November 14-17

Cabo San Lucas

We sailed 7 days to Cabo San Lucas without stops. High Drama loves to run, although we are not very skilled downwind sailors

Cabo San Lucas is devoted to tourism with a heavy emphasis on sport fishing for game fish such as marlin, sailfish, Dorado, and others. We are moored at an intersection in the harbor and each morning at 5:00 am a hundred or more charter fishing boats depart with their engines rumbling and their exhaust fumes wafting into our cabin. Sleep is impossible, so we make coffee and watch the high riders rumble by and listen to the machos shout at each other. Around 2:00PM they return; each boat flys flags with images of the fish they caught. We were advised by a professional fish killer moored next door that the Americans on private sport fishing yachts believe that the Mexican charter boats overstate the number and type of fish actually caught. Sounds like sour grapes.

November 17

We motored about 50 miles from Cabo San Lucas to Los Frailes, anchorage in a little bay in the Sea of Cortez. We will slowly make our way north to La Paz where we will reprovision (mostly beer) and then take off to some of the bays and anchorages north of La Paz. We should be able to spend a few days in La Paz and will call from there. La Paz is supposed to be a favorite stop among sailing cruisers. The dinghy has now been launched and we are going swimming and then going ashore to buy some fish. We have been skunked for the last few days. Jeff thinks Stacy jinxed us because ocean fish don’t respect the wax worm queen. Stacy formerly was involved in a family business that raised and sold wax worms (little fuzzy worms that eat bees’ wax) as live bait to local and international fishermen. She claims to have conducted research and development on wax worms as bait for pan fish of all sizes in Wisconsin.

A big day for us today. Actually, it was our first day of kicking back in an anchorage. Mike and I fashioned a bridle to lower the dinghy from its resting-place on deck into the water. Of course the banter made the experience hilarious, at least to us. The folks anchored next door, with whom we had happy hour, tried to be polite and not say anything. But at the end of the evening they finally asked why it took us three hours just to launch a dinghy. Then when we had it launched, why we didn't go anywhere? The male wagered that we went below for a cold beer, but the female doubted beer was the answer for this behavior. Of course, she was wrong; that's exactly what we had done.

The female in this couple is straight out of The Great Gatsby and will figure prominently in my forthcoming novel.

Winds have been uncharacteristically out of the south at 15 knots here in Los Frailes. Now that we decided to move on to another anchorage, Muertes, 45 miles north, I can feel the wind clocking around to the north as I type.

Water temperature is 84 F and air temperature is the same. Swimming off the back of High Drama and coming back aboard for a cold libation constitutes the good life.

La Paz, Mexico

24 09.3N

110 19.5W

Winds 25 Knots out of North; storm building

Sea: Calm In the marina, but crazy in the harbor. The tide goes against the wind. Some chop.

Dinghy dock in La Paz Marina at bar pictured below.

We are located in Marina La Paz in La Paz Mexico. This marina carries the reputation of being a crossroads or Mecca for cruisers. Many cruisers apparently find the city of La Paz so enticing that they never leave. Some sail north to explore the Sea of Cortez, some cross the Sea of Cortez to Mazatlan and points south along the mainland coast of Mexico. But apparently many never leave.

We left weather just two days ago that saw us swimming off the boat and complaining that the heat was too much without fans. Now we are back with a genuine rainstorm building around us. It's cold... 60 degrees, and the lizards with whom I'm sailing chant about warmer weather and warmer water.

This is the time of year that the sea upheaves colder water. The temperature went to about 73 degrees from 83 a few days ago. Along with cooler water there are more nutrients. That is apparently why the whales like it here.

We will stay here a few days and then sail in some of the beautiful anchorages just 20 miles away. We will next head for the mainland coast of Mexico. I am not sure, but maybe we will get to Puerto Vallarta by Christmas.

Two different people have come up to us in the first 30 minutes in this marina and asked if our boat was Silver Lining, which was her name when we bought her. Apparently her prior owners moored a couple of seasons in the very slip where we are now.

Jeff & Ann & Mike & Stacy

We had a great Turkey Day week. There has been a "norther" booming down for about three days. Winds around 20-25 knots from the north and choppy seas. We were glad to be parked in the marina for four days where the only risk was that we would fall off the boat during happy hour.

Wednesday Mike befriended Ernesto the cut rate cab driver who gave us a wonderful tour of La Paz. Two churches, an orphanage, one municipal theater, one library, one art gallery, lunch at the mercado between the fish stall and butcher stall (pork heads right after they were butchered were upwind and adjacent to the table), fresh hand made tortillas at the factory (fried in lard), fresh machaca (great dried meat-low fat- for the tortillas), a lengthy visit the Cultural and Anthropological Museum, and then shopping at a supermercado. The beauty was that the whole trip was in Spanish so Mike made up most of the translation to conform to what he thought would improve on local history. It was a fun experience and we saw a slice of life in Mexico we would have clearly missed without Ernesto and Mike.

Turkey dinner was consumed at the Marlin Club, a large cabana type restaurant run by some ex-patriot tax evaders. Dinner con todos trimmings, margaritas, and a couple of bottles of wine was sumptuous. Mike fell asleep at 5:00pm and was not heard from until this morning.

