Bill Finkelstein & Mary Mack's Blog
We want to wish you all a very Happy New Year Tomorrow!
We had an uneventful passage around Cabo Corrientes on Saturday, had dinner and spent the night in Ipala.
Ipala is one of our favorite anchorages. Not because it's such a beautiful anchorage - which is is. And not because it's a great anchorage - it's pretty marginal. But because they have 3 beach Palapas and serve the best Lobsters in Mexico (at least that we've run across so far).
We each had a plate of Langostas con Mojo de Ajo (grilled lobster with Garlic). We each got 3 large lobsters halves - we think over a kilo total. Absolutely, fantastic! And only 240 pesos per plate (about $19 US).
OK, lobster is not on our diet. But remember - it's a lifestyle diet we're on, not a religion! We do stick to the diet most days - but when the opportunity presents itself for a truly wonderful meal - we have no qualms whatsoever and go for it!
Saturday night wasn't a great sleep night as our anchor chain was grinding away on some rocks on the bottom of Ipala bay. All the noise of the chain grinding on the bottom is transmitted up to our cabin in the forward section of the boat. Also, as the chain caught on the rocks it was pretty jerky. Oh bother.
The next morning (Sunday), we were up at first light (7 am) and continued on to Chamela.
Chamela was crowded with many Mexican Families in for the holiday weekend. We were thrilled as a few of the Palapas again had live music. It was much more lively than last year.
On Monday, we walked the beach and had lunch at Manualita's Restaurant. We stopped at the tortilla factory in town and bought a kilo of fresh corn tortillas for 10 pesos ($0.80 US).
Monday afternoon it blew about 25 knots in the anchorage from the South. So it was pretty lumpy until late in the afternoon when the wind died and was dead flat calm all night.
This morning, Tuesday, we were off again for Tenacatita. We motored in continued calm seas with only a few knots of land breeze and arrived at 1130AM.
Only about a dozen boats in here so far, down from the thirty or so here last year.
Tomorrow we head into Barra de Navidad for New Years.
That's the latest from Raptor Dance.
Warmest Regards,
Bill & Mary
We are enroute to one of our favorite anchorages, Ipala. We left Paradise Village at 7AM (Central) this morning to a beautiful sunrise.
As we are going to be on the go and anchoring out until New Years Eve - please use our Winlink address (the one this message is coming from) to reach us.
Remember if you use it:
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We got our engine heat exchanger on Tuesday, the 23rd. "Teapot Tony" the Mechanic, put it in the morning of the 24th. We did a test run and the engine was working great again.
Later in the day we went to a lovely Christmas Eve dinner at the Vallarta Yacht Club and had a very relaxing 25th.
Sunday, we did all the important provisioning. First the Chocolate ladies at Xocodiva in downtown PV. We picked up 2 kilos of 70% dark (should last us a few weeks). Then for groceries, we went to Mega Commercial and Costco. Getting back to the boat, we stowed everything, got the boat ready to depart, made dinner, watched a few DVDs and turned in. This morning, off we went!
We left a bit later than we originally planned due to the engine problems, but we still intend to stop at Ipala and Chamela before arriving in Barra de Navidad on New Years Eve. We'll continue on to many of our other favorite places: Santiago Bay and Tenacatita at the end of January.
Happy Holidays to you all!
Bill & Mary
SV Raptor Dance
20 34 N
105 28 W
Yes, it has been a long time since we posted an update. We are fine and frisky. We just got caught up in the local action when we returned to Mexico.
It certainly was an experience. In that moment some spots were "not fun". That would be sliding through the dark (headlights only) tunnel being able to propel ourselves only by our elbows. It was so narrow and low that we had to be on our bellies in the wet mud for too long of a passage. It was interesting and beautiful in spots. That made up somewhat for the drop into cold muddy water and the caked on mud. We went in looking dorky with the overalls, kneepads, gloves helmets and headlights, and just came out as a complete muddy mess…not a spa treatment.
The cake was in the shape of a duck which was a bit hit. As many of you know Bill grew up on a farm with a pet duck, named Ritz Quackers. Bill thinks the duck imprinted on him. Mary thinks Bill imprinted on the duck!
