Mexican synopsis

My computer died. 2 months into this. 1 year and 44 days after purchased. 44 days out of warranty. Just my luck. So there go a handful of well thought out blog posts, 2500 pictures, music, podcasts, sailing resources, detailed spreadsheets, personal documents and a crash course on circular economy I was hoping to complete by the end of the year.

I’m not feeling the urge to recreate what was written and lost, so here’s the gist:

We crossed the Sea of Cortez, which was awesome.
Isla Isabel had a rocky anchorage but we made it ok, got to do some killer snorkeling and saw a load of birds. LOADs. Boobies look like muppets, frigates are mean, and pelicans are everywhere.
We have seen more whales than I can count. They gave us a show outside of Isabel, by San Blas, en route to Chacala, and in Banderas Bay. These animals are amazing creatures and we should better protect them ASAP. Seriously, get your act together humans.
San Blas = mellow surfing, fish tacos, jejenes, banana bread we couldn’t eat (rule to navigation on Bravo No. 003: no bananas on the boat), and new friends
Chacala = rocking and rolling anchorage, microbrewery and new friends
La Cruz = boat repairs, new dodger, cracked mast, re-tuned rigging, fixed mast, 20 day delay, new decisions, the flu and new fiends
Copious amounts of jaw dropping awe inspiring bioluminescence (will hopefully rewrite)

So what else?

Oh yeah. We decided to puddle jump. Trust that the process was more thought out than bullets below imply.

Our initial plan was to bomb down the Pacific coast, cross the canal, circumnavigate the Caribbean and make our way back to the US. Given our December departure from San Francisco and a delay in Banderas, it got way too late in the season to accomplish this safely (i.e. back in safe harbor before hurricane season)
Shipping Bravo back from Panama is too expensive, leaving her in a marina somewhere far too sad
Crossing the Pacific…sure!

There you go, you are all caught up. Here are some pics to distract you while you google “puddle jump”.

Isla Isabel – the land of 10,000 birds