May ‘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!
May 1, Friday
San Carlos
Today is Mexican Labor Day.
John got the jib and staysail washed and we folded them up for storage. Also the sail covers. The fridge quit working this a.m. – that’s the one thing John knows nothing about. Even though it was a holiday, he found a guy to come out and have a look. The problem was the sea water intake was plugged up – that’s what I said when it quit! $200 pesos ($25 U.S.).
We stayed busy all day, but I did get an hour in at the pool.
Samie, Cabelle and Tom were up there for 3 hours. Oh, this a.m. Samie and Cabelle rode the bikes all the way to Club Med, it wore Sam out. After dinner, we all drove in to get an ice cream. Beautiful night – don’t want to go to the States.
*Cabelle and I had a great time together! Again, I love how great the adults were with me! Paula and Dennis were so great to let me and Gabrielle use their kayaks back in Escondido, and when it was just me, Paula was always happy to have me along with her when she would go kayaking. Cabelle was awesome and friendly, Jan and Dan, so patient and letting me play games on their computer… I am so grateful!
May 2, Saturday
Today was the main and mizzen sail wash-down and fold up, also all the sheet lines. I trimmed Samie and Cabelle’s hair. I went through all the food lockers, cleaned and inventoried. Busy day – nice and warm, too.
* “Summer sleep”. Cute.
May 3, Sunday
Happy Bday Janet
Another busy day, followed by dinner at Manuel’s Chicken.
*Well, it would appear we were starting to get on each other’s nerves here! 😅 Between me being bored (and perhaps a bit impatient), Mom and Dad being busy with all the tasks that go along with prepping the boat for “summer sleep”, and neither of them wanting to go back to the States, me thinks tempers were running a tad high. It is cute to hear me vent my frustrations about wanting to “be free” for a while. Oh, to be eleven and unable to go do all your own things just yet.
May 4, Monday
Dan, Jayda, took John in to drop our van off to have the transmission and power steering fixed. We should have it back Wednesday. Then they went in to immigration so Tom could get his 20-year permit on the boat. While there, Dan poured 5 gallons of water on the hot engine – to clean it off – of course then, it wouldn’t start. John and Tom spent 2 hours “drying” out all the electrical.
John changed the gen-set oil and main engine oil.
Wind blew 15-20k west all afternoon, but it was still warm.
*Gotta love those 90s screen savers! I was mesmerized by them! I think the pipes were the most popular, but I sure liked the maze!
First Wives Club is still a favorite of mine! R.I.P. Dianne Keaton!
Cinco de Mayo
Happy 3rd Birthday, Schyler.
John was in the engine room all day cleaning the bilge, he also fixed a leak in the fresh water system.
It only blew 10-15k west today, but was a little cooler – although the nights have been plenty warm and somewhat sticky.
Cabelle, Tom’s crew on Christina since La Paz left today, she took a bus up to San Diego, she needs to catch a plane back to France. She was a lot of fun to be around.
We called Schyler to say Happy Birthday. He sounds so grown up and excited to hear our voices.
*Lol I’m probably as confused by my comment to Cabelle as she was! Hard to find the time and place to do it? 😅I loved writing letters! And clearly did and ok job of keeping up with my journals. Not sure what that was about.
We were always so excited to talk to little Schyler and to hear his little voice and hear what cute things he had to say.
Tragically, we lost Schyler last summer, on July 11th, 2025. 💔He was 31 years old. He is sorely missed and forever in our hearts. 🪽
May 6, Wednesday
John got part of the hull waxed before the wind came up. Again, 15-20k west. He cleaned out all the sewage lines. Sounds like he does all the work, eh? True enough – I do school and the odds and ends down below.
May 7, Thursday
John painted the engine room – waxed the top-sides and generally stayed busy all day. We had a dock party tonight – some of those great Sonoran beef steaks along with whatever everyone brought. Roger and Darian, Aurora, came back in today, so they joined us. A total of 8 boats.
It only blew 10-15k today and was warmer, although it’s still blowing at 9 pm, 10k.
Danielle called, they want to make her a manager of Walmart! Cool.
We still don’t have the van back. Took it in last Monday to have the transmission fixed.
*It makes me laugh that I reference Emma’s TV as it’s own entity which I was going to visit. 😜Bless all these kind adults who let me take over and enjoy their electronics and possibly (ignorantly) overstay my welcome a time or two!
I did really like My So-Called Life for the short time it aired. I always thought Clair Danes had such a dreamy kind of beauty to her and of course thought Jared Leto was just the cutest.
