I understand the NE has been a bit cold so far this winter. It seems to have made news here anyway. Where is here? Well we are in Nuevo Vallarta (next to Puerto Vallarta). It is 80 and sunny and tropical. It just feels right. We decided to save the Sea of Cortez for April when the winds will be more in our favor and the days will be warmer.

We decided to divert south as we left Cabo since waves and wind were hitting us on the bow. We decided we might as well get as far south as we want to go then make our way north. We set our sites on a little cove just north of Manzanillo 300 miles away. We had a fantastic 2 days with the wind and waves behind us and were within 80 miles of our target when the wind shifted. New Years Eve we experienced pretty much our first storm at sea. Wind speeds greater than we had seen. The boat did great. We put the sails in and retired to the cabin with the hatch boards in. We still got pretty wet with waves hitting us on the beam. It was very rolly in the cabin. Dave lost his footing as we started to prepare a gourmet dinner of PB and J and knocked his head pretty good. No blood, only a few bruises. But we decided there was nothing wrong with Power Bars for dinner. In the morning the GPS showed our route... A complete circle pointing us back north. After a few very frustrating hours of trying to get back on course we decided to go into Banderas Bay and spend a few days in a marina.

We arrived here 2 days ago. After striking out at the Paradise Marina (no room...apparently it's busy around the holidays) we are across the way at Marina Nuevo Vallarta sharing a 70 ft long slip with a 40 ft sailboat. Our neighbors are incredible. They have taken us to Walmart, shared their tools, helped sew our lee cloths, and arranged for Pedro to clean the bottom of the boat. What are lee cloths you ask? These will hold us in our bunks when the boat pitches to one side or the other. It will make sleeping through a storm much more comfortable.

We are also working to seal some leaky fittings so my books might not get wet every time we take on waves. Other work includes that darn roller furling (front sail). The drum that rolls up the line fell off... We lost a few screws (I know you might be thinking in more than just that drum!). Anyway we are here till Wed or longer then might find some anchorages in the bay for a bit. With a good weather window we might go on to that nice little cove near Manzanillo. We will see where the Crazy Love takes us.

We would love visitors and with the terrible cold in the US (what is a polar vortex anyway?) I think any sane person would love some time at the pool, ocean, and a resort. We just ask that we have at least 3 weeks notice of your arrival in Puerto Vallarta to plan our way back from wherever we are and make advanced reservations at the marina. End of Feb and March will work with our plans. There are more than a few nice places here where you could stay!

Before Carolyn and I quit our jobs and moved onto the boat we told our friends and family we were looking for a "Corona Commercial Christmas." We found it, in abundance, in San Jose del Cabo with our friends, and newlyweds, Chris and Carol. Vacation with these guys never disapppoints. Chris and Carol, thank you for joining us for Christmas! We love you guys.

For the week surrounding Christmas, we rented a condo on the beach between Cabo San Lucas and Cabo San Jose. The condo development is called El Zalate. The condo had two big bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, a full kitchen and a beautiful balcony with pool and ocean views to the South. It could not have been better...except the owners could have left a decently sharp knife for us to use in the kitchen.

The weather all week was perfect. About 80 degrees with clear skies and a little breeze to make sure we didn't get too hot. What do we do with nice weather? Of course we laid around the pool and went swimming in the ocean. We didn't stay in the condo complex the entire week though.

On Christmas eve, we took a two hour bus ride out to Cabo Pulmo - the only hard coral reef in North America, so we've been told. Unfortunately, the wind was howling in the Sea of Cortez, so we were not able to see the reef in person. Instead we snorkeled in Bahia Los Frailes.

We were disappointed that we couldn't snorkel on the reef, but mostly for Chris and Carol's sake. Rosie and I plan to be back in the Sea of Cortez when it warms up in the spring, so it was no big deal for us.

While we vacationed in Cabo San Jose, Crazy Love was docked in Puerto Los Cabos for the modest (after the lunacy of Cabo San Lucas) fee of $35.10 per night. When the 'vacation' was over we returned to the boat, cleaned her up, had one last meal at El Marinero Borracho (The Drunken Sailor) before getting back to our grand adventure.

The plan WAS to head up into the Sea of Cortez - La Paz specifically - but we made a gametime change in plans that significantly effected our latitude. We're in Nuevo Vallarta, right next to Puerto Vallarta. It turns out that our gametime change of plans was the right move except for the big lump in the side of my head.

We hope you had a merry Christmas and wish you a happy and healthy 2014.

Every day of our stay in Santa Maria Cove has been paradise. The sun is warm, the water is warm, the beach is easy to get to, and we have plenty of people watching to keep us entertained. We snorkel and swim in the morning before the party boats come in. When the party boats start to come in at 11am we soak up the sun while we're watching the tourists learn to paddleboard and snorkel.

