Valhalla Sets Sail: 34 Days on the Hook

Valhalla here, on 22A reporting that thus far, Don and I have traveled 18 degrees south for a total of 1,920 nautical miles from San Francisco, CA to Santiago, Colima. Since entering Mexico we have crossed through 4 states, including Baja, Nayarit, Jalisco, and Colima. As of January 23, 2013, Valhalla has traveled as far south as she will go.

The Two of Us

Another apology for the lengthy time factor between postings, but down here we’re on Mexican time and have adjusted well still not knowing the day, date or time most of the time. To the best of my memory (and log entries), I shall recant our journey south and share a few of my hundreds of pictures.

"The Tribe"

We met a couple of couples on the dock from a couple of different boats. We met Kia Ora, AKA Ken and Julie in Newport Beach, CA and met The Beguine, AKA Paul and Celeste in Bahia de Tortuga, Baja, Mexico. Bumping paths along the way we have now formed a small “tribe” of cruiser’s with similar Mexico sailing plans. From here on out, we shall be referred to as “the tribe” since we have, pretty much, been traveling together since we left ParadiseVillage.

Paul and Celeste - The Beguine

Ken and Julie - Kia Ora

Paul and Celeste - The Beguine

Ken and Julie - Kia Ora

December 23, 2012 we headed south 115 nautical miles from Nuevo Vallarta to Tenacatita. We had a great downwind sail after rounding Punta Corrientes with winds and southerly seas twice the prediction. There were big swells of 8’ to 10’ that seem to come in doubles from the stern. The first would pass almost engulfing the bow and the next would come and lift and level us until the next set. The sound reminded us of the power of the sea, sounding like we were in a washing machine! We had planned a 27 hour run, but ended up having to slow down in order not to arrive in the dark. At dawn, we arrived at the beautiful anchorage of Tenacatita complete with a nice sandy beach, coconut palms and one palapa bar.

The Beach at Tenacatita

Palapa Bar

View from the Beach

In past years, Tenacitita had more to offer cruisers, but due to some sort of property ownership dispute, there was less left than described in the cruising guide. None the less, it was a more than awesome place to spend our Christmas and New Year’s 2013. We dug our favorite champagne out from the bilge and enjoyed the holidays from a new, much-more low key perspective from Valhalla.

Biting Off More Than He Can Chew!

We spent 12 full days and nights at Tenacatita at anchor. We learned how to and how not to land dinghies in the surf. We spent a few afternoons at the palapa bar, walked the beach, watched sunsets and sunrises. We, with the tribe, took a fast panga across the bay to La Manzanilla to explore the much more established town and to provision. We visited a crocodile sanctuary in the town. A local told us that the crocs are so well fed, when part of the enclosure fence collapsed after a storm last year, none of them tried to escape!

Look Into My Eyes

That's For Real!

Before leaving Tenacatita, we all witnessed one of the craziest, most unusual weather days we've ever experienced leading me to believe El Nino may be responsible.

· First, the barometer dropped and the wind built up steady to 20 to 35 knots with 40 knot gusts, but air temperature is still about 78+ degrees.
· Dark clouds surround and engulf us as the rain comes blowing sideways with the extreme wind.
· The sky clears and wind and wave conditions calm and improve drastically.
· A radio call for help from a sailboat 3 miles offshore that has lost his rudder due to catching a fishing net during this major squall. Squall conditions were much worse offshore!!!
· The sky darkens and wind picks up again, this time to a steady 15 to 30 knots with 35 knot gusts with more rain blowing sideways.
· Two sailboats from the anchorage and a local panga boat go out to keep the sailboat off the approaching rocks toward which they are being blown out of control with no rudder.
· The rescued boat and other assist boats return to harbor and get anchored while the second squall is still in full force.
· Once again…more perfect calm conditions AFTER everyone gets anchored safely!
· As the sky clears again, a rainbow appears over La Manzanilla followed by a spectacular sunset.
· Next, we get an awesome lightning show over La Manzailla that lasted more than an hour.
· Again, all is calm…and now a dark sky full of million brilliant stars.
· An AMAZING show of weather!!!

