Stingrays and Transit Troubadours

All right, already! Barring some unforeseen disaster, we're outta here tomorrow morning around 10. We've hauled the dinghy aboard, topped off the diesel, loaded more jugs of drinking water, washed down the deck and I've been tucking away every loose object in sight.

According to our weather oracle Don Anderson, conditions are calm around Cabo Corrientes (the point of land at the southern end of Banderas Bay), which is usually the hairiest part of the trip south. We'll try to land in Ipala tomorrow night. We'll have to be careful of the fishnets at that particular anchorage, so if it's after dark when we arrive, we'll probably just keep going overnight and land in Chamela. Get some rest, go on to Careyes. Then Tenacatita. Then Barra de Navidad and Melaque!

The Capt caught a video of dozens of stingrays traveling past our boat -- They look like reflections on the water, or fallen leaves

No whales yet, but then we have only been outside the marina with the boat once in the last three weeks. But we've been spotting the occasional lone stingray, and here's the shot I promised of the whole herd (flock? school?) we saw a few days ago.

Transit troubadour expertly balanced himself on the lurching bus and entertained us. Curious-looking guitar he was playing... the neck looks like a bass but the sound was a normal guitar

And here's a transit troubadour we met on the bus to Puerto Vallarta yesterday, when four of us first mates jumped ship for the day. He was actually pretty good, and I liked that he talked about his songs. The Mexicans on the bus resolutely ignored him and refused to make eye contact, but I dug up a good tip for him.

I felt like telling him "I know what it's like, amigo, to play your best and be regarded as a pest."