Ahoy! Welcome to Marina Arroyo Seco... really

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - A few weeks ago, graders, tractors, dump trucks and pieces of huge earthmoving equipment descended on the dirt and gravel road leading into the village.

After years of government promises, the 3-kilometer road from Highway 200 into beautiful downtown Arroyo Seco is being paved.

If I didn't see it happening, I wouldn't believe it, either.

But this week I received some other news either much more exciting or quite depressing, depending on your perspective.

It appears a master plan for El Tecuan, just south of Arroyo Seco, is about to be implemented, a plan that will include construction of a marina at the extreme south end of Arroyo Seco's Playa Grande in what is now a natural lagoon filled with birds and fish.

Playa Grande is the Arroyo Seco beach dotted with about a dozen and a half houses and now home to three excellent seafood restaurants, by the way.



PLAYA GRANDE, FACING NORTH.

About a quarter mile past the last house there is a huge land outcropping which provides a great natural breakwater. And apparently that will be where the plans show the entrance to the marina will be. The marina will be built specifically to allow for ocean-going yachts to berth there, using the lagoon behind it as the actual place to moor vessels.

I use the word 'apparently' because this all comes third hand. A village amigo talked with an Arroyo Seco resident who attended a meeting in the Chamela area about a week ago at which state and local government officials announced a plan for a major development in the area of the old Tecuan Hotel and along the beach. Part of that meeting was to get the various stakeholders: ejido members, fishing cooperativa people, and everybody else, to sign documents assigning a variety of rights to the developers and the development so that things could get rolling.

Some folks apparently declined, because they didn't agree and/or the formula for sharing the benefits of such a project wasn't favorable enough.

Note the 'apparently' there. How that will shake out is way beyond my pay grade to analyze.



LIKELY PLACE TO DREDGE A CHANNEL THROUGH TO THE OCEAN
Besides the resort or hotel or whatever development - and the marina - the plan calls for opening up and deepening the lagoon and waterway that runs from Arroyo Seco to Tenacatita. According to the person at the meeting, La Veina (the river flowing into the anchorage where many yachts hang out) will be dredged, too, to allow for people to boat along an inside passage from Arroyo Seco to Tenacatita Bay.

The Mexican environmental agencies might have something to say about that.

Might.



LAGOON ENTRANCE AT SOUTH END OF PLAYA GRANDE



VIEW OF THE LAGOON BEHIND EL TECUAN

And how this relates to Tenacatita is anybody's guess. The beach and much of the land formerly occupied by Mexicans and gringos (many with federal titles) is still in the grip of the Guadalajara developer who seized the area at gunpoint and still holds it hostage like East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell.

I haven't seen the actual plans for the development and marina, though they have been described to me in great detail and are the talk of the town. It could be that when we return in November of this year, not only will we speeding in on a new paved road, we will head out to the beach and perhaps see even more earthmoving equipment dredging the lagoon, building breakwaters and perhaps putting a light atop the land outcropping as a navigational beacon.

And down the El Tecuan beach, some big hotel/resort/development will be going in.


ATOP THE PROMONTORY, EL TECUAN BEACH BEHIND ME

The irony is great for Admiral Fox and I.

We sold our 48-foot sailboat Sabbatical six years ago and decided to stay on shore, choosing this small, agricultural village as our home. We have a four-wheel Honda quad (with a trailer for beach toys or cargo), a motorcycle, two bicycles and a palapa/hacienda-style house right in el centro.

And inspired by Rick, June and Lyle of La Manzanilla, we have even been considering putting in a small garden next fall.

In the terminology of people who travel the world aboard sailboats, we 'swallowed the hook (anchor)' when we moved to land.

Now there might be a harbor with space for boats the size of Sabbatical within walking distance of my house.

If they build the marina quick enough, I might just buy another boat. Though this time, I think a panga would make more sense. Or at least as much sense as buying any boat that will spend its life in saltwater does.

Or, perhaps it's time to launch the Arroyo Seco Yacht Club.

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La Manzanilla sailing race underway across Tenacatita Bay

LA MANZANILLA, Jalisco, Mexico - This year's La Manzanilla race was minus the white tents, free food and free tequila, but it got going almost on time with about a dozen boats Saturday.

Oh, and the Corona girls in the hot pants were missing, too...

Admiral Fox jumped aboard the sailing vessel Di's Dream, after hiring a panga to take her and a bunch of other crew members out to the race course. When I last saw her heading offshore, she was perched in the stern of the boat.



