Blog of the O'Neil family, s/v Adventure, on their 2-year sabbatical to see the Pacific coast of the US and Mexico
- www.sailblogs.com/member/oneiladventure

- Entering Cabo Harbor, Mexico

" ... I ask the man how to get a mooring ball. He asks what size boat we have and I tell him. Now we're getting somewhere! He looks at a computer and says that he doesn't have any slips available ...

I try to explain again that we're looking for a mooring ball. He looks confused.

I find the Spanish word for mooring ball in my SPANISH FOR CRUISERS book. He smiles and says that all the mooring balls are outside the harbor breakwater and all we have to do is hook up to any one that we like and then someone will come out in a boat to collect the fee from us. This is great! We now know what to do.

- Turtle Bay,Mexico

" ... My dad got hungry and rounded up everyone to go to this little restaurant that served tacos and hamburgers. [...] Anyway, my dad orders this Carne Asada taco from this lady in his best Spanish. We rely on this little book called SPANISH FOR CRUISERS if we need help with basic sentences, so my dad had this book open on the table and said several words in Spanish and pointed at random places on the menu. Well, she must have gotten the picture because she went inside and made some tacos."

Melanie Neale - Bluewater Books & Charts Newsletter (November 2005) www.bluewaterweb.com

" The SSCA Annual Gathering: A Success"

"... Kathy Parsons was there, discussing cruising the French Canals. Her books, FRENCH FOR CRUISERS and SPANISH FOR CRUISERS, are wonderful--we can't keep them on the shelf."

Susan Foote Wagner, s/v La Boatique - "The Sailing Adventures of La Boatique"

Account of using SPANISH FOR CRUISERS to aid a disabled fishing boat in Venezuela (excerpt)

" ... Two and a half hours out to sea we spotted a fishing boat off our bow. As we got closer Pete saw someone on the roof of the boat waving his arms ... They were in trouble. "Batteria" was all we could make out since we did not speak Spanish ...

The fishermen could not get their boat started ... Pete decided to see if he could get their engine started so he motioned for them to paddle the dinghy back. Pete brought along our battery and a bag of helpful items including the book SPANISH FOR CRUISERS by Kathy Parsons. Once Pete got aboard their boat he saw that their wiring was bad and their engine was half under water. Their load of fish had spoiled and was beginning to stink. Water was over two feet deep in the boat.

SPANISH FOR CRUISERS with its emphasis on boat repairs helped Pete explain to the Venezuelan crew what he intended to do to help them. Pete used his voltmeter to find wires he could use to get the bilge pump and radio working. The bilge pump drained the water out of the boat. The captain of the stricken vessel was able to contact help using the radio. Pete was nearly able to get the engine started, but the starter motor was too wet and the wires smoked ...

... Later that day a towboat dragged the fishing boat safely back to Margarita."

Katherine Briggs, s/v Sangaris - Email to the Author

"“We use both of your books as we travel (4 years in Latin American countries and 2 years so far in Europe) and appreciate the work you've done to create such helpful guides."

Life Aboard Mañana - manana.mccorison.com

Mañana takes a well-deserved rest in La Paz:

"... Lazaro stopped by to check out the generator; he speaks virtually no English -- thank heavens one of our DeFever friends gave us the SPANISH FOR CRUISERS book (we highly recommend it to anyone who might be thinking of doing this)."

Log of "s/v Pacifico" - www.kanzlerfox.com/blogs

"... Some of the men are carpenters, mechanics, fabricators, etc. Gary has hired several to do work on the boat. He's also hired outsiders recommended by other cruisers to do some of the work.

He frequently uses our SPANISH FOR CRUISERS guide which is immensely helpful. It has names of all the boat parts and other related terms in Spanish and English. It was written by a cruiser."

John & Pat Rains - Forum “Cruising” - www.goboatingamerica.com

In answer to the question:
“Is not being able to speak Spanish a major problem when traveling to Mexico or farther South? For those of us who are not proficient in languages, is there a good dictionary for marine phrases?"

"Having Spanish is a great benefit, of course. And the farther south you venture, the less English will be spoken ...

... SPANISH FOR CRUISERS by Kathy Parsons has easy to look up words and phrases for emergencies, hauling out at boat yards, describing and ordering all kinds of mechanical parts, working with local mechanics, visits to the Port Captain, etc.

Buena Suerte (Good Luck)"

Forum “Life aboard” - www.irbs.com

In answer to the question:
“Software for Captain's License and Spanish?”

"Don't know about the captain's license or software for Spanish. But Kathy Parsons' book SPANISH FOR CRUISERS--Boat Repairs and Maintenance Phrase Book has been invaluable.

You're just not going to find nautical terms like Stuffing Box, Cutlass Bearing, or Stern Tube in your standard Spanish courses. This little book's been invaluable both on the boat and ashore while shopping. I even used it at the car repair shop a few weeks ago."

Rick – Puerto Rico

Ethan Windahl, s/v Gypsy Dolphin - Letter to Latitude 38 www.latitude38.com

"... and my experience over the past three years has prompted me to write and recommend a book for all cruisers going to Spanish-speaking countries.

A year ago, Latitude published a review of SPANISH FOR CRUISERS, Boat Repairs and Maintenance Phrase Book by Kathy Parsons. I bought the book and have found it to be invaluable, because it contains the words for just about every tool, nut, bolt and widget found on a boat. And it's all in an easy-to-use format ..."

Email to the author, from Rio Dulce, Guatemala

"Received your book the other day and would like to say that I thought it to be very intelligently written and extremely well layed out.

I have had the occasion to use it already as in having a shop in this country I too had to do some investigating to find certain words that did not appear in the dictionary, or when appeared, did not make sense."

Email to the author, from San Andres, Colombia

"A fellow cruiser has briefly loaned us your book SPANISH FOR CRUISERS ...We are currently negotiating with a local shop for welding a 1/8" stainless strap to reinforce our upper shroud attachment to the wooden mast and your book is most helpful! Thanks."