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Remember when you were in kid in school, and the first day after summer vacation everyone had to stand up in front of the class and give a two-sentence speech on what they did over the summer? Though this web-site is dedicated to our sailing voyage, I couldn't resist adding a few notes about our summer vacation. If
you’ll recall, our friends Scott & Nila drove to Before leaving CA we made a stop in
Thursday, November 2, Day of the Dead,
and we have arrived.
Saturday, November
4, 2006, On Thursday we had
crossed the border at 0415, driving 5 hours straight through to Tuesday, November
21, 2006 I woke to sound of
coyotes again today. They
were so loud, it seemed as if they were running right past my window. They yipped and howled noisily,
just like the Indians on the attack in the old Western movies. Guess that’s where the Indians got
it, huh? In my mind, coyotes
always seem so wiley and fierce, but I can’t help feeling sorry for
them. Soon they will be
forced out of their home as more and more people build in the Did you notice, we are STILL
here? We spent a week putting
away all the provisions and parts we brought down, then re-attaching the
sails, dodger, bimini, and all the things we took off for storage. In checking all the systems before
take-off, Jeff discovered the electric head didn’t work, nor did the
watermaker. So we have been
waiting for replacement parts – somehow the backup parts didn’t make it
aboard. L Since we’re so
close, we’re having the parts shipped to Scott & Nila’s in Tuesday, November
28, 2006 Thanksgiving was nice – the Ericksons prepared a delicious dinner, and it was nice to be with old friends for the holiday. We
did the same thing on the border crossing into Unfortunately, the
toilet part - the whole reason we went to AZ - didn’t arrive. The company was closed through the
weekend so we couldn’t reach them.
Yesterday Jeff called them and they couldn’t even find where there
was an order!!! Someone just
totally dropped the ball! So
now, we’re waiting for a FedEx shipment here at the marina; unfortunately,
it goes to a hub in So……….we’ll
be here in The marina is
looking pretty empty – everyone is leaving. There is a norther blowing in
today, (Sunday night it rained, and it’s been cooler yesterday and today)
and it’s expected to last through the week, so even if the parts DO come,
we won’t be able to get out of here until after December 3 or later. ARRGH!!! We just received an
e-mail from our cruising friends, Ann & Michael on Night Flight. Their plans were similar
to ours – go south, cross the canal, etc. They just completely changed their
minds, and are putting their boat on a transport Dec. 1 to take it to
Thursday, November 30, 2006 Since we’re here for awhile, Jeff and I have been trying to stick
to a regular exercise program, doing a walk/run every Monday, Wednesday,
Friday. On Tuesday and
Thursday, I use the little mini-step machine that my sister Margaret gave
me, and some Pilates mat work. It’s a bit tight on the boat to do the Pilates properly, but I feel
a little foolish doing it outside alone. Since it was such a nice day
today, Jeff convinced me I should enjoy the weather and go ahead and do it
on the dock, right next to the boat.
Well, no sooner did I lay down when I heard, “hola!
Saturday, December
2, 2006 Our friend Garth
came over for dinner last night.
Bernardo happened to be on the dock again, so just to be on the
safe side, I asked Garth to explain in Spanish to Bernardo that I would
help him do the exercises on Tuesday. Okay. Monday, December 4,
2006 STILL no answer on how to fix our watermaker, STILL no toilet
parts. It’s driving me CRAZY!!! Meanwhile, the weather keeps
getting colder and windier. I’m afraid if we mess around here much
longer, we’ll lose all our weather windows to get out of here. Right
now there are 8 Passports in Marina Mazatlan (where we were headed), all
partying it up! ARRGH!!! Yesterday
Garth installed extra shelves in the back of our hanging lockers, and
today I spent the day re-organizing, refolding, storing clothes.
I’ve got LOTs of Chico’s Travelers that I haven’t worn much – no place to
wear them in Tuesday, December
5, 2006 No sign of Bernardo! I guess Jeff was right! Boy do I feel like a fool!!! L Friday, December 8,
2006 Jeff installed the toilet part, but now there’s a leak; he’ll have
to address that later if the seal doesn’t seal up – sometimes it takes a
few days to set. Ann, Michael, and their giant schnauzer, Boris, from Night Flight stopped in on Tuesday on their way
up to the States. They had
put their boat on the transport ship in LaPaz, and told us all the horror
stories. They were with us
three nights, and it really worked out well, because it gave Michael time
to think about our watermaker problem. After looking at the manual, he
diagnosed the problem as a faulty pump. He said it was such an
obvious solution, he feared it wasn’t correct since the factory
“engineers” hadn’t figured it out. After MANY e-mails and
long-distance phone calls, the factory finally agreed with him, and sent
out a new pump, plus a seal and valve kit. They charged us for the
pump, but will reimburse us once we return the old one – assuming that’s
the problem. This morning Jeff drove the Night Flight crew up to Tucson
so they could pick up a cross-country one-way rental car to take to FL to
meet their boat, and he had the watermaker part shipped to a Fed Ex office
in Tucson, so he’s going to pick it up today. Hopefully he’ll be
back tomorrow – I was told the border crossing line is SO backed up, it’s
all the way to the town that’s 30 minutes south of We’re making progress. Today is lovely; yesterday was cold
and overcast, although the sea was dead calm. The winds and seas are
supposed to start picking up tomorrow, though. Hopefully Jeff will
have the new watermaker pump installed and everything working early next
week so we can take advantage of the next weather window. At last,
I’m seeing light at the end of this tunnel! Monday, December 11,
20061 Michael was
right! Jeff installed the new
pump and the watermaker is now doing its thing. At last! Even the toilet has stopped
leaking. It’s looking like
we’ll be able to go with the next break in weather, which is Thursday -
it’s been cold and windy the last couple days, and the seas were white
capping. We received sad
news from our friends aboard Sea Bear in
I met a neat lady in the laundromat today, Karen on Meridien. We were the only ones there, and
half of the machines were out of order, so we each used just a couple
machines, and did subsequent loads, rather than one person taking up all
the machines at one time. It
took a few hours longer than normal, but the time passed quickly because
as we chatted, we found we had so much in common, it was almost
comical. She’s a real foodie
and enjoys cooking good, healthy food. We made a date for dinner tomorrow
night. Tuesday, December 12, 2006 Still haven’t seen Bernardo on the docks. Was he shamed? Too busy? Afraid he couldn’t do the
exercises? Afraid of getting
his butt kicked by Garth?
Not much going on today, other than preparation for departure, and
dinner with Karen and her husband, Roger. We had a wonderful time! They live in Wednesday, December 13, 2006, Went
grocery shopping with Karen today – it’s SO much more fun when going with
another foodie!!! Together,
the two of us could easily get into trouble. We both bought new-to-us Mexican
items to try out, and drove to the outskirts of town to a tiny bakery
there. They had the most luscious chocolate-filled
éclairs!!! We also bought
grilled chickens from Pollo Feliz, a fast food chain in
Thursday,
December 14, 2006, With the weather
predicted to calm down, we left the dock about 0800 this morning, heading
for San Carlos Marina to buy fuel.
As soon as we got outside the harbor, both Abbie and I started
feeling sick - the swells were still pretty rough. Fortunately, we were only going a
short ways.
After the fuel stop, we motored about 30 minutes south past Guaymas
to Bahia Catalina, a tiny inlet that has a calm anchorage in decent
weather. I really felt
miserable, starting from the minute I woke up. I hadn’t been sleeping well the
last few nights – getting stuffed up during the night, waking up in a
sweat, and having horrible headaches by morning. This morning was the worst of all
so I was grateful that Jeff decided to make this first day
short. On the way here, we discovered our depth gauge was not working
properly; it kept giving us false readings, jumping all around, so we had
no clue what the true depth was.
Fortunately, since we were anchoring in daylight in a calm
bay, Jeff could see the
bottom, and it was no problem.
Our now-repaired headphones (they stopped working last cruising
season) worked well too. There were several large shrimp boats in the area outside the bay, and numerous pangas inside, but no other cruising boats. All afternoon we heard dogs barking on the beach, which we assumed belonged to the fishermen staying in the shacks along the beach. Friday, December 15, 2006, We’d planned on leaving early, but when we awoke, there was a
fishing net strung directly across our anchor line. No sense in taking the chance of
fouling our anchor and/or ruining the guy’s net, possibly hampering his
livelihood. So we
waited. And waited. Patiently. We were able to weigh anchor and
clear the bay about 0730. I felt GREAT this morning.
Last night I slept like the dead. I’d asked Jeff to take the new
mattress cover off the bed; as I’d thought back, I realized that my
nocturnal problems began when we put the new memory foam mattress pad and
cover on the bed. Sure
enough, the cover was the problem!!!
Whatever kind of poly that cover was made of, sure didn’t agree
with me! There was little wind today, but better too little than too much! We had wanted to go inside a lagoon on Isla Lobos along the way and spend the night, but with a faulty depth gauge, we just couldn’t take the chance. The opening to the lagoon is narrow, bordered on each side by shallow water with breakers. So we motored through the night. I took the 2000 to 2400 and 0400 to 0800 watches. With a good night’s rest I was well prepared to stand watch. The weather is warming up, and though we all need to get our sea legs back, we expect a mild evening.
Saturday,
December 16, 2006, Bahia Catalina to 23°32.54N, 106°
55.71W There
is nothing like listening to sweeping symphonic music while watching the
vast sea as the sun comes up!!!
Thanks to our friends, Wendy and Paul, our Ipod has become the
coveted companion on watches. J Originally we thought we would stop at Topolobampo, but with the
faulty depth gauge, it was out of the question; we had to motor past
it. In addition, while Jeff
was doing his regular engine checks, he discovered the oil cooler was
leaking. Hopefully there
won’t be any problems before we reach Poor Abbie just can’t seem to get comfortable. She has aged dramatically since
Lucky left us; hopefully in time she’ll get back to the same level of
comfort and dexterity on the boat that she had last year. To start in on a non-stop trip
like this after being away from the sea over five months is quite a bit to
tackle. For all of
us. Sunday,
December 17, 2006, Bahia Catalina to 23°16.18N, 106°
27.29W I’m
a bit more tired today than I was yesterday. Could be because I stood watch
2000 to 0200 and was back on at 0800, so I actually got a little less
sleep than the night before.
Also could be from all that dancing last night. I had some zydeco and jump blues
blarin’ on the pod, and how can anyone sit still with that going
on?? I’m sure I looked a
sight. You know how when you
go somewhere where live music is playing – especially music like that –
and the old people get up and dance, only they’re not really dancing,
they’re just standing there bopping to the beat, barely moving their feet,
but they have these huge
smiles on their faces?
That was me. Old lady
dancing in the 2-by-2-foot well of the cockpit. J Practicing for when I’m old. Hell, this old lady won’t be sitting
out the dances! Not if I can help it! Reminds me of a good motto someone
sent me: Life should NOT
be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an
attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways,
chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally
worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a
ride!" And what a ride we had getting in our slip! Adrenaline was pumping so hard
through my body, even when we were tucked in safe and sound, I couldn’t
get to sleep! Precisely as
the weather guys predicted, the wind had started up late in the afternoon,
the slow beginning of another storm.
Darkness was just descending (actually it falls about as fast as a
bowling ball from a high-rise building) as we arrived at Marina
Mazatlan. We anxiously peered
through the maze of lights, trying to find our assigned dock and
slip. Barely standing out in
front of a massive yacht, we saw a Mexican guy waving his arms at us; I
asked him which was dock three; it was the one he was standing on – the first dock (the marina is nothing
like the sketches in the guide books; who knows what happened to docks one
and two!) – and our slip was on the outside, which we’d already
passed. Jeff had to try to
back up enough to turn into the fairway. There was a row of power yachts
that we had to pass on the way to our assignment. Problem was, we couldn’t see where
we were to turn in until we’d gotten completely past the last power boat
(it was an 80 foot boat in a 51 foot slip!), and by then it was too late
to make the sharp turn around the behemoth because the current had caught
us. Jeff tried in vain to
power back up into the slip, but current and wind combined to take hold of
poor Musetta. She was out of
control. People were lining
on the docks, all shouting “helpful” advice; meanwhile, I’m scrambling
across the deck, crouching under lines with a big fender in my hands,
trying to place the fender between our boats and those we were painfully
headed for. One guy jumped
into a fishing boat that was sticking out a good 10 feet past its dock
(there were two boats end to end in the slip), reached out with his arms
and tried to hold off our boat.
Not smart – there’s no way he could have stopped a 20 ton boat –
but it’s a natural reaction.
With his arms in the way, I wasn’t able to get my fender in between
the boats. In what seemed
like slow motion, the bowsprit t-boned our mid-ship life-line and
stanchion. I heard
gut-wrenching crunch-crunchy sounds.
Jeff put her in reverse, trying to stop the forward momentum, but
our weigh-on still had us heading forward to the 80-foot yacht beside our
slip. My ears were pounding
as I stumbled to our bowsprit and hoisted the fender over the front. Again, slow motion; again, our
boat made contact, but this time, with the fender absorbing the force like
a sponge, the impact was merely a soft kiss. As the reverse gear finally kicked
in, I threw lines to the marina crew standing by on the dock, and they
muscled us into the narrow slip.
What a scene we created!
Sharing our slip was a newer Passport 41, with six people dining in
the cockpit. I’m sure their
guests weren’t expecting such a vivid floor
show. All was secured by about 2100. We had a quiet, simple dinner and
went to bed.
Monday, December 18, 2006, By the light of day, we got acquainted our surroundings and the
marina. Thankfully, we could
see no damage on any of the boats.
The marina is situated quite a long distance from town, and there
are no shops, grocery stores,
or services of any kind around here; there are, however, busses that stop
at the marina entrance and go to various parts of town. We found out the water on the
docks is not potable, so we have to buy water; they bring it to the boats
in 5-gallon bottles, and it’s much more expensive than it was in Our
friends, Milton & Eva, on BellaVia invited us over for a
mini “Passport Reunion” and eggnog tasting. There are a BUNCH of Passports
down here right now, but this was a gathering of all the folks from the
San Francisco Bay Area – our old friends. What a high, ol’ time we had!
Bill & Liddy on Wind Witch, Kim &
Tuesday, December 21, 2006, Some folks further up our dock have a golden retriever named Monk,
after Thelonius Monk, the great jazz bass player. Naturally I had to visit with
other dog owners. Turns out
they – Evan & Jill on Avrio – are from the Olympic
peninsula in WA, and are heading down to Wednesday, December 20, 2006, There is a guy who stops here every Monday, Wednesday, Friday with
a pick-up truck full of produce, and another guy who has coolers of fresh
shrimp. None are as nice as
the goods we bought at Tony’s in A mechanic came today to check out our oil cooler problem. No problem getting the part
re-worked – it just won’t be right away. Most workers take off the month of
December, and the machine shop workers are no exception. Our mechanic would take it to be
repaired in January, but there are already plenty of jobs lined up. Here we go again – another
delay. Oh well, at least
there’s lots to do here!
Jim & Pam, the friendly crew on the power yacht next to us, Ms Barbara, invited us aboard
for drinks after dinner. We
were treated to a tour of the boat and a bit of their history. The 80-year-old yacht owner, Jim –
a former peach grower and refrigeration processor from the Speaking
of the holiday, we haven’t yet seen much display of Christmas because we
still haven’t gone into town yet.
Only a couple boats in this marina have ho-ho lights on, and
frankly we haven’t been in the mood to dig ours out and “deck the
decks.” Here is how our
friend, Bill Schmidt on Wind Witch describes it: “I
am sitting in the cabin. The radio is playing "Jingle Bells". I am hot,
clammy and there is a drop of sweat on the end of my nose. Boats are
dressed up with lights and a few plastic versions of Santa
Claus are in the rigging looking a bit out of place with fur lining,
heavy black boots and a tasseled fur lined stocking cap. At least he is
protected from mosquitoes and no-see-em
The drop of sweat just fell onto the computer keyboard. Hope nothing
shorts out. We are going to hear caroling and Mexican dancing in Plaza
Machado tomorrow night. The local people make a big deal out of Xmas (as
opposed to Christmas) here. Lots of snow scenes, snow men, sleds,
reindeer. Santa Claus is all dressed up down town and sits on a throne
listening to what the kids want for Christmas....except his throne is next
to a big Saguaro cactus. Most of the Christmas trees in the square are
plastic, of course, but in the stores there are real trees for sale. They
are dry, brittle and the needles are falling out even now. But, hey! It's
Christmas. I doubt if any of the little kids here have ever seen snow.
Probably most of the adults haven't either. Ebenezer Scrooge would love it
here. There are lots of needy kids and more than enough poor adults too.
