And we’re off. We left this morning very close to the time we said we were going to leave, which these days is quite a feat. We motored out of the marina and headed for Yelapa, a small town only accessible by boat on the south side of the bay. It was only about fifteen miles, or two hours. When we were about a mile out a boat came racing out to us to try and sell us a mooring. Apparently there are two competing mooring fields in Yelapa and they are serious about getting business. The guy pulled alongside and asked if I wanted a mooring. I asked how much and he replied with, “How many hours?” Hours? I thought. Three nights. “No man it’s going to be too rough tonight. Big swell. It’s already really uncomfortable. You won’t sleep.”

It was true, there was a big swell running which had made our two hour trip rather uncomfortable already. I thanked him and then ducked my head below to inform Ali of the bad news. We turned north then and headed for the La Cruz anchorage. The anchorage which is about six miles from Paradise and that we would sail thirty miles to reach. Great.

Five minutes after turning north Ouest threw up. Poor girl has some really neglectful parents. We had thought a short trip on the bay would be fine and had opted not to give her any medication. Wrong choice. She is such a trooper though. No complaining or crying, just toss the watermelon on deck and curl up on Papa’s lap for a nap. From now on the girl doesn’t go out sailing without a quarter of a dramamine crushed up in her juice.

We arrived in La Cruz with twenty-five knots of wind and discovered that the anchorage is really just an open roadstead. About fifty boats were anchored out and each of them looked as if they were racing along at ten knots the way their bows were crashing through the waves. Pretty ugly as far as anchorages go and yet here sit fifty boats. We’ll see tomorrow if the town is the redeeming factor.

As far as the boat goes she held up really well today. Nothing broke. The refrigerator worked, we’ve got all the hot water we could want, and the dinghy davits held up even better than I could have hoped. Those things are rock solid. We were rolling around in a good sized swell today and the dinghy didn’t move one centimeter. I’m loving those things.

As I type this the boat is rolling around in this “anchorage” which could also be described as “the ocean.” We’re hearing lots of new creaks and clanks. Rolling at anchor is something that is going to take some getting used to. That is one thing we never had to give a second thought to on the cat.

We spent most of the afternoon playing out on deck where Ouest called it bumpy, referring to the breaking waves rolling through. Driving the car around was actually dangerous. But we all had fun today despite the troubles. Amazing how different life on a boat is once separated from the dock.