January ‘97
*Additional notes may appear in italics after my mom’s initial journal entries.
A ladybug means you should check the comments at the bottom of the page to see what Mom has chimed in on after reading these!
January 1, 1997, Wednesday
We got a ride down to Marina Palmyra and left a note for Nanamuk. We met a friend of theirs, Dick from Because. He had driven down and brought some batteries and other stuff for Rob. He gave us a ride back to our marina.
Watched the Rose Bowl – Arizona State vs. Ohio took it back – 20 to 17.
January 2, Thursday
The wait is on – Nanamuk will be in tonight around 8 pm. It cost $20 U.S. for a taxi – so we’ve decided not to do that.
It was a busy morning getting all the last-minute stuff done. We even tried to fit in some school, but gave it up.
We got a fax from Colleen – no gossip to pass on.
Rob and Grace gave us a call on VHF at 9:45 pm, they were at Marina Palmyra and saw the other Wandrin’ Star. So we got racing up to the gate – no Nanamuk – oh well at least they’re here safely.
*Awe, our little hearts must have been so jazzed, running up to see them! We must have all been so excited to see each other that it didn’t register to them that the other Star didn’t look like ours (we are the only Islander Freeport I’ve seen with an added hard dodger) or that we knew they were in Marina Palmira, not Marina de La Paz. Too funny.
January 3, Friday
Miss Teak II, and Jazz left this morning. We’ll catch up. Got a ride to Palmyra and spent the day catching up with Rob, Grace, Alan and Jelly. They had 3.5 foot of snow and had a hell of a time getting out of Canada. It was so good to see them again. They’ll be in La Paz for quite a while working on the boat before they get to P.V.
We called Danielle for her B-day (on the 8th) all is well.
*I’m surprised I don’t remember more about seeing Nanamuk, maybe because it was such a short visit. I think we went out to eat and apparently they came with us to our boat for a bit. I think this would come to be one of the last times we really got to hang out with each other before they headed out to the Marquesas for their circumnavigation. Behind me in the last photo are what would become the infamous leaky cabinets, with the loose stanchions on the deck above. The cabinet between us is where all the anchor chain was stored.
January 4, Saturday
We left La Paz at 7 am heading for Los Muertos. I think we had most every wind direction except north. Leaving La Paz was 15 to 20 knots once we rounded out into the channel it was either flat calm or 5-10k on our nose. I had to avoid a fishing buoy at the last minute – (20k), then we caught the fishing line on it. Away went the line until it finally broke. Thought we had a huge one there for a minute.
We were anchored at 5 pm – there are 12 other botas in here. Jazz is still here, but Miss Teak II went on down to Los Frailes.
We just met Tom and Pam from Imagine, they came by, they are also going to the Socorros.
Lisa came over for a while to visit while John got his weather faxes. Nice peaceful night.
*Ok so I asked Mom how the weather faxes worked. She checked with Dad who explained they were sent from a weather forecasting group called NOAA, who sent the info through the HAM radio and it was able to show on our DOS computer system. I assume it was translated through morse code and Dad was able to see how the winds were shaping up in the areas around us or where we were headed. They looked like this.
January 5, Sunday
We talked to Jim, Summer Wind in Mazatlan. They have to fix their transmission.
We left Los Muertos at 7 am, motor-sailed with 0-10k all day. The mountains are a pretty green. It is finally getting warm – I’m in shorts and a t-shirt rather than sweats! We made it into Los Frailes at 3:30 and are anchored next to Miss Teak II. This is a big open bay – no town or anything except a lot of fishing pangas.
January 6, Monday
School – John went diving on Lee’s hookah, along with Bob and Charlie. Some pretty little fish, but not much else.
We moved up a little and re-anchored to get a better spot. The north wind is blowing 10-12k with a possibility of becoming stronger.
John took apart his reel on the big rod and cleaned it for the “big ones” to come.
Samie made a Wandrin’ Star flag and hung it out on the line with the radar reflector which John went up the mast and fixed this morning.
Spent some time at Miss Teak II.
*There’s a chance I made more than one WRS flag over the years, but the flag I am recalling was cut from some pink fabric I had and I think I drew a picture of the Wandrin’Star on it, but I’m really not sure.
January 7, Tuesday
We left Los Frailes at 6:45 am with 10k out of the north and a little lumpy to begin with. Soon enough, it smoothed out with a light breeze which held nicely for the first 4 hours. The next hour it died out altogether, but low and behold the last 3 hours when we came up on the point the wind line could be seen from a ways back. Imagine was ahead and radioed back to be ready! Sure enough, 20-25k we went from 0-20 in 2 seconds flat. We had taken the sails down in preparation – thank goodness, because it was a steady 20-25k with gusts 30-36k for the next 3 hours. At least the swell is not so bad down here, closer to the Pacific – out of those square waves in the Sea of Cortez. We did have some splash, but not like has happened before. Anyway, we finally made it into Cabo and anchored at 2:45 pm. 7 hours - 47 miles.
