South to Puerto Vallarta

Wednesday,  December 8, 1999

We left the Mazatlán marina at about 4:30PM, and by 5:30 we were anchored off of Isla Venados.  We had spent the day visiting with the crews of other boats in the marina, generally saying our good-byes.  We hope to see many of these folks further south later in the season.

Friday December 10, 1999

We spent yesterday getting ready for the overnight passage to Isla Isabella.  Bill spent much of the day working on the water maker  When it came time to head south for a early morning landing at Isla Isabella the water maker parts were spread all over the cabin.  It finally got all reassembled and it ran fine but was a little late for leaving.  We took the opportunity for another night’s rest before the overnight passage south.

Today I picked up weather for the Sonrisa net, the first time in over a year.  Everyone commented on the unusually cold morning.  We had clouds with us most of the morning but by 2:00PM when we raised the anchor it was sunny and nice.

Saturday December 11, 1999 – Isla Isabella

We anchored off the east side on Isla Isabella at 7:00AM, after an all night passage from Mazatlán.  It was great to see stars again and meet familiar winter constellations as it was a dark moonless night.  It was cool overnight but sweat pants and shirt were enough to kill the chill. The anchorage here at Isabella is a little weak as the anchor is dropped on a rock shelf with fairly poor holding but will be ok as long as the weather stays fairly calm.  We anchored in the lee of two large rocks that form an interesting sculpture.  The pangeros come from over the horizon in their small boats (without even a compass) to catch the abundant sea life here.

Today we did our first snorkeling in over a year.  The snorkeling around the two rocks was grand even if we were a little out of shape and the water was cooler than the bathtub-warm temperatures of the summer Sea of Cortez. 

Sunday December 12, 1999 – San Blas and Matanchén Bay

The winds picked up in the early morning hours so both Bill and I were up several times to checking on our position.  By 4:30AM the boat was dancing so much that we both were up drinking our first cup of coffee and exploring our options.  The anchor did hold so it must have found a nice ledge to grab on to, but the winds and seas continued to build.  About sunrise we started thinking seriously about leaving and by 6:30AM we had the anchor up and were underway.  We motor sailed for the first few hours as the prop-wash over the rudder seems to help the autopilot with the steering in the quartering seas.  Several hours out the seas seemed to be less bothersome, more astern, so we hosted the jib and shut down the engine.  We enjoyed a wonderful sail the rest of the way to Matanchén Bay where we dropped the hook about 2:30PM in a fairly protected nook in the coastline.  We had fairly large seas almost all the way into the anchorage and it was a surprise to both of us how calm the conditions were in the nook in the shoreline that is called a bay.

Monday December 13, 1999

Today dawned sunny and bright.  We dropped the dinghy overboard about 8:00AM and headed for shore.  There we left the dinghy at the recommended spot and started off for town.  Not far down the road we picked up a ride the rest of the way into town.  First stop was the Port Captain where Bill did the paperwork shuffle, checking us in and out in one stop.  We said that we would be leaving on Thursday, but if we do not, no problem, just call in on the radio to extend our stay.  The next stop was to see Captain Norm, the friendly guru of all the local information.  We had a nice visit with him and his wife before a walking along the river, then we headed for the town center.  A trip to the tourism office produced a town map and a little of the town’s history.  It seems that this was the jump off point for Father Junipero Serra who founded the Alta California missions.  The bay where we are currently anchored was a favorite hang out for pirates in the very early days and the town contains the first aduana (custom’s) house on the Pacific side of Mexico.  We walked up the hill to visit the fort and the church made famous by Longfellow in one of his last poems (The Bells of San Blas).   Since we were now on the edge of town we decided to walk back down the road toward our bay, hoping to catch a bus along the way.  No bus came by, but the walk was interesting through the mangroves and swamps of the lowlands here with lots of beautiful birds in residence.  We finally got a ride from a couple of gringos in a pickup after having seen several busses pass going the wrong direction.  After being dropped off near our bay, we made arrangements to take the jungle tour on Wednesday morning at 7:00AM, before too many tourists have scared the wildlife into hiding.

Wednesday December 15, 1999

The jungle cruise was wonderful.  We were on the first boat of the day with the cruisers from two other boats.  The cruise wound through a tunnel in the mangrove forest past large cypress and white fig trees.  Red orchids and spider orchids along with many ferns were in abundance.  We were early enough to catch the birds out sunning themselves in the morning sun as well as a green iguana.  A Coatimundi was climbing in one of the large white fig trees.  The landscape changed from dense mangrove to taller grass land where the birds were more visible.  We flushed out a few that flew off as we passed.   After over an hour of travel we stopped at the crocodile farm and were introduced to several large specimens as well as a few infants, all well fenced in.  We returned to our panga and continued on to the headwaters where a spring feeds a natural pool and a restaurant served beer and some food.  We all took a dip in the pool of fresh, soft water until we discovered that a crocodile had entered the water too.  A large one joined the activities but stayed outside the fence that separated the swimming area from the wilds. A smaller one actually entered the swimming area through one of the many holes in the fence.  Talking to the proprietor there we found out that these two crocodiles were “pets” of the restaurant.  The smaller one left as soon as there was more activity in the pool.  Many more pangas full of tourists were arriving as we left the swimming area after having spent a pleasant 2 hours enjoying the wildlife, swimming and eating.

