SVAquadesiac

Holiday traditions of Mexico

2011-12-23T15:39:00.000-08:00

December 12th is Dia de Guadalupe which is one of the most important celebrations of Mexico and Catholics around the world.
This time last year we were in La Cruz and the celebration started on Saturday the 11th and was celebrated with lots of festivities including activities around the town square across from the church, street parties and loud music until about 4 in the morning, along with what we call flash bang fireworks, sort of like a cannon, which are lit off from the afternoon until well into the wee hours of the morning. Here in Zihoutenejo they are selling fireworks on the street. They shoot them off randomly during the night they are pretty to watch and haven't kept us awake or frighten the dog. It is relatively quite in the bay here during this celebration or maybe we are just getting used to the music. There was actually an opera singer we could hear the other night. It was a nice change of pace.

So what was the celebration all about? My friend Carol from SvStrayCat found an article about the Virgin of Guadalupe I thought I would share.

“The Virgin of Guadalupe is the most famous and celebrated of all saints and she is also known as the “Virgen Morena” and is the patron saint of Mexico. Supposedly she was first encountered by an Aztec Indian, San Juan Diego, on the hill of Tepeyac now known as modern day Mexico City, in 1531, shortly after the conquest by the Spanish Conquistadors. As the story goes he was on his way to a monastery and when passing the hill of Tepeyac he heard signing as the sky turned brilliant colors and at the end of the signing he heard a call from a woman. As he knelt before her she identified herself as the “consummate virgin Saint Mary, mother of the true deity, God, the giver of Life, the creator of all, the ever present lord of heaven and earth”. Then she then asked for a temple to be built on the site so that she could attend to the “weeping, sorrows and prayers” of all the people of the land. While he tried to rely this sighting to the Bishop he had no proof and was afraid to offend the deity so he returned to the hill and once again he saw her and she told him to pick some Castilian Roses and return to the Bishop with the roses that were very uncommon to the area at that time. With this “miracle” the Bishop then believed Juan Diego’s story and shortly thereafter there was a Basilica built on that site in honor of The Virgin Guadalupe. Dia de Guadalupe is more important for many Mexicans than Easter or Christmas and is celebrated with parades, pilgrimages and fiestas throughout much of Mexico and most of Latin America. In 1737 she was recognized as the patron Saint of Mexico City and eventually by 1946 to include all of the Americas. This day is to celebrate the love we give to the Virign de Guadalupe and is known to many as the day of Love (Amor).”

December 12th marks the beginning of the Christmas Posadas (festivals) and holidays all over Mexico and Latin America Carol asked the family that runs a favorite week-end “tacos in the street” eatery. She told her that after December 15th it gets harder and harder to conduct business or get services done as executives and employees travel to see their families in other parts of Mexico or the world (like the US). The holiday festivities or Posadas will continue until the last day of Christmas which in Mexico is January 6th which is Epiphany or Three Kings Day (Dia de los Reyes). This is where the 12 days of Christmas originates and many Mexican families still give one small gift every day from Christmas until the 6th. She said Posadas are sometimes just a family or a neighborhood and start with a candlelight procession and are often are all night celebrations like the one on the 11th.

The tacos in the street lady remembers as a young girl her family painting a dried Century plant silver for their Christmas tree. Now she says her family has what we gringos would call a traditional artificial fir tree. Of course poinsettias are plentiful here and are found everywhere. Santa Claus is not a traditional figure here in Mexico but he is becoming more popular and some families open all their gifts on Christmas Eve after a big family dinner. But rather it is more traditional here for children to write their wish list to the Three Wise Men and wait until January 6th to see if their wishes are granted. Instead of leaving milk and cookies for Santa, they leave their shoes outside filled with hay for the camels.

But wait there is more. This will kind of remind you of Mardi Gras and King Cake and who gets the baby. On January 6th families eat a sweetbread ring shaped cake with small bits of fruit and candy inside and a small plastic baby that represents the baby Jesus. The person who receives the baby in their slice is responsible for giving a party and making tamales for the Fiesta de la Candelaria (Candles) on February 2nd, the last party of the Christmas season.

And we didn’t talk about what happens for New Years?!!

All the details above where as I mentioned from my friend Carol and I wanted to log them in and the blog seemed the perfect spot. I love learning about peoples traditions and Carol somehow is really good at searching them out.

I received a DHL package today here in Zihoutenejo. It was my new credit card. I am thankful for the wonderful network of people that made it possible for me to dingy to shore and pick up a package at the little grass shack at the end of the pier, how amazing is that?

We haven't really figured out what we are doing for Christmas eve or Christmas day yet, just going with the flow. There are now 8 boats in and around the bay. The restaurants in town have posted some dinner specials which look good.

Zihoutenejo for the holidays

2011-12-18T06:37:00.000-08:00

We left la Cruz December 1, 2011 right smack at the starting gun for this years Bandaras Bay Blast. Timing is everything right. Our destination Zihoutenejo for the holidays. We made a few stops along the way at Tenacatita and Las Hadas. The weather was warm and sunny for our trip but there was a lot of swell in the sea. I was a bit mal de mar. We saw jumping tuna, turtles, dolphins and of course a few fishing nets along the way. I really don't do to well with lack of sleep, I start hearing music that is not playing. In the past it was always The Magigal mystery tour, this trip I heard and old western tune (the one where the horses gallop).

