07-09 to 07-23-2012, Trip to the States

What did we do??

My goodness………. Two weeks was certainly NOT enough time!  The main reason for our visit was the festivities around our friend (my Sissy) Yvonne’s 60^th birthday.  We won’t bore you with all the details, but here is the list of things we did and pictures too.

-Stayed with different friends and got to spend quality time with loved ones

-Visited friends around the Bay and in Half Moon Bay.

-Went to Quinn’s Lighthouse for pirate night, more good friends and our favorite sea chantey band

-Went to our friend Petra’s birthday dinner

-Went to San Francisco in a limo for Yvonne’s birthday dinner and then saw Beach Blanket   Babylon

-Went to a birthday brunch the following day in Los Gatos and a wine tasting

-Went to a surprise birthday party at one of the neighborhood friends home

-Spent a day in San Francisco with lunch at the Cliff House and Pier 39.

-Visited our Yacht Club in Half Moon Bay and got to spend quality time with friends and loved ones there

-Had lunches with former work mates

-Went to Cash Creek with Ciska V

-Had dinner at our favorite sushi place in Alameda, Yellow Tail (twice)

-Shopped for all kinds of things we wanted to take back to Mexico

It was odd to wear lots of clothes.  It was odd to drive a car after 10 months of no driving. We slept great!!  I think I only sweated once.  It was WONDERFUL to see those whom we were able to see and sad not to be able to do everything we would have like to have done and see everyone we would have liked to have seen.

Thanks to all who put us up for the night, thanks for all the good laughs, good times, good food and for sharing your love and friendship with us as always!  Now……. Who’s coming to visit Mexico next??

This week we are preparing to head back up into the Sea of Cortez for the next couple of months.  We are going to try it and see if we can handle the heat.  If we cannot handle the heat, we will probably get a studio apartment for the remainder of Aug and Sept.  It is HOT HOT HOT even as we write.  The temperatures have been in the high 90’s to over 100 degrees with a heat index of 107+ degrees.  We are trying to change our habit patterns to do work in the morning or late evening and take cover in the mid-day hours.  It is hard to change, but necessary!   We both like to lounge around in the morning drinking coffee/tea, computering and reading but we simply must change our ways.  I had to order eye glasses for distance and reading.  I found that when I was home driving I couldn’t read the street and road signs!  Ack!  When we get those, we will be heading into the Sea.

When we leave for the Sea again, we will not have communication abilities, so you may not hear from us for weeks at a time.  Have a great rest of the summer!  Be safe in your travels and please do stay in touch.  We love to hear how you are doing and what you are doing.  Kisses & Hugs!

06-18 to 07-08 Candeleros to La Paz

06-18 Bahia Candeleros

It took me all morning and early afternoon to upload pictures and get the blog posted for up to yesterday, but I finally did it around 2:30 in the afternoon.  Soooooooooooooo, we rewarded ourselves with an afternoon by the pool at the resort, wheeeeee!!  Nice!

After that we had dinner at the nicer of the two restaurants with Bob & Sherry, who were doing pretty much the same thing we were all day.  Nice dinner and good company!

06-19  Bahia Candeleros

Today was a kick around day on the boat, catching up on stuff, reading and napping.  Another toaster of a day!!  Yesterday was 98 degrees and today feels about the same.

We had dinner aboard and will be taking the free air-conditioned shuttle bus to Loreto tomorrow to wander around town and check it out.  It looks like a lovely place. 

06-20  Bahia Candeleros

This morning was Dick’s first day as the Net Controller on the Sonrisa Net (a ham net). He did a great job, of course!!  And after the net we, Bob and Sherry went to the resort prepared to go to Loreto on the 9:00 shuttle.  Well…. Because we are boaters, we have second priority for catching the shuttle to the resort guests.  It turns out that the 9:00 shuttle was full and since we did not want to be walking around town in 100 degree heat, we signed up for the 6:00 p.m. shuttle that evening.  Sherry & I were prepared for swimming and reading by the pool, just in case, so that’s what we did.  The boys went back out to the boats to do things like charge the batteries and other “things”.  They joined us around lunch time and we ate at the more casual restaurant.  It was a lovely day at the pool. 

Since we were prepared for town, we went and changed in the restrooms and off to Loreto we went for dinner.  It was a lovely drive on a looooooooong dirt/gravel road to the highway and then about 15 miles to town.  Since the last shuttle pick-up was at 9:00, we had to hussle down to the restaurant old town square area to see some things Bob & Sherry wanted to point out to us and to get dinner, including the best margarita “in the world”.  Well… it was quite good anyway.  The bartender recommended a restaurant “Papagayo’s” (I think it was), which was excellent!  We enjoyed the meal quickly and took a taxi back to the hotel where the shuttle was to pick us up.  No pictures as it was already late in the day and then dark.  We will go back to Loreto in a couple days when we get over by it with Journey.

The resort had Karaoke night going on so we stopped there and I got to close the night with Tracy Chapman’s “Gimme one Reason”.  Fun!

We were both hoping for a good night sleep, as it has been too hot to sleep really well, but first it got rolly in the anchorage and then the wind came up at about 3:00 a.m.  Dick got up a bunch of times trying to chase some banging noise that sounded like a cupboard door banging, but he couldn’t find it.  Then the wind came up and we stopped rolling so the banging noise stopped.  However, when the wind came up he had to take down the sun shade.  Needless to say, it wasn’t a good night sleep…

06-21  Bahia Candeleros

We were going to move on today, but we decided to stay another day.  It was looking to be another HOT one as well although there was a nice breeze in the morning.  Dick went to shore so he could order more books on his Kindle and I did some cleaning on the boat.  We are having a dinner party with “Nirvana” tonight.  Wheeee, always fun!

The wind kicked up this afternoon to 20+ knots, so I had to take down the sunshade!  We are grateful for the winds though as it keeps the temperature under 100 and a sense of coolness (you notice I said “sense”).  While I was “sensing” coolness, I tried to recreate this sweet jalapeno paste we had at the restaurant last night. 

Recipe:  You take equal weight of jalapeno and your choice of Pinapples, Strawberries or Mango, or pear.  Any fruit that is sweet.  Put in the blender together with honey (to taste) and a little oil.  Blend until smooth.  Bring to a boil for however long it takes to get to the texture you would like.  Mmmmmmmm  Yummy!  Serve with fried crisp tortillas (chips or tostada rounds work too).  (Muy yummy – D)

I fixed a delicious white-wine sangria, marinated chicken fajitas with tortillas and fixin’s, Sherry brought rice and refried beans and Bob brought his home-made guacamole!  Excellent!!  OH and Sherry brought a rum cake for with sweet cream for dessert!  Another lovely evening in the anchorage.  Beautiful stars and sliver moon! (Bob informed us it is waxing).  A great way to spend the longest day of the year.

