January 23rd (2009) – Bahia Santiago – Jim’s Blog #76

Current Location – Bahia Santiago – Lat: 19°10.32’ N / Long: 104°42.45’ W

For the past week we have led a very boring life down here in paradise. We both got absorbed in reading and laying around doing nothing; so we have nothing to show for our non-labor. We skipped a cruisers’ pig roast put on by a businessman/mechanic who wants the cruiser business in Barra de Navidad. We just didn’t feel like putting out the energy to meet and greet dozens of people whose names we would forget until we met them one-on-one in an anchorage somewhere. So we slipped into town to a restaurant (Los Arcos) with some outdoor seating and internet service. As Sheilagh called our daughters on Skype ($.02 a minute through the computer), I caught up on the news and politics we hadn’t been up on for awhile.

It turns out that Sirius radio only advertises to cover the continental United States, and in reality we found that it doesn’t extend south much beyond Puerto Vallarta. So we don’t have much in the way of real news unless we are on the internet. As we sat there on the sidewalk we were entertained by several young children putting on a show with their skateboards for us. They were skilled, particularly with the new style that has the skateboard split into a front and back with the ability to move each separately. After awhile some older kids, noticing the audience we provided, came up and commandeered the two skateboards and did their own showing off for us. I guess every kid wants to be noticed for something.

A fishing shack in the Barra lagoon next to a fish farm

On Sunday we did more lazing around, planning to visit John and Kathy on “Batu” for some Mexican Train later that evening; so I could earn back some respect for the drubbing I suffered earlier in the week. A strong wind sprang up in the afternoon and continued until about 8:30 that night. In strong winds we’re not eager to leave the boat 1) in case the boat starts to drag the anchor and 2) because the trip in a dinghy from boat to boat can get very wet. We therefore cancelled with “Batu” and watched a movie that we had traded from them for one of ours. In fact we traded a number of movies with “Batu” and had looked forward seeing some of them.

We elected to head south on Monday morning to Bahia Santiago, which is about 20 miles southeast of Barra de Navidad. It is about a 4-hour journey and it provides access to two beautiful beaches that many visitors come to visit in the winter. We anchored off Miramar Beach and can look across at Santiago Beach. Bahia Manzanillo is the next bay to the southeast, which has the Las Hadas Hotel, where the beach scenes for the movie “10” were filmed. We visited Las Hadas last year and didn’t see a single gorgeous blonde female with corn-rowed hair running in slow motion down the beach. The resort looked like a dowager who had lost her bloom and we had no desire to return there this year. It also has a crowded anchorage, which doesn’t appeal to us.

That bay also has the large port of Manzanillo, where numerous freighters stop to drop off or pick up freight. On that side of the bay, in sight of our anchorage, we can see three large smokestacks that spew smoke and ash day and night. The prevailing winds keep the smoke at a distance, but the particles cause some cloud development that often obscures the sky in the southwest direction. Nothing like relaxing on a beautiful beach and looking across the bay to large smokestacks obliterating the sky! It points out that the third world needs its industry to build an economy as much as it needs tourist dollars. Until a country has its basic needs met, it certainly won’t be saving the quality of the air.

The nearest beach in Santiago Bay and a close up of the Oasis Beach Club with two drinks for the price of one during the 5-6PM Happy Hour

We are enjoying the beaches here in Santiago Bay. Yesterday we noticed a line of floats in the water as we dinghied into the beach. We avoided running into them and then noticed two groups of men pulling on two lines attached to each end of the floats, with a net hanging below. It took them a long time to bring in the net, hooking themselves into the line and walking backwards about one step for every wave that broke on shore. After they had backed up a ways, they would run forward and tie themselves into the lines again and continue pulling them in.

