We arrived in the La Cruz Marina in the afternoon of March 22 and settled into our slip. I was delighted to find our friends on Wainui in the slip almost right across from us. We had caught a fish, a Sierra Mackerel on the trip up, so Derek cooked it up for dinner, and it was delicious. The next day we did a bunch of boat chores and minor fixes before cocktails on the boat with Catatude and dinner at La Cava with Cool Change, Wainui and Liahona. It was the farewell dinner for Derek and Liahona’s guests.
Derek left early Friday morning and I began taking advantage of the water available at the dock. I cleaned the clothes I hadn’t sent to the laundry, cleaned the outside of the boat and then tackled the inside of the boat, cleaning and reorganizing in preparation for the next leg. I was delighted that my friend Amy Bonetti and her husband Skip and their two friends came to the marina on Friday for lunch. Amy lives in Marin County and I hardly get to see her, so it was quite a treat to see her here in Mexico.
Saturday and Sunday were nice lazy days, punctuated by dinner with friends and the Sunday market, which is quite social and offers very good food. On Monday, I took the bus to Nuevo Vallarta and had a lovely day with my friends Manuel and Ann Carlos. Manuel and Ann usually spend several months a year in their condo in Nuevo Vallarta, but this year they needed to stay back in Corralitos, so I caught them during their only week here. We talked politics a bit, Manuel filled me in on some little-known facts about the historical relationship between the U.S. and Mexico, and both Manuel and Ann gave me an overview of their history with turtle conservation in Banderas Bay over the last 15 years.
Yesterday I finished more boat chores, took a trip up the marine supply store, and had dinner on the boat with Mark and Stephanie of Wainui. And today I spent a couple of hours making arrangements for some boat repair for tomorrow, and took the bus to Walmart for some provisioning.
My new crew, Kip arrives tomorrow afternoon. The boat repair (adding a stainless steel guard on the bow to guide the anchor safely into position) should be done by the time she arrives. We’ll then do some final provisioning on Friday, along with checking out of the marina and with the port captain. And then we’ll be off again, sailing north toward La Paz, probably by way of Mazatlan. Depending on the wind and weather, we’ll probably leave on Saturday or Sunday. It’s about a 30 hour trip from here to Mazatlan and another 40+ hour trip from Mazatlan to La Paz, with possible stops along the way once we get to the islands near the tip of Baja.
I can see why people arrive in Banderas Bay and decide not to go much farther. I feel like I never get to spend enough time here, and I’ve spent several weeks here since arriving in early December. But I am looking forward to getting to the Sea of Cortez.
