01/15/2012, North of Peurta Vallarta
We have now been here for two weeks so thought I would put a bit about San Blas. We came into the esturary without any dificulty using our garmin GPS/plotter, just went real slow. The shallowest reading was 8ft and we draw 5 so no problems. It was however not low tide, so at low a boat may see a shoal of 4 foot. We got tied up and did our paperwork and found the showers and then went into town for a look at our new spot to explore. San Blas truly is a sleepy little "real" Mexican town. No tourist shops or time shares here. The old Catholic church written about in the famous Wadsworth poem "The Bells of San Blas" is still here standing next to the new church which is quite old itself. We were suprised to see that the old church is still being used. The bells have been replaced however they do not ring them as it would most likely cause the belltower to fall down. But inside the ancient church has all the typical catholic statues, candles and pews. It does look as though the church is used in a rather ornamental way, purhaps special occasions. Outside the churches is the town square which comes alive after dark. It seems the whole darn town comes here to vist, boys sitting with their sweeties, old men watching and chatting, children playing. When we got here it was a couple days after Christmas and the square still had christmas tree lights up along with alot of holiday decorations. We later found out that the people celebrate the 12 days of christmas. The first day being the 25th and the last the 6th of January. It seemed that there was a party everyday. And when you thought that they were through they had a huge party giving presents to children, food, candy bouncy thing for the kids. We latter found out that this was the last day of Christmas the 6th of Jan, who knew. We went to the beach one of the first days here on our bikes. When we got down to the beach their were about ten beachside reaturants (if you call them that, grass hut things, with a small kitchen). We were riding along the street on the bikes trying to figure out which one we wanting to try. As we are riding past the signs one jumps out at us "Stoners Surf Camp". The place was a crackup. It had little grass huts on stilts that you can rent for $18 dallars a day, right on the beach. However no lights, toilet,shower, just a mattress but the shower albiet cold is availible next to the crude toilets. We sat with out feet in the sand enjoying the warmth and a cool drink taking in the view. We stayed until the little "famous San Blas No See Ems " aka jejenes came out and it started to cool off. We walk to the square nearly every night and sit, eat ice cream, and people watch. We have met many Grigo's here who live here and found the gringo hangout that serves as a meeting place where one can find info on most anything. The place is called Billy Bob's even though the sign on the front says Torinos (never got around to changing the sign I guess. Blly Bobs is an old bar that has been around for many many years under different names which includes being a brothel at some point. The bar came with a Crocodile when Billy bought it. No kidding it seems that this croc is like sixty and has been in the bar for years (nobody seems to know exactly how long, but long). I asked what they feed her and they said just go down to the market and tell them you need fish heads for Fluffy! This I did and sure enough all I had to do is walk up to the fish market and say "fish heads for Fluffy the Cocodilla" and bingo the lady who spoke no english hands me a bag of heads. I got to feed Fluffy who rarely ever moved. When she saw the fish she came over and grabbed them out of the tongs I was using to feed her. It seems at times in her life Fluffy sat in the bar and got little attention or food and water. A shame, but Billy seems to take decent care of her and she would not make it in the wild now. I mentioned the market which comes to life early in the mornings with carts sat up all along the street in addition to the building full of stuff. "You can find anything you want at" San Blas market. Few of the streets here are paved, some coble stone brick, some coble stone (with stones) and most off the city center dirt. Other that the new goverment marina the town has not had any new building or improvements for years (which we like). It seems that the government poored a lot of money into creating modern marinas up and down the west coast of the mainland in hopes of economic developement. So San Blas was supposed to sprout condo's and hotels and attract tourista's. But it seems the plan never really got past the building of the marina, which is quite nice. There are a few upscale hotels but too upscale for us at this time of limited budget. The population here they say is about 5,000 but it seems smaller. Lots of people get around on bicycles and scooters. We have been filling our days with some sight seeing and working on the boat. We went up to see the old San Blas fort late 1700's , Spanish Invasion. It was very interesting and a great view of the city and the esturay dumping into the sea. Rather that a single river joining the sea, at San Blas there is a real jungle spread out over hundreds of miles of flat drainage which comes to the sea creating a huge swampy estuary home to the salt water crocs and all the other creatures attracted by the abundance of food and water. Who said Mexico is all desert. Ok now that Dave is done with his bit I am