05 April – 23 May 2009 Zihautanejo - Hualtuco - La Cruz - Mazatlan

05 April - 12 April 2009 Sunday to Sunday
Zihautanejo; still at anchor deciding whether to go north or south. We had originally decided to go south (Costa Rica, Panama and maybe through the canal) but, with Julies ankle acting up and the option to do other things we felt no compulsion to follow a schedule. We then decided to go north, but after two months at anchor in Zihautanejo the goals got a little fuzzy and we wound up being talked into to going south.
Had dinner out one night and on another we had a potluck on OCEAN DANCE (ITCHEN, FREEDOM, WILD ROSE, FANTASY, PAULA JEAN, SEA HORSE, KOHLEA, OH BABY and CLAIRE MARIE were in attendance). I’ve cleaned the bottom of ITCHEN a couple of times.
Cody, Molly and Bodhi’s dog, died. He developed cancer and was getting sicker. It's amazing how pets become so immersed in our lives. They are wonderful things, aren't they? They never criticize us or give advice ... they're just there to give unconditional companionship. They're an example of what we humans should be with each other.
On one of our last days in Zihautanejo, one of the cruisers opened their life raft to inspect it. Among other things missing, the owner found a valve for the inflatable tube missing. Had he needed to abandon ship, he would’ve launched his life raft, popped the automatic inflating canister and all the air from the canister would’ve flowed right through the life raft out the other side. The life raft would’ve sunk almost as quickly as it popped open! In addition it didn’t have any water as he was told it did, nor were the emergency flares operable. Someone in the marine industry packed that life raft knowing it was defective.

Monday - 13 April 2009
0700 - Weigh anchor at sunrise for a straight run to Haultuco, by-passing Acapulco. We’ve spent 7 weeks on the hook in Zihautanejo bay: the longest we’ve spent anywhere, voluntarily. It cost me another $20.00 to get out of Zihautanejo: agent fees to run interference with the port captain.

Tuesday - 14 April 2009
1100 - N16.15.469 : W098.57.842 - halfway to Haultuco. OCEAN DANCE is out of sight and radio contact. Our average speed is six knots at 2600 rpm: course generally bearing 104 degrees. Fuel consumption is about 0.58 gallons/hour, which will give us a range of 450 miles (on the inboard tank): another 150 miles with the 17 gallons I carry on deck. Estimate Haultuco this time tomorrow.

Wednesday - 15 April 2009
1501 - Tie up Chahue Marina, Hualtuco and check in with port captain. Decided to head back north, again. We’ll go back to Mazatlan as originally planned and start from there next year. We’ve rushed down the Mexican coast either to keep a rendezvous or buddy boating. As a result, we’ve missed things we want to see, not only on the coast but inland as well. We need to establish our own cruising agenda. It’ll be a bit of a bash back as the current and wind are generally against us, but we think it will be worth it.


Thursday, 16 April - Sunday, 19 April 2009
Haultuco - Said our Goodbyes to OCEAN DANCE, as they need to get across the Tuanapec and continue their journey south. We fueled up, filled with water, washed and waxed the boat, finally gave the engine a fresh water wash-down, and did the laundry. Julie found a carniceria (butcher shop) in town and that sold us filets for $4.00/lb: and that’s after all that fat is cut off. We’re all set to go for a Monday morning departure.

Monday, 17 April - Sunday, 26 April 2009
Six days at sea. We departed Haultuco for Zihautanejo on the outgoing tide, such that it was. The seas were calm with a breeze out of the WSW. We close hauled the main and averaged six knots, gliding along effortlessly, displacing over 10 tons of water for every 37 feet the boat moved forward. Night and day, day and night we cruised north. At night our wake left a trail of phosphorescence like a rocket ships exhaust. Dolphins would play off our stern quarter and we could see their phosphorescent streaks as they shot under the boat and around the bow. In the afternoons the breeze would freshen for a couple of hours and then die off before sunset. We didn’t adjust the close hauled main for three days and nights and arrived off Zihautanejo early Thursday morning. There was no moon and even though the sky was clear and the stars were out it was still very dark. All ahead,dead slow, under radar (the charts have not been updated so relying on the chart plotter is shear folly), we very carefully picked our way into the harbor. 351 miles made good.
We anchored in Zihautanejo for a few hours to obtain a weather fix and refuel at Ixtapa (the next harbor north). With a forecast of good weather, we motored over to Ixtapa for fuel. We had to cross a narrow bar entrance to gain access to the fuel dock. The surge was up with waves and spray shooting 20 feet in the air as they crashed furiously on the jetty. I lined us up and we surfed through the entrance at 8.5 knots, with the depth sounder reading as low as 0.2 feet (that puts a twist in your knickers). After refueling we had to face the same surge over the same bar in the same, very narrow entrance, to escape. I eased into the staging area, not fully convinced I was going to try it. I trice circled the boat, trying to judge the surge, wave height and interval. I made my decision, lined us up and pushed the throttle all the way forward. ITCHEN quickly began to make way and in the short distance to the bar was up to her hull speed of 7.5 knots. I watched anxiously, as the depth sounder dropped … 0.9 … 0.7 … 0.5, and the huge tidal surge rose to throw us back onto the rocks. ITCHEN met the surge, tucked it underneath her hull and vaulted over the crest and into open, deep water. I turned around to look at what we had just cleared. I patted ITCHEN on the hull (much like a cowboy pats his horses neck) with a few words of endearment. ITCHEN, showing her stern to the bar, craned her bow around as if to say, “That’s it? … That’s all you got!?”
Underway, with plans to refuel in Barra de Navidad, we passed the city of Lorenzo Cardenas at dusk and needed to alter course to avoid the supertankers which were anchored a couple of miles off shore. Lorenzo Cardenas is quite the industrial port with the huge shipping cranes (the only ones we’ve seen in Mexico) and container ship traffic as well as the oil tankers. The harbor and its approaches are shallow for some distance out and only a few freighters at time can enter the port, which discourages small vessel traffic.
Our speed was so good and we passed Barra de Navidad at 0400, four hours ahead of schedule. Our fuel was holding so we decided to press on to either La Cruz (Bandera’s Bay) or San Blas (Mantanchen Bay) 70 mile north of La Cruz. Again, almost perfect sailing: not a cloud in the sky, temperature about 80 degrees, light breeze off the forward quarter, close hauled main, no wind waves and long, and long, languid swells. ITCHEN virtually leapt through the waves gently pitching us back and forth like an overstuffed rocking chair. We passed the time talking, reading, sleeping, eating, watching movies, enjoying the occasional afternoon cocktail and attending our watch duties.
We rounded Cabo Correntas (the southern edge of Bandera’s Bay) at dusk on Saturday evening and needed to make a decision to continue on to San Blas or head into La Cruz. We chose La Cruz and at 0230 we dropped the anchor outside of the marina. We had to reset the hook three times before it finally stuck; a problem I’ve not had with the Danforth before. After a long voyage and at that early hour we got a little testy, but we got the anchor set.. 358 miles made good.

Sunday, 26 April - Friday, 30 April 2009
Sunday morning we weighed anchor moving the boat into the marina. La Cruz Marina and Yacht Club is a beautiful, brand new facility. The marina is nearly empty which makes the long, wide slips appear to even larger. I think these are the longest slips I've I seen, some in excess of 100 feet (they have obviously been built for larger yachts). I don’t expect the marina will stay empty for long with facilities that include laundry and showers, a clubhouse rooftop sun deck complete with lounging couches, and a restaurant overlooking the marina. The adjacent town known properly as La Cruz de Haunacaxtle, is having a week-long festival (to their patron Saint) which includes 10 loud cannon shots at 0600 each morning. Each evening the entire village slowly processes around the town square and into the church (complete with blaring trumpets and cannon shots). It’s quite a noisy affair. Evenings we would meet fellow cruisers for dinner: eating at the local vendors, two of the British restaurants, and one German restaurant.
We departed La Cruz Friday morning for the 30-hour sail to Mazatlan, where we’ll have the boat hauled and bottom painted, and if I can get a good deal I’ll have the hull and deck painted as well. We’ll put the boat up for the summer in Mazatlan, stripping off all sails and canvas, disconnecting all the electrical components and prophylacticly bombing the boat for bugs. Then it’s off to old Blighty.

Saturday, 1 May – 23 May, 2009
1500 - Arrived Mazatlan without incident. The totals from Hualtuco to Mazatlan were 930 miles made good, 158 hours underway (6.5 days), and 81 gallons of fuel used (0.51 gallons/hour) at an average speed of 5.88 knots at 2200 rpm. We tied up at Singlar Marina and rested for the remainder of the weekend. I spoke with TYW about the painting on the boat and we struck a pretty good deal. We’ve begun preparing the boat for the summer lay-up: stripping the canvas, changing the oil, bug-bombing to prevent roaches and generally downsizing: eliminating excess and unused clothing and gear as well as eliminating one of our refrigerators. We’ll probably get a couple of solar panels, which will eliminate our need to run the engine. I’m not sure the juice is worth the squeeze, but it is an alternatives source of power for our electrical needs should the engine fail or run dry of fuel.
It was a little windy the morning we motored over to the fuel dock to top off our tanks. Using the wind we sidled up to the fuel dock and took on our fuel. We then eased her out into the channel and back to our slip. We had fellow cruiser on the dock to help as line handlers. ITCHEN backs down very poorly so using reverse to stop her always risky. When she does finally begin to move in reverse, she backs to port like iron ferrite to a magnate. She will turn in place, on her keel, in reverse, which is neither interesting nor amusing. We make our approach dead slow, but the stern breeze is increasingly our speed. I slip the gearbox into reverse to slow our forward progress and Julie tosses the lines to the handlers. Knowing what I know about the boat and feeling our forward speed increase at an alarming rate, I lay on almost full reverse throttle, which is what it takes to retard any forward progress the boat has and incidentally, prevent 20,000 lbs of contrary plastic from taking a face plant into the dock. True to this one contrary thing about her, ITCHEN spins to port and immediately wraps her stanchion around the stern anchor of 44-footer tied next to me. Julie puts her foot, in between our stanchion and his anchor to fend off; not just any foot, but the foot that is attached to her recently broken ankle.
ITCHEN is still doing her best to wrap herself around the neighboring boat and I’m doing my best to thwart her efforts. Suddenly the marina is filled a blood-curdling scream, I’m mean like right out of the movie “Psycho” scream. I look up to see Julie’s foot caught, being twisted and compressed by ITCHENS stanchion and our neighbors anchor. She is in the perfect position where no one on the dock can get to her and I can’t leave the steering station to help her. She yells at me to move forward and I gingerly increase the throttle taking the pressure off her foot, which she quickly extracts. Between the line handlers and myself we move the boat back into the slip, not caring if the dock is hit or not. I’m fully fed up with this quirk in ITCHENS maneuvering abilities. Julies scream had alerted everyone and they all came running to assist us. We even had a couple of calls from the marina next door asking if everything was all right. Julies, thankfully, suffered only a minor abrasion on the top of her foot. The scream was good and got everyone’s attention, which prevented a certain and more serious injury. Julies was upset with herself for screaming, but I think; 1) she alerted everyone to an impending serious disaster: and, 2) she kept her wits about her enough to tell me which way to move the boat to free her. No one plans for this sort of thing to happen and wind and current can do funny things to a slow moving vessel. I’m not sure a lot can be learned from this other than never use anything that breaths as a boat fender.

16 February – 04 April 2009, Puerto Vallarta to Zihautanejo

The Mexican Parthenon


OCEAN DANCE


The ceremony


The happy couple at the 50th wedding anniversay ceremony aboard OCEAN DANCE


Julies Triffle


A typical crusiers meeting


Roy and Winona's first 50th wedding anniversary dinner


A massive wood sculpture one of the villages around Patzacuaro is known for


The monastery, come convent, come resturant/hotel where we had breakfast in Patzcuaro


The alter in the church built in 1540 - Patzacuaro


The Pyramid


One of the island cities in the middle of the lake by Petzacuaro


Monday - 16 February 2009
1020 - Depart PV for Barra Navidad. Skies clear, wind and seas calm. Marina fee $309.00 US for 14 days.
1200 - Catch a nice current to Cabo Correntes: increase’s our speed to 6 knots.
1400 - Round the cape and pick up fresh northern breeze. Run out the headsail: 8.5 knots sliding down the backside of the wave.
1700 - Skies clear; wind directly off the stern at 25 knots. Furl headsail.

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
0030 - Wind has decreased but the waves are really rolling in. It’s a clear night and visibility is excellent. The waves don’t look that large, but they are. Huge rollers travel beneath the boat lifting it eight, ten, twelve feet. We’re rockin' and rollin’. All around us we can hear the crash of the waves cresting on themselves. I was just about to change course to give a little better ride and a huge wave crested just off our aft starboard quarter. The spray curtain stopped most of the wave from entering the cockpit, but it sure tossed the boat around. Two big rolls, sizeable enough to tip over the Engle refrigerator, which sits on the cabin sole in the lowest part of the boat. Julie hollered up “What’s going on up there!” as if scolding the waves and I for roughhousing.
0910 - Anchor Barra de Navidad: engine hours 716. The harbor channel is fraught with sand bars. I touched the putty a wee bit, but was able to back off immediately. JAKE came out in his dinghy and led us in. Visited with JAKE and ate fresh croissants from the French baker who was making his rounds in the harbor: into town after a bit.
1800 - Out to dinner with JAKE and HOOLIGIAN and stopped by the Canadian baker for pecan pie and chocolate cake.

Wednesday - 18 February 2009
Barra de Navidad lay day. Swimming and email at the Sands hotel pool and bar.

Thursday - 19 February 2009
1020 - Depart Barra de Navidad for Santiago Bay. We actually weighed anchor at 0930 and slowly picked our way over to the fuel dock. There was a sailboat refueling on one side of the terminal and a huge, permanently moored powerboat, end tied to the other side of the fuel dock. The powerboat effectively blocked any boat from getting diesel (what an ass) and the sailboat took his sweet time fueling up, including washing his boat down. If I haven’t mentioned this before, cruisers are a microcosm of the rest of society. There are good guys and bad guys, and good guys that sometimes behave badly. We filled with 92.5 liters (23 gallons): 716 - 660 = 56 hours / 23 gallons = .41 gallons/hour. Filled the two six-gallon diesel jugs for a total fuel capacity of 62 gallons, which makes our total estimated running time between 120-155 hours: total estimated distance 850 miles. We’re good.
1600 - Anchor Santiago Bay in 12 feet of water. Slow trip, only four to five knots: wind and waves on the nose, swells on the stern.

Friday - 20 February 2009
0400 - Weigh anchor Santiago Bay for Zihautanejo, skies clear and fresh NW breeze.
0704 - Sunrise. Winds NW 10-15 knots, seas choppy, long period swells. Flying jib only.
1200 - Skies clear; winds steady NW at 10-15 knots: seven knots under jib only.
1400 - Notice definite leak in the brand new engine’s raw-water cooling-pump. I am pissed! And pissed!! Winds on the stern, furl the headsail as I’m unable to keep course and headsail full.. Slow down and wait for JAKE.
1858 - Sunset. Winds 15 - 20 knots with gusts to 25 knots: big rollers coming on the stern pushing the boat around. JAKE on the horizon in front of us.
2200 - Julie wrenched her broken ankle: no more watches for her. I get the all-nighter. Increase turns to 2400 rpm: speed 6.5 knots.

Saturday - 21 February 2009
0200 - See lights occasionally off to the port but unable to pick anything up on radar. Unable to raise JAKE on the radio and I’m not sure if I’m ahead or behind him: maintain speed, course and heading.
0703 - Sunrise. Skies clear, seas calm with long period swells
0900 - Catch JAKE … dead ahead. Went all night without seeing or hearing from him and 14 hours later come up directly on his stern.
1200 – Pass Ixtapa Bay on approach Zihautanejo Bay.
1330 - Anchor Zihautanejo in 13 feet of water: engine hours 755.5: fuel gauge indicates we’ve used 3/8 tank from Barra (33 hours); SAUCY LADY and 12 other boats here.
1800 - Into town for a walk about. Pizza and beer for dinner with JAKE and SAUCY LADY.

