Category: Mexico

Posted on

Win Sharktopus!

Free stuff for you time!

First off, we just added a new page to the site.  On the top right of the website you’ll see the “How to Crew” link.  Click on that and you’ll have access to all the details of where we find rides, races and regattas we’ve been in, tips, etc. etc.  It’s a work in progress and we’ve gotten enough questions about it to warrant creating a virtual warehouse of information.  For those of you wanting to sail around the world for free, this is for you!

Secondly, to celebrate Greg’s break out movie role, we’re going to give away 2 copies of Sharktopus!  We’ll even throw in shipping for those of you living in the USA!

No offense to our foreign friends but guys, really, we have no idea what it costs to ship a DVD to Fatu Hiva but we’ll wager it ain’t cheap.  We also have no idea if Amazon actually mails to Tahiti.  Does anyone know how that works?

Here’s the deal:

1) You have to be a subscriber to the blog to win a DVD.  It’s easy to do, just put your email address in the box marked “subscribe” over on the left.

2) Every blog entry you comment on is considered 1 entry to the draw.  So, for example if you put 2 comments on this entry and make 1 comment on the supply ship entry linked above then you’d have 2 “entries” in the draw, not 3.

2 a) Facebook comments do not count.  You’ll just have to bring your natural wit and charm onto the actual blog page to win 😉

2 b) Multiple comments on the same entry will not count.  You must comment on different entries.

2 c) Yes, you can go back right now and comment on old entries.  They will count.

2 d) The comments need to be approved by our spam filter internet monkeys to count, so no random spam comments, please & thank-you.

4) To count, comments must be made by 11:59pm on Wednesday, 23 March US Pacific time zone.  That’s less than a week away!! We will let you know the winners on Thursday 24 March’s blog posting.  So if you want to put up more comments, do it now!

5) You can only win one DVD.  Once you win, your name is removed for the second draw.  This way everyone gets a shot.

6) When you win, we will email you to get a good shipping address.  We will then order the movie and have it shipped to you.

Alternately, for those of you just can’t wait to see Greg put to good use his high school senior elective acting class (hey, that class kicked butt! And I got a good grade!)  you can just buy the DVD yourself by clicking here.

Good luck!

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailSpread the word and WIN! Default ThumbnailSpecial Announcement! Default ThumbnailLinks from speech Default Thumbnail20100122 – Testimonial – Marie Irvin of S/V FREEZING RAIN
Posted on

Special Announcement!

We interrupt our normal blogging for this important, special announcement:

For those of you who don’t know, Greg is an international, B-movie, science fiction horror film star! (On the SyFy channel, no less!) and who is, as Tiffany recently observed, a mere 3 degrees from Kevin Bacon!

Greg was even in an aquatic Sci-Fi movie.  He got a boat.  The Sharktopus ate it.

…and tomorrow ladies and gentlemen, yes tomorrow, YOU too can now own a masterpiece of the revival of the cult B-movie genre!

A fun way to commemorate this is to watch the movie with a bottle of tequila (‘cuz it was filmed in Mexico).  Every time someone gets chomped, you take a shot.  This will possibly kill you financially (assuming you drink decent tequila) and will without a doubt kill you via alcohol poising.  A more survivable way to commemorate this WITHOUT having your liver explode on the spot is to take a shot every time Greg is in a scene.  Yes, more people die than Greg has scenes…it’s a horror flick.  Eric Roberts has fewer scenes than there are deaths in the movie.

…or replace the tequila with Pacifico….whichever (Corona should only be substituted as a desperate last resort).  The kiddos can have virgin margaritas.

—————————————————————————–

“Psst, who is Eric Roberts?”

“Julia Robert’s brother.  He’s in a bunch of stuff.  You’ve seen him in something.  He was the star power for the movie.  Well, him and Jack Black’s sidekick from ‘Nacho Libre’ ”

“Oh OK, continue”

—————————————————————————–

Either way, March 15th is your big chance to see Greg vs. the Sharktopus!  Here’s a spoiler for you:

Greg dies

(which, by the way, is actually pretty hard to do.  I had to hold my breath a long time and the teeth on that Sharktopus’ head hurt!)

ps – Order it now on Amazon!!! – Sharktopus

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailWin Sharktopus! Default ThumbnailActing and Tequila Tours Default ThumbnailNo Flux Capacitor required! Default ThumbnailArea of Totality
Posted on

To Cross the Pacific

Ah the happy crew of the good ship FLY AWEIGH, decked out in their 2010 puddle jump regalia.  We figured we should get the pictures handled before the scurvy set in.

