We had a wonderful tour the other day. All of the crew of Mungo and Cat's-Paw IV plus all our visitors went on the tour so we had 9 in the van. We had a great driver who was a local who knew all the names of the people we went to visit and had grown up with them, super inside stories.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
We had a wonderful tour the other day. All of the crew of Mungo and Cat's-Paw IV plus all our visitors went on the tour so we had 9 in the van. We had a great driver who was a local who knew all the names of the people we went to visit and had grown up with them, super inside stories.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
It was great to have our buddy around when this happened, it was unnerving enough with two of us, I can't imagine how you would feel if you were out there alone.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
We had quite the ride here yesterday. There was no wind so we motored for 7 hours, charging up our batteries and making water the whole way. We were about an hour out of Bahia Tenacatita, when we ran into our first fish net. I managed to get the motor shut off before the line got tangled in the prop but the line was hooked around the keel, Barry jumped in with goggles on and dove under the boat and managed to free the line without any damage to the line but the bait that was on a hook that had attached itself to the prop got away. The lines or nets are just a long series of line strung out with hooks on them every so often, with a pop bottle holding them up about every 50 feet. They are really hard to see, some of the bottles of course being clear!!!!! The nets or single long lines if you will are really long, over 2 miles. We know because the next one we saw we thought we would just motor around it and after 15 minutes of motoring in the wrong direction we devised a new strategy for getting over the lines. We would line up the boat halfway between two floating pop bottles and then gun the motor so we were going quite fast, once we got close we would shut the motor off roll out the genoa and sail over the line, usually halfway between the bottles the line had sunk enough we could get over it. This strategy worked until there was a panga or Mexican fishing boat, at one of the lines and he waved us off and toward what we thought was the end of his net. We then headed towards where he indicated and damn if we didn't catch another line. In went Barry again, he got it free without a problem and then raced downstairs to get some cold beer and Coke for the fishermen. He put the stuff in a plastic bag and threw it into the water and it floated there until they were able to pick it up. I think we must have passed at least 6 nets making the trip here that much longer as we diverted, slowed down, and generally mucked about. It was nice to see Mungo safely at anchor when we arrived. They were very kind and had us over for dinner, so after several dips off the boat we swam over to Mungo and had a lovely dinner.
We will leave here in the morning for an anchorage a day's sail down the coast and then from there it is only another overnighter to get to Ziahuatanejo. When the girls come surfing the spot they have picked is between here and the next anchorage so we will be able to scout out where the best spot is to plunk ourselves down while they are here.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
We are on our way to Manzanilla which will be our next to last stop before Ziahuatanejo, where we will be spending Christmas. We expect to get to Manzanilla sometime during the day tomorrow. The anchorage sounds quite nice in the cruising guides. You can anchor at one spot and then for $15 per day you can park your dinghy at a resort dock and use their facilities, laundry, showers and pool, I seem to remember some marinas in Oregon that we could hook up at the dock for that price. Slips seem to be quite scare in Mexico, we were told that in one marina if you phoned and asked for a slip the answer would be no way, but if you showed up in person and offered to pay cash there would miraculously be a slip available, such is life!!!
Both boats are looking forward to getting to Z-town and having some serious time in one spot. This starting and stopping and overnight sails plays havoc with your sleep patterns, we just get used to the shifts and then we stop and have a long rest and we find our bodies haven't quite caught up with the lost sleep so we are starting our trip tired, not that I am complaining mind you, just wanted you to know it isn't all fun and games, mostly but not always. To me sailing is about leaving port when you are ready and staying and exploring when you feel like it and I am missing that aspect at the moment, soon we can stop and smell the seaweed!!!
Next morning: We have decided to duck into Bahia Tenacatita today. Our progress over the rest of the night was fairly slow and we found ourselves with a very long day of beating into the wind in order to just barely make it to Manzanilla before dark so opted to change our destination. Steven and Sandi on Mungo were quite a bit ahead of us so could easily make our target. We will meet up with them tomorrow in Manzanilla, weather permitting.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Sunday, December 03, 2006
I forgot to tell you the other day about the spinner dolphins that came to greet us on our way into Cabo. I think they must have escaped from Sea World or something, they were amazing, they would leap their whole bodies out of the water and then go through all sorts of twists and turns and somersaults before their bodies crashed back into the waves. What a lovely welcome. When we were in Cabo we went snorkeling. There was a huge variety of brightly coloured fish to feast our eyes on. No wonder people pay good money to go snorkeling and diving all over the world, it is quite wonderful.
We are headed to Puerta Vallarta. This will be the longest we have been under sail at one time, a total of 60 hours or 3 nights and 2 days. We are midway through night number 2 and all is well. We are having a wild ride, winds at 20-25 knots with seas that have built all the way down the Sea of Cortez. When we left Cabo we motored for about 3 hours and then set sail. We sailed as a cutter all day today, with two foresails up our genoa and a hanked on staysail. Tonight as the wind built we rolled in the genoa, first about half and then all of it, we just put in the first reef in the main and are still maintaining 6.5 knots. I just saw 8.54 on the GPS so we are flying.
It is great to be traveling with 2 other boats, we are helping each other out supplying weather information and moral support. Both the other 2 boats are larger than us so on a long passage they get ahead of us, they are still within binocular range and we are able to hear them on the VHF. I am just going off watch and want to have a shower before I go to bed. Hope all is well with everyone.
Friday, December 01, 2006
We went to visit a beach that is at the entrance to the harbour yesterday. The sand was wonderful and the views were awesome. The cave was just at the edge of the rocks by the water. We are going to do some chores today and I would like to take a swim as well, then we will get ready to leave for a passage across the Sea of Cortez tonight, we are hoping it will only take us about 60 hours and we will be in Puerta Vallarta by Monday morning.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
We went ashore yesterday and checked out the laundymat, the grocery store and the bank. We stopped for some ice cream on our way back from the Capitan del Peurta, we arrived at 2:40 and found that it had closed at 2:30, hmmmm. After getting our groceries back on the boat and washing down all the fruits and veggies with a strong vinegar solution to prevent bug eggs from hatching we went back ashore for some R & R. The new couple is Pat and Carol from Sacramento, CA. I think they are going to join us on the trip over to Puerta Vallarta. We will stay here until at least Friday night and then attempt the 60 hour crossing to PV. There is a big wind brewing in the Sea of Cortez that will blow all the way down and affect our crossing, so we will just have to see how that shapes up.
These two shots are from San Quintin, I wanted the volcano cone in the background of the beach shot and then the gate into the ranchero that we crashed.
These are the surf huts in Bahia Santa Maria, the big building must be the cook house, or main meeting spot. They were very isolated from anything else and in beautiful condition. You can kind of see all the sail boats anchored in the background.
Barry slicing off the lobster's tail, we have been told the best way is just to break them off. In the restaurant in Cabo last night they wanted $40. for 3 lobster tails.
Notice these fellows don't have any front claws, so you just get the tail. It was a bit creepy haviing these buggy looking things crawling around on the deck, I was afraid one would escape over the side. Our VERY expensive Mexican fishing licenses won't let us take any shell fish, no lobster or crab, OH unless you catch them by hand, no spear, no nets, BY HAND.