New Year’s Eve 2009!!

Since our weather window was being elusive, we decided to stay in La Cruz for New Year’s Eve and then leave for points South on New Year’s day. Oh darn! It’s amazing just how much stuff there is to do in the bay. Parties are everywhere and there’s so much to choose from! We finally decided on going to Britania, a hot spot in La Cruz where our friends from Selah where heading, as were several others, for New Year’s eve dinner. I’ve been working on perfecting my killer margarita recipe and during the day, whipped up a pitcher full in preparation of the group from Selah swinging by when they arrived in La Cruz. They were bringing their boat to La Cruz from PV so that they didn’t have to get a taxi back after midnight. The group came over to the boat around 4:30 or so and we all enjoyed a margarita or two while a boat tour was being conducted by Michael. It’s always great having friends over to the boat, and these guys are especially fun as we don’t get to see them regularly. After catching up and enjoying the margaritas, they left to get ready for the evening.



We all arrived at Britania around 6:30 with an all you can eat buffet with lots of goodies. There were two bands scheduled to play that evening, the house band and one other and both bands were excellent! Bob & Marlene, along with their daughters Sherrie & Cyndi off of S/V Selah were there, Mat & Diane from Champagne Lady, Pamela & I.V. from precious Metal, as were several others. The night progressed with lots of dancing, margaritas, and the occasional tequila shots.



At about 10 minutes ‘til 11:00, we decided to stumble, I mean saunter, back down to the marina for fireworks. You see, La Cruz is located in the state of Nayarit, which is one hour behind it’s bordering state of Sonora, where Puerta Vallarta is located. So if the timing was right, you could go up to the breakwall in La Cruz and look out into the bay, and see the fireworks being shot off in PV and all along the bay. That was the plan! But, you guessed it….we arrived a little bit late and missed them. We were having too much fun tooting our party horns, twirling our noise makers, and whooping it up with all of the locals on the street. Haha!! But I heard the fireworks were awesome! We made it down to the boat where Michael found a comfy spot and crashed. I was still a bit amped and there was a band playing close by so I danced away in the cockpit of the boat! That is, until our boat neighbor asked me if I would like a dance partner! Doh! I’d been caught!! Haha… So in my best secret voice, I whispered…..”You can see me?!” And here I thought the tequila had activated my invisibility cloak! Feeling a bit uncomfortable being watched, I decided it was close enough to midnight, Nayarit time, I would go on up to the breakwall and sit up there. I knew something was amiss as everyone was leaving the breakwall, but I persisted and finally found Pat & Barry from Pacific Voyager who were also just leaving. They said the fireworks show was amazing, seeming to last forever! Bummer….I must have missed it. We talked about our plans to leave the following evening and about our night when suddenly….it was midnight Nayarit time and we got to see some of the most amazing fireworks being launched on the other side of the breakwall! We had front row seats to some incredible fireworks! The show seemed to last ages, though it was probably only a 20 minute show. They were so close, the usual pop, pop, pops were boom, Boom, BOOM’s!! You could feel the shocks all the way through your body. After the show finished, Pat & Barry headed back to their boat while I walked to my dock. There was a party going on at the Sky Bar at the top of the Yacht Club with lots of toot, toots going on from party horns. I returned toot toots…and was even invited up to the roof for some dancing! Knowing my limits, I declined, wished them a Happy New Year, and found my way back to the boat again. What an incredible night. I hope everyone had fun this New Year’s Eve and the new year is good to all.

We’re planning to leave the marina tomorrow, headed to Chamela with Pacific Jade, Slacker, & Pacific Voyager. I can’t wait!!

More to follow…
Rene

Elephants in Puerta Vallarta!!! 12.30.09

Hold onto your hats everyone….I just have to tell you about our exciting bus ride into Puerta Vallarta today. It was a crazy one…memorable for sure!



Joe & Deb from Pacific Jade and Bill from Grey Max took us into Puerta Vallarta to show us some of their favorite hangouts, stores, & shopping spots. We have been into PV several times and each time it surprises us how diverse it is! Anyway, we jumped onto a bus just behind Joe & Deb, who were having difficulties with the bus driver as there was confusion about the fare and exactly how much they paid him. It’s entirely possible they paid him about 5 pesos more than was due…but it worked out in the end.

