Merry Christmas in Port Mansfield!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! We woke to another cold, gray day, but realized it could be a lot colder! Daren surprised me with a new Kindle Touch e-reader, but I suspect it's mostly HIS present! Still, it's very cool, and he's figuring out how to download library books! We've bought so many boat things, we have Christmas and birthday gifts for the next decade!! My favorite is our new black solar shower that pumps up like a bug sprayer. It works so much better than the gravity-fed black bags! (As seen in large photo on deck). I know it's primitive to live without a water heater, but it won't be an issue in the tropics! That sure sounds good right now!
The Christmas Eve candle light service at church was lovely, and we enjoyed singing carols with a packed church and then eating Christmas goodies! I brought G/F shortbread cookies (thank you, Sue!) with melted chocolate chips, a veggie tray, and Daren's Mom's tuna-stuffed jalapenos! We got to visit with Candy and MO friends Wanda and Ron, their son Rusty and wife Ruth, and their 2 college sons, Conrad and Garret. Such a nice family!
Sunday, we enjoyed a delicious Christmas feast at the Pelican Pub with about 20 new friends! Jesse is from Tunas, MO, and was class president one year...out of a class of 15! We ate the best prime rib ever, made by pub owner, Jan's new boyfriend, Gary. We were entertained by comedian Marsh, and Jan served her award-winning banana-blueberry cream pie. Everyone had a great afternoon, and Pete and Libby were thrilled with the scraps we brought home! Merry Christmas to ALL!
Yesterday, we walked dogs and clothes over to the laundromat at the RV park, and ran into Missouri friend, Mary, from the quilting group at Preston's Prairie Methodist Church!! We marveled at the "God incident" and I HAD to call our friend Tracee to tell her about it, and we had a nice visit! She was in charge of their church's Angel Tree again this year, and it went well...36 children! She and Roger bought 3 shaggy red Highland calves for Christmas!
I heard from cousin Jamie in Enid, OK, who comes to Port Mansfield every January! I'm hoping we'll get to see them before we leave, as I haven't seen her since I spent a HS summer with her family (40 yrs ago!). Warsaw friends, Jack and Shelly are on their way to Brownsville in their 37' RV, and we look forward to seeing them, either here or Port Isabel, our last US stop. Daren and I got to ride to Brownsville with Orvil and Candy last Thursday/Friday when they dropped off/picked up their boat starter. It's a very colorful town with a lot of historical architecture and friendly people! The staff at O'Reilly's were especially helpful, and Candy and I ate lunch at a great Mexican restaurant where the waitresses wore red Santa's helper outfits! Fun!
Tonight, we had a surprise Skype call from Don and Cheryl and daughter Holley! It was fun to see them on the computer screen, and their dogs! You've got to love technology! We wish you ALL the best for a healthy and happy 2012! If the Mayans were right, Jesus will return this year, so be ready! : )

We Love This Town!

This morning, while walking the dogs, we met another boater named Candy out on her bicycle. She kindly drove us to the RV park with the only laundry machines in town with our 2 loads, and we popped them in the dryer just in time to walk next door to the only church in town...Baptist. The pastor was wonderful and talked about how Christians need to be salt and light...especially at Christmas! We don't need to preach to people, just be an example...a happy person who has peace through Christ. Who wouldn't want that! They're having a Christmas Eve service and afterwards, we'll have snacks and cookies and go caroling! FUN! It's a very small church (30) in a very small town (3-700), and we met a lovely couple, Wanda and Ron, from....Springfield, MO! They came down here on vacation a few years ago and bought a waterfront house before they left! They're cattle and horse ranchers who now spend winters here, and their kids are coming down this week. They took us back to pick up our clean clothes and gave us a tour of the town! There are small deer EVERYWHERE, and completely fearless! I've never seen anything like it! It'd be fun to let the dogs run, but somebody might get hurt! The deer may be small, but about half of them have HORNS!
Daren and I had lunch across the road at Pelican's and it was great food! They have fantastic shrimp and fish (drum) down here! We signed right up for their Christmas prime rib dinner! Daren stayed to watch football, and I came back to the boat to ck on the dogs and make gluten-free bread (Bob's Red Mill Wonderful Bread Mix). Candy came by to take me back to Pelican's to meet her husband, Orvil. They've been down to Belize and the Rio Dulce (sweet) River hurricane hole in Guatemala. She had gorgeous photos, and gave us lots of great tips!
I spoke with Mom tonight, and she wanted to know our address. It's
C/O WCND
630 Laguna Drive
Port Mansfield, TX 78598
Not that I'm soliciting Christmas cards, but some of you asked where we'd be.
Have a fun week before Christmas, and let your Light shine! : )

