Ahea Kali's Slog

Chacala 2.19.09

2009-02-21T10:29:00.000-08:00

We left the anchorage at 7:30 this morning, heading to Chacala with a couple boats heading the same way. S/V Optical Illusion, S/V Precious Metal, S/V Warren Peace, S/V Twins, & M/V Wanderer were all headed the same way, around the same time and formed a line down the coast as we all cruised at different speeds. S/V Optical Illusion was in the marina and told us a harrowing tale yesterday – they hit a whale! Luckily, there was no damage to the boat except for some deep scratches on the hull, but
nothing major. They said it must have been sleeping and they hit it on the side and kind of rolled off of it. Scary.

We had some amazing whale activity during the day! We watched in awe as one whale did a tail-flap, slapping the water with its tail for about 5 minutes! Luckily, I got some of it on video and can't wait to post it. It's part of the mating call – I forget whether it's the male or female, but one sits at the surface slapping the water with her tail while the other does the spectacular breeches. We saw a lot of spy-hopping, where the whale just comes out of the water about ½ way, and lots of graceful
breaths at the surface. I know I've said it before, but I never cease to be amazed by how amazing these whales are. And it's such a treat to see them so often! We didn't see many turtles this trip.

We arrived in Chacala around 3:15, although we moved out of the Central timezone so we gained an hour. The motorsail was nice – it was a sunny & clear day – we had a spectacular sunrise as we were leaving La Cruz and the swells were large, but long period so it was a comfy ride. There was a red algae bloom at the entrance to the anchorage turning the water blood red. We anchored along with 3 others in the anchorage (before the cavalry arrived behind us!) and were visited by S/V Deerfoot who highly
suggested putting out a stern anchor as the anchorage gets incredibly rolly in the evening. He said he didn't put a stern anchor the previous night and it was his worst night's sleep in 30 years of cruising! Duly noted…we threw a stern anchor….and it was fine. It was very rolly and the boats that did not put one out were doing the twist around 3am! The town was beautiful – bright colors of yellow, burnt orange, & blues. The area was reportedly devastated in 1992 with Hurricane Kenna but they
have rebuilt a lot and it looked very welcoming. We didn't go into town…we'll stop here next season and check it out.

Tomorrow we're heading to Mantanchen Bay! The final pit-stop before Mazatlan…
Rene

Hanging with Selah 2.17.09

2009-02-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

After a nice evening resting & relaxing from the long trip, we were contacted by Bob & Marlene on S/V Selah this morning. I believe I mentioned that they have a condo in Puerta Vallarta and a car! So they drove over to La Cruz with their daughter, Sherry, and picked us up with the plan of showing us their favorite spots in Puerta Vallarta. I did a bit of research before they picked us up and found 4 geocaches in PV and figured if we were by any of them, we would see about stopping. But after
telling them about it, they were just as excited to find them as we were and we ended up finding all 4! Woohoo! We ate at a local hotspot called 'Andale's' (which is pronounced On-da-lay, you know….like Speedy Gonzalez… "andale, andale, eee haw!") where at the end of the meal we were given a special shot – tequila, coffee liquer, & coke – and the waiter placed a napkin over the top, slammed it down on the table and shouted "uno, dos, tres, Andale!" and you were to drink up the fizzy shot. It
was actually pretty good! After lunch, we walked the malecon, checking out the sculptures & having a bracelet made for my bracelet pole on board, & even stopping to taste test a handful of tequilas. We drove back to their condo and sat chatting on the porch, enjoying the view, the company, & the day! Their condo overlooks marina Vallarta and they have a great spot for people watching as well as watching all of the boats come & go. Then we walked all around the marina, stopping for a refreshment
& chatting with others. We knew that in La Cruz they were having open mic night at the Brittania in La Cruz and we all decided to check that out for dinner & music. The food was excellent – ribs & chicken from Casa Laurie and the music was good as well. Mike & Ceacy from S/V Ramble on Rose played 5-6 songs until the house band arrived and then the place started hoppin! They played, we danced, & chatted with those around us. Sherry started to feel bad and so they went home while we stayed & enjoyed
the music. We are always amazed how amazing cruisers are, and Bob & Marlene fit the bill to a tee. They are a wonderful family, great people, and we enjoyed getting to know them better. As always, it's always a bummer when you can't spend as much time with others than you would like and alas…we had to leave La Cruz on Thursday. We hope to meet back up with them next season though, later in the year, & catch up! He had a great toast that I thought I'd share…

There are good ships,
there are wood ships,
& there are ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships
are the friendships
and may they always be.

Nice…huh?!

The following day we did our boat chores, went in town for some internet time and GUESS WHAT?! We were offered jobs in Alaska. We ended up with 3 offers and had to pick the one we both wanted the most and after mulling it over & a tough decision, decided to take a position in Ketchikan for the summer, giving Hummer tours & working on an amphibious vehicle named the Duck! The company is Alaska Hummer Adventures in Ketchikan and they have Hummer H2's that perform a minimum 4 hour tour around the
area. When we interviewed, it was described as a 'Jeeves meets Indiana Jones' job. You have no set place to visit, the clients set up the day to what they want to see! If they want to go shopping, you hold their bags, if they want to go on a 2 mile hike, you go with them. It is the best of all worlds for me – I will get to really learn about the area as I need to be well versed not only about Ketchikan but about Alaska for all of the questions that come up and we will have some off time to get
to explore the area! I have never done a tour guide job before, but have always felt I'd be good at it – as you know, I love to talk, I love to learn a lot about the area, & I love to share that info! And if we need more hours, we have the opportunity to work on a 90 minute amphibious tour called the Duck tour. Sounds cool, huh?! And to top it off, this will make you laugh….housing is very expensive in Ketchikan and we were worried about finding a place to stay. But the owners of the business
offered to let us stay aboard their power boat in the harbor! We'll be right at home, living on a boat for the next 6 months. Haha!! It will be awesome, we can't wait! We have so much planning & preparation to do now though! How will we get there? When will we leave? What route will we take – whew! We'll be busy in Mazatlan.

So we're off tomorrow, heading for a place we haven't been before, Chacala.

More to follow!
Rene

Cabo Corrientes 2.16.09

2009-02-18T12:04:00.000-08:00

We left at midnight, or a little before, this morning with S/V Selah leading the way & have been motorsailing the entire way. It is about 52 miles up to Ipala and Cabo Corrientes is about 10 miles North of Ipala. We had no issues on the crossing – mostly calm seas, winds between 8-12 knots the entire time. We saw a lot of turtles but no whales this trip. The phosphorescence in the water was stunning, cascading off of the disturbance in the water that we made, it lit up the ocean with a blue-white color. Bob & Marlene have made this trip several times and it was nice having a buddy boat for the trip. Bob made contact via radio with us at least once an hour and we each chatted for a bit to help keep the z-monster away. Selah cruises quite a bit quicker than we do, she is a 54 Jenneau with beautiful lines, a longer waterline and very sleek. Bob kept backing down, running slower to allow us to catch up, and never letting us get more than 2 miles behind. We ran the RPM’s up this crossing to try to keep up too! The moon came up around 12:30 and was a beautiful blood red quarter moon on the horizon before giving us plenty of light the rest of the trip. The clouds were out, a pineapple express is hanging around which kept the temperatures down, but it was still a bit chilly! I even put on my Ugg boots & sweats! Oh man, I’m going to freeze my patooty off in Alaska! Haha…

We made it into La Cruz around 2pm and anchored just as the winds picked up to 12 knots or so. But the holding here in good and the anchor stuck on the first try. We wanted to get near the front of the pack to attempt to get wireless internet, but still can’t pick it up We will need to go into town to catch up. Next year we’re purchasing a super duper wireless antenna so we won’t have this problem….hopefully! Michael was beat – these long crossings take it out of him. We did shifts during the night, but still it’s difficult to get such little sleep, at smaller increments, & not be comatose the next day. Once the anchor was down & we felt secure, he immediately laid down in the cockpit & fell asleep. I was pretty wide awake so I immersed myself in a new book that I can’t put down – Disclosure by Michael Crichton. We attempted to watch an Adam Sandler movie and were crashed early. We are looking forward to spending the next couple days in La Cruz and spending time with Bob & Marlene.

More to follow...
Rene

A day in Chamela 2.15.09

2009-02-18T11:46:00.000-08:00

After listening to the weather & getting weather fills from friends who had the info at their fingertips, we made the command decision to stay a day in Chamela and leave the following evening. So we had the good fortune to spend some time in Chamela, one of my favorite places! We dinghied into shore & walked into town with the folks from S/V Baywolf looking for an internet café. We had been to town previously and I needed to find the tienda that sold the ‘Gorilla Snot’ shampoo! I didn’t get a bottle of it the first time and kicked myself figuring it would be all gone by the time I got back. As luck would have it, they had a couple bottles left so I picked one up for a gift for my niece or nephew! And I have to tell you….I’m beginning to get desperate….It’s time to get back to the States. I’m out of Coffee Mate. Haha!! See, I really like my coffee mate in my coffee, just a little flavor. They sell coffee mate down here, but it’s just not the same. Last year when Michael flew back to the States for business, I asked him to bring me some ‘real’ coffee mate and he did….so I’ve been using that since we left. But I am on my last couple teaspoons of it and I’ve even started rationing it – cutting down the size I’m using and even skipping coffee a couple of mornings (these mornings are not Michael’s favorites!) to try and make it last. OK, so I’m a bit of a nut, but it’s time to get back & buy more of it! Haha… Oh, and yes, I found it being sold one place, in Barra de Navidad….for $12.50! I wasn’t desperate then….I would buy it now!

Anyway, Chamela. We walked into town with the folks from S/V Baywolf – Kirk & Sachi with their two kids – Miya & Romi. The youngest was 8 and was just a treat to chat with. She told me everything – what they had been doing, where they had gone, who they met, what kinds of fish they caught, which ones were her favorite & least favorite, etc. We talked the entire time looking for the internet café. When I asked her what her favorite thing about being out here cruising was….she replied….the pools in Puerta Vallarta. Check out their website... www.sailblogs.com/member/baywolf The Internet café I knew about was closed as it was Sunday so we asked if there was another one it town and were given directions from one of the tienda clerks. Two or three blocks up the street, two blocks over. We walked into a residential area of town, dirt streets, with no storefronts to be seen but asked a guy walking down the street and we just missed it by one street. We found a little tienda that sold lots of gifts, balloons, wrapping paper, & misc items and in back were 4 internet stations. We ended up using the internet for about 30 minutes for a whopping 10 pesos, around 80 cents! And the shop owner was wonderful, even offering us use of her memory stick. The folks from Baywolf had more internetting to do so we left them & headed back to the beach with our fresh fruits & veggies & gorilla snot shampoo!

