Taking the seanic route
January 2022
Up breakfast, bible study and off the boat by 9 am to go on a snorkeling excursion. I am not going to write about what we saw, as the pictures with captions will do that. After we were done with the excursion, we were delivered back to the boat, where we had lunch and got ready and sailed across to Yalapa. Where we picked up a mooring ball for the bow and another for the stern. We did not go ashore this day, and just relaxed and had dinner on the boat.
Reneé and Darcy were up at about 6 am, Dave and I were a bit later. Eggs and sausage for breakfast and the net. We motored out 3 miles, pumped out the holding tank and then over to Punta de Mita. (No wind). We had lunch and got out the water toys, the kayak, and the two paddle boards. On our way over the chart plotter at the helm backlight started to fail, so when we arrived, I swapped chart plotters and of course the one that had not been working was working fine at the nav station. Oh well, then we went ashore.
The lady’s took the paddle boards and Dave and I took the kayak. The trip ashore was uneventful, but the return trip was a comedy of errors. Dave and I more so than Reneé and Darcy. They made it ok, but we wound up soaked and hurting. Eventually getting back to the boat. A nice dinner and laying out doing nothing ended the day.
Up at 6 am. Breakfast, and then in on the dinghy to get to the bus to get to church. The bus ride to church was very easy, when we got to Bucerias, Reneé continued on Chedrauie (the store) and then she walked to church. The rest of us were waiting for her. After church we walked though the market and we were surprised to see that it was about a 1/4 of the shops open that we had seen the last time. Of course after thinking about it, we realized that was before Kings Day, where lots more gifts are given. From there we walked down into the shops in downtown Bucerias more stuff we don’t need, then out to Mari del Sol a restaurant on the beach for lunch. Then a walk back up to the main road and another easy bus ride back to La Cruz again the market was almost completely shutdown. Oh well. We headed back to the boat getting there about 3 in the afternoon. We chatted and the lady’s swam a bit then BBQ’d for dinner and played a game of Flub and then bed.
Up early, Reneé was up at 6 am to start breakfast, and Darcy was already up and about. After breakfast, we used Portals of Prayer for our devotions as a group. Then Reneé took them for a walk around the grounds here, and I started filling the water tank. With 4 of us taking showers etc. and NO tank level gauge, I really don’t want to run out of water.
It took an hour almost exactly to fill the tank, by then everyone was back from their walk and after groceries were put away, we left Paradise village. We motored out and across to the anchorage. Dave was feeling a bit sea sick, and went down to take a nap, I texted Mike and got the weather that said mid afternoon the wind would be in the teens and quiet overnight, so we lazed around the anchorage when we got there then went sailing around 2:30. After sailing back to the anchorage and then got the dinghy down and went into town. Dinner and dancing at the Tree house, then back to the boat in the dark. Tomorrow will be an adventure!
Up at normal time, breakfast, the net and bible reading. Reneé will take the laundry in and I am going to run the water maker to top off the water tank. I will also clean the bathrooms, and straighten up things like computers and electronics. This morning, we refilled our daily pill containers. I took the bus to the Airport, a very easy ride and a short walk from the stop to the airport.
Of course their flight was delayed, so I got a beer and waited for awhile. Eventually we got together and got a cab ride back to the boat. It is interesting that the cab companies (maybe with some intervention) have come up with a fairly simple plan. The fares are based on zones, and the “official” cabs all get used in sequence, and the way it works, for example our ride, is your pick a guy standing in the crowd with an “authorized taxi” sign, and he gets you into the next available car. I don’t know if they get paid or if they only get tips, but I tip this guy. When we fly in, this guy is typically shortly after customs and he helps with the luggage. In this case, it was only across the sidewalk. Anyway the fare was 380 pesos or $25 US. (It is important to note that the conversion rate for pesos to USD is about 20 pesos to the dollar. This means there is about 120 pesos premium to pay with dollars. This is about $6 extra to use the dollars. $19 if you pay with pesos, $25 if you pay with dollars. The fare is paid either inside at the counter or as the driver leaves the airport you pay at the gate. The money does not stay with the driver. I give the taxi driver a tip at the end of the ride. Uber and InDriver rides are not an option to or from the airport. In any case, we got back to the boat and moved them Dave and Darcy Traut from Cedar Rapids into the boat.
No pictures today.