February 27th (2009) – Barra de Navidad – Jim’s Blog #81

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

When we don't have a good picture to insert we fall back on a sunset

After pulling into the Barra de Navidad lagoon, we began to realize why we don’t particularly like this destination. In the first place we had to enter the lagoon very carefully, since we were at low tide and our GPS suddenly gave up the ghost as we approached the bay. On the GPS are the four carefully plotted waypoints that help boats to stay in the channel on the way into the lagoon. Why did we enter the lagoon at low tide with an inoperative GPS? The low tide lasted all day and we had entered the lagoon many times before with no difficulty.

We came in at a very low speed; so we could back out immediately if we happened to run aground on the mud here. Two boats had run aground in the two days before we got there, and managed to get off with the help of some dinghies and pangas. As mentioned earlier, we knew the channel even without the GPS navigational points, and we got ourselves anchored without any difficulty. The depth of the lagoon is normally only about 10’, which can get down to 8’ at low tide. Our boat’s draft is 6’ (that’s the depth of the boat that sticks under water), so we are within 2’ of the bottom at low tide.

Another problem with the Barra Lagoon is the muddy bottom. Normally we would put out about 70’ of anchor chain in 10’ of water to give us a very safe holding scope of 7:1. However, because the bottom is so muddy, everyone puts out at least 100’ of chain – we elect about 120’ – in order to stay firmly embedded in the bottom when very strong winds occasionally dominate the afternoons. The real fun is cleaning off the anchor chain when it’s time to bring it up. It takes us about 10 extra minutes to brush and wash down the chain as it is brought up. Thankfully we have a hose at the front that allows us to spray salt water directly onto the chain as it comes up.

The next afternoon a very strong wind came up, and it was necessary for us to triangulate our position against some fixed landmarks on shore to help us determine if our anchor happened to drag. Soon after the wind started, we heard an urgent message on the radio informing everyone that one of the catamarans was dragging its anchor. Sure enough we looked a couple of boats over and saw the catamaran sliding downwind with its anchor chain supposedly out. The power boat behind it started up its engine and moved out of the way. We jumped in our dinghy and went over to assist the catamaran with about five other cruisers.

This boat had failed to leave the key in the ignition and access to the windlass to handle the anchor. If they had left the boat properly set up we could have started up the engine to stop its backward momentum and then we could have let out additional scope on the anchor. Thankfully the boat stopped moving backwards as we got there, and we managed to find an anchor and some anchor line in an open compartment on the boat. Immediately we had about 5 different opinions of what to do, but ended up agreeing to take the new anchor out in a dinghy and drop it as far upwind as we could to make sure at least one of the anchors would continue to hold. The owner of the catamaran had a little work to do to bring up two anchors when he got back and re-anchored, but he was happy his boat hadn’t ended up in the mangroves at the side of the lagoon.

Another reason for not particularly liking the Barra de Navidad lagoon is the prevalence of filthy water, where human waste is dropped overboard by thoughtless cruisers as well as by the sewage system in town. There is no way I would swim in this water and I carefully wash off my kayak when I go out to get some exercise. This year the number of cruisers is about half of what it was last year, so the waste is diminished somewhat. It’s amazing to me that cruisers actually dump waste where fishermen fish, oystermen raise oysters, and kids swim from the beaches. We’ve heard of one cruiser who brags that he hasn’t got a holding tank onboard; so we anchor well away from him if we happen to be in the same anchorage.

What are the good points of this anchorage? There is the French baker who delivers fresh pastries and bread to your boat each morning, if you like. We also have two panga taxi services that will take us into town and bring us back after dark, which makes the nightlife more accessible than nearly any other place. Barra de Navidad has a number of very good restaurants and nightspots for those who can stay awake beyond 10PM. Barra also has a local store owner, Maria, who goes shopping in Guadalajara every week for the items we cruisers want and both resells them and delivers them to the boat. We also have a one-day turnaround on laundry that is convenient to Maria’s store. This is where we get same-day service in recharging our propane for cooking. The fuel dock is also convenient for both diesel for the engine and gasoline for the outboard motor.

When we arrived, we connected with Dave and Marsha from “Juniata,” who invited us to lunch with them and John and Sharon of “Sunbow.” We all met at Fortino’s palapa on the edge of the lagoon, where those two couples were picking up their laundry as part of the process. We had met both couples up in the Sea of Cortez on the 4th of July where we got together with about 40 cruisers in El Burro Cove for hotdogs and whatever everyone brought in addition. It was fun to renew the acquaintances we had made. Dave and Marsha are the cruisers whose close friends we happened to meet last summer at a remote campground (Sardine Lake) in the Sierras, where we were struck by how small the world really is.

