December 2012

Well as you can tell by my lack of updating our blog we have been stationary for quite some time now. It seems I just can't bring myself to bore people with our day to day lives (something that I am sure everyone can appreciate). We spent a year in Redwood City but upon notification of the closure of the marina we were staying at we decided to move outside the bay to Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay in order to finish out Amanda's school year in Redwood City. Many people were very upset by the closure of this Redwood City marina (Pete's Harbor) but Mark and I looked at it as a opportunity for new adventures. I must say the thought of loosing another marina in order to build a multi-story waterfront housing makes me sad but our hopes are that Redwood City will eventually realize this and they will make moves to encourage boating in this area in the future....for now money wins. Although we have only been in Pillar Point a few months we are really enjoying our time here. The people here are great and I love that this is a real fishing harbor. Mark has been busy crabbing and having a great time with it. It is also very refreshing to be back on the ocean. After spending the past 1+ years in a backwater slough it was really wonderful to see waves crashing once again. Our plans at this point are written in the sand at low tide but Amanda is looking to transfer to a university in the fall at which point we will probably spend a few months cruising the bay area and then possibly head south. The cold weather here at Half Moon Bay has me dreaming of the tropics so who knows maybe this is when great plans will be made for the future :)

update....it's about time!

Wow a lot has happened since the last posting I made on here.
We left Cabo San Lucas on the 8th of June for our 850 mile "bash" up the outside of the Baja. We had originally planned on leaving with better weather window since the 850 miles is notoriously a difficult uphill climb but with hurricane Adrian (the first hurricane of the season) predicted to track into the Sea of Cortez we decided to leave Cabo early and get as far from the track of the hurricane as possible. The "Baja Bash" lived up to it's name. It took us 8 days to get into San Diego after leaving Cabo which includes 2 nights that we spent on anchor at Bahia Santa Maria. We pulled into Turtle Bay to re-fuel and killed approximately 12 hours there before making a straight shot into the police docks in San Diego. It is really hard to describe what a difficult trip this was other than to say it was the most uncomfortable 8 days I have ever spent but in the end the sense of accomplishment was well worth the discomfort.
After spending about a month in San Diego licking our wounds, doing repairs on the boat (part of the staysail furler broke from all the pounding in big seas) and reconnecting with family and friends we started to make plans to make another 450 mile passage up to the San Francisco Bay area.
We were able to find a friend from Fiddler's Cove to help bring the boat up from San Diego to San Francisco which allowed Amanda and I to drive her car up. It took 60 hours from the time the boat left Fiddler's Cove marina to pass under the Golden Gate Bridge. From what I understand the seas where flat and they were able to motor at 7-8 knots for most of the trip. What a treat to get such a great weather window for this uphill leg.
As of today we are located in Redwood City which is considered the peninsula area of San Francisco Bay. We are staying at a great little marina by the name of Pete's Harbor which is very boater friendly and centrally located to everything (what a difference over Mexico). The weather here in Redwood City is amazing (I think it may actually be better than San Diego)and we are very happy to be here rather than spend another HOT summer in the tropics. Amanda will be going to school while we are in the bay area and we will be spending time exploring the area and planning future trips.

Isla Carmen and Agua Verde

Before returning to LaPaz we had a few more anchorages that we wanted to visit. We would have liked to visit all the anchorages but there simply were too many. You could easily spend years in the Sea of Cortez exploring the many anchorages.
The island of Isla Carmen was absolutely gorgeous and would have to be remembered as one of the most beautiful places we visited during our time here in the Sea of Cortez. We hiked from one side of the island to the other and even ran into a bighorn sheep. It was exciting to be able to get a few photos of this beautiful ram.
Agua Verde is a quaint little town. With beautiful clear blue/green water and a little fishing village that supplements their income by raising livestock (mostly goats). It was one of our favorite stops and a place that you could easily spend weeks exploring. The locals there were friendly and buying fresh made goat cheese was a special treat for us.

San Juanico and Isla Coronado

Leaving the safe harbor of Puerto Escondido we headed north approximately 40 miles to the lovely anchorage at San Juanico. San Juanico is the furthest north we will be going up the Sea of Cortez before heading back south in order to be in Cabo San Lucas on June 6th. We spent several days in San Juanico snorkeling, fishing, hiking and having a great time. San Juanico is home to a cruiser's shrine and we spent some time exploring the creative ways that cruiser's left there mark at this shrine. We even had to leave a little momentum of Chrokeva's trip to San Juanico. It was difficult to leave such a wonderful anchorage but there were many anchorages we wanted to explore on the way south so we finally pulled up anchor headed out.

