October ‘97

*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!

October ? 97

[Hurricane] Pauline formed south of Acapulco and moved straight up the coast. Acapulco got it really bad – lots of rain and mud slides. It finally dissipated at P.V. Then Olaf came back in – it looked like it rained heavy on Barra, but Chris and Lorry’s fax said otherwise.
It turned so freezing cold that we cut our last week short by 2 days.
We had been up at Richard and Barb’s every day all summer helping with their addition and remodel; they got a lot done but were still laying the hardwood floor when we left, so it will be exciting to see it all finished next summer.

*I love that once it got cold enough, Mom and Dad said “Peace out!” and bounced early. lol

October 16, Thursday

We were loaded up and headed off that cold mountain at 7:30 am. Did our running around Mesa, got Samie a new wetsuit, snorkel and mask, $200. Sam and I stayed at Mom’s while John drove to Phoenix to get the snaps, etc. for the new sail covers $300 – Wow!
Andy and Janet and kids all came over, Cade is such a cutie at 14 months. Rendy and I played together, she is the sweetest thing.
Chelle, Schyer and Danielle all came by, too.

October 17, Friday

We left Mom’s at 6:30 am and drove straight on down to San Carlos. Even got a lucky green light at the border.
We stopped at Bill and Trish’s on our way in – 4 pm.
We unloaded a few things, but we have no power or water on this dock now – so we went out to Tequila’s with Bill and Trish and they let us sleep there.

October 18, Saturday

We moved the boat to another dock – after John dove on the crusted prop.
Hook up the power, fill the water tanks and it’s to work getting things stowed and livable. Very long, hot day. Coming from freezing to hot takes some getting used to, no matter how wonderful it is. We went in for Manuel’s Chicken.

October 19, Sunday

We got all the sails back on – put in another full day. Cloud Nine is here too, so we spent a couple hours at their boat – then went our to dinner with them and Sea Hope. Bill and Trish were there and we stayed until 10 pm. Long day, but oh – so nice.

October 20, Monday

We had to trim down the new stove and make a couple other adjustments, but we made it fit – boy is it pretty! We got some steaks and ate at home tonight.
Oh, John tried out his hookah this morning and loved it.

October 21, Tuesday

John scrubbed down the decks, we got most everything put away.
John and Samie had a short swim at the pool. We spent some time at Prime Time, then at their house while John patched Bill’s dinghy.

October 22, Wedensday

I came down with the cold that was going around NEC, don’t feel so good. We got Samie’s room all put together and away – for now. John rigged the hookah for lifting on and off the boat. The wind blew 10-20k all day and it was much cooler.

October 23, Thursday

Happy B-day Janice!

Samie and I found our starting place in school to match as close as possible where she left off at Blue Ridge.
John took Dario and Emma out for a dive on the hookah.
We spent a couple hours at the Gibson’s.

October 24, Friday

School, a little bit of this and a little of that. Happy hour at Rancho Grande with Bill, Trish – Jack and Parker, then Tequila’s for dinner.

October 25, Saturday

John reinforced the back railing so we can haul the 10 hp dinghy motor there while underway.
The wind picked up around 3 pm and has been blowing 15-25k – it’s now 7 pm.
Goon called, it snowed up there yesterday, Clay Springs got 1.5”, Pinetop 3” – so glad we missed it. She is going with Champ to Show Low’s homecoming tonight.

October 26, Sunday

John waxed the boat. We stopped by the Gibson’s – not a real exciting week, but beats the hell out of being in the States! Wind blew again, 15-20k WNW.

October 27, Monday

John bought the isinglass and bias tape for the new canvas for $31 U.S. The peso is 8:1 now. He also put down new non-skid on both “entryways” on the deck and the step in the companionway.
Bill and Trish had us over to Prime Time for drinks. They are still inddecisive about crossing to the Baja with us.
It was cool and cloudy this a.m., then got a few sprinkles, but it cleared out and was a beautiful windless day.

*I can still feel the texture of the non-skid under my feet!

October 28, Tuesday

Goyo brought back a repaired alternator – John got it all put back in and ran the engine for a while – then the gen-set for a bit, also.
The water was pretty clear, so he dove the bottom with the hookah – not too bad.
We went into Leys and spent $1,034 pesos – don’t need anything else except fresh stuff.
Talked to Molly, Star Song, this a.m. – Summer Wind is still not there.

October 29, Wednesday

John dove on the boat Ahsley, it took 2.5 hours to clean their bottom. $30 U.S.
A small power boat brought in a 6’ marlin – which John finagled 12 small steaks for us. He took the bill over to Bill and had him going for a while with a story of catching it in our dinghy.
Samie and I spent an hour at the pool. Calm day until around 4 pm when the NE kicked in at 10-15k.

*That’s funny that Dad had Bill doing with his tall tale about the marlin. Love it!
Out of curiosity I checked the value of $30 today and it’s almost double, so Dad got the equivalent of almost $60 for cleaning the boat bottom. On that note, the $300 for the snaps and whatnot we bought in Mesa for $300 would have been the equivalent of $589! Crazy.

October 30, Thursday

At 8 am we all went out on Prime Time to do a little fishing – not to be, it was white-capping and only got worse the farther out we got, which was 7 or 8 miles. We did put out the lines, but with a 4-5 foot swell, it was useless. We made a big circle around and came on in around 10:30. By noon it was blow’en a good 25k with gusts to 30.
Jim and Kitty called on the phone, they are still in Texas, Kitty was waiting for the results from a doctor’s visit – they should leave Saturday for Mazatlan. The wind finally laid down around 9 pm.

October 31 – Friday

Happy Halloween

John worked on patching the cracks in Samie’s hatch.
Stopped by dry storage to look at Slow Dancing – it had gone up on the rocks up by Kino in Hurricane Nora. A lot of damage – they are shipping it back to the States for repairs. The Mexican Navy was wonderful in getting them off the rocks, patched and into San Carlos.
Stopped by the Gibson’s for a bit.
The wind is blowing 20-25k again.

*I don’t remember that happening to Slow Dancing, how terrible! I don’t think I went with them to see the damage - seems like I would remember that.

November ‘97

*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!

November 1, Saturday

John finished fixing Samie’s hatch.
Samie and I got some letters off – via High Jinx.
Around 5 pm, a newlywed Mexican couple was on the dock with several photographers taking pictures – we said they could come up on deck and take pictures. Pretty cool. Beautiful bride and dress.
We went to dinner with Jeff, Hilda and Nora at Manuel’s Chicken – wonderful.
Another blustery day.

*We always thought that was so cute and cool that the couple wanted a photo on our boat.

November 2, Sunday

We called off school today.
Spent a couple of hours at the Gibson’s, then got pretty decent pizza at Jack’s Snax.
It was hot, with only a 10k breeze and humid. Lazy day.

*While my friends back home were hoping for snow days and running to check their TVs in the morning for that banner ticker at the bottom of the screen to announce any school cancellations, my “snow days” were usually sunny, warm and just because we could! What a rough life, I tell ya! 😉

November 3, Monday

After school, Samie dog-sat for Mark and Anita, Wind Runner. Romeo is such a cutie.
John picked up John Roach at the airport at 4 pm. Then we went to Piccolo’s for dinner – Bill and ‘the gang’ were also there.

*I often made friends with the pups on other boats, especially when there weren’t any other kids around to hang out with. The first photo here is me with Romeo, the second is Mark and Anita with Romeo, and last is a letter from one of the other boaters who had a cute little wiener dog named Minnie.

November 4, Tuesday

John and Roach talked to Ed Brown, an American here in San Carlos for the last 20 years or so. He gave them all the info on getting the pool cementing business going down here. They also talked to the guy in charge of most of the pools. Looks promising.
We all had a great dinner at Jeff and Hilda’s.

November 5, Wednesday

We dropped Roach off at the airport at noon. Nice, quiet, lazy day.

*Alright, this marks the return of my diary entries! I haven’t edited any of my grammar or spelling, I like leaving it just how it is with my occasional grammatical and spelling errors, of which there weren’t all that many, considering I have always enjoyed the written word and been pretty good at it, especially spelling. There was one section I did decide to omit, only for the sake of having gone into more detail than necessary (who, me?!). My descriptions and extra details crack me up. It’s fun to see how much I have both changed so much and in some ways not changed at all! 🤪

November 6, Wednesday

We did a beer and peso run and left the dock at 11:30, after an hour of calm motoring, we were anchored in the San Carlos Bay – boy does it feel good. Bill and Trish came over in their dink – real cruiser-like!
John and Samie went in to get the van and fishing license.
At 5 pm we went to the Gibson’s casa, by way of dink, for a very enjoyable dinner and company. MAYBE they’ll cross over to La Paz with us on our boat.
It's such a wonderful feeling to be on the hook again – the water is like glass. It was overcast all day until around sunset when it cleared out a little. At 8:30 pm there was a circle of starry, open sky surrounded by low, fluffy clouds. Really pretty. Feels right.

*In case anyone was uncertain, the ramp at the Gibson’s was very slippery concrete!
Also, this is what the little translator looked like.

*We motorerd around from Marina Real and anchored in San Carlos Bay here. You can see the road coming in from Marina Real right there under the ‘L’ in the San Carlos title. Fun fact: that is the first road I ever drove on. Just a short little stint on the way back to Marina Real in my dad’s lap - it was a straight-a-way without a lot of traffic so it was a good spot to try out for the first time in the ol’ clunker van.
Bill and Trish’s house was somewhere in that cluster of homes and we would anchor somewhat near that area if there was space for us.

November 7, Friday

After weather reports this morning, we went into town for ice. Bill and Trisha are not going to make the crossing, bummer! They took Samie for a short ride in their Little Prime Time.
We had the anchor up at noon, there was an 8-10k SW, so we put up the sails. Beautiful! Bill and Trisha followed us out for about 3 or 4 miles – they really do want to go – don’t know what is the real reason they don’t. We had 0-10k all the way across, flat seas. I took the first watch – the perfectly half-moon set on the mountains in an orange glow. After that, the ocean was like silk, I watched a falling star in the reflection on that water, it was that peaceful.

*I got chills while typing that out, the part about the shooting star. The water really was that calm sometimes and it was so magical!
Somewhere in a parallel universe, my mom and I are both adults enjoying these magic moments together. 🥰 It would be amazing with both my parents - I could learn so much from my dad about the boat, the engine, sailing; all the ins and outs of fixing and maintaining everything while Mom and I soak up all the precious moments as they float on by.

November 8, Saturday

Happy B-day Janice

We decided just to go on to Agua Verde and skip Ballandra and Escondido. It was still so calm that I took a picture leaning over the pulpit – hopefully catching the reflection in the clear water below.
At 10 am we were dancing with the dolphins. There must have been 15 or 20 large bottlenose beauties right under the bow at once. I must have taken 10 pictures; it was like they were in a crystal swimming pool. Amazingly breathtaking. I was just as exciting as the first time I ever saw them. Once of the dolphins made a roll and struck the “dolphin striker” with his flipper.
We were anchored in Agua Verde around 1 pm – 25 hours. 94° - hot, but as the sun set, the temp dropped nicely and a 15-20k cormell kicked in for an hour or so. We were a little too close to Arctic Turn, so we moved the heavy ‘ole anchor.

*If there’s one thing we NEVER tired of, it was certainly seeing dolphins. It was just as marvelous the hundredth time as it was the first! Mom was always like a kid on Christmas morning and that will always make me smile to think of. 😊
Another diary entry! Poor little me, so bored on the boat and missing all my friends - not realizing how much these days would shape the rest of my life for the better and that one day, I’d be sitting here in the States as an adult, typing up these memories and more than willing to trade places with her! And those movies I got tired of watching over and over? When I watch them now, the familiarity is wild - I can anticipate particular inflections of tone throughout dialog, specific movements of different characters, etc.

November 9, Sunday

I slept like a baby last night, this all feels so good and peaceful. Samie and I got school done. There is Hurricane Rick down below Acapulco and expected to be inland tomorrow – sure do hope so.
Well, Samie and I got our first try on the hookah today. We went along the reef. I should have taken the underwater camera and got a shot of John holding Samie’s hand and swimming under the surface. I surprised even myself – I’m gonna like this.

