Back on Che Bella (January 5 - 13)

Dave Hope gave me a ride to the boat Che Bella on his way to the airport. Dan and the boat were right where I had left them in the marina in Barra de Navidad a few weeks earlier. Dan wants to sail 200 miles down to Zihautanejo for SailFest, where a bunch of cruisers congregate around the first week of February to party, exchange tips for sailing south or east, and raise money for a local school. I have another boat to catch in La Paz toward the end of January, so we are planning to get there a little early to give me time to get back north in time.

Our last night in Barra, we went out to dinner with our friends Bob and Diane of White Swan. After watching the sunset while sipping cocktails at the top of the tallest building in Barra, we had dinner in a restaurant that looked like the front room of someone’s home. Actually, it was. There weren’t any menus, but the gringo waitress who had met Bob and Diane last year recommended the chili relleno (calling it the best in town) and the chicken mole, which was homemade from about one-hundred and forty-two ingredients. Both were absolutely fantastic. We had no idea how much this was going to cost when we ordered. When the bill came we were astounded. In a good way. Each entrée was only $40 pesos (4 dollars), about half as much as I was used to paying at other places. We met the cook, a very sweet little lady, and gushed about her cooking.

By midnight that night, I was gushing in a less pleasant way about the food… Actually, I think the visit from Sr. Montezuma was from the tacos I had for a late lunch, and not from the Senora’s wonderful cooking. Stuff that good just can’t be bad. Anyway, I still wasn’t feeling all that great when we sailed south toward Manzanillo the next day.

There wasn’t much wind, so we motored the 20 miles to our next stop, the Las Hadas five-star resort just north of Manzanillo. Apparently this is where the filmed the movie "10" here back in the 80’s. I never saw it, but this bit of trivia made the quantification of Bo Derek's physical attractiveness a popular topic of conversation around here. We anchored here for a couple of nights, spending days lounging by the pool sipping strawberry daiquiris from the swim up bar and doing boat chores. Do the white buildings make me look tan? Dan's trying to fix the carburetor on the outboard motor. Actually it looks like he’s performing CPR on it.

The next stop at Maurata is a long sail away, so we planned to do an overnight, leaving Las Hadas in the mid afternoon. Gorgeous sunset thanks to the air pollution caused by the local power plant. We alternated three hour watches throughout the night. During my midnight to 3 am watch, a pod of dolphins swam alongside. I think they liked the music I was playing (the Pixies, Bossanova), as they stayed for a few songs, making a little phosphorescence streak whenever they broke the surface to breath or jump. They apparently did not like it when I decided that I shined a flashlight on them to see them better. Seeing the dolphin just under the surface only a couple of feet from the boat was really cool, though I guess I won’t do that again. Just before my shift was over, I noticed the lights of a fishing boat directly behind and gaining on us. Paranoia got the better of me, and I assumed that they meant to overtake us and do some pirate-like stuff. I let Dan know this when he came up. The boat turned slightly and passed well clear of us. Of course. I wonder what crazy thoughts will go through my head if I ever sail in waters a little less friendly than these. Dan thinks its funny, and does not fail to remind me of the marauding shrimp boat whenever I express irrational fears about other things. Whatever. He’s afraid of restaurants without menus.

We got to Maurata around dawn, and peeked into the bay. The northern part of this small nook was supposed to have a decent anchorage, according to the cruising guide. However, all we saw was a big breaking swell. Yikes! It was so small there wasn’t room between the big rocks in the west and the start of the breakers to the east… after some wimpering on my part, Dan turned the boat around and we headed south to the next anchorage mentioned in the cruising guide -- another 4 hours. Not exactly what we felt like doing after not sleeping much the night before, but that’s the way it goes. Maruata gets a big thumbs down.

The next stop, Lizard Bay, was much better. Still had a rolling swell, but the rocks and breakers were spaced out much better. It was really a gorgeous spot, and we had it all to ourselves. Not only were there no other boats, but there wasn’t even a village. We saw a couple of guys with a burro on the beach moving sticks around for a while, and that was about it. I convinced Dan to join me on a snorkel out to the Piedra Blanca (as it and many other big guano-covered rocks are referred to on the charts) to see if there were some little fishies living there. Being all alone with a bunch of fish makes me nervous. The water was warm (80 F) and clear and there were plenty of colorful fish of all sizes. On the rocks nearby were a few pelicans occassionally diving to catch fish. Although I thought it would have been cool to see, the surging waves discouraged me from staying to watch underwater for a crashing pelican.

