Time to Go Upstream!

All good things must come to an end, and our downwind sailing time is over.  It is time to turn around, go from gybes to tacks, and work our way back up the coast to the tune of 1500 or so nautical miles back to Ventura.  The boat is running great thanks to Craig, and we are optimistic that we will not have any major problems beyond finding favorable weather windows.

After Randy and Vicki went home, we stayed an additional week at Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz.  We let Patrick use our extra key card as he was anchored outside the marina.  He came in for water and gave Dover dinghy rides, which he totally loved.

We were thrilled to be able to see our old G Dock Ventura West neighbors Rick and Karen, s/v Eyes of the World for a fun evening of sundowner cocktails and great sailing stories before leaving La Cruz.  Back in the day, Rick taught Craig how to sail in Channel Islands Harbor and it was so great to be able to both be in Mexico on our own cruising boats and celebrate that moment!

Speaking of dinghy rides with Dover, Craig took Dover out to the point at Punta Mita which is a world class surf spot and the northern tip of Banderas Bay.  We stopped here and anchored for a night before heading up the coast to Chacala again.  Dover is barking like a wild man because Craig is full throttle on the outboard trying not to get rolled by a swell he misjudged as being smaller than it actually was... No worries.  They lived to dinghy surf another day and Craig caught this great Dover action shot.

This is a good shot of Patrick aboard his Crealock 34 s/v Amy Michele as we all head up the coast from Punta Mita to our next anchorage in Chacala.  Just an FYI: you can click on any of these photos for a larger version to see detail.

Craig hooked this guy on the way to Chacala too...  To the untrained eye, it looks like a really nice tuna.  We know better.  This is the fish we have lovingly termed "Ass Fish".  He is a tuna poser with warm flesh the color of liver.  He is relatively easy to catch, but don't get excited about having sushi from this guy.  He is best sliced-up and used as bait to catch other, better fish.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Here's Craig adjusting the leech of our foresail outside of Jatemba.  We had a really nice sail back into Chacala.

Coming into Chacala anchorage.

The beach at Chacala with Craig and Patrick

Palapa construction in downtown Chacala.

Enjoying Ceviche at our local palapa restaurant in Chacala.  The great thing about these restaurants that differ from the states is that you can stay all day at a table if you like for the price of a beer or soda.  In the background on the right you can see someone at the jukebox.  The tunes were pumpin' on this very nice day in Chacala.

Our view of Bahia Chacala and the boat anchorage from the palapa restaurant.  We are nice and cool here!

After we left Chacala, we did a day sail up to Mantachen Bay which is the ocean side of San Blas.  With Eva still suffering from San Blas jungle river bug bites we decided to anchor out in this bay away from the bugs...  Okay, we only got bitten 20 times as opposed to 200 in San Blas.  Luckily, the weather gods were on our side and we were able to head to Mazatlan in the am after only one semi-intolerable bug night here.

Back in Mazatlan, Old Harbor again!  It was a really pleasant 26 hour leg between Bahia Mantachen and Mazatlan.  We saw little to no traffic and easy sea state.  It was good to be back in Mazatlan, and we are looking forward to getting ready here to cross the sea again and hang the big right turn for California and home.