Andanzas Adventure

Mazatlan, Sinoloa, Mexico

2010-05-23T20:56:00.008-05:00

We are back in our home port of Mexico, Mazatlan. We made the crossing from La Paz to Mazatlan in 40 hours, a distance of 240 miles. It was an uncomfortable crossing with rolly confused seas changing directions all the time. The beauty were the nights with all the magical stars.

We are happy to be back in Mazatlan, feels like coming home. We are busily putting Andanzas away for the summer before returning to the States.

As we end our cruising season we are reflecting back over the season. We have traveled 2900 water miles and 500 travel hours on the water. We have traveled from San Diego to Mazatlan to Zihuatenjo to the Sea of Cortez. We have been in 35 ports of call and 23 anchorages. We like to review what some of our favorite things were:
Favorite city: Mazatlan
Favorite village: La Cruz
Favorite anchorage: Agua Verde and Tenacatita
Favorite place to listen to music: Philo's in La Cruz, and Rafael in Mazatlan
Favorite restaurant: Fat Fish in Mazatlan, Tacos in the Street in La Cruz
Favorite things to do: Relaxing on the boat, being on the sea, collecting sea shells on the beach
Favorite new place: Ixtapa and Zihuatenjo
Favorite new experience: Zihuatenjo Sail Fest

One of the gifts of cruising is Time. Time to do whatever we want whenever we want. Time to think, time to cook, time to read, time to watch a movie, time to play, time to play with Angel, time to learn, time to be with friends, time to do nothing.

What we value most of cruising are our friendships we have made. Some we meet may be only for a day or for that anchorage only, perhaps someday we will meet up again. Other friendships have developed into best of friends where we have shared all the joys and adventures of this amazing cruising lifestyle. "Friends are the chocolate chips in the cookie of life". - unknown.

Life is good!

Sea of Cortez - May 4 - May 12

2010-05-16T11:31:00.017-05:00

Agua Verde anchorage followed Escondido. One of the advantages in the Sea is our passages are usually not long. Agua Verde is about 24 miles from Escondido. It was a beautiful anchorage. The mountains were in the back drop, the water was clear, the winds have calmed down and the sea is flat.

We spent 4 days at Agua Verde. We hiked, snorkeled and kayaked. The fish and colors of sea life were the most abundant we have seen. The town was quite small, however, the locals were very friendly. We had 2 little boys who took us to the local tienda and restaurant. Wally’s highlight here was that he gave each of the little boys 10 pesos each of which they took to the tienda and bought cookies. Before they took a cookie they offered Wally a cookie before they ate one. People are very giving.

Our highlight meal was lobster. The locals came and sold us their local catch. John made a delicious bar b q lobster.

From Agua Verde we went back to Los Gatos. We explored the south beach. There was so much marine life to see in the tide pools. We only stayed one night as the bees and the wasps were so bad.

Los Gatos to Ensenada el Coronal on Isla Partida, a distance of 56 miles. We had real choppy seas with the wind on our nose. Ensenada el Coronel is a long shallow bay going about 1 ½ miles into Isla Partida. This bay almost divides the island. We took a easy hike to the other side. The trail had mangroves along the way. The geological formations along the bay were beautiful. Many places it looked like clay lace. In addition there was much birdlife.

Onward to Puerto Balandra which is on the Baja Peninsula. This is a huge bay surrounded by white sand. The water is like a swimming pool all along the edges. We stayed the day and night there. During the evening strong corumel winds came in and the seas were so rolly. So off to La Paz.

We are currently in La Paz at Marina Palmira. We have had a wonderful month at anchor, however, it is nice to be tied up to dock and not worry about anchor watch, the winds, the sea, making water, making power. We will be in La Paz waiting for a weather window to do our last passage of the season back to Mazatlan.

Sea of Cortez - April 27 - May 3

2010-05-14T15:08:00.017-05:00

We anchored in Puerto Escondido for the past week. It is one of the most protected harbors in the Sea. It is surrounded by mountains except the channel entrance. One can anchor at Escondido or one can attach to a mooring ball, which there are over a 100 moorings.

Our alternator is repaired. We had quite an experience finding a mechanic in Loreto. The locals called the mechanic the chicken mechanic. Trying to find a business location in a foreign city that does not name all streets is challenging. As with all experiences we have had this was just another adventure that ended well.

We enjoyed the surrounding country by renting a car. John and Rosie of Serena Ray, and Ed and Annette of Wind Song joined us. We spent a day exploring Loreto. Loreto has a population of about 15,000. Tourism is the major industry in Loreto. The stores had the usual crafts to sell of which I think we have one of everything and we actually did not buy anything.

One day we traveled north by car to see Bahia Concepcion and Mulege. We had decided not to travel north by boat, however, we did want to see these areas. Concepcion was beautiful. It is nearly 25 miles long. The surrounding land was quite barren.

Mulege is slightly more lush. It is located along a river. It has hundreds of date palms. Mulege was badly damaged during last season’s hurricanes.

We participated in the fund raiser, Loreto Fest. It has been an annual event since 1996. It is sponsored by the Hidden Port Yacht Club. The charity is for local community, schools and hospitals of the area. There were more than 100 boats in attendance. We enjoyed seeing many of our friends.

One of the highlights we saw in Escondido was a whale shark. We were able to follow it by dinghy and by kayak. It was huge and graceful.

We continue to have our time dictated by weather. We have continual winds. Cruisers who have been in the Sea indicates that the weather this year is far different than usual.

Sea of Cortez - April 15-April 26

2010-05-03T16:15:00.014-05:00

The Sea of Cortez is a blend of geological formations of the desert, the changing colors of the ocean and the contrasts of the sky. The Sea is approximately 700 miles long with an average width of 93 miles. Years (and years ago) the Sea of Cortez actually went as far north as Palm Springs, California. The Salton Sea is the remnants of the Sea of Cortez.

There are about 100 islands within the Sea of Cortez and on the outside of Baja. Many of these islands are preserved as natural parks. According to the Nature Conservancy “the Sea of Cortez is the second most diverse marine body in the world.”

We have been without internet or cell phone coverage for the past 2 weeks. It is the first time we have experienced not knowing the date or day of the week. It is great!

We have been buddy boating with our friends John and Rosie on Serena Ray, Ed and Annette on Wind Song and new friends Trudy and Del on Island Grace. We have enjoyed many Happy Hours, Pot luck dinners, picnics on the beach, hiking, swimming, snorkeling, and a new game – Bocci Ball. And at each new anchorage we have met new friends and seen old friends.

Our first anchorage after La Paz was at Caleta Partida, which was a cove between the channel of 2 islands, Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida. Its origin is from a volcano as it is a crater of an extinct volcano. We spent time kayaking and hiking. The water looks like pool water around the shores, so clear. We went on a hike through one of the canyons on Isla Partida. It was hard work climbing over huge boulders and rising elevation. The climb was well worth it for the scenery and also the absolute quietness. The surrounding rocks are layered of dark brown, black and ivory. During our snorkeling we saw many scallops which we would of loved to have, however, it is against the law.

We experienced winds which we have found is common in the Sea. The winds around these islands are called the Coromuels. These winds usually begin in the evening and blow all night.

Surprising it is much cooler in the Sea than we expected. When under passage in the morning we have worn sweat shirts. Day temperatures are not much hotter than 80 degrees, night time has gone to the 60’s and the most unfortunate part is the water temperature is only about 71 degrees.

Our next anchorage was Isla San Francisco, which I think is our favorite so far. It has a crescent shaped bay surrounded by white beaches and views of red rocky cliffs. When we hiked to the top of the ridges on the islands we could see both sides of the island. It was a magical view. We were also able to walk to the opposite side of the island for good swimming. Shell collecting has become one of our favorite past times. There are so many shells.

Next stop was San Evaristo (on Baja). So far this is our least favorite anchorage. Evaristo is a very small fishing village. On our walk the village was very dry and dusty. There are limited activities at this anchorage. We had to stay longer in this anchorage due to high winds. The winds always seemed to come at night. We clocked 44 knot winds, (we heard some areas clocked 87 knots) thus a miserable night.

Onward to Puerto los Gatos. This was a very rough passage. Wind was on our nose. At times we were taking water over the Dodger. The uniqueness of this anchorage is the dark red cliffs and rock formations. We took many walks along the beach rocks, again the views are beautiful.

We are currently at Puerto Escondido. We have arrived here earlier than we planned due to our alternator has gone out. Thank goodness for Wally’s mechanical ability to diagnose a problem. We are about 14 miles from Loreto where hopefully we can get it repaired. We will be in Escondido for about a week. We are participating in a fund raiser, Loreto Fest. Actually it will be filled with social activities with fellow cruisers, games, eating, crafts, and special workshops.

Angel has become quite a swimmer and hiker. She too is enjoying the cruising lifestyle!

La Paz, Baja California

2010-04-13T23:24:00.016-05:00

La Paz (Spanish - The Peace) is the capital city of Baja California Sur. La Paz has a population of approximatly 190,000. La Paz was first inhabited 10,000 years ago by the Neolithic hunting gathers. Their existence has been found in the form of rock paintings in Baja California. We are looking forward to viewing some of these paintings.

The year round temperature of La Paz is 75-77 degrees. We have been experiencing 90 degree temperature during the day, however, the winds pick up in the evening and becomes quite cool.

We have been enjoying walking the beautiful La Paz Malecon which is a seaside walkway. Many statues are along the walkway. As usual we also see many fishing pangas. There are also many restaurants. We watch many beautiful sunsets across the bay.

The city has a much different feel than the mainland Mexico. We see many more American products in the grocery stores. Some of the food items and restaurants seem higher also.
We have not seen the normal cobble stone roads. The streets are clean and the city appears well tended. We took a city tour which was very picturesque of the city, however, the tour guide never talked about any of the sites. Oh well, not all tours work out.

Marina Palmira

Sea Turtle

Flying manta ray, we think

Rosie and Linda enjoying the water

La Paz Melacon

La Paz at sunset

Andanzas at sunrise

Statue along the malecon

"El viejo y el mar" (Old Man and the Sea")
The following is a poem that was written in Spanish under the statue.

I have a paper boat
It's made from a page
On which I have written my dreams
It has neither anchors, nor mooring ropes
I want to sail in it
On the seven seas; in the eighth
Where I know I will run aground in the port of my desires
...Has someone even seen the light shining from the lighthouse?

We plan to leave La Paz tomorrow to explore the surrounding islands.

La Paz, Baja California

2010-04-09T23:30:00.009-05:00

We had a beautiful day from Muertos to La Paz. We had flat seas with about 5 knots of wind until the last couple of hours coming into the Bay when the wind went up to 20 knots. The coast line was desert mountains. We went 52 miles to Marina Palmira in La Paz. We continue to travel with Wind Song and Serena Ray. We will stay in La Paz for a few days.

Sunrise in Muertos

Baja Coast

Serena Ray

Wind Song

My crew

Marina Palmira

Ensenada de los Muertos, Sea of Cortez

2010-04-08T21:13:00.012-05:00

Ensenada de los Muertos, or translated in English, Cove of the Dead. This is a beautiful anchorage with clear green water, white sandy beaches, and desert beyond the beaches. There is one restaurant on one side of the cove and an exclusive resort at the other end of the cove. Potential developers of this area would like to change the name to Bahia de los Suenos, or Bay of Dreams.

Years ago, 1920's, this cove used to be a cargo port for near by silver mining operations. In later years it was used for transporting salt. Currently it is a potential development for tourism.

Muertos is 190 miles west of Mazatlan across the Sea of Cortez. We crossed the Sea with John and Rosie, of Serena Ray, and Ed and Annette, of Wind Song. It took us 27 hours to cross. We left Mazatlan with 2-3 foot swells and 10-15 knots of wind. We had a half moon and brilliant stars during the night. In the early morning hours the seas went flat and wind dropped to less that 5 knots.

We saw all kinds of sea life - flying-jumping sting rays, sea turtles, flying fish, and dolphins.
Once anchored in Muertos we have continued to see flying sting rays, flying fish, dolphins and a whale. I wish I could grab the camera fast enough for pictures of all the sea life.

We have been swimming from the boats. The water temperature is about 75 degrees. The day temperature is in the low 80's. The nights are cooling down to the 60's. We have been walking on the beaches exploring and collecting sea shells. We have had pot luck dinners with our friends.

While the first day and a half the weather has been good the past 2 days we have had wind up to 20 knots in the anchorage. It has prevented us from moving on, however, tomorrow looks good to head north to La Paz.

Mazatlan, Sinoloa, Mexico

2010-04-03T19:53:00.006-06:00

Happy Spring! We have been in Mazatlan for the past few weeks. Wally has been busy repairing and installing a new auto pilot, shower sump, water pump, and many other items that he seems to keep busy with all the time.

While Wally has been working I have been visiting my family in the States. I was in 3 different locations and 8 flights round trip. I enjoyed all the visiting, shopping, and playing. One of the highlights was my granddaughters first birthday party.