By this time a crowd was gathering on the beach and we all watched as two posts were pulled in attached to the top and bottom of the net on both sides. We later noticed rocks in the bottom of the net to keep it on the bottom; so the fish couldn’t escape. After about an hour of work they brought in a fairly large net full of fish, all of which were squirming to get away. At the same time pelicans, frigate birds, and other types were swooping down to grab a fish only to find that the net covered them up. While most of the birds stayed airborne, the pelicans landed on the sand and followed the net up the beach, constantly pecking at the net. They knew they would be rewarded with the remnants when the fish were finally cleaned.

We then walked up the beach to the main road and grabbed a bus that had a number of stores marked on its window as destinations, including Soriana, Wal-Mart, and Comercial. For 5 pesos apiece ($.40) we rode the bus to Wal-Mart and stopped at a Starbucks across the street. There the internet was free; so Sheilagh caught up on the mail while I walked five blocks to Soriana to find a barber. Later we did some shopping at Wal-Mart for some supplies and caught a bus back to Santiago. The driver of this bus must have been late for something, because he slowed down only to pick up passengers or drop them off. Regardless of the potholes he rushed along at way over the posted speed, timing the lights just right and swerving to other lanes to jump in front of vehicles who hadn’t accelerated appropriately. Sheilagh likened it to Toad’s Wild Ride from Wind in the Willows as interpreted by Walt Disney in the ride of the same name. I just called it “my kind of driving.”

On our way back down the beach we were hailed by some new cruisers who had come into the bay and were situated at the Oasis Hotel and Restaurant enjoying happy hour. We joined Roger and Di of “Di’s Dream,” Steve and Gary of “Sea Biscuit,” and Chuck and Judy of “Finale” for a couple of margaritas and felt no pain as we dinghied back to the boat as the sun was setting.

That night I finished one of the two books I want to recommend to you now. Normally we read a lot of light novels, mysteries, and spy stories, although we try to include some non-fiction, history and biographies, too. I just finished two very good books by anyone’s standards, I believe. The first is called Ship of Ghosts (by James D. Hornfischer) and is a history of the heavy cruiser USS Houston that was defeated by an armada of Japanese ships in the early days of World War II off the island of Java. The capture of the crewmen and their mistreatment by the Japanese in the jungles of Burma is the true story of the “Bridge on the River Kwai,” which movie doesn’t begin to tell the whole story. I found this book fascinating, but I must warn you that I was in the Navy; so it may have more interest for me than for most.

The other book I recommend is Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. This is a true story of Greg’s effort to build schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan with an emphasis on educating girls, not just boys. The story is remarkable and moving, and may change your thinking about how to deal with Islamic fundamentalism.

The sunset at Bahia Santiago - it never hurts to include a sunset - and the evening is warm

This evening I stole off in my kayak to the entrance of a river emptying into the bay and had a great time riding the waves into the mouth of the river and then riding the current back out – saves a lot of paddling. Apparently the water coming out of the river continues to fill the incoming wave with water; so it doesn’t break into a foamy curl. It just keeps a nice glide slope that allows my kayak to stay on a downward trajectory without causing it to turn into the wave. Now all I have to do is find a river wherever I go if I want to surf with my kayak.

More later . . .

January 16th (2009) – Barra de Navidad – Jim’s Blog #75

Current Location – Barra de Navidad – Lat: 19°11.42’ N / Long: 104°40.45’ W

Don't miss our previous blog from last week - we've just published both today because we've been away from the internet for a couple of weeks.

We left Chamela at about 9AM with the wind very light, but eventually slightly right of our nose; so we ended up motoring the whole way to Tenacatita with a very little help from the sails. Nevertheless it was a special sail for me as I thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being entirely self-sufficient on my own craft with two separate means of propulsion and the engine making ice at the same time as it charged up our batteries. We also made about 40 gallons of fresh water from the sea during our 6 hours of motor/sailing. We made use of the single-sideband radio to collect our internet messages from the atmosphere. The autopilot (which was inoperative at this time last year) was doing all our steering for us. All we had to do was keep a lookout for other boats every few minutes as we relaxed with books in the cockpit. It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip, even if we only covered 30+ miles in the 6 hours.

