Puerto Ballandra, Caleta San Juanico, Bahia Concepcion

5/11/12 Puerto Escondido to Puerto Ballandra: We left Escondido at 9am and motored the 18 nm to Isla Carmen, where we we anchored in Puerto Ballandra. It’s 89 degrees in the cabin, probably over 90 outside. We took a dinghy ride outside of the anchorage and turned left to slowly putt along the rocks looking at the fish – so many of them! We also saw red and black crabs, lots of caves and rays. Stopped to chat with Don and Linda on Iron Rose, also had Rick and Gina over for gin/tonics.

We spent a couple of days here doing a lot of swimming, some stealth water gun attacks to pay back the evil pirates who kept trying to dump us off our floaties (James & Sydney). We saw 100 degrees here in the afternoon, water temp (ïn the pool”, as they say on the radio nets) is around 80. In an effort to keep the heat out of the boat I made spaghetti from scratch on the bbq. It took forever, but was worth it to keep a little cooler down below.

5/12/12 Puerto Ballandra: Terry and I took a short hike up one of the arroyos along a marked trail. We saw a lot of caves, but we ended up making a quick retreat back to the boat because we were bedeviled by horse flies. Nasty bitey things.

5/13/12 Puerto Ballandra to Caleta San Juanico: It’s 28 nm to San Juanico, we had very flat seas, and no wind. It was a good opportunity for showers on the poop deck, so we were sparkly clean and smelled nice when we got to San Juanico.

We anchored around 1pm and were soon beset by pirates yet again. I offered a peace treaty of chocolate, which seemed to pacify them. Harmony now owes a return stealth attack.

5/14/12 Coleta San Juanico: Took a morning dinghy tour around San Juanico. this morning and got lots of rock pics.

5/16/12 San Juanico to Playa Santispac, part of Bahia Concepcion: Left San Juanico after a very rolly early morning. Traveled 54 miles up into Playa Santispac. Russ at Lupe’s Restaurant (formerly Aná’s, who is now deceased) offered to take us to Mulege tomorrow for provisions.

5/17/12 Playa Santispac: Russ took the 4 of us to Mulege—nice little town where we stocked up at the orange store (nice store). Russ took all our goodies back  and stored it in his fridge and freezer while we stayed in town. He wouldn’t take anything for gas money. We ate at El Candil, food was decent. Later that day we ate at Lupe’s restaurant (co-owned by husband Russ) and had very good chiles relleno. Russ used to own a ranch in Idaho, he’s an expat who’s been here for 8 years. Extremely nice and generous person.

5/19/12: Santispac to Playa Coyote: moved the 2.49 miles to here to get away from the man eating catfish. Swam all afternoon in the 80 degree water—perfect!

5/20/19 Playa Coyote: We love this little spot. Terry and I hitched a ride into Mulege (13 Miles) so I could go to Mass. Had to wait quite awhile for a ride, but we were finally picked up by an older Mexican man and his younger male passenger in his extended cab pickup. With my fractured Spanish we chatted a bit and the older man (driving) was very glad to hear I was Catholic and going to Mass. He took us right to the front door of the church, where he respectfully removed his hat because we were in front of the church. As I shook his hand and told him thanks for the ride he grabbed me and pecked me on the cheek—what a sweetie. When Mass began and the priest was entering and walking up the center aisle, I was surprised to see a white casket being wheeled in behind him. It was an interesting Mass. They sang Battle hymn of the republic only with church lyrics and also Sons of God, an old one Theresa and use to do in the choir in Juntura. When Mass was over they wheeled the deceased (a woman) out of the church dripping water all the way. Apparently they had her packed with ice. Then they loaded her into the bed of a pickup truck. It was around 95 degrees, hence the ice!

Later we had dinner at the restaurant here – Estrella del Mar with Endeavor. We’ve also heard that the whale sharks are in the bay—really hope we get to see them!

5/21/12 Playa Coyote: Terry hooked up the air conditioner today – Yay!! It’s a good thing too, because it’s been over 100 today. The water temp is upper 80’s  - amazing!

