The next day in Bahia Santa Maria, we got ready to pull the anchor for the short sail into Bahia Magdalena, just next door. Eitan called us to standby as he discovered one of the steering cables connecting the steering wheel to the rudder was frayed and the rudder position was no longer registering with the autopilot due to a loose wire. Two more steering problems… yikes! Once again, my anxieties about something going wrong had seemed to manifest but luckily this was all discovered while we were still at anchor. As we sat there waiting for Eitan to fix the boat, I could feel the stress start to manifest into my body and my back began to tighten. Once underway, my tight back turned into full-blown spasms with sharp pains, worse than I had ever experienced before. Luckily Bahia Magdalena was only a 4-hour sail to the neighboring bay and we anchored shortly after sunset. Unfortunately, this was just the start of my debilitating back problems in the following days.
The next day, the cruiser rally got together on the beach for a potluck. Low on provisions, we only contributed some cut up oranges but enjoyed the delicious foods brought by others. Unfortunately, standing on solid ground exacerbated my sharp back pains which nearly brought me to my knees a couple of times. To avoid making a scene, I decided to take a walk down the beach hoping the movement would relax whatever was going on. The beach of Bahia Magdalena was incredibly beautiful and filled with turquoise waters and white sand. I enjoyed my walk so much that I just kept going and ended up walking a couple of miles then sitting to do some stretches and meditation. When I returned, the cruisers potluck was wrapping up and our crew set off on the dingy to explore the nearby mangroves.
The following day we pulled anchor and set off on the last leg of the trip to Cabo San Lucas. After waking Eitan every 10 minutes throughout the night with cries of my back spasms, he relieved me of my boat duties and handed me some ibuprofen with an ice pack. I rolled around in the cabin in horrible pain for several hours before getting up to eat some fruit for breakfast. That afternoon we stopped as the wind died down and jumped off the boat to swim for about 20 minutes. The cool water and warm sun helped to relax my back temporarily and I felt some relief that things were going in the right direction. We arrived in Cabo mid-afternoon the following day. Once we pulled into the marina, we immediately went into cleaning mode. Eitan and Connor washed the outside of the boat as Abbey and I tackled the inside. Once we were done cleaning, we headed over to the boat at the neighboring slip, SV Kismet (a monohull Islander 43), for some drinks before heading to dinner. To celebrate, we went to a small Mexican restaurant for tacos and beers and enjoyed the first time eating off the boat.
The following day we had a few hours to run errands before having to move the boat from the marina to an anchorage. Abbey and Connor were stationed in the laundry room for several hours washing our clothes and bedding while Eitan ran boat errands and I located a place to get my back worked on. I found someone who does a combination of massage, acupuncture, and cupping who confirmed that my back was pretty messed up. Apparently, living on a boat is difficult for a lot of people because the muscles used for balancing are constantly firing and after a while, they can just get stuck in the on position. I found this the case for me as I was getting extreme cramping in my lower back and could hardly bring my knees to my chest. He insisted I needed a package of appointments but I told him we were only in town for a couple of days. I left with deep purple cupping marks on my back and headed to the pharmacy where they sell muscle relaxers, and almost any other drugs, without a prescription. Unfortunately, bodies aren’t like machines where you can identify and fix the problem right away. I knew my back pain was more of a psychosomatic manifestation of my earlier stresses than a real physical problem and that stretching and meditation would be the best solution.