Getting off the beach in the panga was not problem, but the big surf proved challenging to other small boats, including the rowboat with Joe and Grant.

Grant pulled his hardest and managed after several close calls to make his way out to Joe's boat to join the race.



In the meantime, I stayed on shore to chat with the rest of the racing peanut gallery. The boats got off to a great start, but the winds were very light at first. As I write this, the sailboats are about halfway around the course, heading across the best of the race at the westerly edge of Tenacatita Bay.






As soon as my Palapa Joe's fishburger arrives, I will chow down and head out to catch the photo finish.

Or is it, photo the finish?

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Quick sailing trip from Tenacatita Bay to Nuevo Vallarta

NUEVO VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico - Hector NY amigo Mike Schamel and I jumped aboard Roger Frizzelle's boat Di's Dream Tuesday afternoon for a quick delivery north to Nuevo Vallarta.

Roger had two issues going on - an ailing mother in California and a brand-new granddaughter in the Cayman Islands - and so he needed to park his 47-foot Catalina sailboat in a safe harbor while he attended to things.

Admiral Fox transported Mike and I Tuesday afternoon to the beach at the southeast end of La Veina in Tenacatita Bay (where most cruising boats anchor). We hitched a ride out to Roger's vessel aboard a dinghy owned by another cruiser in the anchorage.

Afte a few pre-voyage tasks, we pulled up anchor and were on our way north. And just 19 hours later, tied up snugly on B Dock at Paradise Village Marina.

It was one of the smoothest and fastest trips I have taken. Even Cabo Corrientes - noted for being a really nasty place - was like a lake.

Whales at play in Banderas Bay

We saw whales everywhere on the voyage, had one close encounter with another sailboat in the dark (which was not showing proper lights) and saw some of the ugliest red tides ever (video at the end of this blog).

But we also saw a fabulous (if weird) sunset, and then a spectacular sunrise as we enterered Banderas Bay. It was a largely uneventful trip, though the temperature differential between Arroyo Seco and Puerto Vallarta has to be 10 degrees F. We were damned cold in the pre-dawn hours in Banderas Bay.

As part of the trip, we also grabbed the headsail off Roger's boat and drove it today to Barra de Navidad for repairs. Bob Hogin (of Bob Hogin Sails) says it will be ready for Roger when he gets back from his various sojourns.

Red sunset off Mexico coast

Online, offline, Internet here, there and everywhere

NUEVO VALLARTA, NAYARIT, Mexico - The on-again, off-again, Finnegan of Internet service has been wreaking havoc on posting here and on the Tenacatita Bay Bugle (Tenacatita Bay Bugle link).

On the other hand, it has made it possible to ignore the keyboard, swim and generally enjoy the balmy weather that is Mexico this time of the year.

Admiral Fox and I made a quick foray to Arroyo Seco, where we opened up the place, which had been spit shined by our village amigos Chena and Chon. Somehow in our brief stay of a few days (which included runs to La Manzanilla and Melaque for food, gasoline and more dinero) we neglected to take any photos of the Pink Flamingo, though I did take a short video out on Playa Chica.

Arroyo Seco express to Dustin's

The trip was short because we went through various lockers in both trailers and the bodega to pull out items Dustin (and us) want/need in his new poolside casa.

Last night we barbecued steaks - only the third time our barbecue has been pressed into service since Arroyo Seco friends Jim and Vickie dragged it all the way from Texas for us.

What also came north was about six huge bags of dirty laundry, currently simmering in six washing machines in the laundromat here at Paradise Village.

Actually there are two more sacks sitting on the floor, too, but after dragging it all in, running back to the truck for the soap, buying the tokens for the machine, et al, I decided to take a break and head to the Vallarta Yacht Club for hydration.

Back at the house, Adm. Fox is patiently waiting for TelMex to arrive to hook up the telephone so we have reliable (?) internet service at Casa Dustin. He has been waiting for two weeks, with postponement after postponement.

And so it should come as no surprise that Sunday - when we left for four hours - someone showed up to install the phone. A Sunday. In Mexico.

Good grief.

But now, it's back to the washers. Arriba!

Sunset in La Manzanilla (at Figaro's restaurant) Friday night

Countdown to Mexico continues - while the projects pile up, too

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The list of things to do before going to Mexico in December never seems to get shorter, no matter how many items we check off.

