Journal 9

February 2, 2006

Happy Bday Liana and Gery, and Happy Ground Hog Day to all!

Leaving the safety of our new home, Marina Mazatlan, comes with a cornucopia of mixed feelings for me. When we arrived in Mazatlan 2 months ago I was emotionally and spiritually spent. The last storm on the outside of the Baja broke my spirit and I wasn’t sure that there was a chance of repair. I attribute some of my healing to Andy, who had invited Dick and I to join he and his wife, Cass and another couple we know from Scholarship (Liz and Mark) for a day sail on Fidele. Fidele is a beautiful 50’ Shannon, way too big for us but a gorgeous boat nonetheless. It was a marvelous day in the sunshine with appy’s and bevy’s in the cockpit while we sailed north to Emerald Bay. The following week Andy had entered Fidele in the local regatta and asked Dick and I, and 9 others (mostly Canadians) to crew. Considering this was the first time most of us had ever ‘raced’ and Andy was the only one with any experience with Fidele. We had a blast and I’m happy to report that we placed a solid 10th (in a field of 10). We had some pretty good excuses for our performance i.e.: Maureen on helm with no familiarity with a wheel vs the tiller we have on Blue, so I ended up more often turning in the wrong direction. There were 9 captains on board, was another excuse ready at hand. We broke something, though we really did break a cable that raised and lowered the keel, it had actually broken after we finished the race. The reality was, we took 4 or 5 shots at getting over the start line and that put us so far behind it was unlikely we could catch up. Anyway, those two experiences and the fact we were buddy boating with 3 other boats: Ole (Keith and Donna), Mopion (John and Rosemary), and Apache II (Derrick and Sario sp?) on an overnighter to Isla Isabela helped boast my courage and accept the challenge.
We set sail for Isla Isabela, a 85 nm passage, after we had been out for about an hour we were entertained by a school/pod/fleet of about 20 rays leaping out of the water. While they hovered over the water they resembled some kind of flock of prehistoric birds however the illusion of any kind of bird was erased as they belly flopped back onto the surface. We could hear the cacophony of noise created by this school well after we could no longer see them.
We sailed, yes sailed for about 12 hours before we had to enlist the services of Suzy, our iron mizzen, the sun had set and the seas were fairly rolly by midnight. It was comforting looking out and seeing the running lights of our buddy boats on either side of us and having our regular visitors, dolphins and porpoises, join us on our late night shifts. Seeing, or actually seeing the phosphorescence rolling off the backs of the dolphins as they were swimming and diving in our wake and under our bow continues to amaze me. This was Donna’s, from Ole, first overnighter.

February 3-4, 2006

As we approached the northern anchorage at Isla Isabela at sunrise we were once again thrilled by the appearance of a number whales, this time Grey’s, breaching and waving their flukes at us, we tried not to be distracted while navigating into the anchorage.
Spectacular, that’s all there is to say about Isla Isabela, after a lazy day of reading and resting and watching the hundreds, or maybe thousands of tropical fish skittering about below us in the 15’ of crystal clear water we’ve anchored in, who needs to snorkel. I saw Angel or maybe Butterfly, Clown, and a whack of other types of fish that I’m sure one day I’ll be able to identify. I’m not sure how but Mopion had the where with all to pull together a cocktail party our first night in this anchorage. As we prepare, which means we put some kind of beverage and snacks in a canvas bag, for the cocktail party on Mopion we get to meet one more cruisers Millenium Falcon (Mike and Leslie) who also left Mazatlan shortly after we did. Millenium Falcon is a 65-foot iron three masted schooner sailed around by two old crocks.

Ole and Apache II headed out for San Blas, while Mopion and Blue planned to spend the day having an adventure on the Island. When we arrived on the Island, we met a young man from a university in Mexico City who was working on his doctoral dissertation on the blue footed Boobies. These birds have an iridescent shade of blue, on their feet, rather strange. They were busy sitting on nests at various stages of gestation, some were still protecting their eggs from the ever present and threatening frigates and some were equally as busy protecting their newly hatched offspring from the dangers that lurked. This included the 2-footed kind that needed to be extremely careful to ensure they didn’t stumble onto a nest. We followed a marked trail that led us to Los Crator (Crater Lake). The lake was somewhat of a disappointment, as I had envisioned a fresh water lake that could be an invitation to swim. Well, yes it is filled with fresh water that has sat since a volcano created it. The basin filling with rainwater over the years with no means of circulating, resulting in a green film that definitely was not inviting at all! Following the same path home we discovered a number of Frigate nests filled with their offspring there was a suggestion that we would see iguanas but they were avoiding the heat or us or something, as we didn’t see any. A bumpy, wet dingy ride back to Blue, a quick cockpit shower and preparation for another evening at a hosted cocktail party this time on Millenium Falcon. A new cruiser Persistence (Dan, Thomas, and Tom) joined the festivities.