Bob & Marlene from S/V Selah were at the palapa enjoying the sunshine and some snacks so we joined them & chatted away. We decided to leave at midnight, skipping the stop in Ipala and heading straight to La Cruz, an unplanned stop. Bob & Marlene have a condo in Puerta Vallarta and convinced us to stop so they could show us the area! How fun… The last time we were there we dealt with generator issues most of the time so we didn’t do a lot of touring the area so it was a nice offer.

Leaving at midnight…
Rene

Enjoying Tenacatita 2.14.09

2009-02-14T17:02:00.000-08:00

Tenacatita is fast becoming one of our favorite stops down here. There are no pangas zooming around you, no jet skis or water skiers around, it has beautiful warm turquoise water, & there are always plenty of activities! We arrived with 14 boats but that number quickly swelled to about 27 during the three days we were there. There were friends of anchorages past and new people to meet. We spent the entire day we arrived camped out on the boat reading, relaxing & listening to music. Beverly from
Sea-tacean came over to invite us to the Valentine's day dinner but our plans would make us leave on Valentines day morning so we had to decline. The next morning, Michael went over to visit with Archie from Sea-tacean in the morning as I was frantically trying to send the updates via radio and finally managed to get it to go. Whew! That's when the fun started. There was a bocce ball game scheduled on the beach and both Michael & I went to play. We were joined by Archie from Sea-tacean, John
from Begone, & Bob from Selah. John & I paired up as a team and did a fantastic job playing. After the game, we all went to the palapa for a post-game refreshment & visiting. John & Patricia from Paloma came up to the palapa and we all decided to play some volleyball the following day. We had 12 people show up to play or watch or cheer! We ended up with 4 on 4 - Rene, John, Archie, & David from Decade Dance played against Bob & Marlene from Selah and John & Patricia from Paloma. And we smoked
them – won 3 games in a row – woohoo! After another celebratory beverage at the palapa & more chatting, we made our way back to the boat to prepare for the evening's dinghy raft-up. There were 14 dinghies that attended the raft-up! The largest turnout so far. Whew! At the raft-up, 3 dinghies dropped an anchor (it was pretty windy so needed some added protection), then everyone faced bow in and tied off to their neighbor's dinghy, securing the 'circle'. Everyone brought an appetizer to share
and they were passed around along with boat cards (like business cards with all of your pertinent boating info), & any books or DVDs to trade. It was great to have such a large turnout and was so much fun getting to know everyone. All this fun….it had to end sometime.

So this morning, we packed up the boat & headed up to Chamela along with Bob & Marlene from Selah. As soon as we anchored, we were visited by Justin & Dahlia from S/V Steady Beat, friends from Mazatlan that we haven't seen since December. Again, it's always nice seeing old friends – especially when it's a surprise! There is a possible weather window to round Cabo Corrientes so we wanted to get close to it to time our crossing. We're not sure when we'll make the crossing yet, but we're only about
60 miles from it right now. There is a possibility we go up to Ipala, which is 50 miles north of here, but it's super windy right now in the anchorage – it's gusting up to 30 knots! So we may not. We'll see!

More to follow…
Rene

Back in Barra 2.7.09

2009-02-07T13:54:00.000-08:00

We made it back to Barra de Navidad lagoon on Friday. We dropped anchor and before we knew it, Linda & Wally from S/V Andanzas with Angel their dog were on board catching up. We chit-chatted with them for a while and then ran into the internet cafe to check messages & call in for another interview. This one was for a job doing an H2 Hummer Tour and a tour aboard an amphibious vehicle in Alaska. It sounds like fun! We'll see...

I have to tell you something kinda cool about this area. Last week we walked through a big celebration in the new church in town called San Antonio's Church.

It has some interesting history. When Hurricane Lily struck the area on September 1st, 1791, according to the locals, during the most violent part of the storm the many families who were sheltered inside San Antonio's Church began to pray feverishly. After which, the image of Christ in the church lowered his arms and all of a sudden the strong winds and rain stopped. The image is now known as ''El Cristo del Ciclon'' (The Christ of the Hurricane) or ''El Cristo de los Brazos Caidos'' ('The Christ of the Fallen Arms) and is prominently displayed in the new church.

I have heard that the vatican approves of the image and has allowed it to be displayed as the 'miracle of Barra de Navidad'. And since that time, there have been no hurricanes or tsunami's hit the area. Cool, huh?

We spent Saturday on the hunt for a chiropractor for Michael - we found a deep tissue masseuse and a accupuncturist in Barra so we jumped on a bus and went into Melaque and finally found a massage/chiropractor and Michael was adjusted to the best of this guy's abilities. He is still in a bit of pain and continues to take medicine to help. We are planning to see the accupuncturist tomorrow to see if he can help. Until then, Michael is taking it easy & resting. Poor guy...

Have a wonderful weekend!

More to follow...

Rene

Carrizal 2.5.09

2009-02-06T13:16:00.000-08:00

We hauled anchor out of Santiago Bay with Pacific Jade and headed just up the coast to a cute anchorage named Carrizal. We were greeted by a couple of whales as we exited Santiago Bay – we never tire of seeing them. Carrizal is a smaller anchorage with a long entrance of high, rock hills on each side.

Some of the rocks had the red tint like lava rocks and there were lots of trees & foliage everywhere. Our first attempt at anchoring was skipping so we re-anchored and got a good bite. Both of us jumped into the water to cool off and Michael scrubbed the bottom & the propeller while I supervised. Wink wink! The water was a bit chilly so I made a mental note to wear a rash guard to help keep me warm when we went snorkeling. After a quick bite for lunch, we jumped into the dinghy & went to the North side of the entrance for some snorkeling with Deb & Joe. The water was still chilly & a bit murky but was still awesome. We saw several new fish that we haven’t seen before, some incredible blue coral, a sting ray that I watched for some time before it burrowed itself under the sand (it was trying to get away from another fish, not me!), & a sea anemone that looked like a dandelion when fully extended but would suddenly shrink up and look like a straw when startled. The colors were amazing & there were just so many fish everywhere! You could just hover around and see all of the life around you. It is just so spectacular here. We joked that a mediocre day snorkeling beats a good day at work anyday! Sorry, don’t mean to rub it in…

We rinsed off from snorkeling and headed over to Pacific Jade for another evening of margaritas & snacks.

Tom on another boat in the anchorage called Tis Magic joined us and we laughed & chatted for the evening. The swell had increased and was really coming into the anchorage – about 4-6 feet, but luckily a long period swell. And the boat pretty much stayed nose to the swells so we were doing the rocking horse maneuver, befitting the ‘carousel’ name of the anchorage! We rocked the entire evening and the swell just stopped about the time we were pulling anchor the following morning.

Because of the timing of the jobs we’re looking at in Alaska, we decided it’s time to begin heading North back to Mazatlan. We will leave the boat there for the summer again and need to have time to stop in places on our way and enjoy the rest of the time we have instead of bashing up quickly without stopping & having fun! We still don’t have jobs lined up, but have interviewed with several places and are waiting on offers, which we expect to get in the next week or two. Some places we interviewed at are expecting to make a decision by the end of the month, but the start date in Alaska is April 1st – 15th. So we will need to be in Mazatlan and get the boat put to bed by the middle of March. And so it goes…

So we are heading back to Barra lagoon and will be there for a couple of days, provisioning for the voyage North. We had a spectacular sunrise this morning and Pacific Jade was just behind us in the pictures!

There is some weather coming our way and we will stay in Barra until that passes, more than likely leaving early next week. Whew! How time flies. Next year we hope to have this system down better and will know what to expect! It is a bummer to leave friends but we’re sure to buddy boat with others heading North as well.

More to follow!
Rene

Lost my sunglasses 2.4.09

2009-02-06T13:12:00.000-08:00

We decided to head into town in Santiago and check out the place with Joe & Deb on Wednesday. It was another spectacular morning & we jumped in the dinghy to the beach. Beaching the dinghy takes finesse – timing the approach just perfectly, jumping out & keeping the bow forward, and pulling it before the next wave approaches. No problem! Some days everything goes right, some days not. Today was one of those days. Now before you get too excited….no, we didn’t flip the dinghy. Long story short, somehow I ended up underneath the dinghy….again! You will remember that I was held underneath the dinghy just before Christmas in 07 when we did flip it that time. Well…here’s what I recollect about the incident.

We were coming in, a wave had just broke & we were right behind it. Perfect! I jumped out of the dinghy & was running forward when Michael said “Oh, here comes another wave”. I dashed forward trying to get to the front of the dinghy to pull the nose straight (so it wouldn’t flip) and somehow was bowled over by the dinghy and ended up directly underneath. Completely underneath and stuck between the sand & the dinghy. Fully clothed mind you! As the dinghy moved along & I pushed myself around it, I finally found the engine and was relieved, at least now I could breathe! Above water, Michael was frantic. He couldn’t see me and didn’t know where I was! He screamed my name (I didn’t hear him) and Pacific Jade who was on the beach tending their dinghy turned around and saw I was no where to be found. Once I got a breath of air, suddenly Michael lifted the dinghy like a car hood and I escaped. Of course my shirt was over my head, my hair was in my face, my hat & sunglasses were gone & every spot on my body was filled with sand. Haha… I managed to see my hat floating away along with the power bar I was eating that was in my pocket and scooped them up. I swam out to deeper water & tried to rid myself of all the sand & compose myself while cursing like a sailor. I was pissed! Everyone convinced me to go back to the boat & rinse off & change and it was on our way back to the boat I realized I had lost my sunglasses. And they even had croakies on them! Damn it! My favorite, new sunglasses! Oh well, I wasn’t hurt – just scared shitless. I jammed my pinkie finger & one of my toes, supposedly while trying to get the dinghy off of me and I’m still pulling sand out of my ears some 3 days later, but not even a scratch on me. We joke now that I was trying to lift the dinghy with just those two digits ‘get this thing off of me!’…haha… So, yep, the dinghy attempted to kill me – again! It better start behaving! I will trade it in on something else if it’s not careful.

Once I was showered & in dry clothes, we made attempt #2 to get into the shore and was successful. We jumped on a bus into town and paid our 5 pesos each. Joe & Deb had also never been into Santiago so we just jumped off when we thought we were at the end of town. We were looking for the famed Chandlery in Santiago and after asking a couple people, found it. There’s one thing about boaters – wherever there’s a ships chandlery, there is cool stuff that must be checked out! We figured it was just because we used to own one, but Joe & Deb assured us it wasn’t! We spent quite a while inside ooh’ing and aah’ing over all of the boat & fishing supplies. We also did a quick check at the internet café for any job offers, but were only treated to another interview request. We found a flat chicken restaurant and had chicken, tortillas, salsa & rice…yum! We walked around town & found a Mercado that we walked through & picked up some fruit & veggies and trinkets. The town center was beautiful, as always...

