Sold the boat....

Can't believe it but we sold the boat, sigh.... It was time I guess, Nathene and I decided last trip to consider putting it up for sale so we did. We were really not expecting to sell due to the economy, but out of the blue we had an acceptable offer and accepted it.
Tansi was an experiment for us, we wanted to get a taste for the cruising lifestyle and we had many great adventures. They left us with a treasure chest of great memories and so many great friends. The exeriences that we had were amazing and not something that most people will ever experience or can even imagine.
Thanks so much to all of you who crewed with us. Sorry for not updating the blog more often, maybe next boat.....

Scarbanger arrives....

Press ganging is an old navy tradition, in which a group of men would wander around seeking men tor crew aboard their vessels. Many men were impressed to work on British warships, usually by force, sometimes coerced, and always with little or no notice.
After Bonnie’s stories about our trip around Point Conception, I have found that I have had to resort to Press Ganging for crew more often than not. Being pretty much on my own, and with no gang to support me, I depend more on coercion than by force. Usually with a few stories about sailing in the Mexican Riviera, beautiful beaches, fair winds, and the opportunity to crew aboard a yacht, I most often find a crew member or two. It is important that they do not get a chance to talk to previous crew and even better if they arrive at night. Tansi is a very stable vessel that sails well in both light and heavy seas. I spent most of my time and effort making sure that the boat systems are up to standard. As such, she is not the prettiest vessel to grace the seas. Nor does it help when you come down the walkway to the dock and the first boat you see is a new Hunter 44 that probably has more stainless than the total value of my boat.
Garth seems to have taken it all in stride. He has crewed on some pretty hi tech boats but has not overnighted on a passage. As such, it is a new adventure. We did some shopping today for provisions, boat seems to be ready to go, fueled, water, will get some ice first thing then cast off the dock lines....

Kicking back in Bandaras Bay...

A little day sailing, a little kayaking, a little work on the boat, a little sightseeing, a lot of just hanging around and taking it easy…. We have pretty much gotten into a routine of no routine. We get up in the morning, shower, breakfast, and see what the day has in store.

Ruth and Bain, neighbors from Cochrane are currently in Puerto Vallarta. We spent a few days together so far, day sailing one day and then yesterday we took a trip over to Yelapa. Yelapa is across the bay from La Cruz, not a great anchorage, and was a hippie hangout back in the 60’s and 70’s. “Better a palapa in Yelapa than a condo in Redondo” was an old saying back then.

Today it is still a pretty laid back place but now set up for artisans, has a number of small restaurants, rentals, and bed and breakfasts. The beach is very laid back, not too busy, but just busy enough to keep things interesting. We finished the day in PV with the 4 of us sharing supper.

Took in a swap meet at the marina to see what we could find. Pretty much everyone tries to clean out their boats and get rid of the clutter, only to buy or swap for more from others. I traded a spare kayak paddle and an old boat hook for 2 bottles of wine. We were both pretty happy as he had lost his boat hook and kayak pole over board after not having them very secure. I picked up a few stainless steel bolts that I could use if I get around to some not so urgent repairs….. I have been having a few issues with one of my batteries again. It is not holding a charge and I will have to see if I can get a replacement under warranty. Other than that, standard wear and tear, will tighten up the rigging a bit, might get the bottom cleaned before we go north later next week.

While I putter around on the boat, Nathene has read 2 novels, has been practicing on her keyboard and finished Handel’s Royal Fireworks, etc. Sometimes we cook on board, sometimes we go out for dinner. If I cook, she cleans up, if we go out, she picks the restaurant, and when we go shopping, she even helps carry the stuff she helps me to buy…..

Back to Puerto Vallarta....

Got back on Feb 14th and checked out Tansi. She was left behind for almost a year, sitting in a private slip. The motor was started occasionally and I had someone clean the bottom several times. We have not had bottom painted since we were in La Paz so it has been about 3 years. In the warm waters, growth on the hull starts sooner and grows quicker. During the summer, the bilge pump failed, or at least the switch did, so the bilge level started to creep up. Fortunately, it was caught in time and we had the pump replaced. But with the hot tropical climate, if the boat gets damp inside, mold starts to grow too. Prior to our arrival, I had someone come clean the inside and outside of the boat so we did not arrive to a big mess. It was worth the few pesos to get it done.

Nathene always refers to Tansi, as my mistress. In some ways, she is right. Tansi needs constant attention, needs me to spend lots of time on her, and needs me to spend lots of money on her just to keep her in reasonable condition. Within a couple of days, after leaving the boat for a year, the engine purrs, the sails are up, and as always, there is a list of things that need to be done.
That is part of the life of being a boat owner. Cruising as a life style has been described as “fixing boats in exotic places”. It is true. On the other hand, people always ask me “what the worst storm we have been in” or “it must be really expensive to own a boat” or “aren’t you afraid of pirates”?
Cruising or sailing is about none of those things. It is more about the adventure, the delights that occur in perhaps just a moment of time that you would never experience elsewhere, or maybe some of the people you meet, their stories, and their lives. It is what I would rather share, much more interesting than the “horror stories”. How many of you have seen the “green flash” that occurs just as the sun sinks down over the horizon on a clear day (my 2 crew members missed it both days)? Or spending 3 hours with a pod of dolphins on a moonless but starry night with phosphorescence plankton glowing as the dolphins stirred it up?

