Month: March 2023

Hola Amigos!

In previous years, Brad and I have rounded the corner from Banderas Bay and our journey always came to an abrupt halt in Bahia Carrizal. In fact, we’ve nicknamed it Cursed Cove! Our first year visiting Carrizal we had to hightail it out of there due to a family medical event. On our second visit we ended up getting Covid and completed our quarantine inside the cove. To be honest, I was a bit nervous to visit this time. We decided to throw all superstitions aside, dropped our anchor and hoped for the best. The good news is that the curse seems to have broken and we had a great time. We didn’t do the usual snorkeling but we did do a land hike that was fantastic! The walk led us to a beautiful beach which we later found out is a nature preserve where turtles come to lay their eggs. During our walk we saw a variety of birds which made lugging the camera gear worth it.

Our first stop after Carrizal was Bahia Santiago, a 5nm hop. We pulled into the anchorage and chose a spot to drop the hook that was a comfortable distance from shore. Unfortunately the peaceful anchorage turned into chaos as the jet ski rentals made their appearance. Our boat became a target to zip around as quickly as possible, rinse and repeat! Aside from the jet skis we found the anchorage to be quite pleasant. The shore is peppered with colorful umbrellas, fancy homes and restaurants. The anchorage holds a mostly sunken ship that can be explored if the water is clear. The vessel was built in England in 1892 and spent a long career transporting barrels of oil. Later she transported minerals and ore from Santa Rosalia, Mexico to Tacoma, WA. A fascinating article about the wreck can be found here. https://www.manzanillosun.com/the-san-luciano-shipwreck/

Another happy place in the anchorage is the lagoon. During high tide you can take a dinghy tour through the channels of deep water. We found that even on a high tide it can get very shallow and the exploring was limited. Even so, we had a wonderful time seeing all the birds, fish and general happenings. Next time I’ll be sure to pack the camera to capture the action.

After spending a few days in Santiago we decided to make another short 4nm hop to Las Hadas. The anchorage lies below a cascade of all white buildings which makes you wonder, are we still in Mexico?! We later learned that the buildings are a condominium complex and a resort. From a distance everything looks great but upon closer inspection, the condos are showing some serious wear and tear. Part of the issue is that the area is very seismically active. In 2022 there were 267 recorded earthquakes 4.0 and above within a 300km distance of the city. Another interesting fact about Las Hadas is that the movie “10” was filmed here. Our friend in the anchorage spent plenty of time looking for Bo Derek on shore, with no success.

We spent almost a week anchored in Las Hadas and during that time we made great use of the dinghy dock and taxi services. Taxis were cheap compared to what we had been paying further north. We enjoyed simple tasks such as wandering around a Home Depot and Walmart. Not to mention grabbing Starbucks and a blizzard from Dairy Queen! Sometimes it is nice to visit places that remind us of back home.

A cheap $8 taxi ride brought us to the Manzanillo Malecon. This is where you can see the iconic Pez Vela, aka the gigantic Sailfish, on display. The sculpture stands at 75 meters in height, weighs 70 tons and was installed at the water front in 2002. Apparently Manzanillo is known as a Sailfish Capital of the World and has been hosting fishing tournaments since 1957.

Brad and I continued our waterfront tour and came across several docked military ships. The ships had military personnel on board and I was surprised to see that the entry ramps to the ships were not blocked off or secured. So different than the US military. The gray hulled ship, Blas Godinez, has been servicing the Mexican Navy since 1991 as an Offshore Patrol Vessel. I suspect the ship has a history much longer but I was unable to find info prior to 1991.

In addition to the military presence in the harbor, there are also plenty of cargo ships. Manzanillo is considered to be the busiest container facility in Mexico. It receives ships from more than 40 countries. The main exports are fish, corn, lemons, bananas, canned food, wine, copra, lumber, cement, etc. 

The port is also host to incoming cruise ships. We saw evidence of their developments in town when we came across several casinos, Burger King, Carls Jr, KFC, Dominos Pizza, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, and a movie theater all conveniently located next to each other. It makes me sad to think that the cruisers are getting off of the ship and experiencing fast food joints as part of their tour of Mexico.

Speaking of food, Brad and I were starting to get hungry so we left the Malecon and took a tour into the streets. There were tons of shops selling trinkets and souvenirs and a surprising amount of hardware shops. As we casually strolled we were faced with a set of the most colorful steps. There was only one option. We needed to climb the colorful stairs! The stairway provided access to private homes. As we huffed and puffed our way to the top we had a good chuckle as we saw a boy carrying a 40 pound jug of water up the steps to his home.

Our noses guided us to a local cafeteria of sorts where we were met with various choices of seafood, soups and traditional dishes. Both of us enjoyed a lunch and a beverage for about $10US total! Armed with full bellies we began our waddle back to the water front to find ourselves a ride back to Las Hadas. We barely scratched the surface in Manzanillo and we look forward to doing more exploring the next time we visit.

Where are we heading to next? We are going to start our journey north. We aren’t in a real hurry and plan to take our time, enjoying the anchorages as we go. If you want to view more photos from this post, you can find them linked below…

Carrizal https://sarahbowlin.smugmug.com/Carrizal-/

Manzanillo https://sarahbowlin.smugmug.com/Manzanillo/

We hope each of you are doing great and we thank you for the comments and engagement with our last blog post. It is nice to hear from you all! Cheers!

