January ‘96

*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!

January 1, 1996, Monday

Happy New Year!

Today we all went into the pool - my 1st time off the boat since we got here - or actually since leaving La Cruz.
The pool overlooks the bay opening out into the ocean- beautiful. Those big 5-6 foot swells have calmed down to normal finally.

January 2, Tuesday

Samie had her 2nd test for this year and did good.
We all went in to the pool again; Arne and Janice joined us. And later, most of the boaters all went into town to ‘Juanigos’ for burger and the Cotton Bowl game.

January 3, Wednesday

We weighed anchor and left Manzanillo at 7:30 am. It was partially cloudy and continued to build until we had a full, thick, cottony cover overhead for the remainder of the day.
For the next several hours, we were always on the look-out for the long fishing nets that reach out for 5 or so miles around the Manzanillo area. 
We saw several huge dolphins and sail fish swimming close by.
When the sun was closing in on the horizon, the clouds opened up a space big enough to allow us a view of the big orange ball slipping away from the night and another spectacular ocean sunset.
We have not had much wind and the remainder of the trip was the same, only around 15 knots or less – mostly less. We ran the motor and kept our speed up to 6+ knots the entire trip.
The night proved to be another beautiful one once the clouds all disappeared and the stars scattered along with a nearly full moon shone down on the peaceful waters that we are floating across.
While I was on watch, a booby bird was flying around the radar and setting it off; he was looking for somewhere to land.
On the charts there is an old reported shallow spot back in 1951- it is either wrong on the chart or we found a new one. This is out of Zihuatanejo about 5 miles and the depth got down to 16 feet and was darker and somewhat turned up. It really gives ya the creeps because you don’t know where to go - left, right, forward or maybe even try to back up. But we, luckily, made it over and past the danger.

*We call nights like this “over-nighters,” since we sail through the night. The ones we took in this area along the coast were probably my favorite, as they seem fairly consistently paired with these beautiful red-orange sunsets. They say, “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight” and it was always true for us, especially here, I remember easy, peaceful and only slightly rolly nights at sea. Funny side note, baked beans and cornbread always make me think of these trips, because this was Mom’s choice dish for over-nighters. Easy to make, easy to eat, easy to clean up. This seems like an appropriate segue to also note that we used this silicone stuff to add traction to the bottom of the plates so they wouldn’t slide around when the boat was rocking. When underway and real rolly, you just hold your plate, ‘cause even if the plate stays on the table, the food can still run away!

January 4, Thursday

Manzanillo to Zihuatanejo took 33 hours total.
We came on in to the harbor and dropped our anchor at 4:30 pm next to Nanamuk, whom dinked on over and it sure was good to see them again. It was the end of November in La Paz when we last saw them.
Joe and his 1st ex-wife, now his “new” wife-to-be had flown down and are leaving to go back to the States mañana, so we went in to town, as tired as we were, to have dinner with them and Vortex, old friends from La Cruz last season.
We slept like babies tonight, there’s not even any swell in here tonight, like being in a marina.

January 5, Friday

We went in ashore again this morning and had breakfast with Joe and Donna. John checked in and checked for mail and Samie’s package Rane mailed - no luck. Samie spent the rest of the day at Nanamuk and John jerry-jugged 30 gallons of fuel to the boat. I went to work and defrosted the fridge/freezer, then laid in the sun.
Renegade came in at 2 pm, they had left Manzanillo at 5:30 am Thursday.
We talked to Steven on the ham tonight and he phone-patched us in to Danielle and Mom.

January 6, Saturday

Sam and I did two school lessons today and then we all went to the beach along with Nanamuk and Renegade. The kids all played in the surf, riding their boogie boards in on the waves. We watched the 49ers and Packers play football at a restaurant/bar on the beach - great place to be! Packers won.
After talking to Steve on the ham we went into town for dinner along with Arne and Janice.

January 7, Sunday

Everyday it’s getting a little warmer, it hits 90°, which isn’t bad if there’s a breeze.
John tried fishing from the dink out off the point- the fish’en was great, just the catch’en was no good.
Janelle came over to play with Sam for a bit, then we all went into the beach and played in the surf, which is starting to increase some.
Another beautiful day in paradise!

