Thursday, June 12, 2008

Double click on the photo to see larger size and captions...

What happened to May?? And - our condo's finished - check out the photos above...

While at Catalina last September we met Barritt & Renee from the San Diego based Peterson 44, Serendipity, who were just ending 8 years of cruising including a lot of time in the Caribbean and a double transit of the Panama Canal. We caught up with them again in San Diego as we were preparing take off for Mexico in late October. They were kind enough to help us out with timely advice on many subjects as well as drive us all over town so that we could provision Destiny. They flew down to Puerto Vallarta in early May and the four of us had more fun that we could really handle. We had a typically great sail on Banderas Bay and three semi-crazy days at the condo in Punta Mita. We really look forward to seeing them again this winter when they bring the new upgraded Serendipity back to Mexico.

After recovering from Barritt and Renee's visit we took off on Destiny and enjoyed a terrific sail from Paradise Village to Punta Mita where we spent the balance of the day and evening staring at our condo from the water. Have to say it looked very inviting. The next morning we left under calm conditions for the 40 odd mile trip north to Chacala, a beautiful anchorage we visited last November on our way south.

Our friends Louis and Laura Kruk of the Alameda based Beneteau 42s7, Cirque, were anchored there having just done the overnight run south from Mazatlan. We had a good time visiting with them for a few days before they left for Puerto Vallarta where Cirque will spend the summer with Destiny. Our stay in Chacala was delightful marred only by our non-working refrigerator, which meant that we had to keep throwing in ice every day to keep our beer and other essentials cold. After 5 days in Chacala we enjoyed a splendid light air sail back to Punta Mita for a night and then on to Puerto Vallarta.

Shortly after this JoAnne & Michael Gilliam (she was Gilly's matron of honor) flew down to celebrate our first and their 20th wedding anniversaries. Hard to imagine that a year has gone by soooo quickly and how much different our lives are than just a year ago. We had a tremendous time with them and they left just before the rainy season made its debut in the Puerto Vallarta area.

We're now concentrating on getting Destiny ready for the summer which includes making sure she can handle a big storm (meaning hurricane) should that happen. We moved her to a much more secure dock and we're not anticipating any big problems, but one never knows what will happen.

At the end of June we'll drive up to Colorado to spend time with Scott & Hillary and grandkids before flying to Charlotte to visit with Nick & Natalie. At the end of July we'll drive from Colorado to Alameda arriving just in time for the EYC cruise to the Delta where fortunately Mike Pernitzke and Ina Tabak have taken pity on the boat-less Foy's and are giving us a ride. Very much looking forward to catching up with our Bay Area friends, as being away from friends and family is the only thing we don't like about Mexico....

Our condo is pretty much furnished and decorated so please check out the photos above to get some idea of what it's like.