Please allow us a few weeks to get things back in order.

Hola Amigos, The time just flies by while enjoying the Mexican Riviera. Since our last update about a month ago, Lois and I had the fortune to spend the Holidays with our cruising family in a couple of different places. For Christmas, we checked into the Grand Bay Hotel marina in Barra de Navidad. What a plush experience that was. We only stayed for four days as the slip rent is quite steep ($74.00per day) and that can quickly take a big bite out of the cruising kitty. But we sure did enjoy the hotel pools and restaurants. Gosh, we felt like we were on vacation. At that same time we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas pot luck dinner with about 50 or so other cruising friends at a hotel in Barra that let us use their pool side facilities. As usual the food was terrific as well as the chitchat among new and old friends. After leaving the marina, we motored into what is known as the lagoon at Barra. It’s simply that, one huge lagoon where average depth is only about 8-10feet. One has to be very cautious of where you go in the lagoon to keep from going aground. We timed our arrival and departure from the lagoon at high slack tide and didn’t have any problems. Not so fortunate for some of our friends who had to be helped off the bar. It’s a quite peaceful anchorage, protected from the ocean swells and waves. We did get some snooping done in the small town of Barra, but need to go back to do some more investigating when we head back north. For New Years Eve, we decided to revisit the beautiful hotel/resort of Las Hadas. It was a short 4 1/2 hour sail from Barra. We heard the fireworks display there and around the bay we pretty nice and we sure weren’t disappointed. At midnight they were exploding above us in the bay and we could also see displays along the entire coastline over to Manzanillo. It was just perfect. A great place to spend the opening of the New Year. As a side note here, on our trip from Barra to Las Hadas, we were trolling a line in the water in hopes of catching a Dorado to make some sushi and grilled steaks. Well, about half way to Las Hadas the line started peeling off with the screeching of the reel almost deafening. The zinging went on and on and I was having difficulty getting the rod out of the holder. We looked out over the stern and all of the sudden this huge sailfish jumped out of the water and was dancing on it’s tail across the surface. Its dorsal fin was fully opened and it’s colors bright with the fight. I looked at Lois and simply said Holy #@&%!!!. I was finally able to remove the pole from it’s holder on the arch and began the thirty minute fight to win back some of my line. By this time we had stopped the boat and the sailfish was successfully pulling our stern back and forth as it’s powerful swimming had the stout fishing pole bent over 90 degrees. Finally, I was able to get it within 10 feet of the boat, although it didn’t care much for being so close and again broke the surface of the water with a jump that fully exposed itself as it tried to shake loose its hold by the hook. Again, I looked at Lois in awe and asked her for the knife and proceeded to cut it loose to go back to the sea and grow from it’s 8 foot length to full adulthood. What an experience. By that point my hands and arms were shaking from fatigue and adrenalin and I found it hard to get the smile off my face. That was by far the biggest catch I have ever had and what a thrill. The sad news is that we didn’t have any sushi to share with our friends that night. A few days ago, we left the Las Hadas Resort/Hotel, and the pool side fountains and tropical drinks to move into the beautiful anchorage of Santiago Bay, a very short distance from the hotel but a long ways away in terms of surroundings and culture. We were the only boat here when we put our anchor down but as of last night there are 8 of us. The water is clear enough for me to see our anchor dig into the sand at 25 feet and it’s nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of water skiers and jet skiers of Las Hadas. This part of the bay has wonderful snorkeling with many different kinds of colorful coral and sea life. The sandy beach is dotted with palapa restaurants and places to sit and enjoy a cold beer. I’ll be cleaning the bottom of the boat here as the water conditions are perfect for that kind of maintenance. Already, we’ve finished reading a couple of books since we arrived here. Very peaceful….. I imagine in about a week we will move first to another cove around the corner to do some hunting and then head back up to Barra to refuel and reprovision some food and drinks. We also have a couple of other towns we need to take a bus to…just to check them out. We’re really enjoying the relaxing of this trip this season. We have decided to forego the festivities of SailFest this year in Zihuatanejo, and will call this our furthest southerly destination before we start heading back up into the Sea of Cortez for the summer. It was the summer of 2003 we were last there and we really want to do more exploring of the islands along the Baja side of the sea. We want to wish you all a great new year for 2006 and hope your dreams all come true. Take care of yourselves and please keep us in mind with a note once in a while to let us know of your adventures and how you are all doing. Fairwinds.
