Author Archives: Ash

This song holds a special place in the Gremel heart, so it came as little surprise that when my sister texted our sat phone, “on the road again!”, I’d already been humming the tune for 30 minutes. Our extra check-in-and-out of Mexico provided more than just déjà vu. The repetition helped our Spanish skills andContinue reading “On the Road Again”

No question about it, this has been a tough week aboard the good ship Azimuth. We started with heads down focus on our midway maintenance punch list. Other members of the Panama Posse had reported dirty diesel sources up the coast and we knew it was time to change our fuel filters too. We installedContinue reading “Here and Back Again”

The saying goes, “sailing plans are written in the sand at low tide”. For the past ten days, we have been hunkered down in the protection of Marina Chahue waiting for our window to cross the notorious Tehuantepec Bay. The recommended route is to sail with “one foot off the beach” along the curve ofContinue reading “Weather Window”

We hopped across the Gulf of California to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle – a fishing village in Bandaras Bay, NW of Puerto Vallarta. The town is named after a tree that had been catching Scott’s woodworker eyes throughout our route. These trees provide ample shade, interesting shapes, and a coveted combo of hardwood and fastContinue reading “Sightings of the Devils Ear Tree”

After spending a Steinbeckian segment of time exploring the Gulf of California, we began plotting our course to the mainland of Mexico. We spent that final week bopping around Isla Carmen with Oakland friends aboard S/V Petrichor. The stars aligned for our friend Jen to extend her vacation, jump from their ship and cross theContinue reading “Blog from Crossing the Sea of Cortez”

Passage prep is an exercise in wondering “what if” and squashing problems before they arise. What if this breaks? What if this assumption shifts? What if we run out of x, y, x? This sort of stocking up feels akin to the early days of pandemic shopping (how much toilet paper is too much?!) butContinue reading “Pro Visioning”

We initially planned to merely tip our bow into the Sea of Cortez at La Paz, but with the encouragement of the pleasant climate and comments from friends, we stayed to explore the “aquarium of the world” for the remainder of the year. I’m writing from a restaurant rooftop in Puerto Escondido awaiting some friends’Continue reading “Scenes from the Sea”

Leaving San Diego was like hopping into the tallest water slide at an amusement park and the proceeding weeks were the long breathless climb to the top. Rounding Point Conception was perhaps the confirmation that we were indeed tall enough to go on the ride.  The sail down the Baja peninsula was the childlike joyContinue reading “The Cape and the Cove”