Welcome to our cruising blog!! There is a ton of stuff here for cruisers, especially those heading to Mexico. I have laid out the site with three main menu bars at the top of each page above and below the cover photo to make it easy for you to find what you want.
The top menu bar includes all of our travel posts.
These posts are sorted by destination under the MEXICO and ELSEWHERE (Guatemala) menu items. All of our most recent blog posts are found under the LATEST POSTS… menu item.
The second menu bar includes all the posts that are related to sailing and cruising.
The Mexico DVDs menu item describes the three DVDs we created to help cruisers plan their Mexico itinerary, learn the geography, get a handle on the weather and climate, and discovered the lesser known gems that most cruisers miss.
Under “Cruising Lifestyle” you’ll find Planning Your Cruise… which includes links to many pages offering tips, tricks, resources and references to help your planning process. There are two long pages devoted to preparing yourself and your boat for cruising in Mexico (Tips for Cruising Mexico Part 1 and Part 2). There are also detailed Maps of Mexico’s Anchorages, recommended books and field guides for the Cruiser’s Bookshelf, tips for land and Bus Travel in Mexico, tools and resources for Learning Spanish and tips for getting great dental care in Mexico.
On this menu bar you’ll also find What to Expect… where we offer lots of amusing (and educational) anecdotes about life as a gringo sailor in Mexico, as well as Our Sailing Blog which gives links to key blog posts from our sailing voyage to make it easy for you to read the story of our cruise in chronological order. Our Boat describes our 2008 Hunter 44DS Groovy in detail.
The “Tech Tips” menu item includes loads of info about Solar Power which made it possible to live comfortably at anchor as well as detailed information about marine batteries and how to keep them charged up. Under More Tech Tips… there are product reviews for our Porta-Bote dinghy and our Hobie Inflatable Kayak. You’ll also find pointers for how we learned Photography!
And our Blogroll & More menu item showcases the best sailing blogs on the web.
The third menu bar contains practical things related to us and this website.
Here’s where you can Contact Us and Subscribe to our email newsletter or RSS feed. The Press Room menu item provides links to many of the articles we have published in the major sailing magazines.
While browsing around, I recommend having a look at our Gear Store. This is an Amazon store that includes all of the little things we have found useful in our day-to-day lives that you wouldn’t necessarily think of or find at West Marine. Hopefully some of the items in there will get you inspired and thinking creatively as you prepare for your cruise. We receive a 4-6% commission (at no cost to you) for purchases made through any of the Amazon links on this site, and it helps us cover our out-of-pocket costs for maintaining this site.
Thank you for visiting our site, and have fun on your cruise!
– Emily
To help you plan your cruise and get you inspired, we created the video series, "Cruising Mexico Off the Beaten Path - Volumes 1-3," shown below. This is a fun-to-watch and easy-to-digest introduction to Mexico from a cruiser's perspective, giving you lots of valuable information that isn't covered by the cruising guides. Each video is available individually at Amazon, either as a DVD or as a download. For discount package pricing on the whole series, visit our page Cruising Mexico Video Series.
Volume 1 reviews the geography, weather and seasons in Mexico and shows you what the best anchorages between Ensenada and Manzanillo are like.
Volume 2 gives detailed info that can't be found in any of the guidebooks about the glorious cruising ground between Manzanillo and the Guatemala border.
Volume 3 (right) provides all the info you need to get off the boat for an adventure-filled trip to Oaxaca.
Our Gear Store also has a boatload of ideas for your cruise!