December 27 Eleanor (Red Pepper), Bev her sister from northern Alberta who has left her farm chores for a week in the sun, and I did a day trip on the 82’ wooden sailing schooner the Patricia Belle. The Patricia Belle (www.PatriciaBelle.com) was built in Puget Sound and has traveled down and around the Pacific Ocean is now chartering day trips out of Mazatlan.
Leaving the marina, the day was dead calm so not much sailing, as has been our ongoing experience in Mexico. Dick and John decided to stay aboard and do some chores (at least that's what they told us they we're going to do). She motor sailed out behind Isla Venados (Deer Island) just off the mainland and we enjoyed watching the crew and various guests cool themselves off as they dove from the side decks into the cool blue water. Joe, the cook, first mate, and all round good guy, entertained us climbing the rat lines to the top of the foremast and leaping off foot first into the 
depths below. 
depths below. 
December 31, 2006
Happy New Year!
To all our family and friends.Thanks, to Red Pepper
John & Eleanor
About 30 cruisers from Marina El Cid had the opportunity to have a celebration at one of the local restaurants, Chili Peppers, provided dinner, all the local drinks you could want to consume and dancing on a plywood dance floor on the beach. This was a first for me, New Years on the beach dancing in sandals and sand. A good time was had by all, though some folks were thinking that they would have liked a little more of a traditional Mexican New Year celebration. The end of the evening culminated in a fireworks display. We didn’t stay for the fireworks, as it was well past cruisers midnight (9:00 p.m.).
Tim & Susan (Falcon VII)We made our way back to the boat to enjoy the ‘quiet’ that is until Tim (Falcon VII) and Dick had a brilliant idea where they decided that since there were all these fireworks, they might as well fire off all the expired flares we had in our lockers. As the expired flares were launched, it was little comfort to know that of the 3-4 dozen that were ignited only about ½ of them were any good and of course of the few that actually accomplished the task one hot flare managed to land on top of Falcon VII’s canopy. Way to go Dick! So, now we have nearly had a disaster of sorts, or at least the potential of one. The bright sparks, decide that they’ll check out a couple of the ‘new’ flares. Guess what? Neither one of the two new flares worked, leaves you wondering how many of the new ones are any good. Hopefully, we’ll never have to find out. It was about this time the security guard came around and told us ‘ no more lights’. We got the message and slunk off to our vessels, considered ourselves lucky, as we would probably have been put in jail had it been Canada or the USA, or then again we could have started another boat on fire! Wouldn’t that be a hot start to the New Year!
January 10, 2007
We are waiting for a weather window to travel south, but so far no luck, and then again the Port has been closed so no one is able to go north either. The weather has been cool and very windy. We also had the added challenge with Dick breaking one of his back molars and needed some extensive dental work. The dentist was young, well trained and with the latest in technology was able to painlessly do a root canal and cap in about 4 days at a third the cost of Canadian dentists.
Tim and Susan (Falcon VII), Keith and his crew member Jim (Victoria Dos) are in luck as today is a good day to head North and they are off to La Paz. Did I say in luck? Well maybe not Falcon VII as they had only gotten out about 7 miles when all their electronics went out, and they started having trouble with their engine. They ended up being towed back to the marina by one of the El Cid charter boats. The charter boat happened to be returning to port after their charter. Ok they were still in luck! While in the middle of the very narrow channel the charter boat broke down, the transmission, I think, so it could only maneuver in reverse. It was an unusual site to see a 28’ fishing boat, towing a 46’ Kelly Peterson, backward into the marina and guided her into her slip where there were a dozen cruisers on the docks waiting to catch lines, and protect her from any more damage. No problema!
January 15, 2007
As we continue to wait for a weather window, we are invited to embark on a day trip with John and Eleanor (Red Pepper) who have their car here. We traveled south from Mazatlan and stopped at a number of little towns. One town was called Villa Union, checked out the market, and of course the cathedral,
travelling farther south to another community called Rosario where we hablar our way with the local policia into finding a place to go for lunch on the beach. It was an interesting drive along the ocean to a little place that cooked us up a plate full of shrimp and a bucket of beer. The weather is still very chilly and the sea was anything but inviting as it crashed and chased you up the beach.Lining both sides of this oceanside road are palm plantations, and lots and lots of new construction. This rather rustic area where the local farmers are using horse drawn plows will in the not to distant future have all the trappings for tourists; hotels, condos and RV parks. But, for now we watch the cattle roam at leisure with different species of birds hanging out at the watering holes. I saw my first spoonbill, and we even saw what we think were storks. Another great day in paradise even if we did have to don long pants and fleecies.
