Ocean Echo 1: February 2012

Dear friends.

It has been a while since my last entry to the blog. There is not much new on my part. I have been spending winter around Banderas Bay, mostly at La Cruz anchorage.
I have been catching up on a lot of different projects lately. Spending quite a bit of time on research of South Pacific Islands. There is so much to find out regarding entry requirements, visas, boat import permits etc.. Also "mapping" all the regions and islands with Google Earth is quite important task. Good information is a big deal now days, especially for single handed sailboat. Planning needs to be done for next 2 years to coordinate everything and figure out cyclone season options.
Puerto Vallarta area at Banderas Bay has fairly mild winters with manageable winds during the winter months. How ever sea water quality is not as good as Carribe. Humpback whales like to "hang around" Banderas Bay in the winter.
I have a few weeks left before departure to South Pacific. The "puddle jump" should take approximately 4 weeks. My first destination should be Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia.
I am looking forward to my first Pacific crossing. I am sure it will not be as easy as it sounds.
There is a lot involved in passage preparation and food provisioning. Spending last summer at hot Islands in Sea of Cortez was very good learning experience for the guy from Northern climate.
I expect to have much slower Satellite Internet connections in the future at remote islands. Uploading of the pictures will not be possible for a while, but I will keep in touch.

Maintaining this blog could by complicated time to time, because Internet signal/connection for uploading pictures, will not be as good/fast as it is in large cities/communities. Please, excuse my poor writing skills and grammar. Google translate does good job converting text to other languages.
I hope, that you will find something interesting in this blog – enjoy.

Jara (JJ) Holcman s.v. Ocean Echo 1