Places

My family on the beach in Sayulita

The throngs of people enjoying the holidays in Sayulita are overwhelming

While my family was visiting, we took a day to visit a few beach communities at the north end of Banderas Bay. We started by taking the bus to Punta de Mita, where we had lunch at the El Coral restaurant. Then we backtracked on the bus to Bucerias to catch another bus to Sayulita. We were a bit overwhelmed by the throngs of people, but we were glad we had a chance to walk around and see the town. Then we took a taxi over to quiet San Pancho for a cocktail on the beach as the sun went down. No one was looking forward to the long bus ride back to Nuevo Vallarta, so we were lucky to talk a taxi driver into taking us back.

View of Banderas Bay looking north from old Puerto Vallarta

Looking out over El Centro de Puerto Vallarta

My mother, my sister Ann, her husband Brian and their daughters Emily and Hannah came to visit me in Banderas Bay after Christmas. We took a couple of days to sail to Punta de Mita and La Cruz. After we returned to Paradise Village Marina, where the boat was staying, we took some land trips. One was to the old, charming section of Puerto Vallarta. We had a lovely lunch at El Campanario near the church and then walked across the river to visit my friend Denise Hitzman and her family. They were staying in a gorgeous apartment overlooking the bay and we had a brief but wonderful gathering of the two families.

Cruisers having fun on Christmas Day at Arroyos Verdes

Musicians from 3 different bands jamming, mostly gypsy jazz

Lupe, owner of Arroyos Verdes being an amazing hostess

Aldabra crew member Dax enjoying the music

On Christmas Day many cruisers in Banderas Bay accepted the invitation of Lupe Dipp to spend the day at her resort near Bucerias. Arroyos Verdes has a variety of units to rent on grounds covered by beautiful vegetation and artwork. We sat around the pool, listened to gypsy jazz music, ate a delicious meal and generally celebrated.

Tom Carr and his wife Annie are visiting from Santa Cruz, California and they have a rental car. So they generously agreed to drive to San Sebastian del Oeste with Don and Anne (who are here from Santa Cruz on their boat Redwood Coast II) and me. San Sebastian is about a two-hour drive into the mountains east of La Cruz. As soon as you leave the outskirts of Puerto Vallarta, you enter lush green countryside. San Sebastian is a traditional town. It was founded as a mining town during the early Spanish colonial period. On the day we visited, it was very quiet. One family was having a large birthday party for their three-year old daughter, which may have been why the streets were almost empty. We enjoyed walking around looking at the buildings and imagining how peaceful it would be to stay for a bit. We had a nice lunch in a hotel in the town center. We bought wonderful pastries from a panaderia and some tequila produced locally.

The town center in San Sebastian

Building facing the town center in San Sebastian

Children playing ball near the town center

Tom and Annie and Don and Anne

Scenes from around town

Scenes from around town

San Sebastian has a mining history. Assuming this statue is a tribute to miners

Scenes from around town

Scenes from around town

Scenes from around town

Enjoying a quiet traditional Mexican lunch

Our little group standing in the town center

The main tourist attraction in this village is this beach

Looking from the village onto the beach

The main form of transportation in Yelapa is horseback. There are no cars

This mule carries the supplies for either a resort or a rich gringo’s house

Lots of guest houses and private gringo homes around this point

Aldabra on a mooring in Yelapa

A view toward Yelapa village and pier

Looking up the river that flows into Yelapa

Walking along the river in Yelapa

We spent two days in Yelapa, which is south across Banderas Bay from La Cruz. There are no cars. Narrow cobblestone roads are used for walking, horseback and some used of small quads. There are lots of guest houses and various retreats. Also private palapas owned by gringos. Walking around the area, especially up the river and back is very picturesque. The beach is very touristy. People come in on boats for the day. But for those who stay for a few days, it looks like there is a night life with good food and music. The anchorage was really rolly. We were tied up to a mooring buoy at the bow and another one at the stern. But the wind direction shifts at night so the wind is pushing you one way and the swell pushing you another. It didn’t appear that there was a good place to land a dinghy so we used water taxis. But they are scarce after dark so staying on shore for the evening wasn’t an option unless one were to make some sort of prior arrangement. We returned from Yelapa to La Cruz on Thursday morning, December 8, in time for Ted to catch a flight back home.