Haven't seen enough geese &/or turkeys in the stores to feed them. As
Marie Antoinette was rumored to say, "maybe they can eat
cake".
We are going to gather ourselves together in the next few days and drive
up to Thursday, December 21, 2006, Reuben the diver cleaned our boat bottom, making sure there were no
barnacles or gunk on the transducer.
Still the depth gauge
won’t work. Jeff checked the
wiring and connections – nothing loose. Looks like we’ll have to order a
new unit from our electronics guy in the states. We have to wait here anyway, might
as well wait for a new part again. Channel
22 on the VHF is like the cruisers’ telephone line. Anything you want, anybody you
want to talk to, you just get on the channel and address a specific
individual or “the fleet,” then switch to a clear channel when you connect
with the right person. This
afternoon someone announced on 22 that Luís, “the famous barber” was on
the docks, currently on dock 4, headed for dock 3. I met him at one of the boats
further up our dock, and made arrangements for him to come give Jeff a
haircut right after his current customer. In 15 minutes he did a pretty
decent job for 60 pesos (a little under $6 US), and even used a massager
machine on Jeff’s back and neck! J Plus, it saved me from having to
do it – I haven’t yet mastered how to cut hair without bloodying my
knuckles in the process. For the past two days we’ve had no internet service. Something about “they’re working
on the phone line.” The
connection is sketchy as it is, but to have nothing at all is really
frustrating. If it doesn’t
come up soon we’ll have to take a bus into town to an internet café. Bummer.
Abbie was not feeling well today. She woke up several times during
the night, coughing and hacking.
Most of the day she was listless, didn’t want to eat, wouldn’t
drink water, didn’t want to go potty, barely moved. We thought she was
running a fever, maybe had a touch of flue (if dogs even get that) or a
cold. Poor baby. We kept an eye on her; late
afternoon I heated some chicken noodle soup for her – chicken noodle
soup’s good for what ails you!
Eva & Milton dropped by, and Eva loaned us her thermometer to
take Abbie’s temperature. She
was two degrees over normal, but by evening she was ready to take a short
potty walk, and eat some dinner.
Another bowl of chicken soup for her and back to bed. If she’s not better tomorrow, will
take her to a vet, but I suspect she’s on the mend
already A 60 foot SeaRay power boat just chugged into the slip next to us
(the Passport 41 had left a couple days ago for the resort hotel/marina El
Cid, closer to the mouth of the estuary). We feel dwarfed.
Friday, December 22, 2006, Got a better look at that SeaRay next door; what a RAT!! It’s been quite awhile since I’ve
seen a boat in that bad of shape.
I’m guessing it’s a theft recovery, recovered drug runner,
something nefarious. Abbie is doing much better today, thank
goodness! She’s back to her
chipper self. This afternoon we watched a group of children from the Salvation
Army Children’s Home who came to the marina. They had a large choir, and while
the kids were cute, their skills were nothing compared to what the nuns
used to wring out of us at Annunciation! The dancers were quite fun to
watch; in full, colorful costumes, they performed traditional dances from
various Mexican states. Once
was very similar to Cuban music and dance, and I was surprised to see one
that was very similar to Irish dancing – like Riverdance. Evidently there is no government
support for the home, so they depend on donations and fund raisers to run
the facility. The kids
perform throughout the month of December, doing shows at malls, public
gatherings, and tourist-related business such as hotels and the
marina. (We cruisers donated
about $2500 this afternoon.)
The kids had already done a show earlier that day, and the
afternoon was warm; you could tell they were pretty tired, poor
things. It was a 90-minute
show, and the choir stood the whole time, so you know they had to be
exhausted. After the performance, we rode a pulmonia to the old center of town
with Milton & Eva. These
are cute little vehicles – like the body of a Volkswagen bug convertible
with the top of a golf cart.
Originally they were
made by VW, but now they’re made right here in Once at the historical downtown plaza, we browsed through the few
street vendors’ wares and had dinner at a restaurant along the Machado
plaza, then strolled the downtown streets. In the cathedral plaza, a nativity
scene was set up, with live animals (some of them deformed). There was no baby Jesus, because
he doesn’t arrive until December 25th (duh!). Evidently it’s a big ceremony
bringing the baby in on Christmas morning. Saturday, December 23, 2006, Today we took the bus to town again. I made an appointment to get a
haircut, and we did our grocery shopping at the Got back, stowed provisions, and baked the rest of the day – Roman
biscotti for tomorrow and coffee cake for the owners and crew on Ms. Barbara . They had filled our water tanks
twice, and she gave us a pound of Alaskan halibut they’d just thawed. Guess what was for
dinner….. Sunday, December 24, 2006, Still haven’t had internet service – this is becoming a
problem! Also found out we
can’t get pump-out service on this dock; the ramp is too narrow to fit the
machine on, and they don’t want to take it by boat to the docks because
the last time they did it fell into the water. Now they tell us! Wouldn’t you know, the dock furthest from the bathrooms is the
one with no pump-out service?!?! Did more cooking all day.
Went to a “tapas” evening at BellaVia, along with Don &
Donna, the new owners of Sea Peace, a Passport 40 we
knew from the SF Bay Area.
Good food and pleasant conversation. As we were just finishing the last
of Eva’s holiday eggnog, we heard someone on the docks singing Christmas
carols. We poked our heads
out and saw three cruisers, wine glasses in hand, red Santa’s helper hats
on their heads, cheerily ignoring the cold. We poured each of them a snifter
of eggnog – that would definitely warm their cockles! Eva asked if they’d been to all
the docks; “No, only to those boats that have lights on and look like
people are still up.” I
didn’t have a watch on, and hadn’t a clue what time it was, so I
asked. “It’s 9:00; cruiser
midnight.” That cracked me up
because it’s true: most of these folks go to bed early, and get up early.
We stayed on just a bit longer, then headed back to our boat. As we were getting ready for bed,
the carolers came up from the very end of the dock, only now there were 10
or twelve in the group. I’m
sure they were having fun, and the cold night air added to the
ambiance. Monday, December 25, 2006 A lovely dinner on board Musetta with Milton &
Eva. They brought a gift for
Abbie – some kind of liver pate or something – she was in gourmet
heaven! Santa only brought
her a pig ear, but it was so “fragrant” she was willing to eat the paper
wrapping to get to it. A lady in a boat on our dock died today. She was 80 years old, and hadn’t
been feeling well. What a sad
day for her husband. Tuesday, December 26, 2006, Sketchy internet service is back. At last. We made arrangements with the
office to have our boat towed tomorrow morning to a slip closer to the
bathrooms. It has to be towed
because Jeff took out the oil cooler to get it in the line-up for January
when the workers start back up. Wednesday, December 27, 2006, Another
bus ride to town for my hair appointment. It’s always such a gamble because
curly hair is difficult to cut, and if not done properly, it won’t curl –
it will just frizz. My
hair-stylist in the states was kind enough to have his Spanish-speaking
co-worker write down the name of my cut in Spanish, which has helped, but
still you never know the skill of the person doing the work. The last one I had in LaPaz was
absolutely HORRIBLE!!! Fortunately, this young lady spoke English, so I
was better able to explain what I wanted. She seemed to do a pretty good
job, but I’ll know better in two weeks – my hair freaks out after a cut,
and it takes that long to settle down and start looking good again.
J The price of the cut: $120 pesos,
less than $12. J The rest of the afternoon we strolled the historical district and
toured an old home on the Machado plaza that had been built by Italian
immigrants and is now a museum.
The one across the street from it was built by Spaniards, and has
remained in Spanish ownership ever since. In watching the video of the
plaza, one thing I learned is that Walking
through the central Mercado was quite a trip. They are all pretty much the same
– stall after jam-packed stall of produce venders, fish mongers, butchers,
poultry venders, grocers, pre-pared food vendors, and junk. They are noisy and crowded, and
usually pretty grimy looking.
This one was no different, though it was larger than others I’ve
seen. The meats and poultry
are out on the counters – no covers, no refrigeration – and they sell cuts
of meat not typically seen in the states; the fish stalls are stinky – no
ice; the clothing peddlers pressure you more than a time-share hawker,
obviously working on commission. While interesting, it’s
gotten to the point where we can’t handle much noise any more; we’re used
to q-u-i-e-t, so we didn’t spent a whole lot of time there. I did, however, find a fresh
cheese that was luscious – it was tender, moist and fluffy, like eating fresh milk – yum! This same vendor also had some of
those Mexican Wedding Cake cookies, which are similar to the Greek
kourambiades (or however you spell it); they’re butter dough with a hint
of almond and ground almonds, draped in powdered sugar, and they melt in
your mouth when you bite into them; in other words, they are heaven! Good thing I only bought a small
bag! This vendor was
obviously a high quality operation – everything was spotless, and the
displays were uncluttered and neat.
I’m definitely going to have to go there again, this time with a
cooler pack to take goodies home. J Friday, December 29, 2006, Not much doing yesterday; laundry today; mechanic has our salon
torn up, working on the engine, which is right under our sink. Will be like this today and
tomorrow. It’s quite blustery today; had fat, heavy-feeling rain off and on
through the night, making the cabin hot and stuffy because we had to keep
the hatches closed. Abbie had
a rough night – throwing up five or six times. Although she doesn’t seem to be
running a fever today, she’s pretty tired, maybe just from lack of quality
sleep. She had chicken soup
again for breakfast, but by lunch time she was ready for FOOD. I’m hoping this is just another
1-day malaise, poor baby. At
least with the wind it’s not hot; it was a bit muggy this morning, but
this afternoon and for the past couple days it’s been a lovely mid-seventy
degrees. We walked approximately ¾ mile to Marina El Cid this morning to
check it out; with the exception of Wind Witch (who is out of town), all
the other Passports have transferred to that marina. Though the marina is small, the
hotel is quite a bustling resort, and marina tenants have full privileges
of the hotel facilities.
However, it is NOT pet friendly, and besides that, we’ve done the
resort thing and now want to hang in more relaxed atmospheres – fewer
rules, fewer people, less noise.
We must be getting old, huh?
There are minor irritations with staying here: the dock water is
not potable so we have to buy it in 5-gallon bottles to pour into our
tanks; the wifi rarely works – they have a problem with their DSL
line. Still, we prefer this
quieter marina style, especially now because by the time the construction
of all the condos, timeshares and shops around the marina is completed,
this will be just like El Cid. Saturday, December 30, 2006, Rick, the mechanic on Thankfully, Abbie’s feeling better today. This morning I met with five other
women up at the cruiser’s lounge and we did yoga together. A couple of them had taken LOTS of
classes, so they lead our little group in some stretches and strength
work. It was so nice to do
something with a group of women again; I didn’t realize how I’d missed
that. The stretching helped
me to feel energized too. It’s another lovely day today, with the wind laying down and temps
staying cool. Lots of people
are planning on leaving within the next few days, heading further
south. Though our engine is
now repaired, we will still have to wait for our depth gauge
transducer. Ever since we got here, we’ve seen fish jumping in the marina
waters. They’re silver, about
10 inches long; I’ve heard they’re a type of mullet, and they jump only
during certain times of the year; it’s not known whether they jump for
“fun” or because they’re being chased by some predator, or what. It’s funny, though because I’ll be
laying in bed at night and hear them slapping into the water around the
boat. There goes another
one! Sunday, December 31, 2006, Happy New Year!!!!! Monday, January 1, 2007, We had a lovely New Year’s Eve celebration with Milton & Eva
last night. We started out at
the Marina El Cid bar, where a man with the most beautiful, classically
trained voice was singing Spanish songs to accompany his acoustic
harp. It was exquisite
music. I wished he had a CD
we could have purchased, because I could listen to his music over and
over. Then it was on to the Plaza Machado for a few dances to a live band
in the square, and an impressive (yet unbelievably inexpensive) dinner at
Topolo. This restaurant was
newly bought by an American woman, who has taught her staff low-fat,
healthy cooking and proper table service. It is quite a
gem. The year came to a perfect close as Jeff and I strolled across the
bridge from Marina El Cid to Marina Mazatlan, watching flashy displays of
fireworks all up and down the coast.
It was a great start to a new year. January 2, 2007, Since we’re going to be here awhile, we decided to rent a car and
do some sight-seeing. Our
first venture was to the At the first village we passed well outside of The next village was lined with vendors on the street selling green
birds in tiny cages – parrots, maybe? There must be wild flocks of these
birds in that area, though again, how anyone could pick one vendor from
another I’ll never know. Our journey was longer than anticipated; besides all the toll stops
and checkpoints, there was a lot of traffic on the road – people going
home after the holidays. The
lane going in the opposite direction was especially backed up for miles,
mostly with vehicles bearing Longer
travel time meant more pit stops – some not pleasant. At one roadside eatery where we
had lunch, the menu was extremely limited, and the food so greasy I could
hardly get it down. I was
starving, so didn’t have much choice. The bathroom here was typical of
many seen in the Mexican countryside: a tiny, outdoor stall, no paper of
any kind, no seat on the toilet (what the heck do they do with the
seats???), and no flush; you use a bucket which you dip into the barrel of
water outside the stall to pour into the bowl to get the contents to go
down. J The stalls themselves are often so
tiny, there’s not enough room for your knees so you have to squat, and
when you do that, if you’re not careful, you hit your head on the
door! Must be made for
shorter people. The hand-wash
sink is usually outside, shared by both male & female, and rarely is
there soap, let alone paper.
Handi-wipes have become standard purse stuffing. J We’ve gotten accustomed to seeing this, and have adapted (I’ve
learned to always carry paper.)
But one thing we can’t get used to is the litter. It’s so shocking to be driving behind
a vehicle and see them throw trash out the window!!! I think there’s a real problem
with education on environmental issues in this country. Cruiser are often hosting beach
clean-up days, but I seriously doubt that it’s cruisers who are the cause
of the litter. As we neared the outer Driving through Our host at Casa Del Retoño in the historic section of the town
welcomed us, and gave us some restaurant recommendations. Abbie was grateful just to be
stretched out on the tile floor in the room. Our 5 hour trip took over 9
hours. January 3, 2007, Our B & B was just a couple blocks from this main plaza area,
so we were grateful to leave the car parked for a few days and stretch our
legs. The hotel has a large
garden and grassy yard area in the back, so Abbie could roll to her
hearts’ content. It also had
the most enormous poinsettia I’ve ever seen – a tall tree, actually. Abbie was excited. After a good roll and sniff around
the yard, Abbie was ready for the day. This
was originally an artists’ community, divided into four sections for the
various mediums (pottery, furniture, jewelry, painting.) The historic center has two
streets blocked off to make a walking mall which is populated with shops
and galleries. The cathedral
plaza has a pretty gazebo (typical) and it’s bordered with street vendors.
Jeff bought some great shirts and a sleeveless jacket with lots of pockets
(oh boy, more places to lose eye glasses! J),
and I bought some pig-shaped cookies from one old guy. They were wonderful – something
like a molasses cookie, not too sweet, a cross between a cookie and a
cake; went great with coffee.
Abbie trotted alongside us with a spring in her step all morning,
though she was pretty pooped out by the end of the day. We made lots of stops for her,
allowing her to rest outside while we perused the goods inside the shops
and galleries. She got LOTS
of attention On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a tequila distillery,
tasted some fine “sipping” tequila (though it’s still not our cup of tea),
and perused their little museum.
They had some enormous
agave roots on display, and great photos of early farm
laborers. What a great day for
all of us!!!
January
4, We had been told that the historic area of Opting for local cab service, our first stop was at the Sony Vaio
repair shop. Our computer
hasn’t been working properly with the wifi – we’re able to send/receive
email, but not able to get on websites. Of course, when the technician
tried it, everything worked perfectly! Isn’t that always the
case???? He tried several
things, but ultimately decided it was a problem with the internet service
provider, not our equipment.
Funny though, we had the same problem at the hotel AND the
marina. I guess the area is
filled with poor ISPs. The cab driver waited for us, then dropped us in the heart of old
The The Institute Cultural Cabañas was originally a seminary, but was
converted to house the first UNESCO hospice in the country. Taking up roughly four city
blocks, it is a maze of green, manicured courtyards bordered by arched
walkways, and currently serves as an historic and regional art
museum. This building is also
adorned with fantastic murals by Orozco. The Mercado Libertad was too much for me: 3 city blocks long, at
least 5 levels deep, and packed with throngs of people and
“STUFF.” The majestic Teatro Delgollado carries a frieze on its façade
depicting Apollo and the Nine Muses, and hosted the famous soprano Angela
Peralta at its inaugural opera. Street vendors plied the plazas, people crowded every sidewalk, and
interspersed among all the historic buildings were the usual assortment of
shops as well as a major jewelry mart area. One shop we passed displayed
3-liter size plastic bottles of (what I assume to be) rot-gut
tequila. By the end of the day, we were exhausted and ready for the quiet of
our little hotel. Abbie, of
course, was furious that we’d left her all
day! January 5, Our fears were valid.
