May 14, 2012, Monday Manzannillo
Monday morning we arrived at Manzanillo Bay. The bay is dotted with rocks and something was wrong with the depth gauge so that it suddenly started reading 2-3 fathoms a mile off of the coast. I know it could not be right but Alan got out the hand held gauge just to make me feel better. It was over 20 fathoms. We made our way into the bay and anchored in front of a lovely resort called La Hada across the bay from the old town. There were only 4 other boats in the bay. 2 looked as though they had not moved in months, one left just as we came in and the other was a little day sailor. Once we were settled we took the dingy in to check in with the port captain and to look around . It is obviously the off season. The shops are closed, the restaurant deserted and the port captain’s office closed. Just a handful of people in the hotel swimming pool. As seems to be the pattern in Mexico, the resort is way out of town. In this case, I could not even find the main road where the buses to town run. And once again the concrete was crumbling, the wiring unfinished and the paint pealing when we looked behind the lovely facade. We returned to the boat for an early dinner and to catch up on our sleep.
Next morning we headed into shore again to see if we could find the port captain and check in and also to see if anyone knew of a sailmaker and to be sure the gas dock was open. There was a little more activity this morning. The ship chandlery was open along with a couple of other shops but no one knew of a sailmaker. The port captain was finally located and happily stamped and photocopied papers to show that we had arrived. He also informed us that there was a $20/day fee to use the dingy dock. We tried telling him that we were just going right back out to the boat but since we were obviously already tied up we had to pay the $20. Of course once we paid, it seemed like we should get our money’s worth so we spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. But tomorrow we are going to get gas and sail across the bay to the old town while we figure out what to do about the sail.
There is one other cruising boat here, Adamansour. On board are a lovely young couple from England. They are on a voyage around the world and she is 6 months pregnant. They are heading for Puerto Vallarta where they will stay until after the baby is born. They have it all worked out. and apparently have met several other cruising couples who are pregnant or have very young children. They are going to Guadalajara where there is a natural birth center. Once the baby is born, they will fly home to England to show off the new one to the family before coming back to continue their circumnavigation.
Our main order of business is to mend the torn sail. The rip was held together with sail tape and was not too bad. I broke out my sewing kit and added stitches to the tape to hold it all together. We had put the word out via email and radio to see if there was a sailmaker either here in Manzanillo or on south in Acapulco. All the responses that came in said that we needed to go back to PV Sails in La Cruz, 100+ miles in the wrong direction. We really did not want to sail north again. We were already really late to be going south. And in fact the first named storm of the season was building to the west of us. Since we have some extra pieces of sail cloth, I could hand sew a patch onto it, but we would rather have it done professionally if possible. Finally we got word that there used to be a guy Barra that made sails although no one knew if he was still in business or not. Barra de Navidad is only 25 miles north. We could sail up overnight, be there in the morning.and hopefully be on our way south again in just a few days. Eventually someone came up with a phone number and Alan gave him a call. He was still in business and would be happy to patch our sail.
That settled, we spent the afternoon exploring the town of Manzanillo and ended up having dinner at a Chinese restaurant overlooking the harbor. 1:00 in the morning we set out for Barra de Navidad.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Adventures with the AIS, or Mysterious Doings in the Night.
It is dark, no moon. We are sailing south along the coast of Mexico just off the port of Manzanillo dodging container ships. One ship in particular off the port bow is brightly lit and seems to be heading our way. When I come on for my watch, Alan has been watching it for an hour or two and cannot seem to pass it. When I check the AIS I realize that it is not moving. It is just sitting there. However, there is another boat moving up behind it. Coming from the south at 20 knots, it is listed as a 60 foot pleasure ship. It looks like it is headed straight for the cargo ship and straight for us after that. I watch the screen fascinated waiting for the explosion. Who will blink first. On the screen it looks like they pass within a hair’s breath of each other. Then, the cargo ship suddenly starts to move. It is listed as heading for Manzanillo, but it turns and heads south, away from the port, gradually picking up steam. What just happened? Did I just see a drug drop? Surely drug runners would not use ships that were all lit up and broadcasting their position. The pleasure boat has disappeared off the screen while the cargo ship keeps on south, speed up to 15 knots now. This puts it back on a parallel course to us, just when I was hoping to pass it. After another hour, it slows again and begins another slow turn. OK, maybe it is just stalling for time until dawn. I guess I will never know. All very mysterious and good for keeping me awake during the long night watch.
It is dark, no moon. We are sailing south along the coast of Mexico just off the port of Manzanillo dodging container ships. One ship in particular off the port bow is brightly lit and seems to be heading our way. When I come on for my watch, Alan has been watching it for an hour or two and cannot seem to pass it. When I check the AIS I realize that it is not moving. It is just sitting there. However, there is another boat moving up behind it. Coming from the south at 20 knots, it is listed as a 60 foot pleasure ship. It looks like it is headed straight for the cargo ship and straight for us after that. I watch the screen fascinated waiting for the explosion. Who will blink first. On the screen it looks like they pass within a hair’s breath of each other. Then, the cargo ship suddenly starts to move. It is listed as heading for Manzanillo, but it turns and heads south, away from the port, gradually picking up steam. What just happened? Did I just see a drug drop? Surely drug runners would not use ships that were all lit up and broadcasting their position. The pleasure boat has disappeared off the screen while the cargo ship keeps on south, speed up to 15 knots now. This puts it back on a parallel course to us, just when I was hoping to pass it. After another hour, it slows again and begins another slow turn. OK, maybe it is just stalling for time until dawn. I guess I will never know. All very mysterious and good for keeping me awake during the long night watch.
May 12,-13 2013, Sunday, Mothers Day, Yelapa to Manzanillo
After the anchor entanglement, we headed straight out to sea. Word was that Cabo Corrientes could be dreadfully windy and it was best to round it in the morning before the winds came up. Well, that plan was shot, it was already noon. However, the wind was only about 7-8 knots so it looked like we would be OK. In fact, the wind never did come up and we cruised along at 3-4 knots all afternoon, getting back into the routine of passage sailing after so long in port. It is good to be sailing again. It is my watch most of the afternoon and an easy sail. We finally rounded the point about sunset and set a new course We decided that I wold take the midnight to dawn watch so Alan can get some sleep so I went to bed right after dinner.
When I get up at midnight to take over, the engine was on and the auto pilot was steering the boat. Typically, the wind had died. The night is dark with no moon and the ocean sparkles with phosphorescence all around us. Off in the distance is a glow from Puerto Vallarta and to the south another glow that we assume is Manzanillo. It is amazing how far the city lights shine, even from a fairly small town. We are fairly close to shore and there could easily be fishing boats around us. Since the fishing boats seldom have lights on we would not be able to see them in the dark. Knowing this has the effect of keeping me very alert all night. I am up walking around the deck and peering off into the darkness every 15-20 minutes. Alan has turned on the radar and it is showing a lot of mysterious blips but I cannot see any actual boats. There is a light of a large ship off in the distance for about an hour, slowly moving past us but nothing else. I finish up the murder mystery that I have been reading. Alan shows up to relieve me about 4am, having actually slept a solid 4 hours. My turn to tumble into bed.
When I get up next, Alan has activated the AIS, our newest toy. This is an electronic box that picks up signals from other ships and displays them on the iPad. All of the big cargo ships now have to have an AIS system that broadcasts their position, name, course, speed, name, etc. A lot of cruisers also are installing the system on their boats. There are two versions, one is broadcast and receive and the other is receive only, which is what we have. It shows our position and the position of any ships within a particular distance. It can be set for 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 60, etc. mile incraments. Clicking on the icon gives the ship’s name, speed, position, distance away, size and a lot of other info. Now that Alan has it all synced up and working, we can see that there are a lot of cargo ships all around us.
The wind has picked up and we can turn off the engine. It is not a very pretty day, sort of hazy/overcast.Our intention on this leg of the trip was to stop at several harbors along the coast, Chamela, Tenecatita, Barra de Navidad. This section of the Mexican coast is called Costa Alegre and is supposed to be very lovely. The problem was that the timing was off and we would either be trying to enter in the dark or hanging out for hours waiting for dawn. We decide that we have seen enough small mexican beach towns anyway, so we just keep going. We are enjoying sailing and anxious to get south of the hurricane belt as soon as possible.
