Bahia Navidad

We left Bahia Tenacatita Monday, Jan. 22, in 10-15k NW winds (finally) and did a chicken jybe in 6' seas to head south. It went off without a hitch.

We entered Bahia Navidad (20 miles north of Manzanillo) less than three hours later, saw the channel to Barra Navidad, but turned left and anchored in the beach harbor of Melaque, situated in the same bay. The bay is surrounded by beach with waves starting small in Melaque and growing to giants by the end at Barra (so named because it is built on a sandbar). Hotels (bungalows) and palapa cafes cater to Canadians and other norte Americanos. Street dogs bathe in the sun on the beach with everyone else. The cerveza, huevos rancheros, and view are mui bueno.

Mexicans vacation here and the kids have so much fun playing on the beach and in the waves. There are tables to sit at and strolling native indians sell their crafts or others sell pineapple drinks and mango or bread treats.

We met up with Howard and Gail and their dog Britta (Portuguese Water Dog who climbed our ladder to board Beltane) on Anu, who Steve met last year, and they shared a bottle of champagne with us for my birthday on the 25th. Thanks for the native handcrafted bowl. Steve liked it so much he bought 5 plates today from the same lady who painted that one.

Bob at Hogin Sails stitched up our canvas dodger. Now we just have to navigate the narrow channel to the fuel dock before heading north again.

Jungle Heat, Tropical Eats

South of Banderas Bay, they said we'd have light winds. But we expected it would still be from the north, the same as the prevailing winds in the Sea of Cortez, not from the south, the direction we are heading,which is what we found to begin with. Anyway, we anchored at Chemala Bay, about 50 miles south, for four days with about 12 other boats. This four mile bay was surrounded by a nice beach that is frequented by locals on the weekends. Then, we headed into the wind and went south 30 miles to Tenacatita Bay. More gorgeous beach with beachfront palapa cafes. It all looks great, but with humidity in the 90 percent range, it is always hazy and quite a change from dry Baja. At least the temperatures are in the 70s. I can't imagine this place in summer.

At Chemala, we had great pina coladas at one of the palapas and ordered shrimp cocktail. It arrived in a parfait glass, hot, with shrimp (camarrones), octopus (pulpo)), scallops, and carolones (sea snail). Steve said, "don't look at it; just eat it." Then, we went to the market.

This involved a walk down the beach and then up a block or two to the road and shopette. It's a typical Mexican mini-market, but they had no meat so we asked if there was a carniceria close by where we could buy chicken. The lady said, "can you wait 20 minutes?" Yes, so we sat outside and Steve conversed with the two locals about boats, fishing, etc. Their dog enjoyed the ice cream I dropped on the ground and the sausage Steve bought and fed to him. He didn't have a name, just "Perro." About an hour later, a chicken arrived, warm, right out of someone's backyard, but thankfully, dead, defeathered, and cleaned. When we cooked and ate it later, we discovered it was a rooster And with our preparation, "coc au vin" it was not. It was more like chewing calamari with chicken flavor.

Cabo Corrientes

Cabo Corrientes is the southern tip of Banderas Bay and forms the point of land where the Mexico mainland juts sharply southeast. Capes can be problematic because they form their own wind, wave, and current patterns, and should always be treated seriously. We left our anchorage in Bay of Banderas at 7:15 Friday morning and rounded the cape at noon in 20 knot winds and 5 foot seas, but it was in our favor, so not a bad rounding. We anchored in Ipala, the first small bay south of the cape.

All this happened in one minute as we were anchoring: Steve went forward to drop the anchor; I saw his bloody footprints; he didn't know his foot was cut; I fetched a bucket of seawater and dumped it on the deck over the footprints, but failed to see that the portlight was open over the nav station; Steve dropped the anchor and then saw his bloody trail; I went below to find the laptop keyboard wet with the seawater I'd pourerd to douse the blood. How can so much can go wrong in so little time? But, the laptop's touchpad seems to be the only thing affected by the seawater and we have a mouse to use in its place, so there's a work-around. Steve had only cut his toe slightly, and most of the blood came out of the teak deck.

