Land trip

Roger outdid himself this year for Valentines, he knew what I needed after six weeks on the boat was a little pool time and an unlimited shower. So on Feb. 13 he checked us into the Gran Bay Hotel in Bara de Navidad. This is the beautiful resort as you enter the lagoon that has mega yachts in the marina, yoga on the beach, freshly rolled cigars for the gentlemen and gardens that anyone would love. It is so lush and everything grows, no green thumb problems on this premise.

The pool is actually three levels with slides connecting them which was great fen for Rog. He finally was able to maneuver all three in a row without spilling a drop of his margarita, it took a lot of practice and more than one margarita! I found sitting by the pool even though the sun never really came out more to my liking. I did stray from the lounge long enough to enjoy water aerobics and yoga on the beach. Yes there was something for everyone but we kept Rog off the tennis courts.

The marina is not very full but the Mexican idea is to charge more for a slip the fewer boats so the price is quite high. Rog was telling me they want $2.70 a foot per night. Add to that taxes and electricity and you can understand why we left the boat in the lagoon. However the biggest drawback is the water, you can not make water in the dirty water and you wouldn't drink the water on the docks. Tanks have to be full when you bring the boat in.

My big treat was dinner at Antonio's on Valentines and it was fabulous. It was a five course meal with a main course of lobster in a vanilla sauce. The table was set with fine china and they had roses sprinkled over the table. There was even candles, how romantic!

We are back on the boat now over in Tenacatita. We are expecting Laurie and Jay Ailworth today to come down to stay with us for a few days. We will be heading back to PV early next week. The generator is acting a bit wonky so power may become a problem for us. It has been working well until now but cruising is all about fixing the boat in exotic anchorages.

Spoke too soon

Saturday was a beautiful day in Tenacatita, sun was out and it was heating up nicely. Sunday the weather turned overcast and cool again so now it is Monday and we have high clouds that hide the sunshine we are craving. Temperture ranges between 70 and 80 so we shouldn't complain too much. Water in the pool has dropped considerably though, it was 78 degrees when we can in January and now the water is only 70! Water play is down to a minimum, Rog has only dove the bottom once this week.

The first picture was taken looking south towards La Manzanilla where we go by dingy at least once a week to get fresh produce. Additionally there is a truly amazing meat/fish/cheese market run by a Canadian. I bought his humus last week for the community raft up and there was non left so I will repeat that purchase this week. The second picture is looking north towards the beach at Tenacatita and you will see a bit more blue sky. The fleet here in the bay hopes the blue sky prevails so the girls can have a great swim to shore before the afternoon games begin. I think it is Mexican train today.

As you remember, last year I was always posting stories about Rog fixing something on the boat. This year it has all about fixing Rog! Between his back acting up the entire month of November and his sprained ankle that kept him off his feet for two months he has not had time to address the boat. Now he is feeling great and ready to tackle projects like straightening his work bench, cleaning and polishing of our stainless rails, the bilge needs a bit of attention and most important check the safety of our hammock. We have guests coming and we don't want that to suddenly collapse.

Sunshine again!

Saturday morning and we have sunshine! It has been more than a week of clouds and light rain so we are ready for what today promises including a leisurely swim to the beach. We are anchored next to our friends Linda and Orlando on Cuba Libre 3 which should bring lively political discussions and boat ideas. Orlando is sporting great solar lights on his lifelines which really illuminates his boat when at anchorage. He stores them when he is under way.

Internet is very slow here in Tenacatita so my blogs will be a bit shorter than usual but I will try again later today. I need to upload more pictures from my camera and have to wait until Rog turns on the inverter. We are having a bit of a problem with the generator so we are keeping our power useage to a minimum for now.

RAIN? WHAT?

The proverbial weatherman exists even down here in Tenacatita and was predicting rain for the better part of a week. Unlike what is going on in California we have actually had rain now for five straight days. It was heaviest over the weekend but rain just the same. This caused a slight change in our plans but cruisers have learned to be ever flexible because of weather conditions. We would not be dropping the dingy in the water to run over to La Manzanillo for market day. Di sat around and worked on the taxes for the better part of Saturday and then insisted Rog turn on the inverter Sunday for a day of chick flicks.

With the rain and the humidity a couple of the doors had swelled and would no longer close. So out came the cutting tools and in short order after a little attention they all fit. After all his hard work on a dark and dank rainy day Rog was rewarded with popcorn and beer. Best of all our anchor held through the strongs gusts that accompanied the rain. Several other boats could not say that.

P

During a break in the rain we left Tenacatita Sunday morning for a quick trip to Bara de Navidad. Rog had arranged a two day escape from the boat to the magnificant Grand Bay Hotel for extra hot water and pool time. Valentines Day was not going to escape his attention this year.