May 8, Friday
It blew all last night – 15-25k. Even though it comes in here straight out of the west, it’s really blowing NW outside. It stayed like that all day long! Jayda left this a.m. to go around to dry storage. As they were backing out of the slip with 20k and 4 lines to pull them around, their engine died just before the last line was about to be thrown off. Luckily, the guys pulled them back in until they were ready to go. Jan later said it was snotty out there and the boat is covered in salt water.
Hugh, Sea Otter, took John in to get the van – finally. To have the transmission rebuilt and the power steering fixed, it came to $350 U.S. (and 5 days). They wanted $900 in Lakeside for just the transmission.
Barbara and Richard Flores called tonight. They never got their garage built – so now John will have something to keep him busy after work and weekends, like last summer – it makes the time go by faster.
This ‘ole wind is cold. I have up all the sea curtains.
“Sea curtains” = the canvas siding for the cockpit which allowed us to be fully protected from the weather. There are no words to describe what an amazing bonus that is that a lot of boats do not have.
*Wow, as much as I was into writing this little book of mine, I’m so surprised that I don’t have anything from it! I have always been quite sentimental and definitely have kept 90% of my writings growing up. I wonder if it is hidden somewhere and somehow hasn’t been found in one of my many nostalgic deep-dives. Perhaps one day I will stumble upon it for a nice little surprise.
May 9, Saturday
Wow – what a difference between yesterday’s 20-25k to today’s 5-10k! It was beautiful and warm. John and Tom went in to Guaymas to the machine shop. They dropped off Tom’s windlass and John had an injector rebuilt. Then he put the new battery in the gen-set and changed the transmission oil. The rest of the day was a laid-back, whatever kind of day.
Bob and Cynthia, Miss Teak II, drove in from Mazatlan at 4 pm. Great to see them. We went out to eat at Blackie’s – ourselves, Miss Teak II, Aurora, Tom, Ema and Dario and Windchime and Paula (Joe was sick), Sea Hope. Fun time – food was good, but expensive. ($270 pesos for the 3 of us).
*I love that 26 U.S. dollars to feed all three of us was considered expensive for Mexico prices at the time. The steakhouse I currently work at offers $16 salads and side dishes. 🤪
*Haha, loving the peek-a-boo game with the kid on the dock. It’s even funnier imagining his perspective, like playing whack-a-mole with glances and a shy little pre-teen.
May 10, Sunday
Happy Mother’s Day
QST – on HAM this a.m. – Broken Surfboard is no more, it shut down. We took the boat around to the fuel dock, 91 gallons and $117 U.S.
Neither one of us slept good last night with the pesky mosquitos buzzing us. The fan was going and I was buried under the sheet. I had one of those awful headaches – so I took a couple hours’ nap.
Miss Teak II, and Aurora drove back to the States this a.m.
Talked to Chelle, Mom, Goon and Shine.
It was a gorgeous 84° with only 4k of a breeze today.
*I sure loved making gifts for my Momma. 🥰
I can’t help but wonder - in a battle between flying insects and creepy-crawlies, which would I prefer? 🤔 Probably the flying little buggers, as annoying as they are!
May 11, Monday
Weather reports this a.m. are calling for SNOW down to 4,000 foot in California. Yuk. We woke up to cloudy and cool here, but it turned really nice, clear and warm. John took the injectors in to have them fixed – 2 were really bad. He got those all in and ran the engine here in the slip for an hour. Tomorrow, we’ll go out and run it up for 4 or 5 hours to see if we fixed the problem. Samie went up to the pool with Emma. We went to Tequila’s with dinner with Tom and Hugh.
Danielle called for Mother’s Day.
*I’m guessing Shadowfox was looking to cross to the South Pacific. That was the plan for many cruisers. I just wanted everyone to stay in Mexico, with us!
I loved Tequila’s! I always got a cheeseburger there and the staff always remembered us. It’s the first place I’m going to eat if I ever go to San Carlos again.
May 12, Tuesday
It was windy all of last night and most of today. So rather than taking the boat out in the blow, John worked on fixing the dock boxes power. He is re-wiring all the plugs so that they’re done right. He worked at that for 8 hours.
Tom came over for a BBQ chicken dinner.
*Again, Dad helping out wherever he can with his many skills! Love it, love it, love it.
*If my memory serves me right, Emma used to be a synchronized swimmer. Holy smokes, is that a challenging sport! The perfection of such synchronization alone is such a massive feat, not to mention holding your breath underwater for great lengths of time, while keeping yourself in place and from floating from the top, amidst all sorts of contortions… and all with a smile on your face! It’s mind-blowing to me!