We are leaving in the morning for La Paz. We will spend the next 2 months exploring the Sea of Cortez.

Mazatlan, Sinoloa, Mexico

2010-03-17T09:15:00.006-06:00

We have arrived at Mazatlan, our home port in Mexico. We went first from La Cruz to Mantachen, a distance of 63 miles and 10 hours. For the 6 hours we had huge seas of 12-14 feet about 10 knots of wind. We were bouncing all over. Remember we are now hand steering due to no auto pilot, great on building arm muscles. The second day we made a run to Mazatlan, 134 miles and 21 hours. The seas were calmer this day. We were fortunate to be following Serena Ray during the night. They were our north star to follow.

Wally has many projects to complete while in Mazatlan. All of our new parts, auto pilot, shower sump and water pump, have arrived from the States via Ed and Annette of WindSong. While Wally will be working I am flying home to the States to visit my family. I have the better deal.

I have continued to improve seasickness. First use the electrical impulse ReliefBand, swallow Sturgeon ( a medication not approved in the US), suck on Ginger Altoids and anti acid tablets. When all of that fails, pray that it will be over soon.

We had the pleasure to celebrate Ed and Annette's, Wind Song, wedding. We had a celebration, and affirmation of wedding cruising vows on Serena Ray. All of us were participants in the celebration. We had Ed and Annette as Bride and Groom, Wally as the Reverend, Linda - Wedding Planner, John - the Chef, Rosie -Assistant Chef, Teresa -Assistant Wedding Planner, Steve - photographer.

La Cruz, Nyarit, Mexico

2010-03-12T22:02:00.011-06:00

We are slowly making our way north to Mazatlan. Our first leg of the trip was Ixtapa to Las Hadas, a distance of 189 miles and 30 hours. We had a very rough night with seas 10-14 feet and wind 20-25 knots, both coming from opposite directions. First time, Wally was even saying he had a quesey stomach. We stayed 1 night in the anchorage at Las Hadas.

Second leg was from Las Hadas to Barra de Navidad, a distance of 26 miles and 4 1/2 hours. I love these short runs. Our friends John and Rosie on Serena Ray have been waiting for us in Barra. We were grateful they were there as when we were coming into the bay we decided to get fuel. Unfortunately it was low tide, we hit a sand spit and went aground. John and Rosie with their 40 hp dingy and another 45 hp dingy had to pull us off the bar. There is a saying here: If you haven't gone aground yet, you will. Makes us feel a little better.

We spent 4 days in Barra enjoying the pools, being with our friends, and kayaking. During the time we were in Barra the Chili earthquake occurred. This resulted in a tsunami warning for the Pacific coast. We were notified by VHF radio that there was a warning. We monitored all the reports to determine our course of action. Many boats left the anchorage and marina to go to sea for deep water, suggested greater than 150 feet. We decided to stay in the marina. The only things we saw were huge current changes in the bay.

Next leg of the trip is Barra de Navidad to Tenacatita, a distance of 15 miles and 3 hours. In route we lost our auto pilot and our running lights. While we had planned to spend a few days at Tenacatita we decided that without auto pilot and not knowing if the weather would change we would leave the next day. We are currently buddy boating with Serena Ray.

We went from Tenacatita to Chamela, 30 miles and 5 hours. We had seas 6-8 feet and wind 5-10 knots. We are currently hand steering the boat. We stayed one night at Chamela. The next morning we left, Chamela to La Cruz, a distance of 92 miles and 14 hours. We started up with 5-10 knots of wind which built up to 20 knots going around Cabo Corrientes (Point Conception of Mexcio). We came into the marina at night and were definitely tired after hand steering.

We have been in La Cruz the past week. We have mostly been working on boat projects. Wally determined that our auto pilot is history. In addition, our shower sump is going out and our water pump is failing. We have ordered all new equipment and should arrive in Mazatlan with our friends Ed and Annette. Wally will have his hands full repairing all of these things. I will be playing Girl Friday.

In addition many of our friends are here. As you probably note we have friends in every port. Our friends Jim and Lucy on Passage II, and Craig and Eva on South Trails, both from Ventura, have arrived. It is great catching up with them. We have been kayaking, dock parties, evenings out and visiting, shopping, and visiting surrounding towns.

We plan to leave in the morning with our friends John and Rosie on Serena Ray and Stan and Val on Pax Nautica heading first to Matanchen and then our last leg to Mazatlan.

Ixtapa, Guerrero, Mexico

2010-02-22T19:44:00.011-06:00

Sometimes we find that we have to stop. And that is what we have done in Ixtapa. While we love all the activities and social life of cruising we have been taking a slight break. Some of the break has been brought on that Wally was sick and then I was sick, however, we have both recovered.

Marina Ixtapa is the largest marina in Mexico. It has a capacity for 621 boats, although I think it is only half full and it does feel small. It is a very pretty marina surrounded by mountains. Many hotels and condiminiums surround the marina along with some good restaurants. There are not many tourists. The local businesses say that business is very slow.

We were told in this marina to be careful with Angel as there are crocodiles in the water. We were not sure it was true until we had a huge crocodile swimming by our boat! As you can guess, no swimming in this area. Also we have iguanas on the dock. This marina keeps us on our toes as we walk the docks.

We rented a car for the day as we were getting land sick. We wanted to travel inland to see the mountains. We rented a Dodge Atos. What a fun small car. I think Wally thought he was a race car driver all day. We had been a little nervous about driving in a foreign country, however, we found it was not a problem for the 2 of us. I think it may have been a problem if Wally was alone as reading the signs in Spanish and staying on the right side of the road seemed to be a challenge! We had a great time exploring. Along the way we saw goats, donkeys and cattle along the roads. The countryside was beautiful. It went to a lot of green foliage, pink flower trees and jungle to cactus. We saw lakes and rivers. We will in the future continue to explore inland Mexico by car.

We are planning to leave Ixtapa on Wednesday, weather permitting. Due to the El Nino year we have definitely had weather challenges. Last season the weather was the same every day. This is the furthest south we will travel this season. We will begin to head slowly north back to Mazatlan. We then plan to go to the Sea of Cortez April and May.

Zihuatenjo, Guerrero, Mexico

2010-02-15T20:45:00.017-06:00

Zihuatenjo and Ixtapa has a population of 100,000 people. Prior to 1970 Zihuatenjo was a small fishing village. In the 1970 the federal government developed the near by resort Ixtapa and the population has grown.

The primary economic activity is tourism. Zihuatenjo is the third most visited area in Mexico after Cancun and Puerto Vallarta. Fishing also continues to be a way of life for the locals.

Most Mexican towns center evolve around a town plaza. In Zihuatenjo the center of town evolves around the basketball court which is along the beach front. The beauty of Zihua is its bay surrounded on land by the Sierra Madre mountains.

We have been enjoying the towns local restaurants, local beaches and activities. We went on a countryside tour with our friends Tom and Alicia, on Alegria, to see a coconut plantation, a traditional tile making plant, and local beaches. We were able to watch The Super Bowl at a local bar with our friends Rick and Karen, of Eyes of the World, and John and Debbie, of Lovely Rita.

We were able to participate in Carnival for 5 days. Carnival is a festive time occurring before Lent. During Carnival each evening bands played in the basketball area. The bands would often play until 2-3 a.m. As we were anchored in the bay there was not much sleeping as sound amplifies over the water. We especially enjoyed the parade with all of the colorful floats, dancers and marching bands. It appeared that the theme of the parade was around ecology and the sea. Many of the floats had people dressed in mermaid attire. After the parade we joined in the music at the basket ball courts. There were food booths around where we sampled tacos, quesadillas, tamales and flan. It was so exciting and fun to be part of the cultural event.

Due to the weather conditions this year the anchorage was quite rolly. In addition the water conditions are poor in the bay so we were unable to make water. We were fortunate to find a local vendor who would deliver, by panga, water and diesel. In addition they would pick up our laundry and return it the next day. Rick, Eyes of the World, had a great syphon which he called a jiggler that transferred the diesel to the fuel tanks in a short time.

We left Zihua Sunday for Ixtapa Marina. It feels really good to be tied up to the dock after being anchored for a month. While we are sad to leave all our new friends in Zihua we have already made new friends at the marina which we have come to find out is normal with cruising. We celebrated Valentine's Day with Tom and Alicia at a local restaurant. We will stay in Ixtapa until............

Zihuatenjo, Guerrero, Mexico

2010-02-10T20:10:00.020-06:00

We left Bara de Navidad January 28 to Las Hadas which was 26 miles south along with our friends on Serena Ray. We spent 2 days at that anchorage. It is a beautiful setting surrounded by huge white hotels which reminds one of Greece. Unfortunately, John got sick and he and Rosie were unable to continue south with us. We will meet up with them again later.
We left Las Hadas for Zihuatenjo 197 miles south. It took us 30 hours. If we were driving in a car and it took us 30 hours to go that far we would be miserable, however, in a sailboat we made great time. We had great weather with a full moon for most of the night. It was exciting to pull into the bay of Zihuatenjo.

One of the events that we came to Zihua for was the 9th Annual Zihuatenjo Sail Fest. Our friend Pamela from Precious Metal had asked us to volunteer for the event. What a wonderful experience we have had.

The Zihua Sail Fest is organized by volunteer sailors for fun and fellowship for cruisers, locals, and tourists. The Sail Fest raised $450,000 pesos this year. Proceeds benefit the local poor children's schools and other educational projects.

We had 5 days of activities which included a Kick off party with a live auction, a tour of the local school being benefited by the funds, a Benefit Concert with excellent musicians, a Chili Cook Off with Silent Auction, a Sail Parade around Zihuatenjo Bay and Ixtapa, a sailboat Pursuit Race, a kid's beach day, and a final Wrap up Beach Party with awards.

The local boats who anchored in the bay participated in the Parade. Locals and tourists signed up and payed to go on the various sail boats. The same for the Pursuit Race, guests signed up and payed to have a chance to race on a sail boat. Wally and I had the opportunity to be on the Committee boat and watch all the racers over the start line and returning for the finish line. All guests and cruisers had a great time.

We thoroughly enjoyed meeting new friends and participating in the weeks activities. We would recommend it to all cruisers. One can also check the web page out for more information www.ZihuaSailFest.com.

During this past week we experienced an unlikely storm. We had 36 hours of non-stop rain which included lightening and thunder.
We heard there was 10 inches of rain during this time.
One really appreciates a dry boat and bedding after that amount of
rain.

We are beginning to explore the area now that Sail Fest is over. We are enjoying the local town, people and activities. Carnival is beginning so we will stay to enjoy the cultural experience.

Gold Coast

2010-01-27T19:47:00.015-06:00

The Gold Coast in Mexico is considered from Cabo Corrientes to Manzanillo. We left La Cruz 9 days ago heading towards Punta Ipala, a distance of 44 miles. We are buddy boating with our friends John and Rosie, on Serena Ray.
We crossed Banderas Bay with seas 1-2 feet and 8-10 knots of wind. As we went around Cabo Corrientes the wind picked up to 18-20 knots and sea swells of 4-6 feet. Corrientes means currents. At this point the winds and currents mix.

We anchored that night at Punta Ipala a very small village. It is said to have 17 families lives there and they have to drive 8 hours on a dirt road to reach another village. With the small village it had 3 restaurants. We had a delicious lobster dinner on the beach. We felt very secluded at that anchorage. Unfortunately we anchored on rocks which made noise all night and made it very difficult raising the anchor in the morning.

The next morning we left Punta Ipala to Bahia Chamela, a distance of 55 miles. We left with 10 knots of wind and 3-4 feet of sea swells. The wind quickly came up to 20 knots and 6-8 feet seas. Seas were very rolly. Very difficult to sail as the wind was on our tail. We came into the anchorage with 30 knots of wind gusts.

Chamela is one large anchorage. We had dinner on Serena Ray and played our favorite game, Mexican Train.

The following morning we left for Tenacatita, a distance of 31 miles. The weather has continued to build. We had sea swells of 12-15 feet and wind up to 27 knots. We could not see Serena Ray when she dropped into the swell troughs. Coming into the anchorage the wind was greater than 20 knots. Tenacatita is a favorite anchorage among cruisers. It is usually calm in the bay, water is great for swimming, many things to explore such as the tidal-estuary channel, and a great place to relax.

We had an opportunity to visit La Manzanilla where a friend of John and Rosie's, Marcia, lives. We were able to walk the town and visit some of the local gringos homes. How beautiful they are. They had their living quarters and kitchen outdoors. The bedrooms were inside.

We spent 4 days at Tenacatita before we left for Barra de Navidad, 14 miles south. We have been in the marina for 2 days. The Grand Bay Hotel is beautiful at the marina. We have enjoyed the amenities it has to offer.

We finally have found a successful seasick cure. I have battled seasickness for years. After talking to many people and research I purchased a Relief Band Medical Device. It is a wristband worn on the underside of ones wrist. It provides electrical stimulation of the nerves in ones wrist to prevent seasickness. I used it this past week with all of the high seas and wind and I never got sick. I am very happy, and of course Wally is as he does not have to cover as many of my overnight shifts. (Maybe I will pretend to be sick.)