We were one among the bumper-to-bumper trail of cars heading
north-west. It took us over
10 hours to get home! January 6, 2007, Coming back to the marina from The Home Depot, Jeff got stopped by
a city cop – supposedly for speeding. Jeff handed over his
no-longer-valid-but-not-expired January 8, 2007, Copala Before we return the rental car, we thought we’d take a day trip to
Copala, a small village up in the hills near here. On the way we passed through
Concordia, a clean little town known for its craftsman furniture. For miles into the town, the
street was lined with open-air furniture shops, most displaying the same
type of wood and leather rocking chairs, dining chairs, tables, and
bureaus. There were also a
few pottery places, but neither of us was in the mood to shop. After all, with no house in which to put things,
those types of goods don’t hold much interest for us.
The quaint, hilly mining town of Our drive to and from Copala was a kick. Pigs, chickens, burros and cattle
napped or grazed along side the road, and took their sweet time crossing
the street – to heck with traffic. January 11, 2007, While we were gallivanting around the country, Rick worked on the
cables in the binnacle, and we should be set to go. It’s looking like the weather
window will be open for us to leave on
Sunday. January 19, 2007, We were set to leave on Sunday again, but somewhere during this
time, Jeff discovered we had a leak in the water heater, so he removed it
and sent it to Rick for repairs.
Rick found the element was almost gone, so had to order a
replacement. The two-day job
ended up taking almost two weeks.
Then, when Jeff wrestled the repaired unit back in place, re-wired
it, etc., it wouldn’t work.
Rick double checked the installation, and still, no luck. Come to find out, they installed
the wrong size element. Back
to the drawing board! Are you
getting a sense of my frustration?!?!?
It’s been so cold lately, I actually had to put on close-toed shoes
and a jacket!! The port has
been closed many days, winds strong, seas in
turmoil. January 21, 2007, Happy Birthday, Dad! This morning we enjoyed a nice little gathering on Warren Peace, our “sister
ship.” The In the evening we accompanied Milton & Eva on a self-guided
walking “Open Studio” tour in the historic center. We didn’t see all the artists studios listed in
the guide, but had a pretty good representation, and a pleasant
evening. In one studio in
little pottery cups they were serving a traditional warm Mexican beverage
called atole, made with masa,
water or milk, and ground pine-nuts; it was delicious! Later, we sampled street-vendor
foods around the cathedral plaza; low and behold – one of them was selling
atole. Unfortunately, it
wasn’t nearly as tasty as the one the artist was serving. I did an on-line search for some
recipes – may have to try it some day. January 23, 2007, Things change quickly in the cruising life. This morning our friends on Wind Witch decided to drive
back up to the The good thing is, they agreed to bring down a new water heater
(better to have new than a 24-year-old repaired unit) for us, so Jeff
spent the day trying to get the appropriate model shipped in time for
their departure.
Had cocktails onboard Merlot, Larry and Fran and
their black & white Australian Shephard Flower, with their friends
Chuck and Katie. Flower is a
real sweetheart (Remember in Bambi: “you can call me Flower if you want
to.”) They are leaving
tomorrow – another weather window. January 24, 2007, Abbie had a rough night last night, poor baby; she vomited
throughout the night, and continued part of the day. She’s done this a couple other
times in the past few weeks, but never this much. We think she may be having
digestion problems. Yet, she
continues to eat – typical Lab behavior. We cut off her food and water
after lunch, hoping to get her stomach to settle down, which it did,
though we called the vet to make an appointment for tomorrow anyway. By evening she was resting
quietly. January 27, 2007, How can I write? I
feel as if a piece of my soul has been ripped from me……My sweet Abbie girl
is gone………. January 28, 2007, The events of the last few days have burned a hole in my
heart. It hurts just to write
this, but I feel I must get it down – must have some record of this
courageous girl’s struggle. As we were getting ready for bed on Wednesday, Jeff noticed that
Abbie wasn’t moving – wouldn’t respond to our voices or prodding. We were SCARED!!! Finally she started moving a
little, breathing shallowly and looking listless; her stomach seemed
bloated. I got on the radio
and called Eva on BellaVia; she’s a nurse, and
her husband, Milton, did a brief stint as a vet tech. With the symptoms, they suspected
congestive heart failure and shock from dehydration. She said Abbie probably needed
emergency care right away.
Jeff called the number of the vet we’d made an appointment with but
there was no answer. We were
FRANTIC!! While Jeff got
Abbie into a raised position to help her breathing, I ran to get a
security guard. In my limited
Spanish, I explained that we had a very sick dog, and asked him to call a
vet for us. He was very
sorry, but said he didn’t know of any one, didn’t have a phone book, no
way to help. I ran back to
the boat and radioed Eva,
asking her or Milton to go to the front desk at El Cid Marina where they
are moored, and see what they can come up with.
Every minute seemed liked hours while we waited. I lost all track
of time. But it was while we
were waiting that we got a knock on the hull. Two security guards were there,
wanting to help. The older
one, I later learned, was Sam, more or less the head guy, and a real
sweetheart. I don’t know if
he was on duty at the time or if he was called in by the other guard, but
we were grateful they came.
Sam speaks English, and the other guy had located a phone
book. Together they went
through the yellow pages, calling every listing for 24-hour emergency
care, and not one answered! Meanwhile, BellaVia called with an
additional number they got from the hotel front desk, but that also got no
response. Finally they got
someone on the other end of the line – I was never really clear who it
was, who asked questions about the symptoms, weight, etc., and recommended
three human drugs that we could purchase at the pharmacy: one to stop
bloating, one to stop vomiting, and one I can’t remember what it was
for. Of course, the
English-to-Spanish thing made it a little more complicated, but they were
both very solicitous, and being able to do nothing more, they took their
leave. The pharmacies here are open to about 0200 so that wasn’t a
problem, but we were leery about giving her so much medication without
being examined first. The
last time a Mexican vet prescribed drugs for her, they made her even
sicker than she already was.
We hesitated, unsure of what to do; we asked Eva, who suggested
maybe giving just half the dose; we still hesitated. I searched on-line for information
about the drugs, while Eva looked through her medical references, but
neither of us could come up with anything; the Spanish-to-English
translators didn’t have medical terminology, and the drug names were just
different enough that we couldn’t find a
match. About that time came another knock on the hull. It was our dock neighbor Tina, on
the Kellie Claire, who’d overheard
our radio conversations with Eva.
She is a nurse by training, and a true animal lover, and she just
couldn’t stand by without trying to help. Thank God for her, because without
her help, I don’t think Abbie would have made it through the night. After
finding out the problem, Tina brought over Pedialyte for dehydration,
anti-vomit pills that her dog uses, alcohol, a thermometer, and a GREAT
book on emergency pet first aid. Abbie felt hot to me, and the thermometer
confirmed, she was running a temperature. Tina and I mixed the alcohol with
water and dipped cotton pads in the solution, then applied them to her
paws, arm pits, and groin area; I also put cold-water cloths on her neck
and body. After a time – was
it minutes? was it hours? – her fever went down. In discussing the problems with
Tina, she agreed with our decision not to medicate Abbie, as she’d had the
same type of over-medicated experience with her own
dog. With nothing more that could be done, Tina left, imploring us to
get her for ANY reason if we needed her. What a comfort she was to us that
night – to me especially. I
think it must have been around 0230 when I finally told Jeff to go to bed
and get some rest; no point in both of us losing sleep, as one of us would
need to be sharp the next day.
I stayed up with Abbie, checking her temperature every hour,
watching her breathing, and jumping with alarm at every movement she
made. Her breathing was
shallow, and it seemed to me her stomach was getting more and more
bloated. At one point she sat
up for a moment, but fell over dizzily; I had to help her lay back down
and stretch out. I felt so
helpless, to see her lie there and suffer, yet I couldn’t bear the thought
that she might die this way; maybe it was just something simple; maybe she
just needed to see a doctor.
I whispered to her, told her I loved her, begged her to hang on until
morning. Finally, around 0530, I was certain she was going to pull through;
Jeff got up to take over Abbie-watch and I slept about an hour and a half
before the morning noises of the dock woke me. Our plan was to get on VHF Channel
22 during the morning Cruisers’ Net and ask if anyone knew the office
hours of the vet, or had an alternate number for him, because many people
in the marina have used his services. Sure enough, someone had his home
number, called him for us, and told us he would be in the office promptly
at 0900 – an hour and a half to go.
I relayed the good news to Abbie, got her things ready to go while
Jeff conferred with other cruisers as to how to find the darned
place. No one had an address
– evidently there are no street signs there anyway. Larry, Tina’s husband, volunteered
to drive us. With his help,
we carried Abbie off the boat in a blanket-sling, up the dock to a waiting
security guard in a golf cart, then to the parking lot and Larry’s
truck. Abbie was near
comatose. After a few wrong turns, we finally located the vet’s office –
which was open – and sure enough, the doctor arrived shortly after we got
Abbie settled on an exam table.
He spoke perfect English – what a relief! He asked a few questions, did a
quick exam, and immediately got her on an IV drip. After this point, everything is a blur; I can’t remember the exact
sequence of events, but I remember that Abbie perked up dramatically after
the first liter of liquid; she was alert, wagged her tail when we spoke to
her, patiently allowed the doctor to do his tests. He said it was probably a good
thing we didn’t give her the drugs, and couldn’t find any evidence of
congestive heart failure, but suspected a tracheal infection. This seemed reasonable because we
had been warned two years ago after her surgery that she could develop
problems with pneumonia. (At
that time, her larynx had tightened into a permanent, almost-closed
position and she couldn’t get any air. It was risky surgery, but the
alternative was she would soon die of suffocation.) She had always coughed up water
and sometimes food since that surgery, and maybe this time it was so much
it irritated her stomach, so the diagnosis made perfectly good sense. While Abbie went on her second
liter of solution, we took the blood samples to the lab, then went home to
wait. Dr. Cardenas assured us
Abbie would be well-looked after, as he was going to put her on a blanket
in the reception area with the staff so she wouldn’t be
alone. Dr. Cardenas had the test results when we returned that
evening. They showed her
proteins, hemoglobin, and platelets were so low they were almost
non-existent. Dr. said the
most likely culprit for this was an immune disorder or a tic-borne virus,
but he couldn’t begin treatment of the blood until her stomach was settled
enough. We had orders to put
her on a diet of boiled chicken and potatoes (since she’s allergic to
rice) – just a tiny bit that evening, see if she tolerates it, then a bit
more if she wants, and a full portion in the morning, then bring her back
for observation.
You could tell Abbie was glad to be home again. She was even able to walk from the
parking lot to the waiting golf cart – I didn’t want to make her walk all
the way back to the dock, poor baby.
I cooked her some dinner, which she ate and kept down, no
problem. It seemed like she
was going to be okay.
Meanwhile, Jeff and I tried to figure out how she might have gotten
into this mess. We couldn’t
imagine where she might have picked up a tic, unless it was on our WY or
MT visit, but even then, she’s on flea/tic preventative, so that just
didn’t seem right. The more I
thought about what the doctor had said, the more questions I had for
him. In the morning, Jeff
helped Abbie up on deck to go potty us usual. But she didn’t come back to the
cockpit as usual; she stopped mid-ship to rest, then stopped again at the
cockpit coaming. After resting, Jeff helped her down
below and she ate a full portion – 100 grams of chicken and a cup of
potatoes – then layed down.
After a bit, I helped her topsides and to the dock to take our
usual “constitutional” walk.
She got to the end of the boat and collapsed. I was scared! I ran to get Jeff, and we got her
back below. Then it started again: shallow breathing, her stomach seemed to
expand, and she became listless again. Jeff ran over and got Larry, they
hoisted Abbie in her blanket-sling back up the dock, and off we went again
to the doctor’s office. Abbie went back on a drip, and this time I asked Dr. Cardenas about
fluid in her lungs; he listened, sure enough, she was developing
pneumonia. Dr. decided to
take x-rays of the heart, just to be sure there was no enlargement and
fluid. (He had limited
equipment – no electrocardiograms, no esophageal scope, none available in
the entire city.) We waited
while he ran them over to the developing lab. Abbie was calm and patient. Good news, the heart appeared
normal. But her stomach just
didn’t seem right to me, and I pointed that out to him. He took another x-ray, this time a
lower view. We waited
again. Sure enough, there it
was – a well-defined, perfectly round blob the size of a grapefruit – a
tumor. My heart sunk; my
stomach knotted; my head ached.
The tumor was attached – or actually part of – the spleen, and it
was so big it had squished her stomach and her liver up to her heart. No WONDER she couldn’t hold food
down; no WONDER she couldn’t breathe! That tumor would also account for
the low blood counts. In the
horrible glare of that black and white picture, the whole view changed; a
heavy black cloth was being pulled over my
head. The doctor said a biopsy was needed, just to verify his suspicions,
but he also needed a sonogram to pinpoint exactly where to do the
biopsy. Evidently the spleen
is full of blood, and if you puncture it in the wrong place, you risk
uncontrollable, internal hemorrhaging. He called the lady who has a
portable sonogram; she was working at the lab that afternoon, but would be
over between 1700 and 1900.
The only thing to do was wait. It was at this point that Dr.
Cardenas told we had other things to think about now. These types of cancer grow rapidly
and are very painful (Oh, Abbie, please forgive me – I just didn’t know!),
and they don’t generally respond to chemotherapy, especially at such an
advanced age; they also cannot be removed because the spleen is even more
delicate tissue than the liver, but the tumor is not just an attached lump
– it’s actually interwoven with
the normal tissue so there’s no way it can be removed. He showed us some photos and
tables in his medical guide, and also said that some dogs can live without
a spleen, but then again, the chance of that at her age was unlikely, and
the surgery itself is extremely risky with very little success rate. I could not keep the tears at
bay. He was so sweet, he
actually apologized for “making us spend money” and for the devastating
news. We assured him, money
was the least of our concerns – we wanted only the best for our girl, and
wanted to be absolutely certain before we made any decisions. As we were leaving, I could see
alarm or fear in Abbie’s eyes –
she didn’t want us to go. Had
she understood what we were saying?
Did she know? We
talked to her a bit, and assured her we would be back later, with
instructions for her to be a good girl, trying to give her the impression
that it was no big deal. I
don’t know if that worked, but she was sleeping on her blanket in the
girls’ office when we returned. Back at the boat, I spent the afternoon reading up on soft-tissue
cancers; everything the doctor had told us was confirmed. This helped to assure me that we
were in very capable hands with Dr. Cardenas. We both cried and cried and
cried. . . .. . .We talked about taking her back up to San Juan Island so
one more time she could roll around in the grass that had we planted for
her, but decided that was just going to be too long and arduous a
trip. Our second thought was
if we had to make that final
cut, we would want her to be at home on the boat, in familiar
surroundings. But oh, how
hard this night was going to be……… This time both Larry and Tina went with us back to the vet’s. Bless their hearts, they knew what
we would be going through that night. The sonogram lady arrived
shortly after we did, and we all went to a quiet room in the back. Abbie’s tummy had been shaved to
allow the gel to smooth over her skin for a better image. We watched the screen as the wand
moved over her belly, Abbie flinching a bit with the cool gel. There it was – no liquid-filled
grapefruit, just a solid mass.
The “normal” portion of spleen tissue was about the size of a
quarter. Even if we were to
do nothing, she would probably not live a month. There was no
hope…. I asked the doctor if we could take Abbie home and administer the
injection there. He looked me
for what seemed like a full minute, not saying a thing, and I could see in
his eyes the thoughts going through his mind. “Yes, of course.” I couldn’t believe it – this
compassionate man was going to do that for us! “When shall we do it?” “It has to be now. I’ll get my things together; you
get ready; I’ll follow you in my truck.” He turned out the lights, everyone
left the room, and we were alone with Abbie. Oh, this is SO hard to write……I
cannot help the sobs ……………………… We stood on both sides of the table. I cradled her head on my arm, Jeff
petted her muzzle, her head.
We told her how much we loved her, asked her to forgive our
ignorance, told her how we wanted her to be free of pain, told her soon
she wouldn’t feel any more pain, maybe she would see Lucky again; our
tears wet her coat. I have no
idea how long we were there, but Abbie quieted down, almost as if she was
resigned to what was going to happen; in a way, it seemed as if she was
relieved we finally found the problem and was grateful to be done with
it. Perhaps that’ just my
wishful thinking; I’ll never know.
