Blog

1/12/18 – 1/15/18

Let’s just say I did not experience much Acapulco, I left the marina once to go look at the cliff divers. The night that we arrived there I only left the boat to go to the bathroom. Then next day I spent mostly doing my school work and at the end of the day I went up to the pool do to some laps because swimming is almost the only exercise I get, other than cranking a winch. I didn’t venture away from the dock until two days later when I participated in a diving adventure. The first dive had a ton of current and if I stopped swimming then into the channel in would have gone! The second dive was lovely because we swam with the current the whole time and the boat picked us up around the corner. There was an adorable turtle and many interesting fish that most of the sites have. Finally, on the day we left we walked to the other side of the bay to see cliff divers. We bought lunch at the restaurant on the hill in front of cliff. There were eight divers. One who dove from the lower rock to start, then two jumped at the same time from the middle, a third went after about five minutes of preparing to jump finally did. Then there was on more jumper before the man on the top jumped. As soon as they all finished we hurried out to get food and then return to the boat to pull out of Acapulco. I pulled away from the dock at 5:45 pm and drove the boat until the we realized a tanker was coming right at us and handed the wheel over to mom and dad. They circled around being the huge boat and we continued our journey south.

1/9/18
This morning we got up and headed straight in to town. We went to a restaurant or coffee shop called Cuattro Cycle. We ordered food, obtained a Wi-Fi password, and got comfortable. We remained in the coffee shop until 3:30, catching up with the website, and emails. The food was delicious, but my favorite was the strawberry cream smoothie, so basically a slight healthier milkshake. That night Kyra and I had school work to finish, and since I didn’t want to go out again we stayed on the boat ate left over pizza and watched Jurassic Park. Yet another excited day for Camille!

1/11/18
Today we left Zihuantanejo, and all the fishing boats weren’t about to let us leave without each one taking their turn at cutting us off. As soon as the anchor was lifted, I ramped up the engine and a panga headed straight in front of us. I jerked the boat sharply to port (left when looking toward the front of the boat) and passed behind them. The local driving, and the other people in the boat smiled and waved as if they had no idea that they had just cut of the boat that had the right of way. We then continued out of the bay and turned around the point to be greeted by even more pangas and a large fishing boat. I had intended to go between the big rock and the fishing boat but that’s not what the fishing boat had in mind. It started headed directly where I wanted to go, so I turned the boat to port, and continued along thinking I had solved the problem. Haha, nope! It then turned to that it was coming straight at us from the starboard side. I cranked up the engine and powered past the fishing boat, right as it came to a stop. Finally, no more fishing boats. Just points to set on the map to get to Papa Noa, a small fishing town for a night on the coast. Well, no more fishing boats to navigate around, there were still the pogas zooming back and forth all at dusk and six in the morning. Oh well, if this is how I get to eat delicious fish, hello ear plugs!

12/28/17
Today started with each member of the family individually coming into my cabin to wake up Violet and I, and without fail each one mentioned the terrible stink wafting out as they opened the door. I looked at Violet in confusion, but later discovered that the terrible smell was the head leaking gas from the black water tanks. The bed was then torn apart and left to air out for the rest of the day. It didn’t do any good. Although I was sitting in the salon with a fan pointed at me, I could feel the heat climbing from 82 to 84 then hit 86 and I finally gave up. I got up and left the boat with my laptop and piano books and headed for the air-conditioned lobby to play the piano and work on my science. After playing piano, I headed back to the boat, and when we arrived at the location were Kyra had left her scooter before going up the lobby, and it was gone. Someone had taken her scooter. We looked around for it and finally decided that we needed to meet Violet’s family in town, so we put up three signs around the hotel in hopes to find the missing scooter. We went to town and got on a very unreliable bus with holes in the floor, and the seats falling through the floor, if you could call it that. The bouncy bus took us to Melaque a town on the other side of the bay. We got ice cream that was appalling, then continued down the road and looking in swimsuit shops. Violet and I got our second matching swimsuits. We got the same bottoms and tops with black “stringy” backs and when we returned to the marina just as the sun was setting we went up to the pool for a quick night swim. Then had a calm night just hanging out.

1/1/18
Violet and I slept in until 12:30 after the late night. She came in to wake me up and told me we were going surfing at two. I rolled out of bed to find that mom and dad had gone on a hike with Jake. I got all of my stuff together, and when they got back at about 1:15 Mom gave me the money and after waiting way to long for a water taxi arrived at the surf shop to get the board I would use from Carla. Carlos brought us down the beach to stretch then we got in the water, with booties on to avoid getting cut up feet. Violet and I paddled out to the small waves that were breaking because the surf wasn’t too good today. We waited until a good wave came then Carlos pushed me in and I almost stood up. A few more tries and I was standing up almost every time. The first time I stood up the darned wave abandoned me, and I was left just standing on my board. When our time was up we got out and gave the board back to Carla and Carlos. Violet and I then returned to the water with her board and tried to surf on our own. Turns out we have absolutely no ability to predict where a wave it and missed virtually all the good ones. After another hour we came in and ate pastries our moms had bought. Right before we left a big Mexican family set their stuff about three feet in front of us with no apparent consciousness that they were extremely close, and just sat their talking and drinking beer until we left. We headed back for the boats to get ready to have our last dinner with the Scotts. We went to the place next to the one we went to for Mom’s birthday. I ordered beef fajitas and they were delicious. I slept well that night after a filling dinner.

This is where most of my time is spent on an overnight passage!
1/5/18
Welcome to the exciting life of Camille, while on an overnight passage. Buckle your seat belts everyone, this is going to be a wild one. I had anticipated an early morning, but mom let me sleep in and I woke up at about 10:30. We had originally planned to stop for a night and have yet another early morning, but the weather was not in our favor. So, we all had a boring day, Kyra and I did schoolwork, games, movies, watches and reading. Dinner was composed of anything in the freezer that could be thrown in the oven. We had Costco dino nuggets and wedge fries, oh and salad. I played guitar until my watch at nine, and finally went to bed at midnight.

1/2/18
Today was the day that we left Barra De Navidad, and headed for Manzanillo. We said our goodbyes to the Scotts then they headed into town to get food provisions for their next two weeks in Tenacatita. We had about 5 minutes until we would leave, and I realized I hadn’t made Violet her early birthday present. I grabbed my laptop, canvas, charcoal, and lead. I quickly sketched two girls sitting on the edge of a dock. I shaded it and made it a black and white lead and charcoal canvas mural. I put it on the shelf above her bed with a note on the back for her to find went she got back. Then we pulled away from our ten-day home. It was a short hop to Manzanillo, and anchored in full light. Made burgers and slept tummy’s full of good beef burgers, none of that crap the Mexicans classify as burgers.