All posts by Brandy

Quarantined in Mexico

I’ve tried to sit down and write for several days now and the words just won’t come. When they do, it’s just a jumble – so many different directions that even I have trouble making sense of them all. So let’s just start with these two questions:

Where are you?

What are you doing?

When the US Department of State released the statement for all US citizens to return to the US or be prepared to shelter in place indefinitely, we had already discussed what we would do if the US issued such a statement since Canada already had. We know the safest place for us is on our boat. We’re mostly self-sufficient with our reverse osmosis water maker (even though it only makes 3.4 gallons per hour), our solar panels and wind generator. We can store quite a lot of food and we’re prepared to wait it out. But just how long might that be? “Indefinitely” could be a really, really long time.  

We’ve been heading north. It’s been slow going as the weather hasn’t been cooperating. We waited for 2 weeks in Costa Rica (sitting at anchor and only going ashore a few times – practicing quarantine before it was a thing). Then we waited in southern Mexico for another 2 weeks. We spent a few days in Zihuatenajo before we were able to sail another 200 miles north to where we are now, Barra de Navidad. We’re 100 miles short of La Cruz where we planned to reunite with several missionary friends, lots of boat friends, and Dennis planned to preach on Easter. And now, well, everything is closed, off limits, just like the rest of the world.

We’re still trying to go north. We think. At this point it’s mainly to be out of the hurricane zone before the season starts on May 15^th. We’ve been here for a week waiting for our next window of agreeable weather to sail north. We came into the marina when we first arrived, planning for just a night or two. We were low on power and water. Our navigation and communication equipment pull so much power and when we’re sailing it has to be on 24/7. The direction we were sailing limited the amount of sun on our solar panels. We need power to run our water maker, so low power meant we didn’t make any water. The anchorage in Barra is located in a very muddy estuary so no making water there. When we arrived, the dock for transient boats had two other boats on it. A week later it has over 20 with only a few spaces left. We heard rumors that the ports were going to be closed so we kept our slip. Hurricane season starts in 6 weeks and the dock is much safer than at anchor. Of course being at the dock means we’re coming into contact with more people. We’ve all been practicing social distancing. We’re washing our hands constantly and taking showers daily. That’s so different than our normal routine of showering once or twice a week. That’s definitely a benefit of staying on the dock – unlimited water. Without a washing machine, we can only wash clothes a few at a time in a bucket. We’ve been alternating our clothes and hanging them on the lines in the sun and then washing after a few days. 

We’ve been weighing all our options – do we leave and go north? What if ports are closed while we’re enroute? Will we be able to get into a port? What will we find as we go north? Do we find an empty, secluded anchorage on some deserted island and wait this out? What if this lasts several months and we need more food? What if someone gets sick and we need medical care? We are stocked up on tylenol, cough medicine, inhalers, neubulizer meds, essential oils, and SO much other stuff. We have food to last probably 2-3 months if we are careful.

Two days ago the Mexican government issued an order to close all ports. Sailors are beginning to get nervous. “If we’re stuck here, we need a slip at the marina.” This marina is a designated hurricane hole, meaning the topography of the land provides protection from the brunt force of a hurricane. They took a direct hit in 2015 from a cat 5 hurricane and only suffered minimal damage. We were so glad we kept our slip and now our decision was made for us.

BUT then just a few hours later, a new order was issued that says private foreign flagged vessels are free to move from port to port within Mexico. Now we have a decision to make again. (Un)fortunately the next weather window is still looking like it’s a week away so we have time to go over the scenarios and make a decision. 

BUT then yesterday morning, the port captain here in Barra said all boats are to remain in port. We’re not sure if he just hasn’t seen the second order or if he has made his own decision. Irregardless, we do not plan to violate his order or do anything contrary to what the Mexican government declares. It’s changing moment by moment. The back and forth is mentally exhausting.

