A day-trip to San Pancho and the beach; calm before the Regatta...

SAN FRANCISCO, Nayarit, Mexico - Just a few kilometers north of the famous surfing (and now very touristy and congested) city of Sayulita is pueblo San Pancho, a little Mexican town that gives visitors a glimpse of what Sayulita was probably like before it was discovered in the last, oh, I guess 10 years or so.

San Pancho sunbather, almost alone on the beach

San Pancho is being discovered slowly, but instead of fighting traffic to drive in, struggling to get parking, or fending off Rastafarians trying to sell beads, Admiral Fox and I parked 100 yards from the water and ate a late lunch at a small seafood restaurant.

Very civilized.

The Sunday crowd at the beach and in town was split evenly between Mexican families (enjoying the one day per week when they don't have to work) and gringos out to enjoy the day.

San Pancho isn't a good place to surf, but a dozen or so local kids enjoyed the waves on boogie boards, anyway...



The afternoon visit to San Pancho was a prelude to what will likely be a fast-paced week of fun, with a lot of sailboat racing in the middle.

Captain Clarence is expected to bring the good ship Lotus into Paradise Village Marina Monday to do final race preparations for our three races.

Tuesday the Banderas Bay Regatta starts with - of course - a late afternoon party. Then Wednesday, the captains all meet to go over the course and argue why their boats should have bigger handicaps. Thursday the racing starts, but is preceded by a parade in which all the participating boats put on some kind of show as they motor out past a reviewing standing.

Last year, Admiral Fox played her violin while Laura Warner and I danced some kind of weird jig on the foredeck. No word yet on what we will do this year, but I am tuning my ukulele just in case...

Click on the text below to link to the website for the regatta:
Banderas Bay Regatta website

3rd Annual La Manzanilla Cup - a fun race to watch and to film

LA MANZANILLA, Jalisco, Mexico - While my sailboat steering hand was twitching at the outset of the 3rd Annual La Manzanilla Cup sailboat race in Tenacatita Bay Tuesday, is was equally fun to watch the event from the race deck in front of Restaurant Raul, knowing that later I would be putting together a short video of the event.

Richard (right) accepts the Cup from last year's winner

The race is put on annually just for fun. And this year will be a real counter-point to an arguably serious yacht race this Saturday sponsored by the municipality of La Huerta. The Saturday race is serious enough that none of the boats that raced Tuesday are large enough to even enter. And in the villages, sounds trucks are driving around touting Saturday's event, encouraging people to come and watch.

It's doubtful that the people of these small pueblos will turn out in force to watch expensive yachts - some of which are worth 100 times the annual income of the villagers.

The winner of Tuesday's La Manzanilla Cup was Richard, best known as Richard of Richard and Nansee who have a house in La Manzanilla where they hold a variety of events each season.

Several years ago, I was there New Year's Eve and got a lesson in how to dance the tango from some professional instructors.

Six boats competed in the Cup race, which was a quick round-the-bay event with good winds and very light seas. The starting flag was a red tablecloth from Raul's Restaurant that did as fine a job as any America's Cup banners. Alaska Barb handled the start and finish line duties.

When not filming, I  sat at the press table with La Manzanilla's Lois Lane (aka Jane Gorby) who has written an account of the event for her newspaper, the Guadalajara Reporter. Jane was nattily attired with a very professional-looking hat that held her press credentials.

Here's a short video of the race:

All eyes on the Banderas Bay Regatta in a few weeks...

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarit, Mexico - Mike and Karen Schamel zoomed off on a Friendly Skies flight to Chicago this afternoon after two weeks of Mexico, staying both here and in Arroyo Seco. From the Windy City, they have another flight that takes them into Rochester, NY, tomorrow, then home to Hector and back to, well, chilly winter weather.

We capped off their last night in town with a dinner and drinks at Victor's in Marina Vallarta, joined by Laura and her amiga Wendy. Wendy was headed out today on a flight to Canada. Too early to go north, amigos. Months early!

Victor's restaurant is, well, an area icon. The food is good, the margaritas dangerous and Victor himself, a real character.

 (L-R) Karen and Mike, Adm. Fox, Wendy, the Captain, Dustin and Laura

Just remember this Golden Rule: Do Not order a second margarita if you go to Victor's.

