The first part of the diaries I kept during my sailing cruise from Mexico to Panama…
9 days before opening (11.02.2017)
I was a little shocked when I saw the boat. I knew it would be old but I didn’t expect it to be this dilapidated. Everywhere, everywhere in the boat. Like the farmer’s market. Engine changing, not easy but what about the toilet. Even his door stands on a board.
I got lucky today from the caravan of things to do. I love to paint. I jumped when I heard. Since the wood of the boat is in bad condition, in any rain or wave, a lot of water gets inside.. For this reason, all items, especially sleeping bags and electronics, should be kept dry and stored in a dry bag if possible.. In order to prevent this situation, they stretched a canvas fabric on the deck.. We also painted this. I just used a little too much paint while I was trying to make sure my work would show itself properly.. With less paint, I used less paint on the most used parts of the stern.. Anyway it was nice.
8 days before opening
We are opening tomorrow. Excitement is at its peak. Especially Emre. Food list needs to be made. At first, I was afraid to take such a responsibility, but sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do.. It is a separate responsibility to give what and how much to eat 5 people you do not know for 1 month, it is a separate responsibility to adjust the amount so that it is neither less nor more than 30 days, and it is another responsibility to correctly adjust the amount of prematurely perishable foods such as tomatoes and avocados..
Rupert itches a lot. I hope he doesn’t have a contagious disease.
Today I learned how to tie myself up and gather ropes when I fall into the water.. He wants the ropes to be bundled in a different but similar way to the system I know of Simon. He says if everyone gathers in the same way, no one will have a hard time having to open it in the dark in the middle of the night.. Logical.
I left the boat early because I was feeling a little bad. It looks like I left things unfinished, but if we’re going to open tomorrow, I need to rest well today.. I don’t want to be sick.
7 days before opening – A piss bottle came out of the boat
I could hardly sleep at night. my throat hurts. I can’t breathe in my sleep. It would be nice if I told the captain, but I don’t want to stop the process because of me, and I don’t want to be the weak link.. Emre is a little worried about the situation.. He says let’s say it, I oppose it.
Calculation has become much easier with the excel table that I came up with in the middle of the night.. All that’s left is to do the shopping and transport to the boat.. While we do the shopping, Oz and Simon will take care of the rest of the boat and we’ll be out tonight.. If we can’t set out tonight, the trip will be on Saturday or Sunday due to the incoming airwave..
Rupert said that the reason for itching was dry skin, it didn’t sound like much to me, but since I’m not a doctor, I can’t claim anything.. I have to trust what you say.
Shopping was longer and more tiring than I expected. With Emre showing the shopping list to the manager, an assistant was assigned to us.. When we said what and how much, we did not waste time searching between the aisles and helped to collect the right amounts.. It was not possible for us to carry 400 liters of water alone even to the safe.. On top of that, the market’s truck was allocated to us and they carried all the food to the boat.. kept reasonable in price. Everything from tequila to peanuts is $150 per person.. It covered almost the entire starboard side when all the food was placed on top of the boat.. While I was wondering if it will settle in, they were also taken care of in a way that I don’t understand how.
We piled some of it into the boat, we hung the fresh food on the hammocks, but first the partitions to be placed must be completed.. Inside one of these compartments was Oz’s urine bottle.. She’s been hiding her pee in a bottle for the guy in the next boat. The man was going to make fertilizer or something…
Marina is like a cemetery.. Dying men who can walk with a walker or a cane and their poodles or young lovers live together in the boat but never open. So much so that the left and right of the boats are filled with potted flowers..
6 days before opening
Yesterday was my first night on the boat. I slept early. I wanted to go to bed early and rest, since I hadn’t slept the night before.. It was hard to breathe again. I don’t know if it’s because of my discomfort or just lying upside down I woke up at 1am. I had a headache. I wonder if blood has rushed to my brain because I was lying upside down? There wasn’t much of an angle difference, though, like 5 degrees.. I don’t know if the buff stuck in my head or not. The good part is, the sleeping bag I just bought kept me pretty warm.