Sheilagh - dressed for breakfast in the cockpit with the cereal bowl on her lap - hope it's not too cold where you happen to be

Dave came over the next day to assist Sheilagh in hoisting me to the top of the mast to repair a wind direction indicator that had been bent by the wind. I set up the block and tackle to use the windlass to hoist me up with Dave handling the line that does the actual hauling. Sheilagh manned the backup halyard, which would supposedly save me if the other halyard broke or slipped badly. Now that neither Sheilagh nor I carry life insurance on the other one, I am a bit more willing to put my life in danger with her around. Dave helped us jury rig a brace for the wind indicator and I got hauled back up to replace it. The way Dave let out the line on the way down allowed me to rappel down the mast as mountain climbers do. I’d almost get hauled up to the top to be able to come down that way anytime.

We had dinner at a new restaurant for us, Bananas, with John and Cathy of “Batu,” where we had the most delicious filet mignon we’ve had in Mexico. The restaurant overlooks the bay and the setting sun, but we were not able to see the “green flash” due to clouds on the horizon. We were so impressed with the restaurant that we took Ed and Cornelia (from “A Cappella”) there when they stopped by in a rental car from a trip back to the U.S. As you may have ascertained from previous blogs, Sheilagh and I are not particularly fond of fish, which makes us less than self-sufficient compared to other cruisers who crave it. We have yet to find plucked chickens or butchered cows floating by the boat, so we jump at the chance to eat good meat when we can.

A picture on a day where we could use the mainsail, the jib, and the staysail to actually sail here in Mexico - this picture is courtesy of Cornelia on "A Cappella" who was buddy-boating with us that day

Today, Friday, we were planning to move to another anchorage, when we decided that we should take a look at the “head” (toilet mechanism), which was starting to pump a bit oddly. Sheilagh long ago assumed the role of plumber in the family (normally a “blue” job in the cruising community – meaning men should be doing it – as opposed to “pink” jobs); so she told me to stand back, get out of her way, and hand her tools when she asked for them. She took the flushing mechanism completely apart and found the inside cylinder coated with calcium deposits caused by the mingling of urine and salt water. She replaced the entire mechanism with a replacement part and then took the old one apart and cleaned it. I kept out of her way and spent a lot of time congratulating her on the fine, fine job she was doing. That also cleared up a not-so-pleasant smell we had been experiencing for months and which we had concealed with deodorant sticks.

We decided to spend another night here and played a movie we had borrowed from another cruiser. The movie was a bit grainy and had no warning in the front threatening prison for daring to copy a movie. Then we noticed that there were shadow figures down in front finding their seats in the theater. At that point we knew we were watching a pirated copy of the movie, taken from a movie screen, and we immediately locked the boat up tight and pretended we weren’t home in case the FBI came looking for us. We escaped without jail time and will be passing the movie off to someone else to risk his or her freedom.

More later . . .

February 20th (2009) – Barra de Navidad – Jim’s Blog #80

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

[Be sure to check out the new pictures added to the blog of February 13th. I also corrected the name of the drink to "Michelada" at the advice of my youngest daughter who had heard of this drink, but not the one I mentioned originally. ]

Starting to pull in the net from the water onto the sand

We left the “Santiago” anchorage for the Las Hadas anchorage (Lat: 19°06’ N / Long: 104°21’ W), which is just around the corner of the same Santiago Bay. But before we went, I took my kayak into the beach with the camera in a Ziploc bag to get some pictures of some fishermen bringing in a net from shore. They do this every few days, starting at a point just a hundred yards off our boat. They bring the net out in a panga and drop the scoop end near a buoy that stays moored to the bottom. Two divers position the net and stay with the scoop end as it is being hauled in. Eight to ten additional fisherman grab the ends of two lines that are brought to shore by the panga and begin hour-long pull of the net into the beach.

Retrieving the net and pulling it up on shore

The pullers start out pulling with their hands and bring the net in step by step in concert with the wave action. Floats along the upper edge of the net keep it suspended, and rocks on the lower edge of the net keep it dragging against the bottom. As the net is pulled closer to shore it becomes heavier with fish and the pullers lock themselves into the lines and creep slowly backwards until the last one in line unfastens himself and runs down to the edge of the water to lock in again and continue pulling backwards. It’s fascinating to watch; so a crowd usually congregates, with some of the male visitors stepping in to help pull. Usually these individuals are showing off for their girl friends and seem to cause more trouble than help.

