We are anchored in the calm little nook of Ipala that reminds us of the Baja. From offshore, the bay was invisible hiding between the cliffs. Until we were close enough to turn in, it looked like we would be driving onto a surfer beach. The town on shore is really just the few homes and restaurants of a fishing village. Yesterday we were up early and heading out from La Cruz to Cabo Corrientes soon after 4:00AM. The bay was calm and there was no wind at that hour of the morning. About 6:00AM we met up with a Cruise Ship that was heading into PV and had to do some fancy maneuvering to stay out of her way. The sea swells did not pick up until we were about two hours from rounding the point and then we really started to roll; since a light breeze was coming up, we hoisted the main and it settled things down some. When we rounded the point the waves were noticeably calmer even though we were 5 miles out, but we sure had a strong north-setting current that was slowing us down. Taking advantage of the somewhat calmer conditions, a fishing line was trailed and we promptly pulled in three Skipjack tuna that were tossed back to the sea. The wind had increased so the fishing line was pulled in, the jib raised and the engine shut down. We had a very nice sail the rest of the way to Ipala.

Still anchored off Ipala; we hare enjoying the quiet anchorage and the people of the little village here. There are actually four restaurants here as the 20 mile dirt road that connects to the main highway brings in tourists from Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara each weekend, and sometimes even during the week, that travel in dune buggies and four-wheel-drive vehicles. Monday morning a panga stopped by our boat and the fisherman needed line for a pull-start cord for his outboard motor, the old one having gotten too short. We found some line for him and were invited into the town. Each evening we have gone into town and enjoyed a few beers while visiting with the locals. Yesterday we took in pencils to the children of the village and then walked up the road to get a view over the bay, the view was great and we had the children following us up chattering all the way. It is a great way to improve our Spanish. The girls all followed us into the palapa restaurant and continued asking us questions and requesting more pencils and crayons from us.

We traveled south-east today for another 50 miles and are now anchored at the north end of Bahia de Chamela. The trip today was delightful. The day was pleasantly warm, the seas were calm, and we had just enough wind from the stern to keep the jib full but not enough to shut the engine down, as there were 50 miles to make. Some dolphins joined us for a short time and a whale surfaced several times near us. Two other sailboats left Ipala at a similar time as us so we had company on this leg of the trip.

Yesterday the wind picked up from the south in the morning and it got a little rolly in the anchorage. We checked out the reef off Punta Perula for snorkeling possibilities but did not go in the water as the wind made it feel cool, but mainly the waves made for poor water clarity. Instead we visited with some of the other boaters anchored here. In the late afternoon we dinghied into the palapa restaurants on the west end of the beach for a few beers and a visit with the locals. We found an interesting tienda and purchased a few fresh veggie items through the teller-like window from a very nice lady who picked out great produce for us.

Today the wind was more westerly so we did go out snorkeling. The reef off the point had poor water clarity but we found another reef closer in and we enjoyed a wonderful few hours in the water. The fish are not as spectacular or numerous as further north in the Sea of Cortez but the corals and sea urchins were beautiful.

Today we snorkeled on the reef off Punta Perula and the water clarity was not too bad but after a short time a jellyfish sighting scared me out of the water. We then made a surf landing on the beach by the town. A walk through town on the one paved street lead us to a nice open grocery store where we refreshed our supply of tortillas, bolillos, and tomatoes. A walk along the beach took us back to the dingy landing and the palapa restaurant where we enjoyed some cold cerveza before heading back to Lanikai. Evening found us on a beach, with the other cruisers that are anchored here, enjoying a pot luck around a small beach fire.

We had planned to head south to Tenacatita yesterday but somehow we never got the hook up. It ended up being just a day for relaxing for us both and catching up on a few loose ends of projects. In the evening many of the cruisers met on Itchy Feet to exchange books and enjoy conversation.

Today we did get the hook up but only moved about 2 miles south to a little anchorage off Isla Pasavera. The little nook that we are anchored in has clear enough water so that we can see the chain on the bottom. We spent an hour this morning checking out the water around one of the nearby reefs; there are several more to explore if the water stays clear.

The water has remained clear and warm and we have spent many hours in it exploring the underwater life on the reefs that extend off the two islands that we are anchored near. The island shores are mostly a jumble of rocks with lots of nooks, arches and caves. The small fish, and brightly colored ones, are plentiful but the dinner size ones have been fished out by the pangeros that supply the nearby restaurants. Today we dinghied to the south end of the further island where we found several caves and narrow canyons cut into the rocky shore. Most of them had too much surge for us to swim into them, but we found one cave that we felt comfortable swimming into. This cave was really a tunnel with sun streaming into a grotto on the far side. Three of us swam all the way into the sunlight but felt uncomfortable enough that we headed right back out. Further along this south side of the island we encountered a beautiful white sand beach with an opening to the ocean beyond. Turquoise water and a giant school of tiny fish added to the interest when we stopped. Another potluck is planned for the nearby beach tonight, that sure is a good way to add variety to your meals.

