To start this thing off, here's a plug - since it's my blurb, after all - for our friend Deneb's marine research non-profit in the Islas Revillagigedos. A normal-ish blurb follows.

After spending 2 solid weeks together at the Revilla's, plus all the time before that trip in the planning stages, we learned a lot about Deneb and Derek, and about their passion for ocean conservation. The efforts by CONANP, the national park system in Mexico, to protect our oceans by creating sanctuary areas and national parks is beginning to pay off, as evidenced by increased numbers of species in areas where, in some cases, they had been endangered.

Just before we left for the islands, Deneb was asked to join a group of scientists in a presentation in Mexico City on the effects of the conservation efforts in the Revillagigedos, which became a national park in late 2018. It gave her a great sense of accomplishment to be part of something that is getting measurably better. And it buoyed her determination to continue her studies on the shark and manta cleaning stations in the Revilla's. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, these cleaning stations, established and run by the fish (an underwater mystery extraordinaire!) act as little urgent care centers as well as bathhouses, where the cleaner fish remove parasites, bacteria, and other unwanted things from the host fish, critical for their health, which is good, since they are critical to the overall balance of the sea.

So my plug is for her non-profit, CIENCIASBCS - Centro Interdisciplinario en Ciencias Aplicados de Baja California Sur (It practically translates itself, but means Central Interdisciplinary in Applied Sciences of Baja California South.) If you're at all interested in ocean conservation (and considering the realities of our oceans today and the direct effect their health has on ours, we all should be) and are at a place in your life where you want to help with something like this, she has a Donate button on her website and it's very easy, via PayPal, to make a one-time or recurring donation. Even 50 pesos ($2.43) per month (the lowest option on her website!) helps, because recurring donations are more reliable and begin to add up.

Her non-profit will also be expanding into other areas of study, including one that will evaluate the effects of exposure to nature on children. Taking city kids and giving them a chance to experience the beauty of nature not only enhances their mental and physical health, but it helps teach them, at a young age, to appreciate the world around them and learn the importance of protecting it.

Deneb is uniquely positioned as a marine biologist, the daughter of marine biologists, a former CONANP park ranger at the Revilla's, and an overall focused and brilliant person to be involved in these projects. Here is her website link, and we're proud to be listed as "Allies" (check it out!)

Link to CIENCIASbcs

Gracias, and I now return this blurb to it's regularly unscheduled programming.

Leaving the Revilla's after 2 amazing and rather unbelievable weeks was an adjustment. I could so happily just stay out there, diving, eating healthy, breathing incredibly fresh air (except when the wind stirs up the fine volcanic dust) and watching spectacular sunsets. But we were running out of food. Well, we had food, and could have stayed a lot longer, but rice and beans and pasta would have gotten quite dull, and I'd opened my last can of vegetables. Plus, we had places to go and people to meet.

The forecast for our 56-hour trip to the Mexican mainland promised following seas (the good kind, the kind the boat likes to surf down, smooth and quiet) and good wind from our port side. We were partly rewarded - we had a wonderfully energetic beam reach, with speeds over 8 knots at times, but the following seas did not happen. Instead we were tortured with a confused and choppy series of chunky waves that made moving around the boat downright dangerous, thumping and slamming into the hulls, making Allan a bit queasy and me just overall annoyed. But we were sailing, and that's always good.

We started our re-entry to civilization in Bahia Tenacatita, a beautiful large bay south of Puerto Vallarta. A long beach lines the protected bay, with a casual beach cafe where you can have a bite to eat, or sip cold coconut juice or beer or a tangy margarita and wiggle your toes in the sand. The sand! We hadn't had our toes on land for almost a month, so that was nice. We swam, and wiggled out toes, took our dinghy across the huge bay for some fresh produce at the local market in Melaque, celebrated a 6-year-old's birthday on the beach, and spent time with friends who were also anchored there, the Monson family on s/v Wippy, who we met in Oxnard last summer. Their 3 kids are home-schooled, so we got to be a part of their education with a presentation on our time in the Revillas. Deneb had equipped us with some CONANP promo videos of the Revillas and we had some of her fabulous underwater pictures of the cleaning stations, plus Allan's great stuff which he took with our new little underwater camera. We all marveled at the critters we got to swim with, talked about how long things live (sea turtles: thirty to fifty years!) and nibbled on oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

3 days later, partially reacclimated, we headed 3 hours south to Barra de Navidad, a favorite destination for cruisers along this Costa Alegre, where we've been since last Sunday. We literally jumped into the fire upon our arrival, since it was timed with the start of a week-long fund raising event the cruisers put on every year to help support the local schools. This is one of the many give-backs that cruisers are doing world-wide - thanking the communities that host and support them in their travels. The event is called Cruise-In Week, and includes things like taking people in the community on sailing trips, music events, a Poker Taco Crawl (that helps introduce some of the cool taco restaurants to visitors), and the big event, a Flamingo Regatta, in which people bet on the winners. It's a very well-run week, lots of fun, lots of work, and raises lots of money for the schools. The school system here is interesting: primary is from Grades 1-6, then there are two levels of what we call "high school." Grades 7-9 cover the normal things, and Grades 10-12 are preparatory for college-bound students, or vocational training in specific trades. And, college is free if you go to one of the universities in a capital city.