Sorting out the fish (notice all the round spiny anemones) and the people gathered around

The end of the net is in the form of a bag and it vibrates constantly with the flapping fish trying to escape. In this case the net picked up a lot of spiky anemones that must have recently settled on the bottom; so the fishermen had to remove them carefully with their bare hands from the struggling pile of fish. Each of the fishermen grabs a bucket and helps sort the fish. At the end each of the fishermen walks away with a plastic bag of fish for his own use. I didn’t see any fish being processed and put in ice for the market; so this appears to be just a little local action, when the fish from the previous netting have been consumed.

Las Hadas hotel on the right and a condominium to the left of it (looking from the water)

On Monday we cruised the 4 miles to Las Hadas and found a spot to anchor very close to the marina and the beach. Yes, this is supposedly the same beach where Dudley Moore was swept off his feet by the slow motion running of Bo Derek in the full bloom of youth and the full bouncing figure of a male fantasy. The beach is actually quite short, which is probably why slow motion was used. Otherwise Bo would have run past Dudley in a matter of seconds.

One of our reasons for stopping here was to pick up some eyeglasses I had ordered to replace a pair of broken ones, and to do some heavy-duty shopping. The big grocery stores are nearby and afterwards a cab brings us right to the dinghy dock to transfer the heavy and bulky items directly into the dinghy without having to carry them very far, and there is no need to launch the dinghy through the surf. Jim and Susan of “Windward Bound” followed us over to Las Hadas, went with us on the bus to Wal-Mart, and ended up sharing a cab with us back to the marina. I was not surprised when my eyeglasses were not ready yet, since this is Mexico where “mañana” is a way of life. I was told to come back on Wednesday afternoon, which determined that we would stay a couple more days at Las Hadas.

We spent the next several days at the swimming pool, right next to the restaurant and bar, in case we got hungry or thirsty. At the large pool the drinks were $6 apiece, while the cost was only $3 at the smaller pool. We cruisers naturally gathered at the less expensive drink location, where we played Mexican Train one day with Jim and Susan, John and Cathy of “Batu,” Terry and Michele of “Coastal Passage,” and Herb and Juliet of “Synchrony.” On another day we just swam and read books.

On Wednesday all the cruisers were invited to a party by Stan and Mary Jo of “SolMate,” who had sold their boat and settled in the town of Santiago. There was a large turnout to share snacks and drinks and get to see what can be purchased in Mexico for next to nothing by U.S. standards. Most of these houses need some rebuild, but the cost of doing that is quite inexpensive, if you can get workers to show up. Stan’s team had taken a two-week break from working on his house to go to a more lucrative temporary job that had just appeared. We met quite a few cruisers we had seen before but never had occasion to actually say “hello.”

To spice up this blog I am including a picture of the lovely Sheilagh with a first cup of coffee and before "putting on her face" as she puts it. Frankly she looks great in my opinion without a "face" or even a hairdo. Sheilagh is responsible for the large number of pictures in the last couple of blogs

After the party Sheilagh and I made a second trip to Wal-Mart to pick up my eyeglasses only to learn that they would be ready on the following day. I had the optometrist call the factory to insure they would be there on the following afternoon. I finally got them on Thursday. The reason for mentioning this is that folks ask us why we don’t plan our trip in more detail when we start out. If we did, we would be constantly revising it or getting upset that we couldn’t meet it. The ability to just add a few days to our schedule keeps our blood pressure low, our hearts beating steadily, and should prolong our lives.

While I was at Las Hadas I visited a nearby beach to check out what was causing the loud crashing sounds of the surf on the sand. It turned out that this was a very steep beach, where the waves crashed high up on the sand and then receded as an outbound wave at about the same height as the incoming waves. Where the two waves met caused a steep drop off on one side that turned into a breaking wave so you can imagine the thrill of staying just on the edge and cheating the waves that wanted to suck my kayak into the. I managed to avoid any disasters and had a great time playing in the waves.

On Friday we left Las Hadas and motor-sailed north to Barra de Navidad, where we planned to get fuel and start our gradual trip north to Mazatlan by the middle of April. More later . . .

February 13th (2009) – Bahia Santiago – Jim’s Blog #79

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

Last Saturday we were invited on a trip to the city of Colima by Stan and Mary Joe of “Solmate”, who have a car here, and Jim and Susan of “Windward Bound.” The ostensible reason was to support the local soccer team, The Manzanillo Picudos, at an away game there, but we took the opportunity to see some of the country and the city before the 4PM game.