It has been overcast all day and as the day grows later the sky is looking darker and darker, wind is building and there are whitecaps. Finally even a few rain sprinkles. We have been discussing the fact that we are now in the rainy season and the further south we get the more likely we will get rain squalls. The problem is not so much the rain as the fact that they come up very quickly with a LOT of wind. On the theory “better safe than sorry” Alan decided to take down our big light wind jib and replace it with a small staysail and reef (shorten) the main. Usually I man the helm while Alan does the sails, but I decided that this was my turn. I need the practice and the wind is not to strong yet. I brought the jib in, rolled it up, unhanked it from the forestay and got it stowed below in about 15 minutes, and then got the small jib hoisted easily. Little by little I am getting more confident at this. Reefing the main is harder and takes both of us. We got the sail lowered and hooked by the mast easily but for some reason Alan could not seem to get the other end of the sail secured. Meanwhile I was trying to tie down the lines while the wind kept catching the sail and the boat tossed around on the waves. Suddenly there was a “rip” and the sail tore in my hands, a 10” tear right at the reef point. My fault. I had been trying to tie the sail to the boom instead of just tying it to itself. We got out some sail tape and managed to tape the tear together. Not a pretty patch but enough to keep it from ripping any more. We finished up tying it down and settled in for another night of sailing through the dark. Luckily the wind did not get any stronger.
As we sail on through the night, I experiment with the AIS app. It is installed on both iPads which is a good thing because we are having trouble getting them to charge. We have a 12 volt charging station set up in the cabin which has worked fine for months. Now they only charge for about 15 minutes and then stop charging. We plug and unplug them, change cords and chargers. Nothing works, so we have to keep switching them back and forth. Charge one as much as we can and then use it while the other is charging. Up until now I had only turned on the iPad once an hour to log our position, maybe once in between if we were coming up on a waypoint, so battery life was not a big issue. But now we are in the shipping lanes and we have the new app so I need to leave it on a lot more to keep an eye on all of the big container ships coming and gong around us.
The AIS shows ships up to 20 or 30 miles away and more but visibility is only about 6 miles. It is really scary to know that there is a giant cargo ship heading straight for you at 15-20 knots and not be able to see it. I am not sure if I like this or not. Usually it is clear that they will pass with no problem and a couple of times I figure out evasive action. But there are at least two occasions when I cannot figure out what to do and end up waking Alan to help. This means that he is not getting the sleep that he needs, so I decide to let him sleep past the end of my watch. Now the watch schedule is all messed up and I am really tired too. Luckily we arrive at Manzanillo in the morning and can sleep.
After the anchor entanglement, we headed straight out to sea. Word was that Cabo Corrientes could be dreadfully windy and it was best to round it in the morning before the winds came up. Well, that plan was shot, it was already noon. However, the wind was only about 7-8 knots so it looked like we would be OK. In fact, the wind never did come up and we cruised along at 3-4 knots all afternoon, getting back into the routine of passage sailing after so long in port. It is good to be sailing again. It is my watch most of the afternoon and an easy sail. We finally rounded the point about sunset and set a new course We decided that I wold take the midnight to dawn watch so Alan can get some sleep so I went to bed right after dinner.
When I get up at midnight to take over, the engine was on and the auto pilot was steering the boat. Typically, the wind had died. The night is dark with no moon and the ocean sparkles with phosphorescence all around us. Off in the distance is a glow from Puerto Vallarta and to the south another glow that we assume is Manzanillo. It is amazing how far the city lights shine, even from a fairly small town. We are fairly close to shore and there could easily be fishing boats around us. Since the fishing boats seldom have lights on we would not be able to see them in the dark. Knowing this has the effect of keeping me very alert all night. I am up walking around the deck and peering off into the darkness every 15-20 minutes. Alan has turned on the radar and it is showing a lot of mysterious blips but I cannot see any actual boats. There is a light of a large ship off in the distance for about an hour, slowly moving past us but nothing else. I finish up the murder mystery that I have been reading. Alan shows up to relieve me about 4am, having actually slept a solid 4 hours. My turn to tumble into bed.
When I get up next, Alan has activated the AIS, our newest toy. This is an electronic box that picks up signals from other ships and displays them on the iPad. All of the big cargo ships now have to have an AIS system that broadcasts their position, name, course, speed, name, etc. A lot of cruisers also are installing the system on their boats. There are two versions, one is broadcast and receive and the other is receive only, which is what we have. It shows our position and the position of any ships within a particular distance. It can be set for 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 60, etc. mile incraments. Clicking on the icon gives the ship’s name, speed, position, distance away, size and a lot of other info. Now that Alan has it all synced up and working, we can see that there are a lot of cargo ships all around us.
The wind has picked up and we can turn off the engine. It is not a very pretty day, sort of hazy/overcast.Our intention on this leg of the trip was to stop at several harbors along the coast, Chamela, Tenecatita, Barra de Navidad. This section of the Mexican coast is called Costa Alegre and is supposed to be very lovely. The problem was that the timing was off and we would either be trying to enter in the dark or hanging out for hours waiting for dawn. We decide that we have seen enough small mexican beach towns anyway, so we just keep going. We are enjoying sailing and anxious to get south of the hurricane belt as soon as possible.
It has been overcast all day and as the day grows later the sky is looking darker and darker, wind is building and there are whitecaps. Finally even a few rain sprinkles. We have been discussing the fact that we are now in the rainy season and the further south we get the more likely we will get rain squalls. The problem is not so much the rain as the fact that they come up very quickly with a LOT of wind. On the theory “better safe than sorry” Alan decided to take down our big light wind jib and replace it with a small staysail and reef (shorten) the main. Usually I man the helm while Alan does the sails, but I decided that this was my turn. I need the practice and the wind is not to strong yet. I brought the jib in, rolled it up, unhanked it from the forestay and got it stowed below in about 15 minutes, and then got the small jib hoisted easily. Little by little I am getting more confident at this. Reefing the main is harder and takes both of us. We got the sail lowered and hooked by the mast easily but for some reason Alan could not seem to get the other end of the sail secured. Meanwhile I was trying to tie down the lines while the wind kept catching the sail and the boat tossed around on the waves. Suddenly there was a “rip” and the sail tore in my hands, a 10” tear right at the reef point. My fault. I had been trying to tie the sail to the boom instead of just tying it to itself. We got out some sail tape and managed to tape the tear together. Not a pretty patch but enough to keep it from ripping any more. We finished up tying it down and settled in for another night of sailing through the dark. Luckily the wind did not get any stronger.
As we sail on through the night, I experiment with the AIS app. It is installed on both iPads which is a good thing because we are having trouble getting them to charge. We have a 12 volt charging station set up in the cabin which has worked fine for months. Now they only charge for about 15 minutes and then stop charging. We plug and unplug them, change cords and chargers. Nothing works, so we have to keep switching them back and forth. Charge one as much as we can and then use it while the other is charging. Up until now I had only turned on the iPad once an hour to log our position, maybe once in between if we were coming up on a waypoint, so battery life was not a big issue. But now we are in the shipping lanes and we have the new app so I need to leave it on a lot more to keep an eye on all of the big container ships coming and gong around us.
The AIS shows ships up to 20 or 30 miles away and more but visibility is only about 6 miles. It is really scary to know that there is a giant cargo ship heading straight for you at 15-20 knots and not be able to see it. I am not sure if I like this or not. Usually it is clear that they will pass with no problem and a couple of times I figure out evasive action. But there are at least two occasions when I cannot figure out what to do and end up waking Alan to help. This means that he is not getting the sleep that he needs, so I decide to let him sleep past the end of my watch. Now the watch schedule is all messed up and I am really tired too. Luckily we arrive at Manzanillo in the morning and can sleep.
May 12, 2013, Sunday Leaving Yelapa for Manzanillo, Mexico
Today is the last day of the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe. We were told that the fireworks would start at 5am and that the blessing of the fleet would be soon after. Well the booms of the firecrackers did indeed start at 5 when it was still dark but nothing much else happened. More fireworks at 6:30 and more at 7. Finally at about 8 we could see everyone gathering at the pier and getting into the boats. Eventually they set off in procession around the bay with about 10 boats, the priest in the first boat and everyone singing.
Meanwhile, we are up, fed and ready to cast off. We untied the mooring and were headed slowly out of the bay when suddenly there was a horrible racket from the stern and the tiller jerked out of my hands. I had carefully avoided our mooring line but managed to tangle in another one that I had not seen. Quickly shut off the engine. Alan immediately dropped the anchor so we would not drift while we figured out what to do. The bay is not very big, but deep, about 150 feet and there are lots of other boats. Unfortunately since we had been moored not anchored, he did not have the windlass turned on to let the chain out slowly. Once he let it go, it raced out, to the end of the chain and half of the extra rope he had added. That is 275 feet of chain and 100+ feet of rope!
Now that we were sure that we would not drift onto another boat or the shore, Alan went overboard to check out the situation while I got on the radio to Rafael, who owned the mooring. Turned out the damage was not really very bad. The mooring line was indeed wrapped around the propeller but there was no other damage. Rafael showed up in his Ponga, concerned about his mooring. He was quick to let us know that if we have cut the line or damaged the mooring it will cost us $400. Luckily Alan was able to free the line after diving down several times. Time to hoist the anchor and leave, again.