Sunday - 21 February 2009
Zihautanejo - day spent emailing Total Yacht Works about pump problem.

Monday - 22 February 2009
Zihautanejo – SAUCY LADY (Roy and Winona - cruising friends from Washington) dinked over for a visit after the morning net. Discussed going further south toward the canal. Roy and I removed the water pump. We discovered the brand new impeller I installed in Mazatlan had a broken paddle, the pump drive belt was shot (cracked and shredding), and the pump bearing seal is leaking and unable to be fixed. I did a fresh water wash on the engine and Roy scrapped all the salt buildup from behind the pulleys, around the alternator and underneath the pan. We replaced impeller, installed a new drive belt and reinstalled the old pump (I need the pump, to cool engine, that charges the batteries, on the boat, that Hunter built.).
1200 - Into town to check in with port captain and have lunch. The port captain won’t check us in because we have no paperwork from our last port. In Mexico, the rule used to be foreign cruisers had to check in and out of every port, which involved finding the ports’ captain and providing current vessel documentation, proof of insurance, passport’s and visas. Several years ago the government changed the law allowing cruisers to check into the country at their first port of call, and check out of country at their last port of call. All the time we’ve been in Mexico, no port captain has required us to check in. When we’ve tried to check in, it’s been met with indifference and no documents have ever been stamped. This port captain wants something official though. One of his lieutenants took us down the malecon to an agent who will forge the needed documentation (for a small fee). We send a flurry of emails to TYC concerning the water pump.
1800 - Bus ride to Ixtapa (with JAKE and SAUCY LADY) to speak with BRENDON (a 37-foot Shannon owned by Steve and Denise Pepper) who did the Baja with us last year. Steve is up in the States and may be able to bring a water pump back when he returns on Friday.
2000 - Return to Zihautanejo and have a street hamburger for dinner.

Tuesday - 24 February 2009
0930 - Into town for southbound cruising seminar where we met half-a-dozen boats going south. We discovered some great cruising guides (that we didn’t know about) with detailed charts and information on Central America; we want/need them.
1200 – We strolled about town getting the lay of the land. Wandering into the street markets which are a huge conglomeration of individual vendors selling fresh cuts of beef to order, chicken legs, clothing, toys, back packs, curios of all manner of sundry items. It’s their Fred Meyer, but we’d call it a flea market.
1300 - Returned to agent. Twenty-four hours later and $20.00 poorer, we had official documentation verifying that we had entered Mexico at 1330 hours 23 February 2009; helluva way to run a country. Heard from TYW and they can get the parts but are unsure of the waiting period.
1800 - Little vittles on ITCHEN with SAUCY LADY and JAKE.

Wednesday - 23 February 2009
Zihautanejo – Water pump parts are available from Boatswains Locker (in Newport Beach, CA). They are willing to give the parts to BRENDON and bill TYW. For something I didn’t think had a snowball's-chance-in-hell of seeing fruition, it has come together nicely.

Thursday - 26 February 2009
Zihautanejo – We rented car at the airport for trip into Patzacuaro. Patzacuaro is city near Morelia and much like Morelia except smaller. Additionally, it has several communities that live on four small islands in the lake that is adjacent to Patzacuaro. After a three-hour drive and $20.00 in tolls we arrived in Patzacuaro, a 16th century city (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A1tzcuaro). We drove around one of the plazas and made our way down to the embarcadero, where long shallow-draft water-taxis ferry residents and tourists to and from the islands. We were unable to catch a taxi out to the island due to the time of day, so we drove part way around the East side of the lake. Each one of the ten or twelve little villages surrounding the lake has a craft claim-to-fame: basket weaving, stone sculpting, wood carving, furniture making, beadwork, etc. One of the towns has an historic archeological site. It’s a pyramid of sorts (rectangular in shape, not real tall and with steps). The pyramid sits on an elevated piece of ground at the end of a grassy arena. The surrounding area, in fact all the way around the lake, the countryside is divided up with stone fences. I’m not sure, but I think the stone fences are part of the ancient history of the region. The site had three plaques. Each plaque’s narrative was written in three different languages (English, Spanish and a local native dialect); not one of the languages did anything to enlighten the visitor about the area. The plaque’s said something like ”…this area was inhabited by an earlier people. The pyramid is at the end of the field. This field is believed to be used for ceremonial events, perhaps some sporting events and even market day.” After visiting a few more villages we returned to town and stayed in a traditional Spanish architecture open-air hotel on the plaza.

Friday - 27 February 2009
Patzacuaro - Up early to explore the city by foot. We wandered down to the main plaza that consisted of a beautiful central grassy gardened area with fountains edged by the old buildings with their massive porticos. We walked up the street away from the plaza to the cathedral and two smaller churches. The churches are actually quite large and within blocks of each other (sometimes right across the street). One of the churches had a plaque declaring it to be the oldest church in Michoacan (the State the city of Patzacuaro is located in). The church was built in 1540. Columbus discovered the new world in 1492. Busy bees these Spanish missionaries were!
We had breakfast at one of the hotels in the plaza. The dining area was the central, uncovered patio of the hotel, surrounded by rooms on the floor above. As I looked around, the number of religious artifacts present struck me. In fact, all the decorations were religious pictures or icons of some sort: unusual for a restaurant. It seemed like we were in the center of a small church, with the altar at one end, arches on the side and a small drainage ditch surrounding the patio on which we ate. The character of the patio was vibrant. On talking with the manager, he said that the building was very old (circa 1500’s) and was originally a monastery, then a convent and now it’s a restaurant.
We walked through another huge market place where the fruits and vegetables were terribly inexpensive. Julie purchased a pound (medio-kilo) of oranges for fifty cents. We also purchased green beans, small yellow bell peppers, a string of garlic (the kind you use for vampires), roma tomatoes, and two other bean/pea pod and pomegranate-looking things, that I will die a happy man if I can remember their names.
1300 - Depart Patzacuaro. We drove up the other side of the lake a bit and then turned around for home. We return via the city Urupan to visit the Parq National. Traffic was heavy and slow going to the park, so we bagged it.
2030 - Arrived back in Zihautanejo.

Saturday - 28 February 2009
Zihautanejo - Out to Ixtapa to see BRENDON and pick up the water pump, impeller, drive belt and rebuild kit. The new pump was installed, we return the rental car and had lunch with SAUCY LADY.
1800 - JAKE and us take SAUCY LADY out to dinner. It is their 50th wedding anniversary.

Sunday - 01 March 2009
Lay day - Julie baked goodies. I let out some anchor chain and cleaned the bottom of the boat. Every other week or so, if we are anchoring out, I‘ll let out an extra scope of chain so the catenary that has been hanging in the water falls to the sand below and gets cleaned. I leave it for 24 hours and then pull the chain back to its original scope.
Preparing to clean the boats bottom is a matter of putting on my mask, gloves and fins, grabbing my wire and nylon bristle brushes, a scraper, and a suction cup handhold. I carefully tuck the scraper into my Speedos and go over the side of the boat, just like Mike Nelson did in Sea Hunt. I can hold my breath for 30 to 45 seconds in which time I press the suction cup to the hull, hang onto it and submerge to scrub the barnacles from the prop with the wire brush. Cleaning the prop and diving on the keel are the two hardest parts of cleaning the bottom. The rest of the hull is fairly easy to scrub with the nylon brush. The whole process can take up to two hours, in 30-45 second intervals. Without the suction cup, the job is nearly impossible to do. Many cruisers carry dive tanks or Huka’s to do the job. A Huka is a floating electrical compressor that creates an on-time oxygen supply delivered to the diver via a long breathing hose. Both dive tanks and Huka’s take space and power requirements I’d rather use for other things (another compromise). Those boats with divers/tanks/Hukas’s will clean your bottom for a dollar a foot, which is reasonable (and necessary in colder waters).
SERENDIPTIY (Alan and Rosie Ralph on a 51’ Islander) anchored behind us. The couple is from Southampton England (Julies home town) and they had called earlier wondering about ITCHEN’s name. One thing led to another and an impromptu cruiser's meeting was initiated at the Sunset Bar and Grill. Ten boats wound up attending; DECADE DANCE, ITCHEN, JAKE, MISTY SEA, NORTHERN DREAM, OCEAN DANCE, SAUCY LADY, SERENDIPTIY, and SUNBOW. Later, SAUCY LADY and ITCHEN had desert and a movie aboard JAKE.

Monday - 02 March 2009
Z-town - JAKE departed for PV. We filed taxes, did laundry and invited BRENDON aboard for dinner. Dinner (Supper) is prime social time. We rarely eat alone as we either have guests or are guests aboard another boat. Julie tries some new food group almost every time she cooks. Her meals are always different in an adventuresome sort of way. She, personally, never first tries the menu; that's what guests are for. The following is one of those accounts.
While in the Patzacuaro market we came upon some miniature yellow bell peppers. We thought it might be cute to stuff them and maybe some roma tomatoes for an appetizer or the vegetable portion of the meal. We were having BRENDON over for dinner, do we thought we’d barbeque some steaks and Julie would stuff these miniature yellow bell peppers with a little dollop of mashed potatoes. While preparing the peppers that afternoon, the skin on Julie’s hands started burning and then wiping her eyes, her eye’s immediately started to burn. After quite a bit of irrigation we got her eyes cleared up, but her hands continue to burn for the next 24 hours. To a couple of average intelligence that would’ve been a clue. We finished the dinner preparation as BRENDON arrived. We had a couple of drinks, cooked the steaks and Julie prepped the plates. I dove right in and cut a nice slice of pepper off and chomped down on it. WOWEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! IT WAS HOT! HOT! HOT-HOT! SPICEY HOT! How hot was it? I was so hot, insects burst into flame as they flew past. The heat from the peppers had even permeated the potatoes. Plop, plop, plop-plop … plop; in an instant all of us pitched the peppers overboard (let the fishes eat them). We wound up eating the steak and drinking lots of fluids. The peppers are called habaneras and even though they look exactly like a miniature yellow bell pepper, they are not; and they are hot.

Tuesday - 03 March 2009
Z-town; still at anchor; I filed …re-filed … the taxes; they were rejected because I entered Julie's birthday incorrectly. We retrieved the laundry and it was dirty. I don’t believe the lavanderia washes the clothes … at least not with soap. Every time we’ve taken the clothes in to have them laundered they come back just as dirty as when we when we took them. I’m not talking about a little ring around the collar or some obscure stain; I’m talking obvious dirt and grime that is removed during a normal wash. The unlaundered clothes smell nice and are folded neatly in a plastic bag, but they are dirty. When I take the laundry in and use the same machines the lavenderia uses, add my mixture of soap and bleach, the clothes come out much cleaner (just like home). It costs about $10.00 to have the laundry (not) done and about five dollars to do it ourselves. SAUCY LADY aboard for dinner

Wednesday - 04 March 2009
Z-town - Julie is attending a cooking class, in which the instructor takes the class into the mercado and teaches them about the assortment of foods and spices found there. The class then returns to the instructor’s house with their booty and taught how to prepare the food. For example; preparing Mexican marmalade, filleting the fish from the spine as opposed to gutting it from the belly, and using Bamboo leaves in grilling.
On the boat, I started the engine and let it run for one and half hours to recharge the batteries (I do this twice a day and try to space it 12 hours apart). Most boats have alternative sources of energy such as solar, wind, and/or gas/diesel generators. They still need to run their generators/engines in the morning to recharge their batteries after the night with no sun. I’ve seen only two boats get by on just solar and/or wind alone. I trade the fuel cost and wear and tear on the engine against the cost of solar and wind generators. I had a little Honda 1000 gas generator, which put out about 8 amps/hour. I sold it in La Paz last year because I was dissatisfied with its output and I hadn’t spent a lot of time at anchor. It was dumb and now I’ll need to find another one. I dinked to shore to meet Julie where we ordered water, spoke with Brigid on Skype, and checked Space-A flights to Europe. We had dinner aboard SUNBOW with OCEAN DANCE (59’ Cheoy Lee Trawler - Jim) and JICARANDA (38’ Allied - Chuck and Linda).

Thursday - 05 March 2009
Z-town - Change propane tanks and take the empty in to be refilled. The water we ordered yesterday arrived. When water is delivered, it’s delivered in five-gallon plastic containers via a panga. After transferring fifteen bottles aboard (from the panga), we get a funnel (a two liter plastic pop bottle cut in half) stick it in the deck plate (a capped receptacle on the boats deck), hoist the five-gallon (40 pound) jug of aqua and carefully poor it into the funnel. Repeat this eleven times and the port tank is fully provisioned with fresh water. The other four jugs I put in the starboard water tank to top it off. I have two five-gallon collapsible water containers I can fill, as well. Fuel comes in 50-liter vegetable oil containers (we’ve seen nothing like them in the States) and the fuel is transferred from vegetable container to fuel tank via a siphon hose (much easier and less back breaking than the water, but slower). I have yet to get fuel here, bet we’ll need some prior to heading north.
We had dinner aboard OCEAN DANCE with Jim and his crew Bob and Roz. Bob is a retired orthopedic surgeon and took a look at Julie’s ankle x-ray. It’s too early to tell if the fracture will remain a non-union. We’ll get it x-rayed again in PV at the end of the month.

Friday - 06 March 2009
Z-town - We remain in Zihautanejo continuing with the daily routine of a cruiser.
0600 - The night sky is just beginning to brighten as the sun lurks over the horizon. In a sleepy daze, the deep rumble of the fishing fleets engines are heard as they race out to sea. The boat jostles a little as the wake slaps against the hull, but it’s nothing compared to the swells (coming from hundred of miles out in the Pacific) that roll us around. Adjust. Adapt. Sleep.
0800 - 0830 - Tumble out of the rack and bounce around the boat until we get our sea legs. Julie is up first; she turns off the anchor light and prepares for the morning net. I usually have a cup of instant iced coffee. I know instant iced coffee doesn’t sound very encouraging, but everything done on the boat is geared toward simplicity and convenience. Heating hot water produces both heat and reduces power. I’d rather be cool and suffer a little with the taste. One of us will wipe the deck down, if enough dew is present; then drop the dinghy off its halyard where it’s been lifted all night for security purposes and to keep the bottom clean.
0830 - The local morning net begins. I’ve explained the net before, but just as a recap: The net is the radio communication network used by cruisers, a party line if you will. There are regional nets (Greater Pacific, Gulf Coast, Caribbean, etc.) that carry exotic names like Pacific Seafarer, Chubasco, Southbound, Bluewater, Amigo, etc). These regional nets are very large and may encompass an area thousands of square miles. Communication is conducted via a short-wave radio (HAM or SSB).
Local nets (conducted on a VHF radio) are just for a particular bay or marina in which a group of boats are anchored. All nets start at an appointed time and follow usually the same specified format, which allows each boat to identify itself, needs they may have, their relative safety, and (for vessels underway) their position. The nets are hosted by a controller and follow fairly rigid rules of order. Even so, they can be as long as 45 minutes, depending on the number of boats involved, weather, traffic, and messages that need to be passed along. After the local net there is usually a flurry of radio traffic for vessels wanting to communicate with each other to coordinate activities. It sounds like this; “ Gaia – Gaia, this is Sans Cles. Over.” “San Cles this Gaia, switch and answer 21.” Or, it may sound like this; “Third Day - Third Day - Third Day, this Isle of View.” “Isle of View, pick a channel, over.” Isle of View “mmmmmm, lets go to 68, over.” “68, Isle of View.” In a busy marina there may 15 or more boats hailing each other.
0900’ish - Breakfast for the crew and coordinate the day's activities: who needs to go ashore and when? What projects need to be done, when do they need to be done, and what is needed to do them? Is a trip to shore required and can it be coordinated with crew liberty? When do supplies arrive from shore (water, diesel, laundry, food, all manner of things can be delivered to the boat via the panga’s)? We may then check the boats we’re babysitting in the anchorage (if any), which usually involves charging the batteries or feeding an animal. Daily, on our boat, we check fluid levels, engine spaces, the bilge, the head urinal (which requires emptying every couple of days). Every month and half to three months we’ll need to empty the solid portion of the head. Never a fun job, but no one on a boat escapes it. Most boats have to weigh anchor, go offshore and pump out either electrically or via a hand pump, rinse the head with salt water, add the chemicals, then return to the anchorage to re-anchor. While our experience is a little more up close and personal (even though standard marine heads need to be rebuilt periodically and holding tanks and sewage lines need to be replaced), it’s just a matter of pulling the top off the head and dumping the used peat moss (which smells like dirt) into a plastic bag and taking it ashore to dump in the trash. We then refill the tank with peat moss, reassemble the head and secure to the cabin sole. Supper on ITCHEN, just the two of and we watched a movie on the computer.

