ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT…

Conor and our boat neighbor, Irwin help to paddle the Port Captain boat to another slip. This is one way to save on gasoline costs for a motor boat.

Interesting fact: Irwin and his wife Jaye on SV Winsome (Sailing Vessel Winsome NOT pictured here) will be heading to the Sea of Cortez (along with us) this summer. They are extremely interesting people who have lived very full lives even before their boat life together. They have cruised Mexico for 10 years and Irwin built the boat they are sailing.

Boxing Matches and Bribes in Puerto Vallarta

After two buses and a walk we found ourselves in Old Town. Puerto Vallarta’s Old Town is a lovely section bordering “The Beverly Hills of Puerto Vallarta,” filled with steep cobblestone streets, several steep stairways that stretch a city block, beautiful beaches, tasty street food, and a gay district that is more vibrant than the Castro in San Francisco.

Boxing match at Senor Frogs

We love street food

Our favorite street food in Puerto Vallarta

We find a gym where (as with any gym in Mexico) people flock to Conor and ask him about his workout routine. “I may not be fluent in Spanish yet, but I am definitely fluent in Gym,” Conor says.

Walking back to the bus we find a flier that advertises a live boxing match at a restaurant. How could we miss this event?! What day is the boxing match? Wait, what day is it today? We realize that as cruisers we don’t always keep track of the calendar. After flagging a nice local down we are assured that the fight indeed is TONIGHT. Four bus rides later, entry money in hand, and clean clothes, we march over to the entrance to claim our seats.

The shark at Senor Frogs hangs above the ring.

 

There were both girl and boy fights. Lots of exciting moves, and a shark hanging from the ceiling to supervise the whole event. We ended the night in Old Town eating dinner in a little shop across from the first church plaza in town we had delicious Mexican pizzas and grabbed a late night taxi.

In the back of the taxi we were quite content with our adventures of the day. Beautiful views, amazing food, and a live boxing event just 20 feet away from us! Our taxi driver decided to make our day a little more exciting. He saw a buddy in another taxi. To catch up to his buddy Mr. Taxi Driver started to speed in the slow lane and accidentally cut off a cop. This is not something you want to do in Mexico. I thought taxis were exempt from driving rules. Apparently not when you make a cop mad.

The blue and red lights go on, Mr. Taxi Driver grumbles, pulls over, and walks back to the cop with paperwork and DL. Mr. Taxi Driver is very animated. I peek through the back window. Conor cautions me not to look. I can’t help it. I hear a loud thumping noise on the trunk of the car. Oh my gosh, I think, Mr. Taxi Driver has really done it now. The cop is pushing him against the trunk and arresting him. What do we do now? How do we get another cab? Will the cop help us? Will we have to pay him to help us? Is this a safe part of town? Against my better judgment I steal another look through the back window. No. Mr. Taxi Driver is NOT getting arrested. He is pounding his fists on the trunk out of frustration. He stomps back to the car and pulls several bills out of his wallet. I know that I DEFINITELY should not look out of the back window now from now on. Mr. Taxi Driver marches back to the police man, returns, starts the car and drives us to the Marina, grumbling under his breath the whole time. We give him a big tip.

BBR XX – Grand Finale!

Race 3 and the pressure was on! As per the Banderas Bay Regatta website, we had a huge target on our backs.

Division H

Moondance has all but got first tied up. Charissa, Saber Vivir, and Dos Amantes all have a chance at the win. Day two saw these 4 boats correct out within 2 minutes of each other, Saber Vivir, Charissa, and Dos Amantes corrected out with 25 seconds of each other!

We were up early, emailing back and forth with crew, and pacing the boat as we waited for them to arrive.

There would be 4 extra bodies on the team today- 6 pairs of hands on Moondance and we were excited!

After a drive by pick up on Dock A at Paradise Village we were off to the races and checked in with minutes to spare! We had friends Will and Sarah from SV Hydroquest, Michael from SV Dejala, and David from SV Blue Fin. We were set up with plenty of rail meat (when the boat is heeled over everyone except for the driver sits on the high side of the boat to help level it out. Luckily our boat is light enough where 5 people made a difference. The flatter the boat sails, the faster the boat goes forward, instead of sideways) and predicted average winds of 15 knots.

Will, Sarah, Michael, Conor. Michael tries his hand at the wheel.

David helped out as our tactician for Race 3. His suggestions, and everybody elses help, allowed us to shave 16 minutes off of our previous finishing time on this course.

With all these extra hands on board we actually had time for a photo of the two of us!

The wind was not as high as during Race 1 although we still sailed with the rails in the water and it was not as stressful as racing shorthanded during Race 2. Race 3 was all about purposeful (versus accidental) tactics.

Can you point any higher? Are we going to hit the mark? Conor has his eye on the next buoy to make sure we don’t come up short.