Leaving Puerto Escondito

5/10/12 – We will be leaving here today and continuing our way further north along the Baja side of the Sea of Cortez. Most of the places we’ll be won’t have internet service, and cell service will be sporadic as well. We purposely got Mexican cell phone numbers and service, so this is a bummer, but we’ll just have to deal with it. We will be able to send and receive emails through our Single Side Band (SSB) radio, notwithstanding sporadic radio propagation problems. We’ve entered in all your email addresses into the SSB email software.
This radio email system has data limits on what you can send out. This means that when you get an email from us (from KE7FZH@winlink.org) you should not hit your ‘reply’ button and respond, because doing so needlessly appends your response to our original email to you. This might make the email exceed the data limits, and the email won’t reach us. Instead, please respond to emails from us by starting a fresh email. We also cannot accept cartoon graphics, clipart, photos or anything like that – send only text in your emails to us. But please (!), do email us!
Terry is going to (or maybe already has) send each of you a test email to make sure we have things set up right. It would be helpful if you’d respond to that in a separate email so we know things are working.
And just so you know, KE7FZH is Terry’s ham radio call sign There are ham radio people all over the world willing to relay messages back and forth for cruisers and family in the event of emergencies and for status/location updates. Click on Winlink and learn more about how it all works.
There are several ham radio and SSB “cruiser nets” that monitor cruisers whereabouts and status. We like to monitor and check-in with one of these that’s called the Ämigo Net. Every morning on this net, cruisers check in using their SSB radios, and provide the net controllers and other cruisers with location and cruise plans so that cruisers have a way to keep track of and help each other if emergencies arise. We are safe and happy here, so I’m not trying to scare you. However, we are very close to hurricane season, and even though we know of several ‘hurricane holes’ to go to ride something like that out, no place here in most of Mexico is completely hurricane-free. We really don’t expect to encounter one, but I’m giving you this information just in case.
You can still use our gmail for emails to us, but we won’t be able to check and respond to them with any kind of regularity.
That about wraps things up for now. I will be trying to post blog updates on the Harmony blog and this one too by SSB radio, but won’t be able to post a link on Facebook, so you’ll need to actually go to In Harmony’s Wake and First  Mate’s Musings to check for new blog posts. Please feel free to post on Facebook any Harmony’s Wake blog updates. Let me know if you have any questions!

UPDATE: If you want to see where we are on Google maps, click Harmony's Current Position and a page will open up with a map showing you precisely where we when we last reported. We'll be trying to report regularly. I feel like I'm loading  with info you probably couldn't care less about, but that how I roll I guess. Love and really miss you all!

02/12/12 - 2/18/12

2/12/12 Santiago: Lazed around in the morning. At 11 we dinghied in to Playa Boquita and took a cab to the church in Santiago. It’s a very nice church, all open air, which does allow for little surprises like birds and dogs. The mass was one of the best I had been to, good music, it was just nice.

The Terry and I walked for awhile in Santiago, near the church. The streets were crammed with shops and with people. You could find almost anything you would need: street food hot off the griddle, little sidewalk stands laden with fruits, veggies, fish, meat, shoes, clothes, music drifting over the whole scene. It was really fun to walk around. This area of Santiago is off the beaten path, so no gringos. It was festive, full of families and we really enjoyed it. After the taxi back we spent the rest of the day reading. I’m in the middle of “Guernica: A Novel”. Tomorrow we’ll probably head back to Carrizal.

 

2/13/12 Santiago to Carrizal: Left Santiago (Playa Boquita) in the morning, went to Carrizal. Counting us and Endeavor, there are only 5 boats here. We set a stern anchor for the first time, because of the swell coming into the anchorage making it very rolly. We have an anchor off the bow as usual, and one off the stern which allows us to point into the swell, reducing the roll. Makes for better sleep at night. I finished reading the book Kathy gave me – Guernica. I really enjoyed it and it makes me want to know a lot more about the Spanish Civil War. I’m now reading Harts At Sea, Sailing To Windward. It’s just been published, I got it free from Amazon. It’s written by a first-season cruiser wife, giving her perspective cruising the Caribbean. It’s fairly good. Watched On Golden Pond. I meant to watch Sometimes A Great Notion, but got my movies mixed up.

 

2/14/12 Carrizal: Happy Valentines Day. I did a lot of laundry today because I got a bit behind with all the rainy weather. Now, counting us and Endeavor, there are only three boats here. It’s been too overcast to snorkel, so reading and laundry were the order for today.

Brian Wade’s dad Richard has been taking care of Brian’s boat, s/v Wades Aweigh. Brian, better known as Lawnboy, was down here all of January, but has decided to ship his boat back to Everett, but because of work, he has his dad onboard to see that the boat gets shipped on the barge to the states, and Lawnboy is back home working. Today, Richard headed over to Manzanillo from here in Carrizal to meet the barge. He was gone about an hour and we hear a Mayday over the VHF.His engine had quit, he couldn’t get it started, and was a bit near some rocks. So Rick and Terry jumped in Rick’s dinghy and went over to help him. It turns out his impeller failed, the engine overheated and quit. An easy fix, but a scary situation for a 70+ man alone on the boat.

 

2/15/12 Carrizal: It’s been cloudy and cool here for the last 5 or 6 six days. We are ready for some sun and snorkeling, but it’s not going to happen today. A 32’ boat, s/v Patience, came in and anchored today. We spoke with them, Dave and Susan. They have circumnavigated, are from Norfolk, VA (she’s from Australia). Nice couple.

It gets boring to write, (and doubly boring to read) a log like this that only reports what our daily activities are. I have always meant this as a place to put on paper my thoughts and feelings in additions to a journal of our days. Somehow, with my weak skills I hope to honestly capture, for myself mostly, what cruising means to me, the good and bad, the boring and magical. I want it all here.