We are leaving Barra in the morning heading to Zihuatanejo.

Banderas Bay

2010-01-16T13:02:00.004-06:00

What amazing morning events we experienced yesterday. During the previous night we had had high winds and rain. In the morning we were watching the seas and sky. We had black clouds surrounding us. In addition we saw many waterspouts forming. The final waterspout reached from the water to the clouds.

According to Wikipedia: "A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex that occurs over a body of water and is connected to a cumuliform cloud. Waterspouts have a 5 part life cycle: 1)formation of a dark spot on the water surface, 2)spiral pattern on the water surface, 3)formation of a spray ring, 4)development of the visible condensation, and 5)decay." We were fortunate to see the total life cycle. We had never experienced this before.

Many boats had trouble with this weather. Some boats dragged anchor, some broke lines, some lost things off their boats, and all had a very rocky night. There were 30 boats in the anchorage in the night. By morning it was down to under 15 as most sought safety in the marina. We were glad we were in the marina.

Banderas Bay

2010-01-14T21:20:00.015-06:00

Outdoor Adventure Experience -

Since my friend Pamela on Precious Metal and myself decided we did so well on our zip lining experience last week we decided to do an expanded adventure this week. So off we went. We first took a speed boat across Banderas Bay to Boca de Tomatlan, a small secluded beach. We then transferred to a 4 x 4 jeep truck to off road 2000 feet above sea level in the Sierra Madre Mountains to the base camp. From the base camp we got on a mule (as far as I was concerned that was the scariest part of the whole day!) to ride deeper into the jungle. We went up and down hills on narrow paths. We then got off the mules and began a series of zip lines, some of the longest zip lines in Mexico, almost 1000 feet long and 250 high. We also rappeled down water falls, walked across jungle bridges, and splashed through streams. The trip was full of excitement.
The jungle was beautiful with all the foliage and flowers.

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle was founded in the 1930's. It currently has a population of 1621. Its name came from a cross made of Huanacaxtle wood at the towns entrance. We have been here for about a month and have become quite comfortable. While a small village we are able to shop at the local tiendas. I do have my favorites. Every Wednesday there is a flea market in the street. While it generally has the same things every week it is interesting to walk through.

Our local baker at the Panderia has delicious baked goods. Wally enjoys the cookies. They also have delicious stuffed ham and cheese rolls. The baker likes to practice his English with us and we get to practice our Spanish.

Next to the baker is the Tortilleria. While purchasing our corn and flour tortillas we always eat a hot tortilla right off the press.
I have not been able to purchase fresh meat from the meat tiendas, yet, maybe soon. The local tiendas have grocery items including produce. Wednesday is the delivery day for fresh produce. It looks of good quality on Wednesday, however, by Monday the quality has deteriorated. I have had to overcome my background (Dietitian)and become more flexible in purchasing food.

Our friends from G dock, Ventura West, Don and Judy from Wind Ryder, and Jim and Jeannine from CharAnn are currently in La Cruz. We have had fun going out to dinner and having dock parties.

We are preparing to leave La Cruz and head south on Saturday. We will be buddy boating with our friends John and Rosie on Serena Ray and Pamela from Precious Metal. We will be visiting various anchorages on our way to Zihuatenejo. We plan to be there at the end of the month to participate in Sail Fest the first week in February.

Banderas Bay

2010-01-07T19:56:00.014-06:00

We have been without internet for the past week. We wonder what cruisers did years ago without internet. We depend upon it so much as a way to keep up with world news, keep in communication with family and friends, and keep up our responsibilities in the States. With that said we have done so much activity lately that this may be a long blog post.

We completed 2009 by exploring old town Puerto Vallarta. While we had done this last year it is always fun to share it with friends. Puerto Vallarta has a long melacon with statues along the way, including all kinds of vendors. Sand sculptures are also common in the areas we have explored.

We celebrated New Year's Eve at La Cruz Inn with our friends. The owners of the Inn gave us full access to the grounds and restaurant. Our friends, Ed and Annette were one of the few guests at the Inn. We cooked a delicious dinner, shared good laughs and played our favorite game, Mexican Train. We brought in the New Year 3 times, once at 10 p.m. (New York time), 11 p.m. which is Puerto Vallarta time and then again at 12, La Cruz time. All of Banderas Bay sky line was lit up with fire works. It was beautiful. What a way to bring in 2010. Happy 2010!!! We admit...we have no meaningful New Years resolution other than to continue to enjoy ourselves.

New Year's Day we celebrated by attending a dance and dinner extravaganza, which was called "Rhythms of the Night". It was held at Las Caletas, a secluded cove only accessible by sea. It was also the past home of Hollywood director, John Huston.

We traveled by catamaran along the Banderas Bay coastline watching the sun set. We arrived at Las Caletas marked by flickering torches and candle light. (There is no electricity at this cove.)We were greeted by music and Mexican dancers in their dance attire. We had a very romantic dinner followed by a dance performance set against a torch lit pyramid and jungle. The area had candle lit pathways through the jungle. In the quiet one could hear all the sounds of the insects and birds of the jungle.

"A palapa in Yelapa is better than a condo in Redondo!" We have heard this many times so off we went to explore Yelapa. After a mile walk to the bus stop, 2 different buses(an hour), a walk to find the water taxi(panga), a 45 minute ride on a panga we arrived at Yelapa. Yelapa is at the southern most cove of Banderas Bay. (FYI-Banderas Bay is the world's 7th largest bay in the world. You will have to Google for the first 6 largest bays).

Yelapa is a tiny fishing village with a population of about 2000 people. The village is surrounded by the jungle and ocean. It has no roads or cars. We walked on brick paths through the village up to a waterfall. There were chickens, dogs and donkeys along the path.

Today I can check another item off my "bucket list". I went zip lining!!! Wally was happy to send me off with my girlfriend, Pamela. While Pamela and I both questioned what we had gotten ourselves into, it ended up being a blast. Stepping off the platform was the biggest challenge, however, once I was zipping along, what a rush. Another challenge was repelling. The ground sure looks a long way down. The guides kept telling us to look around at the tree tops, the foliage, the rivers, however I have to tell you, I just focused on getting to the opposite platform and wondering if I was going to crash into the tree. We had 16 different platforms with activities, different heights from the ground, and different zip lengths, climbing ladders, and walking suspended bridges. Both Pamela and I said we would do it again and are looking forward to our next outdoor adventure.

Recently when Wally and I were discussing "bucket lists" he told me he really did not have anything on his bucket list. He said he was happy and content. He then said my "bucket list" was enough for both of us!! However, as with zip lining, he is often happy to find a replacement for me to fulfill my bucket list. He even offered Pamela a half a pair of shoes to go with me. Life continues to be good for both of us!

Holiday Season in La Cruz

2009-12-27T20:11:00.011-06:00

We have spent the holiday season and festivities in La Cruz. We have enjoyed the experience of being in a small village. All cruisers share a commonality at this time that we are all away from home and family. Wally and I found that are hearts were at home with our families.

Philo's Bar is a local cruiser hangout. Philo, the owner and previous cruiser, is actively involved in community activities. He opens up the opportunity to cruisers and also other gringos living in the area. One of the recent fund raiser's we attended was "Amigos de La Cruz". This organization is actively involved in improving the beauty and condition of the village. We attended a dinner at Philo's along with a dance presentation by the local children.

Philos's Bar also had a Christmas gift program. Teresa, from Gyspys Palace, and I had the opportunity to help wrap presents for 400 gifts for the local children.

We spent Christmas Eve together with the cruisers at a pot luck appetizer party. It was outdoors, and of course it was in the 80's. We had all varieties of food. We had Christmas carols playing. We had a chance to meet many new friends.

Christmas Day afternoon was spent at Philo's Bar. The restaurant provided the turkey, while the cruisers and local gringos brought pot luck. I have never seen so many food items. We had music and dancing. In addition we had Santa Claus. Santa Claus came and distributed the 400 gifts we had previously wrapped. The local children in the village all came to stand in line to receive a gift. It was very moving.

We have been spending time with Ed and Annette, from Wind Song. While their boat remains in Mazatlan they have stayed at local hotels which we have had a chance to share their amenities. Steve and Teresa, from Gypsys Palace, has also been enjoying many of these activities.

La Cruz, has perfect weather at this time. The breeze comes up every day. We even had 2 days of rain during the night which was very unusual. I continue to kayak everyday, usually with my friend Pamela on Precious Metal. I am now training Angel to ride in the kayak. She is doing very well and wants to go everyday.

La Cruz, Nyarit, Mexico

2009-12-13T15:26:00.008-06:00

We had a safe passage from Mazatlan to La Cruz. It took us 26 hours to go 172 miles. Seas were flat 1-2 feet with 3-4 knots of wind. The wind picked up in the early morning hours to 10-12 knots.
One of our fears is crossing a long line (fishing line) during the night. They are everywhere in Mexico. So this season we added a cutter to our prop. While it is expensive it payed for us on this passage. We hit a long line around 2 a.m, felt the engine lug, and heard the plastic soda bottle hit our hull, however, the cutter went right though the line.

La Cruz is a quaint fishing village. The marina has less cruisers now than when we were here last season. Of course we are catching up with old friends we have not seen for awhile, such as Eyes of the World, in addition to catching up with John and Rosie of Serena Ray and Steve and Teresa of Gypsy's Palace. We have also been enjoying all the local restaurants and the music that is available here. One could go out every night to a different place and hear different music.

I have resumed kayaking every morning with Rosie. We enjoy the exercise as well as seeing what is going on in the bay and marina.

Wally continues to have multiple boat projects. We purchased a life raft and EPIRB which we have installed on the boat. We both feel that this was a necessary safety precaution.

We plan to be here through the holidays. We have many things we wish to see and do while we are in Banderas Bay.

Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon)

2009-12-07T16:03:00.023-06:00

While I had never heard of Copper Canyon prior to cruising in Mexico it is a definite must see! I had the opportunity to travel to Copper Canyon with my friends Doug and Marcy (Charm). Copper Canyon is approximately 250 miles south of the United States border and approximately 300 miles north of Mazatlan. It is a group of 6 different canyons in the Sierra Madre mountains. It is larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon in the United States. It took over 60 million years of geological formation. There are 6 rivers throughout the canyons which all eventually drain into the Sea of Cortez.

As we did not know much about where we were going we booked a tour through RailsNW (www.railsnw.com). which was very helpful. We left Mazatlan Monday(Nov. 30) via bus to Los Mochis. The scenery was predominately agricultural as we drove north. Upon arriving at Los Mochis we were picked up by a driver who drove us to El Fuerte, about 1 1/2 hours east.

El Fuerte (the fort) was founded in 1564. It is known as the legendary birthplace of Zorro. It was a quaint town. We stayed at the El Fuerte Hotel (www.hotelfuerte.com.mx) which was previously a hacienda. It is 350 years old. While it was reported to have ghosts walking the walkways I did not see any. (Thank goodness!) The decor was primarily Mexican art theme with open courtyards. It is beautiful.

The next day a driver took us to the train station at El Fuerte. The train is known as "El Chepe". The rail line travels from Los Mochis to Chihuahua City, a distance of 400 miles. It took over 100 years to build the railway. The seats were very comfortable, and the dining car had very good food. Walking while the train was underway was almost worse than walking under sail.

Upon departing from El Fuerte we began to climb. We traveled along a river, and began to see more mountains and cliffs. There were beautiful pink trees along the way. Our first departure from the train was at Bahuichivo about 4 hours from El Fuerte. We had a driver, Hugo, who picked us up and drove us over dirt, bumpy roads about 10 miles to the town of Cerocahui. We stayed at the Paraiso del Oso Hotel (www.mexicohorse.com). It had a large living area and dining area decorated in cowboy motif. Our rooms were heated by a wood stove. We definitely had to keep it going all the time as it has become very cold. It almost felt like we were camping. The hotel was surrounded by large rock formations. We only had 1 other group of 3 staying at this hotel. We had delicious family style meals.

Cerocahui has a population of 3000 and was founded in 1680. Of interest, the town has only had electricity for 7 years. We toured the town, the church, and the local girls school. We then had our first great view of one of the canyons, Cerro del Gallego. We were at an elevation of about 7500 feet. We could see the town of Urique at the bottom of the canyon. I also went on a hike through pine forests, and rivers to see the Cerocahui waterfall.

The following day we returned to the train station to board to Creel. The train stays only about 1-2 minutes at the train stops so you have to be ready to board quickly and get off quickly. It was about a 3 hour train ride. Creel is at an elevation of 7,735 feet. It is cold, below 32 degrees. We were not prepared for the cold. I had sandles, no socks. Marcy had no long pants and none of us had jackets. We stayed in cabins at Creel, Creel Mountain Lodge (www.vmcoppercanyon.com). While nice, they were cold. Marcy, Doug and I had to share the wall furnace between our rooms. In the morning all the water pipes were frozen, so no showers or flushing toilets.

