Monday, June 14, 2010 – Acapulco, Mexico

The morning and early afternoon were devoted to chores: Gale worked on filling the fuel tanks; Mark changed the engine oil; Maureen, Diane and Gale took a taxi to the supermarket for a few groceries; Mark, Craig and a couple of deck hands moved the boat from the fuel dock to a slip. After the groceries were put away and all of our business was taken care of, it was pool time. The sun was hot and the water felt wonderful.

After another great dinner at the yacht club, Maureen and Gale decided to spend a little more time in the pool. We had the pool to ourselves, the restaurant was closed and there was no one around. At about 10:30 pm, the skies opened up and the rain poured down for about twenty minutes. Since we were already wet, we were actually warmer under the water than out in the rain.

Sunday, June 13, 2010 – Acapulco, Mexico

Just before sunrise we spotted dozens of porpoises around the boat as well as a number of sea turtles. The sea was flat and a light morning haze somewhat obscured the view of the mountains of Mexico to our starboard side. At 4 pm after five days and five hours at sea, and a total of 1121 nautical miles, from Golfito, Costa Rica, we arrived in Acapulco and tied up to the fuel dock for the night at the Acapulco Yacht Club.

As we waited for the Customs, Immigration and Department of Agriculture officials to clear us into the country, we enjoyed a cocktail or two at the yacht club restaurant. Soon we had the three officials plus our “agent” on the boat to complete the necessary paperwork. Afterwards, we shared a nice evening meal at the yacht club restaurant.

Saturday, June 12, 2010 – At Sea

We were up for the 4 am watch. Craig spoke to his wife during the night who informed us of a developing tropical depression. It was estimated that there was a 10% chance it would turn into a hurricane and head for Acapulco. We put out four trolling lines in the late afternoon but didn’t see much action – except for the one that took an entire reel of fishing line with it while everyone was inside the boat! No one saw the pole bend or heard the line peel away!

We found ourselves in the middle of a severe thunderstorm during the early evening hours. Lots of lightning, thunder and rain. The good thing about that was Adventure got a nice fresh water bath which washed all the ocean salt away.

Friday, June 11, 2010 – At Sea

We were up for the 6 am watch. A brown booby traveled with us for several hours and seemed completely unafraid of us – we were able to sit right next to him up on the bow and take some pictures. Even Lucy had a hard time scaring him off!

Several storm cells built behind us during the morning and came on strong. We experienced rain and wind with up to 40 mph gusts before lunchtime. The seas got a little rougher, but it wasn’t too uncomfortable. Two or three times we had large schools of porpoise accompany us. We put in a few fishing lines early in the day and late in the afternoon but were unsuccessful in attracting any bites.

Thursday, June 10, 2010 – At Sea

Another beautiful day – calm seas and already hot at 7 am. We could see rain squalls behind us and blue sky ahead. Very quiet – spotted a couple of turtles, a few brown booby birds, and some porpoises. The fishing lines were put out in the afternoon but there were no strikes. Gale was feeling better but still not at 100%. Mark prepared the evening meal of fresh caught tuna, rice and green beans – his special sauce for the fish was fabulous!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010 – At Sea

Gale got up for his 2 am watch, even though he was extremely tired. Maureen joined him at 5 am and took her turn at the helm. The seas were very calm today but that didn’t seem to help Gale very much – he really just wanted to sleep.

While Craig was on watch just before lunch, he saw a pilot whale off the starboard bow. Maureen saw one in the afternoon that came up twice then disappeared. Many sea turtles, lots of flying fish and schools of porpoises were also sighted during the day. The birds we saw were primarily brown boobies.


We didn’t do any fishing today – mostly because Gale stayed in bed. Mark tried out his new hammock that he picked up at one of the Panama souvenir shops. Late in the afternoon, the washing machine gave us some problems when the water line wouldn’t shut off. Fortunately, the machine is located right next to a large bilge pump; unfortunately, we lost most of our fresh water supply and must wait until morning to do dishes, shower, etc., when the watermakers have a chance to catch up. Thanks to a joint effort, we were able to get a temporary fix on the washer that should get us to San Diego.


Gale did enjoy a little lasagna tonight and we sang happy birthday before we ate the cake. Gale and Maureen took the 8 pm to midnight watch.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - At Sea

Happy Birthday, Gale!

We had to wait around this morning to clear Customs. Yesterday there was so much rain that it caused mudslides over some of the primary roads making them impassable and some folks could not get to their jobs. No worries, we used our extra time to post blog updates.





With the paperwork done and our new crew member, Craig, aboard, we cast off the lines at 10:30 am and set out on a l-o-o-o-o-ong passage to Mexico.

When we’d been out about 2 hours, Gale put the fishing lines in to see if anything was biting. Within ten minutes the first fish hit! It was a good-sized bigeye yellow fin tuna! Before he was able to get that one cleaned, there was another hit! Craig reeled that one in – another tuna – not quite as large as the first. Both fish were filleted out and another one hit! Mark came down from the wheelhouse to bring it in while Diane stayed at the helm. It turned out to be a fabulous “tuna day.” We lost track of how many tuna were boated and filleted out, but there were no less than eight and upwards of a dozen. The only other thing biting towards evening were the bonitas which were released back to the sea. The guys were so tired by then, the lines were brought in for the day.


For Gale’s birthday, Maureen made a small white cake and a large pan of lasagna. Gale was unable to eat any of it because he was feeling queasy and food didn’t sound very good to him. In fact, he ended up going to bed just as we sat down for dinner. We weren’t sure if it was the seasickness patch or the tuna that was making him sick but all he wanted to do was lie down.