Strikhedonia
Exploring the world and taking on new challenges
Author Archives : Chris French
December 31, 2018
2018, it’s a wrap!
It was a good year (queue the broken record), getting further south into Mexico brought some wonderful new experiences, including having fireworks shot at us (St. Patrick’s day festival) and doing some inland travel (Durango). The beauty and kindness of the Mexican people continues to amaze. This year set a few records; most miles in a year and most crew…
December 15, 2018
Adventures in Mazatlan
The advantage of leaving the Baja earlier than planned was plenty of time to explore Mazatlan, and as a bonus take a side trip to Durango (separate post). I’ll let the pictures do the talking, but it should be clear that a great time was had. Our first night we anchored out and had a chance to enjoy Isla Pierda…
December 10, 2018
Off on an inland adventure to Durango!
With arriving early into Mazatlan, hustling to get the critical boat projects knocked off, and confirming the haul out at the Fonatur it left us with time for an inland trip to Durango. Our friends on Moon Drifter (Helen and Ralph) visited last year and absolutely loved it. We were excited to visit a city that doesn’t get so many…
December 6, 2018
Small weather window for a crossing to Mazatlan
There was a 36-48 hour window to sneak across the sea before the next blow. Seeing as the coming wind was forecast to last nine days we needed this window to work. Originally the plan was to stay one night in Playa Bonanza and then scoot down to Bahia Muertos, but with the wind in the low twenties the Ceralvo…
December 4, 2018
Boisterous Playa Bonanza on Isla Espiritu
We knew the waves and wind would make for a fun passage from Isla San Francisco to Playa Bonanza, so there wasn’t much of surprise as we got out of the wind shadow and into the full force of the boisterous conditions. I’d call it 6-8 foot tightly packed seas but hey at least they were somewhat following. We were…
December 3, 2018
Quick stop in Agua Verde before a visit at Isla San Francisco
I love when a plan comes together…Puerto Escondido will let you tie up to the dock for an hour or two if you are renting a mooring ball (nice chance to wash the boat when needed). It made picking up Jean really easy, from getting out of the taxi to being off the dock was less than 15 minutes. Which…
December 1, 2018
Trying to turn lemons into lemonade by visiting Honeymoon Cove
So with Jean missing her flight I needed a pick me up, the $20/night for a mooring ball at Puerto Escondido ensured this included heading out to an anchorage. Honeymoon cove, just four miles away would be a perfect fit (so long as it wasn’t packed with boats…). After the net I cast off the mooring line and headed over.…
November 30, 2018
Fixing a Salt Water Drip from a Clogged Vetus Anti-Siphon Valve (Raw Water Exhaust)
Last summer I noticed salt residue near the autopilot ram and below on the water muffler. It confused me as I couldn’t tell where it came from but I cleaned it up and put it on the watch list. A month into the fall season I realized the source, the air vent for the Vetus Anti-Siphon Valve for the exhaust/sea…
November 29, 2018
Final exam and mucho work in Puerto Escondido
After a morning playing in the kayak and in the water, it was time to get to work but first Julia had an important task, her final exam. She had been doing a great job handling Strikhedonia so for her final exam it was up to her to get us from Ballandra to Puerto Escondido. I would be her first…
November 27, 2018
Ballandra, so many activities
Our timing was pretty good but not perfect as we were just beat by Stargo (whom we had met in San Juanico) into the anchorage. We brought the total to four boats, which meant we still had a good spot to anchor. Through the early afternoon three more boats pulled in and I was taught that I should have pulled…
November 27, 2018
Hike from Ballandra to Salinas on Isla Carmen
**First an important note – There IS bighorn sheep hunting that takes place on the island so consider than before heading off on this hike and if you do proceed wear brightly colored clothes** Red route is my best guess, based on our hike and looking at satellite imagery. The Blue route spur is where we lost the trail and…