Welcome Back! 4.24.2011

"Welcome Back!" That's the phrase we've heard the most since arriving. Friends & acquaintances, checkers at the grocery store, co-workers, you name it. It's great to be back 'home'.

Jeez, we've been here for 3 weeks already! How time flies when you're having fun, huh?! Oh, and Happy Easter everyone!

We've been in work, work mode since arriving. We had the thought of 'easing back into work' when we arrived. Yeah right! Our ferry arrived on Sunday morning and we had an interview scheduled for Sunday afternoon! haha... It was because the person was going out of town and this was the only day & time for 2 weeks. When we arrived at our apartment we were welcomed by an basket of goodies, flowers, & a card. We're so lucky to work for such incredible people! :-)



It took a week or so to get our hands wrapped around the tasks, namely hiring the rest of the team for the season and preparing everything for the beginning. It sure is a lot of organization and work! Ordering supplies, setting the schedule, trying to think ahead to anything we may need, training the employees - whew! Work.



But we've been playing as well, as usual. Daylight is about 14 hours and increasing everyday so it's light when we wake up and sets around 8'ish which gives us plenty of time to play. We've had birthday parties and dinners with friends and lots of 'let's get together for a drink' offers.

Yesterday, for Easter weekend, we decided to do our first hike. We started up Deer Mountain, a landmark here in town. The Forest Service labels the hike as extremely difficult but we figured it couldn't be that difficult, right?! We did fine for the first 3 minutes....and then the stairs & switchbacks began. Before we knew it we were huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf. It wasn't pretty. I guess we should have started with a milder hike, being our first one of the season. haha!!



But oh, was it worth it! At the 1 mile lookout, we were rewarded with this gorgeous view of the Tongass Narrows & surrounding islands.



Spectacular.



We rested for a while, searched in vain for a geocache, stepped on my brand spanking new sunglasses & broke them in two (CRAP!!!), met a bunch of other hikers on their way up or down, and just took in the sunshine & beauty.

Our legs were rubbery when we first arrived at the lookout but after resting we decided to push on and hopefully make the summit. Right before we turned back, the snow was up to 2 feet in depth and the deciding factor for turning back was that Michael's hiking boots had absolutely no grip (it's time for a new pair of hiking boots!) and it was getting a bit treacherous. Downhill was easy, after we got out of the snowline, and we cracked a bottle of celebratory water when we were finished. (The wine came later) haha... All in all a great day.



We cruised around town and caught sight of a group of eagles on a log - how many do you count?



The 1st Cruise Ship arrives in port in two weeks from today, on the 8th of May. This week and next is full of training for the employees, getting all of the licenses & passes secured for all the vehicles, completing the schedule, paperwork, blah, blah, blah. WORK!

Then the fun begins. The 8th kicks off with a bang with both the Disney Wonder (new this year) and the Carnival Spirit arriving in town. Sundays will be our longest days with the 1st ship coming in at 7am and the last one leaving at 8pm. Ugh...I'm not looking forward to such long days.

Next week is 'Tourist for the Day' on Friday and Saturday where the locals can try out some of the tours that are usually not available to them during the season for extremely reduced prices. I have high hopes of going snorkeling and ziplining. Whatever I end up doing, I'll be sure and share!

Here's wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!
More to follow...
Rene

Bellingham & the Ferry to Alaska! 4.2.2011

Ahhh….what a relaxing morning! We slept in (well, as long as the inconsiderate jerks who were staying down the hall yelling at each other & slamming doors would let us), had a nice leisurely breakfast, drove to the Trader Joe’s and did our last-minute shopping, drove all over the town searching for geocaches that had travel bugs inside so I could take them to Alaska, then got to the Ferry Terminal by about 2pm. We were originally scheduled on next week’s ferry, only because I screwed up the reservation and missed getting this spot. So we put ourselves on the waiting list on Monday and showed up at the Ferry terminal nice & early….

And got on! Woohoo! :-) We were almost the last vehicle allowed on the ship. And we lost our outside cabin with a window and were stuck with an inside broom closet cabin but we made it! We’ll be in Ketchikan on Sunday morning around 7am.

