Begin the puddle jump

Friday March 31, 2006 LOCATION: Pacific Ocean
GOOGLE EARTH COORDINATES: 16 32.069N,104 10.352W

Two and a half weeks whizzed by in Zihuatanejo as we enjoyed all our company and finalized our preparations and provisioning for the big leap. We had a wonderful time getting to know the lay of the land with Tim Mason and my parents, sister Krista and nephew Indiana. We had the opportunity to make some more great friendships with fellow cruisers and a special local named Delphino. Delphino had befriended the crew on Capaz and we were all so blessed to benefit from knowing this amazing 16 year old young man. Three extra side trips were fit in including a couple of days anchored up in Isla Grande for some swimming and surfing. We rented a car and took everyone up to a nice beach called Salidita for more fun in the sun and surf as well. One completely unexpected nor scheduled trip was to Guadalajara, where Bruce and our buddy Robert drove in a 24 hour period to retrieve new batteries for our boat. Long story short if you want it done in Mexico you need to do it yourself, so we did.

We believe Zihuatanejo has to be one of our favorite places of all in Mexico. Made up of 3 beaches, Municipal/Madera, La Ropa, and Los Gatos it has the complete package. A beautiful protected bay to anchor in though they do have some work to do on their sewer systems which makes the water questionable at times for swimming. It has a friendly authentic feel outside of the occasional cruise ship that anchored here twice a week. Great food and entertainment. One of our favorite activities is the fiesta that occurs every Sunday night in the square where you will find booths set up with every item of food you can imagine. There is always an activity going on as well such as a local dance troops demonstration. Any night of the week you will find activity there from basketball, volleyball, or local kids playing soccer. A large fishing community you can wait on the dock to see large sailfish retrieved from boats and carted away on bicycles any day of the week. From the row of pangas that line up each day to repair their nets for the next days catch and the pen set up to assist the baby turtles hatch to the rows and rows of cobble lined streets many without cars all filled with varieties of shops, food and characters we will miss it all.

Having said that it was time to move on and take the next step in our journey. Filled up with love and encouragement from family and friends we departed from Zihuatanejo and are on our way across the Pacific Ocean. We all feel ready. You can't feel better about it than the moment your 7 year old comes to you and says, "Mom, I feel confident about this, and thank you for getting my protection cloak ready for me". Upon further inquiry I realized he meant his lee cloth, the piece of material that holds him and keeps him from rolling out of bed as we heel over at night. Aside from a couple hours of motoring we have been sailing along with great winds 12-15 knots and busy seas, making great time. The waves and swell are not too confused (meaning they are going roughly the same direction) but they are big enough waves to keep you busy and tired when trying to stand up and function. I actually managed to cook hamburgers on the stove for everyone for our first meal out. The wind is coming a little more out of the west than we would like but that should come around in a few days as we work our way over to find the trade winds which should deliver us the rest of the way.

A couple of housekeeping items. We have updated the mailing list so if you find that you have received this message and would not like to receive any more please let us know and we will remove you. Likewise, if you know of anyone who would like to be added let us know as well. Though we have changed our email delivery system a bit it is still best to send all email to theMartins@ohanakai.net. Though the system occasionally acts up, that is the best way to be assured that we will receive it. I will be writing a daily journal entry to the blog site only and continue to send a weekly summary to everyone directly. You can check the website for the daily journal entry on the blog site or if you would like to receive it directly, daily, let me know and I will add you to that one as well. Check out the new google earth cruising tracker update at the web site. Let us know how it is working.

With our protection cloak wrapped around us from all you we are excited to start this next phase of our journey and can't wait to share it with you.
until next time,
lisa and the boys