Love, Gary and Lois
S/V TEXAN
Lying: Bahia de Santiago, Mexico

Hola Amigos, Only 10 shopping days left until Christmas. Fortunately, Lois and I are in a place where that really doesn’t matter much as there aren’t any places to spend our Cruising Kitty. Right now, we are anchored in a beautiful bay in Chemela. We are here with about 6 other cruising boats as we all work ourselves further south for the winter. Our Christmas destination, Barra de Navidad, is only about another 45 miles south of here. We will make another stopover before hitting there about the 23rd and stay through the 26th before moving to Santiago Bay/Las Hadas for New Year’s. Last night, entertained the other cruisers and beach side residents with the first night of lighting up the bay with Christmas lights strung to the top of mast to resemble a Christmas tree. We’re able to accomplish is small task with the help of running our portable Honda generator to provide the amount of electricity to power them. It was just beautiful out here on this darkened anchorage. There were two other boats that also contributed to the color with strings of lights in their cockpits. It tis the holiday season. We sure hope your’s is going well for you. After spending so many months in the Paradise Marina in Puerto Vallarta, it is truly wonderful to be back out traveling the sea and enjoying all of the interesting places along the way as well as the abundance of sea life that is around us all the time. Now, we’re not complaining about the marina accommodations in Paradise Village, don’t get me wrong. It’s really very nice. With the beautifully maintained marina, choice of three spas and either beachside or lagoon swimming pools, yacht club facilities for eating, drinking or just chit-chatting with fellow cruisers, on site zoo where the female leopard gave birth to three cubs over the summertime (which Lois got to hold and give love to), the choice of about a dozen restaurants within walking distance from the slip, shopping mall within 100 yards of the boat, etc., etc., etc., how can one really complain? Oh yes, it did take a bite out of our cruising kitty, but it sure was a treat after spending most of the previous three years on the hook. (Meaning at anchor) But this also gave us the opportunity to do some boat and body rehab and a chance to do some inland travel into other parts of Mexico. Since leaving Paradise, our trip down the coast has been pretty much a breeze….or should I say a bit less breeze than we really like for sailing. After rounding Cabo Corientes (the Point Conception of Mexico known for it’s high winds and torrential seas, but pretty tame that day) we had a beautiful 7 plus knot sail to our first overnight destination of Ipala. Immediately, we were surrounded with the great sights of sea life around us and like the previous year were welcomed to the small cove and village of Ipala with the sighting of a huge whale off our port beam. Must have been about 40-50 feet long and seeming to be having just a great time as it spouted, surfaced and dove repeatedly as we moved along the coast together. Sea turtles were out in abundance as we pulled into the cove where we spent the next few days. We met a fellow, delivering a boat to Barra de Navidad, and we all had dinner together at a beach side restaurant we had eaten at the previous year. The shrimp Diablo was simply wonderful as always. After enjoying our time in the tiny village of Ipala we made a ten hour passage to our present location of Chemela. Now this anchorage is much different as it is a huge bay about 4-5 miles across, with white sand beaches and many “local tourist” hotels and beach side restaurants. The water is clear and clean and we will remain here to do some bottom cleaning on the boat, a little provisioning of fresh veggies and fruit before we continue on. Throughout the day here we have visits by porpoises, curious as they are, as they jump and play around the boat and seem to be scratching them selves on our anchor chain. The anchorage has been calm except for last night when for some reason the rocking of the boat was a reminder we are no longer tied to a dock. A BIG boat came in and anchored next to us after dark and I was able to notice that it had a helicopter on it’s rear deck. Although it appears like a working vessel, I’ve yet to determine if it is a private yacht or not. Sure is big though, compared to our little sail boat. That is about all the news for now. The sun is rising and it’s about time for us to get on the morning single sideband marine radio net. It sure is a great way of keeping in touch with all of our friends throughout Mexico and down into Costa Rica. Lois and I both wish you all a very merry holiday season and hope the new year will bring you all that you dream for. Take care of yourselves, your families and friends, and thank you for those of you that continue to stay in touch and keep us up to date on what is going on in your lives. Adios for now.
