Well, we are up to our ears in projects before heading across the Pacific. Our departure should be sometime between March 15 and April 15, but most likely around March 21st. Bruce has taken on MORE projects than planned (for lack of finding qualified help with carpentry stuff) and is feeling a bit stressed. Tomorrow he takes the ham exam so has been cramming for that. The material covered by the exam is like a foreign language that no one uses anymore and very difficult to memorize. But you need the license to be able to speak on the radio and ham radio is how boats keep in touch with each other in the Pacific.

We did have a wonderful week of playing 'tourist' with Maren and Connor. They arrived on a Tuesday afternoon, we participated in an informal race on Wednesday afternoon, we explored PV on Thursday, sailed to Yelapa (an Indian village only accessible by boat) and hiked to a waterfall on Friday, the kids did a zip-line tour on Saturday, we went to a crafts and food fair on Sunday, visited the hippy-dippy surf/beach town of Sayulita on Monday morning, and they flew out on Monday afternoon. We ate dozens of tacos, pounds of shrimp, and mountains of guacamole. Plus there was time for reading, relaxing, and a game of cards. It was a great visit and I hope we can repeat it next year in Tonga or Fiji.

So now we are back to preparing for our trip. We can't wait to put away the tools and sandpaper and get back out on the water.

Here's a photo of our next homestead (just kidding!) in Yelapa and a photo at the waterfall: