3/8/2010
High time I updated our blog, right? :-)
We’re in La Cruz marina off a little town called La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, which is in the same big bay (Bahia Banderas) as Puerto Vallarta but much more laid back and "real Mexico". No condominiums, time share hawkers, Chicklet selling kids, etc. :-) We just ordered a new main sail and some associated hardware to make raising and lowering the big sail easier so it looks like we'll be in the area for the next few weeks. That's alright, for the next 2 -3 weeks this area is going to be the center of a massive sailing event! The San Diego to PV race finished last week and the "big boys" (really really fast ocean racers, they hit max speeds of 30+ knots on the way down!) are assembled just down the dock from us, there are lots of other races scheduled in the bay with a boat show in the same marina from us next week. The president of Mexico has even been visiting and I think we saw him getting off a mega yacht (or some other big shot waving for the cameras surrounded by many men with AK-47's). La Cruz has been transforming itself with everything getting new colorful paint, all of the streets, fences, walls, etc repaired, new plants and flowers everywhere. It's becoming quite a pretty little town.
When last I updated the blog we were still in Mazatlan. Before we left Mazatlan we spent a day at the aquarium. I was expecting just a few tanks and water displays but it’s actually a fairly nice aquarium and zoo. In addition to lots of large tanks of marine stuff, there was a seal show, lots of displays of crocodiles, monkeys, reptiles, and insects. Everything you would expect to see in a midsized tropical zoo. We watched a funny bird show (wish we understood more Spanish as most of the jokes went over our heads):
Beautiful shaded paths among tropical plants between the displays:
But my favorite was a walk-in aviary with a waterfall, creek and lots of birds:
Here Tom’s made some new friends, would a parrot work on the boat?
A nice day for only $6 apiece.
One last view of the beautiful Mazatlan beaches:
On 1/25/2010 we sailed overnight from Mazatlan to Mantenchen bay, just south of San Blas. Mantenchen is a large shallow bay ringed with palapa restaurants along the northern end. It’s evidently a surf mecca in the summer and is listed in Guinness as having the longest surfable wave break in the world. In the summer when the wind and waves come from the south there is no anchorage, but it was nice and calm while we were there, though the “no see em” bugs were pretty bad.
Inland of San Blas and Mantenchen there is an extensive estuary, La Tovara, which is also a protected national nature reserve. One day we went on a wonderful “jungle tour” in a panga (small boat) with a local guide. We took our dingy to the beach and walked about ½ mile inland where the estuary starts. There we boarded the small boat (just Tom & I with the driver) and proceeded up the estuary into the “jungle”
We saw lots of life, iguanas perched in tree tops:
A few crocodiles (no swimming here!)
And lots of cute turtles
There is a crocodile sanctuary in the estuary where they breed the severely endangered crocodiles, as well as other local endangered Mexican natives.
What big teeth you have
Quick! Take the picture, he looks hungry!
At the end of the estuary is a fresh water pond where we had a refreshing dip (with fencing that went to the bottom of the river to keep out the hungry crocodiles).
It was a wonderful trip, though a tip for anyone else going on the San Blas jungle tour; get to the pangas as early in the morning as you can. We left at about 7am and had the peaceful river to ourselves for the whole morning. But by about 1pm as we had turned around to go back, the river turned into a zoo with dozens of full pangas speeding down the river, threatening to run into each other and scaring all the wildlife away. We were happy to get back alive and glad we saw the jungle in its quiet time.
We had one last beautiful sunset in Mantenchen bay
On 1/30/2010 we had a nice sail to the small cove of Chacala. It was a rolly anchorage and we set a stern anchor so we would point into the swell, but it was very pretty. Chacala is a popular beach resort for well to do locals
We only spent one night in Chacala, the next morning we got up early and motor-sailed to La Cruz. We’ve just been hanging out in the marina with occasional exploration trips. Just like in the rest of Mexico, the local busses are a cheap and interesting way to get around, though it takes awhile to learn the routes and occasionally we get on the wrong one :-)
One day we took a long multi-bus trip to the botanical gardens. This is a beautiful park in the “mountains” south of Puerto Vallarta. We had a wonderful day exploring the well tended grounds.
This bridge was scary, especially with Tom shaking it when I was half was across!
The shady "forest" paths were especially nice since it’s pretty hot and humid here
Another day we watched a demonstration of the Mexican coast guard doing a “search and rescue” just outside the marina
Update: 3/20/2010
We had a bit of weather related excitement a couple of days after we got to La Cruz; we got hit by what they're calling a "weather bomb" This is a real meteorological phenomena more common in New Zealand where you get a rapid drop in pressure coupled with a fast upper level jet stream (or some other technical jargon). All I know is that we were sitting down below, we had just finished dinner and were thinking of bed when the wind and rain suddenly went from a gentle breeze and drizzle to a howling downpour.
