MANZANILLA to ZIHUATANEJO Jan.22-23 2018

0745 Jan22,2018;       Underway from Las Hadas to Zihua with a 10kt off shore breeze as we lifted anchor.  

1045 :    Motoring with a little wind from astern.  By 1100 we had the staysail, main and mizzen sails up and were able to keep them filled most of the day with engine on and a 3-4 ft swell from the NW pushing us to the south east.  

Bird sitting on a turtle

A hot lazy day, making our own wind.

Sundown and temp dropping fast.   What a cold night.  Have to add layers for the night watches.   Al and I take 2 hr. watches but we stay on deck.  One sleeps on the beanbag while the other mostly watches for changes and other boats.

 

A beautiful clear night , stars reflecting on the calm water and a bright sliver of the moon.  Wind shifting betweeen 7kts on the nose to 

5 true on the beam to 13kts apparent, with the swell now 2-3ft still from the NW.

Tuesday Jan 23,2018

0000  off of Caleta de Campos light breeze offshore.

0400  nearing Lazaro Cardenas and the shipping lanes. Lots of shore and ship lights.

Morning comes with a hot blazing sun

0800  16 miles to Roca Negro off shore wind 11kts from ENE.still long 2-3 ft swells.

Coming into Zihua

Lots of boats already here for Sailfest.  Just enough space between Fantasia (Kay and Walt) and Northwest Passage (Donna and Tim) for us to fit.

1045 anchored in 20ft of water and about 60 ft of chain....lots of boats have to fit in close.  Love our mighty new anchor “ Rocna”.

I think the Panga fishing fleet has grown this year.

189 nm in 26hrs. Average speed 7kts.  Max speed I saw in the middle of the night was 8.8 kts.  Must have been a little surfing speed.

LAS HADAS /MANZANILLO 1/19-21/2018

Sat. Jan 20th 2018;    What a beautiful morning and no plans so we decided to walk into town alone the shore then over a hill behind some hotels then on the east side of the golf course out to the main highway. 

 It’s a great 2.5 mile walk to the main highway.  We continued on and shopped a little but I knew I needed to stop before we got to 3 miles.  Hopped on the # 8 bus that takes you to main entrance to Las Hadas at the very top of the hill and walked back down to the dinghy. That made 3 miles.  It’s a very scenic ride where you can see Santiago Bay just NW of here.

Al cooked one of our favorite meals Arrachara with grilled onions and peppers.  Yummy even without the tortillas , which I am trying to avoid.

Love the night lights here.

Sunday Jan 21,2018:     Steve took this picture from the Hotel this morning with Chez Nous and Doone neighbors again.  We met them 2 seasons ago and were neighbors in Paradise Village, even were most recently assigned their slip in PV.   So today we bought a day pass to hang out at the pool with Shelly and Walt and Steve and Shawnna.  Then had an early dinner at the Palapa as part of our day pass. 

 Appreciated the lazy day at the pool and good company.  Looking forward to the 3rd night in a row of good sleep.   It’s about 70 degrees now and the water is almost still.

Tenacatita to Las Hadas 1/19/18

Friday Jan.19,2018:    0945 underway to Barra de Navidad for fuel.

SURFS UP TODAY COMING IN TO BARRA

1150 tied up at the fuel dock and took 300 liters.  We were the only boat at the dock.  There was plenty of room to turn and back in 18 ft of water. 

1220 on our way again, we will spend time here on our way back north.   We love Barra.

The ship wreck is being cut up to be hauled away.  Progress from last year.

PIEDRA BLANCA

Los Frailes.  Just before Bahia Santiago 

 Manzanillo with lots of ships coming in and going plus at anchor....a very busy port.

Almost there.  Just around tucked up around the corner to port.   What a great day on the water. 10 -12kts on a broad reach most of the day, max 15 kts coming into the anchorage at Las Hadas.

