Salty Podcast #50 |🌎⚓Sailing the World: One Woman's Circumnavigation Update – Currently in Mexico!

Catch up with Ulrika of SV Sarantium, a 1995 Island Packet 40 Sailboat, on her inspiring circumnavigation journey—she’s currently in Mexico! 🌎⚓  

Podlink:  https://tinyurl.com/SaltyPodcast50
Episode 33 with Ulrika, Aug 7, 2024:  tinyurl.com/SaltyPodcast33

#SaltyAbandon #SaltyPodcast #SailingCircumnavigation #MexicoSailing #WomenWhoSail #CapnTinsley

Chapters

• 0:01 Sailing Around the World Adventures
• 7:08 Ocean Passage and Port Adventures
• 20:25 Coastal Anchorage and Check-in Procedures

Transcript

Capn Tinsley: 0:01

What's it like to sail thousands of miles, explore new places and dodge a few surprises along the way, while sailing around the world in your very own sailboat? Tonight we catch up with Yorika, a sailing vessel, sarantium, a 1995 Island Packet 40, currently soaking up the sun in Mexico. The last time we chatted with Yorrica was in episode 33, August 2024. She was in British Columbia gearing up to head south. She's had a mix of crew members join her along the way, each bringing their own experiences to the journey. Now, after cruising the west coast of the US, Baja and mainland Mexico, she's got some serious stories, stops, wild adventures and plenty of curveballs. Before we dive in, please, please, pretty, please, hit all the buttons like share, subscribe and drop your questions in the live chat so she can respond during the podcast. I'm Captain Tinsley and this is the Salty Podcast, episode 50. Please help me. Welcome, eureka. Did I say it right?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 1:07

Yes, you did. Thank you very much.

Capn Tinsley: 1:09

I was so nervous, so we're having technical difficulties. As you can see, I'm disappearing here, so let me just try to fix that. The sun is in my eyes.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 1:23

The sun is in my eyes.

Capn Tinsley: 1:25

Yeah, we started off with some good technical difficulties on your side and then now I'm having some on my side, so we talked back in August and you hadn't left yet. You still in british columbia, right?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 1:49

yeah, I was in victoria, uh, british columbia, uh, just yeah, waiting for, waiting to get ready to uh head out, and at that point I was getting out on my own right, yeah, so gosh, I wish my camera looked a little better, but while you're talking, I'll try to fix that.

Capn Tinsley: 2:10

uh, some of the things you mentioned were, um, that you were looking forward to the flexibility with your time you're embracing the journey. Um, looking forward to the nature, looking forward to learning all about the different things, the parts of your boat and the tools and everything. You had just sold all your possessions, or you recently had, and now you head out and go down the west coast of Florida I mean west coast of Florida, that's me, the west coast of the US and down to Baja Mexico. So why don't you just start out? And and I will try to work my visuals in, but it might take me a minute to kind of tell us about the adventure, what, what happened along the way, what kind of mishaps happened?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 2:59

There's always a mishap, so yeah, so yeah, no, I last time I talked to you I will when I was on here I was in Victoria and I was I was ready to go solo sailing and I had, last minute, I kind of changed my mind, or I put it out to a Facebook page women who sail and I put it out there and I said, hey, if anybody wants to join, feel free uh to jump on. And I had overwhelming response, um from people, um saying you know they, a lot of them was hoping that I could pick them up in, uh, along the way. But I wasn't planning on going in to shore, I wanted to do an offshore sail completely. But I did find two women One was local and one came from Eastern United States and so they flew in and they jumped on the boat and, yeah, we sailed from Victoria, we sailed out of the Strait, so the one, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which is just north of Seattle and we sailed out there and we ran into some troubles right away with my plotter.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 4:16

It wasn't working properly. The cables were too small, so I had to get somebody to come and help with that. I was blowing fuses, one after after another, so there was something going on that was beyond my knowledge, but we fixed that um in a place called souk outside of victoria and then we continued and we sailed out and that was kind of shakedown, getting to know each other, and we stopped a few times before we got into the pacific ocean. Uh, we saw lots of whale, tons of whale. It was pretty amazing actually. We had a beautiful sail out to, uh, what's called nia bay or um. Yeah, that was just the last stop before you, before you get into the north pacific ocean, so that was kind of the first few days.

Capn Tinsley: 5:09

How did it work out being with these folks that you had never met?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 5:15

It was good. Yeah, it was good. It takes a long time before you get to know somebody. I had met one of the crew members, um, in victoria before she came and met me and we did a quick um took the boat out. So I kind of you know um got to know her a little bit, um, but, yeah, um, no, it's good. Um, yeah, everybody was keen, it was everybody's Well. The two. I had never done an offshore sale and neither had the woman from eastern the US. Where was she from? Where was she from? Uh, north, south, not not too far from chicago. I think she had done a lot. She had done some racing in the great lakes, I believe. Um, you know, I don't, the sun is really it looks so much better whatever's happening with mine.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 6:23

It looks much better than mine so yeah, so that was her first. She was working on her captain's license, so she wanted some experience, so it was perfect. And then, um, the other woman had done some offshore sailing before, but just a little bit. She was also along for the, so it was good yeah, you know what I I've been.

