Visiting with the Florey's in La Cruz

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle with Karen and Carlos Florey February 3 to 11, 2020

"The secret to living well and longer is: eat half, walk double, laugh triple and love without measure." Tibetan Proverb

Stephen and I arrived at La Cruz on February 1st after a nice few days in Chacala. We really needed some time at anchorage before heading to a busier place again. La Cruz is a great gathering place for many cruisers, especially with kids. They have a “Kids Club” and a radio net run by kids only. The area also affords many resources to include: Thursday's night FREE movie night in an outdoor amphitheater setting (we took Karen and Carlos to see Rocketman), an amazing Sunday market with food and wares, and many gatherings regarding cruiser’s interests. We pulled in just before sunset and got into the anchorage with plans to move to a marina slip in the morning of the 2nd. We would do some last minutes chores, house cleaning and food/booze shopping. La Cruz is also about 45 minutes away from the Puerto Vallarta airport and so it is a good spot to meet up with friends who want to visit cruisers. 

Our Soulstice is a 1993 40ft Caliber and has 2 heads (aka bathrooms) and 2 sleeping quarters. We have what is a called a Pullman Berth, it is slightly smaller than a queen-size bed that is forward on the port (left) side of the boat. It is not all the way forward like many boats that have what is called the V berth. Our forward head is closest to the bow of the boat instead and in front of that, unseen, is our anchor locker. The extra sleeping room for guests or crew is our aft cabin, as it is called in sailing lingo, and is full of our gear.  It is packed with fishing gear, 2 inflatable SUPS in backpacks, water filtration system, extra food boxes, extra rigging equipment, a very large and unshapely loose bag with our spinnaker in it and “extra” stuff etc…. We now needed to make all this disappear and find places to put it! We needed a bed for Karen and Carlos!!! 

Surprisingly, with some more organization and some serious packing of our forward head ( aka the bathroom), particularly the shower area which we have never used except just for storage, we were able to clear out the aft cabin and make it a sleeping space! Phew! Mission accomplished. Now just top off on some food, Tequila, and limes and we are set! Oh, I also added dirty martinis to my drink list. We are trying to experiment with other drinks as beer drinking makes more trash/recycling and well…. 5.0% if your lucky is hardly what we consider a worthy drink. There are lots of olives in Mexico, vodka and I did find vermouth. So far, I am happy with my new choice drink. 

Last cruising season, Stephen and I did not encounter a drop of rain! We truly had a dry season and the 2 little umbrellas I packed never saw daylight and my dry bag only got wet from dinghy rides and swimming with it to get to shore. Well, it was a downpour when Karen and Carlos arrived! It was raining the day before and the 2 days after their arrival. Not just a sprinkle but that nice hard rain that will get you soaked in a full minute. It is warm, so at least despite being very wet, you are not cold. These guys are professionals and that did not get them down.  We did end up having great weather after that and tolerable temperature. Last year it was much hotter here and I was grateful for some overcast days during this past week. 

Inviting friends to the boat is something you think about… It is a tiny space, with rules… how to use the bathroom can be complicated as well as just wanting to use water.  Seasickness is also to be considered if you want to take visitors sailing and not just hunker down in the marina. These guys like to run rivers in big water and are used to the water so we knew they would be ok. It is not exactly the same but they have an idea what it is like to have your floor move underneath ya'! An overnighter in the very rolly anchorage of Yelapa proved they can hang with seasoned sailors as well as multiple day sails. 

Additionally, Karen and Carlos, besides being the most kind-hearted and thoughtful folks are also well versed in the backpacker style living. They are environmentally conscious, respectful of energy usage, and appreciate simple living. They were a joy to have on the boat and share our tiny floating home. They are like us and just appreciate being in nature. They like hanging out, making good food and having thoughtful conversation. OH, and they like to play cribbage. I definitely cleaned up my cribbage playing, they are sharp, have skilled cribbage tactics and quick with counting! They follow the rules to "T"  so touche,  in regards to living on the boat. We had a great visit with them and appreciate the time they took to be with us in Mexico!

