Winter Blues, need some sun...

[seapop]

Up here in the Seattle area we are having our typical cool wet weather and I am getting a bad case of cabin fever.

My sailboat (Cat320) remains floating at my local marina but offers no escape (we are talking reasonable distances here).

Been to many areas on the Sea of Cortez (without my boat) and truly love the entire area. Mostly crawling around on land but have crewed for a while and wish I could bring my boat down there.

I need a few weeks or more in the sun, and am now thinking of expanding my range a bit and have been looking at Columbia. Heard many good things about the coastal parts and I would like to find some places near the ocean and hang around some marinas (boat people) for company.

I'm pretty open right now for ideas but not interested in chartering or dragging my boat down there, at least for now.

All responses appreciated,
Seapop

[longjonsilver]

Columbia sounds cool, but you could do what i just did. i put on my snow pants, down jacket, polar fleeze sweater, gloves, and hat and sat outside in the sun with my face looking directly at the sun. It keeps the flu and colds away. Good for the mood as well.
jon

[PaulSommers]

You could consider San Andres and its neighbor, Providencia, both which are Columbian islands. You fly into San Andres, and there is a ferry to get to Providencia. I sailed these island 3 years ago and greatly enjoyed by visit. I'm formerly from Seattle so I know about those gray December days. Well it's sort of a fading memory - we spend winters in Puerto Vallarta and summers near Tacoma - fall and spring are somewhat negotiable. But there's hardly a gray day this way - something to consider. Not many marinas on either Columbian island by the way, just watch for dinghies coming in from the anchorages.

[redhead]

Originally Posted by longjonsilver

Columbia sounds cool, but you could do what i just did. i put on my snow pants, down jacket, polar fleeze sweater, gloves, and hat and sat outside in the sun with my face looking directly at the sun. It keeps the flu and colds away. Good for the mood as well.
jon

I'm a bit further north than seapop and I can confirm that what you suggest is just not possible here. I saw the sun yesterday for 2 hours but that's it for the last 10 days and the next 5. 45-50F winds SSE at 25 gusting 35-40 and torrential rain. This is our winter.

Seapop - go south until you see the sun - save yourself!!

[seapop]

Thanks Redhead and Paul... I should for the sake of argument expand my search area from Guatemala through Columbia so that I don't miss some really nice places. The furthest south I have been was backpacking and beaching in Cost Rica, back a few years ago when I was younger. My furthest south in Mexico was Z-town.

[Oceandeep]

I’m currently in La Paz. Sailing my boat down to Puerto Vallarta in February. I will probably take a few weeks with lots of stops along the way. Spring stats in February I am told ��

[alansmith]

SeaPop, I just got back from San Carlos where i keep my boat at Marina Seca. Sailed over to the Baja side and walked the shell encrusted beaches....swam...explored. Watched the Frigate birds ride the thermals coming off the hills on Punta Conception. Swam to shore with my water slippers on. Walked till i got hot...took a dip....got a little toasted.

It will keep me going till i retire next year. Plan on going back in the late winter. Listen...there is no reason you can't fly down to Mexico and just live for awhile. I was eating meals for less than 10 dollars a day...and eating well. You can rent a nice house in San Carlos for 600 a month.

Do get your boat to the Sea of Cortez...my God....it is a treasure to be explored. You can put it on the hard for about 80 bucks a month when the weather is too freaking hot and dangerous cyclones make their threats known. It is a good Marina. When i am working on my boat in the yard it is like 4 bucks a day. Had my mast pulled for 80 bucks and put back on for 50 bucks...i kid you not.

The weather is glorious, prices are cheap, repairs are unbelievable compared to stateside. Can get a new bimini for a third of US prices....return to the USA in less than 6 hours by car on a very safe corridor that is due south of Nogales (think Tucson).

Think about moving the boat by Truck...it will be money well spent.