Capn Tinsley: 6:44

I I was just saying that I wanted to interview somebody that that was familiar with uh, uh, great lake sailing.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 6:52

So you think?

Capn Tinsley: 6:53

she would be, because I haven't had anybody on to talk about that. You think she'd be a good person for me to talk to?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 7:00

yeah, yeah she she does some racing there so I can get you in contact with her. Okay, she might even that'd be great watching um. So, yeah, and um, we were kind of waiting around a little bit, uh, also because I was hoping to buddy boat with another boat, to friends of mine from nanaimo, um, but they it was interesting, um, they didn't have very good wind and we had lots of good wind, um, but we were on the canadian side and they were on the us side, but that's, that channel is big enough that there is actually quite difference in, uh, where the wind was blowing and where it wasn't blowing. So we were, um just sitting around waiting for them and um didn really know where they were. And then we just decided to go because we'd been waiting for a few days. So we just kind of sailed out into the middle of the ocean, straight out from the North Pacific Ocean or from the Juan de Fuca Strait, and you had said you were not planning on coming in and it sounds like you did not come in.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 8:10

Not for four days. So we basically headed west, south well, a little bit south, but mostly west, and we got out as far as I think I believe it was 170 nautical miles off the coast, so it was basically two full days straight. Well, it's not straight west, it's south, but you know, it turns out. You pretty well go west.

Capn Tinsley: 8:41

And then you went to Crescent City Is that right, yeah.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 8:44

And then what happened was my uh inverter. What happened? There was a leak in the propane locker and there was water that got into um to the where the inverter was. So and it shouldn't have been situated the way it was. But I didn't put it in, I hired somebody to do it and I didn't really know. It got wet and it was fried. So we went into Crescent City just to see if we could fix it, and it turns out it was a good thing that we did, because on the outside offshore, there was a pretty decent gale blowing, so we missed that, and my friends from the nine one did not miss it. They were locked down in the cabin for 24 hours oh man, it was a blessing.

Capn Tinsley: 9:36

Yeah, you never know when your problem becomes a blessing yeah, exactly so, um.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 9:42

So, yeah, we hung out there and it turned out, we um turned out we, we, we motored into Crescent City and they had these beautiful new docks there and there was people talking on the standing on the dock, kind of catching the boat. When we came in and one of the guys said oh, I know you and I guess he had seen me on your show. Oh, cool, I know you and I guess he had seen me on your show and we had yeah and another Island packet owner. So we got to know some people and a couple of Canadians, some Americans and, yeah, it was nice to connect with people who are also going down to make.

Capn Tinsley: 10:21

You mentioned about the, the Community and connection you had mentioned before. You had mentioned how the sailing community was very helpful to you.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 10:35

Yeah, yeah, oh, extremely helpful. As soon as you say that you have some problems or that you're not understanding something, people jump in with both, with both feet, and just you know how can I help. So that's pretty amazing. But backing up a little bit, sailing out of Juan de Fuca straight, we had it was pretty. I was surprised how I couldn't really sleep. I had counting on, I had counted on sleeping and that didn't really sleep. I had counting on.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 11:06

I had counted on sleeping and that didn't really happen because it is so loud and I didn't know that because I had never been offshore before. I was thinking I was. We were three of us. We're going to be able to take turns and sleep and you know it'll be great. I never slept Well. I slept maybe for 10 minutes at a time, but it was. Yeah, that part was very surprising. I had not 10 minutes at a time. I, yeah, I hear that I I'm not a good sleeper, obviously, I don't know.

Capn Tinsley: 11:40

Wait a minute four to five days it was 10 minutes at a time.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 11:46

Wow yeah, and it was noisy Like I kept saying. It's like I'm in a shooting range or a bowling alley. It was just unbelievable. It was rough. Yeah Well, it was nicer to be up at the like in the cockpit, it was awful to be below. I don't know if island packets are worse than other boats. I know I've had wood boats before, I've sailed on wood boats and I don't remember them being that noisy.

Capn Tinsley: 12:22

So I guess it just depends on how rough it is and if you've got stuff rolling around inside well, I don't think I did, but it was every time there's waves hitting, so anyways it was um, and you don't cook as much as you I.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 12:41

I thought I was going to cook more Um, but you can't really boil much on the stove because you never know when it's gonna. You know when you're gonna get hot water on you. So it was um, it was, it was. Yeah, it was interesting, but I think that first few days coming out of, uh, juan de Fuca Strait I've heard from other people that it is it takes there's two, three days, so it's not that pleasant okay, so did it smooth out a little bit yeah, it did.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 13:14

Yeah, I did. We had. After the first two days, we had beautiful, beautiful sales. I had the yeah, I had the morning, the 4 o'clock to 8 o'clock shift in the morning. We each had a four-hour shift, yeah, and so I got to sit and watch the sun come up and the dolphins and the whales would join me almost every morning. It was pretty amazing.

Capn Tinsley: 13:41

Wow, okay, wow, so, okay.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 13:44

So after um you went to catalina on san miguel island, avalon, yeah, yeah so then we left, uh, we left, uh crescent city and another five to six days offshore down to catalina island. Uh, we first stopped with Miguel Island, san Miguel, yeah, yes, san Miguel Island, and then Avalon after that.