06-22  Bahia Candeleros 

Yep…. Still here!  Not leaving today either.  The boat “Tantori” showed up with Roger & Tori on board with their cat Mordecai.  We havn’t seen them since La Cruz, where we only saw them briefly.  They are going to have a sundowner party tomorrow night, so we will stay for that.  We just did some more “hang-out-on-the-boat” stuff today.  There is always HOOTB stuff to do (just made that up). (Amen - D)

Another lovely day in paradise!  We decided we wanted to try the palapa restaurant on shore by the kayak and paddle board rental place for lunch/brunch today (depending on what they are serving).  It is amazing how much hotter it is on shore than on the water.  The guys at the Palapa are super nice and today they are serving fresh clams, quesadillas and fish tacos.  Dick had the tacos, which he said were the best he’s had yet in all of Mexico, and I had the quesadillas with sliced avocado and ceviche.

Once we got back to the boat, I prepared turkey wraps with cream cheese and that jalapeno paste spread on the tortillas, rolled up and sliced.  It was a really fun night with Nirvana & Journey on Tantori.  Lots of catching up to do, lots of laughter.  “Whatever Happens in Mexico, Stays in Mexico”

06-24  Trip to Loreto by Car

Bob made arrangements yesterday for a minivan to be delivered to the resort so the six of us could go into Loreto by car.  So, we met at 8:00 on the beach and headed into Loreto.  We were specifically looking for the farmer’s market so we could get fresh veggies and fruits.  It took a while, but we found it on the edge of town.  We all selected our pickin’s and headed to town for brunch.  We ate at a lovely hotel on the malecon with a great view of the Sea and nice cool breezes flowing through the restaurant.  Loreto is a really clean town, we all noticed!  They also host the oldest mission on the west coast. (Serra’s first – D)

We visited the super mercado they have in town and picked up some more provisions.  We drove around town some more (Basic discovery – D) and then headed back.  We stopped along the way at a new condominium community that is still under construction.  It appears that a lot of units were built and then when the economy tanked, the construction halted.  It had an odd feeling to it!  We also stopped at a little community called Juncalita (pronounced hoonkaleeta).  This is a community of folks who came with RV’s or trailers, started with sunshades and ended up building all kinds of things around them, so that you can’t even see most of the RV’s or trailers from the outside any more.  Very interesting!  We also stopped at Puerto Escondido to see what the lay of the land and water was, since we will be going there next and probably tomorrow.

Sorry!!  I didn’t take ANY pictures :--(  What a dork!

06-25  Trip to Puerto Escondido

The wind blew hard last night, 20 knots sustained and gusts 25+ so sleep was difficult.  It was flat calm when we woke up in the morning though.  We had to pay our bill at the resort so Dick went in to settle it and we readied the boat to weigh anchor and move to Escondido.

Well….. no wind was the story for the day.  It was flat calm on the 6-mile trip.  We actually turned it into a longer trip because we needed to make water.  So, we cruised a couple of the islands, turned around and headed for the harbor.

It is an interesting harbor, in that they don’t have slips.  Well….they have 11 slips that are taken up by charter fishing boats.  The rest of the harbor is filled with mooring balls and a big open space for anchoring in about 45 feet of water.  It is what we call a “hurricane hole”, in that it is VERY protected from sea surges, surrounded by land and break-water it is protected from wind to a fair degree as well.  Unfortunately, it makes for a very HOT anchorage with very little wind.  As we found out on the land trip, they have a well-stocked store, yummy restaurant, showers, laundry, lap pool and a hotel with nice restaurant up the road.

We pulled in and figured out how the mooring balls worked and picked one up.  We decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at the restaurant after Dick checked us in at the office.  He didn’t realize that he hadn’t put our registration renewal in the ship papers when our friends brought us mail back in April, so he had our expired registration in the ship papers binder. He wasn’t sure he even had them at that point. So, they were going to kick us out until we were able to produce a current registration.  They let us stay the night though and tomorrow to get the current copy to them.

Marilon, with Michael & Tiki are here so we went by to visit them for a spell (it was Tiki’s birthday – D) and back to the boat to settle in for the night and hopefully a good night sleep.

06-26 Puerto Escondido

Well, sleep was not in order for the night.  It was HOT, in the 80’s and no wind.  We tried the big fan in back, but it wasn’t enough to keep me asleep.  I went up and tried to sleep in the cockpit, but fish were jumping and keeping me awake, so I went into the salon and slept on the couch off and on.  At some point, Dick came and put the small fan on the coffee table pointed at me. (Her hero – D J)  I think I’ll be having siestas off and on today.

The good news of the morning is that Dick found the current registration amongst the pieces of mail he had stashed in the guest room.  When our friends came to visit we got busy doing stuff and he forgot to put the mail in its proper places by the time they left.  At least we have it!!

Since it was not a good night sleep, we both took siestas and felt much better.  It is another scorcher today, but the breezes came up in the afternoon.  We went in to the shore in the afternoon to dip in the lap pool, which was nice and refreshing.  Then we took showers and had an early dinner at the restaurant there.

Bob and Sherry invited us over to play a board game called “Dread Pirate”!!  What fun!  We followed that up with what we were hoping would be a good night sleep.

06-27  Puerto Escondido

Indeed we got a much better night sleep.  I slept in the salon on the couch with the fan on me and the breezes, when they came up, coming through the hatch.  I feel much better this morning and Dick got a better night sleep too, but not quite as cool as mine.

This is our last day in Puerto Escondido as we are going to start our trek back to La Paz.  We have to be back to catch a flight to the States on 7/9.  We are going to a friend’s 60^th birthday party, so will be visiting for two weeks. 

Didn’t do much today.  We were going to go to shore, but Dick started a back-up on the computer and it did not go as planned.  So, we were babysitting the computer all day.  Didn’t really feel like doing much anyway, nor is there that much to do here besides dip in the so-called lap pool and eat.  One could take the trail to Juncalita, but it is too hot for that.

Had a nice dinner aboard and looking for another good night sleep.

06-28  Trip to Agua Verde

We both got a pretty good night sleep!  I was quite pleased!!  We readied the boat after the morning nets and dropped the mooring around 10:00.  It was a four hour trip back to Agua Verde, bypassing Candeleros.  I was very happy to see Agua Verde again.  It is such a pleasant anchorage and remains my favorite in the Sea so far.  We had delicious breezes blowing across the boat keeping us nice and cool.  I fixed a nice sautéed fish & veggie dinner, we read a bunch and “hit the hay”.