Every day I give thanks that we are here doing this. But what precisely makes it such a blessing? It’s not a luxurious and carefree lifestyle, that’s for sure. It’s often hard work, inconvenient, frustrating, somewhat dangerous, and strange to be living in a foreign county, away from family and friends.

I remember as a child, before we had TV, before phones, growing up on the ranch, being constantly outside. Never ever bored. Will I be able to please my parents, will I get in trouble for something? Will they fight or get along today? Then I would be distracted by the smell of newly mown hay, or leeches in the ditch we waded in, or throwing feed pellets (cotton cake??) at swallows nests in the barn. Life had fears and delights, but was very very simple. I feel like that child again, never fully in charge, blown by whims and powers beyond my ken. Trust or be terrified. Which will it be?

* * * * * *

I’ve come up with a little reading list for Lent: Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton, Transformation In Christ by Dietrich von Hildebrand and A Cry of Stone by Michael O’Brien. I might add to the list later. I’ve already started Orthodoxy. Here’s an excerpt:

I have often had a fancy for writing a romance about an English yachtsman who slightly miscalculated his course and discovered England under the impression that it was a new island in the South Seas.

…But if you imagine that he felt a fool, or at any rate that the sense of folly was his sole or his dominant emotion, then you have not studied with sufficient delicacy the rich romantic nature of the hero of this tale, His mistake was really a most enviable mistake; and he knew it, if he was the man I take him for. What could be more delightful than to have in the same few minutes all the fascinating terrors of going abroad combined with all the humane security of coming home again? What could be better than to have all the fun of discovering South Africa without the disgusting necessity of landing there? What could be more glorious than to brace one’s self up to discover New South Wales and then realize, with a gush of happy tears, that it was really old South Wales.`

…it is necessary to follow one path of argument: and this is the path that I here propose to follow.I wish to set forth my faith as particularly answering the double spiritual need, the need for that mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar which Christendom has rightly named romance.

…nearly all people I have ever met in this western society in which I live would agree to the general proposition that we need this life of practical romance; the combination of something that is strange with something that is secure.

And some more:

Mysticism keeps men sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity. The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic.

He has permitted the twilight. He has always had one foot in earth and the other in fairyland. He has always left himself free to doubt his gods; but (unlike the agnostic of today) free also to believe in them. He has always cared more for truth than for consistency.

If he saw two truths that seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and the contradiction along with them.

His spiritual sight is stereoscopic, like his physical sight: he sees two different pictures at once and yet sees all the better for that. Thus he has always believed that there was such a thing as fate, but such a thing as free will also. Thus he believed that children were indeed the kingdom of heaven, but nevertheless ought to be obedient to the kingdom of earth. He admired youth because it was young and age because it was not. It is exactly this balance of apparent contradictions that has been the whole buoyancy of the healthy man. The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand. The morbid logician seeks to make everything lucid, and succeeds in making everything mysterious. The mystic allows one thing to be mysterious, and everything else becomes lucid.

Mostly that’s where I find myself—in twilight, one foot on the earth and the other in fairyland; in a mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar, the mystical and the mundane. The difference I guess, is that I now have much more time; time to observe the twilight, to mark it, to turn it round and ponder all the angles and shadows. I feel like I’m having a second childhood. And therein you see, is the blessing.

 

2/16/12 Carrizal: Had Sydney over and we made chocolate chip cookies today. She loves it that I make ‘huge’ cookies.

I was thinking today that I have no idea what my siblings are up to these days. Sometimes it feels so indulgent to blather on and on about my little life in this blog, as though I inhabit the center of the universe. I miss all my sisters and brother and wonder all the time what’s going on in their lives. Maybe they can each start blogs like this and we can all keep up with each other in our little secret world. Or maybe they will send me some emails . I would love that.

2/17/12 Carrizal to the lagoon in Barra de Navidad: Complacency on a sailboat is not a good thing.  We left Carrizal this morning after no preparation at all. As a result, we got out of the calm little bay and were surprised to find extremely lumpy seas and winds (on the nose) 20-25 knots. We spent the whole day beating in these waves and winds, which of itself is not a bad thing, the boat handles it with no problem. But we had kosher salt dumped all over the floor below decks, also used coffee grounds spilled everywhere, a wave dumped water down a partially open hatch, small appliances and junk was flying down below, and we forgot to bring our boom in, so we also looked really ridiculous going along. What normally would have been 4 hours took 6 hours. We have learned our lesson. Sometimes we embarrass ourselves.

 

2/18/12 Barra (sunny and smog free!): Ting ting, ting ting. Every morning in Barra Navidad, the cheerful little bell announces the presence of El Horna Frances (The French Baker) right outside. He delivers fresh baguettes, croissants, little tarts, quiches and Danish right to your boat. About 8:30 he announces to the fleet his arrival in the lagoon over his VHF radio. He delivers orders he received from the previous day, and then offers the extra goodies he’s made to whoever pipes up first on the radio in response to his arrival. He cultivates his thick French accent for effect, but speaks perfect English. The Almond Croissants – ooh la la! Ting ting, ting ting -  what sweet music to my ears!

