San Diego - October 23, 2009

We are off for Cruising Season 2! We are excited to be returning to our cruising lifestyle.

There are so many things we are looking forward to:
1)Seeing old friends and meeting new friends.
2)Exploring new places.
3)Eating at some of our favorite places: Fat Fish, Tacos in the Street, Filos.
4)Listening to local music as well as cruisers music jams.
5)Riding our new "cruising" bikes.
6)Swimming, snorkeling, kayaking.
7)Noodle parties.
8)Playing Mexican Train.
9)Warm weather, especially warm evenings.

We are joining our friends, John and Rosie, on their boat, Serena Ray, pictured above. We are departing from San Diego to Ensenada where we will obtain our visas and check into the country of Mexico. From there we will explore the Baja coast cruising towards Mazatlan where our boat, Andanzas, has been for the summer.

We leave you with this thought as you follow our adventure. "If you never did, you should. These things are fun, and fun is good." Dr. Seuss

Ventura, CA - September 28, 2009

We have continued to enjoy our time at home visiting and playing with family and friends. I have managed to work in between my play time and Wally has done some boat deliveries and boating lessons.

Wally, and Ed from Windsong, took a road trip to Mazatlan to deliver our new dingy and other items both boats felt necessary for our next cruising season. They drove down the Baja side and took the ferry from LaPaz to Mazatlan. Their return trip they drove up the Mexico mainland. They enjoyed seeing some of the anchorages and bays in the Sea of Cortez. We look forward to exploring the Sea of Cortez on Andanzas.

We have vacationed with my family at Balboa Island and enjoyed a week at the beach. I have spent time at Nacimento Lake with my brothers, sister and parents doing one of our favorite water sport, wave running. My latest trip was to New York to visit Niagra Falls with my family.

We are excited about finishing our summer and heading back to Mazatlan to pick up our boat. Our tentative departure is around October 18. We have the opportunity to join our friends, John and Rosie, on their boat Serena Ray, in San Diego and go by sea back to Mazatlan.

Ventura, California - June 16, 2009

Home....We find that our hearts are here at home with family and friends, but our adventurous spirit remains with Andanzas in Mazatlan. We had a cultural adjustment returning to the States. We returned to English as opposed to Spanglish, dollars as opposed to pesos, casual lifestyle to a fast pace lifestyle, inexpensive living to expensive living.

We returned to Ventura with our first purpose was to set up our other home on DreamCatcher. DreamCatcher did not sell while we were gone, however, it has given us a place to live during these summer months. Unfortunately, we had emptied and sold everything on the boat before we left for Mexico so we have been busy resupplying DreamCatcher.

We have been visiting family in Paso Robles, San Francisco and Orange County. It has been great to see all of our family. In addition we have seen our cruising friends Scott and Linda from Samantha. They are currently in Marina Del Rey heading north to San Francisco soon. We had Scott and Sue from Suebee with their boat in Channel Islands for a week. Wally went with them from Channel Islands to San Francisco. They have completed their cruising adventure. We have visited with Ed and Annette from Windsong and Frank and Stephanie from Endless Summer who are also home for the summer months.

I have returned to work for the summer. Work seems to interfere with our playing time, however, we are making the best of it. We spent the past week-end in Mammouth Lakes area. The mountain tops were covered with snow. The pine trees smelled so good. We had rain showers, cold and hot weather. We spent the days hiking. The good news is this is the first time in 2 years that Wally has been able to hike. The surgery he had in Mexico continues to be a success.









We have many activities planned for the summer. We will spend next week with my family at Balboa Island. I will be seeing my newest grandchild for the first time. Wally will be taking a trip in July to Mazatlan to supply Andanzas for next cruising season. In addition we will
continue to visit family and friends.

Mazatlan-May 4, 2009

We have been working on new boat projects the past weeks. We have had our teak stripped of varnish to its bare wood and our other outside wood varnished. It looks brand new. We also have added a top stainless steel rail on the side of our cockpit to make it safer. One of our friends went overboard at sea due to a broken life line so we thought we would improve our safety features. We also had additional canvas work done. We have had a tarp made to put over the top of the boat to create an air pocket between the sun and the top of the boat.

