Suebee

Ensenada Grande

2009-04-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Here we go again!

Ensenada Grande was a small anchorage which we almost passed by. Thankfully we didn't as it was one of the most picturesque of all.

As we approach.

Look at the color of the water!

Notice the Cactus growing out of the rock.

More plant life. What a struggle these plants have to survive.

Notice the cross on top of the rocks. To see this you would wonder how they got it up there.

Just stark beauty.

Almost looks like a pyramid.

Taking a break.

Just look at these formations. This was fairly unique to this area.

Okay, I'm outta here.

Many, many caves.

The land looks like cake frosting running over.

I see two feet here, do you?

Can you believe the color of the water?

A camp area for kayakers.

Notice the Pelican on top of the rock.

Suebee's well deserved rest.

A young family.

Another great day.

And another good morning.

Just perfect.

So we must move on.

As we near La Paz, this Sea Lion is sunning himself.

Our adventure is nearing an end here in Mexico. Our good friends, Eric and Marilyn Anderson are flying in to La Paz to make the journey back to the States with us. More adventure more fun. We will post again when we arrive in San Diego, God willing, around May 17th (ish)

Isla San Francisco

2009-04-28T19:08:00.001-07:00

So, we start out with a sunrise.

Amazing geological features. This is a good example of the hazards of night sailing.

Looking back.

As we enter Isla San Francisco.

See the whale following?

Look again, you will see the baby on the left!

Isla San Francisco

Approaching Isla San Francisco.

Look at the various colors of the mountains.

Our dingy with Suebee in the background as we explore the island.

Beautiful beach with white sand.

Everything looks dead and then suddenly a wonderful sign of life.

Looking down on the beach and anchorage.

From up high, the other side of the island.

Another view.

Aqua Verde

2009-04-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a beautiful place. The name describes the water.

A view of the shoreline from Suebee.

A view of the anchorage.

Just beautiful.

This Pelican is diving for dinner.

Sue says there must be a store nearby. We are following the road.

Home here were neat and small. There seemed to be a lot of pride with landscaping and small gardens.

This was in the middle of "no where"!

A restaurant, with cold beer. Not easy to find but well worth it.

San Evaristo

2009-04-28T14:54:00.001-07:00

On our way to San Evaristo.

A view of the shoreline.

There is not really a "town" here but we found this sign in an isolated area by the salt ponds!

Looking towards shore from Suebee.

Good night (Buenas Noches)

A visiting Heron

And then there was two.

And more!

The towns de-salenation plant.

Suebee at anchor.

The Primary school.

The "Salt Ponds" where they commercially "harvest" salt.

The small housing area by the salt ponds.

Two women getting their water from the community well.

Dolphins

Playing

Good morning.

Los Islotes

2009-04-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

Leaving Partida we went by Los Isotes, where thousands on Sea Lion live and play on these dramatic rocks.

Look closely. They are there.

El Cardonal and Partida Cove

2009-04-28T14:31:00.001-07:00

This was our first anchorage in the Sea.

The daily sunset.

Looking from Suebee out to the sea from our anchorage.

Fishing shacks along the beach. There was not a lot of fishing activity during our stay.

Walking across the dunes on a narrow spot that separates on side of the island to the other.

Another view of the shore. White sand and blue/green water.

Looking back towards the anchorage.

Beautiful dessert scenery.

The end of another great day.

We wok up the next morning to see this National Geographic ship in our anchorage.

We picked up his hitch hiker.

There's always time to relax.

The Pelicans flying low in formation.

Sea of Cortez

2009-04-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

We are finally sailing north through the Sea of Cortez, The following pictures were taken just outside of La Paz and do little to demonstrate the dramatic landscape that we experienced.

Isla Ballena

Calleta El Candelero, Look closely and you will see the rock formation that looks like a Candelabra!

Loreto

2009-04-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

Loreto is a delightful town about 220 mils north of La Paz and as far north as we will get in the Sea of Cortez.Looking down the Malecon.

Another view of the Malecon

Look closely. This is not a real Palm tree but a cell tower in disguise!

Isla Los Coronados

Another great sunset. This seems to happen every day.

From the highway between Escondido and Loreto.

Looking down one of the streets in Loreto near the Cathedral and the Mission.

A view from a distance of the bell tower on the Cathedral.

The town square with dancing and live music.

A closer view of the bell tower.

The side entrance to the Cathedral next to the Mission.

The main entrance.

In side the church. One of the locals was quick to point out that this was real gold!

And more gold. This was really a work of art.

The statues along the sides of the church were very realistic.

Another statue.

Outside again in the courtyard.

Entering the Mission Courtyard. This was the first Mission to be established and what would be the El Camino Real. They were established from here to Sonoma County (CA)

The courtyard.

A very old canoe, carved from a solid piece of wood!

This looked interesting although we were unable to find out what it actually did. We really do need to work on our Spanish.

This was a water wheel.

