Pictures from Mantanchen Bay

This is one of Rich's favorite pictures! We were the only people ashore in Mantanchen Bay. It's a huge bay and there were only 4 boats anchored with us at this point.

Here are more pictures from Mantanchen Bay (just south of San Blas).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/svoasis/sets/72157603581761945/

Pictures from Isla Isabella

Finally, here's a picture of the infamous blue footed boobie! Click on the following link to see all the pictures we took at Isla Isabella.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/svoasis/sets/72157603560863398/

Christmas Dinner

Here are some pictures from dinner last night. As I mentioned earlier, we went up to La Cruz to a place called Philo's. There were 146 people and 164 lbs of turkey. Everyone brought a side dish to share. Dinner started at 6:00, then at 7:00 all the local kids came and each one had a chance to talk to Santa and receive a present. There were over 400 kids, and no one went home without a gift!

This is the man from "Cirque" - he is apparently a professional juggler. He entertained the kids and us while the kids waited for their turn to visit santa.

Merry Christmas from Oasis!!

Merry Christmas from Oasis to all our family and friends!!! We were awoken this morning around 7:15 after the boys discovered that Santa had paid them a visit!! We are currently in Paradise Village Marina in Puerto Vallarta. We arrived here on the 23rd after spending a week anchored in La Cruz - just 5 miles from here. We'll be here thru the 3rd of January.
Merry Christmas!!!

I'm impatient

I'm impatient that I haven't heard from the Farmers in a few days. Maybe it is because it is almost Christmas and I have a thousand things to worry about and this seems like the easiest worry and the one I can do the least amount to fix. Maybe it is because I have that new fangled www.skype.com thingy I want to try out. And maybe ::sob:: I just miss them. Anyways, they should log in within the next 3 days. I can't wait to hear about their Christmas plans.

Hmm, a title for this one?

I have a penchant towards embarrassing photos, actually the first post in this blog was a series of embarrassing photos. But when it too far? I’m sure I have my limits. I’m certain that my limits are clearly defined and would be considered prudish by many many public figures. Posting this picture made me question where my limit was. Apparently I shoved my limit over a little and allowed this photo to be published.

But what about Kyle’s Kindergarten teacher and coach? I think they read here. How about Grandma and Grandpa? What will they think? It isn’t bad enough that Deb and Rich are taking their children out of the country, but NOW, serving them Mexico’s finest?

Truth be told, it looks like heaven to me and to probably many other readers here. Thanks to Tom and Dawn for inocently emailing this to Deb.

Product Plugs

Last week Debbie mentioned that she was going to be out of range for a few days. My flippant response was "no worries, I'll blog for you". Never thinking of the 324567889 other things I have to get done right before the holidays. And, no, I'm not ready yet, there is a perfectly good weekend standing between me and the holidays, there is plenty of time, thank you very much. So this is my long winded apology for not blogging daily, as I had hoped. And there is another little tidbit. I really don't have too much to say. So when all else fails talk about the latest gadgets, right?

The first is a camera that my husband used when he was crew on the San Diego to Cabo leg. It is the Olympus Stylus 770SW 7.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver) . What makes this camera so perfect for cruising is that it is WATERPROOF down to 33 feet! It is thin and lightweight. My husband hung it around his neck (I'm embarrassed to say, he called it his bling), had it with him all the time, and was able to take amazing shots with it. Oh, what's that? you want to see pictures? Okay: Carson took this picture leaning way over the railings of the boat. These are dolphins racing along the side of the sailboat. Really a fun thing to see and hard to get a picture of.

Deb and Rich has a concern about their prop. Carson free dove down and took a few photos of it.

This is a picture from a ponga (deep hard bottom boats the locals use to fish) taxi service. The swells were big and there was lots of saltwater spray. Oh and Carson was balancing Ryan on his lap too. All that would be enough for me to leave my camera in a sealed waterproof bag, but no worries with this camera. Actually the next few shots Carson took have water spray all over the len. He was trying hard to show us how big the swells really were.

This is a picture Carson took after climbing the mast. Day 3 of there trip was windy and rocky, one of their lazy jack lines wore through. Carson climbed up to repair it. It's hard to see, but Deb and Rich are on the bow smiling up at the camera.

Here is the stern side of Oasis from the same vantage point.

Alright, that is enough of showing off pictures. The second gadget that I want to talk about today is a combination of a webcam and super easy software that allows you to video/talk with people all over the world (with an internet connection) for FREEEEEEEE.

