Life aboard in Bandaras Bay

After the swift trip down I've been relaxing in the area around Puerto Vallarta.  I've been anchored off and trying to surf every day at the various breaks.  I've also been taking folks out sailing a fair bit since I've got such a sexy boat, and it helps to exercise her on a regular basis to keep stuff from growing on the bottom too much.  It still grows, but not as quick, I think.  So in the mornings I wake before the sun and await the sunrise...

And in the evenings I watch the sun set and look out for the Black Skimmers that come whispering along the surface of the waters in the growing dusk.  They are like terns, but a little bigger and have a longer lower bill than the upper and so they are good at skimming the surface of the water while flying and picking up fish.   

There's also a clan (swarm?) of bats that come out in the evenings if you're on the beach, and they do a routine and fly along the shoreline on their way to their squeaky business.

In the night there are the whales singing, and they sing during the day too, but usually there is more noise, so its harder to hear them.  But at night they thrum through the hull of the boat like giant aquatic Pavarottis.

During the day I try to go sailing, and I recently took a family from another boat out.  They had a nice time teaching their girls how to steer the boat using a tiller...

I wanted some pictures from afar, so my friend Corey took a few...

This one was pretty good, since we are bombing along directly at his boat which is anchored...

Of course we got out the halyards and one of the little girls went out swinging...

And here she is dragging a hand in the water.  We're sailing along at about 6-7 kts, so its pretty quick water going by, so she was having a blast.

They had a nice time sitting on the railing too.

And playing hide and seek...

And learning to steer. 

And searching for whales, of course...

On another trip I had some really nice close whales that like to splash around.

So its been a nice winter so far down here.  I missed most of the really good surf, but have caught a few nice waves.  I'm just now starting to miss Alaska, so I'll be excited to go back up north, but not yet.   Its nice to be in the sun again.