Port of Escondido

2009-04-28T13:50:00.001-07:00

A short trip to the Port of Escondido. As you can see by the lack of pictures, there is not much going on here. Things pick up during the "Loreto Fest" when dozens of boats show up for this annual event.

The anchorage.

A view of the Singular boat yard. These facilities are owned by the government. Lots of employees, few customers!

Looking West from the Port. Dramatic mountains.

Todos Santos

2009-04-28T13:31:00.001-07:00

We took a day trip to Todos Santos, by car. Todos Santos is on the Pacific side of Baha and only a one and a half hour drive from La Cruz.

It was Palm Sunday, and after all the people of the church received their Palms and an outdoor celebration, there was this short procession to the Cathedral. Very colorful.

The architecture here was very much like Santa Barbara (CA). Here is the local ice cream store.

Looking down Main Street

This entire wall and mural was done in tile.

Another example of the architecture.

Hotel California. Remember the song by the Eagles? This is it!

The lobby area.

Another lobby picture.

A view from our table as we had lunch at the Hotel California. These guys keep a close watch.
A walk on the beach close to town.And the sunset. The end of a great day.

La Paz

2009-04-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

How cool is this? This is the pool at the "Beach Club" here at Costa Baha Marina in La Paz.

The Cathederal in La Paz. It is surrounded by olive trees and across the street from the town square.

Across from the Cathederal is this "pretend" Starbucks. They can't fool us.

The front of a really great grocery store (tienda) in La Paz.

A night picture of the fountain at Costa Baja.

There is a seashore museum here at the marina. This is an example of the incredible display of sea life.

A common scene in Mexico, especially on Sundays, where the families gather on the malicon and dance to live music.

One of the statues, all made of metal, along the malecon in La Paz.

Another example. They are much better in person.

In our marina. Look closely and you will see our new helicopter. (on top of the BIG boat!)

Off to La Paz

2009-03-28T16:32:00.001-07:00

We sailed off to La Paz early the next morning after a good nights sleep at anchor.

During the crossing Sue came down the deadly and famous companionway, the boat going Starboard, Sue going Port, hitting her side on the Galley counter. Sues 10th rib was broken so we will lay low for two weeks in La Paz before sailing out to the islands in the Sea and probably further north. Since we are grounded, we are going to drive across Baha to the town of Todos Santos. This is an art village with lots of charm so check our blog for pictures and stories.

Note, you can click on any image to enlarge the view.

Los Muertos

2009-03-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

Here is a school of Dolphins welcoming us to Los Muertos. We sailed all night so this was a wonderful sight. Los Muertos means "Cove of the Dead". Once a thriving port bring supplies for silver mines and later salt. This was a quite, calm anchorage for an evening of rest.

Big cactus here.

The road to La Paz. Plenty of dust. They are doing a major development here, golf course and all. It will be beautiful, but we like the "old west" feel it has now. You can almost see the early settlers trekking across the desert.

A look from shore toward the anchorage.

Of course, a restaurant looking out to the bay. This was the original Giggling Marlin, since sold to new owners.

Crossing the Sea

2009-03-28T16:24:00.001-07:00

The beginning of the crossing, early in the morning. Lots of fishing vessels. This one is a shrimp boat. Mazatlan claims to be the "Shrimp Capital" of the world. Almost every menu item has shrimp on it. They are delicious and cheap.Sunset on the Sea of Cortez crossing.
Looking at our chart plotter late in the night. Click on the picture to enlarge it and see if you can tell Suebee's position.

Mazatlan

2009-03-28T16:18:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately we did not spend near enough time in Mazatlan even on our 2nd visit. Weather called us as there was an excellent "weather window" for crossing the Sea of Cortez. We took an evening cab ride to Old Town, Mazatlan. We must come back some day. Below are a few highlights.

A street characteristic of Old Town, Mazatlan.
Two pictures outside the Cathedral.

Another outside. Pictures, at least ours, do not do justice to the beauty of this Cathedral.

Here is the cab we were in. Fun on a warm evening.

Suebee is in the middle looking at her stern. She is ready to sail again.

Isla Isabela

2009-03-28T16:11:00.001-07:00

Here we are, anchored at Isle Isabela (yes, I am spelling it correctly). This anchorage became the king of rock and roll all night! It was still worth the stop. Isle Isabela is an uninhabited island except for the Warden who oversees the bird sanctuary, along with a small fishing village. Jacques Cousteau and National Geographic, featured this island in television specials.

This island is home to thousands of Frigate Birds. Here is a male blowing up the red "bubble" to attract the female for mating. We witnessed that this works well!

Here is a baby Frigate, demonstrating the results of the mating routine.

This island is one of the few areas that are refuge for the Blue Footed Booby birds.

Here you can see mom and baby. There is so many feathers on the baby they appear to be as large as the full grown Boobys. They allow you to get fairly close before getting upset.

A closer look. Check out the blue feet.
See the family behind us?

Here is a Gecko moving on. All in all, this was a very rewarding stop on our journey.