going to add some. We have met many locals and some who are snowbirds only just in Mexcio not Arizona. We were out to dinner with a couple, Bill and Sammy, and their friends Morris and Nancy. Turns out Morris and Nancy are from Mt. Vernon. Really? Too funny. There are guys that live here on a regular basis that are from the states and they have been helping us with tools and such. One guy is known as Holiday and then there are the Tims. Tim 1, Tim 2 and Tim 3. Sounds kinda like Thing 1 and 2 from Dr. Seuss. There is a woman here who apparently doesn't like blondes as she has come after me twice now....the first time she was screaming in the wooded area by the marina (did I mention she's a tad loco?) and the 2nd time was at the ice cream store. Luckily I was on my bike when she came screaming out of the woods and ran after me, I could hear her feet pounding the cobblestones but I just kept riding. At the ice cream store she came up, asked me my name in Spanish and then shook my hand and left. A few minutes later she came up to the store and started yelling at me in Spanish. (Did I mention she is loco?) Then she left and came back again and was talking to me like we were old friends......so we have to have a little bit of excitement right?? There is another American blonde here who has had issues with her too. Interesting town to say the least, no different except the language, than being downtown Seattle and seeing the sights! Enough for now...I know Dave wrote about people adding comments so we know you've been here but it seems to have disappeared from his posting so I am writing it again. I also put up an email icon (over on the right) in case anyone is interested in letting us know what they are up to! Asta Lavista Baby! Yes we are still learning Spanish.....and being around it is a lot easier than taking a class. More fun too. Adios mi Amigos!
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01/08/2012, off Mex coast
Looking over the blog I relized that I completely forgot to write about Isla Isabella. Our trip down from Mazitlan took just under 24hrs. We sailed about half of it then had to motor the rest as the wind died off. As we approached grey whales welcomed us with a nice showing. Then the "flying manta rays" got into the act. I have never seen a manta ray fly but they propel them selves out of the water like a fish. And not just one but many. They were about 2ft accross there wings with a long tail. As we got closer the two large rock spires got our attention (see pix) they are quite breath taking as you near them from the water. Anchoring around the island is tricky business as there are many under water reefs and rock spires. After getting anchored we said hi to a neighboring boat that we knew from Mazitlan (the Bellavia) a 50ft junk rigged ketch. We got the dinghy in the water and had trouble getting the out board to run. But after draining water out of the fuel it ran fine and we headed into shore. We pulled into a small lagoon where fisherman were working on there nets and had several shacks that they lived in when on the island. As we walked onto the island the first thing that got our attention was the Frigate birds. They were everywhere and there must have been a thousand. Every tree and bush had Frigates nesting in them. And we could walk right up to them and they would just look at you. We got several pix of them with the male struting his stuff billowing out his red balloon like under bill thing (see pix). Then hens with eggs,chicks, then one nearly full grown chick still being fed by mom and he was nearly as large as she was. As we walked we found the old research station (apparently they must have run out of money). The station was a very large concrete pyramid like struture. It was probably built in the seventies I'm guessing. It was totally empty although it did look as someone had been using it recently as a temp shelter maybe students. As we looked around we noticed the Iquana's they wete like rats all over the place. They were enjoying sunning them selves and again would let us walk right up to them. We found the Boobies and found that they did not all have blue feet, some had yellow some brown some orange and yes some blue. The Yellow seems the most common and the blue the most rare. We walked carefully around them as many were on eggs had chicks or were laying. Leiann did have one try to peck her as she got a little to close. Leiann talked to her though and told her it was alright she was not going to hurt her, the hen then seems not to mind us. In the guide it said that there was a trail around the crater (yes there was an extinct valcano). I wanted to check it out, Leiann was freaking about the possibility of snakes as the trail was overgrown and grass brushes our legs as we walked (probably would have been better to have wore pants and shoes). We walked accross a small section of the island to another shore, Leiann said that's it I'm not going up the hill in the brush, I relented. We walked but through and under the brush and trees that were full of birds just waiting to get shit on, we lucked out. We only spent about 4hrs but we felt that we had gotten to see something most never will. We spent the night with one eye open as we were anchored on a rock ledge, ready to jump up and leave if the wind and waves kicked up. We woke the next morning and all was well so we pulled anchor and headed to San Blas 40 miles away. At our usaul slow 4knots we should able to get there before dark!