Lo siento amigos! We’ve not kept this blog up to date and the last post was quite a dramatic one. So I guess it is time to face the music and get an update posted! Spoiler alert, the Chubasco didn’t break our will to keep cruising and we are still at it! Since the last post we have: planned a wedding, got married, acquired a Starlink, rode out a hurricane, Perspective got a new set of clothes, and we’ve hosted plenty of friends/family on board. Whew there is a lot to unpack and I’ll try to keep it brief.

We were married in Brookings, Oregon on June 25th 2022 in an intimate ceremony surrounded by immediate family. Planning from Mexico held its share of challenges but thanks to family pitching in, everything went off without a hitch. Capella by the Sea was our venue of choice as it included seating and gave us an option in case the weather went awry. Not to mention it sits in a beautiful forest setting with views of the Chetco River and Pacific Ocean. You can view more photos of our special day here… https://sarahbowlin.smugmug.com/Harley-Wedding-Gallery

People asked us where we would go for our honeymoon and guess what? We went back to the boat to cruise the sea for our honeymoon. It’s a magical place after all! Following protocol for hurricane season we sailed Perspective into the northern sea. It was a special summer as we cruised with some of our favorite cruisers! It felt like a treat to be around boats again after being so isolated last summer. Brad was up to his usual antics of spearfishing and I shot plenty with the cameras. It feels like no summer is complete without some sort of weather drama. This season we were faced with Hurricane Kay. Thanks to Starlink, we were able to keep an eye on multiple weather sources and make real time decisions about where to ride it out. As it turned out, we were in like minded company and decided to hunker down in the La Mona anchorage. Hurricane Kay was a polite weather event making its appearance in the daylight hours. Top wind speed for us was 55kts with plenty of rain to go with it. Aside from my calm being damaged, we had some damage to our already fragile canvas bimini. Brad and I had no choice but to go out during the storm to hold and stitch it together before it completely fell apart. Aside from that hiccup, everything else was completely fine! The storm was a great opportunity to test our Starlink and we are happy to report that it continued to work during the storm. I was grateful because we could communicate to our friends in the anchorage. Plenty of memes and videos were sent back and forth as the day went on.

Brad’s nifty programming allowed us to record storm stats and keep an eye on our friends positions.

And no storm is complete without a subsequent survivor party! Lucky for me, it ended up being on my birthday!

Ok next up…Perspective got some new clothes! Remember how I mentioned that we had to repair our canvas during the storm? We were able to get ourselves an appointment with a local canvas expert in La Paz to replace it. The only bummer was that we had to get to La Paz by October 16th which put us on a schedule. Even more tragic was the fact that we would be missing the best time of the year to cruise the Sea of Cortez! Argh! Brad coordinated with both the welder and canvas guy to come up with a new and improved design for the dodger and bimini. The bimini is now a couple inches taller allowing Brad to comfortably stand at the helm without having to hunch over. An additional 340 watts of solar have been added to the top of the bimini. And perhaps the biggest game changer of all is having a dodger with a zip out panel! This means we can sit in the cockpit with a breeze flowing through. It feels like we added an additional room to our house because the space was stifling and unusable before the upgrade. We are so thrilled!

This winter we have been blessed with lots of visitors! Perspective is a great platform for visitors as she has two cabins and two bathrooms on opposite ends of the ship. This allows for plenty of separation and privacy with a common area between to hang out. The visitors started with Bob and Karen in La Paz. We were able to spend quality time and escape the marina mid canvas project. We snuck out to a nearby anchorage, Caleta Lobos for a few days. We occupied our time together with paddle board lessons, snorkeling at the sea lion colony and plenty of games and relaxation.

Next up we hosted Ashley and Jason. We cruised with Ashley in 2020 and while we were trapped in Penasco, she was our apartment neighbor. She and Jason hopped on board in La Paz and crossed the Sea with us to Isla Isabel and ultimately ended their cruise in La Cruz. They were on board a total of 11 days and time flew! We had our best passage yet to Isla Isabel and once we got there we spent our time hiking, snorkeling, whale watching and diving. We spent Christmas Eve at sea and Christmas day in our favorite place along with great company, Silver Wings!

Next up we hosted Chris and Beth! We cruised the Barra and Tenacatita area together. What makes it super fun is that Chris told us about Barra before we took off in 2017. He had many fond memories of cruising this area on his own boat and now he could share this special place with Beth! We had a boisterous sail together to Tenacatita and acquainted ourselves with the local restaurants and palapas. We stretched our legs at the beach while Sydney dug for crabs as we went. We took the plunge at the aquarium anchorage and saw plenty of fish and coral Before we knew it, we had to return to Barra so Chris and Beth could hop a bus and head back to Puerto Vallarta for their flight. Their adventurous spirits helped us see and experience a new side of this place!

Last but not least, we hosted Jim and Jill! They flew in from Lawrence Kansas to Manzanillo Mexico. They were on board for a week and this was all new territory for them. We spent a couple of nights in Barra and then moved over to Tenacatita to explore the estuary and beaches together. We kept ourselves busy by exploring Melaque, La Manzanilla and Barra. It was fun to watch Jim reacquaint himself with cruisers that he met back in 2017-18. Speaking of fun, Jim whipped up some crepes for the crew! It’s tradition and we weren’t going to let him get away with depriving us. The days flew by and the nights were spent playing Mexican Train. It was an action packed week and now our boat is oddly quiet and lonely after their departure.

So what is next for this crew? We plan to turn our bow south and head to Carrizal, Santiago and possibly Zihuatanejo! Time will tell and for now we are going to revel in not having any specific schedules or plans. It’s been a wonderful season with lasting memories made along the way. We are grateful for it all! Cheers!