Go West Yong Man

Position as of 03:00 UTC 11°07'N, 121°00'W
We spent last night heading south and this morning we decided to head due west to try and miss a predicted are of light winds. We had a hell of a ride today between 7-8 knots all day. OK 2 knots were current induced but who cares, we ate up the miles today. I am still trouble shooting the radio and think I may have found the fault. The wire that goes from the tuner to the backstay was quite corroded and after hacking off a foot or so, I did hook it back up. It worked a bit better but I suspect the entire length has been compromised. Unfortunately, I don't have an unused piece on board but I can cannibalize the wire from our shore power charging system that connects that to our starting battery. The shore power system can no longer be used anyways as it is a 110V system and we are no longer in the lands of 110V power systems. Tomorrow I'll change the line and see what happens. Hopefully that will solve the problem. I'm about at wits end with this. I've spent the better part of this crossing mucking about with the HF radio and I would like to get it sorted out. It takes so long to do anything while underway. Just inspecting, cleaning and re-installing the existing wire took me the better part of the day. The boat is moving around, you clip on, hang on with one hand and work with the other when on deck, all the while the boat is moving around like a mechanical bull ride. Then you come down below and go work in closed up spaces hat are hot and humid as you can't open hatches for fear of taking a wave on deck. It does pass the time however and when you do finish something, you get a feeling of accomplishment (at least until I turn the radio on and it STILL doesn't work properly).
There is still a lot of bird life around, we saw dolphins yesterday, and there's always the flying fish. At times you see whole schools of them skimming the surface in tight formation. I throw a few off deck that didn't quite understand that there was a boat in the way when they left the water. They aren't more than 3-5 inches long at most but quite interesting. I can't quite figure the evolutionary advantage of a flying fish bit perhaps they are there to make a bit of sport for the boobies and gulls.

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Musings

Position as of 03:00 UTC 13°14'N, 116°09.71'W.
We spent a rather rolly day working our way south towards the ITCZ and a theoretical point in the ocean where we can turn to cross it. It really requires the abilities of a mystic or clairvoyant to try and make sense out of what you hear form others, interpret form weather reports, as well as your own feelings and biases. What else will we do with our time anyhow except discuss these weighty and deep issues, of concern frankly only to ourselves if I'm being honest. The radio continues to work, for some reason and I'm not complaining. I made it through an entire day without digging out my toolbox to fix something. I'm actually quite proud of that!! The day was spent on more routine things, like navigation, cleaning the wee presents off the deck that the boobies leave us each night. Not as bad as David and Linda on Toketie had it apparently though. I was talking to him on the radio earlier and he described one bird that perched on the top of their enclosure on one of their flexible solar panels and created, what he described as a "river of poo" down the side of the enclosure and onto another solar panel. Not a pretty sight I'm sure. What other exciting things did we get up to today, oh yes, we made water, but without running the engine. The Duogen is supplying all the power we need so we aren't tempted to put the solar panels back up. They are safely stowed away in the V-berth until we need them in the Marquesas. We are considering a stop at Fatu Hiva before we got to check in on Hiva Oa in the Marquesas. It is supposed to be a truly spectacular place to visit. The only smallish problem is that it is not a formal port of entry. I'm sure we will work out something. Otherwise a visit would require a pretty good beat to weather to get there.

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Somewhere in The Pacific

After a couple of frustrating days trying to troubleshoot the HF radio I finally gave up. I pulled the entire system apart and hardwired the cooling fan on the radio itself to run constantly when the breaker is on. It seems to be helping but time will tell. I have thought it was a number of times before this so… My big worry isn't for us, we still could hear others, but rather friends and family ashore who would not know what is going on. After I put the system back together this afternoon it didn't work so I said to hell with it and had a nap. When I got up I tried again and it worked well so I sent a couple of short emails and a position update to Yotreps. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Right now Toketie is about 60 miles behind us and if we can't talk to them for more than 24 hours we will slow down to get in VHF range. They are making for the same waypoint.
We've had pretty consistent winds for the past couple of days and we are making 5+ knots most of the time. Over the first full 7 days we averaged 100 miles a day, so we averaged around 4 knots. Not too bad considering the light conditions. After talking to Toketie, we decided to alter course for 5N-130W as the turning point. This on the advice of Don Anderson to try and miss the convection cells in the ITCZ. Since we left, we have seen only one ship other than the fist night. We are in our own little world here. We had a rolly night last night but put a lot of miles west under us. We gybed this morning and are making more south now to try and get into a bit stronger winds. That being said, we are cruising along between 5.5 and 6 knots under a single reefed main and slightly reefed headsail. We are at 13°55'N, 115°38.71'W.

