Vakasa Goes Surfing

The last few days have been ones of wonder and excitement.

On our way from Punta Mita to San Blas we ran into a section of ocean that was literally carpeted in small jelly fish.  A short distance into this we started to see the sea turtles that feed on these jelly fish.  For about 2 hours, sea turtles were everywhere you looked around the boat…hundreds and hundreds of them…too many to count. Straight out of “Life of Pi”, but without the symbolism.

Sea turtle kibble

Just one of many

Leaving the sea turtles behind, we almost motored straight into a long line net.  These nets are suspended from rope and buoys that float on the surface of the water, just waiting to snag some poor unsuspecting catamaran propeller.  Luckily, Tony saw the line when we were just 20 or so feet from it, which is a feat because the floats are usually 7 Up or Coke bottles and really tough to spot.  We made a hard turn to port and followed the pop bottles for about 20 minutes before finally finding the end.  That thing had to be at least a mile long!  Wouldn’t want to run into it in the middle of the night!

Time to hoist those sails....only 10,052 more turns of the winch, Tony!

Piedro Blanco.  That's a lot of bird poop.

Rizzo, the Wonder Dog, enjoys some wind in her ears

On to San Blas which is about 11 hours north of Nuevo Vallarta.  The seas were pretty calm and we ended up motoring almost all of the way.  The prediction was for southerlies, but what wind there was ended up coming directly from the west.  There is only open ocean in that direction, so a pretty large swell developed.  We knew that the marina was up a river which means that we had to cross over a sand bar at its entrance.  This always enhances the waves and it was a pretty exciting trip into the river as we got up to about 8.5 knots surfing down the front of a wave.  No problemo, but a small hint of what was to come. 

The next morning was the start of our overnight leg to Mazatlan.  As we neared the river exit Tony spotted a surfer in the waves being created by the breakwater on the right hand side of the river.  Kathy looked left and saw 3 or 4 more surfers in good sized waves on that side.  Jesus…..we’re on a sailboat, not a surfboard!  There was only about 40 ft of reasonable water between these two breaks and it looked damn narrow to us.  However, to the sounds of cheering from the surfer dudes/dudettes, Vakasa made her way through the exit and launched herself safely over a couple 7—8 foot waves.  Let’s hope someone got that on U-tube!

Surfers to the left, surfers to the right

Looking back at the surfers once we're at a safe distance

The overnight trip was pretty benign, with not much happening until Tony’s 3 am to 6 am shift.  Three hours of sitting at the helm with nothing but the instruments and the stars to stare at can make you a little stir crazy.  He thought he was seeing things when dozens of little dots started appearing on the radar screen.  OMG…..we must be running into a fleet of pangas!  Nope, just thousands (yes, he swears it was thousands) of sea rays jumping out of Vakasa’s way and scaring the heck out of him!

Not our picture, but just proves that it can happen

Catching a few winks after a night shift

Vakasa's crew doesn't catch the sunrise very often

  

We arrived at Mazatlan at about 11 am in the morning after sailing for most of the previous day but motoring all night long.  Again, the weather was from the west, but the winds were light and the swell seemed pretty small with long periods between.  However, as we closed in on the entrance to the marinas (another river mouth) we couldn't believe the extent of the surf and waves breaking at the river mouth.  Being way more savy in this department now, we called the marina and were told that the entrance was closed due to high surf.  Damn it….we’ve been up all night, and were looking forward to tying up at a dock and going to bed.  What now?  Mazatlan has developed a bad reputation for theft of dinghy motors and the occasional onboard robbery and unfortunately the most common crime area was the only anchorage open to us in these conditions.   We headed there; chained the dinghy and motor to Vakasa, hid our valuables, paraded our vicious guard dog around the decks a few times, locked ourselves inside the boat, armed ourselves with flare guns (just kidding, although a really scary neighbour did recommend it) and hit the sack. 

The "Old Harbour" (now called Bandito Bay) Mazatlan anchorage

The Silver family actually took this ferry to La Paz on their North American tour back in 2000....looks just the same now...bet the berth ceilings still leak!

