Visitors from Canada

Sunday, 8 March 2009, Tenecatita
We have been anchored in this lovely bay for the past 3 days amongst a great bunch of cruisers. Surprisingly, of the 27 boats here a good portion of them are catamarans and several are boats we have met before so it has been a lot of fun renewing friendships and participating in some of the organised events such as beach games and the Friday evening dinghy raft-up dinner, more on that later.
After departing Cuestacomate last Monday we went back around the headland to the south and anchored in Melaque Bay. Waiting on the beach were Bert and Vickie Blattman and Vickie’s sister, Barbara and husband Murray. We sorted ourselves out and joined them ashore for lunch, dragging our dirty laundry with us, to a laundromat. We had heard about a beachfront bar that was catering to the land and sea cruisers with 7 peso beer and cheap food. What more could a cruiser ask for? This establishment was also planning a party for all of the Canadian land cruisers who were beginning to depart the trailer park adjacent to the beach.
We had planned to take our Canadian friends for a day-sail on the Tuesday but a problem with the dinghy outboard caused us to delay for a day. The first 2 days were spent exploring Melaque, repairing the outboard and cleaning up the boat. Early Wednesday morning (0830 is early for us) we ferried Bert, Vickie and company to the boat and departed into calm seas and light airs. With these conditions we decided to forego the sailing and motored over to Cuestacomate for lunch and snorkelling. We left there in early afternoon but wind conditions hadn’t improved much but we were able to fill the sails and provide our guests a semblance of sailing for a few hours. We arrived back to the Melaque anchorage by mid-afternoon, in time to attend the party at the beachside restaurant.
What a blast! The large crowd was made up of mostly older land cruisers with a few of us “younger” boaters mixed in. 7 peso beer was flowing freely (lemonade was 15 pesos by comparison) and the entertainment was continuous. The highlight of the evening was a female impersonation act with 4 of the best looking guys we have ever seen. The last portion of the act blew everyone away when the best looking impersonator reverted back to his male identity onstage, an amazing transformation to observe. We all felt a bit like voyeurs. (See pictures above before and after pics)
By Thursday we were ready to move on. We bid farewell to Bert, Vicky, Barbara and Murray and resumed our trek north. Before departing the bay we went back to Barra to fill our water tanks at the Grand Bay marina fuel dock. We were amazed to see a very large cruiser “Attasea”, complete with helicopter, alongside at Grand Bay. It was another windless morning with calm seas so we motored up the coast to Tenecatita. As we rounded the headland we saw several fishing boats near the reef so we tried our luck and were rewarded with a nice Mexican Bonito, the highly prized version of the species. We continued into the bay towards La Manzanilla and anchored off the town for a quick run into town to replenish veggies and fruit and pick up a jug of drinking water. Lately we haven’t been powering long enough to make sufficient drinking water onboard to meet our needs. Our water-maker only produces 1.5 gals per hour.
We arrived at the anchorage area at Tenecatita by early afternoon. The cruisers here are very organised. Archie on Sea-tacean has been acclaimed as the mayor of the bay and he and Barbara (who makes very unique bead jewellery) organised several events, including the Friday night raft-up. This is essentially an assembly of all the dinghies that tie up to each other (the first one at anchor) and each brings a main dish or dessert, their dishes and cutlery, boat cards and any books they want to get rid of or exchange. Plates of food are passed from boat to boat around the circle and each serves themselves. Big plates or fast eating is of essence. Fran’s bonito sushi was a real hit.
The atmosphere here is lazy and relaxed. Each afternoon at 1 several of the girls jump in and have a leisurely swim ashore then a walk down the beach before repairing to a beachside palapa restaurant for board games. The guys dinghy or kayak in, John (Paloma) brings volleyball gear and a few hardy souls brave the hot sand for a few hours between beer runs to the palapa. Snorkelling and fishing are popular pastimes in the mornings before the sea breeze fills in (about 10-11am) while others dive on their boats to scrub the bottoms clean. One feature of the bay is the tunnel through the mangrove swamp to the beach at the beachside community on the western side of the bay. This unique waterway is narrow and affords the explorers a rare view of the wildlife therein which include small crocodiles. Evenings are often spent visiting other boats or hosting a few couples aboard. Fran has also had several people aboard to teach them how to make sushi. This included Erin, the youngest of the girls on Don Quixote.

