Journal Entry – Tuesday March 8 – Decision to Bash to PV

Author: Pam

Two days ago I talked with Pamela Thompson (we met her while Scott was in the hospital) in Puerto Vallarta regarding Dr. Ortiz’s response. She has been helping as an intermediary and translator, which of course has been very helpful. According to her Dr. Ortiz has sent responses to all of our questions, but I have not received his e-mails. Time to give up on e-mail and take a more direct root, time is passing us by so quickly. Abe speaks fluent Spanish and agreed to help make a call to Dr. Ortiz. Within an hour we had the answers we needed to move forward with making our decision. Unfortunately, the procedure can not happen until March 28th, we were hoping it could be sooner. After looking at all of our options (which has taken up a large part of every day), we decided it makes the most sense to take the boat back to PV. This will not be one of the most pleasant legs of the journey. We will most likely have winds out of the north-northwest, right on your nose and this is the least comfortable ride in a sailboat. Also, we will probably have to motor almost the entire leg or sail at angles well out of our direct course. This decision comes with much disappointment, it felt so right to make the jump from here. We have also been trying to plan a trip back to San Francisco to take care of some business and last minute details before the crossing. It just feels too complicated to coordinate all of this from Z-town. It also makes the most sense to go back to Dr. Ortiz in PV, it would be complicated to coordinate with a Dr. in the US at this point and would most likely cost significantly more. On the way to Zihuatanejo we were not sure if we would cross the pacific from here or go back to PV, we were here only a few days when we felt we were meant to cross from here. Now since the earliest we can leave is April 19th (after my three week recovery), most likely all of the puddle jumpers would be gone by then. Most everyone is planning to leave between mid and late March. On a positive note, Puerto Vallarta is a better place to leave from to catch the trade winds, you get to the trades 100 miles sooner from PV. We will begin our preparations tomorrow to leave in a few days, weather wind permitting.