Saturday at the Office

12-29-12 – Bahia de Tenacatita

It’s Saturday and while I’m sure everyone is enjoying a peaceful Saturday after Christmas, we are hard at work here on Autumn Wind; It’s another Saturday at the office if you will.  So much to do and, well, basically endless time to get it done, but today was a work day for us.

Morning comes early around here

It all started at 6:30A.  First chore is to make coffee.  Of course we ran out of propane.  I may add we have used 3 gallons of propane in almost exactly 2 months.   Not too shabby considering we boil water for coffee every day and do all our cooking with that.  Thankfully we invested in a second propane bottle before leaving San Diego so that’s not a very big chore.  Next, I spend a little time taking advantage of free fresh water deposited by the dew last night to wipe down the boat and remove some or the ever present dirt and salt that accumulates at anchor. 

Getting good use out of free water

Using the dew on the solar panels I wipe them down to clean off any interference that may rob us of free amps throughout the day.  Then with coffee made we launch the dink for a trip to shore.  Lower the dinghy into the water; we pull it out each night and side tie it to the boat out of the water so no one “borrows” it and lock the engine to the rail for the same reason; unlock the engine on the rear rail and lower it onto the dink with the engine hoist.  Now our car is ready.  We load our coffee in a thermos with our handheld VHF, a Frisbee into a dry bag and our trash into the dink and head to shore.  After an uneventful surf landing we drag the dink up out of the surf and go for a nice walk down the beach and back.  A short Frisbee session later we sit on the dink and drink our coffee while listening to the morning net.  Power back out of the surf making sure not to dump the dink and we are ready for the day of work.  Well not quite yet, we need to make some eggs with onions and jalapenos wrapped in tortillas for breakfast…now it’s time for work. 



Elizabeth checking the engine compartment

We need to organize some of the gazillion pictures we have taken and Elizabeth disassembles the engine compartment to make a check of the engine.  We check the oil, the impeller and the belts, look for weird spots, oil or anything that may indicate anything amiss.  We may have sails, but we count on that little 35 HP diesel to get us places when the wind dies.  Check the primary fuel filter and drain a little water out, all looks good there.  Elizabeth removes and cleans the raw water intake that filters the water  coming into our engine to cool it.  Engine check complete.  What’s next? 

After five days in Bahia de Navidad the bottom of the boat has developed a little scum line around the water line.  It could be this or it could be that we have loaded so much junk onto the boat to go cruising that it has literally sank 3 inches in the water.  So the protective paint on the bottom that is supposed to repel this scum is now under water and the gel coat is taking the brunt of the scum bugs.  So we try to keep this clean.  By now it’s actually hot so a little swim, even if it’s work, is welcome.  The water is super clear and 82 degrees so I know you’re thinking this has got to be a tough chore.  Tenacatita is a good place to clean your bottom as you can see the entire keel, rudder and prop.  An added benefit is a clean bottom makes you go faster, so we can maybe sail at a brisk walk now instead of a mosey.

Elizabeth bottom cleaning

Cruiser safety gear in place for
the use of sharp knives

We need a new chafe guard on our anchor rode so we start on this.  Explanation here for non-boater types.  The 35lb anchor that holds our 15 ton boat in place is attached to the boat with a rope.  This rope runs over a roller and as the boat moves around it chafes on the roller.  We do not want it to chafe thru and set us adrift so we put a protective covering on it where it goes over the roller.  This protective covering was procured months ago in Tomales Bay at the fire station.  It’s old fire hose that we slice down the middle and tie around the line.  It’s amazing how quickly the chafe guard gets beat up, so I can only imagine how bad the rode would look if we didn’t protect it.

Wise use of our 1 tray of ice.

It’s already been a long day so Elizabeth takes it upon herself to use our 1 tray of ice per day to make up some afternoon refreshments.  One tray of ice is a good limiting factor on our beverage consumption as warm drinks suck.

Enjoying the fruits of Elizabeth's labor

Mexican hats (flopper stoppers) getting deployed

With the thought that it may get a little rolly tonight I deploy our flopper stoppers.  These are little orange Mexican sombrero looking things that tie one after another in a line with a little mushroom anchor off the bottom of them providing resitance to keep the boat from rolling back and forth.  I deploy them mostly because we have them, not because we need them.  Why not, right?