And while we were eating lunch, we were surprised to see that the circus was coming to town and they were advertising it up and down each street with several bright red vehicles each pulling trailers full of animals! There were tigers, monkeys, camels, llamas & lots more! It was quite a spectacle!

Michael went to the bank for some $$ and the ATM said it was ‘unable to distribute money right now’, so we went back and now we are over our limit. Damn! It just isn't our day! o back to the internet café to let them know we didn’t get the first disbursement. We walked down the main street as Joe had seen a chiropractor sign and Michael is in much need to get cracked. We found it, but it was closed. There is one in Melaque that we’ll stop at when we’re there again. Had a quick refreshment & noticed a BBQ place on the opposite side of the street so we stopped for a BBQ brush, something Michael has been looking for in Mexico since his fell apart. After all that excitement we jumped back on the bus back to the boats. We had a wonderful stroll along the sandy beach to our dinghies & went back to Pacific Jade for one of her fabulous margaritas. After such a stressful day, a margarita was just what the doctor ordered! Haha… Back on our boat, we ate dinner, watched a movie, & thanked our lucky stars for the outcome of the day.

More to follow…
Rene

Santiago Bay 2.2.09

2009-02-06T13:11:00.000-08:00

We left Barra de Navidad lagoon on Monday morning and headed South for Santiago Bay with Lovely Reta,

Eyes of the World,

& Pacific Jade. On the morning we were leaving as Michael was cleaning up the cockpit, he found a boat card from our friends on Seabird – John & Linda – and written on the back they told us they had just come into Barra! Of course! On the day we leave, after being here a whole month, some long lost friends turn up! I don’t know if you remember John & Linda but they are on a 47’ Nordhavn which is a super nice power boat. We met them on the way down the coast of Baja early last year and buddy boated down until Mazatlan. Since we last saw them, they went back up to California, then to Alaska for the summer, and now are working their way back down Mexico and will go through the Panama Canal and over to the Mediterranean. Wow! We were thrilled as they dinghied up to the boat and we were at least able to chat with them for a few minutes before leaving Barra. And to add insult to injury, Wally & Linda on Andanzas also showed up in Barra on Monday. Bummer! We hope to meet up with them when we head back to Barra in a week or so. The day was spectacular, we motorsailed all the way as we only had wind enough to sail as soon as we rounded the corner. It was nice & sunshiny, warm, & calm seas….perfect! The coast here is just amazing – miles & miles of sandy beaches and no houses! The mountains & hills are tree lined with brown & green foliage and the sandy beaches have a bit of black on them. It’s really beautiful. We anchored on the northwest side of Santiago Bay along the beach of Playa Miramar along with Pacific Jade. There is about 13 other boats here, but on our side there are only 4. There is a wreck in the middle of the bay, one that was called the “Mexican Titanic” by the tour boats that are visiting the area, that you are able to snorkel. We hope to see it before we leave. We are right outside of an estuary entrance and water is clear on the incoming tide. We anchored right next to Joyeau, another boater friend from Mazatlan, Rob & Sue, and had them over to the boat for quick conversation the day we arrived.

OK, so Santiago Bay is absolutely beautiful….a long stretch of sandy beach lined with colorful umbrellas & palapas. We had a restful evening on Monday and decided to stay put on the boat as it was very windy that evening & just settled into our new home. Tuesday morning we dinghied into the Playa along with Joe & Deb and went in search of internet. We had scheduled two interviews for Tuesday and wanted to make sure we could find a strong wireless signal to phone them via Skype. Skype is an internet phone service that has very inexpensive rates. The only other viable option is to use a cell phone, but it is .60/minute…where Skype is between .02 and .05/minute. That makes a big difference on hour long interviews. So we found two options – one was at the Oasis restaurant & bar where we ate lunch and I did my first interview of the day. There was nowhere to plug in for electricity except for right at the bar so I asked the bartender if he would mind if I sat there & made my phone call. He even turned the music down so I could make the call uninterrupted…they are just so kind here. Unfortunately though, the restaurant began filling up & the bar started to get busy and before I was done with my interview, I was surrounded with people who were staring at me amazed that I was talking to my computer. I explained what I was doing and everyone was just floored! But I will say it was very intimidating trying to do an interview with people around you staring! Not so good for the concentration. Haha… So I wanted to find a little more peace & quiet, sans onlookers for my next interview. We were thrilled to find out we had two additional companies hoping for interviews and scheduled all 4 of them for that day. Whew! We won’t do that again! We’re sure that by the last interview, our brains were oozing out of our ears as we were toast! I had 4 interviews, Michael had 3. It was amazing. We found our 2nd spot for interviews right down the beautiful cobblestone street behind a small tienda. There was a table & 4 chairs and the price was 20 pesos per hour. We got there around 1:30 and began the interviews. Joe & Deb were so nice to stay with us nearly the entire time, chatting to whichever one of us was off the phone at a time. But after a while, it even got boring to them and they headed back to the boat. We finally finished up our interviews around 5pm – whew! And the gal at the office only charged us 50 pesos for the internet. We were absolutely spent. We headed back to the dinghy & out to the boat where we were so surprised to see John & Linda on M/V Seabird anchored right beside us! We dinghied over & chatted with them for a half hour or so but Michael’s back was hurting him so much he could hardly stand it. We went back to the boat & crashed…ate, read, & crashed.

The next morning Seabird contacted us and told us they were headed further down to Zihuatenejo and were thrilled we could visit with them. They’re headed to the Mediterranean and so we figure we won’t see them for a couple years. Again, that’s the good & bad of meeting cruisers down here! The friendships are wonderful but so often separated by cruising plans! It happens and we just can’t wait to hear of their trip.

More to follow!
Rene

Leaving Barra de Navidad 2.1.09

2009-02-06T13:10:00.000-08:00

Ahh, what a wonderful place but alas, it’s time to check out new shores! With a happy generator, we spent most of this past week submitting resumes & applications to Alaska for jobs. It’s amazing how much time it takes to fill out applications, scan them, & e-mail them out! We’re still on the hunt for the ever elusive job in Alaska for the both of us for summer. I will let you know as soon as one comes through! But I think we’re closing in on one. Here's Michael interviewing for one now...

There was a temporary mass exodus of our friends this week – Lady Hawke, Pacific Jade, Lovely Reta, & Eyes of the World all went out early in the week for a few days out of the Lagoon but with so much work ahead of us, we hunkered down & got to work. But at the same time we figured – hmmm…the generator’s happy, Michael has finished studying for his HAM test, we have time to ourselves….it’s time to socialize!! We made a point of meeting a new cruising couple a day and get to know them. We had a new boat appear in front of us called Eagle Wing and invited them over for appetizers & refreshments Wednesday evening. Joe is the boat owner of a 56’ Alden ferro cement boat that has an awesome layout. It actually has a full sized kitchen! He purchased the boat about 6 years ago and has been cruising for a couple years now. Katie is his crewmate and he has two additional crew joining them for their crossing over to the South Pacific! They are both young – in their 20’s and are enjoying their time out here. We also met & had dinner with the couple off of S/V Freestyle – Jenna and Tim. Jenna & Tim were the couple instrumental in raising the $2800 pesos for the local hospital in Colimilla for the respiratory equipment they desperately needed.

We had dinner at Fortino’s restaurant and feasted on their special chille rellenos made special for the evening, grandma’s recipe! Saturday was Tim’s 50th birthday so I attempted to make some cupcakes….which turned out incredibly awful….but took them over anyway. I guess my mix doesn’t like to be vacuum packed…mental note for next time. Hey, it’s the thought that counts, right?! Haha… We have been trying to get together with Dave from S/V Shoot the Moon for this entire week and have only managed to see him at the pool, but hope we can hook up with him when we return.

We had a nice surprise on Friday – when we were listening to the morning net, we heard ‘Slacker’ check in! Mike & Julie on S/V Slacker are on Dock 6 in Mazatlan and we have had the pleasure of getting to know them this past year. They work 6 months out of the year at the Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego & cruise the other 6 months. They’ve been doing this for over 6 years and decided to spend this cruising season doing projects on the boat for the entire season. We were bummed when we learned we wouldn’t be able to cruise with them but understood their reasoning. Anyway, we contacted them on the VHF and found out they were traveling with another couple and would be in Barra for the next couple days! We met them at the pool at The Sands Hotel and enjoyed catching up & cooling off in the pool and then went out for dinner that evening. The couple they were with turned out to be from Alaska and we learned a ton about the different cities we were applying and they gave us lots of info to think about. Sam cruised Mexico on a boat called ‘Livin’ and has it up for sale with the hopes of buying another smaller boat once it sells.

Saturday evening we went over to Heather & Jim on Meerkat, a catamaran from Ventura harbor along with John & Deby on Lovely Reta & Rick & Karen on Eyes of the World and attended an ‘It’s no-one’s birthday, birthday party’.

Yep, that’s right, it was no one’s birthday – a great reason for a party! Haha… Everyone was instructed to bring their own hamburger patties and were assigned an appetizer, salad, side, etc. I had the honor of bringing appetizers so I made my favorite carrot/cream cheese/olive appetizer as well as crackers & a cream cheese dip smothered in raspberry chipotle sauce…yum!! They were gobbled up as the 10 of us chatted, sang, & viewed photos. Meerkat had another couple on board, Alan & Susan from Anaheim who had joined them on their sail for the past month. They have a boat named Toshal at home & we enjoyed getting to know them. Anyway, Jim fired up the bbq and tossed the burgers on while everyone else was getting ready with baked beans, salad, & condiments. We chowed down some fantastic burgers & just enjoyed the evening. Deby from Lovely Reta has a large plastic duck that she was given by her sister and was named ‘Alice’ and she brings the duck all over & takes photos & sends them to her sister. She even has a theme song which was played loud over the speakers & sung to. Too funny…

Sunday was, of course, SUPER BOWL!! Yep, even down here we were able to watch the great game! We didn’t get the American commercials so luckily it was a good game! We took the shore boat into town around 2pm and walked around the town, scoping out the town for the best place to watch it. We had lots of options – a pig roast at one place, drink specials at another, sunset at another! We finally decided on Los Arcos and we ended up with a group of 13 people – Mike & Julie on Slacker, John & Deby on Lovely Reta, Alan & Susan from Toshal, Heather from Meerkat, Rick & Karen from Eyes of the World, & Sam and his girlfriend.

Can you BELIEVE the Cardinals LOST?!! Amazing… Anyway, another enjoyable evening & back at the boat. We’re leaving Barra tomorrow morning & heading to Santiago Bay! Woohoo!

