Favorite Pictures and thoughts on our trip



The Fearless Crew of the Tivoli



Philo's Restaurant with Philo and Leon



Blessing of the Fleet Celebration in La Cruz



The Parade Panga

Fisherman and his nets in La Cruz

The typical photo op on the usual beautiful beach with our favorite group.

We took a couple of days to relax in the anchorage here near Mazatlan.  When we are at anchor, it is quite different than at a marina.  This post is mostly self serving, for me to remember when I get home and have forgotten the things about this trip that make it special.  So, sights, and sounds... I love:
 The slapping of the water under the hull at anchor.
The loud nightly chatter of the critters under the boat, attaching themselves to our hull, it changes with location.
The slow rocking with the swell as it passes by.
The sound of the gulls, saying Owwww, Owwww, like I do.
Frigate birds circling overhead, never stopping, diving, never landing, catching fish on the fly with their beaks.
Boobies following the boat, diving in front, skipping across the water, heads down, surfacing with a fish.
The splash of diving birds just outside our portholes.
Spectacular sunsets and sunrises, almost daily.
Welcoming smiles of the local people on the streets.
Everyone says Hola.
Dogs sleeping everywhere, and they seem to know when a car is coming, get up and leave the middle of the street.
The iguana tree at the entrance to La Cruz Marina.
Everyone helps everyone, with everything.  Docking, information, books, drinking, snacks, dinners.
Leif and I saying "Excuse me" like a certain someone we met two years ago.
Friends dropping in and knocking on the hull as if it's a door, being polite.
Inviting anyone and everyone on board for snacks.
Tuna... with everything.
Kirkland tuna... not Mexican tuna.  Don't know why they can't can their excellent fish, but somehow it's like cat food.
Leif's positive and fun attitude, constantly.
Baby goat braying for it's mom as we passed.
Philo's band, pizza and the two stepping gringos.
Taco's on the street, best rib eye tacos ever.  Not what you'd think the name implies.
Mario's hair growing out as we stayed longer at La Cruz.
When all else failed, fish tacos at the yacht club.
Stars reaching the horizon when we sail overnight.
The Southern Cross up with the Big Dipper, Orion's belt, Little Dipper, North Star, Pleiedes, or 7 Sisters, and many many meteoroids crossing the entire sky.
Whales. Jumping, slapping fins, tails, surfacing, blowing.
Dolphins leaping completely out of the water, snorting.
Swordfish or sailfish slowly weaving under the bow.
Turtles floating with birds atop them, flipping over as we pass.
Sea snake, yellow and black, swimming alongside during the Banderas Bay regatta.
Rays leaping in unison.
Groans, creaks of the inside of the boat as we bash through 20 knots upwind.
Rhythmic pulse of the water maker, my favorite addition to the boat.





Mazatlan Anchorage, looking down from Isla de los Chivos.

   



Cute goat, reminds me of Woody.

  More later.

Tearing ourselves away from La Cruz!

After spending many delightful weeks here in La Cruz, it is time to head north.  The weather is warming up and hopefully the Sea of Cortez is doing the same.  Our weather window, as they call it when the winds are lighter for heading into them here, is from Friday through next week, so we decided to start our journey northward.  We had planned to leave around 1:00 p.m., but as things go our plans changed.  First there was an 80' yacht that needed help docking, then there were the friends on El Tiburon with their Vizsla Sparky, (my best friend) who invited us for a send off refreshment.  So, around 6:00 p.m. we left the dock and headed towards Punta de Mita to anchor for the night.

