Captain's Log - Star Date February 21, 2010

Hi Everyone. We recently watched a Star Trek movie, hence the silly title.

After our home stint we flew first to Phoenix for the Barret Jackson Sale at the request of some racing friends. Lovely weather in Phoenix that weekend, rainy, windy, really cold. Our two days there really made us appreciate the 30 degree sunshine we encountered upon arrival in Puerto Vallarta again. We over-nighted at the boat, made sure everything was O.K. then flew to Guadalajara the next day to join our Mexican friends, David and Sandra and Pedro and Olga. We couldn't have planned a more special trip. Both couples have lived in this beautiful city and were very eager to show us everything they possibly could. We day tripped to Lake Chapala, a beautiful resort community, had a snack of local goodies and were serenaded by the best Mariachi band ever (if you like Mariachi), then we toured over to a village also on the lake called Ajijic (aheeheek) where many Canadians have second homes. We had a late lunch at a very quaint, very lovely hotel owned by an ex-Victoria family. Fantastic food and romantic history for both of our sets of friends - Pedro and Olga were engaged here. The next day we were shown and shopped through the prime shopping districts of Mexico, all things artsy come from Guadalajara no matter where you buy it. And finally we toured through the city center with it's stately Cathedral, Governor's Palace and a historic orphanage, all with beautiful architecture and important historical value. Guadalajara has a huge public market, of Granville Island BC quality. Our mission here was to purchase a molecajete for our boat (large stone dish with Stone pestle) lots of fun searching through the labyrinth of shops to find it. Of course through out our time in Guad. we ate superb food and drank copious amounts of good wine. There is a sandwich in Guad. that is a local specialty (can't be found anywhere else) called a drowned sandwich. It is tender bbq pork in a salty crusty roll smothered in tomatoe-y red sauce and topped with hot sauce. Pedro knew the best little hole in the wall shop to get these at. Yummy. We are very grateful to our friends for insisting that we visit them in Guadalajara, it was a must see.

Back in Puerto Vallarta, we are back on the dock no more than a half an hour when Glen hears somebody calling his name. It is a friend from Calgary, he and his wife and two other couples are staying at the Paradise Village Resort. Just by fluke this friend had walked by the marina on his way for food and saw Glen. So we spent the next two evenings enjoying this group's company. What a small world.

Now it's time to be boaters again and we leave the comforts of the marina and head out into the vast Pacific waters on our way further south. Our next destination will be Barra de Navidad. The plan is to do this trip in two or three days as there are a couple of supposedly nice anchorages along the way. After 10 hr of travel we pull into Chamela Bay just before dark, set the anchor well and snuggle in for dinner and a movie on board, our first night on our own for many days. At 10:00pm the wind starts to pick up, blowing right into the anchorage and by 11:00pm we have 6 ft swells coming into the bay from the ocean. The boat will not point into the waves, it insists on laying sideways to them causing huge sideways roll of the boat. As you may imagine this is not very comfortable and we rush to buckle everything down before it crashes from one side of the boat to the other. It becomes so extreme that we finally start the engines and use the bow and stern thrusters to keep the boat pointed into the waves while still on anchor. Will the anchor hold?????? By midnight we have decided that this is not a passing squall and it will be better to travel in it than to be anchored in it so since we will be up all night anyway, we haul anchor and head out, we should reach the next anchorage by dawn. Running in this weather is easy as the waves are coming right at our nose, it pours rain, the wind blows and our good old Mystery Ship plows along. Life is comfortable again. Dawn arrives and we are approaching the next anchorage. There is some chatter on the VHF radio and it is between two boaters that are on opposite sides of this large bay. The gist of the conversation is that both parties have had a rough night, neither is happy with their location and both are contemplating pulling up and heading to Barra de Navidad. So this basically decides what we are going to do so we keep on chugging and arrive at Barra about noon. This is bar none the most deluxe boat facility/resort along this coast. The majestic Grand Bay Hotel climbs up the hillside in architectural layers reminiscent of Morocco and Spain, it has two large pools, fitness areas - indoor and out, several restaurants and bars and views like no other. The marina is first class. A 24 hr water taxi service joins the resort to the small village of Barra de Navidad. The village is a collection of small hotels, multitudes of tourist shops, neat little restaurants and a couple of night clubs (glorified bars with music - very rustic but fun). This is the primo boating destination for most of the south cruisers and we run into many old acquaintances and make several more. This type of boating is very social. Happy hour is mandatory. We stayed at the Grand Bay Hotel last year when we were checking out places to go in Mexico, so we are quite familiar with this place. By now we are pretty much shopped out and the weather is so nice that we spend our days at the pool. I did yoga on the beach one morning (slept too late for every other class). Glen and I attended mass at the local church on Sunday - can't understand, but know the general program.
While we were in Guadalajara, we met Pedro and Olga's good friend Kiko and his girlfriend Miriam. Kiko has a resort house in Manzanillo, 40 mins from Barra. He picked us up from the boat, drove us through Manzanillo and up the winding road to his exclusive neighborhood and cliff side home. The property, home, views...are all stunning. We are definitely seeing how the upper class are living in Mexico. Kiko's resort home is great, but Glen and I really want to convince his cook - Pancha - that she should come on the boat with us. She prepared us lobster, octopus, dorado fish and abalone, all to perfection. Her breakfast a traditional breakfast of chiliquiles (spelling???) with eggs and bacon was good to the last crumb. Very nice people and so excited to share their lives with us. We Canadians have a long way to go in the friendly to strangers game. On the way back to Barra, Kiko stops us into the local fruit stands and helps us select the best specimens. We head out the next day.

Our next destination will be Ixtapa/Zihuatinejo. Again we plan on doing it in a couple over night anchor stops. We are ready for the rolly stuff this time. Our boat is equipped with things called "flopper stoppers" and they are big plates that hang into the water from big poles that swing out from the side of the boat and are held in place by a series of guy ropes. Mucho time consuming to set up but effective in limiting the rolling action of the boat in the ocean swells. Thankfully we don't have any storms happening and both of our anchor out nights are restful. We dive under the boat one day to replace worn zincs (long story as to what they are), but the water is too cloudy from the surging water to be able to drop down to the ocean floor and explore the sea life.
Next stop is Ixtapa. The marina is here and there are some hotels (not beach side) and apartment buildings, some restaurants, but the main attractions are all in Zihua which is a 15 min. cab ride away. Interesting little town, there is a very nice bay to anchor in and would probably be the best anchorage along the coast, but I am going home for a few days and Glen will be on his own so the marina will be the safest place to be. Well, as long as he stays clear of the alligator - Pedro. There is a sign on the dock, to watch small pets at all times, as Pedro has been know to snatch them for lunch. He is a big guy too - about 12 feet. He came by to check our boat out the first night of our stay. We do know he doesn't like tortillas - yes I know we aren't supposed to feed the wild life, but he didn't eat it so we didn't feed him - right?

Hasta Luego! See you later.