1 March 2009, Cuestacomate

We have been at anchor in Cuestacomate bay since yesterday afternoon after motoring from Barra .
We departed Santiago bright and early last Monday morning to take advantage of the morning calm before the onshore breeze set in. We motored most of the way on glass smooth seas and into the distant mist that had been characteristic of the past few days. We arrived in Barra de Navidad just after midday and went directly to the fuel dock to replenish both fuel and domestic water, rinse off the uppers and have a shower in the cruisers facilities at the head of the dock. By early afternoon we were inching
our way up the channel under the guidance of sounder and the way-points that we had used last time we were here. We anchored amongst 25 or so other cruising sailboats and one large ex-US pilot vessel, Kolea, now a cruising boat, owned by, Serge, a French Canadian who used to own a life raft repair and inspection facility in Montreal.
Barra de Navidad is one of those places that attract cruisers and hold on to them, much like La Paz. One boat, Star Dancer, had been there since mid-December and David and Mary-Ann had no plans to leave anytime soon. The anchorage does have its advantages. It is a nice quiet and sheltered anchorage, surrounded by mangroves to the east, scrub land to the north, the waterway to the town of Barra to the west and the Grand Bay's golf course to the south. It is a 10-15 minute dinghy ride to the town
of Barra and less if you are going to Colimilla a small village between the golf course and the resort hotel where supplies can be obtained from Maria's well stoked (from Costco, PV) tienda. She also has the corner on propane and water delivery in the lagoon and can deliver your order for an extra fee. Then there is always the French Baker who faithfully makes his rounds daily by panga with his baguettes, croissants, quiches and exorbitant prices. Internet service can be obtained for a fee from
a shore based cruiser who donates all the proceeds to the Colimilla School where 6 grades are taught in the same classroom. There are not many negatives but our main one is the time it takes to wash off the fine muck off the anchor chain when weighing, a minor inconvenience. Also, the water in the lagoon is very silty and unfit to swim in or make water.
Many of our friends from Zihuat have made it into the lagoon and we have met a number of new boats and renewed our acquaintance with some from 2 years ago. Blue Water boats, Airborne and Neuromancer were there, the latter getting ready for a trans-Pacific voyage. Other Canadian boats included, Pacific Jade, Tica and Panterra, a beautiful and fast catamaran, built and being single-handed by Bob. He is on his way to the Banderas Bay regatta where he hopes to improve his record of always finishing second
in his class.
We spent a lazy 5 days there taking in some of the Mardi Gras celebrations that last all week long. We saw the parade (short but lots of fun) and attended one of the evening presentations of dancing and music in the town square. The acts were surprisingly very professional. The market day was also lots of fun. I find it amazing that even under NAFTA one can buy bootlegged music and DVDs anywhere in Mexico. We now have copies of Australia and Valkyrie in decent quality, both for under $5.
Fran was able to get her hair tinted at the same location as 2 years ago and she convinced J-G that he wanted a pedicure, his first. He'll have another next season.
By Saturday we were ready to leave. We had made a point to include Cuestacomate in our cruising plans. This beautiful, secluded bay a few hours from Barra, is not mentioned in any of the cruising guides and rarely gets any cruiser visitors. The beautiful beach is almost empty during the week but many local Mexican families make it their Sunday destination. We were last here in Royal Exchange 2 years ago and Fran was eager to return to the palapa restaurant on the beach where she claims is the best
seafood cocktail in Mexico. We went ashore this afternoon and Fran is now in heaven. Even J-G agrees with Fran's claim about the seafood cocktail. This will definitely be a regular stop for us. We also met a few Canadians; one couple from Saskatchewan, holidaying in a very nice beachside rental and a couple from Vernon who we had met briefly 2 years ago and who have their own place and have lived here during winters for the past 5 years.
Yesterday J-G dismantled the outboard to find out why the cooling water wasn't streaming out as it is supposed to be. After a frustrating afternoon of experimentation in taking the leg apart he found a badly worn impeller. He re-assembled it with only one screw missing which he made up from our hardware store and apart from a minor adjustment for the shifter it appears to be working much better. We'll have to be careful with it until we can get another impeller in PV in a week or so.
Tomorrow we leave for Melaque where we will meet friends from Victoria before heading up the coast back to Tenecatita.

