young workers

Here's one of three girls that were selling snacks in Chacahua, the surf camp we went to in the state of the Oaxaca

Things we see

Scenes from Mexico

The first shot is of one of the tiny villages where we anchored, south of Puerta Vallarta. The second photo is above Bufadero Bay where Nomad was for 6 weeks.

surf

Here's a couple of shots Brian took at one of the surf spots he found.




Just kidding, the crocodile was seen on a ride up into an estuary somewhere else.

Cliff Divers of Acapulco

Cliff Diving....ahh. just like it used to be at Casa Bonita restaurant in Denver Colorado when I was a kid. Just kidding. it wasn't much like it except the diving part. No ladies in distress, no gorillas chasing anyone. There WERE street vendors pushing carts of homemade icecream. We walked up to watch the diving from the cheap side of the highway with our binoculars. About 8 different men or boys climbed around on the rocks and dove into a narrow place in between two protruding fingers of the cliff. We found out that not only are they diving from very high up, they are also diving into relatively shallow water. They time their jumps to land when a swell has just come in so that the water will be deep enough.

We were happy to leave Acapulco (see previous post on Thursday May 22) but were glad we saw this the evening before.

Captain Vicente

This is our fish barbecue by the lake just outside of Acapulco. Vicente was a boat captain we met. He invited us home to hang out with him and others of his friends next to the lake near his house. The fish was incredible and I got to ride a jet ski for the first time, with Vicente's son teaching me.

Chachalacas and More

The large birds that sound like gobbling turkeys in the now-green forests around the marina are Chachalacas - Plain Chachalacas or Wagler's Chachalacas, according to Plate 23 in Princeton's "Birds of Mexico and Central America". When we arrived here 13 days ago, the hills were brown and the tops of trees looked crisp in the heat. All that changed within 2 days of the advent of the rain. Lush jungle surrounds us. Plumeria blossoms add white polka dots to the green canopy, and the wild sounds of whirring bugs and chattering birds remind us that this town was a jungle less that 25 years ago.

All day long, Spanish Mackerel leap out of the marina water, expose their white bellies and splash back down. Puffer fish, indigo adults with white spots and gold juveniles with brown spots, graze along the edges of the docks. Great Kiskadees and Grackles fly between coconut palms.

We've been accepted into the small community of sailors here who are also en route to elsewhere, waiting for the hurricane season to come and go. Going on walks with the ladies, sharing cabs to the downtown, being invited to a surprise birthday party, and borrowing tools are welcome signs that we are in a community again-albeit temporary.

We celebrated our 6th year of marriage on June 1 by taking an early morning hike to a small beach enclosed by hills and going swimming. We did no boat projects that day - a true celebration!

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Huatulco, Mexico

We are settled in to Marina Chahue which is a small
Marina in the new town of Huatulco, Mexico. It is a
planned tourist town that was built specifically to
attract tourists, just like Cabo, Cancun, and Ixtapa
Mexico all were. It is however much quieter and
smaller than those places.
Brian and I are working on many projects that were
difficult or impossible to do for the last few months
while we were anchored in various places.
We have taken time off of these projects to play in
the rain (it´s rainy season), swim in the crystal
clear ocean, take a bus north to a rural surf spot,
get to know the other cruisers in the marina, and to
celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary.

One of the highlights lately, was the taxi ride we
took out through rural coconut and papaya fields to
get to the surf camp. Our taxi driver and 6 other
people crammed into his small car and we drove around
dropping people off in small villages en route to the
beach. A couple of miles before getting to the beach
we had to avoid a coconut tree log across the road.
Our taxi driver had an animated conversation with the
log´s cutter and pulled over to the side. "You want
coco?" He asked us. Of course we did. He dug a
machete from under his seat and started whacking
coconuts off of the fallen tree. He opened 2 up and
handed them to us. They were delicious! Next Brian
and the taxi driver helped roll the log to the side of
the road for the tree cutter to chop into smaller
pieces. Soon we were on our way.

We are getting the boat ready to leave it for the next
2 months. We arrive in California on June 15. Brian
will be working with Appko part time and doing side
jobs. I¨ll be working for the same Alternative High
School where i´ve been for the last few years. LOoking
forward to spending time with friends and family!