Happy Zenith day

Playa Cristal, Costa Rica

I'm not really sure if that's the real name of the place where we're currently anchored, but it seems to fit seeing how there's a fancy hotel above the beach with a big sign saying 'Cristal'.

We ducked in here since the wind is blasting from the east and we hoped hills backing the beach and hotel would provide us some protection. It's working out ok, except the wind is very gusty and I know as soon as it shuts off tonight we'll be rolling terribly from the swell coming in from the south west. Oh well, there's good days and bad days...

But that's not why I'm writing this blog. Today is our Zenith day! So I thought I'd wish everyone else whose Latitude also happens to be around 10o 28'N "Happy Zenith Day" too. I'm sure you're wondering, what is Zenith Day. Well it's sort of complicated, but I'll try to explain.

Everyone who lives in the temperate zones of the world are familiar with the seasons of the year. In Winter the days are short and in Summer the days are long. This, of course, is caused by the tilt of the Earth on its axis. This tilt is about 23 degrees. The Sun, on the day of the Spring Equinox, is directly over the Equator and the length of the days all over the world is basically 12 hours (a little longer really, but we won't go into why now). As the year progresses, the Sun continues to climb higher in the Northern Hemisphere sky until the Summer Solstice at which point it will be over the Latitude of 23o 27'N. Northern Hemisphere days will be long and the Summer will be in full bloom. Of course it's all 'down hill' from there. After the Summer Solstice the Sun begins to recede to the South until the Winter Solstice, when it pauses over 23o 27'S before climbing back to the North.

Now, if you can picture the trek of the Sun as it makes it's way North and South, you may be able to picture NAKIA directly underneath it. Today. At about 12:42 local time. The Sun went directly over our heads, or passed through our Zenith (at least as close as it's going to get this year). Thankfully, as I said before, it's all down hill from here! While our days will not be getting shorter (we are, barely, still in the Northern Hemisphere where days are getting longer), we'll at least get a little break from having the blazing Sun DIRECTLY over our heads!

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?10,28.396,N,85,46.980,W,Playa%20Cristal,

Bahia de Culebra, CR

The bus trip to Liberia was over an hour each way for 450 Colones including a free polizia inspection on the way to town. We passed with flying colors using our California drivers licenses (or rather the color copy laminates we had made in Mazatlan to carry around with us instead of our real licenses). It was a long hot trip for a better selection of produce at the super mercado conveniently located across the street from the bus station, but we wouldn't make the trip again just for shopping. The day before we met Gene, Vici and Fiona from Caravan for another delicious daily lunch special at Soda Papagayo. This time it was fish soup which I almost didn't order because it's so hot out. But it had a mild curry flavor with big chunks of vegetables and firm pieces of fish similar to dorado which we learned was sailfish. We topped that off with another visit to the gelato place, and were happy campers.

Sunday we left Bahia del Coco for Bahia Huevos which had been highly recommended to us. At first we were delighted because it felt like a smaller version of Bahia Santa Elena, but after discovering that the road on the southern shore is private property guarded by men wearing Papagayo Peninsula T-shirts we weren't interested in staying more than one night. We anchored right in the middle of the bay and had no bugs come out to the boat at night. We heard many howler monkeys (yes, that's what the growling noise turned out to be) calling from all sides of the bay in the morning, and we finally saw four in the trees just inside the entrance to the mangrove river trip. Which was a good thing because we were immediately swarmed by a cloud of flies around our heads, cutting the river trip short. There were several interesting birds, but we couldn't stand to slow down for long to watch them. We visited a couple of the beaches but overall the water was green and murky so we didn't snorkel.

Yesterday we moved to Playa Panama to visit the Caravaners. We had them all over to Nakia last night (sans Clipper, the schipperke), and Fiona gave Ziggy a good play workout. This afternoon we're all going to the huge beach in spite of the gusty wind blasting away today.

Tomorrow morning John and I will depart for Bahia Brasilito to meet up with Robert and Virginia on Harmony so they can hand off our mail packet as they head north back to Mexico.

Then we'll be on the move to the Gulf of Nicoya, our last stopover in Costa Rica before sailing to Ecuador.

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?10,38.324,N,85,40.724,W,Bahia%20Huevos,

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?10,35.518,N,85,39.486,W,Playa%20Panama,

Bahia del Coco

I hope everyone understood that the blog on Santa Elena wildlife was supposed to be sort of tongue in cheek (poor us, we didn't see any howler monkeys, just all these other phenomenal things...). John came up with the idea to try to make it humorous, but I'm afraid my execution wasn't as good as his premise.
From Bahia Santa Elena we made a three hour sunrise trip to Bahia Murcielagos and anchored at Key Point rather than the islands since we were only going to be there for one night. We had hoped the water would be clear for snorkeling the nearby reef but it was green and murky and John couldn't even see the rocks that he knew were down there somewhere. I spent the day on the boat while he explored with the dinghy. We were somewhat surprised to be paid a late afternoon visit by the park ranger in his panga. He came aboard and explained that the park entry fee is now $15 per person no matter how long the stay (there may be a maximum stay but we didn't ask; this fee is up from the old $6 per person per day fee that we had read about). Needless to say we were a bit peeved not to have known about this ahead of time since we could have easily avoided the stop altogether, and gone directly to Coco. The fee is for the marine park area from Cabo Santa Elena south, including Bahia Murcielagos, the Islas Murcielagos (Bat Islands), and Bahia Potrero Grande. The marine park does not extend north to encompass Bahia Santa Elena.
We made another dawn departure for the five hour trip to Bahia del Coco just south of Bahia de Culebra. We had to skip the latter to get to Coco for laundry, provisions, water, gasoline, etc. but hope to go backwards from here to explore that area. Playas del Coco is a beach town with lots of dive and souvenir shops. Yesterday we checked in with the Port Captain, Immigration, and Customs for no charge (yay!). We also paid about $27 to have our laundry done (13.5 kilos - yikes); made a first pass at the grocery store; had a great $4 per person lunch consisting of cubes of beef in a sauce with sides of rice, black beans, mashed potatoes, and a vinegary red cabbage coleslaw; and followed that with two scoops of gelato. We were starved by the time we got to the food (after taking care of all the other chores) so everything tasted delicious.
While we were in the internet cafe waiting for our laundry to be finished it started raining buckets, and John raced out to the boat to close up all the port holes. This was our first experience with a hard rain in months. Unfortunately the bulk of the rain storm passed through the opposite side of the anchorage from us and we didn't get a very thorough boat wash this time. As John was leaving the cafe I pointed out a monkey that was climbing up a trellis on the side of the building where we were standing. That sure was surprising!
John is getting water and gas ($5/gallon - yikes) today and we hope to take the bus to Liberia tomorrow for fresh fruits and veggies. The produce section in the market here is not very exciting. Oh, and we're having to learn yet another monetary system. We've been exchanging our U.S. dollars for Colones at just under 500 Colones for one dollar. So we multiply by two and drop three decimal points (50,000 Colones = $100); I'm having a terrible time with the big numbers!
It's been very hot - high 80s to low 90s in the afternoons, low 80s overnight - and the humidity has been 50-80% depending on the time of day. So we're drinking water like it's summer in the Sea of Cortez. Oh, and I forgot to write that the water temperature climbed 10 degrees while we were in Santa Elena from low 70s to low 80s, so swimming is nice again!
Linda and John
{GMST}10|33.260|N|85|42.360|W|Bahia del Coco|Bahia del Coco{GEND}

Bahia Santa Elena, CR (hiking)

During our week at anchor in Bahia Santa Elena (March 30 - April 7, 2008) we enjoyed several morning hikes along the dirt roads accessible from three different beach landings in the bay. We had some difficulty finding the roads, mainly because we were looking in the wrong place. So the main thing you should keep in mind is that none of the roads are difficult to access from the beach. If you find yourself bush whacking through the underbrush and trees, you are NOT in the right spot! We enjoyed catching glimpses of wildlife and birds including iguanas, spider monkeys, a white-faced monkey, two kinds of kingfisher birds, a small falcon, the ubiquitous white-throated magpie jay (any interesting noise you hear is likely to be this bird it being so gregarious), white-tailed deer, butterflies (including a beautiful, large, iridescent blue kind), and paper wasp (?) nests.

TIPS
We've heard that if you're not checked into or have already checked out of Costa Rica, the navy may kick you out of Bahia Santa Elena. This didn't seem to be the case as we saw only panga fishermen and a Guardia Costa (Coast Guard) boat which made a brief pass by both boats in the anchorage solely to ask us if everything was okay. Friends saw a park ranger on shore but were not asked to pay a fee.

High tides can go right up under the tree line at the beaches so be sure to lock/tie your dinghy to a tree. Conversely low tides expose the shore so you'll need your dinghy wheels.

The deer/horse flies and other bugs can be a nuisance so you might want to take/wear insect repellant.

There are lots of thorn trees so watch where you step especially in the dry brush on the beaches. Flip-flops are not recommended (I found out the hard way)!

Take plenty of drinking water, especially for the longer hikes. It was very hot and dry when we visited.

HIKE #1 (Falls and pools)
Wear shoes suitable for walking on dirt roads, rocks and boulders, and wading through water.

10 54.543'N 085 47.599'W Beach landing (at the SW end of the bay)

10 54.481'N 085 47.588'W Beach road T's at the main road (take a Left)

Cross two small (probably dry) stream beds.

