Cabo to Nuevo Vallarta

Sun. 11/6

I was a bit concerned about the long watches with only the two of us and my lack of seamanship for the Cabo/Puerto Vallarta crossing.  Fortunately, early this morning a fellow (Jeff) we had spoken with the night before came buzzing over in his dinghy to see if we were still interested in having him help crew.  From the conversation I overheard while Steve gave him the nickle tour I gathered that he clearly knew his aft from a hole in the ground.  We snapped him up.

A panga is a small hard-bottom outboard fishing boat whose main purpose here is to shuttle people to and from boats at anchor, the beach and mainland docks for provisions or touring.  While Jeff dinghied back for his surfboard & stuff on the Makala, the boat he was leaving, with expert finger-whistling (thanks, Dad) and artistic Tharpesque gesticulations, I summoned a panga for last-minute provisioning.  Above and beyond his duty, pilot Julio led me to a store much cheaper than that in the marina, helped me make selections and carried the majority of the booty back to his panga for our return to Lib II.

1000 22.52 x 109.52 79F/46% Anchor up and struck a rhumb line to Puerto Vallarta.  Chip will appreciate that for the next 20-some hours we had to motor.  Mid-day Jeff rigged a makeshift fishing line with a rubber squid and whipping twine.  A bungee cord was the hit indicator and near sunset we did get a hit.  Something fairly big took everything but the bungee - the most excitement of the day.  <insert yawn>.

Mon. 11/7

The boys are hibernating and I’m on the sunrise watch, 2-6 am, and a beautiful sunrise it is.  Flying fish are gliding across the water’s surface, staying airborne for a surprisingly long time, sometimes covering 40-50 yards.

0300 21.59 x 108.02 motoring @7k.

We had to motor much of the first 24 hours.

0430 Tired of the whine & expense of motoring, Steve appeared in the companionway with sailing intentions.  Up went the main, out went the jib and off went the motor.  Ah, the blessed quiet of sailing; now under full sail rolling along at a respectable 6+kts.

Steve re-retired and I enjoyed the sunrise, the quiet and strong coffee.

0900 21.47 x 107.34 86F/69%

1230 21.40 x 107.18 86F/66% 'Ot 'n sticky, I asked for a gentle keel-hauling.  Request immediately granted: got a rope around me and off the aft swim deck I went.  I had no idea how fast a few knots was and once or twice got sucked under.  A good example of a bad idea.  I did get cooled off, though.

1500 21.33 x 107.12 87F/63% While raising the spinnaker the sock’s dousing lines got away from us and with no way to control the sail, things could have gone to hell.  Fortunately, with the help of a push-pole and some luck, we managed to snag the lines and raise the spinnaker.  Now, with only that sail up, we’re hitting 5-6k.  With the "kite" alone the boat seems to rock around less and is much quieter than the loud, annoying snap every time the main or jib comes out of a luff.


Jeff came up with another DIY fishing idea - slice up a shiny Heineken can, add hooks & line and toss it over.

Didn't catch anything but it was something to do.

Tue. 11/8

 Sunrise watch again, as I prefer.

0430 20.55 x 105.56 Only the spinnaker has been up since yesterday afternoon and we’ve averaged 6-7k but since the wee hours haven’t gone under 7k.  Nice 13-19k winds.

 As I work through a fresh pot of coffee, the boys are catching much-needed Zees.  So there were no witnesses when, at 0505, I hit a new record 9.3k with just the spinnaker.

0700 Rolling in to Bahia Banderas.

0730 20.46 x 105.39 84F/72% Spinnaker down; motoring across Banderas Bay.  Saw a puffed up puffer fish.

1015 20.41 x 105.17 87F/63%

 Tied up at Vallarta Yacht Club in Paradise Village, Nuevo Vallarta - our first slip since San Diego.  It’s convenient not to need the dinghy to get to land.  Bummer that what with the oil slicks, fish corpses and jetsam we can’t, or oughtn’t to, jump off and swim.

 The dock fees are high but include some nice amenities: hot showers & jacuzzi, boat water, weekly holding tank flush, mail drop and three swimming pools.  We’re also within minutes of laundry machines, a grocery store and a Starbucks with free wi-fi.

 Time is not so important - fortunate because the U.S. west coast clock went back an hour but the Mexican clock did not...until a couple days later.  Then en route to Puerto Vallarta we crossed a time zone, adding an hour.  For further confusion, our slip is prit’near on that time line so what time it is depends on which direction we walk from the boat.   For simplification I have decided it’s either day (rum-time) or night (margarita-time).

 Cripes, this trip took three weeks.  I could’ve flown here in 4 hours!

 We took Jeff to a farewell lunch and now he's headed farther south, to Manzanillo, surfboard in tow.

 Ah, now for a long, sorely needed jacuzzi and rum punch.