December ‘95

*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, Friday

We decided at 8:30 am to go ahead and go into the marina, we tied up on the end- nice and easy. So we washed her down, inside and out along with the other odds and ends that needed to be done.

December 2, Saturday

More odds and ends, took a break and went up to the parking lot at the marina for the mini swap market. They also had some kids doing dances, the traditional Mexican and also hula.
John cleaned the water maker today. We picked John and Maryann up at the airport at 5 am- took the bags back to the boat - took a taxi back to CCC—back to the boat and finally to dinner at the ‘Dock’. Renegade joined us.

December 3, Sunday

We left the marina and La Paz behind at 6:15 am. Not too much wind on our way to Los Muertos, but nice and calm. We had the current running with us and made it in 10 hours. We anchored and watched the sun go down. The ‘Sourdough Pizza’ joint is closed on Sunday, so I made cheese enchiladas.

December 4, Monday

We weighed anchor at 3:45 am under an almost full moon and began our crossing to Mazatlan. For the first several hours, it was rolly and confused seas. Just before sun up the main sail blew the bottom seam, so John is up with the flashlight (due to the fact that the moon had just set and we were in the dark) reefing the main.
Soon the seas began running all in the same direction which smoothed out the ride somewhat. We have the wind at a steady 10 to 15 knots out of the NW and seas 2 to 3 feet in the same direction which is on our port stern. This held for the full day and night and made for a beautiful sail, never even adjusting or trimming sails. We averaged 6 knots, at times 6.9 and 7.

December 5, Tuesday

The seas flattened out and the wind died there for a couple of hours just after sunrise. Then slowly shifted around to the ESE at maybe 5 to 10 knots.
36 hours later we dropped anchor in the pollution-filled air and murky water of Mazatlan.
We took the bus into town and had a wonderful dinner at “Doney’s”. We all crashed for a much needed full night’s sleep.

December 6, Wednesday

John jerry-jugged the fuel and filled up. John and Maryann went into town shopping, then John M. hiked up to the light house on the point.
We weighed anchor at 12:15 pm headed for San Blas in “no-see-em” land.
Finally – John reeled in a 39” dorado - the first of this season. Good eating!
We had a good wind until just after sunset, 10 knots of SW, we even flew the mizzen stay-sail. For the rest of the trip we had no wind, but a full moon and a beautiful night. The shrimp boats are out in full force in the area because it is so shallow. We passed through all but one, which we had to steer around, 1 out of 50 or 60 isn’t bad! John and John were on watch when we went through some pea soup fog.

Dec 7, Thursday

We motored into the estuary at San Blas around 11 am, bugs and all! We enclosed the boat in the bug netting and went into “Tony’s” to eat. We saw Jan and Norm for a bit.

December 8, Friday

John, John and Maryann went into town while Samie and I did school. John did the check-in and they all picked up a few things from Francisco. We decided to go ahead and leave on the morning tide and headed for Chacala.

En route we saw a manta ray jump out twice and do a double back flip – cool! We anchored in Chacala – John cleaned the bottom of the boat, nothing growing, only slime. Samie went swimming beside the boat.
We were all in bed and out of it by 7:30 pm.

*I don’t remember who Francisco was, maybe Mom will remember. Maybe he sold Huichol art and we were getting more masks for Mac in Tucson? 🐞

December 9, Saturday

We pulled in the anchor at 5:30 am and headed into Puerto Vallarta. No wind for this trip, only the Pacific swell. I had a small sail fish on the line, but he broke free. We scooted around Punta de Mita and it felt like we were coming home. Last season we spent 3 months in this area, mostly in La Cruz. We came into the marina slip A12- same one we had two different times last season- it is home!
We have sailed 450 miles, or there about in the last 6 days! That’s moving constantly and way too fast. We are so tired and I’m a total grump! Right now I don’t even want to move for at least a week.
Samie found Tam and they spent a couple of hours together before we went down to Angela’s to eat.

