The sail to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle was pretty choice. Day one we sailed in mostly perfect conditions. Day two brought more tranquil seas (such a drag to motor once you start to actually sail more), but we’ll call it a win with relatively few whales and relatively little drama (yaaasss!). Watched the ridiculous Night Agent series, finished Murakami’s satisfying Men Without Women, and dove into The Clockmaker’s Daughter, a promising novel by Kate Morton. We enjoyed dramatic sunsets followed by beautiful, clear, starry skies. Once again we arrived without a slip reservation, and once again we got lucky … and snagged the last available slip. Docking was a bit tricky for the 35K-pound (45 with all of our kit) Kouk — the slips here are shared by two boats with no dividers between — but we maneuvered like champs and high-fived it heartily upon arrival. Perfect location close to the marina office and “yacht club”, which is not a club at all but rather an air conditioned circular windowed room where people go to cool off, read, and do the various things that people do on their laptops. Upstairs is a beautiful rooftop bar and restaurant, where we cheers-ed to another safe passage with mescal (a drink I’m coming to increasingly appreciate), so-so tacos, and a lovely view of our dock.

La Cruz is rougher than the considerably more upscale San Jose del Cabo. (Had a conversation with another sailor who said San Jose had gotten too chi-chi for her. I found it more chic than chi-chi, but I am honestly not mad at either.).The streets are rocky and more often unpaved than not, the town square is nothing to write home about, and its restaurants are more homey than elegant. That said, the marina is all that and a bag of chips, and there are activities galore. Presentations on all things sailing are plentiful, an outdoor amphitheater with movie nights every Thursday, an impressive farmer’s market every Sunday with food, housewares, leather goods, live (excellent!) musical entertainment, and everything in between. And la piece de resistance … wait for it … three pickleball courts! There’s a lovely yoga class within walking distance on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, hosted in a condo complex that overlooks the ocean and where you can hear the waves and birds during your practice. There’s also a beautiful spa nearby, salsa lessons on Monday and Wednesday nights, and a refreshingly and reasonably priced fish market where we heartily consumed delicious shrimp, mahi mahi, tuna, and lobster. 

We (and I use “we” generously) made a ton of great dinners, hosted and hung out repeatedly with our friends Shannon and Andy on Tino Pai, made new friends, and had a few great nights out. One of the more memorable was at El Mar: modest location and ambiance, excellent fried shrimp and tacos. Mon ami mescal was served with salt, dried orange slices, and something that looked like little roaches. After wrestling with my shamefully pitiful Spanish, I finally understood that they were grasshoppers … which unfortunately tasted just like they looked. Something to be tried for sure, but let’s be clear: never to be voluntarily repeated. Apparently grasshoppers are a thing here, though … I had some more mezcal at another bar and the serving platter had what i thought was spicy salt but after inquiry revealed to be grasshopper (let’s just call them) crystals. Note: they’re decidedly tastier in dusty vs full body form. Could simply be a presentation thing. Either way, they’re much better licked than munched.

In actual boat news, Captain T installed the cockpit shower and the water heater. Much sweating and swearing ensued along the way, but we can now have a hot water rinse in the cockpit after a dunk, a hot shower on the boat when we’re not in a marina (or are too lazy to hike to the marina showers), and — finally — hot water to wash and rinse the dishes. No more greasy containers! Hallelujah! Next was the poop tank, so we’re really cooking with oil. Still used the bucket to avoid having to move the boat to empty the tank, but that bad boy is in working condition and the odeur (which we fortunately or unfortunately didn’t notice until it was totally gone) is ancient history. And as the final La Cruz project, Captain T installed air conditioning … the luxury I never knew how much we absolutely needed. I cannot adequately express how ridiculously delicious it is. I mean seriously … speechless. If the angels sang when the water heater and poop tank were installed, there was a full blown, Kirk Franklin-led gospel concert when we turned the air conditioning on, it worked (on the first try!), and we greedily indulged. I’d thought before that A/C was a nice-to-have. And it is. But I’d never. Ever. Go without it again. It is just … beyond.

I had to go back to the Bay Area unexpectedly because someone stole the rear license plate from my car (which my mom is driving). A good excuse to spend time with her and friends. Got some beautification in, did some puzzling, played some pickleball (shocker), went to Tommy T’s Comedy Club to see Guy Torry (unexpectedly hilarious, right up there in my top five comedy shows) and play some impromptu ping pong afterwards with one of my besties from high school. Had an amazing time with my favorite sister friend/sister-in-law and played (more!) pickleball, saw the tulips at Filoli Gardens, made dinner and libations, gabbed and spent the night together. (Side bar: such a shame that sleepovers are not really a thing when you get older. Soooo much fun.)

Then my mom flew back to La Cruz for a little vacation. Side bar number two: When I first heard about the Trump tariffs, my immediate thought was that champagne was going to go through the roof (not the most world-conscious view I know, but I’m just sayin’ …), so I ordered a bunch which I brought back from my Bay Area trip. What I hadn’t realized is that it would go bad when we leave the boat during the hot Mexican summer, so we have the rough-but-somebody’s-got-to-do-it job of consuming it all before July. Back to the story … more MoDa (Mother/Daughter) hijinks ensued in La Cruz, bookended by two champagne dates, some devastating (for Mom … ha!) Boggle games, spa time (with a small and deceptively aggressive masseuse who made me a forever convert from deep tissue to the more relaxing and civilized Swedish), salsa lessons, music bingo, more puzzling, and just lots of good ‘ole conversation. Mom had been hesitant to come and I’m so glad she did: the week flew by and we’ll both remember our special time together in La Cruz. Love you Mom … Carpe diem!

April is the last month of the season in La Cruz. The weather is getting hot, La Cruz Pickleball sessions ended (although we did get a small group together to play at Punta Pelicanos afterwards … thanks for the invite, Catherine!), the crowds everywhere noticeably thinned. We did our provisioning, had a final dinner party (kicked off with champagne, of course) with new friends, prepped the boat, and got ready to leave the marina. We ended up staying in La Cruz for a lovely, memorable two months. Next stops: island hopping in the Sea of Cortez before we put the Kouk on the hard in San Carlos.