Chacala

2009-03-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

Sailing north from La Cruz we stopped and anchored in Chacala. Big surf here for a rock and roll sleep. This picture is from Suebee looking ashore.

This is along a pathway on the way from the dinghy beach towards town.

Looking up the beach.

From the beach we see Suebee. She has not moved on anchor, a good thing.

Pineapples are abundant.

After a wonderful day we are presented with a amazing sunset. Off to Isle Isabela in the morning.

Back to La Cruz

2009-03-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

On our sail back north, we stop at La Cruz for a few days. This has become one of our favorite places on the Banderas Bay. It retains it's small town roots even though it is growing, with a first class marina and some new residential developments.

One evening we attended a fund raiser for the local schools. The children were fantastic. It is such a delight to see "Traditions" continue with the young.

The children performed flawlessly.

Dancing girls with traditional dresses.

Beautiful.

We were invited to dinner to John and Gilley's home, along with John and Sharon from "Warren Peace", in Punta Mita, a residential community on the Banderas Bay. This is the view from their balcony. John and Gilley have the boat named "Destiny", another Catalina 42.

Dinner is served.

A not so becoming picture of Scott relaxing on Suebee.
Mexican coffee being prepared at our table. It is quite a production.

Pouring the flaming coffee in the cups. Do you think alcohol is involved?

Chamela

2009-03-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

Our trip back from Navidad included an overnight anchorage with Wally and Linda on "Andanzas", another Catalina 42. This bay is at the edge of the town called Chamela.

Here is a photo from Suebee of the town, or more accurately, the Palapas. You guessed it, restaurants.

A Bit More of Bara

2009-03-28T15:38:00.001-07:00

As Bara de Navidad was our "home base" for 25 days, we did a lot of venturing out as Suebee rested. The following photos are more of Bara, a delightful town with beautiful surrounding areas.

A very high tide. A good place for fish to get some shade below those umbrellas!

The entrance to the golf country club.

A walkway along the course.

A courtyard at the Country Club.

One of the fairways.

Playing Rummy with Wally and Linda by the pool. This "cruising" is exhausting!

On our sail out we were entertained by the Dolphins.

And the Turtles.
This cross is at the entrance to the bay at Navidad.

Inland to Colima

2009-03-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

We decided that we needed an inland fix so we rented a car and drove to the town of Colima, which is the State Capitol of the State of Colima. The contrast between inland towns and coastal towns is dramatic. Inland towns are less "touristy" and there seems to be a more normal life. The other contrast is well paved streets, clean cars and finished buildings. Our regret is that we didn't allow more time to explore.

The above picture is apparently a celebration for this old gentleman's birthday. He appeared to be 100! He was laughing, singing and drinking Corona!

Here is a closer picture of him.

The murals on the wall of the Federal Building were simply amazing. This is a staircase up to the second floor.

Here is the courtyard at the Federal Building.

And here is the exterior.

The architecture was beautiful, as were the many town squares. There is a lot of pride in the community here.

The Cathedral. Beautiful.

Inside the Cathedral. There seems to be continuous services at the Church's.

Another Town Square. The landscaping is elaborate and well maintained.

We will spare you the food picture, but we are here across from the Square.

Manzanillo

2009-02-23T19:38:00.001-08:00

Here we go on a day trip to Manzanilo. This is where our taxi picked us up at the Las Hadas Hotel.

Here we are. I honestly don't know what we were all looking at! Just beyond us you can see the Mexican Navy Fleet here. This town is a major port and Navy base.

This was a pretty impressive work of art.

Downtown. You will notice we spared you the usual restaurant shot.

Another shot of downtown. This is a very busy marketplace with mostly local residents shopping.

Here is an overhead shot of the fruit and vegetable marketplace. Huge selection and the food prices here in Mexico are very reasonable by our standards in the States. For an example, avocados are about 25 cents each. At first we thought the prices were high per pound but soon learned it was by Kilo, one Kilo being 2.2#'s.

Valentines Day

2009-02-23T19:30:00.000-08:00

So, what does this photo have to do with Valentines Day? This is a potluck dinner we had on Suebee before our trip to Las Hadas. Our friends John, Rosie, Wally, Linda, Kat, Jay and Kensey were all here on Suebee. After dinner, Jay announced that the guys have been planning a rather elaborate Valentines Eve celebration when we arrived in Las Hadas. The guys were surprised but we took our assignments seriously and the following photos will show this.

Here is the dinner. (you may rightfully think a lot of this trip has to do with food). We had a great dinner along with some live music!

John made these hearts for the ladies along with the bouquet. He apparently paid attention in arts and crafts class.

This was our pre dinner appitizers on KatDenRei. Jay wants us to believe he did this alone.

Las Hadas

2009-02-23T18:19:00.001-08:00

Here we are, off for a short sail to Las Hadas, an area just south of Barra Navidad. We had a "floatilla" going here with "Andanzas", "KatDenRei" and "Eager Dreamer" along.