06-29  Agua Verde

Since we love this anchorage so much, we are going to stay today, float around the water and enjoy the cool breezes.  They blew all night and kept us cool, so we slept well, and are still blowing nicely this morning.  We want to be back in La Paz by July 4^th, so we can celebrate with the local expats and get prepared to leave the boat for two weeks.  It will only take a couple more days of travel to get to La Paz, so we can enjoy Agua Verde today.

We saw Las Brisas with Rich & Cathy aboard.  Rich was our landlord at the Alameda Marina for our office unit.  He is the Harbor Master there.  They took a leave and did the Ha-Ha this year too, and have been cruising the Sea of Cortez the whole time since.  They are flying home this mid-July until October.  They are planning on doing the mainland this next season. 

Also!  Our friends Mizzy & Brian on Alegria came sailing into the anchorage around lunch time.  They heard Dick on the morning net that we were here and wanted to stop and say hello.  We hadn’t seen them since we left La Paz.  They had been working on a couple of boat projects that ended up taking a month to complete and had finally gotten out of the harbor.  We got to chat with them for a bit before they headed farther north.  It was good to see them, they are such sweet people.  We will be looking to see them later this summer when we get back up here.

We got in the water to cool off, read, napped and had a nice steak dinner before bed.  We will leave tomorrow.

06-30 Trip to San Everisto

It was a calm morning in the anchorage.  No wind and we took off after the net.  It was an uneventful day trip, about 7 hours, to Everisto.  The beautiful mountains are just incredible.  All wind was off the bow, of course.  This is the time of year for winds out of the south.  We arrived at about 5:00 and dropped the anchor.  We anchored a little too far in with a high tide, so at 1:00 a.m. we were banging on the bottom (ooops”!!!!)  So, we had to raise anchor and move a little away from the shore.  Good thing too, because at 4:00 a.m. a big “blow” started.  We went from zero to 25 knot winds with gusts to 30.  Thankfully it ended about another hour later.  Neither of us were sleeping well anyway.  Oh well!

07-01 San Everisto

Nice breezes this morning.  Since we didn’t really get much sleep last night we will hang here a day.  Strong southerlies are blowing so it will make beating against them difficult. 

It was a pleasant day temperature wise.  The nicest in a while!  We never got too hot, just comfortable.  We napped, read, had a nice Orange-Ginger Chicken dinner and watched a movie before bed.  The winds never got above 10 knots out of the southeast, but the seas were coming into the cove from the east.  This caused lots of boat noises in the aft cabin.  So, it was an unpleasant evening for me.  I was not able to sleep very well, yet again.  Dick slept out in the salon this time because of the noise and so he could get up quickly and check things if necessary.

07-02  Trip to Caleta Partida

It’s still rollie this morning, but a little better.  I must have fallen asleep after sunrise and after the swells settled down a bit, because I slept until almost 8:30!!  I usually wake up before 7:00.  We left for Caleta Partida after the nets.

The sky was hazy today and this is about a five-hour trip.  We will hole up there for the night and head to La Paz tomorrow.

Well… what should have taken 5 hours took nearly 9 hours!!  We were only able to do about 1.5 to 2.9 knots for our first 3 hours and then only between 3 & 4 knots for a few after that.  The seas were VERY lumpy and short-period, plus the winds were between 15 – 20 knots right on the bow.  Yuk!!  Oh Well, we made it just in time to prep for dinner and try to get a good night sleep.

07-03  Trip to La Paz

Well the winds continued strong all night, but we had 180 feet of chain out, so we didn’t worry about dragging anchor.  We also backed down on the 180 feet with 1500 RPMS and didn’t move!  So There! Ha! 

We’ve been “on the hook” now for over a month and I’m looking forward to some dock time and getting excited about our quick trip to the States.  Headed back to Marina Palmira today.  We were up with the sunrise and ready to go.  The winds are still up, but it doesn’t look like there are white caps out there.  We’ll see.  Let’s hope this doesn’t take another 8 hours.

It wasn’t too bad at all.  We got there around noonish.  Right back in our usual slip.  Almost feels like home now.  We got all checked in and rested up.  We decided to dinner at the Dinghy Dock restaurant right there in the Marina and get a good night sleep.

07-04  La Paz

4^th of July!  We listened to the net this morning to find out if any local celebrations were going on.  We heard some old friends on the radio, Nick & Nancy on “Jessie-Marie”.  Got a hold of them and decided we’d go to the party at La Costa restaurant.  They have their mini-van down here with them now and came and picked us up.  It was $110 PESOS per person for a BBQ rib dinner with vegies and BBQ beans.  Pretty yummy!  We hung out for a bit and then hit the road.  We went by the Shack, but Travis wasn’t there.  The whole place is a wreck because they are remodeling.  They have now rented the place next door and are going to have a 6-table Italian Restaurant.  They have changed the current restaurant all around and are adding a little kitchen.  We said hello to Rosie and the kids and went home. 

07-05  La Paz

I am working on figuring out what to take to the States and Dick & Nick went off to do some “man shopping”.  We had agreed to all meet at Marina Palmira in the afternoon for the pool during the hottest part of the day.  I did some cleaning around the boat and rinsed the outside off.  It was terribly dirty, dusty and salty and we’ve got to put sail and rail covers on and get them secured before we leave.

Nick & Nancy came over at 1:30 and we hung out in and around the pool for a couple hours, then we went and tried this fabulous restaurant we heard about from Mizzy & Brian called “Il Rustica”.  It is an Italian restaurant with pizza’s.  It was fabulous!  (I want to come back here often – D) Come to find out they have a B&B associated to them as well.  The rooms were $55 & $65 US dollars per night!  Excellent dinner!  We went back to the Shack to check on their progress.  They got the new grill & hood installed in the new location and some cleaning done, but it still looks a wreck.

07-06  La Paz

It was a HOT morning this morning.  It is already hot at 6:30 a.m. and no wind or breeze, so it will probably be another pool afternoon.  Gotta get stuff done before it gets hot!  Today was “girl shopping” day.  I met Nancy down town at 9:30 am to do a little looking around and have lunch.  Went back to the Marina about 2:00 and got in the pool immediately!!

It was Travis’s birthday, the owner of the Shack, so we went there for a fabulous shrimp spaghetti dinner. There were only 11 of us and it was a private dinner that Rosie cooked up, with cake for dessert.  It was wonderful!  (A good time was had – D) Yum Yum!  The breeze came up finally at night after we got home.

07-07  La Paz

Gotta run some more errands, get packed and work on this blog.  It was another scorcher today too however there was a cloud cover, which only meant it was humid for a change.  It was 94 degrees, with a heat intex of 99 degrees at 7:30 in the evening, after sundown.  We went to the Panga restaurant for dinner because we know it is air-conditioned.  It was very difficult getting to sleep.  We are ready for some Bay Area weather.

