Tsunami and Spencer visit

March 11th. We awake early in the morning to complete some tests on our batteries. For this test we have turned off all of our systems overnight to measure the voltage. Our VHF and our computers are therefor turned off. We did not at first hear anything of the earthquake and tsumani in Japan. We soon though hear folks talking on the dock about the tsunami warning issued. We quickly finish our tests and listen to the VHF radio. Here we learn that the surge is due to hit our area at about 12pm.

From my past tsumani evacuation experience in Samoa in 2009, I am especially anxious to get out of the marina and into deep water. This is the course of action most experts say is the the best plan if you have sufficiant warning. There is much confusion on the radio at first. The Port Capt. it is said, has closed all ports. We later hear it amended that it is meant only for commercial boats, not pleasure crafts. We had already made our decision to leave no matter the closure. We have plenty of time so I take our trash off the boat and stop to buy a berry pie from a worker on the dock. I guess his wife makes them. Might as well have something good to eat out in the bay.

We head out into the deep Banderas Bay by 11am. We are out there with what we extimate to be about 100 other boats, (it is a very large bay). We listen for updates on the VHF radio. In the deep water it is a "non-event". We do not notice anything in the sea or current. The reports on the VHF are saying that all the marinas are closed for all boats due to the strong, continuing surges and currents entering and exiting the marinas. As evening approaches and the marinas are still closed we sail to the anchorage area and set our hook for the night. This is no problem for us as we are prepared for anchoring. But for some other boats this is a problem. There was a big race scheduled for the afternoon, the Banderas Bay Regatta. Many boats had taken off their anchor to lighten the boat for the race. They either had to raft to another boat or sail around through the night.

The next morning most of the marinas were still closed, but all opened by the end of the day. The marina in La Cruz suffered some damage to serveral docks. Fortunately no boats were damaged nor anyone hurt.

The surge contiued on a smaller scale for several days. Upon reflection, even though no boats were damaged we felt we made the correct decission. Out in deep water with plenty of room to move you are far safer than tied to a dock in shallow water with many boats around you.

And I say 2 tsunami experiences is ENOUGH for me!

Spencer flew into Puerto Vallarta on March 13th to visit us during his spring break from college. We have secured a slip in Paradise Village Marina in Puerto Vallarta for the first part of his stay. From here you can easily access tours, the city, and by having a slip here your have access to the resort facilities. We have a jam-paced week with him:

• Monday, we go on a Jeep tour in the Sierra Madre


• Tuesday, day sail to Playa Animas for fun and sun on the beach


• Wednesday, tour old town and to to the bull fights, (yes the bull really dies)


• Thursday, enjoy the resort and go to a Mexican Fiesta in the evening


• Friday, sail to La Cruz, dinner and great music at Philo's bar


• Saturday, enjoy walking around La Cruz


• Sunday, farmers market. Great food, local crafts, and music


• Monday, rest and take Spencer to the airport

It was sad to say good-by to him, and we are exhausted! It takes us several days to recover. We are going to stay here in the La Cruz marina. We find this area to me quieter. Much better that the fast paced (and more expensive) tourist area of Puerto Vallarta. As an example; there is a grocery store right next to the marina in PV. It caters to the gringo crowd that keep their boats there or live in the condos around the area. They carry plenty of name brands from home. One of the items I saw was Triscuit crackers. Now, I have not seen these in any of the stores in Mexico. I know that Spencer loves these so I pick up a box. We also see Fig Newton cookies, one of Mels favorites, so these go into the cart. When I reviewed the receipt later, I found that the Triscuits cost $8.00 for one box as did the Fig Newtons. Ouch!

So we have decided that the smaller, "Mexican" La Cruz fits our style.

Las Hadas, Santiago, to Banderas Bay

We left Ixtapa Marina early in the morning on Feb. 19th. We have an over night passage back to Las Hadas bay at Manzanillo as we continue our trip north.

The passage was was mostly uneventful. We did have to dodge a pod of whales as they swam across our bow, too close for comfort for me (which will really take on new meaning in an event that happens later in the blog). We arrive in Las Hadas anchorage at 12:00 pm. ,time enough to go to shore and get some shopping done. Then back to the boat for much needed rest.

Las Hadas is in the North West corner of Manzanillo Bay. You anchor in front of a very picturest Hotel, all in white. There is a marina there where you can also park the dingy. When you pay the fee in also includes use of the pool facilitiesl Many of the cruisers take advantage of that.

