Cruising with Teens - Part 2

Carolyne's favorite

Steve and Carolina from sv Lady Carolina and I chaperoned a group of eager cruising teens to the Puerto Vallarta Zoo. This isn't the first time Carolyne has gone - in fact, it is her third time. The first time she went to the zoo was so addictive that she insists she wants to go again every time we visit La Cruz.
The cost for 1 ticket: 100 pesos
(They also offer packages that include petting baby big cats for about $50-$70 US... we only did that once)
Bag of food to feed animals: 50 pesos
(Bag includes corn, pellets, bread slices and sliced carrots)
Bus rides (it takes 3 buses): 35 pesos per person

Long arm of the law... Mama and her baby

Cruising kids

Hannah

Directions to the zoo from La Cruz:
To get to the zoo via bus from La Cruz, take the bus on the corner at the main highway to EL CENTRO.
Take the bus from El Centro to catch the bus called MISMALOYA
Once on the Mimaloya bus be sure to tell the driver you want to stop at the Zoologia (zoo-o-lo-hia).
You can take a bus back to La Cruz by backtracking these bus routes.

Pack a lunch, take some water and bring extra carrots to feed the animals... it is totally worth the trip!!

Steve got a very wet surprise when he offered a kibble from his mouth...

go figure!

And yet again, Marina La Cruz hosted ANOTHER teen beach party sleepover! Marina Katrina and Mike at PV Sailing brought a telescope for stargazing and the teens brought their tents. This month has been like I might imagine summer camp - although I never went to summer camp!

(Thanks Marina La Cruz and PV Sailing for the beach photos!)

No one recalls ever seeing so many cruising teens in La Cruz at the same time!

There is no magic recipe for how a teenager will handle living on a boat and cruising to different countries. But most adults will tell you that boat kids are exceptional. They typically exude confidence and can look an adult in the eye. They frequently will introduce themselves to a group or will shake hands when meeting someone the first time. They many times jump in to lend a helping hand regarding younger children. Cruising kids tend to have an "I want to help" mentality.

Some secrets we discovered for successful cruising with our teens:
1. Privacy is important - personal space is important. If you are cruising for a short period of time (say a year or less), I think this is not so much an issue. However, if you are living on your boat full-time, it does make a difference in the attitudes and behaviors of your teen children. You can read about how we made some serious changes to our family's cruising life.

2. Money of their own is important. Any way your teen can make some spending cash - babysitting, dog watching, cleaning winches, boat bottom cleaning, showing old or dumb people how to use their computers (that would be me!), etc... This is as important while cruising as it is living on land in a house. Give them chores aboard your vessel that take the pressure off of you and pay your teen for it - maintaining the outboards, cleaning all the stainless, washing out cupboards or de-greasing the bilge...

3. We discovered that our teens learned more and were more eager to learn when we allowed them to choose their own schooling subjects... with the exception of math, reading and writing... core to everything else... because if you can do math, if you can read, if you can write... you can teach yourself or learn everything else. Why should learning be boring and miserable? It should be exciting! Or at the very least, pragmatic.

4. Stop when there are peers. For younger children, too, but especially for your teenagers. For example, one morning we may decide to sail to another location and a teen boat pulls into the anchorage just as we're preparing to leave. Jim and I will stop what we're doing - get on the radio - make plans to have our teens meet on the beach and we'll stay another day or 2 or 3...as long as we feel is needed so that our teenagers get some valuable visiting time - even if we don't click with the parents that well. (And yes, that sometimes sadly happens.)

5. Allow your teens to be a part of the trip planning - where you're going. Let them map it out, get them interested in what lies ahead, treat them like they are part of the crew - not just your child, under your thumb, stuck on your boat. Many times in the researching process our teens have showed extreme interest in a particular place and talked us into going there - like our trip to Oaxaca.

Enjoy your teenagers while living aboard... it can be accomplished even living in cramped quarters with no internet and no peers. But doing more than just taking a teen's feelings into consideration is a big part of how successful - or not - the outcome can be.

Cruising with Teens - Part I

Carolyne filling out registration forms at the local vet clinic in La Cruz

An apprehensive patient

In June we will have lived full time aboard a sailboat for 6 years in Mexico (and a short time in El Salvador and Guatemala). In that span, our 12 year old (now 18) is on his own – independent and figuring out different loops and knots – the ones associated with adulthood. We are so proud of Tim! And for anyone worried about homeschooling on a boat, Tim took the GED at age 17 and scored in the top 1%. He is currently taking basic college level courses and waiting tables in Arizona.

