost my passion for it. In fact, it was actually hard to put in my notice at UCSF 11 months ago so that we could sail away.

In mid May, of this year,when I was able to check my email from La Paz, I found out that my old Unit at UCSF was hiring Travel Nurses for June 28 start date. I checked in with the management team and they said that they would love to have me return for a 13 week assignment! It was too good to be true! June 28 was a little sooner than we wanted, and 13 weeks was a little longer then we wanted, but really, its perfect.

We made it to San Carlos, Mexico, by June 14th with plenty time to put away the boat in Marina Real for a 3 months detour to the US. It took about 3 full days to complete the check list of things to do. This included, but not limited to:

pickling the water maker
fresh water flush through the engine
taking down the sails and stowing them down below
Putting up the sun shades
Cleaning and leaving the heads (toilets) filled with fresh water and vinegar
fresh water washing as much salt waterlogged gear as we could
laundry and getting rid of clothes
eating and cleaning out the perishable food (we did leave cans of tomato sauce, so hopefully we don’t arrive back to the boat with exploded cans of tomato everywhere. Apparently this happens when it gets too hot.)
Placing Bay Leaves in almost all of our bulk food containers. Apparently the Bay Leaf helps keep the Weevils at bay (no pun intended). Thanks Deb on SV Coastal Drifter for that tip.
Packing clothes (REAL shoes, socks, pants AND A BELT, sweaters, and WORK CLOTHES!) , oops I forgot a beanie!
And a couple more odds and ends stuff.

Our pile of stuff to bring back to the US was huge. Mostly because we had to pack for 3 months of on the road adventures. I say “we” but I really mean Christian and the kids. My list of things to bring was small: work clothes, 2 pairs of pants, 2 shorts, and one “nice outfit”, flip flops and my work shoes. Oh and my awesome Brompton folding bike, that we store in our aft shower, for my San Francisco commuting, yay!

Our 10 hour bus ride on the Tufesa bus line ended up being more like 11 hours, but it still wasn’t bad. Reclining seats, AC, 2 bathrooms, 1 check point and 1 border check, and 5 movies later(3 of them, very inappropriate for kids), we made it to Phoenix, AZ for a nominal $80 fee.

After a few days at Christian’s sister’s house in Phoenix, I flew off to start my 3 months of work, leaving behind the family to road trip their way around The States visiting friends and family.

“Was it hard to leave?”, you ask.

EXTREMELY !!! After being so close with each other the last 10 months I’m finding myself really missing their company. But I also know it’s only a short time in the grand sceme of things and totally worth it !

So now I’m here in San Francisco. Christian is on super land nomad dad duty. Boat school is out for summer break and we’ll be doing this up through late September. After all is said and done, we should have overfilled (wishful thinking) our cruising kitty with enough $$$ to get us to New Zealand by our (Northern hemisphere) fall 2017. But you know how cruising works… “We’ll see as we go”!

Yummy grub next to (Cerca de) the bus station in Guaymas. Missing me some good Mexican food !
Christian visits the Grand Canyon while I meet Travel Nurses