December 6, 2019
Norman here. Usually
I am the primary author of our blogs but I’ve been in a bit of a rut lately (I
think a bit of culture shock plus the heat is only beginning to let up and this
will be our second year in the tropics for Christmas – not even a sliver of a
chance of snow here). Thankfully Clarice
took up the electronic pen and wrote this month’s narrative and we should still
be in internet range long enough to get it posted. I will say that the past couple of days have
helped me get back to feeling better as 1) we started gathering photos we might
use for our talk at the Seattle Boat Show on January 24th which
forced me to go back and review all of the wonderful places and experiences we
have had in the past year in Mexico; 2) Feeling a bit more of the spirit of the
season with attending Sunday Mass at the cathedral (which was overflowing for
the first day of Advent AND the first day of the celebration of the Virgin of
Guadelupe and this is her designated “official” cathedral) where I was finally
able to follow enough Spanish in a printed missal to follow the service; 3)
enjoying the beauty of the hike Clarice describes below; 3) enjoying a true
fiesta atmosphere as we watched the procession of the Virgin on day 4 of 12
celebrations; 4) and finally finding a way to carry out a personal Christmas
tradition of mine when I realized that the local Woolworths (yes it even smells
like the Woolworths of our youth) does a major layaway business for Christmas –
I used the opportunity to play “Christmas Angel” after much explaining to the
manager.
We left La Paz after Dia Las Muertos.
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| A young girl dressed as a Catrina |
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| Catrinas take the role very seriously, one must never smile and must walk as if in a fog |
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| Numbers are for the contest that all of the Catrinas are part of |
Jarvis got into the act by dressing up as Dante from the movie Coco for the celebration.
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| Jarvis' friends Autumn and Michelle help him with his makup |
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| A doggy version of a Catrina |
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| Jarvis poses next to a traditional Dia Las Muertos altar |
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| A woman and her dog in dressed up together |
So with that, I will gleefully let Clarice carry on with our
story:
Before leaving La Paz, Norman had met a Finnish woman who
was biking on Baja. (This is the time of year when the Cruceros Cruisers Club
has bikers requesting rides over to the mainland from boaters. We have been
reluctant to take on strangers as even 46 ft can be too cozy if the people are
not a great fit).Norman asked the woman if she was looking for a ride to
Mazatlan and she said she was not, but a Dutch cyclist was hoping to catch a
ride across the sea. We contacted Rinskje and said we were leaving La Paz in
the next couple of days and heard she may need a ride. Norman asked her to come
to the boat so we could meet each other and see if this might work for both of
us. Long story short, Rinskje was a great fit. She has been cycling for the
past few years ( Asia, Europe, etc) and her current trek has brought her from
Anchorage Alaska. She was a joy to spend 36 hours with. She was very
independent, so pitched right in to help with daily chores…she did a night
watch with me. We all had the opportunity to learn about each other and their
cultures.
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| Rinskje joins the crew for the crossing from La Paz to Mazatlan |
We left La Paz on 11/03/2019 with the ultimate goal of
crossing to Mazatlan. We decided since we need to not reach California prior to
January 1, 2020 and the weather is starting to moderate we may as well go see
some of the mainland while we are in Mexico. We had a fairly smooth 36 +/- hour
run to get to Mazatlan. We decided to stop at the first marina, El Cid. It’s a
resort complex north of town and close to the entry channel to the Mazatlan
Marina district. Two rivers empty out of this channel and there’s quite a
current, so moderate amount of surge at tide changes. Part way through our
stay, the sailboat next to us discovered they were resting on the bottom at low
tide and we then realized what the “Thumps” we’d heard were… we were hitting
bottom at low tide. After doing some reconnoitering with the portable depth
gauge, both boats moved to the next docks further inland to give some breathing
room under the keels. We were in the lap of luxury with a pool at our disposal,
so totally enjoyed it.
We did a bike tour of Mazatlan the day after we arrived…or
tried to. The drivers weren’t too good
about giving bicyclists room in the lanes..it was very crowded. We ended up
going over a grated road without success. Norman shredded an inner tube; I
managed to fly over the handlebars. Thank goodness no bodily harm, but we ended
up taking a taxi truck back to the boat. Next we opted to hike to the top of
Lighthouse hill ( El Faro in Spanish). Grabbed an open air taxi to the bottom
of the hill and slowly worked our way up to the top. We definitely live at sea
level, but the workout was worth it. Great views of Mazatlan and the
surrounding area.