Fun to watch all the ships coming and going

We stayed at this surprisingly nice anchorage for a couple days and had no problems with banditos.  In fact we had a wonderful time, which included a great bus ride into the old town where we window shopped for a few hours, walked the Malecon (sea wall) and enjoyed beer and guacamole at a palapa bar.  The anchorage was well protected with lots of interesting tourist and commercial boat traffic going to and fro.  We felt that as long as we didn’t leave valuables on display, we were pretty safe.

Under an incredible flowering tree

For some reason Tony developed a real affection for this statue

Pre Easter celebrations were happening at this lovely Old Town Cathedral

Now, I know that this is getting long, but we still had one more river entrance to tackle and we did that this morning.  After being assured that the entrance to the Mazatlan marinas was now open and the dredger was not operating, we motored on over.  The surf was not nearly as big as the other day but it was still worth worrying about.  We timed things perfectly and started in the entrance just as a huge tourist catamaran rounded the corner on its way out.  Abort!  We pulled a “U-ey” and headed back out.  Attempt number two....  We lined ourselves up and started in again.  S&**!  Here comes another boat.  Abort again!  Third time lucky?....  We actually made it into the channel this time, with just a little swell helping us on our way.  But as we started to round the corner we saw that the dredger (yup, the one that wasn’t supposed to be working today) was in the middle of the narrow (we mean NARROW) channel and its pipes were taking up 2/3rds of the room.  The driver of the dredger frantically waved us to the right and we managed to squeeze through with only about 3 ft on either side of Vakasa….wild-eyed Mexicans to port and scary sharp looking rocks to starboard!

Now that's a narrow entrance!

The dredger at anchor.  When we came in it was in the middle of the channel which didn't leave much room for Vakasa!

The El Cid, Mazatlan marina

Now we’re almost finished…..but not quite.  It turns out that we’re on a falling tide, which normally means nothing in Mexico as the tides are usually so small.  But today the river current was running really fast.  You could actually see small whirlpools and white-capped current waves throughout the marina.  It took Vakasa’s wonderful and talented captain 4 tries to get us to the dock.

Ahhhhhhh......docked at last

Two cervazas (each) later and we are laughing about the whole adventure and ready to enjoy everything that Mazatlan and El Cid Marina has to offer for a few days.  We've had fun, with a few major adrenaline shots and Vakasa has added surfing to her repertoire of achievements.  Hang ten, dudes.......

Together Again

After a month of experiencing individual adventures, the crew of Vakasa are happily reunited and enjoying a couple days of R & R in Paradise Village, Nuevo Vallarta, before heading north to Mazatlan and eventually the Sea of Cortez.

Kathy: 

What a bizarre experience to suddenly be set down in rainy, grey Victoria after months of sunny Mexico.  Although the weather wasn’t as bad as I know it can be, day by day I just got colder and colder!  I guess I’ve lost my tolerance.  I enjoyed my trip home and catching up with so many friends and family.  Thank you to everyone for dinner invitations, beds, and coffee dates.  My brother, Bob, is well settled into his new digs in Cook Village and it was a real treat to be able to visit with him for so long and see him enjoying his place so much.  I can’t say that his hidda-bed is my best friend, but then what did I expect?????  But……it’s so good to be back with Tony, Rizzo and Vakasa and I’m ready to set sail and see some new places.  Bring on the next adventure!

Tony:

Well, as Kathy and I made plans for her to return home for 4 weeks and leave me behind, it seemed like an OK idea. Even as I saw her disappear through the customs line at the airport I was saying to myself that this will be OK. Well, now looking back I’m trying to decide why the Gods chose to punish me so. After a couple of days Rizzo stopped looking for Kathy and would not let me out of sight, no way no how.  It was kinda creepy. Then I woke one night with Rizzo not to be found anywhere at 3 am. Oh my God, not only am I alone on a boat, but now the dog is lost at sea and Kathy will never forgive me as Rizzo had gone missing on my watch. But low and behold I found her snuggled in a tiny little space hidden away in the cockpit. Now I knew things were really weird and just not right. But the days went by very slowly as I tried to fill my time with boat projects that were never really supposed to be done, but somehow in my incarceration they were completed, much to the joy of that stranger Kathy. Do I sound like I’m whining…well yes I am. I did return to Canada (Parksville) to visit friends and family for a week myself and had a great time.  But next time I'm gonna refuse to be left behind for so long.  Definitely something not to be repeated!!