But the wheels were barely up on Mike and Karen's flight today when I realized that the good ship, Lotus, driven by Captain Clarence, is back in Banderas Bay and ready for the Banderas Bay Regatta in a few weeks.

We are putting the crew from last year together again, this year vowing to make sure we fill the beer cooler at least an hour before each race to ensure proper temperatures for our hydration supplies

We have other goals, too, I am sure, but they escape me at this moment.

Before the race, Adm. Fox and I expect to get back down to Arroyo Seco and spend a lot of time out on the beach at the hotel where we have rented a room. Mike and Karen stayed there last week and we all ate at both of the beach restaurants several times.

And, of course, we will go into training so we are in good shape for the Regatta.

Maybe we will run back and forth between the restaurants to build up our cardiovascular systems.

Photo of the hotel taken from two miles out in the ocean

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

Warm weather returns to Arroyo Seco - and we buy a house

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - With amigos Karen and Mike Schamel from Hector, NY in tow, we arrived in Arroyo Seco Sunday, greeted by much warmer days and the normal Mexican winter that brings us south.

Mike and Karen are ensconced at the hotel on the beach, an 11-room manse where Adm. Fox and I have rented a room for a couple of months so we have a beach place when we leave the Pink Flamingo. It's opulence, Mexican style.

While we were gone for just a week, our neighbors Chena and Chon - along with most of their extended family - opened a beach restaurant just 200 yards from the hotel. We had dinner there last night - a celebratory event for finally closing on our new house.

Mike, Karen, Adm. Fox and el capitan

Um, new house?

Yes, Adm. Fox and I just purchased a three-bedroom, two-bath casa in beautiful Watkins Glen, New York.

Watkins Glen, NY?

Yup.

The house became available at the end of last summer and after some machinations this fall, we flew into Watkins in December, checked it out, and decided that when we fully retire (Dec. 10 of this year), it would be our base camp. We will have a two-way split that way - Seneca Lake and Mexico, instead of the Seneca Lake-California-Mexico trifecta we have done for four years.

We will wait out the upstate New York winter before flying in to take possession this spring. Given the severity of this year's weather there, it's very had to predict when we will see our new house on North Glen Avenue.

But while we wait, our Mexican adventures remain steady at warp 10. Each day takes us to the beach for a long walk (a video of surfers is at the bottom of this entry).

And this afternoon I will go to Tenacatita Bay to hop aboard the sailing vessel Di's Dream to help Captain Roger Frizzelle pilot the ship to Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta. It probably means a bus ride back to Arroyo Seco in a few days after a an 18-24 hour voyage.

That means I can get motion sickness in both directions.

Hoo-boy!

A quick trip to the second biggest city in Mexico - Guadalajara

GUADALAJARA, Jalisco, Mexico - The planned sojourn was a fairly quick one, just a couple of days in Guadalajara, a city Admiral Fox has been pining to visit for years. Each year, we plan a trip, and then events in Arroyo Seco or in Nuevo Vallarta take precedence.

But in this case, this was just a business trip, which included paying a visit to our Guadalajara-based attorney, Santiago Gonzalez Luna. Santiago represents us in our Tenacatita land battle.

Soooo, much to her chagrin, Adm. Fox decided to stay in Nuevo Vallarta with Hector, N.Y. amigos Karen and Mike Schamel. From the sound of things, the food was a lot better here. I ate dinner at an Applebee's Restaurant in Guadalajara.

I am not kidding.

Michael and Santiago

Santiago's law firm has been helping us try to recover our beachfront Tenacatita lot, taken by the Rodenas Corporation August 4, 2010. Since then, we haven't been able to even return to the area to check it out. Former property owners are stopped at the gates on the state highway, which is being guarded by Rodenas special police.

And Santiago's news? Well, things move slowly in the Mexican judicial system, a problem exacerbated by the fact that official documents travel by snail mail. Mexican snail mail.

So the good news is, the case is still in process. The bad news is, for how long, only the snails carrying the official legal documents can guess.

This was my first visit to Guadalajara and its reputation as being huge and somewhat complicated to get around in very well-deserved. Still, thanks to helpful taxi drivers, I was able to zip hither and yon (more hither than yon) without getting gouged in taxi fares.

At least I don't think I was gouged.

One surprising thing about the city was the high number of English speakers. (Note the sentence structure here. I did not say, the number of high English speakers. I did stay overnight close to a university campus, though, so that's difficult to assess.)