This is a new marina and the work is still in progress but the slips are in as well as the very nice shower facilities, restaurant and Sky Bar. The view from the Sky Bar is great, looking out over the breakwater to the water. This evening it was also used for a perverted game of dodge ball, Instead of avoiding the ball, the aim was to catch the water filled balloons (that's Bill waiting to try to catch the Balloon). Very tough. But everyone was in great spirits and willing to give it a try. Few, very few succeeded. After everyone dried off we had a fun party at the local cruisers' hangout: Philo's Bar.
December 6th was the 9th annual charity Chili Cookoff here at the Vallarta Yacht Club. We thought we would retire undefeated after our last two wins here and the one at Sail Fest in Zihuatanejo, but we got seduced into entering again. With our new diet, we devised a batch of Very Low Fat, Salt, unsweetened Vegan Chili.
When you last heard from us it was February and we were anchored in Tenacatita on our way north to Puerto Vallarta. After a couple of days catching up with sailing friends who were in Tenacatita we left for Chamela. What a great trip that was! We saw whales, dolphins, turtles and lots of feeding birds and fish. Unfortunately I did not have any of our hand lines out to catch any of those fish. The truth is that we had not been catching many fish which lead to less fishing. In fact we sold our (like new) fishing polls and gear when we were in Barra. Our friends, who are much better fisherman catch way more fish than they can use – so we've still been enjoying frequent, fresh, free seafood! Real fisherman have a variety of techniques that they use, including kites on helium balloons to keep the bail lightly on the surface. Who knew!
Chamela was very quiet at this time. There were only a dozen boats in the anchorage. It seems that Barra was the favorite place to be for cruisers this season. Some mornings there would be as many as 70 boats sign in on the Barra morning net. We were on a roll so the next morning at first light we raised anchor and headed to Ipala.
Many people don't bother going into Ipala because it is a small cove which is partly taken up with the local fishing pangas and a few fishing pens and the town is small, very small. BUT, we have had the best lobster dinners there. We like it. In fact, as we pulled in I think our mouths were already watering for some yummy lobster. We invited the other couple of boats to go with us and we headed to shore.
Hopes dashed! They did not have any lobster but we did have a great Huachinango (whole red snapper), a good time and made new friends. As long as boats anchor in a reasonable fashion (not anchoring right in the middle) there is room for at least 6 boats inside. More can anchor a little further out but it is not quite as protected.
We left early the next morning and enjoyed the beautiful sunrise as we rounded Cabo Corrientes. The wind was blowing 20 knots but as soon as we rounded we were in flat seas and virtually no wind. We still had whales breaching around us as we crossed the bay. By early afternoon we were back and tied up in paradise Marina. We feel like we have so many homes now. It felt just like coming home when we pulled in, as it does when we go to Barra or back to Santa Rosa.
This year the weather was much cooler. I often needed a light wrap in the evening. Right now it is perfect weather for me but a little warm for Bill. It's in the 80's during the day and high 70's in the evening. We received reports that in March there were days of fog in the Barra area. That was a first. We have never seen fog. Plus there was a serious red tide around the same time. It's only now in May that the temperatures are approaching normal. It will be interesting to see what the weather is like in the Sea of Cortez this year.
Here in Nuevo Vallarta we saw, for a day or two at the end of April, what looks like lots of soap suds piling up on the beach. The locals say this is caused by warm and cold water meeting. Actually we think it is the protein by-product of the red tide organisms dying out at sea. Not a normal occurrence around here.
It was good being back in Paradise. We were able to visit and celebrate my birthday with Cindy and Scott on SV Beach House, a Switch 51' catamaran. Then we were able to spend time and celebrate my birthday with Linda of condo fame and our friends, Carl, Yvette, Joel and Kyle from SV Liberty before they made the "puddle jump" to the Marquesas and South Pacific. What!? Yes. We do believe in the two party system. And Liberty has arrived and is already enjoying the islands. It was good getting reconnected with our buddies here.
Then family, my brother Joe, his wife Ginny, son Rob with his wife Sue, plus their children Andrea and Eric arrived in style on a cruise ship. It was our good fortune that they had a long shore time. We were able do a bit of exploring in Puerto Vallarta with them and show them what life is like in Nuevo Vallarta.
