We are really enjoying exploring around Barra Navidad. We have heard about it and what a wonderful spot it is from quite a few people. Well, it is. They have a lovely hotel and marina with a fabulous golf course. We haven’t tried to land at the marina yet but have heard how we can use the pool and showers for free if we wish.
We are anchored in the lagoon that the hotel and marina are located on. There is no swell in here so you have great uninterrupted sleeps and although we have heard that people are dragging their anchors in the muddy bottom. There hasn’t been much wind since we have arrived so we have not seen any evidence of people dragging around and our anchor seems secure. The entrance into the lagoon is quite shallow and as we came in someone was on the bottom and again today someone had run aground. We are hoping our shallow 5’6”draft will keep up afloat as we leave.
The lagoon is really shallow and it is muddy so there is no swimming off the boat here. There is a nice beach a short dinghy ride away and we hear it is a good spot to learn how to surf, not sure if I have the guts to give it a try or not, Barry says he won’t. Today we went ashore by the golf course and wandered around it for awhile. It is spectacular. We ended up on the Pacific shore to the south of Barra to watch the surf and walk on the beach. It was deserted and was the sand ever hot. At the end of the beach there were stairs cut and cemented into the rocky hillside. The stairs led around the hill and to another smaller secluded beach. It looked like you could snorkel and swim from that beach and if we stay long enough we may go back and explore more. It was noon and we had nothing to drink so we figured we would head back to the boat for a siesta. I am going to take the computer into an internet café so I should be able to put this and a bunch of pictures I have wanted to add to the blog on.
We have decided that we are both are returning to Canada for hurricane season. Barry is trying to line up some work in Yellowknife and I want to be around to help out Trish and Jen with their new additions to their families. We are still hoping to be able to attend some sort of Spanish classes once we return to Mexico in the fall. Our Mexican visa’s run out on May 15 so we have to leave before then, once we put the boat on the hard in San Carlos we will bus it to Tucson or Phoenix and fly back to Canada from there.

Ian and Helen from Yellowknife left this morning to drive back to Puerta Villarta, we were sad to see them leave, we truly enjoyed having them aboard. Once they were gone we packed up and left Las Hadas anchorage in Manzanillo and headed north. We didn't get too far, at the moment we are in Barra Navidad about 20 miles north of Manzanillo. It is a lagoon with a big fancy hotel with a marina at the entrance. We avoided the temptation of showers and electricity and motored into the anchorage.
It was a bit tricky getting in, thank heavens our buddies on Espiritu called us on the radio and told us how to get in. We kept the 40+ foot Canadian ketch that was aground to our right as we went in. There was about 3 dinghies around the boat helping out. We anchored with about 1.5 feet under our keel so there was no need to put out 100 feet of chain!!! There are at least 3 boats here that we know folks on so we are looking forward to doing some visiting. I have put in a Yotreps report so that you can follow our trip north. We have no definite plans, we have no schedules to keep so we will just cruise along when we feel like it.

Another Mexican Adventure
The four of us were on board last night and there was a band playing on shore. Barry and Ian were busy installing a new chart program on the computer so Helen and I headed ashore in the dinghy to find out what was happening. It was dark and on the way in we saw a fellow rowing a fairly large boat and we wondered what he was up to. When we got ashore we found a Mexican wedding going full tilt. There was a live band and the main characters in the wedding party were all standing and everyone was singing heartily. We just observed from the side for about 10 minutes and then headed back to the boat on the dinghy. OH, OH as we were speeding along something slowed us down and I thought we had caught something. Sure enough the motor quit and low and behold we were in the middle of a fishing net. The guy in the boat had set a net in between the shore and the boat, what a dummy.

Well, I leaned down and tried to untangle the net from the prop. NO LUCK, it was pitch dark and I didn't know what to do, I couldn't even tilt the motor to get the prop out of the water. Fortunately someone in the trailer park ashore had seen us and started shouting and asking us if we needed help. They shone a big spotlight on us to find out what was going on. We yelled back and let him know we needed a knife. We figured we would have to swim ashore, I had a dress and my panties on, nothing else, too bad I didn't have a bra because I would have taken the dress off, but no, I would rather be cool, so in I jumped in dress and all and swam ashore. I got the guys knife, a lovely Swiss Army joby and swam back out to the dinghy and hacked the fisherman's net to bits getting the prop untangled. Helen rowed part way to shore and I jumped back in and swam ashore to give the guy back his knife and thank him. He wondered if we were going to come ashore and try and get the prop untangled, but I figured I would let Barry look after that. Helen rowed the dinghy all the way back to the boat, going way around where we thought the net might be. Barry took it all in his stride and went in the dinghy and got all the net out of the prop. I don't think there is any damage but we haven't tried to run the motor again yet.
Today we are on our way back to Manzanillo and Helen and Ian leave tomorrow morning. We were under sail with the boat rigged as a cutter and we got caught on a fish line. Barry jumped in and tried to get it off the keel. We were still making way so he was having to swim like crazy to try and keep up to the boat. We had let all the sails loose but the boat still was merrily moving along. We turned up into the wind and then slowed down enough so Barry could get the fish line loose, then we just kept going. Never a dull moment. We are looking forward to the four of us going out for dinner on the town tonight. Tomorrow is Ian's birthday. Crew hard at work.

