Happy Birthday, Benito Juarez

Leaving the fuel dock in Puerto
Escondido - compliments of our
friends on True North

This year the birthday celebration takes place on Monday March 18^th. As a guest here, we do our best to be aware of holidays, as many places in Mazatlán (and frankly everywhere in Mexico), will be closed to honor and celebrate the birth of Benito Juarez. He is considered the most popular Mexican president of the 19th century. Juárez was called Benemérito de las Américas ("Meritorious of America"), a recognition he received due to his triumphs in the French intervention and in favor of the freedom and independence of Mexico. He is the only individual whose birthday (21 March) is celebrated as a national public and patriotic holiday in Mexico. A great abundance of cities, streets, institutions, and other locations are named in his honor throughout the country. [information courtesy of the Mexican Government @ https://www.gob.mx/sep/articulos/conmemoramos-el-natalicio-del-expresidente-de-mexico-benito-juarez]

on a mooring ball- Puerto Escondido

So, from this lead in, you’ll ascertain that we made it from Guaymas to Mazatlán over the last month! We’ve traversed more than 530 nautical miles, crossing from the mainland to Baja on February 13 and celebrating Valentine’s Day en route to Puerto Escondido. On this overnight journey, I had the waxing crescent moon to illuminate from behind for a few hours before the orange ‘smile’ melted into the blackness of the sea. Oh so magical!

2nd night sunset & crescent moon

Leaving Bahia de los Muertos @5pm

Cool sunset cloud action on Day 2

Marina Cortez, La Paz. Red arrow points to 
our 'tiny boat' among the Big Boys

In Puerto Escondido, we met up with friends there and spent a few glorious days of companionship, fine weather, killer sunsets, hiking, and enjoying the amenities of the Marina at Puerto Escondido and the charming town of Loreto, a rental car ride away from the marina. The big deal was that we’d escaped the Guaymas dock (!) and continue to be thankful every day for the blessings and opportunities that come our way as we explore Mexico.

A week later – and weather permitting – we headed south to meet up with friends in Los Gatos. They’d been patiently waiting for us as we had boat issues then weather delays for many days before departing Guaymas. The Northers are strong during winter months and heavily impact travel options as you traverse the Sea of Cortez.

We’ve been buddy boating with our Guaymas buds since Los Gatos, bumping along to enjoy various anchorages on our way south, ending up for almost two weeks in La Paz - for a variety of reasons. Whilst in La Paz, we thankfully had some great times with long-time sailing friends, along with some amazing meals and fun margarita outings. The sad boat remnants of the October hurricane are still raw there and remind us of the power of Mother Nature.

Squid on board!

Exiting the La Paz bay to align with high tide so we moved out with the flow, we stopped at Bonanza on Espiritu Santo and Bahia de Los Muertos further south to prepare us for the 190-mile crossing. At about 5 NM per hour, we crossed from Baja to Mazatlán in 41 hours. “Two sleeps” later, with calm seas, extremely light winds and motor sailing the entire way, illuminated briefly by another waxing moon, we arrived at the harbor entrance into Mazatlán. 

As sometimes happens during the night, the little squid jump up and land on our deck. We had quite a suicidal crowd of them on Day 2 early AM.

We planned our departure carefully to arrive at high tide so we could experience a mild passage into the harbor. Our last experience was extremely dicey, so we scheduled accordingly! Aside from the large dredge that greets you at the entrance, along with speeding pangas and party trimarans with music blaring exiting the marina, we made a smooth entrance into the busy harbor, sidling into a lovely slip at Marina Mazatlán.

Tecno Diesel - Carlos & staff

Mike removed 4 injectors from our Perkins 4154 engine and we took them to Tecno Diesel. This is their modest and busy little shop. Carlos will come to Pura Vida tomorrow (post holiday) to work on the engine with Mike.

I hiked to the local fuel station to refill our 20 liter jerry cans with diesel, one at a time, 7 runs.  Started at 7am so it was cooler and less traffic. There was a little taco cart that was rocking with business non-stop down the road from the Arco station, so I just had to stop to pick up tacos for

breakfast. It's a common breakfast here. Tasty b'fast.

Marina Mazatlan at sunset

I’ll say again how thrilled we are to be here, as our last journey to Pacific mainland coast was 2016! Looking back at our ship’s log – realizing, that’s eons ago. But in the intervening years as I’ve mentioned before, our health, work, and various boat projects (oh, and Covid) kept us from making it this far.

In the coming weeks, our next destinations include the town of El Quelite by taxi with Pancho (where they make Los Osuna tequila), Mexico City by plane and sailing down to Puerto Vallarta and other points along the Pacific coast.

Restaurante 1535 @ Bahia de los Muertos
- fish burrito, enchiladas, margaritas!

