Mexico

[Ramblin']

Greetings, this is off-topic, but wonder if you that live in San Carlos area have ever seen flax meal and almond flour in the larger grocery stores? Perhaps they have a health food store in the "mall"? We used to take the bus to the "mall" and I hope it is still there!

Thanks!

[DOCRIVERS]

Thanks, Tao, for your suggestion. We will check out the Baja Ha Ha. Sounds like a fun way to start the tip south. You bet we're waiting til after hurricane season, like Nov 1, if we finish the major refit on BLUE CHIPS in time. We should have been "through" months ago, but modernizing the boat turned out to be a complete gutting and re-do of everything electrical, not to mention restoring her great teak interior.
Of course, now, we're just finishing her new cupronickel hull coating. It's increasingly difficult to get a fairly big wooden boat hauled in lots of places, so the prospect of extended cruising in pretty warm waters presented a daunting prospect re bottom jobs. No more worry about that, now that we have a basically permanent fouling-proof bottom. Now, if the polyurethane brightwork just holds up like it's touted in that climate.....

Still looking for anyone with experience with places to slips to rent in the Acapulco region of the coast.

DOCRIVERS

[jackiepitts]

For people that are actually looking for answers to some of the questions posted above I would suggest you sign up for the the Southbound Group on Yahoo... southbound_group : The Southbound Group
It seems that we are not going to get our own Forum for Mexico on Cruisers Forum but southbound group is a active forum with much information.
Best,
Jackie

[yeehaa]

Yeehaa
Hi everyone am new to this site and am now in Mexico, We had a super time sailing down the mexican pacific coast and through the Panama canal and one thing is for sure that the pacific side of mexico is really quiet wind wise except for the hurricanes etc. We lived on the pacific side for about 6 years and sailed most days but we found that heading south most times we used the motor most of the coast of Mexico until we crossed the gulf and from there on we had wind yeehaa.
For people heading south on the gulf of Mexico side it is possible to stop in Tampico though there is no marina the entrance to the Panuco river is large and is used by large ships.
For those with smaller or shallow draft vessels there is an entrance to the Channel that goes from Tampico to Tuxpan via Laguna Tamahua

[seadollar]

Sounds like a good idea. Could be very helpful. San Carlos is our home port also. Let us know what takes place with your idea.

[Elixir]

Hi there, we are novice Aussie sailors about to move onboard our first boat, a cat, in San Francisco. We'll be sailing down to Mexico and leaving from Puerto Vallarta in March/April to cross the Pacific. We have two little boys, 1 and 3, and we're very excited/scared/nervous/happy about what we're doing together. Is there anyone else out there who is doing the crossing next year with children onboard? Aside from safety concerns, we're most worried about keeping the kids happy, socialised and entertained. Anyone with any words of wisdom or experience on these matters, I would love to hear from you. Do the boats leaving from Mexico to cross the Pacific generally stay in touch most of the way across?

[GordMay]

ELIXIR:

Check out:

Cruising the Coconut Milk Run ~ Ken Machtley and Cathy Siegismund (“Felicity”)
➥ http://www.svfelicity.com/articles/milkrun.pdf

The Coconut Milk Run ~ Jan & Signe Twardowski (“Raven”)
➥ The Coconut Milk Run

The Admiral’s Version of The Coconut Milk Run
➥ The Admiral’s Version of The Coconut Milk Run

[Cheechako]

Elixer, will you have Ham or SSB radio aboard? That is a good way to keep in touch. My impression is that generally most "buddy boats" pretty much do their own thing on long passages. Keep in touch if they can but that's pretty much it. on a 3 week passage like you are contemplating, one boat could finish a couple of days ahead/behind the other.....

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Elixir

Do the boats leaving from Mexico to cross the Pacific generally stay in touch most of the way across?

Pacific Puddle Jump Official Web Site

[nomadic mama]

Hey there Elixir!

My husband responded to your other post (he's svTOTEM)-- we are a family of 5, on our Stevens 47 sailboat in Mexico. We'll be crossing to the Marquesas from La Cruz (near Puerto Vallarta) in April 2010. We look forward to meeting you here!

I've been keeping track of the "kid boats" planning to cross to the south pac this coming season- including yours, I'm up to 15 boats. I think that's pretty dang respectable, and surely not representative of the whole crowd.

We were in MX last year, too- in addition to meeting more then enough other kids to leave our children feeling anything but deprived of socialization, we got to know several other families who crossed this past spring. Some have buddied up with other kid boats through French Polynesia, but not all. I think it's personal choice and not necessary.

Our children are a little older than yours, but we've had them on boats since they were babies so maybe we can help with cruising parent Q&A, feel free to email directly (I think you can do that through the profile).

Someone mentioned SSB... that's the key to getting/staying in touch... there are radio nets for checking in and staying in touch throughout the MX-FP crossing. I think they are key for safety too, to have good weather data... sure hope you have one on board or in your shopping list. Having a pactor modem to use with it (or another solution for email) doesn't hurt either.

Good luck with your plans- this is an amazing thing to do as a family- don't let the naysayers get you down (thinking of a certain response to your other post, which was so appalling I can't even get into it)

[Gazelle Family]

Cool.... Hey how much do you pay for the hard during the summer in San Carlos?

[Solitude]

Originally Posted by nomadic mama

Hey there Elixir!

My husband responded to your other post (he's svTOTEM)-- we are a family of 5, on our Stevens 47 sailboat in Mexico. We'll be crossing to the Marquesas from La Cruz (near Puerto Vallarta) in April 2010. We look forward to meeting you here!

Hey I have been following you guys in 48 north.. Nice to see you on here.

You've ben an insparation to my wife... Now I just have to close the deal.

[Jmolan]

Originally Posted by Gazelle Family

Cool.... Hey how much do you pay for the hard during the summer in San Carlos?

My 34' Trimaran runs $100 a month on its own trailer. Very secure and clean. Professional operation.

Marina San carlos

Contact them for rates, it is different for boats without trailers.

[LuvToSail]

San Carlos dry storage: costs vary by length. For 45' it is $180 a month

[highseas]

We will be crossing over to Hawaii in April ,before returning to Vancouver.Was planning on the Marqueses,but plans change,maybe next trip.Will head down to La Cruz from Baja in January,and then return to Baja before crossing as Cabo is a better departure point than P.V. as winds are much more consistent getting offshore.Have crossed from P.V. to Hawaii before in April,spent 5 days drifting just trying to reach tradewinds.Interested to hear from others who are returning to the PNW by this route,have SSB on board and would be nice to be in touch with others along the way.