Passage to Puerto Vallarta and a Merry Christmas welcome

Our passage from La Paz to Puerto Vallarta over December 22 to Dec 24th was uneventful as to emergencies but full of life alternatively. Larry and I did not have set shifts to be on watch but tried all different time frames from 2 hours to 6 hours each. Funny how everything happened during my watch! I first saw humpback whales then a flying marlin. Later that night a flying fish came out of the water and hit Larry's leg as he spoke to me. When he went to bed, another came flying into the cockpit and I had to pick up the cute little slimy thing and throw him back into the sea, all the while, the boat rocking back and forth in 14 knots of wind and we were rolling at 7 to 9 knots downhill to PV.  Crazy you say? Yes, the word "insane" crossed my mind many times but to you savvy sailors, all in a days work!

I am on the 5:30 to 11:30pm shift and I see dolphins, flopping flying rays and the persistent blue footed booby that wants to land on our solar panels and get a free ride..... I push him off five times with our extendable boat hook while double checking my tether....my harness is connected to the boat so I do not fall off at night. Once, while extracting the boat hook from the bimini, a large flying bug or bat flies at me and I scream, of course, and then take the boat hook to my own back where he landed. Do all this without shreeking and waking your husband! My self control is improving!

Larry, bless is soul, took the midnight to "when I wake up" shift. I was fortunate to wake up for this sunrise. And by the way, we did not realize it until Rocky barked at them on his morning stroll, we were invaded by flying squid. Thank God, not the Humboldt variety. See two of the little guys above. The one on the trampoline had a death grip on it.....the one on the cabin top had a half eaten fish in his tentacles......squid ink everywhere.....life is brutal..

After 49 hours of prepared meals, bumpy waves, nights, days, naps and watches....we arrive.
We were welcomed by breaching Humpback whales in Banderas Bay just moments ago! What a treat!

Majestic animals. Merry Christmas to all of you.

My captain and the Kiwi

See my captain and the best Kiwi ever, Terry, from Sea Raven! (Sorry Simon, you are now second favorite Kiwi!)

We worked our back ends off, ground those winches and lines until we were out of breath....but we did really well.

Here is our team with me on the camera:

See you in Puerta Vallarta!

Rocky has a play date! Two hotties!

Rocky has two girlfriends---or so I tease him. Here are Misty and Missy that he was fortunate to play with on the dock the other day.

Thanks to Gina from SV Sweet Dreams and Beth Ann Mathews from SV Resilience for the great photo! The pup on the left is a Schipperke which is related to the Eskie (Rocky).

La Paz--Art in the ciudad

Take a look at the great art along the malecon and a square nearby. Wonderful....

This one is my favorite.

We leave to dock here at Marina de la Paz having completed all maintenance! Will anchor out for a day or two, then the islands, then to Puerta Vallarta sometime around the 26th or so. Back on sailmail account once we head to the islands. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all....

Valeros de Baja Regatta

Larry, the obsessed sailboat racer, delayed our departure from La Paz in order to participate in the local cruiser's regatta held here in La Paz Bay.

On board were Beth, Larry and Rocky with our SECRET WEAPON, Terry from Sea Raven, a Kiwi and EXCELLENT crew. It was a flawless race and we are waiting to hear the results. We were second to cross the line behind the beauty mentioned below, Kiapa.

Sun Baby, above, just after the start. Larry had us unfurl the screecher (a kite, a flying sail like a spinakker) right at the start line which pushed us out front. This is a large flat sail used for light air. A key tool for the lighter Baja breezes. Larry LOVES it.

See the pre race video for our friends Lionel and Irene on Kiapa. Terrific people and spectacular yacht. They rated her -250 initially but in the race list was rated -150. We were rated 135. Keeley our little race boat is 81. Cats are fast!

Kiapa, a Morrelli and Melvin Gun Boat design. 

Here is the race start. We have ALL kinds of boats. Notice the little red one. He may, with his rating, adjust out and beat us all!

Kiapa started behind all. Take a look at her threading the needle below!

Our race committee S/C Commodore Fred Delaney and Al from Tuna Tamer.

Sailing vessel Scaramouche, the fastest monohull. So far, with provisional results, over the line it was 

1 - Kiapa

2 - Sun Baby

3 - Scaramouche

Additional photos taken by S/C Commodore Fred Delaney who was helping with race committee.

Just after the start, approaching the first mark.

Mark rounding number 1.

Heading up wind.

Just after the finish, sailing down bay to marina.

Tales of whales

 Here is a series of three or four photos of a blue whale in San Jose Channel a few days after the encounter told below.

Many stories we collected along the way this summer made their way to emails to my parents but not to everyone. Here is a story from around October.

Today was the planned day to head out of Conception Bay and down to Caleta San Juanico, about 52 miles. We would have gone a day earlier but the winds today are from the north which helped us most of the way. It was quite bumpy for quite a while and Larry was nervous about me being happy. The conditions were nothing for him but he does not like to push me too far.

He gave me the opportunity to return to our calm cove at Santispac in Conception Bay.  Glad we kept going. It was uncomfortable for about three or four of the eight hours it took to get here. Fortunately we had following seas.  We had to tack many times on the way down and where able to sail most of the way.

Due to the wind angle, upon arriving we had to tack out away from the anchorage and not just go straight in. I said, "just start the engine and let's go right in". His comment, "harumph!" At Larry's request we sailed into San Juanico so all anchored could see our glorious sails flying.

The "just start and engine" comment was first uttered by my nephew John Michael when he was six years of age. We took him and his brother on a little Capri 22 on San Diego Bay. Larry was trying to go faster by adjusting the sails and JohnMichael says "Uncle Larry, just start the engine!"

Upon entering the Caleta San Juanico we saw a Blue Whale spout not far from the port hull in front  of the boat. Larry was struggling to see it and asked me to go forward to have a look. Due to
the sun angle we could see nothing. The last thing I wanted after eight hours of bumpy sailing was
a whale strike.

I hollered, "Start an engine!" So Larry started an engine and a half a second later a young 20 to 30 foot blue whale popped up in front of our starboard hull for air and head out of our way immediately.

Amazing. Beautiful. He/she put the peddle to the metal and swam from
our path. Sorry little guy....just did not want to hit you.