More to follow…
Rene

Michael's a HAM! 1.28.09

2009-01-28T13:46:00.000-08:00

Well, those of you who know him will agree... But seriously, he took & passed his Technician HAM exam offered today by fellow cruisers. Woohoo! The paperwork will be submitted in the next few days and we'll be excited to learn his call sign. When we do, we'll share it!

Congrats Michael!

While he was busy taking tests, another cruiser arranged for a tour of the local hospital in Colimilla and a fundraiser as the hospital is in desperate need for some equipment. The hospital was incredibly basic, even to my un-educated eye. The hospital is hoping we can raise enough money, only $180 for a respiratory machine. We hope we can help them out! Cruisers often help cruisers, and the local towns they stay. In the Barra de Navidad area, there is a strong wind that comes up most afternoons that blows pretty hard in the lagoon. Often there is a boat that winds up 'dragging anchor' and is in need of help. The dinghies to the rescue! Folks jump in their dinghies and attempt to help out the boat whether manned or unmanned. In Zihuatenejo there is a 'sailfest' that the cruisers raise money for the town, work at the schools, & assist wherever needed. It's just something we do!

Oh, and I uploaded some more photos...
Rene

Sailing to Melaque with friends 1.24.09

2009-01-27T10:01:00.003-08:00

We had a wonderful day today. Our new friends, Ron & Wendy, who we met in the grocery store a little while ago had talked with us at the fishing tournament about going out for a sail with a few friends. We figured – why not?! I was dying to get out of the lagoon and so we said yes.

Ron & Wendy had rented a condo in a complex with 3 other condos and had become good friends with the other 3 units and invited them out as well. We had a total of 10 on the boat, 8 guests plus us. Ron & Wendy were from B.C., Luigi & Pat from the U.K., Laura & Adam were from England, & Ed & Chris are from Canada as well. They were all here on vacation, some her for 2 weeks, some up to 8 weeks. We had a FANTASTIC time! They all came aboard with coolers & snorkeling gear and we headed out of the lagoon around 11am and had a wonderful sail outside of Barra. Ron has a sailboat that on the Shuswap Lake in B.C. and took the helm for the majority of the day. He looked as if he was in 7th heaven as he was steering the boat and showing others how to steer.

We had some incredible whale experiences out there that was the highlight of the sail! Two of the guests were worried about getting seasick so they were watching the horizon the entire time. Suddenly, Chris shrieked – WHALE!! There were whales that were breaching far away, probably 300 yards from the boat. We all watched while we were sailing back to Barra and were preparing to drop the sails. Everyone was looking intently in the direction we had last spotted them when suddenly, there was a spout that was so loud, both myself & Pat jumped and Pet even though we had ripped a sail! I was so stunned…all I could say was WHALE!! There were two huge whales, just off the port side of the boat that were probably 20 feet from us! They were spouting & gracefully arching and showing their tails right in front of our eyes! It was absolutely, completely amazing. And what an experience for all of our guests! We joked that we didn’t charge extra for that sight…but I think everyone was too stunned to get the joke. And our final whale encounter was once we turned around and was headed over to the anchorage in Melaque, a humpback whale did a turning breach right out of the water that I swear was National Geographic perfect. He came all the way out of the water, turned around, & flopped hard on the water – so much that Michael swears he felt the impact in addition to hearing the sound! Incredible…

After the spectacular whale sightings, we headed over to an anchorage in Melaque & dropped a hook for some lunch and snorkeling. Luigi made wonderful sandwiches & had fruit, croissants, & snickers bars and several of us jumped in the water to check out the snorkeling. I got my first jelly fish sting as I must have jumped right onto the rascal. It wasn’t that bad, it felt like someone slapped my leg really hard and eventually in the afternoon, I had red welts where it had stung me. But by the next morning, it was all better. I considered the snorkeling poor as it was very murky, but I eventually found a perfect spot to hover & watch the beautiful fish. I saw some absolutely gorgeous yellow angel fish that I haven’t seen before and some little fishes that were half orange and half blue – but every fish had it’s vibrant colors – orange, yellow, blue, purple, red – you name it!

After getting my fill of fresh water and lunch, we motorsailed back into Barra, successfully avoiding the bars as we were came in at low tide. We had such a wonderful time enjoying our new friends and although we have seen whales previously, we never tire of them as they are spectacular – so graceful.

We’re thrilled that we could take the group out and experience our life a little bit. We were given some ‘coconuts’ ($) for gas as it is illegal for us to earn money on our Mexican visas. The water taxi took the group and Ron & Wendy flew out the following day. My camera had a dead battery and I only got a couple of photos, but I hope that our guests will send us some photos of the day so I can post them!

Pacific Jade is back in the lagoon from their adventure and we are planning to join them to leave Barra and head South to Santiago Bay, hopefully later in the week.

More to follow!
Rene

Fishing Tournament 1.22.09

2009-01-27T10:01:00.001-08:00

After putting the boat back together for the past couple days & working hard to find jobs for the summer, we needed to relax. Our friends John & Deby on Lovely Reta, Rick & Karen on Eyes of the World, and Mike & Wendy on Boddhistava all from Channel Islands Harbor finally made it into the lagoon and we were so excited to finally be in the same place as them!

There was a big fishing tournament going on at the Grand Bay Hotel and we decided to go over for the weigh-in on the first day of the tournament. Oh yeah, and there were some big fish….marlin, sailfish, & dorado’s.

The entry fee was $3000 US per pole and a minimum of 3 poles per boat and lots of boats! The fishermen were incredibly friendly and we even saw the marina manager of Marina Mazatlan, Jaime, down here!

Oh, and did I mention the Tecate girls?

Many of the cruisers headed up to the marina for the 10 pesos beer and 12 pesos shots of tequila. We had a wonderful time and were doing well with shots of tequila…until a bottle was bought!

Hey, Rick - is that a worm in your tequila??

After that, well, things seem to get fuzzy. Haha… But we had a great time – I even have a video! Of course, I think I’ll keep that one off of the website. But it was great having a good time with old & new friends.

Boats continue to come & go in the lagoon and the average boats here still runs around 30. Pacific Jade headed out to an anchorage called Coletta de Campos and had a lovely experience – a local Mexican family swam out to the boat and invited them to their house for coffee the next day. They went to the house and were immediately adopted and offered the use of anything at the house – the car, food, etc! They had the family out to the boat one afternoon and said it was a wonderful experience. I have to admit, I am very jealous as that is exactly what I am down here to experience. Hopefully we will have the opportunity to experience the same somewhere else.

OK…more to follow!
Rene

Good news on the generator 1.20.09

2009-01-27T10:00:00.001-08:00

So last I left you, we had wrestled the generator out & taken it to a mechanic in Melaque. We went & picked up the monster and were bummed to hear him say it was working fine...but he needed to come to the boat to make sure nothing else was wrong. We were very suprised at this news as we were convinced it was something with the armeture, brushes, & bearings - something! And even more suprised that he wanted to come to the boat to check it out! We were in a neighboring town and so we all jumped into his pickup truck, with him & one other worker and Michael & I and the generator and drove to Barra de Navidad, then all four of us jumped into our dinghy and made the journey out to the boat. They hung out in the engine room while Michael put the thing back together, observing and asking a ton of questions. They spoke absolutely no english and we all laughed as I had two english/spanish dictionaries on my lap and was translating both to spanish for the workers, then listening to them in spanish and translating to english for Michael! It was quite fun. See, I'm really getting good at speaking spanish in normal conversation, but when it comes to saying weird words like 'fan belt', 'volts', 'under load' and such...I need help! Shockingly though, we got our points across and had fun learning at the same time - me learning Spanish, and teaching them some English!

OK, so they get to the boat and are working away and for some odd reason, when we fire up the generator, it runs for about a minute and then dies. Starts up, runs for a couple minutes, then dies. The mechanic was convinced that the capacitor was blown again and took it with him and said he would look for a new one in either Melaque or in Manzanillo, a larger commercial port South of us. We took him back to his truck with high hopes he could find a replacement! He said he would call us when he found the part.

Two days later, he hadn't called. But in the meantime, Michael had been scratching his head on why the generator was failing! There are only 3 things that it would die like that - no fuel, no water, or no air. He originally thought it was a water problem but tore that apart and found no problems. So he began the arduous task of determining if there was a fuel issue. The fuel comes from the same tank as the engine so we knew it wasn't a problem of bad fuel. The filter looked perfectly clean but when he took the downside and dumped it into a 5 gal bucket and pulled right out of the bucket, the generator ran without issue. He consulted with John from Jonco and decided to take the line off of the filter and place a different type of in-line filter in place, a super simple paper filter, and see if it works. Well, it does. We're still scratching our heads why the super duper filter seems to have failed while this simple paper filter is working fine, but alas - it works!

But of course, now we're still without a capacitor. On Monday, we took a bus up to Melaque and talked to the mechanic. He couldn't find the capacitor anywhere here. Of course! But said he had it tested and it was not dead, as he suspected, just low. Whatever that means. So we took the capacitor back to the boat and replaced it on the generator and WHAHLAH!! IT WORKS!! WOOHOO!!!!

We've been walking on eggshells for the past week hoping among hope that it will continue to work without fail and so far, so good! All of the prayers helped!

Now let me tell you something else... When we first took that taxi into town with the generator, the taxi driver helped us significantly with the mechanics since they only spoke Spanish. Then, he gave the mechanic his personal cell phone number when the mechanic asked as we didn't have a phone and he said he would find us if the mechanic called. We worried that with his help, we would be upcharged by the taxi driver. It was a comment Michael said when we initially dropped off the generator. We ended up going in to Melaque without the taxi driver & dealing totally with the mechanic ourself for the rest of the transaction. And even after spending about 2 hours on the boat, and who knows how much time looking for a replacement capacitor....the mechanic charged us absolutely nothing. NOTHING! It was shocking...and a bit ironic. Oh ye of little faith. But a case of beer & some tequila is heading his way! :-)

So woohoo! We're now able to begin planning to go cruising again!! We are still looking at purchasing a little portable 2500 watt generator somewhere…and John from Jonco is going to Puerta Vallarta this weekend and will look for one for us. Just as a spare, just in case. You know?!

More to follow...
Rene

Coco's Beach video 1.18.09

2009-01-18T10:29:00.000-08:00

I uploaded another video, for some reason I have 3 that just won't work. Oh well...

Here's a quick vidoe of our walk to Coco's Beach in Barra de Navidad...and the surf! Look on the left side of the screen to the rounded rock. Just over that rock is the tucked in coves & beautiful sandy beach we hung out at!

