Monday, March 31, 2008
Mazatlan to La Paz
Sunday, March 30 - Thank you to family and friends who read and have sent comments regarding the blog. I appreciate the feedback! Hi from the Sea of Cortez! We left Mazatlan on Tuesday at 12 noon and arrived in La Paz at exactly 12 noon-how did that work out so perfectly?? It must be Terry’s great navigating skills. The two overnights were easy! I had the midnight to 4 am shift-and, I was reminded of the nights that I worked on southwing. And, of my friends who say they prefer night shift at rehab. What are they thinking? Anyway, the ocean is full of sparkle as we glide on thru -the radar becomes your best friend as that is your only way of knowing just what is “out there” in the darkness. There are the random fishing boats or cruise ships which are traveling at a fast speed. The unobstructed view of stars without any sign of light for 100 miles on the water is a very special site. Another boat did leave Mazatlan behind us-two guys from Minnesota on a boat called 40 Love (yeh, he is a tennis player) Anyway it was fun to occasionally check in via the VHF radio and know that somebody else was out there with us. They were usually within a few miles. Terry had a little bit of excitement-I was off shift and sound to sleep. One of the short stints when we were sailing . Suddenly the boat came to a stop and he realized that we had caught a long line. One of the methods of fishing used by local fishermen. Luckily the motor was off, therefore the line did not get caught in the prop-he had to grab it with the boat hook and cut it. This probably irritated a fishermen, but we had no choice. If we see these lines during the day, we do everything we can to avoid them. They usually have empty plastic bottles on the line. This one had Styrofoam attached, but no way of seeing it in the dark. Most of the time the wind was about 5 knots with the exception of the last morning-from about 0500 we had about 20 knots of wind-much of it on the nose and not great for sailing. Even with the lack of good wind, we motor with our main sail up-this provides for stability and will take advantage of even the slightest amount of wind. The first part of the trip was so mellow-it was hard to believe that we were actually in the ocean-it felt more like sailing on a lake (on a calm day). With the exception of whale sightings! What lucky sailors we are! About 15 miles out of Mazatlan we were treated to a show put on by a mother and frisky baby whale-the baby breached repeatedly and I was able to capture a photo and numerous videos. We were able to walk around-without hanging on to things, cook and eat food, read , take wonderful , long, hot showers. When we are motoring (using the diesel engine) the engine coolant circulates thru our water heater and provides us with endless amounts of very hot water. In addition to the luxury of hot water, we are able to make fresh water from the sea water while motoring. Our water maker is called a “village marine, little wonder” , and that it is! This trip would not be as much fun without it! I didn’t realize how irritating it would be to have salt water on my skin-so, we always have a solar shower (we have 3 of them) on deck. Even when we are at anchor, and not heating water via the engine we have hot water. We fill them up in the morning-lay them on the deck of the boat and before the sun goes down or when we need to rinse off the salt water, we take a solar shower. Now you know what I mean about different priorities while traveling by sea. We don’t have to worry about looking for the car keys or being late to work or even what to wear to work. We are concerned with the filling of the sun shower and being sure that our refrigerator is always stocked with food and cerveza. And, planning our next destination. Currently that would be the islands in the Sea of Cortez. After being here in La Paz since Thursday afternoon we will be “pulling the anchor “tomorrow and heading for Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida. We have found the city of La Paz to be pleasant and clean . The water is clear and beautiful blue green in color. Today we enjoyed a long walk and lunch with fellow cruisers. This was our last chance to provision for a while as the next ciy we will visit is Loreto in 3-4 weeks. Sending you best wishes and happy days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I continue to miss family and friends and look forward to visiting with everyone on our return in June.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Leaving Mazatlan
Tues. March 25. Hello and Happy Spring! This is frustrating-I have spent hours on the creation of a post and LOST it! Yes, I am technically challenged and a little irritated right now. Anyway- I will make a very long story short. We have been here at Matatlan Marina for 20 days and anxious to leave. Three of the days were spent on a long bus ride (13 hours)to guymus to pick up the truck and drive back to Mazatlan. If I ever get a chance, I will write about that trip-quite an adventure. We have had fun with the luxury of traveling in our own vehicle and provisioning for our next adventure. We are pulling the dock lines and sailing into the shiny sparkling ocean to La Paz. This will be a two overnight passage-approx. 240 miles-40-48 hours. I am really looking forward to the beautiful blue green clear waters of the sea of cortez. I am so ready to snorkel, swim and kayak!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
January thru March 2-Barra to Chacala
Blog 3-2-08
It has been so long since the last posting-Partly because I am a GREAT procrastinator ; and I really wonder what anybody wants to hear about. I remember reading a blog written by cruising friends, and, honestly I got sick of hearing of every detail! It is difficult to know where to start and what to include. By the way, is anyone reading the blog??? If so, is there any thing particular that you would like to have included. Any feed back can be sent to our email.