Happy campers before crossing to the mainland

This is the engine head- result of Mike spending
'quality time' in the engine room

The DNA of our winter months

An angel getting ready for the parade

Neptune and the sea

 

The DNA of our winter months

It’s already carnival time here in Guaymas and the air is filled with tons of competing music, the roads are jammed with parade floats and barricades, and people are thriving in the festivities. This year, the festival is very active and today is Day 3 of 4 of the colorful parade. We’ve wandered through the rides and along the parade route until we’ve had our fill of sights, sounds and people. This year, I didn’t see any Pokemon lights as a prize along the midway games, so I skipped the games this time. I have to be happy with my two treasured Pokemon lights in our floating home.

However! I did score the best light ever from our friends who borrowed our Sam's Club card and had to renew the membership - the gift was a truly funky light (remember the old days when you'd get a toaster at the bank!) Rechargeable, color changing and totally disco light which lights up our salon at night. 

Tomorrow, we are planning our departure from the dock heading toward Loreto on the Baja. We hope to meet up with friends there, and head down to Isla Carmen and beyond to catch up with other friends who left before the heavy wind event we’ve had the last week. It’s the same weather front that pummeled California so no surprise that wind and weather headed to Mexico.

We’ve had a very active time since December including more trips to Arizona, a road trip through the back roads of Sonora, including a stop in Bacanora where they make the local moonshine. And, what road trip could be complete without a stop in Moctezuma. Oh and by the way, the tiny tienda/restaurant across from the "tourist office" was sold out of bacanora, so we left empty-handed but happy for the stop.

The source of the wicked moonshine

Dudes doing the deed to make bacanora

Our stop in Moctezuma included a visit to the church, the town square and a bathroom break at the local Pemex gas station. While wandering around to find the building with the bathroom, I see a lady selling used clothing alongside the bathroom building. I ask her how much for the baño  and she says no charge BUT I do have galletas (cookies) for sale at the gas station. So of course, we bought the cornmeal cookies and she was very happy. I ask her for a recommendation for a local restaurant (after all, there were 5 or 6 along the town square). She suggests a place, we go and it's run by her sister. This is all in Spanish- every day I am thankful for my language skills. Although I do get myself into trouble sometimes... 

During our winter months, we’ve had the extreme pleasure of seeing and hanging out with a ton of our friends. We are so thankful for our tribe here. I can't say enough about the importance of friends!!

What can I say - we had a great lunch here

Throughout January, Mike received 4 knee injections to help postpone knee replacement. It’s a different modality than he received with the orthopedic Dr. in La Paz. Because of the many issues in La Paz with the hurricane last September, we decided we’d prefer to avoid going there this year so were glad to find a local doctor. Mike’s happy with the results and we recommend Dr. Merino!

Boat-wise, we completed a myriad of installations, repairs, upgrades and fun stuff to make our boat more fabulous. It is after all, our home. We’ve had our share of ups and downs in the process – we are very blessed with excellent vendors, good resources and plenty of taco stands!

And for those who wonder how Mike spends his time

Lady making tortillas on an open fire

Our Lady of Guadalupe - full size sculpture across
from our hotel room on a road trip. Felt safe!

OK, so these 5 ladies are lined up
for the parade with 2+ cases of 
beer at their feet (everybody brings
their own beer although 
there's plenty for sale)
 - that ought to get them
through the several hours of the parade

Banda band ready to jump on their float
with red sequined jackets and the head 
guy of the parade (mayor?)

Scantily clad young girls by the hundreds

Blessings to you and yours

Merry Christmas & Wishing you a Joyous New Year

While we are happily afloat at the dock in Guaymas once again this Christmas season, it provides us time to reflect on this amazing year. We are thankful for so much in our lives! Our many friends – both south and north, our families – distant though they are, the staff at the Fonatur boatyard, and the multiple vendors who help us stay afloat. The list goes on and on… 

Wiring in the new batteries, happy full
days in the engine room for the Cap'n

Installing repaired water pump

Up the mast with Doug's help

Early Christmas in Nogales AZ, picking up our new batteries

The Ups and Downs of Boat-Love

We continue to enjoy the ups and downs of our boating lives on Pura Vida - from the top of the mast installing a new navigation light, to the hull installing a new zinc on the freshly polished prop – to every pump and part installation in between.

New curtains, thanks to Marion's sewing skills

Oscar & Mario tearing out the old nasty walls and
pink insulation

Judy removing the port bezels before tearing down
the old wall coverings

New walls in sleeping area and our V-berth - nice 
to get rid of the 47 year old vinyl and rusty staples

And then there's the interesting lifestyle in Mexico - very different from our "first world problems".

Sunsets never cease to amaze and astound us

Sunrise the next morning across San Carlos Bay

Truckload of workers on their way home

This year's display features Cheetohs

Ready to launch, the travel lift is 
approaching from the stern
to haul us to the ramp

From Lighthouse to Lighthouse to Lighthouse: A Watery Kind of Summer

A carefully calculated underwater kiss

As I am sure is true for everyone reading this, summer was a busy time – and as fall sets in, life sometimes settles down and provides a moment to reflect and be thankful. We hope this note finds you well and that you had a good summer wherever you enjoyed the sunshine and long days.

