Back in La Cruz

After a 3 day drive from Tucson in early November, we arrived in La Cruz a bit tired but glad to be back.  We made it just in time for the Full Moon Bonfire at the marina where we got to reunite with some old friends.  Music made it through the summer very well.  I guess we did a good job of fixing known leaks last spring because she stayed dry down below during the rainy season.  We ran a dehumidifier to keep the humidity down and that worked really well to keep mold and mildew away.   We spent about a week re-commissioning Music, which means reversing everything we did to decommission her for the summer.  I won't go into all the details, but we have a 2 page spreadsheet of tasks so you get a sense for how much is involved.

As I mentioned in my previous posting, with John's shoulder surgery this summer he wasn't able to work as he had planned.  So he decided to head back to the states to work for a few months this winter while I stay in La Cruz with Music.  But don't feel too bad for me - John will be here for the holidays.  And there is always something to do and we have friends here so I'm not alone. 

 Just in these 2 weeks I had Thanksgiving dinner at the marina restaurant with a dozen friends, Thursday night is movie night, met some friends from California, attended a big chili cook-off to raise funds for school supplies,


Sundays are the local market with all kinds of crafts, art, and food, this week I am hosting a Ladies Night and we're grilling some wonderful tuna that a local fisherman gave me, and Saturday is the next Full Moon Bonfire. Hmmm - I guess I'll have to get some work done in there too.


 To all our friends - we hope you have a great Holiday Season.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To.....

Let's see, where did we leave off.  Oh yes, we were decommissioning Music and heading back to the states.  We came back to California in mid-July and caught up with some friends and doctor's appointments.  Lo and behold, John ended up needing rotator cuff surgery on his left shoulder.  His shoulder had been bothering him, but he had been hauling our heavy (70 lb) sails around, climbing the mast, and doing other heavy lifting in order to get ready to leave Music in Mexico.  So we were rather surprised with the MRI results.  This has put a bit of a crimp in our plans in order to accomodate his 2x a week physical therapy.  The surgery went well and he started physical therapy about 2 weeks ago.  The first month was shoulder immobilization and now it's passive movement - which means he's not supposed to use his left arm to lift anything heavier than a cup of coffe and certainly not to raise the arm.  Needless to say, he's going a bit crazy with not being able to do much.

m/v Nalu

Before the surgery we were able to take a 10 day trip up the Delta with our friends Jim and Diana Jessie on their Grand Banks Alaska 52, m/v Nalu.  The Delta is a series of waterways between the Sacramento and San Juaquin rivers.  The weather was perfect and it was great to visit with friends.  John spent much of his childhood vacations at the Delta, so he was excited to be able to see some new areas.  One of our favorites was Steamboat Slough.  It's one of the few waterways that still has the trees overhanging the water and you feel you are in the middle of nowhere.  But there are roads on either side of the slough.  It's called Steamboat Slough because you used to be able to hear the steamboats on the Sacramento River which is just around the bend.

The Jessie's were leading the Delta Cruise Out for the Oakland Yacht Club, so as we motored along to our various anchorages it was like the mother hen leading her chicks.  We visited Decker Island, Steamboat Slough, had lunch at 'Al the Wop's' in Walnut Grove, on to Potato Slough, and Suisun City. 

Chicks in a Row

Swing Bridge

We had a few bridges to navigate. When you are close, you call the bridge tender and he will stop traffic and open the bridge.  Some were draw bridges and some were swing bridges. 

It was a fun and relaxing trip.  Then it was back to the Bay area for John's surgery.  We were very lucky to be able to stay with a friend of mine from my Hewlett Packard days.  A couple of weeks after John's surgery we headed to Salt Lake City, UT with a stop in Reno, NV to visit with John's son and to change our residency.  We are now Nevadaites.  Nevada doesn't have any state income tax and the car insurance is about half of California so we'll save a few $$. 

After a few days in Reno, we headed to Salt Lake where my parents have a condo we'll be staying in for about 6 weeks.  Or, I'll be staying in since John has to head back to CA for physical therapy.  He'll be staying with his dive buddy Jeff.  When he has a few extra days he comes out to SLC where we do the tourist thing.  We went to Snowbird Ski Resort for Oktoberfest and visited the Kennecott Copper Mine.

The Pit

Kennecott is the largest man-made excavation on earth - it can be seen from space.  It's 2 3/4 miles across at the top and is 3/4 of a mile deep.  The machinery is huge - notice the scale of the loader trucks compared to a full size pickup.  The tires are over 12 ft tall and the truck drivers are 18 ft in the air.  It's hard to get a full appreciation of the scale, but if you can see the small specks in the bottom of the mine - those are loader trucks.  It was truely amazing.

Loader Trucks - note the scale compared to the pickup

The current plan is in mid to late October when John's PT will be wrapped up, we'll start working our way south again and drive back to Mexico with a car load of boat supplies.

