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.

04-17, Tues - 04-24, Tues

Yaaay! What a fun week! Tuesday was La Cruz day. We all took the two required busses to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle so we could show them where we’ve been for the last few months. So, we made the rounds to all the places we’ve been blogging about. The only bummer is that it is very much like a ghost town these days and it was pretty HOT in town. We went out to the Yacht Club and had tostadas (25 pesos ea), checked in at Ya-Ya’s Café, had a cold one at the Huanacaxtle Café, said hello at Philo’s, had dinner at the wonderful La Cava Mexican restaurant and, of course ended up at the Britannia Pub to sing. Our friends Bob & Sherry joined us at Huanacaxtle Café and then again for dinner. At Britannia, the band had worked on the song “Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray” for me and I got to sing it for the 1st time. That and Dick finally got pics of me singing there :--). It was an all-around fun day. The next day the boys played a round of golf while Yvonne & I lounged by the pool and lazy river. When the boys returned they joined us for a couple hours and then we all went to dinner at a lovely place on the estuary called “Eddie’s” that they thought was a $2.00 taco joint, but ended up being a really nice dinner-house. Not too expensive, but a nice menu and a trio band playing classic rock. Thurs. we motor-sailed over to Yelapa on the other side of the Banderas Bay. We had been looking forward to sailing there all season, but hadn’t made it there yet. (We had saved the experience to share with them – D). So, we discovered it with them. It truly is a small gem of an anchorage. (Small and very deep, so we had to rely on a mooring – cost $10 and included a panga ride into and out from the beach – D ) We walked up into town and had lunch, then hiked up to the waterfall. It was lovely! When we came back down to the palapa beach where the panga dropped us off on the way in, we had a cold one with some chips & salsa at the Oasis which is the restaurant that belongs to the panga driver. He took us back out to Journey for the sail home. It was great weather, not crowded and beautiful! Our last day together, the boys golfed another round (Tom creamed me both rounds, the course was in excellent condition, with alligators being the most interesting hazard – D) and Yvonne & I went into Bucerias to shop for a ceramic sun for her fence. I’m hoping she will post a picture of it on Facebook :--) We stopped to see the fellow we now call “Mr Myagi” who sings at the Fat Boy restaurant on the beach and to have lunch. He’s the one who sings “Pretty Woman” and it sounds like “Pretty Puma”. So cute!! After shopping & lunch we returned to pool-side. This time at a different pool! This resort is HUGE and full of pools. (It would take close to an hour to walk from one end to the other through immaculately tended grounds – you would be hard pressed to find a dead leaf. – D) This is probably the prettiest one they have though. The boys joined us after golf at the pool for a while. We topped off the visit with a FABULOUS dinner at a restaurant of a friend of theirs called “The 159”. Exquisite! Many thanks to Y&T for bringing us down some things we can’t get here and for treating us to a taste of resort living, dinners out, etc. etc. Mostly thanks for just being them :--) ( A great time has had all around – D). We spent the next two days recovering from all the activities and on Sunday night we had a farewell dinner with our Canadian friends, Bill and Brenda, from the boat “Tahnoo”. They are leaving their boat in Paradise Village Marina for the summer and going home to Canada until October. Monday we brought the boat back into the La Cruz marina to prepare her for the voyage north to the Sea of Cortez. We need to get the bottom cleaned, remove some rust-drip stains on the sides, provision for the trip and wait for the weather. We already have found out that the weather will not be cooperating until next week. However, when we do head out we will pretty much be tracing our path back up to La Paz and then head further north where we have not yet been. We are bracing ourselves for this coming week. Tomorrow, Wed., begins a 9-day festival here in town. It starts with fireworks and a parade tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m. (not kidding). There will be fireworks again around 7:00 p.m. and then again around midnight. ( I am told the fireworks will repeat every day – including the 6:30 AM ones – they do love their fireworks here – D). There are going to be carnival rides in the parking lot here at the Marina and all kinds of booths in the town square. There is bound to be lots of loud music, Mexican style, with guitars, drums, tubas and trumpets until all hours of the night. For details check out the website amigosdelacruz.org – D). I am looking forward to taking pictures of this festival, so stay tuned….

04-11, Wed - 04-16, Mon.

Week in a nutshell:

We were trying to stay quiet this week so we would be rested up for the upcoming visit of our friends Tom & Yvonne. We were half successful in this endeavor :--) as there is always something that comes up.

On Wed. night there was a birthday party at Philo’s for a 92-year old former cruiser who “swallowed the anchor” here and is now resident of Puerto Vallarta. “Capt. Ron” is what he goes by. He came down here in the 1970’s on a boat and has been living here ever since. He is now living on land, of course. He has done a lot of work raising support for the single moms in the area. Anyway, we wanted to meet him because we’ve been hearing him on the radio every morning and he’s quite a character. So we went to Philo’s for dinner with Bob & Sherry and Brenda & Bill. Well, Ron didn’t show up….. We were all worried about him, of course, and we found out the next day that he had a bad case of diarrhea and was unable to come out. At any rate, Philo called me up to sing with him and I got to sing a couple songs plus backup vocals on a couple songs.

