We woke to an alarm clock Wednesday morning, raised the dinghy on deck, and went to start the engine. There was a small hiccup when it coughed and died, but John quickly ascertained that it wasn't primed. Off came the companionway steps, out came the tool box, and he bled the air out and got it running again.
We were underway at 0640 and had an easy day. An otherwise boring trip was punctuated by "wow" moments like a humpback whale jumping straight out of the ocean, and regular sightings of turtles, Tropic birds, and spotted dolphins. I remember during the trip south I could stand in the shade and actually get a chill on a bright sunny day. But things are warming up now and, while it was a relief to get out of the direct sun, we were still hot sitting in the shade. John caught a Jack Crevalle and had a hard time getting the barbed hooks out of its jaw to release it. I thought it was crab food by the time he freed it, but the fish shot down into the depths with one powerful stroke of its tail. John worked on the hook to take the barbs off for the next fish, but he was out of luck. The next strike startled us by breaking the swivel and ripping both ends of the shock tubing to take John's favorite Tahitian lure and the entire length of hand line with it. Bummer!
Conditions were calm and a favorable current pushed us north encouraging us to pass up an overnight stop at Tenacatita. We dropped the hook off of the tiny town of Punta Perula in Bahia Chamela where over a dozen cruising boats had arrived before us. People are taking advantage of a few days of forecasted calm weather to migrate north during the transition from winter to summer. A half dozen boats went on around Cabo Corrientes last night and reported an easy motor trip. We'll leave at sunset with another group to make that trip tonight before the weather window closes this weekend. We expect to be in Punta Mita sometime late Saturday afternoon.
Linda (and John and Ziggy too)
{GMST}19|35.002|N|105|07.918|W|Rest Stop|Chamela{GEND}