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

Marina Mazatlan

30 October 2007

We arrived safe and sound at 0130 today. Only got to do a little more sailing, but it was enough to give the engine and us a rest from the noise and heat. We've been in and out of the harbor entrance before, but not in the dark. It's a very narrow channel with a bit of a dog leg right at the beginning making it a challenge even under ideal circumstances. But John nailed it using our previous track (in our navigation software), and we were soon tied up to a dock again.

Ziggy went wild with the quiet and the stillness of the boat for the first time in days. But we locked him down below and hit the sack. This morning it only took a few squirts from the water bottle to keep him from jumping off the boat, and he's spent most of the day on deck watching the swallows and snoozing in the shade. Which is odd because he always napped down below when we were at anchor. We'll see if he tries to go wandering after he gets more comfortable with the new surroundings.

Speaking of birds, our sparrow spent the night on the boat. I saw him go to roost just after sunset, and then we lost sight of him during the night when it got too rough to stay where he had perched on the stern. But come sunrise, when I was sitting in the cockpit on watch with Ziggy, the bird came hopping into the cockpit with us. I managed to block him from Ziggy's view and took some bread and water up to the bow to get the bird to stay out of sight. He eventually flew off, we hope to shore. He sure was a cute little thing, hopping at various times on my shoulder, hat, arm, and feet. But loose birds and leashed cats don't make a good mix!

We'll be getting right down to work, especially now that John discovered that he has two months worth of work to try to cram in to the six weeks we planned to be here. So Stan and MJ, don't hold the figgy pudding for us - we might be late getting there!

Linda and John

Topolobampo

28 October 2007

When the forecasts yesterday began calling for 20-30 kt. E winds nights and early mornings we decided to divert to Topolobampo to anchor for the night and to change down to our smaller jib this morning. We were underway for Mazatlan again by 0845 this morning.

So far it's been a slow motor boat ride made even slower the first day by either a foul current or a fouled boat. We finally put the engine in reverse to free whatever may have been caught on the prop, rudder, or keel. Our speed gradually came back up to normal so maybe that was the problem after all. We've only seen two ships and half a dozen fishing boats, so the traffic hasn't been as bad as feared. Since the winds were light yesterday, the seas weren't more than a foot of wind chop until we turned in towards Topolobampo. By then the wind had picked up 15-18 out of the NW and we had some good following seas.

The town of Topolobampo is 12 miles from the sea buoy. It was close to sunset and we didn't want to go down an unfamiliar channel after dark. We chose to turn left out of the channel after about the fourth set of buoys, and tucked in behind Punta Santa Maria, a low point consisting mostly of sand dunes and mangroves. We dropped the anchor just after sunset and even managed to catch the evening net.

For most of the time underway Ziggy managed to sleep or zone out. He was awake most of Friday night since one of us was always up and about on watch. Then he really slept hard practically all day Saturday. We played with him for as long as we could that evening before the no-see-ums (sand dunes and mangroves - WHAT were we thinking!?) and sleep deprivation drove us to an early bed. Last night Ziggy recuperated from the arduous journey by: 1) shredding a sponge (his favorite unauthorized toy; fortunately this one wasn't dry so it wasn't completely destroyed), 2) shredding a Kleenex and knocking over the other Kleenex box which had been "Ziggy proofed" with a stone coaster placed on top of it, 3) shredding some toilet paper (fortunately not the whole roll; I remembered I hadn't put this away after we were already in bed), 4) getting past the single piece of "Ziggy proof" tape blocking the hole to the plastic grocery bags bin and pulling one partially out, and 5) gnawing on the bag containing an empty cat food can to be thrown away today (our fault for not putting the trash outside). We're usually better about stowing Ziggy tempters before going to bed, but we were too tired and the bugs were the worst we've seen this year. It's almost 11 AM and they're still biting down in the cabin.

So we have another two days and two nights before we expect to arrive in Mazatlan. Other than dealing with the no-see-ums it was a nice break for all of us.

Hey, a sparrow just landed on the cockpit cap rail! John's going to try and feed it some bread and give it a bath with a spray bottle. Will Nakia acquire a new crew? How will we "Ziggy proof" a wild bird? Stay tuned...

Linda and John

Bahia Catalina

25 October 2007

Yesterday morning we visited the Marina San Carlos Pemex (fuel) dock to top off our diesel and water and rinse off some of the dirt we accumulated in the Bahia San Carlos anchorage. Almost every afternoon for the three weeks we were there the wind blew out of the NW at 20-25 knots and didn't die off until after 8 PM. The boat (including the rigging) was coated with a layer of dirt, and we'll have to get the rest of it off in Mazatlan. For the most part the weather in San Carlos was very comfortable, with temperatures in the 80's during the day and down to the low 70's at night. But as much as I usually prefer low humidity, it's been so dry (down to 20% even) that no amount of lotion has kept my skin from drying out!

