back in Mazatlan

Well me made it back to Mazatlan without incident. The border crossing was incredibly easy and although the drive was long it was uneventful. It really did feel good to be back where life moves slower and does not seem quite as hectic as it does in the United States. Life here in Mexico seems to be focused on fun and family (in that order) and I have to say it is refreshing.
We are now looking forward to next cruising season and although we have our hands full with repairs on Chrokeva we know in just a short time we will be leaving Mazatlan and heading south towards new adventures. We would like to be in Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo for Christmas which is approx. 500 miles south of Mazatlan (our current location (23º 16.0’ N 106º 29.0’ W to be exact). Hurricane season ends on November 1st so that would give us a little over 1 month to make our way to Z-Town (as the cruisers call it) for Christmas. We are hoping to have some old friends from San Diego join us for the way down the coast. For now we will keep a weather eye on the horizon.

August 2010

We spent the entire month of August visiting friends and family in San Diego and Arizona. It was really nice to get away from the heat of Mazatlan for the month of August which is known as one of the hottest months of the year. Although I have to say that San Diego was just downright cold in our opinion in comparison, Arizona was much closer in weather to what we have become accustom to over the past year (minus the extreme humidity). We made time to do some sightseeing in Arizona and even made a trip to the Grand Canyon....what a sight! Arizona truly is a beautiful state.
Amanda started school at Prescott College while we were there and while we are going to miss her incredibly we know that this is a great opportunity. We made her promise to spend her Christmas break with us in Mexico and said our goodbyes (at least for now).
We are now heading back to Mazatlan with a car full of boat parts with plans to start on the lengthy task of putting Chrokeva back to pre-lightning shape. It is amazing that we were able to fit all the items that we purchased in the US in this very small mexican rental car but somehow we did it so now all that is left is the work.
Purchasing the replacement parts for Chrokeva was no small task but I feel confident that she will be as good or better than before the strike. Our plan is to wait until the risk of lightning is over before installing the new electronics (a smart move in our opinion). There is still plenty to do over the next few months while we sit out hurricane season and try to stay cool in the hot mexican tropics.

HIT BY LIGHTNING!

Well the thing I feared most (besides a category 5 hurricane) actually happened to us on July 16th at approx 3:15 AM. It was a very stormy night with lightning and winds up to about 45 knots. Everyone was awake and Mark and been on deck most of the night trying to hold the canvas covers from blowing away. Unfortunately, we had no warning that weather was coming so it was a total surprise...not that knowing would have kept us from taking a strike but we would have been a little more prepared.
At approx. 3:15 we heard a very loud noise that sounded like a cannon and saw a bright white flash. I knew right away something was not right and yelled out to Mark asking if we had been hit. He went out on deck just in time to see the anchor/strobe light and VHF antenna come crashing down from the top of the mast to the deck....which was confirmation that we indeed did take a hit at the top of the mast. After that the night was a blur.
The list of damaged items so far are as follows:
o VHF Radio and Antenna
o 2 Battery Charges and Monitors
o 2 W-H Autopilots
o Raytheon Chartploter
o Windex wind/direction indicator
o Raytheon Radar and Radome
o Knot Meter
o all electricity to the mast (dead)
o Anchor/Strobe Light
People keep telling us we are lucky that it did not punch a hole in the boat but we do not feel very lucky. Still I suppose we need to count our blessings.
We had hoped not to have to put in a insurance claim but at this point it seems that we will not have a choice as there are some big ticket items that were damaged. It should be interesting trying to repair the boat from Mexico so I will update on how things go on the repairs.