We are now in a quiet small village, Chacala, about 46 miles north of Puerto Vallarta-we have spent 2 nights here, sharing the anchorage with only a few other boats. We have had very successful dinghy landings thru a large surf. It seems that the gringos are especially interested in this cruising thing. We met 2 nice couples, one from Edmonton Canada and another from Seattle. This beach was busy with local Mexicans enjoying their weekend with fun in the water, LOUD music, vendors selling ice cream and the usual jewelry and misc. stuff. We sat at a palapa, drank cerveza and bought stuff that we probably don't need. After we bought the stuff we had the challenge of the dinghy ride thru the surf back to the boat. Luckily this was a good day of surf riding-unlike another day when we offered friends a ride to shore and we all arrived dripping wet!! One thing I have learned is that you do not leave the boat in a dinghy and expect to stay dry! This is especially irritating when you are going to dinner! All I can say, is that it is a good thing that restaurants are palapas on the beach with plastic chairs. It is interesting how time is consumed so differently and priorities are so different then those on land. The bottom of "our floating home" must be cleaned on a regular basis-algae and barnacles collect quickly in warm water. Terry is now cleaning the bottom of the boat with the use of a “hookah rig” and generator. This isn’t really his favorite part of cruising, but, a necessary part! We plan to leave this anchorage tomorrow early morning and will get to Mazatlan in approx 30 hours later.
The most recent excitement was the incredible viewing of about 4 whales, one was a baby and we watched it breach over and over!!! I was able to capture much of it on video.
To fill you in since the last blog: We spent New Years in a beautiful little anchorage called Carizol near Santiago Bay with 6 other cruising boats-Kayaking was great in this area and Tiffany (from the boat Blue Plains Drifter) and I had a great time kayaking, swimming and snorkeling. After a few days in Santiago Bay, we headed back to Barra de Navidad. I flew home for two weeks to visit family and friends and work ONE day. I certainly can’t complain about that.. My friends and supervisor at work are all so supportive and interested in our adventures. I realize how fortunate we are to have this opportunity to be enjoying the beautiful scenery as we sail thru the waters of Mexico. It felt good to be home. It was nice to NOT have the language barrier and the familiar feeling of HOME. Even though we really don’t have a house! I stayed with Rena in the dorm for a few days and with Bill and Jan and Karen. My brother in law gets the “good guy” award-He had my car detailed - spotlessly cleaned inside and out. This was a treat to drive a car, and a clean car at that! Considering that I had stuff from moving up to the property, stuff that I thought I would take sailing but changed my mind at the last minute. So, Bud being the nice guy, had all of this junk packed neatly into plastic bags! Upon my return to Puerto Vallarta, I stayed one night at a hotel before leaving on a bus for the 4 hour trip back to Barra de Navidad. I was met at the bus station by Terry and Bill from the boat Miela. It was a little tough with the suitcases on the uneven cobblestone streets-but, it felt good to be back to the warmth and comfort of our floating home. Terry was busy while I was gone, he studied and took his ham license (passed with 100%) pretty impressive since he was sick for a 24 hour period before the test. He was so excited he took off in the dinghy and lost his wallet (he believes that it sits on the bottom of the barra lagoon) We purchased a Pactor modem which provides a way to connect via SSB radio to transmit and recieve email! This should be a great way to keep in touch while we are away from internet in the sea of cortez.