With a break in the rain we went ashore for cocktails at sunset with friends Eric, Marilyn, Jim, Diane, Dennis and Pamila. The margaritas were strong, the views spectacular and sunset outstanding.

I will report on the Grand Bay hotel in my next blog

A week in Santiago

We started last week with the expectation of a SF 49er win but as we all know that was not to be. Rog had found a spot at the Oasis Beach Club and a fan of the Giants to watch the game. He was very happy and Rog was deeply saddened. Not sure who he will be rooting for on Supper Bowl Sunday but he has his spot all picked out as well as well as is lottery number.

As you can see we are in a beautiful anchorage in Manzanillo Bay. Santiago is a small community of upscale homes occupied primarily by Canadians down for a six month vacation. Right now there are at least 15 boats in the anchorage with half heading further south and the other group heading back to the Sea of Cortez for the spring. We are in the last group, heading back to Banderas Bay around the first of March. In the meantime I come ashore every morning so that I can walk the beach for a bit of exercise. Only problem, the beach is four miles long!

Many cruisers get their daily weather updates from Stan at Solmate Santiago. He either posts online or sends emails concerning whatever area interests you, currently we are receiving the Cabo Corrientes south info. Last Wednesday Stan had a party for all the cruisers in the local area. It was wonderful to meet new friends and see old ones. New friends include Katie and Phil on Avalon and Pamela and Dennis on Mind Magic. Both boats will heading north once they leave Santiagoso we should get to spend more time with both.

After a wonderful afternoon Stan suggested an outing to La k'melia which is an amazing comedy club and jazz bar. He had warned us that the beers were costly for Mexico, $3.50 each, music very load, we couldn't talk once the band started, and there was course after course of food brought to the table. No charge for all the food! Really.

Rog is learning to navigate on our new MacBook and there is no better spot than on the beach. He has been researching the MacEnc program to try and figure out how we change our entire boat from a PC base to a Mac. We will need new connection cables for the Gps, new software and more charts. Since Oasis has wifi it is going to take a lot of time on the beach to get this done.

The staff is young and energetic at the Oasis, always willing to pull our dingy up on the beach or help us get out past the waves.

Saturday is market day in Santiago and you will find everything you need there. The best is the DVDs that are four for $100 pesos! This day I found a little car for Nicholas, Rog found an inner tube for the dingy wheel and we both decided on some great fresh veggies .

Every morning we wake up to a commotion behind the boat that means the bait fish are in a frenzy feeding on the surface. This goes on for quite some time. The pelicans love feeding on the bait and the water in teaming with larger as well. We see the locals fishing from the shore with great success.

So today will be another beautiful day here in Santiago Bay. We will probably spend it at the Oasis since Tuesday is two for one all day long and they have a fun band playing. We will check in with our friends to check out the weather back home, I am sure it is a lovely there as it is here

La Manzanillo with friends

When we were anchored in Tenacatita last week with our friends Jay and Kat we decided a quick trip over to La Manzanillo was necessary and by quick we meant by dingy. The water was flat, conditions were great for a full throttle adventure. We went over before ten so we could have a nice breakfast before heading to see the crocks.

They have installed new fencing around the crocks to keep them safe from all the visitors. They have even built a suspension walkway so that they can charge one dollar for the pleasure of seeing these huge animals way too up close and personal. Kat went up into the tree house at the end of the walk so she could take better pictures but only found us within photo range.

Jay and Rog were having a great time pretending to be the big hunters on safari, as long as they were behind the right side of the fence.

This sign says it all. No swimming, goes without saying, no feeding, we saw several people throwing fish parts to the crocks and no small pets inside the fences.

I was not very crazy about the swinging bridge but I crossed it anyway and once you went over then you had no choice but to return the same way.

It is always wonderful to visit the local church in these small villages and the one in La Manzanillo was truly beautiful. The outside had been repainted since the last time we visited and the entire square looked spruced up. The inside of the church was even more amazing than the outside. It is one of the most beautiful churches I have seen in Mexico

Bara de Navidad

On our last trip home Roger decided I needed a new laptop computer and offered to take me by Best Buy as we headed out of Bakersfield. I knew we were headed to Carmel where there was an Apple store very close to where we were staying and that was where I wanted to shop. Why not have all our electronics match? So a new Mac laptop it was.

So now I had to sit at a coffee shop in Bara de Navidad trying to download Microsoft word, all 992 MB of information. Have you ever tried to do this over Mexican WiFi, not an easy task and one that took the better part of the day. In the meantime I was able to get caught up with all my email and other computer related chores. Our friends Jay and Kat also stopped by to get caught up on their email and to check on weather conditions for heading north.

I know I am not very good at spelling but I can figure out what the little coffee shop had to offer in the way of food. I have to admit that their coffee was strong and hot, their fruit smoothies very refreshing and their sandwiches excellent. I was there way to long!