Category: Sailing

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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

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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

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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

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San Diego, CA

San Diego, CA

Tiffany & I received an offer to come back up to San Diego, help prep a ship for a Pacific crossing and bring her down to Mexico. We figured an REI run would probably be a good thing anyway, so off we went!
Once again Mexican transport did not disappoint

…and we wonder why all our jobs are overseas?

Upon our arrival aboard we moved the boat to the police dock for the final on our ship’s inspection, preparations and final provisioning. Not only were we rained on, not only was it freaking COLD (acclimate to Mexico much?) and the United States seemed dead set to ensure our return did not go, to use an overly appropriate turn of phrase, “unmarked.”

For this particular voyage we have the pleasure of working with two other crew members: Ben & Jurgen. Both of them are a lot of fun and Jurgen is a native German who flew in for a few months of sailing. Now you may not know this about me, but I have a long standing love affair with the German language. Have you ever heard someone talk in German? It sounds like someone discovered the sound of awesome and just decided to make an entire language out of it! Never had the chance to hear German? check this out:

Why oh why did I study French in High School!?

We had a crew meeting and Tiffany was elected to serve as the ship’s captain because as an ASA instructor and a licensed 100 ton master, she was the one with any official paperwork (see what happens when you go out and better yourself? You get to rule over your fellow man and crush them under the thumb of oppression! Stay in school kids!)
After going over this boat with a fine toothed comb, the four of us dove into the two week process of the final preps for getting this ship ready to set sail. I could bore you with details of food inspections, EPIRB shopping, damage control kits, rigging work and sail repairs…or I could just toss up this montage that includes me finding poison ketchup and almost getting clocked by an anchor. I think we both know which option is the one you’d choose.

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