This is the video web cam thingy I just received from Amazon yesterday. I'm not endorsing this one particularly, I really don't know one from another, there are lots of them, I just found one that said it was skype compatible and had the microphone attached so I didn't have to wear funky headphones. Oh, and the installation on this baby was painless, just a USB plug thingy and a CD for the camera driver. Then I simply downloaded this: http://skype.com/download/skype/windows/ and I looked up Oasis on the contact tab and voila, I can talk to my friends (just as soon as they get some internetz). Isn't this a wonderful idea! Deb hooked her mom up with one of these so the grandkids can chat with grandma and grandpa.

UPDATE: Oasis in Chacala

We left Mantanchen Bay Wednesday morning and had a rolly trip to Chacala - about 20 miles away. Just as we were pulling into the bay, we saw a whale about 100 yards off the boat. We've seen several whales so far, but that was the closest so far...
Now we're in Chacala Bay. It's a beautiful little anchorage. Everyone bow and stearn anchors to 1) give people more room, and 2) keep your bow into the swells as they come in. Chacala is not a big town by any means, but it's a nice mix of remoteness and luxury. We can sit on the beach under a palapa and have a bucket of beer, lunch, or dinner. There are a few small tienda's here - you can get about 80% of anything you might need. We went to a women's house for dinner last night. On Thursday nights, she makes a special home made Mexican dinner for the first 20 people that sign up - she charges $5/plate. We went with "Ketching Up" and "Monju". We're going to spend one more day here before heading off to Punta Mita or La Cruz tomorrow. At that point we'll be in Banderas Bay and will be changing time zones again to Central time.
We have LIMITED internet access here so we've been able to read our e-mail, but not post any pictures to our blog - so you'll just have to wait a bit longer to see our pictures of the blue footed boobies!!!
Our current location is: 21 deg 09.79'N; 105 deg 13.60'W
Rich, Deb, Kyle & Ryan
S/V Oasis

Ship Trak

So there's a cool way to check out the current location for Oasis. Deb and Rich use their single side band radio and check in with ShipTrak and they in turn put a little red dot on Google Earth program and let us see where they are. I really like viewing it with the satallite view. Their call sign is KI6MBA, that's all you need to know to watch them sail south.

I've spent most of my morning trying to get a picture of the map for this entry and darn this was the best image I'm going to get.

The link to Ship Trak is on the right column of this blog.

Sneezing

I started sneezing today, uncontrollably. When I was done with my little fit, I looked around to see if Deb was rolling her eyes at me. For those of you who haven't experience this little exchange between Deb and Rich it is really funny. It goes something like this:

Rich: ::sneeze:: ::sneeze::
Deb: Oh God ::eye roll:: Here it comes
Rich: ::sneeze:: ::sneeze:: ::sneeze:: ::sneeze::
Deb: Rich go outside
Rich: ::sneeze:: ::sneeze:: chuckle ::sneeze:: ::sniffle:: ::sneeze::
Deb: You know when we go cruising you are going out to the dingy until you are finished.

So I wonder, how are Deb and Rich handling such close quarters and extended time with one another. I wonder if Rich has gotten banished to the dingy trailing behind the boat. And last time I noticed Kyle was sneezing in 2's. I bet it is just a matter of time before he is following in his dad's footsteps.

Oasis in Mantanchen Bay

We left Isla Isabella yesterday morning and headed for Mantanchen Bay, 4 miles SE of San Blas. It's a huge open bay. We're about in the middle of it anchored in 13ft of water. When we arrived yesterday, there was only one other boat here. He has since left, but two others arrived. We're just getting ready to drop the dinghy in and go exploring. We've heard one of the restaurants ashore will give you a ride over to the town of San Blas. The town apparently has several stores and mercados.
San Blas is in the state of Nayarit, and the natives are the Huichol people who create the trendy bead-covered animals and geometric shapes. If you've been aboard Oasis, you'll know we have a blue beaded gecko hanging in the galley. These animals and shapes are very popular in the US and European art galleries. San Blas is also well known for the final poem of Longfellow called "The Bells of San Blas."

Our current position is: 21 degrees, 30.95'N; 105 degrees 14.04'W

We'll probably spend a few days here before we head down the way to Chacala.

Adios for now -

Rich, Deb, Kyle & Ryan
S/V Oasis

Update -- At Isla Isabella

We left Mazatlan last night around 6:00pm. We left with "Ketching Up" and "Monju". We arrived at Isla Isabella this morning around 7:00am after an uneventful overnight trip. After a little nap, we headed for shore. We saw all kinds of different and unique birds - Kyle had me take pictures of all of them. We did see the infamous blue footed boobie!! Cocktail hour was aboard "Oasis" tonight. Everyone is now back aboard their boats getting ready to head out tomorrow. We'll be heading to Matanchen Bay (near San Blas). Depending on how bad the bugs really are, we'll head to Chacala after that. For now, we're at 21 Degrees 50.70' N; 105 degrees 52.73' W. Still having a fantastic time!!!