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| El Faro lighthouse at the entrance to Mazatlan Harbor |
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| Mazatlan from the top of El Faro hill |
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| El Faro is the world's highest lighthouse based on a hill |
One day I decided to try and find the quilt shop that I had
found on line. I was so excited to find true quilting quality fabrics. Great
shop run by an expat. It’s a training venue for local women to learn how to
become business women. She gets 10-20 women together for a period of time. They
get sewing machines, learn to sew and quilt and take classes in business
management. They also make items to sell in the shop. As I checked out, I asked
the cashier what I should see since I was downtown. She mentioned the Cathedral
and then said there was a new little shop of weavings from Oaxaca. I was the
Cathedral and then came across the weaving shop. Luis, the shop owner, proudly
showed me the small wooden loom his grandmother had given to him to use in the
shop. He showed me a weaving he was working on and what it represented. He has
larger looms at his home that the family all use to produce beautifully woven
goods. I ended up purchasing a bedspread that I will convert to a Duvet cover
once we get back to colder climates. Later we purchased a hand woven wool rug to go at the foot of the bed. The story of the weaver of the rug and his extended family are told here:
Wool weavers of Oaxaca part I ...
Wool weavers of Oaxaca part II .
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| Hand woven bedspread by Luis |
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| Hand woven rug by Evencio Vicente |
Norman jumping in for a moment: Clarice forgot to mention
our amazing overnight trip to the town of Durango high in the mountains east of
Mazatlan. We were asking some other
long-term resident cruisers over breakfast about renting a car and driving to
Durango and one couple suggested we borrow their Chevy Suburban for the trip
but pointed out that we should plan to stay the night in Durango and suggested
a pet friendly hotel. Durango is a
lovely old Mexican town with narrow cobblestone streets and the requisite amazing
cathedral but the real eye candy for this trip was the drive to and from the
mountaintop. The original road was a
winding two lane mountain road requiring a 6 – 8 hour drive. That road is lovely in its own right and due
to a serendipitous missed turnoff we drove on it for about 3 hours. The road
surface was well maintained but like many mountain roads it followed every
crook and curve of the hills as it wove its way up and down through valleys and
over ridges while passing slowly through very small villages along the
way. We eventually got back onto the
main toll road which required some phenomenal engineering and construction (all
proudly Mexican) to create continuous grades that go on for miles rather than
following the natural terrain up and down and up and up and down again. To achieve that goal required 88 tunnels
(several over a kilometer long) and 115 bridges including two cable bridges one
of which is the tallest in the world. As a side note we are often asked about
travelling through Mexico with the “Cartels everywhere” – this route definitely
took us through historically active drug production areas but as tourists the
only thing that might have been related was that our large vehicle (which could
have carried a lot of contraband) was stopped by the State Police. The two officers checked my driver’s license
and were completely polite and professional.
After practicing their bit of English vs our poor Spanish they sent us
on our way with a “buenas dias”.
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| New road to Durango (from old road) 1 of 88 tunnels and 115 bridges |
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| Old road to Durango |
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| The mountains that need to be crossed and climbed to get to Durango |
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| A corn field clings to a hillside along the old road while a horse munches below |
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| On the old road looking at the new road where it crosses over a village |
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| Scenery along the way reminded of the Black Hills of SD |
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| Hay being stored in shucks |
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| The Chevy Suburban stopped for a photo op on the way back down the mountain |
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| Mountain Scenery |
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| Tallest cable stayed bridge in the world |
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| View crossing the tallest cable stayed bridge in the world |
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| Smaller of the two cable stayed bridges followed by another tunnel |
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| Inside the Durango cathedral |
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| Durango cathedral from the village square |
We left Mazatlan on 11/13/19 with the plan to spend the
afternoon anchored at Isla Venado, just outside the Old Port of Mazatlan, until
about 4 pm. This would allow us an overnight passage to Isla Isabela with an
arrival at daybreak (We prefer to not enter new places in the dark the first
time, especially with the charts being inaccurate at times for Mexican waters).
