Puerto Vallarta…..Part 3

Dear F&F,
Friday Feb 15
Sad day…Skye had to fly back to LA. The Hollywood Writers Guild strike coincidentally ended while she was with us & it is time to go back to LA & get another job. She\’s also studying for the GMAT, perhaps an MBA program in Fall 2009.

She made us promise to wear more sunscreen. Even though we had been in pretty cool climates up until Cabo & it seemed like we were covered up all the time, she pointed out the drastic contrast of her very pale skin to our getting a bit too dark & leathery faces. See photos on website. Of course she has been locked in an office building 12+ hrs/day during her 2 Warner Bros jobs over the past year. So a little vitamin D exposure went well with her SPF 30.
She & I took a cab to the airport. Scott & I tried to restrain ourselves on what we sent back with her. We are in constant discovery of what we need & what we aren\’t using, so we shuffle our stuff. Taking advantage of all visitors to bring stuff to us & take stuff away. I stayed at the airport with her until just before boarding time. We had Starbucks for old times sake. I was successful at not spilling tears with our parting hug. I had not been aware how much I have missed \”girl time\”. Skye gave
me a healthy dose that I soaked up fully. Bless you my child.

That evening Mary & Bill F. invited us on their boat for appetizers & a slideshow of their Mexico travels over the past 3 yrs. We got very excited about what lies ahead of us & they opened our eyes to the possibility of doing land based tours to Guadelajara & Copper Canyon (Mexico\’s much larger Grand Canyon).

Saturday Feb 16
Dustin Fox (Fox Marine), local gringo boat worker came & helped Scott with several projects for about 5 hrs. Poor guy has been ill & only managed to give us that one day. We stayed another 4 days (at the lousy dock) in the marina hoping he would reappear, but no luck. He is knowledgeable & skilled & we hope to get him for a few other projects on our way back through here in a couple of months.

It wasn\’t too hot that day, so I cooked some banana muffins & rice pudding. After dinner, other boat friends pulled into the marina. We first met Emmy & Eric (s/v Natarja) in the northern Channel Islands in October & have kept in touch with email. We were eager to talk story, so I invited them onboard, fed them a couple of hot dogs & was glad I had made dessert. They were \”ahead\” of us for a long time, but somehow we \”passed them\” & now we have \”caught up\” with each other again. In a way it is a
small community. By winlink email, radio contact & local gossip we keep track of our old & new boat friends.