Category Archives for "Amigos Updates"

0 Sailors Run on the hook in Santiago Bay, Manzanillo 2-1-2014  

This is just a quick update on the three hundred plus boats that were being held in several of the Marinas by the Mexican-IRS. It seems that now many of the boats have been released as they had committed no foul and are now free to move about Mexico. There are still 100 boats being held at this time

Debbie and I spent over a month in Barra de Navidad and enjoyed the time there very much, watching The Super bowl, especially since our SeaHawks from Washington State won it. It was an exciting time sharing it with many local friends we have met, especially at the restaurant-Abuela’s where Deb got involved with a Kindergarten fundraiser to help build a new wall, as the old one fell down & the kids cannot go out & play. The school had the children dance Mexican style & the teachers made a menu of many wonderful dishes. We also established a one hour work out program on the roads that run through the 27-hole world class golf course. We jogged and walked the 5- mile course daily and both made good headway on kicking our “butts” back into shape.[not an easy thing to do at our age].

While here in Santiago on the hook we are enjoying the beautiful beaches, sitting under the umbrellas at the Palapas, now having met a great couple from Colorado, who own a restaurant in La Junta, called Hogsbreath Saloon.

One day while at one of the beach bars, Deb  had 2 margaritas, they said their drinks were to die for!! Well, seems one of the drinks was drugged as Deb started acting drunk with slurred speech after only 1 drink, we had to eventually carry her back to the dinghy thru the surf and back out to the boat, which she doesn’t even remember. She later came to and became deathly sick as well, the next day we went to talk to the owner to let them know what had happened. The owner said he was gone that day and was truly sorry that it happened but had no idea who might have done it or why. I suggested possibly someone was trying out his date rape medicine to see how effective it was????

SO KEEP A CLOSE WATCH ON WHO IS SERVING YOUR DRINKS!!

NOW, I have also come up with my next great adventure that I will share with you now. I believe I have used sober judgment in deciding to do this; however there are not too many of those days available to me anymore. HA-HA!!.

It is with sound mind and great prudence that I have decided to take on a SOLO CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE WORLD-NON-STOP- West to East taking all 5-great capes to Port. This adventure will require some upgrades to Sailors Run and over a year to get the boat in position to do it. The Plan is to Circumnavigate from Bahia Caraquez, Ecuador West to East and returning there some 5-months later. The intended starting date is November -1-2015. This will give me time to ready the boat and ”live a little longer”.

Yes I’m getting a little older now nearly 68 but I feel “F’N Great”. So why not??? I have finished my first book “The Horn: Ahead or Behind, Forever on My Mind”. It should be published within the next 30-days, and I will let you know the source where it will be available at.

Debbie and our cruising life is undergoing changes, ”All Good I Think.  She has given me 15 great years of fun cruising together and there is no more I can ask of her. “But I Might “!!!

“Debbie’s nesting Instincts” are kicking in and her need to be around the grand kids and be a bigger part of their life is real. I must try to understand and I will.

The new plan is Debbie plans to spend 6-months with family and grand kids and 6-months with me. I plan to continue doing what I truly love “Sailing”.

The really tough part for us is we can comfortably afford to live our lives out together on the boat. Now it would appear that we must get creative and get Debbie a Condo Ashore and all that comes with it.

I plan to develop a blog site where all my friends can ride along with me on that solo circumnavigation which should really be exciting as you can live the adventure real time as it happens. I will also do something that I never before would have considered. I will make it a monetary site where anyone that might wish to contribute financially to the adventure and my life style will have the opportunity. Please understand that this is not necessary but if you have the desire it will be greatly appreciated and help enable the “Dream to stay alive”.

Debbie and I will fly home in early May to be with family and friends and hope to see some of you then.

Debbie will stay in the U.S and I will return to spend six months in the Sea of Cortez trying not to get too Roasted over the summer. As always I will keep you all posted as to what is going on with us.