07-08  La Paz

One more day….  Just trying to get through the heat.  Have all the last minute things to do to the boat before we leave tomorrow.  It is already hot this morning at 7:30.  We spent this day getting ready to go and IN THE POOL!!

La Paz to Bahia Candeleros 06-02 to 06-17

06-02 La Paz to Caleta Partida

Our 1st day heading for new territories. It feels good to be off the dock again and headed for new places. We are expecting to run into our friends Bob & Sherry on Nirvana, as we have communicated via e-mail and Facebook. They had just arrived the previous day in the channel at an anchorage following their crossing from Mazatlan. Sure enough, as we were leaving from La Paz we contacted them on the VHF and they were heading to Caleta Partida as well.

It was quite windy in La Paz as we were leaving and we had to stop at the fuel dock to fill two of the diesel tanks we had pretty much emptied. So, it was a little precarious getting on and off the fuel dock, but we managed. Once we were done with that we headed off to Caleta Partida. It was about a six hour trip and we arrived at 4:00 that afternoon. It is a beautiful anchorage set between the Islands of Isla Ispiritu Santo and Isla Partida. There are only fishermen camps on the low-lying shore. Quite windy conditions in the anchorage, so we put out five-to-one scope on the anchor chain. It took two tries to get the anchor hooked. 

That all done, Nirvana called and invited us to a pot luck dinner on their boat with the folks from Buena Vida, Jeff & Julie, too (also on the Ha-Ha). They had buddy-boated with Buena Vida across from Mazatlan. So, it was fun to get to know them and hear stories back and forth. I made a nice vegetable & pasta dish. Julie brought a spinach salad & Sherry prepared a rice with scallop dish! Yumm!

The wind came up hard so we all scattered to our boats. Just as we got to Journey, she started dragging anchor. We started the engine and the anchor re-hooked a couple hundred yards towards the middle of the anchorage. Then we let out more scope (chain) and watched for a couple hours. Poor Dick was up every hour all night checking our position. I didn’t sleep well either, but was in bed. Sometimes these things happen.

06-03 Caleta Partida The wind was still blowing in the morning but not quite as hard. The big power boat that was anchored by us left, so we let out some more scope. We were pretty sure we wouldn’t be going anywhere after that! Since we were both pretty tired, we just stayed aboard, tidied up the boat and rested. It is a lovely anchorage with beautiful desert mountains and white sandy beaches. We are looking forward to exploring tomorrow and maybe snorkeling. Every morning one of the fishermen from the small camp comes by the boats asking for things like shampoo, powdered juice packets, pens, batteries, etc. Sometimes he trades fish. ( We always had something to give him and I think this may be why the park ranger did not harass us for a park pass – required for the islands – as they did some of the other boats. - D) 

Buena Vida called and invited us and Nirvana to potluck dinner on their boat tonight, so I made a vegetable salad with Papaya-seed dressing for that dinner. Buena Vida had traded with the fishermen for some delicious white fish, which they grilled and served with pineapple salsa. Julie also made a Pineapple upside down cake with rum. Nirvana brought an Orzo salad dish (small Greek mini-pasta). All in all a super yummy meal. The wind wasn’t too bad tonight and with the extra scope out and we both got a really good night sleep.

06-04 Caleta Partida Another beautiful day in Paradise! Nirvana was off to La Paz to get their Jellyfish suits made and will join us in the Sea as soon as they are done with that. Buena Vida headed for Isla San Francisco or San Everisto and we may catch up with them when we are done staying here. It was a very calm morning and we wanted to get to exploring before the heat rose too high. So, we took the dinghy over to the first little beach on the north side of the bight where we were told there was a cave you could climb to. I found out that roaches can not only fly, but swim too!! EEEEUUUWWwww! They were all over the beach and rushed under our dinghy to get out of the sun. We climbed up to the cave, or should I say scrabbled up. It wasn’t much to see and didn’t go too far into the mountainside, so we scrabbled down and went further into the shallow cove beach and found that it was covered in tens of thousands of tiny one-clawed Fiddler crabs. They moved like the sea as we approached them and climbed in and out of tiny holes in the sand. We walked to where there was a sign indicating that there was a trail going up into the canyon, but it was getting too hot to attempt that. We took the dinghy over to the eastern beach, which was a long sandy beach and was the low point between Isla Ispiritu Santo and Isla Partida. This is also where the fishing camp is. We said hello to the fellow who comes around to the boats, walked over to the long rock wall and looked over to the other side. We could see that there was a narrow passage of water that would allow us to motor the dinghy through to the other side, so we did. Sea caves were along the Isla Partida side of the cove. It was very pretty and nice and breezy!


We went back to the boat with plans to get ready to have our friends Mary & Bill from Jade Dragon over for dinner. We met Mary in Ventura on our way down to San Diego last fall and met her husband Bill when they came to La Paz. However, while I was preparing the dinner fixin’s, we got a call from the boat Merilon with Tiki and Michael Kehir aboard. Michael belonged to HMBYC many years ago and Dick taught him to sail there 20 years ago in the adult sailing class. They have been cruising down here for 11 years. So, we invited them to dinner too. I had to make some changes to the meal to accommodate them and Tiki brought an Orzo salad to contribute. I prepared Tahitian marinated Chicken with Tropical fruit and rice (super yummy!) and Mary brought home-made garlic/parmesan loaf bread and Margaritas.

 We had a lovely meal, more story-sharing, catching up and getting to know “stuff”. A pleasant time was had by all.

  06-05 Caleta Partida

 We were going to head to Isla San Francisco on this morning, but Merilon is staying another day and we wanted to stay another day too. There were a lot of turtles swimming around in this anchorage and I wanted to float on a raft and look through my mask to see if I could see some. 

Dick went and visited his old friend Michael on Merilon for a while giving me alone-time on the boat. Nice! When he returned I put my raft in the water and floated around for a bit to see if I could see any of those turtles. Unfortunately, the water was very green and murky. No turtles….bummer. (One very calm evening, when the ripples of surfacing turtles was quite obvious, I saw at least a dozen of them swimming around us. Another time we had to back off on the dinghy throttle suddenly to keep from running over one – Dive, dive. - D) We will be heading to Isla San Francisco in the morning.

06-06 Trip to Isla San Francisco

  We made the nearly four hour trip to ISF by 1:00 pm. The winds were in the 20’s coming out of the South, so we blew right on up the Sea at about 7+ knots with the jib out. We chose to stay in the Eastern bight which gave us protection from the SSW seas & winds. We were the only boat in the anchorage until late afternoon. One of the other boats moved from the other side of the island to stay here. It is a stark and beautiful desert island with many colors and rock formations. I posted an aerial shot from the cruising book. Our anchorage was just above the heel of the foot-shaped end of the island, on the upper left side of this picture. Keep in mind the picture was taken from the North, so South is up.