Feliz Navidad,
Gary and Lois
S/V TEXAN
Currently lying in Chemela Bay, Mexico

I believe those are the famous words of ET after his short stay on earth. Well, it’s funny how we were saying the same thing after the three weeks we spent back in California. Don’t get me wrong, we loved our visit with friends and family….but……it sure was nice to get back aboard Texan, lulled to sleep on our first night back on the water. We REALLY did have a wonderful time, being with everyone for the first time in months. It’s hard to pick any one person out to thank for the hospitality but special kudos must go to my Mom, for putting up and feeding us much of our time in the Long Beach area, and also to John and Colleen Kasey for unselfishly letting us use their truck during our stay as well as their guest bedroom for some of the time, and let us not forget Jeanne Pezzi in San Diego for the long weekend including a wonderful dinner party on Saturday night with Marianne and Harry.(cruiser alumni from the 2002 Baja, ha, ha) Everyone was so thoughtful. Also, a special thanks for all those helpful people that assisted us in getting together our “got to take back” list of items. We managed to fill up four suitcases full of boat parts and special foods which all arrived safely and without Mexican Customs batting an eye. Whew!! Must be our innocent faces that did it. Not a bad “score” and only 2 1|2 pounds shy of our 280 pound limit on the flight.(of course that didn’t include our carry on back packs)Arriving back in La Paz an hour late, we found ourselves at the waters edge with no transportation back to our mooring ball where Texan was waiting. So, I proceeded to a familiar location where I knew there was a VHF radio and proceeded to hail a friend on a nearby boat. Luckily, she was still awake and brought her dinghy over for us to use until the morning. We schlepped the luggage out and aboard the boat where we found her in the same good shape as when we had left her three weeks before. Sure, she was dirty but otherwise perfect. In the last few days since returning we have been doing planned repairs and stowing of the myriad of items we brought back, and actually finding a place for everything. Our new DVD player and flat screen TV is a welcome addition for entertainment. Monday we have scheduled going into a marina for two days. At that time we will be washing the boat from the top of the mast to the bottom of the keel, equalizing the batteries and reprovisioning the food inventory to prepare for our departure as we head north, up in the Sea of Cortez as far as it is still interesting and beautiful. The summer Southerly winds have begun and the water temperatures have rapidly risen to the mid 80 range already, so snorkeling is now at it’s best. Hopefully, we will now have some success with the Hawaiian sling, a sort of hand operated spear gun, since the rod and reel hasn’t been our best endeavor to this point. But surely that will change because of all the new jigs we brought back with us.(yeah, right!)Well, that’s it for now. We just wanted to catch everyone up on our travels and we’ll update you as our travels go. Drop us a line once in a while to let us know how your lives are going as well. Sorry if we weren’t able to spend time with everyone on our short stay back in the states. Perhaps we’ll get around a bit more on our next trip.(whenever that might be) Everyone have a wonderful summer…….life is good!!!
Love,
Gary and Lois
S/V TEXAN
Lying: La Paz

Hello Friends and Family, Lois and I just wanted to send you our best on this Easter morning. We are now positioned on Isla San Francisco, a beautiful little island and a pretty nice anchorage. We will be sharing Easter with our friends MJ and John on Island Sonata with a baked chicken and stuffing dinner. No full sanctuaries, parades or Easter egg hunts here on the islands. We hope you enjoy your day as much as we will here today. God bless you all on this day.
Love, Gary and Lois
S/V TEXAN