April 26 - May 2, 2007 - Ahh... El Cid Marina. We relaxed for a few days, but of course we cannot just sit and relax for very long. Call it a personality flaw. Instead we ended up re-upolstering all of the cushins in the main cabin, repairing a cracked engine bracket (Jose at El Cid took the bracket to his man who welded it for us for 100 pesos), waxed the boat, did our laundry, and cleaned and spot-painted the engine. We were able to enjoy eggs Benedict at the restaurant three times, play bingo twice, and swim and sit in the hot tub countless times. It was a wonderful break from cruising (a vacation from vacaction?). Now it's off to Los Frailes 167 nm across the Gulf of California to the east coast of Baja!
April 22-26, 2007 - We are in Mazatlan. Next stop: El Cid Marina in Mazatlan for a few days, then across to La Paz on Baja.
April 20-21, 2007 - We departed Isla Isabella about mid-day and motored all night to Mazatlan. We made fantastic time with the freshly cleaned hull, and a following current. We arrived early morning on the 21st, anchored, and went to sleep.
Leaving Isla Isabella.
April 19, 2007 - As the sun came up we pulled the anchor and motored out of the estuary (you will notice we do not do much sailing these days, that is the nature of going north). We motor-sailed out to Isla Isabella which took about 9 hours and dropped the hook in the southern cove. This time the water was crystal clear. We could see clear to the bottom in 30 feet of water and make out the chain snaking its way around the rocks. Isla Isabella is know as an "anchor-eater" because of the shape of the rocks. They are round and slightly narrower on the bottom which lets the chain slide under and get caught. We were carefull to determine how to drive the boat around when picking up the anchor to make sure this did not happen to us. It was easy to do with the water so clear.
The anchorage. Here is a video of the same: Isla Isabela Anchorage Video
April 17-18, 2007 - We left early for San Blas, and arrived at about 1:45pm when we refueled. We took on about 60 gallons at the fuel pier then anchored in the esuary. Like our last stay in San Blas, all we can say is Bugs Bugs Bugs! We had a great time though and met up with Norm and Janet Goldie who are the local cruiser care takers. The go by the call sign Jama and you always know when you are within 20 miles of San Blas because Norms familiar voice comes over the radio with his noticable New York accent asking if anyone needs assistance. They are fantastic hosts. They served us coffee and these delicious funny little cherries that we had never seen before. Then we and Daryl from S/V Liberty Call met up that night and treated them to dinner at their favorite restaurant: Tony's. The meal was fantastic and the company better. They are the reason we braved the bugs for an extra day.
The Muelle de San Blas. The fishing fleet is not quite as pristine as what we have seen in Alaska.
April 14-16, 2007 - We departed La Cruz, and motored for 10 hours up to Chacala. They had just been through Semana Santa at Chacala, so the usually pristine beach was a mess. We were very discouraged at the quantity of garbage left all over the beach. We went ashore only once because of that. Hopefully they will clean it up.
Paul cleaned the hull, the entire hull. It was a mess. Barnicles were growing every inch and half over the whole surface. He would dive down the rudder, swim the length of the hull with a soft plastic scraper, then turn around and swim back 3 inches lower, until taking another breath at the rudder. Back and forth for about 2 hours and the hull was pristine again. That should get us another knot! (that adds up to about 4 hours saved every 100 miles!)
April 12-13, 2007 - The plan was to fuel up at the fuel dock in Puerto Vallarta on our way back to La Cruz, so we shoved off from our slip and motored on over to re-fuel. We spent 5:45-6:15 pm floating in the channel waiting for an opening at the fuel dock while dodging the heavy triffic as best we could. At 6:15 we saw that the pumps were being covered up! So Saesha yelled over in spanish and asked if we could get some fuel. No way, no how. They were closed and we were out of luck! So with 15 gallons in the tank, and 12 on deck in jerry jugs we moved back to the anchorage at La Cruz and spent the night. Luckily we only had about 55 nm to San Blas where we knew we could refuel, so we figured we would be just fine. Assuming calm seas we get about 10 miles to the gallon, so we could motor almost 300 miles.
April 9-11, 2007 - We moved over to Marina Vallarta for a few days of hard work on the boat. We cleaned the decks, filled our propane, serviced Bob (the Aries stearing gear), did a lot of work on the teak, and painted the bow sprit.
April 3-8, 2007 - We remained anchored in La Cruz, and went ashore at various times. The progress on the marina is moving along at a blazing rate. All night we would hear the crash or rocks as the cranes droped boulders the size of a refrigerator into the water to build up the breakwater.
One night in La Cruz we stopped by Ana Bannanas, a cruisers hangout restaurant, and saw Tatewari play. They are a band of three kids, 16, 18, and 19 years old who play classical guitar. They are incredible. They play thier own music that has a classical spanish sound to it. The way they tap their instruments makes it sound like there is a full band on stage, not just three guitars. We purchased their CD because they were so good, and hope it helps them on their way!
April 1-2, 2007 - We departed Careyes after two beautiful nights and motored the 11nm into the seas to Chamela, where we spent a few hours. We hemmed and hawed deciding when we should leave to make the 93nm trip around Cabo Currientes to La Cruz/Puerto Vallarta. We guessed the weather would be nice for another day, but then the wind was supposed to pick up. We also decided to round the cape at night when the wind would be much less. Finally at about 6:45pm we departed Chamela to make the run. When we got out into the seas we began to pound and were making about 3 knots towards our destination. As night settled in, the seas settled down, and we sped up to 4-5 knots which was much more acceptable. The moon was full, and so bright that we could see to the horizon and didn't need a flashlight on deck at all. It was a nice night, we slept on deck and did 2 hour shifts at the wheel instead of 3 hours shifts.We both liked the shorter shifts for some reason. We motored the whole way, 93 nm, and anchored in La Cruz at 1:45pm on the 2nd.
February 2007 Archive - not done yet.