Later that evening, we went to the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens for their members' appreciation dinner, we had a great time with food, drink and fantastic fireworks right overhead. The Botanical Gardens is a great non-profit that also supports the local school system. We also visited the gardens again later with our friends Scott and Cindy.
On February 19th the new board was elected for the Vallarta Yacht Club. Bill had agreed and was elected Treasurer. The committee knew they were getting a good man but never did they expect what was coming. Every day, except during the Banderas Bay Regatta and a few odd days, Bill has spent in the yacht club and on the computer either there or on the boat totally revising the club. He has gone through all the documents, files, accounts, accounting systems and procedures, computing systems, ISP relationships, WiFi and bank accounts since it's inception. He has revised procedures, simplifying and improving them; implemented a budget (something new); instituted cash controls; done a complete audit; changed banks; changed web hosting providers and totally redid the website.
He has been working with the managers and staff every step of the way so they know how to follow through. You know Bill, he has totally redone the yacht club website and continues to improve it. Enough said…the list would go on and on. This did limit our activities greatly but Bill really enjoyed doing it. It makes me think that maybe he would enjoy getting back into business (comment from Bill: "NOT!"). You can see the results of the website rebuild at http://vallartayachtclub.org
While Bill was spending time at the yacht club, I used some of that time to take over the boat and spread out all the pearls, gems and jewelry making paraphernalia. I love the creative aspect, designing pieces that are unique. The logistics of taking a piece in my imagination to its end is sometimes a challenge but always fun. They all become one of a kind pieces. I have also been able to help other women with jewelry problems and teach techniques.
In between all that we had some boating fun. Vallarta Race Week in Banderas Bay was a little different this year. It was composed of The San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race, The Mexorc Race, The Governor's Cup and The Banderas Bay Regatta (BBR). There was a lot going on!
We hosted 2 boats from the San Diego to PV Race, Holua and Beowulf, both from the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey. This amounted to greeting them with buckets of beer, tequila and anything else we could think of and helping them in any way we could. The finish line was at Punta Mita at the north end of the bay. That gave us a little notice of the approximate time they would arrive. Plus we (and anyone) could track the boats on their route down the coast on-line. Only one boat did not show up on-line…something about their transponder not working. We were lucky. Our boats arrived during daylight.
Mexorc was mainly Mexican boats. The BBR overlapped the Mexorc races. Each one of these events had evening activities planned. There was no lack of sailors, family and friends enjoying the music, food, drink and sailing stories.
We had planned to race Raptor Dance and our friends Lani and June (our ringers) came down to enjoy and help us. But we do need 7 or even 8 crew to race. The two of us are fine cruising but racing is a different animal. Actions need to happen fast and sometimes in tight quarters. Finding additional crew was difficult. There are fewer sail boats and fewer sailors in Paradise. Many of the slips are filled with powerboats or by commuter cruisers. A friend of a friend on Huma Huma, a catamaran, was also having the same difficulty. If we had the courage to wait until two days before the race, we would have had crew. Some sailing friends, who would be crew, arrived at the last minute. Before that time came though we had decided to crew on Huma Huma with the plan that if anything broke (or whatever) on Huma Huma, we would continue on Raptor Dance. We were already registered.
It was interesting and quite different racing on a catamaran. The feel is totally different. Instead of healing (leaning) the cat runs along flat. It doesn't give the same sense of speed even though we were going 20+ knots at times – about 2 1/2 times our normal speed on Raptor Dance. It actually made us love our boat all the more, no offense to Huma Huma. Tacking may be easier on this Cat but preparing and popping the spinnaker is a breeze on ours. The boat did very well. The majority of the crew were experienced racers and all were captains. You should have seen those "meetings"! We came in first in our class. It was a great team effort. A few of the crew may be on our boat next year. We'll plan further ahead for next year.
While Lani and June were here, we took time for a road trip! We ventured inland to the little towns of San Sebastian de Oeste and Mascota. Until the last year, these towns were only reachable over a dirt road. You also had to ford a river. Recently a new bridge was built and the paved road was finished. Now you can drive all the way from Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara on this new mountain road. It's very scenic and the villages are still pretty much untouched. This is a major historic silver mining area and there is a lot of history here.
It's now early May and Bill is pretty much finished with all the projects at the yacht club. We are completing a few boat chores to do in preparation for the summer. We are again leaving the boat in Paradise Marina, the safest place in case of any storms. Banderas Bay has never had a hurricane.
