| Cruising Plans
2003-4
"We have no plans, and we’re
sticking to them."
 That's
the first rule in the
Cruisers' Code. Still, most of us have some idea of where we
might like to go and when. Sort of. If the weather's right and we're in the
mood.
So here's our cruising plan. But keep in
mind that it will change, maybe drastically. That's what cruising is.
Winters 2000-02
We had a great time on two Baja Ha-Ha
rallies in
2000
and 2001, as well as two wonderful winters cruising the west coast of
Mexico. Well, someone has to get these things
done.
 We'll
arrive in Cabo San Lucas in
early November and move on to Mazatlan
for Thanksgiving and a big cruiser celebration. Then work our way down to
Puerto
Vallarta, and eventually to Zihuatanejo,
which is almost all the way south to
Acapulco, by January, 2002. 'Zhiua' is our favorite Mexican seaside
town, so we'll spend a month or so there, plus a few weeks at
Tenacatita, another favorite cruiser
hangout.
Spring 2002
 Back north to Puerto Vallarta
by the beginning of March 2002. We'll haul Raven for a bottom job and shift
to racing mode for the Banderas Bay Regatta in mid-month. Then its
time to prepare for the passage across
the Pacific. With luck, we'll leave PV in late March, with
two friends as crew, for the cleverly-named
'Coconut Milk Run' across
the South Pacific.
Trans-Pacific Cruise
Our first big-time bluewater passage is the longest one in the world, 2,800
nautical miles to the
Marquesas Islands
in
French Polynesia. We hope to arrive
there in
mid-April 2002 for the start of the cruising season among the South Pacific
islands. We'll try to spend almost six months visiting the many islands of
French Polynesia, including
the Tuamotus,
Tahiti, and Bora Bora. Then a quick move through the
Cook Islands and
Tonga, and on to New Zealand. We should arrive
in New Zealand by November 2002, just in time to avoid the cyclone season up
in the South Pacific tropics. Raven will spend the winter in New Zealand,
as will we for a few months at least, seeing friends and playing
tourist in that extremely hospitable country. |