A special bonus was meeting Carlos’s son’s girlfriend, Tatiana, a Mexican native, who has been living in Puerto Vallarta for the last 5 years and prior to that Guadalajara. She came for a day sail and dinner on the boat as well as met us in PV for breakfast on the departure day back to MT for the Florey's. She was a delight to meet and Stephen and I look forward to seeing her again before we leave for the S. Pacific crossing. 

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." Mark Twain

Day Sail in Banderas Bay - Tatiana, Carlos's son's girlfriend joined us. We had many whale sightings!

Cooling off!

Captain Karen :)

What?? I don't owe you $200 pesos to hold that Iguana??? How about $20? 

We did a day sail/overnight to Yelapa to hike the waterfall (Cascada) and enjoy the most delicious meal at Los Abuelos!

Yelapa Cascada. The water was cooler this year. 

Homemade blue corn tortillas!! The food was the BEST food I have had in Mexico besides in San Jose del Cabo! You can only get to Yelapa by boat so we will need to make another trip before we leave so I can eat there again fo' sure!

A real Mexican grandma - Una abuela mexicana! Hence the name of the restaurant I suspect :)

Pushing down the blue corn dough to make DELICIOUS tortillas

La Cruz anchorage

We liked watching the little hummingbird camouflaged in the flowering bush. I would love to have multiple hummingbird feeders one day. There was a B&B in Canada that I stayed at once that had 3 close to the outdoor breakfast table and it was awesome to see these little stealthy fliers enjoy some nectar. 

One of the many beaches by La Cruz marina ( I paddled over and yes I definitely let air out of the board and brought the pump! Lesson learned way back when in Santa Barbara! )

Karen, Carlos, and Tatiana - took a walk after breakfast along the Malecon in PV

Sunrise 2/12 in La Cruz anchorage

s

Soulstice!

Whale next to Soulstice in the anchorage. This year has been an outstanding year for whale viewing. Last night after Karen and Carlos left I was in the salon and got up due to hearing a whale creating a hug splash by continuous breaches in the moonlight in the anchorage.

Sunrise 2/12 in anchorage

FINALLY OFF THE DOCK/ LEAVING MAZATLAN

Left Mazatlan on January 26th, 2020

Arrival to Chacala on January 27th and Left for La Cruz February 1, 2020

“ I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth. A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders. where life is lived in the present. In this limitless nation, this nation of wind, light, and peace, there is no other ruler besides the sea.”   Bernard Moistessier

What a great quote! It is always exciting to get off the dock and start a sailing adventure! 
We had a hiccup getting off the dock in Mazatlan. Stephen and I stayed in Mazatlan an extra week due to Stephen acquiring a mosquito-borne illness. He started to complain of malaise the day before we intended to leave. He also pointed out to me a swollen knee that appeared to be pre-patellar bursitis. He had been doing lots of boat projects but swore it occurred after a mosquito bite to his knee. I was unfamiliar with bursitis occurring from mosquito bites but did read it can occur; in my medical practice, it was more due to occupational hazard/sequela, gout, arthritis, and infection. That is the key as it is usually inflammatory or infectious. Only an aspiration of the pocket of fluid is most precise to determine those things. 

That night before we were supposed to leave, he developed fever, chills, and rigors. I heard his teeth chattering and him shaking in bed.  We ended up staying another 5 days to make sure he continued to improve and not decline. There are dengue, zika, and chikungunya viruses to be exposed to in Mexico. We got labs without a provider visit because in Mexico it is easy that way. You can walk into a lab and order what you want and pay for it out of the pocket. Interestingly, a CBC and CRP are pretty cheap but a CMP or complete metabolic panel cost about $50.00. You can also order a blood culture. They email you with your results the same day. Of course, blood cultures need time to grow. We decided we would wait at least 48 hours initially to see how this course would go. I did start him on Keflex prophylactically which a good antibiotic for basic skin infections. If he got worse over the next 48 hours at least we were in an area that provided medical care and per other cruiser’s reports with hospital experience, it was good care. 