For those of you who don’t know, the term “puddle jump” is the name people use to describe the trip we are undertaking by sailing from Mexico to Tahiti in French Polynesia.

Our first 30 minutes underway we received an interesting omen of things to come.

At least we got our man overboard drill out of the way first thing…is it a bad sign if the mop sank to the bottom before we recovered it?

Having made our sacrifice to King Neptune’s housekeeping staff, we rapidly shifted gears into that most critical of all getting underway rituals: Calling everyone you know for the obligatory rushed goodbye call

It’s great to finally be underway and heading somewhere new.  Now, don’t get me wrong, Mexico has been a blast and La Cruz has earned a special place in my heart.   I mean between bar cats taking my sodas, swarms of butterflies covering mountaintops,  all the great people we met, and lets not forget Mexican car horns or my breakout role in the made for Sci-fi movie SHARKTOPUS (this October kids, mark your calendars!) Mexico has most assuredly been a good time.  (PS, for if you missed any of the above, check the previous posts.)  However, I would hate to come back to the states and have the following conversation:

Friend: “Where you been?”

Me: “Oh, I’ve been traveling around the world.”

Friend: “Wow cool!  Where did you go?”

Me: “Mexico.”

A drastically unfair prejudice formerly held by myself is that Mexico is “right next door.”  SOME of Mexico (read Tijuana and some desert) is in fact next door and a lot of Mexico is freaking far, far away.  Tiff and I sailed for weeks straight and I would say we got about half way down one coast.  A lot of cruisers sail Mexican waters for years and never get bored or move on…and I can see why.

I feel that Tiff and I are becoming well known here in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle.  We have friends, the owner of the local British pub doesn’t even need to ask me what I’ll be having when I come in, a Guinness and fish & chips just show up (which is awesome, by the way).  I think Tiff and I stopped being tourists here a few weeks ago and actually started living here.  This is great feeling and we either need to buy a house or move on.  Since there is a lot more world out there and the idea was to go around it, its time to move on.  I am nervous though that Allan’s prediction may be closer to the mark than any of us are willing to admit.

Besides the idea of crossing the largest expanse of nothing on the planet in what my friend Michael describes as, “a glorified bathtub with a big bedsheet on front” intrigues me.  Though I would also like to point out this “glorified bathtub” comes decked out with basically every electromechanical toy you could possible want, not to mention private guest quarters with attached bathrooms and showers!  If you don’t know boats too well, allow me to assure you, this is the lap of luxury when it comes to crewing.

Whelp, here we go…

(Imagine that video was your last sight of solid ground for a month straight…)

– Greg

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailA Day in the Life Default ThumbnailLand Ho! Default ThumbnailChristmas in the South Pacific (part 2) Default ThumbnailWalking on the Wild Side
Posted on

Walking on the Wild Side

Wandering around town, sailing on the ocean, heck, even sitting in the bar or the coffee shop – all of these are great opportunities for communing with the local wildlife (and the not-so-wild also). We’ll start this off with the town segment.

When strolling through town, which of these animals do you expect to see? A – Cats, B – Dogs, C – Iguanas? Well, if you guessed Iguana, you’re right!

(Why? Because the cats are in the bars hustling drinks, of course! –Greg)

Also expected viewing while in a Mexican town of any size are chickens, pigs, horses and…children?

(Oh and now I finally understand why they started enacting those spitting in public laws back in the US. –Greg)

There was a cool restaurant/coffee shop in La Cruz that had free internet (yay!) at a decent speed (double yay!) and as a side entertainment factor they had a fountain with turtles in it – I know, not that interesting. What made it interesting was when the dog would come by and jump in the fountain with the turtles 🙂

~ Tiffany

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailStill Walking on the Wild Side Default ThumbnailThe Dark Side of Cruising Default ThumbnailWalking Turtle Bay / Bahia de Tortugas Default ThumbnailThe other side
Posted on

More Life on the Docks

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle wasn’t all dodging sniper fire while weaving boats through water spouts and random floating construction equipment though. I, as always, managed to find a few quiet moments to relax an enjoy myself. The particular method of relaxation will have my old high school friends cringing and begging that I not name them here as the people I originally learned this game from.

All I have to say is, it was like riding a bike man. You never really forget.

Also, hanging out with cruisers means cruiser parties! This is when sailors get together to hang out eat, exchange information, tell sea stories and basically have fun. Sometimes events are held to prove ones prowess over one’s fellow sailors. Here is what a typical event looks like

It bears mentioning that both of these ladies were stone cold sober and not under any form of duress when they signed up for this contest. I believe the prize under contention was a free t-shirt. There is an important marketing lesson in here somewhere I’m sure…

I also found a new contender for “best language ever” in Mexico. No, not Spanish…Gaelic!