Creel has many natural rock formations. We saw rock formations called Los Hongos (the Mushroom), Las Ramas (the Frog) that was originated by wind and water erosions.

Copper Canyon has been home to the Tarahumara Indians for hundreds of years. Tarahumara comes from the word Raramuri, meaning foot runners. The Tarahumara women are brightly clothed as well as the children. The Tarahumara were known to have their homes in the caves of the cliffs. While a small percentage still live in caves others have begun to make small dwellings on land. We had an opportunity to visit a few of the cliff homes. The Tarahumara women are known for their basket making skills.

From Creel we took the train to Posada Barrancas where we stayed at Hotel Mansion Tarahumara (www.mansiontarahumara.com.mx) on the cliffs of the rim of the canyons. The hotel was decorated in a blend of Indian and Mexican motif. We were able to take a walking tour along the rims of the canyon. The following day we took a tour viewing the 3 canyons, Urique, Copper, and Tararecua. Pictures can not tell the expanse or the depth one sees visually.

The following day we boarded the train for an 8 hour run back to Los Mochis where we stayed the night. The following day we took a bus back to Mazatlan. It was a wonderful experience viewing the canyons, seeing and observing the Tarahumara Indians, enjoying our different lodgings, and sharing it with good friends.

While I was enjoying my travels, Wally visited his daughters in the States where he also had a good time. He has returned with Angel.

We leave tomorrow for La Cruz. We are excited for our next experiences.

Mazatlan - November 27, 2009

2009-11-27T19:40:00.019-06:00

We enjoyed our second Thanksgiving in Mazatlan with 120 other cruisers. It was a catered event, so none of the usual cooking in the kitchen all day for the holiday. However, I did make a Pumpkin Pie, for us to enjoy. We had music, dancing, good food, and good company.

I had the opportunity to watch the celebration of Mexican Revolution Day (November 20). It is the celebration of the war between the haves and the have not between 1910-1920. The hero of this was Pancho Villa, who was a have not. It is a big holiday celebrated with a parade with all the schools in Mazatlan participating. The parade lasted over 21/2 hours with marching bands, gymnastics, soccer teams, floats, horses, cheer leading groups, fire departments and the Navy. It was so enjoyable to see all of the different schools. I think Doug and Marcy(Charm) and I were the only gringos in attendance. The crowd was so kind to us pointing for us to look at different things.

We toured the local Pacifico Brewery with a group of cruisers. This brewery is the oldest in Mexico. The interesting thing is the alcohol content of Mexico Pacifico beer is 4.5% while in the US alcohol has to be 3.2%. If Pacifico ships to the states the alcohol content must be adjusted. We were able to observe the cooking of the cereal, the fermentation, the bottling, and then the tasting room. The best thing of the tasting room were the incredible 360 degree views of Mazatlan.

We also have weekly dinghy raft ups in the marina. We all decide where we are going and then hook all of our dinghys together while we float around and share appetizers and good conversations.

We visited Stone Island today, which is actually a peninsula. While just a short distance from Mazatlan you felt miles away. The beaches were very long and flat with palapa restaurants along the beach. Very relaxing.
Our home.

Mazatlan - November 19, 2009

2009-11-19T21:04:00.012-06:00

We crossed the Sea of Cortez with flat seas. We made it to Mazatlan in 26 hours. Coming back into the harbor felt like we had come home. We unloaded all of our supplies from John and Rosie's boat, Serena Ray, and began the job of putting our boat, Andanzas, back together for another cruising season. Andanzas survived the summer months with no problems. It was hot hard work putting canvas back up, putting the sails back on, cleaning the boat, etc., etc.

Mazatlan is a unique cruising community. Many of the cruisers here consider this their home port and have been here for many seasons. There are so many social activities one can participate in. We have been here for 10 days and I think tonight was the first time I cooked dinner at home. It is great to see all of our friends.

We have had fun touring John and Rosie over "Old Town Mazatlan". Sadly John and Rosie have headed south, although we plan to catch up with them later. We attended the local baseball team, Venados, game.

In addition to all of our social activities I have been enjoying water activities with my friends. I kayak most mornings, ride our new bikes in the evening, have learned to paddle board and have gone boogie boarding for the first time. Wally participates as my lifeguard.

Cabo San Lucas - November 6, 2009

2009-11-06T12:17:00.021-06:00

We have arrived in Cabo. We have traveled approximately 750 miles by sea from San Diego. We began with weather at 48 degrees in the morning to currently low 70's, with daytime temperature in the 70's to currently in the 80-90's, to water temperature of 63 degrees to currently 82 degrees.

Friday, October 30 we left Ensenada with a beautiful sunrise. The seas were 3-4 feet with wind about 10 knots. We arrived at our anchorage, Cabo Colonet, 65 miles SE of Ensenada at 3:30 p.m. The anchorage is noted by its sheer cliffs(300-400 feet) and flat plateaus. We enjoyed the evening by sitting on the deck, gourmet bar-b-q, and an evening of Mexican Train.

Saturday, October 31, we left Cabo Colonet at 5:15 a.m., heading towards Punta Baja. In the afternnoon it was decided that the anchorage was going to be to rolly and we needed to head to Turtle Bay. This made our first overnight. It is so much easier doing an overnight with 4 people to share watch as opposed to 2 people. Seas were 2-3 feet and winds 5-9 knots. The seas have become progressively calmer and the weather warmer.

We arrived at Turtle Bay on Sunday at 3:30 p.m., 225 miles south of Colonet. Turtle Bay is half way along the Baja Peninsula. It is the best all weather bay between Ensenada and Magdalena Bay. The village has less that 1000 people. They are primarily fishermen.

The coastline has been very desolate, desert like, with colors of different browns set against the blue ocean. While we did come down the coast last year on our own boat we were further off shore and did not see much of the coastline.

We left Turtle Bay Monday for Bahia Asuncion, 50 miles SE of Turtle Bay, another small village. It was a very calm anchorage. On Tuesday we left Asuncion at sunrise heading to Magdalena Bay, 204 miles south. The seas were 1-2 feet and 7-8 knots of wind. We anchored at Belcher's Point inside Mag Bay. The anchorage had strong currents. We noticed many old buildings along Belcher's Point, an old phosphorus plant, and an old whaling station. The coastline has been greener due to the recent Hurricane Rick.

We have fished along the way catching Yellow Fin Tuna and Dorado. I have learned that it is more humane to use vodka killing fish as opposed to using a bat.

We left Belcher's Point on Thursday morning heading to Cabo San Lucas, 160 miles, arriving Friday morning. Cabo is a prime tourist attraction. We went ashore for the first time in a week having lunch ashore. We will leave for Mazatlan in the morning and arrive sometime Sunday afternoon.

We have had beautiful full moon rises, sun rises, and sunsets. We have had great weather. We have had a wonderful time sharing this experience with John and Rosie. We have enjoyed great food, good fun with games, and lots of laughter. We have enjoyed the peace that the sea and the sun provides. We value the freedom of being on our own schedules.

I believe I am a convert to the "Dark Side", Wally is still pending........

Ensenada, Baja California

2009-10-28T22:36:00.020-06:00

Stuck in Ensenada. The Port Captain has closed the harbor due to high winds(45 knots) and high seas(17-19 feet). We arrived in Ensenada Sunday night and have been waiting to leave since Tuesday. We are glad we are not out at sea. We will likely leave on Friday morning.

Ensenada (actual name Ensenada De Todos Santos) is the third largest city in the Mexico State of Baja California. Ensenada has a population of 460,075. Ensenada is locally referred as La Bella Cenicenta del Pacific (the Cinderella of the Pacific).

We are currently at the Hotel Coral Marina. We have access to all the amenities of the hotel which includes the pool, hot tub, gym and restaurant. We have been using all the services (FYI-the men are avoiding the gym).

We had a beautiful ride from San Diego to Ensenada which is about 60 miles. We left in fog which cleared out to a beautiful sunny day. We saw our first sea life, dolphins, which swam with us.

SerenaRay, John and Rosie's 47' Nordhavn, is a beautiful boat. We are enjoying all the luxuries and comforts of their new home. We have had great meals due to John's culinary skills. We have been reading, keeping up with our friends adventures on the Baja HaHa, playing games and taking naps.

Yesterday we took a ride to see "La Bufadora", the second largest of the major marine geysers in the world. (We are wondering what is #1?) We were surprised to see the agriculture in the outlaying areas of Ensenada.

We have 900 miles by water to go to Mazatlan. Our next stop, weather permitting, Cabo Colonet, San Quintin, and then Turtle Bay. Rosie and I are trying to avoid an overnight as long as possible.

San Diego - October 23, 2009

2009-10-22T22:43:00.003-05:00

We are off for Cruising Season 2! We are excited to be returning to our cruising lifestyle.

There are so many things we are looking forward to:
1)Seeing old friends and meeting new friends.
2)Exploring new places.
3)Eating at some of our favorite places: Fat Fish, Tacos in the Street, Filos.
4)Listening to local music as well as cruisers music jams.
5)Riding our new "cruising" bikes.
6)Swimming, snorkeling, kayaking.
7)Noodle parties.
8)Playing Mexican Train.
9)Warm weather, especially warm evenings.

We are joining our friends, John and Rosie, on their boat, Serena Ray, pictured above. We are departing from San Diego to Ensenada where we will obtain our visas and check into the country of Mexico. From there we will explore the Baja coast cruising towards Mazatlan where our boat, Andanzas, has been for the summer.

We leave you with this thought as you follow our adventure. "If you never did, you should. These things are fun, and fun is good." Dr. Seuss

Ventura, CA - September 28, 2009

2009-09-28T21:48:00.005-05:00

We have continued to enjoy our time at home visiting and playing with family and friends. I have managed to work in between my play time and Wally has done some boat deliveries and boating lessons.

Wally, and Ed from Windsong, took a road trip to Mazatlan to deliver our new dingy and other items both boats felt necessary for our next cruising season. They drove down the Baja side and took the ferry from LaPaz to Mazatlan. Their return trip they drove up the Mexico mainland. They enjoyed seeing some of the anchorages and bays in the Sea of Cortez. We look forward to exploring the Sea of Cortez on Andanzas.

We have vacationed with my family at Balboa Island and enjoyed a week at the beach. I have spent time at Nacimento Lake with my brothers, sister and parents doing one of our favorite water sport, wave running. My latest trip was to New York to visit Niagra Falls with my family.

We are excited about finishing our summer and heading back to Mazatlan to pick up our boat. Our tentative departure is around October 18. We have the opportunity to join our friends, John and Rosie, on their boat Serena Ray, in San Diego and go by sea back to Mazatlan.

Ventura, California - June 16, 2009

2009-06-16T00:02:00.006-05:00

Home....We find that our hearts are here at home with family and friends, but our adventurous spirit remains with Andanzas in Mazatlan. We had a cultural adjustment returning to the States. We returned to English as opposed to Spanglish, dollars as opposed to pesos, casual lifestyle to a fast pace lifestyle, inexpensive living to expensive living.

We returned to Ventura with our first purpose was to set up our other home on DreamCatcher. DreamCatcher did not sell while we were gone, however, it has given us a place to live during these summer months. Unfortunately, we had emptied and sold everything on the boat before we left for Mexico so we have been busy resupplying DreamCatcher.

We have been visiting family in Paso Robles, San Francisco and Orange County. It has been great to see all of our family. In addition we have seen our cruising friends Scott and Linda from Samantha. They are currently in Marina Del Rey heading north to San Francisco soon. We had Scott and Sue from Suebee with their boat in Channel Islands for a week. Wally went with them from Channel Islands to San Francisco. They have completed their cruising adventure. We have visited with Ed and Annette from Windsong and Frank and Stephanie from Endless Summer who are also home for the summer months.

I have returned to work for the summer. Work seems to interfere with our playing time, however, we are making the best of it. We spent the past week-end in Mammouth Lakes area. The mountain tops were covered with snow. The pine trees smelled so good. We had rain showers, cold and hot weather. We spent the days hiking. The good news is this is the first time in 2 years that Wally has been able to hike. The surgery he had in Mexico continues to be a success.

We have many activities planned for the summer. We will spend next week with my family at Balboa Island. I will be seeing my newest grandchild for the first time. Wally will be taking a trip in July to Mazatlan to supply Andanzas for next cruising season. In addition we will
continue to visit family and friends.

Mazatlan-May 4, 2009

2009-05-02T19:33:00.015-05:00

We have been working on new boat projects the past weeks. We have had our teak stripped of varnish to its bare wood and our other outside wood varnished. It looks brand new. We also have added a top stainless steel rail on the side of our cockpit to make it safer. One of our friends went overboard at sea due to a broken life line so we thought we would improve our safety features. We also had additional canvas work done. We have had a tarp made to put over the top of the boat to create an air pocket between the sun and the top of the boat.

Finally, we have sold our dingy. That was one of our purchases that did not work out well for us. It was way too heavy for the two of us to beach. We have purchased a new dingy that weighs half of what we had.