The ferry was nice, as usual the surroundings are simply gorgeous. Trees that come all the way down to the water on gorgeous snow-capped mountains, eagles in the trees, cabins tucked into the woods, & mountain landscapes all around, it’s absolutely breathtaking!

The weather is cool & crisp. It was raining when we left Bellingham but this morning it was clear. Hopefully it’ll stay that way! As always, my photos just don’t do it justice…



I spent most of the time on the ferry going through my photos, catching up on the blogs, and getting everything ready to upload once we get into Ketchikan. Yeah! Don't worry, I'll keep the updates coming...

More to follow…
Rene

More photos & videos 4.1.2011

As always, I upload many more photos into the photo albums than I put into the blogs. Check them out here…

And there are more YouTube videos on my ‘channel’….here.

Two days in Seattle 3.31.2011

That’s it, only two days. And although two days doesn’t even scratch the surface of the city, we still had a great time. We did all of the touristy stuff – visited the Space Needle,



wandered the Pike Place Market – and saw the flying fish!,



did a brewery tasting at The Pike Brewing Co. (my favorite was the Kilt-lifter!),



rode the Duck Tour (of course!),



walked through Sculpture Park – what do you see?,



Viewed and made a contribution to the ‘Gum Wall’ – the #2 germiest place in the world - ewww!



Stopped for a photo with Hammering Man…



did the Underground Tour, checked out numerous pieces of public art, rode the light rail, found a couple geocaches, walked the waterfront, ate fantastic Asian food (twice!), drank gallons of Starbucks coffee & others claiming to be better, heard lots of jokes about Microsoft & Starbucks, & savored every nibble of the truffles we picked up at a highly-recommended Chocolatier. Did we miss anything?

Of course we did! But remember, we only had two days!! I think we did pretty good. :-) And we have to leave something else to come back to, right?!

Seriously, we had a great time. It rained the entire time we were there and was cold and windy, but we have to get used to the rain, right?! Once we were all bundled up it was no problem. Instead of driving the first day we just jumped on the light rail which was really easy – only a block from our hotel and it was $5 each for all day.



The Underground tour was very fun. I had no clue about the history of the town and enjoyed learning about the history almost as much as the tour itself. We were taken into three areas of the underground and heard stories of the way life used to be. It was pretty cool.



We decided to walk from the Underground to the Space Needle and walked along the waterfront, stopping at the Art Museum, Pike Place Market, lunch, and several stops along the way! The downtown is really beautiful with gorgeous architecture.



We would have loved to go to EMP but it’ll have to wait until next time. We Rode the Ducks – I had to check out the competition! – and enjoyed the tour that was given even though I think my tour is a million times better. ;-) We finished the day with the Sculpture Park and walking along the waterfront to find a place for dinner before jumping back on the light rail back to the hotel. It was a full day.

The next morning we left the hotel and drove into downtown. We had scoped out a parking structure right across the street from the Market that had a very reasonable all-day price and parked there. While we were purchasing our parking pass we were asked the normal question “you’re not from around here” from a woman waiting for us to finish. We were joking with her about how she could guess – figuring it was Michael dressed in shorts. Nope, she said it was because we were both so tan! Haha!! She said there were lots of crazies around who dressed in shorts, but no one is tan! We chatted with her for a while and she gave us her business card and a card for a discount at where she worked and told us they had excellent food. We decided to go there for lunch and were treated to two beer samplers – 6 different beers each from Pike Brewing Co. Wow! What a chance meeting her. :-)



We took a guided tour of Pike Place Market that was put on by the historical society which was interesting, though I wouldn’t recommend this particular tour again. I’ve heard the ‘Savor Seattle’ tours are a million times better – that’ll be on my list of things to do next time.



We finished the day by driving to Bellingham, which is where our ferry leaves (hopefully!) tomorrow.

