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2010-04-13T20:41:00.001-07:00

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Back in Alaska 4.11.10

2010-04-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

We left Palm Springs on Wednesday, flying up to Ketchikan with a quick stop in Seattle. We’ve always prided ourselves on how little we actually need with us. In the past 3 years we have traveled in our own vehicle and boat and it seemed like we had so little! Well….our flight brought us to reality! We had 3 bags weighing 50lbs, 1 ‘overflow’ bag with about 25lbs – and 2 carry-ons each. That’s a total of 8 bags! Haha… And NO….before you blame me for bringing a ton of clothes, I brought just what was needed….well, and 5 pairs of shoes! Haha… But we did pretty good. I’ve only found one item I forgot so far that I can’t replace here – a type of dental floss that is not sold here, go figure! I’ll have to order it and have it shipped up I guess.

The flight was fine, we chatted away with the passenger beside us on the first flight – the entire flight! It turns out him & Michael had a lot in common, grew up in the same area, went into the Military at the same time, etc. And it all started because he was reading a book written by the same author that I was. I don’t think I have EVER talked the entire flight with the passenger beside me!

Once we arrived in Ketchikan, which is on Gravina Island, we took the ferry over to Revillagigedo Island and John, the owner of the company we work for, picked us up and brought us to the apartment we are staying in this season. John & Jillian had us over for an incredible dinner of geoduck clams & linguine (YUM!!) and we chatted over a great bottle of wine for the rest of the evening. It was nice after the hectic day to just relax & catch up.

The rest of the week we have been getting the apartment in order for the season & getting settled. We left a box-o-goodies here last season with some of the items we needed but there’s always lots of ‘staples’ that are needed. You know – paper towels, Ziploc baggies, coffee filters, groceries, etc. Plus this season we splurged on some items that will make our place more like home - two desks, chairs, our requisite pan that we seem to buy every year, and just homey stuff. :-) We’re all unpacked, the apartment is cleaned, & the fridge is stocked!

We went into the office on Thursday and Friday and have a lot of work in front of us! What were we thinking?! Haha… I’m sure it’s ‘normal’ but the first day and even into the 2nd day I was stuck thinking I had SO much work to do….but not a clue where to start! Luckily, John & Jillian are patient with us as we get back into work mode! It’s quite a change from cruising life! We even have to wake up to an alarm clock!

On Friday, we participated in a ‘Fam’ with Carnival Cruise line, which is a familiarization tour with the shore excursion managers & directors who are working both on the cruise ship and in the corporate office. One of the Ducks was brought down to the dock and a group of 10 Carnival employees boarded. We had snacks & beverages and toured the town on the duck, explaining how the tour worked & answering any questions they had. It was fun & nice to meet the folks we will be working with this season.

The weather has been COLD! Temps haven’t gotten any higher than 45°! Brrrr!! We arrived and it was snowing. It has snowed every day since (except today).

Luckily, it isn’t sticking so no worries driving. Of course, Michael is still wearing his shorts. He refuses to wear long pants the entire time he’s here. And you can imagine – folks around here look at him and say ‘You’re not from around here, are you?!’. Haha!! We were walking into the grocery store the other day and someone looked over at him and turned to his wife and said ‘Geez!’ We’ve also had several comments about how tan we look and since we’ve been back in the U.S., I don’t think I’ve seen the sun more than once! Funny… But today it’s sunny and 50°. In our apartment we have a wind chime that has a mini solar panel that spins the middle spinner and makes noise when it sees sun. Today is the first day we’ve heard anything! Layer, layer, layer – that’s my mantra.

So after all that complaining – I’ll tell you too that I sure missed this place! We’ve missed our friends, the breathtaking views, trees, natural beauty, & lifestyle.

We have reconnected with a couple friends from last year and have a list of others we need to track down. It has been fun to be walking through the grocery store or driving down the street and seeing & catching up with friends from last year. And we’ve only been here 4 days! :-)

Most of the downtown merchants are still shut down for the season but there is a TON of work going on in the city to prepare for Cruise season – less than a month away! The docks are getting spiffed up – new pylons & planks – the bollard ropes are getting their spring pressure wash cleaning, buildings downtown are getting spiffed up, part of the town is getting a new sewer pipe so the streets are torn up right now, but will be finished soon.

So that’s about it! In a nutshell – snow, cold, moving in, setting up & WORK! Haha… It’s all good…

More to follow!
Rene

Easter in Palm Springs 4.6.10

2010-04-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

We left our incredible beach house on Saturday and drove to the Palm Springs area to spend Easter and the few days before we leave for Alaska with Michael’s family. Most of Michael’s family live in the area – his sister’s family, Mom, & Dad. We had a wonderful time with them and look forward to seeing them again when we pass back through in October. My niece & nephew, Gracie & Nolan, are getting SO BIG! What a difference 6 months makes. I’m so glad we got so spend time with them.

We had a wonderful Easter dinner at Muriel’s house. There were 10 people at the table and we had all the fixings – ham, potatoes, zucchini frittata, rolls, and most importantly – family and friends.

I was bummed that Doug, Michael’s dad could not make it but we were able to see him the following day. We set him up with our boat computer which replaced his old Win 98 computer & visited for a couple hours before meeting him again at Jennifer’s house for dinner. I had my work cut out for me as Jennifer put me to work on her computers, checking some items off of her ‘to do list’ by getting printers, wi-fi, & programs updated. No problem! I’m glad I can put my skills to use every once in a while!

We even had a chance to go see Pete, Muriel’s husband who has alzheimers, who recognized both Muriel & Michael. The weather in Palm Springs was heavenly – temps in the 70’s and even up to 80’s a couple of times. Though it was certainly cooler than I expected in the evenings.

Gracie & Nolan took us to Boomer’s – a mini amusement park type place with mini golf, go-karts, bumper boats, rock climbing wall, & video games. We had SO much fun! OK, I may have had the most fun… Michael wore flip flops so he couldn’t do the go-karts and Gracie & Nolan both needed to ride with an adult….and luckily I qualified! So I got to ride both times and screamed my voice hoarse going around the corners.

In the bumper boats we all got soaked and I couldn’t stop laughing trying to maneuver those little boats. We screamed through mini-golf and video games and Gracie showed off on the rock climb wall by reaching the top 3 times. Bummer, my ankle is still giving me troubles or I would have been right there with her!

I was surprised when one of my friends who moved away from Ventura messaged me on Facebook and said she would love to see us while we were in Palm Springs. It turns out, Linda, a good friend and fellow bunco player lives on the street caddycorner from Michael’s mom’s house. Cool! We hooked up at Starbucks for a quick coffee & catch-up episode. It was a nice surprise and I’m so glad I could catch up with her!

We left Tillie, our VW van, at Michael’s dad’s house for the summer and hitched a ride with Jennifer & the kids to the airport. We left sunny, warm skies….and arrived to 40 degree temps and snow in Ketchikan! What a difference a day makes… :-)

We had a good time visiting with family and look forward to seeing them again in October. But now, it’s time for Alaska!