Our first night at Tenacatita showing our boat on the right - courtesy of Cornelia Gould

We arrived at Tenacatita (Lat: 19°18.20’ N / Long: 104°50.00’ W) to find a number of old friends already anchored, but the number of boats in the anchorage was about half of what it was last year. We also learned that this year’s Baja Ha Ha turned out to have the lowest actual turnout in several years. We had done the Ha Ha last year with about 160 boats coming from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, and this year’s only had 136 boats. Apparently the economy is affecting the number of cruisers. In fact several cruisers we have talked to have decided to go back to work to replenish the cruising kitty that was impacted by the meltdown of the economy during the past year.

When we arrived, we immediately joined the group for Mexican Train under the shade of the local palapa on shore. These usually begin at 2PM, but the start time was put off to accommodate us and some other cruisers who had just arrived from the other direction than we had come. The Mexican Train game seems to be a reason for drinking beer, catching up with the other cruisers’ recent histories and ongoing plans, and trading gossip about those who aren’t there.

One of the discussion items was the dragging that some boats did last year while anchored in the lagoon at Barra de Navidad (our next anchorage), when the wind sprang up in the afternoon. We learned that one of the boats that was consistently anchored incorrectly, causing it to drag on the bottom, had been put up for sale and the owner wouldn’t be returning. This was a relief to everyone there, since those boats that had dragged their anchors had run into some of the other boats in the process.

Sunday we had invitations from two sets of our cruising friends – appetizers and drinks from John and Kathy of “Batu,” and dinner from Ed and Cornelia of “A Cappella.” We squeezed in both events and caught up with a lot of recent history. We were joined at dinner by Roger and Diane of “Di’s Dream, whom we had met in Paradise Village. Roger and Di are both going back to work this summer selling Catalina yachts with their previous company. They had actually planned on working awhile longer, but wanted to enjoy their boat while they were still young enough that the fun was worth the work involved.

Before the invitations I swam around the anchored fleet with my kayak tied to my waist to insure that pangas saw me. It was good exercise for 45 minutes, which is what it takes me to do a mile in the water. By swimming around the outside of the fleet I am always close to a boat, if I have some sort of trouble – such as attacking whales, crocodiles, or sharks – no, the whales aren’t known to attack and I’ve seen no sharks or crocodiles in the vicinity of the Tenacatita anchorage. I also have the kayak to use if I get tired, and I usually carry a water bottle on the kayak. I have to finally admit that I’m getting to the age where I have to take precautions to insure my continued survival – precautions I wouldn’t have dreamed of 10 years ago. Oh well, it beats the alternative!

On Monday we had another round of Mexican Train, where I had the most incredible luck of my life, winning six of eight rounds and accumulating 26 points total against several hundred for everyone else (the fewer points, the better). Needless to say I was not the most popular person at my table, and I doubt that certain individuals will ever play with me again – although I was careful not to rub it in. Two nights later Sheilagh and I played with John and Kathy of “Batu,” and I was stuck with over 600 points, a couple of hundred over anyone else. So I am now properly humbled and not interested in playing the game for a few more days.

John and Kathy of "Batu" starting the jungle ride

Tuesday we took the “jungle ride” from the anchorage up a river to the town of Tenacatita. This is a winding stream that is wide at the start but quickly changes to a channel about 10’ wide with mangroves crowding the way and arching overhead. We saw very little wildlife at 9AM in the morning, but did glimpse a small two-foot crocodile sunning itself on the way back. We had some seven or eight other couples with us, each couple in their own dinghy. We separated ourselves from the group on the way back in order to take our time and see what wildlife we could. That’s when we sighted the crocodile, which everyone else missed. Here are a couple of shots.

Croc and Crab

Thursday we pulled up our anchor and motored about 13 miles around a point to Barra de Navidad, where we refueled and pulled into the lagoon for a few days. Barra is the closest thing to a real town around here, although it’s a conglomeration of little towns side by side, including Colimilla on one end and Melaque on the other. We dinghied over to Colimilla with a large bundle of laundry and picked up some supplies at Maria’s store. Maria has a small operation where she journeys to the Costco store at Guadalajara, buys at the retail prices there, and then marks things up a bit to sell to us cruisers. The unique aspect of Maria’s wares is that they include the things that cruisers want, not the normal stuff sold in the tiendas.