So where are my photos? In my head, I am afraid. I barely pulled my camera out as I zipped about.

Next trip, when the Admiral goes, too, lots of photos. Maybe even a rockumentary.

Fresh tuna, racing sailboats and frozen pipes...frozen pipes?

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarity, Mexico - Since coming back from Arroyo Seco late last week, Adm. Fox and I have been on a Mexican roller coaster (now that is a scary thought...) of fun and not-always-fun.

Actually, 90 percent has been fun. Make that 95 percent.

Saturday night, son Dustin hosted a party and the guests (and Adm. Fox) did the cooking. Fresh tuna, chorizo, a rice dish that I am lobbying for again, and, of course, industrial strength margaritas were all served. It was a great fiesta all around though the small kitchen area was put to the test with all the platters of food and drink.

Mike and Karen Schamel

Among the folks attending were Mike and Karen Schamel, our amigos from Hector, New York, here in Mexico for a few weeks to escape the near-Artic weather that has been choking the northeastern U.S.

About the same time as the party was going on, an email was making its way through the chronosynclasticinfindibulum (apologies to Kurt Vonnegut) with the frosty news that a pipe had burst in a house we have an interest in New York.

Coincidence? Perhaps. We're still waiting to see how much damage was done, but it seems, well, sort of distant. And it's an issue for insurance companies.

The day after the tuna soiree, we piled aboard a sailboat named Cupcake for a daysail in Banderas Bay. The boat was formerly known as Tomatillo and last year was a force to be reckoned with in the Banderas Bay Regatta. The new owner, Captain David, said he is unsure if he will be racing or not. He took the batch of us out for the afternoon and got back in time for us to watch some French acrobats put on a show in Paradise Village Marina.

Admiral Fox, Laura Warner and I have already signed up for a return engagement in the Banderas Bay Regatta aboard Lotus for this year's race. No acrobatics there, we hope.

Here is a brief video of our Sunday sailing adventures with some footage of the acrobats at the end.

On the trail of sea turtles and roof tiles in Arroyo Seco

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - It was a doubly monumental day today for Admiral Fox and I in Arroyo Seco today.

First, we found four baby sea turtles struggling to get to the sea - and helped them reach their goal.

Second, we sold our heavy roof tiles from our palapa to the owner of Las Brisas Restaurant, a doubly good thing itself because it also means that the scorpion condominum (the stacked tiles) is off the property.

The baby turtle adventure started out as a simple walk on the beach and ended up with helping the wayward turtles to escape into the surf. We hesitated to do anything, until our amigo, Surfer Dude Martine, told us that the last hatch he saw was eaten entirely by a flock of free-wheeling frigate birds.

Tiles ready to be moved

After hearing his tale, he and Adm. Fox gave four little creatures a slight assist. And at last viewing, the baby turtles were on their way out into the sea, where other predators probably await. But at least they made it off the beach.

The great moving-the-tiles-project ended a long saga at the Pink Flamingo.

When the palapa was originally built three years ago, the tiles were used for the roof. But the fellow who built it didn't realize how heavy the tejas were and for two years, we watched the beams sag and our neighbor Chon told us when it rained heavily, he feared the entire structure might collapse.

Last summer, Chon and a work crew removed the old roof tiles and replaced them with relatively lightweight plastic laminate tiles. The new plastic tiles look great, by the way.

Tiles in the trailer on the way to the beach

And so today, the rest of the story is that local restaurateur Luis wanted the tiles and so we worked a deal - he could have the tiles, but instead of paying me, I would take my payment in food.

And his food is excellent!

He's happy, the Admiral is happy (scorpion condo gone) and I am really happy.

Having a tab at seafood restaurant that serves fabulous shrimp meals is pretty amazing, even in a land of amazing things.

Below is a brief video of the sea turtle adventure.

Arroyo Seco beach coming of age: hotel, restaurant, RV park...

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - Having dinner last night at Luis' (Restaurante Las Brisas) on Playa Grande in Arroyo Seco - in the company of 14 people staying at the Hotel across the street - it occured to me that suddenly Arroyo Seco might be coming of age for tourists.

The single biggest drawback for out-of-town visitors in our few years living here has been that there is no commercial establishment for people to spend the night. So anyone interested in coming in and spending time wandering (or surfing or swimming) could only come in for day trips.