A Note From Gail

It’s now hot and humid and the town of La Cruz seems to have shifted into summer mode.  We all have heard of “siestas”, but we didn’t really notice any significant siesta time during the busy winter cruising months.  But now that things have slowed down I am noticing a change of pace.  In the winter, shops here in La Cruz were open all day and seemed to close around 5-6 pm.  Now, quite a few shops close from 2-4pm for lunch and siesta but stay open later.  As it cools down in the evening more people are out and about.  One interesting thing about La Cruz is that it is still a small town with a mix of homes, shops and restaurants next to each other on the streets.  The homes are typically small with very few windows to help keep them cool.  But during the evening the streets are converted into their “patios”.  Out come the tables and chairs and the families sit down to talk, have dinner, and enjoy the evening.  It’s great to see, but I feel like I’m walking through their living rooms. 

As for us and Music – shade, shade, and more shade is the order of the day.  We’ve brought out all our shade options – a bimini to shade the cockpit, a Shade Tree to cover the main part of the boat, and we had a cover made here in La Cruz for the foredeck.  Music has beautiful lines but they are hard to see with all that canvas.  Summers in this part of Mexico have a lot of rain and we are getting into that season.  August and September are supposed to have the most rain, but we’ve been getting a lot of early morning squalls which at least cool things down a bit.  It’s also hurricane season and the tropical storms, even if they don't come close to Banderas Bay, bring a lot of humidity and monsoon type moisture.  According to historical records, however, when it comes to direct hits from hurricanes we are well protected here in Banderas Bay.  Mountians immediately to the south along with a very mountainous point on the southwest corner of the Bay, called Cabo Corrientes, seem to divert hurricanes or tropical storms out to sea, away from us.  

One of the benefits of staying here this summer is that we’re getting to know more people around the marina as well as some locals.  There is a cruiser here in the Marina who organized the La Cruz Kids Club to give the children of cruisers some kids time.  Tami is a bundle of energy and has been doing the kids club for about 6 months now.  They have been getting involved with the locals and during the 4^th of July invited the Bucerias Orphanage over to the Marina to join the celebration.  The Marina really embraces the Kids Club and supports its activities.  We were supposed to have a bbq at the beach palapa, but the weather didn’t cooperate so we had it at the Marina restaurant instead.  It was great fun to watch them play musical chairs, get their faces painted, and beat John up with their balloons.

Kids playing "musical Chairs" at our July 4th celebration

We’ll be leaving in about a week and the rest of our time here will be “de-commissioning” Music for the summer.  The big thing is to minimize mold and mildew and to prepare for storms.  So sails come off, the propeller gets bagged so the barnacles don’t cover it, take down all canvas, and then do what you can down below to open things up.  We bought a dehumidifier which we used every winter on Music in Bellingham and California and we’re hoping it works as well for us here.  We will have folks watch Music while we’re back in the States who can take care of any problems that might come up.  We’ll be back in October to continue our adventures.

Adios amigas!

The Lazy, Hazy, Days of Summer

Music didn’t make it back to the Sea of Cortez this spring which means that our boat will be staying here at La Cruz on Banderas Bay thru the summer. The reasons are many but suffice it to say that Music will also not be hauled out of the water only to cook in +120°F heat while sitting on the hard. And, that I am sure is a good thing.

As many of you already know, we still plan on heading back to the States this month (July) and will be sure to see as many of our friends as possible. Aside from that, I plan on picking up as many work assignments as I can, but I’ve also got some ongoing issues with my left foot and now left shoulder. What it means is that I will be seeing some of my docs while home. And, with luck, maybe I’ll even get in a dive or two.

Now to the question I’m sure many of you are wondering: what happened that we didn’t get back up into the Sea of Cortez? Well, it’s a long story with many factors involved, some of which were related to boat projects, some to traveling, some to the flu, some to other delays and some to just how long it takes to accomplish errands. But, the most significant reason we didn’t make it back to the Sea was related to a rather nebulous and enigmatic popping that had developed seemingly in the mast while heading south from La Paz.

Over time the popping grew worse and by the time we returned from the Gold Coast the noise now sounded like a wrench suspended inside the mast banging away as the boat rocked from side to side. Even a thorough search inside the mast for loose strings, wires, and feeder lines revealed nothing!

Back here at La Cruz, with head liners removed around the mast we found signs of a lot of water leakage, and many totally loose fasteners securing the mast collar to the aluminum backing plate below deck. Oh Boy, another project!

Starboard Mast Collar Backing Plate:
Note the salt like corrosion from water leakage.

To deal with all of this, I replaced the existing backing plates with G-10 but before installing them, I faired the cabin ceiling to make the whole surface level. This had never been done and the unevenness may have contributed (along with a lot of sea miles) to the fasteners working against each other creating movement, leaks and my popping/banging?. While we don’t know for sure if we’ve got the problem fixed we haven’t heard any more ominous banging, even while out sailing for an active tune. – And that is definitely a good thing.