Our buddies from Yellowknife have arrived. They drove to Manzanillo from Puerta Villarta and managed to find us at anchor at Las Hadas. The next morning we set off for points north with all four of us on board. Our first stop was a lovely isolated anchorage about 5 miles north of Manzanillo is a very private spot with no houses or hotels around just hills, rocks and a nice pebble beach. The next day we motored and sailed the 15 miles to Melaque which is a nice spot with a huge long beach a little town and lots of tourists. There is a trailer park and there are all sorts of RV's parked there and from what I could see they were mostly Canadians there. We have been enjoying each others company, swimming and diving off the boat and relaxing with good food and wine. Barry and Ian put on a display of diving off the boat yesterday, each one vying to show up the other. We even had them doing back dives off the side of the boat, Barry climbed up on the radar arch and executed a half turn off the rail, good form. Ian is perfecting his dive from the cabin top, he is working on keeping his legs from bending and his toes pointed. I am a chicken to try that because I think I may catch my feet on the lifelines as I go over. There is a nice spot to go snorkeling so I think I will head over there now.

Not bad Ian, not bad at all!!

We are back in Manzanillo. We sailed back from Maruata, arriving last Friday night. We had a good sail up, managing to actually sail about half the time. Maruata was a gorgeous spot, sandy beaches, a protected anchorage and a sleeply little town unspoiled by big time tourism, Barry said it felt like being in small town Saskatchewan. We spent our time there visiting with other yachties, exploring the town, flying some stunt kites that Jennifer gave us and running up to Ticla where Trish and Graeme were staying to visit.

Jen and Mark after staying in Ticla a couple of days bused it to Manzanillo. We have seen them a couple of times since we have arrived, they came aboard and we went snorkeling, and today we went to visit them in their hotel room. It is a lovely spot right on the beach with a nice pool. We got to have a hot shower, what a treat, Barry said he didn't realize what a good tan he has until he looked in the mirror at the hotel. We played cards, dice, went swimming in the pool and the ocean, flew the kites on the beach and Jen cut my hair. She did a great job, and it was fun having my daughter cut my hair as the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. It was a lovely sunset and it was so special that we could share it with Jen and Mark. Ahh, the life of a cruiser!!!

Jen and Mark watching the dolphins on our sail down to Maruata

All the kids go home on Wednesday and our friends Ian and Helen from Yellowknife arrive on Saturday for a short visit. They are currently in Miami at the boat show so they should have some good tales to tell once they arrive.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that Barry got a big fish on the way back from Maruata. He finally caught a dorado, otherwise known as a maui-maui, it was really big and very tasty. He fought the good fight one the hook but had swallowed it hook, line and sinker as they say and we managed to get him aboard after a battle to lift him into the boat. It was so pretty that it was almost a shame to kill him. I calculate that our Mexican fish are now down to $37.50 per fish and dropping fast. This one alone was worth the price.

We are in Muruata, which is about 75 miles south of Manzanillo. It is a very nice anchorage, a small village, but lovely big rocks on the south side of a headland. We managed a beach landing in the dinghy with Jen, Mark and myself, but on the way out I almost got swamped. I was by myself and I was peering over the edge to try and figure out if I was going to ding the prop or not and I took my eye off the waves. Well the waves almost got me, the dinghy got twisted around and all of a sudden I was headed for shore. I managed to get the boat turned around so I was heading for the boat and realized that it was a quarter full of water. I had forgotten to tie on the baler so there I was with tons of water floating around in the dinghy, the gas can was even floating. I got back to the boat and Barry and I bailed for about 5 minutes. We put all of Jen and Mark's luggage in big green garbage bags that were specially imported from Canada by Trish. I got to shore without dunking the luggage, Jen had figured out a different approach and ended up getting in the water and swimming out to the dinghy to show me the way in, because I was confused!!! ( Maybe I had some of that water on the brain)
We hopped on a bus and went to where we thought Trish was. We got to a little town then took a cab to the beach. Trish and Graeme were walking down the road by the shore as we drove up, good stuff. Jen was yelling out the window at her "Hey Gringa" Trish was ignoring us, but she had a big smile on her face when we got out of the cab. It is great to have Jen along, she is fluent in Spanish from her year in Venezuela. She just yabbers away with everyone and we get the low down on where to go, what time to catch the bus and anything else our little hearts desire. The only problem is with her around, non of the rest of us want to bother saying anything.
Jen and Mark found a room and I took a room for the night as I wasn't fussy about getting a bus back by myself when it might be dark when I got to the boat. The room was $10.00, it was clean and the sheets were clean and there was a bed but there was no toilet paper, no soap and I couldn't get the shower to work, what do you want for $10.00? I went and watched Graeme surf and built an inukshuk on the beach. There were lots of surfers there. Today Graeme, Trish and a fellow surfer from England who just happens to have a doctorate in environmental toxins, came to the boat and we went snorkeling. There was a large rock with a hole in it that had some great fish in it and the sides of the cave had very beautiful fans and plant growth on it, absolutely beautiful colours. They headed back to the surf spot today with a promise to show up again in 2 days for more snorkeling. While I was gone Barry changed oil, oil filter, watermaker filters, fuel filters and made water and ran the generator for 5 hours with no one to complain about the noise. When we arrived he was in the water cleaning barnacles off the bottom, I should leave him by himself more often.
That't it for now, remember be good to your Valentine, everyone loves chocolate.

