Cruising Again - South to Zihua

We just left the little cove of Ipala just south of Bahia Banderas where Puerto Vallarta is. It was a long day and the forecast was for big seas and strong winds outside of the bay from the north. It started out mild as usual then the wind came from our stern out of the east, not the way we expected. But it picked up out of the north the farther we got out and then it really picked up to 20-25 kts with seas of 6-10 ft. We both got a little queasy even though we took some meclazine (like dramamine) which I don't like because it makes you irritable and sleepy. Cindy would say that I never need to be made more irritable, ever.

The wind was pretty much on our stern which is a difficult point of sail for us and the big waves kept pushing the boat around which is hard on the autopilot. I hand steered a couple of hours and that wasn't easy either. We made it fine though to the Ipala which is just a little cove with steep cliffs on both sides and a couple of rustic restaurants and some pangaderos (fishermen who use open pangas to fish in). We were the only ones there and went down to nap (the pills) and when we got up three boats were there next to us. The only other sailboat was VERY close to us and which is not good but after talking to them (we just talked across the water even with the wind gusting we were so close) I let it go. The wind blew hard all day and all night and in to the morning. We saw 18 kts at anchor before we took off.

We up anchor and put the main up anticipating a great sail down the coast to Bahia Chamela, and then the wind died down to 6 kts which we can't sail in so we put on the motor and are motorsailing again. The forecast is for strong winds all day but it's not happening right now. We hope to meet up with our friends John and Linda on S/V Nakia in Chamela. We have packages for them and they have stuff we gave to them by accident in some other stuff we brought down from the states in our car trip. That's the way mail and packages and parts get delivered here - you give them to a boat going in the right direction approximately, then they hand the goods off to another boat going closer, and so on until it gets to the right boat. S/V Kavenga (Steve and Kay) just brought some items to us from La Paz and S/V Qayak (Richard & Betsy) are bringing some toilet parts to PV which they will give to S/V New Dawn who may come down to Zihua later (we hope) or they will have to find another boat that is coming down.

We will stay in Chamela (one of our favorite spots) only a few days then off farther south to Tenacatita then Barra de Navidad. We are in more of a rush than normal because we would like to see the SuperBowl in Barra if we get there by Sunday. We have been to these other spots last season twice so it is not as big a rush as it might sound.

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