Jonco 1st Annual Pig Roast 1.18.09

2009-01-18T09:04:00.000-08:00

Well, we changed plans...again...and decided to hang in Barra de Navidad for another few days, rip the generator out of the engine room & take it in to a mechanic in Melaque. Michael worked hard to wrangle that monster out of the engine room, stripping it down as much as he could to minimize the weight. The mongrel weighed in around 80lbs! Michael had hoped to take it in his backpack so he could shoulder the weight, but it ripped the backpack on the first attempt so we put it in some heavy-duty canvas bags and gingerly moved it into the dinghy. Luckily, Joe & Deb and Mike & Marylyn were also going into Melaque the same day so Joe helped lug it on the 8 block walk to a taxi. Funny enough, when Joe first helped Michael get it out of the dinghy, he said "it isn't that heavy"...but after walking the 8 blocks to the taxi, commented "that's a heavy @($#%&!!". haha... We had been given several suggestions for mechanics in Melaque and drove to one but he took a look at it and sent us to another one down the street. The 2nd mechanic, named 'El Chalan' which translates roughly to 'the helper' took a look and said he could do it. We left it with him on Friday and he expected to have it done by Monday unless he needed parts. We will call him first thing Monday to make sure no special parts are needed. So keep your fingers crossed that it will run better! When we get the generator back, we'll have Jonco come out & help Michael put humpty dumpty back together. We spent the rest of the day hanging out in Melaque and while there, I found a photo processor & dropped off our 2 underwater cameras with high hopes of some spectacular photos. They won't be finished until Monday either but if there were any that develop, I'll post them as soon as possible.

Speaking of Jonco, on Saturday John & his wife, Lupita, hosted their 1st annual Pig Roast at their house. It was a lot of fun. He had an entire pig cooking in a bbq pit on his property and asked the cruisers to come & bring a side dish. I love attending shindigs like this as you get to try some spectacular foods prepared by everyone else. We made BBQ'd pineapple - a favorite from a luau evening we cooked up for friends previously. You take the pineapple & cut it into rings, leaving the core. Then you take 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup rum, 1/4 cup butter, & 2 tbls water & heat in a saucepan. Once everything is melted, drizzle it on the pineapple & marinate for a bit. Heat the bbq & grill the pineapples on each side for 5-10 minutes or until brown. It's FANTASTIC!! So incredibly yummy... We decided to take a taxi to their house because we didn't know exactly where we were going and it turned out we got a nice tour of the ranches of Barra as we passed the house but continued for probably 5 miles! We made our way back the way we came and found some other cruisers walking and jumped out with them, who knew the way. There were probably 70 or so people there and everyone was hiding out in the shade as it was a very warm & sunny day. The one thing that John did not remember was chairs and so with some leftover building materials and John's permission, we constructed a couple benches in the shade...perfect!

The pig was roasted to perfection - the meat was incredibly tender and the BBQ sauce spectacular. All of the side dishes were a wonderful compliment to the pig and there were even pitchers of margaritas as refreshments. The majority of people present were cruisers, but some neighbors & other land-based businesses that service the cruisers were also represented. I missed getting a photo of the pig before it was cut up....but it was pretty ugly anyway. We spent about 3 hours or so chatting with everyone & then made the walk back to town. It was a welcome walk as we were all stuffed! We walked through town & made a stop at Diane & Drew's for a bit and then back to the water taxi.

So it's Sunday now and we're resting from all the excitement of the past few days...haha. Actually, Michael has been doing projects like crazy - the head discharge hose was plugged (urine mixes with salt water & creates this crazy crystal reaction and coats the hose....until almost nothing goes through) so he took it apart after unsuccessfully snaking it and had to beat, bend, & rinse the hose to get it clear again. Success! The rear head works like new again! He also tightened the packing on the shaft as it was dripping a little too much. So this afternoon he's taking a much needed break from projects.

We're staying put for a few more days, or until the generator is functioning again. The plan is still to go further South and we've been hearing Lovely Reta & Eyes of the World on the radio & know they're close! We're looking forward to seeing more spots and getting back in clean water! Today is 97 degrees outside and very little breeze, it's HOT!

Rene

Back in Barra de Navidad 1.14.09

2009-01-14T09:04:00.000-08:00

We left Tenacatita on Sunday morning and made the small jog back to Barra. There are about 23 boats in Barra now and it's still very nice. We are anchored in just about the exact same spot as before and it's nice here. We arrived on Sunday around 9:30 after a 2 ½ hour motorsail and for some reason I was completely exhausted. I laid down just after we dropped anchor and slept until 1pm! I must be fighting something. Michael has been fighting something for the past few days as well and there
are lots of other cruisers who have picked up a cold - bummer! We went into town yesterday for some internet time, pool time, & visiting with fellow cruisers. We met up with Pacific Jade & Kim & Linda from Endeavor and we all went up to Piper Lover's Bar in time for an incredible sunset (I forgot my camera - again!) and some live music. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous - red, orange, & yellow falling behind a palm tree lined beach….spectacular! We were back to the boat after dark - again -
and had a lovely dinner.

Tuesday we had a bad day. You know how you will have those days that start out so wonderfully and then just magically get worse? That was our day on Tuesday. We woke up & ran the generator, which was doing fabulous. Michael went into town on the dinghy and picked up our laundry & got some fuel & veggies (all of the store owners take delivery of new produce on Monday night) and I was working on the laptop getting the blog ready to publish. We don't have internet at the boat so we have to tote
the laptop into town for internet. Anyway, we were sitting in the cockpit enjoying the sunshine when the generator made a very odd noise. Michael ran down & observed…it not making any A/C power again. Oh great. It seems we have blown up our last capacitor. @#$(%&!! He stressed out about it and shut it down and we went back into 'super-energy-saver mode' and decided to just go in town to do some internetting.

Now we usually go into The Sands Hotel & work there but we decided instead to go to a restaurant called Fortino's in Colimilla instead as they had asked for our help with getting the internet up & running for the restaurant guests. No problem, we beached the dinghy & helped Margarite out with questions and were all set with internet. We went to the table & I had an iced tea…which was oddly placed on a wobbly tea plate. I was working away and when the food arrived, I moved the laptop to the side
of the table and (I missed this part!) placed the side of the laptop right on the corner of the wobbly plate which quickly dumped the entire contents of my glass directly onto the laptop. In lightning fast speed, Michael says he saw me move quicker than he has ever seen me move, I had the laptop upside down & turned off before he could say SHIT! We drained out the liquid and dried it off, removing the battery, & took it back to the boat for more drying time. I checked all of the openings for liquid,
sprayed it with compressed air to attempt to remove any liquid, and ultimately placed it in the engine room which is the driest, warmest spot in the boat for the entire evening. I am happy to report that aside from some sticky keys, it seems to be functioning properly so far this morning. Whew!! The one thing I would always stress to my students and I go and do it.

We met a wonderful couple, Wendy & Ron, from Canada (we seem to meet a lot of Canadians when we're cruising) while getting groceries the other day that are staying at a condo here in town. We invited them to come out & see the boat and much to our surprise, they kayaked out for a visit! It was great talking to them. They have a business in Canada called Reef Knot Sail Cruises and offer a boat charter on the Shuswap Lake. Check it out… www.reefknotsailcruises.com

So this morning I'm working on the laptop while Michael charges the batteries via the motor. We are planning to leave Barra tomorrow morning and head further South to Bahia Manzanillo to an anchorage called Las Hadas where we hope to find a generator repair place. Manzanillo is a large town and has a commercial port there so hopefully we'll get lucky! Wish us luck…

Oh, I am posting more photos & videos today as well so check them out!

I'll write more later!
Rene

Bahia de Tenacatita 1.10.09

2009-01-14T08:55:00.000-08:00

We left Barra lagoon on Monday morning, the 5th, and motored North a few miles (about 14 miles away) to Tenacatita Bay. We missed this stop on our way South as we were trying to get to Barra by Christmas so we figured we'd go back for a while! Tenacatita is a very popular anchorage and many cruisers will spend several months between Barra, Tenacatita, & Santiago Bay which is nicknamed the 'Gold Coast' as it is spectacular and each spot offers something just a bit different. Pacific Jade had left
Barra the day before and we made it into the bay after a beautiful motor sail up the coast. Lady Hawke joined us all a few hours later. We tossed a line in the water hoping to catch some fish and thought we were getting lucky...as we had two bites but they both managed to escape before Michael could reel them in completely. Bummer! The bay is spectacular and we were welcomed into the entrance by two whales playing just around the boat. We also had help anchoring by several local dolphins who
welcomed us into the anchorage by surfacing all around us. The dolphins are notorious here and everyone looks forward to seeing them. One is nicknamed 'chip' as there is a piece missing from his fin. They also rub up against your anchor chain, scratching their back. You hear this crazy sound of chain jingling and run up and see some just under the bow of the boat. There were 13 other boats in the anchorage when we arrived.

We spent 6 days in Tenacatita and it was fabulous. The bay has spectacular clear blue water and we went swimming at least once every day. We also spent the days doing projects, snorkeling, kayaking, walking the beach, reading, relaxing & meeting new people. The beach is one long stretch of a white sand beach. There is a resort at the far end of the beach, called the Blue Bay Lagoon Resort, that is an all-inclusive resort. It is reported that last-minute stays are as inexpensive as $70/person
but cruisers are not welcome. The beach is backed by palm trees and at the other end is a small palapa that serves beers & food and a small campground. This is also the site of the movie set 'McHale's Navy' and one of the buildings still stand. There are two anchorages in Bahia Tenacatita, one near the 'aquarium' and the other on the other side of Punta Chubasco. We chose the calmer anchorage on the North of Punta Chubasco and stayed there the entire 6 days. There is a river estuary called Rio
Iguana that you can take the dinghy into that is filled with mangroves, birds, flowering vines that canopy over parts of the channel, butterflies, colorful crabs, fish, and it is rumored to have crocodiles though we haven't seen any. The trip starts out at the entrance to the estuary where you have to either time your entrance to be sure there is enough water under you, or get out & push or drag the dinghy through the entrance. We beached our dinghy as we had trash to get rid of on the way in but
raised our dinghy engine and paddled and pushed until we were in the free flowing water on the way back out. We began somewhere around 10am and made our way through the jungle river trip to the end which takes you to a lagoon and the main town called Playa Escolleras where there are several restaurants, a small tienda for groceries, & lots & lots of beach. We made the trek with Pacific Jade while Mike on Lady Hawke took the shorter ride around the point and met us later. Mike met up with Ryan
on Buddhaventura, an RV'er that we know from Mazatlan and who helped bring us a frequency meter just after Christmas and joined us for lunch. We visited for a while & had a wonderful lunch and then headed back to the boats. The entire trip was about 6 hours.