A statue of the indian defender of Colima from the Spanish and a view of the park in front of the cathedral

Colima is the capital of the state of Colima and the largest city in the state. On the way we passed a brick-making region, where we saw temple-like structures of brick that were filled with firewood inside and plugged with mud. We saw a couple of these smoking heavily and learned that this is how they fire the bricks after they have been formed and dried. At the same time we saw long rows of bricks laid side by side drying in the sun.

Workers next to a pyramid of bricks to be fired and long rows of bricks drying in the sun before firing

As we got there the workers were taking a break, and were more than happy to show us the operation. One if them took us to the brick-making area and put down a form for making four bricks at a time. Beside him was a wheelbarrow of “mud” for the bricks and a pail of water. He picked up two handfuls of the “mud,” plopped the goop into the four open windows of the form, packed them down with his hands, wet his hands and smoothed the top, and then pulled the form off to reposition it in the next spot. In five minutes he created about 40 bricks, each of which will sell for approximately $0.15 apiece – that’s $6 of product in 5 minutes or $72 of product in an hour. Of course this doesn’t count the digging and creating of the “mud” nor the stacking and firing process. But it was interesting to see how fast a purely manual operation can take place.

The entrance to the pyramid of bricks where scrap wood is thrown in before the fire is started and the door sealed and a young worker

This particular individual had his son with him that day, a little boy of 4-5 years of age, who worked with a small shovel and a toy truck in the dirt next to his dad but out of the way. He was a bit overawed by the gringos with their cameras, but was intent on moving dirt from one position to another.

Twin girls and their father on horseback and a young boy on a burro waiting for the parade to start

When we finally got into Colima we found ourselves in the midst of the Fiestas Charrotaurinas (Cowboys/Cowgirls), which is a celebration in honor of the patron saint of Colima, San Felipe de Jesus. This lasts several days and involves rodeos, cockfights, concerts, and other activities. The cockfights don’t seem to be politically correct from our point of view, but they are viewed as a betting activity that is very popular here. In particular we walked into the town square in front of the Cathedral and found dozens of horses (later the number grew to a couple of hundred) preparing for a parade that was to proceed to the town of Villa re Alvarez, about 2-3 miles away where the rodeos would be held.

The "Mojigangos" and the lovely Sheilagh

As we waited in the square for the parade to start, we noticed two large 12’ tall figures covered with what appeared to be clown outfits. We later learned from the “Chamber of Commerce” literature that these were “the famous ‘Mojigangos,’ large effigies made of reeds and cardboard that caricature local and international public figures.” We couldn’t see that the faces on these figures looked anything like any public figures we know.

Two princesses and a model of the bull ring complete with toy animals and humans on the back of a truck

We also saw horsemen and women milling about on their horses. There were two senoritas sitting sidesaddle on their horses and dressed in full Mexican dress with large sombreros and sashes indicating that they were princesses of some sort.

Most of the riders were dressed in standard cowboy shirts and jeans, as they would dress in the U.S. Sheilagh was impressed with the beauty of some of the horses – Andalusians and Arabians, which were very well trained. One cowboy pulled his horse out of the line up and into an open space where he had the horse dance to the music that was playing. The horse was magnificent to watch, with several different prancing steps the owner put it through, and then the owner backed it into line when he was through. Sheilagh rode horses as a girl and was very impressed with the way the horses were trained.

"Tuba" vendor

We also got a chance to try the local “Tuba” drink, which is carried around in a hollowed-out gourd. It is a mild lemonade-like drink, but it is pink in color and has small chunks of apple cut up into it. After the vendor fills the glass with liquid, he drops in a tablespoon of peanuts, which float on the top. As you drink the liquid you also eat the small apple pieces and the peanuts. It was very refreshing and full of protein with the peanuts.

Jim, Susan, Sheilagh, and myself in the Amazon Bar

After the parade we walked around a few of the shops and were pulled into the Amazon bar by Jim and Susan of “Windward Bound” where we were introduced to the “finest Michelada in all of Mexico,” according to the proprietor. Michelada is a local beer concoction that includes Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, Soy sauce, and some lime juice (in addition to the beer), topped with a salted rim like a Margarita. The drink was served in a large glass stein that held a liter of liquid, so Sheilagh and I split one. The bar itself was wallpapered with jungle scenes and had paper mache heads and bodies of jungle animals on the walls. Quite a colorful place and the bartender was an equally colorful older man who owns the bar and touts the world famous nature of his concoction.

Alas, the soccer team we were supporting lost the match, but it was a good game where the local team outplayed ours in the second half. We were in the minority in the bleachers, but we “visitors” made plenty of noise. I just wish I could translate some of the shouts to see how colorful they were. We made it back after dark and took it very easy the next day.

