June 7, 2002

Crew 4 turned over NORDHAVN in excellent condition as they passed the baton to crew five. We received a clean, freshly oiled and fueled little ship. Gary went grocery shopping to reprovision on Thursday while Dennis and I were given our orientation from Mike and Dan. We had "Coyote", a local entrepreneur deliver additional oil and coolant. We were joined by Courtney Freeman, senior editor for Yachting Magazine, yesterday afternoon. Courtney is doing an article about some of the destination resorts frequented in Mexico by yachtsmen, while traveling aboard part of the final leg of NORDHAVN'S circumnavigation. This gives crew five the opportunity to stop in a few places that we would have otherwise passed by. Weather permitting, we plan to stop in Manzanillo (Las Hadas), Bahia Navidad (very briefly) and Puerto Vallarta where Courtney will leave us. Given these stops and NORDHAVN'S range, we plan to top our fuel tanks off in Puerto Vallarta and bypass Cabo San Lucas altogether. All of this is subject to change based on the fact that we are cruising in hurricane country during the beginning of the season. Senior Marcas, the harbor master in Acapulco cleared us out the to Puerto Vallarta. While clearing and glancing at passports, the captain became slightly offended to see how senior he is to his crew.

Dinner last night was at La Frigata, an open air restaurante recommended by Coyote, frequented by locals. After eating the food and listening to a Mexican rock band, we wondered if Coyote didn't have some vested interest. This was followed by watching the cliff divers, then back to NORDHAVN to get a good night's sleep before our departure Friday morning. Lots of rain last night. As we prepared to leave this morning we noticed that we had an extra crew member aboard on the bow. He was fury had a long tail and appeared to be well fed. Fortunately our doors were closed so he was not able to join us below last night. With four of us on board at the moment there wasn't a proper bunk available for him. We escorted our visitor back to the docks and left the docks at 06:50. The weather is cloudy, unsettled and steamy. We left Club de Yates Acapulco, turned west passing through the Boca Chica strait, past Punta Lorenz then making our right turn to begin the "uphill" slog up the coast. We are thrilled, but almost embarrassed to report that we have calm and following seas with just enough wind to cool things down, allowing the air conditioning to be shut down.

NORDHAVN is on a magnetic heading of 295 degrees, SOG 7.8, rpm 1,750. Our plan is to hug the coast, picking up a counter current and allowing us to make a quick right turn to a port of refuge if a tropical storm develops.

We hope that our next report includes the same benign conditions we are currently enjoying.

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