Kicking back in La Cruz

Still just kicking back in La Cruz…. Not such a bad life. It is the typical mexican village and has a great pace of life. People are very kind and courteous as well as hard working. While walking in town this morning, we saw people sweeping the dirt streets to make sure they were clean of leaves, etc.

The other day, we tried to move north to Mazatlan. Did the check out with the marina, got the papers done with the Capitana de Puerto, and were off the dock by about 10 am…. Headed west to Punta Mita and found the swells getting larger as we moved west. After we rounded the point and heading north, the swells did not die down as we had hoped. Swells coming into the bay sometimes get larger as the water compresses coming into the bay. In this case, they pretty much stayed the same. With a N-NW wind, we were barely able to hold course to Chacala, which was the next anchorage. After 2 hours, it was getting too rough with 10-12’ troughs so we turned back. We did see some humpback whales and had a pod of dolphins join us for a few minutes. Two of them jumped clear out of the water right beside the boat, and scared the hell out of me. You never have the camera ready for a shot like that. Got back to the dock around 5 pm and went into recovery mode.

Today, we pretty much rested up and looked at our options. The seas are supposed to calm by Sunday with 3’ swells expected along with a westerly wind. We were going to try to move north again on Sunday but we do kind of like it here. Alternatives include putting the boat in dry storage here or looking for a slip, and we found one at a sort of reasonable price. It is little pricier here but on the other hand, the water is warmer and PV is on the edge of some of the best cruising areas in North America, if not the world….

The slip is a private slip at a condo resort so we will have good security, water, power, etc. We can stay on the boat but when we come back, I think we want to move it further south... Barra has some great places on the way down and we might even go further. Water temps are much warmer as we go further south...

Yesterday, in the afternoon, we took a break from the heat and sat in the restaurant overlooking the marina. We had a few cool drinks and watched a dock side rescue. Chester was on the far dock and fell in but could not get out. Panic ensued and the security guards ran down to help. They struggled to pull him out and after significant effort managed to get him back on the dock safe and sound. Chester was very grateful as it was pretty difficult for someone of his size and shape to swim well. He is overweight and has pretty short legs and arms. Once on the dock, he shook pretty hard but let everyone know how much he appreciated the help. It is pretty hard for a beagle-dash-hound cross to swim at the best of times, let alone try to get back on a dock that is 2 feet above the water…..

Secrity has really ramped up here, the Mexican J24 races start soon and the President, the Govenor, and several others are coming in tomorrow. The real big event will be in town at Phillo's restraunt where the Canada-USA showdown is going to happen on the big screen. We will be there.

On the cruiser net this morning, there was a tsunami warning due to the earthquake in Chile. We did see a dip in the water level, then a surge back up again but nothing significant, maybe a 5' change between the low and the peak.... Bottom line, nothing big here.