Passage to Puerto Vallarta and a Merry Christmas welcome

Our passage from La Paz to Puerto Vallarta over December 22 to Dec 24th was uneventful as to emergencies but full of life alternatively. Larry and I did not have set shifts to be on watch but tried all different time frames from 2 hours to 6 hours each. Funny how everything happened during my watch! I first saw humpback whales then a flying marlin. Later that night a flying fish came out of the water and hit Larry's leg as he spoke to me. When he went to bed, another came flying into the cockpit and I had to pick up the cute little slimy thing and throw him back into the sea, all the while, the boat rocking back and forth in 14 knots of wind and we were rolling at 7 to 9 knots downhill to PV.  Crazy you say? Yes, the word "insane" crossed my mind many times but to you savvy sailors, all in a days work!

I am on the 5:30 to 11:30pm shift and I see dolphins, flopping flying rays and the persistent blue footed booby that wants to land on our solar panels and get a free ride..... I push him off five times with our extendable boat hook while double checking my tether....my harness is connected to the boat so I do not fall off at night. Once, while extracting the boat hook from the bimini, a large flying bug or bat flies at me and I scream, of course, and then take the boat hook to my own back where he landed. Do all this without shreeking and waking your husband! My self control is improving!

Larry, bless is soul, took the midnight to "when I wake up" shift. I was fortunate to wake up for this sunrise. And by the way, we did not realize it until Rocky barked at them on his morning stroll, we were invaded by flying squid. Thank God, not the Humboldt variety. See two of the little guys above. The one on the trampoline had a death grip on it.....the one on the cabin top had a half eaten fish in his tentacles......squid ink everywhere.....life is brutal..

After 49 hours of prepared meals, bumpy waves, nights, days, naps and watches....we arrive.
We were welcomed by breaching Humpback whales in Banderas Bay just moments ago! What a treat!

Majestic animals. Merry Christmas to all of you.

My captain and the Kiwi

See my captain and the best Kiwi ever, Terry, from Sea Raven! (Sorry Simon, you are now second favorite Kiwi!)

We worked our back ends off, ground those winches and lines until we were out of breath....but we did really well.

Here is our team with me on the camera:

See you in Puerta Vallarta!

Rocky has a play date! Two hotties!

Rocky has two girlfriends---or so I tease him. Here are Misty and Missy that he was fortunate to play with on the dock the other day.

Thanks to Gina from SV Sweet Dreams and Beth Ann Mathews from SV Resilience for the great photo! The pup on the left is a Schipperke which is related to the Eskie (Rocky).

La Paz--Art in the ciudad

Take a look at the great art along the malecon and a square nearby. Wonderful....

This one is my favorite.

We leave to dock here at Marina de la Paz having completed all maintenance! Will anchor out for a day or two, then the islands, then to Puerta Vallarta sometime around the 26th or so. Back on sailmail account once we head to the islands. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all....

Valeros de Baja Regatta

Larry, the obsessed sailboat racer, delayed our departure from La Paz in order to participate in the local cruiser's regatta held here in La Paz Bay.

On board were Beth, Larry and Rocky with our SECRET WEAPON, Terry from Sea Raven, a Kiwi and EXCELLENT crew. It was a flawless race and we are waiting to hear the results. We were second to cross the line behind the beauty mentioned below, Kiapa.

Sun Baby, above, just after the start. Larry had us unfurl the screecher (a kite, a flying sail like a spinakker) right at the start line which pushed us out front. This is a large flat sail used for light air. A key tool for the lighter Baja breezes. Larry LOVES it.

See the pre race video for our friends Lionel and Irene on Kiapa. Terrific people and spectacular yacht. They rated her -250 initially but in the race list was rated -150. We were rated 135. Keeley our little race boat is 81. Cats are fast!

Kiapa, a Morrelli and Melvin Gun Boat design. 

Here is the race start. We have ALL kinds of boats. Notice the little red one. He may, with his rating, adjust out and beat us all!

Kiapa started behind all. Take a look at her threading the needle below!

Our race committee S/C Commodore Fred Delaney and Al from Tuna Tamer.

Sailing vessel Scaramouche, the fastest monohull. So far, with provisional results, over the line it was 

1 - Kiapa

2 - Sun Baby

3 - Scaramouche

Additional photos taken by S/C Commodore Fred Delaney who was helping with race committee.

Just after the start, approaching the first mark.

Mark rounding number 1.

Heading up wind.

Just after the finish, sailing down bay to marina.

Tales of whales

 Here is a series of three or four photos of a blue whale in San Jose Channel a few days after the encounter told below.

Many stories we collected along the way this summer made their way to emails to my parents but not to everyone. Here is a story from around October.