More to follow…
Rene

Two short weeks in California 3.28.2010

We flew out of Mexico on the 15th, bound for Palm Springs. This year we flew instead of driving as we were meeting our friends in Guadalajara so leaving here was very different! And with our decision to sell the boat, we packed as much into our luggage as humanly possible. Between Michael and I we had 4 bags that all weighed in at 49.5 lbs and 4 carry-ons that were about as heavy! The bags were so stuffed I prayed that they wouldn’t be sent to the secondary screening because once the bags were opened up I feared it would look a lot like a jack in the box with clothes flying out of the bags! Not only that but I doubt very seriously if they would be able to get them closed again! Luckily, at the airport they did open up every bag but only moved a couple of items around and we were there to help them re-close them. And we had one absolutely wonderful flight attendant who helped us in rearranging the items so they would fit in the upper storage area and put the remaining items under an empty seat. Whew!! :-)

We breezed through immigration & customs in Phoenix and hopped on the small plane bound for Palm Springs. I drew the lucky seat on the Palm Springs flight and sat beside a young mother with her young baby. Let me preface this by saying the kid was very cute an I have no problem with kids. We talked for a while about how the baby had not eaten since the morning since TSA had taken all of the baby’s food and she had only drank water & juice since the morning. We were about 10 minutes into the flight and she turned to me and said ‘I think I’m going to throw up, what do I do?’ Holy Crap!! I told her she should go into the bathroom. ‘Would you mind holding my baby?’ she asked….Sure, no problem. She gave me the kid and went into the bathroom. The baby was soaked and was soaking through the blankets she was wrapped in. The mom came back to her seat and said she was feeling better but 5 minutes later, she was not well again. I couldn’t get the vomit bag out of my seat back any faster and gave to her. She was holding the baby and vomiting into the bag….ugh. I went up to the steward and asked for some paper towels & a bag and he gave me a large, 25gal plastic bag & a bunch of paper towels and his condolences! Haha.. The poor girl got sick about 5 more times. Michael was sitting in the seat behind me and had to help as we were juggling the baby, a large trash bag, smaller vomit bags, & drinks. He said the guy to his left even pulled out his vomit bag ready to give it to her. It was a long 54 minute flight!

We've had a monkey hanging in the boat that Michael couldn't leave...and it didn't fit in any of our bags so onto Michael's back it went! It turned out to be quite the conversation starter, smiles from all of the security guards & TSA agents, and even the Mexican military!



We flew into Palm Springs and spent a couple days visiting with Michael's Mom, Dad, & Sister's family. Michael's step-dad, Pete, who has Alzheimer's has been slowly declining and we visited him on Thursday, knowing this was possibly the last time we would be seeing him.

We left Friday morning to go to San Diego to visit with Mike & Julie and pick up our 'tubs' of stuff they brought up from Mexico from us. On the drive to San Diego, Michael's mom called. Pete passed away Friday morning.



We visited with Mike & Julie and had a BLAST playing the Wii, hiking a nice path near their house, enjoying an incredible Thai dinner in town, & chatting away!

We left early Saturday morning and zipped up to Ventura to spend a few days with Sue & Dennis. We had made several appointments - Tax, Doctor, Van Repair, etc for that week and didn't have a lot of time to visit as we were running around like a chicken with our head cut off!

We left Ventura on Thursday and went back out to Palm Springs for Pete's services on both Thursday & Friday.

I don't think there's anything that makes you appreciate life & want to say "I Love You" to your friends & family quite like a funeral. So in case I haven't said it lately, I appreciate each and every one of you and am so glad to have you in my life.

We left on Saturday - headed North!
More to follow...
Rene

Getting the boat ready & leaving Mazatlan 3.14.2011

To sell…. A horrible 4-letter word. We’ve spent the past few weeks doing lots of projects to make the boat ‘beautiful’er. J The teak was stripped & re-varnished, we had new foam put inside the cushions, had the dodger & bimini re-stitched, new covers made for the liferaft & winches, the inside of the boat was given a good scrubbing, those little beautifications that we’ve been overlooking have been done, fixes needing fixed, fixed.



She looks pretty good, doesn’t she?! She’s literally in the best shape ever. Everything is working perfectly, she’s all varnished & gorgeous, and is ready for a new owner. So if you know anyone looking for a ready-to-go cruising boat, this is the one!

