March 13, 2016
I dragged myself out of bed at 04:30 and got Don up by
04:45. We had stowed the dinghy upon our
return the previous night, so all we had to do was make coffee and pull up the
anchor, which we managed to do smoothly despite pitch darkness making it hard
to see hand signals. We headed out of
Zihua Bay by 05:15 and cleared the mouth of the bay by 05:30.
It was very dark, so we gave the islands off Ixtapa a wide
berth. We rounded Punta Ixtapa at dawn
and headed for Lazaro Cárdenas. A power
plant was pouring a cloud of yellow smoke into the morning sky, but all was
quiet. It was Sunday and there wasn’t
any ship traffic.
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| Dawn off Ixtapa |
Don took the helm at 09:00 as we passed Lazaro
Cárdenas. It wasn’t windy and there was
no swell to speak of, but we were only making 4.5 knots, instead of our usual
5.5. We suspected this was due at least
in part to a dirty bottom, since it had not been cleaned since La Cruz. We started to worry that we would not make
Caleta de Campos before dark.
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| Lazaro Cardenas |
I came back on deck at 13:00 and the wind had picked
up. We were making good time, but
heeling a lot, so we put in a reef. We
sailed for a couple of hours, enjoying the quiet, but had to turn the motor on
when we dropped below four knots.
Don came on at 17:00 and I made hot wings and a mango jicama
salad at 18:00. By this point, it looked
like we wouldn’t reach Caleta de Campos until midnight, so we decided to head
straight for Las Hadas. I took the helm
while Don did dishes and then he was ready for a nap. Our watch schedule had decayed. I took a few minutes to put on warmer clothes
and prepare for a night watch and then took over at 20:00. My watch passed uneventfully.
March 14, 2016
I started the day with the 04:00 – 08:00 watch. It was quiet and we were making better time,
but the autopilot couldn’t seem to counteract the weather helm and I had to
correct the course every few minutes.
Don had set the timer on his phone to go off every 16 minutes and the
first time it went off I wondered how the cricket got on the boat until it
dawned on me it was the alarm.
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| Sunrise off Punta Negra |
It began to get light about 06:00 as we rounded Punta
Negra. The sunrise was
spectacular. Don took over at
08:00. I made bacon and eggs and coffee
and then napped for a couple of hours until I took the helm again at noon. With just two people aboard, afternoons are
often the only time we are both awake.
This is handy, since it is also usually the time with the most wind and
the most active sailing. Don stopped the
motor and checked the oil while we proceeded slowly under sail. Then we spent a very pleasant afternoon,
companionable motoring up the coast, letting the balmy air caress our hides
until we spotted the evil, pollution spewing power plant that marks the
entrance to Manzanillo Bay. We were
racing the sun to Las Hadas. It turned
out to be a tie, as we dropped anchor right at twilight.
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| Awful Power Plant in Manzanillo |
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| At Anchor in Manzanillo Bay |
March 15, 2016
Our long passage behind us, we took our time getting up and
drinking our coffee. Most of the other
boats in the anchorage left before us.
We finally headed out about 10:30.
I tried to practice the guitar during Don’s watch, but the motor was so
loud, I couldn’t hear well enough to tune the guitar. I did play for a while to toughen up my
fingers, but I have no idea how it sounded.
I came back on deck when my watch officially started at noon. The weather was slightly overcast and cooler
than usual, so we passed another very pleasant afternoon motoring up the coast,
about a mile and a quarter off the beach.
We passed the Manzanillo airport, halfway between Manzanillo and Barra
de Navidad and then rounded Punta Graham and sailed into Bahia de Navidad.
We arrived at the marina about 15:30. After checking in with the office, I headed
straight for my first real hot shower in almost two weeks. Shortly after I returned to the boat, I was
visited by my friend, Karen, who had been living in Barra for almost four
years. Her daily photos of sunrises in
Barra had sustained me during the time I was stuck at home and terribly
away-from-homesick for Mexico. We
wandered back up the dock so that I could visit her cat, Bubba, a gorgeous
Maine Coon who took his job as watch cat very seriously.
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| Comet in Barra de Navidad |
After my visit with Karen, Don and I caught a water taxi
over to the town of Barra de Navidad for dinner. We ate at Loco Loco, fondly referred to by cruisers
as, “Pizza in the Tree,” because of its second floor location adjacent to a
large Huanacaxtle tree. The ambiance of
the place surpassed the quality of the food, but the pizza was decent, if a
little bland. We liked the Italian style
thin crust. The cabernet was thin, but
it was nice to drink wine for a change.
