December ‘94
*Additional notes may appear in italics after my mom’s initial journal entries.
A ladybug means you should check the comments at the bottom of the page to see what Mom has chimed in on after reading these!
December 1, Thursday
I can’t believe it’s already December! It was 74° this morning at 8 am – we are 100 miles east of Cabo with 134 to go to Isla Isabella. Beautiful day for sailing – 12 to 15 knots out of the north all day. At one point, John said it was 19,000 feet deep. Whooo!
Another peaceful night. Passed a few other sail boats, but not closer than 5 miles – not too bad.
*It’s so funny to me how you can ride in a car going 65+ miles per hour on the freeway, literally inches from cars on either side of you - but then you step on a boat and anything within even a few miles of you is something to keep your eye on. A lot of it is the unknown below in more shallow areas, but also because boats do not maneuver like a car in any way. You can’t exactly just “hit the breaks” or make sharp turns. There are features now, like thrusters, which greatly help a boat’s maneuverability, but in general, boats need wide berths and room for slowing/stopping. When I think about multiple sailors being alerted to something on the horizon, the image is like gophers popping up out of their holes to scope out their surroundings.
December 2, Friday
We were anchored at Isla Isabella at 10:30 am. At 8:30 am we had caught 3' dorado. 36” and 43” – one got off the hook when we had him beside the boat. One broke a hole in the net after he was on board – so we had a “run away” fish flopping around for a while.
We had Valiant Lady and Helena Christina over for dinner.
Eric from Helena Christina jiggled and wiggled a few wires on the generator and wow! It works again. We made water for 2 hours at 20 gallons per hour. I’ll be glad to get the tank full and reset the gauge so we know how much.
Samie went swimming right next to the boat for 45 minutes or so. This water is not as warm as in Cabo. We have about 200 feet of chain anchor.
*Mom’s wording here cracks me up every time I read it: jiggled and wiggled. The classic fix-it-all: “Just jiggle it!”
Also, I have a hard time believing I was swimming alone here as it almost sounds - in fact, I was surprised to read this because I remember always being so scared swimming in water more than 10 ft deep. Our average anchoring depth was 20ft and while the water was clear, with your head above water you can’t exactly see what’s under you. My imagination would absolutely get the best of me, wondering what could be swimming up to me without my knowing! I’m sure Dad was in the water, too - that was the only way I felt even a slight bit safe was if others were with me.
December 3, Saturday
No luck getting Steve P. in Lakeside on the SSB.
John worked on the outboard motor with no luck – he thinks it’s an intermittent electrical problem.
John and Samie went for a swim.
We made 60 gallons of water today in 3 hours – 40 yesterday, with whatever was already in the tank; it should be almost full.
There are 8 boats in this anchorage tonight – 5 of us from the Baja HaHa.
December 4, Sunday
Still no Steve on the SSB. We hiked up and around to the other side of the island. There are thousands of birds. The male frigate has a red pouch under his beak that he puffs out full. We also saw yellow, blue and green-footed booby birds.
A hurricane came through here last September and wiped out the banana trees and up-rooted many, many other trees.
We went back to the side of the island later in the dinghies and snorkeled – beautiful. John even saw a sting ray.
We hear it snowed big-time in Flagstaff – wonder if Lakeside is cold? It's 90° here!
Made 40 gallons of water today.
We saw humpback whales playing and breaking a few miles out, watched for about half an hour – cool.
*Our first booby bird sightings! Such a bizarre creature to come across!
The photo of the three of us where Dad is cut off - 😅 Remember when you couldn’t review the photo to make sure you got “the shot?!”
December 5, Monday
Gee – another work day!
Pulled anchor at 9 am and were underway at 9:30. We caught a 61”, 35 lb dorado, but let him go. Saw more humpback whales off in the distance.
Only 0-5 knots of wind, mostly on our nose. Made 45 gallons of water – tanks are full.
We had our anchor set at 5:45 pm in Matanchen Bay; just to the left, San Blas.
Steve and Sherry came over for dinner.
December 6, Tuesday
The bay is pretty, dolphins were swimming and jumping in here this morning.
We are definitely in the tropics, it was 92° at 9 am. The land and mountains are all covered, jungle-like, with banana and coconut trees and many shades of green.
John, Steve and Sherry went to check-in while Samie and I did school. The Port Captain said come back tomorrow at 9am. So I will go in also, I like seein’ the new towns.
