Ipala anchorage: 20° 14.133' N, 105° 34.357'W

Greetings, this is a late post, or post-post I guess. We were joined in La Cruz by So Inclined for our last evening on the town with our friends from Swift Current and Blue Rodeo. We had to get one more evening at Tacos on the Street under our belts and some last items from the abarrote. Marisa has posted a few photos to go along with this story.

We left the marina at La Cruz at 0417 hrs, only 17 minutes behind schedule and not bad considering Marisa was sick, it seems she caught the flu. We had used public transportation, busses and taxis there in the greater Puerto Vallarta area and she was probably exposed to something. Luckily I did not get it, I'll credit my having a flu shot for that. We were on our way, buddy boating with So Inclined with Mike and guests, Bill and Cindy Roush with son Josh, from Oceanside YC. Bill was a pal and brought several spare parts down for me, kudos to both he and Buddy from West Marine. Bill got a green light at the Mexican Customs inspection coming into country so no import duty issues.

There are times when I get the "big boat envy" and then again at times I'm very happy with Pacifico just as she is, this was one of those times. Marisa was pretty well down all day Thursday and half of Friday before she felt well enough to come up for air. Needless to say she didn't get involved with boat handling and watches or food for that matter. I was single handing Pacifico, from casting off to anchoring, which I'm OK with and being the nurse maid to a sickie!

The run to Punta Ipala was only about 48 nm and around Cabo Corrientes, which is similar in effect to Point Conception. We had watched our weather and had a good window so it was an easy ride across Bahia Bandaras at a heading of about 220° to reach the cape. There is a strong opposing current that takes effect as you near the cape. The current coming up the coast from Manzanillo is a counter current in that it runs generally south to north along the coast. I could definitely see the influence of the current on our headway, no so much slowing us, but generally pushing us towards shore. We rounded the cape at about 4 nm off, then down the last 14 nm to Punta Ipala and the little beach community of Tehuamixtle.

It was an odd feeling traveling in company with another boat after almost 1200 nm of going it alone. We had met other boats and made friends, but we did not "buddy boat" in that you travel with and stay in close proximity with that boat. We had rather by coincidence had similar itinerary plans and would meet up at some destinations and that was only after Mazatlan. It was doubly odd in that we were now talking on the radio with Oceanside friends, Mike, Bill and Cindy with whom we boat regularly at home. I was looking at the scenery and charts and wondering if we had ever really left home waters! It was a strange feeling. All that said "buddy boating" has its advantages. While making the crossing of Bahia Bandaras we encountered several inbound cruise ships, the really big ones. Anyway, I was on deck and had been watching intently. It was either the third or fourth one that was well off our starboard bow, with rights, when I got a radio call from So Inclined asking me if I was aware of that ship. I thought I was, but had apparently fallen asleep and it was now much, much closer! I'll give Bill credit for making the call, it was close, how close it would have become thankfully we won't know!
We anchored behind the small point with So Inclined and I stayed aboard Pacifico with Marisa while the crew of So Inclined dinghied to shore to explore. I could see with my binoculars that there were three bar restaurants and a few other buildings. It looked small but more substantial than some of the larger beach palapa bar scenarios we had experienced and appears to be not only a small fishing village, but a small beach resort destination for locals. There was no internet access again, and as a post note to La Cruz we had little or no internet access the last few days there as well. It seems there was a problem with the system at the marina, oh well, the same thing happens at home too.

The anchorage at Ipala was small, hampered with fish pens and was rolly because of the wave effect coming around the point. This place is an OK stop to break up the trip south, but not a great place to stay. We had anchored out farther than necessary and had to put out the flopper stopper to settle the boat down, Marisa was sick enough and the extra motion didn't help. We left with So Inclined at 0600 hrs, Friday 12/31/10, the last day of the year for Bahia Chamela, about 50 nm further south and east down the coast.