Swinging in Z-town

A Day In Zihuatanejo

Saturday, January 23, 2010
Ola Amigos! We are still in Zihuatanejo and enjoying ourselves immensely. Our daily routine is something like this: Wake up around 7:00ish, have a strong Mexican cup of coffee perhaps with a dash of sweetened condensed (half and half is virtually nonexistent here and refrigerating dairy products is an ongoing challenge), then begin some serious lounging which ivolves reading, journaling, cleaning, maybe a morning swim, making a light breakfast and continual chatting about the sea and our nautical lifestyle. Typically we are ready to disembark around 12:00ish always assessing the overall current, wind & water conditions before doing so. When you have a single line (the anchor) holding on to all your possessions it is important to be cognizant and comfortable to leave. Daily, we swim from the boat to the beach known as Playa de Ropa. I stuff my sunglasses in my swimsuit and Steve puts sunscreen, money and his shades into a zip lock bag and into a zipper pocket. Commuting to the beach is blast, probably a ¼ mile swim, fairly easy going ashore but usually the wind and swell has increases by the time we swim back and it is clearly a workout not for the timid swimmer. We also add a 2 mile walk at least and by the time we return to the boat we feel pretty darn buff and yes, sun kissed! We are exploring every day. Steve generally likes to walk into hardware-like stores and look at various boy things and I force him to eat popsicles, and look at many, many hotels, shops and restaurants. Our favorite line is, “I wish Maria and Brandon were getting married here.” We are constantly being shown all of our new found beach friend’s villas as they are all eager to share and show their great deals. Yesterday we actually met some great folks staying in a trailer park…not for me, but they pay $100.00 a week for an ‘almost new’ trailer on the beach. My favorite place to date is a new hotel named Hotel Don Francisco on the south end of Playa Ropa. I may have Steve talked into getting a room for a week when the time is right….first class, check out the website: www.hotelcasadonfrancisco.com. I have become rather obsessed with food and lodging, I think I need a break from the boat (and Steve). Quarters are tight but truthfully we are doing quite well and have adopted a playful and nurturing child spirit in order to cope with these conditions. I still miss a bathtub and a toilet that simply flushes. Water is an issue and of course battery power. We can actually have water, ice, beer, fuel, propane, and laundry delivered to the boat, rather cheaply I might add. However every two weeks or so the boat requires a deep cleaning and pulling into a marina for a night makes a few of the above chores much easier. Life is never boring and recently a few interesting events have occurred: We were lounging into the early afternoon on Tuesday and Steve was getting a bit antsy to do something (antsy behavior: polishing winches, washing dirty rags, drying dishes, weird utterances and annoyingly under foot) when our nearby boaters started hollering “mayday, mayday, we need your dingy.” Steve, of course jumps into Amy (the name of our dingy) and goes to the rescue. Clueless, I observe the following: One of our fellow cruisers had beached himself on a rocky point…he had actually run aground for whatever reason we are still unsure (I believe he was engaged in sexual activity for reasons I will not disclose here, and also because it seems to be the only answer to the avoidable situation….please keep in mind I try to remain nonjudgmental as I know so very little about sailing). Anyhow, off Steve goes with another skipper into the depths of the bay with several other rescue boats. From a distance I could see the boat smashing against the rocks and my fearless husband right up next to it. The boat was pulled successfully off the rocks with some rudder damage, a few leaks and the skippers wounded pride. The whole ordeal lasted about an hour and Steve returns with an exciting story that involved his life being put at risk as well as others. In a classic situation such as this, the rescuers are known to be in greater danger than the one being rescued. That same day we swam ashore and were palapa-ing with some friends when a parasail ran into a palm tree! Please, please, please tell your children not to participate in this activity, it is stupid and the rules and standards of the trade are nonexistent in Mexico. We are unsure as to the extent of the injuries to this woman but it didn’t look good. This was the most exciting day on the beach yet. As a ordinary day continues, if we don’t go out to dinner, we make it back to the boat by sunset and I light candles and make us a fabulous dinner and hand squeezed margaritas. We have been keeping score of our cribbage games since pre-Christmas, per Ali’s suggestion and 14 to 9 Steve leading is the tally. I was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead till we started keeping score. Cruisers bedtime is around 9:00pm unless I talk Steve into using battery power to watch a movie (thanks Mark).
Today we will find an internet café so I can post this blog. This involves a fabulous 20 minute dingy ride to Playa Principal where Jesus greets us and for 10 pesos guides us in and watches our dingy. We then have a pleasant stroll amongst the vendors and along the cobblestone of Zihuatanejo unsure as to what internet café we’ll come upon and the quality of computer available. We hope to have an early dinner with MaryJo and Bill who will arrive with great stories of their visit to Caleta de Compos. Tomorrow we will lounge and Monday we are off to Marina Ixtapa for a deep cleaning. My sister Francie and her husband Deren will arrive on Wednesday and will be with us for nine days. We love having visitors. I have a dozen events planned including a trip to the copper factory at Santa Clara del Cobre, dinner at El Rincon Marino and another Italian favorite. Francie and I will swim ashore and have a first class breakfast at The Tides, shop for jumbo shrimp at the market, a cruise to Bara de Petosis, and all the other regular activities such as shopping for silk hammocks, snorkeling, palapa-ing and fine dining on the boat. When are you all coming to visit???????? xo