We rounded the windward mark and were on the inside spot to hit the downwind mark. We sailed wing on wing. Although this is the slowest sail configuration, it allowed us to take a shorter route. We still saw north of 6 knots at times during this leg and we didn’t lose our place during the downwind runs this time!

Yesterday, during Race 2, we sailed wing on wing but didn’t have the manpower to man the pole and tail the lines so the pole rubbed against the forward shroud. Racing is not kind to boats.

Merely seconds before this photo was taken, these boats looked like they were coming straight for us as we safely tacked across the herd and headed towards the finish line.

We were so happy that we finished first in our class and send our many thanks to our fabulous crew who all helped significantly. We cheered, and headed back to the dock for victory cervezas on the boat.

Moondance, you did well and we pushed you hard! We had battered boat numbers by the end of the BBR.

Will rows us back to Paradise Village so we can go to the Awards Dinner. We knew that we won, but until we heard the results we held our breath.

Update: Moondance is a triple winner! First in the Boat Parade, First in Division and First time racing! Charissa second and Saber Vivir third.

Woohoo! Click here to see the race results.

BBR XX Race 2- Shorthanded Sailing at its Best!

Day 2 of the BBR found us without crew. We weren’t too worried. And we didn’t like the idea of asking random people in the parking lot to race with us.

We got a late start to our day and were frazzled as we quickly readied the boat, got out of the channel and managed to check in with the race committee with time to spare. We did a couple tacks (click here for a definition of a tack) and jibes (click here for a definition of a jibe) to warm up before the race.

I barely had time to take these photos as we were acutely aware of how helpful it is to have crew during a race! Our tacks were sloppy, our jibes were slow, and we didn’t have a moment to relax. What kept us going were our accidental tactics. We tacked before the other boats and we tried to stay inside the other boats when rounding the mark. This was not on purpose, but we found out later that our accidental strategy helped us to stay ahead. We took the lead on every windward leg and lost ground on the downwind legs, but on our last downwind leg we flew wing on wing and managed to stay on the inside so we could gain a comfortable lead for the last windward leg to the finish line. The finish line was a mess. We kept missing the line and had to tack several times to get closer, and to get out of the way of other boats barreling down on us on starboard tack. At one point we almost hit the committee boat (I’m sure that actually hitting the committee boat is grounds for disqualification!) and then accidentally hove to. Everyone was looking at us like we were totally crazy. And for a couple of moments, I think we were crazy! But these two crazy kids came in #1 for Race 2 in Division H!

After the race we didn’t want to stop sailing because the conditions were so perfect. But the Yacht Club Margaritas were calling us…

Happy Hour at VYC after a hard day on the water. The margaritas were strong and we made new friends with others heading to the Sea of Cortez for the summer!

Banderas Bay Regatta Racers, Get Ready For Your Start!

RACING. IS. AWESOME.

We threw caution to the wind, dug the rails in the water, dug the solar panels in the water (!!!), and didn’t mind when the silverware drawer came out and went flying across the main cabin, or when shoes somehow found a home on top of the stove. For a few short days we forgot that we were sailing our house.

We have a mermaid fender hanging from the bow pulpit courtesy of Rob on SV Aurone. She took quite a beating and did a lot of swimming when we pounded in to the waves completely submerging her at times.

Loving the conditions during Race 1!

I have to admit that Conor and I had no idea we would do so well. We have never raced  Moondance. However, we have sailed in the SF Bay for 6+ years. The conditions are exactly the same in Banderas Bay except the wind is more consistent and it is gloriously warm! We pushed the boat every single day and it was amazing to see her work. Moondance is ‘happy’ at a beam reach with 12-18 knots. She wasn’t happy during the races, but she was a solid work horse. Race 1 brought 15-22 knots of wind, 7.8 knots of speed, and we had windward and downwind legs. We found that Moondance travels extremely well to windward and we had to be more strategic on our downwind legs.

At the skipper’s meeting before the races Dick Markie, the Harbormaster at Paradise Village, told a great story about a BBR race he competed in several years ago. “My boat had as much personality as a barge,” he started. “We were almost in last place. One of my crew had a line out during the race and caught a fish. So we were in last place.” After hearing that story, we were sure that we would be in last place and planned for a very casual race. That changed as soon as we saw our competition on the water. We automatically switched from cruising mode to competitive racing mode.

After we hit our first couple marks, we though, OMG, we actually have a shot at this thing! When we crossed the finish line, we couldn’t believe our eyes! We were crossing first! SV Charissa was hot on our trail though. We pretended to swim through the air and mimed rowing the boat as we passed the race committee boat which marked one side of the finish line. I’m convinced that these strategic moves made us go faster and locked our win for Race 1.

Photo courtest of Sarah SV Hydroquest, and SV Moondance BBR crew.