After dinner, we walked around town for a while and had ice cream at the
Thrifty ice cream store. After picking
up a few supplies at a convenience store, we took the water taxi back to the
marina.
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| Barra de Navidad |
March 16, 2016
I had lain awake until 3 AM the night before, so didn’t get
up until after 08:30. We passed a
leisurely morning, drinking coffee and surfing the internet. Karen stopped by for a visit. Eventually, Don left to go check in with the
port captain while I stayed behind to practice the guitar and work on my much
neglected blog.
Karen fixed us up with Beto, one of the water taxi drivers
who also cleans boat hulls. He was due
to come at 16:00, so I hung around the boat, writing and editing photographs,
until Don came back and then headed up to the hotel lobby where the WiFi was
fast enough to upload photographs. Beto
came and did a nice job of cleaning our very dirty bottom for $1/ foot. Karen visited me in the lobby and we talked
for quite a while. Then I finished my
blog entry and returned to the boat about 20:00.
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| Water Taxi in Barra de Navidad |
Don and I decided to go to Barra and eat dinner at one of
the Taco places we had seen the night before.
We took the water taxi across. I
had looked for my fleece before we left, but couldn’t find it. The night was balmy, however, and I didn’t
need it. We ate at El Pastorcito, where
we got a plate of five (small) tacos al pastor for 40 pesos. It was your usual tacos on the street sort of
place, but the food was tasty and plenty filling for under $4 per person
including beer.
After dinner, we went for a walk around town. As we were headed back to the water taxi dock
about 22:00, a woman approached us on the street. She asked us if we had eaten at Loco Loco the
night before. When we said yes, she
reached into her bag and produced my missing fleece. No wonder I couldn’t find it. I had left it at the restaurant. As that fleece was the only warm clothing I
had with me, I was overjoyed to see it again and amazed that she had tracked me
down. Her kindness brought tears to my eyes. Some people worry about my safety in Mexico but, actually, my experience is almost always that strangers go out of their way to help.
March 17, 2016
St. Patrick’s Day was supposed to be our last full day in
Barra, so we used it to do boat chores.
Don cleaned the paddle wheel on
the knot meter, which had become fouled and hosed off the anchor chain which
had developed stinky growth while we were anchored in Zihuatanejo. I hosed off the boat and we filled the water
tanks. We kept a couple of collapsible
water jugs and a sun shower on deck to use for shower water. These had grown a lot of algae on our trip south,
so I cleaned them as best I could and then covered the filled jugs to
discourage further growth. I spent part
of the afternoon uploading photos to my blog until the WiFi quit on me.
In all of Mexico, only the little towns around Barra de
Navidad have San Patricio (St. Patrick) as their patron saint. Rumor has it that several hundred mostly
Irish immigrants deserted from the American army during the Mexican American
war of 1846 -1848, upon discovering that the Mexicans were fellow Catholics,
and fought on the Mexican side, forming the San Patricio battalion. The celebration of St. Patty’s also
commemorates these heroes and lasts
a week. Barra had been quiet all week
because everyone was in Melaque. We
decided to go over there and see what the fuss was all about.
We left about 18:00 and the water taxi was filled with green
shirted cruisers. In Barra, we met up
with another panga load from the lagoon.
We all took the bus to Melaque and there was a party atmosphere on the
bus. When we got to Melaque, eight of us
headed for the beach in search of beer.
We had a beer and watched the sunset from a waterfront restaurant and got to know the crews of Nimue, Tango, and a catamaran from Hawaii. Then we all trooped back up to the square, where we encountered the lagoon contingent eating dinner at a burrito restaurant. The food looked good, so we decided to join them, setting up a second large table and completely overwhelming the friendly, but non-English speaking staff. I was kept very busy translating until all our orders were placed, but everyone on both sides took the confusion with good humor. The food was very good.
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| Waterfront Restaurant in Melaque |
We had a beer and watched the sunset from a waterfront restaurant and got to know the crews of Nimue, Tango, and a catamaran from Hawaii. Then we all trooped back up to the square, where we encountered the lagoon contingent eating dinner at a burrito restaurant. The food looked good, so we decided to join them, setting up a second large table and completely overwhelming the friendly, but non-English speaking staff. I was kept very busy translating until all our orders were placed, but everyone on both sides took the confusion with good humor. The food was very good.
