I left Punta de Mita early to avoid strong, northwesterly, afternoon winds out at the islands. It was a good decesion as I had 10 to 12 knots of wind, from the east, all the way out. I had planned to motor all the way but was pleased to be able to sail on a close reach. As I approached the islands I began to see humpback whales everywhere. By the end of the day I tallied fifteen sightings. The closest was about ten feet off the bow where the whale's back had to have gone under the boat as I passed. I anchored up at the middle of the three islands about one hundred feet off the cliffs. These Islands are designated a bird sanctuary and rightly so. There were a number of species there. The most interesting was the Blue Footed Booby. It's hard to describe the color of there feet but a light florescent blue does it best. I wasn't disappointed in the snorkeling. For the first time I could see twenty feet or more. There were plenty of fish, of numerous varieties, to follow and a few eels to stay away from. I spent most of the day in total isolation except for a short time when a tour boat showed up with a hundred people onboard. They didn't stay long and soon I had the Islands all to myself again. At the end of the day I realized that I never turned on my ipod. Unusual for me as music is my constant companion. I spent the day just listening to the ocean lapping up against the cliffs and the birds quietly calling to each other. Perfect solitude for Solitude.

I left Isla Marieta about 4:30 in the afternoon for a night sail up to Jaltemba about forty miles up the coast. I expected it to take most of the night as it is directly into the prevailing winds. This means I will actually have to sail somewhere near eighty miles to get there. More whales as I left the islands, some breaching, and a quick visit from a pod of bottle-nose dolphin. I'll leave this post with an image of the sun setting in a cloudless sky. Winds 12-15 knots, seas calm. At the last moment, just as the sun finally drops over the horizon, a florescent green blip appears. It doesn't get much better than this.