MOD70 Trimarans

Victoria and I wandered over to see the two MOD70 trimarans that were visiting La Cruz.  The super nice two skippers gave us a tour of the boats and answered Victoria's many questions.

Victoria in front of ORION

 Note the mast cants as well as rotates.

Let me drive !

Fluenta needs one of these

Passage Preparations

All the boat projects are completed ... Nancy has arrived ... six dock carts of food has been brought to the boat ... school work has been downloaded ... stowing and canning is in progress ...  navigation data has been collated ...  so ... a few more steps to complete and we are hoping to ready to slip Saturday or once there is a weather window after that point.  Waiting for Benjamin's Mexican passport and our fresh produce which is booked for Thursday and then checkout of Mexico for Friday/Saturday.

Our ace crew Nancy hoisted me up the mast yesterday so I could clean and double check all was well.

Note our cool new solar panels ...

Our friend's boat Kenta Anae (The First 42 - the big Hanse).  They have been so good to us !

Our friends on Rebel Heart are two weeks or so ahead of us on the passage.  You call follow their progress on their always amusing blog.

Cheers,

Max

Bandaras Bay Regatta 2014

In this year's Bandaras Bay Regatta I was fortunate enough to be invited on Shindig.  Rob and Nancy have so good to the Fluenta crew and it was an absolute pleasure to sail with them.  Super calm and competent with amazing hospitality.  Also was very nice to handily win our class as well as the costume parade (Nancy was playing live music on the foredeck while Dan and I served the elder couple oysters and wine - quite a nice shindig ...).

Not a lot of photos but some of the first from my new toy: a Go Pro ...

The Light Air Day

In Front

Picture from Latitude 38 as we cross the finish line

One of the uniform shirts !

Quite a Shindig

Quite a Shindig II

Father and Son Mazatlan Delivery

A bit behind in our blog updates ... better late than never.

A few weeks after Benjamin's birth, Johnathan and I headed back to Mazatlan by bus.  We had a fun trip up and then spent a very long day the next day preparing the boat for the passage to La Cruz.  Our neighbours on the Fonatur dock were impressed (as was I) by the hard work from Johnathan to help me empty the storage locker and prep Fluenta for sea.  Later that day our friend Keith from Sayulita arrived also by bus.  The next morning after a few extra trips up the mast we were on our way.

We had a great sail and Johnathan had a chance to have his own watch as did Keith who never spent more than a few hours on sailboat before.  Both did very well.

A few photos:

Johnathan steering a compass course

Damn Steaming Light

Sunrise - Sun coming up and the full moon was setting on the other side.

Article on Fluenta in Latitude 38

Blogging has not been anyway near the top of the priority list so this will be a very quick one.  All is well.

Mum and babe are doing fine and boat preparations are progressing.  We have had great visits from Liz's parents and Max's sister's family.  More details and photos to follow at some point but thought we would include a link to a recent article about us in Latitude 38.  Starts on page 75.

Picture from Latitude 38

Picture from Latitude 38

Introducing Benjamin George Shaw

After a graceful and natural labour, Benjamin George Shaw was born to a water birth at Doctora Tony's Birth House in Puerto Vallarata.  He was born at 0515 on 3 December 2013.  He weighed 8 pounds 13 ounces and was 20 inches long.

Mum and baby are doing well.  We will spend another night here in Puerto Vallarta and then likely move back into the rented condo in La Cruz tomorrow.

With our amazing doctor

Lots of care from his big sister

Now a big brother !

Healthy mum and baby

Still Waiting

We thought baby things might be happening last Monday so we forward deployed to the Birth House in Puerto Vallarta.   No baby yet so thanks to Doctora Vargas we can continue to stay at the Birth House and we continue our Puerto Vallarta holiday.

The Entrance to the Birth House Where We Are Staying

Victoria has been busy making a blanket for baby with the sewing machine.  It is full of batting so it should be soft for baby.

Walks on the beach to see how the tourists live:

Puerto Vallarta near the Cruise Ship Terminal

How the Tourists Live.

Practicing Our Tourist Skills

Always Something Interesting on the Malecon

More Malecon Art

Note the Name on the Gift Tag

Still odd to enter the Christmas season in the heat.

We prefer to see dolphins in the water but this is a cool statue.

It takes us a long time to walk anywhere in Mexico as every lady - young and old - need to come out and touch the belly !

And of course, we need to eat and being temporarily in Puerto Vallarta means lots of inexpensive but tasty meals:

Huevos con Chorizo for breakfast

Road Trip to Bucerias (Actually a village close to La Cruz that we pass on the bus but never stop at)

The juices and smoothies are amazing.  This is our regular breakfast spot.

We were watching the ladies making tortillas and they ushered Victoria in for a free sample.

Tortilla Shop

You can buy your morning juice and your pinata all at the same time

Despite being in Puerto Vallarata, we still have been trekking back to La Cruz regularly for the kid's karate and aerial silks as well the Thanksgiving Party at Philos Restaurant.

Yet again, the view from the condo.

The condo looking in from the picture window

The Octopus's Garden:  A source of neat Huicol art and where the kids take Karate and Aerial Silks

More views from the Condo - and, of course, Liz.

 Thanksgiving Party at Philos with the crews of Rebel Heart, Alcyone and Kenta Anae.  Allyson and Cyndia from Kenta Anae and Alcyone were instrumental in decorating the Birth House in PV for us and generally taking good care of Liz.

Kids posing with baby Lyra from Rebel Heart.

Crazy ladies on the dance floor.  I didn't get any pictures from Liz and Cyndi doing Zumba later that night.