I have been a student the past week. I was enrolled in an immersion Spanish course. While a goal of mine is to speak conversational Spanish I had no idea it would be so much work. They even taught the class in Spanish! and thought I would know what they said?

We are soon homeward bound. We have learned that cruising plans change all the time. We have decided not to spend the summer cruising due to the high temperatures. We will leave our boat, Andanzas, in Mazatalan for the summer. We will be returning to Ventura to spend the summer on my boat, DreamCatcher. I will return to work June 1 and work until November 1. Wally will be available again for sailing instructions and already has a boat delivery scheduled to San Francisco. We will be returning to Mexico in November to continue our cruising adventures. I am fortunate to have people who are willing to job share.

There is much to do when leaving a boat in Mexico during hurricane season. Mazatlan has not been hit by a hurricane in a number of years. We have to take all the canvas off, take sails down, secure lines, have all the food off the boat due to possible cockroaches, clean all the inside of the boat to prevent mildew. The lists goes on and on.

Wally and I have been reflecting back over our first season of cruising as it draws to an end. It is hard to convey all of our experiences. We have benefited from our experience. We have found that we can live 24/7 together and have handled many challenges over the past 8 months.

Our favorite city: Mazatlan
Our least favorite city: Puerto Vallarta
Our favorite anchorage: Las Hadas
Our least favorite anchorage: Chamala
Our favorite marina: Barra de Navidad
Our favorite village: La Cruz

What we enjoyed most: 1)meeting new friends, 2)having time, 3)freedom to do what we wanted at any time, 4)not having so many rules and laws to live by that the States has, 5.)being responsible for ourselves.

What we learned: 1)how to live and adapt to a new country, 2.)that Mexico has great medical, dental, and veterinary care, 3.)that one has to be aware of tides in Mexico, 3)radio frequencies, 4.)must use bug spray, 5.)how friendly the country is, 5.)must be watchful of fishing long lines which can be 2-3 miles long, 6.)how inexpensive it is to live in Mexico.

What we will miss while we are gone: 1)our cruising friends, 2) the weather, 3.) inexpensive living, 3) casual lifestyle

What we are looking forward to: 1) seeing family, 2)seeing friends, 3)our cars (we have not driven a car in 8 months), 4)grain sweetened chocolate covered raisins and fruit sweetened chocolate cake(Linda), 5) In-Out Burger, KFC(Wally), 6)Sharp yellow cheddar cheese, 7)Dad's biscuits and gravy(Wally), 8)cooler weather(Wally), and 9) local travel.

Angel will also be traveling home with us on the plane. She is now a trained registered Hearing Impaired Service Dog for Wally. (I can vouch for that!) Angel will sit with us on the plane. The airlines are very accommodating to service dogs.

The pictures above are of the surrounding Marina Mazatlan area.

Mazatlan-April 25, 2009

2009-04-24T16:20:00.016-05:00

We have spent the past week enjoying our friends, Tom and Leslie, from Lancaster. They stayed in the El Cid Resort next to our marina, Marina Mazatlan. We spent time sight seeing, lounging around the pool and eating out at night. It was a vacation for us also.

One day we hired a tour guide to take us to the local historical colonial towns. One of our first stops was a local brick factory. The bricks are hand made. The workers make 1000 bricks in 12 hours for $300 pesos per day($22.70American).

We stopped in a small town, Melpeka, which had the best bakery items that we have tasted. The bakery was in a family home. The parents start baking at 2 a.m. and work until 12 noon. The aroma was smelled throughout the streets. Each item cost 5 pesos.

Another visit was the local tile maker. Each tile was handmade. The tile maker makes 200 tiles per day. They would be beautiful layed as flooring.

The town, Concordia, is known for its crafting in woodwork. 40% of its economy is in furniture and 60% is in agriculture. We watched as beautiful tables and chairs were made. If we did not all live on boats it would have been a great addition to a home.

Copala was founded in 1565 as a mining town. The town has narrow cobblestone streets. As usual with these small towns there is a Catholic Church and plaza. One of the interesting items we learned in visiting the old churches is that the crucifix was on the side wall of the church while the patron saint who the church was named after was above the alter.

One of our adventures was our new tatoos. Unforntunately Wally was allergic to the dye and had a huge reaction.

In an effort to expand our cultural experiences we attended a performance of the Festival Internacional de Danza. We wondered why it said for adults only, now we know. It was modern dancing in the nude!

Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico-April 14, 2009

2009-04-14T21:43:00.005-05:00

We completed our last passage of this cruising season. We traveled 135 north from San Blas to Mazatlan. The highlight of the trip-it was our last overnight. While Wally and I do well completing night watches, one hour on and one hour off, we pay a price the following day. Wally gets wired and goes all day while I become cranky and sleep deprived.

We had perfect weather with 8-10 knots of wind and 1-2 feet seas. We had a beautiful sunset while watching the moon rise. What we had to watch out most for were the long lines that the fishermen seem to string all over the ocean. We are always concerned we may catch a line in our prop.

Wally says we have been at 20 different anchorages since we left home. We have been so fortunate this season not to have experienced any bad weather or bad sea conditions. I tell Wally that the Sea Gods watched over us.

We are back in Mazatlan and loving it. It feels like it is our second home. So many friends here to catch up with. So many stories to share. We have not slowed down socially since our return.

I am back to kayaking 3 days a week with a group of women, and line dancing 2 days a week. We have dingy raft up parties (happy hour) every Friday, brunch on Sunday, Pizza Tuesday night, Music at Cannuks on Monday, etc.,etc.,etc.
Life is good!

San Blas, Nyarit, Mexico-April 6, 2009

2009-04-06T19:31:00.017-05:00

Lat 21 32 637, Long 105 17 583. We are 63 miles north of La Cruz. We had an easy passage from La Cruz to San Blas with winds 10-15 knots and seas 1-2 feet. We both said it sure felt good to be out to sea again. We saw many dolphins, manarays and sea turtles.

We are in San Blas Marina which was built about 1 year ago. It has about 15 slips and is built in a river estuary. There have been 3 to 8 boats each day in the marina. When we were here previously in January we anchored in Mantanchen Bay and the took a bus into San Blas. We have been able to experience the town far more this time be staying at the marina.

San Blas has a population of about 12,000 people which seems hard to believe. Seems far less. San Blas was previously a boat building center and port until the end of the 1800's. Currently the economy is geared toward tourism, although it appears to be local toursim. San Blas is also known as a favorite destination for bird watchers.

Along with Rick and Karen on Eyes of the World we enjoyed our second visit to La Tavara Jungle Cruise at Mantanchen Bay. Our guide was very good in describing all the birds we saw in addition to the turtles and crocodiles. Of interest we were told that crocodiles eat about 8 kg of food every 8 days and can go as long as 6 months without food. On the roadside of Mantanchen Bay there are many bakeries with their specialty being banana bread. It smells delicious as you walk along. Of course we sampled all the items.

We have enjoyed the town and people of San Blas. It has a very relaxed and casual lifestyle. One day we enjoyed the local flea market buying odds and ends. One of the best items were the shaved snow cones. They consisted of shaved ice, add strawberry juice and top it with condensed milk. Delicious!! The towns evenings are centered around the town plaza where everyone young and old hang out. There was all kinds of live music being played, in addition to children performing local dances. We were one of the few gringos in the plaza.

As I mentioned before on January 15, 2009 posting we visited the church and bells in which Longfellow wrote his last poem "The Bells of San Blas". Another piece of interesting trivia is that Longfellow never visited San Blas. He read about the bells in Harper's Magazine of 1882.

We did some local sight seeing with our friends Ed and Annette on Wind Song. We visited La Contaduria which was a fort built in 1529 overlooking the vicinity of San Blas. In addition there was an old church and cemetary to view. From there we sampled the local cuisine and found our favorite taco stand.

We will be leaving tomorrow for Mazatlan.

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle - March 31, 2009

2009-03-31T18:42:00.011-06:00

Banderas Bay is one of our favorite bays. The weather is fairly consistent in the high 80's with light to strong winds everyday. The ocean life is abundant. November through March is home to the migratory humpback whales. We have seen a decline in the whale watching the past few weeks.

We left Paradise Village in Puerto Vallarta 2 weeks ago to return to La Cruz. We enjoy the small town Mexican flavor of La Cruz, which is primarily a rustic fishing village. La Cruz has a population of 1,621 people. La Cruz is surrounded by many beaches and little towns which we have been visiting.

We walk to La Manzanilla beach with Angel on a daily basis. Distiladeras Beach is a short bus ride away which has long white beaches and is good for swimming. Sayulita is a small town about 20 minutes from La Cruz known for it's surfing.

In addition to exploring our surrounding areas, my friend Linda on Samantha and I have spent many days shopping at our leisure. We have found that shopping is done better without men.

Linda and I have spent time exploring the indigenous art of the Huichol people, who have lived in the Sierra Madre mountains since pre-Columbian times. Their art is very bright in colors using tiny beads and yarn. The art is a display of human shapes interspersed with animal forms and linked to the spiritual world.

We have enjoyed spending the last few days with our friends Rick and Karen on Eyes of the World (from Ventura). We have tried new restuarants, shared our cruising adventures and played a great game of Mexican dominos, which is a favorite game among cruisers. In the marina and anchorage at La Cruz we have 7 boats from the Ventura area. Most of them we did not know previously, however, we look forward to continuing our friendships in Ventura.

We leave later in the week for Mazatlan. We will spend the rest of the season in the Mazatlan area. While we had originally planned to do the Sea or Cortez during April and May we changed our plans based on Wally's back. His back is healing well but still needs more time for recovery.

The highlight of this past week is the birth of my new grandaughter, Samantha Emily, born March 26, to my daughter Carrie and her husband Mike in Colorado Springs.

Sierra Madre Adventure-March 13, 2009

2009-03-13T20:48:00.019-06:00

We explored the southern area of Banderas Bay in the Sierra Mountain range through Vallarta Adventures. Our friends on Endless Summer, Frank and Stefanie, joined us for the day. Their home town is also Ventura.

Mexico is about Family, Tradition, and Religion. Our first stop was El Tuito a small town discovered in 1525. It means sacred place. We visited the cemetery, church, and town. The first stop was the cemetery, so different from our current cemeteries in the States. The Day of the Dead or Day of the Skeleton is celebrated Nov. 2. The Day of the Little Angels is celebrated Nov. 1. On these days the whole family comes to the cemetery bringing favorites foods of the deceased loved one. The grave sites are decorated. The mariachis play, and favorite songs of the loved ones are played. It was told to us that the party last at the cemetery for 2 days. The culture believes they are not dead, that they are going to eternal life.

The biggest holiday in Mexico is the Day of Guadalupe, Mother of Mexico. The second biggest holiday is Mother's Day. The church in the town was Our Lady of Guadalupe. 89% of the people in Mexico are Catholic.

We toured the botanical gardens, which is considered a tropical deciduous forest. 60% of the trees loose their leaves during the dry season. We learned many random things such as plants cannot produce fruit, trees can only produce fruit. The tallest grass is bamboo, the tallest plant is a palm. The fiber of banana plants makes rope, shoes, baskets. Paper is made from banana leaves. We also cut into a gum tree. We collected the sap, added water, and we had gum. It chewed like gum, however, it was tasteless. Vanilla beans are an orchid. Vanilla is the most labor intensive product made.

Our last stop was the Tequila factory. This factory had more updated equipment than what we had previously experienced in Mazatlan. We tasted the agave plant after it was baked. It tasted similar to a sweet potato or yam, very fibrous, and it was very sweet. We have enjoyed these sight seeing tours as it has given us insight into the culture we have been living in these past months.

We had a first today. Underneath our bimini were thousands of bees. Now what do you do with bees on your boat and Wally is allergic to bees? One boater suggested the fire extinguisher. So Wally got out the extinguishers and I sprayed 4 bottles on the hive. The bees went everywhere, however, they were not dead. So then we got the water hose to squirt them. Oops, I got stung. Then the marina maintenance showed up to help and they took out the fire hose. They sprayed the fire hose for over an hour along with throwing buckets of soapy water on our canvas. Now our question is, what would we do at anchorage if we were to get a bee hive on our boat?

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San Sebastian, Jalisco, Mexico-March 10, 2009

2009-03-10T20:04:00.008-06:00

We had a wonderful experience visiting San Sebastian, a colonial town, founded in the 1600's. It has a population of 506 people, elevation of 4200 feet, and about 1 1/2 hours east of Puerto Vallarta. It's the first time we've been above sea level in 6 months. San Sebastian was noted to be a town stuck in time.

The tour was very educational about the history of Mexico. Puerto Vallarta was a small fishing village of about 2,000 people in the 1960's. Puerto Vallarta became known with the movie Night of the Iguana, after which many Hollywood movie stars came to Puerto Vallarta. In 1968 the airport was built and has since become a tourist destination. Puerto Vallarta is the third largest tourist destination in Mexico.

Mexico's name means "the bellybutton of the moon". The story is too long to explain.

