Well, it`s time to start the 1,000 mile journey back up in to the northern
Sea of Cortez to avoid hurricanes.

Our time here in Barra de Navidad is too short, so we`ll have to stop back
by here next season before Central America.

For now though, our sights are set on Tenacatita, a full 12 miles from
here. I don`t know if we`ll be able to handle the long passage, but we`ll
try.

We were exploring the murky waters of some of Barra's Lagoons and we saw a set of eyes and some sharp teeth lurking nearby.

We did an overnight leg from PV to Tenacatita, met up with friends for the
night, then left the next day for Barra de Navidad. This place has a
great anchorage, a nice town and even a good surf spot. We`ll probably
hang out here for a while before we start to work our way back north.

We’re going to leave the Puerto Vallarta area and sail further south for a month or so.  Sherrell’s surgery went well and so did our visit with family.  Now we are working on the outboard (plugged jets in the carburetor), changing the engine oil on the boat, restocking our water and fresh produce and last minute internet crap before we go tomorrow.

It will be nice to be in a more remote area and to see some of our friends again!

We departed Mazatlan 3/2 and traveled to Isla Isabela a beautiful bird
sanctuary about 92 miles away. However the tiny anchorage was packed with
boats so we squeezed in and slept for about 4 hours then raised anchor and
left. It is too bad because we both really wanted to see the birds on the
island for over a year now. So when we finally arrived and found it
packed with boats that had no plans of leaving we were bummed.

Oh well, we were on a schedule anyway. We still have to find a slip then
get to Guadalajara for surgery, return back and meet family. So far
everything has worked better than expected. We arrived in La Cruz almost
48 hours after leaving Mazatlan. We found a good spot to anchor near old
friends. We called one of the marinas and found one that would let us tie
up to some pilings while we are in Guadalajara. Pretty amazing. I wish
our logistics always worked out this easy.

Anyway, surgery next week, recovery then returning for visiting family
will keep us busy. I am sure things will keep going as smoothly as
everything has so far.

We got our papers back from immigration and we're planning to depart
Mazatlan tomorrow! Yeah! We'll head to Isla Isabela, then Banderas Bay
and PV. From there we'll bus it to Guadalajara for surgery then return to
PV to visit family when they fly in.

It feels so good to be getting ready to set sail!

Sherrell completed her radiation treatment without having to take a break
(it's fairly common to take a break in order to prevent bad skin burns),
on Feb. 17th, after which we rushed back to Mazatlan. Except for having
to rinse the boat before we could even board it, it felt wonderful to be
back. We were told that several weeks ago there was a couple days of very
heavy winds from the North - directly to the North of our boat is a dirt
parking lot hence the 1/4 in. thick layer on our boat.

Right now, we are working hard to get the boat ready to head further South
to Puerta Vallarta next week. In the meantime, we will be watching the
Carnaval parade Sunday, then hopefully picking up our renewed FM3's
(long-term visa's) from immigration on Monday. We say hopefully because
last year it took over 4 weeks to get them due to Carnaval - the whole
city pretty much shuts down during this time. Since we started the
process 1 week before Carnaval started, we have high hopes.

One way or the other, we need to head back to Guadalajara in a couple
weeks for Sherrell's last surgery, to remove her ovaries. This is to
dramatically reduce the amount of estrogen & progesterone produced which
feeds her type of cancer. It's either this, or have a shot once a month
until menopause which doesn't fit in well with our cruising lifestyle.
Then, on March 14th, Eric's dad arrives in PV with his wife and step
daughter for a fun-filled week in the tropics. It sure would be nice to
be there on the boat instead of having to stay in a hotel. We're keeping
our fingers crossed that we can get our FM3's in time.

SherrellÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s officially half way through her radiation treatments. Our class is almost finished too. WeÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢re in week 4 of 5 and our final test is next week. Hopefully Sherrell will make it one more week before her skin needs a break from the exposure to radiation. Then we can finish class and leave the city for a while.

At least we got away from Guadalajara for 2 days to visit Ocean Lady anchored in La Cruz (north of Puerto Vallerta). It was great to be on a boat again and even better to hang out with friends in a warm town.

We're officially students at the University of Guadalajara and we start class next week.  We'll be taking beginning Spanish 2 hours a day for five weeks.  It's probably the most we can handle while Sherrell goes through treatment.   They start the localized radiation treatment tomorrow.  They mapped the area using a MRI machine today so that tomorrow they can target the proper area.  The radiation will prevent any remaining cancer cells from dividing and forcing them to die off.  The treatment requires 28 days with usually a week off somewhere in between to let the skin heal.   Oh yeah, we brought Jezebel with us, so she wouldn't have to stay on the boat alone and she seems to be doing really well.  So far we've kept her locked in the room when the cleaning staff comes, but other than that she has been roaming around and enjoying all the running space at night.  Sometimes I wish she would just sleep like the rest of us though.