Finally, we have sold our dingy. That was one of our purchases that did not work out well for us. It was way too heavy for the two of us to beach. We have purchased a new dingy that weighs half of what we had.

I have been a student the past week. I was enrolled in an immersion Spanish course. While a goal of mine is to speak conversational Spanish I had no idea it would be so much work. They even taught the class in Spanish! and thought I would know what they said?

We are soon homeward bound. We have learned that cruising plans change all the time. We have decided not to spend the summer cruising due to the high temperatures. We will leave our boat, Andanzas, in Mazatalan for the summer. We will be returning to Ventura to spend the summer on my boat, DreamCatcher. I will return to work June 1 and work until November 1. Wally will be available again for sailing instructions and already has a boat delivery scheduled to San Francisco. We will be returning to Mexico in November to continue our cruising adventures. I am fortunate to have people who are willing to job share.

There is much to do when leaving a boat in Mexico during hurricane season. Mazatlan has not been hit by a hurricane in a number of years. We have to take all the canvas off, take sails down, secure lines, have all the food off the boat due to possible cockroaches, clean all the inside of the boat to prevent mildew. The lists goes on and on.

Wally and I have been reflecting back over our first season of cruising as it draws to an end. It is hard to convey all of our experiences. We have benefited from our experience. We have found that we can live 24/7 together and have handled many challenges over the past 8 months.

Our favorite city: Mazatlan
Our least favorite city: Puerto Vallarta
Our favorite anchorage: Las Hadas
Our least favorite anchorage: Chamala
Our favorite marina: Barra de Navidad
Our favorite village: La Cruz

What we enjoyed most: 1)meeting new friends, 2)having time, 3)freedom to do what we wanted at any time, 4)not having so many rules and laws to live by that the States has, 5.)being responsible for ourselves.

What we learned: 1)how to live and adapt to a new country, 2.)that Mexico has great medical, dental, and veterinary care, 3.)that one has to be aware of tides in Mexico, 3)radio frequencies, 4.)must use bug spray, 5.)how friendly the country is, 5.)must be watchful of fishing long lines which can be 2-3 miles long, 6.)how inexpensive it is to live in Mexico.

What we will miss while we are gone: 1)our cruising friends, 2) the weather, 3.) inexpensive living, 3) casual lifestyle

What we are looking forward to: 1) seeing family, 2)seeing friends, 3)our cars (we have not driven a car in 8 months), 4)grain sweetened chocolate covered raisins and fruit sweetened chocolate cake(Linda), 5) In-Out Burger, KFC(Wally), 6)Sharp yellow cheddar cheese, 7)Dad's biscuits and gravy(Wally), 8)cooler weather(Wally), and 9) local travel.

Angel will also be traveling home with us on the plane. She is now a trained registered Hearing Impaired Service Dog for Wally. (I can vouch for that!) Angel will sit with us on the plane. The airlines are very accommodating to service dogs.

The pictures above are of the surrounding Marina Mazatlan area.

Mazatlan-April 25, 2009

We have spent the past week enjoying our friends, Tom and Leslie, from Lancaster. They stayed in the El Cid Resort next to our marina, Marina Mazatlan. We spent time sight seeing, lounging around the pool and eating out at night. It was a vacation for us also.

One day we hired a tour guide to take us to the local historical colonial towns. One of our first stops was a local brick factory. The bricks are hand made. The workers make 1000 bricks in 12 hours for $300 pesos per day($22.70American).


We stopped in a small town, Melpeka, which had the best bakery items that we have tasted. The bakery was in a family home. The parents start baking at 2 a.m. and work until 12 noon. The aroma was smelled throughout the streets. Each item cost 5 pesos.

Another visit was the local tile maker. Each tile was handmade. The tile maker makes 200 tiles per day. They would be beautiful layed as flooring.

The town, Concordia, is known for its crafting in woodwork. 40% of its economy is in furniture and 60% is in agriculture. We watched as beautiful tables and chairs were made. If we did not all live on boats it would have been a great addition to a home.