He took the labels off the cans we bought yesterday and wrote what they were on Oz.. Due to the possibility of dampness and getting wet, if the labels are torn off while cruising, we will never know again what is in the can.. Luckily, when we open it, it can come out in tomatoes, peas, too.. Besides the cans, we piled all the food inside the sailboat, but it had to be placed in an orderly manner.. Since there are so many cans, I placed each one within easy reach.. Fresh food hung on hammocks. The good part of the installation work is that I know very well what goes where.. The downside is that no one knows but me.. I prepared and pasted labels on what was on the shelves so that they wouldn’t keep calling me when they needed anything.
The most enjoyable job of the day was oiling the old locks.. Playing with grease was as fun as it was dirty.. Just like a meditation.
I’ve been hearing the sounds of seals for a long time, but I couldn’t see them up close.. They were wandering around in an area far from people and where people did not enter, but their voices came all the way to the port.. Every time I heard their voices, I was burning with the desire to see them up close.. Then, when I didn’t understand how, a seal jumped with its big body and threw it on the pier.. Instead of enjoying the moment, I ran to the boat to get the camera.. When I returned, the poodle dog of the boat next to the pier barked and missed the seal, and the seal was looking at the seal from the water with confused eyes.. I wish I’d stayed and watched some more. I don’t know if we will see other seals during the cruise, but I hope we will see a lot of whales due to the migration season..
5 days before opening – Travel Insurance Didn’t Send Doctor
I woke up in the morning with severe diarrhea and nausea. When I vomited at 8 in the morning, the dinner I ate at 8 last night was still in my stomach. Undigested. Is it normal for food to stay in the stomach for 12 hours? Then I vomited again around 10 o’clock and I was still making out for dinner.
When there was nothing more to remove, I helped remove a substance such as silicone, which provides insulation between the deck and the wooden hull of the boat.. To strengthen the insulation, we need to clean this material and fill it with a new one.. It is obvious that the insulation is not strong due to the situation of the woods.. While I was studying, I continued to feel bad, but continued as best I could.. I don’t want to be the weak girl and I want to make it. I intend to use every last drop of my energy.
Recognizing the situation, Emre took me for a walk.. I learned from bitter experience how electrolytes can help prevent water loss when I had dysentery in India.. Luckily I’m in Mexico now in a fairly modern country.
In the third urination, there was no more food than last night, I was removing electrolytes.. Well, at least I taste strawberry in my mouth now..
Beyond Emre’s suggestions that it is a team job, that everyone does not have to do everything, everyone will come to the fore according to their abilities, that I do not have to prove anything to anyone, that I need to rest until I get better, all of my muscles are in the cafe where we are sitting. When I started to shiver and get cold I realized I had to go and listen.
Although the engine was repaired and the exhaust was changed right next to the cabin door, I slept without any discomfort.. All my muscles ached. I just took a medicine against diarrhea. I slept, slept, slept.
I was feeling a little better when I got up for dinner. Oz made me a medicine from his secret recipe.. I drank a lot of it. I didn’t want to take paracetamol. I had comprehensive health insurance, so I called him.. First they said ok, we’re arranging doctor.. Then a second phone call came, they said that your trip has exceeded 92 days and you are out of scope.. Well, I bought this insurance for 6 months.. be warned in advance. After 92 days, I had to enter and leave Turkey so that the insurance would be active again.. I’m so angry. Could something like that be retarded? What do those who go on a world tour do?.
When I got angry, suddenly, I got better.
4 days before sailing – The sailboat is getting water
I woke up much better in the morning. My nose is still stuffy but I feel better. I rested all day.
They closed the marina. because of the storm. Exits prohibited.
Work continued for insulation.
Oz made an amazing fish curry but I just couldn’t stomach it. I vomited both bites I ate. However, it was delicious.. i wish i could eat.
During dinner, we talked a bit about emergency cases and shifts.. They’re more like a horror movie script than an emergency scenario.. First rule no matter what you do don’t fall into the water. That’s the most important thing. In case of emergency and we leave the sailboat, the first thing to take is electrolytes to prevent mineral loss, water, snacks to energize (chocolate and nuts, peanuts) and of course the most important thing is passports.. We handed the passports to Simon. He will keep it in Tiger Cage (actually dog house but former owner named it tiger cage). In case of an emergency, we will be able to pick up and leave immediately without having to call.. If the night shift is 3 hours of work, 3 hours of rest. When you’re free, rest as much as you can, says Simon.. When working, energy and concentration are paramount.. Simon will always be up and running, while Emre and Oz are the shift leader.. In this context, I would either be with Emre on the shift or with Oz.. Due to the minor incidents that Emre and I had experienced in previous cruises, we decided that it would be more logical not to keep shifts together and that we would not be able to mingle with the team when we did shifts together.. And I have a lot to learn from old Oz. Even though we are in the same boat for 1 month, we will hardly see each other..
