Happy Holidays!

Once again we are beginning a new year in La Cruz…one of the places we like to call “home”. We have finally gotten far enough south that we are seeing daytime temperatures in the 80’s and we were able to take one of the blankets off the bed at night. Whoo hoo!

Pat & Mary joined us in Mazatlan just before Christmas. Mary has flown down from Vancouver (WA) to spend the holidays with us for the past 3 years but this was Pat’s first trip. If she’s not having a great time it isn’t for lack of trying. We’re doing our best to show off “our little corner of the world”. Christmas in Mazatlan was lovely but the highlight was the cruiser’s dinner/dock party complete with turkey and all the trimmings. Bonnie (S/V Murray Grey), Janet (S/V Optical Illusion) and Fran (S/V Gosling) prepared the turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy while the rest of us brought salads, sides and desserts. Jean-Guy (Fran’s hubby) even provided a tub of “Moose Milk”. He says this is a traditional Christmas drink in Canada. I don’t know what was in it but it was smooth and delicious and definitely alcoholic. About 25 cruisers from the U.S. and Canada were there so plenty of story swapping, future plan sharing and good wishes were happening.

The day after Christmas we all got busy washing and cleaning the boat, filling the water tanks and getting things organized and tied down for the trip to La Cruz. We were finished by noon-ish so grabbed the Mexican Train game and headed for Gus y Gus, the restaurant at the top of the ramp, for lunch and Margaritas. Margaritas and Mexican Train can easily be a lethal combination but hey…the sun was shining…we were wearing shorts…the work was done…and we could walk home.

Next morning we cast off and headed out into nice, calm seas and light wind to make our way to La Cruz. It is a passage of about 30 hours and we set up a watch schedule where Chris & I would each stand 3 hour watches with Pat and Mary sharing a 2 hour period in the middle. The trip went well and we had lots of entertainment on the way. Not long after we left Mazatlan a large pod of dolphins came and swam with us for a good 30 minutes. Mary & I sat on the bow watching as they did their synchronized swimming routine back and forth under and around the bow. There were probably 20 or so in the group and it appeared to be mostly moms & babies as there were lots of “kids” playing. A little later we had our first whale sighting and it turned out to be a Gray. This was the first Gray I’ve seen and it was quite close to the boat so was pretty exciting.

The night was, thankfully, quiet and uneventful and morning brought glassy seas and no wind again so we kept on motoring all the way to Punta de Mita (an anchorage in the NW corner of Bahia de Banderas). If it weren’t for the critters it would have been a bit boring but they showed up and kept us entertained for most of the trip. The Manta Rays were busy doing back flips and acrobatics while the Bat Rays would just swim lazily past the boat with just their wingtips showing. The girls thought they were seeing shark fins until we made them look closer and they could make out the entire diamond shape of the rays. Lots of sea turtles were seen bobbing past (we stopped counting at 15), many of them with birds resting on their shells. It is great to see the turtles coming back, especially after having the opportunity to release some of the babies last year. As we got closer we got to Banderas Bay, we began to see the amazing Humpback Whales who come here every year to calve and breed. I was thrilled to see my first full breech and there was plenty of other surfacing and slapping the water with those big fins they have to keep us on alert.

We arrived in Punta de Mita about 4pm, anchored, opened a bottle of wine and threw some chicken on the barbeque while we watched a beautiful sunset. Following dinner we were on to another rousing game of Mexican Train. Mary suggested a “tournament” when they first arrived so that is what we are doing…so far I am in the lead. About halfway through the game we heard a “Pan Pan” on the radio. This means someone is in trouble and needs help. It turned out that a boat that was about ½ mile from shore had an engine that wasn’t working and there was no wind so he couldn’t sail. He was understandably worried about running aground. Chris & I launched the dinghy and went out to try to find him. I must admit it is kind of scary being that far from land in a dinghy at night but we knew if we were in his position we’d want someone to help us. We never did locate him but were in radio contact continuously until a panga from La Cruz found him and towed him in. He said he was very thankful just knowing someone was out there. Coming back into the anchorage we discovered that it is trickier than one would think to find your boat with a backdrop of big resorts all lit up on shore. We told Pat & Mary to turn on all the lights and stand on the bow waving flashlights and that did the trick. The new LED running lights, in particular, are so much brighter that they were a big help.

Next morning we were up early to scoot around the corner to La Cruz and by 10am we were in our slip. The girls have 3 more days and we intend to keep them busy. Today they off on a “booze cruise”!