Hanging with Selah 2.17.09

After a nice evening resting & relaxing from the long trip, we were contacted by Bob & Marlene on S/V Selah this morning. I believe I mentioned that they have a condo in Puerta Vallarta and a car! So they drove over to La Cruz with their daughter, Sherry, and picked us up with the plan of showing us their favorite spots in Puerta Vallarta. I did a bit of research before they picked us up and found 4 geocaches in PV and figured if we were by any of them, we would see about stopping. But after telling them about it, they were just as excited to find them as we were and we ended up finding all 4! Woohoo! We ate at a local hotspot called 'Andale's' (which is pronounced On-da-lay, you know….like Speedy Gonzalez… "andale, andale, eee haw!") where at the end of the meal we were given a special shot – tequila, coffee liquer, & coke – and the waiter placed a napkin over the top, slammed it down on the table and shouted "uno, dos, tres, Andale!" and you were to drink up the fizzy shot. It was actually pretty good! After lunch, we walked the malecon, checking out the sculptures & having a bracelet made for my bracelet pole on board, & even stopping to taste test a handful of tequilas. We drove back to their condo and sat chatting on the porch, enjoying the view, the company, & the day! Their condo overlooks marina Vallarta and they have a great spot for people watching as well as watching all of the boats come & go. Then we walked all around the marina, stopping for a refreshment & chatting with others. We knew that in La Cruz they were having open mic night at the Brittania in La Cruz and we all decided to check that out for dinner & music. The food was excellent – ribs & chicken from Casa Laurie and the music was good as well. Mike & Ceacy from S/V Ramble on Rose played 5-6 songs until the house band arrived and then the place started hoppin! They played, we danced, & chatted with those around us. Sherry started to feel bad and so they went home while we stayed & enjoyed the music. We are always amazed how amazing cruisers are, and Bob & Marlene fit the bill to a tee. They are a wonderful family, great people, and we enjoyed getting to know them better. As always, it's always a bummer when you can't spend as much time with others than you would like and alas…we had to leave La Cruz on Thursday. We hope to meet back up with them next season though, later in the year, & catch up! He had a great toast that I thought I'd share…

There are good ships,
there are wood ships,
& there are ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships
are the friendships
and may they always be.

Nice…huh?!

The following day we did our boat chores, went in town for some internet time and GUESS WHAT?! We were offered jobs in Alaska. We ended up with 3 offers and had to pick the one we both wanted the most and after mulling it over & a tough decision, decided to take a position in Ketchikan for the summer, giving Hummer tours & working on an amphibious vehicle named the Duck! The company is Alaska Hummer Adventures in Ketchikan and they have Hummer H2's that perform a minimum 4 hour tour around the area. When we interviewed, it was described as a 'Jeeves meets Indiana Jones' job. You have no set place to visit, the clients set up the day to what they want to see! If they want to go shopping, you hold their bags, if they want to go on a 2 mile hike, you go with them. It is the best of all worlds for me – I will get to really learn about the area as I need to be well versed not only about Ketchikan but about Alaska for all of the questions that come up and we will have some off time to get to explore the area! I have never done a tour guide job before, but have always felt I'd be good at it – as you know, I love to talk, I love to learn a lot about the area, & I love to share that info! And if we need more hours, we have the opportunity to work on a 90 minute amphibious tour called the Duck tour. Sounds cool, huh?! And to top it off, this will make you laugh….housing is very expensive in Ketchikan and we were worried about finding a place to stay. But the owners of the business offered to let us stay aboard their power boat in the harbor! We'll be right at home, living on a boat for the next 6 months. Haha!! It will be awesome, we can't wait! We have so much planning & preparation to do now though! How will we get there? When will we leave? What route will we take – whew! We'll be busy in Mazatlan.

So we're off tomorrow, heading for a place we haven't been before, Chacala.

More to follow!
Rene