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| SAILING MEXICO |
| Bahia de Navidad to La Paz |
| In this installment we will take you all the way from Bahia de Navidad up around Cabo Corrientes and into Banderas Bay. Then we will continue north to Mazatlan, and finally across the Sea of Cortez and back into La Paz. This is a large chunk of travel so we'll try not to bore you by being too wordy. Instead we'll just hit the highlights and let the pictures say the rest. You can find corresponding pictures by clicking on the Photo Album button above. Remember, you can always look at our previous ramblings by clicking on the archived Journal Entries above and the corresponding archived Photo Albums on the Photo Album page. We departed Bahia de Navidad and travelled the gruelling 7 nautical miles to Tennacatita. OK, so it wasn't that gruelling. But we had to leave the French Baker behind, and that was tough! We spent a lovely day playing in the water in Tenacatita. We met the crews of the sailing vessels La Solana from Dana Point, California and Cairimghorum from British Columbia. La Solana had Mason, 8 years old, and Michael, 12 years old, onboard. And Carimghorum had Bowen, 5 years old, Tyler, 12 years old, and Charlene, 13 years old, onboard. All the boys converged on Southern Belle and had a rousing play session with Joshua. It became so rousing that we tossed them all into the water and had a contest to see if they could all ride the inflatable alligator at one time (see the pictures). The next day we all headed north to the lovely Chamela Bay area. The passage was quite rolly and rough. It was the first time in months that Joshua felt a little sea sick. We were happy to make the anchorage and get out of the rough stuff. The group (La Solana, Carimghorum, and Southern Belle) decided to spend an extra day in Chamela Bay to let the weather conditions calm down before heading north to cross around the dreaded Cabo Corrientes. The big south swell was still running and it made the shore landing quite challenging. We opted to take our kayak ashore so we did not have to worry about overturning the dinghy with the outboard motor attached. We almost made it, but at the last second a big wave flipped us over. Oh Well, wet pesos spend just as easily as dry pesos. The crew of La Solana almost got creamed by a wave, and the crew of Carimghorum did get creamed by a big wave. Their dinghy flipped over with the motor still running. It was quite scary looking. A little wet but all relatively safe and sound, we commandeered a table at the palapa restaurant and had beers and lunch while the kids played in the surf and frolicked on the beach. We left Chamela Bay at 1600 hours so that our crossing around Cabo Corrientes would take place during the wee hours of the morning, when it is usually at its calmest. We were glad we waited the extra day because the conditions had calmed drastically. A group of boats that left Chamela the day before us reported that they got pasted by strong head winds and big seas as they rounded Cabo Corrientes. We found it to be relatively calm. What a difference a day can make. By sunrise we had rounded Cabo Corrientes and were in Banderas Bay proper. Since it was very calm we decided to stop into the quaint little village of Yelapa which is on the southern side of Banderas Bay. Yelapa is a beautiful little village with marginal holding ground for anchoring. Melinda and Joshua took a hike up to a picturesque waterfall and explored the village. By the afternoon the town is full of tourists that come from Puerto Vallarta via pangas, and the wind begins to blow right into the anchorage. We decided to raise our anchor and head across the bay to La Cruz so we could meet up with our buds, Dave & Kelli aboard Sweet Lorraine. We spent a little over a week anchored in La Cruz. During that time we had dinner with one of the local panga operators (Jesus and his family), reprovisioned, spent a day swimming at the pools in Paradise Village, and enjoying Easter Day with our friends Mike and Leah. The dinner with Jesus and his family was a great experience. Dave and Kelli were instrumental in setting up this wonderful evening. Amazingly, this is the first time in all of our cruising that we have really interacted with the local folks. We find ourselves at all times surrounded by US & Canadian citizens and never get a chance to hob-nob with the local Mexicans. Jesus and his wife Letty treated us to a wonderful meal of home made Chili Rellenos. Their son, Jesus Jr., and Joshua hit it off big time. They rode bicycles around for hours while we talked with the adults. Jesus had a little English, and we all had a little Spanish so we all managed to converse. Mike, Leah, and their son Merrick had all of us (Southern Belle, Sweet Lorraine, La Solana, and Carimghorum) over for a nice party on Easter Sunday. They had decorated a plethora of easter eggs and we had a fantastic easter egg hunt. Some of their local friends were also in attendance with their kids so it was a great experience for Joshua. After egg hunting, the party turned into a water balloon fight. The fun went on and on. On the Tuesday after Easter, Southern Belle and Sweet Lorraine raised anchor and began the journey north to Mazatlan. The first night we stayed in Punta de Mita which is still inside Banderas Bay. The next day we forged ahead and made it all the way to Mantachen Bay near the town of San Blas. We tried to enter the estuary but the large south swell had the entrance closed out by breaking waves. Mantachen Bay is huge and shallow. There was only one other boat there besides Sweet Lorraine and Southern Belle. On the way into the bay we spotted a couple of large Whale Sharks feeding on krill along a temperature/salinity inversion zone where the sea water mixed with the bay water. These guys were huge! At least 20 to 30 feet long! The first one dove as we came close to it, but the second one just kept feeding and allowed us to come pretty close. We were able to get some pretty good pictures of this one. We had dinner aboard Sweet Lorraine that night. When we left to paddle our dinghy back to Southern Belle it was pitch black outside. We took off on a heading that we thought would take us to Southern Belle. About 50 feet from Sweet Lorraine we decided it would be prudent to have Dave shine his spotlight. Good thing, because we were heading directly away from Southern Belle! The next day we all took off for the overnight passage to Mazatlan. The passage was pleasant. The only hitch was when we picked up a chunk of polypropylene line on our port propeller. We made the remainder of the passage with only the starboard engine which worked out just fine. We made Mazatlan the next morning and went into Marina Mazatlan. Our stay in Mazatlan was filled mostly with boat maintenance chores and provisioning for the trip across the Sea of Cortez to La Paz (what the cruisers refer to as the Southern Crossing). We were able to get in a little play time. Joshua made friends with Charlie, 9 years old, from the S/V Red Witch. Charlie and his parents, Brenda and Bo, ultimately headed west to Hawaii. Our friends aboard Calou came back to Mazatlan while we were there so Joshua got to play with his pals Antoine and Francois at the ultra-cool Marina El Cid swimming pool. After a week or so in Mazatlan, Southern Belle and Sweet Lorraine headed out to make the Southern Crossing to La Paz. The first day out was a little sloppy and we just lazed about the boat the entire day. We ultimately headed further south than we had planned just to make the ride a little more comfortable. The next day was much nicer! Not much wind for sailing, but the seas were more friendly. We arrived at Bahia de los Muertos that afternoon along with our friends aboard Sweet Lorraine. We all treated ourselves to a nice dinner at the Giggling Marlin Restaurant. It was delicious! Muertos was so nice we stayed an extra day just to relax and take it easy. We left Muertos early in the AM and headed north through the Cerralvo Channel. We then made a left and transited the Lorenzo Channel. We fished the entire way but only caught one Pacific Bonito which isn't good for much of anything. We made it to La Paz by early afternoon and headed to the anchorage area in the downtown bay. Back in La Paz! Pretty exciting because we love La Paz, and it marks the beginning of our exploration into the northern reaches of the Sea of Cortez. We will be here for a week doing some boat maintenance and provisioning. We will also have some fun, because Cinco de Mayo is upon us and the town will be celebrating. And let's not forget that Joshua can do some skate boarding and trampolining. We hope this installment finds you all healthy and happy! Until next time we wish you all a fresh breeze and following seas! |
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