Capn Tinsley: 14:17

Did you go ashore?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 14:19

Yes, we did Not San Miguel, but we went ashore in Avalon. It's a very I don't know. I had never been there, so it was kind of very. It was a good experience. It was the veterans. It was like yeah, uh, veterans, uh, fish derby going on, so it was extremely busy. Okay, big, massive power boats uh there, um, but yeah, no, it was good. We were there for about three nights, I believe, okay, and then, uh, we continued and it was busy the lots of um, lots of traffic lanes, so lots of shipping lanes coming into Los Angeles. I was busy up in Seattle too area, but this was really busy and the Navy is there and there was lots going on in the water and I talked I would hail lots of different ships. Probably every night I would hail one or two ships just to make sure they knew we were there. And that's also new for me talking to these big freighters. But I really enjoyed it. Actually, I learned lots from them.

Capn Tinsley: 15:36

And you have a transponder AIS so they can see you.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 15:39

Yes, yeah, yeah, no, it was good.

Capn Tinsley: 15:44

But you're right, they're not always watching. No, yeah.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 15:50

And often they would just say yeah, let me, just let me call you back, I just need to look and see where you are on the radar or on the AIS. And they always called back, held back and they always said thanks for keeping an eye out for us. We will adjust our course because we are close. So as long as I contacted them, they would make adjustments if needed. Okay, so it was. And I didn't know that. I thought, basically they had the right of way. I mean, yeah, I was under sale, but still I'm not going to ask a freighter to move out of the way because I'm counting.

Capn Tinsley: 16:30

Usually. That's the way it works. You're supposed to move for them. That was nice.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 16:35

Yeah.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 16:36

No they always adjusted their course slightly. So it was good, their course slightly, so it's good, yeah. And then we left Avalon and we've headed to San Diego. Same thing, really busy coming into San Diego it's, you know, the naval bunch, of naval fleets are there and yeah. So I stayed in San Diego. It was a long time waiting I think was a month. We were kind of waiting for the hurricane season to be over and kind of waiting for the hurricane season to be over and I was waiting for a few things. I had mail coming in San Diego, so so you were there, yeah yeah, I mean I wouldn't.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 17:13

I that wasn't planned and I kind of wish I didn't. That was a. It was long time we were right beside the airport you and the air.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 17:26

Yeah, so anyways, yeah. So then from there we, we went to Ensenada, which is the first Mexican Town and that's the port of call. So you have to check in to the country there, and that took a little bit longer Because I had the wrong paper. But oh no, it all worked out and they're pretty sticky like they're. And that took a little bit longer because I had the wrong paperwork.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 17:44

Oh no, it all worked out and they're pretty sticky, like they're yeah, so I was afraid I was going to get kicked out of the country, but it was all good, any, advice on that, on paperwork, on what's the right paperwork, and all that.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 17:57

You just need your registration papers, and I thought I had the right registration papers, but it turned out I didn't. So just make sure that, oh yeah. Another advice is that lots of boats, lots of people buy boats and the boats have been in Mexico previously and they have what's called a temporary import permit and if they didn't cancel that permit, then the permit is still on the boat and you can't get a new TIP, a new temporary import permit, until the other one's canceled, and that can be a real pain.

Capn Tinsley: 18:42

Okay, so you didn't have one right, sorry, you didn't have one, right?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 18:48

no? And then this boat has never been in Mexico before, so there had never been one on this one. But lots of people didn't know that. So also, if you sell a boat, make sure you cancel your TIP, because it's a headache. How do you know? You don't. Well, if you had a TIP on your boat when you sold it, it's your responsibility you should be. But the new owners they won't know. And if they don't know the rules about Mexico and they, then they don't ask for it either.

Capn Tinsley: 19:25

So so, yeah, it's just a piece of paper and you may not even know.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 19:29

Oh my god, okay yeah, yeah, it's a big problem. So then we left and then we we jumped down the coast of Baja and I wanted to see lots of places there, um, so we did lots of stops, um, some we just tucked in quickly for the night, and some were, some were fantastic, some were very exposed to the northerly and the westerly swells, but, um, we stood first one. We stopped in Baha'i, but um, bahia Soledad, it's the first one just underneath Ensenada.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 20:11

Okay, yeah, it's hard to find Well, it's yeah, up a little bit further. I don't know, I can't see. Actually it's a small place. You might not be able to see it unless you scroll in. It's a small place, you might not be able to see it unless you scroll in. And then we went to a couple more. It was really foggy. It was really really foggy on the coast because we were close to the coast. So some of the anchorages that we went into we actually didn't even. We couldn't even see land, oh really. So in the morning we left, even we couldn't even see land, so in the morning we hadn't even seen land.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 20:45

It was funny. So, but the first one that's kind of was interesting was Isla Cedros, and that's the island, um, just north of, uh, tortuga, bahia Tortuga, which is Turtle Bay, and that's an island that's just above, I think, the base, if you go down a little bit further. Yeah, right there, just above there, just about where you are right now. There's that not the best there, that island right there, that is isla cedros, the big one above there. Yes, so you just there we go yeah yeah, so that's um.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 21:33

So we stopped in there in the town um, and that's another port of call, so you have to actually check in with the authorities to you have to check in. But they actually saw us coming down in the channel so they actually called us and they were wondering if we were stopping there. So they it's funny, I didn't know that they would keep watch like that, but they do. They see your boat coming down On the east side of that island. We were coming down and they hailed us and said are you coming into port tonight? Um, and basically the law is that you have to go in, um, if you're going in. Well, we could have probably anchored just along the east side of the island, but we went in because it was really windy as well. It blows over the mountains on that island and then it just it gets really, really windy Up to 40 nautical miles actually coming off that mountain.