*I’m surprised I don’t remember this, especially being my first time. I love that Mom made the note of Dad holding my hand, that’s super cute and would have been a great photo. I remember it usually took me a minute to adjust to breathing with my face under the water - such a strange feeling! The hookah especially was great for Dad when he was cleaning boat bottoms because he didn’t have to come back up repeatedly for air like when he wore a snorkel, and didn’t have to lug on the full scuba getup in order to stay underwater for long periods of time.
My diary notes the giant moths we had in Agua Verde - I think Mom mentions them at some time or another during one of our visits. I remember some very surprised ladies on another boat one night - we could hear them whooping and hollering in surprise, it was quite comical!

November 10, Monday

We left Agua Verde at 7 am under cloudy skies. We had 8-10k from the NW for a couple hours, then nada for 4 hours. For about 20-30 minutes, we had a nice easterly breeze at 15k, had the sails out and full – then it shifted to 20k on the nose for the last 2 hours. I’m glad we got the sails down before it got too strong. We took a few splashes on deck, but not bad. We came in to San Evaristo at 3 pm, the wind dropped off to 10k. As we were coming in to find our spot – we hear another boat yell over, “Wandrin’ Star’, Marina Cortez! – it was Jim and Ginger on Acquisition. We hadn’t seem them since San Diego, 4 years ago!
Janice had told me they were in the sea, but what a surprise! We visited with them for a while – they worked in Cabo for the last year.
Then Tumble Weed came over for a while.
At 6:30, as I’m putting the spaghetti dinner on, it decides to rain pretty good for about 15 minutes – nice wash-down.

*Oh, what a small world after all. 😉

*We took these photos of me doing school work to send to my classmates back home. School usually took 2-3 hours, tops - depending mostly on my own attitude and motivation toward getting it done. As it’s been stated before, I hustled a lot more when there were other kids nearby who I wanted to get out and play with!

November 11, Tuesday

It was 8 years ago that we moved in with John – the start of a great life and wonderful adventure.
The wind blew last night, starting at midnight and kept it up until 9 or 10 am. It was howling at 20k with many gusts to 25 and 30k  out of the west. We were only sitting in 13 feet of water at low tide with a reef right behind us. So I was up all night. John was up for a couple of hours.
We moved our anchoring spot out some – I’m sure it’s gonna blow again tonight. Our barometer has dropped about 10 points in the last 2 days, it’s at 29.6. There are 3 fronts going to be passing over us in the next few days – oh what fun.
Bill Gibson called – they got 1.5 inches of rain out of the thunder clouds that blew over us last night.
Shine and Goon called the other night in Agua Verde.

*In November 1989 my mom, my brother Michael, sister Peggy and I moved in with John and our soon-to-be step-sisters, Michelle and Danielle. We connected Mom’s trailer to the beautiful a-frame house John had built years before. The house had a beautiful roundabout filled with brightly colored flowers, beautiful green grass all around and a pond a few hundred feet up the lane complete with a family of geese and some catfish. Mike, Peg and I kept our bedrooms in the trailer. Eventually when Mike and Michelle graduated and moved out, Peg and I moved into the main house and Mom sold the trailer. Not too long after that, we sold the house and just about everything we owned to buy the boat and start our new life on the Wandrin’ Star. The trailer that we would later stay in during the summers is right up the road from that house, and Danielle ended up building her own home on that same street with her husband Ben, years later. Mom, Dad, Michelle and two of the grand kids (Chase and Reece) have all gotten married on that property. There is also a cabin right down the way, owned by our friends John and Maryann, where we stayed once during the summer and where John and Maryann still live when they come to visit from Tucson. The main house is no longer in the family, but the property in general has a long history with us. ❤ Peep a photo of Mom and Dad in the round-about below, circa 1994. Also, Dad working on something-or-other underneath the cockpit seating while in Agua Verde. 🙃Lastly, another diary entry from little me - funny to think back then I’d be crying about missing my friends here in the States, and now I will absolutely cry or at least get choked up if I reminisce too thoroughly about the boat and how much she and cruising life meant to me. Oh, how that damned hindsight is always 20/20!

November 12, Wednesday

Oh what a day! We left San Evaristo under 100% overcast skies, but no wind at 6 am. About an hour out, the wind kicks in at 15-25k out of the SW and held there all the way into the La Paz channel. We had a close encounter with a panga that was pulling in a big long net – we didn’t even see them in the cloudy day until they were 100 feet off our beam! Oh shit!
We finally put our jib out to steady the ride and boy, were we scoot’en – 6 and 7k. We had water coming over the bow – WONDERFUL news – no water-soaked cupboards in Samie’s room! After 3 years of water, water everywhere – we finally got it fixed.
We had a couple rain squalls go over us – it’s cool to watch them on the radar heading right for you.
The day really was nicer than it looked to begin with.
It was 2:30 pm when we entered the La Paz channel, oh hell! It started blow’en 25-30k SW – NOT FUN! It took us 2.5 hours and 3 tries at anchoring – not only was the wind howling, but the tide is coming in at 3+ knots. I don’t ever want to try that again. We anchored once, but the Navy had us leave ‘cause we were in their channel. We dropped the hook again, in what was a big hole – but once everyone started “waltzing”, we came real close to running into 2 boats. Once of which was just watching as we are backing down at full power to avoid the collision – it came within inches before he backed down on his chain. The good ‘ole La Paz Waltz! We dropped it again, way the hell out in front of the pack, but we are probably too far in the big boat channel. Oh well, we’ll move in the calm morning.
Seeing the waltzing that is done by the sail boats is something you have to see to believe. It’s hard to describe – the tide comes in real strong and even though the wind is blowing 25k from one direction, the tide is coming in the other and your ass end is in the wind, not your nose. It’s unreal when the boats start dancing around on their chains, “sailing” off forward, sideways and backwards!
So, it was 5:30 when we were finally anchored in a “safe”spot. Oh, what a day – exciting to say the least!

*Hallelujah, no more leaky cupboards! I bet we were all so relieved to find that out!
Trying to anchor in that wind with those currents in the La Paz channel is a nightmare! The La Paz Waltz has the boats all in disorder and it’s hard to tell where it’s safe to anchor. There’s nothing else quite like the Waltz!

November 13, Thursday

It finally calmed down and we slept good. The barometer is up 8 points today. That was a cold front that went through and we were in the center of circulation is why it was such a snotty day.
We re-anchored in a spot closer in, just behind Tweed as their friends left. It was a beautiful day – no wind until around 1 pm, and then only 10k from the north, so it agreed with the incoming tide.
I went in and did 3 loads of laundry while John jerry-jugged 50 gallons of fuel. We took it easy in the afternoon, then went in at 5:30 for a great burger at the Dock Café.

*When I think about it, The Dock and Crew’s Quarters were like our Cheers!

November 14, Friday

John did the check-in/ check-out routine this a.m. The girls did school. We spent a couple hours ashore visiting Tumbleweed at the marina. I faxed Barb and Richard, also Rosa. Had steak, shrimp, baked papas and salad – wonderful and so cheap! Called Mom.

November 15, Saturday

The day started out with dark clouds, 64° and cool. Around 10 am the clouds moved off and a 15-20k norther started up. 8 pm, it’s still blow’en. As the tide shifted around 4 pm, the “waltz” was in full swing.
John helped Jerry, Tumbleweed fix his bob-stay. Then we just sorta stayed on board and waited for the waltz to mellow out before going in to have film developed. Great pictures of all those dolphins under the bow by Escondido.

November 16, Sunday

Well, it was another snotty day in La Paz – 15-20k all day. Report is it’s calming down in Escondido, so will be calm by morning here – hopefully. We are ready to be in Mazatlan. I think I want a slip in the marina here in La Paz from now on – forget these damn winds and the waltzes!

November 17, Monday

The wind was somewhat calmer today, 8-10k for the most part. We’ve got everything ready to go, so hopefully it stays calm tonight. Calypso and Moon Shadow both said it was sloppier than heck out there. In fact, Moon Shadow ducked in to Ensenada Grande to get out of it – so it probably won’t be  smooth ride. Called Goon.

November 18, Tuesday

Well, we’re here another day! Winds picked up to 15-20k early in the morning. This is getting real old. We were waltzing all over as we got afternoon gusts of 25k. Moonshadow, Al and Morine came on in today. John worked shining and polishing in the engine room for about 3 hours today while we bounced around, it was like a very rough sail all day. As of 5:30 pm it had calmed down in Conception Bay, to the north. That’s usually a good sign that the calm is moving down here.

November 19, Wednesday

La Paz – Los Muertos

Long day – we weighed anchor around 6:45 am in 6k of north wind. Upon our exit through the channel, it was toot’en over the mountain at 15-20k which we had until we rounded out into the Ceralvo Channel, then it laid down to 10k – North. However, we were sideways to 5 & 6 foot swells, with several 10-footers to throw things about! Have to have some excitement! Of course, we passed the Mazatlan Ferry as we were just passing his turning point.
Once in Ceralvo Channel, the wind died to 5 or 10k from behind and we were running with the swell so it smoothed out nicely. We only had the jib out today, but it was a nicer run than I expected. We anchored in Los Muertos at 4 pm, 9.5 hours. There are only 3 other boats in here – that’s the least ever. No pizza tonight. Maybe mañana!

November 20, Thursday

Los Muertos

It was one of those off and on days – “Boy, I’m glad we stayed – hell, we should’ve gone.” It blew 15-20k NW in here most of the morning and early afternoon. Then around 2:30 pm died off to 10k and below. We listened to several boats about halfway across with 18-20k and double reefs in their mains with 4-5 foot swells. We are still debating whether to leave in the morning or not. John dove with the hookah on the boat bottom – really dirty. We also need to paint next year.

November 21, Friday

Los Muertos

Another one of those “should have left today” days.

There are probably 15 boats in here now. There was only one other when we came in on Tuesday. They’re mostly “Ha-Ha’ers” coming up from Los Frailes. Didn’t do much today, just listened to the wind howling from 10 am to 3:30 pm – 20k north again. Reports from those crossing are 10-18k north and the seas are down to 2-3.
So we are ready to boogie on over to Mazatlan around midnight.

*The Ha-Ha’ers Mom is referring to would be from the 3rd annual Baja Ha-Ha group to come down from San Diego. That year’s roster had a whopping 154 boats participating, in comparison to the meager 39 we were a part of in the first official HAHA run in 1994. I checked out the 2024 roster and there were 131 entries. Also, with today’s technology, participants can track their vessels online - you can see where everyone is now! I found it easiest to select a boat name on the right and the map will take you to the location. Otherwise, the 131 different lines are a tad overwhelming! Pretty cool, though.

November 22, Saturday

En route to Mazatlan

I over-slept – we didn’t get underway until 1 am. As of 8 am the seas are 2-3’ with an occaisional 4-5-footer to rock ya over. NNW swell, 8-12k North. What a beautiful crossing! We had 10k with very little variation out of the north the entire way across. Beam reach with the jib and mizzen perfectly full. Of course, we motor-sailed and were doing anywhere from 6-9k. The seas smoothed out to 1-2-footers and very pleasant. Only saw one tanker mid-afternoon and one other sailboat, Freedom, Bob, a single-hander came in closer so he could cat-nap while we kept an eye out.

*Gotta look out for the single-handers! I don’t know how they do what they do - it takes some real courage and skill to go out alone on a boat. If you’re interested in following any current single-handers, you should check out @sailing_songbird on Instagram and TikTok! In October of 2023, he left his job in Seattle as a middle school music teacher to circumnavigate the world in his 27’ sailboat, Songbird. He came south down the Western coastline, stopped in some of our old haunts like Ensenada, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. He played for a bit in Baja, stopped in La Paz (my heart, my home!) and headed out to French Polynesia, arriving in Nuku Hiva after 49 days at sea alone. He has since been to Rangiroa, Tahiti, Tonga and more! As I post this, he is hunkered down in New Zealand working on boat repairs while he waits for the next sailing season so he can continue on his journey. You can also check out his YouTube videos here and even help him fund his boat repairs if you feel so inclined! He is a joy to follow and always puts a smile on my face - if you like the Wandrin’ Stars adventures, I know you will enjoy his posts as well!