Well we arrived here December 12 and put the anchor down for the holidays. This is our second visit to Zihoutenejo. We are familiar with most things in walking distance. The weather is warm, the water is warm 89 degrees. Doesn't really feel like Christmas. I took out my gallon size bag of decorations and was done decorating in about two minutes. I also found some solar Christmas type lights so they are outside on our solar panels, flashing!

We don't have any big plans, in fact no plans for Christmas. We are going to meet up with my sister in laws sister "Dorothy and her family" who frequently come to Zihoutenejo from the pacific northwest.

My friend Carol from Santa Rosa on board SVStraycat sent me this interesting news regarding the poinsettia plants that we see everywhere.

It seems like everywhere we go we see poinsettias – at the tienda (convenience store) ferreteria (hardware store) in the doorways and by the cash register, restaurants, offices, homes and even street taco stands as well as in the churches. They are sold at markets and from the back of pick-up trucks. The plethora of poinsettias prompted us to inquire about their significance. We were told the poinsettia was originally used by the Aztecs who called it “Cuetlaxochitle” (don’t ask me how to pronounce that). The Aztecs used the sap from the plants to reduce fevers and to make a reddish-purple dye. It is said that Montezuma, the last Aztec King, brought the flowers from Southern Mexico in caravans to Mexico City because the poinsettia would not grow at the higher altitudes.

In Mexico it is called “Flor del Noche Buena” (Christmas Eve Flower or literally Flower of the Good Night) or in Central America the “Flame Leaf.” In North America it became known as the Poinsettia and was so named after Dr. Joel Poinsett, who was the first United States Ambassador to Mexico from 1825 to 1829. The plants are native to the Taxco area in Mexico and while Dr. Poinsett was visiting the region he fell in love with the flowers and shipped some to his own nursery in Greenville, South Carolina where they were also given to several other nurseries to eventually be grown commercially. The Poinsettia starts out with star shaped green leaves that turn into a deep red at the top. Nowadays at home we see white ones, pink ones and variegated ones as well as the traditional red.

Naturally there is a wonderful legend in Mexico as to how the flower became used to celebrate Christmas. The story begins with a poor girl named Maria and her little brother Pablo (or cousin, Pedro, depending on who tells the story). Maria was very sad because she was so poor she had nothing to give the baby Jesus in the manger scene in the Village Church. On Christmas Eve (Noche Buena) on the way to church Maria picked some “weeds” to make a bouquet to leave at the manger scene. Her little brother (or cousin) said to her, “it does not matter what you give as long you give it in love”. Naturally the other children in the village teased them until they saw the “weeds” turn from green to a bright red right before their eyes as Maria knelt at the altar. The whole village then realized they had witnessed a true Christmas miracle and from that day forward the plant became known as the “Flor del Noche Buena.”

Día de San Patricio

2011-03-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

Hola, Leo joined us here last night just in time for the St. Patricks day celebration in Melaque. OMG, it was the most amazing fireworks demonstration and fiesta I have seen in Mexico. We would NEVER, NEVER, EVER see anything like this in the USA.

Festivities began this week with the Fiesta del Torros which included rodeo events, bullfights, carnival, parades, blessing of the fishing fleet, folk dances, boxing matches, and nightly fireworks.

The town which I refer to as Melaque, is actually three towns seamlessly joined together: Melaque, Villa Obregón, and San Patricio. St. Patrick is the patron saint of San Patricio as in many other towns in Mexico. They all have a Saint Patrick's Day celebration but perhaps the biggest celebration is the Melaque, Jalisco, March 17 celebration which is the one event we went attended.

We took the bus over to Melaque from Barre de Navidid around 6:30 PM in the evening. The fiesta was in the town square. We wandered around and marveled at all the food stands selling taco, crepes, pancakes, hot dogs, hamburgers and finally decided on a taco stand that had a table, real fine dining.

After eating our tacos, which all had very elaborate names like a volcano, a gringa, etc., we shuffled off towards the bull ring to watch the dancing horses and the bull riders. On our way there we went by the church which was still having a service that was now including 3 troops of native dancers in the aisles of the church. I couldn't help but poke my nose in an have a look, very fascinating.

Just outside the church they had erected the "Castillo" which was a free standing fireworks display. You could smell the ingredients of the fireworks, it looked very explosive indeed. There was one small circle of caution tape around it with two fire extinguishers. This was to be set off around 11:00 PM. I noted that there was not a bombadero (firefighter) in site, not even a truck. I guess if something were to go wrong it would just be part of the show.

