Tag Archives: travel

Recommendation – Skyroam….. bandwidth for the traveler.

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Ok, we are cruisers, and we are supposed to be watching the clouds, catching fish, using the sup board or enjoying a sundowner. Truth is, we are bandwidth hogs. We need to order stuff, get YouTube videos about how to fix stuff, figure out the weather, follow the news, check our investments, and keep up with our friends. And then there is the blog with all its photos. Of course after dinner, we wouldn’t mind streaming a video on Netflix. Catching some NPR on Sunday morning from our home town feels kind of cozy. We want bandwidth.

What we used to do:
T-mobile’s international plan came highly recommended so we gave them the extra $50 per month. 4 lines came to about $170 per month. We would use our hotspots and things seemed to go swimmingly but after about 4 months we got a sweet text from T-mobile telling us that roaming was actually a privilege (despite the fact that we were giving up $50 per month) and they were canceling the offending lines in 30 days.

We also had a Wirie antenna. This is a router and external antenna. This worked pretty well and gave you the option of connecting to a local wifi hot spot or a 4g cellular tower using a sim card. One of our T-Mobile lines was this sim card. Unfortunately, most Wi-Fi hotspots are secured and their antennas are indoors making reception difficult. And the sim card became part of our T-Mobile problem. Just learned wirie is out of business, too bad it was a good product.

So this year we are on to plan B:
We parked our phone numbers with Google voice. Twenty dollars to transfer the number, then free, and while this does not allow international VOIP calls, our friends and family can text or leave a message on the same old number and we will be notified by email and through the voice app. While in the US we can forward to the sim we are using at the moment.

We use a local telephone sim card in our unlocked phones. Here in Mexico we get most of a month for about 200 pesos, 12 dollars for each of us. enough voice and casual data for us when we are away from the boat.

Enter the sky roam. This is a little hockey puck. Designed for frequent business travelers. You basically plug it in, or it will run on batteries for most of 24 hours 6000mah. The batteries can actually be used to recharge your cell phone if desired.  We don’t do that. Turn it on for the first time and go to the website where you need to buy some time. The charge is $9.95 per day, or $99 per month. We do the $99 making our total Cell Bill roughly $124 per month a $35 savings. Once its turned on, and provided you have purchased some time, The little light on top of the gizmo swirls for about 1 minute and finally you see a white ring on top of the device. The swirling means its busy picking out the best cellular signal to latch on to. You don’t care what carrier, the gizmo does it all. There is no need to buy a sim card. When the swirling stops, you connect the same way you would to any wi-fi, the password is on the bottom of the gizmo. You are ready to go for up to 5 devices. We often stream a couple of hours of Netflix with no problems. When we travel, the Skyroam is better than most hotels, and all Marinas.  Marina Wi-Fi is always in the brochure and is universally abysmal. And while we don’t do it, its easy to carry this hot spot with you.

We plan to try VOIP using a new app called Line.

 

Summer 18: What to do in the Off-Season?

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Michael, “In Search of Reason”, by artist Sergio Bustamante

Before going cruising there are of course many questions ranging from boat parts to the weather to navigation to safety to the inevitable Why are we doing this? Once you answer the majority of the top 100, you set a date and go. Along the way you find answers to some deferred questions or ponder new ones regarding challenges you didn’t even know existed.  One thing I gave little a care to was what we would do during the hurricane season. I knew for insurance purposes where we needed to be, which was basically parked somewhere in a safe designated hurricane hole and wait it out May to November. Wait a minute, that’s half the year, not trivial.

Camping, Heron Lake State Park, NM

Some cruisers stay with the boat for the long haul (perhaps simpler & cheaper). Others, with brick & mortar houses, spend their off-season back home on land. But we don’t have that place any more. Last year, we did a lot of road trips and “couch-surfed” at the homes of willing friends & family. Living out of a suitcase is tough for that length of time (5 months). This year we decided to shrink the time away from the boat down to 10 weeks. We stayed in Airbnbs in California and New Mexico and took our first camping trip with our new (1985) Winnebago, we named “Winston”. It was all pleasant enough – still, there were the suitcases. And then there was the expense, which turned out to be way more than anticipated. The Airbnbs were reasonable enough compared to hotels, plus we saved some money by cooking in. There were, however, some unexpected vehicle repairs leading to additional flights and hotels, plus the fact that everything really does cost more in the states, from haircuts to groceries to dining out.  Turns out 10-weeks was not quite enough time back home for everything and everyone we wanted to squeeze in, but it was a tad too much time for our credit cards.  c’est la vie!