Capn Tinsley: 22:40

Wow. So what if you had not planned to stop there? You wouldn't have had to, you could just bypass it.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 22:47

No, we could have just sailed by and said, no, we're not stopping. But we were tired and I didn't want to do an overnighter again. So we went into town. We tried to fit into their little harbor, but it was tiny, so we ended up throwing an anchor just outside of the breakwater a little bit more south.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 23:08

If you go a little more south, yeah, right there where there's um there right there, that's the breakwater right there, so you can squeeze in there if it's not busy. But there's a lot of pongas, pangas, little boats in there I don't know that word, no, so there's a lot of well, fishermen and are there. So we actually ended up just anchoring around the, the breakwater on the south side here. Right here there's a really yeah, so we anchored in there and then there was actually a nice north side and some nice snorkeling that you could do in there Are there no trees right here Trees, no trees there's no

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 24:04

trees, no trees, wow, no, it's a desert, it's desert-y, yeah, it's dry heat, though it's very, very nice. Coming from British Columbia, it sure was a nice change. You started getting it To have dry heat, yeah, so we were there for two nights, I believe, okay, and then, uh, we had we, then we left and we sailed beside. There's this big, um, right down to Tortuga, uh, but he had, tortuga is turtle, turtle Bay and it's just in that Bay, right there. Yes, okay, yeah, is that what it is? I can't see. Yeah, that looks like. Yeah, yeah, bahia, tortuga, so Turtle Bay.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 24:47

So we sailed in there, we, we could have, we sailed right into the anchor, like we sailed until we threw an anchor in and, um, then we, we had run out of fresh food actually, so we were just so excited to find a store, so we jumped in our zodiacs oh, and, by the way, there's only two of us now, because the other crew member, she, jumped on off in San Diego. So we jumped in a zodiac and we start going in. The Sun was just starting to set and there's two, these two, you could, you could tell there was a gathering on the beach and there was these two people from um, oh, one from canada and one from united states. They greeted us at the beach with the each a beer in their hands and said welcome, they've been. They saw the canadian flag and and come to our party. Come. They saw the Canadian flag and come to our party. So we got off the Zodiac and joined this big feast that a bunch of sailors were having. Yeah, it was great. So they were also heading down to Mexico, and one person was on his way another desert town it's all desert wow

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 26:04

yeah, and uh, yeah, we spent three days there. I think that was fun, did you? Did you have fun? You had fun? Yeah, that was fantastic.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 26:16

Um, and yeah, I made more connections with sailors a family of four that's heading down to French Polynesia in the boat called Oatmeal Savages, so yeah, and they're a family from the west coast of British Columbia too, and then after that we went into Bahia Santa too, and then after that we went into, uh, bahia santa, oh yeah, and the baja hofa, which is the big uh, what is it? I don't know what it is. It's not a, it's not a race, it's a bunch of cruisers. Yeah, it's a rally, it's a social rally. They were kind of right behind us. Yeah, they were right behind us and we were trying to stay ahead of them because there was 130 boats. We knew that we wanted to get into Bahia Santa Maria before they did, because we were worried we were not going to get an anchor spot, so we left and we were basically just a day ahead of them. And so Bahia Santa Maria is right before Magdalena Bay, and now we're also in yeah, well, go back to the West coast.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 27:35

Yeah, tortuga Bay, right. So you keep going down, down, yeah, down and right. Oh boy, yeah, yes, in there, right, here Is that Santa Maria?

Capn Tinsley: 27:58

Yeah it should be Bahia Asuncion.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 28:01

Yeah, I think so.

Capn Tinsley: 28:04

Let me see what you.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 28:04

So we were there for one day, and then we woke up the next morning and the boats just start coming in one sail after another.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 28:16

They caught up and there was there was in that big bay that you're looking at there was three boats, three sailboats. When we got there, yeah, and the next day there was 120. Woo, oh, no, yeah. So we met so many people and made so many connections and we ended up crashing their big bash that the Mexican had put on for them. Oh nice, so it was a big party with a live band. Yeah, I was. It was so fun and, again, we made lots and lots of connections.

Capn Tinsley: 28:58

And this is right in here.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 29:01

Yeah, it's hard for me to see because it's yeah, it's called Bahia Santa Maria. Yeah, it's right there, tucked in.

Capn Tinsley: 29:14

Okay.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 29:15

I believe I guess it's not labeled so?