Something else I believe the banging could be related to is a rubbing between the mast and spartite (a product used to fill the void between mast and mast collar). Replacing the spartite, I was informed, would most likely require pulling the mast due to the age of the spartite and its adhesive properties if improperly installed. (Some professionals say that mast rubs and leakage around the mast can develop even if spartite is properly installed.) So, in addition to fixing the mast collar, we also fixed the leaks stemming from the mast/spartite interface and will wait to see what develops.

Newly Installed Starboard G-10 Backing Plate:
Check sidebar for a few photos of the individual steps. 

By about mid May Music was back together and we were finally ready to head north. Unfortunately, all the delays meant that we would now be on a schedule, moving constantly, and unable to take our time. Added to that, if we did go north, next fall we would only be retracing our steps to head right back here, on our way to the “Gold Coast” just a little further south. All of this begged the question Why head north? The net result was a decision to stay put and relax here la Cruz. Our decision made, we would now have time to make some improvements, and install a few other things (like a new Gori 3 blade folding propeller) we hadn’t had the time to earlier. Not heading back into the Sea? Disappointing? – Perhaps a bit, but there are certainly a lot worse places for Music to spend the summer.

A Note on Black Holes:

Among the cruising community this year we’ve heard a lot about black holes; like the black hole of La Paz and the Black hole of Mazatlan. Places cruisers find themselves due to circumstances and who appear to not be able to extricate themselves. While some might say that we have fallen into a black hole here in La Cruz, Gail and I don’t see it that way. The reason is that Music was sound enough to leave in mid May yet we have made a conscious decision to stay put. Put another way, we’d rather enjoy some quality time here in La Cruz than rush to get somewhere else on a contracted schedule where we would hall the boat only to return to this region next fall.

Detailed View: Music along Mexico's Gold Coast

Google Earth: Overview - Banderas Bay to Manzanillo

Music and the Tsunami

I've had a couple of questions from friends and family about what we experienced onboard Music when the tsunami came through, so I thought I'd share a little bit with you.

To start with, when we heard about the approaching tsunami I set our VHF radio to “scan” because on our normal cruiser communication channel (channel 22) I was hearing what appeared to be some audio distortion to someone’s communication. Since I wanted to be sure our radio was not suddenly malfunctioning. I put it in “scan” mode to see what we could pick up. Then, while in “scan” mode I picked up someone else’s conversation and they were discussing a projected “tsunami”. Well, I wasn’t quite sure if it was real or rumor, so I pressed the microphone button and said “break”. When acknowledged, I asked my question, and was subsequently given details. With that, I switched back to channel 22, and announced to the fleet in the cove of Las Hadas if anyone knew of a potential tsunami? That seemed to wake up the cruising community and started a lot of discussion. (Mexico’s president had issued a tsunami warning that morning, which was lifted about 9PM local time.)

The net result was that most of us decided that we should head to deeper water and monitor the situation. Within 15 minutes Gail and I had our anchor up and were heading out of the cove into deeper water. Once out with about 200 ft of depth under Music I tuned our SSB radio to get more information. Basically we learned that while the first event (that’s what they called it) was to occur about 1:30PM local time, there was a 6 to 7 hour window for subsequent events. Well, that meant that we would be out on the water the rest of the morning and all afternoon. And heck, it was a gorgeous day, so we decided that instead of just floating there we’d start our retreat to Banderas Bay, and head about 30 miles north to Bahia Tenacatita.

En route we heard about the port captain closing Barra de Navidad due to strong currents in the bottle neck channel going into the lagoon. A first hand report mentioned that the buoys were getting drug under water. – Well, the buoys in Barra are rather undersize compared with most “normal” channel buoys so that’s not hard to imagine. The next day we found out that in addition to the buoys being drug under water the more significant event issue was that the water pipe (maybe more like a hose?) running across the channel, and anchored to its bottom, floated free. This subsequently resulted in the “port” being closed for several days, not just over night as I originally thought.

In Banderas Bay the ports captains (there are 3 major ports as far as I know) closed their respective ports over night so many of those out on the bay, floated, bobbed, or sailed all night as many of the boats were participating in Banderas Bay race week and didn’t have any anchors onboard. The cruisers who left port, got to sleep that night after anchoring.

What the tsunami did in port areas such as Nuevo Vallarta and even la Cruz was surge in and out, and in and out. La Cruz suffered some relatively minor dock damage but that was it. It appears that some of the smaller bays such as Tenacatita where we anchored that night, essentially filled up a bit more than usual and the water in them sloshed around for a day or so.

