On the way to Puerta Vallarta

Nov. 29, 2006 8 miles north of Isla Isabela, Nayarit
It is hot and I am looking forward to a swim as soon as we anchor. We should be at the anchorage by 5:15 since we are motorsailing and moving fast. We have been using the motor a lot so far. The winds are light and invariably directly behind us, which is just about the least useful place for them to be. I love our engine! Today's run has allowed us to refill our water tanks with sweet water. (due to the watermaker)
We hated to leave Mazatlan. Not only is there a wonderful cruiser's community, but the town is really attractive to us. The cruisers were great. We made new friends, connected with old ones, and even got to do some music and dance (for which we got a very warm reception).
If I were thinking about buying property in Mexico, Mazatlan would be on my short list. It is far enough North to cool off (a little) and far enough South to be tropical. The downtown area is gentrifying rapidly, but there are still some ruined building that could be restored to classical elegance. I remember when Sevilla was at that level. Now, you can't buy anything for less than a fortune. Some of the cruisers who are getting a bit old to be sailing have bought houses in the mountain villages nearby for $12,000.
After spending tonight at Isla Isabela in company with buddy boat Ladyhawke (Mike and Marilyn) we will enter Banderas Bay and stop at Puerta Vallarta (PV). We can shop there for provisions and then want to harbor hop along stopping at quaint seaside villages. Andi has had all that all planned out for months now. I just ask her where we are going.
We got Skype (voice over internet) working and so have been able to make a few cheap calls home. 2 cents a minute isn't too bad! And if YOU had Skype, it would be free!
I am not used to the heat yet and have been wearing the minimum in clothes when we are alone on the boat. I heard that it got down to 31 degrees the other night in Santa Cruz. Unfortunately, my body is still more used to cold than heat. I guess it gradually adjusts. I hope...
Best regards to all,

Santa Cruz old-home week

 Here we are with Mike and Marilyn, old friends from Santa Cruz Harbor, talking about how great it is to be retired and sharing some Pacifico beers in Plaza Machado. 

You didn't know she was THIS famous, did you?

 As you see, our girl has been getting the recognition that she always wanted(?). 

Could you refuse to buy a rose from her?

 I couldn't! 

Wow - do we love Mazatlan!

 
11-27-06 Mazatlan - This is a great town. Yesterday we took the bus downtown and walked our legs off seeing all the usual (but great) sights. The downtown area is like San Juan, Puerto Rico or Havana. This picture shows some of the style.
Later in the evening, we went back to the area around Plaza Machado and saw a bullfight bar. There were no tourists inside - everyone looked like artists or intellectuals. So we went in and had a few margaritas. In short order we had connected with the folks at the next table, some professors at the University. We got to talking poetry, politics, and flamenco. They introduced us to the local bullfighter and so we talked bulls for a while. This is the kind of thing that we love - really being with the locals. Andi said that she expected to turn around and see Diego Rivera and Frida Whatever-her-name-is.
Later in the evening, we went to a bar named Canucks (due to the fact that the owners are Canadian). One of the owners also played in the (very good) bar band and did vocals. They played covers from just about everybody with a sort of Leon Russell style. We are invited to perform there tonight, so I need to try to get my hands in shape for that.
Although a few cruise ships come through here, it is not a tourist town like Cabo. The tourists here are more permanent. Lots of folks buy property and put down roots, for good reason.
We are getting some engine service done since we are motoring a lot more than we wanted and so need to keep the engine in tip-top condition. As soon as our starter and heat exchanger come back from "walkabout", we are leaving for Puerta Vallarta. It is about 180 miles, so we will probably anchor overnight at Isla Isabela. 

Mazatlan

11-24-06 Friday
Here is a picture of us celebrating and being silly (at Isla Partida).

We got into Mazatlan last night after a crossing that had quite a bit of motor time. We did have one great day with the spinnaker up, but otherwise there were light winds directly behind us. That forces you to make a decision between sailing slow (and getting tired) or motoring and getting there sooner. We motored. It took us around 40 hours. On the way, we had a fabulous Thankgiving dinner featuring ham in secret sauce; mashed potatoes in gravy; grandma's cole slaw and green bean casserole; peas; cranberry sauce; and a pumpkin pie that Andi baked at dawn.

After the dinner, we stopped the boat and went swimming in water a mile deep. After we got out of the water, some dolphins joined us. I've always wanted to swim with dolphins. Oh well, next time.

We are at Marina Mazatlan and are looking forward to seeing the old downtown area. We'll spend all day there tomorrow. We have connected with some old friends here and I suspect that our social lives will be taking an upturn.