Back to Las hadas and Santiago Bay.

Sunday, 22 Feb 2009: 1400
We are at anchor in Santiago Bay, an open anchorage in a wide bay, on the west side of Manzanillo Bay. We are protected from the predominant SW swell but some of it makes its way around the point to give a slight. The land and sea breezes are quite refreshing and the lull between the two, between 9 and noon is an ideal time to go snorkelling.
After arriving at the anchorage of Las Hadas we settled down to a few days of projects and relaxation. J-G had been wanting to use the gas powered hookah system that we got with the boat but had never had time to try out. After 3 months in this warm water is time to do a bottom cleaning and the hookah is be an ideal tool. We have no idea when it was last used and, naturally, it would not start. It took J-G 2 days of fiddling with but finally, after soaking and cleaning the carburetor, he managed to get it going and it now runs like a top. Another project that was accomplished was the soldering of the ground plane copper straps that he had run last week. Hopefully that will improve our SSB/HF capability.
We also had to get some fuel aboard. Las Hadas has a fuel dock but all boats are required to med-moor into the dock. That decided us to get our fuel by dinghy using portable jerry cans. Las Hadas doesn’t charge a docking fee like most other locations in Mexico but their fuel prices have been adjusted to make up the difference, therefore, everyone pays the premium price whether you go alongside or not. At 8.6 pesos / li it was the most expensive to date. Thankfully, they didn’t charge for the numerous dinghy landings or for fresh water that J-G picked by jerry up every chance he got to supplement our fresh water supply.
We also took the time to explore Manzanillo. It certainly has changed since J-G was there in 1984 with Oriole. We also did a major grocery run here at the Sorianna store, one of 3 major food outlets close by.
While there we met quite a few boats, including, Rio Nimkish (Tom and Shirley) who we had met at the Blue Water Cruising rendezvous in August 2008. We also met Bob and Gisele Coffey from Victoria in a boat called Relax. We have also heard Curare, another Blue water boat that we had met last year in Guaymas, on the net and are looking forward to meeting Geoff and Linda when we get to Santiago Bay.
We left Las Hadas and sailed across the bay to Santiago on the 20th. We have been here for the past 2 days enjoying the crystal clear water and the beautiful beach. The beach seems to be used mainly by the local holidaying population living in the many houses lining the beach. It is rare and refreshing to see a lack of resort development on such a choice location. There are only 2 small hotels that we can see.
The anchorage is a popular one for cruisers. Snorkelling locations are hard to find along the coast at this time of year due to the swell and poor visibility caused by turbulence and plankton and we have seen an increase in plankton in the bay since we arrived. There is a wreck of an old freighter in about 30-40 ft that provides a great snorkelling site and the shore has interesting reefs. J-G spent a few hours trying out the hooka today and did a thorough cleaning of the hull. It was time. The algae growth was getting thick but the barnacles were quite small and easy to remove. Scrubbing with the pad removed quite a bit of the finish that was put on in San Diego last January so a new coat of bottom paint will be required next fall.
We expect to leave tomorrow or Tuesday for Barra de Navidad.