Our friends Wally and Linda took this shot along the way. As you can see, the dingy is in "tow". This is an easy way to bring it along for the short sails. For the long sails the dingy goes on the bow.

Here we are coming into Las Hadas

The walkways around the Marina here at the Las Hadas Hotel are magnificent.

Early one morning Suebee had this visitor.

Here is Kensey with Wally and Linda's dog "Angel".

One of the many restaurants in the bay. This one was right off our stern when we were at anchor. The disco here provided some evening music for us.

Here is a photo of the hotel. This is where the movie "10" was filmed. There was no sign of Bo Derek or Dudley Moore or Julie Andrews around.

Another view.

Fabulous sunrises and sunsets here.

How many rooms here?

A better view of the private beach.

The Bougainvilleas were in full bloom.

The view from Paradise breakfast where we had breakfast one morning.

Barra Navidad/The Town

2009-02-08T15:37:00.001-08:00

This is a fun, clean and friendly little town.
It seems much busier and more organized than most of the towns we have visited.
The towns people are very proud of this new church that was just completed on the same site as the old one they tore down.
Here is the outside of the church.

The usual shops with lots of color.

And then there is the meat market.

And you can buy ALL the parts of the chicken (pollo).

The produce is plentiful here.

And to spice up that meal....
Here is what it's all about! This is lobster, shrimp and pasta, all cooked on John and Rosies boat, "Eager Dreamer".

Navidad/The Marina and Hotel

2009-02-08T15:16:00.000-08:00

Here is Suebee's new home for several days. She never let's us down and is always ready for the next adventure.
And just across the dock is the Iguana. (look closely). There are 2 of them that seem to reside right here next to our dock.

This is our view at dock through the cockpit of Suebee. If the wall looks familiar, it is the one with the Iguanas.

The hotel has several private beaches, lots of chaise lounges and very few people.

Another walkway around the pools and beach.

This is a view of one of the hotels beaches.

Here is the view of the hotel from Suebee.

Another view. The hotel is magnificent with hundreds of rooms, restaurants, gym, pools, tennis and shops. What is amazing is how well kept it is and how many people work here, especially considering it is only 10% occupied, on average. It belongs to wealthy Mexican families, some sort of tax thing I would guess.

And yet another view.

Another!

A view off our stern.

There are many "mega" yachts here, giving Suebee a bit of a complex.

If we leave soon, we do not have much space to back out!

Same boat, different angle.

Bara Navidad

2009-02-08T14:58:00.000-08:00

Here we are, approaching Barra Navidad and the Grand Bay Hotels Marina. After 2 weeks at anchor we were ready for some solid ground.

Beautiful flowers on shore.
It is hard to see but the blue is one of the hotels pool.

From the upper floors of the hotel we could look down at the bay we sailed through.Looking further south we could look down on the marina. "Suebee" is there on the upper left, trust me on this.

And, right next to our berth, every morning, arrives the "French Baker" (he really is French) with his freshly baked breads and pastries. They are too good and it is too easy!

More Tenacatita

2009-02-03T05:44:00.000-08:00

Here is another area we took our dinghy to for more snorkeling. The rock formations are incredible.

Another example.

Look closely for the Pelicans.

Sue's last meal before we sail south from Tenacatita.

We are off to Barra Navidad. We had a great 14 days at anchor in Tenacatita.

See that rock far off? That is Rocco Centro and it needs to be avoided.

Manzanilla

2009-02-03T05:38:00.000-08:00

Across the Tenacatita bay is the small town of Manzanilla. Cute and clean with lots of Canadians and Americans around. Good bakeries and coffee shops.

And, did I mention Crocodiles?

Great, fresh tortillas every day.

Of course we had to stop and eat with our friends John and Rosie.

Duck Race Day

2009-02-03T05:32:00.000-08:00

Yes, Duck Race Day! An annual event in need of a major sponsor. This would be our version of a "tailgate" party.

Here are the competitors. We pick our favorites, bet pesos and they get dumped in the bay. First one to shore is the winner. What could be more exciting?

Here they come.

Closer and closer. Ours is not a winner.

"Where did the ducks go?

Bahia Tenacatita

2009-02-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

Here we are in Bahia Tenacatita. This view is from our "Suebee"
On our first side trip in the dinghy we are going on a jungle tour up the canal to the town of Tenacatita. This is the entrance to the canal from the Bahia (bay.)Another view of the canal entrance. It was at this location that Mc Hales Navy (the movie) was filmed in the late 90's. Just beyond the group of people on the right was the pier where the PT Boat was docked.

Here we are going up the canal just before the jungle.

Our friends John and Rosie leading the way.

Now we are in the jungle area. We saw many birds, crabs and a crocodile!

This is the town of Tenacatita. It is hard to tell in this picture, but there are probably 20 restaurants along here, every one of them with a large Carona sign. This street runs along the beach just to the left of the picture.

