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Sunday January 31, 2010

Today there will be a lot of goodbyes. Nuevo Vallarta Paradise Marina and Resort has been home to Bella Donna since before Christmas. One last workout in the gym. One last word with the tigers. One last pass to the ATM machines, local t shirt store and of course Starbucks.

We are going to head south to Barra Navidad, yes that does mean Christmas, about 150 miles south, It is best to arrive in daylight and at near slack high tide; since Bella Donna can do 180 to 200 miles per day, we plan to depart before 2 PM. We will stop in Barra Navadad for 2 days to explore and refuel. The harbor master agreed to let us tie up at the fuel dock. Monday is a holiday in Mexico so we will have to check in on Tuesday. You have to check out when you leave a port in Mexico and check in to the next port when you get there. I like the US system where you check in once and just notify the immigration and customs offices when you leave and arrive. We will depart for our next destination Wednesday morning.

Everything is ready, we cast off the lines and make an awkward exit from our tight fitting slip into the narrow channel with a swift flowing out going tide. Since the harbor master asked that we dock bow first the current quickly dictates we begin our journey going backwards. John spins us around in the narrow channel as we float outwards. When Bella Donna looks proper for a graceful departure we crank up all speakers at high volume; on the iPod is Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again", Bella Donna's signature passage departure theme song. As we make our way down the channel people on other vessels as well as Resort guests either wave or give us the thumbs up. It is a very uplifting moment that is too quickly over. After the third playing of "On the Road Again" we allow Willie to continue on with the rest of his songs leaving us with a calm lonely almost zen moment as we contemplate the work ahead of us. It feels refreshingly good to be at once again.

The weather dictated that we leave today as tomorrow the weather is forecast to become unsettled. It is cloudy already and the last unsettled weather included a huge water spout, a tornado over water, that hit shocking close to anchored vessels just north of our marina.

It takes us a few hours to exit Banderas Bay; it is huge. As the sun sets and it starts to get cooler we enter the more tropical, hot and humid weather to the south. Maybe it is a good idea to do this at night when it is cooler. Then it gets very dark, even though the moon is almost still full and brighter than at other times of the year, closer to earth, it has not risen. Even when it does the clouds may hide it. Suddenly there is a very bright lightning strike far from us but off out port side. The wind picks up and a few minutes later it starts to rain real hard. We have just passed under an invisible storm cloud and we stay alert for an increase in wind speed or a change in wind direction, both of which may occur under a cloud. We are on a Genoa only port tack with the wind off the aft quarter. More lightning far off the starboard beam and some far off ahead of us, but none behind us; it may be a long night. The wind gradually builds to 30 knots but we are running away from it so the apparent wind is just 21 0r 22 because our boat speed is over 8 knots. We need to slow or we will arrive too early. Suddenly the wind changes direction; a gibe back winds our Genoa and folds it over the furler. It takes us several minutes to successful furl it. The rest of the evening watch we are on a starboard tack.

We pass under several more rain clouds and see more lightning. Sitting in the dark with your thoughts you visualize a large dangerous water spout coming at you out of the dark. What are the real odds of that? We will arrive in Barra Navidad in the morning.

God Bless Bella Donna