Together Again in Barra

January 31, 2014

Together Again  in The Lagoon, Barra deNavidad, Jalisco, Mexico

Bob arrived in Barra Tuesday afternoon.  While he was entering the lagoon, I was playing bridge and waiting for his call.  After bridge, I went back to the hotel to wait, and was worrying a bit as I thought that he should have arrived.  As I was sitting poolside I saw a man walking to the bar,  and my first thought was how much he looked like Bob...Duh...it was Bob.  Apparently he had been trying to call me but the network was down!!

Off  we went to the boat.  All was well....until the dinghy engine started making strangling noises.  We did get back to the boat just more slowly.  The gurgling was a result of a grommet falling out of the dinghy motor.  Off we went the next day to find a grommet and we did ...a part that sell for 49 cents we paid about $8 and at that it was used!!  But it did the trick.

Wednesday and Thursday were spent doing the necessities ..getting laundry done, putting car into storage, blah!
 Men don't bother reading the next part.  A friend who lives here took me to her hair stylist.  The owner, Margarita, turned out to be a lovely woman and  cut my hair the way I wanted.   I was so pleased that I went back to have a pedicure and some more painful things that only women have done to them!  Margarita convinced me that I should have a design put on my toes...being the conservative that I am, I at first demurred but succumbed after minimal coaxing on her part.

My Beautiful Toe..thanks to Margarita

Barra Lagoon with the marina and hotel in distance.

Sunset La  Cruz January 2014

Our plan is to be in Barra until early next week...then back to Tenacatita for 2 or 3 weeks.

January 27, 2014

After a 10 hr drive yesterday, I am back on track today.      

For the most the trip went well.  As most of you know, this is the first long drive that I have made in Mexico.  I will not deny that there was a certain amount of trepidation on my part.  And as usually happens, thinking about something is fraught with more fears than the actual doing.

The biggest surprise during the drive was the beauty along the way.  I am  guilty of not seeing the beauty of where I live.  No I do not have photos as I was driving to Barra and did not want to ‘stop to smell the roses’…I know..how sad!

The scenery went from forests, to the greenest fields and finally to the ocean.  At one point the fieldss shimmered a brilliant lime green, and I thought it was my sunglasses creating the effect.  Truly the vegetation (crops) were glowing lime green in the sunlight.  During part of my drive, I passed along roads where the trees overhung so far, that the road was dappled.  The effect was surrealistic, and dangerous..so  I found out when I hit a big hole that spun me into the opposite lane.  That was a bit disconcerting and I paid more attention to the road rather than focussing on the effects of the light sifting through the trees.

And then there were the summer/winter holiday homes.  They ranged from tiny to palatial but all with views to die for. 

And now for the other side of the coin.  The first 200 or so km, is very windy with almost non stop villages after you reach Zamora.  My average speed for the first 5 hr was 50 km/hr.  as I was slowing down it seemed every few feet for another tope (speed bump).  I cannot begin to imagine how many speed bumps I encountered along the way.

Patches got car sick at about hour 3.  I heard him retch so I stopped the car as quickly as I could find a spot.  Here is when I really missed Bob.  In our relationship Bob cleans up all barf and other types of excrement.  But I had to take over, and so while cleaning up I lost my breakfast too!!  That would be why Bob cleans up those types of things.

The drive went well (discounting the barf interlude) until I came to where the toll road starts.  There was a nice sign pointing me on way and the GPS agreed.  I made my turn and the GPS told me to turn again, but I thought it was wrong and the road I was to turn on was NOT signed (Why after many years in Mexico did I let that deter me?) so I drove on with my TomTom telling me to “turn as soon as possible”.  But I didn’t.

After about 20 minutes I decided that I was on the wrong road so I did a U-turn and almost got hit by a car going at the speed of light.  Back I went and once more took a wrong turn.  Then I saw 2 guys selling tacos right at the round- about and from them I learned that the unsigned road was my road.  Then I was on my way.  For the first 5 hr, I went at a snail’s pace  and covered only 250 km but the toll road was great so the next 250 km (more or less) took me 3 hr.  Yes indeed somewhere along the way I wasted 2 hr…some with my rambling and the rest with frequent stops  for the dog.

Just as I was checking into the hotel, Bob phoned.  After his story, I was more than glad that I had driven.  As usual the sail (he was in La Cruz) started on a mellow note, and then the winds hit just around Cabo.  No weather forecast had suggested that there were winds of 35 knots which of course resulted in waves!  He spent 3 hr manually steering as the autopilot doesn’t like that kind of wave action.  And the winds were on his nose all the way.  The trip took 17 hr…..a few hours longer than normal. 

Today Bob is resting up in Chamela and hoping the weather will be better tomorrow when he heads to Barra de Navidad.

When I arrived here, after checking in,  Patches and I ate and I downed 2 beers in a flash.  After 2 beer, I had a buzz.  Amazing what dehydration and drinking can do.

Our friends came to join me and welcome me back to Barra.  We had a nice chat but the mosquitoes drove us out of the bar.  Shortly thereafter, as in about 7 pm I was asleep.   After the drive, the beer, and not really sleeping the night before, I was exhausted.