While this was our event, our hearts go out to all of the earthquake victims and to all of those less fortunate along the various coasts that the tsunami did reach in force. - John

Fat Tuesday in Barra

Jim and Diana caught a taxi to the airport from Barra de Navidad on Tuesday morning, a week before the Catholic holiday of “Fat Tuesday”. After seeing them off, Gail and I stayed in town, having a leisurely lunch on the upper deck of a restaurant overlooking Bahia de Navidad (see photo labeled “Bahia de Navidad” from our post of “New Times, Old Friends, New Friends… ”). Mid afternoon, we were ambling down the street when we ran into friends from s/v Serendipity. Hugh and Ann asked if we were interested in staying for the “Fat Tuesday” parade (here in Barra the parade was actually 1 week before Fat Tuesday) so we replied, “Why not”!



Some floats, like this one, were really quite colorful
and very well done.



It was a real treat to see how the locals celebrated the holiday with a street carnival during the day and a parade in the early evening. The parade itself was really quite casual with no police motor cycles or crowd control. Locals of all ages from kids to adults participated in the parade, with most in costume. Some of the parade entries were quite simple, consisting of someone’s car or truck with a bunch of kids or teens sitting on the hood or standing in the back, while others were actual floats pulled by farm tractors or trucks, see photo in the side bar.

As the parade progressed, someone on a float was tossing candy to the kids lining the route, and I happened to look into the face of one of the kids disappointed at missing out. With that, I hoped across the street, passing between floats, and ducked into a tienda, neighborhood convenience store, where I bought a bunch of candy. To the delight of both moms and kids, I handed out candy to as many kids as I could while walking along the parade route in our area. – What fun! Public festivities concluded with men dressed as vaqueros, or cowboys closing the parade. Hugh and Ann headed to a bar or restaurant for dinner while Gail and I took our dinghy back to Music. While sad to see Jim and Diana leave, the evening was a sign of more adventures to come.

A Note on Jim and Diana's Visit

Jim Jessie driving Music enroute from

Ensenada Carrizal to Bhia Tenacatita

While it was fun having Jim and Diana on board, what we really benefitted from were all of the small hints they imparted to us. For example, we’d had a water maker on board since 2008, and we really benefitted from it during our Pacific Cup race. While on that race we really appreciated the showers the fresh water afforded us. What we didn’t appreciate was all the additional showers we could have had if we’d have saved the water we dumped overboard! Here’s how it works: When the water maker cycles into making water the saline content decreases to “potable” levels but there is still a time when it just doesn’t taste or smell fresh. And between the “saline potable” and “fresh taste” a whole lot of water goes down the drain that can be used for such things as rinsing dive gear, rinsing cloths, or maybe even taking showers! How about that? As it turned out we were perfectly set up to gain some real benefit from all the “in between water” we were letting go down the drain. We just hadn’t done so. Now, due to Jim’s suggestion, we collect that “in between” water in our shower bag, let the sun heat it up and viola, we have an extra 2 to 5 gallons for additional use every time we make water.

Another tidbit from Jim was that while we have a light line securing our anchor to the base of the forestay to keep it from inadvertently deploying, it would be better to install a small shackle on the stem fitting and feed the securing line through it to avoid any potential chafe issues. It seems that somewhere in their travels they had a light line rigged securing their anchor similar to ours and it had chaffed through. With that, in my mind’s eye, I could just see Music crossing the Sea of Cortez, slamming off of a 4 foot wave, the line chafing through, and the 55 pound anchor along with 200 feet of chain deploying in deep, deep water. That could be ugly, so now we have just such as shackle installed and anchor securing line re-lead.

Then, there was the time Diana pointed out to me that once on Nalu 4 they had a carving knife jump off the counter and over the 2 inch rail, just like we’ve got. It stabbed the floor right next to a crew’s foot, due to unexpected wave. Now we pay attention to where we set sharp implements, particularly while at sea or in “rolly” anchorages. 

One day Diana asked if we knew how to make ice cream onboard. Her recipe was simple, but I am only allowed to reveal it upon pain of death. But basically you use a hand egg beater (like your mom used to use) to mix cream, canned sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and in our case berries, together. Then you put the concoction into the freezer (called the evaporator box on board a sail boat) and let it set up. The key is to have an evaporator box that gets cold enough! We’d learned previously that you might well be able to freeze ice in your evaporator box, and maybe even meet, but it’s quite another thing to keep commercially made ice cream frozen, let alone freeze ice cream.

That said, my first project was to decrease the temperature in our evaporator box. We accomplished this by gluing 2 pieces of insulation together and then fitting them to make a lid for the evaporator box itself. This dropped the internal temperature from about 20 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit.  Next, the ladies set out to acquire the necessary ingredients which turned out to be surprisingly easy. Then came the mixing, which required a strong arm or two. Once in the freezer, 12 hours later (don’t laugh) we had ice cream. – Seriously!

Unfortunately Jim and Diana left for home before our ice cream was firmly set up. Even so, the evening we made it, the four of us enjoyed freshly baked pie (from our French baker of course) ala mode, with slightly soft homemade ice cream.  Four days later, however, the real beneficiaries of our endeavors were our friends on s/v Full and By whom, following a steak dinner,  we surprised with homemade ice cream while at anchor in Santiago Bay. Ahh – to be so clever. Truly the bar has been set, and at a very high level!

