Bill at Sea and Fran"s 60th BD party in San Carlos...
Yes we are still alive and well and sailing in Mexico this winter.
We apologise for the long delay in updating our Blog.
It has been a most interesting, eye-opening, expensive
and educational year....
we started in San Carlos with Tom and Joan, to include thew Soggy Peso Bar!
So far, the Sail Log is close to 30 pages long - which I will not post
on the Blog! However, if anyone wants to take a peak at details,
let us know by email and we will be glad to foward a copy as an
attachment. Perhaps if you are having trouble sleeping....
In summary. we left San Carlos in December and decided to head
straight south to Mazatlan and try to get into warmer waters faster.
Our first phase included broken generator, malfunctioning main sail
boom and no engine due to a cracked injector mount. We limped into Topolobampo for initial repairs. On to Mazatlan, we lost the engine
yet again and sailed on jib only for 113 miles and being towed and
pushed into Marina Mazatlan for repairs of everything. Thanks to
s/v's Gosling, Optical Illusion and Java for big time assist... and to Total Yacht Works for allowing us to earn one of their hats....
Feeling good, we continued south toward San Blas and then on to
La Cruz, with a few stops here and there en route. We enjoyed
La Cruz again and had much socialization with cruiser friends there.
While in La Cruz, we did take a two-week hiatus and bussed home
for a few things. The Mexican bus was interesting, not too bad and
we were on the cheapest one due to our route to Guaymas where the
car was. Thanks again to Tom and Joan for assisting us, babysitting
the car, picking us up and providing a bed and a hot shower!
From La Cruz, we took the "new" jump south toward Bara de Navidad
and Las Hades.
Tsunami!
We met up with s/v Gosling in Tenecitata and "rode out" the Japan
Tsunami in the bay there. Saw some amazing surges in out out
with 10' tide changes and 5 minute ins and outs. Felt as if we were
in a bath tub whirling around. We had actually left for the day as
the water surge was due at mid-day. We returned about 3 only to have
the surges strike at 4:30. A few boats had to quickly move as the
water dropped so low so fast. Much debris was washed from the
estuary jungle and the next morning, the bay was full of cactus,
branches, leaves...no crocs or snakes seen. I really worried the
snakes might crawl into the chain locker and rot....nope.
We enjoyed an intersting lagoon anchorage in Barra with Fran
and Jean-Guy (s/v Gosling) touring us around and showing us
the "Barra Ropes". We attended St. Patrick's Day in Melaque nearby.
Their patron saint is St. Pat, so it was a big deal, fioreworks, carnaval,
rodeo and all. We also spent a day at the Grand Bay Resort at the
luxury pool, thanks to friend's in their marina.
From Barra, we headed south toward Las Hades with several
intermmitent stops. Las Hades is a pretty spot and a nice anchorage
under the med-style resort on the hill, where Bo Derek's "10" was
filmed. I did laundry there at $10 a set - yikes! Our only disappointment
there all the air polution from the bay industry in nearby Manzanillo.
It was always smoggy. But we did enjoy the nice pool at the resort.
Heading back north toward La Cruz, we broke an engine mount. Bill did an amazing Mexi-fix and we limped into the marina and got a repair. Coming and going around Cabo Corrientes was pretty good as it goes there. The plan was to head to La Paz and the Baja but with a short weather winow, we ended up back into
Mazatlan after a stop in San Blas for laundry, fuel and showers. I swear, there's a magnet in Mazatlan. We had a little wind on the docking and had to shift slips - but had S/v Seabourn assisting along with the marina crew. Hum, I don't think we had anything to fix there this time, did we? No, we but noticed a tear in our Genoa so we put up our Jib and stowed the Genoa for future repair or replacement in San Diego.
Next stop: La Paz. We decided to go straight to the Baja, through the Cerralvo channel and into La Paz. The trip started with 20 miles of pea soup fog. Used the radar and the foghorn and it was eerie. After that, pretty benign until we hit the Cerralvo channel, north of Muertos. Had 26 knots and some seas at the entry, then it calmed somewhat. But the exit and through the San Lorenzo channel was a hair-raiser. Bill saw 42 knots of winds and we had 8-10' waves crashing the bow. And followed by the Baja Ferry and another large yacht - who both passed us as we tossed along. SLOB. The San Lorenzo Overnight Bash. whew, was glad to get into Palmira and a quiet slip. Then slept like babies t night!!
From La Paz, the plan is to go north to Puerto Escondido and Loreto Fest and then back to San Carlos, then home by early May. What a winter, so far!!