As we were cruising down a two-lane street in downtown PV, we looked ahead and saw a convoy of vehicles being led by escort through town. Upon closer inspection, we realized the vehicles were loaded down with circus animals! We had seen the circus tent on the outskirts of town and realized this was an advertising event we have witnessed before in Mexico. See, the circus animals are loaded up in cages, flatbeds, & open air vehicles and are paraded up and down the city streets while a megaphone on the front vehicle tells everyone that the circus is in town, what time the shows are, and what they should expect to see! It’s always quite a sight…but today was so much better than we have ever experienced.





Our bus was in the left lane and the circus animals were in the right (see the blue bus in the picture above? That’s how close we were to the elephants in the convoy!). We passed the first truck carrying the monkeys, the next one had the camels. Then our lane slowed down and they passed us by. Then their lane had to stop and we passed them….monkeys, camels, cats….and then it was our turn again. Back and forth this happened until we saw….the Elephants! The elephants were in what looked like a flatbed, with a chain on one leg. We couldn’t help but laugh as while the truck was driving along the streets, the elephants would reach out with their trunks and shear the trees all along the road, stripping them of leaves and whatever else he could. Quickly, we realized there was not just one elephant, but five! And each of them was doing the same thing. They would lean as far as their chained foot would allow, sometimes coming really close to bringing a tire or two off the ground of their flatbed to pull leaves off of the trees.



And if they were stopped at a stoplight, which was often, they would lean into the other side of the street, trying all their might to strip the trees on the other side of the street! They didn’t seem to be choosy between the palm trees and the shrubbery – whatever they could get their trunk around and snag was promptly put into their mouths and any leaves that were dropped were vacuumed up with the tips of their trunks. And…..god help the poor pickup truck drivers that were in the next lane because the elephant would put his trunk in the bed of the pickups and see if he could find goodies!



Now you can imagine, we are enjoying every moment watching these elephants. To say we were laughing is really an understatement. There were only 4 other occupants and the driver other than us in the bus and we were all having fun watching the animals.

But….the best part was yet to come. You see, our bus had to go past the elephants and, well, it appeared our bus driver was a little nervous around the big guys. So he stayed right on the tail of one of the vehicles, giving us the show of our lives!



Just as the bus driver would get up enough nerve, the elephant would lean across our lane and he’d slam on his brakes again. It gave us quite a close view! But as fate would have it, he finally got up the courage and we went right beside one of the behemoth animals….and were promptly stopped at the next stoplight! Now we were nose to nose (well, nose to butt really) with an elephant!



We watched as he sheared some of the bushes on the sidewalk, amazing all of the occupants on the street! He put his trunk in the bed of a pickup, sniffed around and then suddenly, out of nowhere, he turned around and came towards the opened window of the bus! Now we were really eye to eye to this elephant!



As quickly as he turned around several things happened. Everyone in the bus, including the folks on the other side of the bus drew in a huge noisy breath, the bus itself seemed to lean over about 2 feet as everyone flinched and leaned to the left (including the passengers on the opposite side of the bus!), and Deb slammed her window shut! And of course, everyone couldn’t stop laughing! The elephant looked at us for what felt like hours but was surely only a couple of beats, swinging his trunk to and fro, and, realizing he wasn’t going to get any goodies from us swung around to the trees on the other side again.



Deb joked with Joe that maybe she shouldn’t have slammed the window shut – maybe it was a little rude. But Joe said if she didn’t, he would have! And we all rationalized that the nosy elephant was probably after Deb’s straw hat….yummy! We also laughed uncontrollably as we thought about the commotion that would happen if they were stopped beside one of the many ‘veggie trucks’ in the area! A veggie truck is literally a pickup truck loaded down with fruits & veggies that travels from spot to spot selling their wares. And what would happen if he had to explain it – maybe to his wife or, even better, a policeman! Really officer, I was parked on the street when suddenly an elephant made off with a whole crate of my carrots! Joe & Deb’s extra 5 pesos paid to the driver sure turned out to pay off! Hahaha!!! It’s impossible to think of without either cracking a smile or breaking out into laughter – even now. I love Mexico!

Finally we made it around the convoy – getting up close with hyenas, panthers, lions, leopards, bears, monkeys, baboons, elephants, camels, horses, & zebras. How fun!!

