We flew back into La Cruz on the evening of Wednesday, the 15^th of February and Owen’s brother, Harvey, and his girlfriend, Linda, were due to arrive the evening of Saturday, February 18^th.   To say that we had a lot to do to get ready for their arrival would be an understatement!!!

We had tried to get things started before we left to go home but between planning our trip back and tempting Sunday markets, we had not gotten far!!

We had decided that our first task should be a good restock of the boat stores – the last time we had access to a Costco was in Ensenada and I was desperate to stock up some coffee, soda water, canned chicken and other items that could not be obtained elsewhere.  I knew it would also be a good opportunity to grab some good, thick bacon (bacon here is paper thin!) and to stock up the freezer.   My Aunt had flown into Puerta Vallarta the same day we returned and she was eager for us to come for a visit.   We arranged to meet up for a quick lunch and then to do Costco after.   We were lucky to be able to order an Uber from La Cruz (not always available – it just depends on whether a driver is in the area or not) and had them deliver us to the building that my Aunt was staying at.  After having gone over ten years not seeing each other, it was pretty cool to be able to meet up again so soon after seeing her in Chemainus!   After a quick trip to see their unit, we wandered to go for lunch at a nearby “food court” – unfortunately that was not yet open so we settled on a sport bar across the street and enjoyed a long, leisurely lunch.  My Aunt and her partner had had a sailboat on Lake Ontario, and Francesca has long had a love affair with Mexico so there was no shortage of things to talk about!!    We finally pulled ourselves away and walked over to Costco to begin the restock.    After a frightfully expensive trip, we ordered another Uber and had possibly the most terrifying drive of our life back to La Cruz – I was sure happy to get out of that car!!!   As is usually the case after a Costco trip, it was probably a couple of hours before everything was separated, wrapped and into the freezer, with everything else stowed away.    

The first task on Friday was to take literally everything out of the v-berth (which truly acts as our garage normally) and to wash everything down to be sure it was fresh and clean when our guests arrived.   While we had the mattresses out we stored a few more things in the abyss (the storage beneath the v-berth) and Owen installed a cell phone charger, 12 volt fan and connected the reading light that had been installed, but not connected, for years!!!

We managed to stash a few more things under our bed, our sailing gear bags were stored outside for the next couple of weeks and we were finally left with just a few things that would need to be shuffled out of the v-berth every night.

Saturday, we got our laundry back, the bed made up and everything that we could was tucked and tidied in anticipation of our company arriving!

Harvey and Linda arrived on a 5pm flight on Saturday and grabbed an Uber to La Cruz.   We barely gave them a chance to catch their breath when they arrived, dumping their stuff on board and whisking them off to Blanca Ballena for Pina Coladas and dinner.   During dinner, we had a chance to discuss our upcoming itinerary – it was only at that point that we realized Linda had never been sailing!  You sure have to respect someone who is ready to jump on board a boat to travel 200 miles over the course of nearly a week having never sailed before!!   We sure had to hope we didn’t ruin her for sailing!

We had originally intended that we would likely leave the dock on Sunday but as that was market day we decided to stay put through to Monday.  That let everyone explore the market, and let me stock up on fresh bread, fruit and veggies.   We were now truly bursting at the seams and ready to go!!!

We got away a little after noon on Monday, after Owen, Linda and Harvey made a trip to the Port Captain to check us out and to add them to our crew list.  Our first destination was Yelapa, an afternoon’s sail across Banderas Bay.   We arrived just at dinner time and were guided to a mooring ball.   It didn’t take to long to figure out that this was not going to be a really comfortable night – Yelapa is exposed to the swell coming in from Banderas Bay and as soon as the afternoon wind stopped, we turned sideways into the swell and were rocking from side to side.   Linda was feeling the motion pretty quickly but stayed on deck and seemed to manage to keep her spirits up.  I was below trying to make dinner, alternately trying to hold the plates in place and fighting my own queezyness!!!   When my freshly made Chimi-churri dumped into the sink, spilling all the contents all over the dishes, I nearly cried!!!   We managed to eat dinner without any other mishaps and everyone headed to bed early, mostly in hopes that the rocking would lull us to sleep rather than driving us crazy!!!    We had actually intended to leave the next day but we really, really wanted to visit Yelapa so instead crossed our fingers that night two wouldn’t be so bad and called for the water taxi to take us to shore.  Yelapa is very isolated – in our original reading we had understood that there was no road in and everything arrived by water.  In fact there is a very crude road into the community, but old habits die hard and pretty much everyone and everything still arrives by water.  In the old days, the supplies, food and even people who were arriving would be transported up the rather steep streets of town on donkeys – unfortunately the mighty ATV has now mostly replaced the donkeys but it was pretty easy to picture them when we were wandering in and around the narrow, winding, cobblestone streets!!!   We enjoyed breakfast on the beach, watching a steady stream of tour boats arrive, barely finish a drink and be rounded up again for the next part of their tour.   We were sure happy to be doing this at our own pace!!!   We followed the hoards of people up the hill to the waterfall behind town.  When we arrived there was a huge tour group – all doing quasi-photo shoots in the pool underneath the waterfall (that tour guide missed his calling!) and we reluctantly joined the throngs.  But then, we heard the “boat 5 let’s go” and just like that we were the only people there!!!    We explored a bit more of the town and then headed back to the beach for a round of Pina Coladas and then got the water taxi back to the boat for the night.   Night two was quite a bit more settled and pleasant, thankfully!!!