Thank you Jim and Diana!!

New Times, Old Friends, New Friends, and Mexico’s Gold Coast

We are presently in Bahia Chamela waiting with about 15 other boats for favorable conditions to round Cabo Corrientes heading back into Banderas Bay and La Cruz. We’ve been cruising Mexico’s Gold Coast now for about a month. The entire time, minus 2 days in Barra de Navidad, spent “on the hook” as they say. Rounding Cabo (cape) Corrientes will signal an end to this part of our cruise. We’ll be traveling in the states for most of April and in early May Music will head back up into the sea of Cortez for the summer there is still so much to see. But all of that’s in the future.  

Just why is this section of coastline referred to as Mexico’s “Gold Coast”?  Perhaps the historical answer is most easily found in the newest cruising guide Pacific Mexico, A Cruisers Guidebook; Shawn Breading and Heather Bansmer ©2010; pg 163: On the evening July 27, 1862, the engine room of SS Golden Gate caught fire and foundered about 12 miles south of Barra de Navidad. That night, many lives were lost along with 1.4 million dollars in gold. According to Shawn and Heather after significant storms, (or tsunami?) gold and silver coins can still be found washing up on the beach near the present day Manzanillo airport. Hmmm? Did we make a mistake in bypassing that beach after leaving Las Hadas in Manzanillo Bay? But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. For us on Music, we have our own host of reasons for calling this cruising ground Mexico’s Gold Coast”. And gold isn’t one of them. - John

We left La Cruz roughly a month ago to head south to Bahia de Navidad to meet our friends, Jim and Diana Jessie, who would be cruising with us for a couple of weeks.  Jim and Diana have sailed this area extensively over their many years of cruising, and Jim’s many years of racing prior to that, so it was great to have them as our tour guides.  We visited a few of their favorite anchorages, did some snorkeling, practiced our dingy beach landings to visit some of the restaurant palapas on the beaches, and spent a lot of time catching up and listening to just some of their cruising stories over cocktails on board. 

Bahia de Navidad from an upstairs outdoor restaurant where Gail and I had lunch.

We spent the first couple of days at the marina in Barra de Navidad provisioning and loading up with baked goods from the French Baker.  What a treat!  An honest to goodness French Baker comes around to the marina and anchorage in the lagoon in his boat selling fresh baked baguettes, croissants, Danish, quiche, tarts, and more.  After stalking up we then headed to Santiago Bay for a few days. 

Moon Rise over Bahia Santiago

I think Santiago Bay is one of my favorite places.  The water was relatively clear, the beach was long and beautiful, and it was a peaceful place to spend a few days.  John and Jim did some snorkeling around the shallow wreck of a 300 ft. steel cargo ship driven aground in about 25 ft of water during a hurricane in 1959.

Las Hadas Resort and Anchorage, Manzanillo Bay

Then it was on to Las Hadas, a beautiful cove of an anchorage in an exquisite setting.  Many years ago someone built a grand resort in a Moorish style of architecture and most other later developments have kept with the same theme.  It’s almost fairy like.  For a small dingy fee we could use the resort pool and facilities.  Jim and Diana took us into Manzanillo to a favorite spot of theirs for dinner – the Colonial Hotel. 

Las Hadas is a very special place for Jim and Diana, as it was from here that they took off for the South Pacific on their circumnavigation. And, it was here that they closed the loop, crossing their outbound track while heading back home to San Francisco Bay.  We are both proud and privileged to have shared Las Hadas and Manzanillo with Jim and Diana, and to consider ourselves part of their extended family of cruising kids.

After a few days in Las Hadas we headed back to Bahia Santiago for a couple more days and John did a scuba dive on the wreck. Visibility wasn’t too good that day, but he seems to always find lots to look at even when others report a lousy dive. Our next anchorage was Ensenada Carrizal, an absolutely stunning cove, both beautiful and remote.  Jim, John, and I snorkeled the north side of the cove our first day and the south side on our second. We concluded that the south side of the cove was the best with a gorgeous variegated carpet of red and brown corals, and even an octopus.

Carrizal is one of the few anchorages that has yet to be developed and Jim and Diana knew of the cove prior to its having been named in any cruising guide so they gave it their own name in honor of a good friend’s wife. With tradition firmly established, we gave Ensenada Carrizal our own place name, Jessie Bay, in honor of Jim and Diana Jessie.

The second morning anchored there while John and I were having our coffee up in the V-berth, we heard the unmistakable sound of a whale blow.  We popped our heads out of the forward hatch and watched a momma and baby humpback whale working their way through the cove feeding along the tide line.

