April 23, 2017-Morning Ritual

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Waiting for the sun

The daylight awakens me and it starts my morning ritual.

When the ports and skylight over my bed turn into purple blue rectangles and the surroundings in my cabin change from soft dim shadows to solids my day begins and I slip out of my bunk without awakening Judy and I turn on a flame under a pot of yesterday’s coffee.

I pull on my jeans and a warm shirt for I know that even in Mexico it will still be chilly at 8:00 AM in April.

With my favorite starbuck’s cup filled with steaming joe I go on deck and watch the sun rise.

I shift the solar panels to face the rising sun and I sip my coffee and see the day begin.

When the sun’s rays on the panels are generating enough electricity and my cup is empty I go below and turn on the computer.

The world’s news stories flash across my screen, and I look for mail and messages. I read whatever interests me and relax in the quiet of the morning.

When Judy stirs I go to the galley and make a new pot of coffee so it will be fresh for her.

That is how we do it at anchor. At sea I choose a watch schedule so that I am on watch when the sun comes up and my ritual then is similar: I want my first cup of coffee in my hand when I go on deck to watch the sun rise.

Judy, on the other hand, gets her best sleep when the sun comes up, so this works for both of us.

We are now in Barra de Navidad, anchored in the lagoon, and life here is peaceful.

Things are going well for us on the boat, the systems are all working. One very good development has been the electricity situation. For the first time ever, in thirty years, we are nearly self sufficient electrically without using shore power or running the engine. The combination of bright sunlight from 9:00 AM until after 6:00 PM gives us over 90 amp-hours of daily power. The fact that we change the angles of the panels in the morning and afternoons to get the most out of the sun’s rays helps. The cool air and water that surround us keep the boat cool and the refrigerator electrical load down and this helps as do our efficient LCD lights. We’ve also been more careful to turn off devices when not in use and we’ve refurbished some of the wiring and serviced the batteries. It all helps, apparently. The bottom line is that rather than running the engine for an hour or more each day, we get by with 30 minutes or less, or we can skip it entirely.

One thing we haven’t done much of is swimming. The water in the lagoon is not clean and we don’t want to go into it, and in the other anchorages it has been cold. This has been a surprise to us. We did take a trip to the “Aquarium” while we were at Tenacatita, and we were glad we had our shorty wet suits. What we didn’t have was any underwater photo capability, which we have never had, and we decided this year that we will solve that void before we cruise next year. I don’t know what we will get but next cruise we’ll have some sort of camera for underwater shots.

Next week we have the chore ahead of us of taking a bus ride to Vallarta to attend to a visa issue. We’d hoped to put this off until our return to La Cruz in June but it was just too impossible. Well, maybe we could have worked out something locally but the logistics and red tape were daunting. So we’ll park the boat in the Barra Marina and spend a few days going to Puerto Vallarta and getting everything handled.

Now day is nearly over and the shadows grow long and the evening activities begin.

Since I have fixed the stereo’s outside speakers and put a bunch of music on thumbdrives so I don’t have to run the computer to play music, and I have some ice in the freezer and some good scotch whiskey, I am looking forward to lighting the BBQ, which is my nightly job, my peaceful joy, and my other private ritual. Judy has defrosted a steak and it is time to cook. I go on deck again and watch the sun fade away, listening to some blues, sipping my whiskey, and I think about the day as the steak sizzles.

The cruising life for us is good, it is mostly very peaceful and quiet, and we love it.

Drinks at the bar with John and Elinor

Click here for more photos.

Click here for shots from the snorkel trip.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Barra de Navidad