It is not as windy here and gets HOT in the afternoon. We cooled ourselves off in the water and got a pretty good night’s sleep.

 06-07 Isla San Francisco
  It was nice and cool this morning. It sure is a beautiful spot. We were trying to decide if we wanted to stay here and explore or head on up to San Evaristo tomorrow. Bob & Sherry are going to leave La Paz tomorrow and head straight here to ISF and then to San Evaristo. We plan to stay a while in San Evaristo as there is a LITTLE town there and things to explore along with a little tienda (market).

 It got pretty HOT today and no breeze, so we did not get around to exploring anything here. We just tried to stay cool, played some backgammon, read, worked on my music and I actually broke out the paints and started working on a painting. I fixed a fabulous Caribbean Chicken dish (sweating profusely) with noodles and papaya for dinner after the sun was mostly down. Mmmmm yummy! By the end of the day we decided we would move on to San Evaristo tomorrow, so we took all the sunshades down that night. We finished off the night with a couple episodes of Bewitched on DVD.

  06-08 Trip from ISF to San Evaristo

A nice breezy morning and cool. We have been listening to the Sonrisa Net every morning at 7:30, so we listened to that again this morning before leaving for San Evaristo. We heard on the net this morning, though, that the tienda is closed for a week. However, our next destination would be Agua Verde and we heard they now have a couple of tiendas. We were hoping to get some ice there, so we had to run our icemaker when we ran the engine on the way to San Evaristo. (Interesting navigation here, the paper charts and chartplotter indicated islands that no longer existed and the islands that were there were by radar 1½ miles off the charted position, glad to have gone through this area in the daylight. In both San Evaristo and Aqua Verde, we ended anchored in what the plotter indicated to be land. The charts down here are often based on surveys performed in 1867!!!– D)

San Evaristo is a lovely little village. Not many people, but they do have a school. There are houses up in the hills as well as along the beach. It is definitely a fishing village where the panga pescaderos go fishing every day. We will have to get ourselves some fresh fish.

It was nice and breezy this afternoon, coming right off the Sea into the cove, making for a pleasant stay our first day. We were all by ourselves until late afternoon when a Moorings charter catamaran came into the anchorage, then another mono-hull and yet another mono-hull. So, we ended up having four boats in the anchorage. The Mooring charter people stopped by our boat to say hi. Two nice couples from Texas, who evidently have chartered all over the world together, including Tahiti, Greek Islands, BVI’s, Red Sea, etc. Nice folks! We will be exploring the village tomorrow.
  06-09 San Evaristo

Woke up to a beautiful morning, light breezes and a hazy sky from the previous night’s light fog. We heard Bob & Sherry on the Sonrisa net this morning indicating they had just left La Paz heading for here. So, we were expecting to see them that evening. . (Bob has now talked me into becoming one of the Sonrisa net daily net controllers – I will be doing Wednesdays starting on the 20th. – D)

We went exploring on the beach starting at one end. There are quite a few goats, chickens, chicken hawks, cows and dogs. I had to give the goats some water in their bowl because it was empty and one of them took a liking to me. He nuzzled his little head against my thighs while I petted and scratched him. (Tami’s newest best friend – D) I gave half my bottle of water to a VERY pregnant dog. She drank it right out of the bottle and was my buddy after that. She followed us down the beach as we explored the shore. There is a water desalination plant here and a couple of small tiendas, of which only one is open, and quite a few homes (if you can call them that). There are a few nicer structures and some mobile homes. There is also a school on the road to the salt ponds. 

We met a cute young couple, traveling with his parents (our age) who were visiting them on their 30’ boat. They loved our boat, so we invited them over to “Journey” for a tour. We were having such a nice time sharing stories, I put out some munchies and they ended up staying until about 10:00 p.m. (Four people on a 30 footer – well they did appear to get along very well. - D )

Nirvana didn’t make it by sundown, so we probably won’t see them until tomorrow.

06-10 San Evaristo

Another lovely morning with light breezes. I did some more painting, worked on the lyrics to my song list and read today. Nirvana made it today at about 4:00. So, we picked them up in our dinghy and went to shore for a while. Then we had dinner together on Journey. I fixed shredded beef quesadillas and Sherry brought a vegetable salad. It was a windless moonlit evening and the stars were outrageous! We had a great time of course laughing and talking about stories.

06-11 San Evaristo

We spent one more day in Evaristo so Bob & Sherry could do some exploring of their own and maybe snorkel. We did some more relaxing and some boat projects, then had dinner on Nirvana. Dinners are always pot luck. Sherry fixed arracherra with tortillas with roasted peppers and I fixed a vegetable dish with peas, carrots, tomatoes and potatoes. We all headed to bed early for an early departure tomorrow

. 06-12 Trip to Agua Verde

 Anchor up at 9:00 a.m. we traveled through some beautiful waters between the islands and peninsula. There was no wind and the water was glassy. The mountains were spectacular all cut with lines and colored earth and lava. The mountains were cut in dramatic shapes and rocks and reefs were jutting out of the sea. It was quite warm as well. We had the fan running while under way, with all the hatches open.

We arrived in Agua Verde at about 4:00 or so. What a really pretty anchorage! There is a small village here (larger than the last two) there are even palm trees in a small area on the beach. Must be water underground. There’s a small tienda and an actual restaurant (what that means we are not yet sure). We will probably visit there tomorrow. Once we got the dinghy in the water we relaxed until we had a light dinner of hot dogs and watched a movie. Lights out!

  06-13 Agua Verde

There was no wind this morning, so it was already heating up at 7:00 a.m. It is a beautiful place, our favorite so far. We had to laugh at rush hour here though. The morning started out quiet and then all of a sudden panga after panga started heading out to sea for the day. Rush hour happens again in the evening too when the pescaderos return.

Michael & Tiki on Merilon are here in the northeast anchorage so they offered to give us, Bob & Sherry a tour of the village. We all caravanned to the beach in our dinghies and walked the area. What can I say. Hot, dry, dusty, quiet and colorful. There is green here though, which means plants trees and flowers here and is unusual for up here. We discovered there is an underground aquifer here. They even have some sort of basic water distribution pumping system. There are goats, chickens, burros and horses here as well. A bit more populated than San Evaristo. We shopped at the two tiendas in town, got some fruit and freshly killed chicken pieces. We also made reservations for tomorrow night with the only “Restaurant” in town, which is a family who will cook a meal for you. According to the lady, she will be fixing fried fish, rice and beans.

We finally got to try out our new jellyfish suits when we went over to Merilon’s anchor spot and went snorkeling. Had a fun time! (There were over a dozen different types of fishes – D) The prettiest were the big black fishes with bright purple trim, orange fins and a fat white streak on their sides.

