Photo catch up #1

We are anchored in Zihuatanejo just off playa de la ropa. Many fun hours spent in the playa palapas with littles and their friends last December. Wish you were all back here with us frolicking in the sun. We arrived here after a 2 day/2 night motor sail from Manzanillo. As we put the anchor down we noticed a large oil slick in the water all around Ceilidh. UGH! Is that from us? Unfortunately (sorry Neptune!) it was indeed coming from us. The sea water engine oil cooler has developed a leak in the inner tubes and oil is coming out and water in and that is all bad. Good news is that it can be repaired. Parts are on order from the US – courtesy of a lovely gent named Smitty – and Rich can replace the broken with the new. In the mean time we are putting fresh oil in and pumping it back out each day to clean out the water that came into the engine crank case. So, we will be in Zihuatanejo for a week or so more than planned but hey, it is a beautiful place to be. The mercado trip yesterday was exciting. Fresh spinach! Dark green broccoli! Yahoo! Ok, so some people are easily pleased. Better that than jaded?

Now for the catch up. I mentioned seeing tigers in Paradise Village, Puerto Vallarta. Couldn’t put the photo in because it needed editing. So here are the gorgeous beings we saw.

And during passages we frequently have feathered hitchhikers along for the ride. We were 12 – 20 miles off shore when this little one came to visit. Happy to be a perch and provide a breather for the little sweetie. Now on to Bara De Navidad. It is so lush there. We anchor in a shallow lagoon in only 12 feet of water, using squishy, our dingy, to get back and forth from town. The Sands Hotel is “cruiser friendly” and allows us to tie up to their sea wall while visiting the town. Check out the hotel murals and lush garden area. As you walk the street from the Sands hotel towards Bara central you come to a beautiful huge tree. It reminds me of the tree outside the Cotati Cabaret that. Littles, do you remember the party tree?