November 23, Sunday

Mazatlan

Happy Birthday Debra Diane

We made it into Mazatlan Marina at 6:45 am. It only took 30 hours – a record time. Summer Wind, Jim and Kitty, were on the dock to greet us. Samie went to their boat while John and I got busy wash’en down and cleaning up ours. All the while stopping to visit with old friends that came by. It sure is wonderful to be back among friends. Star Song, Steve and Molly, Lena, Kirby and new girlfriend, Susan, and Prelude, Harry from Tubac, among others.
After washing down, we had to move to a no-power, no-water dock. There are several other Islander Freeport 41s in here.
We went in to town for dinner with Star Song and Summer Wind to the El Taco Loco, wonderful! By day it's a car wash and at night a café – only in Mexico! We all slept like babies after the long trip.

*I don’t remember seeing so many other sister ships! Must’ve been too busy with friends!

November 24, Monday

Mazatlan

Jim took John in to cambio money – he’s jerry-jugging fuel and checking in. NO SCHOOL! We just fiddle-farted around.
We had our Thanksgiving dinner tonight on Star Song with Summer Wind and Lena. Molly fixed a royal feast – a traditional Thanksgiving Day turkey and all the trimmings. I even made cinnamon rolls in my new oven.

*Woo-hoo! Another “snow day!”

November 25, Tuesday

Mazatlan

We moved the boat again, this time to a power and water dock where we can stay until we leave – approximately 2 weeks. It’s an easy in – easy out end dock. Star Song is on this dock too, also Miss Teak II, I wish they were here, but they’re still in New Zealand and won’t be back here until December 20th.
Talked to the Gibson’s, they won’t be driving down here – too short on time, they have to go back to Pinetop December 1st.
Danielle and Chelle called. Danielle didn’t get the Motorola job and her car is on the fritz – she says “life sucks.” But everyone is fine.

November 26, Wednesday

Mazatlan

Jim and Kitty drove us down to have “mug shots” made and to the bank so we could open an account. These are requirements for an FM3, which makes us legal for 12 months without having to renew out VISAS. The account we opened was for $10,000 pesos, which we can take out anytime. It wasn’t too big of a deal, and Juan, who works here with the marina will do all the other paperwork for $20 U.S.
Eric and Tammy, Helena Christina got back today. Their boat had filled up with all the rain water from the winter, due to plugged up scuppers and drains – not good.  
Jim, Kitty, Steve and Molly all came over for Happy Hour.

November 27, Thursday

Mazatlan

Happy Turkey Day.

Since we had Turkey Day on Monday, we went with a normal day.
Jim and Kitty left the marina and went to the anchorage this afternoon so they could have some welding done mañana. Around 5 pm, we wandered up to the festivities and visited. Samie got to take a swing at the piñata with 10-15 other kids.

November 28, Friday

Mazatlan

Samie and I spent a long day studying for a test.
John got our anchor and chain sent off with Neal to be re-galvanized. He also changed the main engine’s oil. I defrosted the fridge/freezer.
We went in to town with Steve and Molly for dinner at Panchos on the beach – great! Across the street is a shell place with every kind of shell and shell crafts. Christmas trees made of shells, with the surrounding base covered in shell designs. Really cool place.

November 29, Saturday

Mazatlan

John’s been stripping down and waxing the boat. Jim and Kitty came back in – they got all their new stanchions and stainless work done – that went well. But while trying to find the right place to dock in the cruise boat and fishing boat channel, they bumped into a shrimp boat – oh what fun. Just minor damage.
Samie went to the beach with Chelsea and family on Morning Star.
Jim and Kitty came over for dinner.

November 30, Sunday

Mazatlan

Talked to Brent (OAH) on ham this a.m. He said Blue Ridge won the State Championship last night, 27-21. They set a record for the first 3-A team to ever win 4 years in a row!
Kirby checked out the fridge/freezer, all is fine!
Samie studied for her history and geography test mañana.

*It’s seriously so cool what you can find on YouTube! I wouldn’t have known any of the players those years, but Moro was a long-time coach at Blue Ridge, so I recognized him and Bob London. I think I even saw my high school science teacher, Mr. Gouker, in the background.

December ‘97

*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 1st, Monday
Mazatlan

Juan typed up all the papers for the FM3s and we had to take them down to Immigration. Jim and Kitty were wonderful and ran us down there. We waited in line for 1.5 hours while the poor girl took care of so many people at once. Everyone just cuts the line and goes straight to the desk – no order at all. Jim and Kitty got their fishing licenses and then we ate some lunch. From 10:30 am to 3 pm – a long day.
Hal on Angela is here now for 3 weeks to work on the boat – no family with him yet.
Called Barb and Richard, they got their flooring all done. It’s 30° and snowing – so glad we’re not there.

December 2, Tuesday
Mazatlan

John went to the bank to pay the taxes for the FM3s, then back to Immigration to drop off the paperwork. Well, now you can only drop it off on Monday and pick it up on Friday. Great, another week in Mazatlan – we should have been in La Cruz 2 weeks ago. Oh well!
Samie did good on all her tests, her only real problem was history, (-5), and math, where she worked everything out correctly, but on 5 of them, she was supposed to estimate and didn’t, so they were wrong.
It was cloudy all day and cooler with a north breeze. It rained a bit at 5 am and drizzled off and on until around noon.

December 3, Wednesday
Mazatlan

Bob and Cynthia, Miss Teak II, should be back from New Zealand today – back in Denver, anyway.
John had Clause climb the mast and change the bulbs.
John got the injectors back in after having them cleaned.
The north wind has been blow’en 10-15k the last couple of days, it’s still 85°, but kinda cool.

December 4, Thursday
Mazatlan – still!

John and Neal, Carousel, left this a.m. at 9:30 for Culiacan to drop off some anchor chain and pick up last week’s delivery, ours. Just before John left, I said here, take our phone # - good thing, ‘cause they called at 3:30 pm, 19 miles south of Culiacán with a blown out water pump. At least they are at a Pemex truck stop. Bob on Lady Ann drove up  to get them. They loaded 2 of the chains (one was ours) in Bob’s van – towed Neal’s truck another 10 miles to a restaurant that Neal knew the owner and left it there for the night.
They drove on home and made it at midnight.

*Dang! That drive is 2.75 hours one way, so a 5-7 hour trip turned into 14.5 hour event! Lucky there were other boaters with vehicles to help out - what a long day for everyone!, especially Dad and Neal!

December 5, Friday
Mazatlan

Samie, Chelsea, Rory and the boys from See World all have kayaks and had a whipped cream/water blaster fight. It was pretty cool!
John got the newly galvanized chain all marked and back on the boat. Jim took Kitty, Molly, Sandy, Judy and myself to the cambio and Sam’s Club – neat place, like Price Club. John helped Jim hook up his new VHF radio in the cockpit. Happy hour on the dock.

*I’m surprised I don’t remember the whipped/cream/ water fight! Did the whipped cream cans really have that much pressure to “shoot” at each other? Too funny. 🐞

December 6, Saturday
Mazatlan

Kitty and I go for a half hour walk every morning, feels good.
Oh, I forgot – last night on the dock, Sam (the dog), after John was scratching his belly and had him all worked up, went after Molly’s cat, Titters. Titters went off the dock for a swim. Once John got her out, she dug her claws into Mike’s shorts! Poor Titters – but it was a good, long laugh!
Samie did the net control for the first time in the “Big League.” She did a real good job!
A little of this and that today.
I get in the kayak every day now that it’s out.
We went to the big cruiser party for Oso (Dick’s dog) tonight. It was enjoyable. The Marina bought all the hot dogs, buns, onions and such. Oso even had his very own cake.
Goon called today, Dan and Melissa moved to Shumway and Ruby and Grandma Davis moved back in, Peg is staying there. Josh is getting married today – and Shine is in the wedding. I told her it’s 82° here – she said there is still snow on the ground from Monday and they are expecting it to snow for the next 4 days – a slow-moving storm that brought lots of rain to Southern California.

*The Mazatlan morning net was my favorite because you could walk all around the marina and not miss any of it because everyone was tuned in on their VHF radios in their cockpits, so it carried across the water to create a huge sort of surround sound effect. I remember doing the net this day and being a little nervous, but there was a printed template/guideline that helped keep track of everything that needed to be covered each morning, and of course, everyone was really nice and all went well!

December 7, Sunday
Mazatlan

Happy B-day Sandie.

Talked to Brent in Alpine, they had 1.5 inches of new snow with lots still coming and it’s a real wet, heavy snow.
John broke his toe again, same one he got in Lakeside. He helped Steve on Star Song change out his propeller, they used the hookah. Then he cleaned 4 of Summer Wind’s winch drums.
It was cloudy and muggy most of the day.

*Oh no! I wonder how Dad broke his toe this time! Funny that Mom doesn’t say. He was such a trooper, not much ever slowed that man down out there. Gotta keep on movin’! 🐞

December 8, Monday
Mazatlan

John dropped off the FM3 papers – should be ready to pick up Friday. Samie went to the pool with all the kids.

*There were two pools in the area - Marina El Cid was the closest and most popular, right by the jetty entrance into the marina. The other was somewhere along one of the canals - but I really don’t know where. I think it was in some place that was still being developed because I don’t remember any major hotels or buildings around it and I remember it being kind of plain and simple, and usually not a lot of other people there, if any. We always had to get there by dinghy up the waterways, where as we took a bus or car to get to the El Cid pool. Does anyone reading this who was there remember where the other “Mystery Pool” was?
What I actually remember most about dinghying out to that pool was hearing small aircraft overhead, like Cessnas or Beechcrafts. I’d never paid much attention before, but that year I had seen the movie Fly Away Home, about a father and daughter who help lead a flock of orphaned geese south for the winter. So when I heard these small planes overhead, I’d start to daydream about the whole scenario and maybe wonder what these pilots were up to and flying for. Still to this day, when I hear one of those small planes (especially on a calm, sunny day) there’s a small part of me who is instantly transported to these waterways again. It’s crazy sometimes how random memories transport us.

December 9, Tuesday
Mazatlan

Samie has been watching Titters for Molly and Steve while they went on a land trip. They brought her back a little set of carvings of houses and a building from Copala, where they went.
John dove on our boat today, not bad, but the zinc needed changed.
The wind picked up today as a high-pressure system will be going through for the next few days, it blew 15-22k NW, but as usual, calmed down to 5-10k at night.
I sent Bill and Trisha a fax today – asking them to bring deodorant down – it’s so hot. That should make ‘em feel good up there in the snow!

*What do you want to bet I still have the little carvings!? I have one, at least - I’m not sure why I can’t find the second - I always kept them together, so maybe one got broken, (I’m sure I would have fixed it? ) I’m uncertain and a little bummed, but I know where this one is, at least! See below!
Dang, Bill and Trish sure kept trying to come visit us farther south than San Carlos! Mom was cute, teasing them about deodorant and us being so hot.
Another Dear Diary entry from little me here, and a full run-down of all the kid boats in the “neighborhood”. Bits and pieces of my commentary really crack me up. Like - “[they] left back to the states, don’t ask me why.” lol.

December 10, Wednesday
Mazatlan

Samie and I went into town with Wendy, Chelsea, and Rory from Morning Star and 2 other boys to the aquarium, then to Dairy Queen for lunch.
John cleaned Summer Wind’s prop and bottom.
The wind blew again – 4 boats came in – 1, the husband had fallen and broken some ribs. Dick and Barry went out to help them in. Another had two very sea-sick people. They said it was rougher than shit out there.

*I do find an Aquarium in Mazatlan, but we don’t have any photos from it and I don’t remember going to one, specifically. I do remember this Sea Lion Show, which is apparently it's own thing altogether. Looks like it’s still up and running! I remember enjoying it and having fun. I think there was also a bird, maybe a parrot, as part of the act, too.
As for the rough seas out beyond the coast - sounds like a helluva day at sea! I’m glad everyone got in safe - but a busted rib on a boat sounds like hell!
My diary entry about the whole day is quite amusing, from the people at the parrot show trying to make us “go deaf” by apparently yelling into the mike, to the parrot show itself, which sounds like something out of a Dr. Suess book. Finally, my detailed account of the lost hair tie is a charming peek into the innocent challenges of childhood. I think it is so sweet that Kalen gave me money for the hair tie - I don’t know if I said something or if he offered to because I was worried about losing it. And of course Mom couldn’t accept that, so I love that we returned the money to him. I wouldn’t have remembered this, but after recounting, I can recall the (pink, I think) scrunchie floating, then slowly sinking beneath the surface, just out of reach. Ah, the small life lessons of a 10-year-old.

