More than halfway!

Whew! What a journey we are on!

Today I am writing from a very colorful, flavorful, festive town in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico called ¨La Crucecita,¨ which is in the coastal region generally called Huatulco. This marks our more-than-halfway-point of the sailing trip, and we are sure the hardest portion is behind us. As I type, Ryan and Jim are rebuilding Brainstorm`s fuel system, because it caused us a lot of problems along the way (Jim flew down to help with this, and will return home on Friday). I am enjoying a day of exploring the local flavors.

Since I last wrote, we crossed the infamous Gulf of Tehuantepec. It is infamous for extremely high winds, partly because there is nowhere to seek shelter from them. In other words, once one enters the 260 mile stretch, the sailor is committed for at least 48 hours, usually more.

Waiting out a squall, just before we saw the waterspout!

So for us, having crossed it feels like an accomplishment, especially because it was hard! We did not experience the usual offshore winds, thank goodness, but we did have high winds blowing onshore from 18-25 knots with extra-large wind swells. After getting no sleep the night before, due to storms (including avoiding a waterspout in the morning), that day of high wind was a huge challenge. Unfortunately, the final stretch ended in our engine dying just as we were going toward the first possible anchorage we`d found since leaving Guatemala. When the engine died it was just before sunset and we were close enough to shore, with the wind blowing us in at an alarming rate, that we called for help.

I can`t really begin to explain the chaos of those moments--the waves thrashing us, trying to sail into the wind to get away from shore, communicating via VHF radio in Spanish to the Port Captain and the Mexican Navy. When the help arrived approximately 30 minutes later, they tried to tow us but pulled too hard and snapped the front cleat right off the boat. Plan B was for us to sail into the nearest port, Salina Cruz, with them escorting us. When we finally got near the port, well after dark, they tried again to tow us in; that time the tow worked. They attached us to a dilapidated fuel dock by rafting up next to us and pushing us into it sideways. Brainstorm suffered some damage, but it could have been exponentially worse. Nothing major: broken navigation lights, broken hoist for the dinghy engine, a hole in the anchor locker where the cleat used to be...

Detatched cleat.

The dock in Salina Cruz, where the Navy put us. We had to walk along that center steel beam because the wood was so rotten. By contrast, Brainstorm is looking good!

Another view of our secret spot, trash (not ours) and all.

During our 36 hours in Salina Cruz, Ryan worked on the engine and got it running again. I was able to do the legwork to get us checked in to Mexico. We had probably 20 different uniformed authorities (including a drug dog) get on the boat, for information, to search us, to take photos, etc. It is a flithy commercial port that is not set up for nor accustomed to tourist cruisers coming through. People were generally nice, but we knew we had to get out of there a.s.a.p.

We left for Huatulco at 4am the second night, and sailed upwind all 55 miles of it. When we arrived in Huatulco in the evening, the day before yesterday, I had never been so happy to be entering a marina. We were exhausted, emotional, grateful, and exhausted. We slept 12 hours that night and, yesterday, began cleaning and re-organizing.

We are starting to be able to laugh about the challenges we´ve endured so far on this trip, and to celebrate all that we´ve been learning. Did I mention I am quite the sailor, now? And Ryan has become quite the mechanic! Of course, there are other gems: the teamwork we´ve executed in problem-solving, the stories, the memories.

We still love each other!

On Thursday, our friends Melissa and Tim will join us for the stretch from here to Zihuatenejo. We are so looking forward to their company. In the part of the trip that lies ahead there are more places to anchor, the mountains slope down to the sea, the winds soften and, hopefully, the clouds will retreat and reveal sun and stars for us. We are feeling optimistic about the rest of the journey. I will try to write with colorful pictures of this place before we shove off again. Please send us loving thoughts and know that we are doing the same toward you.