Puerto Vallarta 1/5-9/07

Humid, hazy, big Bay of Banderas. We are anchored off La Cruz Huanacaxtle where, to go ashore, we have to beach our dinghy on a small, rocky beach in murky water that is suspiciously close to the water treatment plant in a man-made harbor that is being dredged. Once we got past that, we found expensive Gringo houses across from Mexican hovels on dirt streets with dogs sleeping here and there. Then we came to the town proper and found a cool, shady French cafe, Hikura, that serves sandwiches, quiche, and omelets, with a great salad.

We took the bus (that runs frequently, but by a mad driver) to Puerto Vallarta and found a nice old town section with huge waves breaking along the waterfront. Lots of norte americanos shopping along the streets. Also, steep cobblestone streets leading to narrow alleys with nice houses above it all.

Cap'n has now fixed the head problem and we plan to leave this week for Chemala Bay, 100 miles south, then to Careyes and Barra Navidad before heading north again (against the wind).

Leaving La Paz

We left La Paz Dec. 30 and anchored at Ballandra (balanced rock) close by, a lovely beach with aquamarine water, but it was very rolly due to the day's north wind.

Dec. 31 -We knew the wind would blow 15-20 today, but didn't expect the Lorenzo Channel to be unmarked. One hour after leaving Ballandra we had 15-26 knot winds in Lorenzo Channel and 6 foot seas. We never saw the channel markers but we were able to follow the path of an approaching ferry. The channel is a few miles wide with reefs on either side, so the navigable part is only 1 mile wide, and shallow (15m). Apparently, Hurricane John destroyed the markers and they haven't been fixed. Since this is Mexico, they may never be fiixed. After getting sprayed with white water on the dodger, we blew down the coast to Muertos on 10-20k winds. This was an excellent test for the rudder repair, but the steering works great with no leakage. It's always an adventure with Steve.

Happy New Year – Hello Puerto Vallarta
We met up with John, Dagmar, and Alex (and their 2 dogs) on Pavon in Muertos and toasted the new year with beers. It was around this time that we discovered the head's holding tank wouldn't empty. We left for Frailles on Jan.1 and snorkeled the Pulmo reef on Jan 2. It wasn't as good as we expected, but the beach and water, and the weather, was lovely. Thanks for the ride back by Michael Ambrose and Linda.

Jan. 3- we set sail for Puerto Vallarta when the weatherman called for 10-20 north winds. It was an excellent crossing (2 days exactly), if you don’t count the bumpy ride due to waves hitting the port stern and rolling us like a roller coaster the second day. We saw only four boats the whole trip and sailed all but the last 10 hours.

Jan. 5 – anchored in Banderas Bay, Puerto Vallarta, actually La Cruz Huanacaxtle which is just to the north in the bay of the formal town of PV. It’s summertime again, and humid. But we are glad to be here. www.puertovallarta.net/map/index.php

Fixed, Deployed, Tested

In my old job, it would have been "fixed, tested, and deployed," but in the world of oceans and yachts, when you have to put the boat in the water to test, it's a little different.

Cruising = Boat Repair in Exotic Locations
We were hauled out on Dec. 26 by the big travel lift at the Palmar yard in La Paz and all went well with that, but then we found that the rudder bearing wouldn't budge. Dec. 27, Robert drove us in his Prius to a ferreteria where we bought a giant $100 monkey wrench and Steve removed the bearing, then found he couldn't easily remove the seal because its surface was flush and there was nothing to grab to remove it. So, the yard guys removed the rudder shaft by chipping off fiberglass and then sanding to the brass plate, then found that one of the bolts wouldn't budge and had to drill it out. Once the rudder shaft was out, we could see that it was pitted where the seal had been. But Steve was able to remove the seals and replace them. All this with the limited help of technical drawings and instructions via email (delayed due to the time difference) from Hallberg-Rassy in Sweden. Their instruction to "draw out the simmer seals" didn’t mention how to do it. Beltane was back in el agua Dec. 29.