March 3, 1998-Excitment in Zihuatenejo

The first voice I heard on the radio this morning was Carl, from Far Niente, calling "Wings, Wings".



When I answered him he just said, "Look up!".



I stuck my head out the hatch and craned my neck upward, and there on the spreaders staring back at me were two large Boobies.

Now Boobies are funny to watch because they look straight at you, having eyes on the front of their heads instead of the side like many birds, and as I came on deck in a hurry they comically watched my every move, like I was the funny thing instead of them. However I was not in a funny mood because Boobies have a big problem. They can't hold it! So when Boobies are up on your sailboat mast, look out below! We just spent hours the previous day cleaning up after the last Boobie, which we unfortunately didn't notice for a while. So up on deck I went, and I grabbed the end of a wire Spinnaker halyard and swung it wildly against the mast, which caused the Boobies to gracefuly drop off their perches and to glide off across the water towards...

Yes, you guessed it, Carl's boat, where they landed and decided that so much excitement called for a little relief; on Carl's boat.

I happily called Carl on the radio to notify him, you see we help each other out.

Later the Boobies flew over to John's boat. Both Carl and I called John.

Boobie wars. We are convinced that we are winning, but the Boobies seem to have another opinion.

Snorkeling Expedition

John Kelly

Last night we watched folkloric dancers for the third time since being in Mexico. We didn't plan on this, in fact we were on the boat after dinner planning on going early to bed, but I went on deck to look around for a minute and what did I see? No Boobies but there was activity in town, with bright lights and lots of people, and music. I can't hardly stand the call of music in town, I have to go.

So we got into our dingy and raced into town to see what was going on. It seems that the basketball court is the place to be on Sunday night. Last Sunday we watched the Sonics and the Bulls play basket ball there. Last night we watched a couple dozen kids, from grade school age to mid teens, doing a variety of Mexican folk dances in the basketball court.

The basketball court is a big concrete affair right between the plaza and the beach, it has cement bleachers and lots of people. The klieg lights make it a bright place, and the omnipresent huge black speaker boxes pound out enough Mexican music to be heard half way to Tahiti. The one thing I notice about the crowd in a Mexican gathering is that the contrast seems to be turned up. There are a lot of bright colors, and lots of black to give contrast. Every brightly colored body has a black top. There is more black hair in Mexico than you can imagine, and it makes the crowds at the basket ball court look different than a crowd back in the US. It looks like a TV screen when you put your eyeball right up to it. Lots of colored dots surrounded by black.

The dancers were great. Not great at dancing, the little kids kept getting lost, but great to watch, because they try so hard. The boys had white shirts, tight black pants, red sashes, and big black sombreros. They dance with thier hands behind their backs. The senioritas have huge colorful dresses, lots of petticoats, white high heel boots, and their (black) hair done up in bright ribbons. They lift up their skirts and whirl around constantly. The Mexican hat dance, with its ritualized and prim courtship, which ends with each couple going off hand in hand after the seniorita picks up her hombre's hat, thereby signifying that she has accepted his proposal, is my favorite.

Kids

So after we watched this for a while we walked around town to see what else was going on. Lots of tacos being eaten, lots of couples walking hand in hand, and not much else.

We went back to the boat.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mexico