Eric again here, finally writing another entry!
Yesterday, Wed, we finally checked out of the marina! Barring any problems, we don't plan to be back there for quite some time. We had hoped to leave by noon (low tide), but due to everything taking longer than we think it will we didn't leave until about 4pm (almost high tide). Our slip was very close to a bridge (that our mast would never fit under) and the tides cause quite a current, so that is why we planned our departure at either high or low tide as that is when there is the least current that could mess up docking/crash us into the bridge. Before we could leave we had to check out with the Port Captain. I guess this used to be a very involved process (and was the first time for us back when Ben was here due to the paperwork stuff of changing the boat ownership, name, etc.) for every single port one would enter or leave involving several different offices and payment of various fees. This year, the process has been greatly simplified in that now all you need is to physically check in at the port captain, give them a copy of your documents, and they stamp some stuff, and then you go. I even hear that some places you can just check in by radio. The only problem I can see with that, is that when checking in at your next port, they like to see the stamp of the one you just left. Anyway, we're just doing what other folks are telling us to do, and so far no problems (knock on wood!).
We motored over to La Cruz (about 5-6 miles away) so as to anchor by daylight. We got here with plenty of time to spare and anchored in about 20 feet of water (holding ground is mud here, which works fine with our Delta anchor). There were a lot of other boats here though (35 by one count) and so we were a little closer to the rocks than we would have liked. We put on the anchor alarm on our GPS (basically, it sounds an alarm if you go more than a specified distance) and went to sleep after a tasty Ramen dinner. We were both feeling a little ill from the motion of the ocean and so kept things simple. In the middle of the night, the anchor alarm went off and we both jumped out of bed to check out our situation. Turned out that the wind had shifted a bit and our alarm was set a little too close (we just drifted on our anchor chain a bit farther than that alarm set point). I reset the alarm for a wider circle and went back to sleep.
When we woke up, we listened to the radio show and checked in (now from "out at anchor") and we were still feeling a little of the mal de mer (seasick). I am not so much nauseous as kinda tired and mopy. We had the feeling that we are a bit closer to the rocks and looked at our GPS which seemed to confirm that. Nothing to big, but it did look like we may have been dragging (the anchor) slightly with the morning breeze. Fortunately we saw a couple of boats leave, opening up a much better anchoring spot. We moved over a bit (away from the rocks, and now in about 23 feet of water) and redropped the anchor letting out about 200ft of chain (just to be sure). We seem to be holding very well now.
Looks like not much is going to get done today, as we are both getting our sea legs (Janet did get a swim in though) and adjusting to life on the hook. Tomorrow we are thinking of trying the dinghy out and going into shore to check out things there. We were here in La Cruz when Ben was with us, but we didn't see much of the town in the daylight due to our late arrival. Now that we have more time, we are looking forward to checking things out (and most likely going back to Philos - the cruisers bar in town).
Our plans in general are firming up a bit. We plan to stay here in the bay (including La Cruz, Punta de Mita, Yelapa, and maybe some other day trips) until at least the 20th. On the 20th, some friends of Ben's are coming into PV and they have some stuff for us that Ben bought that we couldn't find here in PV (or could find at super crazy gringo prices) including a portable GPS (for backup in case the main one goes down) and combination harness/inflatable life vests. These are what we will be using on open sea passages and night sailing (if we do any) as they are the best. The harness can be attached to various parts of the boat and to jacklines (lines that we put on that run up and down the boat so we can move about and still be constantly attached) so we will not fall off into the ocean. In the rare case we do fall in, they automatically inflate and will keep us afloat! We really do not want to leave the bay without them!
After we get our things, we will (weather permitting) head out south of the bay down what is known as the "gold coast" of Mexico. Anchorages we plan on visiting include: Ipala, Chamela, Tenacatitia, Barra de Navidad, Manzanillo (must go here to get our temporary import permit), and Zihuatenajo (I may have misspelled these). Barra and Zihuatenajo seem to be big cruiser destinations as most people we have talked to plan on going to one of those (or both). We'll just have to see how it goes!
Our friends David and Isabelle are coming for a visit in mid-January all the way from Belgium! So all you people in North America have no excuse!! They are flying into PV and then taking a bus to wherever we are, which seems fairly easy to do from the folks that we have talked to about this. We are super excited to have visitors and are curious what they think of this whole thing! Especially cool is that David was instrumental in us now living on Tupo and sailing in Mexico. He talked us into our first sailing trip back in 2003 when we went to Greece. It was the first time I had ever set foot on a sailboat and well now we are here. So it's kinda fitting that he and his wife are our first non-required visitors (we made Ben come and help us out for that week as part of the boat deal, though I should de-emphasize "made" because he wants us to succeed and therefore offered to come down and help out for a week). They are quite the fishermen (fisherpeople? fishercouple?) and so we are anxious to get another lesson or two in when they are here.
I am still setting up things so I can post entries via radio. Hopefully I will either grab a connection here at anchor or in town at Philos to post this soon.
no photos today :(