Banderas Bay to San Blas; late post

Sunday, 22 March 2009
We are at anchor in Mantanchen Bay, near San Blas after a 2-day passage from Bandaeras Bay. We may go up the estuary to San Blas in the next day or so but for now we are enjoying flat calm conditions with a slight south-westerly swell. There are 7 other boats here including 3 other Blue water cruising boats from Canada, Wattea and Naida who we have both met in La Cruz and Sea Lise who arrived the following day. The latter is on its way home after a 10 year odyssey that has included much of Europe and the Atlantic as far south as the Cape Verde Islands.
It has been a busy week. We arrived in the marina at La Cruz on Sunday the 15th. This facility is new and has yet to reach its full potential. Less than half of the 349, fully serviced slips were occupied so the management was offering a half-price special for members of the Puddle Jumpers group of which we have been members for the past few years. So for less than $20 (US) per night we had the run of the marina and were able to get the boat cleaned up with the abundant fresh water. We had been putting off cleaning the stainless for a while so it was starting to get messy. Within the first day we got an offer we couldn't refuse when a local wharf worker offered to do it for $85. It was well worth it as he worked the entire day and did a wonderful job.
The rest of our time was filled with replenishing supplies, getting laundry done; visiting friends we had met along the way and meeting new ones. Lin (Royal Exchange) kindly offered to drive us to the new Mega super store so we were able to fully replenish the larder in preparation for the next part of the trip. We were also finally able to reconnect on e-mail with the WIFI service offered by the marina and attended a talk on sailing in Central America and Ecuador. Being alongside also gave us the opportunity to explore La Cruz. It has changed much with the opening of the marina and new restaurants and services are a part of the new landscape.
This week was also the start of the Banderas Bay regatta. Bob, on Pantera, invited J-G to participate as crew on his supersonic catamaran but his invite came too late as we already had other commitments. J-G would have really enjoyed sailing in a boat that has topped 28 kts on several occasions. We have just heard from Bob. He finished 4th and is on his way to Mazatlan. He just bypassed San Blas doing 10 kts in a 6-8 kt breeze.
Our friends, Marg and Bruce Walton arrived in Wednesday from Rincon de Guayabedes where they spend their winters away from Victoria. We departed the following morning and sailed into some uncomfortable moments when the afternoon breeze increased to 25 kts. We experienced some difficulty reefing the main and Genoa but after some interesting manoeuvres we sailed into the anchorage at Punta Mita for the night. The next morning was flat calm with light airs so we had to motor the rest of the way to Rincon to deliver our guests and resume our way up the coast. We stayed the night in the lee of an island in the bay and continued the next morning to Mantanchen bay where we are now. We actually had an excellent day of sailing up the coast in a 10-12 kt breeze from the west.
Sorry for the late post. More tomorrow if we can connect to WIFI.