Almost Ready?

Well, Dave and I have been working like crazy to get our final preparations completed before the big jump to the South Pacific. Barring any more boat breakdowns, we feel as though we are almost ready as our short list is getting very short at this point. Gail will be going to Arizona next week to visit the kids and finish last minute things like taxes (ugh!) and car maintenance (double ugh!). Upon her return to Puerto Vallarta, final things will be last minute provisioning and last chance laundry before we check out of the country. We are hoping for a departure date of March 15th, give or take a few days and weather considerations. We are then hoping for a three week passage, although closer to four weeks may be more realistic. And then our next stage of this journey begins in French Polynesia - first stop Marquesas!

Even though we have been very busy with the boat, we have found time to visit the Bay area. We stopped at several local places on the way down including Chacala and Matanchen. We have spent most of our time in La Cruz, which seems to be the local cruiser hang out in a small town with local restaurants, farmers markets, etc. For the first time in six months, Gail was more than forty feet from Dave when she and a friend, Sue, escaped to, or rather enjoyed the nearby town of Bucerias for a ladies event of local shopping and dining. Very fun!

We are currently in Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta, which does not really seem like Mexico, but American tourism at its best. They really know how to entertain us "gringos" here with lots and lots of food and drink, water activities, and entertainment such as dancing. But probably the best thing of all has been the whales. We are still astounded by the number of humpback whales that exist in this bay and in such relatively shallow water. It is commonplace to see them mating, breaching, and best of all listening to their songs through the water in the late evening!

Check out the other pictures on this site for our Banderas Bay experiences...