That’s right, we are heading North and up into the Sea of Cortez. Our migration North will begin tomorrow. We will be taking our time, with lots of of stops along the way. You may be wondering why on earth we’ve been lingering in Banderas Bay for so long, and that’s a good question. Banderas Bay is a hangout for cruisers while they wait for the winds to change. The winter is plagued with “northers” in the sea which make it an uncomfortable bash into winds and sea. Luckily for us, this is the time of year that those northerly winds begin to break down. Yahoo!!! 
While we’ve enjoyed our time in the Bay, we are feeling the itch to get out and explore again. So with that said, here are the top 5 things we will miss about Banderas Bay…
1. Cruising Community- each morning begins with a radio net which includes 50-60 boats led by a local net controller. During the net weather is discussed, items are offered for trade, cruisers are given the opportunity to ask others for help and local activities are broadcast which gives you a wealth of knowledge at the end of the 30 minutes. Did you know they even have a kids net? One of the cutest categories we’ve heard was “treasures of the toy box” and ends with a joke of the day. Each day we see familiar faces as we go to and from the anchorage and through town. It has been a joy meeting other cruisers and soaking up their stories.
2. Anchorages- the anchorages here in Banderas Bay have been superb! There has been plenty of room to spread out and excellent holding ground to keep your boat planted. Not to mention the scenery on land has been lush, tropical and easy to look at from our boat.
3. The locals- boy have they melted our hearts! We have interacted with many locals during our time here and have almost always walked away with a pleasant experience. No matter how bad we butcher their language, they do their best to help us out. It has been a pleasure watching the family interactions, their bonds are beyond tight and full of love. Can you believe we have NEVER seen a temper tantrum thrown since we got here in December?
4. Access to Services- the Bay has been a great place for us to get items we need. There are small markets on almost every corner, chandleries within walking distance of the marina, a ship yard, fuel dock, and a Costco nearby for any of our gringo cravings from back home. There is even a dinghy dock at the marina and for 40 pesos a day, you leave your dinghy secured and avoid the beach landings.
5. Wildlife- while the whale season is pretty much over in the bay, we had our fair share of close encounters with beautiful whale families. Sometimes those encounters are within the anchorages! Would you believe we’ve heard whales singing through the hull in the middle of the night?! We’ve seen iguanas, crocodiles, manta rays, spotted eagle rays, dolphins, sea turtles, dorado, puffer fish, needle fish, flying fish and so many bait fish.
We will certainly miss our time here and will enjoy the many memories made this season. We will have our boat tracker on so you can stalk us as we go by using this link.
http://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Perspective
Cheers to all and Happy Easter!!!
We gained a new house pet, a gecko. Brad found the little guy on our anchor chain, watched him fall into the in ocean and fished him out. We rinsed him with fresh water and set him loose on the boat. We named him Fang. Brad decided it’s a boy to help balance the abundance of estrogen on board. We usually see Fang every couple of days, hiding somewhere. They say it’s blessing to have a gecko in your home, but so far I have mixed feelings about it. I’m constantly worried I will step on him, or he will jump on me and I’ll smack him on accident. But so far he’s been occupied eating plenty of bugs on board and hopefully we will see him again soon. 
We went back to Chacala for a few days just to change up our scenery from Banderas Bay. Along the way we saw dolphins and rays, but not very many whales. When we spotted the rays I was unsure what they were. All I knew is they were right in front of our boat and we were about to hit them. I ran up the bow and couldn’t believe my eyes. Groups of rays that scattered quickly as we got closer! We’ve never seen them clustered up like that at the surface. With a little research, it turns out a group of these migrating rays is called a “fever”. Chacala is one of those places that we love. It has a great vibe and there are tons of fish that visit the side of our boat all day long. 
Ok now that we got all of that playing out of the way, it was time for Perspective to have a little pampering in the yard. She needed to have the bottom of the boat power washed, sanded and new bottom paint applied. We also needed to investigate our rudder. While diving the boat Brad noticed the bottom of the rudder had some movement that it shouldn’t have had. This could only get worse the longer we waited to address it. Brad made the appointment with the yard manager for the haul out, coordinated with Vargas Marine for the work to be done and drove our boat to the marina. Brad drove straight into the sling and the haul out began. 
