StarPlath – Chapter 1 Canada or Bust!!!

8/14/2019 StarPlath Chapter 1 Canada or Bust!!!

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StarPlath Chapter 1

Canada or Bust!!!

June 20, 2009

I know everyone has been waiting with baited breath for another exciting adventure of StarPlathand its crew (right!) so here goes were now headed north to Canada. My next chapter will getus ready for our trip from Ensenada to Canada but in the meantime, Ill catch you up on whatweve been doing since we got back from our Mexico trip (finished in June 2008). We put theboat in Chula Vista (after running aground if you remember) and life was going to be sedatebut as one friend says you three have adventures just sitting still and it seems that way.

For those new friends weve met in the last year, if you want to read about our 2008 Mexicoadventures, heres the link: http://www.nordhavn.com/community/nvoyages/sarplath_june08.phpIt will make more sense if you start with March 2008 and scroll down to Chapter 1.

The Quilt Challenge

I mentioned in our last chapter from the Mexico voyage that my next challenge was the HoffmanQuilt Challenge. Lance was an immense help in the design. He was trying to explain all theengineering perspective things he was including such as the fact that vertical lines have to beparallel, how to design lines with vanishing points (at which time my mind seemed to vanish),etc. He really is a die-hard engineer at heart and he loves to explain things to me but usually heends his explanations with you dont get it, do you? to which I admit NO!

The way a challenge works is that you start with a certain fabric and design around it. The

challenge fabric was all peacocks (see below) so all I could think about was some kind of featherduster the more artistic, the better the chances of winning.
http://www.nordhavn.com/community/nvoyages/sarplath_june08.phphttp://www.nordhavn.com/community/nvoyages/sarplath_june08.php


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But anyway, heres my entry called Dirty Dancing and I was delighted when I won CuratorsChoice, an incredible honor.

Living in Mexico

The Drug Cartels

Let me start by saying we love certain things about Mexico the warmth of the people,watching children still play outside with the simplest of toys, no traffic, the lowest property taxon the planet, the beautiful setting where our condo is, etc. Heres one view from our porch.

But I now tell people we live in the Drug Cartel War Zone and it seems like anyone we talk to

and tell them we live in Rosarito say Arent you afraid? We know that the American press hasso overblown the situation that we just shrug it off. The per capita murder rate in LA is muchworse than where we live and then if you throw in the freeway deaths in LA, we live in a verysafe zone. On top of that, in Mexico, the killings are really between the drug cartels or the cartelsand the police. If tourists are targeted, its a 99% chance they were trying to buy drugs in a badpart of Tijuana unlike the US where its so random - you cant visit a Wal-Mart withoutthinking you might be killed. For example, Lance can now say he personally knew a US massmurderer. There was a professor at the University of Georgia who recently killed his wife and


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two innocent bystanders and then himself. So Mexico is actually no worse than the US in ouropinion

The Federales

One thing we have had to get used to is having the Federales checking us at many points alongthe road at first, seeing a machine gun pointed at us did make me a little nervous but you getused to anything. I have to admit that since we got the boat my fear threshold has been raisedbut I still hid the camera to take this picture because the Federales dont like to have their picturetaken this was at the toll booth going north from Ensenada that we went through about 40times while the boat was in Ensenada.

The Mexican Bureaucracy

The Mexican bureaucracy is definitely on a par with the US. We had to get FM3s (a visa) when

we first moved here. I got them in San Diego with no problem but then it turned out that it had tobe stamped by the Rosarito authorities. So thinking I was so smart, I went to their office. Theguy pulled out an inch thick file, all in Spanish, so I knew I couldnt handle it. So we foundElizabeth Carbojal who is a jewel. She took care of it with no problems. Before our Mexicancruise, the FM3 needed to be renewed but we were leaving 3 months before it was due forrenewal. Elizabeth said you could not file more than a month in advance but she made a phonecall to Mexico City and they gave her a number so she could file early. They took our money(about $200) but then would not renew them. So Elizabeth waited and turned them in while wewere gone. Just one small snag our original money was gone and they needed more!Supposedly they changed their system and that we would get a refund. So Elizabeth wasrelentless in contacting them and a year later got one of the fees refunded.

Local traffic laws???

The other thing about Mexico is that the local police can decide you have violated a traffic law-it seems sometimes its a new law made just for you!!! For example, we passed a local policecar in Tijuana and then changed lanes safely in front of them. Immediately, they pulled us over.They spoke little English and as all our friends know, we speak little or no Spanish. They keptpointing to our tail lights so we thought they werent working but finally we figured out that wehad not used our signal lights when we changed lanes. If that was really a rule in Mexico, thenabout 80% of the cars couldnt change lanes or would be sighted since they either dont have tail


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lights or they are not functioning. We could either follow them to the police station or bribethem???? We opted for bribing since we had to make a doctors appointment in San Diego.Elizabeth (our agent) really gave us the what for since she said we just perpetuate the problemand shes right but it only cost us $40 we just consider it a raise for the police.

