Bahia Santa Maria

The next morning we awoke at 6am and departed south for Bahia Santa Maria and overnight 183 mile passage. The wind was yet again mixed and we only sailed about 6 hours of the way, the rest of which was dead calm, not even a cat's paw on the surface this did however allow us to see the amazing clarity of the water which I have never seen before. When dolphins swam beside the boat we could see them so clearly it was as if there was no water at all but gave the impression they were suspended in space. We also spotted a number of turtles relaxing on the surface, just drifting. They look like lumps of wood at first sight. 

We entered Bahia Santa Maria just after dark and dropped the anchor on a Sandy bottom in about 30 feet of water, we could see no other boats in the bay. When we awoke the next morning there were a couple of other boats in the bay

We caught up on some sleep and Katya continued with her school work. She seems to be getting more proficient at maths which we are all pleaded at. 

Now came our opportunity to perform our first surf beach landing in the dinghy. We put on the special wheels that allow us to quickly get the dinghy up the beach before the next wave breaks over us. Off we went in search of beach treasure. The surf 

Sending was a success and none of us got too wet, which I believe is the norm, the waves however were only very small. 

We combed the beach for anything of interest. There was an abundance of sand dollars, new types of shells , one of which was magnificent. We also found a decomposing hammerhead shark washed up and removed some of its teeth so that Katya can use them for jewelry, after washing them. Katya also found a Turtle's skull, which is probably illegal to keep but it was interesting to look at. We whittled down what wad a large collection down to a slightly less large collection. God only know show much we will gave collected by the end of our journey. 

In the afternoon. Jake, Danielle, Katelyn and Hannah arrived on SV 'Ohanna and they came over for drinks and fresh sushi that Jude made from some of the Tuna we caught the previous day. It was good to catch up with the and the girls I believe enjoyed themselves judging by the giggling that was going on. 

It's hard to believe that it is December the first and Christmas is only 3 weeks away. With temperatures around 22c during the day it does not feel like winter. We still do not know where we will be for Christmas but if is likely to be either La Paz, in the sea of Cortez or La Cruz on the pacific coast north of Puerto Vallarta. We have however started to draw up our list of favorite foods that we will try and buy for our Christmas feast. 

I have been very pleased with my solar panels so far, output has exceeded our needs and we even watched a film one evening which we don't normally do because the TV draws too much power. So far I reckon we have saved about 10 gallons of diesel or $40. Only another $2,600 to go to break even point!