We fired up the water maker today. Left the dock and started the commission sequence at 1:00. At 1:45 we were putting new water in the tank. No leaks, no issues all thanks to Gary! Produced 20 gallons in 35 minutes which is 25 minutes less than advertised. We are very pleased. Celebrated with Cerviche, Corona’s and Tequila at our favorite local Mexican restaurant!

Back in the 70’s when we had the oil crisis with cars stretched for miles at gas stations and you had to choose between heating your home and feeding your kids, there was all this talk of solar energy. The plan was for every home to have an array of solar panels on their roofs and the USA would no longer be dependent on rich oil nations. Out of college I worked for Exxon Corporation in their Solar Thermal Systems division. I really believed this was our future energy source. But heck, my favorite cartoon was the Jetsons and as a kid I believed when I grew up I would be jetting through space to get to work, Ha! Fast forward 40 some years and I can finally say that Gary and I are off the grid. We installed solar panels capable of generating 500 watts of energy which is enough to power a small refrigerator, small freezer, lights, and our instruments plus phones, IPAD and laptop. It feels good!

Today marks our 2 week countdown until we leave for Mexico. The last month has been hectic getting projects finished. We have the water maker installed and this Wednesday we will go out in the bay and start her up. Keeping our fingers crossed that all the connections are tight and we have no leaks! Our list of things to get done is getting smaller. There are so many details for a trip like this going down 800 miles on the third longest peninsula in the world which is very desolate. We need to estimate the amount of extra diesel to carry because frankly you can never depend on the wind. Adding to the list is the fact that we are not returning to California or the USA right away. Getting our life in order making sure finances as well as Austin are taken care of and we continue to have reliable communication has taken some planning. We are both so ready to cut the dock lines and just relax! I won’t even go into all the paperwork and bureaucracy involved to allow us to enter Mexico 😦

We have assembled a fine crew of accomplished sailors for the trip. Our friend Richard from San Francisco Bay just recently returned from a sailing trip in Croatia. Greg who is a dock neighbor here in Chula Vista, spent many years in South Africa and has sailed on Lake Erie and currently participates in races off the coast of San Diego. He helped us launch the spinnaker for the first time yesterday. Our menu is planned which is important since a well fed crew is a happy crew :). We get our Mexico fishing licenses tomorrow so we can catch a few dinners. This week the captain (aka Gary) will be working on our crew shifts as well as our sailing course. For the last month Gary and I have been taking a navigation course through the US Coast Guard Auxiliary. So hopefully this will help us to arrive in Cabo San Lucas as planned rather than the Galapagos Islands (just kidding Barb)! As we add more things, Sereno II is looking more and more like a cruising boat as you will see from the pictures below.

Over dinner yesterday I happen to glance at my phone and noticed for the first time the date, October 12th. Gary and I went on our first date 40 years ago to a dance at Lenape Valley Regional High School. Who knew 40 years later almost to the day we would be starting on our cruising adventure! How life just keeps evolving.

Our new dingy hanging off the stern davits

Will we have enough diesel

Cabo or bust