Your Amigos Jeff & Debbie

0 MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013 FROM SAILORS RUN!! 12-1-2013

Debbie and I want to wish all our family and friends the best through the Christmas season and we hope you all get lots of what you want.  As for us we are hanging on the hook in Chamela a magical place here in Mexico, as the song goes by Jimmy Buffett” A Sailors spends his Christmas in a Harbor on the hook :

Debbie and I returned to Mexico after seven years and wondered how the country and people might have changed. To sum it up in a few words “It’s All Good”.

After a fast sail across the Sea of Cortez we landed in Marina Mazatlan for a full month. The Marina itself has changed little and the prices are reasonable. The thing that has really changed is the number of restaurants in the immediate area of the Marina, they number-5 with a great variety of food and reasonable prices. We were totally blown away with “Christies the new sports bar where they have -20 TVs to watch the games on and a happy hour that lasts from 11am-6pm, where you can buy 12 oz mugs of Negro Modelo beer for just 6-pesos or about 60-cents US. It was a good thing the beer was cheap as they struggled to produce anything good to eat, with the exception of the supreme chicken nachos that were quite good. There is a first class mall with a 16-plex theater where the movies on Wednesday are just 2-dollars per person also within walking distance is a Wall Mart all of which makes Marina Mazatlan a great place to stop.

There has been a lot of concern about safety in Mazatlan, but as far as we could see it is really very safe and for anyone that wants to commit a crime Mazatlan is not the place, as there are police and military everywhere and they are heavily armed. We were in a bank and there were armed guards both inside and out and every military person that entered the bank to do business was “packing”, and guess what no one was concerned nor did anyone get shot. “Huh Imagine that”!!!

The cruise ships are once again returning to Mazatlan after avoiding the place for several years.

Debbie took line dancing lessons three times a week and we trained and ran a 5-k race that was ran as part of the Mazatlan Marathon, a world class event where one million dollars is paid to anyone that can break the Mazatlan record time. This year the Kenyans came one- two- three but could not beat the record.

We watched the best fireworks display we have ever seen on the Malecon (a walkway along the beach in the city) where they were set off from seven different locations all about 100-yrds apart. We were within 50-feet of one of the launch sites, “Scary” at times. They actually had fireworks that shot up then came down and entered the ocean then immediately shot back up into the night sky as we all looked on in disbelief, they even went as far as 3 miles high, lasting a good30 minutes. A must to see if in Mazatlan

We enjoyed the wonderful company of old friends as well as many new ones and the month flew by. Soon it was time to sail south to Puerto Vallarta where we stayed just over a week and once again had an amazing visit with many of our old friends in La Cruz. One very special day was our visit to Lupe’s magical place Los Arroyos Verdes. The hotel grounds are Botanical Gardens the likes of which we have never seen. The site is 25-acres of Gardens and art works that are world class. Lupe’s home defies description, you would have to be there to try and drink it all in. Lupe is a sailing friend from 1999 and she owned the Guadalajara water company and has invested heavily in this remarkable Shangri-La. The band played from an Island in the middle of a huge swimming pool. You can stay there for 1200-1500 dollars a month all utilities included or if you want buy one of her Condos for 250k. We just enjoyed one fabulous day trying to soak it all in.

The Christmas Tree decorating party at Casa Lori owned by Russell & Lori was a fun time meeting new friends as well as the seeing the ones we met 15yrs ago, Debbie again sang a beautiful Christmas song that had us all in tears.

Just a quick note; it appears that the Mexican government is cracking down on boats that do not have current temporary import permits. Not only must you have the permit but if you have your boat in a marina the Marina must have a copy on file. So far they have impounded 338 yachts. One of these yachts is Profligate belonging to the owners of Latitude 38. We are unsure how this will all turn out but it sounds like it may be 3-months before the government will release these boats after the owners have paid restitution.

We will spend about 5 days here in Chamela then sail further south to Barra De Navidad where we will spend a month on the hook.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year,your Amigos Jeff& Debbie