Badabim Bada Boom!

Après tout ce bon temps, fallait bien mettre la main à la pâte... Laver les cordes du
bateau, réorganiser nos trucs, reficeler les cordes, laver le bateau et inspecter un
peu tout autour pour s’assurer que tout fonctionne à merveille. Nous avons constaté
que les poulies à l’intérieur du mât étaient coincées et mal organisées. On s’est cassé
la tête pas à peu près! Les poulies internes étaient inaccessibles.
Il a fallu tout démonter le système et tout réinstaller le cordage. Mon expérience
de planche à voile m’a bien aidé pour comprendre la logique des poulies. Il nous
manquait des outils, donc notre radio call nous a bien aidé. On a pu faire un appel à
tous pour nous faire prêter des outils par le bateau Hydroquest (thank you guys!)
Tout ce tralala a duré toute la journée et même jusqu'à 10 heures pm.

On n’a quand même pas mis notre belle vie de côté... Alors tout de suite après notre
travail acharné, on est allés prendre une pause dans le spa du méga hôtel voisin.
Résider dans la marina nous y donne accès gratuitement.

Badabim bada boom! On rush on rush! Ça a duré 4 jours comme ça, de course à
gauche à droite, en haut en bas. Les provisions au Costco, ouff ! On a acheté pour
1000$ de bouffe … une de mes plus grosses épiceries personnelles à vie!

Il nous reste encore quelques trucs à faire avant notre départ mais rien de
trop compliqué. Installer des portes pour tous les nouveaux trous à provisions,
construire et installer un rack pour notre annexe durant la traversée, un dernier
approvisionnement en légumes et truc frais et + lol ouin! pas trop compliqué, mais
quand même dans le «gros jus».

Vous croyez que vivre sur un bateau c’est le paradis? et que c’est la vie facile …hein?
Vous vous trompez totalement. Je crois que je n’ai jamais vu du monde rusher
comme ça non stop du matin au soir, même presque la nuit! En fait, bientôt ce sera
la nuit aussi pour notre traversée en plein océan.

Ca prend toute une organisation pour cette aventure, un mois en mer au beau milieu
de nulle part. Faut rien oublier, parce que le dépanneur va être loin en titi!
En fait, je n’aurai jamais été aussi loin d’un dépanneur de Chinois de ma vie. Mais qui
sait, peut-être qu’on va en croiser un flottant au beau milieu de nulle part.

Y a de la bouffe partout dans les murs, dans le plancher, sous mon lit, sous le four,
dans tous les petits coins possibles et inimaginables, même derrière la toilette dans
le mur! Capitaine Chris a même troué les murs du bateau pour ajouter de l’espace de rangement.

le rangement des truc en ziploc et sous vide ....

Ça fait 2 semaines que je suis sur le bateau et là, je peux dire que ça ressemble à un
bateau qui semble pas mal prêt à amarrer au large pour un long périple de près d’un
mois sans arrêt en pleine mer jour et nuit, 24 sur 24, 7 sur 7 …

voici une petite video que j'ai fais!

Mes premier jours sur le boat [French]

Salut tout le monde!

Jour 1

Me voila bien arrivé …mon départ fut bref et intense, mais assez doux d’une émotion contrôlée et surtout connue. D’autant plus que c’est la 6^e fois que je quitte pour un long terme . Je regardais ma maison en la remerciant de toujours avoir été là . J’étais fier, heureux et me sentais accompli, toujours avec un léger doute qui me traverse l’esprit . Un doute normal et sans réponse, jusqu'à ce que je revienne au bercail.

Je suis parti, Sabrina m’a reconduit à l’aéroport, de justesse, comme d’habitude. La routine, quoi! Je cherchais une hôtesse, de l’aide pfff…et hup! je me faisais sauver par une Mexicaine agente de bord qui me fit passer devant tout le monde pour sauver du temps au check in. J’ai finalement pas eu le temps de m’assoir  juste le temps d’aller aux toilettes  et boom, directement dans l’avion. J’étais assis à coté d’une dame voyageuse de croisière. C’était sympa de déjà jaser de voyage. C’était cool! Ça a passé le temps et ca me faisais déjà rêver de voyage.