Capn Tinsley: 29:20

and where was the destination of this rally?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 29:22

the Baja, haha, whatever well, cabo San Lucas Was the end. Yeah, so they go from San Diego to Baja, to Cabo San Lucas, and there's actually something that's called the cohohoho that starts in Up in my neck of the woods, so in Seattle. So there's Canadian boats that start in the Cohohoho and they end up in San Diego and then they continue in the Bajajaja. It's a social thing. I think it's great for new sailors who want because you have to have crew Right so it's. It's a way for new for sale, for people who have never been offshore before to to get to Mexico with crew and often who have some experience. Even if you don't have a lot of experience, then you're.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 30:22

You know you're going to pick up experienced crew, so it's yeah yeah, it's so, yeah, um, and then they yeah, they go to um, cabo, is there basically where they end? And then there's another party there. Except for this year it got canceled, apparently because they closed to the harbor because it was too windy. So they kicked everybody out is what I understand, but I could be wrong about that. So after Bahia, santa Maria, we went to Magdalena Bay. We only stayed there one night, because now we're feeling that we kind of want to get down to around the corner of Cabo San Lucas, so we only stayed there one night.

Capn Tinsley: 31:06

Let me ask you oh, here's Cabo San Lucas. What were you thinking by this time, like about your whole decision to sail?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 31:16

Well, I, yeah. So you know, I really really loved it. But the nights can be really treacherous, or not treacherous that's not a good word, I don't think but the nights can be. Now we're only two on the boat. Three-hour shifts was too long, but it was too short for the sleeping person. So, because you're sitting there at the helm and I've pretty well, I fell asleep a few times at the help helm sitting up um, it's a long.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 31:55

And you're sitting there looking at your bearing, you're looking at the screen, making sure that, at your bearing, you're looking at the screen making sure that your, your heading is within you know, within you. You're staring at numbers, making sure that you're at the right, and also you're surfing these huge waves and you can't see anything other than stars. So you can hear the waves. Unless it's full moon, you don't see a lot. So it can be. Yeah, it's hard. It's like I had this idea before I left. I was going to be laying on the deck looking at the stars and just you know, in the dream state, but that's not what happened. Looking at the stars and just you know, in the dream stage state, but that's not what happened.

Capn Tinsley: 32:49

You're sitting at the helm, trying to stay awake and you can't see much because you're also have the screen on and it's well, you know well, of course, I guess it depends on where you are and how much traffic's out there, but I wouldn't have like 30 minutes on and get up and check and because I was by myself or with my husband but um, but you could see the stars, you couldn't see the stars. Yeah, I have a yeah, you can't.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 33:15

Yeah, I had, um, I have a bimini and a dodger on, just because the sun is so intense yeah so it's hard to see it unless you go on deck, and you can't go on deck when you're by yourself at night. It's just too dangerous, right? So yeah, and we had some high winds. It was gusting 35, some nights 36, 38, so that made it rough oh yeah and so and then you had to reef.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 33:50

And you know that's never fun to reef. I have a self, I have a boom furler and furling system in my boom so you could do it from the cockpit, um, but you know it's it's hard to reef when it's gusting 35 um. So we had a couple nights like that where we had to actually change um and we had to go out further than we wanted to because we needed to have a better angle, because the way the person that that left in San Diego.

Capn Tinsley: 34:26

Was she planning on leaving then?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 34:30

no, not at first, but I think it was taking too long yeah or something.

Capn Tinsley: 34:37

Oh, that's pesky, yeah, and the other one.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 34:44

She's still here in La Paz. She's heading back to Canada I think so soon, but she's not on the boat. She's um, but she did fall. She came with me all the way to La Paz, Okay.

Capn Tinsley: 34:55

Yeah, all right, so you're. You're now at. Okay, magdalena, magdalena Bay, where's that?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 35:07

That's right below Bahia, santa Maria. We didn't stay there very long, but everybody talks about Magdalena Bay, and then from Magdalena Bay we didn't stop until we rounded the Cape, rounded the Cape of Cabo, cabo San Lucas. We did not stop, we just went in. We had good wind and we did sail right through the bottom part of the bottom part of Baja and then we sailed. So we have, we rounded that. So we sailed from that corner, if you go up north again back to where I was talking before on the outside, yeah, you see there.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 35:49

So that's magdalena bay, right there, right there. From there we sailed for four days and we sailed straight down and we sailed all the way around the uh, baja Cabo San Lucas. We sailed right by there and and then we'll sail up around, and then we stopped in Los Frailes, and that's very close to where you have your cursor right now, right in there, the little tip right there. That's Los Frailes, right here. Yeah, or that's los frailes right here.

Capn Tinsley: 36:23

Yeah, or that's yes, okay, there it is, yeah no, what did it? Did it get it calmed down in here, or was it still windy uh?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 36:34

no, if we. At first it calmed down. But all of a sudden now you're going north, so now you're being headed, so the north westerlies got really strong in there. So we were tacking like crazy, and you know what that's like. It's like four times the distance, all of a sudden. And then we stopped, yeah, and then we stopped in. Where did we stop? We stopped in. Aguila de los.

