After approximately a 3-hour nap, Brian and I woke up around 11:00pm(yes, this is at night!) so we could start our journey south again. We wanted to make the journey (~ 105nm) around Cabo Corrientes (southern most point of Bahia Banderas, which is known for high winds and strong currents) in the early morning hours and get to the next anchorage (Chamela) at a reasonable time the next day. This was a different passage then we made earlier in the trip in that there was no moon, wow it sure was dark out there! We were actually pretty lucky the winds had switched in our favor and we only had to motor sail for a short time. We sailed out from the point approximately 15 miles offshore, which gave us an advantage of the winds and less turbulent seas. Just as the sun was rising, we were able to use the whisker pole and sail wing and wing until we hit the wave point to turn into to Bahia de Chamela, averaging about 6.5 knots. During our passage, several groups of dolphins visited us. We enjoyed the private show they gave us! We watched 2-3 dolphins surface at the same time and do flips or twists in the air then dive back down into the sea. It seemed the more we cheered them on the more they would perform for us! Truly fascinating creatures! We also got to see a couple of sea turtles float by us, lifting their heads as to say they acknowledge us sailing by. As we reached our wave point, the winds had freshened up a bit and we were able to sail all the way into the anchorage with a beam reach at 7.5-7.8 knots.
We reached Chamela late in the afternoon but well before dusk. We gained an hour of daylight as we left Banderas Bay. Chamela is a beautiful bay with several choices for anchoring. There are a couple of small islands (Isla Passavera and Isla Colorado) which are on the south end and recommended as good anchorages for south winds. Since the winds were northwesterly, we choose the north end of bay to anchor. We could see a small village ashore, with a few papalas along the beach with polka music bellowing out to the anchorage. The first thing we notice was that the bay had dolphins leisurely swimming around. We decided that we would just stay here for an overnight to catch up on some much needed sleep. Shortly after nightfall, we fell fast asleep, so we could be ready for our next passage in the morning. We were going to head to Bahia Tenacatita, approximately 40 miles south.