Wednesday, December 19 at 0800 our anchor was up headed for the mainland of Mexico from Baja. Our departure from Bahia Conception was greeted by dolphins, always thought to be good luck to mariners. Captain Kurt had been reading the daily Tropical Surface Analysis weather fax via SSB radio, looking for the right weather window. Most of the cruisers on the morning nets were waiting for a period of little wind and swells. Kurt had a definition of the ‘right’ weather window as one where the wind was going to blow at least 25 knots and from astern and with the Santa Ana winds filling in up north in California things looked good to go .

As soon as we left the bay we were seeing 14-18 knot winds and for the next 2 plus days we didn’t turn on the engine once. Our sister Karen, who lives in Tahoe, is always wishing for a ‘White Christmas’, complete with sleigh ride. For the next 400 miles we had our own version with winds through the night of 25 knots, with gusts to 35 knots, our ‘sled’ Interlude was consistently surfing down the six foot Sea of Cortez chop at 11-13 knots with our course highlighted by whitecaps everywhere illuminated by the full moon. When Katie spotted 14.7 knots on her watch at midnight, Kurt had to set a new ‘Interlude’ record (at least while we have owned her of 17 knots at 0300. Not bad for a jib reaching 35 ton cruiser! In 24 hours we covered 220 miles. ‘Otto’, or trusty autopilot, steered admirably the whole way considering we had quartering seas and 30 degree wind-shifts. It took a few hours to dial in the right autopilot settings and until we did we had to help Otto think by pushing his buttons to adjust our course before we rounded up into 50 knots of apparent wind with full main and genoa flying. During our three day and two night sleigh ride we saw only three vessels but our watches of three hours on, three hours off were stimulating nontheless given the sea conditions.

Our landfall was an island called Isla Isabella, thought to be Mexico’s rival to the Galapagos accessible only by private yacht. Only 1 by 2miles, the island is a national park rich with wildlife. Blue-footed boobies, yellow-footed boobies, pelicans, egrets, great blue herons and frigates all of which nest and inhabit the island to such a dense degree that a major hazard hiking ashore is being shat on. The temporary student residents, doing research on the various species, have set up a hiking trail for visitors to adhere to so that impact on the wildlife is minimized. However, most parts of the island are so dense with mangrove, banana, bamboo and general vegetation brush (especially in light of the recent hurricane that came within 20 miles) that venturing beyond the recommended path is virtually impossible. We spent the whole day hiking to two of the major vista points, then joined Peter and Connie of Cookie Cutter and Tom and Jackie of Well Deserved for beers and dinner giving us an opportunity to thank them for guiding us as we pulled in to the south anchorage, a location notoriously known as an ‘anchor eater’. All four came out in their dinghies to show us where they would recommend we drop our hook as the bay is interspersed with pinnacle rooks and sandy patches, impossible for us to identify in churned up water at 1600. With their help we successfully anchored in a spot that kept us secure for two nights and allowed us to retrieve our anchor on departure.

After two days immersed in unspoiled nature walks, we departed for Mantanchen Bay, an easy eight hour motor to the Mexican mainland. Although the bay is good holding, the sand flies could smell our blood more than a half mile offshore and we spent the entire night with every hatch closed. These ‘no-see-ums’ are so small they can pass through the regular screens we have on our big hatches. The upside to the passage was our 3^rd fish of the trip, a Sierra Mackerel, with tender white flesh that made for mighty fine eatin’. The next day we had a strenuous 10 hour motor to Punta Mita, Banderas Bay (home of Puerto Vallarta). What made the trip strenuous was our first experience with Mexican fisherman long lining out of their fiberglass pangas with 100 HP outboards. With this setup, these guys will travel 10 miles offshore and lay out miles of line where the only identifying marks are two liter plastic 7-up bottles and an occasional black flag. As Kurt was setting the mainsail to stabilize the boat, Katie had to hit the autopilot ‘dodge button’ to maneuver 90 degrees to keep from T-boning a panga not 100 feet dead ahead some eight miles offshore. The pangas have no identifying features and very low freeboard, making them very difficult to spot from a distance. The rest of the day was spent with both of us keeping a sharp lookout for these fisherman and their lines.

