Iguanas, Tigers & Crocodiles… OH MY!!!! …#21

I love going to new locations, it’s part of the adventure. But leaving La Paz was bittersweet. We made new friends that were staying in La Paz, John and Janet Harrington on the Sailboat Tango, and we also love hanging in this city. We didn’t want to leave yet. But we were excited to travel with our friends from Portland, Ken and Cheryl to Puerto Vallarta. So off we went.

“La Paz is a small city in comparison to Cabo San Lucas”

We had a 30+ hour run from La Paz to Mazatlan, which was our first stop on our way to PV. We took advantage of a little bit slower cruising to get some fishing done while underway. Dan and Ken worked on getting the lines out and we were lucky on the first day and caught 3 small tuna, 1 big Mahi Mahi & a Spanish Mackerel. The 4 of us easily changed roles between manning the helm, fishing, cleaning the fish and quick freezing them with a vacuum food saver. We had fresh Tuna sandwiches for lunch that afternoon and enjoyed the first day at sea.

Around dinner time we had a bird plop himself on our front bow railing. He was not leaving no matter how many times we tried to chase him away. It looked like he was very tired and the frigatebirds were chasing him. So, Cheryl and I agree to clean up the poop mess the next morning if the boys would agree to let him stay on. Welcome aboard to our “booby” bird. 

During Cheryl’s watch, while Dan and I slept, she had an odd encounter from another boat. Ken and Cheryl were both awake and at the helm when they noticed a boat on the radar moving at a very fast pace (35 knots) towards Angelique. As they neared, within a couple miles, Ken and Cheryl started looking for them with binoculars. Being that close to us, they should have been able to see some type of lights on their boat. The boat was dark. The boat then started hailing us on the radio, in Spanish of course. Unsure what to do, they woke up Dan. At this point the vessel turned on navigation lights. We all couldn’t quite tell what was going on, but Dan decided to tell the boat…. “This is Angelique Motor Yacht, we will pass you Port to Port” The Spanish speaking boat seemed fine and repeated “Port to Port, Aye”. So Dan went back to sleeping. A few minutes later we were hailed again by the same boat. This time with an english speaking person that asked us to repeat and explain who we were. Dan gave a detailed description of registry, people on board, from and to location, and was given a polite reply from the Mexican Navy wishing us well. Dan wished them a safe patrol from a retired Navy sailor and the cruising resumed.

“You never really know what can happen at midnight”

I was ready to take over for my watch from Cheryl at 3am…. When I took watch the moon was out and casting shadows on the glass calm water. The only movement was the up and down with the small swells of the sea. The bow was very visible, which is not normal for a night run. The stars were unbelievably bright with such a light cloud cover. 

As the sun peeked over the horizon around 6am, we could see our bird was still on the front railing. He was starting to invite his other friends. Which Cheryl and I were not happy with. We had cleaned all the poop off the deck that our “booby” had left over night and were not willing to have his crew do the same. Chasing them off with a broom or hands was not even phasing them. They didn’t move. I had a hose out from cleaning the deck and decided to use it to keep them off. It was a joke trying to keep them off. Cheryl and I were laughing pretty hard. The Birds would dive bomb the bow and attempt to sit on the railing as I was taking the hose and chasing them away before they landed. It took a couple hours before they realized they weren’t welcome aboard Angelique and the humans won! 

When we arrived at Mazatlán, at the El CID Marina, they put us on the outside of a busy marina dock. It was an easy to dock the boat but the ocean opening was close to the marina. This made for a rocky moorage due to lots of surge. We had many lines holding us to the dock. We did have good dinners at the hotel within El CID resort. The next day we had great entertainment with the iguana’s at the pool. They would hop up on the lounge chair if they thought they could get some food. 

During the next day we visited a indoor vendor market, headed to a cool place for a snack and drink near the malecon. The attention we received at the outdoor venue, Mr Lionso Restaurante, was amazing. We asked the waiter to take a pic of the 4 of us, which turned into a selfie with the 2 waiters flipping the camera on us and themselves. We had so much fun! 

On our to next leg to Puerto Vallarta we had a similar length of time and watch rotation. I also had very similar experience with the night sky and stars. It is truly impossible to explain how bright the stars and planets are when you are at sea. You forget living in the city how many small stars we have in our universe. I was able to see Mars above the horizon that looked like a bright light on a sailing mast a few miles away. Shooting stars and the Milky Way. I’m all alone at the helm waiting for 3:55am when the moon is scheduled to come up and lighten up my view.  When the reddish shaped cradle of a moon arrived it was not the bright light I was expecting. Mars was dominated the sky but the moon was putting on the show with her reddish cradle shape. The clouds & wind picked up a bit and I’m forced back to my helm duties and watching radar for fishing boats.

We were greeted at Paradise Village Marina by Dick Markie, Harbor Master/Manager of the marina. We were grateful to be in Nuevo Vallarta, which is a suburb of Puerto Vallarta. Dan and I were planning on having some work done on the boat in Puerto Vallarta shipyard, so the guys (Dan and Ken) went off to check out the different boatyards, so we could schedule the work.

Dan and I are always grateful to have help with transit of our boat. It makes the cruise safer and more fun too. Ken and Cheryl had to leave soon and that part is always hard. We all had so much fun and the sun and 80 degree weather didn’t hurt either. 

As we said goodbye we looked for other boaters to visit with and learn lots about the marina and took a dinghy cruise and saw the vacation casa of “Rihanna” and a crocodile.  

 

Our Son Chase and his buddies joined us for a week and they had fun in the city with a bikini contest at a local bar, tequila pool volleyball at the resort and waverunner in the bay with dolphins few feet away from them.  

Dan had a shock of a life when he was walking in the Resort (Paradise Village) an turned to see 2 very large Tigers staring at him. He found out later that Dick & Gina, the Manager of the Marina, raised them from kittens and they now reside at the resort.  

All our guest were gone and the Christmas Holiday was approaching. We had worked with Jorge Servin a Marine Project Manager owner at SYS to schedule all our haul out and work on Angelique when we return from our 2 week holiday in Oregon. 

Our trip home was full of holiday time with family, visiting with my Mom and my Sister from Spokane, doctor appointments, finance appointments, (gotta stay on budget) and family time with kids. The kids and I visited my brother who was in the hospital with life treating issues. He is doing much better now.  We did a 2 day trip to Bend to see Dan’s Parents and a couple dinners with a few friends. Our trip was over quick and we were coming back to PV. Excited and sad at the same time. 

Angelique had started her transformation when we arrived back in PV. Opequimar boatyard was in 2 days and we had prep to do…. 

Next blog is our Boat yard adventures…. 

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                        Adios for now muchachos