03/16/2010, San Blas
We had planned to leave PV last week but the weather didn't cooperate so we stayed in Paradise Village Marina and took advantage of the pool, beach and playground. We left Sunday and has a calm motor to Punta Mita where we met up with Luke and Meg for some beach time and to explore the tiny village, it took all of 3 minutes. On Tuesday the weather cleared and we had a 10 hour motor with a small head wind up to San Blas. On the way we saw a family of whales, had dolphins join us and caught 3 fish.
San Blas has a nice modern marina and its pretty inexpensive to stay. Tuesday night we met up with Sapphire, Black Dragon and Jesse's Girl (who we hadn't seen since Frailes) for a drink in town and some yummy street tacos. San Blas is a medium sized town, there is a produce market and fish and meat stalls, a couple of local restaurants, an ice cream store, several vendors around the town plaza and a gorgeous little church. We went in again for lunch yesterday.
This morning we got up early and joined Luke and Meg for a Jungle River Tour. It's very similar to the Tenacatita tour except its in a guided panga, not our dingy and we saw crocodiles and turtles in the river which was neat.
Our plans are to leave tomorrow morning and do an overnight sail up to Mazatlan and then wait for the earliest weather window to cross the Sea of Cortez to La Paz.
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Comments [2]
03/05/2010, PV
Today we got up early because we had an appointment with Dr Laura Garcia, a OB here in PV. We stopped at the Starbucks so Grumpy could get coffee and then cabbed it into town. Dr Garcias office is on a quiet side street near Old Town. She has a small clean office and the best reputation in town.
We heard about her from Pat and Ali, fellow sailors who a couple of years ago sailed their catamaran around the world. Jeff and I followed their blog daily. Infact, back in those days the only thing Jeff and I argued about was who got the laptop in the evening to read the blog first. Pat and Ali have ahd some amazing adventures since they got back including a cross country porsche race and another extended tour in a vintage VW van. For a great and addicting read go to www.bumfuzzle.com, or better yet, buy their book. Anyway, Pat and Ali came down to PV to use the Mexican medical system and give birth to the beautiful Ouest in December and they recommended Dr Garcia to us.
I had a hard time getting the appointment. I dont have a phone, I dont speak Spanish and Dr Garcia was booked for 3 months. But, I found a fairy godmother at www.healthcareresource.com and I emailed Pamela for help. If you are ever in PV, have friends here or need/ want elective or necessary medicine check out the website and sign up for the newsletter - the services offered are useful and interesting. Pamela answered my desperate email within 5 minutes and 10 minutes later she had booked me an appointment with Dr G, sent me directions to the clinic and included her cell in case I got lost. Amazing! Thank you Pamela!
Dr Garcia is just as Pat and Ali described, she is young with 2 children and boy does she know her stuff. She took her time making sure she asked all the right questions and explained things to me I didn't know, even though this is #2. I'm used to being catapulted through the Canadian Medical System at warp speed, in and out in 10 minutes so the doctor can make their daily quota of patients. She also had an ultrasound machine right in her office with an extra big screen on the wall for us to see the pictures. She spent a good 20 minutes showing me 2 arms, 2 legs, good spine, good facial structure (looks like a dinosaur still) and the cord etc. She said it would be another 2 weeks before she could tell the sex but her guess was a girl. At the end I got glossy prints and summary for my next OB back in Canada and a copy on disc for me. Total Bill: $600p ($50)
Next stop was the hospital for bloodwork. Jeff was getting a bit anxious, bored and hungry by this time and we wern't looking forward to a big wait. But, when we arrived at the lab the receptionist took my name and info, led me into a room and a nurse walked in and stuck a lolly pop in Cardens mouth and a needle in my arm. I swear I didnt even feel it. Total time: 5 minutes. Bill: 400p ($35) I love the Mexican medical system!
To celebrate, Jeff and I decided to go for sushi (again). Okay, I'm going to tell the truth here. We were not celebrating the ultrasound. I was celebrating the fact that the doctors office weighed me at 56K which is 123lbs (I checked the math 4 times). The last time I weighed 123lbs I was 25 and had just returned from living in a Thai kickboxing camp and the only reason I am going on and on about it is because I will probably never again in my life get the opportunity to brag about how skinny I am given my love for chocolate.
While I'm shamelessly plugging people and websites, check out www.northvanfitness.com. It's Sam's (my friend, roommate & trainers) new website and I know she's got some squats and lunges with my name on them waiting for me to get back. (Just to punish me for bragging)
(Okay I'm done)
We were in such a good mood I managed to get Jeff into Walmart for some last minute provisions and Carden got to play in the kid's zone at the mall and ride on the little train - the highlight of his day! (Carden not Jeff so much)
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03/04/2010, PV
We have had a great week. Luke's sister Erin and husband Jeff visited Sapphire for a few days this week. It was great to have guests, we had heard so much about them so we tagged along as if they were our family, visiting us!