Next stop was Tenacatita where we went ashore for a nice meal at the local beach palapa.  A specialty there is a local dish call Rollo de Mar – a fish fillet wrapped around shrimp and topped with a cream sauce.  YUMMM!  Unfortunately our time was running short with the Jessies, so it was back to Barra to bid them a fond farewell.  We left Tenacatita early in the morning in hopes of getting back to Barra in time for the French Baker who started making his rounds at 8:30.  We made it and had quiche for breakfast.  Diana and I took an afternoon shopping trip into the town of Barra while John and Jim stayed on anchor watch in the lagoon that windy afternoon.  The wind had picked up right after we came in and I’m glad we were well anchored by then.

French Baker, Barra Lagoon

After Jim and Diana left, we took the dingy in to Barra, as cruisers call it, had a mid afternoon meal on a terrace overlooking Bahia de Navidad, ran into some other cruising friends from s/v Serendipity, and enjoyed the local “Fat Tuesday” parade a week early. Two days later with clean laundry, a few fresh provisions, and full water tanks we headed back to Santiago Bay to meet up with Dick and Ann on Full and By, friends we’d made the acquaintance of months earlier at Santa Catalina Island while we were coming down the coast.  It was great spending time with them and meeting some of their other cruising friends.  But alas, the time came to move on since we needed to do some provisioning before starting the trek back north to La Cruz. Where to provision was simple. Due to its proximity to grocery stores our destination was once again Las Hadas. Our intention was to spend a few days poolside and toast a wonderful month as well as restock provisions.

Contrasts – What a difference a day Makes

Our last day in Santiago Bay started out magically.  While we were having our morning coffee we heard something soft and distant, something that sounded like something rubbing.  Having our morning coffee in the V-berth we were listening and feeling the pitch and fall of Music in the low swells. Then the rhythm changed ever so slightly but distinctly, and, we realized we were hearing our first whale songs in person. 

Note the difference in size beween mom and her calf.

John popped his head out of the forward hatch but didn’t see anything. Meanwhile, the singing continued. A short time later after hearing a distinctive “blow”, we popped our heads out the hatch like a couple of Jacks in the Box and were met with the sight of 3 whales; a cow, a calf, and a presumably a male. Like at Carrizal, they started working their way through the anchorage feeding.  Rushing on deck we found everyone in the anchorage was up on their decks too.  All silently watching the whales come up for breaths and then make slow, graceful, dives.  The whales turned toward Music and crossed our bow before heading out of the bay.  Going below we could still hear their songs and decided it just doesn’t get much better than this. 

Unfortunately it was time to go so we raised anchor and made for Las Hadas where we spent a relaxing afternoon by the pool and planned what we would do tomorrow – which included doing the provisioning. 

A day later we awoke to a tsunami warning due to the massive earthquake in Japan.   Fortunately, waves shouldn’t strike the Mexican coast for a few hours. Even so, we decided the prudent thing would be to head for deeper water and wait for things to settle down.  Within 20 minutes the anchor was on deck and we were motoring out. 

Once out in 300 feet of water since it was a beautiful day, and since we’d be out here for a several hours (reports were for possible successive events to occur within a 6 hour window after the first waves struck) we decided we might as well start heading north. So, off we headed for Tenacatita.  We had been talking on the radio with some other boats in Las Hadas so we “buddy boated” with them. While heading into Tenacatita, a whale surfaced less than 25 yards off our port bow.

While approaching Tenacatita and preparing to drop the hook there was a lot of chatter on the radio with folks cautioning us to wait a bit before anchoring.  It seems they were still having “events” in the bay and the boats at anchor were swinging around crazily while experiencing about a 5 to 10 ft change in water level over a 30 minute period associated with a lot of current. 

Normally, boats all face in the pretty much the same direction in an anchorage – either into the current or the wind – except perhaps at tide change.  But these boats were facing in all different directions and swinging around like crazy!  Taking our time we waited until things settled down before anchoring in about 40 feet of water where we put out 200 ft of chain and had a pretty uneventful night.  

In the morning, with a gentle breeze off the port beam, we headed to Chamela, which is both a new anchorage for us having bypassed it on our way south, and our last before rounding Cabo Corrientes heading back into Banderas Bay.  We’ll be here a few days waiting for favorable conditions for our northward rounding of Cabo Corrientes, and while we have to say good bye to the Gold Coast, we’ve also want to acknowledge we’ve had a ball. – Gail & John;

(Note: While the introduction, editing and additions are from John, the general text was written by Gail.  Additions by John were inserted from Gail's perspective for consistency.)

Life in La Cruz; A note from Gail; 02/12/2011

We finally left La Cruz after almost 7 weeks and are now anchored in beautiful Tenacatita Bay, about 130 nautical miles south.  La Cruz was a great place to be and we really enjoyed it.  We had planned to stay about 3 weeks but some repair and maintenance projects took a bit longer than expected, as does any boat project.  Plus I (Gail) went back to the states to visit my parents and John’s nephew and family made a short stop in Puerto Vallarta on their cruise ship.  We had a good day of enjoying the sites and activities around the area with them. 