This is actually a good test of the new anchor line that Alan added. The windlass will not pull the rope. It just slips. So it takes both of us to pull it up and feed it back down into the chain locker. Eventually we get the job done. The rope is up and we have come to the chain. Now we can wrap it around the windlass and it should pull up easily and we will be on our way again. Except that it doesn’t. It slips and pulls and chews up the pulley. We get about 50 feet up but it is obviously stuck on something. We have 20 feet of chain our in 150 feet of water and it won’t budge. Time to call Rafael again to see if he can find a diver to go down and see what the problem is.
Of course everyone is all involved with the Blessing of the Fleet and the Mass and other festivities. Eventually Rafael shows up again and after some discussion goes off to find a diver. Turns out they are across the bay working on the other moorings. Here they are. 3 guys in an open skiff with a compressor bolted to the seat and not a word of English among them. The next 2 hours are great discussions. Diver down to check. More discussions. Ropes hooked and pulled in various directions. Diver down again. More ropes and pulling. Several tries with the windlass until the deck is black with the dust from the rubber pulley and rivulets of brown that look like blood but are sawdust from where the chain is rubbing on the wood of the pulpit and the shaft is down to bare metal. While this is going on we are also drifting closer and closer to the shore. We are almost into the surf line. I am on the tiller and finally cannot stand it any more. I put the engine into gear and move slowly forward until we are away from the shore again. And the process continues. Suddenly everyone realizes that the chain is actually starting to come up. Slowly, slowly and then more quickly. It is free of whatever it was hooked on. A great cheer and sigh of relief. We are free and did not loose our anchor. Last minute negotiations with the divers and we can leave. It had cost $150 for 3 divers for 2 hours. Not too bad.
Later on Alan figures out that the anchor was not stuck at all. The water was so deep that the anchor never even got to the bottom. The weight of the anchor and all of that chain was just too much for the windlass. Each time the divers had pulled it at an angle it created enough slack to pull it up a little bit more. Finally enough weight was off that the windlass was able to pull it.
Today is the last day of the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe. We were told that the fireworks would start at 5am and that the blessing of the fleet would be soon after. Well the booms of the firecrackers did indeed start at 5 when it was still dark but nothing much else happened. More fireworks at 6:30 and more at 7. Finally at about 8 we could see everyone gathering at the pier and getting into the boats. Eventually they set off in procession around the bay with about 10 boats, the priest in the first boat and everyone singing.
Meanwhile, we are up, fed and ready to cast off. We untied the mooring and were headed slowly out of the bay when suddenly there was a horrible racket from the stern and the tiller jerked out of my hands. I had carefully avoided our mooring line but managed to tangle in another one that I had not seen. Quickly shut off the engine. Alan immediately dropped the anchor so we would not drift while we figured out what to do. The bay is not very big, but deep, about 150 feet and there are lots of other boats. Unfortunately since we had been moored not anchored, he did not have the windlass turned on to let the chain out slowly. Once he let it go, it raced out, to the end of the chain and half of the extra rope he had added. That is 275 feet of chain and 100+ feet of rope!
Now that we were sure that we would not drift onto another boat or the shore, Alan went overboard to check out the situation while I got on the radio to Rafael, who owned the mooring. Turned out the damage was not really very bad. The mooring line was indeed wrapped around the propeller but there was no other damage. Rafael showed up in his Ponga, concerned about his mooring. He was quick to let us know that if we have cut the line or damaged the mooring it will cost us $400. Luckily Alan was able to free the line after diving down several times. Time to hoist the anchor and leave, again.
This is actually a good test of the new anchor line that Alan added. The windlass will not pull the rope. It just slips. So it takes both of us to pull it up and feed it back down into the chain locker. Eventually we get the job done. The rope is up and we have come to the chain. Now we can wrap it around the windlass and it should pull up easily and we will be on our way again. Except that it doesn’t. It slips and pulls and chews up the pulley. We get about 50 feet up but it is obviously stuck on something. We have 20 feet of chain our in 150 feet of water and it won’t budge. Time to call Rafael again to see if he can find a diver to go down and see what the problem is.
Of course everyone is all involved with the Blessing of the Fleet and the Mass and other festivities. Eventually Rafael shows up again and after some discussion goes off to find a diver. Turns out they are across the bay working on the other moorings. Here they are. 3 guys in an open skiff with a compressor bolted to the seat and not a word of English among them. The next 2 hours are great discussions. Diver down to check. More discussions. Ropes hooked and pulled in various directions. Diver down again. More ropes and pulling. Several tries with the windlass until the deck is black with the dust from the rubber pulley and rivulets of brown that look like blood but are sawdust from where the chain is rubbing on the wood of the pulpit and the shaft is down to bare metal. While this is going on we are also drifting closer and closer to the shore. We are almost into the surf line. I am on the tiller and finally cannot stand it any more. I put the engine into gear and move slowly forward until we are away from the shore again. And the process continues. Suddenly everyone realizes that the chain is actually starting to come up. Slowly, slowly and then more quickly. It is free of whatever it was hooked on. A great cheer and sigh of relief. We are free and did not loose our anchor. Last minute negotiations with the divers and we can leave. It had cost $150 for 3 divers for 2 hours. Not too bad.
Later on Alan figures out that the anchor was not stuck at all. The water was so deep that the anchor never even got to the bottom. The weight of the anchor and all of that chain was just too much for the windlass. Each time the divers had pulled it at an angle it created enough slack to pull it up a little bit more. Finally enough weight was off that the windlass was able to pull it.
May 10-11, Friday and Saturday 2013 Yelapa
Never set sail on a Friday and don’t ever have bananas on board. Two of the many sailor superstitions that we don’t really pay any attention to in this modern era. We have bananas. We like bananas. As for Friday, it does not count if you are just going across the bay, just if you are actually setting out on a long voyage.
Friday morning we set out from Paradise Village across the bay to Yelapa. It is only 20 miles away, not even as far as Long Beach to Catalina. We go meticulously through the casting off checklist, not skipping over anything. This will be an easy short sail to get back in the sailing mode after being in port for so long. It is a lovely day for a brisk sail across the bay. Banderas Bay is a deep, wide harbor. The towns and hotels are clustered along the north and east sides where the land is flatter. Along the south coast the cliffs come straight down into the sea. There are small villages wherever a river comes tumbling into the sea. The road stops just outside of Puerto Vallarta and from there on the only access if by boat or walking through the forest. The bays are deep, over 100 feet even close to shore with just a few yards of shallow water around the edge, making it difficult if not impossible to anchor. Yelapa is the furthest west of these small villages. According to our cruising guides we should not even think about anchoring but take advantage of the moorings offered by the villagers. Sure enough, as we enter the bay a ponga races out to meet us. In it is Rafael who escorts us in, sells us a mooring and points out all of the best places to eat, especially the palapa owned by his family. He speaks excellent English which he says he has learned from tourists and has lived all of his life in Yelapa. Once we are moored and have paid he speeds off on another errand.
Yelapa is really two parts. What I had thought was lovely native thatched roofed houses to the left side of the bay as we entered turned out to be the hotel. Still lovely and blending so naturally into the landscape, but not where the people live. To the right is the pueblo where the locals live, not lovely thatched roof houses but the typical concrete and rebar cubes of Mexico climbing up the steep hillside one on top of the other. The path from the beach winds under and between houses and up the side of the hill. It reminds me a lot of the hillside towns in southern Italy.
We decide to head for the town to see if we can find Abuelos Restaurant, which has been recommended by an ex-pat who cane paddling by on a kayak. We wander happily, up and down and around a maze of paths. Past groups of people sitting in the shade. A chain of pack horses is being unloaded by a small store. Looks like bags of grain. A couple of young men go past with cages of glossy roosters. Look like fighting cocks to me. When I ask, they say that IF there were cock fights they certainly would not be here. They would be up the road in the forest somewhere. We go on past the “casino”, actually just a large open meeting hall where some kind of party is about to begin. Finally we find the restaurant. It is closed! Actually we discover that all of the restaurants are closed. It is Mother’s Day and the women of the town are not about to work on their day. It is their turn to be wined and dined. That is what the party at the casino was about.
So we make our way back down to the beach and push the dingy back out into the water to row across to the palapas that line the beach on the tourist side of the bay. Even here almost everything is closed. Finally we find one place that is open and settle down at a table on the sand. There are a few other diners, including a couple at a table next to us who are just opening a bottle of Moet y Chadon. When we smile and wish them Happy Birthday, they have the waiter bring us each a glass. So there we are on the beach in Yelapa at sunset with glasses of wonderful champagne to go with our ceviche and fish tacos.