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Little to No Radio

No more Blog entries for awhile, our ICOM 802 HF radio has just about packed it in for some reason. We are fine and in company of friends David and Linda on Toketie

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Slogging Slowly Sothwest

It's 03:30 and we have a bout 3 knots of wind and are doing a whopping 2 knots over ground. We had a great sail all day, 5-6 knots from the NW and then the sun went down and so did the wind. It's one of the things you just deal with. We are still moving and in the right direction. We know that wind will build again. There are a group of boats all within maybe 50-100 miles of each other. We talk a couple of times a day on the radio so I'm glad ours is working. The insulators are a real pain. The lower insulator is the problem and I still am wiping salt residue off of it. We took more salt spray than I thought the first night out. Anyhow, I have backup solution that I will start to build tomorrow with some extra rigging wire and some rubber lined clamps (sounds kinky don't it!). All in all it has been a relaxing day. I needed it to make up for yesterday. I was so frustrated trying to track down the problem. The thing was that I knew I wanted to talk to other people about it but without the radio, no one to talk to. A lovely catch 22.

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The Radio Blues

What do HF radios, antennas, and salt water have in common? Answer, the ability to drive me absolutely nuts. The past few days we have been experiencing intermittent tuning problems with our HF radio. As this is the SOLE communication we have with family and friends, not to mention our source of weather information, this has been of some concern. This morning, I lost the ability to tune the antenna at all. For you non radio type people out there (ok the majority of you) you have to put this box between your antenna and your radio that does magical things so that you HAM radio will think you have a great big antenna available to you. Techromancy is a good term here. Anyhow, I spent ALL DAY working though the complete radio system, antenna, connector wires, antenna tuner, main radio, remote head unit, everything I could think of. I did find a few suspect pieces and each time I fixed what I found, I thought "great, that's fixed then" only to be horribly disappointed when it still didn't work. By 5 PM local time (00:00 UTC) I gave up and decided to try again tomorrow. I listened in on one of the informal radio nets that we talk on and on a whim, tried to call to one of the boats. I got through. That was somewhat of a relief, it's nice to know someone could hear us. I was also able to talk to one of the other boats on that net, Nataraja, with Eric and Emmy aboard. Eric has installed and trouble shot a few of these radios so I described the problem to him. His first guess was that the insulators on the backstay that separate the antenna from the rest of the boat were breaking down, apparently a common occurrence. He suggested a few trouble shooting ideas that I noted for tomorrow (later today). He also said that a conductive film could build up on the surface of the insulator that effectively shorted it out. I again noted that one down. I then talked to our friends David and Linda and if worst came to worst, I would heave to until they caught up and then sail with them in VHF range the rest of the way. A generous offer and a good plan if needed. Meanwhile Cathy started making dinner and decided to grab a rag and carefully wipe down the insulator. It was covered in salt. After I got it cleaned, I turned on the radio and it tuned right up. I SPENT ALL DAY CRAWLING AROUND THE BOAT, TAKING THINGS APART AND PUTTING THEM BACK TOGETHER AND ALL I HAD TO DO IN THE END WAS WIPE OF A LAYER OF SALT LADEN MOISTURE FROM THE LOWER INSUALTER ON OUR BACKSTAY!!!!!!!!! I was both very happy and really pissed off at the same time, all day, oh well, what else would I have done. If Rob is reading this, the situation should sound really familiar, think Volkswagen rabbit and UWO!
Other than that it has been another great sailing day and the forecast is for ideal conditions that should see us across the equator and into the SE trades. If the radio is still working, I will send this out, if not………

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Sailing, Sailing

Another day on the ocean and another day of sailing, albeit slowly. The wind came in around 2:00 am and we managed to get a 24 hour run of 106 miles. Considering the light winds we were pretty happy. The grib files show more wind west of 110 and we are getting there. Once there it looks like a good ride all the way south. Busy day today, put a line out and after a few hours something big hit it and after a short fight, it took the lure and left. A boat about 30 miles behind us caught an 18 lb yellowtail so they are out here. I'll try again tomorrow with stronger line. Showers this morning (that ones for you Keith), Cathy made a try of lemon squares and started a knitting project. I haven't asked yet what she's making or for who but I'm sure I'll find out eventually. Currently reaching along between 4-5 knots in lovely seas with a full moon. The moon rise this evening was absolutely spectacular. The moon rose as a huge orange ball, it was quite a sight.