A short while later, we heard about festivities and the blessing of the fleet in the nearby town of Bucerias so we headed down to watch the celebration.  It was fun to see the pangas, local fishing boats, decorated with balloons and ribbons.  After the fleet was blessed the town folk began their festivities.  There was a street fair with everything from tequila tasting to games for the kids.  We really enjoyed the cabarellos and their dancing horses.  A band played along the street and the men on horseback took turns having the horses prance to the music.  And, while they’re waiting their turn they congenially drank cans of Modelo beer pulled from the stash in their saddle bags.

Most of our blog postings show us at anchor with great snorkeling and beautiful sunsets.  But we haven’t said much about what it’s like when we’re in a marina.  La Paz was really nice, we could find almost anything we wanted, and knew quite a few folks.  But La Cruz is really great.  It’s a wonderful mix of small town Mexico with access to a more modern city, Puerto Vallarta. 

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle as it is formally known sits adjacent to the marina so with just a short stroll we would be at the town square for the Sunday market with fresh pastries, local crafts, and music, or the corner tienda where we could pick up fresh fruits and veggies, or Kenny’s carneceria for fresh meats and poultry.  And, there is a fish market at the marina where the local fishermen sell their catches of the day.  Fresh mahi mahi was cut right off the fish and weighed in front of you. 

Sonia would pick up our laundry in the late afternoon and bring it back the next day.  We could go for a long time without having to leave La Cruz.  When I did need to go to a bigger store for more staples, I would take a bus to the Mega, which is a combination department and grocery store.  John came with me once and his eyes were glazed over by the time we got to the produce dept.  It takes a lot of time to make it through a store that big when you don’t know where everything is.  I told him “Now you know why it takes me all day to go grocery shopping.”  Nothing happens quickly in Mexico.

I’ve had a few bus adventures.  Some buses make more stops than others.  On some buses people get on at a stop and sing for tips and get off at the next stop.  Some are better than others but it’s always entertaining.  Most of the places I want to go are at regular bus stops so I just get off when its time. You have to keep your eyes open though. Other places take a bit more effort. 

I wanted to go to Home Depot and I was told to get on a city bus, not the regular buses which go between cities that I had been taking.  No problem, I tell the driver I want Home Depot and he lets me know where to get off.  As I’m checking out at Home Depot I ask the cashier where the nearest bus stop is to go back to La Cruz.  I get a quizzical look and I’m told to go to the end of the block, turn left, and the bus will stop at the next block.  I follow those directions but realize that that bus will take me inland, not to La Cruz.  So I figure I’ll go back to the main road and walk until I find a main bus stop. 

I walk, and walk, and walk some more. After covering a mile along the main highway I figure I’d better ask someone.  I see a modern interior design store across the highway and figure they might have someone who speaks English.  I cross the 4 lanes with people barreling along at 50km/h and find a very helpful lady inside.  She tells me the bus stop is across the street.  I look and all I see is highway, but she says it will stop there.  So I stand on the side of the road and look for buses which I do see, but they aren’t stopping.  Then someone else joins me but he is new to the area so we’re both waiting for a bus to stop.  Finally some locals come over and wait with us.  Then I see how it really works.  The buses have the names of the towns they go to painted on the front window.  Buses that would be willing to stop will flash their headlights and you either flag them down or say no.  Luckily the Mexicans are really helpful and one of the locals helped me flag down the right bus.  I think I left around 10 am to head to Home Depot and didn’t get back until after 5pm.    Thank goodness most bus trips were much less eventful.

Now we are back at anchor, and in the beautiful bay of Tenacatita at that. It’s good to be back at anchor – you are almost forced to relax.  Actually, after a 24 hour run from La Cruz we went off the grid and did nothing for 2 days, not even get off the boat! When we did, we took a dingy trip up the estuary through the mangroves where we saw snowy egrets, blue heron, and John even saw a small crocodile. On our return we stopped and had a delicious lunch at the beachside palapa restaurant. 

Friday evening is dingy raft up night where folks take their dingies, tie up to each other, pass around appetizers, and float with the tide.  We were treated to some great bluegrass music from one couple who brought their guitar and banjo.  We’re heading off tomorrow to Bahia de Navidad to meet our friends, Jim and Diana Jessie, who will be cruising with us for a couple of weeks so we’ll be back here soon for some more fun.  Stay tuned for more sunsets and hopefully some snorkeling adventures.

Dancing Horses, Blessing of the Fleet, Bucerias

Caballero and his kids at the Blessing of the Fleet, Bucerias

Old Man Repairing Fishing Net, La Cruz

The fish market in La Cruz is right behind where some of the fishing fleet docks. Next to the fish market we found this old guy quietly repairing nets. I don't think he's repairing his own nets, because we saw him there quietly going about his business, every day, day after day. - John

Wood Crafts at the Sunday Market in La Cruz

The Quintessential Mexican Resort, Jaltemba

Santa Incognito

Check the small photos to the right to see Santa unmasked!