Our next stop was Isla Coronado. This is a island located just east of Loreto and falls under The National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP). A special permit is needed to visit these areas and the cost of these permits help to maintain the beauty of these national parks. With Isla Coronado's beautiful turquoise blue water and beautiful white sand beaches it would be a hard place to pace by without stopping. We ended up hiking to the top of Isla Coronado which turned out to be a very challenging hike but the views from on top where just incredible.

Loreto Fest

We had a great time here at Loreto Fest 2011. Approx. 200 boats came into Puerto Escondido for several days of fun events, music, seminars and just a all around great time. If ever you get a chance to make it to Puerto Escondido for Loreto Fest in the future I would highly recommend it.
We took one day to head over to Loreto proper and tour this quaint little town and another day we spent hiking Steinbeck Canyon so I have added a few photos.

BACK IN THE SEA OF CORTEZ

The timing was finally perfect to leave Mazatlan to make the 180 mile crossing across the Sea of Cortez to Bahia del las Muertos so after a short anchor stop at Stone Island for a bottom cleaning (not something you want to do in the old harbor at Mazatlan) we were on our way. The passage could not have been more perfect as the wind blew southwest at 5-10 and the seas were flat. We made it to Muertos in 29 hours motor sailing which is the same amount of time it took for us to make the crossing going the other way back in December of 2009.
It was great getting back to Muertos as it had been one of our favorite stops on the Baja last we had been there. The dogs where anxious to get to shore after there 29 hour plus passage and honestly so were we. We had dinner at the little restaurant that we had gotten so familiar with last time we were there and spent a little time exploring Muertos before heading back to the boat. We left Muertos the next morning at approximately 6:30am heading for LaPaz. The trip through Ceralvo Channel was a easy one in contrast to the one we had made back in 2009 (one of the roughest passages I can remember). We decided to put off heading directly into LaPaz and stop for the night and anchor at Puerto Ballandra. It was a great decision as the anchorage is absolutely gorgeous with white sand beaches and beautiful scenery.
It is really amazing to see the blue water of the Sea of Cortez once again. It had been so long since I had seen truly clear water I guess I must have forgotten what it looked like because I was absolutely awestruck by it's beauty. At the same time it was odd to see the desert as we had been in the tropics for over a year and a half and it seemed odd to see cactus and desolate landscape once again. I can absolutely confirm that the old saying is true that when there is a desert on land there is a jungle underwater and when there is a jungle on land there is a desert underwater. The Sea of Cortez in truly a amazing place and we are really excited to be able to spend the next month and a half exploring all it has to offer.

Manzanillo to Mazatlan 2011

We left Manzanillo on March 30th which was almost a whole month after what we had originally planned. Amanda spent spring break with us which was great but once she had left to go back to San Diego we were anxious to get moving north. Although there was a prediction of strong NW winds and large swells we decided that things seemed benign enough to take a chance and start our long trip north into the Sea of Cortez for the spring. We figured that we could always stop at the anchorage in Tenacatita if the weather turned poor which was only 35 miles north of Manzanillo. By the time we reached the anchorage at Tenacatita the wind was building and the swells were getting large and nasty and since we were beating into the weather we decided to spend the night on anchor and head out the next morning and hopefully be able to make a straight shot to Mazatlan which was about 285 miles from the anchorage. We headed out of Tenacatita early on Thursday morning but we soon figured out that making a straight shot to Mazatlan was not going to happen on this day as both the wind and swells were getting even worse than the day before. We ended up tucking into Chamela which is another protected anchorage approx. 30 miles north of Tenacatita. There were quite a few boats there waiting out the weather for a chance to round Cabo Corrientes which is about 70 miles north of the anchorage at Chamela. It was nice to tuck into this protected anchorage but by about midnight the swell inside the anchorage got ugly enough to make sleep almost impossible. We had been told there would be good weather on Friday but not until later in the day. We decided to take a chance and leave first thing in the morning (7:15 am) figuring it could not be much worse than the anchorage had become and for a change we were right. The swells out in the ocean had flattened down and the wind stayed in the 10-15 knot range the entire day. We made the decision to go ahead and make a straight shot to Mazatlan rather than to stop at one of the many anchorages along the way. We passed Cabo Corrientes at approx. 5:00 PM on Wednesday and started to head off shore to make a straight line to Mazatlan. Unfortunately during the evening the motor started running hot and at about 5:00 AM the heat alarm went off so everything was shut down while Mark tried to figure out what the problem was. At this point we were approx. 125 miles from Cabo Corrientes and 125 miles from Mazatlan (basically the middle of nowhere). Within two hours Mark and figured out the problem (a clogged heat exchanger) and we were back on our way. The passage although extremely long could not have been better as far as weather was concerned. We motor sailed the entire distance averaging 6.5 to 7.5 knots and made it into the anchorage at old Mazatlan harbor just at dark on Saturday evening, approximately 36 hours after we left the last anchorage at Chamela.