We continued down to the bullring and enjoyed a show of 2 dancing horses and the blessing of the bull riders. From our seats you could hear the 12 piece live band loud and clear! As we sat in our seats we experienced another only in Mexico! a vendor coming by our seats offering 10 peso aqave shots. We watched several bull riders (no hands) in the ring. One of the bull riders fell off and was trampled by the bull. It actually looked like he was injured pretty bad. The ambulance came into the ring. It was an old pick up truck with flashing lights. The driver/medic only had one leg but managed to move rapidly. They tossed the bull rider into the back of the pickup and took off. I'm figuring if he wasn't hurt by the bull that the truck ride to the hospital would certainly finish him off. On that note we decided to go pick a place to view the fireworks show.
We had heard you didn't want to be too close to the castillo so we found a spot in the square and waited for the fireworks to begin. We didn't have to wait too long, a guy just walking through the crowd let off huge bottle rockets with his cigarette! It was as loud as a shot gun and the crowd moved like a wave. Then the castillo ignited. The castillo is a very, very tall structure with several pinwheels attached. They started at the lower pin wheel. I can't even imagine why people where standing so close. The castillo launches fireworks out into the square and up into the sky at all levels. The crowd just goes wild trying to avoid the hot fireworks. Inside each pinwheel was a spinning figure of some sort having to do with the festival. Where we stood way in the back we were still ducking and jumping to avoid the fireworks. The show seemed to go on for a very long time. It really gets your heart pumping as you are wondering about crowd control, what crowd control! The top of the castillo finally ignited with even more gusto then any of the pinwheels. It was a little difficult to watch the whole show as I was avoiding hot piercing fireworks and trying not to get trampled but it was spectacular! The finale was a hot molten sign that said "fini" was launched into the crowd and landed on a tree and caught fire.

So we were thinking, ok, shows over the same guy who had started the show with the bottle rockets lit off several mortar rounds. I didn't even see the guy set them up but we where so close I could feel the concussion. I never even looked up at the fireworks cause I was too busy looking at the mortars that looked like they had misfired and exploded on the ground. Just after that little show a guys starts running through the crowd with a fireworks shooting rig in the shape of a bull. He ran through the crowd, leaving NO ONE out and aimed the rig and shot off fireworks intentionally right at people. It was absolutely nuts! This was a pretty big square and it was packed with people and I think I actually had eye contact with this guy at least 3 times! We had been trying to stay together as a group but at this point it was every man for himself. I ran into Kathy and Leo behind a small box truck trying to duck out of the guys aim only to see Kathy get pinned in between the truck and a motorcycle. It was crazy, crazy! When Kathy came out from behind the motor cycle we chatted and decided we thought we both we our pants on that one!
We tried to regroup where we all had been watching the show and let the guys know Kathy and I had to go find a bathroom. We walked around for a very long time trying to find a bano that did not have a huge line. We never did find one and I won't go into any details about that. What we did find was a carnival, Mexican style. I'm telling you it was like a dream, only we were walking through it. The carnival was pretty typical with the carni rides and amusement booths. At one booth they where playing a bingo game for kitchen plastics. It appeared to be a family oriented right up until we came to the full bar booth complete with "titty" drinking cups, "Call" drinks at a carnival.
Kathy and I spent the next 30 minutes looking for our group in the crowd so we could go back to Barre de Navidad. When we finally did find our group they where all sharing their version of how they managed during the show. Most everyone had black soot somewhere on themselves. The buses had all stopped so we went in search of a few taxi cabs. I think we were finally tucked back in our bunks by 2:00 am. what a night.
We are renting a car tomorrow (Saturday) and driving down to Zihutanejo to take Clark to the airport and drop Leo off on his next crew position about SV Precious Metal.

Isle Grande

2011-03-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

We are now on our way North back up into the sea. We stopped here to snorkel and enjoy this small island paradise. There is a Club Med over on the main shoreline, so I guess this is one of those places you might see in a brochure. Soft white sand beaches accentuate the island's shore along with a host of colorful palapa restaurants serving cold adulto beverages and fresh seafood. That's where lunch is today anyway!

Our next stop, after an all night sail is Las Hadas in Bahia de Manzanillo. We will meet up again with Leo, our crew since last November in Las Hadas. Leo has been in Guadalajara picking up his new passport and ATM card. We will also met up with our buddy boat SV Blue Dolphin.

We will take a little road trip back to Zihuatanejo to drop Clark off at the airport and send Leo South on board SV Precious Metal.

International Guitar Festival 2011 in Zihuatanejo

2011-03-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

Enjoying the music of guitar fest 2011

Eric McFadden and Omar Torrez jamming at Paccolos

www.zihuafest.info or www.youtube.com/zguitarfest

We were in the right place at the right time to catch this years International Guitar Festival 2011 in Zihuatanejo. Amazing! Outstanding! are just a few words I can think of the say about the festival. It was very well put together and the price was right. The cost to attend a session was 100 pesos, plus your dinner and drinks. The venues all held varying amounts of people. We went to two shows a Paccolos with SV Zeppelin and there where only about 60 other people there.

The opening concert was held in Ixtapa, Plaza Ixpamar the cost was $500 pesos with dinner and all you can drink. We did not attend however I heard it turned out to be a very nice evening.

We did attend the closing concert on March 12 at the Zihuatanejo Centro. The cost was $250 pesos plus dinner, drinks and a taxi ride. Total for the evening was about $360 pesos per person. This was probably the highlight for us. It was a jam session that included all the artist that performed at the festival. Wow, you would never no these people only just met this week. The talent up there on the stage was staggering. My hats off the the women artist! They BELTED out the song lyrics and played those guitars with all their hearts. I couldn't say I had a favorite as they all had such different styles. They were all wonderful.