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Wind, Wind Oh Please some Wind

It's been a very quiet day out here. We have been under power since just past midnight trying to get west out to the wind. We can motor for another 18 hours or so and then we drift. I understand that there may be wind out around 109W by noon tomorrow. The day was spent catching up on sleep, and generally both Cathy and I are both well rested and looking for wind. A few little jobs today, cleaning bird poo off the bow pulpit after our hitchhiker Boobie spent the night perched there pooing. I swear they are simply a whole bunch of poo wrapped up in feathers. OK it was cool to have a hitchhiker but after cleanup today I greased the pulpit and no birds tonight!! We have been keeping in touch with Toketie and they are drifting waiting for wind. As of 02:00 UTC, they were around 80 miles behind us. They however spent a lot of time motoring the first day so have to conserve now. They both are quite happy and waiting for wind in the sun and calm seas is like being at anchor without jetskis. Hmm maybe I'll shut the motor off. Depending on what happens with wind, we may be doing the same by tomorrow. Currently we are running reduced revs and with almost a knot of current with us we are making 4.5 knots good on our course to the Marquesas.
Yeah, there's wind. I came on watch at 08:00 UTC and we had enougvht wind to sail, so motor off after 25 ½ hours, hopefully for the next 10 days at least until we turn south.

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Sun, Sea and Squid

After a boisterous night last night, the winds eased out and out and out today. We have been averaging just over 3 knots all day but we are sailing. We have to get out to 110 West longitude before we get steadier winds. When I went up on deck this morning to shake out the reefs in the main I found a dead hitchhiker on the coach roof just aft of the mast. It seems that squid can fly. Must have got washed up in the waves we were taking on deck last night. No problem, throw it over the side. A couple of hours later, Cathy finds another one in the cockpit. Must be from the waves we had coming into the cockpit last night. We had a pretty wet cockpit but we both managed to avoid any soakings. It's now 2:00 am and we ran out of wind an hour ago so we are motoring at low revs until we get some wind. Oh well, use the fuel now or later, at some point we won't be able to. The sea is actually glassy calm with just a gentle swell.

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50 miles out

We managed to clear out of Mexico officially, and it only took 3 hours. What a bureaucratic process that was. Anyways, done, done and done. We picked up our fresh groceries and were back at the boat before 3 pm and after stowing the dinghy, solar panels, flushing and stowing the outboard, stowing the groceries and generally making sure everything was secure, we upped anchor at 16:15. The wind was 15 knots from the west and we wanted to go west so we started our trip sailing to weather. Oh well, I never claimed to be a gentleman. The wind has stayed constant so no fuel burned other than what was required to get us out of the anchorage. The seas are 3 meters or so and the wind has stayed steady at 10-15 knots. We are close reaching and generally heading in the right direction. We are paralleling our intended track about 10 miles south of it. We are almost out to 105 degrees west and hopefully the winds will continue to veer more north and we can ease of the wind somewhat. It may take another 12-24 hours though. We'll just have to see how it goes. We are doing an informal sched with Toketie at 02:00 and 14:00 UTC on 3870 or 3880 MHz. I have also stared checking in with Pacific Seafarers so they call us now every night.
There is a lovely full moon tonight which helps with watches and all in all the boat is performing extraordinarily well. The Monitor wind vane has had the helm since the sails went up and is doing a stellar job steering up over and down the swells.