BUT if we stay here, we are smack in the middle of the hurricane zone. Our current insurance policy (which expires in August and the company is closing so we are working on find a new carrier) raises our deductible if we remain in the hurricane zone. It goes up from $2,000 to $40,000!! That’s not a typo. The boat is our home. If we lose it, we lose everything.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for the whole hurricane thing this could be an excellent place to be “stuck.” The marina is part of a huge and amazing resort. It’s almost completely shut down. The pools are open, and since they are chlorinated and we’re practically the only ones that go we’ve decided to let the kids keep going. We just discovered a business center with wifi. It’s empty too. The location is beautiful, warm during the day, but so much cooler than where we’ve been lately. I’ve actually taken warm showers for the first time in months! We’ve even turned off our fans at night and slept under covers. It only gets into the low 70s but we’ve acclimated to much higher temps so we’ve been cold. The virus is said to not like hot and humid climates so that’s good for us. The nearby small town has a few grocery stores and medical offices. It’s across the estuary so we remain even more isolated at the marina. There is a larger city about an hour away.

But those lingering questions keep popping up…are we safe from the virus here? Will we be safe from hurricanes here? Would we be safer if we do sail north and hide out away from as many people as possible? What is going to happen here in Mexico? There are so many unknowns. We’re praying God would make it clear. Please pray for us as we try to determine the best way to keep our family safe as we will continue praying for you. 

Boat repairs and ministry in Costa Rica

A little update…

Boat – we’ve been out of the water for two weeks. Two very busy weeks! Dennis is currently in Florida picking up the needed parts and will be back here in Costa Rica at 2am. It was actually cheaper and faster for him to fly to Florida than have the parts shipped to Costa Rica and deal with the lengthy time in customs. 

The engine problem actually turned out to be pretty simple and exactly what we were expecting. The coupler that connects the upper and lower shafts of our sail drive (think transmission) had slipped down onto the lower shaft and was no longer engaging with the upper shaft. Therefore, the propeller would not turn. There is a tiny piece called a circlip that sits in the middle of the coupler to hold it halfway onto each shaft. That piece is about $2 and it was the culprit. So the failure of a $2 piece caused this whole mess. We’re replacing the coupler as well since it was worn down on the upper edge from being out of place. We are also replacing the circlip on the other engine as preventative maintenance. 

Unfortunately, we found more problems when we hauled out. We typically have to paint the bottom once every year or two (depending on how warm the water is) to prevent growth and creatures from attaching themselves to our boat. That was on our planned maintenance schedule for next hurricane season since we did not do it this past hurricane season. However, the last time the bottom was painted a different type of paint was used that was not compatible with the previous paint. So the paint is just coming off in chunks. We had different colors painted so we could tell when the layers were slowly wearing off (what it is designed to do). We knew it was flaking off but didn’t know why it was happening. I didn’t realize how much had come off until the boat was out of the water (Dennis is the one that cleans the hulls and I do NOT swim under the boat). Could it have waited until hurricane season? Well, possibly, but at risk of more paint flaking off and then the hull could have further damage from those pesky little critters. So our boat had layer upon layer of bottom paint scraped off and a new barrier coat and paint applied. She looks good and it will hopefully prevent any other damage. 

The other maintenance item on our list for later this year was the replacement of the bearings on our rudders. We had the rudders checked and they both have quite a lot of play suggesting the bearings are indeed wearing out. Could it wait a little longer? Again, yes, but at risk of damage to the rudder shafts which would be way more expensive to replace. 

Our boat is approaching 20 years old and just like a house, several things need to be taken care of. Next big item on the list is replacing the standing rigging – this is all the wires/cables that hold the mast up and provide a solid structure for the boat. Compare it to replacing the roof on a house. We just remind ourselves that even with maintenance, we’re spending a lot less money than we would if we were living in a 20 year old house with maintenance, electric/water bills, cars, etc.

Ministry – while we’ve been very busy working on inside projects on the boat (I put away Christmas and deep cleaned among others, Dennis has worked on a very long list that he’ll have to share later), we’ve also been working with some missionaries in the Quepos area. We are staying at a new ministry center (so new that a lot is still under construction) with a missionary couple that’s been there for 14 years dreaming of the day this will be complete. We’ve joined them in some of their weekly activities, such as ESL class at a men’s recovery center. We also met another missionary family (with 5 kids!) that pastors the local bilingual church. We’ve been attending men’s/women’s Bible study, Wednesday night church dinner and Bible study, and of course, Sunday worship service. We’ve met some great people and have enjoyed getting to know them. 