Next day we walked up a path through the forest to a lovely waterfall. This is end of the dry season. The summer rains have not started yet and everything is very dry. The hills remind me of Southern California in fire season, so dry. The stream is just a trickle but the waterfall is still lovely. The air smells wonderful. When I ask, a man says it is sapote flowers on the trees. Back at the beach again, we settle down for a swim and nap on the beach. As always, there are numerous peddlers walking the beach offering their wares but here they offer weed and pipes along with the usual bracelets and sarongs. It really has a flavor of a place left over from the 60s. We also meet a number of ex-pats who came here in the 60s and never left, including one woman from Topanga.
Eventually we make our way back up to Abuelas. The Mothers Day fiesta last night had gone on until 3am so service was a bit slow but the food was definitely worth waiting for. On our way back to the beach we passed the casino again where, surprise, surprise, there were cock fights taking place. Just as we reach the path leading down to the beach, we hear music and fireworks and a religious procession comes up the road. This is the next to last day f the Festival of Guadalupe. There is a procession every night with a different group leading each night. Tonight is young peoples night. The girls all have on white blouses but the US influence is strong. The blouses are sheer and stylish and work with tight designer jeans. No traditional native costumes here. Back at the church, the mass begins with a rocking hymn accompanied by guitar, piano and drums. The priest is not only young and handsome but has a lovely singing voice. I predict trouble in paradise.
We hang out for a while but Alan has an aversion to anything religious so we head back to the boat after a few minutes. Tomorrow we leave, heading south. Trying to get below 10 degrees before hurricane season starts June 1.
Never set sail on a Friday and don’t ever have bananas on board. Two of the many sailor superstitions that we don’t really pay any attention to in this modern era. We have bananas. We like bananas. As for Friday, it does not count if you are just going across the bay, just if you are actually setting out on a long voyage.
Friday morning we set out from Paradise Village across the bay to Yelapa. It is only 20 miles away, not even as far as Long Beach to Catalina. We go meticulously through the casting off checklist, not skipping over anything. This will be an easy short sail to get back in the sailing mode after being in port for so long. It is a lovely day for a brisk sail across the bay. Banderas Bay is a deep, wide harbor. The towns and hotels are clustered along the north and east sides where the land is flatter. Along the south coast the cliffs come straight down into the sea. There are small villages wherever a river comes tumbling into the sea. The road stops just outside of Puerto Vallarta and from there on the only access if by boat or walking through the forest. The bays are deep, over 100 feet even close to shore with just a few yards of shallow water around the edge, making it difficult if not impossible to anchor. Yelapa is the furthest west of these small villages. According to our cruising guides we should not even think about anchoring but take advantage of the moorings offered by the villagers. Sure enough, as we enter the bay a ponga races out to meet us. In it is Rafael who escorts us in, sells us a mooring and points out all of the best places to eat, especially the palapa owned by his family. He speaks excellent English which he says he has learned from tourists and has lived all of his life in Yelapa. Once we are moored and have paid he speeds off on another errand.
Yelapa is really two parts. What I had thought was lovely native thatched roofed houses to the left side of the bay as we entered turned out to be the hotel. Still lovely and blending so naturally into the landscape, but not where the people live. To the right is the pueblo where the locals live, not lovely thatched roof houses but the typical concrete and rebar cubes of Mexico climbing up the steep hillside one on top of the other. The path from the beach winds under and between houses and up the side of the hill. It reminds me a lot of the hillside towns in southern Italy.
We decide to head for the town to see if we can find Abuelos Restaurant, which has been recommended by an ex-pat who cane paddling by on a kayak. We wander happily, up and down and around a maze of paths. Past groups of people sitting in the shade. A chain of pack horses is being unloaded by a small store. Looks like bags of grain. A couple of young men go past with cages of glossy roosters. Look like fighting cocks to me. When I ask, they say that IF there were cock fights they certainly would not be here. They would be up the road in the forest somewhere. We go on past the “casino”, actually just a large open meeting hall where some kind of party is about to begin. Finally we find the restaurant. It is closed! Actually we discover that all of the restaurants are closed. It is Mother’s Day and the women of the town are not about to work on their day. It is their turn to be wined and dined. That is what the party at the casino was about.
So we make our way back down to the beach and push the dingy back out into the water to row across to the palapas that line the beach on the tourist side of the bay. Even here almost everything is closed. Finally we find one place that is open and settle down at a table on the sand. There are a few other diners, including a couple at a table next to us who are just opening a bottle of Moet y Chadon. When we smile and wish them Happy Birthday, they have the waiter bring us each a glass. So there we are on the beach in Yelapa at sunset with glasses of wonderful champagne to go with our ceviche and fish tacos.
Next day we walked up a path through the forest to a lovely waterfall. This is end of the dry season. The summer rains have not started yet and everything is very dry. The hills remind me of Southern California in fire season, so dry. The stream is just a trickle but the waterfall is still lovely. The air smells wonderful. When I ask, a man says it is sapote flowers on the trees. Back at the beach again, we settle down for a swim and nap on the beach. As always, there are numerous peddlers walking the beach offering their wares but here they offer weed and pipes along with the usual bracelets and sarongs. It really has a flavor of a place left over from the 60s. We also meet a number of ex-pats who came here in the 60s and never left, including one woman from Topanga.
Eventually we make our way back up to Abuelas. The Mothers Day fiesta last night had gone on until 3am so service was a bit slow but the food was definitely worth waiting for. On our way back to the beach we passed the casino again where, surprise, surprise, there were cock fights taking place. Just as we reach the path leading down to the beach, we hear music and fireworks and a religious procession comes up the road. This is the next to last day f the Festival of Guadalupe. There is a procession every night with a different group leading each night. Tonight is young peoples night. The girls all have on white blouses but the US influence is strong. The blouses are sheer and stylish and work with tight designer jeans. No traditional native costumes here. Back at the church, the mass begins with a rocking hymn accompanied by guitar, piano and drums. The priest is not only young and handsome but has a lovely singing voice. I predict trouble in paradise.
We hang out for a while but Alan has an aversion to anything religious so we head back to the boat after a few minutes. Tomorrow we leave, heading south. Trying to get below 10 degrees before hurricane season starts June 1.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
May 1-9, 2013, Paradise Village Marina, Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico
I made my way from the airport to the hotel. Identified myself to the marina office and got a key. Let myself onto Rhapsody. It is really nice to be home again. I am surprised that it now feels like home, but it does. Peaceful. Alan has left it all clean for me. I mix myself a margarita and sit out on the back deck in the dusk.
Paradise Village is part of a huge hotel, condo complex complete with lush landscaping, several restaurants, shops, 3 swimming pools, a spa, There is a shopping plaza just up the street and a market. This is a far cry from La Cruz with its dusty streets and local produce sold out of the back of trucks. We are miles from the city surrounded by other hotels and apartment complexes. It could be any hotel anywhere. It certainly does not seem like we are in Mexico. The pool has a full schedule of “activities” with very cheerful and energetic young staff members to encourage everyone to participate. Luckily the marina is on the other side of the hotel where it is much quieter.
I have 5 days until Alan gets back, actually 4 because he will be back on the 5th and I know that he wants to leave as soon as possible after he gets back. One day is spent on a bus ride to one of the giant supermarkets to stock up on provisions. One day is spent getting everything put away again. One day is devoted to the spa, steam, jacuzzi, shower, sauna, repeat. No charge for “members” which I apparently am. I am not sure what I am a member of since they never asked me for any ID but I am not objecting.
Two days I work on painting the boat. There are still some bits of the white trim that I never finished but the big project is the deck. It has a thick layer of some kind of non-skid paint which is coming off in great chunks. Besides looking awful, it is becoming a safety hazard because it is very slippery where it has come off. I know Alan has some non-skid paint because he used it on the hatch covers. I am not sure how much is left. It is very expensive and has to be ordered from New Zealand or somewhere. But it does need to be done and this is as good a time as any. When I find the can, it is not really paint but some kind of thick plastic goop. The directions say to put it on with a spatula and then roll it out. Once I get the hang of it, it is not too hard although it is not as thick as what was there before you it does not really hide the bald spots. I had planned to just do a small section but once I get started I just keep going. By the time I am finished I have used up the whole can and painted the entire back deck and most of the foredeck. It looks lovely. All of the chips and stains and holes are gone. I wish I had another can. so I could finish the job. but like I said, it has to be ordered from New Zealand.
Alan arrives with 3 enormous bags of stuff. It takes several days, but finally everything is stowed. One last trip to the spa and we are ready to go. We have checked the weather, plotted a course, said good-bye to friends. We are heading south. Another boat, Emerald Lady, was going to join us but ran into engine problems and will not be ready to leave for at least another month so we are on our own.