December 11, Thursday
Mazatlan

It blew all night, probably up in the 30s for a while. At 2:30 am, the neighbor, Richard on Bravo knocked on the hull. Our bumpers had popped out and the boat was up against the dock – so we fixed that.
Kitty and I skipped our walk – too cold, 60°! The Summer Wind van took us into Leys for a big shopping trip.
It took forever to get everything stowed and all those veggies washed.
The sea looks like lumpy-bumpy hell out there. They even shut down the ferries because of the high, rough seas.
Ourselves, Steve and Molly and Hal had a wonderful steak dinner at Jim and Kitty’s. Except Samie, she ate pizza at Morning Star with all the kids.
We got a message from the Marina that Miss Teak II will arrive on the 25th – Christmas Day!.

*That’s a real rough night in the marina for it to have wedged the bumpers up onto the dock! Yikes! Glad our neighbor saw that and helped us out.
Leys is sort of like the WalMart of Mexico.
Mazatlan was always a gold mine for the kids ‘cause there was always at least a handful of us there, and being in the marina gave us all the freedom to come and go as we pleased. We didn’t have to rely on our parents for a dinghy ride or their preferred timing to go places, it was great!
It’s a bit hard to tell in the photo below, but there is a crew member hanging upside-down from the rigging just in front of the forward mast of this ship - can you see him? Looks like he was maybe enjoying some spinal decompression?

*Awe, I love what I wrote about Carrie and how much I appreciated our conversations. I wish I remembered them, but I can’t say that I do. Relationships like ours are why it has always been important to me to relate to kids when I can - I know what a wonderful impact it had on me to have adults I could talk to who weren’t just family and who were engaging and often taught me new skills.
The computer game is called Rodent’s Revenge, this is what it looked like. I even found a site where you can play it - I gave it a go! Always fun to revisit these old games.
I haven’t watched The Nutty Professor in forever! Eddie Murphy is always great - I’ll have to give that a re-watch.

December 12, Friday
Mazatlan

Oh the joys of paperwork!
Jim took us down to Immigration to hopefully pick up our FM3s – not – after an hour or so, they said come back at 2 pm.
Bill and Sandy from Sirius had also gone in the morning, only Sandy got hers, so Bill drove us back down. Well, he got his, but we have to go back again on Monday! Conchetta promised they would be ready then. Hope so, ‘cause the office will be closed for two weeks!
The wind wasn’t so bad today – but all ports are closed. La Paz had 45-55 k and it’s supposed to be headed this way. It did blow 15-25k from the NE during the night, and was a chilly 58°. While we secured the dock lines and put out extra fenders, I had the feeling like we were waiting for a big snow storm to hit.

*It’s easy to take for granted our big, safe houses and sturdy vehicles here on land when it comes to weather! Cruising life requires patience and timing - working in accordance with the varying conditions. It is a great teacher.

December 13, Saturday
Mazatlan

Samie did the local net again and did a good job. Listening to the Chubasco net, we heard that Roxanne’s (from Palio at one time) daughter was killed in a car accident on icy roads. So sad.
John painted in the engine room, then we helped Summer Wind attach his dinghy motor mount and clean the bottom of the dink.
Samie spent the afternoon on II Carried Away with Carrie making Mexican flags. She painted the symbol in the center.
It's a full moon, so there is a bonfire and howling at the moon tonight.

*Poor Roxanne - I don’t remember that. 🥺
I don’t remember the bonfire, but I vaguely remember painting the flags! I’m sure I had so much fun helping and getting crafty!

December 14, Sunday
Mazatlan

The sun came up this morning and NO wind – but my gosh, it was only 45°! It turned out to be a beautiful day at 84°, but cold tonight for the Posada, a traditional Mexican Christmas celebration. Everyone gathered at the office with foods and sweets and Christmas carols.
Mom called today, they got a lot of rain from the front and the mountain got snow.

December 15, Monday
Mazatlan

Oh what a day! Jim took us down to Immigration at 8 am – where again we hear “mañana” – no way! We sent Jim on home and parked our butts and waited.
Finally, at 2:30 pm - 6.5 hours later – we have our FM3s in hand and take a taxi home!
Jim left his van at a parking area, so they are ready to go, too.
Chelsea had pizza with us – we had Domino’s delivered, really good, too.
Samie opened the Christmas gift from Star Song, a cute little mooing, jiggling cow.

*I think I remember this day in Mazatlan - or one very much like it, lugging around downtown, waiting for hours in the Immigration office to get our paperwork sorted out. During one of these trips, I remember practicing some card tricks that some guy in the marina was teaching me - I can’t remember his name. I spent most of the afternoon practicing to help pass the time. I remember being exhausted when we got home!
I think I remember this cow - but that’s one I don’t have anymore, lol.

December 16, Tuesday
Underway from Mazatlan to La Cruz

Finally – at 8:15 we cut ourselves away from the dock and scooted on out along with 5 or 6 other boats from our dock, so everyone was out to say goodbye.
Weather looks promising and seas are flat with only a slight roll of the boat – feels good.
Just as a whale was gliding on by us, Goon and Shine called. All is well. John has caught two bonitas and tossed ‘em back. The wind has died and the seas have smoothed out some, too. We’ve almost caught up to Summer Wind, they left about an hour before us.
I’m running 100° fever, hope I don’t get sick on this passage.

-- I never did get sick, just really tired and achey.
The passage went well and was real warm at 78° with all the cloud cover. I had put up the back “curtains” earlier in anticipation of a cold night, but took ‘em down around midnight when I was playing chicken with a shrimp boat. We were running along fine until he turned to pass in front of us. Then there was the mystery boat. A big, funny-shaped boat with only one bright, white light. He tried to run me down just after the shrimper had gone on by.

*’I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - I love the group goodbyes and everyone coming to bid each other farewell. I miss the cruising community - it’s truly the best! ❤
When Mom says “curtains”, she means the canvas covers for the cockpit which helped keep us nice and warm. I’ll have to ask Mom if she remembers the mystery boat, it’s too bad she didn’t add more detail in her entry! — Reporting back! Mom doesn’t remember it super clearly, and there were actually a couple weird incidences she remembers - the other actually being something in the sky. For this occasion she recalls the big, bright ship light seemingly coming out of nowhere and possibly not showing up on the radar, which is super weird and would have been a quite scary, I imagine. Out on the water like that, even at night, it’s pretty hard to creep up on someone when there are miles and miles of nothing all around you. I even checked the moon phases for that day and it was a near full moon, so it would be all the more unsettling for something to suddenly be right there near us. She said it maybe disappeared just as quickly, but it was long ago and it’s more the sense of there and gone that she remembers. Part of her swore it was some kind of “UFO ship” (Unidentified Floating Object, lol) because she couldn’t make sense of it. She doesn’t remember being able to make out a shape or size, although her entry mentions a funny shape. She said it seemed like it was coming at us pretty quickly before it disappeared - it gave her the creeps and she could only make sense of a “UFO” or Fedarales, maybe, trying to psych us out? I guess we will never know. 🐞

December 17, Wednesday

At 2 am, I woke up to a cool breeze, John was putting the cockpit curtains back on as we watched a huge squall approaching. We all tried (4 boats) to out-run it, but all got it! Hard downpour of rain for 5 minutes or so, which leaked through the worn canvas.
The wind hit 30k for a couple minutes – not bad. Once it all passed, John had to go aft and re-tie the mizzen sail down, we weren’t using it, but it came unwrapped in the center and was hanging down.
That was it for the excitement.
Samie must have been really worn out from all the kid activities in Mazatlan – she slept from 2 pm Tuesday until 9 am Wednesday, except for an hour or so when we were in the squall. So of course she’s ready to go today and I’m beat.
Just as the sun was coming up, another squall was building and approaching, but fizzled at the last minute.
We were anchored in La Cruz (home) at 11 am – 27 hours coming straight down and skipping the in-between stop is much better.
John and Samie went in to shore while I slept, then we all went in to Cruise Quarters along with Jim and Kitty for a wonderful rib dinner. It was so nice to see Rosa and Blair.

*Below, the sunrise nearing La Cruz and Dad pelican-proofing the bow of the boat - lol. We got more and more creative every year! Last, another beautiful sunset in La Cruz.

December 18, Thursday
La Cruz

Happy B-day Amber.

John tightened the fan belt on the alternator, it was making an awful noise yesterday once we were anchored.
We skipped school, I did a good cleaning on the inside of the boat.
Samie and John went into town for a while. Samie stayed with Jena, then they got with Tarn, Samara One, they just bought a house here.

*It was so cool to have two friends living on land in La Cruz! It was a really small town, so we could just walk to-and-fro and check out whatever in between. What I remember of the house Tarn lived in was beautiful! I think there was some sort of open courtyard in the center? I remember lots of greenery and beautiful trees, it was amazing.
Fun fact: Our sweet Jena just got married last week! We’ve seen a few photos posted and she was the MOST beautiful bride! 😍Sadly, Blair passed away a few years ago, but I know without a doubt he was there with her, walking her down the aisle and beaming brighter than the sun was shining that day. We love you, Jena! Congrats! 🥰 🐞

December 19, Friday
La Cruz

John and Jim went into Nuevo Vallarta to check in, but the Port Captain took the day off! John checked out Jim’s raw water pump on the intake for the main engine. The brand new one ($400, U.S.) has a broken part, so he put the old one on for now.
We went into Cruise Quarters for a while. We are leaving Samie’s bike at Jena’s for now.

*Sheesh, what a year for check-ins and Immagration! It would have taken at least an hour or so just to get into Nuevo Vallarta - dinghy in to shore, then hike up to the main road and wait for either a cab or bus to catch over to the Port Captain’s office - only to find it was closed for the day! Lots of opportunities to practice patience and going with the flow. 🐞

December 20, Saturday
La Cruz

We went into P.V. via the bus. We took $4,000 pesos out of our Mexican bank account. Jim and Kitty were with us, we all stopped at Time Changers for breakfast and shopped for Christmas – what a chore. It was 3pm when we got back.
We finally got to talk to Miguel – he should be able to start our canvas work by January 2nd, maybe sooner. So we’re here in rolly-rolly La Cruz for a while.
This a.m. on Sonrisa net, Steve, on I Did It called in an emergency, he is taking on water because of a broken cutlass bearing. He’s 35 miles east of Los Muertos, headed for Mazatlan. He turned back, but it’s slow going with the sea conditions. Several “hams” monitored the situation all day. As of 7 pm, there are 2 Navy boats headed for him, but are about 4 hours away. Now they say his rigging has something wrong, so he can’t sail to help the progress.
It's amazing at the help the cruisers give and receive – it gives me goosebumps!
I stayed up listening to the progress until 11 pm, when he had the Navy in sight.

*Ditto what Momma said about the help of fellow cruisers! Learning this behavior at a young age is one of the best things that ever happened to me and instilled in me a lasting inclination to offer assistance when and I where I am capable of doing so. 🐞

December 21, Sunday
La Cruz

This morning’s reports are wonderful news, I Did It was rescued by the Mexican Navy ship, P30, at 11:30 pm. They fixed part of the problem and were under tow at 4 am – should be in La Paz this afternoon. While we were in town, John and Jim rebuilt the steps that washed out in one of this summer’s storms. They layed out 3 new steps in rock and will pour cement over them. In the process, John got his big toe again – 3rd time now.

*What great news to hear that I Did It made it safely to La Paz, thanks to the Navy crew and everyone else involved. It was always a relief to hear someone made it out of trouble and of course it never mattered if you knew them or not.
I think these steps were coming up from the beach, I seem to vaguely recall them doing this.
OMG DAD! Watch your toes! lol, I suppose that’s one hazard of only ever wearing sandals! I don’t remember any of these breaks, but I’m sure I heard the evidential string of curses that was inevitable with these types of incidences. That being said, I don’t ever remember him complaining after the fact. He’s a tough cookie.
 