But then we starting talking to our friends about being stopped and heard some really funnystories. One friend said he got stopped for not stopping at a stop sign. He opted to go to thepolice station and was told you have to stop for 3 seconds at a stop sign. We were really laughingat this one because we often say in Mexico, the stop signs are optional. So from now on, try the3 second rule at a stop sign. Bet you dont do it.

The best one though was a friend who had his big dog in the back of his car and the window wasrolled down. He stopped at a stop sign and there was a motorcycle cop next to him. His dog ranto the window and barked really loudly at the cop. The cop almost fell off his motorcycle sohe pulled the friend over and said there was a rule in Mexico that any dog in a car had to be in acage!!! By the time he paid off the cop, they were both laughing

The SENTRI pass

When you live in Mexico, getting north across the border is a major pain in the ass. So they offera SENTRI pass to both American and Mexican citizens. We applied as soon as we moved theboat to Ensenada. We were granted a temporary pass until our finger prints cleared the FBIdatabase. OOPS Lance had been arrested 42 years ago for peeing in a bush outside a bar whenhe was slightly drunk. The officer charged him with indecent exposure but the judge wasfurious and told the DA to drop the charges and make sure this charge was not on his record.Well, it was still in the FBI database and although it said nolle prosse (or something like thatwhich meant not prosecuted) the record also showed Drunk fine $25 so his SENTRI passwas pulled our first time across the border. So for 1 years Lance would get out of the car at theborder and walk across (found out there were many of these guys and they got the nicknamewalkers). I would drive across and pick him up on the other side. I called him the pee-peeterrorist because Homeland Security was afraid he might pee on the side of the road and cause atraffic jam. Turns out there were 2 other guys in our condo complex that also couldnt get a pass.One was a 30 year old DUI and the other was a 35 year old petty larceny which happenedduring a college drunken night so finally the border patrol realized that a lot of guys werebeing denied their passes for rather OLD discretions. I guess they figured out that the MexicanFBI did not have records going back that far and yet the Mexican citizens were getting theirpasses. So starting in February 2009, Lance could ride in the car to cross the border YAHOO!!!

The language barrier

My Spanish is horrid at best. I make up words (just add an a and that might work), try to makeregular words into Spanish by adding a Spanish pronunciation (think bunny but say it boony guess what? I tried that once and it doesnt work), and then a few well placed Spanish nouns canget you somewhere for example, I went to the Wal-Mart in Rosarito looking for the localversion of Lomotil (diarrhea medication). There was a couple ordering something from thepharmacist who but she stopped to help me. She didnt speak English so I wrote the name downbut she said no se so I said mucho banjos so she proceeded to do a side step really fast andthen she followed that with a very slow side step back. By now, all of us are laughing and Im


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trying to do a fast side step so she knew it was the runs as some people call it. I guess the slowstep meant constipation??? We keep saying well learn Spanish but then we realize that takeswork and these retired people dont work!!!

Trips to Texas

As most of you know, my mom lives in Texas. She turned 90 in December 2008 and we madetwo trips to Texas in 2008. I have to admit going to Texas is almost as exciting as traveling onthe boat here are some of the highlights from both trips.

1. Torrential rain in New Mexico one lightning bolt hit so close to the car it zapped mycell phone was I was talking to Libby, my sister-in-law.

2. Beware of rattlesnakes and we were afraid of a little old crocodile in Ixtapa.

3. Centipedes, too, at the same rest stop as the rattlesnake sign.

4. Mom fell in the night while we were visiting so we called the ambulance. Fortunately shedidnt even get a bruise. She has a walker and the wheel got caught in the obstacle courseshe had in her house. We spent several days rearranging and throwing things out.

5. Cracked windshield in El Paso.6. Flat tire in Demming, New Mexico. Got to unload the car to get to the spare (thats

always fun) and then MacgGyver (aka Lance) proceeded to fix the tire himself in theWal-Mart parking lot after buying a repair kit and a small air compressor. Why? Becauseit was Sunday and no tire repair place was open do we look like trailer trash or what?


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And then my mom asks us to move back to Texas to be near her and cant figure out why we

dont want to move back there I miss being near her but as I explained, we have gills and needto be near the ocean and we hate bugs, snakes, bad weather, etc.