Nirvana didn’t come because they were having dinghy engine problems and Bob wanted to get that figured out. When we returned from snorkeling, we tried to start our engine to charge the batteries and it wouldn’t start. Same symptoms as air in the system. So, Dick got in the engine compartment again and our fuel filter was filthy. Fortunately there is a second filter set up ready to go and all he had to do was switch over to it. That way he can change the bad one at a more convenient time. We just had to bleed the air out of the system and it started right up.

To finish off the day, we went over to Nirvana for some libations and tostadas, I brought a super yummy cream cheese and Jalapeno Jelly dip with crackers. Nice and busy day.

  06-14 Agua Verde

 Another gorgeous day in Agua Verde Paradise! A quiet day, with the exception of having to change the oil filter and assisting Nirvana with their dinghy engine problem. Both his dinghy engines conked out in the same day, so we are all figuring it is dirty fuel. He bought new fuel in Mazatlan on the way up. Dick gave him some gasoline so he could check if it was a case of bad fuel or an engine problem. Our fuel was a combination of La Cruz & La Paz. It was the fuel because both engines worked on our gasoline. So we gave him a gallon to use till he can get some more, probably in Puerto Escondido.

We lounged around reading, playing computer games and napping for the most part. Buena Vida showed up this afternoon with Julie & Jeff aboard. They were just getting back from where we are about to go. They are on their way back to La Paz.

We had dinner at the “Restaurant” in town with Michael & Tiki. They were low on gas and out of cash, so we picked them up and treated them to dinner. The meal was simple, but delicious! It was breaded & deep-fried white fish of some sort. Nice and tender and juicy! It was served as promised with rice, beans and home-made tortillas. Very nice family there! Too bad my Spanish isn’t better, I would have liked to converse with them. The lady is really pleasant and her “Papa” (either father or grandfather, not sure) is a very friendly and pleasant man. We brought Michael & Tiki to Journey for some after-dinner libations before delivering them to Merilon for the night.

  06-15 Agua Verde

 We are anxious to see Candeleros and the new resort we hear is there. There will be internet!! Yay & a pool! There will also be a more substantial provisioning store there too. Not that we particularly need it, but I’m running low on cheese and bread so far, which was expected.

 Agua Verde was beautiful this morning and already warming up. A local gal, Fatima, came by in her kayak to see if we wanted to off-load some garbage for 25 pesos a bag. We had two bags in the forward head, so YAY we off-loaded the stinky bags.

Well as cruisers plans are always “written in sand”, we got talked into staying one more day by Nirvana and Buena Vida. They said the snorkeling was pretty good over on the south anchorage and that there isn’t really any snorkeling in Candeleros. So, we stayed and snorkeled the other side of the bay. It was indeed very nice! 

We all got together that evening on Buena Vida for dinner. Julie fixed sushi with salmon and dorado as well as an Asian cabbage salad aaaaaaand a chocolate/Kahlua cake. Sherry brought some delicious fresh dorado she had been given by a power boater in the cove in trade for information she gave them on the radio regarding the cove as they were coming from the South. Jeff BBQ’d it up beautifully. I brought a Tahitian Chicken casserole and some Kahlua to go with the cake. We received this home-made Kahlua with chocolate from our friends Larry & Maria as a farewell gift last summer and it was perfect for this occasion. Super Yummy!!

  06-16 Trip to Bahia Candeleros

 Sooooooooo, yes we left today for Bahia Candeleros. Got the boat ready after the morning net and headed for Candeleros, which is only about a 4-hr trip. More beautifully chiseled mountains, rocks jutting up out of the sea, volcanic reefs and no wind. It was a very warm passage and we were mucho calor by the time we got into the anchorage. It is yet another beautiful anchorage! Merilon was already here a day before us and Nirvana was an hour behind us. There are a couple other boats here as well.

Turns out Sherry isn’t feeling well, so she stayed on the boat while the rest of us took our dinghies to the western shore to check out a mini-mercado. It was about a quarter mile walk, but flat. It was much more stocked than the smaller tiendas we’ve seen so far up here. We picked up a pair of frozen chicken breasts, bread, onions and a couple potatoes. We’re doing alright so far in the provisioning department. 

Once we put everything away, we joined Michael & Tiki at the resort. We had to check in at the front desk and get a wrist-band as if we were regular guests. They are very friendly and glad to have us spending money at their pool and restaurants. We had dinner at the sports bar restaurant (outdoors) after we cooled off in the pool, of course!

The wind had piped up while we were eating, so we zoomed back out to the boat and scurried to take the sunshade down before it got trashed. (Successfully – Yay! – shade is very important – D) It was blowing 20-25 knots steady, gusts to thirty. In anticipation of a possible all-night blow, I went to sleep on the couch while Dick sat up to watch, because we would take turns watching in that case. However, he woke me up at 10:00 to go to bed because the wind had died down. Yaaay!

  06-17 Bahia Candeleros

 “Dead Calm’” is the perfect expression for the weather this morning. There is supposed to be internet pumping out from the resort, so Dick worked on getting our internet antenna and cable hooked up. There seemed to be a problem, so it took a while but he was successful. So, yay we can touch base with everyone!! We made some phone calls, checked e-mails, did some “facebooking”. Got to talk to my Dad on Father’s Day!! It was a nice surprise for him. The Skype is working okay to a land line, but not too good on a cell phone. It was still difficult talking to the land line, but it was nice to be able to say hello.

We tried to start the motor this morning and we experienced the same symptoms of air in the diesel system again. So Dick had to go back into the engine compartment AGAIN and bleed the air out. We are not yet sure what is causing that and are hoping it was just residual air somewhere from before. We’ll see.

We managed to get some messages out and e-mails written. I also got the blog done so I could send it out tomorrow. Just have to upload pictures for it. Will do that in the morning. The next time we blog will probably be in La Paz in early July.

We decided not to go into the resort today as most of the day slipped away.

05-11 to 05-31 Mazatlan to La Paz

Following our retrieval of Tristan’s ashes from Dr. Raphael, we departed the next evening for Los Muertos on the way to La Paz.  We left at 7:00 p.m. so that we could arrive in Los Muertos two mornings later.  We sailed all night, all the next day, all that night and arrived the next morning.  It was a nice uneventful passage, but a bit rolley.  Not many encounters with other vessels.   There was just a sliver of a moon that didn’t come up until about 4:00 in the morning both nights.  This made for a very dark passage.  Thank goodness for radar!  The sunsets and sunrises are my favorite part of overnight passaging.  Always breathtaking!  We saw turtles, lots of dolphins and lots & lots of flying rays.  Very amazing!