The day just got better and better as Joe & Deb took us through town. We stopped at Burro’s restaurant in old town PV which was rumored to have incredible mango margaritas (they were out of mangos so we settled for peach, pineapple, lime, banana, & strawberry – hey, we’re an adaptable bunch!),



walked from there through old town to Rizo’s supermarket that has lots of yummy, expensive, items from the States that are very difficult to find down here, to the foot bridges that cross the river leading us to the market along the river,



to the flea market, to Fox’s Café Roma, on and on… It was an incredibly beautiful day, warm & sunshiny, and before we knew it, was getting late so we found the bus stop & headed back to La Cruz, exhausted from the days events.

Just another wonderful day among friends….enjoying everything around us. Life is good!
Rene

Beach trip to Punta de Mita 12.28.09

After recovering from our fun Christmas and waiting for a good weather window to round Cabo Corrientes we figured it must be time for another beach trip! And since we’ve never been to Punta de Mita, why not go now!  So Mike & Julie from Slacker and Anne & Jeff from Outrider and us all went to check it out. We found our seats on a bus and took off – like a bat out of hell. Literally. I was in luck, my neck was still killing me so I sat in the back of the bus holding onto my head with my eyes closed. It turns out, that was probably the best thing I could have done because I learned when we got off the bus, we had none other than Mario Andretti driving the bus! Or maybe a Mario Andretti wanna be, you never know. Michael and I were near the back of the bus but Mike & Julie were in the first few rows as were Anne & Jeff. They had quite a show watching the driver pass vehicle after vehicle on blind curves, on a winding two lane road. They figured they were safe when the got behind another bus, but no! Our driver just passed him like he was standing still! Julie started to get scared when she saw a local in the row ahead of her cross himself. You know it’s bad when a local is frightened! I wondered why, at the first stop, everyone seemed so eager to get off the bus! Haha…

Once off the bus we walked the few streets down to the beach and promptly went in search of a drink! After that ride, we needed something to settle our nerves (seems like reasonable rationalization to me, right?!) We found a great restaurant – The Acuario – with a second story that opened up to the beach and settled in for the afternoon.



The beach was packed even though it was a cool, cloudy day. Punta de Mita is known for its surfing and there were plenty of surfers taking advantage of the never ending surf coming in. There were a handful of boats anchored out and we had a bit of fun watching the dinghies & kayaks come in – commentating the entire time to go, Go, GO! Or just rate them on how they did.



Conversation never ceased & after a while we decided to check out the rest of the beach. There was lots of new construction since the last time either Outrider or Slacker had been here. We found some of the old haunts, spotted some new must-do’s the next time, and wound our way through the city streets back up to the bus stop. On our way, we found a guy on the street selling fresh-cooked churos! YUM!! There’s not much better than fresh, hot churos and we all got a bag. Six churos for a whole 10 pesos. Yum….heaven.



Waiting for that weather window!!
Rene

Breathless & T.I.T.S. 12.26.09

If anything, the title should at least get your attention! Haha… As I mentioned before, our new friend, Ernie, had volunteered to take us back to La Cruz on his boat the following morning. We woke up and Michael went to a little coffee shop for some coffee & breakfast and we sat, people watching, while enjoying our breakfast. It was raining/drizzling but no one seemed to mind a bit. There were families, folks going to and from work, lots of exercisers, and several folks just strolling along the boardwalk. It was a great people watching morning. Bob hollered down from the condo and asked if we wanted coffee and we went up to the condo after everyone was up and about. It was a great, relaxing morning away from the boat!



Around 11:00 the group of us – Michael & I, Bob & Marlene, and Cyndi meandered down to Breathless. S/V Breathless is a stunning vessel. It’s a 78’ Maple Leaf, ketch-rigged sailboat.



It’s absolutely beautiful. Once aboard, we were introduced to Larry, Ernie’s crewmember for the past 10 years, and given the grand tour which included a spiral staircase, full kitchen (I don’t consider this a galley as it has full-size appliances!), 5 staterooms, a great entertaining area below, the list really goes on and on. This boat was magnificent – stunning in every way.



We had a great group aboard for the day – Michael & I, Bob & Marlene and Cyndi, their daughter, LaLena & her son, Nick, Ernie & Jerry, and Larry, the crewmember. Ernie powered out of his slip and maneuvered this huge boat like a master, making turns I was certain we would never make.



We motored out of Marina Vallarta and threw up the mainsail, though there was no wind to speak of. The morning was overcast but we had a great motorsail over to a spot on the South side of the bay called Las Animas.