El Quelite

It was nice to rent a car and take a road trip to the quaint town of El Quelite this past week. Out of all the towns we have been to in Mexico I have to say that El Quelite is the most beautiful and pristine. Every home in this little Mexican town is painted a different color and the town square which is a trademark of any Mexican village has the most gorgeous and incredibly maintained garden. After walking around the village of El Quelite we had a wonderful lunch at a local cantina. The food was not only great but the cantina seemed to be more like a museum than a restaurant.
It is now mid July and although we had expected the weather to be almost unbearable, much to our surprise, it has for the most part been only in the upper 80's which has been very comfortable. The marina here is extremely dead but the town is still very much alive with activity (minus most of the gringos).
In another few weeks we will be leaving the boat and Mazatlan to return to the states for the entire month of August. During this month we plan to get Amanda set up in Prescott to start her new life as a college student. It will seem strange to leave the boat alone for such a long time but we will hire someone to look after the boat and keep our fingers crossed that no hurricanes hit Mazatlan while we are away.

Mazatlan - June 2010

We are all tucked into our slip safe and sound on dock 5 at Marina Mazatlan. We have started to pull down our head sails in preparation for hurricane season. I am surprised by how dead things have gotten over the past month. It seems that most cruisers are really only cruising part time and head back to there home country in the hot summer months. There are alot of the full time cruisers that head up into the Sea of Cortez for the summer to continue cruising in the hot months but with our pending 1 month trip back to the states in August we are left to put a boat in a marina which reminds me of a graveyard this time of year.
It is a good time to get projects done so we have started on several already. Last week we had the leather settee in the salon reconditioned by a leather factory here in Mazatlan (see before and after photos below). They did a great job and the price was very reasonable so we decided to let them recover the settee in the master cabin as the upholstery is original with the boat. We are also working on the forward head as it has been more of a closet to Amanda over the past 4 years and with her heading back to school in August it seems that we could use another head rather than a closet.
We also made time to do some volunteer work at the local church last week. We met at the church in the morning and a group of about 8 of us made approximately 300 sandwiches that we delivered to the local dump in Mazatlan where hundreds of people work everyday digging through miles of trash looking for anything of value to sell in order to feed there families. I have to say it is a very eye opening experience to see how people live and to realize how much we as Americans have (even our very poor cannot compare). My heart especially hurt for the children and it is not something any of us will soon forget.
Amanda has been taking on line classes at the college and is busy with that for a good part of every day. She has decided to go into the nursing field so the prerequisites should keep her busy for quite awhile.

finally a update

I know it has been quite awhile since I have updated this blog but it seems here in Mexico putting things off until "manana" is par for the course and I have fallen victim to this thought process as well.
Last I wrote we were enjoying our time in Manzanillo and so I will start where I left off. We spent over a month at the anchorage in Las Hadas enjoying the hospitality of the hotel as well as having some great times with fellow cruisers. We really enjoyed the little town of Santiago which was within walking distance of the anchorage and it will be remembered as one of our favorite places while in Mexico.
We decided it was finally time to leave Manzanillo and so we headed back north to Marina La Cruz in Banderas Bay where Mark made a quick day and a half trip back to the states to renew his tourist visa. Unfortunately we could not travel together because of the dogs so Amanda and I ended up flying into Tijuana a week after Mark returned where we crossed the border and spent three weeks visiting friends and family and checking out possible schools for Amanda (more on that later).
While Amanda and I where off having a great time in California and Arizona Mark decided to move Chrokeva from La Cruz back to Mazatlan. He was fortunate in that we ran into some old friends from the sailing vessel Yah Tah Hey in Puerto Vallarta (Warren and Nancy) and Warren agreed to be crew for the trip back to Mazatlan. The entire passage was approx 160 miles and from what I hear was basically uneventful (always a good thing). That brings us up to date as Amanda and I have just arrived back to Mazatlan a few days ago and we are currently anchored at Stone Island which is a great little anchorage just outside of Mazatlan. Our plans for summer hurricane season change on almost a daily basis but as the saying goes "cruisers plans are written in the sand at low tide". As it looks now we will be spending hurricane season in Marina Mazatlan. The summer rates at Marina Mazatlan are great and although Mazatlan seems to get hit often with hurricanes the marina is situated far back into a estuary and we will be tucked in as far as possible so we feel confident it will be a safe hurricane hole. We had seriously considered going back into the Sea of Cortez for the summer but finding a place to put the boat in the Sea during the summer seems almost impossible and with a trip back to the states pending in August and the fact that we really want to do some inland travel here in Mexico over the summer Mazatlan seems to be a logical decision for us.