May 13, Wednesday
John put in another 7 hours on the docks. We ran the engine for 3 hours today in reverse at 1500 rpm and we still got diesel in the oil – so we now know that we need to rebuilt the injector pump.
It blew 10-15k west all day and last night. It clouded up which makes for a pretty sunset.
*Ha, I wonder why I was annoyed by Tom. If only I knew how annoying I could be, too. 🙃
Emma taught me all kinds of things, it was so much fun! She was probably trying to help keep me from rotting in front of her TV all the time. I love that.
May 14, Thursday
John took the injector pump off today and got it down to the lab. They don’t think they can get the parts – we’ll probably end up getting a whole new pump in the States - $800 U.S.
Samie helped Emma paint her patio this a.m. and Emma and Lyn, Windchime, have been teaching her at the pool the fine art of synchronized swimming. I guess Emma, Mariposa used to do that. Samie has learned a lot of different things out here on the boat in Mexico, from different friends we have met out here also traveling. She is by far ahead in different, unique experiences than what she would have found only in the States on land!
*Methinks learning all these random things from different people has a lot to do with my many curiosities and interests. 💡
*I sure loved being able to help out with new things! I can’t help but laugh at my comment about Lynn and her makeup - apparently lots of makeup meant to me that you didn’t work hard. 😅 To be fair, most women didn’t wear any makeup out cruising, so it would have been odd to me to meet a woman who did wear any noticeable amount.
More looky-loo whack-a-mole with the cute boy…
May 15, Friday
John worked all day again on the power at the dock boxes. Samie got a B on her math test – 5th grade is complete! The last 40 lessons we didn’t do any science, geography or history in order to get through with the basics. We’ll take the books back to the States with us and I’ll hit the high points with her – in our “spare” time.
It was warm and only blew 10-15 k – not bad.
May 16, Saturday
John worked on the dock again for a few hours. He went in to Guaymas to pick up the injector pump – well, that’s not our problem! It must be in the head, after all, that’s when this all started – after we rebuilt it in Mazatlan.
We went in with Tom, Christina, to Manuel’s Chicken for dinner. Met a real nice young couple with 2 young daughters. They are from Tucson, down here for a few years working.
When we went to the fruiteria for ice cream, Jaun said we “smell like chicken” – he knew we had been to Miguel’s Mesquite BBQ.
It was 100% overcast all day – only 0-5k wind, 75°-82°.
*Dad was certainly kept busy with having to find the sources of all these random issues on the boat!
May 17, Sunday
Well, the 100% “cloud-cover” of yesterday and today is really smoke from fires that have been burning for the last 2 weeks in Mexico City and Brazil.
We found out today that the problem with the engine all started 4 years ago in San Diego when we got water in the oil. That was when John put the bleed valves on that we operate manually. So – what we have now are 2 bad cylinders out of the 6. This means we have to rebuild the engine when we come back in October.
Samie helped Emma make pasta and a cake for the dinner they invited us to.
*Wow - that sure was some bummer news to figure out about the engine!!
*I remember making pasta with Emma, I had so much fun! I wish I could remember how delicious it tasted - I’m sure it was amazing.
May 18, Monday
We decided to leave here on Thursday and drive straight through – Samie wanted to know if it would be an “over-nighter” – cute.
John got the dink apart and stowed – a lot of this and that today.
It was 80°, warm, muggy – 0-5k.
May 19, Tuesday
Leaving Mexico is getting on our nerves, as always. We get touchy and short-tempered. Samie, because she’s in a hurry. To John and I, it’s sad putting the boat to bed for the summer. I woke up this a.m. fighting tears.
Busy day – washed the van – foiled the windows – packing – and a million little things.
John took Tom in to get his gear for the electric windlass. Hernandez did a great job making one. We BBQ’ed some great steaks. We’re beat!
*I get sad for my parents just reading this!
May 20, Wednesday
Happy B-day Trish.
End of our 97-98 season – another adventure on the Mexican Riviera, with glorious memories to look back on. We’re already counting days until October when we can return to the Wandrin’ Star.
Busy day with all the last-minute things. Blue Chablis, Barb and Steve came in this a.m., they joined us and Tom for dinner at Tequila’s. Fun couple, it was nice to meet them after talking on the radio to Barb (RIZ) for the last 2 years.
The day was another 88°, high humidity (sweltering), but by 5 pm a little breeze cooled it down.
Flies by day – mosquitos by night – won’t miss that!
*I am still in touch with Barb fairly regularly, thanks to Facebook. She has always been so sweet, I treasure her! Her and Steve still go deep-sea sports fishing at least once a year, south of Cabo, I believe.
*Alas, another season done for the Stars! Take me back!