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| Sailors Eating Burritos in Melaque |
The square was packed with revelers. After dinner, we mingled with the crowd for a
bit and then headed to Mamita’s, an upstairs bar overlooking the square. Mamita’s seemed like it might have normally
been a gay bar, but that night it was packed with Canadians and Americans in
Irish regalia taking advantage of the view of the proceedings in the
square. Our group stayed for a drink,
but we all started to flag around 23:00.
We took taxis back to Barra and missed the fireworks at midnight,
although we heard them about the time we got back to the boat.
March 18, 2016
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| Tara Dancing with a Leprechaun |
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| The St. Patrick's Day Crowd in the Square at Melaque |
March 18, 2016
We had planned to leave on Friday morning but, when it came
time to ready the boat to go, neither of us really felt like going, so we
decided to remain another day. I took
the opportunity to use the WiFi in the hotel lobby to complete another blog
post. Then I visited with my friend,
Karen, for a while. Karen had finally
succeeded in getting her engine to run, an agonizing project that had already
been going on for some time when I first met her two years before. We were in a celebratory mood.
Don and I then decided to go up to the pool bar for a
margarita before dinner. Fortunately,
they were only open until 18:00 because two of their margaritas were enough to
render me nearly useless for the rest of the evening. I did manage to cook some nice tuna steaks in
garlic and soy sauce and make us a salad before I fell asleep on the settee.
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| Pool Bar at Grand Bay Hotel in Barra de Navidad |
March 19, 2016
Having goofed off the day before, we were well rested on
Saturday morning. It wasn’t very far to
Tenacatita, so there was no rush, but we stowed the dinghy, topped up the water
tank, and left by 11:00. Our first stop
was the fuel dock. Since Hurricane
Patricia carried off half the fuel dock, there was only one spot that could
accommodate a deep draft boat. That spot
was occupied by a panga as we approached.
The deep water channel to the fuel dock was not wide, so we slowed to
delay our arrival until after the panga had departed. Just as they pulled away and we powered up,
another panga swooped in and took our spot, requiring some rapid reverse on our
part. Fortunately, he didn’t take long
and we managed to finally gain the fuel dock before running aground.
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| Yacht Anchored in Tenacatita |
It only took us a few hours to motor across Bahia Navidad
and around Cabeza de Navidad to Tenacatita.
We dropped anchor next to a very large sailing yacht by
mid-afternoon. Dinner was chicken adobe
over rice with salad a nice bottle of Chilean cabernet. It was a pretty evening, if a bit cool, and
the yacht with its four spreaders well lit made a beautiful sight.
March 20, 2016
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| Dawn in Tenacatita |
About 17:00, we dropped the dinghy in the water and went
ashore. The usually quiet beach and campground were crowded with families for
Easter week. We decided to eat an early
dinner at the restaurant there. Don had
a stuffed fish fillet and I had lobster.
I couldn’t resist half a kilo of lobster for 180 pesos (about $10.). It
wasn’t the best lobster I had ever had.
There were two lobsters and the tails were small, but they were still a
nice dinner.
The real problem with our choice of dinner location was that we were eaten alive by noseeums. They didn’t bother us much at the time but, by the next day, I was covered with red welts and itching like mad.
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| Restaurant and Campground in Tenacatita |
The real problem with our choice of dinner location was that we were eaten alive by noseeums. They didn’t bother us much at the time but, by the next day, I was covered with red welts and itching like mad.
March 21, 2016
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| La Manzanilla |
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| Crowd in La Manzanilla |
We landed the dinghy fairly successfully, although a wave did splash us from behind. We pulled the dinghy up onto the beach in front of an attractive blue house and then walked up into the town. We took a short walk around the town and eventually ate breakfast at Chuy’s Restaurant. We were the only customers, but had tasty pancakes and French toast. Two cute little cinnamon colored Chihuahuas gave us puppy dog eyes, but weren’t too rude about their begging.
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| Chuy's Restaurant and Gift Shop |
After breakfast, we walked to the crocodile enclosure and
then back to a grocery store near where we had parked the dinghy. We purchased vegetables, beer, and soda and
then returned to the dinghy. We had
waited slightly too long to return to the boat and the surf was bigger than we
would have liked. We had a hard time
launching the dinghy and were both wet to the waist and splashed from head to
toe by the time we got away.
