It Was a FINE Birthday!

Thanks for all for the birthday wishes -- everything we checked email, there was another greeting so the day seemed to stretch for several.  A total treat.

We were anchored out at the north west tip of Banderas Bay -- Punta Mita.  The anchorage is very protected but somewhat impacted by a southern swell.  There is a contingent of surfers and stand up paddle boarders who hang out at Punta Mita.  We are eager to try our hand at the paddleboards when Bryan arrives.

So for my birthday -- we took the bus into Bucerias, a small town that is growing up fast.  We walked down the stone paved streets and found the beach.  We enjoyed lunch in a palapa restaurant and then took the bus back.

And my gift:  a TelCel 3G USB stick.  Whereever there is a TelCel cell phone signal -- I can get on the internet!!  No more lugging the computers ashore in dry bags; hunting down quiet internet cafes; hoping for fast connections.  Plug in the USB stick; click click and there is the internet.  Oh MY.  We had to go down to PV (1 hour plus by bus) to buy the stick & the salesman assured us in English it would be easy to install.  Well, we are 2 non techies and we did eventually figure it out.  Best birthday gift!  (There is only 1 cell provider here -- and everyone has cell phones.  Coverage is great in most areas we will cruise --except out in the middle of the Sea!)

My other favorite gift:  David accepted a new position at the Gates Foundation!! YEAH David...he has been working on finding a more challenging position for some time and it all finally came together.  So hurry to Seattle if you want a personal tour of the EMP; those days are numbered.

Punta Mita

WOW, has this place changed....but it is still a quiet Mexican town once the glitzy high end resorts are bypassed.  We are at a small beach front bar and next door a 12 piece Mariachi band in full gear is playing for some VERY RICH MEXICANS.  Love it!

Let's find some football fans

A lovely beauty shop where I got a trim for about $3.00

Beach Living -- Jaltemba

We spent a day in Bahia Jaltemba (town of Rincon Guayabitas) before being rolled out with the nasty swell.  Here are some pictures of beach living.

Jaltemba beach

You might need a bit of music on the beach

Note the kid minding the shop.....

Grilled fish and shrimp to go

Preparing chilis for chili rellenos...

Taco stand with all the fixings

Fruteria in the front; laundry mat in the rear

BBQ chicken

Time to do a little homework

Water delivery service

Mazatlan Pictures

Here are some pictures from Old Town Mazatlan.  We love the colorful buildings, street life, and slow pace of daily life.

Hike up the hill to lighthouse near old harbor.  We are anchored to right.

Street scene -- trees, colorful houses, old cars

Open air cab

Cathedral near main square

Shoe shine anyone?

Inflatable toys for kids of all ages

A cool drink on a warm day

Lovely color

Sushi for lunch

Street scene

Street scene

Everything grows!

Pictures from Isla Isabella

Here are some pictures from Isla Isabella, the nesting grounds for blue and brown footed boobies and magnificent frigatebirds.

To totally appreciate these pictures imagine the birds are everywhere; squawking, high pitched whistling, chattering, clicking beaks, and chasing tourists who are anywhere near the chicks.  (Note, that is everywhere.)  Oh, and the smell is RIPE!

Frigate birds in trees and shrubs

View into inner bay at Isabella; it is a collapsed volcanic caldera

Blue Footed Boobie with chick; probably 40-50 days old

Trail Guards

Keeping the chick cool

Typical Nest with eggs

Birds!

Lovely Iguana

Watching YOU

Handyman Al Streaks to the Valve!

Yesterday enroute from Isabella to San Blas, Alan made fresh water. We had full tanks leaving LaPaz, and he had been running fresh water flushes through the watermaker to maintain his filters. So, we needed to fill our four tanks, if only to kill the sloshing sounds at night of half full tanks in a rolly anchorage! (Baffles help, but sloshing water is still sloshing water.)

First Al makes a 5 gallon container for us to use as drinking water. Then he turns the valves to begin filling the port forward tank. This tank is a gravity feed to the main tank. I go on deck a bit later to watch a huge sea turtle and viola! water is gurgling out the port forward tank vent line. For sometime now, we have been taking seawater, de-salinating it, and then dumping it back in the ocean. Time for plan 2. Alan gets out two 6 gallon jugs and has the watermaker product fill into jugs and then he manually empties the jug into the main tank. Next up: why is the gravity feed line "blocked."