We decide to go around the point to Bahia Santiago as we only spent one night there on our trip south. Here it is quieter and you can do an easy beach landing to enjoy the nice beach, or take the short walk to the bus stop. We take the bus to Santiago to explore this small town. It is also where I go with several of the gals to take in the Saturday "flea market". Here there are many booths of: tourist items, clothes, kitchen items, bookleg videos and cd's and fruit and veggies. I buy fruit and veggies.

We spend several nights here, enjoying the company of cruisers, the warm lovely breezes, and the tuba music from shore. It seems that tuba, along with an accordian and drummer are popular roving entertainment for the mexican tourists on the beach. But only the tuba carries out to the boat, and man, he must have a set of lungs as it goes on all day.

I thought you may be interested what we do while we are anchored. Here is what a typical day (this one in Las Hadas, taken from my diary) at anchor on the boat is like:

• get up 7:30 ish make coffee turn on the VHF radio, drink coffee in the cockpit and look for dolphins or sea birds.


• listen to the cruiser radio "net" for local weather, boat check in (who's in the area) and check outs (who's leaving), anouncements etc.
• make breakfast, eggs, sausage, oranges


• rinse off boat with fresh water (it was very salty from the passage), as we had plenty of water


• clean windows on the dodger, wipe down the stainless steel (there is a lot of that on the boat), shake out rugs, dust and wipe down the interior of the boat
• take a rest, and check emails (we are getting good wi-fi here), read a book


• get into the dingy and visit our neighbor boat, Groovy (met them here before)


• make lunch, tuna sands, chips and apple


• go to marina to get rid of a bag of garbage, look for a part in the chadlery



• return to boat, study spanish, read, research on the internet


• cocktail hour rum and cokes with chips and salsa


• cook and eat dinner, soft tacos


• watch sunset


• clean up galley


• watch 2 episodes of X-files on DVD


• bed at 9:30, write in diary, and read

We stay in Santiago for several days then raise anchor on Sunday the 27th for the short trip Tenacatita. This trip starts out very nice, and I set out the fishing lines. The wind starts to build so we raise our sails. By early afternoon the wind is building to 20-25 knots. We put a reef in the main and jib. The wind contiues to build 25-30 knots. The seas are also building at this time. We do not feel unsafe just want to get to where we are going as it is a bit uncomfortable. Well, I decide that it is too rolly to try and take in the fishing lines, I will do it in the ancorage I tell myself. So along we go, heading for our next stop.

After a while I take a look out the stern of the boat to check the lines and too my horror, I see a bird attached. We are still several miles out and in very lumpy windy conditions. It would be too dangerous to try to reel in the line. There is nothing I can do. On top of that I see that my two lines are getting very tangled together. Again, nothing I can do until we are in protected waters. So along we go. We are about 2 miles from the bay when again I look back at my line ( it is only one line now as the two have become one twisted line) and see a fish on! He his caught on the second lure. Still nothing I can do until we reach the bay, so he is pulled along. At least he will be dead when I reel him in and will save me from having to bonk him on the head.

Finally we reach the bay. We lower the sail and slow down. Now for the work of getting the bird and fish in. Hand over hand I bring in the line as Mel feeds it onto the paddle. First I dislodge the bird and give it a burial at sea. Next I am getting to the fish, which is still on, and as he gets close to the boat I see he is still alive and starts to fight me! But he is tired so it is not hard to bring him up on the swim step. At first I think it is a Yellow fin tuna, but later research tells me it is a Crevalle jack, not good eating if over 1.5 ft. he is 30" long and must weigh 20lbs, but he makes a tasty dinner, with proper marinade.

We have a very nice and relaxing time in Tenakatita. One day we take a cab to the cute oceanside town of La Manzallia. A nice, pretty little town. There is an estuary here where you can see crocs. We walk the beach and have lunch.

One of the habits cruisers get into is leaving your VHF radio on (usually on channel 22a) This is how other folks in the anchorage contact one another throughout the day. It turns into a party line as we all listen in on the conversations. The proper etiquette is to call the boat name you want to talk to and then say your boat name, "Windy, Windy, Windy, this is Mazu". You then wait for them to answer then you change to a different channel as to keep 22a clear. Of course others may change to that channel too to listen in. I admit I am guilty of this, it is human nature I guess. Sometimes if one of the boats signal is not strong or is far away you may only hear one side of a conversation. This is what happend while we were in Tenacatita, which is too bad as it is very dramatic. Here is what happened.