10 54.339'N 085 47.167'W Road crosses third (and larger) stream bed (there's a palm tree on the right side of the road); turn Right to walk up the dry stream bed; we found water in the stream bed before we reached the fallen tree visible from the road.

10 54.032'N 085 47.159'W Falls and first swimming pool; there are a few smaller swimming pools up and over the falls if you feel like going farther.

HIKE #2 ("Monkey" road)
10 55.115'N 085 47.235'W Beach landing (at the SE end of the bay north of the mangrove rivers; it looks like a single lane launch ramp cut into the mangroves).

From where you've pulled your dinghy up high into the mangroves take a Right and follow the back of the mangroves around a rocky ledge to the dirt road. The rocky ledge may be under water at high tide. It might be possible to leave your dinghy tied off to the mangroves there (a stern anchor would help), although this is where tour pangas unload their bird-watching passengers so be sure to keep out of the way of their landing.

10 54.604'N 085 46.635'W Road crosses a large stream bed (it was before this point on two separate walks that we saw three spider monkeys in trees off to the right of the road; you will hear them first, if they're there).

10 54.360'N 085 46.515'W Road intersects the main road to the falls and Playa Blanca (to the right); we took a Left.

10 54.346'N 085 46.415'W Road crosses stream bed again (probably leading to one of the two mangrove "river" rides at the head of the bay, both of which are navigable in a dinghy at high tide).

There was another road forking off to the right which we didn't explore. This road is not on the chart.

10 54.310'N 085 46.074'W Top of the rise in the road (this is as far as we went; this road continues on towards Bahia Cuajiniquil and beyond).

HIKE #3 (Playa Blanca)
We recommend timing this hike to arrive at Playa Blanca during a low tide. The high water mark came right up to the tree line, and it would be very disappointing to have walked all that way and then not be able to walk the beach. We arrived to find sand flats, an estuary system walled off by the beach, no birds, and no shells. However the hike itself was interesting in that it passed through several varieties of vegetation, and crossed dry, rocky, river beds (which would be amazing to see during the rainy season).

10 55.338'N 085 49.116'W Beach landing (this beach is to the south of the rock islet, and the road is at the north end of the beach).

10 55.298'N 085 49.273'W Right turn at main road

10 56.272'N 085 51.701'W Road ends at Playa Blanca

SIDE TRIP FROM HIKE #1 OR #3
For a nice photo opportunity of the bay either turn towards Playa Blanca from the beach landing for the Falls hike, or turn towards the Falls from the Playa Blanca beach landing. The overlook is a little closer to the former.

10 54.833'N 085 48.261'W Scenic overlook to anchorage

We hope you enjoy your visit to the Bahia Santa Elena area of the Santa Rosa National Park as much as we did!

Linda and John

Bahia Santa Elena, CR (wildlife)

The bay here is surrounded by the Santa Rosa National Park which we were told is known for its population of howler monkeys. We have yet to see a howler monkey but one morning we did wake to see a pod of dolphins swimming in the bay. And on an afternoon beach walk outside the bay we caught glimpses of four sea turtles in the shallow waters off the sand. Still no howler monkeys after five days here, but we do see green parrots flying overhead in squawking pairs at sunrise and sunset every day. Oh, and one morning at sunrise there was a humpback whale lying almost motionless in the bay. After watching her for over an hour we decided she had either come into the calm protected waters to give birth to and/or to nurse the calf that periodically surfaced by her side. They still weren't the famous howler monkeys, but on a hike one afternoon we were scolded by three spider monkeys watching us from a tree just off the dirt road we were walking on. And yesterday, on our hike to the nearby waterfall and swimming holes, John twice caught sight of deer in the dry tropical forest. During a morning dinghy ride in the bay we were drawn to what we hoped might be the long sought after howler monkeys walking along the beach, but they only turned out to be half a dozen of some other kind of monkey with cream colored faces and shoulders having a good time swinging around in the low trees above the beach.

There are interesting noises at dawn and dusk that sound like a cross between a very loud bullfrog and a large cat growling repetitiously, as well as a long one tone hoooooot followed by the same thing in a different pitch. Perhaps these are the unseen howler monkeys? They are the first sounds of the morning followed by a jumble of bird song, and finally the sleepyhead parrots join the chorus before flying off to wherever they go for the day.

All in all it's been disappointing not to have been treated to an appearance by the mysterious howler monkeys, but we'll just have to console ourselves with the everyday sort of wildlife that has come our way so far...

Linda and John

message for Colum Muccio

You didn't give us an email address when you posted your comment on "Barillas Marina Club." I highly recommend BMC as an excellent place to keep your boat. We haven't been to Bahia del Sol (west of Barillas), which is also in El Salvador and very popular with cruisers, but based on what I've heard about its bar crossing we wouldn't stop there. One person told us that it's just a matter of time before someone gets killed crossing the Bahia del Sol bar.

For us (U.S. passports) the entry to El Salvador was only $10 per person to Migracion. All officials come to your boat immediately upon arrival and then you go to the office to check in with the club and to pay Migracion in their office on club property.

I can't answer your question about renewing your "permit" since I don't know what kind of a permit you need. We did not require an agent in El Salvador or Honduras for checking in/out of those countries. I understand Guatemala is a much more expensive process, as is Nicaragua.

Please include your email address, if you need additional information.

Thanks for contacting us,

Linda and John

San Lorenzo, Honduras to Bahia Santa Elena, Costa Rica

As it turned out our stay in San Lorenzo was too short. I think our initial impression was unduly influenced by being with three other gringos - never a good recipe for mixing with the locals. It just doesn't pay to walk the streets in a pack when you're the only out-of-towners. We spent Wednesday back in town by ourselves going through the checkout process, and had a much more enjoyable visit. We really should have stayed at least one more day to take the local bus to a bigger city 30 minutes away. It would have been interesting to see something a bit more inland. One of the drawbacks to traveling by boat is that we only see the beach "resort" cities and towns. As small as it was, that seemed to be San Lorenzo's claim to fame. In fact Semana Santa (Easter week) had been so successful for the local restaurants and bars that Porlamar, our "host," remained closed Mon-Wed to give its workers a break.
We can't thank Porlamar's owner, Armando, enough for his generous hospitality. Porlamar is the fist restaurant as you approach the city from the ship channel (making it the last one on the beach from town), and our three boat flotilla anchored off this quiet end of town. We landed our dinghies at Porlamar's launch ramp where they were watched over by Armando and his staff. Armando invited us to fill our jerry jugs from his outdoor water faucet, and he was happy to let us in and out of the property's locked gate when the restaurant was closed.
The Immigration, Port Captain, and Customs officials were all professional and patient with us, and everywhere we went people wanted to know if we were enjoying our stay in Honduras. The only fee we were charged was 36 Lempiras to Customs on exiting the country (hardly worth the effort when the exchange rate is roughly 19 Lempiras to the dollar). Compared to the $80 and $160 it cost friends of ours to check in/out of Nicaragua and Guatemala respectively, Honduras was a bargain.
We had the taxing job of spending our last Lempiras before leaving the country early on Thursday. So we splurged on cheap bottles of Flor de Cana rum from Nicaragua, Salva Vida beer, and two visits to the air-conditioned Sarita ice cream shop for waffle cones (three scoops of ice cream on two waffle cones for the equivalent of $4!). We also ate a delicious Chinese dinner at Casita Chou where the three dishes we ordered were so huge that we got two more meals out of them as take away. Both the ice cream and the Chinese place are just a couple of blocks down from the church towards the water.
Thursday morning we motored back out the channel against the last of the flood tide and it seemed to take us most of the day to clear the Gulf of Fonseca where it was mostly calm and flat. We hadn't really planned on leaving the Gulf of Fonseca so soon, but once we got out of the San Lorenzo channel the conditions were benign and we thought "well, let's just keep on going." That all changed and by 10 PM we were hove to in 30-35 knots of wind and 8' seas. The entire coast of Nicaragua was gusting 25-30 knots with brief "calms" of 10-15 and lumpy 4-6' seas. All of it was on our nose. Nakia doesn't make any headway in those conditions and we actually hove to twice because it wasn't worth the effort and fuel to keep slogging into it. It was never scary or dangerous, just tedious, uncomfortable, and so very frustrating not to be making better progress. Things finally improved the second night when we got back in closer to shore and stayed two miles off the beach. The wind was still blasting, but the seas were better and we could motor into it with a double reefed main up to give us an extra boost. We had to dodge fishing pangas but we didn't care. Frankly, the trip sucked! Compared to the Nicaraguan coast the Tehuantepec was a piece of cake.
After it seemed like the trip would never end we finally dropped anchor in Bahia Santa Elena (north of Playa del Coco), Costa Rica on Saturday afternoon. The wind is still gusty, but the water is flat and 72 degrees, and we woke to 75 degrees in the cabin this morning. Oh, and two more words - parrots and monkeys. We aren't in Mexico anymore!
Linda and John
{GMST}10|55.104|N|85|47.418|W|Bahia Santa Elena|Bahia Santa Elena{GEND}

Up a creek in Honduras

Not in a bad sense, just literally. Saturday night we were reviewing the pros and cons of spending a whole day getting to San Lorenzo, Honduras from where we were anchored with Sailor's Run. We'd just done a long run and were looking forward to relaxing out at the islands in the Gulfo de Fonseca, but then I said, oh, let's just be wild and crazy for a change and do it. So here we sit in another mangrove estuary but this time on our own anchor and not a mooring buoy, and instead of a resort paradise there's a small town on shore.