Is there anything in there?

The little Honda 1000 generator is in need of some gas.  So this is the next project.  Sounds easy until you see where it’s buried in the cockpit locker, the gas is tied to the rail up front and the nozzle is in a separate place.  Then you need to fill a little generator with a five gallon jug in a swaying boat.  Thankfully this isn’t the first time for this so I only spill a little gas.  Our solar is keeping up great today but filling the little Honda in the dark is a pain so might as well get it done.  My work friends know how long these little things can run on a tank of gas; think of endless profilographing, and how they always seem to run out at the exact time you need them most.  We seem to need to run it after two days at anchor to boost the solar and we are running a fine line right now if we will have enough amps to get thru the night and keep our beer cold.  Be thankful for endless electricity, because we seem to spend more time thinking about amps than anything else; except water consumption.

Don't spill!

Which reminds me, it’s shower day!  Always a big one for Elizabeth.  We each get almost a gallon and a half for a shower today.  Don’t worry we don’t get the bathroom all wet, we shower off the back of the boat.  It also helps to wash the salt off at the same time.  It’s like showering on your patio, easy clean up; just wait until its dark if you know what I mean.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Saturday off,  As you can see we spent it slaving away at work.

Barra for Christmas

12-27-12 – Bahia de Navidad

While most of our family and friends were back in the states spending time together, dealing with blizzard warnings and probably wishing they were somewhere that was warm and tropical sitting by a pool drinking margaritas; we were in Barra de Navidad.  It was 85 degrees, we actually did sit by a pool and we hung out with a bunch of great people none of which were our families, all the while wishing we were spending time with our families, sitting by a fire while it snowed outside.  So be careful what you wish for sometimes…

Sitting at the Sands pool, day before Christmas

 

Sculpture as you enter Barra

Town Square

With that said we had a great time in Barra de Navidad for Christmas.  The first adventure with Barra is the lagoon.  It is well known that it is very shallow and there is only a narrow channel leading into the area where you can anchor in the lagoon.  To make it better the channel is not marked and most of the lagoon is only a few feet deep at best.  I figured that a lot of people make it, and I’m not too worried about going aground in soft mud, so I neglected to enter any waypoints for the channel leading to the lagoon.  As one might imagine the first thing we did once the channel markers ran out was to go aground.  We were able to power out of it and a friendly panga driver, probably amused at all of the gringos who run aground, indicated we should follow him.  Thankfully that mistake only cost me two beers and a Coke for the help.  Once set on our path we successfully negotiated the channel and found a good spot to anchor in 8 feet of water.  One of the benefits of the lagoon is its great protection from the ocean swells and wind.  The down side is that it’s fairly stagnant, probably why they call it the lagoon.  We left Tenacatita with 30 feet of water clarity to find ourselves in the lagoon where you can't see your feet in the water.  That is if you were brave enough to get into the water, which we were not.  But it was a calm anchorage.  Just for good measure I ran aground again on my way out of the lagoon two days later, maybe ten feet off our track in.  Like I said, it’s really shallow if you’re not in the unmarked and ever changing channel. 

One of the great benefits of being in Barra is the French Baker, who trolls the marina and the lagoon every morning around 8:30.  His distinctive little bell rings and you know his panga has pulled up outside your boat and it’s time for fresh chocolate filled croissants and baguettes for breakfast.  They are hard to resist, and once you buy some he remembers you and shows up then next morning, ringing that little bell and you find yourself reaching for some pesos like Pavlov’s dog.

The French Baker making his morning rounds

Despite the lack of water clarity, the cruiser community in Barra is outstanding.  There are numerous services for cruisers and the Sands hotel lets us tie up to their sea wall and use their pool.  All they ask is that you frequent their poolside bar and buy a beer.  Pretty hard not to comply with that request.  Like so many places you tie up your dinghy this one has its own nuances.   At the Sands you tie up to an old sea wall with cut off rusty pipes to tie your dinghy painter to, scramble off onto some muddy rock with little crabs scurrying around and then crawl up the little sea wall.  The second person had to throw out the stern anchor as far as possible so your inflatable dinghy doesn’t scrape up against the barnaclly wall as the tied drops and then scramble off himself.  Really not that bad once you’ve done it once or twice.