We did take time out on Saturday to do another Canopy Tour. So far, we've counted at least 5 different Canopy Tour operators here in Banderas Bay. Each has it's own character. This one, Canopy La Vista, is not as long, fast or exciting as El Eden or Los Veranos, but it has great views of Banderas Bay – hence the name. It also uses a different pulley technology. With their system, you use a glove with a thick pad to both steer and brake – very interesting and quite different. It actually has a number of advantages in that you are more stable around the vertical axis with this system so you have more opportunity to look around.
Particularly noticeable during the canopy tour is how dry it currently is. We're just at the end of the dry season. The mountains in particular are as dry and brown as California. In June the summer rains start again. When they do, look out! It's normal here to get many inches of rain per hour during a summer thunder storm. When we arrived back in October, the last storm of the season dropped 2 inches of rain in half an hour. Don, the weather guru, calls Puerto Vallarta in Summer "web foot city" and for good reason.
Thursday, we will begin our drive north to Santa Rosa, plant some tomatoes and drink some good Sonoma County wine.
We hope you all are well and enjoying this Spring. We love hearing from you.
We raised anchor at the Las Hadas anchorage at 930 AM this morning, starting our journey back up to Puerto Vallarta, with planned stops in Tenacatita, Chamela and Ipala.
This was our Southern most destination this year.
On our way South, we stopped at Bahia de Chamela for Christmas. We had a lovely time again with very few cruisers and mostly local families. Only 3 boats were anchored in the bay on Christmas day. Festivities were more subdued than last year as the economy in Mexico, as in the US is in a bit of a slump. No live Mariachi bands this year, just recorded music.
Coming down from PV to Chamela, we were a little concerned as our speed was about 3/4 knot slower than expected. We thought it might be due to an adverse current, which it partially was, but when I (Bill) dove in the boat I saw that the bottom was quite dirty and needed cleaning.
Before we left Puerto Vallarta, we asked Guillermo the Diver clean bottom, but this time, his sons did it - he's breaking them into the business. His kids only cleaned the first 3 feet down! The keel, especially the bottom, looked like a forest!
I started cleaning, free diving. One hour into it, I felt a Jellyfish sting on my arm. Ouch! I knocked off for the day. The next day I continued with my thin 1 MM dive skin on. No more problems. The third day, I continued working on the bottom with SCUBA and got the keel, the bottom of the keep and prop clean, the way we like them!
Interestingly, we just had the bottom done in October, but the water down here is so warm that the sea life grows really fast! Even with new bottom paint.
After a few days in Chamela of work and play, we continued on to Tenacatita Bay.
This is another lovely anchorage that's a favorite of many of the cruisers here in Mexico. Some folks stay for months!
Chris and Heather Stockard of SV Legacy ( http://legacysailing.com ) had just left to head South to Central America with their two Portuguese Water Dogs, Kira and Minnow. Chris and Heather as you may remember, served as "Mayor" and "First Lady" of Tenacatita for the last two years, organizing the daily swim to the beach, Bocci Ball, Dominoes, Volleyball and the weekly dingy raft up/cocktail party. With the loss of leadership, the anchorage was very mellow and quiet.
It wasn't until after we left that things got organized again. We're heading back today to Tenacatita, so we'll report on how it is. At it's peak, a few years ago, some called it "Camp Tenacatita" because of it's activities and organization. Hopefully, it remains mellower than that.
On New Years eve, we pulled into Isla Navidad Marina, where we stayed until Feb 2nd. We had a delightful stay re-exploring one of our favorite areas. A new Italian Restaurant, "Profumo di Sole", opened up run by a delightful couple from Bolonia, Italy. The Pasta is all made in the restaurant and everything is fantastic! The prices are also quite reasonable, especially considering the quality.
They have prosciutto on the menu, but we couldn't have it the first few times we visited since their slicer was broken. Mary, Carl (from SV Liberty) and I spent a couple of hours one afternoon fixing it, so we could enjoy their lovely appetizer with great local melon!.
The start of the month of January seemed to drag slowly by as we didn't get into the rhythm and we didn't have enough friends in town to socialize with. The end of the month flew by however as more and more people arrived. The second week of January was the low with only a dozen boats in the Marina and Lagoon. By the end of the month, there were over 60. I think we'll come down a touch later next year.
