Land Ho!

We arrived on Monday, May 10th (Happy Birthday Dad), however internet is rather hard to get in Paradise! Hence the reason for the delay in posting.

The morning of our departure was the La Paz, Mexico, Bayfest Volleyball tournament in which the team Brian and I had been practicing with was to play. We had just practiced with the team to fill out the sides but we were asked to stay for the games. It went so far as the team captain asked our boat owner to stay over a few more hours so that we could be in the tournament. The owner relented and we played. The bruises and stiff muscles earned were well worth the delay. The team finished in a hard fought third place out of 3 teams. Our trophies consisted of the cold beers we paid for at the bar. Later, Brian told me he had been elbowed in the face and had a broken nose and loose front teeth. He still looked the same to me.
After a few quick errands and last minute showers we caught the out going tide and sailed past La Paz as the sun was setting. Many friends shouted out farewells over the ship to ship radio as we passed and one boat of friends set off a bunch of fire works! We had fair winds for a while and then motored.
As we motored into Cabo San Lucas, we watched many Humpback whales leaping out of the water. They were of in the distance but you could clearly see them throwing their whole bodies out of the water 3 or 4 at a time! We anchored 200 yards off the beach in front of 2 huge beach bars and in the middle of a huge swarm of jetskis and small sight seeing boats and 3 cruise ships parked right behind us.
We stopped into Cabo to officially check out of the country, fix a few leaky things and top off all our fluids, and most importantly find out why the hell our ATM cards don’t work!! Did you know that in Mexico you can not make an 800 call from any pay/public phone? Neither did we. Skype to the rescue. We learned that the credit card companies don’t read their clients files when a strange charge shows up and they had put a hold on them!
We got everything sorted and shoved off into the big blue sea. The trip started with good winds and a dolphin escort. A couple of days into it the wind quit, and we bobbed around like a cork making 100 miles in 3 days. The boys went swimming and Ali (a crew member) dislocated his shoulder diving off the boat. Not good. We set it and put him to bed with some pain killers. He was really bummed out but stayed in good sprits for the rest of the trip. We watched movies on the big screen TV and read books to pass the time. When the wind came back we cruised at a good pace and caught fish for dinner. Mahi Mahi. We caught fish 4 days straight. We made Teriyaki Ginger tuna on a bed of Asian noodle salad one night. The food was great for the whole trip.
When we crossed the equator, we swore our allegiance to the great Neptune and toasted to a safe crossing. Don, the boat owner presented us with some very cool boat shirts.
The next few days the wind picked up and we really sailed. We were averaging 7.5 knots for days on end. The night skies a just crammed full of stars and much time was spent trying find the zodiac signs. The book reading continued at a fever pace. Three loaves of bread got made and we broke a few things. We lost use of the radar and wind speed indicator. The wind generator doesn’t charge right. The toe rail broke free right were the jib sheet runs through a block and the hydraulic steering pumps came un bolted from their mounts and we noticed one of the lower shrouds has a broken wire. Just the normal sailing stuff.
Monday morning the sun came up revealing the big beautiful island of Hiva Oa and with the sounds of ukulele music we realized we had just completed the crossing of the Pacific Ocean in 25 days! Whew!
Pictures to follow whenever we can get them uploaded.