Newsletter March 2001

"We’re Baaaaaack or w"hat the hell’s going on with that crazy cruising couple?"

It’s March 10 and we are in PV. For you landlubbers that’s Puerto Vallarta. Kat, Jutta’s daughter and a friend arrived today. They are planning to stay for a week during spring break. Jutta and I decided to drop the anchor at Marina Vallarta, plug into some real electric power and hose the boat down. During our stay we are having a new bimini made for “Pipe Dream”, radar checked, and the rigging tuned (tightening all those cables that hold up the stick in the middle of our sailboat).
We were in Zihuatanejo, when I wrote the last newsletter. Z town is as far south as we had decided to cruise this season. We arrived on February 14 and stayed 10 days. Had a wonderful time seeing the sights and made a lot of new friends. Spent a lot of time at Rick’s Bar and the Jungle bar. Kevin, our diver from Sunroad Marina, was bartending at the Jungle Bar, we renewed old friendships and swapped stories. He will be heading back to the U.S. in April.
Due to Jutta’s daughter arriving at Puerta Vallarta on the 10th of March, it was time to head north to PV. We sailed and motored all night and arrived at Manzanillo and dropped the hook at “Las Hadas” for some much needed rest. Next morning, we pushed on to Bahia Navidad and anchored in the lagoon at Barra. We spent the rest of the day in the lagoon fighting a 30 knot breeze at anchor and dragging our anchor all over the lagoon. For those of you with boating experience, we had to put out 125 feet of chain in 5 ½ feet of water to hold on the muddy bottom. Carnival was going on in Barra and we had to stay a few days to party with the locals, attend some dances, and take on more kegs of rum. The crew of “Pipe Dream” gets pretty grumpy being trapped on the boat without a two or three day shore pass.
It was time to push on and we sailed to Tenacatita and anchored in the bay with about 40 boats and visited old friends and traded lies about our sailing adventures. While anchored we were in one of the worst rain and lightening storms I have every witnessed. This storm, which hammered the California coast, extended all the way down to Acapulco. One of the boats at anchor was hit by lightening, sorry to say, and they lost most of their electronics. We came out of it unscathed. Our friends Mike and Kathy on Kachina were anchored right next to the boat hit by the lightening bolt and they lost their radar. Everyone was running for cover and those at sea got quite a spanking by “Mother Nature”. We had to hide out at Tenacitita for three days waiting for a weather window to head north to Puerta Vallarta. The seas were a little bumpy but we arrived at Marina Vallarta and settled in for some much needed R&R.
We have developed our signature drink for “Pipe Dream”, it is called a “pipe drink.” Its reputation precedes us in Mexico. The formula is patented and coveted by cruising sailors with drinking problems, but I will allow a few of you to try it if you are ever on Pipe Dream. It originated from a variation of a Margarita, four or more can lead to blindness or impotence. I think I need a new pair of glasses but I haven’t noticed any other problems.
March 24.
After PV we pulled the hook and headed north along the Mexican mainland. Our first stop was Isla Isabela. This is a bird sanctuary 50 miles off the west coast of Mexico. We spent two days there and explored the entire island. We were then off to San Blas in much need of more rum. What a mistake. This was our first severe encounter with the much feared “NO-SEE-UMS”. A “no-see-um” is a giant mouth, a man-eater, a blood sucking demon, so small it can’t be seen with the naked eye. They bite the hell out of you and you can’t see them. The closest thing they can be compared with is the internal revenue service. We anchored about 100 yards of the beach at San Blas and the no-see-ums found us that far out in the bay. After a day or so, we were ready to sail to Mazatlan. We needed some medical attention. The crew of Pipe Dream had run out of wine. Jutta had been flopping around the floor like a trout out of water. I had been hallucinating every night, my worst dream, I was in a large metropolitan city and all the street people, winos, and dingbats had joined an organized religion and stopped drinking. I knew it was time to fill the barrels with wine and sail on.
March26
We loved Mazatlan, this old city has a certain romance. Its old historic neighborhoods
and its market place will be one place that will call us back on our return voyage to Mexico. If you are looking for shrimp, this is where it can be found. There is a huge fishing fleet moored in Mazatlan. Most of the restaurants specialize in shrimp dishes.
April 1
Time to leave Mazatlan and make the crossing from the mainland of Mexico to the Baja.
Arrived in La Paz April 2. It was a pretty uneventful crossing. Gerda, Jutta’s friend from San Diego, would be joining us in La Paz. We stayed a few days and provisioned the boat, filled the barrels with rum and salt pork, washed clothes, and picked up Gerda from the airport for our next adventure up the Gulf of California, better known as the Sea of Cortez. We pulled anchor on April 12, hoisted all the sails, and once again motored out of La Paz harbor heading for Isla Partida (an island off of the La Paz coast). There were so many beautiful islands and serene coves, it would be too much to mention. We would sail for 5 or 6 hours and be in another beautiful bay, drop the hook and just relax for several days. This can go on for months in the Sea of Cortez. I can see why people go cruising with the intention to see new parts of the world and end up never leaving the western coast of Mexico and the Sea of Cortez. It has a certain Nirvana that is unexplainable. You have to be there to know what I mean.
April 28
It was time for Gerda to walk the plank. She had been a guest on Pipe Dream for over three weeks. We anchored in Puerto Escondido, and took a $50.00 cab ride to Loreto
Airport, and kicked her out. We really did have a great time with Gerda on the boat.
While in Puerto Escondido, we made the decision to attend “Loreto Fest 2001”. Loreto Fest is a small gathering of cruisers every year in Puerto Escondido. As you can probably guess what I am leading up to, 167 boats crowded into Puerto Escondido for Loreto Fest which adds up to about three to four hundred people for a four day party. There were games, seminars, music, potlucks, barbecues, dances, hikes and lots of fun for all. Loreto Fest was one of our highlights of our cruise in Mexico. Jutta and I organized our own “over the line” team called the Gerzona’s (Germany and Arizona joined together). We made it to the championship round on Sunday. We lost to a bunch of drunken Bavarians from California. How bad can it get?
May 21
Monday morning, after our sad goodbyes to our old and new found friends, we pulled the hook, opened a cold Pacifico and sailed out of Puerta Escondido. We gunkholed up the coast of Baja for a few days with the crews of “Sepapu” and “Sea Feather”, and arrived in Bahia Conception on May 24. We ended up spending 4 days in Bahia Conception snorkeling, swimming, and visiting friends. Jutta and I spent two mornings at a reef in the middle of Conception Bay, in hip deep water, digging for butter clams that were an inch or two under the water. We ate a bucket of clams and drank a good bottle of wine – that’s the good life!
Our window marking the end of our cruising season was drawing to a close. We had our date to haul the boat out of the water, and we were getting itchy to see old friends and visit our children back in the US. My good friend Paul Sofianos had made plans to fly into Guaymas and met us in San Carlos for a five day fishing extravaganza and beer fest. Paul was going to teach us how to fish. After four days, his 7 inch rock cod took the hands down record. He was also trying to break the solo beer drinking record for the Sea of Cortez. There was no presentation ceremony or fanfare but I am sure the record fell during his visit. After three days, there wasn’t a beer to be found on Pipe Dream. Paul was in serious distress. We had to dinghy to a resort on the beach to buy another 12 pack in order to revive Paul.
We bid farewell to Paul, checked into Marina San Carlos, and began to strip the lifelines, sails, etc from Pipe Dream’s decks and prepare her for dry storage. On June 8 at 11:00 AM, Pipe Dream was pulled, kicking and screaming, from the waters of the Sea of Cortez, all 15 tons of her. With tears in her eyes she was pulled down the street of San Carlos to dry storage where she will spend the next 4 months with about 400 or her friends. We said our goodbyes on June 9 in San Carlos, boarded a bus for a 18-hour trip (interrupted by 16 military drug checkpoints) to Tijuana, and closed the final curtain on our Mexican cruise of 2000/2001.
No one can begin to describe the joy of cruising in a sailboat for 71/2 months - visiting exotic ports, quiet, serene bays and meeting lots of other cruisers immersed in the same adventure. As a tourist on vacation, you never get to know a country. On this cruise, I have had the time to live with the people. So few ever have that opportunity.
We have tasted the water and thirst for the start of the next adventure starting October 2001.
Hasta entonces, adios
Ferdy and Jutta