We are anchored in 17 feet of water just off the beach.
I had forgotten how this bay goes from 100 feet to 50 feet and climbs real fast to 20. It was between 15-20k when we dropped the hook.
The last time we were here was November 1994 and I remember it being a much prettier white beach. But I guess since then we have seen even more spectacular spots. Besides, I was deathly ill last time in Cabo.
There have been some big thunder clouds all day – hope they disappear!
John and Samie went into the marina area to cambio [change] money and came back with a great Pizza Hut pizza!
I talked to the guys on Leo’s net, but Leo was not around.
8 pm the wind has calmed down to 5k – let’s hope it stays there for the night. I’m beat!
*Leo Paquette was Steve Paquette’s dad, both of whom we spoke with frequently on the HAM radio. I believe they were from the same area as us in Arizona. Leo is actually the one who did the phone patch for us when we got the news of Schyler’s birth in May of 95.
Ahh, yes, the wind lines on the water were something you learned to keep an eye out for. It’s crazy how the wind can go from non-existent to 25-30k like that.
After our video of the Cabo shoreline in January 1997, I added a video of the same shoreline posted on October 1, 2023 - 26 years later. You can see it’s almost all resorts, now. Blah! Random fact: I tried Cookie Crisps for my first time here, and now they’re one of the few things that make me think of Cabo San Lucas.
January 8, Wednesday
Happy B-day Danielle – 21!
It took Samie forever to get school done today. John did the fuel process by jerry jug. He also got more ice and a few other things at the market.
We are talking to the boat Blue Chablis out at Clairion Island, the furthest south of the Socorros – they have had 30 plus knots out there. Also, looking at our weather fax it doesn’t look too good – so we’re waiting here.
The gang of boats all went over to Imagine for happy hour. Boy is that ever a beautiful boat – 51 feet, huge living area.
*Jerry jugging consisted of Dad dinghying in to the marina, filling up the jerry jugs at the fuel dock, bringing them back out to the boat and emptying them into the tanks. I’m not sure how many trips it took on average, but what a process! Sometimes that was easier than bringing the boat in to the fuel dock.
Some days were harder than others to get through school - as with most things. Mom has noted before that I tended to get it done faster when I had something to look forward to after school, like going to play with other kids. History was one subject that bogged me down, because I didn’t really understand why I needed to remember all these detailed things from soooo long ago. It wasn’t until I gained more context and comparisons in life that I started to appreciate and show interest in history, especially family history as well as American history within the last 300 years.
January 9, Thursday
Talked to Blue Chablis again, still blowing 30k out there. We did half of school, then went into town and met the gang at Broken Surfboard for lunch. Puttered around and got back to the boat at 4 pm to finish school.
Last time we were here, we put out a stern anchor. This time we haven’t bothered – gee is it ever rolly! Samie and I have named the anchorage “Cabo Wobble!”
January 10, Friday
Talked to Goon a bit this morning – all is well. She said it snowed a bunch Monday and school was cancelled Tuesday and it’s COLD! I guess the 50° we have here is not so bad after all.
The weather fax all looks good for the next 96 hours, 10 to 20 knots expected.
We pulled up the anchor at 8:30 am and headed out on our way, 218 miles to San Benedicto. The 7-8 foot swell wrapping around the point up close together and very rolly. We’re not having fun yet. About 10 miles out, we altered our course from 183° to 203° so it is smoothing out some.
About 3 miles out, a big cruise ship crossed in front of us on their way to CA.
Until sunset we came within 3 miles of 4 other tankers – all of whom turned to avoid us. By that point, we were out of the shipping lanes – thank god!
The wind was steady - flukey all night. 5 to 12 out of the west all night, sometimes a swirley. The seas have smoothed out a whole lot. Motor-sailed all night.
*Shipping lanes are notoriously stressful for boaters, especially at night. You don’t want to mess with tankers, freighters, cruise ships and the like! It’s interesting to me that these guys turned to avoid us, since the rule of thumb is that the smaller vessel always gives way, and generally stay WELL out of their way. The larger your boat, the harder it is to “stop” or change course, and a smaller boat would barely stand a chance of “outrunning” such a ship, or getting out of the way last minute, should they have somehow gotten too close.
January 11, Saturday
The stars last night were totally amazing. There’s no moon and the stars were shining down so very brightly.