The Calm After the Storm

Spectacular Sunset

It’s time to move on and our next stop is Bahia de Navidad, which was established as a harbor more than 400 years ago back in 1564. Slowly, we made our way up the shallow channel toward the lagoon where we would anchor again. It’s quite scenic with tall palms, mangroves and an impressive resort. We anchored in only 10’ of brown murky water with a sticky mud bottom. No swimming here for sure!

Resort at Barra de Navidad

Lagoon Fish Hut

A Lot of Work Provisioning, For Sure

Don suggested to the tribe, a night out on the town in Barra for dinner and to find some music. After dinner we ended up at the Drunken Donut where we found music, drank and danced. Since there are only small tiendas, provisioning takes up most of the day walking around town gathering only a few things from each tienda. We took another trip to town with the tribe to provision only for cerveza and hielo (ice). We filled 2 dock carts with 5 cases of beer and at least 12 medium size blocks of ice. Rolling over- loaded dock carts across cobble- stone streets is no easy task. It was funny to see the looks on some of the locals’ faces checking out our cargo. Another day, the girls went to check in and out with the Port Capitan while the men hung around the fishing store shopping for hours. Like kids in a candy store!

Checking In and Out (?) with the Port Capitan

Hammock Howler

After 5 days in the brown lagoon, it was time to head south a bit farther. This time, it was another short 20 nautical mile run to Ensenda Corrizal. This long deep inlet is uninhabited, unspoiled and is beautiful with aqua blue water. The jungle is lush with cactus, flowering trees and thick vegetation. One day, we all landed our dinghies on the steep, rocky beach to burn trash and take a walk. There is a nice trail through the jungle where an unfinished development had punched in the roads. We saw so many butterflies fluttering around the flowering trees and also present were wild parakeets, lizards and large spiders.

Treasure in the Jungle

The bay has a thriving coral reef on each side going in and a sandy bottom in the middle; a perfect anchorage. The reefs made this spot the best snorkeling spot in Mexico so far, with clean cool water and many varieties of colorful fish. Paul, from The Beguine, is a crazy wild man for fishing and he and Ken from Kia Ora have become quite successful at dinghy fishing here. They have caught really nice sized Bonito, Barracuda, Sierra, Pompano and Dorado all from their dinghy! They are very generous and their bounty is always shared with the tribe.

Got Fish!!

Fishing Fanatics!

Drive Through Sea Cave

Another day, we all took our dinghies out to explore the area. We found a couple of sea caves we had heard about that were big enough to drive the dinghies through. We surveyed the prospect, watching the surging water and crashing waves against the walls of the cave. Deciding it was safe, we proceed one at a time. It was quite a rush, feeling like we had cheated death and was so much fun, we all had to do it again! It’s amazing what the force of water can do and the inside of the cave was beautiful and brilliant in color.

Dinghy Katie (and Don)

It was a Long Day...but we got the Fuel!

After 5 days here, it was time to move just around the corner to Santiago. The anchorage was nice with big green mountains in the background with palapa bars and colorful umbrellas lining the black sand beach. A few days later we moved only 2 nautical Miles over to Las Hadas for a change of scenery and in hopes of getting water for the boat at the marina.

This anchorage here at Las Hadas is very scenic with wall to wall resorts covering the hillside. At night the twinkling of lights from windows sparkle across the water. It makes us wonder if this is what the Mediterranean might look like. The resort allows cruisers to use the pool and purchase food and drinks. Sadly enough, there are so many resorts and what seems like so few people occupying them. We spent the day at the resort celebrating Don’s birthday soaking in the pool. Later we moved on and had a nice dinner out with the tribe and ended the celebration on Valhalla with fun gifts and a delicious chocolate bread pudding.

Both Kia Ora and The Beguine have water makers and both have been very generous and helpful keeping us supplied with clean, safe water. That gift is priceless because it’s hard to know if the water is really safe (or not) from marinas. We, on Valhalla, now know how important it is to have that capability on your boat while cruising!

Romantic Santiago Bay

Santiago and Las Hadas are right across the bay from the huge port city of Manzanillo. Don and I went by bus there to explore one day. There was not much there of interest except an Iguana sanctuary. It seemed to be the only point of interest we could find there. We found them…huge Iguanas 2’ to 5’ roosting in trees. Later, we get on the bus for Santigo, noticing we are the only two gringos. We went on a bus ride way up in the hills dropping off Mexican workers in their home towns. More than an hour later, we were back to Santiago. Before we got on, we did ask if the bus was going to Santiago and the driver said, si’, but what he didn’t tell us was “no directo”. Once again, “what we have here is a failure to communicate”! (Cool Hand, Luke).