Port Mansfield

We left Thursday morning and had no problem crossing Corpus Christi Bay...it was like a lake! We made 40 whole miles south to Baffin Bay and anchored there for the night, with extra chain out since the weather was supposed to get nasty. Well, it certainly did! The wind shifted to the North and our anchor failed at about 2 am and we woke up on a hard shoal. Normally, we could just pull ourselves off by bringing the anchor in, but the windlass failed, too. There was a lot of praying going on, believe me, but thank GOD and Jason, we were towed off about dawn and went on down the waterway with no apparent harm done. It was a LONG cold day, but it was a downwind motor sail and we averaged 6.5 knots for the 50 miles to Port Mansfield. Manny on Corazon (heart) Frisbee (after his boxer) heard us on the VHF radio at Baffin Bay and called to tell us of a cheap dock in Port Mansfield that has no power or water, for $35/night. He was there to catch our lines when we pulled in about 4 pm. What a nice guy! He's on a 22' cat boat (gaff-rigged sailboat) and on his way from Galvaston Bay to Port Isabel for the winter. Daren and I went to dinner next door, walked the dogs, and were in bed by 6 pm!
This morning, we decided we'd really like to have electricity for our little heater, so we called the City Marina and found that their daily rate is $25/day and their monthly rate is $125! Since we need to wait on weather and for a new windlass and anchor, we signed up for the month, although we'll only stay a week before heading on down to Port Isabel. Manny came over this afternoon and showed us some great spots to anchor there. One's right on South Padre Island, but not accessible by car, so we can run the dogs on soft sand beaches instead of that nasty oyster shell that cut up Pete's feet the other day near Corpus Christi Bay. He's still limping a bit, poor guy!
Port Mansfield turns out to be a really small town of about 300 people! There's only one church here, and we're going to check it out tomorrow. It's a very friendly and walkable place, but there's not even a grocery store here...just a bait shop with chips and candy bars! We did find a great little waterfront restaurant with a good salad bar and a big screen TV for watching tomorrow's football game featuring Tim Tebow's team.

Adventure Dogs

We left Mud Island this morning after Daren took the dogs to shore...barking all the way! The life vests make it so easy to haul them out of the dinghy like big wet suitcases, and they don't seem to mind wearing them while we're underway. A funny thing happened when we put up a sail just past Port Aransas and heeled over: the gas tank for the dinghy went overboard! We'd forgotten to stow it and it was just sitting on the solar panel, so it made quite a splash!! It was quite exciting; dousing the sail, turning around, and retrieving it with the boat hook before it floated into shallow water! I was just SO grateful it wasn't one of the dogs! I think they realize the risk, so they mostly stay in the cockpit with us, unless they see a dolphin, and there are plenty of them around!
When we reached the open waters of Corpus Christi Bay, we were knocked around a bit, and the dinghy slipped sideways, flat against the stern, which meant the outboard motor was sideways, too! YIKES! We went back to the lee of an island right next to the big ship channel and anchored about 3 pm! We were pooped and glad to be done for the day! We had hot showers, watched a couple Frasier episodes, and are ready for bed. We've had a couple MONSTER ships pass by us, but we're safely out of their path. Thank you again for your prayers! You can see that we need them ALL! : )

Off We Go!

I'm so pleased to tell you that we're on our way at last! Thank you, God! We had a false start about 9 am, when we pushed off from the dock and the throttle broke off in Daren's hand! YIKES! Fortunately, Sue was there to catch a line and Daren was able to fix it and we left again at 11 am. By then, it was too late to go to Corpus Christi, so we went about 10 miles to Mud Island and are at anchor here now. It's a lovely spot, and very calm and not cold at all! Daren took the dogs in to shore, and they had a blast running up and down the beach with their little life vests on! It's the first time they've been off leash (except for in the marina) since we left the farm back in August, so they were ecstatic! They are really doing well as sailor dogs, and enjoyed the ride. I'm so relieved about that! I was worried they wouldn't "go" on the deck, but Libby didn't hesitate to decorate the forward deck while we were still underway! What great dogs! : )

It MOVES!