On Monday we took a little cruise beyond the 3-mile limit from land to dump our holding tank (called a “courtesy trip”), while the sailboats “Batu” and “Coastal Passage” combined their courtesy trips with a movement across the bay to Las Hadas. We stayed in our original location because of the crowded nature of Las Hadas and did the usual lying around during the week and listening to Sirius radio to see how bad the economy is doing. Our daughter, Kimberly, reminded us that we were approaching the 500th day of our “vacation,” which put our experience in a little different context.

On Wednesday we hosted a cocktail party with Jim and Susan of “Windward Bound” and Lou, Lydia, and their guest, Maggie, from “Shiloh.” Now a cocktail party should be a simple event to bring off on land, but here’s what it takes on a boat. The party was to start at 5PM but all of us were a bit late in getting started. At 4PM Lou and Lydia passed by in their dinghy on the way to the store to get avocados for their promised guacamole dip. They agreed to buy some ice for us, which we were short of. After they had departed we found that we were missing the Philadelphia cream cheese required for Sheilagh’s red pepper jelly dip; so she called Susan on the radio to see if she had any. Susan did have some and promised to bring it with her.

Lou and Lydia returned from the store and together we dropped the bag of ice in the bay as we were passing it across. Thankfully the bag of ice floated and we pulled it out, dried it off, and put the contents in the ice bucket. Lou and Lydia found no avocados at the store, nor did we have any. We soon heard Lydia call Susan, who had the needed avocados. Lou made the trip to “Windward Bound” to pick up the avocados to get the guacamole dip prepared before they came to our boat. The party finally started at 5:30PM with Susan supplying most of the raw materials for two different dips and bringing along some mini pizzas that turned the cocktail party into a full dinner. I said earlier that we hosted the cocktail party, but it was really Susan who should receive the credit.

One of the problems with holding cocktail parties on boats is that it is difficult to maintain a liquor cabinet that will contain everything a guest might want. Another problem is that guests may be departing the next day and be unable to reciprocate a party of their own. So the typical approach to these parties is to bring something to drink as well as a snack to share. That way you bring what you want to drink, you don’t strain the resources of the host, and you leave no obligation in your wake. In our case we furnished margaritas, rum and cokes, beer and soft drinks, and our guests could take their choice with accepting our drinks or imbibing their own. So much for the problems associated with cruising and vacationing full time.

More later . . .

February 6th (2009) – Bahia Santiago – Jim’s Blog #78

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

We just can’t seem to leave this beach paradise at Santiago Bay. Our previous pictures of the beach showed very few people on the beach, but that was before the weekend. Since Monday was a holiday here in Mexico – Constitution Day (federal) and Candlemas Day (religious) – the crowds came out on Saturday and Sunday in droves with a smattering on Monday as folks headed for home. There was still plenty of room on the beach, but beach umbrellas sprouted everywhere and families took their ease. Children dabbled in the surf and built the necessary sand castles that children are genetically required to build when confronted with sand and water.

The difficulty for us cruisers was threading our way through the swimmers with our dinghies in order to land on the beach in the surf. Nothing like keeping the propeller away from the heads of curious swimmers – particularly the young boys asking for rides – as we gauge the swells carefully to ride in just behind the breaking waves. This is a bit of a challenge in any case, because we only have a 6 HP engine with very little oomph when we need it at the moment of catching the swell just right. Then add scantily-clad bathers all around the boat and up on the beach, and it is a real challenge to stay focused on the job at hand. We were successful and headed out to the Santiago open-air market that occurs every Saturday.

The Open Air Market in Santiago on Saturdays

There we found one of the larger temporary markets we have seen in Mexico – erected overnight and modeled on a modern mall to some extent. It was completely covered with canvas to keep out the hot sun. There were taco stands and plastic tables and chairs in one section that was equivalent to the eating area in a mall. There were booths filled with clothing, mostly jeans and T-shirts, right next to jewelry booths, DVD and CD stands (with mostly copied items, I think, based on the low prices), leather goods, clay and wood bowls and platters, musical instruments, cheap toys, and nearly everything that tourists and locals might want to buy. Fresh fruits and vegetables were sold at several booths grouped together where the delivery trucks had good access.