*I guess we dubbed this beautiful yellow house as our dream home - isn’t she a beaut! 😍 Next, you can see La Ropa Beach across the bay. Finally, lil’ ol me, probably watching Mom load a new roll of film into the camera, as I could tell this was the first photo on the roll. Who remembers those “starter shots” you’d take to get the roll going?! It was the worst to realize you flubbed a great shot because the film hadn’t wound far enough and half the photo was overexposed or cut off!

January 8, Monday

Happy Birthday Danielle!! #20

John, Samie, Nanamuk and Renegade went snorkeling, I stayed aboard for some quiet time. Renegade came over for dinner.

January 9, Tuesday

I mailed off post cards, another “lazy” type day. We went in with Nanamuk for dinner at “Rubin’s”. John spent the day in the engine room, cleaning and etc.

 *I am loving hearing the radio conversations in the background of these videos. What you hear in this video is one of the morning nets, which most major cruising ports took part in - a way for cruisers to connect and help each other out. You can ask for advice about boaty stuff or where to find things in town, look for rides further into town or even to the next port, you can barter and trade, the list goes on. It’s one of the random things I miss the most! It was a comforting sense of community and a great way to start the day!
I found this most excellent promo video for the Crown Odyssey while I was looking up info on the ship. Looks like it was built in 1987 and at this time when we came across her, ownership was transferring from Kloster to Norwegian Cruise Line and was renamed Norwegian Crown just a few months later.

January 10, Wed

We got back some beautiful pictures, forever reminders of the spectacular sunsets and bays that we are so lucky to be traveling along and enjoying.
Janice and I went into town to have a girl-friend day and we walked our little legs off, there sure is a lot to this town - the only thing we can see that’s missing is that for such population there is no major food market. The guys and Samie joined us and we found a wonderful pizza joint, “La Perla” it, like “Rubin’s” is surrounded by potted plants and trees with thatching and bamboo. Beautiful!

January 11, Thursday

This afternoon was spent at the southwest beach, Playa Los Gatos, for a cruiser’s potluck. We are of the “Class of ‘94” and therefore no longer “freshmen”. This year’s “freshmen” are calling themselves “No-Clue class of ‘95” – but they did put on a great potluck.
The Los Gatas Beach is set up real nice with a big circular palapa on the point. The beach landing can be tricky, as a BIG surf comes in and it is real shallow and rocky, but everyone did a-ok.
Janice from Renegade found out today that her special uncle has passed away.
We got together on Renegade and all devoured about 4lbs of shrimp tonight.

January 12, Friday

Today at 1:30 pm we, along with Nanamuk pulled in the anchors and sailed out to Isla Grande, on the way trying once again to hook up with a dorado- but once again- failure. Nanamuk did hook one, but only for a second before he vanished- along with the lure. We did see a whale and had a couple of dolphins swimming under the bow.
We came on around the corner of Isla Grande at 4:30 pm and dropped the anchor in 16 feet of fairly clear water. After being in the pristine waters in the Sea of Cortez, we were spoiled and nothing here even comes close. But it is calm, not much swell and a palapa-lined beach is just a short dink ride away. The island is covered in green shrubbery and some form of a cactus- there are supposedly deer roaming about, also.
Last night we made contact with Steve on the ham and did a phone patch to Danielle. She is trying to fly into Mazatlan the end of March and meet us there. Tonight, we were supposed to patch a call through to Chelle, but Steve never came up on the radio.

January 13, Saturday

John dove on the bottom of the boat and cleaned half, then we all went into the beach.
This beach caters to the tourists that they ferry over from the ‘Club Med’ on the mainland. All the English-speaking Mexicans at the 3 or 4 different groups of palapas and it’s rich with competition. We walked the 150 or so feet to the other side of the beach which is, in fact, the other side of the island. The south side being better for snorkeling and the north for swimming and all those other annoying water toys that the tourists insist on causing havoc with!
Anyway, the gang all went snorkeling while I stayed on the beach soaking up the 80 plus degree sunshine.
Later the 3 kids dug a big hole or “moat” as they called it, in the sand and would sit in there waiting for a wave to come ashore and fill it. They also swam next to the boat- all in all they were in the water a good 3 hours.
No Steve on the radio again tonight.
John and Rob went night snorkeling looking for “creepy critters” (lobster) with no luck- it’s a good thing we have meat in the freezer! This was the first time John has gone at night and he said he loved it. I think he’s crazy. Oh, the kids found a small, 7 or 8 inch sea turtle floating between the boats. We held him for a while, his shell was a burnt orange and dark brown color. Cute little thing.