Our Christmas mast

Since we didn't have a Christmas tree we decorated the mast below the deck with some ribbon and lights and some local ornaments.  Made it feel a little like Christmas at least.












 

The secret 10th floor pool, hot tub and cabana

After a few days in the anchorage we treated ourselves to three nights in the marina.  It’s a little overpriced and you’re told not to drink the water but it is part of an incredible hotel resort complex called the Grand Bay.  Their pool is awesome with the required swim up bar and multiple levels of water slides.  We were lucky enough to know some people who had heard from some other people who know someone that showed them the top secret and luxurious 10^th floor pool.  As we were led up there it is understandable why it is top secret as it’s almost impossible to describe how to get there and there is no way you would accidentally stumble upon it.  Oddly enough, the 10^th floor pool is almost always deserted along with the cabana with soft fluffy couches and ceiling fans for your use.  It is a mystery to us how this is possible.

Elizabeth in the deserted palapa

Along the lines of stuff that doesn’t make sense.  We went for a long walk Christmas morning to the beach on the far side of the peninsula.  We walked thru a beautifully manicure golf course and many miles of roads surfaced with pavers.  There was not one person playing golf and we saw only three cars in 3 hours of walking?  The beach at the far side had a nice beach palapa with running water and showers and bathrooms with paper towels in them.  But not a person in sight.  Don’t ask me, it was sort of spooky.

Christmas beach walk

 

For Christmas we joined in the cruisers pot luck where 60 cruisers gathered each bringing a dish of some sort to share and swap stories and generally hang out with someone, since everyone’s families were somewhere else.  We ate too much in general between potlucks and street tacos; and found some great margaritas at the Seamaster restaurant.  I had the best bacon cheeseburger in months at Hectors, along with the ever elusive draft beer; not easily found in Mexico.  Elizabeth got her hair cut for 50 pesos or about $4.50 and we generally had a good time hanging out with some of the people we have met along the way.  It was hard to leave 2 for 1 margaritas and cheap street tacos, but the clear waters of Tenacatita and the slow, cheap life on the hook was calling. 

View from the cockpit at the marina

Tenacatita Days

12-22-12 – In Route to Bahia de Navidad

After our slog into Tenacatita it was refreshing to find a beautiful anchorage, protected from swells and the weather out on the Pacific Ocean.  Our first hour there was indicative of the days to come.  We had launched the dink to go ashore just to walk around and not be on the boat after our little passage.  Immediately upon landing we were approached by; as we would soon find out, the pseudo “mayor” of Tenacatita; Robert on s/v Harmony.  He and his wife Virginia have been coming to Tenacatita at this time of year for 13 years now earning him the title.  This year they had a few of their children and grandchildren with them for a total of 8 on the boat, affectionately named Hotel Harmony for the week they were all there.  As Mayor of Tenacatita he has taken on the responsibility to welcome the new cruisers, provide information on the area, run the Tenacatita morning VHF net and organize the daily happenings of the anchorage.  With that start you can imagine that our days in Tenacatita were full.

What to do in Tenacatita?  The cruisers guide describes it as the quintessential anchorage, with a beautiful curved beach with a small break ending in a large private resort.  There is one beach palapa for your afternoon cerveza and ceviche needs and not much else.  That’s what makes it so nice.

Day one was dedicated to the self-guided dinghy  jungle tour.  There is a river thru the mangroves that supposedly takes you 2.5 miles around and back to a little lagoon.  Sounded like fun.  On our way in we stopped to say hi to some other cruisers in the anchorage who informed us that most people were getting turned around about half way in by someone on a panga saying that you were entering private property.  Your mind immediately jumps to conclusions on that one.  A guy in a panga, in a swampy narrow channel turns you around because you are on “private” property.  You can go where you wish with that, but it really is the truth.  We decided to try it anyway.  First challenge was crossing the little bar that leads into the estuary.  Not too challenging, but we did manage to surf a wave on the dinghy.  Probably the most exciting part of the day. 

