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Voyager as the small boat on the right in San Diego

We spent about 2 wks in the marina at San Jose Del Cabo while we waited for our good friend Bret Bihler who was going to crew for us on the hop from San Jose del Cabo to Ensenada.  The town is very tourist oriented and “downtown” was full of jewelry and art shops.  There were many good restaurants and good local bus transportation too.  It was a beautiful place to spend a relaxing 2 wks.  Our trip to Ensenada was uneventful.  I caught a dorado about 1 hr into the trip and having a third person meant that everyone got enough sleep.

Ensenada was a different story.  Good restaurants but now much pricier.  The water on the docks at Cruise Port Village marina was horrible- salty and an off taste- such that I ended up buying water to drink.  We didn’t get sick but we were worried that we had contaminated our water tanks.  I have to say I much prefered mainland Mexico to the West Coast of Baja.

It was a 10 hr trip from Ensenada to San Diego where we bypassed the customs dock and went straight to our slip in Fifth Avenue Landing marina which is a botique marina in front of the downtown convention center.  Customs officials came directly to the dock (megaboat dock) and checked us in quickly.  We had been concerned about the amount of alcohol and certain food stuffs on board that we might have to discard but they didn’t even check.  A day and a half later we hauled in Marine Group Boat Works in Chula Vista  which had been recommended.  They were expensive but did good work.  We had multiple repairs that we had put off til we got into the US, as well as new paint on the bottom.  After getting back into the water we spent an additional 7 days in a slip next to the yard to finish some projects.  While on the hard, we were next to “Polar Bear” a large yacht having welding repairs done to the steel hull.  Unfortunately about a week after we returned to Fifth Avenue Landing, “Polar Bear” caught fire in the yard and was totally destroyed.  Byron thinks a spark from the welding ignited the insulation inside the hull which was flammable.

Now we are waiting for an engine mechanic who finally fit us into his schedule.  I bought new salon rugs to replace the original area rugs that were falling apart and I have a new vent hood for the stove coming.  It has been almost a month of scheduling and waiting.  I will be glad to move on hopefully by mid July.  Being in San Diego has been a good place to wait though as everything is available here.  There are fireworks almost every night right next to our slip and many sports bars so we can watch the World Cup games!

Hello good friends.  So sorry that my entries in the blog have been few and far between lately.  I have been sick the last 3 years, unable to get a definitive diagnosis in Mexico, and have not felt like writing.  In July 2013, we went home to visit UCLA Med Center and after 3 wks I at least know I do not have anything serious-just Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  The antibiotics and probiotics I was given have helped though daily meditation has helped the most.  Now  I am able to almost eat regular food again.

September and October Voyager was on the hard in La Cruz having the whole outside painted.  We rented a condo on the golf course in Paradise Village during that time and Byron took the bus to the boat daily to redo the varnish on the salon floor.
The condo had great wifi and the bus stops were closeby. The airconditioner was broken when we checked in but the owner authorized its replacement and the new unit was installed relatively quickly.The first of November we moved back onboard and took the boat south to the marina in Barra de Navidad which is about 20 mi north of Manzanillo as the paint crew had another job in Barra and still needed to do some final touchups.
Barra is a really cruiser friendly place with everything you need close by. Lots of cheap good restaurants, friendly locals, multiple gift shops and adequate markets.
When the painters were done, we headed back to Tenacatita our favorite anchorage from last year.  The water was warm but most of the cruisers we had met last year had not arrived yet so Thanksgiving was a non-event.  As Christmas was approaching were debating whether to return to Barra where there was a big cruiser Christmas party and pot luck planned when Voyager stepped in and made the decision ie our inverter broke (without it we cannot run the refrigerator and all electrical outlets are dead)! So it was back to the Barra marina and shore power for what turned out to be a month.  We shipped the inverter back to the US for repair but it was dropped during shipping and arrived perfectly split in half.  Holiday delays and finding an alternate way to ship the new inverter to us resulted in added days in the marina.  We finally returned to Barra and friends around the first of February. It was great to see our friends from last year and meet so many canadian cruisers that in the off season live in BC or on Vancouver Island. We had a few wonderful weeks, swimming, playing Mexican Train dominos and Bocce ball on the beach. I even sold some of by jewelry to cruising friends.
The cruising season in Mexico is cyclic mostly driven by the weather.  In January and February the water is clear and warm. Around the first 10 days in March the water starts to cool down and become less clear.  It seems that 2/3rds of the cruisers are partimers and alot of boats left Tenacatita the first 2 wks of March.  Later in March, cooler water temps and red tide drove most boats away.  We left about the 2nd week in April and came to Santiago Bay which is just north of Manzanillo proper.  For 2 wks   the red tide was really bad. No dead fish but the sand on the beach was very stinky!
We hooked up with Jeff and Debbie on SV SailorsRun and met other nice cruisers too.  There are many palapas on the beach selling food and drink and the town has a Saturday market that sells very fresh produce as well as other artisan wares and clothes close by by local bus.  The Santiago market is much bigger than similar traveling markets in La Manzanilla, Melaque,or Barra.
On May 8 we begin the next phase of our cruising journey.  We head from Santiago to San Jose del Cabo as the first leg up the Pacific coast to the Pacific Northwest.
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Hello good friends.  So sorry that my entries in the blog have been few and far between lately.  I have been sick the last 3 years, unable to get a definitive diagnosis in Mexico, and have not felt like writing.  In July 2013,  leaving the boat in Paradise Village Marina, we went home to visit UCLA Med Center and after 3 wks I at least know I do not have anything serious-just Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  The antibiotics and probiotics I was given have helped though daily meditation has helped the most.  Now  I am able to almost eat regular food again.

