We left San Jose del Cabo yesterday morning and set sail for the mainland Mexico. The closest point is Mazatlan at 180 miles. Our original plan was to leave from San Jose del Cabo marina and go to Los Frailes. We did try that one day and got to within 8 miles and had to turn back as the winds and the waves were just too much. We were reefed to the 2nd reef in the main and had the staysail out and we couldn't punch through the waves unless we took a big tack out and back in which would have meant hours and hours of uncomfortable sailing to do 8 miles. So we decided since we have no fixed schedule, we would turn back and try it another day. The next day the winds were forcast to be similar in the Sea of Cortez so we decided to stay one more day at the marina and when the conditions are good, head directly across to the mainland. We had a great day of sailing yesterday as the winds were in the 12-15 knot range with some chop and whitecaps but nothing uncomfortable. We zoomed along reaching speeds of up to 7 knots and the boat was riding along quite comfortably. Around sunset, the winds died down to about 6 - 8 knots and we needed to motorsail to keep up our speed of 5 knots which we need in order to arrive during daylight hours at Mazatlan. As it is, it's now 1pm and we still have about 20 miles to go so that is another 4 hours. We will arrive just before sunset. This morning there was hardly a breath of wind for a couple of hours and now it has switched around to the south and is only blowing maybe 5 knots so once again we are motor sailing. At least it also gives us a good charge on the battery bank as well as we were able to fill our water tanks by making water. It is such an amazing thing to see this little machine and it pumps out fresh water from salt water after filtering it through a tube called a membrane. I don't know who invents these things but thankfully someone does. We will probably stay in a marina here for a few days as there are not that many places to anchor. We don't know how long we will stay but I don't think for more than 3 or 4 days and then on to Isla Isabella. It's a tiny island which is a bird sanctuary. You can walk the island among the booby birds and the frigate birds and their chicks. And from there we are just making our way south to Puerto Vallarta with whatever stops we feel like making along the way. It's looking like we might be in PV for Christmas which is a weird thought because it's so hot here that I can't even bring myself to think about it. So no shopping or hoopala for us this year. Ian is still trying to catch a fish and so far nothing. We can actually look down from the side of the boat and see fish swimming along in the shadow of the boat but they don't seem at all interested in his lures. Guess there is always the fish market in Mazatlan...