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PIPEDREAM 2001/2002 CRUISING FUND ARE WELCOME AT ANY TIME.(The Second Season Begins)

(If you haven’t noticed, this newsletter is written in geriatric print for a lot of my friends that are older than dirt, you know who you are.)
Were Baaaaaaack! Yes, we are back and still together for a second season. This cruise should be a great one if the money holds out and we don’t run out of wine. As a lot of you know we put the boat to bed at Marina Seca, San Carlos (dry Dock) for the summer and got the hell out of Mexico and the heat. Jutta and I spent the summer on the beach in Imperial Beach. I tried to set a record on how much a retired sailor could spend on boat parts and new equipment during the summer. Unfortunately, there were no trophies given but I’m sure I’m up for honorable mention.
Jutta left for Germany on the 24 of September and I opted to stay in California, you can just spend so much money. On October 10 or there abouts, I headed for San Carlos Mexico to re-hydrate Pipe Dream. She got new radios, new radar, a life raft, a new inverter etc, etc. While I was installing all these new items and shaking the mothballs out of Pipe Dream, Jutta was playing “Princess” at her mother’s house in Germany.

On October 29, Pipe Dream hit the water and much to my surprise, she stayed on top. Jutta arrived on the 1st of November. Two days after she arrived, we boarded a bus and rode for five hours to Los Mochis. From there, we climbed on a train and took an 8 hour train ride through some of the most beautiful country I have ever witnessed. We went to Copper Canyon and spent five days. I will remember that side trip for a long time - or better, I hope, I will remember it for a long time. For those of you over fifty, you know what I mean! You will need to tune in to our web page for all the gory details and nude photos. Jutta is working on it now and it should be published soon. I’ll send you an email as soon as it’s on the website.
After our return from Copper Canyon, Jutta and I scrubbed and polished the boat and on November 19 we cut the dock lines and sailed south. It took three days to reach La Paz, at a cruiser’s pace, and we will be here for about a week. A cruiser’s pace is anchoring in beautiful bays for the night, swimming, barbecuing and watching breath taking sunsets on the Baja with a gin and tonic or a margarita. It isn’t easy being me! We caught two large Dorado on two of the three days we sailed. Jutta and I feasted on fresh Sushimi with Wasabi and Soy. For you meat and potato people, that is fresh Mahi Mahi sliced thin, eaten raw, with green horseradish, dipped in soy sauce. We also barbecued, sautéed and fried fish until all was gone.
Lately, I have been looking for a priest during our travels. Nope, it’s not what you are thinking, I need one who specializes in exorcism. We have an electrical demon on the boat who keeps haunting us as we travel from port to port. Luckily, EB Mike, our electrical shaman, will be by on Monday to perform the ceremony.
Nothing much has happened this summer that is very earth shattering. Jutta got her first magazine article published about our cruising voyage last year and she was so excited, I thought she would bust.
I examined my checkbook and I still had checks, so I must have money left. I will try to get newsletters out on a regular basis this year. Our travels will take us to Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, and thru the Canal.
Well, I guess this is goodbye to all of you working stiffs.
This Ferdy, signing off from Paradise.
Adios