John got the dinghy motor running – let’s see if it holds. Nope!
The sunset tonight was one of those beautiful ones that you think it can’t get better than this – and IT DOES!
The generator sprung a salt water leak, which John fixed, but the spray got the main engine relay wet and until it dried out, we couldn’t start the boat.
*Momma sure did love her sunsets out there. ❤ I can’t blame her, it’s like a free show in your back yard almost every night! I have come to realize how spoiled I was in that way and why I’m less likely to get out to explore these days - it feels like so much “work” and time required to make plans and set dates, to travel to wherever when I grew up already being out there! We did 2-3 hours of school in the morning and then did whatever we wanted, for the most part. Dad and I might go for a hike, or maybe we all went in to town or dinghied around the anchorage to explore and go snorkeling. And if you got bored someplace, you simply hauled anchor and set a course for somewhere out yonder!
December 7, Wednesday
John rode in with Steve and Samie and I rode in (to town) with Eric and Tammy from Helena Christina – it is a 45-minute ride from here to the town. We all did our check-in and check-out at the same time. Then we walked to a little restaurant called McDonald’s – good – got some pork chops at the market and dinghied back.
True Blue got here today.
John had a guy in town work on our dinghy motor – but no luck – we need parts in P.V.
December 8, Thursday
A group of 11 of us from the boats anchored here in Matanchen Bay hired 2 guides and 2 pangas to take us on the “Jungle Trip”. We went up the fresh-water river – which originally, a path was cut through the swamp-like jungle so that there was a path up to the natural spring that the Spaniards could get water for the return trip to Spain.
Our day began at 6:30 with everyone meeting on the beach – walked to the ‘bus stop’, rode the bus to the pangas, where our 4 hour trip began. The pangas make their way through the winding jungle – so cool – up to a fresh-water crocodile farm where they breed and release in the wild the crocks. The green, over-grown vegetation is like a jungle with birds and iguanas and turtles along the way. We came back down to the natural spring and snorkeled in a pool of sorts. There was a small café where we ate lunch. It was a really neat and pretty spot.
An incredible day!
*Ok, are you wondering right now, “wtf is a panga?” - ok, good, cause I have a fun story to go with the explanation. Pangas are typically fishing boats, around 20’ long with a fiberglass hull. They handle well in choppy waters and were/are simply everywhere in Mexico; definitely a main form of transportation on the water. Now the fun part of the story is that we met the creator of the panga while we were traveling. I’ll be honest that a part of me always wondered if it was one of those tall tales, but I looked up the history of the panga online, and whadd’ya know - Mac Shroyer’s story is one of the first to come up! I love it! Mac owns Marina de La Paz, a place we were at a lot, and one of my favorite places growing up. I am a bit surprised, but happy to remember his face - I instantly remember warmth and kindness. That’s the good stuff. ❤
As for this jungle trip, I wish I remembered more of it! I do vaguely remember some swimming and I feel like there was some nervous laughter about swimming near a crocodile farm; but I think mostly I remember not being able to spot all the iguanas in the mangroves! lol Everyone would excitedly point “it’s right there!” and I was apparently following some other sight-line cause I got nuthin’.
December 9, Friday
December – NO WAY! It’s 90° and I wear a swimming suit all day.
John went in to town and Samie spent the day with Tameron on True Blue and ended up spending the night. I had the whole day to myself – wonderful!
I did the laundry, laid in the sun and other odds and ends.
December 10, Saturday
We went in to town and spent the day doing this and that.
December 11, Sunday
We made contact with Steve P. in Lakeside on the SSB, 20 meters 14.211.0. I did get to talk to Peggy on the phone patch, but it was real bad.
The group of us in Matanchen Bay had a panga come out to the bay and pick us up and drive us all in to town – a Water Taxi. This was 10 pesos per person, round trip. We were all too late for the parade, which we hear was wonderful and very colorful.
We called kids from a phone in town. Peggy was the only one home, she says she wants to spend next school year with us. We’ll see if she still does after the summer – I hope so. She had taken Dan J. (last year’s boyfriend) to MORP the night before- but said it was boring.
Also talked to John R.
December 12, Monday
We had bought some mosquito netting and rigged it to go around the cockpit – so we are pretty much bug-free, great!
We hitched a dinghy ride to the beach and walked to catch a bus in to town. Again, we missed the parade, so we had lunch and hung around a while and headed back to the boat.
