Gilligan sets sail

It's been a day and a half since our last posting.  So much can happen in a place like puerto Vallarta while on vacation.  Saturday evening we went out to dinner in town at a place called Pippis,  A restaurant as clean as can be with a wonderful array of typical Mexican dishes.   We enjoyed every morsel till the very last bite, and drop of the enormous Margarita.  We are happy it was not alcoholic, otherwise it would have been difficult to walk in a straight line and find the hotel afterwords.  The walk after dinner to the pier was equally delightful and appealing.  We had a chance to watch the sunset at the beach and grab some Ice cream with unusual flavors like, Mexican chocolate (flavored to taste like "chocolate abuelita") tamarindo, and Mango with chamoy.  A nice treat even for those of us not that impressed with ice cream in general.
 What we are truly impressed by is the the safety of the streets in Puerto Vallarta,  after our walk on the pier we walked back to the hotel and did not feel threatened or afraid to walk late at night, we are really relieved and grateful for that, since it was a concern given the violence in Mexico in recent moths and years.
On Sunday we had scheduled to go to a hidden island called Marietas.  A whole day tour starting at 8:00.  We arrived as instructed to but did not depart until an hour later.
Just like Gillian, on a day tour, we set out to enjoy our day.  But the day turned out to be very different then we expected. We thought we would sail for a while then anchor on a beautiful hidden island where we could lay out on the sand and enjoy some beautiful views.  Far from that!  We set sail and traveled for a little over an hour to an island called "Marieta" un reachable by any other way other then swimming in the great expansive vastness of the Pacific Ocean. Literally fighting fierce waves to get though a tunnel before reaching the island. As much as we longed to have the experience, our safety was more important.  No thank you!  Specially after seeing people get back on the boat with scratches and blood dripping from their arms and legs.  Following the hidden island stop the boat traveled a little more and anchored in the middle of the Pacific Ocean so people could get off and snorkel, paddle-board and  kayak.  A nice alternative and fun list of activities, but completely different from what we expected.
We returned to Puerto Vallarta in the afternoon just in time to get ready for a picture session on the beach and dinner.
Dinner was awesome (unlike our Gilligan island tour) it was on the I terrace (fourth floor) of a building.  A fusion of Mexican with French and Italian  gourmet.  A spectacular view of the town with wonderful service.  We told the server and the manager we would refer them every time we had a chance, so if you are ever in P.V. Stop by a restaurant called "Layla's"
Today we decided to lay out on the sun and do what we planned on doing on our hidden island trip. Later today we are scheduled to take a trip to another island for a show and dinner.  Almost 100% of the people that we have talked about this trip with have said it is amazing, let's hope "Rhythm of the night" delivers.  If not we had a healthy organic breakfast at a little restaurant across the street from our hotel it was good and enough to tie us over should we end up with another "Gilligan Trip".

The Warm Side of the Pacific Ocean

Our good friends and family know how the rain has been part of our  vacation experience ever since we got married. Geographic locations known for being arid become rainy when we visit.  Seasons that normally don't produce rain suddenly become eligible for Guinness for the absurdity of rain.  So has been our experience for the past twenty years.  Although last year our fate began improving.  Vancouver remained dry for the length of our stay (although it was cloudy and overcast when we arrived) Gibsons was extremely beautiful and welcomed us with amazing tepid weather.   Yesterday we were more than pleasantly surprised by the excellent, beautiful, ideal (for us) weather.  Puerto Vallarta today, and for the remainder of our stay will be in the mid 70's, and breezy.  Is it a trend we are starting here? Have we drained the possibilities and the odds of rain occurring wherever we are to the point where we have zero moisture on our next vacations?
Whatever fluke or twist of fate we are having, we welcome it! Thank you Puerto Vallarta for keeping us comfortable and dry.
Thank you Puerto Vallarta for the rest and relaxation we so desperately need.  Thank you for the Palapa we are sitting under that provides us shade and protection from the midday sun.  Thank you for the regional typical fish dinner we had yesterday when we arrived.  We had never had "pescado sarandeado" (smoked fish on the grill) and we don't know if it was the starvation mode we were on or if it truly was really tasty.  So far on our first full day here, we have all good things to say about Puerto Vallarta.   We hope the experience extends for the next three days.

❤️ Vallarta
(as the locals call it)