Saturday - 07 March 2009
Zihautanejo - Go over and check on BRENDON (38’ Shannon Pilot House). I recharge the batteries for an hour using his generator. Brendon’s solar panels keep up with his energy needs during the day, but after 12 hours of no sun, he needs to run his generator. Return to the boat and begin again on the endless tasks that need attention. I need to rig up an anchor chain cleaning brush, so I used a toilet brush and cut the wire loop that hold the bristles in place. I temporarily attach the brush to a boat hook and I can sort of clean the mud from a chain when we weigh anchor.

Sunday - 08 March 2009
Zihautanejo - Over to charge batteries on BRENDON. Julie and Rosie (SERENDIPTIY) organized a British afternoon tea party for the ladies of the anchorage, on SERENPIDIPTY. All the ladies are required to wear hats. Some of the guys went ashore for a beer and from that vantage point we could clearly see ladies hats bobbing about on the 51’ ketch.
Julie and I returned to the beach later that evening. The zocolo is the small, centrally located plaza on the malecon (walkway along the beach) with some seating, which can be converted into amphitheater, ceremonial stage and basketball or volleyball court. It is the place to be on Sunday night as all the locals come out to mill about and socialize. They bring crafts, food, or any number of curios to sell. We had a hamburger from a street vendor and milled about.

Monday - 09 March 2009
Zihautanejo - The dinghy outboard started to make noise last night so I went to the beach this morning to work on it. It turns out the spring clip located on the bottom of the starting pulley was broken. A mechanic happened to be walking along the beach and after surveying my problem he took me for a little walk: through a parking lot, over a bridge, up some stairs, through a back yard, and across a street to another fellow's house. The beach mechanic showed the house mechanic the broken spring clip and 10 minutes later, after passing in front of us a couple of times, the house mechanic returned with another spring clip, smaller, but functional. I paid him 200.00 pesos ($16.00 us) and departed. My mechanic felt he deserved a beer after escorting me around and so he took me to a tienda where he got two beers, one for himself and one for me. He then instructed me to pay for them (25.00 pesos). We sat on the curb outside the tienda and he jabbered at me in Spanish as though I understood him. I was polite, finished my beer, thanked him for his assistance and returned to fix the outboard. I thought while I was there I might as well change the spark plugs, but I’m unable to find the plugs this engine requires, so I filed the old ones off and reinstalled them. To OCEAN DANCE (55’Choey Lee two-story Trawler: Five staterooms, three bathrooms, two caterpillar diesel engines; two Onan 20KW generators and a 7000 mile cruising range) with SAUCY LADY for dinner. Julie did the cooking and OCEAN DANCE provided the venue.

Tuesday - 10 March 2009
Zihautanejo - Went for a sail on FEET (a 42’ custom catamaran). Bill (FEETS master) built the boat in San Francisco in the early 1990’s; it took him about four years to complete it. This is Bill’s fifth year in Mexico. The boat is 42 feet long and 26 feet wide and has a 25 hp outboard motor for auxiliary power. Electrical needs of the boat are very small and his solar panels keep his batteries charged up. Even so, he has electric winches and an Engle refrigerator. The boat sailed flat (no pitching or yawing) and nearly at the speed of the wind. We had eight to ten knots of wind and we were sailing as fast as eight-and-a-half knots. Julie spent the whole time in the forward trampoline (net), four feet above the water doing yoga with Av (another crewmember). FEET and WILD ROSE (Laurie and Ava) over to ITCHEN for dinner.

Wednesday - Sunday, 11 - 15 March 2009
Zihautanejo - Life at anchor continues in much the same pattern. Jump up, turn off the anchor light, let the dinghy down, wipe down the decks and check out any new arrivals. Listen to the morning net, visit other boats, go to shore, take short day sails, or shift to another anchorage for a night. Clean the bottom in the afternoons. Sunday I added the extra fuel I was carrying for going south (12 gallons) and provisioned with drinking water; 4 jugs starboard (20 gallons) and nine jugs port (45 gallons). I also cleaned the composing portion of the head.

Sunday - Saturday, 16 - 21 March 2009
This week SAUCY LADY celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. A potluck hosted by the cruising community was held in their honor. The happy event was held on OCEAN DANCE and the vessels master performed the renewal-of-vows ceremony. Everyone in attendance brought a useful gift. The vessel’s bow was tastefully decorated with white tulips and crinoline skirting. The bride had a bouquet of five genuine red roses with baby’s breath. She wore a white cotton dress, flip-flops and a crinoline veil attached to a rhinestone tiara. The groom wore a white dinner jacket, black bow tie, clean shorts, and sandals. The iPod, MP3, and the vessel ISHI provided tasteful music from a bygone era; the music was not played loudly. There were nine boats in attendance. Even though alcohol was present, guests conducted themselves in a mannerly fashion. Laughter and merriment were reported.

Sunday - Saturday, 22 - 28 March 2009
Zihautanejo is hosting The International Guitarfest (for which we are volunteers). Guitarfest is a local charitable event that runs the entire week. The community solicits top-drawer guitarist from around the globe to participate. Locals donate time, transportation, and living accommodations while restaurants donate venues. We have a dual role as volunteers: one is to sell tickets and the other to bounce gatecrashers and lurkers. Sunday was the opening day of the festival and it continues at different restaurant venues throughout Zihautanejo. As volunteers we are able to visit any of the venues free (on our off nights) and subsequently took in quite a few acts. We especially liked Doug Towle and del la Tierra (Canadian new age classical/flamenco guitar), Drew Wright (Canadian singer), Anna Burceiva (Ukrainian classical guitar), Eric McFadden (American new age folk), Pat Guadango (American all around entertainer), Roger and Valeria Scannura and daughter Angelica (Canadian/Spanish flamenco guitar and dancers) and Los Pistoleros. Los Pistoleros are three individual guitarists (from Texas) who joined to form the group six months ago. They absolutely rocked the house. I’m unsuccessful in listing the web sites, but if you go to youtube and type in the above names or Zihautanejo Guitarfest you can see the perfromances

Sunday – Saturday, 29 March – 4 April 2009
Zihautanejo – Exhasuted and partied out after a week of guitarfest. We’d start each evening with cocktails and a meal on one of the boats. There were usually about four couples getting togehter and not a light drinker amoung us. At 1830 we hopped in our dinghies and made our way to our scheduled resturant venue, where we had more drinks (because they were free) and started selling tickets. For those patrons already in the resturant, we’d ask them to pony up the six dollar admission fee or leave. We had a couple of malcontents, but nothing serious. OCEAN DANCE, BRENDON and ITCHEN made one side trip over to one of the grand hotels in Ixtapa where we snuck in and used their pool for the afternoon.
There is a private residence here that ressembles the Parthenon. It is a cold, gray cement building sitting high on a hillside, presiding over the bay. We hiked our way along the beach, up a half dozen fights of stairs, through a couple of resturant/hotels, and up the dirt road that ended at the imposing gates of the Mexican Parthenon. A older mexician gentleman, in shorts and t-shirt, was sitting with his little dog (osso negra) on one of the cement banisters. He identified himself as the guard and for a couple of bucks he unlocked the gates and took us on a tour. Understand the place has no maintenance and is in pretty shabby condition. The entire two story structure is open air. The floors are imported Italian marble and the walls are covered with fading fresco’s (some a little diviant in their nature). A bar, kitchen and a huge marble dinning table occupy one-half of the bottom floor. The upstairs has five bedrooms each with its own mirriored ceiling and full bath. The rooms are dirty and broken down and currently serve as nice homes for bats … lots of bats. The front of the parthenon (the portion that faces the bay) has 20 or steps that decend onto what was a large open courtyard complete with pool and disco dance area. The grounds were littered with greco-roman statues and had a built in tunnel that led to the beach 10 stories below. Now for the rest of the story …

ZIHUATANEJO, Mexico (Reuters) - A replica of the Greek Parthenon stands decaying on a cliff above a Mexican Pacific resort, a gaudy monument to graft and brutality that neighbors long ago dubbed the Palace of Corruption.
It was built as a vacation retreat by the late Arturo Durazo, "El Negro," a notorious Mexico City police chief who got rich on official misdeeds during a heyday of corruption in the 1970s. Legend says he murdered a couple of house guests in the Parthenon's lagoon-sized pool, now half filled with slimy, green water. The caretaker fears the ghost of El Negro himself haunts the deserted grounds. He prefers to hang his hammock outside the towering front gate, keeping watch from a distance.
"Definitely, that Parthenon is a monument to corruption," said Zihuatanejo Mayor Amador Campos. "However, it is a beautiful place worth a lot of money that can be rescued as a cultural center or theater for the people." Guerrero state has claimed the property, and now towns people hope to turn it into a community treasure.
… Durazo, whose opulent taste once was described as "early Nero," ran the Mexico City police force as his personal Mafia, acquired a string of race horses and reputedly had his enemies killed at will. He was convicted of racketeering and other charges and died in 2000. The Parthenon's decadence still stuns, although it is softened by dusk and time. Murals fade on the walls and the seashimmers below. Broken statues of Greek gods stand forlorn.
… His boyhood friend, Jose Lopez Portillo, became president and rode an oil boom that fed some of the most blatant graft, nepotism and excess ever seen in Mexico. Economic crisis ensued, and a disgraced Lopez Portillo died last year.
The following is one of the many websites with pictures of the Parthenon: parthenon zihuatanejo

28 January - 15 February 2009 - Mazatlan to Puerto Vallarta and Morelia

Morelia from our hotel room


One of the Plaza's in Morelia


Butterflies


more Butterflies ... millions of Butterflies


Wednesday, 28 January 2009 - Sunday, 1 February 2009
Mazatlan - Readjusting to the confinement of boat life. Changed the engine and transmission oil, oil filter, and raw water impeller and tightened the alternator belt. It’s a little bit early to do this work, at 690 hours, but better to do it where I have help than where I have none. I had the bottom cleaned, the oil pressure gauge re-installed, and I re-waxed the deck and hull for the umpteenth time. Saturday Steve and Weta (JAKES family whom we met in the sea this summer) hunted us down to take us out to dinner.
On Sunday went to a Super Bowl party at El Cid. The crowd was older than I, and very obnoxious. Why not enlarge on this point?

Monday - 02 February 2009
1000 - Skies clear. Wind NW, variable. Waves small and long period swells from the NW. We slip our dock lines and make our course for Puerto Vallarta (PV).
1200 - Julie is a little seasick adjusting to life underway. Winds NW 10 knots. I unfurl the jib and hoist the main sail. Doing 7 knots under sail alone, an easy ride.
1400 - Winds have increased to 20 knots. Placed one reef in the main. Doing 7.5 knots now, course steady at 153 degrees.
1800 – Sunset; winds at 10 knots. Doused the main and motor sailed with the headsail out. OK - Headsail out of what?
2300 - Julie is still seasick. Winds variable. I douse the headsail.

Tuesday - 03 February 2009
0200 - Pass Isla Isabella to starboard.
0400 - Crystal clear night; visibility excellent with a full moon. All of the constellations are visible. I can easily identify the Big Dipper, Altair and Pleiades. I should make it a night watch practice to get out the star chart to study, identify, and memorize the constellations. Swells eight to ten feet, often rolling the boat 15 degrees or more.
0600 - Julie reports for watch, apparently healed of mal-de-mer. Pass Tres Marietes (see 09 March, 2008 log entry) on starboard. I drop into the salon for three hours of sleep. It's really "saloon" but that would confuse the gardeners among your readers.
1200 - Round Punta Mita at the northern tip of Bandarras Bay. We’ve been warned not to cut the corner due to unmarked shoals: twenty-two miles to PV.
1400 - Whales sounding all over bay. This is their winter home prior to migrating back north to Alaskan waters.
1630 - Tie up Marina Vallarta (PV) - Slip C-25. Engine hours: 692.

Wednesday - 04 February 2009
0900 - Checked in with Marina and started boat maintenance: Lubed winches, replaced the bottom reef lines on the main sail, and retied Lazy Jack lines. The winches are used to crank in the headsail sheets (ropes that attach to the headsail). Reef lines are small ropes that go through the sail at three different heights on the main sail. Reef lines secure (tie-up) the sail to the boom when reducing sail area to compensate for increased wind speed. Lazy Jacks are lines extending down from the mast that help manage the sail when lowering it.
Efren Ramirez Calderon M.D. came to visit us at the boat. Efren is Esther’s medical contact here in Mexico. Esther is Julie’s friend from Alaska. Esther collects outdated medical supplies from the local hospitals in Anchorage, inventories them, and sends them to facilities worldwide that need them. Efren has many contacts in the local medical community and is able to distribute the unused supplies to the patients' and caregivers' advantage.
Attended to email. Julie heard from MERIDIAN (one of the boats trapped in Moro Bay with us and that also did the Baja Ha-Ha with us). MERIDIAN is in New Zealand now, having work done on their boat. They plan to stay on the hard for six months and tour around on land. MERIDIAN reports that many of the boats that have made the puddle jump (a euphemism for crossing the Pacific) are either up for sale or being put on Dockwise for the return trip. Dockwise is a freighter that hauls boats around the world. The center part of the ship actually sinks and the boats are driven onto the holding area. The sunken portion is refloated and the vessels are secured. The crews are citing parts failure and exhaustion from the long passages as the two main reasons. The marine environment is terribly harsh, perhaps the harshest I’ve ever seen. In my opinion, most marine suppliers and retailers do nothing to make life at sea easier. With very few exceptions the parts, materials, and workmanship are grossly inferior. If the component itself doesn’t break, then it was put in poorly or just plain wrong. Shoddy workmanship (our own troubles being just one of so very, very many examples) that we’ve seen coming out of Seattle, Port Townsend and San Francisco are routine, not rare. Perhaps it’s a reflection of what’s been going on in society as a whole, lately.
We were inside a coffee shop attending to email when a bee, in an unprovoked and unwarranted attack, took it upon himself to sting me. I felt a tickle on the top of my left foot and subconsciously massaged it with my right foot. I felt something different than the satisfaction one gets from itching a scratch and looked down to see a bee flopping back and forth trying to escape the stinger he had, maliciously and with intent, thrust into me. I extracted the stinger and killed the bee.