the Mexican Gold Coast

Life is really great here in the anchorage at Las Hadas. We have been enjoying the great amenities at the hotel and the anchorage is friendly and flat (what more can we ask for). Jasmine is doing great and we are all thankful for that.
Our thoughts over the past week have been on where we are going to be for hurricane season (June thru October). We have seriously been considering heading to El Salvador which is out of the hurricane zone but rain and lightning will be a concern there. Puerto Vallarta is on the top of the list as it is considered a very good hurricane hole here in Mexico and recently we have been considering Barra De Navidad as it is very close to where we are now so we would be in a good position to jump off to points south at the beginning of next season and the rates at the beautiful marina there are very competitive. More on our decision later when we actually know what we are going to do, for now we are just enjoying the perfect weather of the Mexican Gold Coast and all the rest it has to offer.

the trials and tribulations of having dogs aboard

I don't know what we were thinking when we decided to go cruising with our two dogs Jasmine and Dancer aboard but clearly we did not foresee everything that could happen or we would never have brought them. As much as we love our dogs they do seem to make almost everything more difficult. Getting them to shore to go to the bathroom can be extremely dangerous in large surf, we are unable to go to many places (like the South Pacific) because of tough quarantine laws and we now realize that keeping them healthy in a foreign country can be a challenge all in its own.

To be fair I have to say it has been a rather hectic week as Jasmine our little 11 year old pug got very sick after leaving La Cruz. After a few days of trying to figure out what was going on with her we came to the conclusion it was Pyometra which is a very serious infection of the uterus common in older unspayed female dogs. We knew her chances of making it were not good without immediate veterinarian help so we were off to find a vet in the little town of Chamala. It was over a hour each way by taxi to get her to a large animal vet who of course spoke no English so Amanda did her best to explain Jasmine's symptoms in Spanish. He gave her a shot of antibiotics and sent us back to the boat with antibiotics and instructions to give her a shot every morning for the next several days. We left Chamala early the next morning heading for Tenacatita. Unfortunately the antibiotics did not help at all and the muscle shots we gave her made her unable to stand up so she just laid there..... clearly she was in very bad shape. I started to realize we may loose her if we did not get help very soon so we left the anchorage of Tenacatita after only one night, passed up Barra Navidad completely and headed to the large city of Manzanillo to try and find another vet who was perhaps more familiar with what was going on with her. We anchored at place called Las Hadas and within a few hours of arriving found out from local cruisers that there were several very good vets in the area. First thing in the morning we took a taxi to a local vet (again no English spoken) and he gave us some new oral antibiotics, vitamins, pain pills for her hips and laxatives.

The good news is that we have now been here in Las Hadas for about a week and Jasmine seems to be getting better everyday. She still has a few issues and we are scheduled to go back to the vet for follow-up in a few more days but for now things are looking up for our little friend.

Isla Isabella/San Blas/Matanchan Bay/Chacala

We arrived at Isla Isabella first thing in the morning after motor sailing all night and realized right away that we were in a different world than we had been in Mazatlan. The whales were so numerous that it seemed every direction we looked we saw water spouts and whales breaching. The wildlife at Isabella is truly amazing. Once at Isabella we ended up anchoring near the Monas (the mannequins in Spanish) two large pinnacle shaped rocks for only a very short time as there was a report of possible strong winds and the protection there is not very good. After spending awhile in awe watching the whale activity we sailed another 35 miles east to San Blas which is the town that the famous poem written by H.W. Longfellow "The Bells of San Blas" was written about.....

What say the Bells of San Blas
To the ships that southward pass
From the harbor of Mazatlan?
To them it is nothing more
Than the sound of surf on the shore,--
Nothing more to master or man.

But to me, a dreamer of dreams,
To whom what is and what seems
Are often one and the same,--
The Bells of San Blas to me
Have a strange, wild melody,
And are something more than a name.

For bells are the voice of the church;
They have tones that touch and search
The hearts of young and old;
One sound to all, yet each
Lends a meaning to their speech,
And the meaning is manifold.

