Surprise, Charlie D and family are in PV

Troy and Charlie, originally uploaded by seaparents.

It never ceases to amaze how small the world really is. So, it is Ashley's birthday and she gets to determine the itinerary for the day. After trips to the OXXO (convenience store), the beach, and the pool, she wanted to go to Wal Mart to look at toys. Who do I run into, in Puerto Vallarta-Mexico-at Wal Mart? None other than than Mister Charlie Drennan and family (former co-worker) for those who are saying who? right now. As it turns out, they weren't staying too far away, so we motored the boat (still no sails at that point) in front of his hotel and anchored in a rather shady spot so that we could drink (which included getting busted by security for imbibing from the hotel all inclusive only stash courtesy of the law breaker Charlie!), catch up on all things job related, and watch the girls frolic for hours. They joined us again the next day for a dinghy ride to the local marina for dinner before bidding us farewell. Thanks Drennan Family for a great time and we hope to see you soon. The following day, I found some straggler business cards from old friends and sent them some e-mails. I found out that a high school friend and his family will be coming down on the 20th and staying at the next hotel over. We hope to visit with them and sing it's a small world after all :) Finally, some great news. After a month long hiatus from sailing the ocean blue, we are back in business! I scrapped the old sail track and cars for a new system after losing faith that we might ever sail again. Not cheap, but nine long hours after we started, the rigger and I toasted Pacificos to a working mainsail. The following day, we promptly headed out into the bay and sailed to La Cruz for a night on the hook. We had boat school this morning and sailed away this afternoon in 15 knots of wind. We reached a personal best boat speed of 8 knots (woo hoo!). We are off again tomorrow for a sail with our friends from Maluhia after I fix the broken toilet pump. The to do list is drawing to a close and we are still hoping to head South around the 30th. We will continue the posts when we can and hope everyone is well.

Hasta la pasta

Troy