This morning the north winds died, the marina found out our credit was no good, and Ernesto wanted to take us on another tour, so we left La Paz. Motored about 25 miles to a beautiful spot between two islands. It is a bowl with desert coloring like Sedona, Arizona. During happy hour as the sun set and we watched a couple of other boats come in. We are not alone, but it's not quite like driving in traffic on the 405 in Los Angeles. Local pelicans and boobies chased fish while we watched. And now another gourmet meal is coming up. Life has given us a whole lot to enjoy here.

Perhaps the only negative is the category of living off the fruits of the sea. I retired from fishing in deference to the pro from Wisconsin who claims to have cut her teeth on pan fish and wax worms. So far, other than a tuna she pulled in back on November 9, we have been skunked. She has taken it hard. She walks the deck alone mumbling to herself "there aren't any fish in the Sea of Cortez."

Well, maybe we can swap baseball caps for fish with the local fishermen tomorrow.

Greetings from High Drama

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Mazatlan

We crossed the Sea of Cortez and are now situated in Marina El Cid in Mazatalan. We lost our hydraulic steering halfway here and had to steer by using the emergency tiller on the rudder for 24 hours. It proved to be very tiring even with each person steering on one-hour watches. The part that failed was a bronze collar that connects the hydraulic pistons to the rudderpost. The replacement part is being fabricated out of stainless steel at Industria Naval de Mazatlan, a commercial shipyard that makes 100-foot long tuna fishing boats. It has been a fascinating experience dealing with their young engineer and salty older machinist. Our combined Spanish equaled their combined English and it looked like a bunch of Italians ordering lunch, all talking and gesturing at the same time. We get the new part Monday when we are leaving Mazatlan.

Stacy guaranteed that we would catch supper once we started sailing again and she was true to her word. This one was a yellow tail tuna, about 15 pounds that Mike cleaned like a surgeon. Great eating.

The marina here is attached beautiful resort; they say the largest in Mexico. We have spent time in blocks at sea, in remote anchorages, and good marinas. Each setting provides a very different experience. For now we like the swim up bar.

Yesterday, after an hour at the repair yard, we swam in the "deep pool" which has a series of caves and slides. Mike organized up a bunch of 10-year-olds into competitive diving and splashing. Also, the Hotel had to call out for more rum.

Dinner was at a classic tourist place. Since we had started our shore celebration early we declined the tequila "poppers" which is a shot poured down your throat while your head is being rolled around while wearing a football helmet. We are too old for that stuff!

Today we celebrate Mike and Stacy's One-Year Anniversary, see old Mazatlan, the tuna fleet, and the mercado. Adios. Hope that all is well with you.

Ann walking to palapas on beach at Chacala

Chacala

Left Mazatlan Monday after our steering repair and landed on a bird sanctuary on Isla Isabella, about 80 miles away. Magnificent frigates were mating with the males blowing up a red pouch on their chests and females casually stopping by, appearing to be disinterested. Also saw thousands of brown and blue footed boobies nesting. Birds so thick that they were not afraid of us, rather they were more afraid of the other birds if they gave up their cherished nesting spot.

After an overnight anchorage Isla Isabella we motored to Chacala, a white sand beach on the mainland of Mexico with six small palapas on the beach. These palapas, or beachfront restaurants, we soon learned, serve cerveza and shrimp ceviche at 10:00 am. What a treat. Next we will swim, snorkel, nap, not necessarily in that order, and go back ashore for happy hour. Not a bad Thursday.

We are still shooting to land in Puerto Vallarta Saturday, but Chacala is so much like a postcard we may not leave. Adios for now.

J&A&M&S

Nueva Vallarta

We are now in a suburb of Puerto Vallarta called Nuevo Vallarta at a marina attached to a well appointed resort called Paradise Village.

Thursday the 9th of December we left the idyllic shores of Chacala. Since it was calm, we easily spotted a half a dozen early visiting whales. Couldn’t see much of them, but we believe that they are humpbacks.

The big news, however, was that our now semi pro fisherwoman pulled in a big Dorado (also called mahi mahi). Corlorful beast until we poured tequila in it's gills to do it in quietly so it didn't flop and bleed all over our new teak decks. Mike's skill as a fish cleaner has prompted him to interview for a position with a local fishing boat. We had fresh ceviche and a couple of grilled mahi mahi dinners.

Mike and Stacy with dorado

After a day of travel we arrived at La Cruz de Huanacaxtle where we anchored overnight. We steamed into Marina Vallarta the next morning, looking like we knew what we were doing. After spending the weekend in the downtown marina, surrounded by hotels, condos, fancy restaurants, tourists, and time share hawkers, we opted for the quieter more removed spot with three pools and a half a mile of white sand beach for about the same number of pesos. We plan to stay here through the holidays.

December 15

Mike and Stacy reluctantly returned to cold country today. We had traveled more than 1500 miles together through some good sailing and motoring. We were sad to see this chapter close.

We took in the bullfight tonight. It started at 5:00 PM and as far as we could see, there were no Mexican people in attendance. We had understood that the corrida de toros was a national pastime, yet here there were just gringo tourists from the Love Boat, and High Drama.

The guys we saw were only matador trainees, but that made little difference to the bulls, whose fate remained the same. Maybe next time!

Stay tuned for more adventures. In the next issue we will dispel the widely held view that cruising is just a long vacation.

I know that these missives have contributed to that view.

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