Dear F&F,
Sunday Feb 10
Skye arrived with all the requested boat items & did not get inspected going through customs so that was a relief. We were thrilled to see her, and Scott felt like it was Christmas. All sorts of fun spare parts, wire, digital photo storage cards; other boat gadgets.
Monday Feb 11
Skye slept in till lunch time. That gave Scott & I the morning to do our boat chores. On this day it was giving the outside a good bath. When we are at a dock & can use a hose to wash her off it is a real luxury & we do a better job than when we are at anchor & must ration the water we desalinate with our onboard watermakers.
In the afternoon the 3 of us went boogie boarding. Being at the Nuevo Vallarta dock allowed us certain hotel privileges. We do have 2 boogie boards with us, but by using theirs, we could all go together. Very much fun & very much sand imbedded in the bathing suits. Dinner out at the hotel\’s Italian restaurant. The food was nothing special, I had a version of eggplant parmigiana, but it was a treat for me to not cook for a change.
Tuesday Feb 12
There is no fuel dock to pull up to, but the Harbor Master told us how we could get fuel. A local guy came by our boat, picked up our eight, 5 gallon plastic jugs (called jerry cans) & returned them full. Plus an additional 25 gals. That topped off our 2 tanks plus gave us 1 jug spare to add later. Always nice to have fuel. Sailboats do not always sail. Plus we need diesel to run the generator when we are not at a dock & plugged into shore power.
Scott & Skye rented a jet ski for an hour. It was pricey, but the rental place was right behind our boat & she had fond memories of zooming around on one at summer camp as a kid. Scott had never tried it so was easily tempted. I was happy to take photos & not go pounding through the waves.
In the afternoon we went to the \”zoo\”. Paradise Village Resort is a big complex that includes hotels, time shares, condos, golf course, tennis courts, 3 swimming pools & oddly 2 areas with caged animals. Right near where I would walk daily to the lap pool was a cage with 2 tigers, and another cage with 2 pumas. Mostly they were quite mellow & lazed around. One evening we had a thrill watching the tigers play chase, running, jumping, climbing the bars, splashing in the small pond in their enclosure
& playfully snarling at each other. Other animals of interest were ostrich, crocodile & some type of small adorable monkeys. Fun to watch with their prehensile tail & acrobatic antics.
There is a shopping mall just outside the Paradise Village complex gates (Nuevo Vallarta Marina where we were docked is inside the gates, part of the complex). It was very exciting for me to be able to walk to the store whenever I wanted & buy fresh fruit & veggies & whatever else looked good that day. All boaters have a hoarding mentality. You never know exactly where or when you will next be able to buy food, so you stock up whenever it is easy. I have had to restrain myself from buying any more
powdered Gatorade & shelf life lactose-free milk. I really got carried away for a while & we are probably stocked up for the whole summer! The prices at the nearby mall grocery store are like LA, since it is a resort area. The bag boys would push a shopping cart all the way back to our boat (nearly 1/4 mile) the one time I got carried away & there were too many heavy bags for us to carry. Just tip them a few pesos & they are happy. At a kids clothing store, I bought a replacement long sleeved swim
shirt, for sun protection. My old one suddenly disintegrated. And a pair of shorts. Cotton is not good for humid climate. I only had 1 pair that was not cotton so even though it is rather ideal weather now & the cotton is ok, we know it will be getting to more hot & humid areas soon.
Dinner out 2 nights in a row! Wow! Bill & Mary Finklestein from boat \”Raptor Dance\” (now there is a boat name you don\’t see every day!) have been in Mexico for 3 yrs & have a car here. They leave their boat at the Nuevo Vallarta Marina dock & spend the hot summers back at their home in Sonoma County. We first met them 4 yrs ago when they came through Marina del Rey & stayed at our old home port at California Yacht Club (they are members too). They are the ones we have to thank for helping us decide
to slow down our pace & spend another whole year in Mexico. Bill & Mary drove the 3 of us in their car over to La Cruz & we ate at a really beautiful restaurant that could have been in Santa Barbara or Santa Monica. Italian again. This time I had Mahi Mahi & it was delicious. Continued….