We arrived at Isla Isabela as the sun broke over the horizon. We opted to
anchor at the south bay due to the direction of the winds. Its not a very
protected bay and the underwater area is filled with boulders ( some are huge).
Jarvis was not allowed on the island, much to his dismay, as it’s a sanctuary
for frigates and boobies. Norman and I went ashore and watched the frigates
doing their mating rituals. Quite elaborate with the males inflating a bright
red pouch on the front of their neck and of course making some noise along with
this demonstration of virility. We then walked to an area where boobies were
nesting on the ground. We saw eggs under the adults, newly hatched chicks and
goofy looking teenagers. However, none of these were the elusive blue footed
boobies that we were supposed to be able to see. We looked with the binoculars
on the cliffs surrounding the anchorage and managed to locate the blue footed
birds. The island is also home to LOTS of Iguanas. The number of birds was
pretty amazing.
The next item of business was a good cleaning of the hull,
including the keel cooler, props, etc. We both were down 1-2 hours and got the job
done. We also had some air left in our tanks so decided to check the anchor
since the guide book states and anchor trip line was recommended to hopefully
prevent getting stuck in the boulders. Since we knew we were leaving at oh dark
thirty the next morning, we wanted to avoid a night dive if possible to unstick
a stuck anchor. The anchor was situated in such a way that we weren’t going
anywhere and we now knew the angles to try if we got stuck. Unfortunately we
were too tired to grab another tank and do a pleasure dive. Lots of beautiful
fish were around us and it would have been fun to explore the rocks.
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| Moonlit crossing to Isla Isabele |
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| Boobies are not at all shy about checking out the boat |
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| Thousands of frigate birds inhabit Isla Isabele |
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| Iguanas by the hundreds live on the island as well |
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| A lady frigate can't get any rest from suitors even while she is on the nest |
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| A brown footed booby shows off her egg |
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| A teenage booby taking a stroll |
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| Salish Aire at anchor on Isla Isabele |
On 11/14 at 330 am we pulled anchor without a hitch and
headed towards La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. It is called this due to a living cross
on the hill carved from the Huanacaxtle tree, but most people just refer to the
village as La Cruz. The Huanacaxtle tree is a huge tree that would be fantastic
for tree houses.
As we made our way to La Cruz, we discovered the fishing
lines we’d been warned about as we approached La Cruz. These are yellow
polypropylene lines that are very very long. It appears they are long line
fishing. They are inconspicuously marked with 250 ml ( 1 pint approximately)
clear soda pop bottles – yep not really easy to see until you are on top of
them. Most of the time there’s a panga at one end of the line and in the dark
they even sometimes have a light on the panga. We slow down, maybe honk if the
panga fishermen are asleep, and wait until they show us where the end of the
line is to allow safe passage without damaging their fishing set up. We got a
little cocky and thought we were through the gauntlet at one point when to our
dismay a line was right under out bow. We discovered if we went over them at a
right angle, they just rolled under our full keel without any problem. FINALLY,
as we saw La Cruz come into view we were out of the gauntlet of fishermen.
We are now on the jungle looking side of Mexico after
spending the past year in the desert side. La Cruz is a small village with cobblestone
streets for the most part. NOT conducive to bike riding in the least. We
attended the market that is held on Sundays the day after we arrived. It is
huge…not really a farmers market as there is little in the way of produce.
However, lots of food ( Indian, Mexican, bread, jams, paella, sausages, meat
pies, etc.) and you can literally eat your way through the market. There are
lots of arts and crafts booths as well. This is all along the malecon on the
side opposite of where we are moored.
And then there is more in the town square. Pretty amazing.
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| The La Cruz fishing pangas bring in their catch (including tuna 4 feet long!) |
We also had some boat projects – these never end, you just
go down the list from high to low priority. There is a fairly large “high end”
chandlery in Puerto Vallarta, so we took the bus or taxis in a couple of times.
Of course “high end” means something different here than in the states, but all
in all it was pretty fun to see some quality products and a fair assortment of
items. After a week in La Cruz, we were ready to move on to Puerto Vallarta,
which we did on 11/29/19.
It’s only a few hour cruise ( the Gilligan’s Island theme is
playing in the background) to Puerto Vallarta. There’s no real anchorage here,
so we are in a marina. This would be an awesome Hurricane hole. It is in a
little keyhole and everyone in this marina, pangas included understand the
concept of hull speed. We don’t rock and roll at all. It’s an experience that
we’ve not had for a long, long time.