*I seem to remember Jelly and Alan maybe going with the Dads that night, because I seem to remember being too chicken to join and then hearing that they enjoyed it. For me, I was still getting used to day-time snorkeling, I think night-time would have crept me right back out of the water. My imagination always ran wild at what could be just beyond the sight-line under water.

January 14, Sunday

Samie and I have been going at school real hard and took today off, so she went to the beach early with Alan and Janelle before the crowds of tourists came in and “took over”. Then we all climbed in the dinks and headed off across the bay to the mainland beach which, by the way, is probably 5 or so miles long and practically deserted.
We also saw about 3 crocodiles in a small river that runs through the area. We made it back to the dink – all body parts included, not that we got too close to the crocs, but still – and putted on around the bay trolling a line behind, but once again the dorado have eluded us and refuse to come to dinner.
After “work” (reading on deck while soaking in the rays) I took a dip in the cool water surrounding the neighborhood.
The lack of dorado forced us to grill beef steak on the BBQ tonight.

*I’m not sure if this is the place where we saw the crocodiles, but it seems likely.
I love Mom’s description in the last two sentences. “Work”, swimming around the neighborhood & being forced to eat grilled steak!? What a rough life we led! 😉
In the photos below, you'll see the beach we moseyed along on, our beach landing as well as what I believe was a tactic to weigh the dinghies down in case the tide started creeping up before we got back? 🤔 (If it came in too far, it could float the dinghies away! No bueno!) Next you’ll see Rob pointing to something in the sand - there were slithery little snake trails! After our adventure on land, you’ll see our views around the bay while we trolled for fish. 🐞

January 15, Monday

Everyone went snorkeling today except me, I took advantage of the quiet and worked on a story I’m writing- or trying to write. Nanamuk came over for happy hour and the kids watched a movie.
Steve ran a phone patch to Sam and Rane, no the Christmas package hasn’t been returned.
Also talked to John R.

*Of all the packages we had mailed to us over the years, I think only two were lost. This one and another that was a bundle of letters from multiple people that sadly got lost somewhere. I was so sad, wondering what stories or even photos I was missing from my friends and wondering where they had disappeared to. Otherwise, our success rate was fantastic! I loved our mail packages, they were like mini Christmases throughout the season and gave us lots to do in the days after, responding to everyone and sealing/stamping everything to take in and mail off. 🥰

January 16, Tuesday

We weighed anchor at 9:30 this sunny morning and headed out around the point in route back to Zihuatanejo. The sight that greeted us was so spectacular! A single humpback whale was performing not too far from us. Last season we were hesitant to get too close to the giant creatures of the deep, but this season brings us actually heading straight for them and even circling back for more. The magnificent creature allowed us to watch a beautiful display of breaching, slapping his dorsal fin as he waved good morning and played within camera view for at least 30 minutes. I got some fairly decent video, although it’s not easy with the rocking of the boat and the whale sometimes diving and coming up elsewhere.
The remainder of the motor- no wind- was uneventful- again, no willing seafood would attach itself to our hooks. By noon we were re-anchored in the bay of Zihuatanejo. We went into town in search of rotisserie chicken, but after walking our legs until they ached, we settled for a so-so pizza.

 *This humpback played and jumped for the longest time of any whales we ever saw out there! We circled back around and got closer for a bit - I want to say it was at least a full hour’s experience coming up on him, hanging around, and eventually sailing off to Zihuat and watching him as his slashes waned father off into the distance. I remember wanting so badly to stay in sight of him, I could have watched all day. I wished and prayed so hard for him to come along with us! 🐞

January 17, Wednesday

We had breakfast in town with Arne and Janice and dropped off the laundry. We all went back later for a good pizza and of course ice cream.

January 18, Thursday

Samie and I “ditched” school and we all went in to ‘Christmas’ shop for the kids and got some veggies at the market.
John and Samie went over to Owen’s Beach for the afternoon while I enjoyed being alone.
We talked to Steve on the ham. He did a phone patch to Chelle and Mom. All is well - Andy and Janet are expecting again the end of August.

