Going North

Sunday February 24

We spent over a week with our daughter and her family. We consumed way too much food and drink and we had a lot of fun. Now it’s back to cruising.

We are currently in Barra de Navidad. The trip up was a pleasant motor sail. The fuel and water tanks are filled. Our good friend and former cruising boat owner Bob Ley arrives Monday afternoon. Tuesday we will make final preparations. Wednesday we start the trip home. The weather looks good for a Friday morning trip around Cabo Corrientes. Remember our plans change as much and with the weather.

We don’t expect to have much Internet access once we are underway but we will update this blog whenever we have access.

Photos From Day Trip To Colima City

Salt Pans
Sea water is pumped from wells into the pans

Church on the main square

Remains of Civilization in Colima City 1,000 years ago (11)

Construction detail close up

They used river rock from the two nearby rivers and a mud mortar. That may be crude but after 1,000 years is still working.

More structures (4)

Tombs are next to the buildings

You can look into this one and see some artifacts and some bones.

Entrance to tomb

Close up of Power Plant. Last one I promise.

They are currently converting to natural gas from coal and oil. Scheduled for completion in three years.Close up of Power Plant. Last one I promise.

Active volcano near Colima City. If you enlarge this you might see a little smoke coming from the right cone.

Container Ship

Wednesday, February 13, 2008 Manzanillo Bay, Colima, Mexico

Las Hadas Anchorage: Latitude 19 degrees 5.091 minutes North

Longitude 104 degrees 20.660 minutes West

See if you can find us on Google Maps.

Sunday we left the Barra de Navidad lagoon, and then took on a little fuel and mostly filled our water tanks. We live on about five and a half gallons of fresh water a day. Rhea may substitute the word survive for live. Sunday night was spent in the northwest corner of the Barra de Navidad Bay. I spent about an hour in the water cleaning the bottom and the prop of the growth that the lagoon promotes.

Monday we mostly motor sailed southeast to Manzanillo Bay, the Las Hadas anchorage where our daughter and her family will arrive Friday. The anchorage was full, forcing us to anchor outside of the most protected area. In the morning we re-anchored two times as boats left. Now Vagari is in a spot properly protected from the prevailing waves and wind. The next morning I still wasn’t satisfied with our position (too close to the marina entrance when the wind was offshore). A boat that was anchored next to shore left this morning so we took their spot. That’s a personal best, or worst, for Vagari. Four attempts to get it right.

We have spent too much time with friends since arriving. Now we must work the next few days getting Vagari “ship shape” and taking on stores for our grandchildren. There is no such thing as too many M&M’s for our grandchildren..

OUR PLANS - as usual “written in sand at low tide”

Kim’s family leave Saturday February 23.We sail to Barra de Navidad and meet our very good friend Bob Ley on the 25^th. Bob will help us sail Vagari back to San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico, our homeport. Unlike the trip down we will cross to the Baja from the mainland then cross back to San Carlos on the mainland. The prevailing winds are still from the northwest. That is the direction of our destination. We hope for a few days of spring southerly winds to make our trip pleasant.

We expect the trip to take at least three weeks. We probable will only have occasional Internet access at best.

The Colimilla Schools

In 2004 when John and Vicki from the cruising boat “Low Maintenance” purchased a home in Colimilla the local elementary school had no electricity or water. The restroom was an outhouse. The outhouse used the same hole for about 40 years.

The “Low Maintenance” crew went to work. In addition to improvements to the building, water and power were run to the school. The Governor of the State of Colima toured the town and school before John and Vicki started on the restroom issue. The Governor asked how the people had improved the school. He was told that the local Norte Americanos had done a lot of work. The Governor pledged, and in fact did, build a proper restroom for the kids. He also put in a clinic staffed with a nurse for the town.

The school could now get down to the business of education. To assist in that endeavor John and Vicki provided a wireless Internet connection to the school from their home and gave them computers. They also provided the school with books including a set of encyclopedias, both print and electronic versions.

Dream House Tour

I visited my dream house yesterday. It’s on a hill next to the Grand Bay Hotel. This house is truly amazing. From the front it looked like a white concrete box. No adornment in front, just dirt.

Once the door is opened, it is a different story. There is a profusion of beautiful trees and plantings going down a hill to a pond and palapa, complete with hammock.

The house is in two sections with patios and gardens in between. A large open palapa serves as a living room – only the bedrooms and kitchen are enclosed, all with patios looking over the yard and the bay in the distance. There are many levels, many steps – it was not your typical two-story home.

The rooms are painted in the traditional bright Mexican colors – no two rooms are the same. All the artwork is by Mexican artists and the furnishings are simple but striking. There are no screens, per se, but the dark wood louvered shutters are screened on the inside, giving a cool tropical feel to the bedrooms.

For me, it was a love at first sight. What a dream come true for the owners.

Rhea

The Morning Radio Nets

Every Morning Vagari listens to or joins several cruiser “radio nets”. Cruisers have established times and radio frequencies where we talk so we can keep track of who is where, get up to the minute weather forecasts and pass on current information important to cruisers

They always start out asking for any “emergency, medical or priority” traffic. And then relays for that traffic. A relay would be, say you were 500 miles south of the net controller and a station 500 miles south of you had a problem you could hear them but the net controller might not so you would relay the information.

Once a boat lost their mast during the night and answered that call but that is the only real emergency I heard. As luck would have it another boat was just 15 miles from them and was able to assist in the clean up and escort them to the nearest harbor.

Medical is obvious. Two evenings ago a guy stepped on a stingray in Tenacatita. A request was made. In five minutes a relay was set up with an experienced cruiser down the coast who is an RN. He was familiar with the proper treatment for this problem and gave very specific instructions. The next morning net reported that all was well.

Priority messages are usually “health and welfare” request. If a boat has not reported in and is overdue the call goes out for a “health and welfare” on the vessel. Somebody almost always reports a sighting of the boat right then or at the most by the next morning they are located. If the vessel is not found right away the request is passed on from net to net.

The nets are “controlled” which means one person is in charge and specific protocols are followed to check in or to contact other vessels. Boats underway always have priority. The weather forecast always starts at a specific time. We listen to two forecasters almost every day. Both give a very detailed forecast for our cruising area and have been doing forecasts for years. This information is not available anywhere else.

The nets for a local area are done on the short-range radios. Today the Barra de Navidad net had 79 vessels check in. These nets also feature a “local assistance” time; from where is a good laundry, to outboard motor mechanic, to good restaurants, to I need a filter for my whatever. Somebody always has a question.

Sailing To Barra de Navidad

Pelican Attach (2)

Home In Colimilla (7)

View From Upper Patio

Upper Patio Sitting Area (2)

Lower Garden (2)

Office Palapa In Garden

Looking Up From Lower Garden