Maria has the Joy cleaner that can be used to wash oneself or one’s things in salt water (with a fresh water rinse, of course). She has a freezer full of good steaks, pork chops, bacon, and other meats not normally available. She sells soft drinks and beer by the case, whereas a lot of the tiendas tear down the cases and display the cans as individual items – a real hassle getting 24 individual items back to the boat. She has the harder cheeses that we gringos prefer and crackers that are difficult to find, such as Triscuits. She offers wheat bread in addition to the Bimbo white bread with all the food value removed. It’s a pleasure to have a retailer actually listen to the clientele and respond with what is requested.

On Thursday night we joined Ed and Cornelia of “A Cappella” and John and Kathy of “Batu” for barbecue ribs at the Sea Master Restaurant, where we caught our first glimpse of the “green flash” last spring. No “green flash” this time, since the clouds were thick to the west. The ribs at this restaurant are very tasty and not-to-be-missed whenever we pass through. We showed up just at happy hour and got two drinks for the price of one. After a careful explanation to the waiter in our best Spanish/English garble that we wanted one order of two drinks to split between each of the two of us, the waiter brought two drinks apiece. We resolutely made do with the situation.

The French Baker making his rounds in the lagoon

On Friday morning we heard a familiar refrain over the radio that the French Baker was in the lagoon and had wares to sell. The French Baker is unique to the Barra anchorage, because he not only has a store in town; he also has a boat and brings croissants and breads around in the morning to individual boats for about twice the price as in the store. Despite the price difference, it’s difficult to resist the temptation to have a fresh croissant breakfast delivered to your boat as you’re sitting in the cockpit enjoying a morning cup of coffee. I had the ham and cheese croissant, and Sheilagh had a cinnamon raisin croissant. We also bought a second set for Saturday morning and a loaf of French bread for our filet mignon steaks on Friday evening. This cruising is a tough life, but we make the best of it.

More later . . .

January 9th (2009) – Bahia Chamela – Jim’s Blog #74

Current Location – Bahia Chamela – Lat: 19°33.55’ N / Long: 105°06.59’ W


We’ve been away from the internet for over a week, and did not have a chance to post this until now. We thought we would be in Tenacatita by now, which is one of our favorite anchorages. However, a series of delays has put us in a temporary anchorage just 30 nautical miles from Tenacatita after several days of sailing southeast along the coast of Mexico. We had planned to leave Banderas Bay on Sunday but were delayed two days to get some business done on our computers in a local internet café. We motored west on Monday evening to Punta de Mita to knock an hour off our run south to Cabo Corrientes. Corrientes is one of those points of land that causes disruption of the seas and winds around it; so we take great care to approach it in good weather.

Sunset at Punta de Mita

On Tuesday morning we listened to the weather report from Don Anderson, a former cruiser living in Oxnard, California, who does weather on the marine high frequency radio for us cruisers for the Sea of Cortez and the eastern Pacific Ocean. Since he cruised this area for years, he can interpret the major weather reports and translate them into the micro climate along the west coast of Mexico. In this case he predicted 25 knots of wind and rough seas around Cabo Corrientes on Tuesday and most of Wednesday, which is about 10 knots over what Sheilagh is comfortable with; so we cooled our heels in Punta de Mita for a day. There was another sailboat anchored with us, whose owners decided to wait as well. Don has been right so many times that it’s foolish to take chances against his advice.

On Wednesday morning Don continued to forecast strong winds all day, but he indicated the winds would be slacking off on Thursday. Since we had strong winds all night in accordance with Don’s prediction from the previous day, we decided to sit out another day. We hadn’t intended to be at Punta de Mita for more than a day; so we had left our dinghy covered and tied up on the front of the boat, and the motor on its perch at the back of the boat. Before deciding to put it all back together to go into the beach, I took out our inflatable kayak (which was also inflated on the front of the boat) to paddle inshore and check things out.