Bees: Mexico has swarms and swarms of bees. While at sea this summer, along with daily weather reports, we had daily bee reports. Some anchorages were worse than others and nearly every boat had some issue with the Mexican bees. For example, BEYOND REASON did a fresh water washout of their wetsuits they had used for diving. They left the wet suits on the cabin top to dry and came out some time later to find an entire swarm (thousands of bees) had taken up residence in the wetsuits.
The bees are attracted to fresh water. The hive will send out a scout bee (or several scout bees) to find a fresh water source. After finding the source, the scout returns to the hive, reports, and then the entire hive flies out to enjoy the waters. The trick is to kill the scout bee so he can’t report back. All the cruisers are pretty vigilant about two things in this regard: keeping sources of fresh water under tight wraps and killing the scout bee. In regards to the later, many of us have purchased electric fly swatters. They look like junior-sized tennis racquet, only they are electrified with a couple of batteries. The novice will swing and swipe the racquet-swatter like a normal fly swatter, often damaging the boat or shattering the racquet-swatter itself. Once experience is gained, an elegant dip of the racquet-swatter can catch the bee in mid-flight. Electrocution is a certainty, whether it results in death or merely a permanent palsy is often a matter of luck, for the bee. Julie, being the hunter she is, goes for the one-time clean shot kill. I tend to send the scout bee hobbling back to the hive, scorched wings, bent antenna and a permanently shorted-out navigation system. With so much damage to his internal electronics, his communication dance looks more like he has been into the peyote than on a scouting mission. No way can he communicate the trail back to the water hole.

Thursday - 05 February 2009
Puerto Vallarta - Awaiting Esther and Jan (Julie's friends from Alaska). To Zaragoza (a marine store) for Cetol, an extra Danforth anchor (13 pounds) and shaft zincs.

Friday - 06 February 2009
Puerto Vallarta - Five-dollar cab ride to the airport to pick up a rental car. Back to the marina to meet with Esther, Jan and Efren. Then to the community indigent hospital to distribute Esther’s medical supplies, enjoy a hospital tour, consult with the staff on further equipment needs, and get an X-ray of Julie’s ankle. The bone remains broken but the break is closing.
Lunch after the hospital visit was at a large open-air restaurant. The remarkable thing about it was they had no menus. A large (all you could eat) plate of beef, pork, chicken and lamb was set on the table for the party to share family style. No vegetables, no potatoes, nothing: just our drinks and this huge plate of meat. Back to the boat to make plans for our inland trip to Morelia.

Saturday - 07 February 2009
0900 - Depart PV for Morelia and the Monarch Butterflies (via automobile). It took nine hours driving time and that was staying on the toll roads, which cost about $50.00. The toll roads are not always divided highways, often under construction and include stoplights and huge speed bumps as they meander through small towns. Even so, they are better the libre (free) roads, which wind and twist every which way adding, in this case, four hours to the journey.
1800 - Arrive Morelia, a city of 600,000. Absolutely charming city, unlike anything we’ve seen in Mexico. It’s a very old city with a modern section as well. It is clean and organized. The historic portion of the city has multiple large plazas with majestic European-style cathedrals. The four us dragged Morelia’s narrow cobblestone streets disappearing into the historic district’s maze. We bumped into one dead end after another, passing marvelous stone buildings, balconied windows and always the heavy, sculpted wooden Spanish doors. After dark had destroyed any further chance of sightseeing, we found a hotel room and had the best and least inexpensive dinner we’ve had in Mexico to date.

Sunday - 08 February 2009
0800 - Depart Morelia for the town of Anganguao and the Butterflies. Anganguao is three hours more towards Mexico City and sits in the low foothills of the country. The road is narrow, loaded with huge speed bumps, passes through many small villages, but is marked well enough … with pictures of Butterflies. At Anganguao we climb steeply into the mountains on switchback roads with hairpins turns. At the top, we enter the butterfly sanctuary and are greeted by local Indians selling a variety of curios and more practical bottled water and surgical masks.
The trail to the butterflies was an arduous hike on a dusty, steep, winding, shifting, and uneven path. They had horses (ponies really) that one could rent, but we chose to hike it (Julies broken ankle and all). Many, many Mexican families were making the same hike but the remarkable thing was they were dressed in their Sunday best (not hiking gear). The men were in dress slacks and dress shoes and white shirts. The women were dressed equally as nice, usually slacks, and we saw more than one hiking the trail in high heels. No kidding: high heels! The little girls were in their pastel green and blue church dresses with white ankle socks and patent leather shoes. The older women were in dresses as well, and their footwear was only marginally more practical. All ages were represented on the trail. It took about two hours to reach the butterflies via the trail and at the end everyone was covered with the black dust of the trail, which was as fine as talc.
While the trail was busy, it was not overcrowded. Additionally and inconveniently, another gringo decided to join the four of us and our little Mestizo guide. This was important because Esther and Julie needed to pee. Jan was 25 feet ahead of us with the Mestizo guide and the inconvenient gringo waiting for hobbling Julie, panting Esther and me to catch up. I gave Jan the high sign and she led the two strange men further down the path (not an unusual thing for Jan to do at all). Oops, here comes a young couple sauntering romantically down the path. She probably weighed 225 pounds to his 265. Waddled past us they did: star-struck, hand in hand, completely unaware of taut bladders and spastic sphincters. Not quite in the clear, Esther made a command decision and firmly announced, “to hell with it!” One heartbeat later, Esther had made the necessary adjustments and was quietly watering the ground below her. Julie, in the excitement of Esthers’ decisiveness but positioned poorly, was caught completely unaware. Last out of the gate, she hobbled over by Esther (girls always pee in twos), made her own adjustments and commenced her business. The girls did finish in record time and at nearly the same time. Would that I could pee that fast. With guys, however, time is not critical, rather it’s more about creativity. Writing one's name, perhaps some artwork… leaving the world a little better place than one found it.
Over the entire trek we saw very few butterflies: 12, 15 tops. The butterflies remain high on the mountain in the morning, but as the earth makes one more rotation towards evening the butterflies follow the sun down the mountain and into the forest canyons. This is where we finally saw them; millions of them. The sky was lively orange and black confetti that flittered about. The trees, trunks, branches and needles were painted a flowing orange and black. The ground, too, was covered with butterflies.
Millions of Monarch Butterflies from the Eastern United States and Canada migrate several thousand miles, annually, to this specific spot in Mexico. What’s amazing is that the butterflies that make the trip down are not the same ones that make the trip back. In fact, it’s the third, fourth and even fifth generation that make the return trip. The Monarch Butterfly only lives for about two months and is the only butterfly that can cross an ocean.

Filling oneself on nature’s splendor made us quite ravenous. We found a comfortable log and wiped our dirty hands of the black trail dust as best we could and filled our bellies with Esther and Jan’s leftover cold steak from the night before. We’d paid off our guide, still unsure exactly what he did or how he hooked onto us, and caught the pony ride back to the car. Each pony has a wrangler. Some wranglers have two or three ponies and they accompany them on each trek from the stables to the butterflies. They usually make about ten round trips a day. The trips are 30 minutes each way of tough hiking over a rock strewn, tree root exposed, shifting and dusty trail. The wranglers didn’t hike. They jogged beside or behind the ponies, sometimes hanging onto the horses' tails. Even though the trip was arduous, the wranglers hustled the animals right along. Natural marathoners, these boys were.

We arrived back in Morelia just at dusk and found our way down the cobblestone street beneath the 16th century aqueduct to our hotel. We checked into an 18th century building that had been converted to a hotel. Our room had a window that opened to overlook the street below and the panoramic view of the cities many historic cathedral spires.

Monday, 09 February 2009
Morelia - Up early to explore the historic part of the city. The historic district has been in continuous use since the city's inception and still conducts a full day’s business. We walked under huge porticos where folks were enjoying morning coffee with pastries on tables draped in white linen. We strolled along the cobblestone streets, across the plazas where we saw school children, dressed identical in their uniforms, doing exercises. Inside the cathedrals we examined the vast expanse of the domed ceilings that reflected the morning light creeping through the stained glass windows onto the rudimentary pews and stern religious icons below. We toured local shops and wandered through the Mercados (a generic term for shops and marketplaces). All the buildings are stone and were constructed beginning in the 16th century by Spanish missionaries. Many have huge, heavy, wooden, double-entryway doors that open onto large patios. Some of the huge timbers, used for framing the doorways so many years ago, have dried, causing the dark frame to split at its base. Plaques throughout the city commemorate Mexican heroes. One of the more memorable plaques, on the corner of a hotel that used to be an administrative building in days past, honors the firing squad execution of a would-be revolutionary (right on this spot). Morelia was the birthplace of Mexico’s independence movement. The old city sits high on a hill and has a commanding view of the surrounding plains. Efren told us about one of his ancestors who was the “stupid hero.”

The city posted guards in the cathedral bell towers to warn the populace of the government troops approach. My ancestor was on watch during such an occasion and dutifully began ringing the bell, as well as waving a huge white sheet, to sound the alarm. A gust of wind caught the sheet and blew him out of the belfry onto the cobblestone streets several stories below. He saved the day but died stupidly.

1130 - Depart Morelia: an hour outside the city on the toll road we come upon and accident. There are four bodies strewn across our two lanes of the highway. None of the bodies was moving; one was covered with blood and another’s upper torso with a blanket. The lower part of that body’s left leg was traumatically amputated. Worldly goods, such as they were, were strewn over the highway. There was no evidence of a vehicle, broken glass, skid marks or any other paraphernalia one sees at a motor vehicle accidents. I’m sure the victims were all dead, or rapidly approaching that state. The only official vehicle on the scene was an ambulance with a couple of attendants. They were casually moving about, but not performing any health care procedures. We saw no police cars driving to the scene, even though at the next toll both (20 minutes down the road) there were five police cars in attendance. Efren, later, told us that accidents like this are not infrequent. The highways (toll and free) are populated with vendors selling their wares (baskets, fruit, trinkets, etc.) as well as the pedestrian traffic crossing them. Sometimes pedestrians get hit: often by one of the tractor-trailer trucks. The involved vehicle does not stop and the ambulance does not move the bodies until the police arrive and perform their investigation: all in all, a gruesome scene.
1900 - Arrive PV. Dinner with Ester and Jan in the marina and I drove them back to their hotel.

Thursday - 10 February 2009
0800 - Out to Nuevo Vallarta marina (a newer marina north of marina vallarta where we are staying) to gather information on going south. A complete bust, but we did visit with SULA (Herb and Betty whom I had known at our yacht club in Tacoma).
1000 - Retrieve Jan and Esther from their hotel room and spend the rest of the day on the boat.
1400 - Efren came to the boat to take Esther and Jan to the Airport and their plane back to Alaska.
1500 - We walked over to SUNSEEKER to pick up our Central American flags of the countries that we’ll be visiting as we head south. Some cruisers supplement their income by making flags of various countries
1830 - Up to a local hangout called Pizza & Beer in another attempt to gather information on heading south. Again, a complete bust! PV is not very helpful to cruisers heading south through the Panama Canal.

Wednesday - 11 February 2009
Puerto Vallarta - Lay day attending to email, finances and boat chores.

Thursday - 12 February 2009
Puerto Vallarta - Painted the dinghy with white latex paint for three reasons: to protect it for ultra violet damage, increase its resistance to wear, and upgrade its appearance. Only time will tell if the first two will work and the third showed only a marginal improvement. To add insult to injury, I painted ITCHEN on the tender's left tube. My granddaughter could have done as well. Julie completed an awning between the dodger and bimini.
Many visitors today: two couples from Canada, a couple of guys from Australia with babysitting duty, a couple from the San Francisco Bay area that had a boat named ZARAZAN. Everyone was very friendly and intrigued with our adventure.
1930 - Arrived at an upscale restaurant in old town Puerto Vallarta, whose admission was gained through locked doors. We were the invited guests of FISH n Chips. FISH n CHIPS is a 55’ Mickelson powerboat owned by Roz and Harry. Julie met Roz last year in Cabo San Lucas. They had followed our distress calls on the radio when we lost our transmission. Julie and Roz hit it off, and this is the first time we’ve been in the same port together.
The restaurant is called the Hacienda San Angels and is part of a hotel/bed and breakfast. The buildings sit in the hills of Puerto Vallarta and overlook the old city. Originally there were three houses, built in a semi-circle with a central patio. The multi-level patio is now the dining area and the houses have become guest rooms.

Friday - 13 February 2009
Puerto Vallarta - Stripped and varnished the Ensign staff and cockpit table and re-waxed the boat. Julie caught up on more sewing projects: bags for the fishing poles and spear gun, covers for the hatches, and an insulating blanket for the Engle refrigerator. Fella’s across the dock from us returned after a successful fishing trip and gave us a 36-inch filet of Dorado.

Saturday - 14 February 2009
Puerto Vallarta - Boat work.

Sunday - 15 February 2009
Puerto Vallarta- Bus ride out to Nuevo Vallarta Marina to purchase two used six-gallon diesel cans, for trip south. To CCC (the local grocery store) to re-provision and Julie purchased new bedding to reappoint the V-berth. Cleaned the boat bottom and the inside of the diesel cans.

November 13, 2008 - January 27, 2009 - Ellensburg, WA to Austin, TX

November 13, 2008 - December 18, 2008
Mazatlan - Not much happening, cruising-wise. I continue to do projects around the boat like re-doing the Bimini and having a new dodger installed, installing the boom vang (a rigid boom vang is steel tube that supports the mast and eliminates the need for a topping lift.), installing the whisker pole pad eye, cleaning and waxing topside and varnishing the cabin sole, scrubbing the boat's bottom and cleaning the dinghy; it’s always something on a boat. Julie has been up in Ellensburg, WA working for a stint and while she was making good money she has broken her ankle (taking care of her boss's dogs). I went up for Thanksgiving and will go up again at Christmas. When we return we’ll provision the boat, do some last minute checks, and start heading south for the Panama Canal.

We did buy a bread maker for making bread while in port. I’m having a little trouble with it though. The first couple of batches were doubles. I had put in twice the ingredients I needed and the loaves were very dense and very heavy. I talked to Molly and she told me to cut everything in half. I did and the bread started turning out great. So I added some rosemary and then changed the oil ingredient to bacon fat; that really made it taste good. Yeast is not plentiful here in Mexico, but I found some in a one-pound package. Before I could open it, I went back to the States and bought a fistful of yeast packets. I must’ve gotten some powerful yeast though because the bread started blowing up and then imploding on itself. It was still tasty, just terribly deformed. I’m working on changing the yeast-sugar ratio.

December 19 - 31, 2008
Ellensburg, WA - Flew into a very cold and snow-covered Seattle. I caught the airport shuttle to Ellensburg and Julie picked me up at the bus stop at 0300. The next day the airport and the mountain passes were closed. While in Ellensburg we made a trip to Seattle for boat stuff, to see Chuck and Shirley (I had met Chuck while when still working and we formed a lasting friendship) and Dik and Kathy (next door neighbors of ours in Federal Way). We even bought a truck in Seattle, but I had barely driven it about a block off the lot and it was low on gas, had no oil in the engine, and the front brake caliper fell off. Still, I thought it was an OK truck to buy. It was a big red F-150 Lariat with four-wheel drive and gray leather interior. Chuck and Julie thought the problems were an omen and I should cancel the purchase. To my regret I did, but what goes around, comes around, as you’ll see. We attended a Christmas party with Julie’s co-workers, but we had a quiet Christmas and New Years, just the two of us. For Julie’s birthday, we went up past Cle Elum and had lunch at a lodge and then went into Roslyn and petted the Elk. There is a fellow just outside of town with a couple acres of land and he feeds the Elk for the winter.

