Yet another amazing sunset at Punta de Mita, Christmas Evening…

Once I arrived here in Banderas Bay, I stayed out in the anchorage at Punta de Mita for about a week.  It was truly lovely and pretty deserted.  There were only four other boats out with me, and I think we all were enjoying the solitude.  Christmas Day for me at least, was phenomenal.  Woke up to patchy clouds, calm seas, but the point was just going off for surfers.  I paddled the SUP (standup paddle board) over to the break and just watched for a couple of hours.  I was watching surfers to my right, and humpbacks to my left.  Could it get any better?  Yup.  When I got back to Willow, I just fell into the water and put my legs up on the board and floated.  And heard the most wondrous whale songs.  My grin was beginning to hurt my face.  Since there were only four of us out here, I made two batches of ooey-gooey brownies and delivered them by SUP in the afternoon to the other boats.  It was a fun surprise for them, and really fun for me to meet the other sailors.  Christmas night, it rained.  And lightning-ed (if that’s a word), and boy, did it lightning!  For over an hour, there was almost a flash/per second, and it was a bit intimidating.  All my good electronic stuff went into the oven, but all for naught.  I recently learned if there’s a window on your oven, the electrical protection is lost.  Sigh…

Even in the rain, Banderas Bay is beautiful…

A few days later, needing clean laundry and a good battery charge, I went on in to Marina La Cruz.  Tackling the laundry first, I hung the heaviest stuff out to dry.  You know, the towels, cloth bath mats I use to keep the salt outside the cabin, sweatshirts, stuff like that.  Kinda like washing your car, it was the signal for more rain.  About four and a half more days of rain!  I was bringing the dock’s aesthetics down!  Finally, a day or two after New Years, the sun came out and my very well-rinsed clothing dried.  I took the bus into Bucerias for some food shopping, and came back out to the anchorage at Punta Mita.  It’s really very nice out here, and since the holiday season is over and the tourists are returning to school and work, the panga traffic is quieting down.

I love it out here, the peace, the vistas, the other sailors.  Rob and Kai from the beautiful Ingrid ketch, Velella Velella, came by today to chat, and what a great couple!  Rob’s quite an accomplished sailor, doing alot of guided tours, tallship work, and wooden boat work.  Additionally, he’s been involved in an America’s Cup campaign or two, and is generally a pretty neat guy.  Kai is from Alaska, and is such a beautiful and fun girl to talk with.  They’re working on trying to find a way to stay out and about, but are also struggling with making the decision to hang things up for a little while so they can strongly support the lifestyle and boat.  I really wish them well, and am so happy they have been able to do what they’re doing to this point.

Saturday morning, I paddled my board into the beach and stowed it while I took the bus to downtown Puerto Vallarta to get my internet gizmo repaired.  The hour and a half ride, each way, was amazing.  I hadn’t been downtown since about 2001-2 when I came for a boat delivery or two.  And after all of the rain, the greenery was even more so.  Additionally, it was great to be able to get back online…  Saturday evening, I put the SUP away on deck and went to bed.  Something woke me up early Sunday morning, so I went out to do an anchor check.  This was when I discovered my SUP gone.  Oh, I was so sad and disappointed.  I could go on and on about it, and pretty much did all day Sunday.  Today, Monday, I put the message out on the VHF net, and if it turns up, it turns up.  If not, hopefully, someone else really needed it much more than I.  I’ll miss it as a great source of balance, exercise, and I successfully used it as my dinghy since I came down here.  Depending on how my next visa visit goes, I’ll try to chase a used one down and bring it back with me.  As well as a cable and lock for the thing…  I thought with it being on deck, I was in good shape.  Live and learn, and I’m moving on…

I’m sending Everyone my best wishes for a wonderful, peaceful, safe, healthful and adventurous 2014!  Go get ’em!  Much love…