La Cruz streets are quiet during the day

We’re in a marina in the charming town of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle in Banderas Bay on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Just like everywhere we’ve been since sailing over to the Pacific Coast from Baja, the cruisers are very welcoming, friendly and helpful.

We’ve met sailors who have sailed thousands of ocean miles as well as sailors who just like to live and sail in Mexico. It was especially fun to meet Jack on Fleetwood, who has until February to finish his circumnavigation before he turns 80.

We’ve been in La Cruz for a week. We left Chacala on Sunday night and arrived here before dawn on Monday. Rather than enter a strange marina in the dark, we anchored, got some sleep and entered the marina a little after nine. That afternoon we took a bus into Puerto Vallarta to a marine supply store, where I bought a new dinghy and motor to replace those stolen in Matanchen Bay. The new dinghy and motor were delivered to me at the marina the following day.

I plan to use La Cruz and Banderas Bay as a home port for the next several weeks. It’s good place to get some work done on the boat. And it’s good launching off spot to take a few short trips to other parts of the bay.

While in La Cruz we’ve enjoyed the street food and restaurants and the local Sunday crafts/food market. There are also lots of gatherings and activities among the cruisers and we have participated a bit. I’m looking forward to the Banderas Bay Blast, which is 3 days of casual racing coming up soon. In the mean time, we will head over tomorrow to the village of Yelapa, across the bay. We’ll stay a couple of days and then head back to La Cruz. It has been raining here so it’s a good time to take a little trip now that the weather has improved.

A view of Chacala from the boat

After leaving Mazatlan, we sailed overnight to Isla Isabel. We anchored for the day on the eastern side of the island, just off a beach with nesting blue-footed boobies and other sea birds. It was my first opportunity to snorkel since leaving San Diego. The water was clear with lots of reef fish. There were no other visiting boats.

That evening we sailed overnight to Matanchen Bay, south of San Blas. Matanchen is a large, shallow bay with very little activity, except for fisherman and their nets in the middle of the night. There was one other boat anchored in the bay when we arrived. After resting up, we took the dinghy up to San Blas. It was a long, wet ride but it was fun to check out the town and the marina. The next morning a couple  of us took the dinghy up a nearby river on our own personal meandering jungle tour. We saw crocodiles and a variety of birds. That afternoon, Don and Anne arrived in the bay on Redwood Coast II. To celebrate Thanksgiving we had dinner together at a palapa on the beach. We were the only customers.

That night I stupidly failed to lock the dinghy to the boat, and someone cut the line and took the dinghy with motor, anchor, wheels and fuel tank. Don and Anne and I cruised the bay the next morning to see if the dinghy had been abandoned, but we saw no sign. We then pulled up the anchor and went into San Blas to make a report with the port captain and the police. After spending the night in the San Blas marina, we headed to Chacala and spent a couple of nights enjoying this small but vibrant beach town, popular with Mexican families. It was fun to sit under a thatched roof with dozens of families enjoying their beach day. Don and Anne were there as well and loaned us their spare dinghy.

On Saturday morning, July 23, Chris and Julia and I stopped at the fuel dock and refilled the fuel tank and 5 jerry jugs with diesel before leaving the Santa Barbara Harbor bound for Santa Cruz Island. We sailed into southerly 10-15 knot winds and 3- to 4-foot swells. As the wind clocked around to being on the nose, we took in the jib and motor-sailed with the main. It was an uncomfortable ride across the Santa Barbara Channel but we were about an hour away and looking forward to exploring anchorages. That all changed when I slipped on a cockpit cushion and fell into the ignition key. I won’t describe the wound here but it was clear that it required serious medical attention. Most people will probably believe it’s a shark bite. Chris determined that the closest harbor was Santa Barbara so he turned the boat around while Julia and I compressed the wound with a sanitary pad and an Ace bandage. I held frozen food bags on the wound for the three and a half hours back to Santa Barbara.