Kitties in recovery - they sleep for hours after anesthesia

This frisky pup is settling down after his injection

Our 8 year old daughter (now 14) – is our sole focus now that her brother has left the nest. Our homeschooling is designed around what she enjoys learning – math, reading and writing the only exception. Luckily, she enjoys math, reading and writing! She has also taken a special interest this year in photography, video, art and cooking.

Within 48 hours of dropping the hook in Banderas Bay, Carolyne was already volunteering at a local spay and neuter Animal Clinic. It's the first time in weeks we've seen her get out of bed before 8am. If there are no teens about, no worry - she is in her element among the puppies and kittens. The organizers love her because she speaks Spanish and she is not shy about making herself available any way she can help out.

These animal clinics are paramount to decreasing the enormous number of unwanted puppies and kittens. It's not been a customary practice in Mexico's past – to have animals spayed or neutered – and the number of street mongrels and feral felines is slowly dwindling.

And it wasn't long after Carolyne's volunteer service that word got out that she was in La Cruz. And it was then that other teen cruising kids became thick! And so Hotspur still finds itself anchored in La Cruz while Carolyne attends beach sleepovers, silk dancing classes, plays World of Warcraft, swims, shares dinner with her friends at the local taco carts... and plain “hangs out” with her cluster of peers.

Teens acting goofy at Marina La Cruz beach sleepover

Eli, Carolyne and Hannah

Bonfire on the Beach

I want to say a special thank you to Katrina and Marina La Cruz for sponsoring a fun beach party sleepover for the teens. Katrina chaperoned the event and slept on the beach with the kids. Katrina provided the beach pics, too!

Creamy Potato Soup Carolyne made for dinner from scratch

An albino hedgehog Carolyne has been begging to have as a pet... NOT going to happen!

Look, Mom! No more braces!!

Jim and I are a little itchy to leave. But getting the best out of your teen crew members means giving them a break – especially now that Carolyne doesn't have her brother aboard. This time with other teens is paramount to her... so as I write this on day 20-something in La Cruz... Jim and I shrug and say to ourselves that it is worth every precious minute.

PAN PAN! It Doesn't Mean the French Baker is Coming

Jim answered a PAN PAN call on the VHF radio. We were anchored in Bahia San Gabriel on Isla Espiritu Santo preparing breakfast and then planning to head south to Los Muertos. That PAN PAN call changed our plans immediately!

A boat passing by had seen what he thought were 4 kayakers stranded on the beach who sent off a distress signal - a short flash of fiery light - a flare that didn't go off correctly? The caller couldn't get into the bight, he said, to check it out and he was on his way to La Paz. So, he issued a PAN PAN call for help.

Marni, Keela and Peter - cruising friends from the early days!

I bumped into Chris, who I met in El Salvador - small world!

Chris and Steve - taco night in La Cruz

Kayaking is very popular in the Sea of Cortez. It is not uncommon for one or more of them to get in a situation. Sometimes the outcome is heartbreaking, as in the case of Victoria Seay a number of years ago.

Jim and I were anchored 4 miles south – so we put out a call on channels 16 and 22 to any boat on the island that might be closer to Ballena - the coordinates that the caller gave of the kayakers' location.
No one responded.
Not one person.
The radio was silent.
Time was a wasting.
So we started the motor.

La Cruz-ers - having a fun taco night!

Sweet Grace

Sweet Cora

As we hauled up the anchor and headed out to see if we could offer assistance, a sailboat crossed our bow... coming from the direction of the needy kayakers. As we rounded the point, we spotted 2 more sailboats north of us... much closer to the coordinates than we. Two miles from our destination, we passed 3 sailboats quietly anchored in the neighboring coves, dinghies lazily bobbing behind the transoms. Less than 1/2 a mile from coordinates - a  ketch anchored. And unbelievably - right around the corner from the kayakers - a catamaran sat silently.

Eight boats closer than we – EIGHT! -  and not one person responded to the distress call.
What excuse could someone have not to answer a call for help?
Did they all have their radios off?
Were they all sleeping?
American and Canadian flags were flying - they spoke English!
Could it be... could it be that they didn't know radio protocol?

After this experience I can tell you I revisited radio procedure and now I want to share – because I find it hard to believe that there are cruisers out there that “don't want to get involved”.
I am hoping that lack of experience had everything to do with the lack of response we witnessed.
But still, that is no excuse... no excuse at all!
A PAN PAN call (Pronounced "pahn pahn") is not life threatening, but is an Urgent call – and it
is not to be ignored!