A rocky and rolly night in the anchorage made even more challenging and we were unable to let any more chain, as we were too close to a reef, and our anchor chain had fouled on a rock. Our short scope caused no end of grief to Mopion, even after John brought in about 50’ of chain, she was swinging free and still getting close enough to our bow with her stern to pass over bacon and eggs. We would have gladly received the gift however midnight was a trifle early for breakfast. As dawn broke and we were able to see the bottom we got ourselves untangled and pulled up anchor to head to San Blas.

February 5-6, 2006

Sunshine, swimsuits and gratitude to Pedro, the canvas guy, in Mazatlan for getting us our bimini made before we left Mazatlan. We didn’t think we would really need the coverage until we got into the Sea of Cortez, however, we would have been poached had we not had the escape from the rays of the sun over the past few days.
Our passage to San Blas was a gentle sail, accompanied by many whales and one huge fish (still unidentified) that made me thankful that we weren’t having a snorkel/swim at the time.

We anchored in Mantanchen Bay just east of San Blas in the recommended 20’ of water and have a vista of a lush Banana plantation and beautiful sandy beaches. The water is not as clear as Isabela but certainly as many fish, though different types those at the Isla. These little guys swim closer to the surface and burble loudly, you can even hear them when you are down below. I guess they eat insects on the surface of the water, as I was eaten alive by the no-see-ums while we were hosting the cocktail party aboard Blue. Fortunately, Mopion was the only other boat attending as we have the smallest boat in the fleet we would have had to have a dingy raft up if there had been more vessels about.
Dick and John went into town to check us in with the Capatania de Puerto and returned with the biggest prawns I’ve ever seen. BBQ’d prawns and salad for dinner. There is much to see here, as this is our old stomping grounds we’ve pretty much done all there is to be done and seen what there is to be seen here.

Our buddy Seadater (named by the former owner an anesthesiologist) crewed by Larry, son Steven and Larry’s friend Liz arrived just as the sun was going down. Seadater was having some engine trouble. They’re trying to get to Puerto Vallarta by the 10th as Steven flies home on the 11th and Liz on the 13th.

February 7, 2006

Sunshine, swimsuits and light winds as we head out for Chacala, 20 nm south of San Blas. We headed out with Seadater and leave Mopion and Millenium Falcon to do the tours of the jungle and the old fort.
We are hopeful to use the spinnaker today.
Seadater had to turn back and return to San Blas because of an ongoing engine problem but before doing so we did a transfer at sea. Another first for me! Steven had brought down mail from Victoria that Gery (Dick’s brother who is currently staying at the condo) intercepted and a new VHF as the old one, 20+ years, packed it in just before we left Mazatlan. The sea transfer went pretty well, primarily because the winds were so light it made navigating fairly straightforward.
We sailed most of the way to Chacala using our colorful spinnaker (dubbed our Gay Pride sail), hooray!
We had about a dozen dolphins joined us on our passage. They were busy fishing so weren’t terribly interested in playing with us.
Our arrival in Chacala was uneventful and we were anchored along with a few familiar boats before the sun was setting.

February 8, 2006

Sunshine, swimsuits and very light winds, now we’re motor sailing. It was an interesting 35 nm passage to La Cruz as we passed many familiar (at least from land) sites. The first of many places we were able to identify was Boca de Naranjo, only 8 nm south of Chacala. Boca is the virgin beach 7 nm north of La Penita. We have taken many of our guests to this beach while we vacationed in La Penita. We shut the engine down and sailed past by La Penita, Isla de Tortugas, Rincon de Guayabitos, Los Ayalas, San Pancho, before we entered Bahia de Banderas (Bay of Flags) at Punta de Mita we spotted a huge sea turtle swimming on the surface. I had heard other cruisers talking about turtles before but this was the first time we had seen one. When we arrived in La Cruz we found it to be very rolly and made the decision to continue on to Paradise Village Marina in Neuvo Vallarta. A VHF call to the marina, and the deed was done. A quick sail from La Cruz to get to the marina before they close another turtle swimming along side.
I have never been more grateful for a shower in my whole life. Sponge baths suck, and cockpit showers are restrictive, depending on the number of boats in the anchorage.

February 9-13????

We’ve rested our bodies, we’ve restocked our inventories (grocery, liquor, and paper product) even as we try to pare down the existing inventories to ensure we don’t have any food left before we leave for Canada at the beginning of May. We have participated in the local yacht club activities, reconnected with some of the cruiser/friends we’ve met along the way, we’ve been to town (as in Puerto Vallarta) to visit with Dick’s cousin Harvey and wife Helen and now . . . we are waiting for the transmission to be repaired. It came out of the boat after 3 hours of contortions, but now has to go into the shop for new seals and shims etc. Oh! The joys of boat building/repair on the run!


Happy Valentines Day!