Wednesday, February 13, 2019

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?






Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Feliz año nuevo from the Bliss crew

Well folks, we finished our last passage North from La Cruz to San Blas and it's hammer time again. Meaning mainly tod is working like a hammer in the heat to put our beloved Bliss to bed on the hard here in San Blas. It's been a joy to be back, making new friends, and creating new memories. As always, time seems to slow down when we are living aboard, so it feels it we have been cruising longer. Bliss is going out of the water again  and Tessa and i stay in town while Tod is doing the final touches. Thanks for following along, it has been fun to update our blog. We wish you all the best for 2018, and hope to be back here next winter.




cruising kids help to run local restaurant

tessa as maitre d



























Saturday, December 23, 2017

Happy holidays from the Bliss crew!

We have 3 boat kids aboard, all making Christmas cards to give to the boats on our dock. It's a fun thing to do for them, and what's great, all ages play together.  Tessa has been playing a lot with our neighbor boy, he's 9.5 yrs old. Just this week, Tod and I had just dinner alone twice,  while Tessa was eating on another kids boat.  It's one of the reasons cruising families linger in la Cruz a bit, and it's relaxing.

Tod's long time friend Michael is vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, about 25 minutes North, and we had fun taking him for a day sail yesterday. Great company, perfect wind conditions, and seeing 2 whales breaching, it can't get any better than that.

The Bliss crew wishing you all happy holidays, and a blissfull, healthy and creative 2018!

day anchor in the bay, fun swinging from the boom



delivering Christmas cards on our dock

tod and his assistant doing much needed sewing

holiday decorations made from cones picked up during our travels

the town square is full of iguanas

her favorite spot aboard


love these slabs, which we could take them home to make furniture
the teacher with her students