    We spent a lovely night anchored at Punta de Mita, after arriving just after dark.  In the morning, Leif  woke me up and we headed out early for Matanchen Bay.  We rounded the corner for the last time and headed up the coast.  After a day of motoring and then sailing, we arrived in Matanchen Bay around 4 p.m. and immediately closed the ports, hatches and put up bug screens.  It has been widely reported that the he he ne’s and mosquitoes are really bad here at dusk and sunrise.  I HATE bugs, so we took every precaution, and alas, awoke in the a.m. with not a single bite.  Of course we never left our boat.  San Blas was just around the corner, and it would have been great to see the town and fort, but the bugs are reported to be terrible and we have two friends who have contracted dengue fever from there.  So, as the sun rose, out we went towards Isla Isabela where the frigate and blue footed boobies nest.  As usual, the wind was on the nose the entire way out to the island, and we needed to arrive in daylight, so we motored much of the day.   The island was wind blown and inhabited only by a few fishermen with pangas as well as the millions of birds circling overhead.  There was one other yacht there, a trawler from the Channel Islands, named Godzilla.  We searched the anchorages and found that the best place was right next to them, on a rocky bottom in around 18’ of water.  As it turned out, they left, and two other sailboats joined us for the night.  We spent an unrestful night worried about our anchor, as the bottom is rock with a little sand on it.  I stayed up for several hours, then Leif did the same.  Finally we figured it was safe and nodded off together.  We awoke to a glorious day, beautiful sun, frigate birds, tropic birds and blue footed boobies circling overhead by the thousands.  Of course you know what that means, lots of debris...   

   We quickly blew up the inflatable kayak and paddled ashore, only to be met by the naturalists who told us not to land there, but to go around to the fish camp.  Well, the fish camp was a ways away, and we paddled back to the boat, tied up the kayak, and blew up the dinghy, put the motor on and motored over to the fish camp.  I was a bit adamant that we get ashore, as this is where blue footed boobies and frigate birds nest, and they aren't afraid as there are very few visitors.  It was worth the wait, as they were, real blue feet on the boobies and the frigate birds blowing up their neck skins to be mucho macho.  Amazing.  And amazing amount of guano.  The fish camp was filled with fishermen who seem to live there, and fish locally around the island, laying out nets each night.  We were encircled last night, so it was a good thing we didn't have to leave.  

   We hiked up to the top of the island, which is a volcanic crater naturally filled with water.  Quite prehistoric looking, and weird trees that looked like lime trees but weren't.  There were lizards and iguanas around as well to fill out the critter list.   Everywhere there were bird nests, in every tree, in the tufts of grass on the ground, and under rocks, and the swooping of the frigate birds was felt and heard as they went by, sounding like a small plane.  They are really enormous birds, with 4" beaks or so up close. 




La Cruz Yacht Club

 



Punta de Mita Sunrise





Isla Isabel boobies

 




Las Monas

 



Blue footed boobie chick

   As we left to head back to the boat, we motored around a couple of incredible rock sculptures bursting up through the shallow water and covered with blue footed and brown boobies.  These pinnacles were really unique to look at, and pictures don't show their true magnificence. 

The afternoon was absolutely gorgeous, and I hated to leave, but the wind was picking up and it was time to head for Mazatlan.  We pulled up our anchor, with it's tethering ball, and sailed out into 20 knot winds for a speedy trip northward through the night to Isla Chivos and Isla Cardones near the mouth of Mazatlan Harbor.  We arrived around 9:30 a.m. and set the hook, had a bite to eat, and crashed for a nap.  Waking up around 3:00p.m. we discovered it was cold!  Water 60 degrees, air 75.  Nothing like La Cruz so far, hopefully this will pass and it'll warm up.