There were some huge fluffy clouds from the Pineapple Express moving on over this morning and the sun rising through in a brilliant red-orange.
We have turned off the motor (9:30 am) and are sailing in those same, light, flukey winds doing around 3k. That should put us at the island in the early morning – in daylight.
Bob had a flying fish fly into their cockpit and hit him in the head last night. We found one on deck.
- 89.28 miles to go.
- 9:20 am coordinates:
-20-47-30N
-110-28-22W
Little to no wind until 2:30 pm, so we ran the engine at 1000 rpm just to give us a forward motion.
John was taking a nap when the wind decided to fill in and believe it or not, I turned off the engine and was under sail only! 8-10k out of the west and we’re moving at around 4k, nice and smooth – until the wind does a quick swirl and we roll over a small swell.
Starting to see lots of birds.
64 miles to go.
Around 11:30 a.m. we crossed the position 107-37-00 N / 20-25-50 W that Arne and Janice on Renegade crossed on 3/8/96 on their passage from P.V. to Hawaii – pretty cool!
Imagine left Cabo at 5 pm last night and just passed us under sail at 4:30 pm – fast boat.
*Too funny, I don’t remember the story about Bob getting smacked in the head by a flying fish! I remember finding plenty of them on deck in the mornings when we did overnight crossings. It remember seeing them jumping in schools sometimes, skirting over the surface in smooth, quick bursts. It was cool to see! They were able to get some pretty good air, as our deck was probably anywhere from 5’-6’ above the waterline. Here is a great video about them and the dorado (mahi-mahi) we caught so much of while cruising! They truly are magnificent fish.
Below are photos of the sunrise that morning and Imagine catching up to us that afternoon.
January 12, Sunday
Last night was another calm, beautiful starlit night. At somewhere around 2 or 4 am (I was asleep) – we spotted the island on radar. The sun didn’t scatter its light across the sky until 6:30 am – so we circled around for a while, wanting to approach in the daylight. Last year when Miss Teak II was here, it was much greener, this year however, Isla San Benedicto is wearing a browner shade – oh well. We all chose the northeast anchorage – more room for all 4 of us.
We were all anchored at 8:30 am – 48 hours from anchor in Cabo to anchor here – 218 miles.
John and Bob took the dink out off-shore fishing – they saw mantas, 3 humpback whales, one was a calf, though still not small.
John and Samie went fishing and she caught 10 fish, all sea bass. The other 3 guys brought back 12 or 13 lobsters!
We had steak, lobster and bass for dinner and we all were sound asleep by 8 pm.
Got up to 90° today.
*“The sun didn’t scatter its light across the sky until 6:30” - I love the way Mom describes that! I love the poetic side of her that the oceanic beauty brought out. 🥰
What a rich haul we brought back for dinner - plenty for the whole lot of us! I’m surprised I don’t remember catching all these fish. I know Dad did all the work when it came to taking out the hook and filleting them.
January 13, Monday
Weather fax still looks good. Although it is cloudy – Pineapple Express I guess, looks like it may clear out. We all put out a stern anchor – much better. The 4 guys went diving with the hookahs, said it was amazing. Just like swimming in a fresh water tank. Every color of fish in the rainbow and then some. John brought home dinner again. It was cloudy all day – no wind to speak of until the 5k came in around 4 pm. The swell is rolling in from the SE about 2-3 foot long and smooth, but it refracting back from the beach and making it a little sloppy but not bad.
We all went over to Miss Teak II for happy hour.
*What a treat to have this video! This was pretty spankin’ new technology at the time, kids! It was still a whole new level to be able to capture under water photos and videos. I know these colors hardly do it justice, but it’s great to watch either way! You can see Bob in the frame a few times, and Dad with a lobster.
January 14, Tuesday
Last night the wind picked up out of the east just enough to make the NE anchorage uncomfortable and unsafe – so at 1st light, 6:30 am, we pulled up all the stern anchors first then the main anchors and headed to the SE anchorage which is more protected, although we still have some good-sized swells wrapping around both points. On the south point HUGE breakers are tumbling over the reef. Beautiful, but also frighteningly powerful.
John did “boaty things”, I finally took a nap. Bob and Lee went diving and later the gang met on Papago to view the underwater video. Talked to Leo Paquette on the ham.
During the night, the daily 10k wind died and we were all doing the waltz at slack tide. What a night – at least the sun was out today!
January 15, Wednesday
Talked to Rob, Nanamuk, they just got back in the water yesterday. Samie and I are finally doing school – haven’t done any since Cabo. I’ve been too uptight. Miss Teak II and Papagayo both re-anchored, maybe tonight will be better. Happy hour was on our boat tonight.