Last Day in Mazatlan!

The above is a picture of the central market here in Mazatlan. We took the bus to town and bought fresh fruit, veggies, and meat for the next few weeks. The boys thought it was great - except for the whole pigs head which was just at Ryans eye level...

This is the beach area of El Cid - can you tell Rich is having a tough life these days...

This is one of the many decorative cactus that line the walkway here at El Cid. They have shapes an faces in the cacti..
These are our great neighbors here at El Cid - Tom and Dawn from "Warm Rain" - originally from Seattle. They are planning on doing the Puddle Jump to the South Pacific this spring - good for them!!! They have been a great source of local knowledge to us here in Mazatlan. We had tequila and chasers with them this evening.... more on that later....

We should be at Isla Isabella sometime on Saturday afternoon, and after a few days there will work our way down the coast to Puerto Vallarta for Christmas. We plan to stop in San Blas, Chacala, Punta Mita and La Cruz on the way. Stay tuned for what actually happens....

From a Friend

The following is a comment we got from one of our friends - it's so classic we had to post it!!

"Can't believe how similar my week has been to yours. I left my house at 5am and took on some fuel before "sailing" down the 15 fwy to my office where I dropped my "ass anchor" at my desk for 10 hours and bathed in the glow of fluorescent lights. I then pulled anchor and cruised north back home. Who needs natural light when you have fluorescent bulbs? So much fun...think I will do it again tomorrow. Miss reality yet?"

Our answer - Not a Bit!!

All I Want For Christmas....

Yep, look what Kyle lost - his two front teeth. One day after the other, the tooth fairy came to visit Oasis - she brings pesos down here!!
If you open this picture, you'll see the boys from "ketching up" and "Oasis" all getting ready to jump! Yep, even Ryan... It's about a 10 foot jump!!

LeAnne - dinghy chaps are canvas covers that go on the top side of the dinghy. They not only save the dinghy from the sun (and extend it's life), but they also are a lot nicer to sit on that hot rubber!!!

Sun Bathers..

These are a couple of pictures of the local iguanas that live near the pool here at the El Cid. They just seems to watch all of us and the rest of the word just go by...
Well as cruising plans usually go, we've changed ours a bit. We found a guy here that will make great dinghy chaps for a really good price - so we're staying now until next Friday...

Just a relaxing Day...

Today was just spent being a tourist after school was finished. We took a taxi to the "golden zone" (alias - tourist zone) and wondered around for a while. We didn't really buy anything, but looked at lots of stuff. After that we took the bus pack to the marina. The picture below is of the boys at the pool just after sunset. This is the little playground at the hotel here. This is some sort of contraption that you sit in and spin around in.... made me dizzy just watching them!!!
LDP - thanks for the birthday wishes!!! You guys should come to PV for christmas!!!

Mazatlan

This is the famous cathedral in the historic portion of downtown Mazatlan. We made it to Mazatlan on Friday, arriving just after 9 am. We have a beautifull slip at the gorgeous El Cid resort, and the kids are loving the pool action. Friday was a day to catch up on some sleep after the night crossing and the let the kids wear off some steam at the pool. Saturday seems to have just happened... Yesterday (Sunday) we set off to take a bus to the historic part of town, but we got on the wrong bus. Knowing this, we got off fairly quickly and walked for a while. Then we took a "Pulmanaria" (Opean Air Cab) to the historic portion and wandered around for a while. We had lunch at a really nice place, wandered some more then took the correct bus to the local supermarket "Gigante" - and a taxi home.
This evening (Monday) we dinghied over to the other marina here and met up with our friends Dan & Loraine Olsen of "Zephrus" - they say to tell everyone in San Diego and at SWYC hello for them. We're having dinner with them on Friday aboard Oasis, and then they too will be heading south later in the month, so we will most likely run into them again.

Kyle and Ryan eating chips aboard Zephrus....

Here's a picture of Rich's first yellow fin tuna! He made fresh ahi poke for dinner that night! (eat your heart out Ron & Mia!). He's really starting to get into this fishing thing! You can see how flat the sea was during our crossing. We motored across and had to slow the boat up in the middle of the night so as to not arrive here too early.... The office to the marina opens at 9am, and we radioed them at 9:03 - how's that for timing!!

Thanks for the birthday wishes Carolyn and LeAnne!!!!!

