San Jose del Cabo to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

12/4/14 to 12/7/14

280 Nm; 72 hours; 20 hours on motor

We left San Jose around 1100 after getting 12 liters of diesel, which isn't much. There was a tiny misunderstanding about the price, liters, gallons and all that. Two conversion factors are key in Mexico:

1 US Gallon = 3.8 Liters

1 US Dollar = 14.75 Pesos (at least today)

For the liters and gallons, the mental math is simple enough with a 4:1 ratio. This didn't quite work out for us when we bought fresh water for JUMBLE. In San Jose, we wound up with an extra jug (20 liters) by this mismeasure. We reconfigured the whole fresh water system* this week, so now JUMBLE has a simple 200 liter capacity. Done.

The story on pesos is different. The key is to use them. When we left San Diego it was 13.90 pesos per dollar. Now it's 14.75. If you pay US dollars you get a lousy 12-14 peso exchange rate depending on the store or person you're paying, always rounding in their favor. With the exchange rate creeping towards 15:1, the math is easier.

Back to sailing. We had a good 12-15 knots the first afternoon, which quickly died after sunset. We ran the motor for 7-8 hours and started sailing again the next morning. Light winds prevailed on this passage and we were happy when we had 6–8 knots, allowing JUMBLE to do 4-5 knots on a beam to broach reach. Prevailing winds were from the usual NW, shifting to N on the second day and becoming NE as we approached Bahia de Banderas. The first night out, we decided to skip San Benedicto. The permits would have taken around two weeks to get and we weren't going to wait that long. We were planning to go incognito and hope for the best, but we turned east to the Mexican mainland instead. This was lucky, our freshwater was bad by the second day.*

Another Sunset

Sometimes all we could do was 1.5 to 2 knots, with enough steerage to be +/- 20° off course. We used our electronic pilot in these conditions and played with the spinnaker sheet. Once the wind filled into a whopping 5 knots, we'd switch to the windvane. Thankfully, the seas were also very small, otherwise we'd have been unable to keep the sails filled.

Still unsuccessful on the trolling line

Upwind Sailing!?!

Marietas on the bow

Our morning approach to Punta Mita brought our first upwind leg since Ensenada. Once inside Banderas Bay, the wind went flat and we got to watch a whale and calf cavorting with a dolphin. It was the first time either of us has actually heard a whale vocalizing in person. Very cool. We really need a better camera. We weren't able to get any decent pictures of these whales or the ones we saw outside of Magdalena Bay.

Marietas

Best whale shot we got

We arrived in La Cruz around 1100 and inflated the dinghy for the first time on this trip.

Anna and a Huanacaxtle tree

The Dink

More details about Bahia de Banderas to come. We promise the next post will be more interesting.

*Expect a big whiny post about that one soon