More to follow…
Rene

Hanging out in Ventura 4.1.10

2010-04-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

We have spent the past couple weeks at Sue & Dennis’ house in Ventura. It is always so nice to visit with them & get caught up on everything. And you can’t ask for a more amazing house – right on the beach – and the weather was incredible (except for a couple days of rain). It was so nice to spend a week relaxing before preparing to go to Alaska. Sue & Dennis caught us up on some TV shows, we had incredible dinners & wine, and great conversation. We miss them both and look forward to seeing them!

We were plenty busy while we were there too, of course. We picked up and went through the stack of mail we had waiting for us, took care of our taxes, had lunch & dinners with many friends, and spent a few days just vegging out. We were always coming and going, getting everything ready for our 6 months away...again!

Spring has definitely sprung in Ventura and it was great seeing all of the blooming wildflowers & trees everywhere. The beach was packed as it was Spring Break and sunny & warm.

We were also rewarded with the amazing weather as Sue took some long overdue photos of Michael and I on the beach at the ‘magical’ time of day. They turned out GREAT! Sue is an excellent photographer!! We're lucky to have her as a friend. As always, there's lots more photos in the photo album...

We're heading to Palm Springs to spend Easter with Michael's family...
More to follow!
Rene

Ahh...it's good to be back in the U.S. 3.22.10

2010-03-22T10:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah! We're back! The trip up from Mazatlan was beautiful. Rolling hills, beautiful blooming trees & flowers, and clear sailing through the border. The entire trip was great, the traffic was light, the temperature perfect, and no vehicle troubles.

We breezed through most of the checkpoints - being stopped at only one for a secondary check. One Military checkpoint was especially fun. We were pulled over for the secondary inspection and the guard asked if we spoke Spanish and one thing I've learned over the years of traveling Mexico, my Spanish is horrible when it comes to understanding mainland Mexico Spanish. We've been stopped at several checkpoints where we have a hard time understanding what we're being asked! They seem to talk at warp speed and don't enunciate clearly enough for me to understand what they're asking. Anyway, the soldier asked if we understood Spanish, we said we spoke a little. What helps me a lot is when a question is being asked, I translate it into English and say it out loud - it helps Michael too. So they guy kept asking us questions in Spanish and I would translate them into English. We got out of the vehicle while the soldier inspected the vehicle, looking for drugs & guns. While I was standing outside, two other guards came over and began asking me if I understood Spanish. They told me they were learning English and would I help them translate some phrases into English. Sure, why not! Haha... They would give me a phrase in Spanish, I would translate into English. Simple things like "Open the trunk", "Where are you going", "Where have you been", and even "I'm looking for drugs and guns". There were about 15 phrases they wanted translated. One of the guys even pulled out a piece of paper and I wrote down the phrases in English, then he practiced it in English, then he wrote it down phonetically below the english translation. What a riot! Standing in a military checkpoint while my vehicle was being gone through, trying to help non-english speakers say words correctly. The Spanish language doesn't have the same sounds as the English language, especially the W's and Y's so we tried and tried to get the correct pronunciation of 'you' (would come out 'ju'), 'work' (not guerke), 'what' (not ghwat), and 'where' (not guere). I was working with the two soldiers while Michael was following the guy who was searching the vehicle. At one point I was so cold I was shivering so the guy let me back inside the vehicle and let me use my blanket to warm up. The one searching the vehicle found our English/Spanish dictionary & workbooks we take with us everywhere we go and seemed entranced with one book in particular that had a lot of everyday phrases listed in both English and Spanish. After he was finished searching the vehicle, I gave him the book as a gift, hopefully it'll help him and his buddies! He was thrilled but a little hesitant - maybe they aren't supposed to take gifts. The whole ordeal was positive - they were very respectful, cordial, & kind. They were young guys just doing their job and trying their best to make it easier to communicate with us.

We made it to Hermosillo and found a very cool hotel in the downtown part of town that we stayed for the night. The hotel was first built in 1861 and was fascinating. It was built in a U type shape, with the open area of the U hosting a garden & lobby. Two large trees were growing up through the glass roof and up taller than the 3 flights of rooms. The hallways wound up & around the entire building with crazy staircases & passageways everywhere. They had pictures of the original building (with little buds of trees growing in the exact same spot they still were), copies of the building receipts, and old relics from the early 1900's displayed all around the lobby & along the walls of the hotel. It was a great place to stay and the best part (I thought) was those trees were home to some beautiful songbirds so in the evening and early morning, the birds were singing away just outside our door. When we pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a cage on wheels with two tigers inside!

We asked the security guard & found out that there was a performer that just finished up his shows of what I think translates into a show like Siegfried & Roy - magic & tigers. They were beautiful cats and the security guard even got close enough to touch one of them.

We were up early Sunday morning and headed for the border in Nogales. There were many cars ahead of us and we spent about an hour in line at the U.S. Border. We made it through the border around noon or so and stopped for lunch in Tucson - Arby's! Oh....I do miss Arby's. haha!! We zoomed on through Arizona, stopping in Yuma for the night.

Ahh....it's good to be back!

Rene

Leaving Mexico 3.20.10

2010-03-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

How is it possible our time here went so fast?! Five and a half months just seemed to scream by! It always happens this way but it still doesn't make it any easier no matter how many years we've been doing it. Watching friends leave is always a bummer and when it's your time to leave it's even more of a bummer! I don't want to go!! The weather is perfect, Mexico is so beautiful, and there's still so much to do and see. We have the 'I don't wanna go' conversations often - let's just stay here! But well, that little guy on our shoulder reminds us we made a promise to work this summer in Alaska and, well, we're kinda looking forward to it too. Too bad we're not millionaires and could just stop working for good! haha... Maybe one day!

So we've been super busy putting the boat away for summer - cleaning, polishing, organizing, packing, washing, inventorying. Whew! It's a lot of work, work, work! But the boat was happy when we left her, clean & shiny with new polish, fans working away inside, & ready for us to return in 6 months.

I made things a little interesting the last week we were here by spraining my ankle getting off of a bus the Saturday before we left. It was a doosey. I don't know exactly what happened, whether the bus wasn't fully stopped, the bus lurched a little, I stepped on an uneven spot, or I just stepped wrong! All I know is I stepped off, it popped, and I went down! Of course my first thoughts were GET AWAY FROM THE BUS! So I moved away quickly so it could drive off and immediately sat down. Luckily, another passenger got off of the front of the bus and came over to help me. It was incredibly painful and the guy who was helping me spoke no english but we managed to communicate enough. I now know more spanish words - ankle and sprained - those words weren't in my repertoire before. He helped me with my shoe, cradled my foot while the pain was intense, and moved it around to make sure it wasn't broken. Once I felt it was good enough, he helped me to my feet and then walked me across the busy street. He had asked me where I lived and if I wanted him to find help, told me where I could find him if I needed anything, and left to go to work. How lucky I was to have him around, it made the whole ordeal less frightening. A few hours later, my ankle was swollen like a balloon and ice, rest, or elevation didn't seem to help. Doh! I spent the past week either walking gingerly on it, using crutches, or being the lady of leisure I was born to be! haha... Seriously, I tried to take it easy and walk as little as possible but it's difficult not walking when you're trying to get the boat cleaned, packed, & put away! While the swelling has gone down a little, I'm hoping the three day trip back to the States will be just what the Dr ordered. We'll see!

