I wouldn't have missed it for the world

Here is the link to our last leg from Puerto Escondido to San Carlos. http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0erIBM0uMFTif0sWNvrfZqN90UrvqWyxF We are at: N 27 56 856 W 111 03 354

4/13/2011
20 miles from San Carlos. Final leg, then home. Mixed feelings, sad to be going, so much left to see, so much we wanted to experience, see, do. So many anchorages we were determined to explore but didn’t get to. We have to remind ourselves to be thankful for experiences we were able to have, places we have been, people we have met. It has been an extraordinary experience that most people only dream about.
Songs running through my head,
It’s Over: Roy Orbison
I Had The Time Of My Life
I Wouldn’t Have Missed It For The World
I Drove All Night: Celine Dion (heading home to family!)
Back to “the real world” or a different real world. What will we do? How can we save enough to make sure we can come back. Will we be different, I’m sure we will.
I will miss:
The colors of the sea, rosticarias, the Mercado; friends I have made, quiet anchorages, sunrises, sunsets, sheer rock walls, rowing the dinghy, not wearing shoes, huge papayas, taking the bus, wide open spaces . . .
I am looking forward to:
Long hot showers, ice cold drinks, washers and dryers, green salads, ice, refrigerators, endless water, FAMILY, friends and church!!

Beach Blanket Bingo

Beach party at Agua Verde, BBQ fish, rice and potatoe salad with pineapple upside down cake for desert! Ahhh this is the life!

Agua Verde

4/2/2011 Here we are in Agua Verde, we had planned on spending the night in Los Gatos, but our buddy boat, Mangareva was not comfortable with the anchorage, so we decided not to chance it. If we hustled, we could make it to Agua Verde before sunset and be settled in a secure anchorage. It is beautiful here and we are swimming distance to the landmark rock where snorkeling is reported to be great. Looks like the North winds will be back day after tomorrow, so we will probably just sit them out here, it is a large bay with a small village and is quiet with several different options for anchoring and exploring.

This portion of the trip has been much calmer, with day trips to get to different anchorages. The weather still dictates our travels as the trip from Isla San Francisco to Everesto was spent bashing against the waves kicked up by the North wind. It is uncomfortable and really slows us down so that instead of 4-5 knots or better and a 3 hour trip, we are running 2 knots as we ride one wave up, stall and slide down the other side. Took us closer to 5 hours and don’t even want to talk about the fuel economy. I’ve had a call for more pictures, but one of the problems is that the beauty just does not translate to photos. I think if I had a speed boat, I could be in the right place at the right time to get the lighting just right, but with a sailboat, you get what you get. Everesto was so beautiful, a good sized bay with small village where fish buyers come to purchase fish from the pangas, keeping the bay busy with pangas coming and going from early until after dark. We were able to purchase a yellow fin from a fisherman, for 17 pesos, or less than $15 dollars. It was amazing to see him expertly fillet and skin the fish into 4 large pieces. Even though we split the fish with Mark and Gail from Mangareva, and had Bill and Jack from Slow Dance over for a fish dinner, we will be hard pressed to eat it all. And it is DELICIOUS!! In the morning there were sing rays leaping, and flipping that went right by the boat. It looks like they are trying to fly. Even though the water was not clear, they passed so close we could see the ghostly images of the mass of rays underneath the water, gliding by with their underwater wings. I will be sure to stop by here again. Calita Partida just north of Espiritu Santo, was just my favorite stop so far, rays jumping, puffer fish, and sea turtles! Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida are separated by the smallest sliver of an estuary that is navigable by dinghy. Mark and Gail invited us to go snorkeling with them on the other side of the island, and we headed up the estuary. It was pretty shallow at times, but we made it, and had a great time zooming up the coast looking for the perfect spot to snorkel, and just seeing the beauty of the rocks was worth the exciting dinghy ride. Returning after a successful snorkeling trip, we found, although the tide should have been higher, we were required to get out and walk the dinghy as we bottomed out in the soft sand.

La Paz and Bandalera

3/25/11
Short stay in La Paz, didn’t do it justice, but we have had more than our share of city life of this trip.

Sunday we headed out to find the Crossroads church friends had told us about. It is especially difficult because most streets have no signs, a common theme of Mexican cities, and it is a very small church tucked behind a store, so unless you see the sign up high on the building, you will miss it. Entrance is a walkway between two buildings. A small church, but Marcus and I liked it very much. Met “Two Can Play” and they were very nice, as we have found cruisers to be.