I could hear over the radio the boat next to me asking another boats its position, then I could hear him ask if they needed assistance. Then I heard him ask if they wanted him to call the Navy. Then I heard him say that he was getting into his dingy now and comming out to help. By this time others must have heard because several dingys and one sail boat were on their way. Of course once we saw there was ample help going Mel and I were glued to the radio. As we were listening we gathered that a sail boat just outside the bay were were in had an encounter with a whale. It seems that a whale came up on the side of there boat and was bumping it. Then it went under the boat and they thought it was hitting the boat with its tail. They were of course very frightend, it when on for a while. The boat was taking on water, (not good). The guys who went out to help were able to get the water stopped and the boat was towed in to the bay. Here one of the guys dove on the boat and discovered that the propeler shaft and rudder were damaged. They left early the next morning trying to get to Puerto Vallarta to effect repairs. All this was relayed over the VHF radio. An important safety and communication device for us.

One of the traditions in Tenakatita is Friday cocktail hour raft-up. All the dingys meet in the bay and raft up to each other. We pass snacks around and we enjoy cocktails, snacks, and conversation. The host of the event is the "Mayor" you are elected mayor if you have been in the bay the longest on Friday. You are responsible for making a toast to start the evening.

We leave early Saturday morning for an overnight passage around Cabo Corrientes. You must time your passage around this point during periods of low winds. Most cruisers go around at night or early morning. You then round the point into Baderas Bay, home to Puerto Vallarta and La Cruz.

We have a great sail in light wind with our colorful spinnaker out. I catch another Crevalle, bigger than the first, 36" long and again very heavy...

We lower our spinnaker in the early evening prior to dark. The wind has died so we motor sail with just our main sail up.

We pass around Cabo Corrientes at about midnight. This puts us into Banderas Bay way before daylight. So we slow down and finally at at about 5am we just turn off the motor and drift while we wait for enough light to get into the anchorage.

We are now safe and sound hanging on the hook. We have napped and I am now cooking dinner.

today, March 8th we spend the day exporing La Cruz, a very small village. It seems very remote but it is just a few miles from Puerto Vallarta.

We have breakfast at Anna Bannanas and lunch too..

Pictures:

• my big fish
• Mel relaxes in the central "square" in La Cruz
• A croc in La Manzallia
• On the beach in La Manzallia

Leaving Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa February 18, 2001

We will leave early tomorrow morning to catch the high tide needed to exit this marina. We are heading north as we contiue our exploration up the mainland of Mexico. We will take 2 days to get to Manzanillo, the first major harbor. Here we will rest and provision for our next sail to Puerto Vallarta where we plan to stay for several weeks.

Mel's daughter Kristine, her Husband Brian and our granddaughters were visiting here this week at Ixtapa Club Med. We were able to enjoy a day in Z-town with them. The next day we had a fun eveing at Club Med where we had a great meal. We were entertained by the kids show, a fun music and dance extravaganza. Mary and Katie did a fine performance, we were very proud.

While we have enjoyed our time in the marina and seeing family here, we found Ixtapa to be very expensive. It is really only here for the tourista's. The only thing cheap is the bus ride from the marina to Z-town, only 8 pesos (70 cents). It was fun to take it to town to run our errands. Our other great find here was the best hamburgers at Ruben's.

One of the things we purchased while we were here is a wi-fi card from the Mexican cell phone company TelCel, so I am hopeful that I will have internet more often. If I do I should be able to post to the blog regularly.

The pictures in this post are (left to right): Mel and Kristing in Z-town), Mel and I in a resturant at the Marina Ixtapa, Mazu in here slip at the marina, Mary and Katie at Club Med, Katie dancing in the show, Mary dancing in the show.

Thanks to all who are reading and posting comments.

Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa

Here are some pictures that I have taken here in Z-town and Ixtapa.

