I cannot believe we checked into the marina in La Cruz (full name La Cruz de Huanacaxtle) on Feb 4. Time sure flies when you're lazing around a marina, catching the nightly music shows (Luna Rumba is our favorite), and in general spending time with other cruisers. The lounge has WIFI and air conditioning. There is even a pool. Did I mention showers...they have those as well.

We did spend the first week debating on building a hard dinghy replacement for our old blue Achilles, Peeps. Space was not a problem. Labor and tools even less of a problem thanks to our dear friends on the S/V Lilo. We even bought plans and had them shipped to my sister in the cold midwest for scanning and forwarding on to Mexico (the mail system here is slow at best). Unfortunately things like epoxy and fiberglass tape are not only tough to come by but expensive as well. It would have been possible but in the end we decided not to take on the project. Looks like Peeps gets a few more patches, until we get to Hawaii at least.

Yes I said Hawaii. For those of you keeping track of Our Plan, we have decided to make the puddle jump to Hilo from Puerto Vallarta sometime mid-April once the weather window is favorable. We have begun our preparations for the 2900 nm or so trip.

Day trip to Sayulita, Feb 7

The promised land for beginner surfers, Sayulita. Some folks from the S/V Lilo and Dave expressed interest in obtaining some surf lessons while in Mexico. A day trip to Sayulita to Patricia's Tours was in order. Bryan, Meira, Ryan, and Dave decided to take a lesson while Bethany, Hannah and I debated renting a SUP (stand up paddle board). Once I saw the breaking waves I decided I was happy to sit under the umbrella at the beach and be a spectator (Hannah and Bethany agreed).

They set Dave up with the longest board they could find. Unfortunately it was meant for a full wet suit. After 2 hours of on and off that board in the water it definitely left some abrasions on his hands and knees. He made it up a few times. Its tougher than it looks and I think it looks pretty tough.

We had all kinds of good beach vendors stop by while they were getting destroyed ... I mean learning to surf. Donuts (you can even get a chocolate one filled 4:20 style, not for kids Hannah), coco frios (cold coconuts with a straw for sipping the milk), candy vendors, and some local art. I can get behind these kind of vendors. They also had the usual jewelry, wraps, hammocks, etc, etc.

Sayulita the town is a bit more hopping than La Cruz with lots of shops, restaurants, beach palapas. We look forward to returning with our sisters end of this month to further explore.

January 30th

When we pulled up our anchors this morning in Chacala we discovered there was a substantial amount of 'gunk' growing on the line. The smell of the gunk reminded me of the lockerroom in middle school. Remember that smell? Most of the guys at my middle school didn't wash their gym shorts for months at a time and their shoes never got cleaned. The sweaty, unwashed clothing would fester in a pile at the bottom of the locker and emit an oh-so-appetizing stench. If you've got that scent in your nose, now you know what our anchor rode smelled like this morning. I piled the stern anchor rode in the cockpit hoping the sun would dry it out.

Crazy Love motored South in flat calm seas for three hours to Guayabitos for a quick stop before heading back to Banderas Bay.

In the late afternoon, we rowed ashore to crash a dinner party. Dinner was at Latitude 21. All-you-can-eat rib night was a hit - if you didn't have a reservation (we didn't) there wasn't a table available. Will talked the restaurant into tacking the three of us onto the end of his friends' reservation for 8. Dinner gave us a chance to meet some lovely folks and learn how to read the telltales on our genoa.

January 31st

First thing in the morning we had a visitor aboard Crazy Love. One of the Canadians from the crashed dinner party last night (his name is Will too) came out in a kayak to trade his symmetrical spinnaker for our asymmetrical. He showed us how to rig, hoist, and douse the sail. It turned out to be a great learning experience.

That evening, Carolyn, Will (of S/V Thalassi), and I had dinner on the beach. It was red snapper (the whole fish), rice, and salad. I had never had the whole-fish-with-eyes-staring-back-at-me experience. The fish was great - cooked perfectly, the meat fell off the bones and the fish didn't wink at me once.

After dinner we went to [what can only be described as] a retirement home Gone Wild party. Karaoke by the pool with a swim up bar and a busy dance floor made for interesting people watching. Not counting the hotel staff, there were only a handful of partiers less than twice my age. I heard rumors that several of the ladies dancing up a storm were pushing 90. Good for them.

