Flat water, unlimited electricity, daily showers, (decent) internet, reckless disregard for the weather?! That's right, marina living!

Just a quick update to let you know we are happily ensconced in Marina La Cruz, which is without a doubt the most luxurious place we have been our whole time cruising. Also the current home of many of the boats prepping for this years Pacific crossing, which makes it a pretty interesting place to meet people.

One of the more interesting things I've seen in a while is a 35lb CQR whose shank was bent into a banana shape during the brief put powerful 'wind event' here several weeks ago. For those who aren't familiar with the anchors, we're talking an approximately 3" x 1" thick piece of forged steel, bent into a curve!

We are taking the opportunity to work on boat projects and see friends before we come back to the states for a whirlwind west coast visit in March (confirmed stops include Seattle, San Francisco, and Santa Barbara, hopefully more coming soon!).

Earlier in the week we hunkered down in the San Blas estuary waiting for the second weather trough to arrive, by all the marine weather forecasts we were due to be on the receiving end of another 1,500 mile trough/low with winds forecast up into the 80 knot range. After getting caught by surprise by the first trough we were very prepared this time: second anchor shackled on the foredeck ready for use, dinghy up on deck and lashed down etc. Fortunately for the entire coastal region, the strong weather didn't materialize and we barely got an hour of showers.

The next day we decided to take advantage of the favorable high tide in the morning to head out of the estuary and San Blas bar entrance. Our original goal was to head around to Mantanchen Bay, a mere 5 miles out of the estuary. After a leisurely morning we exited the bar around 10:30am; the day was so lovely that we decided to continue another 20 miles south to the next bay, a reportedly fair weather anchorage. The wind freshened as we made our way south and it became evident that the anchorage was not going to be a safe or comfortable anchorage in the current conditions. So after a quick assessment we decided to head straight for Punta Mita, another 30 miles south.

This was not a small decision, as this put our total passage up around 55 miles, which is a far cry from our original goal of a 5 mile jaunt around the corner. We would also have to make a night entrance into both Banderas Bay and the Punta Mita anchorage. Entering any harbor at night is something that we have carefully avoided until now, and this decision meant that we had to navigate through a reportedly rocky area, pass between the headland of Punta Mita and the Tres Marietas (a small island group) and then navigate into the Punta Mita anchorage.

We made great time, flying along with our jib easily making 6 knots and for some time were up over 7 knots. Jacob checked the GPS and noted that during this passage we made a new top speed for this season of 9 knots. We approached the Tres Marietas around 8pm and carefully entered Banderas Bay using our radar, GPS and depth sounder. We stayed .5 miles off of the Tres Marietas in order to avoid the reported rocks, and stayed well clear of Punta Mita. Using a GPS waypoint we navigated into the Punta Mita anchorage, and dropped our anchor around 10:30pm.

The following day we headed another 10 miles into Banderas Bay to the anchorage in La Cruz. It was a beautiful sail with whales all over the bay and dolphins playing around Pisces after our anchor was down. We had dinner with John and Naomi on Renova, who we are thrilled to have seen again before they leave for the Galapagos. Banderas Bay is beautiful, we're looking forward to spend a few weeks here, exploring the bay and doing some boat projects.

Lat 20 45' N, Long 105 22' W

Although delayed due to the aforementioned weather, the big fiesta in honor of Saint Blaise was rescheduled for this past Saturday. A quick trip to Wikipedia informs me that Saint Blaise is often the patron saint of wool combers, and that he is known to intervene in cases of throat illness 'especially for fish-bones stuck in the throat.'

We watched as the estuary filled up with pangas filled with fishermen and their families, and somehow (against everyone's warnings) we ended up in a huge waterfight. We were manning 5 gallon buckets, which were effective, but slow on the reload. We ended up totally soaked, and managed to get quite a bit of water below as we forgot to close a porthole or two, but it was really good fun.

