April in Paradise Village, Nuevo Vallarta

After the Banderas Bay Regatta we spent a couple of weeks just relaxing and enjoying living on the docks at Paradise Village.  Our marina fees include the use of several of the resort's facilities, such as the swimming pools, the gym (for a small fee) and an air-conditioned hospitality suite (which is like a huge living room with giant TV, comfortable chairs and sofas, great wifi, a kitchen and showers). 

Lap pool at Paradise Village

Living room in hospitality suite

My "office" in the hospitality suite - tough, eh?

We dragged the bicycles out of the quarter berth and have been riding the many bicycle paths and wide boulevards to explore the Nuevo Vallarta area.  Even the main highway between La Cruz and Puerto Vallarta has a generous curb.

Staying in Paradise Village has been like living in an enormous garden filled with exotic flowering plants and bushes and shaded with majestic palm trees.

Each afternoon a breeze picks up, keeping the temperatures comfortable.  At night, we have rarely seen more than 20 degrees.  The birds are everywhere - from frigates hovering high in the sky, to pelicans flying in formation, to cormorants diving for fish around the boat, to cooing doves, scolding grackles, melodious kiskadees and many colourful others that create an endless cacophany of sound. 

Grackle

Kiskadee

There are crocodiles in the marina.  We haven't seen one yet, but we have been warned.  Instead, the monstrous looking green iguanas have come to hang out - one 3 foot example even climbed our self steering device to try to join us in the cockpit for sundowners.  The next morning he decided to sun on our bimini.  Both times  it has taken firm encouragment for him to find another place to suntan. 

Green iguana - I know they are vegetarian, but still......

There are two Bengal tigers as well, but they live in a cage and have been part of a successful breeding program.  Duke paces his enclosure, lifting his tail and emitting puffs of spray at Daisy - as if it were the most refined of perfumes. (Well, maybe for her!)

Duke and Daisy

An interesting story

Of course, we have also been preparing for our upcoming ocean voyages to Hawaii and Alaska.  Doug has always kept Ka'sala in top shape and, as a result, we don't have a long list of repairs to do or equipment to buy.  Additionally, we have completed these passages before, so are familiar with what is required. Nevertheless, Doug has been double checking the systems to make sure he hasn't missed anything and continues with regular maintenance.  I have been working on provisioning and where we will store everything.  The only research I have been doing is to find others who may be making the passage at the same time and where we will stay when we get to Hawaii.  So far I have only found, and been in contact with, one boat, Charabia, who completed the passage earlier in the month.  While there are over a hundred boats making the passage to French Polynesia this year, it looks like we may be alone on our voyage to Hawaii.  Perhaps that will solve the problem of finding a place to moor Ka'sala in Honolulu!

I think two of our major questions right now are:  1. where to put the kayaks on deck so they don't interfere with the staysail lines (it would be tragic to leave them behind) and 2. where can I buy fresh, unrefrigerated fruit and vegetables that aren't ready to eat the day I buy them?  Hopefully these challenges will be the worst of it.

This week we will be moving Ka'sala over to the anchorage in La Cruz for a couple days to check on the hull.  Doug will dive on it to make sure there are no problems below and then clean it so the bottom is as slick as it can be.  We are also looking forward to reconnecting with our good friends Jan and Joanneke from Witte Raaf .  Later, we will return to Paradise Village to do our final preparations.  All going well, will leave for our 2900+ nautical mile voyage to Honolulu sometime in the last week of April.