April 1, 2018
My sister-in-law Cindy has wanted to visit Strikhedonia for a few years and her 60th birthday seemed like the perfect reason. I mean really, who doesn’t want to spend their birthday on the beach, sipping margaritas, and eating lobster? No one. We worked our way into the trip with an afternoon by the pool at Paradise Village. I’m still trying…
March 24, 2018
Joining me for the last few days in Barra were Aaron and Marketa. They were even crazy, err adventurous enough to come to the St. Partrick’s day festivities. When flaming explosives were nearby, and Marketa and I ran for cover, Aaron would rush to get closer to the action. Clearly this was going to be a fun trip north. Our…
March 17, 2018
It was a bit like being a kid getting to summer camp, excited to catch up with your friends. Arriving in Barra my crew probably had a good laugh at me excitedly pointing out cruising friends as we came into the lagoon. Truth be told, I felt guilty because it would be a few days until I could make the…
March 6, 2018
After a month in Puerto Vallarta, I was ready for new scenery and exploring new places. My friend Harrison, his mom, and Stumbles (her AT trail name) flew in for the trip south to Barra de Navidad. A bit less time to explore due to Harrison’s schedule and my parents visiting Barra, but we still managed to squeeze an incredible…
January 1, 2018
Whew looking back at 2017 was a another year of firsts; Farthest North in the Sea (Bahia Los Angeles), Sail plan for downwind sailing (Double headsails), Thanksgiving away from home (La Paz), Visit to the Southern mainland (Mazatlán and others), Teeth cleaned in a foreign country, and many more. We just keep finding more things that we love about Mexico.…
December 23, 2017
Something I had been looking forward to all season was my daughter Anna and her friend coming to visit. Anna spent two years in West Virginia and became good friends with Ande before moving to Montana. A trip to Mexico was a perfect way for them to reconnect and enjoy the warm sun/ocean, in addition to blowing off some steam…
December 19, 2017
It could be part of getting older. It could be having kids. Or it could be a bit of both. But time slips by so fast, shockingly so sometimes. In April of 2008, our family went to Puerto Vallarta for spring break. Being crazy travelers, we decided one day to take the bus to Bucerías. Insane, I know. Actually I…
December 11, 2017
This adventure is supposed to be about sailing, right? So when the winds picked up after motoring out of Chacala out came the screecher. Motorsailing along we decided to put out the fishing lines even though the freezer was looking good in the pescado department. Fish on! The wind was from a good angle so up came the main sail…
December 10, 2017
Could I live here? I’d definitely put it in the very firm maybe category. Which is saying a lot from me. This town is top of my list for the mainland. Gorgeous beach, check. Kick ass food, check. Nice locals, check. Not too big, check. Good ratio Mexican/Gringos, check. Sign me up for a few days in this slice of…
December 4, 2017
We departed Mazatlán around 6:30pm for our 100nm overnight passage to Isla Isabel, which has been called the Galapagos of Mexico. The passage was mostly motorsailing, which isn’t a bad thing since visiting Isla Isabel is only suitable in calm weather due to poor holding over a rocking bottom with patches of sand. We did manage a few hours with…
November 26, 2017
Crossing to the mainland is all about timing. It can be a tranquil thirty hours or a hair-raising, humbling experience. I am willing to wait for the former, however we were lucky and our schedule lined up perfectly for a mellow crossing. We pulled up anchor at 5:00am to snuck out of the anchorage while everyone else was asleep. There…
November 25, 2017
I like an early start to the day, even more so when there is fun stuff to do at the destination. So just before dawn we pulled away from our slip and began navigating the long exit La Paz. It was nice to sail to the San Lorenzo Channel but after our turn southeast it became a motorsail. Oh well,…