The jungle tour

Driving PK like a professional
panga driver

It may sound like a good time, but you try your best not to surf the waves in your dinghy as even little waves can have a disastrous effect if they catch you wrong.  After that we motored PK thru a narrow channel of mangroves looking at birds, some fish and little red crabs crawling up the roots of the trees; always waiting for the panga man to turn us around.  Eventually the channel closed in and we couldn’t go any further.  Little spiders and crabs were falling into the dinghy and we scraped by tree roots in our inflatable dinghy.  One of the times it makes you wonder why you have a boat that’s filled with air to keep it floating.  The lagoon never appears nor did the panga to turn us around, so I feel like we may have cheated death on that one!  Back to the palapa and a Rollo del Mar for lunch.  Rollo del Mar is similar to the Turducken theory.  You stuff fish with shrimp, wrap it in bacon and smother it in a cream sauce.  With fresh corn tortillas, yummy!  We had been jungle touring and lunching with another couple from s/v Vagabundo who invited us over for sundowners, which we of course accepted.    Whew, that was a full day.

Rollo del Mar is yummy!

View from the beach palapa (AW on the left)

Day two:   Nothing was stirring not even a fish when what did I hear but the sound of bubbles around the hull.  I arose to see what the clatter was and what did I find but six little dolphins playing with the boats (a little Christmas nod there).  We watched as the dolphins played with our boats and did circles around in synchronized swimming moves.  The water was clear to the bottom so you could see them as they passed under the boat and between the bow and the anchor.  A good way to start the day.  Today was the annual Harmony biathlon.  A swim from s/v Harmony to shore, a run down the beach and back and a swim back to the boat.  Armed with some snorkel goggles and board shorts I probably wasn’t going to win the event.  About ten of us partook in the event.  I finished in the middle of the pack, not realizing how poor of a long distance swimmer I was.  I did beat some people; later to find out they were in their mid sixties, which detracted from my excitement.  Back at Harmony there was a crowning ceremony for the winner and juice and plantain chips for snacks.  All participants were given a free pedicure by Coco and Toby the two kids on Harmony.  So that explains the picture from the last post.  The rest of the day consisted of some paddle boarding, snorkeling and me not really surfing in the waves.  A trip to the palapa for some shrimp ceviche and a beer rounded out the afternoon.  Whew, that was a full day.

Almost surfing the SUP

Day three:  I got in my morning Crossfit workout raising the anchor.  Always a good way to work up a sweat in the morning.  We took Autumn Wind three miles across the bay to the little town of La Manzanilla to shop at the local market and get some food.  The town was great and the market was fun.  Most everything there, like in all of Mexico, was “almost free”


AW at anchor off of La Manzanilla

(That’s a little joke for those who have been
here.  It is what seemingly every vendor says to try and rope you in to buying their wares).  The dinghy ride back to AW was a little wet but we made it without embarrassing ourselves, loaded down with pineapples bought from a pickup truck, some eggs in a little baggie, some new wine glasses and the standard groceries.  A nice sail across the bay and we dropped the anchor right back in our original spot. 



Cutting up our fresh pineapples
on the sail back

 Now it was time for the “Mayors raft up”.  This is an event organized by the mayor where all of the boats in the anchorage bring their dinghies out and we all
raft up in a little circle off “good dog beach”  aptly named because it is a good place to get your dog off the boat to go for a run. 

Elizabeth at the Mayors Raft up

Everyone brought a dish to share and we all passed food around the raft up and had a good time.  There was about ten dinghies attending and everyone told their story of where they were from, going to and what the highlight of the year was, since as you know it was the end of the world as we know it.  It was a nice coming together of cruisers and a great way to meet all the people in the anchorage.  Afterwards, many of us retired to good dog beach for an end of days beach fire where the socializing continued.  I helped to save one dinghy that started floating away, but didn’t invoke my salvage rights even though it was much nicer than my dinghy.  Well after dark we all launched into the surf and successfully found our ways back to our respective boats.  Whew, that was a full day.

So we had to leave Tenacatita to get some rest.  Bahia de Navidad here we come for Christmas!  Maybe there we will get some rest.  I hope not.


