83 Weeks Later.... — sailing arena

Today marks the last day of our 14 day quarantine here in Canada. We will officially step back into landlubbing life for the next few months. We have SO much to be thankful for with a home so generously shared by Jamie’s parents and a country that welcomed us back with open arms (FIGURATIVELY ONLY!). The provincial government removed our 2 month waiting period for health care reinstatement, so we can breathe a bit easier. We are #blessed (😉) beyond measure and I mean that with all sincerity! Salt Spring Island is one of my favourite places on earth and we get to belong here for a while. With all of this being said, there has been a heaviness that has not yet been lifted. We’ve left our home, our belongings, our tiny beds, our comfort, and our community. This wasn’t the plan! But what have we learned? Plans are more like vague concepts in our lives. The tides continuously change and the current has pushed us in this direction. We have never in all of our years had plans go according to OUR plan, but the outcome is consistently better than we could have dreamed, so we’ve buckled up for this next chapter in the adventure!

Lemme explain how we got here!

Bahia Francisquito

Sailing from San Carlos to Bahia San Francisquito towards the end of October, we had an absolute blast. The sailing conditions were perfect and our moods were super chill. Sometimes sailing at 7 knots, other times barely 3 knots, we had nowhere we had to be. One of our winches seized, so Jamie spent the afternoon disassembling, cleaning and reassembling said winch.

We sailed gently along into the late afternoon, the sky getting darker as we went. Once reassembled, we changed course and took our shifts for the night. The ocean became glass at some point in the night and the only moving object was Arena, rumbling along, sliding through the water effortlessly. This was the first time in maybe a YEAR that we’d felt warm floorboards and really appreciated the heat of the engine. We found a few pairs of crumpled sweatpants in the back of our shared drawer and tucked some blankets under the dodger. We watched a lone island drift by us, so it seemed, looking lonely and beautiful on its own in the still water. The feeling of freedom from the bustle of land was ours once again.

Bahia Francisquito was perfect. Cold water, hot hot sun in the day, seals, turtles and vacated turtle nests, coyotes howling on the beach….reset.

Bahia de Los Angeles

As we came in to the anchorage, we had a large Mahi on the hand line and a parade of whale sharks at the bow. PERFECT! Throughout the next few days, the whale sharks grazed on scum of the nutritious variety and allowed us to experience the absolute enormity of their presence. We swam with them, got knocked in the legs and stomach by rogue tails and stifled common sense while swimming with these gentle giants. Lochlan did not suspend his common sense, but got quite the show from the dinghy. He yelled to Karen (Utopia) that the biggest one in the bay had the name of Darryl J . Darryl was a curious beast that would turn around time and again to visit Loch at the dinghy with a gaping maw. What a cool experience.

Bronwyn trying to keep up with Darryl the whale shark

The wind movement in and around this bay was quite the adventure(s) and we got hammered one night with winds up to 50knots in the bay. That was interesting! Quite comfortable below decks in Arena, but a bit disconcerting to pop up on deck to find one of the neighbouring anchored boats had dragged half way across the bay, unbeknownst to the sleeping captain aboard. SuperAndrew on Utopia went out in his dinghy in the crazy blow and woke the captain up, likely moments before he was on top of a fishing boat.

Ada & Ava (Utopia) getting ready for a Mythical Creatures Dinner Party

Riley & Sally as unicorns for the Mythical Creatures Dinner Party

Bahia Pescadora

This gorgeous bay was filled with a barrage of activity for all 10 kids! Camping, Halloween celebrations, Dia de Muertos, more camping, and then sweet Ava’s 15th birthday party. The kids were absolutely knackered from their 4 day binge! The adults had a few chances to get away to Utopia in the evenings for some hysterical moments and truly great company. We were enjoying our time because life together was coming to a close. The Arena crew had plans to head south to Bahia Matenchen to meet up with my parents on their new sailboat for Christmas. Love & Luck and Utopia had their own plans, so the time had come to break our bubble once again. As it turned out, Arena and Utopia had plans that were oddly the same, so we spent a few more days with their company in Bahia Pescadora and Santa Rosalia.

Santa Rosalia

This was meant to be a quick stop before continuing south. The northerlies were now in full motion, so we popped in here to provision and grab a bit of protection for a night or two.

One night as we were sitting in the cockpit, enjoying the stars and calm waters, we heard the bilge pump flick on. What on earth? The bilge pump should not ever randomly be heard on Arena! We checked the heads to make sure the toilet valves were in the closed position. We checked taps and the fresh water pump (our nemesis). No leaks. Checked the new salt water pump that Jamie had replaced in San Carlos - working like a charm. Turns out that the OTHER salt water pump that feeds the engine had been leaking, nay spraying, into the engine bay during our last motor sail from Bahia Pescadora to Santa Rosalia. The alternator and all other great and necessary components in the engine bay had a nice new coating of salt water on it. GOOD GRIEF.

The pump needed repair. We were not in the best place to attempt a repair as the anchorage in Santa Rosalia is the WORST anchorage ever. I won’t even get into it, but I will say I noticed that Arena wasn’t where she was anchored one night and Arena dredged the entire anchorage around Utopia thereafter!! Beautiful, interesting town, wonderful people, and the worst harbour. I digress………..but the anchorage sucks.

It was a bit discouraging after all of the time and money we’d just put into Arena while in San Carlos. There were a few other issues that we wanted to deal with in the coming months, so this pressing issue of the pump seemed to tip the scales for us. Closest major centre for repair was back in San Carlos, so we made the decision to cross back across the Sea of Cortez and figure it out in a place that had the support we needed in case we required a tow or a haul out. Since we’d previously sailed across the sea at the angle from San Marcos (very close to Santa Rosalia) and that turned out to not be a great angle, we chose to head down to Punta Chivato, just north of the mouth of Bahia Concepcion, before crossing northeast over the Sea.

