D & D
03/12/2011, Bucerias

We are on our way home today at 4:20 PM. It's a bittersweet time for both of us, but we are looking forward to seeing our friends and family. We have submitted an article for Latitude 38 Magazine as to our experiences and what we learned. . . if it's published, we'll let you know on this blog as well as post things periodically as to updates of survey. Thanks to all our new and old friends and family members who followed us through our journeys. . . For our next adventure, maybe kayaking down the Amazon???? Donna and Darryl

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Darryl
03/10/2011, Bucerias

Picture is of our boat before the accident.
Well the survey was completed yesterday. The written report won't be available for several days. However, "luffin It" sustained considerable damage. She did her job in staying afloat and keeping us out of the water, but in the process she is hurting. We don't yet know if she will be totaled because official repair costs will take some time to come in. We'll keep the info coming as we get it.
A special thanks goes out to Joel and Chris aboard "40 Love". They were our "buddy boat" from Tenacatita to La Cruz. We were supposed to crew with them during the Banderas Bay regatta going on this week, but somehow a whale got in the way. The outporing of help that we received from the cruising community down here continues to be unbelieveable. Thanks to all that helped and to those that offered...WOW!

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D & D
03/07/2011, La Cruz Marina

Well, here she is, out of the water, and Darryl and I have climbed up and down a 20' ladder multiple times today, emptying her out and finishing the clean up. Our Surveyor arrives tomorrow to check out the boat and its damage.

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D & D
03/07/2011, La Cruz Marina

This was an amazing time. There was quite a crowd gathered to watch them bring "Luffin It" out of the water and onto land; and yes, that is Darryl and I on it while they lifted it up. It's Mexico, and things happen differently here.

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D & D
03/07/2011, La Cruz Marina

We finally make it to La Cruz Marina, taking double the usual time it would take, due to no winds and us having no motor capabilities. As we get to La Cruz, "40 Love" with Joel and Chris aboard, dropped the tow line and the Panga folks grabbed it and towed us into the dock space.

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D & D
03/06/2011, La Cruz Marina

Picture is of us setting up the tow; notice the fog we ran into at 7 AM that morning.
We arrived in La Cruz around 7 and our dear friends dropped the tow line and a panga with 3 men picked it up and pulled us safely to a dock near the haul out station. We are thrilled to have made it without any further events - for example, the winds today are 20+ knots and that could have spelled trouble for us, given our boat's condition. We are frantically cleaning up the boat, pulling personal items off and getting it ready for inspections. Interesting, I clearly saw the whale's back as he left and he was covered with barnacles. What we see on the edges and bow of our boat are deep scratches, where we went over his top. We had just had the boat pulled out, scrubbed and repainted on the bottom, before the trip.
We will not be racing in the regatta with our friends. . . too much at this time, though we will attend some of the parties. We have a cute hotel in Buserias and will stay there, flying home to Spokane on Saturday the 12th. Once we get settled, I plan to write more of the adventure and Darryl and I will certainly answer any questions, anyone might have. We have some fabulous pictures of our rescue and towing but not of the whale. . .darn, we just didn't have the camera ready. . . I'll post next time we have a minute.

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