Showers on the Sea of Cortez at Dawn

The morning we left Ensenada de los Muertos for Los Frailes, we saw showers out on the Sea to the east of us. Our ultimate destination - La Cruz!

Santa Clause Incognito

Ramblings; 01/01/2011; John

Tres Marias
Upon nearing the mainland coast during our crossing from Baja, an island group consisting of 3 islands and a prominent rock lay in our path. The Tres Marias are both a nature reserve and a penal colony, in other words a prison. With a “No Approach” zone extending out about 20 nautical miles from the center of the island chain we had to make a slight course deviation during the evening of our second day to avoid coming too close. As we did so, we could see them faintly through the haze that had developed the further south we got. I couldn’t help but wonder what crime, or crimes, one must commit to be exiled to this desolate island group. And, I couldn’t help but wonder what life must be like there. Will we one day read the autobiography of another “Papillion”?

Contrasts
Also during our crossing from Baja to the mainland, coming on watch at 3AM while still more than 15 miles from Jaltemba Bay I was struck at the fragrance of rich dark soil and foliage wafting across our decks on the weak early morning breeze. At dawn, upon seeing the jungle clad mountains and valleys materialize out of the haze I was amazed at just how lush this coast of Mexico really is – especially in contrast to the dry and barren Baja Peninsula. We had clearly entered “new” cruising grounds.  While our friends, Jim and Diana Jessie, had pointed out before we left San Francisco Bay that “tropical Mexico” doesn’t really start until Puerto Vallarta, to see the contrast between the two cruising grounds for myself was truly amazing.

When is a Frigate Bird not a Frigate Bird?
We were not more than a couple of miles from anchoring at Jaltemba and I was down below at the chart plotter when Gail called down, “You’ve got to come up and see this! It must be mating season because three male Frigate Birds are after a female who has landed on the top of our mast, trying to keep away from them.” While this WAS a National Geographic moment, the female was resting on our windex (wind vane) and could easily break it. So I pardoned myself to Gail and rushed forward slapping the halyards against the mast in an effort to startle her into leaving. Off she flew, but circled around and landed again, not 30 seconds later. Again I went through my routine, and again she flew off but returned moments later, pursuers still in tow. The fourth time she flew off, the windex dropped into the bay.

All of this I’m sure amuses my good friend and mentor, Jim Jessie, as he has no doubt experienced something similar, even if not exactly the same. In all of his and Diana’s years of cruising the Pacific, Mexico, and circumnavigating the globe there isn’t much we could possibly see or experience that they haven’t. So, when is a Frigate Bird not a Frigate Bird? When it breaks your windex it’s just a fricking bird!

Christmas
As mentioned in our last post, my good friend and dive buddy Jeff joined us on Christmas day. Now Jeff doesn’t get much excited about this particular holiday, but warmed to the occasion when I sent him an email:

           “ Dear Santa,
           I know I haven’t been the best of kids this year, ignoring my

           dive buddy, Jeff, and passing up dive after dive to work on

           the boat. Then, leaving him behind while we sailed south to

           Mexico, but if you could just give me one of the items on my

           wish list I promise I’ll try to be better next year. – I promise!”

Our wish list included Valrhona chocolate, dark chocolate covered raspberry sticks, Pepperidge Farms Raspberry Milano cookies, and Champagne. All I can tell you is that Santa must come in all shapes and sizes because here’s a picture I caught while Santa was busy depositing goodies around our Christmas tree. – Thank you Santa Jeff!

Diving
While here, Jeff and I went both snorkeling and diving. The best of which was a dive we did at Isla Larga of the Tres (3) Marietas, not to be confused with the 3 Marias. After much indecision about where to dive, we secured the dinghy to Music and rolled over the side. Descending our anchor chain to a depth of about 45 ft, we came upon a series of rocks and towers covered with all kinds of sea life including various sea stars and urchins. Highlights of the dive included a couple of nudibranchs, one very small and predominantly white, the other multi-colored with greens and orange, and two eels, one a green Morey and the other a small yellow spotted eel. Before getting wet though, Gail, Jeff, and I were treated to the sight of a particularly randy male breaching more than 5 times in a row!

Just how far east and south are we?
Anchoring in Jaltemba Bay with a longitude 105° 16.33’ W. if Music were in Wyoming, we would be somewhere between Douglas and Cheyenne (assuming they were on the same latitude they would be less than 22 miles apart), very close to where my sister Karen lives. As far as south is concerned, here in La Cruz, latitude 20° 44.89’ N. we are just a bit south of Oahu. Consequently, Music has now broadened her horizons further east and south then she has ever been, and there is more new territory to explore here in Mexico before turning Music southwest, west, northwest retracing our steps along the coast, or possibly heading back to the Sea of Cortez for another season.

To all of our friends and family we wish you a happy and prosperous new year. May the worst of the new year be better than the best of the old!