Check off 'get car insurance' and you have to add, 'stash insurance docs into suitcase'.

Arrrrgggghhhh.

But some progress has been made.

The new Panasonic video camera is proving to be all that it was advertised as. A new, khaki-colored  photographer's vest arrived (so I can look official). It will now be part of my general Mexico attire when filming this winter and spring.  The video from the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear is finally downloaded and packaged into a short video. (The brief YouTube entry is below.) And the Tenacatita Bay Bugle website has been redesigned to make it more user friendly (and visually appealing) for this season.

Now if I can just get those 50 student projects graded in the next four or five days...

Arrrggghhhh redux.

Careening to Mexico - but to exactly what, we'll see when we arrive

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Parts of Mexico would appear to be imploding or exploding, depending on your perspective. Not a day seems to go by without a published and/or broadcast report that more bodies have been unearthed somewhere along the U.S.-Mexican border, or some travesty involving violence has happened somewhere to the south. The New York Times has been doing a credible job of reporting on all the nastiness. I'm trying to skip over some of the stories; they are too gruesome.

Even in our little corner of the Costa Alegre, south of Puerto Vallarta, a developer has grabbed arguably the most beautiful beach on the west coast of the Mexican mainland (Tenacatita) and now threatens to shoot anyone who tries to go to the beach, beaches which Mexican law proudly declares belong to the people.

People with guns, apparently.


Tenacatita Beach, May 2, 2009 - all empty now, except for guards with guns

Still, in a little over a month, Adm. Fox and I will head south (by plane, not driving across the border this year, thank you very much) and check out how things are in Arroyo Seco, our village where serenity has reigned for the few years we've lived there in the winter.

We hope it's still serene, but given that it is only a few miles from occupied Tenacatita Beach, we are braced for some tension there, too. And the village might have some new residents, some of the 800 or so Mexicans who were booted from their homes and businesses so unceremoniously (and viciously) August 4. Most of the refugees are clustered in and around the small village of Rebalsito, a tiny town on the highway into the beach, though some of those folks have family ties to Arroyo Seco.

Earlier this year, the evicted people blocked the major north-south highway as a protest - and in since August, have been trying every legal avenue possible to get their property (most of it federally titled) back.


Protesters on the highway in August

Still, I have started to pack my new camera gear, new hats (my dermatologist has insisted), and warm-weather clothing for the Mexican winter. And, of course, presents for granddaughter Sasha Fox in Puerto Vallarta have started stacking up likes planes over Denver, around our suitcases. My greatest dilemma is how to bring down my eight-string ukulele. My new camera gear has to be hand-carried on the plane. With my other carry-on - my backpack full of important Mexico papers - I am at capacity.

But sans the uke, there would be no participating in open mic nights at the newly renovated Palapa Joe's.

That's a sobering thought.

Mexico, prepare for incoming.

A busy fall: teaching, grandkids, kids, amigos, music & dancing

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The fall is whizzing by - and it isn't even actually fall yet.

But since returning to Sacramento nearly four weeks ago, Admiral Fox and I have barely stood still long enough, to, well, stand still.

We've visited with our amigos and hosts, Steve and Pam, a lot, (though their schedules rival ours). We've also hit the Bay Area (where we visited with son Dylan and Dan & Lorraine Olsen), seen Chief Engineer Scott Noble and his wife, Counsel Jen Noble, several times, and as much as possible, visited with daughter Anne and family.

Last week we went to a fundraiser luau for granddaughter Sami's softball league. It was a riot, even when Sami tagged her father square in the head with a whipped cream pie tin that turned out to be a little harder on the edge than it was supposed to be.

You can see the result of her pitching arm - and how much head wounds do bleed - in this video.




Kami lifting luau game tickets - while I'm not looking


Son-in-law Steve after his turn in the pie booth

The week before that, we went to daughter Anne's casa in Rancho Cordova for Kami's third birthday fete. It was a lot fun, and the weather cooperated to let us be outdoors for the entire evening party.

We gave Kami some percussion instruments (a drum, mariachis, tambourine, bracelets with bells, etc), much to the chagrin of her parents and other grandparents who quickly suggested that Kami bring those toys to our house, where they could reside.

No deal, we said.

Here's a short video of that party:




Kami with her birthday cake

While Admiral Fox and I have been scurrying about every day - trying to keep up with full teaching loads along with all this other fun - we have squeezed in some music and dance.