Beyond the town, we walked down to the beach to an area called the "Aquarium". It is a popular snorkeling spot so naturally that is what we did. Many fish, black and yellow stripped, blue fish, silver fish that swim in "schools" of hundreds and many coral reefs.

It is 7 AM and here we are sitting on "Suebee", drinking coffee in the warm morning air. Are you feeling sorry for us yet?

And then we went to work, preparing our morning appetizers. Looks like John and Rosie are going to dinghy over and help us.

We are going South from La Cruz

2009-02-02T11:47:00.000-08:00

Here we go at about 4:30 PM looking back on La Cruz.

Heading Southwest to go around Punta Corrientes. Out destination is Bahia Tanacatita, about 100 miles from here. It will be a long night but the air is warm and calm.

One of the many beautiful sunsets we have seen. We will be close to Bahia Tenacatita when we see this sun again. We will anchor there for a few days.

La Cruz

2009-02-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

We spent 10 days here at the Marina in La Cruz. Wonderful little town with lots of good food. The above picture is our "Suebee" awaiting it's next venture down the coast.

This picture is from the Marina looking back to some homes here in La Cruz

Here is the La Cruz Yacht Club and restaurant. Good food and a wonderful lounge. The walkway between the Marina and Banderas Bay. This area has all been recently re developed and was just opened last year.

Yelapa

2009-01-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

What a great little bay anchorage on the South side of Banderas Bay. We sailed over here with Rog and Di for lunch and a swim. No dissapointments. Good food and clear, warm water. As far as we know, this village has no power or running water. That does not stop them from restaurants, good service and freindly locals.

A view behind the restaurant. See the stovepipe?

Another view. The burros job was to watch the garbage.

The kitchen.

The eaters.

Looking across the bay from our table. Nice view.

of grass roofed homes.

This has it's own charm. High bank water frontage. You would pay millions for this in California!

Heading back to Nuevo Vallarta. Wonderful end to the day.

Sayulita

2009-01-03T13:37:00.000-08:00

Breakfast, delivered and cooked right up to our boat! The Mexicans our very creative and work very hard to support their families.

Photo below is another example. Fresh Pinnaples.

Sayulita is a very small town North East of Vallarta. Although extreamly crowded, it has a special charm to it. Very popular locally for it's surfing, the bay is beautiful. A long walk on the beach going North gets you away from the crowds and by some large oceanside estates.

Here is the Burrow carrying his wares.

The French restaurant.

The beach walk going North.

Danger

2009-01-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

The dangers we live with here at Paradise Village Marina! This is a sign posted at our dock. We have not seen one yet. Perhaps we should put a chicken out on the dock.

December in Mexico

2009-01-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

December in Mexico is a fun time. In this mostly Christian country which is mostly Catholic we see many Nativity scenes. What is interesting is that they do not put Baby Jesus in the manger until Christmas morning! At first we thought he was stolen, then found out the tradition here.

The following pictures represent our local activities while we stay in Nuevo Vallarta. We have fished, ate, shopped and visited many towns here. Paradise Village is not representative of what we consider "real" Mexico so we spend most of our free time in other towns. Later blogs will tell more of the local area as does this one.

Here is the fish we caught, Rog gets the glory but we all ate it!

A view of Punta Mita on the way to the fishing grounds. You can almost see the Four Seasons Resort.

The planning committee for the big fishing expedition.

Dinner with friends in La Cruz

Christmas display in downtown La Cruz

Line up, Cindy is cutting hair!! Cindy and Cory came to visit and we put her to work.

Not a good look but my hair got shortened.

Relaxing on a summer eve in La Pinita, at the B & B Casa de Los Amigos. This is

the wonderful place that Rosalie Hope owns (from the Hope Bosworth Inn in Geyserville)

Dinner with our friends at Casa de Los Amigos, John, Rosie and Rosalie

The view of our room. There is only 3 rooms here so it feels like your own home.

The beach walk from Bucerias to La Cruz

More of the beach walk

Sue and Scott getting a little rest

This is the view from our resting place

A view from our lunch table in the town of Bucerias. We have visited this town two times now. We walked this day from here to La Cruz on the beach, about 6 miles.

"There must be a place to shop here"

We received 1st place in the boat decorating contest here at Paradise Marina in Nuevo Vallarta! Thanks to our penguin putting in endless hours on the bow of our boat. Probably the most photographed penguin in the world, she brought many smiles to passer byes.

Wishing you..................

2008-12-21T12:13:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from Scott and Sue

Puerto Vallarta Photos

2008-12-19T12:32:00.000-08:00

Some art along the beach in downtown Puerto Vallarta

Sand art on the beach

John and Rosie and a tall Margarita

Sue ate the whole thing!

Some Older Photos

2008-12-19T12:03:00.000-08:00

This is Shanna, our crew for the San Diego to Cabo run. She was a great help, especially those long nights as we sailed 24 hours a day! Prior to San Diego and since Cabo Sue and I have sailed "Suebee" alone.

