Spinnaker Flying

At the start of leg three of the Ha Ha there was great wind at the very early morning start time of 8am. I was barely awake and I know I had not had a cup of coffee when Rog called for the spinnaker crew to get on deck. Drats, we were not going to ease into the day as I had hoped. We did get the chute up and flying full when Proligate crossed our bow. This picture was in Latitude 38 but the boat was identified as La Palapa not Di's Dream. I am here to tell you that it was Di's Dream flying the palm tree spinnaker, I watched her for too many miles not to recognize my own sail.

The sky looks very threatening but in fact we were all in shirt sleeves and very comfortable. We did keep the sail up until mid afternoon when the wind picked up and it was no longer a ladies leisurely sail. The Nobletech recorded momentary boat speeds of 14 knts--hang on to your hats it could get ugly. Rog got the evil eye from me and the sail promptly came down. Marilyn and I became very proficient at handling the spinnaker lines.

Changes in Latitudes

Mexico??? I thought it was suppose to be sunny and warm there!! Larry will certainly argue the warm part.

Jay lives in Puerto Vallarta so wearing foul weather gear is not normal for him. Hopefully the hot coffee helped.

The weather was slightly overcast in San Diego but Jay was in shirt sleeves and shorts never the less. Later that day the team would leave for Long Beach with nice seas. It was an overnight passage that started around 3pm and ended with an arrival in Long Beach at 6am.

The sun was coming up as they arrived at the Long Beach Yacht Club. Larry was getting off here so we were down to a crew of three bringing the boat the rest of the way home.

Rob arrived at the docks at the same time as the boat with Starbucks for all. I think he was there to collect all the fishing gear we had on the boat. It had brought us great luck during the trip.

Travel in the shipping channel can always be challenging so AIS was always on.

Long Beach was not a port for leisure, there was more food needed, laundry to be washed and a visit to Grandmother Mary. Time was a consideration, weather was changing rapidly in the Santa Barbara Channel and up in the Bay area. I had seen a forecast calling for 14 to 19ft seas on Sat afternoon. Time to get the boat moving to Santa Barbara and Pt Conception.

The overnight trip to Santa Barbara was motoring with the wind on the nose. They got into SB around 8am for a quick refuel and breakfast to go. The weather was not going to wait for long. Between SB and Pt Conception there was 20 to 25knts of wind, moderate waves and sunny skies. They passed within a couple of miles off the point and by evening the swells had laid down a great deal.

The trip from Pt Conception to Monterey was uneventful. In fact the boat was making over 7knts and Rog called me around noon to say they were close to Monterey Bay and could be under the Golden Gate by midnight. Spoke to Soon!! The ugly, lumpy, rainy weather that I had been predicting since he arrived in Long Beach had finally hit. Seas were from all directions, wind never clocked around to the west or south, and it made for very slow going. I tried to wait up to see him arrive via the Sausalito video cam but gave up just short of midnight. Good thing because he did not get to the Gate until 4am and into our slip until 6am.

The seas do not look too terrible yet but that would soon change.

It even started to rain to add insult to injury!! Lets just hope it rinses off some of the saltwater spray. There were six to eight foot seas with three feet of wind chop on top--not fun!!! I hope Rog can make it home before it gets any worse.

Looking back towards the south Rog can only remember the warm waters and beautiful sunny skies that we enjoyed every day down in Mexico. We met many new friends, had great adventures and would love to return soon.

Red Sky at Night

You have heard many a tall tale from Mexico but Rog assures me that this one is true. After a brief stop in Bahia Santa Maria to transfer fuel from the jerry cans to the main tanks the team took off for San Juanico where they were met by local pongas not long after the anchor went down. Yes, the fishermen had lobster to sell. The price??? A mere 100 pesoes would get them 4 lobsters and after you convert that to dollars it came to $2.00 US dollars each! Jay was the official photographer for the trip, Andy played chef, Larry was head mechanic and Rog was the Captain and trimmer. My feelings are a bit hurt though because Rog keeps raving about the meals Andy prepared for the group.


After three days at anchor in Turtle Bay the guys headed back out. That first night as they cleared Cedroes they enjoyed this beautiful sunset. Red sky at night did indeed become a sailor's delight.

Rog found this ponga to be most interesting. Check out the wheels used to pull it up on the beach. Really!!!

almost home

I got a call from Rog around noon today and he was just south of Monterey. The seas were a bit confused but very manageable, winds not very strong. From his last calculations he would be passing under the Golden Gate around midnight tonight and in the slip by 2am. I won't be waiting up for him but I will be keeping a light on.