January 19, Friday

John went in to check out.
Samie spent the afternoon and evening on Nanamuck while John and I enjoyed an evening and dinner in town alone.  

*I wish I had more info on this square rig so I could look it up and find out the details! We must not have been too curious about it at the time.

January 20, Saturday

Happy B-day Janell S.

John and Samie went into town to get a few things – eggs, bread, milk, etc. I stayed on the boat - didn’t feel too good all day.
Last night when we were in town I saw John on Hawkeye with who I thought was Elizabeth from last year on Absolute but she was gone before I could say anything. Talked to John on Hawkeye this morning and sure enough it was her. She made it to Florida on Absolute and worked her way back to Mexico. She is back-packing this area again. I wish we could have talked to her but we left today at 10:45 am for Isla Grande. We motored with only this job out. AGAIN no fish.
John cleaned the waterline on the boat. While cleaning the rudder and prop, he discovered we had lost our zinc. Arne on Renegade had an extra, so we will replace it for him in P.V.

*I will have to be reminded what the zinc is for. When I tried to look it up, I found zinc plates at West Marine to protect a metal from galvanic corrosion, probably having to do with some metal components attached to the hull for some type of reader or intake.
The video below is from Nanamuk, who gave us a copy of the footage a couple months later, in March. I’m confused about the date in the video and lack of reference from Mom about the trip whatsoever, but she does say she wasn’t feeling good, so maybe she just plumb forgot.

January 21, Sunday

John went swimming and put the new zinc on. After school we, along with Arne and Janice went to the beach.
Samie and Janice rode on one of the big water tricycles, 50 pesos for 40 minutes. Nanamuk came in and anchored and the kids rowed the dink over to the beach so the 3 younger beach bums made more sandcastles and moats.

*50 pesos should have been around 5 bucks. I remember paddling with Janice and having so much fun. What a treat that we could enjoy the beach before the crowds came! We were truly spoiled in nearly always having relative privacy in our enjoyment of these beautiful places.
lol, our boat looks like we have 3 masts here. Silly.

January 22, Monday

We weighed anchor at 5:00 am leaving Isla Grande behind in the dark with only the stars to light the heavens. Out about 3 to 5 miles a panga comes zipping past us in the dark. Those small crafts do not show up on radar and it scared us as he passed only a hundred yards or so to our port.
The sun rose behind us and our seas were lumpy and confused, having a 3-foot choppy swell, it was like riding a rocking horse. Within a few hours the ocean was flat and glassy. Then, once again the wind picked up to 15-20 knots and it was a bumpy ride for the last 2 hours on in to Buffadaro Bluff.
We are using a separate tape for filming Nanamuk and got some great shots of them under sail, bouncing across the blue ocean with the sun reflecting shimmery sails in the water. They are doing the same for us and were able to get on film John bringing in a 6 foot there-about sail fish. It only took him about 20 minutes. My fish was too big to eat so we released him, which was not real easy but not terribly difficult either. John had to gaff him in the lower lip while I cut the steel liter – we lost the hook but saved the lure.
The wind has been blowing from the west and the anchorage is open to the south so it’s fairly calm in here. We dropped the hook at 5:00 pm, a full 12 hours to travel 70 miles.
We also saw 3 huge jelly fish swim under us, several little crabs skimming the surface and another sail fish dancing on his tail maybe 7 or 8 times just beside the boat.

*Above you’ll see the sunrise after leaving Isla Grande, as well as the sailfish we let go. Next are some shots of the galley, showing how our stove oven is made to rock with the boat in order to stay level. We were leaning heavy to the right in the first photo, and back to level in the second. Lastly, a calm evening anchored at Buffardero Bluff.

January 23, Tuesday

John went into town, it was a walk up a hill but a lot bigger than it would appear. The afternoon was spent at the beach. Getting there was not as easy as most places. We had to anchor the dink out and swim a couple hundred yards through the rising swell that built into great waves. Or at least they look big when they come crashing down right on you. Once we made it in the kids built palm huts with dried palm fronds while the big kids (adults) rode the waves in on the boogie boards.
John swam out to the dink but Samie and I walked around to the other end of the beach to a make-shift dinghy dock where John picked us up. We had Happy Hour at Nanamuk and watched the tape of us under sail and bringing in the big catch yesterday. You get a whole different perspective on your boat when seeing it on tape. It was really cool.
Talked to Steve and he tried to patch us through to Goon but the line was busy AGAIN! And Danielle wasn’t home.