It has been so long since the last posting-Partly because I am a GREAT procrastinator ; and I really wonder what anybody wants to hear about. I remember reading a blog written by cruising friends, and, honestly I got sick of hearing of every detail! It is difficult to know where to start and what to include. By the way, is anyone reading the blog??? If so, is there any thing particular that you would like to have included. Any feed back can be sent to our email.
We are now in a quiet small village, Chacala, about 46 miles north of Puerto Vallarta-we have spent 2 nights here, sharing the anchorage with only a few other boats. We have had very successful dinghy landings thru a large surf. It seems that the gringos are especially interested in this cruising thing. We met 2 nice couples, one from Edmonton Canada and another from Seattle. This beach was busy with local Mexicans enjoying their weekend with fun in the water, LOUD music, vendors selling ice cream and the usual jewelry and misc. stuff. We sat at a palapa, drank cerveza and bought stuff that we probably don't need. After we bought the stuff we had the challenge of the dinghy ride thru the surf back to the boat. Luckily this was a good day of surf riding-unlike another day when we offered friends a ride to shore and we all arrived dripping wet!! One thing I have learned is that you do not leave the boat in a dinghy and expect to stay dry! This is especially irritating when you are going to dinner! All I can say, is that it is a good thing that restaurants are palapas on the beach with plastic chairs. It is interesting how time is consumed so differently and priorities are so different then those on land. The bottom of "our floating home" must be cleaned on a regular basis-algae and barnacles collect quickly in warm water. Terry is now cleaning the bottom of the boat with the use of a “hookah rig” and generator. This isn’t really his favorite part of cruising, but, a necessary part! We plan to leave this anchorage tomorrow early morning and will get to Mazatlan in approx 30 hours later.
The most recent excitement was the incredible viewing of about 4 whales, one was a baby and we watched it breach over and over!!! I was able to capture much of it on video.
To fill you in since the last blog: We spent New Years in a beautiful little anchorage called Carizol near Santiago Bay with 6 other cruising boats-Kayaking was great in this area and Tiffany (from the boat Blue Plains Drifter) and I had a great time kayaking, swimming and snorkeling. After a few days in Santiago Bay, we headed back to Barra de Navidad. I flew home for two weeks to visit family and friends and work ONE day. I certainly can’t complain about that.. My friends and supervisor at work are all so supportive and interested in our adventures. I realize how fortunate we are to have this opportunity to be enjoying the beautiful scenery as we sail thru the waters of Mexico. It felt good to be home. It was nice to NOT have the language barrier and the familiar feeling of HOME. Even though we really don’t have a house! I stayed with Rena in the dorm for a few days and with Bill and Jan and Karen. My brother in law gets the “good guy” award-He had my car detailed - spotlessly cleaned inside and out. This was a treat to drive a car, and a clean car at that! Considering that I had stuff from moving up to the property, stuff that I thought I would take sailing but changed my mind at the last minute. So, Bud being the nice guy, had all of this junk packed neatly into plastic bags! Upon my return to Puerto Vallarta, I stayed one night at a hotel before leaving on a bus for the 4 hour trip back to Barra de Navidad. I was met at the bus station by Terry and Bill from the boat Miela. It was a little tough with the suitcases on the uneven cobblestone streets-but, it felt good to be back to the warmth and comfort of our floating home. Terry was busy while I was gone, he studied and took his ham license (passed with 100%) pretty impressive since he was sick for a 24 hour period before the test. He was so excited he took off in the dinghy and lost his wallet (he believes that it sits on the bottom of the barra lagoon) We purchased a Pactor modem which provides a way to connect via SSB radio to transmit and recieve email! This should be a great way to keep in touch while we are away from internet in the sea of cortez.
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