We did maintenance on the boat, as always - this time Michael scraped the bottom. You see, the boat sits in the water at all times & things begin growing on it that makes it much less efficient, as well as possibly doing damage to the bottom paint which is designed to repel the critters who attach themselves. He hooked up his 75' hose directly to the dive tank and began cleaning the bottom. There was sea grass, critters, & barnacles growing and he used a scraper & a fibrous scrub sponge to remove
all of the crud. While he was scrubbing the bottom, I was giving all of our stainless steel a freshwater scrub to remove any of the salt that was on it to slow down rust. I found a couple missing screws and Michael found a big missing one! One of the heads of a bold holding on the chainplate at the bow of the boat was missing and the chainplate was beginning to pull up. If you will remember, he had a similar failure on his way up the coast from Panama and did not want to deal with it again.
So he enlisted the help of Pacific Jade, Lady Hawke, & Endeavor and they replaced the bolt, under the waterline, while in the water - a somewhat risky job.

I have to tell you how cool these cruisers are. Michael noticed the missing bold and shared this info with Pacific Jade and Lady Hawke via the radio. Now the benefit of using a radio is it's much easier than yelling (haha) and it's just like a phone, quick & easy to use - but the sometimes bad side is something called 'lurking'…which is when others listen to your conversations. Everyone does it and I'm just as guilty as the next guy - I get curious and will follow another conversation when they
switch to other channels. Anyway, Michael was sharing his issue (he was looking for the correct size bolt) with Pacific Jade & Lady Hawke when we were called by others in the anchorage, and at the RV park, offering us the bolts they had. How cool, huh?! Michael pulled out all of the items he needed for the repair but decided to work on the project the next morning as he was reading a book that he couldn't put down. The next morning came around and he was called on the radio - first by Pacific
Jade offering his assistance, then by Lady Hawke, then by Endeavor. He was fielding the calls and went back to reading his book. Finally I looked at him and said "You better get to it…these guys need a project to do!"…hahaha… And a little while later all 3 of them were at the boat and with great precision, the old bolt was removed and a teak plug in place to prevent water from flowing inside the bold while Michael got the new bolt ready, gooped up, passed up and Joe placed it in the hold and twisted
it in place from the outside while Michael did the same from the inside. The whole thing took less than an hour and another crisis averted! On closer inspection though, the bold looks like it has some electrolysis and even though the metal was tested to be 'protected' we will have to watch it closely to make sure it does not happen again. We're very thankful to everyone who helped - Joe, Mike, Kim, & Ryan for their help. What a cool community..

The rest of the week was spent just having a relaxing time. I put the inflatable kayak in the water and checked out the spectacular clear water and visited a few boats one morning while Michael worked on projects. We went to the beach one afternoon and met up with Kim & Linda on Endeavor, and other couples from boats who were new to us joined us for a walk down the beach and afterward a beer at the palapa restaurant by the campground. If you didn't watch it, you could keep yourself very busy in
Tenacatita - there were bocce ball games, domino games, card games, walks, book trades, etc. that were scheduled almost every afternoon! It's a great place to really get to know your boat neighbors and the beach is perfect for walking, bocce ball, & shell hunting as it's a nice flat white sand beach.

On Friday evening at 5pm there was a dinghy raft-up scheduled where everyone in the anchorage was invited and we met at a corner of the bay. One of the dinghies set out an anchor and everyone else joined them in a semi-circle and tied themselves to their neighbor. We ended up with 12 boats represented - out of the 13 in the anchorage! Some of the boats there were: A Capella (the organizer), Batu, Lady Hawke, Synchrony, Di's Dream, Finale, Pacific Jade, Rediscovery II (from Kansas!), Hobo, Maradon,
Sailfish, and us. It was great! Everyone brought an appetizer to share and there was some great dishes being passed around! We brought something out of a cruiser cookbook called 'potato nachos' that turned out pretty yummy. Just sliced potatoes, broiled for 10 minutes, then topped (I used Rotel tomatoes) and some cheese and broiled for 10 additional minutes. I had two books to give away as did someone else so they were passed around until someone took them. We had a great time chatting with
everyone and getting to know them and stayed until dark. Marylyn on Lady Hawke has been sick since New Year's day and a few days ago Mike on Lady Hawke ended up with a head cold so we haven't seen much of them this trip. Hopefully they get better soon so we can hang out with them again.

The next morning Pacific Jade moved their boat from the anchorage to the Aquarium anchorage and after they were settled, we dinghied over to the anchorage for some snorkeling! The water was spectacularly clear and we know how they got the nickname the 'aquarium'. The fish were amazing, so many different colors & varieties. The water was a bit chilly as it was a bit overcast but it was spectacular anyway. There was a large coral field with white, black & green coral that looked like a cauliflower
head everywhere and pillars of rock jutting out of the water that were inhabited by pelicans. They seemed to be watching us with interest and I joked with the fishes swimming just below them that they were tempting fate being this close to the pelicans! There were needlefish, beautiful large blue angelfishes, butterfly fishes, and simply ones I can't identify in my book but there were blowfishes, blue fishes with white polka dots, bright red fishes, schools of itty bitty extremely colorful fishes,
clownfish, & little teeny guys with yellow stripes. It was spectacular. I took more underwater photos but am not having much luck finding a photo processor yet. I may have to go into the town of Melaque tomorrow to look for one. I hope they turn out OK!

After snorkeling, I was absolutely freezing (I should have brought my rash guard and am just lucky that I had a one piece swim suit on to help with the cold) so we got back in the dinghy and warmed up a bit. Ryan on Buddhaventura (www.buddhaventura.com) was parked right on the sand by the aquarium and he had made a special beer trip into town for our visit. We beached our dinghies on an incredibly awesome coral beach right in front of his RV and spent a few hours visiting with him before walking
into town for lunch. After lunch we walked back to the dinghies and zoomed back to the boat - just before sunset. It was an incredible day. I have a good friend who always used to tell me she needed to 'get wet' every couple days to really feel good…now I understand. I have developed a severe need for 'water therapy!' Now I have to get back out on the surfboard more!

After several days in Tenacatita, we headed back to Barra de Navidad where we will reprovision, check e-mails (we're anxiously awaiting e-mails from all of the applications we submitted for jobs in Alaska), update the blog, and get fuel & stuff. We plan on spending a couple days in Barra and then head further South to Santiago. That's the plan!

So I apologize for not writing more, we've just been enjoying and haven't spent much time on the computer. I'll write more later!
Rene

Feliz Ano Nuevo 1.1.2009!

2009-01-02T15:52:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! What a spectacular year we have had and we hope to be able to continue this lifestyle for several years. We’re so blessed to have been able to go on this trip, while we’re so young (something we’re told almost daily!), and are really having the time of our lives out here. The cruising community is fabulous – friendly, helpful, & well…fun! The friendships we make here I’m certain will last a lifetime. OK, enough of the sappy stuff…haha!!

Today was another action packed day! I was told about a street fair in Melaque, a town just outside of Barra de Navidad and arranged to join a group of gals going. I hitched a ride with one of the other dinghies as we took ours in for service since we got the parts brought down by a boater. We had ordered the parts but they hadn’t made it to Mazatlan before we left so we asked Pacific Voyager to hold on to them for us but they knew they wouldn’t make it down here before we did, so they gave the parts to another boater who was heading down and we got them! Woohoo! It’s not pony express, but it made it!

Once in town, I joined Rita from Over Heated and Kim & Linda from Endeavor and the four of us walked up through Barra to the bus stop and then jumped on the bus to Melaque.

In Melaque, every Wednesday they hold a street fair that is probably 10 blocks long in one long straight street. You can buy anything here – arts & crafts, local handiwork, undergarments, clothes, shoes, kitchen utensils, watch batteries, sunglasses, DVD’s/CD’s, fruit, you name it, it’s probably there! I had a great time and walked away with some things that had been on my list for a while! A metal lime squeezer as my current one is plastic and has cracked in two places, a bean smasher since we’ve been cooking beans and need to mash them, a watch battery that works in our favorite timer on the boat, a tank top for Michael, a swimsuit for me, fresh eggs, potatoes, a couple DVD’s – Batman, 007, & a Richard Gere movie, and a couple other things. It was very fun to walk around & check out everything. We walked further in town and went to the ‘Super Hawaii’ store that sold lots of ‘gringo’ items and then walked further to find a restaurant where I had a fantastic meal for only $3, drink included! We jumped back on the bus and made it to the boat for a little rest and prepare for New Year’s Eve!

Most everyone went into town around 5:30pm and again, met at the Alondra Hotel for a drink and a fantastic sunset. We had dinner at a restaurant called “Mexico Lindo”, spent some time with Diane & Drew, friends of Joe & Deb from Canada for a while, and then basically bar-hopped from place to place as there were lots of live bands playing and we had to check out each of them! The Grand Bay Hotel shot off a wonderful display of fireworks at midnight and everyone raced to an easy spot to watch them. We listened to a few more sets of the bands and around 1am took a water taxi back to the boat. It was a very fun evening.

We spent the last couple days, well, recovering, taking it easy, relaxing, etc. After getting the dinghy engine serviced, it still isn’t quite right so we have an appointment to take it back tomorrow. We splurged and paid for 24 hours of internet that we can get on the boat and have been applying for jobs & just internetting like crazy. We called Xantrex and they told us how to adjust our changer so that it won’t kill the generator so we will be trying that out tonight. There are three ‘Extra’ class HAM operators in the lagoon and have setup a test on Monday for ham tests. Michael wasn’t able to get his when I got mine due to Uncle Sam calling him away so he’s studying like crazy and plans to take the test on Monday. We’ll leave Barra on Tuesday and go up to Tenacatita for a little while. That’s the plan! Of course, as you know, plans change sometimes hourly.

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year’s Eve and wish everyone a healthy & prosperous New Year.

Love,
Rene

Coco’s beach 12.29.08

2009-01-02T15:19:00.001-08:00

As today was our play day, Pacific Jade & Lady Hawke suggested we go over to the golf course for brunch and then to the beach. Cool! We’re up for that…

We met in our dinghies around 10am on Monday and headed over to the Colimia side of the lagoon to the golf course. There is an exclusive hotel here called The Grand Bay Resort by Wyndham that also operates an amazing golf course here on the Isla, across the bay from the city of Barra de Navidad. So we dinghied over, tied our dinghies to a tree and, dressed in our beach clothes with soft sided coolers on our back, began to walk through the golf course. We first came to the clubhouse where we stopped and ate brunch. They had a good breakfast, complete with fresh squeezed orange juice, and we wondered if they were either irritated with us for being there or grateful as we were the only ones in the entire building! After lunch, we walked through the golf course, following the golf cart route directly to the ocean. Imagine a golf course that is right on the ocean in the U.S. allowing a bunch of non-golfers to walk through to get to the ocean! Once we made it to the beach, we walked down the beach until it dead-ended right into a large hill of rock. On the edge of the rock there was a walkway that went up & over the rock and took you to a beautiful beach with two coves separated by another large rock and a tunnel rock where the waves came rushing in and sometimes joined with the surf of the main beach. It was spectacular! I posted some pictures of the beach and will upload a video soon as well.