Capn Tinsley: 37:00

Muertos.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 37:01

Yeah, muertos, we stopped there and that was also fantastic. We were there for two nights, or one night, I can't remember Two nights. And then we were thinking, oh, we're going to sail to La Paz and then these strong northwesterly winds hit again. We ended up getting stuck on Isla Saralvo, which is that big island right beside your cursor and at the very southern tip yeah, not there, but southwest tip.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 37:36

We stopped there for one night because the winds were so strong, or a little bit more west yeah, right there, where that green cursor is, or the green thing, there for one night because the winds were so strong, or a little bit more West there yeah, right there, where that green cursor is, or the green gosh. There's nothing there, no, there isn't, but there was lots and lots of manta rays. Wow. So we were there for a night because and that's what they call Jacques Cousteau Island, which I'm not sure I know they've changed the Mexican name is Isla Saralvo, but all the white folks call it Jacques Cousteau Island ok so you were just pretty much hiding from the wind yeah, and we got up that morning at three o'clock.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 38:24

We start sailing. And then we got headed. No, the wind died and we motored all the way into um la paz okay, and that's over here, right yeah, that's right down in that channel oh, that's more protected yeah, that's where I am right now in that channel. I'm not in the basin, but I'm in the channel, right in the middle there, right there. That's where I am right now.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 38:50

Yeah, right there oh yeah, see, there's a lot of boats there yeah, and lots of people get stuck on that bar in the middle of the shoal right okay, we're kind of running out of time, but the isla espirito santos is that island just north of la paz and that is is. That is as nice as it looks. Every Bay has beautiful anchorages and a ton of wildlife and good hiking. It's absolutely gorgeous.

Capn Tinsley: 39:38

Wow.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 39:41

Yeah, it's beautiful. I've spent, I've been out there a couple times now. It's paradise and it's a park. So you have to pay, you have to park, you need a park permit.

Capn Tinsley: 39:57

And they do check.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 39:58

To anchor, you have to pay. You have to pay to go on land and they will come and check your permit.

Capn Tinsley: 40:06

Okay, Gringo pay yeah.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 40:10

There are wild goats there.

Capn Tinsley: 40:13

Okay.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 40:15

And you're not even allowed to bring pets along.

Capn Tinsley: 40:20

So this is a camp right here.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 40:24

Oh yeah, but the snorkeling is spectacular. I had some photos on my.

Capn Tinsley: 40:31

Yeah, it's pretty amazing, I did see those pictures. Let's see. I had to. I had to reboot, so I lost it all. Yeah, I had it already.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 40:43

Yeah.

Capn Tinsley: 40:45

The technical difficulties yeah.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 40:46

The technical difficulties? Yeah, and now our hour is up.

Capn Tinsley: 40:52

Not quite 41 minutes.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 40:57

Oh, I thought you would have to be.

Capn Tinsley: 41:00

We're at 41 minutes. Remember we started late, Okay.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 41:05

Yeah, no, okay.

Capn Tinsley: 41:07

Yeah, no, okay, all right, so some of these is is that, is that what we're seeing here?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 41:13

Yeah, yeah, it's Northling, is amazing there.

Capn Tinsley: 41:18

Wow.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 41:19

It's, and the landscape is amazing.

Capn Tinsley: 41:21

It's like isn't that interesting, it's beautiful is amazing, isn't that interesting?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 41:24

It's beautiful.

Capn Tinsley: 41:29

Is that a boxfish?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 41:30

Yes.

Capn Tinsley: 41:32

I saw the video of you changing the oil.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 41:35

Yeah.

Capn Tinsley: 41:37

How many times have you done that?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 41:40

Only twice because I haven't used the engine that much. I've only used it 77 hours from Victoria to all the way down yeah but I do sail, I do sail, I do sail, when it's even two knots you turn on the engine.

Capn Tinsley: 42:02

No, you don't turn on the engine, yeah, 1.8.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 42:13

It depends on the wave action. I don't have a whisker pole so it's a bit tricky. I'm looking for one right now. Is this your boat?

Capn Tinsley: 42:25

Yes, that's Serantium Some good hiking.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 42:34

Yeah, and that's another island packet right there. Sweet, it was only two boats in the whole anchor and it's two island packets, and I know them we didn't plan it but how long were you anchored? Here in that anchorage right there, probably four days.

Capn Tinsley: 42:56

Yeah, it's just so lovely to not have people around, I know, so tell me what it was like. Give me some magic.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 43:08

Peaceful it's. You know, it's magic. It's just you sit there at night and you watch the sun go down and you just think, wow, this is, yeah, this is, this is my life. It's pretty unbelievable. So yeah, this is my life. It's pretty unbelievable. So yeah, yeah, lots of fun. That's in Todos Santos. That's a place on the west coast. That was before.

Capn Tinsley: 43:40

Yeah, so tell me how everything is. Let's go back to this picture. Wow, so tell me, go ahead.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 43:54

Anyways, you can snorkel and dive along those walls and they're just full of fish, lots and lots of fish, and you know lots of fish and you know lots of sea lions too.

Capn Tinsley: 44:10

They're pretty playful have you caught any fish and cooked it?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 44:15

yeah, I think there's a photo of me holding up a big I did.

Capn Tinsley: 44:20

Okay, you were in cold weather clothes. Sorry, you were in cold weather clothes. Sorry, you were in cold weather clothes.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 44:28

Yes, it was cold coming down. It wasn't warm. I was in cold woolies. When did it start to warm up? Not until you turned into around Cabo San Lucas.

Capn Tinsley: 44:41

Wow.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 44:42

Yeah, it was cold, and it's not that warm here now either, actually, because it's in the dead of winter here. But yeah, I was in full sailing gear, all weather gear, all the way down to Cabo San Lucas.