The conversation never ceased as we motorsailed along. We arrived at Los Animos and were met by a panga who, along with Larry, secured us to a mooring ball while the group clambered into the panga. It was a little easier said than done but everyone made it safe & sound. Then the panga took us in through the surf, spun us around, & beached the panga….like he had done it a million times before (which I’m sure he has). Once we were beached, we jumped out of the panga into knee high water and walked up to a restaurant for some coldies & snacks!



The sun finally managed to peek out of the clouds and turned into a magnificent day! We chatted, enjoyed watching the folks out at the beach, watched the vendors selling their wares (pies, flan, and the regular stuff), and just enjoyed the amazing day.



After a while, it was time to go so we waved for our panga driver who, again did his acrobatic beaching and loaded us into the panga. Back on board Breathless the engines were fired up and we were on our way! Banderas Bay is approximately 15 miles across and the decision was made that instead of taking Breathless all the way across the bay to La Cruz just to let us off, we would instead be lowered into the dinghy and blasted across the bay by Larry. Cool! The dinghy was brought around and we crawled down into a 12’ dinghy with probably a 50hp engine and were, literally, blasted from one side of the bay to the other! I’ve mentioned that I had a pinched nerve in my neck and I was unable to move well, unable to turn my head, etc. I figure the dinghy ride over either helped or made it ten times worse! I’ll never know… Larry was great though and we made it to the other side of the bay in about 35 minutes. We were dropped off at the boat – wow! Boat to boat service! What an amazing morning. It was yet another example of how much fun you can have when you open yourself up to opportunities when they come along!

Once we were back at the boat, I took Anne up on her offer of a neck massage and was rewarded with an amazing massage. What a great Christmas present!

OK…so what’s T.I.T.S you ask? Why it’s Taco’s In The Street! :-) Just one of the great traditions in La Cruz is tacos in the street on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday. There is a street where the tables & chairs are placed in the street – many, many tables – and a couple vendors make up tacos, quesadillas, or tostadas with great salsas & mouthwatering goodies. We met Bob & Marlene with their other daughter, Sherrie, along with a couple from Christmas dinner and some friends of theirs. Anne & Jeff from Outrider came along with us and we all took up a large table and ate like kings & queens. It was incredibly busy – there must have been 100 other occupants but even with the other patrons our food was delivered incredibly quickly and it was absolutely scrumptious! Tacos in the street, or TITS as we call it, has quickly become a must-do while in La Cruz! It was getting late (it must have been 8:30 or so – cruiser midnight!) and my neck was still giving me trouble so we decided to hoof it back to the boats for the evening.

Another memorable Christmas & the day after! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well!!

Rene

Merry Christmas!! 12.25.09

Ahhh….what an amazing day! Sunshiny & warm, surrounded by friends, what more could we ask for! After a lazy morning getting up and around, I donned my Santa helper-hat and jumped into the dinghy for some deliveries! We wound our way around the anchorage & marina dropping off goodies for our close friends. I woke up with a stiff neck and assumed I slept on it wrong and hoped it would work its way loose.

Unfortunately, as we were dinghying around, we also noticed a boat that was sinking. It was about a 24’ runabout but the only thing that was holding it up was the dock cleats.



We quickly dinghied up to the guards and alerted them of the situation who jumped into action. We told them we had a pump to attempt to help with getting water out and they graciously accepted our help. Michael spent several hours with about 12 other guys – guards, fishermen, & the owner of the boat trying to raise it. They would bring it to the surface and get it almost floating before it would eventually sink again.



I stopped watching after a couple hours as it was just heartbreaking. There was a man who was also watching and I sauntered over and asked if it was his boat. He said it was his son’s boat, his was the boat in front of me….and he was partners with two other boats, one being a brand spanking new 57’ Jenneau that he offered to show me inside! I graciously accepted and was treated to a personal tour of the entire boat, as well as his personal boat. How fun!!

Around 2:00, Michael and I jumped on a bus and went into Puerta Vallarta, which is about 30 minutes away. Our friends Bob & Marlene from S/V Selah whom we met last year in Tenacatita had invited us to Christmas dinner at their condo. What a treat! Their condo overlooks their boat slip and has an amazing view of the promenade around the marina. We arrived a little early with some homemade bread & an appetizer but before we knew it there was a group of about 14 of us all chatting away, munching on the appetizers, & enjoying the magnificent view.



We feasted on an amazing dinner of two turkeys, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, creamed corn casserole, appetizers, homemade cranberry sauce, croisssants – you name it, we had it! Conversation never ceased as we all got to know each other, many who have known each other for years and others who were new to the group (like us!). We ate & chatted and watched as a group played darts until dessert was served. We enjoyed getting to know everyone around us and laughed the night away. We met a gal, LaLena and her son Nick, who is a timeshare salesman in Puerta Vallarta.



