Kewao is Well Washed

After a warm, dry summer, our return to Kewao was hot and wet! In the 40s and humidity of 94%, the hatches went open and all fans were turned on. Sadly, a torrent of rain came in the night and soaked us as never before. Two storms are moving through and so another night of a few hours of rain caught us. This time, battened down, we had all the fans turned on. Work in the day is slow but everything has checked out. The outboard started immediately and the diesel with a small amount of persuasion hummed its usual sound to our relief. The dinghy was lauched and is not leaking. Much yet to do in days that are uncomfortable. We won't start travelling until mid November.

Las Hades

Our furthest destination south this season, we anchored off several Greek-styled resorts. Cruisers were again welcome at the pools with the appropriate coloured towels. Little did we know we would need so many towels! Stunning pools here, we were tempted with blackberry margaritas that were surprizingly good. You can not taste the tequila! (Is this a good thing?) A short bus ride into Manzinillo, we tried a butcher in an open market and bought thick ribs and pork loin. No worms, runs or parasites, they were delicious excellent meat. We now head north to retrace our track to leave the boat at Mazatlan. We reluctantly fly home in May. See you then!

Santiago Bay

But yet another popular place, this large bay is also special. Several palapas line one end of the beach and the Santiago Bay Club of exquisite homes are scattered around the beach. The Mexicans own them, holiday here from Mexico City or Guadalajara and rent them out. Large homes of several thousand square feet, they reminded us of the opulent homes of El Cid in Mazatlan. More surf landings, we wore our bathing suits and still continued to get wet. However, we were now doing dinghy trips in the dark with other boaters so felt we had improved. Again, lovely beach walks and swims. The market, held once a week, had everything from fish, vegetables, clothes, electronics and bras!

Barra de Navidad

Another popular anchorage, we came to a bay that led to a shallow lagoon. We followed our friends on Airborne, a catarmaran, who led us into the lagoon through twisting sandbars and shallows. Our GPS points showed they lead us on an excellent course. At one point, we realized we were following a nice shallow draft boat. However, these seasoned cruizers have been this way often and lead us to a safe anchorage of 8 ft (We draw 6ft)! About 30 boats were all anchored in this shallow dish surrounded by sandbars. Out of the swell and wind, it was smooth and quiet. However, every afternoon, the wind blew to 15 kts and every boat had 120 of chain out in 8 ft of water. We could not believe we felt very safe and comfortable here for we would never dream of anchoring like this at home. We were advised to switch to our Bruce anchor from the CQR in this soft, slippery mud. Our boat neighbour asked how we liked anchoring in grease! The town was more Mexican tourist than gringo although gringos have discovered it. Very narrow cobble stone streets led you to excellent restaurents, shops, launderies and bakers. The French Baker is a novelty for he comes to your boat every morning selling bagettes, croissants and pasteries, Two hotels have swimming pools that also cater to the cruizers providing you buy food and/or drinks. You carry the appropriate coloured towel for each place so you are not thrown out. A pretty town, it was very different from any of the others so far.

Tenecatitia

A very popular anchorage along the area called the Mexican Riveria, we were curious to see what the excitement was about as previous anchorages have been wonderful. This one was superb for it was a large, protected bay with empty beaches, breaking surf and long walks. The surf, at times, was challenging for us to land the dinghy. We almost tipped the dinghy many times and usually timed it so breaking surf would drench us upon leaving shore. But we kept trying for we so wanted to spend time ashore. We have much to learn and so far, have learned to travel in bathing suits! A "jungle tour" in your dinghy down the mangrove-lined river at one end of the bay is also something we had to try. Mangroves have grown over to form arches over the river that has birds, snakes and crocodiles (little ones). A very different trip for BC boaters, we edged our way through a narrow channel for several miles to arrive at the river's end to find restaurants! These restaurants line the ocean beaches and you swim wondering about the crocodiles in the river awaiting you as you must go back by dinghy. The Mexicans reminded us they are only little ones. We saw a small one lazily sleeping at the water's edge. However, we heard of one cruiser's daughter jogging on the beach and being chased by a 14 foot crocodile! The area was so beautiful that in spite of drowning and being eaten alive, we stayed for several weeks. Our solar panels (and constant sun) were easily handling the freezer so our power needs were never an issue.

Chamala

Chamala
Perhaps the best part about this anchorage was not the sun, surf or sand but meeting friends from home (Don and Laura) in their RV. We had connected in La Cruz and many days later saw how comfortable each lived and travelled in our different ways. Of course, our sea charts showed us on land and their land maps had them on the sea! Don and Laura helped us with our dinghy surf landings as we were new to this. We arrived sodden clutching our dry bag (that held dry clothes and cameras). Each dinghy trip was an experience with none of us knowing how it would end. A nice visit, we each had to leave hoping we might connect in the future.