We entered Banderas Bay Christmas Eve and were greeted by a pod of four breeching whales. After spending the night at Punta Mita a great surfing spot, Christmas Day saw us in port at Marina Vallarta. Things were a little run down compared to two years ago when we stopped here on the trip from Florida. But we did see our friends Don and Debbie who had just returned from the South Pacific with much good information for us. They are based in PV and professionally maintain and crew various yachts. We took a bus to the other marina at Paradise Village, for a non denominational service, the highlight of which was a chorus of about 15 children from the city dump that sang Xmas carols (including, of course, Feliz Navidad). When we say, "the city dump" we mean the dump. These are children that live in the dumps with their families. Despite their economic hardship, they were very tidy and cleanly dressed, a testament to the Mexican mentality that no matter how little one might have economically, one always has family pride. These are a people that rake their yards of dirt everyday of any debris, be it organic or not. Additionally, the children are being helped by a local ministry that, of course, got all the pesos we had on us, minus bus ride back to the boat. Unlike our poor, that seem so destitute, the poor in Mexico are full of hope and perseverance.

We left Puerto Vallarta on New Years Eve and rounded Cabo Corrientes - the Cape Horn of Mexico - under power with little wind. Our next anchorage - Ipala – looked like a nice little spot to spend a quiet New Years Eve with just one other boat and some pangas and palapas on the beach. Were we ever wrong! The town must have hired a DJ to provide music all night long and they certainly got theirs money’s worth. When we hoisted anchor at 0700 the next morning the P.A. was still blaring Spanish disco songs.

Since the first of January we have slowly been making our way south to our present location in Manzanillo. Location of the movie ‘10’ with Dudley Moore and Bo Derek the Las Hadas resort was once one of the premier destination resorts for the sixties jet-set. It has now been eclipsed by a newer complex owned by the same company built nearby. This has made the Las Hadas even more desirable for us as it is nearly empty and cruisers have practically taken over the pool area and restaurants. $12 per day gives us use of the dinghy dock, trash cans, swimming with iguanas in the pool etc.

Another resort/marina complex we crashed was the Grand Bay Hotel in Barra Navidad. Also nearly empty they were probably glad to have some warm bodies ordering drinks around the pool. Their marina also had an agent to handle our paperwork. The Las Hadas marina used to offer this service here in Manzanillo but they must have had a falling out as now they don’t seem to mind you just passing through without checking in as long as Manzanillo is not listed a final stop on your Despachio.

Not all our stops along the mainland have been resorts. In fact most at places cruisers create their own resorts. Tenacatita for example came complete with a real live dinghy jungle cruise and a nice beach that at least a dozen cruiser women swam to each day at 1500 hrs while the men played bocce ball. The seafood specialty here at the beach restaurants to fuel all these activities was ‘rollo del mar’ – a combo of shrimp and fish rolled up in bacon, deep fried and covered in almond coconut sauce.

We meet many interesting folks there but one of the more exotic couples was Robert and Virginia from ‘Harmony’. They helped define the term ‘hippie’ in 1969 with a 100 person caravan, traveling across the U.S. while living in their buses to spread a message of peace. They then helped to form ‘The Farm’, a commune on 1700 acres in Tennessee, where they took a vow of poverty and pledged all their possessions to a community that at its peak reached in excess of 1500 people. For a more complete description of The Farm (as well as a lot of useful information about living "off the grid") visit: www.thefarm.org. Robert now says that the cruising community represents a lifestyle closer to what they were trying to accomplish in Tennesee than The Farm: people all sharing the same experience while helping each other when need arises yet still remaining self sufficient and off the grid.

We will be turning around here in Manzanillo to go back up north to Puerto Vallarta where we have a berth for the months of February and March. We will be back in the Bay Area in February look forward to visiting everyone. Also, Interlude’s reservation schedule is open for the month of March and we have a berth at the Paradise Village resort with access to pool, spa, etc. We encourage you to come to Mexico to visit us, either to stay on the boat or in a hotel room. At the end of March we join the annual migration of ‘Puddle Jumpers’ - those yachts that make the 3000 mile nonstop trip to the South Pacific. It’s a little harder to meet us at a South Sea atoll but we hear Peter, Kurt’s brother, is planning a trip to Raiatea in July to charter some yachts for a week or so to sail some of the Society Islands (Bora Bora, Tahaa, Huahini, etc.)

Prospero Ano Nuevo,

Kurt & Katie