Isla Isabela to PV

Tired of waiting in the rolly anchorage, we left Isabela early with our sights set on an overnight passage to Banderas Bay. The wind was too light for our spinnaker (although we tried to fly it), so we motored for about an hour, before the wind filled our sails. We had a glorious sail with plenty of wind all day pushing us along at 6 knots. Finally, at dusk, we were forced to motor once again.

This is the first passage where I grossly miscalculated our arrival time. As usual, I planned our departure time in order to arrive at our chosen anchorage by mid-morning. I SHOULD HAVE planned it so we arrived at the harbour entrance at mid-morning. Coupled with leaving early because of our impatience, we arrived at Punta Mita in the dark, left with the almost full moon to guide our way between the islands and rocks unseen. Although coming through the pass went smoothly, we used all the tools in our arsenal:
- radar
- gps
- laptop chartplotter
- night-vision binoculars
- guidebooks and charts

Most of the Mexican charts are "off" of their correct GPS positions by 1.5 - 2 miles, so relying solely on charts/gps/chartplotters can be tragic. The only reliable method is to use your eyes...and of course, daylight makes this much easier! We could have stood off until light, but the passage was well marked, and we had reliable GPS waypoints for the passage. It went smoothly, but it was somewhat discomforting that I could make such a silly error.

We were happy to drop the hook and rest at Punta Mita before covering the final distance to the anchorage at La Cruz in the morning. Now that we're in the anchorage, it's been raining here all day - only my 7th day of rain since leaving BC in August, so I'm definitely not complaining. In fact, I actually enjoyed it. I took advantage of the fresh water, and did a little boat scrubbing. The boat is looking pretty shabby these days, and we're both looking forward to spending a bit of time spitting and polishing! Hopefully the sun will be back tomorrow, as we make our way into town to track down my parents, who are in PV on holidays for a couple of weeks. We're looking forward to visiting with them!