Anchor Storm

The Crew

Z-Town

Hi all, this will be short as using the computer here is very time consuming and not fun. We have been in Z-town for about a week now. The anchorage is marvelous and the weather, swimming, shopping, and daily adventures seem endless. My sister Maryjo and her friend Bill have been with us for the past week....our very first visitors and we had a blast co existing on the boat together. Lot´s of fresh fruit, fish and yesterday we bought a huge boquet of basil and made pesto. My sister Francie and her husband will visit us on the 27th and I´m getting tired of the blog thing...sorry all but I do love you and think of you often, especially those of you at work! I have almost forgotten how to use the phone, my hair is very grey, Steve is finally relaxing and reading books like crazy. Our spanish is improving, Maria is stressed about the wedding and I really miss my horse. Second anchor storm occured last night, it lasted only 10 minutes but we were incrediably responsive and ready to pull anchor if needed. Needs: Blue rubber bands, solar panels would be a plus, and a toilet that flushes with just one push. I still have moisture in the salt shaker and sand in my ears...please send prayers. xxxoooo

Rod Stewart & The Grey Hair Lady

Careyes

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR

December 29, 2009
TENACATITA
It is hot here. We have been to so many amazing places I’m not sure where to begin. Okay, I’ll rattle them off: Boca de Tomatlan, Punta Ipala, Chamela, Careyes, and presently we are in Tenacatita. Officially we are now in the tropics and not only do we see it but feel it in every square inch of our bones….so lovely. The water, foliage and sea life continue to astound us. We are just above latitude 19 and will hustle our buns, Mexican style of course, to Zihuatanejo and meet up with our new one week crew: Maryjo and Bill (my sister and here sweetie). We are trying to swim, snorkel and walk everyday and even that can be a challenge at times due to weather and local conditions. Walking…in small villages flip flops won’t work, in fact they don’t work overall because Mexico does not blacktop their roads. The creative bed rock is unbelievable workmanship and one must always watch their step. We have known fellow cruisers with sprain ankles…number one injury. We walk a lot out of necessity, getting food, boat parts, touring etc. Also, getting to shore has to be assessed, if we can get to shore easily and if the beach is walk able, sometimes they extend for miles but have a really steep grade and you just kind of get gobbled up walking a very short distance. Swimming is our number one choice of exercise. Often times the seas are high and the cloudy water is not conducive to snorkeling. I know you feel sorry for us and these obstacles so here are a few more details: Steve broke the ore to the dingy and we have had a few mechanical problems in which Steve has promptly taken care of…the old fashion way I might add. We blew a cooling hose and water was being pumped into the boat. We had 30 gallons of water in the engine compartment before Steve noticed and we had to jerry rig it back together. The problem is temporarily fixed and he plans on finishing the job when we can find a mechanical part store. We now have more battery capacity so we can run the freezer longer without having to constantly start the motor. Steve is my hero AND he still verbalizes undying love for me. I get a bit cranky at times and sick of talking boat talk. I am looking forward to our visit with my sister so we can engage in girl talk and share this fabulous journey with loved ones. Christmas day was glorious; we were in Chamela and had an amazing traditional feast with our buddy boat friends. I made a pumpkin pie, (I actually had a real sugar pumpkin) and mash potatoes and Vicky roasted a turkey on Rocinante. We ate sooooo much, had a jam session and went for an evening swim.
I am participating more and more in the sailing activities. Steve actually let me put the sails up and run the show for a day…okay a few hours and I am enjoying myself. Steve is turning into a drummer and he is often having his first beer at 11:00. We almost flipped the dingy today on the breakers going into the beach. Steve was thrown out of the boat and my weight saved the day! The motor was running I pulled the red kill switch, raised motor and surfed on in while Steve was drowning. Just kidding it was quite shallow. I am his hero…..the dingy prop suffered no damage. I hope you all had a merry Christmas, Steve sends his best wishes to all that give a damn. A few more words about where we have been: Puerto Vallarta has a horrid marina but the culture is splendid. Tomatlan is a very special place that you should all visit by bus if you go to PV. My brother Mick showed it to us and we loved our anchorage there even though we woke up dragging it and could have been a disaster. We did not stop in Yelapa (thought of you Anita) because I had a cold and felt crappie. And rounding Cabo Corrientes is the most beautiful part of Mexico I’ve seen yet (well maybe…). Those of you that have five star tastes really need to visit Careyes and please note that you need to speak three languages to buy a villa there and rooms are $1000.00 per night. It is a picturesque hillside from the sea and ohhhhh how I wish I could vacation there someday. Mom would love it. Tenacatita provided us with a tropical jungle dingy trip up the Rio Iguana that is a host to crocks and other various unknown creatures. The excursion takes you to a beautiful sandy beach where you can swim, eat, buy groceries and dingy home…..great spot to camp, bring the kids, or just sail down and throw out your anchor and stay a year….lots of people do this!
As I send this I must wish you all HAPPY NEW YEAR as we have sailed under moonlight to the lovely Manzanillo Bay. It is hot here. Very magical and European style villas built into the cliffs and the anchorage is protected and boy do they know how to celebrate Ney Years. The light show was incredible from the boat and the music blared until 4:00am (we are getting used to this as the Mexicans love to play tunes into the wee hours). Thanks for reading folks, I could go on and on and on, but time to go enjoy the pool and our friend Andres is showing us a new restaurant for a early dinner. Adios and love to all.

MAN OVERBOARD