Adrian Raso & Nick Johnston the Canadian contingent

Tsunami

2011-03-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

Our morning started out at approx. 5:45 am with a phone call from our friend Ernesto in Mazatlan. He wanted to give us a heads up. The tsunami event happened here in Zihuatanejo at about 4:00 pm. We had moved the boat over to Las Gatas beach area and anchored in 40 feet of water, we had been anchored in about 15ft. near the pier in town. The port was closed and a big red flag was flying at the end of the pier. The bay was usually quiet all day long. Typically there are boats, parasailers etc., buzzing around the bay. We spent most of the day anchored at Las Gatas beach waiting for an event that was predicted at approx. 1:00/2:00 PM...., A guy in a panga boat came out and invited us over to a restaurant but we declined not really wanting to leave the boat.

Finally at about 4:00 pm I said I thought we should head back over to the anchorage since we have tickets for tonight's guitar fest. We hoisted anchor and headed back to the main anchorage and the bay proceeded to empty.... the level went from about 20.5 to 10.5 FEET in about 10 min. It was all very exciting. There is a small natural breakwater just off Las Gatas beach and Doug said he was looking at it and thinking he could see a lot more of it then usual, but was already concentrating on moving the boat. He headed towards the anchorage. The water in the bay became very violent with lot's of conflicting currents and waves. Upon getting closer the the anchorage they noticed that a disabled sailboat here in the anchorage (Blythe Spirit) was already beached on it's side, since all the water resided past it. It went back and forth in the waves but held anchors (bow and stern). All the other sailboats at anchor were dancing around on their anchors as we were moving around looking for a spot to anchor. The water literally rushed out like someone pulled a plug in the bay then swooshed back in. The small river near the pier looked like the Truckee River in Tahoe. In the river was washing a ton of debris being into the bay.
Doug was at the helm, Clark was on the anchor and me, well I was below resting after having made breakfast, lunch, bread, did dishes, washed the deck....., they said they called me up to have a look but they guess I didn't here them. When they finally got the boat anchored and turned off the engine I popped my head up and they said wow that was freaking amazing! I was like what? Oh you missed it.
Well it turned out I only missed the first wave. There were many, many more wave events.

Over at Las Gatas beach a panga boat sunk, there were kids in the water having fun at first then very scared, water up to the palapa tables, The water went out then back in within just a few minutes. The panga driver who had come out to ask us if we wanted to go to shore for lunch was on the radio saying you are on your own, I'm heading to high ground! The folks from SV Precious Metal were on shore over at Las Gatas having a cooking class at the restaurant. They dropped everything and started grabbing kids, helping with the pangas. They said it all happened so fast. One minute they were enjoying the food from the cooking class then all hell broke loose. They eventually got into their dinghy and headed back over to their boat in the anchorage.

All in all everyone faired very well, the waves continued well past midnight in the anchorage. We took a water taxi into the guitar fest and only stayed on shore for the performance then hailed a fellow cruiser to come get us from the pier. At 11:00 pm the water was still rising at the pier well over the walkway then residing below the walk in the course of 3 to 5 min. intervals. We had to dodge our way through a debris field to get back to the boat in the darkness. I stayed up on anchor watch until about 1:30 am when I felt that everything had seem to fall into a calm pattern.

We have company!

2011-03-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

Clark Hemphill, Doug's cousin from Napa, California where the temperatures where in the 40's the morning he left.

Surf's up

This is as far South along the Pacific Mexico coast as we will go this season.

I have to take everyone on a Mexican bus ride! That's just part of the tour. Yes, the guy with the guitar was singing his heart out.

Clark is one of our original crew members from the 2009 Baja Ha Ha.

Crocodile warning

Lunch in las Gatas, Zihuatanejo

2011-03-01T11:12:00.000-08:00

We had an invitation from Noyo and SV Precious Metal to join them and SV Sea Turtle over at las Gatas beach for the day to sample some fresh tuna dishes. The chef made 3 or 4 dishes that were outstanding. My favorite was desert!

las Gatas Beach, natural breakwater in the back ground

This beach is only accessible by small boat. During the tsunami that occurred on March 11 the water level dropped beyond the breakwater, then came back in past where the tables, chairs and umbrellas were at an alarming rate. The water level dropped by over 10 feet in 5 to 8 minutes.

Shopping in Zihuatanejo

2011-03-01T10:49:00.000-08:00

The seafood section

Pan or Bread at the street market.

The shopping mall, Mexican style. This is not really the tourist zone

The fruit and vegetable stall


The meat section

Zapatos or shoe section

Dry goods

Gift section

Shopping in the Mercado in Zihuatanejo is a must do if you are ever in town. It is huge! There is the indoor area, an outdoor area on Mango Street and every inch of real estate on the surrounding streets. It literally takes up whole blocks. It is quite an adventure to provision the boat here. I did go up to the Comericial Mexicana (Mega) and was not very impressed with it at all. A good place to buy wine is at the MERZA on Mango Street. They have a nice wine selection, the more you buy the cheaper it is by the bottle. When I'm provisioning the boat I like to go have a look see at what is available first and shop on another day so I have more of a game plan to get the provisions back to the boat. Just try and carry the contents of your Safeway shopping cart more than a mile, then pack it into a dinghy on a shore where there is surf!

2011-02-27T10:11:00.000-08:00


First night out in Zihuatanejo		We went out the Corner Bar for Michaladas

Leo and Lucero at the Corner Bar. Some kids borrow the car to take a girl out on a date, Leo borrows our dinghy!

