We spent a month, well slightly more than a month in La Cruz anchorage. In summary, it was great as usual but in a different way. Firstly, we dealt with the issue that brought us to La Cruz…….the sails. We met with Tony Morrelli and he did great repairs and tune ups on both our main sail and genoa. Again I won’t go into detail (if I can figure out how I may start a “tech page” on the blog if there is interest) but we thought he did a great job, had great ideas on how to make the sails work better. One thing led to another and we are now sporting a new stack pack for the main which is a simpler way of storing the main and has other advantages like easier reefing and the main sail is now loose footed which is something I thought I wanted for some time. So that was a big success and at the same time I did some modifications on the rig to tighten up the forestay and then of course there is always other things to be repaired while at anchor.
The weather was quite unusual for an extended period…..rain, thunder, lightening, and the associated rolly seas at anchor. There is a daily net where cruisers communicate about many subjects and those that are more permanent in the area keep records on annual rainfall. In their 12 plus years of records there had never been measurable rainfall in December and through the period I mentioned there were multiple inches of rainfall recorded and the water was flowing down the streets of La Cruz in the downpours. Eventually that passed and we were back to the sunny tropical paradise we are used to enjoying.



Socially we had a great time in amongst the boat projects. We were invited to a real Christmas dinner, turkey and all at some of our land based friends. Don and Sonny were instrumental in getting that together and we thank them for a great time. We had a quiet New Years on the boat taking in the fireworks all around Banderas Bay. The Mexicans just love fireworks and they go off on many occasions but New Years is especially active. Our favorite band is back together and great as ever even though the young guitar player has now gone off to music school. The new guitar player is definitely up to the task and although I know nothing about music I know he is great. The only problem is that they only play in the adjacent town, Buceries, and so going to see them regularly isn’t as easy as before. I am still waiting to get a complete fill of their music because they get better and better as the night goes on so you need to stay to the bitter end to see their best. I am still craving more Pacific Rock….maybe we will get that on the way north. We have a new top ten band in Mexico by the name of Luna Rumba. They are three musicians, a fiddler (and guitar player), a percussionist (with more toys than I have had hot suppers) and a guitar vocalist. They play some kind of Latin fusion type music that is, well…..amazing. And then there was a great trip up into a nearby mountainous jungle area to some hot pools with Don and Eddie. At least 20 individual pools each made of rock and cement and each with its own water control valve so you can adjust the temperature. And because of the jungle coverage it is pleasantly cool up there. We stopped at a little town about five or so miles before getting to the hot pools and got some cold beer and returned the empties on the way home and stopped for a feed of shrimp at the same time.



We also attended the last of the famous Linda Joy garden parties. She is a good friend who has lived in La Cruz for years, maybe thirteen or so and lives on a lot that she has turned into an amazing outdoor garden paradise……perfect for huge parties which traditionally she has held annually. LJ is leaving La Cruz to go on the road for 8 months or so and the garden is going the way of the dinosaur and she decided to have one last party….and it was a great one. Well I am sure there is more on the social side but you get the idea, lots of things to do and enjoy.

We even went sailing one day in the bay with LJ and Sylvia to try out the new sail modifications and rig changes and it was a beautiful afternoon in the typical SW thermal winds. There are a few places we would still really like to explore in Banderas Bay so we have that on the “To Do” list. It is great and quite predictable weather (usually) in the bay and great for sailing and whale watching so some of you should come down and join us next time we are in the bay.
One of the other things we did was attend a number, maybe 8 or 9, seminars related to various cruising subjects of interest. Because Banderas Bay is a common jumping off spot for travels to the South Pacific there are a fabulous set of seminars organized on topics of interest those getting ready to make the 3000 nm passage to French Polynesia. We had to travel to Nuevo Vallarta for most of them so that involves two buses each way and takes up the best part of the day. Time well spent and inspiring to meet some of the other cruisers with similar interests.
Our intention was to leave on the next full moon, 16th of January if the winds were right but we didn’t quite make it. We did set sail on the 21st of January with forecast NW winds to carry us south, destination Tenacatita……another paradise both in physical location and the cruiser community found there.