Crossing over...

Well, we only cruised 287 miles to Cabo San Lucas, but it seems like a whole 'nother world!

Goodbye Amigos!

This place is wild with cruise ships, jet skis, and lots of sunburned tourists!

We had a wonderful send off from our fellow cruisers in La Cruz on Saturday - Thank You.  We hope to see all of them again somewhere!

Brian enjoying his coffee!

It was a great shakedown cruise from Puerto Vallerta. We got to see lots of different kinds of weather and seas - from nothing to 25 knots - when we least expected it.

Plus, lots of salt water crashing over the bow - oh my!

Moondance and crew held up very well!

Dolphins off the bow - beautiful!

We had a wonderful dolphin show along the way.

They came to play in our wake, plus chased some wonderful Yellow Fin Tuna our way.

Thanks for the fish!

Surfing Tuna

We've never caught two fish at one time, but Doug and Brian handled it very well.

No mess, no fuss, but excellent eating!

Dinner preparations

Depending on our findings in the morning, it looks like our weather window is here - yeah!

Time to get this party started. We are so ready!

This will be our last post with pictures, but promise to blog daily so you can check up on us.

Love to all - Carla, Doug, and Brian!

Sushi on Moondance -

Bring your chopsticks!

We were watching an amazing dolphin show this afternoon and were surprised to find two wonderful Yellow Fin Tuna's on our lines. Yummy! Brian and Doug did an excellent job of getting them on board, cleaned, and ready for dinner.

Wish you were here!

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Detour!

We left Puerto Vallerta/Banderas Bay on Saturday as planned - unusual for us! We had a little wind for awhile, but it was pushing us the wrong direction. So, we decided that we would motor to Cabo San Lucas, refuel, and wait for the Trade Winds to fill - hopefully Tuesday or Wednesday. All of our Amigos in the USA and Canada - please send us a Norther!

We are considering this our shakedown cruise - getting our sea legs, finishing up some projects, etc. We are also hoping to catch a fish for dinner!

The sun is shining, a breeze is blowing, and the men are relaxing in the cockpit! All is well aboard Moondance.

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Adios Mexico; Bonjour French Polynesia!

After 15 years of dreaming and scheming, it's finally time to sail to those beautiful French Polynesian islands - white sandy beaches, crystal blue waters, and lots of fish (sharks) - oh my!

Moondance crew 2011

Brian, our crew member, is on board (yeah) and Moondance is shipshape and ready to sail.

We have stuffed all of the lockers with 4 months of provisioning, spare parts, and fuel. We are out of room and water line!

We are leaving Puerto Vallarta/Banderas Bay today.  We hope to find some wind out there.  If not, we will motor/sail to Cabo San Lucas, refuel, and wait for a weather window.

We want to catch the Trade Winds that will sail us across the Equator and all the way to French Polynesia - what a ride!

Moondance crew 2000

Yeah, it took a little longer than we anticipated and we are a little older than we wanted to be, but we have learned so much a long the way and have seen and done so many wonderful things and met some amazing people - time flew by!

Thank You to all of our family and friends who have supported us along the way - you have kept us going!

Our current sail plan: Mexico, Gambiers, Australs, Societies, Marquesas, and the Hawaiian islands for the winter. Doesn't sound too bad, does it?

Come and see us sometime - we would love to have you aboard Moondance.

Only 3130 nautical miles to go!

Wrapping things up...

I know, we don't look stressed, but we got lots going on!  Besides working on boat projects and provisioning, we are saying lots of Goodbyes.

Taking a break in Bucerias

Most of the Pacific Puddle Jump fleet has left us behind, including our good friends on Evergreen.


Saying Goodbye to Evergreen..


Based on their radio transmission tonight, they are doing just fine.

We are looking forward to seeing them again in French Polynesia!



Doug Scott - PPJ Net Controller

It has been very interesting listening to all of the Puddle Jumpers checking in each night.

All boats are reporting in as A-OK and 3 boats have all ready made to the Marquesas. Amazing!