The dance has been by Adm. Fox's who has become addicted to an exercise class called Zumba. This   new dance program is getting worldwide notice. She hits three or four Zumba classes a week and has signed up to become certified as a Zumba instructor next month.

Hang on Mexico, Zumba and Adm. Fox will arrive in December.

My dancing has been limited to shuffling around our upstairs apt. most often to Frank Sinatra singing New York, New York or some other sedate tune. But I have picked up the ukulele plenty I and hope to get back into it much more, now that life has settled down.

Settled down. Who am I kidding?

In and among all this fun, we have also been dealing, long distance, with our Mexico land problem and have moved ahead - along with a number of our neighbors in Tenacatita - to file for federal injunctions against the developer who seized the entire Tenacatita beach area, evicting 800 people in the process.

Mexican media have been covering for nearly two months as a national story. It's a land grab that is breathtaking even for Mexico. Canadian media recently ran the story, too. So far, despite all my contacts in the American press, no major newspaper or wire service has picked it up.

Too busy chronicling the hijinks of the Tea Party, I suppose.

But for people interested in a relatively depressing update, well, here's the link:

LINK: Vancouver Sun on the Tenacatita takeover

Back in Sacramento where classes - and teaching - loom for Monday

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The summer went by waaaaaaaay too fast. We arrived in the U.S. April 28, and here it is August 28. And school starts Monday.

(Where the hell are my long pants and dress shoes?)

Even though it went by too fast, it was a fabulous summer. We had three weddings (Marion and Peter, Jen and Carl, and Brett and Jesse), visits from Dan & Lorraine Olsen and son Dustin, as well as numerous trips and social forays out and about New York.

And Eric and Tina Hazlitt were kind enough to lend us a 19-foot sailboat for a few weeks while the Spirit of Louise pontoon boat was in the shop getting repaired.

It was arguably the warmest - and least rainy - summer in many years.

When our first cabin renters arrived July 1, the weather turned gorgeous and until the eve of the Peachy Dandy Party (August 13), it held steady. I swam nearly every day - sometimes two or three times. Seneca Lake warmed up to the mid 70s, warmer than anytime the year before. And even on windy days, the air temperature stayed well above 70.

But the day before the Peachy Dandy party the wind cranked up - really cranked up - and the next day the sailboat race was eventually canceled, when it was so windy many racers couldn't get their boats out of their boat lifts.

The weather never really went back to warm summer days, though I hear reports that it has warmed up again.


Despite the lack of an actual sailboat race, the Peachy Dandy Party roared on all afternoon with Admiral Fox and several of her musical colleagues providing some of the music for the afternoon.

Many Peachy Dandies were consumed and even with the wind, there were plenty of swimmers and other boating activities.

I had a Peachy or two myself, concocted by party host Tina Hazlitt just as the party got started. The reason I can't say for sure if it was one or two, is because the first one was industrial strength.  Amazing how intoxicating fresh peaches can be. I should eat more fruit.


Back from swimming


Barney on the grill


The littlest Peach at the Peachy Dandy

We were successful this summer in launching (after a fashion) the Valois Point Yacht Club, in name anyway. It was sad to unbolt the bar off the dock and remove the sun shade. But it will make set up much easier next summer when we hope to install a couple of moorings for visitors so they will not need to tie directly to the dock.

We have a roster of members now - anyone who showed up by boat was granted membership as founding members: Roger & Nancy Beardslee, Ruth Bills, Brad Phillips, Barney, Marcia & Kristen Van Horn, Eric and Tina Hazlitt, and, of course, former neighbors Beth & Boomer.

I might have missed someone in that list, but I'll catch them next summer.


Stages of Internet withdrawal

The Admiral and I have moved into a very comfortable mother-in-law unit attached to the house of friends, within easy walking distance to the university.

But as part of the settling-in process, we have had to go without easy Internet access, except when sitting in our university offices. Monday afternoon we will be up and running with a rocket-fast connection, I am told. And that means our internet phone will be back on line, too.

(The exception to this, is the Admiral's new smart phone which, besides Internet access, does everything except pour her tea in the morning. And there is probably a new app for that.)

More on all that after Monday.

And by Monday or Tuesday, I might be up to writing about out legal wrangling in Mexico with a developer who took over the entire Tenacatita area. He evicted 800 Mexican citizens and has started tearing down houses, restaurants and hotels, essentially make the historically popular area a private beach. The area is protected by police and private security guards.