We had a lot of fun afternoons by the pool and chucking ourselves down the crocodile slide and on Tuesday we went to Sayulita for the day. It's a little boutique surf town about 30 minutes up the coast. Carden and I played in the sand while everyone else went surfing for an hour, the beach is beautiful right out of a postcard. Then we went for lunch at the Fish Taco Co - Great fish tacos! and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the town. It's very up market compared to the other little villages we usually visit. Lots of little boutiques and small designers, US and European trying to make a name for themselves with clothing or jewelry and very expensive. There is a giant tree on the corner of a street that has a ton of iguanas living in it, they are so well hidden in the tree but once you spot them you can see how huge they are. We also had to wait to cross a road when a dozen horses came trotting by, not really a cultural "wow" but definitly a novelty.
It was really nice to do something different for the day and Sayulita is up there on our favourites.
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03/03/2010, PV
Well I think its time for me to pipe up and give you guys some of the hard facts about the places we've seen and things we've learnt. But before I get started I want to make something clear about my writing. I have been told that my english grammer and spelling is somewhere between the grade 8 and 12 level. So I will stick to the style of writing that I'm used to reading which I like to call the 2 M's, menus and manuals .
Things learned:
- no matter how remote the bay or beach there is always a Mexican with a palapa ready to sell you a cold beer.
- good planning and staying one step ahead of the weather. ie being in a safe anchorage before dark when the wind is up is crucial.
- UV rays will destroy A LOT of things, like bungee cords, tape, caulking, vinyl windows.
- I now find myself sitting when taking a piss and I'm not proud of it. But its a lot less messy when under way.
- There is always a better looking boat in the anchorage.
- Something that looks like garbage floating in the ocean is not always that and can be a marker of a fishing long line that you are about to run over. Going down the coast there are lots of fishermen out here and these lines can be so long that you can not see the black flags which are meant to be at the ends or the panga tending them. Between Mazatland and PV we had to stop dead in the water because we could not see the end of a line. We did a few circles and waited, finally we saw a panga on the horizon which was racing towards us down the line. When in front of us they simply cut the line and waved us thru.
- The bottom of your boat needs constant attention to keep it clean. Stuff just grows fast and furious.
- I can handle big winds and large waves during the day but when night falls its a different world. We try as hard as possible to limit our overnight passages and having a radar for these is extremely helpful not only to see traffic but also rain squalls that bring huge wind shifts and tons of rain. Cabo Corrientes is one example, having a southerly 10-12 knots and then in a matter of seconds a northerly 25-30 knots.
- Power and water is always on my mind because we use a lot of it. There is a name for people like me and its the Power and Water Natzi.
- If you are looking at what outboard to buy for a trip to Mexico go with Yamaha. It seems to be all they use so getting it fixed is easy. It was cheaper for me to buy a used Nissan 8hp from another cruiser than to get the part I needed to fix my Johnson.
- Having a 2 year old boy and wife on the boat is directly related to how many beers are consumed at any given hour in the day. No one will look at you funny or even give you a second glance if your crushing beers at 9 am. Trust me.
- After seeing sun and lots of it since august 09, I now can't sit directly in the sun for very long. Most days at sea or around the pool are in the shade. I thought that after spending so much time in it that it wouldn't bother me but one thing that is crucial for any cruising boat is a good sun shade.
As you can imagine there are many things, but we'll move on.
Fish landed:
- 2 coho salmon each roughly the same weight 7 to 10 lbs.
- 16 tuna Biggest tuna was landed coming down the pacific side baja of mexico at 45lbs. Big eye tuna. Still tracking down the pic. I believe Steve has it.
- 5 dorado Biggest was landed 30 or so miles out of Z-town, weight unknown but at least 4'-6" long and yes there is a pic on the blog.
- countless bonito and skipjack which are not that tasty but we are told they are good to make cevieche with.
Best places:
- Barra de Navidad for its lagoon anchorage and great cruiser friendly town. The anchorage is the next best thing to staying at a dock minus power and water, but they will bring you water right to the boat when needed. Also, just like the dock, you don't swim off the boat and this is a "make or break" for a lot of cruisers but there is a little hotel that allows you to use their pool if you are buying drinks. Ya I know! A no brainer. The town is touristy enough so there's lots of bars and resturants but still Mexico cheap, $1.50 beers.
- Tenacatita for its anchorage and clear warm water. There is one palapa there as with any anchorage but no other services except across the bay in La Manzania which is too far for a dingy.
Worst place:
- Ixtapa Marina, pricey, not much to do and we had a bad dining experience (expensive and shitty food).
Worst sailing experience:
- would have to be both times rounding Cabo Corrientes going South and going North. This I am sure, is just a lack of experience in choosing a suitable weather window and bad luck.