This was us leaving San Diego on October 27th.

Chili Cook Off

2008-12-09T09:39:00.000-08:00

As you can see, were having fun. We participated in the annual Chili Cook Off at the Vallarta Yacht Club. This is a fund raiser for the children of the dump. Yes, families actually live and survive living at the dump here in Puerta Vallarta. The fund raiser was a success and the team we helped won 2nd place! We were called "Chili of the Gods".

The booth next to us was a "Chopper" group and Sue and our friend Rosie wandered over for a photo op with the Canadian Mounty.

Just Hangin' in PV

2008-12-09T09:18:00.000-08:00

So, here we are, still in Puerta Vallarta. Wonderful weather every day. We have not done anything extrodinary lately but relax. We are planning our sail south for early January. We will sail back north mid February and make many anchorages along the way with our destination to be La Paz in late March. We will then sail the Sea of Cortez for a couple of months before heading home.

The very unflattering picture of Scott is in La Pinita on a very dark night, just minutes after falling face first in the "creek". Fortunately, as a result of my Fire Department days, I have had my Hepititas shots, and, I am still here!

Puerto Vallarta

2008-11-28T09:04:00.000-08:00

Lots of time has passed since our last update. The new pictures here are from Turtle Bay and Cabo. More photos soon.

We left Cabo two weeks ago and headed for an anchorage called los Frailes. After beating our way up the coast for 5 hours, Eager Dreamer, Andazas and us (Suebee) decided to turn right and commit to a 23 hour sail to Mazatla. For 14 1/2 hours we had a wonderful "beam reach" sail without the sound of our engine. We were averaging 7 1/2 knots the entire time. Around 4:30 AM, the wind had picked up to around 25 knots and becoming a bit uncomfortable, wishing we had reefed about an hour earlier. As it was too late for that, we reefed under less than ideal conditions and sailed on.

Our arrival to the Mazatlan Jetty entrance to the marinas was not for the faint of heart. As we arrived at low tide the water was shallow and the surf was up. Bottom line, we made it but hindsight says we should not have tried. All three boats concur!

Our stop in Mazatlan was short, more for R & R for 2 nights as we will visit here again for a longer stay early next year on our way up to the Sea of Cortez.

As we become smarter, we left Mazatlan at high tide and slack current. We motor sailed with Eager Dreamer for 30+ hours to Puerta Vallarta. Not much sea life except for what seemed like 100 fishing boats around mid night. We weaved our way through and on to PV.

The arrival here was less eventful. That is a good thing. We have a slip here at Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta. A 5 Star resort area, the amenities are many. We must admit, this is not the "real" Mexico we love so much. We have made many friends at the Vallarta Yacht Club and made many side trips. Lunch in the mountain area called La Estancia in San Sebas---Tian, another lunch at the cute little town of La Cruz and yet another lunch in the town of Bucerias (real Mexico), Home Depot, Sam's Club and bought a fresh cooked chicken on the walkway.

We went to the movies and saw the new James Bond film. I hated it, Sue liked it. We are participating in the annual Chili Cook Off on December 6th. More about that later.

Thanksgiving was a unique and fun experience back in the town of La Cruz. We joined John and Rosie from Eager Dreamer and Hank and Betsy from Equinox at a restaurant there called Philos. They cook the turkey and gravy, everyone brings a large side dish and all Phillo wants, and gets, is for us to buy lots of drinks! Philo, a real person from Canada, has a small band with a terrific Sax player that provided live entertainment and they were really good. Of course, after dinner we walked down to the La Cruz Yacht Club for after dinner drinks.

Our next adventure will be a day in Bucerias and then Monday, John, Rosie, Sue and I are off to La Pinita for a stay at our favorite B & B, Casa De Los Amigos for a boat break and a real bed. The owner of the B & B is Rosalie Hope, from the Hope Bosworth Inn in Geyserville, near where we live. This will be our (Sue and Scott) 4th visit and where we honeymooned a few years back.

We will get back to serious cruising in January, heading south. Our friends on Kat Den Rie and Di's Dream should be here any day.

Cabo

2008-11-10T09:08:00.000-08:00

We sailed into to Cabo last Thursday to sunny skies and warm weather. We have had limited access to the internet so we will update in detail soon. We are sailing to Mazatlan starting tommorrow.

San Diego and Off to Cabo

2008-10-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

We have spent several days here in San Diego enjoying the weather and sights. Most days were spent "boat related" in preparation for our voyage to Cabo. The day has finally arrived and we will be sailing out at 8AM Monday, October 27th.

Today we attended the kick off cosume party for the Baha Ha Ha.. We went as Bees and hung out with the Blues Brothers, a Nun, Popeye and Olive Oil and many other creatures and people.

We will be limited for a bit in our ability to update the blog but we will do it when possible.

San Diego has much to offer with a world class zoo, Balboa Park, many museums, Old Town, the Gaslight District, waterfront parks and the beautiful Coronado Island. All of this plus every marine/boat supply store in the world!

