Leaving Barra de Navidad 2.1.09

Ahh, what a wonderful place but alas, it’s time to check out new shores! With a happy generator, we spent most of this past week submitting resumes & applications to Alaska for jobs. It’s amazing how much time it takes to fill out applications, scan them, & e-mail them out! We’re still on the hunt for the ever elusive job in Alaska for the both of us for summer. I will let you know as soon as one comes through! But I think we’re closing in on one. Here's Michael interviewing for one now...

There was a temporary mass exodus of our friends this week – Lady Hawke, Pacific Jade, Lovely Reta, & Eyes of the World all went out early in the week for a few days out of the Lagoon but with so much work ahead of us, we hunkered down & got to work. But at the same time we figured – hmmm…the generator’s happy, Michael has finished studying for his HAM test, we have time to ourselves….it’s time to socialize!! We made a point of meeting a new cruising couple a day and get to know them. We had a new boat appear in front of us called Eagle Wing and invited them over for appetizers & refreshments Wednesday evening. Joe is the boat owner of a 56’ Alden ferro cement boat that has an awesome layout. It actually has a full sized kitchen! He purchased the boat about 6 years ago and has been cruising for a couple years now. Katie is his crewmate and he has two additional crew joining them for their crossing over to the South Pacific! They are both young – in their 20’s and are enjoying their time out here. We also met & had dinner with the couple off of S/V Freestyle – Jenna and Tim. Jenna & Tim were the couple instrumental in raising the $2800 pesos for the local hospital in Colimilla for the respiratory equipment they desperately needed.

We had dinner at Fortino’s restaurant and feasted on their special chille rellenos made special for the evening, grandma’s recipe! Saturday was Tim’s 50th birthday so I attempted to make some cupcakes….which turned out incredibly awful….but took them over anyway. I guess my mix doesn’t like to be vacuum packed…mental note for next time. Hey, it’s the thought that counts, right?! Haha… We have been trying to get together with Dave from S/V Shoot the Moon for this entire week and have only managed to see him at the pool, but hope we can hook up with him when we return.

We had a nice surprise on Friday – when we were listening to the morning net, we heard ‘Slacker’ check in! Mike & Julie on S/V Slacker are on Dock 6 in Mazatlan and we have had the pleasure of getting to know them this past year. They work 6 months out of the year at the Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego & cruise the other 6 months. They’ve been doing this for over 6 years and decided to spend this cruising season doing projects on the boat for the entire season. We were bummed when we learned we wouldn’t be able to cruise with them but understood their reasoning. Anyway, we contacted them on the VHF and found out they were traveling with another couple and would be in Barra for the next couple days! We met them at the pool at The Sands Hotel and enjoyed catching up & cooling off in the pool and then went out for dinner that evening. The couple they were with turned out to be from Alaska and we learned a ton about the different cities we were applying and they gave us lots of info to think about. Sam cruised Mexico on a boat called ‘Livin’ and has it up for sale with the hopes of buying another smaller boat once it sells.

Saturday evening we went over to Heather & Jim on Meerkat, a catamaran from Ventura harbor along with John & Deby on Lovely Reta & Rick & Karen on Eyes of the World and attended an ‘It’s no-one’s birthday, birthday party’.

Yep, that’s right, it was no one’s birthday – a great reason for a party! Haha… Everyone was instructed to bring their own hamburger patties and were assigned an appetizer, salad, side, etc. I had the honor of bringing appetizers so I made my favorite carrot/cream cheese/olive appetizer as well as crackers & a cream cheese dip smothered in raspberry chipotle sauce…yum!! They were gobbled up as the 10 of us chatted, sang, & viewed photos. Meerkat had another couple on board, Alan & Susan from Anaheim who had joined them on their sail for the past month. They have a boat named Toshal at home & we enjoyed getting to know them. Anyway, Jim fired up the bbq and tossed the burgers on while everyone else was getting ready with baked beans, salad, & condiments. We chowed down some fantastic burgers & just enjoyed the evening. Deby from Lovely Reta has a large plastic duck that she was given by her sister and was named ‘Alice’ and she brings the duck all over & takes photos & sends them to her sister. She even has a theme song which was played loud over the speakers & sung to. Too funny…

Sunday was, of course, SUPER BOWL!! Yep, even down here we were able to watch the great game! We didn’t get the American commercials so luckily it was a good game! We took the shore boat into town around 2pm and walked around the town, scoping out the town for the best place to watch it. We had lots of options – a pig roast at one place, drink specials at another, sunset at another! We finally decided on Los Arcos and we ended up with a group of 13 people – Mike & Julie on Slacker, John & Deby on Lovely Reta, Alan & Susan from Toshal, Heather from Meerkat, Rick & Karen from Eyes of the World, & Sam and his girlfriend.

Can you BELIEVE the Cardinals LOST?!! Amazing… Anyway, another enjoyable evening & back at the boat. We’re leaving Barra tomorrow morning & heading to Santiago Bay! Woohoo!

More to follow…
Rene