Thinking that we needed to get to the channel entrance at the beginning of the flood tide we started out motoring at 0600, but once past Isla Meanguera we could shut the engine off and start sailing. In fact even before we got to the first ship buoy the race was on with Sailor's Run. We had a great sail following the well buoyed channel to Puerto Henecan. It reminded us so much of sailing in the Delta with the muddy green water and clearly visible shoal areas outside of the channel. The best part was that there were no power boats zooming by and throwing big wakes at us. In fact, there were no other boats at all except for Dale on the Islander Freeport 41 Parrot Bay who was waiting to lead us through the short channel from the ship turning basin at Henecan to the anchorage off of San Lorenzo. He has been living on his boat here for over a year and was happy to see our gringo faces.

Of course it was Easter Sunday and the beach was packed even though the beach in question is just a rocky, muddy shore exposed at low tide. There were a few inflatable pool toys and one toy raft but mostly people were just waist high enjoying the cool (well, 83 degree) water. We headed to Dale's favorite watering hole, Porlamar, where we met the owner, Armando, his two children, and his twin brothers. John tried two different kinds of beer, Salva Vida and Port Royal (he hated the later), but he still misses Pacifico and Victoria. I had a limonada which was very sweet and made with shaved ice, but otherwise just like a limonada. No botanas (snacks/appetizers) came with the drinks and we were starving, so we ordered hamburgers and fries since the only other choices were expensive mariscos (seafood). Dale recommends a good Chinese restaurant on the same street as the church and two ice cream stores, but he can't think of a single place serving good Honduran food.

He arranged to have Armando drive us around yesterday to get some Lempiras from an ATM, and then we checked in with Migracion and El Capitania de Puerto. There were no fees to check-in and there's only supposed to be a small fee when we check-out. We explored the indoor Mercado Municipal which seemed to have more eateries than produce stands, but maybe that was just because it was so soon after Semana Santa. There's also a small super mercado for grocery shopping, but the produce there was limited and higher priced so we're happy we stocked up in Usulutan before leaving Barillas. There's a shrimp cannery in town, a couple of large hotels, several banks, and still some Peace Corps presence (Save the Children).

Other than some dugout canoes and a very few aluminum or fiberglass larger panga type boats (still smaller than the Mexican pangas), there is very little boat traffic here. The ones without outboards paddle in and out with the tides, doing some fishing. We swing with the tides and enjoy a good breeze every afternoon. Today the wind is especially high, probably because there's a papagayo blowing, making it hotter than usual in the cabin (94 degrees and 33% humidity). Up until now we've been at about 90 degrees and in the 60's for humidity. Last night we had a brief rain shower, but not enough to clean the boat. I'm not sure three summers in the Sea of Cortez prepared us for this heat, and no one should ever complain about a summer in the Sea again! At least there the water temperature is cooler...

We were happy to find that if we aim our antenna north and amplify it with a steel bowl, we can still receive Sirius satellite radio. Even better news was hearing today that the Justice Department has approved the Sirius/XM merger and now it's up to the FCC to give the final go ahead. Even though we don't expect to receive the signal much farther south of here, we're hoping the two will merge since they each have a lot to offer.

We have to keep pinching ourselves to believe we're not in Mexico anymore. True this isn't like any place we've visited in MX, but on the other hand it doesn't feel all that different yet. We plan to explore around here for a few more days before heading on to Costa Rica.

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?13,24.640,N,87,26.640,W,San%20Lorenzo,

Punta de Amapala, El Salvador

We dropped our mooring buoy at Barillas Marina Club at 5:00 AM for the two hour trip out the estuary and over the river bar. Angel led us out with his panga and we were followed by Brisa and Beaudacious, two much faster boats than Nakia. The slowest boat has to go first or it will get left behind which is probably a pain for the fast boats. Brisa was chomping at the bit and finally passed us when we were through the worst of the sloppy waves. And our nice boat wash was all for nothing as we watched the bow sprit plow straight down into a couple of big troughs, throwing spray back off both sides.

We handed Angel a small tip for providing his services so early in the morning, raised sail, shut off the engine, and sailed the entire rest of the way to an anchorage just inside of Amapala between Punta las Mueludas and Playa el Tamarindo. This is just an okay anchorage (we had to set the rocker stopper), but served our purposes for setting the hook before sunset. We were joined by our friends Jeff and Debbie on Sailor's Run who are trying to talk us into going to San Lorenzo, Honduras which is near Puerto Henecan. This is up another estuary, and we're not sure we want to go that far out of our way, but it could be an adventure so we may do it!

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?13,10.446,N,87,54.228,W,Punta%20Amapala,

Barillas Marina Club

Yesterday we took the free shuttle bus out of the resort for a trip to town. This is a gated compound 45 minutes by air-conditioned, Toyota, 26 passenger van (complete with armed guard) to Usulutan, which is a much bigger city than I was expecting. But other than that small window of reality the rest of the stay is pure resort paradise. They have about a dozen palapa tables under palms and shade trees, each with an electrical outlet and internet (hard connection or wireless). There's a beautiful swimming pool with jacuzzi but the water is a little too warm to be very refreshing in the 90 degree afternoons. It's nice during the day because of the breeze, but when that dies off before sunset it's brutal out on the boat. We've learned to cover up against the bugs and sit out in the cockpit with a fan blowing in order to stay out of the heat down below. There's a restaurant and bar with resort prices, two showers, and a tienda where you drop your laundry off for 24 hour service (a bargain at $1.25/kilo - I paid 11 pesos/kilo in La Crucecita and had to take it in to town myself). Diesel is $4.50/gallon ($3.94 at the stations in town), but with a two hour fuel dock reservation you get to wash the boat and take on potable water. And everything you buy here goes on your marina tab so you don't have to carry any cash around with you. It's beautiful, but surreal at the same time. Other than the cabana guests, it's all cruisers. At $11.50/day for the mooring buoy, it's a pretty great deal. Oh, and your first drink is free so I highly recommend getting the most bang for your (free) buck and ordering the mango smoothie. Without alcohol it's a $7 drink and muy delicioso!

The trip into town was amazing. The bus goes Tuesday and Friday at 9:00 returning from the grocery store at 12:30. The first 25 minutes are on dirt roads through the surrounding sugar cane fields, and we had to squeeze by several huge trucks loaded with cane. We passed people on bicycles and on foot who were black with soot from harvesting the cane after the fields have been burned - not just men, but women too. The city itself was bustling with activity. We had missed breakfast so we headed directly for the street food and had our first pupusas (sort of a fried corn flour pancake stuffed with cabbage and cheese; six for $2) and fried plantains (.50 for a small bag). The latter were so thin and crisp that they were like banana potato chips. The female vendors in town were all wearing the prettiest waist aprons in all different colors decorated with ribbon and embroidery, and with several pockets for their money and change. It was all great fun, and made for a good diversion.

We're having a hard time wrapping our brains around using U.S. dollars in Spanish, and everyone laughed about the way their Spanish went right out the window when the greenbacks came out. The bills aren't too hard, but we have to learn what they call the coins in Spanish. And the quarters feel light and thin after using the 10p coin for so long.

This morning we arranged for a staff member to take us out on a 20 minute hike through the cane fields and jungle (more like woods) to where a family lives near a troop of spider monkeys. We were told that the soldiers during the war years used to kill and eat the monkeys, but that this family looks after them now. An older man called the monkeys in from the trees and we all held out our bananas for them to take. We had brought the U.S. style eating bananas, which they would eat, but only after they'd gotten some of the man's local bananas which are shorter and fatter. Two of the female monkeys had small black babies clinging to them, there were a few juveniles out on their own, and several adults. We all brought things to contribute to the human family's upkeep, and John's brand new soccer ball was a huge hit with the one and only boy, about seven years old. The rest of the children were girls, from a toddler up to about 10 years old. We will pass on to cruisers coming after us that the family would especially like children's clothing, shoes (they were all barefoot), and school type supplies.

On our way through the cane fields we stopped to photograph workers using machetes to cut the cane that couldn't be harvested by machine. Because the cane has to be burnt before it's harvested it's a dirty job. One man going by on a bicycle stopped to pose for pictures with his machete and apologized for his hands being too dirty to shake our hands. Another figure in shapeless soot covered clothing walked up and he introduced his wife who tilted back her hat so that we could see her face and hair better. Someone finally noticed that they were both barefoot and we had mistaken their black feet for shoes. After all the picture taking and laughter with the man several of us put dollar bills in his shirt pocket as thanks for being a good sport with us. He was very appreciative and we picked out "milagro" (miracle) several times in his farewell to us.

The two experiences were awkward, thrilling, humbling, and gratifying all at the same time. It's very hard to find a balance between gawking outsider and helping to make a difference in people's lives who are enriching ours with their contact. I'm sure we didn't handle the exchange perfectly, but hope that we didn't do any damage either.

Linda and John

Bar crossing and final T'pec thoughts

We are in paradise and happy to be quiet and still after five days and six nights of continuous travel. We had a perfect spinnaker reach yesterday afternoon, passing both of our larger companion boats. It would have looked even more like a three boat regatta if they had had spinnakers to fly also. All too soon the wind died and we motored the rest of the way to the river bar entrance.