She joked with us that she was ‘our worst nightmare’ but then said she would never have approached us. Wondering why, I asked and she said it was because of my shoes! When a person goes on vacation, they always have new shoes on! Haha… I guess it’s time for me to upgrade my wardrobe – or at least my shoes! We met another fellow, Ernie, who volunteered to take us back to La Cruz on our boat the following morning – what an incredibly nice offer! Each person in the group was incredibly nice, had amazing stories, and everyone had a wonderful evening!

As the evening progressed, the group began to break up and head home. Because we were so far away from home, Bob & Marlene offered to let us stay the evening on their boat since it was not being used, which was an incredibly kind offer…that we took them up on!



We left the condo and went downstairs to their boat, stumbled around until we found the lightswitches, and after getting settled in, sat out in the cockpit & watched the world go by. It was a lot of fun watching the families, partiers, couples, & workers coming & going by the boat. My neck was still killing me so I turned in early and tried to get some much needed rest.

I’ve learned a new toast in Spanish that I absolutely love – Amor, Salud, & Dinero – y tiempo para gustarlo. Which translated means: Love, health & money – and time to enjoy it! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!

Love,
Rene & Michael

Christmas Eve (Julie’s Birthday!) 12.24.09

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again – it sure is easy to stay busy here! There’s always something going on, even if it’s just a trip to the grocery store, which can easily take ½ the day. There is a brand new huge ‘Mega’ store that opened up just on the other side of Bucerias and a big group of us all took the bus in to pick up some goodies that we couldn’t find at the little tiendas in town. The Mega store was insane – we must have gone on one of the craziest days in history and we were glad to get our stuff and get out of there!! Haha.. Anne & Jeff from Outrider caught a 5’ wahoo on their sail from Mantanchen to La Cruz and was giving away chunks of it so the evening after they arrived, Anne & Jeff, Mike & Julie, and Michael & I, all went aboard Val & Stan’s Pax Nautica for fish tacos! Everyone marinated their fish differently and brought a little something to accompany the tacos - it was fun to try each type of fish. We also were invited to dinner aboard Precious Metal with Pamela & I.V. for chicken curry – yum!! I had a recipe for a homemade salad dressing I’ve been dying to try out so I made a big batch to use on the salad and everyone feasted on it. YUM!! Just call me Betty….NOT!

I have to admit, it’s difficult to get in the holiday spirit down here. Because we don’t have T.V., don’t listen to local radio, and don’t read the newspaper, we’re not overloaded with holiday cheer, advertising, and reminders that it’s Christmas! And, of course, the temperature is still in the 80’s so we’re in shorts, tank tops, & flip flops. And I haven’t found a Christmas tank top yet…haha!! But this year I decided to bake some goodies to give away to the guards here at the marina and for some reason, I was so excited! I couldn’t wait and was immediately ‘in the spirit’. We put up our Christmas tree and our decoration and I began baking. I made three different cookies – lemon meltaways, a coconut bar type cookie, and my favorite cookie of all…chocolate chip molasses cookies. Plus I made a fruit and nut bread that we gave away to a couple of cruiser friends too. I was a baking fool!

But before I forget – it’s also Julie’s birthday from Slacker!



Woohoo! What better reason to get together! Of course it had to be a secret so I arranged with Mike to come over around 12:00 and we’d bring the ‘gang’ to help celebrate! I even baked a cake – frosting and everything – for the celebration. Now it was my first cake, ever, and was about as dry as a bone….but the chocolate cream cheese frosting was good!!



Haha… At high noon, about 3 dinghies full of partiers dinghied over – just as they were leaving! Julie had been treated to a huge breakfast and was ready to go for a walk around town! Mike did a great job keeping her close to the boat as we all dinghied around and SURPRISE!! We ended up with about 16 people helping celebrate – singing Happy Birthday and all! It was great.

Later that day we took 8 plates of cookies up to the office with instructions to make sure all of the guards, the marina manager, & marina assistant get some! They were very surprised and I enjoyed every bit of it.

The cruisers organized an appetizer party up near the marina office that began around 5pm. There was a great turnout and incredible appetizers shared. The evening was beautiful – it was the perfect temperature, there was Christmas music in the background, and great to be surrounded by such amazing friends.