Walked to the former CCC to provision for our trip North, as there will be few stores, and of course the prices will be much higher. We were surprised that the food here in La Paz costs more than in Mazatlan, but I have been told it is because it needs to be imported. Both at the grocery store and the Mercado, we found the produce left a lot to be desired.

We really liked the feel of La Paz, it feels welcoming and inviting, and there are fewer bars on the doors and windows. Less crime here.

Headed to Bandalera, where we spent a rocky night. Just cannot seem to get away from those corumels. A corumel is a brisk wind that comes up from the south, southwest during the night, most of the time unexpectedly, and can be anywhere from 10-20 knots. Because of this, you need to be very careful when anchoring, projecting where the boat might swing with tides and wind changes.

Didn’t head out too early, hoping to take advantage of early afternoon winds, but early enough for the tides to be in our favor. We put up both the mail and the jib and sailed North/west, we wanted to go North, but it seems, wherever you are headed, that is where the wind comes from. Sailed NW for 1 ½ hours out and 1 hour NE and made all of 1 mile towards our destination. Welcome to our world of sailing. Just a few miles from Caleta Partida, our next stop, we decide to motorsail a more direct route. Coming up behind us, we see Talion, a boat we have been seeing along the way. The were anchored at Balandra with us, and left after we did. Once again, they cruise past us and we long for a bigger engine.
We have had to resign ourselves to the fact that we tend to be slower than other boats. We have been trying to figure out if there is something we can do, as this boat is designed to be pretty quick, more of a racer cruiser. It seems most boats here have bigger engines, and can cut right through chop and waves. We can point very high is this boat, which means we can sail almost into the wind. Our sails are old and tired, and we would do better with a new mail sail, possibly next year we can find a nice used main that will suit our needs. Seems here in the Sea of Cortez there is either too much wind or not enough.

Catching Up

3/20/2011 Spent Saint Patrick’s day eating at El Carbon, listening to some killer jazz, and celebrating Marcus’s birthday with new and old cruiser friends. It was so much fun!! Closed the place down, course it was only 9:30, but that is late by cruiser standards!

The next morning we jumped up, and headed for La Paz, actually Calita Lobos, just outside La Paz. La Paz is 58 miles, and didn’t want to trying to enter in the dark. We sailed several hours in more wind than anticipated, it was exciting, and really cooled off a warm day. Seem there is much more motoring than sailing happening so it was very nice.

Anchored at Caleta Lobos, choosing not to go to the back of the little cove, close to the mangrove swamp and bugs, but still felt like it was a good spot. During the night the winds picked up and we knew the back of the cove is where we should have been, the 3 boats anchored there were not bouncing around, however we were rocking like a hobby horse. I told Marcus to pretend he was being rocked to sleep. Like being rocked to sleep by an angry mother.

Another lesson learned, this trip has been more like an education rather than a vacation most people assume we are on.


Sometimes you are so busy looking for the beautiful sunset, you miss the amazing moonrise behind you.

Bahia de los Muertos-Bahia de los Suenos

Made it to Ensenada de los Muertos and are very happy to end a 36 hour trip that took us 73 ½ hours; 3 days and 3 nights. We didn’t have enough fuel to motor the entire way across the Sea of Cortez, so we ended up sailing much further south before being able to turn north.

We are really happy to be in this quiet bay with clean warm water, and you can see the bottom! Marcus has already been swimming. Temp around 80 and sunny. NICE!

Pretty secluded bay, but it is starting to be developed, and has a restaurant where I can get wifi! It has been known as Bahia de los Muertos, or "Bay of the Dead" but it has been renamed "Bahia de los Suenos" or Bay of Dreams. I guess the ultra fancy resort built here believes people would rather visit the bay of dreams rather than the dead.

This particular spot has great meaning to us. Five years ago, Marcus and I vacationed in La Paz and came to this bay to go snorkeling. There was a sailboat anchored in this lovely secluded spot, and we talked of being in our own sailboat anchored in that bay, someday. That was one of many seeds that were planted and germinated in this trip to Mexico, and as we sailed into the bay, we were moved at the realization of a dream come full circle. Bay of Dreams indeed.

Foggy Start

So looks like today is the day. Bittersweet as we have grown to love Mazatlan. I realized I have not done much posting about the city, so I plan to work on a few observations on living in Mazatlan.

Waiting for the fog to lift, then we join 3 other boats heading towards LaPaz.

We are excited, and a bit nervous as we try to remember what we need to do to head out on a passage. I have been cooking since yesterday, prepping fruit, making soup and potatoe salad, it is much easier to have everything ready to heat up than to cook while underway.

