So it has been quite a trip down the coast.. We have had so much fun, enjoyed every sunset each night and even some moonsets which I have never seen. One morning at 3:30 on one of our night sails, there was a moon set and the moon was so big on the horizon of the sky, it brightest harvest moon orange glow... the image is burned in my mind hopefully forever.
I can't remember the last time I posted... it seems the days are blending together. I can't believe we have been on the boat for now for 5 weeks. It seems just like 2. We have made quite the name for ourselves and it seems that we are recognized by a number of people when we come into town. The family circus boat name is really coming in handy and everyone is getting a kick out of seeing us all in our dinghy coming into town with our huge bags of laundry and all the kids and their back packs. When we were in Cabo people would come up and introduce themselves and we would start but they would stop us and say we know who you are Family Circus right... I think it is a good thing :@) They don't seem to run the other direction as soon as they know for sure....!
The Baja Ha Ha was such an amazing experience. We have made so many friends in the fleet and we continually keep running into these people. It is really wonderful, Everyone has been so supportive and helpful with advice from homeschooling (from all the retired teachers in the fleet) to mechanical, to cooking, provisioning, weather, etc.... They always said that the sailing community is small and you really get to know each other... It is really true.
The kids are doing great with their homeschooling. We are getting it done for the most part... some days we do extra for the days we have decided to just have a play day. I am finding that I am liking the play days more than the school days. Kudos to all the teachers out there! I am having a hard time finding a place to teach the kids on the boat without the distraction of the other kids... it begins with just one giggle... and then UGH! total chaos and the minute I turn my back and go refill my coffee... by the time I am back up in the salon to start teaching again they have scattered... it is like herding butterflies... They are all getting a ton of reading in and I am having a hard time keeping up with the books on the kindle... I guess that is one good problem to have.
The beaches down here are amazing and the sea life is everywhere. Alina has really taken to snorkeling and often takes her mask and just chases the fish in the surf. Yesterday at Bahia Pueblo she found 2 baby manta rays and a red puffer fish... All I hear is this screaming thru her snorkel and I have never seen her little feet kick so fast... Rancho swim team would have been proud. Maybe that can be a new strategy :@)
We have so many toys for the kids to play with in the water. Between the paddle boards, surf boards, boogie boards and Kayak the kids are constantly in the water. Yesterday chris tied the kayak up to the dinghy and towed the kids behind it... they loved it.
I have been collecting sand from every beach we stop at. It has been really fun for me. I started this project for Amaia, thinking she could do it for science... and then Alina wanted to do it for awhile... now it is tristan who is helping me. Maybe it will be the family science project. The color changes from north coming down the coast of the samples that I have are really cool. From Black to White sand. Anyway... Yes I am a little geeky at heart. Besides the science projects (dead puffer fish, dissecting fish, collecting sand and shells, cooking) other ways we find to entertain ourselves are reading, playing cards, playing name that tune from iTunes, Kaela trying to teach me to dance :@( she is still trying... or just plum hanging out. The kids have really learned to entertain themselves via toys or electronics on passage... I think they all know all the seasons of modern family by heart now... Not something I am so proud of... :@)
We left Cabo on 11/9 I think.. we had a lot of fun. Cabo was really loud with all the discos and music playing all night long from the hotels and bars along the beach. It is really nice to get up to some peace and quiet. You become sensitive to noise when all you hear for along time is the sound of your motor, the wind and the waves. We stopped in Bahia Des Las Muertas for a night and the kids were able to play in the pool and order some real food and huge lemonades. They were so excited. It was quite the relaxing day for us. Chris taught tristan how to play pool and in the top of the restaurant was the biggest model train set that I have ever seen.
All systems seem to be working so far. I can't believe how often we have had to motor so far. We are going straight into the wind so we can't put up any sails. We will be in La Paz for a little while. We are having our winch motor for our anchor system rebuilt. When we were in Bahia Santa Maria it broke so we had to manually pull up the anchor chain by hand. We put a call out to all the cruisers in the Baja Rally with us to see if anyone could help us fix it. We had 3 people come over and Steve from SeaHorse was able to trouble shoot and fix the problem temporarily for us using tops of a plastic milk container. Believe it or not his fix has lasted us this far. Again the sailing community goes above and beyond to help each other and never expects anything in return. Just amazing... Plus the level of out of the box thinking is mind blowing. Such a good lesson for us all.
Amaia has been on a mission to collect every animal that floats or flies by. She almost jumped overboard to save a little gecko that was floating by in the water still alive and then there are these HUGE grasshoppers that she keeps catching and keeping in the bug catcher that she got for her birthday from Auntie Morgan... Still debating as to whether I want these critters on my boat but she loves them. We have gone thru Fred, Ted and Ned the grasshopper.
We will be here for the next few days because there are some northerly winds that are headed our way they say plus with all the laundry we have to do it will take the lady till tomorrow at least and then we need to provision and make some minor "To Do" repairs on the boat just to get it back into tip top shape. We will shoot to leave La Paz on Monday or Tuesday next week to head north to the outer islands and an enjoy being on our own again.
Thank you to all who have commented, sent a note and/or just reading our blog. It is really nice that you are out there and thinking of us. We really do miss everyone at home and think of Lafayette often... I know this time will fly by so fast and so we are so enjoying every moment and trying to make the most of every day.
I am going to throw some pictures in here and see how many I can get to upload... bear with me.. I know there are a lot of close up shots... I love the pictures of the kids. :@)
Love and Hugs to all!
Heath
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