We were up before the sun the next day, intending to make Ipala before dark.   We had a lovely slow sail out of the bay and made it around Cabo Corrientes with no drama (though a little rolling!).   Linda even took the wheel at one point!  We arrived in Ipala and anchored beside the only other boat in the small bay.  Our intention was actually to only stay for a few hours and get rested up before pushing to do an overnight to Bahia Chamela. 

At some point that day we had sailed into some brief cell service and I had received an e-mail that Mom was not having a good day.  Shortly after we arrived in Ipala I received a message on the Zoleo asking me to phone home – I sent a message that I would not have cell service for a couple of days and that I hoped all was well.  Unfortunately, my sister then had to send me a message to let me know that my Mom had passed away that afternoon.  I was shocked and destroyed.  I had spoken to her while we were in Yelapa and she had been telling me she was terrorizing Costco on a motorized scooter on the weekend.    I would later learn that she was happily visiting with friends the day before and after a pretty rough start to the day that day, she went back to sleep and just did not wake up.  Though I was destroyed that she was gone and so saddened that I had not been able to say goodbye to her, I was comforted by the fact that she went exactly as she wanted to: at home, not having wasted away for months.   We considered staying at Ipala for a night to let me wrap my head around what had happened but, more importantly, I wanted to get to cell phone service so we decided to head out as planned.

To say the night did not go well would be an understatement!!!   As soon as Linda tried to go to sleep in the V-berth (which of course did not now have the big hatch open), the pitching waves made her feel sea-sick.  Owen suggested that she should lay down on the floor in the salon as it is the most stable place to be – this was a great suggestion as she was able to get to sleep there.   It should perhaps have been considered, however, that all of the stuff on the settees was not likely to stay put all night!!  I had given up on sleeping, both because I was not enjoying the movement in our bed, and because I couldn’t quite shut my brain off, so I sent Owen off to sleep and took over the wheel.    We did have the windvane driving but with crazy gusts and big rolling seas, it was having a hard time.   I was giving the wheel a bit of an assist every once in a while when we suddenly had a big gust and a contrary wave – the combination of which caused us to pitch first one direction and then the other – in one fell motion, all of the items on the settees went raining down on poor Linda.   I was frantically banging on the back hatch to get Owen’s attention to come to her aid as the wind was still being uncooperative and I didn’t want to leave the wheel.   Owen dug through the suitcase, back pack and various other items to free Linda, who, in her miserable state, had barely noticed how buried she was!!!!   Unfortunately, that would not be the last attack on her – a few hours later another pitch of the boat caused all of the books, etc. that were roped in on the starboard side behind the settee (and which had not moved up to this point in the trip), once again raining everything down on Linda!!!    Owen once again dug her out (joking that he hadn’t even thought to hit the buttons on the electrified tennis racket bug zapper that was squarely on her face!).   