the local wildlife around the marina

September and October Voyager was on the hard in La Cruz having the whole outside painted.  We rented a condo on the golf course in Paradise Village during that time and Byron took the bus to the boat daily to redo the varnish on the salon floor.

courtyard between units

huge pool

The condo had great wifi and the bus stops were closeby. The airconditioner was broken when we checked in but the owner authorized its replacement and the new unit was installed relatively quickly.The first of November we moved back onboard and took the boat south to the marina in Barra de Navidad which is about 20 mi north of Manzanillo as the paint crew had another job in Barra and still needed to do some final touchups.
Barra is a really cruiser friendly place with everything you need close by. Lots of cheap good restaurants, friendly locals, multiple gift shops and adequate markets.

 
    large egret on gangway in Barra de Navidad           

Grand Bay Hotel and Barra marina

When the painters were done, we headed back to Tenacatita our favorite anchorage from last year.  The water was warm but most of the cruisers we had met last year had not arrived yet so Thanksgiving was a non-event.  As Christmas was approaching were debating whether to return to Barra where there was a big cruiser Christmas party and pot luck planned when Voyager stepped in and made the decision ie our inverter broke (without it we cannot run the refrigerator and all electrical outlets are dead)! So it was back to the Barra marina and shore power for what turned out to be a month.  We shipped the inverter back to the US for repair but it was dropped during shipping and arrived perfectly split in half.  Holiday delays and finding an alternate way to ship the new inverter to us resulted in added days in the marina.  We finally returned to Barra and friends around the first of February. It was great to see our friends from last year and meet so many Canadian cruisers that in the off season live in BC or on Vancouver Island. We had a few wonderful weeks, swimming, playing Mexican Train dominos and Bocce ball on the beach. I even sold some of by jewelry to cruising friends.

Bead crochet bracelet- my original bracelet on R and the one I sold on the L

The cruising season in Mexico is cyclic mostly driven by the weather.  In January and February the water is clear and warm. Around the first 10 days in March the water starts to cool down and become less clear.  It seems that 2/3rds of the cruisers are partimers and alot of boats left Tenacatita the first 2 wks of March.  Later in March, cooler water temps and red tide drove most boats away.  We left about the 2nd week in April and came to Santiago Bay which is just north of Manzanillo proper.  For 2 wks   the red tide was really bad. No dead fish but the sand on the beach was very stinky!
We hooked up with Jeff and Debbie on SV SailorsRun and met other nice cruisers too.  There are many palapas on the beach selling food and drink and the town has a Saturday market that sells very fresh produce as well as other artisan wares and clothes close by by local bus.  The Santiago market is much bigger than similar traveling markets in La Manzanilla, Melaque,or Barra.

 
view of Santiago Bay with Voyager in middle of the bay

sunset in Santiago Bay

On May 8 we begin the next phase of our cruising journey.  We head from Santiago to San Jose del Cabo as the first leg up the Pacific coast to the Pacific Northwest.

We spent the months of April and May visiting new anchorages and revisiting some of our favorites.  Unfortunately 2013 turned out to be a colder year according to other long time Sea of Cortez cruisers.  The day temps were in the 70’s, the water temp…

We spent the months of April and May visiting new anchorages and revisiting some of our favorites.  Unfortunately 2013 turned out to be a colder year according to other long time Sea of Cortez cruisers.  The day temps were in the 70’s, the water temp…

 
We now believe what we had heard from other cruisers-IT IS COLD IN BAJA DURING THE WINTER! The weather was beautiful until about the second week of December when air and water temps dropped and the during the Northers it was even colder.  Out came…

 
We now believe what we had heard from other cruisers-IT IS COLD IN BAJA DURING THE WINTER! The weather was beautiful until about the second week of December when air and water temps dropped and the during the Northers it was even colder.  Out came…

The hurricane season ended Nov. 1st so we are back in cruising mode.Most of the summer the main engine and generator were non functional as we were waiting for new parts to complete routine maintenance.  Our large dinghy was being repaired for 2 month…