I have been trying to upload pictures of that sailboat and do another blog on the internet but our connection still sucks so I will do this one through my brother, so sorry no pics.
Jen and Mark are here with us now, it is nice to get to know the man who has stolen my daughter's heart. He seems like a good sort and has a lovely Cape Breton accent. They arrived yesterday without incident. We all spent a quiet night on the boat. Trish and Graeme have changed surfing locations, they have moved further down the coast so we are taking the boat back down south so we can all meet them. It is about 75 miles south of Manzanillo and it will take us over 13 hours to get there so we figured rather than rush through a really long day we would sail there over night. Hope we can find the little spot Trish and Graeme are in when we get there!!!
I have to tell you about a bus ride we took the other day. The bus was pretty full so Barry was standing until an older Mexican gentleman moved over and invited him to sit down. Barry immediately struck up a conversation and was yakking away to the guy. It was very comical, I was 2 seats behind on the other side and you could see everyone listen to what this gringo was trying to say. Barry told him he was a Canadian, one of our first conversational gambits, and that he had sailed here, how big the boat was, how long we had been sailing, etc. Then he told them I was his "espousa" and said I was the one in the red hat, but he said it a " rojo chapeau" and got a really blank look and then went oh yeah a sombrero rojo, everyone smiled and smiled. Then he told them his daughters were down here and we finally got across by hand actions that they were surfing (because there is no Spanish word in our dictionary for surfing), then he says, no mi, mi no loco!! ( Not me, I'm not crazy) Well the whole section of the bus started laughing, it was great to share that moment with a bunch of Spanish speaking strangers on a bus, people of different cultures and backgrounds communicating with the universal language of laughter, it doesn't get much better than that.

How NOT to Boat in Mexico

We were over on another boat visiting this afternoon. We noticed a sailboat under motor come out of the marina and the engine was making a very odd noise and there was smoke pouring out of the exhaust. We yelled at the guy and told him "No agua" because we couldn't see any exhaust water coming out of the back of the boat. There were about 6 people on board, they had a big video camera on a tripod on the foredeck and there were 5 of them at the front and one guy at the back steering. The main was covered and there was no foresail attached. Okay, so we had done our bit and yelled at them but we were basically ignored.
We continued to chat to Phil on his boat and then about a half hour later we noticed the boat with the main up sailing very close to the beach to the east of us. This was not good, there was a decent wind out there and a pretty good surf running. And then OH Sh....! the boat is on the beach. We all got in our dinghy and went over to see if we could help. By the time we got there the boat was being tossed by the waves on the beach. It was a lovely looking sailboat, about 27 feet long with a big full keel and it was hung up on the sand. Every time a wave would come in the boat, which was sideways to the waves would get rocked over from one side to the other and the water would pour out of the bilge pump. There were 4 sets of cruisers there with their dinghies all seeing if we could do anything. We got a line attached and a bunch of guys got in the water and we all tried to haul the boat off the sand, NO LUCK.
Then a sport fishing boat came along and Barry and I helped take a line from the shore that someone had swum out with and we motored it to the sport fisher. (Keep in mind the surf is rolling in all the time and we had to very careful not to get the dinghy too close to shore or we would be tossed in, hook, line and motor.) The line was attached and everyone stood back and the big power boat took up the slack and pulled, twice the line broke and then he gave up and left. He didn't even budge the boat it was well and truly stuck in the sand.
A harbour patrol boat showed up shortly after and again guys from shore swam out to get lines that dinghy people had taken from the patrol boat and attached them to the battered sailboat. Line were attached, they were pulled taught and we thought she was going to come off the sand. She spun around and was facing into the waves but no go, the lines snapped twice more. We got the lines back to the patrol boat and the fellow said "Tiene mas". Which we took to mean they were going to go get a something bigger, we weren't sure if he just was getting a bigger line or a bigger boat. Well, he came back with both, now this boat had some POWER. They also had 2 and 1/2 inch floating line to attach to the sailboat. While they had been gone to switch boats our new friend Phil had helped the shore bunch to put a big bridle around the sailboat. They got hold of a huge line and fed it through the front cleats and led it to the winches in the cockpit, they managed to have one go in each side so there was something solid to pull on.
Meanwhile poor old Los Amigos (the boat) had turned sideways to the surf again and was being bashed. Her mainsail had been left on and it had fallen over the side and was in the water, alternately being filled with sand and water and then the water would gush out of it when she rolled on her other side. It was not a pretty thing to watch. The fellow in a dinghy beside us said that it would be the rigging that would be taking a real pounding.
Anyways, when the MAS Harbour Patrol boat started pulling, Los Amigos slowly slewed sideways nose into the waves, every new wave we would think this is the one she will float on. It took about 3 minutes of steady pulling and she finally was afloat, hurray. They tied her up to the patrol boat and took her back to her slip. It was quite a stimulating way to spend an afternoon and a good lesson on the dangers of a lee shore. Nice that we could in our small way be of some help.

