03/09/2011

Valkyrie showed up in the morning and I had planned on spending the day there with them. However, I went for a snorkel and saw my anchor rode was wrapped around numerous jagged rocks. After I got it untangled I figured it would just happen again so I hoisted the hook and sailed off. At first the wind was taking me to Chacala or Jaltemba but then it clocked around and I ended up in Sayulita. Ordinarily this is not a great place to anchor but it was calm all night so it worked out fine. The next day was a motoring day until I got into Banderas Bay where I had a nice, screacher only sail to La Cruz.

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03/09/2011

The new tiller pilot is on and working so it's off to Isla Isabela. A six o'clock start in fog and no wind is not a great way to leave but, after a week at the dock I needed to get out sailing. By ten the fog had lifted and a light wind started to build. It was a nice sail in light wind with lots of wildlife to look at. There were many turtles just hanging out on the surface. Some had birds on their backs who had obviously been there for a while. I also had some Humpback Whales within about 200 feet of the boat. I arrived in pitch black night and anchored off the East side of the island. It felt good to be back on the anchor and I fell asleep the sound of waves lapping on the hull.

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03/09/2011

I got a reasonably early start from La Paz and enjoyed a relaxed sail for the first couple of hours. Then the tiller pilot acted up and I spent the next 33 hours hand steering in 20 knots of wind and some good sized waves. Try as I might I couldn't get the unit to work. Needless to say I was exhausted when I dropped the anchor off Bird Island in Mazatlan. After a good night's sleep I checked into the Fonatur Marina and got on the net. I bought a new tiller pilot through West Marine in Tempe, AZ and had it delivered to my friend Corey's dad there. Corey will be down in a few days to pick up his boat and sail to Banderas Bay where he will crew with me in the Banderas Bay Regatta. In the mean time I'll do some small stuff on the boat and relax.

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03/09/2011

We searched for five more days with no luck as far as footage goes. We saw some Blues and even had one go within about 20 feet of Jesse and Ben but the water was too murky for them to see. It really makes you appreciate the amount of time and effort it takes to get them on film. Oh well, we had fun and ate like kings so it wasn't a waste.

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03/08/2011

I left in the morning and sailed back to La Paz. We all met up for an nice dinner and then I had a day off until a slightly different crew came back aboard. Jesse and Bettina came back aboard along with his brother Ben and his gal Katie. We headed out again in search of whales.

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03/08/2011

After the whales it was time to catch up with the whale watching gang again. I sailed upwind to the southern end of the Canal de San Jose where I met up with the gang. Jesse took this shot as I approached them. We said hi and then I sailed south to Ensenada Grande where we had a nice supper aboard Interlude.

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