Best sail:
- There are a couple. The last leg of the Baja Haha with a flat sea and 15 to 20 knots from behind. I hand steered for 10 or more hours. The next was crossing the Sea of Cortez when I finally tuned in the Hydro vane and the boat steered itself using only the wind for hours.
How can I make most scary situations sound manly? How about "close calls"
- After our epic sail with the hydro vane and having to leave an anchorage in a hurry because the wind shifted and started to blow 20 knots putting us on a lee shore. We were 1 hour from night fall and I happened to look behind us only to see the hydro vane sitting at a weird angle. What had happened is; the mounting bolts came loose and the entire unit was about to plunge into the deep or break. After about an hour of struggle under full sail, 20 knots from behind, a 6 to 8 ft swell running, me hanging over the stern, amber holding on to my shorts, rachet and socket in hand to loosen a bracket we pulled the rudder out of the water and tied it off.
- almost losing my straw hat overboard which allowed us to practice our man overboard drill. Yes, the hat was recovered.
Biggest seas:
- The Oregon coast was a trip unto itself and I'm sure you have heard from Pete how crazy it was and what the seas and wind were like especially during the night watches. But the largest seas were on the second leg of the Baja Haha, G Brown will back me up on this. As per Coast guard reports, we were in 30+ft waves on the way to Turtle Bay. Gord and I hand steered for roughly 24 hours with both of us doing 2 hour shifts. Come to think of it that was a pretty shitty sail and good on Gord for stepping up and getting us thru it because there was no way I could have done it by myself. I think G Brown has some video of the seas that day.
Strongest wind:
- luckily we were at anchor in Barra de Navidad when a system came through bringing around 50 knots into the lagoon.
Things most missed from home:
- of course family and friends. (thats so gay but true)
- good nights out for dinner. Food here is good but I much prefer my wifes cooking than going out to dinner in Mexico. Maybe haven't found the right spot yet.
- driving a truck
- As much as I hate to admit it. Tv for the news, UFC fights and my fav the OLN channel.
This trip so far has been one big learning experience. In the beginning I thought I would love the secluded anchorages and would spend weeks there, but we now know that we need to be around people and like the small towns or cities like PV and Barra. I also didn't realize how stressfull some situations can be, especially after long hours at the wheel or a shitty sleep the night before. And I would be lying if I said I didn't feel the pressure of being Captain and that the safety of my family solely relies on me making good judgements in less than ideal situations. But so far everything has worked out and I believe it will continue to do so.
For the next week I will relax in PV and I will not monitor the weather, radio, battery voltage, amp hours, engine, water consumption, sails, rigging, bilge water, head pumps, shower pumps, leaking hatches, broken generator, broken out board, working out board, dingy and finally my wife and son. But I will monitor the fridge temp. and how many beers are in it.
(Capitals, commas and spelling courtesy of the wife)
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02/27/2010, PV
Well, so much for boring!
This morning at 5.45am we woke up to a knock (read: loud banging) on our hull.
Jeff popped his head out of the hatch and there was a gentleman on the dock letting all the boats know that there was a Tsunami Warning and giving us as much notice as possible to get out to sea, which in a Tsunami is the safest place to be.
As Jeff closed all the hatches and filled up the water tanks Meg and I jumped on the internet and read about the terrible 8.8 earthquake that hit Chile overnight. NOAA has issued a Tsunami Warning for the whole Pacific Coast. Our first thought was to start the engine and head out into the Bay but after a little investigating we found out a couple of things. (at this time Jeff went back to bed)
First, a Tsunami travels at the speed of a jet plane and from Chile, the epicentre, the estimated arrival time in PV is 17.55Zulu which is just before noon PV time. We then plotted how for Rockstar could go in 5-6 hours and lo and behold it put us right on the coordinates for.... oh yeah you guessed it.....Cabo Corrientes!!! (Just where I want to be during a Tsunami!)
Second, we tracked the progress of the Tsunami along the coast and did not hear any large tsunami reports or of damage north of Chile. At this time the warning has been dropped in Peru as they did not see anything. Easter Island issued an evacuation and the last report (6 hours after the initial quake) was of a 1.5ft wave. Hawaii however, is still planning on sounding their Tsunami sirens at 6am and will keep the warning active.
Lastly, after talking with other boaters and listening to the morning net we found out that the warning was mainly for Mexican cities facing South, ie Manzanillo, Cabo San Lucas etc none for Puerto Vallarta.
So far the only thing that has shaken us is the wake of an early morning panga... we held on tight and happy to report no damage to boat or occupants.
Exciting for a couple of hours and now we are all going back to bed.
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02/26/2010, PV
Jeff's hot, itchy beard finally got the better of him the morning so he shaved it off (well almost all of it). Carden got a haircut at the same time.
We don't really have a lot to do these days but relax, sit by the pool, gradually provision for the next couple of months and take silly photos and videos.
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