Arrivé à Atlanta, me voilà en direction de ma nouvelle gate et soudainement, boom! encore  le coup de foudre … un coup de foudre qui me couta 450 balles. Je me suis laissé tenter et oui, elle est pro et se nome go pro avec sa suce qui colle à tout, au bateau sur  les surf aux murs et pour vous ramener des images de fou à rendre jaloux.

Chaque transfert fut rapide et pas le temps de niaiser  !

Arrivé au Mexique, mes amis Fox et Anne-Marie étaient la ready to go! Nous sommes partis de l’aéroport en autobus, une ride d’une heure. On s’est arrêté dans une place de tacos typiquement mexicaine avec une ambiance et une musique mexicaine avec évidemment de la trompette et leurs gros sombreros. C’était dans un petit village non loin de notre ancrage à Pointa de Mita .  

Après ce cancan, nous voilà arrivée au bateau et boom! me voici me voilà! Je me sens déjà chez nous. L’ambiance est trop parfaite. Je commence à placer mes trucs dans les petits trous du bateau.  Après tout ce trimbalage de transfert de 3 avions différents. Me voilà déjà au lit, bercé par les vagues pour un sommeil parfait.

Jour 2

Le 28 février au matin, je me réveille par le son des vagues et le mouvement du bateau qui oscille et un léger craquement de bois au-dessus de mon lit.  Léger et subtil, mais répétitif, comme une chaise de grand-mère qui berce. Me voilà levé a 6 h45, je monte sur le pont pour constater le superbe lever de soleil. 

Je constate à ce moment ma chance et ma fierté d’avoir choisi tout ca.

Petit déjeuner aux fruits frais, une petite chaleur parfaite et une brise de mer.

S’ensuit la préparation pour le spot de surf à seulement 10 minutes  d’annexe (dinki). Arrivé au spot, nous voici nous voilà en annexe derrière les vagues on met l’ancre et hop! à l’eau directement on the spot … les vagues sont belles et parfaites. Pour commencer, on a nagé en malade et surfé juste un peu, comme d’habitude, évidemment, tu nages ta vie pour rider seulement quelques secondes.

C’était beau et très amusant et ça me remet en forme.

Diner, petite sieste, pêche improvisée et souper confectionné par un chef très joyeux et absolument comblé, ça commence déjà à être irréel… je capote !

Jour 3

On se lève 7h15, déjeuner, préparation du bateau pour une navigation de l’autre côté de la baie où nous sommes. J’ai appris à poser les voiles et à lever l’ancre sur notre bateau, le Starship.  On a ensuite pris le large et Oups!  petit problème technique  déjà, le bateau n’avance pas comme il devrait. Chris plonge à l’eau pour aller observer le dessous du bateau et l’hélice du moteur.

Mmmm ! on constate que le dessous du bateau est envahi par de petits coquillages et des mollusques. Ça grouille sous le bateau! Il y a fallu s’équiper de nos équipements d’apnée et aller gratter le bateau. Ouf!pas facile et très épuisant comme travail sérieux, un bateau de 36 pieds à gratter en retenant son souffle c’est pas donné à tout le monde. Surtout qu’en sortant de l’eau, je constate toutes les petites créatures qui se sont collées à mon chandail. Ca grouille vraiment et c’est vraiment dégeux! On est replongés pour nous débarrasser de ces bêtes non désirées. Ouuuuuuwwwwach  !

