Now I seek my own volunteer crew or even better... my permanent sailing companion

As I write this recap, I'm still in Playa Del Carmen another couple nights. This was the second winter in a row of seeking volunteer crew positions and while quite different experiences neither ended up being the kind of thing a sane person would volunteer for. Certainly I've gained new insights and perspectives on spending an extended amount of time living on a sailboat of a size I'd likely end up getting to live aboard for my near future. One thing that keeps me interested despite the negative aspects is what I hear time and again from various other people cruising and living aboard.... "Don't base what you decide on being volunteer crew, it's a whole other world and far better experience when you're on your own boat". No doubt. Anyway I chose the captain seeking crew to help sail from the Florida Keys to Rio Dulce Guatemala. At the time I had emailed interest but passed on another boat heading from North Carolina to Puerto Rica. That was a ...

Of course I'm writing this possibly weeks before we will arrive to Mexico and can post it with our next WiFi access. We left Marathon, Florida about 10 am Sunday the 12th. We were to meet the Canadian brothers out at Sombrero Reef but as we approached it decided to call and tell them we were going to just keep on going. Since we sail faster but they motor faster we really weren't planning to actually stay together. We were motor sailing with fairly light NW winds. About 3 miles out past the Reef Marker the wind was more directly behind us and in the process of the captain attempting to rig the main for a tailwind the helm was left unattended briefly and a wave tossed the boat in such a way that the unattended rudder was forced beyond its maximum and got jammed hard to starboard. 90 degrees to the keel line actually. This brought great drama as the captain suddenly made a Mayday Mayday Mayday distress call giving the boat name, location and our loss of rudder. Now I...

Sure we did leave once already only to return but I've a pretty good feeling this time it's a go. We head south ultimately to Mexico but...... Anyway I'm not supposed to mention our route. Maybe later once we are to Mexico which could be 10 days to a week depending on weather. We set out with the Canadian brothers today at noon. I'm very glad we are back to the original destinations I volunteered for. Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and hopefully Honduras. Since we've wasted 5 weeks of cruising time it depends on how long captain hangs out in Rio Dulce.. He is first going to secure a spot in a marina and then sail over to the Bay Islands of Honduras. If that doesn't happen soon enough I may have to miss that. I really should return in early April to take care of taxes. My info is all off to my tax person but just in case I should be back by then. Now I will finally get in the mode of posting photos in future entries to the blog. Please share as I'm trying ...

Sorry again for no photos but it's been more of the same.  I'm quite hopeful this next planned departure this coming Sunday will be a go.  I have a felling the Canadians will leave the day before but the captain suddenly needed to have his prop cleaned and a new sacrificial since put on the shaft.  Still I really really feel we will go this time.. And happily we are heading to Mexico, Belize and Guatemala.. Our route I won't disclose at this time....maybe never?  So if we go it will be a while before I post again...although I might write a post or two to post later.  

We had originally planned a Wednesday evening departure but due to a change in the wind forecast we now plan to set out tomorrow, Saturday, December 14. That is of course unless the wind forecast changes yet again. Since Wednesday we've had quit a bit of rain mostly yesterday and last night. Today was nice but it's raining again now..6:30 pm Friday. I would assume we've gotten several inches of rain. We want fairly light winds when we cross the Gulf-stream the flows west to east an average 3.5 knots. Winds against a current create much rougher, steeper seas. It's going to take us a while to get to Mexico and we wanted a window of lighter winds. That seems hard to come by this time of year. It might be quite a few days until we have Internet again. I'll be posting this tomorrow morning. The daily showers and Internet have been nice but I'm anxious to see what's next. This just in!! Ha.. After checking the latest weather we won't be departing ...