Dinner and drinks for the racers and their crew was provided by BBR sponsors at Los Arroyos Verdes, a self-sustaining, ecologically aware project. The grounds were absolutely beautiful! And we had cause to celebrate!

Banderas Bay Regatta Parade

Since the BBR Boat Parade was the only event that we thought we had a shot of winning, we took it very seriously. I took a special trip to the grocery store Soriana to get our props and hoped that our crew would be willing. Who knew that our cruising budget should have included an inflatable alligator, monkey, and arm floats.

Luckily Will and Sarah from SV Hydroquest were more than willing participants!

We cut up a plastic tablecloth to make streamers. We wanted to make sure that nobody missed our boat! The crocodile is flying from the mast and our number is clearly displayed on the bow.

Finally we were ready to leave the dock!

After circling for a while we were called in to place. Moondance, you are next up!

Photo courtesy of Lynn on SV Miramar.

Our 15 seconds of fame! I drove and danced, Sarah, Will, and Conor danced, pretended to swim, pretended to be rowing the boat, and flopped their flippers.

And our hard work was not missed- we won the boat parade!!! Top Shelf Margaritas at the Puerto Vallarta Yacht Club for us and our crew was the prize!

Results posted here http://www.bbregatta.com/.

Race Week! Winches- check. Crew- check. Crocodiles- check.

Welcome Party at the PV Yacht Club. A party is not a party in Mexico without a Mariachi Band!

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Enjoying the music

The Banderas Bay Regatta (Click Here for BBR Website) is finally upon us! And we are competing!

We are in the JAM division which is jib and main only. No spinnaker. We are in the slowest category. We have anchors, chain, and a dinghy on board to ensure that we go extra slow. Don’t worry though, we took off all the extra heavy items that would really impede our speed. You know, like the tea kettle and pressure cooker.

We attended the welcome party at the Puerto Vallarta Yacht Club on Tuesday and met other racers and crew that flew down from the US to compete in this race. Wait, other boats have crew flying in?! This is supposed to be a race for cruisers like us. Maybe we will be dead last on the race course after all.

Today we went to the Skipper’s Meeting to learn the rules. We forgot something at the boat and the water taxi wasn’t around so Conor flagged down a jet skier and paid him 50 pesos to ferry him to the boat and back. These are the modes of transportation that you have to rely on when you don’t have a car.

The afternoon was spent readying the boat. We washed and waxed Moondance so she will look nice and sparkly for the photos. We also got our props for the boat parade tomorrow morning.

Up goes the croc

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Flying in the wind

As you may have heard (dinghy kite flying blog) we are actually quite proficient at flying objects from our mast. Nonetheless, we decided on a test run today. Good thing. I almost raised the crocodile with both the main and a spare halyard attached and no way to retrieve it. That would have been embarrassing. “Hello, race committee? Is there a Jib Only division? Why? Well I have a crocodile at the top of my mast and I can’t raise my Main….”

Our number is up. It's official! See the shine on the hull? Conor did an amazing job giving Moondance a wax!

Banderas Bay, We Have Arrived.

At this point we have tried three types of glue to fix our dinghy. Including super glue. We tried to fix the bottom with patches, with cut up pieces of motorcycle tires, and with bicycle tire patches. Yes, we are getting desperate. We can finally keep water from coming through the rip in the floor… provided there is no pressure on the floor. So if we swim along side the dinghy and push it, or swim in front of it and tow the dinghy in the water by hand it will not take on water. Obviously this will not do. We may as well swim to shore. As much as I want to figure out how to carry groceries back to the boat while swimming through the surf, I think we are stuck with marinas until we can get the right material. Although I am thrilled that we stopped in San Blas to attempt the repairs, it is time for a change of scenery.

So in the early hours of St. Patrick’s Day we rolled up our useless dinghy, packed the boat up, caught the end of the early high tide out of the channel, and made our way toward Punta Mita. We heard that it is easy to flag down a panga in this anchorage and get a ride from your boat to the beach. There is also supposed to be good surfing there. Unfortunately we found neither upon our arrival. As for the panga water taxis, it is a 3 day weekend and we are far from the beach so maybe that is why we missed them. As for the surf- we are planning to come back to Punta Mita to surf in May.

The 11 hour sail was a pleasant motorsail. Most of the nets are out of the water by 8am so we only had to avoid a few.

I saw a fish running on the surface of the water which reminded me of Dr Seus’ Blue Fish. The water was full of turtles with birds standing on them.

Picture from Roland and Julia Seitre

We saw manta rays flying out of the water. And we saw plenty of whales.

Punta Mita

We rounded the point and anchored before dusk and settled in for a calm night with a slight south swell.

St. Patty's Day Sunset at Punta Mita

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This emergency light gifted to us from Mama Riley doubles as a cockpit light. As you can see, we are really high-tech on Moondance.