Back to Las Hadas

Thursday, 12 Feb
We have just arrived at Maruata Bay, a remote anchorage about 90 miles south of Manzanillo after having done 36 miles against steadily increasing headwinds. By the time we arrived they were blowing 20-22 kts . Mannasea (Phil), a small catamaran with engine problems, is a few miles behind us and is beating against this wind, hoping to get into the bay by nightfall. It will be a hard slog for him.
After leaving Zihuatanejo, on Monday, we motored up the coast and anchored off Isla Grande, just offshore from the large resorts of Ixtapa. The island serves as a beach playground for the resorts with pangas delivering tourists in the morning and taking them back to the resorts in the late afternoon. By 5PM the place is deserted. The well renowned snorkelling coves on the south side of the island were inaccessible due to high surf conditions so we had to be content with a late afternoon stroll on the beach with Rosie. Tuesday night we decided to leave for Caleta de Campos with Kalalau , a boat from Port Townsend owned by one of the skippers of the Adventuress, the American tall ship in the pacific northwest. George and Kathleen will be heading off to the Marquesas in a few weeks so they are rushing back to PV to join this year’s group.
We departed at midnight, aiming to reach Caleta de Campos, a 67 mile run, before the afternoon winds developed. It was a very pleasant night with light winds and a full moon as we motor-sailed north. At 4 a.m. on Fran’s watch, as we approached the busy port of Lorenzo Cardenas, a darkened, very fast vessel passed down our starboard side and took station a mile away on our port quarter for 30 minutes. We had been advised by other boats that the Mexican navy was doing drug interdiction patrols in the area and we presume that was one of the patrols. Had we been a lone boat we might have been boarded but by maintaining a continuous dialogue between Kalalau and ourselves probably helped our lot.
We arrived in Caleta de Campos without further incident by early afternoon. As predicted, the wind had shifted from a land to sea breeze by noon so the last 2 hours were a slog into headwinds of 18-20 kts. Caleta de Campos has wonderful beaches but there was hardly anyone enjoying them. We were able to make a landing in the surf and had a nice afternoon walking Rosie and enjoying a cervesa in one of the many wall to wall palapa establishments covering a good portion of the beach adjacent to the village. The different table coverings are the only indication of where one starts and the other ends. If you like beer and fish dishes, this is for you. Much to Fran’s disappointment there were no Margaritas available but the guacamole was the best we have had so far. But in reality, these establishments are just an extension of a family’s home and they eke out a small living by feeding tourists when they can. Menus are basic and based on supplies that are easily available: seafood, beer and pop.
We left there the following morning after Rosie had done her business and after recovering the outboard off the dinghy. We have been towing the inflatable for the past few days instead of lifting it to the foredeck. Much of the morning was flat calm but by noon the sea breeze started to develop and it increased steadily until we arrived in here Maruata Bay. Phil arrived just after nightfall, very tired and thankful for our directions into the anchorage. Without radar and before moonrise it is very difficult to make out shore features after dark.
0530, 14 February, Happy St Valentines
Cruising north in light aires and calm seas. This can’t last...
We are on our way to Manzanillo after a 2200 departure. We were counting on the sea breeze to die down after sunset but it persisted until about 0200 with headwinds from 15-22 kts. It was not a pleasant ride for the first few hours but the wind has let up and the seas have calmed somewhat allowing us to make good headway. We hope to arrive in Manzanillo before the sea breeze re-establishes itself but that may be wishful thinking.
We spent the day relaxing and helping Phil sort out his engine problems. We were able to make some band-aid repairs to his engine, sufficient to get him to Manzanillo where he can get a permanent solution. Lucky for us he had an extra 15 gallons of diesel onboard. J-G miscalculated our fuel reserves for the return trip and we were contemplating hiking to the nearest Pemex station but thanks to Phil that won’t be necessary. Have to add spare diesel jerry cans to the shopping list for next season...
Maruata bay is very typical of the coves along this coast. It is a lovely sandy cove protected from Northerly winds but the SW swell refracts around the point giving us a gentle rocking motion. Landing on beaches like this can be an exhilarating experience. You start by choosing a landing spot and timing the swell pattern and then rushing in to the beach, jumping out and hauling the dinghy out of the surf line. We don’t want to repeat the dunking we experienced a few years ago in Tenecatita with Royal Exchange’s dinghy. This time we had Phil with us so the landing and departure were textbook. There is always that moment of apprehension when the outboard doesn’t start back up on the first pull but we had observed the swell pattern well and had a good calm period between sets of breakers. We had a pleasant few hours on the near deserted beach and had lunch in one of the few open palapa restaurants on the beach.
With another 80 miles to go to Manzanillo we decided to leave by 2200 to take advantage of the land breeze during the night and the calms that seem to develop from early morning to early afternoon. As luck (or bad luck) would have it we encountered 3-4 ft seas and 12-15 kt headwinds for the first 3 hours before it began to lighten up.
1800, 14 Feb 2009, anchored off Las Hadas
We arrived back at anchor off Las Hadas by 1400. The light winds didn’t last and by early afternoon the sea breeze developed again but by then we were entering Manzanillo Bay and we were finally able to have a good sail into the bay. By A few hours later Mannasea arrived. The engine repairs he had done lasted the trip but the rough seas were not kind to him.
We will be here for a few days before heading north towards Barra de Navidad and meeting friends in Maleque at the end of the month.