It was cloudy all day, more like winter weather clouds than Pineapple Express, on top of that, we have really rolled side-to-side bad all today. For the most part, it has been in the 80s and stays around 70 all night. At last, we are out of the cold.
Wind blew again 10-15k out of the NE. We are all starting a rotated anchor watch between the 4 boats for the nights.
*Mom wasn’t big on the idea of being so far off-shore in the first place, and these anchorages weren’t the most protected. They were wide open to everywhere the wind and weather seemed to be coming from, which kept us on the alert. If someone were to drag anchor, they could be run ashore. Even after moving to the south anchorage, the swell was bad and the breakers quite threatening. The photos and video hardly do it justice.
January 16, Thursday
It finally smoothed out some last night and the watch system went well. John talked to Jim on Summer Wind this a.m. Yesterday, as they were going into Marina Mazatlan from the anchorage, just as they came into the breakwater at the entrance, their transmission took a complete dump. Another boat came out and towed them on in. He said thank God John had given him the tide schedule and it was slack tide!
We all took the 4 dinks around to the NE point where the guys dove the other day, but the water wasn’t nearly as clear. Samie and I did get in, but never saw too much.
It’s cloudy again and blow’en 10k. When we got back to the boats, there was a 10-foot manta ray swimming around Miss Teak II so Bob dove in and got a little ride. He didn’t have his wetsuit on, so he has a rash on his belly from the rough skin on the manta – but he loved it. Later, I saw a manta surface and make a small splash 15 feet from the side of our boat. At first I thought it was a whale until its wings came up. He swam around, but never surfaced again. With no sunshine, it’s hard to see down in the water real good. The wind calmed down a little sooner today, so maybe tomorrow will be even calmer seas.
Oh, I forgot on Tuesday the 14th, the long-range power boat, Somar from Cabo was anchored out here. They spent the night chumming for sharks and had the paying passengers out in the shark cages. They make this trip out here about every week.
Tom on Island Trader is back in La Paz and was supposed to start making his way out here.
Bob wants to stay here another 2 or 3 days before heading on over to Socorro – I’m ready to go now.
We may all go nuts if the sun doesn’t start shining and brighten up our moods and attitudes. Talked to Sherry on Luna, their company that we met in San Carlos, Susan and Bill, had to go home, her dad passed away unexpectedly. So sad.
We have already over-filled one bag of garbage – nowhere to dump or burn it, bread is running low, and some is starting to mold. John thinks it will be possibly another 2 weeks before we head to the mainland. I’m not quite so uptight now, but I don’t feel comfortable out here. I’m doing the best I can so John can have a good time, because I’ll never venture out this far offshore again.
*I vaguely remember getting in the water and checking out the fish at Benedicto. I still got pretty nervous about venturing around under the surface, so I wonder if Mom and I stayed mostly at the surface for this one, which could be why we didn’t see too much.
I remember trolling around in the dinghies watching the giant manta rays. Dad wanted to get in and take a ride, too, but didn’t get a good chance.
I remember the day Somar came out - they warned us they would be chumming and to be sure to stay out of the water.
This island was different from the other islands we’d been to, since it’s still volcanic and undeveloped. I don’t remember ever going ashore, since there wasn’t much of one, anyhow. The swelly conditions don’t sound too bad until you consider this means your entire home is constantly bouncing two-and-fro all day and night long. I’m glad we had a whole crew of people on watch during the night - I think that helped Mom feel better.
For me, funnily enough, what I remember most was that Lee and Glo had a Game Boy they let me use. I remember mostly the game Paper Boy and I think they had Zelda, too. Here I was, sitting atop these beautiful blue waters next to a volcanic island teeming with mantas and fish and sharks (oh, my!) and all I wanted to do was get to the next level of Paper Boy! For me though, the technology was the rarity, not the ocean and all it’s many beauties. Funny how that was.
*Lol, Dad out there trying to usher the manta ray closer to the boats. He reminds me of Scallywag in this video - another cruiser who would always tool around in his dinghy standing up like this. He’d jet through the bay like some kind of dinghy-surfer over the water. We saw him mostly in La Paz. If you know, you know!
The noise you can hear in the background of the second half of the video is the generator running! We ran it twice a day for an hour or so to charge up all the batteries and electronics and whatnot.
January 17, Friday
Our night watch system is working out good. My watch was 10 to 12 midnight and I slowly watched the wind trying to shift around to the east. By 4 am, it was a defiant east wind – not good for this anchorage. After all four boats talking it over, we decided to stick it out here, thank goodness it never got over 10-15k. It made for a very uncomfortable day, though, with the big swell and chop coming in right at us.