As we suspected a couple of San Blas stowaway bugs were still present, we lit a citronella candle and played Scrabble in the cockpit. Around midnight Conor went on deck to check the anchor and was startled to realize that we were surrounded by fish that were literally swarming around our boat. There were so many of them that they probably could have taken our boat with them if they were so inclined. I hope they were eating any sea life growing on the bottom of our boat.

Sunrise

We awoke to a calm anchorage full of fish and jellyfish. We watched the sunrise while doing morning stretches on the bow of the boat and enjoying a cup of coffee. This is the type of morning that I am looking forward to this summer in the Sea of Cortez.

Without a ride to shore and not wanting to brave the jellyfish infested water we decided to pull up anchor and head across Banderas Bay. There are so many fun places to explore in Banderas Bay. We can’t wait to return with our dinghy repair kit in late April! On our way to Nuevo Vallarta we saw a mama and baby whale. We almost ran in to them when they surfaced just 20 feet away from us and we had to change course. It was my favorite kind of whale encounter. Accidentally close and without incident. As we pulled in to Nuevo Vallarta our friends on SV Hydroquest welcomed us from the dock and we headed to the Vallarta Yacht Club for celebratory drinks. The YC is hosting the Banderas Bay Regatta which we are racing in this week!

Happily settled at the dock

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Sunset view of the Port Captain's office from our slip at Marina Nuevo Vallarta

Hector the Jungle Man

Along with Lonni and Dave from SV Tres Jolies we went to see a man named Hector who would guide us through the San Blas jungle on his panga.

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Welcome to the jungle

Hector, at the age of 25, was already a 5 year veteran tour guide.

We stepped in to his panga and were transferred in to a world where crocs, turtles, and Boat Billed Herons hid in the mangroves searching for food.

Baby croc

Mama and Papa croc

These two crocs were humongous. The larger one is a male and the smaller one is a female. Lonni regretted not bringing a chicken on a stick to feed them. Maybe we should have brought one of the pig heads from the Juarez Market.

turtle and company

Turtle

Boat Billed Heron

Beautiful mountains make a lovely backdrop.

Heron

San Cristoval Creek is full of fresh water that leads out to the sea. The further you go up the creek the clearer the water is. After a couple of hours we arrived at Tovara Springs. It was gated off from the river so we could swim with the fish without fear of getting eaten by crocodiles. It came complete with a rope swing!

don't worry, they don't bite

Swimming with the fishies

Conor perfects his rope swing backflip

Dave and Lonni- a super fun and funny couple from Alaska.

Finally it is time for Hector to take us out of the jungle. We saw about 7 crocs, 2 turtles, a humongous termite nest, and a ton of birds. Thank you for not letting us get eaten by a crocodile, Hector!

We disembark and next we decide to head up a steep hill. At the top we see a beautiful cemetery.

An enviable view in the afterlife.

And then we head off to the church. The temple was dedicated to our Lady of Rosary “The Seafarer.”

When a ship arrived in port they would receive a cannon fire volley greeting and celebrate the event with a song of the Savior Regina in the chapel.

San Blas beach

Finally ready for a break from the heat we made our way down the hill, past the row of shacks with fish and lobster cooking on a grill along the street to lure us in, through the plaza, took a left, and head for the beach.

We rented a surfboard and tried our luck with the waves for a couple of hours.

While waiting for the next wave we were surrounded by fish jumping out of the water and large birds seemingly the size of a pterodactyl flew overhead looking for their catch.

When we started to see the steady stream of pangas leave the channel to set their nets and long line fishing lines for the night and the sun was dangerously low to the horizon we knew it was time to go in to escape the jejenes (noseeums). We stopped by the plaza to have a chat with the other cruisers who meet at 5:30 every evening and headed back to the boat for a cold shower at the San Blas Marina and a long sleep.

 

Heavenly Street Food of San Blas

Beef Hamburgers, Shrimp Burgers, and Hot Dogs, oh my!

After spending the day cleaning the boat and waxing the cockpit we figured that we deserved a night out on the town. Or on the street, rather. Passing the street vendor that sells head and tongue tacos, we made a beeline for the hot dog cart. These two woman make fabulous meals and have a steady stream of customers. There are 4 plastic deck chairs set up directly facing the cart so you can watch the cooking show while you wait and while you eat. Conor went for the thin patty burger and hot dog and I had the shrimp burger. It was amazing! It was so amazing I knew that if there was a heaven on earth, this is where it was. Right here. Sitting in front of the hot dog stand. Eating a shrimp burger.

Fresh churros

Dessert. The churros went directly from the pan and in to our mouths!

Dinner was so amazing that for a brief period of time I forgot about my 80 mosquito and noseeum bug bites. If that is what it takes, then this is where I will be every night after dark during our stay in San Blas!