Beautifully Isolated Lizard Bay

Dan in the dinghy setting the stern anchor.

I thought we almost lost the dinghy in the middle of that night when I woke up and looked out to see it floating a ways away from the boat. Dan sleepily informed me that he had just put it on a long lead to keep it from banging against the hull. It did try to make an escape the next night well after dark, and was a few hundred yards away when Dan realized this and quickly dove in to swim out to get it. Very exciting.

We motored on to the little town of Caleto de Campos the next day. Not a very eventful 20 miles, though we did see the dorsal fins of a few whales. I spotted something on the water a way out, it looked kind of like a sea turtle, but not exactly. We turned around for a better look. By the time we were close enough to see that it was actually a couple of mating sea turtles, we were too close for their comfort... and they swam away. Sorry guys…, er, I mean Mr. and Mrs. Sea Turtle. Although it looks more like a floating garbage bag, I assure you, the dark spot is actually a pair of turtles.

Caleto de Campos is nice… we are again the only boats here, much to my dismay. We wagered a “coco loco” (a drink served at palapa bars, consisting of a coconut with the top cut off and a bunch of liquor added to it) on how many boats would be here. I guessed three, Dan guessed two. Oh well. The water is clear and warm, and the little town is full of friendly people, almost no gringos, good produce, and a few good though not fancy restaurants. While swimming, I noticed about a hundred little fish hiding in the shadow under the boat. Really amusing. And a big rock under the boat. Not so amusing. It was probably covered by enough water that we wouldn’t have scraped it when the tide went out… but we repositioned anyway.

The keel and prop of Che Bella and the hundreds of little fish that hang out in her shadow

Approaching Caleto de Campo

We spent a couple of leisurely days here. Dan and the outboard engine carburetor went at it another round. Dan won and was so excited about his triumph over the machinery that we took the dinghy on a victory lap around the area. The rocks just outside the bay are interesting, some just below the surface, others making little islands or coves. There’s one called el Buffadero (the snorter), a blow hole that shoots up water when conditions are right… but they weren’t. There’s another that looks like the profile of Richard Nixon (see picture at left). He’s looking to the right in this pic. Went for a swim after lunch. The water is so clear and shallow enough that its like swimming in a giant swimming pool. I could see the sandy bottom, the anchor, and the fish. … the little fish under the boat followed me. Which was cute and first, and then it got me worried… sure they’re small, but so are piranhas… Yes. I know I’m crazy.

Even in this remote place, there are jet skis. Like all other vehicles in Mexico, they carry more than their maximum capacity -- note there are 4 people on this one.

This is apparently a popular surf spot, though the waves were pretty small our first couple days here. There were a couple of surf shops in town, but no surfers. Usually, when we take the dinghy from the boat to the beach I spend half of the trip worrying that we’re going to flip it in the surf -- no matter how small the surf may be. For some reason, I wasn’t as worried at this place, possibly owing to my recent survival without injury flipping a kayak in the surf a couple of times in La Manzanilla. We picked a spot where the waves seemed smaller, but then there were rocks to avoid and the outboard kicked up on the sand and the bow touched the sand and then we turned sideways and a wave lifted up the side of the boat and dumped Dan and I out. I lost my sunglasses and a little bit of pride. Soaking wet and coated in fine sand, we went in search of a coco loco.

Looking down the boom toward the pointy end of the boat, the surf and the palapas

Leaving was interesting… the swell had gotten bigger and there wasn’t much room between Che Bella and the spot where the waves would break. We were pointed at the beach, hanging on the stern anchor, and I was afraid that if we pulled that one up and pivoted around where the bow anchor was embedded that we’d be too close to (or maybe in) the surf. I really didn’t want Che Bella to do an impersonation of the dinghy the day before. Dan assured me that we would have been fine, but agreed to take the bow anchor up first and then back up to the stern one. And I was happy.