We assume these vendors paid for the right to set up their booths, but as we shopped we were approached by individual vendors, wandering the aisles, and offering blankets, baskets, jewelry and other items that are normally carried and sold on the beaches here. The fixed-booth operators didn’t seem to mind having the wandering vendors go through, at least we didn’t see anyone being thrown out for selling without a booth. I ended up buying a couple of T-shirts, which Sheilagh insisted not be white because she can’t get the sunscreen stain out of the collars. So I bought one yellow T-shirt that would match the sunscreen stains and an orange one that might hide the stain. I got the vendor to reduce his price from $7 to $6.50 on the first shirt, and then found the same shirts around the corner for $4.50, where I got my second shirt. So much for my ability to bargain!

The Marlin statue by Sebastián in old town Manzanilla on the waterfront - note the two figures below the end of the tail to get perspective on the size

After the open-air market we hopped a bus for the long ride around the bay to Manzanillo, one of the biggest shipping ports in Mexico. Beyond the town is the power plant that spews smoke into the sky 24/7, but that area is separated from the town by hills that keep the smoke away. We planned to meet some friends at the Club Social next to the town square for drinks and snacks. We were told to meet the group at the statue of the marlin in the town square. You can imagine that there are dozens of sculptures in the various parks around town; so we were a bit worried that we might not see it. The picture shows that the marlin statue, by Sebastián, is not something anyone could miss. We arrived just a bit before the group and joined them in the square before repairing to the bar.









The Club Social is a “bocado” style bar, where you pay for drinks and they bring things to eat at no charge. “Bocado” means a “bite” or “mouthful” from “boca,” the word for mouth. There are several bars like this locally where the food is intended to keep you drinking. After each beer or drink, the used bottle or glass is lined up on a shelf behind the table with all the other used vessels. The final bill consists of the waiter counting the bottles and glasses and submitting one bill for everyone. Then it is up to the various participants to throw in what they feel they drank and then see if that covers the bill and the tip. We joined John and Cathy of “Batu,” Terry and Michelle of “Coastal Passage,” and John and Gilly of “Destiny.” We noticed that the food was replenished as soon as we ordered a second round of drinks. Apparently they keep a balance on the food they provide against the drinks that are ordered.

Sunday was a low key affair with lunch and internet at the Oasis Beach Club, looking out over the crowds on the beach. Then I met with friends to watch the Superbowl at a local restaurant, named Juanito’s, for access to a large screen TV with a direct signal from the U.S. to allow us to see the U.S. commercials. Sheilagh has no interest in football, unless it’s in person at a high school game where she can watch the watchers; so she stayed on the boat and got some time alone. We were about evenly divided in the group between the two teams. Most of us had not been following pro football to any great degree, since it’s difficult to even get TV in most anchorages, and none of us sailboats has satellite TV onboard. It turned out to be a very good game, although the locals who came in for dinner didn’t understand what was so interesting about a game where the ball wasn’t always in motion.

We had met Lou and Lydia of “Shiloh” on the previous Friday night for dinner at a Palapa on the beach and they offered to take us in their van for shopping on Monday. It is such a pleasure to actually drive to a shopping center (instead of taking a bus) and then to have a way of carrying everything back without hailing a cab! We loaded up on some heavy items like beer and coke, and some bulky items like paper towels and toilet paper. We had lunch at a local taco stand where the whole family was involved in taking our orders, providing Coca Colas, and generally seeing that we were well taken care of. A friend of the family told us that he was from Pasco, Washington, and I mentioned that I had grown up in Walla Walla, just 60 miles down the road. Our communication was limited by our lack of fluency in each other’s language, but we said our good-byes with something in common.

That night we had “Batu” and “Coastal Passage” over for Mexican Train, using our rules as the host, and I came off the winner. A couple of days later we did the same on “Coastal Passage,” using their rules and they won. There doesn’t seem to be any firm rules with regard to playing the game. As a result the host often wins when others are playing who are not followers of the same rules.

Tuesday it was time to clean the green fringe from around the boat at water level. I used a scraper, a brush, and a Teflon pad and was still unable to get some of the green fuzz off in some places. The bottom definitely needs a scraping and cleaning before we head out again, something I will probably do next week. I loaded my IPod with a new book and went kayaking around the mouth of the bay to another anchorage, as I listened to the story of Ireland. It involved 2 hours of paddling, but the time passed swiftly as I listened to the myths and stories of Ireland, always keeping away from partially submerged rocks that could cut open the inflatable kayak.