I made my way from the airport to the hotel. Identified myself to the marina office and got a key. Let myself onto Rhapsody. It is really nice to be home again. I am surprised that it now feels like home, but it does. Peaceful. Alan has left it all clean for me. I mix myself a margarita and sit out on the back deck in the dusk.
Paradise Village is part of a huge hotel, condo complex complete with lush landscaping, several restaurants, shops, 3 swimming pools, a spa, There is a shopping plaza just up the street and a market. This is a far cry from La Cruz with its dusty streets and local produce sold out of the back of trucks. We are miles from the city surrounded by other hotels and apartment complexes. It could be any hotel anywhere. It certainly does not seem like we are in Mexico. The pool has a full schedule of “activities” with very cheerful and energetic young staff members to encourage everyone to participate. Luckily the marina is on the other side of the hotel where it is much quieter.
I have 5 days until Alan gets back, actually 4 because he will be back on the 5th and I know that he wants to leave as soon as possible after he gets back. One day is spent on a bus ride to one of the giant supermarkets to stock up on provisions. One day is spent getting everything put away again. One day is devoted to the spa, steam, jacuzzi, shower, sauna, repeat. No charge for “members” which I apparently am. I am not sure what I am a member of since they never asked me for any ID but I am not objecting.
Two days I work on painting the boat. There are still some bits of the white trim that I never finished but the big project is the deck. It has a thick layer of some kind of non-skid paint which is coming off in great chunks. Besides looking awful, it is becoming a safety hazard because it is very slippery where it has come off. I know Alan has some non-skid paint because he used it on the hatch covers. I am not sure how much is left. It is very expensive and has to be ordered from New Zealand or somewhere. But it does need to be done and this is as good a time as any. When I find the can, it is not really paint but some kind of thick plastic goop. The directions say to put it on with a spatula and then roll it out. Once I get the hang of it, it is not too hard although it is not as thick as what was there before you it does not really hide the bald spots. I had planned to just do a small section but once I get started I just keep going. By the time I am finished I have used up the whole can and painted the entire back deck and most of the foredeck. It looks lovely. All of the chips and stains and holes are gone. I wish I had another can. so I could finish the job. but like I said, it has to be ordered from New Zealand.
Alan arrives with 3 enormous bags of stuff. It takes several days, but finally everything is stowed. One last trip to the spa and we are ready to go. We have checked the weather, plotted a course, said good-bye to friends. We are heading south. Another boat, Emerald Lady, was going to join us but ran into engine problems and will not be ready to leave for at least another month so we are on our own.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
April 17-30,2013 home and back
The whole trip home became very complicated. Alan’s visa expires May 10 and he needs to leave Mexico for at least 24 hours. Originally we thought we would be in the South Pacific by then. Even after our plan changed, we thought we would be south of Mexico. However, by the time we left Mazatlan it was becoming obvious that we were not going to make it and he was going to have to take a bus or plane to some other country. At first we looked for buses to the US, or possibly the ferry to La Paz and a bus from there. Then we considered a plane to Tijuana and a bus across the border. Every option we looked at was complicated and expensive and gets more expensive as we get further south. He does not want to spend the money and does not want to be away from the boat more than a day or two. And he does not want to stay in Mazatlan any longer. It is time to move on. Finally in frustration I got on the Alaska Airlines website and got him a cheap ticket round trip from Puerto Vallarta to LA at the end of April. This allows plenty of time to get to PV and find a marina to leave me and the boat. (My visa is good until July.) He can pick up all of the stuff we have ordered, see the kids and grandkids, deal with paperwork and be back in a week. Done.
Except not. No sooner were the tickets purchased than he found a dozen reasons to change it. He wanted to go sooner, later, not at all. We could still sail non-stop and be out of Mexico by mid May. I could go home and pick up al the stuff and he would stay with the boat. On top of all this, he began to have pains in his hip whenever he walked more than a mile. He knew he should see a doctor while he was home but thanks to all of the medical conventions he has done, he managed to convince himself that he would need a total hip replacement. One more reason not to go home, so he would not have to face this.
Meanwhile, it was starting to look like I should go home too. Not because of the visa but because I needed a follow-up MRI from the radiation treatments back in December. PV has good airline connections to LA and we don’t really know what the situation will be as we get farther south. Of course I could not get on the same flight that he was going to be on and anyway, it would be better if we were not both gone at once. So the upshot was, he put me on a plane first. Then moved the boat into the luxurious Paradise Village Marina. We were home together for a few days and then I flew back, found my way to the marina and had several days on Rhapsody by myself before he got back.
I got my MRI and everything is fine. He saw the doctor and was told he had tendonitis in his hip and not to worry about it. We hung out with the grand-boys and saw old friends. We packed 3 large bags of stuff to come back and finally finished clearing out all of our stuff from the house. Everything that Chris and Molly don’t want to use is packed away in the attic. We took care of income tax, banking, social security and other tedious paperwork. I said hello and good-bye to the garden and the cats. This time it really seems like good-bye. Our new home is on Rhapsody, wherever the wind takes up. I have no idea when we will be back.
The whole trip home became very complicated. Alan’s visa expires May 10 and he needs to leave Mexico for at least 24 hours. Originally we thought we would be in the South Pacific by then. Even after our plan changed, we thought we would be south of Mexico. However, by the time we left Mazatlan it was becoming obvious that we were not going to make it and he was going to have to take a bus or plane to some other country. At first we looked for buses to the US, or possibly the ferry to La Paz and a bus from there. Then we considered a plane to Tijuana and a bus across the border. Every option we looked at was complicated and expensive and gets more expensive as we get further south. He does not want to spend the money and does not want to be away from the boat more than a day or two. And he does not want to stay in Mazatlan any longer. It is time to move on. Finally in frustration I got on the Alaska Airlines website and got him a cheap ticket round trip from Puerto Vallarta to LA at the end of April. This allows plenty of time to get to PV and find a marina to leave me and the boat. (My visa is good until July.) He can pick up all of the stuff we have ordered, see the kids and grandkids, deal with paperwork and be back in a week. Done.
Except not. No sooner were the tickets purchased than he found a dozen reasons to change it. He wanted to go sooner, later, not at all. We could still sail non-stop and be out of Mexico by mid May. I could go home and pick up al the stuff and he would stay with the boat. On top of all this, he began to have pains in his hip whenever he walked more than a mile. He knew he should see a doctor while he was home but thanks to all of the medical conventions he has done, he managed to convince himself that he would need a total hip replacement. One more reason not to go home, so he would not have to face this.
Meanwhile, it was starting to look like I should go home too. Not because of the visa but because I needed a follow-up MRI from the radiation treatments back in December. PV has good airline connections to LA and we don’t really know what the situation will be as we get farther south. Of course I could not get on the same flight that he was going to be on and anyway, it would be better if we were not both gone at once. So the upshot was, he put me on a plane first. Then moved the boat into the luxurious Paradise Village Marina. We were home together for a few days and then I flew back, found my way to the marina and had several days on Rhapsody by myself before he got back.
I got my MRI and everything is fine. He saw the doctor and was told he had tendonitis in his hip and not to worry about it. We hung out with the grand-boys and saw old friends. We packed 3 large bags of stuff to come back and finally finished clearing out all of our stuff from the house. Everything that Chris and Molly don’t want to use is packed away in the attic. We took care of income tax, banking, social security and other tedious paperwork. I said hello and good-bye to the garden and the cats. This time it really seems like good-bye. Our new home is on Rhapsody, wherever the wind takes up. I have no idea when we will be back.
April 7-17, 2013 Impressions of Banderas Bay; La Cruz, Bucerias, Puerto Vallarta
La Cruz de Huanacaxtle is a sleepy little village with dusty cobblestone streets, except for the one main road from the bus stop to the marina. That one has been paved with cement brick. The business of the town revolves around the cruisers. There are tiny restaurants on every corner, many so small that the tables are set in the street. A number of laundromats and small grocery stores. Ships chandlery, boat yard and sailmaker along the waterfront along with a fish market and the port captain. The longer we are here the more we like it. Although it is small, almost everything we need can be found here. One of the more delightful discoveries is YaYas restaurant. I have no idea what their food is like but they have an entire wall of books whit a sign saying “take what you want and leave what you are finished with”. I go through dozens of paperback mysteries in the two weeks that we are here. (One of the reasons that I am so far behind in my blog, when I get up at 3am, I read instead of writing.)