Statue at Bahia de Navidad

We've Come a Long Way

12-20-12 - Bahia Tenacatita, MX

The morning we left Punta Mita

We have moved South (again)! From La Cruz we moved to Punta Mita for a couple of days. This was mostly to get out of the marina and make an attempt to stop spending money as well as to let some heavy weather pass. That is not to discount Punta Mita. It is a great anchorage with the classic beach scene of palapas and some surfing (on a very shallow rocky beach as I found out). After a few days it seemed like the right time to leave.  We had been listening to the local weather forecast and had planned a departure of Tuesday morning. But Monday morning came along and the weather seemed to have cleared up a little early, in fact there was supposed to actually be some wind for our trip South.  So after listening to the morning VHF net and doing some weather checking of our own we decided at 9:00AM to pack up and head South.

Side note on the “net”.  For those who have not experienced this phenomenon: the morning Net (as it is called) is an organized time peiod on the VHF where someone (the person changes daily and is usually 6 people who take a day each-Sunday is a day of rest) volunteers to “run” the net and goes thru a set of categories while everyone who is within VHF range listens in and contributes their knowledge and help to the community as a whole.  It starts with check-ins where everyone listening calls out their boat name and then progresses to emergencies in need of help, weather, tides, things for sale or trade (everything is sold for “coconuts” as you are not really allowed to sell things in Mexico) and then usually goes into the happenings of the area.  Typically the happenings of the area is the biggest category with all the activities being announced and the restaurants and establishments that cater to cruises chiming in with their daily specials, etc.  Yes, even the restaurants that want cruiser business have a VHF handy to listen and talk on.  Needless to say the “net” is a valuable tool when new to an area.

 I can tell we’ve come a long way as this situation developed.  Not in reference to the distance, but to our abilities and our confidence in them.  We decided at 9:00A to pack up our toys, dinghy, paddle board, and make the boat ready for a 120 mile overnight trip out into the Pacific Ocean to a place we have never seen before.  The night before we had no intention of leaving, but this morning everything looked good so we left.  That’s a long way from just a few months ago when it took us that much time to decide to go for a day sail in San Francisco Bay.  We made the decision to leave a day early mostly to get some sailing in.  The wind was supposed to be heavy but reducing and they mentioned something about it turning to the South for a brief period the next day.  But we glossed that over in favor of good north wind for the majority of the trip. 

The sun going down that night

 I get my morning exercise lifting the anchor and raising the sails and we motor out of Banderas Bay.  Along the way we avoid a couple of whales, which we are still not very fond of seeing within 100 yards of the boat, but are getting more used to them.  The seas are really lumpy and on our beam, meaning it’s basically uncomfortable.  For a moment we think about turning around but carry on figuring we would just motor the same distance again tomorrow.  The second we exit Banderas Bay the wind picks up to 20 knots as predicted and the swells to 4 to 7 feet at predicted.  It makes for a fun but a little challenging sail downwind as the autopilot has a hard time keeping up with the swells.  It occurs to us around noon that we really don’t have anything to eat for lunch or dinner that is easy and “underway” cookable.  Especially in the swells nothing would stay on the stove.  SO we muddle thru some snacky type lunch and some crappy premade dinner we had been carrying with us since San Diego.  No one left with us and we are the only boat in sight…until night falls and there are little blinking lights everywhere.  A panga with his lights on (just a white light, navigation lights don’t seem to concern anyone down here) and blinking white lights to denote the start, or end or middle, who knows of a long line or shrimp net.  Nothing shows up on radar as these little pangas blend in with the waves.  That gives us something to do on watch at least. Sometime during the evening I take a little nap, then take over the watch. Elizabeth sleeps for about three hours and then we do this over again and then the sun comes up.  The wind has died, but not after I saw a 10.2 knot speed over ground on the GPS.  Just so you know that’s REALLY fast for us.  It was just for a second as we surfed down a wave, but it still counts!  We motor on for a few hours as the wind slowly builds from the South and then all of a sudden I recall the weather forecast we glossed over yesterday as the South wind builds to 20 plus knots straight on our nose.  We start pounding into a South wind swell with a following North swell and start taking spray back into the cockpit.

You're not supposed to wear a jacket in Mexico!

