Erica’s Blog

1. There’s a 3-ounce liquid limit for flying.  Duh!  Somehow I forgot about this.  At SFO, they confiscated our brand-new tube of toothpaste, brand-new spray-on sunscreen (good thing I got the cheap one!), and our shampoo.
2. There appears to be a “no liquids” rule coming from Mexico.  We had bought a bottle of vanilla, and the lady at the checkpoint at the gate took it out of my backpack and said “No liquids.”  Good thing I only got the $4 bottle, not the $9 one.
3. If you think you should pack the NewSkin and the windbreakers, you should.  I needed both.
4. It’s worth it to spend more than you want to for lots of simple cotton shorts to wear on the boat.  Yes, space is limited on the boat, but you’ll need more clothes than you think b/c it’s nice to change when you’re all sweaty and skanky.  Also, it’s nice to change when you’ve been splashed a lot with salt water.
5. A tankini (or, if you have the bod for it, a bikini) is waaaaaay better for daily wear on the boat.  Why?  Imagine having to wrestle a off a sweaty one-piece every time you have to pee (and you pee a lot b/c you’re drinking a lot of water b/c it’s so hot).
6. Waiting till the day before you leave to get your bikini wax is a bad idea.  Need I elaborate?
7. YES, it’s best to start taking Dramamine the day BEFORE you get on the boat, then continue taking it as long as you need to.  We did this, and we were SO glad.
8. Night sweats + high heat + high humidity = one disgusting Erica in the morning.
9. There are times when a cold shower is not just OK, but most welcome.  See #8.
10. If the GPS says there’s an obstruction in the water that you need to go around, before you change your course, check to see how far under the water said “obstruction” is.  This “obstruction” could be so deep that it’s not in your way at all.  It’s best to figure this out BEFORE you change course in terror by 23 degrees to go waaaaaay around the obstruction, thus costing a couple of hours and several miles, only to discover the %^&(*&%$ thing was 300 feet under the water. Sean is still laughing at me over this one (and rightly so).
11. Not all mariachis can play a decent version of “Cielito Lindo”.  Oy.  The over-priced mariachis at Margaritaville on Saturday night did the worst rendition of Cielito Lindo I’ve ever heard!
12. If the wind is strong, it’s coming from the exactly wrong direction to be of use to you; if the wind is coming from the perfect direction, it will be too weak to do anything.
13. If you order “sausage” with your breakfast in Mexico, chances are said “sausage” will turn out to be a cut-up hot dog.  If you want sausage, order “chorizo y huevos”.  Much better, and I guarantee that they probably have it, even if it’s not on the menu.  I asked for it at the “Club de Yates” in Acapulco when I didn’t see it listed, and it was really good.

Here’s the missing picture of David in his nearly-completed hat.  I discovered that blog.com no longer allows files with apostrophes in the name, so I finally got it to upload by simply removing the offending ‘.  (Click for bigger.)

[Click on pictures for bigger images.] 

Sean’s Halfdome:

Dana’s market bag (which I had to frog, then started over again on the plane to Mexico):

I now have 9 days to finish Robin’s baby blanket and Auntie’s lunch bag b/c I’ve entered them both in the San Mateo County Fair, and they’re due in next Friday or Saturday.  Ack!

I finally figured out why blog.com wasn’t letting me upload pictures, so expect a flood of them to come soon.  Here are highlights of the Things’ adventure while we were gone.  Click on the thumbnails for full-sized pictures.