Merry Christmas everyone…
Rene & Michael

Beach Day in Sayulita 12.21.09

The past three days or so we have been doing projects on the boat, checking out the town, and enjoying spending time with friends. There is always something to do here!! Never a dull moment – the day we arrived there were two parties, the next day we went to a party on dock 10 – Bob on S/V Yemaya was celebrating receiving his 1st social security check and bought beers & pizza for the entire dock and anyone else who wanted to come! Of course everyone pitched in and brought something to accompany it and whalah….it’s a party! The next day we decided that, well, it is Christmas so what the hell, we ‘crossed over’ and joined the fleet in the marina. We’re usually not marina people – at all – but well, we could make excuses all day long but we just wanted to. That evening we were contacted by Bob & Marlene on S/V Selah and we met them that evening at Brittania. We have been busy every day – even if it’s a party. Haha!!

Jeez, all this working and slaving away (yeah, right) it’s soooo time for a beach day! It’s impossible to believe all this time we’ve been here, we have only had one other beach day! We’re well past due. And luckily for us….Bill & MJ have the ‘in’ with a couple of locals with vehicles and we were invited along! And even better than that…with two pickup trucks going, we were able to take all 12 of us! We all piled into the two pickup trucks, some in front, some in back, and took the crazy winding roads around into Sayulita.



Once there, we found parking (not an easy feat!), stumbled out, and, what else – found a spot for Breakfast! In Sayulita, one of the must-stop’s is a place called Rollie’s. It’s a great spot and they welcomed us all with open arms, even setting up the top floor special to accommodate all of us. We had an amazing breakfast and bloody mary’s (or bloody maria’s which have tequila instead of vodka) and even talked Rollie into posing in a picture with us. Fun, fun…



Then we gathered up all our beach stuff – blankets, towels, umbrellas, boogie boards, knapsacks, etc and staked out a spot. As we arrived, we spotted a sailboat that looked to be close to rounding the corner and we wondered if it was Anne & Jeff on Outrider. I hailed them on the portable radio we brought with us just in case we saw them but didn’t hear a response. Come to find out later that day they did hear us and were trying to hail us too but the portable radio just couldn’t pick them up. Cool!!



The beach was packed, heavily laden with surfers, swimmers, & suntanners. There were of course lots of vendors walking by selling the normal trinkets and some unusual items – like this guy selling bbq’d shrimp on sticks!



The water felt amazing – it was sunny and the water was a welcome refuge from the heat. The beach is a great surf break so you had to pay attention getting both in and back out of the water but it was heavenly.



Michael and I went for a walkabout at one point looking for a friend of a friend who lives in Sayulita and checking out the town. The group had fun playing a dice game, people watching, swimming, shopping, etc. And of course, imbibing in the cervezas & tequila! After several hours, it was time to get back as three in the group were musicians who were playing later that evening so we herded back into the vehicles and made our way back to La Cruz.

Later that evening we all went to Ana Banana’s for great rib dinners and, of course, some great music! It’s so easy to stay busy here!

More to follow…
Rene

This is my kind of Santa...

La Cruz de Huacaxtle 12.17.09

We were up and at ‘em early this morning, leaving Mantanchen Bay and heading to the anchorage in La Cruz in Banderas Bay. Luckily, we are one of the faster boats and our early this morning was 6:30…not like a couple of the slower boats that left hours before. We had a line of boats, again, heading South – Pacific Jade, Grey Max, & Slacker. I would love to say the trip was uneventful…but, alas, it wasn’t quite as smooth as we would have liked. The 65 mile trip is known for being not only a beautiful coastline, but one riddled with long lines. Long lines are fishing lines that can be over a mile long, are typically a nylon line that floats on the surface of the water and at evenly spaced intervals the fishermen have tied fishing line with hooks that dangle down about 20’ or so. The big issue is that the long lines are typically not marked adequately, or even uniformly! The ‘typical’ long line has a black flag float at the end of the line, several floats that are usually plastic coke bottles that are tied onto the lines occasionally and finally another flag that indicates the end of the line. When this system is followed, it’s fairly easy to maneuver around these lines and keep out of the middle of them. You see, the danger is the fact that the lines float on the surface and there is the possibility of the line getting caught up in the propeller or anywhere else on the boat. And they did!