Today was the planned day to head out of Conception Bay and down to Caleta San Juanico, about 52 miles. We would have gone a day earlier but the winds today are from the north which helped us most of the way. It was quite bumpy for quite a while and Larry was nervous about me being happy. The conditions were nothing for him but he does not like to push me too far.

He gave me the opportunity to return to our calm cove at Santispac in Conception Bay.  Glad we kept going. It was uncomfortable for about three or four of the eight hours it took to get here. Fortunately we had following seas.  We had to tack many times on the way down and where able to sail most of the way.

Due to the wind angle, upon arriving we had to tack out away from the anchorage and not just go straight in. I said, "just start the engine and let's go right in". His comment, "harumph!" At Larry's request we sailed into San Juanico so all anchored could see our glorious sails flying.

The "just start and engine" comment was first uttered by my nephew John Michael when he was six years of age. We took him and his brother on a little Capri 22 on San Diego Bay. Larry was trying to go faster by adjusting the sails and JohnMichael says "Uncle Larry, just start the engine!"

Upon entering the Caleta San Juanico we saw a Blue Whale spout not far from the port hull in front  of the boat. Larry was struggling to see it and asked me to go forward to have a look. Due to
the sun angle we could see nothing. The last thing I wanted after eight hours of bumpy sailing was
a whale strike.

I hollered, "Start an engine!" So Larry started an engine and a half a second later a young 20 to 30 foot blue whale popped up in front of our starboard hull for air and head out of our way immediately.

Amazing. Beautiful. He/she put the peddle to the metal and swam from
our path. Sorry little guy....just did not want to hit you.

Setting Moon over La Paz

Larry called me out to see the setting moon. This was at about 6:30 am from Sun Baby in Marina de la Paz.

Moon set over the Magote from Marina de la Paz.

We should be heading out Dec 15th for a couple days in the islands then off to Puerta Vallarta.

First video of Caleta San Juanico

Too late in the voyage I realized that my Ipad takes videos. Here we are at anchor in San Juanico. This is a sunset view looking out to the Sea of Cortez.

I just noticed all the typos in my last blog. Never rush writing and post.....they should be fixed now. :-(.

Larry and I will review some of other videos and post if interesting. Many are of mountains as we pass them by on a passage. Some will think it magnificent, others like watching paint dry!

Maintenance in La Paz and future plans?????

Well we find ourselves here in La Paz again. Due to the 145 boats that converge on Mexico and beyond just after hurricane season in the Baja Haha, we made long term reservations for November to be here. Good thing we did as the boats are piled up out there at anchor and the long hot summer racked up some maintenance items for us that are easier to do at the dock.

 Larry has striped and sanded and now is finishing the toe rails.

Bimini being made as the original was beginning to rip. We actually thought we might lose it in the hurricane.

I am polishing the stainless on the boat and there is a lot! Larry has equalized the batteries and they are performing well.....let's see--I know we have done additional thing but they escape me! Larry told me, that there are always chores on the boat. The marine environment is tough on it!

Shiny new toe rails with new line for a bit more security. The old nets were thrashed.

We have not  been invited yet but we hear my cousin Keeley is getting married in Hawaii in August. We are toying with the idea of sailing there. I have to pass the two overnight passage to Puerto Vallarta first. We would get crew to help us. Leave Mexico in May and spend the summer in Hawaii. The cruising there however is not as simple as it is here. Lots of coral in small anchorages, big currents, waves and wind.

The first option has always been to sail home to Florida and be able to sail up the intercoastal waterway. Superstorm Sandy, however, has given me pause. Not sure I want my boat on the east coast next summer. The hurricanes seem so much worse.....wind and surge. Here it is mostly wind.

Safest option is to come back to San Diego.....hmmm, do I like safety?

So stay tuned......I may have been lulled into comfort by the semi-calm Sea of Cortez.

Cool night heron still hunting at 7am.

Hasta luego!

Hurricane Paul

Hi everyone,  Well we cheated death again. This time it was Hurricane Paul.

The early models said it would bend out to the west and we thought we would have a bit of wind but that would be it. Had we known he was almost going to barrel  over us, perhaps we would have gone straight to La Paz to get out of his way. Instead we hunkered down in Puerto Escondido.

All turned out pretty well after all. High wind gusts measured in this inner harbor were from 36 to 56. The storm made land fall not 80 miles from here on the Pacific Ocean side near Magdelina Bay. We waited and waited for news of our impending doom or luck. Turns out we had luck as Paul went north but took a  heck of a long time. I guess a system that is hundreds if not a thousand miles across (this one I heard was smaller and compact) takes a while.

We had 10 inches of rain over the two days.  There were times we could not see the mountains that surround this harbor and make it such a good hurricane hole. Roads are washed out everywhere as you might imagine.

The winds came and went starting around 15 knots to 36 knots Tuesday and Tuesday night, after a lull from 9pm to midnight, started up again in earnest at 0:38 hours and continued until this morning. It was peaceful Wednesday around 8am. That morning I would still shudder a bit when I heard the roar of the coming wind and the whistling through the rigging. A bit of post traumatic stress I guess.