The only thing that really stands out on this passage (other than breaking down) was that there were literally thousands of turtles out on the ocean. It actually got tricky trying to avoid hitting them there were so many. I spent much of my time snapping photos of them which provided for some entertainment on our long slow trek.

We plan to spend a few days here in Mazatlan waiting for a weather window to head across the Sea of Cortez which will probably be sometime mid week. We are really anxious to get back to the clear water in the Sea and look forward to spending the spring exploring places we have not yet seen.

how cool is this?

The view from the anchorage at Las Hadas was pretty amazing today. A couple of whales put on quite a show and I was able to snap this photo so thought I would share.

another day in paradise

We are sitting at anchor right now outside of Las Hadas resort in Manzanillo. We left Barra de Navidad on the 9th of January and after spending a little time in Santiago Bay we headed further south to Las Hadas which is where we plan to stay for the next few weeks. The anchorage here is nice and it is great to be able to use the wonderful facilities and dinghy dock for a small charge.
Amanda left us on the 12th to fly back to San Diego and we miss her a bunch already but have already made plans for her to fly to La Paz during spring break in March so we can't be too sad.
As it stands now our plans are to spend the next 4 weeks or so cruising the many beautiful anchorages located in the 100 mile stretch of mainland Mexico referred to as the Mexican Gold Coast. We then plan to head back north by the beginning of March to be in position to cross the Sea of Cortez. After that we will spend the entire spring up until June exploring the Sea of Cortez which is something we are very excited about.

Barra de Navidad

More photos from our stay at Barra de Navidad lagoon.

Puerto Vallarta to Barra de Navidad

We left the anchorage at LaCruz at approximately 8:00 pm on December 15th heading for Barra de Navidad (Christmas Bar) which is approx. 131 miles south of LaCruz. It was another all night passage but with Amanda aboard it seemed to fly by. The trip down was uneventful other than running into a pod of about 5 humpback whales approximately 50 yards off our port side. We have never been so close to these amazing animals and I have to say we were all a little awestruck. We also saw numerous sea turtles and that was a treat as well.

I am writing this update from the lagoon at Barra de Navidad. This is our first time here in Barra and I have to say we are all in love with it already. The lagoon is flat and there seems to be everything one can want or need readily available. The whole lagoon is lush and green so the scenery is amazing and the town is adorable...it should be a great place to spend Christmas! We even have a turkey that we bought in Mazatlan for Thanksgiving but never got to cook in the freezer so we plan to have some friends over on Christmas eve for a turkey dinner and then join the rest of the cruisers for the potluck on Christmas day.

Mazatlan to Puerto Vallarta

It took a bit longer than we had expected to pull off the dock at Marina Mazatlan but boy it sure feels good to be moving once again. We installed our new strong track sail system (what a wonderful product) and left our cozy little slip on Dock 5 at approx. 7:00 am on December 3rd. Since we were leaving so late and Amanda is due to fly into Puerto Vallarta on the December 12th we decided not to stop at any of the anchorages along the way but instead sail directly from Mazatlan to Banderas Bay. Last year we had stopped at Mantanchen Bay on the way to PV and got held up for almost 5 days waiting for some bad weather to pass through and we did not want to risk the same thing happening this year.
It is approximately 180 miles south from the marina in Mazatlan to the anchorage at LaCruz (near PV) which is a long passage especially considering we were short one crew member (Amanda). We were both exhausted by the time we dropped the anchor the following day and the dogs were really anxious to get to shore but in the end it is nice to be here and have that long passage out of the way.
All of our new systems worked flawlessly except we did have a small problem in that it seems our depth finder is not working correctly (probably due to the lightning hit we had back in July) so that will need to be dealt with in the near future.
It was nice having our new and improved radar especially since there was no moon at all the night of our passage and the radar was our eyes in the dark. Our new W-H autopilot works as good if not better than the ones we lost this past summer and we both really love the new VHF with integrated AIS (Automatic Identification System) that lets us know via our VHF when there are big ships out there. We only picked up one ship on the AIS leaving Mazatlan (the Ferry) and two cruise ships once we got into Banderas Bay but unfortunately the thousands of fishing pangas and hundreds of shrimping boats do not show up on AIS so the radar was the star of the evening for us.
I almost forgot to mention that on the day we left we were followed, hailed and questioned by the Mexican Navy. They had been circling off in the distance in a ship of approximately 120' for a hour or more before they decided to come along side of us and hail us. Since there English was very poor and our Spanish not so hot it was a bit frustrating but in the end we communicated the best we could and they left with the simple statement to let them know if they could be any help. I think the Mexican Navy is trying to show a presence out in there waters and that is what prompted there interest in us. It is nice to see them taking a bit of control in there waters and they were very polite so as the saying goes.....no problemo.