We returned to the beach and enjoyed a great fish lunch at Ishmael’s palapa before the no-see-ums started to bite and we returned to our boat.  We ended the evening with musical entertainment by Bob on SunDancer.  Toni provided us with some great nibblies including some of the great shrimp that are available in this area.  Rachael from Grace and Matt and Elizabeth from Rubicon also enjoyed the music with us.

Thursday December 16, 1999

Today was another blue sky cloudless kind of day.  We decided to stay anchored here in the bay for a few more days to do a little walking on the beach and shell collecting.  A relaxing morning was spent reading in the pleasant sunlit cockpit.  Early afternoon found us exploring the north rocky area of the bay by dinghy before landing on the beach at Ishmael’s.  Then an enjoyable walk down the beach produced a nice handful of interesting shells and a large thirst which was quenched with a pitcher of “agua de naranja” from Ishmael’s.

Saturday December 18, 1999 - Chacala

Evening finds us anchored off the beach at the resort of Chacala in a small bay.  The palm trees and lush tropical growth surround the beach palapas and a source for beer is just off our stern.  We anchored with bow and stern anchors to keep our bow pointed into the swells that reflect around the point and into the bay.

Our afternoon trip from San Blas today was a pleasant motor boat ride in almost flat seas with little- to no- wind.  The autopilot decided to take a break so I steered most of the 4 hour passage while Bill tried to track down the problem.  If the autopilot can not be repaired by Bill here, we only have short hops to Puerto Vallarta were there is sure to be help.

Yesterday we made one last trip into San Blas before leaving.  We paid a visit to the surf beach just east of the breakwater and enjoyed a beer at a palapa there while we watched some surfers playing in the surf.  We then walked through town and stopped at the market to restock with fresh veggies and some shrimp before catching the bus back to Matanchén Bay and our boat. 

Sunday December 19, 1999

The autopilot is dead until we can get some repair parts.  Bill spent much of the morning removing the steering pump from the hydraulic lines and dismantling it.  His discovery was that the brushes in the motor are completely shot so they will need replacing before it will work again.  The next few stops are only short hops away and the parts should be available in Puerto Vallarta.

Murphy caught us again this afternoon when we decided to go ashore and check out the beach palapas here.   The outboard motor would not start.  Bill brought it back on board and dismantled it to discover that the fuel contained lots of crud.  When the junk was cleaned out of the fuel the engine ran fine.  We will try a pass to shore in the morning as we need to check in with the port captain here too.

Wednesday December 22, 1999

The last few days have been quite relaxing.  Reading on deck with interspersed jumps overboard for a nice swim has occupied most of our time.  Some of the local kids have swum out to the boats on inner tubes or surf boards asking for paper and pencils.  We have plenty of pencils to hand out but our paper supply is quite low as we had given away the extras to the orphanages in Mazatlán.  We spent one evening with Matt and Elizabeth on Rubicon enjoying a great dinner of molé chicken followed by a great Christmas video.

Monday we did go ashore and enjoyed a few beers and some shrimp at a beach palapa while we watched the beach goers enjoying themselves in the sand and surf.  This is the week before Christmas so the beaches here are full of tourists enjoying a vacation from the cities.  The port captain was in his office in the afternoon so we took our papers in to be stamped and signed by him before making our final return to Lanikai and our last swim of the day.

Today we were into town early.  There was a Posada party for the children of the town and we went in to see what it was all about.  It was a party given by the resident gringos and we got snagged into helping.  We stayed long enough to watch the confusion as the various age groups played games that mostly entailed the popping of balloons.  Then we watched them break several piñatas before hunger got to Bill and me.  We wandered off to one of the beach palapas for a bite to eat and a cerveza.  We found a group of cruisers doing just that at one of the palapas down the beach so we joined them.  Conversation moved onto what to do for Navidad.  Louie on Awestruck! came up with the idea of roasting a pig or goat in a pit in the sand.  He is from Venezuela and speaks fluent Spanish so he negotiated with the restaurant to use their beach area for the roasting in exchange for having them provide the rice, beans and cervezas.  With only beach sandals on our feet, we all then took off through the jungle in search of a pig or goat.  We climbed the volcano on the south side of the bay to the other side of the caldera where a farm was reported to be and we did find a herder with a flock of goats and sheep.  To get our goat we would have to talk to the owner who could be found in the next town, Las Varas.  After checking out the view over our bay, we climbed back through the jungle down the hill with plans to take a bus to Las Varas in the morning and negotiate for a goat.  Back at the restaurant, while we were re-hydrating with more cervezas, we were introduced to a local man that had a pig that he would sell to us.  Six of us followed the pig owner to be introduced to the pig.  The pig was quite large, over 200 lbs., much larger that we need but the price was reasonable.  It was decided to purchase the local pig and invite more people to join us in the feast.