December 22, Monday
La Cruz

Samie went with Jena, Rosa and her Mom, Dell and friend Elise, who are visiting from Canada – into P.V. while John and I went to the dentist in El _____. (*Mom left this spot blank in her journal, so we have no idea where the dentist was located. I seem to remember it being somewhere north of La Cruz.) I was amazed at the fact that all the work was actually done today – none of these 2 or 3 appointments. She, Gina, did all the prep-work for 2 crowns and put the temps on in 2 hours. Very good. She speaks no English, so her husband came over to translate. Pretty amazing. Both crowns and all the work will be $3,800 pesos or $475 U.S. – and to think they wanted $600 U.S. for one crown in Lakeside!
It was cloudy again all day with a little rain off and on in the morning.
Chelle called - her, Schyler and Rick are going to California for Christmas. Schyler sound so grown up on the phone! Miss him.

*I love how realistic healthcare can be outside of the US. Luke Hartley from @sailing_songbird recently made a post about his super simple and cheap visit to the dentist in New Zealand. He was a bit flabbergasted at how cheap it was compared to the States. Western medicine can be so damned greedy and nonsensical.

December 23, Tuesday
La Cruz

Once school was over, Samie went in to ride bikes with Jena while I stayed home and baked two batches of cookies. Then we all went in for a bit.
Rane and Sam called – they got 12” of snow yesterday and it’s 42° - yuck, it was 82° here.
John called Barb and Richard – Navopache is still busy, the crews are working 5 to 10-hour days.
Jim and Kitty took the bus to P.V., they said it was bumper-to-bumper all the way in and took 2 hours to make the 20 minute ride just to the edge of P.V. – unreal!

*Wow! I wonder why the roads were so busy that day?

December 24, Wednesday
La Cruz

John and Jim spent about 5 hours hand-mixing and shoveling the cement on to the new steps going up from the beach. Samie and I spent the day at Cruise Quarters; it was dead in there, so we just visited. Rosa’s mom, Dell and friend Elise are so funny.
Jim and Kitty came over for snacks and we exchanged gifts.

*Ah-ha, I was right about the steps!

December 25, Thursday
La Cruz

Feliz Navidad!

Samie was happy with all her gifts. We all went in to Cruise Quarters for a couple hours. Kitty and I wrapped all the silverware in the napkins. They are serving 85 turkey dinners tonight, which was wonderful! Jim was sick with a head cold, so Kitty went in with us. I didn’t feel good at all with stomach cramps.
It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day - 88°. Talked to Mom and Daddy, Shine and Goon. We already talked to Chelle and Danielle the other day.
Samie and Jena were Santa’s elves after the dinner, they handed out t-shirts and I won one.
Samie spent the night with Jena.

*Bummer for Mom and Jim, being icky on Christmas Day!
I remember being Santa’s Elves, but I can’t remember who dressed up! Looks like one of the female boaters, maybe? Love it. I can see she borrowed my new sunglasses, either to help her remain in “disguise” or to enhance her role as “Tropical Santa”.😎

December 26, Friday
La Cruz

I still didn’t feel too good all day. John ran the motor for 3 hours and equalized the batteries – but he thinks one has a bad cell. Samie stayed in on shore all day – then as soon as she got home at 4 pm, went off to Morning Star with Chelsea until 6:30 pm.

December 27, Saturday
La Cruz

Girls did school while John painted the outside of the dodger.
In to Cruise Quarters for a couple hours.

December 28, Sunday
La Cruz

Bob and Cynthia, Miss Teak II called this a.m., they’ll be leaving Mazatlan in a couple of weeks.
Jena came out to the boat for a couple of hours, but Blair won’t let her spend the night.
Of course, our afternoon was spent at Cruise Quarters.
Richard Flores and Jody called today - 52° and 8” of snow - 80° and sunny here.

*At some point, Blair did let Jena stay the night - I wonder if he was initially hesitant about boat safety? I know one time Jena’s nanny, whose name I can’t recall, came out with her. Maricella? That name just jumped out at me, but I’m not sure.

December 29, Monday
La Cruz

Talked to Steve and Molly, they were planning to leave Mazatlan today – but then the weather was calling for 25-30k down here, so who knows.
John patched a couple of small holes in the dink.
Afternooned at “Rosa’s.”

December 30, Tuesday
La Cruz

After school, Jena and Maricella came out to the boat for a couple of hours. They all had a good time.
John is sanding so he can varnish.
There are now about 14 boats in the anchorage – compared to last week – only 3.
It’s been real calm.

*Woohoo! Another accurate memory recall! Sometimes I can’t remember what I did last week, but boat life sure made it’s mark!
I spy Summer Wind in the background of the photo below.

December 31, Wednesday
La Cruz

At 8 am, with Jim and Kitty aboard, we headed out to the islands for the day. Motor-boat ride out. Everyone, except me, snorkeled or was on the hookah – John cleaned a very dirty boat bottom. He says we’ll have to paint her next year. After lunch, at 1:45 pm, we sailed back into La Cruz – 10-15k, beautiful! Only saw one whale way off in the distance.
We were back here at 3:45, got settled back in, then went into Dos Felipes for a great Mexican feast. John had talked him into a New Year’s Eve dinner and it was very busy.

*You could always find us either at Crew’s Quarters or Felipes! Felipes was immediately off the beach where we would bring the dinghies in to land. Just up from those steps Dad and Jim fixed. Damn, I miss La Cruz!! 😭I wish there was a way to go back in time to revisit it just as it was!
I couldn’t find any more detailed maps online of La Cruz in the 90s, but this is from our trusty Charlie’s Charts, compared to a current map of La Cruz. It upsets me to see how much the coastline has changed and where some of the villages were replaced with golf courses and resorts for tourists. Hopefully most of the rest of La Cruz was left relatively untouched. Felipes and Crew’s Quarters are entirely gone and replaced with Marina office buildings and what looks like some large, private villa. 🐞

January ‘98

*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, 1998, Thursday
La Cruz

John varnished half of the cockpit.
We spent the day at Cruise Quarters watching football games – ended up eating ribs there. Samie is spending the night with Jena.
Another beautiful day in paradise!

January 2, Friday
La Cruz

John helped Bob on Samara I fix his leaky packing gland.
Spent most of the day at Cruise Quarters.

January 3, Saturday

John went in to Nuevo Vallarta with the hookah to help Kirby, Lena, put in a shaft.
Rest of the day was the same-‘ole’ same.

I couldn’t remember the diary/secret keeper until I looked it up. As soon as I saw the hands and crystal ball, I remembered, along with the faces you could attach to phone numbers. I was never able to use the secret sender feature since no one I knew had one, but I still had fun with it and I’m sure put in all the phone numbers I knew and whatever “secrets” in there I could think of. Also, quezzy = queasy, lol. I decided to keep my spelling and grammar errors ‘cause it’s cuter that way. 🙃

January 4, Sunday
La Cruz

Samie and John spent the afternoon at C.Q. – I stayed home and enjoyed quiet time. Jerry, Walk About, came over for dinner.

January 5, Monday

We went back to the dentist, Gina, this a.m. It only took 40 minutes to fit my permanent crowns – then in checking Samie’s teeth, she pulled one of her bottom baby molars. On Wednesday she’ll pull the other one and she needs to cut her gums on the top to let her eye teeth come in. That doesn’t sound fun.
Star Song, Steve and Molly, came into the anchorage this p.m. Jena is spending the night on the boat.

*I’d had all four of my baby eye teeth pulled back in the States before we ever moved onto the boat. I guess they’d wanted to stay put, as they didn’t fall out on their own like the rest of my baby teeth had. Fast forward to this point in time, Gina told us the top two adult eye teeth weren’t coming in due to an excess of cartilage or tissue in my gums that inhibited the teeth from breaking through the gums and growing in.
I think this was the only time Jena stayed overnight. We had a good time, as usual. We always had fun together!

January 6, Tuesday

This morning started off with some excitement. Sol Mar got their dinghy ripped off in the night. Fortunately, the Mexican Navy, P99, found the dinghy adrift out in the bay. The gas can, anchor and wheels were all there, only the 10hp motor was gone.
Jena and Samie had a great time, we didn’t go in until around 2 pm.
Miguel and his wife came out to look at the canvas. They took in the main cover and the side curtains to start with.

*When Mom said “ripped off”, I thought she meant like the weather was real snotty and the wind somehow tugged away the dinghy. Unfortunately, having motors stolen was a somewhat regular thing to have to watch out for. Sometimes boaters would hoist their dinghys halfway out of the water or bring them fully aboard to avoid theft. I wonder if Sol Mar was on the outskirts of the anchorage, making them somewhat of an easier target. At least they got the dinghy back and all their other equipment.

January 7, Wednesday
La Cruz

John went up to help Miguel and took the hooks off the old sail cover while Samie and I did school.
We went in to the dentist. Today she pulled the lower molar on the left bottom. Our thinking was it’s a baby tooth and will fall out soon (her top 2 did in the last month) but the x-rays show the permanent tooth coming in crooked – so out it came. The worst was when she had to cut a triangular shape out of Samie’s gums to allow her eye-teeth to come through. Her gums have so much cartilage that they would never break through. Poor Samie, (& Mom) she had tears coming down her cheeks. She’s on a prescription, Febrax, for swelling, pain and infection. 1 teaspoon every 8 hours for 3 days. She felt ok by the time we got back to La Cruz.

*I grew an aversion to the dentist at an early age - my teeth were always quite crowded and it seemed like every time I went to the dentist they were determined to yank out more teeth to make room! I don’t remember too much about this particular dentist visit except for why she was doing what she was and that she was kind and gentle. I don’t remember the pain, of course I assume Novicaine or some other anesthetic was used - I was probably just scared and of course despite the numbing, you can always feel the pressure of whatever is going on. Eventually my eye teeth/canines would come out and forward, rather than down, meaning they protruded above the rest of my upper teeth. They would stay there for the next 3-4 years until we were prepping me for braces and they put in a expansion plate to make room in my upper jaw to bring my eye teeth down where they belong. It works by pushing apart the palatial bones in the upper jaw. I had to turn the key once or twice a day for a few weeks/months until there was a giant gap between my two front teeth. From there we moved to braces which brought the eye teeth down and pushed my front teeth back together. There was a LOT of movement and adjusting in just about two years and I had a bright new smile just in time for graduation. Hell, while we’re here, let’s take a tour through my toothy evolution with some photos:
1. November 1997, what looks like my eye teeth are actually not, there was just a lot of space between my incisors and premolars.
2. March 1999, you can clearly see where my eye teeth are hovering above the rest. The way they protruded would result in a couple holes in my lip over the years when I got hit in the face a couple of times (accidental circumstances - no fighting, lol). It was super painful, but thankfully the mouth is one of the quickest healing parts of our bodies!
3. Sometime probably in 2001 before we started working on my teeth. This one really shows how much different my jawline was before we expanded my upper palate.
4. Here is a mold of my teeth before we started - I’ll never forget the orthodontist’s face when he first checked out my teeth. Quite literally 😧! He said everything was so crowded, he really thought we were going to need to do oral surgery to make room. I also had a real bad under bite. Thankfully the expansion plate worked wonderfully - you can see exactly how much we widened my top palate - that gap started with nothing and this is where we left off after a few weeks/months, I don’t remember exactly how long.
5. My gap! 2002ish. I’m happy to say I never stopped smiling and was rarely embarrassed about my teeth. It just was what it was.
6. Braces, doing their thing. This was 2003, my Junior/Senior year in high school.
7. Finally, my pearly whites after all that work! Graduation night smiles, 2004. The last photo is with cutie patootie Schyler. It’s kinda crazy how much my jawline changed.
I would not go back to the dentist for 18 years, lol! And even then I only went because I had an infection where one of my wisdom teeth were growing in, so we yanked all those bad boys out. Like I said, every time I go, they take more teeth! 🤪 🐞

 *Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming! 🤪

January 8, Thursday
La Cruz

Happy B-day Danielle

Samie’s fine, mouth is tender, but ok.
John went to Miguel’s, they had the main cover all cut out. John and Steve, Star Song, cleaned Imagine’s boat bottom, $200 pesos each.
Once again, we spent a couple of hours at the “bar.”
Called Danielle – all is well.

*200 pesos would have been around 24 bucks at the time.