On est repartis sur une bonne vitesse, en tout cas meilleure qu’avec toutes ces merdes. Partis pour 3 heures de voile dans la baie, on croise des baleines une maman et son petit à quelque 100 mètres de nous. Wow! Encore récompensé, ici c’est  la saison et il y en a plein partout à ce qu’il parait… 

Arrivée à  Paradise Marina. La marina des gros yatchs de mongols, ho my God ! C’est la rencontre des aventuriers qui traversent le Pacifique.  Conférence, explications, photo, procédure et cocktail.  On a rencontré deux autres Québécois dans la trentaine et un autre couple, de notre âge, aussi très cool. Nous allons passer aussi dans un magazine de bateau très connu, le Latitude 38, nous sommes le bateau avec l’équipage le plus jeune. Après le tout, on s’est fait une petite soirée hot-dogs et jasette sur notre bateau. Très drôle et vraiment bonne soirée pour la fin de notre journée.

Le monde du bateau est incroyable et très stimulant… ça me donne des ailles et ça me semble un mode de vie excellent. Les gens sont tellement débrouillards et complets, prêts à tout et a faire n’importe quoi. Ça me ressemble et je suis aux anges. 

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Location:

La Cruz

Latitude:

20.7465833

Longitude:

-105.3678

Paradise Lost ... and Found

Paradise Village Marina sounds like a great place to be doesn't it?

Paradise Village Marina - Can you spot our BFF Hydroquest??

Paradise Village looks like Mayan pyramids emerging from the jungle!

Well not for us! Being in a marina for us means money is being spent ... rapidly, and perhaps most importantly we can't go surfing with the same ease or frequency.

When we find ourselves in a Marina, it is usually because we have work to do which requires us to be still, as opposed to bouncing around at anchor. That was the case for our last 4 days in "Paradise", which was filled with 12+ hour days of boat projects.

The project list included:

• Reinforce the goose neck track
• Repair the sail out haul
  
  
  Who would have thought repairing something which is enclosed inside of a 15 foot
  aluminum pole would be so difficult??
• Clean/inspect the standing rigging
  
  
  Everyone loves to see why someone is going up the mast.
  
  And have a lot of questions about the gear being used.
  
  Starship from the mast head
  
  Anne-Marie volunteered for the tough job of cleaning the back stay!
• Wash all running rigging
• Wash the boat
• Wash our snorkeling gear
  
  
• Fill the water tanks
• Calibrate windvane
• "Spinout" the standing rigging
• Provisioning trip to Costco
  
  
  The gang heads to Costco on a mission
  
  Where are we going to put all this!!?!?!?

How does one manage to get 12 giant paper towel rolls, 80 toilet paper rolls and 12 boxes of Kleenex into a 36 foot sailboat you may ask?? Well it is quite easy with our revolutionary new, space age vacuum packing system!

Observe the tremendous space savings!

Simply pack contents into a Ziploc bag, apply compression forces,
and vacuum out the air, in this case via a straw.

Most days we would be done our work just in time to head over to the hot tub before it closed at 10PM.

Mandatory 30 minute beach break

Luckily we have found the true paradise again! ... as long as you consider paradise working like crazy and then surfing.

Punta de Mita here we come!

Paradise indeed!

I couldn't say it better myself! We're back!

Busby's First Days [English]

Hi everyone!

Day 1

Well ... I have arrived! My departure was brief and intense, but smooth and my emotions were under control, especially since this is the 6th time I have left for a long-term trip. I looked at my house thanking her for always being there. I was proud, happy and felt a sense of accomplishment, always with a slight doubt that crosses my mind. Doubt about how my house will be treated while I'm gone, but I will not know until I return.

My friend Sabrina drove me back to the airport, we narrowly made it, as usual. I found a Mexican flight attendant who took me to the front of everyone to save time at check-in. I had no time to sit down, just enough time to go to the bathroom and boom, right into the air we went. I sat next to a lady who was on her way to a cruise ship. It was nice talking about travel already. It was cool! It helped to pass the time and it made me dream of the travel we had ahead.