We slept in the van up in the parking lot of the marina beginning on Wednesday night, which made it a ton easier to pack the rest of the boat up. We visited with friends, had dock parties, ate at the best spots in town, made Dr visits, went for a beach day, and had a ton of fun. I miss everyone already and can't wait to get back for next season!

We leave bright and early Saturday morning, driving up to the border crossing in Nogales, stopping in Hermosillo for the night. We should be in the U.S. on Sunday afternoon or so. Woohoo!

More to follow...
Rene

End of season blues… 3.12.10

2010-03-12T13:27:00.000-08:00

That’s what it feels like! We arrived in Mazatlan, back in our old familiar slip on dock 6 and immediately got to work tearing the boat apart and prepping it for the summer. Well, after spending an entire day being lazy after the long passage!

During our last passage, I made a comment on how much the backstays attached to the dinghy davit were flexing. When we arrived at the dock, we were shocked to find the Mizzen middle shrouds tight as a fiddle, while the upper & lower shrouds were loosey goosey! It didn’t make sense…..until we looked closer at the dinghy davit system and found the 2” stainless steel tubing that makes up the dinghy davit was ripped! Thank goodness the mizzen shrouds were holding it up! It would have been a HUGE bummer to hear a SNAP and find our dinghy davit, dinghy, & solar panels being towed behind the boat – with the mizzen mast dangling with it! It was a weird tear. Luckily, we can fix it – just a little welding.

After consulting with the welder & Rick (one of the repair guys here in Mazatlan) we welded in some gussets – a long piece of stainless steel, that looks like a boomerang to me, that will fix the problem. Solid #($%& gold, I think that’s what Michael called them after seeing the repair bill. Ouch! But they’re pretty and functional! And we shouldn’t see this problem again! (let’s hope!)

Luckily, we didn’t find any other major issues from our time out this season. Whew! We had the normal wear & tear and issues like normal….but nothing major.

And a bit of sad news – we found gumby, our resident gecko, dead a day or so after we arrived at the dock. It was a huge bummer as we’ve really enjoyed having our little friend on board….but that’s life. We gave him a quick burial at sea…or at the dock…and said some nice words. We’ll miss seeing the little guy but are relieved not to have to worry about how he’ll survive this summer on the boat.

Tilly (our VW van) was in good shape in the parking lot, a little buried in mud from the winter rains, but sitting pretty. We reconnected the battery and tried to fire her up and she didn’t want to start. Hmmm…. After a little while diagnosing the problem, Michael deduced it was bad gasoline. It smelled bad, like varnish, and though she was turning over, it just wasn’t starting. We dumped a few jerry jugs of gasoline we had left over on the boat into her and after a shot or two of starting fluid….she hummed away! The oxygen sensor light was still on in the dash from our road trip down so I began looking for a repair shop here in Mazatlan. Since Mazatlan is the pulmonia (a golf cart-looking thing that runs on a VW engine) capital of the world I figured I would have no problem finding a qualified technician on a VW engine. I consulted the VW Vanagon website that I follow faithfully and they recommended a technician by the name of Victor Lamarque. We called him up and scheduled an appointment. Long story short, after leaving the van there for a day, 5 phone calls, and a bit of frustration….we got the van back purring like a kitten. We need a new part to make it ‘right’ but it’s impossible to find this particular part in Mexico (they never made Westfalia’s here) and we would have to have it shipped down from the U.S. So they ‘tweaked’ the air flow sensor until it was better, changed the spark plugs, & cleaned the injectors – with 3 hours of labor and a specialist called in from another shop. Guess the total bill? 936 pesos….or about $78. Incredible!

Every waking moment since we’ve arrived we’ve been work, work, working!! Or should I say cleaning, cleaning, cleaning!! You know how you go on vacation somewhere and how much cleaning you have to do when you get ready to leave? Yep, that’s what I’m talking about. Though on a sailboat the cleaning seems to go on forever!!

Sails – scrubbed, rinsed, dried, removed, folded & stowed, Sheets, lines, & halyards (all of the ‘ropes’ on a boat) – cleaned, rinsed, rinsed, rinsed until the water comes out clean – then dried & stowed, Anchor, chain & rode, dinghy scrubbed & flipped upside down on the deck of the boat, tarped, & lashed down for the season. Everything on deck cleaned & de-salted & stowed – liferaft, fishing gear, kayaks, scuba & snorkel gear….

We hired some of Rick’s guys to wash & polish the boat for the summer (we do it 2x a year – once before we take off so it will repel the salt and once before we leave for the summer so it will repel the sun!) and it looks GREAT!

Then there’s the inside – scrub-a-dub-dub!! Walls, ceilings, cupboards, doors, floors, oven, microwave, rugs, you name it! Scrub it down with windex and then place a repellant for mold & mildew on every surface. Whew! It takes a while to get it all done. And don’t forget to inventory everything! Because we NEVER seem to remember what we left on the boat - food, toiletries, medicines, spare parts, etc. That way we don’t end up with 2, 3 or 4 of the same item we weren’t sure we had on board. You know how it goes – Do we have this on board? Um….I think so but I’m not sure. Well, we better take one down, just in case! Haha…

We’ve done a fantastic job of using everything on the boat this season. We still managed to have some cans we will give away and we’re down to the last of certain things but it’s amazing to have used so much this season!

We’re planning to leave here in a very short 8 days so we’ve been super busy not only with putting the boat to bed but with appointments – dr’s appointments for our yearly check-ups, hair appointments, meeting with the bottom cleaner (Ruben), the guy who will look after the boat during the summer (Tony), and scheduling anything else we need to get done over the summer. This year we’ve been plagued with bad bellies so we’re having additional Dr’s appointments for tests to make sure we don’t have any bugs. Hopefully not!

We’ve also been packing for our trip up to California and ultimately, up to Alaska. We always manage to pack way too much so we’re trying all our might to pack light this season. It’s definitely interesting! Luckily none of the clothes seem to overlap except for a couple items from Mexico to California so it’s been easy to pull out all of our cold weather clothes – jeans, jackets, scarves, long sleeved shirts, sweats!

So are you feeling sorry for us yet? C’mon….a little sympathy, please?! Just think of poor us, working our tails off, hands stuffed inside yellow rubber gloves scrubbing away, vacuuming, washing, repairing…. Not even a LITTLE sympathy?!

Fine – don’t. haha!! Because once we arrived back on the dock, it took only one night off before our nightly ‘Dock 6 party’ started up again. It’s always great to get together with everyone – every night at 4pm – appetizers, cold drinks, and lots of conversation!

And then, of course, we’re still having a great time here in Mazatlan. Lots of catching up with long lost friends, dinners out (we’ve got to try the new hot restaurants and don’t forget our favorite other ones), listening to great music, and preparing for our other friends to leave whether going back to the U.S. or taking off on their boat! We had a wonderful dinner with Jerry & Sally from S/V Aquarius who were showing off their new condo (that is amazing),

were lucky enough to spend a couple hours with Chris from S/V Kinship as he passed through town for a day before heading back up to San Francisco, and had an amazing time at Dunia’s for shrimp lunch with 15 other cruisers! We’ve already lost the Slackers – Mike & Julie headed back home a couple days ago. And Niels left yesterday. This is the time that I hate – saying goodbye to everyone! Some for just 6 months, but others you’re never sure you’ll ever cross paths with again. I hope we will though! It’s been a ton of fun to meet such wonderful friends this year – like always!!