The minimum it should take us to get to Los Frailes/Los Muertos is 30 hours, so I figure 45 hours is about right. Even though we have checked several weather reports, you just don't know what the weather is going to bring. Supposed to be very light winds, which, unfortunatly means motoring. However that is better than high winds and choppy seas.

Off to make one more water run!

Vineyard Church Mazatlan

We have been going to church here, it is a "gringo" church at 9am with Spanish church at 11; it's focus is reaching the poor of Mazatlan. This allows the people who come here, Canadian and US alike to reach out to the needy. There are scores of people who vacation here regularly and thousands that have retired here, heading North for a couple of months each summer to escape the heat.
There are "tours" of the dump ministry and the childrens feeding centers that we have been able to go on. It is wonderful to see the work they do and the strides they are making in helping the poor here.
There are a segment of people here who live near the dump who live in primitive homes and are called "dump scroungers" They go through the trash salvaging bottles, plastic, cardboard, and anything they think may be of value. It is hard work in a hostile environment. Smelly, dusty and dirty with very little to show for it, but they eke out an existence.
Every Tues. and Thurs. visitors and members of the church make 300 sandwiches, and 220 bottles of clean, cold water. We passed out all the sandwiches and water in just a few minutes. I cannot speak for the people that work there, but it felt good to help in some small way.

Another day, we went to a small village very near where our boat in anchored and visited Isla Piedra where a building has been built for the feeding center for some of the children of the village, I believe they feed 90 children there every Sat morning. We were there on a Thurs afternoon, and they were having a childrens church with a few of the children. It was hard to follow what was going on as it was naturally in Spanish, but kids are kids all over the world, the squirmy boys, and the eager to please girls.
As we were watching the women teach the kids, we became aware of a group of women outside the front doors and realized they were having a Bible study.

They have 12 centers currently and the goal is 30. What a great work.

Too Long

Random Images:
At the top of "El Faro" or the lighthouse

It is the 2nd highest lighthouse in the world!

View of our anchorage

Veggies hangin around!




It has been a while since I checked in. Seems like we are just kind of marking time, and I never know if the interesting little things about living in Mexico will translate well, but I'll see how it goes.

The other day we were taking the bus home and the man next to us was playing music videos on his phone. He didn't have earphones, so we were all enjoying the oldies, rock and roll he was playing. Then Queen came on, We Will Rock You. We quickly reallized the bus driver was tapping his air brakes to the "stomp/clap" of the song, only in Mexico!!

Lots of funny little stories, and mostly it seems, ya just had to be there!

Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Neighbors Boat

We helped move a Downeaster 38 to the Fonatur Marina across town today. Oh my, is only 3 feet larger than our boat, but so roomy inside and out! We decided that will be our next boat.
Everyone says you need a light air boat to sail in Mexico, we so far we have had either no wind or a LOT of wind, and have motored 60% or more of our passages. Most of the time is spent at anchor, and it would be really nice to live large in a bigger boat.
Now if we only had a few more pesos . . .

Sailing Catamaran

Heading out on a day sail with “Feet” a big catamaran that Bill built himself. He has invited a group of us here in Old Harbor, it should be a lot of fun. Think I’ll make some kettle corn to share.
I made Foccacia bread yesterday, it was so good.

Sad news, a couple of days ago, the owner of a boat in the harbor had a heart attack. He was traveling with his older uncle, who is managing, but is not a sailor. Our little community has, no surprise, volunteered to help him in any way we can. We may help him move the boat to a marina until the family decides what to do.
We didn’t know him, but whenever I saw him, he seemed to be in great spirits and having a good time. I hope that brings some comfort to his family.

Chance Encounters

Rooftop Living

(below) Visiting a church on Sunday. The Priest told us this is the largest Christ on the Cross (or on wood) in the Americas. Well we think that is what he said.








Heading to town on the bus, 57 pesos or about 40cents

(below)Amazing 19th century cathedral in Old Mazatlan, 19th century, a moving experience.
On a recent trip to the big Mercado downtown we were having a marlin taco at a vendor near the cathedral. There were two couples nearby looking at a map trying to figure out which way to go. We helped them out with directions and went on our way. That afternoon I saw the cruise ship leaving the harbor and I felt sad that they only had a few hours to explore this great city.

On Sunday we headed out to the Gold Zone to find some American football. We ended up at Yoopers, a sports bar, with a mass of other football fans. We shared a table with Claire and Tamara, retired cheese factory owners from Utah that have wintered here for 4 years. Talked more than we watched the game, had a great time. You might think cheese factory owners may be uninteresting, but you would be wrong. A kick in the pants, hahah. They had spent winters all over to find just the right place to buy a winter home, Mazatlan fit the bill for them. I sure understand why, really like this city’s blend of working man/tourism/natural beauty.