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01/04/2012, San Blas
We thought we would tell about our jungle adventure. We decided to take this as it had been recomended by many. San Blas is the only true rain forest until you get to south America (or at least that what they told us). Our tour was on a "Ponga" (large dinghy 25ft, with a big out board). This is the only thing between us and the water that has real Crocodiles in it. We wound our way up the estury through the mangroves. At times it seemed like we were in a tunnel as the mangroves stretched all the way accross the water way we were going up. We saw many croc's in the wild along with iquanas, birds of every type, snaping turtles, fish and tropical rain forest with dense growth and huge tree's. First we went to the crocodile (cocodelias) refuge. There we saw many large crocodiles, mini dear, wart hogs,exotic birds (maccaws) and a Jaguar. Latter we went further up to the big spring where we (I) (Leian would not get in, big chicken) was able to swim in crystal clear water that was eighty degree's. At the spring we had a nice lauch before heading back down. I have buckeled down and started working on the boat the last few days. It's so hot it's like 80 to ninety degrees so I have to work a little at a time and spend a lot of time with ice tea in the shade. I put up the pix of the tour.Stay tuned for more on San Blas.
Again our E-Mail is cdavidscee@msn.com
phone is 360-540-6436 Text only please
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Love you both!!!!!
01/01/2012, San Blas
Well we have now made it to San Blas Mexico. Yesterday we were able to get our boat out of the water so we can do repairs. Were able to find a nice little bungolo with a kitchenette, TV, and HOT water (a premium). The last few days have been very nice and warm. We will fill you in on San Blas in the next Blog (San Blas was founded in the 1500's). So since our last blog entry we enjoyed a few more days in Mazatlan which continued to be rather cool. The last day we hired a "Pnuemonia"(open air taxi). The driver was a very nice fellow named Jorge (Hor Ha). We asked him take on a tour of the real Mexico so he drove us to his home and introduced us to his family which was very nice addition to our vist. He gave us a tour of Mazatlan (not the tourist area but the peoples Mazatlan) all for about $20.00 for 2 hours. A nice last day in Mazatlan. All in all we enjoyed Mazatlan which was less touristy than Cabo but very large. Also the town sufferd from the loss of cruise ships because of media reports of violence. We did not see any of this, it looks like the government has put their foot down with a large milatary presence. Also many of the large disco clubs are now closed as apparently the clubs were a sorce of the drug/gang violance.
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12/22/2011, Stone Island Anchorage
Well we found our way to the old Club Nautico anchorage and went in to pay and take showers. We had read and heard that there was a waste treatment plant next to the old club so most yachties went to the modern marina's north of town. At $4 a night it fit our budget and we found that they had made improvements to the waste treatment plant and it was not too offensive and we spent little time at the actual club heading into town most days and coming back at night. Albiet the showers were quite rustic we appreciated them no less. Looking around it it's easy to see that the Old Club Nautico must have been a grand time for many early cruisers. The club dates back the 40's. We found the local buses ran right near and are a deal at 6 pesos (50cents). We could go any place we wanted and as far as we wanted for the same price. The first day on shore we walked around and found the old town square and market. Also the old Catholic church and the Historic areas of the city. Mazatlan gets it name from "Land of the Deer". We were told that the expensive homes built in "Historic District" were remnents of wealthy germans who exploited the gold and silver minning at the turn of the century. This area is charming to walk through with it's narrow streets and interesting architecture. We took several pictures of the dichotomy that you often see in Mexico. One property falling down with 60 year old trees growing up through the old struture and next door a newly renovated home that would run a couple hundred thousand to purchase. We viewed one such home. It looked very modest outside yet inside was a 4,000 sq ft home with water fountains, marble columns, hand laid tile floors with the original hundred year old oak doors. As usual we have had a great time trying to use our limited Spanish and it seems just as much fun for the locals to try their English. So far we have not spent much time on the beach. However yesterday we moved from the old club Nautico in the main harbor and anchored in Stone Harbor just a stones throw south. We walked the beach some and took some staged pictures of us drinking coconuts and laying in the hammocks. Although the hammocks and coconuts are real. We found the famed coconut milk not to our fancy, not horrible just not the sweet coconut flavor we expected. It was very overcast yesterday and a bit chilly so we have been bringing a sweater or equivalent to shore these days. We learned that this beach was some of the original old beach area that was Old Mazatlan. Some of the "Palapas" you see in our pictures date back to the late thirties. Today the sun is back out with only partial overcast so we are off the boat headed for famous "Benji's Pizza" on the beach. It's hard to remember that it's in the dead of winter and almost Chrisrtmas. We plan to stay until Jan 1, and then head south again to Isla Isabella where they have blue footed boobies, that's a bird and the only other place on the planet that they are found is on the Galapogos. There are also iguanas found on Isla Isabella. We plan to only stay there a day or two and then off to a small town on the coast. We should be in Puerto Vallarta by Jan 15 or so. More on Mazitlan later, check out the new pic's. Our e-mail address is cdavidscee@msn.com if you want to drop us a note. Bye for now Dave and Leiann S/V Chrysalis II
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12/18/2011, Still Mazatlan
I wrote some more on the last blog in case anyone is interested....still trying to figure this blogging stuff out. Look for 12/16/2011 and read from there and then look again in a couple days for more updates. I am so busy exploring ports and meeting people and just having fun I can't catch up but I will!!