Then there’s yoga twice a week, morning walks with the girls, shopping, and beach days. The weather has been a bit cold lately – there are two weather fronts in the area which have kept the temps into the mid 70’s during the day, and cloudy & windy. That’s no weather to spend at the beach! Saturday the weather is supposed to improve, we hear, and we’ll plan for a beach day when it will actually be warm & sunshiny!

We even put up our security system on the boat… :-)

And you want to hear another ‘such a small world’ story? While chatting away at our dock party, Ron from S/V Palio and I realized we were both from Wichita, Kansas. He began asking me things about my dad – where he went to school & when he graduated. It turns out….they graduated from the same high school only one year apart! I’ve known Ron for 3 years and never knew he was born & raised in Wichita….until one night at the dock party! Crazy!

Until later…
Rene

Photos updated too! 3.1.10

2010-03-01T08:22:00.000-08:00

Enjoy...

Click here to see our new photos...

Videos!! 3.1.10

2010-03-01T07:49:00.000-08:00

Finally some bandwidth to upload some videos! :-) Enjoy...

Here's some underwater snorkeling videos in Tenacatita Bay...

A Sunset video....

A Sunrise video when leaving La Cruz....

And some videos of us! Taken by Anne from Outrider - it's always so exciting to get videos and photos of your own boat!!

Tsunami warning…in Mexico?! 2.27.10

2010-02-27T08:57:00.000-08:00

What could top the crazy weather we have had all season?! We shouldn’t have asked that question! Michael was up and at ‘em early and received a phone call on his cell phone from his Dad back in California. I was still in bed but could hear Michael’s end of the conversation and it didn’t sound good. I tumbled out of bed as he was finishing his call and he told me about it – a massive earthquake in Chile had generated a tsunami warning all the way up the coast. Oh GREAT!!

As we were sitting in 12 ft of water and Mantanchen Bay was a very shallow bay, we decided along with everyone else to get out – now! Who knew what would happen but we didn’t want to find out! We took off at 7:00am and headed out – to deeper water.

After 3 hours, we were still only in 50ft of water. By then we had compiled all of the data coming in from the SSB nets, from notes e-mailed to us, and two of our boats have the 3G network aircard and could check the internet for into. We knew that the swell/surge/wave whatever you want to call it was only predicted to be about 2ft or so and we probably wouldn’t even feel it – and we didn’t! Not even a hint of it actually!

So we were FINE - no problems at all - we didn't even feel it as it passed us by...

By leaving the bay 3 hours ahead of time meant we would arrive in Mazatlan 3 hours ahead of time too – in the dark. Great….(said with the greatest amount of sarcasm possible)

We had a great motorsail up the coast. It was a spectacular day – only 10-15 knots of wind and 3-5ft swells that were spread out far enough to be comfortable. We saw very little wildlife other than whales and even saw some breaching completely out of the water. Once night fell, we had an incredible full moon that light up the night. The wind fell to only 10 knots and the swells settled and the water had an eerie, oily look to it. Around midnight or so there were low clouds that settled in that were very much like fog, but never hit the surface of the water. It was a surreal feeling – an undulating oily sea and clouds low in the air where you couldn’t even tell where the sea stopped and the clouds started. Creepy!

As expected, we made it into Mazatlan early – 4am or so. We ducked behind Deer Island, an hour or so outside the harbor entrance, and threw the hook for a couple hours until the sun was rising and we could see where we were going! We hit the harbor entrance around 6:30 or so, dodged some power boats leaving, called the marina security to alert them we were coming in, and were finally docked around 7am. Woohoo!!! We’re HOME!!!

Mike from Lady Hawke, our buddy boat all last year, met us on the dock and it was a great reunion. About 15 minutes later, Slacker pulled into their slip, caddy corner from us on Dock 6. Merry & BJ from Willow stumbled out to say hi and the boat we were tied up beside. Ahhh….reunions are so much FUN!! We finally made our way back to the boat for the important stuff – a celebratory beer (first things first!), plug in so we can use as MUCH energy as possible, turn on the internet, fix breakfast, shower, check on the van, and finally….a nice long nap. It’s great to be back.

The everyday, 4pm, dock 6 party was a necessity with a group of about 20 people showing up to help celebrate. The mosquitoes began to come out around 7:15 and the party quickly broke up which was perfect for us – time for dinner and a show….and bed! Tomorrow starts the WORK!! Getting projects done, getting the boat put to bed for summer, and preparing for our trip up to California in about 3 weeks!

It’s great to be back….
Rene

Made it to Mantanchen Bay! 2.26.10

2010-02-26T07:23:00.000-08:00

Mantanchen Bay was so spectacular we all decided to stay a day and wait for Anne & Jeff on Outrider to catch up with us so we could all head up to Mazatlan together. Michael found an issue on the boat, one of our selector switches failed near the Xantrex unit which prevented us getting power on the A/C side. In layman’s terms….we had no power in our plugs and our refrigerator and freezer needed power! An hour of troubleshooting and fixing later, it was back to normal – woohoo!

It was a perfect beach day so we all put our dinghies in the water & headed to shore. One thing that all cruisers will agree is that after a full day or more on the boat, it’s great to take a long walk on the beach to stretch our the leg muscles! There was no surf to speak of and the dinghy landing was no problem. Everyone met up and decided to walk around the point and back again. It was low tide and the sand seemed to stretch forever before it hit the water. The walk was beautiful! Palm trees everywhere you looked, a carpet of caramel colored sand, small waves of water washing in, incredible!

We walked until we couldn’t walk any further and turned around. By this time it was close to lunch time so we walked back to where our dinghies were parked, Ismael’s, and settled in for lunch. It must have been a holiday of some sort as there were three busloads of folks at the beach and our wait time at the restaurant was a little longer than usual, but it was such a spectacular day no one complained in the least bit. We had an amazing lunch and met up with Mark & Vicky from Southern Cross once they were back from their jungle river trip and just enjoyed watching the day go by.

After lunch we walked into town to purchase some banana bread & muffins and then back to the beach and out to the boats for a nice, mellow evening. We are all planning to leave tomorrow morning around 10:00 or so for the 20-24 hour run up to Mazatlan! Woohoo! I can’t wait….we’re both ready to be back ‘home’!! :-)

One more long run to Maz….
Rene

Whales, dolphins & turtles – oh my! 2.25.10

2010-02-25T07:10:00.000-08:00

Yeah! We escaped the pull of La Cruz and headed out of the bay at first light this morning. Woohoo!! The sunrise was spectacular as we left the bay and headed around the corner.