So Larry or I, and sometimes both of us, were up during the midnight to dawn wind lashing.  Wind was at first from the north, then east. But mostly from the Southeast or south so only three boats in front of us to cause us issue. Two were sailboats and they did not move. Our anchor held too. The third boat was an issue. A 70 foot luxury powerboat was kicked off a Marina mooring in favor of one of the big local sport fishing boats. They were told to anchor over by us. Larry had purposely anchored here as  we would swing into shallow water where others could not. The big boy, a boat called Esoteric from Salem OR anchored close to us. Well, once the swinging started we could see that Esoteric and Sun Baby were doing two different dances to the same beat. After a while they agreed they were a bit close and pulled in some of its 200 feet of chain. That is good and bad. So over the course of the night, with all the sailing they did on their anchor, they eventually dragged until they were between  us and our anchor buoy. Amazing they drug so far.




Their captain was very nice, made sure we knew he was watching the situation (all night) but by the time dawn came, they were 20 feet from us. This is a 70 foot, million dollar yacht that weights who knows how much and with 25 knots gusts....no wonder I was strung out.

They were waiting til light to see our anchor buoy and pull up anchor. Our anchor buoy was thrashed. It has bottom paint and gouge marks from being run over by their boat (this was after I fell asleep at 3:30 am in the salon).  Their anchor turns out to be 15 feet from ours when it had been 150 to 200 feet from ours the afternoon before. Yikes. So we did not sleep so well Tuesday night.

I have to say, of all boats to have 20 feet from our hulls, I would take Esoteric any day. They were on top of it and communicative. Good captain, poor choice of anchor location.

Overall Puerto Escondido did well. Only one boat broke free of its mooring due to chaffing of the line but was tended to right away. This is far from the stories you hear of a hurricane 10 years ago where 90 percent of the boats were damaged. I think a lot has happened...the marina maintains the moorings and tells you if one is in disrepair, people were conscientious about lines and chafe and it sounds like they have gotten rid of derelict boats. So good on all involved!

Not sure what we are doing from here. I am too tired to sleep let alone make a decision.  Nerves seem to take as much toll on one’s body as lack of sleep. Dinner at the marina will fix me right up!


Photos:

Here is Esoteric yesterday. Picture taken from my kitchen. They pulled in some chain and returned to a closer position by this morning. 

Waterfalls during rains.

Believe it or not, this shrimper came up between Esoteric and us and found......three feet of water!!!!!!! and PROMPTLY backed out. Larry's evil plan.....stay away!

Beautiful morning after!

Sweet Pea Cove

This photo is interesting. Shows that you never know where you will face in Sweet Pea Cove. Each boat is facing a different direction. Lots of currents between the island and mainland here.

We are facing north, Nirvana east, Ubatuba southwest and way down there is Beyond Reason facing southeast....funny.

If you want the wind to die, raise a sail. Larry has a tough time with these crazy Baja winds  in summertime. At anchor we will see winds from every direction. Fortunately we have not had a large "Chubasco" wind. Our friends had 60 knot winds at anchor for several hours up near Bay of Los Angeles a few weeks ago at nine o'clock at night. Then dropped to 40 then 20 knots by 3am. Not so fun!

Larry and I cleaned the bottom of the boat. Rocky barking at Larry below.

Where did he go??

We have yet to take the dog off the swim step. First we need to take him to shore and see if he will swim with us. The tough part is getting him to dry. He has that layer of down under his hair that is important to keep dry on his skin.  The vet in La Paz told me to blow him dry. Blow dryer? What's that? Oh, you mean wind on the tramps? Best option.

Cooler temps

Oh yea!!

Temperature is going in the correct direction. Cold showers were actually cold rather than refreshing and pretty soon the hatches will have to be closed at night??? Is that possible?

Off toward Conception Bay today. Yesterday's high there was 100 and low overnight 73 Geary said (weather man on Sonrisa Net).

Exploring San Marcos Island

When first reading about San Marcos Island off of Santa Rosalia I was not interested. It has a commercial gypsum operation and depending on the wind conditions and were you are anchored, you can get a little dusty.

After being here in Sweet Pea Cove for several days we have found interesting snorkeling and rock formations. I also found to maximize the fish variety and quantity that you see, carry a little food. They are much like hungry puppies! Pied piper, I was!

Looking south from Sweet Pea Cove.

We went for a dingy ride and found some caves....

Beach is beyond entrance.

Shaky picture but shows the hole in the ceiling of the cave.

The way out!

Once again, the geological formtions of the Sea and Baja are varied and interesting. Add to that the remoteness with access to towns and the fact that most anchorages are within 25 miles of each other makes for the best cruising grounds on earth.