December 13, Tuesday
We pulled up the anchor at 5:45 and left Matanchen Bay and went in to the estuary, which is close enough to town that we can row the dinghy to the dock. No more bumming rides and making 45-minute trips. Although I’d rather be out in the bay.
We, along with the gang from True Blue walked along the beach to the Huichol artist’s house where we bought some bead-work for Christmas gifts to send home. The girls necklaces, Mom and Andy a beaded bowl and Jo and Angie beaded eggs. Later we got T-shirts for Faron and Shine.
We called from town and talked to Faron – he will have Chelle and maybe Danielle home tomorrow night at 7:00 so we can talk to them. Also let Samie talk to Sam and Rane.
*The Huichol (wē-ˈchōl) Indians’ bead-work is breath-taking and I remember being awed by the whole as much as the detailing. Especially to be surrounded in a shop of the artwork, with so much color and life, so much time and craftsmanship - it would be hard not to be inspired!
Below are photos from the estuary, which was thick with mangroves, palm trees, birds, and the ever-present mosquitos. We almost always had a row of little birdies along the triatic stay, and there were plenty of pelicans hanging around for scraps off the fishing boats. Finally, the last two photos - a whole new meaning to a two-horse powered “engine.” It was the strangest thing to see them mosey back and forth from either side of the estuary. It made me laugh when I looked up the lighthouse on Google Maps, it shows a “road” cutting through the estuary - I’d be willing to bet it’s the same path these guys always took!
Side note: when I looked up the triatic stay to make sure what it was called, I remembered that not only does the line run from masthead to masthead, but that it’s cleated off at the base of each, as well. It reminded me of this clanging that was forever the background noise of our rocking boat — there was a loose cable inside the mast that would sway with every rock and every roll… all just a mere 3 or 4 feet from my slumbering little self. It’s a wonder how I ever slept! But also, I think after prolonged exposure, we mostly didn’t hear it. I seem to remember there being a joke with Rob from Nanamuk that he didn’t like anchoring too close to us because the clangs carried over the water a little too well at night. lol Anyway, I’ll have to ask which cord it was - could it have been the triatic stay!? The forum Q&A I found with the info on triatic stays says they aren’t necessary, but that if you’re set up with one, you can’t exactly change it - which is true, you have to disassemble the entire mast! 🐞
December 14, Wednesday
John and Ken -from True Blue- took the SSB tuner apart and cleaned the circuit board with rubbing alcohol; it had somehow gotten salt water on it. Now it works! Yes! We are in business again.
We went in to town and dropped off 2 rolls of film – tried to mail the package of gifts home to the States, but we have to wrap it (the box) in paper and string because customs in the U.S. will open it and have to re-wrap it.
Went back in to town at 7:00 pm and called Chelle, but Danielle was not there. Chelle is feeling tired a lot – part of being pregnant. John put up 2 strings of Christmas lights outside and I put up inside. Looks like Christmas – nice.
December 15, Thursday
I cut 6” off of Samie’s hair, it’s just below her shoulders now. It will be cooler and easier to wash.
John spent the morning trying to find parts of the dinghy motor here in town or have them shipped – no luck.
Tameron and Matt stayed here and we watched a movie while they all went in to town for a get-together.
December 16, Friday
John, Steve and Sherry went in to talk to the Huichol guy about sending some of the masks to Mac in Tucson.
We went in to town this evening.
December 17, Saturday
Talked to Michael on the SSB, he was at Steve P.’s in Lakeside. He has the 25th of December to the 9th of January off and wants to fly out, hopefully Danielle would come at the same time. Peg would be back in school if they came Jan 1st and probably won’t come – Chelle and Faron can’t come either. Michael was gonna have Jo’s friend in Taylor (Mark D.) with the SSB make a connection – but no luck. Darn, my whole family is there at Jo’s for a family Christmas.
Steve P. did get the job in Phoenix he was tryin’ for, but he hasn’t turned in his notice yet and Brenda got Nancy Martin’s job in the office.
John took Samie in to town to a piñata party – she had a good time – I stayed home. Samie is getting eaten up by the no-see-ems.
*No-see-ems are teeny-tiny little bugs that could even be mistaken for a grain of dirt. I think they were even small enough to get through some mosquito netting. The estuary we were in was an absolute breeding ground for no-see-ems and mosquitos and I was eventually covered from head-to-toe. Mom said I looked like I had the measles and the chicken pox at the same time, and I remember counting the bites on one leg once - I lost count around 70.
