Summer 2005 in the States & Blew Moon in the Boat Yard

Our visit to the states which began on May 19th was a dizzying whirlwind of activity. Not having a home to return to, we kept busy and stayed in the homes of various family members and friends who are scattered around California, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado. While in San Diego, between our various jaunts, we stayed with our wonderful friends, Wayne and Lynn, and Don and Sue. We are blessed to have such great friends who willingly opened their homes to us and let us come and go as we pleased. You guys are the best! Amy, Tony, Joey and Maddie are our only family in San Diego, but they are in the middle of major remodeling so there was no room at that inn.

Here are some of the highlights of our time in the states; 1) the Latislaw annual horse shoe tournament in the beautiful mountains near Idyllwild, CA 2) seeing my long-time friend, Oanh, and her family in Las Vegas on our way to the Denver area 3) celebrating Jordyn’s (our oldest grandaughter) fifth birthday in Colorado with her little brother Dylan who turned two on Sept. 18th 4) driving from Colorado through Wyoming and Utah en route to visit my sister Nancy and brother Dan in Folsom, CA 5) driving through Yosemite (a first for me) on our way to Lee Vining near June Lake for an overnight visit with Aunt Do and Uncle Elgin in their fifth-wheel 6) the wedding of Barry’s nephew, Jamie, to Reyna in San Diego (they bought our house in Chula Vista) 7) the wedding of Heather Bolles, the daughter of our good friends Ron and Reina 8) Barry’s 40th high school reunion 9) taking the Grand Canyon Railroad train trip from Williams, Arizona to the Grand Canyon and staying overnight at the south rim (with Barry’s mom and dad). This was also a first for me! 10) meeting Barry’s sister in Prescott, Arizona at her daughter’s home where we spent two nights 10) spending time with our four grandkids and their parents, as well as everyone else in our families. 11) Spending a weekend in San Felipe, Baja CA with our friends Wayne and Lynn. We figure we put over 5,000 miles on our car. Every bit of it was fun, but we were both really tired from this hectic itinerary.

I am so glad to be back in my home on the water in the marina at beautiful Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta where the pace of life is slower . Barry returned to Mexico on August 18th and I trailed him by three weeks so he could have the boat hauled out of the water for a new paint job and other work. She was still in the boat yard on September 11th when I flew back into PuertoVallarta. So, I spent my first three nights in a hotel room that Barry rented during Blew Moon’s time in the boat yard. It was extremely convenient for him since he spent every day working alongside the hired help. He could seek refuge from the heat and humidity in the air-conditioned hotel room or by taking a dip in the pool. The hotel room was a life-saver since there is absolutely nowhere in the boat yard to escape the intense heat.

Barry did not have our digital camera with him so we don’t have pics of the boat being taken out of the water, but we do have some of the tale-end of the painting process. I video taped them putting her back in the water with our brand new camera purchased this summer in the states. It is quite an impressive operation to haul a boat out of the water into dry-dock. The boat is maneuvered, by the captain, into what is called "the pit". It is a narrow and very deep boat slip of sorts with concrete walls on three sides. There is a huge remotely controlled device on wheels, called a Travelift, that is positioned over the pit. This device has harnesses or slings that get draped under the hull of the boat while it is floating in the pit. Once the slings are positioned in precisely the right places this giant Travelift slowly lifts the boat from the water. Once the boat clears the walls of the pit, the lift is driven remotely to a vacant area where the boat is then lowered onto blocks. The boat is returned to the water by reversing the process. Fortunately, these delicate operations were performed without flaw!

We returned to our slip in the marina on my third day back. Then a couple of days later we returned to the boat yard to have the mast removed. There are electrical wires that run up through the mast to various things, i.e., radio antennas, lights, etc.. Some of these wires came loose and were clanging around inside making noise. So, while we had the mast removed we installed new mast lights and did maintenance on our radio antennas. In hindsight, we should have done this right before hauling her out of the water for the paint job. But hey, we’re kinda learning as we go!

Blew Moon was in the boat yard for a total of fifteen days for her new paint job. We are still uncovering the damage caused by that many days out of the water in 100+ degree weather and high humidity. As you can imagine, having the boat sealed tight as a drum in order to paint her, creates the perfect environment for mold/mildew and spoiled food. The first real eye-opener was finding a pair of my cotton pants almost as stiff as a board from a mold outbreak. It was ghastly! My first four days back in the marina were spent dealing with our clothes. I hand washed and sanitized all the clothes that had mold and hung everything else outside for a day to air out the musty odor. It was not fun washing clothes by hand in a bucket in the 95-101 degree heat with humidity that increases as the day progresses. To say that I was happy to be done with that chore is quite an understatement! However, I am still in the process of cleaning the inside of the boat and putting the boat back together. Basically, the whole inside of the boat has to be thoroughly cleaned. I’m making our provisioning list of items we need to buy and stow before heading south in November (hopefully mid-month). There is much to do and we are both working real hard. We try to work only for about 4-5 hours each day, except Sunday which is our day of rest. Barry has a long list of projects to get done, but he is doing a great job of plowing through them one at a time. He is such a hard worker! I marvel at the energy this man has. We try to spend a few hours late in the afternoon at the pool or on the beach. Relaxing with a good book in the shade of a palapa on the beach or under a palm tree near the pool is our way of rewarding ourselves for work we accomplish.

Fortunately, we do have an air conditioner keeping the boat cool. We run it 24/7! I just pray it keeps working. So, just hanging out in the boat is another way to escape the heat of the day. Fortunately, the rainy season is nearing an end which means the temperature and humidity are finally dropping. The days begin in the low 80’s and get up to the mid to high 90’s. The humidity is dropping too, as we enter the winter season, which makes the heat much more tolerable. As you may know, there are still some tropical storms and even hurricanes in the Pacific around Central America and southern Mexico. My niece, Angela, and her husband Brad left Long Beach on 9/30 for a ten-day Mexican cruise. They had to bypass their first port, Cabo San Lucas, because hurricane Otis was headed right toward the tip of Baja. They praised the captain for keeping them out of the hurricane’s path and said they really didn’t feel any affects as they skirted around it. We had the pleasure of rendezvousing with Angela and Brad on Tuesday, 10/4, while their cruise ship was in Puerto Vallarta. It was fun seeing them and spending some time together since we did not see them while we were in the states visiting.

On the 15th, our friends Jesse and Diana flew in to Puerto Vallarta. They stayed here in Nuevo Vallarta at the beautiful Mayan Palace resort. We had lots of fun with them during their week-long vacation! They even helped us celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. So far, our two visits from family and friends from the states have been the highlight of our time back here in Nuevo Vallarta. It is nice having a diversion from work! The only other noteworthy thing was my 48th birthday which was on 9/18. We celebrated by spending all day at the beach after going to church and doing Sunday brunch. We frolicked in the surf, read books and Barry bought me a massage on the beach. It was a perfect day!

Well, that’s all for now. I will be updating you again before we set sail for our next destination which is Costa Rica. We intend to be there sometime in March or April (God willing). We will be visiting lots of beautiful and interesting places along the way. That’s the way it is with cruising. You can just hop from one anchorage or port to another at a leisurely pace. Weather is about the only constant consideration you must deal with as you make your plans. So, as always, stay tuned for our next update!