Chacala is a lovely bay about an hour's drive north of Puerto Vallarta with beach front palapas (shade, refreshments, food) and without condos; about 70% of the beach goers appear to be local. It is a very small village, but there are expensive and elaborate homes being built overlooking the bay and beach; progress will find this beautiful place soon.

John and AJ procured diesel fuel yesterday so we are full and ready; the wind machine in the Pacific is forecasted to start on Wednesday and it will take us a couple of days to get to the trades generated by the Pacific High. We weigh anchor Monday morning for Hiva Oa. Surprise is ready, with only a small leak in the refrigeration lines of concern. We have a couple of cans of refrigerant to replenish the system, but would like to find the leak first; it's always something. The dingy and outboard get stowed below tonight which means moving the 7 cases of beer and 5 cases of wine out of the garage and then restowing everything.

For those of you who might wonder how we will live for the next 20 days or so, out of sight and reach of land: Surprise has a watermaker which turns seawater into fresh by reverse osmosis, a freezer, refrigerator, microwave, Cuisineart and sound system. There is of course a head and two shower heads, one on the back deck. We have hot water, though as the weather has warmed up cold showers seem more refreshing. The watermaker, refrigeration, hot water and electrical power are all created by running the engine, hence the emphasis on leaving here with fuel tanks as full as possible.

We'll have cereal most mornings, muffins or cinnamon rolls when the cook is motivated to bake, and scrambled egg burritos when the night watch has been particularly tough. We have lunch meat and cheese, hot dogs and canned tuna. We have enough Bimbo hot dogs buns to last to the Marquesas (Bimbo is Mexico's Wonder bread). We have 3 loaves of bread and can bake more. Oh yes, I forgot to mention the breadmaker. Steve calls it the Zojirushi battery killer, but if it's on bake cycle while the engine is running the load is negligible. The freezer is full of lasagna, beef stew, chili, beef burgundy, chicken breasts, chicken apple sausages, pork and lamb tenderloins, salmon and shrimp. And of course the cook is counting on fresh catch. So far Steve has fished to order. Want a nice dinner sized mahimahi? He puts out the line and we have dinner! We have as many vegetables as will fit in the frig and a basket of potatoes, onions, cabbage, peppers, apples, jicamas, as well as a flat of tomatoes and bag of oranges. John and AJ carefully wrapped the apples, oranges, limes et al after their disinfectant bath.

There are 3400 tunes on the computer, which plays through the stereo. Plus John's I-pod library. Last night we were treated to an Irish music concert. We have games, books, and each one of us has our personal transit project. So after standing watch, navigating, cooking and cleaning up, doing laundry, and writing to friends and family, we have plenty to keep us busy.

St. Paddy's Day was duly noted with a Guinness toast around noon. We had our first overboard drill when John gallantly rescued AJ's pint, which decided to take a dive moments after opening. (Some of us are a little slow on the uptake regarding the realities of life and perpetual motion on a boat.) Many of you will not be surprised to learn that stout stands up to a little salt water with little ill effect. Guinness on board and soon we were festooned with green beads (some of our shirts are still festooned with green dye - not bad as Paddy's day hangovers go) as we headed into town, first to check it out, then again later for our rendezvous with Enrique the PV taxi driver who, despite being out of his jurisdiction AND being at the beach with his wife to celebrate their anniversary, drove us into town for diesel. We learned all this on the way, of course, and were mortified into tipping handsomely. Make hay while the sun shines, amigos!

We also made a morning visit (pre Guinness) to Mar de Jade, a lovely hotel on the south end of the cove, where we delivered AJ's medical supplies for the local clinic and gathered information for future visits. The hotel has a tradition of running volunteer sessions for medicos: a week's stay with Spanish lessons in exchange for some work in the local clinic. Mostly a primary care facility, but they appreciate having specialists from time to time, and would welcome an orthopaedic contingent anytime. Sounds like a continuing education opportunity to me! (www.mardejade.com)

So the real adventure is about to begin! Tomorrow at this time we'll be out of sight of land; the next bit of terra firma will be an old volcano enshrouded with lush tropical vegetation. Surprise is a race horse chomping at the bit. She is ready, and so are we after all these months of anticipation.