no-footer Position: 20 degrees, 45 minutes, 50 seconds North 105 degrees, 31 minutes, 01 seconds West

Well, we’re actually anchored in Punta Mita right inside the coastline of Banderas Bay. We decided that it would be a great transitional step from Marina life from the past month to a month at sea.

So…after a stressful week of provisioning, preparing and otherwise getting ready, we’re chillin’ at anchor. A nice sunset, a “Charisma” some final boat projects and we’re ready.

We checked in on the “Net” tonight. We’re now officially part of the loose group of boats leaving Mexico and heading to Polynesia. We could hear boats all the way on the shortwave radio and were told by the net control that our signal was very strong, so all the work I’ve put into “tweaking” the radio, especially the grounding system and antenna seems to be paying off.. One boat is within 90 miles of making landfall at Hivo Oa (where we’ve going), having left a month ago. That means our radio is working well, as we could hear their signal well over 2500 miles away. Ann was enjoying hearing all the boats that we have met over the past five months of cruising. We’re both excited. Now that we’re anchored and know that we are heading out first thing in the morning, it’s gotten very real (the weather is great, which is why we’ve been rushing to get out-there’s a “window” the next couple days of favorable winds to get us off the coast and into the Tradewinds). There are probably 20 boats out there right now with another dozen yet to leave from here (Banderas Bay, Puerto Vallarta). Might seem like a lot, but it’s covering thousands of miles. When I sailed to Hawaii (twice), in the Transpac race, there were 80 boats all leaving LA at the same time and heading to a finish line off Diamond Head and despite that after the first day or so you don’t see anybody.

OK, that’s it for tonight. We’re excited. Weather’s good. We’re ready. Charisma is ready (in fact, today motoring up here, she “felt” different-like she’s thrilled she’s going to do what she was designed to do. Funny, but boats are like that. They definitely have personalities and some days they are in better moods than others).

And now a word from Ann: It was really exciting listening to the net tonight and hearing Bob check us in (right after the “other Charisma” checked in! We never heard of another Charisma until the Jump! Thank goodness they are a nice young couple with a kid, not a cranky pirate! This is now very real! I was able to do a little checking in with folks before we left La Cruz and it was wonderful! It has been an exhausting pace for the last week and truly, Charisma could not fit anything more! (Yes I took pictures of the water line!) Oh, except for the standup paddle board we bought today! And it’s official, I am tired of shopping, washing, repacking and stowing stuff. I finished the coffee (thanks Andy Knight -we found a place to get it ground and we bought another 20 lbs!) repacking (vacuum sealing) after we dropped anchor at Punta Mita! Nothing left to do! Yay! Our departure was bittersweet. We loved La Cruz and were treated to the music group Tataware at lunch and then got back to the boat, showered and shoved off! Many of the other “jumpers” (Like Blue Rodeo, Bright Angel and The Rose) were there to help us leave the dock! Even Free Spirit Dave made it back to La Cruz to see us off! So we rest well tonight and start sailing tomorrow. Bob says he doesn’t want to run the engine at all for the next 2500 miles! Remember to have fun putting the latitude and longitude that Bob lists on the blog each night into Google Earth and see where we are!