We called the marina before 8 AM and they sent an angel to guide us in - literally, the panga driver's name is Angel. By 8:20 we were lined up behind him making our way through the confused wave chop, and by 8:50 we were through the worst of it and into calm enough waters for me to take a shower. Angel tied us to a mooring buoy at 9:50 and we got to work putting the boat away. To our surprise the official greeting party (marina manager, Port Captain, Customs, Immigration, and National Police) arrived within the hour to come aboard for our paperwork. This was very embarrassing because, even though I had read about the process countless times, I did not have the boat tidied up below, and we had neglected to put the customary soft drinks in the fridge. A C- grade for Nakia's first real foreign port entry (in Mexico you go to all their offices, they don't come to you). We will have to do better next time, but at least we had both showered that morning!

Once the panga returned all the officials to shore, it came back for the six of us to go in and complete the check in process with the marina and Immigration. For $10 each we got a nifty sticker in our passports which acts as a visa good for the four Central American countries which have signed the NAFTA agreement. Bad ol' Costa Rica is the lone holdout, probably because their economy is doing just fine without it.

Formalities completed we all retired to the club restaurant for our "first drink free" and lunch. Everything had happened so fast that we'd all missed breakfast and were starving. Knowing that anything alcoholic would knock me flat, and want to get the biggest bang out of the free offer, I ordered a mango smoothie without alcohol - it was heaven. John had his first Bahia, the local beer, and we sat back to swap war stories about the trip. Most of the rest of the group waiting with us last week in Marina Chahue wandered by our table, and we got to hear their stories too.

Between the 10th and 11th of March, nine boats departed Huatulco for El Salvador. One boat left Monday morning and went straight across to Puerto Madero. They had 14' seas and 30-35 knots of wind. Five boats left Monday night and followed split routes, with some going north and crossing 10-15 miles off the beach, and one or two staying close to the beach like we did. The former had regular, but large seas (green water over the bow) and the same high winds. Our group of three boats that left Tuesday night and the other "beach" boats had high winds but small waves. We definitely feel that close in to shore was the way to go if you had a forecast with any north wind component in it at all. It's a longer trip but so much more comfortable. If we had gotten a forecast with no north wind component to it for at least five days, then we might have considered the straight shot across. We also had at least a knot of foul current almost the entire trip. We're looking forward to hearing the stories of the boats which waited to leave Saturday and Sunday. It is so true that one of the hardest parts of cruising is waiting for weather!

We've signed up for the twice weekly free shuttle bus trip to town tomorrow morning. It comes complete with an armed guard (this entire compound/resort is protected by armed guards) so stay tuned for more!

Linda and John

{GMST}13|10.714|N|088|27.070|W|March 2008|Bar Crossing{GEND}

{GMST}13|15.789|N|088|29.159|W|March 2008|Barillas Marina{GEND}

Guatemalan morning

It's dawn on the Guatemalan coastline and I can just barely make out the Guatemalan trees under the Guatemalan clouds. John let me have an extra long off watch (almost four hours) and, coupled with the fact that my spirits are always highest at sunrise, it promises to be another great day of passage making. I apologize for sending such brief reports up until now, but we were either preoccupied with sailing the boat (i.e., just hanging on), dodging fishing traffic, trying to get some sleep, trying to get something to eat, or John was sleeping out on the settee where I normally use the computer. It's relatively flat right now and we're motoring, plus it's still cool, so he's retired to the pullman berth (where we don't get much breeze come the afternoon). Oh, temps have been mid-80's with humidity 65-85% and the water temps have been low-80's since Thursday.

So what have I left out? It's been challenging at times, but nothing more than we've handled before. In fact we've had worse seas coming down the coast of Oregon and California. It's just that, except for summer weather in the Sea of Cortez, we've been very complacent about "weather" along the Mexican coast and we forget what it's like to sail in more than 20-25 knots of wind. I was very nervous about "what might happen" while we were crossing the potentially worst part of the T'pec but once I dropped that frame of mind, I realized that it was great sailing. Well, it would have been nice to have been able to keep the boat clean for a bit longer - we're now covered in a salty crust, and I'm wishing for a big rain cloud (but no lightning, please!).

Aside from the nice periods of sailing, it's mostly tedium. Until yesterday we've been tired and sore and it was a challenge to do routine things. Mostly we are so anxious to try to get some sleep on our off watches that things like eating and personal hygiene take a back seat to hitting the sack. I finally ate into precious sleep time and took a real shower yesterday morning. Since I'd already lost those minutes from my off watch period I didn't bother to attend the border crossing ceremonies which occurred after I'd already gone to bed. Although I did wake up long enough to hear John playing a recording of the Guatemalan national anthem to the other boats, and all the ensuing radio chatter about flag raising.

I just remembered that I wanted to explain the reason we were so tired and sore after the first few days is because sailing is much more work than motoring (people like to call it motor sailing, but it's really just motoring). When the wind is constantly changing from light to heavy and back to light again, John has to reef/unreef the main sail, roll in/out the jib, drop/raise the staysail, and take on/off the preventer for the main. It's exhausting for him and even my hands were sore from the little bit of line handling I do for him. Maybe some day we'll find out what it's like to sail in a nice steady tradewind breeze, but that's sure not what we have along the eastern Pacific coastline.

So far the only casualty has been Ziggy's grass. We're trying to nurse it back to health, including trimming back the individual leaves, after it took a saltwater bath our first day out. We store our dinghy right side up on the foredeck and stow odds and ends in it to clear the decks. His grass normally goes right up in the bow of the dinghy and he's had visitation rights on our calmer passages. John and I knew that the potential for taking salt spray over the bow was too great to leave it there, but we waited too long to move it and by then no one wanted to carry the heavy load back to the cockpit in rolling seas. I saw it take an actual dousing of Golfo de T'pec before I had a chance to go up and rescue it. We've been soaking the grass in fresh water since then, cutting off the burnt ends of the leaves, and hoping it will come back to it's former lush greenery for Ziggy's sake. Ziggy himself has been fine. I'm sure he doesn't enjoy this any more than we really do, but he sleeps a lot, and takes advantage of any calm periods to go off-leashing forward of the cockpit.

Last night Zephyrus and Nakia stood by while Fortuitous wrestled with a transmission problem. We spent a lovely afternoon sailing in light breezes over a long easy swell, and turned our engines on when the wind died off at sunset. Unfortunately Fortuitous' transmission gremlin was back (last seen in Zihuatanejo), and it took until midnight to get a temporary fix in place. We were close to shore, it was flat calm, and we all just bobbed there with our anchor lights on. We managed to launch our dinghy so that John could row a cruiser kludge over to Ralph and Cheryl. We will see today if they stop in at Puerto Quetzal or continue on with us to El Salvador (www.barillasmarina.com by the way, if you want to take a look at our next stop).

Linda and John

{GMST}13|52.960|N|091|22.881|W|March 2008|Guatemala{GEND}

Good bye Mexico

We entered Guatemalan waters this morning at 1020 local. Ceremonies included retiring the Mexican courtesy flag, hoisting John's home made Guatemalan flag and playing the Guatemalan national anthem over the radio for the two boats we're in company with (Zeferous and Fortuitous). We got out of Mexico just in time, our courtesy flag had about had it after getting blasted in the Tehuantepec. There's only a little red left showing.

Linda celebrated by taking a shower and then sleeping through the ceremonies.

John and Linda

{GMST}14|29.826|N|092|18.032|W|March 2008|Guatemalan Border{GEND}

Golfo de Black Hole

Well, here we are, still in the Golfo de Tehuantepec where at times it seems we'll never get out. After the wind cut back late yesterday we relaxed the reins and started to cut the SE corner of the gulf. But then when the wind came out of the E/NE there was a lot of wind chop and we got blown 10-12 miles off shore. Nothing dangerous, just uncomfortable and very, very slow going. We finally hove to just so John could get an hour or so of sleep. There also seems to be at least a knot of counter current impeding our progress. So everyone is tired, but we shouldn't complain after hearing a guy out in the middle with 12-14 occasionally breaking seas and 30-35 knots of wind our first night out. That's why we elected to keep close to shore!

Linda and John

{GMST}15|31.000|N|093|34.124|W|March 2008|Golfo de Tehuantepec{GEND}

Bahia Salina Cruz

We got underway yesterday (Tuesday) at 4:00 PM as planned and had to motor all night once the sun went down. Had kind of a bouncy night but nothing terrible. Salina Cruz came up on the radar at sunrise, just as planned, and we had time to get the staysail up before we were out of the lee of the headland and it got too windy. It was nice sailing (no worse than going through the "slot" on SF Bay on a summer afternoon), but then continued to build to 35 knots. Since he was already soaked by salt spray from a wave that broke on the windward side and flew across the stern, John went up to the mast to put the second reef in the main sail. We are making good headway and appear to be through the worst of it at this point. We are also maintaining our head start over Fortuitous (Ralph and Cheryl) and Zephyrus (Dan and Lorraine), who are traveling with us!

Linda and John

{GMST}16|10.662|N|094|38.381|W|March 2008|Golfo de Tehuantepec{GEND}

Departing Huatulco

Just a short note to say that we are finally almost out of here! We plan to depart Huatulco late this afternoon, and will see how far we get. If it's too bouncy out there we'll duck back into Tangolunda and go tomorrow. At least five boats left yesterday but we haven't heard any reports from them yet. We are departing with two other boats closer to our speed. Will report our progress as we go!

I know I still owe everyone a Oaxaca report but it's too long and I'll have to wait until we have internet access to post it later.