Thanks to the generosity of the family in Quepos, we have a car this week! We dropped Dennis off at the airport in San Jose (3 hours from Quepos) on Tuesday. The kids and I headed up to a Life Impact Oasis house where the host family here provides member care to pastors and missionaries. I’ve enjoyed chatting with them, sharing our ministry and comparing notes on member care. The kids are having a blast with their kids too. We’re up in the mountains and having a good laugh at ourselves over how cold we are. It was in the upper 60s last night – we’ve obviously acclimated to Central American coastal temps. Dennis will get here in about 12 hours and tomorrow we’ll head back to the boat. We’re hoping to be back in the water early next week and maybe get to take some families out for a sail!

Thanks for your continued prayers for us and our ministry!

Leaving Mexico! Really?!

This week has been busy!

Things have been coming together. Lots of things have been done (and cleaned). Everything has been stowed. Everything has been tested. Both sails are back up!! We had a refrigerator guy come out and $150 later, he refreshed the freon. Seriously, that’s more than a visit in the US! Ugh. But our food is staying cold.

Seth is feeling a bit better. Micah started coughing the next day. Now Sarah has a sore throat. Thankfully it seems to be short-lived.

We sent the biggest boy, Caleb, up the mast to reconnect a few things and make sure the lights were working. He loved it and did great! 

The baby birds hatched a few days ago. We moved them tonight over to another boat. Poor Mama was fairly distraught. We’re hoping she goes over to them soon. She’s been flying around a lot.

We talked to friends in El Salvador and the sand bar is open (crossable). Weather looks good. They’re expecting us.

And now, we’re all checked out of Mexico. Three years ago we were heading south and finally, finally, we are! At this moment, the only thing not working is our satellite phone but we have been assured they’ll have it up by midnight. My mom is a bit nervous right now because that’s are only connection when we’re on the water. Honestly, I’m a bit nervous too. It would be naive to not be. We haven’t sailed in 5 months and this isn’t the easiest thing we’ve done. It’s not necessarily difficult or more dangerous, it’s just new territory. It’s also a 250 mile sail rather a short jaunt to start us off again. We need to get our sea legs (and stomachs back). So, please pray for us and we’ll check in Monday or Tuesday once we’ve checked into El Salvador. Thanks friends!

Welcome home?

We made it back to the boat on Thursday, October 17th after a wonderful week working alongside many missionaries in Guadalajara. Our flight was uneventful, but our boat was a disaster. Some stuff is covered in mold, other stuff is just fine. There are a ton of some weevil kind of bug (looks like they hatched in our new vacuumed sealed yeast and ate their way out!). Most are dead but a lot aren’t. The batteries on the boat were completely dead. Based on some research, it seems our solar quit just 3 days before we arrived. There apparently was a small fire under our bed. The wire between the solar controller and battery bus was melted, but the in line fuse is just fine! The wood under our bed was blackened but no other damage. Our kitchen table looks terrible. We were told the damprid containers all melted (what?!) and the oily liquid soaked into the table. 
Some of the clothes in the closets are moldy. Supposedly they were emptying our dehumidifier and changing damprid bags weekly but I’m guessing not. We’ve been cleaning since we the moment we walked in. It’s coming together very slowly. The heat and humidity are still very high (90 degrees but heat index around 100). We have a lot of laundry and we still are trouble shooting the solar and batteries. The batteries are fully charged now through shore power and seem undamaged. We could have come back to nothing had the fire been bigger. We’re so thankful.
We almost have everything put away and our bags were stowed back under Caleb’s bed which actually gave us some floor space to walk around. The rain means everything has to be inside but inside is quite small while trying to unpack and put things away. We finally got to a point last night where we could have dinner (made in the instant pot bc we don’t have propane for our stove/oven yet), a time of family worship and game night. 
The work on the boat is exhausting, especially in the heat. Besides cleaning the boat and still working on everything inside that needs to be cleaned, Dennis and the kids have already cleaned and patched the dinghy. We still have to repair a tear in our sail (Dennis is working on that) before we can put the sails back up. Replace the solar wire with a new in line circuit breaker instead of a fuse. Check the engines, fill our diesel jerry cans, refill propane, figure out why the refrigerator won’t cool below 46 degrees,…the list is long. 
We’re all emotionally and physically drained, but pressing on. We all agreed we will never again leave the boat in a humid and rainy climate. We’re ready to leave here and get back on the open water (where’s there’s wind and it’s not so hot). 
Please pray for us:
-for our attitudes – a friend just reminded me that Paul had boat problems too and look what God did with him, thanks Robin!
-for our wisdom and insight to fix our solar, refrigerator and other mechanic/electrical things to continue working; 
-for us all to stay healthy (we all have heat rashes and mosquito bites, Seth started coughing last night which sounds like croup and is now running a fever but feels fine otherwise, and my back is terribly sunburned after doing laundry on the dock yesterday morning);
-for the checkout process so we can leave Mexico and sail south. The weather is still unsafe for us to head north. 
-And most importantly, for God to go before and show us where He wants us to be in the coming weeks and months ahead. 
Thank you all 😊