There are four boats all headed up this morning with us – Pacific Jade, Slacker, Southern Cross & Brendon. Outrider decided to stay one more day and wait for the swells to settle down a little more. We wanted out as soon as possible, swells or no swells! Haha…

And we did get swells – 5-7ft swells for most of the day with larger ones creeping up as well. Luckily though, they were pretty far apart so it wasn’t too uncomfortable. The sun was shining, the wildlife was out in force, and we even had some wind to fill our sails – life is good!

Speaking of wildlife we saw lots! I lost count of the number of whales we spotted and we had another incredible sighting of a whale, tail slapping the water beside us.

I never tire of seeing those gracious beasts and seeing the tail slap is so incredibly cool. I have a short video of it and managed to snap a few photos during the 10-15 minutes it was slapping the surface!

And then the dolphins! I haven’t seen this many dolphins racing towards us to swim in our bow wake all year!

There was a group of whales in the area which first got our attention. We slowed down to see which way they were headed as they were pretty close to us and then we realized there were a whole bunch (pack? gaggle? troop? I don’t know!) of dolphins playing in the same area. I’m pretty sure they saw us the same time we saw them and they screamed to their buddies – hey, there’s a boat – let’s go race ‘em!!

Before I knew it they were heading our way and just as suddenly, they were surrounding the bow, ducking in and out, staying just out of reach of the bow as it skinned along the surface, until they needed a breath where they would zoom away, come up for a breath, and be right back! I’ve said before, I never tire of seeing them. Whether dolphins, whales, or certainly sea turtles. We haven’t seen nearly the same amount of wildlife as we did last season, why I have no clue, so today was a welcome sight!

Here's a video of the dolphins - watch out - you may get seasick just watching it! I wasn't using my stead hand here... :-)

We made it into Mantanchen Bay anchorage around 5:30pm and dropped anchor in 12 ft of water, popped a cold beer, and enjoyed a spectacular sunset in the bay. Ahhh….life is good!

I’ll post photos & video as soon as we make it back to Mazatlan.

Until then!
Rene

We gotta get outta this place! 2.24.10

2010-02-24T08:15:00.000-08:00

Though I'm sure The Animals didn't write that song with La Cruz in mind when they wrote it..but it certainly became our theme song for the past two weeks. Haha! There's something about La Cruz that sucks you in, takes hold, and doesn't want to let go! Don't get me wrong, it is a wonderful place - full of things to do and see and we thoroughly enjoy spending time with friends here but jeez! Enough is enough! We were ready to leave a week ago. Oh well! We're on our way now. We're headed out tomorrow morning, come hell or high water. There is a 4 day weather window opening up and we're taking it! We'll be heading up to Mantanchen Bay on our first leg - a 10 hour trip (or so!) - spend a day relaxing in San Blas and then continue on to Mazatlan the following day, an overnighter that should take between 20-24 hours. Woohoo!!

On our way..
Rene

Anne’s birthday in Sayulita 2.20.10

2010-02-20T12:44:00.000-08:00

Who needs the excuse of a weather window to keep us in La Cruz when we have a real reason to celebrate!! It’s Anne’s birthday!! Woohoo!! And how, pray tell, should we help her celebrate?! Let’s have a BEACH DAY!!! A vacation from our vacation! Yeah!!

We got a great motley crew together…Anne & Jeff (of course!), Mike & Julie on Slacker, Bill & MJ on Grey Max, Mike & Ceacy on Ramble on Rose, Joe & Deb on Pacific Jade, Willem, Russell & Lori, and Michael & I all climbed into three vehicles and rode to Sayulita. It was the first time for Anne & Jeff to visit Sayulita but the rest of the group had come just before Christmas. The skies were mostly sunny with clouds taking over the sunshine occasionally but it was a spectacular day. Sayulita is a cute surf town and the surfers were out in force as there were big waves coming in. The water was a brilliant turquoise color and the white puffy clouds in the background really brought out the green on the hillsides – it was picture perfect! The water temperature was still in the 70’s, a little cooler than before but it still felt wonderful.

We started out the day with a trip to Rollie’s for breakfast – by far the most incredible breakfast spot in Sayulita. We left there absolutely stuffed with our breakfast of choice, mine being a machacha & bacon burrito that was big enough to feed 3 and, of course, bloody marias! We wandered down to the beach and setup camp – blankets, umbrellas, coolers, you name it! The rest of the day was typical beach day – swimming, reading, playing dice games, people watching, scoring the surfers & paddle boarders, walking the beach looking for shells & beach glass, walking the streets and checking out all of the vendors’ wares. Ahhh…. Oh, check out how the pangas beach themselves here! Scary!

Julie and I strolled the streets looking for a panaderia (bakery) and finally found one at the opposite side of town where we picked up some cookies and a candle. We brought them back to the beach and Anne blew out the candle while we all sang her happy birthday!

The day was good, the company better, and it was a perfect day to celebrate Anne’s birthday. This is the 3rd year we’ve known Anne, even though her & Jeff lived in Ventura (where we spent 13 years!) and we’ve been trying to get together for her birthday each year, I’m so happy we were finally able to celebrate with her! Now if only we could find the weather window!!

More to follow…
Rene

EZ Lady in La Cruz! 2.19.10

2010-02-19T12:39:00.000-08:00

Guess who we ran into in La Cruz?! Bob & Louise, our friends from Channel Islands Harbor that we pretty much buddy boated down the entire Baja coast with on S/V EZ Lady in 2007!!

It’s always so much fun to run into folks you know, have traveled with, and are sure you won’t see any time soon. They’re in La Cruz and, unfortunately, has run into some bad luck. Or bad luck has run into them. During the crazy storm that we experienced in Tenacatita, they were in the La Cruz anchorage and a boat anchored in front of them came loose and hit them, doing quite a bit of damage to the rigging, lifelines, ripping off solar panels, bbq lp units, and more. It’s a bummer to see them here with damage – but GREAT to catch up with them!!

We went to Ana Banana’s one evening to listen to Bill from Grey Max play guitar with some friends and had fun with some boas brought in for the evening.

And then we were on to T.I.T.S – Tacos in the street – for the tastiest tacos in town!!

Life is good!!

More to follow…
Rene

Rain, rain go away!! 2.18.10

2010-02-18T12:34:00.000-08:00

It’s happened again – La Cruz has sucked us in! We thought we would be here just a couple days. But the weather just isn’t cooperating! We were planning to leave yesterday and then a ‘pineapple express’ came in the area and well, we don’t want to sail in the rain, so we figured we’d stay until it clears up. And so we waited – and watched – and waited some more! Willow and Prairie Seashell took off one more we had planned to leave but decided to bail at the last minute and they have been stuck just North of here in Mantanchen Bay waiting as well. There’s worse places to be stuck though! So in the meantime we’ve been enjoying ourselves – as usual!

We were stuck on the boat for one whole day as it poured around us and we didn’t want to get wet taking the dinghy into the marina. That was a nice, down-time day and we worked on projects on the boat and Michael made a killer turkey soup from broth we saved from Thanksgiving day. The following day we went into town and just walked…we needed to stretch our legs!

