Road trip to Guayabitos

 Hotel in Guayabitos, Mexico

Interesting to note that it took us about an hour and a half to get there by bus. Two days later when we left La Cruz by sea, it took us almost 7 hours to get past Guayabitos. But the trip was well worth it, seas were calm, very comfortable motor sailing and saw whales several times.

As we were passing Guayabitos, I looked over to starboard and saw what looked like a freight train of pangas going by. Turned out to be about 6 whales, speeding right towards us, crossed our bow full speed ahead, dove under us and came up on the port side, right beside the cockpit.

Don was sitting on the forward deck, they were so close, he could have reached out and touched them ... instead, he just got a whale shower from the last one as it dove again. I'm not sure if it was more frightening or exciting, but in any case, even though I had camera in hand, I was shaking so badly I couldn't take a picture.

 Whale

This was the whale that Don could have reached out and touched ... Merry managed to get a photo as he came towards their boat.

We anchored at Matanchen Bay just around twilight, finally had a comfortable crossing, and everything worked the way it was supposed to. The night too was very restful also.

We were planning to depart around 5:00AM, but while Don was sitting in the cockpit having his coffee, he was watching thunder and lightning, right in the direction that we needed to go.

Then the rain started, and we could see the squalls on the radar for about 8 to 10 miles all around us. Guess were stuck here today! The day was wet, but not too rolly, but by evening when the wind died, we rolled big time ... from side to side all night long. Couldn't sleep a wink.

 Matanchen Bay sunset

However 3 hours out, the sky ahead turns dark, dark blue, right down to the horizon. Wind picks up a bit and BJ has seen some lightning. Relax has already turned around. We see squalls on the radar now, about face!

Wind picked up to over 40 knots and seas grew enormously. We could not have motored into the storm, so two hours later, we are wet, but safely anchored in Matenchen again.

The good news is that the north squall that blew in has knocked down the south swell, so the night was relatively comfortable. Off we go again, and the odd time, we really do put up the sails.

This time, an uneventful passage, arriving at Marina Mazatlan around 8:30 the following morning. We spent the day tidying up, checking e-mails etc, then went to supper that evening with old friends and new.

To see full size pictures or start a slide show, click the thumbnails below
Some photos courtesy of s/v Willow, as my camera battery went dead, and I had forgotten to bring a spare.
This Guayabitos road trip photo gallery doesn't use Java, it is Apple iPhone, iPad and 64 bit browser compatible.

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