Mar 15

Anchored in La Cruz, Banderas Bay

Tag: routemattholmes @ 8:45 am

We arrived mid-day yesterday after a 9 day 1200 miles passage from Ensenada.  There are many stories to tell, which I will need a few days to write up and post–there are a lot of things occupying our time now that we are back among people again (like showers and food and laundry, etc).  Some brief notes: it was extremely challenging, and is now extremely satisfying to have accomplished.  We certainly hadn’t planned on staying out for so long or going so far before stopping, but we were both of the mindset to keep going as long as we were feeling ok, and were continued to feel ok all the way down here to banderas bay . . .

The second day out from Ensenada we experienced our first storm–a small one, perfect for practicing.  You’ll hear that story in another post.

We had a lot of wind and big seas almost the entire time.  Like 20-30 knots of wind and 10-15 foot seas, for all but the last few days.  This was good, in the sense that we reeled off 150 mile days and got south fast.  But wind and seas like that make the experience tiring and challenging.

And I should emphasize that it was really challenging.  It was hard not because of any technical difficulties, but simply because of discomfort and frustration and lack of sleep.  At times the discomfort of the boat motion and frustration of seemingly easy tasks was overwhelming.  I now well understand the expression “mouth of a sailor”, because at times I swore harder and louder than ever before.  At one point I had a teapot jump off the stove and spill water all over my head WHILE I was finishing mopping up two bowls of cereal from the floor.  That’s just one of dozens of comically ridiculous things that happened, all of which elicit an emotionally explosive need to simultaneously cry, scream, and laugh.  “Too ridiculous to have just happened” went through my head often.  I started thinking of our boat as a funhouse; it was laughable to be down below when everything was going every which way, things flying all over the place, etc, which was most of the time.  It got better.  We became more efficient with the watches and the sail changes, and more accustomed to the funhouse nature of being down below.  It got sunny and warm shortly after passing Cabo, and that was a big turning point.  By the end we were sleeping 6 hours at a stretch and drinking beers, and it was feeling good.   Now that we’re at anchor having successfully made that monster passage, it feels really good indeed!

So, I will post some more entries with specific stories from the trip.  Our priorities are sleep, relaxation, food, drink–the basic essentials of comfort really.  Eventually we’ll get around to such motivated tasks as laundry and writing emails etc, but there’s no reason to rush these things!

fyi we’re planning on sitting right here where we are for about a month.

4 Responses to “Anchored in La Cruz, Banderas Bay”

  1. phil says:

    Congrats on the successful leg. Looking forward to the stories when you have fully recovered. You guys are bookin’ south!

  2. Jim says:

    Inquiring minds want to know: Did you make it to the PuddleJump party?

    Congrats on a great passage. 150 miles a day is tough with just 2 on board.

  3. Ralph Brown says:

    Matt & Karen,
    Congratulations, it sounds like an exciting journey. Cindy and I spent a week in Bucerias in January. It’s a great little town with lots of nice restaurants. Have a Pacifico or two on the beach for us.
    Ralph & Cindy

  4. Sherreme says:

    Congrats..enjoying Karen’s blog you are such a wonderful writer.
    Happy recovery in Banderas. 🙂

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