HIT BY LIGHTNING!

Well the thing I feared most (besides a category 5 hurricane) actually happened to us on July 16th at approx 3:15 AM. It was a very stormy night with lightning and winds up to about 45 knots. Everyone was awake and Mark and been on deck most of the night trying to hold the canvas covers from blowing away. Unfortunately, we had no warning that weather was coming so it was a total surprise...not that knowing would have kept us from taking a strike but we would have been a little more prepared.
At approx. 3:15 we heard a very loud noise that sounded like a cannon and saw a bright white flash. I knew right away something was not right and yelled out to Mark asking if we had been hit. He went out on deck just in time to see the anchor/strobe light and VHF antenna come crashing down from the top of the mast to the deck....which was confirmation that we indeed did take a hit at the top of the mast. After that the night was a blur.
The list of damaged items so far are as follows:
o VHF Radio and Antenna
o 2 Battery Charges and Monitors
o 2 W-H Autopilots
o Raytheon Chartploter
o Windex wind/direction indicator
o Raytheon Radar and Radome
o Knot Meter
o all electricity to the mast (dead)
o Anchor/Strobe Light
People keep telling us we are lucky that it did not punch a hole in the boat but we do not feel very lucky. Still I suppose we need to count our blessings.
We had hoped not to have to put in a insurance claim but at this point it seems that we will not have a choice as there are some big ticket items that were damaged. It should be interesting trying to repair the boat from Mexico so I will update on how things go on the repairs.

El Quelite

It was nice to rent a car and take a road trip to the quaint town of El Quelite this past week. Out of all the towns we have been to in Mexico I have to say that El Quelite is the most beautiful and pristine. Every home in this little Mexican town is painted a different color and the town square which is a trademark of any Mexican village has the most gorgeous and incredibly maintained garden. After walking around the village of El Quelite we had a wonderful lunch at a local cantina. The food was not only great but the cantina seemed to be more like a museum than a restaurant.
It is now mid July and although we had expected the weather to be almost unbearable, much to our surprise, it has for the most part been only in the upper 80's which has been very comfortable. The marina here is extremely dead but the town is still very much alive with activity (minus most of the gringos).
In another few weeks we will be leaving the boat and Mazatlan to return to the states for the entire month of August. During this month we plan to get Amanda set up in Prescott to start her new life as a college student. It will seem strange to leave the boat alone for such a long time but we will hire someone to look after the boat and keep our fingers crossed that no hurricanes hit Mazatlan while we are away.