A Caballero riding along the beach near the the pounding surf on departure day

It is just far enough to Ixtapa-Zihautenejo, our next stop, that we had to do another overnight passage. We left early in the afternoon and, in order not to get there before sunrise, we had to go pretty slow. Which was fine, as it allowed us to be more tolerant of sailing very, very slowly and keep the engine off for most of the trip. The wind was cooperative, and we sailed along anywhere from 1 to 5 knots. We turned on and off the engine a couple of times during the night. Dan poked his head up nervously when I slowed down the engine to see how fast the wind would blow us. He wanted to be sure the engine hadn‘t decided to slow down on its own, which is a sign the fuel filter is clogging or worse. The mainland came into view just as the sun was rising on Friday the 13th.

My place in Mexico...

Oh, yeah...

And David Kuszmar and I bought some land in La Manzanilla and are planning to build a vacation house.

Yes, really.

This is the view from the lot.

And this is Dave at his house pointing at where our lot across the valley.

So, once we get a floor and a roof and plumbing and all that, you should come down for a visit. Before its seized by the Federales or some other darn Mexican snafu...

La Mazanilla (December 29 - January 5)

My friends David Kuszmar and Jen Jenkins decided to spend a week around New Years down here. We arranged to meet in PV, stay on the boat for a night and then drive a rental car down to La Manzanilla, where another one of our friends, Dave Hope, is building a house. As the minutes ticked by after the agreed on meeting time, I began to worry that they’d missed a turn and were braving the downtown traffic, desperately trying to make a u-turn. Fortunately that wasn’t the case, though they were happy that I’d warned them about the weirder aspects of the rules of the road down here, such as the left turn from the right hand lane. And they brought Christmas presents: some sailing stuff I’d ordered and sent to them, the rolling duffle I should have brought originally, and 3 boxes of Lady Grey tea, my favorite.

When David and I were in Hawaii last year, we both went crazy for poke -- raw ahi in a soy sauce with garlic and other things that make it delicious. So, I had been looking forward to taking David to this ceviche tostada place near the marina that is popular with the locals. That was our first stop. Both he and Jen were as enthralled with the place I as was. A good start to a great visit.
We went downtown for dinner and called it an early night, leaving just as the party was starting. Between Christmas and New Years a LOT of Mexicans from inland go to the coast to vacation. And they party late. Its fairly common to see little kids running around at 11 pm.

The next day we packed the rental car, which became known as the Pocket Ford because it looked pocked-sized, to its absolute limit and headed south. We stopped for lunch at a roadside place that gets few gringo patrons. Although it was a concrete structure, not a shack, there were little chickens running around under the tables inside. We all shared in Jen’s daring order of camarones aguachilie (raw shrimp in a spicy green sauce), and were happy when none of us suffered ill effects later. When we reached La Manzanilla that afternoon, we found Dave Hope and he explained the lodging situation -- his house wasn’t done yet, but we would housesit for a friend in town for a couple of nights and then stay at their “spec house” that they had built and were trying to sell. Both houses were beautiful with great views of the bay. There were bats at night and flocks of little parrots during the day, which was nice. There were also a couple of scorpions, which was not so nice. One crawled out from under something on the porch and hid in a shadow a couple of steps down. Dave Hope killed it with one quick flip of his Teva’d foot. Jen and I only stopped wimpering when we saw scorpion parts fly in two different directions.

Jen and David in front of the fancy "spec house"

The first night we had a great dinner overlooking the beach and a carnival in town. After suspiciously eyeing a nausea-inducing spinning ride called the Volcano throughout dinner, tequila got the better of us and we hopped on the thing. The rust spots and zip ties which seemed to hold it together made it all the more exciting. David couldn’t resist a ride on the "dog running away with a chicken" seat on the merry go round.

David and Dave on the Volcano, David on the Mexican Animals Merry Go Round

We joined many vacationing Mexicans up the road at Tentacatita the next day for some beach time and snorkeling. This was the same place I had anchored with Dan just a week or so earlier. Once again, the snorkeling was great. This kid was really cute, running up and down the beach wiggling his arms wildly. We dubbed him pasta arms. David was thrilled to see people at a nearby table playing Scrabble in Spanish. He’s convinced that we should not let our lack of vocabulary or ability to conjugate verbs be a deterrent to playing. Somehow, we never got around to it…

