Dolce Vita: THE MAN AND THE SEA

Again I must apologize for not publishing a new blog sooner. As the old saying goes, "It is better late than never".

I returned to Mexico last November 6th. Dolce Vita was waiting for me and I had hoped she was happy to see me however this was not to be. I checked all systems before I left for California and everything was working. One would think that if something is left alone and not used that nothing would change but boats have their own agenda. I found four problems when returning to the boat and bird shit on the deck was not one of them. The starter was bad, the freshwater pump was bad, two lights no longer worked and the galley sink drain hose had come loose.

So what did I do in the heat and humidity for the first week of my return? I fixed stuff and cleaned. It was not what I would call a welcomed return. Such is life on a boat.

So I stepped back after everything was repaired and questioned myself about what I may have or not haved done to upset the lady. I discovered what I hoped to be the answer after reflecting on the last nine years with Dolce Vita. She had been working hard for be in all of those years and I had not spent the time, and more importantly, enough money on her, so I decided to dress her up so she could look better than the boats near her. The hope was that after dressing her up for the dance she would forgive me and hand me fewer problems. Is this not what we believe when we do this for our wives or girlfriends? Well I am here to report that this has not been the case. Problems continue but the sweet life still continues and for that I am grateful.

Enough of me crying in my tequila.

I threw off the dock lines again near the end of January. A woman, Marilyn, who owns her own boat and docked near me is having a number of things done on her boat and she asked if she could sail with me for a few months so she could pick up some more experience. Without a moment of hesitation I said yes. We have been together on the boat for more than a month and so far she has not jumped ship so I must be doing something right.

We are sailing south from Mazatlan along the mainland coast stopping along the way in small anchorages and major ports. The photos that follow should give you some insight into the life aboard a sailboat sailing the seas and visiting areas which can be best described as paradise.

Here she is waiting for us to sail away again.

Let me first introduce you to Marilyn who is crewing with me. She lives in Seattle and is a Medical doctor specialising in internal medicine and Emergency medicine working in emergency rooms. I can hurt myself and I have my own doctor on board. I might just do wild and crazy things while she sails with me.

Friends and ourselves took a bus to a surfing town near Puerto Vallarta and spent the day exploring the area.

Here are some of the gang hamming it up during lunch.

You ask why I have such a big smile? Marilyn took me to a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta and she and I had dessert after a great meal. Mexican fried ice cream for me.

Back on the beach or should I note close to the beach?

Entertainment near our table on the beach.

Friends of ours whom we both met in Mazatlan.They are docked on the same dock with us and other friends. We all gather at 4:00 for the daily safety meeting

We thought it would be enjoyable to visit some of these creatures during one of our stops.

This is the marina we are in. The location's name is Barra de Navidad. The photo is of a resort hotel attached to the marina where we have full access.

This is a photo of a bird's eye view of Barra.

Photos taken around town.

They were heard to say, "go ahead, we dare you to walk under us".

At one of our anchorages we took our dinghy together with friends up a small river through the mangroves. The entrance was shallow so the skipper had to get out and push until finding deeper waters.

It becomes very narrow in some locations. We didn't see any alligators.

The great white fisherman. Caught a skipjack which is bad tasting so I returned him to the sea.

Just so there is no misunderstanding. I don't alway tie my boat up to a five star resort. This is the toilet at one restaurant we ate at on the beach. There is a separate bucket of water that you use to flush.

This is called a raft up of dinghies. Everyone brings food to pass around among the boats. We tell everyone a little bit of our history as cruisers and some play instruments and share their talent as others sing along.