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Happy St. Patricks Day and We're OUT OF HERE

We arrived in Manzanillo on Friday in company with Toketie and Jabula. We have had such a wonderful time getting the 6 of us together. Bruce and Jeannie are absolutely wonderful people and have been so generous. They came to Manzanillo in order to see us off on our BIG TRIP across to the Marquesas. They hosted a dinner last night that was to die for. Jeannie created an absolutely beautiful Indian curry with accompaniments. We had a blast. Today was spent on last minute "round tuit" jobs and generally getting Tarun stowed for the long passage west. Tomorrow is the Zarpes, and final formalities and then by late afternoon, we should be upping anchor and sailing west. The winds are fantastic right now with 15-20 from the north all the way to the coast which means no motoring to get to the wind. The forecasts all look good for the long run and hopefully in 21-25 days we will make landfall in the Marquesas. It's just over 2800 nautical miles from Manzanillo, should be quite a trip.
I have managed to get a decent internet connection in the anchorage off Las Hadas marina and have updated the web site (www.svtarun.ca) with pictures from Mexico and also a link to the Yotreps position reporting site so people can watch us crawl along the pacific ocean. I'll probably write more tomorrow after we get underway and get into the swing of night watches again. We are going to try 20:00 to 08:00 split 3 on and 3 off. And see how that works out.

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Dinghy Landing 101

Lessons in Beach Landing
1) Find a good beach, preferably with a lot of people around
2) Find a dinghy
3) Wait for the surf to go away
4) After waiting a few days for the surf to go away, get in your dingy anyways and head for shore
5) Put your wheels down (if equipped, and yes, you can have wheels on a dinghy!!)
6) Grow two more eyes in the back of your head. This helps relieve the whiplash you tend to get by trying to watch the beach and the waves behind you at the same time
7) Wait
8) Wait some more
9) Wait a little longer
10) Choose to head for shore and try not to surf your dinghy, they are NOT good surf boards
11) Hit the shore cut the motor and pull the dinghy up before the next wave breaks on the beach
12) Bail out the dinghy (from the wave that crashed over the back of the dingy on the way to shore)
13) Put on dry clothes
14) Have fun on shore and don't worry about the fact the waves look bigger from shore

Lessons in Beach Launching
1) Put on you wet clothes (the ones you took off when you got to shore)
2) If there are more than two of you, find a volunteer to swim out past the breakers (take one for the team as it were)
3) Pull the dinghy into the surf with the bow pointing out
4) Put your wheels UP
5) Stand in the surf and study the waves that are crashing over you
6) Wait until you are pretty sure that you can get past the breaking waves and jump in the dingy
7) Put the motor down (alternatively row like heck)
8) Start the motor, swear when it stalls, start it again.
9) Head straight out through the surf and try not to turn sideways
10) Get back to the boat
11) Bail out the dinghy
12) Clean the sand out of the dinghy
13) Clean the sand out of your shorts
14) Have a relaxing beverage and be happy that you aren't striping your outboard motor down because you flipped in the surf