We grabbed a taxi yesterday and headed over to Melaque to go to the Hawaii store for hard to find items. As we were whizzing through downtown Melaque I spotted a building that had a big sign on the front: Ëuzkadi” was all it said. I have no idea what it is. I mean to check it out the next time I’m in Melaque. We also went to the Carniceria Ury here in Barra and loaded up with the fabulous bacon, steaks and hamburger he sells.

Then later in the day we had an adults night out with Rick and Gina, and also Ben and Molly from s/v Jace. We had a blast. You can find a link to Ben and Molly’s blog on my Harmony’s Wake Blog. It’s called Doolittle something or other. They are a great family, have two boys, 10 and about 6 I think.

2/5/12–2/11/12

2/5/12 Barra de Navidad: Today is Super Bowl Sunday. We pulled up the hook in Cuastecomate and made the 5 mile trip back to the lagoon in Barra Terry dinghied me into town for Mass at noon. Different priest today than last week. He did quite a bit of improvising during Mass. At the end he had all the kids come up to him, and he blessed them, while they sang a song, clapping in rhythm, very cute. It’s then that I noticed the little Indian children, so poor, most with no shoes, one little guy was buck naked from the waist down. Their mothers then went up retrieve their children. They were all dressed in skirts of very bright colors, tiny little women, but again, you could see how poor they are. I had my kindle with the Spanish order of the mass, and it helped a lot. I could actually do the responses in  Spanish instead of English like I’ve been doing.

In the late afternoon the panga taxi (Taxi Aquatico) activity in the lagoon increased dramatically, as all the Americans went to the Sands Hotel to watch the game between the Patriots and the Giants. Instead of going with Terry, I went over to Endeavor and spent the evening with Gina and the kids. Gina made bread pizzas and we watched the movie “Seven Pounds”, a very intense and provocative movie starring Will Smith. Very very good movie. I will watch it again. Our little Ün-Super Bowl party was a great success.

2/6/12 Barra: Today is a Mexican holiday, Constitution Day I think. Banks and many stores will be closed or closing early. We had planned to go the beach on the other side of the golf course with Endeavor, but ended up not going because getting over there involved a hotel shuttle from the resort, and it just got too complicated. Endeavor came over to Harmony and we ate the brownies I had made, chips and drinks

2//7/12 Ensenada de Carrizal: Rick, Terry and I dinghied into town to do a bit of provisioning before we head out of Barra. There is a fabulous meat market here, just a small but immaculate  -and unique little shop. The owner has cleverly frozen most of the meat -  chops, steaks, chicken breasts, bacon etc. He then slices it on the spot to order. I loaded up with 2 kilos of bacon because it looked so fantastic, 2 kilos of hamburger (not frozen), 2 full-sized boneless chicken breasts, and 1/2 kilo of some very fresh chorizo (not frozen). The total was 380 pesos, about $30 for about 12 lbs. of various meats, all excellent quality – not bad!  It’s hard to find great meat in some of the smaller towns like Barra. There’s another meat market here, but it doesn’t look nearly as clean and well-run. In many places the ham looks completely gray and dried up, chicken is very yellow, and because of Spanish names for the cuts it’s a guessing game to figure out what is what. So when you find a place like this little market, you stock up. Buying meat that’s already frozen really saves on our power consumption too. After the meat market, we went to a little tienda to get eggs, bread, potatoes, and other veggies. In most little shops in Mexico, you gather the produce you want and take it to a separate little counter where it’s weighed and priced, then go to the main counter to pay for it and the rest of your purchases. They sell eggs by weight, and you have to bring your own egg cartons. I knew this before we came to Mexico and had bought these plastic egg boxes that protect them in the dingy ride and work for storing them too. We go through a lot of eggs, and it’s always a guessing game to make sure we have enough on board, because we have no set schedule and never know for sure when we’ll go shopping again.

We left the lagoon at around noon an  headed for our favorite little anchorage – Carrizal, about 20 miles to the south. We are excited to be going back to a place where a swim or a snorkel is just a quick dive from the boat or a short row over to the rocks. We needed to make as much water as possible as well as take cockpit showers on the way down. Terry rigged up the solar shower for me in  the cockpit while underway, and it was so hot, I felt like I might need to add some cold water to it. Wow, what a luxurious feeling to have a hot shower. We saw a lot of whales on the trip, and anchored with seven other boats in Carrizal: Ponderosa, Seychelles, Full and Bye, Red Witch, Wades Aweigh (Brian’s dad aboard alone, waiting to ship the boat north), Harmony, Endeavor and one other boat I don’t recognize. It’s a bit crowded, but we are just so happy to be back in this tiny gem of a cove.

