Arrived Zihuatanejo

Talk about a slog. We did the 200 mile leg from Santiago to Zihuatanejo in about 45 hours. It was almost impossible to sail because when the wind was blowing the tacking angles were terrible for laying Zihuat, so we motored through 15 knots of SE headwind pounding for about 60 of the 200 miles. The rest of the time there was no wind at all.

We also got boarded by the Mexican Armada. However the waters were so rough they aborted the effort. They were kind enough not to bang a hole in our boat with their steel runabout or injure one of the sailors in attempting to board us. One of the guys on their boat actually was encouraging them to jump. It was grim. Fortunately they opted to just shout out questions. They were out in force trying to they were out in force and tried to board just about every boat that went by.

At least we've caught up with the rest of our buddies so maybe we'll get a chance to spend some time together and have some fun before moving on again!

{GMST}17|38.083|N|101|33.319|W|The most southern point we've reached so far.|Zihuatanejo{GEND}

In Santiago Bay

It was tough leaving Barra and saying goodbye to Cassie perra. But we had to leave the calm lagoon and move on if we're going to get to Central America in Feb/March.

Sherrell has been feeling tired from a cold so instead of doing the 200 mile passage south, we went 25 and stopped for the night in Santiago. It's a pretty place with large cliffs and a big bay. It's right next to Manzanillo which is a big shipping port and as we look south we see 3 large carriers waiting to unload at the port.

Hopefully Sherrell will be feeling rested tomorrow and we'll continue on south from here.

{GMST}19|06.628|N|104|23.547|W|Relaxing in the big bay.|Santiago Bay{GEND}

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Cassie 1994 - 2006

Two nights ago, our friend's dog, Cassie, passed away here in the lagoon at Barra de Navidad. We knew Cassie for the past two years and she was almost like our own adopted dog. She would always be the first to greet us when ever we came to visit Ocean Lady and we often took her for walks along with Rocky her brother. Everything seems a bit out of place without her around and she´ll be sorely missed not only by us but many others.

Cassie was given a sailor´s buriel at sea out in the deep water of the bay, under the constellation for which she was named.

Barra, Visitors and Slog Readers

Our friends on Tara and Willow arrived a couple of days ago. They managed to sail all the way into the estuary. Unfortunatly we haven't really had much opportunty to spend much time with them because our plans and schedules never seem to match up. They are already getting ready to head further south, so maybe we'll catch up with them later in the year.

I've been impatiently waiting for the surf to come up in Barra, but there seems to be no signs of life. It's a strange wave that only appears during low tide and it's pretty mushy. In the meantime we've been entertaining Sheila on the boat. She's enjoying all the bird life and being immersed in nature, because we're surrounded by it on all sides in this lagoon. And there are only 5 other boats here right now. During the height of the season they'll pack in 50 to 80 boats. We'll move on before
the crowds get that big.

We also want to say thanks to all the people who write us and tell us that we've helped inspire them. It's a surprise to us because we're just out here doing our thing wondering if anyone really reads this stuff as it seems our friends and family often don't find time to check out our Slog. So it's great to know that people are enjoying our experiences vicariously and are poised to set out to make some of their own! It's great hearing from all of you!

Just keep sailing!

Barra Rocks

As if we were in some cheesy commercial, we both said, "This is pretty much the best anchorage in Mexico" at the same time. We settled back in 8 feet of flat calm water and breathed a sigh of relief. The lagoon in Barra keeps out all the bouncy wind waves and totally blocks the ocean swell. To top it off there are two small towns for provisions and there's a Canadian who runs a French Bakery and deliveries his pricey goodies directly to your boat. Oh yeah, and there is a nice little surf break right outside of the lagoon. I don't think many places are better than Barra.

{GMST}19|11.466|N|104|40.295|W|Ahhh flat calm water.|Barra de Navidad{GEND}

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