The following day we took a trip into Puerta Vallarta, just a quick trip in to walk around town and see the sights. We jumped onto the bus and headed in while clouds loomed just outside of town. The clouds kept getting darker & darker and it felt like they were following us into town! When we finally jumped off the bus, it began to sprinkle. The longer we walked, the harder the sprinkles came. Worried we wouldn’t make it far enough into town before it started to downpour we jumped on a second bus and got off at the downtown river shops. We walked over to Café Roma’s and were no sooner seated when it started pouring! Well, what is there to do on a rainy day if not sit with friends, chatting away, have a great lunch, watch the rain come down from the open-air café, and watch the Olympics! Unfortunately for us, of all the winter sports we could have been watching, we were stuck watching curling…..but we stuck it out until our butts were beginning to go asleep. We checked the current weather satellite photo on an internet station in the restaurant and figured we were in for another couple hours at least of rain so we figured what the heck - we ventured out in the rain to find the bus stop. Julie was the smart one who brought a rain jacket while the rest of us proceeded to get soaked!

Back in La Cruz we were rewarded with a spectacular rainbow and a dry trip back to the boat. When is this crazy weather going to stop?! I feel for all of the first-timers down this year, they must think we’re all nuts for doing this year after year! Everyone says each year has a theme – two years ago the water was so cold you couldn’t even jump in most of the season, last year everyone agrees was perfect, this year it’s crazy weather. What will next year be? Hmmm….I guess I’ll have to wait to find out! Hopefully it’ll be another perfect year!

Oh, Gumby’s still hanging out on the boat – we’ve spied him several more times and it’s always fun to see him scooting around!

More to follow!
Rene

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle 2.16.10

2010-02-16T12:31:00.000-08:00

Ahhh.... :-) When we woke up from our little 3 hour nap after anchoring in the dark we came up on deck and found we were waaayyyyyy out in the back 40 of the anchorage. We had given ourselves a wide berth from everyone else and, well, that’s exactly where we were! Haha… We upped anchor and found a new spot much closer to civilization in the middle of the anchorage. We weren’t in any real hurry to do anything so we just hung around the boat doing our projects and reading during the day, cooked up some good dinner and went to bed early trying to recover from the all night trip.

The next day was much more productive! We were in desperate need of groceries! We’ve been doing soooo good at eating up everything on the boat, trying to use up all of the provisions we’ve carried with us for years and we’re doing a pretty good job of it! It’s been fun to find recipes for ingredients we’ve carried with us for years – canned pumpkin, Sun-dried tomatoes, canned fruits, etc. But we were out of everything, and I do mean EVERYthing fresh. We were out of staples that no one should be without – garlic, potatoes, limes, fruit, etc. So we organized a group to go to the Mega store – a huge grocery store about 30 minutes from here! Now if we had a car the trip may take an hour or so. But because we’re walking and bussing it to and from….it takes a little longer! On every morning except for Sunday, there is a VHF radio ‘net’ where everyone checks in, listens to any announcements, and finds out about the comings and goings of everyone. And, in general, nothing happens until ‘after the net’ which starts at 8:30 and usually lasts until 9:00 or longer. So we planned to meet everyone ‘after the net’ in the marina. Michael and I are in the anchorage so we jump into the dinghy with our backpacks filled with bags to carry our stuff back with us in tow, dinghy into the marina and swing by Slacker who is in the marina to pick them up and take them over to the dinghy dock, which is closer to town than their slip. After everyone is assembled we walk up through town to the bus stop, wait for and find our bus which has its destination painted on the front window, jump on (8 pesos each), and settle in for the 30 minute or so ride, though if we have a Mario Andretti wanna-be driver it may take only 15 minutes! Haha… Then we are let off on the side of the road at a three-way intersection and risk life & limb to cross the 6 lane road with its crazy lights and finally make it safe & sound in the parking lot! Woohoo!

Now comes the fun stuff – finding everything on our list and lots of things that magically appear in the cart! The three couples split up and then meet back up at the front of the store where we load everything into our backpacks and carrying bags to get it back to the boat! Most times we’re good with calculating how much weight we have but this time….we just went for it….and ended up with back-breaking backpacks on both our backs! Oh well, it was much needed! We met Mike & Julie and Joe & Deb at the front of the store and stopped to get a much needed bite to eat, after all it was around 1pm! We went around the corner to a much-hyped taco stand and as everyone was figuring out what to eat, Deb notices a Chinese food place right next door! Mmmm…..chinese food!! Come to mexico – eat Chinese!! It was yummy….and it hit the spot!

Back outside the store, 50lb backpacks each, we found our bus back to La Cruz and got back to the marina with no issues – not even a broken egg. Michael left me at the marina so I could do some internetting while he went out to the boat to drop off the groceries and we met back up on Outrider with Anne & Jeff hosting the afternoon happy hour.

Our days since have been filled with weather-watching, weather discussing, hanging out, enjoying the mostly sunny days and otherwise keeping busy! We’re waiting on that ever elusive weather window to continue up the coast to Mazatlan! One of these days…. Haha!!

More to follow…
Rene

Chamela & Cabo Corrientes 2.13.10

2010-02-13T08:44:00.000-08:00

That was a bash! And no, that’s not a good thing. We left Tenacatita and rounded the corner for the quick trip up to Chamela and were met with winds on the nose and a swell that was pushing us backward! It wasn’t awful and wasn’t good, it just was. Outrider decided to stay for one more day in Barra and Slacker turned into Tenacatita but Pacific Jade and us hung in there and made it to Chamela with no issues. The boat was salty from the spray we took but that’ll wash off. Michael and I tucked up super close to the mainland side of the anchorage as the winds were still blowing 15-20 knots but luckily the swell was coming from the same general direction and was pleasant enough. There were only 3 other boats in the anchorage when we arrived and Pacific Jade decided to anchor between the two islands for the night. We were rewarded with a beautiful sunset that evening.

We settled down for the night, listened to any weather we could get, and made a plan for the following day….snorkel around, enjoy some refreshments, and enjoy Joe & Deb’s company since we will need to part ways here pretty soon (boo hoo!!). That sounds like a grand plan! Only one thing can stop us…..and did!

Weather.

That darn mother nature sure is putting a crinkle in our plans with her wild and wily weather this season. Not that I’m complaining – I know she’s in charge, but I’d sure like here to let us play with our friends now and again! Is that too much to ask for?! Haha…

We woke the next morning to more wind & swells, this time from a different direction. We upped anchor and went over in between the two islands and finally managed to get a good hold on the anchor (after 3 attempts! It’s a rocky surface and is hard to find a good hold). We were rocking and rolling but felt that the weather would lay down a bit as the morning unfolded so we stayed. There were several boats that were intent on making the crossing – Harmony, Outrider, Slacker, & Mulan – but they were reporting the seas to be lumpy and uncomfortable. We were planning to wait it out, talking to each other to make up our minds, ‘Should I stay or should I go now?’. C’mon….sing it with me! Lord knows we sung it over and over and over and over!! Michael claims he has never been so indecisive! If we left, we would face lumpy seas and winds coming from behind us. Uncomfortable but do-able. If we stayed, it could be just as uncomfortable at anchor. But what about those mixed seas at Cabo Corrientes? Argh…the list goes on and on and it was a difficult decision but we finally decided to pull anchor and follow the rest of the pack around Corrientes.