Philos is another cruisers hang out. Owned by an American who somehow just stayed here, it features live music and great pizza as well as internet and showers and a few rooms in case you just need to get off of the boat for a while. One night while we were here there was a birthday party for “Captain Ron” He was 97 years old and still a wonderful dancer. He was dressed in his Canadian Air Force uniform and charmed us with his war stories, including the time he and his crew rescued the crew of a russian submarine.
Alan is busy with boat projects and not interested in exploring so I take off by myself on the bus several times. One day I take the bus all the way to the end of the line in Puerto Vallarta and spend the day wandering. I order a cup of coffee and a pastry in a small shop and am given a mug of water, hot from the microwave, and a jar of Nescafe. I finally find a pair of white pants that I have been wanting. (I wore the seat out of my other ones) When lunch time comes, I ask a shopkeeper for someplace to get cheap tacos and am escorted across the street and into the back room of what looks like a beauty shop. This seems to be where the locals eat. There is one table and a tiled kitchen and a steady stream of people coming and going. I add a bowl of pizole soup to my order of tacos. Wonderful.
The other village along this side of the bay in Bucerias, about halfway between La Cruz and Puerto Vallarta. While Puerto Vallarta is the American tourist destination and La Cruz serves American and Canadian cruisers, Brucerias is a bustling Mexican village catering to Mexican and Central American tourists. Huichol indians display their handicrafts under the trees lining the median of the main street down to the beach. On the side streets are stalls with the usual tourist hats, blouses, jewlery and pottery. The beach is lined with open air restaurants and a man is offering horseback rides on the beach. There is a plaza with a small church. I am there on Sunday evening and a service is being conducted in the plaza. The slow circle dance with its singing and clapping contrasts with mariachi music and rock guitar coming from the restaurants.
La Cruz is a cruisers village. This is the jumping off place for the “Pacific Puddle Jump” to the South Pacific. Boats start gathering here in October and November each year. By February the bay is packed. There are seminars and parties. The boat yards are working around the clock. Restaurants are hopping. Then in March they start to leave one by one or in small groups. Bound for the next adventure. By the time we arrive in April it is the very end of the weather window. We meet old friends from earlier in our voyages and then say good-bye to them again. Each day more and more boats leave, either for the South Pacific or back up to the Sea of Cortez for the summer. A few will spend the summer here in one of the marinas. We are one of the last boats here that is not planning to stay for the summer.
La Cruz de Huanacaxtle is a sleepy little village with dusty cobblestone streets, except for the one main road from the bus stop to the marina. That one has been paved with cement brick. The business of the town revolves around the cruisers. There are tiny restaurants on every corner, many so small that the tables are set in the street. A number of laundromats and small grocery stores. Ships chandlery, boat yard and sailmaker along the waterfront along with a fish market and the port captain. The longer we are here the more we like it. Although it is small, almost everything we need can be found here. One of the more delightful discoveries is YaYas restaurant. I have no idea what their food is like but they have an entire wall of books whit a sign saying “take what you want and leave what you are finished with”. I go through dozens of paperback mysteries in the two weeks that we are here. (One of the reasons that I am so far behind in my blog, when I get up at 3am, I read instead of writing.)
Philos is another cruisers hang out. Owned by an American who somehow just stayed here, it features live music and great pizza as well as internet and showers and a few rooms in case you just need to get off of the boat for a while. One night while we were here there was a birthday party for “Captain Ron” He was 97 years old and still a wonderful dancer. He was dressed in his Canadian Air Force uniform and charmed us with his war stories, including the time he and his crew rescued the crew of a russian submarine.
Alan is busy with boat projects and not interested in exploring so I take off by myself on the bus several times. One day I take the bus all the way to the end of the line in Puerto Vallarta and spend the day wandering. I order a cup of coffee and a pastry in a small shop and am given a mug of water, hot from the microwave, and a jar of Nescafe. I finally find a pair of white pants that I have been wanting. (I wore the seat out of my other ones) When lunch time comes, I ask a shopkeeper for someplace to get cheap tacos and am escorted across the street and into the back room of what looks like a beauty shop. This seems to be where the locals eat. There is one table and a tiled kitchen and a steady stream of people coming and going. I add a bowl of pizole soup to my order of tacos. Wonderful.
The other village along this side of the bay in Bucerias, about halfway between La Cruz and Puerto Vallarta. While Puerto Vallarta is the American tourist destination and La Cruz serves American and Canadian cruisers, Brucerias is a bustling Mexican village catering to Mexican and Central American tourists. Huichol indians display their handicrafts under the trees lining the median of the main street down to the beach. On the side streets are stalls with the usual tourist hats, blouses, jewlery and pottery. The beach is lined with open air restaurants and a man is offering horseback rides on the beach. There is a plaza with a small church. I am there on Sunday evening and a service is being conducted in the plaza. The slow circle dance with its singing and clapping contrasts with mariachi music and rock guitar coming from the restaurants.
La Cruz is a cruisers village. This is the jumping off place for the “Pacific Puddle Jump” to the South Pacific. Boats start gathering here in October and November each year. By February the bay is packed. There are seminars and parties. The boat yards are working around the clock. Restaurants are hopping. Then in March they start to leave one by one or in small groups. Bound for the next adventure. By the time we arrive in April it is the very end of the weather window. We meet old friends from earlier in our voyages and then say good-bye to them again. Each day more and more boats leave, either for the South Pacific or back up to the Sea of Cortez for the summer. A few will spend the summer here in one of the marinas. We are one of the last boats here that is not planning to stay for the summer.
April, 2012 Gecko Tale
My wish list on Amazon has included a gecko from the beginning. They are small, cute, quiet and eat bugs. Sounds like the perfect pet for a boat heading for the tropics. I can’t have a cat or a dog or even a bird but a gecko would be perfect, a pair would be even better. Unfortunately, no one gave me a gecko as a good-bye gift. Audrey managed to find a hedgehog for Nick, but no gecko for me.
So off we set, geckoless. Each new place that we stopped, I would check for geckos, on the walls, on the rocks. No luck. Lots of iguanas but no geckos. Then 6 months later in La Cruz, at a little street restaurant called Twins I spotted a gecko on the wall. I am sure they thought I was crazy but I managed to convince the owners that I really wanted to have one. They said that they had lots of them in their house and would bring me several the next night if they could catch them.
The next evening back at the restaurant, they had managed to capture one, a lovely pale orange color about 6 inches long! Dinner was filled with discussions of what to name it. Was it a male or female? The restaurant owner announced that it was female, based on what I have no idea. I finally settled on Margarita Isabel, a name longer that she was. Izzy for short, or possibly Maggie. After dinner we set off back to the boat in the dingy with Izzy safely in a plastic cup with holes in the lid. Back on board, I carefully took the lid off and in a flash she was gone. Disappeared somewhere into the nooks and crannies. Boy, they are fast!
Now that I actually had a gecko on board I started to worry. Would she live? Would she find enough to eat? I wanted her to catch bugs but the truth is, we don’t have many bugs aboard except for fruit flies once in a while. An internet search was not much help. Most sites said to let them go but I could not do that since I had no idea where she was. Would she get squished by things shifting as we sailed? They say geckos chatter at night but I never heard her. Was she still there? Maybe she needed a friend to talk to. Maybe she was lonely. A week later I went home to the States for a visit with no idea whether she was alive or dead. A week later Alan also headed home to the States, leaving the boat all closed up.
I got back to Rhapsody first, several days before Alan. One quiet evening all of a sudden there was Maggie sitting on the bathroom counter. Gone with a flick of the tail but alive and apparently happy. I saw her a couple of times after that, always in the bathroom. Coming back from dinner one evening, There was a baby gecko on the dock, only an inch long. I caught it and let it loose on the boat. I have not seen it since either and I still do not head any chattering at night but I am hoping they will find each other and be friends. If one is a male and one a female we may have baby geckos some day. Meanwhile, I am always looking for another one, just in case.
My wish list on Amazon has included a gecko from the beginning. They are small, cute, quiet and eat bugs. Sounds like the perfect pet for a boat heading for the tropics. I can’t have a cat or a dog or even a bird but a gecko would be perfect, a pair would be even better. Unfortunately, no one gave me a gecko as a good-bye gift. Audrey managed to find a hedgehog for Nick, but no gecko for me.
So off we set, geckoless. Each new place that we stopped, I would check for geckos, on the walls, on the rocks. No luck. Lots of iguanas but no geckos. Then 6 months later in La Cruz, at a little street restaurant called Twins I spotted a gecko on the wall. I am sure they thought I was crazy but I managed to convince the owners that I really wanted to have one. They said that they had lots of them in their house and would bring me several the next night if they could catch them.