In any case, it didn’t seem right to disturb her and lug her
painfully and ungracefully back to the boat, so I asked Jeff to get the
doctor and proceed. Dr.
Cardenas came in and explained exactly what would happen, asked if we were
ready. When we nodded our
assent, he inserted the needle into the IV; I watched the plunger descend
to end her life – this wonderful, dear, sweet, precious life. We watched her eyes, watched the
heave of her side as her breath slowed, watched her life leave her. Watched my beloved companion cease
to exist. The moment after her final breath, her head all of a sudden, seemed
lighter on my arm. Could her life have actually carried weight? Or was she pressing down just to
feel that connection – to comfort me in her dying moments? Was she still – even then – trying
to comfort me? Oh, God, how
could I have done that to my girl?
Did I deserve her love?
In my heart, I know it was the right thing to do; it would be
selfish to try to keep her with us longer, and make her suffer through the
pain and the degrading deterioration of life; that doesn’t make it any
less difficult.
Dr. Cardenas left us alone with her for as long as we needed. I don’t know how long we were
there; I only know it was so very, very hard to leave her. But we’d said our good-byes, and
were grateful we had the opportunity to do so; there was nothing more to
do. We covered her body,
turned off the lights, and left the room.
………… Before leaving the office, we talked with Dr. Cardenas about
cremation so we could take her ashes back up to So that’s it. That’s
the end of a loving life. It
doesn’t seem fair that dogs do nothing but give us love and all they get
in return is a short life, an early death. Maybe each being on this earth has
a specified amount of love to share with the world, and when that amount
is used up, they get to go to a different plane. And since dogs only give out love
– unlike us humans who give as much or more pain and grief as we do love –
maybe that’s why they don’t last as long as humans. Or maybe their purpose is to teach
us humans how to love, and we sometimes become indifferent to their
teachings and it takes their death to remind us.
……… January 29, 2007, Abbie Labbie, Abbie Girl, Abbie Princess, Abbie Stinker, Abbie
Angel, Abbie Sweetpea, Abbie Sweetpea, mostly Abbie Sweetpea…….She had
lots of nicknames, but no matter what we called her, she was still my girl. Oh how I miss my girl!!!! The floor where her bed was is
empty; the boat is silent; my heart is
hollow……… I have not been able to face anyone for days. I had asked Tina to call Eva and
Milton, and they came by with a sympathy card. Tina was kind enough also
to get on the cruisers’ net and tell everyone what happened, and gave a
nice little eulogy. Eva told
me that Rick, our mechanic, seconded the sentiment; said “she would lay
beside him while he worked, and as long as he kept a hand on her, she
would allow him to stay”, which was true. She really liked
Rick. Last night, as I was trying to write, the evening was calm and the
marina was very quiet. I
could hear Sam, the security guard who helped us, whistling intricate
tunes – a beautiful, clear sound, ringing through the air. I know it was him – Tina had
mentioned what a good whistler he was, and what a beautiful singing voice
he had as well. Funny, in all
the months we’ve been here, this was the first night I’d ever heard
him. I wonder if he was
whistling for Abbie………
January 30, 2007, I baked cookies today for people who helped us with Abbie. Sam, the guard, came by to pick up
the ones for the guards. He
told me again how sorry he was about Abbie – said, “You always have a
friend in me.” What a
sweetheart! He was, indeed,
whistling for Abbie the other night– isn’t that
sweet? January 31, 2007, Last
night we treated Larry & Tina to dinner, to thank them for all their
help and for running us around.
But first we stopped at the vet’s to pick up Abbie’s ashes. He had told us he would put it in
a nice box for us. We also
hadn’t paid for the final services yet, so he had an itemized bill for us
(unbelievably inexpensive!!!).
One of the line items was 100 pesos (about $10) for Jasmine, one of
the technicians in his office.
He had paid her a little extra to stay with Abbie while we weren’t
there, so she would feel more comfortable. Isn’t that incredibly
thoughtful? I couldn’t
believe how caring he is.
Anyway, he said Jasmine went out and bought a special container for
Abbie, something she picked out herself. I about died when I saw it! It was so unique I just couldn’t help but
smile! It was nothing like a
somber box that I was expecting; and it is so very Mexican, I’m not sure I’ll even
put her in the ground when we get to WA – maybe I’ll just leave her in the
container. It’s a ceramic rope-look flower pot with bright green trim
across the top and a metal pink flower sticking out of the top, with
little glitter sparkles on it.
He said we could put her name on the green trim area. J I’m sitting here looking at it as
I type – it just cracks me up.
Abbie wore a pink-flowered bandana the first day she went in to see
them, and the second day she had on a pink one with red and purple purses
and hats. Jasmine must have
picked up on Abbie’s “girly” nature. J But whatever the reason, it is
definitely unlike anything you’ll see anywhere else! J
February 2,
2007 Our water heater should arrive
this evening, so we can start preparations for departure. I can understand why people like
this place, because there IS lots to do, and the people are so very
friendly. But for me it just
has sad memories. Every time
I walk out of the cruisers’ lounge, my eye is automatically drawn to the
spot where Abbie used to lay and wait for me. She didn’t need to be tied down –
she just waited patiently, visiting with all who walked
by. I have dreamed about her every
night. In my dreams I am
looking for her. I haven’t
been able to shake the thought that maybe I should have tried harder;
maybe I should have taken her to the States and got a second opinion,
sought out a surgeon. But
another part of me realizes the trip would be hard on her, and maybe her
life would only be prolonged a short while; maybe she knew, and was ready
be done with life. Perhaps
trying to keep her with us is just being selfish. How I wish I KNEW what is truly
the right thing to do. It’s
just so very hard! February 3,
2007 Last week we received an e-mail
from Shelia Davis, the ex-wife of one of my old bosses at Moore Business
Forms when I worked there back in the early 1980’s. She is living full-time here in
Her house is quite lovely, on a
quiet stretch of beach right next to the water entrance to a
nature-preserve lagoon.
Sheila showed us where the last hurricane washed away her sea-wall
and the bridge across the lagoon; now the sands are unstable and
constantly shifting. In fact,
she said every weekend she watches people get stuck in the sand while
attempting to drive onto the beach.
And sure enough, just as she was telling us, we saw a truck drive
onto the sand and get stuck.
It moved forward and back, trying several ways to get out, but just
kept getting closer to the tide line; at one point, I thought it was going
to be awash. Fortunately, the
driver was able to get the truck up closer to the bridge and out of harm’s
way, but no further. The four
of us watched from the balcony as both driver and passenger got out,
trying to figure out what to do.
Poor guy, I’m sure he was totally embarrassed having an audience to
his dilemma. Finally, he came
up to the house to call a tow truck, though it looked like he might be too
far out for even a tow truck to help. Nothing to do but wait now, so
we invited them in for a glass of wine. The young couple, John and Joanna,
had left When the tow truck came, we
watched another show. Sheila
was betting the truck would get stuck – she’s seen it weekend after
weekend, and as much as she cautions people, no one seems to believe her-
they all go in anyway.
Amazingly, the tow truck had an extra long chain on their winch and
were slowly able to pull John’s truck out, in the process sinking their
own rear axle deep into the sand, just as Sheila predicted. Now with a free truck, John tried
to pull the tow truck out, but it wouldn’t budge. No help except to call another tow
truck to pull out the tow truck! Meanwhile, John went to town to
get some cash, and we visited with Joanna, who said she was pretty tired
of hanging in the truck and camping – can’t blame her there, no???? Sheila invited her (and John) to
stay in the guest room since it was so late, which I’m sure they were
grateful for. While we were
visiting, the tow truck drivers figured out how to get themselves; they
had wrapped their chain around a steel pole that was across the street,
and winched themselves out.
The older guy in the truck was really quite
accomplished. So it was a fun evening, filled
with unusual entertainment. J February 4,
2007 Sheila loaned us her sister’s
Jeep, which was just sitting in the garage, so we took Milton and Eva to
town to do some major provisioning - buying the bottles of laundry soap,
mineral water, etc., stuff that’s hard to lug. Still, it becomes an all-day
project: unloading from car to dock cart, to boat, to salon, then breaking
all packages down into smaller sizes, shrink wrapping, stowing, recording
in inventory, etc. It’s
nothing like shopping at home. Marco, Abbie’s vet dropped off a
Death Certificate at the boat – not usually necessary, but since we’ll be
transporting ashes from a Central American country, we thought we should
be on the safe side. Can you
BELIEVE how nice this man is??? That would NEVER happen in the
States!!! February 5,
2007 Once again we are on
the roller coaster of grief and hope! Bill Schmidt came over this
morning with news: another cruiser told him a story about a couple finding
a Labrador swimming in the On a more positive note, John
and Joanna were still at Sheila’s, and they all stopped by the boat on
their way to town. And, since
none of our family and friends seem to want to visit us, we decided to
share this sailing adventure with perfect strangers. Yep – you read right. We offered to take John &
Joanna to Meanwhile, Jeff continues to
work on installing the new water heater. It is larger than the old one, so
the support structures around the space have to be whittled down to allow
space. It’s a dusty, dirty
job – there is sawdust EVERYWHERE. February 6, 2007,
Being intelligent, young
adventurers, John & Joanna decided to take us up on our offer. J We’re all excited. It reminds me
of when you bring a puppy home to live with an older dog; at first, the
old dog is pestered by the young pup, but before you know it, the old dog
is playing again and acting like a youngster. So maybe Jeff and I will quit
being such fuddy-duddys and gain a youthful outlook again. J John has already promised us
surf-kayaking lessons. Plus,
his fluent Spanish will be very handy on the radio (it’s difficult to
understand a foreign language when you cannot see the speaker’s mouth,
facial features and hand motions.)
Lots to do before departure – like cleaning and clearing some
space for them! Jeff got the water-heater area
carved out; now he’s got to go to Home Depot tomorrow to buy
fittings. It never ends.
Fortunately the weather is co-operating this time. It’s been sunny and warm, and
though the sea swells are too close together for a comfortable sail,
Friday they are supposed to spread out. Friday we
go!!!!! February 7, 2007,
Spent ALL DAY cleaning the boat.
What a mess! Sawdust, dirt from nearby construction, dog hair. We’re both
exhausted. February 8, 2007,
One last load of laundry and
last-minute provisioning.
John & Joanna will move aboard this evening after dinner with
Sheila and Bryan. Friday, February 9,
2007, Oh no. This can’t be
happening! Jeff is really
sick – stomach cramps, shakes, dizziness, the whole catastrophe. Don’t know if it’s the flue or bad
shrimp or what, but hopefully it’s just a one day deal and he’ll be well
enough to take off tomorrow. We had another bit of panic to
deal with as well. Last night
we discovered the water maker wasn’t working. Jeff checked all he could, but
couldn’t get it started, so Rick, the mechanic, came to the boat first
thing this morning. Turns out
the connections at the breaker were not fitted properly and had been
arcing, which ultimately burned out the breaker. Rick was able to get it fixed with
the parts that are available here in
Saturday, February 10, 2007,
What a glorious day! We are off!!! All morning long, people were
stopping by the boat to say good bye and wish us safe travels. It’s amazing how quickly we became
a part of the local “community” in the 55 days we were there; in fact,
it’s hard to believe we were there that long. It seemed interminable at the time,
but now I wonder where the time went. (Isn’t that how it always goes?)
Now we’ve got a good
18knot wind at our back. Jeff
is better but still sick; by mid-afternoon I got stomach cramps and
dizziness too; Joanna was a bit sea sick; and John seems to have an iron
gut – nothing fazes him. Sunday, February 11, 2007, Isla
Isabella, 21°50.51N, 105°52.92W Weather predictions were nothing
like we experienced last night; we expected it to die after sundown as
usual; instead, it kept blowing strong throughout the night, with gusts to
20 knots. We had a current
pushing us as well, so we averaged over 7.5 knots the whole time. In fact, towards morning, Jeff had
to reef in the jib to slow the boat down so we wouldn’t arrive at the
anchorage in the dark. It’s
probably the best sail we’ve ever had in Unfortunately, I was too sick to
stand my second watch after midnight, and we weren’t prepared to turn the
boat over to new, green crew on their own, so Jeff stayed up most of the
night. John hung with him
periodically too, allowing them both to get little cat naps. Everyone was
pretty tired by morning when we arrived at the island. We anchored in the south cove –
narrowly missing some uncharted rocks. The bottom here is mostly rock
with patches of sand here and there.
The anchor kept skipping, but finally seemed to bite. We were debating whether to stay –
neither of us wanted to deal with a dragging anchor if the weather
conditions deteriorated, but everyone was so tired, we weren’t keen on
leaving either. The solution
we came up with was to just take a nap and see what happens.
After resting, Joanna jumped in
the water with her snorkel to check on our anchor to see how we’re
holding. (Don’t cha love
it??? J She’s so comfortable in the water
she’s like a little water baby or our own mermaid!) Her report: sand, dug in
deep. Good holding, we can relax now. Whew! Still fighting a cramping
stomach and dizziness, Jeff and I both needed more rest, but after a quick
lesson in dinghy operation, the J’s (John and Joanna) headed off to the
east side of the island for some snorkeling, which they said was pretty
good. Later in the afternoon,
we took turns motoring ashore to view first-hand our whole reason for
coming here. Part of the national park
system, the 2-mile square Isla Isabella is home and nesting grounds for
thousands of birds, mostly frigates and boobies. A rudimentary trail has been cut
up the sides and over the top of the ridge by volunteers, who camp here in
and around an old concrete building.
There is a line of fishermen’s camps at the top of the shore, but
other than that, the island is deserted, except of course for the
birds. What an amazing experience to
walk among these winged creatures!
The frigates build their nests on the tops of low, scrubby trees, as many as eight or ten to
a tree. When you look out
over the area, you see them dotted over the landscape like black and white
Christmas ornaments. The
birds ignore you as you walk within a yard of them, too intent on their
mission: courting, the males puffing out their red chests to attract
females (yes, puff up that big red thing, that’ll get a female every
time); “practice feeding” from potential mates to see if that candidate
will be a good provider; the parents tending their young. The large, ungainly babies in
their white down – fluffy, lumpy, ugly and cute at the same time – are a
joy to watch. The boobies are higher up on the
ridge, making their nests in the ground, some mothers sitting on one or
two eggs, the males pacing around them, guarding them. Understandably, they tended to be
a little more vocal as we walked by, the males squawking at us loudly, but
most rarely left their nests.
I even caught one couple “in the act.” It almost seemed irreverent that
we were there in their “private time.” The appropriately-named
blue-footed boobies are white with black wings and bright, robin’s egg
blue feet; others, called brown boobies, are white-chested with
blackish-brown bodies and pale green feet, though why they’re not called
green-footed boobies I couldn’t tell you. I couldn’t get over how they just
stood there and looked at us – no fear. One baby stood a couple feet away
from me and just looked at me, turning her head from side to side, almost
as if she were posing for the camera. I ended up with 98 photos of birds
– way too many. J Late in the evening we almost
had a heart attack as we looked out our port light and saw the bow of a
large motor yacht right up next to us! We ran topsides to find our former
dock-neighbor Jim at the helm of Ms Barbara, just motoring by
to say “hi.” Nice guy. Monday, February 12, 2007, Isla
Isabella to Chacala, 21°09.84N, 105°13.68W Jeff is feeling back to normal
today, and I’m marginally better.
We weighed anchor and set sail around 0830 on an easy run to
Chacala on the mainland.
While underway, John practiced the Turk’s head and other knot work
he learned on the tallship, trying to create some decorative finger-grips
around our coffee mugs and steering wheel; Joanna made yarn bracelets.
The wind was light in the
morning, but by 1400 it was up enough to sail so we had another nice run
into our anchorage. About an hour before Chacala,
the line of the fishing reel started whizzing out – Dorado!!!! Jeff taught John how to reel her
in (this was his first Dorado), the two of them wrestled her aboard, and
Jeff filleted her out. Fresh
fish for dinner – nothing like it!!! Tuesday, February 13, 2007,
Chacala, 21°09.84N, 105°13.68W It took quite awhile to settle
in last night, as most of the boats in the anchorage had two anchors out,
so we had to set our stern anchor as well. Though it was a hassle, it
actually kept us quite steady during the night, so we all got some better
rest. In spite of that, I
woke up sad and headachy; I’d dreamed of searching for Abbie again, and
this time saw Lucky running to get on the boat. Grieving takes a long time to get
over. This peaceful little village
sits on a lovely little bay (everything is “little here J ); though it’s quiet right now,
according to the cruising guide, it’s packed with tourists during Easter
week. This is the beginning
of the tropical area of Wednesday, February 14, 2007,
Chacala to Punta Mita, 20°, 45.82N, 105°31.30W Nothing like a little excitement
in the morning to jump-start your day! With the new crew learning the
ropes, we were ready to go 5 minutes before our planned departure of
0900. The tide was slack, and
all looked good. Standing at
the helm, I can’t see Jeff on the bow as he pulls up the anchor, but
through the headphones I heard, “Oh no!.” The anchor was wrapped in a
fishing line. He was able to get it off, and we slowly motored around the
nearest boat to face bow to sea.