Hey Good Looking -- Happy Birthday!

While our friends sail to Mazatlan, celebrating Debbie's 43rd birthday. I thought it would be fun to leave them messages; your fondest memory of Debbie, her birthday, or some other crazy time you know I want to know about. While you are thinking about some juicy details, here's some Buffet,

Fish Everywhere..

Kyle, hung upside down like a Marlin! He's been waiting to do this... Ryan got hooked up, but wouldn't let Dad reel him in....
Rich has been fishing off the boat. His favorite fish appears to be about a 5 inch puffer fish... And so ends another beautiful day in Los Muertos....

Hookah in Action

Rich hooked up the hookah line yesterday to play with it.
He check out the bottom of the boat. We were missing a nut on one of our zincs, so he just dove on down there and fixed it - pretty handy!!!
Kyle's at it again - jumping off the boat! He calls this dive his flying cannon ball...
Yep, he's loving this!!!

Oasis In Los Muertos

We're spending a few quiet days here in Los Muertos. Our current position is: 23 degrees 59.2'N/109 degrees 49.7' W. Click on the above picture to see it better. There is nothing here except for a great beach, some old mining ruins, and the above pictured Giggling Marlin.

Here's a picture of the bay from the beach. Notice the stink pots?? There was a rally that visited here last night which was comprised of about 30-40 stink pots! They're all gone now, on their way to La Paz. We have the bay back now with only 4 other boats anchored here.
This is looking west from the beach - another pretty nice one huh!!! This is as far north as we're going. Our current thinking is to head over to Mazatlan later this week, possibly leaving here on Thursday morning, which would put us in Friday afternoon.

Pictures from Los Frailes

Once ashore, the boys and Rich climbed a little sand burm to find a lake.
Our own private beach. This is a picture of the bay of Los Frailes - pretty nice huh???

The last night we were there, there was a pot-luck on the beach. The boys from Oasis and Ketching Up climbed a nearby hill and took control of it. They look like survivors...
This is the pot-luck. It started at 4:00 so everyone could get back to their boats before dark. After "Survivor Santa Maria", everyone thinks getting back before dark is a great idea.

Well now we're in Los Muertos - which is another 45 mile NW from Los Frailes. We plan to be here for 4-5 days before heading across the Sea of Cortez to Mazatlan.

Baja Ha-Ha Wrapup

Here is a really great summary of the race. Makes me want to stop writing my own and just link to them.

Recap on Cabo

Remember when I was talking about how I hoped this 2 week little trip my husband was taking to Cabo San Lucas would get the cruising bug out of his system? Well, as I am 90 percent of the time, I was wrong. Carson had the time of his life helping Debbie and Ryan take Oasis down from San Diego to Cabo. I’m afraid he was boat shopping while cruising with 150 other boats and has a “3 year plan” for doing the Ha-ha again. And really who can blame him for dreaming?

The rally/race was very well organized. They kept track of all of the boats (wow!) with a daily roll call, had organized events at each stopping point, had tons of giveaways, and had a wealth of knowledge and friendliness to share with everyone. If you haven't already found it, check out the electronic version of Latitude 38. This is the magazine that sponsored the rally. And the many of the magazine staffers were in the race too.

And the people!! Deb and Rich are sailing with some really terrific people. Very friendly, very willing to help with information or skills they have. I was really impressed with the caliber of people I met while down in Cabo. While walking around downtown Cabo, you could recognize many many HaHa people by their bright pink or blue shirts. Even when we were in Costco (provisioning for the next leg), we met fellow cruisers, and gave them a ride back to the marina.

But my review of Cabo San Lucas isn't quite so shiny. I was warned before I left that I might not like Cabo. I was told that it was really Americanized and catered to a different crowd than I was used to. Boy, were they right!!! I couldn't find a popcicle storefront anywhere, nor a panderia. I wasn't particularly happy with the food either. But life isn't always just about food, right? I liked our hotel. It was about a 5 min drive from the marina and friendly helpful staff. But enough of the review, let's see some pictures.

Here are my two boys at "Lover's Beach". We took a water taxi to get out to this beautiful place. It is just around the corner from Cabo's famous Arch. And the beach has two sides, both the bay and the ocean are accessible. We had a fantastic afternoon swimming and snorkeling.

Kyle and Carson had a great time towing each other around on the boogie board at Mango Deck.Aren't these kids cute. And so patiently waiting to go to the beach. There were a few times last weekend where I would have all four of the kids. People would look really hard at us and try to figure out if they were all brothers. Can you imagine??? The 3 oldest are only nine months apart with Ryan holding up the end at 14 months younger than Robert.