Back in Puerto Vallarta in December, Mary took and passed her amateur radio Extra Class License exam and also the test to become a Volunteer Examiner. In January, Dean of Emily B, Mary and I held a ham exam aboard Emily B in the Barra Lagoon. 5 folks showed up and 4 passed their exams. A very successful session. We think this was the first session held afloat in the Barra Lagoon. "The French Baker" catered the continental breakfast we had available for everyone.
On Feb 2nd, we left Barra to visit the Manzanillo area. We spent a night in Santiago Bay, having dinner with our friends Patti and Frosty from SV Angelfish; a night anchored in Ensenada Carrizal and two nights in the Las Hadas anchorage.
In Las Hadas, we visited Stan and MJ formerly of the Valiant 40, Sol Mate, who sold their boat and bought a "fixer upper" near the town of Santiago. Gosh, they've already done a lot, but have a ways to go on their lovely home.
As I type this, we're just off the coast about a mile, about halfway between Manzanillo and Tenacatita...
Later, we dropped anchor this afternoon in Tenacatita at 2:30 PM CST.
That's the news from Raptor Dance!
Warmest Regards,
Bill & Mary
We actually cast off our lines and headed out at 4AM yesterday, Dec 23rd. Leaving our home slip in Paradise Village until our planned return on Feb 15th.
We rounded Cabo Corrientes at 9 am with light wind and lumpy seas and motored all the way down to Bahia de Chamela. The seas continued lumpy, with 6-8 foot swells, mainly from behind. Their period was pretty short, so we could only make about 6 knots.
Further dampening our spirits, it was overcast with a light fog, so visibility was only about 4 miles. Cool too, courtesy of a "Pineapple Express": high level clouds that blow up from the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the ICTZ. So we were sitting there grumbling all day in light jackets. Granted in was still in the 60s and low 70s, but hey, this is Mexico, not Canada!
We arrived in Chamela just after dark and anchored 350 yards offshore in 25 feet of water (at low tide). This morning in Chamela, the clouds have parted and are making their exit. It's warming up too, in the 70s already at 830 AM (CST).
Chamela is on of our favorite anchorages, especially for Christmas Day. Hundreds of Mexican families descend on the bay for the week, with their kids, grandparents... sisters and their cousins, who they recon up by dozens, and their aunts (with apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan)...
Many of the palapa restaurants on the beach have Mariachis. Cart vendors are on the beach too selling everything from beach toys, we especially like the cocodrilo (inflatable crocodile) to elote (corn on the cob on a stick).
Right now, there are only 4 boats in this anchorage that could easily hold 50 or more.
We find it hard to understand why most of our cruising friends try to get to a port with a major gathering of boaters to go to a Christmas potluck with other (mostly) Canadians and Americans - when they could experience this fantastic cultural fiesta!
You can see our pictures from past years (2004 and 2006) on our website at http://raptordance.com
You can also get our current position and our track for the last 90 days on our site too, click on the "Position" and "Last 90d" links on the menu bar just below our homepage pictures to pull these up.
We're away from the Internet until we get to our next port (Barra de Navidad), just after New Years - so our Winlink or Sailmail addresses are the best way to reach us for the next week or so.
I'm sending this from my Winlink address which is slow speed radio email so PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE AND SEND OUR MESSAGE BACK TO US. Either send us a new message or delete the text of our message in your reply.
We love hearing from you all, so don't hesitate to drop us a note, but just send us what you personally type. No photos, other attachments and no forwards please!
Warmest Regards and Happy Holidays!
Bill and Mary
There have been a lot of changes in Mexico in the last three years, so an update to our article in Latitude 38 in 2006 is in order.
We've been actively cruising on our Valiant 50, Raptor Dance, since we headed out the Golden Gate and turned left in Sept 2004. We'd like to share with you some of our more offbeat observations and recommendations on from the Ha-Ha's XI and XIII We would like to stress that these are our opinions, based on what we've learned along the way. Your mileage may vary!
Whether your just doing the Ha-Ha as a vacation experience or as the start of long term cruising, we hope you find this information useful. You can find more information about some of these topics on the links in the article or on our website at http://raptordance.com.