So, a message to the boat that hailed the original PAN PAN... you were right there!
Unless you had mechanical problems or are the size of a cruise ship, you shouldn't have passed the buck. Certainly you could see the other boats anchored nearby - you could have hailed one or two of them by name or boat description or by anchorage name.

Shannon and Jasmine 

Solice

And to the 8 boats who failed to respond, here are a few sites with guidelines and instructions for PAN PAN and MAYDAY calls. If none of these sites appeal to you, there are thousands more!

Coastal Boating
Boat US
Sail Online
Boat Safe

Boaters, Cruisers, Kayakers, Water Lovers...
Spread the word!
Pull out your radio protocol today and review it.
Remind your friends of a cruiser's obligation to people who call for help.
If you have children, then incorporate radio etiquette and distress calls in your cruising homeschooling programs.
Play "what would you do if..." games at dinner.
Heck, if you don't have kids - you can spice up your cruising life with a little Radio-Strip-Poker. Be creative! But please... Do it!

Grace

Cassidy

As for the kayakers with the distress call?
They were making breakfast with a campfire. They did not send off a distress signal.
(Yes, it was a big waste of time!)
But it doesn't matter... it might be YOU who needs help next time!
(And Jim says my people-photos I posted don't coincide with this particular blog post... but they do - they really do. Because these people are friends... just a few of the many precious friends
that you or I would want helped or rescued if they called for assistance.)

And I really hope that one of those 8 boats never calls a PAN PAN or a MAYDAY...
and has the same response they offered.

A Killer Crossing!

Hotspur sailing downwind!

Organshleegal!!
Vas Kirheim!
Davidhasselhoff!

Marko was wide-eyed and pointing fervently - he was a bundle of sheer human excitement!
But neither Jim nor I could understand what the heck he was saying - I think it was a combination of German and French and Honey Boo-Boo... we couldn't make him out at all.
As he kept jabbing his index finger towards the water we turned to look and finally he exploded some English words through his thick German accent,
"Free Willy!"
Sure enough, surfacing from the deep Mexican waters, an Orca's head appeared.

Jim and I have heard rumors of Killer Whales in the Sea of Cortez, but we have never actually seen them. What an exciting moment - breath-taking and exhilarating - to see 6 of them right next to the boat. We were fully under sail... and the whales were fast! The only photo we were able to capture was the last time we saw them come up for air... blurry - but definitely their black, sharp fins standing tall against the horizontal waterline. A most excellent siting!

Our two German crew members, Marko and Anja, couldn't have been more delighted. Sea turtles, dolphins playing in the bow's wake, flying fish (which they had never heard of before and thought must be some kind of joke), some-kind-of-whale or two along the way - and now - a positive whale ID...
Free Willy and his family.

Marko napping - he had a small case of sea sickness but we fed him some
Stugeron tabs (30 mg 6-8 hours) and he bounced back nicely.

Reading on their Androids and typing letters.

They liked the freedom of our Fatty Knees and rowed to the beach while we waited at
Isla Espiritu Santo for wind to take us across

But if that wasn't enough, we sailed into Banderas Bay with another sight to behold. Humpbacks! How many? I couldn't tell you... but their aquatic displays of whaleness were some of the most phenomenal and beautiful that we have ever seen. Lying on their backs and clapping like seals or slapping the water with their enormous pectoral fins (we understand it is to call food towards them) - whatever the case, the Humpbacks were very numerous and we all enjoyed their welcoming us to the bay.

I tried wholeheartedly to catch a fish during the 6 days we were out after leaving La Paz (2 nights we spent on Isla Espiritu Santo waiting for wind, night 3 we spent at Los Muertos with a good forecast for the next morning, and 2 nights underway), but the fish in La Paz were too cold to eat and the ones we sailed over in 79*F water on the other side of the Tropic of Cancer were apparently picky eaters. I did so desperately want to catch a Dorado and cook him up to share with our friends, but we had pressure cooker stroganoff instead - absolutely delicious... but not fresh Dorado seared in butter and garlic and lime.

The closest I came to catching a fish was when a flying fish landed on deck with a loud thump during my night watch - about 1:00 am. Thankfully, we had the side panels up to cut down on the chill or he would have definitely been my new hair ornament. The next morning I gathered him and and the 2 little squiddies he was chasing and placed them in a gallon baggie in the freezer. They will be very nice fish bait next time we troll!