Linda and John

{GMST}15|45.162|N|096|07.662|W|March 2008|Bahia Huatulco{GEND}

Marina Chahue

Nakia is tied to the dock in Bahia Huatulco waiting for a weather window to cross the Golfo de Tehuantepec (T'pec). The idea is to wait for a forecasted period of calm, lasting long enough to cross the gulf into Guatemalan waters. The area is notorious for the high winds that blow down from Bahia de Campeche in the north. One tactic boats use is to cut straight across the gulf as fast as they can. Since we are a slow boat we will hug the shoreline so that if the wind comes up, we won't have the heavy seas that build up farther off shore.

For now we sit and watch the weather. When the T'pec is blowing, the bays around Huatulco range from uncomfortable to untenable, and most boats elect to wait in the marina. This is unfortunate since the marina is expensive (.60 USD/day or .35 USD/month) with no amenities other than electricity and potable water. To take the bite out of the cost Enrique, the marina manager, gives in and out privileges so you visit the bays and come back to the marina as much as you want. He keeps track of your nights and will add them up to give you the monthly rate if you stay long enough. There is no internet at all in the marina, but you can take your laptop to the Villa Blanca hotel for "free" wireless (which ended up costing us 100p for three beers and two limonadas) or to The Lighthouse cafe which we haven't tried yet (so we don't know how much their beers are). There is no self-service laundry in the marina, but there is a pickup/dropoff service for 20p/kilo which is very expensive for Mexico. The marina bathrooms range from basic - with one toilet and sink for each gender, to primitive - with an open air outdoor shower "room" which has two shower heads (cold water only) inside a set of chest high swinging doors. John showers with me and then patiently stands guard outside while I finish up my longer shower process!

The surge in the marina is about the same as that at the Pier 39 or Monterey Bay marinas, though we haven't yet experienced a full T'pec gale which is supposed to be a fender squisher. Right now there's a large power boat on the end tie that we're nervous walking by because his fenders sound like they could blow at any minute.

The town of La Crucecita is about a 25 minute walk or a 16p taxi ride from the marina. Created by a Mexican government agency called FONATUR to serve the people working for the purpose built resort area, John has dubbed it MexiDisney. It has bit of a surreal quality to it with some areas very slightly resembling U.S. suburbia. The streets are wide, paved, and straight, with lots of green belt areas. There's a Super Che grocery store between the marina and town which reminded us of a micro Safeway, complete with an aisle of international/imported foods for the tourists staying in condos. We're looking forward to finding the local mercado for fruit and vegetable provisioning.

The best part of Marina Chahue is Enrique. We haven't needed his services yet but we are told that he makes weekly propane/fuel runs. There's no Pemex dock in the marina but you can jerry jug to the one on the darsena from the anchorage in the cruise ship harbor. Enrique also watches the weather in the T'pec for us, as does the Port Captain's office. We heard from another marina tenant that the marina is for sale, and until then the current owners aren't interested in making any improvements. So Enrique does his best to make your stay as pleasant as possible.

We came back after six nights in Oaxaca to find a film of dirt on every surface down below in the boat. Apparently they're grading the parking lot area in preparation for paving so it's dirtier than usual. We were going to wash the boat today, but a water main on our dock is broken so the water has been turned off all day. Hopefully it will be back on tomorrow.

We're looking forward to getting out of here and getting on our way again!

Linda and John

{GMST}15|45.814|N|096|07.312|W|March 2008|Marina Chahue{GEND}

La India

Bahias de Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico

We had a nice slow sail yesterday from Puerto Angel to our current anchorage in La India, passing some of the anchorages SW of here at mid-day, the height of tour boat activity. This is a very small anchorage tucked behind a reef with swell breaking over it. John wasn't really happy with the set of our main anchor, thinking that it might have ended up in rock. So before setting a stern anchor we picked everything up and motored the short distance out into the larger bay of Chachacual where we had seen a charter sailboat anchor for an hour. This didn't feel any better and a panga tour boat operator told us the spot we were looking at was shallow and rocky, and that La India was better! So back we went to La India, anchoring a little closer to the sandy beach this time. All this because the water was too cloudy to see the bottom in 20 ft.

We couldn't have timed this visit better as the weather is very settled and there is nothing going on in the Gulf of Tehuantepec (to be referred to as the T'pec from now on). We didn't quite get our stern anchor set to have our bow directly facing the swell coming over the reef so we put out the rocker stopper last night and are very comfortable. The water was murky green with a few jelly fish when we came in but by late afternoon the jellies seemed to be gone and we had a short swim to the beach and back.

This morning we took a dinghy ride retracing our steps back to Puerto Sacraficios, a large bay with sandy beaches and a roped off rocky coral area for snorkeling just in front of the beach palapa restaurants. We arrived before any of the tour boats and had a nice snorkel in clear water free of jelly fish. We didn't see anything outstanding in the way of fish but it was very interesting to see so much coral, and it appeared to be a good fish nursery. There's another roped off coral area around the corner (heading back towards La India) at Jicaral, but at low tide this was very shallow and full of small mauve jelly fish with tentacles so we confined our exploration to a beach walk.

Both the NE beach at Sacraficios and the one here at Chachacual have obvious turtle tracks leading to and from nests. We didn't disturb them to verify the presence of eggs but the large dug out pits are quite evident. Most of the beaches here are a fine yellow sand and are quite steep with sharply breaking surf. Behind the beaches the vegetation is too thick to be passable, and tinder box dry with a sprinkling of (organ?) cactus. We've seen kingfisher, osprey, both turkey and black vultures, some kind of an eagle or hawk not in our Western Birds book, and a beautiful bird pictured on the National Park signs which we'll have to identify later.

We hate to go into the marina after only scratching the surface of all the little bays here, but John is anxious to get our inland trip behind us. We'll see how we feel about moving tomorrow!

Linda and John

{GMST}15|42.602|N|096|11.856|W|February 2008|La India{GEND}

Zihuatanejo to Puerto Angel

We had an uneventful passage after departing Zihua Sunday morning. We were having a great mix of good sailing with a little motoring during the transitions from sea to land breezes and back again, but with a knot of favorable current we were topping the average speed that John had used for trip planning. At that rate we would arrive in Huatulco well before sunrise Wednesday, and we don't like going into new places in the dark if we can help it. The next best anchorage appeared to be Puerto Angel but we had to put the pedal to the metal to get there before dark. I just hate it when we get stuck between those kinds of choices. So we essentially wasted a lovely day of sailing yesterday by cranking out the miles with the sails up wing and wing and the engine at full throttle. But we managed to get the anchor down at 6:30 PM, in time for showers and dinner before hitting the sack for a full night's sleep.

We saw whales off in the distance the first morning and, just when I thought we'd never see another one, I caught sight of a couple as we approached Puerto Angel. A boobie joined us our second night out and we let him stay on the bow pulpit since he was so pretty. He had a beautiful blue and purple beak but with bright red feet, so maybe he was a juvenile blue-footed boobie. He took off just after sunrise and we hope he found some other boobies to show him around his new neighborhood. The moon was almost full so we couldn't see the stars or bio luminescence clearly, but after it set we had a good show with the Southern Cross in plain sight, a few shooting stars, and dolphin torpedo streaks through our wake. John got to see the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle thanks to Jerry on Destarte, who gave out the info over the evening SSB net (I was off watch and sleeping). And finally, as we approached Puerto Angel we saw scores of shearwaters (sea birds) and tens of turtles, including a pair doing the baby making mambo. After we anchored John was putting the swim ladder over the side for a sunset bath when he noticed all the jelly fish in the water. Now we know why there are so many turtles in the area.

We spoke with Wingstar in the anchorage and found out that the Capitania de Puerto requires all boats to check-in. Since they couldn't recommend anything special to see or do ashore, we decided to depart this morning before the Capitania noticed we were there. The cool thing about the beaches in Puerto Angel is that they are steep sand similar to what we remember from Maruata. The panga fishermen do the same landing drill of running straight at the beach at full speed, slamming the boat onto the sand, and killing the motor after the boat stops 30-40 ft up the beach. Very exciting to watch! It's a pretty place but I woke up in the middle of the night and had to bury my nose in the sheets from the horrible smell of burning plastic, and there were plumes of black smoke as we left this morning. It's good for the turtles that they collect and burn their plastic garbage, but maybe not so good for the people living there.

The water is still thick with jellyfish and several of the smallest turtles we've seen as we make our way towards Huatulco this morning. Not sure yet where we'll end up, but we may anchor out for a couple of nights before heading into Marina Chahue. Oh, I almost forgot - it sure feels weird to be heading in an easterly, rather than southerly direction. Yesterday morning the sun rose directly in front of the bow!

Linda and John

{GMST}15|39.888|N|096|29.633|W|February 2008|Puerto Angel{GEND}

Zihuatanejo

A week was barely enough to scratch the surface of all Zihua has to offer but on the other hand, any more time there might have killed us. Needless to say we had forgotten what a great place it is, especially if you love to shop and eat out. The bay is still not the greatest for swimming due to the murky water, and you can't stay for more than a week without keeping a close eye on your chain and bottom paint or you'll be in for a rude shock. Everyone we've talked to is amazed by how much and how rapid the growth is here.

And I'm not talking about hotels and condos, although I'm sure there's been some of that too. But on the whole it feels just the same as it did in 2004-05 and all our favorite places are still here. Tacos at Carnitas Uruapan in the mercado, empenadas con crema at the panaderia, al pastor at Los Braseros, gelato across from the basketball court, pozole at Santa Prisca, internet at Pinovery, and "DaveFest" (a birthday party for Dave on Sweet Lorraine) at Las Gatas.

