The Final Decision: Selling the car and Provisioning

To our surprise, we got an email from our awesome boat insurance guy, Neal Booth, to inform us he had found an insurance underwriter who would allow us to sail down around the Baja point in Mexico if we could do it before July 1st.  We were on it like …..

Back story: We originally were told that boat insurance companies don’t really insure cruisers in Mexico during hurricane season (June-November) and typically the vessel should be ABOVE the 27th parallel to ensure coverage.  This meant for Trevor and I that we missed this window of opportunity to sail around the Baja coast and into the Sea of Cortez (aka The Gulf of California) where all the cool anchoring is (below the 27th parallel) due to all the boat projects we had to do.  So our plan was to hang out in CA and sail/adventure in the islands and then head to Ensenada, Mexico which is an hour drive (in a car) from San Diego on the Pacific side of the Baja peninsula.  Ensenada is where we would have to wait out hurricane season for about 3 months. Good thing: we could get more time sailing in CA and maybe get more boat projects done in Ensenada.  Bad thing: We would not be sailing in Mexico for 3 months.

So when we got the email from Neal, we decided to go for it! The main reason being we will be able to sail more thus gain more experience with Slow Flight which is a plus for both safety and better evidence for our insurance agent when we decide to do a major ocean crossing and ask them to insure us.  It make it around the Baja point and allow us to choose our weather, we needed to leave Ventura Harbor by June 6th, this left only a little over a week left to sell the car and do our final provisioning.

Selling the Subaru:

We thought selling the car would be a hassle with our time frame so we sought out used car dealers in the area to see if they would purchase the Subaru.  We spent the better half of a day driving to different dealers for them to “look” her over and decide on a price they would take her at.  After all that, relieved at least we could get some cash and quickly, Trevor decided to post the Subaru on Craigslist.  To our surprise, we had 3 bites within the hour and had set up appointments. We sold her to the first buyer at a lower price than we wanted but higher than what the used car dealers would give and for the sake of time we negotiated a price Trevor could “almost” live with.  Seeing her drive away was hard but made the trip incredibly REAL! Now it was time to get down to business and get all the items we anticipate we will need including boat projects in the near future, food, drinks, medical supplies, and storage for all these item.

Provisioning:

You would think that buying a lot of stuff would be fun but it was more like work and took way more time than expected.  Without a car now, we enlisted our friend Diana and her trusted truck to cart us around town to gather our items.

First was making a list…this was for the most part easy but we found ourselves it served more as a guide than an actual shopping list. Second, traveling from store to store, comparison shopping and adding items/stops as we go.  Third, was we had to load everything on the boat and stow it away in an organized fashion.  Each day we worked until late in the evening labeling and unpackaging (to reduce garbage later) , talking out where things should go in the boat since we have to lift up cushions to get to many things, and balancing the weight in the boat so that one side is not too heavy. We won’t bore you with photos but let’s just say we have enough beer (200 cans) and bags of wine (12 liters) to last us months!  Without Diana’s help, it would of taking us a week but she kept us motivated and focused and is a true “solider” when it comes to organizing (Thank you again Diana!!!!).

Additionally, Diana and I spent another day juicing lemons so we could freeze the juice in ice cubes and preparing “ready to bake” recipes to keep Trevor’s sweet tooth at bay while we are cruising.  Diana had awesome recipes that she would share the “results” with us when she would come to visit us every week and really spoiled Trevor that way.  So we took these recipes and pre-portioned out the dry ingredients so all I have to do is mix in the butter, etc. and then bake.

Finally, Diana also gave us “Spikette”, a cutting from one of her many aloe plants(Arnies peeps, do you remember Spike, Pat’s aloe plant that lived in the office?) We know we can’t the plant to the South Pacific but for Mexico Spikette will keep us company. 

Love You Diana!