sv CHEZ NOUS: Trip north cruising with Janet and Henry

3/30/2016 Weds. We sailed to La Cruz to get fuel. Then we took our old slip in the Marina La Cruz for the night so we could have Tacos on the Street and go to Gecko Rojo for an evening of live music. Nice to be back in that delightful little cruisers haven.

3/31/2016 . Around 9:30 Thurs am we left for Chacala about 30 miles north of Punta Mita. A beautiful little bay lined with palm trees, and palapas. A large panga dock but no room for our dinghy and too much surf to land on the beach. We had wanted to look around the town but the swells we were in were big enough that we thought we'd just all stay on board and enjoy the beach live music and panga fun along the beach. Still Easter Week down here so lots of beach camping and festivities.

Pangas giving kids banana rides then spinning and dumping them all in the surf with cheers and laughter every time. The kids that came by all noted our home port San Pedro written on our stern. We were 3 swells from the beach break but just in line with the pangas and really hardly any other place to anchor. What a rolly night, plus around 4:00am it started to pour and of course we had all the hatches open and all the cushions were outside so everyone was up scurrying around closing things up. I was drenched by the time I got the cushions undone and down below but it was a little relief from the constant rolling with the surf coming in.

Chart plotter tracks for our rolly night.

Friday April 1, 2016

Approximately 20 miles to San Blas. Motor sailed starting in light winds as predicted but ended with 22 apparent on a beat. We passed by the most beautiful long bays with awesome beaches and all had southwest swells and breaking waves. There is a spectacular rock that for miles off I thought was a boat with a white spinnaker , then Al thought maybe it was a barkentine. As we got closer and were desperately trying to find Piedres Blanca we both cracked up when we realized we had been looking at it for over an hour. We should have taken a picture of it but we still hadn't found the second rock and weren't too sure about the entrance. We entered the harbor with swells breaking across the entrance. OMG not fun but Al did a great job surfing Chez Nous in safely. So the cruising guide talks about the harbor being dredged in 2013 well if so it obviously needs it again. There were a couple places we read 2 ft under our keel just getting to the marked channel by the fuel dock then turning around in the marina we actually churred up a bit of mud making the tight three way turn to get into the only slip they had that was big enough for us. It was windy till after sunset so it's nice to be in a slip not rolling. We took a stroll though town and got some info on a Croc tour...

Pictures from San Blas.