Rough Seas

I was able to reach Rog this morning as he was coming into Santa Barbara Harbor around 8am. The plan was to take on all the fuel possible, not more than the 155 gals in fuel tanks and jerry cans we know we have on board. As you may recall we needed 160 gals of fuel to fill up in Turtle Bay. A nice hot breakfast may be on the schedule too!! Then it is back out to sea before the next storm hits the coast.

The seas will be 6 to 8 ft over the next 24 hours but they will be 14 secs apart, so the ride will be ok. What is lurking out there if they do not get here by Sat mid day are 14 to 19ft seas!! Now that would not be comfortable. With that in mind Rog is trying to make 7 knts coming up the coast into fairly strong winds and lumpy seas around mid day Friday. I will update again tomorrow to let you know how the progress is coming

San Diego

The good news is that the boat is at the San Diego Yacht Club. Hopefully she will get a quick rinse before the guys head back out on the water. Everyone had a great nights sleep, no rocking or halyard slapping. Warm showers for all!!! Maybe even a hot meal!! I have no idea of what is still on the boat in the way of provisions but they did pick up fresh produce in Turtle Bay before they left.

The plan is to head to Long Beach for one night. We need to return all the fishing rods that Rob had brought down over the holidays. Don't think there was any fishing coming up the coast, at least none that I heard of.

I had thought there would be a break in the weather around Thurs and the guys could head on north but, I am not sure that is the case anymore. I will keep everyone posted

Anchor is down

I got a call from Rog Sunday afternoon around 4pm his time. Anchor was down in Turtle Bay and all were safe and sound. The boat was running short on fuel so they were really glad to be safely at anchorage. When I spoke with him this morning, Monday, he had just finished taking on 160 gals of fuel --I didn't realize that we could hold that much but all the jerry cans were empty as well as the port tank.

According to Buoy Weather it is going to be a bit nasty for the next few day so I think they will be staying put. I will keep you posted

Lucky Try

I had not heard from Rog since he left Bahia Santa Maria on Friday noon. I had expected him to drop anchor on Sat around noon so when I didn't hear from him I guessed that he decided to head straight to Turtle Bay. Part right, part wrong!! Friday night he got the winds that I had predicted for Sat afternoon, 35knts on the nose. He slogged through that until he arrived at San Juanico. There he met up with the sailing vessel Ruby again who had been monitoring the ssb and was all set to head back out to sea. After a brief 4 hour rest the guys pulled anchor and took off once more for Turtle.

When I awoke this morning there was a text message on my cell from Rog saying that they were underway. Not knowing when the message was sent I tried to call around 7am. Reached him on the second ring!! still ten hours out of Turtle Bay but in very calm conditions. They should be in the bay around 5pm which will make it too late to get fuel. The bigger problem is that the weather is closing out around Cedros late Monday thru Wed and he will not be able to get north of that in time. Sooooo----he will be sitting in Turtle Bay until sometime Thurs. He may even get a bit of rain which would be a good thing to wash the boat. Last time I saw her she was covered in sea salt and needed a good wash down.

I am driving to SF today and will let everyone know later that the gang is safely in Turtle

On the road again

The title is not entirely correct. Rog is on the water again and I am finally home in Bakersfield. Di's Dream left Cabo very early on Thurs, before 3am, for Bahia Santa Maria with Rog, Jay, Andy, and Larry onboard. They did not leave until after great discussion about the weather and sea conditions, it wasn't looking like an easy trip. I am very happy report that Rog did call this morning 8:30 am our time to say that they have arrived in Bahia in good shape. The passage was better than predicted so now they are relying on me for the weather going forward. I spent the better part of yesterday and early this morning going over all the various weather forecasting websites. They all agree, don't be at sea Sat afternoon!! Find a anchorage, put down two anchors and hold on. The winds will be over 20knts out of the west north west and the seas will be around 9ft out of the same directions. Sunday looks great, 2 to 3 knts of wind and 3 ft seas.

So here is the plan as I think it stands. The boat will leave early afternoon Friday the 13th and head to San Martin which is just 90 miles north. Sometime early on the 14th they will head back out again to Turtle Bay to arrive before Tues am. The waves are building Tues so the guys want to be tucked in somewhere safe and calm. There is a small concern about fuel as when they topped off in Cabo the boat really did not top off. The starboard tank ran dry last night less than 24 hrs out of Cabo. Not Good. We are short at least 15 gals and in bad seas that is not a good thing.