Trish and Graeme arrived safe and sound. It is great to see them, Trish looks wonderful with her belly, she is 6 months at the moment so she has a nice little belly that doesn't get in her way or stop her from doing much. She didn't bring her surfboard but that didn't stop her from moaning and groaning about not being able to do any surfing yesterday.
I guess I should back up a bit, they arrived around 5 P.M. so they just came to the boat and stayed the night with us. Yesterday we all took the bus down to the place they are planning to surf and checked out the waves and accomodations. There were a number of surfers types hanging about when we got there so the kids got the scoop about what the waves have been doing and where was the best place to stay. The hotel they chose is right on the beach and the couple that is running it seem very nice. They have quite a bit of English so Trish was able to negotiate a reduction in the room rate if they stayed there for the whole three weeks. Graeme spent about 3 hours in the water surfing on the waves that were available, apparently they weren't very good, they broke too quickly I guess. There are supposed to be big waves coming this weekend so we are planning on heading out to visit on Sunday.




The bus trip was a good experience, we took a cab from the anchorage to the bus station. We had to get someone that could speak English to explain to our driver where exactly we wanted to go. Then we took a bus to a town called Techoman, then another cab to the beach. The bus was only $3.20 for an hour bus ride and it was really comfortable. We found out that a local bus goes out to the beach so we paid 60 cents and took that on the way back to Techoman where we got a bus back to Manzanillo. It was quite an interesting day, nice to get away from the boat and see some of the countryside.
Today Trish and Greame and I went snorkeling about 10 minutes away from the anchorage by dinghy and had a lovely time. We saw a whole lot of fish and Graeme had a great time with a disposable underwater camera they had bought and was busy snapping pictures of fish the whole time he was in the water. Barry stayed back on the boat and finished the patch job on the genoa. Together I would say we spent over 5 hours sewing that thing up. The patch should hold.

The Beginning of a New School

This is how the frame of the bodega looked when we arrived. Notice the rocks being piled up for the floor. They were all picked by hand and moved to the building.

Here we are finding good rocks that will make a great floor. Barry has the white ball cap on.

The roof was a co-operative effort between these guys. The fellow with the hat on is a mathematician from New Mexico, he was very precise in his measurements.

The Federals showed up about 10 o'clock and caused a bit of a stir. Apparently they came because they wondered what was going on. In the area every time there is a bit of cleared land the squatters move in and start building a home. They were assured that our enterprise was a legitimate one.

This lady was the official floor packer downer.

She made the implement she is using and then just went to work with it. After we had put all the rocks we needed in', we added sand and dirt for fill. It was raked evenly and then it was packed. You could tell that she had done this before.



The finished product, a shed for the materials that are needed to build a new school on this site. Isn't it a wonderful view.

This sign translated with my limited Spanish, says the future home of the primary school Octavio Paz. To take over from the school Nueva Creacion. It is a project that is being shared by Sailfest, Por Los Ninos de Zihuatanejo (a charitable foundation called For The Children), a U.S. charitable foundation called los Ninos Inc. , Rotary Club International and the Municipality of Jose Azueta in Zihua.

It was so gratifying to be a part of this and to actually see something be accomplished in one morning when there are lots of willing hands to do the work.

Approaching Manzaillo

It was a dark and stormy night.....that about says it all. At one point we had the main triple reefed and a handkerchief of a genoa out. In the light we realized that we have a tear in the genoa. The tear is on a seam though, so I think I should be able to repair it. At the moment it is bright and sunny and we are whipping along under sail about an hour from Manzanillo. Trish and Graeme arrive tomorrow so we are both looking forward to that.
I've got some great photos of construction of the bodega or storage shed so hopefully I will be able to put them on the net soon.