Road Trip to San Sebastian, Talpa de Allende, and Tequila

Safely back at the dock, we decided to plan a trip inland to see the differences in culture between the coast and the farm country here in Mexico.  Our good friends, Tom and Mary Ellen were brave enough to join us for the trek for three days.  First we hopped a bus to PV airport to get a rental car, a trusty Nissan.  Then, Leif bravely drove out into the busy streets and on to the highway towards San Sebastian.  The countryside became drier and elevation rose as we closed in on our first stop up in the pine trees.  San Sebastian is a small town previously known for silver mining and now as a tourist destination with a beautiful church and courtyard.  We walked around the cobble stone streets and found a great place for lunch, Comedor La Lupita, at which the tour buses also stopped.  We stuffed ourselves with typical Mexican fare, beans, rice, chicken mole, quesadilla, arracherra or something like that, and of course the obligatory Pacifico.  The town was small and we decided to drive on towards Talpa, which turned out to be having a celebration of one of the Saints in the Catholic church this week.  The town was the end of a trek made by thousands of Mexicans from their home towns to the church in Talpa.  After walking for often days on end, and sleeping alongside the roads, each group of pilgrims would parade through town with a mariachi band accompanying them to the church.  The bands would then double back and repeat with another arriving group.  It was very festive, and the music was really well played and excellent.  We stayed in a tidy hotel, run by a couple who were very friendly, offering us information and a shot of tequila.  The drive into this town was a bit of a trial, as the streets in the main area were all closed off, and the outskirt streets were one lane wide with walls and houses on each side, and cars parked everywhere.  Leif did a masterful job not hitting anything! 
   The next day, Tom and Mary Ellen did the pilgrim trek into town early while we were still sleeping.  We all met up for a quick bite to eat at a local restaurant, Tom ordered something that turned out to be some sort of meat that was indeterminable, and my egg appeared to be rubber, but, the pancakes were excellent and the coffee hot and tasty.  Off to Tequila! We drove through more pines and cactus towards the drop into the valley, where we passed a rooster ranch.  It was interesting to see the cement "A" frame huts for each bird.  Not sure if they were for fighting or breeding.  We headed through Moscota, a typical rural town filled with closed shops, restaurants and cowboys walking or riding along through town.  It was around noon, and many places are closed at this time for siesta.  We have found that the towns light up at night, and are very quiet during the day in most places.  As we were driving along this road, for miles and miles we saw pilgrims walking towards Talpa, or stopped at the many roadside stands put up for this pilgrimage.  It was amazing to see how far some had yet to travel.  As we neared Tequila, we were driving on the "Ruta de Tequila".  Sounded good to me, although I'm not a fan of tequila.  Arriving in town, we discovered we had a nail in one tire, so we were careful to park facing out and checked out where the local llanterias (tire repair) places were.  Incredibly there were many of them! :)  We parked near the Jose Cuervo distillery and walked into the town square, finding a very upscale hotel for $50.  After dropping off our packs, off to a tasting.  The Cuervo distillery was a good choice to tour, we were late in the day and the last tour.  Our tour included an explanation of how tequila is made, as well as several tastings of the stages of each process.  The first, 55 proof, was enough to take the skin off your throat, fortunately it was only a taste.  The tour ended with a three tier taste of 1800, clear, reposado and anejo.  Each was tasted with three different scents of the glass, starting at the bottom third, then the center, then the top.  It was interesting to smell the different flavors in each part of the glass.  I confess, tequila is still not to my liking, but the 1800 anejo wasn't bad, and very smooth.  I didn't run right out and buy any though. 
   After a great night's rest, we were off to Chacala, which is north of Banderas Bay along the coast.  It was a long drive through hills and finally jungle until we reached the sea, and our favorite, Pacifico cervezas and fish tacos.  We sat under a shaded palapa and enjoyed the peaceful view of beach, a lone sailboat anchored out and a few tourists quietly sipping cocktails.  Ahhh.  After a yummy lunch, we drove off to the real destination, Costco, in PV.  Down here, there is a huge amount of tuna in cans, however... it is dark meat mush in water, and not much in each can.  We have taken to calling it cat food.  At Costco however, there is delicious solid white meat tuna, and large cans even.  We bought a case, plus a case of chopped tomatoes and Pacifico beer.  It was a little piece of heaven, even though I love shopping at the tiendas and seeing their assortment of great local fare, which we also purchase.  Some things are just necessary on a long voyage when all the meat you can have is out of a can.  And, sorry, I don't like spam.
   We made it all the way round the local roads and out into the country and back again, and finally the police caught up with us!   Out of the blue, a policeman signaled us to pull over.  We were stunned, as Leif hadn't been speeding or switching lanes, in fact he'd been passed more often than not.  It was the typical scam, after threatening to keep his license, he asked for 500 pesos and gave Leif's license back.  This left a bad taste for the local police, but, it's the norm down here from what we hear.