Rizzo:

It was pretty horrible when Kathy left and I realized that she wasn’t coming back for a whole month.  That’s a really, really long time. I know this cause Tony kept telling me.  Actually, he talked to me all the time…..I wonder if he realizes that I don’t really understand everything I pretend to and that I can’t talk back?  Then it was even worse when Tony left too.  He put me into a car with a nice lady and waved goodbye and even though he told me that it was only going to be for 10 days I just about panicked.   But I’m much too sophisticated to panic, so instead I just made the best of things.  I did get to meet a few new friends at the Beach Dog Boarding Kennel while I waited (and waited, and waited) for things to get back to normal.  And they did!  I’m back on my boat with my people.  I’m pretending to sulk a little cause I know that will get me more treats, hugs and walks.  Works every time!

See....what did I tell you!

A Typical Day At Sea

We have spent the last month touring around the Costalegre (Spanish for “The Happy Coast”) and we have found it to be well named.  The weather has been perfect, the beaches long and golden, and the water warm and inviting.  We were joined by Teresa and Mark for 10 days and had a great time exploring the towns of Barra de Navidad, La Manzanilla, and Manzanillo; snorkelling in Tenacatita and Carrazal; and perfecting our 4-man beach landings in the dinghy.  Unfortunately, Teresa and Kathy picked up a tourista bug a couple of days before the end of their visit and that put a damper on things.  A lesson learned:  There is no point extensively researching the best and safest restaurant to eat at if you stop at a dilapidated and sketchy looking roadside palapa for 2-for-1 margaritas on your way there!

Today we travelled from Chamela to Punta Ipala, a 6 hour journey that leaves us only a day south of Puerto Vallarta.  It was a pretty typical day at sea and went something like this….

The alarm goes off at 7:30 am and each of us ignores it. It’s plugged in at the navigation table, up in the salon, which requires someone to actually get out of bed to shut it off.  We both pretend to be asleep and hope that the other will go deal with it.  Tony caves first and reluctantly gets out of bed.

30 minutes later the tea and coffee is made, port holes and hatches are closed, and all loose items are stowed.  Our dutiful captain reviewed the guidebooks and entered our course into the chart plotter last night, so we are all set to go.  We are weighing anchor by 8 am, which is way too early for us, but there are a dozen boats here at Chamela, and we know that at least a couple of them are heading to the same anchorage as us today.  We want to make sure that we get there early enough to insure a spot for Vakasa.

The wind is light and, as seems to happen so often, right “on the nose”.  This means that it’s coming right at us and there’s not enough angle between the wind and the sails to use them effectively.  So both motors are on.  We usually cruise with just one motor at a time, which increases our range and decreases costs, but using two motors today will get us to our destination in 6 hours instead of 8, so we decide to let the wallet take a hit.  There’s some reasonably big swell which makes it a little uncomfortable in the galley, so breakfast is a couple granola bars.  It’s way too early to think of food anyways! 

We do one-hour shifts at the helm.  Tony actually puts on a sweater during his first shift…..yikes……that’s too scary for words!  While Tony’s managing the helm I get out our Spanish book and start doing a little studying.  The language is just starting to click for me and it’s so exciting to actually be able to have some small conversations with the locals.  I annoy Tony by asking him lots of questions in Spanish that he doesn’t know the answer to.

After a couple hours we realize that we are in a real zone of sea life.  There are sea turtles everywhere and we start counting our sightings.  30 in a little over an hour!  We stop to take pictures of several of them.  Most swim away, but a couple sit right beside the boat and just look at us!  We see several whales breaching in the distance and one big whale blows then surfaces and dives just 75 meters or so from Vakasa.  We then see a bunch of fins coming our way and soon we’re surrounded by hundreds of dolphins.  Although they’re headed in the opposite direction, they can’t resist swimming in Vakasa’s bow wake, so lots turn and swim with us for a few minutes each.  At one point we have as many as a dozen at the bow.  We hang over the front of the trampoline and watch for over 30 minutes.