Copala was founded in 1565 as a mining town. The town has narrow cobblestone streets. As usual with these small towns there is a Catholic Church and plaza. One of the interesting items we learned in visiting the old churches is that the crucifix was on the side wall of the church while the patron saint who the church was named after was above the alter.

One of our adventures was our new tatoos. Unforntunately Wally was allergic to the dye and had a huge reaction.









In an effort to expand our cultural experiences we attended a performance of the Festival Internacional de Danza. We wondered why it said for adults only, now we know. It was modern dancing in the nude!

Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico-April 14, 2009

We completed our last passage of this cruising season. We traveled 135 north from San Blas to Mazatlan. The highlight of the trip-it was our last overnight. While Wally and I do well completing night watches, one hour on and one hour off, we pay a price the following day. Wally gets wired and goes all day while I become cranky and sleep deprived.


We had perfect weather with 8-10 knots of wind and 1-2 feet seas. We had a beautiful sunset while watching the moon rise. What we had to watch out most for were the long lines that the fishermen seem to string all over the ocean. We are always concerned we may catch a line in our prop.


Wally says we have been at 20 different anchorages since we left home. We have been so fortunate this season not to have experienced any bad weather or bad sea conditions. I tell Wally that the Sea Gods watched over us.

We are back in Mazatlan and loving it. It feels like it is our second home. So many friends here to catch up with. So many stories to share. We have not slowed down socially since our return.



I am back to kayaking 3 days a week with a group of women, and line dancing 2 days a week. We have dingy raft up parties (happy hour) every Friday, brunch on Sunday, Pizza Tuesday night, Music at Cannuks on Monday, etc.,etc.,etc.
Life is good!

San Blas, Nyarit, Mexico-April 6, 2009

Lat 21 32 637, Long 105 17 583. We are 63 miles north of La Cruz. We had an easy passage from La Cruz to San Blas with winds 10-15 knots and seas 1-2 feet. We both said it sure felt good to be out to sea again. We saw many dolphins, manarays and sea turtles.

We are in San Blas Marina which was built about 1 year ago. It has about 15 slips and is built in a river estuary. There have been 3 to 8 boats each day in the marina. When we were here previously in January we anchored in Mantanchen Bay and the took a bus into San Blas. We have been able to experience the town far more this time be staying at the marina.



San Blas has a population of about 12,000 people which seems hard to believe. Seems far less. San Blas was previously a boat building center and port until the end of the 1800's. Currently the economy is geared toward tourism, although it appears to be local toursim. San Blas is also known as a favorite destination for bird watchers.






Along with Rick and Karen on Eyes of the World we enjoyed our second visit to La Tavara Jungle Cruise at Mantanchen Bay. Our guide was very good in describing all the birds we saw in addition to the turtles and crocodiles. Of interest we were told that crocodiles eat about 8 kg of food every 8 days and can go as long as 6 months without food. On the roadside of Mantanchen Bay there are many bakeries with their specialty being banana bread. It smells delicious as you walk along. Of course we sampled all the items.


We have enjoyed the town and people of San Blas. It has a very relaxed and casual lifestyle. One day we enjoyed the local flea market buying odds and ends. One of the best items were the shaved snow cones. They consisted of shaved ice, add strawberry juice and top it with condensed milk. Delicious!! The towns evenings are centered around the town plaza where everyone young and old hang out. There was all kinds of live music being played, in addition to children performing local dances. We were one of the few gringos in the plaza.


As I mentioned before on January 15, 2009 posting we visited the church and bells in which Longfellow wrote his last poem "The Bells of San Blas". Another piece of interesting trivia is that Longfellow never visited San Blas. He read about the bells in Harper's Magazine of 1882.





We did some local sight seeing with our friends Ed and Annette on Wind Song. We visited La Contaduria which was a fort built in 1529 overlooking the vicinity of San Blas. In addition there was an old church and cemetary to view. From there we sampled the local cuisine and found our favorite taco stand.

We will be leaving tomorrow for Mazatlan.