Around 7 pm, the squalls started, we did get some rain, but for the most part, they went around us about 2 miles off. Thank goodness, too, because those were full of lightening! So from 7 pm until 6:30 am, the sky was alight with the cloud to cloud lightening show. It was just as bright as day time! The wind finally laid down to 5-10k and smoothed out quite a bit. That lightening was totally amazing!
*I will never forget this lightning storm! The video doesn’t do it justice, but the horizon was filled with strike after strike, and like Mom says, sometimes it lit up the whole sky and you could see all the other boats, the island, everything clear as day. I even hear Bob say the same thing over the radio in the background of the video. Side note - I love when the radio is going in the background of our videos! I actually miss hearing people hailing each other throughout the day, hearing your boat name come up and going to answer, or sometimes being nosy and following someone else’s conversation to another channel because you know what they’re discussing and are curious of the outcome of whatever event.
January 18, Saturday
We all decided it was time to move over the 40 miles to Socorro Island where we have choices of anchorage for the different winds. So at 7:30 am, all anchors are up and away we go. Ok, great, wind is coming straight out of the south – another “noserly” – you got it, we’re headed south. It built all day to 25k, the only anchorage that is safe is where the Navy is. So after 8 hours of pure slop, we were finally anchored at 3:30 pm. The island is a beautiful green with red rock, however after yesterday’s downpour of rain, ruddy color – different and far from pretty clear water. Coming across, one of the stanchion bolts was leaking in Samie’s starboard closet and everything is sopped again. It was at this point I went from being flustered, bored or even tired to totally PISSED OFF. This has not been the great adventure that anyone expected – what with all this crappy weather. The hot shower I took felt wonderful, but when I started going through all Samie’s wet clothes and things, I lost it; just sat there and cried.
The Mexican Navy came out to check our paperwork, very nice guys, The weather fax looks good and everything should be mellowing out. Thank god! The low that went through there last night and brought the squalls is bringing us SW winds for now, so we are sitting with our sterns pointed out to sea – yeah! And the wind is coming out of the west at 5-10k. I’m so tired, I’ll sleep like a baby!
*I remember the Naval officers coming out to us in their boats. It was always a bit intimidating to have the authorities approach our boat - at least to me, seeing them in all their gear and whatnot. But they were always super nice that I remember.
Poor Momma! It astounds me that I don’t even remember how many times the stanchions leaked and all my things were sopped! I really only remember the first time - but maybe it’s that I mostly had clothes in there and Mom would wash them for me? I don’t know if anything was ruined beyond repair, maybe just the first time and after that I avoided storing anything but clothes on that side? I don’t know, but I feel for Mom here, especially knowing what was to come on our trip back to the mainland!
January 19, Sunday
The breeze held perfect all night and we all slept like babies. The Navy still says we have to leave, so we pulled in our anchors at 10 am and are underway with 8-10 k out of the NE. Let’s hope it holds just like this all the way – 364 miles! We had a somewhat confused sea for a while. A swell from the north and one from the east – but not too bad. The night smoothed out, we reefed the main and dropped the mizzen. The wind slowly shifted more to the east and stayed there at 8-10k until 11:00 am.
*I’m grateful everyone got a good night’s sleep before the 3-day trip back to the mainland.
January 20, Monday
Happy B-day Janelle
Not good reception on the ham or weather fax. When we shut down the engine to check the oil and all else, John found a hose on the radiator leaking which ended up blow’en out. So we shut everything down while he changed it. Miss Teak II got about 4.5 miles ahead, but once all was well, we cranked it up to 1600 rpms and caught up in a half hour – then low and behold the gen-set quit, possibly overheated.
John will check that out after his nap. It’s noon now and we are flying all 4 sails, wind is NE at 10-12 again, with the motor at 1400 rpms to keep up with Miss Teak II. I’m writing this underway, what a sloppy mess. We have 245 miles to go – looks like it will be 3 nights out here – yuk!
Oh what a day, it’s 11:30 pm and I’m writing this with the help of a flash light.
John woke up from his nap with the flu, so the gen-set didn’t get fixed yet. The wind has been blow’en 15-20 all afternoon. Normally it dies down at night – no such luck tonight. I made John drop the mizzen at 4:30 and reef the main at 5:30, then he really got sick.
Right now the wind has been shifting to the WNW and is still blow’en 13 to 18k.
Miss Teak II shot out ahead and then rolls in their jib to slow down while I catch up. The wind is picking up again, John is so sick, fever, chills and totally out of it and to be honest, I’m really scared. I’m so tired, I’m afraid of doing something wrong or just too much wind coming up. I’m going cross-eyed.