On Thurs. there was supposed to be a party at Huanacaxtle Café for a boater that was heading North, but the location must have changed, because no one showed up at the Café. We went with Bob & Sherry and Karen, from the boat “Solitary Bird”. Since no one showed up, we went to dinner at a new sidewalk restaurant and had a FABULOUS and inexpensive meal. Bob wanted to play his mandolin, so we went to Philo’s again. Yes…… was asked to sing yet again.

We stayed out at anchor with the exception of going to Bucerias to get my FM3 finalized on Thursday and to get my FM3 card on Friday. Yaaay! Finally got it!

Saturday we took Journey to Paradise Village Marina and did some work both Sat. & Sun. on cleaning both her and the bottom of the dinghy.

Tom & Yvonne arrived on Saturday and spent Sunday acclimating to the time zone and their resort.

We got together with Tom & Yvonne on Monday to go to the Romantic Zone of Puerto Vallarta. They met us here at the Paradise Village Marina, Vallarta Yacht Club for breakfast and mimosa’s. Then we took a water taxi over to the Romantic Zone and walked through the area. Unfortunately the city was hosting an economic summit with a lot of world dignitaries attending (including Hillary Clinton) so much of the Malecon was barricaded off and there was VERY tight security everywhere. We had a pleasant time though and a wet ride back to the Marina. We went over to their resort so we could see it, sign in as guests for the week and have dinner. A very pleasant day and evening! We are very happy to see our friends!

04-03 to 04-10 La Cruz

04-03, Tues to 04-10, Tues – Tues nights are usually spent at Britannia’s at some point and it was true again this week. We had dinner there with Bob & Sherry and Bill & Brenda. Got to sing my song again, but with a different band and Geo the Violinist. This band plays in Bucerias regularly and has asked me to come sing with them. Had to tell them “maybe next year” :--) Anyway, it was fun as usual.

Thurs. night, at Philo’s, our friend Bob (of Nirvana) got up and performed with the guitar class he has been in for the last couple months, so got some cute pictures of that.
He plays the mandolin though and had a solo in the middle. He did GREAT! The whole class did great and everyone enjoyed it. I also got to sing “Stand by Me” with Philo & of course “Stormy Monday”. Yikes! Can’t go anywhere without having to sing now. Too funny! (Can you say “crocodile tears” – she’s loving it – Tami has definitely made a name for herself in the music circle of town. We’re probably one of the most recognizable couples in town between the “Jazz Singer” and “Santa Claus” – D)

Saturday night was the 8th anniversary party for the Britannia Pub Restaurant, so we attended the party and Yep... I got to sing again!! Here are some of the pics from that evening...


There is a 75 year-old woman named La Donna, from Kansas, with her husband, Bud, who live here in La Cruz 4-6 months out of the year. She came up to me at Ana Banana’s and asked me if I would sing a duet with her. She is such a doll and a nice woman, I went to her casa to practice “The Rose” with her so she could sing harmony (which is what she has wanted to do, but couldn’t find anyone to do it with). So, we performed that at Ana Banana’s on Sunday night before the band played .

Other than those few things, we have been resting on Journey in the anchorage, reading, interneting, watching movies and relaxing. Getting ready for a visit from Tom & Yvonne this coming weekend! Very EXCITED about that :--) We will move Journey to Paradise Village Marina on Saturday so we can be near their resort. Can’t wait!

Easter is a HUGE holiday here in Mexico. The biggest of the year! Bigger than Christmas! The beaches were crowded, the roads were jammed and the locals were in very festive moods. La Cruz put up a carnival around the newly-renovated town square, including rides, food and games. They also put up a stage on the dirt lot where they had just had the Charros perform and bands played until 4:00 am. The square was jammed with people every night all week long. The Mexicans love any excuse to party :--) This is also the time of Carnival. You didn’t dare go into Puerto Vallarta it was so crazy. It could take 2 or 3 hours just to get there.

I am still waiting for my FM3. Because of the Easter/Carnival Holiday, it has been delayed yet again. It sounds like I MAY get it on this Friday.

(And then we’re off. The plan is to take a few days to provision and then start working our way back north. First back to Mazatlan by way of Chacala - can’t wait for a shrimp and garlic pizza at Benji’s in Stone Island anchorage, Mazatlan - then across the Sea to Baja. Re-provisioning and rest up in La Paz for a week or so and then up to Puerto Escondido, Bahia Conception and ??? Cruising plans are written in sand, you know.

We keep getting reports back, by SailMail - from our friends who have left on the Puddle Jump. The furthest has crossed the equator and is closing on the Marquesas and our friends on “ShantiAna” are about half way. Seems that the weather has been cooperating. – D)