Tuesday, January 26, 2016

It's our one year anniversary!

It's unbelievable to us, that it has already been 365 days since we slipped away from San Diego at 3am, watching America's Finest City lights fade away into the dark. Sometimes it feels like it was years ago, and sometimes it feels like it was yesterday.

NO THANKS
One of the toughest and most liberating lessons of cruising is that there is no room for itineraries, plans or schedules. These were all things that our previous lives hinged on before we set sail. Before we left we wrote down in one of our journals our guesses as to where we'd be celebrating birthdays. Cabo by the end of January?  We didn't make Cabo till the end of February. Costa Rica was where I had hoped to turn 40 last March. Wrong again. Emma was to bring in her first double-digit birthday in Panama and Jess was planning to celebrate 12 in Colombia. Hilarious! We clearly did not have a clue.

One thing is certain, the four of us are not the same people that left on this adventure a year ago.

Each of us has changed individually and we have also become a much more cohesive group. Cruising forces us to deal with problems as they occur, fosters resourcefulness and hones our problem-solving skills. Our girls are much more confident in their abilities and more self-reliant. When we first started out, we noticed that "cruising kids" were different from other kids in that they engage with adults well, make friends fast, and are independent and confident. Now we are seeing these traits in both of our girls and it has been fun to watch them grow and mature in this environment. In a previous life Phil and I would work independently of each other to make everything else "work", now it's a collaboration on a daily basis, something that wasn't easy at first.

Sometimes we think of our "old life" and it seems very foreign to both Phil and I. We are so much happier with less. And it's not just living with less, it's a simpler life altogether. We have also completely fallen in love with Mexico. There is no "keeping up with the Jones's" here and the locals are more focused on family and community than materialism, fashion and consumerism. It is going to be very hard for us to leave, eventually.

Cheers to a fantastic year! Here are some fun facts from the last 365 days and a few of our favorite photos from the past year.

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Terrapin Tribe
San Miguel De Allende

  • 365 of adventure
  • 8 months of sailing aboard Terrapin
  • 4300 nautical miles of sailing, in only Mexico
  • 5 pairs of sunglasses either lost or broken
  • 3 teeth less; 2 were baby teeth and one was extracted by a Mexican dentist
  • We have visited 16 of Mexico's 31 states
  • We have yet to use an entire gallon of sunscreen
  • One case of salmonella
  • For 33 days we lived in Mexico on expired visas
  • There have been too many tacos eaten to count
  • Boat, sail and dinghy repairs have cost us less than $1,000 USD
  • Roof dogs, roosters, fireworks and church bells are all things we can sleep through



  • Hottest day was 115 degrees
  • Lowest exchange rate from USD to peso was 15.02
  • We have entered Mexico by boat, car and plane
  • In both Mexico and Guatemala, Victoria is the best tasting beer
  • We have seen 4 large, dead floating turtles
  • We've met 5 other Grateful Dead boats; Dark Star, Eyes of the World, Cassidy, Jack-a-Roe, Stella Blue
  • Countless new friendships have been made for which we are appreciative
    Courtesy Flags
  • 2 courtesy flags blown out. Guess we need a new one!
  • One dinghy bit the dust

















Sea of Cortez


Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala
























  • According to Jessica's "Fish Talley" we have caught 56 fish, by pole, handline or spear
















San Blas  

6 comments:

  1. Wow! Awesome. As someone who is getting ready to celebrate our 2nd Month-aversary cruising, I loved seeing your list. I can't imagine only losing 5 pairs of sunglasses, though. My teens have spray lost several pairs of head phones, I imagine the sunglasses won't fair very well either.

    I'm also surprised by the sunscreen. Do you not use it as often as you thought you would, or does it last really long?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! Awesome. As someone who is getting ready to celebrate our 2nd Month-aversary cruising, I loved seeing your list. I can't imagine only losing 5 pairs of sunglasses, though. My teens have spray lost several pairs of head phones, I imagine the sunglasses won't fair very well either.

    I'm also surprised by the sunscreen. Do you not use it as often as you thought you would, or does it last really long?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We don't spend more than $15 on sunglasses, even polarized. At our old marina in San Diego they sold $15 polarized sunglasses that still work perfect! Our sunscreen has lots of zinc in it which means we rarely need to reapply...we also are good about wearing sunshirts

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  3. Well done, guys. We're excited to head north into the sea with you guys this summer. We have no experience up there, and we will be tapping into your expertise regarding where we should be, and when, the best spots, the hurricane holes and the places to avoid at all cost. Congratulations on your year anniversary! Liz and Chris, s/v Espiritu :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations! We left California in October 2014 and haven't looked back. We celebrated our first cruisiversary in Cartagena, Colombia; probably our favorite stop so far.
    Laura Fortune
    SV Thistle
    fortunesafloat.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congratulations! We left California in October 2014 and haven't looked back. We celebrated our first cruisiversary in Cartagena, Colombia; probably our favorite stop so far.
    Laura Fortune
    SV Thistle
    fortunesafloat.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete