The wind is still looking favourable for us to be able to get offshore early next week. It looks most likely like a Tuesday afternoon departure, but if the wind builds a bit, we may even get away on Monday afternoon. We really hope that the weather window doesn't fall apart again like it did last week!

This time, we don't have much to do to leave. We still have all of our food that we bought for our departure last week, so we just need to top up the fresh vegetables and then we can head off.

Of course, before we go, I need to get back in the water and scrub the barnacles off the bottom again, even though I cleaned it just a week ago. Banderas Bay is famous for fast bottom growth and we are sure seeing that. The barnacles are tiny, but each one will slow us down a little bit. Besides, once we get to the French Polynesia I will have to swim with the sharks clean the bottom and I'm not sure how I feel about that yet.

The picture is of Dee and I with three other boats that are also getting ready to cross the Pacific Ocean. The young couple on the right are Jose & Gina from s/v Carthago, John and Deb from s/v Moonshadow are on the left, and Allen from s/v Nauti-Nauti is in the foreground. Moonshadow and Nauti-Nauti both plan to leave on Wednesday while Carthago most likely won't leave for a couple of weeks. Even thought we are all leaving at nearly the same time, because of the large distances involved and the varying boat speeds, we probably won't see them again until the Marquesas.

Send us your positive energy and keep your fingers crossed that we get the wind that we need this time!