Throwback Thursday: Feliz Navidad

Now that we’re sitting in Indiantown Marina and it’s obvious that we’re going to be here for quite a long time while we fix up Daze Off to sail, I don’t want to bore you with stories that are only related to boat work (but don’t worry, they’re still coming).   I know that’s what some of you crave, but if you’re like me, you also need a little fun in there.  A little travel and a little adventure.

So for the foreseeable future while we are doing nothing much more than boat work I will be adding a Throwback Thursday post in every week as well.  Cataloging our trip so far, giving you that needed sense of travel and adventure, and for those of you that haven’t started with us from the beginning, catch you up on some of the most important or memorable parts of our travels.

Where I last left you off we had just sailed from Belize to Mexico and decided to stop in Cozumel even though we had originally been planning to pass it by. Checking in there was much more of a breeze than we’d anticipated after hearing horror stories of what it can be like to clear in to Mexico. We spent a few days wandering this cruise ship island and enjoyed a few of the finer things in life like real groceries stores with thing we recognized and having meals of beer and tacos.

Trying to get to Isla Mujeres in time to reunite with our friends on Skebenga in time for the holidays, we had a quick overnight sail where we constantly had cruise ships on each side of us and a few that came a little too close for comfort. We ended up needing a full day to catch up on sleep from our overnighter, but the following day we were more than eager to get out and do a little snorkeling with Luki and Elmari. It was the perfect introduction to Mexico, but the fun was nowhere near done.  Christmas had been all planned out too, making sure to do it up Caribbean style with some time pool side and lobster for dinner.

You can find the original post here.

Wednesday December 25, 2013

If we had a crappy Christmas last year (and we did; think sitting alone in a boat yard on the hard, watching Rambo), this year’s made up for it ten fold.

We woke up to some overcast skies, and I wasn’t sure how our day lounging around the pool would go.   Fixing up some special holiday flavored coffee, I fooled around on the computer for awhile while watching the clouds break up and the sun came shining through.  We had a 1:00 reservation for the six of us at one of the marinas for lunch.  A few good hours were spent here, first sitting at the bar enjoying a few beers, then moving to the pool to soak up some sun, and finally moving to one of the tables to order lunch.  Even though the menu was full of delicious looking items, I went with the fish tacos.  The food was amazing and even came with three different kinds of salsas and sauces for topping.  Add a margarita on the rocks, and it was the perfect Mexican meal.

 Keeping with our Mexican theme for the day, each group went back to their respective boats after lunch for a little siesta.   After everyone was fully rested we met up once more for dinner on Skebenga.  As is tradition with our little group, we started out with a few cocktails before any of the food came out.  Luki made his world famous mojitos, which would have been enough incentive on it’s own to come over.  We were also pleasantly surprised when we had a visitor stop over for a few minutes, another cruiser that was in Jamaica with us.  Lance of s/v EZ was also in Isla, and popped over for one drink before heading back to his boat for the night.  He told us that there was a window for him to leave the next morning to get all the way to the Bahamas, so he didn’t want to be out too late.  Knowing what a bad influence our group can be (Just stay for one more drink), I couldn’t argue with him.

Shortly after he left, we started in on our Christmas feast.  As if our lunch out wasn’t good enough.  A little grill was pulled out into the cockpit where seasoned and spiced lobsters were placed on it.  Each person got their own tail, accompanied by dipping sauces.  This wasn’t even our dinner though, it was an appetizer.  While dinner was cooking down below in the galley, we enjoyed a great sunset in the cabin while enjoying our shellfish and mojitos.

The rest of our night included steak, wine, and great conversation.  When Jan found out that Matt and I were hoping to do some traveling through South Africa one of the winters that our boat was being held in a marina in the Med, he offered us to come stay at his wildlife preserve.  Matt was completely stoked to hear this since after seeing the pyramids in Egypt (who knows if that will ever happen), going on safari is a close second.  Now I’m almost getting excited to get to the Med as quick as possible so we can start our travels through South Africa.

This Christmas turned out so much better than either of us could have imagined, and we’re so thankful to Luki and Elmari for letting us be a part of it.  It’s hard when you don’t get to see your family this time of year, but being with our cruising family was the next best thing.