Florie all packed up for the dinghy ride to shore. She was heading back to France via Mexico City and Costa Rica

Leo sold the bike he bought in Berkeley, CA to a restaurant owner in Zihuatanejo. His cruising kitty was getting very low.

Noyo, a local here, is always around to lend a hand.

Hilda has a panga service to delivery beer, water, soda, fuel, laundry, trash disposal etc., This is the only anchorage we have been in where this type of service is offer.

Zihuatanejo

2011-02-23T07:55:00.000-08:00

Florie sitting by the dock of Bahia de Zihuatanejo

Our first morning here we went for a walk around the waterfront just to stretch our sea legs.

A flock of egrits

It is really common now to see egrits instead of sea gulls

A fleet of over 50 pangas

We arrived in Zihuatanejo around 8:00 am in the morning. There were many, many fishing boats out in the entrance to the bay. Our friends Jerry and Lauren on SV SOMF were at anchor here, it is nice to see familiar faces. They left the next morning and were headed down to El Salvador. They plan on coming back up to the Sea so they wanted to get a move on.

Caleta de Campos

2011-02-22T07:39:00.000-08:00

Body surfing at Caleta de Campos

Leo cooking fresh fish and veg at Caleta de Campos

We tucked into Caleta de Campos and spent part of the day at anchor. We wanted to time our entrance into Zihuatanejo during the day light hours. Caleta de Campos had a lot of surf and was very rolly so we did a bow and stern anchor. Doug, Leo, Florie and even Tucker swam into shore to go check out the small town. They bought some fresh fish and a few other provisions. Doug and Leo swam them back to the boat. The surf was pretty rough and everyone, including Tucker took a few tumbles in the waves. Doug came back with a big red raspberry on his forehead. At least he had a big smile.

Barre de Navidad

2011-02-20T08:20:00.000-08:00

Linda and Leo on the bow in Barre de Navidad

I'm really am out here on the boat, I don't show up in too many pictures

Barre de Navidad

2011-02-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

Florie thinking about her night watch?

We did a over night trip to Barre de Navidad. It was Florie's first night at sea, underway and she took her own watch. We had home made lasagna for dinner while we were underway. Love the freezer!

Nils and Caro, crew from Blue Dolphin showed us the way into the lagoon. We only went aground once! Seems everyone does.

Crew catching up, but first beer for everyone!

Pot Luck dinner by the pool at the Sands. I know it looks just like drinks but there was a very fine meal.

We only spent a 2 days in Barre de Navidad, we figured we could always spend more time there on our way back North. We mainly stopped to drop off a care package from home for Blue Dolphin. We had a quick visit with Blue Dolphin, when I say quick I mean quick. The second morning we were there I went over to Blue Dolphin for coffee and a chat without taking my radio. Doug decided it was time to leave so he weighed anchored and yelled as he went by. I had to jump in my dinghy and catch up to the boat. I'm sure it looked like another chapter of the Simms family circus.

Yelapa - Just across Banderas Bay from La Cruz

2011-02-17T21:20:00.000-08:00

Florie's first day sailing!

I'm on Aquadesiac in the background. Doug likes his new found friend

Florie being very brave indeed

Now that's an interesting hair extension

Our first stop was a little town called Yelapa just across the bay. Only accessible by boat or trail, yet still many tourist there. It was a very steep anchorage so we anchored bow and stern on a real steep slope. Since we were not planning on staying long we did not put the dinghy in the water. Doug, Leo and Florie swam into the town to sample the local watering hole. They make moonshine here. I opted for staying on anchor watch and having a club soda. I was nice and dry. Doug and Florie managed a water taxi ride back to the boat but still had the effects of the moonshine the next morning. Leo swam back to the boat sometime during the night. We were awakened at sunrise the next morning by the anchor alarm announcing that the stern anchor had let go. Guess it was time to continue our journey South, hangovers and all.

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

2011-02-16T21:01:00.000-08:00

February 16th, Our crew Leo and his friend Florie, from France, (via Costa Rica) arrived right on schedule! We had been on the boat provisioning, cleaning and resetting etc., for about a week so we were ready to head South.

Crew Leo Lestant and Florie Blanc

Mango and Crepes

Internet on the boat

Florie fit right into the cruising lifestyle on the first day. What a trooper she is. With everybody’s gear on board it was a bit tight, but not really a problem. Breakfast the first morning was crepes! Crepes are the most amazing little breakfast delicacies ever invented. I had my crepes with mango, but I think Nutella was invented just to spread across nice warm crepes.

Tucker, where are you?

Circus, Circus

2011-02-15T21:38:00.000-08:00

We could not pass up an opportunity to see a circus high wire act performed on a cruising boat. This French couple, along with their two small children are cruising on a small boat and have come up with a circus show to entertain fellow cruisers and make a little money while they are at it. It was a very good show. The Show was so good that we went back for the encore show later that evening. I have video of their slap stick show, there was a more "romantic" show later in the evening. They are both really talented and no there were no safety nets or lines. They actually plan on being in the bay area next year.
This is their website link:
http://www.voilierspectacle.com/spectacles_eng.html

Muggs and Larry from SV Peregrin blew into town for the show

The last road trip of 2010

2010-12-26T22:24:00.000-08:00

First a car wash, just so I can see out the windows

Loaded the Simmburban onto the Baja Ferry to La Paz

La Paz, last in first out! After 2 hours!