No rollo de mar lunches for me this winter, it seems.

If you haven't been following the saga, you can catch up with it in a blog written by the Admiral two weeks ago. Not much as changed, except for a flurry of lawsuits filed in federal court in Mexico.

Tenacatita Beach taken over by force

Catching the tail end of Semana Santa at Tenacatita Beach

TENACATITA, Jalisco, Mexico - As the final few weeks of our Mexico season wind down, we've started a Mexico bucket list for things we want to fit in before we wing back to New York.

And CEO Laura Warner - who will leave a week before we do - has already starting getting in her last weeks of surfing.

Two surfing expeditions are on tap for her today.


Tenacatita Beach - not that crowded

Thursday we all headed out to Tenacatita to get an afternoon of snorkeling and boogie-boarding in. The Semana Santa vacationistas had thinned out appreciatively, but there were still plenty of people enjoying the beach.

And, in very un-Mexican-style, there were three lifeguards on the beach, keeping people from swimming out too deep (and maybe to avoid having them get run over a speeding panga).

The swimmers were so unused to lifeguards - or anyone else - telling them what to do, that the lifeguards had to walk out into the water up to their necks to get the swimmers' attention. Then, of course, there had to be a long discussion between the swimmers and the guards.


Lifeguard rounds up the swimmers

The boogie-boarding was good - though I managed to swallow plenty of salt water when I got rolled three or four times in the big crashers. The lifeguards didn't call me back into shallower waters, even when I went out pretty deep. But they had somewhat amused smiles on their faces when I washed up on the beach a couple of times right in front of them, boogie board on top, not underneath me.

Tomorrow and Sunday, in Arroyo Seco, the surfing pros will be here, to compete some kind of surfing contest - at least that was what was announced on the La Manzanilla message board. The action is supposed to start at 9 a.m. and we won't know until tomorrow morning (and Sunday morning) at which beach the surfing will take place.

Wind direction - and swell - will determine whether we need to head to Playa Chica or Playa Grande.

If the waves are like they are today, the surfers are in for some wild rides.



Last year, an amigo from Canada (originally from South Africa) came by the Pink Flamingo for an afternoon but stayed for several days when he found out how good the surfing was.

Below is a video of him on the beach and surfing. The music is from the classic surfing movie Endless Summer, which was filmed right in front of Ricardo's casa in South Africa, when he was a child.

Days at the beach with granddaughter Sasha - time for siestas

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - After two days of going to the beach - and chasing granddaughter Sasha around through the sand and in the surf - most of the ranking adults are ready to take a nap, the minute Sasha falls to sleep.

We will likely all drop like the soldiers at Fort Knox did in the 1960s James Bond movie, Goldfinger.

Still, nothing is quite as much fun as watching a totally joyful 18-month-old at the beach. She loves the water - and the sand. A lot of the time she resembles Pig Pen from the Peanuts comic strip.


Sasha wearing the latest in beach makeup


Sasha heading out to Cami


Checking out Princesa Mia

We spent the first day at Playa Grande, the second and Tenacatita and today, well, Sasha's mom and dad are talking about a return to Tenacatita for another few hours there, before they head back home to Puerto Vallarta.

Naps will definitely be in order after that sojourn.

But perhaps we will be able to see another comedy act at the Tenacatita Beach today.

Late in the afternoon yesterday, a family used a Honda quad to launch a heavy jet ski and got the quad stuck solidly in the wet sand where the surf was breaking. Only a few waves washed over it, stalling the engine. And the episode provided an excellent object lesson of why purchasing a used quad is probably not such a hot idea.

Unless the Admiral and I were to sell the Pink Flamingo's Honda, of course...


Waiting to catch a wave - or wash away

Two days of heading to the beach - and 'serious' boogie boarding

ARROYO SECO,  Jalisco, Mexico - For two days in a row (a record of sorts) the Admiral and I all but suspended our work schedule around the Pink Flamingo property to go to the beach.

Saturday, we went to our own Playa Chica here in Arroyo Seco with Chief Education Officer Laura, two friends of hers from Canada (Henry and Maureen) and our amigos Randy and Karin from Northern California. The non-Arroyo Seco folks are staying in La Manzanilla.

We set up a base camp on the beach. (Note to my dermatologist: please check out our shade structure).  Henry and Maureen tried surfing, while Randy and I did our best to boogie board without getting pulled out to sea by a pretty strong rip tide. The waves were huge, too.