February 1st

Our trip down to Punta Mita was one of the best day sails we've ever had. The wind was light and variable so we made plenty of sail adjustments, but the boat was always making at least three knots. We dropped anchor just East of Punta Mita right after sunset. The 25nm (or so) trip took about eight hours.

The best part of this trip was the whale watching. In the early afternoon, we saw two whale tails slapping the water about a mile ahead of us. As we got closer, the two whale tails turned into four whale fins slapping the water. One of the whales was bigger than the other so Rosie guessed it was mom and baby. After the fin slapping stopped the jumping started. Both whales jumped clear out of the water at the same time. The closest jump was less than 200 yards away from us. We didn't bother with the camera but I'll describe it as Better than Sea World.

February 2nd & 3rd

Two days at anchor. Very relaxing. Lots and lots of Carcassonne on the iPad.

February 4th

A North breeze in the anchorage at 9am seemed to suggest we could sail the 8nm into La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. After one mile, and another whale sighting, the wind quit and we floated. Our oh-so-quiet Yanmar 1GM10 got us the rest of the way into the beautiful Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz.

The cold shower - first in three weeks - after checking in with the marina was not disappointing. Time for some marina living! We've heard good things about La Cruz. A first look suggests it has a lot to offer. Plenty of restaurants to try and live music every night of the week.

We're still in Chacala 12 days later. The life here is too nice to leave. Every morning we wake slowly, reading in our sleeping bags until we're hungry. We make a slow breakfast while we wait for the sun to warm us up - not that we were cold to start with. When we're sufficiently warm, we jump in the water and swim to the beach. Some days we take a walk, other days we swim right back to the boat. After drying in the sun on the bow, we consider lunch. Lunch is usually on the boat. Something simple like grilled hotdogs (salchichas) and poblanos on a tortilla with spicy mustard. After the lunch dishes are put away, we read and talk until its time to row to shore.

The dinghy landing in Chacala is straight forward. No worrying about surf landings or flipped boats. We row until we feel Peeps hit the sand and step out into ankle deep water; we pull him up the narrow beach and tie the painter to the rocks ashore. Several times I've scared away large iguanas sunning themselves on the rocks where we tie the painter.

A ten minute walk on a dirt path gets us to the beach lined with 8 or so restaurants. We have frequented Las Brisas and Choc Mool. Both have good WiFi (pronounced wee-fee) and cold Pacifico. The management doesn't mind if we sit there until closing time. One concern we have is how we appear to the other tourists in town: we're sitting on a beautiful beach with amazing scenery and we've got our noses buried in our iPads and laptops. I will never be immune to a beautiful sunset, but even in paradise I want to check my email.

After a few rounds of Pacifico and some work online, the sun has usually started its decent toward the horizon. Lazy days move quickly in Chacala. Dinner has been a mix of on-the-boat and in-town. One night we had pizza ashore, another night Rosie made chili for boardgame night with our friends aboard the S/V Lilo (pronounced lie-low).

After dinner we row back to the boat and read or chat until bed. You'd think Rosie and I would be bored of talking to each other after living in such close quarters for the last 8 months, but we still have plenty to talk about. The last few weeks, we've talked a lot about our plans for the next three to six months. I updated Our Plan with our current thinking. Right now, we're pretty sure we'll attempt the crossing to Hawaii in April. Three days ago, I was sure we were going to summer over in the Sea of Cortez. Three days before that, I was sure we were going to Central America. The plan changes frequently.

The short term plan is to stay here until sometime next week. Then we'll head back to Banderas Bay, specifically La Cruz, to build a new tender for Crazy Love. Peeps is having more trouble than ever. We're in search of a plan for a plywood dink that will fit on our bow. This is no easy task as there isn't much room on the bow of a 26 footer when we consider that the chain locker and side decks eat up much of the space available forward of the mast. With the generous help of the experienced boat builders aboard Lilo, the new dink will take a week, more or less, depending on the complexity of the plan we choose.

After building the new dink, we'll explore Banderas Bay until we have friends and family join us in early March. We don't have any plans to go South of Banderas Bay. Bahia Chamela, Z-Town, and Acapulco will still be there when we return in the future. Instead of heading South, we will prepare for the puddle jump.

On Saturday, Rosie and I threw off the dock lines and headed North for the first time since we left San Francisco this summer. Going North in Mexico's winter hasn't been as difficult as it was in California's summer. The sun is much warmer and the wind, for this trip at least, is favorable.