The conditions finally began to improve around sun up and by mid-afternoon we were setting anchor in Bahia Chamela – although we were still in about 20 knots of wind, at least it was flat!!!  I was finally able to call home and had tearful conversations with my sister and Bob, reassured to know that they were holding up okay.   Understandably, Linda really rather wanted to touch shore at that point!!!  She had been a trooper through a tough night but just wanted to feel ground under her feet!  We launched the dinghy and headed into shore where we were able to wander around and then enjoy dinner and very strong pina coladas at a beach side restaurant.   Our departure from the beach did not go as planned – we pushed the boat out, everyone but Owen jumped in and Harvey and I were ready to row as soon as Owen got in – unfortunately he hesitated just long enough for a huge wave to completely swamp and flood the dinghy!  Miraculously none of us ended up out of the dinghy and Owen managed to launch himself in and, with the help of someone who had been fishing on the beach, we got away from the beach and past the surf.   So there we were, with water half way up the inside of the dinghy, Harvey first trying to bail with his flip-flop before I dug out the bailing cup, everyone’s belongings soaked!!!   Linda was remarkedly unphased by this most recent disaster!!!   We were going to make a sailor of her yet!!   After hanging up everyone’s clothes to dry, we all had an early night.

We left Chamela at daylight the next day.  We had originally hoped to be able to make it to Barra de Navidad as that day was Owen’s birthday and his Mom, along with his other brother and his wife, were all awaiting our arrival in Melaque.  Unfortunately, we realized that the only way to do that would have been to do another over-night and instead headed for Tenacatita.

We arrived in Tenacatita mid afternoon and what a paradise it is!!!   The water was 28.7 and calm!!  We finally inflated the paddle board and launched the kayak and Harvey and Linda took a trip into shore – I went for a swim in the glorious water and Owen and I took the toys for a turn once they were back at the boat.   This was a place we would have loved to have hung out for a few days, but with family waiting in Melaque and the date that Harvey and Linda were due to go back to Puerta Vallarta fast approaching, we knew we had to move on.  

We headed out early the next day and slowly sailed/ motor sailed around to Barra de Navidad.   We finally managed to work our way up the narrow channel through the sand bars (thankful to a fellow sailor who had earlier this year posted his GPS coordinates for getting in) and anchored in the Lagoon – such a strange thing to be anchored in about 9 feet of water that was flat calm!!!   We tried to call for the water taxi but, realizing that they were busy running people back and forth to a wedding at the Island Resort, we finally launched the dinghy and went in to meet up with Owen’s family for his birthday dinner (albeit one day late).   It was so good to see everyone and to get healing hugs from family members – so very needed at that moment.  

The next day started off on a high note as the French Baker arrived in the lagoon.   We had heard tales of this wonderful event but weren’t sure we believed them.   But then, sure enough, just after the morning net we hear “zis is the zee French Baker entering zee Lagoon” over the radio – we anxiously starting watching for him and were so excited to see the panga, decked out with display tables of fresh baked pastries, coffee urns and even bottles of wine, approach.   We all chose a treat to enjoy for breakfast.  

We later took a cab to Melaque and joined in on a barbq at the hotel where the family was staying.  Owen’s parents had stayed at this same hotel for all of January and February for many, many years before Covid, and then Owen’s dad’s declining health, stopped their trips.   This was his Mom’s first trip back and it was so nice that Dennis and Cindy were able to accompany her – they only did the month of February and did not stay in the same unit of course, but it was nice for them to get away from the miserable weather and to meet up with friends who had all been staying at the same place for years.  As we had been to visit a couple of times in past years, we were also able to greet people that we had met in our past visits. 

Harvey and Linda were set to catch a bus on the Monday morning from Melaque and decided that morning that, as they did not want to worry about getting themselves and all of their bags to the beach in Barra and then by cab to Melaque in order to make their bus, they would stay at a unit at their Mom’s hotel that night– this would give them a night with air conditioning and they would be a very short cab ride to the bus.     It had been quite a scene that morning – we were again unable to raise the water taxi so we had all four of us, all of their bags, our back pack and the garbage loaded into our very small dinghy!!!   That night we left everyone at the hotel and made our own way back to Barra and our suddenly empty boat!!

We headed in again the next day and spent the afternoon hanging out by the pool before going to dinner with Mom, Dennis and Cindy.   We would spend a couple more days in that routine, heading into Melaque, hanging out with the family and cabbing back to Barra at the end of the day.  

Finally it was March 1 and everyone else was set to fly out.   We again made the trip into Melaque, did a quick trip around the Tanguis (weekly outdoor market) and then handed out hugs, seeing Owen’s Mom, Dennis and Cindy off in their cab for their trip home.

Just like that, everyone was gone and we were left alone in Barra.   It was now time to make plans to start returning north.