Base camp at Playa Chica in Arroyo Seco


Maureen and Laura

Sunday, Laura, the Admiral and I met up with the same group out at Tenacatita for snorkeling and then boarding riding. They came by car, we roared in from Arroyo Seco on the quad (a half-hour ride) skimming along the beaches to Fiesta Mexicana.

At Tenacatita, the waves were less exciting, but the boogie-boarding still excellent as the video of Henry and Randy shows.

Time off for a quad ride down the beach to Tenacatita

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - What should have taken all day - moving a sink from our outdoor kitchen to up on the palapa - was only a few hours of work (for our plumber, Rodrigo, not me). And so instead of having to farble around with PVC pipes and leaky connections into the afternoon, the Admiral and I headed to the beach on our Honda quad as soon as Rodrigo declared the sink done and ready for tonight's dinner dishes.

We had been told by our amigo (and resident French surfer dude), Julien, that the waves were huge and so we thought there was no way we would be able to get past both lagunas (via narrow sandbars) to get all the way to Tenacatita.

But it turned out that the massive waves didn't breach the sandbars in either case - though they came close.


Sand bridge connecting the north and south beaches


We visited for about an hour (or two beers, depending on how you count time), with our Canadian amigos Doug and Lynn who have opened a small RV park on the beach, just a few lots from our Tenacatita beach property. This season they are busy putting in palm trees and plants and doing landscaping. Last year they installed the parking spots for RVs and all the infrastructure (power, water, showers, banos, lights, septic...).

The RV park (like our lot) is within easy walking distance of some excellent seafood restaurants (Fiesta Mexicana is our favorita) and great snorkeling around a reef known as the Aquarium.

Doug and Lynn said they have had a few RVers come and stay with them, but the snowbirds haven't arrived in full force yet.

In the meantime, they are enjoying the peace and quiet - except for when our quad rolls up.

Here's a short video of one of the sand bars we cross to visit Doug and Lynn in Tenacatita.

Captain's blog goes online - in Arroyo Seco

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - After a few stops and starts with getting the Internet working here in the rancho, the Pink Flamingo is officially online.

And today the Admiral and I and son Dylan will be heading over to a fiesta (of course) celebrating the town's birthday.

The celebration includes a rodeo, food, and lots of beer (and probably dancing).

Here's a brief video of our first few days here. Pix and video of the rodeo manana. Maybe.

In Mexico it's warm air, warm water but hard to get to the Internet

LA MANZANILLA, Jalisco, Mexico - We arrived in La Manzanilla a few days ago, renting a casa a block from the beach but neglected to arrange for regular at-home Internet access ahead of time.

We have had to rely on the kindness of both Palapa Joe's and Cafe Risa until we set up out in Arroyo Seco for the season - a project that begins today.

But we have managed to get in a lot of fun, including a trip to Tenacatita Tuesday to snorkel and see if the seafood is still great at Fiesta Mexicana.

It is.


Laura and Admiral Fox test the warm bay waters


Eric and Tina Hazlitt return from some serious snorkeling

Not all restaurants pay attention to the governor of Jalisco

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - The Admiral and I have dined out for the past few nights - right here in the village - as most of the local restaurateurs seem to have decided that economic survival outweighs any chance of contracting H1N1, the malady-formerly-known-as-swine-flu. The governor of the State of Jalisco had issued an edict several days ago, closing down all public gatherings - including restaurants.

But the two and three-table restaurants of Arroyo Seco were a pale reflection of what we found at Tenacatita Beach.

We went out to the area to check on the property of Canadian amigos Doug and Lynn and spotted tour buses parked all over the place (I counted 14. There might have been more down the beach).


Tenacatita Beach, May 2, 2009

I think there were fewer people on that beach and eating at the restaurants during the Semana Santa holiday season. And we didn't hear a single sneeze, though the surf was noisy and crashing a lot.

Up in Puerto Vallarta, most public places are closed, but across the state line, in the state of Nayarit, there are no restrictions on gatherings and restaurants and bars have pulled in many of the tourists from downtown. The tourists that haven't already bailed out.


Samba hitches a ride back to downtown Arroyo Seco

Closer to home, the Admiral and I have been doing home health care for dogs, giving baths and injections in what was originally supposed to be a simple vet clinic once a week - with our professional vet and amiga Rocio doing all the heavy lifting.

