A Little Catch Up

Baby Whale

Baby Whale Being Observed

Croc Sunning

Pelican Alley

Let's see... where were we? Ah yes, I'll start backwards this time and have to write something more complete tomorrow. Today we did what has been sorely lacking for the last two months! We washed the boat. This is because we are in a marina again for the first time in all that time. We have shore power hooked up so I am not fussing over batteries and concerned over water shortages and the like. At anchor we have always been able to supply at least semi-easily but washing the boat is a real luxury!! The mud from the anchorage in Barra de Navidad was pernicious and crept into everything. Sand also got into lots of places and you cannot imagine the fun it is to wash and wash and wash and still see stuff coming out!! It's not exactly a safety issue but it sure is an important aspect of living on a boat. Washing with salt water just goes so far. So many people have water makers these days I get odd looks sometimes when I talk about our putting water aboard in 5 gallons bottles. There is a big power issue with installing a water maker so until or unless we solve our power capacity I can't see having a water maker on board. It would be more comfortable though. So what have we been doing, you ask? The anchorages south of Puerto Vallarta are fantastic!! We left some to be discovered at a later date but there have been some great places. In Santiago Bay near Manzanillo we had the whale visit. A mother and her calf very, very close to the boat were entertainment and a half for hours. What the picture doesn't tel you is the people in the dingy had the mother whale go directly under their dinghy and surface on the other side... the water wasn't all that deep either. The "Jungle Tour" up the river at Tenecatita was a ton of fun too, especially when I spotted the small crocodile sunning himself. The small red crabs were interesting too. At Melaque we were watching as a huge number of pelicans dove on fish inbetween people swimming!! They (the birds) were fearless. At Las Hadas we hung out at the pool some and had a great time going into Manzanillo by bus. The people have been the core of the fun too. We have met and re-met lots of folks who have this cruising down pat. We have found that we need to work on our dingy landings... a lot!! Currently we look like the scene in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean when the dinghy goes stern over bow in a wave coming into the beach. We are working up to getting brave enough to practice more.