Can it be this good?

Nov. 22, 2006 On passage to Mazatlan
We loved the anchorage at Caleta Partida and will have photos of the desert wild flowers as soon as we get to the internet in Mazatlan. When we pulled up the anchor at 0300 to start out for Mazatlan, it was a new moon, but the stars were awesome. The anchorage was glassy still with the stars reflecting in the water. We got the anchor up and made our getaway as quietly as possible so as to not bother the other boats. I was dressed for night sailing. I had my tee shirt on! I have been wearing the same shorts, sandals, and tee shirt for days. I take the shirt off before it gets funky. I suspect that this part of the world gets pretty hot in the summer because it is plenty warm in the winter. But the good news; no bugs so far!
We headed around the end of Isla Partida to take a departure for Mazatlan. But there was only about 3 knots of wind, so we had to motor. Well, we chose to motor rather than to go 1.5 knots. While we were motoring along in the dark, there were lots of shooting stars and on each one I wished for a nice pleasant wind that would allow us to go fast in comfort. Well, as long as we are wishing.....
Daylight came and we were still motoring although it was not all that bad since we needed to make some water and can only do that when we are generating electricity because it drains the batteries too fast otherwise. So we made water. We haven't taken water out of a hose since San Diego and the water we make is so soft that our hair is getting really nice.
We kept motoring until noon although we had all the working sails up to extract whatever extra speed we could get from the light winds. Finally at noon there seemed to be enough wind and we turned off the motor and put up the spinnaker. Pretty soon, we were doing 6 knots. 6 knots is about where sailing gets real nice. At 6 knots, you are making almost as much progress as with the motor, but quiet. All afternoon, the wind gently built until we had 15 knots behind us and were going 6.5-7 Knots. Yes!
So I just had my second beer. Andi is reading a book and I am reading one too, although being on watch means there are interruptions. But the autopilot steers the right wind angle for the sails and only once in a while do I need to intervene. I thought I would take a few moments to write this before going back to my reading. There are smooth seas. There is a swell coming up from the South, no doubt produced by former hurricane Sergio, but it is just gentle mounds of water that pass every 15 seconds or so and we hardly notice them.
15 knots of wind behind us and smooth seas - a sailors dream. I guess those stars must have been listening after all. Pictures to follow. Don't forget to write

Caleta Partida and then on to Mazatlan

Nov. 21, 2006 Caleta Partida, Baja Calif.
We left La Paz yesterday for a nice 15 mile run out to Isla Partida, which will be our jumping-off point tomorrow for Mazatlan. We anchored in Caleta Partida, a very deep cove that actually divides Espiritu Santo from Isla Partida. It was formerly a volcano and is very well sheltered. Last night, I got up to look around and couldn't hear anything. I mean, it was so quiet that the loudest sound was the blood pulsing through my eardrums. The water is so flat that there is no surf on the beaches. It is like a lake.
The shores are surprisingly green for a desert island. All of southern Baja has been green. I guess they had some rain recently. In the canyons on shore, the greenery is more concentrated with large saguaro cactus for punctuation. You Arizona folks would feel right at home. Today we're going ashore to wander around and maybe do some snorkeling on the reef near the entrance. This is the life!
Don't be afraid to write. It's amazing how few friends and family have bothered. Use our Sailmail address if you have it.

Getting high in La Paz

11-19-06 Sunday
Here we see the princess replacing the spinnaker halyard that got broken on the trip down. She had to lower it down so that I could fish the end out of the exit hole at the bottom. It succeeded and she returned to deck level none the worse for wear. I think that we can assert that, at the time this picture was taken, she was not bored at all. It was her first trip up a mast and so she wasn't at all bored. Petrified perhaps, but not bored.

Now you see why I am so enthusiastic about her - it isn't just her dancing.

Tomorrow we are going to leave La Paz for the neighboring islands for a bit of snorkelling. After a few days there, the weather should be back to normal for a quick passage to Mazatlan. We expect to be there by thursday or friday.