January 1 - 26, 2009
Ellensburg, WA - Packed the car for the trip south. The trunk of the car and the back seat were bursting at the seams we had so much gear. We left Ellensburg on icy roads, snow and sub-zero temperatures. Little did we know, but that would be with us until we exited Colorado at the four corners.
On our journey south we drove through Oregon, stayed the night in Idaho, and the following night in Wyoming where we saw many spectacular accidents - semis jackknifed in the road and cars flipped over on their tops. We arrived in Steamboat Springs, Colorado to do a couple of days of skiing. Our original plan was to take a driving vacation, visit family and friends and ski a little. Julie’s broken ankle allowed her to do only two of the three activities. She was bummed out. While in Steamboat, I skied and Julie rode the Gondola to the mountaintop to have lunch with me. The second evening we took a sleigh ride out to Saddleback Ranch where they prepared a dinner for us and then drove us back to our hotels. It was snowing and the sleigh ride was cold at minus-20 below-zero, but the hands provided us heavy horse blankets to put on our laps. It was quiet with only the sound of the sleigh gliding through the snow and the occasional sigh by the horses as they plodded along. Julie got to rope her first cow. It was the metal kind that the drovers put in the middle of the Ranch house for the dudes to lasso. She got it on her second try.
We left early the next morning for Denver and Pueblo. Rabbit Ears pass and Berthoud pass were nearly whiteouts. In Denver we visited with Danny (my oldest friend from my childhood) and his family and then moved onto Pueblo where we stayed the night with Bob and Carole (my in-laws). Thursday we started for Paonia, Colorado to see Larry (my second oldest friend from my misspent youth) , when we ran into a rock. The trip had been going magnificently and the car was doing just great until we hit a rock 26 miles outside Gunnison. I saw the rock and Julie had pointed it out to me, but I thought the car would clear it. I took it right down the center (as I usually do) but the non-giving, bully rock jumped up and bit the transmission. I stopped to make a quick check underneath and, like a ruptured artery; red transmission fluid was pumping out. It was still below zero. We spun the car around and high-tailed it back for Gunnison. We made it, though I can’t explain how the five quarts of transmission fluid lasted us the half-hour drive. We found an honest mechanic and five days and $1300.00 later we were back on the road headed south. It should be noted here that had I been allowed to buy the truck (that big, red, F-150 Lariat with four-wheel drive and gray leather interior) I would’ve cleared the rock. There is an Irish prayer that goes;

“ May those that love us, love us.
And those that don't love us, May God turn their hearts.
And if He doesn't turn their hearts, May He turn their ankles
So we will know them by their limping.”

Chuck walks with a limp and Julie’s ankle is broken! See how that works? What goes around comes around. However, being the fine figure of a man I am, I cinched up my Speedos and bore my sorrow with nary a whimper. We had only planned to see Larry for a couple of hours, but he wound up coming down to Gunnison (on Friday) and chauffeuring us up to his house (in Paonia) where we spent the weekend. This turned out to be the highlight of the trip. Paonia is a small mountain town that depends mostly on agriculture and mining for its livelihood. In a town of this size, it is uncommon to see an international classical quintet (viola, cello, harp, piano and flute) perform, but we did. They performed in the Grange, but just the same, culture is culture. We were invited to an after-concert soirée, at one of the sponsor's homes, that was held even further back in the woods accessed by a one-lane, winding road … a path really … (high clearance and four-wheel drive required). In addition to chatting with the cellist, we met an aerospace engineer who is now operating one of the many small vineyards in town, and there were any number of small craft pilots, of which Larry is one. Larry, his girlfriend Ethel, and I went snowshoeing and cross-country skiing on Saturday just up the hill from their house. On Sunday we drove down to Telluride and put in a day of downhill skiing. Julie tagged along, but with her broken ankle she was still doing penance for deserting her husband in the fall. While around the area we saw multiple herds of elk and deer and one fox. Larry and Ethel were most gracious hosts and drove us back down to our car in Gunnison on Monday. We left early Tuesday morning.
By Tuesday evening we were in Tuba City, AZ having dinner with a mutual friend, Helga Baca. We had met Helga back in our working days when we were both on assignment in Bethel, AK. That evening we drove into Phoenix, AZ.
My mother had fallen the week before and had been admitted to the hospital for hip replacement surgery. We arrived just as she was discharged from the hospital. It would be natural to assume we helped her convalesce, but she was moving around pretty well by the time she was discharged. Oh sure, we ran a few errands and moved some things around the house, but she was pretty mobile and independent. My brother and uncle live in Phoenix and check on her frequently. Julie tried to make marmalade jam with oranges from my mother's trees, but it turned out more like marmalade soup … just more penance as far as I’m concerned. After four days with my mother we drove to San Diego to hook up with Tim and dump our winter gear in storage. We had lunch and a movie with Tim and then he had to get back to Camp Pendleton. Our next stop was Austin, TX, a first for both of us. We drove across the deserts of southern California and Arizona and then climbed into New Mexico. We spent the night in Las Cruces (elevation about 6000 ft) and we returned to the cold. The next morning we drove through El Paso, TX where El Paso, America and EL Paso, Mexico are divided by nothing more than a chain link fence. The rest of the day we drove for what seemed like forever through the Texas hill country. The road is pleasantly meandering and the hills are just high enough to block any panoramic view but they are tastefully vegetated with Chestnut trees, I'm told. The highway was littered with over 50 dead deer. Every couple of miles we’d see a deer carcass on one side of the road or the other. There are high fences on the side but the deer apparently can hop right over them. We also saw long-horned goats; strange looking creatures. We drove though Fredericksburg: a quaint little town settled by German immigrants in the mid 1800’s. It retains much of that culture today. We arrived in Austin at Molly’s late that evening.
While at Molly’s I put the car on Craigslist and sold it within 6 hours. We attended two yoga (hot yoga) classes with Molly, learning exercises we can do on the boat. We went to one of Keelyns soccer games (again it was cold!!), a movie, and out to lunch for Texas barbequed ribs on one occasion and boar and ostrich sandwich (at Cabella’s) on another occasion. We had dinner in and dinner out and we haunted the local thrift stores for big suitcases. We found four and packed them to the brim with all the gear we had purchased and stuffed into the car.

January 27, 2009
0630 - Arrive Austin International Airport and check into Continental Airlines with four suitcases for a total of 200 pounds, one computer bag, a backpack and a chick with a broken ankle. The airline was decent and only charged an extra $50.00 for excess baggage and nothing for the broken ankle
1000 - Arrive Mazatlan, Singlar Marina, the sailing vessel ITCHEN. It’s good to be home.

October 26 - November 12, 2008 - La Paz to Mazatlan

Sunday - Tuesday, October 26-28, 2008
La Paz - Lay days and lazy days spent in the marina. Had drinks with a few fellow cruisers and swapped some stories. A few of the boats from up north are starting to trickle in. It’s an annual migration, up the sea for the summer (to avoid the hurricanes) and back down the sea to La Paz or points further south for the winter (to avoid the cold weather and northerners). Many cruisers elect to stay in Mexico for their cruising lives. Many others are commuter cruisers: six months in Mexico and six months in the States. It is true that the weather is beautiful, not a lot of sailing, but certainly no shortage of cruising ground, with marinas conveniently spaced and the States easily accessed. Many world cruisers say Mexico is their favorite cruising grounds. I don’t get it, but then what do I know?

Wednesday - October 29, 2008
1230 - Cast off from the docks at Marina La Paz. Skies clear, winds light and variable, and the current giving us a nice push out. Blake Rodgers, a single sailor from California signed on as crew at the last minute. I was warming up the engine and getting ready to cast off when he contacted me about crewing to Mazatlan. On the morning radio nets in La Paz I had announced that I would be going to Mazatlan and was looking for crew. I was somewhat hesitant, because one never really knows what they’re getting. One sailor called and said he would like a ride but couldn’t go until the next week. I didn’t want to wait that long.

I had just returned from my final provisioning (ice and beer) and the couple on the boat next to me said they heard a hail for ITCHEN and the crew position. I broadcast on the net and SARA ANNE came back saying they had seen a note on the bulletin board in the cruisers' lounge. I was debating about taking the long walk back up there when Blake called on his handheld VHF. We chatted, over the radio, for a minute and he came barreling down; we chatted, in person, a few more minutes and he departed to collect his gear and check out of the hostel.

Blake is from the Bay area, about 40 years old, single, has saved up some cash, and he is boat-hopping down to the Caribbean. He flew to La Paz, caught a ride with me to Mazatlan, will catch a ride (or multiple rides) to Panama, thru the canal, and then into the Caribbean. He describes his folks as original hippies. As testament to that, Blake was shipped off to Hari Krishna boarding school when he was a youngster. He attended a private college and has quite a varied background: computer programming and financial analysis, as well as practical skills like carpentry and mechanics. He was good crew. He stood his watches, kept his gear stowed, was affable, and he didn’t break anything.

Thursday - October 30, 2008
O600 - N23.26.025; W108.09.721; about one-third of the way to Mazatlan. The boat is moving along nicely and the sailing has been spectacular. We’ve had the jib out most of the night and the NE winds have been steady at 10-15 knots on our port quarter. The moon didn’t rise till about 0230 but the night is clear and the stars give ample light to see by. We’ve only seen a couple of vessels since we cleared La Paz and they were cargo ships; the radio has been quiet.
1900 - Check in on the SouthBound.net over the SSB. The controller was in San Carlos (hundreds of miles north on the mainland side) and there were cruisers on the net from all over the sea (including the weather guy who is in Oxnard, CA). The net was a little slow due to the many relays that were being performed.

Friday - October 31, 2008
0400 - We are closing Mazatlan rapidly. I slow the boat, as I don’t want to get to the harbor prior to daylight. It is poorly marked (by U.S. standards); additionally, it is narrow and shallow and takes a left turn just pass the break wall.
0700 - Daybreak and we can see the fishing boats exiting the harbor; skies clear, seas calm, no wind, and the temperature is 85 degrees.
0730 - Tie up at Marina Singlar, Mazatlan, Mexico. Engine hours: 660.
0800 - Blake grabs his gear and heads off looking for his next ride. I check into the marina, stop in to say Hi to Bob and Raphael and wander about a bit getting my land legs back.

Saturday - Wednesday, November 1-12, 2008
Mazatlan - Cleaning the boat and doing small projects. The weather has been very comfortable; not too hot during the day and cool enough to need a blanket for a small portion of the night. Fixed the dinghy leaks and tuned the dinghy engine. Fixed the computer wi-fi and the computer's operating speed. Ordered a rigid boom vang from Garhauer (best people in the business). I'll pick it up at Thanksgiving when I go up to see Julie (I decided not to install a boom gallows as it was about twice as expensive and the options it gave me just weren’t worth the cost). Filled with fuel: 19.41 gallons ($54.00 Mexican; $43.00 US). Fuel consumption is still about 0.4 gallons/hour. I’ve talked to most everybody on Skype or email, except Tim (who fell off the face of the earth). Brigid is in England and enjoying the first weeks at a new duty station. Molly/Bodhi/Keelyn are adapting to Texas and thinking about moving back to Colorado. I talked to both mothers. I usually Skype Julie once or twice a week as she is working lots of 12 hour shifts and needs her beauty sleep.

I have many more projects to complete and some are real stumpers, but I need to discipline myself better to work with what I have and understand that the boat will never be finished or perfect. That’s a harder pill to swallow than you might think. Most days I have trouble getting motivated, but slowly I’m developing a structure that serves as a booster to jumpstart me.

September 7 – October 25, 2008 – San Felipe to La Paz

The afternoon we departed Bahia Los Angeles in 20 knot winds


Brigid going for a swim in Puerto Don Juan while we waited out the Northerner



Julie with our Marina host (Fabian) and another cruiser.




San Felipe Marina


Panga fisherman and the shrimp catch for the day. Julie bought 2 kilo's of shrimp for about $6.00


This is our seal buddy that kept us company for 20 miles up to San Felipe


get set ...


get ready ...


ATTACK!!!


Get the idea ... Ace is not letting go!



Sunday – September 7, 2008
San Felipe – Cleaned the boat; repaired the dinghy bottom (fiberglass had worn through and the hull was filling with water) and cleaned and rebedded air nozzles/stems. Julie went up to check the email and sent JAKE down to tell me that “your mother had fainted in church, was taken to the hospital and your dad had given her last rights” … he almost had it right. What Julie had said was that “my mother had fainted in church, was taken to the hospital and that Father had given her last rights.” JAKE, not being Catholic, simply secularized 2000 years of holy orders with the misinterpretation of one simple noun. We called and my mother is fine, although she had just returned from another brief hospital visit, where coincidentally she was cared for by one of Julie’s friends from Alaska. Mini-potluck with MIATIA ROA and JAKE in the cruisers lounge.

San Felipe is small Mexican fishing village renown for its shrimp. In recent years it has grown in popularity with Americans because of its proximity to the States, the beautiful weather and miles of deserted beaches. The village has a population of about 25,000, mostly Americans and mostly gone, for now. The marina – the harbor, which includes the fishing fleet - is two-and-one-half miles south of town and has only one small tienda where limited supplies can be bought. They have the essentials though, beer and ice … everything else is a matter of opinion (in this heat). The marina has only 14 slips and is run by Singlar, the same chain of marinas we’ve staying at all the way up the coast. This one is different in addition to it small capacity, the marina offices are separated (by a public street) from the docks, hence access to the facilities is limited to working hours; they have no pool; no air conditioned cruisers lounge; and, the large screen TV and CD player is for show only (they’re not to be used) … go figure, right!? The docks are the sturdiest of all the Singlar facilities, though. For the most part the staff is accommodating offering to run us into town, allowing us to use the air-conditioned office for wi-fi access and skype calls.

Monday – September 8, 2008
San Felipe – JAKE and us rent a car from one the local Americans. The Thrifty rental car agency in town has three rental cars and they are all rented until December (are you getting a feel for the business atmosphere down here?). “Clyde” rented us his 1995 jeep Cherokee for $75.00 for the day; we paid $20.00 for one day’s insurance, which we got online at 7am; and, we paid $45.00 for gas. Total rental car cost $140.00; day trip to Calexico, good ol’ U. S. of A., priceless. In Calexico, our first stop was “Burger King” where we rubbed the hamburger grease, french fries and chocolate shakes all over our naked bodies. Having debauched ourselves with American fast food we set out to rape the “Super Wal-Mart,” pillage the “99 Cent Store” and plunder “Big Lots.” Loaded down with our booty, we made for the border and arrived back in San Felipe at 2130.

Tuesday – September 9, 2008
San Felipe – Into town with GRUMPY (48’ foot Defever Trawler) and MIATIA ROA for lunch; potluck dinner on the dock with all boats (JAKE, GRUMPY, ITCHEN and MIATIA ROA).
Wednesday – September 10, 2008
San Felipe – Remarked the anchor chain every 25 feet using a 3/8-inch line woven through the chain (the marking paint I applied in Santa Rosalie wore off sometime ago). At the 50-foot marks, in addition to the woven line, I’ve tied several bright colored strands of polypropylene. We’ll see how it works. Dinner aboard GRUMPY’s bridge deck; Julie made chicken curry, and the others brought rice, a cucumber/onion salad, beer, wine, gin and for dessert we had chilled fruit and homemade peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies. Yummmm ….

Thursday – September 11, 2008
San Felipe – windy with big swells from the east. JAKE shoved off at 0700 for BLA. We moved ITCHEN around into JAKES spot; it’s marginally more protected from the swell. Filled with fuel 107 liters = 26.5 gallons + the 20 gallons I’ve added since Santa Rosalia = 46.5 gallons total; engine run time = 152.5 hours (501.5 – 349) so…. 152.5/46.5 = .308 gallons/hour – all-inclusive motoring, motor sailing and battery charging. In the past six weeks we’ve sailed over 316 nautical miles, spent 42 nights at anchor, and used 47 gallons ($130.00) of fuel.