Coffee at Dawn on Footloose

It has been a good summer and continues to be back on Footloose. Feels good to be home on our boat with all our stuff and our suitcases stored away. It is hot and humid with frequent thunderstorms usually after dark. We enjoy walks in the early mornings and swims in the late afternoons. We are puttering about on the boat and getting ready for the season which officially starts Nov 1. We’ve started to plan our itinerary, Mexico to Central America. If all goes according to plan, we should be in Panama by May. No hurricane risk there, but man does it pour in the wet season. Can’t even begin to think about what to do next summer. No rush.

At last, here are some photos from our spring-summer! It’s been awhile since we shared. (Remember to click on photo in gallery to open up slideshow for better viewing, hit esc to exit and resume with post.)

May-June 2018: Before departing for the states, we had some fun in between working at putting the boat to bed for the off-season.

Cowboys & their horses along the beach near La Cruz

La Cruz de Huanacastle: We attended an amazing festival in May. This annual festival celebrates the Patron Saint of La Cruz and features a sight to behold, the run of the horses from Bucerías into La Cruz!

Over 100 horses run along the beach from Bucerías into La Cruz for this festival.
Here they come…
Deena & James (Nellie Jo) watching the show from their Dinghy.
Modern Cowboy
Family Tradition
Multi-tasking
Princess of the Festival
Festival of the Patron Saint
Flamenco
Festival continued into the wee hours of the morning, so we’re told.

Fun around Puerto Vallarta

View from our Dock, Muelle B
Iguana con limon?
Duke Chillin
Optimist Dinghies lined up, ready for Optimist North American Championships
El Tigre Brunch, so many choices!
Better choice?
Delicious Dinner with friends, Red Cabbage Cafe
Red Cabbage Cafe
Maureen with our Valet
Bartenders? Donna & Cindy
Happy Birthday Dinner
Special Guests, Tod & Donna
Beach time near downtown
Art Along the Malecón
Great Sculptures!
What happens in PV, stays in PV

New Mexico and California

We flew to New Mexico on June 22 and had a great time seeing our family and friends in the states. Although-  we did get an overdose of politics!  LOL- Wish more of you could visit us aboard Footloose sometime, hint, hint.

Visiting family in Farmington, NM – Michael, Mason, & Christopher
Maegan, chef & hostess extraordinaire, with her delicious & pretty fruit trifle
Michael working on the orchard project
Turtle spotted along our walk at Mom & Dad’s Ranch, escaped from the pond?
Celebrating our 4th Anniversary at Ken & Sue’s, Durango- love this town.
First Campsite with “Winston”, Heron Lake State Park, NM
A Buoy Out of Water, evidence of the draught in NM
Beautiful Morning Hike
Visit with Tod & Donna in Grass Valley, CA (note the smoke from the wildfires)
California Rich with Gold
We are standing in a cube, which represents the total volume of all gold mined here during its operation (100 years worth!)
Mining Relics
Amazing Full Scale Model of the Mine
The Bourn Cottage, looks serene, until you consider that the mine operated 364 days of the year, closed only on Christmas. Imagine the noise!
The Bourn Estate, Beautiful home & gardens right next to the mine.
Pool Party with Tod & Donna’s Family!
Tod’s Toy and Their Joy!
Laura, our friend & tour guide, sharing the hotspots in her hometown:) True Junk Treasures!
Quite a place to treasure hunt, no room on the boat!
Laura having fun at the Rosie the Riveter Museum, great tribute.
Michael is back on Park Street! A reunion with true friends
Gourmet Alley in the Ferry Building
Ferry Ride, San Francisco City Front, never gets old

September, Paradise Village Marina, Nuevo Vallarta

This is how it starts… Kids learning to sail Optimist Dinghies in our backyard.

We plan to haul out in mid October for new bottom paint and sail drive seals….(they keep the water out of the boat.)  In the meantime, we are waiting for the weather to cool off and doing indoor projects, programming the Single Side Band Radio, fixing some small bits and pieces that while not critical, make life better…We have lists.  A biggy is our recent install of a new anchor, a stainless steel Rocna “Vulcan”, which fits perfectly in our bow roller, and will help Michael sleep at night while anchored.  We have no idea why it comes with such a high polish since every anchor spends its life getting dragged through sand and rocks.. Must be for the Marina Queens!

Anchor project, our chain on deck for marking & installing new anchor
Michael cutting webbing for marking the anchor.
Fitted protective cover
Keeping the anchor polished 😉
Shiny Vulcan Anchor!

Wishing you all peace & some adventures of your own-

Lisa (& Michael)
S/V Footloose
Paradise Village Marina (aka lovely hurricane hole)
Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico