This month, June is the 2 year mark for us being underway from our home at Columbia River Yacht Club in Portland Oregon. 
When we started this adventure, we thought that this 2 year mark we would be close to being done….but that isn’t the case. Our plans have adjusted multiple times, as they should when things happen. But we are so happy they did because we would not have experienced some places that we were not planning on going.
This first disruption of our plans was the overhaul in the Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Shipyard at Opequimar. It took many more weeks than we anticipated. They did a great job but the length of time made us change our plans. We decided to head north up to the Sea of Cortez for the summer. And what a great time we had! We would go back for sure and maybe someday we will do that. It was one of the best times we had.
One of the other best times/places, that was unexpected, was when we hit the San Blas Islands on the Caribbean Sea side of Panama. This was definitely in our plans but we were totally surprised by the level of friendliness from the native Guna Indians. We were blessed to have them share parts of their lives with us and we will never forget this memory. Also the beauty of the land and the hardship these people live every day to just survive is amazing. We were blessed to be able to experience it.
Now we had many small change in plans and we really only plan out the next stop just before leaving the current one. But the Sea of Cortez was a major change to our plans. One of the other major changes to the plan was just recently when the Covid 19 hit the world. We were in Jamaica and we planned on going to Turks and Caicos and had family coming to join us. Well, of course that didn’t happen and we decided to undertake the longest run we had ever done, 4 days, alone with no crew. We made it safely to Florida and were glad to be in the US during these trying times.
We are frequently asked by people we meet about the roughest weather or worst storms. Of course you will all remember our cruise from Costa Rica to Panama, Our most TERRORIZING Cruise ever. We tell this story often to people we meet along the way, with wide eyes watching us as we point to the top of the fly bridge where the sea water attacked me in the middle of the night. This was a life changing event for me as a sailor and I truly respect the sea as it has its own agenda.
Of course, we are always doing repairs on the boat, well, I guess I should say Dan is always doing repairs. At least the repairs are being done in exotic locations, right? Because repairs are so much of our energy, to keep moving and be safe I asked Dan what his most concerning repair was and why. This repair issue was the overheating of our main generator. It actually had two issues, but we did not know that at the time.
Being that the overheating was in our main generator and it was old, we had a bit of concern and needed it fixed quickly. We were in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico at the time, which adds to the complexity if parts are needed. The first issue was a clogged and leaking heat exchanger. It was very troublesome because it was difficult to disassemble, being old & rusty and was hard to get it unfastened in a very tight location. Eventually he was successful, but the part had to be ordered from Cook Engines in the US and then have it shipped. Because it was heavy and expensive part, we paid bucks! Customs in foreign countries can hit you hard. The second issue was found a couple days later after the heat exchanger was replaced. We had a worn out and clogged exhaust mixing elbow. The sea water passage had become clogged, limiting the flow which causes more overheating. We had lost our main generator again. But this time we had friends coming down and they brought the part with them in their luggage and helped Dan fix the elbow. All of this was a major concern because this was our main generator wired to our inverter. We had to use our alternate generator which limited us to 50 amps max.
The winner of best pictures is a slam dunk on “Sunsets & Sunrises”. So many I may need to create a picture book with all these pictures to put on my coffee table, someday!
I was not sure how to put these two years into a overall blog when there was just so much to talk about, So I thought I would put the last 2 years into a list of data points.
- 730 days/2 years living aboard Angelique
- 8,386 nautical miles
- 7 countries visited
- Cruised past 6 countries without stopping
- 12 Scuba/snorkels dives – not enough times, for sure!
- 1 new dinghy
- 1 haul out/overhaul
- 5 times we used 2 anchors – bad holding & bad wind/wave direction
- 3 times major direction change in plans
- 2 marina power failures while gone off of the boat – not fun!
- 18 airline tickets purchased, traveled away from boat
- 1 pandemic
- 2 intruders
- 1 awesome supermoon
- 100’s of amazing sunset/sunrise pictures
- 40+ dolphin sightings
- 1000+ hours fixing & maintaining stuff
- 24 engine oil changes
- 1 stolen phone
- 3 Airbnb’s – during shipyard work
- 50 different visits from our friends/family
- 4 different visits from Ken and Cheryl – Our good friends
- 6 different visits from our kids, Kylie, Chase & Mitch
- 2 Hired hands – who were brothers
- 2 Navy football games attended – different cities
- 40+ motorcycle rides
- 48 blog posts about our adventures
- 75+ books read (hard, on-line & audio)
- 100+ bicycle rides
- 60+ Uber and taxi rides
- 27 nights Angela spent on boat without Dan
- So many new boating friends/acquaintances
- 2 very grateful and blessed owners of Angelique
As we reflect back on the past 2 years living aboard our Motor Yacht, Angelique, we are amazed at how far we have traveled, IN OUR OWN BOAT! So many awesome memories we have and we are EXTREMELY GRATEFUL that I have been writing them all down in this blog. Also, incredibly grateful to our friends and family that have joined us and helped with moving the boat in those times we needed it. And of course, all the people we met along the way, which are now new friends with which we will hopefully keep in touch.