Marina Life

We needed to have a technician check our transmission, so we motored 2 hours up to the El Cid/Mazatlan marina area so he could take a quick look. Possible good news, may just be an adjustment. Praying for good news.

He said he could adjust the transmission tomorrow, so rather than head back to the south harbor, we elected to spring for a slip. More good news, most slips here are pretty spendy, but we happened upon a small, very reasonable, marina. With showers . . . and internet . . . and laundry. AHH it is a good life, maybe I'll talk Marcus into staying a little longer.

Dinghy Woes

Old Mazatlan Marina
Woke up this morning to a missing dinghy. Very foggy last night and the line to the dinghy was cut. Off to report it as stolen, just going through the motions as we know it is gone now.
So we are without our "car" but looking for the silver lining, God must have something good in store for us.

Cruisers are great, everyone is volunteering to give us rides, and may have a canoe we can borrow till we get a replacement.

SAD FACE

AHHH Mazatlan

1/18/2011
Mazatlan The carrot that has dangled in front of me for weeks. Tropical, exotic, fanciful and fun. Since we left San Diego, we have been saying; once we get to Ensenada Turtle Bay Bahia de Magdelena Cabo San Lucas Las Frailes Mazatlan things will calm down, it will be better. I am usually the first in line to “enjoy the journey!” but I must admit this has been a more difficult trip than I ever imagined. But here in magical Mazatlan, we are relaxing. The anchorage here is calm and free. There is a $5 dinghy dock charge, but it includes amenities like wifi, free showers (oh so luxurious, not, but free), and is right on the bus line, only .60 US)
We had a really nice passage, left San Jose del Cabo around 4:30pm on Sat, chasing Wendelin, who was 2-3 hours ahead of us. We headed straight across the Sea of Cortez hoping to avoid the cape effect we had run into on our last attempt to go up the coast to Los Frailes. It was much better this time, and we sailed probably 26 hours out of the 43 hour passage. Works for me!

Arrived Mazatlan Harbor around 11:30am on Monday and dropped the anchor. Wendelin had arrived shortly before us, and were a welcome sight, as we were unable to reach them on the radio the entire trip across the sea. I can never understand how 2 boats can leave close to the same time, be heading the same direction, about the same speed, and never see or hear from each other. I suspect the radio antenna may have a bit of a problem.

While getting our bearings, I saw Sweet Destiny anchored right next to us. I have been following their blog since before we left San Diego! We rowed the dinghy over and introduced ourselves. Since we were “followers” they had read our blog as well, and it was great fun for both of us to meet face to face. Scott and Kim are leaving today, but I am sure we will see them again down the coast.

This morning, happy surprise, Picara was anchored nearby, so the Ensenada gang is starting to get together again! Part of cruising is the meeting, parting, and meeting again of cruisers. It is really nice.

So, our current plans are to sight see, possibly get our transmission rebuilt (one of the stressors of the last passage) and just plan relax. AHHHHHHHHH Mazatlan

The One That Got Away

We are waiting for a weather window at Puerto los Cabos in San Jose del Cabo. It is expensive, but we are kind of stuck for now. Tried to make a run for Los Frailes, but waves were steep and close together close to shore; tried to go offshore a couple of miles, and the winds were screaming. Fought the good fight for half a day, then decided it was not the day to face the East Cape. Headed back to San Jose del Cabo.

It was a scary trip, but once we headed back to San Jose del Cabo, things quieted down a lot. We started seeing whales. We saw a small whale very close by, and SURPRISE, he made a U turn to follow us!! I realized that he was going after a fish we had on the line off the stern. Didn't even know we had caught it! So I pulled in the line, and as it got closer, I realized it was a Dorado!! Supposed to be good eating, and I thought it would help ease the pain of a rough trip and having to turn back.

As I started to pull him up from the water, he got really excited and started fighting. We have found that a little tequilla will calm down fish right away, and we have a small bottle in the cockpit just for that occasion. I grab the bottle, and start attempting to pour some down it's throat so it will not thrash around in the boat. After 1/2 bottle of tequillia, he still is not calm, and thrashes right off the hook. RATS!!!

We are either
A-trolling for whales
B-on the catch and release program
C-get um drunk, and turn um loose

So, storebought fish for tonight, and try for Mazatlan later.

SPOT checkin

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0erIBM0uMFTif0sWNvrfZqN90UrvqWyxF

I think this is the link to our SPOT

You can follow our trips this way. When we start a passage, I will push the OK button, then every few hours I push it again. It is really a great tool for keeping family and friends informed. We can also push the "need help" button the the 911 button that will notify emergency personell of our position. Hope to NEVER need those buttons!

