Photo of the Day

February 5 - Zihua Bay, Mexico

Today's Photo of the Day comes from last weekend's first ever Zihua Sail Fest in Z-town. A large group of cruisers - around 85 - gathered aboard Latitude 38's Profligate and Blair and Joan Grinols' Capricorn Cat on Friday evening for snacks and cocktails to kick off the event which raised nearly $4,000 for a local charity.


Photo Latitude/Richard


Banditos in Mag Bay?

February 5 - Magdalena Bay, Mexico

"Thought you guys would be the right ones to know about Sea magazine's wonderful piece of crap article on Mag Bay in the February edition," report Ron and Valerie Hoskin of the Columbia 43 Valerie K in Alamitos Bay. "The article is about three dopes who take a 43-foot Tiara motoryacht from Seattle to Cabo, and then supposedly have to ward off 'banditos' in Mag Bay! On another subject, our friends aboard the Tayana 37 Avventura emailed us about seeing an eight foot croc swimming in the anchorage around Tenacatita and then disappearing up the river. They said it made them nervous about cleaning the bottom of their boat. We'd seen a smaller croc up the river last year."

It's not often that we break out laughing while reading a cruising article, but it happened as we read the Sea magazine article you referred to. The unidentified author quotes broker/crewmember Vic Parcells as saying that "Mag Bay was hard to get into - and extremely dangerous." As anyone who has been there before can tell you, it's about as hard to enter as the Golden Gate. But it got worse when Parcells said the crew finally anchored and then had to maintain a watch against "local banditos." In fact, he claimed that, "Every hour to hour and a half, a panga would come to the boat. We scared them away with floodlights and triple chrome horns - and we kept the flare gun ready as the final deterrent." The final deterrent to what, having some friendly locals sell them some lobster? We've known of countless cruisers who have enjoyed wonderful stops - some hours, some weeks - in Mag Bay and never had a problem with 'banditos'. In fact, it's been years since we remember anyone having any problem with 'banditos' in Mexico. Obviously Sea magazine didn't run this article by John Raines, their Mexico expert.

As for crocs, we just returned from a trip from Puerto Vallarta to Z-town, and can confirm that large crocs - on the loose - are plentiful. In the little town of Manzanilla - not to be confused with Manzanillo - there were all kinds of crocs inside a fenced area at the end of the main street. A fenced area with holes big enough for hippos to get through. Later, while on La Ropa Beach in Z-town, there was a large croc completely loose in a small lagoon not 25 feet from the place we ate breakfast most mornings. When we came to say 'hello' on the last day, he wasn't there. His tracks, however, lead right to the water not far from where Profligate was anchored. From all we can tell, crocs and people get along well all up and down the west coast of Mexico.


Warm in Mexico

February 5 - Zihuatenejo

As mentioned, the Wanderer and de Mallorca just returned from a cruise from Puerto Vallarta to Z-town to participate in the first annual Zihua Sail Fest. The trip was a big success - check out the accompanying photos - and so was the Sail Fest, which we'll have more about tomorrow. We heard it was cold in Northern California, so cold that Mt. Tam was covered in snow. Well down in Z-town, it was warm - so warm that you couldn't sleep at 0200. So warm that the water had to be 85 degrees.


Mr. Happy enjoys a ménage a trois in Tenacatita Bay.


The crocs at Manzanilla are big . . .
and completely free to roam.


Kristi checks out the colorful menu at a Frenchman's restaurant in Manzanilla.


Offshore swim break in the warm Pacific


Launching the dinghy at Chemela


Our crew - Jean, Dustin, Kristi, Greg, Cherie and de Mallorca - enjoy a delicious lunch break at the Bel Aire Hotel at Careyes.


After lunch, the girls work off a few calories.

Photos Latitude/Richard


YOTREPS

February 5 - The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace

Who is out making passages in the Pacific and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS - 'yacht reports' - at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/


Weather Updates

February 5 - Pacific Ocean

San Francisco Bay Weather

To see what the winds are like on the Bay and just outside the Gate right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind/. The National Weather Service site for San Francisco Bay has moved to www.wrh.noaa.gov/Monterey/.

California Coast Weather

Looking for current as well as recent wind and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena and the Mexican border? Here's the place - which has further links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/stuff/southwest/swstmap.shtml.

Pacific Winds and Pressure

The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology page posts a daily map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric pressure and winds.

Pacific Sea State

Check out the Pacific Ocean sea states at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.
For another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.


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