  This isn’t supposed to happen in Mexico!  At least it’s hot so the spray feels good, but the boat and everything is instantly covered in salt as the water sprays over us and dries in the wind.  The last 10 miles we see the GPS speed drop to 2 knots as we pound in to the waves.  A little course change and things are better but still not what you want after 26 hours out and only 10 miles from the anchorage.  Then the little fishing panga comes and intercepts us mid ocean, as we are struggling to make headway and starts waving his hands and pointing.  Good thing he did because we would not have noticed the little black flag on a buoy denoting the start of his long line.  We detour around that and enter Bahia Tenacatita.  We go all the way around Roca Centro because they say not to go between it and land, and finally anchor.  Tidy up and an anchor down later, all is well and we are ready to launch the dink and go ashore. 

The anchorage from the estuary mouth

So we’ve come a long way from San Francisco just a few months ago.  Many people may think it’s not a big deal, and it probably isn’t to them, and we can now say that it wasn’t really for us either, just another day of cruising in Mexico.

Just a teaser for the next post

The Last IPA in Mexico

Random Pic: sunrise over Banderas Bay

12-15-12 – Punta de Mita, MX

People who knew us in our past life in Reno, NV will recall how we occasionally (ok about twice a week) enjoyed going to the local brewery for some tasty and interesting beers.  Drinking good beers was one thing we really enjoyed.  I don’t mean Sam Adams or Budweiser.  I am talking about craft beers that have great flavors, are interesting to drink and more than anything have a great aroma; ie. lots of hops.  Well that apparently does not exist in Mexico.  I don’t really understand the beverage companies here in Mexico and who owns who so I’m mostly making this up.  I believe Tecate and Pacifico have bought up all brewing rights in Mexico, oh and of course the worst of all Corona and, eeeww, Corona Light.  The standard offering at most places we have been is Pacifico and Corona.  Now admittedly we don’t frequent high end restaurants and haven’t traveled to big metropolis’ like Mexico City where I’m sure you could get anything you want.  Here on the Pacific coast it’s Pacifico and Corona.  Needless to say out of default Pacifico is my new favorite beer.  There is always Negro Modelo which is pretty good, and a holiday offering called Noche Buena which I would actually say is worth drinking.  It’s just hard to find, especially at little beach palapa restaurants.  We have only found it in huge Walmartish stores called Mega.  So you can say we are a little good beer deficient down here.
That leads us to the last IPA in Mexico.  The other day Elizabeth, who is actually the IPA lover in the family, was searching in one of the many lockers of the boat for some snorkel gear. 

Diversion from the story: (FYI for non-beer people IPA is India Pale Ale, it has a lot of hops in it, the stuff that makes good beer smell good)  Boat types know that the lockers and compartments in your boat hold many treasures.  It’s not like your house where the food goes in one cupboard and the soccer ball goes in another.  Everything has a habit of going in the locker with enough space irregardless of what is already in there.  We have a beverage locker, that is pathetically empty, that also contains our snorkels and fins, a wind scoop and a bosun's chair, a beach ball and 2 squirt guns. 

E couldn't be happier!

I was on deck and heard a little squeal and thought “oh no, we have cockroaches”  Cockroaches are hard to see and they are the kind of thing you would discover when digging around in a dark locker.  I rushed downstairs to find out it was a squeal of excitement not terror.  Elizabeth was holding a single bottle of Sierra Nevada Torpedo.  A commercial version of a pretty good IPA.  (Nowhere near as good as an Icky!)  It immediately went into the freezer (which is a little colder than the refrigerator which is a little colder than the air temperature on our boat) Later that night we opened it and she even allowed me to smell it briefly before she enjoyed it with a nice sunset over Banderas Bay.

Sunset over Banderas Bay

Puppy Shots

12-10-11 Bucerias, MX

According to Elizabeth, I received my second round of puppy shots today.  Really Hepatitis B, but apparently she feels like she's taking care of a puppy sometimes when it comes to me and following up on doctor stuff.  Not that I have any fear of doctors or the like, I just have the philosophy that if it ain't broken why fix it?  That and the endless insurance runaround that occurs every time you go, (thankfully I don't really have any insurance at this time so it's a lot easier) the waiting around, the fact that there's always something more wrong with you than you thought and of course the ridiculous cost.  So I just avoid them altogether.  Apparently, Elizabeth believes; as I do as well; that these vaccines are important.  It is just very easy to let the follow up appointment slip by for the reasons above and because we are quite busy having fun.