Check out the listing here…

And of course, going through every nook & cranny on the boat and deciding whether the items should be left for the new owner, sold, packed & stored for later, or packed & taken with us on the plane. This job sucks. We’ve lived on the boat for 10 years and didn’t plan on doing this when we moved everything on. We sold so much stuff, gave away even more, and packed 8 Rubbermaid tubs that we’re placing in storage until we have a chance to come back down & pick them up.

You see, we usually drive down but this year we decided to fly. Looking back this was a bad decision but o-well! Nothing we can do about it now.

Our good friends Mike & Julie agreed to take two Rubbermaid tubs that had some of our ‘sensitive’ items – things that were heavy weight-wise and we didn’t want to fly with and we didn’t want to leave in storage. Things like Michael’s coin collection, pots & pans, knives, and a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff. Luckily for us, they were driving back with an almost empty van and they didn’t mind some other last-minute items as well like Michael’s guitar, my ukulele, a blanket, & a craft box. I don’t know what we wouldn’t have done if they didn’t take it for us!

But it’s done. There have been LOTS of tears, tough decisions, and difficult days. I’m glad it’s over for now. My most saddest day was when I had to leave my plants. Who knew I would be so sentimental over those silly plants?!



We’ve been staying at a condo for the last couple days which has made it easier to pack the four suitcases we can take on the plane and the four carry-ons. It’ll be a miracle if we make it through customs, immigration, & TSA without them being opened up and rearranged, which I hope the person who does remembers where everything went so they can get them closed again! They’re literally so packed I fear they’ll be like jack-in-the-boxes if opened – everything will come boinging out!

And of course, we said goodbye to our favorite little Dock 5 kitty – White Kitty with the crazy eyes….



We’re sad. Sad to leave Mazatlan, sad to leave the boat, sad to leave our friends. But a wonderful friend shared with us an Italian saying that goes something like “Leave the party while you’re still having fun”….and that’s what we intend to do. So we’re on to bigger and better things, a new chapter in our lives!

More to follow…
Rene

Carnaval in Mazatlan 3.5.2011

The town has been alive this past week. Preparations are underway for Carnaval – the 3rd largest celebration in the world behind Rio & New Orleans.

This is our 4th time experiencing Carnaval and it is always soooo much fun! Julie and I have been walking in the mornings and one morning we went down the malecon to check out the paper mache figures that lined the beach walk. They were quite colorful!



And of course the Carnaval parade! With such colorful floats & costumes…





And of course….the Alka Seltzer man!



The bands were loud & crazy, the dancers were fun to watch. It was warm and the crowd was energetic. It was fun, as usual…





A day or so before the parade was the ‘burning of good humor’ and a group of us cruisers went downtown to check it out. We decided to check out one of our favorite places to eat downtown – street potatoes! It’s literally a street vendor who takes up residence one a corner in town after 7pm and sells a stuffed potato that is heart-stoppingly good. Or bad, whichever way you want to look at it. Either way, they’re yummy!!!

As luck would have it, the ‘raton’ that was to be burned (that looked just like a hedgehog) was being loaded & setup directly across the street from where we were eating! The dancers were all dressed up and were fully cooperating in getting their photo taken…



As the procession began, a group of 4 guys shot fireworks into the sky in front of a truck carrying the bad humor raton, and a marching band played and the dancers danced and passed out flyers to everyone in the street.

We marched past the cathedral, which is gorgeous at night.



It was great – and the burning of bad humor was just the beginning of the night. The fireworks that night were exceptional – they were almost as good as Disneyland!





Julie and I decided to get in the mood by applying fake eyelashes that were being sold along with stick-on mustaches, beards, and your choice of masks, hats, & crazy flashing things. Too much fun! :-)

Scott & Liz’s visit & passage to Mazatlan 2.2.2011

Scott & Liz were supposed to join us in La Cruz on the 1st but had flight delays and ended up arriving on the 2nd. Eric & Sherrell from S/V Sarana made it into La Cruz a couple days earlier and we all had an amazing time catching up.