Talpa de Allende



Agave "pineapples" ready for sale by size.

Driving the backroads of Talpa, don't plan on passing.



Pilgrims walk, goats ride!





Leif, Tom and Mary Ellen outsid our hotel in Tequila.



One group of pilgrims at the end of their journey, waiting to enter the Church.

   Ah, home to the little barco and our own bed, as stiff as it is.  Now we are waiting for a weather window and some fuel filters before heading north towards Matanchan Bay and Mazatlan.  On a side note, there were some local student dancers last night at the open air theatre doing the traditional Mexican dances in elaborate costumes.  They were great to see and very talented.   

Banderas Bay Regatta and tsunami



Where did dock 11 go???  Glad we left!



The Banderas Bay Regatta is aimed at cruisers here in the bay, with boat ratings reflecting all of the various gear attached to the boats to increase comfort while on the water.  We joined friends of ours, Judy and Torben on their Beneteau 42S7, Tivoli, the big sister of our boat for the racing event.  They invited some other guests from their home town who flew down to assist as crew.  We all had high hopes for beating the local favorite boat "Cirque", another 42S7 that is not a cruiser, but more set up for racing.  Our rating was friendly, but in the end, not friendly enough for us to overcome Cirque's challenge.  Day one showed light winds and a large field of yachts in 7 different classes.  We were class A, the big boats, and another notable yacht in our field was Kialoa 3, a 78' sloop.  The race was fun, even though we didn't strut our stuff very well and ended up a lousy 7th out of 9.  The crew doused their sorrows with beer and had a lengthy discussion on how to improve on the next race tomorrow.  We hopped a cab back to La Cruz for the night, ready to show our better efforts the next day.
   Well, as fate had it, we awoke to the horrible news of Japan's earthquake and subsequent tsunami warnings up and down the coast.  The vhf radio was alive with chatter of what to do, where to go, when it might be here, how big, how small, etc.  The port captains closed all the ports on the pacific side of Mexico, leaving folks wondering now what?  People were really at a quandary as to how to react.  The race committee finally decided to cancel races for the day, after initially just having a delay in start times.  Problem was, most of the crew on the racing yachts had their own boats to worry about in various marinas, leaving the racers without crew.  This had been our decision as well, better to take care of Honcho than go and race and be worried all day.  When we heard that Santa Cruz was hit hard, we decided to sail out into the deeper water of the bay, over 200', and get some chores done on the boat like making water as we were low.
   At 1:30p.m. the surge hit, and the marinas were all mentioning the currents running in and out at about 10+ knots and the rise in water to 6' or so.  This kept up all day, in and out.  The ports stayed closed all day, so most boats anchored off La Cruz in the only real anchorage in Banderas Bay.  Finally Nuevo Vallarta opened up after dark, but with warnings of high surge continuing and stiff currents swirling inside.  La Cruz was going to open, so we upped anchor and motored over to get in quickly ahead of the rush.  This ended up being a false alarm, so out we went back to the anchorage to try to find a little spot for our barco.  The night passed with frequent surges causing rolling and tugging at the anchor, but no problems.  As the sun rose, we saw other boats heading into the marina, so we upped anchor once again and jumped in line.  We rounded the jetty to find the dock on which we had been tied was not all there, two large slips were in tangles, upside down and sideways, and missing altogether.  Honcho pulled in and tied up and we went to inspect the damage to the end of our dock.  The surge had apparently caused the fingers to flip with the stress of current sideways and then broke in half.  I was really glad to have left, as the strain on our keel would not have been a good thing, possibly causing more of the dock to give way. 
   So, after a restless night, and busy morning, we hopped back into a cab, and headed for day three of the races!  We arrived to find our friends all safe and ready to go.  Day three brought more wind, which was to our advantage.  Torben steered the boat into a great position for our start and off we went.  The course was more to our liking as well with some tactical elements to it, allowing us chances to outwit our opponents.  I forgot to mention that on day one, Kialoa tore their jib from leach to luff, and they apparently had no spare, so they were out of competition.  We ended up finishing 2nd in corrected time for this race and the crew was very pleased with the day's performance.  We all felt that if we had sailed three races instead of two, we'd have been in the trophy presentation.  But alas, we ended up 4th overall, not a bad improvement. 


