This was one of our more frustrating trips. The first day and night had basically no wind, things kept breaking, and we kept running across impossible-to-see fishing areas. The fishing areas were marked only by a floating 2-liter bottle, spray painted orange if you are lucky – hard to spot in time to avoid, even with a bow watch! Still, we had lots of animal encounters, especially whales, dolphins, and turtles. The second day had gorgeous wind and we flew in to Banderas Bay, where we had our good friends on S/V Avocet already hanging out. We came into the bay with a baby humpback whale jumping nearby, then sailed through sunset and anchored after dark.

Trip Summary – 03/01/2023 to 03/02/2023

Pulled up anchor at Isla Isabel on 03/01/2023 at 08:50, anchored at La Cruz de Huanacaxtle on 3/02/2023 at 20:18.

Usually we like to sail off the anchor, but there was not even enough wind for the drifter, so we started our day motoring. We got the main up to motor-sail, then the foresail, then rolled in the foresail, got the drifter up, and stuck with the drifter for the rest of the day.

When we were hoisting the drifter, the ATN sock (which contains it and makes it easy to douse) sloughed down off the head of the sail. Our connection point had snapped, so we pulled the drifter down to remove it completely and get to work fixing it. It had also been bunching, which looked to be that the control line got twisted last time we had this happen, so we got both problems resolved and got it back on the drifter same-day.

Close to sunset, we saw two men fishing and tacked away – unfortunately not far enough away. We started to get tangled, but they cut the line and we kept moving. So grateful it did not wrap on the prop, which is how we started our cruising last year!

After sunset, we turned on the mast-top tri-color/anchor light combo, only to discover it was no longer working. Flipped on the running lights at deck level and got to diagnosing. Everything inside was as it should be, so we figured the connection must have broken on the top of the mast. We will have to get Charles up the mast once we are at anchor, and hope that it doesn’t get further damaged in the meantime.

After sunset, we turned on the mast-top tri-color/anchor light combo, only to discover it was no longer working. Flipped on the running lights at deck level and got to diagnosing. Everything inside was as it should be, so we figured the connection must have broken on the top of the mast. We will have to get Charles up the mast once we are at anchor, and hope that it doesn’t get further damaged in the meantime.

The next morning, we were unhappy to find a fishing hotspot, because there were fishermen and gill nets everywhere. Most of them are hundreds of feet long, hard to avoid even if you do see them in time, and especially challenging to catch in time. Most were marked by floating 2-liter soda bottles every 100 feet or so, which are spray painted orange if you are lucky.

The morning was very light winded, but by noon we had enough wind that the drifter + main wing-in-wing had us with 3.1 knots of speed in only 5 .3 knots of wind! That held until close to to the entrance to Banderas Bay, which we have heard has some uncharted rocks, so we followed the exact course of friends who recently entered. The wind picked up, so we switched to main + genoa. The waves were intense, so I hand-steered through the dangerous area to keep precisely true to course. A baby humpback whale started jumping nearby, heading the opposite direction as us, so it passed really close and gave us easily 10 jumps. It was a blast, and once it moved out of sight, we had grey whales surfacing 20 feet from the boat during a gorgeous sunset. We were scooting, too, with speeds from 6-8 knots most of the rest of the way. Once the sun set, we got the motor on to help us close the final few miles and meet up with our friends.

Our friends noted on the chart where they were anchored and gave us a good idea of where to anchor relative to them, very helpful since we came in after dark, and it can be tricky to find a good spot when the only illumination is anchor lights. But we got the anchor down quick, and our friend Chris zipped over in his dinghy to bring us to shore for tacos and music.