January 9, Friday

The last few mornings have been quite cool at around 65° and the afternoon north breeze is cool, even though it’s 78° or 80°. We would NEVER make it through a mountain winter again.
John helped Steve, Star Song, work on his boat. He also sanded down all the wood in the head so he can varnish.
I think he likes making a mess!

January 10, Saturday

Brent said it’s snowing in Alpine.
The Mexican authorities caught someone trying to steal a panga and are questioning them on the dinghy that was taken from Sol Mar. Samie spent the night at Jena’s. We had a spaghetti dinner at Star Song along with Summer Wind and Imagine.

January 11, Sunday

John put the 3rd coat of varnish on the wood in the head – sure is pretty.
Samie spent the day at the beach at Punta de Mita with Jena, Laura, Brandon and friends. We spend the day watching the games. Denver and Greenbay will go to the Superbowl.
Beautiful Sunset.

January 12, Monday

John varnished the woodwork and the railing that comes down the companionway. Little by little, he wants to re-do all of the wood inside.
Samie and John went in for a while – I stayed home.
Star Song and Summer Wind both left at 4 pm, heading south.

*Dad did such a great job at keeping The Star so beautiful! Both my parents taught me a lot about taking good care of my things by way of their regular care and maintenance. It’s such a rewarding labor of love to take care of our things and our living spaces.

January 13, Tuesday
La Cruz

There were 2 dolphins in the anchorage this a.m.
Samie did the math and grammar test today – A’s.
John went in and sewed the hooks on the main sail cover – we have it up now – she is pretty!
I took 1 step too many putting the dink off the beach and got soaked to the waist – funny!

Those drop-offs can be real sassy sometimes! One minute you’re touching bottom and the next, you’re taking an impromptu swim!

January 14, Wednesday

Samie did good on today’s testing – science, 100%, Geography, -1.
Shine and Goon called.

January 15, Thursday

We woke up to a big swell, 4 to 6 feet, rolling in and it lasted all day. There were 5 or 6 boats anchored more inside, as the day wore on, they all moved out where we are and beyond. There are some huge breakers hitting the beaches. It’s quite a sight to watch all the boats disappear behind a swell, then come up way on top of it.
There were some tourist or charter boats anchored out on the SW point. It must have been too lumpy for sailing or anchoring out at the island.
John spent the whole day with Miguel working on the canvas. Samie was bored out of her mind because she spent the whole day at home. It was only 58° this a.m. but warmed up nicely at 82°. It’s 7:30 pm and I can still feel the boat “sailing” on over the swells. At least they’re not as big as the 12-footers we had in Manzanillo 2 years ago.

*It’s a bit of a creepy visual, but I LOVE how a large swell can come between you and another boat - how one second they are in full view, and the next you can only see part of their mast! It’s both kind of scary and exhilarating at the same time! See the video below for an idea of what that can look like!

*I’ve said it before, but I miss hearing the HAM radio nets and conversations. Searching the airwaves for friends out in the South Pacific, listening for updates on emergency situations or just listening for basic weather updates. Always in the morning at the crack of dawn and in the evenings after dinner time.

January 16, Friday
La Cruz

Talking to Star Song on 3.838 this a.m. we found out that 3 dinghies were stollen last night. Lena, Transition, and Sea Ya – all dinks were found up in the river, but of course no motors.
Then, on Chubasco net we heard that traveling by land on the baja, two vehicles were held up and robbed, another one, they stole the pickup and killed two young men. It’s getting like the States down here.
Ron from Amistad (we have never met them), who was in a car wreck on Christmas Eve and had a punctured lung and has been in the hospital since, died today.
We now have the mizzen sail cover on the boat. She’s really looking pretty. Miguel and wife came out to measure the cockpit cover, but it was pretty rolly and will have to come back. The huge swells did calm down some today, but it’s still rolly.

*Wow, rough day in the news here, which was thankfully pretty rare. We never met Ron from Amistad, but his was a name we heard a lot - so sad that he passed away, I wonder if he had family with him.
*Below, just a calm, lazy day - feeding the birds in beautiful La Cruz. Summer Wind in the background on the right.

January 17, Saturday

Samie went in to Jena’s early and Brandon took them to the bowling alley game room in P.V. They were gone until around 3 pm.
John cleaned the deck and the filthy water line.
It was cloudy and dead calm all day. The swell is way down and the bay is like glass. One of those laid-back days with a good book.
Miguel and Verna came out to finish measuring the dodger cover. I spent a couple hours visiting with Rosa – I sure enjoy her company.
Jena is spending the night and the girls are hyper and giggly.

*I’m surprised I don’t remember this day with Jena and Brandon! I know we had a blast. Cute, Jena did get to come sleep over again! We always had the best time.

January 18, Sunday
La Cruz

John painted the “roll-bar” and cradle for the main boom. All the canvas work should be done by the end of the week.
We spent several hours on shore. It got up to 88° today.
Goon called, they’re checking airline prices to fly in here in March - $260 - $340, wow!

January 19, Monday

John helped Miguel again today. While Samie was at Tarn’s (Jena was in P.V. with Brandon) her bike was stolen from in front of his house in broad daylight – shit!
It was late, so we ate at Cruise Quarters.

*Here is the type of bike we had. It was stainless steel and could fold up to stow away on the boat. I loved having that thing!
My journal entry clearly displays my feelings on the stolen bike, lol. What a tough little 10-year-old I thought I was! 🐞

January 20, Tuesday

Happy B-day Janell.

John rode into P.V. with Miguel and cambioed (exchanged) money. Later, Miguel and Verna came out to measure for the cockpit cover. We got the jib back on with the new color – looking good!
Talked to Lori in Barra, she said Chris scraped off all the slime from the ramp – so I should hurry down before it grows back and I slip again! That’s where and why I broke my arm last year.

January 21, Wednesday

John started on the floors today. Our bedroom was first, the sanding wasn’t too much of a mess and it sure looks nice. He put 2 coats of polyurethane down. I guess I’ll tolerate the sanding so the floor can look like new!
Spent a couple hours at C.Q. We got mail today – letters and a 5x7 picture of Michael and Peggy – so nice. What beautiful kids.
On the way back to the boat, there were 2 dolphins swimming with us for a bit. One was so close we could have touched it – cool!
Miguel and Verna came out again, this time they got the measurements.
Beautiful sunset.
The last 3 days we have had the “Banderas Bay Blow”, 15-20k – SW – oh joy! NOT!

January 22, Thursday
Still in La Cruz

John sanded and varnished the hallway and galley this a.m. So to get to our room or the head, we had to crawl through the aft hatch. Of course, if I’m blocked from the “norm” then I find myself heading back there even more.
John went up to Miguel’s while Samie and I stayed at Rosa’s. She had us inside for a plate of shrimp and rice. It was extra nice to visit the house rather than the bar, and lunch was wonderful. I’ll miss her when we’re gone.
The SW swells picked back up again, the wind only blew lightly today, but tonight it is really rolly. Makes me remember San Benedicto last year. I fixed fried pork chops, papas and gravy which was rather tricky in the side-to-side roll-about.
Oh – when we left the beach to come home, because of the swells, we got a dink full of water when we failed to get out far enough, fast enough. What a sandy, salty mess. 3 bags of food stuff all sandy, I had to rinse everything including the sticks of butter. The joys of the beach!

*It’s funny how we can experience life so differently within the same general spaces. This would have been one of Mom’s few times in the house - whereas I spent a generous amount of my time there with Jena! So many afternoons making lunches with Jena (Cup ‘O’ Noodles and microwaved Parmesan cheese tostadas, lol), watching satellite TV in the living room with the huge, comfy couch, watching Rocko’s Modern Life, and sometimes going over her school work together. 🐞

January 23, Friday

John did the main salon floor today. We bought $300 pesos of meat today to fill the freezer back up. Other than 2 chickens and 8 steaks we bought in Mazatlan, everything else was from San Carlos – pretty good, it really does hold a lot.
Lee from Papagayo is here by land in a camper. John saw him in town for a bit. Glo is flying to P.V. on 2/3, then they’ll drive down to Tenacatita.
Samie stayed at Jena’s.

January 24, Saturday

Finally, John is finished with all the floors. They look so pretty – just like new! Paint of any kind gives me a headache that won’t quit and it’s been 4 days – I’m glad it’s done.
Samie spent the whole day at Jena’s. We went in around 1 pm until 4:30 – the usual.

*Poor Mom and her migraines! And this was long before she had medicine strong enough to knock them out - for years she was at their mercy for stretches up to 4 days at a time. 😩She used to tell me that it would feel better if she could take a mallet to the head in order to relieve the pressure/pain. I started getting them in my mid-20s and I don’t know how she did it all that time on the boat with no relief. Mine only ever lasted 4-6 hours - I can’t imagine day after day of the intense light/sound/smell sensitivity and the added nausea that can kick in on top of the searing pain radiating through your skull. As the years went on I learned to help however I could, which was mainly by way of neck and shoulder massages to help ease some of the gathering tension as the days went on. Also - we would discover that I can tell when she’s going to get a migraine - apparently her body gives off some type of scent that I started to notice when she would get migraines. I’m the only one who picks up on it and it took years for me to make the connection, but we tested it a few years back, and she started feeling the migraine about 20 minutes after I noticed the scent. Wild, right?! 🐞

January 25, Sunday

Happy B-day Grace.

Great news! We got our bike back! Felipe saw it yesterday and knew where it was – some fishermen had it. John was in town this a.m. on his way to the judge’s when he saw it, so he followed it and showed 10 men a picture of it and said he was taking it back or he would get the police – they let him take it.
We went in for the Super Bowl game, but spent the first half at Miguel and Verna’s, it’s her birthday. The game was a good one – ended up Denver 31, Green Bay 24.

*Woohoo! Got the bike back. Glad it wasn’t a big ordeal. I’m sure I was SO excited.

January 27, Tuesday

Whoops – I forgot yesterday. Miguel and Verna came out and fit the top of the cockpit cover and put the snaps on. Other than that, it was the same-ole-same.

Bob, Miss Teak II, called today, they plan on leaving Mazatlan Saturday and making a few stops on their way here. But then I’ve heard that before! At this rate, we’ll be long gone and not see them until our return trip.

🐞

January 28, Wednesday

John sewed all the hooks on the staysail cover. He says they are really working hard to finish up with the side curtains.
Spent the afternoon at C.Q. Talked to Lee, Papagayo, for a while.
Samie has her hammock strung up on the front deck and tonight she rolled out of it – funny – she’s ok.
The swells are rolling in again – not real big, but it’s making the beach landing and takeoffs a little tricky and wet.

*😆I’ll bet that was a comical sight, falling out of the hammock - I wonder if I was trying to get out and things went awry, or what?! Too funny. 🐞

January 29, Thursday

John put 15 more gallons of fuel in the boat, that’s 30 total to fill her up after the sail to the island and the generator running for the last 5 weeks.
Felipe got us 6 really good steaks from his supplier in P.V. We started the process of stocking up on food.
Miguel and Verna came out for a couple of hours to fit the dodger covers. They’ll be back in the morning – it got dark.

January 30, Friday

Slow morning – Miguel and Verna didn’t come back out until noon and by then we were rock’en around in the swell and chop from the 15-18k of breeze. They worked until around 2, when he dropped a part overboard that goes to the tool that puts the snaps on. So, John got out the hookah, etc. and dove around for 15-20 minutes – but no luck. So, we called it a day. Hopefully he can find the part in P.V.
Beautiful sunset again tonight.

January 31, Saturday

I spent the morning making a crossword puzzle for Rosa, it all had to do with the cruising friends, Pat and Laura, Alegria, Deann, Bob and Tarn, Samara I, us, and of course Rosa, Blair, Jena, Suzanna, Lupe and Cruise Quarters. It came out really cute – but was quite a job. Anyway, I was making it for her birthday which is February 16th, but we’ll be gone.
The boats are all really roll’en around out here – the swell has picked up again, so we spent several hours at C.Q. It’s getting to be a hassle getting in and out, waiting for the 3 minutes of smaller sets. Some of these swells are 5-6 footers and breaking just inside the break wall.
Samie spent the night at Jena’s.

*Mom did an AMAZING job putting together this crossword puzzle! I wouldn’t even know where to begin! Mom sent me a copy of this the other day and I was able to solve most of it, but there were a few things and names that I didn’t remember. 🐞

February ‘98

*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!