Strange Winds

The plan for the entire last three years has been to sail south. The first missionary contact we ever made was with a family in Honduras. An old Navy friend introduced us to them through social media. Our other missionary contacts have come through various sources – missionary member care groups, meeting one family which lead to an entire agency with missionaries all over Mexico, local churches, and new friends. It’s been a wonderful adventure, as we trusted God to lead the way. 

Wherever the wind blows…that’s the name of our website, but there’s a lot more to that, a little play on words. We live and travel on a sailboat, so yes, the wind fills our sails. Sometimes we can adjust the sails and harness the wind to take us where we want to go. Other times, the wind is against us and it’s what we sailors refer to as a bash. Loosely translated, it means absolutely no fun at all (okay, that may be my personal definition). Going against the wind is not where we want to go. The Greek word for wind is pneuma, but it has a secondary meaning. In the New Testament of the Bible (originally written in Greek) the word pneuma is also used for Holy Spirit.  We try to listen to and go where the Holy Spirit is leading us – wherever the pneuma blows – wherever God is sending us. Much of the last three years has not looked like we expected, and that trend is continuing with strange winds surrounding us, but we will continue trusting God.

Our plan was to go to Bahía del Sol in El Salvador (the white arrow). The map depicts all category 1+ hurricanes over the last 30 years in the Eastern Pacific, which clearly shows why we must have a plan for hurricane season (May 15 – November 30). Once we’re in the estuary in El Salvador we would be “stuck” there until the fall. We planned to use El Salvador as a jumping off point for land travels to visit a missionary family in Guatemala and the family in Honduras.

Well, the actual wind is not blowing us south. The swell in the Eastern Pacific has been much larger than normal for this time of year. The sand bar that must be crossed to get into Bahía del Sol has been closed for almost 3 weeks. It isn’t looking good for the near future either.

It appears that the Holy Spirit isn’t sending us south either. The missionary family in Guatemala has returned to the US. The family in Honduras is actually on the Atlantic (yes, big mistake on our part, we thought they said Pacific and we never googled their small town until recently).

We are currently in Marina Chiapas, Mexico (the red arrow on the map). It’s a nice marina with a great manager and it’s a safe place to leave the boat (plus a discounted summer rate). Yep, I said leave the boat. As much as we don’t want to leave the boat for a few months, the 90-100 degree temperatures INSIDE the boat (heat index is 100-110), no AC, swarms of mosquitoes, and daily rain/thunderstorms that require we close up the boat, just makes it unbearable. The marina is 30 minutes from town and the only thing out here are tennis courts (yeah, I don’t think so!). We’ve decided it’s best to head back to the US, take care of our yearly medical appointments, and spend some time with my parents in Colorado. We also plan to send Dennis off somewhere so he can finally finish his dissertation for his doctorate. The constantly growing list of things to fix or maintain on the boat doesn’t allow him any time to sit and research/write.  

