Dinghy Ride

Kevin and Maddi in the Dinghy

Friday morning, the 2^nd day of racing was cancelled because of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The entire west coast was put on alert.  We took the dinghy out to show the kids the dolphins and the homes around the marina. At first, Maddi was afraid to ride in the dinghy, but she slowly crawled out from under the seat and ended up enjoying the ride. Jennie had a hard time getting into the dinghy, she ended up falling in.

Jennie falling into the Dinghy

The Dolphins

Race Day on Full Shell - March 10, 2011

Racing on 'Full Shell'

Rick and I went out racing on Full Shell for the first day of the Banderas Bay Regatta. This was my first race. I was surprised how calm it was, I guess I expected the boats to be closer together. It was a great day of sailing.

Ready to Zip Line

The kids went on a zip line ride while we were gone. Kellie and Maddi bailed out, so they just watched. That night we took a bus down the road to Fajita Republic for dinner and walked back.

Pam, Kodi and Maddi

Rick, Jennie, Kevin and Kellie

Old town - Puerto Vallarta

A Bus ride into town

We rode the bus into Old Town Puerto Vallarta. After a stroll down the Malicon to see the statues, we had lunch and cocktails at The Cheeky Monkey.

Kodi and Maddi

From the Cheeky Monkey

 Further south we watched the sunset from the beach at a seaside restaurant. We even saw the green flash. Next we headed into town for tacos at a sidewalk café. Then the long bus ride home.

The Gang watching the sunset

Jennie and Kevin

Tacos on the street

Kids Arrive - March 7, 2011

Jennie and Kevin at the Yacht Club

Kevin, Jennie, Kodi, Madddi and Kellie arrived at the airport at 4:00. We went there on the bus to meet them, but they left with the timeshare people, so we missed them. We met up at the hotel, found their room and were off to the Yacht Club for dinner.

Maddi

Kodi

Beach day

The first day here, Jennie, Kevin and Kellie went to their timeshare meeting, so the girls and I went to the beach and pool. It took Maddi a while to get used to the ocean, but they both love the pool. We watched the bird show and Kodi held one of the parrots. When Jen, Kevin and Kellie got back they headed for the pool. Kevin got in a game of tequila vollyball.

At the Beach

Kodi in the Pool

 
 

Maddi with Grandma

 
 
 
 

 

Getting used to the water

 
 
 

Maddi building a sand castle

Kodi with a Parrot

 
 

Kevin playing Tequlia Vollyball

 
 

Jennie and Maddi

 
 

Playing in the sand

 

Maddi at the Beach

Paradise Village – Mar. 1 – 15, 2011

We arrived at Paradise Village Marina on March 1. The kids and Kellie were flying in on March 7 and the Banderas Bay Regatta was taking place March 8 – 12th. We were assigned to a slip at the far end of the marina, almost to the bridge. It was about a mile walk up to the main part of the hotel. We bribed the harbor master into moving us to a closer slip because we had family that would be staying there. It worked! We were moved to an excellent slip right at the front of the entrance to the harbor. On the dock in front of our boat is a new mega yacht named ‘Exuma’. It is 180’ long and is goldish silver. Very striking.  

Rick and a friend

Parrots at Paradise Village

The resort is beautiful. I’m sure the kids will love the pools. Tuesday night, we went to the opening ceremony for the regatta. They had Mexican Flamingo dancers with their colorful costumes and large hats. Then they brought people from the audience up on stage to dance with them. It was an impressive show.

La Cruz – Feb. 23 - Mar. 1, 2011

La Cruz Marina Riviera Nayarit

We came into the La Cruz Marina almost out of fuel. Rick is checking the fuel mileage and didn’t want to add any fuel until the tank was empty. We made it with the gauge saying we were empty. When we filled up, we had about 4 gallons left.

Hotel California in the slip

Our slip is on dock 9, just down from the Marina office and Yacht Club. This is a nice marina, close to town and a lot of restaurants. It will be fun trying all of them. Most of them have some kind of music a few nights each week. We know quite a few boats on the docks here so we will have a reunion and catch up with all the boats that went further south.

Moondance and Full Shell in La Cruz

 
 
 

The band at Philo's

 
 
 

Flea Market in the town square

Chacala – Feb. 22-23, 2011



Chacala

We stopped for one rolly night in Chacala. This is what Mexico should look like. I love it! Beautiful beach, palapa restaurants and bars, small teindas and friendly people. We went ashore to check out the small town and have a few drinks under a palapa.

Pam under the Palapa

Beautiful Beach at Chacala

Boats in the Anchorage

Chacala at Dusk

On the way back to the boat we stopped by Yancey for cocktails. Joe and Fran were having dinghy problems. Not to worry, they had a new dinghy shipped from San Diego to La Cruz. It is good to have a connection in the marine industry.  In this anchorage, some boats have a stern anchor and a bow anchor, but since we were only staying one night, we didn’t put out the stern anchor. We were swinging and the boat was sideways to the waves most of the night. Note to self ‘Next time use the stern’. We were up early and out of there. On our way to La Cruz in Banderas Bay.

Last Day in San Blas – Feb. 21, 2011

Pot Luck in San Blas

Our last night in San Blas we had a cruisers pot luck on the patio by the marina office. A lot of boats were leaving the next morning.  Some going south, like us, and some going north, into the Sea. I think all the boats in the marina and some in the anchorage joined the pot luck. A great variety of food and friends. We will miss the ones heading into the Sea, but hopefully we’ll see you when we get up there.



Fran, Joe and Rick at the Pot Luck



Leaving San Blas