Catching some waves at Playa Bruja (Witch Beach) in Mazatlan!

The 130nm leg was a bit of a bummer.  We only were able to sail for about 30 miles, and we beat into it the whole way.  At least we got to sail.  Normally it is a difficult direction along this coast to sail, so Sherrell keeps reminding me that 30 miles of sailing was more than she expected.  Anyway the wind was dead calm most of the night, but the seas were rolly and bumpy.

It took us about 25 hours to get here, which was really quite fast.  We had to wait for the dredge to stop working so we could enter the channel and since it’s only open for 20 minutes, there was a pile up of boats coming out.  To top it off, there were some occasional HUGE waves that were breaking across the entire entrance.   If that wasn’t a challenge enough, we had a 4 boat pile up once we got inside the breakwater.  I had to slam the boat into reverse and turn hard to avoid the chaos from the various boats that weren’t paying any attention.  It was a good thing it happened to us instead of our friends that went in front of us -- because of our small size we were able to maneuver through the mess of boats (not without a bit of a heart attack) without hitting anything.

Anyway we’re here now and tucked in with lots of fresh water and power.  Now to catch-up on some lost sleep!

We`re about 100 nm north of PV in a bay that has some great waves in the
Spring and Summer for surfing. We`ve already spent two days surfing and
now we hitched a ride into San Blas to pick up some veggies and fruit and
use the internet.

We`ll be departing for Mazatlan in about 10 days to meet up with my mom
who is flying in for a visit!

Heading north from Tenacatita, we stopped at Chamela and decided to try to push on around Cabo Corrientes (a nasty cape about 65 miles away) the next day.  However about 2 hours out we were getting soaked from crashing waves, and Ocean Lady and us made the group decision to go back to Chamela and snorkel for a few days until the weather was better.

I’m glad we did because the visibility was over 25 feet and we saw an amazing amount of sea life:  moray eels, tuna, lobsters, angel fish, puffer fish, coral, brightly colored parrot fish and a ton of stuff we didn’t recognize.  So after four days of snorkeling a weather window started to open up and we went for it.

Three boats, Kings Way, Ocean Lady and us, all made a bid for the cape at 2pm.  We managed to sail for about 3 hours until the wind clocked around to the NW, right on our nose, so we powered through it.  At 3:30 am we cleared Cabo Corrientes in mild winds and bumpy seas.  And at 10:00 we were anchored back in La Cruz (just north of PV).  We’ll be here for a few days before hunting for more surf further north on our way to Mazatlan.

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.