The next day (Dec 31) we went on an Immersion Adventure kayaking and snorkeling trip led by Hot Dave (as he came to be known) and Santiago. The town seemed to shrink for us, as we realized that Hot Dave’s sweetie Milora runs the restaurant that we had breakfast at every morning. And we saw Santiago’s reggae band play the next night, and sat at the table with him wile (somewhat) patiently waiting hours for tacos at a street stand another night. The trip was fun, though we decided that single kayaks would be much easier to control than the doubles we were in. I sprained my ankle taking a bad step on the rocky beach, which brought the new years eve party potential for us down a notch. The Mexican siesta seems to be key to partying until 3 am. We experimented with rum pina colada recipes instead of siesta-ing, further contributing to our abbreviated evening. I think we called it a night around midnight, but we could hear the party going well until 3. The guys that looked like the were really having a good time were in a 10 piece band who were playing, jumping dancing in the back of a dump truck as it did laps through town. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken. America dump trucks are so underutilized for these purposes.

Dave is "OK"; David, Jen and Santiago paddling along

On David and Jen’s last night in town, we all went to see the latest progress on Dave’s house We toasted the imminent pouring of the third floor with a few slugs of tequila while admiring the amazing view that the place has. And Dave explained where the rooms and arches on the third floor would be.

The view of the beach from Dave's house

We spent a couple more days playing on the beach and in the water before Boca de Tubas (as we nicknamed Kuszmar, due to his uncanny ability to make tuba sounds) and Jen had to leave. The kayak trip a few miles down the coast in search of tacos was fun, but difficult. We paddled into a headwind on the way up the shoreline, making slow progress. But we saw dolphins not to far away, which was very cool. On the way back the wind helped us, but it had also disturbed the water quite bit more. A three foot swell doesn’t seem like much in a big sailboat, but in a kayak where your head is only about three feet above the water it causes a little anxiety. The boats were stable and we didn’t flip while paddling, but Jen and I were getting increasingly anxious about the size of the breakers we’d have to paddle through to land the boats. In my experience, the waves increase in height near the shore… so I was trying not to panic while visualizing trying to not hurt myself paddling through a 5 foot breaker. David went in first, and did a nice job of staying upright, giving Jen and I a boost of confidence. It can be done! He helped guide Jen in, and then me. The breakers were actually quite small, which was good, as Jen and I both got a little sideways in the surf and bailed before getting ashore. Next time we’ll stick the landing…

Dave and Jen headed back to PV in the pocket ford, and Dave and I hung out in La Manzanilla a couple days more before he flew home and I went back to the boat. It was great to seem some familiar faces and make up some new inside jokes.

Christmas in Mexico

Merry Christmas from Marina Vallarta!

Most festive boat on M dock

Philo’s, a local cruiser’s hangout in a little town a 45 minute bus or boat ride up the road from PV, had a potluck on Christmas Eve. I caught a ride there in Mai‘s car. She‘s the owner of a 54’ catamaran across the dock from me, and also has one of the fancy houses with a ramp to the dock from her backyard. She and her sweetie, Dave, also happen to be residents of the North Bay (Belvedere).

There was an amazing turnout of 140 people crowded into the front palapa patio and spilling out into the street. The pool table was covered with salads, vegetable casseroles, the odd platter of sushi rolls, and probably 50 pounds of potato dishes that folks had prepared. The turkeys, provided by Philo, were tender and juicy, the gravy was perfect. Eating the variety of delicious homemade American food, I realized that I haven’t had such traditional food in a while… I’ve been gone about a month now. It was nice to share the holiday with the largest gathering of cheerful gringos that I’d seen since I’ve been here.
The spread at Philo´s

I ran into people that I had met in anchorages further up the coast, and it was good to see them again. I also got to meet some new people, including Pat Henry, who I found to be quite interesting and inspirational. She’s circumnavigated the world. Solo. And is running a sailing school for women in PV right now (www.comingabout.com) She’s on the right in this picture. Vicky, who’s been making a good life for herself sailing is also an inspiration. I met her through the owner of the next boat I’ll be on. She gave Floyd high marks, and said if she didn’t have work on her own boat to, she’d sail with him from La Paz to Florida (which is what I’m planning to do, starting at the end of January).

