I have broken the curse and I can now catch fish as well as John! Got a small amber jack tuna and a big dorado (mahi mahi) and boy was he good eating. We went from Punta Mita to the nearby Tres Marieta Islands to anchor. Kent and Sue and I had a great day snokeling among the colorful fishes and other wildlife.

The day ended with our first real sailing conditions since getting to Mazatlan. A fast and fun sail was had going to La Cruz Marina. Forgot to mention whales, whales and more whales. So many we lost count. Some just swimming along with their young ones, but a few spashing flukes on the water and two who seemed to be having a drum conversation by banging the water with their tails over and over and over again.

Kent helped Craig with analysis of some problems we were having with the new altenator for the house batteries. [Seems that if the yard hooks the sense wires to your engine battery and the engine batteries are fully charged, then the house batteries can still go flat...go figure, lol.] A little bit of rewiring and all is well. The generator had also decided that it was tired of running, but a bit of head scratching and a phone call or two to FischerPanda and the loose wire culpret was found and fixed.

Kent left us on Sunday and Sue and Craig went for a long kayak around the La Cruz Marina...and have been enjoying the morning yoga classes. This is a very nice and well kept marina (fees for our boat are under .50 per foot). One current complaint would be that they don't have fuel at their fuel pier. Seems they are between contracts...a condition that is supposed to be remedied 'mananna' (read sometime in the future). In the meantime, Craig had to find transport up to the local Pemex with jerry cans and bring fuel back so we can leave tomorrow.

Yes, as nice as La Cruz and Puerto Vallarta are, we are still determined to visit the far-off exotic port of Ixtapa (and its better know beach and anchorage of Zwatineao [Z-town to you grengos.]

Before we left, Craig got an opportunity to crew for a local race aboard Profligate (the 62' cat owned and operated by Richard Spindler, the executive editor of Latitude 38 sailing magazine). It was fun to be on a boat with that much room so high off the water.