High Wire Act

We had a few "unplanned" projects like pieces of our jib furler breaking off.

Doug is amazing though - he was able to fix it, plus do some general maintenance while he was hanging around up there.

My job - don't let him fall.  No stress there!


San Pancho Beach


We splurged and rented a car for our final provisioning runs.

A luxury, but so much easier than bus rides and paying for cabs. One Costco run fills the whole car - oh my!


San Pancho colors


So, we decided to play tourists for a day and drove up to San Pancho (or San Francisco). Two names; no idea why!

A beautiful surfing town off the beaten path. We thoroughly enjoyed wandering around.

Our crew, Brian, arrives Monday.  After that, once our weather window arrives, we are out of here.  What an adventure!

PS:  Sounds like the Puddle Jumpers are catching tuna out there - hope we get that lucky - yum!




Crazy, just plain crazy...

Racers that is - fun but crazy!

We spent 3 days with Captain Patsy on Talion preparing and racing in the 19th annual Banderas Bay Regatta.

Talion overtaking Vagabundo

Every year Patsy invites her Portland friends to fly down and race on Talion. We were very lucky and got invited to join them.

I know it wasn't for our racing skills, but we do make great Rail Meat!

Rail Meat

There were ~60 boats racing in 7 classes - all different shapes and sizes.

Our class had 11 participants and they were tough!

Race Day!

We were scheduled to race for 3 days, but the second day was canceled due to the Tsunami alert.

Flying the shoot

It is something to see - all of these boats racing around the marks trying to out maneuver the other guy.

Sometimes, we were so close to other boats I felt like we could reach out and touch them.

We were definitely close enough to holler at each other and quote rules of racing - get out of our way!

Start of the BIG Boats

We know that we could never race Moondance, we would be nervous wrecks.

Just visualizing our home crashing into another boat and sinking to the bottom of the bay - oh my!

I don't know how Patsy does it, but she has nerves of steel and loves to race.

Cirque starting the show

The Regatta is a also a big social event where racers converge. 

You would be amazed how many people we knew from all over - including lots of folks from Alameda - who knew?

We had a wonderful time catching up with everyone!

Kick-off Festivities

The Vallarta Yacht Club sponsors the regatta and opens up the yacht club to the racers. 

They also scheduled some wonderful local entertainment for the kick-off event.  Mariachis and a local dance group performing traditional music and dances from several States of Mexico.

We enjoyed it all!

Did I mention that we placed a respectable 3rd in our class?  Will we did.  Thanks Patsy!

Tsunami warnings - Banderas Bay

sv Blue - sailing on Banderas Bay

It was an awful start to the day - just hearing about the death and destruction in Japan caused by the earthquake and the tsunami.  So sad, words just can't express...

But, I didn't realize the affects that this would have on our day, but all sorts of news started coming through the VHF.  The Pacific coast of USA and Mexico were going to be affected and the boating community needed to take action.

In a tsunami, the safest place to be is at sea.  All of the damage that occurs is along the shore due to the surges and currents. 

Here in Banderas Bay, there was LOTS of radio traffic and LOTS of confusion that lasted all day:

• Ports were closed and all boats in the marina were NOT allowed to leave.
• Ports were still closed, but pleasure boats were allowed to leave the marinas.
• The Banderas Bay Regatta was delayed and then canceled.
• Water levels along the shore and in the marinas were dropping and rising rapidly and randomly.
• Damage to marinas, bizarre current patterns, sand bars developing, etc.
• Ports were re-opened; Ports were re-closed
• Etc.

Okay, you got the picture.  We felt like we had joined the circus!

We decided to play it safe.  Even though we were anchored out in the Bay, we decided to sail out to deeper waters - along with everyone else.  It was an amazing site to see all of the boats sailing around and enjoying the beautiful day.  You would never know that it was all caused by a natural disaster.

Some boats were able to get back to the marinas during the short time the entrances were open.  The rest of them are anchored out in the Bay with us - safe and sound and enjoying a lovely evening.

You never know what the day is going to bring - so be prepared for anything!