Thursday December 23, 1999

Today was baking day.  I started off the morning by making my usual Christmas bread and will distribute rolls among the fleet tomorrow.  The announcement of the pig roast on the Sonrisa ham-radio net this morning produced no takers yet but Matt (Rubicon) canvassed the boats in the harbor.  With the addition of three surfers that want to join us, we now have 30 eaters.  That is enough to pay for the pig and keep the price a reasonable $6.00 US per person, for the dinner.

Elizabeth and Matt from Rubicon joined us for pizza in the evening and brought another Christmas video, which we all enjoyed.

Friday December 24, 1999

Matt and Louie were up and on shore early to help with the pig slaughter.  The rest of us hid on our boats until the dirty deed was done.  Bill and I finally found our way to shore at 9:00AM and the pig was still in the clean-up stage.  It was not until after 11:00AM that all was ready to wrap the pig in the banana leaves, hard bound into a burlap sack and chicken wire.  Bill had cleaned all the banana leaves in the surf and looked like he had done a little swimming too.  Others had burned a fire in the pit until just hot coals were left.  Our Christmas dinner was finally dropped into the hot fire pit just before noon and covered with sand.  We all then retired to a table at the palapa for a few cervezas and a bit to eat.

Sunday December 26, 1999

Yesterday, Christmas Day, was a fun day in Chacala.  The morning was spent quietly on our boat.  We enjoyed pancakes for breakfast and opened our few Christmas gifts.  I had a great ham-radio contact with Craig (K7UKW) in The Dalles and then we went into shore for the unburying of the pig.  The pig was dug out of the pit and, with many skeptical watchers, it was unwrapped.  The pig proved to be well cooked and tasted great.  There was far more than we needed so the remains were given to the pig middleman,  Marcello.  He put it all in a pot and rendered the fat producing lots of lard and well cooked shredded meat.  The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying food, conversation and watching the crowds that were appearing on the beach.

After a wonderful sunset we returned to Lanikai, cleaned up a bit and then moved on over to Grace to celebrate the rest of the night away.

Today was a day of rest and recovering.

Monday December 27, 1999 – Punta de Mita

This morning we were up early and after a quick check-in on the Sonrisa ham-radio net we prepared Lanikai for travel. We hauled up the stern anchor with the dingy before dragging the dingy on board and then pulled up the main anchor.  Murphy still lives with us.  The main anchor came up with the shackles in such a twisted state that it would not fit through the bow roller.  Bill and I had to pull the anchor up to the starboard side deck where we could reach it.  I held it up while Bill knocked the twist out.  Then it was dropped back down and hauled up to the bow proper-like.  The motorboat ride to Punta de Mita was in increasingly large beam-rollers that dumped what little wind the sail had as they rolled us from side to side.  The turn into Banderas Bay produced a wonderful broad reach and we had a magnificent sail almost all the way to the anchorage, which is around the corner on the inside of the point.

Tuesday December 28, 1999 – La Cruz

We moved further into Banderas Bay today and are now anchored at the little village and resort area of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle.  We upped the anchor soon after lunch and had a pleasant motor sail down the bay.  There are many, Bill counted 32, boats anchored here for the holidays.  The tourist cities of Nuevo Vallarta and Puerto Vallarta are not far off, at the head of the bay.

Saturday January 1, 2000

Wednesday and Thursday were spent relaxing on the boat as Bill was under the weather.  Friday morning Bill woke up feeling better so we tossed the dingy in the water and went off visiting.  As we were leaving the third boat of our visiting tour, the starter pull cord pulled out of the outboard so we made a quick trip back to Lanikai to repair the problem.  There, while Bill made repairs, we were visited by other cruisers from Nintai and Scaldis traveling around in their dinghys.  After the repair, we continued our rounds and then continued on into the town.  La Cruz is a small town with lots of gringos.  Bill and I chose one of the many restaurants to eat lunch at, very good.  A quick walk around town and we ran into Major from Grace.  We helped Major haul an enormous block of ice to the dingy landing and it was time then to head back to Lanikai to prepare for the evenings many festivities.

