Canouan

CANOUAN

Canouan is a small island in the heart of the Grenadines. The island is browner then the other islands we have been to. They are suffering from drought. Wile we were here it rained just a little at night, the locals are hoping for a lot more. As we walked through the small town we encountered chickens and goats walking down the streets. One bank one police station and a few small stores is all it has to offer.

There is a new development on the northern part of the island that is gated with guards at the entry. Locales and visitors need to ask permission to enter. It is said that Trump is running a casino and is offering luxury apartments, a resort and private air strip here. We were tempted but stayed away.

We met up with Off Line the boater friends that we really like here. Jake is painting a picture of the “ugliest island.” He is an artist and I saw the painting before it was finished, it was really quite good. Carol and I did some snorkeling and swimming. Then off we both went to Union Island.

THE SEA OF CORTEZ

THE SEA OF CORTEZ

Arriving in the (sea) brought a rush of emotions flooding our very souls. A great accomplishment that didn’t come easily. After two years of sailing “we were almost home!” With the end of each day we find ourselves getting closer and closer to our destination. Both having deep feelings of emotions but in very different ways. We saver each day to its fullest.

This season since we were in Panama Pearl Islands. Everywhere we traveled the seas temperature has been really cold and the water was dark green, so dark that you couldn’t even see a foot below the surface. We stayed aboard the whole time. The (sea) was a welcoming sight. The (sea) is so beautiful; the water is light blue and the temperature inviting. We saw more whales, dolphins and jumping rays then in any other country.

We feel so fortunate to have our deer friends Royce and Pam (R-Dreamz) sailing with us. They have spent a lot of time here in the (sea) before, and know all the prime spots. We spend our days in the water. We hunt lobster and gather clams and scallops. The snorkeling is increasable. Most of the Islands are only a day sail away from each other. When we sailed early in the mornings pods of dolphins would come swim right next to the boat and play around for awhile. It’s so awesome.

These are the places that we stayed alone the way to San Carlos:

BALANDRA: A pretty cove, with a mushroom rock that cursers have their pictures taken in front of. There is also a bronze statue for divers to explore.

ISLA PARTIDA: We anchored in Caleta Partida Cove. The best anchorage in the Sea of Cortez Islands as far as protection from the sea and weather. Great rock scallops.



PUNTA EVARISTO: Nice anchorage. Good dinghy trips.

BAHIA AGUA VERDE: Beautiful place, we stayed here the longest. Has a little fishing village, known for making goat cheese. We paid the most ever for cerveza then anywhere else. “When you’re out your out!” This is where we found the most lobster. Lots of snorkeling at Solitaria Rock.

PUNTA SAN COSME: This place has a seasonal hot spring behind the NW end of the beach. You can use it as a big hot tub. Lots of places to explore with your dinghy including caves. This is where the trawler boat (The Cat’s meow) sunk. R-Dreamz was here when it happened, and played a big part in the rescue.

PERTO ESCONDIDO: (Hidden Port) is the vortex of cruising, fishing, diving and RV-ing in this region. We moored in the waiting room located outside of the marina. The marina was excellent really cruiser friendly, you could even do your own laundry yourself! We saw tons of jumping rays all around our boat every day. If you are planning on coming here plan on spending a lot of money on transportation, because the town of Loreto is 20 driving miles away without any amenities in between.

LORETO: Loreto is the largest town N of La Paz on the Baja side. I really enjoyed this town, because of its size and feeling of safety. We were fortunate to have R-Dreamz with us, they know a few locales that drove us around and showed us all the hot spots with free food at happy-hour. You can only day anchor here because it’s not a sheltered area.

SAN JUANICO: Great snorkeling on the reefs. We found lobster. There is a cruisers shrine under a tree on the beach. This is where cruisers have for many years put the name of their boats on something and hang it in the tree. We write Mystique on a piece of driftwood.

BAHIA CONCEPCION: This is a huge place it would take you a number of years returning here to get to visit all of the anchorages. We stayed in Santispacy and Bahia Coyote. Here we gathered so many clams and scallops that we couldn’t eat all of them while we were there. So we ended up throwing some back into the sea. This was our 1st big gathering spree it was so much fun.

ISLA SAN MARCOS: As we approached Sweet Pea Cove, we saw a large pod of whales. We could see them really good but couldn’t get them on film. There was lots of Rays jumping all around us. I loved this place. Lots of dinghy exploring with caves and nice small beaches. This is our last stop before making the crossing over to the mainland side and right into San Carlos Bay.

Now I’m getting really excited to get home. I really miss my family a lot. I think Carl is getting depressed; he would stay out here forever if he could. Getting back to reality is not something he looks forward to. The last night he stayed up all night staring at the stars and listening to the waves. I slept like a baby. I know that we can come back here in the fall; it’s not that far away. So this is the end of this journey but just the beginning of all the things we can do with our boat and all the new adventures that are to come.

LA PAZ

(THE PEACE)

More than 1,000 pleasure boaters spend many months and even years home-ported in La Paz. There are four marinas and large anchorages. La Paz is the capitol city pop. 190,000 plus and has the largest harbor in the Baja California Sur. La Paz lies about 150 sea miles from Los Cabos, 130 sea miles S of Loreto. It’s across on the Baja California side of the Sea of Cortez. Mazatlan was on the mainland of the Mexican Coast. We made good time crossing over, considering that we had to steer the whole way. There will only be one move long crossing left on this trip and that will be when we make the crossing back over to the mainland again to San Carlos.

