Back *Home* in Banderas Bay, Mexico

 After two nights offshore crossing from the Baja, we anchored in Mazatlan for a night on June 7th, then made our way down the mainland coast, stopping in San Blas and La Penita along the way before landing in Punta Mita (our home anchorage).  The big excitement on the passage was using the autopilot the whole way across.  We weren’t sure what would happen if we turned it off, so we opted to wait until we were almost there to try turning it off.  If it wouldn’t turn off, we would have been pulling out fuses and we weren’t sure if that would lock the steering…..  Luckily, we didn’t have to find out, because the button decided to function at the end of our trip, so we were able to turn off ‘Autodude’ and switch to hand steering to get in to the anchorage 😉

Happy to be able to hand steer again after Autodude fixed itself!

We had some nice winds for sailing during our crossing and along the coast here. Even got out my favorite sail – the mizzen staysail (aka ‘the Buddah’ for its fat little belly) for our last leg in to the La Cruz Marina the other day!  We’d been lamenting the lack of good sailing winds on the Baja side, and so from Mazatlan to Banderas Bay we made the most of the daily thermal winds trying to sail on and off our anchor each day.  We were briefly happily anchored in Punta Mita – but within a few hours the winds piped up from the wrong direction and we had a really rolly, rough night at anchor.  The comfort factor, combined with the forecast of thunderstorms the next night, helped us decide we’d better get in to the marina, so here we are back in the slip at the La Cruz Marina.  Full Circle once again!

Flying along using our Jib and Mizzen Staysail

The warmth of the waters on this side was really surprising after the cool waters of the Baja– it is 84 degrees F in the water here!  Surfing in just a bathing suit—Yay! Been doing a little surfing here and there – while in Mantachen Bay there were tiny tiny waves, so I braved it to try to surf on the standup paddleboard, and actually caught a couple of fun rides.  Even when that wave is 6 inches high, you can ride it a looooooong way, so it was fun!  Today I caught some ankle biters out at my favorite Punta Mita break, El Anclote.  And Tim had some fun little waves (somewhat larger than mine) at one of his go to breaks.

Punta Mita Sunset

Since we’ve been back we have been busy catching up with friends and trying to surf most days.  The weather is changing, and we had the first big rain/thunderstorm here the other night, with more predicted later this week. Still hoping for a good southwest swell to hit while I am here so I can catch some real waves at El Anclote.  Making our plans for the rest of the summer…..  I will stop in Seattle and New York before heading back to St. John – planning those travels sometime in July.

Below I’ll include a couple pics from along the way.  From one of our last Baja anchorages ….  Close up encounters with the sea lions and what we think were baby seagulls and roosting Great Blue Herons at Caleta Lobo near La Paz.  

At the little island of Jaltemba off La Penita where we anchored on our last night before reaching Punta Mita it was super hazy over the mainland, and at night you could see the wildfire burning in the hills above the town.  

Island of Jaltemba

Haze and smoke over the mainland

Wildfire in the hills above La Penita

Lastly a couple of random shots....  sunrise at sea.... booby on the bow..... osprey landing in the nest... dancing dolphins

dolphins!

Osprey!

Mainland Bound

Since my last message we have spent two nights at anchor and one offshore. After a night anchored in Caleta Lobo where we checked out the sea lions on the offshore rocks, we headed up to Caleta Partida for a night where we had a motor yacht dragging down on us during the night. I decided not to wake Tim given he'd already been up several times and I could see that the crew of the yacht was paying attention. Upon awakening in the AM the yacht was sooo close to our boat! They had definitely been dragging overnight. We decided the weather looked good to make the jump so we headed out. We are currently about halfway to Mazatlan but may decide to head a bit further south depending on the wind.

For some excitement yesterday afternoon we trolled by an offshore rock off the tip of Cerralvo Island (Tim was also scoping it out for free diving). We caught another Bonita and let it go. Meanwhile in the excitement of landing the fish I forgot to slow the engine and overpowered our autopilot and now it won't shut off! We are managing with workarounds and Tim has figured out a fix. Thank goodness for his electrical skills and understanding of the autopilot system!

Late afternoon we had a visit from a pod of dolphins leaping completely out of the water right next to the boat! And what looked like a mom and baby were surfing our bow wake as I watched over the bow rail. So cool! We had never seen that kind of display so close before.

Last night at sundown we were circled by a brown booby (bird) who spent the night on our bow rail. He looked like a juvenile. Tim tried to give him the flying fish which landed on deck overnight but he just looked at it. After he was gone several hours he returned hoping to hitch a ride again but Tim shooed him off figuring he needs to learn to fly😋(and cuz we don't want any more poop on our deck.

Ok my turn to head back on deck for watch. Will update when we reach next destination.

About Face

About that last post... I guess I posted it in haste.

When we got an update on the Tropical Depression (now Tropical Storm Blanca) and studied the winds as we set sail for Mazatlan, we reconsidered our plan. We instead sailed back north to an anchorage near LaPaz (Caleta Lobo) and are figuring out our next steps and considering whether it might make more sense to head north and leave the boat in San Carlos (a haul out yard in the Sea of Cortez).... Stay tuned for updates!