Conditions at Los Muertos were not too uncomfortable.  The swells were very mild and the weather was definitely delightful.  It had become quite humid on the mainland and was much dryer here on the Baja.  We slept a lot, relaxed and prepared to leave the next morning at 0’dark-30 for La Paz.

We enjoyed the trip up to La Paz with light and variable winds, no real current against us and familiar territory.  Marina Palmira was our home for over a month last Nov./Dec. and is a very pleasant marina to be in.  Especially now that it is SO HOT during the day!!  (It cooled down to the low 60’s virtually every night. – D) We have spent many an afternoon in the pool here at the marina to cool off after a morning/afternoon of chores.  (It was also a social time with the half dozen or so other HA-Ha boats that had returned to La Paz like us. – D) It was great to visit our friends at “The Shack”, Travis and Rosie.  (Still the best hamburger anywhere, US included. – D) (Lots of time spent trucking about town on one chore or another. – D)

I have been menu planning for provisions for a 1-month trek into the Sea of Cortez.  There are not many places to provision up in the sea, so you need to be sure you have all the essentials (and then some).  We had Lycra jellyfish suits made so we don’t get stung by jellyfish this summer and I got some netting to put around the cockpit so we don’t get bees, mosquitos, no seeums, wasps, flies etc. in the boat and could possibly sleep in the cockpit when it is too hot to sleep indoors.

We are looking forward to getting out away from civilization again.  PLEASE NOTE:  We will not be in much contact for a few weeks as there is limited internet or cell phone coverage up there.  BUT – We will have GREAT pictures and stories of adventures following this voyage into the sea.  Stay tuned……

Tribute to Tristan, aka: Fuzzy Butt, Devil Cat, Slasher, Pirate Cat, Fur for Brains, Snoopervisor, Mr. Man, Snugglebutt, Purrball. August 1995 – May 2012

The infamous cat that so many of you know and love/hate has gone to be with his cat relatives in cat heaven. We firmly believe that he is one of the most privately famous cats around. Many of you have a Tristan story from somewhere along the line. No one has come to our vessel that hasn’t had the Tristan experience. Even those who claim they dislike him have a fondness of some sort for him in their hearts. It has been a difficult time for us as we experience his profound absence in our day to day lives. He meant so very much to us. He was a fierce protector of his boat and his family. Some of you who have spent a lot of time with us on our boat know how sweet he could actually be. And those of you who have only been around him fleetingly know how fierce of a protector he could be. We want to thank you for all the kind words of condolences you have shared with us and the stories too. Please enjoy the limited slide show we have of digital pictures of him and the few stories that some have shared below. They are preceded by the person telling the story.



Stories:

Dad – I’ve had a hard time trying to reduce the 17 years of Tristan in my life to just a story or two. He came to me as a 5 week old kitten in Sept. 1995. He immediately bonded to me and was known as Daddy’s Boy. He was fiercely protective of his pride (family) and only reluctantly shared with others. As a youth he chased flies, pounced bare feet, fetched little plastic crinkles for you to toss, woke us up many mornings doing laps on deck from the bow to the stern and back over and over again and scared us silly sitting on his perch over the water at the end of the mizzen boom. Tristan was great source of comfort and love for Edress during her fight with cancer seeming to sense her need, spending endless hours snuggling up with her as she rested up from the effects of chemo. He gave the same comfort to me during the grieving time after Edress passed.

When Tami came into his life he found a new best buddy. Someone who came down to his level, literally. She would put heavy socks on her hands get down on her hands and knees and wrestle with him all over the floor of the main salon. He would go on for as long as she could keep it up, never tiring of it. They became the best of friends.

As a much as the boat was his world (one that he shared with us) he was a reluctant sailor usually preferring to find a spot where he could ignore it all but he had an uncanny ability to sense when coming to a dock, even one he had not been to before. About a mile or two before we got there he would be up patrolling the deck and checking where we were. As I said in the beginning, there are way too many stories from a cat as unique as Tristan. He may have passed on to kitty heaven but he will live forever in my memories.

Mom – There are so many, but I think my favorite story, that captures his sensitive side, has to do with his interaction with the only cat he’s ever known. When Dick & I married I brought with me a gray female cat named Gigi. We were so worried about those two interacting, but it turned out that they complemented each other. She calmed him down and he livened her up. He used to pounce towards her to make her jump and she would lumber over to him and make him run. It was quite funny to watch! She wandered down the dock one night and never came home, he wouldn’t eat for days. He was heartbroken to lose her. He was my buddy and I will miss him!

Aunt Yvonne - "So many memories and so many stories we all have to share. Tristan was a cat like no other. I recall spending a night or two on Journey in the side berth and Tristan would stick his head through the "peep" hole above the nav. station in the salon just to see who was in this berth. First time, this made me a bit nervous (if you knew Tristan, you know what I mean). A few times later, I knew he was just a pussy cat doing his "this is my boat & who are you??" duties. I was blessed to have been allowed by Tristan to give him a full body rub during my last visit to Mexico this past April, and to receive two "kisses" from him which was a first. Tristan, you were very special and unique. We will all miss you! xoxo"

Aunt Tina - I have two memories: One getting stuck in the head with an angry Tristan (partly my fault!). Another was when a bunch of us were walking along the dock to the boat and there was Tristan sitting to one side. Everyone made a wide berth around him before boarding as Tristan loved to attack ankles and feet.

Uncle Patrick B - I always thought that cat was so tough he could handle anything. As cats go, he was one of a kind. I learned early on not to mess with him.

Aunt Cynthia H - I guess I wasn't the only one TRISTAN clobbered in the head...>> On my recent times on Journey I was hissed at often, and told to move out the way. He (Tristan) humored *CYN immensely, with his KAT ANTICS. I told Tristan often he was down on the food chain, as to rattle his next thought of attack. But it didn't hinder him at all. Slap Slap he gave me up side my head, and through the PORT HOLE TOO. During my stay I did get a beg or 2 to rub him down, and his nudging along my ankles for a foot rub too was amazing. May Tristan be HAPPY IN KAT HEAVEN.

05-02, Wed – 05-08, Tuesday La Cruz to Mazatlan

I have to apologize. Blogspot has made changes and I cannot get the text to have paragraphs. Stupid!!

Bye Bye La Cruz! We left harbor on Wed. late morning and anchored out at the Punta de Mita anchorage which is just inside the Banderas Bay. This took 2 hours off our trip to Chacala the next day. I baked some muffins and we had a nice dinner relaxing. It was, however, quite rolly in the anchorage, so not terribly comfortable. Oh well! Just for a night.

We talked to our friends who live in a condo there since we were right in front of their place.

