It’s been a crazy couple of weeks getting last minute jobs done and a mammoth reprovision for the next 7 months of cruising the South Pacific Islands.  We spent most of yesterday on the paper trail to clear out of Mexico, with visits to the Port Authority, Health Department, Immigration and then finally the Port Captain.  Of course all the offices are spread out around the town so plenty of exercise in between.  It was an uncomplicated procedure, all the officials were very friendly and I got by with my small amount of Spanish.  The last stop at the Port Captain was painfully slow, as we sat at the “Ventanilla Rapida” desk for an hour and a half waiting for our clearance papers with my stomach grumbling like a caged lion, I wondered if the sign taped to the window was an April fools joke.

We have had some great wildlife encounters this last week, Lofty our resident Osprey eats her breakfast every morning on the TV aerial at the top of the mast, the splatterings of sushi on the deck can be a bit annoying when walking around in bare feet.  The dolphins have been a great source of entertainment too, large pods of them come into the harbour to feed and they do so right around the anchored boats.  We had one do a spy hop a couple of metres from our bow, vertically in the water his whole head came out and had a good look at us before going back down.

So we’re cleared for departure and head off out today hoping to pick up some trade winds once we get offshore.  We are sad to be leaving Mexico, we have so enjoyed our time here and as always don’t feel we have really seen enough, but the South Pacific is calling Joy and we must set sail once more for our next adventure.

Just a little over 3,000 miles to Hiva Oa, Marquesas