Thanks to suggestions from friends, new discoveries this visit include: sunset drinks at Soltaventa overlooking the bay, an outstanding Chinese meal at Mi Chayita, and meeting for drinks at the corner bar next to the Black Bull club. Literally on the corner, with a few stools on both sides, we often had the sidewalk filled with friends enjoying Pacificos, margaritas, and micheladas lesbianas (beer, lime, Worcestershire and tobasco sauce, and Clamato juice) all served up by the adorable Fabiola. After more drinking and late nights out than we've done all winter, we had to move our departure day from Saturday to Sunday just to recover!

We enjoyed a gourmet pizza dinner on Flying Free with good friends, Steve and Lisa, whom we hadn't seen since last June. They had just returned from an inland car trip to Morelia with Don and Peggy on Interlude so we got to see their Monarch butterfly pictures and video (not as boring as it sounds!). They elected to take a four mile rutted dirt road with a guide and horses to an off the beaten track viewing location. They were already at high altitude and this added more than a couple of thousand feet, but Steve and Don hate horses and insisted on walking. The extreme altitude almost got both of them so if you decide to do this, be sure to get a horse.

Lisa is my shopping guru and she had taken a "shopping tour" of Zihua with Cheryl on Lazy Days. After looking at some of the beautiful souvenirs she'd chosen I had her give me an abbreviated tour for the things I especially liked. John returned with me later to help make the final selection since this was more than we usually spend on trinkets. We bought an exquisitely painted gourd, and two small lacquer bowls with colorful scenes painted on them. Since the gourd is likely to stay safely stored until it can be displayed in a house some day, we'll have to post a picture of it for all to enjoy!

John played two more rounds of Texas Hold 'Em Friday night, and once again the pots stayed on Southern Belle. Saturday he rewired the cockpit speakers, we made one last trip into town, and unfortunately we had to skip the evening out at the wrestling match with the Summer in the Sea gang. It's a good thing we didn't join them since they didn't get back to the boats until 1 AM, but after their rave reviews (funniest thing they've ever seen) it sounds like that's a must see for next time.

We left this morning for Huatulco, where we should arrive some time on Wednesday. The water temperature is a chilly 73 degrees, but we expect the days to be increasingly warmer as we head south to new places.

Linda and John

Arrived Zihuatanejo Bay

195 nautical miles in 38 hrs, sailed 90 miles. Caught 44 inch male dorado.

{GMST}17|38.182|N|101|33.216|W|February 2008|Zihuatanejo{GEND}

Hasta Luego Santiago Bay

We are currently underway for Zihuatanejo and, as John said this morning on his last Amigo net as net manager/controller, leaving our friends behind in Santiago Bay was one of the hardest things we've ever had to do. Besides Stan and MJ, our very best buddy boaters who are now our dearest CLODs*, there happened to be a convergence of several summer in the Sea boats and other old and new friends who won't be sailing farther south this year. This made it especially hard to sail out of the anchorage yesterday without tears. Thank you to everyone who stopped by or got on the radio to give us your well wishes and encouragement. You helped put the emphasis on the excitement of beginning a new journey rather than the sadness of leaving good friends.

Our final week in the charming town of Santiago Bay was another fun filled one, with more good food (ice cream and pizza right out of the SolCasa freezer!), darts, futbol (another Picudos win!), and power shopping for provisions. Stan and MJ's van really got a workout hauling people and groceries, at one point dragging the exhaust tube over topes (speed bumps) while hauling a load of nine people back to the beach. We paid a visit to a botanero in Santiago Bay where the singers were tone deaf (but enthusiastic), and we speculated that the waitresses were moon (day?) lighting as private entertainment on the side. They didn't have a hard liquor license so I drank my first Coronas in years, and the botanas (snacks) included a lukewarm and very thin fish soup, fish ceviche, and that was all. We had a great time soaking up the local color, but next time I'd go back to Bar Social in Manzanillo for the food! Stan and MJ took us on a road trip north to Barra de Navidad on Monday where we picked up our mail from Adios, stopped to talk to cruising friends at almost every block, and ate lunch out with some of the gang. Southern Belle hosted another game of Texas Hold 'Em (my first) where I actually came in fourth out of ten players, and our host, George, finally won the pot. Ziggy went after a Tarantula Hawk wasp one afternoon, John couldn't catch him in time, and Z. got stung right under his chin. He was obviously uncomfortable for the rest of the day but didn't have any respiratory problems from it. And finally, Nakia organized a happy hour get together at the El Rey ramada on the beach which turned into an impromptu birthday party for me. People from 20 or so boats attended, there were cakes, ron ponch, and even presents; it made for the perfect bon voyage party too.

We can't thank Stan and MJ enough for the "mi casa es su casa" offer they extended us. The miles they put on the van, the bottomless beer bottles, the wireless, the Skype phone, the grocery shopping and touring, the walks, the dart games, the laundry service, and of course, best of all, the warm friendship they share with us, are what make it especially difficult to leave Mexico. And it was especially reassuring to find that this is one of those simpatico relationships that extends beyond sailing onto land. Thanks you two, and you'll be hearing a "codigo azul" from us again one of these days!

Linda and John

*Cruisers Living On Dirt

Pictures

The spot where a tarantula hawk (wasp) stung Ziggy (2/7/2008)

Ziggy's double chin after the wasp sting (2/2/2008)

Not feeling very good

The new sissy bar for another solar panel

Ziggy at six months old

Ziggy in his harness in front of his crate (December)

Foggy passage from Mazatlan to Chacala in November

Santiago Bay

Well, we've been anchored here in Santiago Bay since January 21 so I'm going to write a very condensed version of what we've been up to. We're keeping our computer at SolCasa (our friend's house) and there just hasn't been much of an opportunity to sit down and write.

We play darts with Stan and MJ at SolCasa in the afternoons.

We go for walks in the hills and on the beach to collect beach glass for SolCasa's outdoor planters.

We eat: pollo rostizada and pizza para llevar; fish tacos and ceviche at La Suerte; tacos de adobada (with the best homemade corn tortillas I've ever eaten) and chachitas (like an empanada) de frijoles at Los Gordos; tortas (toasted sandwiches) at La Casita; and the best appetizers at Bar Social, a historic botanero in Manzanillo, where little plates of food (guacamole, ceviche, yummy potato salad, and jicama) are free with your drinks. If you go to Bar Social, wait until after 2 PM when it should be livelier. We were starving and went in when they opened at Noon, and were the only customers. Oh, and today we had John's famous vegetable curry over rice.

Sunday afternoons are reserved for futbol (soccer) games. Manzanillo has two divisions that rotate weekends so you can see a game played every weekend. Last weekend we saw the Manzanillo Picudos (swords/stingers) beat the Autlan Caneros del Grullo (cane growers) 2-1. Tickets were 20 pesos, beers were 15, and three delicious tacos de carnitas were 21. The stands were in the shade, and it was a great way to spend an afternoon (especially listening to the fans calling the referees, "pendejo" and "cabron" - not nice words in front of the kiddies...). After the futbol game we went to El Caribe, a sunset beach bar, to have a drink while we watched the Queen Victoria (Cunard) cruise ship depart after her maiden stop in Manzanillo.

We give SolCasa a call on the VHF and our driver (Stan) picks us up at our favorite dinghy landing - up the estuary and just inside the pedestrian bridge at La Boquita, where we park it right where the cars park. This is nice because we don't have to land or launch in surf, and there's usually no problem with meeting other boats going up the estuary in the morning. But when we go back at the end of the day, MJ goes with us and walks out to the end of the point to watch for incoming pangas and breaking swell if the tide's going out. One time she signalled that there was an incoming panga and we turned tail and hustled the dink back into a wider area where we could pull off to the side to let him pass. They come in at full speed and throw quite a wake, so it's best to stay out of their way. We've also timed the swell sets badly but, thanks to MJ's signals and John's skillful driving, we haven't had a wave break over the bow yet.

Stan and MJ have been great about taking us to Wal Mart, Soriana, and Mega in search of esoteric items like pretzels (Wal Mart) and roach motels (never found any so they gave us theirs). They've also shared the location (Super Comacho) for the best teleros in Santiago. These are the rectangular rolls used for tortas, and are great for sandwiches on the boat. We've done most of our provisioning already, and will make one more trip to try to fill every bin on Nakia before we leave.

We're waiting for mail from the States to arrive with Jayne on Adios in Barra de Navidad, and then we'll leave for Zihuatanejo. We'll miss hanging out with Stan and MJ in SolCasa, but we have to get moving south!

Linda and John

{GMST}19|06.358|N|104|23.671|W|February 2008|Santiago Bay{GEND}

Tenacatita

Arrived here on Thursday from Chamela. Started out sailing and had the spinnaker up for about an hour. We were poking along with the jib poled out when John realized that we weren't keeping up the average speed we needed to get in before dark. So we motored until we were outside of the entrance to Tenacatita bay where the winds typically pick up a bit. Sailed in the rest of the way, including a tour through the anchorage, before dropping sail to set the hook. Nice to be in warm temps again, in a relatively calm anchorage. Night time lows are high 60's, daytime highs are mid to high 80's, water temp is in the high 70's, and the humidity has only been 40-60% - woo hoo!

Friday morning we did a few chores and got settled in. Then John went to the beach to play bocci ball while I swam and cleaned the grass mustache we accumulated in Nuevo Vallarta off of Nakia's boot stripe. Then John made foccacia bread sticks to share at the 5:00 dinghy raft-up where everyone brings an appetizer (or in this case several dessert items) to pass around from dinghy to dinghy. We ate so much there that we came home and each had a pear to complete our "dinner."