The typical convention was not followed at all and we ended up getting caught on not one, two, three, but FOUR long lines! The first time was the worst as we were caught on three at one time. Sometimes the fishermen put out what’s called a ‘spiderweb’ of lines and that’s what we got wrapped up on the first time. I was on the bow of the boat looking for the tell tale line at the surface and as soon as I saw it and motioned Michael away, we turned the boat in a circle to attempt to go parallel with the line. Next thing we knew, we had run over another one, which was caught on the bottom of the boat, and yet another that was caught on the bow. We immediately shut down the propeller and bobbed around while Michael used the boat hook to bring the lines aboard the boat and cut them to free us. Out of nowhere, a panga raced towards us with two fishermen on board. The helped free the boat from two of the lines but one was stuck around, we thought at the time, the propeller. The fisherman shocked us all by stripping down to his shorts (he had foulies on) and jumped in the water to free the line. Apparently it was hooked on the rudder boot and we had made it worse by trying to free it because the fish hook was caught!



The fishermen instructed us to follow their line and they would lead us out of the lines. They proceeded to race ahead of us, where it looked like they were laying out another line, but as we got closer we realized that there was yet another long line of theirs that they had cut, opening up a path for us to go through, and as soon as we were through they re-tied it together. Whew! What a crazy ordeal!! Slacker was behind us and we were trying to report all of the lines that we encountered but even with the help we were offering up, they too got hooked on at least one line.

I joked with Michael that he had just complained that he was bored on these long passages! I don’t think he’ll do that again. Of course, we saw our share of whales - one only about 20' off of our starboard side that we had to make a sudden course change to miss hitting it! This one wasn't half as close but I managed to get a picture of it!



We continued along, motorsailing, until we came around the corner into Banderas Bay. Suddenly, the wind came up, it was out of the right direction, and we were SAILING!! And not just slowly sailing, we were scooting along at 7 to 7.5 knots! We had a great couple hours of really great sailing, even getting closer and closer to both Pacific Jade & Grey Max who were just ahead of us. It was amazing, what a great end to a crazy day!



We finally dropped the hook around 4:30 in the anchorage of La Cruz, had a celebratory cerveza, and a relaxing evening. Our plan is to stay in La Cruz until Christmas and leave just around the 27th or so, weather permitting. We have some friends, Bob & Marlene, who live in Puerta Vallarta who we hope to have Christmas dinner with and we’ll do our darndest to have a good time between now and then!  I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season! I miss all of the parties that always happened around this time. I miss the smells, the lights, and catching up with long lost friends!

More to follow…
Rene

Birds of San Blas, Nayarit 12.16.09

San Blas is surrounded by overgrown mangroves reverberating with the sounds of the myriad of wildlife living within them.



Each winter, huge flocks of birds arrive in San Blas, attracted by its superb tropical climate, enhanced by the profusion of mangroves, estuaries, lagoons and beaches. Thanks to its exceptional geographical position San Blas is one of the most important natural refuges in the Western Hemisphere. Truly a birdwatchers delight. On our recent jungle trip up to La Tovara and Camalota lagoon, we saw some amazing birds. Although I’m no birdwatcher, we were lucky enough to have Mary Jane from S/V Grey Max onboard who identified each bird. Here’s a list of the birds that were spotted:

- Little green heron
- Great blue heron
- Hooked billed kite (both in the black phase and regular)
- Chacalaca
- Great-tailed grackle
- Common grackle



- Groove-billed Ani
- Mangrove Swallow
- Citreoline Trogan
- Green Kingfisher
- Ringed Kingsfisher
- Western King bird
- Eastern King bird



- Tropical King bird
- Great Kiskadee
- Yellow-winged cacique
- Eared Grebe
- White Pelican
- Double crested cormorant
- Great Egret



- Little blue heron
- Black-crowned night heron
- Yellow-crowned night heron
- White faced Ibis
- Cattle egret
- Black vulture
- Turkey vulture




- Coast Sandpiper
- Royal Tern
- Frigate Bird
- Ruddy Ground Dove
- Wilson’s Warbler
- Anhinga
- Military Macaws

There's more pictures here... but WOW!! It was a spectacular day! What fun…
Rene

Enjoying San Blas 12.15.09

What a great place for a little R&R! I spent the past couple days just laying low, resting, & trying to get my energy back. Each day I am better, and each day I push myself to the limit to see how I’m doing. On Saturday, I walked from one end of the dock to the other as Anne & Jeff on S/V Outrider came into the marina. That was enough for a while and I high-tailed it (yeah, right!) back to the boat to rest again. That evening though was the Virgin of Guadalupe celebration and I didn’t want to miss that, so we took a taxi into town and strolled through the plaza, watching the parade go by, and into the church where many of the townspeople were gathered.



