Our last blog post was clear back in November. Carmanah’s wifi booster isn’t working and we’re on the verge of getting our service with T-Mobile cancelled for “excessive international roaming”. So, basically, I’ve been too lazy to hike up to a hot spot to post updates. Donna has been doing better with her Instagram postings though.

We’re having a great season in Mexico so far. It was beautiful coming down the Baja—the ocean water stayed clearer and warmer for longer than last fall. The swimming and spear fishing were of course much better with such favorable conditions. We managed to cross the sea to the mainland before the strong winter northerlies started up in earnest. When we arrived in Banderas Bay on December 2nd, the water was still in the low to mid 80s. Our southerly pace stayed fairly brisk though as we had a planned visit from Greg and Jenn for mid-December down in Barra de Navidad.   Ended up being great fun. We split our time between Tenacatita and Barra. And we had the first rain we’d ever experienced on this coast. Everything got washed. Yay. We were probably more excited about the rain than Greg & Jenn who came from winter in Boise Idaho  for the sun.  After celebrating Christmas with our fellow cruisers in Barra, our Nephew Mason came down to hang out with us for a week in the Barra area. He flew into Puerto Vallarta airport so we decided to rent a car for the 4.5 hour drive up the coast to meet his plane. Greg & Jenn did the same basic travel program as Mason but took a bus from the airport. The roads are pretty challenging but the drive was very scenic through the many small towns connected by farm lands and tropical forest.

In a couple of weeks, we plan to cruise down the coast to Zihuatanejo for Sailfest 2018. About a week ago, the water here turned more green than blue, underwater visibility dropped dramatically, and the water temperature went from 82 to 75. We’re told this is only a temporary condition as it’s still very early in the season. So hopefully things will be back to normal on our return trip from Z-town.

Final night for Mason, we dined on the Barra waterfront.

Mason trims the spinnaker as we “ghost” our way into the Tenacatita anchorage in 3 knots of wind.

Our nephew Mason is a natural at the helm tackiong up wind in light wind to get through the rocks on our way south to Barra de Navidad.

The Christmas party at Barra was fun. The gift exchange after dinner was a hoot. Everyone got a gift but “steals” were part of the program it never got boring.

The day after Greg and Jenn made the long long trip down from Boise, we recovered with them by the pool at the Barra Navidad Marina resort.

Greg caught this Rooster Fish on light fly tackle not far from the anchored Carmanah in Tenacatita. It put up quite a fight but was ultimately released unharmed once all photo ops were executed.

Post Bocce Ball at Tenacatita

Not exactly the chicken bus you might imagine. Greg and Jenn’s trip down from PV was fairly cushy. Also, a little on the wild side as these drivers know how to take those hairpin curves without slowing down.

Step one for our ceviche, cut the trigger fish into small cubes.

Step 2 for ceviche is to make lime juice. We do a lot of lime squeezing for various drinks and dishes.

final step after soaking the fish in lime for an hour is to add tomatos, onions, garlic, cilantro, and spices. Yum. We’ve been living on this stuff lately.

Young cruiser kids develop water skills at a young age. Taj paddled over to say hi to Lucy. His family is currently on passage to the Galapagos Islands.

Mike and Lori vacationing from the rigors of the Bainbridge Island Park District joined us for an afternoon sail near their hotel in Puerto Vallarta. They are now

Crews of Carmanah, Huakai, and White Raven enjoying the best ribs in Mexico. J&R Ribs in La Paz. Rick and Susie (back left) brought White Raven down from Olympia this past fall. W

Really?! Landing a helicopter on the tiny beach at Aqua Verde? Next to our dinghy? Luckily they didn’t stay too long.

Sister ship to Restless–Epic Ship is a Universal Trawler the same year as ours. Originally from South Africa, Mark and Angelique plan to be in the NW this summer. Small world.

Cleaning the the main course for the Thanksgiving potluck at Aqua Verde.

We had a really nice Thanksgiving potluck on the beach at Aqua Verde on the Baja. Note the paddle board serving tables.

The supermarket at Aqua Verde where we spent a week during Thanksgiving. No electricity buy they have a surprising amount of stuff.

Donna with the staff at the beach restaurant in Aqua Verde. Each day our meals got noticeably better as we got to know them better. By our last day there we enjoyed quite a spread. Fresh scallop tacos were my favorite. The two boys would dive for them each morning.

They were talking about the Aqua Verde parade for days ahead. How could we miss it.

We arrived at San Juanico from San Carlos just in time for a cool sunset and a much anticipated (by Lucy) shore leave.

Lots of gringos camp along the Baja coast. Out of the way beaches like San Juanico are accessible with the right vehicle. We saw several camp setups where the sleeping was on the roof of the vehicle.