No sooner had we gone a few yards when we heard an awful sound like
rocks tumbling in a mixer, then the engine quit. Quick! Throw the anchor down again. Something had wrapped in the prop
– no hard to guess what! Right away, our mermaid
volunteered to dive in and see what’s up. Quickly changing into swim suits,
the two J’s donned snorkels and dove under the boat. Sputtering back to the surface,
they reported a rope had wrapped about 5 times around the prop. Ugly! No telling whether we’d gotten it
just then, or it if had tangled when we first came into the
anchorage. Armed with knives,
they took turns diving down to make a few swipes at the line before coming
back up for air. I’m not sure
how long it took, but they were awfully tired from doing so much
hyper-ventilating. What they
brought up was actually a fishing net tied to lines, sinkers, and floats;
it was quite a big ball of netting that had wrapped. Once the prop was completely
clear, I fired up the engine and Jeff tried to raise the anchor
again. This time, the anchor
was REALLY fouled - that net must have stretched all the way across the
bay! I started hearing that
gravelly sound in the engine again, so immediately shut her down. The J’s jumped back in the water
to see if they could help untangle the anchor. Meanwhile, Musetta started drifting
towards the rocks; without an anchor down, and afraid to re-start the
engine, the situation was looking scary. I radioed to any vessel in the bay
for assistance; one boat responded, and came over in their dinghy to
“push” our stern away from the rocks. Fortunately, it was still calm, so
we didn’t get too far over.
While the crew was working at freeing the net, they also freed a
ray that had been caught up in the net – lucky guy, he swam to the bottom
right away.
Finally, after about an hour and
forty minutes, we were fully clear and underway. The wind kicked up after noon, and
we sailed the rest of the day into the northern head of Thursday, February 15, 2007,
Punta Mita Had our first lazy morning since
we’ve been in Friday, February 16, 2007, Punta
Mita It’s overcast today and a little
cooler; boat rolled all night long.
Jeff and I took a dingy ride to the beach (good thing we didn’t let
the J’s go in the dark the other night – there are submerged rocks and
rough surf before the landing); we explored what little bit of village
there was, but it’s mostly condos and hotels, not much else, except a lot
of trash – everywhere! This
is one of the messiest little villages we’ve come across yet. I just don’t understand the reason
for throwing trash everywhere.
The palapa restaurants on the beach are really expensive – a couple
small shrimp cocktails, 3 beers and 2 waters cost a whopping $35! Jeff bought a couple shirts from a
vendor walking the beach, and after that we were fair game. They each came up to us, one by
one, trying to get us to buy, an endless procession of “stuff.”
Jon tried making another version
of the beer bread (yesterday’s loaf was wiped out); another tasty treat.
J Saturday, February
17, 2007, Punta Mita to La Cruz,
20°44.65N, 105°22.60W Last night as we lay in bed, we
could hear whale songs for about a half hour. It sounded like they were right in
the anchorage, but I imagine the sound carries pretty far; they could have
been anywhere. The sounds
were totally cool! Not much wind this morning;
motored all the way; good thing it was just a short ride to our next stop.
Right as we were entering the anchorage area, we got a close-up view of a
mother whale and her calf cruising through the anchorage; what an awesome
sight! Today was my first day without
stomach cramps. Hurrah!
Jeff hooked up our external wifi
antenna and we’ve been able to get wifi signals from the hotels/homes on
the beach – not necessarily enough to load a web page, but at least enough
to send and receive e-mail.
La Cruz has grown tremendously since we were here in 2003. There’s a new marina, resorts, the
whole catastrophe, in the works.
The J team dinked to the town
with jerry jugs to refill them with diesel. We’ve been doing a lot more
sailing this trip, so haven’t needed as much fuel, and only needed to top
off the tanks. It’s about a
half mile walk to the Pemex, but they were able to hitch a ride back to
the beach area.
It’s very rolly here all day and
all night – not on my Top 10 list of anchorages. Sunday, February 18, 2007,
LaCruz Today it was Jeff’s and my turn
to take the jerry jugs to town.
We also were able to get a ride back – this time from an ex-pat who
had purchased a lot of property back in 1990, and was now selling it. He and his wife are living in an
RV at the end of town, and they recently bought property in the mountains
behind Gaudalajara; evidently there’s just been a road put in, so they
are, once again, at the forefront of the property grab. Nice guy. After he dropped us off, we
strolled the small town square – the town can’t be more than 12 to 15
blocks wide/long, but it probably will be bustling soon. There are dredging and large developments underway along
the beach front. The problem
with this is, all the nice houses that are there now will no longer be
beach-front; they’ll be behind the new resorts. I guess there’s been quite a stink
about it recently; in fact, almost all the houses on that street had a For
Sale sign. Seems to me, even
though it won’t be beach-front, it will still go up in value; but I
suppose if you built there for the peace and view of beach-front, you’d
certainly be disappointed with the recent
developments. The J team took a bus to near-by
Puerta Vallarta in search of a kayak paddle; Joanna had lost hers
overboard one night at Punta Mita.
They didn’t have any luck, as all the surf shops were closed, but
they did stop for provisions while there, so we have a refrigerator full
of fresh produce again. Monday, February 19, 2007, La
Cruz to Ipala, 20°14.10N, 105°34.24W Once again, I dreamed I was
searching for Abbie. Will I
ever find her??? I suppose I
dreamed of her last night because yesterday, we dinghied over to Tracen J, a boat which had
been moored next to us in We were all up early this
morning to take off at day-break for the long ride to Ipala. Now that the new crew are more
familiar with the routine, we’re able to get everything – breakfast,
stowing, etc. – ready in an hour.
The anchor came up without incident, thankfully. We had to motor part of the way,
but as the wind picked up in the afternoon, we were able to get the sails
full. On the way we finally saw some dolphins, but
they were too busy feeding to bother with playing on our bow. We also passed through a
colony/pack/flock/pod/school/whatever-you-call-it of sea turtles; big
ones, little ones, all heading north, riding the
currents. Ipala hasn’t changed much from
the last time we were here in 2003 – still a little hillside village with
loud music. The exception is
all the fishermen’s floats for pots and nets that clog the inner bay. Boats can no longer get close to
the beach for shelter; we have to hang further out where the swells and
winds are greater. Not much
reason to stay. Tuesday, February 20, 2007,
Ipala to Chamela, 19°34.87N, 105°07.97W We arrived at Chamela in 25 knot
winds, but were able to anchor without problem, amongst about 15 other
boats. The J’s decided it was
time to do a little laundry so they had a lesson in “domestic arts.” My spiffy little machine is about
a 3-gallon bucket that sits on top of a motor which has an agitation cycle
for 1 to 15 minutes, on low speed or high. Simply fill it with water, a bit
of soap, add up to 400 grams of clothes (which equals a couple
light-weight shirts and a pair of nylon shorts, or a dozen panties and a
couple bras). When the cycle
is done, dump the water and refill with fresh water to rinse, or rinse by
hand in the sink. Then put
all the garments on hangars and space them out under the center support
rod of the biminy - this so
we won’t have unsightly laundry hanging from the lifelines all up and down
the boat. In about an hour,
our clothes are dry because we only wear micro-fiber and nylon garments
now; cotton just takes too long to dry, and absorbs the moisture in the
air. Even are towels are
micro-fiber. Laundry done,
the motor housing fits inside the bucket for storage, plus, the bucket can
be used for other purposes.
This was the selling
point on this unit; according to Jeff, everything on the boat has to have
two uses before I can buy it. J I didn’t want to have to do it
all by hand, as the agitation is what seems to help get the clothes clean;
so the fact that it stored fairly small, and could be used for bailing or
what-ever was a plus. Not
exactly a modern convenience, but better than
nothing. After dinner, the J’s taught us
a card game that is popular with Canadians – euchre or something like
that. We’re still a bit
sketchy on the details, but the Joanna/Steph team won. Yeah! J Wednesday, February 21, 2007,
Chamela, 19°34.87N, 105°07.97W It was a busy night for me last
night; I had some weird dreams all night. In one, I was walking with Abbie;
we crossed behind a UPS truck and somehow her leash got stuck under the
wheel. As I was trying to
free her, the truck started to back up on us. I jumped awake totally wigged
out! Well, at least this time
I was walking with her and not searching for her. In another dream, my sister Lisa
and her husband and daughter Mark and Annamarie were going to go on a day
sail with us. But before we
could go, we had to help Lili prepare fruit for the wonderful jam that she
makes. It was quite a
detailed dream, but the gist of it was, we all (Jon, Joanna, Jeff, me,
Mark, Lili, Annamarie, and another person who was going with us) sat at a
long table in a parking lot, sorting through lugs of berries. The guys started getting irritated
because before we knew it, the day was almost over. Then I realized we (and the boat)
are no longer in In my final dream, I was with
our some of our senior taste panel members. We had just finished judging a
competition and had gone out for drinks. I’d decided to leave to catch my
plane home, and went to get my things. For some reason, I had bundles and
bundles of long-stemmed flowers; when I returned to the table with my arms
full of flowers to say goodbye, they had all left. I panicked because I couldn’t
remember the name of my hotel to get a cab back to pick up my
luggage. There I was, awake
and worried yet again! I
still don’t really know what the heck I was worried about all
night!!! Radio weather reports predicted
winds up to 30 knots today, which was why we decided to stay put, but it
actually turned out to be a gorgeous day. Jeff started us off by making
home-made biscuits for breakfast sandwiches. Then we dinghied a couple miles to
one of the near-by islands to a lovely sand beach. I brought 3 large plastic bags for
the haul of beach glass I was planning to get, as this was the area where
I scored big time in 2003.
Alas, the hurricane had changed the terrain; the gravelly area,
where I got all the glass and, in fact the whole beach, had been covered
in fine sand. Lovely, but I
was disappointed. (Sorry,
Sheelin, no spoils from the sea this time.) Now that this beach is so
beautiful, it has become a “destination” for tourists; the pangueros make
a little money ferrying them out here for the day and
back. We whiled away the day, swimming
and hiking up the ridge to the other side of the island. The J’s snorkeled, but Jeff and I
hadn’t brought our gear so that was out. While on the island, we chatted
with a panguero who spoke English like he was a tough guy LA gang
member. Turns out he actually
was from Being familiar with the area, we
asked him about the wifi signal we were picking up in the anchorage. He said it was probably from the
RV that’s parked outside the trailer park in town. Look for the white two-story house
with a red fence around it at the trailer park, the RV with the antenna is
parked right outside. Yesterday the J’s decided they
wanted to cook dinner tonight, so I had the evening off. J Jeff and I dinked ashore in search
of a tienda de abbarotes (groceries). We needed flour and eggs – basics
which should be available most everywhere. After only a block or two up the
center of the the dusty, dirt road (shades of High Noon), Jeff spotted a
little house with a walk-up window.
We peered into the dim interior, sure enough, it was brimming with
dry goods. A very pregnant
woman came to the window and asked what we needed. She had flour in 1 kilos bags
(obviously put into the smaller bags from a large sack), but no eggs. I asked where I could purchase
eggs, and she directed us to someplace up on the main road, three blocks
down on the right. We headed
off in search of huevos. We passed by several stores, but
none looked like they would sell eggs. Finally, I stopped at a restaurant
to inquire of the elusive eggs, was directed to Tio Pedro’s on the block
we just passed. Ah, Tio
Pedro’s, the creameria. But
they were closed.
Bummer. Ah well, we
don’t need them THAT bad.
As luck would have it, we
glanced down the street next at the corner where Tio Pedro’s was – lo and
behold – there was the RV with the wifi antenna. J We casually strolled up and found
the lady of the house sunning in front of the RV. After chatting a bit, we asked
about the wifi. Right away
she said, “Here, I’ll write down the code for you so you can use it.” Don’t cha love
it??? After a beer at one of the
palapas, we headed back to the boat for a lovely spaghetti carbonara
dinner with a colorful mélange of sautéed vegetables, and a
chocolate-fudge pudding cake to finish. Everything was delicious! J As for the wifi, we were able to
access websites and receive e-mail, but couldn’t send out. I don’t know if it was some
security measure they had, or whether we were experiencing problems with
our external wifi antenna.
Updating the website will just have to wait until we get to a land
line. Thursday, February 22, 2007
Chamela to Tenacatita, 19°18.14N, 104°50.13W We had planned on stopping in
Careyes, which the cruising guide says is “one of those picturesque
hideaways you dreamed about before you started cruising. Swaying coconut palms, flowering
jungle vines, crystalline water over white sand, a beach cafe or two where
you can lounge in the shade and watch your boat swinging at anchor, dive
the reefs for fun or photos.”
Well, we got there in howling winds, the three lobes of the bay for
anchoring were tight and packed with floats and pots, the surrounding
hillside was jammed with houses, condos, hotels – not my idea of paradise
at all. It didn’t take us long to assess
the layout, turn around, and head out for the next stop, Tenacatita. Now THIS is more like what the
guide book describes. The bay
is two or three miles wide, and the town is on the southern end of the
bay, but the protected anchorage is on the north side. When we pulled in, we were
astounded to count 45 to 50 boats in the anchorage (including some mega
yachts, one with a helicopter on the back)! More boats than we’ve ever seen in
one anchorage. Yet, they are
all riding comfortably, and all pretty well protected from the NW
winds. The fine white-sand
beach stretches half the way around the bay, there is one – note, ONE –
hotel and one condominium complex right next to each other at one end of
the beach, and at the other, closest to the anchorage, a small, shady camp
ground and one palapa restaurant.
Between these two ends are the lovely, swaying coconut palms; the
water is clear; other than the music booming nightly from the hotel, the
area is quiet, pretty, and other than the yateros (yachties), no one is
around. I can see why so many
people hang out here. To get
to a town, evidently they walk up to the main road and take a bus to
either of two near-by towns.
Only thing this anchorage lacks is good wifi. J Isn’t that awful??? Here I am, sitting in paradise,
wishing there were wifi!
Shame on me! How
spoiled I’ve become! Friday, February 23, 2007,
Tenacatita, 19°18.14N, 104°50.13W Do you ever have days that seem
just perfect? We had one today. J We took the dink over the sand bar
at the river mouth near the northwest end of the anchorage, then did a
slow “jungle cruise” up river.
Actually, Jon said it is more like a mangrove estuary, but
technicalities aside, it was a lovely ride. Shallow the whole way, at first
the river is about 50 feet wide, but as you progress, it narrows to maybe
10 feet. Green mangrove trees
line the sides, their brown branches reaching out in tripod-like tendrils
to the water, reaching for a spot to plant new roots; leaves creating an
intimate canopy; all reflected in mirror-flat green water. We saw white herons, blue ones,
brown somethings, king fishers, and crabs – black ones, red ones, white
translucent ones. The stillness was occasionally broken by a panga roaring
through with tourists aboard.
We kept a slow pace so we could hear them in advance and pull off
into the trees to avoid being run down. One Korean-looking tourist snapped
our picture – we must have looked like some “unique jungle characters.”
J Being a professional river-raft
guide, Jon kept us informed and entertained the whole
way. The main channel makes a T; to
the right is a lagoon filled with fishing nets; the left side ends at the
back side of a beach berm, where we landed our dinghy. A short walk across to the other
side and we were in what the locals call The Aquarium. Long fine white sand beach again,
lined with dozens upon dozens of palapa restaurants under coconut palms
and – wonder upon wonders – no trash! Beach vendors hawked their wares,
but not to the point of being obnoxious like some. There were the usual garments,
carved bowls and spoons, paper mache plates, and beaded necklaces and
bracelets. There was also a
guy selling fresh mangoes on a stick (much healthier than corn dogs,
no???), one guy pumping a bicycle with a cooler box on it filled with ice
cream, another pushing a wheel-barrow filled with snacks. He had lots of things we hadn’t
seen before, and he let us taste whatever we wanted. I bought some fried
fava beans with chile/limon seasoning, and some kind of chocolate/licorice
drops; both were really good. Before lunch, we snorkeled about
an hour in the rocks/reef area.