Zihuatanejo Sail Fest

The Sail Fest has been a blast and the event has raised more this year than ever before, close to $65,000. This is surprising when you note that there are fewer attendees, both ashore and afloat this year, undoubtedly because of the recession. The shore year round resident gringo community has done the lion’s share of the organising and this has been supplemented by the winter gringos and the visiting cruisers. The latter have waded in with as much support as possible, helping out wherever help is needed and in particular, all of the events centred around boats.
The first major event was a fun race organised by Pam on Precious Metal. With her experience in running the Vic-Maui Race for the past few years it was a cinch for her to set up a race for a bunch of cruising boats, nevertheless, we were divided in 2 groups; fast and slow..... Surprisingly, the favourite boat came in second overall, much to the chagrin of the skipper-owner but to the glee of the remainder of the fleet. It seemed to mute the arrogance he had been displaying up to that point. Gosling fared quite well and came in 2nd out of 4 boats; beat out by a small catamaran but edging out the closest boat by 2.3 seconds after a 4 hour Driftsure style race. With only the 2 of us on board it was a real challenge. This was also our first experience sailing Gosling upwind and we were quite amazed at getting 1.6 – 2 kts of speed in light airs of 3-6 kts. Thanks to the light conditions J-G was able to try every combination of sails onboard. Other boats got a kick out of watching him scurry fore and aft trying to coax the wind to fill the sails. All in all it was a fun day.
Later that evening we attended a concert of local talent ranging from Mariachi musicians to Blues and Rock performances. One was a Louisiana native called Mamou who was reputed to have played with Jimi Hendrix and Chuck Berry and others before retiring to Zihuatanejo where he is a regular on the bar circuit. We were really impressed by the quality of the performances. Each year musicians contribute to a CD that is professionally produced. As part of our registration package we received last year’s CD as part of our entrance package and it is very good.
The following day was the Sail Parade. This event was more of a “get the locals out on the boats” event, where anyone ashore bought tickets to go for a day’s sailing. We had signed up to take 3 but by 10 AM, start time, they hadn’t shown up.
Other events included a poker dinghy race where participants had to solve a riddle to determine which boats to go to collect a playing card. Once 5 were collected participants met ashore to play out their hands. SV Panchita arrived on Tuesday with a large bucket full of rubber duckies that they use for fundraising events. People “rent” a duck and all rented ducks are dropped beyond the surf line. The first duck to make it ashore wins half the pot for its sponsor. The final event tonight was a BBQ sponsored by one of the local bars.
We have met a lot of very interesting people here in Zihuat. There are 2 other Canadian boats, Precious Metal with Ivy and Pam and Optical Illusion with Janet and Bill. Pam and Ivy are from Port Hardy where they have just sold the local marina. Optical Illusion is another Bluewater boat. We met Bill and Janet at the Bluewater Rendezvous at Montague harbour last summer. We learnt that they also have a summer place on Saturna Island and have attended several 1st of July lamb BBQs when we were there helping out. It is a really small world when you meet a local Gringo who used to be a nurse at Stadacona when we were first posted to Halifax. Julia was blown away when J-G mentioned names of fellow Naval Officers who had gone through Stad in the 1970’s. She also worked for Alan Porter, one of our fellow club members from CFSA. She had also lived on Saturna Island for several years. Another astonishing fact is that she had also played basketball with Fran while J-G was on the CCO course in 1979.
J-G also met his clone. A remarkable resemblance between the two was noted the night of the concert. Pictures will follow. He is from Brentwood bay. Go figure!
One item we omitted to mention in our last blog entry was that we were at anchor when Zihuatanejo was the epicentre of a 5.2 earthquake last week.... We slept through but some boaters actually felt it.
Each morning we have the morning net where the local cruising community share information. Morning nets here have been a real treat with one of the 3 young girls on SV Don Quixote running the net each day. As Fran puts it, it is her early dose of sunshine every day.
We have also seen the dark side of Mexico while here. We found out after the sail parade that the people who had been designated to be on our boat had been mugged the night before and had decided to fly back home immediately. The following day we learnt the one of the boats in the anchorage was the victim of an extortion attempt. Their kayak had been “found” washed ashore and some locals wanted a ransom for it. This caused quite a stir among the boaters but, thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and it was diplomatically handled through the Port Captain.
We will depart tomorrow morning for our trip back north. We will try to stop into every noted anchorage along the way. Looks like we will meet many of the same boats on our way as most will be heading in the same direction. A few are headed south to Central America and beyond. One boat, Kalalau, from Port Townsend will be heading for the South Pacific.
Unfortunately the bandwidth on the WIFI service here is insufficient to send photos so we will add them to this issue when we arrive in Manzanillo, sometime in the next few weeks.
PS: If any of you subscribe to Sirius Radio and listen to the Cousin Brucie show, listen out for our e-mailed requests that we send occasionally.