Finally, and probably most importantly, I found a Mexican car horn! As you long term followers of the blog know, Tiffany and I have been searching for a musical car horn since we entered Mexico months ago. I had come to suspect that the lyrical car horn had, much like the Mexican chicken bus, faded from existence and only lived on in popular myth. Not so! Though obviously endangered, specimens of the Mexican car horn still roam the land and can be observed by those determined enough to remain persistent in the quest.

– Greg

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailLife on the Docks Default Thumbnail20100122A – Gaelic could be as awesome as German… Default ThumbnailA Day in the Life Default ThumbnailLife passing us by
Posted on

Life on the Docks

As I said, Tiffany and I spent a lot of time working on the docks in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle and Paradise Village in Puerto Vallarta getting involved in the local cruising community and looking for ships looking for crew. The La Cruz marina was an interesting place to be. First off, the marina was still undergoing construction so that meant we had some unusual ships to maneuver around while sailing.

They also had a major boat show while we were there that the president of Mexico attended. I didn’t get any footage of the “El Presidente” mostly because I also didn’t get any pictures of the military snipers hanging out on the rooftops of all the buildings or the multiple hummers that drove around pointing their .50 cal machine guns at my head for no apparent reason. Let’s simply leave it at I didn’t want to give them any additional motivation to point their high powered weapons at me for longer than they already were. I did get some footage of how the Mexican government throws a party:

The weather over the months we were there was unusual, to put it mildly. Hurricane force winds, “weather bombs” (what the heck is that supposed to even mean!?) hot rain, freezing sunny days, tornados ripping through the bay…it keeps you on your toes.

Aside from when the weather was trying to kill by ripping your ship apart it was actually quite pleasant.

– Greg

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailMore Life on the Docks Default ThumbnailOutback pub life Default ThumbnailLife passing us by Default ThumbnailA Day in the Life
Posted on

A Few Months in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico

So like I said, La Cruz was the first place where Tiffany and I got to really spend some time, meet some people and just live a little bit outside the US, which was a major goal of this trip in the first place. My previous assessment of La Cruz as a town in transition from small village to tourist mecca was pretty accurate and I’m really glad I got here and got to know people before the transition was complete. La Cruz is still the kind of place where, as long as you engage people, you will find your name remembered, your favorite dinner served to you a few minutes after you sit down and bar tenders who remember your favorite drink. There is a strong, close knit, gringo community that comprises the owners of the bars, some musicians and a bunch of people with interesting stories. Add to this mix the cruisers we came down the coast with and you can easily see why some people end up “swallowing the hook” here and don’t ever sail out of the Banderas Bay.

Living in La Cruz did present one major challenge for me though:

Now walking on dirt roads in 3rd world countries in your sandals may sound like fun, but by avoiding the dangers of the sidewalk, I opened myself up to a different hazard

Needless to say, after two infections, the local doctor and I were on good terms and I was very grateful that Mexico has massively cheap medications.

Children’s fundraisers, British pubs (with awesome fish and chips), salsa lessons, Irish pubs…a good time with some good people is never very hard to find in La Cruz, Here is what our evenings typically looked like:

As for eating, well, with Mexican pricing on all the food and a ton of variety, we basically ate every meal out. The dining scene was almost as interesting and varied as the nightlife

And for those of you following along my church explorations, I found a very neat Catholic church near Puerto Vallarta that had a very different take on crucifix we typically see at the front of most Catholic Churches.

Seemed like the carving was more focused on the risen Jesus than the crucified Jesus. I liked it, defiantly gave a different feel to the church.

– Greg

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailBack in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico Default ThumbnailLa Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico Default ThumbnailLa Cruz, MX 2 Default Thumbnail20091224C – haven’t done this for months
Posted on

Back in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico

Our second stay in La Cruz was one of the more special highlights of our trip so far. The reason for this is that due to a variety of circumstances it worked out that actually got to live in La Cruz for about 2 months. We rented a room, got to make some new friends, reconnected with our old sailing buddies, rode zip lines, saw whales, starred in movies and found out what happens when those of us used to navigating on the ocean attempt to find their way on land.

I also managed to find two new wines of the world for you: the first is Montevina, which was quite good and became my favorite while staying at Philo’s bar. It got to the point where I didn’t even have to ask, they just brought me a glass when I sat down. It’s good to be known 😉

And the second wine is another L.A. CETTO. This time the white. The red back in Mazatlan was much better.