And the restaurant scene mostly consisted of small family run taco stands on the main street, which opened well after dark, long after most day-trippers were headed back to La Manzanilla or Careyes or Melaque.

View from the lower patio area of the hotel

Then the hotel - really an 11-bedroom home with a large central kitchen - came available for people to rent. It's not the Four Seasons, yet. And the owner would prefer to sell it and make it someone else's responsiblilty. But for now, Jim Monaco, owner/operator of the Monaco PV real estate company, has taken the place over for the owner and is renting out rooms.

He is also working like crazy, fixing the place up.

And there is an RV park now, too, that had guests about a week ago from the state of Washington.

Last night, the gringo population swelled as most of the rooms were taken by visitors from Barra and Melaque - a group of friends and people from as far away as the Mexican state of Michocan. And in addition to spending the afternoon and evening (and this morning) enjoying the beach scene and the small heart-shaped pool at the hotel, the entire assemblage walked across the street to Luis' restaurant, where a special meal had been prepared.

Luis and his wife Nena put on quite a spread, and most of the items we ate are available on the normal menu for the restaurant, open nearly every day.

Their son Luis and two young amigos acted as the waiters and kept all the diners happy.

Group from the hotel at Restaurante Las Brisas

Three years ago, when Adm. Fox and I bought the lot on which we now live in the winter and spring (aka, the Pink Flamingo), it was partly because we thought someday someone might want to open a restaurant or school or ? in the center of town.

Maybe that time is getting closer.

Perhaps a subsidiary of of Palapa Joe's?

Here's a brief video of from last night...

In Arroyo Seco, catching some rays on the beach - sun rays, that is

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - Admiral Fox and I decided to come down to Arroyo Seco for a week to check on things and decompress from life in the big city of Puerto Vallarta.

It's been, well, great... We are spending days at the beach, afternoons at Luis' restaurant eating shrimp filadelphia and evenings (after puesto del sol) usually reading before turning in. Yes, I am still reading the Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1. And I will be, into the summer.

View from hotel deck

Our amigos Jim and Vickie are helping the owner of an 11-bedroom house/hotel on the beach rent out some rooms this season. The place is for sale, if you have a spare $350,000 U.S.

Did I mention that the place comes with a heart-shaped swimming pool?

This is the first time in our years in Arroyo Seco that there has been actual overnight accommodations for out-of-town folks.

Adm. Fox and a I grabbed a room on the second story right away and will keep renting it for the season. It has a fabulous view of the entire beach.

In about a week or so, we will move all of our surf and beach gear down there. The place has a big kitchen downstairs and a new refrigerator to keep my hydration supplies cold.

When we have guests in the coming weeks and months, we will put them up down there, instead of having them stay in the Gray Goose Express II here in El Centro.

Over the weekend, Chief Education Officer Laura McCartney Warner dropped off her pooch Mia to spend a few days here in Mia's old stomping grounds. Mia was rescued last year by Sylvia and Laura and eventually went to Canada to live with Laura.

Vickie, Sylvia and Mia

Today, she and several of her former compadre dogs in the village went with us to the beach where they ran, jumped, and, of course, rolled in whatever dead things they could find. A short video of the huge surf - and Mia playing with her amigo pooches - is at the end of this blog.

And the sunsets! Madre mia! In the last few nights, the sun and moon have been putting on spectacular light shows. The first photo below was taken in La Manzanilla, the other here on Playa Grande.

Sunset in La Manzanilla

Arroyo Seco, Playa Grande

Daysailing on Banderas Bay aboard the famous ship, Profligate

LA CRUZ, Nayarit, Mexico - Admiral Fox, son Dustin and I jumped about Richard Spindler's catamaran Profligate Sunday for a three-hour cruise across Banderas Bay from La Cruz to Paradise Village marina (just a mile or so from our casa).

We pulled away from the dock about 1:30 p.m. (after a short shore break) with about 20+ people aboard for the trip.

It was a classic, beautiful day on the bay. And it was a little cooler than normal, which made the temperatures just about right for the entire trip.

Richard is the publisher of Latitude 38 magazine in San Francisco, a magazine soooo revered by sailboaters and cruisers that old editions (from 10 years ago or more) get passed around like rare books at swap meets. He and his partner, Doña de Mallora, will be keeping Profligate at Paradise for the next few months.

Here's a short video of the trip. I was too busy most of the time enjoying the ride to get my video camera out.

