Happy Thanksgiving from Guaymas, Sonora!

Self-serve Mexican (yellow) and
American (white) chicken

Please eat some turkey, gravy and pie for us! We shan't experience Thanksgiving in the traditional way...

Our first two plus weeks have been amazing and we're enjoying life in a great Mexican community. 

Oh yeah, let's have lard

Holiday wine display - don't
forget the Boones Farm!

Yea! Judy rethreads
the main halyard

Sunset tonight...behind our neighbors

Mike installing
our new port

Mike installing our new portlight

On the hard with our 'front door' ladder

Judy up the mast 3x - what a view

Mike climbing down the ladder,
heading to the shower
after a day in the engine room

...Our 4 sails on the bowsprit, awaiting
re-install

Judy projects: clean up and paint
stern anchor and emergency tiller

Loud music, crisp school uniforms, dangerous sidewalks, sky-high lard displays (especially for holiday cooking), riding in the back of pickup trucks (ah the freedom, whether entire families eating ice cream cones, full work crews, or machine gun-toting camouflaged Federales). It’s all good and now, familiar.

Plus, this year we have our car and the responsibility of being part of what I call anarchy driving, where there are apparently no rules, few street signs and optional stop signs. You have to remain keenly aware of buses, motorbikes, dogs, and the oft unlabeled “topes” (serious speed bumps).

Potluck fun: Ulla (in red) made margaritas
for the ladies (with Ziggy from Poland)

We enjoy connecting with old friends and meeting new in the dry boat yard, where we live onboard, up and down the ladder. We’ve attended two potlucks with people from Canada, England, Poland, Argentina and of course, the US. Such a melting pot of adventuresome individuals, it rocks.

In the boatyard, we are working on Pura Vida projects so she’s ready for a full season of cruising. Progress! We are thankful for Gabriel and Arnulfo, the yard managers, and have hired Gama, the stainless steel guy and Chaba, the electrician for small repairs.

One path, two schools of thought –

We are dedicating this post to our friend, Mike Vokoun, who left this earth too soon and is watching over us from heaven. Mike lived life to the fullest, laughed a lot, shared his 'joie de vivre', and truly lived by his mantras: it’s all good and no worries. He applied those life philosophies long before the sayings became popular. We will miss his warm smile and zest for life. And we’re looking forward to his soulmate and widow, Cathy, coming to visit us in Mexico!

Dinner at Omar's, Judy's fave restaurant -
in Ashland OR on our way south

View from the ramp at our rental floating
home on the Columbia River

Quotes from two famous people with two distinct schools of thought motivate us on our path of adventure:

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do
than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe
harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover" - Mark Twain

“Well if anything's going to happen, it's going to happen out there.” - Captain Ron

Early morning walk along the dock

Mike delivered this sailboat from Newport
to Portland OR with our friend Lisa

The drive from Portland in our fully loaded car has been good. Brief stops in Alameda and Phoenix to see friends and buy some goodies that are hard to come by south of the border: good butter, blue cheese and our kind of bacon... Now the next chapter of our sailing adventures has begun. Our Mexican auto insurance policy is in effect and once we splash, we’ll store the covered car in the same dry yard where the boat is. We secured our annual Mexican fishing licenses via mail, as we plan to catch our dinner as much as possible and improve our skills.

Tony carved 'Wilson' for our deck

We intend to spend about a month preparing Pura Vida for her next voyage, then hopefully head to Zihuatenejo, around 1,100 miles as the crow flies, SE on the Mexican mainland. At a max of 6 nautical miles an hour, you’ll quickly see that this will be a long trip. We're stoked.

During the summer we had several jobs both working at West Marine and Passion Yachts on Hayden Island where we lived in two fantastic floating homes on the Columbia River. Additional jobs also kept us hopping and working almost every day. We were able to get by with one car, having sold Mike's truck to a friend last year. And, we rode our bikes to work or walked on the island.