February 1st was our six-month anniversary of cruising and living aboard. We left Anacortes on 8/1/11. It has gone by in a blaze of speed, yet at the same time, that day we left seems like eons ago. Do I still love it? Yes! Are there things I don’t like about it? Yes! Do I still want to be here? Yes!

 

2/8/12 still in Carrizal: The water here is very clear, although not as clear as we hear it is in way up in the Sea of Cortez, where you can easily see your anchor on the bottom. The smog from the coal burning plant in Manzanillo must be blowing some other direction because the air is clear too! I hate the smog so much.

My morning task was to plan Terry’s birthday meal on Saturday. I settled on Close Roasted Pork With Ancho, Cinnamon and Cocoa. I’ll marinate it with a rub that is based on Mexican mole sauce (ancho pepper, cinnamon, cocoa, dark brown sugar), and I think I can slow roast it on the BBQ so I don’t have to heat up the boat. I’ll make a salad of black beans, cucumber, tomato and avocado, a side dish maybe of cous cous or rice,  and then Chocolate Cobbler for dessert. All of these are new recipes, which is what I always do for special occasions and that, in turn, always makes me anxious about a culinary disaster when you have guests. Oh well, it’s how I roll, always has been.

In the afternoon we took the dinghy over to the rocky shore and went snorkeling. We have a little anchor for the dinghy which we always make sure is set in a patch of sand so as not to tear up the coral. The coral is green, blue, brown, tan, and there are lots of colorful fish, huge angelfish, and lots of others I can’t identify. I really really wish I had a couple of books to identify the birds and fish in Mexico.

After BBQ chicken and baked potato for dinner, we watched Seven Pounds. Terry hadn’t seen it yet, and thought it was pretty good. He never wants to admit that “my” movies are fabulous

 

2/9/11 Carrizal: Laundry day, did a couple of “loads”(5 gal bucket). We went snorkeling again in the afternoon. More boats keep coming in here, how dare they??  There are now 12. It’s a bit crowded if you ask me, but those other boats never ask me. No one seems to know that I’m supposed to be the boss around here. It reminds me of when we were in Tenacatita and I got pretty sick and Terry had radioed for any MD who might be in the anchorage. He, as usual, identified us as Harmony. Well the next morning, Terry was ashore, and I was still on the boat sick, and this guy comes by on his dinghy, tells me he’s from the boat Harmony, and that he’s the “mayor” in the bay and that we should identify ourselves as Harmony Anacortes, because everyone in the anchorage thought his wife was the one sick when they heard us on the radio (run-on sentence, I know). I’m pretty sure he elected himself mayor, and probably stuffed the ballot box too. He made it quite clear that he was in charge, and invited us to a dinghy raft-up he hosts every Friday. I guess he holds court there, I don’t know, to each his little fiefdom, I guess.

Had steak for dinner then watched “Babel” with Brad Pitt. We couldn’t get the subtitles to work, and with most of the movie in Japanese, Afghani and Spanish, it really was babel! The Japanese part of the story was the most confusing, but we got the general idea….I think.

Got all settled in bed, almost asleep when it started pouring down rain. We had to get up and close all the hatches and ports. We took our time getting up to close everything because we didn’t think it was seriously going to rain. What a surprise. Then Terry broke the chimney on our little lantern that hangs on the wall, and I had to clean up the glass. We haven’t had any rain to speak of since November when we were in La Paz and we got drenched that night in the dinghy on the way home from Mass. It was an up-and-down night and neither of us got much sleep.

2/10/12 Santiago: Got up early pretty bleary-eyed from last night, fired up the boat and moved around the corner to Bahia de Santiago. The wind came up all of a sudden, 0-20 knots in nothing flat. It was a short trip, and we anchored in the part of the bay called Playa de Boquito. I’m cranky, can’t get my computer to print because the new laptop doesn’t have the right printer driver. Internet was available for half hour or so, then it was gone. I was getting very frustrated. So we went to town to stock up for the big b-day party tomorrow. We stopped at a little street side restaurant before we went into the grocery store (Commercial Mexicana) and the owner turns out to be a gringo (Paul) from Bellingham. He’s been running his little restaurant (The Captain’s) for 5 years. He left Bellingham on his sailboat because he’d been diagnosed with MS and wanted to cruise while he was still able. Got down here, lost 70 lbs, took up spearfishing, quit taking his meds, and is doing great! He has no symptoms except he lost some of the feeling in his feet.

 

2/11/12 Santiago: Spent the day getting ready for the little party we’re having on the boat for Terry. Endeavor came over and we had kamikazies, appetizers and then the pork roast, etc that I make. We were thinking of postponing a day because of the rain. It would have been crowded, hot and muggy with all 6 of us down below, but the weather improved and all went well. Endeavor gave Terry a knitted stocking cap that they got out of a half-rack of Indio beer. So we all decided that Terry’s Spanish nickname is Indio. It suits him and there’s no equivalent for Terry. He’s 60 now, so we were worried he might not want to stay awake past 7pm, but he made it!