Punta de Mita is well known for its surfing waves, which allows very little opportunity for getting into shore and back out without a protected spot to do it. I paddled into a small protected anchorage surrounded by large boulders and found wall-to-wall pangas and no place to land a dinghy. I actually had to paddle swiftly to get out of the anchorage over the incoming swells that were crowding the mouth. I also went along the beach and found nowhere to land a dinghy and be able to get back out through the surf. However, I did get a good hour of paddling exercise and a lot of respect for the surf here and the surfers who challenge the waves.

How the lovely Sheilagh deals with delay

We stayed aboard and read books for two days, interrupted by a nap or two. In the evening we began watching some “Law and Order” DVDs that we had gotten from another cruiser in exchange for several seasons of “24” that we had finished. Our Sirius radio kept us up to date with the news – which wasn’t very reassuring. It’s difficult to believe that the inmates in the Washington DC asylum are going to help us get out of the mess that most of them helped get us into. I might become an ex-patriot to Mexico, if its government wasn’t worse than ours. Not really! A trip to any foreign country helps one appreciate what we have in the United States.







The little anchorage at Ipala

On Thursday we made it south from Punta de Mita to Ipala (Lat: 20°14.17’N / Long: 105°34.36’W), a small anchorage 40 miles south along the coast. We were the only cruiser in the anchorage, which has been reduced to a very small area by dozens of pangas, and a multitude of floating Clorox bottles, Coke bottles, and other homemade buoys designating fish traps strewn throughout the bay. Ipala has a small hotel and a couple of restaurants, which may account for why the pangas aren’t pulled up on the beach as in every other fishing village. Instead they all take up moorings in front of the hotel. It’s not something to complain about, since the country is theirs, but it certainly discourages cruisers from anchoring and spending money ashore for dinner and supplies.

And on Friday we came south another 45 miles to Chamela, where we just anchored. The winds were supposed to be no more than 10 knots from the northwest (directly behind us), but by noon we had 10 knots of wind almost in our face from the south. We were able to beat against the wind for the rest of the day while using our engine to keep up our speed. We had allowed 9 hours for the trip at 5 knots an hour, but realized with the aberrant wind that we needed the help of the “iron genny” to get us here by daylight. The wind blows from the northwest approximately 80% of the time at this season. It was just our bad luck to encounter the 20% wind factor on this trip.

It was warm when we arrived; so we stripped down to bathing suits to cool off with our “anchoring beer” – the one we reward ourselves with just after anchoring. After that ritual I grabbed my fins, mask, and snorkel, but couldn’t convince Sheilagh to join me in checking out the fish along the edges of the anchorage. I got a good swim as well as a look at the exotic-looking fish that inhabit this warm water. If I had taken my fishing spear with me, I know I could have gotten dinner for us, but neither Sheilagh nor I have any interest in cleaning the darn things. It doesn’t help that the fish which are easiest to catch are also the toughest to cut into.

One of my favorite perches for observing wildlife

Tomorrow we head for Tenacatita, where we will relax for awhile and enjoy the company of several other cruisers who make that a primary destination during the winter season. Tenacatita is only about 30 miles south; so we are looking for an easy 6-hour day of sailing/motoring. We saw very little marine life on this trip so far – a couple of whales breaching a long way off, one manta ray that disappeared after showing us its white underbelly, and a tortoise that dived as we approached. The birds, on the other hand, were plentiful, particularly near the fishing pangas, where they benefit from the immediate cleaning of the fish by the fishermen. We encountered several squadrons of pelicans flying just inches over the water in a “V” formation just past our boat. One of these days we’ll grab the camera in time to get a film clip of a pelican flyby.