We left the anchorage around 3pm or so and stuck out nose outside the protected islands. It was lumpy, but the winds and seas were behind us, pushing us out and around. We had a single reef in the main and a single reef in the headsail and full mizzen and were scooting!! At times when we were surfing down a wave, we saw 9.5 knots! Whew!! It was a fun ride. There were large swells but they were well spread out and no problem. We went around Cabo Corrientes around midnight and the seas were fine. We had about 15-20 knots of wind and after we went around Ipala it started to get lumpy & bumpy but it was still fine. We finally pulled into the La Cruz anchorage around 5am and it was still pitch black. I absolutely HATE pulling into an anchorage when it’s dark. The anchor lights on the boat blend in with the lights on land, there were two extremely large commercial boats with their lights blaring and it’s just hard to judge distance. We were tired and didn’t care at that point so we motored over to the anchorage, watched closely on radar for other boats, found a spot that had no other boats around us and dropped anchor. Whew! We were exhausted and went down for some much needed rest.

More to follow…
Rene

What storm?! 2.12.10

2010-02-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

That’s what the hearty 8 boats who stayed in Tenacatita to ‘brave the storm’ asked while enjoying the sunshine! The forecasts were bad but we decided to tough it out in Tenacatita as our only other option was to go into Barra de Navidad lagoon with bad holding ground or spend big bucks in the marina of Barra. Luckily, it worked out in our favor! The anchorage at Tenacatita emptied out as news of the weather spread, we all listened intently to the weather reports on the nets, poured over the weather available on the internet….and waited! Luckily though, it was all hype and we had a wonderful time in Tenacatita.

I finally remembered to take my underwater camera snorkeling with me this time and had a ton of fun trying to get the fishes to pose for me.

Here, fishy fishy!! Of course with a snorkel in my mouth it came out more like Hmmmrrrrrr hisshhee hisshee…

so while I did manage to get some fun shots, I missed many many more. It was an overcast day and I didn’t expect to see much but as always I was amazed at the colors of the tropical fish – yellows, blues, oranges, neon stripes, it was incredible.

The water was a little cool since the sun wasn’t out and I made a good call by wearing my rash guard to help me stay warm. We snorkeled the rocks nearest our boat while the pelicans watched us intently.

I have more underwater photos here…

It’s so cool to be able to get within a foot or so of them and I just love the coloring on them, how different they are. What I don’t like is the monster poop they leave on the bowsprit when the come to visit the boat! Haha… An hour and a half later I was starting to get cold so I swam back to the boat which got my blood pumping again and it wasn’t 5 minutes from getting everything rinsed off that we were notified of bocce ball on the beach! Sounds great!

One of the things I love about cruising is having the chance to meet & get to know new people. S/V Ithaki was in Tenacatita last year while we were here and we were introduced to them at the Mayor’s Raft-up but didn’t have a chance to really get to know them. But luckily with only a few boats in the anchorage and time to spare – it was the perfect time to get to know them! They invited us over onto their boat for appetizers and we could have talked all night. Anastasia made a killer appetizer that I’ll add to my recipe arsenal – it was chicken mixed with cream cheese and worsheshire sauce (however you spell that!) – yummy!! We literally had to tear ourselves away from them so we could pack up the boat for the next day’s departure! And I’ve mentioned how it sucks to leave your new friends, hoping to catch up with them again! Dino and Anastasia are one of those couples we hope to spend much more time with next season.

We’re on the move tomorrow – headed up to Chamela, about 31 miles away. We’re hoping for a nice day on the water! We’re buddy boating with Outrider, Slacker, & Pacific Jade and will be looking for that perfect time to round Cabo Corrientes.

More to follow!!
Rene

On pins & needles 2.10.10

2010-02-10T08:14:00.000-08:00

We've had such crazy weather this season and, of course, some crazy weather just as soon as we prepare to head North. There are several boats that are all planning to head north together - Slacker, Outrider, Pacific Jade, and others - but this crazy 'maybe' weather has kept us stuck in one place waiting for a weather window.

We get weather from several sources - Magic Seaweed www.magicseaweed.com, Passage Weather www.passageweather.com, Weather Underground www.wunderground.com, & Sol Mate Santiago www.solmatesantiago.com are our online weather sites. We also listen intently via the SSB radio to Don on Summer Passage, who is an amateur meteorologist who broadcasts the weather on the SSB & HAM nets all during the day. We usually listen to the Amigo net and the Southbound net - one in the morning and one in the evening - and pick up any weather he gives. And last but not least, we can pull down GRIB files - computer simulation files showing the wind, highs & lows, & swells surrounding an area of our choice. It's a lot of information to process most times - especially when the reports don't match!

So here we are - hanging out in Tenacatita - while reports of a high pressure system that is building and is pretty much barring our way to make the jump north. What everyone agrees is that there's weather out there..what we just don't know is exactly what it will bring! High winds? Swells? Rain? Are we enough South that we'll miss it entirely? Or are we just south enough that we'll get hit? Aargh! Haha. Who knows. And while we're in Tenacatita, we're without internet so we rely on those that are either in the anchorage or in the marina to check and relay the morsels of good info our way.

So Michael and I are in Tenacatita along with about 18 other boats. Everyone is pretty much 'staying put' right now, not coming and going until this weather passes. Slacker was with us but left yesterday and headed back to Barra and went into the marina. The last storm is fresh enough on everyone's minds that lots of folks went into the marina. On last count, there were only 4 slips available! Outrider and Pacific Jade have stayed in the lagoon and they reported about 30 boats in there.

So..well..we're just waiting! You know the old Army saying - hurry up and wait! Though this isn't a bad place to wait. We've been swimming every day and today as soon as we're all juiced up (the sun hasn't been providing us with enough solar so we must run the generator to catch up) we're heading off to do some snorkeling. The anchorage is full of the 'kid boats' - there are about 6 boats in the anchorage with kids under the age of 12 (or so) and they have been providing us with entertainment while playing around the boat. We also ran into a boat - Eoney - who we first met in Catalina Island, about 2 days after taking off on our grand adventure! We both remember each other, as well as the conversations we had that first meeting. We're looking forward to catching up with them tonight, weather permitting. :-)

So keep your fingers crossed that we don't have a repeat of last week's storms! We can do without 70 knot gusts, thank you very much. Until the storm hits we'll enjoy it here!

More to follow.
Rene

Lightning storm video

2010-02-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

Here's a video of the Lightning storm in Tenacatita - it's a little long but amazing still!! Enjoy...

New addition to Ahea Kali 2.7.10

2010-02-07T08:53:00.000-08:00

We just couldn't take it any longer. We've been without a pet for soooo long and it's very hard for us to be without! We have been looking for that perfect pet - one that is easily adapted to the boat, takes very little work & discipline, and have FINALLY found it!!

Everyone welcome our new friend...

:-) Now we just have to come up with a good name....any suggestions??

We believe it's the same gecko that appeared in our sails when we left Stone Island. I guess he found a spot he liked!

More to follow...
Rene

Back in Barra for Super Bowl 2.7.10

2010-02-07T08:51:00.000-08:00

After our crazy night in Tenacatita and all the rain, we came back to Barra two days later to continue to dry out. The rain continued the entire next day after the lightning storm and then the sun came out on the day after….and was WARM!! Woohoo!