All of us saw lots of colorful fish, rays, big needle fish; it was
fun, and obviously this is the reason for the Aquarium name. Lunch was relaxing – ceviche and
beer at a palapa, then the leisurely ride down river and back to the
boat. At the river mouth as
well as all along the beach front, the surf is a bit rough, so it’s
important to time your entrance/exit properly. You have to wait for the lull,
push your dinghy out as far as possible, then paddle like hell until you
can get into water deep enough to drop the engine, and do all this before
the next big swell.
Otherwise, you’ll be easily tipped over. Takes some skill. Saturday, February 24, 2007,
Tenacatita, 19°18.14N, 104°50.13W Oh no! I don’t believe it! The water-maker has stopped
working! I CAN’T BELIEVE
IT!!!! It’s displaying the
same symptoms as it was in December when we had to replace the pump. This is a brand new pump!!! And wouldn’t you know it, we
all took fresh-water showers today, so we’re low on water. ARRGH!!! We were told there is a Spectra
brand water-maker factory-trained rep in the anchorage, so we’ve been
trying to reach him all day, without luck. Looks like he may be out of the
area for the day; we’ll try again tomorrow. To make matters worse, the
computer wouldn’t re-boot.
Said there was a problem with some recent hardware or software
installation. Earlier Jeff
had re-installed the wifi antenna because the program wasn’t working –
figured that must be the problem.
Now the whole thing is a mess! The J team went kayak surfing
today while Jeff and I walked the length of the beach. The hotel looked fairly nice, so
we walked up to the lobby to check it out further. While there, Jeff spotted an old
Buick in the parking lot; turns out there was a rally for some My ears were hurting from the
snorkeling yesterday – water in the ear I suppose; the folks on Platinum loaned me a bottle of
ear drops, and another boat recommended a 50/50 mixture of alcohol and
water dropped into the ear canal.
I tried both, along with some acetaminophen. Hopefully I’ll feel better in the
morning. It’s amazing what a
“community” the cruisers form.
Almost all are very generous, eager and willing to help
others. One boat loaned me
ears drops; I gave 4 feet of cheesecloth to one boat; another boat loaned
Jeff rubber sealant to repair our dinghy wheel innertube. He absolutely refused payment –
said to “pay it forward.”
It’s really neat how it works. Late in the afternoon, we heard
via VHF from our friends aboard Merlot. They’re coming in this
evening, stopping on their way up from Zihuatanejo. Also spoke with Warren Peace, who said they
and Georgia J are coming into
Barra de Navidad, also on their way up from Manzanillo and heading
north. Many, many boats have
already made their trip south, and are heading north this time of year to
put their boats away in LaPaz or Sunday, February 25, 2007,
Tenacatita, 19°18.14N, 104°50.13W I can see why there are so many
boaters here – this place really grows on you. Most days there are “group swims”
to the beach, volley-ball and bocce games on the beach, and Mexican Train
Dominoes at the palapa. One
boat, Legacy, is the self-appointed
Mayor of Tenacatita. The days
are uncluttered and relaxed, just what a vacation should
be. My ears felt better today. We also were able to get a hold of
the Spectra rep, who said he would come by tomorrow because he was already
booked for the day. Popular
guy! I’m also feeling better
because we were able to get the computer back up, though haven’t
re-installed the wifi antenna; figured no reason to test it right now
since there’s no signal available anyway. Jeff had to pull up the cilantro
from my herb garden; somehow it had gotten infested with a type of aphid
(I assume) and was enduring a painful death. He was concerned about the bugs
spreading to the other plants, so yanked it out. When we came down in the fall, I
brought with me planter boxes, potting soil, and numerous packets of
seeds; the mint, rosemary, Greek oregano, and marjoram never sprouted; the
cilantro and parsley was/is frail but there, the thyme and basil (YES!!!)
seem to be the heartiest.
It’s been so nice to go out to the cockpit and snip fresh herbs for
cooking. J Monday, February 26, 2007,
Tenacatita, 19°18.14N, 104°50.13W Poor Jon has been sick all
day. He started feeling
nauseas yesterday evening, couldn’t eat his dinner, and had to go to
bed. This morning he was
miserable. Evidently
yesterday he’d neglected to put sun screen on before he went out
kayaking. Being out there all
day, no water to drink, no hat – looks like he’d had too much sun. He’s staying down with cold packs
and soothing gel now, some chicken broth for the stomach; hopefully he’ll
feel better tomorrow.
Jeff was able to get a cell
phone signal and call the Sea recovery factory rep. She agreed, the problem is the
pump. The Spectra rep also
came over with his input, and essentially agreed that the pump is the
problem….the new pump…the brand-spanking-new pump! Now we’ve got to figure out how to
get the replacement. Our
friend from Tuesday, February 27, 2007,
Tenacatita to Barra de Navidad, 19°11.73N, 104°40.92W As we were getting ready to
depart, we caught a glimpse of a dolphin pod playing in the
anchorage. Evidently there is
a resident pod which had been absent for a week or so; perhaps they were
returning home. Jon’s stomach is better, though
he’s still not completely recovered.
Coffee this morning didn’t help matters, I’m sure.
I really liked Tenacatita, and
would have liked to stay there longer. But, having guests, little water,
and being so far behind, it just wasn’t feasible. We really want to get further
south soon because my passport expires in June, so I HAVE to be back in
the states before then. We’ll
have to move faster to make it.
I think the J’s will probably be leaving us soon, because they have
to be back in After an hour and a half motor
sail, we arrived at Barra de Navidad. There’s only one marina, and it’s
at this gorgeous resort hotel.
It will cost us over $125 a night to stay in the marina, but we
need to fill up the tanks, wash the boat, regroup in general, so we’re
going to bite the bullet for a couple nights. Besides, when you consider the
cheapest room at this hotel starts at $429 per night, it’s relatively
reasonable – “relatively” being the key word, here. Our sister ships Warren Peace and Georgia J are two slips down
from us, so it will be nice to re-visit with them. First order of business was to
fill the water tanks and clean this messy boat. Everything really takes a hit when
we’re passage-making. The J’s
went to swim in the hotel pool, and Jeff has to dinghy across the lagoon
to the Port Captain’s office to check in. Probably tomorrow we’ll take
laundry in and provision, and hopefully have time for a quick
swim. Wednesday, February 28, 2007,
Barra de Navidad, 19°11.73N, 104°40.92W There wasn’t time for a swim
yesterday, but Jeff and I had dinner out on the point here at the
hotel. They set up a grill
and some tables outdoors, so it’s a simple, limited menu, but our fish was
superb – ultra fresh, perfectly cooked, and the garlic/butter sauce was
expertly proportioned. After
dinner we walked to one of the many restaurants within the hotel for
desserts, Jeff opting for orange/cappuccino tiramisu, and I was euphoric
over a tres leches (three milks), which is a moist cake with a somewhat
eggnog flavor. Of course,
after that we had to walk off dessert, so spent a good two hours just
walking around the hotel and checking out the grounds. What a stunningly beautiful
place! Lush vegetation
everywhere, beautiful architecture, and the place rambles on for what
seems like forever, dotted with little alcoves, fountains, and private
sitting areas. It has two
floors of beautiful meeting rooms, a spa, a long waterslide in the pool,
an auditorium/theater where they show two movies every day, a sports
center for rental of tennis rackets, scuba gear, bicycles, vollyballs,
ping pongs, golf clubs (we heard the course is even better than Pebble
Beach), and who knows what else.
The place is incredibly luxurious! We were told the laundry service
here at the marina is pretty bad – lots of misplaced garments, etc., so we
dinghied across to the town of We dropped off the laundry and
walked to the Port Captain’s office (which was closed yesterday when Jeff
got there), then strolled the main streets of town. We spotted a Moorish-looking
building on a side street with a sign that said “Open for Lunch; All
Welcome; Come In,”so we did.
It is a family-run boutique hotel called Casa Signorina which had
just been open two weeks; lovely little place. And the lunch was terrific! On the menu were eight or nine
salad selections, a few sandwiches, and each salad comes with soup of the
day or half a sandwich. They
were GREAT! We also met up
with a street vendor who was selling the same kinds of snack goodies
we You wouldn’t believe the
Catholic church in town – not some beautiful, elaborate building like most
(I think they had one but it was damaged beyond repair in the last
hurricane). This one is a
simple palapa with a few decorations inside. Interestingly, the figure of
Christ on the cross has his
arms down by his side, not nailed up on the cross bar like all the
others. Don’t know the reason
for that. “Good bye” cocktails on Warren Peace this evening, as
they are flying out tomorrow morning, then back to Barra to pick up the
laundry and buy a simple dinner in town. I say “back to Barra” because the
town is on one side of the lagoon, restaurants on stilts lining the shore,
and the hotel/marina is on the opposite side. In the center of the lagoon is a
very shallow bar, so you have to be careful when crossing at night,
especially if the tide is out.
Further beyond the marina, there is another bar but a narrow
channel takes you into the aft region of the lagoon, which is where most
sail boats anchor. (We’d
heard that it was difficult to get into and not very clean, so we opted
out on that one).
Jon says his stomach is back to
normal, but now it’s Joanna’s turn.
Judging by the symptoms, it seems like amoebas (sooner or later, if
you spend ANY time in
Thursday, March 1, 2007, Barra
de Navidad, 19°11.73N, 104°40.92W “The French Baker” stopped by
our boat again this morning.
Emeric is from More chores today. Even stopping at the vegetable
trucks in town, the produce was dismal so we dinghied to the small village
beyond the marina on the far side of the lagoon anchorage. You park your dinghy at a
shore-side restaurant then walk uphill to the top of the cobblestone
driveway; on the right is Maria’s Tienda (Maria is the sister of the guy
that owns the restaurant.)
Maria has created quite a little business for herself. Once a week she drives to
The J’s were put to work washing
the boat while we provisioned.
They did a nice job, and didn’t seem to mind working in the sun; I
guess since they were around water, they were able to keep cool. Once finished, they hit the surf,
probably one of the best days of surf that they’ve
had. Jeff cooked blue cheese bacon
burgers while I worked on downloading e-mail, statements, etc. (Unfortunately, our external wifi
antenna conked out on us, so I have to go inside the hotel to get the
signal. There’s ANOTHER piece
of equipment that didn’t last very long! ) Of course, burgers should be
followed with a movie; we laughed through The Bangor
Sisters. Friday, March 2, 2007, Barra de
Navidad, 19°11.73N, 104°40.92W Uh Oh! Jon found a humongous cockroach in the cockpit
lazarette! How the heck did
he get there? Yikes! We’ve got to get rid of him and
any friends he brought in, pronto!!!
Jeff is spraying the boat like crazy. It’s already 1400 and I STILL
haven’t finished updating the web site. I want at least one afternoon to
enjoy these luxurious surroundings.
Jeff and Joanna convinced me to put off finishing, so hasta la
vista. Saturday, March 3 to Sunday,
March 4, 2007, Barra de Navidad to Isla Grande, 17°40.77N, 101°39.37W I woke up with watery eyes again
this morning, thinking about Abbie.
In blazing heat and light
breeze, we inched out of our slip, doing our best to avoid “kissing” the
mega yacht Besame (Kiss Me) side-tied behind us in
the narrow fairway. By 1000
we were outside the channel and well underway in heavy swell, which
unfortunately left Joanna feeling a bit queasy most of the
day. Motor sailing through the night,
the seas finally became flat as an asphalt road. We encountered a good bit of ship
traffic on the first few watches during the night, but by 2200, all was
clear. While on watch, I
started thinking about Lucky, and how much we miss him, wondering what was
his fate. I kept turning
around, looking off to the port stern quarter – it seemed like something
was out there, but I couldn’t see anything. It seemed like I caught a glimpse
of something out of the corner of my eye as I was turning, but then
there’d be nothing; it was an eerie feeling – was it just my night vision
playing tricks on me? Then,
all of a sudden, I saw their black shapes rounding at port mid-ship. The dolphins had finally come to
play on our bow! That was about 2230. Another pod came around 2330. It was a shame we couldn’t see
them in daylight, though Joanna reported she saw some on her watch as
well. The heat during the day and the
monotone of the droning motor and flat, endless sea made us
lethargic. We couldn’t wait
to jump in the water when we arrived at Isla Grande. Ah, how refreshing!!! Jon thinks this is the prettiest
anchorage we’ve been at. It’s
a small island just across from Ixtapa, which has a lovely white-sand
beach and large hotel backed by a picturesque mountain range. Panga water taxis bring tourists
to the island during the day for water sports and eating at one of the
half dozen seafood palapa restaurants that line the beach here. The anchorage is a bustling little
cove during the day, with kayakers, water taxis, pangas pulling banana
boats, and personal watercraft all plying the waters. But so far, there’s not a lot of
loud music; the palapas close at 1800 and by 2000 everyone has to be off
the island, storing tranquility to the anchorage once
again. Monday, March 5, 2007, Isla
Grande to Marina Ixtapa, 17°40.09, 101°36.99 Last night was truly beautiful:
full moon painting a wide swath across the dark, flat water, hotel lights
twinkling like downed stars across the bay, black mountain range framing
the sight. Simply
stunning. The J’s sat out in
the cockpit enjoying the beauty of the night. This morning they paddled across
the bay to surf. Jon had
checked it out yesterday when we arrived, and reported that it was deep
and clear of rocks – good conditions for them. Since we only have a short motor
to Z-town, might as well take advantage of the location. Jon said there were about 30
surfers there! While weighing anchor, the guys
discovered the breather for the forward head was spilling over. Oh no! The tank has not been
emptying! Plugged. We kept smelling a foul odor along
the way, and thought it was sulfur that had been added to the diesel to
allow it to burn cleaner. Now
we know the truth – the ugly
truth. This of course requires a change
in plans. We’ll have to stop
at Ixtapa to get a pump-out because there’s no marina in Z-town. Next order of business would be to
dive under and clean the through-hole, just to make sure there is no
barnacle, muscle, or other sea life plugging it. Problem is, no one dives in this
marina because there are crocodiles.
We’ll have to deal with that task later. Oh treacherous shades of deja vue!!! The same thing happened in this marina as in When we radioed the marina to
get our slip assignment, we told them our problem with the holding tank,
so they sent the pump-out boat over right away, which was nice. However, we want to keep the
holding tank empty because Jeff will have to try to clear the
obstruction. Let me tell you,
it’s a L-O-O-O-NG walk to the bathroom in the
mornings! Jeff was talking with Hal, the
private chef on the yacht across from us. Turns out his brother-in-law lives
in Tuesday, March 6, 2007, Marina
Ixtapa The cacophony of bird calls at
day break was wondrous to the ear.
Clucking and chirping, trilling and tittering, squeaking and
squawking, it seemed there were hundreds of them. Yet, when walking by, they remain
hidden in the foliage. We are
definitely in jungle area now. Yesterday I received an e-mail
from Bob and Sally Wood, former Passport owners whom we met in Neuvo
Vallarta back in 2003.
Remember in my log I described the Catholic church in Barra and the
statue of Christ with the weird arms? Sally filled me in on that: “There
should have been a little card at the church explaining why Christ’s arms
are at his side. Originally
the arms were attached to the cross.
If my memory serves me right, it happened during an
earthquake. The parishioners
thought it a miracle that the arms didn’t break or even crack, so they
left them as you saw them.
They believe that the arms are reaching out to those who visit the
church.” Kind of a neat
twist, don’t you think? Wednesday, March 7, 2007, Marina
Ixtapa The J’s treated us to breakfast
this morning at a cool restaurant called El Infierno. They had painted wall murals all
over the place, with devils lurking in each scene. The food was good, too. This was our last meal with the
kids; after we walked back to the boat, they loaded their bags and boats
into a taxi and took off to continue their adventure. For the last two days it seemed
their plans were changing by the hour. They were terribly pressed for
time and money – Jon needing to get back to B.C. by April to start his
job; but they were also reluctant to have come so close to their goal of
touring Joanna’s stomach had finally
gotten back to normal, and they seemed pretty enthusiastic about getting
off the boat, but I think it was more about continuing on with their trip
than not like the lifestyle.
In fact, Joanna was trying to figure out how one can make a living
while cruising. J We had a lot of laughs while they
were aboard, and we’ll miss their energy, not to mention the extra hands
when docking, anchoring, raising the main, and on night watches. Thursday, March 8, 2007, Marina
Ixtapa Today we took a bus into
Zihuatanejo – only about 70 cents.