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Goodbye Tenacatita

We had a packed few days in Tenacatita. Tuesday we had a great dinner on Toketie, Wednesday, we left David on Toketie to install the new antenna tuner and I took Cathy, Linda and David's daughter Phoebe up the river to the outer anchorage. The jungle cruise is always lots of fun. The swell was running pretty good so getting in was fun, surfing with 4 of us in the dinghy. We all stayed dry and other than pushing a lot of current that was flowing out of the river we made it in. Our friends Barry and Sandra from Passatt II followed us in. No worries. The trip up the river was fun, except for the yahoos who think that they can scream through there at full throttle despite the fact that it is only basically wide enough for one boat in a number of places. The panga drivers were MUCH more considerate. Coming out was a bit more of a challenge. We couldn't get all the way out of the last bend in the river so we hauled the dinghy up on shore, put the wheels down and walked it along the beach until we reached the outside. There was more swell than we had ever dealt with coupled with the fact that we had four of us in the dingy. However, we were all prepared, everyone was wearing their bathing suits. Linda and Phoebe volunteered to swim out past the breakers once Cathy and I got the dinghy out. We walked out into the surf and waited for the right combination of waves and got out just fine, in fact Cathy barely got wet at all. Linda and Phoebe had a good swim and we ended up with a nice dry dinghy and motor Barry and Sandra however did not get off so easily. The took one wave over the bow while waiting and then Barry ended up leaving Sandra standing in the surf when he got in the dinghy and started rowing out. Sandra stood for a short time in the waves and then decided that standing in breaking waves was not a lot of fun and walked back to shore. The waves calmed down and she swam out, no problem except for bent glasses. The really good news was that when we got back, David had the tuner installed and it worked so they are back on HF again. A big worry off their minds.
Yesterday was supposed to be a day of rest but after fixing the compass light, changing the oil in the gearbox and spending 2 hours in the water scrubbing the crap off the bottom of the hull, I was pretty much exhausted. The bottom cleaning was tough this time. I did it three weeks ago but after spending two weeks in the "nutrient rich waters of Puerto Vallarta" (a nice way of saying it is basically an open sewer), everything underwater was pretty bad. I didn't realize how cold I was getting until I got out. I used our new solar shower to rinse off then sat in the sun in the cockpit out of the wind as was shivering. Maybe next time I'll remember that I bought a new 3 mil wetsuit for just these sorts of jobs! We had Barry and Sandra over for dinner as well as Eric and Emmy off Nataraja, a couple who we fist met on Catalina Island. We keep running into them so took advantage of the fact that we were in the same anchorage. A great dinner. The pressure was on me though when I found out after Eric and Emmy arrived that Eric was a professional chef. I was making curry. It all turned out fine.
We upped anchor this morning and are slowly working our way down to Melaque, a small village outside Bara de Navidad. There is a lagoon at Bara but it has at least 50 boats at anchor and according to reliable sources it is worse than Puerto Vallarta for water quality. We will spend a few days in Melaque then head further south to Manzaillo.
One last word on Tenacatita. I think that if we had stayed there much longer, I would have led a revolt against all the attempts at organizing the anchorage that the RBer's are constantly doing. When you hear comments on the beach when you are standing looking at the waves like "why are you just standing there?", you know that they don't understand the sheer beauty of the ocean. Standing looking at the waves, gazing up at the night sky, watching the sun go down, lazing around with a good book in the afternoon, these are some of the enjoyments that sailors get. RBer's are constantly trying to impose their RULES on us, well, that won't work, I am not here to follow their rules. RBer's want to be doing something with other people all the time. Luckily, most RB'ers don't cross oceans, ever, so we will likely see less of that mentality in the south pacific.

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Puerto vallart to Tenacatita

We managed to get the sails up shortly after 13:00 AND SAILED UNTIL 22:00 WHEN THE WINDS FINALLY DIED OUT. We ran basically downwind, mostly under headsail and mizzen. We had the big heavy Genoa up that Derek and Anthea had given us in 2006 before they left and it was a great sail. It was made for the boat which is amazing as it most definitely was not made for this boat. Anyways, we had a great sail while it lasted and then motored our way through the rest of the night. We arrived in Tenacatita around 07:00 and were comfortably anchored by 07:40. There are a number of boats here that we know so we should be busy catching up with them over the next few days. Already we had fresh banana bread on Toketie and then were invited to a potluck supper. Toketie (David, Linda, and Pheobe), Passat II (Barry and Sandra), and Jabula (Bruce and Jeannie) were all on board. A wonderful evening and a defacto Blue Water Cruising Association BURP (Bluewater Unofficial Rendezvous Party).

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Closing the Door on Puerto Vallarta