Zihuatanejo for the Sailfest

20:00, Thursday, 29 January 2009
Another night at sea, our second since departing Santiago Bay,(Las Hadas). It is a warm, calm and windless night with a new crescent moon under a bright Jupiter, setting in the western sky. The water is considerably warmer here and the phosphorescence is superb. We have just observed a pod of dolphins playing in our bow wave, their wakes illuminated by the bright green trail they leave as they swim by. We have just dipped below 17 degrees N and only have 65 miles to go.
We departed Las Hadas yesterday afternoon and have been powering all the way because of the light headwinds we have encountered. In order to arrive at Zihuatanejo in daylight we dipped into a nice little anchorage at Caleto de Campos for the afternoon. We weren’t able to get ashore but this will be one of our stops on the way back. We departed again just before sunset in company with Acapella.
As we had expected it is getting warmer and warmer as we head further south. We thank our lucky stars that we chose a boat with a covered cockpit where we can take shelter from the sun. Even a light breeze is refreshing and we hope that there will be some breeze in the anchorage at Zihuat. We have been wearing less and less as we travel south and when modesty dictates we usually resort to Polynesian style wraps. J-G got used to them while serving in Kuwait. Our 2 sun-showers are serving us well but we don’t leave them out in the sun anymore. We prefer them cool. The sea water is nice and warm but still refreshing and we are taking dips off the boat regularly when at anchor. Rosie takes shelter in the aft cabin and is turning into quite the pit queen. We will have to get her ashore more often from now on, however, we have been warned not to take her to the boat docks in Ixtapa where crocodiles have been known to snatch the odd unsuspecting dog or cat right off the docks.
Sunday, 1 Feb 09
Day 3, in Zihuatanejo. It is 19:30 and we are rocking in a gentle swell amid a fleet of some 25 boats in the anchorage off the town. It is 85 F in the salon and relative humidity is 57%. It has actually cooled down a bit and we are waiting for the evening breeze to settle in. We are listening to a band playing on shore not too far from where we are. We seem to be one of a very few boats to have anyone aboard. Most of the cruisers are crowded into the Sunset Bar watching the Super bowl. We just came back from a walk ashore with Rosie and passed by the cheering (and booing) throngs. Fran is cooking up some fish that we bought at the fish market on the beach this morning. We have no idea what it is but we know it isn’t tuna, marlin or dorado. Rosie is tuckered out and sleeping in the cockpit after a long walk along the beach.
It has been a lazy few days. The heat during the day is oppressive but we are comfortable under the shade of the dodger and the sea breeze is wonderful. J-G started sanding the woodwork but had to wait till sundown to apply the finish coat of varnish. He has several other jobs to do over the next week or so. The wind-vane repairs will have to wait until we get the parts. We have managed to get friends in San Diego to get the parts and Gil and Lexie (SV Sunday) just so happen to be going back to San Diego next week from San Carlos. If all goes as planned we will get the parts in the next month or so when we meet up with Sunday as she sails south.
Tomorrow we have the first meeting about the Sail-Fest and we will find out how we can participate. Although we had signed up online it seems that the information was not passed on to the local organizers. There are many gringos, Canadian and American, in town are involved in this event. They are mainly shore-based residents and visitors who come here every year. The cruisers assist where they can but mainly the water-based events. The boat will be a lot lighter after we land all the clothes and school supplies Fran brought from Canada. The highlight of the week will be on Thursday when boats take guests onboard for a day sail to Isla Grande. With our small cockpit and the number of life vests, we have asked for just 2 persons. It should be a fun day on the water.
We are getting used to this lifestyle.....

