The island of beautiful Caribbean water views, biking, eating lots of market/street food (tacos, salbutes, sopes, tlalpeno soup, etc.) meeting new cruisers, bumping into lots of tourists (therefore LOTS of vendors selling various water trips and merchandise) and dealing with the adventures of north cold fronts.

I see the end of this blogging thing and realize that this 7 years of mostly full time cruising has been a BIG GIFT. We are excited about flying to Cuba with Vicki (MN friend) for 3 weeks prior to sailing Sojourn back to FL in May to put here on the hard for possible a year to do some maintenance and determine our next journey….. So I awake each morning listening to the various sounds based on where we are anchored (birds, chickens, dogs, ferries, wind, seas) realizing that things will be different.

Some thoughts or things that are different here:

• You see lots of bicycle or motorized bicycle food/ice cream/tortilla front loaded carts.
• Its a great place to tour the island with a bicycle. I actually feel somewhat safe with the drivers and the riding/walking paths they built are actually civilized and BEAUTIFUL. I have been able to borrow bikes but miss my folding bike that got stolen in Bonaire.
• Most places in Central America and MX have no people begging. They work hard and long hours.
• Unlike Belize the fees for self check in to Immigration/Customs/Port Captain/Agriculture/Health are consistent. However, the NW Caribbean area certainly makes you check into SO many departments.
• You continue to see Mayan people dressed in traditional clothing selling their hand made goods.
• Surprised to see that fish is cheaper at Pt. Morelos. Maybe because the tourists were paying for the trip and the fisherman were just making extra since the tourists didn’t want the fish. I was told that there aren’t that many fish in this area nor fisherman.
• I found a vendor that was selling LOTS of sea horse skeletons. He said they found them on shore BUT that seems odd to see so many.
• There seems to be LOTS of cold fronts and WIND that make it to Isla – even more wind strength than at Pt. Morelos. I forget that we keep going north even though we are in the Caribbean.
• Sold our Cuba cruising guide and charts that I had purchased in Colombia but excited that we will be flying there and traveling around for 3 weeks.
• Odd that Mexico changes their clocks forward April 7 vs USA on March 10^th. So now we are same time again as MN!
• Just got to Marina del Sol in preparation to leave our boat for Cuba. Guaberto really takes his responsibilities seriously. We came back via dinghy around 10pm and he came down with a flashlight to see what’s up. He also keeps 2 of his 3 dogs out at night for ears. So we know our boat will be safe.
• Its been great to meet new cruisers that you just know will be lifelong friends.
• We have had a few more friends come to visit. Louise (MN) came over from her vacation in Cancun to spend a day with us and Karol also from MN came for a 1week. Lourdes from Mexico City also came over for a day while she/Pepe were on vacation in Cancun. It was GREAT fun.
• When we were in Pt. Morelos we went (against Tom’s desires) to a private residence tour north of Cancun obtaining some cash, free snorkel tour in Isla Mujeras and ferry ride from Cancun to Isla. They allowed us to delay the tickets for 60 days so when Karol came we found the best day to take the free snorkel trip to the cement statues and outside of the Bahia anchorage. It was abit rolly and Karol had some troubles getting acclimated to the seas along with mast so it wasn’t so pleasant for her but it was fun to see. I hated wearing the life vests as didn’t allow me to dive down to take better photos…. We did go snorkeling again with Lourdes which was calmer but the current still rips outside the anchorage so she hangs onto the dinghy which is on a mooring.
• There have been a few cruiser open mic music jams that have been great fun at Bahia Tortuga. One of the fiddle players Chris on S/V Espirtu has even gotten past his stage fright and played in front of us TWICE.
• We love the local ice cream vendors where they not only have helado but natural fruit drinks (liquados) and fresh fruit popcicles… Its also very reasonable with my favorite being coconut, lime and coffee.
• The holding is poor in both the main Bahia and Laguna Macax with soft muck but we have held through the blows. Therefore, small locally owned marinas have popped up that vary in price from $300-700 including water/electricity.

Stay tuned for the next adventures in Cuba.

Keep your dreams alive! Keep us posted to your status.

Hugs Rose & Tom