They are a voice of the Past,
Of an age that is fading fast,
Of a power austere and grand,
When the flag of Spain unfurled
Its folds o'er this western world,
And the Priest was lord of the land.

The chapel that once looked down
On the little seaport town
Has crumbled into the dust;
And on oaken beams below
The bells swing to and fro,
And are green with mould and rust.

"Is, then, the old faith dead,"
They say, "and in its stead
Is some new faith proclaimed,
That we are forced to remain
Naked to sun and rain,
Unsheltered and ashamed?

"Once, in our tower aloof,
We rang over wall and roof
Our warnings and our complaints;
And round about us there
The white doves filled the air,
Like the white souls of the saints.

"The saints! Ah, have they grown
Forgetful of their own?
Are they asleep, or dead,
That open to the sky
Their ruined Missions lie,
No longer tenanted?

"Oh, bring us back once more
The vanished days of yore,
When the world with faith was filled;
Bring back the fervid zeal,
The hearts of fire and steel,
The hands that believe and build.

"Then from our tower again
We will send over land and main
Our voices of command,
Like exiled kings who return
To their thrones, and the people learn
That the Priest is lord of the land!"

O Bells of San Blas in vain
Ye call back the Past again;
The Past is deaf to your prayer!
Out of the shadows of night
The world rolls into light;
It is daybreak everywhere.

We attempted to enter the estuary at San Blas but after seeing the depth meter hit 8.5 feet in the channel decided to back out (a rather scary event) and head over to the nearby anchorage of Mantanchan Bay. Mantanchan is a very large shallow bay with good holding and protection from the northwest. It was easy to take a bus from Mantanchan to San Blas for 6 pesos and the famous San Blas Jungle Tour was only a few blocks from the anchorage. The only bad thing about Mantanchan and San Blas was the man eating bugs that seemed to come out in droves anytime the wind died down (which was every afternoon). All in all it was a lovely little town but after 5 days we were definitely ready to head out before the bugs did anymore damage.

After leaving San Blas we headed over the Chacala. Chacala is a amazingly beautiful place with gorgeous sandy beaches and palapas dotting the beach. Unfortunately the anchorage was very Roley due to some big swells so we only spent one night but look forward to spending more time there in the near future.

Right now we are sitting at anchor at La Cruz in Banderas Bay. Our plans for the next few days are to provision, tie up a few loose ends and head out within the week for the Mexican Gold Coast.

SOUTHBOUND AGAIN

After exactly 3 weeks to the day in the Singlar boat yard we are finally ready to go back in the water. We should be back in the water by 10:00 Wednesday morning and heading south once again. I think everyone is more excited to be back in the water after our long stay at the boat yard than we were when we left San Diego heading to Cabo.

The boat looks great and although it was a fairly large expense we hope not to have to haul out again for another 3 or 4 years. I have to say that I may actually miss the orange boot stripe but new blue looks great and more importantly the boot stripe should be out of the water now (at least until we find more stuff to put on board).

Bob Buchanan and all the crew at Total Yacht Works did a outstanding job. I have to say that we really appreciated that there were no surprises and we were kept informed when anything extra did come up. They are a top notch boat yard and I would suggest anyone coming to the Mazatlan are and in need of a haul out to check them out.

CARNAVAL MAZATLAN 2010

Carnaval 2010 in Mazatlan was really something to experience. I can't imagine that there are any people that know how to party as well as the Mexicans here in Mazatlan. Saturday night we headed downtown to enjoy the dance and burning of bad humor and what a celebration! On Sunday we attended the main parade which is the highlight of Carnaval and as hard as it is to believe I think there were more people than the night before.

We are still in the boat yard with the promise of being back in the water Wednesday morning. If all goes well we will be heading south on Wednesday with our sites on some quite anchorages where we can unwind after all of the festivities of Carnaval.

will it ever end?!?!