Last night we stayed up late watching the eclipse of the moon. The moon turned bright red-orange at totality and was quite interesting to view.

We spent much of the day recovering from Friday but we did move the boat the two miles back to the anchorage off the village. We then waited the rest of the afternoon for the wind and waves to die down so that we could make a dry landing on the beach. It never did die down in the afternoon but waited until after dark to become calm.

This morning early, while the bay was still relatively calm we did make the break to shore and stayed dry on the way in. Bill tried to connect via the pay phone to do e-mail but all the lines were busy, even though he tried many times. We did pick up a few fresh vegetables and headed back to the dinghy on the beach. We got through the first layer of surf just fine but a large sneaker wave broke over us as we were walking the dinghy out. We returned to Lanikai dripping wet but at least the dinghy had stayed right side up!!! By now it was 10:00AM in the morning and time to raise the anchor and head further south.

We traveled south and anchored in the outer bay at Tenacatita after an uneventful trip, mostly a motor boat ride although we did get a good hour’s under sail too. On the way we made a pass through the tiny bay at Careytos which contains three large resorts, one in each of the three lobes that make up the bay. The buildings are brightly and imaginatively colored giving a fairyland appearance to the area but the coves only hold two or three boats each and all was full so we continued on.

Monday afternoon we went into the beach where palapa restaurants line the waterfront. We picked out one and enjoyed the fish roll, which is a specialty of this area, along with several cervezas. The fish roll was delicious; it consisted of fish fillets rolled around a stuffing of shrimp and vegetables, all wrapped in bacon, then fried and then topped with a nice almond sauce, very yummy.

Yesterday we tried snorkeling on the reef just off the beach, the water was tea colored, and not very clear but there were lots of coral heads so if the water clears it could be an interesting site. We had planned to go back to the beach and have the fish roll at a different palapa but both of us got involved in reading and the time just slipped away.

Today Awestruck! and Eroica came into the anchorage about noon. We all went ashore and made the long walk into the village of Rebalsito for food supplies. It is a pretty little village as most of the homes have flowers planted around them and the dirt streets are swept clean. We found several tiendas and purchased another few days supply of tomatoes, avocados and other fresh goodies and flagged a ride back to the beach with a nice Canadian couple in their motor home. Back on the beach we all enjoyed a leisurely fish roll meal while we caught up on each other’s tales. Evening was spent back on Awestruck! where we watched the video on the Queen’s Birthday Storm (north of New Zealand in 1995) and ate popcorn.

We had planned to move to the inner anchorage today but got sidetracked with two new boats that had anchored here late yesterday. One of the boats; El Gitano, was having watermaker problems so we toddled over to offer suggestions and ended up spending several hours while the unit was dismantled and the offending broken o-ring found. The insufficient cruising repair kit for the unit contained no such ring so the rest of us searched our boats and finally the proper ring turned up. Hunger was overtaking us, so all work was set aside and we all dinghied to the beach for more fish rolls. There we met up with yet more cruisers that had dinghied over from the inner anchorage on the river through the mangroves.

After eating we took time to look at the reef. The water looked much clearer and the brown color seems to be gone. Looks like we might have a great time snorkeling over the coral beds in the morning.

We spent several hours in the water yesterday exploring the undersea life with Ambrose from Monakewago. Visibility was about ten feet; ok, but not as great as the 30 feet that we had had in Chamela. We ended up going all the way out to Isla Pajaros where we jumped in the water for a quick look-see. While there we were entertained by two mating whales that jumped and rolled not far to the south. The flippers that came out of the water during the rolls were huge and shiny black. We also saw a large manta ray fly out of the water and splash back in.

This afternoon, after raising the hook, we cruised the bay past the town of Tenacatita and following the shoreline we anchored in the inner anchorage by the shallow river entrance.