*I’m getting emotional, going through this part of the story! Mom had already been uneasy for the majority of the trip - offshore sailing was never something she was interested in - and what with the weather been less than ideal, my cabinets leaking again and not being able to stay and recoup longer at Socorro Island, she was already exhausted from the previous ten days. Now we find ourselves in the middle of the longest crossing we would ever take, and Dad is essentially incapacitated. It’s a good thing they reefed and brought the mizzen sail down when they did, seeing as he got worse with time. I can only imagine the worries Mom had running through her thoughts - not knowing why Dad was so sick, being out in the middle of nowhere with at least 150 miles of ocean between us and any other land, and all in sloppy, windy conditions. But she really did great! It was so great that that Miss Teak II hung back with us, Cynthia was there for Mom, helping her keep calm with talks over the VHF radio. Another great reason to “buddy boat” with other cruisers.
January 21, Friday
It’s the first chance I’ve had to catch up on this journal so I’ll have to think back.
John was sick all night, so I was on watch all night. Samie watched movies almost the entire trip. At 5 am on January 21, Tuesday I had to close my eyes for at least 15 minutes. So we both sat down on the floor in the cockpit while she watched all the gauges and I slept 10 or 15 minutes. Miss Teak II, was right beside us and that helped. Just that much (or little) sleep helped a lot.
Oh yeah, the first day out, Papago headed off for P.V. and saw orcas. Samie was so upset that she didn’t see them, she was in tears and had a good cry.
We see birds way out here offshore, which seems so strange. We saw a pod of dolphins today out in all this slop. I think today we had a steady 15 to 25k. The nights cool off to 74° but once the sun is out, it’s between 80° and 90°.
We are taking a wave over the bow and of course getting water running down in the forward closets AGAIN. Only this time it’s finding it’s way on down to come up under the floorboards, too.
One thing about off-shore sailing is the wind is pretty steady from one direction, so you set the sails and just go without having to change the sail points, which was a damn good thing with John sick. Also, there’s no other traffic to constantly look out for. Those may be good points but off-shore cruising is NOT for me.
The wind died just a bit for a couple hours, long enough to smooth out the seas for a few hours.
John felt awful still, but was able to give me a couple hours of sleep – one at a time.
Tonight the wind is from our port stern (20-25) with a 4-6 foot swell. We dip down in a big one once in a while and really throw everything around. Poor John, I know he feels like dying. Just before dark, we started to get phone service and I got silly with excitement! I have only gotten about 8 hours of sleep in the last 4 days. But being so close, yet still 60 miles – 12 hours – away, I’m wide awake. We only had one container ship ever show up on the radar and they went by at 3 miles away just after sunset. So we lucked out there! We surfed on over and down in the swell at 8 knots sometimes.
*Dad would have been on the settee the whole time so that he and Mom could communicate. I’m not sure how cognizant he was while sick - I can’t imagine having to get up on deck the day before to lower the sails while being so sick and out of it. Reading this, I feel bad I watched movies the whole time and Mom was alone in the cockpit! On one hand, I was blissfully ignorant and always felt safe, even on our worst crossings. Also it probably helped her to know I was safe down below where she didn’t feel like she had to keep an eye on me for any reason and she could focus on getting us through this - especially running off only 8 hours of sleep in 4 days! 😩 I’m glad I could at least help her while she closed her eyes for a few minutes; I remember the dark, slightly cold cockpit in the dark of night (no sun coming up yet). I remember her resting her head next to me on the seat of the cockpit as we sat in the companionway. I can feel the boat moving over the waves and I can hear the wind and water moving outside the cockpit - I am still grateful for the canvas enclosures that kept us sheltered and feeling safe. I don’t remember what was going through my mind, other than maybe feeling proud to help and keeping my eyes glued to the radar so I didn’t miss anything. I can still see the bright neon green on the radar, watching that invisible line go round-and-round, constantly refreshing our surroundings - or rather, the lack there of.
I had forgotten about finding the water on the floorboards, but Mom and I were talking about it and it all came back - there was definitely a moment of panic, wondering WHERE was this water coming from when we are so far off shore!? I seem to recall Dad managing to come forward to the v-birth to figure it out.
I also didn’t remember hearing about the orcas until I read this. Mom laughed and said I had a whole temper tantrum when Mom and Dad wouldn’t go off-course to chase them (this happened before Dad got sick). Logically, I should have understood they were far off enough that there was no chance we could have even caught up to them, but I was young and wanted to see them SO badly that logic was no consolation at the time. They always seemed so close, yet so far.
January 22, Wednesday
As the sun starts to come up, we are maybe 10 miles away. What a beautiful sight – land! John managed to get the sails down and we anchored. Manzanillo is a lot greener this year than last. We all crashed for a while, then John took Samie to the pool for a while and I slept for four hours. But even after a shower, I still feel like walking dead.