January 24, Wednesday

We left beautiful Buffadaro Bluff behind this morning at sunup- 7 am headed for Maruata. Out from the point a few miles, the wind kicked up to 15-20 knots from the north but only lasted about 20 minutes before it settled down to 5-10 knots. It was a bouncy, swelly ride with no fish nibbling at the lures. For the last hour in the breeze we went back up to 20 knots as we made our way in and anchored at Maruata at 2 pm. Renegade was here, they had left just behind us at Isla Grande straight for Manzanillo but had a bad night, taking waves over the dodger, so had spent the day here to rest up before heading out at 6 pm tonight.
Another Islander Freeport 41 came in and anchored this afternoon. This is their 1st season out- don’t remember the boat name. They came over for happy hour along with Rob and the kids, Grace is not feeling too good.
John bought 4 small lobsters at the beach and had spaghetti with them for dinner.

January 25, Thursday

Happy B-day Grace

Nanamuk and ourselves all went to the beach and walked around to the beautiful beaches with lots of blow holes and VERY steep beaches that were banging in huge rollers- no swimming here. But we sat and visited and watched nature perform with the crescendo of breaking waves meeting the sandy beach.
The kids came back to the boat with us while Rob and Grace stayed behind for some time alone.
Oh- we also walked the mile or so to town, what there is of one- not even any bread, let alone ice.
We had the Nanamuk crew over for an early B-day dinner for Grace.
We both weighed anchor at 5:30 pm headed on in to Manzanillo. The swell out here has calmed down to a foot with an occasional 2-footer. Nice 10 knots breeze just barely off our nose all night. Passed 5 or 6 big freighters, only 1 being in as close as 1.5 miles off to port.
Had 1 big power boat headed straight at us with no lights visible until we steered around him at half a mile off - he must have been doing around 15-20 knots- dumb shit!
We had a half moon with us until around midnight when it sank into the ocean the color of burning coals. When there are no lights from a town and no moon, the stars shine down even more brilliantly and in greater numbers.
The night was an easy and peaceful one.

January 26, Friday

We made our way through the fishing nets and around pangas outside of Manzanillo in the dark before the sun came up. When we came into the bay I called Goon before she went off to school. She sounded good and happy, she likes George now - no more Billy.
We came on in and anchored almost where we were last time, same as Renegade.
John did take Samie to the pool for a bit, but not for long. He helped Arne get the new halyard up for their genoa that frayed and broke.
We were so tired, it was a couple of naps and we were still out like babies at 8:30 pm.
Oh - Danielle called and she and maybe Goon will try to fly out to Mazatlan end of March- Schyler is 8 months and wearing size 3 and 4 toddler – what a chunk!
Ok - the poem I wrote for Grace on her Birthday went like this:

A friendship in Los Muertos was made,
Hence memories that will never fade.
Good fortune was ours along with luck,
On the warm April day we met Nanamuk.

Ships may come and ships may go,
Under the sun’s warm yellow glow.
Ships will pass in the night,
Beneath the soft moonlight.

But ‘friend-ships’ are made to share,
Therefore we sail as a pair.
Up and down the Mexican coast,
Ocean creatures as our host.

Thoughts of Jelly, Al, Rob and Grace
Will always bring a smile to our face.
And when the sailor’s wind does blow us apart,
This friendship we treasure will forever warm our hearts.

*Awe, I love Mom’s poems and stories. I have her looking for her stories now, so that we can share those here, too!
I remember being bummed when Peggy and Billy split up, I really liked them together. But, at 17, such is young love!
Getting into harbor in the early morning is a toughie - you don’t want to sleep all day and be up all night, so you try to get through as best you can and CRASH OUT early as hell!

January 27, Saturday

Back to a normal day, Sam and I did 2 days of school. John changed the oil in the main engine and the generator, changed all the zincs and took in the heat exchanger to be checked and fixed.
After all this work was done, we went to the pool and the kids fed the iguanas that swim on the man-made island in the pool. One iguana even swam right in the pool.