In the next 48 hours, he continued to have night sweats and chills but seemed to improve during the day. He continued to have bursitis to his knee (pocket of fluid just below his knee cap) but it was not getting bigger or worse. We did repeat labs in 48 hours as well. His inflammatory test, the CRP, remained extremely high but his CBC now pointed more to a viral cause. We continued antibiotics to be on the safe side. Every day he seemed to improve, the night sweats/chills seemed to abate and no day daytime fevers. Unfortunately, his leg did seem to swell slightly more and we were concerned that more redness was noted despite having a viral picture on labs. We changed him to a different antibiotic with slightly enhanced microbial coverage due to this change. He was eating and drinking well and able to walk and had good mobility. He had no fever/chills/night sweats the night before we left and so on January 26th, after 3 weeks in Mazatlan, we left the dock!! 

It was exciting to get out of the slip. It is funny because you have many conveniences being in a slip to include showers and just being able to get off your boat easily to accomplish tasks such as grocery shopping, laundry and going for a run. It eliminated the dinghy ride or paddleboard in to do errands and then, of course, take several bags of groceries or laundry back into a potentially wet area and return them to the boat attempting to keep everything dry. We do have dry bags of course. 
But despite the conveniences of being in a slip, we do prefer being at anchorage. You may have neighbors but they are a few boat lengths away. We do like fishing off the boat, going for a swim in the anchorage, and just paddleboarding around checking out the scenery. You seem to enjoy hanging out in the cockpit more for breakfast coffee, dinner, and evening star gazing. We love just to be able to jump in the water to cool off and then get a freshwater swim step rinse right before bed. 

On the Sunday morning of January 26th at high tide, we finally pulled off dock lines and slipped out of the marina to get through the harbor channel safely. It is very shallow with lots of shoaling and a continuous dredge schedule twice a day. It was pretty placid going through the breakers which is not how it was when we arrived there at the end of May 2019.  After passing the breakers, we did a short motor to the closest island. We checked out our anchoring gear/routine and put ourselves on the hook for a few hours. We were trying to time our arrival to an island called Isa Isabella. It was 95 nm away or about 20 hours giving ourselves an average of 5 knots per hour, so leaving later in the afternoon would put us with a sunrise arrival. We left Isla Parajos (an island just off harbor entrance) around noon and started our journey south. It would be a long time and who knows if ever, we would be returning to Mazatlan. Our last night, we did enjoy dinner with Paul and Debbie from SV Three Quartertime. They are truly delightful, kind and generous folks and we were grateful to get them to know them better during our Mazatlan stay. We wish them well on their return back to Alaska for work in April. 

Stephen and I did 2-hour watches on our first overnighter just to keep ourselves alert and not to push anyone too long for the first watch night. We knew it would only be one overnight so we felt ok keeping the watch time short. Initially, it is hard to stay up overnight especially after getting on a good sleep hygiene schedule without a work schedule. Moreover, to re-acquaint yourself with nighttime traffic on the radar, keeping an eye on our AIS and sail changes. We were able to get a fabulous downwind sail as soon as we weighed anchor off the island that continued until about 3am. We were doing well mostly at 6-7 knots. So well we did not want to arrive too early into Isla Isabella. It is an anchorage that required much attention and a trip line on your anchor as all the guide books say it has “swallowed up more anchors than anywhere else in Pacific Mexico.” We knew that and reread it again as we approached the anchorage around 8:30am. We made a unified decision that we could be fine but if we did have an issue, Stephen was not still 100% and we did not want to risk having a problem under those circumstances. We aborted the plan to anchor there and decided to continue onto Chacala. It was going to be another 8-9 hours but we could arrive before dark and the anchorage has a nice sandy bottom and lots of anchoring room. 