We stayed in the Marina De La Paz for a few days. We met a lot of nice cruisers. We went into town a couple of times did some shopping and had dinner. Compared to the other large cities that we have been to in Mexico we thought that the landscape here was real plain and nothing really spectacular about it. We were kind of disappointed in away. Although the cruiser network here is awesome and the place was full of cruisers considering the economy. We are real excited to get under way to sail through the Sea of Cortez islands. We can swim now and the water is real clear.

MAZATLAN

There is no shortage of things to do in this beautiful port city known as “The Pearl of the Pacific.” The city itself is a lot smaller in size then Puerto Vallarta but is cherished by all cruisers that find their way to the pearl of the pacific. Cruisers stay here for years without venturing back out to sea. Mazatlan is the transitional area between the desert and the moister tropical forest area of the southern part of Mexico. The desert is only a short distance north to the Sea of Cortez.

We met up with Shadow at Marina Mazatlan. It sure was good to see Bill and Martha again. Martha found about twenty plus ferial cats on the docks. Of course she fed them every night and started a collection to have them spayed and neutered. Some cruisers thought it was a good idea and others were opposed. She had a hard time understanding why some people didn’t support her efforts. “I feel sorry for the babies” was her replay. She has a large heart and I think she should become a veterinarian.

Carl and Royce did some trouble shooting with our auto pilot while we were at the marina. It appeared that we might have problems with the prop. This really scared us. We checked out the emergency tiller and it wouldn’t turn, it was frozen! The emergency tiller is what you use if your steering would happen to fail. We decided to have the boat pulled out of the water and have a mechanic check things out, things that we couldn’t reach while Mystique remained in the water. We were so lucky a boat just left the hard and was put into the water that day. There was space for us right away. Carl had the boat hauled out while the girls went to old town shopping. Good news, the prop is fine. Bad news, Mystiques steering cables need to be totally taken out and replaced with new cable. The cables need to be ordered from Hunter in the US. This could take weeks, so we decided to sail the rest of the way home without them. Of course, the mechanic said that we will be able to make it just fine. The cables will be tight but will remain strong. If the steering would happen to go out the emergency tiller would become easy to steer. I guess our whole problem is rusty steering cables that are too tight for auto to move the wheel back and forth. We wish we found that out before we bought the boat!
We enjoyed Mazatlan a lot. We only stayed for a week, because we are getting very excited to reach the Sea of Cortez. It will take us two days and one night to reach Baja California heading toward La Paz. It’s a dream come true for us! It’s been a two year voyage and it’s so hard to believe we are so close. Again, mixed emotions good and bad about reaching our destination.

ISLA ISABELA
Jacques Cousteau came to this island about 30 years to film the rare Frigate birds nesting and some pristine underwater habitat. The whole island is made up from volcanic material and now is a National wildlife Preserve for all the Frigate and Booby birds that nest all over the island. See the picture of the Las Monas a strange looking volcanic figure. Volunteers come to this isolated island to study the birds during nesting season. They stay in the small cabins on the beach.

CHACALA BAY
Chacala Bay is 21 miles S of San Blas, MX. This was our 1st stop as we left Puerto Vallarta. After meeting up with R Dreams again in Puerto Vallarta we agreed to buddy boat all the way home to San Carlos together. Royce and Pam are really nice people, we really enjoy being with them and are looking forward to the trip.

Chacala Bay is about a half mile long, lined with mature coco palms and about a dozen palapa cantinas. The lower hills are topped with green trees. This area was a former plantation. Now upper class Mexicans live and play in this area. Our stay was so rolly that we were happy to get underway in the morning.

PUERTO VALLARTA

We arrived in Puerto Vallarta on our anniversary. We had a good dinner Peter joined us from Waltzing Metillda. The restaurant had parrots that you could pick up and hold they were so friendly. We stayed in La Cruz anchored in the bay for a few days. Carl was referred to a guy to fix the auto pilot that had an office in Nuevo Vallarta. So we rented a slip at Marina Nuevo Vallarta.

The marina was nothing great and wasn’t really pretty, but the people that lived on the docks were totally special! The price was cheap so we stayed there while they looked at our auto pilot. Like we said before it’s not the place but the people that make the place, a place that you will never forget. This was that kind of a place. Most of the boats on the docks were there for years, and had no intention of leaving soon. These were real cruisers that arrived here decided that this was a real paradise and just stayed here for years. Bob and Tikka took us in under their wings right off. They introduced us to their friends, took us to Taco Saturday, to a BBQ on Sunday and took us to the local hang-out for live music and pool, they were great people and they had a car!

The city is huge and really spread out. We loved Old Town the best. Tons of shopping, sand figures on the beach and a bar on every corner. I got to shop and Carl got his beer, can’t ask for much more than that.

It was really nice to be at a marina for awhile so we could clean the boat with fresh water, do laundry and just chill. Carl had two different guys look at auto. Neither one fixed it! So we head out steering again, a little up-set but we will get over it. Once we set the sails and the wind blew through our hair, we surly couldn’t complain. Life is good. (It’s good to be us!) Now we are heading to Mazatlan to meet up with Bill and Martha (Shadow.) Royce and Pam (R-Dreams) are going to buddy boat with us all the way to San Carlos. They don’t mind letting us stop at night to rest. They understand what it’s like not to have auto pilot, they also had to sail 600 miles without one. Bill just keeps on truckin saying we will see you there. Not half as much fun for us without auto! Maybe someone in the USA can make him work again like the guy that finally fixed our generator.