Thursday, April 10, 2008
Buffadero
de Buffadero (that means "snorter" in Spanish- there's
a large blowhole in a rock in front of the town). The
best part of this place is that Rio Nexpa (a good surf
break) is a short dinghy ride around the corner to the
North. It is a very long walk, however. I think I
lost 10 pounds yesterday walking about 5 miles (2 of
it in soft sand) in 85 degree weather and high
humidity. Luckily there was a sea breeze and a palapa
(palm branch roofed shade area) when we got there. We
only had to walk half of the way back because Brian
met a local high school aged surfer, Ismael, who had a
truck and picked us up on his way back to town. Some
of our favorite things lately have been interactions
with locals. A few days ago in a different anchorage,
we saw something green on the rudder of our boat which
sits right at the water line. We got close enough to
tell that it looked like an iguana with a small horn
on it's nose. 2 hours later we left the boat and it
was still there. There were some fishermen in their
boat nearby and we asked them about it because we
didn't know iguanas could swim. They confirmed our
guess and told us they were good for food. I told
them they were welcome to have him so they went over
and picked him off the back of our rudder and held him
up. He was handsome! Bright green, well-placed tiny
horns on his nose and head, 3-foot long tail. This
got us in to a short and enjoyable conversation with
Chuy, the man who removed him from our boat. Along
with the animals and interactions with locals, we
continue to have projects, projects, projects on the
boat. We have about 1000 more nautical miles (total of
about 10 entire days of sailing if we were to do it
all at once) to go before we get the boat to Puesto
del Sol Marina in Nicaragua, where we'll leave Nomad
for the summer. Before we leave Mexico we hope to get
a 2-day trip inland somewhere in the state of Oaxaca
to visit ruins, etc. If any of you knows of neat
places to go, we'd love to have some tips. Hope to
see most of you this summer!Megan
Monday, April 7, 2008
Security
It is a frustrating thing to think about but being removed by water, and quite some miles puts us in our own microcosm where we have decided that to live well, communicate kindly, and be obedient to our purpose is one way to respond to large injustices. It has also brought home the idea that "security" cannot be created by human structures, be they insurance policies, laws, car airbags or airport searches. Security only comes from being confident that our lives are in the hand of God and our minds are given us to use to prevent foolish accidents and the Spirit is given us to lead us to. The men in the sharashka each had their own way of dealing with the injustice of being confined wrongfully. All of them in their own way used their skills to resist the system and stubbornly to grow toward the person they wanted to be. At the same time they were all painfully aware that no matter what they did on the inside of the sharashka or what they had done before they were confined, couldn't make them secure from the whims (beneficial or harmful)of the new prison guard or the powers that were in control of their lives. Reminds me of a verse in Micah...
He has shown you o man what is good, and what the Lord requires of you.. to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.
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Sunday, April 6, 2008
occupation
Yesterday and today, Brian spent a large amount of time replumbing the head so that it has a vented loop. The goal of this endeavor is to convince our toilet to not breathe like Darth Vader with a chest cold while we are under way. During this time, I was cooking meals, sewing patches on the sail cover, tinkering with our windscoop to facilitate better air flow through the boat, and organizing cabinets for improved accessibility (it needs to be done frequently as we use things up, discover things we do or don't use all the time, etc.).
This morning Brian went to say hello to people on another boat and ended up taking the fellow, his dinghy and non-functioning outboard motor to town for the motor to be fixed. While in town he has instructions to purchase more flour and some fruit. I have spent the last 5 hours sewing seams on a sail where the old thread has rotted away. While sewing I took a break to hoist Brian up the mast so he could clean some connecters on our radio antenna (to promote better transmission and reception of signals).
In the mornings we often read and then listen to the Single Side Band radio for the weather report. In the evenings we stay home and play Scrabble, watch slide shows of the pictures we've taken recently, visit people on other boats, walk around in town (last night we splurged and ate a dinner at a restaurant - yay! No cooking to heat up the boat) or do more boat projects.
Books being read on a fairly regular basis on Nomad:
The Message Bible
World Cruising Routes by Jimmy Cornell
Charlie's Charts of Mexico
The Signature of Jesus
Spanish-English Dictionary
Birds of Mexico and Central America (fully illustrated)
Various yachting magazines
The Surf Report bulletins
Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual
The Women's Book of Yoga and Health
The First Circle (blog on this book forth coming)
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Monday, March 24, 2008
Baby Boobies
Long Awaited photos



Brian´s only surf related experience in weeks was a day in La Paz Bay when the tide was going out and the wind was howling in the opposite direction..Very Gorge-like conditions. Known surf spots Pt. Mita and Puerto Escondido are getting closer and closer, however!
After leaving La Paz, we visited two islands separated from each other by a sand bar and anchored near the separation. Here´s a view of Nomad from above, from the hike we took.
Friday, March 21, 2008
update
Hi people, we have left La Paz and are approximately
300 miles south east of where we were 54 hours ago.
We are anchored off of Isla Isabella which is about 85
miles south of Mazatlan. On our way down I saw a
whale leaping out of the water about 100 feet from me
and then a small whale lept and then lept a second
time. Never gets old. Then, I'm very excited, I saw
4 sea turtles in about a period of an hour. This has
been one of my goals and I didn't even recognize the
first two as turtles; I thought they were manta rays
resting at the surface. We would have put a ton of
pictures on the blog in La Paz but our computer was
"being repaired" and so for a while we had no
computer, then when we did it didn't work properly,
then we took it back and after that all of our
pictures were wiped clean in order to make the
computer work properly. I cried, I cursed. Then, two
days later, I decided to check out our back up hard
drive Dulac had given us. Miraculously, almost all of
the pictures were on that! I don't even remember doing
this. So, pictures are coming soon. We are getting
close to some surf spots and so Brian has been
researching good anchorages near good surf spots and
eagerly listening to the weather. Que te vaya bien!Megan