Capn Tinsley: 45:01

So have you been able to stick to your budget, the budget that you wanted to stick with?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 45:08

You know yes and no, because I've done a lot or I bought another battery. You know I had help putting them in. I've just refurbished the sale. I had to buy a portable inverter, the day-to-day stuff food and I don't go into marinas because it's so expensive. Here it's $100.

Capn Tinsley: 45:37

US. You haven't gone into any the whole trip. No, it's very nice.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 45:45

Yeah, it's been lovely. Not, it's very nice. No, yeah it's. It's been lovely, um, because it's expensive. But food and um, it's cheap. So yes, I have been able to uh, but I've dipped into some of my savings for to add items on the boat. But, you changed your own oil. Yeah, I do all that. I'm learning to do everything myself the first time you do it. You need Well. Youtube is great too, oh sure well, the youtube is great too.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 46:31

Oh, sure, yeah, so all right. Well, so how long? How long have you been there? I've been here too long now. Um, I just got my parcel today that I ordered a spare part for my e electronic, um outboard motor for my zodiac, so I've been waiting for that, so I got that now. So I'm leaving. I'm leaving here on, uh, sunday morning, okay, and I'm gonna sail north and I'm gonna sail across to the mainland to pick up, to get hauled out and, um paint the bottom of the boat.

Capn Tinsley: 47:05

Ah yeah and that's where you know that in Guaymas.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 47:10

So yeah, so going straight north, past that other island on the west, on the east coast of the Baja Peninsula, you go, I'm gonna go straight up there, and then I'm gonna cross over diagonally to a place that's called San Guaymas. It's called so north, I'm going northeast, so go up the coast of the mainland.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 47:37

Oh, that's a good way, yeah, yeah. So I'm going to sail there, haul out, paint my bottom, clean the boat, because you can do that yourself. Okay, In many places they don't like you doing your own work. They want to do the work, so, but this is one place you can do it on your own.

Capn Tinsley: 47:58

So, there's a place in Glamis that there's a boat yard where you can do your own work.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 48:04

Yeah, and live on your boat while you do it.

Capn Tinsley: 48:07

Oh, wow, okay.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 48:09

So that's not in every place. And then from there I'm going to go back to the Baja side, straight across. I'm going to go straight across, I'm not going to go down. I'm going to go straight across from Guaymas. So straight across, yeah, to Loretta or Rosalita, one of the two. And then from Rosalita down to La Paz is world-class cruising. That whole coast is supposed to be absolute stun.

Capn Tinsley: 48:42

Going south.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 48:50

Yeah, back to La paz. Okay, so after la paz I'm going to go diagonally down to, uh, puerto vallarta and then I'm going to take a flight to mexico city, flight to Mexico City, and I'm trying to get my Swedish passport at the embassy in Mexico City, and then after that I'm heading to French Polynesia.

Capn Tinsley: 49:18

That was my next question. Let me find this place that you're going in over here so Puerto Vallarta.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 49:29

So it's down, further down there it is there it is. So that's yeah, I'm gonna go in there flying to Mexico City yeah, it's like way up here right yeah, I got it.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 49:45

Well, no, it shouldn't be, it should just be inland. I think okay. And then I'm going to go to the embassy. And because if you go to french polynesia as a canadian or as american, they want the 5 000 bond when you enter into french polynesia because in case of something that happens, they want you to have, they want to be in charge of the money so that they can fly you out if you need to leave for some reason is what I understand. But with the European passport they pick on.

Capn Tinsley: 50:21

Americans and Canadians.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 50:24

Yeah, it's the EU, so French Polynesia is French and if you're part of EU, then you have it's getting dark here.

Capn Tinsley: 50:36

Yeah, I can't see you anymore. No, I know, there we go. Yeah, so that's interesting. Okay, so if you if you're American or Canadian you have to do a $5,000 bond, do I have that right?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 51:00

yeah, it's just a guarantee that you're not getting stuck there without money. So, guarantee that you're not getting stuck there without money. So, but if you're part of EU, which I am, but I just don't have the passport anymore, I kind of let it Right. So then they don't ask for that.

Capn Tinsley: 51:19

So that's going to take a while for you to get your passport.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 51:23

Yeah, they take a little less than a week. If you're in person, okay.

Capn Tinsley: 51:30

So you'll hang out. You're going to fly to Mexico City and hang out there until you get it. Yeah.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 51:37

I've heard, Mexico City is really really nice.

Capn Tinsley: 51:40

People love it apparently, I think parts of it are dangerous, but any big city you know. So back to Puerto Vallarta and then you're going to go straight across.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 51:54

So Puerto Vallarta I'm just going to. It's better the more south that you go, because you will kind of get into the trade winds quicker and the trade winds will just blow you right to French Polynesia, marquesas.

Capn Tinsley: 52:15

So you'll leave from here.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 52:18

Yeah, yeah, la Paz to Puerto Vallarta, and then from Puerto Vallarta you're just going to start sailing south until you hit the trade winds, and then it's supposed to be well, other than squalls. It's a sleigh ride all the way to Marquesas oh my gosh, where is it?