Chris and Julia dropped the main before we re-entered the harbor. The accommodation dock was full so we tied up at the fuel dock, where Julia and I hopped off. Julia had researched hospitals during the trip back so she summoned an Uber car and we were off to the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital ER. Meanwhile, Chris stayed with the boat on the fuel dock until they needed room. Once he had to leave, he did an amazing job of getting the boat to the slip and tied up, by himself.

At the hospital, they treated my wound, splinted and wrapped my leg and gave me lessons on using crutches, delivering the news that I would have to be off the leg for two weeks. The trauma doctor treated me on the condition that I would stick around Santa Barbara and return for a checkup in two days. The Southern California part of this trip had just changed from an adventure to a delivery. We would need to get the boat to San Diego without exploring the Channel Islands and without much visiting along the way. We returned to the harbor and Chris pulled me along the long dock to the boat on a rusty hand truck he found unattended near a fishing boat. We liked Santa Barbara and didn’t mind being back in the harbor but they could offer us the slip for only one more night.

The next day, we motored and sailed to Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, enjoying the balmy weather. Chris and Julia handled the boat easily as I sat with my leg elevated and made occasional suggestions. After we got situated in a slip, Chris and Julia found a good take-out pizza place nearby and we enjoyed a casual dinner on the boat, on a nice warm night, as people in kayaks, on paddle boards or in electric-powered Duffys cruised the channel.

First thing on Monday morning, Julia summoned another Uber driver and we headed to the Oxnard train station. We had a scenic train-ride back to Santa Barbara and a quick drive to the ER. The staff got me in for a checkup quickly and were pleased that I had followed instructions to stay off the leg. They exchanged the splint for a full-leg brace and sent me on my way. Julia and I returned to the train station after a nice lunch nearby and caught the 2 p.m. train back to Oxnard. When we returned to the boat, we discovered that Chris had been very productive. He had hand-washed his laundry in a bucket and had walked to West Marine and CVS to buy the parts to secure the cockpit cushions so no one else would slip on them. He also had enveloped the ignition key in foam.

On Tuesday, we motored in no wind, flat water and patchy fog toward Marina Del Rey. The fog cleared about the time we rounded Pt. Dume so we had a nice tour of the coastline.

Fog starts clearing as we approach Pt. Dume from the north

Paradise Cove comes into view as we round Pt. Dume

Classic Malibu homes beneath the Santa Monica Mountains

Malibu Pier

Pt. Vicente Lighthouse

We had made good time so for the last hour  before entering the harbor we turned off the motor and sailed with just the jib. David and Susan Rose had arranged for a slip near their apartment in the marina and helped guide us in. The marina facilities were nice and David’s and Susan’s hospitality even better. They took us up to their apartment for showers and snacks and then out to Mexican dinner. It was a short visit but I’m hoping they can come to San Diego to sail with me when I can actually sail the boat.

On Wednesday we had a scenic trip from Marina Del Rey to Alamitos Bay. After motoring in light winds in the morning, we were able to sail with just the jib in 15-knot winds during the afternoon. We saw lots of dolphins but were never quite prepared with the cameras. We had expected to dodge big ships near the Port of Long Beach but only one ship went in while we were sailing through the area. All the other ships were anchored offshore.  The wind made docking a bit of a challenge but after we were settled in, Julia’s parents (my sister Debbie and her husband John) arrived to take us to their house in nearby Huntington Harbor. We showered and had dinner and John drove Chris and me back to the boat for the night while Julia stayed home to do laundry and sleep in her bed for a night. I wondered whether Julia had had enough, but she returned the next morning with her father for the next leg, to Oceanside. We motored the whole way along the coast in light winds, past the long stretches of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, then Laguna Beach, Dana Point, San Onofre, Camp Pendleton. It’s nice to see all these places from a different perspective.