One of the local MD's noted that while America's economics are having a cough, Mexico is having pneumonia. The second largest source of income to Mexico is money being sent into Mexico from outside. Of note, today the exchange rate is 15.50 pesos to $1. (First source of income is oil and the third source of income is tourism).

We visited a hacienda that continues to operate as a bed and breakfast. Of current interest is that it has no electricity. It use to be a silver mine. The oldest commodities of Mexico is silver and coffee.

We visited a operating coffee plantation that has been owned by a local family for 5 generations. It is an organic farm. They used garlic, onion and chili for it chemicals. For shade they used fruit trees and then the ripen fruit is used as fertilizer on the soil. There were 25,000 plants (they actually look like trees)of which 65,000 pounds of coffee beans are hand picked. This yields about 3,500 pounds of coffee per year.

The town buildings were very old. They were built around the Catholic church and plaza, which is normal in Mexico. The roads were all cobblestone.

Puerto Vallarta-March 8, 2009

2009-03-08T21:51:00.009-06:00

We have spent the week exploring the area of Nuevo Vallarta of which Paradise Village Resort and Marina is part of. Paradise Village Marina has 200 slips ranging from 26' to 200' The majority of the boats are power boats and many mega yachts. Our slip is at the base of the harbor which is good since we get a great breeze every day.

This 5 star resort has all the amenities such as swimming pools, restaurants, golf course, and shopping center. While this is nice we find it very touristy. The marina is at the mouth of many canals of which there are many beautiful homes on. It is quite jungly through the canals. There are crocidiles in the canals, so I have been advised not to kayak.

We have been enjoying catching up with our friends Doug and Marcy on Charm. One of the unique features of cruising is that you see people you know all up and down the coast of Mexico. If we were home traveling up and down the coast we would not know anyone.

We had a special concession dinner last night with our friends on EagerDreamer and Suebee. We have been having a long time discussion (since San Diego) whether the crackling noise heard underneath the boat hull at night was shrimp or whether it was electrolysis. I said it was shrimp. John said it was electrolysis. After much research and much discussion among ourselves and experts John finally conceded. The result was a lobster dinner cooked by John. It was delicious. I hope I can come up with another disagreement, and be right, for another lobster dinner. While the 3 boats, Andanzas, EagerDreamer and Suebee have all been together off and on since October we are all going different courses as the season winds down. Sad.

The Gold Coast-March 3, 2009

2009-03-03T22:57:00.013-06:00

We left Barra on 2/26 heading to Bahia Tenacatita with our friends on Suebee. This is an anchorage about 15 miles north of Barra. We had winds 12-15 knots and seas 1-2 feet. This is a favored anchorage among cruisers. It was a calm anchorage. During the days we had dolphins floating around our boat. The coast line looks like scrubby dessert with palm trees along the beaches.

One of the favorite things to do in Tenacatita is to go on the Jungle River Dingy Trip. We went in Suebee's dingy through the river. You start at the mouth of the river at the ocean and travel through many mangroves. It is very dense and in some places you have to lower you head as the growth is so much. Birds were the only wild life we saw through the jungle. While we thought we saw crocidiles, they were only logs. The river takes you to the small town of Tenacatita.

A short distance from the town was a beach called the Aquarium. It was a great place to snorkle. I saw a sting ray and other colorful fish that I have no idea what they were. It is such a neat experience having schools of fish swim around you.

Our social life at anchorage continues. We had pot lucks which taste even better than eating out at restaurants (FYI-while the food is good, eating out becomes all the same. We never thought we would say we are getting tired of Mexican food and shrimp!!) One of the nights we had a dingy raft up. This is where all the dingy's gathered in a circle. First we passed books around for exchange, and then we passed around appetizers to share. After food we all shared where we were from and what was the meaning of our boat name.

We left Tenacatita for Bahia Chamela which was about 34 miles north. We had a very comfortable ride. Most of the time we have been motor sailing as either the wind is too little or coming from the wrong direction. When we left the anchorage we went through a couple of miles of thousands and thousands of tiny jelly fish. We also saw many sea turtles. We expected to see whales, however, only saw one. It is to hard to get pictures of the whales or the turtles.

Chamela anchorage was very rolly at night. The shore had many palapa restuarants. The actual town was about 2 miles inland. We did not visit the town. The surf was rough getting on the beach. One of the difficulties we have had on this trip is we bought too heavy of a dingy for us to handle. We bought a hard bottom dingy and it weighs about 200 pounds with the engine. Even with wheels it is almost impossible to lift and pull on shore. We are trying to sell our current dingy and buy a lighter weight dingy.

We left the anchorage of Chamela heading to Puerto Vallarta around 5 p.m. We wanted to go around Cabo Correntes during the night as it is know to have high seas and high winds. We were very lucky as the winds were only 5 knots and the seas were only about 1 foot. The night was very black as the moon was only a sliver for a couple of hours. We buddy boated with Suebee to Banderas Bay. It feels much safer at night when we are buddy boating with someone ealse.

We are currently at Paradise Village Marina in Puerto Vallarta and Banderas Bay, 105 miles north of Chamela. We look forward to exploring Puerto Vallarta.

Barra de Navidad - February 24, 2009

2009-02-24T19:36:00.014-06:00

We are 1400 miles from home in a direct line. While it has taken 5 months to travel this far it is strange to know we could be home by plane in 3 hours. We have gone as far south as we will travel this season. We will begin to make our way north at the end of this week. Many other cruisers are also beginning to make the trip north. Most cruisers are leaving Mexico by June to avoid the heat and the hurricane season. Many are going home and others are going back to work during the summer months and then returning in November for another season of cruising. The area we are in is called the "Gold Coast" which stretches about 115 miles from Cabo Corrientes (south end of Banderas Bay) to Manzanillo Bay. The weather continues to be warm and stable. Monitoring weather is a normal part of our days. While we do not experience rain or storms we experience winds. Leaving on a passage is always determined by wind. One of the other items we always have to monitor is tides. Many of the anchorages and harbors are affected by the tide. Our daily temperature continues to be in the high 80's. Our nightly temperatures are in the 70's. Water temperature is in the high 70's.
Angel has become a hero. This story was told to us by our neighbors. We had left Angel on the boat by herself. While we were gone she stated barking loudly and continuously. Our neighbors came to check on all the commotion and in the water was a dashhound who had fallen off the dock and could not get back on the dock. The neighbors rescued the dog out of the water. The dog would have drowned if Angel had not done her barking. Needless to say the dog's owner is grateful to Angel.

We have continued to enjoy our surroundings. Isla de Navidad Resort is on over 1200 acres. The gardens and walks are beautiful. Angel and I enjoy daily walks throughout the grounds and surrounding areas. We have spent many afternoons poolside swimming and playing board games with our friends. It still feels decadent to do what ever one wants to do without attention to time.

We celebrated with friends my completion of continuing education credits. I left home needing 55 units of credit completed by this spring. I do not recommend doing this. Thank goodness for the internet.

Manzanillo Bay - February 16, 2009

2009-02-16T21:08:00.012-06:00

Lat 19 06 058, Long 104 20 693, 33 miles south of Barra de Navidad. We left Friday with 3 of our friends EagerDreamer, Suebee, and Kat den rei for a short trip to Las Hadas in Manzanillo Bay. Manzanillo Bay is one of the largest commercial ports on the Mexican coastline.

We anchored outside of the Las Hadas Marina and Resort. The hillside resort and homes were mostly white and reminded one of pictures of Greece. Las Hadas Hotel is known for the movie "10" filmed in the 70's on the grounds. The anchorage was calm with cool winds in the evening. Two of our other friends Lovely Rita and Eyes of the World were also in the anchorage. We had not seen them since Mazatlan.

They men came through with a wonderful Valentine's Day for the women. We were first treated to happy hour on Kat den rei's boat, and then dinner at Paradise Restaurant, which had a beautiful view of the bay. We were serenaded throughout the evening by mariachis.
During our stay we snorkeled and kayaked. Angel also had a chance to have some fun with our friend Kinsey.

Manzanillo has 2 different sections, the old town and the new town. We visited old town. The homes on the hillside were brightly painted. The mercado had local vegetables, fruits, meats, poultry and fish. We were the only gringos in the mercado.

Manzanillo Bay is the furthest south we will go this season. We have arrived back in Barra and will stay here a couple more weeks.

Barra de Navidad - February 12, 2009

2009-02-12T21:13:00.023-06:00

Barra de Navidad has a population of about 5,000 people whose name literally means Bar of Christmas. The name comes from that the town is built on a sandbar. In addition it was named Navidad as by history Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza disembarked on December 25, 1540 to put down a rebellion in the area. Barra currently has cobbled stone roads, and shady streets with 2 main streets in the town. The town people are quite friendly.

One of the things that is required when entering and leaving new towns or villages by boat, is we must sign in and out with the Port Captain of the area. We always have to show our boat documentation, our crew list, our passports, where our last port of entry was, how long we are going to be in the area and where we will be heading next. The Port Captains have all been friendly and accomodating.

Music jams are quite popular with cruisers. Sunday we joined with many cruisers at the Sands Hotel (a local cruisers hangout). There were all kinds of instruments represented including drums and amplifiers. I don't know where they keep these large instruments on their boats.

We have explored Laguna de Navidad by dingy which actually forms the border between the state of Jalisco and the state of Colima. It is surrounded by mangroves with mountains in the background. The lagoon is actually an estuary. It is a very shallow anchorage and the water is dirty. Our friends on Meerkat and Ahea Kali have been anchored in the lagoon.

Yesterday we went to San Patricio Melaque (locally known as Melaque) with our friends Jim and Heather on Meerkat. Melaque's patron saint is San Patricio. St Patrick's Day celebration is told to be quite large. The town is a few miles west of Barra. We use the local buses. It has a population of approximately 10,000 people. Melaque has many more services to be offered than Barra and also has a beautiful beach. We did our grocery shopping at the local tiendas and had lunch at Jim and Heather's favorite restaurant.

We are enjoying the marina, especially the pool. We spend most afternoons at the pool, swimming, basking in the sun and playing cards. We have also enjoyed potluck dinners with our friends.

Tomorrow we are heading south for a few days to Las Hadas. We will be going with EagerDreamer, Suebee, and Kat den rie. It's been rumored that the men are planning a big party for the women on Valentine's Day! We will return to Barra next week. Life continues to be good!!

Barra de Navidad - February 5, 2009

2009-02-05T21:51:00.000-06:00

Lat 19 11 738N, Long 104 40 930W. We are 133 miles south of La Cruz. We are at Marina Pto. de La Navidad. It is one of the plushest marinas in Mexico. The marina is in front of the Grand Bay Hotel and Resort. The marina has full access to all of the amenities of the resort. The grounds are beautiful with palm trees and flowers. There are 3 pools to use, tennis courts, and golfing.

We left Monday from La Cruz. We had 18 to 22 knots of wind for about 18 hours of our 24 hour trip. The seas were quite rolly. While we do not like overnights we are finding what works best for us. Once it gets dark we take 1 hour shifts until light. The only sea life we saw were sea turtles.

Bahia Navidad contains Melaque village, the town of Barra de Navidad and Lagoon Navidad. We have just begun to do some exploring of the town of Barra. The town is on the opposite side of the bay from the marina. We take pangas to cross the channel. While there are many places to anchor in the bay we will stay in the marina and continue to let Wally recover from his surgery.

We have caught up with many of our friends. We are currently on the same dock with our friends, Scott and Sue from Suebee and John and Rosie from EagerDreamer, whom we met at the beginning of our cruising adventure in Catalina Island. We did the Baja Ha-Ha together and then followed each other to Mazatlan where they went south. We have been looking forward to catching up with them for the past 2 months. We are all having a great time together.

There are also many other friends here in the bay whom we look forward to spending time with. Also, we have friends, Scott and Linda from Samantha who are following shortly from La Cruz. There will be much to explore in the area. We plan to stay in this area for about a month.

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle - January 25, 2009

2009-01-25T14:19:00.000-06:00

The literal meaning of La Cruz is "The Cross of the Huanacaxtle Tree". La Cruz is a small older fishing village. It has long been a popular place for cruisers to hang out. There are very few tourists in this village so one gets some of the true flavor of Mexico. From the marina we walk into town about a 1/2 mile. We have found many wonderful restaurants to eat in. Many of the restaurants are in front of the locals home or in the street. There are also many small little tiendas where one can find groceries and produce. One finds small little stores just for meats, one for bakery goods another for tortillas. While I do cook (some) it has been enjoyable to try the local restaurants.

We are meeting new friends in La Cruz as well as catching up with old friends from the Baja Ha Ha and Mazatlan. Talk about a small world. We have 3 boats on our dock who are from Ventura and who we did not previously know.

The beaches go for miles. Some rocky and some sandy. Angel and I can spend hours walking the beaches. She runs and play in the water while I collect sea shells. The temperature here has been between 80-90 degrees with the water temperature around 74 degrees. The wind comes up every afternoon-about 15 knots.