1. A crocadile in the marina Ixtapa. This was taken just off the back of our boat, less that 20 ft. from us, (Yikes!)
2. Mel on the walking bath from Playa Madera to Playa Ropa at Bahia Zihuatenajo.
3. A view of the fishing pangas at Playa Madera. This next to where we land our dingy when we want to go ashore.
4. Sunset at anchor at Isl. Ixtapa
5. A afternoon basketball game in Z-Town, note it is right by the beach. This is also next to the town "square" where there is music on Tue. and Thurs. nights. Other nights families and teens gather and the young children play in the court.
6. Me by the bus station
7. Boats at anchor in the bay (Z-Town, this is where we spent about a week)

Manzanillo to Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo Jan. 28 - Feb. 4 2011

From Manzanillo to Zihuatanejo (Z-Town) is nearly 200 miles this stretch is relatively remote and isolated. The anchorages along the way lack protection and can be very "rolley" which does not allow for a good nights sleep. For these reasons many cruisers decide to sail through the night to get to Z-Town.

This too is what we have decided to do. We have talked to another boat in our anchorage here in Bahia Las Hadas and there are several boats leaving that will also sail through the night. We therefore all plan to buddy boat down. When you buddy boat you are able to keep in contact with the other boats. This is helpful as we all can look out for each other.

Mel and I stand 4 hour watches. As I like my sleep in the middle of the night I take the 9pm to 1am watch for my night watch. Let me explain a bit about sailing/motoring the boat at night. No we do not have headlights to see forward. What we do have is a chartplotter, radar and AIS systems. A chartplotter is a screen that I have at the helm of the boat displaying the chart on it. The chart also shows our boat moving along. I can overlay the radar screen onto this same screen. Radar will show a "blob" of purple if there is something within its range so you can avoid it. The size of the blob helps you determin what it is. The AIS system is carried by all large boats and now many small motor and sailing vessels. With this device you send, and receive a signal. This signal is then displayed on your chartplotter screen as a triangle where the vessel is located. You can then hover your curser over the triangle and it will display the data on that ship, name, speed, how close it is to you, direction it is going etc. Then you can avoid getting into its path. And remember they can then see me too. If I need or want I can also call the ship on our VHF radio to talk with them and be sure that they see me and I can give them our position.

So with all this information you are able to set your course and watch for other boats and/or land in your way. Our boat also has autopilot so the boat can steer its self. This means your hands are free and you can read, go down and make a quick snack etc. while monetoring your screen and of course looking all around your boat regularly.

Along this trip we had very little wind so we motored all the way. We were lucky enough to see many sea turtles. They look like big helments floating on the water. We also were treated to dolphins and whales. And, drum roll please, I caught a 30" Dorado, (see picture)!

We arrived at our first destination Isla Grande early afternoon on Saturday (the 29th) after 31 hours of motoring. We anchor do a few chores and take a long nap.

Isla Grande is a small island that is used as a island getaway by Ixtapa and Z-town residents and tourists alike. The soft sand beach is lined with many palapa resturants serving cold beer and fresh caught seafood. We dingy over and enjoy the servings of the nearest palapa. We spend a couple of days here before we head to Z-Town.

We arrive in Z-Town on the first day of Sail-Fest, an annual five-day festival hosted by a group of volunteers with a goal to rais money and awareness for the education of children in the area. There are boat races, concerts (small), a boat parade and beach games. We sign up to be a host boat for the parade. Sail-fest then sells the boat rides to people as a fundraiser.

We have 4 fun Canadians on our boat, Keith, Joy, Diane, and Audrey. We have a fun day in the Parade. For the parade the boats follow the Port Capt. first, around the Z-Town bay then over to Ixtapa. Here he stops and as all the boats pass him they salute and wave there flag. As we had so many Canadian's I get out my Canada flag and we wave both the US and Canada Flag. The rest of the day we went to Isl. Grande for lunch. See picture above.

Zihuatanejo, is a wonderful place... The pre-hispanic history of Z-Town began with the Cuitlatec people. These people were known for growing agiculture and for production of cotton blankets and carved scallp shells. In the 1400's after an invasion by the Aztec's much of the area in Zihuatanejo were abandoned by the Cuitlatec. In the 1500's the Spanish conquistabors arrived and began exploring and eventually colonizing the area.

Mel and I have really fell in love with this town. The food is great, the people are very nice, the town is clean and the music and entertainment is outstanding. We plan on staying here for a few weeks. We hope to see even more. We will be seeing Mel's daughter and family here next week. We are looking forward to that....

Manzanillo

Manzanillo has hundreds of years of maritime history. The orginal Mesoamerican inhabitants used Bahia Santiago and Bahia Manznillo as a port of call for their trade routes, much of what is documented started with the Spanish conquistaor exploration of the Pacific Mexico shoreline.