GRUMPY (a solo-sailor) has a dog; really he’s a protection dog … a highly trained protection dog. The dog’s breed is Belgium-Malinois. He is dark brown with a black muzzle, long-legged, shorthaired, weighs about 70 pounds and German Shepard in appearance. GRUMPY has over $7K wrapped up in the dog (Ace) what with purchase price and training. Ace is sharp as a tack, obedient to the “t,” quick as a rattlesnake and very affectionate, when not working. When working, he’s the exact opposite! This evening I got to help train with Ace. I put on an arm guard - a full arm-length carpeted pad that trainers wear while being attacked by a police dogs. On command, Ace attacked me (the arm guard); no matter what I did or how I swung him around he was not to release the bite, nor did he. Another command released his bite but kept him in my face, barking and snapping his jaws like an automated bear trap. This is a highly – highly(!) trained dog and his barking was meant to intimidate me and hold me in position; if I were to run (or even move for that matter) he is trained to resume the attack. While having all 70 pounds of Ace’s lean, muscular body strike at me with the speed of a lightning bolt, mouth frothing, teeth flashing and psychotically clamping his powerful jaws onto the arm guard was a rush in itself, it took every bit of cheek I had (from way down deep in the very center of my testicles), to not panic when the bite released and subsequent barking, jaw-snapping, snarling glare (I mean eye-to-eye glare) ensued. His barking and snapping jaws were as intimidating as anything I can remember and through it all, his eyes never left mine (nor mine his). When we all through, Ace was just another dog begging for attention and rolling on his back to get his belly scratched. Earlier in GRUMPY’s cruising life he was robbed, at night, while he was sleeping. At that time he had two other dogs but they didn’t quite cut it. Due to the substantial loss he underwent he got Ace. At one point, when JAKE was tied up next to GURMPY, Jake had gone out to take a dock shower. It was night and Ace was on the foredeck of GRUMPY, Jake was about to sneak in his quiet little dock shower and from the darkness, only a few feet from Jake, Ace starts barking and snapping and doing everything short of coming over GRUMPY’s rails. Subsequently, Jake’s shower took a little longer than originally planned (as he had soiled himself).

Friday – September 12, 2008
San Felipe – Prepare for trip to San Diego (did you know Diego is James in Spanish … so we were preparing for a trip to St. James, California).

Saturday – Friday, September 13 – 19, 2008
Depart San Felipe for San Diego with GRUMPY, Ace, MIATIA ROA (in GRUMPY’s truck (Ace rode in the pickup’s bed in his cage). Dropped MIATIA ROA at Mexicali (so they could pick up a rental car) and GRUMPY and us (me in the back seat with Ace) made for San Diego. More boat shopping and provisioning in San Diego; swapped out the fortress anchor (to light) for a regular danforth (I now have two danforths and a plow for anchoring), purchased another cooler/freezer, sold the porta-boat and picked up some shackles, a winch handle, propane hose (so I can drain propane from standard tanks into the boats smaller tanks) and some new dock lines to counteract the panga’s wakes. Julie food provisioned for me for the next three months … WOW! We stayed with Brigid and purchased her car and returned to San Felipe with our stash.

Saturday – Tuesday, September 20 – 23, 2008
San Felipe – cleaned bird droppings/slop off the boat, baked in the heat and sweltered in the humidity and prepped for the Seattle trip. Dinner and movies with GRUMPY in his air-conditioned cabin. Julie bought shrimp from the local shrimper’s. I mentioned earlier that San Felipe is the shrimp capital of the world … shrimp season started on September 24th and panga’s from all over the peninsula arrived via truck and trailer. There was a small festival on the docks proximate to the marina. The panga shrimper’s roared in and out all day, very close to the cruisers (docked in the marina slips) leaving huge wakes and really banging the docks as well the boats around. The marina refuses to take any action citing the fisherman’s power, but soon the tremendous wakes will rip out the pilings the docks are attached to and this small but nice marina will exist no more (it’s the Mexican way).

Wednesday – Tuesday, September 24 – 30, 2008
Departed San Felipe for Seattle with an overnight in San Diego. Did some shopping for JAKE and visited with Brigid who is packing for England. Two day drive to Seattle arriving Friday – stayed with friends over the weekend, picked up mail, registered the car and bought a thrift store breadmaker for $8.00. Sunday morning, I went to mass at St. Vincent’s (Julie is not allowed to go as she mocked the church choir), but I didn’t recognize anyone there. Monday, Julie dropped me at the airport and made her way to Ellensburg where she has taken a 13-week work assignment (she also wants to hunt and fish). I flew to San Diego, overnighted with Brigid and made and eight-hour bus trip to San Felipe, via El Centro, Calexico and two bus stations in Mexicali with the breadmaker and JAKE’s supplies. At 2100, I arrived back at the boat in 98-degree heat with 65% humidity.

Wednesday – Thursday, October 1 – 2, 2008
San Felipe – Cleaned the boat again of bird crap (it is sloppy and … and … ubiquitous). Installed the extended range wi-fi antenna and caught up on email. Thursday, I kept GRUMPY company on road trip to Ensenada (across the peninsula) and watched the vice-presidential debates on his TV aboard his air-conditioned boat.

Friday – Sunday, October 3 – 5, 2008
San Felipe – Re-installed the wi-fi antenna (still not working here in San Felipe), repaired the leak in the dinghy (hopefully), installed fins on the outboard (for better fuel consumption and stability), installed a 12 volt plug for the additional refrigerator/freezer installed a new inverter, got dinghy gas, fixed the cockpit table, painted the anchors and anchor chain, fixed the storage sliders (inside the cabin) and fixed the ties on the bimini sun shades. The panga’s (starting at around 0430) still roar in and out at top speed, creating huge wakes and bouncing the docks and the boats around. I called Ma, Molly, Julie and Brigid (to wish her a happy birthday) and caught up on emails. I tried to install the windows update for the computers operating system and it screwed up the computer (it always, always happens and I’m just pissed about it … I don’t know why I keep doing it!) I called Brigid and she told me how to the computer in safe mode so I’m updating this portion of the blog in safe mode, but I won’t be able to get online until it is fixed.
Grumpy made shrimp and invited me over for dinner.

Monday - October 6, 2008
San Felipe – Checked the engine and cleaned the bilge. Cleaned the head – the cat litter was a failure (too heavy, but it empties nice), so I’m back to peat moss. Cleaned the raw water strainer, washed the bird poop of the deck (again!!), cleaned the bottom and prop and did the laundry. Grumpy gave me his old Sirius radio receiver that wasn’t working. It turns out it just had a missing part on the 12-volt plug. I’ll need an antenna and a little portable (12-volt) radio and we should be good to go, but hey, we may just have a radio that’s works all way down to Panama to supplement our iPod. I paid the marina fee in cash … this Singlar Marina (a government owned marina, just like all the other Singlar marinas we’ve stayed at) doesn’t accept plastic.

Tuesday - October 7, 2008
San Felipe – To San Diego (via Grumpy) to pick up Brigid and JAKE’s parts (his engine has been overheating and needs to replace the raw water pump, raw water strainer and impeller – try to get those parts in Mexico). Brigid wound up riding back with one of Barry’s friends who was coming down to visit. We stopped in Calexico to walk across the border to get our visas, no problem … and started to walk back the way we came. A Customs Officer and Border Patrol officer quickly stopped us and directed to go through the border crossing – it’s free to get into Mexico, but costs to get out! Mexicali (Calexico’s Mexican sister city) is a large city and is undergoing road construction on the main drag through town. Of course, the detours are not marked – we made it through with only one wrong turn and the occasional heart stopping barking that Ace would mount if someone were to approach the truck to close. The detour, composed mostly of dusty narrow roads littered with trash and bordered on either side with homes cobbled together with whatever building material was available (discarded wood, flaking mortar, bricks and/or wire) was 10 miles long … for a 500-yard stretch of road that was being improved. We arrived in San Felipe at 2000, unloaded the cars and went out for a bite to eat.


Wednesday - October 8, 2008
0840 – Depart San Felipe. Clear skies, winds 5-10 knots E; small swells from the E. GRUMPY casts off our lines. Brigid and I stand three-hour watches even though she taunted me with 12-hour watches that real (Brigid) mariners (the U.S. Navy) stand aboard real ships (what does she know)!

Thursday – October 9, 2008
0130 – We’re caught in a strong north bound current about 5 miles off and a little south of Punta San Francisquito – our speed slows to 3.5 knots.
0600 – Sunrise, winds and seas calm.
1520 – Anchor in 15 feet of water off Bahia Los Angeles (BLA). Into town for internet and dinner at Guierllmos.
1735 – Up anchor for Puerto Don Juan as hurricane Norbert is expected to blow through (south of here).
1935 – Anchor in 16-feet of water in Puerto Don Juan; engine hours 535. Enter the anchorage in the dark under radar (the chart plotter is not to be trusted as the charts may be well over a hundred years old). Eighteen boats in the anchorage and PACIFIC VOYAGER called on the VHF to check me out. I went for a swim to clean off and showered on deck. Brigid (the real mariner) was afraid to take a dip, but her need for hygiene overcame her fear of the deep and she finally took a dip.

Friday – October 10, 2008
Puerto Don Juan – It Julie and my 4th wedding anniversary. I had been thinking about it all week and forgot to call her … yeah; I think I’ve said enough about that blunder. I ran the engine for 1.5 hours to charge the batteries. JAKE arrived at 0630 from Santa Rosalia (an overnighter) and came over about 0900 to collect their stash; that evening we went over for dinner. I took Brigid fishing (in the dinghy) and she caught her first fish (a sea bass). Brigid is neither a very active nor patient fisherman. She held the pole and when the fish didn’t sacrifice themselves immediately for her plastic lure, she became annoyed … the lure was there, the fish were there and she was there … why weren’t the fish biting her lure!? She did hook into some kind of a fighter though (probably a sierra or yellow tail) that took her lure in a heartbeat (my bad … I used to light a line). To her credit, every time we went fishing she caught a fish. She even caught a mackerel off the boat, just standing on deck and casting.

Saturday – Tuesday, October 11 - 14, 2008
Puerto Don Juan – Stuck here until Norbert passes, but now we’re hearing about Santa Anna’s up north driving high winds into the area. JAKE called on the VHF to tell me Julie had written his HAM email as she was having potentially huge problems with the car (I called and we got it settled). Winds are building, steady at 30 knots with gust up to 40 knots.; lots of wind but no fetch (waves). It’s funny though how quickly a group mindset … sets. 30 knots of wind is certainly sailable. Except for the wind the weather was beautiful. There are the waves of course, but sailing downwind they would’ve just been a push. Anyway, not only did no-one leave the anchorage, no-one left their boats; We’re stayed on the boat, as did everyone else. We read, watched movies, played scrabble, slept and were generally pretty board. It didn’t help that was Brigid’s vacation and I was worried about getting her back safely. She did good (much better than I) as she entertained herself with a couple of electronic gadgets (ZUNE and Sony DS).

Wednesday – October 15, 2008
0915 – Weigh anchor for Santa Rosalia via BLA; winds subsiding – down to 20 knots.
1115 – Drop anchor off BLA and into town for ice and Internet; lunch with JAKE and HIPNAUTICAL and Brigid entertained the crowd with sea stories (she’s such an old salt). All the boats that were in Puerto Don Juan are now outside BLA, doing the same thing we are and preparing to head south.
1430 – Weigh anchor for Santa Rosalia; winds 20 knots NNW, white caps NNW, skies clear. Once outside the bay, after making our turn south, we rolled out the headsail and a nice ride seven-and-a-half to eight knots with gentle four-foot rollers pushing us.
1800 – Winds have all but died now and the sea is starting to settle. We’re standing a rather informal 3-5 hour watch pattern. Brigid taught me how to use her Zune and standing the night watch flew by. Tomorrow I learn how to use the DS.

Thursday – October 16, 2008
0300 – Eight miles off Punta San Carlos; caught in the north current (flood tide) speed down to 3 knots.
0600 – Sunrise and the winds building NNW. MILAGRO is off our starboard quarter (they left San Francisquito (where they weathered the northerners) at 0330.
0800 – Fix Brigid and breakfast (bacon, eggs and toast) and change the propane tank out. I think, this one has lasted us since July 26th (just shy of three months).
0900 – Sailing under headsail alone, average speed seven knots and Brigid is teaching me how to use the Sony DS (I’ll buy it from her before the day is out).
1215 – Dock at Singlar Marina, Santa Rosalia; engine hours 569.5. Secure the boat and walk around town and lunch at the chicken place. Arrange Brigids travel; bus from Santa Rosalia to Tijuana (14 hours), a cab from the Tijuana bus station to the boarder (10 minutes), walk across the boarder to clear customs (up to half-an-hour) and take the trolley to San Diego (60 minutes) and she’s home safe.
1900 – Brigid departs for San Diego. She’s a good sailor and a good companion!
1930 – Called Julie.

Friday – October 17, 2008
Santa Rosalia – Cleaned and washed the boat; polished the rails and hosed-off the cockpit cushions; dinner with JAKE in town.

Saturday – October 18, 2008
Santa Rosalia – Changed the oil, filter and transmission fluid (570 hours); checked the belts, impeller and coolant. Klutzy day though; spilled fresh oil, dirty oil, oil filter oil … if it could be spilled, I spilled it on the engine, in the bilge, on the counter … you get the idea. Sent the propane tank up to be filled ($5). Cleaned out the back berth and found homes for items that had been cluttering it up. Worked on the water tank to no avail; my water pressure has been dropping noticeably more in port tank. Called Brigid and she is home safe! Out to dinner with JAKE, MILAGRO and WINDWARD BOUND.

Sunday – October 19, 2008
Santa Rosalia – Filled with fuel; 29 gallons plus a five gallon spare ($75); 69 hours since last fill = 0.48 gallons/hour. Helped JAKE cast off; they’ll go to San Carlos for bottom work. Changed the water pump (I had a brand new spare); put it in upside down and backwards and spilled lots of water the first time (of course), but I did better the second time. Cleaned the bilge and braided a new anchor bridle. I tried to make bread with our new breadmaker but half the flour didn’t get mixed in the kneading process. That loaf went over the side hit the water with a resounding PLOP. I hoofed it out to the local market and bought some more flour and tried it again. This time I watched the kneading cycle and helped it along. The bread smelled good, but came out very heavy and dense; I wonder if it me or the flour … I’ll knead to experiment. Finished prepping for tomorrows underway.

Monday – October 20, 2008
0920 – Depart Santa Rosalia for Santo Domingo (will harbor hop down the coast to La Paz); skies clear, no wind and seas calm.
Noon – Porpoises abound and the fish are really jumping. WINDWARD BOUND caught a beautiful Dorado and a couple of Bonita’s. I saw Dorado fly through the air chasing a small school of flying fish. The Dorado was good size and moving fast.
1700 – Anchor in 12 feet of water at Santo Domingo (top of Conception Bay); engine hours 578.2
1800 – There are three other boats here (besides ITCHEN) and we’re all gently rolling. It’s cool, no bugs and the sun is just going down in an orange and purple haze … this day is done … forever. Take a quick dip to check out the prop and bottom both are passable; soap myself up and rinse with fresh water. I feel pretty spiffy so I’ll make myself a drink with some of Brigids Caribbean Rum (coconut flavored?) and pineapple juice. It’s good (I don’t why I didn’t fix myself an after work drink when I was younger … I would’ve been a much better human being). I mix ‘em light and you can pooh-pooh it but the liquor lasts longer, the money to buy liquor lasts longer and I last longer. It’s quiet, calm and protected here in Santo Domingo Cove. On this quiet water, with a sunset that is throwing out every hue in the color spectrum to commerate its passing, I’m drinking Brigids Caribbean Rum, writing this and listening to Peer Gents Morning … it could easily have been named Sunset; the strings start out quietly (as sunset begins) and build with a crescendo of wind instruments (the days celebration of it’s last moments) and finally diminishing into a soft willowy whisper as the sun disappears on this day … forever.

Tuesday - October 21, 2008
0700 – Weigh anchor or San Juanico with WINDWARD BOUND. Skies clear; winds NNE 10-15 knots; swells NNE; rollout the headsail for another downwind run doing 7.5 – 8 knots. Dorado are biting and WINDWARD BOUND has caught two after being skunked all summer.
1540 –Anchor in 12 feet of water San Juanico; engine hours 586.8. Clean the bottom and scrub the prop. I guess cleaning the bottom is like mowing the yard, except I like cleaning the boats bottom more than I ever liked doing yard work. TO WINDWARD BOUND for
a Dorado dinner

Wednesday – October 22, 2008
San Juanico lay day. Laze about all day, watch three movies and take a long nap. MILAGRO brought me over a piece of chocolate cake and some homemade cookies. Plan Puerto Escondido tomorrow.