Negatives:

• Jim lost his expensive brand new prescription eyeglasses overboard - why he wasn't wearing his lanyard? I dunno. We have another ugly "just in case" pair on board and now he will be stuck with those until we can order replacement lenses.
• Our Icom M710 took some figuring out - a long time not using and we have forgotten lots. The radio is a fine SSB for those specific pre-programmed channels... but not a great Ham rig. Switching to random Ham frequencies to listen only is easy. If you want to also transmit then it becomes a real pain to use... SO many button presses to program the transmit frequency that we have to have a cheat sheet because we can't remember all the steps. Takes a little while as well. Can't just go up 3 Megahertz and start talking... gotta program it in. Here is the cryptic procedure:

Program RX channel

1. Select the channel to use (Like 160)
2. Push [CE]
3. Enter the 5-6 digit frequency
4. Select the mode (Like USB)
5. Push the RX button and hold for 1 second

But wait! Your not done. Program the TX channel

1. Select the user channel (ex. 160 again)
2. Push the [CE] button. A right pointing triangle will appear on the screen.
3. Enter the frequency.
4. Push and hold the [TX] button for 1 second.
5. Push [TX] again to clear blinking TX on screen.
6. Hope to hell the frequency is still clear because NOW you can transmit:) 

• We experienced some weird electrical anomalies... what I imagine would be Bermuda Triangle type experiences: Radar and auto pilot and depth sounder problems - the GPS sender shut off and reconnected several times - the depth gauge disappeared completely - and the auto pilot (which is wired into a completely separate system) began to steer wiggy and then completely shut down. A bit scary to depend on your electronics and have them start going schizoid on you.
• The refrigerator cycled and re-cycled - 5 minutes later it cycled and re-cycled - again... and again... on and off (day and night) - yet another boat chore.

Countdown from the Dock and La Paz - Hasta la Vista!!

This should have been prepared before now - no such luck. We are still scurrying to leave today with the biggest tide of the year.

But here you go - this will be dinner tonight:

Underway and cooking - I really don't enjoy it.
I prefer being on deck - not below - when we are bumping and heeling or worse... loudly motoring. 
But peanut butter and jelly sandwiches just don't cut it as "supper" either. 
To us, yummy food makes all the difference in the world when we make a crossing! 
And one of our favorites is lasagna.

We love lasagna. Actually, we adore lasagna! It is our family's favorite comfort food. But baking in the oven on a boat is killer in the tropics because of the heat and fuel is too precious to waste on a 1 hour bake time recipe. So, I began making a skillet lasagna recipe that is super-yummy-good and takes only 20 minutes to cook on the stove top - thereby conserving energy and producing minimal heat in the cabin.

Cottage cheese pureed in lieu of Ricotta

With this recipe I sometimes omit the zucchini and sometimes I do more of a layered lasagna: noodles, cheese mix, beef mix, spaghetti sauce, moz cheese - repeat. 

Here's the basic below and you can tweak however because it's pretty forgiving.

HOTSPUR'S UNDERWAY SKILLET LASAGNA
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef (you can do half beef and half ground pork, too)
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
1 cup zucchini, diced
1/4 cup water
1 1/4 cups ricotta or cottage cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan, shredded or grated
1 1/2 cups mozzarella, shredded
1 (26 oz.) jar pasta sauce (I like mushroom!)
6 no boil lasagna noodles, broken in thirds

Directions:
In a large skillet, brown the meat, onion, salt and Italian seasoning over medium-high heat until onion is translucent. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Drain grease.
(This mixture can be done ahead of time and frozen, which makes it even simpler!)

Add zucchini to skillet. Pour in 2 cups of the pasta sauce. Reduce heat to low and cover.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl blend together the ricotta, water, Parmesan, and 1/2 cup of mozzarella. Set aside. (Sometimes I chop up fresh basil and add to this mixture! And, you can even freeze this mixture and use later - it's a little watery, but usually the water cooks out.)

Uncover skillet and arrange broken lasagna noodles over top of meat mixture. Try not to overlap, but no need to be a perfectionist! Remember that the noodles will expand some as they cook. Gently spread the ricotta cheese mixture over the noodles. Arrange rest of pasta noodles on top of cheese. Ladle remaining pasta sauce over top of noodles. Sprinkle the last of the mozzarella on top.

Increase heat slightly. Carefully pour in water at the edges of the pan. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer 20 minutes, or until pasta is tender.

Remove skillet from heat and let cool for 5 minutes, uncovered. Spoon out or cut into squares and serve.

( If it's too dry, heat up a side of canned or boxed spaghetti sauce and ladle over top after serving on plates.)