Well another week has come and gone, and a fun filled week it was. Rob and Nancy arrived in the wee hours of last Sunday and Cathy and I spent a few hours at their hotel sitting by the pool and generally catching up Sunday afternoon. We all came back to Tarun and went for dinner with Andre on Symbiosis. Nancy has a Hungarian background on her fathers side and Andre was tickled to have another one on board for dinner. There ended up being 9 of us in total for dinner and Andre outdid himself. The soup was fantastic. We didn't really have much more of a chance to catch up with him the rest of the week. Monday we poked around with them and stayed around the marina. Had a great dinner at Victors and as per usual felt the consequences the next morning. We did leave the dock however bound for La Cruz. The idea was to anchor at La Cruz for a night or two and then head over to Yelapa then back to PV. Well the anchorage was less than desirable, windy and very bouncy. We started bucking enough to slap the bow down into the water so discretion being the better part of valour, we headed back to PV. We did have a great sail both ways so the day wasn't a total loss. The next morning (Wednesday now), we got a good start and motored to Yelapa, 15 miles or so from Puerto Vallarta on the south side of Banderas Bay. The anchorage is quite deep but there are moorings. We got to the entrance and a panga came out and asked if we wanted a mooring. As there is no real anchorage we said OK. This young guy was way out, while his buddies stayed closer in. Well, we were approached again but a deals a deal so we said no thanks to the other offers and continued in. The panga directed us to the mooring, helped get our line through the bridle, then told us that he would be happy to take us to shore and return us. The total for all of this, 100 pesos (just under $10.00 CDN). A good deal. The beach landing would have been challenging (read VERY WET). The panga never touched Tarun, dropped us on the beach in front of the Palapa that he worked for (or with, not sure of the relationship) and we had lunch there as it was going to be as good as any of the other places on the beach. We sat in the shade, watching the water, the boats, the other tourists, and the panga beach landings which were very impressive. A full speed run to the beach with the engine killed and pulled up as they slid up the beach. They made it a good 20-30 feet up the beach before stopping, very James Bond(ish). After a relaxing lunch, we walked up through the village of Yelapa which is on the side of the hill. No roads, no cars. Transportation was by foot, burro, horse, or a few ATV's. There is a waterfall that sits above the village that was is their prime "attraction". A lot of vendors, trying hard to scratch a living lined the walkways. Cathy bought a small bracelet from a couple of enterprising young girls who had set up a table. They asked 20 pesos and instead of bartering, we paid and were both blessed by the young girl, very touching really. We made it back to PV by around 18:30 and had a great meal aboard. Thursday we played tourist and took Rob and Nancy into PV. We wandered around, found a place for a small bite to eat, wandered around, found another small place to eat, wandered around, found another place and so on. We had great food and found a truly excellent pizza place in the tourist area (zona romantica). The intent of the day was to find the wine festival that was supposed to be happening. We never did find it but had a great time anyways. Friday we all decided that as Rob and Nancy had not really used their all inclusive very much (they slept on board Tarun, ate with us etc.) we would all take a day the resort. Cathy and I showed up before 09:00 to get a full day of it, paid our $45.00 each which gave us complete access to food, drinks, pool etc. The day was spent eating, lying in the sun, having a drink at the in pool bar, reading, napping, and generally relaxing. That evening, the hotel put on a Mexican Fiesta on the beach. The food was great and the entertainment was really quite good. They had a Mariachi band play for around 45 minutes then after a short break, presented cultural displays from various states around Mexico. They included dances, rope work (lasso's), and machete dances. It was very impressive. Saturday night we finished off the visit with an absolutely fabulous dinner at an Italian restaurant. They had a special on for the wine festival, four course meal with wine pairings. That basically took us to the time to say goodbye to Nancy and Rob as they had to fly back at around 01:30 Sunday morning and had to get the airport early for check in. A busy week and great fun. It was wonderful to have good friends come and share part of our cruise.
Sunday was ideally going to be a day of rest but not to be. David and Linda had managed to arrange the delivery of a new antenna tuner from Victoria with friends who were showing up on Saturday night. Arrangements were made to meet them at their hotel to get the tuner Sunday morning. The hotel was just behind one of the big grocery stores (Sorianas) so we finished out last minute provisioning there and headed back to Tarun. I spent the afternoon filling diesel tanks, cleaning up the diesel I spilled, filling all available diesel jerry cans (I'm testing the two I bought for David and Linda), and washing the boat. Cathy tackled the inside, got the food put away, cleaned and vacuumed. When all was said and done, it was getting on to 18:00 so we headed off to one of the local sports pars for dinner and a coke. On the way back, we ran into Andre again, which was great as we had tried to find him all day and hadn't connected. We had a good gab, said our goodbyes and left another new friend behind. He will hopefully get away from PV in the next year or so and continue on to the south pacific. We will keep in touch.
This morning we were up at 06:00, underway by 06:45 and heading SOUTH. Passat II, friends from Blue Water are underway with us, although a bit ahead of us I think. They left from La Cruz. We plan to buddy boat with them to Tenacatitas and hang out for a week or so before we had further south to Manzanillo to clear out and head across to the Marquesas. That will be a whole new adventure!

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