Thursday a finback whale with an infant came very near the anchorage and appeared to be nursing within a few yards of one of the sailboats, “Hooligan,” anchored here. It was just the luck of Tom and Barbara, the owners of “Hooligan,” to be in town at that time, but the rest of us saw a lot of the activity from just a couple of hundred yards away. There was at least 20’ of the back of the mother whale showing, which means the mother was probably 50-60’ in length. Earlier I had decided to kayak across the bay – about 2.5 miles across – since the wind was out of the East and it would be an easy paddle back. I got there in about an hour and found that the wind changed suddenly to the opposite direction and the sea got a bit rough and came from my forward port side. By the time I got back I was exhausted from the paddling and wet from the waves throwing up spray as I maneuvered through them. I don’t think I’ll be trying that again soon.

We had a “tragedy” on Thursday evening as we were setting out from shore in the dinghy through the waves, and we are still feeling the repercussions of it. We usually wait for a period of low swells, wade the dinghy out to just past where the small waves are breaking on the beach, hold the bow into the waves as the water is lapping our knees (sometimes our thighs), and I start the engine before we hop in. I had just gotten the engine going and had instructed Sheilagh to hop in as I gunned it. I had misjudged the advancing wave, which was just starting to break (about two feet high), but I was confident that we could power over it. Sheilagh saw the advancing wave, screamed, and plunged into the bow of the boat – which drove the bow under the wave, rather than allowing the boat to ride over it.

As I tried to lift the bow up under Sheilagh’s weight and keep the boat in line with the wave, it swept over the bow, filling the boat with water, and supposedly throwing Sheilagh out of the boat on the other side. I say “supposedly” because I think she threw herself out of the boat to avoid getting wet from the water coming into the boat – who would guess that she would get wetter in the surf. Sheilagh came out of the water dripping all over, sputtering, fuming, and blaming me for dumping her in the drink. We both hopped in the boat, I gunned the engine, Sheilagh manned the bailing scoop, and we avoided the next wave.

The problem was that everything we had with us, groceries, pack, and purse were drenched in salt water. Thankfully we always carry our computers in a water-tight bag, but Sheilagh had her Palm Pilot in her purse, and it got so drenched it could not be resurrected. You have to realize that Sheilagh downloads books onto that device and reads them in bed without having to turn on the light. If she doesn’t have that device to go to sleep with, she is like a fish out of water, like a pig out of mud, like a mother bear away from her cubs – in short she is not a happy camper. This weekend we are planning a trip into town to see what we can do to replace it, since everything is backed up on her computer, but until then I am lying low and not discussing who was at fault in the launching process. Incidentally she has taken two showers so far and still can’t get the fine sand out of her hair – which only adds to her “sweet nature.”

Friday we took it easy and ended the day with dinner aboard “Shiloh” with Lou and Lydia. They served arachera – marinated beef that is very tender and juicy – along with baked potatoes and salad. We brought along a key lime pie that Sheilagh had prepared and we proceeded to eat the entire pie in one sitting. That said a lot for Sheilagh’s cooking.

More later . . .

January 30th (2009) – Bahia Santiago – Jim’s Blog #77

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

A view of Boquito Beach in both directions here at Santiago - this is a weekday so the crowds are down

We’re still here in Bahia Santiago surrounded by long flat beaches all around, access to stores and palapas (beach restaurants), and weather that has been warm and inviting. On Saturday and Sunday there was quite a turnout of vacationers – gringos on the patios of the beach houses and locals camped in the sand. Even with the stepped-up activity on the beach, we understand from cruisers who have been here in previous years that the population of beachgoers in general (and cruisers in particular) is down sharply. Apparently the economic situation up north has Mexico as well, and folks are deciding that a winter vacation is not in the cards for this year.

Jim at the soccer game - futbol here

On Sunday we attended a local soccer game with Jim and Susan of “Windward Bound,” hosted by a former cruiser and his wife, Stan and Mary Jo (formerly of “SolMate”), who have decided to settle here in Santiago. Stan and Mary Jo are avid soccer fans and encourage the cruisers each year to come out and support the local teams. They picked us up in their van near the beach and took us to the playing field. It was 30 pesos apiece to get in, beer was 15 pesos (at a 14:1 conversion rate that’s about a dollar a beer), and the tacos are 70 pesos apiece. That amounted to a family entertainment cost of about $20 for a family of 4 if everyone has a couple of drinks and three tacos. How does that compare with taking the family to a movie or to a minor league ball game in the states?

Sunday night we had dinner with Jim and Susan of “Windward Passage,” a great chicken/broccoli casserole followed by Sheilagh’s pressure-cooker, lemon cheesecake. Sheilagh uses the pressure cooker quite a bit in order to consume less propane and speed up the cooking process. Afterwards we learned how to play a dice game, called “Farkle,” and a card game, called “Ninety-nine” from Jim and Susan. Nothing like improving our knowledge of competitive games that require no exercise! Now we just have to find some dice at one of the stores in Mexico.

