Kevin's visit 12-27-2016/1-07-2017

12-27-2016
Our son Kevin , our daughter in-law Lashawna and our two grand daughters, Stella (8 years old) and Rhiannon (12 years old) arrived in Puerto Vallarta around 3:00 from their home in Maui, loaded down with surf boards and a kite.

Settling in for a snack before heading for the pool and the beach for sunset.

Next morning we motor sailed to La Cruz to get fuel and check out the town.  Get a little lunch.

    Check out the beach near the Marina 

     Windy but not really enough wind for   kite boarding although Kevin tried.

Then off for "Tacos on the Street"

12-29-2016

Anchored off Punta de Mita near the pier closer to the point. A little surfing, great Grilled Arracharro fajitas and super fun night fishing was enjoyed by all.

12-30-2016

After breakfast we took Chez Nous north around the point to Sayulita.  We were looking for more surf but found the swell was so big we couldn't anchor.  So at 1130 we turned around and headed south to Tenecatita.

Just passed Cabo Corrientes around 1830 with 18kts apparent wind from the SW. Relaxing before are night watches begin. An easy motor sail all night.  Kev , Stella and I got the 3 to 6 watch which we call the bakers watch.  At 0430 the Brownies were done.

12-31-2016

Anchor down in Tenacatita at 0930 and it didn't take long for the kayak and SUP board to get into the water .

     Backgammon

A pretty quiet New Years Eve on the boat. A few fire works on one other boat and great music from a Hotel on Shore and search lights from a club up on a hill.  We declared 10:00 as NY's 2017.

01-01-2017.  Happy New Year

What a way to start the new year!

Salt crystals plugging the head plumbing.

"Another fun Job", as Al says.

That done , time to play a little Cribbage before the dinghy cruise through the Estuary to the Aquarium beach .

* Estuary pictures are in my camera.

01-02-3017

Another fun day at Tenacatita with bearly enough surf for Rhi but good for Stella to learn on.  Rhi had fun SUP surfing and we all loved floating down the river.

                       Best Friends

01-03-2017

No waves coming onto shore at Tenacatita this morning so we lifted the anchor and motor sailed to Barra de Navidad. Just after leaving the bay we saw two humpback whales that breached several times and what looked like baby spotted dolphins.  

Only a two hour sail to Barra and the Grand Isle Resort with what the kids think is the best pool ever.  Stella says she could just live here.

So the next three days are a blur filled with happy smart funny energetic kids.  The pool is amazing with a slide between each of the three levels.

Water taxis to town, great food, fabulous sunsets , laser rentals, panga chair float rides and mini hikes filled are days.

Lashawna loving the laser.

We all loved the French Baker who came by every morning.

Kevin and Rhiannon trying to surf the little bump at Barra.

While Stella played in the sand with the boogie board.

Best dinner at Sea Master

01-07-2017

0700 all packed up and loaded into a private SUV with surf boards lashed on top, sweet but sad good-byes and hugs then they are off to Puerto Vallarta and the plane back to Maui. It took them a little over 4 hrs to the airport but they said it was a pretty trip.  

Christmas 2016

 After a whirlwind trip back to LA and on to Bozeman, MT for our grand daughters graduation.  We are now back in Paradise Village for Christmas.   Here are a few pictures from our 4 days of winter.  -23 on Rain's Montana State class of 2016 graduation day.  

After a few long walks in the cold, Uber came to the rescue.

Now back on Chez Nous

Paradise Village Marina gave us a gift.

We had a delightful Christmas Eve dinner at the Club and a fantastic cruise over to Las Animas for lunch on Christmas Day with two couples we had never met before.  They were friends of Andy and Liz Barrow who had returned to the States for Christmas but who had offered the use of their boat Hay Ya to them for the day.   Whole Red Snapper by the kilo and a bunch of yachties helped make the day be not so lonely without kids and family around.

The sky was the darkest I've seen yet in the  Bay but we had a nice sail back to Paradise Village.

Al just completed the last project on his to do list before Kevin, Lashawna and the kids arrive tomorrow , which was changing all the water hoses (Plumbing) in the entire boat today.  He says it's time for a cold Beer.

RETURN

Al returned to the boat on Nov. 15th to get Chez Nous ready for the cruising season.  All the sails had to be put back on there roller furling systems and mast tracks.  Canvas removed and shade cloths put back up.  Even though we had someone looking after the boat over the summer it still needed a through cleaning.  

It had been so hot when Al came down for a brief check on the boat in Sept. that he decided we needed an air-conditioner.  So he purchased one when he got back to LA and had a good friend of ours Lloyd Clauss bring it down on his boat, knowing that he would be here in Paradise Village after the HaHa.  The installation seemed to go without a hitch.   Well, I wasn't here.  I just know that when I arrived on the Nov. 23rd the boat was nice and cool with no evidence of all his hard work like  scattered tools  or saw-dust.  All you can see are three vents.  One in the galley, one in the main salon plus the air intake vent below the salon seat where the unit now lives.

  Little Green Backed Heron

The Vallarta Yacht Club had a great Thanksgiving Dinner with all the fixings, plus a live band and dancing after dinner. It was nice to visit with Club friends from last year, some who stay all year and some like us who just returned from Canada and the US.  Even though it was nice we still really missed being with family and we missed seconds and left-overs.

DAY TRIP BY BUS TO SAYULITA fun getting caught in the rain.

Boat cleaning and re-organizing continues. All the kayaks and sails had been stored down below while we were gone.   Al has been waxing the hull and polishing stainless plus cleaning the dinghy which really got mildewy under the cover in the heat. I have to say it is really shines now.

    Sunset from our hatch

    CHILI COOK-OFF

Needing a break we rented a car for a day trip up to San Sebastián which is only a couple hours north east of the boat.  Lets just say the whole experience was not as relaxing as one might think.   Puerto Vallarta traffic is jammed in the morning.  If you don't have clear directions it can be frustrating with limited access and one way streets, median dividers and no left turns.  One of the roads I told Al to take turned into a bumpy half flooded dirt road behind the airport.  We were just going to swing by Costco's on our way out of town so Al could order new sunglass but turned into a lengthy ordeal.   Needless to say turning on my roaming data for a more direct way back to the road to San Sebastián made life much more peasant.  Oh yes, he did order his glasses.

The town, once a thriving mining town of 20,000 people was founded around 1650.  The gold, silver and iron mines are now closed and the 600 residence make at least part of their living on the tourist trade.  There are several very old well maintained Hotels, artisan shops and restaurants and a terrific coffee roasting and grinding shop.   One really nice silver workshop run by a father and two sons designing pieces using pure silver and lost wax methods.

 

The most remarkable thing about the town are the roads.  It's in the mountains so roads are narrow and steep. They are hand placed stones layer in a pattern with 3 or 4 rows layer in the direction of the road and the others all in laid  cross ways.  I should have taken a better picture.  All were perfectly smooth and contoured to allow water runoff.    All the different levels of the town were were supported by stone walls and houses all had stone foundations.  A pretty town and worth the effort.

Next week we fly to Bozeman, MT for our grand daughter, Cassie's college graduation then return on the 20th to get ready for Kevin and his family's visit after Christmas.  Can't wait.