Our week was a blur of activity, catching up with old friends who either live here full time or cycle back down for the season, many of them here specifically for Cruise-In Week. We joined a few friends on a jaunt to the local elementary school and had pizza with the 25 kids, who adorned us with paper necklaces and handed out hand-made valentines; we helped with our rubber-bumper dinghy to usher boats carrying passengers in and out of their slips in the windy conditions; and we crewed on s/v Cadenza for one of the two music cruises. And on the last day, we had the privilege of crewing on s/v Baja Fog for the Flamingo Regatta. We're not racers - we're cruisers, we do things more slowly, we don't make constant tacks and sail changes, we sort of chill. So the stress and energy of racing is a bit unfamiliar to us, but this was fun! Baja Fog is a Lagoon 45 with the helm located on the top deck for a spectacular view, and all the lines and winches and buttons and knobs right there in easy reach. She's a home, fully loaded with canned food and galley gear and all sorts of things a serious racer would never have on a boat, and she's a tank to begin with at over 30,000 pounds, so she was heavily, but fairly handicapped. I manned the port lines for the jib furler, the main sheet, and the traveler, while Allan manned the port lines for the jib sheets and the Code Zero, a sort of a spinnaker-like sail, beautiful and a bit tricky. We had 3 other very capable crew, 1 on the starboard side, and 2 running around on the bow giving feedback to the line handlers on sail shape and other intracacies, and working to untangle the Code Zero when it gnarled miserably. And last but most importantly, overseeing all the fun - we had Captain John at the helm. The communication was great between everyone aboard, and we tweaked and finessed the boat to a win across the finish line. We won the big boat prize while John's wife Monique and Captain Mike took the small boat win, and the overall win, on Foggy, the Hobie Cat. John was funny - as Foggy gained, ("Hi honey!" she called as they pulled alongside) he picked up the handheld radio and called Elinor, who was manning the betting on shore, and put more money on Foggy. Remember, the goal is to raise money - all the betting wins go to the schools, so the rules are loose.

Meanwhile, our friend Terri, accompanied by her husband Jay, emcee'd the race from the Sunset Bar on the beach over Ch 68 (a ship-to-ship radio channel) delivering witty remarks and "talking smack" about each boat and her crew, goading people to place their bets, upping the stakes and making the whole thing a lot of fun, although Terri and Jay had to endure the entire afternoon in a bar full of smokers. Even paradise has it's thorns.

Between Cruise-In events we took 5 loads of laundry to the laundry lady in town, bought food at the local Thursday market, joined the yoga class on the beach, hung out by the pool sipping mango margaritas and Topo Chico, ate our fair share of street tacos, and hired Pancho and his incredible crew to wash and wax the boat and shine up the stainless (a thankless job!) We've been enjoying the beautiful Grand Isle Resort that sits like a tiny Mediterranean town at the head of the marina, and reacquainting ourselves with the difficulty of being vegan in Mexico. Nearly impossible, so we've gained back some of the weight we lost when we were living on our 100% plant-based, high fiber, low fat, low sodium, nutrient dense diet in the Revilla's. C'es la vie, we blame the French Baker, who plies his bakery goodies every morning by panga, circling through the marina and the lagoon, ringing his bell, tempting us daily with cinnamon rolls, croissants, sourdough bread, and any number of other low fiber nutrient deficient delicacies.

Today we're excited to be joined by our friends Chris and Jean, former owners of this boat when it was known as Strikhedonia. Chris and Jean spent 6 years in Mexico exploring on the boat and we're happy to have them back aboard for a week or so. Ironically, a few days ago we were anchored in the lagoon at almost the exact spot where, 5 years ago on almost the exact day, we met Chris and Jean and saw the boat for the first time. We'll make plans tonight for the week and then decide what happens after that - Jean flies home on the 26th and Chris is staying with us for our northbound trip to Puerto Vallarta with some stops along the way. In PV we hope to meet up with Jeff on s/v Sea Larks, who is about to launch across the Pacific with his grandson and crew - our friends LeeAnne and Charlie from s/v Juliette.

And so life goes on as we live in this little bubble of happiness, trying to be oblivious to the events at home but of course failing miserably at that. But we're grateful beyond measure that we're here in this beautiful country, enjoying good friends and having adventures, feeling healthy and alive, and able to wiggle our toes in the sand.

I know I'm behind on putting photos in the Gallery, but that's on my list, such as it is.

And, you know by now that you can track us by clicking here:
PredictWind Position

And again, Deneb's Website:
CIENCIASbcs