Passage To The Mexican Riviera

11/29/11 in Los Muertos: We left La Paz at about 7:30 am morning, clear skies, winds about 12 knots. I’ve probably said this a few times already, but I’m always so excited to leave someplace and then so excited to come into someplace. We had an uneventful trip making the 45 miles from La Paz to Los Muertos, the place where Terry tangled with the mystery sea creature. We had sundowners on Endeavor and met Sherry, Bob, Sydney (another one!) and Annie aboard s/v Pearl, who joined us on Endeavor. They are from Olympia, have lived aboard there for years, which is how the Phillips family met them. What a nice family. They had hoped to cruise for a year or two, but the cruising kitty isn’t quite big enough, so they will be in Mexico for only six or seven months and then bash back north so Bob can go back to work at United Airlines. Sherry and Gina talked a lot about homeschooling, Sherry has been doing it for years, so Gina is always glad to talk to other homeschooling moms. I think doing something like this with your kids is fantastic for their education. Sydney and James are doing well, although Sydney misses her ballet a lot. Gina has arranged for a good ballet buddy to fly down here for a visit in January, and Sydney is really looking forward to that. James is such a bookworm that he loves all the free time he has to read. He loves his Kindle, he does!
It’s so nice to be back on the hook. The only reason I like marinas is for the chance to get online.We’ll be leaving around noon or so tomorrow to begin the passage across the Sea of Cortez to Isla Isabel, about 250 miles. 
The water temp here in Muertos is 74 degrees, considerably cooler than it has been over the last several weeks, when it was in the 80’s. The nights are also cooler, but we still sleep with all the ports open even in the ‘winter’ here.
11/30/11 – 12/1/11 Crossing the Sea of Cortez: We left  Los Muertos at about 11:00 this morning ahead of Endeavor bound across the Sea of Cortez to the Mexican mainland. They were going to give us a head start since they can go faster than we can. We aren’t sure yet exactly where we’ll land. Possibilities are Isla Isabel, Mazatlan or Matanchen – all around 250 miles away, so it will be two nights offshore. It will depend on the sea state and what kind of time we can make. We left under calm winds and sun, put the sails up and sailed for a couple of hours and then the wind died. I had first watch at 8pm, which was pleasant and uneventful. The moon was a crescent turned up like a cup. It was high in the sky, then in what seemed like only a few minutes, it turned bright red and sank into the Pacific.
The next day was very warm and the sea was glassy and no wind again. We saw sea turtles and lots of flying fish. The sky and sea blended into one blue canvas above and all around us. Again I had first watch and it was so surreal. There was kind of a haze that smudged the line between the sky and the mirror-like water, the stars were brilliant. It was sort of like drifting in space—I can’t really describe it. I kept thinking about that song I used to sing and play guitar to--Winken Blinken and Nod…’they sailed on a river of crystal light into a sea of dew’. As we motored along in the dark, there were some kind of critters in the water about the size of an small dinner plate that kept firing off an iridescent glow as we went by – hundreds of them. It was the most mesmerizing watch I’ve ever done. It was like a dream really. I don’t know what they were, but what a show with the glassy sea, the stars, the smudged horizon and the big fireworks going off in the water all around us.
It was decided to bypass Isla Isabel this time around and head for Ensenada de Matanchen because we had made very good time on the crossing and would have had to go into Isla Isabel before dawn—not a fun thing to do.
12/2/11 Matanchen: We saw humpback whales this morning just before we reached Matanchen. It’s a roadstead anchorage and had only a few boats in it when we got anchored and settled at about 9am. Just as we were coming in we heard a man on the VHF from the vessel Jama who was warning all of us about some serious theft problems in the San Blas and Matanchen anchorages. He advised us not to leave our boats unattended because very recently a boat had been boarded while the owners were ashore and the thieves had broken through their companionway and cleaned them out. Apparently the thieves had someone onshore who was signaling when the owners were on the way back to the boat, allowing them to get away. None of their stuff was recovered Terry recognized the name of the guy on the VHHF giving the warning and said he had read in Latitude 38 that this guy was kind of a troublemaker. We had a little meeting with Endeavor and decided that whether the guy was a troublemaker or not, we would be wise to follow his advice.We all (six of us) jumped into our dinghy and went ashore after arranging with Twyla and Ken on SV Sail Time to keep an eye on our boats and call us on our portable VHF if anything suspicious was going on.
The long beach is lined with many palapas and ramshackle buildings, dusty and hot, with the ever-present stray dogs. Apparently the town is a short walk down the dirt road running along the beach. From our vantage point on the boat it looks quite deserted, with hundreds of plastic chairs at empty tables in all the palapas—a bit unnerving. I guess the economy is suffering quite a bit.On the beach we met Baro who directed us to his palapa restaurant where we had all kinds of tasty dishes. Finally, we are in a palapa eating and visiting with the locals. Baro was so kind to us. He practiced his English, and we practiced our Spanish, and we learned all about his life. His house was behind the palapa, with a neat little yard in front. He’s lived here all his life, and he truly feels he lives in paradise. He used to be a professional surfer and has travelled all over competing. He has four grown children, a couple of whom live in Denmark, one in New Mexico and one someplace else I can’t remember (LA?). He cut some lemon grass out of his yard and gave it to us so we could make tea. All the while we’re visiting with him, an older woman is in the little cocina cooking away while the Mexican soap operas blared on the TV above her head. After eating lunch at the beach we went over to Endeavor and had the marinated FRESH dorado they had caught this morning. OH WOW! I guess the menu name for this fish is Mahi Mahi, which I’ve had before, but what a difference FRESH makes. Even Terry, my die-hard beef man is starting to order seafood and ceviche in restaurants!
12/3/11 Matanchen: We watched their boat while the Phillips’ took the panga tour up into the mangroves to see the birds and crocs. Then we spent all afternoon at another palapa eating and drinking and battling jejenes and mosquitoes.
12/4/11 Matanchen: This time Endeavor watched our boat while we took the panga tour. Eduardo was our excellent guide pointing out the crocs, iguanas, storks, herons, falcons, lilies and turtles. Then another afternoon at another palapa eating and drinking, the kids swimming. Tomorrow we leave – next stop Chacala.
12/5/11 Matanchen: We have been eaten alive by the jejenes and mosquitoes, and are out of OFF. We don’t have mosquitoes or bitey things in Anacortes and I had forgotten what it’s like to itch 24/7. To continue my little whine, we also had a very rolly night and didn’t get much sleep. Anyway, we finally said uncle and pulled up anchor to head the 54 miles to Punta Mita. We decided that Chacala was going to be just as rolly as Matanchen, so we changed our float plan and headed to Punta Mita. We do that a lot—make a plan of some sort and then change it on the fly. Endeavor fished all the way and we always knew when they had a fish on because they’d start going around in circles to chase the line. Punta Mita is small, mostly condos and a few nice palapas on the beach. The next morning we went ashore for breakfast, which was quite tasty. We spent the night at anchor in Punta Mita, then headed out early the next day for Banderas Bay. It was only about a 2 hour putt along the coast and the weather was nice and balmy.