Return to the Posh Marina

Rough seas, high winds, turn around and come back to quiet harbor.


Excitement at the marina when the megayacht out of the UK "excercised" their helicopter!

Posh Marina

TOP: Laundry day on Gypsy Moon
BOTTOM: Randall, Joanna, and Cyndi Joanna brought us our newest crew member, the autopilot!
Here we are in San Jose del Cabo in a fine marina. Don’t think I have ever been in one this nice, still it is Mexico, and there are shortcomings. $50 per day is one of them, yikes!! No laundry and the showers are waaaaayyyy on the other side of the marina. We are in the “cheap seats, you want electricity, and bathrooms/showers close, it will cost you $90 per night. YIKES!!!

Oh well, it is what we have for now. Did laundry today, a lot of work to clean clothes in a bucket and ring them out. Also ate GREAT fish tacos, yum. A friend gave us a ride to town and we bought more verduras (veggies). It was a huge store where you could buy food, televisions, radios, cameras, clothes, you name it.

They have the best chicken here. I marinade the chicken in Italian salad dressing, and cook it on the BBQ. Recipe courtesy of Nils, my son in law. YUM seriously, the chicken here is so tender and flavorful anyway you prepare it is fabulous.

Filled the water tank, installed the new autopilot will shower one more time in the morning, and then we are off.

Cabo San Lucas

01/09/2011 Hard to believe it has been 10 days since I really wrote. It has been a busy time. Hand steering since we lost our autopilot 2 weeks ago, it can be pretty challenging mentally and physically. There have been quiet a few hoops to jump through by several people, but we are meeting Randall and his wife Joanna to pick up our replacement autopilot today. We are fortunate to have friends like Randall, Joanna, and Jeff from CPT Autopilot that volunteer to help. I’m sure we will have a greater appreciation for our autopilot now. Sometimes you have to do without something to fully appreciate it. We have had 2 passages that were 3 nights at sea, and I can tell you even with one night at sea, it is really difficult to stay awake in the wee hours of the morning. Last 4am watch I was on, I kept falling asleep and waking up with a start when a wave caused the boat to lurch. I don’t like to wake Marcus up because he does most of the watches and steering so I power through the best I can. I sleep a lot on long passages, but still am tired and sleepy at the helm. We traveled from Turtle Bay and Bahia de Magdelena with Seamentress. It is nice to know another ship is close by and we keep an eye on each other. We spent 2 relaxing days at Bahia de Magdelena. Weather was nice, and enjoyed a quiet anchorage. This is where whales come to calve, starting in February. This is a huge quiet bay, and would love to spend more time here, but unfortunately, we need to get to Cabo for parts. Gonna slow down after that! We had an impromptu party on the boat in Man-O-War Cove in Magdelena Bay. Henrik and Nina from Bika, Paul and Darla from Seamentress, came by and we all had a great time chatting and sharing experiences. So far we have met quite a few cruisers, trying to remember all, and in rough order of acquaintance.
Lodi and Steve on Wendolyn ~27ft sloop out of Canada
Paul and Darla, and Ben the dog on Seamentress ~ 45 foot Ferro Cement ketch Paul from England and Darla from the bay area
James and crew on Black Wind ~47 ft ketch I believe from the bay area originally England Marni and Mike on Picara ~ 37 ft custom steel sloop from Canada
Randall on Murre, ~ 31 ft Mariner ketch out of San Francisco
JJ on Ocean Echo 1 ~ 36 ft Beneteau not sure where from
Ivan on Vento ~ 38 (?) Beneteau
Paul on Dos Gatos ~ 25 ft O’Day
Nina and Henrik on Bika ~ 26 ft Contessa out of Norway

We will enjoy the variety Cabo San Lucas offers and head to Los Frailes tomorrow, then on to more tropical Mazatlan after that.

Cabo San Lucas at last-anchored at 2am

It has been an interesting journey. I am working on putting a few thoughts in words. We are starting to have more confidence in overnight passages, but they are still difficult.

Our autopilot is not working, and we are hand steering, sometimes very stressfull.

We sailed all day, and all night and finally motorsailed the last few hours to arrive in Cabo at 2am. We were buddy boating with a boat called Seamentress with Paul and Darla. He has kept us supplied with fish, and we followed him into the harbor. He has radar, and that helps when arriving at a port in the dark.

We have met so many nice people in our travels, I am making a list of the boats and friends we have met. Always so many different people and circumstances.