Back Home!

Our Mexico log--2 years, 6,334
miles, and top speed of 14.1
knots--Yahoo!!

When we last left off on this blog, Schatzi was southbound to La Paz to get ready for a yacht transport back to the Northwest. As we mentioned, we decided against trucking the boat home, and even more assuredly decided not to bash our way 2,000 miles up the West Coast, against the prevailing breeze, current and swell. We made arrangements to ship Schatzi on board the Star Lindesnes using Seven Star Yacht Transport for a very favorable price of $12,375. Then we rigged the boat for its transit, which means setting up the boat for a couple weeks of head on, gale force winds, taking off everything thing above decks, but gratefully leaving the mast upright. 

On June 1 we were ready to fly from La Paz to Hermosillo and then on San Carlos to pick

Salty, Lynne and a
Mexico Sunset

up our Nissan SUV and trailer. We arrived at the airport well in advance of our flight time, only to be told that we could not take Salty in the cabin unless he is a support dog, and that our collapsible carrier is too flimsy to put Salty in cargo. So, we watched that flight go off without us and headed back to our La Paz motel. Hmmm…What to do? . We could buy a carrier to use for one trip and pay to ship poor Salty as cargo—not a really good choice. OR… we could go on line, have Lynne take the test to show that Salty is required for Lynne’s emotional well-being (that’s easy), pay the $99… and Voila—Salty now became a certified ESA (Emotional Support Animal). Once again, we arrived at the airline ticket counter and now showed the ESA letter to the same nice airline

Loading the Star Lindesnes

agent. Oops, she says in Spanish—the letter is written in English. So Roger said, “No problema. Yo puede traducir la carta in Espanol” Then Roger proceeded to translate nearly all of the letter to the agent in Spanish. But what she really wanted to see was the word “psychologist or psychiatrist”. We then managed to convince her (enough) that the signer of the letter, an LMSW, is the type of professional who normally certifies ESA’s. Success! We boarded the flight and were on our way home!

From San Carlos it was a two-week land voyage home, including time with our family in Oxnard, California.  We arrived back home June 15, just in time for, not one, but two memorial services. On July 4 Roger got word that Schatzi would

Up and Aboard

load on July 6 and that he had permission to ride the ship to the Northwest. With no delay he dashed on down to La Paz and made arrangements to get Schatzi out to the Star Lindesnes. However, when Roger showed up on deck for his ride north, he learned that, while the yacht transport company had given permission for the trip, no one had told the shipping company. Since his name was not the shipping manifest, it became impossible for him to ride along. Nevertheless, Roger did get a chance to meet and have lunch with the ship’s officers, and get a tour of the ship, something that he always wanted to do. Then regretfully, Roger had to catch the next flight back to Seattle, where we waited for our ship to come in. What is normally a 10-day passage became a 26-day passage. This also unfortunately cut into our cruising time with Mark and Mary Haesloop who joined us for our Canadian cruise. Such is life waiting for the Banana Boat to arrive—or in our case for the bulk carrier, Star Lindesnes.

Ship's Officers at lunch

Back Home! Yes, we have now returned back home, finished with our extended coastal cruising for now. It has been 5 years, 24,000 sea miles and a heap of adventures since we slipped the lines in Seattle in April. 2014. We have cruised both coasts of North America (and the Great Lakes) as far as we want to go and have met enough new friends and experienced enough adventures to last a good part of our life time. We now begin another phase of our lives—perhaps a French barge canal, a jaunt to South America, maybe a hopping on board a supply ship in Polynesia, or even seeing the inside of our own country. First, we will be settling back onto our mundane Seattle life and catching up on old friendships. Then, who knows—it’s a big, exciting world out there, with lots left to do. To our

 Mexico Sunsets-Los Mejor!

friends still out there cruising, we dip our ensign to you. To our friends everywhere else, we thank you for following our adventures and for giving us a chance to stay connected to our world back home.

And, yes, it is good to be back home!

Roger, Lynne, and Salty

You can reach us at 206-755-4193 or email rdwerner47@gmail.com.  And if you are so inclined, you can leave a comment at the end of this post.