Our January page stopped early in January; we have so much more to report regarding January so we are calling this JanuaryII 2006.

After spending a wonderful holiday season in Tenacatita and Barra de Navidad, two of our favorite places that we knew from last season, we headed south on January 5 to explore anchorages and towns on our way to Zihuatanejo -- our southernmost destination this season.

Our first stop was Carrizal anchorage, just north of Santiago (near Manzanillo) -- a short distance from Barra. Our friends, Linda and John on Nakia, were anchored there and welcomed us with Happy Hour on their boat.

The next morning I cleaned and polished stainless steel, then in late morning, we took a hike with John and Linda. We were hiking in "Rancho Majagua Desarrollo -- Ecological Touristico" and were stopped by some people in a truck warning us that this was private property and for us to get back to our boats -- and that he "bettter not see you here tomorrow." This is the first time we have been treated in this manner in Mexico. In fact this is an appropriate time to report that our reception everywhere (except at this Rancho) has been wonderful. People are very friendly and helpful when needed. Most conversations are a mixture of Spanish and English, with them wanting to practice their English while we, of course, want to practice our Spanish. Lots of gestures and laughter are included in our interactions. That evening Happy Hour on Jellybean included Linda and John, along with Amy and Mel from Surrender, also sharing the anchorage.

January 7 is the day that I got to wear my new snorkeling body suit. Linda loaned me a noodle and together we saw: Spotted and Golden Puffers, Mexican Goat Fish, King Angelfish, both adult and jevenile, Barberfish, Sergeant Major Fish, Giant Damselfish, Rainbow Wrasse and Giant Hawkfish. Such a successful snorkeling adventure called for a celebration. We had a potluck dinner on Jellybean with Linda and John -- to celebrate I baked a chocolate cake.

January 8, Nakia departed, and we stayed on to enjoy a lazy day, reading and talking and early to bed.

January 9 we moved south to Santiago Bay, explored all the anchorages before dropping anchor in the western end along with Nakia, Hurrah, Shiraz and Texan. A few more boats arrived in the afternoon -- everybody met at a palapa on the beach for Happy Hour. The beach has dozens of palapas and is populated mostly with vacationing Mexican families. This is a photo of John and Linda dinghying toward us -- we look the same when we are in our dinghy -- lots of fun.

January 10 we dinghied over to a cafe at the far end of the beach and took a bus into town, dropped off laundry, visited an internet store, and on the way back stopped for lunch at the beach cafe. Upon return we snorkeled around the submerged "wreck" near where we were anchored. We saw lots of puffers and a gorgeous King Angelfish. The photo shows the wreck in the foreground with pelicans on protruding poles. The background shows the beach close to our anchorage.

January 11 we dinghied to the beach close to us and walked a mile out to the road to take a bus into town to pick up our laundry and some provisions.

January 12-14 our days were spent doing boat chores -- I did sanding and varnishing -- Roy installed a side boarding ladder -- and of course, we socialized and took more trips into town. Terry and Tammy on Secret O'Life and many other boats arrived. At one point we had 15 boats in the anchorage.

January 15 -- Both John (Nakia) and Terry (Secret O'Life) had birthdays, so a party was arranged at a very nice restaurant associated with the Palma Real resort up on the hill. Great food, conversation and humor -- seems to be a theme these days.

January 16 -- our last foray into town before heading south -- Terry and Tammy joined us -- then we deflated the dinghy, folded her up and had a good night's rest.

We set out on January 17 hoping to spend the night at Cabeza Negra anchorage. We arrived around 6 pm and found the exposure to swell from the south to be quite severe, so in spite of being invited to anchor right in front of the white house with the radio tower for better protection (Jaime hailed us on the radio to make this offer), we decided to sail all night and head for Caleta de Campos, anticipating an early morning arrival.

At 8 am on January 18 we entered the Caleta de Campos anchorage. One other boat was in the anchorage. Shortly after our arrival another boat, Seaquest, that we had been tracking all night on our radar pulled in. As the morning passed, the swell and surf grew stronger. The first boat had a wave break under her keel, so we thought we'd better head out -- at 1 pm we were on our way to Zihuatanejo. We had a challenge, however, and that was to slow down our boat so we wouldn't arrive in the dark. We had no wind in the late afternoon, evening and night, so we had to motor. The water was as smooth as glass, the motor purred at slightly more than idle speed, and once again we were tracking Seaquest on radar. The following two photos are of Caleta de Campos -- we were sorry to have to leave so soon and look forward to spending some time there, hopefully on our way back up to Puerto Vallarta.

January 19 -- 8 am we entered the Zihuatanejo anchorage, where we finally met up with Steve and Sue on Last Resort -- we hadn't seen them since La Paz -- it turns out that they are the chief organizers of the annual Sailfest since they arrived here quite some time ago. After a nap we joined them and their visiting family members for a pozole dinner in the evening. This is a photo of one side of the anchorage -- beautiful architecture -- with our friends' boat, Two Can Play, in the foreground.

January 20-26 --Zihua is an incredible town, a walker's paradise, excellent restaurants, lots of entertainment, and of course, lots and lots (more each day) of wonderful cruising friends. We have signed up to participate in some of the Sailfest activities -- a huge fund raising event benefiting a school for Indian children. We'll be busy for the next 10 days with all these activities, so the next update will be in February sometime.