The bus system in Z-town has a pretty central
section with cobble-stone streets and shady, tree-lined shops. The Mercado is a bit different
than others we’ve been in: the aisles are extremely narrow and dark,
there are lots of hardware vendors amongst the household items, there
doesn’t seem to be any organization – the food vendors are all mixed in
with the household goods; it had a lot more whole chickens displayed as
well as hanging dried beef; there were no clothing vendors – they are all
in a separate Mercado a few blocks down the street. This is a major cruiser
destination, and many never leave. Friday, March 9, 2007, Marina
Ixtapa Several people have seen a
6-foot long crocodile lurking in the marina, including Jeff, but I haven’t
been so lucky. Jeff hired some local guys to
clean the boat, which turned into a major detail. This is day three and
counting. Unbelievably, one
guy is working in two – count them, TWO – long-sleeved heavy cotton rugby
shirts!!!
We have been working on projects
– Jeff changing oil and refilling the fuel jerry jugs, I’m
sewing. Saturday, March 10, 2007, Marina
Ixtapa It’s hot. Damn hot!!! So hot we sweat just standing
still. Just breathing makes
us sweat. I’m even getting
dizzy spells. And I won’t go
into detail about how it’s affecting my bowels – I’m sure you get the
drift. Maybe that’s too
personal, but what the heck – you want to know what this life is really like – that’s a part of
it, down and dirty. I’m
assuming the heat will just get worse the further south we go. I hope we acclimate soon. The mornings are mercifully cool –
relatively speaking; some days it’s remained hot even through the evening,
but even if they are cool, we
can’t stay outside and enjoy the cool air because of the mosquitoes and
no-see-ums. I HATE dousing
myself with bug spray, but there’s just no getting around it – stinky,
slimy bug spray or the relentless torment of itchy bites, I’ll go for the
chemicals. What a bummer day. My spirits are low again. Our parts didn’t arrive – we’re
stuck here through the weekend.
To me, Sunday, March 11, 2007, Marina
Ixtapa With our delay and the withering
heat, we decided we deserved a day off. We took a short walk to the beach
and spent the day relaxing under the shade of a palapa-style umbrella, and
dodging the pounding surf.
Musetta is pretty, pretty,
pretty; I’ve never seen her look this good – she actually shines! Her hull and cabin sides
reflect the rippling water, the winches gleam silvery bright, the
lifelines and decks look three shades lighter without all the dirt on
them. My she’s
pretty! Monday, March 12, 2007, Marina
Ixtapa The parts arrived today, Jeff
installed them, everything is working properly - at least we for now. We won’t know about the holding
tank draining until we can test it out in open waters. Last week Jeff had filled it with
water and white vinegar, just to try to clean it out, then had it pumped
out today. What a
rip-off! The charge for
pump-out each time you use it is $25 – and we never even had the comfort
of pooping in our own pottie!!! We made the quarter mile trek to
the marina bathrooms because we didn’t want to foul the water. With exorbitant charges like that,
I wonder how many other boaters are as conscientious!??? The fuel was a rip too – even
though we didn’t tie a boat up to the dock, we still had to pay the “Dock
Usage Fee” each time we filled the jugs,
about $8 each time. Along
with the taxes, the surcharge on fuel was about 17% plus another 4% for
credit card. Boy, they really
get cha! Tomorrow we leave, shooting for
0800, and none too soon for my taste. Tuesday, March 13, 2007, Marina
Ixtapa to Papanoa, 17°16.54N, 101°03.45W Under windless cloud cover and
hot, heavy air, we got underway without mishap right at 0800. There was a brief spattering of
fat rain drops about an hour out, but soon enough it was back to heat and
sun. Flat sea, little wind
all the way; only saw one sea turtle. Amazing how different from the
Arrived at the small They were both surprised when I
asked to take their picture – I guess they don’t get that very often; the
older guy was even shy, didn’t want to look at the camera, although with
his smile, I think he was tickled to be asked. I gave them some iced tea while
they were aboard, and before they left, I wrapped up half the mint
chocolate chip cake I made yesterday. Oh, I don’t think I mentioned
that before. I’ve been
experimenting with baking in the pressure cooker because it’s just too hot
to turn the oven on long enough to heat it up to temperature for
baking. So yesterday I tried
a cranberry walnut quick bread and made up a recipe for that
chocolate/mint chocolate chip cake.
Both came out a little dry for my taste, but at least I now know
that it can be done, and what steps to take next time to improve. I gave half of the cranberry
walnut bread to Hal across the way (the chef who had made hors ‘doeuvres
for us on arrival), who had told Jeff he rarely turns the oven on in their
galley either because of the excessive heat. We’ll have an early dinner
tonight and try to get some rest so we can leave here around midnight to
reach Wednesday, March 14, 2007,
Papanoa Notice the header? We’re still here. Once we settled in, Jeff started
working on the holding tank problem; took him almost five hours, but he
thinks he’s got it fixed.
Poor guy, what a horribly unpleasant job!!! It seems there was a piece of pvc
or something along with build-up of solid waste that was blocking the
drain hole inside the tank.
He had to work from the bottom of the drain hose up into the tank,
all the while dodging matter as it drained (even though we had it pumped
before leaving and we hadn’t used it, the pump never gets everything.) I felt so bad for him, as there
wasn’t much I could do to help him, poor guy! Anyway, since it took so long to
fix, we had a later dinner than planned, and Jeff was exhausted. We got up at 0300 to check the
weather and it was blowing pretty hard here in the anchorage. Another boat had joined us during
the night for shelter also, and we figured it would be pretty rough
outside. With Jeff being so
tired, we thought it prudent to just stay put and rest. We’ll try again
tonight. Wednesday & Thursday, March
14 – March 15, 2007, Papanoa to We rested all day; at1830 we
were underway. Low clouds hid
the sun as it dropped beneath the horizon, and the last of its light
painted the layers of mountains in mystic color. There wasn’t enough wind to move
us – only about 8 knots – but it was directly on our back; large swells
were on our stern quarter.
With that combination Musetta wallowed all night, making for a very
uncomfortable ride. The air
was heavy – almost sticky – most of the night. With no moon, we plowed through
layer upon layer of blackness, subtle variations of
shading. By morning we actually had to
slow down so we wouldn’t arrive in the dark. We followed the Dawn Princess
cruising ship into the harbor, and ended up motoring around for over three
hours, trying to raise someone on the radio to assign us a slip or mooring
ball. We had tried to anchor,
but the holding was lousy, and the depth too great to allow much scope
(usually have at least 5 to 1).
Finally we just gave up and grabbed a vacant mooring ball. If someone asks us to move, we
will. A Canadian couple in a dingy
paddled over to welcome us to the “neighborhood.” They had been heading south as
well, planning to go to After sleeping most of the
afternoon, we dinghied over to the Club de Yates, For dinner, we tried a
restaurant that was recommended by a friend, Coyuco 22. The food was expensive, and
nothing great – in fact, it must be the same menu they started with 38
years ago because it was the type that used to be considered up-scale
continental cuisine. Now it’s
just old and tired. That
said, I’m still glad we went because the view was absolutely
stunning. Situated way up on
top of the hill on the west side of the bay, it has a view of both the
ocean side and the harbor.
Friday, March 16, 2007,
This is a city of very wealthy
people, as evidenced by the line of mega yachts at the club. Many of the Mexican people here
don’t look like what we Americans think of as typical Mexican – brown
skin, large liquid brown eyes, thick coffee-brown hair; rather, these
people look like any European.
I also find I have more difficulty understanding the Spanish spoken
here. By the way, on the bus drive we
saw a huge Woolworth store – remember those??? I saw one in After provisioning today, we
dinghied to the yacht club to use the pool – ah, so refreshing. But we’ll be glad to leave in the
morning. We’ll be leaving early tomorrow
morning; our next stop is at least 29 hours away. Saturday, March 17, 2007,
Underway by 0810 and already
hot, we were fortunate to have decent wind at a perfect angle so we got to
sail a good half day. Fortune
double blessed us with the appearance of a great pod of dolphins who chose
to play at our bow. We’d been
missing that sight! I watched
one guy swimming at breakneck speed up the to the area alongside our
cockpit, then hurtle himself into the air and gracefully slip into the
water near our bow – a gold medal leap if I ever saw one – and we were
moving at 7 knots to boot! By late afternoon the wind had
clocked around behind us, the swells hitting us broadside and wind waves
knocking on our stern. Our
idyllic sail had quickly deteriorated into a rolly ride, and we had to
power the engine up. As a
precaution against rogue waves and rapidly changing sea/waves conditions,
we keep all port-lights and almost all hatches battened down when
underway. That way, we don’t
have to worry about scurrying around closing everything if the weather
conditions suddenly change. The problem with this safety
practice is that in this tropical climate, the cabin quickly heats up and
becomes humid without the fresh air circulating. Add to that the excessive heat
generated by the engine (which is located directly under the galley sink
in the center of the main cabin), the pitching of the boat side to side,
and you’ve got a recipe for instant seasickness. And that’s exactly what happened to me
when I went below to prepare dinner!
It hit me so suddenly I hadn’t even gotten things out of the
refrigerator yet; I had to go up into the fresh air. I took a Stugeron (for
sea-sickness) which worked, but I was loathe to spend any time down there
sweating and bracing myself in the galley. This was the first night on our
trip that we’ve ever had to settle for a cheese and crackers dinner.
L I can’t imagine the hell those
early steerage-class immigrants must have endured crammed in the holds of
old sailing ships! At 2000 hours we started our
two-hour watch system, Jeff going first. It was much too hot below to get
any decent rest, and too rolly in the cockpit; trying to lay down while
keeping your body from rolling off the bench just is NOT restful! Sunday, March 18, 2007, En Route
to Puerto All through the night we rolled,
neither of us getting any sleep.
About midnight we spotted six or seven white lights dead ahead, but
couldn’t pick anything up on radar.
We were perplexed – what to do – which way to alter course to avoid
collision? The lights were
not equally spaced, and seemed to bob up and down. We figured they must be pangueros
out fishing. Finally, when we
got within a half mile, Jeff was able to spot a small target on the radar
screen; they had to be pangas. We veered to starboard about
20° to avoid any long lines (now
legal in I must have finally fallen
asleep in the last hour of my off-time because I woke for my 0800 shift
with a dream fresh in my mind.
I was with Abbie, and we had been traveling a long, long time and
were very, very tired. We
stopped to rest and while we were sitting in quiet shade, Abbie
transformed into an orange tabby cat! She walked over to sit in a big
pipe that was near-by where other big orange tabbies were playing. This Abbie Tabby sat there
watching me, just as calm and majestic as she always did, the same
presence that she always had.
I have no clue what this dream might
signify; maybe Abbie’s telling me she’s been reincarnated. J Tired and ready for a break from
the wave action, our 1230 approach to Puerto Escondido revealed a
beautiful tan-sand beach adorned with palm trees, graceful homes, and
brilliantly colored bougainvillea clinging to the craggy rocks bordering
the bay entrance. What a
welcome sight! There are no
high-rise buildings at all, and most of the structures flaunt color and
charm. There are a gaggle of
pangas moored in the anchorage area – no yachts. This is a very lovely spot! Unfortunately, there’s a thorn
in this rosy spot! We found
out why there were no other
yachts: the pangas occupy the entire shallow end; the rest of the bay is
too deep for us to anchor; the rocky bottom offers poor holding; not to
mention the entire bay is open to the considerable swell. Tired as we were, we had no choice
but to press on. Before
departing, we motored around one last time so I could snap a few
photos. Jeff said we were
“eye candy” for the tourists, adding ambiance to their day on the beach.
J It was about that time he sighed,
“I’m looking forward to a bed that doesn’t move, a shower I can stand
under and let the water run freely, and a living room that doesn’t have an
engine running in the middle of it!”
L We haven’t seen any other boats
for days now, and the VHF radio has been curiously silent. Eerie feeling. We did, though,
delight in the antics of a pack of rays on this passage. They would pop out of the water
straight up like Jack-in-the-Boxes, flap their wings furiously four feet
off the surface, then splat down in a belly flop. After hot, weary motoring all
day, we approached the entrance to Puerto Angel just as dusk was setting –
and just as the Mexican Navy decided to check us out. We’d seen two cruisers patrolling
the area, and one came up behind us announcing something on the
radio. At first, we didn’t
know he was calling us because it’s difficult to understand rapidly-spoken
Spanish over a crackly radio.
When he said “ But now, another moonless night,
it was pitch dark. We peered
through the blackness, trying to make out the landmarks indicated in the
cruising guide. As we pulled
up to the tiny anchorage area, again we found it filled with pangas. We’d barely make out their
silhouettes until we were practically on top of them. The guide instructed to through
bow and stern anchor to the swells, and stay clear of the Navy mooring
ball – which we COULD NOT see.
Tired and tense, we dropped the
hook and backed down, hoping to slip between two pangas, but as we got
between them trying to get the anchor to set, we realized only one had set
two anchors – the other would swing.
There wouldn’t be enough room for all of us. Oh lordy we were tired – dead
tired – rummy tired! The
prospect of pressing on to Huatulco was out of the question as we would
arrive there in the dead of night also. Some noxiously repetitious
children’s music was blaring from the beach (evidently for a party game of
music chairs); blocked from the wind, bugs miserably flitted all around
us; reluctant to have to set two anchors, we were uncertain where to
go. Fatigue really does a
number on your ability to think clearly. More motoring in circles, more
discussion, we decided to give it one more try. We motored well forward again,
weighing anchor, then dropped again.
I backed down, this time to the port side of the bow/stern-tied
panga. The anchor bit! Oh, SWEET
RELIEF!!! Tired as we were, in addition to
all the chores necessary to secure the boat for the night, we had to pull
out the fuel can and lower the outboard onto the dink. Jeff motored it towards the beach
with the stern anchor aboard, dropped the anchor, and we tightened the
line. At last, we were set –
we hoped! While Jeff secured all above
decks, I went below to open hatches and start dinner. It was 2315 when we
finished. We’d been up almost
40 hours with just a few catnaps to keep us going. Monday, March 19, 2007, Puerto
Angel, 15°39.88N, 096°54.44W Our much-needed rest was cut
short this morning. About
0915 we heard knocking on our hull.
“Señor! Señor!” Jeff
peered out the stateroom port-light – “SHIT!!! We’re broad-siding this
guy’s panga! We must have
dragged!!!” We jumped up, still fuzzy headed,
scurrying like a Chinese fire drill!
Turns out it was the Port
Captain wanting to come aboard and inspect our papers. Jeff, still in his sleep trunks,
greeted him and helped him aboard while I quickly changed into something
more presentable. The
official was polite and friendly; again my fractured Spanish allowed me to
converse a little with him. I
asked him why he was working on a holiday (today is a Mexican holiday
commemorating the birth of Mexico’s beloved president Benito Juarez, whose
home state in the 1860’s was Oaxaca (which is where Puerto Angel is
located). He said everyone else gets to rest, but the vigilantes never get
a day off. He wanted to take
our documents back to the office so he could stamp them; they would be
ready tomorrow morning and we were to pick them up then. As we were the only yacht anchored
and there wasn’t much room for others, I suspect he wanted to drag the
process out to break up his day.
J No matter; we hadn’t planned on
leaving early anyway – good thing. Jolted awake and heat already
setting in, we felt at this point sleep was probably impossible so we
started in on chores. I made
breakfast, a batch of yogurt, two quick breads (my baking experiments in
the pressure cooker are getting better), and did seven loads of laundry in
my little Cyclone Mate wash bucket.
And, of course, I had to do my daily Su Doku! It’s a profligate time waster, but
there are worse things I could be addicted to. Besides, it’s a good measure of my
clarity of thinking.
J By 1500 I was finished with
chores, sweating profusely and ready for a stroll on the beach, a walk in
town. This is such a beautiful place, I wanted to check out the town
before we leave. This small cove is divided by a
rugged rock outcropping, along which a cobbled pathway joins the two
sections. Playa Panteon on
the Western side is lined with palapa restaurants, each sporting an array
of lounge chairs and white umbrellas. Playa Municipal is a bit larger,
and has a concrete pier originally intended for small cruise ships or
large yachts, but the surge is too great to make the pier
useable. Puerto Angel has got to be the
nicest town I’ve seen in We relaxed over a beer and
snacks at one palapa on Playa Panteon overlooking the anchorage, and just
marveled at the beauty. I
felt Musetta lived up to her Puccini character: being the only yacht in
the harbor, her commanding presence demanded all eyes gaze upon her
beauty. Can you tell I love
this boat? J We watched a family playing in the
water with their dog. He had
no back legs, but that didn’t stop him! He was dragging himself excitedly
across the sand, swimming out to his owners, just having a ball! Dogs are amazing, aren’t
they? He probably didn’t even
realize he was handicapped! The prices of goods and food at
Puerto Angel are quite inexpensive, since the tourist industry is just
starting here. We saw only
one group of Americans, three or four couples that appeared to be
European, and the rest of the few visitors on the beach were Mexican. Those Canadians we met in
There was enough breeze in the
evening to blow away any flying insects so we got to enjoy an al fresco
meal in the cockpit by candle light. Tuesday, March 20, 2007, Puerto
Angel to Puerto Huatulco, 15°45.090N, 096°07.796W This morning while I prepared
breakfast, Jeff dinghied to the Port captain’s office to pick up our
documents. No hitch there,
thank goodness. As we were making our preparations
for departure, another boat came into the tight anchorage looking for a
place to anchor – Bat Wing, an unusual-looking
boat, canted mast, junk-rigged, tan bark sails. Jeff hailed them to let them know
we were leaving shortly and they could take out spot. I also sent him over with apiece
of Mango Pineapple Pecan quick bread to “welcome them to the
neighborhood.” They hail from
About 1110 hours we were
underway, enjoying a peaceful motor sail east. We passed lots of sea turtles,
which seem to be making a come-back, and were rewarded with a HUGE pod of
dolphins criss-crossing our bow.
