Sailing on Starshine

Vessel Name: Starshine
Vessel Make/Model: Outbound 44
Hailing Port: San Francisco, CA
Crew: Pat and Melodie Williams
About: We have been "working the plan" since 2004 when Pat began taking sailing lessons. That lead to a few sailing vacations on sailboats. Melodie took some classes too. We purchased our boat in 2011.
27 February 2019 | Alameda California
26 February 2019 | Mazatlan to San Francisco
26 February 2019 | Mazatlan Sinaloa Mexico
01 May 2018 | El Cid - Mazatlan
09 April 2018 | Marina Mazatlan
07 March 2018 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
23 January 2018 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
04 December 2017 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
24 October 2017 | Oakland, CA
04 September 2017 | South Lake Tahoe CA
04 September 2017 | Culver OR
04 September 2017 | Culver OR
04 September 2017 | Redmond Oregon
17 July 2017 | Polson Montana
31 May 2017 | Our new Camper in Ira Texas
04 May 2017 | Nuevo Vallarta, Riviera Nayarit Mexico
04 April 2017 | La Cruz Anchorage
12 March 2017 | Chamela Bay
12 March 2017 | Tenicatita Bay
18 February 2017 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
Recent Blog Posts
27 February 2019 | Alameda California

Goodbye Starshine

Melodie and I have accepted an offer on Starshine. We close escrow on March 8, 2019.

26 February 2019 | Mazatlan to San Francisco

The Baja Bash

Preparing for the Baja Bash (the trip north from Mexico to California). They call it “The Bash” because the prevailing winds and waves are from the northwest. So you are basically going uphill (if that makes any sense).

26 February 2019 | Mazatlan Sinaloa Mexico

Summer 2018

As many of you who have followed our blog over the last four years you’ll note that I have not given it any attention since last spring. So let me fill in the blanks.

01 May 2018 | El Cid - Mazatlan

Marina El Cid - Mazatlan

Today is Tuesday May 1, 2018.

09 April 2018 | Marina Mazatlan

Marina Mazatlan

Today is Monday April 9, 2018.

07 March 2018 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

Leaving Banderas Bay

Today is Wednesday March 7, 2018.

Leaving Banderas Bay

07 March 2018 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
Pat and Melodie
Today is Wednesday March 7, 2018.

Once again I’ve been neglecting our blog. I gave this some thought the other day. I think it’s because we aren’t doing anything special. Well, it doesn’t seem special to us because we have been hanging out in Banderas Bay for a while. But, keep in mind this is a big vacation destination and just being here is quite special. We are very blessed to be saying that such a pleasant area and living here is just “ordinary”. We haven’t been moving around much or doing anything out of the ordinary. We’ve been getting together with friends. We watch movies in the evening. There are many good restaurants nearby, and they are very inexpensive for great food. Keep in mind it just takes longer to do your daily activities here. For instance going grocery shopping can be an all-day event. I’ve been reading quite a bit. I recently found a series written by Stephen King called the Dark Tower. It’s a series of books he wrote over a number of years. What I find interesting is he incorporates other books, such as The Stand and Salem’s Lot into the narrative. They aren’t short books either. Like The Stand, several of them are in the 1500 page category.

Weather here on Banderas Bay has been wonderful. The temperatures in the low 80’s without any rain. The wind usually picks up in the afternoon to cool things down a bit and make it very nice.
We have seen a few sea turtles swimming in the marina. There are many more things to see in the anchorage, but we’ve been in the marina as of late. Some of the sunsets and rises are spectacular. Occasionally some dolphin will swim through the anchorage. When we were anchored we saw many whales and mothers with their babies. Whales would often swim right through the anchorage. The baby whales would usually be breaching up into the air with their moms alongside. Every day you could see whales spouting in the bay. One morning we heard what we thought was a bird landing close to the boat, but much louder than usual. When pelicans or other birds dive for fish their splash sounds pretty loud from inside the boat. We heard a noise and ran up into the cockpit to look. The sun had just come up and we saw there was movement in the water, it was very turbulent. Then I saw a whale surface less than a boat length from our boat! We have been saying we were “kissed by a whale”.

While at anchor we were being serenaded by whales. At night and the early morning we could hear whale songs from inside the boat. It was very peaceful to be lying in bed and night and being lulled back to sleep by the whale sounds. There was usually lower pitched sounds alternating with higher pitched ones. Perhaps a mom teaching her baby how to sing. Sometimes we could hear them during the day if it was quiet. Melodie even dug out her stethoscope to put on the hull. You don’t need iTunes when you have whales.

The bioluminescence was amazing one week. One night we were making our way to the boat via our dingy. It was as if bright blue lights were shining into the water where there was any turbulence. It was also fun to throw a bucket of water overboard at night just to see the brilliant blue glow.

The race boats from the San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race have been arriving. The trimaran Mighty Merlot is docked near us. It is very large and mighty looking.

We go to the Sunday Market here in La Cruz. We’ve learned to get there early, before 10:00 o’clock and all the Canadians show up. The walkways between the vendor booths are only wide enough for four people. A row on each side can browse the merchandise, but the center is for coming and going. Many of the tourists stop in the middle to look and it causes a traffic jam because after 10:00 the place is packed. Melodie enjoys a large glass of fresh squeezed orange juice and I usually get a tamale or two.

We got our taxes done. One of the things that cruisers do for one another is they announce when they are headed back to the US or Canada and they will hand carry stamped mail for you. This is how we’ve done our taxes the last 3 years. You can file electronically, but your signature on a piece of paper is still required. Getting repair parts is done in a similar manner, but in the opposite direction. It’s just that people who bring stuff are usually friends or acquaintances. There aren’t generally people willing to haul stuff down from the US for anonymous neighbors. BTW, these would be electronics or specialty boat parts, not generic brown bags of white powder or dried leafy greens. Melodie did have some good quality spices brought down. It’s actually hard to get good spices here.

The photo was taken during the Friday evening Mexican Train that’s hosted at the Poolside Deli here at the La Cruz Marina. It’s a chance to meet new people and pass the time with a fun game. There are several variations of the rules and they are often referred to by where they originate: La Paz Rules, Tenicatita Rules, etc. They serve Margarita’s but lately they’ve been blue. I think she’s using blue Gatorade, but that’s just a guess.

So why the short blog entry? Can you imagine writing a blog that detailed your daily life when you were just kind of living it? Maybe our next entry will contain something more exciting.

We think we will make our way to Mazatlán tomorrow. It’s 175 NM from La Cruz to Mazatlán and should take us between 24-30 hours. There are four other boats headed that way as well.

Tomorrow is also our 31st Wedding Anniversary!
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