Baby it's cold here in Mexico - at least for this time of the year

NUEVO VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico - Along the Costalegre (which stretches from here past La Manzanilla to the south) today the emails and message boards were buzzing about how 'cold' it was.

In La Manz, some people said it was 52 degrees Fahrenheit this morning - with a high of 82 still predicted.

Brrr, brrr and, well, brrr.

I know such temperatures have people in northern climes laughing. (It is 21 degrees in Hector, NY as I write this). But when you live in the tropics, anything that is not, well, tropical, can be a shock, and maybe a problem.

For Admiral Fox and I, safely ensconsed this week in our condo in Puerto Vallarta with son Dustin, cool evening temps are no big deal. Close the doors and throw a blanket on the bed. But were we in Arroyo Seco, in the Gray Goose II Express trailer, it would not be as comfortable.

We'll hope for a spike in temperatures before we head back south at the end of the week to Arroyo Seco.

Coming home from school

Admiral Fox is ending up a three-week language class on Friday, a class she has really enjoyed and believes has helped her ability to be able to gossip, er, I mean talk, with the Mexican women in Arroyo Seco.

I do notice already that when I fire smart-ass Spanish frases in her direction, she understands a lot more now.

No more telling store clerks that the woman in line with me is my mother. (I really only did that a few times, because the store clerks usually looked at me and said that they thought I was her father.)

When we go back to Arroyo Seco, we will also get to see how much progress has been made on a house being built on Playa Grande by our amigo Jim Monaco.

Jim bought our two beach lots earlier this year - the lots that are bordered by a short, dead-end street. A local fellow two years ago fenced it off and claimed it was not a street at all - that in fact, it was his land. Total bull, of course, but Admiral Fox and I never could resolve it, and we wanted to build two small houses on the lots, a plan that required the street as access for the back lot.

Police stand by while fence is taken down

So we sold and said 'adios' to that idea.

To make a long story into a short anecdote, the fellow made the mistake of placing part of his fence on our land and last week Jim was able to get the muncipality of La Huerta - and a judge - to order the fence (on Jim's land) removed. A few posts blocking access to the street remain in place. But I hope to see the street opened this spring.

Fence is down, and the posts hauled away

The name of the street? I have dubbed it Calle Libre (free street). I hope it sticks. Hell, I'll buy the street sign and put it up myself, when it is open.

The day the fence was taken down, officials from La Huerta, eight police officers, at least a dozen townspeople (in one official capacity or another) and numerous onlookers came out to see the fence removed.

It wasn't quite as dramatic as the fall of the Berlin Wall, but it was still pretty interesting to see some action take place after two years of endless debate in the village.

Sasha and Sylvia last spring

Admiral Fox did some writing herself today, putting up a very poignant piece about the travails of divorce and what it's like for us not to be able to see our granddaughter - when she lives only minutes from where I am writing this.

You can check out her blog at this LINK: Why we will never get divorced

Restaurant Las Brisas in Arroyo Seco - the new beach hangout

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - The new location for Las Brisas Restaurant in Arroyo Seco, on Playa Grande, suits it well. Very well.

Under a large shady palapa roof, the restaurant has space for maybe fifty people in a crunch (or who might not be crunched,  there's plenty of chairs and tables...). The entire interior of the former house seems to have been given over to a huge kitchen with plenty of room for the fresh fish and shrimp that are the house specialties.

Las Brisas Restaurant in Arroyo Seco

In fact, don't go looking for a hamburger there, just yet. It's a seafood place - and everything is fresh, sometimes caught from the freshwater laguna out back, sometimes the ocean in front.

The place is operated by Luis and Nena, longtime Arroyo Seco residents who ran the restaurant in a much smaller facility across the street for several years. But that restaurant was really open only on weekends (and Semana Santa, of course). Luis and Nena's son, Luis Jr., along with some of his pre-teen amigos, act as the waiters and are close to professionally attentive.

Sometimes they might be wet after just getting out of the pool when they walk up, but they won't make you wait for your food.

The new place is serving meals every day and has become my new Arroyo Seco hangout.

Luis (standing) taking an order

So, um, where is it?

The Arroyo Seco turnoff is a left from Highway 200, a few kilometers north of Agua Caliente and the turnoff for El Tecuan.

The Arroyo Seco signs put up last year seem to have weathered the summer nicely.

