Today we travelled from Chamela to Punta Ipala, a 6 hour
journey that leaves us only a day south of Puerto Vallarta . It was a pretty typical day at sea and went
something like this….
The alarm goes off at 7:30 am
and each of us ignores it. It’s plugged in at the navigation table, up in the
salon, which requires someone to actually get out of bed to shut it off. We both pretend to be asleep and hope that
the other will go deal with it. Tony
caves first and reluctantly gets out of bed.
30 minutes later the tea and coffee is made, port holes and
hatches are closed, and all loose items are stowed. Our dutiful captain reviewed the guidebooks
and entered our course into the chart plotter last night, so we are all set to
go. We are weighing anchor by 8 am,
which is way too early for us, but there are a dozen boats here at Chamela, and
we know that at least a couple of them are heading to the same anchorage as us
today. We want to make sure that we get
there early enough to insure a spot for Vakasa.
The wind is light and, as seems to happen so often, right
“on the nose”. This means that it’s
coming right at us and there’s not enough angle between the wind and the sails
to use them effectively. So both motors
are on. We usually cruise with just one
motor at a time, which increases our range and decreases costs, but using two
motors today will get us to our destination in 6 hours instead of 8, so we
decide to let the wallet take a hit.
There’s some reasonably big swell which makes it a little uncomfortable
in the galley, so breakfast is a couple granola bars. It’s way too early to think of food anyways!
We do one-hour shifts at the helm. Tony actually puts on a sweater during his
first shift…..yikes……that’s too scary for words! While Tony’s managing the helm I get out our
Spanish book and start doing a little studying.
The language is just starting to click for me and it’s so exciting to
actually be able to have some small conversations with the locals. I annoy Tony by asking him lots of questions
in Spanish that he doesn’t know the answer to.
After a couple hours we realize that we are in a real zone
of sea life. There are sea turtles
everywhere and we start counting our sightings.
30 in a little over an hour! We
stop to take pictures of several of them.
Most swim away, but a couple sit right beside the boat and just look at
us! We see several whales breaching in
the distance and one big whale blows then surfaces and dives just 75 meters or so
from Vakasa. We then see a bunch of fins
coming our way and soon we’re surrounded by hundreds of dolphins. Although they’re headed in the opposite
direction, they can’t resist swimming in Vakasa’s bow wake, so lots turn and
swim with us for a few minutes each. At
one point we have as many as a dozen at the bow. We hang over the front of the trampoline and
watch for over 30 minutes.
Tony sees fish jumping ahead and rushes to put out the
fishing line. We haven’t had much
success with this activity but he sticks with it valiantly, and promises me
that there will be fish tacos on the menu tonight. We spend an hour or so swerving this way and
that, following the fish, but no luck.
In fact we end up losing a lure. Good thing I took out the beef!
By now the sun is out and it’s getting really hot. Tony’s sweater is off and I can recognize him
again because he’s shirtless. We slow
Vakasa down and take turns jumping into the ocean and being pulled behind her. So refreshing. When I get out I feel a cold, wet nose bump
against my shin. Rizzo…..how goes
it? She’s been sulking in the salon as
it’s a little too lumpy for her today.
But obviously something needs attention, so we stop the boat and take
her forward to do her business and have a little play time on the trampoline. Good girl!
We’ve been watching the wind clock around a little to port
as the land starts to heat up and the sea breeze kicks in. We still don’t have enough wind to put up the
main, but Tony unfurls the jib. He plays
with it constantly, with much more patience than I would ever have, and manages
to get a half a knot more speed. Doesn’t
sound like much, but over a 4—5 hour period it does make a difference.
We are the first to arrive at the anchorage so we have our
choice of spots. Good thing because it’s
not a huge area and there are a bunch of pangas and a large fish boat taking up
room. We drop the pick, set the anchor
watch, and clean up the mess that accumulates during a long journey. Now it’s time for cervezas in the cockpit
while we await the other boats and the entertainment of watching them
anchor. As we wait, a local man comes
out in his panga to tell us that his 6 year old son has just started
school. He is hoping that we might have
some school supplies that we can give him.
We spend some time practicing our Spanish with Fernando and then give
him a pack and frisbee that we have been keeping for an occasion like
this. He’s very happy and we feel pretty
good.
Tonight we will play a game of Scrabble (a grudge match,
actually, as our last game ended in a tie), watch a movie while we eat our beef
(not fish) tacos, and then hit the sack early.
Tomorrow we are up again at “the crack of dawn” in order to round Cabo
Corrientes, a local promontory with accelerated wind patterns. The excitement just never ends!
The marina at Barra de Navidad.....nice place!
The Laguna anchorage just past the marina in Barra....no....we didn't run aground on our way in....who told you that!!??
Mark on Rizzo walking duty at the Grand Bay Hotel/Barra Marina
Lifes' a drag for the Vaggs
Teresa and Mark with cervazas at the Italian restaurant in La Manzanilla
More crocs in La Manzanilla
Dinghy trip up the river in Tenacatita
Tres Amigos at the river mouth
Sleeping off the litre sized margaritas from the night before (three I believe!)
Las Hadas resort in Manzanillo...very Meditarranean
Las Hadas anchorage and Vakasa
Vakasa's crew does some pool aerobics
Really beautiful anchorage in Manzanillo
Guests are gone, time to get to work cleaning the hulls
An easy way to get into shore
Laundry day
She's actually starting to enjoy a little swim on a hot day
Way too early to be up
Geez.....a sweater? At least he's not wearing shoes and socks!
Mexican Navy boat...these guys boarded Vakasa at 8 am the day before looking for our documents. We got a laugh from them when our captain greeted them in his sleeping apparel.....underwear only!
This guy didn't seem to care about us at all....we almost ran him down!
One of more than 30 we spotted in just over an hour
Incredible display of dolphins in our bow wake....pictures just can't do it justice
Rounding Cabo Corrientes....could be BC on a winter day!
We got off lucky with only 10 kts of wind and a bit of a bumpy sea
We are back in the Puerto Vallarta
area and Kathy will be flying home in a couple days to help her brother move to
his new apartment and do some visiting.
She’ll be home for a month and Tony will join her for the last
week. Rizzo will stay in Mexico
and hold the fort! Ugh…..not looking
forward to wearing shoes and socks!