We made the long dinghy ride through the mangroves today with our friends from Sojourn. The waterway is quite wide at the eastern end but gets very narrow about 2/3 of the way. It passes inshore of the outer anchorage, where we could hear the surf on the beach, and finally ends in a larger lake that is behind the Tenacatita beach palapas. We left our dinghys among the pangas on the shore and walked toward the town of Rebalsito for a new load of fresh veggies. Before we had walked very far we got a ride. After stocking up at the tiendas in town, we walked out to the main highway and soon had flagged down a ride back to the beach. Steve and Cat form Sojourn returned through the mangrove, but Bill and I remained to enjoy another fish roll dinner on the beach before we too followed the mangrove cut back to the anchorage. We had just returned to Lanikai when Sun Star drove by with Ray and Ann on board. Ray is an old friend from our early days of sailing in The Dalles and Hood River. Soon thereafter Rubicon also passed by as they entered the anchorage here. All six of us ended up enjoying conversation in our cockpit later in the early evening. Matt and Elizabeth from Rubicon stayed around for a dinner of canned chili while we made plans to travel the mangrove water trail again in the morning.

Up and about early today we dinghied out to meet Matt and Elizabeth in their dinghy. We all crossed the bar very close to high tide with no problem and slowly traveled the waterway through the mangroves to its end in the small lake. We traveled around the lake and entered the mangroves at the far end of the lake but could only make progress a short distance. Back to the landing we left the dinghies and explored the beach. All was quiet at the beach palapas this early in the morning so we, again, made the trek into the village of Rebalsito for our friends to do a little shopping. This time we ended up walking the entire distance both ways. It was actually a pleasant walk.

On the return we noticed a large cloud of black smoke in the distance and as we approached the beach it seemed to be coming from the inner anchorage. We sat down and ordered lunch; Matt and Elizabeth had a quick swim. When they returned to the table another cruiser (Rex from Margaritaville) made a joke about a boat burning. Matt then turned on the hand-held radio to see if we could contact anyone in the inner anchorage to check on things. Mary from Dragon Lady was trying to contact us to tell us that a boat was on fire but our boats were safe (although the words "no immediate danger" are not very comforting!). Lanikai was the closest to the trouble but Ray from Sun Star was aboard to take any needed action. We gave him permission to move our boat and informed them that the engine was ready to start. Then we paid our tab and all headed out back through the mangroves as fast as our outboards would take us. When we arrived back to Lanikai, she was in no danger and Ray and Darwin (Dragon Lady) were on board keeping an eye out in case things changed and she needed moving. Thanks to the great boating community!! 

Sure enough, a large powerboat (Liberté) was on fire, by now burned down to the hull and flaming with a very hot fire. Water being dumped onto it by another large powerboat seemed to be doing nothing to slow the fire and that futile effort was soon stopped. The boat continued to burn well into the evening and a Mexican Navy ship appeared about sunset to keep watch over it. Finally about ten it went down in a glorious flame up. One more large flare-up occurred when much diesel raised to the surface and ignited. Diesel seeps continued to burn on the water for sometime. Friday morning there was little to show that a boat had sunk except a small diesel slick at the site.  Current speculation indicates an electrical fire, but the true cause may never be known.

We have moved back to the outer anchorage again as the water seems to be clearing up and the snorkeling was reported to be good out here yesterday. We arrived too late to snorkel but not too late to collect our fish rolls that we did not get on Thursday due to our quick exit. Sun Star and Kestrel also have moved out here.

Yesterday was a quiet day for us. We joined the large dinghy raft up in the evening and ate enough nibblies that neither of us needed dinner. It was a great way to visit with many of the other cruisers.

The outer reef was very interesting. Several hours were spent exploring the reef on Sunday and then yesterday our snorkeling consisted of cleaning the bottom of Lanikai. She has not grown many barnacles on the new paint yet but the thin layer of scum needed to be wiped off and the prop and other unpainted surfaces needed a good scraping. Today the wind has picked up from the south leaving us exposed to waves crossing the bay, it is not too bad but bumpy enough that we have chosen not to venture out in the dinghy. I am taking the opportunity to read and cook while Bill is playing more with the nautical almanac computer program that he is writing.

Wednesday we started off for Manzanillo, but as we were leaving Tenacatita Bay we heard Capricorn IV and SunDancer II on the radio. They were on their way into Tenacatita. At that point we made a large u-turn and anchored again, this time back in the inner anchorage. We first anchored north of the fleet in the same general area as before but the south wind began blowing again today. After a swim with Teak (Makai’s golden retriever) and the folks from Makai (Jackie and Eric), we moved Lanikai closer to the west cliffs where the wind and seas were much less.