The boat started bucking and jumping and rain was pouring in from open ports. We struggled to get all the ports closed while the boat was healing over and thunder/lightning was crashing all around us. For about 40 minutes we huddled down below listening to the wind howling (the noise was incredible), the boat shuddering and sounds of things crashing and canvas ripping above (we couldn't tell if it was our boat or the neighbors) We also were listening on the radio to the chaos in the anchorage; boats dragging anchor and running into each other, others screaming they're headed for the rocks, we felt helpless but there was nothing we could do.
After about 40 minutes the wind and rain moderated a bit and we put on foulies and went above to access damage and see if we could help anyone. Luckily we only had a little damage, mostly debris on our deck, a thoroughly soaked cockpit with some water below, and a ripped off flag halyard. Other boats in the marina weren't so lucky, we saw lots of torn sails, ripped canvas enclosures and floating debris (surfboards, kayaks, shoes, gas tanks, etc). After doing what we could to help better secure ours and neighbors boats, we went back to the boat and fitfully slept.
By the next morning we had more information, there were no boats lost but two went aground with one able to get themselves off and the other was pulled off the next morning still floating. Several boats crashed into each other with damage to rails and bow rollers but nothing catastrophic (though any damage is very evpensive). About 1/3 of the boats in the marina had ripped sails or other major canvas damage. Lots of downed trees and the power/water was off for several days. Unfortunately one woman broke her arm when part of the wall surrounding the marina collapsed on her, but considering the chaos and how quickly it hit I was surprised that was the only injury we heard about. Reports of wind speed varied but 65 to 70 knots in the marina was confirmed (about 80 mph). That was only category 1 hurricane winds for 40 minutes, I can't imagine 12 - 14 hours of that in category 3+ !! This was the most scared I’ve been on the boat, and we were firmly tied in a slip, I can’t imagine what it was like out in the anchorage.
We’re still here in La Cruz. The boat show is over and life here is resuming a slow pace. We really like this laid back little town, but we’re starting to get anxious to move on. Hopefully our sail stuff will be coming next week. Meanwhile this is a nice place to be stuck :-) Here’s the local park, freshly painted for the president’s visit (if you look carefully, you can see the marina in the distance).
Adios
Carolynn & Tom
We’re in La Cruz marina off a little town called La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, which is in the same big bay (Bahia Banderas) as Puerto Vallarta but much more laid back and "real Mexico". No condominiums, time share hawkers, Chicklet selling kids, etc. :-) We just ordered a new main sail and some associated hardware to make raising and lowering the big sail easier so it looks like we'll be in the area for the next few weeks. That's alright, for the next 2 -3 weeks this area is going to be the center of a massive sailing event! The San Diego to PV race finished last week and the "big boys" (really really fast ocean racers, they hit max speeds of 30+ knots on the way down!) are assembled just down the dock from us, there are lots of other races scheduled in the bay with a boat show in the same marina from us next week. The president of Mexico has even been visiting and I think we saw him getting off a mega yacht (or some other big shot waving for the cameras surrounded by many men with AK-47's). La Cruz has been transforming itself with everything getting new colorful paint, all of the streets, fences, walls, etc repaired, new plants and flowers everywhere. It's becoming quite a pretty little town.
When last I updated the blog we were still in Mazatlan. Before we left Mazatlan we spent a day at the aquarium. I was expecting just a few tanks and water displays but it’s actually a fairly nice aquarium and zoo. In addition to lots of large tanks of marine stuff, there was a seal show, lots of displays of crocodiles, monkeys, reptiles, and insects. Everything you would expect to see in a midsized tropical zoo. We watched a funny bird show (wish we understood more Spanish as most of the jokes went over our heads):
Beautiful shaded paths among tropical plants between the displays:
But my favorite was a walk-in aviary with a waterfall, creek and lots of birds:
Here Tom’s made some new friends, would a parrot work on the boat?
A nice day for only $6 apiece.
One last view of the beautiful Mazatlan beaches:
On 1/25/2010 we sailed overnight from Mazatlan to Mantenchen bay, just south of San Blas. Mantenchen is a large shallow bay ringed with palapa restaurants along the northern end. It’s evidently a surf mecca in the summer and is listed in Guinness as having the longest surfable wave break in the world. In the summer when the wind and waves come from the south there is no anchorage, but it was nice and calm while we were there, though the “no see em” bugs were pretty bad.