December 10, Sunday

This morning was spent getting Schyler a t-shirt and small toy boat for Christmas and putting the letters and Christmas cards that Samie and I made together for Maryann to take back to the States to mail. The other kids we will shop for as the year goes by and take home gifts in the car when we return for the summer.
Samie spent the day at True Blue swimming and having kid fun!
John and Maryann left for the airport at 12:30 or so. We have traveled about 450 miles in the last 6 days.
We have found that there was quite a bit of damage done in P.V. from the earthquake in Manzanillo last Sept. The water park is closed for major repairs, the adjoining hotel is gone- several stores have surface damage- some having structural. What gets me is there was never any mention of this in the States on the news!
We went out for pizza and took Tam with us and she spent the night.

*I remember a story from P.V. that may have been from around this time, as it sounds like there was lots of structural damage from the earthquake. Who knows if it was even true, but it was about a guy (probably a gringo) who walked into a huge pothole or something in the street and was trying to sue, saying that it should have been flagged and marked as unsafe. Supposedly the judge told him he should have been watching where he was walking and dismissed him.. I always loved that. Imagine! Paying attention to where you are going…. being aware and responsible for your own person. What a concept. 😉

December 11, Monday

John paid the “Paper Man” $20 U.S. to check in for us - this saved about 1 half day of back and forth in old town.
Miguel came by and picked up the main sail, he will restitch the whole thing- all the thread is rotten. We are paying 2 teenage boys to wax and buff out the hull on the boat. $130 U.S.- they did a very nice job.

December 12, Tuesday

We bought Samie a swimming suit and she lost it before she even wore it. She was playing up by the gate of J dock with Tam and Matt and set it down. I’m surprised, but it disappeared! She really needs a new one, so we did go buy another one, for which she paid $20 of the $60 pesos.

December 13, Wednesday

Happy B-day Colleen

We all headed into town, stopped at Dr. Conners, the dentist to see about having reverse caps put on Samie’s front teeth to bring them out in front of her bottom teeth. But with time involved we decided to wait until we return in February.
We got together with Don on Loon who we had met in Ensenada last year.

*We never ended up doing that procedure on my teeth - we eventually used spacers and an expansion plate which essentially pushed apart the two sides of the maxilla (the roof of the mouth) which allowed my upper front teeth to move outward and over my bottom teeth. After that, braces did the rest.

December 14, Thursday

We left the P.V. Marina at 8:15 am and headed for our 2nd home- La Cruz. It takes right about 2 hours to leave the harbor entrance to drop the anchor. Just outside of La Cruz bay we passed through about 4 or 5 humpback whales swimming along with us, I was able to get some of their fun on the VCR tape.
We snuck into Cruise Quarters and surprised Rosa, Jenna was still at school so we went in again later, feels like home!

December 15, Friday

We have the Christmas lights up on the topping lift. Looks really cool! Samie and I have the inside decorated, even have a small 12” tree we found in San Blas.

The storm up on the Oregon coast has caused the Northers to blow in the upper sea and a big 4 or 5 foot swell is roll’en into the bay here. We are anchored out at the far end and we can see all the inside boats climb up and over and slide down the swells, almost disappearing from where we are. The surf is really breaking and bang’en on the break wall and the beach. We went in for dinner- wonderful ribs- and did manage to make a dry landing but got hit with a couple whoppers trying to get the dink out. Such is life in La Cruz.

*One of the trippiest things is to watch another boat slip out of view you both find yourselves in the troughs on either side of a wave. It’s like playing peek-a-boo with your neighbors and their entire house. 🙈

December 16, Saturday

John serviced all the winch-drums today, the 1st time he had done that and they really needed it. Samie went in and played and swam with Jena. Peg called tonight- it was finally snowing there!

December 17, Sunday

We all went ashore this morning for the swap meet- nothing we can’t do without. So we enjoyed breakfast at Cruise Quarters.
Talked to Renegade this am, they are leaving La Paz on Tuesday and are supposedly coming here for Christmas.
John took the ‘head’ apart today and got the handle pump fixed but then had a leak where it screws back together so had to epoxy it- which meant it had to sit and dry overnight. Therefore we used the ‘ole stand by - a bucket - hey - it works!

