South Pacific Cruising Itinerary Cancelled due to SARS-CoV-2 ( aka COVID 19)

Our welcome back to Mexico! Still daily amazing whale sightings. Still can't time the full body breaches but again some things are for our eyes only:)

Staying in Mexico… Why? Because Mexico is not issuing any Zarpe or “exit paperwork” for boats as of 3/20/2020 and it is a good place to be right now for us.

“ It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin

Since my last blog which stated we were leaving on 3/17/2019, St. Patrick’s Day, to begin our journey to the S. Pacific, specifically with an entrance port of the Marquesas after an anticipated 3-week sail there from Mexico, A LOT has changed!!

I think in the last week there has been incredible changes, including hourly, in the restrictions and regulations to travel globally and unprecedented in our lifetime. On March 10th, our friend Matt from Alaska arrived and we worked furiously for one more week to finish up last-minute projects on the boat and do some serious provisioning. Our provisioning was not only for a 3-week journey but we did consider limited resources on the islands of the South Pacific even prior to this pandemic and purchased food items that would give us several months of food (and **booze **). 

We made a check of the country appointment from Mexico scheduled on 3/17/2019 in Nuevo Vallarta.  During this time we were made aware French Polynesia was instituting a 14-day quarantine upon arrival to the Marquesas which was our planned 1st landfall after the passage from Mexico. This information in 24 hours was debated as to whether our passage would suffice as the quarantine or would we need to still quarantine upon arrival. Matt had plans to fly out of Nuku Hiva, one of the larger islands in the archipelago of the Marquesas back to Alaska on 4/16/2020. This would necessitate him to fly into Tahiti, as all flights in French Poly are routed through Tahiti and to other destinations afterward. There was also concern Matt may need to quarantine again once in Tahiti but this was unclear. Due to the uncertainty and now additional possible time Matt would need to take off taking away from his duties at home in Alaska; he decided he could not afford to take this much time. He had already allotted for 5 weeks and this would make it longer and he was accountable to take care of professional and personal responsibilities sooner. 

So… Matt decided to fly home and did so on 3/18/2020. We did postpone our checkout one day due to this need to weigh this important decision amongst the crew. Stephen and I decided we would proceed as a 2 person crew and we checked out of Mexico and received our Zarpe on 3/18. We were saddened by Matt having to leave but felt the stress and uncertainty of the quarantine time would change the mood of the passage and strain the trip. We knew we had time for the quarantine regardless. In this time, there was clarification that our passage would suffice as the quarantine, so good news. Then shortly after our check out, and when I say shortly, I mean a few hours of 2-3, the French government announced they would not issue any visas for entrance to French Polynesia or any French territory. Hmmm… another pickle. 

We were already in the La Cruz anchorage at this time as we had planned to clean up the dinghy, get her on deck and get ready for the passage in the am. While we were stewing, a mother of 4, from SV Arena, a Canadian port boat, arrived in her dinghy to chat with Stephen and I. Her and her husband checked of Mexico a few days ago and started their passage but turned around because they decided they did not want to impinge on the limited resources of the French Polynesian Islands especially now with a pandemic ongoing by needed to feed her family of 6. She said Mexico would NOT let them check back in and was warning us not to check out. Whoopsies! We had already done this. 

*Note SV Arena was allowed to check back in but only found this out after they left in hurry to Mazatlan to see if they could check in there*

Again, back to decision making! It was a serious decision making every 24 hours. If we stayed checked out we would need to decide where to go…. Hawaii, bash back to the coast to CA or remain fugitives and try to hide out in Mexico. SV Arena was told not to step back on land and act like “ghosts” and were also told they were “Canada’s problem” and not Mexicos. By the way, the US/Canada border was closed already. This truly was concerning as the Mexican culture is historically very forgiving and accommodating and this statement by the authorities did not seem to be characteristic of the culture or the demeanor of the Mexican people. I was feeling this pandemic was influencing behaviors, personalities, and decisions. 

Stephen and I decided if we could still be legal it would be ideal and it could buy us time to think about what to do. Another boat said on our check out paperwork (in extremely tiny print at the bottom of the page in Spanish) aka the Zarpe that you have 48 hours to check back in. We decided this could change too any minute due to the pandemic decision making and so we called to see if we could check back in early am and we thankfully were granted permission. If we did check back in we still had a few months for decision making regarding a return to the US with Soulstice. We even considered FP if things changed but this was doubtful. 

We were able to check back into Mexico on 3/19/2020. French Polynesia in that short time that had already limited inter-island travel and visas was now stating they were making all Non-residents go home. So, if you arrived by boat you would have to leave after getting fuel and continue on ( to where?) NZ, Australia, and Tonga closed borders too already… or fly home and leave your boat (meaning not ready for Typhoon season AT ALL because who knows how long you would be leaving and this is your HOME for most people). Yikes!! AND on the morning of 3/20/2020 Mexico declared they are no longer issuing ANY Zarpes to any boats. Most flights out of Puerto Vallarta are canceled and California has closed their borders as well (although we did hear you may get a pass to enter if you are a US citizen as Matt had contacted Hawaii Customs and Border Patrol by phone relaying the information back to us)!