Farewell dinner In La Paz

 
11-17-06 Friday - Here we were with Steve and Alice Peterson at our goodby dinner. They rented a car and went off to explore places of interest on land and we set about cleaning up the boat and working on projects again.
We are now residents at Marina de La Paz for a little while. Very nice marina. We would have liked to have left already for some of the neighboring islands, but with tropical storm Sergio lurking around,we decided to hang around for a while until it goes away. It is already dissipating, so by Tuesday we should be off for Mazatlan. That is 225 miles, so it should be an overnighter and all of the next day.
La Paz feels like real Mexico compared to Cabo. We went out for dinner last night and the tab for both of us including soft drinks and tip was $7. That makes going out to dinner a no-brainer. Or course, it is plenty easy to spend much more by going to the fancy places for tourists, but we like hanging out with locals.
We have completed all the formal paperwork to be in Mexico, so things should be easier from now on. Nothing left to do but find all the little slips of paper that had lists of unfinished projects to do. Ah, but maybe a nap and a little reading first. I could really get into the manana thing. Don't forget to write and let us know how YOU are doing. 

On from Cabo

10-13-06 Monday
We have finally escaped the fleshpots of Cabo San Lucas. I must admit that it was fun. It turns out that we took second place in our division in the Baja-ha-ha. That is better than I expected because we motored quite a bit just to be able to be in the next anchorage before it got dark. With the ha-ha over, we are now able to live on our own schedule and it feels good.
Yesterday we sailed from Cabo to Los Frailes, a small anchorage 45 miles up the inner side of Baja. Just around the corner is one of the only coral formations in N. America, so this is a huge diving mecca. Unfortunately, we're not much as divers - snorkellers maybe. So we will be moving on to another anchorage on the way to La Paz.
The sailing has been just fabulous. Our course was to windward for the first time since leaving San Diego, so we had to tack along the beach (which gave us a good view of beachside Baja). There was about 12 knots of wind, just enough to move us forward at 6 knots, which is decent progress. And there were no waves, so Andrea actually took a 2 hour nap in the forward cabin while we were going upwind, not something that we are used to. The most unusual part is the temperature. It is very warm here and we can sail all day with no shirts. In fact, after showers and dinner last night, we were sitting around on deck and I still didn't have a shirt. The tropics are pretty nice! Very different from chilly Santa Cruz.

Andi's canopy

Andi made us a canopy to keep off the sun and keep the boat cooler. We used a cheap tarp since this was our first effort, but it does a great job. Stay tuned, I gotta go to a party.

The start of leg 2 from Turtle Bay

Here is some of the fleet as we left Turtle Bay. You'll note how many are behind us. We got consistantly good starts, but the rest of our performance was spotty. We did great on the first leg, but turned on the motor in legs 2 and 3 because we preferred to motor than to spend another night at sea going slow. The problem was that, the Ha-ha had a schedule and we were trying to get in on everything. I am looking forward to sailing at our own pace.

Andi on dawn watch

Here's the princess at the crack of dawn. Yours truly was sleeping and Steve had just come on the relieve her.

Turtle Bay beach party

While in Turtle Bay, we went to the Baja-ha-ha beach party. Here is a shot of just a little of it. I'm putting up these photos in no particular order because I am in an Internet Cafe in Cabo and can upload images. The previous posts (and the ones to come) were sent over the radio and can't have pictures, so these are the pictures that we picked. We're not very serious about photography, so don't expect much. Cabo is fun, if VERY touristy. After I finish typing this and my margarita, we are going to the awards ceremony for the big race. Tomorrow morning we are leaving for La Paz. Alice, Steve's wife has joined up, and we will probably sail to La Paz in three easy legs. 43 miles to the anchorage at Los Frailes, another 40 miles to Ensenada de los Muertos, and finally, on to La Paz. We'll send a report by radio.

Olive Oyl and Popeye in San Diego

While we were in San Diego, we dressed up for the Baja-ha-ha kickoff costume party. People still call me Popeye. But Andi was an awesome Olive. We were standing in front of the ancient VW bus loaned to us by Marisol and Dana. Thanks to them, we were able to run errands easily.

Here's the dorado we caught

Here is Steve Peterson holding the dorado that we caught after leaving Turtle Bay. Nice huh? And tasty too!