Puerto Vallarta is big, but not as noisy as Mazatlan. Cruise
ships ( humongous ones) come in regularly and lots of tourists abound. Lots of
busses and Uber to get around with, as well as taxi’s. We spend the first few
days meeting up with friends, checking out the marina district and relaxing.
Again, we had access to a pool. This is such luxury!!! We explored Sam’s club
and Walmart and a few other close by places. Ate some great food.
December 1-12th Puerto Vallarta commemorates Las
Senora de Guadelupe. There is a cathedral by this name in downtown. Each of the
twelve days there is a procession from 5 pm to midnight of the religious
faithful that participate in that leads to the cathedral. We decided to go
watch one evening for a few hours. True to manana time, the procession started
very slowly with 2 groups passing us in an hour…then it started picking up. The
procession is a mix of Catholicism and native cultures. Young girls were given
the honor to portray the Senora on floats ( thankfully they were tied to the
trailers as the floats were quite wiggly), Women in white culturally
appropriate clothing walked while carrying candles and flowers, groups of
children processed while singing , there was a band and a group of dancers that
appeared to be Aztec ( or native group) in nature. LOTS of street food that was
great tasting. We proceeded to the cathedral and it was overflowing with
flowers.
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| A stand in for the Virgin de Guadelupe (tied to the float for safety but she still looked pretty nervous) |
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| All of the floats and groups have a sponsor and come with gifts - this group was sponsored by Oxxo (think Mexican 7-11) |
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| An indigenous dance troupe |
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| Enjoying the plentiful street food |
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| Inside of the cathedral of the Virgin of Guadelupe |
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| The cathedral of the Virgin of Guadelupe has a very unique stone carved crown |
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| Fiesta street scene |
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| There is an every Thursday night market at the marina that included dancing by these VERY talented young folk |
One day we opted to try a hike we had read about. We took and Uber about 1 to 1.5 hours to Boca de Tomatlan. Once there, you find the bridge across the river and proceed to follow a trail around the ocean edge towards Las Animas. We were drenched in sweat within a half hour, but the hike was beautiful through the jungle, past secluded beaches with beautiful views of Banderas Bay. Lots of stone steps as we climbed up into the jungle and clambered over areas that are in need of some maintenance. Just before Las Animas was a jungle resort where we stopped and had a fruit plate and some Limonada. We placed our order and the waiter asks if we need ice for Norman’s head. We both couldn’t figure out what he was referring to and said no. I then looked at Normans head to discover that the tree he had whacked his head on near the beginning of the hike had left quite a sore spot. He had blood running down the side of his face, but we hadn’t noticed. The nice young man brought some first aid supplies for me to clean up the wound and then we rested as we ate and drank our order.
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| A pocket beach and stream along the trail offered a nice rest stop |
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| Clarice trying to control the sweat from the rain forest humidity while hiking |
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| Amazing beach near the end of the trail |
We were told we were only 10 minutes from Las Animas at this
point so we headed onward. Las Animas was a beautiful little indent in the
shoreline. We headed to the pier to wait for a panga to give us a ride back to
Boca. The first person said 250 pesos so we declined. A boy in a panga came up
and we asked his fee : 50 pesos each . SOLD.. we boarded and headed back to the beginning of
the days adventure. We arrived back at the boat very tired, a little sore and
very happy we had spent our day doing this.
We are getting ready to leave P.V. tomorrow, December 7th.
Norman checked engine room fluids yesterday. We topped off water, secured the
topsides (tender, bikes), rigged paravanes for easy deployment and went on a
provisioning trip. Probably the last provisions until Ensenada or San Diego (
since we cannot take fresh stuff back into the states, we’ll need to use it all
up before San Diego). I have learned however that to not waste food ()when we
are approaching another country, I boil eggs up, make all the vegetables into a
salad, or stew/soup and clean and process all remaining fruit.
I think we are both getting dock fever and ready to get
moving again. I prefer anchoring and will enjoy being away from the hub bub
that towns bring. I long for the peace and tranquility of remote bays so am
excited to be out of here, even though it’s been a fun week.