February 1, Sunday
La Cruz

I was gonna bake a cake for the little party for Rosa, Samie and Bob’s up-coming birthdays, but my flour was full of bugs. That’s a first, everything I’ve brought from the States has always lasted before. I did make banners, though. Deann baked cupcakes. It was so rolly out here, that we went in at 11:30 – it took me an hour to adjust to level land. We had a good time with the gang at C.Q.
We had to wait about 10 minutes on the beach to catch a pause in the breaking surf so we could get out.
Pat and Laura, Alegria, stopped by for a couple hours, they’re a lot of fun.

*While lots of people have a hard time finding their sea legs - we would occasionally have to rediscover our land legs! It could be quite strange to be on such solid ground after a few days of having your entire home constantly moving around underneath you.

February 2, Monday

The swell is still running 5-6 feet and today the wind kicked in at 15-20k out of the north which is keeping us stern to the swell, so it’s not so rolly.
Pat and Laura brought Suzanna and her boyfriend out to see the boats. That was cool.
John and Samie went in to shore – I stayed on the boat, didn’t feel like dealing with the surf.
Samie turned on the TV tonight and channel 3 had on – of all things – the Phoenix News! It only came in and out for 5 minutes or so, but it was pretty incredible. We saw that Phoenix has 70° and rain showers!

*There’s a big difference in how uncomfortable the swells can be. When they are traveling from bow to stern or stern to bow, it’s a lot more tolerable. It’s when you get sideways to the swell that things really get knocked around inside the boat and it eventually starts to wear on your nerves, rolling side to side, back and forth all day.
It was interesting what random signals we could get in certain places out there - usually later at night when the airwaves were more clear.

February 3, Tuesday
Marina Vallarta

John woke up this a.m. and decided he’d had enough of the bouncing and rolling around in La Cruz! Carl had an open spot, so at 8:30 am, we headed into P.V. There was 5 to 10k, so we put out the head sail – looks pretty with the new color for the UV blocker. We were in our old slip, A12 at 11:00 am. Boy, does it ever feel good to be still and flat.
John washed the decks and hull. Miguel and Verna drove over and fit the side pieces, it went much smoother in the marina. They spent a couple hours here.
Samie has the cable TV and watched 3 movies!
Pat and Laura, Alegria, also came in to the marina today, we all got together and went out for pizza, then ice cream. Very enjoyable.

February 4, Wednesday
P.V.

Busy day – John washed down the cockpit and waxed the boat.
Laura, Samie and I walked to Commercial for the necessary goodies, which took a couple hours.
Yesterday Miguel left the zippers here, so he came back for them around 2 pm with the intention of being back tonight – but didn’t make it.
John found the problem with Alegria’s HAM radio – it’s a loose mic connection.

February 5, Thursday
La Cruz

Miguel and Verna came to the marina at 7:30 am to finish up all the snaps and final touches. They did such wonderful work – it all looks so perfect and it matches the brown pattern perfect. The Wandrin’ Star looks so pretty and new with the new aquamarine canvas!
Tim, Scallywag, and Rick, Foxen, helped us out of the slip at 11:15 am and we were anchored back in La Cruz at 1:30. We had 10-15k north breeze – right on the nose all the way in. The swells are still runn’en in, but not quite so big. About 30 minutes out, the wind picked up to 20k with 25k gusts. A small 20-foot, or there-about, sailboat crossed up ahead of us and must have caught a big gust – because the next thing we knew, their mast broke at the spreader. All 4 were ok.
We went into C.Q. for a couple hours. It’s 7:30 pm now and the wind is still howling at 20k – I don’t like wind at night! (The wind died down at 8 pm – slept real good.)
On the happy hour net, there were reports of 40k in Chamela – WOW! Oh, and 2 days ago, there were 70k in Escondido – 9 boats went up on the beach. Enough already!

*Holy Smokes! 70k in Escondido! I wonder if any of the boats were salvageable, how tragic. There’s a very specific pain in my heart when I see or think of a boat being drug up on to the beach or on the rocks - just lying there, helpless to the wind and waves that just keep coming. 😭 There is little that can be done once a boat is in that vulnerable position - it pains me to even think about it, so I’m going to stop myself right now!!

February 6, Friday

Happy B-day Mom.

Today was a much nicer day, the breeze never got over 10k and by 4 pm, the swell had even calmed down some.
The canvas work ended up costing $600 US for all the labor – although Miguel said it actually added up to about $1400 with all the hours they had in it.
I took the left-over canvas into C.Q. and cut out pieces for the BBQ cover and 4 line bags, there wasn’t enough to make wind scoops like we thought.
Samie stayed at Jena’s tonight.
I called Mom, all is well.

*For a moment when Mom was detailing the costs and labor, I wondered why we didn’t pay Miguel more, but then I remembered from one of my journal entries last month that Dad actually helped with a lot of the sewing and labor. This is something Dad has done his whole life, and I admire him so much for it! For starters, what a great way to learn a variety of skills, aside from the bonus of saving some extra monies. When we were renting houses, he would always do work on the house or yard as if it were his own. So our rent would be minimal and the landlord’s property was improving, thanks to Dad and his many skills. You have always been a great teacher, Dad, by way of your actions. I believe that the best way to teach is by what you do rather than what you say to do. Many thanks to both my parents for doing exactly that. I love you, I love you, I love you! 🥰

February 7, Saturday
La Cruz

I finished the 4 line bags, the BBQ and small dink motor covers. John hand-sewed all the reinforcement patches, he also patched the dink cover. I took the old shade tarp into C.Q. and cut out new pieces for 2 wind scoops – I’ll sew those later on down the coast.
After a couple days of being up in the air about where to go – north or south – we decided there’s still time to go south – so as long as weather is still good tomorrow, I guess we’ll leave. Today was very pleasant – no swell and very little wind.
Gene and Jo from Sun Bear (land-based) came into town today. They have done the east and west coast of Mexico this year.

February 8, Sunday
La Cruz – STILL!

We spent the day getting ready to head south. John dove on the boat bottom, we finished stocking up on all the fresh stuff and spent a couple hours at C.Q. The wind blew 20k SW early afternoon, then switched to a NW around 3 pm. By 4:30, it had died down to 10k so we headed out. We only got out about 5 miles, but the wind was 20-25k from the NW so we said screw it! Who wants to spend a bouncy, wet night? We were re-anchored at 5:45 – poop, we were ready to get out of here – 8 weeks is long enough.
Also, the swell had flattened out the last 2 days and it’s been real nice -well, that’s building again.

*The life of a wanderer is a funny one! It can be sucha bummer to leave our favorite peoples and places, but when you are free to roam, being in one place becomes so foreign and somewhat undesirable... There comes to be a perpetual desire to continue onward toward the next destination.

February 9, Monday
La Cruz

As good as it was to sleep peacefully last night – we sure do wish we were in Tenacatita today! We put the tarps back up – inflated the dink again – and re-anchored twice! The swell is rolling in AGAIN and we were further in than before and the swell was bouncing back off the break wall. The second time we re-anchored was due to the fact that we were too close to another boat.
Spent a couple hours on shore visiting with Mel and Judy, Stepp’en Out.
Samie called Regan for her 5th B-day.

February 10, Tuesday
La Cruz

John went in to Nuevo Vallarta to check in and out. He had tried when we first got here, but the Port Captain wasn’t there. Technically, in La Cruz you don’t have to check in and he forgot the 2 days in the marina ‘cause we were so busy.
Then we went into C.Q. for a couple hours and Judy and Mel, Stepp’en Out, came over to the boat for happy hour.

February 11, Wednesday
La Cruz

Our day started early this a.m. John left a message for my Aunt Gerrie Lynn and Jack, who came in to P.V. on the cruise ship, Jubilee, telling them we’d be over to see them. She had written to me last September to say they’d be here on 2/11 – but I wrote back saying we’d be long gone south by then! Ha!
So at 8 am, Rosa took Samie to the flea market and let her pick out a top and skirt for her B-day (how sweet), then we took a bus in to P.V. Gerrie and Jack had already planned a bus tour – but would be back at 12:30. In the meantime, we went in to the marina and saw Al and Maurine, Moon Shadow, who just got in yesterday.
Went back to the Jubilee and found Gerri – we took ‘em downtown, they bought us lunch and they shopped a little. Gerrie Lynn’s leg is so bad now, she was walking with a cane and the heat was really getting to her. We took a taxi back to the ship, took pictures, and said goodbye. It’s been probably 10 years since I’ve seen her- so it was really nice.
We got back to C.Q. at 2:30 pm – what a long day.

*Shout out to Rosa, my other mom whenever we were in La Cruz! Her and Blair were both always so good to me and never made me feel like I was there too much (and I was there A LOT!). Of course there were days when Jena and I might get a talking-to for some reason or other, but that’s normal. Rosa was always so sweet and gentle, I love that she took me to the market to pick out some birthday presents. As for Blair, he and Jena’s relationship has always stood out to me as something quite special. I adore that his firm parenting always had a warm, loving center and there was a strong understanding between them. COOOONE! 🥰 (If you know, you know!)
I remember going to see Gerrie and Jack, but I don’t remember much about it except for lunch and being next to the cruise ship.

February 12, Thursday
La Cruz

It was a year ago today that I broke my wrist.
Goon called this a.m. It snowed yesterday. She’s doing fine, working 2 jobs trying to get a better car. John cleaned Motoo’s boat bottom, $170p. From 11 am to 2 pm, it blew 15-20k from the NW then calmed down nicely – no wind at all tonight and pretty warm.
Visited with Al and Maurine, Moon Shadow, and Joe and Paula, Sea Hope(less) at C.Q.
Got a long letter from Nanamuk, they’ve had as many rough times as good ones in the South Pacific.

February 13, Friday

The weather is looking shitty again. Stepp’en Out had a calm, clear passage to Mazatlan – we should have left yesterday!
John cleaned Samara I’s boat bottom – said it had a garden growing!
The reports from Barra de Navidad this a.m. were about the Mexicans in pangas getting in close to the boats in the early morning. Steve, Star Song, scared them away from his boat, but at 1 am they actually boarded a boat. The people (don’t know who) ran them off, but once the Mexicans got back to the beach, they were shooting at the boat with a gun! Scary!
We, of course, went in to C.Q. for a few hours. Samie is going with Rosa to watch Jena perform in a dance at her school, then she’ll spend the night.
We’re having all those B-day parties again tomorrow since we’re still here. I baked the cake tonight ‘cause it’s getting rolly again – who knows what tomorrow will be like.
La Cruz February birthdays:

14th – Bob, Samara I
16th – Rosa
17th – Samie
22nd – Blair
28th – Tarn

And mine is close, too – March 2nd.
Oh, and Valeria’s at Felipe’s I made her a poster and John colored it – she’s 5.

*Sheesh! Maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t make it further south that year (in regard to the gun shots in Barra)! But I will be sure to state that although these things did happen here and there, they were by no means the normal. People in the States would sometimes balk at us and ask how we could feel safe in Mexico. Truth is, I think we all felt safer in Mexico than in the States. There are always likely to be some bad apples anywhere you go, but in Mexico we experienced more wholesome goodness than we ever did in the States. Those experiences from my youth are precisely how and why I firmly believe there is more good than bad in this great, wide, beautifully crazy world.