THE START OF CRUISING SEASON

It is officially the end of hurricane season here in Mexico and we are almost ready to cast off our dock lines here at Marina Mazatlan for another year of cruising....it sure feels great!
It is amazing how many part time cruisers have shown up here at the marina over the past two weeks. The morning net has almost 40 boats checking in as of today and everyday that number is growing. After a quite summer with only 4 or 5 boats that were occupied it really is a bit overwhelming at times....a sure sign it is time to get back out on anchor where life is a bit slower.
The weather for the past 4-6 weeks has been amazing. Low to mid 80's everyday with warm ocean breezes and mid 60's at night for perfect sleeping weather. We have unhooked the ACs as there is no need for them and our days have been spent outside installing the new systems and detailing the boat which is no small job but well worth the effort as the boat is looking great. We have saved quite a bit of money doing the work ourselves so that is a added bonus.
It is nice to see Chrokeva coming back to cruising shape. She now has her sails back on and everything seems to be working perfectly so with any luck we will be leaving Marina Mazatlan sometime between the 10th and 15th of this month where we will be on anchor at the Old Harbor waiting for our good friends Rob and Kat to come down from San Diego. Besides being excited to see them they are bringing with them a new sail track for Chrokeva which we will try to install before leaving Mazatlan (it should make pulling up and dropping the main much easier).
Well as Captain Ron says...."if anything is going to happen it is going to happen out there"....so more on our progress later.

FABRICATION OF BOAT PARTS IN MEXICO

There is no doubt in our mind after spending the past year here in Mexico that one thing that makes life difficult on a boat here is the fact that parts coming from the U.S. or other countries are extremely difficult and expensive to get here in Mexico. Import fees here are extremely high and it is normal for items to get caught in customs when shipping for weeks or even months. Anyone coming into Mexico on a boat should carry as many spare parts as possible with them that much is clear.
Having said that I will also say that Mexico does a incredible job in the fabrication of parts and the stainless steel work done here in Mazatlan is beautiful and inexpensive.
Below are a few parts that we had fabricated here in Mazatlan. The first is a double belted pulley for our alternator. The pulley was not available in the U.S. or anywhere for that matter since they do not make a double belted pulley for a over-sized alternator that is spaced for the Ford Lehman. We brought in the double belted pulley that was on the boat (although never hooked up as a double belt due to the sizing issue) and a few days later we had a brand new steel double belted pulley for our engine...the cost $45.00 U.S.
The second item we had fabricated was a stainless steel exhaust elbow for our Northern Lights Generator. As you can see by the photos the old cast iron exhaust elbow was in very bad shape. We had gotten pricing for a new elbow in cast iron in the U.S. and the cost was about $350.00. We were so busy getting replacement parts from the lightning strike when we were back in the U.S. that we forgot to order it so when we arrived back in Mazatlan we took the old one off and had a new one fabricated out of stainless steel (which is much better than cast iron). The cost to have a new stainless steel elbow made from scratch here in Mexico $250.00.
We also had to have our stainless steel radar mount customized with a new foot print for our new radome since the new one would not fit the old mount. The cost for this stainless steel fabrication was $40.00.
I challenge anyone to have these jobs done in the U.S. as quickly or as inexpensively as here in Mexico.

Los Osuna......Agave Azul Distillery

We decided to make a trip to the Blue Agave Distillery of Los Osuna with our friends John and Rosie from the mv Serena Ray. Los Osuna is located approx. 30 miles outside of Mazatlan, within the state of Sinaloa. Los Osuna is a family owned operation that has been producing their tequila for over 134 years. The ranch has been in the Osuna family for over 200 years so there is quite a colorful history behind this distillery as you can imagine.

It was really interesting to see how they produce this extremely tasty tequila. They even still use underground brick ovens to roast the agave bulbs. After the tour we had a tasting of Los Osuna Reposado and I have to say that although I have never been a big fan of tequila this was without a doubt the best tequila I have ever tasted. If all tequila was this good I am sure I would be drinking a lot more tequila than I currently do. We did bring a bottle back to Chrokeva and since it seems the only place you can purchase Los Osuna is in Mazatlan (due to export taxes) we may have to pick up another bottle before leaving.