We were stopped by the Mexican Navy AGAIN!! What is with them. Anyway this time it was during the day and they called us before they got too close. They called us on the radio in Spanish but Barry didn't want me to answer, but I did anyway in English and the fellow then proceeded to talk to us in English, so that was a good thing. It was a much bigger vessel that was patrolling and they sent out a boarding party. The boat they sent over was a big fiberglass and wood motor boat, it was about 30 feet long. Two naval officers got off of it and came aboard and looked at our papers. The one fellow spoke English quite well and it ended up he was on the tall ship that was in Victoria Harbour in the summer of 2005. The other fellow had sailed quite a bit and in his broken English he told us he sailed, Lazers, Hobi-cats and J-24's. They were very nice and although the other guys on the motor boat that had big machine guns were somewhat intimidating, these two seemed very nice. We had forgotten to clear out of Zihuatanejo, so when he asked for our papers, Barry kind of gulped but we could show him all our other stuff and we had good paperwork for when we went to Acapulco so they seemed satisfied. They managed the transfer off and on our boat without too much problem and there were no scratches on the hull. It is good to know that they are a presence in the area and I am really glad they decided to board us in the daylight this time. Hopefully that is the last time for awhile.

Barry said he smiled and waved at this guy with the gun, but he was having none of that and didn't crack a smile, he was ready in case we caused any trouble.

We are underway once again, we are heading north, ultimate destination, Sea of Cortez but for now we are headed to Manzanillo to visit with 2 of our daughters and their spouses. Trish and Jen are going to south of Manzanillo to surf for 3 and 2 weeks respectively. We can't wait to see them. We had a great sail to Isla Grande yesterday, which is just 6 miles north of Zihua, we are hoping to get to an anchorage that is 65 miles up the coast tonight, we were underway at 0530.
We had a wonderful experience yesterday. We helped to build a storage shed for the materials for a new school that is going to be built up high on the hillside in Zihuatanejo. What an example of co-operation and comradeship. Lending a hand were cruisers, visitors that were land based, teachers, and parents of students that will be attending the school. When we arrived a frame had already been constructed and it was up to us to put the sides on and make a floor. To construct the floor we all went to work and got rocks from the fill that had been generated when the site had been leveled. There must have been about 40 people there and everyone went and picked up rocks ranging in size from easy to pick up ones to rocks where two men were huffing and puffing while they were carrying them. In an hour we had filled in the 12 foot by 20 foot space, the depth varied from one end to the other, the one end being about 18 inches and the other was almost even with the bottom of the frame.
After we had piled up the rocks we then went to work getting dirt and small rocks to fill in. I had a crow bar and just kept digging into the hillside loosening up the dirt. A young woman had a pail and she would come and we would fill up the pail and she would take it to empty it on the floor as I continued to loosen dirt. There were people inside the frame with rakes, leveling out the floor and then one woman built a tamper out of wood and she pounded on the floor until it was packed and level.
Meanwhile there were two men on the roof and roofing material was being hoisted up and nailed on. Then the sides were put on, the sides were boards sawn from coconut trees and Barry said they were very hard and it was tough to put the nails through them. When we left all the sides were up, the floor was level, the door was being put on and the roof was being bolted down. They hung a sign on the shed,it had the nae of the school and the organizations that are co-operating to build it. The name of the school is going to be Octavio Paz, he is a Mexican fellow that won the Nobel Prize for literature and is famous for his humanitarian deeds. I am really happy that we stayed in Zee to help out with this worthy cause and hopefully when we head south next year we will be able to go up to the site and see what progress has been made in building the new school.

We moved the boat to a different anchorage today so that we could clean the bottom. Where we were I didn't trust the water quality so we moved to a spot that is more open to the ocean and there are no lagoons or rivers that empty near to us. Yesterday another Fast Passage arrived in the bay and we had a chance to go over and visit with them. They very kindly gave us an in depth tour of their boat, Nuage, so we could see what modifications they had made. They have done some really good stuff that improves the amount of storage area on the boat, for instance where our vanity is in our aft cabin, they have put in shelving that reaches to the ceiling. They also lent us a breathing apparatus that allows you clean the bottom of the boat. It has a mini-compressor that has a hose which is attached to a mouth piece. The hose is long enough that I could scrape the entire bottom of the boat. They also lent us a weight belt so it was like I was in seventh heaven, able to stay down, breathe and scrape. I also had to change the zincs on the shaft. Barry tried the "houka" but his lung capacity is just too large and he was breathing too deeply and was only getting half breaths and felt like he wasn't getting enough air. Thankfully my lungs aren't that huge. I only dropped one screw when I was putting on the zincs because Barry didn't tell me one end had a nut on it and I was putting the screw in the end with the nut on it, not good!!! Barry doesn't think the zincs are on tight enough but I did them up as hard as I could and he went down and tried to tighten them, not sure why they don't fit better. We will have to keep an eye on them.
We are getting ready to leave Zihuatanejo tomorrow afternoon. We are going to join the work party in the morning to build a small shed for supplies for the new school and then we will head to an island that is about 10 miles north to stay overnight. Sunday morning we will take off for points north. We plan to be in Manzanillo on Tuesday and the Trish and Graeme arrive on Wednesday. We are both really looking forward to seeing them again.