February 14, Saturday

Oh, what a morning! It started at midnight with 10-15k out of the south of all directions. By the time I got up (John was up, or at least awake from 2:30 am on) at 6:30 am, the seas had really built and we were bouncing up and down nearly burying the bow pulpit in the swell. It only got worse for a while there, the snubber had slipped and the anchor chain was popping and banging. By now it’s blowing 20-25k and looking like a big rain. Ripple II and Motoo had been at Punta de Mita and came back in here in the middle of all this shit. Ok, so now it’s blowing 30k with gusts to 40k, lightning all around on the mountains, rain coming down in buckets and Motoo anchors right on top of us! What happened was in his super small boat, he only has an outboard motor on the back and his dinghy (almost as big as the boat) line got wrapped in the prop. So he did good to drop the hook and have it set. Once it calmed down, an hour later, he unwrapped the line and moved. It was pretty hairy there for a while, but once the big squall passed, the wind calmed down to 10k, then nothing, so we were sitting sideways to all the huge waves (4-5 feet) and rocking around, things flying down below. It still drizzled rain for a while, John fixed the snubber and got all the water out of the dink. The dink had been bouncing and rolling around so much that the gas can was standing on end and the cover is all blue from rubbing against the hull from the water line down.
The good news is the new canvas works great – no water leaking down in and Samie’s cupboards are still dry!
Finally, about noon it was calm and stopped raining, so we went in to C.Q. for all the birthdays – it’s a good thing I baked the cake last night, or it wouldn’t have gotten done.
John, of course, was wandering around – he found some guys shining abalone shells and got one that he was shining for me. The party for Valeria at Felipe’s didn’t work out today – so mañana.
Our B-day party didn’t get started until 4:30 pm – but it was real nice. We were all laughing so hard – one time I laughed and sprayed a mouth full of beer all over.
Blair bought the kids all a chocolate egg for Valentine’s, but made them flap their arms like chickens to get them. He bought Rosa a bottle full of kisses and me some chocolates.
John bought me the most beautiful bunch of Easter lilies, all colors!
We finally called it a day and were back on the boat at 5 pm. It’s calm – for now, anyway – and cold.

*What a snotty day in the anchorage! Super scary to have the bow nearly bury into the swell, but excellent to know the anchor was holding fast. What a hairy ordeal for Motoo also, to have his dingy line wrap around the prop. It can be easy to overlook certain details (like bringing the dinghy in close before preparing to anchor) when you’re hurrying in the midst of all that wind and swell, just trying to find a good spot and set anchor safely. I’m grateful it all turned out ok.
What a wonderful birthday celebration we all got to share together! I love that we had so much fun Mom spewed beer all over - THAT is a truly rare occasion and I am HERE FOR IT! 🤪I can remember Blair making us flap our arms to get the eggs! 😂 What a ham! I am forever grateful for these friends we had and the memories we made. ❤

February 15, Sunday
Underway from La Cruz to Mazatlan

It was peaceful all night and weather looks good for a passage. So at 9 am we went in to shore to get laundry and a few other things – said our goodbyes. We started hoisting the anchor at 11:00 am – what a tangled mess that was. In all the swinging back and forth and yesterday’s blow with the high swells, our anchor had twisted up into a ball. At first, we thought we pulled in someone else’s anchor with ours. It’s damn lucky we didn’t drag yesterday.
11:30 am, we are finally underway – we saw 2 dolphins jumping – a whale and some sort of bill-fish.
The swells are a pretty good size out here, but we’re moving along at a good angle – not bad. 10k right on the nose – what else! The night sail went smooth – thought we were gonna get a squall, but it missed us.

February 16, Monday

Happy B-day Rosa

The wind remained light thought the night, making a rolly ride. For a couple hours, early morning, we ran alongside several squalls of pretty good size. The biggest and closest one, we ran up the engine and had enough wind in the sails to outrun it. The closer we got to Mazatlan, the bigger and closer the seas got, 5-6 foot. As long as we had wind, it was a smooth enough ride – otherwise, a little sloppy.
About 2 hours out, just alongside the lighthouse mountain it got real sloppy with 15-20k on a beam-reach, up till then, the decks had stayed dry. From that point on, it got pretty hairy. We followed another boat, Mary Ann, in-between the island and beach. Right at the 12 feet depth – like last year - 20k, sloppy seas and that para-sailer is pulled in front of us. This year, I got a picture of him right over us.
As we watched the Mary Ann go through the heavy surf into the entrance, I thought they were going to smash up on the rocks! It’s a difficult entrance in anything but flat calm – but today was suicide. They made it in – but I didn’t even want to try. At first I went below and buried my face in a pillow with Samie (she was fine, though, not worried at all). But then I went up and held the throttle full forward while John had both hands to control the helm. I could see all these rocks and thought one in-coming wave was gonna break right in the cockpit on us! But John was so good, we made it safely.
We are tied up in the storage area, no water or power (5:30 pm).
Angie, Hal and little Hal, Angela came over for a while, they just got here Friday.

*lol, Mom’s note about me being totally fine and not worried at all! Ignorance really is bliss, and I always had the utmost confidence in my parents’ capability and the Star’s seaworthiness. I don’t remember ever being truly scared or concerned in any storm, windy night, or tricky entrance. I just knew we were safe. I knew the Star would take care of us as we took care of her, and I didn’t have the adult context and awareness of all the things that could go wrong. I just knew we had always been ok and trusted that we always would. God, I miss her! She will forever be my true love, paired only and eternally with the everlasting vastness of the Sea. ❤
Those poor parasailers (and us)! The guys driving the boats sure liked to give them a ride to remember!

February 17, Tuesday
Mazatlan

Happy 11th Birthday, Samie

It was a very relaxed, laid-back day. I baked another cinnamon swirl cake for Samie. Then we just hung around on Dock 6 with the gang from November and December.
Bob, Miss Teak II got back yesterday from Colorado. Cynthia’s Mom passed away – she got back today. We spent several hours over there – ended up having a pizza delivered.
We used 3 quarts of oil from 7 am to 5 pm when we came into the marina – so John’s checking that out.
Goon and Shine called, it’s been snowing for 3 days – yuk!

February 18, Wednesday
Mazatlan

We got back into the school mode, which is hard in a marina. Too many other things we’d rather do. Spent more time at Miss Teak II, Bob was replacing all of his fuel lines.
We have salt water in the fresh water cooling system on the main engine. They figured out that both the water cooler systems and heat exchanger need replacing. Luckily we have extras on the boat.
The wind kicked up early today, around 11 am and blew 20-25k WNW all day. Even though it’s 80°, it’s cold.
Danielle called, wanting to know where we’ll be in April.

*I remember being over the moon when Max gave me my birthday gifts, seeing as I had a crush on him, which I haven’t mentioned to my Dear Diary yet. 😍
Also, my description of the coasters is adorable.

February 19, Thursday

John worked on the engine, but the good heat exchanger on the oil-cooler was ok – so now we’re not sure where the oil is going. Monday he’ll take off the head and check it.
Samie went swimming with Angie and a bunch of the kids here.
I stayed home out of the cold 20-25k wind.
We watched My Best Friend’s Wedding with Julia Roberts – really good comedy.

*These trips to the pool were definitely to the one I was talking about before which was up one of the canals. I wish I could remember where it was!
My Best Friend’s Wedding is still a favorite! Mom and I really enjoyed that one.

February 20, Friday

Visited with Angie, Angela and Miss Teak II, Harry and Ellen, Prelude, came by. Nice, lazy, relaxed day and only 15k out of the south, warmer today.
Chelle called, she was in a car wreck last Wednesday. She’s ok, not her fault.

*I don’t remember this accident, but I’m sure glad Chelle was ok!
Below, Tracy from Foxen working on her boat.

February 21, Saturday
Mazatlan

Samie did the local VHF net this a.m. – great job! We could not concentrate on school, so we gave it up and walked over to 6-dock to “play.” John and Bob went fishing in the dink, only 1 small fish. They went out the entrance, it was actually calm enough to think about taking Miss Teak II out tonight and anchoring between the beach and the island to watch the firework display. It’s a reenactment of the battle between the Spanish and Mexicans in 1898. As it turned out, the wind picked up at 5 pm, 15-20k, cold and everyone decided it probably wouldn’t be a good idea. From 3-5 pm, in front of the marina there was a margarita party. One of the local restaurants provided margaritas, tequila sunrises and hors d'œuvres. Quite a crowd and a good time.

 *Oh my, how I do have a flair for the dramatic, especially when it comes to boys. I did have the biggest crush on Max and was obviously so sad when Lexi caught his eye. Too bad I let it derail my whole day! At least the movie helped me get my mind off things for a bit.

February 22, Sunday

Last night, there was a couple of boats that went out for fireworks and came right back in! One anchored, Prelude, and spent a miserable night on the hook.
Very lazy day – John started taking hoses, etc. off so they can take off the head mañana. We decided to forego the parade tonight an watch it on T.V. (We’ll go on Tuesday). We went over to Miss Teak II, but when it hadn’t started at 6 pm, they put in the movie Empire of the Sun – when that ended – so had the parade. Oh well!

February 23, Monday

John tore apart the engine and found where the oil was going. The main problem is the internal oil-cooler was no good. He’ll have to order that from the States and have it shipped down. He also found several hoses about ready to break. He’ll also replace the head gasket and have the head checked.
It was a beautiful, warm day – only a light south breeze.
No school, again, because of the engine project and tools and parts everywhere.

*Below: Dad in the engine room, doing his thing! Having an engine room at all was quite a treat and I remember when Dad would give other men a tour of our boat, they would often gawk at the size and how much space Dad had to move around and work on the engine! Many boats only have access to the engine through the floor boards or by moving the steps of the companionway aside. To have an actual engine room on these smaller cruising boats was certainly a luxury.

February 24, Tuesday

Busy day. John spent the day running around, first, Bob took him in to a machine shop. They had a dead battery replaced that. Then he had to go back, but it wasn’t ready because of carnival – so, mañana.
Cynthia, myself and Sandy drove in to Sam’s Club and Commercial along with a couple other stops. Samie went to the pool with Angie and a bunch of kids.
John was still working hard at 4:30, so Samie, myself, Sandy, Sirrius, and Angela all took a bus and a taxi downtown to watch the parade. Crowded, but we could see the huge, beautiful floats, but only parts of the activities and the dancing of those walking along. It was a neat parade – best I’ve ever seen live. Altough the bus going in was over-packed, we found a fairly empty one to come home in.
It was a beautiful, warm day again – 2 in a row, can we hope for more?!

 *I love that I kept to work on my math until I got it done. Not that I could have blown it off - Mom wouldn’t have been happy with that and I could have been grounded! So, better to just do what has to be done!
I assume Meghan made me think of Peggy because there was probably a bit of a big sister vibe going on, especially in the beginning. I still adore her. ❤

February 25, Wednesday
Mazatlan

Bob and Cynthia, Miss Teak II, left at 8 am for P.V. They were having a great sail when we talked on Happy Hour.
John worked all day on the engine.
Samie went swimming.

February 26, Thursday

At 6:15 am, Bob, Miss Teak II, called – they were 40 miles north of Punta de Mita and were plugging up fuel filters every 2 hours or so. They had no wind through the night, so had to motor. They obviously have dirty fuel. The wind picked up 15-20k westerly here all day, so I’m sure it came up for them also. Never did get them on Happy Hour to know for sure.
Samie and I spent the afternoon at the pool with Angie and a whole slew of kids.
John went in and picked up the head to the engine and will get it all put back together mañana.

*What a rough life we had! 😉

February 27, Friday

John has worked hard all day putting the engine back together after having the valve job done. Neal from Novia was a lot of help. It’s now 7:30 pm and he’s still working on it. Because he’s been using the inverter to run an extra light and the fan in the engine room our batteries are REALLY low. I even did dishes tonight partially by candlelight.
The wind wasn’t so bad today until the sun went down, then it picked up and is blowing 15-20 WNW. With all the boats in slips right next to each other, it sounds awful howling through the rigging.
Samie, Angie, myself and all the other girls (Lexi, Robin, Megan and Katelyn) all went to the pool for a couple of hours.
Samie had tests the last 2 days – Math, 86% - Science, 75% BAD – Grammar, 89% - Geography, 93% - Spelling, 95% - History, 100%.

February 28, Saturday

John got the engine all put back together (with Neal, Novia’s help), it was perfect. He’s so happy and proud.
Samie and I went to the beach along with Shadow Fox, Angela, Odysseus, Hop Toad, Sea World, Impossible, and Pipe Dream. Great beach, all the kids were either on surf or boogie boards. It was a lot of fun, but too much sun. Samie and Meghan from Shadow Fox are spending a lot of time together.

Mom is right about Meghan and I - it would be the start of another beautiful friendship! We always made a point to get together when we were in the same port and had so much fun. We wrote each other all the time when we were apart and Meghan always had the most beautiful penmanship! Every letter was written in a new font and always looked as though it could have been typed out on a computer. I was in awe and became determined from then on to develop better penmanship, myself - something that has stuck with me since then! I still have every note and letter from her. ❤