Today was the big "jungle river" trip through the mangroves with Ceilidh since they'd never done it before. We went slow against the ebb tide spotting herons, egrets, pelicans, and crabs. I searched the big tree limbs for the leopard that Sweet Lorraine and Sail Soon swear they saw going in on Thursday, but we were pretty late in the morning for anything like that. Walked the "town" (really just a row of palapa restaurants) and were pleased to see that it's doing well. All the beach restaurants had new signs, courtesy of Corona beer, and the tienda (new two years ago) appeared well stocked and thriving. A new and well manicured RV park is probably helping the local economy.

We were surprised to see that the new construction at the far west end of the strip hadn't been completed and the small swimming pool is now filled with dirt and has a palm tree planted in it. We were never sure if it was going to be a private home, a restaurant, or a small hotel, but now it's housing a tractor and a couple of workmen. After a long wait for food (if that's to get you to buy more beers, it worked) we had an okay lunch at Chely's. The local specialty of fish rolls are up to 95 pesos but John splurged anyway. The dinghy landing has been improved with landscaping, a raked yard, a small building selling cocos helados, and "security." Used to be you just landed your dinghy and walked into town, but now there's someone there to greet you and help you with your dinghy. So now you have to pay for that "service" on the way out. Of course we never had problems landing our dinghy by ourselves or with security before, but that's mainland entrepeneurship for you.

Took the E-ticket ride out of the mangroves on a plane, which is really pretty stupid (sorry M&D) since there's always the chance of meeting a panga coming up the tunnel. Which we did. But he was going slow and I saw him soon enough for us to stop and pull over into the mangrove roots to let him pass. Once back on the anchorage side of the trip John played bocci ball and I took a beach walk. There was just enough time for a post bocci ball beer for John before he had to take his sewing machine over to Sweet Lorraine for a sail repair to Dave's main.

Just another day in Paradise as we say around here!

Linda and John

{GMST}19|17.836|N|104|50.284|W|January 2008|Tenacatita{GEND}

Free at last

Well we had sat on our butts long enough in PV that it didn't make sense to stick around for something as trivial as my birthday. So we hit the road yesterday and managed to make it around the Cabo Corrientes to one of our favorite winter hang outs: Isla Passavera in Chamela Bay. I can't think of a better birthday really; 1) we sailed 17 of the 23 hours it took to get here including two spinnaker reaches and 2) the six hours that we spent under power went just as we'd hoped and the motor ran like a top. So I guess you could say I had a stupendous birthday, right down to the hump back whale that leapt from the water not 50 feet from the boat as we sailed along at 6 knots.
Other highlights of the trip include:
1) a huge hump back whale show with a dozen or more animals breaching and fluking
2) sighting about 10 sea turtles
3) dozens of Jack Cravalle (a big, hard hitting game fish) swimming along in NAKIA's wake
4) the Southern Cross peeking out from behind the clouds just before sunrise
5) being the only boat at the Chamela bay islands, even though there are 20 boats at the town anchorage

John, Linda and Ziggy

{GMST}19|33.537|N|105|06.647|W|Free at last|Isla Passavera{GEND}

La Cruz, Nayarit

Well, if it's not one thing it's another. We finally made it out of the marina with the engine put back together. Dropped the anchor here off of La Cruz (NW of PV, still in Banderas Bay), turned the SSB radio on to pull up some weather email, and the radio no longer automatically tunes to the chosen station. John checked everything and thinks it might be a bad cable, so now we have one more thing we need to try to get down to us in Mexico before we jump off from Huatulco for Ecuador.
But the good news is that we're out of the marina after three weeks - yay! We'll reaclimate to the rolly seas today (John's putting out the rocker stopper this very minute), take my Stugeron in the morning, and be on our way south tomorrow - double yay! We're not even taking the dinghy off the foredeck while we're here. Ziggy slept through the whole seven miles here and hasn't even been on deck yet to survey his new surroundings (it's just after 4 PM CST). This morning we lifted the dinghy onto the dock to scrub the barnacles off the bottom. Wish we could say the same for Nakia's bottom but the water temp is too darn cold. Still at only 68 degrees. Friends of ours did their bottom today and he said even after two coffees with Baileys, he was still freezing. Also before we left the marina we tied Nakia up to the dock, took on water, and washed the decks. So we may be very slow, but we'll look good when all the other boats pass us.
The plan is to sail around Cabo Corrientes tomorrow and arrive in Chamela sometime on Wednesday. Will stay there one or more nights depending on the water temp. Hopefully we can get in and scrub the prop and bottom there.
I'll let John write about the whole fuel injection pump repair if he ever feels like it. It was expensive (he ended up ordering Yanmar parts from the States to expedite the repair), but once we got it back he did a great job of reinstalling it and getting the engine running again. It still needs some tweaking but he thinks it's good to go.
Great to be back on our way again!
Linda and John

{GMST}20|44.614|N|105|22.58|W|Anchored in front of new marina|La Cruz{GEND}

Happy New Year!

Marina Nuevo Vallarta (MNV)

We hope you've had as festive a holiday season as we've had, enjoying the company of new friends and old. We're still tied to the pilings here in MNV waiting for a repair on our fuel injection pump. In the meantime John is working on other minor projects, and we're taking advantage of great internet connectivity right from the boat thanks to the wireless service offered by an old Hans Christian friend, "Radio Rob."

The holidays started off with an invite to a Christmas Eve dessert party at one of the condos overlooking MNV. Friends of our neighbors on Sea Tern, also tied to the pilings, were gracious enough to invite us to join them in their home for brownies, mince meat pies, and the Seattle/Baltimore football game on TV. We had a quiet Christmas day and then shared a taxi to Marina Vallarta with Entropy for a fixed menu cruiser's dinner at one of the many restaurants lining the harbor.

As we took our seats and introductions were made, who should we find ourselves seated across from but Ken and Nancy Roper of Harrier. Ken is a sailing superstar from the pages of Latitude 38, well known for his many entries in the Singlehanded Sailing Society's Trans Pac (San Francisco to Kauai) race. It was an honor and a pleasure to spend the evening with them both.

Last night we took two buses and a dinghy ride with Sweet Lorraine to get out to Southern Belle, a catamaran anchored off the town of La Cruz. Ten of us were there for Texas Hold 'Em and Melinda's home made chili. I watched while John gave Dave a run for his money, but Dave took the pot for something like the fifth time in a row mostly due to his wild and unpredictable ("I know nothing about playing poker!") wagers (he especially likes saying, "All in!).

We skedaddled after 11 PM to grab a taxi back to MNV to see the NY's Eve fireworks at midnight. (Radio) Rob and Mary, formerly of Sweet Thing, had access to a friend's seventh floor condo overlooking the public and Paradise Village breakwaters. From there we had a view of the resort fireworks stretching around Banderas Bay all the way from Puerto Vallarta to La Cruz. Paradise Village banged theirs out so close together that it was all over in about 10 minutes, but we were right underneath them and it was a beautiful show. Thanks to Rob and Mary for including us and providing champagne for the midnight toast.

This morning we dragged ourselves out of bed early so that John could run the Amigo net, after which we attended the New Year's Day Bloody Mary, black-eyed peas, rice, and cabbage "brunch" hosted by Dick Markie, the Paradise Marina harbor master, and Radio Rob at the Vallarta Yacht Club. Dick cranked out the spicy Mary's and Rob was responsible for the peas. I know it sounds weird but the foods each have some significance having to do with luck and prosperity, and it was all delicious - and free, as a thank you to all the cruisers and YC members.

Nights are still too cold for resort wear, but the past few days have been sunny and clear with light breezes keeping daytime highs in the 70's. We went for a walk on the beach the other afternoon and were careful not to let the icy waves catch our bare feet. But the pale tourists were having fun in the surf, or at least their children were!

Feliz y prospero ano nuevo a todo!

Linda and John

Happy Holidays from Nuevo Vallarta

20 degrees 41.385 minutes North
105 degrees 17.525 minutes West

So we managed to get a spot on the pilings in Marina Nuevo Vallarta where we spent some time two years ago for the Banderas Bay Regatta when John crewed on Air Power. If we have to be tied up anywhere in Vallarta, this is ideal because it's only $8 a night. There's no electricity or water and we have to use the dinghy to get to the marina docks to go ashore, but the shower/bathrooms are very clean, the harbor master is very accommodating, and best of all Ziggy can't get off the boat so we don't have to keep close tabs on him. We came in late on Saturday after waiting for a very low tide to pass so we could cross the shallow bar entrance into Nuevo Vallarta. This is also the site of Paradise Village where we spent some time our first two winters in Mexico. Boy, have things changed there. You're now required to carry a special Paradise Village photo ID with you to access their property. Guards will stop you to check your ID if you try to cross any of their perimeters. This means we're not welcome to land our dinghy at the dock outside the Vallarta Yacht Club (which means no access to the mall there), nor can we get to the beach by walking through the Paradise Village resort. If we visit friends on boats in Paradise, we wouldn't be allowed to walk around the property with them either. Welcome to Paradise...