A short while later a panga zipped by carrying Dan and Lisa from Rumiko. They quickly turned around, and picked us up for the ride. Later that night we saw the most insane fireworks display we've ever seen...think 100 foot tall rickety tower of fireworks, sparks flying everywhere into the crowd, smoke, noise, and not a firetruck in sight.

We had several days of torrential rain here in San Blas after the big winds died down. We were able to take advantage of the heavy rain by filling one of our water tanks (~70 gallons). First we rigged up the mainsail cover upside down on the foredeck leading to the deck fill, but the real winner was raising the main, leaving a fold at the bottom, raising the boom with the topping lift, and clamping a hose into the fold at the mast. At times the hose sprayed fresh rainwater as though it was connected to a tap.

Many thanks to Naomi from SV Renova for sharing her photos from our day of hiking.

Isla Isabela was absolutely incredible, and I would say probably a highlight of our time cruising. The anchorages are marginal, deep water, rock bottom, wrap around swells, big surge exploding against the rock cliffs, and the high probability of losing an anchor in a crevice or around a rock pinnacle. Even despite the relative discomfort at anchor, the island itself made the visit worthwhile. Isabela is a breeding ground for Frigates and Boobies (we saw the brown, yellow, and of course blue footed varieties). The trees above are full of the giant Frigates, the males showing off their red necks, the females eyeing us warily from their head-height nests, and the down covered chicks braying at us to regurgitate some food for them. The ground below is covered with Boobies, who scoop out a small indentation to lay their eggs. We spoke to some graduate students from the University of Mexico City who are spending 6 weeks at Isabela camping and studying the birds, and they said that they have tracked a 19 year old Boobie who is still breeding on the island.

We ended up spending one full day at Isabela, and halfway through the second night the increasing roll as well as the forecast for building SE winds (which would make the 'anchorage' completely untenable) helped us decide to head for the mainland. We left the anchorage at 3AM, had a fast sail all day, and made it to outside the entrance to the San Blas Estuary at about 3PM. We knew it was a pretty ripping tidal swing that day, and as we approached the harbor bar we could see the occasional wave breaking across the entrance, add that to the occasional 8 foot depth reading on our depth sounder, and we quickly decided to bail out to Mantachen Bay for the evening. We had a beautiful evening in the large bay that with its palm trees, humidity, and lush jungle seems more like Hawaii than the Baja Mexico we have come to know.

Yesterday we entered the San Blas Estuary on a rising tide, helped along by the flood current, as well as some excellent GPS waypoints put together by the extremely helpful folks on Third Day. By last night we were extremely glad we had come into this tight little river anchorage, as the heavy rain of the day gave way to heavy wind conditions. We took one gust that was reported to be 47 knots, right on the beam, as the swift current was holding our bow South. So, instead of jumping into bed we were up on the foredeck in full foulies, prepping the second bow anchor, putting on an extra snubber, rolling up the dodger, and generally battening down the hatches. It's hard to explain just how thankful we were to be in a good holding anchorage with no fetch and no chop. Even though back at home the giant Rocna we bought seemed like overkill, I would say that already in two months of being back cruising it has easily earned it's keep. Today we hear that a Shrimper dragged onto the beach last night, and the Capitania del Puerto has closed the port, so no boats leaving today.

We haven't yet been ashore, but we are excited to go explore today. San Blas was the first official Pacific port of New Spain, and is the 'San Blas' in Longfellow's �The Bells of San Blas�, these days it is home to a fleet of Shrimpers that for a boat geek are just absolutely incredible in their rusted glory. Today is the fiesta de San Blas, celebrations include the parade of the statue from the church onto a shrimper down the estuary out to the harbor bar for the blessing of the rock and port, a panga parade and waterfight, and a huge 'fireworks tower' in the center square tonight. We're not sure what effect the torrential rain and high winds of the last few days will have on the planned party, but we'll find out and let you know.

Lat 21 32' N, Long 105 18' W