Once in Arroyo Seco proper, the turn to Playa Grande is at the end of the main street. If you turn right, you go to Playa Chica, where there are no services, but frequently plenty of surfers.

Playa Grande is about two kilometers from town and Las Brisas is near the south of the beach. It's very close to the new RV park, too.

My favorite dish - so far - has been camarones filadelfia. Yup, they mix some Philadelphia cream cheese in while cooking the shrimp and peppers. It can be a little picante, too. (I have been getting the half order - plenty of of food - for 50 pesos...)

On a recent outing with amigos from La Manzanilla, the shrimp diablo got rave reviews as did the fresh fish filet, cooked in garlic.

All this writing about the restaurant is pushing me out the door to my quad for a quick spin to Las Brisas for some camarones filadelfia and a cold Tecate.

Oh, and a swim in the pool, too, if it's hot. I haven't seen any adults in the small pool, but, hey, it's Mexico. Jump in...

I will try to remember to take some photos of the food this next trip, too. The last few visits it disappeared before I could get my camera out of my bag.

Quick trip to Arroyo Seco and La Manzanilla - too quick, indeed

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - Admiral Fox, son Dustin and I - along with amigas Laura, Christina and Pat from Canada - all shot out of Puerto Vallarta Thursday for a trip to the southland.

Laura, Christina and Pat were bound for a condo in Barra de Navidad rented for a few months. Adm. Fox, Dustin and I were headed a few days of R&R in Arroyo Seco. (R&R, I know, I know...)

It was great homecoming (the second in as many weeks) in Arroyo Seco and La Manzanilla.

Anna - the quinceanera

In Arroyo Seco, we visited with amigos Jim and Vickie, as well as Julien and, of course, our neighbors Chena and Chon who take care of our property when we are not there. (And frequently even when we are there.)

And we stopped in at a coming-of-age 'quinceanera' party in the main square last night. It was a wild affair with great music and food.

You really haven't lived until you have heard Achy Breaky Heart done in Spanish - and watched a group of gorgeous young Mexican women doing a line dance while wearing prom dresses.


In our travels we also managed to eat at three different La Manzanilla Restaurants: Cafe Risa, Palapa Joe's and Fiesta Mexicana.

Fiesta Mexicana? But isn't that in Tenacatita?

Same sign, even better food

Well, it was - along with a lot of other nice restaurants, unceremoniously evicted by a Guadalajara developer who wants to build a resort and golf course. What is it with the golf course fetish these developers all have?

Anyway, Fiesta Mexicana opened a new restaurant just up the beach from downtown La Manzanilla and I am happy to report the setting - and food - I think is even better than before.

And the evictees from Tenacatita beach and the oceanfront (Adm. Fox and I included) continue to battle in court to get our property back.



In Arroyo Seco, the palm trees around the property have grown so much it's like walking into a jungle-themed park when you go in through the front gate.

In coming weeks, we will be pulling the place together. This trip, we ate, played on the beach and drove the quad around.

And it was great.


Pink Flamingo from the front gate


Palapa with new lamina tile roof

As I write this, we are back in Puerto Vallarta and have a full week planned, including a mid-week visit from Beth and Roy, who are coming from La Manzanilla Wednesday to pick up Beth's son (and our nephew) Nate at the airport.


Nate will get a quick Mexico baptism with a whale-watching panga tour set for 9 a.m. Thursday morning. Quite a difference in scenery (and temperature) from Ithaca, New York where he lives and goes to college.

Admiral Fox and I plan on going along on the panga expedition, too. After seeing whales on one trip with Di and Roger Frizzelle about their sailing vessell Di's Dream, followed by a panga ride where we motored behind a manta ray for a half-hour, I'm hoping for a post-Christmas glimpse of a mermaid.

For you skeptics, I would like to report that I've seen many mermaids on beaches here in Puerto Vallarta and in La Manzanilla.... The quest to find on in the water begins Thursday.

A fast panga ride, whales and visit to a palapa, in Yelapa

YELAPA, Jalisco, Mexico - A ride across Banderas Bay in a fast panga is always fun, more so when the destination is the seaside village of Yelapa, south of Puerto Vallarta.

The area is accessible almost exclusively by boat. There is a road, of sorts,  but it is only for the truly brave, driving a vehicle with an excellent suspension.