We are now on week two of our haul out/bottom job. The boat is finally almost ready for the first of two coats of barrier coat. We have had 3 people working on the boat non-stop sanding, stripping and filling the thousands of little pin holes in the hull in order to prep the hull for its new bottom paint. As you can see from the photos below they have marked off the new boot stripe with blue tape. We will be raising the boot stripe approximately 4 inches (a common thing to do once you start cruising full time).

Living life in the boatyard continues to be challenging but we are getting use to going up and down the ladder several million times a day. The boat is constantly dirty and dusty and the sanding that goes on basically all day can get on your nerves but it is nice having electric whenever we want without turning on the generator and the showers really are nice as well.

The start of carnival is coming up in just a few days so the town is really starting to bust at the seams. Mazatlan has the second largest carnival in the world (actually larger than New Orleans) so it should be quite the party. We are not sure if we will be back in the water by the start of carnival but either way we will be here for the festivities.

Haul Out/Bottom Job in Mazatlan

After a few reschedules with Singlar boat yard we finally hauled Chrokeva from the water on January 27th 2010 for the 1st bottom job that we have had since purchasing Chrokeva over 4 years ago. It was a bit of a nerve wracking experience due to the fact that the haul out is located in a very tight channel with several obstacles and the added discomfort of knowing these full keeled boats back up poorly needless to say anxiety was high. In the end the haul out went without a hitch and not so much as a scratch put on the boat.

We decided to employ Bob Buchanan with Total Yacht Works to oversee the bottom job as we have heard so many positive things about both Bob and Total Yacht Works. We had planned to just have the bottom painted and the waterline raised but we soon found out once the boat was out of the water that we will not be able to paint directly over the old paint as it is starting to fail so the decision was made to remove the old red bottom paint (a much bigger and more costly job) and put another coat of barrier coat on it and then re-paint the hull with black Trindad SR. We also decided to change the color of the boot stripe (now a really funky orange) and possible re-paint the blue hull stripe as it is really starting to show its age. The other things that are on the list for this haul out is an out is a out of water survey for insurance purposes, change the cutless bearing, do some gel coat repair and possibly do a stainless steel repair the bow pulpit. There may be other things added once the survey is done but for now things look good.

We will be living on the boat while it is up on stilts in the yard and I have to say that is quite a experience in itself. We all must climb a very tall ladder several times a day and the dogs must be carried up and down to go potty. One thing we realized right away is that it is quite a bit hotter being on a boat out of the water. The fans are going all day and night and it still seems almost unbearably hot inside. The good news is that the boat yard is absolutely immaculate. The restrooms and showers are great and the people are friendly and professional. We should be out of the water and living aboard for the next week (give or take a few days).

Just another day in paradise

It is January 3rd today and we are finishing up another project on the boat (a little modification to the starboard berth. I will be varnishing for the next few days but the weather is perfect for it (80 degrees as usual).

We have been having a great time here in old Mazatlan. We went over to the El Cid Marina a few days ago to check out the local iguanas that roam around the grounds. Amanda really liked her new green friend but seemed opposed to letting him move into her room with her.

Merry Christmas

We wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and let all of our friends and family that we love them and miss them very much.
Merry Christmas!

.....so this is mainland Mexico

We really have been enjoying ourselves here in Mazatlan. Anchored in the old harbor we are located away from the tourist spots and marinas of Mazatlan. We have been taking the bus, shopping in the open air market and eating with the locals which is without a doubt a much richer experience than being with all the other gringos in the resort areas of Mexico. Once away from the tourist spots you stop looking like a walking, talking money tree and the locals start treating you like a person...not really unlike being in any tourist spot in the U.S. I suppose.

The food here is quite a bit cheaper than on the Baja side of Mexico and the fresh fruit and vegetables are amazing. Since Mazatlan has the largest shrimping fleet in the world we have taken it upon ourselves to gorge ourselves on fresh shrimp almost daily....it is a tough life but hey someone has to do it :). We have gotten pretty good at cooking both coconut and garlic butter shrimp.

