03/14/2007, Las Hadas, Manzanillo, MX
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03/14/2007, Las Hadas, Manzanillo, MX
Work, Work, Work. A four letter word in the most literal sense. For those who might think that Cruising is all play and no work, let me disabuse you of that notion. There's plenty of play time, of course, but the primary focus of our lives is keeping Hooligan functional and pretty. Which takes work. Labor. Trabajo. And, oh yeah, that reminds me: It's UNPAID WORK. No salary for said labor. No dinero. Bupkus. Ewwwww.
On the other hand. we do get to work on our boats in beautiful places, like our current location, the Las Hadas Hotel and Marina in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico. The above picture shows Hooligan med-moored along side our friends on Endless and Gemini. All three of us decided to come into the marina for a bit of TLC for our boats. While it's not all that difficult to do work while on the hook, the marina gives us access to unlimited fresh water and electricity, which means that our boats, and ourselves, can become the shining examples of the scrubbers art that they once were. With plenty of work, that is. In Hooligans case, it's been nearly two months since we were tied to a dock and she was looking a bit crusty, despite our best efforts.
Since we arrived in the playground of Mexico's elite, not to mention Dudley Moore and Bo Derek(remember "10"?), we've rewired our stern anchor light, washed and waxed the hull and topsides, repaired and reinstalled our Air-X wind generator (yay??"free juice!), polished all of our copious stainless steel, and serviced and polished both our sheet winches and anchor windlass. Sound fun? Well, not exactly, though there's a lot of satisfaction in getting Hooligan to shine again. And when everyone else is working, it's hard not to feel guilty if you've left something undone in favor of heading to town or out to lunch. Also, to be perfectly honest, we don't usually work this hard when we're at anchor. Not enough fresh water or electricity, right? Yeah, that's it. Built-in excuse.
Our friend Diane from Gemini is currently in San Francisco on a bit of business and will be bringing us a care package in the form of a new Autopilot control head to replace our current one that is suffering from some sort of mental disorder. After a bit more labor (are you getting a sense of Theme, here?) we'll be able to get our primary autopilot back on line and our venerable, yet reliable, wheel pilot will be having a well-deserved vacation.
We'll be here in the Manzanillo area for another week or two before beginning the 400 + mile trek North to the Sea of Cortez, where Hooligan will spend the summer. At our usual lethargic rate of travel, we'll probably get there sometime in September.
If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work. I hate those four-letter-words.
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03/11/2007, Las Hadas, Manzanillo, MX
Where the heck have you been?
Well, that's a long story. We've been poking along at our usual lethargic pace, enjoying the Mexican Riviera. We left Punta Mita, on the North West side of Banderas Bay on January 26, bound for Chamela, 90 miles South. We left in the late afternoon as the best time for rounding Cabo Corrientes(Cape of Currents) is alleged to be in the wee hours after midnight. We had very benign sailing weather. After sailing for the first three hours, we lost our wind and began motorsailing. We rounded the Corrientes, five miles off shore, and made our turn to the Southeast. As is usual, all of the action occurred on one of my watches. We were almost hit by a northbound ketch-rigged vessel displaying no navigation lights. Ok, that was exciting, in a wet-my-freaking-panties kind of way. This was directly off Corrientes, while Paula slept below. Then at 0400, we were overtaken by a brightly lit freighter who ignored my radio calls and passed less than two hundred feet in front of Hooligan without ever acknowledging our presence. Again, Paula was asleep throughout, though my shouted profanity had her rubbing her eyes in the companionway and asking if everything was OK. We regained our wind with sunrise and had a nice romp into Bahia Chamela. We spent the first night anchored off the North side of Isla Colorado but the anchorage, which seemed benign during the day with the Westerly breeze keeping our bow into the swell, became a hold-onto-the-mattress-honey roller when the wind died in the middle of the night. Early the next morning, we moved Hooligan to the Northern anchorage off the fishing village of Perula, where we spent the next two weeks. The reason we spent so much time there was to wait for our friends on Gemini and Endless to make their way south from La Paz and Mazatlan, respectively. It was a bonus that we enjoyed Chamela so much that it made the delay a real pleasure.