We left the marina early to take advantage of the East breeze in the morning. Crazy Love ran at four and a half knots under jib alone; the main stayed lashed to the boom. We had some rain a few miles outside the marina breakwater, so we dug out our foul weather gear for the first time in a long time. Even though we were wearing our waterproof jackets, we still didn't put shoes on. I don't think either of us have needed real shoes since we got to Mexico in mid-November. Our goal for the day was to anchor South of Punta Mita, but we made such good time we decided to continue North to Sayulita. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as we rounded Punta Mita the wind died so we motored the next few miles and set the hook down a few hours before sunset.

After a hot, sleepless, rolling night at anchor in Saylita, we picked up the hook and headed for Guayabitos. The shallow anchorage at Rincon de Guayabitos - we were anchored in 9 feet of water - didn't have as much swell, so the boat rolled less. A better night's sleep was had by all. Guayabitos is a resort town for Mexicans. The beach is lined with restaurants and beach clubs, but the mega resorts of Nuevo Vallarta are nowhere to be found. We only planned to stay the night, so we did not go ashore, but we look forward to returning for a shore excursion.

From Guayabitos, we had less than 9 miles to Chacala. I woke at 4am to check the conditions and they were perfect. The wind was blowing 10 knots from the Southeast. Did I get up and get the boat moving? Of course not. There are a few reasons I didn't pull up the anchor right away:

1. The nearly full moon was setting, so it was really dark.
2. Dawn was still three hours away.
3. There's a rock in the bay that isn't on our GPS or charts.
4. I wasn't quite awake!

Back to bed I went. When I got up a a few hours later, after sunrise, the south wind was still blowing, but it was dying as it does every morning. I prepared the boat to sail anyway: clean up last night's dishes, secure the dinghy, and pull up the anchor. By the time I unfurled the jib, the wind was so light it wouldn't fill the sail. Bummer. Looks like we'd be motoring the rest of the way to paradise.

In no time at all we were there and Will rowed over to welcome us. He gave us the lay of the land and suggested we move the boat closer to the dinghy landing area. It is a good thing we moved closer to the landing; Peeps isn't holding air so well these days. We might be able to row for 30 minutes before we start taking water over the side. Crazy Love will need a new tender before long.

Despite the dinghy difficulty, Chacala really is paradise. Will didn't need to hedge his bet when he told us that we wouldn't be disappointed.

When we checked in with the Port Captain, we told him we'd be staying a week. Maybe we'll stay longer. The beach is gorgeous, the swimming is great, and the first sunset, right now, is EPIC.

We've been in Nuevo Vallarta for 9 days. The boat work is complete and we are ready to move on. The lee cloths are ready to be tested - may we not need them! The jib furling drum is attached - may the new fasteners stay in place! The bottom is clean, the stove fuel is stocked, and everything is secure. The plan is to leave tomorrow morning for Chacala.

Will, aboard S/V Thalassi, promises a heavenly anchorage at Chacala, with little rolling, cold beer, and good swimming. Via email he said, "I am pretty sure you won't be disappointed." I like how he hedged his bet there. We will be heading North before we go South, but we're not on a schedule so it won't hurt unless it ends up being a bash. To break up the 47 mile trip and any potential bashing, we'll anchor just South of Punta Mita (slashing 13 miles from the trip) and then maybe one other spot South of Chacala. I'm hoping we can find the anchorage at Sayulita - the cruising guide doesn't mention it, but I've heard there is an anchorage. I'm keen to hit Sayulita later in our trip to try a little surfing. The warm water becons.

After we spend some time in Chacala, we will go South past Banderas Bay, to Bahia Chamela. But that's a few weeks away still. Our plan could completely change between now and then. I love the unscheduled life!

Despite the boat work, we still had time for fun touristy activities. Yesterday, we took a water taxi into old Puerto Vallarta. Old Puerto Vallarta isn't as Americanized as Nuevo Vallarta so we weren't offered a timeshare or ATV rental quite as often.

On Wednesday, Rosie and I walked down the strip of mega-resorts that makes up Nuevo Vallarta in search of a day pass at an all inclusive resort. We weren't comfortable with the prices at the first few resorts so we kept walking. After a two mile walk, we found the public beach access where there was a great beach club called Etc. They had palapa roofed cabanas with lounge chairs, cold, beer, and decent food. The water was in the high 70s, the air temperature was 80 with a light onshore breeze, the sun was hot. Winter is good in Banderas Bay. We shall return!