Well we finally dragged ourselves away from Cabo. I guess for those traveling by road and plane it must seem like a great place; for the yachtsmen it’s overpriced and over-rated. As usual we had a myriad of things to do before leaving and we finally got away from the dock at 2 pm only an hour after our ETD. For the first hour we had a great sail close reached into an East wind. We should have known it would not last, as there are no East winds here except for onshore breezes. So no sooner had we lost the harbor on the horizon and the wind disappeared. We finally got to use some of the fuel we had taken on in San Diego. It’s a mixed blessing, the batteries are fully charged, we could make water, the water line comes up again with the fuel burnt but the nonstop noise is a pain. It stayed that way for the next 40 hrs. At least the seas had settled down and we could motor merrily along at 5.8-6 knots at 2200rpm. You’ll notice we haven’t run out of fuel for a while, and we didn’t this leg either. I switched tanks on the fly and arrived in Puerto Vallarta with 15 lts in the port tank and a bunch in the starboard tank. Finally I could get a valid reading on the liters per hour consumed. It worked out to be about 2.4 liters per hour @22-2400rpm. Just a bit higher than it used to be, but considering the water line is 2” lower, I guess we can’t complain.

There’s not much to see on this crossing, the only thing to watch out for is not getting too close to Islas Las Marias which are the forbidden prison colony islands. Too close is 20 miles, quite a swim!!.We passed them at 2 in the morning about 18 miles off. The other thing to watch for is drift nets, which can only be set in fair weather as they drift too far and get lost in big winds. That’s exactly the time we are motoring – low winds. We came close to two in the early morning daylight, who knows how many we didn’t see as they have no lights, just a 10’ pole at one end with a black flag on it.

We towed our fishing line during daylight hours and didn’t even get a nibble. We did however see some wild life at last. Just after leaving Cabo, Wayne looked over the side as we sailed by a big Sunfish moving slowly just below the surface. I had seen one on the trip down from San Diego swimming sideways as they do in a huge wave that was almost vertical behind us. Every one else on the same route had seen whales close by, we had seen them in the distance at Bahia Santa Maria and the only thing to get close to us was a large dolphin in Santa Maria and a turtle as we approached Banderas Bay. Banderas Bay is the largest bay in Mexico, 20miles from North to South and 15 miles wide. Puerto Vallarta is located on the east side about half way down the bay. It was here that we got our chance to see the whales. Banderas Bay is the winter home of several humpbacks. Just after passing close by Las Tres Marietas, a group of three small islands at the NW entrance to the bay we spotted the whales in the bay. We had started sailing an hour before as we had run into the offshore winds still blowing from the nighttime. Doing 6+ knots we sailed by a pair of whales just cavorting on the surface. We were so close it was almost impossible to take a photograph.

We saw several pairs of whales as we crossed the 15 mile wide bay, all of them being chased by whale watching boats. They normally didn’t get to the whales before they sounded and showed up somewhere else. We just got lucky as they surfaced right alongside.

There are 3 or 4 options for mooring at Puerto Vallarta, there are two marinas in Nuevo Vallarta which is about 10 mls from the town of  PV. Paradise Village is a resort that has been expanding its docks in the past few years, this year is no exception. Construction crews are adding slips on a daily basis, and cruisers are filling them before the cleats are bolted down. Across the harbor from them is Marina Vallarta Norte. This marina has for a few years been falling into disrepair due to lack of funding for maintenance, the marina is currently for sale as part of the largest bankruptcy in Mexican history. The marina is also full but he funds go to debt not to maintenance. Further down the bay about 5 miles by water, 8 by road, is the main harbor of Puerto Vallarta. It is here that the cruise ships come, it’s also home to many hotels, condos and the Marina Vallarta. We are currently in Marina Vallarta which is also part of the same bankruptcy, but for some reason there appears to be a little bit more funding for very limited maintenance. Things work here, but Mexican style. The Marina is packed with local charter boats, rich Mexicans’ boats and visitors from far and wide. There are huge powerboats tied to the ends of the slips, a 196’power yacht left this morning, so they have to keep it looking ok for them and the hundreds of tourists who walk around the marina walls.( Back on my washroom kick, the washrooms here are sad to say the least. I showered there just the one time; I’ve chosen the cleanliness of our cockpit and “Sunshower” since then. The problem seems to be lack of cleaning and maintenance, as well as way too many boat boys using them.) A lot has changed at this marina, all the cruising guides talk of TV hookups, up to 220-volt power, phone and cable hook up and 24 hour uniformed guards. A little bit of all of this is still here but not on any consistent basis. Since they trumped up accusations and usurped the previous Marina Manager Karl Raggio, the place is in slow decline. Even getting their attention on VHF as you arrive is an exercise in futility. As we crossed Banderas Bay we tried to contact them. We could hear Dick their very efficient manager instantly answered people trying to contact Paradise Village Marina and their calls. Apparently it was like that when Karl ran Marina Vallarta. The Marina did finally respond when we were about 2 miles out. I found out why when I went to the office to check in. They only use a handheld as the main radio broke and they can’t afford to buy a new one!! They assigned us a slip and then changed it as we were on final approach. Murphy must have jumped ship on the crossing. Jay and Susan of Indra, who had left Cabo just ahead of us in his Niagara 35 was now behind us about 7 miles, they assigned them our old slip. When he plugged into shore power, he was not aware that someone had rewired the outlet to 220 volts. It fried his new battery charger and 110-v side of his refrigeration. To top that they got a rat on board the next day, due primarily we think to the piles of garbage left on the dock not far from their slip.