[alansmith]

SeaPop or any cruiser who wants to ask me about San Carlos and what is available there...feel free to contact me. Respectfully, alan s

707-299-9157
alansmith010111@gmail.com

[Oceandeep]

San Carlos sounds great. I need a place to put my boat up for the summer

[alaskaflyfish]

If you cannot travel immediately then try Vitamin D, Fish oil, happy light, watch movies/documentaries filmed in sunny places you to go, and Mary Jane. Seasonal Affective Disorder gets worse the older you get.

[longjonsilver]

Originally Posted by redhead

I saw the sun yesterday for 2 hours but that's it for the last 10 days and the next 5.

My wife makes excuses why not, gotta do this gotta do that, but i take advantage of the sun whenever i can, everything else can wait. 15 min a day of sun directly on your face makes all the difference. Vitamin D and fish oil helps, but NOTHING replaces real sun on the skin. Last year i had been battling the flu and the gastro from November 15 and i was eating as much as 80,000IU of vitamin D. We went down to Florida in January. Within 30 minutes of getting out of the car, the flu was GONE and it stayed away for one week after we came back. i made a tent out of reflective material on 3 sides, one side open. i sit in it in the winter, facing the sun and it keeps most of the wind off me.
jon

[redhead]

It really wasn't meant to sound like an excuse. During the 2 hours of sunshine the other day I did the following : emptied our 2 compost toilets, retied the kayak that the gale had blow all ahoo, walked the dog, and resprayed the cockpit enclosure with 303 (waterproofing). Sitting in the sun will come when all the chores that are so difficult in very high winds and rain are completed

[Lloyd Farrand]

Have you thought of NZ. January, February, March. All good warm weather months.

[Lihuedooley77]

You do not want to charter, or move your boat and are craving sunshine and warm weather..

Get on that plane and take advantage of some of the ideas the other posters have suggested.

We have our May Gray and June Gloom here in Dana Point in southern california.

We usually head off to paradise somewhere and bare boat for a couple of weeks.

This year , in june, Erica and I, hopped on the big iron and flew across the pond, to return to our home island of Kauai, Hi, for three weeks, sharing aloha with special friends, hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, one paid Napali Coast cruise, and had a super great and most happy three week visit.

The last few weeks, we spent Thanksgiving out at Borrego Springs in the desert, hiking trails , hanging at the local pub a bit. Walking under the night sky and billions of stars.

And then driving quite some distance to Tubac , Arizona, population 500, to visit family that moved down there, and partied down, and went out to the nature park and saw mountain lions, bob cats, deer, snakes and prarie dogs.

And, toss in a trip up to our local mountains to Julian, CA, a small quaint village, with fun things to do, pan for gold, wine tasting at the winery, and after some fabulous hikes had beers at the brewery, and stayed in a neat B and B, in the woods, and saw wild turkeys hanging out. Great dinners out in town . Gourmet breakfasts at the B and B. The cottage there was warm and toasty, with a fire place, and an outdoor arboretum, for wine sipping and just relaxing outdoors.

Point being, we all need to do what feels good to us. Just flat do it.

This may, we will get back to sailing, before hurricane season, and bare boat the British Virgin Islands for a couple of weeks . Other plans for other months to get away from the may gray, or june gloom, or just a fun escape for a bit.

I do understand your delima there up in the Seattle area, back in 1965 and 66, When not over in south east asia, our squadron was home based at Whidbey Island, up in the beautiful San Juan Isands of Washington . Rain, snow, fog, cold, clouds, etc. One time the the sun came out for three days in a row, and the locals sacrificed a virgin.

Go for it lad, head south or where ever feels good to you. For heading way south, from socal, we really liked Costa Rica, and had some amazing eco type adventures. That is what we enjoy.

For all of us, All it takes is a phone call and a credit card. The good times are on !

Enjoy !!!!

[seapop]

Thanks to all so far on the comments.

To Lihuedooley77, yes you sum up my general opinion and trust me I DO love to travel south in the winter and do so a couple of times each winter..
My point is, I have been to some great locales in Mexico, and would go back to them in an instant, but the adventurer in me says "how about someplace new, like Columbia?"...
So that is what I was looking for, some areas new to me in Latin america, or northern South America that I might try on someone's previous experience.
Still, thanks for taking the time to reply, I do appreciate it.