It is amazing that I can get weather information to Rog in Bahia, remember it is a very Small fishing village that we visited on the way south this fall. Cell phones and cell towers have made the trip up and down the Baja Coast much safer for boaters. Other than during the Ha Ha there are few boats in the anchorage other than pongas belonging to the local fisherman so don't be fooled by the last picture that shows a hundred boats. Eric and Marilyn from Full Shell was gracious and climbed high above the beach to take these pictures for us. Thanks guys, still miss you both on our boat.

Hangin on the hook

Cabin fever may set in here in Cabo. We arrived exactly 48 hrs after leaving PV, anchor down at 12:30pm on Monday and margarita onshore by 1:00. It was probably closer to 3 before we had margaritas due to necessary check ins and laundry deposit. We had gotten very wet in the cockpit over the last 24 hrs of our passage, actually the crew is saying that it was just Roger that acted as a sponge!

We are sitting in Cabo at anchorage with Ruby on Tues. They are also planning a northward passage to SF so we could have company on the bash. John from Ruby greeted us yesterday with the current weather forecast from Don on Summer Passage. Don is the west coast weather guru and he says to stay put in Cabo for the immediate foreseeable future and possibly until early next week. We have spent hours here on the boat checking all our weather forecast and they all concur. I will still be flying home Wed regardless of wind and waves, sorry guys.

That leaves the guys with plenty of time to critique the boats anchored close by. Their favorite is the 32' Grand Banks with a schooner rig and extended back deck. The back deck serves two purposes, one is a great sun deck for the two large dogs on board and the second is a contact point for the back stay.



The first picture could have been trick photography or another boat anchored in just the right position so a second picture is required. That really is a schooner rigged Grand Banks!!

On the other hand we do get to look rather longingly at Fighting Irish anchored on the other side of us. If only she had been named Fight On instead. Go Trojans!!!

Time to come home

We got up this morning confident that we had two more days here in Paradise. Teapot Tony was scheduled to change the oil and filters around 9am, all the laundry was being done, one last massage was planned for Di and our crew was returning from a land trip to see Monarch butterflies. Maybe the weather should be checked just to make sure everything looks good.

Wow, Saturday is definately the day to leave! We need to hurry things along a bit. Can't read anymore books, Saturday night cocktails need to be changed to Friday, the Jungle Ride needs to be scrapped entirely and today will be our last day at the beach. How does the song go "I don't want to go home," well we are certainly singing that tune today. Today will be our last full day before we start the bash north. So long Paridise, so long new friends and old. We will be back

More blogs will follow Rog while he is coming up the coast, Di is flying out of Cabo on Thursday.

The good, the bad, the ugly

I promised more pictures of Bara Navidad so Rog just had to take me back!! The marina has gotten very expensive since we last visited so we were limited to just a one day stay. Slip fees run $2.50 a foot per day, Paradise Village runs $.60 a foot. If you stay at Bara eleven days the rest of the month is free so you can hardly afford not to stay for an entire month. Everything in Mexico is "almost free."

View of the marina in Bara, the larger boats are at the top of the picture. There were several boats over 100 feet.

The reception area for the hotel is on the fourth floor for obvious reasons, the view is incredible.

Looking down on the pool is good too. It looks like a cool day in Bara but believe me it is 85 degrees with 95% humidity.

We ate dinner outside under a beautiful sky. Temperature had dropped down a bit so I had to borrow a wrap to keep warm.

I am not really saying that Las Hadas is at the bad end of the spectrum, it is just a much older resort. The marina was the first one built on the west coast of Mexico and it has med mooring!! We decided against going into the marina, there was a beautiful breeze blowing in the anchorage and the view as just spectacular

Judy and I investigated the entire hotel looking for either Dudley Moore, Julie Andrews or better yet Bo Derrick. Sad to say they were not in residence!

The furnishings were very simple but clean.

The gardens were lush and very well manicured. You can tell I was very happy there!

We had sailed down to Santiago Bay with Steve and Gary on Sea Biscuit and Ken and Judy on Finale.

The pool was the best Las Hadas had to offer! Beautiful and warm
The Marina definitely left something to be desired! I am not crazy about med tying and the local pongas raced around trying to kick up waves. However, the harbor master was nowhere to be found and paying for slips was a very loose thing.

As we left Bara we almost litterly ran into some very good friends, Tad and Judy on their 74ft Stevens. It is a beautiful boat that they had recently purchased up in the San Francisco area so we anchored right in front of her when we returned to Tenacatita Tuesday. Boaters are always trying to find a way to visit friends boats and we are no exception. Tad invited us over for a tour and a bbq!! What fun, definitely in the good category.

