The warmly cool, clear, ringing, perfumed, overflowing, redundant days, were as crystal goblets of Persian sherbet, heaped up – flaked up, with rose-water snow. — Herman Melville
We returned on October 1st. (2016) to find Allora in great shape and began to put her back together, prepping to head south to explore Pacific Mexico and then Central America. Hurricane season technically ends on Nov. 30th, but we planned to slip away mid-month, while keeping a watchful eye on weather.
Paradise Village, PV, Mx
First thing we had to attend to was our malfunctioning Yanmar (inboard) engine. We’d been troubleshooting vexing problems and finally found the explanation!
Interpreting the codes on the SAD machine (which Carl, the Yanmar guru brought) hooked up to the common rail engine.At one point, I had to hold his feet!The gaskets to the fuel tanks weren’t made with fuel grade material, so rubber chunks were disintegrating and falling into our diesel supply.Hand cutting new gaskets.The Yanmar TEAM! A solution we could be confident in!Progressive Cocktail Party: 3pm till midnight 40 minute rounds Themes – ours was ‘Africa’ Food/Cocktails We were the last boat out of 12! That’s a LONG day.This guy is up trimming the coconut palm using this ridiculously long ladder with no one to spot it.Foresails all cleaned and going back up.dock walk.Iguanas cruise around the docks in PV.I talked them into letting us wash our sails on the resort stage!We brought Namo, our dinghy, up the estuary and stopped at this fajita restaurant – just tied up the boat and walked up to dine!Mom made this cross-stitch for us!!Feathers and fronds.I WANT this costume!!!Dancing feet.Fierce warrior?Tamale wrapped in banana leaves.Poor pelican 🙁 He was resting at the dock and just looked at me as I walked by.Progressive Cocktail Party: 3pm till midnight 40 minute rounds Themes – ours was ‘Africa’ Food/Cocktails We were the last boat out of 12! That’s a LONG day.Our favorite Canadian family (although there are a TON of them out here sailing!). These guys are from Victoria, BC, and are currently figuring out which direction to head next. Mama Sara’s the masterful captain aboard s/v RikiTikiTavi and has just been teaching at a private high school to add to the cruising fund. Pete is a wickedly fine chef and has an impressive canvas ‘shop’ on the deck of their boat; he’s producing some phenomenally functional bags, useful for just about everything. Check it out: http://puddlejumpbags.comLiam and Neli being buddies.Liam being Liam. Meanwhile, a healthy game of ‘butt wrestling’ is going on in the background.
Neli’s birthday!The indomitable (homemade) piñata! Still, we just might see candy on this one?!Piñata remnant decor.Colorful Mexico!
I had what felt like an imperative urge to go and spend some time with Haley – to help her get her new apartment organized, etc. We had 3 VERY FULL days, including taking in the play, ‘Sleep No More,’ which Haley’s experienced 6 times!
Haley in her new Brooklyn hood.
Miss Lily Lightning! She knows her way around all the cool places in NYC!These little markets are like galleries, with all the cool graphics and products. Lucky dog!We texted Aunt Lori from this thrift shop to rave about all the great stock! Haley’s getting into vintage!!
Allora ended up spending 3.5 months of hurricane season in Paradise Village!
Thank you, Cam and JJ, for the gift of being invited to celebrate your LOVE! An incomparable wedding weekend!
Huddle of besties.Happy Dad – It’s all OVER!!! (So much planning went into this eventful weekend).Camping at the River Ranch – Bruce sent over mattresses from the cabin, so we were in the lap of luxury!Mayhem in the morning.These three told us we were going for a hike, but instead, we were showing up at Erin and Chuck’s for a SURPRISE PARTY!!! Tricksters.Our perfect Bozeman Cottage Rental on the north side. (Thanks, Shannon, Gar and Nic!)
Backpacking in The Absarokee/Beartooth wilderness – The Beaten Path (crazy name, considering we saw just a couple other ppl.) Astounding splendor! Haley was back in NYC working 🙁
Geology and route discussion. Wyatt was in nirvana mode amidst all this rock.At their happiest in this environment.Can you spot Scout?! It was SO good to have him along.Dubious section of the trail.Alpenglow
I can make this SAT phone WORK!Die hard fisherman.It paid off!!! Huckleberries, almonds and dill – oh my!Happy to be nearing Fossil Lake – just about 10,000 feet.We awoke to SNOW in August!Yep, summer in Montana!Fashionable and maybe warmer? Day hike route planning.
