EnRoute To Manzanillo

This is being written as we sail from La Cruz to Manzanillo. We left yesterday, motoring half the day until we got out of Banderas Bay. We had no problems with the infamous Cabo Corriente - a promontory that is supposed to be difficult to cross due to winds and currents. After we turned off the engine, we had a lovely smooth, peaceful sail until our wind died last night and as of now, has not come back. The spinnaker has been up, the spinnaker has been down. The main has been up and down and is currently down, because what tiny bit of wind there is out here is on our stern quarter. In that setting, it works better to just fly the oversize jib, because the main just blocks what little wind there is.

I took the night watch between 2 am and 8 am. I like that watch - I get to see the sun come up. Today it arise out of a purple cloud, just peeking through a cloud bank. Last night (I guess it would really be early this morning)I got to see the moon set through another bank of purple clouds - a glowing orange orb. It was really something, and I have seen a lot of cool things since I have been out here. I also got two shooting stars - one was a thin silver line across the sky, and one just popped like a tiny explosion in the sky. The boat was followed all night by literally thousands of tiny fish. They could keep up because we were going so slowly, and I think they were using the boat for protection. Then this morning, the dorado showed up, swimming around where the tiny fish were. Dorado are beautiful fish - their fins flash an almost electric blue as the swim near the surface. Sometimes they have spots and sometimes they have stripes. Mike has the handline out now - yesterday all we caught was a enormous jack cravalle - we let it go, they are not very good eating. Maybe if that was the only protein I had, but since that is not the case - no JC for us. Maybe today we can get a tuna - sashimi for dinner!

Other than fish watching and hoping for some wind, we are just sitting in the cockpit enjoying the ride. The engine is going now because I am using the computer - but I think that is just an excuse to make some time, since Mike hates to motor without a good excuse, and this qualifies. But with our new solar panels, we have plenty of power. Since we probably made less than ten miles all night long, I am not opposed to moving it along a bit while the wind is down. The only drawback is the engine makes a lot of noise in the cabin.

I am feeling a lot better and more upbeat than the last time I wrote. Things seem to be better and I am hearing things that make me feel more optimistic than I have in a long time.

So - I am going to end this now, under the pretense of saving power. Actually, I am just lazy here on the brilliant sapphire blue Pacific Ocean.

"The is is the was of what shall be."

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