I can never get over the speed of these animals! One of them did a spectacular jump
six feet straight UP into the air – not forward like most – his powerful
tail waggling in mid air.
Absolutely magnificent!
These dolphins were spotted brown and silver – different coloring
from the others we’ve seen so far.
A note about the turtles: There are numerous
Save-the-Sea-Turtle organizations around the world, and it appears their
efforts are making a difference, but they may have a bigger struggle on
their hands soon. I was
shocked to read a letter in February Latitude 38 from a well-known
character, Captain Norm Goldie in San Blas. Here’s what he
wrote: “The Mexican Department of
Fisheries and the Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transported have decided
to allow commercial fishermen to slaughter off all marine turtles,
sailfish, marlin and dorado.
This is being done by allowing the fishermen to 1) use illegal
floating long lines within 50 miles of the Mexican coast, and 2) sell game
fish and sea turtles as commercial seafood products. This has never been done
before. In years past fishing
inspectors would actually go into restaurants, seafood stores and fish
warehouses and confiscate all billfish and certainly marine turtles. Marine turtles are protected by
international law but in “This situation is very
significant to the yachtsman because daily cruisers and sportsmen are
engaging these floating long lines and spinning them up on their
propellers, shafts and rudder posts.
In the near future, I’m sure someone will lose their
life. “Just recently Black Dog II limped into San
Blas with their prop and prop shaft a mess. Two years ago Captain James Bach
became dead in the water on his way from San Blas to “Floating long lines are now in
use on the entire West Coast of Mexico. Beware, as the floats used are
clear, small plastic soda bottles. You’re into them before you know what
has happened. “I urge you, our visitors, to
notify the proper authorities.
Stop this illegal practice. I never thought I would see the day
when a 100-year-old sea turtle’s life was worth $20.” Frightening, huh? The water we’ve been sailing
through is amazingly clear and blue – much prettier than the water up
north. Along the route there
is a series of small, beautiful, inviting coves with tan sand beaches,
some with a few palapas and tourist excursion boats, other entirely
pristine. We saw one lone
sailboat anchored in one of them, but they are open to the swell so we
were hesitant to spend any time there. During the passage we sustained
another equipment failure, this time the stationery GPS. It’s old, and the connection
wiring is completely shot, which is the reason for the failure to pick up
the satellite signal. We’ll
probably have to replace it.
Fortunately we have a hand-held unit that we can refer to, but
there’s no way to hook it into our computer. That’s a bummer because it’s kind
of nice to watch the little red boat icon on our chart plotter slowly
progress down our course line (chart plotter – one of the conveniences of
modern sailing. J ). Fourteen thirty hours saw us at
the entrance to Puerto Huatulco – plenty of time – or so we thought. We motored around a bit, scoping
things out; we settled on “the perfect spot” without a problem because,
again, we were the only cruising yacht anchored here. There are two smaller ones on the
other side of the large concrete pier, but they seem to be here for
long-term; no one is aboard. Still in the process of setting
up the boat for anchorage, here come the Navy boys for inspection – four
of them, plus one who swam over later. They had their ever-present guns
of course, and a drug-sniffing dog – a beautiful, 14-month old black Lab.
His name was Piraña, like the fish piranha, though I dare say the boy will
never be like the fish; Labs are lovers, not vicious predators! They should have named him Tremor
because you should have seen him tremble and shake at the prospect of
climbing down the steep companionway! Poor little guy! His handler had to hoist him down
like we used to do with Lucky and Abbie. But he was sniffing furiously,
boy, trying hard to do his job!
Labs are GREAT for that!!! None of the boys spoke English,
and their detailed questionnaire had lots of words I was unfamiliar with,
so the whole process took about and hour and a half. I brought up iced sport tea for
everyone, but still, sitting in the blazing heat, it was just
miserable. I felt bad for
poor Piraña because they wouldn’t let him have any water. Guess drug dogs aren’t supposed to
eat or drink while on duty because they turned down the Greenie dog treat
I offered too. After all that, we STILL weren’t
done. The jefe (the guy in
command)told us we also had to check in at the Port Captain’s office,
which was open until 1900.
This was about 1600, and we still hadn’t had lunch. Nowhere had we encountered a Port
Captian’s office open that late, so we were skeptical of the veracity of
the jefe’s statement. Still,
we wolfed down good ol’ salami, cheese and crackers, lowered the outboard
and fuel tank onto the dingy, and took off for the
town. Actually, it’s not really a
town; it’s more a “tourist embarkation center;” the town is a taxi ride
away. But the Port Captain’s
office is right there at the harbor, and sure enough, it was closed. One guy in a white tee-shirt, the
kind you wear under your clothes, came to the back door and told us to
come back at 0900 manaña.
Yes, they are open until 7:00, but no
one ever comes that late, so they don’t work that late. J Makes perfect sense,
huh? Breezes blew the bugs away so we
were able to enjoy dinner in the cockpit again. How I LOVE
that! Wednesday, March 21, 2007,
Puerto Huatulco, 15°45.090N, 096°07.796W Our first order of business this
morning was to put up the awning since we know we’ll be here awhile. This task takes close to two
hours. The awning reminds me
of a Conestoga wagon, and detracts from Musetta’s looks, but it
increases the comfort quotient below by at least 500%. It’s like this middle-aged lady
owner switching from strappy heels to flats; at some point you have to
sacrifice style for comfort!
Afterwards, we dinghied back to
the Port Captain’s office and got checked in. The secretary didn’t want to give
us our Zarpe (exit papers) however, until the day before we leave. We don’t know exactly when that
will be; it all depends on the weather. For you who are unfamiliar with
So, now that you know what we’re
waiting for, let me tell you what we saw today as we strolled the
area. If I had to use one
word, it would be COLOR!!!
It’s everywhere – the
buildings, shop displays, umbrellas, even the boats are colorful! This port is not a real town; it’s
an area of hotels, restaurants, and shops, but not like Nuevo Vallarta or
other high-tourist places.
This has only small hotels; the buildings all have grace and charm;
the plaza is delightfully shady and pretty and free of vendors; the
“artisans” with all the clothes, jewelry, leather, etc. are confined to a
square block of about 45 stalls; there’s a small amphitheater and a lovely
open-air church (with bright PINK trim, no less!) that reminded me of
Hawaii, built in 1998 to commemorate the legend of the cross that foiled
Cavendish on his rampage of pillaging here. Palapas line the beach, but they
don’t have cooking facilities; all the food is carried across the street
by the respective restaurants (I feel sorry for the servers). A line of colorful beach umbrellas
flanks the shore, and the whole is fringed with swaying palms. It’s really quite impressive – and
clean as a whistle too!
There is a long concrete pier
jutting out into the small bay for cruise ship docking, but only small
cruise ships can come in.
There’s a small “darsena” or inner harbor filled to brimming with
pangas and excursion boats, which do quite a flourishing business. Bus loads of tourists are dropped
at the head of the darsena for day trips to the pretty bays we passed on
the way down here. The whole
area has only been recently built up to promote tourism, and the nearby
town of Thursday, March 22, 2007, Puerto
Huatulco, 15°45.090N, 096°07.796W Since yesterday was a “play
day,” today was a “work day.”
Jeff worked on soldering the connections to our stationary GPS
(thanks to a small soldering iron that my brother Tony had given us). Jeff had five teeny, tiny wires
that had to be soldered to individual pins in the connector piece. There was a lot of squinting and
swearing in the nav station area, but after a couple hours, his mission
was accomplished! Way to go,
Jeff!!! He also got his
snorkel on and dived the boat to check on the holding tank – yes, the
dreaded holding tank problem is back. Ugh! He was sure he’d emptied it and
gotten rid of whatever material was plugging the drain, but that has
proven not to be the case.
The tank is full again and not draining, even after soaking it with
vinegar. We’re just not quite
sure where to go from here, how to fix it. While he was doing those tasks,
I worked on transcribing this log from my hand-written notes, and tried to
interpret grib files (Oh joy!), which are the weather charts we can
download. I’ve listened to
about three lectures on weather now, and every time after about the first
15 minutes I zone out. It’s
about as interesting as reading fine-print legal jargon. But now that we’re not getting
much in the way of radio weather reports and we have to make some crucial
decisions based on weather, it’s got my attention. In checking the different areas, I
realized I have been getting inaccurate GPS positions from our stationary
unit. Hopefully they’ll be
better now that Jeff has repaired the connection. Friday, March 23, 2007, Puerto
Huatulco, 15°45.090N, 096°07.796W While Jeff went to fill the
jerry jugs again and get our Zarpe at the Port Captains office, I stayed
on the boat hoping to get a data satellite signal to send some e-mail – no
luck. Meanwhile, I worked on
the web page. While I was
below, one of the tourist excursion pangas came up next to us, sidling by
at a snail’s pace; I popped my head out the companionway to see what was
up - 13 sets of eyes were caressing Musetta. You see, I’m not the only one who thinks she’s pretty!
J Four hours later and thirty
dollars lighter, Jeff dinghied back to the motor, hot, tired, and
frustrated. The Port Captain
wouldn’t give him the documents he needed without going to Customs and
Immigration first, and they are only there during “the season.” This meant a cab ride out to the
airport, which is about 15 miles out of the little town of Saturday, March 24, 2007, Bahia
Notice I changed the heading
from “Puerto Huatulco” to “ The marina was recently
completed by Fonatur, the Mexican Dept of Tourism, and is now ready for
sale to a private developer to complete with shops, condos, etc. Enrique spoke excellent English,
and was very helpful with weather information and predictions. He showed us several websites that
had the predictions, and told us the safest routing to avoid the shrimp
boats and other obstacles near Salina Cruz when we get to the head of the
Bay. He also offered to take
our paperwork to the airport when he takes the others for the boats in the
marina that are leaving next week.
Nice guy. This marina was where we
happened to spot a boat from Our afternoon was spent trying
to find an internet café.
None available in the little tourist area right here; everyone said
the only place is Terra Cotta restaurant in Crucecita. So we shared a taxi with a couple
locals for 30 pesos each (about 30 cents) to the town, and walked to the
café. Brand new, pretty, cool
with the A/C blowing full blast, they had an in-door café with a more
extensive menu, and an outside coffee bar with smoothies, snacks, etc.;
they also had a lending library/DVD book exchange, a gym, and a small
hotel. Problem was, our
laptop battery is shot – won’t hold a charge any more – and they had no
electrical outlets for us to use.
Drat! We walked all OVER that town,
looking for another internet supplier, and no luck. Finally we asked a taxi driver to
take us to someplace with internet – of course he wanted to take us to
Terra Cotta where we’d just left.
He ended up driving us to the third little cove down, called
Tangolunda. This is where all the
high-rise hotels are! Cold
and impersonal, utterly charmless, the structured, manicured roads,
grounds and shops reminded me of Nuevo Vallarta. Not appealing at all! However, the taxi driver knew
what he was doing. He dropped
us a the Italian Coffee Company, a knockoff of Starbucks. They had an upper level with small
round tables, comfortable arm chairs, and an electrical outlet at each
table; wifi password was available if you purchased a beverage. Nice. I was able to upload the web pages
no problem. Our taxi driver back to Bahia
Santa Cruz reminded me so much of Sunday, March 25, 2007, Bahia
Today was a “play day.” I know, you’re probably thinking,
“That’s all you guys have been doing since you left!” But today, we really relaxed. Snorkeled, read books, dined al
fresco. What a little slice
of paradise we’ve got here!
There’s nice cooling breezes most of the day, pretty scenery, warm
water, no flying insects; with our bow and stern anchors out we ride
comfortably so we both sleep soundly at night; it’s a GOOD place to rest
up before our long haul.
Enrique tried to get us to move to the marina, but it just seems
hotter inside there, plus we wouldn’t be able to swim off the boat, nor
shower on the aft deck. Boy,
I like doing that at night; it’s cool and quiet, and the darkness covers
us. Only problem is, we tend
to lose a lot of soap! We
need soap that floats, or soap on a rope! (Do they still make that??? If any of you ever see it, please
get some for us, and I’ll pay you back when we see
you.) Monday, March 26, 2007, Bahia
Back to “work.” Jeff started messing with the
holding tank problem again, but guess what?! Nothing was coming out because it
was empty! Hurrah!!! J Tuesday, March 27, 2007, Bahia
Unable to raise Enrique at the
marina on the radio, we decided we’d go ourselves to the airport to get
our Zarpe for tomorrow’s departure.
Should be just a quick trip, right? WRONG!!! Oh-so-wrong!!! And of all the days not to have a
camera with me, this was not the one. Just outside of Crucecita, at the
junction to which all the roads from the neighboring bays lead, there was
a road block – BIG road block.
Workers – I think it was in the hospital - were striking for
reforms, and had set up camp on the road to show their solidarity,
although there were no banners or signs like usual in Our cab driver radioed his
company and found another one of their cabs was stuck on the other
side. He walked us about a
half mile through the throng of people, some who looked like refugees
hauling their luggage and bags, pushing babies in strollers, dodging cars
trying to maneuver into position to get across. The scene reminded me of those old
movies that show people abandoning a city amidst chaos, although there was
no sense of panic. Once at the airport – which is
very nice, by the way, reminiscent of the small, open-air airports in
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 –
Friday, March 30, Bahia Santa Cruz to Puerto Chiappas (Puerto Madero)
14°42.158N, 092°237.870W Down came the awning today in
preparation for our departure.
I worked all morning preparing food for our long trip. We tried to rest in the afternoon,
but no such luck; our bodies weren’t ready for
sleep. This passage is one long, hot
blur. We left our peaceful
anchorage about 2200 under partial moon. We were blessed with flat seas and
low wind; we had chosen our weather window well. We saw lots of sea turtles along
the way, some great big guys; the birds use their backs as rest stops,
making the shells easier to spot in the water. Once we were well past the most
dangerous part at the mouth of the pass, Jeff opened some of the port
lights; heat from the engine and the sun blazing on us created a veritable
steam box in the cabin. I
could barely stay down there beyond five minutes. Good thing I had prepared food
ahead of time; we ate snacks, cold chicken, sandwiches the entire
time. We kept our two-hour watch
rotation system, and again had trouble sleeping; the cabins were stifling
and the cockpit too uncomfortable.
I finally got out a piece of memory foam scrap that I’d saved and
laid it down in the cockpit, which helped immensely. During one of the nights we were
puzzled by something on our radar screen. We could see “targets” – other
boats clearly, but there were also fuzzy blobs on the screen, which moved
and changed shape. Visual
inspection of the sea was worthless in the black sky; no lights other than
the boats were visible. We
watched the shapes for quite awhile, never really understanding what we
were looking at, just trying to make sure we didn’t cross one. We thought perhaps they were
schools of fish or dolphins that were so dense they showed up on radar, or
perhaps nets. We had not planned on stopping
until we got to At the fuel dock we had to wait
about an hour while the fuel truck filled the tank. Then we anchored in the small
lagoon in front of the Navy base, which of course, required a Naval
inspection. At least they
waited until we were almost settled in. There were six of them again, very
polite, and Cassiopeia, the drug-sniffing dog was a beautiful black lab,
about 15 months old and already pregnant. I was too tired to bother taking
photos, but did bring up cold Gatorade for everyone. The crewmen still in the boat were
surprised and initially weren’t sure whether to accept the beverage or
not; when they saw the others in the cockpit drinking, they thirstily
drank up. After a light salad of
pre-grilled pork, we tried to sleep in the cockpit; our bodies just
wouldn’t have any of it! It
was daylight; you’re not supposed to sleep in the day; tired as we were,
it just wouldn’t happen.
Might as well keep going; we weighed anchor (which we finally
realized is “zarpar” in Spanish, hence the “Zarpe” form) about
2000. |
