Syzygy Sailing

We have been anchored a half mile outside of La Cruz for just over a week now, and it has felt like approximately 3 days. The time passes effortlessly unnoticed. For the first week we spent a lot of energy getting accustomed to the scene and taking care of business. Finding groceries, doing laundry, picking up parts for broken items, etc. Most days we dinghy into the marina, sometimes before lunch (more often after).   We’re anchored towards the back of the pack (there are about 30 boats out there with us), so it takes about 20 minutes of fighting with the outboard to get us into the marina.  We tie up next to the boat of newly acquired friends and then walk a half mile around the marina and into la cruz.  Three times now we have caught the bus towards puerto vallarta–a slow local bus that immediately turns the trip into a full-day affair.  We have eaten most of our dinners in town–the food is usually cheap and often it doesn’t make sense to return to the boat to make a meal.  We now plan only one task for each day–getting groceries is definitely a full-day affair; doing laundry ended up being a two-day affair.  I have experienced “mexican time” in the past, but each time I return it takes time to adjust.

We’ve made many new friends. There was a potluck on the roof of the yacht club, a couple dinners at friend’s boats, dinners on our boat. There was a swap meet this past weekend.  Many of the friends we met through their blogs before we even arrived to the area.  It was very cool to meet Diane, Evan, and Maia aboard Ceilyadh; we’ve been following their progress down the coast for months.  I spent nearly a full-day slacklining with Maia and a few of her friends.  We had Mike and Hyo from Io aboard for dinner last night, and I laughed to the point of tears over some of their stories.  Our friends Louis and Laura from Cirque are in the area–they’ve been cruising this part of Mexico for years now and were our inspiration for heading to La Cruz.  I learned how to sail while racing on board Cirque up in the bay, and they just won their division of the banderas bay regatta for a second year in a row.  Last night we had dinner with Mark on Wendaway (previously SolMate), who we met in San Carlos years ago when we first bought our boat; both the food and conversation was excellent and I will remember it as a special evening.  Raptordance (Bill and Mary) are also in the area; Raptordance is a Valiant 50 and Bill was one of the founders of the yahoo Valiant owner’s forum that has been such a helpful resource for me.  Wally Bryant from Stella Blue is anchored near us in the bay; he was up in the bay area with us while we were fixing up our boat.  His detailed blog is incredible and his advice in fixing up Syzygy was, and continues to be, top-notch.  It has been great to finally spend time with him over a few beers instead of email.  This place is full of cruisers who are doing the same thing we are, and it’s good to be able to bond over similar experiences.

The warm weather is wonderful.  It feels fantastic to be able to wear only shorts, all day long and into the evening.  I’m getting a tan for the first time in years.

Most boats that are doing the puddle jump–crossing the pacific to the marquesas–are leaving within the next week or so, or have left already.  We’ll definitely be one of the last boats to head out; we’re ok with that.  We need the time to relax and recover, and finish getting the boat ready.

Honestly, I’m still finding it hard to relax–I have been so long out of practice.  I have had difficulty sleeping–I’m thinking that it’s mostly the hotter temperatures, to which I haven’t yet acclimatized (but I love that it is hot, don’t get me wrong).  Then I wake up and feel as if I should be getting stuff done, working on the boat, running errands, etc, and unfortunately there is still a lot of that to be done.  We want to depart for the south pacific in about three weeks and there are items to fix and improve from our trip down the coast, so half of the days we’ve been here I’ve been working on something.  Each day I feel a little less pressure, but there hasn’t been a dramatic release of stress and responsibility as I had expected.  I feel that it will take a while to adapt to the changes, to become accustomed to having free time.  We have no hard deadlines anymore, we can do what we want when we want, and surprisingly the absence of such deliberate planning has been difficult to get used to.  Time, we’ll give it time and see how it feels.

The truth is that the mere absence of boat work does not in itself cause happiness–it has taken me a few weeks to recognize this.  I have the time now to again participate in other activities: reading, thinking, socializing, exercising, etc, and these other activities in life bring me my joy and fulfillment–just as soon as I again remember how to let them happen.