We Have Finally Started Our Adventure!

It seems I have failed my goal of posting at least once a week and so much has happened over the last three weeks it is going to be hard to get it all down here and I’m going to have to leave some out or I’ll be up half the night.

We had Christmas in Port Orchard at Greg and Patti’s place; after the newscast greyhound made sure to have a seat on the bus for Colton so we were all together. Greg and Patti made us all feel like family, baking cookies with the kids and cooking a fabulous rib roast for Christmas dinner. They even had a stocking stuffed full with their names written across the top in glitter glue for each child . Everyone had a great time and no one seemed to mind so much that we were homeless and in limbo.

I don’t want to sound unappreciative, we weren’t exactly homeless. Over the last few months our extremely patient family has put up with us on their couches and floors and in their refrigerators while unexpected delays pushed back our launch date, and we thank you all so much Mom, Angie, Jerry and Sharon.

After months of planning, preparation and waiting we finally caught a plane out of Seattle and on January 4^th we were headed for Puerto Vallarta to start our adventure and set sail for the south!

The boat was torn apart when we arrived as I was still trying to fix the leaks in the water tank; so Susan and the kids stayed in a room at Hotel Flamingo on the shore of the marina while I slept on the boat with the dogs. It is a great old hotel, one of the first built on the marina so it probably dates back to the 50’s and in its heyday I am sure it was probably the place to be in Vallarta. The views from our room were great as were the staff. Everyday Alora would race back to the room to see what new animal housekeeping had folded for her out of a towel. It is probably the cheapest hotel in the marina area and at $70 a night including tax (online price only) it was a pretty good deal and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

The kids are loving it. Everyday they spot puffer fish, angel fish or rays in the water and there are dozens of big black iguanas on the shore and geckos to chase in the evening. We have made friends with an old fisherman from California who catches more tuna than he can eat so we do our best to help him out. I had never had fresh grilled tuna steaks before and they have now become my favorite fish. A little olive oil, pepper and sea salt is all they need to have the five of us (seven actually because the dogs get into the action) gorge ourselves to the point of incapacitation. There is a little roadside restaurant across the street called “Los Mapaches” which translates to “The Raccoons” of which there are dozens. They come to your table and beg for food and will even climb up and take their own seat at your table. Alora has decided that we need to eat there every night.

Most of what we have been doing over the last two weeks is working on the boat, tearing it inside out and putting it back together. I will put together a run down of the boat work on the vessel page rather than go through it all here. Suffice it to say that after ten days we were finally able to all move onto Tenacious. Tonight is our fourth night on the boat as a family and everyday it gets a little more comfortable. Soon I hope to be able to put the housework behind me and go to work on the running and sailing gear. We are planning to set sail out of Vallarta by the end of the month but like I said before, we are now writing our goals in pencil.