OK Dave here will try to bring you up to speed. Cabo was a very busy and expensive place, but not all bad. After a week of "hey buddy have I got deal for you" it was time to move on. We had visted many historic and interesting places, rented a car so we were able to get out of touristville and check out nearby San Jose del Cabo (twenty miles to the east). We stoped in del Cabo and walked around the old town areas. That's our M.O., we're not so interested in the new condo's, McDonalds and Walmart. We ate in a little place and I had Mexican chicken soup and Leiann had Mexican pancakes (same as American). We always try to interreact with the locals, say Hola to the children who smile and laugh, vist the market, the old churches, grave yards (These are interesting as they have little houses were the family can come and have a vist with their deceased family member) (AKA Day of the Dead). Well we finally did leave Cabo after being there a week. We were the last of our group (of sailboats traveling together)to leave. Some had gone to Peurto Vallarta some to Mazatlan some to La Paz. We had a good weather window for the crossing yet when we got twenty miles out we hit rough seas and wind right out of the East (the direction we were trying to go). Leiann was down below bracing herself in so that she would not get thrown from one side of the boat to the other. Considering the fact the Leiann had been dealing with sea sickness the whole way and the fact that I wanted her to want to contine to want to cruise, I decided to head back into San Jose del Cabo. So we ended up traveling thirty miles to go twenty over to del Cabo. We came into del Cabo in the dark (it seems we just can't stand to come in the daylight when you can see where you're going). But our GPS Plotter works very well and shows us most of what we need to know coming into a strange port. At del Cabo it is so new that the entire marina does not show up on the GPS. So we just poke along real slow in the dark looking for the Red and Green lights to giuide us in. This can still be spooky because your betting they put lights in the right place and that they are still working. Leiann has to guide us in as I am color blind. I asked her what do you see, she says ROCKS, Ahhhh, what the heck. The opening to the marina was a little off to the west from where they decided to put the lighthouse (go figure Mexacan logic). We stayed at del Cabo a couple of days. Ran into our old friends off "Cricket" and made some new ones. We ate at a little place that predated the marina called Ali's International Place. Ali must be in his 70's and is from a mix of African/Middle east and European decent. He speaks six languages and says no religion or politics in the resturant please. Very interesting fellow who was a chef by trade all his life and has cooked in places all over the world. We had dinner the first night and came back and he made Crepe's for us for breakfast. We walked alot as usual when we go to shore. They had a swim with dolphins training going on so we watch the trainers working for an hour.We headed out accross the Sea of Courtez the next day. The first day we had probably the best sailing we have ever had. Wind pushing us along at 6-7 knots, for you landlubbers thats 8-9 miles an hour. Considering our boats hull speed is 5.25 knots this is unbelievebly fast. The next day we motored all day and got into Mazitlan at 1100 that night, go figure. We were able to find the anchorage without difficullty and throw out the hook and went to bed. The next day we stuck our heads out of the hatch to see where we were (it's always something to wake up in a strange land and not know where the heck your are). Mazatlan harbor is dramatic as rock islands and points tower above the water. We put the dinghy in the water and headed out to explore a new land. Stay tuned more on old Mazatlan later.
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