Mappa

Ok, I think we go North from here

El Burro cove in Conception Bay, we anchored here last Spring

It was a dark and stormy night, but we made it!

This looks like wine country

I have always been a stickler for all my paperwork being in order. That said it was time to take the Simmburban home. It needed a smog check and a 2011 license tag. We decided to drive up the Baja for a little something different. It was actually very interesting to be on the land side of all the places we cruised last Spring. We really, really were out in the middle of no where on several occasions. Mexico is not a country known for signage so it was interesting to drive up the Baja knowing that there were little villages off a dirt road and not seeing any signs for them.

And so this is Christmas

2010-12-23T23:01:00.000-08:00

We arrived in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle in December for the Zeppelin Group Christmas party!

This dock the Zeppelin Group only, How are we a part of the Zeppelin group? Let me count the ways!

It was time to get ready for all the festivities! A small Christmas dinner turned into a rather large get together of over 20 boats and 60 people for a sit down potluck dinner. During the course of the week there was an informal dock party every night which were really fun. All the food was amazing, just like the Holiday season at home and I think I over ate.

My first boat turkey, it just fit in the oven!

Gift exchange

Salud!

These folks look pretty relaxed for it being the Christmas Season!

Our friend Anna the Banana, nice skirt!

Pizza, killer Margaritas and a Boa

2010-12-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday ended up being a very busy day. I arranged a grocery store run for our buddy boat SV SeaBear, they had just come over from La Paz and needed a small resupply trip. Kathy SV BlueDolphin, JC SV SeaBear and I made a fairly quick trip to the store and grabbed a bit to eat. (Breakfast/Lunch?)

Upon our return we found that "everyone" was waiting for us to head over to Stone Island for pizza. Our crew Leo was back from his big adventure to Guaymas and was really hungry and pizza sounded perfect.

So we all met over on the dinghy dock. Somehow our group had grown to over 12!   Word gets around when you are talking about good pizza.

No trip to the Old Harbor is complete without a water taxi ride over over to Stone Island's Benji's Pizza. We arrived in time for a late lunch I think. We enjoyed 6 pizza's with different toppings (pepperoni, veg, mexicano and their famous shrimp pizza. They were all eaten so fast I didn't get a picture. Eli served wonderful margarita's and his pina colada with a punch! The coconut shrimp was also a big hit. Just after we finished eating pizza Eli came over to our table and announced we were all going on a field trip, follow him! OK! I love field trips. Turned out there had been a BOA siting just behind the restaurant. It was big, very big! BOA's? here? what the? I hate snakes, I have just about the same reaction as Indiana Jones.
Everyone else got up real close to it and took some pretty good pictures. The snake actually made a pretty loud noise which sent me off in a different direction. They were entertained for quite a while by the snake. I spent the time picking stickers off of Tuckers paws.

After bothering the snake we, the "Crew" kids (they have decided I'm ok and can hang out with them) we decided to hike to the top of the little mountain at Stone Island and watch the sunset. Geez, sunset? I thought we came over for lunch. Oh well, I love a good hike so I scurried off bringing up the rear. It was a really good climb up the side of the little mountain. We even passed a bunch of goats. The scenery was beautiful and the view was spectacular. I think the view was better than from at the top of the light house mountain top.

We were so caught up in watching the sunset we sort of forgot about the rest of our group at the restaurant.    We scurried down the mountain, back to the restaurant only to find that the rest of our group had already taken off. Opps, when does the last panga leave? Wow, it's really dark out here. We made it back to the panga at exactly 6:00 pm. Turned out there was one more panga ride for the evening. He tried to charge us again, saying we were late but we managed to get a ride without having to pay again since about 10 other folks came running down to the dock after us. He wasn't going hassle the entire boat full of people.

He delivered us to the other side of the estuary but not near where we had gotten on the first panga boat. So we decided to stop and have a beer at the restaurant on the point called La Pontilla, not to be confused with la putilla! The band was playing when we walked in, then stopped. They were done for the day. We could wait for 30 min. and pay 50 pesos to hear the next band.   I don't really feel I need to pay to hear a mexican band in a bar. I can sit in the cockpit of the boat and hear a mexican band.

Mazatlan Mexico - Old Harbor - Now let's go get the truck

2010-12-03T19:22:00.000-08:00

Posting from Mazatlan, Mexico. Cruising can distort your calendar. Just like sitting in front of the computer can suck away hours of your life. We have been anchored here in the Old Harbor since November 25, Thanksgiving Day. That's 9 days. So has it been just over a week or almost 2 weeks?
Ah, who knows. No matter where we are there seems to always be something to do either on our boat, or another boat. Once we hit a port it's time to replenish our resources of water, fuel, food and of course spare parts. In some ports it is easier to accomplish these tasks then others. Here in the Old Harbor aka Puerto Viejo, the chores are very time consuming and require having a working dinghy and a strong back. Having a vehicle here is really a luxury. The alternative is bus, taxi or walk. There are no nearby services.