We left Chamela for Careyes an hour or so behind Endless on February 9. It's only ten miles down the coast from Chamela and we were there before we knew it. We dropped anchor next to Endless in front of the old Club Med, now defunct and being reclaimed by the jungle, but couldn't get our stern anchor to bite despite two attempts. After diving the area to see what the bottom looked like (coral and coral rubble), we threw in the towel and go under way again, this time for Tenacatita, another 18 miles SE. We arrived in late afternoon and anchored off "The Aquarium". A beautiful beach lined with Palapa restaurants and a few shops, the Aquarium is renowned for great snorkeling. Why that is so is beyond me as the water clarity was less than stellar during the few days we stayed there. On the 12th, we moved Hooligan further into Tenacatita bay to the main cruiser anchorage off the Blue Bay hotel. This anchorage is so popular that many cruisers spent the entire winter anchored off the lovely, palm lined beach. There's a "mayor" of the anchorage and there's a lot of organized activities like dominos under the palapa and bocce ball, just perfect for the boating geezer who likes to be told what to do. We tried to ignore the summer-camp-for-the-aged atmosphere and just enjoy the area. But in the end we spent only a week there before leaving for Barra de Navidad.
Barra de Navidad is another one of those cruiser hangouts that suck people in with convenient shopping and restaurants, an atrociously expensive Marina and Hotel (the Grand Bay), and a very flat anchorage in the shallow lagoon in back of the town. There's even an ersatz French baker who delivers baguettes and pastries to the anchorage via panga every morning. We dined out in town a few times and spent a very enjoyable Happy Hour in the main bay at the Grand Bay Hotel, after sneaking long showers in the Marina restrooms that are supposed to be reserved for Marina residents.
On February 23, we moved Hooligan out of the lagoon to the town of Melaque for a change of scenery and to clean the bottom of the green slime that Barra Lagoon had left on her hull. After a very rolly night, we decided to move another 20 miles SE to Manzanillo bay. After an uneventful motorsail, we arrived in the lovely Endenada de Carrizal, a fjord-like anchorage on the Western edge of Bahia Manzanillo. After setting a stern hook to keep our bow into the Southerly swell, we spent a very enjoyable two days snorkeling and spearfishing, as well as thoroughly cleaning hooligan from top to bottom. It's just amazing how much dirt and detritus two adults and two dogs can generate on a 43 foot boat. Disgusting and amazing. After the second night of complete privacy, we were ready for a little company so we moved Hooligan to Bahia Santiago and anchored next to Gemini just off yet another beautiful, palapa-lined beach. There's easy bus access into Manzanillo as well as a very friendly hotel that serves a fantastic cheeseburger. What more could anyone ask for?
We spent 6 days in Bahia Santiago and had a wonderful time. This morning, after the customary dog walk/poop on the beach, we pulled up the anchor for the hour long trip into Manzanillo bay , where we anchored in front the the Las Hadas hotel, where the movie "10", with Bo Derek and Dudley Moore was filmed back in the late 70's. Very plush, very posh, very expensive. We're thinking of putting Hooligan into the marina for a few days of freshwater washdowns for her and the plushies. We'll go shore after lunch to discuss arrangements with the manager.
So that brings us up to date. I'm sorry if anyone was alarmed that we were out of touch for so long but internet connections are few and far between on this section of coast. We're still happy and healthy and working and playing hard. We'll probably be in this area for a few more weeks before beginning the long trek up into the Sea of Cortez for the summer. Please e-mail us or leave comments on the blog as we've missed being in touch and would love to hear from all our family and friends.
Salud!
PS??"It's now two days later and we're med-moored inside Las Hadas Marina, stern into the dock and our bow tied to a loop of heavy line attached to an underwater mooring. We've never done this before and were surprised how easy it was to get the boat in place. Endless, Gemini and ourselves all came in at the same time and made it simple to do with all of us helping the other boats. We've given Nigel and Maggie the first fresh water baths they've had in almost two months and, for a change, they smell soft and sweet. We're not stinting ourselves either. On a shopping trip into town, we bought inexpensive white towels so that we can use the expansive pool facilities, which include a water slide and swim-up bar. The drinks are expensive but the setting makes it worth while.
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