Baha Ha Ha Countdown

2008-10-18T18:42:00.001-07:00

Well here we are, in San Diego. Our adventure down to Cabo starts in 10 days, on Monday, October 27th.

We have been busy doing boat projects and we should be ready to go. Michael and Judy Stouffer will be here Friday the 24th and we will do our last provisioning and attend a few parties. Our costumes are ready for the Halloween Event the day before we leave.

Next week we will be tourists and see the sights in San Diego.

Dana Point

2008-10-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Dana Point safely, after a bumpy ride the first two hours from Catalina. It looks like we picked a good time to leave Catalina as the Santa Ana winds picked up significantly after we left, and it was not nice then!

Dana Point is a nice spot for a break for a couple of days. Our friends on Kat Den Rie were already there as they met one of Jay's lifetime friends there, Tom. He took us all to breakfast Monday morning in San Clemente. You don't have to love Richard Nixon to love this town.

Tuesday morning, early, off to San Diego. We will be there as you read this, so more later.

Catalina Island

2008-10-13T12:55:00.000-07:00

What a great few days we had on Catalina Island. We moored in the "Fourth of July Cove". It was peaceful and private. The first three days the weather was perfect, the last two were not. Big winds and big swells. After two sleepless nights constantly checking on what needed to be tied down and the many usual checks of making sure we were staying put, we decided to move on to Dana Point for a restful day or two. We did not leave too soon as our friends on "Eager Dreamer", John and Rosie, called us. They are still there, enduring 30+ knot winds. Hopefully they can get out tomorrow (Tuesday) and catch up to us.

After the first sleepless night, we boarded our dingy to go to shore (coffee of course, our new pot broke) only to find a 14' dinghy and it's 50 HP outboard sitting ON the dock. Another was totally upside down, propeller standing tall. We were greeted by the Harbor Patrol asking, "how was your night". They were out patrolling all night. They were kind enough to stand by our boat when we were leaving as another boat was moored close to our Starboard side.

Oxnard and Beyond

2008-10-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

So, we had a nice 10 hour motor/sail to Oxnard from Santa Barbara. We stayed there for 4 days, relaxed, re provisioned, walked the beach and went to their Farmers Market. Not much else to say about Oxnard. Beautiful new marina and Vons was a scenic 30 minute dinghy ride.

We are off to Catalina Island for a few days starting October 6th. That will be fun.

Santa Barbara

2008-10-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

Today is October 1st and our last day in Santa Barbara. It has been a wonderful layover and we were going to leave 2 days ago but, that nasty water leak showed up again. I finally have it under control. Not to panic, it is a fresh water leak so we are not sinking. New parts await us in San Diego so I can make a permanent fix before we are off to Mexico.

Our new friends from Monterey, Richard and Marci, "dropped by" for a surprise visit a couple of days ago. What a great surprise. They even drove Sue and Katherine to Ralph's for provisions!

It has been warm here and we have done plenty of walking. No Peet's coffee but the Santa Barbara Roasting Company is great.

This evening we went to the Santa Barbara Yacht Club for a glass of wine and a beer. They had their Wednesday evening races and it was fun to see all those spinnakers out there.

Off tomorrow to Santa Cruz Island, specifically Smugglers Cove where we will meet up again with Jay, Katherine and Kensey on "Kat Den Rie".

Coho

2008-09-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

Coho was a pleasant surprise after an easy 11 hour sail, except for 1/8 mile visibility most of the day.

We arrived at the Coho anchorage around 5 or so PM to sunny skies. Our expectations were low for this anchorage but to our delight it was quite pleasant with a beauty of it's own. Not unlike some of the Baha Coast in Mexico. Anyway, we dropped anchor, had an early dinner and relaxed to a beautiful sunset.

The evening was full of surge, so we rocked and rolled most of the night. As our sleep was interrupted, we made frequent checks to see if we were holding anchor. We were (whew).

Up in the morning and off to Santa Barbara.

Morro Bay

2008-09-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

We woke early at our anchorage in San Simeon in thick fog. We watched Jay, Katherine and Kensey take their kayaks to shore. Jay took a shallow dip in the surf and not to be outdone, Kathrine threw her whole body in!

Our motor sail to Morro bay was an easy passage even though we had thick fog and little visibility most of the day. We were rewarded with clear skies and an easy entrace to Morro Bay. We rafted up at the Morro Bay Yacht Club dock. They are very accommodating.

After "Docktails" with the Watt's and our new friends, Scott and Debbie, from Seattle on their boat "Viva", we all went to dinner and back to the boat. We will depart Thursday at 7 AM as we will have a 10-12 hour sail to the Coho Anchorage, our last stop before Santa Barbara.

San Simeon

2008-09-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful spot to drop anchor. We arrived under sunny skies and an easy sail. We toasted the Watt's across the water, fired up the BBQ and had a relaxing evening and an early to bed. It would have been wonderful to spend an entire day here but based on our "weather window" it is prudent that we keep moving south.