Close up of our impromptu ‘mosaic.’
Brrrrr ….
Truffle popcorn, anyone?
Love these hours in camp.
Time to go back out. 17 miles in one shot!We could hardly gain forward momentum with huckleberries flanking the trail!
Glacial gorgeous green.
Endless fascination with these crags.Encountered this guy WAY too close on the trail. He politely watched as we scurried backward.Truly magical place in the world.
Quick trip to Philly to be with my beloved Uncle for his birthday.
Sunday Spaghetti team: Marcus, Mom, Maddi and Di @ Aunt Carol and Uncle Tommy’s, September 2016.Mom, Di and Uncle Tommy on September 17th, his birthday, in Philadelphia.Uncle Tommy created some Ukemonsters! EVERYONE had to get one!
Ringing Rocks, (aka ‘Pipestone’), Montana
Explanation necessary: The acoustics in this rock fall are quite unique and different pitches can be heard when you tap on various rocks – so we all bring hammers and traipse around making ‘music.’ One of our favorite haunts.Great spot to play.This ain’t NYC!Love this guy.He likes rocks a lot.Not your typical leaping environment.Petting some trees.Hammer in one hand, Haley in the other.The caves are cavernous!Wyatt disappears down below the rocks and I never know when/where he’ll emerge! One time he found a geocache here at Ringing Rocks.Great to be back under the Montana night sky again.Warm drinks on a cool, Fall night in MT.
Thank you, Maddi, for snagging these night shots!
More Montana moments:
Beehive Basin hike with Doug, Carmen and Maddi.Skylar’s going away party @ Blackbird. Wilder danced till she dropped. Didn’t want to say ‘bye’ to Sky, but we had a blast.Dinner with these ridiculously OLD Rainey kiddos!Drone play. It’s going to be a bigger challenge flying it from a moving sailboat!Maddi’s birthday, September 1st., 2016. Best cake EVER (Skylar).
Our time in Bozeman was a blissful couple of months; we lived big under the big sky with friends/family time and wilderness play, our two main objectives. While it was SO crazy sweet to be in Montana again, we both agreed that Allora verily feels like real ‘home’ and it was time to get back to Mexico!
We’d thought about leaving Allora farther up the mainland in San Carlos/Guyamas in Sonora, but liked the idea of getting a jump start on the long distances left to cover in Mexico when we returned from Montana. In the end, it was a good thing, because hurricane Newton made it all the way up the Baja Peninsula and some boats in that marina were damaged. We had been staying in charming La Cruz for our Puerto Vallarta stint but moved farther inland to Paradise Village to leave Allora; Its estuary position in the lee of Cabo Corrientes provided more weather security. Summer in this part of the world is beyond description HOT! Our 2 month respite in Bozeman was strategically timed. When we left in August, nighttime temps in our cabin were up to 95 degrees, which necessitated the constant use of water spritzers. Time to head to the mountains!
We had to remove most of our food stores (local restaurants and the officina agreed to keep buckets of our provisions), shut off our refrigeration and ‘pickle’ our watermaker. Our foresails had to come down (in case of extreme winds) and we secured a large dehumidifier for below to preclude a problem with moisture. We had a local guy, Israel, come in and open up the boat and start the engine once a week. Cockroaches were discouraged from making Allora their home with some boric acid piles, but we pretty much knew that the Iguanas and the frigates might just cross our dock lines or perch high on the mast. It took a FULL week of non-stop dervishing (that should definitely be a verb) to feel ok about saying, ‘Adios, Allora, Que le vaya bien!’
Paradise Village Marina, Puerto Vallarta. Tropical afternoon storms are a welcome relief as we prep Allora in the steamy heat to be left for 2 months during hurricane season.Yep, he even sweats in a heart shape 🙂YIKES! Allora’s interior was mayhem as we had to tear the whole boat apart to secure the food and everything else from high temps and humidity.Namo lashed down on the foredeckParadise Village Marina, Puerto Vallarta. A viable ‘hurricane hole.’Secure AND pretty! Marcus is great with knots.Allora, as we left her. If a hurricane should threaten, the guy we have watching her would take the awning down and monitor the conditions; meanwhile, one or both of us would fly in. Some cruisers do this commute every year between their boat base and their home base.
Day hike route planning.
