Category Archives: cruising with kids

Chacala to San Blas

Well, we did it… we actually came in to a Marina and paid for a slip. We hadn’t paid for slip or moorage since we left San Carlos 5.5 months ago! All of the anchorages we’ve stayed at have been free. At only $10 night with access to water, pool, showers, internet, and most importantly LESS NO-SEE-UMS AND MOSQUITOES we decided to go for it. Mike Jacoby on SV Easy came along with us as well. We love buddy boating with him.

Mike on SV Easy and the kids ate the obligatory Pan de Banana (Banana bread). And of course we did the La Tovara Crocodile tour and fresh water park. We highly recomend taking the tour from just east of the river bridge heading out of San Blas vs the one from the official Tovara tour site (the one closer to Matanchén). The tour is longer through the mangroves, the captain of the panga will speak english and you get to see more wildlife. Plus I like supporting a smaller family business.

There is a bird in there. Kudos for any comments identifying it. Owl or hawk? What type?the fence that keeps the Crocodiles out of the fresh water pool. Rafael, our awesome guide!

San Blas is worth the stop. Despite all of the bugs, which it in notoriously for, we enjoyed our visit. There is a lot of history is this town to explore, which we did on our last visit here last year. The town square is lively in the evenings. We happened to stumble upon “Dia de Los Niños” this year. They celebrated Friday and Saturday with song and dance in the square. The local ballet company performed with dances from the adults and the kids. The next night they had tons of vendors out around the square and a parade with decorative floats.

As mentioned before, San Blas is notorious for its mosquitos and no-see-ums (called jejenes here in Mexico). Last year we anchored in Matanchen and they were much worse. We had the no-see-um netting up and even gave into the not so natural bug spray and we were still eaten alive! This year, at the dock, it wasn’t nearly as bad and the natural bug repellent seemed to work. Later, we found out that the marina sprays the property, especially around the boats that are hauled out. For this, we were glad our visit was short. Coconut oil with citronella, clove, and grapefruit essential oils. Start with 10 drops of citronella, 5 of clove and 5 of grapefruit. Double it depending on how much coconut oil you use. Doubles as sunscreen and even extra sunscreen if you add zinc powder.
Next up: Isla Isabel

Earth day in Mexico, a nearly forgotten post.

1 Reply

I forgot to post about Earth Day in La Cruz!
This will be a short one, as it it mostly pictures.
Catrina, the La Cruz Kids Club director and activity director for Marina La Cruz, set up a beach clean up in the morning on Earth Day. We made it to shore by 10 am that day in order to participate. There were a few other kid boats participating (SV Pickles, Riki Tiki Tavi, Ceilydh) and few non-kid boats. We found 14 large trash bags worth of trash within a 1/2 mile from the harbor.

Afterward a few boats participated in the “Drag Net” Rally. SVs Ceilydh took a bunch of kids on their catamaran, Riki Tiki Tavi took a few extra kids and myself as crew, Mike and Catrina took their little 24 ft boat and Scuba Ninja had a few on as crew. The idea was to sail out in Banderas Bay and pick up trash floating in the water as we sailed by. As one can imagine, pickup trash under sail ads quite the challenge to the task. Plus the wind had picked up to 15-20 knots, which made for spotting the trash, quite difficult. Although we weren’t very successful in collecting trash, it was nice to go out for just a few hours and sail. Christian was out of town, so crewing on a different boat and with Sara as a female captain on Riki Tiki Tavi was a really awesome experience for me. Thanks Sara and Pete! Scuba Ninja Sailing like a boss!

Just a quick reminder; we saw most of the ocean trash in the Marina. If you’re out there in a slip, Earth Day can be everyday, please pick out the trash in the water. Every little bit helps.

We also had a “farewell” party on SV Ceilydh for their last day on their boat. They finished there circumnavigation with their daughter, Maia, and are now returning to land lubbing life for the time being. You can look at their blog here. And just in case you are in the market for a circumnavigation ready boat, their boat is for sale!

La Cruz to Chacala

Leave a reply

Now that I’m finally getting back on track with posting, we will be leaving cell and wifi reception. I will do my best to plan my posts out a bit. I’m still a few weeks behind, as e left La Cruz on April 24th, but it’s better than months behind.

We finally made it out of La Cruz and started making our way North. We first dropped Ellamae off at the airport in Puerto Vallarta to go spend time with her biological father, Jason. That same afternoon we sailed off the hook to Punta de Mita to get us further out of the Banderas Bay. First thing the next morning, after breakfast we set sail, actually motored for a few hours, around the point and headed North for a 30 mile day. Mike on SV Easy was buddy boating with us. The wind didn’t pick up for about 3 hours, but the weather was beautiful. We saw tons of sea turtles and enjoyed a pleasant sail north.

We’d been to Chacala before and arrived in the mid afternoon. Just enough time to hit up the surf spot! Just what the doctor ordered. That night we had Mike over for dinner and and a good nights sleep was had by all.

The next day included school, checking in with the port captain, more surfing, and beach time.

Then more surfing and a hike to the extinct volcano crater, and more beach time the next day. We met a fellow Nor Cal family and spent some time with them. The mother owns a house there and rents out bungalow through Airbnb.