Monday we gave Jim and Susan a ride into the beach in our dinghy because they had problems with their pull rope mechanism on their outboard. We later met them at the local gathering place, the Oasis Beach Club, for a drink before taking them back to their boat. It turns out that they had to leave the mechanism in town with the mechanic to be picked up the following day; so we made the next day a shopping trip into Santiago. We discovered the local “Mercado,” which is a conglomeration of shops of various types under the same roof, where one can get hardware items right next to the fish market (not my favorite place in terms of odor), and vegetables right next to shoes and clothing. While shopping we stopped at a local palapa and had tacos and tortas for about $6 per couple including beer.

Later we met at a crossroads, known as “Hollywood and Vine,” where cruisers are known to meet. The meeting place is a wide sidewalk outside a package store with dozens of plastic chairs in stacks for the use of customers. You buy your beer or soda inside, grab a chair off the stack, and place it in a circle with other cruisers to drink and converse. As we were sitting there we ran into new cruisers (to us), Fred and Cathy of “Sonrisa,” introduced by Jim and Susan, who had met them at an earlier anchorage. They were traveling by bus from Melaque down to Santiago (about 20 miles away) to pick up a sim card for a telephone that was available in Santiago as the closest location. In the normal working environment in the U.S. a multi-hour bus trip to pick up a phone card would not have been economically feasible, but here we have the time to make any trip an adventure.

My dragon piece for Mexican Train dominoes - story below

Tuesday night we had Jim and Susan over for deep-dish pizza and margaritas. Afterwards they taught us how to play cribbage – well, they taught me because “nothing happened” when Sheilagh tried to focus on the rules. The end of a full day is not a good time to try to learn something new, I guess. So we decided to play Mexican Train dominoes and got trounced by them. I was even using a new dragon playing piece that was supposed to bring me luck, and that didn’t happen. I decided I needed to let my dragon become an observer for a couple of games before having it participate.

Washday on Aurora

Wednesday was to be the day when Sheilagh would try a new ammonia treatment on white items to get the yellowish stain out of the necks caused by sunscreen/perspiration. We had heard of cruisers soaking their whites in Oxyclean for three days straight, while ammonia was supposed to be a two-hour soak. Sheilagh decided she liked two hours rather than three days; so she dutifully followed the directions from other cruisers for using the ammonia. After soaking, washing, wringing them out in a hand-driven ringer, and hanging the items on the line to dry, she found no improvement at the end of the day. Needless to say, Sheilagh was not a “happy camper,” which caused me to contemplate slipping off the boat until she had settled down. Instead I made her a rum and coke to help her come to grips with her perceived washday “failure,” and that seemed to work. The upshot is that I am no longer allowed to wear white T-shirts and Sheilagh’s new washday miracle cleaning solution for these kinds of stains will be a blowtorch, she says.

During the week I’ve made several kayaking expeditions to the mouth of the river to try more surfing. When the tide is in, I’m able to paddle up the river hugging the sides, allowing for a casual return down river in the current as it works against a stronger tide. However, the waves are very low coming into the river; so there is very little surfing. At low tide I can’t get very far up the river, but the current and waves both are much stronger. So I now know to plan my kayaking for low tide, which is late in the afternoon at this point in the lunar cycle.

Wednesday night we entertained John and Cathy of “Batu,” who had come into the bay on the previous day. When we left them in the Barra lagoon, they had whipped me so bad at Mexican Train that I was still licking my wounds a week later. I knew not to use my new dragon until it had some more experience under its scales; so I allowed it to watch all night. Luckily my standard game piece stood me in good stead as I trounced everyone and recaptured my self esteem. Now if I can just get my dragon to understand its role, using its fire breath, I will be unbeatable.

This is actually a sunrise that I couldn't get Sheilagh out of bed to see

Thursday and Friday we did a lot of resting and I spent more time surfing the mouth of the river. You might wonder how we can be resting all the time. I figure that I have about 50 years of catching up with missed sleep as a result of 1) studying for tests and writing papers in high school and college, 2) getting up at zero-dark-thirty for all-day Navy flights, 3) working late at night for various companies to insure "critical" things got done, 4) flying on red-eye flights and preparing for early morning presentations when I got there, 5) staying up with sick kids who needed to be walked in the middle of the night (while Sheilagh got some rest), 6) waking to calls in the middle of the night from daughters with problems of various sorts, and 7) well, be aware that I could go on. As a matter of fact I need to rest up from writing this blog.

More later . . .