Our original plan when we were getting ready to jump over to the mainland was to cross to Isla Maria Isabella (where I have been assured I would see Blue Footed Boobies!) and then to hop down the coast to finally arrive in Banderas Bay.

Unfortunately, while we were waiting to be able to leave Bahia Falsa, we received word from home that my Mom’s cancer was progressing and that her prognosis had been downgraded.   Our focus now was to get the boat across the sea and to get me somewhere that I could fly home from.   Originally, we had contemplated heading straight to Barra de Navidad – Owen’s Mom was going to be in Melaque with one of his brother’s and his wife for the month of February, and his other brother and girlfriend were scheduled to join us for part of our trip, beginning mid-February.    We had therefore considered leaving Owen and the boat safely in the lagoon, with me flying out from Manzanillo.   Owen instead decided that he really also wanted to go home to see my Mom, and we therefore decided that we had a better chance of getting a slip in Banderas Bay so that we could both go.

The progress was excruciatingly slow – there was next to no wind for much of the trip but we don’t carry enough fuel to allow us to motor the entire way across so we had to settle for some very light-wind progress.   Our first day out we had no wind at all until we were at the bottom end of Jacques Cousteau Island, at which point we were on our ear for about 2 hours, only to have the wind die again until mid-day the next day.   We did have beautiful, champagne sailing day 2, but unfortunately not particularly fast sailing.   We actually launched our spinnaker and managed to fly it for a couple of hours, until the wind moved too far forward.   Of course, shortly after moving forward, the wind stopped completely and we spent the next six hours listening to the motor!  Day 3 again saw a mix of slow sailing, drifting and motoring.   The seas were starting to build a bit, making it a bit less comfortable.   We did have a whale come right up to the boat, which was pretty exciting!  Once the wind finally filled on Day 4 it made for some fantastic sailing all afternoon – downwind in 10-15 knots of wind.   We paid for the wonderful day of sailing however when, at about 6pm, the wind increased to 20, gusting 25 knots, with huge, lumpy seas.   For 2 ½ hours, we just held on, being spanked by the big seas, and sliding down them in a most ungainly fashion.   I did see 8.6 knots speed on one of those surfs though.   Just as quickly as the wind had built, it died out and finally, there was no wind and confused seas, so we fired up the engine about 2am.   Day 5 was yet another mix of conditions – the wind filled in the afternoon before dying out again as dark fell, leaving big lumpy seas in its wake.   We did see turtles swimming past the boat and wondered what they were doing out there, quite a way offshore!   The wind finally began to fill again very early the next day and finally, after 5 ½ days, we sailed into Banderas Bay.    We headed into La Cruz and anchored with about 40 other boats, just outside of the marina.

I was quite disappointed to see a ton of garbage in the water as we came into Banderas Bay – we were motoring along, after having doused the sails, and there was literally a stream of garbage going by.   The water is also really murky – I was expecting pristine, clear water!    There are a lot of fish though, like a lot, a lot!!!   I was sitting in the cockpit when I heard a bubbling noise from the side of the boat.   I was genuinely concerned that we might be sinking when I looked over the boat to see dozens of fish just milling around our hull – we would later see tons of them in the marina as well – no idea what they were but they were plentifull!

We had hoped the entire way across that we might wander into some internet somewhere along the way so that we could start to make arrangements to go home, but had been completely out of touch (other than our Zoleo) for the entire 5 ½ days.   Therefore, we were quick to begin reaching out to marinas to see if we could tuck Solstice Tide away for a couple of weeks.   Our first calls were not productive – one immediate no, one “we will need to get back to you” and one no response.   Owen followed up with both Marina La Cruz and the Paradise Village Marina by email to reiterate what we were looking for and asked them to let us know if there was any chance they could get us in.   Thankfully, we had an email back from Marina La Cruz a few hours later to confirm that they could in fact accommodate us!   We had arrived in La Cruz on a Thursday and were going to be able to go into the marina on Saturday.   Now we had to look at flights – luckily we were able to book a flight direct from Puerto Vallarta to Vancouver for the following Monday.    Having made those arrangements, I was able to call my Mom to let her know we were going to be on our way to see her.   She was very happy to hear the news.

