After a quiet night on the hook we picked up and with the blessing of the wind gods sailed down wind under jib alone in a steady 20 knots which, when combined with a fair current, gave us a very respectable "over-the-ground" speed of 6.5 to 7.0 knots. The wind held throughout the day allowing us to sail the entire distance into Los Frailes where we spent our second night out.
Some friends had asked us to say "hello" to another couple expected to be anchored there. You can imagine my surprise when I contacted them on the radio and they not only knew who we were but had been expecting us. We would have loved to have spent a few days but the weather was cold and wet, (thunder showers and lightening all night), and therefore not conducive to hanging out and diving. We plan to be back later in the trip and will spend more time then. So with a good stiff breeze on our beam we headed out for Isla Isabela.
We arrived at Isabela early morning on the 29th for a much needed rest. With just the two of us on board it becomes difficult to have at least one of us up at all times keeping watch for more than a couple of days. This is compounded in rougher weather as neither of us gets much sleep then. The next day, the 30th, was Cheri's birthday and she said she could not have been in a better place. Check out Cheri's pages on Isla Isabela.
We were both angry as the line was very poorly marked but also felt bad as these fishermen work very hard for little money. We could see their "panga", (a type of fishing skiff common throughout Mexico), from our position so decided to go over and at least give them a roll of line to replace what we had cut up. Not wanting to get too close and fouled again, we approached cautiously and attempted to hail them but were ignored. We at least felt better for trying. (Later we discovered that fishing with floating long lines is illegal which would explain the fishermen ignoring our attempt to talk to them.)
Upon arrival at, as Cheri so succinctly put it, the "grotesquely fancy" Paradise Village Marina, we ran a maze of fairways to find ourselves wedged in among gazillion dollar yachts. The facilities are very clean and nice, as one would expect of such a place, but it did feel a bit odd lugging four large bags of dirty laundry through a very upscale indoor mall to get to the Laundromat.
We both like Puerto Vallarta as a city but find we most enjoy our time sailing or at anchor in some small and remote bay.