Earlier in the week Caroline, crew from SV Blue Dolphin and I took the night bus North to Guaymas to retrieve the Simmburban. It was almost a 24 hour trip up and back and cost about $250 in bus tickets, gas and tolls. The bus ride took just over 12 hours and it was freezing cold the entire journey. I should have packed a big blanket. I instead only had my "CAL" sweatshirt and a towel. I always carry a towel just in case I might happen to have an opportunity to have a hot shower. In this case I wish I would have packed my BIG towel. I was hoping to get some sleep on the bus but was to busy shivering most of the time. We played scrabble, Mexican version, until I got a little motion sick. I was very happy when the bus pulled into Guaymas. I had planned on jumping on a local bus but decided we needed to walk a bit just to get the feeling back in my feet. We only had time to grab a quick breakfast before we had to get back on the road and head South to Mazatlan. When I took the night bus I had figured I would have plenty of time to drive all the way to Mazatlan during day light hours. Time flies when you are having fun I guess and I never did get my shower, it was closed for repairs. We did not get onto the MEX 15D until very close to 12:00 PM. It's an 8 hour drive if you drive like me, a 7 hour drive if you drive like my friend Moses and Doug said it was a 6 hour drive. Ah, who to believe.

The drive to Mazatlan was pretty uneventful except for a road detour that involved driving surface streets through one entire town, one herd of goats and two small boys crossing the highway, one wrong turn and one road block.

We arrived in Mazatlan at around 8:00 PM, which meant I had to drive for 2 hours in the dark. We went through only one pretty scary road block in which the Federally dressed in black holding a very big weapon peered into the truck in amazement, I guess he wasn't expecting to find two tourist women smiling out at him. I'm not sure what he asked me so I just guessed and said we were traveling from Guaymas to Mazatlan. He looked a little puzzled and waved us through.

I was able to negotiate parking my truck inside the gate at the dinghy dock, at no additional cost but I need to move it outside the gates before 7, 8 or 9 in the morning, depends on who I ask. This works out o.k. since I need to get up and take Tucker to shore anyways.

We have enjoyed the huge convenience of having the vehicle here and have been able to purchase diesel and gas in jugs to refill the boat. There is no dock surcharge on fuel purchased in jugs from the gas station in town. We have also done our provisioning from the grocery store, taken Blue Dolphins' watermaker over for repair, a few trips to the laundry and one trip to the dentist.

I plan to leave the truck here in Mazatlan when we depart on the boat. I will leave it in a friends condo parking till we returno. There is a ferry here in Mazatlan called Baja Ferries and it departs Mazatlan and crosses over to La Paz. The plan is to return to Mazatlan via bus (with really big blanket) and put the truck on the ferry to La Paz. Once in La Paz we will drive North to Napa.

Mazatlan - We arrived at dawn on Thanksgiving Day

2010-11-26T07:41:00.000-08:00

Whew! I am Thankful that all the weather that was forecast was far to the North of us! We had a very nice trip down the coast of Mainland Mexico to Mazatlan. We arrived in Mazatlan at dawn and headed over and anchored in the Old Harbor, a free anchorage.

Eating off the fat of the boat

We did a little checking around to see what was going on in the area as far as Thanksgiving festivities and found that there something going on that cost $200 to $250 pesos per person at a restaurant in the square. With this information we decided to see what we had in our ships store and go from there.

Together with our buddy boat SV Blue Dolphin we put together a Thanksgiving dinner, all we had to add was some bird. We sent Nils (Blue Dolphin) and Leo (Aquadesiac) out to the market on a quest for the main course.

Leo, our crew

They returned with chicken!

Leaving Topolobampo this morning

2010-11-23T09:41:00.000-08:00

We are leaving TOPE TOPE la BUMPO this morning on a high tide. Our plans are to go anchor out towards the sea more and wait for a good weather window to head South, might be as soon as tonight at around 6:00 pm. We want to arrive in Mazatlan during day light hours. With deep regret we are leaving one of our buddy boats (SV Peregrine) here in Topo at the new Marina Palmira. They need to return home ASAP for a family emergency.

We are now with just Blue Dolphin and their German crew. We still have our French crew member and are eating very, very well! It looks like we might be at sea for Thanksgiving. I guess we will need to catch some fish and make some stuffing. I have everything to make a pumpkin pie, but only if the weather is very calm. I'm missing everyone as the Holidays approach.

Topolobampo

2010-11-20T22:05:00.000-08:00

Three Amigo's anchored in the Bahia

Ah, Topolobampo in the morning! Such a different place to see. I woke up bright and early this morning to make sure we were still in deep enough water to navigate back to the main channel. Everything looked good so Leo and I took Tucker over to the beach to empty his holding tanks.

Mucky, wet sand! Great fun!

We pulled up anchor and set off for the Yacht Club anchorage farther up the channel. On our way up the channel a guy named "Pancho" came by on a jet ski and told us that we really needed to stay in the channel because it was shallow. On our first pass we missed the entrance to the Yacht Club buoys, so we ended up at the end of the caravan again. We hung back and watched both Blue Dolphin and Peregrine miss the next set of buoys and run aground! Blue Dolphin had to wait for the tide to come back in. Peregrine was pulled off by a nice power boat. We anchored without any trouble but we are also way out in the middle of the harbor way away from everybody else.