Giant Green Iguana

Our journey south has ended and soon we will bumping our way back up north hoping to cross back over the Sea of Cortez by mid March. (We are already back in Barra de Navidad, as that is where the “BLOG” will be posted from!

We’re having so much fun cruising along with new friends. We all take turns getting together on each other’s boats for evening cocktails and meals and all we all get along famously! Both Kia Ora and The Beguine are full time cruisers and we’re all just all livin’ the dream together (for now) until we fly home and leave Valhalla for the summer. One day, the tribe voted without us and came back to tell us we can’t leave Valhalla for 3 to 5 months or we will not be allowed to return to the tribe…or worse, we may be replaced!

Living on a 34' Boat

Since our last posting from Paradise Village Marina, Valhalla has spent 34 days at anchor. SERIOUSLY, let me tell you some of the challenges of living on a 34’ boat. You would think there would be plenty of time to relax but there are always things to do such as daily cooking and cleaning up after ourselves inside the boat. Outside, there is always stainless to be polished, washing and waxing, cleaning barnacles or a green grass beard off the bottom, engine maintenance or something that needs to be repaired. It’s an endless cycle, seriously!

A general rule of thumb, inside and out, is “Everything in its place” and usually, your things only fit in that place, along with the other things being stored in that space, ONE WAY, like a puzzle. Even when you try to follow that rule, it seems, you are CONSTANTLY looking for things. It’s a 34’ x 10’ space and whatever it is you have lost, it has to be somewhere…but where? A lot of time is spent looking for things, seriously!

Cooking in the galley is a one person act and in such a small space it’s a challenge…believe me! The refrigerator is accessed on the counter top and is about the size of 2 shoe boxes wide by 2 shoe boxes deep. However, the freezer portion takes up half of that space. Anytime you want anything out of the freezer, you have to remove half of the stuff from the fridge to open to freezer door, get what you want and put it all back again. So before you fix a meal, get EVERYTHING you want out, close it up and put it all on top and begin your meal preparation. You’re slicing and dicing and, seriously, it NEVER fails, you have to SHUFFLE everything off the top of the fridge (also used as your counter-top and get in the there AGAIN for something you forgot. Also note, while you’re doing this, the boat is CONSTANTLY moving…up and down, or back and forth, sometime worse than others. We’re talkin’ rock n roll, seriously!

You’ve eaten and now it’s time to clean up. Since Valhalla does not have a water maker, water conservation is VERY IMPORTANT! First we wash the dishes using salt water and give them a very conservative rinse of fresh water. Not that big of a deal, however, you know that shower you turn on and water just runs freely? Forget about it! We've been fortunate enough that our tribe helps us out with water when we need it, but we still have to conserve and not abuse our privilege. Don and I have been existing using a scant 5 to 6 gallons of water a day for TWO people since we left Paradise Village. Imagine that…seriously!

Little things you take for granted. You need stuff at the store? Jump in your car and go get it, right? No…you take the dinghy or a panga ride to shore along with your backpacks and the dock cart and go to town. Provisioning will take you pretty much all day by the time you walk around from store to store searching for the things you want…like block ice. It’s hard to find but we need some of that once in a while if we want a cocktail in the evening. When you buy cube ice, it will be half melted before you make it back to the boat and the rest of that will be gone by the next day because of the humidity, air and water temperature the boat is surrounded by. Ice, it’s a LUXURY….seriously!

Seriously, even though living on a boat is a minimalist lifestyle with many sacrifices, we have to say that the daily rewards far outweigh the sacrifices. Every day, we are treated to the beauty of our surroundings with rolling seas, tropical sunny beaches, pounding surf, ocean breezes, aqua blue water and wildlife. We've seen dolphins, whales, sea turtles, birds, flying fish, and rays. Looking up, we see beautiful sunrises, sunsets, full moons arising, the Milky Way, falling and shooting stars. We have a real appreciation for where on this earth we are and Valhalla got us here one nautical mile at a time. Seriously, cruising is an adventure of a lifetime; one that so many people only dream about but we’re grateful to be able to experience it!