December 2010
By the first day of December, we were one of only 3 boats in Tenacatita again. Santosha and Lisa Kay came over one afternoon to pick our brains about Costa Rican and Panama. It was fun to be able to share our knowledge and let them know that they are in for some great times going south. They both have kids which makes it even more special.
We headed across the bay to La Manzanilla, a small town with a significant number of Canadian and US expats.
The town is clean and really charming. We enjoyed a local flea market, coffee in a café, a crocodile sanctuary and were able to get some fresh produce. Loved this town! Except for the ice cream vendor who played the same song over and over on the beach obnoxiously loud. Or was it just that I would have loved to go back for ice cream?? Actually, we did head back into town that afternoon. Rog was relaxing on the back of NEOS while I was doing some computer work. He saw a couple on the beach frantically waving their arms. We looked through the binoculars and didn’t recognize them and ignored it. But after over 20 minutes of it, we decided it had to be us they were trying to flag down. There was nobody else out here! So we dragged the kayak off the bow and headed in. Sure enough, it was Ivo and Joanna, the couple who had inquired about the boat. They had not received our email invite for sundowners, but had followed Rog’s log and knew we were in La Manzanilla. We took them back to NEOS and enjoyed a great visit with them. Unfortunately, they were interested in trading of a home in Barra for the boat, so we didn’t get too far with negotiations, but they were a fascinating couple and we had a good time chatting with them. By the time we got them back to shore, both of them were soaked. Welcome to the cruising life!
We also heard from our old cruising buddies, Second Wind, and are happy for them; they have sold their boat and will be heading back to Fresno in January. Hope they join us in the Sea of Cortez this spring for some R&R.
Our final stop along the coast was in Chamela, 30 miles north of Tenacatita Bay. This was supposed to be a 2 night rest for us before heading back to Banderas Bay. As we planned our trip to La Cruz, Rog checked fuel levels and thought we only had about 60 liters of fuel. With no head wind or current to fight, we might make it. If we could sail a bit, all the better. So we transferred fuel between the 2 tanks and then found the most advantageous window for travel. We left at sunset after only one day in Chemala, but had great conditions. We sailed for the first few hours, then were able to maintain good speed with sails and only one motor. We had nice calm water around Corrientes at sunrise and once we had enough daylight, Rog checked the fuel levels and we had 40 liters. Plenty to get us into the bay and anchor at La Cruz. So he must have misread the fuel gauge. Lucky for us!!
We pulled into the La Cruz anchorage just after noon, right next to Maluhia, our good neighbors from the marina. We were able to get fuel the next day in the shipyard and paid a visit to the manager there to try to clarify the parts we need to fix the props. It has been a month and we still have been unable to get prices. It turned out that he had given us the wrong part number. We will try again.
On December 8th, we left La Cruz and headed into Nuevo to tie up on Harper’s dock. Jim had helped us arrange for rental of a private dock for our trip back to California and it was an easy dock to tie to. It was right next to Dolphin Adventures and we had a front row seat for daily dolphin and sea lion antics. We joined Richard and Barbara Harper and their friends from Wisconsin, Rose and Jim, for drinks and appetizers in the penthouse condominium. What a great group of folks!
We also met many of the neighbors and felt right at home. We spent the next 2 days doing some last minute shopping, a lot of packing, and getting the boat ready to close up. Richard and Barbara drove us to the airport Friday afternoon and we were on our way! After a quick flight to SFO, we took BART into El Cerrito where good friends Jer and Sue Duda met us and then took us to a pizza parlor for dinner. We sure enjoy seeing them again, even if it is only for a few hours. They give us bed and breakfast treatment and Sue supplies us with games and goodies for the rest of the trip. Jer got us to the train station the next morning and we arrived in Rocklin just before noon. As the bus pulled into the station, we saw Max and Karissa but didn’t recognize our own daughter.
She had cut her hair and looked completely different. I love the new style though! For the next three weeks, we split our time between Ryan’s and Michelle’s and seemed to go nonstop. We had to do our Christmas shopping, pick up needed items for the boat, arrange for repairs at Fortune Court, decorate Ryan’s house, take time for dinner and cards with Auburn friends, make Christmas dinner, have my usual lunch at Fat’s with Lori, meet my sister Peg on her stopover, dinner with my other sister Micki, rent a van for a trip to the snow with the grandkids, and have a special date with Max to the local fire department and out for lunch. The time seemed to absolutely fly. We now spend 3 weeks when we visit and it still is hard to get everything done. But we had such a good time! I can’t say I was sad to say goodbye to 40 degree temps and an awful lot of rain…but it was hard to see our CA time come to a close.
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