However, after Rocio leaves each week, there is a laundry list of things to do for the various animals under her care.

And several - including el Capitan and Samba - have decided that they would really prefer to live with us, instead of their owners. Samba chases the quad wherever we go. Saturday, we took pity on her and gave her a lift back to the Pink Flamingo.

Capitan came calling yesterday, howling (the Admiral said talking) at the screen door. My dog-talk is as rusty as my Spanish, but I think he said feed me. I'm not sure I was telling him in response, but he did stick around for food.

And then he left after taking a siesta on the new grass.

Surfers enjoy the huge waves, but with skimboards

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - On our way to Tenacatita, for a lunch with the Lamonts, we came upon a group of surfers who had gotten out their skimboards to tackle the huge surf that was pounding the shore near a house called, appropriately, Shangri-La.

They were having a wild time in water that would crush a person on a regular surfboard.

We left early because with the high tides and huge waves, we were a little afraid that the ocean might have breached the two rivers, which have been silted-in (or, technically, sanded-in) for months. If they were, it would have been a quick trip back to the Pink Flamingo for the Toyota Tundra.

The rivers were silted in and passable, but we got to Tenacatita covered with salt spray.


Skimboarders head out

We had our usual great lunch at the Fiesta Mexicana restaurant, which was relatively empty, while others were jammed with diners. Capt. Lamont and I surmised that one reason is the the tour buses - and there were about 15 of them - brought their passengers to particular restaurants.

And Fiesta Mexicana is not one of them.

The waves in the protected bay were excellent for boogie-boarding. I have the sunburn to prove that I stayed out too long and enjoyed the big rollers too much.

But afterwards we took a hike to the end of the beach to the area known as the Aquarium, a reef and inlet that is known for having great marine life. I left my fins and mask in car after being told by several people that the water would be murky because of the swell.

I should have carried them. The water looked great.


Admiral checks out the tide pools at the west end of the beach


Sanders and Pat on the rocks

Earlier Saturday, the Admiral spent an hour tapping out a blog about her adventures as the 'dog lady,' of Arroyo Seco. Because we zoom about on the quad several times a day with food to feed various ill dogs around the village, every dog in the rancho perks up when they hear the sound of our Honda.

The Dog Lady of Arroyo Seco

But, que lastima, we had to replace our internet connection/wireless modem earlier this week when the old one simply crapped out. (Crapped out: That's a technical term, which covers a lot of territory and the only description I have for what occurred.)

When I installed the new modem from Tel-Mex, my computer - and our two ITouch units - worked great. They might be processing data even faster, in fact.

But the Admiral's computer won't hook up to the wireless system. Instead, she has to use a cable and hook directly to the modem. And, unfortunately, that modem is out in the Communications Tent.

I may be moving that whole enterprise to a new location pretty soon.


Admiral works on her blog in the Communications Tent

The 'dog lady' will get a different kind of workout tomorrow - outside the tent - when our amiga and veterinarian Rocio is scheduled to perform surgery right here in our palapa at noon. Rocio had wanted us to bring Leona in the car to Manzanillo (about two hours away), but I begged her to come to the Pink Flamingo instead.

I am sure the Admiral will be right in the mix of things during the surgery.

My job tomorrow will likely be to hold Leona down on the surgery table while we wait for the anesthetic takes hold.

And Leona does not have much of a sense of humor when someone tries to restrain her.

Just a beach of a day in Arroyo Seco and Tenacatita

TENACATITA, Jalisco, Mexico - It's not often you get a chance to write a headline like Just a beach of a day in Arroyo Seco and Tenacatita, so when you do, you run with it.

But in truth, it was a beach day, starting with a walk this morning to Playa Chica, a quad ride from Arroyo Seco to Tenacatita along the sand, then followed with lunch on the beach with California amigos Paul Cahill and Tamar Lowell. Paul and Tamar are anchored near the Blue Bay Resort aboard their cruising sailboat, Xanadu. They have plans to head to Central America this year, though we are encouraging them to stick around Costalegre for the rest of the season and head south next year.


Paul, Tamar and the Admiral in front of Admiral's Rock

After lunch at Fiesta Mexicana, we drove the quad over to our Tenacatita property to show Paul and Tamar the piece of land that launched our entire life here in Mexico. Paul, with his ever-present video camera, filmed everything and no doubt some parts of our lunch, the trip on the quad (with four of us and gear) and the beach walk will appear in one of his videos down the line.

