We Came and Left By Cover of Darkness - Day 1

Well, we are underway! Kind of fittingly we arrived in Banderas Bay in the middle of the night, and we departed the same way.

It was quite a lot of work for the final push, as it always seems to be. Jonathan was cooking up a storm yesterday preparing a delicious pasta sauce and ooso bucco (an Italian pork dish). I'm sure the entire anchorage was jealous of the amazing aromas emanating from Starship. We must be the best fed crew in the Puddle Jump fleet this year!

Mexico served up a little excitement for us on our last trip into shore. Busby and I were going to pickup a few last minute items before departure, water jugs, some coke, etc... When we arrived back to the beach we found a very chaotic scene. A mooring line which five or six pangas tie to just off the beach had parted due to massive waves, and the pangas were now being tossed onto the beach like toys by the waves. Half a dozen Mexicans were running around trying to push the pangas onto the beach and out of the breaking surf. Busby and I tried to help, with limited success, we got one of the pangas on the beach, and some of the others were driven to safety in deeper water.

With that we returned to Starship, bagged Twinkle and a few dozen other final preparations, including of course a final bath in Mexican waters and we were on our way at 0300.

Anne-Marie the trooper which she is took the first night watch, as we steamed out of Banderas Bay. Luckily she only needed to run the motor for 2 hours before she found some great wind which we have been sailing since then.

The sail has been amazing so far... great wind, fairly pleasant boat motion and 4 really close turtle encounters! When I was on the foredeck guiding up the spinnaker sock I saw one turtle so close I thought we would run it over! Luckily it scurried out of the way just in time to avoid Starship's plunging bow.

It is hard to put into words all the emotions I feel at this time. Years of anticipation and preparations, all being put into practice. Pride in Starship and her Crew, ready to take on this adventure. And most importantly Love for my good wife Anne-Marie, for without her none of this would be possible.