This log covers November 30th to December 31, 2003 as we head south with Christmas in Zihuatanejo in mind. We revisit some places and also discover new spots to explore. That's the beauty of the cruising life...you never know what will happen next.
Southbound route to Z-town
In this log, we're back on the boat and ready to begin our second cruising season aboard TIOGA. Our plan is to get our sea legs back after 4 months ashore with a short 120 nm crossing from San Carlos on the mainland to Isla Carmen on the Baja Peninsula side of the Sea of Cortez. From there, we'll spend the next few days stopping in the various anchorages on our way south towards Los Frailes, where we'll jump offshore again for a 3-day passage back to the Mexican mainland, with Tenacatita as our destination. From there, it's only a couple more days to Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, where we plan to enjoy Christmas and New Years. Simple as that ... but a healthy 875 nm away!
Monday, December 1st, 2003 - "Wing on Wing", San Carlos to Isla Carmen
With the boat ready to go and finally a reasonable weather report we set sail for the Baja Peninsula side of the Sea of Cortez on the tail end of a "norther". Here we're sailing only with our two headsails, both poled out on either side of the boat, like two wings. It's a very comfortable way to sail when the wind is directly behind you. Gerrit has also found a comfortable place to read in the shade.
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| Sailing Wing on Wing |
When our passage is done and the sails are down as we motor into a new anchorage, it has become a ritual for the boys to head to the bow of Tioga and be our look outs.
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| Motoring into the anchorage. |
Wednesday, December 3rd - San Evaristo to Los Frailes
With 250nm down and 625nm to go, passage making is going well and we're settled into a routine. For the big 3-day jump coming up, we need to listen to the weather and time that passage carefully. So we push on to our intermediate destination, Los Frailes, on the southern end of the Baja, ready to make the jump when the weather window presents itself. It's not high winds were concerned about ... it's lack of wind!
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| Relaxing in the cockpit |
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| Sheila watching the sails in the finicky winds. |
Friday, December 5th - Los Frailes - Waiting for weather
Los Frailes is a nice spot and we end up staying here for a few days. There is very little wind, except for the late afternoon land thermals. Good for kite flying, but only a local phenomena. Out on the "crossing", its dead flat calm.
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| Flying kite at Los Frailes |
Monday, December 8th - Afternoon tea in the cockpit, enroute to Tenacatita
On Sunday, we finally head out on a forecast that contains some wind and with a good dose of wishful thinking. This next leg is 350 nm and should take about 3 days. Once again, we're back in the Pacific Ocean and are greeted by the long ocean swells originating from some big storm systems way far away in the Pacific Northwest. The winds are fickle and we end up motoring on and off for long stretches. Joel and Gerrit busy themselves in the galley and prepare this awesome afternoon snack.
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| Joel & Gerrit make a great snack! ;-) |
12:09 am Wednesday, December 10th - Now we're travelling fast
On our third day out and as we begin to approach the Mexican mainland, the winds finally pipe up to a good reef-your-sails blow in the order of 25kts. It's hard to give you an impression of the ride, but with the wind right behind us and a single headsail, it's like a fast but smooth sleigh ride and in the moonlight, too!
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| Flying down wind |
Thursday, December 11th - Beautiful Tenacatita Bay
Mid-morning Wednesday, we arrive at Tenacatita Bay and are quite rested. Last season, we visited Tenacatita and spent 3 weeks here. It is also the furthest south we have been in our boat, last year turning north again and heading to the Sea of Cortez. This time it will only be a few days here before moving south into new cruising territory.
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| Tenacatita Bay - just as beautiful 2nd time around :) |
In Tenacatita, we met up with 6 other cruising families. Sailing vessels Peregrinata and Atalanta were friends from last year while Dagmar, Quetzal, Mariposa and m/v Williwa were new to us. All had kids of varying ages. In addition, a number are continuing south towards Panama, so it was great to spend time together and get (re)aquatinted. A bunch of us went up the "jungle lagoon ride" through the mangroves for an excursion.
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| Second trip up the mangroves for us - so fun. |
I don't think the Mexican's at the other end have seen so many gringo kids. Here a grandmother prepares coconuts for some of our thirsty kids.
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| Coconut Lady Fresh coconut milk, anyone? |
Friday, December 12th - Dinghy Raft Up
Often in Tenacatita Bay the cruisers get together and raft up with their dingy's for an evening social. Everyone brings an appetizer and we hang out for some good food, conversation and sometimes music, Glad we are around to experience this wonderful event.
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| The crew from s/v Peregrinata enjoy the raft up. |
Saturday, December 13th - En route to Zihuatanejo
We leave Tenacatita with a light wind forecast so we ready our gennaker. The winds materialize and we have a beautiful sail with 10-15kts of wind over our starboard quarter. But as the wind dies late at night we realize that we have forgotten to refuel and don't have enough diesel to motor the entire remaining trip if wind doesn't materialize again ... oops. The wind returns at 5am, but its right on the nose. We try to tack but progress is so limited that by 10am Sunday the motor is back on and we are powering into the wind at low RPM. We motor through the day and evening and make plans to stop in a place where we can get fuel by jerry-can. But to our extreme delight, around 9 pm, the wind returns from the NE at 10kts and gives as a beautiful close-reach into Zihuatanejo for Monday morning.
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| Cruising fast with our "gennaker" |
Monday, December 22nd - Hangin' out in Zihua
It's quite hard to give you a photographic impression of Zihuatanejo; it's a large bay with plenty of room to anchor, including room for large cruise ships. Since Christmas is near and all sorts of activities are happening in town, we anchor off the municipal pier and beach. The water is quite murky, so we don't swim here, but rather a short dinghy ride away at Ropa Beach. Here the boys are goofing around on our flopper-stopper, a device to dampen any rolling motion of the boat while at anchor.
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| Hanging from the "flopper-stopper" in Zihua |
Wednesday, December 24th - Christmas Eve in Zihuatanejo
On Christmas Eve, we attend an English caroling service in nearby Ixtapa. (Ixtapa is where all the hotels are: Zihuatanejo is where all the locals live and is more of a typical Mexican town.) The singing is fun and on the bus ride home, our group continues to sing in beautiful harmonies much to the surprise of the locals getting on and off the bus. We even took requests!
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| Christmas Service in Ixtapa |
Thursday, December 25th - MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
The kids are happy to find that Santa has found us again. Apparently, some kind sole told Santa to check our latest position report to track us down. See our little tree tucked up against the mast?
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| Christmas gift opening |
On Christmas Day, all sorts of things were going on in the bay and Zihuatanejo. We were invited to join a number of other families for a potluck meal on two boats that rafted together. It was a great time. Everyone made their own Christmas specialties
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| Christmas Day dinner raft-up on Atalanta and Western Grace |
8:45 am Wednesday, December 31st - Kids' Net
Every morning in "destination" anchorages, like Zihuatanejo, there is usually a morning "net" on the 2-way VHF radio. New boats introduce themselves, departing vessels say good-bye, and those staying put check-in. Also, there is an opportunity to exchange all sorts of information and get your questions answered. With so many kids in the anchorage area, every morning they too had their own net, for kids only. Here, Gerrit is net controller for the last day in 2003.
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| Gerrit does the kids' net |
12:01 am Thursday, January 1st, 2004 - HAPPY NEW YEAR from Zihuatanejo!
Here's the view from our boat anchored off the town. Later today, we and the crew of s/v Atalanta head for Mexico City for a week's worth of discovery and adventure. Stay tuned.
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| Happy New Year fireworks |
Log 17 finds us in Mexico City - what a treat.
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