We spent the day just hanging out – swimming, combing the beach for shells, chatting, etc. We even found an old trashed volleyball that looked just like “Wilson” from the movie and we helped him out & posed him for some photos. There were very few people on the beach, only two or three at a time, and most came and stayed for only a few minutes and left so we were spoiled with a beautiful, hidden beach, all by ourselves. The water felt spectacular and it was a turquoise blue with white surf. We didn’t realize we had spent 7 hours until we got back to the boat so late! But it’s nice when you’re with friends and the time flies…that’s how you know you’re with good friends.

Unfortunately, I didn’t plan on 7 hours in the sun and got a little sunburned that I’m still nursing but it was so worth it. It was absolutely spectacular. A great hidden gem that we’re thrilled to have been shown.

Tuesday morning we arranged for another generator technician to come out to the boat & take a look. His name was John and his company is Johnco. He is an expat and has been working & living in Puerta Vallarta for several years. Anyway, he came over and wouldn’t you know it….the generator performed spectacularly. No problem whatsoever. Of course! We discussed the problem with him and he agreed though, we have a problem not with the generator, but with the inverter/charger. I’ll attempt to explain it.

- We have a 3.5KW generator which translates to 3500 watts. Divide 3500 watts by the volt output, which is 140 and you get a maximum 25 amp output.
- Now, we have a Xantrex Freedom 30 Inverter/Charger that when the batteries are low, requires 28 amps in the ‘Charge’mode.

So we’re bringing the generator ‘to it’s knees’ when it’s attempting to charge the batteries. Not a good thing. We need to figure out if we can change the amp requirements of our Xantrex unit or if we need to get a separate charger. We would have to re-wire a separate charger and finding one down here will be very difficult and it will cost a fortune to have one shipped down here. We’ll see. We’re able to keep up with it as long as we do not let the batteries go down below 20%. We’re running the generator a lot more than I like – I don’t like the ‘noise maker’ running so much but that’s the way it is right now and we’re still out here so what am I complaining about! But our Christmas list for next year is getting HUGE! Haha… Additional solar panels, re-insulate the fridge, maybe a new TV (ours is giving us fits now & then), jeez, it’s expensive to go cruising! Haha… With two additional solar panels and a re-insulated fridge we will be able to reduce the ‘noise maker’ significantly. Woohoo!

Once we finished with Johnco, we packed up the computer and went into The Sands Hotel for some more time on the internet for more job applications. Mike & Marylyn and Joe & Deb as was Ryan, an RV’er currently in Tenacatita who came down to Barra to lend us a frequency meter, were also at The Sands Hotel and we all decided to go in town & watch the sunset. Ryan had beenin touch with Kim & Linda on Endeavor and they were at a hotel in town called the Alondra. So we went there & joined an already large group of boaters for a fantastic sunset. The boats represented were Effie, Aquarius (who had just arrived earlier that day), Over Heated, Endeavor, Lady Hawke, Ryan & us. We had a wonderful evening chatting away. After the sunset, we went to eat dinner with Kim & Linda from Endeavor at Pepe’s Mexican again – did I mention the fantastic burritos for only 25 pesos! After dinner we all went back to The Sands Hotel and participated in a dart tournament. There were approx 8 teams and two dart boards and well, Marylyn & I were a team and didn’t do so hot. So who cares who won?! The groups were made up of both locals and us boaters and we had a wonderful time playing. We made it back to the boat around 1am. Fun!!

New Year’s Eve is next!!
Rene

Barra de Navidad 12.28.08

2009-01-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

We’ve had a wonderful time here in Barra de Navidad. We are anchored in the Barra lagoon and we’re in between the cities of Barra de Navidad and Colimilla. The city of Colimilla is only about 5 blocks long & 2 wide but has lots of great restaurants, an outboard service business that we had our dinghy serviced at, & Maria’s tienda, who services the cruisers with water & food deliveries. Barra is a bit bigger and has just about everything you may need – restaurants, laundry, internet, propane, hardware stores, medical, etc. You name it, you can probably find it in Barra. The city is about 13 blocks long and 8 blocks wide, but the main area that everyone spends time is only 6 x 5 blocks. Barra is a Mexican vacation spot and the majority of vacationers come in from the bigger city of Manzanillo. It’s a beautiful beach town with beaches as far as the eye can see, colorful umbrellas propped up everywhere, beautiful palm trees, dirt & cobblestone streets, & the traditional town square & beautiful church. We were here once before, staying with our friends Scott & Liz on Ocean Lady, but it’s always so nice to experience it again. The people here are wonderful – very friendly & helpful.

The lagoon is full of boats – the numbers keep going up & down but are hovering around 25-30 each day. We are anchored out near the edge of the boundary, which is working out perfectly as no one wants to anchor around us. Haha.. Living in the lagoon is good & bad. There is absolutely no swell so the boat sits nice & comfy…but! The fishing pangas scream by early in the morning, any time after 6am, which causes a nice wake that makes the boat roll around, there are water ski boats that pull skiers during the day, causing more rolling around, and finally….the water is not clean enough to swim in (for me) or make water in. Ahhh…the perpetual problem….no place is absolutely perfect. I guess we’ll just have to keep looking. Darn! But it’s great to have the town to visit and there is a hotel, called the Hotel Sands that is ‘cruiser friendly’ and allows us cruisers to enjoy the pool, bar, & internet. The dinghy landing, a seawall that the dinghies tie up to, is at the Sands Hotel as well.

Our typical day, if you can call any of this typical, begins with the morning net. On the VHF radio, the morning net begins at 9am. They begin by asking if there is any emergency or priority traffic, followed by a call for departures or arrivals. If there are any new boats, they tell everyone the name of their boat, the names of everyone on board, where they have come from & how long they’re planning on staying. After that begins general check-ins. Everyone says their boat name and is acknowledged by ‘net control’. Following that is a call for mail – anyone who can take flat stamped mail back to the U.S. or Canada, General Announcements, rides & crew, treasures of the bilge (a swap or sell of items), and finally local assistance where you can ask for help finding places and items. After the net, the ‘French Baker’ makes a stop at the boat, selling bread, pastries, quiches, etc. He comes on the net and says “Zis es ze Franch Baykeur, I am coming into ze lagoon”….it’s so funny to hear him. He has been here for years & has yummy stuff…almond pastry, chocolate croissant, baguette, quiches, etc. We don’t buy stuff from him often – bread mostly but every once in a while that chocolate croissant is calling my name! haha…

During this time, our generator is running, pumping juice back into the batteries & running the fridge & freezer. We have breakfast & do our daily chores and prepare to go into town. We go into The Sands Hotel & do whatever we need to, & most evenings head back to the boat before dark. Dinghying at night can be dangerous as there are lots of pangas, both fishing & water taxi, that zoom through the lagoon and often without lights. So we make every attempt to get back before dark…or be extremely careful when we’re out after dark.

Wireless internet is out in the lagoon, but before today, there was only one provider – called Low Maintenance, that charges 350 pesos for a month of service. It seemed pretty extreme of a price since we will only be here a week or so, so we decided to just take the laptop into town when we needed to check e-mails. Just today though another restaurant, Fortino’s, began offering daily passes so we will check that out when we go into town.

We’ve had such an action packed week – I can’t believe it’s going by so quickly! We arrived on Christmas day & took it very easy. We immediately took to the one day work, one day play philosophy and the following day, spent most of it at The Sands Hotel working on the computer – uploading photos, updating blogs, checking e-mail, etc. We were introduced to a new drink called a ‘Caesar’ which is much like a bloody mary but somehow much more potent. The Sands has 2 x 1 drink special from 2pm – 7pm every day which worked out well as I would order a drink, get two, give one to Marylyn and then vice versa! Soon enough, it was time to get some food in our belly so we went on the hunt for Pepe’s Mexican Food for some fantastic burritos & fries. We walked through the town a little and then headed back out to the boat.

The next day was our typical routine. There was another ‘beaders annonymous’ class at 10am, a book exchange, & a gamers table at The Sands Hotel and I had been working on a new bracelet so I attended. I was able to complete my 2nd bracelet and get some fabulous ideas for others. Michael stayed on the boat and did some projects, took a nap, you know…the usual. Haha… After several hours of beading & chatting, I hitched a ride back to the boat and had another mellow evening on board.

Sunday was another full day in at The Sands Hotel using their internet. If we haven’t said before, we have decided to get jobs over the summer this year while the boat is holed up in Mazatlan. It was a tough decision but we figure it’s the best time to reinvest in the market! And if we can find enough work to cover our expenses for the summer and have some $$ left over to fill the cruising kitty, even better. So we spent the entire day at The Sands on the internet, applying for jobs! I have to admit – it’s a long & painful process! Haha. We figure if we HAVE to go to work, we’ll try to find a new area to do it, and something that will be fun to do as well. We have been applying for jobs in Alaska as we have both never been there and they have a lot of seasonal positions available. We applied as Park Rangers, tour operators, etc. So wish us luck and help us out if you know any secrets of how to get hired!!

More to follow…
Rene

Videos Uploaded 12.28.08

2008-12-28T13:42:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to uploading some videos! Here they are...

These are from the Posada block party in Bucerias:

These are from Isla Colorado in Bahia Chamela

And these are from our jungle tour in Mantanchen Bay

I hope to have more uploaded soon!
Rene

More photos uploaded 12.26.08

2008-12-26T15:46:00.000-08:00

I found a great internet cafe at the Hotel Sands. We are sitting enjoying a cocktail, overlooking the pool, catching up on all of our photo uploads. I hope you enjoy!

http://photos.aheakali.com/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=0

Rene

Feliz Navidad! 12.25.08

2008-12-26T15:45:00.001-08:00

Feliz Navidad from Barra de Navidad. We weighed anchor around 10:00 on Christmas day and headed down the coast to Barra. It was another spectacular day. No wind but it was a great motorsail. The coast was beautiful – miles & miles of beach and very few houses. We saw our regulars – whales, dolphins, turtles, lots of fish & birds. Though we never get tired of seeing it! Haha…

We arrived in the lagoon around 4pm or so. The Barra lagoon entrance is incredibly tricky, the opening in the middle of the entrance is only 12ft deep! And keep in mind…our keel is 5’5” down….so you have to pay attention! We were given coordinates in Mazatlan that had waypoints that marked the opening in the channel, as well as a route to follow that we followed to a tee. We also had Lady Hawke ahead of us that we were following and we entered without incident. It’s not uncommon to have a boat on the shoal – leaning awkwardly until they are either pulled off of the shoal, or the tide rises high enough to loosen them up. But we lucky, paying super close attention and made it without incident. Woohoo!