Moving South Again - January/February 2009

Mazatlan

Ah, Mazatlan. From Maricha bands to Salsa dancing to the Venador baseball games, we enjoyed this interesting, diverse city. An enormous wealthly area called El Cid (land El Cid Resorts owned) had stunning white, huge mansions which we saw on a Christmas light tour by car and later by dinghy (sipping Sangria and tasting marlin).

The mansions at home pale in comparison as ours are small and less opulent. Of course, we don’t have armed guards out side our homes either! We got beyond tacos and enchelladas and had tasty pork, lamb and shrimp. The beef, well, we got frozen (from Alberta) from a meat “import” shop. Well rested, we were anxious to cruise again.

Events along the Way

Sailing to San Blas overnight, we gained extra crew. He first perched on our dinghy on the bow then flew to the stern rail to sit on one of the GPSs. He sat there all evening then at night, tucked his head under his wing and slept all night rocking back and forth on the GPS. He was considerate for he pooped overboard all the time. However, at night, he never took any watches. We think he is a Booby. And yes, the GPS worked through his feet.

A fish. This time a dorado (mahi-mahi) caught on a feathery red and pink lure. What a delious fish, he fed us for several days. We later caught a Torro (Spansh mackrel) that was tasty but not like the dorado!

The whales are mating in Banderas Bay now. And yes, we’ve been watching! Making sounds we hear through the hull, we watch them jumping with tails slapping. One night, two swam among the boats at anchor and hit one boat’s flopper stopper snapping their spinaker pole and bending a stantion.

San Blas

A light sail and motor on an overnight trip brought us to a small shrimp and fishing village (p.3000) that has existed as such for three centuries. Sadly, it once was the main port for produce but politics over the last ten years has moved the main port to the Manzillo area. This village no longer has money to fix its sideroads or homes. Work is limited and people either fish or travel an hour to Tepic (p. 300,000), the capital of Nayerit. As gringos, we were clearly a minority but treated nicely. Mangroves line one side of the town so at dusk, jejeunes (like no-see’ums) abound. Fortunately, we were at anchor in Matuchuen Bay and had few. A good contrast for us to see from Mazatlan, we were beginning to see more of Mexico.

Tepic

Another yachting couple and ourselves rented a taxi for the hour drive to this large, established, clean city. The drive, through tropical trees, was lush after the dry, red-beige land of southern California and yellow-beige of California Sur. Mango, bananna, avocado and lichee (!) plantations were along gentle, green hillsides. We gringos were definitely a minority and caught many staring at us. A tour of the city to old ruins of forts and churches took us also through the poverty outlying this city. A meager existence for these people compared to even the middle class in this city.

On our drive to Tepic, we saw baby crocodiles in the small lagoons. A jungle tour by boat takes you to see their mamas. The highway signs warn you not to swim because of the crocs in the area!

Chacala

A short day sail brought us to a palm tree lined cove with palapa bars on shore and a short cobblestone sandy street lined with some restaurants and several small concrete homes. Several small buildings were rented suites to gringos. No hustle, just a quiet sandy beach with gentle surf, these gringos preferred this to the more established places. We liked it. A rolling anchorage, we used our Flopper-Stopper (hung deep in the water to reduce the roll). It was a pretty, quiet place.

Guadalajara

After attending a talk on rigging held in the La Cruz Yacht Club, Tom followed their advice of washing our rigging in vinegar (removes the salt). He discovered a bump in the wire above the turnbuckle on our port lower shroud. These were the only bits of rigging not replaced in July as the busy rigger felt they were fine. The other lower shrouds were new so we felt fine about these “extra” ones. Well, a wire was broken. So, four new ones were ordered from a PV rigger to be delivered in Mexico time. Hence, the trip by deluxe bus to Guadalajara. Movies (in Spanish), food (sandwichs and drinks), and comfortable seats made for a nice five hour trip to this fascinating, large city. The capital of Jalisco and second largest city in Mexico (after Mexico city), it well deserves its reputation for history. Three large plazas, close to each other, were all surrounded by old, historical buildings representing colonial Spanish architecture, the Revolution, Independence and removal of slavery. We were an oddity as gringos and many would smile or stare at us. A very few, who knew English, would stop us in the streets (not to sell us something!) but wanting to know where we were from. They liked us! Mexican, Spanish and Cuban music was everywhere in plazas, street corners and of course, bars. We shopped in Tlaquepue, a suburb of Guadalajara, which is known for its high end shopping. Wealthy Mexicans and Columbians were strolling the shops and checking out furniture, pottery, paintings, leather and clothes. No tacky tourist fare here but the Rodeo Drive of Mexico.