We had a garden of creatures growing on the rudder plate and prop while the hull was in fairly decent shape. 
Here’s a progression of the work done: we went with 1 coat of blue bottom paint and 2 coats of black. The theory behind this is once we see blue, we know it’s time for new bottom paint job to to be applied.
We had a new piece of metal fabricated for the rudder to fix the excess movement. This time they applied primer and bottom paint to prevent the garden you saw above. Fingers crossed it sticks!
All in all the boat was in the yard from Tuesday til Saturday. Once the jobs were complete it was up to Brad to drive Perspective out of the sling and anchor her solo. For the record he did a great job and didn’t even sweat it. I was not far behind on our dinghy with Sydney. 
It was SOOOOO good to be reunited with Perspective in the water! During the week we were lucky enough to stay on Silk Purse while Jim was out of town. It was a win win, we had a place to stay and he knew his boat was being taken care of. It was an adjustment going from 46ft to 30ft but let me just say Jim’s boat is fantastic! She is well built and very comfortable. Sydney was adjusted in no time and found comfy places to crash. 
Although she wasn’t into the sleepy morning selfie idea…
Sydney’s Perspective…I’m getting awfully tired of not going to the beach! My humans always have something else to do. They keep promising a Sydney beach day but I’m still waiting! Although I did get to play a lot in Chacala and I just love watching my ball! The rest of my time is spent pouting and brooding. 
You may be wondering what’s next on our agenda, besides a beach day for Sydney. Well we are planning to head North to the Sea of Cortez in the next couple of weeks. We are waiting on a good weather window and also we are hoping to have the generator fixed by then. As I type this, Brad is busy wrenching on the generator in hopes that it will be fixed for good! Once the generator is fixed we will be able to make water and fill up our tanks without bumming it off of Jim, or transporting 5 gallon jugs to and from shore. Wish us luck! As always we hope that each of you are doing great. Cheers from the crew of Perspective! 
Since we were in the marina we filled up our water tanks, vacuumed, cleaned the boat and ate plenty of ice cream. I was the overachiever and got myself a case of food poisoning while we were at it. I’ll spare you the details but buckets are a handy thing to have around. 😂
A few from our Perspective…
A few learning opportunities…Dinghy driving lessons were in session due to Brad heading to San Diego for a few days. I knew how to drive the dinghy before, but this gave me the opportunity to really learn. Or else I’d be trapped on the boat 24/7 in the anchorage. Sydney would never let me get away with that so we took our morning trips to shore and wound up at the dinghy dock for her walks. Jim on Silk Purse was a huge help on most of our trips to shore and more importantly, getting Sydney back in Perspective.
Another learning opportunity presented itself at the Marina, a suture clinic with a doctor showing us hands on how to do it. This is something I would have avoided before this trip. Knowing Brad will likely need help at some point, I figured it was my duty to learn. I awkwardly held the tools and completed my suture on a pig leg. It took lots of focus but I know I’ll be able to do it should the need arise! 
We’ve attended the local farmers market here in La Cruz. It happens each Sunday and it’s always fun to grab a bite to eat and do a little provisioning. 
The market as seen from the water…
We made our first batch of cookies on board, chocolate no bake cookies. They were tasty, but not as good as my Mom makes! 
A little slice of anchorage views…some days it’s as flat as a lake, others it’s a windy, choppy mess out here.
Sydney’s Perspective: you guys, would you believe I haven’t been allowed to exercise in 2 weeks?! I just finished up antibiotics in case I caught some disease from a tick bite. Big whoop! I did convince my humans to take me to the beach anyway…
Other than that, it’s been the consistent pouting, begging and lounging going on. I even threw in a tantrum for good measure. 
Well there you have it, some of our day to day stuff going on around here. Got any questions for us? Shoot us a comment and I’ll reply or plan a blog post around the questions. We love to hear from you! Much love from the crew of SV Perspective!