Monday, January 27, 2014

Mazatlan

We had planned on leaving today for Isla Isabel, and then on to Puerto Vallarta, but after consulting the weather sites, we've decided to wait until tomorrow. We have found we really do not enjoy the 20+ knots even down wind, and sailflo is predicting 20-30 knots later tonight. So we're enjoying another wonderfully hot and somewhat humid day in Mazatlan. Yesterday was James' birthday, we went shopping at the super mercado in downtown. That was an adventure! Somewhat like a giant indoor farmers market/ swap meet. We had breakfast for $4. Dinner was only $7, for both of us! We're trying very hard to stretch every peso as far as we can, and getting much better at it. We had a bit of trouble figuring out the buses, as they don't have any numbers and it's very difficult to tell where exactly they are going, so on our way back from shopping we splurged on a $3 open air taxi. All of this is really helping improve our spanish. We now understand almost all prices without consulting our book, and can even have a very simple conversation with locals now. The best advice we had been given was don't be afraid to make a fool of yourself trying. Locals are extremely appreciative of our efforts, even if they laugh a bit at our mistakes.

After unloading the groceries, we walked back into town, realizing it's much closer than we thought since the streets are all one way and the bus had to go the long way into town. That's when we enjoyed the $7 meal, and met a very lovely woman named Rubye. She's an expat who sings jazz at a few of the nicer restaurant's we cannot afford. However if you're budget is greater than ours we recommend seeing her perform at Pedro y Lola's.

James has gone into town once more to grab a few things we couldn't find yesterday. Mika and I are enjoying a nice cool spot to update the blog, email family and just chill for a bit. There is a wonderful hike we are considering this afternoon to the worlds second largest light house. It seems very popular as I can see out the window many people already walking the trails to the top.





More Photo's taken in Mazatlan!

super mercado 




riding in an open air taxi, $30 pesos! Not bad.




Sunday, January 19, 2014

Catching up in Cabo

We made it to Cabo San Lucas on Thursday the 16th, at 2:30 am. A shorter trip than we anticipated from Bahia Magdalena (Mag Bay). We had one gorgeous day of sailing, perfect winds, lots of sunshine, whales and dolphins....then the next morning, shortly after 8am we got hit with gusts of 30 + knots. James put a double reef in the mainsail and we pulled in the gybe and still made 6 knots. It was exhilarating and scary as hell.

Cabo seems like a whole other world after days of beautiful desolate landscapes dotted only with the occasional fishing village. From Turtle Bay we went to Bahia Santa Maria, amazing bay, beautiful beaches as far as you can see, but without our dinghy outboard we had to get creative, and found a small nook between big rocks forming a natural breakwater that allowed us to row to shore. James forgot his shoes, so Mika and I took a little hike into the hills to look around. Amazing, I did not expect so much color! Flowers everywhere. Nature truly does persevere.

We left Santa Maria and anchored in Mag Bay for 4 days. We almost stayed there, and can understand how many cruisers end up staying even longer. We met Jose, the owner of a small restaurant where I had shrimp tacos for the first time. LOVED them. He took James to San Carlos via panga to get fuel and supplies. We kayaked and hiked almost every day and fell in love with one of the village dogs we called Colorado (red). He followed Mika James and I everywhere. Truly sweet fellow. The night before we left Jose treated us to shots of tequilla and a very nice man named Abrahm gave me some beautiful seashells and sandollars bigger than my hand! A remarkable place to visit.

Now in Cabo. Everyday here is a party. The beaches are packed with people, music is blasting 24 hours a day. During the day we are surrounded by jetskis and paddle boards, parasailing speed boats and wake boarders.

We made the mistake of swimming to shore, a much easier task for the dog with the life jacket than the two silly humans who thought they'd do it unassisted. LOL. Live and learn.

We've met many amazing people on our adventures, but here in Cabo we found some kindred spirits. A very generous and adventurous couple Richard and Chelsea who are "budget cruisers" as well, and have been working a bit here in Cabo. Our plans have always been a bit flexible, and we may end up buddy boating with them to Puerto Vallarta instead of heading up the Sea of Cortez. Still a bit undecided, but we'll let everyone know when we know.

Today we're going to attempt to get laundry done, but then we are off to a little bar we found that is playing the football games today, so that's where we'll be this afternoon. We'll be uploading all the pix and video we've taken along the way a little at a time.



Here's a few photo's we took in Cabo! Enjoy







 It looks fake, but I really did take this picture :) Amazing isn't it.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year!

We were convinced by some very friendly neighbors to stay new years eve here in Ensenada. It was loud, and vivacious celebration, there is still smoke from all the fireworks, hovering in the air. It was a great night with new friends Paul and Kyber. Kyber gave us an amazing little tool called the Lighter Bro which has already made itself extremely useful. I'll be uploading pictures of it soon.

We'll be leaving a bit later today (wednesday January 1st) for Turtle Bay, a 3 day trip from here. We should arrive sometime on Saturday. A wonderful couple, Mary and Jack, have entrusted us to deliver a package of sweets to Rojullio in Turtle Bay. They are unable to make the trip this year, but were full of useful advice! We don't think we'll be able to post between now and then, no internet or TelCel connection. We hope you all had a wonderful holiday and will post again as soon as possible.