December 16, Sunday
John and Steve (Valiant Lady) went sport fishing with Norman and Janet Goldie this morning. They got back at 5:00 pm and had gone about 45 miles out, past Isabella – long way out in a panga! They caught 11 dorado – but no sail or sword fish. The trip was $100 each – Merry Christmas, John. Norm had one of the restaurants fix the dorado and several of us went in for dinner – they breaded it and it was good.
Samie and I had spent a nice day on the boat. Called Mom from town tonight.
True Blue’s dinghy and 2-horse motor was stolen last night.
*I can still taste the perfectly cooked Dorado we had for dinner that night. The light breading over the perfectly flaky, perfectly warm, most delicious mahi-mahi I’ve ever had in my life. I tend to think about that dinner whenever I order mahi today, which is rare and always considered a treat!
So just a little search online for ole’ Captain’ Norm and I am flooded with memories. We spent a lot of time with Norm and Jan the first year, but I remember Dad wanting to keep a bit more distant in our later visits. It seems Norm became quite controversial over the years; even Latitude 38, a popular sailing magazine, published a few articles about the Captain and his disagreements with some of the cruisers. He was very proud of his position and ability to help cruisers navigate the estuary as well as the town, but it sounds like he eventually took that role to heart and was disgruntled by those who didn’t take his advice. I am grateful that we were there for some of his less-overbearing times, as I have all good memories with maybe the random eye-roll added in when Norm would chime in unasked or go on long radio rants - which I’d forgotten about, but wouldn’t you know someone uploaded a clip of one of the rants! Yup, he sounds exactly the same! I heard that voice probably every day on the VHF radio while we were in San Blas. His wife Jan was kind, gentle, beautiful and a wonderful artist. They had all kinds of parrots in their yard, my favorite of which was named Orca, he was a beautiful Macaw. I had feather souvenirs from here for the longest time. In fact, I’m pretty sure there’s still some taped in a scrapbook somewhere…
Despite his controversies, I have good memories about Norm (and Jan) and appreciate the kindness they bestowed us.
I did come across an obituary for Captain Norm. R.I.P.
December 19, Monday
Leo P., Steve’s Dad, got us on the SSB and told us that yesterday, Don B., who we worked with at Navopache Electric, had a heart attack and died yesterday.
We took the boat over to the dinghy dock and ran a water hose and filled the tank – took 50 minutes to fill 200 gallons. Also, put in 40 gallons of diesel, which was $2.00 per gallon.
We anchored out again. John and Samie went in to town tonight. I enjoy the time alone.
December 20, Thursday
John and Samie took a hike to the beach that runs along the open ocean and went clamming, but came back empty-handed. But they enjoyed the walk. I did the laundry – oh what fun! Ha.
We went in to the plaza tonight.
*I think I remember this trip to the beach. At least, I remember Dad teaching me how to spot the clams. You look for these kind of pock-marks in the sand which is actually a trail left behind the clam from the water and sand it shoots out from behind it when it propels itself forward, deeper into the sand for protection.
December 21, Wednesday
Don B’s funeral was this morning in Lakeside.
Jan Goldie cut about 5 inches off my hair, nice.
We spent a couple hours in town.
John sprayed the boat with some heavy-duty bug juice to try and get the no-see-‘ems out – Samie is a spotted mess. He also did some odd fix-its aboard.
True Blue left today for P.V.
Samie got a card from Grandma Jones with $20 for Christmas.
December 22, Thursday
Got a card from Mom.
We hiked over to the light house beach – very nice beach, had it all to ourselves. I wrote all the kid’s names in the sand – John and Samie built a (snow) sand man and we sang Christmas carols.
We took Samie’s third test. (#60)
*I don’t remember this trip to the beach, but this story is absolutely adorable and I love it. ❤
December 23, Friday
I washed all the bedding; quite a chore.
Spent some time in town and went in again to call kids – no one home except John R.
*You know when you have to do laundry and you don’t want to do laundry? Imagine hand-washing all your laundry (in this case, all the bedding, at that!) in buckets in the cockpit of a boat! I’m assuming that’s where Mom usually did it - I will have to ask her. But the cockpit has drainage in the floor, so splashing and slop are fine while scrubbing and sorting - then you throw the dirty water overboard and rinse with fresh water. Finally, you take everything on deck to hang on the lifelines to dry. So many kudos to Mom for all that hand-washing! I can imagine what a treat it was when we did get to go to an actual laundromat! 🐞
December 24, Saturday
Talked to Steve and Brenda on SSB – made phone patches to Chelle and my Mom and Dad. They really seemed to like that and said in March maybe they could get their license.