Pancho asked what we were doing here anyways, and we told him of the alternator troubles on Blue Dolphin. He said "No problem" bring it over to me at the fuel dock and I will go have it fixed. Wow, really? So that's what we did and as promised Pancho brought it back within the hour good as new. At least we hope so.

Doug and Leo have been out in the dinghy buzzing around the harbor all day and landed a ride on a power boat going out for a short dinner cruise. I guess Leo ended up cooking dinner for the group. They came back to the boat long enough to grab the bread and return to the power boat for after dinner drinks. Fun times in Topolobampo. I think we will continue South tomorrow to Mazatlan.

Breakers at the buoy, this is where we were aground momentarily the night before.

Leo's French Bread

Topolobampo or Bust!

2010-11-20T19:38:00.000-08:00

Whew! We left Guaymas a few days ago with SV Blue Dolphin, new crew on board, Nils & Caroline from Germany and SV Peregrine. It's pretty tough coordinating leaving a harbor you have been in for any length of time. Just when you think you are ready one of the buddy boats develops a mission critical item that needs to be fixed. All that aside we finally made a break for it! We met up with Blue Dolphin just outside of the Bahia Catalina anchorage and just kept heading South. The weather was splendid and we were able to sail most of the day and well into the night. Doug is over his cold and I finally got it just as we were leaving. Leo seems to be fighting it off with honey in his tea. I think washing everything down with Clorox helps too.

During the daylight hours we saw a Marlin jump out of the water at least 5 times, I guess he was hunting. It was amazing. He was well over 6 feet. We also saw Rays jumping and a huge pod of Dolphin. The only other boat traffic we saw was 8 fishing boats in a line, it was during daylight so we were able to avoid them easily. We had our fishing lines out but did not catch anything. We took 4 hour watches during the night and the evening was pretty uneventful. There was almost a full moon which was nice as we could see all around.

Day two was a little more exciting. First thing in the morning the fishing lines went out. Leo went up on deck and announced "Fish ON!". I had to laugh because I had given him very detailed instructions on how we land a fish on the sailboat and he just went into "AUTO" and started emptying the cockpit of all the contents down the hatch. Doug and I were at the bottom of the stairs trying to get up on deck with all the stuff getting tossed down. I started laughing and coughing so hard! We had two lines out. A hand line and a fishing pole. Leo was pulling in the hand line and Doug had the gaff, I had the towel and vodka. I looked over at my fishing pole just as the last of the line payed out, zzzzzzing! Darn! Missed another fish and lost another lure. We were so focused on the hand line I didn't hear the fishing pole hit. Leo landed a really nice Mahi Mahi.

Day two and there was no wind at all. We stayed in sight of our buddy boats and motored South. SV Blue Dolphin developed a taste for alternator belts and went through a few during the day. SV Peregrine's alternator turned out to be discharging their battery so he had to put the generator on. With no wind and critical issue we decided to enter Topolobampo even though it would be dark.

As a rule we do not enter into anchorages at night but we needed to pull in for repairs so as night approached we all came in close together and set off as a caravan into the Bahia Topolobampo. This is the first anchorage available before entering the harbor. Looked like a piece of cake on the chart.

If you are wondering what this is like just step into your closet and close the door. We purchased, at great expense, charts of Mexico that are turning out to be very unreliable. As we were coming into the channel the lights on the buoys were all wrong and the depth of the water was decreasing at a alarming rate. At some point we decided we just needed to follow the lights and forget about our plotted course. This is like taking the "Indiana Jones" leap of faith, if you remember that movie. So Rojo, la derecha, volviendo! This seemed to work until Peregrine, in the rear, commented on the fact that the Baja Ferry was behind him and closing fast.

So we really hugged the channel just outside the red buoy giving the fast moving ferry LOTS of room to pass. As anyone who frequents the SF Bay knows these rather large vessels create a pretty good wake. A really good wake in shallow water actually creates "Breakers" so you can see the shallow water. Leo watching on Starboard did his best in at least 3 different languages to tell Doug to steer PORT, Left, gire a la izquierda, tourner à gauche! he even tried saying waves, breakers all to no avail. I was ready to grab the wheel myself but it didn't matter Doug figured it out, bump, bump along the bottom. We went aground right before the red buoy. There was absolutely no room for error. In Doug's defense there was a lot going on. The radio was squawking with chatter, the dodger windows were completely fogged up, both Leo and I were talking and the buoy wasn't even a true red buoy.

Since we have a lot of experience with being in shallow water we were able to use that same wave action that got us aground to get us off. We continued up the channel, very slowly and headed into Bahia Topolobampo, now at the back of the caravan. When buddy boating if you are in the lead position and you make a bad call you have to go to the end of the line, even if you do have the forward looking scanner. We watched as Blue Dolphin and Peregrine circled around in the bay looking for a deep enough spot to drop the anchor. At one point Blue Dolphin came up so close to the sand spit that they could have stepped off the boat. After a few passes we decided on a good spot and dropped the anchor for the night.

I couldn't quite fit this part about the big blue footed boobie in my story above so I'll do a postscript. Like I said above it was dark. The moon was bright but covered by cloud cover so visibility was poor. At some point I just happened to look up and looming in the dark saw a huge boobie bird trying to land on the top of our mast. Leo and I jumped up and started yelling at it, banging on the mast, slinging a halyard at it and shining a beam from the flashlight. We finally deterred it after several attempted landings.