Before leaving the states we were warned over and over about how dangerous and violent Mexico was but I have to say after visiting various ports over the past few months I believe that this is the biggest misstatement of facts that I have heard in a very long time. Most of the people we have run into here are unbelievably warm and friendly and there dedication to family is touching. Religion plays a big part in the culture here and is evident in about every place you go in Mexico. It really is a wonderful culture and it seems ashame that there is such a misguided view of how things are in Mexico by many in the U.S.

Baja Mexico to Mainland Mexico

After taking care of our business we left LaPaz last week and headed over to Isla Espiritu Santos and Isla Partida for a few days of R&R. The islands in the Sea of Cortez are amazing! The water is so clear it is like a hugh aquarium and the terrain is stunning. The photos we took really do not do it justice but we thought we would post a few anyway.

Leaving the islands we headed south to Muertos once again to make our crossing from the Baja side of Mexico to mainland Mexico. We were able to buddy boat with our friends Ken and Lori from the beautiful sailboat Trim. The crossing was approx. 200 miles across the sea of cortez. The weather was great....10-15 knots from the north/northwest and swells of 2-4 from the north at approx. 6 seconds. It was the best sailing we had since leaving San Diego. We even had a little bit of excitement when Mark hooked a 5 foot marlin, with all the sails up it turned out to be quite a fight pulling it in. We arrived in Mazatlan 26 hours after leaving Muertos a bit tired from the crossing but none the worse for wear.

Currently we are anchored in the municipal anchorage located in old town Mazatlan. We will post more about this lovely town as we get to know more about it.

La Paz.....part two

It has been awhile since I updated the blog. We spent the Thanksgiving holiday with other cruisers here in La Paz. It was very nice but we really missed our friends and family.

We are still in Marina Palmira in La Paz. We had planned to head over to Isle Espirito Santos and Isle Partida right after Thanksgiving but due to a mess up with Mark's government pension we were forced to stay here a little longer to try to resolve the problem. As some of you know making phone calls to the states from Skype can be a frustrating thing and trying to talk to a government agency over Skype is as you can imagine almost impossible. We should have word by tomorrow if everything is resolved and if so we will be leaving in the morning.

Our past few weeks here have been spent getting to know La Paz and the people. We even made it over to the Anthropology Museum (something Amanda had on the top of her to do list while we are here.

La Paz

We made it to La Paz late Tuesday and are currently tucked into a slip at Marina Palmira where we plan to stay until after the Thanksgiving holiday. This is the first time in many months that we have been at a slip and it felt great to be able to wash Chrokeva down with fresh water. I was so excited to see the boat clean again I even decided to post a few photos on the blog although it would have been much more impressive if I had before/after photos :)

The crossing from Muertos to La Paz was one of the roughest I can remember as the seas were still very confused and steep due to the norther that was passing through. The boat did great but the crew of Chrokeva (including Jasmine and Dancer) were pretty shaken up by the end of the day. Mark hand steered almost the entire day to try to keep us from getting too beat up. Needless to say we all slept very well Tuesday evening.

The boating community is very active here and everyone is extremely helpful. There seems to be alot of boats that end up staying for many years after arriving in La Paz but we have alot of world we want to see so that will not be us. Right now we plan to leave the La Paz area heading for Mazatlan around the next full moon (December 2nd).

Los Muertos (part two)

We are waiting for our first norther here in the Sea of Cortez in Los Muertos. It seems whenever Southern California gets a Santa Ana condition the Sea of Cortez gets a norther. The last weather report said it should be coming in by tomorrow and lasting through Monday so we are planning right now to leave Muertos for La Paz on Tuesday (two days before Thanksgiving). We are expecting 40+ knots of winds and it seems our new anchor will get to start paying for itself finally.
We hope to be settled in in La Paz by Thanksgiving as we here there is a hugh pot luck with the cruisers there. I provisioned the boat with a large turkey breast before leaving the states so we should be set no matter what.
In the mean time we really are enjoying this little cove. Yesterday we walked down the beach and came across this beautiful resort (Gran Suenos). Amazing is the only word that can describe this resort. Everyone was so friendly and invited all the cruisers over to use the pool and restaurant facilities and enjoy this beautiful resort.