Earlier in the day, the Admiral and I wandered out to Playa Chica, part of my 'get exercise' program so I can get some lung power back after the weeks and weeks of bronchitis. Out there, I saw a crab that had gotten separated from his hole in the sand. He was not happy as I followed him around with my camera and he finally retreated into the rocks where he made threatening crab noises.


Getting crabby on the beach

The day before, I rode out to see if I could go boogie-boarding, only to be greeted by a foul smell from the end of the beach that forced me to put my bandana over my nose when I went to investigate. It turned out to be a dead pelican, who had become dinner - or perhaps tapas - for a large flock of buzzards. The buzzards barely moved when I rode up on the quad and at point, encircled me.

I decided to flap my arms a lot to let them know that despite the bronchitis, I was fine.

I left them behind in a cloud of flying sand.


A brace of buzzards at Playa Chica


Pickin' on a pelican

Talking with Paul and Tamar about their adventures - and planned adventures - reminded the Admiral of all of our fun times aboard Sabbatical, cruising these very waters. We laughed about Center Rock in Tenacatita Bay, which is anywhere but center in the bay, and how the cruising guides talk about the crystal clear water in La Veina, the river that runs from Tenacatita out to the bay where the sailboats are anchored. Crystal clear water indeed.

Paul said the water in the mangrove swamp and river looked, well, like you would expect in a mangrove swamp.

Oh, and he also saw a crocodile sunning itself on the little beach where boats pull up in Tenacatita. So much for conventional wisdom that none are in that river.


A cousin to the Tenacatita crocs

Paul and Tamar headed back to Xanadu and are getting ready to pull anchor Saturday for a voyage to Barra de Navidad and a day or two at the Grand Bay Hotel Marina. I think I will put my drink order right now for another 'ballena' from the swim-up bar there when we go visit.

Now that I think about it, I hope they stay a week at the marina.

One day off the projects and a chance to hit the beach

TENACATITA, Jalisco, Mexico - The Admiral came back from Puerto Vallarta late Wednesday with a truckload of goodies: a new refrigerator, a washing machine, doors (to make tables and a bar) along with a dozen other smaller items.

Oh yeah. And a kitchen sink. Really. A kitchen sink.

But by early Thursday morning, the Admiral and I were completely burned out on projects and after plugging in the refrigerator (and loading it with cerveza) we made a run to the Tenacatita beach for margaritas, rollo de mar, and some swimming.


Mario and Michael pose for the Admiral's camera

The beach was much quieter than it had been during the Christmas holidays, though our favorite spot, Fiesta Mexicana, was packed with tourists from several resorts to the south that have less desirable swimming beaches.

Listening to the people playing bocce ball, I picked up a weird melange of comments in English, Spanish, German, French and Canadian.

Yes, Canadian is English. Yes, it was a little different than the English being spoken by the people from New England.


Bocce on the beach

The afternoon also showed that while tourism might be down in Mexico, the tourists who have come are definitely enjoying themselves. Some seem to be saving money by not buying bathing suits that require a great deal of cloth to make.

With any luck - and a willingness to forego projects - the Admiral and I will get back out to the beach (perhaps here in Arroyo Seco), this weekend.


Enjoying the sun at Tenacatita beach


Riding the wild surf

Full disclosure: Croc was from Australia, not Mexico

PUERTO VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico - After I posted two days ago about going through my photos from the winter in Mexico, I received a couple of enquiries about the croc photo. (I also received a number of comments about the gratuitous bikini shot, but that's another matter.)

I wrote that I was including some photos - including the crocodile - in the slide show for those folks who have already decided that Mexico is too dangerous for them.


Actually, an Aussie croc

So, for those Mexico and La Manzanilla readers who wondered if this creature was spotted lunging out of the lagoon behind Valentina's, the answer is no. It's a photo of a Queensland, Australia croc, the kind that will chase you down the beach and will make you into a snack. If you ever walk by the croc preserve in La Manzanilla in the company an Australian from the state of Queensland, take note of how fast they leave the area.

Below is a photo of one of our more staid La Manzanilla crocodiles, coming up to the fence to be fed by tourists, arguably a very bad idea I am told by the Admiral. This fellow, or one of his many compadres in the murky water, did snatch a 50-60 pound dog for lunch very recently.


La Manzanilla crocodile, waiting for tourists

For the record, however, the gratuitous bikini shot was taken at Tenacatita, not Australia.