I hope that if this is something you are interested in doing, that you do it! Yes there are rough times, lots of maintenance and repairs. But what an adventure you will live and relive as you remember what you accomplished.
During this point I asked this young 20-something broker “how did you get into this business”. He told me something about his family always had boats…. Blah, blah, blah…. But then he said, “he and his wife spent a year in Panama, San Blas Islands on his sailboat living off fish, swimming and trading fresh water with the locals for fruits & other local items” That was it, I was hooked! I told Dan, that is what I want to do! I think it just sounded so romantic and alluring being anchored off islands and the local come up asking for stuff, just for basic survival.
The Islands felt like time had just gone by them. The kids had the run of the island and everyone knows whose kids they were. I’m guessing like a small town might be, but this is a very small town that you can’t leave unless it is a boat. Everyone takes care of each other. They are all in the same boat together, no pun intended. The rules and laws set by the Chief of their island or islands. (usually an older, very respected man) Time is mostly governed by the sun, they depend on the sea for food and sell coconuts and other hand made items which generates some income. Some have jobs on the islands and some go away to work. They are such a helpful, friendly group of people. I cannot ever remember meeting such warm welcoming group of people.
The Molas are beautiful and range in price from $5 to $40 depending on the size. I am doing my part with keeping their families fed by purchasing as many as I can. This process is overwhelming, viewing and picking out what I like. They start pulling out their goods and laying them out one over top another. I cannot see them all, there are just too many and many different ladies. At some point I start to pick the ones that I have no interest in and hand them back so I can narrow down my choice. When I am done buying or picking out the ones I like, then I ask how much for the ones I picked out. This is usually a miming exercise with me holding up fingers and pointing to the molas that I have picked out… uno, doce, trace…. $5, 10, 15 fingers go up or whatever the price and quantity happen to be. A very limited group can speak english or know the amount in english. I can see the ladies happy and sad faces. Some I bought something from, some I didn’t. It is really hard for me. I wish I could buy something from everyone, but it is just not possible. This happens at every island we pulled into. Once in a while we got someone selling something unique or different, a small wood carved items & a bone/gord type rattle.
Our first english speaking Guna was “Nester”. Nester was a nice man that helped us learn more about the islands, he 
Our friends Ken and Cheryl decided to leave and come back at another time. It was hard to see them go!
She coaches a club team and they are doing really good this year. They got 1st place on their last tournament and were planning for the next. I was super excited for her. Dinner came and I didn’t want to stop talking, so I put her on speaker and sat the phone down on the table. (okay maybe not the best decision, but we were outside and not near anyone). As I was eating while chatting and I started to choke. I had taken too big of a bite of my steak and it was caught in my throat. I knew I was in trouble as I quickly stood up, hoping Dan would figure out what had just happened. If you have ever seen this happen to a person, they can not talk or breathe. Dan had good situational awareness that evening, he was trying to figure out why I was standing up when Kylie was chatting with me. He quickly saw that I was choking and started to perform the Heimlich maneuver. Two pulls on my stomach and it hadn’t come out yet. He was a bit panicked. I felt it move but it wasn’t hard enough pull. Dan did it again and it popped out onto the ground, just like they say. I was grateful and thanked Dan for saving my life. He was more shook up over it then I was. I was more embarrassed and just processing what had just happened. I certainly had gotten distracted by my phone call and wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing. (no multitasking when eating, haha) I decided to tell the story in hope that others would learn by my mistake. Please, Please be aware of the signs and how to perform this process, I’ve included the link as a refresher.
Dan and I have chatted multiple times about what happened and I am so very grateful that it turned out well and I didn’t leave this earth earlier than I should. The impact to my family and friends would have be devastating. I have so much yet to do and give to others with this life, I’m just not done yet! I am definitely bless and count them every day.