2005-11-21 00:47:19
Hola Amigos, It FINALLY looks like we’re about ready to head out of beautiful Paradise Village, Puerto Vallarta, Banderas Bay, Mexico for the new Winter sailing season. Our stay here turned out as we expected, with hot and humid days, rainy nights, and more expensive than any place we have stayed in Mexico over the past three years. Of course one major accomplishment was the cataract eye surgery I (Gary) had accomplished at the beautiful medical facilities in Guadalajara. The other accomplishment was the replacement of the sorely leaking rear main oil seal on the Perkins main engine on TEXAN. Thanks to a short visit from our Son Ryan, we issued that repair without incident. Other boat projects were completed but our list still remains long, just as it did the day we left Long Beach, California 3 and 1/2 years ago. I suppose the list never truly is wiped clean. Our summer was topped off by visitors the past two months. These included a visit from our Daughter, Rene’ from Austin and her friend Lisa from Dallas, our long time friends from Houston business days Joyce and her husband David, our dear past cruising friends John and Christy now living in Prescott, Arizona, our wonderful friend and now two time visitor to Mexico Denise, also a sailor as well as a pilot, and finally ex dock mate and friend from Shoreline Village Marina in Long Beach, Chad, now beginning a 3-4 year sabbatical of backpacking different countries of the world (www.chadslost.com). Some stayed only a few days and others stayed a few weeks. We enjoyed every minute of their visit and it was wonderful to have them all come and share with us the beauty and tranquility of Paradise. We were truly blessed with the kindness we received from all of them during their stay here. Thanks guys!! One of the benefits of staying in Banderas Bay during the summer was to moor the boat in the protection of the bay to the threat of hurricanes during the hurricane season that runs from June until November. Fortunately, hurricanes in the Eastern Pacific we quite benign compared to what went on in the Atlantic and Caribbean this year. We truly feel sorry for the people who were adversely affected by the wrath of the storms this summer. We are particularly sorry for our friend Bob, on the sailing vessel “Viva”, who unfortunately lost his boat onto the beach on the island of Isla Providencia, off the coast of Nicaragua on the Caribbean side of Central America. Thankfully, Bob is fine but his loss of boat and contents are now gone. I was fortunate enough to sail down from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas in 2000 with him on Viva as he began his cruising lifestyle. He single handedly skippered her South as far as Ecuador, transited the Panama Canal to Columbia, and was buddy boating with another single hander on “Witch of Endor” as they made their way up Central America, heading for Florida. Since the late in season freak storm took his boat and belongings, he is presently aboard “Witch of Endor” until he decides what he will be doing in the future. Our heart goes out to him. We know quite well what he must be feeling as we too put ourselves in those same type of situations as we travel upon the seas. Our tentative plans for the winter (of course all our plans are written in the sand at low tide) is to leave Paradise right after spending Thanksgiving with about 90 other cruisers at Philo’s restaurant/bar in La Cruz, also in Banderas Bay, where we had the pot luck Thanksgiving dinner last year. After checking all water makers, engine, electrical and rigging systems while still in the bay, we will head back South to spend Christmas in Barra de Navidad, Sail Fest in Zihuatanejo again this February 1 to earn money for the local indigenous schools and maybe down as far as Acapulco and Hualtuco. Hard to say for sure right now. We’ll be sure to keep posting to the web site our travels and experiences as we follow the warmer seas and climate as Winter approaches. We sure hope your summer was full of wonderful times and you and your family have a blessed holiday season. Fair winds and following seas to everyone.
Gary and Lois S/V TEXAN