We are enjoying having our generator, having fun selling t-shirts, etc. I even managed to sell one to Barry’s brother Bruce on-line yesterday. I thought that was quite a coup. We went around to some of the local merchants to ask for donations for Sailfest last night. The first time we went into our block of shops we had a Mexican student with us, her English was just excellent so she would give them the spiel. There were a lot of owners that weren’t there so Barry and I went back later to some of the shops. The two most impressive donations were a gorgeous off white leather purse and a whole bunch of children’s clothes. The kids clothes included 5 pairs of jeans, a lovely shirt, 2 pairs of boxers and an outfit that consisted of pants and a top, really high end stuff. These donations can be used for one of the four raffles we are selling tickets for or for the live or silent auction that are planned. One tiny food place donated 2 empanadas, it was great to see someone who didn’t have much give something away in order to make money for the schools in the area.
Today we are going over to one of the beaches for a cruiser get together, we play dominos, cards, bocce ball, go snorkeling, etc. There are more and more boats arriving every day, so there are lots of new people to meet and get to know. Hope all in well with everyone. Barry has not been feeling well since about New Years. When we came back from Acapulco I put him on some penicillin and it seemed to speed up his recovery. Then the other night he was burning up with fever again. He actually stayed on the boat sleeping for the best part of two days, not at all like him. He claims he is much better today and I hoping he is being truthful, otherwise I would like him to go and see a doctor, this has been going on for almost a month now and if it is just a normal virus type illness he should be over it. It is quite worrying, but he does look and sound much better today.

This is the latest addition to our boat. Barry is in seventh heaven. This is our new Honda 1000 which at this very second is happily humming away in the background putting in 35 amps of electricity into our batteries. Life is good. The computer is being charged, we have the fans on to cool the boat down. We can put the anchor light on at night and turn more than one light on in the boat without feeling terribly guilty. The humming is a bit annoying but if I think of it as a large CAT purring away as it powers up the boat, I don't have a problem with that. It is only 29 pounds or for all you younger Canadians that would be 13 kilograms. I can lift it without any problems and I think we will store it under the table when we are under way, it isn't very big so should fit there. We will have to figure out some way to secure it, I was considering duct tape but decided that would be a tad wasteful, perhaps bungy cords and line.

We went and tried to sell t-shirts and CD's to the folks off a cruise ship today. It was surprising how many would chat away, seem quite interested and then just leave without buying anything, cheap so and so's. We were there for four hours and managed to sell 10
t-shirts at 100 pesos a piece, or 10 USD, we sold 2 CD at 200 pesos so we made 1200 pesos for the cause and it will double when the charitable foundation that is involved will match our funds. It costs 250 USD to fund one child for one year in a secondary school, so we accomplished that today. I figure an education for a year for one child is a good trade for standing at a booth schoomzing tourists for 4 hours.

We had some pictures of the children from the schools so we could show the tourists what conditions the schools were in. A child came up and found herself in one of the pictures. She brought over her brother and sister and finally her mother and she really wanted the picture that had been taken. We couldn't resist and gave her our propoganda. Someone had a camera so took a shot of her with the picture, with her family. I will try to get a copy of that picture so you can enjoy the look of pride on her face as she displayed the picture of herself in school. Wow, that was really special.

We went on a school tour yesterday. It was a real eye opener. the school was very small and very crowded. There is no equipment and they have nothing to work with. All the kids are happy and have huge smiles on their faces. They like going to school. They have a canteen outside of the school where the kids can get nutritious snacks and the money they make they turn back to the school.

They are in the midst of plans to build a new school. The City of Zihuatanejo has donated the land, the government will pay for construction materials, the Rotary Club has agreed to buy the furnishings for the school and Sailfest and a charity in the states are raising money for the construction costs. It is quite an undertaking. It feels really good to be part of the committee and to help out.

The school is up very high on a hill to the north of town, there is a beautiful view of the bay from up there and it is very breezy. The only thing about it being so high is that all the kids that don't have transportation have to walk up the hill to go to school.

All the cruisers are pulling together and getting a four day festival organized. There are 4 raffles, a CD that has been produced for sale, an auction, a chili cook-off, a sail parade where the cruisers sell spots on thier boat and parade around Z-bay and then over to Ixtapa. Barry and I are helping with registration and sale of t-shirts, CD's, raffle tickets, etc.

