A few questions from a fellow cruiser

Claire received the email posted below last week. We created this website while we were in Dana Point, over-hauling the boat. Mostly for our immediate family to be able to see what the hell we're talking about when we ramble on and on about all the projects. Then when the reality of actually setting sail hit, we decided to shift into making a new post in every bay we stop. we think it's super cool that our audience has spread to all our friends, and now, beyond that to complete strangers! we appreciate everyone who has helped us go through our first season of living on the water. it was a rough learning experience at first, but we didn't realize what went into effect until just now, reflecting back. we are in a motel room in tucson, arizona. waiting to finalize our sweet new ride! just having the tv on, with all the brain washing commercials, cellphones again, subliminal advertising, even average people around us. but maybe that's because we didn't have any of this going on for 2 years in the marina as well. it's been a culture shock to return to our home land, only after 7 months of fending for ourselves in the wild and in a foreign culture. cruising has most definitely changed our look at life, and we hope to continue living and traveling on our home on the water for a long while.

well here's the email. it felt like a short interview. i thought it would be informative for any readers out there.

Hello Claire and Michael,

Your blog is my absolute favorite.  You both have such great style and sense of adventure.  Until I found your blog I thought that your way (which is ours also) of cruising had disappeared forever.

30 or so years ago we went cruising to Baja twice in a 28' Pearson Triton.  A compass, sextant, depth sounder, vhf radio and charts ... that was it.  One year one trip and two years through a hurricane season the other.  We harbor hopped going home the first time and sailed offshore the second time.  We are getting ready to visit Baja and the mainland again starting the summer of 2014 with just a slightly larger boat, but still fairly bare bones.  I have a couple of questions for you and hope that you do not mind answering.

1.  We are refrigerator and iceless ... so we enjoy being as simple as possible.  Do you have a watermaker?  I would rather not and just want to know that with a little work that water can be obtained.

2.  We want to stay in touch with family.  Do you use a mexican aircard, local cell phones or just wait until you get to a wifi spot?

3.  Is there any way of getting around having to leave the country after six months to renew your tourist card?  I know the boat can stay, just not sure if we have to factor in a trip for the two of us to leave.  Maybe head far up in to the Gulf and bus over to Arizona?

Again, I love reading your tales and hope you are looking forward to a fabulous Sea of Cortez summer (yes ... I know ... it is no longer called that)  :)

and our response....

hey! thank you! we love what we're doing. we actually JUST got to tucson arizona. 6 months in mexico! the blog isnt totally up to date, it never is, i'm always a week or so behind. you know how internet is in mexico. we like to keep the boat as simple as possible. one because we are absolutely broke, and two because all we hear is complaints on the VHF of every boat having issues. we had absolutely no issues that i can recall, our whole trip, that caused any kind of a problem. everything we own can be fixed with duct tape or throw it overboard. answers to your questions.....

1. no refrigeration. when we lived in the marina in dana point, overhauling the boat, we had a small mini-frig. that was removed so i could install the gimbal stove. we have a nice icebox. block ice was easy enough for us to find anywhere in mexico. ask any pangadero! and its CHEAP too. i don't know the weight of the block but it was a chunk about the size of a basketball for $10-20pesos and that would last us 5-7days. crushed ice is everywhere too, but more expensive and melts too fast. but most of the time we didnt even bother. all our produce, eggs, etc. gets eaten before it can go bad. NO WATERMAKER. we're not crossing oceans. i believe they are good for that, and if you have the money. we carried about 40gallons in our holding tank of mexican hose water with a capful of bleach in it, that was for the sink, toothbrush, light dishwashing, hand washing. we carry four 6 gallon jerry jugs. every town had at least one agua purification building. the water was cheap. for all four jugs it was never more than a couple bucks, which to me is way cheaper and easier than the whole watermaker nonsense. we used saltwater for baking, boiling, cooking, dishwashing, and bathing.

2.Claire's father added Mexico to their family plan. i'm not sure on the rates. we never had cell service unless we were in a 'bigger' town. we use WiFi for free almost everywhere, it is unreliable and slow, but it's mexico so that's a given. if you have a smartphone you can download skype and viber. both are free apps for calling people and texting. i know that the big stores like walmart sell the pay as you go cheap-o cellphones with international cards, haven't looked into it though. the blog was our main form of communication! plus we have a SPOT gps tracker so our family can follow us on a computerized map and make sure we are ok. and with that device we can send a short 45 character text message through satellite to a select group of contacts.

3. i've met and heard of plenty of people that stay past their 180 days... that's all up to the individual. we JUST crossed the border to tucson this evening. we hitched a ride out of Guaymas from a fellow cruiser heading north. plenty of people carpool like that. the bus is awesome too, i've heard very good things. i like to follow the simple rules. my visa ends like a week from now, so i just made it. to me it's worth it to be traveling clean and not risk anything. you never know what shifty stuff might be pulled on you for trying to skimp and stay longer. but it is done and can be done, especially by boat. who's to say you weren't out to sea that whole time? i have also heard of people doing something over the phone and getting 2-3 year visas, but that might be because they have 'property' not too sure. and i dont think you have to go back to USA to refresh it. i think you just have to leave mexico...it's kind of a gray area. you could probably even check out, go anchor in a secluded bay for a couple weeks, then check back in. so many ways around it if you are determined. 

thanks for sending us an email! the whole blog started as our main communication to our families. so they could see how we were doing overhauling the boat in california, and then how we were doing on our travel. our goal now is to get a cheap vehicle in the tucson area, drive it back to Guaymas, hopefully next week. fill that up with our stuff. and drive home to North Carolina for the first time in 2.5 years. spend a short summer (hurricane season) working there. and then head back to the boat by October. if we weren't broke, we wouldn't be leaving at all. we love our new life. it's super simple and free. a true life. keep in touch!