The pelicans are using what we call “ground effect” in aviation that comes into play when we are landing a plane. It turns out that the aircraft’s drag is reduced when it is within one wing-length distance from the surface of the runway. In other words, if a wing is 25’ long (the length of one wing of a typical sailplane), there is reduced drag on the airplane when it is within 25’ of the surface, which causes the aircraft to glide much further before touching down. This helps us do softer landings, in a sense cushioned by the air itself compressed below us. As I observe pelicans flying above the water, I notice that they descend to the point of almost touching their breasts and wingtips to the water as they use the “ground effect” to glide for very long distances, ascend slightly to flap their wings a bit, and then drop back down to the surface to continue their long glides.

We glider pilots would give a right arm to be able to fly like that over long distances, except that we would need instantaneous power in short spurts that we could depend on, an ability to land on the water safely and take off again as desired, and we would need to fly so slowly that the touching of the wing tip accidentally in the water would not cause an immediate swivel to one side. I don’t think we are even close to developing a sailplane with those characteristics.

I’ve also observed a lot of high-flying frigate birds which seem to consistently find lift over the water, never having to flap their wings. We sailplane pilots are told to avoid flying over bodies of water because the air is typically creating a downdraft to displace the rising air over warmer land masses. I have determined (after considerable study of these birds as I lie on my back on the deck of the boat) that the slow speed of the frigate birds, as well as their innate ability to discover lifting air, allows them to find and circle in very narrow thermals that we sailplane pilots could not begin to find within the area of descending air, and which we couldn’t begin to circle in with our faster speeds. You may be able to tell that my bird observations are giving me a desire to get back to soaring when we start spending time in San Diego during the summers. Sorry if I’ve bored some of you, but others of you may want to take a sailplane ride sometime to get a thrill.

More later . . .

January 2nd (2009) – La Cruz de Huanacaxtle – Jim’s Blog #73

Current Location – La Cruz de Huanacaxtle – Lat: 20°44.83’ N / Long: 105°22.38’ W

A sunset while we are underway

Happy New Year to everyone who reads this blog! We spent the evening with several cruising friends, enjoying chili (on the dock) next to “Serendipity,” Alan and Rosie’s boat docked next to ours in Paradise Village. Joining us were Bill and Colleen of “Captain George Thomas,” Ralph and Helen of “Moon Wanderer,” Hank and Betsy (with daughter Jennifer) of “Equinox,” David and Betty Lou of “Decade Dance,” and Diane and Les of “Gemini.” After the chili we grabbed some bottles of champagne and light jackets, and walked to the beach side of the resort to watch the fireworks.

At midnight we got to enjoy fireworks from around the bay – from Punta de Mita (20 miles away to the northwest), from La Cruz and Bucerias (5-10 miles away to the north), overhead at Paradise Village, close at hand from other local hotels, and downtown at Puerto Vallarta (about 8 miles to the south). Since midnight is well past the time for cruisers to be in bed, it took a valiant effort to stay up past 9PM, but we gutted it out, consumed our share of champagne, and made it back to the boat by 1AM.

Earlier in the week we took a walk to look at some of the larger yachts at the larger docks. There was one large schooner, named “Selym,” which was about 100’ in length and had beautifully-maintained wood trim all around. The boat absolutely glistened in the setting sun and the marina lights. As we inspected it carefully, a young woman came to the side of the boat and invited us aboard. It turned out that Jessica, the woman who invited us aboard, and her husband, Steve, were caretakers of the boat and had been doing so for some 13 years. They sail the boat to various places around the world where the Portuguese owner joins them, bringing a retinue of family and friends.

Sheilagh in our engine room with little room to work

It has four main cabins, each with two single beds and its own bathroom with a toilet and a bidet, not to mention bookcases, night stands with lamps fastened down, and a closet. The engine room is so large one can walk around in it and have access to all the equipment – a far cry from our situation, where Sheilagh is usually chosen to perform “boat yoga” to get to a particular part of the engine, the water-maker, the inverter, the battery charger, or any of the wiring that supports all those pieces of equipment. The crew’s quarters in the front were quite a bit smaller with shared bathroom facilities. The boat was designed so the owner and his guests never have to be exposed to the crew’s quarters, the engine room, or the kitchen. Naturally the kitchen has institution-sized appliances and plenty of room to work in.

