We completed the initial trip from Seattle to the west coast of Mexico, arriving at La Cruz in Banderas Bay on Christmas Eve. We are now staying in the Paradise Village Marina in Nuevo Vallarta. The weather here has been great, usually clear with a few clouds when either frontal systems pass to the north or the ITCZ kicks off a tropical jet. Temperatures have been 70-80's during the day and nice cool 60's at night.
The voyage started with Mary and I going around Vancouver Island in July (see
Around Vancouver Island in July, then coming back to Seattle for a few weeks in August to finish preparing the boat for the trip down the coast to San Diego in late August. The trip to San Diego took four weeks and a day, stopping at:
Port Townsend,
Port Angeles,
Neah Bay,
Newport, OR,
Crescent City,
San Francisco (South Beach Marina),
Half-Moon Bay,
Oxnard (Channel Islands Marina),
Marina Del Rey,
Catalina (Descanso Bay and Avalon),
Dana Point,
and finally arriving in San Diego in late September. Details are in our blog
Seattle to San Diego.
Generally we stayed 10-30 nm offshore, where we were outside the 60 fathom line to avoid crab pots but inside the northbound traffic lanes further offshore. We saw many fishing boats, especially at night, but few other vessels.
We spent the time in
San Diego working on the boat, upgrading the Simrad autopilot and adding an Iverson bimini (special thanks to Jason Iverson for getting this done on very short notice!!) with Solbian solar panels from BRJ Solutions in Seattle mounted on the top.
We left San Diego as part of the 2014 Baja Ha Ha in late October, arriving in Cabo San Lucas in early November after an extended stay by the fleet in Bahia Tortugas waiting to see what hurricane Vance would do. After the Baja Ha Ha, we headed north up the the eastern Baja coast to San Jose del Cabo, Los Frailes, Los Muertos, and finally to La Paz (this part of the trip is covered in the post
From San Diego to La Paz).
We spent a couple of weeks in La Paz getting used to living in Mexico before heading up for ten days into the Sea of Cortez to Puerto Escondido and Loreto (see
La Paz to Loreto). From there we returned to La Paz for a week before crossing the Sea to Mazatlan. We stayed in Mazatlan for a very pleasant 8 days before finishing the trip down to Banderas Bay. We'll be staying here in Paradise Village and La Cruz for a while until we figure out where we'll head next (see
La Paz to Banderas Bay).
Some special highlights (good and bad) of the trip:
Passing Solander Island and the Brooks Peninsula in fog and gales,
Otter rafts near Tahsis, BC,
Riding a gale in the Straits of Juan de Fuco from Neah Bay to Port Angeles,
Avoiding large pods of Humpback whales off the Oregon coast,
Racing severe gales into Crescent City,
Staying in San Francisco's South Beach and going to the South Beach Cafe,
Seeing pelicans in Half-Moon Bay,
A night rocking and rolling in Descanso Bay Catalina,
Discovering Black-Crowned Night Herons in San Diego,
Seeing sea turtles south of Bahia Tortugas,
Stepping on jumping squid that landed on deck during the night,
Seeing Magnificent Frigate Birds, jumping Manta Rays, and Blue-footed Boobies in the Sea of Cortez,
Catching a pair of size 36 brown polyester pants on the prop off the harbor entrance to Marina Mazatlan,
Passing over floating long-lines south of Isla Isabela,
Meeting many very nice boating folks along the way, especially the helpful cruiser communities in La Paz, Mazatlan and La Cruz,
The very patient and wonderful people of Mexico!