As my good friend Julie noted, I felt just like a lizard wanting to warm myself on the rocks in the sunshine, like a big solar panel was attached to my chest and I needed to see the sun! haha… So we are back in Barra, drying out, getting a load of laundry done, and visiting with Bill & MJ from S/V Grey Max who came down via car from La Cruz to visit. We had only one ‘leak’ from the crazy rain – a stanchion that needs to be rebedded – but nothing major.

Yesterday we went in town for the Rotary club’s Annual Chili Cookoff which was a huge success. There were 28 amateur contestants and 9 professional contestants. The chili was incredible, the margaritas exceptional, and most importantly, we had a great group of cruisers with us. The weather has cleared up and the sun is shining again.

Today is Super Bowl! There are a couple of venues to watch the Super Bowl and hopefully we’ll be able to see the English commercials. Wish us luck! And I hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

Rene

God’s Bowling Tournament 2.2.10

2010-02-02T08:42:00.000-08:00

We had the ‘Storm of the Season’ here in Tenacatita last night. And what a doosey!!!

It rained most of the day which sucked as it seems we’ve been stuck on the boat for DAYS! The sun decided to peek out and the rain slowed down to a drizzle so Robert on S/V Harmony (The Mayor) announced we would hold the first ever ‘Bocce ball in the rain on the beach’ at 2pm. Sounds GREAT!! Sign me up. Michael and I were busy getting ourselves ready to go ashore – launching the dinghy, gathering the necessary items, trying not to forget everything. Michael was in the dinghy, holding onto the side of the boat waiting for me to get in while I was running around the boat looking for something. And suddenly, out of nowhere, the wind decided to pick back up again, spinning the boats 180 degrees. All in a minute or two! Then the wind continued to pick up. Bocce ball on the beach in the rain was cancelled…bummer!

Then as we were all trying to figure out what kind of weather we were going to get, Rita on S/V Overheated followed a transmission from the Port Captain's office in Barra de Navidad that alerted us to winds that would increase to 40knots (like 46-50mph winds) coming from the South to SE direction later in the afternoon/evening, then the winds would clock around and come from the South-Southwest direction before finally dying off in the late evening. There were about 30 boats in the anchorage and, of course, everyone had a different idea on what to do. Stay here or pull up anchor and head to the other side of the bay, go into Barra… So about 10 boats headed across the bay to another anchorage that would shelter them from the winds called La Manzanilla. We weren’t thrilled about being on a lee shore during the high winds but we were comfy with our anchor set and with the amount of room around our neighbors. You see, when the SSE winds hit us, the boat was facing out into open ocean meaning the back of the boat is facing the rocks which is called a lee shore - if your anchor fails, you will drag back into the rocks that are behind you. Or you end up on the beach. There's not a lot of reaction time when that happens. It's not a good situation and we usually try very hard to avoid being on a lee shore.

Anyway, we decided to stay. We knew our anchor was dug in tight and knew how we would swing with the boats around us. The winds continued from 2pm and really began to strengthen around 7pm or so. It was not uncomfortable at all, in fact, we were watching a movie and what got our attention was the lightning that was happening around us. We came up into the cockpit where it was raining cats & dogs and lightning was lighting up the mountains around us. It was really amazing.

And as we continued to watch, the lightning appeared more….and more! Fabulous, amazing lightning that looked like I could be back in the midwest. Now lightning is not good for boats and so it was a crazy, stressful time....but oh such a beautiful show! We have a large mountain to one side and the lightning was on the other side of the mountain and would light up so it would silouette the mountain and light up the other boats beside us like it was daylight. It was awesome - and the thunder was....thunderous!! Way cool. In trying to describe it, you’ve seen the newsreels about when we were at war with Iraq (the first time) and did a shock and awe one evening – bombs were going off everywhere and the light was flickering so much in the middle of the night you would swear it was daylight? That was how it was here. Amazing… I was able to pull some photos off the video and would you swear this boat was being hit by lightning?! And remember….this is in the middle of the night!

Some of us crazy enough to leave our radio on were clowning around on the radio during the storm. When one of the closest, loudest, & brightest lightning & thunder happened right on top of us someone came on the radio with a “HELLO….Tenacatita!” And I couldn’t help myself….I jumped on with “Is this god?!” It went on from there and finally we were calling strikes and spares that God must have been bowling above our heads.

The big winds happened around 11:00 - it piped up from 20-25 knots to sustained 30-40 knots with gusts up to 70! (80 MPH!!) The lightning continued for HOURS! Around 12:30 or so the wind did what it was supposed to – whipped around from the SW and all of the boats were again spun around and the wind continued until 2:30 when it just completely stopped. Since we were tucked around the corner of the mountain in Tenacatita, we had no swells to worry about but we did have some fetch, though nothing uncomfortable, thankfully! I filmed some cool videos but it doesn’t seem to capture the small pulsing lightning – only the big hits. So the wind piped up, the anchor held, the rain POURED down on us - crazy, BUCKETS of rain for hours. And rained all night. After the wind stopped, there was no wind to point the boats, we swung sideways to the waves (which were really fetch, not swells) and we bounced around a little bit but not nearly as bad as in Chamela and we slept the rest of the night.

Those boats that went to La Manzanilla - they had it nice while the wind was coming from the SSE. But when it clocked around, now THEY were on a lee shore and were open to the swells that were coming in through the bay. (We're really tucked up inside a nice corner that limits our exposure to the swell) So it was Chamela all over for them - bouncing from side rail to side rail for hours. Many of the boats upped anchor and came right back over here in the middle of the night, it was so bad. It's been crazy weather out here this year!

Time to dry out! More to follow…
Rene

El Nino in Tenacatita 1.30.10

2010-01-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

Back in Tenacatita we have been stymied by a constant wind & rain that has hit the area. This season has been so incredibly weird weather wise and it just keeps coming! It keeps us stuck on the boat or changes our plans frequently but we’ve still managed to partake in trips up the jungle to town and beach runs, Darrell and I managed to win ‘Tenacatita Champions’ in bocce ball (winning two games back to back), and the famous Mayor’s raft-up where all of the dinghies are tied together and we pass around appetizers, books, cd’s, dvd’s etc and engage in a great talk that is suggested by Robert & Virginia, this year’s Mayors.

And being ‘stuck’ on the boat does have it’s good times as well. As I mentioned, we’re in a ‘utilize everything’ year – trying very, very hard to use every can, bag, bottle, & package of whatever we have and making it into something scrumptious. We originally provisioned in 2005 and still have items left over from then, not to mention the provisions from 2007!! But we’re doing good and have only found one canned item that went ‘bad’….the sweetened condensed milk turned into caramel. Yum!! Haha… I made a Pear Walnut coffee cake the other morning and an improvised super yummy pot of clam chowder that was incredible. We’ve even broken out the board & card games on the boat and have been playing them as well! (Though Michael seems to kick my ass!) The consensus out here is ‘it’s better to be stuck with some rain….than be back at work any time!” haha…

More to follow!
Rene