We had a good trip from Mazatlan, with a stop in Chacala rather than San Blas. We had originally planned to finally visit San Blas but negative reports of interference from the local self-appointed cruiser representative once again deterred us from stopping there. Instead we joined old friends for our first visit to Chacala, which was absolutely charming. We all anchored bow and stern to keep us pointed into the swell, and if you had a rocker stopper, you were wise to use it. It was a fun stop and we could have easily stayed longer. We played bocci ball on the beach and enjoyed the best shrimp empanadas in Mexico at the Las Brisas beach palapa (look for the three big flags on the roof), thanks to the expert guidance of Ray and Jayne on Adios. We also finally broke down and bought two small Huichol yarn pieces for much less than you would pay in a higher end place like La Cruz.

After two nights in Chacala we motored for awhile and then had an easy spinnaker run down to Punta de Mita on the NW edge of Banderas Bay. We spent three nights there visiting our friends Ralph and Nicole, and their three month old daughter, Delfina Marina, at Mita'z Pizza. They sell whole wheat baguettes that are out of this world, and they'll also deliver fresh pizzas to the dinghy landing (talk about pizza to go!). We also made a bus trip from there to meet up with V'ger in La Cruz, and to see the new marina there. It was good to visit with Casey and Annie, but very sobering to see what the new marina has done to the landscape of La Cruz. If you ever need an example of the risks associated with buying property in Mexico, just take a look at all the formerly ocean view/beach front homes that are now for sale because of new high rise development on land fill right in front of them. The little beach in front of Ana Bananas where we used to land our dinghies is now buried under dirt fill, beyond which is the huge new marina for mega yachts. At current rates of about .75/foot (which will rise to .90/foot when the marina is completed), it's way beyond the average full time cruiser's budget, but is perfect for people who want to leave their boats in Mexico while they go back to the States to work (to pay for the marina, to keep the boat, that they wish they could sail, while they have to work, to pay for the marina...). There are still lots of boats anchored outside the marina, but no place to land your dinghy other than at the marina (for $3/day), or by braving a steep scramble up the seawall inside the harbor. It all seems very sad to us, and we just hope that some of the big bucks being passed around are making it down to the locals who need it most.

We've been delighted by all the wonders of mainland cruising that we forget about while we're on the Baja side of the Sea: humpback whales flapping their fins and flukes, and babies shooting straight out of the water; turtles passing a boat length away; butterflies and bird song; speckled dolphins streaking past our bow wave; palm trees and gorgeous vegetation up sloping hills; the smell of smoke from burning (garbage, or all those palm leaves they have to trim?). Okay, that last one isn't a favorite, but the rest makes for a nice change of pace.

Banderas Bay was an unscheduled stop for us as we had planned to be in Bahia Santiago by now. We discovered a diesel fuel smell which is present when we run the engine, and John is in the process of troubleshooting the problem. It isn't incapacitating but we decided to investigate it while we can stay in a place with lots of service options (and with inexpensive moorage). We will be out of here as soon as the part is fixed, heading south again.

Happy holidays to all our friends and family!

Linda and John

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Done. Well for now anyway.

Once again we spent a good part of the prime cruising season working on the boat. This year, projects included:

o Finishing the teak deck removal project (started almost 2 years ago)
o Completing the non-skid deck
o Install a new solar panel arch and solar panel
o Rebuild a teak hatch that has been coming apart for 5 years
o Refinish all the exterior teak
o Repair the mainsail
o Align the engine

When I first put the project list together I added up all the time I thought I would need and it came out to about 55 days (more than 2 months). We had planned for a month and a half in Marina Mazatlan, so it was clear I was going to have my hands full. As it turned out I was able to combine projects into one day; take apart the hatch that needed rebuilding while the paint on the deck dried, repair the mainsail after applying a coat of Cetol to the exterior teak. But I think in the end I worked all but about 3 of our 46 days in the marina. I guess that's what I get for goofing off all summer long.

We almost had a show stopper at the end. Linda had left for her visit to the Northwest and I began the final project: Align the engine. A month or two before I had checked the alignment and found that it was pretty far out, so it was obviously past time to do something about it. However, when I started I immediately found that the coupler between the transmission and propeller shaft was broken (probably caused by the bad alignment) and that the bolts for one of the motor mounts had stripped their beds (probably the cause of the bad alignment)!

Good thing Linda was in Seattle, because the vendor for the coupler is close by in Lynwood. A quick phone call had a new coupler on its way. But that didn't take care of the cause of all the problems, the stripped bolts. It was not only obvious that I needed to do something about the bolts, fate was telling me to do something about them. Right when I was thinking I should remove the shaft zinc to make the alignment easier, the diver walked by and asked if I needed anything. "Yes", I said, "would you mind getting into the cold water and taking off the shaft zinc"? Then, right when I was thinking that I needed some heavy duty epoxy filler for the job, my dock neighbor reminded me that he still had the filler that I had loaned him.

That settled it, I was going to do a good job. No need to tempt fate any further. All that was required was removing the two bolts, turning the engine mount 90 degrees to expose the stripped hole (it turned out that only one hole was stripped, the other just needed a longer bolt. Fate again). Drill out the hole and then epoxy a nut into the bottom of the enlarged hole. Sound's easy huh? Did I say this was on the back engine mount? The engine mount that's located under the exhaust system? The one that you can't work on unless you actually lay on top of the engine? Yeah, it's that one.

After a mere 4 hours of yoga I had a nut bedded in epoxy a full two inches under the engine mount. Hopefully it will be strong enough to hold against the vibration.

A couple more hours of yoga and I had the engine aligned. (To align the engine you have to kneel with your head below your backside and use a feeler about the thickness of two pieces of paper to make sure the shaft and transmission are completely in alignment. If they are not aligned, you have to extract yourself from said yoga position and crawl into the main cabin, there to make your adjustment that will hopefully bring everything into alignment. If not, you get to do it again. I think I only did it about 10 times. It's a zen thing).

We left Mazatlan with our very spiffy looking and smooth running boat yesterday and are headed for Chacala. The engine seems to be holding together after 20 hours of motoring and the cat didn't even get sick after not being underway for a month and a half. Looks like fate is keeping up her end of the bargain, so far.

John, Linda and Ziggy
Bahia Chacala
21o 09.78' N 105o 13.71 W

November pics

9/25 Girlie boy

10/4 Tupperware stores everything

10/9 This drill bit, Dad?

10/12 Coolest spot on the boat

10/21 In the thick of things

10/22 Ziggy "in" his crate

11/1 El Dia de los Muertos

11/1 Linda and friend

11/15 Birthday boy (5 months) in the sink

Boat projects

17 November 2007
Marina Mazatlan

Cruising life in a marina is not like the lazy life at anchor for the crew of Nakia. We generally try to avoid the expense of marina stays unless boat work or other chores can be facilitated by being tied to a dock. So while other cruisers spend leisurely mornings over lattes at the marina cafe, afternoons strolling the mercado and plazas in town, and evenings dining out or enjoying concerts at the historic Angela Peralta theater, John is working his tail off and I'm lending a hand where ever I can.

We are up by 5:30 most mornings, awakened by the Ziggy alarm, and we take turns walking him in his harness and leash (or allowing him to lead us around to be more precise). We had to abandon restricting his outdoor time to just the boat itself (which he'd gotten pretty good about with the help of a squirt bottle) when John began painting the side decks. Now he's very good about the harness and leash, but doesn't understand staying on the boat when there's enough of a break in the wet paint/brightwork cycle to let him out on his own.

John is usually ready to start on the project du jour after the local VHF net, by which time the decks are mostly dry. He tries to work until late afternoon, and then it's beer time, followed shortly after dinner by bed time. The cap to the Ibuprofen bottle is getting a real work out. (Ziggy also gets a little more bug chasing, grass chewing time before dinner.)

So the non-skid is on the side decks and now it's time to refinish the exterior teak trim which we stopped maintaining long before we left for Mexico. Yesterday John scraped off the last of the peeling Cetol while I polished stainless, and then we scrubbed as much of the mildew out of the cap rail and bulwarks as we could. Today John started sanding and I'm doing laundry to stay out of his hair.

For entertainment we have spent one Sunday afternoon watching football with friends at a local restaurant; gone to dinner at a friend's home in one of the new marina condos; and shared Domino's two-for-one pizza with friends on their boat. Sometime before the end of the month we hope to catch a Venados baseball game (if we can manage to stay up that late), and we'll probably go out to dinner somewhere on Thanksgiving. At 236 pesos per person the catered Thanksgiving extravaganza organized by the folks here in the marina is pricier than the cruiser holiday potlucks we've enjoyed in La Cruz and La Paz, and we're not the dinner and dancing types anyway, so we're giving that a pass.

The weather here has been significantly warmer with higher humidity than we experienced in San Carlos. Nice if you're in vacation mode but not so good when you have to worry about dripping sweat onto your fresh coat of paint or freshly sanded teak. Yesterday was different because the scattered clouds in the morning actually built to rain showers by the late afternoon and early evening. It was wet enough that even Ziggy decided to forego his evening walk, and the cool north breeze made for a nice change.

In other news, we've sold our pickup truck to cruising friends who plan to do the same as we have - cruise Mexico, making occasional trips to the States, and storing it in Mexico between trips. Since our plan is to continue down to Central America and Ecuador next year, it didn't make much sense to keep the truck any longer.

Ziggy continues to both charm and exasperate us. He's a beautiful animal with a mind of his own, and sometimes we wonder if he wouldn't be happier living on land. But until someone comes along who has more to offer him than we do, we'll continue to honor our commitment to him. He's slowly getting more affectionate, but he's sure not a lap cat.

Linda and John