About a week prior to her arrival I also learned that my eldest daughter Kara was able to schedule time off from her nursing job in Salt Lake City, Utah to come for a few days as well. I was most delighted.
On January 24th Dan and I relocated the boat from the anchorage in La Cruz to Paradise Village which was the day prior to Carolyn arriving. We tried sailing, but the little wind we had died completely, so we had to motor the 6 miles there. This seems to be typical in the Banderas Bay - light winds in the morning and they usually pick up after about noon. Here we are entering the harbor. There was a dredge to avoid, as well as several kayakers in the middle of the entrance.
We entered in low tide, which is unlike us, however the harbor master assured us it was deep enough for our 7'6" keel. We just needed to hug the dredge as close as we were comfortable.
Having never seen Paradise Village we were a bit overwhelmed and in fact it was a little bit of a culture shock to us. It is a large, 5-star resort, surrounded by many more large hotels. The marina sits behind all of the hotels. 3 dock hands were waiting to tie our boat up as we pulled into slip E-35. It is always a relief to get at least one dock hand, but three made it a breeze.
As we explored the village more, we discovered the Mall where many familiar gringo establishments and services were available. It was really a perfect place to entertain my family and in fact, many cruisers came here for the same purpose.
Dan and I took a bus ride to the Puerto Vallarta airport for 20 pesos. It dropped us off right next to the highway. We wanted to meet Carolyn as she arrived. It was a very busy airport but it gave us a chance to figure out the layout for when we have to travel to the USA later. Carolyn arrived and we happily took off across the highway overpass to catch another bus and give her the "real" Mexican experience. (We could've taken a taxi, but she thought the bus would be fun too). We did enough taxi rides throughout the week.
Carolyn and Dan are walking through the overpass to catch a bus on the other side of the highway.
Once in the boat, Carolyn was quick to find a comfortable spot to claim as her bed. She especially loved seeing the boat on the inside. After all, she has been our emergency contact person and wanted to get a better visual of how things worked. Over the next two days, she and Dan got to have some nice conversations about that and other things I imagine.
She really liked having the V-birth area to store her suitcase and use as a dressing room. We had taken the bikes, dinghy, and sails out and put them on the deck while the company was here.
Since we only had one full day with Dan here before he flew to Eugene, Oregon, I suggested we inflate the dinghy and put the motor on so we could take a safari exploration trip up the canals or estuaries. There are rumors of alligators and many iguanas. It worked out well.
Carolyn loved seeing all the boats along the docks. Here is Malo in her slip E-35. Dan thought it would be fun to go out the harbor entrance first as the weather was calm.
We are heading out of the marina. As you can see, it is quite beautiful.
As we exited the harbor, we went by the dredge boat which sucks the sediment off the bottom to keep the entrance deep enough for boats to enter and exit. Carolyn remarked how much our father - Arnold/Morfar would have liked to go on this boat ride. He always liked to explore the back sides of things. I am sure he was with us in spirit on this trip.
Here we go, heading up the estuary looking for alligators.
But all we really found were lots and lots of iguanas in trees and on docks. No alligators were spotted on this trip. They certainly are amazing looking!
The closest thing we saw to a crocodile was this water slide.
Stay tuned for the next family adventures.
Beautiful!! So glad your sister was able to visit. Can't wait to hear about your escapades with Kara! xo
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