Upon on arrival in port, Wayne had to make a hasty retreat to get back to Vancouver in time for Christmas.  It was a treat to have a crew of three on the San Diego to Puerto Vallarta, allowing for luxurious three-hour watches, and Wayne was great to have aboard.

Puerto Vallarta is the same latitude as Hawaii. The weather is pretty much the same - quite tropical. The hills backing PV are lush green and bougainvillea and croton grow like weeds. It is a perfect winter climate, by day the temperature gets into the mid 80’s and at night it drops to the mid 60’s. Perfect for sleeping, there are very few bugs and apart from the odd mosquito bite around sunset we have managed to stay pretty much itch free. Like any tropical place, Christmas for northerners doesn’t seem quite right. We have spent quite a few Christmases in warm climates, but it’s not the same as having snow on the ground. Mind you it’s a long time since I’ve seen that too! We spent Christmas with new friends at a local eatery. Desperado Yacht Club, (a yacht club in name only) put on a Christmas dinner for 50 pesos (9.1 to $1US) of smoked turkey, mash potatoes, stuffing and the trimmings. It was nice not to have to heat up the cabin and suffer through all that dish washing.

We spent some time exploring old Puerto Vallarta, but mostly we tried to catch up on our never-ending boat projects while “plugged in”.  Since departing San Diego, we had been unable to use one of our laptops – the one with Sailmail installed – and so could not send or open our email.  We finally found a technician in PV – a fellow Canadian who supports his journeys by “doctoring” computers, and he took our computer off to his hospital for a few days.  Unfortunately, we lost everything on the hard drive, so had to re-install software.  That bye the way is the reason you did not see the photos we mentioned of Leg 4, I had downloaded them to the hard drive and erased the “CompactFlash” memory card of the camera. A lesson well learned, all photos now go to floppies as well. Incidentally, we are still not able to use “Sailmail”, the radio appears to be ok as we have heard people on the nets from as far away as Costa Rica and we have had no problem being heard on the nets either. The problem has to be in the configuration of the settings. I guess there is nothing else for it, I’m going to have to “read the instructions”.

We also fixed the sewing machine so we could get at some more of the boat canvas projects, plus generally cleaned and scoured everything on board, and a thousand and one little “fix-it” jobs.  Many things that work well while river sailing are not effective for cruising, generally because the have much greater demands placed on them while cruising, passage-making and living aboard full time.

We finally met up with Horst and Beate of Seadater, friends who had left Portland two years before us.  We had been corresponding by email, and looking forward to joining them in paradise. (They actually are moored at Paradise Village) When we finally did meet up, we were delighted to find them both happy, relaxed, and still loving cruising.  We also picked their brains on Mexican cruising destinations!

We will spend New Years quietly on the beach in Puerto Vallarta, watching fireworks from various sites around the bay.  Then we hope to spend a few days in the mountains exploring the villages, gold and silver mines, and hiking.  From here, we plan to slowly cruise down the “gold coast” - from PV to Manzanillo - which reportedly has lovely quiet anchorages, and we are looking forward to spending some slow time on the hook.

This is the end of a busy year for us. We finally made it away from the dock, and the coming year should be full of adventure. We would like to wish a Happy New Year to all our family and friends, and hope that we get to see some of the people who have promised to visit in 2002.

Total miles from Portland, 2403.

Incidentally, we are trying to keep a log of what we spend, not so much to be able to say it will cost you so much per year to cruise, but more for us to keep track financially on a fixed income. We’ll let you know what we spent, and how, at mid-year and year end.

 Photo Album for Leg 5