Thursday – October 23, 2008
0800 – Weigh anchor; skies clear, wind 5 knots NNW.
0900 - Wind builds to 10 knots NNW, roll out the headsail
1200 – Pass through Isla Coronado and Baja Peninsula (just above Loreto) and the water gets pretty skinny (2.5 feet).
1400 – Wind has clocked around to the Neand built to 20 knots. Swells NNE at about 6 feet; doing seven knots under jib alone. Pass by the Puerto Escondido window and unwilling to let the wind go I decide to make for Bahia San Marte (good protection from the north, but a care needs to taken when entering.
1530 – Cleared Isla Dizamante and the wind has died, unfortunately the swells are just reaching their peak. Big ten foot rollers tossing the boat for 40 degree rolls (port and starboard) … nothing to be done about it.
1830 – Off San Marte but need to go way south to avoid shoals; just as I make my turn the wind builds out of nowhere and not only do I the stupid swells to deal with, but this inconsiderate wind. Go nearly to shore and then hug the coastline back up into the harbor.
1920 – Anchor Bahia San Marte15 feet water; engine hours 600.8 (67nm made good in 11 hours); tucked in very close to shore and but behind the rocks (nearly flat calm in here).

Friday – October 24, 2008
0715 – Weigh Anchor; skies clear, no wind, low rolling swells from the NE.
1300 – Afternoon winds build to 15 knots; headsail out doing 7 – 8.5 knots.
1930 – Anchor Caleta Partida; engine hours 613. Arrived about 1845; seven other boats in here all anchored in a line one behind the other and right at the 12 foot mark; neatly tucked behind the bluff. I tried to go between them and the bluff, but the water was to shallow and swing room insufficient. Moved to the outside (more exposed to the wind), dropped the hook and it caught but kept slipping at high rpm. Raised the anchor and moved forward in the bay, dropped the anchor again … right on to solid rock (this whole place is an extinct volcano), backed down anyway till it caught in the sand and then backed down to 2600 rpm (twice!) to make sure it was in.

Saturday – October 25, 2008
0715 – Weigh anchor for La Paz; Skies clear and calm, seas calm
1230 – Arrive fuel dock Marina La Paz; engine hours 617. Fill with 19 gallons diesel ($64.23); 47 hours since last fill = 0.4 gallons/hour; reserved four nights in a slip; plan departure for Mazatlan on Wednesday.

Itchen Log July 26 – September 6, 2008 – Santa Rosalia to San Felipe

a party at La Mona ... really we're all taking a potty break




this is a small whale shark, but we had one come by as big as the boat ...



Don Juan the hurricane hole



this boat has seen better days




Saturday - July 26, 2008
Santa Rosalia – Lay Day – topped off with fuel (added five gallons) and water; worked on blog and found Santa Rosalia dollar store (purchased an electronic bug zapper, sandals for Julie, scrappers for boat bottom and other miscellaneous supplies).

Sunday - July 27, 2008
0500 – Depart Santa Rosalia for Bahia San Francisquito (BSF). It dark, overcast and a north wind; Swells from the east and a one to one-and-half knot current against us.
1130 – JAKE turns around and heads back to Santa Rosalia (trouble with his refrigerator). Not able to make BSF so make course for Bahia Trinidad (19 miles north). Only able to make three to four knots (current), still a lazy wind and east swells uncomfortable.
1515 – Anchor Bahia Trinidad 7’of water; engine hours 377. Protection from south; swells from east and wind from south, boat sets broadside to the waves and we rock and roll. Two shrimpers anchored off our beam. BBQ Arachara for dinner (not bad if cooked well). Elephantes (15-20 knots) out of the west; Elephantes are strong, hot, westerly winds that sweep over the Baja peninsula from the Pacific – caused by the temperature variation from the cooler Pacific to the warmer Sea for Cortez; they can get up to 40 knots. I Stand/doze a lazy anchor watch; winds not above 20 with gusts to 25 or 30 knots and we’re close enough to shore that there is no fetch. It’s like standing in front of a really powerful furnace!

Monday - July 28, 2008
0800 – weigh anchor at Punta Trinidad and plan BSF. Sky clear; SW wind and swells. Roll out jib and sail most of day at 6.5 – 7 knots (under jib alone).
1500 – Strong currents of tip of BSF; counter currents and rip tide at point. Even though we were a mile and half offshore it felt (and looked) like we going upstream against the rapids. Speed slowed to 1.5 knots.
1600 – Anchor BSF in two fathoms; engine hours 381; JUNIATA (37’ Pacific Seacraft) here. I’m not feeling good. My back is sore from weighing anchor in Sweet Pea Cove (after a night of drunkenness) and now I just feel lethargic and no appetite. This all started but I think it’s starting to catch up with me.

Tuesday - July 29, 2008
Bahia San Francisquito – lay day – Spend all day in berth; stomach and back and both painful and stiff; sleep and sweat, sleep and sweat all day. Joined in anchorage by SNOWGOOSE (33’ Hans Christian), ACAPELLA (40’ Valiant) and TONY REYES (a Mexican charter fishing boat, with about 47 pangas tied up around it and a slew of would be anglers). A TONY REYES panga (loaded with kids) comes over to talk with Julie and she trades them a bag full of candy for four, freshly caught, Red Snapper.

Wednesday - July 30, 2008
0700 – Weigh Anchor BSF and plan Bahia Don Juan. Clear skies, no wind, seas calm. Motored into Puente el Alacrans (Scorpion Point) where they boast “an all inclusive wilderness resort, accessible only by boat.” The resort is eight yurts (in very good condition) along with a lodge (another yurt with a house attached) along a strip of white sandy beach. We would’ve explored, but I wasn’t quite up to lowering and raising the anchor.
1735 – Anchor Don Juan in two fathoms; engine hours 393. Julie spots a coyote and we watch as he scouts the shoreline for dinner.

Thursday - July 31, 2008
Don Juan – lay day. Launch dinghy, mount engine and motor around bay (in stages – still feeling pretty well rung out). Very protected from all side and good holding ground. Visit two wrecked 40’ trawler-type fishing boats that have been washed ashore. They’ve been stripped of everything useful, but just the same the paint, decks and structure above the waterline are in good shape, maybe even re-floatable; but I think they are here forever.

Friday - August 1, 2008
Punta Don Juan – lay day. Quiet, we have the anchorage to ourselves. In the morning, pangas will bring vacation families over from Bahia Los Angeles to the see the sunken boats, picnic and maybe do a little clamming. Install a little cubby for my stuff in the head (now Julie has her own and I mine). JAKE arrives late afternoon, now success in Santa Rosalia, but he did run into SUNBOW at BSF. SUNBOW loaned him a refrigerator cooling pump, and now his refer is working better than ever and using less power. Calamari aboard JAKE.

Saturday - August 2, 2008
Up anchor Don Juan and round the corner 6 miles to Bahia Los Angeles (BLA). Walked into town, lunched at a local restaurant and used Internet.

Sunday - August 3, 2008
Up anchor and move down the bay to gecko beach to meet up with CEDLIEH (40’ Pearson). CEDLIEH is pronounced Kaylee (it’s an Irish dance) and they have a little house on the beach. Winds out of the north and had trouble setting the anchor; it took three times because the bottom is covered with ironweed and the anchor can’t ding into the sand. JAKE and ITCHEN joined CEDLIEH at their place on the beach, called Duffy’s Tavern for dinner and cocktails. Spent the evening talking, eating and playing darts. Dinked back to the boats in complete darkness, with no lights, no radio and no life preservers (we’ll need to work on that).

Monday - August 4, 2008
Gecko Beach, Bahia Los Angeles – lay day. Spent morning skinny-dipping
1300- Over to JAKE for a rousing game of American Trivial Pursuit. Jay from CEDLIEH stopped by with cookies Janice had made.

Tuesday – Wednesday, August 5-6, 2008
Motored back up to BLA village. Into town to explore and use the Internet. Swimming and check how the anchor is set. JAKE over for dinner of the Red Snapper Julie swapped in BSF.

Thursday - August 7, 2008
BLA – lay day. JAKE to San Felipe 143 miles up the coast. Sharon has been fighting a topical skin infection (pseudomonas) on her hands for the past four months and Jake has just developed a swelling in his left ankle. They’re going to get fixed and if San Felipe can’t do it then they’ll run up to the States. To ZEPHYRA (42’ Morgan Out Islander) for cocktails and then a Dorado dinner on ITCHEN.

Friday - August 8, 2008
BLA – I into town to use Internet while Julie stayed on boat and conned a panga fisherman out of his days labor – a sea bass big enough to feed four. Julie saw a nurse shark and her baby off the starboard quarter of the boat.
1640 - Up anchor BLA for Don Juan with ZEPHYRA. Caught a very small tuna (although it would’ve been a good sized trout) off the point, but threw it back.
1828 – Anchor Don Juan in our old spot; engine hours 407. At dusk the coyotes started howling from all pints around the bay. After dark we saw three scouting the shore no doubt for some dinner.

Saturday - August 9, 2008
0610 - Don Juan – lay day. Up to take Julie out fishing in the dingy, off the point. Trolled and jigged but got nothing. Hand sewed a rip in sunshade.
I’m perplexed about the boats power management. I think I’ve run my batteries to hard by often letting them drop to around 11 volts before recharging. I now charge the batteries every morning by running the engine for about an hour at 1400 rpm (idle is 1000). My dilemma is should I get other kinds of power sources. Most cruisers have a combination of engine, generator, solar and/or wind for their charging needs. I sold my generator because its amp output wasn’t large enough to charge batteries and I purchased a power pack (portable starting battery with 12V outlet) for emergencies. I figure solar and wind will run me upwards of $2000.00 (each) by the time I get what I need for my usage; which doesn’t include installation hassles and the caveat that if there is no sun or wind, then there is no power. I have a brand new engine that burns well under a ½ gallon an hour if just charging; at this rate I could run the engine an hour everyday (which I don’t) for a year for about $547.00 (about 182 gallons). This past year I’ve ran the two engines 700 hours, if a diesel engine lasts 10,000 hours at this rate this engine would last me 14 years. Another option is to just run the hell out of the batteries; the 6-volt golf cart batteries I’m now using are $100 each (two to a bank equals $200.00); replacing the entire bank every year is $400.00 which is even cheaper than the fuel I would use to recharge them. Based on the above discussion, it’s simpler and cheaper to just stay with what I have and either replace batteries or fuel, unless you see where I’m missing something. Thanks for having this conversation with me, it was very helpful.

Sunday - August 10, 2008
Don Juan – Changed to starboard water tank (port tank has lasted us 2 weeks … looks that will be the average). Battery Bank #2 at 11.5 volts – charged batteries with engine for an hour. Over to beach and on the way a panga load of fisherman gave Julie a fishing line with 6 hooked feathers on it called a “Lucky Joe” and told her how to jig for live bait. Onshore took a trail (ever watchful for rattlesnakes and scorpions) to the other side of the point overlooking the bay just south of us.

Monday - August 11, 2008
0900 - Weighed anchor for BLA for ice, club soda, beer and the Internet. Spotted two nurse sharks feeding. BLA is the breeding ground for the nurse sharks and they come up seasonally to … conjugate. Nurse sharks are very large, very gentle and plankton eaters with huge mouths (4’ in diameter) in which to sieve the plankton. They’re gray with white spots and these were swimming right on the surface; one came alongside the boat and was nearly the length of the boat and the another kind of courted the boat and then swam in front of it gently bumping his tail on the bow. Anchored in 3 fathoms of water; engine hours 409.

Tuesday - August 12, 2008
BLA – It rained this morning – not a big rain just enough to get everything wet. First rain we’ve had since Mazatlan last November. 1300 – Weighed anchor for fishing and Don Juan.
1700 Anchor Don Juan in three fathoms. Julie made some beer bread in the pressure cooker. A pack of coyotes serenaded us as they scouted the shore for dinner.

Wednesday - August 13, 2008
0815 – Up Anchor for fishing – not luck.
1100 – Anchor Puerto Penasco in three fathoms of water. Navy patrol skiff on shore with crew lounging at one of the tables in front of the boarded up fish camp shacks.
1509 - Winds and waves out of the SW so weigh anchor for Ensenda el Quemado. Fish a little on the way over.
1700 – Anchor at Ensenada el Quemado (The Burned Bay). Good south wind protection; engine hours 419.6. Only one other boat here; quite an elegant catamaran named Catherine Estelle hailing from Kodiak, AK. Story is the couple is quite reclusive and has been down here for some time (a least long enough to earn a reputation). They built the boat in an Alaskan native village never having had any previous boating experience. They launched it by rolling it, from yard to water, using 50 gallon barrels. We left them alone. Instead we went beachcombing on beautiful white sandy beach that had a plethora of fishing gear (nets, floats, line) and trash that had washed ashore; lots of little stingrays in the sand close to shore.

Thursday - August 14, 2008
Ensenada el Quemado – Beachcombing, swimming and hiking in the rocks. Saw a whale and her calf in the bay, but couldn’t get close to her.

Friday - August 15, 2008
0700 – Weigh anchor to fish and return to BLA for rendezvous with JAKE, to get ice and water.
1145 – Anchor in three fathoms or water; 423.6 engine hours. SUNBOW and JUNIATA anchored off village. 1300 – JAKE and BEYOND REASON arrive and anchor off village. Provision is 10 gallons of water check the Internet and go to JUNIATA for fishing lures and advice.

Saturday - August 16, 2008
BLA – Into village for more water; I get a little at a time until we’re full. I take in two five-gallon water jugs and fill them with purified water at the local tienda for $1.20 each. I have a little roller cart (the kind to carry luggage) and I put both bottles on the cart (about 80 lbs). I gingerly roll the cart about ½ mile, over a combination of paved and dirt road, back to the dinghy. I load the bottles onto the dinghy; pull the dinghy into the water and motor back to the boat. I hoist the bottles up onto to the boat deck while the dinghy bobs up and down with the waves, timing my … heft at the height of the wave. Then I siphon the water into the boats water tanks (which will empty the 5 gallons container in about two minutes). I’ve put 32.5 gallons of water in the port tank (which was empty) and I figure we have about 22 gallons left in the starboard tank, which we’ve using for the past week.
On one of our trips to the beach, Julie started talking with Guerillmo (the owner of Guerillmos restaurant on whose beach we land our dinghy). Guerillmo not only owns the restaurant, but a tienda up town, a fleet of fishing pangas, a hotel, a 5000 acre ranch, a couple of taxies (that double as boat launching vehicles) and who know what else. Guerillmo hooks Julie up with a fishing pole (what they call and “ugly stick” and line and lures and gives her a few pointers.
1100 – Weigh anchor and head to La Mona, an anchorage at the south end of the bay. We join OSO NEGRO, PACIFIC VOYAGER, EMERALD ISLE, JUNIATA, HYPNAUTICAL, SUNBOW, JAKE, CELIEH, BEYOND REASON and WINDWARD BOUND for the full moon festival. La Mona is a small estuary with rock on one side and sandy beach on the other. We all sat in the water at the mouth of the estuary, rode the tidal current, drank beer and chatted they entire afternoon.

Sunday - August 17, 2008
Quick trip up to BLA for firewood and water. Returned to La Mona and wind had piped up (15 –20 knots) and unable to set CQR (plow) anchor. This isn’t the first time this has happened and it’s not the first time I’ve seen these conditions give this type anchor trouble. After five times, we gave up and switched to the Danforth (which is half the weight) and the anchor set immediately. The plow is out! Forever!! I will sell it and never have another! Julie organized and early birthday party for me on the beach complete with potluck and bonfire. I got birthday cards, a canister of dark chocolate candy, a shell necklace, a CD, a bottom scrapper and a bottle of gin. Considering that these gifts came from a vessels individual stores (in some cases a means of generating income) makes them all the more thoughtful.
We have 426.5 hours on the engine; 77 hours since Santa Rosalia; we’ve used just less than ½ tank of fuel and we need to reserve 31 hours of fuel for a run to San Felipe (probably about a quarter of a tank. We’ll also need fuel for battery charging and any motoring we’ll be doing between now the time we move north.