There's lots of information out there on how to prepare for the Baja Ha-Ha and your escape to the cruising life . One of the best is Latitude 38's own "First Timer's Guide To Mexico" - available online at the Baja Ha-Ha website: http://www.baja-Ha-Ha.com/Guide/index.html.
What's New: Provisioning in Mexico is even easier!
Many of the Super Mercados have a much greater range of ingredients than before. We've even found previously hard to find ingredients such as high quality Washington State Apples, good quality lamb, Balsamic vinegar, Asian sesame oil and chop sticks. US products and brands are available, but may be a tad more expensive. Some markets such as Commercial, Soriana and
Gigante have displays of goods from Costco!
Crackers, other than the basic saltines and Ritz, are still very expensive if you can find them at all. US cereal brands are available, but pricey.
Provisioning is a challenge up in the Sea of Cortez, so be sure to stock up in La Paz or Mazatlan before heading up.
Don't overlook the local markets! You'll find both weekly markets, such as the Tuesday market in Jarretaderas (near Nuevo Vallarta) to the huge public markets open daily in Mazatlan, La Paz and other cities these offer interesting and sometimes exotic foods at low prices.
Great wine is still hard to find, so bring it with you, enjoy the "drinkable" Mexican or Chilean wines – they're still much better than $2 you-know-who or better yet, enjoy the beer and margaritas!
Entering Mexico
In 2006, only frozen Beef was confiscated in Cabo. In 2004 chicken and fresh eggs were also taken. This mainly only happened to boats who pulled into the Marina – sometimes just to get fuel. To be safe, all beef should be gone from your freezer before arriving in Cabo. We don't have any reports of food being confiscated in Ensenada - but enforcement varies widely in Mexico.
Mexican Charts are way off
Both paper and electronic charts of Mexico are unreliable. They're generally at least 1 to 3 miles off - except in busy harbors, where they're pretty accurate. We recommend relying on the wisdom in Raines Cruising Guides or the Cunningham Guides to the Sea of Cortez. Charlie's Charts are a good supplement to the above, but a little dated.
What is pretty good and free of charge is Google Earth! http://earth.google.com. We often download and print a chart of a new anchorage with the lat/lon grid turned on for a spot-on aerial chart of the area. Google Earth is so good, you can use it to plot the narrow channel into the Lagoon at Barra de Navidad. We posted the Google Earth channel boundaries, course in and anchorage boundaries for the Barra Lagoon from SV Legacy on our website at: http://raptordance.com/KMZ/BarraLagoonWaypoints.kmz See their website at http://www.legacysailing.com/local_knowledge/tenacatita_and_barra.htm for other waypoints and a writeup on the area. All the usual disclaimers apply, not for navigation - if you run aground it's your own fault, etc...
Maps of Mexico are also improving. In mid-September 2007, Google added free street maps for 54 countries, among them Mexico! http://maps.google.com
"Boat Cards" are a great idea!
When you meet all your new friends on the Ha-Ha and later while cruising, you will want to exchange contact information. You'll make so many new friends that you'll wish everyone put their pictures on their cards rather than a picture of their boat!
A few weeks after meeting a bunch of new friends, the pictures are extremely valuable in remembering who's who.
Boat cards are like business cards and should supply information about you, your boat and contact info, We suggest including your picture, name(s), boat name, boat type, email addresses (Sailmail, Winlink, etc.), mailing address, cell/sat phone, and any other information you'd like to share that fits on the card.
You can print your cards yourself on your computer printer using business card paper from an office supply store or you can use a commercial printer. We've found that some of the Internet printing companies do a really great job at a fairly low cost. We use Vistaprint they have great service, low prices, high quality and rapid turn around.
Buy an appetizer/potluck cookbook and use it!
You will be going to a lot of cruisers potlucks in Mexico. Your first will likely be during the Ha-ha at Turtle Bay.
After awhile, you will get very tired of the same old contributions. Come on folks, bring something more than chips and dip or a bag of carrots!
It's not very hard to make very tasty finger foods or even entrees! Fresh ingredients are very little trouble to find and use in Mexico – so let your tastes run wild!
