Pacific Ocean : 1 ; Family Circus Crew : 0

Just a quick update on our passage north. We started 4 days ago, and made decent but bumpy progress from Zihuatanejo to about Manazanillo, and then the breeze picked up right on our nose, as did the swells. We pulled in to Barra Navidad at sunrise to refuel for the push to La Cruz. Thankfully, the French Baker came along in his little boat and we could load up on some french pastries for breakfast as we were heading out. Heather and the kids raised the sails and got the boat going in some decent breeze which matched the 11-15 knot forecast. Within two hours however, the wind was consistently over twenty knots and didnt dip below it for the next 12 hours. We double reefed the main and partially furled the jib, as the breeze picked up to the mid twenties, with gusts north of 30 knots. We couldn't motor in to the waves, so we tried sailing upwind with some big tacks offshore, but after a valiant 14. hour day bouncing and pounding, we bagged any thought of going further and limped in to Chamela- arriving an hour after sunset - only miles north of where we had started the day. Pacific Ocean : 1 ; Family Circus Crew : 0.

We were happy to be at anchor, and an additional highlight of the day is that we were able to make SSB radio contact with Pelagic - 1100 miles away in Costa Rica. It was good to see that work, as we hope to continue to stay in touch with SSB and HAM folks from in the Ocean. If there are any HAM radio operators on the West Coast that can help us connect home, let us know!

We quickly fell asleep, and slept in hard. We got a good day of homeschooling in, and had a phenomenal boogie boarding session in the corner of Chamela Bay. The waves were breaking right, and we got some great rides and video footage- even though the water up here is quite cold at 75 degrees fahrenheit.

Weather forecasts have been significantly inaccurate from the multiple sources we pull them from - but today, Friday, pointed to our best opportunity to make it the final 100 miles north to La Cruz. Tomorrow looks ugly, so early this morning Heather and I raised anchor at 6am under moonlight and headed out. We had a great first two hours as the Moon was setting and the Sun started to rise, even with some favorable winds and dolphins, but the left over swell is still plenty big. We've decided to bite the bullet and motor hard north- its causing a bumpy ride but we're making over 7 knots on this roller coaster ride and only have 38 more miles until we get around Cabo Corrientes and in to Banderas Bay, where life should get much easier. The kids are being troopers, and we're listening to Lady Gaga as we keep the throw up bowl at the ready. (funny how we subconsciously associated Lady Gaga with throwing up, or gagging) Hopefully we'll even the score Family Circus Crew: 1 ; Pacific Ocean : 1.

We have a long list of items to prepare and fix in La Cruz and think we have about 10-14 days before we want to head out to the South Pacific, weather permitting. It will be nice to be back somewhere familiar for this last push- they even have showers and wifi! We'll post more, and with pictures, when we get there!

Plugging away at Latitude 19 degrees 56 mins, Longitude 105 degrees 33 mins --- Chris

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