Puerto Vallarta/ Punta Mita

We left Cabo San Lucas mid-day, with good wind and amongst the many pangas, two cruise ships and jet skis.  The two America's Cup boats were out with their groups of tourists for a day of "racing", it was fun to sail by them as they raised their sails.  Fortunately they went one way and we the other, or we'd see how sluggish we truly are.  We were at sea for two and a half days with mostly light winds, they picked up on the last night as we approached Punta Mita and the Tres Mariettas.  Entering Banderas Bay at night was not recommended, but we had a gibbous moon which gave decent light by which to navigate.  There are several rocks and spires which are awash at high tide, and the GPS charts are notoriously incorrect for most of Mexico.  For example, according to ours, we are anchored about 100yds. inland.  Knowing this makes it a bit challenging, and for this reason arriving at unknown harbors at night is not recommended. 
   The trip across the Sea of Cortez was different than the outside of Baja, the seas were jumbled with swells coming off of the Pacific mixing with those of the Sea of  Cortez.  This creates a lovely cross swell which is not very comfy.  It only lasted about a day and a half, and then it smoothed out.  We tried to fish, but the only fish we took in was a small flying fish which beached itself on our foredeck.  Poor thing.  The sailing was slow, but we did sail mostly during the day, and motored at night, as the wind dies a bit, and since visibility isn't great, it's an option to let the whales know we're here and avoid us.  Speaking of whales, haven't seen any more, just the one several days ago.  Leif did see a green sea turtle yesterday. 
   We are anchored off Punta Mita, a resort, but a quiet one.  Today we are going to hang out and relax before going into port tomorrow to check-in at Marina Vallarta.  The water here is not as clear as I'd hoped, and it's a little cooler than Cabo, 71 degrees here versus 78 there.  I'm hoping for clearer water in the next few weeks as we leave the more populated areas and head farther south. 

   Leif and I are staying healthy, notice the bottled water!

Cabo Wabo or Finisterra?

We have been in Cabo for three days now, and it's been quite different than I expected.  I was in La Paz in 1964, ok, I'm old, but it was a typical Mexican town, dirt streets and all.  This is far from that.  Our boat is docked near the high end district, with a Rolex store, Hagen Daz, etc.  Tonight we found some more reasonable restaraunts, Solomon's Landing, and a lovely bar atop a hill overlooking the pacific, Finisterra.  The hike up was worth it, we watched one cruise ship leave and another arrive.  It was a beautiful evening, full moon, and soft music all around, not the throbbing beat that has been our bed-time music each night so far. 
  Today, Leif replaced the impeller, which makes the water cool the engine, and I did laundry.  Much more normal events.  A boat down the dock from us caught a stripped marlin today, and a black marlin yesterday, fortunately they do release most of these fish, yet not all.  The black marlin was draped across the stern of his boat, quite a magnificent fish. We are preparing for our trip to Puerto Vallarta tomorrow, it's supposed to be a 3 day sail, so we hit Walmart today, yup they have those here too.  Great store, lots of fresh fruits and just about anything you need.  I didn't see fruit cups though.  I did get some flan, which is yummy.  Oh yes, Leif talked the waiter at the Hotel Finisterra into selling us a couple of their wine glasses, which are the blue rimmed hand made variety, a nice memento.  Hasta luego,  Lisa

On to Cabo

We left Bahia Santa Maria in much the same way as we arrive, shrouded in fog.  I think it was 6 a.m. on a friday, time tends to get lost.  It is a very pretty bay, just before Magdalena Bay, where there are a few houses, like 3, and some fish camps on the beach.  We decided not to go ashore, as it got very windy (17Kts.) in the afternoon, and we were planning on leaving in the a.m.  The sail down had been uneventful, no ships, fish or whales.  We saw our first Tropic bird, and a Frigate bird, a prehistoric looking thing.  After leaving Santa Maria, the cruise ships started showing up on their trek back to the states.  On my last watch at 12:30 a.m. one of em was aimed straight at us for awhile before finally turning, very unsettling.  They move so fast, one minute there's no one out there, the next there's a ship bearing down on you.  Kinda creepy. We do 3 hour watches every night when sailing, starts around 3 in the afternoon, and when off watch, we go to sleep, or try to.
   As we neared Cabo San Lucas, Leif caught his first major fish, a 5.5lb. skipjack(caught on Liz and Craig's pink trolling lure).  It never fails, I set the line out, go off watch to bed, and wham, it gets hit!  He was so proud, yet sad, wanted to name it.  However I mentioned that if he names it, it may be tough to eat it.  I filleted,(using the new Honcho fillet knife from Deb and Steve) bagged and refrigerated it for later.

   We arrived in Cabo around noon, with good wind, but motor on to beat all of the hundreds of fishing boats in to the gas dock.  It was incredible to see all of the humanity, jet skiis, parasailers, fishing boats, day cruisers, just like Newport.  What a zoo.  Leif did a great job getting the boat around all the traffic and into our slip for a three night stay.  Very nice slips, very expensive!  We hope to leave for Puerto Vallarta on Tues.  This will be a 3 night trip, so I'm resting up, doing laundry and a bit of shopping.  It's 9a.m. and the Mariachi's are already at it, last night the night clubs were loud with live bands until 4 or so.  Not at all like our previous stops, but I have never been to Cabo and wanted to experience it at least once.  I think once is enough, but we'll see. Getting fuel was easy, no boat traffic, and the store there sold everything, from wine to boat parts.  We are going into town maybe today for some supplies, like more fruit cups and coffee.  More later, but the trip is fun, exciting, and eye opening with the various locations and life styles. 

