Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hope you are all fine and ready for the Christmas season. We have put up our small tree and numerous Christmas lights. There are 4 other boats with lights but, I think we have the most. The area we our in is about 40 miles north of Manzanillo. We had headed into Barra De Navidad on Dec 17th only to find that the lagoon area was filled with no see-um-mums and mosquitoes once the sun went down. Plus there were no other boats there and nothing was going on for Christmas at this time. So instead of staying there till after Christmas we headed back to Tenacatita on the 20th after doing laundry and re-stocking. If we want to see Barra at night we will need to make arrangements to have a water taxi take us in as the lagoon is very hard to navigate in the dark as there are numerous shallows.

We are now sitting at Tenacatita Bay where the water temp is about 85 and the sun seems to shine every day. We have been swimming, had 2 humpback whales put on a wonderful show in the bay and watched numerous fish jumping out of the water along with stingrays. We have also seen two turtles in the bay. So life has been good.

We will be thinking of each and everyone of you on Christmas Day especial at supper time, as we will not be having Turkey this Christmas. We could not find any turkey or even whole chickens. We are having B.B.Q. chicken breasts, dressing, cranberry jelly, mash potatoes and of course cream corn. Lynn is a little sad as we also could not find any turnips. We are sharing this big meal on Dec 24 with friends from the Murrey Grey and Optical Illusion.Then one of the boats is heading back to Barra De Navidad where they can get internet and phone service. We will likely head back there on 26th of Dec and stay till after the New Year. Then we will head a little farther south before starting to head back to Mazatland.

There are about 20 boats in the Bay and we are all going to get together on the Beach on Christmas Day in the afternoon and have a pot luck. Depending on the surf. We are really good surf-landers so far. But, leaving is another matter, so far the most water we have taken in the dingy was about 6 to 8 inches . Only once have we left the beach and only took one wave over us. Rule always wear clothing that is ok to get wet on the trip back from the beach.

Merry Christmas everyone and have a Happy New Year.

Nov 24 to Dec 7th 2009

Nov 24
We left the picturesque, rolly, anchorage of Chacala Bay, with our buddy boat Murray Gray who recommended that we spend the night at Punta Mita which is at the north end of Bandreas Bay. It was an another rolly night. Pulled anchor first thing in the morning and sailed over to the La Cruz de Huanacaxtle and anchored twice before we were happy. Upon listening to the net we found out that we could attend a BBQ that evening for only $65.00 peso = about $5.75 Canadian. This included a main course, salad veggies and 1 beverage. We were there. Plus we needed this break after hauling our laundry about 1 mile from the anchorage only to find out there was a one only about 3 blocks away. We also did American Thanksgiving at a gringo run shop called Filo's here we were entertained by all the expats that did not make it professionally up north but were pretty darn good down here.

Nov 28

We headed over to Puerto Vallarta and tied up in the Marina. Here we have restocked the boat, gave it a good wash and went and looked at the Crocodiles in the harbour. All the locals along the harbour kept telling us no the croc does not come out of the water. Well they were wrong out one popped right where we would have been walking. It caused quite a stir with the locals and all of us waiting out the rain storm. Of course none of us had a camera with us that night.

Dec 1

Up anchor at 6:00am and off to round Cabo Corrientes, the plan is to round it before mid day as the chop and wind can get a little rough. The highest winds we saw were about 20 knots and seas were around 4 to 6 feet nothing like what we did up north. We pulled into
Punta Ipala, around 2:00 pm. Note where the chart plotter says we anchored, good think we have radar and 2 sets of eyes to confirm our travels.

It appears to be a village of about 20 homes. The next morning we took the dinghies to shore and visited the school. We did not realize they had two schools for such a small area. We dropped off some crayons, chalk and a few hats to use as prizes. There had to have been 15 children in the older school and about 12 in the younger one.

Dec 3

This last leg was a 10hour run of motor sailing just enough wind to keep the sails full but not enough to turn off the motor. We arrived at Bahia Chamela around 4:00. In the entrance we were met by spotted dolphins and a whale's tale. Once inside and the anchor was set, we jumped into the water, well Lynn hung off the ladder and I swam close by the boat. To our pleasure we had dolphins swim close by also.

Unfortunately we never got to shore as strong South Westerly swells and winds were blowing into the bay. After three nights of no sleep even with a stern anchor out we headed south once again.

Dec 7
We are now about 2 weeks early heading down the coast then we planned. We are hopping that the next anchorage will be calm with very little swell. Even Lynn is complaining about the lack of sleep from the rocking, rolling and slamming of the boat.
Yes our prays have been answered. The anchorage at Bahia Tenacatita is almost calm. Both crew on Dolphin Tales have had a nice peaceful sleep for the 1st time in awhile.

Made a surf landing on the beach and managed to keep the dingy upright, however we need to make sure we have a bailer or pump next time to bail the dingy. We will be here for a few days and tour around.


We have been having some computer issues with our winlink so if you do not here from us do not panic. However we did manage to hear and get a message to John and Pam on the SV Passages in Equador this am on the SSB so the radio is working great



Once we have internet again we will fill in with some pictures.

In the town and area of Chacala life is still very simple with farmers plowing cane fields the old fashion way.










Old houses on the beach are allowed to have trees hug them for comfort.

The beach area is lovely no time share guys no one asking you to buy anything life just goes by very slowly and relaxing and before you know it it is sunset.

The only problem here was even though we had a stern anchor out to keep us in the swells it was still pretty rocky at times during the nights.

We took a jungle river cruise there were a few birds and lots of foliage to look at. But most of all we are now in an area where you must look out for!!!!! scroll down to see.

This area with the fence is a swimming area at the top of the jungle ride and no it is not just to keep the trutles out.

This croc was just out side the swimming area and the small guy was about where the fresh and sea water met. I'm not going in this water.

Not only do we have to worry about crocs we have to be on the look out fro termites this was a small nest compared to some we saw.

We brought are dingy in and a had a couple of glasses of lemondae with our friends Jim and Bonnie on Murray Grey, we left MAzatland with them.

Tropical storm Rick and the surge of the waves knocked down this bathroom and shower area on the beach.

This is where is palapa was before the storm he moved it up to where we are now. Can you see our boats way way out there?

Machenten Bay recommended that you anchor out at least one and half miles. Which we did to avoid the no seeums. Only problem was they found Debbie and she had 84 bites on her legs below the knees. Talk about itchy.

The bells of San Blais Old church new church

Parrot having a corn lunch in a veggie store

The Crafts our very colourful and the museum was a little on the small size.

The fishing village at Isla Isabella. We have been told that the fishermen stay out for about a month

Hoping we are not part of target practice 

Jumping crabs they jumped about 2feet across rocks

 

Blue footed BoobiesThe anchorage on the east side of the island

No matter where we went on the island there were tons of birds. With this many birds I think the old saying of having a bird lay some dropping on you is incorrect. We think not being hit by any droppings was very lucky.