We need a week or so to secure everything on our boat. Our insurance considers southern Mexico still in the hurricane zone. Even though it should be perfectly safe, we must follow the recommendations from our insurance company to protect our boat. We’ll be flying into Tijuana on June 6^thand walking across the border into San Diego. Dennis and I each have a medical appointment and then we’ll be heading to Colorado on June 11^th. We will probably fly back to Mexico (not quite sure when yet) through San Diego/Tijuana so hopefully we’ll get a chance to spend some more time and visit with more friends. 

We appreciate your prayers as we continue to strive to follow God’s leading, wherever the wind blows, in our ministry to missionaries.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Kellys!!

We finally splashed the boat on the 17th and left Puerto Penasco on the 20th. We’ve been alternating between calm 1-2 day sails and hiding from 20-40 knot northerly winds for 3-4 days. We’re taking advantage of the next calm weather window and heading to Puerto Escondido (Loreto) today. We’ll be postponing New Year’s and pretending tomorrow is December 31st so we can celebrate after we arrive. 

This year has been full of so many wonderful surprises and unplanned events – a few not so great, but it’s been wonderful to see how God turned them around. 

We are thankful for our families and friends who are like family – all those who opened their homes and their hearts for a weekend or a month, made us delicious meals, loaned us nerf guns for necessary battles, let us borrow cars, were our personal post office (our amazon account has literally almost 2 dozen addresses where we have shipped things this year), provided amazing conversations, prayers, and financial support of this ministry God has given us. 

We are thankful for missionaries around the world – we were able to meet so many this year in unexpected places. We’re thankful for what they do and the love of Jesus that they show to others. 

May your 2019 be blessed beyond anything you can ask or imagine. 

Reflections on Our Summer, Part 1

     The end of November may seem an odd time for our “What we did during our summer ‘vacation’” essay, but we’re finally back home (although not in the water quite yet). Looking back at our summer, it’s amazing to see God’s plans and how they overrode our plans. We thought we were going to spend the summer getting caught up on homeschool, admin, financial reports, and blog posts 😉 Dennis was going to work on research for his doctoral project. I was going to finish my certifications in counseling. We would never have bounced over the Atlantic without the promise of a few months to be still (and access to the internet). God knew that and I feel now (it’s taken some time to get here) that He used that plan to get us to Europe. After the disastrous month in France (if you missed that blog post, you can read about it here), we were searching for what God had in mind. He seemed to insist that we keep doing what He called us to do – spend our time helping and encouraging missionaries. In fact, even while we were in France, we had a missionary family spend a few days there before they headed to language school. It was a great opportunity to share our stories and encourage each other (we sure needed it at that point!).

     We left France in search of peace for ourselves and the least expensive way back to the US. We knew our chances of getting a military space available flight during the summer were pretty slim, so we were looking for places to stay cheaply in Europe. Driving to and flying out of Paris was the cheapest option out of France. We searched for places to stay with many different ministries in Europe. We talked to quite a number of missionaries and ministry leaders in Europe during our search for places to stay. We didn’t get to meet most of them, but we’ve certainly made new friends through email. A 3 hour detour to Switzerland became the new plan when a family offered us room and board for almost a week (although I have to admit, I was hoping to get to go to Switzerland).

     On our way to Switzerland, we made our first stop at Pont Julien, a 2000 year old bridge that was only about 5 miles from where we had been working (we just never had an opportunity to leave). We spent our “first night of freedom” near the Pont du Gard. (On a side night, if you ever think staying in a safari tent sounds like fun, maybe think again. The sheer number and size of the spiders was slightly terrifying. Caleb made the mistake of teasing Hope after she screamed when a large spider came inches from her face, and he ended up having to trade beds with her. You could tell he was freaking out a bit too, but he held it together and survived the night without any screams or bites.) The Pont du Gard is the highest and one of the best preserved ancient Roman aqueduct bridges that provided water to the city of Nîmes. It was part of the 31 mile aqueduct system that was built in the first century. First century! We’re talking about when Jesus walked the earth! It stands 160 feet high and only descends 1 inch across the almost 1/3 of a mile length. The system carried 8,800,000 gallons of water a day! Mind blowing and beautiful.