"On the Road Again..."

With Willie Nelson playing in my head, we finally eased 'Bravo' away from the fuel dock in La Cruz, and turned our sights southward.  Although a few weeks later than expected, we're finally heading out for new adventures, pointing our bow toward Central and South America for this next year.  It's been a terrific 1-1/2 years for us in Mexico.  The wildlife and people we've met, and friendships we've made, have surpassed all expectations.  It's this "friendships thing" that's tough to get used to in this cruising lifestyle.  Many of the boats we've come to know over the past months have become good buddies.  Our paths cross in unexpected places, creating a sort of tapestry of interweaving journeys and adventures.  Many of the boats we've become close to are heading out now for the South Pacific...the Pacific Puddle Jump, as it's affectionately known.  On the one hand, it's very tempting to join in the mass exodus from Mexico with the gang, heading off to the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia together.  But we've decided to head south first, taking this opportunity to explore central and south America and the Galapagos, something we've always wanted to do.  We look forward to the tapestry growing, as our paths continue to cross with the various boats we've come to enjoy here in Mexico.

La Cruz has been a real whirlwind of activity.  First, Mexican President Calderon is expected next week to speak to a "cocktail party" of 3500 or so, hosted in the parking lot of the marina.  The town has gone through a total transformation in anticipation of his visit...paving nearly the entire town, new streetlights and infrastructure, and general cleanup.  The amount of $$$ that went into the town over the past 3 weeks has been phenomenal...I wish this guy was planning a sail on 'Bravo'!!!!!

The second big event in La Cruz coincides with the visit of the grand poo-bah.....it's called Sailboat Racing!!!  Numerous venues all centered in La Cruz over a 2 week period.  J24 international regatta, with over 60 boats from 9 countries, kite boards, wind surfing, and grand prix ocean race boats, it's really exciting for us racers to see, even those of us on cruising boats.  Mex-Orc, a major race from San Diego to Puerto Vallarta was finishing the day we left.  Very cool to see these beautiful race boats coming in.  Here are a few shots of Loe Real, a 60 foot tri from Texas.  She had a sustained 2 hour run at over 28 knots, and a 400 mile day on the trip down the coast!!!  That's FAST!!!  Here's a bit of boat porn for you multi hull enthusiasts...

Customs came aboard to clear the crew into Mexico.  Ya think they just wanted to check out the cool hardware???

I think Bravo needs a new helm seat!!!

After a last minute flurry of our own projects and chores before heading out (and a fair bit of socializing in the music rich town), we left La Cruz for the passage to Zihuatanejo, around 335 miles.  After a couple of days out, we decided to duck into Barra de Navidad to visit one of our favorite towns, and visit with friends.  Nice to visit the town, and see how well it's recovering after suffering a pretty severe hit from hurricane Jova last summer.  And the street tacos shared with S/V 'Third Day' and S/V 'Just a Minute' were hard to beat!!!!!

Sunrise just before coming off watch.

Blue footed booby rides along for a while.  Do you think our sail bag looks like patio furniture to him???  Yup, thought so!!!

The next morning we headed south to Zihuat.  Most exciting event was breaking a belt on the engine immediately AFTER transiting the channel out of the lagoon.  No worries, as the spare was quickly installed, but if it had happened less than one minute earlier, we would have certainly run aground into the muck on either side of the narrow passage.   Sometimes timing really is everything.  We arrived at Isla Grande, outside Ixtapa last night, arriving after dark after a slow, light air leg.

But it felt really good to be on our way, as we've not yet been this far south aboard 'Bravo'.  Burned a fair amount of diesel, unfortunately!  Refueled this morning, and came into Zihuatenejo Bay.  Pretty little fishing town, surrounded by some serious villas and resorts.

But as architect Robert Stern says, money doesn't buy taste!!!

Leads us to an architectural style quiz:  Which building in the following photo doesn't exactly fit with it's neighbors???  Prize for correct answer!!!  Operators are standing by for your responses!


We'll stay here in Z-town for a couple of days, before continuing on to Huatulco,  about 350 miles south.  There we'll wait for our weather window to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec, known for it's gale force gap winds coming across from the Gulf of Mexico in the Atlantic.