Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Oh What a Month!

One month ago, 30 short days, we were on a boat heading north. After celebrating New Years with some fellow cruisers in Turtle Bay we spent an entire day running jerry jugs of diesel from the world's most dangerous diesel dock to our boat, then began our long, slow journey to Ensenada.

The 300 mile trip took us 51 hours when we were headed south, but traveling against the wind, waves and current resulted in a northbound trip of 62 hours. I'd be lying if I didn't say it was excruiciatingly boring and utterly exhausting. We arrived into port in Ensenada just before midnight. Thankfully, Ensenada has to be the easiest place to navigate of any of the marinas we experienced.

After two days of tequila tasting, Cuban cigar smoking and dress buying we again headed north and made the 12 hour trip to San Diego, our destination port.

After clearing customs, which was nearly comical in its cursory nature, we headed to Sun Harbor Marina and prepared ourselves for the work at hand.

We set a goal of two weeks to find a yacht broker and get Malabar all spiffed up and ready for the market!

Our tasks were as follows: Strip and finish all wood work on the outside of the boat, powerwash boat, re-paint transom (the butt of the boat) and accent stripe, buff and wax hull, make new covers for the outboard engine and propane tank, clean all stainless steel, fix burner on stove, clean inside of boat thoroughly.

Dawn to dusk for 11 straight days saw these tasks completed! In our free time we found a broker, sorted out details, found a permanent marina for Malabar while she was on the market and even did her first showing.

On the 14th day we packed our belongings into a rented Nissan Altima, said good bye to our dear Malabar and drove to San Francisco stopping only once in Los Angeles for a much deserved sandwich at Johnnie Pastrami's.

A quick visit in SF allowed us to drop off our belongings in a friend's closet and get hugs from some of our family before we packed up our clothes and hopped a plane to the arctic tundra which is Ohio.

And that is where we sit today in a small cottage behind my parent's house awaiting the predicted 12" of snow. From 90 degrees in the middle of rural Mexico to 0 degrees in the middle of rural Ohio all in 30 days.

We are using the next few months here to restart, to reinvent and to re-imagine what is next in our lives. After a huge, life changing event like 3 months at sea we think it is important to take some time and concrete all of the good changes you have made. It would be all too easy to go directly back to SF and fall back into old habits.

For now, we begin a new life with newfound courage and insight. I can hardly wait to see what comes next in our lives following Malabar.

Prepping the wood work



Check out those drop boards!




Our last picture with Malabar

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