Then we just sat on one of the benches in the plaza and watched the world go by. It was so much fun to watch the families, laughter, kids playing, & the motorcycles! You see, there was also a motorcycle rally going on this weekend and we just happened to have front row seats for many parts of it! We hung out for several hours before jumping in a taxi back to the marina.

The next day I was ready for another outing. So, as I hope you’ve seen…we went into the San Blas Social Club, www.socialclub.sanblasmexico.com, for some internetting (finally updating the blogs),



some great food (my first real meal in a while!), and a front row seat for the Moto rally. Check out www.madbuildersmotocicletasmexico.com The parade began with a Police escort – motorcycle police airing their horns alerting everyone they were coming, a Pacifico Hummer (I want one!) with huge mambo speakers cranking out ear splitting music,



and row after row of motorcycles – vroom, vrooming their loud engines so you could feel the vibrations in your body! It was deafening…but awe inspiring at the same time. After the parade wound it’s way through town, they ended back up in the town square where the Policia Vial Jalisco proceeded to perform an acrobatic show…on motorcycles – the Escuadron Acrobatico!



It was amazing to watch as the men, women, & boys mounted the moving motorcycles, climbed on each other’s backs, and held the kids above their head in incredible pyramid after pyramid.



Fun stuff. Then, as we were leaving, we watched in awe as after a governor was finished speaking, he flung peso coins out into the crowd. The kids scrambled over to pick up as much as they could and it was a huge bag of coins!! Now tell me….is that buying votes?! Haha…

Monday morning we were up and at ‘em bright & early to go to the crocodilario, the crocodile farm on the Jungle tour. We met Anne & Jeff at 6:45 and jumped into a taxi who took us out near Mantanchen Bay, where the jungle tour begins. We had a full group with Anne & Jeff from S/V Outrider, MJ & Bill from S/V Grey Max, Mike & Julie from S/V Slacker, & Joe & Deb from S/V Pacific Jade.



We all hopped into a panga with our driver, Chuy, and set off in search of birds, reptiles, & crocodiles! And that’s exactly what we found! MJ from Grey Max is an avid birder and she provided us with not only the names of the birds we saw but also their habits & activities. We were so pleased she was along!




The guide was patient and kind, stopping whenever we pointed or asked to get a better look. Our first stop was at the crocodilaria, or crocodile zoo. Inside the zoo were a handful of crocs, from itty bitty ones to monster large ones. We stopped & fed the fish, chatted with the locals, and admired the amazingly crystal clear water.



Our next stop was at a fresh water swimming hole and restaurant. The panga driver told us the restaurant wouldn’t be opened for another hour and we were all happy to spend that hour soaking it up in the fresh water. We begged him to let us stay for an hour more than usual and after a little resistance, he finally said OK. It was a crystal clear day, with temps in the upper 80’s/lower 90’s, and the water felt simply heavenly.



There was a trapeze swing that a few were brave enough to attempt crazy jumps in with and many just floated along. We were all excited to see the restaurant workers arrive, cervezas in tow, and they swiftly setup tablecloths & served us up some refreshments. We all ate a little something, made sure Chuy also had something to eat & drink (for his troubles), and finally drug our feet to leave. We saw many more birds on our way back and Chuy didn’t bat an eye at stopping for us.

What a fun day!




You can imagine, I was pretty beat so after the tour and walking down the street for some of the famous banana bread that is a must-get at Mantanchen Bay, we jumped on a well-timed bus back into town and a taxi back to the marina. Back at the boat I was exhausted & went down for a nap, sleeping for a couple hours to rest. Grrrr….I’m ready to be BETTER!!! Just a couple more days of antibiotics…..

Today we had a mellow morning. It’s overcast today and everyone on the dock seems to be enjoying the mellowness. We caught up on laundry, washed down the boat, read, etc. We are back in town now, at the Social Club, after just eating some fantastic tacos just down the street. I’ve said it before….life is good!!

We plan on being in La Cruz for Christmas. We are leaving the marina tomorrow morning and will spend at least one evening at anchor back in Mantanchen Bay before taking off South. I’ll be glad to be back in the anchorage. I love being so close to town, but the mosquitoes are eating me up and I’m ready to get back in the swing of things!

Until later…
Rene