John is running a high fever again, we put cool towels on him and brought it down some. I had broke our thermometer, so Cynthia, Miss Teak II, brought one over – his temp at this time was 102.1. It took ice on his wrist and 4 Buffrin to get it down to 100.1. Finally, it came down to 99 and he slept most of the night.
*Mom says that Bob was offering to dinghy out to us once they had anchored so he could help us take the main sail down and anchor the boat, but that Dad mustered up the energy to do it himself. I’m surprised he felt well enough to go ashore later - or maybe he thought he’d feel better once he did? Unfortunately that was not the case, poor guy.
January 23, Thursday
We checked in at the marina this morning and now John is down again. I have him taking Septrin F in hopes it kills this bug. He slept most of the day. His temp went up again tonight and I was up until midnight sitting by him.
*What a rough week for my parents! 😩 I don’t remember a lot of specifics here, other than poor Dad being sicker than I’ve ever seen him. Mom said in the last video that he was hallucinating, I wonder what he was seeing - none of us remember that. I’m amazed he still managed to do as much as he did while he was so sick! Kudos to both my parents for getting us through that trip! Shnikies!
January 24, Friday
We went into the doctor this morning – had to wait 2 hours before he even got there. He thinks John has a bacterial infection with only the fever – no other problems other than stomach cramps. He pressed around on his stomach and it’s tender – anyway, he gave me a prescription – Ciproxina 500 mg (1 every 8 hours for 3 to 5 days) for the infection. And Neo-Melubrina (1 every 6 hours) for the fever. The fever medication doesn’t seem to help, his temp is back up to the 102.3 tonight. I feel so bad for him, I hope the new medicine kills this bug fast.
Samie and I went into town with Bob and Cynthia to Juannita’s for burgers, got an ice cream and went to Commercial to pick up a few fresh things like bread – we’ve been out for 2 days now – eggs, milk and John’s meds. $N393 pesos for the meds - $N25 pesos for the doc or $55 U.S. for both – still cheaper than in the States.
Oh, let’s see – Peggy, Danielle and Mom have all called and all is well. The girls and Shine are gonna try to fly to P.V. around the first of March. Hope so!
There is a bit of swell roll’en in here tonight probably from all those nasty storms they’ve had up north in the States. I remember last year, we had 12-foot swells roll’en in here. Even so, it’s wonderfully calm compaired to San Benedicto.
I think I’m all caught up – oh no – I finally had time this a.m. to air out all of Samie’s closets and mattresses. Now, we have got to get back to school, we’ve only done 1 day in the last 3.5 weeks.
*$N stands for nuevo peso, (new peso), which was the new currency which was introduced on January 1, 1993. 1 peso was equivalent of 1,000 of the obsolete pesos. The exchange rate at this time would have been 7.6 pesos to the dollar.
Moonrise in Manzanillo.
January 25, Saturday
Happy B-day Grace.
John’s fever was up to 102.3 again last night and is 99.5 now at 7:30 am. He is finally eating something, but not much.
The days here are warm and beautiful about 85°, but once the sun sets it’s really cool with the sea breeze and only 63° in the a.m.
We talked to Jim on Summer Wind, they were ready to leave Mazatlan yesterday and their transmission is completely gone now. What an awful time they’re having!
I took Samie to the pool again today and when we got back, John had taken a shower. He thinks maybe the medicine is starting to kick in, his temp is normal. Let’s hope so. He has been so sick now for 6 days. He did throw up some Gatorade this afternoon, it’s now 9 pm and he has been awake for about 5 hours – a record. He’s really weak, though. Right now his temp is 99.1 – a big improvement.
It was smoggy today from the power plant across the bay that you couldn’t even see half way across. Some of it was settling on this side.
Mom called this a.m. to see how John was doing. She said Peggy was down there at Danielle’s today.
January 26, Sunday
John threw up again in the night and morning, his temp seems to be staying down around 100°, but he is dehydrated.
Blue Chablis, Barb, is leaving Isla Clarion today. I think they have been out there 4 weeks now. They are in a 27-foot boat and have about 580 miles to go east to P.V. with a NE wind. They have more guts than me! John had a better night, but still not great. Oh, watched Super Bowl on the boat – Greenbay 35 / New England 21.
*I caught up with Barb last month - they still make it out to Clarion once a year with some sports fishing group!
January 27, Monday
This is the 3rd day that the pollution has been really bad. John ate some oatmeal and is feeling better, still sleeps a lot which is good. I have never felt so helpless in my life, just watching him being so sick.
