From de-icing to please send us some ice!

Radio silence from the Bliss Crew since Tessa and I reunited with Tod almost 3.5 weeks ago. We left the frigid cold of Shaker Heights and had to watch our plane being de-iced before takeoff,  to the tropics of La Cruz in Banderas Bay where we could really use some ice...in our fridge! Yes, friends, our trusted DC fridge decided to call it quits, and ever since we arrived, we have lived in the tropics without any fridge. Let me tell you, it gets a bit old and moldy. So every day we walk to town to get non perishable food, and explore dining options, and lucky for us, there are quite a few in town and they start to know us by name/face.

In a few weeks from now, the first sailors will leave to set sail to the Marquesas, French Polynesia. We hope to be among them. The word is hope, as we have still many projects to tackle, and yes, having a working fridge is one of them! We meet weekly with this small group of "Puddle Jumpers" (referring to the Pacific Ocean here) and you can sort of tell who is doing this "ocean jump" among the many other sailors here. We jumpers look a bit more tired and stressed. As always, the Bliss crew is doing things a bit differently. We are the only ones who launched our boat back in the water just 6 weeks ago. Tod has been working non stop to get us where we are right now. All other jumpers have sailed since last Fall, and have had more time to enjoy sailing and take a break from the non stop preparation.  Our time will come, I know, but in case you wondered what we have been up to, wonder no more! Back to work, uh sleep for now, I will add some pics of the our time here. Oh, one final thought: I already had huge admiration for teachers, but that has increased a notch since I started boat schooling. Apparently I'm in good company here with other cruising parents, we can count the "no complaints from our kids- days" on one hand. Let's file this under the categories "room for inner zen growth" (parents) and room for improvements (kids). Hasta luego!

our boat in progress while Tod worked on the engine

Tod picked a nice bright color for our engine repaint

iguanas everywhere

getting ready for overnight beach camp out without us,
with la Cruz Kids club. She had a blast! There are many
kids in the marina now, so making new friends is easy.

and while she was gone for the night, we indulged in a more fancy dinner than usual
beet salad anyone?