The next evening back at the restaurant, they had managed to capture one, a lovely pale orange color about 6 inches long! Dinner was filled with discussions of what to name it. Was it a male or female? The restaurant owner announced that it was female, based on what I have no idea. I finally settled on Margarita Isabel, a name longer that she was. Izzy for short, or possibly Maggie. After dinner we set off back to the boat in the dingy with Izzy safely in a plastic cup with holes in the lid. Back on board, I carefully took the lid off and in a flash she was gone. Disappeared somewhere into the nooks and crannies. Boy, they are fast!
Now that I actually had a gecko on board I started to worry. Would she live? Would she find enough to eat? I wanted her to catch bugs but the truth is, we don’t have many bugs aboard except for fruit flies once in a while. An internet search was not much help. Most sites said to let them go but I could not do that since I had no idea where she was. Would she get squished by things shifting as we sailed? They say geckos chatter at night but I never heard her. Was she still there? Maybe she needed a friend to talk to. Maybe she was lonely. A week later I went home to the States for a visit with no idea whether she was alive or dead. A week later Alan also headed home to the States, leaving the boat all closed up.
I got back to Rhapsody first, several days before Alan. One quiet evening all of a sudden there was Maggie sitting on the bathroom counter. Gone with a flick of the tail but alive and apparently happy. I saw her a couple of times after that, always in the bathroom. Coming back from dinner one evening, There was a baby gecko on the dock, only an inch long. I caught it and let it loose on the boat. I have not seen it since either and I still do not head any chattering at night but I am hoping they will find each other and be friends. If one is a male and one a female we may have baby geckos some day. Meanwhile, I am always looking for another one, just in case.
April 6, 2013, La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Wind and stuff
Not very bright and certainly not very early the morning after our midnight arrival, we looked out to see where we were. Not too bad. We are at the edge of a large group of anchored boats, quite a long way from shore. We have slept through the morning radio cruisers check in but we think we recognize several boats that we have seen before. We can see a small town, the entrance to the marina with the masts of boats behind the breakwater, a lovely curve of beach running off into the distance toward the large hotels at the head of the bay. The bay itself is 20 miles across and 25 miles deep, an almost perfect U shape. After a leisurely breakfast we plan to head for shore to check in with the port captain and look around the town. Unfortunately, by the time we are ready to go the wind has picked up and is gusting to 20 mph. There are whitecaps everywhere and we are a long way from shore. Guess we will just stay on the boat today and try again tomorrow.
During the night the wind finally dies and in the morning it is dead calm. This proves to be the pattern the entire time we are in La Cruz. Calm in the early morning but with really strong winds in the afternoon. We learn to leave early if we want to go to shore or wait until later in the evening. Once or twice we brave the afternoon gale but it is a wild ride bouncing over the waves with spray flying at our top speed of about 2 mph. We do make one attempt to move the boat in closer but it is really shallow here and there are a lot of other boats so we end up pretty much at the same place. Every evening when we take the long ride back across the water to the boat Alan says that he is going to move in closer and every morning it seems like just too much trouble and so we stay where we are.
The solar powered motor on the dingy is performing nicely. However, one memorable afternoon we had neglected to charge it. Alan dropped me ashore and headed back to Rhapsody. About 100 years from the boat the engine stopped. He was out of power ad had forgotten to bring the oars. He tried paddling with his hands but that was not going to work. The wind was blowing, of course and he eventually drifted down onto another boat and tied on. No one was aboard but the boat was open so he let himself in and helped himself to their radio to call for help. Someone cane to his rescue and towed him back to Rhapsody. It is nice to be part of a helpful community.
Several afternoons we are entertained by wind boarders. Standing on what looks like a snowboard and harnessed to a large sail, they fly across the waves, jumping 20 feet into the air and going for yards before they come down. Rhapsody seems to be anchored right in the wind pattern and they dodge and weave back and forth across the stern for hours.
Apparently it is not uncommon for boats to come loose here with all of the wind. We hear references on the morning radio net to a couple of boats that were rescued a few days ago. One afternoon, shortly after we arrive the radio comes alive with concerns about another boat that seems to be drifting ashore. No one can locate the owner. Dingys are launched, someone takes command. More dingys called for and more tow line. Alan takes our dingy and goes to help but with only a 2 hp motor he is not much use. Despite the best efforts, it is too late. By the time the owner is located at a restaurant in town the boat is on the beach. A day later it is gone. The port captain gave the owner 24 hours to clear the beach and he decided it was not worth the money to fix it, so a crew came and cut it apart and took the pieces away. So sad. The owner pitched a tent on the beach and offered the bits and pieces that he had salvaged for sale. We took a walk up the beach a few days later to see how he was doing. There was not much left but he seemed surprisingly cheerful. He had had a rope on his anchor rather than chain and it just parted. It was his first sailboat, a small, old one. He was planning on buying another and trying again.
Once again we are glad we spent a lot of money on a state-of-the-art anchor and chain but Alan is not satisfied. One of the projects that has been on his list since we left home is to add additional rope to the anchor chain. We have 275’ of chain on the main anchor and 75’ on the back-up one. He wants to up that to 300 feet on each. When you anchor you are supposed to let out at least 4 times the depth of chain. The stronger the wind, the more extra you let out, potentially up to 10 times the depth. We typically anchor in 25-30 feet of water. Also, there should be rope on the end on the chain so that it can be fastened to the boat. The problem and been how to attach that extra rope to the end of the chain in a way that will be really strong and also able to fit through the small hole from below deck and wrap smoothly around the windlass. After hours of research he has finally come up with an answer. It will be a long splice, a foot long, weaving the chain and rope together. Off we go to town to buy hundreds of feet of very expensive rope. Back on board, all of the chain from the back-up anchor is hauled onto the deck. The new rope is spliced onto the end and the end of the rope is secured to the boat and rope and chain are fed back down into the chain locker. Then the back-up anchor is dropped overboard and the good anchor hauled up and the process repeated. When he is all done, we have 300 feet of line on each anchor. Enough to hold us in any gale. It is not going to be us drifting up onto the beach. Time for a high 5 and a beer.
Not very bright and certainly not very early the morning after our midnight arrival, we looked out to see where we were. Not too bad. We are at the edge of a large group of anchored boats, quite a long way from shore. We have slept through the morning radio cruisers check in but we think we recognize several boats that we have seen before. We can see a small town, the entrance to the marina with the masts of boats behind the breakwater, a lovely curve of beach running off into the distance toward the large hotels at the head of the bay. The bay itself is 20 miles across and 25 miles deep, an almost perfect U shape. After a leisurely breakfast we plan to head for shore to check in with the port captain and look around the town. Unfortunately, by the time we are ready to go the wind has picked up and is gusting to 20 mph. There are whitecaps everywhere and we are a long way from shore. Guess we will just stay on the boat today and try again tomorrow.
During the night the wind finally dies and in the morning it is dead calm. This proves to be the pattern the entire time we are in La Cruz. Calm in the early morning but with really strong winds in the afternoon. We learn to leave early if we want to go to shore or wait until later in the evening. Once or twice we brave the afternoon gale but it is a wild ride bouncing over the waves with spray flying at our top speed of about 2 mph. We do make one attempt to move the boat in closer but it is really shallow here and there are a lot of other boats so we end up pretty much at the same place. Every evening when we take the long ride back across the water to the boat Alan says that he is going to move in closer and every morning it seems like just too much trouble and so we stay where we are.
The solar powered motor on the dingy is performing nicely. However, one memorable afternoon we had neglected to charge it. Alan dropped me ashore and headed back to Rhapsody. About 100 years from the boat the engine stopped. He was out of power ad had forgotten to bring the oars. He tried paddling with his hands but that was not going to work. The wind was blowing, of course and he eventually drifted down onto another boat and tied on. No one was aboard but the boat was open so he let himself in and helped himself to their radio to call for help. Someone cane to his rescue and towed him back to Rhapsody. It is nice to be part of a helpful community.
Several afternoons we are entertained by wind boarders. Standing on what looks like a snowboard and harnessed to a large sail, they fly across the waves, jumping 20 feet into the air and going for yards before they come down. Rhapsody seems to be anchored right in the wind pattern and they dodge and weave back and forth across the stern for hours.
Apparently it is not uncommon for boats to come loose here with all of the wind. We hear references on the morning radio net to a couple of boats that were rescued a few days ago. One afternoon, shortly after we arrive the radio comes alive with concerns about another boat that seems to be drifting ashore. No one can locate the owner. Dingys are launched, someone takes command. More dingys called for and more tow line. Alan takes our dingy and goes to help but with only a 2 hp motor he is not much use. Despite the best efforts, it is too late. By the time the owner is located at a restaurant in town the boat is on the beach. A day later it is gone. The port captain gave the owner 24 hours to clear the beach and he decided it was not worth the money to fix it, so a crew came and cut it apart and took the pieces away. So sad. The owner pitched a tent on the beach and offered the bits and pieces that he had salvaged for sale. We took a walk up the beach a few days later to see how he was doing. There was not much left but he seemed surprisingly cheerful. He had had a rope on his anchor rather than chain and it just parted. It was his first sailboat, a small, old one. He was planning on buying another and trying again.
