Tuesday, November 11, 2008

We are in PV

After 4 and 1/2 days of travel time we are in PV. Our total time was 6 days in transient, including 2 days of rest in Mazatlan. While in Mazatlan during the day we rested by the pool, swam in the warm water and around the man made caves at El Cid Resort. In the evenings we walked and ate at outdoor restaurants. One night we were able to attend a free Japanese drum concert, GOCCO Magig Taiko Drummers, which was similar to the group STOMP. It was a great evening of entertainment spent with Lady Hawk and three new cruising friends.

We left Mazatlan with the intention of only going to the southern end of town and resting, just a three hour trip of slow sailing. Well plans change and we decided since we were going forward, we would just keep going. The time was right and we could arrive in San Blas about 10:00 in the morning. We had a fantastic sail with wind 10 to 15 out of the northwest all day and night. When we were abreast of San Blas Helen reminded me of the no see um problem around a full moon, and it was 2/3 to 3/4 so we kept going. We arrived in Punta Mita at 3:00pm sailing almost the whole way, 140 miles. Punta Mita is a resort destination with palapas, condos, golf course, and hotels just north of Puerto Vallarta. We noticed right away the lush green hillsides and the emeral green grass and found ourselves thinking we truly are in the tropics again. Pulling into the anchorage we recognized the yellow jib sail of our friends Lou and Laura on Cirque and the boat of another friend, Andrew on Amizade. Then when we were were on a dinghy ride we found two people waving to us from their balcony--Gilly and John from Destiny were in their condo. It was our faded green motor standing out that helped them recognize it was Jammin'. FYI: The green faded motor will be change to bright yellow this next week to color coordinate with our kayak and gas cans--Helen is redecorating as she is running out of sewing projects! So, if you see a school bus yellow motor it should be us behind the throttle. It feels so right to be with fellow sea mates and living the easy life again. Our biggest concern is what time zone are we in and when should we move the clock time since we really don't need to know the time till this Saturday to pick up our daughter and son-in-law?

Our total trip was 585 miles. The first leg nonstop was 445, the furthest non stop so far for the two of us. It was a great sail and after the third night we were getting into the groove. Our next similar distance will be from Mexico to Costa Rica, sometime in February.

We didn't catch another fish once were outside of Guaymas. I am not sure if it was the distance off shore or what. Coming into Mazatlan we had to avoid 6 or more drift nets just floating on top of the water. They had a plastic milk jug or clear pop bottle every 200 yards. The line they use is 1/4 floating yellow poly line. Almost impossible to see till you are on top of it. Two of the lines we found were over 2 miles long maybe even more as we are not sure at what point we found them. You have to just keep following them till they end. Going over the top of these would really ruin our day, and cause potential damage to our prop and shaft. We are so lucking we didn't encounter these at night. They are almost impossible to see even in the day light. No flags, no markers, nothing to help navigate around them. They seem to be within about 15 miles of shore in about 50 meters or less of depth. Twice panga fishermen came roaring towards us and cut us a path to avoid danger and save their lines. They were catching fish, we may have been fishing just too deep. We tend to stay further off shore as normally there is less to worry about.

We will now be in this area waiting for Kelsey and Jeromy to arrive on Saturday. They will be here for two weeks after which we will move south.

It is in the high 80's during the day and mid 70's at night. Doesn't get much better. I am glad we made a fast trip since the strong northern winds have already started to blow in the Sea of Cortez.

Life is great.

Dave and Helen

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1 comment:

Crew of the Solstice said...

Are you still in PV or have you moved on? Did you join the big Banderas Bay party? It's time for an update from you to warm our hearts as we shiver here in Amsterdam.
Cheers,Shirlee