Hernan Cortes came there in search of the rumored trade routes between China and the orginal inhabitants of Pacific Mexico. Manzanillo is still a major shipping port for Pacific Mexico. It also is a cruise ship destination. The large sailfish sclupture you see here in located in the jardin (garden) near the waterfront. From here we walked the narrow streets with various vendors serving both the tourists and locals alike. We were too late in the day to visit the Mercado 5 de Mayo reported to be filled with local fresh fruit, veggies fish, and eating booths.

The picture of the large white hotel is the Hotel Las Hadas. We are anchored in Las Hadas bay just in front. It is a beautiful place. There is a small marina there which allows us to tie up our dingy. From here we can catch a cab or a bus to town.

Suspecting that 'eight-fingered dentistry' might be OK in Mexico, Mel has been searching the towns for a suitable dental practice with ocean views. However not being successful and with time running short, he has now lowered his sights a bit and is currently waiting for the dentist pictured to roll up his door so that an offer to purchase can be made. Absent a deal, Mel assumes he will have to continue cruising to warmer waters for the foreseeable future.

We only have 2 days here on our trip south. There are several boats that will be leaving for Zihuatanejo at daybreak so we have decided to0 buddy boat with them as it is about a 36 hour sail/motor from here. We hope to spend more time here on our return trip north.

Our current plans are to stay in "Z-Town" for a few weeks. We will meet up with Mel's daughter Kristine and her family as they take a vacation there. It will be fun to see them and especially the granddaughters.

Remember you can click on the pictures for a larger size.

Tenacatita to Barra De Navidad

January 19, We raise anchor in Tenacatita at 9am heading for Barra De Navidad. We only have a short distance to go, about 15 miles. We motor the whole way as there is little wind. I set out our fishing lines with pinky squid and bluey squid with no luck. We see whales spouting and swimming close by. We also see another sea turtle. There are 55 species of sea turtles along this coast. The green sea turtle, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead and the olive ridley. These ancient creatures spend nearly their entire life in the water and can life up to 80 years. Adult leatherbacks are the largest ranging in size from 4 to 6 feet long and weighting from 400 to 1,100 lbs. I do not think this is what we saw. I think we saw a green.

We also pass through a small cove with the most brightly painted houses that cantaleaver (spelling??) out from the cliffs, they are beautiful.

The anchorage for Barra is in a lagoon. To enter the lagoon you first enter into a narrow channel. We have a good guide "Pacific Mexico a Cruiser's Guidebook" by Shawn Breeding and Heather Bansmer. In this book they lay out the waypoints to safely enter the lagoon. Once there there is good but shallow anchorage.

The best way to get to Barra Navidad from your boat is to call a water taxi. These pangas come and get you for 25 pesos each, round trip. We head into town to explore and eat. Barra Navidad is a small fishing and tourest town with both gringo and mexican vacationeers. We find a great bar, Pipers-Lover for music and drinks. Luckly the pangas run 24 hours, just flick the light switch on the dock to signal the driver.
We say goodby to Al and Barb here. Mel and I stay for 6 days.

We were lucky to be here during a fishing tournament. On the last day we sat at the head of the channel and watched the boats come in with their catches tied to the swim steps of their boats. There were Dorado's and Marlins (see pictures) Iguess the boat with the most fish over the 3 days wins.

One of the requirements when you are cruising in Mexico is to check your boat in with the Port Captain if there is one in your location. The thing is, they are never near the water. We located the Port Capt. here by asking; first a taxi driver (the directions were in Spainsh so we got little from that) then we asked a gringo who lived there. He had us go through two vacant lots, down a small cobble stone street, and another block. We found it at 3pm, they close at 2:30. At least we now know where it is, so we check in 2 days later.

In the lagoon we get some much needed cleaning projects done. In the evening we sit in the cockpit and watch the fishing boats fish with their nets. Usually this is with a small row boat and a man, he rows in a circle playing out his net. Then he stands and slowly pulls it back in. The fish are caught by their gills, he carefully removes the small fish and drops it into a bucket. He then rows to a new location and repeats the process. While we watched I only saw them get one or two small fish each time. Looks like a hard way to make a living.

Our next destination is Manzanillo. A large city and port. Here we will be able to provision, and hopefully find some boat parts that we need.