01/29/2005 - Friends On The Way South

We would like to devote this page to thanking friends that we have met on the way south. Our first long layover was in Punta de Mita where we met Hector and his family that run the first class El Dorado Restaurant.

Hector hooked us up (literally) with the El Dorado's own fishing tour guide and panga. Ben, Mark, Bruce and Jake brought home 3 mackerals and 1 cocina (spelling?) at the end of the day and I don't which was bigger, the fish or the smiles on their face.


As if catching the fish wasn't fun enough, an even more gratifying experience was to have the pleasure of the El Dorado preparing the fish and serving it to us just hours later for a memorable New Year's Eve dinner. Here is Hector serving our freshly caught fish in 3 different styles: ceviche, fried fish, and fillet.



























And a special thank you to our friend "Wolfie" & Family from Juno, Alaska. We're not sure who befriended who first, but we do know that we had a great time our first night in Zihuatanejo thanks to Wolfie who treated us to a very entertaining evening and mucho grande margaritas.

01/25/2005 - Two Girls, One Catamaran, and the Gold Coast

Dear friends and family, we are securely at anchor in Zihautanejo. Our latest voyage is almost too hard to put into words so here are a bunch of pictures of our 9-day trip down what is referred to as the Gold Coast of Mexico. The anchorages we stayed at were all beautiful and remote and the wildlife was abundant. We stayed in Yalapa, Ipala, Chamela, Tehatanetec ( the jungle river), Las Hadas, Punta Cabeza Negra and will be here in Ztown until the end of February or until we get that itch to move south again.
(Yalapa, boat on anchor)


(many hump back whales)




(snorkeling on beach off one of the islands in Chamela we saw manta rays, puffer fish and many beautiful tropical fish)


(many dolphins)



(view from anchorage in Las Hadas where hotels resembled those found in a fairy tale)


(happy crew on anchor at Punta Cabeza Negra)


(El Capitan, Jake)


(First Mate, Cathy)


(Crew, Barb, her job was to have no job, just to relax and enjoy herself and she was good at it!)


(Jungle River Trip in Tehatanetec where we were thrilled to see an iguana and enjoyed the serenity and wild outback of the river in stark contrast to the sea)




(the sea was filled with schools of jellyfish, lots of sea snakes, but we only managed to capture pictures of the Olive Ridley sea turtle and a brown booby bird that hitched a ride on the bow)




(on anchor in Z-town)

01/04/2005 - Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

We left Punta Mita with mixed emotions. We were there for only a month but yet it felt like home and therefore we were sad to leave. The locals treated us like their own family and neighbor and we will remember them forever. On the other hand, the familiar feeling of excitement and yet another adventure to be experienced encouraged us to pull up anchor and continue with our journey south. We are now in Nuevo Vallarta at the beautiful Paradise Village Marina www.paradisevillage.com We plan to leave here on Jan. 9th.

We are waiting anxiously for Barb to arrive on the 5th. She is one of our closest friends and has been one of the many friends-family who have supported our adventure. We are absolutely thrilled that she is going to be joining us as crew from our leg from Nuevo Vallarta to Zihuatanejo. We plan to arrive in Ztown on Jan. 20th and will be there for several weeks, so a good opportunity for others to join us after Jan. 20th. Hint, hint.

We want everybody to know that you are welcome at any time to come and join us. Please write and let us know if there is even the slightest, remotest possibility that you can head south with us. We will work out the details later but need to know if you are interested so we can keep you up to date on our latest plans. Hope the new year is treating you all well!
-Cathy, reply to cathyannpruette@yahoo.com