I’m Thankful For La Paz And All My Blessings

11/20/11 – 11/28/11 La Paz: Well, Gina and I never made it to Wal-mart. We found a store called Chedraui that is something like a Fred Meyer. We thought we had died and gone to heaven.  They had a fabulous bakery department, but we couldn’t figure out how to ‘do’ the bakery department. Gina finally noticed that people we getting a big round tray from under a counter and some tongs and going around loading up their tray with various baked goods. So we did that, then you take your tray to this counter and a lady bags and prices your baked goods. We also found some small fake Christmas trees and garlands-yay! The only thing we couldn’t find was a real ham—only pressed cubes of pork, and some grey looking ham slices. I had decided that I would make an authentic Mexican dish for my contribution to Thanksgiving instead of ham, but the next day Gina found a ham in her travels, so we had a turkey breast, mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted veggies and pumpkin pie for the Phillips parts of the meal. I brought the ham, (fresh!) fried pineapple, stuffing, and Pioneer Woman’s Dreamy Apple Pie. It was a great feast, but boy was it hot outside (mid 80’s) and even hotter inside our boats with all that cooking going on. It was a nice day though. I was missing my family, but the Phillips’ are a surrogate family for us, and we can’t think of anyone we enjoy more.

Gina, Sydney and I have been keeping up with our early morning walks into town and along the Malecon. Sydney has befriended a dog that has been following us every day-even showing up right on time at the head of the dock. She named her Lexy, because Sydney feels she’s a fancy dog and needed a fancy name.

We’ve been anxious to attend the local farmer’s market that happens each Saturday and Tuesday so we could stock up on some local produce. There was also an arts and crafts market at one of the marinas, so Gina and went to both on Saturday (the 26th). The farmers market in town was a modest affair-only about 7 or 8 tables, and not much produce, but I did buy a blouse. The arts and crafts was also pretty small, but I found some earrings and a ring

Watching the weather has been a top priority this week. We want to cross the Sea of Cortez and head over to Puerto Vallarta because both boats have people to meet, and there’s supposed to be another norther this week. Well, it didn’t actually show up until Saturday, so we decided to leave on Tuesday (the 29th) after the wave action has a chance to flatten. We’ll probably stop in Los Muertos for one night (where Terry was injured in his encounter with the mystery sea creature a few weeks ago), and then head on across to Isla Isabel or San Blas and PV. Mazatlan will probably have to wait until we back come back up to the Sea of Cortez next Spring to wait out hurricane season.