This guy is a
Spoonbill, how cool. ..................................................................... Storkes and Cormorants.
....................................... Turkeys, goats, and a horse drawn plow.January 19-21, 2007
Jim and Sandy (Full Circle)
We’ve been looking for opportunities to crew on different boats since we arrived in Mexico. We know we love being on the water, we also know that Blue is too small for full time living or to do any longer range cruising. So, now what? Sell Blue and buy what? We don’t have a clue. Today we are taking an opportunity to crew on a 53’ custom built powerboat (Full Circle) with Jim and Sandy to Puerto Vallarta. The folks at the marina are concerned that maybe will be going over to the dark side. It's too early to say!
We leave beautiful Mazatlan at O'dark thirty and pound through the entrance that we would never dream of attempting in Blue. The seas are big, 8-10' however you turn on the stabillizers and presto you're not rolling around like when you've got the seas coming at your beam (side) after we pass Isla Pajaros and Isla Venados we head south and have a lovely sleigh ride down to Isla Isabella with following seas.
We anchor behind the stacks and rock and roll all night. Dick and I are staying in the forward berth, there are two other staterooms on the lower level with a full bath (that includes a jacuzzi tub) and a 3pce ensuite for the main stateroom. There is a washer and dryer, and an upright freezer, and more storage than we have in the condo. There is access to the engine room from the lower level as well as the swim grid.
There are two spiral staircases that allow you to egress to the upper level, one off the bridge the other off the galley.
The upper level has the bridge,
forward deck, more storage, a full size galley with a double ss kitchen sink, full size gas stove oven, 2 door fridge and counter space. There is an eating area and TV/Leisure space and more storage and an aft deck. The top deck has unprotected (as in no roof) sitting area, storage, dingy davit.
We leave Isla Isabella the next morning with similar sea conditions, possibly smaller waves, just a gentle ride down to Jaltemba (La Penita). Jaltemba is usually a rolly anchorage and it was definitely following true to its reputation. When we arrived just before dark there were a number of fishing boats anchored in this anchorage. That should have given us a hint that the weather was not going to improve, because the fishing boats don't usually hide out in an anchorage unless the seas are fairly miserable. We weren't disappointed. We pounded on the anchor chain all night long. I fell out of bed at one point partly because I was disoreinted, partly because of the wave action. I stubbed my thumb and understand now, how most injuries that occur on a boat are either fingers or toes. Needless to say this was a sleepless night with anchor watch and just the intensity of the rocking and rolling.
We leave for Paradise Village, in Neuvo Vallarta and the seas look as if it maybe another lumpy day however, an hour out of Jaltemba the seas calmed and we had a lovely passage into Banderas Bay where we are entertained by a whale.
Arriving in early afternoon, we were docked tied up, in minutes. It really helps to have bow thrusters you can use remotely from the side deck and have folks passing the lines to deck handlers. We had the boat scrubbed down and we were showered and down to the yatch club for dinner feeling refreshed and ready for our next adventure.
We had a great adventure, terrific hosts, and I certainly wouldn't rule out a power boat in our future. Jim and Sandy are permanently moored in Paradise Village and we've made a reservation to be in the marina to celebrate Jim's 77th birthday the beginning of April.
The bottom line is you have many of the same challenges with power and sail, it's just a whole lot more dough to buy and maintain power. Still no decisions! Looking for more crewing opportunities.
January 22, 2007
We hop on a bus and decide we'll see if we can meet up with George (Hotel California) in La Penita. We're in luck as George has been out of town and has just arrived, minutes before we land on his doorstep. We had a visit with George and Marta, a swim, some dinner, and a good nights sleep before heading out the next morning for Mazatlan. George's young son Georgie has
moved back to the States and is staying with his older sister. He's happier in the school system there.