We have been wandering around town the last few days. We went walking into a different part of town yesterday and watched part of a soccer game or "football" as it is referred to down here. Then we went up a hill trying to get a good view of the harbour, the street we were on started getting narrower and narrower, it finally turned into a lane, and then into a walkway. The houses there were up on a hill, with only this tiny steep walkway that could use to access the house. We noticed almost every house had laundry handing up in the yard, I guess Sunday is laundry day.

We have become involved in Sailfest. It is a festival that cruisers organize to raise money for local schools. It is in it's 5th year and each year it has become bigger and better to the point that they are supporting 3 schools. The schools are for aboriginal kids that live here. These kids are brought up speaking their language and they can't get admitted to a Spanish school until they learn Spanish. The schools that have been established and supported by Sailfest exist to be able to mainstream these Aboriginal kids. We are going to go on a tour of the schools on Wednesday.

Unfortuneately we aren't going to be here for Sailfest because we have to be in Manzanillo to meet the girls so we decided to get involved now and do some volunteering. We are going to help out with the registration and sales of the T-shirts and CD's that they are putting out. It should be a good way to meet other cruisers as well.

Barry is at the bank at the moment, he is transferring money so we can buy a Honda generator. Our solar panels can't keep up to our energy demands, we are having to run our motor almost daily so we can have lights or use the computer in the evenings. The generator will allow us to not have to worry about having 2 lights on at once, yeah!!! I'm just not sure where we are going to put the thing when we are underway, but I guess that is Barry's problem.

We are back in Zihuatanejo now. (Check out the Acapulco blogs, I added pictures, the pictures of the divers actually diving did not work out, they were too far away and it was dark, too bad) We had a nice sail/motor back, no problems. At one point we were actually sailing at + 6 knots, it was a lovely feeling to be moving along. We were sailing with all the portholes and the one hatch open to get air in the boot and I actually went below and closed the leeward portholes becuase we might get some water in them!!! We saw the strangest site, these rays were leaping out of the water. They would jump singly or in pairs and they would go about 4 or 5 feet up in the air. When they came out of the water they would be fairly steamlined and then they would open their flaps or wings or whatever and then the would hit the water with a huge splatting noise. It was the strangest thing, does anyone know enough about fish to figure out why they jump out of the water. We have seen at least 3 different species of fish do this, I wonder if they are trying to escape a predator, maybe they are just trying to get a better view of our beautiful boat!! Yeah, that must be it.

When we got back to Z-town we met Steve and Sandi coming out of the bay to clean their bottom so we went and anchored with them and we had a nice chat. Later that night we met for a farewell dinner as they are leaving to go north today. We had such a good time, we went to Rick's Bar, the cruiser hangout and had a real North American steak dinner. All the beef down here is cut really thinly and they eat a lot of what my Mom call pulled beef, it's like they shave it very thin in long strips. After dinner we listened to live music and Barry was feeling no pain so we even danced a few dances, it was a great way to say good-bye. I am sure we will meet up with them again. We are going to put our boats on the hard in the same spot and we will be heading the same direction.

We are on our way back to Zihuatanejo, we are sailing at about 5 knots, which is great for this part of the country. We had a very interesting day yesterday. We hopped on a bus and went all the way around the bay in Acapulco. It was interesting to go from the old part of town to the newer part. The new part close to the water is all hotels and bars along the waterfront. There is a MacDonalds, a couple of KFC's and lots of high end clothing stores. The bars along the bay all have shore access and although they were pretty empty in the morning when we were walking around, we were encouraged to come in and sit down and indulge. There were quite a few night clubs as well that I am sure would come alive in the evenings.
We went to visit the El Fuerte San Diego, or Fort San Diego. It is a fort that was built by the Spanish to protect Acapulco in the 1600's. There was a museum in the fort, it was very nicely done and all the exhibits had English translations. Some of the translations were worded quite weirdly but you got the meaning. There was a little about the fort and a lot about the trading routes that were established between Acapulco and the Philippines. I didn't know that the Philippines were populated by the Spanish and Mexicans. There was quite a bit of material about the trading that took place and how the Oriental culture and the Spanish culture mixed due to the trading. They had wonderful examples of Chinese embroidery and china that ended up in Mexico due to the trading. There was a room about pirates and they were portrayed as men who hassled the Spanish galleons in time of war. It was made clear that most pirates did not get rich and lived a pretty hard life trying to chase down and capture the wonderful Spanish galleons. The fort itself was made in the shape of a pentagon with a moat around it. It was very impressive to stroll around the top of it and gaze out at Acapulco Harbour from the 5 different vantage points. After we finished visiting we went and rested in the zoloco or town square. It was a beautifully treed area with benches and a pagoda. There were stores around the edges of the courtyard but we weren't hassled by any vendors or beggars while we were sitting there.
We are planning on stopping in one spot before we get to Z-town so we plan to arrive there sometime on Friday.

