12/27/03 Dave Wallace arrived today. We all met at Rick’s. Dave is the second wave of arrivals due in "Z-What".

12/29/03 Another night at Rick’s Bar and again I played bongos with the band. Maybe I need to start playing bongos. Brian is going to buy a drum kit after his tambourine debut. About 10 people came back to the boat with us to continue partying. We had the stereo blasting, dancing until 4:00 am. Sue from Pegasus kept yelling to turn it up!

12/31/03 New Year’s Eve – This promises to be a fun night here in town. There is music everywhere and there is supposed to be a big fireworks show on the beach tonight…I can’t wait.

1/1/04 New Year’s Day – Last night was fun! Went to Rick’s for music and drinking. He had hats and all the fun New Years Eve party favors. On New Year’s Day, we went to Las Gatas Beach and felt an earthquake. It was reported to be a 5.3 centered 25 miles east of Zihau. Maybe I’m getting jaded living in California, but it sure didn’t feel like a 5.3

1/3/04 Dave is scheduled to leave today, but his flight gets cancelled until the 4^th. Fortunately, the airline puts him up in a hotel and buys him dinner in Ixtapa. Mark Quillin arrived today…..another change in the party.

1/6/04 Ron and Wendy leave for home today. We hope to have the boat fully provisioned and ready to sail this afternoon. We take on 75 gallons of bottled water, 40 gallons of diesel and stock the refrigerator.

1/6/04 1700 Log = 3253 Departed Zihautanejo….end of the southbound journey. Ron and Wendy are scheduled to take off at 1730 and I toast them as we leave the bay. Wendy is only gone for a few hours and I miss her already. This is the second time I had to say good-bye to her leaving the boat. As the sun goes down, the full moon rises and we have a beautiful motor sail out of the bay. Mark isn’t feeling good and it is a quiet night under a full moon. I’m on watch alone. I had a glass of Wendy’s wine at midnight and toasted her again.

1/8/04 0930 Log = 3451 Arrived in Tenacatita Bay after motoring most of the way. We only had a few hours of wind to sail in. Spotted two humpback whales in the bay as we approach our anchorage. We did the jungle river dinghy trip again with Mark and Andrea. We walked around the point after the trip and visited the "aquarium". This is a favorite snorkel spot because the water is so clear. However, we forgot to bring the snorkel gear.

1/9/04 1000 Log = 3451 Departed Tenacatita under motor. As we approach the afternoon, the wind begins to build. By nightfall, we are up to 30 knots of wind with gusts to 35 and the seas are about 20 feet. Brian is sick and Mark banged his knee trying to duck an incoming wave. Both are out for the night. Andrea and I sail the boat with a reefed main and jib. We did about 6 tacks as the wind was right in the direction we wanted to go. We had about 10 waves come aboard and one huge breaker that completely soaked us. Thank you Andrea for staying with me. I couldn’t have done it myself in that much wind and waves. By 2:00 in the morning, the wind is down to 25 knots and the autopilot is handling the boat just fine. Mark takes over and Andrea and I get some much needed sleep.

1/10/04 1500 Log = 3587 Arrived in Puerto Vallarta safely, but a little too late to check in with the marina. Denise arrived shortly thereafter. Right after Denise arrived, we had a thunderstorm complete with lightning and rain. The thunder and lightning was quite spectacular and the boat needed the fresh water wash.

1/11/04 Today is a lazy day with overcast skies and lightly scattered showers. Brian, Andrea and Denise went into town and Mark and I hung around the marina and watched some football. All my clothes got wet in the locker because I failed to close the hatches securely. Mark left for the airport at 2:00. Farewell amigo.

1/12/04 Another rainy day in PV. We cleaned up the boat and stowed the dinghy. We shouldn’t need it anymore and it tends to foul the jib sheets in heavy weather. Andrea went up the mast to fix the Windex and thread a new jib halyard. The old one parted at the shackle. After she came down the mast, the entire restaurant at Victor’s Place applauded her.

1/13/04 It appears we are stuck in PV for awhile. The forecast is for continuing showers and winds between 20 and 40 knots out of the south. There is a trough of unstable weather between here and Cabo and no one can predict what will happen. Even if we leave by Thursday, we can still make everyone’s schedule. PV isn’t too bad to hang around in, but the showers make it a bit messy. The temperature is about 77 during the day.