*Just a reminder that the head is nautical lingo for the toilet. Ours would have looked something like this and we had to manually pump it in order to flush. There was a simple dry flush or wet flush, which pulled in water from outside the boat. One funny thing we would laugh at was when there was phosphorescence in the water at night, we’d flush the toilet with the lights off and the toilet would glow. lol! If you know, you know. 🐞

December 18, Monday

Happy B-day Amber.

Another brilliant fix-it job by John- the ‘head’ is ‘up and running’ again!
The wind kicked up to 18 and 20 knots today - just like last March, I hope it’s not an every day thing though, it gets old. It moved in some clouds and looked like rain but it never did fall.
Samie mailed Santa her wish list. The first letter included 49 wishes & the 2nd letter was a P.S. list- of I know not what!
This last week she has kept herself busy - never once saying she was bored or wishing for other kids. She must be trying to impress Santa as he checks his list! I hope she always stays this happy out on the ocean!
We mailed letters to Garth and Joanne- Goon and Shine.

*I’ve always been really great at entertaining myself and finding ways to keep busy. On the boat, I was typically drawing, coloring, reading or making something with my craft supplies. Some things don’t change, and if you were to ask me today what I want to do for a living - it’d be those same things!! I just want to create all kinds of art and read all the books I’ve collected and share cool things and ideas with people. I’m in the process of bringing it all to fruition. 🙃
Note my Christmas list below! (This one might actually be from ‘94, but oh well, it’s still cute!) It’s more of a ramble than a list (who, me?!) but the main requests are for a big Polly Pocket (preferable to the small ones), candles, the movie Jafar Returns, and a headset (Walkman) with “lots of rock and roll and country.” Specific tape requests for Guns and Roses, and one of my reigning all-time favorites, The Red Hot Chili Peppers. 😍 I’ve always had a pretty wide mish-mash of interests!

December 19, Tuesday

We took a taxi into P.V. this morning to exchange dollars for pesos and bought towels for Brandon’s wedding tomorrow. He is Blair and Rosa’s son, they own the Cruise Quarters. We ended up spending most of the day visiting in Cruise Quarters.
I sent a fax to Colleen at Navopache and she actually send one back. Nothing new there on the work (war) front. The snow they got on the 17th that Goon called about- ended up to be 22 inches! Glad I’m not there! Samie wishes she was!

*Here we are again with the infamous Crew’s Quarters wall, that’s myself and then Jena and I think a family member in town for the wedding. The last photo is me with one of our many attempts to keep pelicans off our bow. Otherwise they just LOVE to post up and crap all over everything. We went through several ideas before finding something that worked for more than a couple of days. I can’t seem to recall what it was, though. 🤔

December 20, Wednesday

John varnished in the cockpit this morning. This afternoon at 3 pm we went into Brandon and Olga’s wedding at Cruise Quarters, which was upstairs in the open room with a view of the bay.
There was 2 ceremonies, one Spanish and one English. The first being in Spanish which was quite different. To begin with, the magistrate types a “contract” for the couple and then finger prints them! All of this took about 30-40 minutes while they stood before him and then he read the vows.
Later was the English ceremony and after each one Brandon stomped on the glass for the Jewish custom of mazel tov.
A dinner for 60-70 people was served, a DJ setup, and played some great Mexican and American tunes, loud enough to make your body vibrate- but it was great!!
Wonderful wedding- wonderful friends!
We made a video tape of the festivities for them. We came back to the boat in a light rain and the wind and swell kicked up quite a roll out here.

December 21, Thursday

I went into P.V. with Rosa and Nancy and finished up the Christmas shopping. While in P.V. it rained buckets- John also said it did the same here in the anchorage.

December 22, Friday

Arne and Janice on Renegade pulled in here at La Cruz early this morning and anchored next to us. Arne caught and released a 150 lb marlin on their sail down from La Paz. They also got caught in a couple of squalls, but were able to sail around most of them.
John helped Jerry on Walkabout clean his batteries, put 10 gallons of fuel in the boat and had those jugs re-filled.
We all went into Dos Felipe’s for ribs tonight.