We stopped at this one little open air restaurant for lunch, I ordered shrimp. They came just like this, I remember Katherine, Steve and Sandi's daughter complaining about cleaning shrimp for our Boxing Day dinner, well the proof is in the pudding. In Mexico you don't need to you can just cook them and serve them with everything still attached!!!! They were delicious by the way after you got over their appearance.

We went to see the cliff divers last night and it was amazing. My heart would be in my throat every time they leaped off the cliffs. The whole set up was pretty cool. There are huge cliffs on both sides of a small inlet. They have built a massive set of stairs so you can go down the cliffs on one side to watch the divers. The stairs are big and wide and there are three foot tall walls that are a foot thick all along the stairway. There are pretty good vantage points all the way down the stairs, so people stop all along the stairway to lean on the wall and watch. We got there pretty early and just watched the surf surge in and out of the small opening.
When the divers arrived for the 7:30 P.M. show they walked down the stairway with lit torches. They dowsed the torches at the bottom of the stairs and they walked toward the wall everyone was leaning over and climbed over it and down the cliffs to a small flat spot about 10 feet above the water. There were about 8 divers, one fellow was really young and was just learning. He took several dives from the low spot, he got the top part of his body under control and managed that part of the dive but had not yet learned to control his legs. They would bend and splat as he hit the water, one time he arched too much and almost flipped over, that looked painful. Meanwhile the older guys had dove in and were cleaning up some debris that was in the water, I imagine if they had hit some of that when they went in the water it could have done some significant damage.
Then what happened was one of the most amazing parts, the divers free climbed up the cliff on the other side, we estimated it was about 80 feet high. They went up like mountain goats one at a time. The younger fellows stopped about half way up and dove from there, about four went all the way to the top, but only one fellow dove from the top. Two dove at the same time and did a pike with one flip. The divers would be standing on their spot on the cliff and then they would whistle and wave to get your attention. Then they would steady themselves for the dive and then intently watch the surf so they could time their dives to hit the water when the surge of the surf would be just right. The cliffs were all lit up with floodlights but other than that there was no other artificial enhancements. There was no announcer, there was no music, just divers climbing, whistling, waving and diving. It was quite magical, I am so happy that we went and without a doubt it will be one of the highlights of our Mexican trip.

We are approaching Acapulco. We have had a quiet passage with light winds, we motored most of the night. We timed it right and had another beautiful full moon last night. Yesterday we saw lots of turtles lolling about in the water. They are quite funny, they just lie there on the surface, some dive when we get close but others just float about occasionally flapping a leg up in the air. We had several pods of dolphins come and cavort about the boat as well, that is always fun to watch from the bow.
I am very keen to go and see the cliff divers here. I was talking to Mom about it over Christmas and I can remember watching the Wide World of Sports as a kid and I am pretty sure in the opening pictorial montage there was a guy diving off the cliffs in Acapulco. If not from there then from somewhere in my brain I have retained an image of wonderfully fit looking guys diving off these cliffs. We are hoping to be able to replace the part that will hook us into the internet. Hopefully one of us will be able to get a decent picture of those cliff divers and we can share it with you. After our visit here we will head back north and get ready to meet our daughters as they fly into Manzanillo at the beginning of February.

Mom left on Jan. 2 and we moved from Zihuatanejo to the marina at Ixtapa on Jan. 3. We will stay there tonight and then leave for Acapulco sometime tomorrow. We have been busy cleaning the outside of the boat, this being the first time since San Diego that we have had fresh water to wash down the boat. The hardest chore was cleaning the anchor chain. It had growth on it that was really scummy and it would not come off without a real good scrubbing. There was only about 30 feet that was affected, thank goodness, but it still took us about 2 1/2 hours. The chain is still all over the dock, we are going to repaint it later this afternoon.

The other thing that happened was we snapped off the connection to the card that hooks us into the internet, so we do not have internet access on the boat anymore. If you want to get in touch with us please use this e-mail

ve8bl@winlink.org

We are looking forward to heading out again but I have very mixed feelings about leaving without Mungo. It just doesn't feel right.

Feliz Ano Nuevo!! Hope you had a great one. This was our first out of Canada New's Years experience and it was super. We went to a cruiser get together on a large motor vessel early in the evening and then we headed over to Mom and Bill's hotel. They soundly trounced us at bridge and then just as we were putting out our midnight snacks, Steven and Sandi and their family showed up. We went down to the beach and had the snacks with champagne as the music played. The surf was pounding away in the background and people wandered and danced their way up and down the beach under the almost full moon. At midnight there were three different sets of fireworks around the bay and we all were enthralled by the display. After much hugging and kissing we had a chorus of "' May old acquaintance be forgot....."

Today, Mom and Bill went over to Las Gatas beach and Mom and I snorkeled while Bill and Barry sat on the beach and had a bucket of beers!!!! What a lovely way to spend New Years, I wonder where we will spend it next year. All the best to all of you and best wishes for 2007.