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| Crocodile in La Manzanilla |
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| Grocery Store in La Manzanilla |
We motored across Tenacatita Bay and around Punta Hermana. We passed Los Frailes and then rounded Punta Farallon to head into Bahia Careyes. Punta Farallon is marked by a lighthouse and a giant concrete bowl on the point. This bowl is called the Copa del Sol. At certain times of the year, the sun appears to set into this bowl when viewed from the shore.
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| Copa del Sol |
We wanted to check out the anchorages that we had skipped in
the past. Careyes is surrounded by
fabulous cliff top villas with fantastic turrets and palapas. A resort cascades down the cliff to the
beach. The anchorage is tucked behind a
rocky island. The bay has three small
lobes, the two best of which are blocked by panga moorings. The remaining lobe had room for one
boat. It would have been possible to
tuck behind the island, but the whole area was affected by surge. We enjoyed looking at the architecture and
then moved on, as it was only about 14:00.
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| Villa in Careyes |
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| Castle in Careyes |
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| Resort at Careyes |
From Careyes, we rounded the low, rocky Punta Etiopia and
ducked into the Paraiso
anchorage. The
beach was occupied by one small, seemingly abandoned resort. It was a pretty spot with room for one or two
boats and was quite calm. It was
tempting to stay but, as it was still only 15:00, we elected to put a few more
miles behind us and continued on to Chamela, tucking ourselves under the bluff
to the left of the palapas on the beach.
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| Paraiso Anchorage |
We had a celebratory beer and then I made tacos with
guacamole for dinner.
March 22, 2016
Our plan was to leave for La Cruz in the mid-afternoon so as
to round Cabo Corrientes in the early morning hours when it would be at its
flattest. We got up late and were just
drinking our coffee when John and Julie from Myla arrived in their dinghy and offered us a ride to shore. Don wasn’t awake enough yet, but I jumped on
the chance to get some exercise.
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| Church in Chamela |
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| Chamela |
It was 13:00 by the time I got back to the boat. We noshed on leftover guacamole and chips and
then Don made oatmeal. By the time we
got that cleaned up, it was time to pull up the anchor and go. Myla left
at the same time. We motored out of the
bay and then started motorsailing north.
We had about 10 knots of breeze to start, but it built up to 14 by
sunset and we had to tack back and forth
to keep up our speed. When my watch
ended at 16:00, I went below to stay out of the sun. We were too full for dinner.
We had a beautiful full moon for our trip north. It was nearly as light as day. We motored steadily north, the miles slipping
easily into our wake. There was enough
wind to give us a little drive, so we tacked north to keep the sails full. Myla was
ahead of us. Strider slightly behind and outside of us. It was reassuring to see their running
lights.
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| Full Moon on the Way to La Cruz |
March 23, 2016
Don took the helm at midnight. All was calm. A sailboat had passed us going
south. The moon was bright and puffy
clouds made
interesting patterns in the sky.
I made myself a snack of warm tortillas wrapped around cold leftover
steak and beans and was asleep by 00:30.
At 2:30, I was awakened by a screeching sound. Don took off the engine cover and reviewed
the situation while I tried to pretend everything was okay. Eventually, he shut off the motor and we
started to sail. By 3:00, I had to get
up to help tack the boat, as the jib sheets tended to foul on the dinghy riding
on the foredeck.
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| Moon with Clouds |
I got myself organized and came back on deck for my watch at
4:00. We were still a couple of miles
short of rounding Cabo Corrientes and making about 3 knots in 8 knots of
breeze. I sailed successfully until 5:30 and had started rounding the cape when the wind died and I could make no
headway and, indeed, had no steerage. We
were about a mile from shore and just bobbing in a total calm. Don came back on deck to try to help, but we made no progress until 6:30 when it began to get light and the wind started to
fill in. Finally, we were moving at a
knot or two, but we could not hold a course and had to tack back and forth.
The last 28 miles across Banderas Bay took us all day. The wind continued to build and at one point
we were doing 7 knots and feared charging into the La Cruz anchorage out of
control. We rolled up the jib and reefed
the main, which got us under control just in time for the wind to die. We ghosted into the anchorage, barely able to
steer, and dropped the hook under sail about 15:00.
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| Lights of Vallarta |