We got up the next morning and weighed anchor. It was a BEAUTIFUL Sunrise! There was no wind, so we motored the whole way. We spotted one whale and a pod of dolfins along the way. We were quite surprised there was still a whale left down here. It took us around 8 hours to get to Chacala and it was just as charming as we remembered. We had the anchorage all to ourselves. Just another one-night stay though, so we did not go to shore.

We weighed anchor at 8:00 a.m. expecting a 24 to 26 hour trip. There have been no winds to speak of, and what little there was came straight off the bow. So it has been all motoring. The trip up was uneventful, except that Tristan (or cat) has suddenly quit eating. We’ve known he has been displaying the early signs of kidney failure, but he is suddenly showing the end signs. We were hoping it may just be a little case of sea sickness at this point. (Tami was off-watch sleeping and missed the big lightning storm that struck about 25 mile in front of us – too far away to more than barely hear the thunder but quite a light show – D) We arrived the next day in Mazatlan, Stone Island Anchorage at 7:00 a.m. (we actually got there earlier and had to wait an hour for sunrise to enter the anchorage – D). It is lovely here. We had to have our favorite Garlic Shrimp pizza at Benji’s Pizza and say hello to our friends there. We got to see the new baby, which was still in the oven in December. We had our friend Nick out to the boat for some cold ones. Still keeping an eye on Tristan hoping he will eat. He is drinking, but not showing any sign of eating yet.

It was the night of the Super full moon and it was a beautiful moonrise. That night, someone tried to steal our dinghy and motor, which was tied to Journey and cable-locked as well. Dick had heard from some folks that had been there not too long ago who had their dinghy and motor stolen there, so we were vigilant and locked it up. Thank goodness, because the robber cut the bow line and then found that it was cabled to the boat. Dick says it looked like they tried to cut the cable, but they were unable. So we found the dinghy floating with only the cable holding it to the boat. We found out that a person can get $30,000 pesos for a 5 HP engine; ours is a 9.9 HP worth even more! Whew!! Our friends at Benji’s phoned the police to report it for us, in hopes that they will patrol that area more. Once word gets out about this kind of thing, the cruisers will stay away. We didn’t go to San Blas this year because a couple people had their dinghies stolen there. With no change in Tristan’s eating and the fact that he is getting weaker and weaker, we decided to go to the Mazatlan Marina and look for a vet. We are both pretty upset about it, as you can imagine. We arrived at the marina on Monday and took the bus into town to talk to a very nice Veterinarian, Dr. Raphael. He was very nice, but told us there is basically nothing we can do at this point. He gave us a syringe to try to give Tristan pedia lite water and baby food. We tried that and he doesn’t want anything to do with it. He is still drinking water this Tuesday morning. He is me-yowling occasionally his discomfort, but is pretty much quiet and resting. We are keeping him as comfortable as possible for the time being and giving him much love. We are now wrestling with the decision of when to put him to sleep. Lots of tears and sadness as you can imagine. We are waiting here in Mazatlan until that time. Will keep you posted. It will be in the low 80’s here today and humid. We checked the weather in La Paz, which is our next destination, and it is in the low 90’s. Yikes! Headed for heat…

04-25, Wed – 05-01, Tuesday

As we mentioned in the previous blog, the celebration of the Patron Saint of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle began on Wed. the 25th of April. True to their word, there have been fireworks and bands parading down the main street through town every day beginning on Wed. at 5:30 a.m. Tubas, Trumpets, Clarinets, Drums, the works. However, Wed. started out at 4:30 in the morning for us. We woke up when we heard Tristan (our cat) screaming, yowling and hissing and then running around out in the salon. There was fur everywhere and he was growing and yowling. We thought something had gotten in the boat at first but his collar was off on the floor. We think he scratched with his hind leg and got his claws stuck in his collar until it came loose. It is a safecat collar that comes apart if too much pressure is on it. He was certainly freaked out though!! He seemed like he had calmed down, and I tried to pet him and check his neck. Then he mangled my left wrist and hand. Sooooooooooooo When we got back into bed, the 1st fireworks started going off at about 5:30 in the morning, followed by a band parading down the main street of town to the church for 6:00 am mass. We couldn't sleep, so we walked over to watch the happenings. The 1st four pictures in the slide show are in the morning hours and at the church for mass. Later that morning, I was scheduled to go with a girlfriend in town to the Walmart to do some major provisioning. So I went to the doctor on the way and got antibiotics just in case my arm flared up. It is a good thing I did because my wrist was really swollen, infected and painful until yesterday and I had DEEP scratches and puncture wounds. OUCH I also had a reoccurrence of shingles on my leg show up that morning. More pain and flu-like symptoms but no fever. Fun week for me, eh? We did manage to go to the festival that Wed. evening because my arm and leg had not gotten too painful yet. We watched the opening parade at 7:00 that evening. More fireworks and bands and food and.. and.. and... The Mexicans love to celebrate and party! Every day this week, same thing until at least 2:00 a.m.! Quite fun, but not so much for me. I spent a few days mostly in bed. (The parade was very Mexican both in content and execution. We had gotten to the main drag early and luckily got a table and chairs set out by Ya-Ya’s Café – a parade with service – not bad. First came the religious procession complete with traditional Indian dancers, a living Christ tied to a Cross and a band. Then about a half hour later came the rest of the parade. It seemed like half the town had a reason to be in the parade – lots of kids of all ages, the candidates for Festival Queen on their “floats”, their sponsoring group’s, the fisherman, the charros and two other groups I never figured out. They were followed by any business that wanted to drive a car/float or whatever and then a large group of random townspeople including the town drunk. Hysterical!!! After the parade everyone was in the square and the serious partying started. It lasted to about 4:30AM though we only made it to midnight. The music was a kick, the local music can best be described as cross between a mariachi band and a German oompah band. Now put two or three bands all in the same small square going at it at the same time. Then put a techno-rock band and stage two blocks away. Audio pandemonium! The festival is still going on for three more nights. It’s a lot of fun even if we have not gotten to fully savor it. The town square is surrounded with brightly decorated food stands, games, rides and a stage. On all the streets leading off from the square families have set up tables, chairs and a stand and are serving whatever Mama’s specialty is. Everything imaginable in a Mexican theme and then some. Great crepes – loved the apple/banana/walnuts, cinnamon and butter – and you haven’t lived until you’ve had homemade churros straight out of the fryer – melt in your mouth delicious. - D ) Dick was bringing dinner home for me, but we have gone out to dinner the last couple nights as I am feeling better. Today, I am MUCH better! Tonight is the last open mic night at the Britannia Pub, so will probably go sing one more time. Well, having gotten the bottom cleaned, boat rinsed down, laundry done and provisions taken care of…. (plus routine maintenance on the engine, dinghy cleaned, rust stains removed from hull, etc. - D), we are now planning to leave on Wed. (tomorrow) or Thurs. Will update you all when we get to Mazatlan.