The trip was to check in with Adm. Fox's cousin Lynn, who is there with her amiga Suzanne for a few weeks before they head south to La Manzanilla. Along for the adventure with us was Laura (with the pooch, Princessa Mia, of course) and Christina.

Sylvia's cousin and Suzanne are vacationing in a cliff-side home that is drop-dead gorgeous and has only one drawback that I know of: scorpions.


Scorpions where they belong - in a case

Last season, the couple killed about 23 of the little buggers during a short stay in Yelapa - that's 20 more than I killed in our five-months in Arroyo Seco. And I think the three I killed is waaaaay too many.

Nasty stinging things aside, Yelapa is still as magical a place as it was when I first saw it in 2000 when Admiral Fox and I chartered a panga to take us there for the day.

It's changed a lot - more houses, more tourists, even some upscale development, it seems. But the water is just as nice. And it has a couple of restaurants, too - besides the tourist traps that the tour boats frequent.

Some years back, with Karson Swedberg in tow, we sat on the beach there sipping Pacifico beer and postulated that what Yelapa needed was a good local brewery. The fresh water there, we thought, would make excellent brews.

And the motto for the beer? Yelapa - ya love it.

OK,  but it seemed sooooo clever at the time.

The Yacht Club in Yelapa

The trip out and back was fabulous, too, with many whale sightings on the way south, then a close - and I mean very close - encounter with a manta ray on the way home.

Our driver, Gus, knew exactly how to pull the boat close to the action without being too intrusive.

Here's a few photos of the expedition - and a short video of a Manta named Ray...


Laura, Princessa Mia, Gus, and Christina
on the way to Yelapa


How close is that whale?


San Francisco sailboat
anchored in Yelapa

Settled in Nuevo Vallarta home, but Arroyo Seco beckons

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarit, Mexico - Life in Nuevo Vallarta has become as close to routine as life allows here, with most mornings dedicated to exercise (swimming), some writing (blogs and other screeds), planning out of the day (where should we eat lunch?), followed by, well, more exercise, more writing and more planning.

In the past few weeks, we have made a foray south to Arroyo Seco and La Manzanilla, gone whale watching with Roger and Di Frizzelle on their 47-foot yacht, Di's Dream, ran enough errands to run through $100 in gasoline - and helped Dustin get his new home set up here, a home in which we live, too.

How many 30-year-olds do you know whose parents move in with them?

The turnabout is fair play, however, as Adm. Fox and I are helping Dustin find his footing amid the domestic upheaval of separation that too many people reading this have gone through. Divorce is not any prettier among the palm trees.

Still, times are good and getting better day by day.



Di and Sylvia on whale watch patrol


Infinity pool at resort north of La Cruz

Last week we went to a fabulous resort north of La Cruz for the afternoon, where I sipped the best Pina Colada I ever had. And yes, the second one was as good as the first. The place has three infinity pools, each spilling over into the next one.

We only got as far as pool number two for swimming, though Dustin said that ocean waves out front were fine for swimming and/or boogie boarding.

On Christmas Day, we had breakfast with the Frizzelles and Dustin at nearby Paradise Village, then retired to the beach for a family tradition - an Christmas afternoon of boogie boarding and margaritas on the sand.

Sylvia and Dustin at breakfast, Christmas 2010

I opted for a Pina Colada during the course of the afternoon, instead of a margarita. Perhaps that will be a new family tradition, too.

How was the boogie boarding? Fabuloso... Just fabuloso.

Towards midafternoon, Santa Claus arrived on the beach, too - in great style - landing via parasailer. Very classy.




Santa Claus on Paradise Village Beach


Life at the beach

Our next adventure will be to head back to Arroyo Seco in a few days with amigas Laura and Christina from Canada. They are staying at Casa Dustin right now and will be spending the winter in Barra de Navidad.

We will also be checking out the situation at Tenacatita, the site of a beachside 'picnic' today that was put together to draw attention of the seizure of the property August 4 - and the eviction of nearly 800 residents. It's a mess. Here's a recent blog on the situation: Beach picnic/protest

New Year's Eve looks like it will be in Arroyo Seco or La Manzanilla at Palapa Joes for Admiral Fox and I.

Hoo-boy! Can you say, Cuba Libre?