*This pool was so beautiful. It was so cool to see the iguanas on the little islands - can you see the one in front of Alan in the second photo? The lady to the right of us has a hibiscus flower, which you could feed them! I do remember them swimming across to the other islands and whatnot, it was really neat.

January 28, Sunday

We did a little review on Spanish this morning – it has pretty much fallen to the wayside – seems like there’s always something else to do and it’s tough enough to just do school.
Then us and Renegade took a bus in to the commercial and did a big shop. It’s been since P.V. the end of December that we’ve really bought more than the basics.  Of course, we took a taxi back.
John took Sam to the pool for a while. Then we Arne and Janice to the Guadalajara Bar and Grill to watch the Super Bowl – Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburg Stleelers. Great place, lots of people and noise. We all had tags on for the teams you were roote’n for and when they got a touch-down you got a free beer! Lots of beer – Cowboys 27 -Steelers 17 – Lots of fun! The commercials were great – didn’t want to miss ‘em.

*We wanted to learn Spanish, but, just as Mom said, it was hard enough to keep up on school in the midst of all this fun to be had! Also, so many people already spoke English, anyway. I swear I do remember at least a couple times though, Dad ended up drawing things in the sand to communicate something. We got along fine, but I really do wish we’d have learned more - especially for me at the time, I would have soaked it up - it’s so much easier when your brain is still developing.
It feels worth noting that we “of course” took a taxi back because we needed room for all our groceries - especially being enough to supply 5 people! I hadn’t thought about those crowded rides home in a while! Don’t forget all the fun of unloading and lugging everything down to the beach, into the dinghies, executing a (hopefully dry) take-off from the beach and hauling everything onto the boat before storing it all away! Phew! I’m tired just writing about it -no wonder we were all in such great shape! All part of the cruising life! Definitely a worthy trade-off, I do say!
The photos below are from the Guadalajara Bar and Grill for Superbowl. I’m not sure why, but I was always nervous about people statues! I didn’t like sitting next to them. I’m pretty sure any other kind of statue was fine, but these types always gave me the heebie-geebies. 🤷‍♀️

January 29, Monday

John did his usual ‘busy work’ around the boat this morning while we did school. We got the extra heat exchanger back all repaired.
Spent the afternoon at the pool. Jelly spent the night.
Short and simple day!

January 30, Tuesday

John changed the water maker filters. Renegade left this morning for Tenacatita. Samie is extra tired today – I guess her and Janelle woke up in the night to talk. Spent the afternoon at the pool.
What a hard life!
Talked to Faron; Chelle was at school. He said Schyler weighs 28lbs and he walks around things holding on. When he falls down, he tries to get up, but can’t quite do it.
Goon called, she’ll see what she can do about coming to Mazatlan with Danielle the end of March. Chelle and Faron will try to come out there, too.

*Can you spot the Wandrin’ Star and Nanamuk in the bay here in these photos?! We were always full of pride seeing our girl out there in the bay, happily anchored and ready for our return. She always stood right out to me, like a little beacon of safety, always ready to carry us along on the next leg of our adventure… She was our world, truly! Our axis with which we were tethered to. Your vessel eventually really feels like a family member. 🥰 I still miss her all the time! 😭
Look at these beautiful views! I would love to go visit there now and experience this place from a different perspective!

January 31, Wednesday

We weighed anchor at 8:30 am and went across the bay to Manzanillo and topped of the fuel tanks. Easy to get to. We were back in the bay and underway at 11:00 am. Around 1:00 pm the wind kicked up at 20 knots – you guessed it – right on our nose. By the time we rounded the point and headed in to Navidad we were taking spray on the top sides. We made our way around the break water past the shoal in to the lagoon where we are anchored fore and aft in what will one day be a small marina. 12 or 13 boats in here. The water is as flat as an ice-skating rink.
Oh yeah, the usual no fish, but caught 1 green-footed booby bird. He was almost drowned when John got him in, so he put him in the cockpit to recoup before throwing him back.
Talked to Steve for a minute. Roach called, they may fly in to P.V. the end of February.
Talked to Princess Erika finally, they are in Tenacatita and headed this way tomorrow.

*The poor bird really was almost drowned and had to throw up all that water and get his bearings back. I think we kept the lines in after that.