We continue to work on boat maintenance. We have replaced the wind vane, repaired the wind machine, repaired the anchor light, and repaired the lazy jacks. The windless is still being repaired. The result was we broke the shaft in the motor. David suggested that we send him 2 airline tickets to La Cruz instead of repairing the windless and he would pull up the anchor at the various anchorages.......maybe.

We have found another usage for limes. In Mexico many products are made with limes. There is lime in the mayonaise, lime in nuts, lime in chips, etc., etc. So when we had the worker up on the mast he asked for a lime. Fortunately I had some. (In San Blas with the no-see-ums they were used for our bites.) The worker used the lime on the mast as an anti-corrosive. He said it works better than any commercial product. Guess we will continue to keep limes on board.

We attended our first and last Bull Fight in Puerto Vallarta. While we were looking forward to seeing the local tradition we found it difficult to watch the bulls be killed.

Puerto Vallarta is about 10 miles from La Cruz. We have taken the bus into town a couple of times. It is populated with tourists. We walked the Old Town and The Romantic Zone which was quaint.

Transportation continues to be easy to access. While we do have to walk about a mile to get the local bus, once getting the bus we can get anywhere. It costs about 15 pesos one way. We have learned that you allow at least an hour leeway time to get anywhere.

This week we will begin planning for our next leg of the trip to Barra de Navidad.

La Cruz, Nyarit, Mexico - January 15, 2009

2009-01-15T19:55:00.000-06:00

La Cruz- 20 44.874N, 105 22.680W, approximately 203 miles south of Mazatlan.

We left Mazatlan January 10 on another beautiful day in Mexico. The seas were 2-3 feet and the wind was 12-15 knots. We were buddy boating with our friends Doug and Marcy on "Charm". We motor sailed all the way to Matanchen Bay. We watched the sun set and the moon rise. We had a full moon for our travels which made night visibility very good. We both said the best thing about overnights is when you are off shift sleeping in the cockpit.

We arrived in Mantanchen Bay approximately 24 hours later. Mantanchen Bay is east of San Blas. The Bay is very large with a depth of about 12 feet. Palapa restaurants surrounded the north shore. One of the biggest problems at this Bay is the no-see-ums. While we did have mosquito netting on our port holes we ended up with bites all over our bodies. It looks like we have the chicken pox, and we are still itching.

We visited La Tavara Lagoon traveling by panga through jungle and mangrove swamps. We saw many crocodiles, turtles and birds of all types. The mangroves were thicker than a forest.
After our jungle adventure we went into San Blas, about 6 miles from Mantanchen Bay. While we were waiting for a bus a truck stopped by and offered us a ride into town. So we all piled in the back of the pick up. That would definitely be against the law in the states, however, common practice here.

San Blas is a tiny fishing village of about 12,000 people surrounded by rain forest and mangrove swamps. The city is also known for the poem The Bells of San Blas written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1882. The streets are all cobble stone and dirt. The city square was surrounded by little restaurants, vendors, and the church of which the Bells of San Blas was written. San Blas also has a new marina in which we may visit in the future.

On January 14 we headed south to Punta Mita which is 57 miles south of Matanchen Bay. It was a great day for observing sea life. We saw whales breaching, dolphins swimming by the boat, and sea turtles floating by. It almost became common to see the whales, there were so many. Punta Mita is at the north west end of Banderas Bay. It is a common anchorage for overnight into or out of Banderas Bay. The wind was about 15-20 knots coming into the anchorage. Banderas Bay will be great for sailing.

We are currently in La Cruz at Marina Rivera Nyarita, 10 miles east of Punta Mita. This is fairly new marina which has about 400 slips, however, it appears only a third full. The marina is surrounded by green hills. The beaches appear to go for miles. We know many cruisers at the marina who we have met in the past.

We plan to be here for awhile. While it appears that we are having fun (which we are) it is hard work to be cruising. There seems to be always something to do on the boat. On our passage down we broke the lazy jack fittings and when we pulled up anchor in Punta Mita the windless went out. Both of these items need to be repaired before we leave this marina. We also plan to relax and enjoy ourselves at our new location.

Good-By Mazatlan-January 9, 2009

2009-01-09T23:09:00.001-06:00

After 2 months of being in Mazatlan we are ready to head south! Wally is recovering daily from his back surgery. We will be heading for San Blas and then La Cruz. We are buddy boating with our friends on "Charm."

We have enjoyed out time in Mazatlan and look forward to returning to this city. We have met so many new friends and have become so oriented to the city. One knows when they are part of the city is when you are in a taxi discussing the Mazatlan Baseball team with the driver and you know the baseball players names. (Or I should say Wally does!)

We have been busy this past week preparing the boat to leave. We also continue to be busy with our dock friends. Pictures show our Pizza Tuesday Night which I have organized for the past month. We usually have between 20-25 people every Tuesday night.

Our friends on "Meerkat" Jim and Heather showed up in Mazatlan a few days ago. They happen to be friends from Ventura who were on our dock at Ventura West. It's great to see old friends. We will likely see allot of each other as we all sail south.

Happy Holidays-December 26, 2008

2008-12-26T20:44:00.000-06:00

While we have been missing family and friends during this holiday season, we have had a holiday rich in new experiences. We began the week by attending a Christmas Program by the Salvation Army Children's Home. The program consisted of about 40 children singing Christmas songs and dancing their local folklore. This is the time of year that the Salvation Army makes all their money for the year. The Salvation Army is not supported by the government. Of note these children are from poor families. Many of these children do not have birth certificates, and if they do not have birth certificates they can not go to school. The Salvation Army helps them to get birth certificates, medical care and other needed services.

Christmas Eve we spent on the dock. We had a party with all our friends on the dock. We all made appetizers to share. We had a variety of great foods along with home made egg nog and Christmas songs blaring from the boats.

Christmas Day was a quite day for us. We spent the day cooking a turkey and playing games. We participated in the Cruisers Pot Luck Dinner. We had about 40 people in attendance. Again we had wonderful food from all. We have some new games to recommend to any of you who like games. One is Mexican Train and the other is Sequence. Both of them are fun with a group of people.

Wally is continuing to recover. He goes to physical therapy everyday. I know he's getting better as he wants to work on the boat all the time.

Angel has become the dock mascot and guard dog. Many of the cruisers visit her on a daily basis. She's receives dog treats from everyone. She keeps us busy and entertained.

El Quelite - December 18, 2008

2008-12-18T19:05:00.000-06:00

Today we took a "Vacation from our Vacation". We were feeling water bound and wanted to explore inland. So with our friends, John and Debbie, we hired a taxi for the day to explore some local colonial and historical spots in Sinaloa.

Our first stop on our tour was Vinata Los Osuna. We had a tour on how blue agave (Tequilla) is distilled. The distillery was in operation. We saw the plants from start to finish. One would not want to be there if they were allergic to bees as they were everywhere. The grounds were beautiful with flowers.

Our next stop was Hacienda Las Moras, a restored authentic Tequila Plantation about 150 years old. Currently it is a secluded resort. The decor was in true Mexican flavor. Again, the grounds were beautiful and peaceful. Many peacocks roamed freely through the grounds. Definitely would be a nice place to stay.

Our last stop was El Quelite, a colonial town, with cobbled streets, and colorful tile roofed homes.
It is about 20 miles north of Mazatlan across the Tropic of Cancer. It was a very quaint town. Most of the little stores were in the porches of homes. We ate at a local resturant with homemade tortillas and the local meats. We also visited the local church, cemetary, Cock Fighting Ranch and local bakery. One definietly felt like "Old Mexico".

The countryside was rolling hills, with some agriculture areas of corn, and some papaya tree groves. It was similar to driving up to Ojai, CA.

Wednesday night we had the opportunity to join Friends of Mazatlan, a local charity organization which supports 5 local schools in the area. We toured the city Christmas lights on a trolly. We went through the old historical town and also El Cid which has acreas of beautiful HUGE homes. The lights and decorations were everywhere on the homes. A beautiful display. We had Chrsitmas songs going as we toured. It made us feel a little like Christmas.

Mazatlan-December 15, 2008

2008-12-15T21:43:00.000-06:00

Wally continues to improve daily from his surgery. The MD removed the final stitches today. Wally is scheduled to start physical therapy next week. His endurance level is improving and his walking distance is increasing. The great news is no pain! The picture with Wally is with both of his physicians. The MD said we could leave Mazatlan in January. Our departure date will be January 10.

We continue to be busy everyday. We wonder where the day has gone as we watch the sun set. While we haven't been able to leave the marina area since Wally's surgery we continue to be very active socially. For those of you who are not cruisers, we have come to find out that cruisers are a very close group and are always helping each other out. One of the ways that we all stay connected and in communication is we always have our VHF radio on. Monday through Saturday we listen to the Net on channel 22 at 8:00a.m. (I think that is a little early!) The first item asked for is there any emergency traffic, secondly we all check in with our name on the radio. The next items for discussion is any new arrivals(cruisers)to the Mazatlan or any departures leaving Mazatlan, weather, the tides, special announcements (this includes all the social activities that may be going on), assistance needed, treasures of the bilge (any items that many be for sale) and then any other information needed. It usually ends about 8:20 a.m. If cruisers need another cruiser during the day we call each other via the VHF. Every cruising area has their own Nets for information.

Winter has arrived in Mazatlan. The temperature is in the low 80's during the day and cooling down to the high 60's in the evening. We continue to wear shorts and T-shirts.

Mazatlan-December 7, 2008

2008-12-07T21:25:00.000-06:00

We continue to have new adventures. Our latest adventure is experiencing the health care in Mexico. As most of you know Wally has had 2 back surgeries in the past 2 years. Unfortunately they did not fix the problem. By the time we arrived in Mazatlan Wally was experiencing increased pain. So we decided to see if something outside the country could help Wally's pain. We made an appointment with a neurosurgeon and within 1 week we had all kinds of tests and were scheduled for surgery. Wally had surgery on December 3 with excellent results. He came home today and he has none of the previous pain he was experiencing. The doctors are all wonderful here. The cost of medical care is so much less than we experience in the states. The neurosurgeon will be coming to the boat everyday to check Wally's incision site and the progress he is making. Can you imagine that happening in the states! Our cruising plans will be delayed by 4-6 weeks, however, this is not a bad place to have to stay!

I have continued to enjoy the cultural activities of the area. This month is the Mazatlan Cultural Festival. The shows are at the Angela Peralta Theater, which is a beautiful renovated theater. I have attended "Viva Mexico", Sinaloa Folklore Ballet which was about the three events of social impact on Mexico's history: the fall of the great Tenochtitian, the independence from Spain and the Mexican revolution. The dancing was great and the costumes were so colorful. I also saw the Nutcracker which was done by the Municipal School of Ballet. The stage setting was magical, the children were adorable. The admission to these events is about 150-200 pesos (equivalent to $11.53-$15.38American). One can see many shows as compared to the cultural activies in the states. The programs are in Spanish. Hopefully one day I will understand more of the language.

We have learned how to go to the movies. They have some American movies here. Sometimes they are dubbed in Spanish and sometimes they are subtitled in Spanish. The admission to the movies is 25pesos/person. So for under $8.00(American) 2 people can go to the movies with popcorn and drinks.

I have wanted to experience a jungle cruise so before Wally went into the hospital he took me through all the canals in the harbor. We were amazed to see all the beautiful homes on the waterways. In addition we saw many iguanas on our ride. I think he thinks he won't have to do a real jungle cruise.

Dock side cruising continues to be very busy. I have exercise class or yoga three times a week, line dancing 3 times a week, music jams on Wednesday, Sunday brunch, kayaking 2 times per week, and dinners out with friends at least 2 times per week. With all of this and more people continue to work on their boats. Many cruisers coming in to Mazatlan and many heading south.

The city and the marina are decorating for the holidays. It is all similar to the states. The stores are decorated, homes are decorated and the boats are being decorated for the holidays. There will not be a white Christmas here, current temperature in the 80's We all still wear shorts and tank tops.

Happy Thanksgiving-November 27, 2008

2008-11-27T23:30:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends!!

We participated in the local cruisers American Thanksgiving festivities. We had a catered traditional dinner. The food was delicious. Dinner was followed with music and dancing.
The party was held out in the cruisers patio overlooking the marina. The temperature was in the 80's. We had another beautiful sunset during dinner. Life is good.

Mazatlan-November 25, 2008

2008-11-25T22:17:00.000-06:00

We continue to enjoy the city of Mazatlan and the activities it has to offer. We recently attended a professional baseball game. Playing was Venados de Mazatlan vs Algodoneros de Guasave. What an event! Far different than watching baseball in the states. There is total particaption by those in the stand with singing and clapping. There are mascots on the field with continual antics. After each inning souveniers are thrown into the stands. The food stands are quite good and beer flows freely at each section in the stands. Final score was 3-2. We have continued to watch the baseball games on TV in Spanish. Venados de Mazatlan continues to win.

We have mastered the bus sytem. One can get anywhere in the city one way for a cost of 5-8 pesos. We have found and shopped at Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Home Depot, drug stores and local grocery stores. So far we have been able to find all the items we wanted. The difference is all the stores are obviously in Spanish, so often we look at pictures to determine the right item.

