Month: August 2020

Hi everyone! This is Lucy. I hope that you are staying happy and healthy, and having a great day! I wrote this post awhile ago, but I haven’t got to posting it until today. (Better late then never, right!)

I  am going to tell you about the past few days that we have spent here in San Marcos. I noticed a few things right away when we got here. The water was nice and refreshing and if you stayed in long enough, it could maybe even be a little cold. So, we liked this place right away! There were also lots of small sea caves and little beaches. 

We all decided to go check out the sea cave. We got the kayak down, Sally, Heidi, and I all piled into it. Which is much easier said than done.  We kayaked to the cave and we were greeted by the smell of bird poop and darkness. Other than that, was nice and much cooler. We looked around in there a little bit then left. We paddled around to one of the beaches and we found a lot of ray skeletons. Which was sad, but it looked like they ate them.  the next beach that we went to we found three starfish skeletons which were really pretty. We paddled through lots of little passages and saw lots of really brightly colored crabs. The next beach we found a baby hammerhead shark head. I don’t know what it is with us and shark heads,the next day we found 4 more baby shark heads on the beach too.  We went to show off our findings to the other boats and then went back for a laid back afternoon. An hour in the sun here really tires you out. 

The next day we woke up with lots of bees. We were getting swarmed by them, and we had our doors and hatches closed to keep them out. But they managed to come through. We found out that they were coming through a screened window that had part of the screen undone. We got so desperate that we made an exit only sign, English and Spanish, but they did not seem to either care, or know how to read. ; )

We started heading out to North Anchorage,  hoping to shake some of the bees off. Our friends from Arena went there the day before and said the caves were really cool. We decided to take our boat over and meet Arena and Utopia on their dinghies to explore the caves they went to the other day. The new anchorage was beautiful. There were lots of caves, a pretty rock beach, and the water was very clear.  Also- no bees yet!

Heidi and I went to put down the dinghy so we could go with the others to explore the cave. Heidi went in to pump it up after we dropped it down. I looked again at the dinghy and Heidi, and realized that it was floating away! The dinghy for some reason was not tied on. Of course, the engine would not start then. (Don’t worry, it was still relatively close to the boat.) Mom came to the rescue and swam out to it and pulled it back to the boat. As soon as I grabbed on to the line, the engine finally decided to work. This new place was already bringing lots of excitement! 

We packed our snorkels, masks, water, sunscreen, and a few pairs of shoes on to the dinghy. Willie was very happy to come along as we went over to the cave where Arena and Utopia were at. 

This was one of the caves you could swim through. I jumped off of our dinghy and looked in the water. There were lots of little colorful fish which were really cool looking. I also immediately say tons of sea stars. I looked into the darkness of the Sea cave and watched as some in our group, Willie included started going through. 

I went in and I was surprised how dark it got in the middle. It was about half way through and looking at all the rest of the cave before I even put my head in the water. It was a good thing I did! Right in front of me there was a huge rock that was very shallow. 

The light to the end of the cave came up and then we were out of it and ready to snorkel the rocks outside of it. While the rest of us looked and snorkled outside of the cave Wille wanted to keep on going through the cave. For the time we were there, he went through it four or five times!  

Once we were done with exploring that cave, we went to another rock beach that also had good snorkeling.We stayed there for a while, hung out with friends, enjoyed the cool rocks, and saw lots more sea stars. 

We went back to the boat that afternoon pretty tired, (Willie was absolutely exhausted) but it was a great day and we saw lots of cool things. 

Nearly five months after COVID entered my life, the shock is slowly wearing off and I’ve had lots of time to reflect. It’s been the strangest, most uncomfortable, unknown time of my life, a feeling I share with many others. We’ve been trying to make the most of it and continue to choose the ‘least bad option’ (motto of 2020?). Here’s what this has looked like for me. 

This past March, we were packing our boat with months worth of food. Not to survive a world pandemic but to cross the Pacific ocean. Fenton’s birthday was celebrated on the eighth full of laughs and love. We packed and packed and were two days away from leaving Mexico. Then, Fenton was on an airplane heading back to the states. The overnight decision to head home was not easy on anyone here and we still miss him daily. The last time I was on land in any sort of town was the trip to the airport. This started our first round of quarantine. We quickly realized that we were going to be in Mexico for a while when all of the neighboring countries and islands shut their borders. So we picked a few islands to head toward with our two buddy boats. We had to break quarantine a couple of times within our group, we went last minute shopping, we had to bring Willie to the vet, small things that we all needed to do. By the time all three boats had gone two weeks without any human contact it had been 6 weeks. Six weeks was a long time for us. We didn’t have any fresh food for a majority of the time and not being able to see any friends stinks. However, we did get a lot of Scout work done and we got to go swimming off the boat. Looking back on it now, it didn’t seem like that long. We talked to our friends on the VHF or radio daily and had fun playing hangman, guess the lyrics, 20 questions, and other small games that didn’t require being together. We even watched movies ‘together’ some nights, we would agree on a movie, start it at the same time and then give commentary on the radio while the movie was playing. We celebrated Lucy’s birthday and Easter on quarantine which gave us an excuse to party and celebrate the good times. 

Once the 6 weeks were up, all of the kids got together on one boat to eat a delicious breakfast together. Lots of hugs and remembering we could get within six feet of one another were shared. We spent a good chunk of our COVID days (so far) in a small bay called San Juanico. We had beach barbecue’s, played volleyball, went swimming, and just enjoyed each other’s company. Sally and I spent our birthdays in this bay and had a lot of fun running around celebrating our second birthday in Mexico. 

We started school up again, I am now working on my senior (how did this happen?!) year. Besides school, I’ve been having a lot of fun with my buddies here. I watched all 9 Star Wars movies with the boys on Utopia, created a dance with all of the girls on Arena and Utopia, attempted (and nailed) a full on Italian dinner with a good bud, and have been spending most of my time in the water. It’s around or over 100 degrees everyday now. I have also been working through a photography class with the mom and boys off of Utopia and have been really enjoying having some classmates. It’s also fun to document a crazy part of history. 

More recently, we’ve been moving around again. Hopping from anchorage to anchorage and getting to explore the new places as they come. It’s been nice seeing new spots and having small adventures every day. We’ve been trying to keep the blog more up to date so I won’t go into the specifics but it’s been a lot of fun. While we are off of “quarantine” within our bubble, we have yet to see any other people. Our little group sticks together and we make sure that we play it safe. It’s such a crazy time but having two other families to share it with is something I will forever be thankful for. I know I am so lucky to be where I am always but am definitely feeling it now more than ever. It’s been one heck of a rollercoaster but we’re holding on and enjoying it. 

I like to believe that something good is going to come out of this, not sure what that will be yet, I guess time will tell. However, I know that for me personally, I have made a really good friend within our bubble, I have learned that life is so crazy unpredictable and I have been taught to ride the waves as they come, I appreciate the solitude that living on a boat brings even more, and I feel a connection to all other humans around the globe. We are going to get through this, no matter how hard and scary and devastating this is. 

As I start to realize that COVID isn’t going to disappear overnight, I’m slowly adjusting my lifestyle and learning that the smallest things can bring the most joy in this upside-down world. I’m sure that this pandemic has affected everyone differently, so I thought I would share my chunk of the story. 

-Heidi