It had been about 4 years since both Scott & Liz and Eric & Sherrell had been to La Cruz so the first day or so was just spent checking out the town and catching up with old friends. Liz was great friends with Sylvia & Marissa and on the day before we left La Cruz, they invited us up to a ‘Ladies Luncheon’. Sounds great! The boys bowed out, which looking back, was a good idea.



The luncheon started out innocent enough – red wine & shrimp ceviche. It was a chilly day and we were outside so Sylvia gave us all a shot of tequila to warm us up. And then another, and then another, and then I lost count… Haha!



We had waaayyyyy too much fun… J We stumbled back to the boat to find two very angry men waiting for us. Oops…I guess we shouldn’t have partied the day before a long passage. I’m sure we’ll feel better in the morning!

Or not.

We woke up the next morning and were fine. We left La Cruz just as the sun was coming up, it was gorgeous…



And it went downhill from there. I lasted about 2 hours before I went down for my first nap. I was still feeling a little….green…but was doing fine. Liz was also feeling a bit under the weather and was sleeping up above. Michael came down during one of his ‘checks’ – checking to see if everything is OK and when he opened up the door to the engine room, it smelled like diesel. Uh Oh… After doing some research, we had a leaky injector – the first time ever on this engine. Michael & Scott timed it, measured it, throttled down, throttled up, tightening the nut on the injector, trying everything they could to get it to stop with no luck. This was a huge bummer as now we had to go the entire way to Mazatlan with a diesel smell in the boat. Now normally this wouldn’t be a problem at all….but with two ‘green’ gals on board, it made it a much more difficult transit.

Needless to say, the boys were none too happy. But we brought it on ourselves and only had Sylvia & Marissa to blame! Wink, wink!



We were nervous with the leaky injector (it was the first time it had happened!) and Michael didn’t want to turn off the engine in case air got into the lines and we would have had to bleed the air from the lines. So we endured. We motored the whole way, which was a huge bummer as we all wanted to sail! Oh well…

We made it to Mazatlan, pulled into the slip, and breathed a sigh of relief! ….And quickly opened up all the ports to get smell out of the boat! Haha…

We spent the next few days enjoying Mazatlan and shopping, shopping, shopping! You see, Scott & Liz live in Nicaragua, a 3rd world country, so even Mexico had better shopping! I’m pretty sure we shopped for 3 days straight. And of course ate at all of the ‘favorite’ spots in Mazatlan.



We had an incredible time – as always – with Scott & Liz. It seemed too quick for 12 days to scream by and we had to say goodbye again.

Until later….
Rene

A fun video 2.3.2011

We had a treat in the marina today, a couple from France has financed their trip around the world on their sailboat by pulling into marinas and performing a fun, cirq de solei type show. They have two shows, one is a Laurel & Hardy type and the other, a more romantic’ish show.

They were amazing! So much fun to watch! The stunts they performed were both funny and awe-inspiring! Especially when the girl walked up the backstay using just her hands & feet. The music was fantastic and their expressions were hysterical.

This is the beginning of the Laurel & Hardy show – enjoy!

A difficult decision, to say the least!… 2.1.2011

We’ve had another great season sailing the coast of Mexico these past couple months. We visited new anchorages, made new friends, spent time with old friends, and generally enjoyed life. It was also during this time that we sat & discussed and made a very difficult decision – to sell the boat.

Yep, our ‘dreams & goals’ have once again been adjusted. Sniff, sniff…

After we finish this cruising season, we will spend one more summer working in Alaska, then we’ll do a 2-3 month ‘Road Trip’ across the U.S. to the East coast and then back out to the West coast. This should land us back in Southern California somewhere in January 2012. Once we get back, Michael is planning to begin a career in professional speaking. Over the past few years he has been working towards this path, writing a book, preparing a handful of speeches, building a website, and working with a friend in the industry who has been kind enough to guide & encourage him to share with others the things we’ve learned while achieving our dreams & goals over the past 10 years or so.

To give Michael’s dream every chance of succeeding, we need to ‘buckle down’ and focus. While we’d love to continue cruising during the wintertime, we have come to the realization that it just doesn’t make sense. This decision will ultimately take us out of cruising for at least 2 years and most likely closer to 5. Yikes!