Took Samie to the pool, got a message to Grace’s sister, Dot, to bring her mail to the marina or at least I hope she gets the message.
Bob and Cynthia have been a wonderful help just being there. Today they went golfing. I’m finally starting to get the inside of the boat cleaned up. Now to tackle the crusted salt on the outside.
January 28, Tuesday
We got John back in to the doctor. As soon as he saw the color of his urine and his yellow eyes, he knew he had hepatitis. He said once the jaundice appears, it lasts about 3 to 4 weeks more, but the worst has passed. Now LOTS of rest, no fatty foods or booze.
I took Samie into the pool again today.
Talked to Danielle and Goon, they found a flight February 21 into P.V. for $260 U.S., but have to buy the tickets tomorrow (29th), Peggy doesn’t know if she can borrow the money to go ahead and get the ticket. Shine wants to come, too. I hope John is strong enough to make the trip around Cabo Corrientes and on into La Cruz that soon. Talked to Barb on Blue Chablis they are doing fine out there and for the most part, only have 5 to 15k.
Sure wish we could get a clear copy to talk to Nanamuk.
*HA, the part of Dad’s story that we still chuckle about was the moment the doctor figured out it was hepatitis (A) - he said with a touch of excitement and relief - “Ahhh, hepa-tee-tees! Hepa-tee-tees!” Like, ok, now we know what it is, how to properly prescribe, and that the worst is over. Looking back, my parents deduced that it was from some Christmas dinner we’d had back in La Paz, as a few other boaters who were there had come down with it as well.
January 29, Wednesday
John helped Bob fix his generator, then we melted the wire on the main switch on ours. So once it cools down in there John will fix that. He made it through the night without throwing up; that’s great. He’s taken one nap already today. Gen-set is fixed. Cynthia and I took a taxi to and from Commercial and did the shopping $400 pesos. Bob spent the day with Samie at the pool. She is getting nice and tan. John was at the pool for a while and had a sprite which wiped him out with heartburn. Samie and I had tacos, John didn’t feel like anything.
*'I’m surprised I don’t remember more of being at the pool this year. I’m sure all of us were stoked to be able to get off the boat and wander around anywhere after being mostly cooped up at the islands and underway. It’s funny looking through photos of Las Hadas and suddenly remembering certain areas around the place, like these paths we must have taken up to the pool.
January 30, Thursday
John woke up so miserable, but found some relief, ate some salad and feels so much better now.
We headed over to Manzanillo fuel dock at 9:30 or so, it takes about an hour. There was a huge power boat, Lady Wanda which took 2 hours to fuel, so we and Miss Teak II dropped anchor to wait. Oh – when we left Las Hadas, Bob cranked in the anchor for us. John showed me how to let it out and Samie and I brought it in to go get the fuel. $N847 pesos – 110 gallons. By the time we headed back at 2 pm the wind was blow’en 20k with a good swell and wind chop – sloppy. We re-anchored and John went in to check out and Samie swam for a little while.
John did much better today.
Talked to Tom, Island Trader, he is in La Paz still and will try to leave in 2.5 weeks for San Benedicto. Hal on Angela is going to La Cruz tomorrow don’t know if their family is with him or not (Tom was relaying).
January 31, Friday
Bob came over and cranked in our anchor again – bless him – at 7 am and we were underway to Navidad. We weren’t even going to mess with sails, so it was real nice that it was only 5-10k all the way with a long swell, pretty comfortable motoring. Miss Teak II went on to Tenacatita to meet Jazz. We only had to go through 1 long fishing net. Saw a finback whale and a few dolphins. We made it in to the marina at Navidad around 11:30 am. Last year there were no docks and we bow-and-stern anchored. This year there are a lot of docks, but no power or water. Oh well, at least we’re tied up and can get better rest and some much needed cleaning done. Samie noticed that it was also this day Jan 31 that we left Manzanillo for Navidad last year. What a coincidence.
The mosquitos of last year are still hanging around.
John BBQed some chicken tonight, he is actually able to eat again. He made it through the day in wonderful shape. It is like music to my heart to have him feeling good again. Tom and Pam from Imagine are in here, too.
Jim and Kitty, Summer Wind, are taking the bus to Tucson to get a new clutch plate for their transmission, be back by Tuesday. They have had the worst luck with that this year.
We will be so glad to have our mail catch up to us, Jazz has it right now. I sure hope there is a letter from Janice.
*Holy Smokes! A bus ride from Mazatlan to Tucson - that’s a long trip on public transit! Poor Jim and Kitty really had a rough go of it that year!
Below: Barra de Navidad with its new docks. For comparison, the last photo is from the year before, when we all anchored in the area that would come to be a marina.