The snorkeling is as good as I've ever experienced. Except for the lack of sea turtles, it has been just as good as Hawaii. I look forward to much more of the same this winter and spring.

It felt like the fish came out of nowhere sometimes. One moment it felt like there were no fish, and the next I was surrounded by them.

Santa Maria Cove hasn't been all play. We replaced an aging spinnaker halyard while we were here. These two huge pelicans helped me splice the shackle onto the halyard.

Slight change of plans, we got ourselves a slip at Puerto Los Cabos and canceled our reservation at IGY Cabo San Lucas - Puerto Los Cabos is $10US a night cheaper than IGY. We'll be pulling up the hook tomorrow to head into the marina until after Christmas.

We've been in Cabo for one week. Every day has been sunny and at least 75 degrees - perfect beach weather.

For the first three days - Sunday, Monday, Tuesday - we stayed in the very nice IGY marina. The marina is surrounded by shops, restaurants, and bars all aimed at American tourists. The bill at the restaurant is even in US dollars. Everyone speaks English so it doesn't feel at all like we're in Mexico except that its December and I haven't worn shoes for days.

During our time in the marina we took a little break from cooking, did a little work on the boat, and drank a lot of Mexican beer. We found excellent chilaquiles, even better street tacos, and servicable pizza. Did I mention the cold Pacifico at every restaurant? The beers at the restaurants were usually 25 or 30 pesos which translates to about two bucks American. The beach bars charged 60 or 70 pesos for a beer but have a 2 for one happy hour all day every day.

On the boat we fixed several issues. The rolling furling gear on the jib jammed again on our way from Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo, so we needed to look at that again. I climbed the mast armed with Rescue Tape and a metal file. I filed the sharp edges off of the top of the rolling furling extrusion and then wrapped three turns of Rescue Tape around the newly dulled edge. I'm fairly certain that will keep the halyard from snagging. Fingers crossed! This time up the mast, I took some photos...

Being in Cabo is a lot like being in Vegas. Sleep isn't as easy because of the great nightlife calling our names. We've become accustomed to ten hours of sleep each night at sea, but the party life has us going to bed after 11pm. So after three days of non-stop fun, it was time to leave the marina. Another reason to leave is the expense. A slip for our tiny boat was $45 a night. That's substantially more expensive than any marina we've stayed at since we started cruising six months ago.

Our next stop after the marina was Bahia San Lucas - immediately off the main beach of Cabo San Lucas. Our cruising guide said it was a busy anchorage and they were right! During the day there was constant wakes from pangas, fishing boats, and jet skis. Fortunately there weren't many boats anchored over night.

Not many boats anchored overnight...that brings up an interesting story. When we went to bed on our first night at anchor, we were 100 or so yards away from the nearest boat. At dawn, we woke to a big CRUNCH. We had collided with another boat that had come in during the very early morning. Carolyn and I hopped out of our bunks and pushed ourselves away from the much larger boat. The folks on this other boat were not woken by the collision so I gave a loud "Hey! Hey! Hey!" That woke em up.

I asked the fella that came out on deck why he anchored so close and he said, "We were at least 30 feet away when we anchored and I don't think we've moved - we're on a pretty heavy anchor." Ugh. To sleep soundly we had Crazy Love riding on 125 feet of anchor rode. After thinking about it, we came to the conclusion that the crew of the larger boat failed to account for room to swing for the surrounding boats. The guy on the larger boat didn't understand what happened so we were forced to move. I suppose we'll have to get used to other sailors that have no clue about anchoring etiquette.

We pulled up our anchor and moved 500 yards East and re-anchored. What a crazy way to start the day.

To make the day better, we decided to put Peeps in the water and hit up Tabasco's, the beach club closest to the Crazy Love. We got ourselves some lounge chairs, an umbrella, and nachos. That made the day better.

At noon, we headed back to the boat but we really should have stayed on the beach. Our new anchorage location was much worse than the first. There were more wakes than I could count and the rolling was intolerable. The rolling was almost violent at times. The movement was much worse than any we've seen at sea. We committed to finding a better spot the following day.

And find a better spot we did! We found our Corona commercial moment at a place called Santa Maria Cove about 5 miles Northeast of our spot in Bahia San Lucas. This anchorage is nearly perfect. The water is easily in the high 70's. The sun is warm. There are no jet skis and there are fewer vendors trying to sell crappy silver jewelry. During the day there are four to six party boats joining us to provide good people watching, but at sunset they disappear so we can have dinner and sleep in peace.

Carolyn and I quit our jobs, gave away all of our stuff and moved onto a tiny, tiny boat in search of moments just like this. We really feel like We Have Arrived! All the hard work on the boat and the pain of the shakeout cruise North was worth it. Any doubt we had about our ability to sail so far from home is no more. The warm water, great snorkeling, and perfect sandy beaches were worth all of it.