At my transfer in Atlanta, I was walking in the direction of my gate and suddenly, boom! I stopped ... a cupid struck me with a $450 arrow. I was tempted and yes, she is a pro ... a GoPro with a suction cup that sticks to everything ... the boat, surf boards, kiteboards ... so I can bring you images of our crazy adventure that will make you jealous.

Each transfer was quick and no time fooling around!

Arrived in Mexico, my friends Fox and Anne-Marie were ready to go! We left the airport by bus, which took an hour. We stopped in to eat at a typical Mexican taco stand with a Mexican ambiance, music with trumpets and of course their big sombreros. It was in a small village not far from our anchorage Punta de Mita.

After all the commotion, we were coming to the boat and boom! Here I am here I am! I already felt at home. The atmosphere is too perfect. I started to put my stuff into the small holes of the boat. After all the running around and three plane transfers, I was ready for bed, rocked by the waves for a perfect sleep.

Day 2

28 February morning, I awoke to the sound of waves and the oscillating movement of the boat and a slight creaking of wood above my bed. Light and subtle, repetitive, like a grandmother in a rocking chair. I was up by 6:45, and went on deck to see the beautiful sunrise. I felt so lucky at that time and proud that I have chosen to be a part of this.

Breakfast with fresh fruit, a little heat and a perfect sea breeze.

After breakfast we prepared to go surfing at a spot only 10 minutes away (by dinghy). We arrived at the spot, anchored outside the waves and hopped in! We paddled a short distance right into the surf line up ... the waves were beautiful and perfect. To begin, we paddled a lot and surfed just a little, as usual, of course, you swim for your life and ride a few seconds. It was beautiful and fun and it got me into shape.

Lunch, nap, improvised fishing and improvised dinner crafted by a very happy and content chef, it is already beginning to be unreal ... it's awesome!

Busby working his magic

The advantage of having a chef onboard

Day 3

We got up at 7:15, breakfast, preparing the boat for navigation on the other side of the bay. I learned to put the sails on our boat, the Starship. We then took off and Whoops! Small technical problem already, the boat is not moving as it should. Chris jumped in the water to observe the bottom of the vessel and the engine propeller. Mmmm! We saw that the bottom of the boat is covered with small shells and mollusks. Chris and I put on our snorkeling equipment and cleaned the bottom. Whew, difficult and exhausting, serious work, a 36-foot boat bottom cleaning is not for everyone. Especially out of the water, I see all the little creatures that are stuck to my rash guard. Really swarming and it's really disgusting! We plunged back to get rid of these unwanted animals. Eeewwwww!

We left at high speed, much better than with all that growth. For 3 hours we were sailing in the bay, saw a mother whale and calf about 100 meters from us. Wow! So rewarding, it is the season and there are plenty around so it seems ...

Arrived in Paradise Village Marina. Crazy large yachts in the marina, oh my God! We are here for the meeting of adventurers across the Pacific ... conference, explanations, photos, procedures and cocktails. We met two other Quebecers in their thirties and another couple our age, also very cool. We will also appear in a well-known magazine, Latitude 38, we are the boat with the youngest crew. After the meeting, we had a little hotdog party and chitchat on our boat. It was a very fun and really good evening to the end of our day.

The one place Busby can stand straight

Paradise Village at night

The world of boats is amazing and very inspiring ... it makes my spirits fly and it seems a great lifestyle. People are so resourceful and complete, ready for anything and to do anything. It suits me and I'm in heaven.

View Larger Map

Location:

La Cruz

Latitude:

20.7465833

Longitude:

-105.3678

Introducing Jonathan - The Wild Card

Today our third crew member, Jonathan Busby has arriving in Mexico!

I met Jonathan while I was working in California. He was a kitesurfing instructor at Board Sports School where I also volunteered. We got to know each other over two summers of working at Board Sports School. When Anne-Marie and I were trying to think of who could crew with us across the Pacific, Jonathan shot to the top of the list!