Leif's first skipjack! Caught off Isla Santa Margarita

Enrique's Restaurant in Turtle Bay

Bahia de Tortugas

We sailed two days and nights, arriving here around 3p.m., in time to drop anchor, cook our first steak dinner and get some uninterrupted sleep.  The overnight sails are beautiful, stars, meteoroids, light wind, but quite cold.  It's nicer here in Turtle Bay, friendly people, like Enrique the diesel seller who also owns the restaurant.  We ate a yummy dorado lunch and watched the fishermen come in and unload their pangas on the beach, filled with yellowfin tuna, some whole, some eaten by lobos, or sharks.  They used all of it.  We have a great anchorage, only about 6 boats here.  We plan on leaving tomorrow around noon for Bahia Santa Maria, which will be another two day and night sail.  The moon is getting fuller, so it'll be easier to see in some ways, and hopefully warmer as we get south.  It's been nice here weather-wise, probably high 70's with a cool breeze.  This little town is more like what I expected to see, dirt roads, small cramped houses, lots of Ford Explorers, and people who are affable.  Fun place.  Really, this is why I wanted to come, get out of So. Cal. and all the hustle and bustle.  We were the only ones in the hilltop restaurant, and were waited on by Enrique's mother in law, his wife did the cooking and the grandson (Angel) trying to run downstairs before nana could yell at him.  We gave a hat to Aaron the diesel boat helper, he saw mine and asked if he could have one.  Anyway, seemed like a good thing to do as we want to spend more time here on our return trip. I'll add photos when we have a high speed connection.

Osprey at Cruiseport

Our going away party...

Dolphins off Ensenada

Our Departure From Longo

We left Long Beach on Sunday, Nov. 7 at 11:15 a.m., arrived in Ensenada at 12:30 p.m. the following day.  It was exhilerating to think that we were leaving and not returning for 8 months or so.  We had light winds, so much so that we motorsailed most of the way.  Leif and I started watches in the afternoon, sleeping when off watch, and tending the course when on.  In this manner we were prepared for the evening watches, and well rested when it became our turn.  Or sort of.  The weather cooperated until morning, just as I went off watch at 6 a.m. it started a light drizzle. 
   We had lots of dolphins following us all night and morning, at night their trails of luminescence were fascinating to watch as they streaked through the water.  I also saw some whales off in the distance in the morning.
   We arrived to Cruiseport Marina in Ensenada and checked in with Jonathan who immediately took us to check in to the country at the port captain.  We got fishing licenses and visas, and were set to go in an hour or so.  Not bad... it would have taken us much longer without his help.  We then toasted our trip down, and hit the sack as we were both pretty tired. 
   In the last days, we have picked up cell phones, tacos, visited a museum, picked up fuel in jerry jugs for the next phase of our trip and cooked many meals. Our trip to the museum was laughable, we walked up and down the streets for an hour searching for it, and it ended up right across the street from our marina.  But we did get some good exercise and learned a lot about the deaths of the native americans which culminated in the closing of most missions in 1840.  Nice.  Travelers are not always a welcome thing, as they weren't in the early days of Mexico.  However, we did find a Starbucks, which is a lovely addition to Mexico, as it has wi-fi!  So all you Words with Friends people out there, I'll keep up as I can when we find more Starbucks. Leif says Hi to Nadoamy and Masterbest. He has no ipad, so you're safe for awhile.
  We have decided to stay an extra day as we wanted to see the town today and not work on the boat.  So, Friday we'll be off for Turtle Bay, or Bahia San Bartolome.  It's a quiet bay, different from where we are currently.   Love the travelling, our boat is very comfortable and just big enough for us.  I learned about the net, which is a chat session on the VHF radio each morning, all the cruisers are organized and discuss weather, boat parts needed and upcoming events, very fun.   Well, dinner calls, sausages and rice a roni, very Mexican.

Arrival in Ensenada!

Estamos en Mexico!  We arrived in Ensenada on Monday around noon.  This will be a quick note, until I get adjusted.  Our marina is Cruiseport Ensenada, and it is very nice, Jonathan the marina manager has been extremely helpful.  He took us to the port captain and we are all checked in to Mexico, with visas and fishing licenses.  It would have been quite confusing without him.  Today we bought phones, internet card and are up and running.  We hope to leave for Turtle Bay in two days.  No problemas on the sail down, very little rain on Monday a.m.  Hasta, Lisa

Shake Down Cruise to Catalina

We are getting down to the final days of preparation, and Leif wanted a shakedown cruise to Catalina to test the watermaker, GPS/navigation system, and the auto pilot once again.  We left Friday around noon and motored across with a lack of wind, as they say "the calm before the storm".  We made water while motoring, and it tastes just fine, better quality than at home.  It rained a bit overnight, but the next day was gorgeous, deep blue sky, white puffy clouds, and warm.  We walked over to Cat harbor, had a late lunch, watched USC lose to Oregon, heard about the Beavers beating Cal, couldn't be better.  Our return sail was really great as well, 10-15 kts of wind mostly, and another beautiful day. 
  We are aiming at leaving on Sunday, Nov. 7, and arrive in Ensenada on Monday, in time for the offices to be open for entering into the country.  That leaves this week for all of the last minute "oh yeah I forgot about that" stuff.  Of which there seems to be a growing pile.

   I feel stronger and have greater endurance each day, so the drugs are working, yea, finally.  My hands are still stiff, but daily stretching helps.  I can't wait to "lose this popsicle stand" and get on the road.  I do have to admit that we will never be ready, completely, but we have done a thorough job preparing and have had many people give us the assurance that we are better prepared than most.  Our "humble adobe" hasn't sunk under the weight yet, and there's just a bit more food to load on.  More later, it's too nice an evening to be here inside, need to go out and enjoy the sunset.