No question where this one is going

We caught a little bus/minivan to the make the trip.  Thankfully, all of the buses around here have the names of the prominent destinations printed on their windshields making it easier to figure out what bus to take.  None of this "blue line, or green line" business, they just say where they are going right on the windshield.  The bus dropped us off right across the street from the vet where we were promptly helped by a nice doctor.  He was from Guadalajara, had gone to school in Mexico City but found a girl in Bucerias.  So like many people he now lives in Bucerias. 

Poor guy waiting at the vet

Looks legitimate right?

It will be ok

After a few standard doctor type questions he went next door to the pharmacy to get the dose of Hepatitis B vaccine (that incidentally they had ordered and delivered just for me).  My blood pressure and heart rate are good.  Looks like not working is actually good for my health.  A few minutes latter he had given me the shot and sent me on my way.  Elizabeth got a lollipop for the effort but I didn't.  Not exactly sure how that worked out?  Thanks to Elizabeth's persistence I am now 2/3 immunized.  One more round of puppy shots sometime in the future.


To reward ourselves for a job well done we went to a restaurant affectionately know as Mariscos $109.  Where they serve you an incredibly large plate of fish or shrimp with cup of shrimp soup, tostadas and pico, a glass of kahlua and plantains with icing for desert, and the best part, all you can drink tequila is included; for you guessed it $109 pesos.  (FYI $109 pesos is about $8 US Dollars)  So maybe not working isn't so good for my health.


Elizabeth, Me and Sue at Mariscos $109

Chacala to La Cruz

12-9-12 - La Cruz Marina, MX

Watch out for the jalapeno margaritas at Las Brisas!

Back to marina life again.  Autumn Wind is pleasantly floating at a dock in La Cruz after our trip from Chacala to Jaltambra for a night and then around the corner to La Cruz.  The transition to the relatively bustling Banderas Bay from the more tranquil setting of Chacala is good for us.  You can only sit under a beach palapa, play in the waves and drink cervezas for so many days in a row.  Ok, you can do that for a lot of days in a row, and we did.  I need to pinch myself and remember that sitting under a beach palapa, playing in the waves drinking cervezas is what many people do with their prized 5 days a year off and we get to do that for as many days as we like.  But the trip is more of an adventure than an endless series of days sitting on the beach and there are many more places to see and explore.

Sue and Elizabeth doing the palapa thing

View from the papala out to our boats at Chacala

Toys for sale at Jaltambra

La Cruz marina is everything Chacla was not.  There are more activities planned and things to do here than a retirement home.  From happy hour and cheap ceviche tostadas on Wed and Fri, to Mexican Train domino's on Wed, pool volleyball at 4:00P (in a pool the size of a big hot tub) the bonfire on the break wall at 7:00P (half moon / half off party, don't want to miss that) to the locals market every Sunday.  That's just the first two days we've been here.  The list of activities goes on and on; and that doesn't even cover the "must eat at" restaurants in the town of La Cruz or the many other towns and beaches that are just a bus ride away.  I can now see how you get sucked into the vortex that is Banderas Bay.  We are already discussing the option of never leaving (or at least spending a week or two in this area)

Seeing as it is Sunday and the weekend, we figured it would be a good day to take some time off form our hectic schedule of doing whatever we want and go to the locals market at the marina.  It's sort of a farmers market feel without the vegetables and with more arts and crafts.  The only stipulation put on people selling their wares is that they had to be directly involved with the making/growing/cooking of the products they sell.  We were advised correctly to go hungry, which we did; and returned full, with homemade cheese and tamales for the future and various crafts to brighten up the boat and give it a more festive Mexico feeling.  To Elizabeth's enjoyment, everything in Mexico is colorful, buildings, tablecloths, dishes etc...  After our local market excursion it's now siesta time, being Sunday and all you don't want to work too hard.  And there's always manana right?

First course of lunch

Even the stairs are colorful

More color

Colorful table cloths

Tasty cheese

Crafts for sale at the market