The stress of not knowing if we could go home being gone, we decided to go in and grab dinner in La Cruz.  Marina La Cruz offers a dinghy dock (usually 100 pesos for the day but the staff were gone for the night so our first night was a freeby).   We tied up there and walked into town – and what a town it is – when you approach from the water you see big towers along the beach and the marina – when you wander out of the marina you find a quaint village with cobblestone streets, small restaurants, tiendas and a town square.   From inside of the village, it is easy to forget that the development on the adjoining beach is even there!   We absolutely loved La Cruz!

We had done some google mapping and found a cute little taco place to try – Fonda Coqui.   We were sadly the only people eating there – hard to believe as the food and drinks were fantastic!!!

Friday saw us taking our laundry in to be done (we had been at Falsa for nearly a week, followed by 5 ½ days to cross so the laundry bag was definitely full!)  We stopped in at a restaurant right at the entrance of the marina (Blanca Baleena) – we had originally dismissed it as a “gringo” restaurant, and it was.  It did however have amazing pina coladas and absolute fantastic burgers (and fries that had been limed and salted – heaven!)!   We spent the afternoon trying to figure out what we needed to sort out before we could leave the boat, and also trying to figure out where we were going to put our guests when they arrived!!!   Our v-berth is definitely somewhat of a garage, storing our gear bags, warm clothing, our wind-steering vane, a couple of crates of food that don’t otherwise have a home, and various other odds and sods so this was going to be a challenge!

We moved the boat into the marina on Saturday – it had been nearly 3 months since we had been on a dock and it showed!!!   Getting Solstice into the slip did not go very well – I gave up on the first attempt, ended up turning around in a very, very narrow fairway and made an attempt from the other direction – they did finally manage to get us caught and turned into the slip but not without a scrape on the already crappy paint job!!!   It had been fairly rolly in the anchorage so being at a slip was a bit unnerving – other than a gradual back and forth movement with the surge, it was so still!!!     We went into town and grabbed our laundry – it is quite a trek around the marina so we were pretty overheated by the time we got back.   We went back into town that night to attend a charity dinner for a local family – they had prepared various dishes and bought some premade desserts and the money raised was going to help with medical costs for a family member who had been in a motorbike accident.    We had hoped it would be a bit more of a community event but was really just a food-stall.  We were still happy to be able to contribute to the community in even a small way.  We of course took advantage of being in the marina that night and had showers up at the clubhouse – I am sure Owen enjoyed not having me outside the door reminding him to turn off the water when not needed!!!

I woke up on Sunday with a running list of all of the things that we needed to get done that day – I popped up in the cockpit and was super excited to see that it was Market Day – there was a market setting up along the entire length of the Melacon that runs around the marina and, as it turns out, the market also extended into the town square.   All items on my to-do list were put on hold until we were able to explore the market.   It nearly killed me that I couldn’t grab any of the yummy looking fruits and veggies as we needed to empty the food out of the boat, not add to it!!!   We did grab a loaf of bread (we could eat that in one day – no problem!) and a Nanaimo Bar (so good).   We also went to the “food court” for lunch – there were various food stalls set up but we were drawn to a stall manned by Abuela, Abuelo and the grandson (or so we imagined)  – the tortillas were being made fresh and everything else looked so amazing – the tacos were huge and amazing!!! We did finally make it back to the boat to get our stuff packed and to give the boat a much needed bath (3 months of salt build up takes a bit to get off!).

On Monday morning we emptied the last bit of food out of the fridge and garbage out of the boat, grabbed showers and locked the boat up – it was so strange to walk off down the dock knowing we would be gone for a week – she has been our only home for months!!!   Our flight was at 4pm so we grabbed a cab to the airport just after lunch.   Next stop – Canada!!!