12/31/2004 - The Collins Family, Punta de Mita, Mexico

We are having a blast with Betty & Bruce and clan... best wishes for a Happy New Year!

Mark at the helm!


Jackie staying hydrated!


Another sighting of a hump back whale!


Betty & Jake stowing the sails away after a great day of sailing!


Bruce "trying" to catch some fish!


The girls hanging out!


Betty "trying" to catch some fish!


The entire Collins family "trying" to catch some fish!


Betty gives up trying to catch some fish.


The Collins Family does Punta Mita!

12/26/2004 - Merry Christmas & more pictures from Punta Mita, Mexico

Betty and Bruce and Mark and Ben and Jackie all arrived safe and sound on Christmas Day. We celebrated that evening with seafood dinner at El Dorado Restaurant. Ben had lobster, Mark had the sea horse platter, Bruce had the shrimp cocktail and the rest of us had fish, fish, fish and more fish!! We were serenaded by a guitarist singing Felize Navidad and a few more holiday jingles in Spanish! Mom decided to stay home and celebrate a white Christmas with the White family. I don't blame her. She has always been the old fashioned type!! We miss you Mom and know that you are here in spirit as we are with you and all of our family and friends. Okay, now for more pictures of having fun in the sun and surf at Punta Mita! Adios! - Cathy, reply to cathyannpruette@yahoo.com

12/23/2004 - Punta Mita

Happy Holidays from Punta Mita! We just said good bye to Hans and Kathleen after spending a very enjoyable time vacationing with them here in the quaint little village of Punta Mita. We spent a lot of time relaxing and visiting and just hanging out in both their beautiful condo and aboard the Woodduck. We went for several sails to the islands and whale watching. Saw a family of hump back whales, a mother and its two little calves and then the pappa hump back whale breaching less than 50 yards form the boat. Unbelievable! We also had many meals and drinks while sitting on the beach at the local restaurants. Jake and I are awaiting anxiously for my Mom and sister Betty and family to arrive on Christmas Day! In my sister Mary's words, there is no better way to spend the holidays than just simply spending time visiting with friends and family. We hope that all of you are enjoying the simpler times and not getting too caught up in all of the hub bub of things in this special holiday season. Our thoughts and best wishes are with you all! -Cathy, reply to cathyannpruette@yahoo.com

12/06/2004 - Sailing Downwind (Punta de Mita, Mexico)

Well, how do I put this? I'll make a long story short. It did not take us two weeks to Punta Mita. It took us only two days! We got here on Saturday, December 4th. The trip was 260 miles long and took us 51 hours. We are at a gorgeous anchorage in a small village just 30 miles north of Puerto Vallarta and we plan to call this "home" for the next 3 weeks. Why did we get here so fast? Well, the wind simply was not blowing in the direction of Mazatlan. We could have made it to Mazatlan but we would have gotten beat up. Real bad. We ran into what are called the northerlies. That's when the wind rips down the Sea of Cortez kicking the waves up and force you to turn back or go down wind. So we really went where the wind takes us. After the first day we covered 120 nm and the wind and waves settled a little more and we were able to cover 140 nm the next day. This was fun because we kept a good pace of 6 to 8 knots giving us runs up to 12 to 13 knots surfing down the following seas. At the end of the stretch we had to fix only a couple of things on the go and Cathy saw a whale within spitting distance ( about 10 ft ) from the boat. After a day here we saw Profligate, for those of you who don't know who they are, Richard runs the Latitude 38 magazine out of San Francisco. It was nice to see a boat from our home port. --Jake, reply to jasonpruette@yahoo.com

12/01/2004 - Good bye to Cabo San Lucas

We are heading out tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 2nd). It will probably be two weeks before we are in touch again via email. Look for our next post from Puerto Vallarta.

All good sailors, leave a "flight plan"... and our plan between now and Puerto Vallarta is as follows: first stop will be Mazatlan, second stop will be Isla Isabella, third stop is Punta Mita (18 miles north of Puerto Vallarta). We'll be in Puerto Vallarta by Christmas Day to meet my sister, Betty and her family, and oh, yes, my Mom too!!

We have really enjoyed our stay here in Cabo San Lucas. We found a great mechanic who fixed our engine (problem with grounding and dirty fuel/water in the fuel). We also found a great chiropractor who fixed BOTH of our backs! Here are a few more shots of Cabo.

The arches, also known as "Lands End"....





Our favorite dog in Cabo, we love dogs, can't wait until we get one of our own. This one's name is "Bully" and he lives at the Theory Cafe, the coffee shop where we've been getting free internet (with purchase)....