Inland of San Blas and Mantenchen there is an extensive estuary, La Tovara, which is also a protected national nature reserve. One day we went on a wonderful “jungle tour” in a panga (small boat) with a local guide. We took our dingy to the beach and walked about ½ mile inland where the estuary starts. There we boarded the small boat (just Tom & I with the driver) and proceeded up the estuary into the “jungle”
We saw lots of life, iguanas perched in tree tops:
A few crocodiles (no swimming here!)
And lots of cute turtles
There is a crocodile sanctuary in the estuary where they breed the severely endangered crocodiles, as well as other local endangered Mexican natives.
What big teeth you have
Quick! Take the picture, he looks hungry!
At the end of the estuary is a fresh water pond where we had a refreshing dip (with fencing that went to the bottom of the river to keep out the hungry crocodiles).
It was a wonderful trip, though a tip for anyone else going on the San Blas jungle tour; get to the pangas as early in the morning as you can. We left at about 7am and had the peaceful river to ourselves for the whole morning. But by about 1pm as we had turned around to go back, the river turned into a zoo with dozens of full pangas speeding down the river, threatening to run into each other and scaring all the wildlife away. We were happy to get back alive and glad we saw the jungle in its quiet time.
We had one last beautiful sunset in Mantenchen bay
On 1/30/2010 we had a nice sail to the small cove of Chacala. It was a rolly anchorage and we set a stern anchor so we would point into the swell, but it was very pretty. Chacala is a popular beach resort for well to do locals
We only spent one night in Chacala, the next morning we got up early and motor-sailed to La Cruz. We’ve just been hanging out in the marina with occasional exploration trips. Just like in the rest of Mexico, the local busses are a cheap and interesting way to get around, though it takes awhile to learn the routes and occasionally we get on the wrong one :-)
One day we took a long multi-bus trip to the botanical gardens. This is a beautiful park in the “mountains” south of Puerto Vallarta. We had a wonderful day exploring the well tended grounds.
This bridge was scary, especially with Tom shaking it when I was half was across!The shady "forest" paths were especially nice since it’s pretty hot and humid here
Another day we watched a demonstration of the Mexican coast guard doing a “search and rescue” just outside the marina
Update: 3/20/2010We had a bit of weather related excitement a couple of days after we got to La Cruz; we got hit by what they're calling a "weather bomb" This is a real meteorological phenomena more common in New Zealand where you get a rapid drop in pressure coupled with a fast upper level jet stream (or some other technical jargon). All I know is that we were sitting down below, we had just finished dinner and were thinking of bed when the wind and rain suddenly went from a gentle breeze and drizzle to a howling downpour.
The boat started bucking and jumping and rain was pouring in from open ports. We struggled to get all the ports closed while the boat was healing over and thunder/lightning was crashing all around us. For about 40 minutes we huddled down below listening to the wind howling (the noise was incredible), the boat shuddering and sounds of things crashing and canvas ripping above (we couldn't tell if it was our boat or the neighbors) We also were listening on the radio to the chaos in the anchorage; boats dragging anchor and running into each other, others screaming they're headed for the rocks, we felt helpless but there was nothing we could do.
After about 40 minutes the wind and rain moderated a bit and we put on foulies and went above to access damage and see if we could help anyone. Luckily we only had a little damage, mostly debris on our deck, a thoroughly soaked cockpit with some water below, and a ripped off flag halyard. Other boats in the marina weren't so lucky, we saw lots of torn sails, ripped canvas enclosures and floating debris (surfboards, kayaks, shoes, gas tanks, etc). After doing what we could to help better secure ours and neighbors boats, we went back to the boat and fitfully slept.
By the next morning we had more information, there were no boats lost but two went aground with one able to get themselves off and the other was pulled off the next morning still floating. Several boats crashed into each other with damage to rails and bow rollers but nothing catastrophic (though any damage is very evpensive). About 1/3 of the boats in the marina had ripped sails or other major canvas damage. Lots of downed trees and the power/water was off for several days. Unfortunately one woman broke her arm when part of the wall surrounding the marina collapsed on her, but considering the chaos and how quickly it hit I was surprised that was the only injury we heard about. Reports of wind speed varied but 65 to 70 knots in the marina was confirmed (about 80 mph). That was only category 1 hurricane winds for 40 minutes, I can't imagine 12 - 14 hours of that in category 3+ !! This was the most scared I’ve been on the boat, and we were firmly tied in a slip, I can’t imagine what it was like out in the anchorage.
We’re still here in La Cruz. The boat show is over and life here is resuming a slow pace. We really like this laid back little town, but we’re starting to get anxious to move on. Hopefully our sail stuff will be coming next week. Meanwhile this is a nice place to be stuck :-) Here’s the local park, freshly painted for the president’s visit (if you look carefully, you can see the marina in the distance).
AdiosCarolynn & Tom