Steve P. turned his notice in at NEC, has this week vacation, works 2 days and is out!
We went back to the dinghy dock to fill up with water again.
John brought me and Samie some flowers for Feliz Navidad.
We went to dinner at Tony’s with Norman, Jan and several other yachties. I think that is the best food we have had in a very long time – excellent!
I talked to Peg, she spent most of this last week at Cammie’s and Angie’s. Michael was not there and he hasn’t decided if he’s coming out. I miss all the kids, this is our first Christmas apart.
Talked to Andy and Janet. Mom wasn’t there yet, but she did get the package we sent and Chelle and Faron took all the gifts up to Lakeside. So everyone WILL have their gifts for Christmas.
December 25, Sunday
Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad
We had our gifts early and at 8:30, two little girls whom Samie has made friends with came over. Enedina, 12, and Marlen, 11. We had pancakes and Samie gave them each a hair bow. They played and watched Aladdin on TV. They do not speak English, but they all manage and get along beautifully – super sweet girls.
Did a phone patch to Danielle; she and Jason F. might fly out Jan 11th.
At 2 pm there was a party in town at the local Cantina for the yachties that are here – there were 24 of us. Norman and Janet had picked up chickens from a BBQ place (excellent) and the rest was potluck. It was a wonderful meal and a great day. Samie made out with gifts from a lot of the “boats” she has made friends with – being the only child around, she is getting spoiled. After dinner, we went to the plaza and hung out until 9 pm.
Christmas was very nice in San Blas.
*Oooh, check out the new Tevas! Those shoes really were the best, especially on the boat. I should still have that Huichol necklace somewhere. The girls and I watched Aladdin, like Mom said, but to shake things up, I decided to do my own live-action take on what was happening in the movie, while watching the movie. It made them laugh, so I was all about it - now I can’t help but wonder if they thought I was losing it! Lol 🤷♀️
This stands as my favorite Christmas. We were in this beautiful new world, meeting all these lovely, kind, helpful people and making all kinds of amazing friends. Everything was warm and happy and my world was growing so big, yet my developing awareness was still so small. I think the novelty of youth lies in the ignorance of all life’s weighted details.
December 26, Monday
John, Steve and Sherry went to try and get things roll’en with the Indian stuff to send to Mac in Tucson.
John and Samie went in to town to pick up the arts so that we can mail them.
December 27, Tuesday
A relaxing, lazy day. John fixed the waterline that had come off the intake line, which is why the bilge was always full and why the tank was empty so fast.
We went in to town this evening.
Rained most of last night an all morning - feels like fall.
December 28, Wednesday
John left at 8:30 on a bus with Dan from Absolute, [headed] for Tepic to mail the box to Mac.
Leo did a phone patch with Danielle, her plans are to fly out Jan 15-22. But we will call on a land-line tonight to get things figured out.
Talked to Danielle, she will fly PHX to PV on Jan 12, 15 or 17 for a week, not sure yet.
Talked to Michael – he is finally moving out on his own, to the little house of Bob and Nell’s right next door to the one he has been living in with his dad – he said it will be $200 a month rent. He also said Dan, Melissa and Peg are moving to Ruby’s house in Clay Springs and Peg will finish this school year in Snowflake. That’s where Cammie and Brent go – so she should like that ok – she was not there to talk to, so I don’t really know how she feels.
December 29, Thursday
Michelle had a sonagram and IT’S A BOY!
John re-built the motor on the fridge unit. We went in to town this evening.
December 30, Friday
More or less a quiet day; a little of this, but not a lot of that. Jason from Absolute (down the Baja) had taken a bus from P.V. to here (he is now on Trade Winds) and is staying on our boat for a couple of days. Stayed home tonight.
December 31, Saturday
Valiant Lady came in to the estuary this a.m., there are now 7 boats in here. Magic Carpet, who was in San Diego with us at Marina Cortez, also came in Friday. 20 or so “yachties” went to Tony’s restaurant for New Year’s Eve dinner – very nice. Stayed in the plaza until midnight and came home.
🐞