Thursday we again took the dinghy on the jungle cruise through the mangroves with our friends from Blue Lagoon, SunDancer II, Capricorn IV and Veritas. While the rest of the folks snorkeled in "the aquarium" Tony and Linda (from Veritas) walked into town with us. We tried to connect on e-mail but again got nothing but busy signals. Then we picked up a few fresh veggies in the town before returning to the beach and another yummy fish roll.

Today was the big birthday party on the beach. It covered all the early February birthdays and there were quite a few. We had over forty dinghys at the beach landing for the festivities that consisted of a round of horseshoes, a roasted pig and many great potluck dishes. The palapa had stocked up on beer for the affair and it was sunny and warm so there was also much playing in the surf. We enjoyed the entire afternoon on the beach and the affair lasted until the evening bitey-bugs chased us back to the safety of our boats. After a quick clean up, Matt and Elizabeth (Rubicon) came over bringing a video that we watched while enjoying popcorn.

Yesterday was a day spent catching up maintenance projects on the boat.

Today our first chore was to take the trash ashore. That took 4 hours with all the necessary side trips to say "hi" to other boaters. Mid afternoon, with chores done for the day, we started ashore for a few beers and a visit at the palapa. Our trip was interrupted by the flipping of our dinghy as we crossed the sandbar into the river. A row back to Lanikai and then 30 minutes to clean the water out of the outboard, and we were back in business again. We got to shore being a little more watchful for the sneaker waves with no more mishaps.

Anchored off Las Hadas in Manzanillo we enjoyed all the city and resort lighting last evening. We arrived from Tenacatita late yesterday afternoon after a calm motor sail in mostly glassy seas, with no wind. It was an uneventful trip until just before we dropped the anchor when something unscrewed in the steering linkage and we had no steering. After the hook was dropped Bill quickly repaired the problem and we went for a quick swim in the warm water before the sun set. We ate dinner on the boat and spent the evening relaxing and enjoying the lights of civilization.

Today Bill went ashore early to start the check-in-check-out procedure. He also took the month+ of laundry in to the laundry; it will be ready for pick up tomorrow late afternoon.

I had a radio schedule with my dad so stayed on the boat for all the preliminary activities. When Bill returned to Lanikai to pick me up, it was already noon. We went to shore and caught the bus into central Manzanillo where we walked along the waterfront and found a little restaurant for lunch. The bus took us right along the port area on the way into town, which is a much larger port than the one in Mazatlán. There were many large ships being loaded and unloaded and this port even has the large cranes designed for loading and unloading containers.

On the way back to Las Hadas we stopped at the Comercial supermarket and started the restocking of our larder. Another trip in the morning should top us off for the next month. After stowing our goodies we returned to the resort and had a nice swim in the pool before finally returning to Lanikai for the night.

We are still having no luck at connecting our computer to the Internet via the pay phone and CompuServe to receive and send out e-mail. After several morning hours spent at the pay phone at the marina Bill gave up and we headed off to an Internet café where much mail got sent and even more was received. Another quick trip to the supermarket then a bus trip back to Lanikai and it was already 4:00PM. Bill then had the marina check us out for the following day and we hurried off to pick up our all clean and folded last month’s laundry. Rubicon arrived just as we were heading ashore for the checkout but we met up with Matt and Elizabeth as we were returning to Lanikai with our clean laundry. We dropped the laundry off on Lanikai then joined them with Major and Rachael on Grace where we all enjoyed some before-dinner drinks and many great tales.

Our last day anchored off Las Hadas; we made another run to the supermarket and a last e-mail visit at the Internet café. Then we enjoyed the afternoon sitting around the pool, swimming and visiting with other cruisers. We had a good–bye dinner with Matt and Elizabeth at a local restaurant. They are heading to the South Pacific in late March from Puerto Vallarta. Tomorrow we plan to fill up with fuel and head offshore to the Socorro Islands for a few weeks. From there our current plan is to return to Mazatlán, bypassing the Puerto Vallarta area until next season.

Oh Oh, it is a Friday and we thought that we were going to leave for the Socorro Islands today. We were up early and off to the fuel dock in Manzanillo only to arrive and find that they were out of fuel but "a truck was coming soon". Maybe an hour or two. By three in the afternoon, and with the tide almost low and having to fend off Lanikai from the dock continuously, we were beginning to have our doubts but the fuel master came by and said "fuel at four". That was not to be and by 4:30PM he came by again and assured us that fuel would arrive by 6:00. We stuck around, watched the sunset and still no fuel. By 7:30 we realized that fuel would not be coming until the next week. We then left the fuel dock and anchored off the town of Manzanillo with the intention of getting underway early in the morning toward Isla San Benedicto and Isla Socorro, about 400 miles off-shore.

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