It's night now. Dee is down below, fast asleep. She'll be relieving me in another four hours or so. Speakeasy is sailing along easily at about 7 knots on an extremely pleasant beam reach in about 12-15 knots of warm, tropical wind. The near-full moon just rose and is almost annoyingly bright, it's light dimming what was a brilliant blanket of stars.

Every 15 minutes or so I get up. I take my time to look all the way around the horizon for any lights which could mean a ship, or fellow traveller, heading our way. So far tonight, we seem completely alone, which suits me just fine. All is good in our little ship, our little world, that we call Speakeasy.

The Baja HaHa rally that we participated in is now over. Earlier today we said good-bye to our friends Phil, Sharon, Dave, and Deb who will be spending another couple of days in Cabo San Lucas before flying back to their homes. It was great spending time with them, something I wouldn't have missed for the world, but at the same time, we are looking forward to being on our own once again. Good-byes are a regular part of cruising as friends, and other boats, roll in and out of our lives.

Rolling the clock back a few days, our last stop of the rally was Bahia Santa Maria. We arrived completely exhausted after a windy & very enjoyable leg that meant that none of the crew really got much sleep over a 30 hour sail. After a night where we slept like the dead, we headed ashore for a beach party and some exploring. Dee & Sharon headed up the dry and rocky mountains for a hike while the rest of us stayed closer to the cold beer. It is worth pointing out that there is nothing here, or anywhere near hear. But, we still have cold beer, a band, and great Mexican food. To get here, it had to travel via several ferries, and be driven across miles of beach, only accessible at low tide. Yes, our Mexican friends are very hard working.

We ended the day exploring the mangrove swamp by dinghy, and then returned to our boat for a bit of an after-party, listening to (and butcheringÉ) songs that we all remembered from the 80's.

Now that Dee and I have sailed south on our own from Cabo, we should arrive in Nuevo Vallarta Marina, in Puerto Vallarta, in a couple of days. We expect it to take about 40-50 hours to cover 300 miles, which will mean two nights at sea for us. With one of us always up, keeping watch and driving the boat, these trips are always a test with only two aboard. We'll be looking forward to some rest once we arrive.

Another 15 minutes have gone by. It's time for me to take a good look all around again. At the same time, I'll probably spend a few extra minutes enjoying the reflection of the moon the water. It's a good life.