Capn Tinsley: 52:41

I don't even know where it is it's tiny, yeah, french Polynesia.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 52:44

If you google French Polynesia, where is it? I don't even know where it is. It's tiny, yeah, french Polynesia. If you Google French Polynesia, it'll take you right into the ocean. Hopefully I don't miss it. I better not rely on my, on my sextant Cause, I'll miss it, guaranteed, all right.

Capn Tinsley: 53:01

So here, wow, how many days, is that going to take 25. I'll miss it, guaranteed, all right. So here, wow, how many days is that going to take 25.? Okay, average. That's the best place to leave, because it starts going further this way, yeah. You keep going around, yeah.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 53:19

Okay, puerto Vallarta or Acapulco. Acapulco is kind of where you want to leave.

Capn Tinsley: 53:26

Right here. That is incredible. Look at that.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 53:37

I can't see it.

Capn Tinsley: 53:40

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 53:42

You're enjoying it on your own. I'm amazed, look at this, you're going it on your own.

Capn Tinsley: 53:45

I'm amazed. Look at this. You're going to go all the way from right here, all the way to right here.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 53:55

Yeah, yeah, just above New. Zealand.

Capn Tinsley: 54:00

Are you taking somebody with you?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 54:04

I'm not sure yet there's a person interested this. This apparently is it's the offshore passage that lots of people say you can do on your own because it's it's. It's compared to a lot of other passages. Yeah, crossings, this is the easier one. That's what I understand.

Capn Tinsley: 54:27

Because it's calm right.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 54:30

Yeah, it's calm, but you're in the. You don't change your sails for days and days. You just. It's just a sleigh ride.

Capn Tinsley: 54:41

Other than squalls. Yeah, okay, wow, I'm speechless. Of course, I know people do this, but I'm looking at it like this and it's a long way. So you have Starlink.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 54:57

Yeah, I have Starlink.

Capn Tinsley: 55:00

I'll be able to track you. You have in reach, yeah, yeah.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 55:05

No, I have AIS. So, ship Finder, you can just put my boat in, just write the name of the boat and you'll be able to check your email and everything. Yeah, yeah, so you can follow. Yeah, you just write Serantium and you should be able to find me. It's not. I think it updates quite often, like it's every five minutes or something like that that it sends and receives.

Capn Tinsley: 55:37

Well, that's a good place to end right there. So when is that going to happen, do you think?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 55:45

I'm leaving the last week in March, I believe, or middle of March, I haven't decided yet. People leave, yeah, so from Puerto Vallarta people leave anywhere from end of March to mid-April, kind of thing.

Capn Tinsley: 56:04

Okay, so you're going to get all that stuff accomplished new bottom job, the passport provisioning you may take somebody. I think it'd be kind of cool if you just didn't take anybody.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 56:20

Yeah, I think so too.

Capn Tinsley: 56:25

At the same time. I'm saying that it sounds a little scary, but I do like being out there by myself. Of course, I haven't been across the Pacific, but I do like going across the Gulf by myself, yeah.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 56:37

Yeah, yeah, no, I think it's yeah, since it's the friendlier passage. That's, that's, that's the one to see if it's for you. Um, I think it's, um, I think it's a different story. Going from French Polynesia to New Zealand, that's, that's a different.

Capn Tinsley: 57:00

Um. What is that like?

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 57:03

I've heard it's. It can be rough.

Capn Tinsley: 57:05

Okay.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 57:07

So that's the one you won't through on, I think.

Capn Tinsley: 57:10

And you'll decide what you're going to do once that. Yeah, you'll deal with that as it comes. Yeah, but I'm open to whatever happens. Yeah, I like it. I like your plan. I'm excited for you. Thank you, let's put your information up again. How people can follow you? Yeah, the blog. Yeah, the blog. Sailaway12.com. Instagram. Vindoman Vindwoman. I'm embarrassed. Vindoman Vindwoman, I'm embarrassed.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 57:47

Not.

Capn Tinsley: 57:48

Vindoman. Well, when I would see that, I didn't know what that meant. Vindwoman, I'm so embarrassed. Facebook, norika Schvoback. Did I have that right? Yeah, did I say it right.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 58:06

Schvoback, schvoback, did I have that right. Yeah, did I say it right.

Capn Tinsley: 58:09

Spoback, spoback. Yes, close enough, okay, yeah, so she's on Instagram, facebook and this blog, so follow along and I'm going to touch base with you again. I'm going to have to get you back here, maybe right before you cross.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 58:25

Yes, okay, that'll be exciting.

Capn Tinsley: 58:29

You'll tell us all the things that you accomplished. Oh, wow, I'm excited for you. I really am Well. Thanks for coming back on. Sorry, guys, we were late, sorry for all the technical difficulties. I'm glad we pushed through it. I knew you'd push through it, because that's kind of what sailors do, you know. We just, you know, if we were kind of, if we didn't have perseverance, we wouldn't sail right.

Ulrika of SV Sarantium: 58:56

My low-budget Mexican phone actually was the one that just came through at the end.

Capn Tinsley: 59:01

That is amazing, because when the sun was shining through, it looked like a 4K camera. I mean, it was great, all right. Well, thank you so much for agreeing to come back on and we will talk to you again soon. And that's Salty Bannon out, thank you.