Happy 2016 to All

From the crew of Sirena we wish you all a happy and healthy 2016!

Preparations are almost complete and the New Year will soon see us headed southbound. Many new friends have been made already and we are looking forward to a year of adventure in 2016!

Blessings to all!

Welcome Matty

A big welcome to our newest crew member, Matty! She will be joining us as crew for the next leg of our journey through Mexico and beyond. Matty is a seasoned traveler and explorer at heart. Originally from Quebec, Matty has lived in Nicaragua, learning Spanish and speaks fluent French as well as English. She will be a welcome member aboard Sirena!

A message from Matty...

"Hi I'm Matty and this is why I want to go sailing.
There's something with the Ocean; so wide, so mysterious, so powerful. I can not look at the sea without feeling in all my "fiber" totally vulnerable and small. 
Rumi said " Dance, when you're broken open. Dance if you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of a fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you're perfectly free"
It been a while that I felt she was calling me, and I think I just couldn't resited to the idea of dancing with her an instant."

So we look forward to our dance on the sea with Matty aboard Sirena!

Shawna and Matty with furry friend at the San Diego Natural History Museum

Here we are doing the installation of the ship name decals...

Matty and Shawna installing the Sirena name and logo

Unexpected Visitor

Friday saw Chris and I working away on boat chores at the dock. At one point I needed a particular hose, so I quickly walked back to the aft deck to retrieve it from the lazarette, which is a storage space under the aft (rearmost) deck. In my preoccupation with the task on hand I nearly stepped on this....

Unexpected Visitor

Seal or Sea Lion?

So how just how did this creature get aboard our ship? It appears that it jumped out of the water and actually slid through the railing, which is quite a feat since it's almost a four foot vertical jump! Nevertheless, there it was lounging on our deck. The debate quickly started as to whether it was a harbor seal or a sea lion. After a bit of research we found the answer. 

Closely related, sea lions and seals (and walruses) are pinnepeds which means "fin footed" in Latin. The sea lions have larger fin type front appendages, while seals have stubby front fins. But the easiest way to tell the two apart (especially with a small animal like the one on our boat) is to look at the ears, or lack thereof. Sea lions have small external ears, while seals do not have external ears at all, only small holes. Clearly this critter was a sea lion then, and seemingly a juvenile due to the small size. So where was Mom? We didn't want to find out!!! So a quick spray from the hose had the sea lion slipping back into the water.

Another visitor earlier in the week found our outboard motor to be quite a nice resting place, perfect for warming up the feet!

Spinnaker

Not everything is dirty work on a boat. Sometimes you get to have fun too! Here we tested our new spinnaker. It's actually an older spinnaker but looks unused. 2.2oz weight with a nice silky hand to it, we've ordered a sock to help douse it while on the journey. The test took place at the dock and good thing too because it took three of us just to get it hauled in and we barely had any wind that day! It's really going to be a winner once we get to the trade winds south of here. They blow almost continually at our back as we head towards the South Pacific, so the lightweight spinnaker will pull us along with ease. Hopefully the sock will arrive next week and we can take her out for a test sail and fly "The Beast" on Sirena.

Mr. Fix It

Not all projects are glamorous or fun, in fact most are downright a pain in the @$$ since the spaces we have to work in are so cramped, but in order for everything to function well "out there" we have to make repairs now. Winches are especially critical, so we've been overhauling them. Here's what a Lewmar 66 Winch looks like on the inside (pre-overhaul).

Then there are the fix it projects that we do out of necessity...like when the Aft water tank suddenly is empty for no reason (leaking hose clamp) or the bowthruster suddenly stops (blown solenoid).

Fortunately I have good hearing for pinpointing that pesky dripping sound and Chris is a great mechanic! Just order the parts and we fix everything ourselves.