Jonathan is already used to our vagabond life style, since he often spends 4-6 months of the year as a kitesufing instructor in exotic locations... Australia, The Carribean, San Francisco. The rest of the time he is a chef near his hometown of Montreal. Jonathan's first language is French which will also be super handy in French Polynesia!

Anne-Marie and I have already nick named Jonathan "The Wild Card", since he is so excited for the trip and want's to do everything you could imagine... such as night diving with sharks and kitesurfing across the equator (not going to happen!). Anne-Marie and I will certainly have our hands full tempering his enthusiasm :)

What is even happening here??

How did he get in there?? Or out?

Jonathan Busby - Wild Card

Over the next couple of weeks before we shove off we will be putting Jonathan through an extensive training program to familiarize him with Starship's systems.

You will also start to see blog contributions from Jonathan. We are still trying to figure out a good way to have him write in French and have it translated to English, when we figure something out we'll let you know. For now we have added a Google Translate feature to the blog (on the right panel) so that Jonathan's friend's and family can read the post in French.

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Location:

Punta de Mita

Latitude:

20.7665333

Longitude:

-105.5172

Herb and Michelle Explore Banderas Bay

We had a very exciting week exploring Banderas Bay with Herb and Michelle.

Sunday Market in La Cruz

In the past when visitors had come to Starship, we had the opportunity to stake out the best places to take them ahead of time. This time though we had just arrived in Banderas Bay, so we were all figuring things out together for the first time.

Standup Paddle Yoga at Sunday Market in La Cruz

The trip got off to a bit of a rough start as Michelle's luggage did not make her connection. After one failed attempt to have it delivered to a restaurant near the boat, we decided it would be easiest to take a taxi back to the airport and pickup the luggage ourselves.

Trying to relax, waiting for the luggage which never came...

Finally with Michelle's luggage onboard we decided to set out from La Cruz to Punta de Mita, a small tourist town near the mouth of the bay which is famous for surfing.

Herb and Michelle experience the finest street dining La Cruz has to offer!

Enroute we observed quite a spectacular show put on by the Humpback whales in the bay. We had heard from a lot of cruisers how amazing the whales are here, and they weren't kidding! At one point we had to take evasive action to avoid a pod we had been watching.

The best breeching photo we captured

Trying not to hit the whales.

After Punta de Mita, we headed for Puerto Vallarta where we stayed in Marina Vallarta. The state of the marina facilities was very disappointing. Missing cleats, no power, questionable water, and disgusting showers. Luckily the area around the marina was bustling and interesting. It was also a short, bumpy bus ride to the downtown core.

After leaving Marina Vallarta, we went for a lunch stop at a place called Los Arcos, or "The Arcs". Named after it's islands with arcing sea caves, it made for a great snorkelling stop for Anne-Marie and Michelle.

Michelle summoning the courage to jump from the boat. 

Michelle and Anne-Marie ready to go exploring.

View through one of the arcing sea caves.

Our next stop took us over to Paradise Village Marina in Nuevo Vallarta, which is affectionately referred to as "Disney Land". Paradise Village was miles above Marina Vallarta in terms of facilities and service! On top of that, it was 40% cheaper, with full access to the resort facilities.

Michelle riding the Crocodile slide

Anne-Marie on the Crocodile slide

They have two tigers! And lots of parrots that say "Hola" & "Agua"

Paradise Village was a perfect place for Herb & Michelle to end their stay. The shower facilities were excellent so they could prepare for reintegration with the civilized world. And there was a really interesting mangrove that you can tour in the dinghy behind Paradise Village. On the tour we got a close up look at Green Iguanas, various birds, and crocodiles!

The African Queen! 

Iguana Ménage à trois

Check out more pictures in our Picasa photo album, and our video (only on the website, not in email) below:

View Larger Map

Location:

La Cruz

Latitude:

20.7485167

Longitude:

-105.3721667