The evening started out with margaritas and nibblies on Scaldis.  By the time we started piling off for the ride to town there were 20 dinghys trailing off her stern.  In town, we all swamped a tiny restaurant for wonderful ribs, lamb and chicken, all done on a barbeque outside on the sidewalk.  They had set up tables along the curb for the occasion.  The food came slowly out of the family’s kitchen but was superb.  The beer came quickly so we had something to drink while we passed the time visiting.  As we were finishing, another large group of cruisers walked by after having eaten their New Year's Eve dinner at another restaurant.  We joined forces for the march to the beach where a large bonfire had been started by yet another group of cruisers.  There were almost 50 boats in the anchorage today and everyone appeared to be in town for the celebration.

From the bonfire we watched midnight pass on the other side of the bay with plentiful fireworks.  We could watch fireworks shooting up from at least 5 sites as well as from Matt’s plentiful supply.  He shot some off on the sand and ended up tossing them into the fire a few at a time to sparkle or bang.  La Cruz being an hour later than Puerto Vallarta did not shoot off their supply of fireworks until we were back in the dinghys heading off to Rubicon for a champagne toast as the time on this side of the bay finally reached the midnight hour.  Bill and I finally returned to Lanikai at 3:00AM by our watches which were set to Puerto Vallarta time.

Today, it was a rather late in the morning when we finally rolled out of the feathers to greet the new day, year and millennium.  We again journeyed over to Rubicon for another round of drinks and a late brunch of bread and jam.  I had started bread on our return last night for the occasion.

For evening dinner we were back on Rubicon to help Elizabeth eat up all the chili that she had made for the chili cook-off.  The cook-off had been canceled earlier in the day leaving her with a large pot of great chili but a group of us cruisers helped to empty the pot.

Monday  January 3, 2000

Today we made our first trip into Puerto Vallarta.  The city is a tourist city, even the old center is now full of tourist shops and the main market is really a trinket and t-shirt market.  After dropping off three weeks of laundry at the lavandería for washing, we caught the local bus on the main road just above the village of la Cruz.  It was a long ride into the city, about 45 minutes.  Our first stop was at the Radio Shack’s Internet Café right near Marina Vallarta.  Bill asked about a “taller electrico” to find the brushes for our dead autopilot motor.  They recommended the big marine hardware store just three miles down the road.  Bill and I took the opportunity to check our e-mail while we were there and then hopped on another bus to the marine store.  They did not have the part but we were not totally out of luck as Bill had picked up a copy of the “Banderas Bay Cruisers Guide” from Marina Vallarta and it listed an electric motor and alternator repair shop.  The clerk at the marine store gave us directions and off we walked.  We found the shop and the needed parts and also found a great local market.  The market had great produce and meats so I picked up some very fresh vegetables including a great head of lettuce.   A little more wandering in the area and we found a fun street-side restaurant where we stopped for a lunch of great fish tacos and tostados.

After lunch we continued walking toward the old town, and ended up following the Malecón along the water's edge for much of the trek.  We found the central plaza and the main church with its crown top.  In this section of town the streets were lined with gift and tourist shops giving us a good indication that the tourist was king around here.  We found a wobbly walking suspension bridge that lead to more tourist shops along a river.  By then we were all getting tired so we found the main street and a bus going back to Marina Vallarta.  Our last stop of the day was to "Comercial", a large Fred Meyer-type supermarket where we picked up some needed packaged food.  Then the long bus ride brought us back to La Cruz and Lanikai.

Wednesday January 5, 2000

Yesterday Bill spent much of the afternoon working on the autopilot pump.  It is now working again and there should be little or no hand steering needed for a while.  We had spent the mornings saying our good-byes to friends that were moving on south ahead of us.  The anchorage here has really emptied out even though new boats are still arriving.

Today was another computer day for Bill as he set up the navigation software on my computer since his seems to have completely bellied up.  He has also spent much time in the last few weeks transferring his important files to the small e-mail machine that we had purchased for last summer’s travels.  It will have to do until we head north and purchase a new machine for him.

We also seem to find time each day to enjoy a beer and mid-afternoon snack Dos Felipes, the local cruiser hang out.  The wind picks up in the afternoon and it is more pleasant to spend the late afternoon time on the beach than on the boat.

Friday January 7, 2000

We made another trip into Puerto Vallarta today.  Our first stop was at Nuevo Vallarta to get our paperwork stamped for traveling further south.  We then continued on to the Marina Vallarta area in hopes of updating our web page at the Internet café there.  Bill did get an e-mail sent off to family and friends but failed at the web update after spending 30 minutes trying.  Being quite starved we stopped for lunch at one of the expensive restaurants that line the marina.  After over an hour wait we finally got served, but to make up for the long wait, we were each given a free piña colada to drink with the food.  The food was actually very good and worth the wait.  Another trip to the marine store and the large grocery store and it was back to La Cruz where we arrived just in time to catch the sunset with a cold cerveza at Dos Felipes.

Tomorrow we plan to rest up then pull the anchor early Sunday morning to continue our journey further south.