On to Cabo San Lucas

Nov. 8, 2006 20 miles below Magdalena Bay and 5 miles offshore, Baja Calif.
We started this leg at 7AM and it has taken all day for the sailors in the fleet (the less motivated turned on the engines after the first half hour) to get this 28 miles we have gone. After motoring so much in the second leg, we resolved to act more like sailors. This resolve was aided by the fact that we have smooth seas and so the light sails are holding their shape and the motion is pleasant. This is some great sailing. We have the spinnaker up now and earlier when it was really light wind, we used the drifter. It is warm, we would be wearing less were the sun not so burney. We put up a shade over the cockpit that shelters us while sailing and an evening is coming, we put the beach umbrella over the stern to keep the low sun out.
We're not fishing any more since we haven't eaten the fish in the freezer. But we have been having uncommonly good meals. Still the constant exercise is doing good things for my tummy. Yay!
We saw a pair of whales this morning.
The boat is performing beautifully. I can't believe how fast it is, compared to other boats of similar length and weight. We have been sending and receiving emails over the radio - in fact this post will be coming over the radio too. Thanks to Dennis who installed it! Sorry we can't send any pictures. Those will come when we get to Cabo and it's Internet Cafes. 144 more miles to go. Since the wind is light, that will be tomorrow afternoon if we are lucky. Last night we had a vigorous wind at sundown that lasted for much of the night. Too bad we were anchored. Maybe we will get it tonight, but the forecasts are not for much wind. Well, I guess I should go keep Andi some company. She has been on the helm for an hour now. We are hand steering because we are racing and trying to squeeze out every knot. Also, the sailing is just fabulous - the kind of thing that one dreams about when sailing in the cold waters of California. Hasta pronto. Abrazos y besos.

Bahia Santa Maria

Monday, November 6
If you are reading this, it means that we were successful in posting to our blog by using the single-sideband radio. I can get cell phone coverage here, but it is pricey, so the radio is the best way. Unfortunately, I can't upload photos and we've got some great ones.

We are now in Bahia Santa Maria, just around the corner from Magdalena Bay. The sail down was a mixed bag from a sailing standpoint. It was warm - tee shirts worn on the night watches. The winds were lighter than we would have liked and directly from behind us. Non-sailors would think that wind behind us would be the best place for it to be, but it turns out that it works better out on the side. Anyway, we used the engine quite a bit on this leg, but ate well and enjoyed ourselves. There was some terrific sailing at times with a full moon and warm wind. Eat your hearts out! The water is 78 degrees, so swimming is great.

Yesterday, we caught our first dorado - this is a Mexican relative to the mahi-mahi. It was more than 30" long and when pulled up from the deep, was a brilliant chartreuse (sp?). An hour of filleting later, it made fabulous sashimi and the rest went into the freezer. We don't fish unless we really need some seafood, so we put our lines away until we eat the leftovers. We catch these guys by just dragging some lures behind the boat, spooling the line directly off the reel with no rod at all. We aren't fishing for sport, so we use heavy line and hope that we can get the boat stopped before the fish has taken all the line.

Bahia Santa Maria is a very remote spot and has few permanent inhabitants. However, Mexican entrepreneurs cannot ignore 700 "rich" Americans, so tomorrow there will be a big lobster feed on the beach. The fleet has been great. Everyone is friendly and helps each other with parts and equipment breakdowns. Fortunately, we haven't had any of those yet, having left with almost all new equipment.

It is super-beautiful with the full moon. The mountains around this bay have some green growing on them. Baja is usually like a lunar landscape, but green is pretty. I wish we could send photos. Oh, well, we are happy and well and hope you're all the same.

Viva Mexico

Nov. 3, 2006 Turtle Bay, Baja Calif.
We are here! We had a great sail coming down - I think we won our
division - as far as I can see, we were the first in the division to
finish. In fact, there were only about 35 out of 160 boats anchored in
Turtle Bay when we arrived. So we had a good run. We used our
spinnaker a lot and the weather charts suggested that there would be
more wind further out from shore, so we stayed well out. Winds were
from 13 to 20 knots. In the end of day one, we suffered a serious
spinnaker wrap (around the headstay) that caused us to lose the use of
the jib and spinnaker for a while, but we just set our drifter on the
pole and kept going just fine. The next morning, we got some of the
wrap out and regained the use of our jib. Since the wind was getting
stronger, we changed to our jib and carried that to the finish, getting
in just before sunset on the second day.
There were two pleasant surprises for me on this trip. First, I had no
idea that this boat was so fast! We got here as fast as a Hobie 33 with
a crew of 4. They reported surfing to 17K, but finished close to us. I
don't know how we did so well. Second, I don't know how I did so well
when it came to picking wives. Andrea was awesome and I don't use that
term lightly. She would come off the foredeck after wrestling with a
sail and 5 minutes later would be in the galley making some great food.
She actually likes cruising better now that before she left. Totally
committed! I am a very lucky man.
Steve Peterson, our crew, has been a godsend. We finished without being
exhausted, thanks to him. He is easy to be with in a small space.
So cruising is great. We are well and happy. Turtle Bay is terrific.
There are about 700 permanent residents and most have them have turned
out to provide services to the 700 sailors who have descended on them.
We had lobster yesterday at a palapa on the beach and the 3 of us did
flamenco at one of the restaurants. How could it be better?
Best wished to all,
Richard