Just after we got to La Cruz, we saw a poster up for a “circus”, 2 performances, just down the dock from us. We went to the first one, and were so delighted, came back for the second performance. A couple from France have been sailing around the world for the last 7 years, performing high wire acts right off their boat as a means of making some money to continue their journeys. Absolutely amazing. They have 2 little girls, both have lived their entire lives on board, travelling the world. Who would have thought of customizing a boat so you could do acrobatics on it… I will try to upload a video later.
We will be spending our time chec king out the sights and day sailing around Bandaras Bay while Nathene is here. Our neighbors, Ruth and Bain, from Cochrane are coming to PV as well and will be spending a few days with us doing what ever….

By the way, if nothing else, it beats the cold and shoveling snow….

Olympic Gold Hockey in Mexico...

Olympic Hockey has had a big following across Mexico with all the American and Canadian snowbirds that spend the winter, or at least part of the winter here. There were many bars that were offering big screen TV's with Olympic coverage. For any of the Canadian games or the USA games, they had a lot of patrons.

The Canada-USA game was big news for many of the cruisers and condo-ites here. There was shock after the first game and the big loss to the US. Phylo’s bar and grill was pretty much a full house with lots of cheering and jeering. When the US scored the goal that tied the game with 24 seconds left, ½ the crowd groaned and the rest cheered. Lots of tension in the bar as the sudden death OT period started but when Canada scored, the place went nuts.


Canadians were jumping up and down, high 5-ing, the Americans were unusually quiet. After we stood and sang O Canada, there were some polite congratulations but the bar cleared out pretty quick.


The general comment from the Yanks was that we should have won the game anyways because, well hockey is important to Canada and we were the host country afterall….

Kicking back in La Cruz

Still just kicking back in La Cruz…. Not such a bad life. It is the typical mexican village and has a great pace of life. People are very kind and courteous as well as hard working. While walking in town this morning, we saw people sweeping the dirt streets to make sure they were clean of leaves, etc.

The other day, we tried to move north to Mazatlan. Did the check out with the marina, got the papers done with the Capitana de Puerto, and were off the dock by about 10 am…. Headed west to Punta Mita and found the swells getting larger as we moved west. After we rounded the point and heading north, the swells did not die down as we had hoped. Swells coming into the bay sometimes get larger as the water compresses coming into the bay. In this case, they pretty much stayed the same. With a N-NW wind, we were barely able to hold course to Chacala, which was the next anchorage. After 2 hours, it was getting too rough with 10-12’ troughs so we turned back. We did see some humpback whales and had a pod of dolphins join us for a few minutes. Two of them jumped clear out of the water right beside the boat, and scared the hell out of me. You never have the camera ready for a shot like that. Got back to the dock around 5 pm and went into recovery mode.

Today, we pretty much rested up and looked at our options. The seas are supposed to calm by Sunday with 3’ swells expected along with a westerly wind. We were going to try to move north again on Sunday but we do kind of like it here. Alternatives include putting the boat in dry storage here or looking for a slip, and we found one at a sort of reasonable price. It is little pricier here but on the other hand, the water is warmer and PV is on the edge of some of the best cruising areas in North America, if not the world….

The slip is a private slip at a condo resort so we will have good security, water, power, etc. We can stay on the boat but when we come back, I think we want to move it further south... Barra has some great places on the way down and we might even go further. Water temps are much warmer as we go further south...

Yesterday, in the afternoon, we took a break from the heat and sat in the restaurant overlooking the marina. We had a few cool drinks and watched a dock side rescue. Chester was on the far dock and fell in but could not get out. Panic ensued and the security guards ran down to help. They struggled to pull him out and after significant effort managed to get him back on the dock safe and sound. Chester was very grateful as it was pretty difficult for someone of his size and shape to swim well. He is overweight and has pretty short legs and arms. Once on the dock, he shook pretty hard but let everyone know how much he appreciated the help. It is pretty hard for a beagle-dash-hound cross to swim at the best of times, let alone try to get back on a dock that is 2 feet above the water…..

Secrity has really ramped up here, the Mexican J24 races start soon and the President, the Govenor, and several others are coming in tomorrow. The real big event will be in town at Phillo's restraunt where the Canada-USA showdown is going to happen on the big screen. We will be there.

On the cruiser net this morning, there was a tsunami warning due to the earthquake in Chile. We did see a dip in the water level, then a surge back up again but nothing significant, maybe a 5' change between the low and the peak.... Bottom line, nothing big here.

Heading North....

The marina has been a buzz of activity with cleaning, trimming and setting up for a big boat show this weekend. There are big pavilions being put up, lots of boats being brought in, internet has improved and they even brought in an ATM machine.
We have had a great time, day sailing, touring around, lazing around, etc. but....

It is time for us to move north, weather window has opened up and we leave this morning….

Will update from Mazatlan!