Monday - August 18, 2008
1100 – Weigh anchor for BLA. Into village for water and fuel and Internet.

Tuesday - August 19, 2008
BLA – Finish filling water tanks (all told, I probably ferried about 14 five-gallon jugs (two at a time) to boat. I added 10 gallons of diesel (two trips to the Pemex station about mile down the road) to fuel tank (now ¾ full).


Wednesday - August 20, 2008
BLA – had winch handle re-welded. Crummy job, but I can grind it down so it fits.

Thursday - August 21, 2008
BLA – Called Ma to wish her happy birthday and ordered flowers for her. Final trip into village for ice and beer.

Friday - August 22, 2008
0945 – Weigh anchor for Quemado and some fishing along the way. No fish but ran into strong flood current coming out of bay and severe chop on the point.
1200 – Anchor in 3 fathoms of water, 15 knots of winds and light fetch. Danforth caught first time and stuck, drifted back using wind and power back (2000 rpm) to set anchor.
Qualms … I told you earlier I was through with the plow (CQR) anchor and probably any other stockless anchor. My qualm is how I got to where I am. I read lots of books (70% of cruisers use a plow anchor) and spoke with lots of folks (my plow has held me in one-thousand-knot winds) over the years about anchoring needs of cruisers. Based on this information and very little personal experience in using a CQR anchor, I developed a personal value system that dictated I use one. The CQR (the one I will never use again) was developed in 1933 by Cambridge professor for, I guess, small craft off the English coast (I’m sure the guy just looked at a field plow and figured that if it worked on land, it would work on the sea). The Danforth anchor was developed in 1939 in America (scientifically by the way). There are many differences in the anchors, major ones including the Danforth’s significantly lighter weight and it has a stock. All the books I’ve read discuss anchor size (i.e. weight); the bigger the anchor the better. The accepted ratio is two-pounds of anchor for each 1000-pounds of boat or one-pound of anchor for each one-foot of boat (for ITCHEN that works out to about the same figure). On one hand these parameters seemed arbitrary (certainly not very scientific), but on the other hand weight of the anchor seemed to, intuitively, make sense. So I was stuck with a heavy anchor that was supposed to be the definitive anchor for cruisers; an anchor that didn’t set 10% of the time (and usually at the worst time) for me; an anchor that I had dragged on and did not trust; and, as a result, a situation that was forcing me rework my anchoring value system. I had used the Danforth on previous boats without any problem or extra gear (like a windlass) and had always had good luck. These past few times when I was unable to get the plow to set, I switched it out for the Danforth and in the same anchorage the Danforth set immediately, but I just couldn’t get past all this marvelous praise for the CQR.
What to do? I started tearing through the cruising books on-board (Chapman, Roth, Royce, Cornell, Herreshoff, etc.) for an answer to my dilemma. Of course they all referred to the same lame criteria and put the plow on a pedestal, until I found one little pamphlet called “Anchors and Anchoring” by R.D. Ogg (co-inventor of the Danforth anchor). It discusses the principals of anchoring, rode, wind, current and wave drag loads, etc. The upshot being, the weight of the anchor has nothing to do with its setting ability or holding power. Setting ability is dependant on anchor design and holding power is dependant on the anchors surface area and its ability to bury itself; “… a 500-pound concrete block had no more holding-power than a four-pound Danforth properly set.” I’ve also noticed (and I think I can say with without exception), that every cruiser has a Danforth as a back-up anchor. Royce cites two instances where vessels were in danger of being washed ashore and each threw over a five-pound … five pound (!) Danforth at the last minute; each anchor caught and held with one holding for over 18 hours in 35 to 50 knots winds. Danforth anchors were used in WWII to kedge huge landing craft off the beach. The new Fortress anchors (aluminum-magnesium alloy danforth type anchors) broke the tugs that were trying to dislodge them in anchoring tests. So if these anchors are so good, and all cruisers have one for a back-up anchor, why aren’t they being used as primary anchors? I think cruisers think that weight is the be-all-end-all; how could they not, it’s difficult to find information that refutes the weight theory. I also think cruisers like the look of a CQR and/or Bruce hanging off the bowsprit; it looks really salty. Not me, I’m going with the Danforth as my primary anchor. Qualm resolved.
Second Qualm; Batteries. I guess I’ve been running my batteries to low. I only been using one bank at a time and apparently I’ve been taking them down to 11.5 volts (10% charge remaining). Discharging the batteries to this level will significantly reduce the lifetime of the batteries (like from 10 years to 3 years, I think), but I didn’t see anywhere in my two electrical books on-board where the specific voltage was covered. I will need to take another look at costs analysis; replacing four batteries every two or three years at $100.00/battery, fuel cost and engine wear resulting from using the engine as a generator; versus, the cost and associated hassles (mounting, storing, wiring … the begets) of solar, wind, towed and/or gas powered generator means of battery charging. Since I have the power pack on-board (emergency starting battery) I going to start using the battery bank in tandem (both banks at once) to minimize my voltage drop and charging time. I’ll get back to you on this.

Saturday - August 23, 2008
Quemado – Strong winds last night; one report had the winds at 20–25knts with gust to 35knts. It was a chubasco without the rain. Anchor held fine and no fetch. Charged for two hours this a.m.

Sunday – August 24, 2008
0730 – Out fishing in the dinghy with Julie. Trolled along the rocky shoreline with no luck. JICCARANDA came over and told us to try off the point; Julie got one strike and actually caught a sierra (whitefish) but the fish took the rapala (a fishing lure) and broke the line just as she got it back to the dinghy.
1100 – Up anchor for Quemado. Changed anchor from 22-pound Danforth to my shiny new ten-pound Fortress anchor, I bought in San Diego. Five-to-six knots on a broad reach under jib alone.
1300 – Anchor Don Juan in three fathoms with 20 knots of wind. Anchor didn’t set due to weeds first time, but set solid the second time. Four boats already here.
1800 – Latest weather report indicates tropical depression Julio is headed north; he has sustained winds of 40 knots and is currently Todo Santos (half-way between Cabo and La Paz on the outside) working his way north. Julio is expected to arrive in BLA on Tuesday during the day (we’ll see - I’ve become very leery of weathermen, rarely are they right, but they sure like the drama). Prudently boats are coming in though, as this is the only hurricane hole in the area. Six more boats have come in since we arrived for a total of eleven; six or so more are due in. We’ll have the entire Baja fleet (17-18 boats) here by Monday night.

Monday - August 25, 2008
Don Juan waiting for tropical depression Julio. All boat in 15 in total; 1 catamaran, 2 power boats and 12 sailboats. Dark, quiet and ominous day in the anchorage.

Tuesday - August 26, 2008
Don Juan - Sunny morning, no Julio; apparently he preferred the likes of the mainland (San Carlos) so bypassed us completely; I think we got about 10 drops of rain (maybe he’ll come back as a chubasco). Fishing this a.m. in the dinghy. Julie caught 2 sierra (mackerel) and 2 sea bass; she is finally happy
1055 – Up anchor for BLA; go the long way around so Julie can get some fishing in.
1310 – Anchor of village in three fathoms; Fortress not biting into sand; changed to 22lb Danforth and bit immediately… I think some weight may be needed to encourage the fluke to dig in.
1400 – Into village for water, dinghy fuel and Internet.
1630 – Out to MAITAI ROA (44’ Peterson, Alex and Sue) for cocktails. Julie scored some lures and fishing tips from Alex. Later MAITAI ROA, JAKE and us into town for dinner of shrimp tacos, beer and ice cream.

Wednesday - August 27, 2008
BLA – more water while I can and 5 more gallons of diesel fuel for a total of 21 extra gallons of diesel and a complete refill on the water tanks. MAITAI ROA, JAKE, JICCANRANDA and us into Guerllimos for dinner. The restaurant is little more expensive than some of the others in town, but they serve hamburgers. It was deserted, as are most shops and business this time of year and we were the only patrons their. We ordered hamburgers off the menu, but the wait staff told us the owner wouldn’t serve us hamburgers, as it was dinner-time. None of us were interested in anything else to eat (to pricey), MIATIA ROA (who spoke fluent Spanish) asked if they’d rather have the business or have us we leave. Initially, they were going to allow us to leave - this is a more common scenario in Mexico than not; we’ve all seen shops decline business rather than meet a customers needs. I don’t know about other cultures, but for Americans this behavior/attitude is extremely discouraging and frustrating. We talk about and are never able to come up with an explanation to this contrary behavior, but we all agree that it may explain the stumbling lack of progress this country repeatedly exhibits.

Thursday – August 28, 2008
Sailed down to Duffy’s (Celieh) for an early dinner and darts. Jay (Celieh) filled my propane bottles using the gravity method. Walked on the beach where we watched their dog (a Pomeranian called Buster) located a crab in the sand, dig like mad after it and then capture it in his teeth.

Friday – August 29, 2008
0730 – Weigh anchor BLA (Duffy’s). Quick stop in the village then north to Bahia Alcatraz. Caught the current through Canal de Ballenas (Whale Channel) and got up 7.7 knots
1330 – Drop anchor in 3 fathoms on a sandy bottom; engine hours 461.7. Took Julie out fishing with not luck
1700 – Out fishing again and Julie caught six tuna. MAITAI ROA and JAKE for dinner.

Saturday – August 30, 2008
0830 – Weigh anchor for Puerto Refugio, north end of Isla Angel de la Guarda. Caught the current again and this time did 8 knots. Two rainstorms formed on the island (off our starboard beam), one dissipated over the top of us and the other gave a little bit of rain as we rounded the north end of the island. Isla Angle de la Guarda is about 40 miles long and 12 miles wide and is covered by mountains ranging in height from 900 – 1300 meters. Puerto Refugio is at the north end of the island. The island … the mountains seem to cause its own little weather pattern. We watched several thunderstorms form on the east side of the island, rain on top and the west side of the island and then dissipate within just a couple of miles. The storm then appears to reform one it hits the peninsula. I guess the west bound, cool, moist sea air can’t quite get over the island hills so it clashes with the warm island air and something has to give.
1348 – Drop anchor in three fathoms of water on a sandy bottom; engine hours 467.1
1700 – Out fishing in the dinghy and Julie catches two tuna and two sea bass) the tuna put up a good fight but the sea bass just go limp once they are on the hook). Tide has gone down remarkably; we are in 5 feet of water and surrounded by jagged reefs. We move the boat out about 500 yards and re-anchor.
2200 – Thunder and lightening! Suddenly the wind swirls around us, dark clouds loom ominously as lightening arks across the sky and big drops on rain begin to splash on deck. Quick we take down the sunshade, secure the lose gear and close the hatches. Immediately, the wind died, the rain stopped, the thunder and lightening abated, and the clouds disappeared. That’s was it … a tempest in a teapot!

Sunday – August 31, 2008
Puerto Refugio – Clean the boat bottom, very few barnacles and just a little moss; only took an hour. Rained twice this morning (one was a decent shower). We’ve had more rain, around this island, in the past 24 hours than we’ve had since we crossed into southern California (almost) one year ago.

Monday – September 1, 2008
0756 – Puerto Refugio crystal clear. We can see the anchor out 150’ from the boat. Weigh anchor for Bahia Willard; winds SW 15-20 knots; waves SW 4-6 feet. Motor sail at 6.5 knots. No luck fishing.
1750 – Anchor in 3 fathoms Bahia Willard; strong wind but no fetch. MIATIA ROA, JAKE and Jakes family here (they came by land).
1830 – Dinner at hotel/restaurant (Antonio’s?) in south end of bay with Jake’s sister (Weta) and brother-in-law (Steve). Julie discovered she like’s fried tortillas. Met a couple (she from New Orleans and he from Montana) that had been traveling the Baja for the past year, pulling a fishing boat and living out of the back of their suburban. They were having a great time!

Tuesday – September 2, 2008
Bahia Willard – Picked up supplies Steve and Weta had brought down (Champagne and some spices) and had dinner on shore at their campsite; much hotter and buggier than the boat.

Wednesday – September 3, 2008
Bahia Willard – flat calm this am and getting hot, fast! Into the campsite and Steve and Weta drove all six of us, in their AWD Hyundai, down to a little tienda out in the middle of nowhere, literally! It wasn’t the end of the world, but you could see from here. We got some ice and ice cream and enjoyed air conditioning, however brief a moment. With deep ruts and jagged rocks, the roads here are worse than mountain trails. The roads are so bad in this part of the Baja that it took Steve and Weta 6 hours to drive the 90 miles from San Felipe to here (Bahia Willard). They’re camped at a place called Papa Fernandez who apparently was tight with the “Duke” (the many pictures on the walls would verify this). Papa Fernandez is a huge empty lot for RV parking and one small little restaurant that serves tacos, burritos and beer. The tienda I mentioned above is five miles (30 minutes by car) from Papa Fernandez and about five miles from the village at the south end of the bay; just another example of how the consumer is separated from businesses – it’s the Mexican way.

Thursday – September 4, 2008
Bahia Willard – Help Steve and Weta break camp and saw them off to further camping adventures. Finish the day in the luxurious heat of Bahia Willard.

Friday – September 5, 2008
0756 – Weigh anchor for Puertecitos, halfway between Bahia Willard and San Felipe. Not a breath of wind and no escape from the broiling sun.
1526 – Drop anchor in Puertecitos in three fathoms of water; air temperature 98 degrees and water temperature 98 degrees; engine hours 492.8; fuel 3/8 full. We went for a swim anyway … kind of like swimming in bathwater. Puertecitos is a small mostly American community that is pretty well closed up for the summer, as are most of the American patronized villages along the coast. But one friendly American soul, “Panama,” who had a house overlooking the anchorage gave us a hail on the VHF welcoming us to the harbor and offering to run us about in his truck should we need anything. In talking with other cruisers we first discovered than not many, if any, had headed north out of BLA and certainly not as far north as San Felipe; indeed, even the guidebooks give the cruising area little attention. Somehow though, they all knew that there were no anchorages and San Felipe would be a 30-hour run. As you’ve read though, on the trip from BLA to San Felipe we spent the night in lovely and for the most part fairly well protected anchorages and all easy day sails.

Saturday – September 6, 2008
0750 – Weigh anchor to catch the flood tide for San Felipe; temperature 100 degrees, humidity 70%, Barometric pressure is 28.30 pounds or 960 milibars. We hailed Panama to say good-bye. Just outside the harbor Julie notice a snake swimming, really skipping through the water. It was an odd thing to watch its silver skin reflecting the sunlight like a mirror, all the time with its head above the water (making good time, too). We watched for some time and as the snake disappeared in our wake. Julie radioed JAKE to be on the lookout for the snake in our wake (wouldn’t you just love it if this happened in a lake, just after a quake) and JAKE saw the snake. JAKE was reporting to us about the snake when a seagull swooped in to rake up the snake. Then another seagull, in mid-air, tried to take the snake away, but only got half, giving the poor snake a real ache.

Ode to the snake

Poor Mister snake
one morning did take
A swim between ITCHEN and JAKE

He got a real ache
when two seagulls did make
Him their breakfast … a fore and aft steak

1330 – A seal pup is swimming off our stern, sometimes coming up to the beam and then slipping back into our wake. Occasionally, he would pop-up take a quick look around and then duck just under the surface of the water and glide in the slipstream of the keel. We tried to feed him some smoke salmon, but he was totally disinterested.
1628 - Arrive San Felipe marina; engine hours 501.5. Into town with JAKE for dinner.