Enjoy the Local Culture
You are in a fascinating country with a rich family oriented culture full of great traditions, music, dance and interesting quirks. Lot's of cruisers never get away from the cruisers' culture (yes, we have one) to sample what our great host country has in store. It will also help you learn Spanish.
Look around, enjoy what the locals enjoy! For example, on a local Puerto Vallarta bus last year we saw a poster (in Spanish) for a match at the local Lucha Libre school gymnasium. We went, it was so much fun, we took some other cruisers to a larger match later in the season – everyone had a fantastic time.
Radios are your lifeline
Marine VHF and SSB are the primary means of communicating in Mexico and beyond. Make sure your radios work and you know how to use them. Check them out completely before you leave!
If you have a Uniden VHF, see the August 2007 issue of Latitude for information. You'll probably have to send it in to be updated to not have problems in Mexico or elsewhere in the world. Most Uniden VHF radios are not set up to function outside the US. Send me an email if you want more information.
Marine SSB is highly recommended
Yes, you can do the Ha-Ha and cruise with just a Marine VHF radio, but in Mexico and the South Pacific, Marine SSB and Ham Radio are the only way you can keep in touch with the cruisers' radio networks. These nets are a valuable source of weather and current destination information. You can also use them to keep in touch with the many new friends you will make along the way.
Marine VHF is uses radio frequencies that only work over the "line of sight" between the antennas at each end of the conversation, so it's rare that it will work over more than about 20 miles for a mast head antenna, 5 miles or so for handhelds.
Marine SSB uses radio frequencies that can, on the lower frequencies, refract a little around the curvature of the earth and, on the higher frequencies, bounce off the ionosphere. So you can reliably communicate over distances of hundreds or thousands of miles. If you pick the right frequency for the time of day, season, weather on the Sun, and a few other factors. Fortunately, there's a computer program that's available for free that figures this all out for you (ICEPAC – see below).
ICOM makes the most reliable Marine SSB radios. We have the 710RT, they're stable and rock solid. The newer ICOM-802 model has had some problems but they're fixed on new radios – check with your supplier to make sure. If you have an older ICOM-802, make sure you don't have the "clipping" problem that would require sending the radio back to ICOM for updating. You can also refer to the Technical Note from ICOM which includes a contact phone number and email address for questions.
Test the radio by setting up a contact with another boat or one of the radio nets and making sure your audio quality is up to snuff. Don't just talk to someone nearby, try making a contact at least a few hundred miles away.
In addition to the radio, you will need a Marine Pleasure Vessel license. These are available from your government (here in the US, the FCC) for a small fee. No test is required.
We highly recommend also getting an Amateur Radio (Ham) license. This requires study, but almost anyone with the determination to get one can learn what's needed. There are many courses that can tutor you through the whole process. Morse code is no longer required so getting your license is much easier than in the past.
Marine and Ham can both use the same equipment. Marine Radios are allowed to be sold that can transmit and receive on the Ham bands – but not vice versa. Both Marine and Ham use Single Sideband (SSB) transmission in the radio High Frequency (HF) range – between 2 and 30 Megahertz – the difference is in the particular frequency ranges (bands) assigned to each service. Cruisers jargon is a bit sloppy however: SSB is usually used to refer just to Marine HF SSB communication.
Wireless Internet (WiFi) is almost everywhere
We've even hit an open access point in the from La Manzanilla in the Tenacatita anchorage. The regular adapter on your computer just won't cut it though for access from your boat. You'll need a better WiFi adapter or antenna of some sort.
Our recommendation is to keep things very simple. Remember, you'll be in Mexico and unless you run across a cruising computer geek, you'll need to do your own tech support. See our article on
Using WiFi While Cruising" for more details.
Sailmail and/or Winlink are the way to go for email.
Wireless Internet is now found in many places in the world, but not everywhere and not at sea. If you need to keep in touch with your family or work, you may need a satellite phone. For those of us who are full time cruisers, Sailmail (http://www.sailmail.com) and Winlink (http://www.winlink.org) provide reliable, low cost text only email.
These services also let you file position reports so your family and friends can see where you are. This is especially nice on long passages. See my writeup on "Position Reporting and how we do it" for more info.
Sailmail is a non-profit operation, it's annual fee of $250 goes to support the station network. For this fee, you can send and receive 90 minutes of email per week. This is enough for most folks to keep in touch with work, friends and family. You will need a standard pleasure vessel ("PL") Marine license from the FCC (or your country's government if not the US).