OK, so for our generator issues. We are still struggling, but are doing OK staying on top of it. The battery terminals were cleaned which made a big difference but still the generator is bogging down with different loads which baffles us. We’re ‘band-aiding’ it by running loads differently and seem to be staying on top of things. Just this morning we asked anyone on the net if they had a frequency meter and someone does…so we will try to get him to come over & look at it with us and see if the frequency is off (which has been suggested by the manufacturer). Since we’re in Barra now, we can also have our outboard motor repaired (it’s still running slow and needs to have the carburetor rebuilt) and this is the place so hopefully we can get our repairs while we’re here.

We are going into town this morning to check in with the port captain and try to find an internet café to upload our blogs, photos & videos.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! We miss you all very much and hope everyone is doing well. We love it out here!

More to follow…
Rene

Chamela 12.24.08

2008-12-26T15:43:00.000-08:00

We had another great cruise down the coast today. We are making short hops down to Barra de Navidad, still hoping to make it by Christmas. We left Ipala on Monday around 08:00 and cruised down the coast by 50 miles to Chamela. The seas were flat as can be and it was a beautiful motorsail. No wind at to speak of but we had the main & mizzen up for stability & the occasional push. A fun thing about being out sailing down the coast is you’re never alone. Of course we have our buddy boats but also we are contacted on the radio often by other boats that pick up our conversations and want to chat as well. Communication between the 3 boats is plentiful – we talk about what we’re seeing (miles & miles of beaches), sea conditions (what a current we’re bucking!), report any wildlife we see (whales!) and our position if we can’t visually see each other. But we’re often contacted by others who happen to hear our conversations and are looking for info on weather, our plans, etc. It’s a great community and I’ve always been amazed how boaters always wave to each other & help out whenever needed. Why is boating that way, I wonder?

We saw logs of life in the sea again – turtles, whales, fish, birds – you know, the usual.

We arrived in Chamela and there was a south swell running, making the anchorage entirely too rolly for us to stay so we cruised out by the islands and anchored there. We had another scare as our batteries were not entirely charged – stressing Michael out. We did have full water tanks (we make water while we’re underway using our watermaker to pull the clean water from the ocean, desalinate it, condition it and put it in our water tanks), and hot water for showers though! We tried to run the generator and it was doing it’s bogging down thing again so we shut everything down for the night – we’ll deal with it in the morning. The evening sunset was absolutely gorgeous and we jumped overboard to cool off & look for the ‘green flash’ while the sun was setting. The water was perfect – just enough cool to cool us down but just warm enough to let us stay in for a while. After a shower & dinner, we read some more and unwound for a bit and hit the sack. The evening was quite a bit rolly and it was the first evening on the hook, so we didn’t get much sleep.

We woke up & Michael tore apart the back cabin looking at the batteries. We had thought about it a lot the evening before and decided it must be a bad connection or something wrong with the batteries as the engine alternator is directly tied into the batteries and after a 7 hour motor, they were not topped off. He identified 2 battery terminals that could stand to be cleaned up and disconnected everything to clean it while Mike from Lady Hawke supervised. The water was so super clear we could see the anchor and chain from the bow of the boat – 16 ft down. The anchor was dug in well and we could even see the ripples in the sand below. Just beautiful…

Around noon, we all decided to go into the beach for some snorkeling & beach time. Joe & Deborah from Pacific Jade & Mike & Marylyn from Lady Hawke. The beach we were anchored off of was about 150 ft long, super fine white & black sand, pelicans & booby birds everywhere, & the most excellent turquoise blue water lapping into the sand that I’ve seen. It was paradise. Lady Hawke brought out a nice umbrella and the girls took off looking for shells & beach glass while the boys installed the umbrella. There were hermit crabs everywhere – from small ones the size of a pea to larger ones golf-ball size – and they were running all over the beach hiding their beautiful shells from us! The island is a preserve, although it didn’t say whether it was a bird refuge or what exactly. There was cactus growing all over the island, both the traditional cactus and some cactus that looked like an octopus – tentacles everwhere. And there were trees & shrubs were everywhere. It was a super sunshiny day, temps in the 80’s and the water just as warm. The snorkeling was off the charts – by far one of the most spectacular places I’ve seen in a long time. There were what seemed like millions of fish everywhere you turned. Lots of schools and lots of colors! My new favorite fish is the puffer fish and I spent quite a while just hanging with one of them. There were needlefish, star fishes, blue, orange, & yellow fishes, all surrounded by spectacular turquoise blue water. We even saw a very pissed off eel that we stayed away from and a snake that took off quickly when we saw him. The sun was shining and was shimmering down onto the rocks we were snorkeling around, it was splendid. Mike from Lady Hawke showed Michael & Joe what scallops looked like and made it their mission to find some for dinner. By the end of the snorkel they boys had rounded up 5 large scallops!

Back at the beach we all snacked on things we each brought – a fresh cut pineapple & roasted peanuts – chatted, & enjoyed the beach & sunshine. The boys began the chore of cleaning the scallops which turned into great entertainment as they are not easy to open and then when you do open them up, they have little critters that come crawling out that elicited a hearty ‘Gross!’ from everyone watching & by the time they had them cleaned & ready…it was time to get back to the boat before dark. Mike & Marylyn had caught a sierra while fishing and was going to make fish tacos for dinner and I had pressure cooked some pinto beans so we figured it was the perfect combination and went to their boat for dinner. We had forgotten to turn on a light before we left the boat and it was pitch black when we were going home! There was no moon out and the million stars out were of little help but we managed to make it back. The phosphorescence was incredible though – it is like seeing little lightning bugs everywhere in the water. When we were motoring back to our boat, we had a 10’ tail of phosphorescence that was following us! It was just a spectacular day.

With everything from yesterday, how could we possibly top it? Well, we had a Christmas eve that went to our top 3 of all time. We were up & about early, as result of another horridly rocky evening. I was sitting at the computer trying (and failing) to send e-mails while Michael was up on deck and the generator was running. All of a sudden, Michael comes running down the deck (which is right above my head) screaming ‘Rene!!’ I was flipped out and started running towards the generator kill switch (a reflex since we’ve been having issues with the @#$(& generator) when he finally says “there’s a seahorse out here – come quick!” And there it was…a real live seahorse! It was a burned red color and was hanging out at the bow of the boat, nibbling the algae that was stuck to the chainplate at the waterline. It was spectacular. I’ve never seen one in the wild, only in aquariums and had always hoped to. After telling the others about it, I realized how rare it is! Everyone I spoke to had never seen them….and they have been cruising for lots of years! I took photos but they don’t capture how cool it was…sorry.

Mike & Marylyn had to go into town for beer & ice so we tagged along. At the main anchorage in Chamela, we found another boat – A Capella with Ed & Cornelia on board and stopped to say hi. We beached our dinghies & took off to town. The town was small and had one paved road through it. There were a handful of tiendas & abbarotes and we checked each one out! Lots of goodies. The main square was beautiful and there were several nativity scenes set up all along the street. We provisioned with the necessities and headed back to the dinghy only to find Ed & Cornelia having a beer on the beach! We joined them for a quick one & before we knew it, it was time to be back on the boat to prepare for our big Christmas eve celebration.
The 6 of us met on the beach again around 3pm with presents & dinner. There were two large beach blankets on the sand with all of our goodies and we each brought a beach chair. Each of us cooked an arracherra, a cut of meat popular down here that has a nice flavor to it, and a side dish. Marylyn brought a cabbage salad with a yummy ginger sesame sauce, pineapple slices, & a cream cheese/raspberry chipotle appetizer with crackers. Michael made some potatoes that were covered with bacon & roasted and we also brought some chipotle cheese to share. Deborah made a coconut key lime pie for desert…yumm!! After dinner, we exchanged gifts. We made off with a incense set, an ornament & a beaded hair clip from Lady Hawke and a crank flashlight, a loofah soap, & chocolates from Pacific Jade. I gave Michael a set of ‘worry dolls’ that the Indians believe that you tell your worries to before you go to bed and they worry for you, and an earring. I had picked up a tank top when we were in San Blas that acted as my gift. It was perfect.

We cleaned up our site a little and then began gathering our racers. You see, yesterday as we were looking at all those cute little hermit crabs….we had a wild thought. Let’s setup a racetrack & have hermit crab races!! Sounds great. A racetrack was created in the sand, with a start line & finish lines….and a few little speed bumps for the sport of it! We all hunted for what we thought was a speedy hermit crab and placed them on the start line. How exactly do you determine a speedy hermit crab you ask? Good question! Everyone seemed to have their own set of requirements – mine was simply putting a bunch of them in my hand and which ever one opens up first must be a speedy one! Haha… So once we all had our crabs down…we waited for one or more to cross the finish line. Deborah’s crabs won both heats, with mine coming in second each time. Somehow Deborah & I were the best at picking the crabs since everyone else’s crabs didn’t even finish! Of course we were the ones encouraging ours the most, so that must be the secret. Deb had brought prizes for the winners and my crab (that I called ‘Red’, hers was named ‘Hermie’) and I were awarded a kazoo! Red didn’t want to play so I played for him…haha. And before you ask…no, we weren’t drunk – just enjoying. The video I have to share will have you rolling in your chair….and if not, you’re too darn serious!! We also played a game called ’20 questions’ which was a handheld computer game where as a group you choose select an object and then the computer asks you 20 questions and then tells you what you had selected! We figured we could surely stump it so our first word was ‘seahorse’. The darn game asked us 20 questions such as ‘is it heavier than a 1lb of butter?’, ‘Does it have a long tail?’, ‘’Does it have legs?’, etc and it came up with the correct answer!! How did it do that?? So we tried again, this time choosing a volcano. Yep, it got it correct. We stumped it with a ‘kazoo’, but it redeemed itself with a ‘dinosaur’. Stupid game… hahaha…

The sun was setting so we started a bonfire in the sand and sat around & just enjoyed each other’s company. We talked about everything & kept warm to the fire. We watched as all of the pelicans and booby birds nestled into their trees for the evening, the hermit crabs retreated under the logs & burrowed into the sand, & the phosphorescence in the water sparkled as the tide was gently lapping in. We finally extinguished the fire & headed back to the boat around 9:30. Temps were still in the 70’s and the water was nice & cool. We went back to the boat and had one more rocky night and decided to weigh anchor and head further down the road to Barra de Navidad. This anchorage was absolutely splendid – perfect in my eyes. If it had only been a calmer anchorage in the evening….Michael would agree! We will definitely return here.

Rene