We arrived at Chacala before dark and set the anchor. It was so great to be on the hook. As a bonus, we scored a Bonita on a hand line right before got to the anchorage. There are no pics because I was surprised and was scurrying around the cockpit to move chairs and other items out of the way to prepare for the fish cleaning. It is a big mess in the cockpit but easily cleaned up as well. I am more trying to avoid all the blood getting on all of our stuff. The hassle of the clean up is well worth it when you are able to provide your own food and take the first bite of a delicious grilled fish taco. Thank you, Mr. Bonita, for your life. 

Chacala is a cute town with too many gringos - ha! Unfortunately, the mainland is overrun with tourism but that is how it goes. Good for the Mexican economy and bad for our cultural experience. Oh well, we are part of the problem too I guess. My favorite thing about returning to Mexico is the culture of people here. If you say hi to anyone they always say hi back, wave they wave back. They are always very kind and sweet-natured. It is so refreshing to be here. 

We did stay in Chacala for 5 days! We enjoyed getting back into some open water swimming and some small hikes with nice views. It was also told to us there was going to be music Friday night at Chac Mool, a local palapa/hostile/event center.  James Hill on ukulele and his wife Ann Janelle on cello from Canada would be playing on the top floor that overlooks the beach. Tickets were $300 pesos a person. That is around $15 dollars a person and may seem cheap to you but on a cruising budget, it takes some thought before laying out $600 pesos. I thought let's do it! It is always a treat to hear some good live music. Unfortunately, the local band that played daily and loudly was too enthusiastic with their tuba and drums. They had endless energy - uggh.  The other great idea about staying until Friday night was that ONDA, the local and only brewery there, that is only open from 5-10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, could be visited. Some higher octane beer was calling us/is always calling us - ha!  2 great events in 1 night - YES PLEASE! And…. the music was phenomenal and definitely worth more than $600 pesos. We heard limited seating so we brought our own seats, Heliox and Crazy creek chairs, and yahoo had front row seating. I would highly recommend You Tubing these guys and seeing them in person if you got the chance. I know you may think bluegrass only but that guy can rip with the best of guitarists and there was no genre of music they couldn’t do! Her voice is ethereal and genuine. 

After a fabulous night, we slid off our “going out” clothes and put on some “possibly get wet clothes” and hopped back on our paddleboard with headlamps on the red setting and had a nice paddleboard back to Soulstice in the still of the night. 

Sweet dreams in our cozy Pullman berth would tantalize us until the sunrise would awaken us for the sail to La Cruz in the morning. 

Coming up…. Karen and Carlos Florey from Montana heading our way February 3rd for a visit on Soulstice.  SO EXCITED!

Debbie and Paul from SV Three Quartertime - Our Mazatlan buddies!!!

Night time in Mazatlan

A visit from Debbie and Sydney in the Mazatlan Marina

Nice smile!! Stephen got some dental work in Mazatlan. It was cheap, time-efficient and excellent! 

On sunset watch, Stephen superimposing my phone constellation app on a picture. I love the app for identifying stars, satellites,  and the ISS. 

Admiring some tanbark sails on the sailboat leaving the Chacala anchorage

View from a hike in Chacala

We hiked up to this point last year- great view of the anchorage

Sunset from Chacala beach

Yummy Bonita tacos! with large dollops of Crema! 

Open water swimming! A good way to work off the Modelos

Fun with changing colors on pics

View from music venue - the top floor of Choc Mools

This place was full of seats, food and drink the night of the concert

The second bump is called pre-patellar bursitis. He is doing well but this does make kneeling for boat projects and on paddleboards no fun. 

James Hill and Ann Janelle- absolutely superb performance!! 

Heading to La Cruz Huanacaxtle

This is where a better camera and zoom would help for sure. We saw SOOOO many humpbacks ever since we left Mazatlan. Breaches, pectoral fins slaps, fluke slaps.... AND even whale sounds/song underneath when we sailed by. We even had one breach so close to the boat the barnacles on his flukes seemed only a few arm lengths away. 

Some inside Soulstice pics

Our tiny home on the inside. 

See ya next time!