Mar 31 
All up with the birds. That's with the tropical birds. The marina is filled with birds song in the morning and it is not hard to get up. Joanne is going to get our clearance papers as we normally do as we learned a nice looking lady will get things much faster done in Mexico.  She was back at 1130 and we are underway at 1230 away from the dock and set sail just outside the breakwater. Beating our way out of the Bay of Banderas and we only tacked once and got a clear shot out SSW. Later winds go light and skipper concerned about light conditions close to shore during the night.   

Mar  30  Our new crew arrived yesterday afternoon. Mike, Leigh, John & Tricia. They are hard at work helping us clean up, provision and make ready for sea. We made several trips to PV for getting provisions. The new Costco is nice but produce is not moving and we are forced to purchase less than the prime fresh we normally do.
 

Mar 29
Up with the birds. All is well with the anchors holding firmly. At 0800 hrs anchors up and anticipated problems with a nearby mooring tangling our anchor did not materialize. Underway in a low swell. Rolling and little Cosmo walking the decks like a salty sailor.
1130 Arrive at paradise Village and our Guest for the week saying goodbye.
Thanks, Rutgers, Leslie, Alagra, Caio & Cosmo. May our courses cross again.

Mar 28
Sailed away from the anchor but lost wind and under engine for a few hours
than around 1130 the sea breeze set in and we had a wonderful sail to Yelapa.
Very busy and several boats at anchor and on the mooring buoys. A few Panga's came out trying to sell us a mooring space for $20 but we are not interested as we do not trust the integrity of them. Sure enough while walking the beach a bit later observed a broken mooring washed up on shore.

Fanny anchoring with 300' of chain out and a stern line. A quick run to get the Guest ashore as the kids need to run around. Nice calm conditions yet again. Our guest treated us for a wonderful dinner ashore while seeing Western Grace riding at anchor with the sun setting in the West.

Mar 27
Underway early to the islands and got the whale show of the season. A mother and calf flukes and tales. Great show. Kids fascinated by it.
Arrived to find a big swell and unable to land on shore. Took Zodiac and toured around watching the seas pummeling the rocks. Moved on and anchored off Punta De Mita. Boogie boarding with Caio behind the Zodiac. Tried to find a panga to get us onshore but surf to large and taxi service canceled. Spaghetti on board and playing games. Marvelous sunset.

Mar 26
Onshore for a walk and a look see. Underway to the Island. Winds picked up and had a great sail. Diverted to La Cruz as it is a little more of the wind. Ashore for a look see and playing on the beach. Calm night.

Mar 25
Exploring onshore. A nice quaint town. All had a good time. Cervesas at 10:30?
Underway late morning to Yelapa and  at 1400 hrs just as the big crowds have left. Guest onshore for dinner. Kids playing on the beach. Does not get better than that.

Mar 24
Just before noon our next crew arrived. Rutgers, Leslie, Alagra, Caio & Cosmo.
Safety briefing and underway to Boca De Tomathlan. Arrived late afternoon and at anchor just of the beach. Very calm anchorage this time

Mar 23

Ready in the morning to get the boat cleaned up and provisioned for our next trip. Washing in Paradise.( Village)

Mar 14

Life onboard has been been quiet for us with no new charter till next week. No shortage of work but we rather be sailing. Always find something to do as the jobs seem endless. Latest project is varnishing the SB aft head wood work. We always varnish something and just recently finished the salon table, companion way doors and hatch. Next will be system checks, rigging, cleaning the bottom, bilges and so on.


It is still cool and the locals are complaining that it is cold. All relative as it is getting in the low 60 in the early morning and warms up nice to around 80-85 in the afternoon.
Just cool enough to sleep with a thin blanket instead of a sheet.
On shore it is getting noticeable hotter though during the day. At night we see the Southern Cross low on the Horizon in the early morning indicating it is getting time to move on ourselves. 

The yearly migration is about to start with boats departing or getting ready to all points of the compass. The early birds have departed with next week the majority setting out for the South Pacific. Also a few boats have already set out for Hawaii reporting cooler than normal conditions at N 19 W 122 with 15 Kts of winds and 8' seas. Can't wait to get underway again as the passage to Hawaii is fantastic sailing. Nothing feels better than to be pushed by nothing but the wind in a large following seas.
Not only the boats are leaving the whales are heading North as well. We see fewer everyday and in a week or two all but a straggler will be all underway. Overnight we had the dolphins around playing in the anchorage.

Building onshore goes on like there is no tomorrow. We are wondering who is going to go and use all these building as the tourist  are down and capacity is increasing rapidly.