Terry and went out to dinner last night (27th) to celebrate our 36th anniversary. We’ll be in the middle of the Sea of Cortez on our actual anniversary, so off we went to Rancho Viejo for food, then a nice walk downtown, and finally a cab home. Today (28th) Gina went and got produce and eggs and other goodies so we’re ready to leave La Paz tomorrow morning at about 7am. I’m ready to get away from the marina and get back in an anchorage again. I really do like La Paz though, and will look forward to coming back.

Learning In La Paz

11/14/11 – 11/19/11 In La Paz: This week has been very much a learning experience. It’s a simple fact that everything you want to do is more complicated in Mexico, but it’s vastly more so when you are in a new place in Mexico and trying to do things you haven’t done in Mexico yet. Case in point – getting Mexican cell phones up and running. After we bought sim cards for our phones, we needed to recharge them with money/minutes because the cards don’t come with much value. I went online and opened an account at Telcel, our Mexican cell service provider. That was easy enough. Then I recharged my sim card online using my ING debit card, again, not too difficult. I noticed however, that my phone didn’t immediately recharge with minutes, but thought, well this is Mexico. The charge on my ING account, however, went through immediately. A couple of hours later my cell phone rings and I notice the area code is 503 – Oregon. I answer and someone named Leslie starts asking me info in order to ‘verify my online Telcel purchase’. She says she’s from a company named Vesta and wants to know my SS# and some info about my ING account. I refused to give her any info because I didn’t know her from Adam. Then she says she will get an ING rep on the phone, and after a couple of moments someone calling himself Mohamed comes on and says he’s from the LA offices of ING (our bank). He then asks me the same questions and I again refused to answer, so my online Telcel transaction was cancelled. I wasn’t about to give sensitive bank info to someone I couldn’t positively identify. I emailed ING with the story and they said I had done the right thing. I did a little research and found out there is a company called Vesta that does verify online purchases for cell providers, and the Oregon # that called me pointed to Vesta when I googled it, so the whole thing was probably legit. Anyway, instead of doing it online, we found a local Telcel place, went in, paid in pesos and got more minutes, and it took about 5 minutes,so now all is good.

Then Gina and I want to a bank (a long hike) to change dollars to pesos, but didn’t bring our passports, so we couldn’t do it. I don’t remember having to have your passport to change money in Spain? Anyway, we got the job done eventually—the next day. After no joy at the bank, Gina and I went to the grocery store, Aramburo, which went well, except we wanted to pay in dollars since we hadn’t been able to get pesos. They would accept dollars, but not a hundred dollar bill, which was all I had, so I had to use my debit card, which they had to verify was not fraudulent, so that took a bit of effort, but we left the store with good groceries, and took a cab home. We had some trouble interpreting the meat labels, but I got a lot of produce and meat, including some chorizos which turned out to be very good! On a side note, they had a whole bin/case of frozen turkeys at that store—just like you would expect to see at a Safeway around Thanksgiving! This cute little Mexican woman stopped me to ask me about what size turkey she should buy.
She had her foil roasting pan and other holiday prep stuff in her cart. She was a crackup, and it was nice for me to be able to help a local here in La Paz for once.

We’ve had a couple of boat issues to deal with this week. After the storm last Sunday, we realized our battery charger had fried – probably a power surge, as we are hooked up to power at the dock. It’s a $300 – $400 item. Our friend Brian Wade is coming to Mexico on Nov 29th, so he’s bringing us another one. We have some gremlins in some of our lights – sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. Then today (the 19th) Terry spent most of the morning changing the joker valves in both heads (toilets) and unplugging the vent line. It was not fun, as you might guess! They had needed it for some time, so we can check that off the list.

We’ve enjoyed walking around La Paz a lot. I really like this place. The weather is beautiful, the nights cool down a bit, which is nice, and it’s not nearly as touristy as Cabo. There are a lot of other cruisers who are always willing to give you the scoop on what you need to know. We’ve found some good places to eat, some interesting neighborhoods. The local people have been unfailingly kind and helpful. Gina and Sydney and I are taking long morning walks along the Malecon for exercise too. Life really is very very pleasant.

Gina and I are going shopping for Thanksgiving tomorrow after mass. I’m having trouble finding a ham, so we’re going to taxi to a Wal-Mart and see what they have. I have always hated Wal-Mart, so I’m hoping the Mexican ones are better? The Phillips family have spent many Thanksgivings with us, so it’s a bit of a tradition that I bring ham and fried pineapple and a pie, and Gina does a small turkey and pie too. We’re not sure exactly where we will be on Thanksgiving. Both boats need to get to Puerto Vallarta soon to meet various people who are flying in. The weather is always a bit iffy this time of year, and we have to cross the Sea of Cortez, which is a 200 mile passage. So the weather will dictate where we’ll be on turkey day! I will miss all my family then, and will be thinking of you ALL DAY. Have a good one!!!!