*I don’t remember much about Jerry on Walkabout, but I’m nearly certain I’d go over there sometimes with Dad to visit, and I’m nearly certain that one evening, this poor man and my father sat through some wildly off-key caroling attempts from my very excited little elf-self. 🥴
Below are samples of the lovely views we enjoyed regularly in the wide open beauty of Banderas Bay. I think I even remember that particular day with the sun cutting through the clouds in the last photo - I think it was the first time I’d really seen that affect. That, or it just put all the other times to shame! And if you imagine the quality of these photos compared to today’s and how much detail is probably missing from what we were able to catch!

December 23, Saturday

Mom and Daddy called this a.m., they are having the family Christmas dinner today. Shine was also there- Goon had to work (such is life) Shine is laid off right now.
John and Arne went with Jerry on Walkabout out to the Tres Marietas Islands fishing today. They had a record day- for booby birds, that is! Ten booby birds, one small sierra mackerel, oh well.
Arne and Janice came over and we BBQ and enjoyed the visit.
Samie lost her second 8-year molar.

December 24, Sunday

Oh what a cloudy, overcast, dreary, long day, lazy day.
We did get the sail back, Miguel restitched it and reinforced all the seams for $120 U.S.

December 25, Monday

Feliz Navidad

“Dashing through the surf
in a 10 horsepower dink,
‘ore the waves we bounce
hoping we don’t sink!
Oh Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells…”

Well, Santa found Samie again this year! She didn’t have a stocking so she hung up her red bag that has her name on it, but good ‘ole Santa left her a new stocking with a camera. She was so excited with everything and got a kick out of the crumbs Santa left when he ate a cookie she left out for him.
Samie made me a “treasure box” that is so special, I know that she put a lot of time and work into making it!
We called the kids - Shine was at Pegs- Faron, Chelle and Schyler were in Pinetop and said it was 2 degrees below 0! Woo, and we thought it was cold here at 68°! Danielle was at Jacque’s but of course still asleep so kinda “fuzzy” on the phone.
We put the sail back up. We, along with Renegade went into Cruise Quarters at 2:30 pm for the Christmas dinner- of Turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy - the works, and pumpkin pie! Yummy feast.

*Mom still has that treasure box and I remember making it for her. 🥰 I got a new camera and was absolutely over the moon - and so began the trail of photographs that would document this weird world through my lens. 📸

December 26, Tuesday

We, along with Jerry on Walkabout took a taxi into P.V.. Samie and I stayed at the Marina while John and Jerry went down town to check out. A process that took 3 hours, going 1st to the port captain, immigration and back to the port captain.
Samie played with Tam at True Blue while I went to find Renegade who had come in to the marina this a.m. After a small shop at the commercial we waited at least 20-30 minutes for a taxi to take us back- making our day long from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.

December 27, Wednesday

John took the dink to the beach and scrubbed down the gunky bottom, made a good haul at the market, this being fresh veggie day, and returned to dive on the boat. Only slime, the paint we put on in San Carlos is really working great.
We went into Cruise Quarters for an early dinner - our last “fix” of ribs before we return in Feb.
We heard earlier on Chubasco ham net that 3 boats have been broken into in Ixtapa Marina in broad daylight and trashed, a few things taken- probably kids- but Nanamuk was one of those boats.

*If I’m remembering correctly, Nanamuk suspected teens to be at hand, as the things that went missing had been simpler like jewelry, perfume, and maybe money, I think, whereas big-ticket items like electronics, engine parts and such were untouched.

December 28, Thursday

Ok what an adventure today began! Renegade left the marina and we pulled in the anchor after 3 weeks in La Cruz at 9:15 am on our way to Tenacatita. Leaving Banderas Bay, we saw a couple whales off in the distance, a sea turtle floating nearby as we cruised, caught (and safely released) one booby bird. No wind so far, we made it around Cabo Corrientes where we picked up 10 knots on our stern and a 3 foot or so following sea. Somewhere into the night the wind shifted to the ESE at 15 knots and laid down the swell. All in all it was a beautiful night, the sky clear and full of glittering stars. The moon is a perfect half and when it set it was a bright firey orange, startling me with the intensity as it set on the horizon.