We continue to enjoy meeting new friends everyday. We are the newbee's to cruising here at the marina. Most of the other cruisers have been cruising from 3-10 years. They are from both Canada and the United States. In preparation for cruising we read many books on the subject. However, we have learned far more from the cruisers. Everyday we get new tips. Most of the cruisers return to Mazatlan in November after escaping the summer heat and humidity of Mazatlan. Some leave their boats up in the Sea of Cortez and cruise up there, others go home for the summer and some return to work for 5-6 moinths until cruising season begins again. Most are preparing their boats to head south after Thanksgiving.

The local people are very friendly. The University of Michigan's World Values Surveys compiles data on the happiest countries in the world for the past 20 years. Mexico was listed as Number 2. Canada is listed as number 10 and the United States is number 15. We have found the pace and stress far less here than at home.

Last Saturday we went with a group of friends to share the city. We first went to Hotel Freeman to the top floor where we had a 360 degree view of the city. We watched the sunset. From there we went to a favorite local restaurant. We have no idea the name of it. Some of the best food is on the local streets where a vendor will set up table and chairs and serve food. We had the best "baked potatoes". It was stuffed with butter, sour cream and covered with carne asada. At the table there was salsa, guacamore, radishes and cucumbers. The cost of each dinner was 30 pesos.

Today we were visted by family and friends who were in port while cruising on a cruise ship. We enjoyed swimming at the local beach and having lunch together.

We would love to hear from anyone who reads our blog. We miss our friends at Ventura West and would love to have an update. Either post a comment or email us at AndanzasAdventure@gmail.com.

Mazatlan-November 19, 2008

2008-11-19T15:19:00.000-06:00

We are enjoying Mazatlan life. We have been here a week and have adapted well to our new cruising life. We have met many new friends along with old friends Michael and Renee Ditton and John and Debbie Die from Ventura. Marina Mazatlan has a very active social schedule for cruisers.

We have been relaxing quite a bit especially due to heat. It is 90 degress today inside and outside of the boat. We have been exploring the local sights by foot, public bus and pulmonia. Mazatlan has two areas the Goldren Zone and Old Town. We have spent our time in Old Town visiting the cathedral, local markets, plazas, local art studios, and the beautiful malecon(boardwalk) that surrounds Old Town. The Golden Zone is predominately for tourist which we have avoided. The malecon, which is about 12 miles long, has many historical viewpoints and statutes along the route. We have walked many portions of it in the morning for exercise.

We have enjoyed all the local ethnic food. It is very inexpensive to eat here. Local transportation is very inexpensive and one can get anywhere in town. The cost is 50 cents to 80 cents one way.

Today we hiked to the top of the highest working lighthouse in the world, El Faro. We were able to see 360 degrees and had to climb over 360 steps. It was a beautiful view of all of Mazatlan and overlooked the main harbor where the cruise ships come in and where the Pacifico factory is.

Daivd and Alli took an exciting side trip adventure to San Blas which I will let Alli describe.

ALLI:
David and I came up with the grand plan of an overnight adventure to Mexicaltitan, about 200km away in the next bordering state, Nayarit, south of Sinaloa. So we take a local bus from our Marina down to the Golden Zone to the Central bus station, where we need two tickets to Ixcuintlan, where we could transfer to another bus to our destination. However, no buses from Mazatlan will take us to either place but will get us close, a place called Penas. So, 5 minutes later we are on our way! So, we start looking at the map and realize we are actually going to the state of Jalisco, south of Puerto Vallarta! Una problema!! After the bus driver assured us that was a different Penas, we later found out a lot of places were called Penas! So, after reading the guide book further, we decide to go to San Blas, only a little further south, instead. San Blas, had a rich history, with a beautiful beach, old cathedral, and gold/silver Contaduria, and a Jungle River excursion, and we did it all!!! On the La Tovara River trip took us down all the canals of the mangrove/marsh lands that started just outside of town and spanned out to the mountains where the terrain turned to Jungle. We saw crocodiles, turtles, birds and fish.
So after such a successful excursion that we extended it to 2 nights, we were ready to come home Monday. Sunday night we went to the ATM to get pesos for the bus ride home, but it was out of cash. So, we tried again Monday morning, and still no cash... so we went to another ATM and still no cash! We did not have enough to get to Mazatlan! Hmmm... came to find out it was a Mexican holiday and the banks were closed, and the police officers we talked to with giant AK47's just laughed. Thankfully a lady at the nicest hotel in town gave us a cash advance and we ended up back in Mazatlan with 4 pesos to spare! The End.

Now back to Linda. While it appears that we are vacationing we do have boat chores everyday and Angel duty. David drew the short straw today and had to go up the mast to re-engineer the lazy jacks. We had to undo the dingy as we are having chaps made to protect it from the beating sun. We have had to repair the preventor, clean water filters, repair the running lights (which went out crossing the Sea of Cortez at night), repaired the reefing lines, and continually clean dog hair out of the boat.

Last night we celebrated for no reason and had Two for One Pizza Night delivered by Domino's Pizza complete with salsa picante.

David and Alli leave tonight which we are quite sad about. We have all thoroughly enjoyed our adventures together.

Mazatlan-November 13, 2008

2008-11-13T12:13:00.000-06:00

Mazatlan, Lat 23 16 214, Long 106 27 307, 200 miles east of Cabo. We have now traveled 1200 miles from Ventura.
Mazatlan is known as the Pacific Pearl. Also means valley of the deer. Population 500,000.

We left Cabo on Tuesday morning heading for Los Frailes with two other boats, Eager Dreamer and SueBee. The coast line was very pretty. The land is quite green due to the recent hurricane through Baja. We were heading straight into 20 knot winds and big seas, getting banged around.

After about 4 hours of this and only 12 miles from Los Frailes we made a right hand turn and headed to Mazatlan as the weather was not expected to imporve and the anchorage was not going to be good with the wind conditions.

What a ride to Mazatlan!!. We sailed all the way. We had winds 17-25 knots with seas of 8-10 feet. Our fastest speed was 11.4 knots. We all have bruises to show for the ride. Upon arriving outside of the harbor our 2 buddy boats went aground at the harbor entrance. They gave us a heads up on what to expect. We also went aground at the harbor entrance and was lifted up off by a wave. The tide was very low and the swells were big. The harbor entrance is very small. We would not want to come in here at night.

We are currently at Marina Mazatlan. When we arrived we took 12 loads of laundry up to have done. The marina is full of cruisers. We had dinner at the marina restaurant last night. Music was playing, and we were dancing under the stars with a full moon. It was a sureal experience after the previous night of being on the water. Current water temperature is 79 degrees and air temperature is mid 80's.

We plan to stay here a few weeks to rest and sight see. David and Alli continue to be with us until Novembefr 19. They have the next week planned for all the local sight seeing.

The underwater photos were taken at Lover's Beach at Cabo. We enjoyed snorkling in such warm water.

Angel update. She survived 10 days of never being off the boat. Occasionally she was scared when the seas were rough. She has enjoyed dingy and panga rides. She is currently very happy to be dock side as we all are also.

Cabo San Lucas-November 9, 2008

2008-11-09T12:05:00.000-06:00

Cabo San

Cabo San Lucas-Lat 22 53 07, Long 109 53 83. 815 miles south of San Diego. Water temp 78 degrees, air temp mid 80's.

We left Turtle Bay with winds of 15-22 knots and seas of 10-15 foot swells. We have all learned to walk gracefully under sail. You don't realize how much noise there is while underway until you get to anchorage and all is quite.

We have seen allot of sea life-whales, dolphins, leaping squid, flying fish, albatros, marlin, tuna, and sharks.

We arrived at Bahia Santa Maria on Tuesday. The bay is huge and calm. There is a rural fishing village. The local people had a beach party for all the Baja fleet on Wednesday which included a rock and roll band. The party felt like we were on a deserted island. We climbed to the top of the mountain and we could see all the way to Mag Bay. David and Alli used the kayaks to get ashore while Wally and I took the pangas. The pangas go so fast and take the surf so well.

Night watch, while not our favorite thing, is beautiful. The sky is full of stars which sparkle on the water. The moon is getting bigger every night. We have had many beautiful sun rises and sun sets.

All of us have met many new friends. We look forward to each anchorage to get together with all of them.

We arrived in Cabo on Thursday. We have been partying since then. Squid Row on Thursday night, Friday a Beach Party and Saturday night was the Awards Ceremony. In our division of Catalina 42's we came in 3rd place!

We have enjoyed the Baha Ha-Ha. It is an experience we will never forget. We would recommend it to anyone cruising south.

We plan to leave Cabo on Tuesday and go to Las Frailus (sp) and spend a day snorkling a coral reef, which is the only one in Mexico. On Thursday we will likely head to Matzalan. Wonderful not to have a schedule.

Bahia Tortuga-October 31, 2008

2008-10-31T12:52:00.000-06:00

Turtle Bay- 360 miles south of San Diego. Lat 27 37, Long 114 60. We crossed the start line on Monday at 11:00 a.m. We sailed for 24 hours with 10-15 knots of wind. The first night was crazy. David and Alli had a real tense night with fog, boats everywhere, and changing winds. There learning curve is very high. After the first day we have had to motor. Wind has been 1-3 knots. The first few days the water was lumpy, however,very smooth now. One night we had lots of lightening and squals. The skies were beautiful.

David and Alli caught our first yellow fin-20 pounds-on Wednesday. David hooked it, Alli gaffed it and Linda and Wally ate it. I wish we would had audio when Alli said "how do I gaf it, and David said how do I kill it with a bat!

The pictures are out of order. They are from Monday to Friday of this week. We celebrated David's bithday yesterday. We even baked a birthday cake on board.

Turtle Bay is a small town of 1000 people. It mainly does fishing. Everyone is really nice in town. Very welcoming and friendly. We are having a beach party today with the Baha fleet and the locals. We saw dolphins, sea lions and look forward to seeing whales and sea turtles.

Angel update. Continues to keep us entertained. She finally did her "duty" after 48 hours.

Costume Party - October 26, 2008

2008-10-26T23:31:00.000-06:00

What fun we had today! Sponsors of the Ha-Ha had a great party with food and costumes. We participated as the crew of "Gilligan Island"-Mary Ann, Gilligan, Ginger, and The Captain. We won in our category.
We depart in the morning. We likely will not have internet coverage until Cabo. If you would like to see where we are check the web site of www. Baha Ha-Ha.com.
Joel this is for you. We are at 32 39 000, 117 06, 000.

San Diego, October 25, 2008

2008-10-25T23:28:00.000-05:00

We are on the countdown of 2 days before we leave for the Ha-Ha. All of the cruisers say we need to get going so we can stop spending money and working on our boats.
Wally and I feel like we live here at Pier 32. It is very similar to Ventura West, where we were previously living. We have neighbors, lots of visiting and parties.
We have been socializing the past few days with friends and family. Dee and Sol visited us for dinner and wished us well on our journey. Our crew, David and Alli, arrived on Thursday. We shared our boat with Alli's family on Friday.

San Diego, Pier 32-October 23, 2008

2008-10-23T15:57:00.000-05:00

We wonder what we do everyday, the day is over before we know it. Since our last update we have spent time in Cat Harbor, Avalon, Oceanside, and currently at San Diego Harbor. I think we finally feel like we are under control and ready to leave the country.
Wally has spent time repairing the ignition switch and the macerator switches. In addition, he continuously finds things to improve on the boat. I call him brilliant to know so much. I have become the surgical assistant in these projects.
Monday we attended an all day seminar on Sailmail. This is a system we will be able to do email through the SSB radio in addition to obtain weather reports. Our friends from Ventura, Jim and Lucy, joined us for the day.
We continue to meet wonderful new people who are heading south. We had a party on our boat last night and it was like we had all known each other for a long time.
David, my son, and Alli his girlfriend will join us today for final preparations for the Baja Ha-Ha.

Catalina-Two Harbors, October 14, 2008

2008-10-14T12:16:00.000-05:00

We set sail on October 8 for Catalina Island. The first few days were warm and relaxing. Many other cruisers are here. We all have been meeting at the bar to share our upcoming adventure. We have met cruisers from as far away as Washingston. Most of us are heading to San Diego for the Baja Ha-Ha leaving on October 27.
We had been experiencing Santa Ana winds for the past few days, wind gusts up to 35 knots in the harbor. The kids were surfing on the waves at Isthamus harbor. Wally definetely had his hands full as I had gone to the mainland for a Memorial Service. As soon as I got back we headed to Cat Harbor. It is beautiful and calm. The full moon rising over the mountain was beautiful last night.
We have adapted quickly to our new life. We are continuing to work out systems on the boat. We wonder where the day has gone as we are constantly busy.
Angel is also adapting well to her new life. She continues to be a good guard dog.

Ventura Harbor-October 5, 2008

2008-10-06T22:02:00.000-05:00

Friends and family joined us in celebrating our cruising departure.