Winlink, on the other hand, uses amateur (Ham) radio, so you will need a Ham radio "General" class license or above.
We highly recommend the SCS PTC-II Pro or USB radio modems. Lower cost units just aren't as reliable or fast. The optional extra Pactor III Permit is recommended if you have more than a couple of emails a day. Pactor III increases the effective speed of the radio link.
Also, make sure your modem can and you've got the cables to have your radio modem command your radio to change frequencies. You will do a lot of frequency changes on your radio, it's much more convenient to be able to drive everything from your PC.
Jim Corenman's Airmail program is available for free and supports both email services, see http://www.airmail2000.com. Be sure to also download and install the free propagation program "ICEPAC". This is the magic program that helps you figure out the best frequency to use. It integrates seamlessly into Airmail and is very easy to use. You must make sure that your computer clock is set properly and your location is also entered correctly – the later is real easy if you have a GPS hooked up to your computer.
Make sure you get everything hooked up and try sending and receiving email before you leave. This is very important as forgotten parts are hard to come in Mexico.
Also, check to see if you have interference when transmitting email in your other systems. If you do – either solve the problem before you leave or learn to live with it. It's not uncommon for your transmissions to light the pilot lights on your power panel on some or all of the "off" circuit breaker, cause your autopilot to do strange things (ours "snake wakes") or even crash your PC.
We once spent 2 days exploring radio stores in La Paz looking for parts to help another cruiser out. When transmitting on some radio frequencies their radio caused their computer keyboard and mouse to act like a chimpanzee was trying to write Shakespeare. We ultimately gave up trying to find the ferrite filters to put on their keyboard and mouse cable in Mexico. They just avoided the problematic frequencies until they could get and install the filters.
Cell and Satellite Phones
Cellular coverage is surprisingly good in Mexico. Coming down on the Ha-ha XIII we found we had coverage with AT&T (Cingular) in Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria. On New Years Day 2007, the new cell tower in Tenacatita came online, so it's getting even harder to escape.
However, unless you do your homework and get the right cellular rate plan, the per minutes prices can be pretty horrendous.
The different cell phone providers keep altering what plans they offer, so you'll need to check. If you have Verizon, look into their "North America Choice" plan. If you have AT&T Cingular, you may be able to get their "North America" plan. These plans let you use your US base minutes to, from, and in Canada and Mexico with no long distance or roaming charges.
If you're not able to get such a rate plan, consider getting a "Prepaid" phone in Mexico They're readily available.
Warning! If you have an iPhone - make sure you turn off it's data features. There are no good data plans available in Mexico and folks have racked up huge bills without warning, since the iPhone love to chat with the servers back home to see if you have any mail or other messages.
Our Iridium Satellite phone is often less expensive per minute than roaming with a cell phone. We found a store that sells prepaid Iridium time for $1/minute. Also, you have 1 year to use the minutes and if you renew, unused minutes roll over. You can also use your Iridium for email and data, but very slowly – it runs much slower than dialup, only 2400 bits per second (dialup typically runs up to 56,000 bits per second).
On the other hand, you might just do without a cell phone all together (don't forget you're cruising!) and use Skype when you have Internet connectivity.
Spares
It's likely that parts for your boat and boat systems will be hard to get in Mexico You can get parts for some brands pretty easily e.g. Mercury outboards, Yanmar Diesels. Others, like our Westerbeke engine and Nissan outboard are much more difficult. We'd recommend taking lots of spares – particularly consumables like oil filters, fuel filters, belts, raw water impellers, etc. Motor oil is readily available so that's not a problem.
Bottom paint is twice the price, so bring enough along if you're going to repaint in Mexico
Spares can be shipped into Mexico with a bit of effort. When you're in San Diego, stop in and open an account at the Ha-ha sponsors: Downwind Marine and West Marine. Many of the San Diego chandleries can have parts walked across the boarder and put on in-country transit to get it to you. Downwind can also sometimes find other cruisers who will bring parts to you on their way South.
In conclusion:
The Ha-ha is a great way to meet your fellow cruisers and have a fun time heading down to Mexico. Mexico is a blast! We hope to see you down here.