Now the hotel that I am staying in is about minus 1 star.  You might ask why I am staying in such a place??  First of all they accept dogs, they have a walled parking area, and we can tie our dinghy at their dock (which makes  it easy for Bob to come and get us when he arrives here.  I would gladly have paid much more but travelling with a dog limites the choices.  The room is clean but it is right on the street, and last night at about 3 am a group of people were celebrating (as one does when one is drunk) in a very loud manner….not Mexicans I may add.  Their celebrations went on for almost 2 hr.  Of course by 3 am, I was ready to get up so did they keep awake or was I already awake….a moot point?

This morning Patches and I met Mary at Bananas for a great breakfast.  We were both starved after our day of ‘cleansing’ yesterday.  Now we are back at our hotel relaxing.

For those of you who were concerned about my driving here, you can relax.  It was an excellent experience (barring the barf)!

Bob - My Own Superman!!

Here we are a day later with good news.

Dinghy motor is working as is the auto pilot.  Apparently the dinghy motor needed cleaning even though Bob had drained fuel...blah!blah! whatever one does for maintenance.

And as luck would have it, the problem with the auto pilot was a hose...apparently 'the hose that blew' looked about 31 years old!  Bob had replaced  2 hoses 3 years ago but I guess there were 2 others.  He found replacements in some little village between La Cruz and PV.   Amazing!

After having a full day of doing repairs, Bob plans to lounge around tomorrow...and then decide when he will continue south.

Sunset at Chacala

Night sky at Chacala

January 21, 2014 

Bob sails into La Cruz only to find....

Bob did leave Mazatlan on Saturday as planned.   Just before he left he sent me an email saying that for once he seemed to be caught up on everything on the boat....but he was feeling uneasy , as it seems that this is not a good feeling to have when you are sailing....this was foreshadowing!!

His first stop was Isla Isabella but the good anchoring bay was full (I think it only holds 2 or 3 boats).  When he checked the other area, of course, the coral heads were an unwelcoming site to a solo sailor.  Just for instance, if the anchor got caught, and he went down to free it, where would the boat be, when he came to the surface???  So on he went to Chacala.   Oh yes his new nav lights failed on the overnight from Mazatlan ...luckily  he still had the old ones to fall back on.  And the engine was running a bit warm!

While in Chacala, he worked on the cooling system and thought perhaps a loose belt was the culprit.  For all of you non-sailors, I don't mean his belt...it would a pump belt.  He didnt bother working on the lights,  as the lights  could wait as he would not need them on his trip to La Cruz.

Today I received his SPOT message saying that he was in La Cruz.  Great I think as he was there early so it would be easy to anchor.   Then he phoned me.  While he was anchoring in LA Cruz, and tried to back up....guess what?  No steering!   (Almost exactly 3 years ago..in fact I just checked my old post and it was January 17, 2011, that the same thing happened.  Three years ago, on our first sail, the steering gave out just as we were turning into Chamela.)
   According to Bob, he was not about to let this lack of steering ruin his evening.  He decided he would  take the dinghy into shore  and have a nice meal.  Great plan, except the dinghy motor wouldn't start.  Now to add insult to injury, he has to cook for himself.
What can I say?  Just another typical day in the life of a sailor.
Bob phoned me with all this 'good news', so after speaking with him, I opened a bottle of wine in commiseration.
Now I will pour myself a glass (or 2) and hope all the myriad of problems will be easily fixed.

Soon to be Sailing Again

On Monday  Bob left for Mazatlan.  He was to catch a bus from Patzcuaro, change buses in Morelia and bingo (about 9 hr later) he would be in Mazatlan!  The bus he was to catch at midnight did not arrive!  So it was a mad dash by taxi into Morelia....after that all was well.
Finally, I think, we know what we are doing for the next month.
Bob plans to leave Mazatlan Saturday, January 18.  His first stop will be Isla Isabella...the island is a bird sanctuary and you are not supposed to take pets onto the island so when Patches is aboard we never go there.  Bob will finally be able to stop there.  Then he will spend a night or 2 anchored out in La Cruz.  After that he will likely overnight in Chamela and then arrive in Barra de Navidad.  How long that will take depends on the weather....he should arrive in Barra anytime after January 26.
When he contacts me I will load Patches into the car and we will drive to Barra.  It is about 500 km from here and will be my first long drive in Mexico by myself.  I did drive from Canada here and back alone but Bob was in another vehicle.  First time for everything.
Patches and I will spend a month on the boat and then we will return to Patzcuaro in early March.  Sometime in March Bob will head out into the wild blue yonder of the Pacific to Socorro Island etc.
 That trip will probably take him 2 weeks or more.  Although I am concerned (read freaked out)  at least now we have a satellite phone.  There is one problem...Bob has a cell phone but seldom turns it on, so if the same thing happens with the SAT phone it will make communication just that much more difficult.
Here I sit waiting for the phone call to hit the road to Barra.  But, don't get the wrong idea!  Little time is spent actually sitting around...there is Book Club, bridge, lunch with friends, people over for lunch...this week I have something that takes me out everyday so I am neither bored or pining!
Having said that I must be off to book club!