Punta Chivato

Beautiful shell COVERED beaches, cold wind and water, and tough final goodbyes.

San Carlos again

As we dropped anchor in the San Carlos anchorage, we were greeted by Sarra and Bernie on Momo. Sarra was off to the USA later that day, so we were thankful to say a quick goodbye to her. Lochlan had a meltdown later that day, saying that he’s just so done with saying “see you later” all the time. It doesn’t feel good. We all felt it.

In the few days prior to leaving for San Carlos, the decision to haul Arena was made. We were making plans to head to Canada. Our conclusion was difficult but finally a definite decision, the first one in months, had been made. We will have Arena in ship shape again, but we will go back to Canada first. Bronwyn and Lochlan did not want to go. Ada and Riley were of 2 minds about the whole ordeal. Jamie and I were overwhelmed in every way about leaving Arena, but we’d be staying for what???? We were so directionless. We wanted to stay and wait out the hurricanes and world crises, but we weren’t sure we wanted to spend another summer in the Sea. Actually, I’m pretty sure we weren’t keen on spending the summer in the Sea, but we didn’t know where else to go. We made it through the summer in the Sea of Cortez and experienced some of the hottest, most uncomfortable weather I have EVER experienced! But we also experienced some of the most beautiful anchorages with the most awesome company! We learned immeasurably more than I could have imagined about ourselves and our limits and that our limits can be pushed further than we knew.

Because of the Covid situation in French Polynesia and beyond, we’d already made the decision to postpone heading there for another year. Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama were all requiring covid insurance that was just, quite frankly, more than our budget could possibly handle and the situation felt too unstable to commit to heading south. We felt our hands were somewhat tied. We had already considered heading back to Canada in February to wait for borders to open and covid to settle, so it just made sense to haul Arena now and head to Canada early.

Arena in San Carlos Marina before the failed haulout

Haul out day in San Carlos. Ummmm….it didn’t happen. They thought that they would be able to handle our nearly 8’ draft in the marina because it was a high high tide. They couldn’t. What an ordeal! It’s stressful enough just taking a 53’ boat into the marina, much less to a loading dock that Arena doesn’t really fit on and just mere feet away from the concrete ramp that will stop us dead. Long story short, they were late for high high tide and Arena couldn’t be hauled. “Manana” they told us….but we chose not to go back. They’d already scraped the hull…… Guaymas marina readily agreed to take us if we could get there for first thing the next morning at high tide. While it was sketchy and we slowed down on a sandbar for a moment, we were soon in the sling ready to be hauled. They had to remove our forestay to haul us because of the size of Arena, but she sits proud on her stands in the boatyard, waiting for our return.

Our process of packing up the boat was long and hot. Another late heat wave came just as we hauled Arena and we had our work cut out for us. Even though we don’t plan on being gone too long, the UV damage to an unprotected boat can be wicked. Lists and lists of to-dos got done. All except the rigging . We left that in the hands of a rigger as the boat yard was unable to replace the forestay properly after hauling. We are still, to date, waiting for the rigger to finish all of his jobs because of sickness (?covid), so that hangs over our heads a bit. The forestay is place, which is a relief. Howard and Susan, our new friends from our last visit in San Carlos, were so gracious to let us stay in their mission house in San Carlos. They also lent us the car that we had borrowed last time around. The knowledge that we had friends to lean on during this time saved my sanity and made the transition out of the boat SO SO much easier. The home that they let us stay in while we packed up Arena was equipped with 6 rooms and lots of toilets and showers!!!!!! The kids were beside themselves with excitement to have so much space and a beautiful yard. It took less than a day, however, for us to find ourselves all gathered on one couch and a chair in the corner of the house! Bronwyn said she felt lonely in all the space!

Flights booked, flights cancelled, new flights booked, bus route planned, border crossing in question, bus tickets bought, and finally, the border crossed, we collapsed in heaps in the hotel room in Tucson, AZ. At this point, just family and a very few others knew that we were even planning to come home. We were so unsure that it would actually happen. It was stressful, it was exciting, it caused a lot of anxiety and questions, so we just kept it all to ourselves. Jamie’s cousin helped us buy a van in Victoria and our amazing family cleaned it and tuned it up. We got off of the plane late that evening and directly into our new van fully stocked with snacks and blankets and water, even new masks – thank you so much everyone!!!!! Myke and Niomi had brought the van to the airport and had bought fresh hot pizza for us to eat in the van - our first meal of the day!

We “slept” in the van waiting for the ferry to pick us up and take us to our new home. Exhausted and emotional, we waved to Mom and Dad as we drove in, then tucked ourselves away for 14 days of mandated isolation. So hard not to give hugs and kisses, no loitering and catching up, we live in a strange new existence in the trailer. Mom and Dad worked like crazy to give us a space to call our own and have faithfully brought us our groceries and anything else that we’ve needed to live comfortably. We came in to a space full of baking and crafts and games, gifted by Mom and Dad’s incredible friends. There were bikes waiting for the kids and the goats watching it all unfold from the orchard. I’ve applied for my Canadian nursing registration to be reinstated and am just waiting for the college to finalize my application so that I can go back to work. I’ll work as many hours as I can possibly work before we head back to Arena. Jamie will stay home with the kids, and plans to work part time on off-hours. The kids are in and out, running around the orchard and enjoying the familiar. Jamie and I are still reeling, but ready to keep going! I love the rain and the grass and the trees and the smells of the earth. This is but another chapter in our journey.