Cool sailing ladies: Vicky, me and Pat

After dinner and dessert, the darkest skinned Santa I’d ever seen stopped by. He sat on the stage and handed out presents one at a time to at least 350 local kids, who were absolutely adorable. Some cried, some gave him a big hug, some had important matters to discuss with him before receiving present. Then Philo and the band played some rock and roll until most of the sleepy cruisers went back to their boats.

Los niños and Santa

The band, from left to right: Dave, some guy and Philo

Back on the boat in the marina, the music at the nearby restaurants continued until after 3 am… which wasn’t nearly as bad as the alarm on a nearby boat that started around that time and went on until someone disabled it around 9 this morning. Their solution was better than mine, which included cutting it loose and towing it somewhere else… like the middle of the bay.

I spent Christmas day with Mai and Dave, in town going to mass, shopping and checking out the beach. The church was decorated with more bright colors than was typical for American churches. I was amused by the flashing icicle lights and shiny ornaments decorating the manger scene. Also interesting were the garden gazing balls on the altar.

In town, I found Pat Henry’s book about her solo circumnavigation at the English language bookstore. Am looking forward to reading that when I get done with the book I’m reading, “Evolution’s Captain.” Its about the captain of the ship the Beagle, on which Darwin sailed around the world (being sea sick most of the time) collecting creatures everywhere he stopped, which eventually led to his development of the “survival of the fittest” theory to which the Kansas school board has lately raised such vehement objections.

Mai invited me to her house for dinner that night. She made a fabulous lobster stir fry in a Vietnamese style, with side of eggplant (YUM!), and a banana blossom salad with a delicious dressing (DOUBLE YUM!!) Not a traditional Christmas dinner, but I wasn’t complaining. Then we walked to the light house to have a drink at the top and watch the fireworks. Lovely.

Puerto Vallarta (December 19 - 28)

I left Che Bella on December 19 and took a 4 hour bus ride north to Puerto Vallarta, where I was going to boat sit for a fellow member of the Tradewinds Sailing Club of Richmond, CA. Jerry had to leave Sea Story, his Pearson 39, in the marina there to attend to unexpected family matters in the states for a month, and wantedsomeone to look after it. No problemo.

The boat was quite comfortable, and the marina looks impressively chock full of mega-yachts. On clear days the mountains behind town loomed impressively in the distance, beckoning for exploration (though I never got up there). The marina is ringed by 6 floor condo buildings, the prettiest with bougainvillea spilling from window boxes, and restaurants overlooking the water at promenade level. The city is smaller than Mazatlan, but seems much busier. The traffic is nightmarish, and the multiple bus systems more confusing. I spent my week stay here exploring the small downtown area, lounging at the beach at , and taking care of chores. Paradise Village has a marina attached to the swanky hotel, and the cruisers are invited to use the beach palapas and swimming pools. It was a fine place to while away a few days working on the tan and reading a book from Jerry’s library (Sailing Around the World Alone, by Joshua Slocum).

The downtown is built between the ocean and hills so steep they remind me of San Francisco. This is the view from 2 blocks up from the main drag, near a great little Tapas place.

And I made some money while here. The companies that own these big hotel resort time share places will give you US $100 ($1,000 pesos) to listen to their pitch for an hour. Ok, fine. Nice place, pretty swanky. I don’t really want a time share, but as they were running through the numbers in a rather confusing fashion with multiple colored felt pens, it seemed like the thing would pay for itself within 2 years… which was interesting and surprising. I barely escaped without buying something, and they did give me $100 for my time.

In the days leading up to Christmas, I noticed parents in the Wal-Mart parking lot by the bus station trying to fit new bicycles through the diver side door of their VW bug into the back. The day after Christmas, there were many little kids with big smiles learning how to ride bikes. Very cute. The local kids in Mexico are generally very cute. And it isn’t just their big brown eyes and pigtails. They are more pleasant to be around than the average American kid. Which is good because they are everywhere -- riding on busses, running around the plaza with their friends, shopping for groceries with their mom -- and they’re rarely whining or crying or begging to be bought something. One day on the beach, I noticed kids zipping up and down the sand on a little motorized 4-wheeler toy. Every time that thing zipped by there was a different combination of kids on it. They share with their siblings and friends, and aren’t greedy with their toys. Anyway… I digress a bit, but I thought that was significant. I’ll try to get some pictures of the cuties to illustrate this.