Tivoli's Crew:   Top row: L-R, Lisa, Sylvia, Judy, Lynn; Bottom row: Tom, Phil, Torben, Howard, Leif 




Wrong boat, wrong direction!



Tom, Lynn, Judy and Torben returning from the practice run?

The start... and they're off...

   I was spinnaker grinder and rail meat each day, and after all of the excitement, I was exhausted and glad to return to Honcho for some rest.  We are looking forward to a trip inland to San Sebastian and Tequila tomorrow for a couple of days off the water.

Chamela to La Cruz, once again!

In Chamela, we met up with our friends Tom and MaryEllen on Equinox once again.  They were headed in our direction, towards La Cruz, and we all decided to stick together during the passage around Cabo Corrientes.  This passage north is talked about endlessly on the morning nets, as it can be extremely rough, with high winds of 20+ and large swells.  I thought, no big deal, we have 20+ winds all the time in Long Beach, and how bad can a 6' swell be?  Anyway, we left at 6 p.m. headed for a night sail that should be calmer than afternoon if the wind decided to pick up.  The swell immediately filled in as we rounded the point at Chamela headed for the ocean, but the wind stayed calm (5-10) until around midnight when it picked up to maybe 15 knots.  Our passage wasn't too bad, but the seas were pounding into the bow, sending green water over the bow into the dodger, and lifting our bow into the air, only to drop into the following trough with a bang.  Not exactly sleepworthy.  I tried to sleep when off watch, but the noise and feeling of weightlessness as the boat dropped was a bit much. 

La Cruz beach

   We rounded Cabo Corrientes around 7 a.m. and then things smoothed out inside the Banderas Bay, it felt good to be home.  This place is a jumping off point for many cruisers, south to the Marquesas or El Salvador, out to the Pacific islands, or northward back into the Sea of Cortez, so, many, many boats are grouped here.  We pulled into the anchorage around noon, and the wind picked up to 20 knots just as we wanted to anchor, making it a bit more fun.  But, after dropping the hook, we both took a long nap to catch up on lost sleep.  Usually this is all I need to recoup after an overnighter, but this time, it was two days before I felt more normal.  The bashing was harder than I had expected, and fortunately harder than we'll see in the future.  Some folks we talked to had 20+ winds and the waves were breaking, we hit the right weather window.
   So, here we are, back in Marina Nayarit, in La Cruz, enjoying a slip, dock water, easy access to daily walking, and Philo's restaurant and bar.  When we are in the marina, life speeds up and we are constantly involved in social events, happy hour here, dinner there, listening to the live bands at Ana Banana's or Philo's.  Leif also is tuning the rig for the boat he's crewing on in the races.  Then there's the Sunday market in the square, and trips to the Mega for supplies of canned foods.  We also went to Nuevo Vallarta, and Puerto Vallarta yacht club to have lunch and pick up regatta tee shirts.  For being at our leisure, life is extremely busy.  I can't figure out how I managed to fit in "working" into this scheme. 
   In two weeks we will leave for points north, leaving our favorite area, perhaps for a new favorite area.  I hear the water is clearer in the Sea, and we are looking forward to some swimming off the boat. 

Croc swimming in Marina Ixtapa

25 lb. Jack Crevalle, Manzanillo.

Cocodrillos "in their natural habitat", Ixtapa

Sailfish sculpture in Manzanillo

Equinox on passage to La Cruz