As we came around the corner Steve Roberts, from Wind Rose called on the radio from the anchorage welcoming us. Later we all got together on Wind Rose for sea tales and making new friends (Dianna and John), from Germany who have been cruising for 7 years.   They were in the earth quake and  Sunami that hit Marina Chiapas last fall, which is way south of here.   Only three boats here now in this tranquil place.  We had such a quiet peaceful sleep last night.  Once I woke and thought we must be in a slip.

Thursday Jan.18,2018

Neither of us got any sleep last night.  It was like a very bad amusement park ride.  Rock one way then the other add a dip then a swirl accompanied by loud surf, ominous growling and gurgling sounds from the anchor bridle and various deck drains. So much noise....and we have a quiet boat, things are secured and have their own places but it sure wasn’t quiet last night.  Al was already double checking the anchor so I tried to block the noise with my ear phones.  Started with Gypsy Flame and Blues Traveler and by 0600 it was The Greatful Dead.  It’s a beautiful cove and we wanted to explore and get off the boat so we put the kayaks in the water to row ashore.   Before we got to the beach we realized it would be a very wet landing.  We did row out to tell Toccata, the other boat in the anchorage, that we had decided to leave.

The picture doesn’t look rough but the kayaks were really pulled in all directions.  You can really feel the chop the swell and the backwash.   Not difficult but a weird feeling like being in a top loaded washing machine.

Thursday Jan 18th,20218:    0945 Underway from Paraiso to Tenacatita motoring at 6kts with  little wind from aft. Long swell maybe 2-3ft.  Nice short smooth trip.  

Love making breakfast in my new Copper Chef pan.  I took almost all my other pans off the boat last summer.  Nothing sloshes out of this one.

Coming in to Tenacatita anchored at 1345 25nm in 4hrs.    Later we met Mark and Helen of Raereva (pictured above) who are from San Pedro and live five blocks from us.   Nice to be back here for the 3rd time.   Missing the grand kids though this time.

Great Coco Shrimp

Looking forward to a quiet still night and sleep.

Cruise to Zfest (Part 2)

Tuesday Jan 16th 2018 ;  0745  Underway from Ipala to Chamela motor sailing. 

 Had motor off for about 5 mins but then our speed dropped below 5 kts, which sort of is our prompt to turn the engine on.  Motoring at 6 kts against a counter current of 1 kt with main and staysail.

1500 wind at 12kts aft. We used the preventer on the main most of the day, sometimes with the genne and sometimes without.

1608 anchor down in Chamela in 36 ft of water. Calm seas and about 10 kts of breeze.   52.6 nm 8hrs and 24mins .  It was a long tiring day in the sun for JL and when a now new friend Wes from the steel sailboat Arcola came by in his kayak to invite us to meet him and two other boat owners on the beach for an earlier dinner we didn’t immediately commit but after a second thought we deployed the dinghy and were off.   This landing was much drier as the town has dredged the river so you can enter the river and pull out on a sandy bank instead of the typical surf landing.  Great shrimp/ veggie brochettes and garlic shrimp.  A dark ride back to the boat and and the regular chore of lifting the dinghy onto the davits for the night.  It’s a safety thing, so we’d be ready to leave the achorage if we had to in the middle of the night and also to help prevent theft.

Wes on  ARCOLA, Ric and Mary on QUE SERA ,Marlyn and Steve on TOCATA...and Al.   

Wednesday Jan.17th 2018 :       What a rolly uncomfortable night.  We had planned on staying a day and walking into the town of Perula but decided to move on.

1045 anchor up, no sails motoring to the other side of the bay to Parisio 8 miles to the south east.  Using the boat chart plotter, my iPad Navionics and Shawn and Heathers Cruising guide we successfully avoided all the reefs and rocks.

 

Chamela

Reef extending a quarter nm off Punta Perula 

Passing in front of Isla Parjarera and Isla Covinas.  Flat Top Point in the background.

Going in the little cove of Parisio to anchor

Anchor down at 1245 in 18 ft of water with 75 ft of chain.  Wind 8-12 kts till about 2000.  Good size swells pass by the entrance of the cove and crash into the cliffs on both sides but hardly any effect us.  We will see tonight how rolly it is.

Looks like a hippy Hotel. 

LOVELY