Our next destination is Morro Bay, always a port to be anticipated with mixed emotions. Often it is so foggy you have to feel your way in. At least we have the comfort of our helpers, "Otto", "Ray", "Radar" and "Chip". They will work 24/7 without food, shelter or sleep!

Stillwater Cove

2008-09-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally left Monterey and sailed to Stillwater Cove and anchored for the night. We were just off the 17th green at Pebble Beach! Wonderful weather, views peace and, what a sunset. The other thing about the day was that we finally had some decent sailing for a good part of the way.

Sailed off this morning during a beautiful sunrise with our destination being San Simeon.

All That Jazz etc.

2008-09-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

We are still in Monterey but not for long. Our friends Jay, Katherine and their daughter Kensey have joined us on their boat Kat Den Rie. You may follow their blog at www.katdenrie.blogspot.com also. It shares more information on our journey.

We will sail out tomorrow, Monday around noon and go to Stillwater Cove and drop anchor for the evening, then off to San Simeon.

Yesterday we all went to the Monterey Jazz Festival. Without elaborating, we were all disappointed.

We think we have covered all our friends recommendations for dining (including San Dabs) out here in Monterey so for the foreseeable future we will eat well on board. Jay has promised fresh clams this evening on their boat.

We are fueled up, pumped out and provisioned well. The blog should get progressively more interesting as we sail on. Pictures are coming as soon as Kensey shows me how to download.

Monterey

2008-09-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

We have come very close to overstaying our welcome here in Monterey. It seems that we attract fog and the word is getting out!

We have done all the tourist stuff. 17 Mile Drive (not in the boat), Carmel and all the coffee places within walking distance. We went to the Monterey Aquarium the other day and it was fantastic. The rest of Cannery Row and Fisherman's Wharf we shall leave to the "real" tourists. Much like San Francisco and Pier 39. We also visited the Monterey Bay Maritime Museum. Sure is a lot of history here.

We also went south a bit to see the Stillwater Cove anchorage. Lots of kelp but a great view of Pebble Beach.

Katherine and Jay sailed out the Gate this morning and we look forward to their arrival this Thursday. We should sail south late this week. Katherine and Jay are bringing our precious cargo, the "Suebee I Pod", courtesy of Michael and Judy Stouffer.

Dinghy and Movie Review

2008-09-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Yesterday we woke up so, therefore, off to a new coffee house. Why change a routine that works so well? We are getting a bit anxious to move Southerly, probably late next week after our friends Jay and Katherine Watt arrive in their Catalina 42.

Spent some time launching our new dinghy and rowing around the marina. Great little boat, a Walker Bay Inflatable. We shall try the motor on it in the next day or so.

Our daughter Katy and Craig came to visit so we did the liquid refreshment and some wonderful Calamari thing.

Today was cool and foggy, so off to the movies to see "Bottle Shock", a must for wine lovers, it is based on a true story. This one gets 3 Sails out of 4.

Work Day!

2008-09-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

Started today at Peet's Coffee, that was good. Came back to are beloved Suebee and noticed the bilge pump was busy doing its job. A quick taste test told us it was fresh water, not sea water. After many paper towels and sponge wringing we traced the leak to the shower and a loose fitting. Easy fix, hard to find. Sue was delighted that the bilge got an extra special cleaning in the process.

Finally aired up the dinghy so we can play around the harbor.

Weather has been great but foggy in the AM. Off to Cannery Row for the evening.

Cheers.

Monterey

2008-09-04T21:06:00.001-07:00

We arrived in Monterey last evening to beautiful weather. The sail (motor too) from Half Moon Bay to Monterey was extremely "rolly" with 9' seas every 9 seconds and little wind. We did some exploring here today, found Peet's Coffee, Trader Joe's and a wash and fold! Suebee is all cleaned up and ready for the next "leg", probably to San Simeon.

Friday is the start of the annual Cherry Festival so we will check that out.

We made it out!

2008-08-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

It's official, were gone! Sailed under the Golden Gate yesterday at 12:30 PM in wonderful sunshine only to hit the fog with 1/4 mile visibility for the entire sail to Half Moon Bay. Seas were at 7' but gentle rollers. Found our slip, relaxed and went to dinner.

It is now Saturday at 12;20 and the sun is shining. We will stay here until the weather looks good for our sail to Santa Cruz/Monterey.

Stay in touch for more exciting news.

Scott and Sue

almost gone

2008-08-26T06:56:00.000-07:00

August 26th: Last of the packing! We will leave for Sausalito Wednesday the 27th. Not so exciting yet but we shall pass under the Golden Gate Friday around 12:30 Pm, accompanying our Catalina 42 will be our friends sailing a Catalina 34 and a Catalina 380 .

"We won't know where were going till we get there" is our motto. Actually our first stop will be Half Moon Bay.

Scott and Sue