S/V "Mandolin"
Isla Isabela to Bahia Navidad - 12/21/98

Todd writes: The alarm gets us up at 0500 so we can get an early start. After stowing things and having some fruit for breakfast we are underway at 0600.  We motor for 2 hours before there is enough wind to sail.  I set the spinnaker, and am please by the flat sea state and the wonderful temperature.  The apples we purchaced in Mazatlan we not terrific so I decided to make an apple cobbler out of them.  An good example of the flat sea state is the fact that you can bake.  Listened to the Sonrisa and Chubasco net to get our weather and find out if there was any interesting news in the world.  This is also where we would be contacted by an amateur radio operator from the states if there was any priority messages for us. The weather looks to be light winds for mainland Mexico today. Fortunately the wind holds and we carry our spinnaker until 2300 before the wind builds and we change to our poled out jib. We are passed by one fishing vessel heading south.

The wind continues to build until we are well past Cabo Corrientos making for a wonderful sail.  During this time Our fishing line goes taught then loose again.  Ellen pulls it in to find there is no more hook or feather at the end.  I think it may have been a Wahoo that are known for their sharp teeth.  Again we were visted by more dolphins. They were very active as they jumped out of the water and made large splashes with their tails.  It is thought that they communicate with the rest of their pod by the sound of the splashes they make.  We are now far enough south that we begin to see ships again as the go between Panama and Cabo San Lucas on their way to the states.  It has been nice to be out of the shipping lanes.

About 9 hours out of Barra Navidad the wind finally dies.  I was somewhat disappointed as we had to take down sail and start the motor. It did give us a chance to charge up our batteries and run our water maker to fill the tanks.  The haze has become very thick.  Only when we are within five miles of the coast to we see the moutain tops.  The haze is caused by an inland volcano that is threatening to erupt.  At 0630 in the morning we drop anchor off the small town of Melaque.  We are both tired, but want to get into town to stretch our legs and check in with the Port Captian.  Since it is the 23rd we want to get our paperwork done without an overtime expense that we would get charged on a holiday. Melaque is a cute town in the north part of the bay with a sister town in the south part of the bay.  They are separated by 2 kilometers of beach and palms.  We had heard that this is where Mexicans come on their vacations.  That appealed to us since so far we had been in touristy areas.  After one night at anchor and some exciting dingy landings through the surf we decided to move to the lagoon at the south end of the bay. The advantage is less waves and no surf to land the dingy in, but there is also less wind and more mosquitoes.  Our friends Dave and Becky aboard Mudshark are stayinging at the marina that is part of the Grand Bay Hotel. We met up with them and they showed us the most impressive resort I have every seen.  According to one publication this is one of the top 100 hotels in the world.  Dave puts it well, "Welcome to Fantasyland."  We played in the water slides at the pool and had a terrific but expensive lunch at the cafe (One of our Christmas presents to each other)  That evening we went into the town of Barra Navidad for Christmas eve dinner at Tradiciones.  The food was wonderful.  We saw a wedding happening at the church and kids trying to break a pinata blindfolded.  Quite the Mexico experience.  At the local sport fishing shop in Barra Navidad we get a new fishing feather and a wire leader to avoid loosing more fish.  Each day finds us at the resort pool during the heat, then in the evening we visit with friends of go into town.  It is great to see all the locals walking around and being social during the evening.  I abosolutely adore both of these small towns and look forward to finding more.

Last night while motoring out to the anchorage in the dinghy we got the propeller stuck in a drift net.  Fortunatly we were able to get untangled with minimum damage to the motor and the net.  One of the adventures of cruising.

Looks like we will stay here through New Years before heading south.

Todd and Ellen Mandeville
S/V "Mandolin" - Cal 34
svmandolin@hotmail.com
www.aljian.com/mandolin

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