March 13th Kristina's Birthday

Who would have thought the day would come that I turned 29 again. Well it happened! I was fortunate to be surrounded by a great group of people on this day.

I would have liked to share the day with friends and family from back home….but we’ll just have to catch up on that when Ryan and I get back.

Side trip to Tepic

If you haven't gathered by now that we rarely sit still then you should start to get the picture pretty soon!
Today we again strolled into town early so we could catch the bus and take a two hour trip inland to the capitol of Tepic.

The fish in the pictures are actually from the market in San Blas along the walk to the bus station.  They are fresh and deliciouse.  We ate fresh chicken tamales before we getting on the bus but I wasn't quick enough with the camera to get a shot of those.  I guess we were hungry!

We enjoyed the scenery along the road on the trip into Tepic.  Once there we took another bus to the center of town and visited the Cathedral and a handful of museums.


All of the walking helped us work up an appetite so we ate at a local diner and then stocked up on a few esentials at wal-mart (of all places) and soriana (like super walmart or super target) before heading back home to Caramelo.

Out on our own

Brave souls that we all are...and with inspiration from the crocodile tour we decided to make our own adventure up the estuary.

Two Dinks, five friends and a few hours.  We ended up about 4 miles up the estuary from where we anchored the boats.  There we found a semi-abondoned crocoldile in a semi-secure cage.  This was at a restaurant along the river bank that was presently closed.


We wished they were open as we got pretty hungry on our trek up river...

Market Day in San Blas

Our beautiful Caramelo at anchor in the estuary in San Blas. We ended up staying here for a week. Compared to Isla Isabela it was wonderful to be at anchor and have the boat remain relatively still.


Caramelo certainly seems to draw her share of attention. We had a few fisherman stop by our boat as we did at Isla Isabela. One in particular stopped by to tell us how much he loved San Francisco. He works the off season in Drakes Bay farming oysters. It's always good to see felow lovers of the bay.



Today was the first day we roused ourselves out of bed early enough to go to the market. This was a task rewarded by huevos rancheros for Kristina and Chilaquiles for Ryan. Both plates were delicious but Ryan still favors his chilaquiles the way my mom and make them.

Croc tour

Today we took an excursion with our friends to find some croc's.  Not the brightly colored ones you wear on your feet...the snappy ones with sharp teeth!

Ryan and I came ready in true safari style. 

Check out the full album in the scrap book section of the blog...there are even a few videos of the crocs and the fresh water swimming hole we found at the end of the journey.

Off again

Here are some pictures of our journey about 40 miles back toward the mainland to San Blas. If you've seen the photo album of Isla Isabela then you know we had a great time there but alas it was time to move on. An early start called for some coffee.

The loud cloud cover that morning reminded us of San Francisco.  Although I'm sure San Francisco is much colder at this time.  It was nice to pretend we were back in our home port. 

The boat below is the s/v Tao. Tao, Estrella, Plume and Caramelo all left Isla Isabela together bound for San Blas.

To celebrate another day at sea Ryan enjoyed one of our treasured Newcastle.

arriving to Isla Isabela

It is March first and we are headed into Isla Isabela. We've had a pleasant trip through the night from Mazatlan under a full moon. The total distance was approx. 80 miles and we were able to sail much of the way. The night was highlighted be a few whale sightings.


Kristina was on watch sometime after midnight when two whales appeared off the bow. After about 20 minutes of watching them breach and slap their tales on the water we continued on coarse to Isabela.