The day sail from Isla Isabel to San Blas and further to Ensenada de Matanchen (large cove 4 nm south of San Blas) took about 10 hours. It was easy passage - sailing when we could, motor sailing when the winds died.

In route to San Blas within 1.5 miles of the boat we witnessed one humpback whale that did 16 consecutive BIG tail flaps sometimes with ½ the body out of the water for emphasis. Very intimidating and we opted not to get any closer. We are still trying to figure out if the tail slapping is a mating behavior, a sign of aggression, or an aid to fishing. The Internet is all over the place on that one. Our prevailing theory leans towards fishing. The whales also do a "flapping" (slaps with their long fins) that is pretty impressive too. We witnessed this up close on our way to Banderas Bay when one whale was within 100 ft of the boat. It was so close that you could see the barnacles on the whale, and there were 3-4 dolphins swimming around it as well. This led us to think the flapping/tail slapping was a fishing endeavor to stun fish, and the dolphins were opportunistic feeders scooping up stunned fish. If anyone has more information please share!

Sunset Ensenada de Matanchen


Our first sunset in Matanchen was outstanding as you can see. What a welcome, but to be honest it was this pretty every night. This does not suck.

Ensenada de Matanchen


Matanchen bay is lined with palm trees, Mangroves, and palapas (many of which were only open on the weekends catering to tourists). The lush green of the palm trees and mangroves were a very welcome change to Baja Sur's arid desert climate. There are several rivers that dump into the cove and surrounding area so the water was pretty murky, and we did not swim in it though a billion small yellow fin tuna did. The water virtually percolated with them as they enjoyed the shade created by our boat.

Overlooking San Blas


About 5 miles from Enscenada Matanchen is the town of San Blas, mainly a fishing town that also caters to the bird watchers due to the many estuaries, mangroves home to hundreds of species of wintering birds and marine life. We stayed in the bay for 5 days dinghy'ing to shore and taking taxi's into San Blas several times to explore.

Rio Tovara tour


We did a couple Jungle River tours with our friends from Scoots. One tour up Rio Tavara was pretty touristy, but very well done. It really came off feeling like a Disney Animal Kingdom ride, which is not a bad thing. The guide was knowledgeable knowing where to stop for all the birds, reptiles, etc.

La Tovara Springs


There was a natural spring that fed the river which had a restaurant at its source and we enjoyed lovely fish tacos spring side. You could swim in the spring, which was netted off from the river (think crocodiles), but we skipped that opportunity. Past the spring there is a Cocodrilario (crocodile sanctuary) that had at least a dozen large crocs in large pens, as well as a zoo with local critters (parrots, jaguars, deer, etc.). This too was clean and worth the stop.

Crocs sunning on the banks


Our second tour was ad hoc up the Estero de San Cristobal river aboard a open fiberglass ponga. This was an al natural real deal jungle trip, with no groomed mangrove tunnels or zoos at the end. We experienced crocodiles sunning on the banks, diving into the water as we passed in the boat (intimidating as some of them were huge), too many birds to show, and a lovely lagoon 2 hours up river. Check out the pics in the gallery.

Estero de San Cristobal river


At one point the river was choked with floating vegetation, and it was surreal pushing our way through at slow speed. I was thankful that our guide had put oars into the boat along with the seat cushions (benches get hard after hours sitting as I am sure you know). I tried to list the names of some of the birds we saw on the photo gallery titles, but I am still not great at identification even with the books I borrowed from Scoots. I am putting it down as one of my "stretch goals" to learn more about birds this year. Sure beats the band out of those painful "work stretch goals." I tell you I do not miss those slogans (synergy, do more with less, better faster, suck all the blood from your body and throw away the husk...).

Wood storks with nesting babies


Speaking of bloodless husks the mangroves around the bay were also home to no-see-ums called Jejenes (jay-hay-nays). These little blood suckers were the size of a pin head, nothing but teeth, virtually everywhere, and they loved me. Morris was lucky as they did not chew on him too much. Now I am not one to advocate chemicals and pesticides, but thank goodness for DEET. Unfortunately the Avon skin so soft I started with just attracted them like an appetizer, and I was the entrée. I survived, but needless to say there proximity was a deciding factor when it came to a departure date.

Turtles sunning on Rio Tovara


We left for Chacala 23 nm south on the 21st and stayed for only a couple nights. Yeah no Jejenes here except those few that migrated with us. Chacala was a really rolly anchorage and we set the stern anchor along with the bow anchor for the first time, which helped set us into the swells and settle the roll. Chacala is a quiet little tourist town, though locals also fish. We visited the town our first full day, and spent a lovely long lunch using WiFi at a palapa on shore in front of our boat.

Great game fisher


Fish on!!! Morris is now an official big game fish angler well wetted. This beautiful 33" yellow fin tuna (atun) was played perfectly on a light rod and small 1" hook for about 30 minutes before giving up the fight. Boy did he taste good in fish tacos that night as well. It was odd though how other tuna in the school escorted this one through the whole ordeal (for the fish) almost in sympathy.

Hooked fish escorted by fellows in school


Well we would have liked to tarry down the coast a little slower but foul weather was predicted. There was a small storm coming from the south, and another to follow from the north. With exposed anchorages between us and Banderas Bay Impulsive and our buddy boat Scoots decided to sail directly to La Cruz (de Huanacaxtle) and the Marina Rivera Nayarit.

Welcome to La Cruz


We arrived here Saturday late afternoon taking our time to slow sail (aka light winds), and make water before entering the marina. We were amazed with the wild life in this huge bay that is 23 miles long and 20 miles deep.

La Cruz is very close to Puerto Vallarta our next destination where we plan to meet our daughter Chelsea and later our good friend Kathy. Yesterday we were happy to welcome Seattle friends Jim and Toby aboard the boat and later to share a bottle of wine at the restaurant overlooking the marina. It is such a small world when you pop into a random location, and meet up with friends from home. Again this does not suck. Chow for now from La Cruz.