Sunday, 9 February 2014 – We went over to the Palapa on the beach for lunch. Their service was terrible, and we will never go there again. We waited almost an hour, and no one approached us to take an order. Never again.

Monday, 10 February 2014 – It was time to change the engine oil and check other items in the engine compartment.  Everything was in good shape and all engine connections were tight. The packing gland was in good shape, I unlocked the compression nuts and added some shaft lubricant. The rigging was checked, and things prepared for leaving La Cruz and the overnight sail to Perula passing the of Cape Corrientes.  Cape Corrientes is one of those capes that sticks out from the coastline and increases the weather conditions, both wind and waves can increase, so we are watching the weather forecasts closely.

Tuesday, 11 February 2014 – We got up early to do our grocery shopping and to top up our supply of Pesos before leaving on Friday.

In the afternoon, Anita attended a “Women Who Sail” seminar in the La Cruz Yacht Club with more than 100 other women certainly was an inspiring experience.  There were women of all ages from their 20’s to 70’s who are out on the water living their lives and “dreams” along with their families. There were five presenters, and all had diverse stories and suggestions.

Pat Henry, who circumnavigated the globe single-handed while in her later years talked about the people she met as she traveled the world. She described the many interesting and a few harrowing experiences that she had along the way.   Pat encourages all women to follow their dreams and passions on the water.  Her book “By Grace of the Sea” tells of her single-handed journey.  Another young woman who also sails single-handed had many interesting stories.

A second young sailor spoke of her struggle with various health issues for herself and her son were inspirational. What amazing strength she had to rise above the strife however, she and her family are finding fun and happiness sailing in Mexico.

A few years ago, in the Baja Ha-Ha rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, one of the boats traveling south was hit by a whale not too far into Mexican waters. The boat was carrying a sailing instructor as captain along with four students from the sailing school. The captain was a young woman who talked about that challenging experience.  The boat was trying to escape whale pods but unfortunately they collided with one in a freak accident.  She spoke of all the things they attempted to try and save the boat, but the whale had put a hole in the stern which just could not be plugged and within 40 minutes the boat had completely disappeared. They did all the right things, getting the EPRB started and the life raft inflated.  While everyone finished up in the water, the crew all managed to get into the raft. Their ditch bag, which had become waterlogged while in the boat, sank with the boat, so there were no provisions or water to drink. They spent 5 hours in the life raft before they saw the Coast Guard helicopter circling.

They were all rescued and flown back to San Diego. The Coast Guard credited this brave woman captain with doing the right things to save her crew. She was certainly an inspiration and stressed being ready for anything and having individual tasks assigned for each crew for emergencies.

The founder of a new FB page called Women Who Sail also spoke of the 2,000 women who have joined this informative site. There are many women who are on boats worldwide, who share sailing and cruising advice. It is a useful site with lots of interesting comments and information.

The seminar lasted almost three hours and it was an enjoyable day for Anita, swapping stories with other women. The meeting many of the female boaters around the Banderas Bay.

Wednesday, 12 February 2014 – Our propane tanks were filled, and we did the laundry. In the evening we had dinner at the club restaurant with Peter and his wife from “Two Pieces of Eight” and Lee and Jackie.  

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Thursday, 13 February 2014 – This morning we had breakfast at the marina and then took the bus to Punta di Mita. The bus terminus is at the top of a small hill which you walk down to get to the beach and the Palapas. Lunch in a palapa here was a bit above the usual palapa lunch with unusually good food and excellent service. We guess this may be due to its proximity to the Luxury resorts at the end of the point.

The beach is good for landing a dinghy and the bay had several yachts riding at anchor. There is a small commercial fishing harbor at one end of the beach and a small protective jetty at the other end. We will probably use this anchorage in the future as it appears to be well protected from the north and north-east winds. It is also the closest point to the Islas Marietas.

Before we returned to Hilbre, we picked up some bags of ice to top off our refrigerator, ready for the morning departure for Perula and the Bay of Chamela.