He checks his forward tank valve, he blows into the line; nothing but water back. He tries to trace the line--but it goes behind cabinetry and disappears. We lift up our mattress. We take the salon seating apart (literally the wood frames have to come up) to see if we can find the line INTO the main tank. We open up the water tank inspection ports to see if anything is evident. Nothing but clean tanks.

In the mean time we are motor sailing, snacking, watching for fisherman, turtles, sealife. Wishing for a breeze, maybe?

Finally, we decide to call it quits and put it on the project list for another day. Why is the gravity feed line blocked when visual inspection inside the tanks has shown us beautiful, clean interior tank walls? There must be a hidden valve somewhere. Now this makes no sense, as last year we did not have this issue. Not once. But it is a boat.

At 2am -- Alan suddenly realizes, that some months ago he switched a valve for the water system back in the starboard engine room. So he bolts naked from bed, grabs a red light and puts back together the valve and line in the forward port head; streaks out through the cockpit to the engine room and switches the valve. Suddenly the noises from the forward tank changes: instead of gurgle slosh, we have gurgle slosh drip drip. A bit later the main tank joins the chorus: mini pop as it is full. This morning he actually can measure in the tanks and see that water has drained from the port forward tank to the main tank. Problem solved. And now we really know how our fresh water system works. Mostly.

So, if you think we have days of doing nothing, think again!!

Boobies Galore

Blue footed and brown footed boobies, I mean!

We had a lumpy bumpy trip down from Mazatlan to Isla Isabella on Saturday night. The winds we hoped for were not to be found and the seas had not yet laid down. The only thrill was not getting a GPS fix as we left Mazatlan and oh perish the thought we would have to actually navigate ourselves south! But we quickly brought out GPS#2 and by then a fix on #1 appeared. It helps to have a couple of everything on Magic!

Well that wasn't the only trill. We were picking up the anchor at 10 p m, so we'd have the almost full moon up to light the way. Caroline was bringing in the anchor while two tugs held station just behind us. She finished her chore and yelled to move on. I didn't do it. She then turned around to say it again, only to see this massive tanker coning in the channel less than 1/4 mile from us. The channel is only about 200' wide, so there was no room to even think about heading out. Soon they were in and we went out into the lumpy bumpy seaway.

Isla Isabella is a Mexican National Ecological Reserve. It is a small, rugged volcanic island with scrubby brush trees and a dicey anchorage. And BIRDS galore! The boobies nest on the ground; the frigate birds in the trees. There are thousands of them and yes, they make an incredible racket and a rather "ripe" smell. We spent hours traversing the island. We talked to several students from a University in Mexico City that are part of an 30 year, ongoing study of the ecology of the island. This year, many chicks are dying apparently from a decline in the anchovy and sardine population. We saw many dead chicks along the trail. We will post pictures eventually.

The only other inhabitants of the Island are a few fisherman. They wanted to trade fish for T shirts tomorrow (today's catch has already been sent on to San Blas) but we will be pulling up the anchor after breakfast, to head East to San Blas.

Enjoying Mazatlan

We wandered around Old Town Mazatlan yesterday -- the area is filled with narrow, winding streets, small cafes, art galleries,  the Cathedral, and Central Mercado.  The whole area seems less scruffy than 10 years ago; we had a great walk and meal of fresh seafood.  We meet a former bricklayer from Mammoth, CA who is now a baker down here.

This morning we took Gunrock, our dinghy, back into the mangroves for a bit of bird watching.  We saw many herons, egrets, roseate spoonbills, and scarlet ibis.  Very fun.

The winds were howling yesterday (and the seas were reported to be up and square and short period).  Today is calmer.  The forecast looks good for us to head out as early as Saturday afternoon; we will take about 17 hours to get to Isabella so we will do as an overnight and arrive in the morning.  We hope conditions are settled enough for us to stay several days and explore the island as it is a breeding ground for blue footed boobies and frigate birds.

Here are some of our birding shots.

Hello Mazatlan!!

On Monday morning Magic's rail car started it's descent into the water, and just like the take out, we didn't know what to expect. No body came aboard to help with lines, they all stood around the big cable machine that let us, somewhat jerkily, inch down the ways. Again, the ride was in slow motion, taking more than an hour to travel some 300'. In the end, we floated off but ALAS it is a boat and the port engine started but without exhaust water.  Kill the engine.  So they side tied us to a "rusty bucket" and their Mexican mechanic came on board to help Alan sort it out.  Alan was ready to pull and replace the water pump -- but the mechanic figured there was air in the line somehow and within a few minutes -- happy engine sounds and gushing water.  You just never know on a boat.  But we have come to really enjoy and trust the helpful nature of the Mexicans.  Once again by the kindness of strangers we set off to sea.