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

In Mexico for the winter: Swimming pool, cerveza, beaches ahead

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarit, Mexico - It took two days of travel, but Admiral Fox and I are safely ensconced at son Dustin's new casa, looking at the pool and plotting a day that includes a trip to the beach and a potluck dinner at the Vallarta Yacht Club.

Ah, Mexico!

Pool at Dustin's new casa in Nuevo Vallarta

 The trip began with a US Airways farble at 6 a.m. A lightbulb was out over one of the emergency doors and because there was no replacement bulb in the airport, the flight was delayed until about 10 a.m.

And so that meant instead of a 6:30 a.m. flight to Phoenix, followed by a 10 a.m. flight to Vallarta and arrival at 1:30 p.m., we spent a leisurely morning in the Sacramento airport - and eventually an overnight at a Courtyard Hotel on the edge of Phoenix's Sky Harbor.


As part of this trip south, we had to purchase one additional suitcase to carry all the assorted paraphernalia, clothes, and gifts we wanted to bring. But another black suitcase seemed, well, soooooo pedestrian.

Pink suitcase ready for loading in Sacramento

And so two days before liftoff, Admiral Fox went on the search and found a shocking pink suitcase at a Marshal's store that is bright enough that you might consider wearing sunglasses when you look at it.

The suitcase did yeoman service for the entire trip, each time popping off the conveyor belt, signaling the arrival of the three checked bags.

We knew the suitcase was going to make it to Phoenix, because we saw it being loaded in Sacramento.

Today we are already set to do some serious pool time, (serious pool time?), maybe head to the beach to make sure the sand is still there, and later tonight, we will go to the Vallarta Yacht Club for a potluck dinner.

The yacht club should be humming with cruisers and folks we know from other seasons down here.

And Arroyo Seco? That's on tap for later in the week after we sort out all the details of telephones, internet modems and various other details that make life in Mexico muy divertido...

A view of the coast north of Puerto Vallarta

Back in the air, heading back to Sacramento from snow country

NEW YORK, New York, USA - The Admiral and I are sitting in JFK International Airport, getting ready for the third leg of our travels today, a cross-country Jet Blue flight that will get us home to Sacramento late this evening - and to our warm casa with Pam and Steve.

The day started with swirling snow in Ithaca, New York where we stayed overnight with brother David's special amiga, Caren. I was a little groggy as we departed after a great dinner party the night before, but not so groggy that I didn't notice it was snowing pretty hard while David drove us to the Syracuse Airport, an hour and a half from Ithaca.

In Ithaca, NY, Dec. 5, 2010 - brrrrrrrrrrr

We breezed in without issue, however, until the Admiral got held up at the security gate and was given the choice of either one of those new TSA pat downs, or taking some other form of transit to Sacramento.

The Admiral was not amused and will likely vent her wrath on how ludicrousness of what passes for security when she writes in her own blog.

The overall trip was a success, however, on several levels (pat downs aside).

And among the things accomplished was getting some video broadcast on WENY, Elmira, New York. I braved the cold and shot the Christmas parade for the station, which used some clips in their evening newscast the same night.

More on what the other levels of success were will show up in another blog.

Below are two videos.

One is of our trip to Syracuse, and the airport snowplows busy at work. The second is a TSA ukulele video. It's pretty fun, but for now, I am not sharing it with the Admiral.

End-of-the-semester shuffle starts for this year's Mexico adventures

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The last term papers and projects have been turned in, graded and returned, leaving only the avalanche of portfolios from my students, compilations of their work from the entire semester - kind of an academic legal brief as to why the student should get a good grade.

When those portfolios all show up early next week, it's time for me to dig through the pile and assign grades - a process that usually takes me right up until the day we leave for Mexico.

With four full classes, it looks about the same this year, too.

What is different about this year is that because we have been the guests of Steve and Pam, the packing up transition is less problematic - and less traumatic. When we get close to departure day, we live within two miles of our storage unit.

And even at that, we have very little to even stick into storage, thanks to Pam and Steve's letting us stay in their nicely furnished guest quarters.

I think I will be able to get everything in a single pickup truck load - and that's using my Nissan with a camper shell.

As the temperatures in Sacramento have started dropping down to the freezing level at night - and warming up into the high 40s during the day - those warm days at the beaches in Arroyo Seco and La Manzanilla are the stuff that dreams are made of.

And in this case, dreams set to come true.

Just a 100 or so portfolios stand in my way.

La Manzanilla beach