December 29, Friday

Once the sun came up around 6 am John turned the GPS off and just started heading around the rocks into Tenacatita - or so we thought. The fix I did then was right on- but we aimed for the wrong bay. Once inside - they are both big bays that go way back in- John kept saying this doesn’t look right, I don’t remember that last season. Finally we realized we are not in Tenacatita - but the next bay over- Bahia Navidad. After we stopped laughing at our dumb navigational error we hailed Renegade on VHF- who, by the way, was partway into the right bay - and we decided it’s only 8 or 9 am (whatever) let’s just go into Manzanillo. So, ok- we put the sails back up and laugh while shaking our heads saying how dumb we feel!

Coming into Manzanillo we passed a rock out on a point that took on the shape of 3 different animals depending on the angle when we looked. One being a turtle, another a rabbit sitting and a fish - I hope the picture comes out but it’s doubtful.
We did manage to anchor in spite of all the jet skiers, small powerboats pulling skiers behind and even kayakers, not to mention a pretty hefty swell.
Just as the anchor is set, the bilge pump goes off - John goes to check, no broken hoses and he sees no water squirting in, it does it’s job and shuts down. John checks all the thru-hulls and under the floor boards - no water, so all must be well. A couple hours later, once the huge power boat left, we re-anchored back a bit, it was kinda snug. Renegade is next to us.
John is out trying to BBQ pork chops but the gas line is plugged, so I proceed to fry them inside, find out the problem is the propane tank is empty. So he changes tanks.
There must be at least 5 to 6 foot swells- huge and long- rolling in here, the surf breaking on the not-so-far-away beach is breaking so loud and fierce- it could match any beach in Hawaii. WE are rolling side to side something awful.
We traveled 179 miles in the last 29 hours since leaving La Cruz- it’s been a tiring trip- let’s hope it calms down some and we can get some much needed sleep.
Samie called Sam and Rane.

*I do believe that white rock in the video was appropriately referred to by the cruisers as “Shit Rock”. That, my friends, is why we want to keep the pelicans off the bows of our boats! The photo below is of that rock what looks like a turtle, rabbit and fish at different angles. I can see the fish and turtle here, and some features of what would lend to the rabbit at another angle.

December 30, Saturday

No rest for the weary, I woke up at 12:00 am, the wind is blowing 15-20 out of the east, we are sitting cross-ways to the swell and rolling from side to side like crazy! I notice a boat in front of us dragging, so I woke John up. The weird thing was the boat was dragging sideways into the swell and out of the anchorage. They got it under control just as it looked like from where we are that he was about up on the surf on the break wall. How frightening!
John used the head and went to flush- nope, the handle is locked up and no work! This has turned into one of those days that you can for sure do without- but it makes you realize that much more how wonderful the other 360 whatever days are!
The wind calmed down a bit and John went back to bed around 2 am- I’m wide awake, the dink is locked up alongside us and rattling so I go out to wrap the line and just as I grab it, the hook lets go from the boat- luckily I went out, could have been another - - - - !!
Today continued along as the saying goes- “Shit happens” and sometimes you can’t even flush it!! The problem with the toilet is that the entire plumbing, drain lines are plugged with ‘you-know-what’.
We took apart the whole system and John cleaned all the lines. What a disgusting job- from now on, once a month we will do the vinegar routine.
Wow, now the shit flushes!
John and Samie went in to the pool at Los Hadas, they said it was beautiful with live iguanas everywhere. I stayed on the boat and slept.

December 31, Sunday

John took apart the hour meter for the engine hours- it only works intermediately- but the little motor is gone and will have to order one.
John and Samie went to the pool again- I stayed onboard and cooked a roast with all the fixings- wonderful!
The gang from Angela came over for a while- Hal, Angie, Megan (10), Hall Jr. (2)- since they weren’t going out for a New Year’s bash, either.
I was still awake at midnight when the fireworks started going off on the hills all around “Hotel Bay”.