We've been anchored bow and stern in Santa Maria Cove for more than 24 hours and I think Carolyn and I will stay here until its time to give Crazy Love a rest for Christmas.

Not sure where to fit this in the previous narrative...During our time in the marina and at anchor, three times we went to a restaurant on the beach called The Office. The first two nights we went to the restaurant, we sat next to the same trio of nice folks from Los Angeles. On the second night, they leaned over and said, "You should have been here an hour ago. Baby turtles came out of the sand right under your table."

The story they told was that about 18 months ago a gigantic sea turtle came out of the water, right through the busy restaurant, and dug her nest under the table we'd been sitting at the previous night. The eggs in that nest decided to begin hatching right before we got there. Can you imagine? Show up at a restaurant for a few drinks and you get to watch baby turtles dig their way out of the nest.

The restaurant called Mexico's version of Sea World to come remove the unhatched eggs and move the hatched turtles to the water so they wouldn't have to trek through the restaurant.

We weren't there for any of this excitement, but our new friends from L.A. were kind enough to forward their photos. Thanks Ken!

Next steps...we will stay here in Santa Maria Cove for a little longer, then head back to the marina in Cabo San Lucas. From there, we'll take the bus to San Jose del Cabo to stay in a rental condo for Christmas. After the first of the year we'll head towards La Paz and the Sea of Cortez which is supposed to be a cruiser's paradise.

Bahia Tortugas is a town of 2000 - according to a local I asked - about half way between San Diego and Cabo San Lucas. For many cruisers it is a convenient fuel stop, but the Crazy Love used less than a gallon of diesel so no gas station was necessary for us. We were only in need of cold beer and tortillas.

We spent two days in Bahia Tortugas. On the first day we rowed to shore and had lunch at a restaurant called El Moroco. The food wasn't the greatest and the service was even worse but the Wifi was outstanding. Seriously, it was as good as our Cox high speed internet in North Park. For a town without cell phone service, I was surprised. We were able to update the blog and get a weather forecast without fuss.

After lunch, we accompanied our friend Will to the Pemex so he could get some gas. The gas station was a half mile or so from the beach so we got to see a decent amount of the town. For a first shore day, it wasn't exciting, but we accomplished the things we wanted to.

The following day we made a quick trip to shore to get rid of our trash. I bet you're really glad you're reading this, right? We were looking for the post office, but never found it. Another quick stop at the grocery store added a few more fresh items for our trip down to Bahia Santa Maria. One surprising thing about the stores is the lack of butter. They only had margerine.

The sail down to Bahia Santa Maria was uneventful compared to the Ensenada to Bahia Tortugas leg. We had light winds, really light winds, and calm seas so we spent a lot of time reading and playing Settlers of Catan on the iPad.

After five days and 225 miles we pulled into the huge bay that is Bahia Santa Maria. There's just a little fishing village on the bay (maybe a dozen buildings), so we were fairly isolated. Fortunately there were lots of other cruisers to hang with. Our first night in the anchorage we went to Will's boat (Thalassi) for dinner and drinks - Rosie made veggie soup and cornbread, Will provided the rum. After dinner Bethany and Bryan from S/V Lilo joined us. They'd had a rough day. Their dinghy painter parted and the boat drifted away in the night. They had spent the entire day motoring around the bay looking for it with no luck.

The next day we had hoped for a trip to the fishing village and a hike to the lighthouse and mangroves. We got peeps ready to go and rowed toward shore. Closer to shore the surf seemed, lets say, challenging and coming from different directions. We did not trust in our dinghy skills, chickened out, and rowed right on back to Crazy Love. The wind continued to pick up in the anchorage, bringing a little rain and making us think about departing for points south. Before we left the anchorage we were invited to S/V Lilo for lobster and bread (they have an oven!). It was the fresh bread that did it...Rosie said

I would row through a hurricane for fresh baked bread.

We were also very happy to meet Hannah and Meira, part of the Lilo crew.

Will also joined us and to add excitement to the evening we almost lost his dinghy. We couldn't believe another dinghy was on the loose. Did we mention the winds were picking up. No worries, we caught up to it and all of us have sworn to triple tie up any and all dinghy painters.

It was a lovely evening sharing food, drinks, and stories with new friends. While we were rowing home I said to Rosie,

We're doing something right when rowing home at 11pm in the pitch black with the wind blowing like crazy and water coming over the front of the dinghy and it feels normal.

We were hoping the next day would be a calm day in the bay and we could try that beach landing. It was not meant to be and with the winds picking up we felt it time to move further south. On to Cabo and in up to 20 knot winds and rolling waves 5-8 feet in height, we made it in record time down the coast, arriving Sunday afternoon to Cabo San Lucas.

It is sunny, the beers are cold, the tacos are delicious and all can be enjoyed with my toes in the sand. We have arrived!

Oh, I forgot to mention...the water is 80 degrees!