Approaching Dana Point from the north

We docked in Oceanside by mid-afternoon, relaxed on the boat for a bit, had dinner at the Jolly Roger, which was in front of our dock, and bid farewell to John, who caught a train back home. Early the next morning, my brother-in-law, Brian, brought my mother, sister Ann and niece Hannah to join us for the trip to San Diego. We again had to motor the whole way in light wind and 3-ft. swells. Although it would have been a lot nicer to sail, everyone enjoyed the tour of the an Diego County coast.

Approaching Pt. Loma Lighthouse

Navigating in the bay that day was tricky as one warship entered port and three left port at the same time. We dodged them and found the Sun Harbor Marina. We were disappointed to discover that the marina has a very narrow fairway and many of the boats stick way out. Getting into the slip was harrowing as Chris backed up and went forward a dozen times while the rest of us fended off near collisions with other boats. I’m not sure how I’m going to get the boat in and out to go sailing. I may just leave the boat in the slip for the first month while I get projects done.

Aldabra is now buttoned up in the marina. Julia has returned to Huntington Harbor and Chris has returned to Santa Cruz. I’m staying at my mother’s house in San Diego and visiting with my family while counting the days (6) before I can move around without crutches.

We left Santa Cruz mid-morning of Monday, July 18. The crew was Jim Foley, Chris Bryant and my niece Teela Crosthwaite Smith. We sailed over to Stillwater Cove  for a look, then continued on past Carmel Beach and on down to Point Sur.

Cruising by Stillwater Cove

The sail was pretty mellow until well past Point Sur. At that point the northwest winds picked up and the swell was large. Around 8 p.m. the trip became quite lively, and continued to challenge us until we passed Piedras Blancas.

The first-leg crew

We were then motoring in light wind, patchy fog and decreasing swell. We arrived in San Simeon Bay at 4:00 a.m.

The anchorage at San Simeon

We anchored, got 4 hours of sleep, then puttered about the boat before continuing to Port San Luis. The sail to Port San Luis was variable, always big swells but sometimes light wind, sometimes more intense wind.

Heading to Morro Rock with jib out on the pole

We sailed for several hours with a jib on the spinnaker pole, but to pass  Pt. Buchon in light winds and large swells, we ended up motoring. We arrived in Port San Luis at 7:00 p.m. and the port had flat water and a welcome warm wind. We had a lovely dinner, a good sleep and worked on some plumbing when we woke up in the morning. We then left for Coho. The sail past San Luis Obispo Bay was steady and things didn’t intensify until rounding Pt. Arguello and Point Conception. Between those two points, the wind slackened and the swells grew. Teela entertained us with information at all points along the coast but we were particularly intrigued with the story of the 1923 Honda Point disaster as we passed Arguello. We had never heard of this incident, where 7 naval vessels were lost and 23 sailors died when they mistook Pt. Arguello for Pt. Conception. Fourteen ships were navigating by dead reckoning at 20 knots in heavy fog.  We did end up motoring a bit around Pt. Conception and into Cojo. We anchored easily in Cojo and had a pleasant evening.

Evening in Cojo anchorage after rounding Pt. Conception

The trip from Cojo to Santa Barbara brought some steady winds, some light winds and subsiding swells. We tried out our double-jib configuration (with one jib on the pole and one attached to the boom), and also tried out the spinnaker for the first time.

Sailing downwind with two jibs

Flying spinnaker for first time

When we arrived in Santa Barbara, we checked in, got a slip, took showers, had dinner in a restaurant on shore and had another good night’s sleep.

Aldabra tied up in Santa Barbara

The next morning. Jim and Teela left us to travel back north by train. My niece Julia Staudinger arrived to join us, and we took off again the next day for points south.

As Jim and Teela wait to catch a train in Santa Barbara, Chris and Julia are there to carry on