That should soon change as we head south to Mazatlan where it's been warmer and more humid. Since we already had the anchor up after getting fuel we decided to motor a few miles south of Bahia San Carlos here to Bahia Catalina for a change of scene. Just a couple of miles outside of Guaymas harbor, Catalina is a charming anchorage with one sand and two rock beaches, an islet, a big cave/blow hole, lots of birds, and water black with bait fish. Unfortunately, being so close to Guaymas and its associated fishing industry, the beaches are littered with plastic garbage, there's a large abandoned fish camp (waterfront property or just an eyesore?), and fishing pangas come in and set nets all night long. It's kind of entertaining to see all the rusty shrimpers and seiners coming and going past the entrance to the bay, but also a little nerve racking to see so much commercial traffic after so much time spent with only other recreational boats to think about. This morning I even saw a huge tanker headed out to sea, and we saw the car ferry coming in. We'll have to be extra careful when we leave at o-dark-thirty tomorrow morning.

We would have left this morning except that John woke up yesterday feeling punk, and later we discovered he was running a low fever. So he rested yesterday afternoon and went to bed early, and aspirin and Tylenol helped bring his fever back down to normal today. We'll leave tomorrow instead, and plan to arrive in Mazatlan sometime on Monday (early if we motor, by dark if we sail some).

Ziggy finally went for his first swim yesterday. At 5:30 PM, 15 minutes before John was scheduled to run the evening marine radio net, John was busy stowing fuel cans on the stern of the boat. Ziggy is daddy's little boy and loves to "help" John, so he was right there in the thick of it. Unfortunately the new configuration caused him to misstep, and John watched him fall head first into the 69 degree water. He immediately started swimming up the port side of the boat which was too bad because, a) the kitty rescue rope is off the starboard stern, and b) the swim ladder (usually hung off the port mid-ships) had been stowed for the passage, and hadn't been redeployed (who was planning on going swimming in that cold water?). Although we had previously discussed exactly what we should do in the event of a cat overboard, pandemonium reigned, and Ziggy swam all the way to the bow of the boat before John was there with the fishing net to scoop him out. He'd had to swim against some thankfully small wind chop, and his strangled meows sounded like he was swallowing water. I was right there to wrap him in a dry towel and we even had warm water ready for our evening showers that we used to rinse off the salt water. He didn't struggle too much with that, so he either needed the warm up, or was just in shock. I wrapped him up in another dry towel and he was still shaking. But thanks to the low humidity and his own efforts at bathing, he was soon dry and back to his normal self again. We were thankful that John was right there when it happened, and I guess that's a good demonstration of why he insists on keeping Ziggy locked down below at night!

Based on the weather forecasts we don't expect to do much sailing to Mazatlan, so we're hoping for a relatively smooth motor boat ride. We'll try to check-in and let you know how it's going.

Linda and John

Short trip to the US

19 October 2007
San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

We made a quick trip across the border this past week to pick up some things we'd ordered for the boat and to do some US style shopping. This time we went to Tucson where we stayed with friends, Alain and Mary of S/V Blue Moon. They have a lovely desert home complete with javalinas and quail, and we were treated to delicious meals made with exotic ingredients such as whole wheat fettucine, fresh basil from their garden, and romaine lettuce - not things you find every day in Mexico, especially not in BLA!

They invited us to bring Ziggy along which, in spite of my misgivings, turned out very well. In fact John and I both felt that he was better behaved on the trip than he is at home, perhaps because it was all a new experience for him. He was very quiet in the truck, mostly sleeping the whole way. We put him in his soft carrier to cross the border and he didn't make a peep. Technically he's still an illegal alien because he hasn't had all his shots yet, but the border guard missed him since the carrier looks like luggage.

We discovered that Ziggy isn't much of a shopper when we took him (in his carrier) into Pet Smart. He didn't care which toys we picked out or what kind of food we got, he just wanted back in the truck. He loved staying in our big room at Alain and Mary's - his tail went up like a flag as he explored foreign territory. We put him on his new leash and harness and he had a ball outside, but it was time to leave after he tried climbing a prickly pear cactus (only two spines in his right paw).

When we got back to San Carlos John made several trips by dinghy to transfer all our new purchases to the boat. It seemed like an impossible task but it only took us about a day to stow everything. We went through and cleaned out the major storage bins to make room for everything, and managed to find a few things that could be sold or tossed.

Yesterday we bit the bullet and took Ziggy to the vet for the "big event." He's only about four months old, but most shelters nowadays do it at even younger ages. We dropped him off and went back to pick him up after a couple of hours. It's a good thing he was still pretty out of it because it was a windy, wet, and bouncy dinghy ride back to the boat (of course today it's nice and calm). We tried keeping him in his new carrier (one of the hard, airline kinds) but he wouldn't fall asleep and seemed agitated so we let him out and took watches, mostly to make sure he didn't jump up or fall down since he still didn't have full use of his hind legs. He's back to normal today, and even goes in his carrier for naps (with the door off).

We are now waiting for Kiko and some forecasted northers to pass before making the long passage to Mazatlan. We should be leaving San Carlos sometime by the end of this coming week assuming nothing else comes up.

Linda and John

Dorade Dance

Shot Sept. 1, 2007. Linda was really glad to catch this on video, Ziggy can't do it any more. He's too big!