Roger is always saying that there is a horse for every saddle, well know I know he is right. We were pulling into the anchorage in Chemela when we spotted this boat. Even in the eyes of the beholder it is beyond unique! If you look closely you will see the camper shell top above the aft cabin. In a hail storm one might be un-nerved by the sound!!

Heading into an anchorage

I have heard from many of our friends that they love all the pictures so I am going to give you the feeling of heading into a strange anchorage just a Rog and I experience it. Unfortunately you can not hear the discussions that are taking place--are you sure this is the right bay??? The chart plotter isn't matching up!!! Chartplotter shows us anchored 3 miles ashore!!! Di, take the boat into 20 ft of water and head up into the wind. No--that is not where I want the boat--too close to other boats-- too close to shore--- no no no!! Anchor is down just where Rog requested but not necessarily where I want it. He has never been wrong yet so I will have to go with it.


So here we are, going into Manzanillo Bay, about two miles out. We will be going around the second headland to set anchor in Santiago Bay which is inside Manzanillo Bay. Make sense

We are beginning to make out a bit of civilization so we must be headed in the right direction. We need to keep the rocks 25 meters to port to miss submerged rocks. As usual, Rog and I disagree on how close 25 meters appears--I want to be at least a mile off!!! Just in case but why go that far off course.

We can see a bit more but still not sure exactly where we are going. I think we will be heading 30 degrees to port soon

There it is --Santiago and what a beautiful spot to anchor. Rog and I should have plenty of room to swing. Just need to head in to shore.

Palapas!!! Never fear we will be able to eat. You can tell I did not have Rog drop anchor quite as close to shore as he would have liked but what you can not see is the shore just off our starboard side. It is close enough!

We have made great friends with Steve on this beautiful Slookum 43. With any luck she will be returning to the bay area for us to sell.

Next closest boat in the anchorage is a steel hull boat built down in New Zealand. Ken and Judy have been our cruising buddies since the day we arrived in Tenacatita Jun 3rd. Lots of fun and another beautiful boat we hope to sell.

We go ashore for a road trip and where do we find ourselves--Tiburon! I think we will be able to tell the cab where to bring us back to after a day of exploring Manzanillo

This residential development in Santiago Bay is really nice. Best looking streets we have seen in quite awhile

We were off the boats by 10 am and did not return until dusk. We met two wonderful Mexican builders who showed us the town and the condos they are selling for 150,000 US dollars. That is a story for another day.

Tomorrow we move the boat to Las Hadas

Day trip to Bara de Navidad

Bara de Navidad, aka Bara, is just a short two hour trip from Tenacatita so we decided to motor over early in the morning to get fuel and beer. I also wanted to use the Internet so I could keep everyone posted on our adventures so off we go.





Just past the jetty entranced on the right hand side there is the most beautiful hotel called Grand Bay Hotel at Isla Grande. My pictures do not do it justice at all. Yes the marina entrance looks a little tricky with all the mega yachts at the entrance.





On the left side is the little town of Bara with so many colorful restaurants and shops.

Color everywhere you look in Bara

It is a little tricky getting into the fuel dock when there is a 125ft motor yacht like Fighting Irish temporally moored since the marina at grand bay is full. Rog was able to bring our boat into the dock after sitting peacefully at anchorage for two weeks. Just like riding a horse there are some things you never forget how to do We were surprised to learn that there was a tax for using the fuel dock and a credit card fee added to the price of the fuel. All said, we still got away for around $2.70 a gallon. After running the genset several hours daily since PV it only cost us $28 US, Far less than the cost of adding solar panels.

After lunch at Fortino’s we decided a walk around the town of Bara was in order. Thrifty Ice Cream—of if only was back to the old days before Rite Aid bought us out. We had to have a cone and yes the ice cream was just like home.

Mexico has Thrifty Ice Cream stores all over!

Sand’s is a local hotel that welcomes the cruisers. We are allowed to tie our dinghies to their sea wall and come ashore to enjoy the pool and bar. I may bring my computer back later to use the wifi connection, only $2 per day.

After a little too much play time we have decided to stay anchored in the lagoon tonight. The tide has gone out and there are some real low spots to navigate. We have heard too many horror stories to even try. Also we need to experience the French Baker delivering fresh breads to our boat first thing in the morning. Maybe two nights here sound even better.