Our Fall Boat Trip

Well, we were all set to go to Dana Point and on up to Monterey in June but our car broke downon the way to the boat. Not a big deal right? Except the car was in Mexico at the time. Wecalled the Honda dealer in Tijuana to make sure they work on Elements (its one of the cars thatthey dont sell down here) and they assured us they did. I called our Mexican insurance companybecause I paid for towing when I got the insurance and figured it would never work. But thecompany was incredible they called me back several times when they said they would, they

spoke perfect English (which I cant say for many of the service calls I make in the US), and theygot the tow truck here within an hour of my first call. I was so smug about getting it handledBUT WAIT theres more. Lance rides the tow truck up to the dealer who proceeded to tell himthey only fix brakes, make oil changes, etc. on Elements. Ooops! Well, it turns out that the towtruck our car was on could not cross the border but the driver was so helpful and found anothertow truck that could cross. So the car was reloaded and Lance and that driver got to go throughthe regular border crossing in TJ (the worlds busiest). It only took 2 hours and then once youcross, they pull the tow truck over to make sure our car wasnt loaded with contraband. Finally,got to the dealer in Chula Vista and the car was fixed in short order. But it totally hosed our plansto go to Dana Point at that time.

We finally get going but only after getting tourista in Chula Vista (which happens to be in theUS)!!!

Here are a couple of boats we saw on our way out of San Diego.


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I didnt realize it when I took the picture but now I see the Dole banana boat looks like a banana!

We finally get to Dana Point and rendezvoused with several friends for dinner and then off toMorro Bay. We stayed in the Morro Bay Yacht Club for a week and met lots of new friends. Ken


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and Fay from Canada who are cruising in Mexico (heres a link to their blog:http://genesisincalmh2o.blogspot.com/), Jeff and Kathe from Morro Bay, etc. Turns out Jeffvolunteered to crew with Lance if he ever wanted anyone to go north with him. More about thislater

Heres another pal we made in Morro Bay!!!

We left Morro Bay and went back to Santa Barbara where we met Janice and Henry who have anew 55 Nordy (think big). Anyway, they were from north of London and were delightful. Wegot a kick out of their search for decent biscuits which meant a cookie without much sugar.Sounds like they should have no trouble finding them on their trip south to Mexico. Lance hatesthe Mexican cookies because they do not have enough sugar whats the point of eating acookie that doesnt have grease, chocolate and sugar?

Our biggest adventure of this trip was to come when we left Santa Barbara. There had been

Santa Ana winds while we were in SB but they had died down when we left to go straight overto Santa Cruz Island for a night of anchoring. About halfway there, the seas kicked up and thewind started howling with gusts up to 50 knots. We decided to anchor anyway and I spent thenight on the bridge making sure our anchor was holding. Youre warned about these winds butonce youve committed its hard to know where to go, especially when the seas are rough.

We had one of our best dolphin sightings on this trip it was an enormous pod and they stayedwith us for about 10 minutes. This picture was taken off the bow where they love to play.
http://genesisincalmh2o.blogspot.com/http://genesisincalmh2o.blogspot.com/


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Whats a StarPlath update without Tavie?

Our scariest moment of the year was when Lance went to get Tavie from the vets after she hadher teeth cleaned. One of her back legs was no longer working!!! She acted like she had had astroke. She was so groggy and wouldnt put the leg down. I was my usual hysterical self,especially when it comes to her. I was crying and saying we had a happy, smart dog and then shecomes back this lifeless lump and I was going to rename her Tripod. We waited a day and shewas starting to act a little more alert but the leg was still useless. When we took her back to thevet she assured us that she had not had a stroke and the leg issue could have been a reaction to ashot or her knee got hurt when they were moving her around. She learned to ride in the dock cartwhile the leg was healing.


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An even scarier event was in our new dog park at the condo. Lance had taken her out to playwith Coby (Miles Sheltie) and there was a large yellow lab, one of the friendliest breeds around.The yellow lab ran over to Tavie and attacked her. He had her head in his mouth and Miles is

yelling to the owner hes killing Tavie!!! Lance and Miles were trying desperately to pry hisjaws off but the only thing that accomplished was getting Miles bit (he had to go to the localclinic later). The owner said he had been told years ago that if you stick your finger up anattacking dogs butt, theyll release and so he did and the dog released. Later, the Internet saidthat was not true but it worked for Tavie. Tavie survived basically unscathed except for a ton ofdirt in the ear that was pinned on the ground. Lance who is the modicum of cool was reallyshaken by this event.

Well, thats all for the update which turned out to be the quintessential Christmas letter sohope you werent too bored. Feel free to ask to be removed from my email list I willunderstand.

Until Chapter 2, signing off and wishing you all smooth sailing whether it be on land or sea.

StarPlath Crew Lance, Stephanie & Tavie

StarPlath – Chapter 1 Canada or Bust!!!

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