Leaving her for such an extended period of time would not be fair to Ahea Kali or to us. We decided to put her up for sale and find someone who will love her the way she deserves instead of making her sit and wait for us. We have put a lot of blood, sweat, love, money & tons of tears (especially while making the decision!) into her over the years and in return she has provided us a comfortable home, a vehicle to visit new places, meet new people and safe passage on all of our voyages.

Now emotionally, this decision is one of the most difficult we have both ever made. Although it is just a boat, she is definitely NOT ‘just a boat’! But logically, it’s the right decision. We know how much time, effort, & maintenance, not to mention money, it takes to keep the boat in the tip-top condition she’s in and we just can’t imagine doing it from afar.

Here's the boat listing, if anyone knows of someone looking for a GREAT boat! :-)
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1975/Fuji-Ketch-2309817/Mazatlan/Mexico

We’ll keep everyone posted on this next chapter in our life as it begins to develop.
More to follow!
Rene & Michael

A Special Blessing of the Fleet…1.31.2011

Speaking of the Blessing of the Fleet, I mentioned meeting Debbie, well, she has a house right on the water and a couple of years prior, the Blessing cross that was tossed out into the water washed up onto the beach outside of her house. She cleaned it up and decorated it inside her house and adds boat names of her friends, those she wants to keep safe. We were thrilled to be added to the cross!



More to follow…
Rene

The La Cruz Vortex strikes again…. 1.30.2011

Yep, it’s happened. The La Cruz Vortex has pulled us in and refused to let go! We were planning on leaving La Cruz and heading South for a few weeks before coming back here for our next group of friends coming to visit in February. Scott & Liz, our friends from S/V Ocean Lady, were cruisers for several years and were searching for ‘the perfect wave’ (they’re surfers!) and found it in Nicaragua. They sold Ocean Lady and have been living in Nicaragua for the past 3-4 years and are who we stayed with on our visit to Nicaragua, and who we visited with during our stay in Guadalajara! During the Guadalajara visit we talked about them coming up and sailing with us and they did! They booked a flight arriving on Feb 1st into Puerta Vallarta and leaving from Mazatlan 12 days later. Woohoo!

So we were in La Cruz and are waiting for a good weather window to head South and one of our group picks up a cold. Doh! OK, no problem, we’ll just wait for the next one! So we waited & waited and the cold was passed around. Finally, a good window was opening up around the 18th or so and Michael and I decided to stay put in La Cruz until Scott & Liz arrived. It seemed silly to run around the corner and race through the anchorages, just to have to turn around a week or so later to do it all over again! So we stayed in La Cruz.



Most of the time we were out in the anchorage though we pulled into the marina about a week before Scott & Liz arrived to have some time to get the boat cleaned up & ready. We parked on Dock 11 in La Cruz marina and parked beside “Alarife”, and got to know the owner – Debbie, and captain of the boat, Sandy. We spend the week getting to know them and had a great time – sunset sails, dinners, drinks, & chatting on the dock.

We were in La Cruz for the annual ‘Blessing of the Fleet’, a celebration where the local fishing vessels decorate their pangas & fishing boats with flowers, balloons, & ribbons and then parade out into the water & throw flowers & leaves overboard as well as a large cross decorated with flowers. It is in memory of those lost at sea and a blessing to keep them safe this year.



Another part of the celebration is that the pangas ‘beach’ themselves, which is a ton of fun to watch. We made it to Bucerias just in time to see the craziness. Both the town and the beach was absolutely packed with people and we wound our way down to the waves.



The surf was way up, which was bad news for the panga drivers! But they were not deterred. One by one, the pangas timed the waves & followed them into the beach where hundreds of guys on the beach would surround the panga and push it further up on the beach, outside the crazy pounding waves. The occupants would bail out, they would turn the boat around and push it back out into the waves.



There were a couple of pucker moments – when a boat would get sideways, the waves wouldn’t be timed right, and one spectacular time when a panga jumped a wave about 15’ in the air! But everyone made it safe & sound, maybe a few scratches & some wet people. It was crazy to watch!

