Cruising Adventures of the Red Witch

April 18, 2025  Over the next days we worked to get our boat all buttoned up and ready for her rest and our departure.   Everything removable on the outside got removed, cleaned, and stowed.   Everything that was not removable or able to be stowed inside got protected as best as possible from the sun.   Our engine got serviced, water-maker membrane pickled, inside of the boat fully wiped down with vinegar, and cushions cleaned.   When we, or Falcon, needed a break we explored the yard, played on the grass in the water sprinklers, and climbed a tree.   It was a beautiful area with lot of birds, especially swallows.   Every evening the swallows would come and land in the rigging of the boats around us, fly right around us, and sing and talk amongst each other. We finished up our chores one day before our departure from San Blas.   We took that day to explore around San Blas.   We went for a walk through town and out to the point of the break...

April 16, 2025  On Wednesday morning we had a list of tasks that we were going to do while we were still in the water.   With our back cabin a mess and stuff strewn around the cockpit we worked on pickling our water-maker membrane.   Jason had just left to take Falcon up to the bathroom when one of the marina workers came down to measure our boat for the placement of the lifting straps.   He spoke a bit of English so communication was easier with a mixture of English and Spanish.   He asked how much water we needed and when I told him that we only draw 5 feet he mentioned hauling out that very morning.   I said, "No", because we were in the middle of stuff and had lots more to do that would be nice to be in the water for.   I asked about Thursday morning and he said that he would check t he tides.    A little while later he came back and said that the tide was way too low on Thursday, and that we had to haul out now. ...

April 13, 2025  The next morning dawned clear , and there was no sign of fog over the lagoon area.   As we pulled up our anchor , tree swallows came flying around our boat and they followed us for a short way as we motored out.   As we rounded the corner , everything towards the lagoon looked clear, we had full visibility; there was no fog in sight.   We had also lucked out because according to the swell forecast the swells had decreased by 0.2 of a meter since yesterday morning, and as we motored along the shoreline there were a lot fewer large sets of swells that really towered and crested far out from shore.   There were still some, but they were less frequent.     We knew that we still wanted to time our entrance during a small set, so our plan was to wait outside of the channel entrance until we saw a large set go through, then we would follow the last large wave in. As we were approaching the channel entrance a large set was just arriving. ...

April 12, 2025     The day before we planned to take our sailboat into the San Blas Marina inside the lagoon we launched our tender and took Kiki over to the lagoon entrance to check it out.   We were very glad that we did so, because when we first saw the entrance area , it looked incredibly ominous.     With swells rolling in from the south it was perfect for the surf breaks in the area, but it also placed a large surfer's wave on either side of the lagoon entrance.   Travelling along well outside of the break line , we motored along in Kiki , bobbing up up up and over the large sets of swells that were rolling in.   We watched as they built and built, then crested, and spray went flying backwards off their tops.   It was beautiful, but quite threatening.    Our GPS charts showed buoys that were no longer present to mark the channel of safe water that enters the lagoon.   Now , only one buoy , part way in , showed the way....

April 9, 2025  On the third day of our journey north we were up and out of the anchorage one last time before sunrise.   It was the third day of not having any north winds and the sea state was one of the calmest that we have had on an open coast passage.   For a motor trip it was about as perfect as it gets and we even had a little bit of west wind in the afternoon to push us onwards.   It was actually quite a spectacular day.   As we travelled northwards the weather had gotten a lot more idyllic.   The cool night chill and crisp air that we had become accustomed to in March in Tenacatita was replaced by warmth.   It did not take long for it to warm up in the morning and with little wind it was almost too warm.     After we rounded the point of Punta Mita and set our course for Bahia Matanchen and San Blas it was not long before we spotted the first turtle of the day, and we ended up seeing so so many.   I wish that we had started count...

April 8, 2025  The next day we were up and heading out before sunrise. The sea state that morning was calmer than the day before, but still lumpy and large as we rounded the Cape and headed across Bahia Banderas bound for Punta Mita.     While fishing that day we caught one Bonito and released it. The next fish that we caught was clearly not a Bonito, and as Jason fought it we had high hopes that it would be a delicious fish for dinner. Unfortunately, when he got it to the boat a while later we saw that it was a Carvel Jack.   We were quite disappointed.   They are a very good fighting fish and fun to catch, but the fight can take some time and we did not want to slow down our progress too much, so we decided to stop fishing.     The trip for the day was a bit shorter than it was the day before, and shorter than it would be the next day, so we were looking forward to pulling into anchor and having the later afternoon and evening to swim off of the sw...