While beating the bushes and dragging myself around the local bars of La Cruz for the sole purpose of the arduous task of finding local wines to report to you, I also managed to meet and make some new cruising friends. Several interesting conversations about this particular brand of travel lifestyle resulted, including some you may not have thought of. Especially since several of you all have decided to off and get yourselves hitched while I’m gone, here is a good travel trip for all the married (or soon to be married) ladies out there:

Of note, some of you may have noticed that sometimes I don’t have my wedding band on in the videos and that I don’t wear a wrist watch. No, this is not because Tiffany is currently travelling in Florida. It’s an old habit from my Coast Guard training where I was told dock lines grab rings and watches and use them as leverage to pull off your assorted limbs. This is one of the many reasons I use a pocket watch. (that and I don’t get a watch tan like Tiffany has).

Speaking of my lovely and long absent wife, after about two months separation there has been some contention among the local community whether or not she exists or is simply a convenient alibi for me to avoid having to pick up on women down in Mexico. Well, for all of those who doubted, I am happy to report that Tiffany is finally back from her travels in the Caribbean…with an unusual skin condition…

After looking around a bit, we decided to rent a room, get to know the area and possibly find a ship headed west towards the South Pacific that could use some crew. We picked a picturesque little bar / hotel and started exploring.

Keep following for the results of our explorations!

– Greg

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailA Few Months in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico Default ThumbnailLa Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico Default ThumbnailLa Cruz, MX 2 Default ThumbnailRestaurant and Hotel Veracruz in Bahia de Tortugas, Mexico
Posted on

Mazatlan, MX – 3rd

Mazatlan, MX

With the help of Mary-Ann on s/v OLD MOON we found another Mexican wine.

For my last entry on Mazatlan, I’ll focus on our transportation options. Yes, I realize that the topic of transportation would not typically be notable. Here it is.

Getting around presents some interesting alternatives. There are a lot of options for taxis but all of them are a little short on the safety department.

You could take the bus but be warned, you aren’t getting anywhere quickly on the Mazatlan bus system.

You’ll be happy to know that we made it to the local English speaking church on time (they have English speaking churches here…it’s a tourist city). The other transportation option is to rent a car; however, be forewarned that mode of transportation comes with its own inherent additional risks in this town thanks to the unique layout of the curbside parking. Gotta wonder what someone was thinking when they planned this out:

How about horses? Horses are safe, reliable, even fun and in Mexico apparently they are bilingual…

Ultimately though, it is the call of the sea that eventually reaches all of us. Well, all of us that sail on boats at least. I found a ride with Jake on s/v MALOOSE on an overnight transit down to San Blas. For those of you who have been keeping up with this blog, you will know of my long standing battle with Tiffany over the existence of the “supposed” green flash. This battle came to head under a beautiful sunset leaving the port.

Naturally, Tiffany was in another country when this happened.

– Greg

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailMazatlan, MX Default ThumbnailMazatlan, MX – 2 Default ThumbnailWalking on the Wild Side Default Thumbnail20091227A – Hot dolphin action
Posted on

Mazatlan, MX – 2

Mazatlan, MX

So I thought I was doing OK with the fishing thing…then I met this guy,

Yeah, my biggest fish so far is about 15 lbs. My first question to Marcus was “So what do you do with it!?” Being as Mexican Airlines has a weight limit of about 50 lbs, they might charge a slight overage for a 500 lbs fish and that’s a lot of fish to eat in a week. Marcus’ answer is that the sport fishing guides allow him to take as much as he can eat, then they donate the remainder to a local orphanage. So everyone wins, except for the fish. He pretty much lost when he upchucked his lungs. Which, interesting side note, is apparently normal for them when they are suffocating or so I’m told.

On less disgusting note, we went out for a little Mexican baseball. We stopped for some tacos on the way and John showed us an example of cruiser technology at its finest.

Now as for the baseball game. Look, baseball is baseball. People throw balls, people hit balls, bases are stolen, you know the drill. What makes baseball interesting (at least to me) is what goes on around the games and in Mexico, a lot goes on around the games.

Does the local dodge dealership need their own cheerleaders? Really?
The highlight of the evening though were the fans. The drunk fans. The drunk, very spirited, extremely supportive of the home team, CANADIAN fans.

Notice that guy in the back wearing the blue polo? We started cheering “fear the deer” a few minutes before the video and he called out to us

“en espanol!”

To which I replied

“but then it won’t rhyme!”

He nodded sagely as if this argument made any form of legitimate sense…or maybe he just had no idea what I said. Either way, between guacamole hot dogs, the Pacifico girls, and drunk Canadians, good times were had by all.

– Greg

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailMazatlan, MX – 3rd Default ThumbnailMazatlan, MX Default ThumbnailA Few Months in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico Default ThumbnailAnd the UN was right!