Tony sees fish jumping ahead and rushes to put out the fishing line.  We haven’t had much success with this activity but he sticks with it valiantly, and promises me that there will be fish tacos on the menu tonight.  We spend an hour or so swerving this way and that, following the fish, but no luck.  In fact we end up losing a lure.  Good thing I took out the beef!

By now the sun is out and it’s getting really hot.  Tony’s sweater is off and I can recognize him again because he’s shirtless.  We slow Vakasa down and take turns jumping into the ocean and being pulled behind her.  So refreshing.  When I get out I feel a cold, wet nose bump against my shin.  Rizzo…..how goes it?  She’s been sulking in the salon as it’s a little too lumpy for her today.  But obviously something needs attention, so we stop the boat and take her forward to do her business and have a little play time on the trampoline.  Good girl! 

We’ve been watching the wind clock around a little to port as the land starts to heat up and the sea breeze kicks in.  We still don’t have enough wind to put up the main, but Tony unfurls the jib.  He plays with it constantly, with much more patience than I would ever have, and manages to get a half a knot more speed.  Doesn’t sound like much, but over a 4—5 hour period it does make a difference.

We are the first to arrive at the anchorage so we have our choice of spots.  Good thing because it’s not a huge area and there are a bunch of pangas and a large fish boat taking up room.  We drop the pick, set the anchor watch, and clean up the mess that accumulates during a long journey.  Now it’s time for cervezas in the cockpit while we await the other boats and the entertainment of watching them anchor.  As we wait, a local man comes out in his panga to tell us that his 6 year old son has just started school.  He is hoping that we might have some school supplies that we can give him.  We spend some time practicing our Spanish with Fernando and then give him a pack and frisbee that we have been keeping for an occasion like this.  He’s very happy and we feel pretty good.

Tonight we will play a game of Scrabble (a grudge match, actually, as our last game ended in a tie), watch a movie while we eat our beef (not fish) tacos, and then hit the sack early.  Tomorrow we are up again at “the crack of dawn” in order to round Cabo Corrientes, a local promontory with accelerated wind patterns.  The excitement just never ends!

The marina at Barra de Navidad.....nice place!

The Laguna anchorage just past the marina in Barra....no....we didn't run aground on our way in....who told you that!!??

Mark on Rizzo walking duty at the Grand Bay Hotel/Barra Marina

Lifes' a drag for the Vaggs

Teresa and Mark with cervazas at the Italian restaurant in La Manzanilla

More crocs in La Manzanilla

Dinghy trip up the river in Tenacatita

Tres Amigos at the river mouth

Sleeping off the litre sized margaritas from the night before (three I believe!)

Las Hadas resort in Manzanillo...very Meditarranean

Las Hadas anchorage and Vakasa

Vakasa's crew does some pool aerobics

Really beautiful anchorage in Manzanillo

Guests are gone, time to get to work cleaning the hulls

An easy way to get into shore

Laundry day

She's actually starting to enjoy a little swim on a hot day

Way too early to be up

Geez.....a sweater?  At least he's not wearing shoes and socks!

Mexican Navy boat...these guys boarded Vakasa at 8 am the day before looking for our documents.  We got a laugh from them when our captain greeted them in his sleeping apparel.....underwear only!

This guy didn't seem to care about us at all....we almost ran him down!

One of more than 30 we spotted in just over an hour

Incredible display of dolphins in our bow wake....pictures just can't do it justice

Rounding Cabo Corrientes....could be BC on a winter day!

We got off lucky with only 10 kts of wind and a bit of a bumpy sea

We are back in the Puerto Vallarta area and Kathy will be flying home in a couple days to help her brother move to his new apartment and do some visiting.  She’ll be home for a month and Tony will join her for the last week.  Rizzo will stay in Mexico and hold the fort!  Ugh…..not looking forward to wearing shoes and socks!