The town was in complete celebration and there was dancing, incredible food & drinks, horses, dancing, and row after row of carnival booths selling everything you can imagine and then some!



Haha… The thing I found interesting was that they had the same carnival booths as we have in the states – ring toss, dart into the balloon, etc. But the big difference is in the prizes – instead of stuffed animals & chochkis that you’d find in the U.S., they were playing for food! Buckets that had cookies, toilet paper, soda, cereal & more! Haha… Michael said he’d rather play for cookies than stuffed animals.



There were other funny things – like rats on a string for sale… And I don’t think I have ever seen ‘The Hulk’ in Mexico! :-)





More to follow…
Rene

Catching up… 1.5.2011

Happy New Year!! Oh and Merry Christmas too! :-) Yep, it’s been awhile….again! haha… I finally had time to write & catch up on our photos & videos while we were on the ferry. So what in the heck have we been doing since December? Good question…

Last I wrote, we were moving into Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta because our friends – John & Jillian Malouf were coming for vacation in the area and we wanted to be close & available to see them. Although being in Paradise Marina was nice, it was a bummer being away from our boating friends who stayed in La Cruz. Though we were able to keep in touch via radio and they even came over for Christmas Eve on the beach which was great.



We met John & Jill and the kids twice during their visit – once in Bucerias and again at their rental house in Mismaloya. We enjoyed getting together with them and meeting their family. We spent an afternoon at the beach in Mismaloya and a group of us went snorkeling out at Los Arcos – some caves & rock formations just off the beach.



The water was brrrr cold!!! Michael would call it ‘refreshing’ but it definitely took your breath away when you jumped in! Still we had a great time. The fish were so colorful and they were swimming right beside & underneath us!



This video was taken at water level!



We joined Bob & Marlene from S/V Selah for Christmas day dinner again this year and had a fabulous time, as usual! We met some old friends, gained some new friends, feasted on knockout cuisine, and enjoyed every minute of it. We love spending time with Bob & Marlene, and their two daughters – they’re so much fun. It’s a bummer we didn’t get to head South and see them on the boat this season. Oh well, another time!

Time flew and before we knew it, it was New Year’s Eve! Michael had picked up a cold just before Christmas and when he went snorkeling he lost his voice so we decided to hang low for New Year’s. We had dinner at the same Mexican restaurant that we had been to 10 years ago (that was still just as terrible! Haha) and went back to the boat and watched movies until it was nearly midnight. Then we walked out onto the beach, pulled up a couple lounge chairs, and watched the incredible fireworks shows that were going on in the bay. There were easily 6 different fireworks shows at the different towns & resorts and it was incredible to watch them all!



Oh, so remember how our outboard was stolen? Well, I put a post on Facebook letting everyone know what had happened and told them to be sure & ‘lock up all your stuff’! Some good friends of ours, Chris & Sandy, from S/V Faith, said they had a used outboard they would ‘gift’ us, which was such a blessing! The only catch was that they were in La Paz and wouldn’t be down in La Cruz until the end of December. Well, they arrived in Mazatlan and Michael called up Elvira – the marina office manager in Mazatlan – and asked her if anyone was headed down to La Cruz that wouldn’t mind bringing a dinghy engine with them. As luck would have it, S/V Irish Diplomacy was headed down to La Cruz and when she asked they said SURE!! Now, as fate would have it….they contacted us on the day we were leaving La Cruz anchorage, headed to Paradise Marina! Doh! No problem, more cruisers to the rescue! Haha… You see, Mike & Ceacy from S/V Ramble on Rose had to fly back to the States and left their vehicle in the hands of Bill & MJ from S/V Grey Max. So when Irish Diplomacy arrived in La Cruz, Grey Max went over and picked up the engine, put it in Ramble On Rose’s truck, and brought it over to us. Whew! What a lovely community we live in!!

Our time in Paradise Marina was fun – the grounds are so beautiful & clean, it’s like you’re not even in Mexico. And the prices reflected it! But it was a nice getaway, a change in pace, & a treat for us. But 10 days was enough – we’re headed back to La Cruz now…