Once again we are glad we spent a lot of money on a state-of-the-art anchor and chain but Alan is not satisfied. One of the projects that has been on his list since we left home is to add additional rope to the anchor chain. We have 275’ of chain on the main anchor and 75’ on the back-up one. He wants to up that to 300 feet on each. When you anchor you are supposed to let out at least 4 times the depth of chain. The stronger the wind, the more extra you let out, potentially up to 10 times the depth. We typically anchor in 25-30 feet of water. Also, there should be rope on the end on the chain so that it can be fastened to the boat. The problem and been how to attach that extra rope to the end of the chain in a way that will be really strong and also able to fit through the small hole from below deck and wrap smoothly around the windlass. After hours of research he has finally come up with an answer. It will be a long splice, a foot long, weaving the chain and rope together. Off we go to town to buy hundreds of feet of very expensive rope. Back on board, all of the chain from the back-up anchor is hauled onto the deck. The new rope is spliced onto the end and the end of the rope is secured to the boat and rope and chain are fed back down into the chain locker. Then the back-up anchor is dropped overboard and the good anchor hauled up and the process repeated. When he is all done, we have 300 feet of line on each anchor. Enough to hold us in any gale. It is not going to be us drifting up onto the beach. Time for a high 5 and a beer.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
April 4-5, 2013 Chacala to Banderas Bay
We left Chacala around noon heading for Banderas Bay. This is the large bay where Puerto Vallarta is located. We had planned for it to be an overnight trip with light winds, putting us there just at dawn. I am not sure what we were thinking because it is only 30 miles. Even allowing for an offshore tack or two, we would have been there in the early evening. I think Alan was just anxious to be sailing again. Anyway, just after sunset we realized we were almost there, unfortunately. The moon would not be up until after midnight and there were reported to be a number of unmarked rocks and rocky islands. I was definitely not anxious to navigate our way through all these obstacles in he dark, but we also did not want to just sail around in circles until dawn. At least Puerto Vallarta is not a large commercial port so we did not have to worry too much about freighter traffic.
Alan decided we were going in. We lined up all of our charts and cruising guides and gps devices and studied them closely. Alan put waypoints into the Navionics system. We turned on the engine and the radar and began to feel our way around Punta de Mita. I was a nervous wreck, but in fact it all went smoothly. Quite soon we were around the point and the lights of the bay were everywhere. Now we just had to find the anchorage. We had decided to anchor at La Cruz, which is a small town on the north west curve of the bay, at least until we got our bearings. According to the charts we should be there. In the dark it was almost impossible to distinguish the boat anchor lights from the shore lights, especially since we had no idea what the anchorage looked like in the daylight. I was on the bow peering into the dark looking for the other boats which should be somewhere around here. All I could see was what looked like a long line of street lights on the coast. Suddenly my eyes did a shift, like when you can suddenly see an optical illusion, and I realized that what I thought was shore lights were actually boat anchor lights. They were all around us. Somehow we found what seemed to be an empty space and dropped the anchor. It will be interesting to see where we are in the morning.
One more adventure under our belt, “Entering a Strange Harbor in the Dark”
We left Chacala around noon heading for Banderas Bay. This is the large bay where Puerto Vallarta is located. We had planned for it to be an overnight trip with light winds, putting us there just at dawn. I am not sure what we were thinking because it is only 30 miles. Even allowing for an offshore tack or two, we would have been there in the early evening. I think Alan was just anxious to be sailing again. Anyway, just after sunset we realized we were almost there, unfortunately. The moon would not be up until after midnight and there were reported to be a number of unmarked rocks and rocky islands. I was definitely not anxious to navigate our way through all these obstacles in he dark, but we also did not want to just sail around in circles until dawn. At least Puerto Vallarta is not a large commercial port so we did not have to worry too much about freighter traffic.
Alan decided we were going in. We lined up all of our charts and cruising guides and gps devices and studied them closely. Alan put waypoints into the Navionics system. We turned on the engine and the radar and began to feel our way around Punta de Mita. I was a nervous wreck, but in fact it all went smoothly. Quite soon we were around the point and the lights of the bay were everywhere. Now we just had to find the anchorage. We had decided to anchor at La Cruz, which is a small town on the north west curve of the bay, at least until we got our bearings. According to the charts we should be there. In the dark it was almost impossible to distinguish the boat anchor lights from the shore lights, especially since we had no idea what the anchorage looked like in the daylight. I was on the bow peering into the dark looking for the other boats which should be somewhere around here. All I could see was what looked like a long line of street lights on the coast. Suddenly my eyes did a shift, like when you can suddenly see an optical illusion, and I realized that what I thought was shore lights were actually boat anchor lights. They were all around us. Somehow we found what seemed to be an empty space and dropped the anchor. It will be interesting to see where we are in the morning.
One more adventure under our belt, “Entering a Strange Harbor in the Dark”
April 2, 2013 Matanchen Bay to Chacala
Great drama on the radio. There is a boat missing. Last heard from taking on water. of of Isla Isabel. Mexican navy alerted. Coast guard contacted. Everyone is calling, trying to make contact. After 48+ hours he showed up safe and sound. His water intake on his engine had stopped working and he had turned off his radio to save power. He had no idea he was “missiing”. It was nice to see the community spring into action and a lesson there. If you have promised to communicate every 4 hours, make sure you do so.
We left Matachen Bay while all this was going on, without even going ashore and headed south to Chacala. An easy 5 hour sail put us in the bay in the late afternoon. There is no harbor or marina here, just a lovely bay with a sandy beach and a line of palapa restaurants lining the beach. A number of other boats were anchored just outside the surf line so we found an empty spot and dropped anchor next to them. This turned out to be a mistake. We were too close to shore and and the waves and winds had us rocking and rolling all night long. However, the anchor did not drag and we were safe and sound the next morning.
After breakfast we launched the dingy and headed to shore. The dingy dock was a steep rough cement wall with dozens of pangas tied to it. We managed to squeeze under the mooring lines and between the boats and into a space next to the wall where a crumbling set of steps came down to the water and tie up. We have been so glad that we decided to get this folding boat and leave the beautiful sabot at home. It is made of a tough, flexible plastic and seems to be impervious to getting banged into cement walls and hauled up rocky beaches. The sabot would have been destroyed by now. As usual, Alan took the power tiller off of the motor and stowed it in his backpack. Who is going to steal an engine that is only half there?
Our first job was to find the port captain and check in. While there is no fee, Mexico still expects cruisers to check in and out every time they stop. I am not sure what they do with the information and I am sure a lot of boats don’t bother but we always do. According to the cruising guide, the office was just up the road from the dingy dock. Sure enough, there it was, but it was locked up tight. It is not a weekend. It is only 11am. Where is he? A group of men sitting under a tree thought he was probably down by the dock so we headed back that way. There were several people in the shade, eating and talking. One of them was dressed in a starched white shirt and dark blue pants. That had to be him. Sure enough. He escorted us back up to the office and unlocked several gates and doors. Once in his office, he examined our paperwork at length and made several photocopies. Papers were stamped and handed back to us. We were done and free to go. As we headed to the beach we saw the port captain re-lock the building and head back down the road back to his friends. We were never actually able to find him to check out when it was time to leave.
Chacala turned out to be an absolutely lovely little town. We followed a dirt road along the rocky shoreline, past brightly colored vacation homes and small hotels to the main beach. First thing we saw was a man selling oysters, right there on the beach. Alan could not resist. 10 minutes later, we were seated on plastic chairs in the sand, under a tree with a dozen oysters, salt, lime and a large bottle of Pacifico in front of us. Perfect. We spent the rest of the day wandering through the town or sitting on the beach. In the afternoon we found a table at the last restaurant down the beach and settled in for a feast.
The restaurant was completely full with many families looking like they had settled in for the day. The palapa roof extended out onto the sand almost to water’s edge. Kids ran from the water to the tables and back again. A few dogs joined the fun. Vendors hawked their wares from table to table. There were no walls but the rear of the restaurant where we found a seat had a brick floor raised several feet off of the level of the sand to the level of the street behind it. There was a brightly painted outdoor shower under flowering trees with a continuous stream of children rinsing off the sand. A small kitchen and a large barbecue pit where the fish was grilled. to one side of the grill was a pile of fresh fish. Alan had grilled lobster and I had shrimp tacos. Plenty of beer and an order of ceviche to share made the perfect dinner.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)