We headed out from La Paz on an ebb tide, to the Puerto Lobos anchorage, aptly named for the ever present flies.  After an afternoon of rest, minor projects, and dinner we pulled the anchor to start a 44 hour voyage to Mazatlan, going through San Lorenzo and Cerralvo Channels and then due East. 

Have you ever started your motor and kept it running, without stopping for 44 hours? Sure, we aren't stopping to re-fuel, we carry our whole house with us (so no need for food or bathroom stops) and there are no stop signs or intersections.  We negotiate around ships, trawlers and other cruisers both in daylight and night. Our only change in speed has been due to a boost from current.  The few times we opened the jib with a hint of wind on the water added a bit of speed for a few minutes.  But those light and variable winds were mostly not even worth the effort.  This is a calm day or two before the next "wind event".   

Our electronics have added to our peace of mind on this crossing -- due to the ship traffic heading to and from this major port.  We use radar and a new system, AIS (automatic identification system), to know locations of other vessels; their heading, course, and speed.  Our AIS comes through the VHF radio and we can contact them directly through this system (no more "big boat big boat this is Magic").  We can thus confirm our maneuvers to avoid collision, rather than the guessing game with radar. For the later part of the voyage we've been in a dense fog, so both these tools have been critical to our safety.

What has been amazing are the number and variety of sea life! At first daylight yesterday, what looked like trash bags, turned out to be seals, on their backs, with flippers held out of the water evidently to sun themselves. Then came the dolphins, thousands of them! We had at one time, a revolving group of ten on the bow waves, with their extended family as far around us as we could see! The smaller dolphins love to jump all the way out of the water and then make a big splash. Even one of the big adults jumped three times in a row right ahead of our bow, almost getting us wet! We were screaming and clapping.  Great fun! We've also seen manta rays and many floating turtles and hundreds of birds. You just can't stay inside all day, for you'll never know who will float by and liven up the neighborhood.

The captain tried to fish and actually donated a "Mexican flag" lure, breaking 60 lb test line to a "big one that got away".  Well, that would have been way too many fish tacos for the crew anyway!

We arrived safely about 3pm and the hook is down in the old harbor.  Now the winds can blow -- they will moderate in a few days and we will continue south.

Dolphins Jumping at our Bow!  Just For Fun and to hear me squeal in delight.

More dolphins.

Another jumper....note the calm calm sea.  

A Vacation from Cruising

Despite the shock of having to haul again here in LaPaz (and sticker shock is the LEAST of it!), we decided to make the most of the experience.  The haul out was amazing -- we honestly had no idea what to expect.  They said "we'll be waiting for you" and sure enough.  At 8am we came around the corner and there they were:  the boss (Alejandro, his panga with driver and 4 men, and 2 scuba divers).  We could see the rail car braces were already in the deeper water.  The panga roared over and the men jumped on --grabbed our lines and told Alan to slow down and kill the engines.  They then proceeded to pull, push, and cajole Magic into place on the rails.  The divers were under the boat and then we waited for an inch more of tide.  Then they began to winch us up on the huge machine.  The whole experience was 3+ hours!!  Very professional.  We hope our re-entry is handled in like manor.

We quickly had the sail drive repaired (thanks again to Ron for having all the spare parts on board from Shea LaVie); the diesel leak found and fixed; and the through hulls changed out so we could have a gone back in the water on Friday.  But there was a forecast "wind event" for the weekend and the tides were not favorable for re-entry....so we stayed another day on the rails.  Once in the water, we plan to begin making our way to Banderas Bay.  Sure it is only about 400 nautical miles away, but we go 5 mph and watch the wind and it will take us awhile.

Here are some more pictures from LaPaz:

Bird Watching a Dinghy

The Newest Sculpture on the Malecon

Plaque for the Sculpture

Panga Pirates come to take over the boat for the haul out

Under the Watchful Eyes of the Crew

Alejandro watches to be sure there are no surprises!

The crew included 2 divers to be sure we were on the rails and stands in place

Top of picture shows the rails where we will be headed

The MEGA machine that hauled us inch by inch from the water.  

The Captain rides the rails on Magic

Sitting high and dry.