Fairwinds SV Green Panther!

Leaving the dock...

 

... heading to the South Pacific (via Mazatlan & Puerto Vallarta)

We knew it was coming -- eventually we would have to say goodbye to our friends Alena and Chris on SV Green Panther. *

We first met Alena and Chris back in September at the boatyard in Alameda, CA. They were getting new rigging while we were getting our steering fixed. Both our boats were headed to Mexico. But Green Panther was then heading across the Pacific to Polynesia and beyond. **

We next saw Green Panther in San Diego, then briefly in Ensenada. They left quickly for Cabo as they had to meet up with family. And they were running late (they had already missed the Baja HA HA). Weeks later, we came upon them in Ensenada Los Muertos, on the way up to La Paz. We all "convoyed" overnight together (SVs Pelagia, Green Panther, Confidence, Sound Discovery & Mandalay), arriving La Paz early the next morning December 9th in La Paz.

We spent Christmas and New Years (and Jan and Feb...) with Chris and Alena, did a couple trips out to the Magote to (try to) see whale sharks (unsuccessfully), checked out La Paz's Carnaval, and commiserated with them as they worked hard (soooo hard) to get their boat ready for the South Pacific.

Pelagia and Green Panther anchored off the Magote... no luck with the whale sharks

Alena shopping in the Mercado Bravo (La Paz)

Chris filming in the Mercado Bravo (pretending not to be a tourist...)

They managed a quick trip out to the islands, including having the wonderful experience with the sea lions at Los Islotes. They realized they missed a lot and say they will return one day. (But lucky them, they too got to experience a Coroumel!)

Kayaking at Caleta Partida

They are on their way, eventually, to Australia. Both are academics with PhDs (Chris a microbiologist; Alena a marine biologist) and Chris has a line on a job down there. We will miss them. (And they will surely miss Michelle's famous "Chicken a la Pelagia").

We wish them Fairwinds and Good Luck. Hopefully we will see them somewhere down the road.


Check out Green Panther's blog:  http://www.greenpanther.org/index.php/ship-s-log


** After 41 days at sea, Green Panther arrived at Atuona, Hiva Oa (Iles Marquises) on June 2, 2014. Congratulations Chris & Alena.



*We have already said goodbye to other friends -- for example, Dave and Betty-Anne on SV Confidence -- but we are hoping to seen them next season here in Mexico.



UPDATE 2015: The next time we would see Alena and Chris (SV Green Panther) would be August 2015 in Whistler, BC. They flew from Brisbane, Australia (where they now live and work) to the USA (family visit), and then came up to visit us for backpacking in Garibaldi Park