Barra - Santiago bay

Wednesday, 28th of Jan
We have been anchored off the Las Hadas resort for the past few days. Since the last entry we have been relaxing in sheltered anchorages and enjoying our surroundings. Here we have found a spot where we have free WIFI access so I can finally update the blog for the past week.
We departed Tenecatita the following morning and arrived at the entrance to Barra by early afternoon. Although I had the waypoints for the channel leading in to the lagoon we called ahead and were met by Shoot the Moon who guided us in his dinghy. The waypoints proved to be very accurate even though they had been charted 4 years ago.
Inside the lagoon there were approx 30 boats and we were the only Canadian boat for a few days until we were joined by a boat from Vancouver called called Mary Powell. We were in a good company of cruisers who maintained an enjoyable morning net that covered Santiago bay to Tenecatita. Barra hasn’t changed much in the past 2 years since we visited in Royal Exchange. The sands Hotel still caters to the cruiser crowd and it still appears to be run down but the bars are lively and it has free WIFI service. Who could ask for more? The laundry we used then is still operating and a still good deal, the little girl we photographed in 2007 is 2 years older now but still accompanies her mother to the same souvenir shop and the French Baker who delivers to the boats in the lagoon still has outlandish prices on his products but still finds customers among the boats in the lagoon and marina..
While there, the centre of activity was the Grand Bay Marina which hosted a 3-day fishing tournament. Our curiosity kept us there an extra day to see the final weigh –in. The winning fish was a 93.3 kg marlin. But the fish was only part of the attraction. 10 peso beer and the Tecate girls (Tecate was the principle sponsor for the tourney) and it being a focal point to meet other cruisers made it a fun event. The tourney itself was a rich man’s event and at $3000 per entry it was out of reach to the cruiser community.
We did meet some old acquaintances from last year’s passage up the coast, Coastal Passage and Darkside and a few we had met while on Royal Exchange, Dean and Maryanne in Rippling Waters and Bill on Raptor Dance who came out to the boat and gave me some pointers to improve my SSB/Ham performance.
Rosie enjoyed this stop and went nuts when we took her to the manicured lawns of the Grand Bay. She ran around in the soft grass like a whirling dervish for about 10 minutes. We also took her on the kayak to the golf course and along the shore where we found a beautiful plant nursery for the resort.
We weighed anchor and left Barra on Sunday the 25th and powered in light airs down the coast towards Manzanillo. During the 5 hour crossing we had the line out and to our great surprise we hooked a 25-40 lb sail fish that gave us quite a show for the 20 minutes he was on the line. Mercifully, it slipped the hook but we had had our thrill. Our only regret was not getting a decent photo.
We arrived in Santiago Bay in mid-afternoon and bypassed the usual anchorage spot on the north side of the bay for the cove outside Las Hadas. This proved to be a wise decision. Here we are close to public transportation for shopping, we can use the dock facilities of Las Hadas for free and we have free WIFI thanks to some unsuspecting provider and there are a few bars and restaurants along the beach that are very friendly to the cruisers.
There are a dozen other boats here, including a few that have followed us from Barra. We were thrilled to meet up with another Blue Water Cruising boat, Warren Peace (Steve and Linda Warren), who we had met at the farewell event for this year’s departing cruisers in Montague Harbour last summer. With Steve’s help I was able to re-rig my masthead halyard. We had a good morning snorkeling with them just off the 18th hole of the local golf course collecting golf balls and seeing the colorful fish and we topped it all off with supper on board, sharing stories and planning future rendezvous.
We have had to shut down the freezer. It was costing us a fortune in amp-hours. The difference without it is quite remarkable. Looks like we will have to go back to the drawing board on that one.
We will be departing this afternoon for Zihuatanejo, a 2-day run from here. The weather is ideal but the winds may be a bit light for us. No idea what e-mail service will be like when we get there.