We are back here on the Baja after two and a half months on the mainland. It was a good time, great travel but like all trips, it is good to be back home. Our impressions are that we will go back; it isn't as clean or pristine as the baja; there are more people; the water is not near as clear and is smelly compared to here; and being open to the Pacific it is rolly.

Our passage went very well. We left La Cruz on Friday and went out to Punta Mita for the night. Scott and I both got in the water to dive on the boat to check out the bottom cleaning we had done only to find they did a awful job. Didn't touch the prop, shaft or struts. One of the rare times hat we've had less than perfect work when we've hired work done down here. After getting out of the water we had to shower as we felt dirty and had this dirty water smell; kind of like a green lake smell if that makes sense. The water has a lot of algae in it as evidenced by the whales and other marine life that is in great numbers here who eats that stuff. It sure makes the anchor locker smell and stuff grows fast on the chain. We left with a buddy boat, Alex ll or Summer Wind. Kevin is from the UK and is a great guy, single sailor so we buddied with him all the way to Matzatlan. We woke Saturday morning to him circling our boat with his yelling to wake us up at 7am. We were under way in about 10 minutes following him out the cut along with 4 other boats. This time of year it is a parade North.

The sail was uneventful but it was really a motor trip as we only were able to motor sail with no wind over 5-10 knots and mostly on the lighter side. About 26 hours later on Sunday we pulled into the Stone Island Anchorage in Matzatlan to rest and prepare for the next leg over to the Baja. We got a good nights sleep and woke about 6:30, easy since there was a time change, to head over to the fuel dock to fuel up before we head across the Southern Crossing. It was quite the line up so we ended up waiting at an empty dock awaiting out turn. Our turn came and then out the narrow entrance to Matzatlan at 9:30am. We were outbound and homeward bound. It was very light winds to start and we did get to motor sail for a couple hours when the wind clocked around after leaving the shore area. About 6pm the wind, which had been projected to be NW and would have been perfect for sailing as we were on a perfect 270 degree west heading, moved to exactly 270 degrees right on the nose. It was the perfect sailing experience; no matter where you are going the wind is on the nose. The seas were as expected with 15-20 knots, lumpy. It was a good thing I had prepared a pan of enchiladas that could just be put in the oven for dinner that night.

We got good sleep underway with 5 hour watches and right outside of our baja anchorage a gray whale surfaced right in front of us. We had to go to neutral to avoid hitting it. We've had so many whale experiences these past few weeks it has been amazing. We are glad to be back and look forward to our next few weeks of experiences in the Sea before we head home for a daughter's graduation from college.