Our summer was filled with extensive traveling and between each trip, we worked full time at West Marine to get that employee discount for our ongoing boat parts list. You’d think we’d be done with projects on our beloved Pura Vida, but we have a shorter list this fall than other years. Believe it … or not. We thankfully are heading south shortly to hopefully reach new shores and additional ports of call than we’ve explored in recent years.

Our summer travel found us in some pretty incredible watery locations. Water…It’s our thing, I’d venture a guess. So, read on if you dare.

Grand Turk Lighthouse - Turks & Caicos

We’d paid deposits and had credits to use from our aborted fall 2022 dive trip to Grand Turk – last year’s hurricane changed our travel plans. So, we rebooked to depart June 1 – Mike’s birthday, on a red eye to the Caribbean paradise we’d not visited since 2005. Scuba diving awaited and the diving was as exceptional as we remember.

Positioned around the anchor at a shipwreck

At Blue Water Divers on Grand Turk, our dive masters, King and Nick, took great care of us for 10 dives over 5 days. The wall is right there so the boat ride is short to some pretty killer diving. Turks and Caicos is a UK territory separated by a 7,000-foot marine trench: Turks Island Passage or Columbus Passage. This breathtaking wall is a superhighway for migrating fish, rays, turtles, dolphins and local fish schools and other cool stuff. One of our dive companions and his son had cameras so we were fortunate to score some of their images.

We saw plenty of turtles

Shallow reef around GT

Queen Angel

Look closely to see the flat Peacock Flounder

Coral heads as I swim on by

Gray Angels

Kiss me, dahling!

With dive master King

Touring the island in our deluxe golf cart

On a non-dive day, we tried to rent a scooter to tour the 7-mile-long island, but the scooter was so small, Mike knees were in front of the head light so they “upgraded” us to a golf cart for the same price. Score! The shade cover was most welcome on that hot humid day. We visited Grand Turk Lighthouse, built in 1852 by British architect Alexander Gordon to alert sailors of the treacherous shallow reef. There’s plenty of colorful stories about that lighthouse and the pirates who took advantage of shipwrecked vessels.

Door County LH

Door County Lighthouse – Wisconsin

All dressed up for the
HS reunion

August found us on an extended visit to spend time with my family and attend my Oconomowoc Senior High School class reunion. Mike graciously attended with me. It was way more fun than I expected – well attended, interesting to connect with so many people - and the weekend included a golf outing.

Mike explores the chandlery at the museum

Lake MI viewpoint

Our travels to Wisconsin took us to Door County, where we experienced our first visit to Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. We enjoyed lunch and a great visit with my sister and her husband. 

Cheesehead display in an old Chevy pickup

The gift shop amazed with its cheesehead display, green and gold bling and paraphernalia for every whim, even a Swarovski crystal GB helmet for a mere $5,000.

Packer bling!

Pig races @ State Fair

With the Cream Puff Mascot at WI State Fair

A "primer" for visiting a Wisconsin Supper Club

My sister made us matching 'sister' purses

Exploring state parks

The best part was my sisters coming up to join us as we explored Door County for a few days. Lake Michigan is omnipresent with its vastness, wind and waves. 

Later, we spent hours exploring the fascinating Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc. Of course, Mike found the Chandlery!

We headed out along the jetty to reach the Sturgeon Bay Canal North Pierhead Light, built in 1881.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse – Washington

LB Peninsula

We ended summer in September with a trip to Seattle to pick up our long backordered Vitrifrigo AC/DC fridge from Sure Marine in west Seattle. After the rainy drive, we wove our way southeast to spend a couple of days in Long Beach, Washington where Mike’s family had a beach house for 50+ years. It was a great rekindling time, visiting familiar spots and enjoying beach walks. We trekked through the rain forest to Cape Disappointment Lighthouse – walking gingerly as waves crashed around us. Although we didn’t see any gray whales, we heard they were on their way south. We hope to catch a sighting or two in the Sea of Cortez this winter.

No lighthouse – but Canada beckoned

View from our friends' place on Camano Island

Each month had a big trip and July was no exception - a winner, visiting friends and sharing experiences. It started with a visit to friends on Camano Island, WA on our way north. Their timber framed home and property look across to Whidbey Island with views of the Olympics and Cascades. Wow.

White water rafting in BC

Waterfall on our rafting trip

We headed to eastern BC, where we had the extreme pleasure of white watering with friends on the Columbia River at its headwaters, staying at their log cabin overlooking the river. They arranged the full day trip and it was amazing.

Our fantastic camp site along the river

We headed further east to Calgary, Alberta, for more adventures with great friends, also from our Mexico travels. They arranged a canoeing and camping trip with their gear on the Deer River. The trip was well planned, relaxing and highly appreciated – and even included homemade carrot cake, shared around the campfire. Nice.

We’ve been very thankful for our summer and look forward to new adventures as we head south this month. Always remembering that every day is a blessing!

Welcome rum drink
at Manta House, GT

Donkeys abound across the island; they were
imported to transport and mine salt on the island 

Our first night sunset at Manta House, Grand Turk