The most enjoyable thing of the night was the man living on the next boat saying to Rupert why the work is not finished on your sailboat.. Although they live in the marina, they are so far from the sea and the boat.
It rained at night. Water is running over the bed in our cabin.. As a solution, I attached plastic bags so that the water would fill them.. Partially successful. What I did before I went to sleep was very successful, but the others continued to pour on me because I got up and did it in the middle of my sleep.. My hair is so wet. Even though I don’t care if I’m not sick, I don’t want to get sick any more before I’m fully recovered.. The side that Emre sleeps on is dry. I tried to wake Emre many times. Didn’t wake up due to alcohol. I’m stuck in water.
If the boat gets this much water even in the rain, what will happen when it’s battling the waves?
3 days before opening
Paperwork in progress. Since the port is closed, those in the office are not working either.. We might not be able to go out on Sunday, if things didn’t catch up. Things are starting to get a little boring. Simon is trying to get someone in..
2 days before opening 18.02.2017 – The seal arrived….
My nose is still stuffy but I feel better. The fact that the port is closed bothers me a bit.. I got rid of the disease.
When I chatted with the Frenchman on the next boat and the Italian Gerardo, who was on another boat, they were shocked when they learned that there was no autopilot in the sailboat and that we would be holding the helm with the shift.. When they asked if there was a radar, I said there are some electronic devices so that they would not have a heart attack, but I did not say that there was no radar.. Crazy job, they kept saying, can this job be done?. I don’t have any worries. I’m not afraid.
Since we will be opening tomorrow, we intend to go out today and spend all the pesos we have left.. Rupert, Emre and I went for coffee. We didn’t know what to do with the pesos when Rupert ordered the coffees.. Although we couldn’t find the moka pot we’ve been looking for since we finally arrived in Mexico, we bought a french press.. Now that the coffee issue is resolved, we can open.
Today Simon taught me how to sew the ends of new ropes, the pian stitch. It is not used much these days, everyone burns the end of the rope, but I prefer to burn both the piano stitch and the end at the same time.. it was enjoyable. Complete leisure activity. Are you bored in the boat, is there a rope that has not been sewn, get stuck.
Today a seal came near the boat. He was trying to catch small fish on the side of the boat.. He swam next to the boat for 10-15 minutes.. I tried to record it on camera when I could, at one point our eyes met and I think it made me feel a little uncomfortable.. Then it didn’t appear again.
We legally exited Mexico yesterday. As of the 17th, we seem to be outside of Mexico, but of course we are still wandering around in Mexico.. If the port opens tomorrow, we will be able to exit..
Simon is a little worried about our lack of kerosene. No matter how hard we searched, we couldn’t find any kerosene.. Since the hob is old-fashioned, it runs on kerosene, and if it runs out on the way, we won’t be able to cook.. On our way to Walmarta to look for kerosene and grease, we ran into Gerardo.. He said he could take us with his car.. So good in the rain. He took us to all the shops he knew, but we couldn’t find the kerosene.. He said that there was a place he knew next to his office, that it was closed at the time, but he could pick it up for us when he went to his office tomorrow.. I’m so tired of standing in port but I’m willing to wait another day for kerosene.
At dinner, the subject turned around and came to sharks. The island of Guadalupe, which we will pass by, is famous for its sharks.. Some sharks can travel under the boat with us for days without being seen, and then take a small bite when we decide to swim in a sunny place daily.. When I listen with my eyes wide, they say don’t be afraid. Sometimes I don’t know if they’re serious or they’re making fun of me.
1 day before opening
I woke up with rain in the morning. We did not get wet at night with the bags that I rearranged in the evening.. Some of the bags are full, they need to be emptied.
What you have read so far was the preparations before the cruise. You can access an overview of my experiences while sailing and the sailing logs at the link below.
Sailing – From Mexico to Panama
Sailing Log Logs – Part 2
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SAILING NAVIGATION LOGS – SECTION 3
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