Well, here we are in beautiful Mexico. We know this is a great place to be and thoroughly enjoyed it last year.  With that being said, we have not been here during a pandemic. We know the US is seriously stressed already and has more resources than Mexico. Our visas were renewed with check-in and so we have some time to see what shakes out of all of this. We are self quarantined on the boat. We have food for months, water and a water maker. We are topped on fuel and will try to sail only as we realized fuel may become a limited resource. 

We do harbor guilt since we are medical and not working at home but most folks know I am on Enbrel and so I am immunosuppressed. Additionally, the boat is our home. It is not like we are on a trip and can just leave and go home. It takes time to get the boat prepared for a hurricane season. We worked very hard and multiple extra hours to fatten our piggy bank to be off the grid regardless for several months. We cannot forecast the future and with how dynamic and rapidly changing the news and regulations are we feel it is best to sit tight, stay healthy and self isolate as instructed already! 

We hope you are able to stay healthy, isolate as possible and meet your basic needs. We do feel very fortunate and realize how our preparedness for a long sailing adventure has turned into an ideal preparedness for a worldwide pandemic unknowingly. 

Everyone is in our thoughts and prayers! This includes the many boats that have left for French Polynesia and or are already in French Polynesia and being asked to leave. Be adaptable! 

“The art of life lies in the constant readjustments to our surroundings.”  Kakuzo Okakura

XO Jen and Stephen 

SV Soulstice

LEAVING MEXICO AND STARTING OUR PUDDLE JUMP TO THE MARQUESAS

Hello! HOLA! Como estan? WE ARE LEAVING MEXICO!!!!

I should not really add exclamation points as we have loved our time in Mexico and we will return no doubt but for now there is a new adventure that awaits us.

We have been busier than 2 mosquitoes in a nudist colony! And now 3 mosquitoes with Matt here! Matt is our friend from Alaska who arrived in Mexico on March 10th and has generously given up his time and energy to spend with us for one week of final projects and provisioning and then three more weeks of passage on the Pacific Ocean! As he has endured the grueling afternoon heat and humidity here and living in a small space with stuff EVERYWHERE and 2 other folks, he already has proven to be a greater friend then we realized. Not really, we picked him because he is super sharp, level headed and ridiculously easy going. We are so grateful to have him aboard and realize this is a working trip and not truly a vacation, so THANK YOU MATT! 

With that being said, since our friends from Montana, Karen and Carlos, departed on February 11th we have had no fun time… boohoo! We went into the marina to get a rigging survey and then never left… The project list continues on but is finally getting checked off. I have to keep reminding myself that it is an expedition really, considering we are moving our home 6,000 miles self supported and not a typical “vacation”. It has been so much work but you find many other cruisers to commiserate with about the never-ending projects. 

I would go through the projects but I am exhausted and it would be an exhausting list. Soulstice truly is a fine boat and I am concerned you would all feel like, “how could they have spent almost 3 months doing projects???”   A lot of this is our wanting Soulstice to be perfect - ha! In my last blog, I mentioned we added many features like adding 2 more solar panels and a new single-sideband radio. Some of these projects are to enhance our journey and are one time events. Others are things that require maintenance and then, unfortunately, repair as things do break on a boat or just decide not to work anymore…I truly feel the same way about the time and energy spent but part of the time suck is the inability to get the parts you need here in Mexico, so having friends who visit you pack bigger bags to bring stuff from the States and waiting for their arrival. The other time suck is not having a car and riding a bus, walking or taking a taxi or uber to get from point A to point to B to get our shopping done to complete our projects. 

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle has been an excellent place to stage for this journey. It is a nice local community of Mexicans and gringos. It is a small town with a quaint feel and not so touristy or busy as Puerto Vallarta or Nuevo Vallarta. I really like it here and it is a great place to be. Additionally, there are many other cruisers leaving from here to do the “Puddle Jump”, as you call it. The other popular area to leave from is Panama as well and this is based on currents and wind patterns of course. There have been many seminars for us here on weather, rigging, safety, you name it, by other experienced cruisers and local riggers. These information sessions have given us additional knowledge and created an additional community of cruisers who are jumping to knowledge share as well amongst each other. 

We do finally have a leave date out of the country on 3/17/2020,  St. Patrick’s Day, which I feel since I am Irish and my last name is O’Neill that there is some shamrock fairy dust blowing our way!
Regardless, Hallelujah!! We are finally there!

Follow along with us on our trackers ( we have 2 now): 

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SVSoulstice

https://followingsea.net/track/Soulstice

Jamie from SV Totem giving a weather lecture on the passage to the Marquesas from Mexico. He and his wife were on some national news shows regarding their previous circumnavigation with their 4 children. Their oldest son just completed his 1st year of University at Lewis and Clark. 

Costco run for booze, snacks and coffee

The crew for OUR puddle jump!