We're just waiting on weather. It's been SO cold and the wind's been out of the north, but tonight, it dropped off and we decided to move to the end of the marina for a quick getaway! We went all the way from slip 5 to slip 27, just past where Sue and Al's boat was. This was the first time we've even untied the lines, and it felt good just to see how the boat maneuvers. The forecast is for north winds 'til Monday and then we can head south with warmer weather. We have a nice view from here and an amazing internet connection!! We are ready ready READY to be on our way!

Not One More THING!

Our big roll of Mexican and Central American charts came yesterday and we also got our jerry jugs from Tara at West Marine in Corpus! She was so kind to meet us half way, in Portland!
Sue and Larry just got back from Waco (We Ain't Comin' Out!) and it's great to see them again! They loaned us Sue's car and it's been a life saver!! I've gotten a lot of use out of her old Singer sewing machine, too!
I've been trading e-mails with Taste of the Wild dog food. The good news is: they sell it in Costa Rica, but not any of the other countries we'll be visiting! Our cruising guides make Belize sound like Paradise, (and they speak English!) so I'm hoping some of you will come see us....and bring dog food! : ) Everyone loves a mission...especially to a gorgeous place! I remember taking a camp stove down to Bob and Jackie in the Bahamas so they wouldn't have to cut their trip short when the generator on their trawler went out! We had a blast!
We just heard from Sue and Al, who made it to Pensacola. That's where brother-in-law, Apar (Yohannes) is finishing up their new house and their whole family will spend Christmas there! My sister Judy and their daughter Karen will fly in from Okinawa and their daughter Alex will join them from Denver. I'm sorry we'll miss that event, but warm weather is calling us south!
Sue reported that her new non-toxic Shoo Bug tags really worked against mosquitoes they encountered in Louisiana. Sailor friend Kate had told us about them, and I'm kicking myself for not ordering some...at least for the dogs! Yes, they have flea & tick tags for dogs, and you need a different tag to repel each type of bug! Sounds weird, I know, but ck their web-site www.shoobug.com But we are THROUGH ordering stuff, and hope to leave... dare I say it, on Wednesday, Dec. 7th, Pearl Harbor Day. Daren's already planned out our route. We're less than 200 miles from Mexico, and will make stops in Tampico, Veracruz and along the coast to the Yucatan. We set up an account with Skype (since our cell phones won't work outside the US) and called Mom on the computer, and it worked GREAT! You gotta love technology!

Cooking with Li Ling

We're still waiting on a couple things...those jerry cans and the charts! Pete and Libby got the last of their shots on Monday, but we needed a USDA stamp from the official vet in Austin, so overnighted it each way, and got it back yesterday. Very efficient! We're not having much luck with the bottles we ordered from West Marine, but what can you do? We're not leaving without our charts, either!
We're still enjoying ourselves here in Rockport! Tuesday, Li Ling took me to Mai's Asian Market on Broadway and showed me how to make her wonderful marinated veggie salad back on our boat. She gave me the coolest little tool...an OXO julienne maker. It looks like a flat carrot peeler with little teeth that make noodles out of veggies in a hurry! Fun! Here's her great recipe:
Li Ling's Zucchini Squash Salad
1 medium zucchini, julienned
1 medium yellow squash, same
1 small carrot, same
1 Roma tomato, chopped
1/3 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 TBS chopped cilantro
1 tsp. chopped mint or basil, if available
Shred the veggies and mix in a medium bowl.
Mix the following dressing:
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 small jalapeno, finely chopped, omit seeds
2-4 TBS lime or lemon juice or rice vinegar
2 TBS fish sauce (for saltiness and flavor)
2 TBS palm sugar (has subtle maple flavor)
1 TBS crushed roasted peanuts
2 TBS olive oil
Mix until sugar is dissolved. Taste first and add to veggies. Refrigerate for an hour at least before serving.

She and Glyn came down to the boat yesterday and met Bert, our neighbor with the Cheoy Lee 38. He invited us and Mark to go sailing this morning, but the weather's not cooperating...kind of rainy and grey! We've had so much trouble with our internet that we're at McDonald's for their Wi-Fi.
I promise to let you know as soon as we leave! Don't give up on us! Daren used to say, "We're a long time leaving, but we'll be a long time gone!" So true, so we'd better not forget anything! : )