At first glance it seems as if this would definitely be the good life, but it’s not something someone could do and raise children at the same time. They also mentioned that the wood trim takes constant attention – causing them to start the sanding and varnishing process all over again as soon as they have completed all the trim on the boat. They mention having gone “around the horn” and having had to completely redo the wood trim, since the damage by wind and waves made an 18-day trip look like a 6-month voyage. They also said that they have taken the boat north to Alaska and found it not only cold, but difficult to find the right temperature to do varnishing on the boat. Imagine having your life tied to the maintenance of wood trim on a boat! Thankfully almost all of Aurora’s woodwork is on the inside of the boat and is oiled rather than varnished; so we have very little varnishing to do.

On the 1st of January we sailed out of the Paradise Village Marina and back to La Cruz to prepare the boat for going south. We had a leisurely sail to the La Cruz anchorage and found ourselves one of about 40 boats there. On the way over we saw a cluster of boats surrounding a very large whale, which was slapping its tail repeatedly on the water before finally submerging. This is prime whale-watching season in Banderas Bay, and there don’t seem to be any rules about not hassling the whales as there are in the U.S. There a motor vessel cannot get within 100 yards of a whale and is not supposed to turn towards it. Here, a sighting immediately causes wakes to appear behind all the motor boats as they try to get as close as possible for the benefit of the tourists. Thinking of that tail smacking down on the water repeatedly gives me second thoughts about approaching a whale too closely. We want to keep our boat in one piece.

The main reason for the move to the La Cruz anchorage was to clean the bottom of the boat and the propeller after a month of no sailing or motoring activity. We’re very glad we did because the barnacles were thick all over the bottom of the boat. It’s amazing that the propeller could move us at all, as there were barnacles on both faces of all three propeller blades. As I scraped the bottom, sending hundreds of barnacles to the depths, a school of medium-sized yellow-fin tuna circled below me enjoying a feast. If we still had our Mexican fishing licenses and any desire to slaughter fish, we would have had no trouble doing so.

As I was taking my nap today I flashed back on the innumerable naps I took while laboring in the business world. I am one of those individuals who needs a 20-minute nap to be sharp for the afternoon; so I made it a practice to have a half-hour lunch with my co-workers, and then steal away “on personal business” in my car for a nap during the second half hour. I would find the same shady parking spots as others of my kind – usually library, church, or empty office parking lots – lean the car seat back, and nap for 20 minutes. If I didn’t have that kind of “power nap” I would be foggy in the brain all afternoon, reading the same words over and over and writing notes that I couldn’t read later.

Since I traveled a lot, spending several months at a client site, I used to take the rental car out and find a new spot or two for napping during the duration of the project. I now have favorite spots in Toledo, Ohio, Los Angeles, California, Phoenix, Arizona, and many more locales throughout the U.S. where I could take a nap in my car in relative peace and quiet and shade. The most difficult times for me were with those clients where I had to forgo the rental car, or park the car in a valet lot downtown where I couldn’t get to the car at noon. So in San Francisco and Seattle I found shady benches where I could doze sitting up, with one arm on an arm rest and my head on that hand. That was also a favorite way to wait for airplanes in air terminals, although I once missed a connection in Dallas by sleeping through all the calls for boarding.

So here I am in a country that considers siestas an essential part of each day, with most businesses and schools closed between 1 and 3PM. Now I can take a nap without having to hide it, and that is one of the true pleasures of this retirement lifestyle for me. However, I remember as a boy watching my dad waste Saturday and Sunday afternoons napping, when he could have been enjoying the day as we kids did. So much for changing value systems!

This next week we will be heading south to Ipala, Chamela, Tenacatita, and Barra de Navidad, and we’ll update you on our progress. More later . . .